Tree Breathing

1) Get into your magickal mindset.

2) Focus your attention on your heart. Bring all your awareness to your heart and remember that it is the center of compassion and unconditional love, the witch’s Perfect Love.

3) Imagine planting a seed in the fertile green light, the spiritual “soil” of your heart. Plant a seed of the same type as your World Tree.

4) Feel the water of your love nurture the seed. Feel the air of your mind coax it. Feel the light of your soul appear like sunlight and guide its growth. Feel the tree in your heart grow, with its trunk within your body, parallel to you spine.

5) Focus on the world below. Feel your inner tree’s roots reach down through your legs and feet and into the earth, connecting you to the heart of the earth and into the Lower World. As you inhale, feel yourself drawing up the energy below into your roots and into your body. Feel the energy below you. Breathe steadily for a few minutes.

6) Now focus on the world above. Feel your inner tree’s branches reach up through your crown and touch the stars in the heavens of the Upper World. As you inhale, feel yourself drawing down the energy of the sky realms into the branches. Feel it flow down into your crown and body. Feel the energy above you. Breathe steadily for a few minutes.

7) Alternate each breath, focusing on the world below for one full breath, and then the world above. Bring the energy into your body.

8) Simultaneously draw in energy from above and below with each breath. Breathe steadily for a few minutes.

9) As you breathe in the energy, will it to your heart chakra, and say to yourself the affirmation of “Perfect Love, Perfect Trust”, infusing the energy with this intention. As you exhale, feel the qualified energy fill your body. As you continue to qualify the energy and exhale, feel it expand into your aura, the energy field around your body.

Lesson: Emotional Body Training

1) Conjure up a strong feeling from your past. Think of a particularly difficult situation or relationship that will bring up some reaction in you. Focus on emotional patterns that you consider harmful or difficult rather than happy.

2) Bring your attention to your body. Focus on the sensation that the emotion conjures up in your body. Don’t analyze it or try to mentally figure it out. Simply scan your body, bringing your attention to your head and then down your entire body. Where do you feel the emotion the strongest? There may be more than one place.

3) Disassociate the memory or situation from your bodily sensation. Don’t worry about how you will resolve the situation, or worry about what you regret or would do differently. You can worry about resolving it later. Just focus on the sensation, the feeling itself. Characterize the feeling. How would you describe it? Is it painful? Does it have a temperature? Does it feel electric? Magnetic? Pins and needles? Heaviness? Just describe it to yourself. It probably won’t feel good, but that’s okay because you will be releasing it soon.

4) As you breathe, will this energy from whatever part of the body it is in to move into your chest. Feel it move. As you command, it will move because all your attention is on it. Imagine your heart chakra opening with green or green and pink light. Feel the power of love in your heart. Feel the energy of your trauma pass through the gates of your heart, transmuting it. All uncomfortable sensations cease, and the energy passes out of your heart like a beam of pure light, transmuting into divine love and beaming out to the universe. The love you send out will return to you threefold.

5) Afterward you can do anything else you need to do to restore your inner balance.

The Circle of Protection

1) Enter your ritual consciousness state, not a full meditative state.

2) Think of your own inner power. Think of the feeling you have while visiting the inner temple. Re-create that feeling in your body, heart, mind, and soul. Acknowledge your inner sacredness and the sacredness of the space around you, no matter if you are indoors or outdoors.

3) Point to your power direction with your energetically projective hand, or dominant hand, and trace a clockwise circle of light around you. You can physically move your hand and body clockwise, eyes open, or you can do this in your mind, with your eyes closed. Experiment with both as you practice this exercise. The colour of the light is traditionally blue, violet, or white, but use any colour that you feel intuitively drawn to use,

4) Trace a second circle, over the first to strengthen it. The colour might change naturally, or you can choose to change it.

5) Create a third circle, over the second, as before the colour can change.

6) Feel the shift in energy and vibration inside the circle. Notice the changes in your inner and outer perceptions.

7) When done, release the circle. There are two ways to do this. Both start by retracting the circle backwards. Begin by pointing at the direction you have chosen and trace a counter clockwise circle, again either in your mind, or physically moving to trace the circle.

For the first technique, imagine as you move the circle counter clockwise that you are opening a curtain, and when you complete the circle, you are pushing out the curtain ring. The effect is like a pebble dropped in a puddle of water. The ring of light expands infinitely outward.

The second technique consists of using your hand like a vacuum cleaner. You are “sucking up” the ring of light through your finger, and then imagining grounding the light through your body, legs, feet, and into the Earth. You don’t have to ground it, but if you don’t, you might feel light-headed or over-energized.

Aura Gazing

1) Light a candle and place it somewhere in easy view. If you can have it up against a neutral background, like a white wall, do so. Such backgrounds make the exercise easier. If you find using a white background difficult, hang a black cloth behind the candle. Take a few deep breaths. Stare at the candle flame. Do not focus on the flame or wick, but on the glow of light like a halo around the flame. Focus on this glow until you can see it. This is the first step of aura viewing. Blink as needed so you don’t stress your eyes. Remember, you’ll be looking with your spiritual eyes, not your physical ones, but we are giving your physical body a point to focus. Act like you are looking “through” the flame. Your eyes may go into a soft focus, or feel like they are crossing. That’s fine. Do not force it.

2) Gently bring the halo of light down to the base of the candle. See and feel the light at the edge of the candle, below the flame. As you gaze, slowly bring this glow around the edge down the candle. If you lose it at any point, go back up at the flame and start again.

3) Bring the glow not only around the candle itself, but also around the candlestick holder. This will probably be fainter than the candle, which was fainter than the flame. This glow may come in flashes and not hold continuously. That is normal. Close your eyes and rest for a few moments.

4) Now pick an object of power, something you have consecrated. Place it where the candle is, up against the neutral background. Let your soft gaze fall on the new object, and look for the same glow or halo around it. It is often seen as a fuzzy white outline about a half inch above the physical object.

5) When that feels comfortable, repeat step 4, but with a plant. This can feel like you are looking into its cells as patterns of energy.

6) Now take the black cloth in your lap and hold your hands over it. Rub your hands together and feel the energy between your palms. Let your soft focus fall between your hands. You may see wisps of smoke like energy trails. Others describe it as cotton candy. The black background makes it easier to see the energy, and the more practice you get, the less you will need the cloth.

7) Finally, have a partner stand up against the neutral background. Start by looking at the crown and allowing the soft halo to come into focus. As if the crown is the candle flame, bring down along the head and shoulders, and around the entire body. Again, it will probably appear as a haze an inch or so away from the physical outline. Allow that experience to happen, even if only for a moment. Get comfortable with it.

8) As you continue your aura gazing, you may start to notice more than just the first layer of the aura, what is called the etheric body. You may see a whole egg or sphere shape around the person. At first it will probably be the edge of it, but you may see an overlay of colour, from very faint to very vibrant. Think about the colours of light and what they mean to you as you gaze. You may be drawn to a particular location in the body and notice some imbalance there. Ask your partner if there was an injury or upset in that body part. The injury does not have to be recent. You will be surprised at how many “hits” you get, letting your intuition and gaze naturally take you to the part of the body needing attention.

9) Ask your partner to think of very specific things while you aura gaze, in order to notice the differences. Try thinking about “home” first. The word home is charged with many different emotional meanings, and could be a childhood home or the current living space. Take note, and then ask your partner how they feel about home, and match your observations with their thoughts. Try again with thoughts of “mother”, “father”, “job” and “someone with whom you have strong feelings”. See what reactions you get. Happy and unhappy associations cause different colour shifts in the aura.

Lesson: To Charge an Herbal Charm

Assemble all your materials on your altar.

Cast a circle.

Light a candle of an appropriate colour. If you wish, burn incense.

Raise energy.

In mortar and pestle, grind together all the herbs for your charm. Visualize the image or emotion you desire, and project it into the herbs as you grind them together. Draw or create any other symbols you may wish.

Gather together the herbs and other objects into the cloth. Twist the top around them and tie it once with thread.

Breathe on the charm and charge it with Air.

Pass it through the candle flame, and charge it with Fire.

Sprinkle a few drops of water on it, and charge it with Water.

Dip it into salt, or touch it to your pentacle, and charge it with Earth.

Hold it in your hands, breathe on it, and charge it fully with all the energy you can rasise, concentrating on your visualization.

Drop to the ground, relax, and earth the power.

Bind the spell, tying it as you do so.

Open the circle.

Lesson: Binding a Spell

When you have finished casting a spell, visualize yourself tying a knot in a cord wrapped around the symbol or image on which you have focused. Tell yourself you are setting the form of the spell, as a clay pot is set when it is fired.

“By all the power
Of three times three,
This spell bound around
Shall be.
To cause no harm,
Nor return on me.
As I do will,
So mote it be!”

Lesson: Consecrating a Tool

Set up the altar as you want it, and light the candles and incense. Perform the Salt-Water Purification, and cast a circle by doing the Circle Visualization. Ask the Goddess to be with you.

Hold your athame (or whatever tool you’re using) in your strongest hand, saying, “Blessed be, thou creature of art.”

Touch it to the symbols of each of the four elements in turn: incense for Air, wand for Fire, the chalice for Water, and the pentacle for Earth. Meditate on the power of each element, and visualize that power flowing into the athame. Say:

“May you be charged with the power of {Air, Fire, Earth, Water}, and serve me well in the {East, South, North, West}, between the worlds, in all the worlds. So mote it be.”

Pass your athame through the candle flame, and touch it to the central cauldron. Visualize white light filling and charging it. Say:

“May you be charged from the center of all, above and below,
Throughout and about,
Within and without,
To serve me well between the worlds,
In all the worlds.
So mote it be.”

Draw or inscribe your own personal symbols on the blade or hilt. Trace over them with your own saliva, sweat, menstrual blood, or other secretions, to create the link with your tool. Breathe on it, and imagine your own personal power flowing into it.

Touch it to your heart, and your lips. Raise it to sky, and point it to earth. Wrap your cord around it (or imagine it, if you don’t have a cord) and visualize a shield of light binding the power.

“Cord go round,
power be bound,
light revealed,
now be sealed.”

Earth the power, thank the Goddess, and open the circle by thanking each of the directions and visualizing the pentacles dissolving.

Lesson: Candle Gazing with a Diamond

Light a candle in a dim, quiet room. Ground and center.

Gaze at the candle and visualize a diamond in the center of your forehead, between and just above your eyebrows.

The diamond reflects the light of the candle, and the candle reflects the light of the diamond.

Feel the reverberation of energy.

Hold for at least 5 to 10 minutes, then relax.

Lesson: Grounding Power and Energy

This is one of the basic techniques of magick. Power must be earthed, or grounded, every time it is raised. Otherwise, the force we feel as vitalizing energy degenerates into nervous tension and irritability.

Sink down to the ground and relax. Place your palms flat on the ground, or lie flat, let the power sink through you into the earth. If you are inside, envision the pathway that the energy must take until it sinks into the actual ground.

Relax, let the force flow through you…
Let it flow deep into the earth…
Where it will be cleansed and renewed.

Relax and let yourself drift peacefully.

Lesson: Polarity of the Earth and Sky

1) Get into your magickal mindset. Visualize a beam of light extending down from your spine, grounding you down to the Earth like the roots of a tree, or a balloon tied down. The beam of light is hollow like a straw, and you can draw energy up and down it. The beam connects you to the center of the Earth. As you inhale, hold the intention of drawing up the Earth energy, like sucking up a straw. In your mind, ask Mother Earth to send her energy up to you. With each inhalation, the energy moves further up the beam of light.

2) Feel the energy rise up through the beam of light, Some visualize it as green, brown, black, or blue. It may move quickly or slowly. Feel it reach the base of your spine and flow upward, through your body. Feel the Earth energy move through your belly and up into your chest. Feel it energize your body. Feel it flow through your neck and into your head, and out the crown. Feel the beam of light extend upward, connection you to the sky.

3) While the Earth energy still flows upward, feel the energy of the sky flow down as you inhale, like water. At first it may be a trickle, or flow like a flood. Let it descend down the beam of light and into your crown. The sky energy flows much faster than the Earth energy, down through your head and neck, through your chest and heart space into your belly, to the base of your spine and down into the Earth.

4) Feel yourself in balance with these two energies. They are not static poles, but free-flowing, living energies. Release your own rigid polarities, the things you wish to transmute, and allow them to flow with you.

5) Slow down the flow with your intent, and allow the remaining Earth energy to flow upward and out, and the remaining sky energy to flow down and out into the Earth, helping ground you.

6) Return yourself to normal consciousness, counting up, and giving yourself clearance and balance. Do any necessary grounding.

Lesson: Basic Visualization

1) Get into your magickal mindset. Call up the screen of your mind. Imagine that it is like a board where you can control all the drawings. You can use any colour to draw this set of shapes. You might find it helpful to physically raise your hand and “draw” the shapes in the air in front of you with your finger.

2) Draw a triangle on the screen of your mind. Hold the image for a few moments. Then wipe it away, like wiping away chalk dust. Again, you can physically move your hand with a wiping motion.

3) Draw a rectangle on the screen of your mind. Hold the image a few moments. Then wipe it away.

4) Draw a circle. Then wipe it away.

5) Draw variations of the triangle, rectangle, and circle. If you are comfortable with these shapes, then move on to other, more complex shapes, like a diamond, parallelogram, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon.
6) If you feel con
fident with these two-dimensional shapes, try working with three-dimensional shapes, starting with the cube, box and pyramid. Later, try more complex 3-D shapes. Do not be intimidated by them. Allow them to appear on the screen of your mind and hold the images as best as you can.

7) Wipe all the shapes off the screen of your mind and clear it. Then ask for the energy and image of an orange to appear on the screen of your mind. See the orange before you, as of a real piece of fruit is hanging on an invisible tree. Take note of the colour, and variations of colours. Is it completely ripe?

8) Notice the texture of the orange’s skin, the curves and bumps. Reach out with your physical hands and pretend to grab it. The orange is now in your hands. How does it feel? Can you smell it? Peel back the skin. Can you feel the wetness of the juice on your hands? Can you taste it? Use all your senses.

9) Experience the orange fully. Then magickally visualize yourself putting it all back together, perfect and unbroken. Hang it back on the tree on the screen of your mind.

Lesson: Counting Down to a Meditative State

1) Get into your meditative position. Relaxation and focus before any exercise is great, but this countdown can also be used alone to get into a meditative state quickly.

2) Visualize a giant screen before you, like a blackboard or movie screen. This is the screen of your mind, or what is called your mind’s eye. Whenever you visualize or recall anything, or remember a person’s face or anything else, you project it on this screen. You have always had it, but now we are going to give it some attention. Anything you desire will appear on the screen.

3) On the screen of your mind, visualize a series of numbers, counting down from twelve to one. With each number, you get into a deeper meditative state. The numbers can be any colour you desire, drawn as if writing them, or appearing whole.
Now visualize 12, see the number 12 on your screen, 12.
11.… all the way to one.

4) You are at your meditative state. Everything done in your meditative state is for your highest good, harming none. You are now counting down to a deeper, more focused meditative state. Count backwards from thirteen to one, but do not visualize the numbers this time. Let the numbers gently take you down: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You are now at your deepest meditative state, your magickal mindset, in complete control of your magickal abilities.

5) From this point, you can continue on to other exercises and experiences, or meditate at this for a while and bring yourself back up, counting from one to thirteen and then from one to twelve. Gently start to wiggle your fingers and toes and slowly move to bring your awareness back to the physical.

6) Take both hands and raise them up over your head, palms facing your crown. Slowly bring them down over your forehead, face, throat, chest, abdomen, and then groin, and “push out” with your palms facing away from you. This gives you clearance and balance, releasing any harmful or unwanted energies you might pick up during your magickal experiences.

Candle Meditation

1) Start by lighting a white candle on your altar if this is not part of your regular practice. Dim the lights. Sit in your meditative state. Completely relax yourself.

2) Direct your gaze to the burning candle. Do not stare intently, but face the candle with your eyes open. Let your focus soften.

3) Let the image of the candle fill your thoughts. Focus solely on the candle and stay in the moment.

4) Do not strain your eyes. If they are tired, close them, but visualize the candle in your mind. If visualization is difficult, alternate between opening your eyes and studying the candle, and then closing your eyes and re-creating the picture in your mind. This will help build your visualization skills. Do not worry if you have difficulty holding the image. Hold the idea of the candle in your mind. Relaxation with focus is more important than visual skills at this point.

5) Do this meditation for a few minutes at first and build to longer intervals. When done, close your eyes, rest and relax.

*** You can substitute any object for the candle, re-creating it on the screen of your mind.***

Lesson: Total Relaxation

1) Sit or lie comfortably. Relax your body. Be aware of your head, from your crown to the back of your neck. Take a deep breath, exhale, and relax all the muscles in your head and neck. Relax your jaw. Relax your face muscles. Relax your eyes and forehead. Feel all tension drain away.

2) Take a deep breath, exhale, and relax your shoulders and arms, all the way down the arms, past the elbows to the wrists, hands, and fingertips. Waves of relaxation melt away all tension and stress.

3) Breathe deeply and as you exhale, release all tension in your chest and lungs, your upper back, down your spine to the lower back, abdomen, waist, and hips. Feel them completely relax as all tension drains out of you.

4) Take a deep breath, exhale, and release all tensions from your legs, starting in your thighs and moving down to your knees. Relax your shins and calf muscles, down to the ankles, feet, and toes. All tension drains out of you.

5) Breathe deeply and relax. Enjoy the sensation. Scan your body as you breathe. Do you feel any remaining pockets of tension or pain? If so, imagine as you breathe in that your breath magickally reaches the tension anywhere in your body and takes the tension as you exhale.

6) Relax your mind. Any thoughts, worries, or concerns from the day melt away and leave with your breath as you exhale. Don’t let them concern you any longer. Relax your mental body completely.

7) Relax your heart. Release any unwanted feelings, emotions, and memories as you exhale. Open your heart to the love of the Goddess and the God.

8) Relax your soul. As you breathe, feel the pulse and rhythm of life that moves through you and know it moves through all things. Follow your inner light for guidance and protection.

Lesson: Pushing and Pulling Energy

1) Stand facing your partner, with only a few feet between you. The receptive partner should have their eyes closed. Make sure this person is standing up straight, but is not braced against any structure.

2) You then try to use willpower, breath, and intent to “push” your personal energy out and influence your partner. Use a gathering motion in the space around you to gather your personal energy as you inhale. Use pushing motions as you gently exhale, sending the energy toward your partner.

3) Take notice of your partner. If there is a third person is the room, this person might notice the action more than either of the exercise partners. Usually the receptive partner looks like they are slightly swaying back, even if they did not consciously feel it.

4) Reverse the process by gathering the energy between you both, and pull the energy forward with your intention. Inhale and sweep your arms toward your body as you bring the energy closer. You may notice your partner pulling forward a bit. Repeat these steps several times until you feel comfortable with them. Then ask your partner, still with eyes closed, what they are feeling.

Lesson: Feeling the Aura

1) Sensitize your hands by rubbing them together. Then put your arms out with palms facing out, as if you were gesturing to stop.

2) Stand at one end of the room while your partner is at the other. Close your eyes and slowly walk toward your partner, having your partner guide you if you get off course. As you could feel the energy between your palms, you are looking for a similar feeling when you reach the edge of your partner’s energy field.

3) Keep your eyes closed, by take note of the various levels of energy you feel. Move back and forth to explore the sensations.

4) Repeat the exercise, this time with your eyes open. Stop where you feel the first layer of resistance. Have your partner raise their arms straight out in front. Usually the perimeter of the aura is a hand’s length beyond the reach of a person’s arms.

Lesson: Ball of Energy

1) Hold your hands, palms facing, about 6 inches apart. Imagine you are holding a ball of energy. At first this ball is like an empty bowl, a shell, but you are filling it with the energy between your hands.

2) As you breathe out, imagine that you are blowing out energy, exhaling from your mouth, and also “exhaling” from your palms. This energy helps fill the ball. Feel it fill up. Intend to make the ball thicker and more solid. At first this will feel like you are playing pretend and making it up, but such play-acting is the way energy responds to our thoughts. By acting as if the energy is changing, it does.

3) Once you have a “solid” ball of energy floating between your hands, you can literally play with it. You can make it smaller and more dense. You can stretch it out like taffy. Discover how mutable energy can be, responding to your intent and commands.

4) When done, bring your hands together and imagine you are absorbing the energy. Then wipe off your hands to remove any excess.

Lesson: Feeling Energy

The purpose of this exercise is to physically feel some of this spiritual energy that you personally generate. Once you feel it, you will be able to manipulate this energy through your will and intent. This is a fundamental building block for magick and psychic development.

1) Hold your hands about three feet apart, palms facing each other. Close your eyes if you would like. You are aware of any new information you receive from your hands, but you are not judging the experience or try to create it. Allow it to happen naturally.
2) Bring you hands together, slowly. Be aware of the sensation. Notice any feeling that comes in waves or layers. These are the levels of your aura, your energy body. Some layers offer more “resistance” than others. Try it several times, with eyes open and closed. If you have difficulty, start over, but begin by rubbing your hands together vigorously, as if you were trying to warm them up. This will increase your hands’ sensitivity.

3) When you are done, wipe your hands together as if you were wiping excess water off them. This removes any other energies you might have picked up along the way. End all of these energy exercises with such a wiping motion.

Lesson: Filtering

Visualize that the sphere is made up of a substance like gauze. Only positive energy can travel freely into your sacred space, and anything negative is turned positive when it hit’s the surface, adding to your energy, building your power.

This technique is especially useful when someone is trying to manipulate or control us to do their will, either in the mundane world or in the magical world.

(“Dedicant” - Thuri Calafia)

Lesson: Shielding

Imagine the sphere of light around you going rigid, emanating a psychic energy field that nothing can penetrate. You can also visualize it as being metallic if you wish, or a black stone surface such as obsidian. Know that nothing can penetrate this shield, but rather that the energy will glance off, like an arrow shot at a smooth, round dome. Nothing can get in. You are safe.
Another use for shielding is to shield others from your energy. Perhaps you’ve had a really bad day and are attending a Sabbat celebration that evening. You can’t get the day off your mind, but you don’t want your energy to disturb or affect anyone. You can put a shield around yourself, and your thought cannot be read or felt.

(“Dedicant” - Thuri Calafia)