Week 30: The Two Powers: Final Essay

​5: Two Powers Essay
The Two Powers meditation is a simple but powerful tool that I have come to find pivotal in my spirituality. The Two Powers refer to the Earth Power and the Sky Power. The Earth Power is the cool magnetic water deep within the earth, the cold waters of creation, the waters of change and mystery. The Sky Power is the heat and power of the stars/sun/moon that inspirers, fuels, and enhances the drive to accomplish what needs to be done.  This meditation brings the Earth Power up through the feet to consume the entire body and then draws the Sky Power down through the crown of the head to combine with the waters of the Earth Power. Together the cosmic force of Earth and Sky combine, balancing, energizing and filling the body with the powers of both. The body becomes a balanced pillar between these powers and both elements surge through the body like currents. The body becomes the World Tree, the connector of the earth waters and the sky fires and this combination of energy fills the body becoming a powerful catalyst of revitalization, positive self empowerment, and genuine balance.
           
The binary systems I feel most personally with the Two Powers are that the Earth Power Waters feel “Cool”, “Mysterious”, and full of “Change”. The Sky Power Fires feel “Electric”, “Warm” “Inspiring” and full of “Drive”. When I draw up the Waters I become calm and open to new ideas no matter how they come, I feel my body relax and almost float along considering many things. When I draw the Fire down it’s as if a match is lit on those new ideas and I feel so tremendously driven to action and/or energized. If I started the meditation because I felt depressed, I let the waters soak into each crack of me and when the fires come down its like an electric pulse removing those cracks and filling me with strength and balance. It’s tremendously rejuvenating. I suppose I do see this as duality but more so, I see it as a necessary balance for a truly powerful meditation.

I actually dislike the comparison that either power is gendered. I have never seen the Earth Power as 100% strictly feminine (along the idea of "Mother Earth") because there are masculine energies as well as feminine energies that call to me personally. As for the Sky Power, again, I never feel one completely over the other 100% of the time. Most often I feel balance as key more than I feel clear gender associations being adamantly one vs the other. Overall, my Two Power feels both masculine and feminine and without pull in one direction over the other.

This form of grounding is a strong, simple but effective way to center during a ritual. It is something that every person can tune into and it can be shortened or lengthened as would fit within the ritual at hand. This meditation is also a genuine way to connect to the Three Kindred. The Earth Power connects to the Well of the Ancestors, the Sky Power connects to the Fire of the Gods and the combination of both currents, pulsing together, represents the World Tree, what our bodies represent here on Earth.

When I first did the Two Powers meditation, I did it as a guest at an ADF Protogrove Lughnasadh ritual. I had no idea what the symbology was and I could not connect to the meditation whatsoever. The first few times on my own, I could not focus, I had to cut out all distractions and listen with headphones in. I began to feel I was keeping the Fires more than letting them retreat back because I lacked the confidence and drive. Now, over a year later of dedicated study, and about a year and a half since my first Two Power experience I can honestly say that this meditation is one of the most powerful things I have taken away from my Dedicant Path thus far. It is a meditation I use on a near daily basis when I need to balance or focus or feel inspired.
           
​As I have worked with the Two Powers, I have written several versions. Some shorter, others longer, and often I will use no words at all and simply FEEL the powers when I need to recharge and balance. Virtually everywhere I am I can pull the waters up my roots and the sky fires down through my crown and embody the pillar of both. All of these methods work for me in different ways and I feel strongly enough to lead this meditation in my local grove and still use it regularly on my own. This meditation has honestly opened meditation doors that I once felt were closed to me and I am a more balanced person that I was before starting my Dedicant Path.