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“You must keep the mind fixed on one object, like an unbroken stream of oil. The ordinary man’s mind is scattered on different objects, and at the time of meditation, too, the mind is at first apt to wander. But let any desire whatever arise in the mind, you must sit calmly and watch what sorts of ideas are coming. By continuing to watch in that way, the mind becomes calm, and there are no more thought-waves.” Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902)

Swami Vivekananda was a Vedantist monk and Hindu missionary who became a big celebrity in the US among the progressively spiritual and intellectual set at the turn of the 20th century. In the quote above, he is talking about Raja Yoga or “Royal Yoga.” Raja Yoga, also called Classical Yoga, has nothing to do with body work. It is an Indian spiritual philosophy that outlines how to transcend the mind and achieve enlightenment through meditation. The philosophy exists as a book called the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. It was written sometime during third century.

Why should Wiccans, neopagans, and Western occultists care about an ancient Indian document about meditation?  Because it was being translated from Sanskrit to English during the occult revival at the turn of the 20^th century and was studied and adapted by Western esotericists and occultists, such as Blavatsky and, most notably, “Uncle Al” Crowley. The first part of Book IV—which, in total, is meant to be a primer on Thelema—is instruction in Raja Yoga as Crowley understood it.  See: http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/aba/aba1.html. Then forget it and read a good translation of a least the first half of the Yoga Sutras.

I recommend a translation by the Hatha yoga expert BKS Iyengar simply because it is a good, easy-to-read transliteration with explanatory notes.  If you like turn-of-the-20^th century Victorian language, pick up a copy of Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda. He specifically wrote about Hindu spirituality for a Western audience. A good  (free) online transliteration of the Yoga Sutras with Sanskrit-to-English annotations is at www.arlingtoncenter.org/Sanskrit-English.pdf. Other online translations are available but the wording sometimes is overstated or uses complex vocabulary or Sanskrit jargon.

Mindful Mind

A key aspect of meditation practice is to watch your thoughts although this has too often been misunderstood to mean that a person should fight having thoughts. At the beginning of meditation, a person is instructed to watch spontaneously arising thoughts and feelings come and go without attachment, aversion or judgments. Subsequent meditation techniques that proceed from this enhance concentration and contemplation, which themselves are 2 different forms or stages of meditation.

Regular  meditation practice first consists of watching the mind with detachment, then gradually concentrating and quieting the mind  through mantra recitation and/or concentration on a mental or visual image (such as a picture or other object) or a process (such as breathing or feeling your pulse or focusing on a certain part of the body).

When the mind is quieted and keenly focused through concentration, the sense of time and subject and object (ie, yourself and the object of concentration) are overcome. An illuminated sense of “being” or presence remains. This is true meditation, as defined by Raja Yoga.

The moment is experienced in its purity. It is not qualified by judgment, fantasy, or memory. Mental and emotional projection and karmic momentum stops.  In deeper and deeper stages of meditation, the sense of duality becomes thinner and thinner until only a sense of pure awareness –not awareness of any thing—remains. Adepts then say that even this is transcended to another kind of experience.

Mind Stuff

The mind is naturally noisy and much of it runs like static on a TV screen or random code that comes up on a computer screen. It is sometimes like white noise or background noise and sometimes like a parrot or a little yapping dog.

What you are watching when you watch your thoughts is the static and baggage of consciousness. You are watching the subconscious mind come to the surface like soap bubbles. Like soap bubbles, the images of the subconscious are colorful, like the rainbows that form on the skin of bubbles before bursting into nothingness. If you suppress and filter these images and thoughts, which is what we do consciously and subconsciously at every moment, you merely drive them back into the sticky soapy goo of the subconscious where they intensify and evolve into subclinical and sometimes clinical neuroses.

A lot of “stuff” may come up in meditation. Images that seem visionary or like astral travel may emerge at a certain point early on in meditation practice. Some people who meditate without guidance get caught up in this mental imagery instead of truly meditating. Although visualization, astral travel, and trance are valuable methods of consciousness expansion, they need to be coupled with “mindfulness” meditation and engaged in skillfully for greatest benefit.

It is important in meditational and in spiritual and occult practices to know where the content of the mind and subjective experiences are coming from. They are coming from you. Phenomena are not appearing before you or coming into you; they are coming out of you. This is not to say that the mind and senses may not be experiencing occult aspects of reality but whatever is being experienced is being experienced through the limitations set by the body and mind. Thus, it is experienced as a reflection of one’s own mind and not as the thing in itself. But philosophically speaking, this is true of all perception and experience.

In any case, when visions, messages, and other phenomena present themselves, let them, but address the process with awareness and skill. Transformation of consciousness from a conditioned to a more authentic state through spiritual and occult practices can be like walking the proverbial razor’s edge. Examine what is coming up out of your consciousness, but do not get sidetracked and mesmerized by it.

In the words of the well-known mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904-1987):  “All the gods, all the hells, all the heavens are within you. That god is within you. It is not something that happened somewhere else a long time ago. It’s in you.”

In mindfulness meditation, when done correctly, the images and thoughts that waft through consciousness will subside or become somewhat distant, like white noise.  You will feel calmer and more focused in daily life because you simply have more room in consciousness to be present and aware. In fact, physiological changes occur in the brain that have a neuroprotective effect and lead to enhanced thought processes.

Preparing to Meditate

Simple stretching and movement of the joints and also deep breathing or some basic breathing exercises, done briefly, are recommended to prepare for meditation.

• Cover the body with a shawl or blanket to keep warm (body temperature goes down during meditation).
• Keep the back and neck aligned and straight.
• Sit comfortably, even if this means you are sitting on a stool or chair. The value of sitting in a cross-legged posture, particularly a full-lotus posture is that the circulation to the lower extremities is slowed down and the oxygenated blood is more consolidated in the torso and head. It is counterproductive, though, if uncomfortable or if numbness in the lower extremities for lack of circulation results.
• Postpone meditation if you are hungry or full, sleepy, anxious, depressed, or otherwise impaired.
• Meditate in the same place at the same time. That is, make it a routine if you wish to achieve results. The best hours of the day are the morning and evening (sunrise and sunset).  Although certain Buddhists have a taboo against it, other recommended times are noon and midnight.
• Determine how much time you sit for meditation and keep to it even if you become drowsy or restless during that time. Observe rather than “fight” or be discouraged by sensations of noisiness, restlessness, boredom, or drowsiness

Meditation and Magick

As mentioned, when the mind becomes calm, you may want to focus on an ideal or an image or mentally repeat a mantra (a meaningful sound or short prayer or name—or a spell) in rhythm with the breath. For some (not all), this helps focus the mind. Mantra literally means “controlling the mind.” The rhythm and vibration of the spoken, whispered, or mentally recited sound establishes a rhythm in the body, and this can have beneficial effects on the nervous system.           Focus on a mantra, affirmation, or ideal also elevates the meditator, who, through constant focus on an affirmation or ideal, assumes the qualities of that affirmation or ideal. Western New Age adherents practice this through positive-thinking techniques, Creative Visualization, and the “Law of Attraction.” Success, however, depends on the ability to lift out unconscious conflicts and programs that sabotage the achievement of your goal to cause change in accordance with Will. For this reason, traditional meditation should not be overlooked by Western occultists.

Meditation practices as described and also relaxation practices are considered essential and are advocated in magickal training in Western occultism. Mental control and skill in psychological and psychic techniques are essential in magickal operations.

In yoga disciplines this is done to become one with an ideal or achieve self-mastery, enlightenment, liberation, etc. In shamanic yoga, it is also done to gain special powers (siddhis) and cause change according to Will, which is the definition of magick.

Magickal primers recommend that aspiring magicians first practice deep relaxation techniques to lighten up the body and mind so that they become more receptive to energy and wider dimensions of consciousness. Basic meditation and then concentration and visualization exercises are then advocated.

Concentration exercises may take the form of

• Meditating on a symbol that represents one of the five elements to become “one with” that element to intentionally cause changes in one’s mood or energy field for mind-expanding or supernatural purposes.
• Gazing into or past an object to cause a semi-trance in which clairvoyance, remote viewing, “channeling,” or other effects may occur.
• Meditation on energy centers (chakras) or bioelectrophysical energy (ie, meditating on the creation of a “psy-ball”) are other advocated techniques.

Concentration is often needed for visualization exercises, which may take the form of:

• The Kabbalist Cross, Ruby Star,  LRBP or GRH, etc. that visualize the descent and circulation of light in the practitioner or the creation of ritual space in ceremonial magick.
• Creating a magickal space for ritual, as is done when quarter-calling in Wicca.
• Projection of a symbol or imagery for the creation of thought- forms, evocations and invocations, or the manifestation of an intention.
• Guided meditation, neoshamanic journeying, or astral travel.

Discursive Meditation

Guided meditation and neoshamanic/astral journeying are more commonly used in Western occultism than in Eastern disciplines. Guided meditation is a way to encounter archetypes and archetypal forms and so-called spirit guides, elementals, ascended masters, inner adepti, etc.

In these settings, a practitioner goes into the imagery to receive teaching and occasionally gets initiations and empowerments while in a semi-dream or entranced state of consciousness. This also has been called “discursive meditation” because you go into a story in your mind instead of quieting the mind or concentrating on a single idea or image. Ideally, it is another way of harnessing the energy and content of the subconscious and integrating it into consciousness. It is also very useful in intentionally modifying perception and behavior that then influences interactions and circumstance to cause change in accordance with will.  The techniques are best practiced in a disciplined way as an adjunct to other forms of meditation and not as a substitute for them.

Catharsis of Consciousness

Different types of concentration and meditation techniques have different effects. Some will help you be calm, clear, and focused or more aligned with or devoted to an ideal. Some will eventually lead to startling insights about yourself, your interactions and purpose, the world-at-large, and Reality itself. These insights may not always be pleasant, entertaining, or fit typical or expected norms. Sometimes seemingly supernatural phenomena may occur or peculiar physical or perceptual symptoms may emerge. In rare instances, active or latent psychological or neurological diseases, such as depression, psychosomatic disorders, psychosis, and seizures can be aggravated by meditation practices.

With advancement in meditation and in certain states of consciousness, spontaneous movement may occur. This can take the form of speaking or singing “in tongues” (glossolalia ), intoning or making other sounds; compulsive urges to move limbs, flex, thrash, or make dancing movements or hand gestures (kriya); or laughing or crying (pseudobulbar affect). Internally, the person may be in a detached witnessing state, ecstatically enraptured, or experiencing other intensified or luminous effects.

In yoga traditions, this is regarded as catharsis or unblocking of energy and effluvium from the subconscious. It is sometimes considered to be an aspect of Kundalini arousal. It occurs in other mystical, occult, and shamanic traditions, goes by different names, may have slightly different manifestations, and may have different explanations regarding what it is and why it occurs.

Some spiritual lineages encourage practitioners to repress the phenomena if it does occur; others encourage participants to experience it as a meditative discipline.  Clearer guidelines about how to work with such states if they occur can be found in Eastern disciplines. Western occult traditions seem to treat them as shamanic, “psychonautic,” buyer-beware states.

To benefit the most and avoid pitfalls from meditation practice:

Follow the guidelines about a particular meditation practice, including preparation for meditation practice.

• Be disciplined, courageous, and patient.
• Use meditation practice to enhance your daily life, not hide from it.
• Familiarize yourself about what the experience, effects, and outcome typically are.
• Do not become attached or addicted to, obsessed with, judge, or over-interpret your meditation experiences.
• Do not use meditation practices for thrill seeking.
• Do not convince yourself that you’ve become “enlightened.”
• Seek advice and support of more experienced persons if peculiar phenomena or disturbing mood effects occur.

Selected Bibliography

• Peter Carroll. Liber Null. San Francisco: Red Wheel/Weiser. 1987.
• SC Chakravarty. Swamiji’s Message to a Disciple. Calcutta: Advaita Ashrama. 1964.
• Pema Chodren. Start Where You Are. Boston: Shambala. 1997
• MD Epstein, J Lieff. Psychiatric complications of meditation practice. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychiatry. 1981;13:137-154.
• Jan Fries.Visual Magick. Oxford: Mandrake, 1992.
• M Harris, S Rochlin. Sukhavati – Place of Bliss: A Mythic Journey with Joseph Campbell. Hither Hills Productions and the Joseph Campbell Foundation. 2007
• BKS Iyengar. Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. London: Thorsons. 1996.
• H Jaseja. Meditation is potentially capable of increasing susceptibility to epilepsy—a follow-up hypothesis. Medical Hypothesis. 2006;66:925-928.
• Donald Michael Kraig. Modern Magick. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn. 2006.
• HJ Kuijpers, FM van der Heijden, S Tuinier, WM Verhoeven. Meditation-induced psychosis. Psychopathology. 2007;40:461-464.
• EP Lansky, EK St Louis. Transcendental meditation: a double-edged sword in epilepsy? Epilepsy and Behavior. 2006;9(3):394-400.
• SW Lazar, CE Kerr, RH Wasserman, et al. Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness. Neuroreport. 2005;16(17):1893-1897.
• G Pagnoni, M Cekic. Age effects on gray matter volume and attentional performance in Zen meditation. Neurobiology and Aging. 2007;28(10):1623-1627.
• Sheng-yen. Complete Enlightenment. Boston: Shambala Press, 1997.
• Silburn Lilian. Kundalini Energy of the Depths. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. 1988.