Guided Meditation For The Warrior Path

In a discussion with a local group of pagan warriors, we realized that we needed something to open up our training sessions. This is something that I'm still working on, but hopefully others will find it useful as well.

Guided Opening Meditation For The Warrior Path

1) Breathe in deeply and breathe out. Continue to do so as you release
any negativity that you are holding on to. Fear, worry and doubt
inhibit focus. Relax your muscles and concentrate on your breathing. In
and out. Let all of your emotional hang ups drain from you and float
away. Once complete:

2) Visualize a warrior from whatever time period and culture you
choose. Take in every facet of their image. Their armor, their weapons,
their face, their hands, their legs. Watch the ripple of each muscle as
they utilize their entire  body as a fighting tool. Hear the roar from
their lips as they make contact with their target. Embrace the
determination they exude as they focus on their mission at hand. Feel
their strength as they put every bit of themselves into accomplishing
their goal. Breathe in the spirit of all they represent. In and out.
Envision that spirit floating down into your core and becoming a part
of you. Don't stop until you can feel that spirit fully within your
core and let it center you. Once you are centered, let it push out from
your core and into your legs, arms, out to your fingers and toes and
into your head. Let it engulf you.

3)  Without letting go of that spirit, shift your focus out through
your fingers, toes, ears, nose, mouth and every pore to take in your
current environment. Hear the rustle of every leaf and the sound of
every creature moving around you. Feel the wind and sunlight sweep over
you. See every tree, branch, rock, piece of dirt, or blade of grass. In
this moment, take in every person, every voice, every little sound, and
every smell. Be completely aware of where you are and who you are.
Sight, smell, taste, touch - these are all tools of a warrior from
ancient times to now and constant awareness should be your goal state
of being. Take all of it in.

In this moment, you are the warrior and let nothing distract you from
your focus and training. You are filled with honor, strength,
determination, passion, and courage. Train today as if your life and
tribe depend upon it because one day, they might.

(Time to train)

Closing Meditation For The Warrior Path

still in progress

Do your words reflect you?

I promise not to get too preachy on this blog, but I felt this fit perfectly here since I have not mentioned my faith very much. Enjoy! -

My words reflect who I am and what I believe. I'm a Warrior who lives the philosophy of the Fianna - "Truth in our hearts, Strength in our arms and Fulfillment in our tongues." Truth is spirituality that is specific to the individual as revealed by communing with deity and study. Strength is being physically capable of living your truth through keeping the body healthy and ready for whatever comes (specifically battle) and fulfillment means living a life as far from fallacies and deception as possible through not only actions, but through my words. Perhaps a more general look at it could be - Knowing Truth, Living Truth and Speaking Truth.

I pull no punches and I speak bluntly. I can do so without being insulting, but some consider my lack of beating around the bush as being tactless. It is far from it. What I recommend reflects me. If I knowingly recommend any group or website or book to study that I'm telling others they should read to learn from (in the manner that what they learn is "truth") and I know it's main component is fallacies that is a direct reflection on me.

Others choose to go about things other ways and that is their right. I prefer to be myself and speak my mind. We pagans are a vast and very different group of people with many different paths and many different opinions. I personally think that which should draw us together should be the reality of our deities in a world where they are compatible with that which is natural. Not a world where our faith is based on lies.

If we can't take ourselves seriously how will outsiders?

Make The Decision

I find that my journey is no different from anyone who needs to lose weight. There is a moment in your life where you say “I need to change this.” I am overweight and it started with my pregnancy. I was laid off from a job where I was constantly active and on my feet then placed on bed rest for a portion of my pregnancy, and then it all went down hill from there. I would sit in bed not being very active at times and just eat whatever I felt like eating. Prior to my pregnancy and for the first few months of it I was exactly where I wanted to be weight wise and I had the nice flat stomach I absolutely loved. Here I am now, fifty pounds overweight and my son is almost two years old.

I have had friends that had children around the same time I did and within nine months had lost the weight just by no longer being pregnant. I attributed my inability to do so to genetics as my mother has had issues with her weight since giving birth to us and left it at that. It was when I began getting run down and having no energy to do anything and yet the will to want to that I knew there was something more going on so this took me to the doctor. He put together all my symptoms and we decided that taking a synthetic hormone could help my mood and it has, in some ways, though in others maybe I’m just not taking enough or what have you to alleviate everything. Some of my symptoms have gotten slightly better and others have not. There isn’t much of an exact science in this case and so figuring out the right dosage will have to be part of my journey as well.

My story isn’t unlike a lot of other women, but my path very much is. Since the birth of my son I have found a renewed strength in my faith. My religious beliefs are very alternative and are even alternative within the sub-sect that I practice within. As a Celtic Reconstructionist I practice a religious tradition that perhaps only a few hundred others do. While it fits into the larger scale of paganism my tradition is a minority within a minority. This has pushed me to “put my money where my mouth” is in regards to what I believe and practice. There is no one else to lead the way for my child so if I don’t set the example he will have no understanding of the tradition I put all of my heart and soul into.

In my tradition there are various different positions one can hold just as there were in the ancient times. Within the Celtic tradition one can be, amongst other things, a Bard, a Healer, a Druid or a Warrior. I am the later. Some could say it is by choice and in some ways it is, but for the most part, just like anything else in faith, my thriving to be a Warrior is a calling. As such it’s time to put my money where my mouth is and stop putting off the practice and training that I have always wanted or intended or sort of done before and I am hoping this public proclamation and documentation will keep me on that track. Sadly, I make this decision right at a time of celebration that usually involves lots of eating and drinking so while I am starting this blog now, the journey truly begins once everything calms down. To quote Lao-tzu, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” so here it goes.

Blackbird
205 pounds