Last year, I got discouraged with my personal intuition progress and realized that I was tired of listening to other people discuss, lecture, etc about what they know about occult topics.  I think it is like reading about walking…..at some point you need to take a step on your own and then another and another.   I needed to find a more active way to participate in the energy field of the universe and explore these things that interest me and maybe confound me.

 I use the term occult not in the “dark” definition.  I like the definition in Wikipedia:

The occult (from the Latin word occultus "clandestine, hidden, secret") is "knowledge of the hidden".  In common English usage, occult refers to "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", usually referred to as science. The term is sometimes taken to mean knowledge that "is meant only for certain people" or that "must be kept hidden", but for most practicing occultists it is simply the study of a deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the physical sciences.  

I decided I needed to create a group from my spiritual community to get together to learn about these invisible occult/paranormal topics.  I believe everyone has the God given capacity and ability to “do” what we think are extraordinary, mysterious occult things.  And there has to be a logic in the universe that I wanted to explore.  And exercise those muscles that reach out to the universe.  The best way to explain this is what I am experiencing today.  I had a session with a personal trainer yesterday and today I am feeling pain in muscles that I didn’t know I had. 

I toyed with several names for the group like Energy Lab, Psychic Pilates, Building Core Intuitive Strength Exercises, and Metaphysical Muscle Building.  I finally liked Energy Lab the best and that name has stuck.  It was my intent to treat occult/paranormal topics like a science and to experiment with them.  And that is what makes sense to me. 

This is the first letter I sent out to my friends to invite them to join me on my quest.

My friends.....be patient with me as I try to articulate my vision for myself and this group.  Under the heading of "if you don't use it, you will lose it", my inclination is to describe this group as a "How To" or "Do It Yourself" (DIY) metaphysical/energy group.   My personal goal is to tap into the 90+% of my innate "mental" abilities that I am not using by developing a "study and exercise" program in a "small" group.

First, I would like to address those of you that are professional practitioners.  I hope not to offend or step on any toes; my goal for this group is to develop rudimentary skills in various "energy" areas.  I liken this to learning first aid (First aid is the provision of initial care for an illness or injury.  It is usually performed by non-expert) which can be broken down in to many skills such as CPR, tourniquets, bandaging, removing splinters, etc.; there will be situations where seeing a physician or surgeon is more appropriate and encouraged.

I propose this group:

1) meet twice a month.

2) be structured like a "college lab" where a topic is agreed upon in advance and everyone studies the topic ahead of time and the time together is spent working on developing the "skill".  I want active participation and do not want a passive "lecture" setting.   Probably like me, you have been buying "Idiots Guides to Psychic Development"....perhaps that is where we start.

3) each group member will take turns to volunteer to take the lead as facilitator at each meeting. 

Some of the things I am interested in are:
Pendulum/dowsing skills
Seeing/reading Auras
Breathing
Numerology
Crystals
Automatic writing
Runes
Telepathy
Astral Travel
Psychic self defense
Consulting Spirit guides and angels
Healing Modalities
Astrology
Clairvoyance and related phenomena:
        Clairsentience (feeling/touching)
        Clairaudience (hearing/listening)
        Clairalience (smelling)
        Claircognizance (knowing)
        Clairgustance (tasting)
 

Interestingly, from Wikipedia, a list of psychic abilities (some of these things I have no interest in but show just to get you thinking):
Apportation - Materialization, disappearance, or teleportation of an object.^[1]

Aura reading - Perception of the energy fields surrounding people, places, and things.^[2]

Automatic writing - Writing produced without conscious thought.^[3]

Astral projection or mental projection - An out-of-body experience in which an "astral body" becomes separate from the physical body.^[4]

Bilocation or multilocation - Being in multiple places at the same time.^[5]

Clairvoyance, second sight - Perception outside the known human senses.^[2]

Clairsentience (feeling/touching)
        Clairaudience (hearing/listening)
        Clairalience (smelling)
        Claircognizance (knowing)
        Clairgustance (tasting)
Death-warning - A vision of a living person prior to his or her death.^[6]

Divination - Gaining insight into a situation via a ritual.^[7]

Dowsing - Ability to locate objects.^[8]

Energy medicine - Healing by channelling a form of energy.^[9]

Faith healing - Diagnosing and curing disease using religious devotion.^[10]

Mediumship or channeling – Communicating with spirits.^[11]

Precognition, premonition and precognitive dreams - Perception of events before they happen.

Psychic surgery - Removal of diseased body tissue via an incision that heals immediately afterwards.^[12]

Psychokinesis or telekinesis - Manipulation of matter or energy by the power of the mind.

Psychometry or psychoscopy - Obtaining information about a person or object.

Remote viewing - Gathering of information at a distance.

Retrocognition - Perception of past events.

Scrying - Use of an item to view events at a distance or in the future.

Telepathy - Transfer of thoughts or emotions.

Transvection - Bodily levitation or flying.

I am sure there are a lot of things to discuss and I would like to propose a meeting to see what grows from this seed.  My vision is to start with a "small group" (undefined) and if we get enough response/commitment for 2+ groups then great!!!

P.S. My plan has been realized and we do meet twice a month.  One of the important things I have realized so far is that everyone experiences universal energy differently….not better than another, just different.  And a big part of opening up to experience the universe is your belief systems. 

Case in point.  Penicillin is invisible and existed prior to it being discovered.  If Alexander Flemming had had a closed mind and not open to the invisible and “all possibilities” then maybe he would never have discovered penicillin and it’s antibiotic properties.