Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

128 Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard

room with lots of little things (like my study!). There

he/she finds eight objects small enough to arrange on

the tray, without any of them touching each other, and

sets them up (hint: Don’t include things than can roll

around, like eggs or marbles!). Then the Setter cov-

ers them all with the cloth, and brings the tray back

into the room with the players, setting it down in front

of them. All players should close their eyes, take a

few deep breaths, and center themselves. The Setter

rings the bell, at the same time removing the cloth.

The players all immediately open their eyes and look

at the objects on the tray, committing each of them

and their position to memory.

After 30 seconds, the Setter again rings the bell,

and covers the tray. The players should each close

their eyes again, and take a few more deep breaths,

holding the image in their mind as a visualization.

Then, when they are ready, each player opens their

eyes and attempts to draw the objects and his posi-

tions on their sketch pad. As soon as he is done, he

should lay the pencil down. When all are done, the

cloth is removed, and scores are listed according to

how many objects each player has indicated in their

proper place. The drawings do not have to be good—

even very crude sketches will do, as long as it’s clear

what they are of, and they are in approximately the

right position in relation to the others.

Then the next person takes a turn at being Setter,

in exactly the same way—using different objects, or

some of the same ones, as they choose. When each

player has taken a turn as Setter, the first round is

completed. For the 2nd round, however, use 10 ob-

jects, and only allow 25 seconds for the players to

look at them. For the 3rd round, use 12 objects and

allow 20 seconds. For the 4th round, use 14 objects

and allow 15 seconds. And the 5th and last round

should use 16 objects and allow 10 seconds viewing.

Add up the scores for each person. The more you

play this game, the better you’ll get at being able to

instantly take in visual information and hold it as a

visualization in your mind. You’ll find this skill to be

immensely valuable in many ways.

Advanced version: Use a large pizza-baking pan

for the tray, and cut a circle of paper to fit it. Use a

compass to draw three concentric circles about the

same distance apart. Then draw radiating lines out

from the center to divide each ring, and mark them as

follows: Inner circle—yin/yang. Next circle—divide

in four, mark with glyphs for Elements. 3rd circle—

divide in seven, mark with glyphs for Planets. Outer

circle—divide in 12, mark with glyphs for Signs of

the Zodiac. Then when placing objects, arrange them

within various of these sections.

Using this game as a magickal exercise:

Learn to fix the image of the objects on the tray as

one single picture, and practice holding it so strongly

and vividly that when you open your eyes, you can

still see an image of the objects hanging in the air

above them. Practice holding the image for longer

times. Start with only one object, and work your way

up to where you can do this with many.

The Never-Ending Story

This is an old favorite to play around the camp-

fire with 6–12 friends. Story-telling is a very impor-

tant Wizardly art, and through playing this game you’ll

get quite good at it. Stories like this always start out

with some ritual phrase to let you know that a story is

about to begin and to set it in the past, such as: “Once

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