Fun Things to do with Psi Balls

The little multi-purpose energy constructs that have come to be known as psi-balls have an amazing variety of applications, ranging from the silly and frivolous to serious and even ~ gasp ~ useful. This little article outlines a smattering of these. I won't go into how to construct a psi-ball because that is covered in some depth elsewhere on the site.

The most obvious use for the Mark-1, Mod-0 psi-ball is the practice of energy manipulation. Constructing a little sphere of energy is a nice, relatively easy way to start one's study of energetic constructs, and as an exercise for 'keeping in shape' it has much to recommend it: almost infinite possibilities for variation, relatively simple, can be done with fairly low power levels, unlikely to annoy the neighbors.... It is also useful in the practice of perceiving energy, which for some people is a more difficult task than manipulating it.

For some reason, there is a wide-spread fascination with the ability to produce a visible psi-ball. As a rule, a psi-ball visible to normal sight is dense and uses a lot more energy than one that can 'only' be felt, or seen psychically. In her Deryni novels, Katherine Kurtz calls this effect 'handfire'. Her characters use it for a number of things, but most often simply as a light to read by. It can be used for this purpose in real life, but electric lights are rather easier to use. There is, of course, the "Oh cool; look what I can do!" aspect, though. A visible psi-ball can be just about any color. If you want to use it for reading, however, stick to pale neutrals. Neon green and dark purple are not conducive to legibility.

Casting visible psi-balls is a remarkably effective method of annoying Newtonian Physicists, by the way... >;-D

On her web-site, Skywind suggests a game called "Psi-ball Splat". It is a great way to relieve stress and is harmless fun; just the thing if you need to work off some frustration.

Another amusement in the category of 'how to annoy your neighborhood physicist' is to turn your psi-ball into a slightly more complex construct. The possibilities here boggle the imagination, and you are limited only by your ingenuity and skill. Nice simple constructs would be things like geometric shapes. Slightly more difficult are clouds and semi-solid objects; for some reason, a light bulb like those used in comics to express an idea comes to mind. For the ambitious, there are moving, rainbow-colored spiders and puppies apparently constructed of wind.

If you want to attract someone's attention, you can use a psi-ball to 'ping' them. Hold the intention of what you want to do (a tap on the shoulder, perhaps) while forming the psi-ball, then toss it gently at the intended target.

Similarly, by changing the intent slightly, you can brush against a friend's mind in greeting, using a psi-ball. Depending upon how friendly a greeting you wish to convey, you might also include an emotion ~ fondness, for example ~ in the intent. To do this, remember how such an emotion felt to you in the past, recalling it as vividly as you can, as you are focusing your intent. It may help to first recall to mind a situation in which you felt that emotion, and then, once you feel it clearly, dismiss the rest of the memory.

It is even possible to relay thoughts and entire blocks of knowledge this way, in a form of primitive telepathy. The more complex the thought, the more concentration you'll need. Unless there is a good reason to do otherwise, you'd probably do best to start by Sending simple emotions and short thoughts, rather than explaining the relative merits of rival theories of Quantum Mechanics.

The reverse is another possibility. Using a psi-ball to read another person's emotions, energy level, surface thoughts, and so on is accomplished in a similar manner. Construct a psi-ball while concentrating on your intention, and send the psi-ball to brush through your target's energy field, then have the psi-ball return to you with the information. The tricky part is learning to interpret that information, without contaminating it with your own thought patterns. It comes with practice and experience.

Getting back to the more frivolous side of things, psi-balls can be used to play catch or for juggling, flattened into frisbees, and formed into shuttlecocks for badminton. You can also roll them into darts, or condense them into marbles and pool balls. A psi-ball 'yoyo' can be lots of fun, and it has no string to tangle .

In some circles, psi-balls are regarded as little more than an exercise in focus. To really practice focusing, move the psi-ball around the room, perhaps forming it into an airplane and doing loops, rolls, and other aerobatic maneuvers.

You can also change the temperature of a psi-ball. You can, if you want to, put a lot of energy into a small, condensed psi-ball to produce a hot little fireball. Conversely, you can will the psi-ball to be cool. The latter is useful for soothing headaches, swellings, fevers, and such.

With enough energy and focused intent, it is even possible to affect actual healing, knitting broken bones back together or closing wounds. It is completely unnecessary for the person being healed to believe in the possibility of these things, although such belief certainly couldn't hurt.

No doubt by now you'll have thought of other things to do with your psi-ball skills other than conjuring one, thinking 'Oh, isn't that cool' and dispelling it again. These ideas here are just to get you started.

By Rainsong