Two Powers Meditation - Part 2.

187 words later...

The Two Powers meditation is a form of what we call 'grounding and centering'. It serves a few purposes:

- Its intent is to get the participants in ritual to clear their minds so that they can focus on the work at hand. (ie, "letting go" of the things that distract us from the purpose of being there to perform ritual) - to create some semblance of personal inner order out of chaos.

- Its intent is to attune, or link, the person undergoing it to not just the magical currents around them, but to the living beings around us as well. In the Core Order of Ritual (which I will otherwise know use COoR to describe), this is also known as "Establishing the Group Mind". I see this as two-fold: we prepare the constituents of the ritual mentally and emotionally to then be ready to create the physical sacred space.

I say "its intent is" because I have definitely had moments where absolutely nothing kept me from being distracted enough for the meditation to be effective - I'm guessing that isn't just specific to myself alone.

Impressions and insights

- The Two Powers is one of my personal favorite spots of the COoR because it gives the opportunity to settle into ritual space and to actually take a breath. Until it happens, my mind is usually still in prep-for-ritual mode.

- For me, establishing that group mind is the opportunity to be self-centered (literally) before delving into (what I see to be) the intense, focused sort of maelstrom of the recreated cosmos. For me, having a solid core of contentedness is integral not just to my enjoyment of the ritual, but to my emotional (and likely mental) well being as the ritual progresses. The opening of the Gates and the presence of the Kindred always has a huge impact on me, and if I'm not readily prepared for it, I find myself overcome by the intensity of it - and that's hard to recover in the middle of a time when you would be thinking of giving offering or receiving blessings.

- With that, it's also the opportunity for me to experience the energies and the balance that the Grove has. Many of the Two Powers meditations that I've experienced through multiple Groves use the "reach out those (branches/powers/energies) to the people around you; know you are not alone - that we are not one tree, but a Grove of trees" sort of thing. It's inclusive, rather than exclusive.