Visualization (also known as Creative Visualization) is the ability to imagine sights, sounds, sensations, smells and tastes, and it is one of the most important skills that any magickian can develop.

An individual with a well-developed imagination and no formal magickal training can achieve far more success than a person with a broad magickal understanding and poor visualization skills. Improving your visualization skills is therefore something that you should commit yourself to achieving, not just in the short term, but over the course of your magickal career as a whole.

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Although some people complain that they are unable to visualize, this is rarely the case. The problem is that visualization has been mistakenly thought of as something that refers exclusively to visual imaginings, when – as stated a few moments ago – it really refers to imagined experience pertaining to all five physical senses.

What colour is your favourite jacket? In order to answer that question, your brain must first conjure an image of the jacket in question, and it probably did so without much effort. That is visualization as it pertains to the sense of sight, and your aim as a magickian should be to get to the point – if you aren’t already there – of being able to deliberately conjure such mental images whenever you wish to do so. At the same time, you also need to develop the ability to conjure sounds, smells, sensations and tastes as and when the need arises.

Improving your ability to deliberately imagine experiences pertaining to all five physical senses is not complicated, but it will take time and a little daily practice. To help you do this, here is the first of three exercises that have proven to be highly effective in helping improve visualization ability in almost all individuals who have practiced them. Simply follow the instructions as provided every day for seven days, and then move onto the next exercise that will be provided in due course.

Visualization Training Exercise #1

This first exercise focuses on helping you to visualize the very simplest objects and sensory experiences. It presents a list of instructions which you should read, one line at a time, before closing your eyes and carrying out the imagination prompt provided. Take as long as you need to do this. The list for Visualization Training Exercise #1 is as follows:

Imagine seeing a yellow ball.
Imagine hearing a grandfather clock ticking.
Imagine the smell of baking bread.
Imagine the taste of lemon juice.
Imagine touching a piece of sandpaper.
Imagine seeing a blue box.
Imagine hearing the sound of ocean surf.
Imagine the smell of a bonfire.
Imagine the taste of honey.
Imagine touching the fur of a kitten.
Imagine seeing a red kite.
Imagine hearing the siren of a police car.
Imagine the smell of freshly mown grass.
Imagine the taste of an apple.
Imagine touching a cube of ice.
Imagine seeing a green lawn.
Imagine hearing a dog barking.
Imagine the smell of freshly ground coffee.
Imagine the taste of mint.
Imagine touching a tree trunk.

You should run through this list – following the instructions carefully – at least once a day for seven days. Do not concern yourself with attaining any kind of perfection. Simply imagine the experiences described as clearly as you can, and trust that your ability to visualize across all five physical senses will improve with practice.