Note that this article was originally composed for Haligwaerstow's Clergy Program. However, as it also pertains to skills needed in spae craft it is being published online here as well.
Types of Meditation
As Winifred mentioned in Beginning Meditation, Part I there are three primary forms of meditation, "repetitive meditation," "immersion meditation," and "empty mind meditation." As Winifred has already covered "repetitive meditation," I will cover "immersion meditation," and "empty mind meditation" here.
Immersion meditation
Immersion meditation is very similar to repetitive meditation in that one is focusing on a subject. However, instead of it being one subject, such as a short galdor, phrase, or a single word, it is an entire situation, thought construct, maybe even the universe its self. Immersion meditation therefore can be the most difficult form to learn. Immersion meditation can be purposeless in that the idea is not to achieve something material, but to allow thoughts, ideas, realizations to come to you of their own accord. Or it can be goal oriented, in that a goal to understand something better is set, and then contemplated until understanding is reached.
With immersion meditation one immerses one in a concept, an idea, an imagined place, a symbol, or other types of constructs. For example, one may wish to immerse themselves in the ideas behind the concept of Wyrd. Using immersion meditation, this can be done many ways. First one might wish to try merely immersing themselves in all the intellectual concepts surrounding Wyrd and its operation. They might meditate on the meanings behind the words Wyrd and orlog, and contemplate related words and their meanings . Another way to immerse one's self in Wyrd may be more visual in nature. One might visualize themselves at the Well of Wyrd, watching the Wyrd Sisters water the World Tree, recite orlog, and carve on the staves. Or they might visualize their life as a thread in the great loom of Wyrd. Or they might try to visualize their own orlog in some way, perhaps as a book, a thread, or a miniature version of the Well of Wyrd. Using immersion meditation, there are any number of ways one might try to contemplate Wyrd. Often in immersion meditation, the aim is to "become one with" whatever subject one is meditating on in order to better understand it. For example, if one were to want to contemplate a tree, one may visualize that they become one with the tree, feeling the branches sway in the wind, and the roots sinking deep in the earth.
This may be the core of immersion meditation, the becoming one with something in the mind to better understand it. Buddhists will speak of unification with objects or ideas, and this is often the idea behind immersion meditation. Buddhists and Hindus are not the only ones to practice immersion though. Christian monks will use similar techniques in the contemplation of Bible verses, or concepts such as the love of their God as do Jewish mystics. Immersion meditation can work equally as well for Heathens. First, one must go through the three steps of relaxation, calling on miht and mægen, and breathing. Once that is done, and one has achieved meditative silence, they can begin their immersion. This can be done by merely visualizing becoming one with an object or concept, or through guided meditation where one is guided by another verbally through a series of visual images. One could also begin immersion merely by thinking about the concept wishing to be meditated on. Any of these methods will work. The primary goal is not to let one's thoughts stray outside the subject of the immersion. For example, if one is contemplating the meaning of the human soul, they would not wish to start thinking about the car payment they need to make tomorrow. Tapes are often handy in immersion meditation as are visual symbols. For example, prayers to Frige played on a tape may aid in a meditation on that goddess as would a figure or picture made to represent her.
Immersion meditation has its strengths and weaknesses. Its primary strength is it is not limiting. That is immersion meditation allows one to see the whole of the concept they are contemplating without being drawn back to one word or phrase being chanted as with repetitive meditation. This is also its greatest weakness. It is possible for one's mind to stray in the contemplation of a topic, esp. when there are many related concepts. For example, someone contemplating Wyrd using immersion meditation may wander down the line of thoughts surrounding orlog, and from there precede to think about events in their own life. While this would be a good topic to meditate on, it may not achieve the goal if the goal is to understand the Wyrd of the universe, and not one's personal orlog.
Empty mind meditation
Empty mind meditation is just that, emptying the mind of all thoughts, memories, emotions, and sensations. This is done by stopping each thought as it enters the mind, and allowing the mind to think about nothing. The goal of empty mind meditation is not to think about nothing though, but to allow thought patterns to form naturally within the mind without personal control. This can only be achieved by first calming the mind, and emptying it of all thoughts.
Empty mind meditation is not a form of meditation that can be achieved in one setting. It has to be practiced at least weekly for many sessions. Over time, it will get harder to stop thoughts from arising, or as soon as one is stopped another will arise. At this point, one will merely want to observe one's own thoughts and fantasies, not control them. Over time, by releasing control of one's thoughts, thought processes will slow down and one will be able to examine and contemplate them. The goal of all of this is to learn to silence one's own mind to the point to sense thoughts they normally not notice. In many martial arts, empty mind meditation is used to develop intuition by silencing one's mind to the point that they are more aware of their surroundings. Thus empty mind meditation can be used to make one's self more aware of one's self as well as one's surroundings.
Empty mind meditation has many
strengths. It can be used as a simple relaxation technique, silencing
worrisome thoughts. It can be used as it is in martial arts to increase
one's awareness of their surroundings (not becoming lost in one's own
thoughts), or to increase awareness of one's own thoughts, feelings, or
emotions. Finally, it can be used to train to silence the mind enough
to hear the spirits and wights of the multiverse one may wish to
communicate with. Empty mind meditation's weaknesses though are
apparent as one cannot as in repetitive or immersion meditation center
on one object or related concepts. With empty mind one is when learning
to use it at the mercy of their own mind, or once they have learned to
use it, at the mercy of the sensations around them. And once one has
mastered empty mind they are at the mercy of both. None the less, empty
mind meditation is perhaps the best for spæ workers to learn.
Only by mastering empty mind meditation will they learn to silence
their minds enough to go in deep trance and hear the spirits that they
have invited.