Path Finder
Living as a Pagan lends itself to so many means of expression and practice that it can become common practice to get overwhelmed and even lost in the endless opportunities. This happens to me very often, I get so excited about something that I will burn myself out, both mentally and spiritually. I therefore needed a way to narrow my path to 1 or 2 things at a time and this is what I came up with – a meditation to allow the subconscious, with the help of Raido, to focus on an area of study which will suited me at this point in my path and move me forward on my spiritual journey. I hope it will be as helpful for you as it has always been for me.
1. Ground and centre in your usual way and cast your circle.
2. Close your eyes, take several deep breaths and work in your usual way to reach a meditative state.
3. From the aether grow a forest – the astral forest. It should be dense. If you’ve ever heard the expression “Can’t see the forest for the trees”, this is the place of those proverbial trees. Each branch is a train of thought, each leaf a different destiny.
4. From the mulchy ground raise a large stone platform beneath you to stand on.
5. With your powers of visualisation engrave the Raido symbol into the platform so it resembles a giant archaic rune.
6. Next, create paths leading from the Raido platform; many paths leading through the trees of your subconscious and towards an exciting new area of study, medium of divination or other adventure.
7. At this point, strongly set the intention in your mind that you are looking for a new direction or a clearer path. This can be done by mind alone or with the addition of an incantation – my rhyming obsession comes out again…
Raido, rune of moving forth
Point me to my path’s true North
I’ve lost my way, your help I need
I will follow where you lead
8. Start the platform spinning deosil/sun-wise, slow at first… speeding up until the surrounding forest become a blur of colour and movement.
9. As when shuffling a deck of Tarot cards and you feel the cards are in the right place for your reading, you’ll know when to slow the spinning Raido to a halt because you will sense when the right path is approaching. I consider this stage similar to the staircases at Hogwarts (I often turn to J. K. Rowling for inspiration)... Sometimes, you’ll go somewhere different if you do this meditation on a Wednesday; whether you do it indoors or outside; does your astral forest surround you by conifers, oaks, sycamores… maybe delicate willow trees draped over a dancing stream? The answers you’re looking for are all in your forest.
10. The platform halts and one path will be directly in front of you. Follow it and let your imagination burst and bloom around you the nature of your path’s next step.
This meditation started a lot more simply but has always led me where I need to go; it’s inspiration started in a dream at the age of 13 – the platform, the many paths and the walk through a forest were all parts of that first dream and Raido was added later. The last time I did this meditation it led me back to my rune study. I walked down my astral, forest-enveloped path and the trees had an immediate and mass autumn; every leaf dropped around me, each one with a rune on it and I was surrounded by the runes.
