Now, where, you ask, would you have an athame (or any other tool) within you? Close your eyes and imagine the athame you would like to have. Note its shape and coloring, the weight and balance of it, the sharpness and coolness of the blade. Got it? There is your athame. Its been there all along, just waiting for you to notice it and bring it into focus in your imagination.

     But that's just imagination, you say. You're right! And it, not the athame, is one of your greatest tools. Without the imagination, the athame remains just another knife.

     This brings us to the point: what really are our magickal tools? As mentioned before, our tools are within us. They consist of our mind, coupled with the imagination, and directed by the Will. Remember Luke Skywalker in Star Wars? He depended on his ring for "the Force", but when the ring was lost, he learned "the Force" came from within. Or look further back, to Dumbo flying with his feather. He also discovered the power came from within himself, not from the "magical" feather. Legends, old or new, often carry the seed of truth.

     How do these tools work? The mind works on many different planes: the conscious, subconscious, and superconscious, and on physical, astral, and spiritual levels. Here is where the problems begin. Most magick begins on the astral planes. From the astral, it can either filter down to the denser physical plane, or reach to the less dense spiritual planes. On the astral, thought takes form. A passing thought about your best friend can cause a wavering image to appear. Greater concentration causes the image to become more and more real. "What's the problem?" you may ask. "That sounds great!" On the positive side, it is. But suddenly you realize that friend stood you up the other day, and you remember how angry you were. Your mind dwells on this a while, and you realize you were as mad as a hornet about it: in fact, as mad as a whole nest of hornets. Suddenly you've got that whole nest of hornets buzzing after your friend. You realize that those thoughts, too, took form, and try to turn them away. You find they're now after both of you...

      Sound like a bad dream? It can be, but if done magickally it can be worse, for it can filter down to the physical world, with the hornets manifesting as various people or problems.

     How do you avoid such occurrences? Your tools must be honed and sharpened to a fine point. Let's start with clearing the working space. Most minds are filled with many ideas, preconceptions, and closed doors (and some open ones). Start by getting to know yourself better. Learn your strengths and weaknesses, look at both "good" and "bad" parts of yourself. Be honest: in heavy magickal working it's those parts of you that you haven't faced and accepted that will cause the problems. If anger is a problem, accept that and begin to work on solutions. Start with the small problems, or small parts of the bigger problems, and work on up as you gain self-confidence.

     The next, step, before and after any working, is grounding and centering. This focuses you, links you into an energy net, balances your aura, and protects you. How do you ground and center? There are many different ways. One of the simplest is "becoming a tree". Sit comfortably with your back straight. Imagine roots going deep into the Earth from the base of your spine, and touching the Earth's energy, which flows back up through those roots, through your spine and the rest of your body, and flows down around you, back to the Earth. Then imagine the Sun's energy flowing down into you, through the top of your head, through your body, and down to the Earth. Notice where these energies meet within you - this is your center. Spend a few moments breathing into this center, feeling yourself balanced. You are now ready to focus on whatever work you need to do - magickal or mundane.

     The word "imagine" was used several times in the previous exercise. The key to this is visualizing as realistically as possible. For example; try to imagine an apple. Notice it's shape, color, the bumps on its skin. Feel the smoothness of it, and the small areas of roughness. Does it feel cool or warm? Smell it: does it smell tart or sweet? When you feel you could just pick it up and eat it, you've got a good visualization. The more realistic your visualization, the closer it is to becoming reality.

     In visualizing the apple, you used your will to direct your imagination. Using will implies a conscious decision to pursue a certain goal, activity, object, etc. Once that decision is made, and ethical considerations are taken into account, the will directs the mind, the imagination, and the energies to bring it to reality. Once started, one should carry through. The Law states, "an it harm none, do what you will." The implications for action are evident on closer examination.