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March 4 through March 10, 2024

Monday's Sagittarius Moon is ideal for doing research, reaching out for help, or putting together an itinerary for an upcoming vacation or celebration. Assembling more information will give any project we are working on a solid foundation. Speaking of solid foundations, Tuesday and Wednesday's Capricorn Moon carries a productive note, as well as encouraging us to set new boundaries with others so we can move more effectively in the world. Don't be afraid to speak up if someone tries to steal your energy or block your movements; it's time you were heard! Expect changes in schedule or direction under Thursday and Friday's Aquarius Moon, as even the best laid plans are subject to change when this sign's in charge! Flexibility and patience will be vital to getting through the day in a calm and serene manner, and who knows? The changes might actually work in your favor! Mercury will move into Aries on Saturday, and it's best we take care with our words over the weekend, as this combination can make us talk before we think and be more aggressive in our requests. Sunday's Pisces new Moon will mark the start of a two-week cycles of new experiences, most of them spiritual in nature.

The Art of Focus: Tips to Improve Your Scrying and Dowsing, by Jenny Tyson

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Focus may be defined as an event, object, or person that occupies the center of one's attention. It is a primary concept and an essential skill in both divination and magick. It is also needed to effectively perform scrying and dowsing. The ability to focus is a requirement for any basic individual scrying session, but it is also a tool that must be mastered for long-term scrying accuracy and personal improvement in the divinatory arts.

Over the course of developing the original techniques of scrying and dowsing presented in my latest book, The Art of Scrying and Dowsing, I was able to greatly improve my ability to focus. In this short article, I would like to introduce some ideas that you can use to enhance your ability to focus, and to give you information that will enable you to understand its role in all forms of divination, particularly in scrying and dowsing, as well as in the general practice of magick.

First, I will give a more specific definition of focus that pertains to the practice of scrying and dowsing: Focus is the unwavering attention and persistent contact with the incoming intuitive information obtained during scrying and dowsing sessions. Distraction is the opposite of focus. Distraction is when you lose contact with the incoming intuitive information. The result of distraction is a decrease in accuracy of your perceptions.

One of the best ways to help you see how well you are focusing is to scry physical targets related to known locations, activities, and living beings. Physical targets can be researched, and information discovered about them compared with scryed information for the purpose of discerning which perceptions were accurate and which were not. This examination takes place after the scrying session and is called feedback, or the feedback session. It is best done intentionally and with nonjudgmental honesty. The feedback session will help you determine the quality of your focus.

So what are the characteristics of focus? How do you make the changes needed to improve your scrying ability and accuracy? The characteristics of focus are trust, persistent contact, and steadiness. Each of these characteristics plays an important role in learning to scry accurately, as well as in other types of divination. Let's look at each characteristic in turn.

Trust
The first characteristic of focus is trust. Scrying and dowsing require that you trust that the goals of the session are doable. You need to trust in the process of scrying and dowsing strongly enough to be motivated to put effort and attention into the work.

I want to distinguish the difference between trust and belief. Belief is where a concept or idea is determined to be a rule by which the universe operates. For example, if you believe there is an angel of love, a belief in the angel of love would entail a series of ideas about the characteristics and role of the angel. Belief persists through time and changes slowly.

Trust can be temporary. You may temporarily trust that there is an angel of love, and complete a scrying session involving the idea. This can be done without having to buy into concepts regarding the angel of love as part of a set of ideas as to how the universe operates. This trust allows you to have the motivation to complete the scrying session concerning the angel of love. After you complete the session, you can examine the information you obtained and the experiences you had, and then decide if you want to change your beliefs.

Scrying and dowsing can successfully be done based in either trust or belief. All you have to trust is that the scrying and dowsing techniques will work and provide you with information. This trust allows you to complete the scrying session. Once the operation is complete, you may or may not wish to add concepts to your belief system.

So how do you improve trust, especially if you have doubts about the effectiveness of scrying and dowsing as means of obtaining information? The easiest way to do this is to set a time limit on the period during which you will deliberately place your trust in the concepts related to scrying that you need to utilize in order to perform the scrying and dowsing session. This means that for the duration of the session, you will trust that the scrying and dowsing will provide the information that you are looking for.

The time period will vary according to what is being done. Trust in the process you are working with needs to be for the duration of the session. The scrying session may be as short as 15 minutes, or you may do multiple sessions on a single target for a period of several months. Trust is a sort of pact that you make with yourself that you will set aside doubt for the duration of the scrying session.

The time limit can be determined before you start and reassessed as you work. It is not necessary to have long-term belief in scrying and dowsing for it to work, you only need to adopt temporary trust in the process for the duration of the session.

Once you reach the end of the operation, you make an intelligent and deliberate decision on which concepts you want to add to your beliefs and what ideas you want to discard. This way, you do not feel bound to adopt a belief that you may not feel completely comfortable with, but you still have the freedom to perform a scrying or dowsing session. This practice of distinguishing trust from belief allows for healthy skepticism and internal honesty.

Persistent Contact
The second characteristic of focus is persistent contact. Persistent contact means that you must pay attention to the incoming data of the scrying and dowsing session to the exclusion of all else in your mind and in the immediate environment. During the time of the session, you disregard everything else. One of the mistakes I see quite often is the tendency of beginners to focus on how their bodies feel, or on what is happening around them.

Once you focus on anything other than your scrying and dowsing perceptions, you have lost contact with the target. Preparation for scrying and dowsing involves changing your attention to focus on the session and nothing else. Distractions can include electronics, music, random thoughts, body sensations, environmental issues such as odors, sounds, lights, and other people. External distractions are problematic if they draw your attention away from the incoming perceptions you are scrying. You can learn to maintain focus while in a distracting environment. Learning to ignore environmental distractions is called resilience. Building resilience is a useful skill in any esoteric practice, whether it involves divination or magick.

Internal distractions are things such as distracting thoughts, fatigue, or nervousness. Training to disregard internal distractions is often accomplished by seated meditation. When you practice seated meditation, you are learning to handle internal distractions and focus on the objective of the meditation technique—a spoken mantra or your breathing, for example. Scrying itself can be used to help you learn to disregard internal distractions.

If you wish to do ritual work for the scrying session, that is perfectly fine. You need to completely finish the ritual before you start scrying, and close the ritual after you finish scrying. Once you start to scry and dowse, you must completely focus on those perceptions, documenting what is coming to you and nothing else. You cannot focus on ritual and scry at the same time. Scrying should be carried out with an all-consuming attention and interest.

Setting is how you arrange your external environment for the scrying session. An example of a setting is a ritual circle, robes, sword or staff, lighting, and ritual timing. The setting is done according to the individual and the type of scrying being done. Scrying does not require special setting or rituals to work. It is a matter of personal preference.

I do not personally find that scrying accuracy improves with elaborate ritual settings. However, I think this is a matter of individual liking and comfort, and I do not discourage using elements of special settings or ritual. I simply allow it to be done according to the individual's preference. The elements of ritual and setting need to be in place when you start to scry. During the scrying session you do not get up or attend to any setting element. Doing that will cause the contact to break. It has to be re-established again before accurate scrying data will be perceived. Frequent breaks will cause accuracy problems.

As with trust, the best way to improve persistent attention is to have an arbitrary time limit to the scrying session. I generally recommend the session be under 20 minutes for a beginner, and never to exceed and hour regardless of experience. After an hour, persistent contact is going to be difficult to maintain. It is better to do multiple sessions on a single target and maintain strong steady focus in each of them, than to do a single long session where focus is wavering.

Steadiness
Steadiness is the last characteristic of good focus. Steadiness is being in the moment both mentally and physically while you are scrying. It is a state that is not tense, but one of sitting still while you are scrying the target. The state of relaxation does not have to be intentionally induced. If you have persistent contact, you will not be paying attention to your body. Your body will find its natural state of relaxation without you doing a thing to induce it. In fact, the more you pay attention to your physical state, the less persistent contact you have with the scrying target coming in. Loss of attention causes a decrease in your scrying and dowsing accuracy. So, how do you achieve steadiness without focusing on your body?

This is done through preparation prior to the session. You need to be seated in a place where you feel comfortable and safe. Scrying is best conducted in a chair that is reasonably padded. Your lower back should be supported and there should not be any areas of uncomfortable pressure or pain. Your feet need to be in contact with the floor. This will prevent muscle tension and leg cramps. When you are sketching your perceptions, the paper, your hand, and your forearm need to be supported by a firm surface. This is best achieved by sitting at a desk or table.

If you are working outdoors when recording your scrying perceptions, you should use a clipboard. However, you need to ensure that you do not become tense or feel the need to shift around. While outside, you must keep warm, and be protected from biting insects. During summer when working in the daytime, avoid the hot sun. These preparations are done before the scrying session begins. Once you start the session, your attention will be entirely on the scrying process.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2021. All rights reserved.

For most of my life, I have had visions of a pale blonde man clothed in flowing black material. His eyes are grey, and when I see him, he either frightens or fights off evil entities surrounding me. The only problem is that he frightens me too! There is something that seems evil about him as well. I always thought he was some type of image from my mind until I felt wind when he moved and I heard him tell me his name, which is Adalric. What do you make of this? Do you think he is real or the mental personification of some spiritual force? I feel crazy even telling you about it!

Rachel

Dreamchaser:

I am so excited to be answering this question. I "heard" in my gut that your "vision man" is actually a spirit guide. I also heard that I could do some research and find out who he actually was in LIFE. This is very rare and very exciting. His giving you his name is so helpful.

He is Adalric, Duke of Alsace, who was born in Sweden around 634. He died on February 20 in either the year 689 or 690 - most say 690, but there are also reports of 689. His given name was Eticho. He married a real-life princess named Berswinde. He had two children, one of whom he named Adalbert. The other child was named Eticho II. That child later became the patron saint we now call St. Odile, Patron Saint of Alsace.

Adalric obtained the Duchy of Alsace in 662. He was the Head of the Alsatian House of the Ethiconides. If you want to find out more about his earthly life or duties, you can ask him. Just get a pencil and paper, ask the question out loud and write down what you hear in the form of your own thoughts.

I think he is absolutely real. Our spirit guides are as real as we are. Some people can see them, some people can hear them, some people do not even know they are around, and everything in between. For example, my son can see his guides, I can sense and hear my guides, and my daughter has no idea that anything is around her.

I think the reason you feel "fear" at times is because he was obviously a man who had a lot of power. He had it in his last human life and he continues to have it in the spirit world. He is powerful, used to being listened to, and is quite forceful.

He chases everything away from you that you consider "evil." He, however, is not evil by nature, or he could not be your spirit guide. "God"/ the Universe/ Spirit /whatever term you like to use does not put EVIL on the payroll.

If we see a big, burly man coming down the street at us at night, odds are we are going to cross to the other side. The same concept applies here. You fear what you "see," and thus you never get to really know him better. You need to figure out exactly what it is about him that frightens you and then ask him about it. He will help you understand.

What determines if something that is a "mental personification of some spiritual force" (to use your words) is "real?" Anything that is speaking with you is "real" on some level.

I wish you fascinating interactions with All That Is.

*****

Astrea:

Kiddo, you are NOT crazy, and you are being protected by one of the Big Shot Angelic Spirits. I looked up "Adalric" in my old time Dictionary of Angels, and this is what it says about him:

"ADALRIC: Seraphic Assistant to the Archangel Gabriel, Adalric chooses one human being to protect during that person's lifetime in each human generation. While he usually chooses a woman and her family, he has been known to also occasionally extend his protection to single gay men. He is particularly fond of women in the medical field, and has spent many human lifetimes protecting female doctors and nurses.

He dresses in black to confound Evil, which comes to him in disguised Angelic Form. His robes contain hundreds of pockets in which he carries soothing balms. The first modern recorded sighting by a human being was during the Crimean War, where he accompanied the famous Florence Nightingale as she began what we know as today's nursing profession.

A powerful force against all evil, he is particularly interested in being effective against plague and disease. Adalric has been credited with stamping out many of the world's plagues, and has a rich oral tradition beginning in the Middle Ages at the end of what we now know as the Bubonic Plague. Communication with him is often carried on through one of his Messenger Angels, particularly Tuam."

I'm so excited for you! This is an IMPORTANT personage in the Angelic Hierarchy! He's only once removed from Gabriel, who is one of the "big four" Archangels of the Universe!

If you wish to speak with him directly, ask him to come to you in a dream. Gather some white flowers, Narcissus or Mums (something with a strong and pungent smell), and place them in a white vase in your bedroom to draw him to you. By the flowers, leave a note with the questions you want him to answer in your dream. It may take him a few days to get back to you, but don't be afraid! He's here to help you find your bliss in life. As the flowers fade, you'll begin to see more and more of him every day.

If you are not in the medical field at this time, it would be a good idea to ponder such a career. He wouldn't have chosen to be with you for your lifetime if you didn't have a particular healing gift. You're a VERY LUCKY girl to have him interested in you and your family. He's here to help you, not to frighten you. Work with him - you'll be so blessed!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.