In this session I will pull together elements of the previous one and describe one of my visualisation workings. Do bear in mind that this works for me and may not work for you. As I go through I will explain some of the key points in how I constructed mine with refence to the previous session and this may help you adjusting or constructing your own. I will also describe a number of common problems you could encounter starting out or even through regular use, and ways to over come them.

My process:

• If I feel in the mood for music to help acieve the ‘right frame of mind’ then I will switch something on for either the whole working or just a quick listen before I begin to invoke a change of mood.

• My breathing is measured and calm – not too deep so that it’s laboured and requiring too much thought about it whichh will distract me from what I’m doing. I am trying to visualise, not do breathing exercises!

• With my eyes closed I try and loose any thoughts. This is a really difficult bit so sometimes if something keeps popping back in then I just move on and hope that some focus will push it away.

• I then start to chant my usual spoken ritual words (or rubric) for Selket. This is one of a very few spoken rituals I use and I use it when I’m serious about doing some work with my goddess, she knows then to prick her ears up and take note that this is something other than idle chat between us that’s the daily norm. It focuses my mind and intent and purpose through its rhythm.

• Running through the rubric does not take long as its quite short and I can repeat it if I feel it not had the desired effect on my mental or emotional state. What I’m looking for is a sense of calm, awareness outside my normal senses, the presence of my goddess above the normal background sense of her, and a nice slight tingling on my back and neck. When I am there I continue on.

• Once ready I visualise I am standing or floating in an endless ocean (at this stage I’m not actually aware of hot/cold, sound of the water, the opposite to what I will discuss later). My focus is on the water’s surface.

• This ocean is more than just visually easy for me to use, it has a significant symbolic function too as the Primordial Waters of Creation. I am saying to myself and my goddess that in my ‘created world’ I exist alone, and I am the creator, all that is around me is chaos and I can fashion it as my will sees fit. Its a strong symbol, and although I don’t like to presume that I am the creator of all, in my ‘world’ I am.

• While in this water my mouth is just level with the surface.

• Now I begin to notice the music around me if its playing.

• I start to visualise the surface of the water vibrating to the rhythm of the music with the ripples going out from me.

• I try and keep this going as long as possible. I tend to have my most common tracks on loop for this! If I am not doing any workings then I stay in the water. I find visualising the water very relaxing and requires a fair amount of focus but not too much to give me a headache. I feel quite refreshed afterwards. Its worked for me.

• When I feel ready to start the task in hand if this session is for a working I then start to call the name of my goddess and bring to mind the desire that I want to begin the journey to my temple. The subject of the following sessions from this point on.

• This process consists of visualising a serious of symbols approaching me, like road side signs, flashing past at speed. As this beings I tend to be distracted from the background music and it’s presence will start to fades I focus on the symbols around me. The water may still be bobbing but it can be independent of my concious thought.

• The first is the winged goddess Maat starts off a long way and passes by me

• Then the symbol Ankh.

• Sometimes I then let my subconscious pull any more in and this can be quite interesting to see what comes by, its a little like some people do when on a guided working and they wander around say a forest and see what animals pop by to talk to them.

• By now the temple is starting to solidify around me like its coming out of a mist until it’s solid.

You might ask how long this takes to do. That would be a good question and one that’s very interesting when working with visualisation. Time does not function the same, and you’ve might have noticed that with dreaming too as they are both connected. The time varies quite a bit, sometimes when I come back any where from minutes to an hour or two even though it’s felt the same inside.

What Can Go Wrong And How To Deal With It

Whatever you are trying to learn, failure happens, mostly in the early days but can occasionally occur again for a variety of reasons. In particular using visualisation you can encounter more than it’s fair share and we shall discuss some of the problems that are commonly encountered.

A frequent one I’ve experienced is ending up being too relaxed and falling asleep! I don’t worry about it as I end of having a pretty good sleep with no side effects. I usually sleep very deeply with rarely any memory of what if any dreams I had. If you end up having deep sleep by accident and no memory, something could still have happened and its down to personal taste if you want to dig into it and go along exploring this route. If you want to stay in control or don’t feel comfortable with discovering what was behind it then chalk it down to experience and try again.

Previously I said there are a number of ways to go in visualisation? You could progress down this road and investigate lucid dreaming, and try and keep awake. It’s not a method I’ve explored so I’m not able to give any advice on that, but I’ve seen many books around on this so check them out.

Blocks are a common hazard to overcome, it could be blocks on meditating, on trying to visualise or to travel. Knowing its something I want to do, and not need to do, its forced and just doesn’t flow naturally. Happened as part of the writing for this workshop, I just ended up feeling frustrated by not being able to do it, something that’s been natural for many years felt a block, a resistance and try as I might could not get focus. Ways to address it are doing some physical exercise which helped with relaxation, or doing something completely different and leaving it for a while. Forcing it does not help, and if this was an early learning process I could understand when some would give up and not try again.

In a way perhaps this was to give me some material for this course. She has a funny way of teaching me sometimes.

Perhaps its obivous, but whatever the problem, just step back, think is there something I’m missing? Am I happy with what’s going on? If you can’t pick any particular glaring faults, then take a break it might not come to you straight-away.

When you feel ready to give it anther go, like all aspects of following a path there is always self doubts, insecurities. These are normal human traits and they can and will be overcome, if this was easy, everyone would be flying around Harry Potter style wouldn’t they? It all takes time, energy and determination, I personally don’t care how many times I fail, I learn from it each time and gradually move forward. Sheer bloody mindedness it is. Don’t let it beat you, but don’t beat yourself up about it either? If it truly does not work for you then try something completely different for a while.

What You See When You get it right Are There

Assuming then you are progressing and stuff is appearing in your mind, what do you see? How should you deal with the images? Do they actually mean anything?

I’ve not said much apart from a few clues in my example, of what you will see when you visualise. Do you see forests, wilderness, cities? Are you trying to let the mind show images as a form of divination? Don’t be afraid, and this is what I previously said about not being depressed, can be quite a shock for the mind to see what comes in.

Going back to my working, it has a number of stages that I can put to use for various things. There is the floating in the water with ripples from music if I just want to relax. There is the motor way signs flashing by that I can use for divination symbolism or listening to my subconscious. And finally should I choose to reach the other end then I’m off to my temple.

As well as the visual sense, what about your other senses? What do you hear? Smell? Touch?

And gravity, what is that doing?

Pay great attention to what you sense around you, and as soon as you can regain conciousness back then write it down. Look for patterns, anything that could be meaningful. If there is any symbolic images then like dream interpretation, those symbols will have had significant focus of your attention through the process, or show up in stark contrast to any surrounding detail. They could be clues to help you or other forces trying to attract your attention.

Detail is everything.

Touching slightly on other topics that use elements of visualisation, There is always the possibility that a guide of some form will try and make contact. That path is a little out of the scope of this topic.

We covered a basic structure and having a set structure will aid in easing you into something that is repeatable to give yourself some pointers on what you might experience when the working is in progress. And some common issues you might encounter at any time throughout your visualisation journey with some solutions to them.