Crafting Calm: A Meditative Journey

Have you ever felt like the world within and around you—both internal and external—was just too noisy, too animated, overwhelming and overstimulating?

Yeah, me too.

In fact, it happens quite often for me. I live across the river and atop a cliff next to New York City. Many nights, I can hear the traffic and sirens from New York without straining.

Of course, this side of the river isn’t any less cacophonous: traffic, sirens, various musical genres blasting from passing cars, the hustle and bustle of people, honking horns, the sound effects of having neighbors above, below, and to either side of you, etc. It's little wonder why I get headaches and migraines often.

Stress from sound pollution is a very real thing.

Sometimes, I can catch when the noise levels have started to become too much before I develop a migraine or anxiety attack. When that happens, I have a variety of solutions at hand to try—from listening to thunderstorm ambiance or serene frequency videos to using sound-canceling headphones and blasting instrumental music from artists all over the world—like the Yoshido Brothers, David Garrett, & the Translyvanian Orchestra. These tools help me to continue to go about my day, doing chores, running errands, cleaning, cooking, and even socializing with understanding friends and family members.

But there are times when these attempts not only don’t soothe the rapid bouncing of sound around my brain, in my mind, and echoing off the sides of my skull—they enhance it.

At that point, the only thing that works is forgoing the mundane tasks and dedicating the rest of the day to meditative activities, like meditating in the dark or meditative painting and crafting.

On one such occasion, I sat down and lost myself in the creation of this entry in one of my Books of Power. 

I didn’t have a design in mind originally when I set out to create this page. I intended to create a serene and meditative page in my Book to calm the din surrounding me. I did, though, know what I wanted to use on that page. 

I chose chunks of sea salt crystals to absorb negative or overstimulating energies and to charge my intentions for tranquility.

I mixed different browns, white, and unbleached white acrylic paint until it blended to become a sandy beach color. Sandy brown tends to evoke the warmth and comfort of the earth element for me, as well as the sensation of being near the ocean with its rhythmic pounding waves as the tides ebb and flow. Spiritually, sandy brown signifies self-esteem, health and well-being, satisfaction, and a sense of adventure. 

Finally, I cut gold-colored aluminum foil I saved from holiday candies—they were pretty and made me happy—into thin, bendable strips. Gold represents both durability and divinity across many cultures and times. The foil enhances intuition, stimulates mental abilities, and utilizes image and visualization magick.  

After assembling these components, I allowed myself to get lost in creating, blocking out stimuli that had nothing to do with what wanted to come into existence at that moment.

What came through during this meditative process was the Seed of Life, a sacred geometric pattern formed from seven rings of circles interconnected. 

I enjoy studying mythology, history, etc, so I recognized the story of Creation within the interlocking rings of the Seed of Life as I glued down the strips of golden foil in curves. 

The Seed of Life and its seven circles serve as a powerful symbol of creation, evolution, and spiritual transformation, encapsulating the profound mysteries of the cosmos within its geometric form.

When the last golden foil strip was glued down to complete the seventh circle and the Seed of Life depiction, the pandemonium of the worlds and realities within and around me became manageable once again as sacred geometry’s iteration of Creation glistened in the light before me. 

The Seed of Life entry continued to serve as a mediatory focus. 

When the noise of the world gets to be too much, I can go and open to this entry and trace the circles and their parts of the story—using my eyes, my fingertip, or both—enjoying the soothing colors and tactile nature of dried acrylic along with the protruding crystalline structures of the sea salt. 

Join us on Patreon for the story of creation that unfolds as each new circle manifests along with mathematical and scientific correlations found within the new shapes taking form.