Meditation in the Western Tradition

Every magical and mystical discipline depends on a mind that can stay where it is put. Ritual performed with wandering attention is recitation. Study without the power of sustained reflection is the collecting of opinions. Meditation is the training that makes the rest possible, and in the Western tradition it has a character of its own: it begins with stillness and concentration, as elsewhere, and goes on to a thinking form of meditation in which a symbol or a sentence is explored until it yields its meaning.

Conditions

Choose a time when you will not be disturbed, and keep to it. Early morning is best for most people, before the day has filled the mind. Sit in a straight chair with both feet flat on the floor, the back upright and unsupported if possible, the hands resting on the thighs. Sitting on the floor is unnecessary, and a posture that hurts teaches nothing but endurance. Set a quiet timer so that you need not think about the clock.

Start with ten minutes and add time only when ten minutes has become easy. Twenty minutes, done every day, is enough for all the exercises on this page.

Exercise one: stillness

The foundation of everything, and harder than it sounds. Sit in your posture and do not move. Do not scratch, shift, swallow unnecessarily or adjust your clothing. Let the breath do as it likes and let the mind do as it likes. Your only task is to keep the body perfectly still for the appointed time.

You will discover how restless the body is and how much of that restlessness is the mind looking for a way out. Itches arise and pass if they are left alone. After some days the body settles, and a physical calm appears that is the ground for all later work. Practice until you can sit for fifteen minutes without movement or strain.

Exercise two: the fourfold breath

Breathing and the state of the mind are closely tied, and a slow, even breath is the quickest way to calm. Breathe in through the nose to a count of four. Hold the breath gently, without closing the throat, for a count of four. Breathe out for four. Remain empty for four. Continue for five minutes.

The counts should be comfortable. If you feel strain or dizziness, count faster or return to natural breathing. The aim is rhythm and ease, not the taking in of as much air as possible. Use this breath at the start of every session and before any ritual.

Exercise three: counting the breath

Now the training of attention begins. Breathe naturally. Count each out breath silently, from one to ten, and then begin again at one. When you find that you have lost the count, or have gone on to fourteen without noticing, start again at one without annoyance.

You will lose the count constantly at first. That is the exercise working. Each time you notice that the mind has wandered and bring it back, you strengthen the faculty you are trying to build. Record in your diary how many times you lost the count. Over weeks the number falls.

Exercise four: concentration on an object

Place a simple object in front of you: a candle flame, a stone, a plain geometric figure drawn in black on a white card. Rest your gaze on it and keep your whole attention there. Do not think about the object. Simply look. When the mind goes elsewhere, bring it back.

After a week or two, change the exercise. Look at the object for a minute, then close your eyes and hold its image in the mind for as long as you can. Open the eyes and renew the image when it fades. This leads directly into the next exercise.

Exercise five: visualization

The power to build an image in the mind and hold it steady is the principal working faculty of ceremonial magick. With eyes closed, imagine a simple figure: a red triangle pointing upward. See its color, its sharp edges, its size and its position in front of you. Hold it without letting it change shape, drift or fade.

It will misbehave. It will turn, shrink, change color and vanish. Rebuild it patiently. When you can hold the triangle for two or three minutes, work through the other elemental figures in turn: a blue downward triangle, a yellow upward triangle with a bar, a green downward triangle with a bar. Then try a three dimensional form such as a cube, and view it from each side.

People differ greatly in how vivid their imagery is, and some see almost nothing. Vividness matters less than steadiness. A firm sense that the figure is there, held without wavering, serves as well as a bright picture.

Exercise six: meditation on a symbol

This is the characteristic Western method, and it is a form of directed thinking. Choose a theme: a symbol such as the hexagram, a line of the Emerald Tablet, one of the seven principles, a tarot trump.

1. Begin with a few minutes of the fourfold breath.
2. Bring the theme to mind and hold it at the center of attention.
3. Let the mind think about it: what it means, what it is connected with, where you have met it. Follow each train of thought, but keep it tied to the theme. When you find you have left the theme behind, return to it and start again.
4. After a time the thinking slows of its own accord and you are simply present with the theme. Stay there. This quiet beholding is called contemplation, and insight usually arrives in it or just after.
5. Close, and write down at once whatever you understood.

A single symbol can be meditated on daily for a week or a month. The same theme taken up a year later will show how far understanding has moved.

Common obstacles

Restlessness

The urge to move, to stop, to do something else. Return to exercise one. Do not fight the urge. Watch it rise and pass.

Drowsiness

Sit more upright, open the eyes slightly, or practice at a different hour. Persistent sleepiness usually means that you need more sleep.

Wandering

The universal difficulty. It is not a failure. Noticing and returning is the practice itself.

Dryness

Periods when practice is flat and seems pointless. They come to everyone, usually after progress. Keep the time, shorten the session if you must, and do not judge the work by how it feels.

Unusual sensations

Warmth, heaviness, lightness, tingling, a sense of expansion. These are common side effects of relaxation and have no particular importance. Note them and continue. If anything distressing persists, stop and read our guidance on when to stop.

A schedule for the first six months