The Magician in the Garden -A Meditation

  It is a warm day….you are outdoors, and have gone through a gate, into a large wooded garden. You feel very safe and at one with nature….you feel that you are in a place that you can completely trust…..you feel so relaxed that you want to sleep…..can hardly keep your eyes open…you sit down to rest against a large oak tree.
  Sleepier and sleepier…you feel yourself nod off.
  Suddenly you rouse yourself a bit….you don't know whether you have slept for a minute or for hours…but when you look through the trees, up at the tree tops, you see that the time of the day is dusk. And the light that shines through the trees is a muted russet, that red-brown haze which follows the sun's setting at the end of a long summer day
……when the period of dusk is the longest. The light reminds you of the kind of light that you sometimes find in dreams…you smell such a pungent scent of flowers….deep red roses and honeysuckle. Flowers have the strongest, sweetest scent in this period just before nightfall.
  From a distance you hear a voice chanting softly 3 times:
 ROUND AND ROUND THIS TEMPLE I DRAW A MAGIC CIRCLE,
 A MAGIC CIRCLE OF LIGHT.
  You crawl forward, unafraid but wishing to conceal your presence. And looking through the low branches of a tree, you see the magician. The magician stands in a small arbor under the rose bushes and lilies.
  He is standing before his workbench….he is wearing a white robe and a red mantle, like the magician in the tarot. Glowing over his head is the leminscate, the sideways figure 8…..the infinity sign.
You can see the faintest stream of smoke as incense wafts through the air. You can smell the incense. And now you see, on the small table before the magician, the four elemental tools. The cup….the wand….the sword…..the pentagram.
  The silver cup gleams in the muted light. You feel a sense of excitement, of possibility and empowerment as you match the magician at his work….You see him pick up a stick of incense and, turning in all directions, trace the figure of the pentagram in the air.
You watch as he pours a small pitcher of water into the silver cup and holds the cup in the air. You know that transformation is taking place, and that you are also a magician and have the ability of transformation.
The magician points his left hand to the ground in a gesture of intense concentration. He directs his right hand to the darkened sky…..This gesture summons the power from the heavens and, like lightning, travels through the magician's body into the earth. ….You know now that whenever you feel uncertain, unsettled, fearful, or overwhelmed by life's demands, you can also point your right hand to the heavens, your left hand to the ground, and your body will pull in the same strength and energies to make you equal to whatever task you must undergo.
  You remain watching from a short distance, watching the magician as he closes his magic circle. Your senses are very awakened. Sight, scent and sound are magnified. You feel very energized.
  The magician suddenly turns and points his wand directly at you.   He speaks to you.
What does he say?
What do you answer?
  Having spoken with the magician, you turn to take your leave. It is now almost totally dark. The magician has left 4 candles lighted on his altar. These candles give you light enough to walk toward a path that will take you out of the thicket….your hand is on the garden gate.
 
  YOU HAVE THE SCHEMES,

  YOU HAVE THE SKILL

  TO MAKE YOUR DREAMS

  AN ACT OF WILL.

  TO CO-CREATE, TO RISK, TO DARE,

  TO PLUCK THE MOMENT FROM THE AIR!

                -DB93