1. Sit in a straight-backed chair, supporting your lower back with a pillow if necessary. Your chin should be level with the floor, eyes closed, back straight, hands resting on your knees, palms up and fingers relaxed. In this position you should be comfortable and relaxed, the spine straight and the torso erect.
2. Breathe deeply for several minutes. Relax. Forget. Visualize the multitude of tensions and worries of your everyday life exiting your body with you breath. Relax into the chair.
3. Now open your consciousness. Allow your conscious mind to be receptive and alert. Commune and talk with the deities. Toss around symbols in you head. If you wish, chant one of the names of the Goddess or God, or a group of them. This is an excellent tool for slipping into the twilight world.
Note:
Select your time and place for meditation with care. Light should be subdued; candlelight is excellent. Burn white or blue candles if you wish. A bit of incense is fine too, but too much smoke can (obviously) cause problems during deep breathing. Immediately after each meditation session, record all images, thoughts and sensations in your Book of Shadows.
Exercise One:
Sit or lie comfortably with your eyes shut. Relax you body. Breathe deeply and still your mind. Pictures will continue to pop into your head. Choose one of these and stick with it. Let no images intrude other than the one you've chosen. Keep all thoughts revolving around the image. Retain this picture for as long as you can, then let it go and end the exercise.
When you can retain one picture for more than a few minutes, move onto the next step.
Exercise Two:
Decide upon an image to hold and retain it within your mind. You might wish to have it physically present and study it first, memorizing each detail-the way shadows play on it, its textures, colors, perhaps even a scent. You might choose a small three-dimensional shape, such as a pyramid, or something more complex such as an image of Aphrodite rising from the sea or a ripe apple. After studying it thoroughly, close your eyes and see the object before them-just as if your eyes were open. Don't look at the object again with your physical eyes but with your magical imagination-with your powers of visualization. When you can hold this image perfectly for five minutes, move on.
Exercise Three:
This is more difficult, and is truly magical in nature. Visualize something, anything, but preferably something you've never seen before. For instance, let's use a vegetable from Jupiter. It's purple, square, a foot across, covered with quarter-inch green hairs and half-inch yellow dots.v This is just an example. Of course.
Now close your eyes and see--really see this vegetable in your mind. It's never existed. You're creating it with your visualization, your magical imagination. Make the vegetable real. Turn it over in your mind so that you can see it from all angles. Then let it vanish.
When you can hold any such self-created image for about five minutes or so, continue on to the next exercise.
Exercise Four:
This is the most difficult. Hold a self-created image (such as the Jupiterian vegetable) in your mind with your eyes open. Work at keeping it visible, real, a palpable thing. Stare at a wall, look at the sky, or gaze at a busy street, but see the vegetable there. Make it so real you can touch it. Try having it rest on a table or sitting on the grass beneath a tree.
Note:
If we're to use visualization to create changes in this world, not in the shadowy realm that exists behind our eyelids, we must practice such techniques with our eyes open. The true test of visualization lies in our ability to make the visualized object (or structure) real and a part of our world. When you've perfected this exercise, you're well on your way!
The energy and magical powers at work in Wicca are real. They aren't of some astral plane. They're within the Earth and ourselves. They maintain life. We daily deplete our store of energy and replenish it through the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the powers that stream down from the Sun and Moon. Know that this power is physical. Yes, it's mysterious, but only because so few investigate it in magical ways.
Calm yourself. Breathe deeply. Rub your palms together for 20 seconds. Start slowly and rub faster and faster. Feel your muscles tense. Feel your palms grow warm. Then suddenly, stop and hold your palms about 2 inches from each other.
Feel them tingling.......?
That's a manifestation of power! By rubbing your palms together and using the muscles in your arms and shoulders you're raising energy--magical power. It's flowing from your palms as you hold them apart.
Remember, don't force yourself to feel the power. Trying harder won't accomplish anything. Relax and allow yourself to feel what's been there all the time.
After you've actually senesced this energy, begin to fashion it into shapes. Using your visualization to do this. Directly after rubbing your hands, while they're still tingling, visualize jolts of energy--perhaps electric blue or purple--passing from your right (projective) palm to your left (receptive) palm. (If you are lefty, reverse the directions)
Now envision this energy slowly swirling in a clockwise direction between your palms. Form it into a ball of glowing, pulsating magical energy. See its dimensions, its colors. Feel its force and heat in your palms. There's nothing supernatural about it. Cup your hands around the ball. Make it grow or decrease in size through your visualization. Finally push it into your stomach and absorb it back into your system.
Yes, you've done this with you mind, but also with power.
Energy is real, and your ability to manipulate energy determines the effectiveness of your circles and rituals. Work with feeling and directing the power daily. Make this a sort of magical play until you reach the point you won't have to stop and think, "Can I do it? Can I raise the power?"
You'll know you can!!