Note: Some of the links to previous posts are not there yet…will get these repaired as time goes on!
I have previously written about a walking meditation that you can do, which is designed for people following a Pagan path in the western tradition. In this article, I give another version of this exercise, which is also related to the caduceus meditation, which I have talked about previously. The red and white currents, personified by red and white dragons are discussed in a post on the background to the Caduceus Meditation.
There are two forms of dragon walking. First I will describe Red Dragon Walking. Red Dragon Walking is designed to build up the charge of Earth energy in the auric field. It may be done marching on the spot, or walking along. If you are walking in a place where you won’t be embarrassed by others looking at you, then walk in the way I describe. Otherwise you may walk with your ordinary movements so that you appear to be walking normally.
First of all, squat a little, as if you are riding a horse, with your legs slightly more apart and open than normal. Feel the energy flowing around from leg to leg through the groin area. When most people walk, this energy movement is restricted and restrained, part of the the normal training of repression of the movement of sexual energy that westerners undergo without even knowing it. When you put your feet down on the ground, place your sole on the ground before you place the heel on the ground, as you would if you were running. This cushions the leg and joints, and assists with contacting the Earth energy, and transmitting it from the ground to the body. Take smaller steps than you normally would. Lift your legs higher than your normally would, and as you do so, dangle your foot in a relaxed way from your ankle. Most people need to learn how to relax and dangle there foot during this kind of walking, as most people maintain a lot of tension and constriction in their walking movements. The dangling and consequent relaxation assists the movement of earth energy up through the legs. When you place your feet on the ground, do so positively and firmly, with a slight but definite stamping motion. This causes a pulse of earth energy to be transmitted up your leg from the earth, with sufficient energy to move up into your body.
As you walk this way, breathe in for four steps on each foot, visualising all the while, a glowing red ball of earth energy under the earth, sending up three rays of red energy. Two strike the ground where your feet come stamping down, upon which balls of energy break off and travel up your legs to your belly, and the third, middle beam, comes up out of the Earth between your legs, striking your perineum, the point roughly where an extension of your spine would touch the skin in front of your rectum. The beam carries on to strike and energize the red ball of energy gathering in your belly.
Breathe out for four steps on each foot, and as you breathe out, visualize the ball of Earth energy at your belly glowing and shining like a miniature red sun, filling up your auric field with its energy. Visualize clearly where your energy field stops, and fill it up like a balloon. Do not allow the energy to radiate away, but contain it within your auric field by consciously being aware of an astral membrane that surrounds your auric field, between 30cm to 100cm from the skin in all directions, and intending it to contain the energy. As you breathe out, make a sound like a drawn out “H” sound in the back of your throat. The sound is made without using the voice, just the flow of air, and should rhyme with the “oor” of “door”.
Then as you breathe in again, repeat the first visualisation, with the three rays charging the red ball of energy at your belly. Alternate between these visualisations, building the intensity of energy at your belly, and within the auric field.
The walking can be slowed down to the point where the in breath takes place as you lift up your leg to take a step, and the out breath takes place as you put you leg down and step forward.
After several rounds of breathing in and out, breathe in, and this time hold your breath, and stand still. Constrict your anal sphincter seven times, and on the seventh time hold it constricted, then rapidly suck in your abdomen seven times, holding it in on the seventh time, finally push down rapidly seven times with the diaphragm. As these moves are made, visualise the red earth energy collected in the belly being packed down and compressed into a shining red pearl at the centre of the belly, at a place just below and behind the naval.
Then breathe out, and begin walking again, building up more earth energy in the belly. After several rounds of breathing in and out, repeat the compression process, building up the concentrated red pearl in the belly. After three rounds of concentrating the red pearl energy, switch to White Dragon Walking.
White Dragon Walking is very similar, but there is no need for the slight stamping of the foot. It can be done slower, with a cycle of breathing in and out on each step. White Dragon Walking may be combined with the basic walking movements of Tai Chi, if you are familiar with that art. Otherwise, begin by visualising the white energy current associated with the spiritual source, sending down a white ray from a white glowing orb overhead, through the crown chakra, and thence through the centre of the body to the point just below the naval chakra, sinking into the belly where a glowing ball of white energy takes shape. Breathe in slowly and deeply as you establish this visualisation, and continuing to breathe in, extend a foot slowly forward, place it deliberately on the ground, without putting any weight upon it. As the foot touches the ground, begin to breath out, and gradually shift your weight forward onto the foot. As you do so, visualise the white orb of energy filling your body with energy, which moves your limbs for you, slowly, gracefully, and smoothly. Allow the white solar energy to radiate into your auric field, containing it as you did with the Earth energy. The forward movement is slow and steady, timed to last for an entire out breath. Then, when your weight is over your front foot, begin to breathe in again, visualising the energy current from overhead shining down through the crown chakra and charging the ball of energy in the belly, and move your rear foot forward to a level with your front foot. Continue to move the foot forward as you breathe in, and place it down as you complete the in breath. Then as you breathe out, visualise again the white ball of energy at the belly radiating out to fill your body and aura, as you slowly shift your weight forward onto the new front foot. Continue this graceful slow walking, combined with visualisations on each breath for a number of steps. Time the steps so that our breathing should be deep, relaxed and unforced.
After several steps, use the movements of anal sphincter, abdomen and diaphragm to concentrate the white solar energy at the naval centre into a white pearl, just as before, but now use eight contractions of each instead of seven. After three rounds of concentrating the white pearl, one may switch back to Red Dragon Walking. Continue to alternate in this way between Red Dragon Walking and White Dragon Walking, with the same time roughly spent on each.
To conclude the practice, allow the red and white pearls to start orbiting each other in the belly, then move them with the attention to the heart centre, allowing them to merge together into a single pink pearl, which radiates a beautiful pink glow throughout the auric field. Alternatively, the practice may be concluded with the Caduceus meditation, beginning from step (8), where the red and white energies emerge from the concentrated red and white pearls at the belly.
This final part of the practice is, of course, an octave of the sacred marriage. The Red and White Dragons represent the primordial energies of Earth and procreation, resonating with the female menstrual blood, and the spiritual seed and enlivening principle, resonating with the male semen. Their dance of union is the creative powerhouse behind all life and manifestation.
May you be blessed by the energies of the Red and White Dragons!
Blessed be,
Rob