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Underground > Temple >

An idea for guided meditation

13:46 / 08.01.03

For ages now I've been interested in the idea of creating and going through my own guided meditation, but I have a problem.

The examples I have come across (either from you wonderful guys or other sources) all have me travelling down to an enchanted glade or solitary woodland.

Now I'm a city boy, with only vague childhood memories of what the country feels like.

I have an idea, but want to take council of the wise ones here before starting. And it is this: why can't I set the meditation in an urban setting. Some basement bar/coffee house (thus employing the generic stepping down that I've found in most examples). Once in there taking a seat, maybe ordering a drink and communing with an elegant stranger who has come to bear me information rather than a white stag or whatever.

Would this be possible? And how beneficial would it be for me (or anyone)? Am I killing the mystism of the act by being "urban"?

You thoughts and comments please, thank you.

13:55 / 08.01.03

I think its a great idea and what chaos magick is all about IMHO. I think the idea about the fields or woodlands are used because they are peaceful but as long as you feel at ease in the bar/coffee house I can't see any problems? But then that's just me I'm sure some will disagree...

Nietzsch E. Coyote

14:11 / 08.01.03

Yeah I think that an urban guided meditation is a great idea. There are other reasons that one might choose a nature scene but that shouldn't stop you from trying. More on Urban Occultism. And The book City Magick already has made one. The book is dicussed as City Magick and Grant morrison.

But you go ahead and make one of your own.

20:43 / 08.01.03

On the other hand, surely the whole idea is to get away from the bustle of urban life? I was in the same situation as you, but rather than trying to make an urban 'zone' I went out into the woods and reminded myself what the real world was like outside the city, then brought that home with me to use in my meditations.

20:51 / 08.01.03

A museum, maybe? A lonely urban street, after hours?

15:28 / 09.01.03

A lonely urban street, after hours?

but surely Any "area" I enter during the meditation has to feel safe to me. The major impression I get from those examples I've studied gave the idea that the environment was welcoming and secure. This means in the conventional woodland glade meditation you don't panic when two wolves appear, bearing information.

I'm not to sure that a dark and lonely street would be appear to offer the same feeling of "safety".

Cheers for the book recommendation, shall but my local new age shop onto ordering it as soon as I have money and have finished my latest mystic book.

One further question: would the form of the messenger you meet during the meditation dictate the venue, or vice versa?

Goodness Gracious Meme

16:35 / 09.01.03

*nervously posting in the Magic for pretty much the first time. be nice to me, folks*

I've experienced something very similar with guided meditation as part of a course. The facilitator led us through various stages of visualisation, exploration etc and made *suggestions* as to the kind of environment that we might want to pick. These included, you guessed it, a woodland glade, a deserted beach etc. As an urban gal myself, I actually found that I didn't feel natural enough with any of these to get anywhere near exploration.

So in the end, I pictured a large library, with an open fire and lots of books/shelves/passages, and an incredibly large and comfy armchair as an anchor/safety point, if I needed it, and found this much easier to work with, explore and hold onto/summon back. I don't have much of a magickal background (make that almost none) but I've always felt with my own guided meditation that whatever environment gives me the safety (and inspiration, it's got to ineterest/excite me) to visualise, create and explore is the one for me.

How does this sound to other people. Is there some point that I'm missing?

19:43 / 09.01.03

A library sounds pretty cool. Lots of elements there. Very Borges.

It might be worth mentioning that unlike most therapy-based guided meditations, the magick kind actually aren't quite that "safe and secure" - the idea is to be in a place where Other Things can manifest, and sometimes they can be kinda scary.

Woods and beaches aren't really "safe places" - they got wolves and sharks in 'em. And Ents. And kraken. They're not out-and-out dangerous, but still... not safe, entirely.

Minor point.

The key would be to imagine a place where, as the Spiritualists say, the veil feels thinner.

20:26 / 09.01.03

Lonely back streets, deserted underpasses where bums have nested and fires burn from garbage cans. Steam tunnels beneath the streets. Stairways that disappear into secret places and secluded back yards. Elevators that require special keys to reach the private penthouse view of the sprawl below. Playgrounds where the swings lazily drift back and forth with noone around to push them. A winding dirt path that leads beneath the train tracks to the river, where a tire swing lies just out of view from the streets above. Abandoned railway tunnels. Anything to do with trains, for that matter.

Yea, lots of good sites for urban styled vision journeys

Find something that feels magical, and see what shows up to talk to you.

Goodness Gracious Meme

21:50 / 09.01.03

It might be worth mentioning that unlike most therapy-based guided meditations, the magick kind actually aren't quite that "safe and secure"

Oh, duh me. Good point. Carry on.

Although in many therapy-based gm's, including the kind I was working with, although the idea is not neccessarily to be in the place where Other Things manifest, it is to create a space in which you may have safe spaces and dangerous spaces, a space where encounters can take place, and many of these will not neccessarily be safe or comfortable. Does that make sense. But I see your point.

22:05 / 09.01.03

It is never a bad idea to take an imaginary friend with you on these ventures. You might feel a bit silly, but then you'll have your imaginary friend there to back you up, and the people laughing at you will be imaginary too. Whatever happens, its nice to know that someone is watching your back.

22:38 / 09.01.03

cusm you sound like the narrator from the twilight zone!

01:42 / 10.01.03

I like the idea of an urban journeying. This sounds like another excuse to research the psychogeography of your location... (or to listen to Alan Moore's Highbury Working yet again...)

Other sites besides the deserted alleys and basement cafes might be the little herb/accupuncture shops, back room of the antique store, the specialty room of the used bookstore..

If you're up for an adventure, you could invoke IXAT and go for a ride!

14:50 / 10.01.03

Little book stores run by funny old men only open for 2 hours a day in the afternoon. Back rooms! Yes, backrooms are great. The back room of the t-shirt shop that is a head shop if you know who to ask. The upstairs lounge of the coffee shop nobody knows about because the place is an ancient renovated police station and the way up looks like its closed off. Rooftops of apartment buildings. Rickety steps in disrepair that lead to holes in fences, paths leading to abandoned prayer gardens of monestaries. Little parks nobody knows about anymore where locals build fires and hold drum circles in the summer. Cemetaries that have the best hilltop view of the city in town. Tiny alleys in town that pass historic landmark buildings you can't see from the main street.

It all sounds fanciful, but all in this and my prior post are actually real places in Pittsburgh. Yea, I've done a bit of hiking about... Cities are neat places when you poke about for their secrets.

15:50 / 10.01.03

Although in many therapy-based gm's, including the kind I was working with, although the idea is not neccessarily to be in the place where Other Things manifest, it is to create a space in which you may have safe spaces and dangerous spaces, a space where encounters can take place, and many of these will not neccessarily be safe or comfortable. Does that make sense. But I see your point.

Yeah, that makes sense. More of a subtle shading of difference rather than a this-is-safe,that-is-not thing. It's the same skill, just in a slightly different paradigm.

I was more answering adamswish's "any area has to feel safe."

16:19 / 10.01.03

wow... another delicious thread!

adamswish - nice place. Get a feeling I might run into that chap Surgot here.

cusm - it was great walking with you! Local knowledge is a prized commodity.

grant - do you live by that beach? it was beautiful

Bengali - Lovely. Very cosy, like the chair. The first thing that occurrecd to me is that its existence implies a building - with many doors to many rooms. Some lead outside. Into secret gardens.

Evy - the trusty sidekick! Don't leave home without it.

16:53 / 13.01.03

Just found this, and had to share.

The Entrances to Hell Website

Its a list, with pictures and map locations, of entrances to hell in or near London.

18:05 / 13.01.03

Shoot, I have one of those right in my office. I even have a sign on my door that says Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate...

23:38 / 13.01.03

Adamswish: lovely thread!

Though I've recently left the city, I would certainly endorse the idea of using an urban landscape. The city is as much a place of magic as the countryside.

I was thinking very strongly of the sequence with Mad Tom in the first couple of issues of The Invisibles when I read this thread.

What you could do is create a "fictional" place in your city - write it like a short story. Create the coffee shop, the newsagents, the library, the restaurant, the shopping mall, the occult book shop, the fotune teller, the temple, the pawnshop etc. Maybe even drawn a map for this place, and populate it with people. Then, create a pathworking/meditation for you to go and visit and get advice - or just to explore it. You could create archetypal characters for each of the areas, and they will probably react accordingly. You could have a rusty and gritty shrine to the City Totem as well. It could be set in any time period, or perhaps, have multiple time zones. You could do lots of variations on this theme - such as using actual locations in the city and see what happens when you go visit them in a pathworking. It will really acquaint you with the Spirit(s) of the city.

This sounds like an idea I may even use myself. Cheers!

23:40 / 13.01.03

By the way, that entrances to hell site is fabulous!

12:40 / 14.01.03

What you could do is create a "fictional" place in your city - write it like a short story

So I create the place first and then produce a pathworking to it, rather than have the pathworking make the place. Thanks wyrd, I hadn't considered that.

Actually reading that last post put me onto two ideas: 1) incorporate elements of the on-line novel I'm currently creating (if you're interested pm me for the site address), and 2) an image of the pub in the first Harry Potter film.

I will do this but have to ask one (what may be a silly) question: are there any rules for the creation of pathworkings?

I've mentioned the steps down into the "place". I'm guessing from the various locations that have been mentioned (and loved the roof garden, reminded me of the one in "Cure for Cancer") that these are not strictly necessary, just as long as you have something that concerntrates the mind into experiencing where it is being lead into.

Or if there are no rules as such how about common elements that should be included when creating pathworking?