River Wishes

Finley River. Ozark, MO.

Take a piece of paper (8.5x11 is fine), preferably paper that is easily biodegradable, with no harmful chemicals added.

Write down your wishes, your dreams, your hopes, things about yourself or your life that you want to change or work on.  Write down your prayers to the gods.

Meditate on what you wrote, the feelings behind it, what you are going to do to pursue these dreams or goals.

When you are clear and calm, and feel that you can go no deeper in your meditation, fold the paper into a little origami boat.

Origami boat tutorial:

Next take your boat to a river or stream.  Place the boat in the river and recite the following*:

This small boat carries my dreams to the sea.
River spirits - kind, beautiful, and strange -
Guide this craft that carries pieces of me
And guide my transmogrifying sea-change.
I'm letting go, the past has no more hold,
My dreams, my wishes, I will now pursue:
Where once I feared change, I will now be bold;
Where once I did lie, I will now be true.
Little boat, as the river makes your way,
I work to shape reality from dream.
Water spirits, sprites, nymphs, and gods, please sway
The magics of rain, river, sea and stream
To facilitate the change in my life
I need to make to live without much strife.

Release your boat in the water, watch as it travels downstream.  Imagine it joining with the next river, and the next, and ultimately with the sea.  See yourself, as you watch your boat, working towards your dreams, working to change yourself to be the person you want to be.  Imagine doing it.  Watch as your boat drifts farther and farther away, and see yourself changing in your mind.  

Say a last farewell to your boat, thank the river spirits, gods, nymphs, sprites, and such.  Get up, and get to work.  The change must come from within you, and all the magic in the world won't help if you don't start pursuing your goals.  Magic doesn't take the place of doing the work, it just makes it easier.  

*Actually, you can recite any small chant you think will help to focus your energies and magic, cementing your path to change within your mind.  I just wanted to write a sonnet.