High Magick: A Guide to the Spiritual Practices That Saved My Life on Death Row - Damien Echols 2018

Creating Thoughtforms
Additional Practices

Thoughtforms are packets of energy stamped with a specific intent or purpose. They exist as patterns on the astral or etheric plane, but they influence manifestations on the physical plane. You can combine this technique with natural magick, instill the energy into a talisman or amulet, charge other objects like glasses of water, or perform the same technique without using a physical object at all. When you create a thoughtform out of something material, some people refer to such an object as a “servitor.” The charged item begins to behave as if there were some form of intelligence guiding it, leading some people to claim that servitors are a type of artificial life-form.

We never use our own energy when we generate a thoughtform.

Technically, thoughtforms are just another form of energy work. Whether you are crafting a spell, firing a sigil, practicing Reiki, or devoting yourself to prayer, it all works roughly the same — you’re releasing energy into the universe with a particular intention. You don’t have to know where the energy goes or how it works — or much else, for that matter. A thoughtform fulfills its job without any additional oversight or supervision from you, and it’s important to let a thoughtform do its work once you’ve created and released it (more on that later). The most important thing to note here is that — at least for the purposes of magick — we never use our own energy when we generate a thoughtform. To prevent depleting our own energetic reserves, we draw energy from outside sources.

You’re already familiar with this process. In the Middle Pillar you envisioned a shaft of light descending from the source of creation, all the way down through the universe, until it formed a sphere of light at the top of your head. Then you saw the shaft of light travel out of the bottom of your feet and go down into Earth, all the way to the center of the planet, where it connected to the source of Earth’s energy — Mother Nature herself. So now you’re going to learn to tap into that shaft of light — the one that connects you to Heaven and Earth — and direct it. That’s the outside source I mentioned above that you’ll be using to manifest your desires on the physical plane. You’re going to contact that energy directly, program it with a certain intent, and release it into the universe to carry out a specific task.

PRACTICE ” CREATING A THOUGHTFORM

You can use the following technique for just about anything: protection, prosperity, relationship, healing, business success, or whatever else you wish to manifest in the physical realm.

1.Relax, sit still for a few moments, and sit with your eyes closed and your hands facing each other, palms open. Hold your palms about a foot or so away from each other, as if you were holding an invisible basketball.

2.Recall the Middle Pillar exercise. By now you should be quite familiar with those techniques, so I’ll just give a short version as a reminder here. Let go of any extraneous thoughts that come up, but not forcefully. Do your best to relax and let the following visualization just happen naturally.

3.Visualize the different auric spheres of light you worked with in the Middle Pillar practice: the crystal-white light at the crown of your head, the pearl-grey sphere in your throat, the golden orb in your chest, the purple one in your pelvis, and the black sphere of light surrounding your feet.

4.Now see the shaft of light that connects you above and below, the one that runs through these spheres from the top of the universe and down into the earth.

5.Turn your attention to the energy center in your chest, which is gold-colored and incredibly bright. Focus on that sphere for a few moments.

6.Now inhale. From below, pull up the bountiful, green light from the planet — the energy of Mother Earth herself. From above, pull down the white light from the top of the universe — the source of all creation. These two streams of light meet in the golden sphere in the middle of your chest.

7.Inhale, continue to pull in energy from above and below (kind of like using a celestial straw), and see the sphere glow as bright as you can make it as the two streams of light blend alchemically — the green light of Earth from below and the white light of Heaven from above. They mix to become something more powerful in the middle of your golden sphere.

8.Repeat this process multiple times. When you feel like you’ve built up a sufficient amount of energy in this sphere, exhale and see the light travel down your arms. It continues into your hands and out through your palms, where it forms another sphere of golden light between your hands. The Taoist name for this technique is Dragon Cultivates the Golden Pearl, which aptly describes what you’re doing. You’ve created a golden pearl of light between your hands and now you’re going to cultivate it by infusing it with intention.

9.As I mentioned above, your intention could be just about anything. For the purposes of this exercise, let’s say that you are in need of guidance or support of some kind. Inhale, and see the golden sphere between your hands growing brighter and brighter. Either think or say some version of the following: “May the light protect, guide, and illuminate me on my journey through life and on the path of high magick.”

10.Now it’s time to vibrate a word of tremendous power: Yeshua (yay-hesh-yoo-ah). This is the original Aramaic name of the spiritual teacher Jesus, but it’s a lot more than that. The word Yeshua entails sounds in Aramaic that connect to all four elements, so when you vibrate this mantra you not only call on Christ consciousness to aid and assist you, you also bring in the primordial blessings of earth, air, fire, and water. When you say this word of power, watch the golden sphere of energy between your hands vibrate.

11.Inhale, make the sphere glow as bright as you can, hold, and vibrate Yeshua.

12.Now release the sphere. It will leave and travel where it must to fulfill the task you have given it. You don’t have to know where it’s going or how it’s going to work. In fact, the less you think about it, the better and more quickly it will do its job.

13.Clap your hands to conclude the exercise.

When generating a thoughtform in this way, there aren’t any rules as to how long you should focus on it or how much energy you need to invest in any individual sphere of light. I think it mostly depends on your ability to concentrate, which, in turn, depends on your dedication to practice. As your concentration improves, feel free to place more and more power into your thoughtforms. When it comes to manifesting your desires, more power is typically a good thing.

It’s important to let your magick do its work without constantly checking up on it and measuring its progress. Like I’ve said before, the less you think about it, the better. There’s a simple reason why this is true. In this case, when you direct continual attention to the thoughtform, what you’re actually doing is pulling it back to you, and that means the thoughtform can’t perform the task you’ve given it. Additionally, most of the time when we deliberate over our magick — Did it work? Is it working well? Did something happen and I didn’t notice it? — we’re essentially expressing distrust and fear, and that feeds energy into thoughts of failure. When this happens, all we end up doing is generating counter-magick to the original magick we worked so hard to manifest. In short, just do your magick and forget about it afterward as much as you can. Eventually you’ll build the faith that it’s working, and this type of doubt-based concern won’t be a problem anymore. The more you release yourself from the need to see results, the more powerful the techniques will become.

Practice this exercise several times a day for a while before you move on to the next section. I recommend doing it first thing when you get up in the morning to ensure that you’ll have the best day possible. Infuse the thoughtform with whatever is appropriate for your needs on that particular day — less friction with the boss, doing as well as possible on your exam, healing from your sickness, or even something for someone else. Magick for the benefit and well-being of others is always a powerful option. After a while, this practice will become second nature to you, and you’ll be able to create thoughtforms without thinking much about it at all. And just like any other skill in life, the more you do it, the better at it you become.

Talismans, Amulets, and Tattoos

Making a thoughtform is one of the most versatile techniques in magick. You can use the previous practice and apply it to the creating of a servitor, charging a crystal or glass of water, or making a talisman or amulet. Before we move on, I want to look specifically at talismans and amulets because there seems to be a lot of confusion out there about these terms and what they mean.

First, talismans and amulets are similar in that they’re both like batteries you can fill with energy. They act like energy storehouses that are somehow anchored on the material plane, and they can be made of anything: pine cones, bone, river rock, elaborate sigils of ink. Personally, sigils in art are some of my favorite forms of talismans and amulets. To the outside eye, they just look like squiggly lines that cross at sharp angles, and in a way that’s all they are. When you strip away the esoteric aspects of sigils, they’re just squiggles that represent particular concepts, people, places, desires, and so on. The reasons such things work is that they bypass the conscious aspects of mind and address the deeper aspects of your psyche.

The terms talisman and amulet are often used interchangeably, but technically they serve opposite functions. Talismans are charged to bring something toward us, and amulets are charged to push or keep things away. Here’s an easy rule to keep from confusing the two: the words talisman and toward both start with a t, whereas amulet and away both begin with a. You might make a talisman for such things as prosperity, love, healing, guidance, and so on. An amulet, on the other hand, would be used to repel things that hinder our growth and development or that no longer serve a purpose in our lives: poverty, addiction, conflict, or manufactured drama. The latter example is an unfortunate reality for a lot of us who engage in social media — pointless arguments and petty battles on Facebook, for example. Some people engage in this sort of thing to make them feel more alive, and others just do it as a form of habitual distraction. Whatever the reason, manufactured drama doesn’t serve any lasting function; your time and energy could have been put, instead, into growing stronger, kinder, or wiser. You don’t need an amulet to avoid such things per se, but consider one if you keep finding yourself mired in this type of situation.

Once I heard a minister on television give a sermon on the story of David and Goliath. The minister said that when David stepped up to face Goliath, the only question that came to mind was “What do I get for defeating him?” In other words, David wasn’t battling for nothing. He wasn’t going to spend his precious time and energy engaging in a fight in which there was nothing to gain — not to mention he was risking his life. In life, you can’t fight every battle that comes your way. Do that often enough and you’ll be too worn out to meet the challenges that matter.

An important part of being a practitioner of magick is learning how to pick your battles. Don’t let wounds fester, but you also don’t need to generate a thoughtform for every little annoyance that comes your way. Learn when a matter actually deserves banishing or binding, because there are certain forces in the world that you certainly need to keep away. And sometimes it’s best to spend just a few moments doing a bit of magick to make sure that something small doesn’t turn into a big problem down the road.

Eventually, you’ll get a better grasp on where you should direct your magick in terms of what to draw in and what to keep away. As your path progresses, you’ll become more experienced at not only invoking and manifesting, but banishing and binding — the two go hand in hand. For example, advanced magicians work with Holy Guardian Angels (HGAs) for guidance and instruction in magickal techniques not found in any book. In this way, they bring in a level of wisdom that no one else has access to. However, once their relationship with the HGA has been established, these mages will also summon up their own negative traits in the form of “demons” and — with the help of the HGA — bind each and every one of them. In this way, the magicians become free of their own damaging influences.

You can make a talisman or amulet out of anything.

When I’m doing practical magick, I do both — I perform magick to manifest my desires, but I also do magick to banish unwanted or bothersome influences. Doubling up like this makes it far more likely that you’ll get the results you want. Let’s say that you’re going through a difficult time financially. You could create a talisman to attract prosperity as well as an amulet to get rid of poverty. Or, if you or someone you love is suffering from a serious illness, make a talisman to manifest good health and an amulet to banish the sickness. By doing both, you radically increase your chances of success. When I was on death row, I did a lot of this sort of thing. I performed magick to draw freedom toward me and magick to banish prison from my life. I did magick to attract helpful influences and magick to lessen the power of the politicians who were invested in carrying out my murder. And I practiced magick to bring in safety and protection, but also magick to banish abusive prison guards.

You can make a talisman or amulet out of anything, and you don’t have to create either by yourself from scratch. What makes an object magickal is the energy you charge it with, not what it looks like, what it’s made of, or how it’s constructed. It doesn’t even have to look magickal — it could be an everyday rock, an inconspicuous coin, or your cell phone. Everything is made of energy anyway, and you use the same technique regardless of the object you’re charging. A talisman or amulet can take the form of the most aesthetically pleasing work of art you’re capable of making, or it can simply be a lock of hair that you use as a sympathetic link between you and the person whom it came from. Regarding the latter, research in quantum physics indicates that particles once in contact with one another will always maintain some form of connection, no matter the distance between the particles. That’s the principle at play when we perform magick using a person’s hair, fingernails, or item of clothing — once in contact with a person, his or her belongings will remain connected to them at some level. By focusing magick on that item, you can send a particular form of energy (love and support, for example) through the link directly to that person. By definition, that makes the object a talisman.

The uses of talismans and amulets are endless. You could charge your wedding ring so that there is always love and kindness between you and your spouse. You could charge your pet’s collar to keep them healthy and safe. You could charge your key chain in a way that helps you avoid accidents while driving your car, or so that you don’t get traffic tickets, or so that you can always find a parking spot at the grocery store. I’ve even charged dumbbells to keep myself strong and healthy. The possibilities for talismans and amulets are limited only by your imagination. (To charge talismans and amulets, see the instructions for Raising Energy: Phase 2.)

One of the benefits of making a talisman or amulet is that the magick you put into it is always working. There are occasions when you may not have time to stop and perform the magick you need in the moment. For example, say you’re walking home one night and suddenly you suspect that someone is following you. It’s not a good idea to stop there in the middle of the dark street and perform an elaborate protection ritual. Instead, have your protective wards in place in advance. It’s far preferable to take the time you need when you’re safe to do such things so that the talisman or amulet is already up and working when you need it. For this type of situation, I recommend charging a ring, necklace, bracelet, or some other piece of jewelry that you regularly wear. That way it’s likely to be on you when the time comes. Like I said above, the object acts as a kind of battery in which a particular brand of energy is housed (in this case, protective energy), and it magnetizes your aura with that particular intention.

If you’ve seen any recent photographs of me, you’ll know that I’m covered with tattoos. Tattoos have been my primary method for charging talismans and amulets; my skin is arrayed with them from my neck to my feet, mostly in the form of sigils, cyphers, and symbols. Some are charged to attract strength, friendship, and prosperity; others are intended to deflect forms of negative energy and intention. I’ve translated the names of various archangels into abstract figures that intertwine with ancient symbols from Egyptian, Chinese, and Hebrew traditions. Some of my tattoos are charged in such a way to connect me to the land where I live (New York City) and help me remain grounded to a sense of home even when I’m traveling thousands of miles away. I have one tattoo that’s intended to help me speak and write eloquently when giving instructions in magick so that people who are interested can more easily grasp the techniques and gain the most benefit from them.

It didn’t occur to me to use tattoos as magickal objects until my experiences on death row and the shock of what my life was like when I got out. When I got put inside, I quickly learned that prison will take away everything you hold dear — your clothes, your hair, your books, even your name. Fortunately, they couldn’t take my skin, which is why I am the walking, breathing grimoire you see today. For thousands of years, magicians have used grimoires (books on magick) to codify basic techniques: how to create talismans and amulets, the fundamentals of divination, how to summon angels, and so on. So my body has become a manual of sorts, and I am necessarily inseparable from the magick I’ve placed in these various symbols and sigils.

In prison, they don’t even let you keep your name. They issue you a number. As far as the State of Arkansas was concerned, Damien Echols did not exist — I was inmate SK-931 (that means I was the 931st person that Arkansas sentenced to death). That level of dehumanization reflects and enables all sorts of abuse, and a lot of it is so terrible that it sounds fictional in the telling. The entire system is built on humiliation and destruction because it needs the people inside to forget that they’re human and for them to feel that they have no recourse whatsoever but to accept whatever comes to them, regardless of the pain involved.

They could damage my aura, but they couldn’t take it away. They could seriously hinder my ability to perform magick, but not entirely. They could force all manner of obstacles upon me, but they could not rob me of my ability to shape reality. Every day of my time inside, I lived on a battlefield of wills: the State wanted to destroy me, but I very much wanted to survive, to live, and to thrive. Thankfully, there are times when the battle doesn’t go to the strongest or the swiftest, but to the side who has the raw will to endure until the end. So here I am, and I’m here because of these techniques, because of magick, and because of the people who loved and supported me through my time in Hell.

When I finally got off death row, my interest in charging tattoos with magick (as well as my ability to do so) only increased. You don’t get used to being in prison in a single day, and it certainly takes a lot longer than that to get used to being out. For the first couple of years, I lived in a near-constant state of fear. I couldn’t believe that I was out; it felt too good to be true, and I kept expecting my freedom to be taken away from me at any moment. I knew that I needed more protection, so I decided to create a suit of armor — made of magickally charged skin, that is.

Also keep in mind that I was traveling a lot and meeting new people all the time. I was touring to promote my earlier books, as well as a documentary I produced, and it wasn’t unusual for me to end up at events where I’d encounter hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of people — many of whom wanted to interact with me personally. I was struggling with severe PTSD and often felt incapacitated by anxiety and confusion. It felt like I was hemorrhaging energy everywhere, like blood in the water, and it wasn’t unusual for me to get sick and become bedridden for a week. Long story short, I realized I needed something extra because it was unlikely that I was going to stop an interview halfway through in order to charge my aura with energy and protect myself from additional strain. Now I have tattoos that do the job for me. Some are meant to prevent the absorption of too much energy from others, and some are charged to lessen the impact of people drawing energy from me and leaving me depleted. So I wear this suit of armor, but I’d rather think of it more like a security blanket, one made of magickal talismans, amulets, symbols, sigils, ciphers, and so on.

The more energy you direct toward a particular thing, the more charged it becomes.

Many of my tattoos are personalized by a form of writing of my own creation. I highly recommend doing this for yourself when charging physical objects: create your own alphabet. Doing so will ensure that only you will understand the nature of your magick, and it will add more power to it. Making your own alphabet (not to mention your own language) requires a lot of attention and sustained focus, which means that you’re putting constant energy into it. And as is probably evident, the more energy you direct toward a particular thing, the more charged it becomes. In this way, it’s much more effective to use your own system of writing than an alphabet or writing style that you’ve been doing automatically since you were a child.

I also encourage you to make your magickal artifacts as beautiful and unique as possible. Other than tattoos, one of my favorite ways to create talismans is through paint and canvas, and I’ve been fortunate enough that some of my art has been shown in galleries around the world. I try to make each talisman as aesthetically pleasing as possible, and I’m happy that so many people enjoy my artwork and find something of value in it. Really, I’m honored. But I don’t want to hold this up as some measure of success in terms of your magick, because your work doesn’t have to appeal to anyone but you. You don’t even need to be artistically inclined. There are absolutely no rules for how magickal objects are supposed to look or what materials you should use in their construction.

That being said, some materials do hold a magickal charge more readily, more reliably, and for a longer period of time. I’ve found the two best materials to be quartz crystals and water, which operate in strangely similar ways. Anything you charge with the techniques I’ve outlined will eventually lose that charge — a battery doesn’t stay charged forever, even if you leave it in the closet and never use it. Energy is always in motion and, as such, will eventually dissipate from a given object. That’s why it’s important to recharge your talismans, amulets, sigils, and so on. Regardless, quartz and water will hold their charge for a surprisingly long time, so I recommend working with them as much as possible.

Crystals have been incredibly popular the past several decades, even among people who don’t affiliate with New Age beliefs or practices. You see them everywhere: bookstores, churches, jewelry shops, and so on. I love crystals; I collect them everywhere I go and fill my home with them. I also like to give them to people who might not take the time to learn to practice magick, because you don’t have to understand magick in order to derive benefit from crystals. They’re a form of natural magick that inherently affects the human energy field in a positive way by expanding and strengthening our aura. This was documented by Semyon Kirlian, who invented a way to photograph auras. Among other revelations, Kirlian discovered that a person holding a crystal has an aura twice the size of someone who isn’t. Crystals act like batteries or amplifiers for the human energy field, and you can charge them in order to perform powerful natural magick.

Water

For our purposes, I’d like to focus on water. It’s readily available in most places in the West, we drink it every day, and it makes up about 60 percent of our bodies (two-thirds of that is within our cells). To say that water is essential to our survival is an understatement.

Virtually everyone knows the power inherent in water: it can create hydroelectric power and carve canyons, to name just a couple of examples. But fewer people are aware of just how well water holds energy. This is wonderful in a way, but also quite unfortunate when traumatic things occur. For example, when someone drowns in a body of water that doesn’t move (a pond or lake, for example), whatever fear they experienced upon death will charge that water and make future tragedies more likely to occur. The horror has infused the water and will attract similar energy until the charge is nullified, altered, or dissipated. On the other hand, water’s tendency to hold a charge makes it excellent for healing and fundamental transformation, which is why fluids such as water, juice, and wine play such an important role in religious acts of communion. Ideally, communion is about ingesting divine light and having it work on you on the cellular level, and that can occur because the fluid has been charged in a particular way. You can do the same thing in a less official way by charging water, drinking it so that it becomes an actual part of your physical body, and having the energy infuse your aura with that particular blessing.

You can charge water for just about anything. Before I teach a class on magick, I charge a glass of water to make me more eloquent, and it helps me express my thoughts and feelings in a way that resonates with people. I began experimenting with charging water when I was on death row and was experiencing a terrible amount of physical pain, especially in my teeth. I had been getting hit in the face for years, which caused a lot of damage, and as the years crept by in prison, my pain became worse and worse. I didn’t have access to a real dentist, and they certainly wouldn’t give me adequate medicine to ease the pain. So I turned to water for help.

Like I noted above, I doubled up on my magick and charged water both as a talisman and as an amulet. As a talisman, I imbued glasses of water with the wish that my teeth be brought back to health, to be whole and healthy again, and to attract comfort and ease. As an amulet, I focused on banishing the physical damage as well as the horrific pain. I did this over and over again, charging and drinking, and it eventually worked. In fact, the practice worked so well that it was one of the primary contributors to my faith in magick. Among other things, it taught me that magick is capable of the miraculous.

When I was on death row, Lorri and I had to do without most of the things couples take for granted. We couldn’t sleep together in the same bed. We couldn’t go out to dinner, or watch a movie, or even sit together holding hands. Most of the ways that people share their affection and love for one another were just a dream or fantasy to us, so we had to rely on other methods. When a person suffers head trauma to the point that their brain is actually damaged, what happens is that the brain forms new connections, and the person figures out novel ways of performing fundamental actions. That’s what Lorri and I did. We formed new pathways to intimacy, relying on magick to provide what was otherwise lacking. Specifically, we used water to keep us connected.

Water acts as a near-perfect battery. It holds just about any charge, and that charge doesn’t need to come from a human. Water absorbs energy from everything around it. For a while there, I had a tiny window in my cell, and on the night of a full moon I would place a small container of water in the windowsill so that it could be charged by the light of the moon. And wherever Lorri happened to be on the night of a full moon, she did the same thing. We called this practice Moon Water. We were both trying to catch some of the moon’s essence. Afterward, we’d put the water in a place where the sun wouldn’t shine on it (so that it wouldn’t disrupt the lunar energy held in the water) and every night — at the very same time — we’d bring our Moon Water out of hiding and take a drink of it. Lunar energy is used to enhance psychic abilities and increase powers of perception, and we could use all of that we could get. But mainly this practice kept us connected because we were both committed to doing the same practice in the same way. And even if Lorri was on the other side of the world, when we drank our Moon Water, we were together, if only for a moment.

Even though I’m talking about drinking charged water in this section, don’t feel as if you need to be constrained by using it that way. You can charge the water you use in artwork to magnify its beauty and appeal, or you could infuse your water with protective energy and mop every room of your house with it. That being said, the following practices are about drinking water you’ve made into a talisman. First you’re going to charge a glass of water, and then you’re going to give it a particular purpose.

I mentioned the act of communion above. On those rare occasions when my family went to church, here and there we’d be handed wafers, say a little prayer with everyone else, and eat the wafers. The person leading the service would say something about ingesting the body of Christ, but they would talk about it in purely symbolic terms. Like we weren’t actually doing it, but we should pretend really well and think about the whole thing. But as it turns out, we actually are what we eat — whatever we consume becomes us; food and water become the fundamental building blocks of our bodies. We don’t eat or drink anything symbolically — it’s actually happening. If you charge a wafer or cup of juice with Christ consciousness, that’s what becomes you, and the same holds true with the charged water you’ll ingest in the following practices.

So before we get started, you’ll need a glass of water. If you’re doing this practice in real time, then put the book down, put some water in a glass, and come back to the instructions below. Don’t worry about what type of glass or how much water is in it. You don’t need any sort of magickal goblet, and a sip of water will work just as well as a quart. The relevant thing here is the quality of energy you put into the practice.

PRACTICE ” CHARGING YOUR WATER

1.Hold the glass of water in your lap, or keep it on a table in front of you. Hold it between both hands, palms encircling it. Close your eyes.

2.Relax as best you can. Let the tension leave your body gently, and just be present to what’s going on around and inside you. Feel the floor beneath your feet, your clothes against your skin, and the texture of the glass in your hands. If any thoughts or concerns come up, it’s not a big deal — just let them go and allow the mental chatter to die down naturally.

3.Once more, we’re going to do an abbreviated form of the Middle Pillar practice. Visualize the spheres of light in your aura aligned like a shining cairn in the middle of your body from the top of your head to your feet: the crystal-white sphere at your crown, the pearl-grey orb in your throat, the golden sphere near your heart, the purple one in your pelvis, and the black sphere that surrounds your feet.

4.Now see the shaft of light that runs through these spheres. It extends upward through the top of your head and anchors you in the impossible distance to the source of all creation. It’s an infinitely bright light at the very top of the universe — the source of all energy from which everything arose and to which everything eventually returns. The light has no beginning, no end — it is limitless. And you’re connected to it by the straw of light that descends into your head and down through the center of your body.

5.Now see the shaft of light moving out below you, down through the bottom of your feet and extending into the center of the earth. It connects to Mother Nature — the giant green sphere of energy inside the core of our planet. Everything on Earth — the ferns, the trees, the cats, the mushrooms, and even you and I — gets its life force from this energy sphere.

6.You are connected to both of these sources by the light that moves through the center of your body. From above, chi from Heaven; from below, chi from Earth. The light from these two sources mixes in the golden sphere in your chest.

7.Focus your attention on that golden sphere. Imagine that your consciousness resides there, in that orb that’s colored much like the sun at noon. Visualize it being about a foot in diameter — about the size of a bowling ball — right in the center of your chest.

8.Next, focus your attention on the white light above you. Inhale and see the light spill down through this channel, down through the straw, traveling all the way down from the top of the universe, into your head, down through your throat, and into the golden light near your heart.

9.Now turn your focus on the green sphere of energy below you. Inhale and pull the green light up from the center of the earth, up through the layers of the planet, up into your feet, moving higher through your legs and into your pelvis, rising up through your abdomen, and eventually into the golden sphere in the middle of your chest.

10.Visualize the bright, gold-colored sphere. The white light of Heaven enters it from above, and the green light of Earth rises into it from below. Every time you inhale now, visualize that the golden orb glows brighter as it pulls in more and more chi from above and below. The two streams mix together, becoming more powerful and balanced than either is by itself.

11.As you exhale, see the light leave the energy center in your chest and move into your arms. From there, the light travels down through your arms, out through your hands, and into the glass of water you’re holding.

12.Watch as the water becomes saturated with that golden light. The energy continues to enter the water as it glows brighter and brighter.

13.Repeat this process. I recommend somewhere between three and ten times. Inhale, pull in the energy from Heaven and Earth. Exhale, and move the golden light into the water. Do this until you sense that the water is completely permeated with chi.

Now, on the physical level of reality, you’re holding a glass of water. However, on the energetic plane, you’re holding a vessel full of pure chi. This is an amazing feat, but it’s only the first step of a larger practice. Your water is now ready to receive an intention from you — a program, so to speak. Imagine that the universe acts like a computer — it will run all sorts of software and is amenable to programming. So that’s what you’re going to do next: program this highly energized glass of water to carry out a specific function, communicating your desires through the medium of this divine light.

PRACTICE ” PROGRAMMING YOUR WATER

1.Focus on the glass in your hand. See it filled with the brilliant golden light.

2.Inhale. Watch as the water becomes brighter and brighter, the light glowing as strong as you can visualize it. Each time you inhale, energy travels through you and into the glass.

3.Now it’s time to insert your program. Just as I’ve said elsewhere, you can imbue the water with just about any wish you desire — for better health, for more protection, for greater prosperity, for increased patience, for more love or friends — but for the sake of this exercise, let’s focus on the same wish we used with the Creating a Thoughtform practice. Let’s program the water to bring you greater spiritual development and guidance. This is a program in line with the highest practices of magick: to ask magick itself to become your teacher and lead you where you need to go in order to become a stronger, wiser, and more effective practitioner of magick. Just like before, the program goes something like this: “May the light protect, guide, and illuminate me on my journey through life and on the path of high magick.” With this intention, the light — or, rather, the divinity it represents — will initiate you.

4.Inhale, see the light increase in brightness again, and hold. Now say the words that will insert your program, your intention.

5.Before you drink the water, inhale again. The water grows even brighter. Now hold and infuse the light with the sacred word, Yeshua. Recall that by doing so, you’re blessing the water with Christ consciousness as well as with the power of the four elements. When you say the sacred word, visualize that the water vibrates with its incredible power.

6.What you hold in your hands is not simply your own energy. It is the energy pulled directly from the source of all creation, as well as the grounding power of Mother Nature. The light in the glass has been specifically programmed and blessed. Keep your eyes closed, raise the glass to your mouth, and drink it.

7.See all of the golden light move into your body as you swallow it. It spreads into every part of your body: your head, shoulders, back, chest, belly, butt, pelvis, thighs, knees, shins, calves, and feet. Watch as it goes everywhere — even the places you’re not normally conscious of. (For some reason, it’s common for people to forget their “backside” — not only their butt, but the back of their neck, legs, and feet). Your entire body glows brighter and brighter. Every part of you is infused with divine light. Feel it moving into your bones, muscles, and organs. It travels into your eyes, your teeth, your tongue, hair, toenails, fingernails, everywhere. You are a shining physical representation of the Divine. If you can, visualize that the light penetrates your very cells, making your molecules brighter. Your atoms, subatomic particles, your quarks — everything is shining. Continue visualizing all of this the best you can until you feel saturated by the golden light. Take as much time as you need.

8.After some time, let the mental pictures begin to fade. Clap your hands and allow the visualization to slowly leave your attention, but know that the energy is still there. You are still made of this light, whether or not you focus on it. When this practice is over and you go about your day, this light will continue to bless you and work according to the intention you gave it.

9.Slowly open your eyes. Let the details of the practice fade from your mind and direct your focus once more to your surroundings. Roll your head on your shoulders a little bit, look around the room, wiggle your fingers, and feel the various parts of your body as best you can. Take as much time as you need to make this transition.

Once you’re reoriented to the physical plane, you no longer have to think about this practice or the magick you’ve enacted. I’m repeating this here because I want to make sure you understand how crucial this part is. Whatever you do and wherever you go, your magick is working. It won’t serve you to keep thinking about it, to keep pulling the intention back to yourself and countering all the hard work you’ve done. Over time, you’ll have faith that magick is doing its job and that it no longer requires your supervision or direction. Simply enjoy the fruits of your practice, and commit yourself to learning and performing more magick.

Divination: Using the Tarot

Everything I say below about transforming a Tarot deck into a talisman can be applied to any form of divination you’re familiar with: versions of rune-casting, the I Ching, reading tea leaves or coffee grounds, the casting of lots. Divination in various forms has been around for millennia, and magicians have been refining the art since the dawn of humankind. Some consider this art mere superstition, but when you get right down to it, divination is simply the act of focusing on a particular question or issue and exploring whatever answers that might come to us outside the limits of our own everyday consciousness. Magick and divination go hand in hand. When we put the requisite energy into divination, we’re essentially engaging in a magickal act, and if we put enough focused energy into the process, answers will manifest just as with anything else for which we perform magick.

Most people agree that the Tarot has its origins as a pack of playing cards used as early as the fifteenth century CE, and that it wasn’t widely used for cartomancy (divination using a deck of cards) until a couple of hundred years later. However, some people assert that the practice is much, much older — either that it was brought to Europe by the Roma people from India, or even that it originated secret teachings codified by the ancient priests of Egypt. No matter its beginnings, the Tarot has a long association with divination, and it came to the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn by way of a Rosicrucian teacher. The Tarot became widely used by the Order’s members, many of whom went on to create personalized decks that are still in use today.

The following method for creating a talisman out of your Tarot deck comes from the Order’s practices. I recommend trying out this simple outline for a while, if you’re interested, and then coming up with your own way of charging your deck.

PRACTICE ” CHARGING YOUR TAROT DECK

Before beginning a Tarot reading, members of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn would evoke a specific angel for assistance. In the documents that have survived, the angel of the Tarot is referred to only by the initials H. R. U. The knowledge of what those particular initials stand for has been lost to history, but you don’t need to know details about this angel in order to evoke them.

1.Place your cards upon the surface of your preference. Sit in front of them, relax, and close your eyes.

2.Envision that a figure made of brilliant white light is standing next to your cards. You don’t necessarily need to focus on the details of their appearance, but you know that the presence is angelic and there to help you.

3.Inhale. See the angel grow brighter and brighter with each breath.

4.Exhale and vibrate the angel’s name, H. R. U. (heeroo). Repeat the name as many times as you wish while focusing on the visualization and pulling in as much energy as feels necessary.

5.When you feel that the level of energy is sufficient to your purpose, repeat the following, addressing the angel as you do so: “May your power, blessing, and favor descend upon this deck so that I may understand things that are true and hidden.”

6.Clap your hands, and perform your reading of the Tarot as you normally would.

Like I said, you can use this practice for any form of divination, but H. R. U. is specifically associated with the Tarot. I should also say that you don’t have to use any formal divination system — magick will still provide an answer. That answer will just come in a form that is unique and familiar to you, and it’s up to you to pay attention and learn how to read the signs. For example, Lorri calls up various angels when she wants an answer to a particular question. For her, “yes” answers come in the form of feathers. She’ll start finding feathers everywhere: on the living-room carpet, on sidewalks in our neighborhood, on the stairs that lead down into the subway.

In other words, divination can be as simple as asking a question and looking for answers to manifest on the material plane. You certainly don’t have to have been a professional Tarot reader for decades, and you don’t necessarily have to summon angels to assist you. But for what it’s worth, asking for some type of guidance and engaging in some type of conscious ceremony can only help.