NLP: APPLIED MAGIC
by Brandy Williams
One: Matching Representations
In studying magic I've been exposed to a lot of related fields -
history, mythology, music - which enrich my understanding of my
vocation. One of the most helpful series of books I've encountered
is a set of five volumes starting with The Structure of Magic I. and
II. which focus on ... psychology.
John Grinder and Richard Bandler developed the field they called
Neuro Linguistic Programming, or NLP. One reason I suggest everyone
I know become familiar with it is that they've taught this stuff to
salespeople, managers, Pentagon employees... I see their techniques
on television commercials and read about them in seminar
descriptions. NLP is a people manipulator par excellence, and I
think it's important others are made aware of this.
Another reason is that it's so incredibly useful.
Consider this: "The meaning of a communication is the response you
get." In their terms, an elegant phrase. It's changed my entire
relationship with others. If I don't make myself clear, I don't
blame the listener. I restate my case, maybe trying a different
body language, a different representational system, a little pacing
...
Representational system? Well, what senses do we use to explore the
world? Sight - hearing - touch, and taste and smell to a much
lesser extent. So how do we think? In images, sounds and feelings
- or, in NLP terms, in visual, auditory and kinesthetic
representational systems.
What's interesting is that we all make images and sounds and
feelings to store experience, but we're usually only conscious of
using ONE system. The words we choose to describe our experi ences
reflect that: "I'm not very focused and I can't see what you're
saying." Or, "I've got a handle on the feeling that's been bugging
me." Or, "I hear that, it sounds like it will work."
Spend one hour listening to people and you can verify this. Now, if
I say, "I just can't feel good about that," and the person I'm
talking to says "I don't see what's wrong with it," my communication
hasn't received the response I want. If I switch to my partner's
most favored representational system and say, "Let me make that
clear to you. It looks like a really bad situation," that's one way
to match, or pace my partner.
See what I mean? Or maybe that gives you a feel for the power of
this particular "psychology".
What does any of this have to do with paganism or magic? For
starters, I wonder how many circle conflicts could be solved by
something as simple as accommodating each other's most favored rep.
system.
In a working circle, is someone having trouble visualizing a goal?
Is someone else very good at constructing mental temples, but
totally unable to feel when to release the energy? Put them
together, get them to trade notes and teach each other; both skills
are part of the same experience.
When you direct rituals, do you always include something to see or
imagine, hear or sing, feel - in the body or tactually? Do your
rituals work for some people and not others? You might check to be
sure you're satisfying everyone's most favored rep. system.
The function of magic is the response you get.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works by John Grindler and Richard Bandler:
The Structure of Magic I.
The Structure of Magic II.
Frogs into Princes
Reframing
Trance-formations
TWO: Inside/Outside
Remember representational systems? The idea that humans think in
images, sounds, and feelings?
While we're calling up images (a process called accessing), we're
not able to look at what's going on in front of us. While we're
listening to music, we're not able to remember our favorite song.
While we're feeling our shoulders for tension, we're not aware of
the touch of cloth against our skin. Seeing with the mind's eye and
the physical eye are mutually exclusive processes.
In Neuro Linguistic Programming, accessing - thinking - is called
downtime, and observing with the senses is labelled uptime.
I run uptime as a meditation. Try this: for three minutes, look at
the colors in front of you, the textures of surfaces, shapes ...
listen to the volume and pitch of all sounds in your vicinity ...
feel the surface you're sitting on, your hand touching something in
front of you ...
The next time you generate an internal image, talk to yourself, feel
your stomach tightening - notice the difference. It's the
difference between accessing and observing, downtime and uptime,
external and internal reality.
One thing that I notice about uptime is that it links to the concept
'sacred'. When I take a walk by the river, I watch the water
rippling over rocks, listen to the white noise of the current, feel
the moist air touching my skin. I bring myself out of my own
internal creations and allow myself to live in the world.
Another thing I notice about uptime is that some people don't do it
very much. Most of us drop into internal reality when our
environment is unpleasant, and that's a very useful thing to be able
to do. But then a lot of people forget to come back out - come to
their senses, literally - and experience the world again.
Such people are very difficult to talk to. When I have a
conversation, I like my partner to be listening to what I say, and
watching my body language. More often, my partner is access sing
some internal meaning for, or response to, what I'm saying. That
internal meaning may or may not have anything to do with what I'm
communicating.
It isn't possible to observe someone (with all senses) when we're
accessing. It isn't possible to achieve rapport with a person we're
not observing. One of the bases of magical group workings is
rapport between the participants.
Try this: the next time you have a conversation about magic, observe
your partner. Watch for: body position and gestures. Often people
I talk to demonstrate what they feel when they do magic. [A woman
describing her circle method moved her hand from her forehead down
toward her feet, from shoulder to shoulder, and from her heart
straight in front of her - gesturing the three energy poles a circle
creates.]
Listen for: sensory descriptions - "I saw, I heard, I felt."
Learning to go into uptime at will, and differentiate our
representations of reality from our observations, is perhaps the
most useful magical skill we can possess. It provides the basis for
a reality check; it helps us communicate our experiences more
effectively to others, and to help them duplicate what we do; and it
is one of the most profound alterations of consciousness.
- Brandy Williams
~~~~~~~~~~
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works by Richard Bandler & John Grinder:
The Structure of Magic I.
The Structure of Magic II.
Frogs to Princes
Reframing
Trance-formations
Bare Bones
