A Method of Contact

Don Webb

The following nine-week working will allow the Worker to contact VALIS. It is difficult to do. The difficulty is important; it enables the Worker to break her or his internal fetters, and prepare for the noetic experience of direct knowing. It works on the sound principal of magic as communication, a method of transferring a message to and receiving a message from the other, secret side of the universe. It will produce a profound change in the subjective universe of the Worker, and following the basic principles of magic a proportional change will occur in the objective universe. This ritual is therefore powerful, and hence dangerous. People who neglect the seemingly nonmagical parts of the Work will not be able to make use of the information they receive. You will need to familiarize yourself with the working, so that you will have access to the correct resources at the proper time. You will probably not succeed in doing the daily work everyday, but you should hit at least five out of seven days. Use common sense in the physical activities, and do the magical activities as often as possible.

If you proceed with the Work, note that you are entering into Unknown and dangerous territory, and that whatever happens happens on your own without the liability of author or publisher.

Daily preparation and work: The following four practices are to be observed through the Work. (1). No TV, no newspapers, none of the magazines you're used to reading. This helps the mind break from the patterns it is used to seeing. (2). Tell no one you're doing the Work. It takes tremendous strength to keep your mouth shut about something for nine weeks. This helps in focusing your attention on mysterious communications. (3). Keep a diary in which you may feel free to write down any idea that occurs during the Work; you should in no way censor the process. (4). Everyday as you can, after rising from bed say the following, "I dismiss the hypnotism of past aeons. I open myself to the Hidden realm of truth and arm myself with the tools of reason and feeling, and I swear by all I hold dear that I will attempt to change both the inner and outer world in accordance with what I find. When I think of VALIS, VALIS thinks of me." Each night, as close to going to bed as you can, say the following, "I open the Night gate, the gate of dreams, that I may be taught that which does not open to the daytime world. I accept the Nyall of VALIS; as I am taught now, I promise to so teach after my death. When I think of VALIS, VALIS thinks of me."

["Nyall" is a term coined by the Icelandic esotericist Dr. Helgi Pjeturss (1876-1949). His theory was that dreams of a visionary nature (as opposed to dreams where you go to the 7-11 naked) are the gifts of the "dream giver", who may be a being on this or another planet, for the purpose of "bioinduction", a process of guiding the evolution of both individuals and the species.]

Week 1. Mental activity: Read as many books as you can on alternative history. Look for good, solid, well-researched books like Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts, edited by William Corliss. Avoid fringey occult books. The point is to convince the most rational part of yourself that there's lots of history hidden away, and that you as a product of that history are likewise a more mysterious being than you realized.

Physical activity: Take long walks through parts of town you're not familiar with, try to look for unusual architecture and symbolism. (Of course use discretion and walk in safe places).

Magical activity: Everyday visualize a spacecraft orbiting the earth and bombarding certain historical sites - such as the Library of Alexandria, Stonehenge, etc. with a pink beam. When the beam strikes, people fall to the ground, and then rise full of knowledge. On the last day of the week, write a list of all the historical events that had to occur for you to have come into being. Begin with your dad meeting your mom. What economic and historical forces brought them together? What about your grandparents? Continue till the list goes way back in history.

Week 2. Mental activity: Read serious and well-researched books on Fortean phenomena. Again William Corliss has an excellent set. This is to show the most skeptical part of yourself that there are a lot things going on we don't understand, and that things that are not understood get swept under the table.

Physical activity: Try as many unusual foods as you can; take acquaintances (as opposed to close friends) out to eat. Have ice cream for breakfast.

Magical activity as above. On the last day write your thoughts on how what we consume - food, ideas, religions - makes us what we are. Try to imagine what food or drink is in the Holy Grail.

Week 3. Mental activity: Get a book on conceptual blockbusting, or lateral thinking, or using both sides of your brain. Work thorough the exercises. Mental gymnastics of all kinds are called for.

Physical activity: Swimming or dancing. Any activity that both increases blood flow and causes you to have deal with unusual spatial frames of reference.

Magical activity: Visualize the pink ray striking you, in the place you've picked to be on the last day of the ninth week. On the last day of this week write a sonnet with the rhymes and scansion on how we miss most of the Mystery of the world around us. Note: if you are in the habit of writing poetry, draw a picture.

Week 4. Mental activity: Read a well-researched, not-too-goofy book on how secret societies have transformed the world. The Occult Conspiracy by Michael Howard is excellent for this; again this is to convince your rational mind of the power of the Secret.

Physical activity: If possible engage in building, carpentry, masonry etc. If no such opportunities exist, simply keep physically active.

Magical activity: As above. On the last day make a list of the number of occult practices that shape your day-to-day world. For example, because of the astrologers of Babylonia you divide hours into 60 minutes, or John Dee's term "British Empire" seems to have a lot of influence.

Week 5. Mental activity: Read the VALIS trilogy by Philip K. Dick.

Physical activity: Repeat the walks form the first week while trying as hard as you can to remember events in the novels.

Magical activity: Visualize the events of Dick receiving contact with VALIS. You will add another invocation to be performed daily. At the point closest to the middle of your waking day, say the following, "I have lain four bricks of truth to stand upon. I acknowledge that I have been my own enemy by creating limitations for myself. I discard those illusions and accept the pleasures and pains of my existence. I feel you moving toward me, O VALIS, I feel your Essence touch my mind." Continue this practice to the end of the Work. On the last day write, draw, or some way express your feelings about Dick's revelation.

Week 6. Mental activity: Spend the week reading fun, goofy novels on time travel, or comics on the same category. Dirty joke books are good. You can rent any number of silly SF videos to watch. Try not to think about the Work, but push it down into your unconscious.

Physical activity: Lots of good sex if available; if not, tennis or racquetball.

Magical activity: None, save for the invocations. If you find yourself starting to visualize, stop yourself. At the end of the week write a little essay on how magic is just physiological manipulation and not to be taken seriously.

Week 7. Mental activity: Surround yourself with SF art depicting future cities, floating space stations, and other future images that you find both fantastic and positive.

Physical activity: Go to Science Museums, raves, robot demonstrations, anything that suggests a positive future.

Magical activity: Visualize yourself floating in space. A beam of pink light comes from your own forehead and strikes someone. What does this future woman or man look like? Where do they live? Visualize all these things. On the last day of the week write a short essay on how seeking after the mysteries of VALIS could help mankind have a better future.

Week 8. Mental activity: Spend the week resolving in your mind any long-standing family issues. Think a great deal about experiences in your early childhood which helped shape you. If possible, call up your parents and thank them for bringing you into the world.

Physical activity: Visit as many of your favorite places that you can.

Magical activity: Visualize your mother and father copulating, while a pink beam strikes them, giving them the information that will become you. On the last day of the week make a list of all of your parents good and bad characteristics. Try to be as honest as possible. Then look the list over, checking off those characteristics that you possess. Try to be as honest as possible.

Week 9. Mental activity: Read the Hermetica. Walter Scott's translation is excellent for this.

Physical activity: As little as possible. This week you want to be sedentary; stay inside when you can, and be as quiet as you can.

Magical activity: As in week three.

The last day. On the night before the last day, check into a motel; you'll want to wake up in new surroundings. Eat lightly during the day, or not at all. After your morning invocation, find something secure to stand on (like a desk or chair), and say the following, "By the power of the Elder Names of VALIS do I open myself to the Secrets of Evolution. HAR-WER, HOLY GUARDIAN ANGEL, MITHRAS, HERMES, ABUFIHAMAT, RUAD RO-FHESSA, ITZAMNA, O-KUNI-NUSHI, HORAPOLLO! Your Essence pours over me in a pink light and I receive the baptism of wisdom. I put aside my Earthly semblance and flow upward to your Secret place. My mind is quickened, for I have come to you in the fashion of your friends, PHILIP K. DICK, JOHN DEE, MIKHAIL BAKUNIN, HASSAN I SABBAH, EDGAR POE, PASCAL BEVERLY RANDOLPH, IMHOTEP, CAGLIOSTRO, THOTHMES. Speak now friend, and I will listen. I will see what is Above, and when I return to Below, I will mix what is Above with what is Below and all obscurity will leave me forever. I promise to take on immortality, to return and teach, to bring wonder and joy to the children of men for all ages. Thus the Ka of VALIS is in me."

After this, do as your spirit dictates. VALIS will come to you during the day. When it comes, ask it for a name by which you may contact it. With this name, which you must keep secret, you will be able to contact VALIS at any time. You may ask about the practical matters of your life. The answers you receive you may not understand at once. The presence of the being will leave you weak and confused.

Over the next few weeks you will enter back into workaday reality. Here you must test the messages you have received and begin the hard work of making the world a better place to live based on the knowledge you have obtained. Once you have passed through this gate, there is no turning back. The responsibility of a better cosmos is now yours, and the hard work you put in to make it better will give you power and wisdom beyond anything you can know.