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"Steal This Book of Shadows"
ver 2.0
by
Azzerac
(What's Really Happening in
the Mind of a Wizard)
An Occult Tutorial
Appendix A: "Exercises"
These Exercises aren't written in a particular order. They appear here, and within the book, as they occurred in the 'Telling'. Given the opportunity, I will go back, as quickly as possible, and re-organizing in accordance with order of appearance within this text. The more pressing issue was, and is, Making sure you don't have to hunt through the book to find them.
Thank You
Exercise One: How So See Auras (AKA: "The Sight")
Exercise Two: ESP Calisthenics
Exercise Two-Point-Oh: Temporal Lobes
Exercise Three: ESP Development
Exercise Four: The Candle Exercise
Exercise Four-Point-one: Tibetan Singing Bowls
Exercise Eight: Empowering Objects
(The Hot-Links lead to their placement in the Text)
Exercise One: How So See Auras (AKA: "The Sight")
The things you'll need for this exercise is
A Subject (Living Breathing Human works best)
A Candle (Brightness is effected by elevation, so you may need a few)
A Large, Orange Sheet (Yes, ORANGE!) (Any large, ORANGE piece of cloth should do)
(NOTE: I'm really NOT a big Fan of the Color Orange)
Hang The Sheet on the Wall, place the Candle in front of it, and place the subject in front of the candle. You want to make sure that the light is silhouetting the subject, and is not directly visible. This is just the external setting. Now we get to the physical work.
What you need to do now is get familiar with your ability to focus your eyes.
We'll work with two forms: Hard-, and Soft-focus.
Hard-Focus is from Left-to-Right eye alignment. Looking towards the horizon leads your eyes apart, while threading a needle draws them together.
Soft Focus is the shift in corneal thickness. Hold your finger in front of (not ON) your eye, and focus on your fingerprints. See what I mean?
NOW: Sit facing your subject (I'll assume they're facing away from the wall), and practice controlled shifting of both types of focusing, in varying combinations. The Three different layers of the aura will become more distinct.
NOTE: There a few things worth mentioning here.
First, this is best done in a group environment. It is thought that the group dynamic suppresses Second Chakra ( which is Orange Yes) influence. One rarely thinks of sex when being scrutinized by a large group.
Secondly, there is some aspect of group dynamic that lends it's self to the Frame of Mind. My best understanding is a sort of gestalt that pervades the experience, not too dissimilar to mob-mind, or Group Reality. The Experience is passed by proximity. (Something to Note: If it IS an Hallucination, You Doubters, then it is a shared one, that REEKS of telepathy! "Gotcha!")
Thirdly, the effect, once achieved, last for about a week, after, say, an half an hour session. (There are other good reasons for groups. They help keep you from getting bored, and give you a sounding board for your experiences! )You will see auras on everyone!
Fourthly, if You do the test again, a week later, the effect then lasts for two more weeks. The more you accustom yourself to seeing it, the more control you'll have over it.
Now, don't worry about seeing in colors, right off the bat. The goal here is to actually SEE the layer of energy surrounding the subject or Subjects). Once you've reached that point you can start developing towards colors.
A bit of Ambient Lighting helps with "Three Dimensionality", as well as seeing Colors in the Aura. With just the orange back-lighting in a black room, it comes across at Two-Dimensional.
This ability is what people are talking about when they say "The Sight"! It enables seeing ghosts, thought-forms, and a veritable host of other-worldly manifestations. Once you get REALLY good at it, it may get hard to shut-off! At least, until you've practiced in that. Talking to people no one else can see can really effect your job security, so work on all aspects.
This would also be a good time to 'beat-feet', and pick up a Safer Hobby. If this is more than you bargained for, you might want to reconsider it! Knitting is Nice, or racquet ball!
If you feel up to continuing, keep this "sheet", and, on a regular basis, in a low-lit room, repeat the test with your own hand. Hold your hand a few inches above the sheet, and "Let" the focusing come back to you. It's half Cornea and Half Nerve perceptions. It's more a memory trigger to forgotten ability than, say, learning something new. Your Sight will remember.
Exercise Two: ESP Calisthenics
1) Explore what it feels like to smell. Not How things smell, but the way the brain & it's programming responds to that sense functioning. (I never said this was easy, folks. This is one of those things you "Get" or you don't.) The brain processes smell differently than other senses, and you need to experience the difference in neurological access within yourself. ESP is a "Direct Brain Experience", and Smell is the closest sense to that. It doesn't pass through the Hypothalamus, but goes straight from sinus, to olfactory bulb, to brain.
2) We're going to apply a bit of self-inflicted synethstesia. We're going to try to cross reference our senses. Different people have different was of Perceiving. Some are clair-olfactory (take the now-infamous "Woman who smells smoke, knows her house is on fire, and saves her child just in time", scenario), while others are clair-audio (Hearing from a distance), or even clair-gustaval (Tasting at a distance (Good thing to have when contemplating kissing someone goodnight, among other "Sensual Prospects" on a date)). The object, here, is to explore your strong-suit, and relate it to the other senses. So ask yourself (A Lot of) questions like this:
"What does Sunlight taste like?"
"What texture does blue feel like?"
"How does Middle-C Smell?"
See where I'm going?
The Idea is to extend your palette and exercise your imagination, to get all the possibilities working on a par with each other.
There are no Right-or-Wrong Answers, here.
This is about getting in touch with yourself.
Exercise Two-Point-Oh: Temporal Lobes
This, perhaps, should have covered earlier:
All psychic ability seems to center around the temporal lobes. Sure: You may have that "Third Eye" somatic perception, but there are several possible reasons for this, and This is just the exercise section. I'll cover them elsewhere.
What we need to do is get these sections jump-started!
If you look at a picture of the a human brain. The temporal lobes are the little protrusions on either side of a brain, that reach down to (you guessed it) the temples of your skull (How weird is that?). These areas of the brain have been attributed to certain forms of epilepsy, as well, so don't over-do it. One of my students incurred monstrous migraines from over-stimulation of these areas. I'm told the results on her M.R.I. we spectacular, but her doctor was sympathetic to her studies.
It's like this: Now that you know (and hopefully control) your aura, extend the first layer through your fingertips, and slightly into the temporal lobes. Brush along your temples, stroking softly, forward. This should vector energy through the temporal lobes, and "misfire" them. The goal here is to get in touch with them. 'Know' that they are there, and what it feels like to receive data/signals/impulses from them. It should be done sparingly, as my previously mentioned student learned, bed-ridden, with nothing else to do. Do Exercise Three before trying this, and score your results. Then, do the experiment again, after "Lobe Brushing", and note the difference.
Don't expect temporal lobe data to be very similar to the sense associated with it. It's a Direct Brain Experience, and does not pass through the Hypothalamus (the switchboard in the middle of the brain that most senses shunt through). It will be more like "smelling". Smell is the only sense that goes straight from sense-organ to the brain. Perception is more likely to be uncontrolled by the amygdale, as well, as it lacks this connection. A lot of the unconscious 'software' of your mind won't function the same way when working with it. It's a more visceral and survival-oriented talent, just as smelling is.
Exercise Three: ESP Development
What you need:
1 Deck standard playing cards (Bicycle, Hoyle, what-have-you) NOTE: At this point, take from the Deck 1 Black Card & 1 Red, Bringing it to 50 cards. (You may want to get a deck with a Single-Color Backing, and Not Red! If every card is "Red-On-The-Back", it will screw with your results).
A Notepad and a writing implement (You'll be keeping results)
Now I know you're thinking, "What about that shiny, Five-Symbol Deck they show in all the Books?", or "I just bought this really cool Thing-a-ma-doohickey that's supposed to develop it for me". Put them away. You're setting yourself up for failure with the first case, and "No one ever developed anything without working for it" in the second case. My old occult mentor would say "A lesson easily learned is easily forgotten". We're gonna' start off small and work our way up.
Now, shuffle the deck, set it down and grab the pad and pencil.
You're going to make two columns: Right and Wrong.
You're also going to incorporate "(Brackets)":
I'll show you where & why in a moment.
Deck shuffled? Good. Draw a card, face down, and simply 'feel' for whether it's a red or black suit. That's it. Put a mark under "right" for the accurate one, and "wrong" for 'the others'. Nothing more complicated. The results will be statistically simple to gauge. It either is or isn't. 50/50 chance, right? Well Sort of.
We are dealing with your VERY human mind here. You have insecurities, I'm sure, disbelief modes, and self-doubt. Everyone does, on one level or anther, and to differing degrees. We're going to take those into account here, as well.
You will feel a sort of 'shift' occur in your thinking & feelings about what you're doing. You get into a long spread of accurate results, and that doubt will creep in. I call it "The Coin Flip". Suddenly every result will be backwards. Your streak of Right turns to Wrong, to a near-exact opposite degree. This is what the brackets are about. When this feeling sets in, put down an opening bracket '(' on the line below and begin making your check-marks in there. When you feel 'the coin flip back', close the brackets ')', and move down another line.
When you're done with the deck, look to your numbers. We're going to produce two sets. The first will be straight forward. Tally everything in the right column, and everything in the left. If you were a standard non-psychic, the count should be about 25 in each column (give or take 5). The farther you get from these tallies, in any way, the closer to being able to predict outcomes you are. The shift into "Inaccuracy" is just a representation of your own self-defeatism. You'll get over it.
Here's the thing, though: We took that "Coin Flip" into consideration, remember? Re-figure your numbers. reversing the count within the bracketed line. This is a representation of the emotive value-difference between clinical prediction and internal personal variation. For one reason or another, you felt your 'certainty' shaken, and this will give us a second set of numbers to reveal how secure you are with your abilities.
Compare the two sets of numbers (If you HAVE two sets of numbers): One will be closer to 50/50 than The other, I'm sure. The thing were looking for is "Closer Accuracy". If the first set is closer, then you have to consider that your self-esteem issue is inhibiting you. If the second number is closer, then you might be over-rationalizing your own feelings.
The real importance here is to have a concrete representation of your abilities.
Practice with the deck. When that feeling of the coin flipping comes back, resist it, let it pass through you, or whatever technique works best for you. When it passes, continue the deck. Try for accuracy, though. What good is being able to predict everything wrong? ~L~. Keep practicing, and as your numbers climb into the upper 80's in accuracy, then you can take on harder stuff: Face cards, Tarot Cards, even those five-symbol cards! If you start with the harder ones first, though, you'll more than likely self-destruct on them. You'll be convinced of your own IN-Ability. With the 50/50 trials, even if you guess All Wrong, you're Still WAY outside of the Bell-Curve!
"Even if you guess all the cards wrong, You are Still One Hell of a Psychic"!
Having Difficulties? Check for Pointers!
Exercise Four: "The Candle Exercise"
Dim the Lights, Light a Candle, and Focus on It.
It, and Nothing Else. Only the flame.
That's it.
It's sort of an endurance test, as I see it. Think of it Like a Math Problem: Concentration = Focus x Duration.
(You may wish to take on a Zen attitude: "Be One with The Flame", and explore what it means to BE the flame, in your own likening & reckoning. It may sound silly, but when we get to the Laws of Magic, It will Help. REALLY!)
Exercise Four-Point-one: Tibetan Singing Bowls
Not Proactive enough for you? Want something more Interactive?
Ever hear of Singing Bowls?
~NOT those glass ones they sell at New Wage-er Shows. I'm talking about hand-forged, Twelve Metal Bronzes. The best ones are antiques, but they have started Hammering them again. Most of the ones you see in the "Strip Mall Enlightenment Stores" are cast from a mold. They work, but they won't help us much here. Like the Glass ones, they only carry one note. There are No Harmonics to a single note. Multi-Note bowls are imperative to advancing development through playing them. You can get some of the benefits from single-note bowls, though, so if you already own one, you need not replace it. We work with what we got, Right? Most of all, though: Find the one that's right for you.
While playing the bowl, set it flat in your palm, with fingers spread for balance. Run the side of mallet along the edge of the bowl, like playing a wine glass. (There are many guides and instructionals on playing Bowls. They can give you pointers. Here's a Good One . )
You may ask, "How is playing this thing gonna' help me with concentration"? The short answer is "You get out of it what you put into it". Not good enough? It wasn't for me, either. Here's the long version...
Playing a singing bowl isn't easy. The object is to balance pressure with speed, to produce loud, clear notes. Without focusing on the task, it rattles, chirps, and stutters.
Also, playing a bowl well drops the brain into an alpha-state: low frequency (8-13hz) brain-waves, indicative of an hypnotic state.
The bowl functions as a bio-feedback device: The more you play, the louder it gets. The Louder it becomes, the harder it is to play. The harder it is to play, the more you have to concentrate to play it well. If you don't concentrate, it sounds like crap.
B. F. Skinner demonstrated an aspect of conditioning that applies here. As a 'Crappy' sound erupts from the bowl, it takes the role of 'punishment', and a lovely sound, the role of 'reward'. You won't normally be aware of being guided, unconsciously, on this level. It makes it truly easy to develop this skill this way if you don't think about that, though. ~S~
Exercise Five: "Fill The Room"
Here's a Little exercise taught to me by my High School Drama Teacher (Who, it seems, Also happened to be a witch, but It took me over a Year to Figure it out! DUH! I finally had to walk up and ask!)
Here's what you do:
Sit comfortably (or stand, if you prefer)
Now fix in your mind that your sense of "Personal Space" is model you have. How far that extends is entirely up to you. In life, as on the stage, how much you command an area is reflected in this sense of self.
Expand it!
Feel as though it/you are water, spreading out throughout the room. Know this to be true. Feel yourself pass around, over, under, and through every object in the room. Know this to be true. Feel the objects in the room. Feel every nook, every crevasse, the texture and temperature of these things in the room. Feel their weight and density. If you explored Synethstesia, as I've instructed, Taste, Smell, and Hear all the objects in the room, through your extended tactile sense. Keep it turned on as long as you can.
~This exercise is wonderful on Many counts! Not only does it help, metaphysically, but it also helps in a more discernable sense of self esteem. Do this in a crowded room, and you will be noticed (They just won't know WHY they're noticing you). Metaphysically, your Aura will extend out, and attempt to conform to the imagery in your mind. Your Third Layer is already extended to that range and beyond, but now your First & Second will expand to follow suit. It increases Perception, as well. This will also be one of the Foundation Techniques for P.K., in the chapters that follow, as we address Spell Working.
Now, you can see an aura, what to do with it?
We're going to work with moving energy.
If you've purchased a copy of "The Psychic Energy Workbook", you'll find some great exercises & experiments, but now you also need a "Sounding Board". We're going to cross "Exercise Four & Five"
Light the candle, in a dark room, and sit in front of it. If you've been practicing "Fill the Room", you should have some level of proficiency in extending your aura. What You need to focus on now is extending only as far as to encompass the candle. Open your temporal lobes and feel through this extended envelope. Feel the energy (light & heat) that the candle is adding to your aura. Be aware of the feel & texture of that/those energies.
Now, draw that energy away from the candle and into your body. Note as the candle flickers and/or dims.
Now add energy back to the candle. Notice it brighten and grow.
(NOTE: You may get opposite effects to your efforts. It's okay. It happens. Some people are sure they are Sharing Energy WITH You when they are, in fact, Siphoning You to Exhaustion. No judgment here. Just note the results like a scientist, and grow from the experience).
Now, play with it.
Set up a rhythm, like a child in a bathtub, moving fore & aft, until the flow becomes a wave, back & forth, with a syncopation: Flare & Dim, Flare & Dim. Soon it will be irrefutable that you are it's cause!
Do it long enough, and you'll even forget that anyone ever told you that it's not possible!
Now, Let's boost your every level.
Every book you ever read on the topic of chakras will tell you to start at your root chakra, and draw energy up through your spine, stopping at your crown
What are we, Infants?!?
Where is the "Divine"? In your Ass? NO! They tell that the energy flow through the top of your head is an opening to the divine. You've been pouring energy into it from the get-go of life. It's time to make a withdrawal!
Reiki & Chi-Kung both have you drawing from on-high, and channeling it into your body. Reiki says you can only channel it through your Heart Chakra and then into your hands. Chi-Kung instructs us on moving it other places.
I simply suggest that you start with the crown chakra, and work your way down. Charge with the Higher Power and not from the Baser (as almost every ideology refers to it).
Contemplate the energy change. Notice the change in how you think & feel, as well.
Do this regularly, and I assure you of a positive shift in your Will & Abilities.
Exercise Eight: Empowering Objects
There are many reasons for empowering objects. Psychologically, it creates a greater association with the symbolism of an object. Emotionally, it charges the object, adding that extra "oomph" to your spells, before you ever start the casting. In the sake of tools, the association should be that of the appropriate element, and all the associations akin to that element.
Here's how it reads from the L&L spell Book, "Charging Objects":
"The whole reason for charging an object is to add the proper energies to the spell items in advance, so it doesn’t distract from the spell work at the moment of execution. You can do this by first knowing what the actual article is to be used for, seeing the end-result in your mind’s eye, and charging your aura with the associated emotion to be used in the performance of the spell. (I’ll leave it to you what you know to be the best in these situations). Next, invoke the feeling of your arm/hands/body filling with a level of energy akin to sunlight, soaking into your skin, into the very marrow of your bones. Feel it fill you until you can’t contain it any longer, and then pour it out, through the palms of your hands and into the object. Some will say that you should be holding it. Others will insist that a bit of distance between you and the object works like a dielectric, and increases the level of energy through that capacitance (Like the difference between Volts & Amps)."
Imagery is also a factor: it's not just about emotional energy. We'll keep it simple:
-
Pentacle/Pentagram = Earth. It's about stability, material gain, resting, home & hearth, and yes,... even death. It's about security & protection. It's about foundations & boundaries. It's about secrets & shadow. It's about that which is hidden from our sight and beyond our perceptions. I find the best imagery to use in that of a creature, like a clay golem (not "Gollum", from LOTR), residing within the structure of the item, and this creature is everything, and only, what you see in this topic. It's a manifestation of You, and only You, of how you look at these topics. It's your viewpoint, specialized & manifest, in this energy-form. "It's all you, Babe"!
-
Chalice/Cup/Cauldron = Water. That means emotions, health, womb, birth, life, blood, seas & streams, tides & fluid forces. It means feelings, impressions, and expressions. This golem should represent that.
-
WAND=Air. It could be a staff, it could be a baton (like those 'cute, little conductor wands', in the "Potter" stories). A traditional wand is "One Cubit Long" (the length of Middle-finger to Elbow), but the important thing to remember is it's about Authority. The Authority that comes with knowledge. "Cool Intellect", is a good thing to keep in mind. Another is that if you stop breathing, your brain feels it first! Contemplate every aspect of intellect, before empowering this object.
-
Fire=SWORDS. That's about Power. It's about Authority In Action. It's about change, like melting in a crucible. It's about imposing force, like a wildfire. It's about energy, and the steam-power heat transmutes. It's about Change in Conformity with Will. It's about passions, as well. The Chalice means Love, but this is the symbol of Lust & Rage. This is all things Martial. This is about dominion.
Spend time, perhaps weeks, before empowering a tool. Buy or Make the tool in question. Contemplate the implications of each operation, making sure nothing is left out of the empowering ritual. Pour everything you associate into the item, along with the clearest imagery, associated emotions & mentalities, and create a little 'specialist-you' of those concepts, and ideas into your object.
You should cleans & purify the object, before hand. Salt & Incense are best. (If you're interested, you can obtain them HERE, at our ~Shop Counter~). The operation should take place during the waxing-, or Full-Moon. If you have a religious path in The Craft, this series of visualizations probably coincide with the ceremony procedures.
These can be adjusted to suit your religious needs.
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