Wicca (12 page)

11
Exercises and Magical Techniques

FOLLOWING ARE SHORT
sections on various exercises and procedures that are vital to your growth in Wicca and magic. Such activities, which consume no more than a few minutes of each day, shouldn’t be underestimated. They’re the building blocks upon which fluency in all Wiccan and magical rites will be gained.

Making them a part of your everyday schedule allows you to grow day by day.

The Mirror Book

Right now, as soon as you finish reading this perhaps, begin a “mirror book.” This is a magical record of your progress in Wicca. It can be anything from a locked diary to a spiral-bound notebook. In it, record all thoughts and feelings about Wicca, the results of your readings, magical successes and failures, doubts and fears, significant dreams— even mundane concerns. This book is for your eyes only. No one else need ever read it.

This book is a mirror of your spiritual life. As such it is quite valuable in assessing your progress in Wicca and life itself. Thus, when reading over the book, you become your own teacher. Notice problem areas and take steps to resolve them.

I’ve found the best time to record such information is directly before sleep. Date each entry and, if you wish, also include the moon’s phase and any astronomical information that might be pertinent (lunar phases, eclipses, weather).

One of the goals of the Wicca is self-knowledge; the Mirror Book is a valuable tool in achieving this.

Breathing

Breathing is usually an unconscious act that we perform continuously throughout our lives. In magic and Wicca, however, breath can also be a tool for disciplining our bodies and entering into alternate states of consciousness.

In order to meditate correctly, you must breathe correctly. This is the most basic of exercises and, fortunately, is also the easiest.

Deep breathing techniques require the full use of the lungs as well as of the diaphragm. The diaphragm is located about two finger-widths below the rib cage.As you breathe in, push out with this region.Notice how much more air you can intake.

For breathing exercises, assume a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down (although deep breathing is possible in nearly every position). Relax your body slightly. Inhale through your nose to a slow count of three, four, or five—whatever is comfortable. Remember to allow the air to fill your diaphragm as well as your lungs. Retain the air, then exhale to the same slow count.

Repeat this several times, gradually slowing your breath rate. Never hold your breath past the level of comfort. The inhalation, retaining, and exhalation should be controlled, calm, and free of tension.

Concentrate on your breathing process while doing this. As you inhale, breathe in love, health, tranquility, perhaps visualizing (see “Visualization,” page 88) these positive energies as golden-flecked air. In exhaling, breathe out hate, disease, anger, maybe visualizing black smoke exiting your lungs.

Oxygen is the breath of life and is necessary to our existence. Breathe properly and you’ll be a better person and a better Wiccan. Deep breathing is used before every act of worship or magic, and is a part of concentration and visualization exercises. Breathe deeply when you feel anger exploding within you. Exhale the fury and inhale peace. It works every time—if you allow it to.

Practice deep breathing exercises daily, and gradually increase your capacity to retain air. It is wise, if possible, to occasionally practice this near the sea or in a forest, far from the polluted air of our cities. Deep breathing in these natural settings is not only more peaceful— it’s also healthier.

Meditation

Meditation is an important art for inducing total relaxation. Too few of us find a moment of freedom from tensions and worries, so meditation is a welcome relief from the cares and frustrations of everyday living.

More importantly, it’s a quiet time in which we commune with the Goddess, the God, and ourselves, relaxing the conscious mind’s hold on our psychic awareness. Meditation usually precedes every magical act and rite of worship.

Sitting is the ideal position for meditation, especially for those who tend to fall asleep during this practice.

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. If you have poor posture, it may be some time before this position becomes comfortable. Persevere.

Breathe deeply for several minutes. Relax. Forget.Visualize the multitude of tensions and worries of your everyday life exiting your body with your breath. Relax into the chair.

Now open your consciousness. Allow your conscious mind to be receptive and alert. Commune and talk with the deities. Toss around symbols in your 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.

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, record all images, thoughts, and sensations in your mirror book.

Visualization

This is the most basic and yet advanced technique called for in magic and Wicca. The art of using our brains to “see” what is not physically present is a powerful magical tool used in many Wiccan rituals. For instance, the forming of the magic circle relies in part on the Wiccan’s ability to visualize personal power flowing out to form a sphere of glowing light around the ritual area. This visualization, then, directs the power that actually creates the circle; it doesn’t create it alone.

Because of its usefulness in changing our attitudes and lives, many books are being written on visualization today. Each book promises to show the secrets of visualization.

Fortunately, nearly all of us already possess this ability. It may not be fine-tuned, but practice makes perfect.

Can you, at this moment, see in your mind your best friend’s face, or your least-favorite actor? What about the piece of clothing you most often wear, the exterior of your home, your car, or your bathroom?

That’s visualization.
Visualization is the act of seeing with the mind, not the eyes.Magical visualization is seeing something that is presently nonexistent. It may be a magic circle, a healed friend, an empowered talisman.

We can raise energy from our bodies, visualize it streaming out from our palms, and then form it into a small glowing sphere, fashioning it
physically
as if into a snowball, and
mentally
by seeing it as we desire.

In magic, I might raise energy and, while doing this, hold an image in my mind of something I need—a new car, for example. I visualize the car, see myself signing the contract to buy it, driving it on the road, pumping gas into its tank, and making payments. Then I direct energy to empower the visualization—to bring it into manifestation.

In other words, visualization “programs” the power. This could be explained as a form of mental sympathetic magic. Instead of creating a physical image, we create pictures in our heads.

Thoughts are definitely things. Our thoughts affect the quality of our lives. If we constantly moan about being broke, then do a fifteen-minute visualization to bring money into our lives, that fifteen minutes of energy will have to counteract twenty-three hours and forty-five minutes of daily, self-induced, negative programming. Thus we must keep our thoughts in order and in line with our desires and needs. Visualization can help here. To hone this tool, try these simple exercises, widely known within Wicca.

Exercise one:
Sit or lie comfortably with your eyes shut. Relax your 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 on to 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. 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. 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 that vegetable there. Make it so real you can touch it. Try having it resting on a table or sitting on the grass beneath a tree.

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 the way.

Energy Play

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. Following are some exercises to help you do just that. (You might wish to re-read chapter 3,“Magic.”)

Calm yourself. Breathe deeply. Rub your palms together for twenty 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 two 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 out from your palms as you hold them apart.

If you don’t feel anything, practice this once or twice a day until you have success. 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 sensed this energy, begin to fashion it into shapes. Use 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’re left-handed, 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. This is a bit of energy that you’ve released from your body. 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.

This is not only great fun but is a valuable magical learning experience. When you’ve mastered the art of energy spheres, go on to feel energy fields.

Sit or stand before any plant. Herbs and plants in bloom seem to work best. In a pinch, cut flowers can be used as well. Breathe deeply for a few moments and clear your thoughts.Hold your receptive (left) palm a few inches above the plant. Pinpoint your consciousness to your palm. Do you feel a dull throbbing, a hum, a wave of heat, or simply a shift in the energies within your palm? Do you feel the inner force of the plant?