Cyber Cauldron

The skill of changing one object / person or animal into another has been part of history, literature and mythology. The ability to transform is either done by will, a spell /potion or curse or as simply by disguise. Throughout religious text the gods have used skin walking to speak / teach or impregnate (or just have sex) people. There are countless myths where one god changes in to another creature or human either to trick or teach, these myths appear in nearly all religions. Around the world in folklore skin walking pays a major part of many myths, and there are countless tales of a person being transformed in to a animal, plant or object.
As people we love the idea of being able to change we are fascinated by the idea that with a flick of a wand or the correct words could change us in to something new. We have created creatures to scare us such as the vampire or werewolf or Mr Jekyll / Mr Hyde as well as heroes such as Doctor Who or Maya (space 1999). We are so driven by the chance of change that we will even put ourselves under a surgeon’s knife.
When we look at skin walking it does seem to belong more in the Hollywood Circle rather than a magickal circle it seem to be more dream like rather than a practical skill, but transformations are a major part of a witches life and skin walking is a skill.
Ok I am not saying that you can change yourself in to another animal / person (or am I )? You have to step away from the Harry Potter school of witchcraft to understand the potential and skills needed for skin walking, everyone has heard the saying “put your self in their shoes” well that really is the heart of skin walking being able to understand the nature of another. So how is it done?
One of the most simplistic forms of skin walking is “dress up” by wearing a costume to disguise yourself as another taking time to change and we all do this everyday without notice we get up dress for work changing us into an Office worker / shop assistant or boss at home we are transformed in to mums and dads or children when we go out we change again. We spend our whole lives in a constant state of transformation most we ignore.
When we look at skin walking as a witches skill we have to look at it as a tool to gain understanding and I am sure that you will have at least one glamour spell in you book of shadows these spells do not change you on a physical level they change you on a psychological level, giving you extra confidence and a feeling of true inner strength to accomplish what ever you need. That what you need to understand, those transmogrifications do not change the external (*) appearance but the internal understanding of the object, person, animal or plant.
In shamanic practices a shaman will enter a trance state and become an animal so he or she can fly or run across the spiritual plane to retrieve information or special ingredients or request help from the spirits /deities. The shaman will have part of the animal the he or she wishes to transform in to, a feather or fir. The basic idea is that if you know what another’s energy feels like then you can change your energies to match it.
Techniques for Shape shifting
Animal Shape shifting
Choose the animal you wish to transform in to. I suggest an animal you already know a bird, cat or dog. As this is probably one of the easy animal to transform into as you practice you can choose other animals including mythical ones.
Clear some space a fair bit of space as you will be moving around, find some music that you can associate with the animal your going to need up to an hour of music (I find drumming works well or music without lyrics are best).
Start of in Balasana the Child pose in yoga (if arm position is uncomfortable the put them in front of you).
Start rhythmical breathing while meditating on the animal thinking about it nature and what it does once you feel comfortable that you have a clear image of the animal the transformation can continue.
Start with the fingertips visualise them changing (I am going to use a dog for the rest of information but please adjust to the animal of your choice).
Feel your finger tips becoming paws your finger shorten the palms of your hands becoming pads move your hands to just in front of your knees, palms on the floor visualise your hands as paws see the transformation continuing up your arms straightening them until they feel like the legs of a dog. Continue the visualisation of the change working across your chest and down your body and into your legs and feet feel the transformations, your body will move into the position of the dog you can feel your tail growing and your body should begin to feel canine. Once your body arms and legs have been transformed you will need to focus your visualisation to your head feel your skull change your jaw lengthen into a muzzle you teeth growing in to canine teeth your ears lengthening.
If you have done this correctly you should not only look like a dog but you should feel like one. Whilst holding the visualisation move your body walk around the space (on all fours) bark or growl or howl what ever feels natural do what you feel is right just spend sometime experiencing what is like to be a dog. When you’re ready to end, unlike most visualisation don’t reverse the journey you need to shake the visualisation off (the same way a wet dog would shake water from it fur (same way for all animals)). You may need to shake a number of times to get the disguise off if any bit remain brush off with your hands.
Sit in quite contemplation now for a few minutes examining what you felt and learned. Open your eyes and ground yourself and write up your experiences. Repeat this process often trying different animals
Once you have learnt how to transform you can extend the practice where you can just assume the animal’s guise in the spiritual realms helping you to move swiftly and without being seen.

Originally posted 2010-08-09 10:06:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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