Welcome back to the second unit of the Modern Order of Essenes course! If you missed Unit 1, you can catch up with us here.
As you might notice with some relief, this week’s post is a lot shorter than the last one, since it only contains the content for Unit 2… 😉
In this unit, you will continue working with the Blessing Walk. It also introduces a basic protective ritual and gives you the bird’s eye view of the MOE structure and its contents.
Before we dive into the actual content, though, I want you to head straight down to the comments and answer the following question:
When you do the Blessing Walk, how do you feel during the actual act of offering your blessings to others?
(E.g. Does it go smoothly? Does it require conscious effort on your part? What do you feel and think while you offer blessings to others? …)
Do that right now, please. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Don’t read any further before you have answered the question, and don’t read anybody else’s comments before you’ve posted yours.
(Feel free to post anonymously, though. The point of this exercise isn’t for me to collect your personal answer, but for you to make a note of it. I’ll explain why at a later point…)
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Answered the question? Great. Then let’s dive right into this week’s work…
Coursework
- To Read – JMG’s Introductory Lecture
The Introductory Lecture will give you a quick overview of the MOE’s structure, its content and practices:
Online Version (only the section titled “Introductory Lecture” down to the five star-separator)
PDF Version (Pages 7 and 8) - To Read – Essene Healing Breath Meditation: Overview
Your second task in Unit 2 is to read the introduction and overview of the Essene Healing Breath Meditation text:
Online Version (From the top up to and including the section titled “Overview of the Essene Healing Breath Meditation”)
PDF Version (Page 15, from the top up to and including the section “Overview of the Essene Healing Breath Meditation”) - To Practice – Essene Healing Breath: Preparation
The “Preparation” exercise for the Essene Healing Breath is essentially a small banishing/protection ritual. Please read my comments about it below under “Commentary” before you start practicing.
Online Version (Section “Preparing to do an Essene Healing Breath Meditation”)
PDF Version (Section “Preparing to do an Essene Healing Breath Meditation” on page 15/16) - To Practice – Blessing Walk, Step 1, but differently
Your final task in this unit is to do Step 1 of the Blessing Walk yet again – but this time, do it differently. It’s all explained below in the Commentary.
Reflection Question
While you do the work of Unit 2, take some time to reflect on the following question:
What does “healing” mean to you?
Meditation Topics
If you need fodder for your discursive meditations beyond what you have found in this unit’s texts, the following topics should give you something to work with:
- Why and when is a protective ritual important?
- What is the difference between protection, banishing and cleansing?
- How can the mind aid you in healing?
- How can the heart aid you in healing?
- Your mind is the seat of…
- Your heart is the seat of …
- What other centers are there in your body which might be important for healing?
- What is the difference between feminine and masculine healing energy?
- How does the love of the Divine heal all things?
- How could the love of the Divine heal you?
And if you have enough ideas on your own and don’t need any from this list, that’s even better!
Commentary
Reflecting Back on Unit 1
I hope that by now, you’ve had some first success in establishing a workable MOE practice in your life. Still, things might not be going perfect yet (if they ever will, that is! 😉 ).
Thus if you have any comments, questions, if you need support or advice, or just want to talk to other people about your experiences, please feel free to make ample use of the comment section!
Essene Healing Breath Preparation – Naming Confusion
The MOE material puts a protective and cleansing ritual before its Healing Breath meditation, which I think is a smart choice.
(Given the current state of the world, performing a daily protective ritual is probably a smart choice in general!)
Alas, in the material this ritual is called “sphere of protection”. This can lead to some confusion, as there is another, quite different, protective ritual which is also called Sphere of Protection, or SOP for short (notice the uppercase letters, though!).
The two rituals have nothing in common. The SOP is a full-blown ritual which uses movements and language, calls on elemental energies and can be used for specific effects.
The protective MOE ritual is a lot simpler. This makes it easier and quicker to learn, but also a lot less powerful.
Still, it’s a protective ritual, and it’s easy and quick to learn. 😉 And apart from the potential name confusion, it’s perfectly fine and workable.
To avoid any potential confusion, I shall henceforth call the MOE ritual “protective sphere”, and use the term “Sphere of Protection” for the more elaborate ritual.
Essene Healing Breath Preparation vs. Other Protective Practices
Of course, this raises the question whether you should perform the MOE protective sphere if you already perform another daily protective ritual, e.g. the SOP.
My advice is simple:
If you don’t currently perform a daily protective ritual, start with the MOE protective sphere right away, and continue to practice it while you work on this course.
Afterwards, I’d strongly encourage you to either continue with it, or to pick up another protective ritual if you feel so inclined (e.g. the aforementioned SOP).
If you do currently perform a daily protective ritual and it works well for you, continue with this practice.
Under the current circumstances, a good and proven protective practice is worth gold, and you should definitely continue with what you have.
However, I don’t see a reason why the MOE protective sphere should clash with any other rituals.
Thus if you have the capacity for it, I’d encourage you to try out the MOE protective sphere at least for the duration of Unit 2, in addition to your established protective practice – maybe do one in the morning, and one in the evening.
(Note that I might be mistaken about the protective sphere not clashing with other practices, so if you should feel it doesn’t play nice with whatever else you do, stop doing it.)
If nothing else, this will help you get a better feel for the material, and for how the MOE works with the Divine healing energies.
And if you should not have the capacity for two such practices in your life, then just continue with what you’re doing and what works.
Blessing Walk – an Experiment
Finally, the Blessing Walk, but differently. 😉
What we’re doing here is an experiment. (Well, I’m doing an experiment, and you’re kinda being dragged along…)
The Blessing Walk, at least as it is explained in the material, is a very mind-centered, almost intellectual effort.
You think.
You speak, even if it’s just in your mind. (There’s the mind again!)
You pay attention to other people.
You consciously juggle several tasks at once.
You focus on building up a blessing aura (and your mind wonders if there are already some traces of it to be detected).
You probably think some more and wonder whether the person you just blessed has accepted your blessing or not.
All of these are tasks of the mind. And while the text does mention the heart and feelings (“Just say it in your mind and feel it in your heart.”), I’d wager that most of you never even got that far during your practice – as you’ve simply been too occupied with all the thinking and speaking and minding business. 😉
In this unit, I’d like you to start over with the Blessing Walk, and do it differently instead.
Take the same kinds of walks as you’ve taken in Unit 1.
But this time, don’t worry about how to phrase your blessing. Forget about all the focusing and thinking and paying attention.
Instead of being all in your head, focus on your heart.
Know that there is a bright, shiny ball of Divine blessing energy right there in your heart area. Feel this blessing energy, if you can – and if not, don’t start worrying and fretting about it. Just know that it’s there.
Then during your Blessing Walk, imagine this energy radiating out from your heart into the world, towards the people you encounter.
Don’t think, don’t wonder whether they accept it – you’re not pushing anything on anybody here. The blessing energy flowing out from your heart is just an offer.
The people you encounter can take it or leave it, they can let it inside or just walk by. You don’t need to worry about what they do. Just know that the energy is radiating outwards from this bright ball of light in your heart.
You might feel this ball of blessing energy, maybe as tingling or warmth. You might “see” it as a bright, radiating ball. Or you might perceive nothing – and that’s fine, too.
It really doesn’t matter, and you don’t need to think or worry about it. You just know that the blessing energy is right there in your heart, and that you’re letting it flow out into the world during your Blessing Walk.
In a way, it’s as if you had a little sun right there in your heart area, which you can switch on and off at will – and during your Blessing Walks, you switch it on.
This is it – the Blessing Walk Reloaded. 😉
Seriously, though, I’d like you to try this for the next two weeks – and I’d very much like you to report back.
(Remember this is an experiment, I will need feedback to determine its success or failure!)
I’m particularly interested in how your experience differs from the by-the-book version, any differences and similarities, but also which way works better for you, which came more naturally to you from the start, and anything else you notice or would like to report.
So please do come back over the course of this unit and report how things are going!
By now, you’ve probably figured out why I asked you to post that comment of “how it’s going with the Blessing Walk” right at the start – this comment is your baseline for the past two weeks, to which you can compare your experiences from this new form of the Blessing Walk. 😉
I’ll leave it at that for now. Once I’ve got a bit of feedback, I might write a bit more about how I came up with this, and why I think it matters.
For now, just try things out for two weeks and report back, please. 🙂
Further Resources
Not that many additional resources today…
There are some interesting comments to JMG’s original Healing Breath Meditation poast.
And our own comment section for Unit 1 also contains some interesting stuff from you folks, in case you haven’t seen all of them yet.
Outlook
Unit 3 will go live on Sunday, March 16th 2025.
Until then, I’m looking forward to your comments – and I’d very much appreciate your feedback about what works and what doesn’t work for you so far! 🙂
Chris says
Mine is more the blessed sneak than a blessed walk. It has been terribly cold outside lately so I have been either doing my walk at work on the way to the bathroom or inside my 3 season room watching people and cars go by, and blessing people. The ratio between the two has been 30/70 since I am a Hybrid worker.
Regine says
lol! And now I wonder which other formats might be possible. A Blessing Tiptoe? A Blessing Hop? A Blessing Roll? 😀
Thanks for posting your comment!
Ridgely says
Yes, I know the feeling. Here in Illinois we had over a week with sub-zero or near zero temps. In the audio that \’s been posted by John Gilbert he discusses just sending the blessing, even if you aren’t walking outside, even if the person isn’t in your presence, and I found that useful.
Heloise says
I did the Blessing Walk several times a week for about a year and then took a long break. I recently resumed my practice.
At the moment, I typically feel happy and light when I do the Blessing Walk. At the moment I have to consciously think about offering blessings and concentrate a bit to stay on task. But when I had done it after months of practice it became something I would just do as I was going about my day. Almost automatically. I would have to consciously stop it.
In case you are wondering why I stopped…I achieved the Apprentice Attunement and decided to stop advancement there but continue all the basic practices. They were and are lovely. My practice deepened and became richer, stronger, and more effective. On reflection I think this was like only working one set of muscles in the gym. Eventually the disparity in strength of different muscle groups can be detrimental. So I decided to take a break. In the mean time, I learned the regular SOP and discursive meditation. I thought I would become adept at them and then return to the MOE work. So here I am.
I am very glad to have this group and practice with others. I also quite like the meditation prompts. Thank you so much!
Heloise
Regine says
Hi Heloise,
Thanks for your report. I’m glad you decided to take up the MOE practice again, and to join us here! 🙂
Regine
RL Lee says
For me, doing the Blessing Walk does require a bit of conscious effort initially but it becomes less effortful the more I practice.
I’ve been using the phrase, “Peace, peace be with you.” Using that phrase, my pace, my muscles, my mind seems to follow suit. It’s not really possible to send blessings of peace and wellbeing to strangers while remaining stressed-out, rushed, and anxious. 🙂
When it’s been really cold, I’ve done the Blessing Walk down the hallways at the hospital where I work.
Chris, I like “blessing sneak”- that’s great!!!
I’m so excited for this next unit, coming here was the first thing I did when I woke up this morning. I’m really looking forward to hearing about everyone else’s experience.
Regine says
Thanks for posting your comment, and I’m glad to hear you’re so excited about the course! 🙂 I hope the unit will live up to your expectations. And yep, it does have some quite immediate effects…
You did note, though, *cough, cough* that you weren’t supposed to read the comments of the others before posting yours, didn’t you? 😛
RL Lee says
Hehehe. Whoops, sorry. You’re right! I managed to get… “SQUIRREL!!”… distracted before I got to the end of the post. 😉
Vicki says
It was difficult at first to memorize the blessing but after two weeks it flows pretty easily, though sometimes I get the order and words mixed up. It makes me feel more aware and connected to others and I feel more relaxed and in higher vibration during and afterwards.
Sometimes my ‘target’ moves out of my line of sight before I can finish, so I try to speed it up. I liked to say the blessings softly out loud because it’s a little hard to multitask on a walk and hearing it made sure my mind completed the entire thought rather than getting distracted. However it makes me a little self conscious.
This practice has absolutely benefitted me in my daily life, bringing me into the present moment, increasing my awareness of others and raising my feelings of love and compassion. Thank you!
Regine says
Thanks for your report, too.
> Sometimes my ‘target’ moves out of my line of sight before I can finish, so I try to speed it up.
Just wondering… Do you assume the blessing energies work through your line of sight? Or do you need the visual contact to focus on the person and thus to finish?
Ridgely says
It seems to me that the person needs to be in my “mental sight”. Not at all necessary that I be able to physically see them.
Ridgely says
So, I’ve been doing the Blessing Walk for a fair amount of time now. As I said,I work from home, and walk after lunch, so I don’t usually see a lot of people, but trees, animals, birds, I see these in abundance.
There are certainly times when I feel “disconnected”, but, even so, I say the words mentally and remember the intent. I think even if “I”, meaning my exterior personality and consciousness, don’t feel anything, the blessing happens anyway, because the Cosmos’s intent is for blessing to happen, whether I feel it or not.
More often I DO feel it. It’s a sensation that is localized in the middle of my chest, around the heart and solar plexus and, a bit, in the pit of my stomach, as if something in my had “grabbed”or surrounded and touched the person or being or space I had been “aiming” the blessing at.
As I said above, sometimes this is easy and goes smoothly, sometimes it requires effort.
Regine says
Thanks for your report, too! It’ll be interesting to hear what you think about this week‘s Blessing Walk exercise after a few days… 😉
TemporaryReality says
“When you do the Blessing Walk, how do you feel during the actual act of offering your blessings to others?”
Calm and happy, like I have something to contribute.
Regine says
And thanks to you, too, for posting your comment! 🙂
The Dilettante Polymath says
How do I feel while doing the Blessing part of the Blessing Walk? Now, pretty good, but I’ve been doing it on my own for a few months now. When I started, I was pretty self-conscious about it, but part of that was that I set up a trigger to remind myself to do it whenever I found myself “checking out” and attractive person while out and about. That trigger turned out to be very effective, so now it comes pretty naturally, though the admonition to make eye contact and smile, well, I rarely do that. I asked JMG about it on a Magic Monday a while back, and he confirmed my current handling of it is OK, but I’m sorta still trying to make myself more outgoing, so I still struggle with it a bit.
As an aside, I somehow managed to miss the first email, so I’m just starting, but since I’ve been doing what we were supposed to in Unit 1 for a while, I’m going to go ahead and jump ahead to keep up with the program.
Thanks for running this!
Regine says
Welcome, and thanks for sharing!
Jumping right in sounds perfect in your case. 🙂 (Besides, folks, this isn’t kindergarden. I can and will give advice, but in the end, it’s up to you how you handle certain things!)
In any case, I’m glad you’re here. “Missed the first email” means it fell through the cracks on your end, or does that mean something went wrong with the email delivery? Just checking to see if there are any technical issues or delivery issues (although, alas, I can’t do much about the latter…).
The Dilettante Polymath says
I had originally thought it didn’t come through (because I searched my email for “MOE” and didn’t see it, but I just searched again for your email, and it’s there.
Regine says
Great, thanks! (Always good if it’s nothing on my end – one less thing to take care of… 😀 )
Ridgely says
For the commentariat: for me, I find myself concerned about this. I feel that, when I see a person , animal, object, whatever it may be, and I direct healing energy to them, my focus, intent and consciousness is on *them* not on *me*; but when I try to feel a blessing, healing spark in me and shine it out, *I* become the focus. So, for me, doing it the original way seems better, at least for me.
What’s interesting for me though, is that the outcome of the original instructions is that blessing EVERYTHING, is the outcome of this practice. “Just make it a habit “.
Regine says
Thanks for this.
In this case, you have two options: You can either try it for the remainder of these two weeks, or you can switch back to the other method. I’ll leave this to you – but if you should decide to give it a try for now, I’d be very interested in whether your perception of it will change over time.
(In this case, maybe you can try switching your attention away from yourself, and more towards how the blessing radiates outwards from you?)
And in general, the endpoint will be the same, or at least I think so (it is an experiment, as I’ve never taught it this way before, and neither has anybody else I know of). I feel that focusing less on the intellect/mind and more on feelings/the flow of the blessings makes it easier, at least for some people, to get into the blessing “headspace”, and to later “do it on the side”. But we’ll see if this idea works out or not. 🙂
Regine
Mikkel says
My blessing walk consist on cycling between home and workplace or the walk between workplace and garden. I don’t notice any effect yet. Only the birds that hesitstate, before flying off, ha ha.
Regine says
Thanks for reporting back! And how does it feel to you? E.g. does it come easy, or is it hard? Anything else noticable? 🙂
Blessing Walker 23 says
When I do the blessing walk, I usually feel uplifted myself. When I first started them, I could feel drained some afterwards. With practice that didn’t seem to happen as much. I usually feel a sense of zeroing in on the particular blessing I am giving, and then passing that out into “the field.”
Regine says
Thanks for your report, too.
Interesting. Do you feel able to pinpoint where the tired/drained feeling was coming from? A case of “doing something new, needing to focus, and that’s exhausting”? Or something else?
Regine