The Cloak

The following is a guided meditation for personal empowerment that I wrote back in 2002.

We are, each of us, priests and priestesses of the gods. We carry within us a spark of divine wisdom and strength that reaches back through the ages, connecting us to everyone who has ever stood beneath the Moon and felt Her magic. At heart we are all powerful, beautiful, and capable of transforming worlds with our bare hands. We, and all creation, are divine love and nurture made manifest.

Sometimes, though, we forget who we are and all that it means. Sometimes the world of dollar signs and willful ignorance batters us from all sides like a storm at sea, and we slowly wear down until we lose touch with our power. Sometimes we need to be reminded.

Think of a time when you felt truly strong, when you knew you were able to face whatever came your way. Think of a moment, however brief, when you could say with surety, "This is who I am." Think of a day when everything seemed perfect, when your thoughts and your words and your actions were aligned, and you felt your essential unity with all that is. If you have never experienced these things, think then of how it might feel in your body and in your heart to be completely yourself and proud of it, to say, "Thou art God/dess" and mean every word.

(pause)

Now imagine that that feeling, that power and strength, are gathering in your hands. This energy begins to weave itself into a kind of shimmering cloth. Each thread is a moment in your life, in the past or yet to come, in which you act upon your true will and with your true heart. It shapes itself in your hands into a hooded cloak.

Take a moment to hold the cloak up before your mind's eye. What does it look like? Is it heavy? What is the texture, scent, and color of your power? Get to know this sacred garment, this part of you that is awake and aware and ready for anything.

(pause)

When you are ready, wrap the cloak around your shoulders. Rather than sitting on top of your clothes, the fabric dissolves into your skin, soaking in, infusing every cell of your body with the energy and strength you have held in your hands. This cloak has always been a part of you, but now you can feel and see it. It is the mantle of the God, the wings of the Goddess, and you are its chosen wearer.

If you look closely you can see the energy shimmering on your skin, a soft radiance like that of the Moon. Know that this light is your own, that you brought it forth from the shining spirit within you. The confidence and assurance it inspires in you brings your real, unhidden self out of the shadows and into your body.

Do you feel like a priestess, a warrior, a king? What person does the cloak allow you to show the world? This person, who may yet be a familiar stranger, is the core of your being. Take a moment to etch this feeling on your memory so that, from this moment, you will always recognize yourself.

(pause)

When you are ready, come back to the waking world, still wearing the cloak of your power. You need never take it off, but you can put it back on any time it slips from your shoulders. Any time you feel the cold wind of self-doubt and uncertainty, you can call it forth, and it will warm you in the nurturing folds of your own divine self.