Guided visualization (Magic)

As one of the five basic arts of magic, visualization is used to contact and develop subtler levels of consciousness. This discipline should be distinguished from recent initiatives in mental therapy to use relaxing guided fantasies in some forms of therapy. For more challenging experiences, several conditions should be fulfilled: the symbolism needs to be coherent and related to a specific tradition; no attempt should be made to complete the visualization or render it all-inclusive since this inhibits imaginative participation; the sequence of symbols should include challenging and even disturbing phases, and not be simply supportive and comforting; opportunities should be made for silent meditation to explore any insights that are triggered by the sequence; traditional symbols are more effective than those from popular culture; the visualization should bear some structural relationship to magical pattern-making. Visualizations should be characterized by intellectual, psychological, topological and cosmological clarity through which related realms of consciousness merge, dissolve and re-emerge in a master pattern. A complex visualization moves through several levels of consciousness or magical worlds.