Lesson 1 - Visualization, Grounding, and Centering

[Myst]

Some threads to peruse:

Visualization :

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10986

Grounding & Centering :

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=14029

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9909

http://www.mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8052

Visualization and Grounding/Centering are two techniques that are fundamental to meditation and magical work. The first centers on the ability to focus on some symbol or object for a magical purpose. You might want to visualize your intent during a spell, something you've lost that you're trying to find, deities that you work with, or energy as you manipulate it. This technique is even proven to help people achieve goals, have great interviews, and to help people heal when ill.

A simple (and popular) visualization exercise is to pick a fruit and observe it. Observe it's colour, texture, taste, smell, and any sound you make eating it. You should observe it fully - this might even take days so take your time. When you've done so, try to recreate the fruit in your mind. Visualize every inch of it and every aspect of it. At first just try to get the visualization in your mind fully. Then each day visualize the fruit longer and longer. If any other thoughts come to mind accept them and move on from them, holding only the fruit in your mind. At first you will only be able to do this for seconds. Try to do this daily until you can visualize the fruit and ignore all outside stimuli for several minutes (or even an hour) at a time.

Grounding and centering is discussed thorougly in the threads I shared above so please see them and take the time to read them. In essence grounding and centering are done to help you connect with the universe, to gain or release energy as needed, and to help you "switch on" your spiritual self, telling your body and mind "ok, it's time to do magical work!".

These three techniques are essential to magical practice so *do* take the time to research, practice, and consider them carefully. Without these you won't be able to perform your magic as effectively or as powerfully.

Please feel free to post comments, ideas, questions, or experiences in visualization, grounding, and centering here! :)

[magick_faerie]

thanx once again, you seem to be the source of all knowledge lol
thanx for ALL your help
Brightest Blessings Anthene

[Myst]

:D

[Sequoia]

nice! :)

[Nina]

I think you should 'stick' this thread at the top!!

Well done, you are the most organised among us!!

[Sequoia]

hmm. . . good idea! :D Anybody got a problem with that? if so, just PM me. . . hehe. Consider it done ;)

[magick_faerie]

right, i am working with the fruit and it is working - sort of. I find it VERY hard to visualize anything but i will stick at it before moving on to the next lesson thanx to both of you :boing:
bb
anthene

[MUNKEe-Zer0]

I have a couple of thoughts on visualization.

According to a book I read, after visualizing objects you know, you can increase your skills by visualizing things that you know don't exist. Like, a purple fruit with a beard or something.

Also, what happens when two or more people visualize for an ill friend? What if they visualize different things? I mean, would that person end getting all screwed up or something?

[Myst]

Probably not. First visualization is just one tool, you use it in a spell with intent and will to cause change. Second, I firmly believe that intents are key - and that if the guy in the middle is intent on "not being screwed up" and the other two guys intents aren't strong, or aren't equal, results can be unpredictable, even if a spell is done.

Basically visualization is helping you focus on your intent. You put that together with will and you have magic.

[MUNKEe-Zer0]

Okay, I get it. Well, the basic of it, anyway.

I bet I have a long way to go before I really understand magick :p

[phoenixsong]

When I visualise things, especially anything moving, they sometimes spin away from me, or change into something else. Like last night I visualised myself walking round a hall and then a hole seemed to open in the ground and tried to drag me in. It was very unpleasant.

Has anyone any ideas on how I can stop this happening?

[manstranger]

hmm .. that might be more of a control of your thoughts problem that affects visualization. Try to calm yourself down more and see if it helps ... if you see anything you don't like, practice for spells by visualising it away ;).

[Myst]

That happens to me a lot. Just try to be patient. If that happens let it go - just accept it and start over and try again. Also try remind yourself that *you* control your visualization. Keep trying!

I know how you feel :)

[phoenixsong]

Hey, thanks for the advice. :) It's good to know I'm not the only one this happens to.

[Myst]

:D

[phoenixsong]

http://wuzzle.org/cave/visex.html

Here's a link I've just found, with exercises on improving visualisation skills. There's some more pages on visualisation in the rest of the site (click 'Map' at the bottom of the page for a site map) and on every magick-related topic under the sun. Or moon.

[Lavender]

One important aspect while working on your visualization & grounding techniques is don't forget to breath. Don't laugh, a lot of people forget to breath when concentrating on something.

Practice still sitting and breathing before starting your visualization exercises. Proper breathing will also help focus your thoughts & clear your mind.

Sit with your back straight and your eyes closed. You can sit on the floor or on a chair. Or even lie down. Whatever gets you comfortable without falling asleep.

Start with a smooth, deep inhalation, breathing in to the count of 6. Hold the air for a moment and then open your mouth slightly & breath out in a long, slow exhalation. As you breath out, silently whisper "ahhhh.." to the count of 12. Keep your breathes easy and gentle. Do this 10 times. As you're breathing, feel the energy around you and in you. Feel your muscles relax with each breath. Don't strain your breathing...let it flow in a natural rhythm. Keep this rhythm when you're doing your visualization exercises.

[Flaire-FireStar]

:) Thanks for the posts, guys.... I'm really bad at visualization, so hopefully this'll help me. :o

[Emaleth]

Originally posted by Wildchild
One important aspect while working on your visualization & grounding techniques is don't forget to breath. Don't laugh, a lot of people forget to breath when concentrating on something.


LOL, it happens to me all the time! I just can't concentrate on two things at the same time, breathing seems to disctract me!;)

I have thought about another visualization exercise. I've always liked to imagine my perfect house or apartament, but yesterday evening I tried to visualize just a bathroom, but with all details like the patterns on the towels:D It took me about half an hour untill the picture was complete. Is it a good visualization exercise? I still have a house to decorate :D

Blessed Be

[Witchy Cowgirl]

I'm just startin' to dig deeper into my "Witchin" (as my husband calls it) as well as into this community. Now tell me if I'm wrong but visualization seems to be close to the same thing as what I used to do when I played ball....before leaving for a game I'd take about 30 minutes and visualize myself making perfect foul shots. Now I use it to visualize perfect barrel patterns, pole patterns, or a perfect go on my pleasure horse before a show.

[Myst]

Visualization is visualization muh dear :D

[BlueFaerieRose]

Question?
In visualization is the goal to see things just as if you were reading a book because that's where I'm at.
~ Meg

[Myst]

If that's comfortable do it that way. There's no hard and fast rules, but that should be fine.

[Gryphonstar]

Thank you for helping. I realy haven't found much on grounding.

[Myst]

You checked out the links at the beginning of the thread tho? They have some good info.

[blindsight]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by Wildchild
One important aspect while working on your visualization & grounding techniques is don't forget to breath. Don't laugh, a lot of people forget to breath when concentrating on something.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


i understand what you mean by breathing control being necessary.Visualization is one of the few things i know well. IF you need help working on visualization, envision an apple and an orange side by side yet infinately far apart. peel the orange and aplle while seeing smelling and feeling it ,visualise a knife, divide each into pieces with it. now "taste" your visualisation. ( Now just use the double visualisation to focus on your breathing as well. Ive been doing this for a while, and if you try you can increase the number of diferent things you can visualise at once. I can get up to 7 before losing concentration. it helps a lot with spell working. my mentor taught me it and now its yous to do what ye will with it)

[Fire_Crotch132074]

What I use is I just focus on breathing for a lil while then I picture a black backround with a red square spinning, I'd just focus on the moving square. I used to only be able to concentrate on the square for like a whole two seconds but now I can do it for 3-5 minutes. It just takes practice. Well thats my 2 cents.

[Sonic]

It's weird I can visualise really easy

[Myst]

heh not really, there are a lot of things that come to some easily and not to others so easily.

[silverm00n]

What types of things would you recommend for visualization when it comes to grounding?

[Myst]

Usually when grounding people like to think of the ground! Sometimes they might also think of mountains, or a tall powerful tree. Basically anything that makes you think of something solid, calm, and cool.

[Witchy Cowgirl]

Sometime it helps to hold a nice sized, rough, rock when grounding. My personal favorite grounding stone is a rock I found in the root system of a tree that was blown over by a storm. Actually, I pulled several rocks from the root system. The smaller ones I give to friends and family or put them in Blessing Jars I may be preparing. I usually carry one of the smaller ones with me.

[Myst]

Incidentally, one thing I've noticed lately is that some people don't realize what visualization means.

It doesn't necessarily mean you can make a complete, clear picture in your head like you'd see in real life or on tv. When you visualize a lot of it is your *imagination* - try to *imagine* things. Don't be disappointed if they aren't clear pictures in your head. Especially at first, *imagine* them there and try to get a picture in your mind but don't get too stuck on that. For example at first you will have to visualize while you're drawing a circle, but after awhile you will *see* the line.

[PoetJourney]

I have been using new-age music with no vocals to visualize a place that I am most comfortable in. The problem that I have is keeping the flow going. It is as always a thought comes in and BAM! I am in a thought process away from the visualization and it is difficult to get back to it.

[Rain Gnosis]

You can a) just flow with the thought and see where it takes you or b) grab the thought, imagine it as a balloon, and let it float away.. or, imagine the thought as a toy boat you put on a stream and watch it float away, etc. You can just gently let it go.

Either way, don't worry about it too much, as that'll certainly cause problems.

[Rain Gnosis]

*bump*

[Merrick]

thanx for that i'll give it a go.
i'm new to all this so i would like to know...when does visualisation come in with magik making? is it before as a sort of warmup or...i dunno. can you give me an example please?

[Rain Gnosis]

Visualization is a good thing to try to do well before you try to do other magic. Some people, however, can never visualize well. Do work on exercising it - it may take months or even years to do really well, but it can really help you focus energy in magical work. It is worth it to try.

[WinterTree]

Thank the Gods for you Rain! The info in all those threads is wonderful, and very helpful! I've been struggling with this kind of thing for a long time.

[claxon]

I seem to have lost the light switch in my mind. :bangyourh
Whenever I try to actually see something I'm visualising (i can imagine things quite well since I'm a full time Daydreamer, but I'm trying to get a clearer image), I close my eyes and can occasionally catch a glimmer of what it is I'm visualising, but then it's gone again into blackness. Basically it's like sitting in a dark room with the object in front of me.

I actually find it easier to visulalise things with my eyes open. Perhaps because I'm trying to see something clearly, so I feel the need to have my eyes open? I can be looking at something and just suddenly start looking through it, at what I'm visualising (maybe that's where they got the idea for those MagicEye puzzles).

I was looking at the link someone poseted earlier in the thread, and I'm having trouble working something out. It say to visualise:
"an orange being cut into five equal pieces and the pieces being arranged into equal patterns "

But I can't imagine cutting an Orange into 5 equal pieces being easy.... 4 pieces sure, 6 pieces Ok... but 5? My other problem is visualising the non-visual... meaning touch, smell and tastes. They just seem to elude me

[Bullet]

I came in search of some kind of guidance and i found my first objective........ThankYou! _handclapp

[dadio]

reminds me of T'ai Chi and GoJuRyu eastern martial arts.

[Ravnsmb]

If yes where can I sign up?

[captainxawful]

Thank you for this, I am going to practice. Kudos!