Copyright (c) 1988 by Phil Hansford. This article is is licenced
for free non-commercial distribution only.
----------------------------------------------------------

** MAGICK 6 -- THOUGHTFORMS AND SPIRITS ** 

 
  Although there are hundreds of kinds of divination, the
principle ones are astrology, geomancy, the tarot, the I Ching,

and direct psychic means (especially clairvoyance).  True
divination is more than a mechanical system, for it implies true
psychic interpretation (receiving). Some form of divination is
often used in magick ritual to communicate with the entity
invoked.

  Since divination operates through the mind, it is affected and
biased by the mind. Our attitudes and fears may alter it.
Sometimes results are very detailed, and accurate -- but not
always. Often the future is plastic and changeable anyway, and the
use of magick may alter the result. Thus divination shows
tendencies only, which may be helpful, but must not rule us.
 
 
DEVELOPING CLAIRVOYANCE 
  It is possible to improve your natural ability with clairvoyance
through practice. A good start might be to look around you, then
close your eyes and try to picture your surroundings. This is also
good exercise for visualization. And visualization is an essential
talent in magick. Open your eyes again and check your accuracy.
Then close your eyes and try it again. When you use your physical
eyes, look at everything like a child seeing it for the first
time. Let the vividness of color and form burn into you, until
everything takes on a veritable glow. Try to capture that glow
when you close your eyes now and picture your surroundings. It's
just a simple step to extend what you see with your eyes closed
into what you remember seeing in the next room, or what you
*imagine* seeing in the next building, the next city, even the
other side of the world. Don't expect perfect results, especially
at first. Just try to be even partly right. Another exercise is to
picture a clock face, and thereby tell the time clairvoyantly.
 
 
THE AURA 
  Under the right conditions, it is possible to clairvoyantly
observe a colored light around other people.  This is known as the
'aura'.  Sometimes the aura is seen as multi-colored emanations
around the person, built up of various differently colored layers
and zones.  Although many occult dabblers claim to be able to see
the aura easily and under many varied conditions, I seriously
doubt that they do.  There are optical illusions and qualities of
sight which can sometimes trick one into thinking he sees what he
does not see. In this area, the quality of sight known as after
image is especially pertinent. Do this: stare at any solidly
colored bright object for a few moments. Very intense red, green,
or blue are especially good for this. Now look away at a white
surface and you will see a phantom image of the object in its
complementary color (a red object will show green, a blue one
orange, etc.).  If the bright object is in front of a light
surface, you may observe a fringe of complementary color around
the object after a few moments. This is all very normal, and is
used by some magical groups as an aid to visualization sometimes
called 'flashing colors'. Some silly people will stare at other
people in the same way. And when they see the after image of the
person's clothing, they think they are seeing his aura. What is
more, various meanings have been attributed to the colors of the
aura. A psychic who can see the aura is supposed to be able to
determine that persons emotional state. Thus psychic frauds can
have a marvelous time with auras.  One deluded psychic taught a
class I attended in which he performed instant psychoanalysis on
the basis of the supposed aura. It was obvious that he was
actually observing after images from the students clothes!

  This brings us to the chart of aura colors on the next page.  It
is a general guide, based mostly on Theosophical material.
Various groups may attribute different meanings to the colors.
The colors we show on the chart are emotional in nature; useful if
you plan to create an artificial elemental or do healing.
Surrounding yourself with a particular color will tend to produce
the specific psychological effect described in the chart.  That
quality of color is useful in magick ritual.
 

                        COLORS OF THE AURA

[Ed. note: I disagree with a lot of these, but I beplieve that
auric colors are a very subjective thing.  You will see the color
that matches YOUR conception of a certain mood/feeling.  However
these are a good start.]

BLACK                  malice
       dark gray       depression 
       pale gray       fear 
BROWN                  materialism
       muddy gray      selfishness 
       dull rust       selfishness
RED                    energy 
       bright red      anger and force 
       dirty red       passion and sensuality 
       dull red        selfish love 
       rose            unselfish love 
ORANGE                 pride 
       orange cloud    irritability 
       bright orange   noble indignation 
YELLOW                 intellect 
       yellow-green    low intellect 
       earthy yellow   selfish thought 
       lemon           high intellect 
       bright gold     logical thinking 
       brt. red-yel.   spiritual thought 
GREEN                  empathy 
       gray-green      deceit, jealously 
       greenish-brown  jealousy 
       emerald green   unselfish resourcefulness 
       foliage green   sympathy & empathy 
       brt. apple-grn  strong vitality 
       brt. turquoise  deep sympathy & compassion 
BLUE                   devotion (religious feeling) 
       gray-blue       fetishism 
       light blue      noble spiritual devotion 
       dark blue       religious feeling 
       brt. lilac-blu  lofty religious idealism 
VIOLET                 spiritual (psychic & spiritual) faculty 
WHITE                  purity/protection 
 
 
THOUGHTFORMS AND SPIRITS 
  Whenever we concentrate our thoughts, we draw psychic energy
together.  This is called a thoughtform.  Usually the energy
dissipates as soon as we break the concentration, but it is
possible to purposely concentrate energy in this way, producing
very strong thoughtforms.  Such thoughtforms are vortexes or
centers of psychic energy.  They can exist as entities by
themselves, at least for a while.  They are basically inanimate,
non-thinking forces.  Talking to one is about as logical as
talking to a chair.  In this way, thoughtforms are similar to
elementals, ghosts, and spirits.  All of these psychic entities
consist of a psychic energy vortex which could be described as a
localized field or as a discontinuity of the physical world.

  Psychic entities respond to certain electrostatic and magnetic
fields, and to other energy vortexes. That is why they respond to
magick ritual. Someday, we may accomplish the same thing with
electronic machines. Psychic entities are sometimes able to affect
our thought processes.

  Thoughtforms, elementals, and ghosts are usually not very smart.
If they display any intelligence at all, it is limited.  They are
the morons of the spirit world.  Their behavior is usually
automatic, repetitive, robot-like (just like some people).  We see
that artificial elementals are little more than astral robots.
Spirits and deities are more intelligent and volitional.
 
 
DIRECTED ATTENTION 
  Your mind follows your attention. Wherever you direct your
attention, there will your thoughts go too. By directing attention
to a specific place or purpose you *focus* mental energy upon it.

  For example: you're having lunch in a cafeteria crowded with
people. It is a large place, and everyone there is talking at
once, so that the room is a constant jumble of noise. You happen
to notice a man accross the room; he reminds you of someone. All
at once he drops his fork and you hear it hit the table. But would
you have noticed the sound of his fork if you had not been
looking? No. Only by focusing your attention there were you able
to pick out that individual event and associated sound.

  It is a dark night. You are walking and the only light you have
is from the flashlight you hold in your hand.  As you move the
flashlight around, the beam of light from it directs your
attention first one way then another. Now, the mind is something
like that flashlight in the dark. And by directed attention, you
point the mind to one place or another. As with that flashlight
beam, you see where the mind is pointed; nothing more. The rest is
'noise'. And so we could define mental noise as anything not
focused upon. In another way, noise could be considered as
negative emotions, attitudes, and thoughts which make it more
difficult to direct the attention.

  Your emotions follow your thoughts quite easily. Your emotions
are not YOU, but are rather reactions prompted by your model and
ego -- like a performance or an act, while the real you watches.
In a similar way, directing your attention toward a specific
emotion will cause you to experience that emotion.
 
 
REVIEW QUESTIONS 
 
1) What is the aura? 
2) What is a thoughtform? 
3) How can you develope clairvoyance? 
 
 
BOOK LIST 
 
Annie Bessant and Charles Leadbeater, Thought Forms. 
W.E. Butler, How to Develop Clairvoyance. 
J.H. Brennan, Astral Doorways. 
Piero Ferrucci, What We May Be. 
Kilner, The Human Aura. 
Swami Panchadasi, The Human Aura. 
A.E. Powell, The Etheric Double. 
Harold Sherman, How to Make ESP Work for You. 
 
 
======== 
Phil Hansford, 4/88 Mysteria (818) 353-8891 (modem) 
P.O. Box 83 Tujunga, CA 91042