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A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine. May's Theme: "Vision"
Volume 2 Issue 4 ISSN# 1708-3265


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 Meditate a Moment
Inner Vision
Featuring: Tira Brandon-Evans

Before you begin the exercises you must first consider one essential aspect of your mind, your imagination. Until we tell a child otherwise they do not question the world of their imagination nor do they question whether or not the people they encounter in their 'imaginary' worlds are 'real'. A little girl may be just as happy attending a tea party with her invisible friends as she might be playing with visible friends. A young boy can be just as contented to engage in an active role playing adventure with non-material buddies as he is to rough-house with his friends in this world. For some reason this behaviour makes many adults uncomfortable. These are the grown-ups who are quick to point out to children, both their own and those of others, that this sort of play is 'only' imagination. They rush to correct the imaginative child and in some cases will even punish a child who continues to relate to invisible friends or tell stories of their Otherworld adventures.

A part of this is a desire on the part of a parent or well-meaning adult to prevent the child in question from developing 'mental illness'. How absurd. Children know quite well that their invisible friends do not live in this world. Most children when questioned in a gentle way, without being patronised, will maintain that their invisible friends are real. But when the point is pushed a bit further will also freely admit that 'Rosie', 'Daisy', or the 'Little Mermaid' are not real in the same sense that their dog Spot is real. They understand that their Otherworld friends are not material beings. Such children will, if given half an opportunity, carefully explain all of this to anyone who expresses an interest. Enjoying the company of invisible friends is not the same thing as being delusional. But what if we fail to correct such children when they are young? Won't they eventually grow up to be schizophrenic? A small percentage may but if so it will not be because they spent time with faery friends. Schizophrenia is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and has nothing to do with a childhood belief in faerys. If one is to correlate the one with the other one may as well point out that many schizophrenics went to Church as children and try to equate their Christian beliefs with their illness.

Exercise 1 - Counted Breath (10-15 minutes)

  • This exercise should be done outdoors if possible. Find yourself a private place and, facing east, sit comfortably with both of your feet on the earth. A tree stump, a felled tree, or a rock will serve nicely as a seat. If weather permits you should be barefoot. Set your timer or start your tape or CD. Close your eyes. Focus your attention on your breathing. Just observe your breathing, do not try to control it. After a few breaths begin to count them. A full cycle of inspiration and exhalation is one breath. Count ten breaths, then begin the count at one again.

  • As you do this exercise you will become aware of a shift in your consciousness. I know the shift has occurred when I experience a sensation that feels as if the entire back of my head has opened up or expanded. Some people feel a sort of a click, as if a switch has been thrown inside them. You may have a completely different signal. At any rate, you will feel lighter, your body will be very relaxed and your mind calm.

  • Each time you repeat the Breath Counting exercise you will achieve that state of non-ordinary consciousness more and more quickly. This Breath Counting exercise is done at the opening of all of the exercises that follow. When it is combined with another exercise you need not breath count for a full 10-15 minutes. You only need to do so until you have achieved a state of altered consciousness. Do this at least once a day for a week before going on to Exercise 2.

Exercise 2 - Inner Vision (10-15 minutes)

  • 2A: Sit comfortably on the floor or in a chair at a table. Place a candle about 18" in front of you and light it. Become aware of your breathing. Begin counting your breaths again, as before. As you do so look at the candle flame. Do not stare at the flame, merely look at it as you would look at a book or at a television screen.

    After you have gazed at the candle flame for about ten counted breaths close your eyes. You will observe that the image of the candle flame lingers in your inner vision. Concentrate on this image of the candle flame until it begins to fade away. Open your eyes again and look at the candle, as before, for about ten breaths and shut your eyes again. Do this at least once a day for a week before going on to 2B.

  • 2B: Repeat 2A but begin to reduce the length of time you look at the candle flame with your outward vision. When the image of the candle begins to fade try to visualise it and hold the visualisation in your inner sight as long as you can. Do this once a day for a week before going on to 2C.

  • 2C: Sit comfortably on the floor or in a chair at a table. Place a candle about 18" in front of you but do not light it. Become aware of your breathing. Begin counting your breaths again, as before. As you do so look at the candle wick. Visualise a flame on the wick. While you visualise the candle flame do not stare at the wick, merely look at it as you would look at a book or at a television screen.

    Close your eyes and visualise the candle flame. Hold the visualisation in your inner sight as long as you can. Do this once a day for a week before going on to 2D.

  • 2D: Sit comfortably on the floor or in a chair at a table. Place some object, such as a rose petal, an apple, a leaf, or anything else of simple shape, about 18" in front of you. Become aware of your breathing. Begin counting your breaths again, as before. As you do so look at the object. Do not stare at the object, merely look at it as you would look at a book or at a television screen.

    Close your eyes and visualise the object. Hold the visualisation in your inner sight as long as you can. Do this once a day for a week.

While you are doing the various parts of Exercise 2 you must relax. Feelings of anxiety, of whether or not you are able to visualise, will not help you to develop the ability. Visualisation is a skill like any other and, with practice, it can be learned. If you apply yourself you will be very pleasantly surprised at what you can do. Be sure to record all of your experiences in your journal. One day you will be glad that you did. Try to do both the Counted Breath and Inner Vision exercises at least once a day for the first month. Later on, when you begin to travel in the Shining Country, you will only be working every other day or every second day. But these two exercises are your foundation. Like any foundation it should be as solid as possible.

(Excerpted from The Green and Burning Tree: A Faery Shamans Handbook
Copyright (c) 2001 by Tira Brandon-Evans. All rights reserved. Used with permission in writing from Tira Brandon-Evans and Elder Grove Press.)



Tira Brandon-Evans is the Founder and Moderator of the Society of Celtic Shamans, an editor of Earthsongs: Journal of the Society of Celtic Shamans, and is, herself, a Faery Shaman. Her books, The Green and Burning Tree: A Faery Shaman's Handbook, Portals of the Seasons: A Celtic Wheel of the Year, The Labyrinthine Way: Walking Ancient Paths in a Modern World, and Healing Waters, are all published by Elder Grove Press. She is presently writing a book about the Ogham. You may contact Tira by email.

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