Visualization

Closely related to meditation, visualization is the ability to re-create within the mind's eye that which is found in the physical world.  Being able to accurately visualize something -- an object, a situation, a person -- is a key element in a Witch's ability to do magick.  Everyone can visualize, but some (most!) need to strengthen their visualization abilities in order to gain the  magickal effects they are attempting to create.

For beginning to visualize it is always useful to have the recording of a drum beat or a sound that is repetitive.  Before sleep, relax in darkness, or with a blindfold, and visualize passing through a long tunnel towards a light that is visible at the other end.
Use  the insistent drumbeat to propel through the tunnel at greater and greater speeds. As you enter the luminous haze you
can call upon an ally, or guide, to assist in the exploration of the realm entered. This guide might be in the form of a mythic creature, an animal or a spirit.

Take your time waiting for the ally to appear and do not be surprised at its form. Just allow it to take shape in your mind and do not be fearful if it appears in a frightening guise. (Many shamans claim that the more ferocious the ally or the totem animal, the greater will be your vision quest.) Allow the imagined event to unfold, and when you feel it is complete, make a point of bidding
the ally farewell, thanking it for taking you into the realm and requesting it to join you in sleep whenever it wishes to teach or guide you again.

Return along the tunnel and await sleep with the resolve that this sequence will be continued in a dream; that you will once againenact the sequence, but that this time, the moment you see the ally, you will immediately awaken within the dream.

If, later in the night, you manage to invoke a lucid dream, use exactly the same waking procedure in the dream. The power and reality will be of a radically different dimension from the earlier guided visualization when awake. So be alert and prepared,
when a very real totem animal or ally appears, not to be any more fearful than when you were guiding a daydream.

Avoid trying to control the dream past the point of meeting your guide; just follow the dream as attentively as you can, remaining a witness who remembers it is all a dream and yet who can marvel at the details and unexpected turn of events.
 
Entering the "crack between worlds" or the rent in the inner veil, the world of spirits is an archetypal surprise. But remember it is a dream which you can change if the direction it takes is not one you enjoy.  (For more information, see our Dream page.)

Exercises
Alternates
Tree Meditation/Visualization
Funhouse Visualization
A Script for Getting to the Truth
All Over
Focus

This is a skill which you can spend a lifetime mastering.  It can be very difficult at first, but you will be able to eat an apple that exists only in your mind -- and not feel hungry afterwards!

as always,
Ma'at
copyright 2000