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Yule Meditation
Prepare yourself for meditation in the usual way. When you
are ready, visualise yourself on a hillside. It is night, cold but
clear. There is light from the stars and the moon. Down below in the
valley is a house. There are lights at all the windows and the sound of
festivities coming from it.
You go down the hill, towards the house. You see group of
people approaching the door. They pause at the door, and sing a
Christmas carol.
When they come to the end of their song, they are invited
inside. Through the open door you see that there is a party in full
swing. A roaring fire in the grate, lots of good food and drink, and
children playing happily with their new toys, around a brightly
decorated Christmas tree.
You feel that you would be made welcome if you were to go
inside, but you do not linger; there is much more for you to see
tonight.
You journey on, through woods and fields and across a river and now, in
front of you, you see a great medieval castle. The gates are open wide,
the guards standing by, watching you with idle curiosity as you pass
through the gates into the courtyard.
There is a crowd of people here, laughing and joking and
watching some tumblers perform. Several wild boars are being roasted on
spits over open fires; nature's gift of food to the hunter, in this
season of bare fields and hedgerows. Wine and beer are being served from
booths at the side walls of the castle. There is a general atmosphere of
rejoicing and merriment.
You warm yourself near one of the fires, for the night is
still chilly. Someone offers you a goblet of wine, which you gratefully
accept.
You continue to enjoy the warmth and the entertainment for a while, then
something catches your eye at an upper window. Someone is looking out.
He is not wearing regal vestments; nevertheless, from his appearance and
demeanour, you know that he is the King. He is looking out over the
castle walls towards the forest.
The face at the window disappears, the next you see of the
King is in a doorway at the base of the main castle building. The King
summons a page, talks animatedly to him for a few moments, and the page
hurries off.
After a few minutes, you see the page come back to where the King is
waiting. He is carrying a large sack of food and a bundle of firewood.
He and the King slip quietly out through the castle gate, unnoticed by
the crowd - but you follow them.
You follow them for quite a long distance, across wintry
fields, to the edge of the forest. There is a small shack here. The King
and the page go inside.
You go closer and look through the window. There is an old
peasant man inside; he seems nervous at first, but the King soon puts
him at his ease and all three sit down to enjoy a feast together.
You move on again, into the forest now. It is very still and
quiet in the forest, and a little less cold because you are sheltered
from the wind.
Touch one of the trees; embrace it. It feels still, cold, and lifeless
at first; but no: perhaps not quite; deep, deep down in the roots of the
tree, far under the earth, you fell the glimmer of a warming current of
energy. Draw the energy up to yourself; feel it flowing up the trunk of
the tree and into your body, warming and vivifying. Enjoy the pleasant
warmth as the energy fills your being and flows around to every part of
your body.
Leave the tree now, taking some of the energy with you. The
tree looks dark and still, just as before, but you sense the new life
beginning to stir in it as you walk away.
You leave the forest and find yourself in an open field. The sky is
bright and starry. There are three men, in rough clothing, walking ahead
of you. One of them is carrying a young lamb. You follow them.
You follow them for some distance, and enter a village, busy
with people. Unhesitatingly, they head for a small stable in the yard of
an inn - and there, lying in the straw of a manger, is a tiny baby, his
mother and father watching him intently.
The man carrying the lamb goes in and, with some shyness,
offers it to the mother as a gift for the child; it is graciously
accepted.
In a few days time kings will come here, bearing rich gifts, but gifts
that they can well afford. How much more valuable is this gift of one
lamb, which to the shepherd is his livelihood. That is how important he
believes this child to be.
For you see, what you give to this child is not a gift for
this one individual alone, but a gift that will return again, to the
benefit of the whole of mankind.
Knowing this, what would you give? Will you give just a
little of the winter energy that you have just absorbed, knowing that it
will revivify and vitalise the whole of the human race? Will you?
The child seems to understand your mind and looks at you
with the knowing look that you will often see on the face of a newborn
child, who has not yet become too attached to what we as adults call
"the ways of the world". For make no mistake, this is a very human child
that you are looking at, pride and joy of his mother and cherished just
as much as any other newborn.
Take this thought with you as, quietly and without fuss, you
leave the stable.
Find a secluded spot, away from other people's gaze, and go over in your
mind all the things that you have seen tonight.
Be still for a few moments; then, finally, return to
objective reality, in the place and the time where you started your
meditation. Put your consciousness in the centre of your head, just
behind your eyes; and when you are ready, open your eyes
by Glyn Williams | | | |