Have you ever been hypnotized? Was it in front of a group of people on a stage? To stop a habit like smoking or help you lose weight? Or was it in a clinical setting, to help you recover memories or remember facts for an important reason?

Conjuring (indrajala)
To hypnotize and make people see armies or heavenly dwellings.

I’ve never been hypnotized–I don’t think I’m a very good candidate for it since I like to be in control and find it difficult to relax–and it’s only been relatively recently that I’ve been able to meditate with any sort of effectiveness. We’ve talked about meditation in the past, so I won’t rehash that topic, but we can explore some other avenues of conjuring that might be out there.

Like what? The power of positive thinking (or, as my high school band director liked to harp on: Positive Mental Attitude), is one. The Law of Attraction–a version of which was popularized in The Secret–is another. Some might even say karma–though the ‘what goes around, comes around’ idea is a little broad (karma generally refers to repercussions from one life to another, as opposed to moments in a single incarnation).

And then there’s the more whimsical variety of conjuring: stage magic, slight of hand, misdirection and other feats of prestidigitation.

But really, conjuring is–at it’s essence–creating. Whether you’re creating images in other people’s minds (storytellers, I’m looking at you) or spinning a web of ideas that gets others to create something tangible, conjuring is the first step in creativity.

Question of the week: What have you conjured lately?