Spirit Meditation

Relax, close your eyes, and let your breathing slow down. Breathe deeply and slowly, deeply and slowly, let your breathing slow down and let your mind become calm and relaxed. Let all the worries and cares just drain away and leave you calm and collected, calm and peaceful, and as they drain away, let yourself become more and more relaxed, and more and more calm. And as you become more relaxed let your breathing slow and deepen, slow and deepen, slow and deepen, and as your breathing deepens, let your mind relax.

Feel the ground beneath you, and feel as if you are slowly sinking down until you are cradled in a small shallow hollow in the ground. Let yourself relax and know that nothing will disturb you. Relax and breathe deeper. Breathe slower and deeper and relax more and more. Feel the ground beneath you and around you. Protecting you, holding you. Let anything that disturbs you drain away into the soil, and let new energy flow into you from the ground just as if you were a plant. Let the energy flow in as you breathe in, and let the tension, and irritations of the day seep away as you breathe out. 

In and out, feel your breath, and pay attention to it. Feel it slow down more and more and you continue breathing. Hear the breath of your neighbor and let your breathing and their breathing slow until you breath in when they breathe in, and breathe out when you breathe out. Let yourself float, and just breathe, hearing nothing but my voice and my breathing. And as you breathe continue to feel the tension and irritations and any pain or negative feelings you have drain away, seeping deep down into the earth to be renewed and cleansed, and as you breath in, feel yourself refreshed, and breath in the clean energy that the earth provides. In and out, slowing your breathing down more and more, the more and more relaxed you become, and as you become more and more relaxed, the slower you will breath. 

Now, continue breathing, and slowly tune out all sounds, but the sounds of my voice. Don't actively try to make them go away, just hear them and let them fade away of their own accord. And as each sound is recognized and fades away let the act of it fading take you a step further into relaxation. 

And as you relax, just let yourself float, feel the ground below you grow as soft as a comfortable quilt, a thick comfortable quilt insulating you from the hard ground below you and making it feel as if you are floating. Float on the quilt, and let yourself relax into it. Relax deeper and deeper, and the more you relax, the thicker the quilt will become, making it just that much easier to sink deep into the relaxation. 

Now as you relax, feel yourself begin to slowly, very slowly, move downward, and as you move downward, ever so slowly, what you perceive begins to change. You feel yourself moving downward through the quilt and leaving it behind you, and as you move downward, even though your eyes are closed, you can still see. And as you watch, you see a variety of scenes play themselves out before you, around you bringing you into them, and relaxing you.
And you are standing in a wide open field. The grass around you is a mixture of brown and green, and all around you you hear the chirping of insects, and see a bee buzzing over newly opened flowers. The flowers in the field are just opening their buds to the beautiful spring sunshine, and you bask in the beauty, and sink down through the green carpet of grass beneath you, relaxing as you sink lower and lower, being more and more relaxed. 

And you see a summer day, a golden beach touching a deep blue sea. You hear the waves, and see people relaxing on the beach. The sky above you is cloudless, and the sun shines down, warming you. In the distance, you hear seagulls, and see them swooping down over the sea. And you sink deeper, and sink down through the sand, and relax even deeper, the sand warming you and relaxing you as you move through it. 

And you are looking out over a lawn in the middle of autumn, the leaves are beautiful in their red and gold and orange splendor. The wind plays lightly through the trees and over your hair. You smell the smoke of a small fire where the children are laughing as they burn the dead leaves. You are lying in a small pile of newly fallen leaves, and the warmth of the fire relaxes you and you sink even deeper and become more and more relaxed, and sink into the leaves, leaving the warmth of the fire behind. 

And you are sitting by a fireplace, nice and warm, looking out over a lawn covered in a deep carpet of glistening white snow. No footprints mar the beauty where you are looking, but off to one side, you see children building a snowman, and playing happily in the snow. You smell the smells of winter from the evergreen and holly that decorate the room around you, and you relax deeper and deeper in the warmth of the fire, and slowly, very slowly you sink deeper and deeper through the floor. 

More and more relaxed, deeper and deeper, you feel yourself going down deep inside yourself, folding within, finding the center and heart deep within yourself, and you slowly come to rest in that sacred area inside yourself. The place where you are safe and warm, and can always go to find out whatever you need to know. 

Take a moment and look around, seeing all the things that are here, and realizing that this is a place that is quintessentially yourself. It is your sacred place, and will always be within you for you to find when you need. 

Now, find a path out of this place, and follow it to it's end. Along this path you might find side paths, and you can take them if you want. You might meet people or creatures, and they might talk with you. Converse with them as long as you want, or have them walk beside you as you continue down the path.
(long pause) 

After a while, as you walk, you see a small clearing open up in front of you. And in the clearing will be two people who each have something to say to you. Listen to what they have to say, and ask them anything else that you feel is of importance to yourself and your life. Take as long as you want to speak with these two, and know that their advice will be helpful to you. They may be other aspects of yourself, they might be spiritual guides, they might be aspects of the God or the Goddess. Whomever they are, know that they cannot harm you here in your sacred area, and that only good can come of listening with your heart. Know that you will remember what they tell you and that you will be free to act on it as you choose.
(very long pause) 

Now it is time to return, to bid farewell to your friends here, and to return to your friends in the other world. Know that you can return here any time you want just by willing yourself to. Finish up your talk with the two beings you met, and slowly feel yourself rising up, up into the sky. 

Let yourself rise slowly, and see the area below you dwindling and fading until you find yourself once more in front of the fire looking out over the beauty of winter. Take a moment and capture a bit of that beauty within yourself, and remember it as you slowly, slowly continue rising, and the scene fades.
Very slowly, the scene fades and is replaced with the autumn trees. Once again, capture a small piece of the scene within your heart, and let yourself rise slowly, very very slowly up, through the trees.
And as you rise, the autumn fades away and is replaced with the gorgeous summer beach, with the golden sand and the crystal blue ocean and the deep cloudless sky. Put a piece of this into your heart as well, and let yourself rise up slowly, very slowly. 

Back into the spring field, with the bees buzzing over the newly budding flowers. Capture a small part of this in your memory, and let yourself rise slowly, very very slowly, back onto the quilt. 

Hear yourself breathing, and feel the connection you have to the earth and to the seasons. And know that what affects them affects you, and that what affects you affects them.
And let your breathing slowly come back to normal, and the awareness of other sounds begin to be felt again, and let yourself slowly open your eyes and become fully, completely awake, but still completely relaxed, and know that you have been cleansed and renewed even as winter cleanses and renews the earth for the coming spring.