I have always been drawn to mudras, and I use them regularly. Mudras are particular hand gestures that make connections between two or more energy centers. Some are deeply symbolic and rely on the power of the symbolism more than on the energy centers being connected.

Take the “live long and prosper” sign used by Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek. This is a traditional mudra used by Jewish priests to bestow a blessing and is symbolic of the astrological sign of Aries. The gesture, which is made by spreading the ring and middle fingers apart to make a “v” shape, represents the ram’s foot.

A favorite way of “pulling down energy” to charge an item is with a mudra called the “Triangle of Manifestation.” It’s performed by holding both of your hands out before you, palms outward. Touch the tips of your thumbs together, as well as the tips of your first fingers. The space left in between your hands should look like a triangle.

In his book Modern Magick, Donald Michael Kraig describes a technique to charge a talisman using this mudra. A talisman is any object charged with the intention of bringing something to you. Kraig says you’ll know it’s successful when you feel a sensation that something has clicked into place. I kept trying and trying to do it and never felt that signal of success until I added some additional energy to it. What follows is my adaptation of his method that combines the triangle of manifestation mudra with the technique of charging an item by holding it between your palms. The purpose for this is two-fold: to add even more power to your working, and to encourage you to continue constantly experimenting so that you find new methods that not only work for you, but that you also enjoy doing.

• Stand outside so that you can see the full moon.
• Have the object or substance that you want to charge before you.
• Hold your hands up so that you are looking at the moon through the center of the Triangle of Manifestation.
• Bring your hands down, without breaking the triangle, and place them over whatever you are charging so that the object, herbs, etc., is between your hands and inside the Triangle of Manifestation.
• The trick to making this method work is visualizing the moon. As you lower your hands down over whatever you’re charging, the moon’s image remains within the triangle, as if you are taking it out of the nighttime sky and putting it inside the object.
• After you lower the Triangle of Manifestation over the object you are charging, shift your focus to the golden orb of energy in the center of your chest. Inhale three times, seeing it glow brighter and brighter gold as it is filled with energy.
• As you exhale between inhalations, visualize that you are releasing the air, but the energy stays inside.
• After the third inhalation, as you exhale see all of the energy rush from the energy center in your chest, down your arms, out your hands, and into the object.
• Close the ritual by knocking lightly on the table or altar where you are doing magick three times and visualize it sealing the energy into the item.