Hi Folks,
I’ve never been very visual. I don’t tend to ‘see’ things in my mind so I’ve had trouble with visualisation techniques.
I’ve practiced shamanic journeying and did achieve results but again I struggled to ‘see’. I would sometimes be aware of entities or get flashes or perceive shadows and shapes but always vague and I would always question if what I was experiencing was real or pure imagination.
Does anyone have any advice or suggestions on this ?
You have to relax and just let it come to you.
An attitude of “I suck at this” is guaranteed to block you from opening up, and so is doubt. Like AbyssLord said, relaxation is key, and just letting the visuals come to you even if they seem faint or confusing at first. I had tons of doubts even though I’m an extremely visual person, but at some point I started thinking “even if I’m subconsciously making all this up, I just wanna see what comes into my mind and where it goes from there.” This curiousity without getting too attached to results or the ever-lingering question of validity helped me a lot. In the end it gave me the confirmation that I did not construct my own visions. Give yourself time to progress, accept where you’re at right now and try to get more and more comfortable with not doubting yourself.
Just keep practicing. Im somewhat the opposite. I am good with feeling and seeing but suck at hearing. I just kept meditating and visualising and things have gone from foggy to more distinct but changing fast. I rarely hear things but am working on it.
Thank you, that is helpful. 
I remember reading a while back that some people are visual and some are not. I remember a thought experiment that went something like :
Think of your front door.
What colour is it ?
Did you see it, or just know.
In my case I don’t see it, I just know what colour it is, so I figured I’m not visual.
But, I do get some images so I’ll work on improving that.
Earlier when trying to meditate I did see a purple cloud, changing shape and it eventually morphed into a face then disappeared so I was encouraged by this. 
Will hopefully continue to progress.
Intersting example. Just to compare. I saw my front door and the entire hallway it is placed in instantly. Like first the door then the frame than what is to the left of it snd to the right. I also got up the stairs to the next floor fast. One door to the neighbouring flat was missing though 
. My visuals get out of hand like this fast. I am actually working on slowing down
But now to be at least a little helpfull: I do not know where i read it here but practice imagining a shape or form (eg. Ball / Cube) resting above your palm. Your mind will keep changing it because it gets bored. Change it back and practice holding the image. It helps in getting clearer pictures.
Now you’re just showing off. 
Thanks for the advice, I’ll try the technique you described. 
Your astral senses are like muscles, the more you practice and use them, the better they perform.
I suggest to take a look at the visualization exercises in Franz Bardon’s book “Initiation Into Hermetics”. The part you would be looking for is part two ( Practice ) in section II, “Magick Mental Training, Concentration exercises”.
As far as I understand, you’re using too much will power and trying to “focus” your mind to see. While you need to relax and allow it to happen naturally. EA Koetting’s method of getting into TGS by looking at the area where the ceiling meets the wall, then withdraw your sight back until you see what looks like static rain… that will get you into that balanced state. If you visualize in that state - without losing it - your clarity will be much better than usual.
Yeah, I’m the opposite. I can hear ‘in my mind’ perfectly but have struggled to see.
Thanks, will definitely have a look.
Hi Jayb,
Getting better at visualisation isn’t easy in my opinion (though a definite advantage for spiritual advancement) and some people are naturally better than others at it.
My past advice to my students is as follows:
As an example draw a black triangle on some white paper. Stare at it for a few moments and then close your eyes and try to see it with your minds eye. Don’t worry how clear it is in the beginning just try to hold whatever image you can moving your attention around the image in your mind. Once you lose the image open your eyes and start again.
This might sound odd but often we cut ourselves of from our natural abilities through not paying attention to them. Keeping a dream diary is a great way to improve dream recall and when we dream and recall our dreams we are tapping into our natural ability to create mental images.
As mentioned by others being able to relax is an important skill for various magical and non magical pursuits and I’d suggest doing some stretches especially your facial muscles and jaw prior to each session.
Please let me know if anything above is unclear.
Hope this helps.
Correct me if Im wrong but remember reading somewhere that LadyEva said something along the lines" if you can masturbate without visual assistance and see in your mind what you want to happen in vivid detail, then you can visualize without any issues."
I think it boils down to what we expect it to be and what it really is are similar yet extremely different at the same time.
Read fiction books they have good imagery and will help you work uour muscles
Wondering if anyone has had any success (evocation/communication manifestation etc) without visualisation? And if so to what degree ?
Hi @Jayb I did in a way. When I began my visual abillities were really, really poor. Now I can at least without entering TGS visualize things pretty well. Without TGS my current visual ability is sort of like this, it’s a bit better than that but as close as I were able to find with a quick Google search:
Steam Community :: :: Grainy...
In TGS it’s sort of look lile this:
https://images.app.goo.gl/qKSUzJQ3LkVbd3nUA
Now I used the hermetic approach by Franz Bardon - innitiation into hermetics, but also this book -
where they have an excellent visualization exercise. I can’t reveal it because of copyright. Now, I found when trying and feeling the: wanting to see more, or when almost straining to see something inside the minds eye.
I tensed up more, and thereby hampering the visuals while in the trance state. So one part in successful visualization is: relaxation, the second key component is that in the beginning, it’s important to start at really basic level - like visualize simple 2d images on a white surface and then as you get better at it, move on to more complex imagery. Your initial benchmark should to be able to hold a still image for 5 minutes, trust that’s hard enough for most people as your minds tends to get bored, and if you get bored you can’t concentrate and you fail.
So a recap: relax, and find a way to enter trance or state that’s akin to sleep where your mind is awake but your body is asleep - plenty of material to be found on how to do that, from there try to a hold an image for about 5 minutes and keep at it until
It clears up or reaches a satisfactory quality. Make sure are relaxed and frustrated as mood swings can impact your visual quality, frustration especially.
For me it’s usually easier to visualize with my eyes open, don’t know why. You can try that if you wish.
Now, regarding my starting point, you can get successful with imagination in evocation: when you evoke you use your intuition, and your feeling, associations, your ability to sense the entity, then send your intention with the evocation through their sigil and wait for the result. However the results of evocations and other things, will usually improve if you are able to visualize it - along with feeling it. Yes, it’s more important to feel rather than see something, as seeing it can enhance the sensation of feeling it, or vice verse - so one can and usually will feed the other ability, thereby making it more real to you and in turn stopping doubt from planting it’a seeds inside of you.
My results before improving visual abilities were good, but not good enough according to me. One example I tried to help a family member of a dear friend with a rather serious illness and in part Inwas successful. Meaning I cured two out of three bacterial infections whereas the third was not present at the time of the evocation meant to cure them, this wasn’t as much visualized as it was felt and imagined of how they were able to walk freely, and without hindereance along with appearing healthy.
Thanks @Teras390
I’ve realised that the only time I see anything in my mind is when I’m in that semi awake/semi asleep state, and even then it’s more like seeing what comes, I can’t control it much. Otherwise, just blackness.
I’ve actually just discovered Aphantasia, and I seem to have that. It’s only from asking people lately that I’ve realised that others are so much more visual than I thought possible.
I can imagine things, but I don’t see them, I just know what they look like.
So for now atleast I may have to find another way to put forward my intentions.
I’m reading lucifer and the hidden demons, but I can’t get anywhere with the path working as I just can’t visualise the scenes worth a damn.
I’m hoping I can work with feelings and just stating my intentions.
No idea how well I’ll do. Everything seems to make it clear that you NEED to visualise in order to practice magick.
Certainly hoping to hear people tell me otherwise. 
Look @Jayb you don’t need perfect visualiztion to be successful with magick. What I try to say earlier which didn’t came across very well, is if you can imagine something then it will work well, visualization helps but it’sn not what the entire operation hinges upon. I weren’t visual when I began I became more visual through practice, which you can too.
Visualization improvement usually happens the more you visualize or better yet, work with your chakras. Do it long enough and your visual ability should improve a lot. Work on energizing (open) your chakras if you will. I’d recommend the material of Robert Bruce - the energy primer, or Mastering Kundalini and energy work course, that deals with the chakras among other things.
Or use traditionally used Bija mantras to “open” your chakras, and activating your latent spiritual powers and senses.
