A Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Praise Prayer To Manjusri (Also Known as Jampel Yang, the Gentle-Voiced Bodhisattva of Wisdom)

A Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist Praise Prayer To Manjusri (Also Known as Jampel Yang, the Gentle-Voiced Bodhisattva of Wisdom)

I solemnly prostrate to the Lama and the Protector Manjusri

Whose knowledge, devoid of the clouds of the two obscurations,

Is very pure and clear as the sun. 

He holds the book before his mind,

So that all beings may see exactly all subtle meanings, 

For those persons imprisoned in the darkness of ignorance, confused and troubled in suffering.

From compassion for all, the one Son expounds in sixty kinds of eloquent speech.

His thundering Dharma voice awakens all from sleepiness, 

Releasing them from the iron chains of passion. 

Holding the Sword of Wisdom, he clears away the suffering and obscurations. 

Pure from the first, after passing through the ten stages

All become the body of the victorious Son, 

Clearing away 112 kinds of mental obscurations.

To Manjusri I pay homage.

(repeat this prayer 3, 7, 21 or as many times as you are able)

OM AH RA PA TSA NA DHI

(repeat the mantra as many times as you are able, then sit silently) 

Then, when ready, pray as follows:

By the rays of your kind, supreme knowledge, 

Clear the darkened ignorance of my mind.

In order to understand the teachings and the commentaries, as in traditional canon, 

I beseech you to grant the luminosity of confident wisdom. 

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What are Catholic Last Rites, and How are They Administered?

What are Catholic Last Rites, and How are They Administered?

The term "Last Rites" refers to the Sacrament which Catholics receive at the end of their lives. Specifically, Last Rites include Confession, Holy Communion, and the Anointing of the Sick, as well as the prayers accompanying each of those. 

Linguistically, "Last Rites" were more commonly referred to in past centuries than they are today. While the term is sometimes used to refer to only one of the Seven Sacraments (the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick), that limited application of the term is technically incorrect. In truth, the Anointing of the Sick is only part of the Last Rites, rather than the entirety of them. 

These final prayers and Sacraments were collectively known as Last Rites because they were usually administered when the person who was receiving these Sacraments was in grave danger of passing away. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick was also previously known as "Extreme Unction." It is administered both to the dying and to those who are gravely ill, or about to undergo a serious or highly risky operation. The Anointing of the Sick is given to the gravely ill patient for the recovery of their health, as well as for spiritual strength. 

The Catholic Church also developed the ritual of Last Rites to prepare the soul of the dying person for death and the Judgment to come. Such preparations are believed to help the soul in the next world. Thus, confession of one's sins is another essential part of the Last Rites. Having confessed his or her sins, the dying person is absolved by the priest and receives the sacramental grace of Confession.

The exact ritual of Last Rites may vary from situation to situation. For instance, how close to death the confessor is, whether they are capable of speaking, and whether they are a Catholic in good standing with the Church, can all weigh into what rites an individual may be entitled to receive. 

The priest will begin the Last Rites with the Sign of the Cross. Then, if the person is Catholic, conscious, and able to speak, he will administer the Sacrament of Confession. Otherwise, he will lead the person in an Act of Contrition (something non-Catholics can take part in, as well as those who cannot speak). The priest will then lead the dying person in the Apostles' Creed, or in the renewal of his or her baptismal promises, depending again on whether or not the person is conscious. Non-Catholics can take part in this aspect of the Last Rites as well. 

At this point, the priest anoints the dying person, using the form of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick for Catholics. For non-Catholics, the priest will do a simple anointing with holy oil or chrism.

After reciting the Our Father, the priest will then offer Holy Communion to the dying Catholic, if he or she is conscious. This final Communion is referred to as "viaticum" or "provision for the journey" into the next life. The ritual of Last Rites concludes with a final blessing and prayers.​

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The Nahua Cross of Life: Mexican Hieroglyph of the Nagual or Personal Guardian Spirit

The Nahua Cross of Life: Mexican Hieroglyph of the Nagual or Personal Guardian Spirit

Many Christian symbols and archetypes have been found around the world in pre-Christian contexts, resulting in fascinating syncretic connections and ideological overlaps. According to Prof. Daniel G. Brinton, A.M., M.D., LL.D., D.Sc. in his book Nagualism: A Study in Native American Folk-lore and History (1894), "The sign of the cross, either the form with equal arms known as the cross of St. Andrew, which is the oldest Christian form, or the Latin cross, with its arms of unequal length, came to be the ideogram for “life” in the Mexican hieroglyphic writing; and as such, with more or less variants, was employed to signify the tonalli or nagual, the sign of nativity, the natal day, the personal spirit. The ancient document called the Mappe Quinatzin offers examples, and its meaning is explained by various early writers. The peculiar character of the Mexican ritual calendar, by which nativities were calculated, favored a plan of representing them in the shape of a cross; as we see in the singular Codex Cruciformis of the Boturini-Goupil collection."

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Cernunnos as Yoga Master: The Celtic Shiva

Cernunnos as Yoga Master: The Celtic Shiva

In 1891, a great silver bowl or cauldron, elaborately crafted during the Iron Age, was found at Gundestrup in Denmark. The Gundestrup Cauldron contains a wealth of ancient spiritual motifs, a few of which will be briefly discussed in this article. 

The exterior of the cauldron depicts the busts of seven different deities, male and female, as well as symbols associated with them. In Hinduism as well as various syncretic mystical paths, the number seven is also associated with the 7 major chakras or energy vortices of the human body, each with their own symbolism and deity (or facet of the One God). 

The interior of the Gundestrup Cauldron features five scenes of religious or spiritual significance. One of these scenes depicts a horned god sitting in a typical yogic posture. Often identified as Cernunnos (the "Horned One"), he wears on his head a splendid crown of seven-tined stag antlers. One is reminded that in the shamanic Song of Amergin, an ancient Celtic poem, the bard sings: "I am a stag of seven tines."

The Master Yogi-Shaman or Horned God sits with a stag and bull at his right hand, and a horned serpent and hunting dog on his left. This image is similar to that of the Vedic god of animals, Pashupati (Lord of Beasts), who was also an early form of Lord Shiva. (The Pashupati seal, or Mahayogi seal, was found at the site of Mohenjo-daro in modern Pakistan).  Cernunnos, Pashupati, and Lord Shiva are all depicted in a similar yogic pose or asana while surrounded by animals. 

In the right corner of the horned god scene is a man riding on the back of a dolphin to meet the divine bull or Bull of Heaven. Lions appear to be guarding the waters or the path toward the bull; perhaps the scene is a reference to crossing the "ocean of Samsara" to reach spiritual liberation, or Moksha, the end of earthly reincarnation. 

The scene is further enhanced with decorative leaves from a sacred plant or tree, such as ivy, mistletoe, or oak. In ancient Greek religion, ivy was associated with Dionysus, a similar God of Ecstasy, as well as wine and vegetation. Mistletoe and oak were often associated with the heavenly Storm God in various Indo-European cultures. The Storm God was usually placed at the head of the pantheon, like Zeus at the head of the Olympians. Rudra, another early form of Shiva, was also conceptualized as a storm god. The thunderbolt itself may be understood as the ecstatic "lightning flash" of Kundalini and its inherent spiritual enlightenment and revelation.

At the bottom of the bowl the divine bull is seen again, this time hunted down by three dogs and a warrior with a sword in his hand. The cauldron has been damaged, but in its original state the bowl would have rested on the curved horns of the bull projecting outwards to form a crescent shape, like an image of the crescent Moon. 

On the bull's forehead rests a twisted rosette with an ancient Indo-European swastika in the center, symbolizing the solar Life Force, as well as universal diversity united into One at the mystical center or Axis Mundi; hence, unity in diversity, and diversity in Unity; God as One and All simultaneously. Looking more closely at the bull's head, one can see that this symbol is part of a larger decorative motif; the rosette is fastened to the top of a column, with it base situated upon a crescent moon. The column once again represents Axis Mundi or the World Tree, the mystical center of the universe. In this particular depiction, the column spans and unites the energetic poles of solar and lunar, one pole at each end - symbolism also relevant to Tantric Yoga and Inner Alchemy, where the internal Axis Mundi or World Tree is also the spinal column or its inner energetic channel, the Sushumna, through which the Kundalini ascends.

The Gundestrup Cauldron therefore becomes, in a symbolic context, the sacred cup of the moon or the chalice of alchemy, a pagan Holy Grail containing the mystical drink of immortality made from the Life-fluid or blood of the divine bull, resulting in ecstasy and psychic vision. It is the mystical cup of Ambrosia, Soma, or the Wine of the Gods; the sacred Blood of Christ slain and risen.

The hunter of the bull appears androgynous; he wears the spurs of a man on his boots and has the breasts of a woman. Perhaps he has completed the inner alchemical operation of uniting masculine and feminine, of solar and lunar, of ida and pingala. With his weapon drawn and arm raised, he is depicted in a posture of jumping or floating through the air, with his hunting dog running or leaping beside him.

Like Shiva, Cernunnos is the God of Ecstasy. In his left hand, he holds a snake adorned with the spiraling horns of a ram. This horned serpent is Kundalini ascending - the serpent of Light and bliss which rises through the sushumna or spinal channel. This serpent of ecstasy is also a representation of Devi Shakti, the Divine Feminine, Life Energy, or Holy Spirit. Starting from the base of the spine - the internal Axis Mundi or sacred column - it rises up through the seven chakras and emerges through the top of the head at the Sahasrara or Crown Chakra, resulting in Unity with the Divine Oneness, as well as mystical perception of Divine Light and the Face or Presence of God.

The stag, the ram, and the bull are all common symbols of God Most High in ancient cultures. Thus, when Kundalini ascends to its highest position, the serpent receives the horns of God - horns of divine power. 

When St. Hubertus the hunter encountered the stag with the Crucifix of Christ between its antlers, he received a vision of the ultimate Reality. It was a vision also of God Most High as the suffering god of vegetation and sacrifice, the slain and rising God. This vision was given to St. Hubertus on Good Friday - the day of Jesus Christ's Crucifixion. The sacred hunt thus becomes a religious symbol for the holy spiritual quest - for the seeking of ultimate Reality and ecstasy. 

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Analects of Confucius (Lun Yu) Chapter 12, Verse 21 (Exaltation of Virtue)

Analects of Confucius (Lun Yu) Chapter 12, Verse 21 (Exaltation of Virtue)

Accompanying Confucius to the grove of the rain altar, disciple Fan Ch'ih said:

"I venture to ask about exaltation of virtue, dispelling of malevolence from within, and recognition of delusion."

Confucius said:

"What a good question!

To put work before reward: is that not exaltation of virtue?

To attack the vices of oneself and not the vices of others: is that not dispelling of malevolence from within?

A sudden burst of anger, while forgetting (or endangering) self and kin: is that not delusion?"

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Psalm 104: O Lord My God, Thou Art Very Great (The Creation Psalm) - King James Version (KJV)

Psalm 104: O Lord My God, Thou Art Very Great (The Creation Psalm) - King James Version (KJV)

1. Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.

2. Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:

3. Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:

4. Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

5. Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.

6. Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains.

7. At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.

8. They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which thou hast founded for them.

9. Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

10. He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.

11. They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.

12. By them shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.

13. He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.

14. He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;

15. And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.

16. The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;

17. Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.

18. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies.

19. He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.

20. Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth.

21. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.

22. The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.

23. Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening.

24. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

25. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.

26. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

27. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

28. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

29. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

30. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

31. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works.

32. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

33. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

34. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord.

35. Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul. Praise ye the Lord.

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Medieval Catholic Christian Magical Incantations: Historiolae or Narrative Charms

Medieval Catholic Christian Magical Incantations: Historiolae or Narrative Charms

During the Middle Ages, magical incantations were a popular means to ameliorate suffering and reduce fear. One such form of incantation was the narrative charm, based on a short mythical or legendary story. The mythical story (or narrative) provided the paradigm and context for the desired magical result. A narrative charm could be recited orally for the benefit of the recipient, or it could be used in a textual amulet. Modern scholars also refer to narrative charms as historiolae.

The historiolae contained brief anecdotes about sacred, legendary, or mythic personages who had suffered in ways that foreshadowed the current sufferings of a person in the present day. These anecdotes therefore could metaphorically erase the barriers of time and space; past and present were no longer separate entities. Like the mythical personage featured in the charm, people who turned to such narratives held firm the hope of reaping similar benefits of supernatural protection and divine healing. When properly invoked, the sacred types and precedents featured in these stories were believed to facilitate a magical replication of past miracles and supernatural cures. The recipient would be protected and healed just like the original subject of the sacred narrative.

Narrative charms were deeply rooted in oral culture, so they often included some form of dialogue. These dialogues could also precede the use of other conjurations spoken by a parish priest or healer to address demons or other malevolent forces for the benefit of the afflicted person.

Historiolae were utilized in ancient rituals for thousands of years. The earliest evidence we currently have for narrative charms in the Middle Ages dates to the 9th or 10th centuries, when Latin historiolae appear in surviving manuscripts. From the 13th to 15th centuries, narrative charms circulated widely in secular manuscripts and textual amulets. Some late medieval critics condemned these charms and amulets as worthless folly. The Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of Witches, published in 1486, mentions one such charm with disdain: "Some old women in their incantations use some such jingling doggerel (or silly jingles) as the following: Blessed MARY went a-walking / Over Jordan river. / St. Stephen met her, / and fell a-talking, etc." (Malleus Maleficarum, Part 2, Question 2, Chapter 6)

Like other noncanonical texts, narrative charms were not standardized, and therefore had many variations. Through oral transmission and inventive scribal copying, historiolae spread widely and were distributed in innumerable different versions. One example that saw endless permutations was a narrative-style fever charm based on an apocryphal story about St. Peter sitting outside Jerusalem’s Golden Gate or Rome's Latin Gate. In its many versions, Jesus Christ invariably begins by asking St. Peter about his affliction. Learning that St. Peter is suffering from a fever, Christ uses his healing touch to cure him. St. Peter then asks Christ to allow other people to benefit from divine Grace by transforming the narrative charm into a textual amulet that can be worn on their bodies. Jesus responds affirmatively.  

Like the biblical Word of God, this fever charm was ideal for use in textual amulets because it contained what were believed to be Christ’s own words. It thus became very popular; similar versions of the fever charm, in Latin as well as vernacular languages, can be found in a wide array of physical contexts. Latin and vernacular versions of narrative charms survive in innumerable English, German, Italian, and other secular manuscripts, especially from the 14th and 15th centuries.

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Welsh Fairy Folklore of Swansea and Carmarthenshire: Golden Treasure, Faery Passwords, Changelings, and the Mermaid (Lady of the Lake)

Welsh Fairy Folklore of Swansea and Carmarthenshire: Golden Treasure, Faery Passwords, Changelings, and the Mermaid (Lady of the Lake)

The following interesting story is from the book Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx by John Rhys (1901):

"Mr. Richard L. Davies, teacher of the Board School at Ystalyfera, in the Tawe Valley [or Swansea Valley], has been kind enough to write out for me a budget of ideas about the Cwm Tawe Fairies, as retailed to him by a native who took great delight in the traditions of his neighbourhood - John Davies (Shon o'r Bont), who was a storekeeper at Ystalyfera. He died an old man about three years ago. I give his stories as transmitted to me by Mr. Davies, but the reader will find them a little hazy now and then, as when the fairies are made into ordinary conjurer's devils:

"That is a wonderful thing, that old castle there, he would say, pointing to the Ynys Geinon Rock [near Craig Y Nos Castle, now in the Brecon Beacons National Park near Glyntawe, in Powys, Wales]. I remember a time when people would be terrified to go near it, especially at night. There was considerable danger that one might be taken to Bendith y Mamau [or Tylwyth Teg, the fairy folk]. It is said that there are a great many of them there, though I know not where they abide. The old folks used to say that there was a pit somewhere about the middle of the Castle, about a yard wide and some five or six yards deep, with a stone about three tons in weight over the mouth of it, and that they had a passage underground from that pit all the way to the cave of Tan yr Ogof near the top of the Cwm [or valley], that is, near Adelina Patti's residence at Craig y Nos Castle: 

"There [in the cave], it was said, they spent their time during the day, while they came down here to play their tricks at night. They have, they say, a gold ladder of one or two and twenty rungs, and it is along that they pass up and down. They have a little word ; and it suffices if the foremost on the ladder merely utters that word, for the stone to rise of itself; while there is another word, which it suffices the hindmost in going down to utter so that the stone shuts behind him. 

"It is said that a servant from one of the neighbouring farms, when looking for rabbits in the rock, happened to say the word as he stood near the stone, that it opened for him, and that he went down the ladder; but that because he was ignorant of the word to make it shut behind him, the fairies discovered by the draught putting out their candles that there was something wrong. So they found him out and took him with them. He remained living with them for seven years, but at the end of the seven years he escaped with his hat full of guineas [gold coins]. He had by this time learnt the two words, and got to know a good deal about the hiding places of their treasures. He told everything to a farmer in the neighbourhood, so the latter likewise went down, and some used to say that he brought thence thrice the fill of a salt-chest of guineas, half guineas, and seven-and-sixpenny pieces in one day. But he got too greedy, and like many a greedy one before him his crime proved his death; for he went down the fourth time in the dusk of the evening, when the fairies came upon him, and he was never seen any more. It is said that his four quarters [as in "drawn and quartered"] hang in a room under the Castle but who has been there to see them I know not. It is true enough that the above-mentioned farmer got lost, and that nothing was heard respecting him; and it is equally true that his family became very well to do almost at once at that time. 

"You know as well as I do that they say, that the fairies have underground passages to the caves of Ystradfellte, near Penderyn. There is the Garn Goch [Y Garn Goch Iron Age Fort, with a history of settlement dating back to the Neolithic] also on the Drum (now called the village of Onllwyn); they say there are hundreds of tons of gold accumulated by them there, and you have heard the story about one of the Gethings going thither to dig in the Garn, and how he [sic] was transformed by the fairies into a wheel of fire, and that he could get no quiet from them until he sent them to manufacture a rope of sand!"

— A more intelligible version of this story has been given at pp. 19-20 above. "There was formerly an old woman living in a small house near Ynys Geinon; and she had the power of bewitching, people used to say: there was a rumour that she spent seven days, seven hours, and seven minutes with the fairies every year in the cave at the Castle. It was a pretty general belief that she got such and such a quantity of gold for every child she could steal for them, and that she put one of those old urchins of theirs in its place: the latter never grew at all. The way she used to do it was to enter people's houses with the excuse of asking for alms, having a large dark-grey old cloak on her back, and the cloak concealed one of the children of Bendith y Mamau. Whenever she found the little child of the good woman of the house in its cradle, she would take upon herself to rock the cradle, so that if the mother only turned her back for a minute or two, she would throw the sham child into the cradle and hurry away as fast as she could with the baby. 

"A man in the neighbourhood had a child lingering for years without growing at all, and it was the opinion of all that it had been changed by the old woman. The father at length threatened to call in the aid of "the wise man," when the old woman came there for seven days, pretending that it was in order to bathe the little boy in cold water; and on the seventh day she got permission to take him, before it was light, under a certain spout of water: so she said, but the neighbours said it was to change him. However that was, the boy from that time forth got on as fast as a gosling. But the mother had all but to take an oath to the old woman, that she would duck him in cold water every morning for three months, and by the end of that time there was no finer infant in the Cwm."

Mr. Davies has given me some account also of the annual pilgrimage to the Fan mountains [Carmarthen Fans] to see the Lake Lady: these are his words on the subject — they recall pp. 15-16 above:

— "It has been the yearly custom (for generations, as far as I can find) for young as well as many people further advanced in years to make a general excursion in carts, gambos, and all kinds of vehicles, to ILyn y Fan [Llyn y Fan Fach], in order to see the water nymph (who appeared on one day only, viz. the first Sunday in August). This nymph was said to have the lower part of her body resembling that of a dolphin, while the upper part was that of a beautiful lady: this anomalous form appeared on the first Sunday in August (if the lake should be without a ripple) and combed her tresses on the reflecting surface of the lake. The yearly peregrination to the abode of the Fan deity is still kept up in this valley — Cwmtawe; but not to the extent that it used to formerly."

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The Medieval Grimoire "The Picatrix" on the Colors and Pigments of the Zodiacal Sign of Aries

The Medieval Grimoire "The Picatrix" on the Colors and Pigments of the Zodiacal Sign of Aries

The Picatrix (or in Arabic Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm) is an early medieval book of magick, astrology, and alchemy (an early form of chemistry). In the study of esotericism and the magickal arts, this book has been used for centuries as a grimoire, as well as an important historical source text. One section of the book is dedicated to describing the colors associated with the Zodiac signs, and how to make inks, pigments, and paints corresponding to those colors. The instructions for the sign of Aries are as follows (some of these substances are toxic, so do not try this at home!):

"§13 The color of the first face of Aries is red and is made thus: take one part each of oak gall, gum arabic, and orpiment. Grind them up separately, then mix them together. When you desire to write or paint anything with it, combine it with egg whites."

[The word "Orpiment" is an elision of the Latin "auri pigmentum", or "gold pigment." It is a deep yellow-colored arsenic sulfide mineral (As2S3) found around volcanoes and hot springs. It is a byproduct of the decay of another arsenic mineral, realgar (α-As4S4). Orpiment has long been used as a gold pigment base from ancient Rome to China.]

"The color of the second face is yellow of a golden hue, and it is made thus: take equal parts of blue vitriol and talc. Grind them up separately, and mix them with honey. Distill this into a little gum arabic, and set it aside for the ritual."

[Blue vitriol, also known as calcanthum, is a copper sulfate.]

"The tincture of the third face is white and is made thus: take equal parts of white lead and talc."

Originally posted on our Random Religion and Spirituality blog at:

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A Simple Yet Effective Grounding Meditation Exercise

A Simple Yet Effective Grounding Meditation Exercise

1. Sit or stand in a comfortable position, with your back straight but not rigid.

2. Take a slow, deep breath in through your nose. When you are ready, breathe out through your nose, and relax.

3. Proceed to let your breath flow slowly and naturally without pause - in and out. Breathe calmly and without restriction.

4. Gently focus your attention on your root chakra at the base of your spine.

5. Imagine a connection opening up between your root chakra and the Earth. This connection can take many forms and can be different each time you practice. Some like to visualize it as a tree trunk or roots, a hollow bamboo stalk, a silver tube, a beam of light, a flow of menstrual blood, and so on.

6. Visualize this energetic connection extending from your root chakra down into Mother Earth, passing through the crust and bedrock, deep into the planet's molten mantle or metallic core.

7. Once you have formed this connection, allow any overwhelming emotional sensations or negative energies - such as fear, anger, lethargy, panic, hyperactivity, grief, shame, guilt, or anxiety - to flow through your connection down into the center of Mother Earth. 

8. There, in a fiery blast, see the energy purified and returned back to you as a safe, loving, peaceful, accepting, and comforting Life Force.

9. Take your time to maintain this flowing connection - overwhelming energy down, soothing energy back up.

10. Practice your grounding meditation regularly. As you move through your day, consciously remind yourself to ground, and then perform this meditation again. Notice the difference that it makes in your mood, stability, and calmness. Whenever you feel off-balance or fearful, continue to perform this meditation and you will see positive results.

Originally posted on our Random Religion and Spirituality blog at:

https://random-religion-and-spirituality.blogspot.com/

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