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Only you can decide whether or not you are an addict, no matter how much pressure others may put on you. This decision is yours to make, no one else's. At PSR you have the freedom to come and listen (at open meetings) without acknowledging having a problem. If you have admitted to yourself that addictions have finally gotten the best of you, and are looking for a pagan oriented program of recovery, PSR may be for you. A honest commitment to recovery is essential. This includes not just a desire for the pain to stop, but also a dedication to do the necessary work in applying the steps; for most of us this is the most difficult thing we have ever done. There is no magickal "quick fix" in recovery. Pagan Sanctum Recovery is not affiliated with other organizations or 12-step programs, including treatment centers and hospitals. PSR does not offer medical advice, and is not a treatment center for recovery, but a non-profit organization. PSR does not employ physicians, doctors, psychiatrists, other professional counselors or therapists. PSR does not provide legal or financial services. And as already stated, PSR is not intended to replace other 12-step recovery programs. PSR is only a spiritual addition for pagans and the pagan-aware, to aid one in defining and establishing contact with a Higher Power of one's own understanding. PSR is also not affiliated with other Pagan organizations, and does not involve itself in external conflicts. Recovery First. We have omitted the word "Anonymous" from our name because our membership is free establish their personal level anonymity, provided this does not impact other members. Some of us are out of the broom closet and their religion is public knowledge, while others keep their pagan faith a strict secret. Some don't mind if others know they are in recovery, others do. Unless otherwise indicated by the member, we observe strict anonymity, just as the other 12-step groups do. The issue of anonymity originated in early A.A., when it was feared that if anyone broke anonymity, then went on a roaring public bender, A.A.'s effectiveness would be in question, and may dissuade some prospects from seeking help. In view of A.A.'s unparalleled success we consider this issue moot.
Our early facilitators come from various 12-step backgrounds, including A.A. and N.A.. Before we conceived a separate program for pagans, we looked into starting a "Pagan" A.A. group called "PAAgan Sanctum." After all, there were special interest groups: Gay, Native American, Jewish, others. We discovered, though, that A.A. did not permit group names with religious connotations, yet we were convinced that "pagan" should appear in our name. Playing more word games at this point would defeat the purpose of the project. A.A. turned down our original application (see letter). However, we found that the A.A. expression "when a door closes, another opens" would become true for us. What appeared to be a barrier turned into an impetus for us to do what we should have done in the first place: develop a pagan recovery program, to the best of our ability, seeking guidance from our Deities and others in the recovery community. See Introduction: Schools of Thought for a summary of this process. To cover all of our bases, we submitted the 13 Steps of Pagan Sanctum Recovery to the Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., for permission to use our modified version. In their reply (see letter) they stated that licensing was not necessary, our version was unique enough on its own. But they did request that we post a disclaimer, which we have done so gladly, on the home page of this website. Our program of recovery is simple. At first some of us were unwilling to stop fighting our addictions, and had to go back out and find a new level of pain before returning to recovery. Others had endured enough of their Disorder, and were prepared to do whatever was required. Some of us had a more difficult path to walk, with problems compounded with psychiatric and other diseases, and found a solution only after multiple recovery attempts. Regardless of the path you are on, we hope that we, the clean and sober members of Pagan Sanctum Recover, can help you attain the peace, serenity and joy that are the natural harvest of good recovery. Working the steps is, among other things: being open minded, admitting defeat, and humbly surrendering to what is. Work the steps one at a time. Before going on, look deep within yourself as you ask the following questions: Have I held anything back? Am I still fighting my disease, this program, or even myself? An honest discussion of these points with a sponsor is essential. Avail yourself of their experience, strength, hope, and at times, brutal but loving honesty. If you can say yes to these questions, go on to the next step. PSR has developed a set of glyphs to aid in visualizing and remembering the steps; each "step glyph" is made of from a set of "sub glyphs:"
Using the subglyphs (shown above) in various combinations, we can construct pictograms to give us a visual representation of our thirteen steps. These symbols can be a meditation aid, a glyph for a talisman, a mandala, or any other element of your magickal practice. Combined with the incenses, these glyphs can be a potent aid to meditation or spell casting, or just doodling on a scrap of paper when we’re having a bad day.
The Thirteen Steps of Pagan Sanctum Recovery
"We realized that our spiritual, physical and mental disorders have totally defeated us, and that it is time to reclaim our lives" In recovery there is a common concept known as hitting bottom, which defines the amount of physical, emotional and mental pain one is willing to tolerate from a Disorder before taking action to alleviate it. But denial can be very strong; accepting that one has a Disorder means abstaining from these substances and behaviors altogether, and that is usually the last thing an addict wants to do. It is only when the recoveree has "hit bottom" that recovery can proceed. This threshold is different for everybody. Some seek help in the early stages of their Disorder, before it becomes a major problem in their lives. Others cultivate and nurture their Disorder for years and decades, watering and feeding it daily and giving it lots of tender loving care. . . i.e., giving it full permission to rampage through one's life, and the lives of others, without restraint or adult supervision. Then, calamity. The day arrives when the recoveree finally realizes and accepts the inevitable: I cannot go on like this any longer. This moment of crisis can have many triggers. One's health may have taken a turn for the very worst; death has suddenly become real, up close, and personal. Or one may have lost jobs, houses, cars, lovers, spouses, everything in their life they believed important (though, of course, never more important than the Disorder's regular daily allotment of fuel, and its permission to continue unchecked). There is tremendous resistance to this moment, because the Disorder has been our closest and sometimes only friend, and until now has adequately changed the way we felt from the intolerable to the tolerable. The Disorder's fuel (drugs, alcohol, food, or other) has been readily available, and has done what it was supposed to do. Until now. Something has changed, in a big way, and we no longer get the same effect, even after more and more fuel has been shovel-fed to our Disorder. It doesn't work anymore! O Shit. Now what? If we abstain long enough from our Disorder's fuel, the fog will lift from our minds. In the short term we will battle bad feelings, pain, frustration, and anxiety, everything we were trying to numb before. In our unfamiliar sober states we tread cautiously, but deliberately. We may not know exactly what lies ahead, but without a doubt we know what lies behind. The Disorder and its peripheral agonies are still there, waiting for us to falter, and it is actively plotting ways to hasten our failure, often by sowing our efforts with doubt and insecurity. It will do anything to survive as part of our living, loving spirit. The path to recovery is seldom well-defined; if it were obvious, most of us would have found it already. So we need a sponsor to take us to the beginning of the path, someone with not only long-term clean time, but someone who also enjoys life. Do not approach someone to be your sponsor because you find him or her physically attractive; that road only leads to more pain. Find someone with that hard-to-define quality of completeness and serenity. Don't be afraid, talk to them. They'll talk to you. Ask them, "Where does the journey begin?"
"We acknowledged that our combined disorders have been sustaining our illusions of control, and that through meditation, honest introspection and help from others we can overcome this barrier and rediscover our Inner Divine Power" In Step Two we become familiar with the concept of denial, and soon we begin to see ways in which denial, via our Disorder, has been controlling us. For a long time we thought we were in total and complete control of ourselves, perhaps a few others as well. Our Disorder fabricated these dense illusions, and they can be difficult to break. A frank discussion with our sponsor can go a long way towards understanding how thoroughly we have fooled ourselves. Now is the time to become aware of our Inner Divine, the part the Buddhists call Higher Self. In this step we discover that our thoughts, our identity, and our pain do not define our existence. We are much more than these things, even if our cultural programming drives us to think otherwise. Viewing ourselves from afar, we see most of our pain stored in a tight pocket of blackness, hidden for the most part, but tangible and real and hot to the touch. We don't need to deal with this right now. First we need the tools to reconnect our most vital parts, and we haven't forged them yet. With our sponsor as an example, we can see living, tangible proof of this step. Also, in our recovery meetings we have already seen recoverees in all stages of healing: those not yet ready to end their suffering, those only fulfilling probation requirements, those well on their way to recovery, those who don't yet care but want to . . . and the majority, who experience long term, joyous recovery (on most days, anyway). Just look around. This step requires more observation than faith.
Our sponsor will tell us that our Inner Divine has never left us. It can't. It is us. But our inner vision did. Our Disorder is an expert at stirring up the lake bottom in order to cloud our sight, and the more fuel we fed it, the more obscured our vision became. At first, dealing with life without our former anesthetic of choice can be a cold shock. This should come as no surprise; most of us are still fumbling around with strange and alien concepts like acceptance, humility and surrender. Like all suffering, it is temporary. From the beginning, our physical bodies and minds adjusted and made room for our Disorder. We can also adjust to recovery, and with practice we can separate ourselves from the suffering. But that will also take time. And patience. And above all, faith in a higher power. If we look beyond our immediate suffering we will, if only momentarily, become aware a clear spark of light and life within us. If you stay clean, sober, and in recovery, that spark will become a living flame, and the darkness that our Disorder has gone to great lengths to maintain will fade. If the recoveree does not yet have a clear connection to their inner divine spirit, it may help to rephrase the situation: "At one time I was happy (or at least happier) and joyous, and life was good (or at least better). But I became disconnected from something. Perhaps I lost touch with some entity greater and more powerful than my soul, something that once made me more complete than I am now.
"We recognized that our disorders have severed the bond between our Inner and Outer Divine Powers, as we define them, impairing our ability to function, heal and live in peace and serenity" In Step One, Realization, we admitted that our old way of life no longer worked, that our sense of "control" in our lives was an illusion. We had reached a turning point in our Disorder, and had come to realize what it was doing to us. Without profound pain and suffering we probably would not have come this far. Pain and suffering is a survival mechanism. It alerts us to damage to our body before it becomes life threatening, and motivates us to avoid it in the future. The pain resulting from our Disorder did the same thing; it alerted us to the complex disease of addiction and perhaps others, and has served as a strong warning to us that we had better find a new direction to take. It will also serve as a motivator to avoid the thinking patterns and behavior that could lead to a relapse. The pain is no longer necessary. It has served its purpose. From this point on we have hope to rely on, and we see it in the faces we find at recovery meetings. In most pagan philosophies, Deity is so vast and complex that it defies human comprehension; our gods and goddesses our merely facets of the same stone, giving us familiar images and concepts that our limited human minds can find comfort in, and perhaps later use as stepping stones to deeper levels of awareness. Do not fault yourself for failing to grasp spiritual concepts that the greatest minds of history struggled their entire lives to formulate. This step gives us a chance to pause and reflect on our progress so far. As an aid to meditation and spiritual awareness, we recommend the following books:
"We abandoned our will to the reunion of our inner and outer Divine Powers"
But in truth the control we thought we had was just one of the many lies our Disorder has been telling us. It gave us a false sense of superiority over people, places and things. Only in this state could we remain our Disorder's faithful servant, and not suspect that something was amiss. How could anything be wrong? We were in "control." This strategy serves the Disorder twofold: 1) if nothing was wrong, there was no need to seek a solution. And 2) "control" gave us the confidence to self-righteously defend our increasingly erratic and unacceptable behavior. We have already begun to suspect that the world around us, the inconvenient realm that got in the way of our Disorder's party time, was beginning to figure out that we were on a one-way path to self-destruction. This is yet another facet of the illusion: Our friends and family probably knew before we did that we had a problem. In Step Four, Reunion we surrender our control over ourselves and others to the higher powers of our choice. The war is over. Using our renewed awareness of the present moment, we let our inner spirit grow and become stronger. Through meditation, magick and ritual we see our inner spirit merging with something beyond us, greater than us. And we find peace, serenity, and contentment. We have been reunited with Deity.
"We surrendered completely our body, mind and spirit to our Divine Union, seeking a new directing force for our lives"
For a long time now our Disorder had convinced us that we were fighting a battle against those who wanted to take away our 'rights,' against the those who were uncool, or just didn't understand us. They persecuted and picked on us, and the only appropriate response was to defend ourselves against their unjust demands. The mundane world encourages us to resist what is, and indulge in an orgy of illusion: Control of our environment is essential. Right car, right job, right neighborhood. Happiness = lots of money. Most pagans have become aware of these illusions and have discarded them, but there may still be a few left to deal with. Some may consider surrender a form of weakness. But as countless alcoholics, addicts and others have found, it is a link to greater recovery. Surrender is strength. Not the brute mental force we are accustomed to applying to all our life situations, but a strength that emerges from wisdom. This is goddess energy, a nurturing force we all have access to, regardless of our gender, if we allow it to flow into our lives. The Tarot card Strength (Rider-Waite Deck) is an excellent example of spiritual over physical strength: A maiden gently closing the mouth of a lion. This card represents spiritual strength over physical strength. If the recoveree still finds surrender difficult, and we all have at one time or another, a frank discussion with our sponsor is strongly recommended. Ask others at the meeting who have gone through this step, and what it was like for them. If we a thoroughly honest with ourselves, a light will come on. If not at this step, then another. For most of us this was a profound awakening, a spiritual experience illuminating our lives for the first time with a bright, white light. Others experience this awakening as a series of subtle insights, seemingly insignificant at first. At a certain point it all comes together, and then emerges an awareness greater than the sum of its parts. And we find serenity again. Someone has just turned on the lights, and the roaches are scattering. We finally see that all along the fight was against ourselves. We have a revelation, a spiritual awakening, a sudden vision of what we are, and of what we can be (something we've known all along, but our Disorder had conveniently misplaced that file). The moment we accept the truth, and see in the full light of a sunny day the exposed lies we have been telling ourselves, we have already begun the process of severing our Disorder's control over our lives. Now that we know ourselves better, it has become harder lie to ourselves (though not impossible). Your Disorder hasn't really gone anywhere; it's laying in wait (and always will be), ready to come out and play if we neglect our maintenance. At first it may be difficult to tell the difference between the voice of our Disorder, and the true voice of our Inner and Outer Divine. One way is to observe your own subtle feelings when you respond to the voice: if you feel serene and comfortable when you do what the voice says, its probably your Divine Power speaking. But if you feel uncomfortable, guilty or uneasy, be wary. Pay attention to your instinct, and the feeling you get in your gut; these signals are part of your Inner Divine's warning system. If you are still in doubt about a course of action, get a second opinion from your sponsor and/or others before doing something that may result in disaster.
"We examined our character thoroughly and made a list of our attributes, both positive and negative" We are the product of our environment: the way our parents (or others) brought us up, what we learned from other adults, the examples they set, and our early schooling. These are factors none of us had any say or control in; they simply were, and we certainly cannot do anything to change what has happened in the past. We assume that what we experienced growing up was normal, that this was how everyone lived. Even if we were exposed to images on television or the internet, the most powerful examples of how to treat others and ourselves were set by the older people who were in charge of our environment and our lives. At some point in our growing up we may have realized that not everyone lived and behaved the way we did, and our reaction to this could have ranged from relief to amusement to horror. As young adults we may have concluded that the examples we experienced growing up were incorrect and unhealthy, but we didn't have the tools to go much further with this new understanding.
Regardless of our past (and if we are honest with ourselves) we will find characteristics that we would be better off without. Some of these traits were a result of our Disorder. Most, however, were pre-existing conditions, and not covered by the "I was (fill in the blank with the appropriate twisted condition) at the time" policy. Without assigning blame, we candidly list them all, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Your list may look something like this: Good I show care and compassion to the human race, without condition. Bad
My concern for the well being of others is directly proportional to what they can do for, or give me. Ugly
When creating your list, focus on yourself and your own behaviors, without needless guilt. If you have difficulty being honest, try the following meditative exercise: 1) Fire up your favorite incense (provided it is free of all mind-altering substances)
"We shared our examination with another person, accepting full responsibility for our actions, blaming none" Find some quiet time to spend with your sponsor and go over your list, filling in the blanks as certain memories surface (and, alas, they will). This step's success is directly proportional to your level of honesty, so don't hold anything back. If you do, you'll know it. This may take hours. It may take days. Spend whatever amount of time you need; it's worth it. If you are thorough, and have covered everything you can think of, you will be amazed at the emotional and mental relief you get from this step, not to mention the spiritual gains (most of which defy explanation through human language; you'll have to just find out for yourself. Its more fun that way, anyway).
"With humility and respect we invited our Divine Power to remove our destructive traits" Now that we have clearly identified our defects, we turn to our newly minted connection with the Outer Divine for further assistance. A candle in a darkened room may be of help here (there are no Gaelic chants for this one). Closing our eyes, we ground ourselves thoroughly, take a deep breath, and reach the inner living flame of our soul. Observe from afar (as in Step 6); let the bright, radiant light expand until it has consumed your physical self, and everything around you. Do not "will" it to happen. Stop thinking by becoming aware of what is happening now. If you allow this process to proceed, you will soon find that you have merged with the Outer Divine. You may experience sudden flashes of white light, ecstatic feelings, a flood of goose bumps all over your body, a sense of weightlessness, joy. Then we humbly ask our higher power, "Would you please remove these destructive traits, so I can be at peace, and live the life I was meant to?" Spend as much time as you want here, there's no hurry. Then when it is time, thank the Outer Divine and slowly contract your Inner Divine light until it is, once again, the living flame of your soul.
"We made a list of all persons we have harmed, and accepted the need to make amends to them all" Of all the creatures that live on this planet, we are the only ones who punish ourselves repeatedly for the same mistake. In this step we put an end to this cycle by resolving our misdeeds. Start by making a list of all the people you have harmed. If in doubt, go over with your sponsor what constitutes "harm." Include people who have passed away, or you have no hope of ever seeing again (you think), anyway. You may be astonished at the "chance" meetings that will occur over the next several months. Our Disorder fed not only on substances, but also on our inner doubts, confusion, and above all, our guilt. Our Disorder knows which buttons to push; it installed most of them. But this step goes a long way towards disconnecting them.
"We made direct amends to these persons when possible, unless this would cause harm or make a difficult situation worse" Now we finally get to do something about that that dark pocket of pain we discovered in Step Two. The good news is that most of this pain can be alleviated in this step, because much of it was created through the pain we caused others. It currently resides in our psyche in the form of more unresolved guilt. We consider this a test of our willingness to heal. If we find this step more difficult to do than the others (as most of us did), we may find additional motivation by remembering the pain that got us here in the first place. The Disorder is still there, waiting to get out of the box again and play. All that is required is a bit of procrastination. This step is where most of us hesitate. If that is what we choose to do, we can use this time to make sure our list is complete. More names will come to mind the longer we wait. So you might as well get started on this one. Start at the top of the list and work your way down if you can find no obvious sequence. Go to the first person on the list humbly and tell them, as simply as possible, that you are sorry for whatever it was you did that necessitated the visit. Sometimes animosities that have gone on for years dissolve instantly, or not; it doesn't matter in the least what the other person's reaction is (though from our experience, it is usually, remarkably, positive). You have done your part. Your side of the street is now clean. No matter what happens, we are doing precisely what we need to do to recover right now. By the time we get to the end of the list, we will find a new freedom. Close regular contact with your sponsor is recommended on this step (well, all of them actually, but this one in particular). Ask them how theirs went. Their answer will inspire you. What we do is what matters. What they do is irrelevant. This concept applies to most situations in life. You will soon find that if you focus on yourself and not fret over the actions of others you will automatically eliminate two thirds of your daily anxieties.
One method is a daily assessment of our actions, perhaps when we turn in for the evening. In particular we take a hard look at how we treat others, and if this is how we would want to be treated ourselves. If this seems like a repeat of the work we did in Step 6, that's because it is (but we've already done the hard part). Following this step on a daily basis keeps our Disorder in check.
"We reinforced the bond between our Inner and Outer Divine Powers through meditation, magick and ritual, and allowed this renewed connection to guide us in our daily living" Daily meditation and contact with one's Divine Forces is a must; no matter the length of one's recovery (clean time, or length of sobriety) a relapse can occur if we lose touch with this power: Things were going great. I got complacent. I lost touch with my higher power. I relapsed.
"As the direct result of our spiritual rebirth, we practiced these concepts on a daily basis. We continue the circle of healing by helping others in recovery, regardless of their spiritual beliefs. We keep it only by giving it away" Now we may think we have reached the end of the path, but what we find is that the trail has looped around and has reconnected with the beginning. It is not a one way journey, but a cycle, like the phases of the moon, the rise and setting of the sun, and the passing of the seasons. Now we feel like a different person, because we are a different person. We have gone through an elaborate maze, a laborious Riddle, a life Mystery that has been revealed to you because of your sincere efforts. Our work isn't over. It has just begun. But then, so has our new life of freedom from our respective Disorders. We still need to stay one step ahead of our Disorder, and it doesn't sleep. There is someone waiting for you at the path. They look a little frightened, confused, and are in a great deal of pain. But you see something in them, a resolve in their face that you've seen somewhere else (perhaps in a mirror, not so long ago), a determination that convinces you that this person has finally had enough. A little nervously, they come to you, and ask, "Where does the Journey begin?"
Revisit the steps from time to time. You may find the need to do them over again; your Inner Divine will tell you when this becomes essential, provided you maintain your connection. The Steps will not be as difficult as the first time, but necessary nonetheless. We could explain here why this is to be, but we are confident the answer will be evident to everyone when the time comes.
Long term clean time and recovery depends on constant renewal of our connection between our respective Divine Powers. We repeat the exercise we did in Step Eight on waking (or after our morning coffee). Get in touch with your inner flame, fan it until it is a large white light, and bathe in its the warmth and luminescence. Surround yourself with it. Wrap it around yourself like a blanket. After some practice with this, the light will start smiling (best verb we can come up with for something that is essentially indescribable with human language) in a comforting way. Don't hurry. Spend at least five minutes or more with this; if you don't have the time, make the time. Extend your Inner Divine while surrendering to the Outer Divine, and ask for guidance, protection, and strength to get through the day. You will receive all three.
Recovery is not just about staying clean. It is also about dealing with life as it comes at us, and realizing that we are not in the driver's seat anymore (of course, we never were. That was just one of many illusions our Disorder generated to insure its own survival). For a more objective viewpoint of our progress, we view ourselves and our actions from a distance. Here is a Maintenance checklist that has been useful to us: 1) We admit our wrongs promptly, and find ways of reducing the chance of recurrence. 2) We take care of ourselves physically. This means plenty of sleep, physical exercise if one can find the motivation, eating well (however one chooses to define this). Consider taking Bikram Yoga if there is a studio in your area, or another discipline. 3) We assert our rights and boundaries without being self-righteous. 4) We do not give people, places or things control over us, nor do we try to exert control over them. 5) When needed, we continue to make restitution for past errors. 6) We meditate daily, beginning with Grounding and Centering practice. Many short meditations throughout the day are more effective than one long one in the morning or evening. 7) We stay in close touch with our sponsor and other recoverees, whether in PSR or other recovery programs.
Continue The concept of cycles is a basic tenet common to most pagan (and some non-pagan) paths. Your sponsor continued the cycle of recovery by showing you the beginning of the path, and it is our sacred responsibility to do the same for someone else, when asked. Until someone asks you to be their sponsor there are other ways to serve and help in the continuation of recovery. Offer your recovery experience freely at PSR and other recovery meetings; become involved in your group by helping out, making coffee, cleaning up afterwards. Or chair a meeting, or run for office; we need people with good recovery to be our trusted servants. At the top of this list for anyone, regardless of recovery time, is to make an extra effort to welcome newcomers. When addressing the issue of recovery, we speak for ourselves only. We convey our experience, and let others tell their own story.
1. Our primary objective is to make PSR available to anyone recovering from addictions and other mental disorders. 2. Our individual and group survival depends on unity, love, and trust. We leave personal biases, agendas and egos at the door, lest these issues detract from our primary objective. 3. For guidance we rely on the wisdom of our different deities, as revealed through our members. Group Gatherings should begin with the recitation of these guidelines. 4. The only requirement for PSR membership is a desire to recover from addictions and other mental disorders. 5. PSR is a non-profit organization, providing a sanctum for recovery without dues or fees, and does not lend its name to outside endeavors. 6. To maintain our own healing we help others in recovery, regardless of 12 step program affiliation. We respect the spiritual and religious beliefs of all, and expect the same in return. 7. Each PSR group governs and supports itself without outside help; our leaders serve humbly for the good of all. 8. Each PSR member determines their own level of anonymity, and must respect and protect the anonymity of other members. If in doubt, assume total confidentiality. 9. We may make our organization known to the public through media, while respecting guideline 8. 10. We avoid external conflicts that do not affect PSR.
In European Witchcraft, especially during the Burning Times, a "green man," either man or woman, was a designated guardian for covens as they did their rituals deep in the forest at night. This was a responsibility with no equal, since witchcraft was punishable by hanging (most common) or by burning alive. We have a dark past, but we also have a bright future. We are each other's Green Man. As one we represent our faith.
Grounding and Centering is a pagan version of being in the now. It is a stilling of the soul and spirit, and is used to find serenity and peace for magickal workings. Also is a good method of shedding negative energy. Some disciplines have you center before grounding; try it both ways to see which works best for you. And don't force this to happen, just let it. . . good meditative states are achieved by not thinking, but detaching and observing yourself from a distance. Grounding Here you are establishing a psychic connection with the Earth by letting your living flame become part of the ground beneath you. This can be done anywhere, even on a fifty story high rise, but we have had best results by being in physical contact with the Earth itself, with dirt, grass, leaves, etc., where you can feel them. Grounding on a large comfortable boulder works best for some. Open yourself the sensation of dropping. Visualize your living flame expanding downwards. Let your energy flow downwards, downwards, downwards. . . You will feel a solid, comforting contact, and you will feel like an impenetrable stone fortress. Take this opportunity to shed negative energy into the Earth (Don't worry, she can handle everything you have) to neutralize it. Negative energy can be resentments, anger, unresolved guilt, or any other energy you find destructive and unhealthy.
This is a shutting down of your conscious self, and is effective in putting some distance between yourself and the daily worries and anxieties you have not been able to process way. Visualize your living flame, but this time compresses it into a tight little ball. Feel the radiant heat coming from it. Then move it to that place in your stomach where you usually feel warnings, i.e., your "gut instinct," When done correctly you will feel absolute balance, or even weightlessness (this discipline is part of the ancient "flying witch on a broomstick mythos"), and the term "centering" will make sense. Combining these two meditative techniques helps prepare you for magickal workings, but it also puts you in a state in which you can more easily reach your Inner and Outer Divine.
Incense can enhance any meditation experience and/or magickal working. Our olfactory sense connects us to our deepest subconscious levels, and can stir our Inner Divine self in ways our other senses can't. A particular scent can spontaneously trigger vivid recollections, from brief moments to long stretches of our personal history, with intimate details that allow us to relive, not just remember, this glimpse of our past. Some kitchen spices remind us of the holidays; a whiff of baby powder can take us back to our infancy. As we age, most of us become less aware of what our senses tell us, but a scent can still create strong mental images for healing magick. Incense can complement and assist the psychic transformation necessary for recovery by associating each of our thirteen steps with powerful, pleasant, and wildly exotic scents. These formulas are for non-combustible incense, i.e., raw herbs placed directly on small burning charcoal disks. See your local esoteric bookstores and other occult/new age suppliers for charcoals, herbs, and incense resins, or do a search on "incense, supplies" on the net. You may want to experiment with incense "simples" by burning the ingredients separately at first, and noting the thoughts and feelings they invoke, or you might want to jump right into this system in your recovery meditation or spell work; either way, don't think of it as a "requirement," just a useful tool for focusing on the step work at hand. Process your herbs, flowers and buds into a fine powder using a household blender; most resins are already in this easily worked form. Mix all ingredients well. With extreme care (for it will get very hot) use a well-insulated "grill" type incense burner. For those new to making and burning incense we suggest first reading Scott Cunningham's The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Washes (ISBN: 0875421288) from Llewellyn Publications before taking advantage of this potent magickal tool. As you become familiar with incenses feel free to experiment with the formulas to "tweak" your step work progress. Resins: Herbs:
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