Meta-Mysticism and how to be magical

[res bina]

I wrote this as a primer on developing basic magical prowess, and is loosely intended as an exercise regimen. Enjoy!

In the field of magick, it is easy to get lost in the theories of how to make spells, how to DO magick, and yet we like to repeat the adage "Magick is not what you do, but what you are". The purpose of this essay is aimed at answering the question of how to be magical. I will explain the basic concept of metamysticism, and follow it up with some exercises to aid the magician in advancing their magical "muscle" by putting metamysticism to work through various meditation methods.
Meditation has been around since around the time fire was discovered. Staring into a flame as a focal point and relaxing the mind, detaching it from thoughts and distractions is a most ancient practice. Advanced methods have been created and some supernatural abilities have been discovered through meditation.
Here are some methods for you to use to develop your innate abilities:
•Mindfulness meditation: Sit comfortably with your back straight and close your eyes so gently that you can still barely see between your eyelids. Focus on breathing in a slow and constant rhythm until it becomes automatic. Your mind will never clear, and you must accept that. Instead of trying to empty your mind into silence, detach yourself from your thoughts. "Be as the sky, not the clouds it contains" is a motto I like to use to describe the objective. Your thoughts will float through your mind, but do not feed into them. If you catch yourself following any train of thought, return to focusing on your breathing pattern.
           -What this is doing: You are learning to control your mind and separate yourself from distractions. This gives you a conscious resistance to the tricks our minds play on us, as well as outside influences that bombard us in our day to day life, such as advertisements, social hype, and hypnosis/subliminal messages.

-Visualization meditation: Again, as with all meditation, you should sit comfortably and focus first on getting a consistent breathing pattern. Detach yourself from wandering thoughts as before, but this time you will consciously be visualizing a simple geometric shape with a particular color. To save you the task of deciding on a shape and color, here are a few basic examples: A red triangle, a blue circle, a yellow square.
You will attempt to hold this shape in your mind for as long a time as possible without allowing it to change. It is helpful to hold onto a push button stop watch once you get the hang of it, and time how long you can hold the image still. The shape will tend to morph and move and change color because the mind naturally resists constants.
           -What this is doing: This method strengthens your ability to focus on something deliberate, and develops your visualization capabilities.
-Location recall meditation: This one builds on the visualization meditation, and much more advanced, but required less mental stamina. The first thing you must do is wander around a bit. You don't have to go far, or even leave your house. You just have to be looking around and travelling as you do so. Take note of as many details as you can, and pay attention to all of your senses. Once you've taken in your surroundings, go sit down and do your usual mindfulness meditation to begin. Once you've got your rhythm down, slowly begin to visualize your surroundings around you, filling in the details and trace your steps back, filling in every detail you possibly can as you go. Go as slowly as it takes to get a clear visualization of environment as you "travel" back the way you came. You're going for a walk, through a mental copy of the physical places you wandered.
-What this does: This gives you a strong sense of situational awareness and memory recall, as well as increasing attention to detail. This traits lead one to automatically become more clear-headed and reduces the amount of mental noise when trying to focus on a task or observing something attentively.

Heat meditation: This method is very advanced and takes years of practice to become consistently, but occasionally it clicks and works incredibly. I've had the best success on the brink of sleep, and it has put me over the edge every time due to the heat and comfort. What you must do is get into your mindful state as usual, but your breathing is going to be a bit odd. What I mean is this is that as you breathe, imagine there is a turbine being spun by your every breath, and feel the resistance is creates. You will pull through it and push through it slow and heavy, filling your lungs from the bottom up. Imagine this turbine sending electricity straight to the region of your spine that is between your navel, and your lowest ribs, heating it up like a convection stove. Let that heat flow outwards through your whole body and reach your fingers and toes. Try to generate as much heat as possible.
-What this does: Vastly improves the connection between the body and the mind, increases core body temperature during the meditation. The physiological mechanism of action involved is unknown, but it works.

Falling leaf meditation: This is a method I created myself, and has become a personal favorite. As usual, mindfulness, etc. Imagine you are a leaf on a tree, dangling just over a deep well. You fall down into the well, drifting slowly downward. With every exhalation, you tip forward and rapidly glide downward. As you inhale again, you tip back up and drift slowly down in a gentle spiral. As you continue this process, imagine the pressure of gravity pressing on all sides of you, making you increasingly heaver as you descend. The well grows pitch dark, and you eventually stop drifting. Time, direction and orientation dissolve in the darkness, and so do your sensations, leaving only the mind. At this point, you are in a trance and getting out of it too quickly may cause temporary discomfort and discombobulation of the self. In this void, visualize a glow like a blacklight shining from within. Make it shine as brightly as possible, projecting it as far as you can imagine. Hold that visual, and now as you inhale, condense it into a ball and mold it to the shape of your body, "feel" a humming electricity from this compressed blacklight. Intensify that sensation and the glow of your body as much as you can. SLOWLY open your eyes. Don't try to stand up right away, you will fall over and possibly injure yourself.
-What this does: gives the magician a grasp of inducing trances, generates a euphoric sensation that can last for hours, tends to cause unpredictable changes in nearby materials, may have other reality-bending effects. Use with caution.

Gravity meditation: Preform the meditation as above, but instead of working with the blacklight visualization, just continue descending and increasing that sensation of pressure making you heavier and heavier. Try moving that sensation of mass and density around different parts of your body, moving it like a fluid inside of you.

-What this does: enhances the magician's ability to perform body scans, healing, relieves nagging pains, make cause euphoria as well, lasting for hours at a time.

          Now that you've got some experience developing your abilities, let us move forward onto some more practical applications of these skills. So far, you should be able to: detach from trains of thought; visualize unwavering images for at least 15 seconds at a time; recall detailed mental replications of one's environment; warm yourself up with meditation; enter a trance; recreate your mental self-image from imagined light; move sensations of pressure and energy through your body. Go out in to nature, spend some time attuning yourself with the wilderness through your meditation. Be present. Marvel and revel in the wonder of the outdoors, and indulge yourself in the sensations it provides. Go camping and relax. Experiment with your abilities. Try to extend your perception to other living things around you, as if they are remote extensions of yourself. Try to expand this remote perception to every living thing around you and meditate, holding that perception. Become life. Be life.
          It may be a good idea to collect natural materials to construct a shelter specifically for your meditation, or simply to sleep in. Build a campfire and return to the primitive method of gazing into fire and being mindful. Reflect on how you've changed and grown since you started this journey. Let your emotions flow through you naturally, without resistance or attachment. You may wish to cry, or laugh, or even scream. Let it all out until you feel relieved of the weight of all those emotions that you didn't realize you were carrying under layers of busyness and distraction. Stretch out any tight muscles, hydrate, eat, rest. Return to life as usual, renewed, reborn. Should you find yourself falling back into your old ways, start again from the very beginning of this training regimen.
You may find that your magical endeavors will be greatly more effective, and your outlook on life more optimistic. You will be more understanding, less prone to manipulation and frustration, and have greater mental stamina. Preforming practical magick is like attempting to move a heavy object. This training will make you stronger, so that you are more effective at moving the object.
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[Oistar Polaris]

Wow, I will definitely try these meditation methods. Thank you for sharing these with us!