Attunation
What is attunation? The ability to ‘Become One’ with your surroundings. I know what many readers likely think once they see that line: “What is this, a school of Zen?” In fact, attunation isn’t even a necessary part, but it helps. In every aspect of magic, in fact. Next time you make an energy ball, try and take note of how it feels to draw the energy in. If you’re like 99% of the people that I’ve seen do Magic, you’re becoming one with it on some level.
What I mean is, you don’t move each individual atom of energy. That would take too long. You adapt your mind to see the entire group of particles for what it is, and draw it into a ball. When you attune yourself to…Say, for the sake of an easy example, Fire, you are able to manipulate it easier, because of the attunation. Fire is an extension of you, just like a limb. You don’t think about it when you move your arm, you just do it. When you’re attuned to an element, it’s the same sort of thing.
How it is Done
Locate yourself near a good source of the said element. For example, for flame, sit in front of a candle - For water, sit in a tub or at the very least, have a cup of water in your hand - For void, sit in a dark room - For Earth, have your feet on the outside ground, be near a plant, etc - For wind, all you need to do is be near air. (NOTE: DO NOT USE ELECTRICITY UNLESS YOU ARE FAR BEYOND CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITIES)
Imagine the element as an extension of your body. This must be done for a variable amount of time, normally depending on skill level, whether or not you’ve done it before, how much of the element you’re attuning to is present, etc.
How you can tell if you’ve succeeded: If you are completely covered by the element, such as in a tub of water, or a dark room for void, you will feel formless. Not numb, because you will still receive sensory input from your body if you do anything with it. The best way to describe what I feel when I’ve succeeded is that I feel expanded beyond my body’s limits.
The longer you stay attuned to an element, the more permanent the effects of the attunation. Fire can make you rash, while Void will cause you to become mentally unstable.
What Can Be Done
Once you’ve successfully attuned yourself to an element, there are nearly infinite possibilities open to you. If you chose Void, there’s Shadow Walking, the art of hiding in the shadows, and if good enough, in plain sight. If you chose Water, you may even be able to draw moisture from the air. The only real limit is what you can come up with.
Willed Attunation
There is also a form of attunation that does not require a source of the element to be present. Once you have attuned yourself to an element enough times, imagine the feeling you get when you are attuned to it, and attempt to bring that feeling to yourself. Once you can successfully do that, you can do willed attunation.
To be honest, Spellhawk has a document on this already, and he included a lot of info on how it actually works. In my opinion, you don’t need all of it, and this site is made to simplify. I have, however, included everything that is required in order to do this technique.