Magical Senses

              In order for a practitioner to become a dynamic force of change, that practitioner must have the ability to percieve the reality in which he or she is working. The aspiring magus must develop what can easily be called ‘magical senses’. Much like sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell, these senses must be recognized and developed in order for the practitioner to be able to interact with and manifest the will within reality. These senses for the most part mirror the standard five senses, though some extend past those five and become what many people refer to as the sixth sense and beyond. This is the occult art of observation and perception.
              How can a sorcerer hope to interact with spirits if they cannot be sensed? How powerful can the changes wrought in reality be if the mage who manifests those changes cannot percieve the results of the exertion of her will? If a warlock is cursed and does not have the magical senses necessary to notice, what hope has he of countering it? These are the sorts of problems that a practitioner without developed magical senses can find themselves dealing with. The development and constant maintenance of these senses is of the utmost importance, because it is these senses that will allow the adept to observe and percieve situations and deal with them as they arise. A magus at the top of his game is proactive and preemptive, not blindly reactionary.
              The most effective training method is a visualized expansion of awareness that in time becomes actual magical awareness. First achieve a meditative state, either through personal meditation techniques or whatever mental or physical methods the individual uses to enter a state of calm. Once you have settled into this state, begin to expand your awareness. Try to visualize your room in your mind’s eye, see without seeing. Now combine your other senses with this mental picture. Hear the room, and use the ambient sound to construct that same mental picture. Then create that picture with smell and taste. Try to create the picture with touch, this will require you to visualize your sense of touch extending far beyond your physical body. Imagine the textures of the various objects in the room, the walls, and the floor. Once you have created the picture in your mind, try to create it using all five of your senses at once. Sight will naturally come the most easily, but once you see the room try to hear it with your eyes open. Now, while watching and listening to the room, smell, taste, and touch it. The point of this exercise is to illustrate to the practitioner that even the common human senses can be used with much more detail, precision, and range when coupled with creative visualization.
              After considerable practice expanding the five senses, now it is time to discover and develop the magical senses. For the most part magical senses are types of energy perception, a good metaphor would be that a magus who has developed magical senses can percieve not only other realms, external entities, but also the very fabric of reality. The best way to being training in these senses is to repeat the afore mentioned exercises, though instead of perceiving the physical elements of the room, use sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell to become aware of the energy patterns that make up the physicalities of the room. It would be beneficial at this point to add a few magical items to the room, perhaps the sorcerer’s ritual dagger or a ceremonial vessel. For the most part the physical objects in the room will feel magically just like they do with the standard senses. However, when perceiving magical items the mage will be able to hone the senses to an awareness of the magical properties of the items. At the most basic levels of skill the mage will be able to tell a magically charged item from a mundane item, be able to pick out the empowered dagger from an entire collection of knives for example. The more developed this sense becomes, the magus will be able to percieve what sorts of magical energy permeate the items, allowing the magus to divine elements of the item’s origins and purpose.
              The same techniques hold true for external entities and places of power. The more aware of energy patterns in reality the witch becomes, the better able she will be to interact with those elements of reality. For example, when a witch walks into a building she can use her magical senses to determine if it is haunted, where in the building the primary manifestations are taking place, and to some degree what sort of entity is doing the haunting. By developing an occult awareness, the practitioner will be able to discern details about reality that can be very useful. Imagine how much of an advantage you would have if one had the ability to tell practitioner from non-practitioner with a mere glance, or be able to tell when someone or something is looking for or at you. It is important to have the ability to percieve, communicate, and interact with entities, magical constructs, or complex enchantments and magical items.
              In essence, every magus has the ability to develop what many call the ‘second sight’. It is the ability to percieve and observe magical energy patterns. Though with the aide of visualization the magus will be able to expand these senses to a range much greater than the physical body. Some practitioners may require ritual items or physical foci to help them to maintain and focus this awareness, like enchanted monocles or perhaps a talisman of ‘seeing’, though these senses can be developed without such augmentations. Once the mage becomes aware of reality, then the manifestation of the mage’s will is much more powerful and precise.