In magic, however, mediation has a far more precise meaning, based on the essential truth that all contain divinity or 'the original being' within us. All are also contained within the Being of the universe. In true mediation, any individual can reach deeply into the states of consciousness where transcendent entities can be met. Such entities can be aspects of divinity; god-forms or beings which have transcended human expression and no longer incarnate on this plane.
In mediation, a human acts as a 'focus' or 'gateway' for the consciousness of such transcendent entities. But know this is not the sole purpose or type of mediation found in the magical arts.
Mediation is not a matter of passive reception, such as the cliched and superficial process of 20th century 'mediumship', but of clarifying and refining personal modes of awareness. When these higher modes are attuned to inner worlds or beings which are vital to magic, mediation may arise.
Mediation is not a matter of 'receiving messages'. If this was the case then it would be virtually valueless as higher modes of awareness and higher spiritual energies actually transcend verbal communication. A true mediator may be able to translate certain key images of the spiritual realms into words, but the mediator is more likely to act as a channel for a specific energy or power to flow out into the magical circle and more ultimately into the world.
Therefore, an initiate working magic, such as rituals or visualisations, may become a mediator through the simple act of ritual pattern making and the controlled use of the imagination. In the magical arts, anyone making a sign, or chanting a mantra, or visualising a symbol, is mediating the power of being through specific and dynamic magical archetypal channels. The more powerful effects of mediation, however, are not usually developed without years of effort and deliberate control.
Taken from 'Living Magical Arts' by R.J.Stewart. This adaptation by Matthew James Dec 2006.
