TECHNIQUES FOR EFFECTIVE NATURAL MAGICK The techniques required to perform natural magick are simple and easily learned. How adept you become at them rests on your willingness to practice. As with anything else, magick usually comes easier with practice. This chapter is made up of short, unconnected passages dealing with some of the things you will be called upon to do in this book. Putting all the instructions in one chapter saves constant repetition throughout the work. Any questions raised by this chapter will, I trust, be answered later in the book, when actual rituals and spells are discussed. SYMBOLISM Since the subconscious mind works through symbols, it is important to cultivate the ability to interpret these symbols to decipher their meaning. No one but you knows - really knows - what symbols mean to you. They are a very personal thing, dredged lup from your subconscious mind, and other's interpretations can be quite wrong. However, a look at some traditional symbolism could be helpful in showing just how symbolism works, and how the code can be unlocked using the tool of the mind - thought. If you light a fire, waited until its flames were quenched, and stared at its coals you might see the shape of a turtle. This is a symbol. To discover its meaning, you can look it up in books on symbolism, but that is the least trustworthy road to take. Indead, look at the symbol itself. A turtle. What immediately comes to mind? A slow moving creature. Perhaps aquuatic. Hard-shelled, able to retreat within to escape the outside world. And fertile - many turtles lay hundreds of eggs. That's quite a lot of turtle associations. Your next task is to look at these associations in connection with a question you asked. If you asked why you couldn't seem to hold onto a love, perhaps your psychic mind is saying that you've been acting like a turtle - dull, slow-moving, always retreating from the world. Look only at those qualities of the symbol which relate to your question. Thus you will soon have an answer. If you didn't ask a question, determine possible future events the same way, by taking those associations from the symbol and applying them to your life. You will come up with an answer. While this process is sometimes difficult, and requires an amount of time and work, it is one of the basic components of any divinitory act - once you have the symbols or pictures they must be interpreted. IMAGINATION AND VISUALIZATION This is exactly what it sounds like. Imagination is the origin of all things that humans have produced. It is this vital tool that will be at work in magick more than any other. Imagination is a must in divination (see Magick Spelled Out) in unlocking symbolism. Imagination is also necessary in visualizing exactly what you need while performing a work of magick. Imagination is not uncontrolled mental rambling but, like the product of a skilled artist who with brush and paints produces a finished, complete picture, imagination can be used like those paints and brushes to produce a perfect image of your need. Imagination is the ability to use your mind creatively. The word "creative" is linked with "creation". In a very real sense you "create" what you imagine, or visualize, as it is also known. This is one of the basics of magick: the visualization, and this is done through imagination. Surely at this moment you could visualize a warm Hawaiian beach, even if you've never been to the islands. You could also visualize a daisy, or a telephone. In magick, imagination is used to visualize the need. If for some reason visualization of the need isn't possible, visualize a symbol that matches it. A dove for peace, perhaps, or a rose for love. SCRYING One of the most-used forms of divination, scrying is simply looking at, into or onto a vessel, surface or material. Methods of scrying included in this book represent a wide variety, utilizing everything from fire to water. The secret of scrying is relaxation. If you sit tensely, your eyes rushing around desparately trying to find symbols, you will fail. Relax and look. They will come to you. This may sound too simple, but it is truth. Some methods work better than others, and so practical experimentation is necessary to find the one that works best for you. Scrying works because of various factors. The random patterns present in heaps of earth, or ripples of a stream, or the glowing coals of a dying fire, allow the conscious mind to relax its hold, giving up total control and allowing the subconscious mind to whisper in your ear, pointing out the symbols with wgich you can unlock the answer to your questions, or to glimpse your future. It can be quite effective with practice. CONCENTRATION Concentration is an extremely potent form of magick. Concentration - retaining a thought or image or picture in the mind without interuption of other data or ideas - is central to many spells and rituals. The logic is clear - what is held in the mind and concentrated upon is being given power. If you concentrate on your need, for instance, while tying a leaf to a tree, you add your power (raised by the mind) to the spell. Positive thinking is one example of the power that the mind can have upon the world. We know that the telephone, airplane, electric lamp, and everything we have created began with thoughts. The thought was held (concentration) until it could be put into manifestation (creation). In a simular way, we hold a thought (the need) and while doing this use the emotion and the knowledge to bring our need into manifestation (creation). If we did not concentrate on our need, the emotion would falter, the knowledge would be useless and powerless, and we'd be better off never to have started the spell in the first place. Concentration is a vital part of any spell. Though some people have difficulty with concentration due to our fast-moving world, a simple exercise if persisted in will do wonders. At night, isolated from other people, light and noises, light a plain white candle and lie or sit comfortably before it. Relax your body and gaze at the candle's flame, shutting out any other thoughts. If you can manage to think of nothing but the candle shining in the dark for more than a few minutes, you are well on your way. FEELING THE POWER What power? Not the energy piped through your home, but the powers of magick - the forces of the elements and winds, the energy that keeps our planet spinning within our spinning galaxy within a spinning universe. This is the real energy of magick. One of the best ways to gain a familiarity of this power is through memory. We have the power at all times; it is what keeps our body running and working properly. We take it in through the food we eat and release it in physical exertion, mental workings and simple bodily functions like breathing and blinking our eyes. Since it is with us at all times it sometimes makes its presence known. Most people have experienced a thunder storm. Jaggad lightning glances across the sky, rain and wind slam down, and the sky shakes with tremendous thunder. Such a storm will often cause unexpected reactions. A chill might shake you, both in anxiety and also in exhilaration of of such a spectacular example of nature's unlimited power. If you can recall an especially powerful storm that sent a chill down your spine, attempt to recapture that feeling. Recall the time, remember your reactions to the storm. You may begin to feel charged with energy. Your pulse and breathing may increase in rate, the muscles of your body may tense, and you may begin to perspire. These physical changes are manifestations of the increased amount of energy surging through your body. This is the same energy used in magick. As mentioned previously, much of the energy is generated by the emotion. Emotional reactions to situations can have amazing results (the weak woman who picked a car up off her child's leg, for example) that seem to defy normal laws. This isn't the case. These things are manifestations of other laws of nature not yet discovered by science. Sinse emotion is an excellent way in which to feel the power, a strong emotional reaction - such as that to a storm - is often recalled to help the power to begin flowing. Obviously it would be ridiculous to stand and re-experience a thunderstorm before every spell. Simply use the exercise in order to feel the energy - the energy that manifests itself in the tense muscles, increased respiration and heart rates, and perhaps perspiration. Once you have felt it and can do so at will, you can generate power and send it off during your spells to work your need. Any spell performed in such a state will be much more effective than one that was walked-through. Again, use the emotion of the need of the particular spell to attain this state. If you desparately need $500 for an unexpected, neglected or forgotten bill, pour all of your concern into the spell. But back it up with your unshakeable knowledge that you can and will draw it to you. Allright, so it isn't easy at first. As my music teacher used to tell me, "Practice!"