Why meditate? What it can and cannot do

In this lesson: what meditation is, what the research honestly says it helps with, and why it sits at the heart of tarot and witchcraft.

Almost every practice on this site starts the same way: sit down, breathe, arrive. Meditation is the skill underneath grounding (feeling steady and present in your body), spellwork, card reading and ritual. If you can settle your attention for a few minutes, everything else becomes clearer. This course teaches that skill gently, with honest notes on what meditation does and does not do.

What meditation is

Meditation is a family of practices that train attention. Some ask you to rest your attention on one thing, such as the breath or a word. Others ask you to notice whatever arises without holding on to it. Still others use the imagination, which is where witchcraft and tarot come in. Every religion and many secular traditions have their own forms, and nobody owns the act of sitting quietly.

Meditation across traditions

Historical Meditation is not one technique from one place. The Sanskrit word dhyana, meaning concentrated contemplation, appears in Indian texts such as the Upanishads, composed from roughly the eighth century BCE onward, and it became a central term in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In the Buddhist tradition, the Satipatthana Sutta, a discourse on the foundations of mindfulness preserved in the Pali Canon, describes attention to the body, feelings, mind and mental objects. The word dhyana traveled with Buddhism into Chinese as chan and into Japanese as zen.

Historical Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions have their own contemplative practices. The Desert Fathers and Mothers of fourth-century Egypt repeated short prayers to quiet the mind, and the monk John Cassian recommended repeating “O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me” (Psalm 70:1).

The anonymous English book The Cloud of Unknowing, written in the late fourteenth century, teaches the reader to rest attention on a single short word. In Hasidic Judaism, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (1772 to 1810) taught hitbodedut, secluded spontaneous prayer, often outdoors. In Sufism, dhikr, the repeated remembrance of God’s names, is a form of meditation.

Modern Meditation came to wide Western attention in the twentieth century. Transcendental Meditation, taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, became famous in the 1960s. The cardiologist Herbert Benson described a simple method in The Relaxation Response (1975). In 1979 Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, adapting Buddhist mindfulness into a secular eight-week course. Much of today’s research is based on MBSR and similar programs.

What the research says

Meditation has been studied a great deal, and the honest summary is modest. A large review published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2014 by Madhav Goyal and colleagues found moderate evidence that meditation programs help with anxiety, depression and pain, and low or no evidence for many other claims. The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says much the same: meditation may help with stress and some symptoms, and it is generally safe for healthy people, but it is not a replacement for medical care.

It is also not always pleasant. In 2017 Jared Lindahl and colleagues published a study in PLOS ONE interviewing Western Buddhist meditators about difficult experiences, including fear, anxiety and feeling unreal. Those experiences are not common for short daily practice, but they are real, and lesson 6 covers what to do.

Reading the research carefully

Modern A large review published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2014 by Madhav Goyal and colleagues looked at 47 trials and found moderate evidence that mindfulness meditation programs improved anxiety, depression and pain, and low evidence for stress and quality of life. That is useful, but it is not magic: the effects were similar in size to some other active treatments, such as exercise.

Later studies have also shown that meditation is not always pleasant. A 2017 study in PLOS ONE by Jared Lindahl, Willoughby Britton and colleagues interviewed Western Buddhist meditators and documented a range of challenging experiences, such as anxiety or feelings of unreality, especially during intensive retreats. That is why this course keeps sessions short and includes a lesson on mental health.

Three old voices on a quiet mind

Historical Long before research labs, people wrote about the restless mind in images we still recognise. Here are three short passages from old texts, each in a public domain English translation. Read them slowly. You do not need to share the beliefs behind them to hear what they say about attention.

The Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu text usually dated to the last centuries BCE, compares a settled mind to a flame. In Sir Edwin Arnold’s verse translation of 1885, chapter 6 says:

Steadfast a lamp burns sheltered from the wind; Such is the likeness of the Yogi’s mind

The Dhammapada, a collection of verses attributed to the Buddha, uses an image from archery. In F. Max Müller’s translation of 1881, verse 33 reads: “As a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise man makes straight his trembling and unsteady thought, which is difficult to guard, difficult to hold back.” A fletcher is an arrow maker. I love that the verse admits how hard it is: the mind trembles, and straightening it is patient craft.

The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, writing his private notes in the second century CE, reminded himself that he did not need a holiday to find peace. In Meric Casaubon’s English translation of 1634, book 4 says: “At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses.”

Three cultures, three images: a sheltered lamp, a straightened arrow, a retreat into yourself. None of them promises bliss. All of them describe meditation as a skill you practise.

What the first week often feels like

Many beginners are surprised by their first few sittings. The mind seems louder, not quieter. That is not failure; it is the first time you have sat still long enough to notice how busy your thoughts usually are. Some people feel sleepy, because they are tired and finally resting. Others feel restless and want to check the clock every minute. Both are common.

A gentle rule for the first week: sit for the same short time each day, even if it feels pointless, and write one line afterwards about what you noticed. By day seven, read the lines back. Most people notice at least one small change, such as falling asleep more easily, or catching a worry a little earlier than usual.

Questions beginners ask

Do I have to empty my mind? No. Almost no one can. Meditation is noticing when your mind wanders and gently returning, again and again. Each return is the exercise, like a repetition in a gym.

Is meditation religious? It can be, but it does not have to be. You can meditate as a Christian, a pagan, an atheist or anything else.

How long before I notice anything? Some people feel calmer after one session; studies often measure changes after a few weeks of daily practice. Notice small things: falling asleep more easily, pausing before reacting.

Is it safe for everyone? For most people, short sessions are safe. If you have a history of trauma, psychosis or severe depression, start with very short, eyes-open practice and talk to your doctor or therapist.

Myths to drop: Meditation does not mean sitting cross-legged on the floor. It is not about stopping thoughts. And it is not a cure-all; it is one helpful habit among many.

A second worked example

Imagine someone who has tried meditation apps and given up, feeling she was “bad at it”. She restarts with a different aim: one minute after brushing her teeth, counting ten breaths. When she loses count, she smiles and begins again. After two weeks she notices she does it without thinking. After a month she extends to five minutes. The key change was not a better technique but a smaller, kinder goal.

Why it matters for magic

In my practice, meditation is the difference between doing a ritual and being present for it. A spell said while thinking about tomorrow’s shopping list is just words. A tarot reading done with a quiet mind lets me notice what the card is actually showing me, not what I hoped it would say.

A worked example

Imagine you sit down to draw your daily tarot card, but your head is buzzing from work. You pause, set a three-minute timer and simply count ten breaths, starting again whenever you lose count. When the timer goes, you draw the card. You notice details you would have missed, like the direction a figure is looking, and your reading is calmer. That is meditation doing its job.

Try this

Sit in a chair with your feet on the floor. Set a timer for three minutes and do nothing except notice your breath going in and out. Before you start and afterwards, write three words for how you feel. Do not judge the result. You are just collecting information.

Journal prompts: What do I hope meditation will give me? What has stopped me before? How did one minute of attention feel today?

A beginner’s worry, answered. “I cannot stop thinking, so I must be bad at this.” Nobody stops thinking. Meditation is the practice of noticing that you have drifted and coming back, again and again. Each return is one repetition, like a single lift at the gym.

A variation for busy days. If even five minutes feels impossible, try three conscious breaths before you open your laptop or start the car. It is small, but it keeps the thread of practice alive until you have more time.

Recap

Meditation is a family of practices that train attention. The research shows moderate benefits for anxiety, depression and pain, and it is generally safe, though difficult experiences can happen. It does not replace medical care. For tarot and witchcraft, it is the foundation that lets you be present for your own practice.

What next

My grounding and centering practice is a short meditation you can use today, and the 5-minute practices fit around a busy life. Next lesson: breath and posture.

Further reading: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living (revised edition, Bantam, 2013). Madhav Goyal et al., “Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being”, JAMA Internal Medicine 174 (2014). The Cloud of Unknowing is available in several modern translations.

Sources

• National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, Meditation and Mindfulness: What You Need To Know (NCCIH, updated 2022).
• Madhav Goyal et al., Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (JAMA Internal Medicine 174, 2014).
• Jared R. Lindahl et al., The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists (PLOS ONE 12, 2017).

Go deeper: the witchcraft and tarot pages on this site

Mark as done