January 10^th  2013 (Thursday)

Mary, the curator, administrator and facilitator at Oak House had suggested I try both the Monday and Thursday open circles to see which suited me best.

On my first visit to the Thursday one, the first major difference I noticed was that there were:

 a. more people -11 altogether although chairs were put out for 15

 b. there were more men – 4 including the facilitator

It didn’t feel as relaxed as the Monday group, not unfriendly, just not as relaxed. One of the men took me aside and welcomed me formally. I thought he was the facilitator but found out later he wasn’t. Members were not wedded to specific chairs and I was able to sit anywhere that wasn’t already occupied.

When we began the facilitator, Greg,  asked for my name and mentioned to the group that I’d been coming to the Monday circle. I rushed to add that I was very much a novice. He said that was fine, that we all start that way. Although there was a lot of experience in the group, there were also some newer people, alas they didn’t identify themselves so I didn’t know who they were, but the level of experience became evident as the session went on.

We began with a prayer, followed by a guided meditation which Greg, said was a meditation for 2013, and had been given to him in his own meditation. It involved walking down a path, coming to a crossroad, observing any signs and picking up something that was lying on the floor. Moving on and coming to another crossroad where there was a table on which we had to leave something before moving on again. We had to think about what time of the year we hit the crossroads etc.

My path was an ordinary one, you know, asphalt and concrete, nothing spectacular like a yellow brick road or a candy lined grove. At the first crossroad I saw a sign with my name on and an arrow pointing straight on. On the floor was a twenty pound note and a thick silver cross on quite a thin silver chain. I picked them both up and headed to the next cross road. When he said to put something down that you no longer want to carry forward I found myself putting down the twenty pound note and the cross on the chain. There was a part of my brain straining against this decision, especially parting with the money, but that’s what felt right and I duly deposited them and crossed over, carrying on straight. I eventually came to the sea, it just opened up at the end of the lane, white sands and blue, blue sea that felt like home.

At the end of the meditation Greg asked each of us in turn to relay our experience, and offered us an interpretation based on messages from his guide.

For me the twenty pound note represented the material world which could feel like a chain around my neck. I picked it up in March. By the time I came to the second cross road in July I realised that the emphasis I’d put on material things was unfounded. I’d learned to trust that what I needed would be provided when I needed it. Yes, it felt like a wrench but I followed my intuition and let go, and found myself in a calm place.

Later, when he’d interpreted everyone’s meditation one of the other participants, a very experienced member interpreted Greg’s. He then asked us all to pick a card from Stephen Farmer’s Power Animal Oracle Cards pack, and said the card would relate in some way to the meditation.

I picked the antelope, which means decisiveness ‘make a decision and take appropriate action.’ He said the antelope is an animal that’s preyed upon and therefore is very alert. When it feels it need to take action it does so instantly and decisively. He said that’s why I didn’t turn left or right at the crossroads but kept going. Whatever I have planned for 2013 the message is to keep going. I’m on the right path.

The differences between the groups were interesting. Both started and closed with prayers. Both are concerned with our spiritual development, but one is very much leader lead while the other is more experiential.

There was a fair amount of discussion about how people were experiencing spirit. One member was becoming more clairvoyant and was gradually accepting it, it was less frightening than she expected. Another was experiencing more clairaudience; still another said her sense of smell had sharpened in the last few weeks.

There was no opportunity to work with anyone as in the Monday group to practice my own skill, but I learned a lot from the discussions, especially how to move out of the way to work with spirit in trance. It’s very similar to the process of moving out of the way when writing to allow the characters to speak, and not try to impose on them what I think they ought to be saying.

            If you have an alternate interpretation of my meditation I’d love to hear it.