Telepathy exercises

Telepathy is psychic communication between two minds. Surprisingly, a common question is if someone can practice Telepathy by himself or herself. The obvious answer is no – by pure definition. It requires two minds.

Telepathy is a very broad subject, and there are a lot of terms associated with it. The basic terms you’ll need to know if you’re just starting out are: Signature, Linking, Pinging, and Scanning.

A Signature is a feeling that identifies a being (usually your target). Common slangs are “Psi-Sig” or just plain “Sig.” Think of it as a mental fingerprint. To get your target’s Signature, just try to get a “feel” for them. The process is a little hard to describe – it’s like you’re writing a mental list of things that pinpoint that person. But not just what you see and notice about them, but how those things make you feel, and how they feel too. Bring all these collective feelings, descriptions, and things you use to identify them, and clump them together into one thought. That is the target’s Sig.

Linking is a process that we covered in the previous chapter on Empathy. Take a stream of Psi, connect it from yourself to the target, and use it to send and receive information.

Pinging is slang for any short send, but it’s generally used as a mental tap on the shoulder, or a simplified “hey” or grunt. Pinging is the most basic way to get another Telepath’s attention. If you’re skilled, you can get people who aren’t sensitive to respond to stronger Pings, but for the most part it’s only used with other Telepaths.

Exercise 6: To Ping a target, first get their Psi-Sig. Extend a tube of Psi from your head and direct it towards your target using the Psi-Sig. Do not program the tube to connect with the target (like Linking), instead program the tube to bounce off, or brush up against the targets outer Shield. Program a simple message in the front of your tube, like “hey,” or just put in a little extra gentle push.

Don’t be rude about it. Be polite and gentle. This basic form of communication is useful when you want to get your friends attention, and I personally use it when I want a friend to call me or get online so I can talk to them.

Scanning is used to receive basic information about your target. It’s possible to receive very detailed information, but most people find basic Scanning an invasion of privacy, let alone deep Scanning. Basic Scanning can be achieved almost the same way you do a Ping in the above exercise. Instead of programming a “hey” on the end of your tube, program it to gather information. Then pull the tube back, or read the information through the tube.

The most common use for Scanning for beginners is to check Shields. A great way to practice with a friend is to create different types of Shields, then scan each other and see what you pick up. For example, create a furry Shield, programmed to fuzz out. Try to see if your friend can scan and pick it up. If the scan isn’t successful, it could be either that your Shielding ability isn’t that well, or their Scanning ability isn’t that well (or both). Practice makes perfect.

Actual communication using Telepathy is possible. It’s possible to receive the thoughts of others, and sometimes Psions mistake a person’s thoughts for what they really said. Conversations can become confusing at that point, and usually go along the lines of “How did you know that?” – “How did I know what?”

Receiving and Sending Telepathic information can be achieved by Linking with the target, and either pulling the information through the tube (Receiving), or pushing information through the tube (Sending). Start simple: try to send a short word or shape to your friend. See if they can receive it.

The most common game for beginners to practice Telepathy is Shapes and Colors. The sender picks a random shape and color from a list, and sends it to the target. The target tries to receive it, and see if the send was successful. For example, you can use the following list of shapes and colors: star, triangle, circle, square; red, blue, green, yellow. Pick a random combination (like a red triangle), and visualize the image in your head. Create the Link, and send the image down the Link to your target. If you want the send to be stronger, you can send it down the Link multiple times in rhythm (this is called Pulse Sending).

If you’re trying to receive an image, make sure you have a strong Link with the sender. Be prepared to receive an image, close your eyes, and wait for a feeling or impression to hit you. Go with your gut instinct.

After the practice session, don’t forget to sever the Link. Sometimes this can be a task in itself – I find that visualizing imaginary scissors cutting the link, and watching it vaporize works for me. When the Link is gone, reprogram your Shield to block the Link until your next practice session, if you feel the need.

Telepathy is one of the largest fields in all of Psionics. As mentioned earlier, this document is meant only as an introduction; this is far from exhaustive. There has been a lot of research on Telepathy, and there is a lot of information out there – if you find this introduction interesting, I suggest reading more about the subject before trying anything advanced.