Daily Practice
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Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I've been thinking about daily practices of late, and wonder what other people do. I do resh throughout the day. I do the lesser pentagram ritual. I read/study. What other things are there to do? Any suggestions? What do you do?
I'm new to Thelema and magic in general, so please bear with me.
Thank you.
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I do the MPR and meditate for 30-60 minutes and do some Tarot reading as well. To me that routine has given me a pretty good broadness into the magick field. Working with inert mind, with divination principles, with rituals and with information.
There is also another thread with this and much better information, but I don't think it was started with your particular question and I didn't find it when I checked now, so hope someone not as noob as me answers as well.
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@nui said
"I've been thinking about daily practices of late, and wonder what other people do. I do resh throughout the day. I do the lesser pentagram ritual. I read/study. What other things are there to do? Any suggestions? What do you do?"
Speaking very generally, I have found it useful to balance each day's work between ritual exercises, meditation, and intellectual pursuits. Add some meditation to what you're already doing, and you'll probably have a good program going.
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I'd be interested (possibly in this thread) to hear how people "meditate." There are many different ways to interpret that word: contemplation, one-pointed fixation, "baiting a hook" and lowering into the waters of your subconscious...
What is most important to me, really, has been meditation. I enjoy the LBRP and the MPR. I did Liber Resh for a month before I realized I didn't feel like saying a bunch of words I didn't understand anymore. But, my favorite part of my routine is the meditation-meditation, not a Tarot meditation or a creative visualization, or a contemplative meditation, but what I call just plain "meditation." After the LBRP and MPR, I do a one-pointed breathing meditation where I breathe with a full Yogic breath and follow my breath with my mind. That's it. I could lose myself in that practice for hours without a timer. These days, I am starting off with some Tibetan rituals with the bell, dorje and phurpa as well as Tara meditation, because I find them profoundly honest (simple & meaningful), but after all this, I dig in/clear out with the breathing meditation.
I follow this with the Tarot meditation (take in a Key for 5 minutes, close eyes and "listen" ** for another 5 [the "answers" seem to come out during my everyday interactions, rather than while I'm actively listening]). Then, I do a 5 minute creative visualization. All in all, it takes quite a bit of time and is kind of a nuissance to avoid my girlfriend in our small apartment. I generally do the LBRP/MPR in the kitchen and then go through a period of waiting for her to get the **** out of my way!
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@Redd Fezz said
"I follow this with the Tarot meditation (take in a Key for 5 minutes, close eyes and "listen" ** for another 5 [the "answers" seem to come out during my everyday interactions, rather than while I'm actively listening]). Then, I do a 5 minute creative visualization. All in all, it takes quite a bit of time and is kind of a nuissance to avoid my girlfriend in our small apartment. I generally do the LBRP/MPR in the kitchen and then go through a period of waiting for her to get the **** out of my way!
"What a great technique. I bet if you persist in that kind of banishing with sufficient regularity, you can banish her all the way out of your life in no time flat!
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Good idea Redd. I'd also much appreciate the experiences and methods of others on this forum about meditation.
My own form of meditation is much as you describe it, but I'm not capable (as far as I've so far experienced at least) to disappear into the breathing. I use that merely as a means to calm down and dissipate the thought trains for a while, and then I continue to simply breathe normally.
I am still - and have been for most of my meditation practice, which lasts well over a year of perpetual attempts - wrestling with thoughts popping up that won't leave me alone. It's almost impossible for me to get rid of them, so if anyone has some tips I'd be most appreciative!
I'm trying to reach the Void<tm> and let it lead me wherever it wants. My method is to see thoughts as external events, disconnected from the I, which is inert and perceptive. I've recently read the Kybalion and tried out the Principle of Polarity, only to realize that that's what I'd been doing since I was a teenager, but now that I had it spelled out I find it much more useful as an instrument to focus my attention (on for example not focusing my attention on anything at all).
I've had some moments during my highpoint (from which I've slid down because I've been straining myself in asana lately... grumble) when I fell through what felt like a gap. The best way to describe it is the scene in Trainspotting when the main character has an OD and falls through the carpet into the floor. From there I usually had much more tranquil sensations, connectedness etc. and whenever any makyo appeared they were so intense it frightened me back to "reality" again. Once in that void I experienced existence as a web; there was only web everywhere around me and in me.
Sorry about the rant, but it's fun to talk about. -
@Redd Fezz said
" All in all, it takes quite a bit of time and is kind of a nuissance to avoid my girlfriend in our small apartment... I generally do the LBRP/MPR in the kitchen and then go through a period of waiting for her to get the **** out of my way!
"...being a girlfriend who needs to get the **** out of the way sometimes, it's useful to know I can just grab a book, go into the bedroom, and shut the door. There are also walks to be taken and phone calls to make outside. I've even done my bathroom routines timed to his practices, so he has the rest of the place to himself. grins
I also find that when my significant other is polite and honest about what he's about to do (ie: "I need to do some ritual that you can't be a part of right now, which room would you like to be in so I don't bother you?") it's easier for me to respond to him positively. Because he was like that at the beginning we're in a groove now where I don't even think about it and we just find room for him to do his thing.
I can see how one could get cranky pretty easily if the other weren't forthcoming with both manners and clear communication....not to say that you're rude to her--you didn't imply that at all in your message. I'm just talking in general. Maybe someone else needs the clue
It's hard sharing space with someone in the first place, and when one has a different magical practice than the other, certain cares need to be taken. It's so much easier to handle someone being nice rather than them telling you to get the **** out of the way. The latter would make me feel resentful and/or jealous about whatever it is that they are doing, and that can't be healthy for a magical practice at all.Just my $.02. I hope the babble wasn't too off-topic!
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@Andie said
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...being a girlfriend who needs to get the **** out of the way sometimes..."Nothing to worry about.
- my girlfriend knows about my practice
- my altar is in the bedroom
- my girlfriend is sleeping when I start in the kitchen
- my girlfriend is going back and forth from bathroom to bedroom, while I finish up.
It's not a big deal. The same sort of stuff many people go through in college, etc. trying to find a space to do their work. There's no hostility between us. Didn't you notice the big yellow smiley face I put there?
It's just about juggling the different practices so I won't be interrupted. IE. I don't perform the LBRP/MPR in the kitchen when she's making breakfast; I do it while she's still sleeping. And I don't go into the bedroom and chant while she's sleeping because that would probably be annoying while you're trying to sleep (same reason I do the LBRP/MPR in the kitchen). Basically, I break it all up so that I can arrive at my job in a somewhat timely manner. I can't move my altar into any other room but the bedroom, which I share with her. Make sense? I could wait for her to leave and do it all in one fell swoop, but then I'd be late for my job. -
@Nui said
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I've been thinking about daily practices of late, and wonder what other people do. I do resh throughout the day. I do the lesser pentagram ritual. I read/study. What other things are there to do? Any suggestions? What do you do?
I'm new to Thelema and magic in general, so please bear with me.
Thank you."
I'm starting everything again from scratch to do some serious work in the future.
Now, I'm on 2 LBRP's daily+dream recovery.
on 10. November, I'll add a MPR after each daily LBRP, plus lucid dreaming techniques
on 10. Febryary,
+BRH
+12'-15' once daily, a tarot (major arcana) meditation using one HOGD card per week +astral projection (not body of light now)around that date, I'll add Liber Resh. When I did Resh for a 3-month period in the past, it has done really good things to my life and practice, I was really astonished after a while. However, If I start it now, I'm sure to abandon the practice.
around 10. August(!), the tarot will change to A.C.'s tarot. Plus Liber E.
Good times.
I'm taking it slowly ON PURPOSE: If I start doing LBRP+BRH+MP twice daily, I'm sure to abandon it in 2 months or so. By taking it slowly, I'm pretty sure I can have much better results.
P.S. More and more people decide to start again from scratch, having done much, but not very organised work in the past. For the ones that cannot join a group and must work alone: Be organised! Take your time!
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Currently,
I do Asana and Liber Resh vel Helios daily.
Before I got oh so sick, I was doing the star ruby and middle pillar daily, but I had started to slack off some days because of my sleep deprivation.Soon I will begin to do the star ruby again. On the 11th actually. Then perhaps a month later I will begin Middle Pillar, then 6 months after I will begin Star Sapphire. The whole time doing 30 minutes or more of asana, and doing resh 4 times a day.
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Re: Practices R' Us?!
My daily practices have fluctuated since day one. I use to be very zealous in my practices, trying to get in as much as I could -- mostly for the process of learning all the modes and methods of the magical accoutrement that were out there. As I have 'aged' into my Work, I find that a simple salad and cup of tea can have amazing powers of regeneration! [grin]
But, in all cases I try to apply my rituals so that I am exercising my Body, Mind and Spirit. So, I exercise in the morning getting the cardiovascular system up and running, coupled with my Yidam [devotional] meditation and practice. I will also do a middle pillar, Clavis Rei Primae and Rousing of the Citadels [Ordo Aurum Solis] coupled to a Setting of the Wards of Adamant or Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. And again, this is dependent on time and space issues...I try not to kick myself in the arse if I am not 100% consistent...though I aim for it. [grin]
Then in the afternoon, I might work with a japa [repetitive mantram] while walking, read yet another tome of Light [so many, so little time] and then in the evening, pranayama, meditation, correspondence and magical journal maintenance.
It is to this last item that I can not express the importance of maintaining enough. It is a tool which will be a rich reward in the course of years and will aid those who come after you. Something to really consider as you begin this Work.
Alas, there are those special feast days and occasions [Equinox and Solstice, Pagan Holidays, healing rituals, etc] that warrant a definitive programs of practices and rites which are appropriate to that Working. And as you extend these actions over the years, your bag of tools will only grow allowing for greater flexibility and diversity in your practices.
Above all, take your time doing them and do with with love and joy for the craft you are nurturing within.