Is probably the most important aspect of any magickal working. Its what we use to guide and direct the power and energy raised during ritual and while using magick. We all have the ability to visualize, but most people do so randomly. Perhaps when sitting in the car while stuck in a traffic jam, the mind takes flight and begins to wonder? Or when sat in a classroom during a boring lecture, we might start thinking about favorite things, seeing them in our minds eye while the teacher drones on in the background? This is random visualization.
For use in magick we need to train and control this ability, so that we can see, hold and shape whatever it is we want to see, and then direct our powers and energies towards it. For instance I may want to protect my home from intruders. In which case I would raise personal power while holding an image of the home in my mind, then visualize an energy field encircling the house sealing the doors and windows.
This then is the art of visualization control, the ability to see in the mind what isn't there, to hold a non-existent image or happening and shaping it into being what you want it to be. Visualization is not the POWER or the ENERGY, nor does it create it on its own, more that it DIRECTS raised power and energy to its final conclusion.
Exercises:
Visualization in itself may sound easy and it is while sat in a chair in a relaxed state of mind. But visualizing is only part of the process of working magick. The difficult part is to retain your visualization with your eyes open, stood in the center of your circle with your hands and mind occupied in manipulating your tools and other tasks. It takes a little training and practice to perfect this technique.
You could start by incorporating a few simple exercises into your daily meditation practice. While still in your relaxed state with your eyes closed, visualize a still object, something familiar to you like an apple, a toothbrush, or something equally simple. Hold the image as long as you can, allow nothing else to interfere, and then let it go. When you can hold the image without interruption for five minutes, try the same exercise but with your eyes open. This is a little harder but practice daily and it will come.
Once you've accomplished this, we start again. Visualize the same image, only this time play with it. Turn it around, see it grow or expand, maybe change its colors and textures, or try to see it from different angles. When you can do this, try it again but with your eyes open. As you become more proficient, you might want to incorporate it into your active life, try doing it while occupied with mundane things, like doing chores. See how long you can hold the image in your minds eye while doing your chores.
The final exercise is to visualize a non-existent image or something you have never seen before. Use your imagination to create something, something meaningful to you perhaps. I use a silver white unicorn with wings, riding down a sunbeam. Whatever you use, see it as a real thing in your mind, make it so real you could almost touch and feel it. Hold the image as long as you can, then let it go.
As with the other exercises, we need to be able to see the same image with our eyes open and while occupied with other things. When you can do this, your well on your way to using magick.
