Molly's Guard Petal Pruning Meditation

Molly shared a lovely meditation with me last night.  First, you might need a little background information, though.  A florist gets flowers from the market that show up pretty bruised and ugly.  The flowers go through a whole process of cleaning the bottom leaves off, stripping thorns, cutting off the bottoms of the stems under water, & sitting in warm water treated with preservative water for 24 hours before the flowers even reach the stage where they can be put into an arrangement.  At least, if your florist is a *good* florist, that's the process.

The outside petals of most flowers are, in the world of the florist, called "guard petals."  They get beat up, bruised, pinched, crunched, and look terrible.  But when you peel off the guard petals, a lovely pristine example of the flower emerges.  Guard petals guard the beauty inside.

On to the meditation:

Close your eyes.  Take a deep breath while visualizing the number 3 three times on an imaginary blackboard in front of you.  Take another deep breath while seeing the number 2 three times on your imaginary blackboard.  Take another deep breath while seeing the number 1 three times on your imaginary blackboard.

Take another deep breath and reach out for the One Energy.  You won't need to reach far because it's always reaching back, always near, always wanting to be part of you.  Pull the white crisp energy down around you in a column about three times as wide as you are with your arms outstretched.  Pull it down so it envelopes your head, your neck, your shoulders...  As you pull the energy down, allow your muscles to fully relax and soak up the energy.  Continue pulling the energy down through your heart, your arms, and hands, your torso, your hips, your thighs...  Let the energy soak into each area, fully relaxing and accepting the energy.  Pull it further down over your knees, your calves, your ankles, the tops of your feet and toes, the bottoms of your feet.  Push the energy down into the earth, push it all the way to the center of the earth.  Imagine a sort of trampoline at the center of the earth so the white energy melds with the energy of the earth and bounces right back up, quickly jumping to your heart center and spreading out into the world.

Now, direct some of the energy so it forms a ball between your hands.  You should be able to feel the outsides of the ball, but if you can't find the outside, don't worry, just imagine it being between 10" and 24" between your hands.  Label the ball "My Life" and hold the ball there for a moment.

Imagine the stem of a flower with a few leaves and a small green bud atop in the middle of it.  See that it's in a pool of water and has roots extending into the water, finding nourishment there.  Allow the bud to get some color and bloom into a flower.  Notice the color of the flower.  For each relationship in your life, allow a new petal to form on your flower.  Remember each relationship with people, animals, plants.  Remember to create a petal for each good relationship.  Remember to create a petal for each relationship that is having difficulty.  Remember to create a petal for each creature and plant for each of your meals.  Create a petal for each relationship with the celestial bodies, with your angels, with your dieties, and your guides.  Each petal you create is created in the center of your flower, until your flower is in full bloom.

Now notice there's a small green flame just to the right of the blossom.  See that it's a most unusual flame, though.  It floats, the green flame feeding on nothing, but you see the flame dripping water from it's base into the water your blossom roots take nourishment from.  Allow your bruised and battered relationships to push to the outside of the flower now and pluck the Guard Petal off the outside of the blossom.  Feed the Guard Petal into the top of the green flame.  Watch the flame eat the petal, transforming it into the very nourishing waters your blossom lives on.  Notice the circle of life and honor the battered and bruised petals you feed into your transforming flame, then watch a relationship grow anew in the middle of the blossom from the nourishment of the old petal.

Go through each of your battered and bruised relationships, pruning off the Guard Petals, feeding them into the flame until your flower is a creation of only love and beauty.  Notice that this is your life.  It's a continual process of pruning the Guard Petals off and recycling the energies.

When you're ready, come out of your meditation knowing that you can visit this Flower of Life any time you'd like to do some pruning of the Guard Petals.