wicca 101 | rituals | meditation | magical studies

1: Alchemical Exercises for Calcination | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

In this stage, the goal is to burn away the ego and all of its attachments. Begin by examining and listing the significance of all possessions, worldly achievements and physical lust, then begin removing your emotional attachment to these areas. Stop blaming others, judging on physical appearance and indulging in self-pity. Don’t schedule the change, just do it. When you catch yourself falling back into these patterns, stop and refocus.

Meditation Instructions: Fill the mind with archetypal images and follow these visions back to their source. Be sure to record your results.

The roasting Cinnabar meditation
Relax and divorce yourself from the strivings and concerns of ego. Examine the hard red mass of reactionary judgments and buried assumptions that motivate ego behavior, then let them go. Mantra chanting is an effective way to bore the ego into submission. Rhythmic breathing (pranayama) is also effective. Relax completely, count backwards from 10, taking deeper breaths with each count, relax from toes to scalp. At 1, begin visualizing bright red cinnabar roasting over a blazing fire and think back over your life to your angriest, most hurtful and most embarrassing moments. You are getting close if you feel uncomfortable, angry or upset all over again. See each event as a drop of mercury that sizzles down into the fire, where you catch it in a class bottle. This is purified energy, freed from negative experience and ego. You can use this mercury by refashioning it into the light of living imagination.

Repeat the First meditation to burn up habits, phobias, neuroses, complexes – anything that blocks the flow of psychic energy that can be used to fuel our spiritual transformation.

Jung recommended focusing on archetypal images in this phase - skulls, funeral pyres, crucifixion (executions), the Phoenix rising from the flames. Visualize confrontations with raven and dragons. Dream scenarios that involve wasting away with fever, being lost in a desert, eaten alive by a parent or animal (Grey wolf, base instincts; Red Lion – unredeemed personality)

Tarot Meditation
Meditate on the Tarot Card number 0 in the Greater Arcana “The Fool.” Use the BOTA or Rider Waite deck, the others are useless for alchemy or Kaballah because they have eliminated the symbolism that is so important at understanding the layers and facets of meaning embodied in each card.

Bellows Breath
Sit cross-legged on the floor. Breathe from the navel rapidly and evenly in and out. Feel warmth rise from the stomach and accumulate in the head. Perform this for at least 5 minutes daily, and set the warmth spread throughout your entire body. Write down any visions, sensations and realizations when you are finished.

Dance of Sulfur
Perform any aerobic exercise that increases the heart rate for at least 20 minutes per day. Jog in place, jump rope, dance fast, march in place, whatever. When the ego has been knocked aside by physical exertion, visualize fiery energy rising up in waves from the feet to the head. Imagine running over hot coals or running/dancing fast enough to fly. Direct the heat energy to tense or problem areas in the body, visualize the blockages melting away.