Calling the Two Powers

Begin, Oh seeker of wisdom, with your breath… breathe deeply, from your belly… in… and out… make your body comfortable… stretch if you need to, settle in place… and focus on your breath… observe your breath as it flows in and out of your body… and with each breath, allow your body to relax… let your breath carry away tension from your flesh.. relaxing your feet and legs… letting your belly soften and relax… breathing away tension from your shoulders and arms… from your neck… relaxing your face and mouth, your eyes… with each breath your body becoming warmer, comfortable and relaxed… your mind alert and prepared for magic…

Now, with your body still and calm, imagine that from your feet, or the base of your spine, roots begin to grow downward… roots reaching and growing into the earth, down through soil and stone… deepening and spreading… reaching to touch the waters under the Earth… the Earth current… the dark, cool, magnetic power that nourishes and sustains life… as your roots touch this current it is drawn in and up toward your body… your breath draws the Earth power upward… into your body… the invisible, magnetic power fills your legs, energizing and strengthening… waters rise from the earth, into your legs… rising… into your loins… and pooling in your loins, a cauldron of Earth power… You breathe the power upward… rising from the earth, through your loins, rising up your spine… into your heart… pooling and filling a cauldron in your heart with healing, restoring energy… power rising from the deep, through your loins, through your heart… rising up your spine and into your head… filling a cauldron of wisdom and vision behind your eyes… and rising still, filling all your body and flowing out again through the crown of your head… through your hands… flowing out around your body and back into the earth… the power under the Earth flows in you… grounding you in the source of life…

Now imagine the sky overhead… The sun and moon and, far beyond them, the stars… imagine a single star at the center of the sky, shining directly over your head… the center of your inner sky, your own pole-star…see a flash of light shining down from that star… streaming down between moon and sun… gold, silver and blue-white light… the bright, warm, electric power of the sky… the light touches your head, filling and illuminating the cauldron like sun on still water… shining from above… filling your head with warm, awakening power… flowing down into your heart… warming the cauldron… shining down through head and heart, illumining the waters… downward to reach your loins… The cauldron shines with sky power in your loins… Tingling, electrical light in head, heart and loins… the light flows downward into Earth, and you are shining and flowing with the mingled powers of Earth and sky… the raw material of magic… the chaos of potential and the world order…

These powers are balanced in you… yours to shape and use… always with you in some degree… But for now, allow the powers to recede… waters to the Earth, light to the sky… knowing that each time you attune to them you become more attuned, more at one with the powers… breath deep… and allow your awareness to return to your common senses… as you open your eyes…

The Nine Breaths Centering

Preparation – find your comfortable seat (or stance), and make your body easy. Take a few deep, regular breaths, perhaps beginning your rhythmic count. When you have taken a few breaths, you begin…

• 1st Breath – Draw the Earth Power up into your body, filling the Cauldron or pool in the loins.
• 2nd Breath – Draw the Earth Power up through the loins to fill the Cauldron in the heart. Feel the cool, nourishing power as it fills you…
• 3rd Breath – Draw the Power through the loins and the heart, to fill the head. See the Earth Power overflowing from the Three Centers through the whole body. For the rest of the work, each breath moves the Power through the Three Cauldrons and the body.
• 4th Breath– feel the Sky Power shining down through the whole body, and feel the Cauldron in the head kindle with the fire of the sky.
• 5th Breath – the Sky Power brightens in the body, and the second Cauldron kindles in it’s rays.
• 6th Breath – The Power shines brighter, and the Cauldron in the loins kindles. The Light fills the Waters, and the Two Powers flow throughout the body.
• 7th Breath – the combined powers are directed through throughout the body, intensified and concentrated.
• 8th Breath– turn the palms of the hands upward, and direct the Powers, with the breath, into the palms of the hands. See the Waters overflowing the fingers and the Light or Flame shining up from the hands. (In many cases, there may be work to be done with the power at this point. Whenever needed, the Powers can now be employed as needed. The `Ninth Breath’, then, comes when one wishes to end. .)
• 9th Breath – place the palms of the hands together, and allow the powers to recede and re-center, ceasing to flow through the hands.
• Settling – take a few breaths to relax again, and allow the powers to calm.