-Your tongue flicks sharply as you lick the tip of your finger, checking the arcane signals in the air.  Then slowly, you exhale while projecting out blood thirsty energy particles.  You emit them from every direction - no one in close proximity is immune. 

To the trained eye it would look as if your aura just grew 5 fold and was trying to compress 15 feet of energy back down into a 3 foot area!

To you it just feels like your blood has been set on fire, like you're oozing with new, fresh power.  Use it as you will, but never abuse it - else your fate be sealed.-

Siphoning Strength like that found in the Vampiric Aura ability is much like absorbing energy from any other source.  The advantage is however, it's usually MUCH easier to steal energy from another living being than it is a plant or animal.  Due to humanistic properties of their specific energy, not much transition in vibration must be made with any type or energy exchange.

To do this technique, begin by centering yourself.  Bring your consciousness to the middle of your chest, or heart.  Take a deep breath and with your eyes closed, imagine your consciousness in ball, still inside your chest.  Imagine this ball starting to grow in size.  Expand in diameter, it's growing bigger and bigger in all directions.

As the ball grows, so should the intensity of the experience.  The larger area you attempt to occupy with your thoughts, the more stress you put on yourself.  As long as you can handle it, keep the ball growing.  Envision it consuming free bits of energy in the air.  If there are people around you open your eyes to reveal them to your consciousness.  Keep the vision of your growing ball forefront in your minds eye.

As you acknowledge the person's presence with your thoughts, envision your ball consuming, and totally surrounding this person.  Imagine it harassing, poking, biting, festering and just being an overall nuisance to any part of flesh it comes in contact with.  Your victim will respond by unknowingly putting out an defensive aura energy which is now in 'your ball'.  This is your stolen energy, run home with it!

Inhale very slowly, as you do so imagine your expanded ball of energy and conscious thought slowing coming back to you, back down to size, back down to the center of your chest.  By the time you've inhaled one breath, the ball should be back in your chest, ready to burst with energy it's collected from your environment.

Then with a sudden, "Rah!" exhale your lung full of breath and see the ball of energy explode into billions of little pieces - spreading themselves all over your body, becoming one with you.  You should now feel more energized, revitalized and have a greater perception of all objects and beings around you, as small part of them have become a part of you now (on a subatomic level, but still noticeable by your brain).

Congratulations, you've just Siphoned Strength in the form of raw energy from your environment.  As you become more skillful, so shall the size of your Vampiric Aura and the amount of strength siphoned each time. 

Raising Power

There are many different ways by which to raise power. Chanting, movement/dance, vibration, playing musical instruments are all ways in which to raise power. Two of the more well-known methods are the "cone of power" and "pool of power." The energy raised during a working can be used for a specific group goal, or it can be absorbed by the group as a whole.

Energy can be gathered from a countless number of other sources as well.  Some were listed in a previous section, but here they are again:

The energy that is used in magick comes from six basic sources.

The energy within ourselves.

The environment around us such as plants, rocks, nature, etc.

Energy willingly given by others and/or energy created through various forms of personal empowerment.

Energy from other planes of existence: astral, mental, elemental, spiritual.

Energy from higher entities and divine sources.

From the pain/suffering/death of living beings.

Exercise 1 (Raising Power)

 Personal Empowerment

Stand in a large circle.

One member will step into the center of the circle and state the name he/she wishes to be called by the others and the number of times to be circled by the group.

The group will begin chanting the person's name and will move clockwise around the person in the center of the circle.

As the group of individuals circle, they direct energy to the person in the center of the circle.

This continues until everyone has moved around the person the desired number of times.

At the very end, there is usually a loud clap, roar, or some other signal to indicate that the event is finished.

The process is repeated until everyone in the circle has had a turn in the center

Until the group is accustomed to this exercise, the number of circles should be limited to five or seven. Going beyond this number has a good chance of overloading the person in the center of the circle.

 Exercise 2 (Raising Power)

Chair Lifting

A chair is placed in the center of the circle.

One of the group members sits in the chair.

The other group members gather around the chair and place one finger beneath the chair.

The group concentrates on the idea that the chair and individual are weightless and chants "light as a feather (or some other such phrase)."

Everyone will lift the chair at the same time and hold it aloft for a few moments and then gently set it down.

This exercise can be a lot of fun. DO NOT do this exercise while sitting under a ceiling fan!—the results can be extremely surprising. Generally, the participants will be amazed at how easy it is to lift the person using only one finger.

 Exercise 3 (Raising Power)

Pool Of Power

A pool of power is a group effort. In this exercise, the participants will sit or stand in a circle and hold hands. One person will be designated as the "sounder." The sounder must be able to sense energy and must be able to provide an anchor for the working. The sounder will begin the passing of power and will monitor the power build. When the power has reached a level where it is still just barely contained, the sounder will call an end to the working.

The exercise can be done with either an external or internal focus, or both. An external focus could be an object to send the energy into or a phrase to chant (such as "love, peace, and happiness"). An internal focus could be the picturing of a concept or an image, such as a cup filling up.

**Love Pot or "Loving Cups"

Stand or sit in a circle.

Hold hands.

Think of the desired type of energy to focus (in this example, love will be used).

Each individual will picture love energy (usually thought of as pink) filling and surrounding themselves.

The sounder will start by chanting the word "Love" and will be joined by the other participants.

The sounder will form a bundle of love energy and pass it to the person on the left.

The person on the left will receive the energy and add to it, then pass it to the person on the left.

As the energy reaches each person, the individual will take in that energy and add more to it, in turn passing it to the person on the left.

There is no limit to the number of time the energy may be passed around the circle.

The sounder will monitor the energy as it builds, possibly humming or increasing the pitch and tempo of the chant as the energy builds.

When the sounder senses that an appropriate level has been reached for all participants, he/she will signal the release.

At this point, all members will drop hands, point into the center of the circle and see the energy forming a large vat of love energy.

Each participant will then dip an imaginary (or formed) energy cup into the pot of love, draw it out, and then "drink" it.

** Of course, "Love" is not the only type of energy that can be gathered using this technique, any type of energy will do.  "Love" was just used for the sake of example.

This technique can be used for gathering any sort of energy. Generally, pools of power are used to charge items, or to provide a central store of energy for use in other workings such as healing or cursing. It can also be used to charge a working space, such as the first time a permanent circle is created. The steps in the exercise above are a guide on how to perform a pool of power. The pool of power is simply the summoning and focusing of energy for a specific goal into a centralized location.

This lesson has been written to instruct the new student on how to sense and manipulate energy, and is one of the most "exercise-intensive" lessons in the series. It is intended for the lesson to be studied and practiced repeatedly over the course of several weeks (a minimum of 8 weeks) while other lessons are being presented.

This lesson provides the basic techniques that will be used throughout the remainder of your magical practices and spell casting.