MM ALL,
As I near my year and a day dedication time period I feel prepared to reflect inward. discover who i am, confront my darkness, and learn to coexist with myself. Everything I can find on the subject just states this is an intense meditation. Can anyone else elaborate a little bit. I mean i know its meditation, but what am i meditating on, where am i really going. I cant just sit and meditate about me! any pointers or personal experiences that others have found helpful would be greatly appriciated. thanks!

Phoenix, I'm a tad confused. Are you "nearing the time" when you're going to dedicate yourself to a certain spiritual path to begin your year and a day of study? Or, are you coming up on completing your year and a day of dedication?

If the former is the case, I'd suggest you start by focusing on what exactly it is you're dedicating yourself to, if that makes sense.

I apologize for the confusion, i guess if i made that a little more understandable to someone besides me [tongue] that might help [lol]. let me start with, it made sense in my head, but as i reread it im lost myself. I am almost at the end of my year and a day dedication study period. my spiritual path is very ecclectic. I take what i like from not only wiccan traditions but other spiritual paths. Namely native american teachings. sorry again for that blurb of how my mind works. [lol]

I've done that! Couple times, cept I didn't have to meditate, just happened, had some warning, kinda slowly sunk into it. But, hmm, that might not be the way to say it, I have lots of trouble, I think the word my friend used the other day was articulatng?I can't get whats in my mind to translate into words properly. Anyways, I think I'm elecctric(sp?sorry) cept I don't really take anything from anypath that I know of, don't study books, just am. Bah, confusing myself so I shall jsut say what happened to me.

One time was when I was sitting on my bed and this feeling just set in I'm afraid I don't have a word for(yargh!lol) umm, hmm, well anyways things just kinda blacked out and I looked at myself in my mind, what makes me, feeling with your energy trying to mix in with it, somthing like that, ya might find somthing in there that doesn't really feel you you, not really an alive thing I suspose, reaching towards it causes it to open kinda and going through it opens ya to your deeper parts, places you've recessed back and labeled as norm but might have hidden secrets in it exct....or it could be somthing else, but if you visit one of em other spots your probably suspose to unless ya like beat it open when it really really didn't want to be see yet....Sorry, minds a wandering agian. Anyways, I do it repeatedly cause I forget who I am somtimes and I suggest not concentrating on humanity for the deeper area if you can't find it agian by seeing yourself inside your calm mind. Feeling, not neccessarily emotions like anger or whatever you feel normally, ya want to feel your being as energy not as a solid fleshed thing. But I suspose that depends on what exactly your looking for, how deep you want to go in. ~shrugs~ up to ya, this might not even be what your asking about lol sorry if I made you read all that for nothing >_<

Apprentice Phoenix the Grey wrote:
I mean i know its meditation, but what am i meditating on, where am i really going. I cant just sit and meditate about me!

Some suggested things to meditate on:

What do you want most in this life? What are you willing- and unwilling- to give up in order to get it?

What do you stand for? What won't you stand for?

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? In 10 years?

What is the bad habit you'd most like to eradicate from your daily life (nail-biting, swearing)? What bad habit would you like to eradicate from your personality (jealousy, laziness)?

When you dedicated, did you dedicate yourself to the Craft in general, a god or goddess, a coven or group (or in your case, a teacher), or all of these? If more than one, which is the most important to you, and why?

What do you hope to get out of further study? What do you plan on giving back?

To what level do you see yourself getting involved with the Pagan community at large?

How out of the "broom closet" are you? Are you satisfied with your decision?

Are you satisfied with your widely eclectic path, or do you ever feel like narrowing your focus, and if so, to what paths or practices?

These are only a few things to think about. Most of all, be honest with yourself. There are no wrong answers.