Golden Dawn Meditation Exercises....

Daily Ritual

1. The Four-fold Breath
2. The Three Ahs
3. "No Mind" Meditation
4. The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram

The Four-Fold Breath:

Relax and exhale to the count of four. Hold the breath out for a count of four. Inhale to the count of four. Hold the breath in for the count of four. Repeat the cycle and continue for at least 3 minutes. Count at an even speed that is comfortable to your breathing. It may take a few days of practice till you find a pace that suits your body and obtains the desired result. Practice the Four-fold Breath before all magical workings.

The Three Ahs
This exercise is an adoration and empowerment that accomplishes three symbolic goals: to ask for help from all the gods and powers of the Universe, to receive that help from them, and then to pass on and share that help with others who need it and don't know how to ask for themselves. Each of these actions is accomplished by the sounding of "A" (the short "ahh" vowel sound, as in "Dawn").

To begin, first perform the Four Fold Breath. Then visualize a glowing letter 'A' inside the middle of your chest. Drawing a deep breath, make the "A" sound and imagine the A glowing inside you, sending out a summons for help to all the powers of the Universe, however you imagine them to be. Draw a second breath, and while sounding the "A", imagine them responding and pouring their power back to you, flowing into you through the top of your head. Then with the third "A", send the power back out into the universe with your voice, sharing it with your fellow beings in need.
 

No-Mind Meditation

Begin by finding a position, balanced but sufficiently comfortable. First, breathe the Four Fold Breath until the body is still and endeavor to remain absolutely motionless. When this is accomplished for at least a few minutes, then endeavor to stop all internal dialogue and mental images and silence the mind completely. It may be surprising how very difficult this seemingly simple exercise can be. 

To obtain complete mental quiescence even for a few seconds may take much practice, but perseverance will eventually bring results. At first it may be helpful to concentrate only on the breath, and the counting of the four to the exclusion of all other thoughts, and then to eliminate the silent "counting". 

Note First time meditators might try counting backwards from 100 to 1 and if you mess up, start over. It shows you how chaotic your mind is.

Once a period of mental silence can be maintained for a time (however short that may be at first), one may proceed to more complex and purposeful meditations. One basic exercise is the meditation on the single point: Consider a point as defined in mathematics—having position but no magnitude—and note the ideas to which this gives rise. Concentrate the mental facilities on this, as a focus, and endeavor to feel the Immanence of the Divine throughout all nature, in all her aspects. 

Then think of the subject of the meditation in a general way—then choose out one thought or image and follow that to its conclusion. A useful variation is to light a single candle where you can gaze at it comfortably. After gazing for several minutes, cover your eyes and endeavor to hold he image of the flame in your "mind's eye" as long as possible. Regard that image to be the "point" of your meditation.
 

The Kabbalistic Cross

Stand facing east. Allow the body to relax. Feel your awareness expand outward to the Universe, while at the same time feel your feet firmly grounded beneath you maintaining a firm foothold in your Earthly existence. Breathe deeply and fully, and prepare to make your entire body vibrate with the sound of your voice.

See, in your mind's eye, a sphere of blazing white brilliance just above your head. Raise the right hand up high and draw down a beam of brilliance from the sphere into the top of your head, filling the entire cranium with light. Touch the forehead and intone "A-toh" (Thine)

Bring the hand down before the body and touch the solar plexus (just below the sternum). Simultaneously, see the Divine white brilliance descend in a beam through the center of the body, down between the feet, into the Earth. Intone "Mal-kuth" (Kingdom)

Touch the right shoulder, and see the Light extend in a ray to that point. Intone "Va Gaburah" (the power)

Touch the left shoulder, and see the Light extend likewise to that point. Intone "Va Gadulah" (the glory)

Clasp the hands at the breast and intone "Leh-olahm. Amen" (Forever. Amen)

And this is performed in Christian Churches everywhere and everyday.

The Formulation of the Pentagrams

In the East, draw a large banishing Earth Pentagram with a fully extended right arm and forefinger. Start at the lower left hip, draw a bluish white line up to a point high over your head, continue the line down to a point before your right hip, up beside your left shoulder, over to the right and then back down to a point before the left hip. This a symbol of the divine power reigning over the Elements of the universe. See it as an all encompassing representation of great power. Breath in deeply drawing energy from the hidden depths of the universe, then give the Sign of the Enterer toward the center of the pentagram, intoning the God-name "Ah-sher-rah" 

Feel the power rushing out and charging the pentagram. You may or may not feel anything physically. Just see the pentagram burst into electric blue flame as you intone each name. Resume your standing position and give the Sign of Silence as you receive back the reflux of the energy you have just sent forth.

Draw a white line from the center of the pentagram, making a quarter of a circle as you proceed toward the South. Stop there and draw the pentagram as before, but this time as you give the Sign of the Enterer, intone "Ah-doh-nai" followed by the Sign of Silence.

Continue the white line to the West. Draw the pentagram, give the Sign of the Enterer, and intone "Eh-heh-ee-yeh".

Continue the white line to the North. Draw the pentagram, give the Sign of the Enterer, and intone "A-gah-lah".

Return to the center of the circle and see the pentagrams in the air about you. Feel their fierce heat and protection. Raise your arms to form a cross, and see Raphael, the archangel of Air, standing before you in the East. His hair is blonde, his skin is very fair, his robe is yellow with flashes of violet, he stands atop a hill with the wind coming from the cloud-patched sky behind him, and he holds the caduceus in his right hand. Say "Before me" and then intone, "Rah-fah-el."

Visualize Gabriel, the archangel of Water, standing behind you in the West. His robe is blue flashing with orange. He stands in the shallows by a gushing spring. He holds a silver cup in his left hand, his hair is light brown, and his skin is fair. Feel moisture wafting in from the West. Say "behind me" and then intone "Gah-bree-el."

In the South, see Michael, the great archangel of Fire. His robe is brilliant scarlet flashing green. He stands in the desert, and fire rises up from the burning sands around his feet. He holds upright in his right hand a flaming iron sword. His hair is black and his skin is dark. Feel intense heat radiating from the South. Say "at my right hand" and then intone "Mee-chah-el" (the ch is pronounced softly as in the Scottish word for lake, "loch").

In the North, see Auriel, the archangel of Earth. His robes are citrine, olive, and russet. He stands on black soil from which ripe wheat springs up behind him. He holds sheaves of wheat in his left hand. His hair is black and his skin is tan. His eyes and intense , large, and dark. See cattle grazing in the field behind him. Beyond them is forest, and beyond the forest are mountains. Say "and at my left hand" and then intone "Or-ee-el."

Still maintaining the arms in a cross, say "for about me flame the pentagrams (see the pentagrams) and in the column shines the six-rayed star." 

See a hexagram floating in your torso, its uppermost angle peaks in your throat and its lower most rests in your groin. The upright triangle is made of red fire. Its blue, downward-pointing triangle wavers slightly like a reflection on water. Feel the dry heat of the flame and the cool moisture of the water. These forces intertwine in your being.

This is an invocation of Archangels, also commonly used.