One of the core techniques of magick is the ability of the occultist to connect with particular energies or forces and to concentrate them either within their body or in talismans, servitors, and the like. This practice can tie together your skills in controlled breathing, visualization, intoning/vibrating words of power and magickal gestures.
Exercise 1: Drawing in Power 1 (1)
Exercise 2: Drawing in Power 2 (1)
Repeat the exercise given above, but as you breathe in the energy flows in not just with your breath, but also through the pores of your skin. This may be felt as a slight but pleasant tingling sensation.
The two exercises given above represent the basics of drawing in and accumulating energy. The complete process of utilizing magickal forces in fact consists of three phases as shown below:
We will look at each of these stages in turn, giving some exercises that may help you develop your abilities in these areas.
Step 1) consists of making a connection with the magickal force that you wish to use. This can be by far the most complex step in a magickal working. It is to assist this process that the various magickal gestures, inscriptions of pentagrams and hexagrams, and the innumerable tables of correspondences have been developed. The major step that is needed here is an internal one however, you need to summon up within yourself the sensation associated with the force invoked to a sufficient extent that you can make a connection with that force. It is for this reason that most (though not all) of the Western magickal traditions have trained beginners first in using the Aristotelian elements, viz. Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. Our experience of these elements is through direct physical sensation, e.g. the feel of the wind on your cheek, and as such the making of the initial connection with these forces through visualization is quite easy.
Exercise 3: Connecting with the element of Fire (1)
The above can obviously be easily adapted to work with the other elements. Forces other than elemental ones can also be worked with, however these in general require more skill on the part of the operator. For example, within the symbol system that I myself employ, people most often experience planetary energies through their emotional states and their modes of expressing themselves. Thus the energy of the planet Venus is commonly felt as loving or being loved, and as the desire, need and capacity to relate to others. It is important to note that as a sensation this has a sexual component, and is not merely some abstract good feeling, though it is also not simply lust. Rather it is more like that moment of first love which gives you butterflies in the stomach. You might like to try repeating Exercise 3 using this as your focus, which should demonstrate how hard making a connection with a force without assistance can be. (Note that you may be able to use the memory of an event to connect with a force, however this will colour the force with the associations of that event which can be magickally undesirable.) Connections with more subtle forces such as this are generally assisted by the use of correspondences and also by the use of neutral symbols (e.g. inscribed lineal figures like hexagrams) that the magickian has learned to associate with a particular force by repeated use.
Having then made a connection with the force required, the next step is to draw that force into us. In the previous examples we have been drawing the energy into ourselves, this is not always appropriate though as it establishes a strong connection between us and the place the force is being projected to. It is possible to move a force directly into something but this can require quite a bit of practice to do well, again the use of correspondences and symbols can help.
It has also been the case that the exercises have drawn force from the universe as a whole, but you can also draw power from particular things 2. One classic example is taking power out of the Earth. The following exercise demonstrates this:
Exercise 4: Drawing Power from the Earth
Occult literature abounds with exercises such as the above, for example Regardie's "Middle Pillar" exercise or Starhawk's "Tree of Life", the only reason the particular example was chosen was because of the interesting use it makes of movement, do not feel limited to it. The important thing about all such exercises, from the point of view of moving magickal forces, is that they get you used to drawing power from some location and moving it about your body.
The final step is to project the force to where you want it, be this within yourself, another person, or a magickal object such as a talisman or servitor base. The simplest way of doing this is to visualize first the energy concentrating itself in some part of your body, e.g. the solar plexus, eyes or hands, and then flowing out to its target. This process can however be assisted by gestures and the vibration of words of power, this can be particularly important where the projection of the energy is only a component part of the ritual, as can quite often be the case. The following exercise should illustrate how this can be done.
Exercise 5: Projecting Words of Power
For this exercise we will use the word of power "IAO", though of course you can use any word of power that fits the energy you are drawing in.
The above should provide a good example of how energy movement techniques find their place in practical magick. The only thing that needs finally to be said is that it is important to realize that while energy techniques represent a major part of the magickian's repertoire they are not the be all and end all of magickal practice. Other techniques are equally important and you should not let yourself be misled into thinking otherwise.
Author's notes
1: Exercises 1, 2, and 3 are roughly based on practices given
in Franz Bardon’s book Initiation into Hermetics.
2: It should be mentioned that it is possible, though generally
anti-social, to draw energy from other people.
3: This final gesture is known as the sign of silence and it
serves to cut off the flow of energy from you when you finish projecting. If this
was not done then you would leave your "aura" open which could prove
potentially draining.
© John Tindsley; used with permission. HTML coding by Frater T.S. for Sunwheel Oasis.