19. After a few minutes, or however long you feel comfortable with, you should begin to return to normal waking consciousness. This will certainly happen on its own after about twenty minutes or so, especially when you are first starting to work with this exercise. Still, you should endeavor to be in control of the situation. To come out of the trance is simply to reverse the process. Become aware of your feet, and slowly jiggle them. Become aware of your legs, and gently tense and untense them. Move all the way through the body, reawakening it. Finally, open your eyes and stand up. You will probably feel very relaxed.
20. Record your experiences in your journal.
You may find it difficult to relax satisfactorily at first. Don't worry. The pressures of modern life tend to overwhelm us all. If you have finished with the last step and still are holding on to a lot of tension, simply repeat the directions until you begin to notice a shift in your awareness. When you shift into the altered state you may notice a number of sensations:
tingling
warmth
coolness
sense of lightness
sense of heaviness
a lack of desire to move
minor twitches in your fingers or toes
feeling of slipping
sense of floating
You may experience one or more of these sensations or something that is uniquely your own experience.
It is also possible to leave the trance state by slipping off into sleep. This is not at all dangerous, but it is not recommended for two reasons. First, you are attempting to learn control of your consciousness, and yielding to sleep is counter to that end, and second, it does not allow you to make an entry in your journal. The conscientious maintenance of your journal is paramount to your success in this endeavor. This state can be very refreshing. Even a few minutes in this state can be as rejuvenating as a long nap.
Exercise 11 - Creating an Anchor for the Alpha State
Time Required: 20 minutes to one hour
Once you have gone into the alpha state several times with the above method, you will want a quicker way to enter this state in any circumstance. This will allow you to use your developing powers whenever you need them.
I covered the subject of anchors and how they work in The New Hermetics, so I will not spend a great deal of time here in explaining them, but I will basically give you the same instruction for creating the anchor in this book. If you are in any strong state of emotion or experience, any unique stimulus at that time will create an anchor. Anytime you experience that stimulus again, you will be drawn back to that same state.
You can really use any triggering method you like to signal to your brain that you want to instantly go back to a particular state, but you must use the exact same trigger each time. So, for the sake of simplicity and continuity, I will teach you basically the same trigger mechanism as I used in The New Hermetics. I will use the words “Alpha State” rather than “Altered State,” but you can also use whatever words are most comfortable for you. You must be in an intense and pure state for anchoring to work properly, so be sure that you get into a nice deep Alpha State before activating your anchor, and be sure to activate it at the peak of the experience, in other words when you are most deep.
The anchor we will use consists of three parts, visualization, words and a kinesthetic touch. The kinesthetic touch portion consists of pressing your index fingers, your middle fingers and your thumbs together firmly, but not too firmly, like a yoga mudra, or an “okay” sign, as you press say, “Alpha State,” (or “Meditation”) mentally to yourself. At the same time, you will be visualizing the light of super-consciousness descending through your body.
1. Enter the Alpha State as above.
2. You should now be in a relaxed but alert state. Deepen your relaxation to the deepest that you can relax while continuing to focus. You may do this by repeating the light descending relaxation visualization, or by just letting yourself drift deeper.
3. When you reach this very deep state of relaxation and focus, Again visualize the light above, sending it briefly through your whole body again, letting it relax you, then as it reaches your feet, filling you completely, press your index and middle fingers against your thumbs together firmly and say to yourself, “alpha state,” (or any other word, as long as you are consistent).
4. Repeat the above process several times, coming up out of the alpha state, and going back down, then anchoring at the peak.
5. You will then want to test your anchor. Get into normal waking consciousness, then visualize the light above, sending it briefly through your whole body, letting it relax you, then as it reaches your feet, press your index fingers, your middle fingers and your thumbs together firmly and say to yourself, “alpha state.”
6. You should be back in Alpha State again. If not, start at the beginning again, and work through this until you can quickly move into the alpha state at will.
Taking the time to master this will be well worth your while. From now on, you can simply use this exact anchor, visualizing the globe of light above, sending it briefly but relaxingly through your whole body, then as it reaches your feet, press your index fingers, your middle fingers and your thumbs together firmly and say to yourself, “alpha state.”
Exercise 12 – Theta State – Deep Trance
Time Required: 40 to 50 minutes
Getting even deeper, right to the hinterlands of consciousness, is very easy once you've mastered the above. You will simply use the exact same technique you used for the alpha state with a slight modification. You will use colored light instead of white light, and these colors will progressively relax you even deeper. You will start with energetic red light, moving right through the rainbow to calm, spiritual violet light. This will eventually bring you very deep. You may in fact begin to go too deep, somewhere in the middle of this exercise. If you do, simply observe your state and continue to focus. In this state you will see mini-dreams, and it may become difficult to focus. Simply do your best to stay on track.
1. Again, sit or lie down somewhere where you won't be disturbed.
2. Enter the Alpha State as above.
3. Focus again on the globe of bright white light a short distance above you. Now imagine that the light is turning bright red.
4. Imagine this red light as shining down upon your head, and as the light touches your head, it begins to fill your head with light. As your head fills with red light, allow this light to relax the top of your head, your forehead, eyes, cheeks jaw and the back of your head, mentally saying to yourself, “ten.”
5. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your neck and throat, relaxing your neck and throat, saying “nine.”
6. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your chest and shoulders, relaxing your chest and shoulders, saying “eight.”
7. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your arms, hands and fingers, relaxing your arms, hands and fingers, saying “seven.”
8. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your belly and back, relaxing your belly and back, saying “six.”
9. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your groin and buttocks, relaxing your groin and buttocks, saying “five.”
10. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your thighs, relaxing your thighs, saying “four.”
11. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your knees, relaxing your knees, saying “three.”
12. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your shins, relaxing your shins, saying “two.”
13. Allow the relaxing red light to continue filling you, moving down to your feet and toes, relaxing your feet and toes, saying “one.”
14. Repeat the same process through your whole body with orange, then yellow, then green, then blue, then indigo, th
en violet light. Again, your visualizations of these colors do not need to be at all perfect. The idea is what is important, and the relaxation.
15. When you have finished, you will be at the Theta level of brainwaves. You may find dreams, voices or images swirling into your awareness somewhere in the middle of this exercise; this is a sure sign that you are getting to the right state. Keep relaxing, and make sure that you don't drift off into actual sleep.
16. After a few minutes of enjoying this state, or however long you feel comfortable with, you should begin to return to normal waking consciousness. Be in control of the situation. To come out of the trance simply become aware of your feet, and slowly jiggle them. Become aware of your legs, and gently tense and untense them. Move all the way through the body, reawakening it. Finally, open your eyes and stand up. You will probably feel very relaxed.
17. Record your experiences in your journal.
Exercise 13 – Delta State – Sleep Consciousness
Time Required: must be performed when retiring for the night
The Delta state is less useful for practical work than the Alpha and Theta states, unless you have a partner to communicate with you, because you will generally find it difficult to recall or be active in this state.
Still, the following exercise may be helpful, especially if you have trouble sleeping at night. However, be cautious, because you don't want to start falling asleep all the time when entering the Theta state.
1. When you are going to bed for the night, enter the Alpha then Theta states.
2. From here, simply allow yourself to drift even deeper. You will eventually black out entirely, or get lost in a dream.
3. If someone is with you, they can now ask you questions, and they may be able to speak directly with the unconscious aspects of your mind, unhindered by the conscious mind. Sometimes, the unconscious is grumpy and refuses to play along, but this technique may become useful later on, in communicating with non-human intelligences and obtaining past life memories.
4. If someone is with you, they can record any conversation in your journal for you. If you are alone, record anything interesting that you recall in the morning as soon as you awaken.
THREE TRANCE TIPS:
Take advantage of opportunity. Do trance work in the morning or evening when you’re relaxed and perhaps very mildly sleepy. But you don’t want to be too sleepy.
Trance is Relaxation and Focus. If you are “working” on getting into trance you are going wrong. Simply observe and go with the flow, remaining alert, and allowing yourself to naturally relax.
When you want to visualize something, say what you’d like to yourself mentally. In other words, say “I would like to see an apple,” if you’d like to visualize an apple. Then, just let an apple appear. Let your subconscious do the work. That’s its job. Just ask. Don’t worry if your visualizations are not crystal clear like a television screen, with time your abilities will improve.
Almost all psychic phenomena take place in trance states. All clairvoyance from remote viewing to precognition to Astral Travel to Lucid Dreaming are all variations on the same phenomenon, that of interfacing your conscious with your unconscious self, and gaining at least partial access to your totality, which is infinite.
YOUR ENERGY BODY
As we have discussed before, the universe is made up of energy, and our consciousness and everything around us is made up of this energy. Our bodies are also made up of energy, and energies flow through us as emotions, electrical impulses and the vital fluids of our physiology. The Chinese call these energies “chi,” the Hindus, “prana,” and there are dozens of other names and types of energy description that have been proposed and worked with by philosophers, scientists, and magicians for thousands of years. We need only concern ourselves with the basic idea that these energies can be useful to us in understanding ourselves and the world around us from a psychic perspective. We can also collect and direct these energies to make magical transformations in our lives. The next few exercises will practically introduce you to the “psychic vehicle” of humanity, your energy body and aura.
The easiest way to gain access to the vast stores of energy within us is through our sexuality. With the possible exceptions of eating and breathing, sexuality is the fundamental urge of all complex life forms. This drive is so powerful that huge portions of our time are spent suppressing or indulging in it. I have discussed some of the following information and exercises in my book, Sexual Sorcery, but since these are so integral to psychic and magical development, I will go over them here as well. Since sexuality is the most direct and powerful energy function that we possess, if we can harness it we will be able to do nearly anything. We can arouse the “Kundalini Effect” fairly easily through these means.
According to many adepts, sexual fluids are in fact the subtle evolutionary energy that builds the universe in its most physical aspect. Blood is also a gross physical vehicle for this energy. This is the reason why blood and sexual fluids are so often used in ancient magical practices. They are raw magick power in its most uncontrolled form. The sex act is like a generator, a dynamo that builds this sex energy up in the extremities, and then blasts it into the world in an unstable and tenuous explosion. Unfocussed, this energy dissipates.
When you learn to use this energy it will become a potent tool for magick and psychic development. The subjective feeling that you get from this energy is somewhere between a physical and a mental sensation. It can be experienced as a pleasant sensation in every part of your body, but the easiest access points to begin this flow of energy seem to be the top of the head and the base of the spine/sex organs. We will discuss energy centers further in a few moments.
These next few exercises are in a more or less cumulative order, so it will probably be a good idea to do them sequentially. You won’t have much luck with the later few until you’ve had some luck with the former.
Exercise 14 - Conscious Breathing
Time Required: 5 to 10 minutes
We will begin by simply discovering the energy that surrounds us in the air that we breathe, and learning to focus our minds on our breathing. You are now going to spend a few minutes focused entirely on your breath. Breath is the key to vitality, but we so often ignore it.
1. Sit or lie down in a comfortable place.
2. You may enter the Alpha State using your anchor if you desire, but this is not absolutely necessary.
3. Begin to visualize vitality surrounding you in the air all around. Imagine it as sparkling phosphorescence or a soothing glow.
4. Now, as you breathe in, feel this vitality entering your body. Feel this vitality flowing into your whole body. Feel the vitality entering through every pore of your body. Take complete breath, filling down to your belly and up to your shoulders.
5. As you exhale, imagine everything toxic within you exiting through every point of your body. Exhale completely, emptying your lungs and ejecting all of the negative energy within you.
6. Repeat this for several minutes. If you get distracted by other thoughts, simply come back to the exercise as soon as you realize that you’ve become distracted.
7. When you have practiced this for a few minutes, notice how fantastic you feel!
8. Record your experiences in your journal.
Exercise 15 - The Sex Energy Channel
Time Required: 2 to 5 minutes
This exercise will be the key to unlocking your internal energy pathways. It is a very simple matter. Located between your sexual organs and your anus is a small area known as the perineum. The pubococcygeus muscle surrounds the perineum. This is one of the muscles that we use to urinate. Bearing down on it opens the urethra, and contracting it closes the urethra.
This muscle is intimately associated with sex, because when it is strong it increases our sexual sensitivity. It allows a woman the ability to contract her vagina, increasing pleasure for both partners, and a man to have a stronger erection, and the ability to hold out for l
onger before ejaculating. Who knew that such a wonderful little muscle existed?
Within this context, the perineum will become important because by focusing on its contraction we will draw energy up through our root or Muladhara chakra. That is another exercise however, first we must simply learn to locate and use the muscle.
1. Sit or lie down somewhere where you won't be disturbed.
2. First simply attempt to contract and let go of the muscle a few times. Simply imagine that you holding in urine, but instead of squeezing the whole groin muscle, just isolate the muscle beneath your sex organs. Squeeze your perineum several times. At first it may be hard to isolate, and you might squeeze other muscles too- anus, groin, abdominals, or even your shoulders. Just do your best.
3. When you able to mostly isolate your perineum, use the complete breaths of the previous exercise and coordinate these with contracting and releasing your perineum. As you inhale, contract the muscle. As you exhale, push down and release muscle.
The Book of Magick Power Page 7
