🎨 Falconhealingarts

Witch Tips: Lavender

*if you are allergic to lavender, read my post on substitutes*

~ What is Lavender?

   Lavender is a part of the mint family, native to the Mediterranean region, and parts of Africa and India. This purple herb carries a very fragrant scent.

~ Planting and Harvesting your Lavender

   Plant your Lavender in a warm, sunny spot that is shielded from harsh winds. Lavender can take heat and occasional drought. Make sure it’s planted in a pot that is at least 1-2 inches bigger than the root ball and has a hole for drainage. Water when the soil feels dry, and try your best to not get the leaves wet.  

   Harvest your lavender plant when the buds are just beginning to open. Cut them into long stems and bundle them up and hang them upside down to dry. *To learn more about drying out herbs, read my post here* 

~ Magickal Uses of Lavender

   Lavender can be used in spells for protection, enhancing psychic abilities, encouraging love and fertility, and to promote peace. Burn it in a bundle to invite spirits or promote dreams.

~ Healing Uses of Lavender

   Lavender’s fragrance is very relaxing and peaceful, which makes it an amazing herb for individuals dealing with depression and/or anxiety. Put a washcloth with lavender oil on it in your pillowcase before bed. This will promote restful sleep.

~ Culinary Uses of Lavender

   If you ever make a dessert to use in a spell for love or fertility, sprinkle a little bit of edible lavender on top.

   You can use lavender extract to make delicacies!

   Lavender sugar; put lavender in a jar with sugar in a shaded place for about a month. Enjoy! 

I hope this is useful! xx ~ @chlovoyant

Planning for the Taurus full moon (10/28) I know that I want to do a financial stability ritual and house protections. But I haven’t reallyyyyyy planned.. I’m very excited to though!

I will post updates, also still have tarot pulls I want to post. ✨

Happy Mabon, everyone! 🍂  🍎

I’ll be writing down the things I used, and in bold will be replacements you can use! I hope this inspires others, and gives people some new idea for future sabbats! 

I know I said I’d post this on my account, @lovely-amethyst-witch, but this account has such a bigger following it would be easier to share on here to spread faster! 

I think I’ll just show this on snapchat the next time around to show the process live. ( Let us know, if you’d like to see that)

Things I used: 🍂 🍎

Soy Wax  ( 464 )  -Any Fall Colored and Scented Candle to remelt-

Nutmeg, Cinnamon sticks,Star Anise, and Cloves  -These are Optional- 

Autumn Scent for candle, I used Cinnamon and Vanilla ( and a splash of pumpkin spice)  

A Container to put the candle in. -Any Jar will do-

Orange, Red and Brown Color Blocks 

Thermometer 

Pouring Pitcher ( for the candle wax)

Wooden Spoon ( one you won’t miss, you can’t use it for food again)

Knife to cut colored blocks ( one you won’t miss ) 

An old pot ( you can’t use it for food again)

Wicks and Wick Stickers  -Needed for remelting candle-

First and foremost, all utensils used for candle making can not be used for food again. Don’t risk it, be safe and avoid any problems by mixing them.

Now here is my Mabon Candle and flower tribute, it is my interpretation of it and I love my candle.  🕯️

Here are the steps I used: 🍂 🕯️

Prepare Candle Containers, place wicks using wick stickers in the center. Use a pencil ( or a wick holder) to keep the wick from moving as it cools.

Melt the wax on a double boiler, until it reached 170-180 degrees (Fahrenheit) 

Cut colored blocks, use little chunks and mix into wax. Be sure the color blocks is completely melted, if not, then there will be chunks of color in your candle. ( it will still function perfectly fine, but it’s not as pretty.)

Take Wax off double boiler to cool it down to 135 degrees (Fahrenheit) 

Turn off Stove, be safe! 

Add Scent and stir, never use more than one ounce of scent per one pound of wax. Anything over will be too overpowering.

Carefully pour wax into containers, it’s okay if your wick holder moves, you can adjust it any time while the wax is still in liquid form. 

Wait for it to firm up and add your fall scents! I choose Cinnamon, Star Anise, Nutmeg, and whole cloves!

Enjoy!

Simplified Version: 🍎 🕯️

Melt Candle of your choice on a double boiler, be very very careful not to burn yourself. Use oven mits to be safe.

Prepare new jar, place wick and wick sticker inside 

Pour melted candle wax into new jar, be careful not to spill hot wax on your skin. 

Allow Candle to solidify a little before adding any decor, if you don’t wait long enough it will sink into the candle itself; or will dent the candle wax. 

Add the optional spices, decorate to your hearts content.

Enjoy!

- Kinara

GRIMOIRE TIPS&IDEAS

I’ve heard from quite a few of you that you don’t know what to put in your grimoire, or that you were having a hard time filling it! Here is a jumble of Lapis Cat’s tips & ideas for your grimoire!

Getting started can be hard, for a lot of reasons! I think it took me so incredibly long to do mine because i was so nervous about messing it up.

Different ways to keep your grimoire

- Spiral notebooks

- Composition books

- Binders

- Flash drive/SD card

- In google drive, notes on your phone/computer, online

- I’ve seen a $5 hardback sketchbook from michaels used

I will add, Don’t go off and buy a $65 grimoire that is beautiful for your first one, unless you really just must. You will have many grimoires after this one, and they will get more organized and beautiful as you establish your style over time.

Once you’ve selected your personal book, Its time to gather information to put in it! This is the part i’m often asked about. Nothing is mandatory in a grimoire, and you should add only information that is important to you. The one thing i will suggest you add is a blessing as one of your first pages. I’ve posted a book of shadows blessing in the past <3 Everything listed under this are just ideas for things you can add in! 

Witches Rune

Sacred Traditions

Blessing

Salt Blessing

Water blessing

Cleansing methods

Sabbats

All about your goddess(es) and god(s)

Grounding

Alphabets

Runes

Symbols 

Circle Casting

Songs for the goddess 

Songs and methods to raise power within a circle

Elemental Powers

Moon Phases/Correspondences

Hour correspondences

Celestial Bodies & Correspondences

Color Correspondences

Herb Correspondences

Crystal Correspondences

Daily Influences

Planetary Influences

Incense correspondences

Astrology/Planetary Spirits

Numbers & their correspondences

Names of power

One word spells

Spell crafting table

Consecration methods for your sacred items

Crystal Cleansing & Programming

Meditations

Teas and associations with magick

Kitchen witchery 

Divination

Your personal spells

Sigils

Your rituals

Reactions & Experiences

I hope this helps you get started on your grimoire and gives you plenty of ideas on how to fill the pages!!

Beginner Witch Tips

WARNING: I am a sarcastic butthole and it shows through out this hot mess of a post. This is some random craft junk I have learned in my days of practicing witchcraft

Witch craft is not magic.

I don’t care what you have heard. Witchcraft is not magic. It can not turn your eyes different colors. It can not make you into a animal. You will not be able to control the weather or summon wind with your fingers. Ghosts will not do as you say. This is not Harry Potter. Case closed

Intent over tools

Do you think it’s gonna matter if you use a butter knife as an athame? Or you have to sub a white candle for another color because you don’t have the funds to buy that color? Or you had to leave out an ingredient because you don’t have it or you’re allergic? No, it’s not. Witchcraft (to me) is about mind over matter. If you are making an effort for your God/god/goddess/deity/elf/fae/etc it isn’t gonna matter what or how you got there, but the intent you had getting there

Cursing and hexing is up to you and your beliefs

Totally up to you if you believe that this is okay or not. However, if you don’t like this, do not go and tell someone else it’s wrong. If they ask you how you feel you can tell them it’s not your thing. If you do like this, do not go and tell someone else it’s fine and try to get them to accept it. If they ask you about it, you can tell them that you are into it

You do not have to have an alter

It’s up to you and your practice. And if you can where you are etc. If you want one and can not have one, draw one or, my favorite, Set up a pinterest board for your god/goddess/fae/elf/deity etc. and save things that you thing relate to them.

It’s not about fancy stuff

This goes back to intent over tools, as long as you are comfortable with what you are doing and using, do it and use it. I use salsa and yogurt containers, coffee filters taped together, M&M tubes, and envelopes to keep crap in. I use a 99¢ Wal-Mart bandanna to do spells on that I got from Girl Scout camp and it has rainbow peace signs all over it. Do I care? Nope. Does anyone else care or will they judge you? Nope. we are all in the same boat here.

Hand making things is way too underrated  

I LOVE hand making things. Whether you are good or bad at it, it is a good way to save money, and personalize it just for you. Example: I made tarot cards out of printer paper that I cut out and wrote the card name, and definition of what it means (to me) and I love them. Pencil wand? Yas queen. DIY cauldron out of play-dough? Frick me u p daddy.

DONT EAT/SMOKE/DRINK SOMETHING YOU HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT

You’d think I would have to include this bUT Some things are okay to consume. Sometimes if taking a certain medicine you can’t consume that. Sometimes you are allergic to one thing, and in turn you will be allergic to that thing too. Sometimes you are pregnant and it’S HIGHLY DANGEROUS TO CONSUME THINGS WITHOUT KNOWING WHAT IT DOES

Never ignore professional medical advice and help in favor of witchcraft methods.

Case c l o s e d

Spirit workers

Not nice spirits can attach to people who have depression and anxiety more so than people who don’t

There are good and bad spirits. if one makes you feel comfomy, do not feel bad for asking it to leave/getting rid of it

Don’t ask your tarot cards every time you have a question

This happens a lot. Especially when you get a new deck and it’s so new and shiny and you can’t w a i t to get your grubby little hands on it and do crap >:D but you don’t want to get into the habbit of “ohgoshgollybatman I have to go to the store, okay let’s see if I’ll get hit by a car… oh and do I really need the applejuice..”  or “do I REALLY need this plant..” bc the answer to that is always yes duh

Divination is not for predicting the future

Now stay with me, it is for guiding you in the future. It can not tell you what day you are going to die, who you are going to marry, etc 

The future is not written in stone

Let’s sayyyyy you do a simple past, present, and future reading with tarot, and you get a bad reading for the future, it doesn’t matter. That is how it is going right now, now you can see what you need to change etc 

You dont need a fancy journal for a grimore or book of shawdows

Heckadoodle I use a binder and notebook paper so I can move stuff around. I just write with a pencil and pen, and color with dollar store crayons or collered pencils.  Now, you may be thinking, “Oh but, it’s a nice binder right?” Lemme stop you right there. It is falling apart, needs to be ducktaped, has a picture of my doggo inside and I’ve used it for school for abouutt.. 7 years? Summin’ it up: It don’t gotta be fancy

If you forget to blow out candles set a timer on your phone

I do this all the freaking time and I’ll leave a candle out, and then here comes mother. Closet underage witches know the struggle. Trying to explain why you have a burning candle left in your room. Or if you are adult and have to adult after a spell or whatever and leave the house and come back to the candle just sittin’ there. Burning away. (my mom did this once and it caught her table on fire) Timer. Yep.

You don’t have to know a certain language 

This is more focused to me bc i am nerd but okie dokie I know Latin from school, therefore I mix it into my spells (like some on @witchy-recipes-and-things) and provide a translation. I don’t want anyone to think you have to have a certain language for your craft.

How to Ouija

Tbh this is too long already so if you want another post on it tell me and I’ll make one and link it

Sigils can be drawn everywhere

In your phone case, in your wallet, in a shoe, under fingernail polish, under seats, wherever whatever-I can also elaborate more on this

TAROT IS PRONOUNCED “TARO”

CONSENT IS KEY

When doing love spells, consent from the other person is a must. 

You can be a christian, athiest, pagan, whatever, and still do witchcraft

It is about the craft, not religion 

Witchcraft is not a religion, Wicca is

And you do not have to be Wiccan to partake in Witchcraft

Sage doesn’t have to be in cone shape to burn it

I put rubbed sage meant for cooking on a metal plate and torch the sucker Shane Dawson style but with one of the long lighters, then run around my house in my underware screaming “MAY THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPEL YOU BITCH” in Latin

When cleansing 

OPEN.THE.WINDOWS.WHEN.DEALING.WITH.SMOKE Trust your witch mother who is allergic to everything and is an asthmatic, open the windows and doors. Also, as the smoke leaves you room through the windows or whatever, the spirits/bad vibes/etc leave with it

You don’t have to believe everything you read

Witchcraft is how YOU feel about things. No matter how other people feel about things

You can have your own corresponces for things

Like I think cinnamon is hot, deals with the sun, direction south, used for healing love etc., but it can be totally different for you

Divination doers do not have to be witches and witches do not have to be divination doers

S T U D Y

Can not stress this enough. This is the best thing to do even if you can not practice your craft where you are atm. knowledge is power.

So here is a list I’ve complied :D (yes I’ve made all of these, I was too bored to ask people’s permission to add things, sue me) (All of the spells are all religion inclusive)

Learn you star sign with detail Edible Flower List Witch Tools Tarot Meanings Cheat Sheet

Good First Spell-Calming Tea Spell DIY Charcoal Pencil Get Shit Done Bottle Spell to Sleep Sea in a Bottle Protection and Calm Bottle Find a Item You Lot

Referring to “When cleansing”, Line two, words 3-4, I am now your witch mother and if you ever have any questions feel free to ask! This list was requested from a witchling and if you have any requests feel free to ask :3

Counting Crows

As far as symbolism goes crows are a pretty mixed bag. To some they are the sacred messengers of spirits or deities and signs of good fortune, to others, they are an omen of bad luck, sorrow, and death. Witches have been divinating the crow's message, through various methods, for centuries and perhaps the most notable of these is the practice of counting crows. Granted, there are several variations of this, handed down through poems and literature, but what about counting crows as an in depth divination method? Next time you see crows flying around, consider the following:

1 Crow:

• Spiritual/divine messenger

• Transformation

• Sudden change

• Death and rebirth

• Pay attention to your intuition

• Upcoming difficulties or misfortune

• Fears and anxiety

• Our shadow

2 Crows:

• Good luck and good news

• Positive events

• Love and harmony

• Partnership

• Joy

• Success is just around the corner

• Creativity and the arts

• Protection and guidance

• Confidence in your decisions

• Be honest and open with your emotions

• Symbolic of Odin

3 Crows:

• Possible warning of misfortune or negative events coming

• Secrets and intuition

• Wedding or celebration

• Birth of a girl

• Balance and unity

• The Otherworld and Underworld

• Curiosity, intelligence, higher perspectives

• Mind, body, spirit (connection to the Ether)

• Destiny

• Magick, witchcraft, and alchemy

• Symbolic of Hekate and Morrigan

4 Crows:

• Great news

• Abundance

• Job opportunity or marriage

• New direction in life

• Fresh start

• Excitement

• The start of a journey

• Fertility

• New projects

• Birth of a boy

• New beginnings

5 Crows:

• Good fortune

• Money is coming

• Prosperity, abundance, and growth

• Wealth

• Promotions, awards, recognition

• Winning

• Beware of accidents, mishaps, and dangers

6 Crows:

• Significant life event

• Karma

• Start of a spiritual journey or awakening

• Difficulty

• Metamorphosis

• Winning a prize, or receiving an inheritance

• Loss or gain

• Thresholds

7 Crows:

• The Universe is aligned

• Peace, harmony, tranquility

• Balance

• Collective wisdom

• Strength

• Protection from negativity

• Pause and reflect

• Awareness

• Insights

• Meditation

• The truth

• Mystery solved

8 Crows:

• Manifestation

• Seize the day

• Auspicious omen

• Windfalls

• Good luck

• Mind over matter

• Golden opportunities

• Focus

• Dedication

• Wishes granted

• A positive, life-altering experience

9 Crows:

• Romantic love

• New love or strengthening current relationships

• Deep emotional connections

• Positive recognition and regard

• Answered prayers

• Impending danger

• Caution and common sense

• Judgement

• Divine authority and higher powers

10 Crows:

• Spiritual epiphany

• Channel for higher realms

• Reset, reevaluate

• Insights into the future

• Otherworldly intuition

• Psychic ability

• The end of one phase and beginning of another

• Complete turn around in luck

• The Universe is talking to you

Larger Flocks:

• Great spritual power

• A higher purpose

• The big picture

• You are seen and acknowledged

• The Universe has your back

✨ cleansing spray ✨

yesterday i was feeling way too icky and after tidying my room, a nice cleansing shower i decided to cleanse my room as well.

✨ what you’ll need ✨

— water (i personally used sun water)

- two pinches of rosemary for healing and purification.

- two pinches of basil for love and protection.

- two pinches of sage for cleansing and healing.

- two pinches of salt for cleansing and protection.

- empty spray bottle

- 10 drops of lavender essential oil to combat anxiety and depression

- 10 drops of ylang-ylang essential oil to combat anxiety, depression and to ease the mind.

✨ what to do ✨

- put two pinches of rosemary, basil, salt, and sage into a mortar and grind with with pestle into a course powder.

- will spray bottle with water.

- pour herbs into bottle.

- add 10 drops of lavender and ylang ylang essential oil.

- shake bottle and spray in four corners of your room and door way.

blessed be!

Secular Celebrations - Yule

At the very end of the Gregorian calendar comes the winter solstice and Yule. Technically, this is the FIRST holiday on the Wheel, since Samhain is the boundary between the old year and the new. But since most of us have to follow the January to December schedule in our day-to-day lives, we’ll end with Yule.

The winter solstice is a time when we focus on hunkering down and staying warm. We look to the homestead, we take care of our families, and we make sure our communities are surviving the winter as comfortably as possible. This is one of the times that the Wild Hunt was said to ride, their presence indicated by howling winds and stormy nights when it wasn’t safe to venture out. All manner of entities personifying hunger and cold and death stalk the landscapes of winter mythology, so we fortify our homes however we can and indulge in a little midwinter revelry to keep ourselves going until the spring.

Decorate with pine bunting, pine cones, holly, mistletoe, snow symbols, fairy lights, electric candles, ribbons, streamers, local fauna active during winter, whatever you like. There are plenty of Christmas wreaths out there, so don’t be afraid to make a witchy one with a big old star in the middle. Make sure that any ACTUAL foliage is kept away from the pets, and of course, observe fire safety for any lights you put up. Way too many house fires are caused by electrical shorts in holiday lights, so be extra careful. Do NOT plug an extension cord into a power strip. And go easy on the plastic glitter. Anathema to some, I know, but the more of that we can keep out of the waste cycle and the water system, the less will end up in the oceans.

If you have a fireplace, you can burn a symbolic log “to drive the cold winter away.” Or, if you only have a cauldron or a burning bowl, you can find an outdoor space to burn some twigs and incense for the same purpose. Or you can light some candles with appropriately wintry scents. Or, if you can’t burn anything at all, an LED candle left alight overnight on the altar should do the trick. The whole idea is to symbolize keeping warmth in the home, keeping the dark and the cold at bay, and keeping the home fires literally burning for those who must be elsewhere. However you manage this is fine.

Spend time with your near-and-dear, if you can. Eat good food, drink good wine, and do cozy things. Share treasured memories, and tell stories. Fun fact: Yule and Christmas are another traditional time of year for ghost stories, so feel free to pull those out again. If there’s a family tradition of feasting and gift-giving, lean into it. There are a lot of Christian traditions from Christmas that have made their way into the secular sphere. Sure, they still have some religious associations, but I know plenty of atheists who still exchange presents because it’s FUN. You can also give gifts to others by contributing to charitable organizations, donating to clothing drives and food pantries, or through random acts of kindness to those who need it.

Charity and compassion should be emphasized during this time of year. I mean, you should be charitable and compassionate ALL year when you can manage it, that’s just common decency. But especially when it’s cold and people are feeling that lack of money or resources and we’re surrounded by all these super-capitalistic ad campaigns telling us that our love for others is worth only as much as the kitchen appliances and diamond jewelry we put under the tree….yeah, maybe bring something a little more altruistic to the table. It doesn’t have to be huge, it doesn’t have to be performative. Just look for those opportunities to help someone out or make their life a little easier. You’ll know them when you see them.

If you’re crafty, pull out those projects you’ve been saving for a rainy day. We often spend a lot of time cooped up in the house during cold weather, the more so in 2020 with the various lockdowns, so why not turn it into something productive? Fix something, create something new, work on that scarf you’ve been meaning to finish since last winter. Make a pinecone feeder for the local birds, or scatter some nuts and dried berries for any critters that happen to be out and about. Do winter crafts with your kids to keep them occupied, if they happen to get bored of watching Frozen 2 for the hundredth time this week. (Hey, I only have nieces and a nephew, but I’ve still heard the horror stories.)

Let me pause a moment to address the proverbial elephant in the room. And this MIGHT be dipping a toe into the religion pool, but it’s an issue that a lot of us face. Late December can be a tough time for witches who were raised Christian but are, for one reason or another, disconnected from the faith or the Church at present. There’s the constant symbolism in music and decorations all around, pressure from our friends and families, people gnashing their teeth about red coffee cups, and so on. And we’re not even going to talk about the annual arguments over who stole whose holidays. If you know me, you know exactly how salty I can get on the topic, and we don’t have time for that today. This is about finding ways to celebrate, not my personal rage over people who don’t understand the difference between conflation and syncretism, and can’t be arsed to read history that doesn’t come from-...

Ooooo deep cleansing breath. Come on, Bree, you promised. (-hiss- I LIED.)

ANYWAY. Yule is a time when it might be worth remembering literally anything positive that came out of your experience with Christianity. Some of us have it, some of us don’t, that’s purely a personal matter. Some of us miss the carols, okay? There can be a lot of nostalgia involved in the season that’s disconnected from whatever trauma or differences in belief led to that split. And if you want to pause and remember that fondly, that’s okay. I will fully confess to singing along to Christmas hymns on the radio in my car at top volume because that’s a big part of the season for me and always has been. Heck, I might even attend a service at the local Unitarian church. They’re nice and non-denominational and they focus much more on the meaning behind the season than any particular holiday. So if you feel the need for that fellowship, see if there’s a UU church near you, or a virtual service online. There’s nothing wrong with revisiting your roots.

Moving back into witchcraft territory, you can collect clean snow and icicles to melt for winter moon water. This isn’t really much different from moon water you’d make at any other time of year, but it’s another method of gathering the base material. Also, icicles are great for any water you’re setting aside for more aggressive or protective purposes. The fact that they look like hanging spears isn’t lost on me.

Check your household protections and see if anything needs shoring up. Like I said, I cast my wards every year at Samhain, but they always seem to need a bit of detail work by the time Yule rolls around. Or heck, you might find Yule a more appropriate time to perform that casting, or maybe you refresh your wards at every holiday, who knows. Whatever works for you, as long as you remember to do it at some point. Cleanse your thresholds and the corners of your home, at the very least, just for good measure. But don’t go sweeping anything out the door. That’s sweeping away your good luck for next year.

And speaking of New Year’s, if the year you’ve had has been particularly….well, like the year we’ve had, you can also burn the year in effigy and cleanse with incense for a fresh start. Just write it on a piece of paper and burn that S.O.B. in the cauldron. While you’re at it, you can symbolically burn lingering worries, bad habits, bad memories, and regrets with either candle flame or a burning bowl. And yes, that includes all those negative things you think about yourself that you wish would go away.

And finally, reflect on the year as a whole, with all the joys and lessons it’s brought you. What memories have you made? What has brought you joy? What do you regret? What have you learned? What skills have you developed and how will you use them? What improvements do you still wish to make? And what do you want to do with the coming year?

And around and around it goes….

Like I said at the beginning, this is by no means exhaustive. These are just some basic ideas to get you started. You can make your own celebrations and your own traditions as you, either by building off of existing ones or by creating something new. As long as it has meaning to you and marks the occasions you deem important in ways that are fun and festive, it’s all good. This is something I’d love to see more often as a discussion - personal traditions, things that are unique to families or particular regions or individual witches, all the places they intersect, and all the various ways that we celebrate ourselves and each other and our craft.

- Hex Positive, Ep. 011 - Secular Celebrations (November 1, 2020)

Other Posts In This Series:

Imbolc

Spring Equinox

Beltane

Midsummer

Lughnasadh

Autumn Equinox

Samhain

Yule

Witchy Tips: Meditation

Meditation IS:

✔️ A way to improve your focus and concentration

✔️ An excellent way to ground yourself

✔️ A good way to raise energy

✔️ An effective calming exercise

✔️ A method of strengthening your empathetic abilities

Meditation is NOT:

🚫 Thinking of nothing

🚫 Clearing your mind completely

Things you need to meditate:

✔️ Yourself

That’s it. You don’t need candles or crystals or a mantra or a yoga mat or a special outfit or anything.

You don’t even need to be able to do the thing where you cross your legs with your feet up on your thighs. You can meditate lying down, sitting up, kneeling, regular cross legged, or even standing. Just so you’re not in a position where you’ll lose circulation, you’ll be fine.

Kinds of meditation

Yup, there’s kinds. Lots of kinds. Way too many to list in this post. Do your research, find a kind that works for your needs. Practice a bunch of different ones! The kind I recommend for a beginner is called Mindfulness Meditation.

Mindful meditation is about staying in the present moment, rather than ruminating on the past or worrying about the future. Like any kind of meditation, it improves your focus and concentration. It’s also been shown to increase your empathic connection with the world around you. Once you achieve a mindful state, you can move into any other kind of meditation you want.

The guide below is for mindful meditation.

How to Meditate

Go to a quiet place and find a comfortable position that you can keep up for a few minutes without getting sore or losing your balance.

Close your eyes and begin breathing steadily through your nose.

Focus on your breath as it moves through your nose. Try to follow it from moment to moment, rather than lingering on a past sensation or anticipating a future one. The breath is dynamic; it moves with you through time. Try to synchronize your focus with your breath so that they both exist in the present moment.

When you have a feeling, an emotion, or a thought, acknowledge it, accept it, and then go back to focusing on your breath.

If you find you have become distracted, bring back your focus by counting to 10: each odd number is an inhale, while evens are exhales.

Do not be discouraged if you become distracted often; meditation is not something that comes naturally: it has to be practiced. The present moment is hard to hang on to, because it requires not hanging on to anything. The present moment is always slipping by, and it will take practice to teach your mind to acknowledge and dismiss each moment rather than trying to linger. Try aiming for one minute of focused meditation, and increase the time little by little as your concentration improves.

Eventually, you’ll be able to meditate in noisy places, with your eyes open, using focus tools like candles or crystals, you can start employing visualization or mantras if you want; the sky is the limit. But before you can do any of that, you have to be able to concentrate. Simple quiet, eyes-closed meditation that focuses on the breath is a good way to get you there.

Happy meditating!