2.  An affirmation should be carefully planned, and written in very concise form. When spoken, aloud or silently, believe it and feel it – adding emotion to give it energy. An affirmation is communication with the subconscious, stating your particular goals. The most effective use of affirmations is to change your “Belief System” (which see) that filters incoming information.

A strategy combining imagery of a pyramid and self-affirmations to promote psychic empowerment. 

Suggested Reading: Slate, J. & Weschcke, C. Psychic Empowerment—Tools & Techniques, 2011, Llewellyn.

Connection and relationship between similar items such that thought about one calls up others. It is not the same as “correspondence,” which occurs at the universal macro level whereas association is generally related to personal and human experience. It is often used in dream interpretation.

A psychotherapy procedure structured specifically to extinguish deep-seated fears by traveling Out-of-Body to re-experience their origins.

Astral projection programs specifically designed to tap into the therapeutic possibilities of the out-of-body experience drawing upon the resources of higher astral planes.

The principle of attraction involves believing yourself worthy and already in possession of those things you want. It functions best when used as a goal in our Self-Empowerment through Self-Hypnosis technique, which fully mobilizes your inner resources and leaving no doubt of your success.

In contrast to asleep, being awake supposedly says we are alert and perceptive to sensory input and the ongoing functions of ordinary consciousness. Nevertheless, self-observation will clearly show that there’s more to being awake than having your eyes open! It’s somewhat like having a dimmer on your light switch. Learn to turn up the intensity to become fully awake.

Commonly a group search for new ideas, or for new applications for old ideas. It’s best done as a rapid-fire, free-for-all, idea jam-session opening the psychic faculties to inspiration.

See: Inspiration.

There is always change. In Self-Empowerment, instead of letting life happen to you, you can make life happen your way. But you have "to take charge” and "state your intentions." There is recent scientific evidence showing that change in your own thoughts make changes in your brain’s circuitry.

The view that psychic faculties, including telepathy and other forms of ESP, exist within the cognitive structure of the brain.

Inducing physical relaxation through intervention into the mental functions related to relaxation. Common examples are the use of visualization and suggestion to induce a peaceful, relaxed state.

Meditation exercise designed to shape the future by generating images of desired developments or outcomes.

A psychotherapy technique designed to explore past-life influences and extinguish fears associated with unresolved past-life trauma.

The continued development of the psyche over time.

The interpretation of the images experienced while dreaming. Some books have common or stock interpretations of such dreams, the value of which has been questioned. The psychologist Jung believed there were such meanings but they are mythical and psychological in nature and do not match those in the popular books. Sigmund Freud also believed that dream interpretation was of value, but that the images in dreams were not universal and were specific to the dreamer.

Systems to achieve goals that involve working with and using the power of dreaming.

The ability to recall the symbols and experiences that occur in dreams. Such information has been used for a variety of purposes, including healing, self-empowerment, psychological insight, and magick. Many people have difficulties remembering dreams, but this can be adjusted, especially with the use of a Dream Journal.

A collection of associations for symbols and images experienced during dreams. When taken as complete, many people question the validity of such dictionaries. When used to trigger personal concepts and fire the imagination such dictionaries may be very helpful for as guides leading to the interpretation of dreams.

Programmed dreaming where a question or an intention is formulated before sleep, and left to the subconscious mind to respond with an answer or an action. It can also be effectively programmed with self-hypnosis.

A trance induction procedure using certain controlled eye movements and reverse counting.

The use of symbols related to your stated goals can efficiently activate at a moment’s notice the subconscious faculties related to even highly complex goals. For instance, if your goal is financial success, simply visualizing a gold coin can increase your motivation and facilitate optimal decision making related to your financial success. Should you decide to do so, you can take that effect a step further by carrying on your person a gold coin and periodically stroking it.

The philosophical belief (popularized or originated by Kierkegaard and Nietzche) that focuses on individuals being free, independent, and responsible for determining their futures via acts of will.

A procedure requiring a spreading of the fingers of either hand and a brief holding of the spread position as empowering affirmations are presented, followed by a slow relaxing of the fingers. The technique is useful as a hypnotic induction strategy as well as sleep arrest strategy.

A balancing technique in which the fingerpads of both hands are joined as psychic empowering affirmations are presented.

Like Fascination Devices, these aid by attracting either the visual or the auditory senses and are used to calm the mind during induction.

The use of self-talk to target empowerment to general goals or collective inner functions.

The collective consciousness of a group or team of people working together on projects or studies. It may be a spontaneous function of a group of like-mined people or deliberately created by magical group or a functional organization such as a business corporation or working partnership. It was part of the teachings of Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich.

The use of suggestion and visualization to guide thought processes, typically to promote a positive state of physical relaxation and personal well being. Guided imagery can, however, be used to induce a trance state or as a goal oriented technique for managing stress or pain, overcoming fear,  breaking unwanted habits, slowing aging, and promoting wellness, to mention but a few of the possibilities.

See Graphology.

The process of returning all aspects of the body—mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.—to within normal ranges. Some forms of healing, such as the most common Western form of healing, allopathy, focus almost exclusively on the physical body. Other forms of healing, often called "complementary" or "alternative," often focus on all aspects of the body and are thus called "holistic."

A procedure that uses the hypnagogic stage of sleep to induce out-of-body travel.

Suggested Reading:

Slate: Beyond Reincarnation

The use of self-hypnosis to bring together a host of subconscious processes in ways that generate totally new resources and growth possibilities.

See Hypnagogic.

See Induction.

A psychological personality. Most people have a main identity (who they are) and many other partial identities (mother, student, brother, sister, etc.).

Programs of instruction and memories that control the transfers of energy and matter.

Combinations of programs controlling a numbers of processes. In the body they instruct how each tiny cell functions, how every organ does its work, how every nerve and every vein carries energies and hormones to designated places, and how everything relates together to make a functioning and healthy body.

1.  On a simple level, an inner dialogue is merely talking to yourself. Therapeutically, it is a specific way to create desired change.

Your best therapist, like your best hypnotist and healer, exists within yourself as a functional, advanced part of your subconscious. It is your direct link to the resources required to advance your growth and enrich the quality of your life. As a fundamental part of your being, it recognizes your basic nature as a person of dignity and incomparable worth.

Usually a sequence of ideas suggesting particular actions, originating at the psychic level. It is often associated with "brainstorming," and is especially productive in a group setting.

See Brainstorming.

Suggested Reading:

McElroy: The Bright Idea Deck

McElroy: Putting the Tarot to Work

Feelings of fear, anger, apprehension, wariness, bitterness, etc. resulting from the feelings of fear of being supplanted in a romantic relationship. It is based on the fear of a loss of a possession: a “loved” one. Thus, in reality it is not even based on love, but on feelings of ownership. Still, it is an emotion much desired in some romantic relationships among those who relate love to possession after the mode of romantic love developed in medieval times.

Something that can be perceived through conscious awareness. Anything below that level, known as "subliminal," may still have an effect on the perceiver even though that person is not consciously aware of the stimulus.

The practice of working with thoughts with the intention of bringing about material change in the world. 

"Modern medicine proclaims the causes of many illnesses to be in the mind and seeks to cure them by correction of mental disabilities. Knowledge of the inhabitants of the plane of mind and of the agents which direct formative and corrective thought currants can, in consequence, be very helpful in healing the sick.”

Page xiii, The Kingdom of the Gods, by Geoffrey Hodson, 1953, Theosophical Pub. House, Madras India

Named after the goddess Mnemosyne, any technique or trick used to enable memory. For example, the words HOMES can be used to memorize the names of the Great Lakes:

Huron
Ontario
Michigan
Erie
Superior

The “m” is silent, so the word is pronounced “neh-mahn-ics.” Especially before books became widely available, the art of memory was considered highly important, and mnemonic techniques were of great value.

A term used to describe the evolution of humanity in all areas—mental, physical, emotional, etc.

A mental and physiological response to extended sexual stimulation typified by spontaneous sounds and motions of the body (although they do not always occur). In men this is frequently mistaken for being synonymous with ejaculation which is a separate physiological response. This confusion may have occurred because in untrained men it usually occurs simultaneously with orgasm.

See Progressive Relaxation.

A method of mentally inducing physical relaxation via serially telling each part of the body to relax. May start with head moving to feet or the opposite. Although often used strictly for relaxation or in preparation for meditation or ritual, progressive relaxation is also used as a first step in the induction of a hypnotic trance, especially by people learning hypnosis.

The practice of leaving civilization for a period of solitude and meditation. Often such retreats involve going to a spiritual place, however it can simply be staying alone in your own room. 

An image, figure, sign, etc. used to represent something else. Symbols commonly represent gods, elements, goals, etc. for magickal and ritual purposes. Often the magickal tools are considered to be symbols. For example, the chalice may be considered a symbol of elemental water, the Goddess, the source of life, etc. 

The area on a woman below the clitoris and above the urethral opening which is erotically responsive to physical stimulation in many women.

The part of the mind that controls the autonomic nervous system and stores beliefs, opinions, etc. Sometimes called the subconscious, it controls all mental processes of which you are not consciously aware.

A mechanical device for massage and/or sexual stimulation. Its original purpose was to make it easier for nineteenth-century doctors to induce "hysterical paroxysms" in their patients.