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In our modern age, many of the secrets of practical occultism, also known as magic, have been partially unveiled by writers. One of these secrets is the use of the imagination to create internal and external change.

Nick Farrell, in his book "Magical Pathworking: Techniques of Active Imagination", talks about using the imagination as an active tool for personal change. And tool it is; Nick Farrell goes into detail about how to use it to create change in both one's own inner world and in day to day life.

Nick Farrell has been a member of several esoteric Orders, including the Golden Dawn, and this fact shows in the techniques that he developed for using the Active Imagination. While written for a more general audience (interested in self improvement), members of the esoteric Orders will be able to see quite clearly the framework (the secret traditions and lore) upon which the techniques of the book are based on.

Unlike passive daydreaming, the use of active imagination requires the student to develop some control over the images arising in their mind. Farrell helps bring the student to the well spring of that control. The student will have to do the work; but by following the lesson plan of the book, they will have a clear idea of the direction they need to go.

As Nick Farrell mentions, one of the great handicaps that people have with the idea that the active use of imagination and visualization can make a difference in their lives is the sheer disbelief that our imagination has any effect on the outer world. This belief, in part, is a product of our cultural programming; we are told that successful people get there (the threshold of success) though hard work and luck, and not be developing the powers of their minds.

Farrell does his best to dispel this limitation early in the book by explaining the five dollar (pound/euro) experiment. Rather than visualizing a large sum of money (or large goal), one visualizes drawing a small denomination (or simple item, such as a book) to oneself instead. This helps bypass the skeptic part of oneself (which disbelieves that the mind alone can affect the outer world), and the little voice that most of us have that tells us that we do not deserve to be rich and successful. The successful attempt to draw a five dollar bill to oneself though an unplanned route (coincidence) will go a long ways to improving ones confidence in the technique of using active imagination to change one's world. In fact, it is a technique like this that

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