An essay focusing on the Dedicants understanding of the meaning of the “Two Powers” meditation or other form of ‘grounding and centering’, as used in meditation and ritual. This account should include impressions and insights that the Dedicant gained from practical experience. (300 word min) (WC 636)
The Two Powers meditation is about both grounding and connecting to a source of energy which has many uses as a druid. The grounding aspect, which is designed specifically to come first, is about rooting yourself in the here and now. Without grounding, one’s mind tends to wander and not be focused on the task at hand. Reaching out to the stars, the sun, or even a reflection of the sun’s light in the moon can empower the meditator with energy to help empower rituals or other magical pursuits.
Viewing the sky power as masculine and the earth power as feminine is going with the concept of heat and power (sky/light) is masculine and active while viewing the earth power as feminine as cooling and grounding works with the yin/yang principle.
Viewing the sky power as feminine and the earth power as masculine can be viewed as an approach where light from stars (the sun is a star) and the moon are empowered feminine energy and that the earth/underworld power has a masculine, grounding solidity despite the liquid/water aspects (which tends to be viewed as feminine energy).
For my own experiences, I did not feel that the sky power was ordering and the earth power was chaotic. For me, the darkness of the water being pulled up wasn’t chaotic, but was calming and cooling, while the light from the sky power has usually been what causes change as plays energetically as light penetrates the dark, cooling water in light beams as they mix and mingle.
In ritual use, people attending tend to be scattered from the outside world. Cares, worries, or other distractions tend to be brought into a ritual which makes the attendee not have the focus or necessarily the energy to empower their offerings or their work in a ritual. By doing the Two Powers meditation or some variant of the meditation, you can both ground the meditator so that they can get the necessary focus that is needed to bring to a ritual while also giving them the power to dedicate to the ritual as they imagine the energy from the heavens empowering them. When I led grove members and attendees in my guided meditation, I started off with a variant of the Two Powers meditation. One of the attendees brought up that when I started the Two Powers part, she was wondering if I was doing a variant of a meditation she uses (which is basically the Two Powers meditation). Once she realized that I was starting off with that, she said she quickly did the grounding and empowering about three times due to being used to how it works and the included visualization in the time it took me to work with everyone doing it once.
In personal practice, the Two Powers meditation is helpful in removing outside distractions (the grounding part) and helping bring needed energy to perform energy work or having the mojo to reach up to the heavens, out to the nature spirits, or beyond the veil to the ancestors.
What I’ve noticed is that the more I practiced the Two Powers meditation, the better I got with it and the faster I could connect with both sources of grounding and a strong source of energy from the stars.
As for viewing the Two Powers meditation as through a Norse lens, I’d imagine the roots are reaching down into the pools of the Norns and the high branches are reaching up towards Asgard.
Personally and when leading a ritual, I find it an excellent tool before doing whatever work I might attempt. I also think it can help initiate a powerful experience in ritual for attendees, so I plan to keep including it in the future in a way that works with the rest of the guided meditation.