BASIC SKILLS: Shamanic Exercises PRACTICAL "SHAMANIC" EXERCISES The following exercises will help you to develop "shamanic"

abilities. It's good to graduate from Concentration to Contemplation, and then to meditation. The difference between Concentration and Contemplation is that in concentration you imagine an object very concretely in front of you. You are different than the object that you project or imagine in front of you. In real Contemplation, you experience yourself as the object, so you are there; you are experiencing from the inside. SOME CONCENTRATION PRACTICES Practice your choice of these exercises for at least one minute several times a day. As you get better at them increase the time you spend on the exercise. Begin by practicing them with your eyes closed. After you become proficient with them that way practice with your eyes opened. I think it's important to practiced all of these exercises, but start with the ones that appeal to you the most do those. Later, as you feel more comfortable, you can do the others. 1. Look at a flower and nothing else. Start by concentrating on the outline, the color, and gradually get into the sepals and the petals. Close your eyes and create the image of the flower in your mind. Open your eyes and compare the picture you had in your mind with the flower. Close your eyes and recreate the image, correcting the differences. Open your eyes and compare again. Repeat this process until your mental image is exactly the same as the physical flower. Do this same exercise with a variety of objects, for example a stone or rock, a twig, some other plant, a bird or animal, a book, coin, or picture. 2. Imagine the outline of an equilateral triangle made out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Hold that image as long as you can. This practice will give you a sense of balance and poise. 3. Imagine the outline of a square made out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Hold that image as long as you can. This practice will give you a sense of strength and foundation. 4. Imagine the outline of a circle made out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Hold that image as long as you can. This practice will give a blocked person a sense of flowing. 5. Imagine a cube drawn out of light hanging perfectly still in the air in front of you. Keep one side of the

cube facing you. With your imagination, as you inhale push that face backwards so that another face comes forward. As you exhale bring that face forward so that the other face goes backwards. This practice will give you control over your visualization and will develop your will power. 6. Imagine a tetrahedron (a pyramid which has four faces that are all equilateral triangles) made of pure crystal hanging in the air in front of you. Keeping the crystal tetrahedron perfectly still imagine that you are able to move around it, so you see from one angle, then another, then the top, then the bottom. 7. Imagine yourself sitting inside of a crystal tetrahedron, an angle to your back and facing a face. This gives you a sense of poise, peace, and security. THRESHOLD PRACTICES BETWEEN CONCENTRATION AND CONTEMPLATION 8. Imagine, experience, yourself as a pure translucent crystal so that you allow light to go through you, and being kind of impersonal. 9. Imagine a sphere, like a planet earth, rotating on its axis and gravitating in an orbit around a sun. Realize in front of you both the sun and the planet. Now incorporate the other planets of the solar system, orbiting at different speeds in different orbits around the sun. Now imagine that you are a little speck on one of those planets and are experiencing from that vantage point, moving in relationship with all the other planets and the sun. 10. Imagine the starry sky and that you can just fly from one planet to the other or just float about in the immensity of space between all these moving planets and stars. Watch the earth, or some other planet, turn on its axis, looking down at it from the north pole. Notice how it turns counter clockwise. Watch the dawn as it progresses from the east coast to the west coast and so forth. 11. Do exactly the same thing, but with the atoms within your body, observing the electrons in orbit around the nucleus of protons and neutrons, spinning in a vastness of space. 12. Imagine yourself as looking into the dark, and there is a sort of a black lake, and it's raining on the lake. Instead of it being drops of water, it's drops of light that are dropping on the surface of the dark lake. The lights of the drops contrast with the dark and each drop sets up a ripple, which spreads and crisscrosses with the ripples of other drops, so that you have a whole shimmering surface of whirling lights sparkling and glistening. Experience yourself as being in the midst of this whole scene.

13. In the same way, experience yourself as being in the midst of a landscape of ice, snow, and hail, immaculately pure. Vast areas of snow and ice with a kind of opalescent sun, and a little trickle of water amongst the ice glistening in the middle of a crystalline kind of lighting. Feel alone, bereft of any emotion, just pure spirit. 14. Imagine that you're walking on a flat desert, golden sand, and there is no end to it. It's just flat; there are no hills or anything, just an absolutely flat surface that seems to be endless. You are walking right into the sun and the sun is arising above the horizon. Somehow you have left the whole world behind you, you have left existence behind you, you're liberated from everything and you're just so happy to come right out into the light, opening your arms and going right into the light. It's like your whole being is clarified, you have become the truth; your whole being is the truth and you are facing the light of truth, you are absolutely open towards the sun. MEDITATIONAL BREATHING PRACTICES In most meditational practices breath is used to aid your focus of attention. You associate what you are doing with your breathing so that your breathing reinforces what you are doing. You associate the two basic steps of breathing, exhaling and inhaling, with your focus. It's important to exhale completely. Let all of the air out of your lungs as you normally would while breathing and then exhale still more by forcing the air out until there is none left in your lungs. Then let your inhaling be the result of your exhaling as you fill your lungs with air. I'll call one exhalation and inhalation of this type a Meditational Breath as opposed to a normal breath. In any session it's perfectly okay to breathe normally a few times between Meditational Breaths until your skill increases. 1. Expansion-Contraction Do a Meditational Breath. As you exhale imagine that your consciousness is being extended into the vastness of the universe around you. Feel it expanding out from the center of your being in all directions. Have the feeling of becoming vaster and vaster in your being, reaching out in all directions, as if your being is a balloon without a skin, reaching out further with each exhalation. Merge into the universal consciousness As you inhale, feel your consciousness converging in your solar plexus. Imagine it as the central point from which the whole universe manifests itself. When you have practiced that as long as you wish you can get back into normal consciousness by changing the focus of the direction of breath, directing your consciousness back into your body as you exhale.

2. Ascending-Descending Do a Meditational Breath. Focus your eyeballs upwards at a point on the inside of your forehead as high as possible and press your tongue up against the palate of your mouth. As you inhale imagine that you, your consciousness, is a being of light rising upwards on the earth energy drawn from your body higher and higher through the spheres and planes of existence with each inhalation. You can imagine that your consciousness is like a balloon held by a string and that with each inhalation it rises still higher if that helps. As you exhale imagine that you are bringing celestial energy down into your body, being conscious of descending, of incarnating, of incorporating. Imagine that the celestial energy centers in your heart where it combines with the earth energy of your inhalation and becomes pure light which radiates in all directions. When you are ready you can get back into normal consciousness in the same way you did with practice 1, fully experiencing incarnation. 3. When you exhale be conscious of your magnetic field. When you inhale be conscious of your aura. 4. Elemental Purification a. Take three Meditational Breaths inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the nose. This corresponds with the earth element. Imagine that the denser part of your magnetic field is drawn downwards as you exhale, and the finer part of your magnetic field is lifted upwards as you inhale. b. Take three Meditational Breaths inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. This corresponds with the water element. As you exhale imagine water flowing down through you and cleansing your magnetic field. As you inhale imagine water flowing up through you like a natural spring flowing out the top of your head. c. Take three Meditational Breaths inhaling through the mouth and out through the nose. This corresponds with the fire element. As you inhale feel as though you are becoming very hot, like the air is blowing on an internal fire. As you exhale imagine that fire radiating light as your consciousness is transferred to your aura. d. Take three Meditational Breaths inhaling through the mouth and exhaling through the mouth. This corresponds with the air element. As you exhale feel as though you are being scattered into the universe. As you inhale realize that you are the product of the convergence of the universe upon a point.

5. Solar-Lunar Balance This practice is a bit more complicated. It will give you a lot of magnetism and can be used to help you develop healing power. After a short night's sleep it will give you a lot of energy. To do it you first inhale through the left nostril, hold, and exhale through the right, then reverse the process and inhale through the right nostril, hold, and exhale through the left, then inhale and exhale through both nostrils at the same time. Of course each breath should be a Meditational Breath. The length of time you hold the breath should be the same as the time you inhale. For example, inhale to the count of four, hold to the count of four, exhale to the count of four, hold to the count of four, and repeat. To do this place your right thumb under your chin and press the middle finger of your right hand on your right nostril. Place the thumb of your left hand on your left nostril, and the palm of your left hand on the back of your right hand. Focus your eyes inwards towards the top of your head, press your tongue upwards on the palat of your mouth, exhale completely and begin. Lift your thumb and inhale through the left nostril while you try to draw the energy up through the nerve on the left side of your spinal cord. Press your thumb down, hold your breath, and maintain your consciousness up above your crown center. Lift your finger from your right nostril and exhale through it bringing the energy down the nerve on the right side of your spinal cord. Hold and maintain your consciousness at your base center. Inhale through your right nostril while you try to draw the energy up through the nerve on the right side of your spinal cord. Press your finger against your right nostril, hold your breath and maintain your consciousness up above your crown center. Lift your thumb and exhale through your left nostril bringing the energy down the nerve on the right side of your spinal cord and hold. Now inhale through both nostrils, drawing the energy up the central canal of the spinal cord, hold as you maintain your consciousness high above your crown center, then exhale bringing the energy down both sides to the base of your spine, then radiate it as light out your heart center. Repeat. SOME CONTEMPLATION PRACTICES These are very shamanic, and much easier once you've practiced some of the other exercises at least a little. 1. Choose a flower and try to get into the consciousness of that flower so that you experience what it's like to be a flower. Experience yourself as

that flower so completely that you suddenly realize what you look like to that flower. 2. Choose an animal, dog, cat, bird, bear, deer, it doesn't matter which, and try to get into the consciousness of that animal and feel what it must be like to be that animal. Get into the particular quality that is predominant in that animal so you experience what it's like to have that quality. Like with the flower, experience yourself as that animal so completely that you realize how that animal perceives you. 3. Do the same with other plants, rocks, and so forth. 4. Choose a person who is very close to you and try to experience that person. Don't think of how that person appears to you or what kind of personality he has, but try to experience what it would be like to be that person. Let go of your center in your body and transfer it so you are there inside that person, seeing through his eyes, hearing through his ears, perceiving with his mind, and so forth. You can do this practice with everyone you know and give them a blessing by wishing them good in the process. 5. Pick some place that is particularly meaningful to you and imagine/experience yourself as being there. Move around in that place, look up and see what's there, down and see what's there, left and right, and so forth. Look at the objects that are there, and pick them up, examining them with all of your senses, sight, hearing, touch, and so forth. 6. Imagine that you are sitting in front of your body, watching your body as though you were another person. See yourself as they would see you if they were sitting in front of you. Circle your body and see yourself from all directions and angles, like you did the crystal tetrahedron. Copyright 1996 by Joseph B. Wilson. All rights reserved. Sent with Permission

whatever s/he wishes to occur, and infuses it with energy-power. Visualizations are only part of it. "Sensory Evocations" are exercises for increasing ALL the imagination skills. For each of the physical senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, movement (kinethetic) and hearing, there are psychic versions/corollaries. A witch in training should be exercising these several times a day. Ultimately, the goal is to be able to so vividly, thoroughly imagine something that it *becomes* real to you -- and thus *you* make it real in the physical world. Just as, with physical senses, everyone has different strengths and emphases, so with these imagination skills, everyone might have a different ability, or one that works best. That's why some folks have a difficult time visualizing - but they don't need to feel discouraged or left out, they may not be very visual but instead, one of the other senses will be stronger for them. Remember that each of these is a SKILL -- that means they get better and stronger with practice. A. Try these exercises for Sensory Evocation Skills: 1. Visual: Close your eyes; imagine before you, as vividly as possible, a red circle. "See" it in great detail. Now, Mentally "erase" that image, and imagine before you a flaming blue pentagram. See it as clearly, vividly as possible. hold the image for a few moments, then erase it. Now see a flickering candle flame. 2. Scent: Close your eyes. Imagine the smell of your favorite perfume or scent. "Erase" that, smell your favorite flower or fruit. Erase that, and smell gasoline. 3. Touch: Close your eyes. Imagine touching the bark of a tree. Erase that. Imagine running your fingers through your hair. Erase that. Imagine poking a bubble. 4. Hearing: Imagine hearing Imagine hearing Imagine hearing Imagine hearing someone calling your name. "Erase" that; your favorite song, as completely as possible. Erase. a bell ringing in the distance. Erase. the alarm of a car going off.

5. Taste: Imagine tasting a dollop of whipped cream. Erase that image. Taste your favorite fruit, perfectly ripe and juicy.

Erase that. Taste a tuna fish sandwich. 6. Kinesthetic: Imagine chopping wood: your body going through all of the movements it would take. Imagine the tenseness, the movement of your body, your arms and shoulders, your hands grasping the ax handle, feel the moment of "crack" and slight rebound and resistance your arms would feel as the ax connects with the wood.....; experience it all as fully and vividly as possible. Now change the image, and imagine climbing up a flight of stairs -- the movement, the muscles of your thighs, your legs, your ankles and feet, your hands grasping the railing as you climb the stairway.... Now change the image, and imagine doing your favorite sport or exercise -- all of the elements, all the steps, all the physical movements you would go through. Now make up your own! B. Some More Advanced Scenarios, combining all five: 1. The Lemon: Close you eyes. Imagine seeing a lemon in front of you. See the pocked bright yellow skin, the sun shining on part of its rounded surface. Now bring the lemon up to your nose, and smell its lemony scent. Squeeze it just a bit, and feel its consistency, its "squishiness". Imagine rolling the lemon between both hands, .... Bring it up to your nose again and sniff the lemony scent. Now take a bite out of the lemon. 2. A Walk on the Beach: Close your eyes. Decide to take a walk on the beach in your mind. Imagine, as vividly as possible, with every sense: Go to your front door, feel the doorknob, turn it, open it and step outside. Imagine you've stepped onto a beautiful sunny, warm beach. Look up and down the coastline; what do you see? Feel the warm sun and the warm sea breeze on your skin, the salty feel of the air; smell and taste the salt on your lips. Hear the surf pounding and the waves flow on the beach, then listen as it recedes, back into the great ocean. How active is the surf today -is it gentle and calm, or wild and passionate? Smell that wonderful, clean salt sea air. Hear the sea birds calling, see them flying overhead, and feel their momentary shadow as it passes over you. Bend over and take off your shoes (do you have to untie laces, pull closures open?) Feel the warm sand beneath your feet. Now, carrying your shoes, go for a walk along the edge of the ocean. Which direction will you go, and why? What do you see off in the distance? Feel the heel of your foot and then the whole foot, sink into the warm, grainy sand. Feel your leg muscles tighten, then lengthen out, as you take one step after another.

Listen to the pounding surf and feel the sea spray on your face. Breathe deeply, that beautiful, fresh sea air. See the whitle bubbles on the sand, at the edge of the surf, as the ocean flows in and out, in and out, like a great rhythm, mimicing the rhythm of your own being, your own heart. When you're done, bring yourself slowly, gently back to your front door, see the door knob and turn it, open your door, and step back into your house. In your imagination, look around your living room -- what do you see? Now slowly, Gently Bring yourself back into present time and space, and when you're ready, open your eyes. Be sure to record your experiences, thoughts and feelings during this exercise in your Book of Shadows. 2. Go for a similar "walk" through the forest, by a mountain stream. ADVANCED CREATIVE EXERCISES: 1. Take yourself to a familiar place you'd like to visit, but haven't been to in a while. Experience it completely, remember it as vividly and thoroughly as you can. 2. Imagine some place you've never been to, but would like to visit in your imagination -- then do so! Using these skills, you can go anywhere, anytime! You can begin to create private mind-spaces just for you.