Post by robincragin on Dec 7, 2015 10:13:00 GMT -5
What is a “Contemplative Day”? Every now and then, you will experience a retreat day of inner reflection during which you are encouraged to explore specific themes through your nonlinear, spiritual mind. As you have discovered in previous days, Wicca is a mystical path that places great emphasis on (and value in) direct experiential learning. While the formal acquisition of knowledge through conventional, linear, intellectual processes is important, your most important spiritual experience emerges from philosophical underpinnings and the contemplative days you will encounter each month facilitate your direct spiritual understanding of these points.
Meditative Question: What is at the center of knowledge?
Symbolic Color: Yellow
Symbolic Direction: East
Contemplation
Is knowledge an end in itself? How far can knowledge take you? The old magical saying is the there is “power in knowledge.” But are there limits to such a power? Does knowledge affect the spirit? Does it change who or what you are at the core? Does it change the essential character of nature? Like a series of Chinese boxes nestled one inside of the next, the contemplative question posed this month explores a great breadth of themes. What may surprise you is what emerges from your own inner core as you discover what lies at the center of knowledge. Is it truth? Is it freedom? Let’s find out together.
How to Use the Contemplative Question
To begin working with any of the contemplative questions, you should first find a comfortable meditative sitting position in a quiet space. Since this month’s question symbolically aligns with the compass direction of east, you should arrange your chair or cushion so that you can sit facing that direction. Light a candle, set it in front of you, and sit approximately two feet away from the flame. Since this month’s question
 symbolically aligns with the color yellow, you should choose a yellow candle for this contemplation.
*** Wicca is a system that embraces sympathetic magic. Sympathetic magic begins with (as one alchemical postulation states) the premise of “As above, so below,” meaning that unseen forces align with seen forces. If you can make changes in the physical world, you make changes spiritually. The reverse holds true as well; if you can make changes at the level of spirit, they will manifest as changes in the physical world. Therefore, many Western magical systems enumerate correspondences between the seen and unseen. These correspondences reputedly align the user with specific aspects of spiritual power. For example, facing east reputedly aligns one with the spiritual essences of that compass direction, which include such attributes as beginnings, newness, awakenings, hope, optimism, and faith. You will learn more specifics about magic and the use of correspondences later in your year, but as the year progresses, you will learn many of thesemagicalalignments. ***
As you sit comfortably and settle your consciousness, cast your gaze upon the flickering candle. Imagine that you hold the contemplative question firmly in the abdominal region. Imagine that you apply pressure to the question as though you were internally gripping an imaginary yellow ball with your abdominal muscles. Relax your shoulders and arms and breathe normally. Sit with this internal “holding” of the contemplative question for 20 minutes. If you should notice extraneous thoughts intruding as you concentrate on holding your contemplative question, simply maintain awareness that thoughts are coming and going in the mind, but quickly shift your focus back to holding the question.
Try not to solve the question through rational means of any sort. Just hold the question internally until an intuitive answer emerges. It is important to note that an answer to the contemplation may not emerge in one 20 minute sitting alone. You may not intuit an answer in direct response to your meditative inquiry. It may occur to you hours, days, or weeks later. It may occur to you as you take a shower or stand in line at the grocery store. For this reason it is important to merge with the contemplative question and engage it through each of your everyday tasks. Be prepared to receive an intuitive answer at any given moment. Give this process time and eventually a shift in your perception will take place through which you will realize your own answer.
Meditative Question: What is at the center of knowledge?
Symbolic Color: Yellow
Symbolic Direction: East
Contemplation
Is knowledge an end in itself? How far can knowledge take you? The old magical saying is the there is “power in knowledge.” But are there limits to such a power? Does knowledge affect the spirit? Does it change who or what you are at the core? Does it change the essential character of nature? Like a series of Chinese boxes nestled one inside of the next, the contemplative question posed this month explores a great breadth of themes. What may surprise you is what emerges from your own inner core as you discover what lies at the center of knowledge. Is it truth? Is it freedom? Let’s find out together.
How to Use the Contemplative Question
To begin working with any of the contemplative questions, you should first find a comfortable meditative sitting position in a quiet space. Since this month’s question symbolically aligns with the compass direction of east, you should arrange your chair or cushion so that you can sit facing that direction. Light a candle, set it in front of you, and sit approximately two feet away from the flame. Since this month’s question
 symbolically aligns with the color yellow, you should choose a yellow candle for this contemplation.
*** Wicca is a system that embraces sympathetic magic. Sympathetic magic begins with (as one alchemical postulation states) the premise of “As above, so below,” meaning that unseen forces align with seen forces. If you can make changes in the physical world, you make changes spiritually. The reverse holds true as well; if you can make changes at the level of spirit, they will manifest as changes in the physical world. Therefore, many Western magical systems enumerate correspondences between the seen and unseen. These correspondences reputedly align the user with specific aspects of spiritual power. For example, facing east reputedly aligns one with the spiritual essences of that compass direction, which include such attributes as beginnings, newness, awakenings, hope, optimism, and faith. You will learn more specifics about magic and the use of correspondences later in your year, but as the year progresses, you will learn many of thesemagicalalignments. ***
As you sit comfortably and settle your consciousness, cast your gaze upon the flickering candle. Imagine that you hold the contemplative question firmly in the abdominal region. Imagine that you apply pressure to the question as though you were internally gripping an imaginary yellow ball with your abdominal muscles. Relax your shoulders and arms and breathe normally. Sit with this internal “holding” of the contemplative question for 20 minutes. If you should notice extraneous thoughts intruding as you concentrate on holding your contemplative question, simply maintain awareness that thoughts are coming and going in the mind, but quickly shift your focus back to holding the question.
Try not to solve the question through rational means of any sort. Just hold the question internally until an intuitive answer emerges. It is important to note that an answer to the contemplation may not emerge in one 20 minute sitting alone. You may not intuit an answer in direct response to your meditative inquiry. It may occur to you hours, days, or weeks later. It may occur to you as you take a shower or stand in line at the grocery store. For this reason it is important to merge with the contemplative question and engage it through each of your everyday tasks. Be prepared to receive an intuitive answer at any given moment. Give this process time and eventually a shift in your perception will take place through which you will realize your own answer.