BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Wicca Invoking

thank you, i have tried meditation, kinda tricking my mind into thinking i dont hurt, i seen some documentaries on it on NatGeo, people in diff. countries that stick rods through theyre lips and face, they just think of something else and just keep telling themselves they dont hurt its all in theyre head, so i tried doing that for a couple weeks, got nowhere at all though.

This is why you may need to see someone trained in hypnotherapy first to learn self-hypnosis. The people you are talking about undergoing rituals such as Thaipusam and similar devotional ordeals are so focussed on becoming closer to the Divine that their "mind and body do not walk the same path" to quote a friend of mine. In this state the body produces it's own painkillers that are even more effective than morphine, that and the mental focus, are the basis for being able to do these devotional acts,

Some Western Witches do use pain to reach altered states , but I'm not one of them(!) Indeed when I went to Japan to study Ninjutsu with the Grandmaster of the system I train in, some of my friends asked if I was going to do the traditional "Meditate under a waterfall in midwinter"
To which I replied "Yes- I've heard of several sites with nice warm thermal ones". Not the answer they were expecting apparently

lol thats awesome you did that, id love to go somewhere and train in Wing Chun. i think that is a beautiful form of MA, and to be underneath a waterfall would be amazing, in my opinion anyway lol

I was wondering if Sulverna is still around here somewhere. I have not been involved in a "Drawing Down The Moon" ritual, but, it is a very inspirational, beautiful, yet energy draining ceremony if done in the old way.

There are some videos on YouTube that show some rituals. Here is one I thought was very beautiful, yet it does not show the actual ritual and people.

Drawing Down The Moon, Chant and Music

If one searches for 'drawing down the moon+youtube' there are a lot of choices there.

You could start off with simple exercises such as these , plus working with fictional archetypes , and use some of the candle techniques as outlined here to help build confidence and technique for when you get a chance to do the full ritual.