Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Ritual visualization

I am a HUGE visualization fan.  I really started when I was in middle school, just daydreaming in the car.  But my daydreams were very vivid, and I began deliberately creating scenarios to daydream about.  When I first was introduced to visualization as a practice, specifically guided style visualizations, that is what it reminded me of.

One of the things that I find really useful about visualization is it's versatility.  Not only can you do it anywhere, but you can visualize anything.  You are only limited by your own creativity.  So many other practices build upon or utilize visualization, I really think it is useful for everyone, no matter their spiritual path or life's journey.

I think the first myth I wish would be dispelled about visualization is that it's not all about seeing stuff.  Some of my strongest visualizations aren't really 'visual'.  I've recently heard the term 'feelization' which I think is a much more useful term when it comes to using visualizations to set intentions, as the feelings that a scene evokes will bring a stronger connection than just imagining what the scene might look like.  But still, the deepest visualizations I have had aren't really any sense or even a combination of senses.

I'm working through "Runes for Transformation," by Kaedrich Olsen, and he uses the phrase Ginnic reality to talk about the underlying core energy of a thing.  It is tapping into that pure essence of something, and that is what I feel is at the heart of visualization.  When you open yourself to an experience, you may notice sights, sounds, smells, feelings or tastes.  But you might also just 'know' a thing.  All of this is visualization!

So almost anyone who has a spiritual or magical practice has probably run across visualization.  It has also become quite popular in the sports world, in the field of medicine and in the business and self-improvement fields.  Visualization is no longer something that is considered something that is outside of the realm of the average person.

Often, visualization is taught as a way to not only get in touch with our inner thoughts on a thing, but also to start to create change in our inner world as a way to create change in the outer world.  Visualization is used to help lift moods and change the way we think.

As a Pagan, I have used visualization as a part of my magical and spiritual practice from the start.  One of the first circle castings I learned included visualizations of glowing pentagrams and flame.  When I work on a spell, I will use visualization to help set my intent.  I use visualization in meditation all the time.  

But I think that visualization can take us so much further.  Instead of being just a part of a ritual, it can be the entire ritual.  I often use visualized rituals when I am away from home and don't have either privacy or tools/supplies.  I know a few people with physical limitations who use visualized ritual when they can't physically do the things they want to do for a ritual.

One of the great things about visualized rituals is that you can visualize whatever you need.  If you wish you could hold ritual on the top of a windswept mountain or in a secluded cove by the sea...you can!  If you wished you had ornate and fancy tools...visualize them!  The more you work with a visualization over time, the more energy it will hold for you when you come back to it.  The more detail you put into your visualizations, the more real they will be to you.

And even more than that, you can use visualization as a layer on top of a physical ritual to change the energy and feel of the ritual.  I live in a pretty small apartment, and I don't always have a car.  Our backyard is a field that belongs to the neighbor, and has absolutely no privacy.  So my physical location is often quite limited.  I can do the physical actions of a ritual in the privacy of my own home, and visualize a different location while I do it.

This can be hard at first.  It can be easy to remain locked into the world around us and not be able to tap into that visualization while we are interacting with physical things that are right there.  This is definitely something that becomes easier as you practice it.

But there are also things you can do to help yourself along.  Play up to your senses!  If you are visualizing a forest, play nature sounds from the forest.  This also helps drone out any sounds from your neighbors or your household that might distract you.  It doesn't have to be natural sound either, if you have a song that really suits the mood of your ritual, use that!  Find a scent that helps evoke the scene to you, and have it handy.  You can find pictures that inspire you and put them around to help make it easier to visualize or to bring you back in when you loose your focus.  If there are things you can touch who's energy helps your visualization, make them a part of your physical ritual.  When you touch them, close your eyes for a moment and really sink into the feeling.

I wear glasses, and I often take them off for ritual.  I can see well enough to not bump into things, and can even read (with effort), but it does make the world a little blurry which helps me to pay attention to what my mind is seeing instead of what my eyes are telling me.  You can also dim the lights or use low candlelight to help bring that soft focus to bear.  If you have ever tried those 'magic picture' 3D images that pop into shape only when you shift your focus, that kind of focus works to pull you out of really 'seeing' the world around you as well.

A big benefit of being able to visualize like this, with your eyes open, is that it really lets you visualize anywhere.  My mind can be in another world, and it will just look like I'm staring off into space.  But, if someone comes up toward me, I will be aware of them, so I can use this technique when I am waiting in a waiting room without completely loosing touch with the world around me.

And you don't have to only use this method on full rituals!  You can apply this to any kind of action that fits!  So, when cleaning the house, visualize something in your life that you want to remove scattered all over where you need to clean...then vacuum/dust/sweep it up and get it out of your house.  If you are washing dishes think of an emotion you want to let go of or a memory you want to have less impact on you.  Let it flow down into your hands and then out through the water.  If you are working out or doing some kind of physical activity and you want to change your physical image or impact your health, visualize yourself in the form you want, doing the exercise...and really think about how it would feel to be able to do that action when you achieve your goal!

It doesn't all have to be super serious either!  Have fun with it.  Schedule play-dates with yourself, and visualize something fun just for relaxation.  Toss on your favorite music and visualize a dance party, with lots of people to dance with and let loose!  Have a bath and visualize floating in a beautiful pool or the ocean.  Instead of just sitting on the bus/train on the commute home, visualize riding a horse across the countryside or zipping around in a sportscar. 

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