What exactly is 'intention' and how does it link with different kinds of energy?

[Lion]

I think that Bardon and others suggest that you can make all sorts of energy forms that are made up of different magical intentions. How does this work? what exactly is intention? do we have to really intensely want something in order to intend it? what do we do when we intend something in magical procedures?

 

[solxyz]

The intensity of wanting can sometimes feed the strength of an intention, but other times can be a distraction from it. Strength of intention is better compared to a laser-like commitment to accomplishing some particular aim. I'm not particularly a fan of chaos magic, but I think the process of sigil creation does teach something helpful about magical application of intention. Get a good guide on sigil creation (there are a gajillion of them out there), practice that for a while, then you will understand intuitively how to apply the principle of intention to any other kind of magical enterprise.

 

[HoldAll]

Strength of intention is better compared to a laser-like commitment to accomplishing some particular aim.

This.

In his later books, debunked NewAge guru Carlos Castaneda made a big deal of word term 'intent'. I copypasta'd Google Gemini's answer here because his books became more and more abstruse over the years, and you really need some AI help to understand them at all - I don't know how his fans managed without it, I myself certainly didn't:

In the shamanic philosophy of ⁠Carlos Castaneda, "Intent" is an all-pervading, immeasurable, and indescribable cosmic force that is responsible for creating, sustaining, and transforming everything in the universe. Humans do not create intent; rather, they align with it. "Unbending intent" is the rigorous, fierce state of purpose and discipline a warrior develops to clean their rusty connection to this universal force and command it to alter perception or reality.

I think Castaneda was also an influence on Peter J. Carroll when he formulated his chaos sigil magic theory (you could probably also substitute 'intention' by 'will' here, same difference). In "Liber Null & Psychonaut" he writes about his own evocation methods:

[…] the will and perception are focused as intently as possible (by some gnostic method) on the elemental’s sigils or characteristics so that these take on a portion of the magician’s life force and begin autonomous existence. In the case of pre-existing beings, this operation serves to bind the entity to the magician’s will.

This intent focus is probably why he stressed the importance of empty-mind meditation so much - if you're able to gaze at a sigil for ten minutes straight or longer while exerting your will as a grim impersonal force devoid of any faltering or doubt, I think you've got it. The 'impersonal' part is crucial. It's not YOU specifically doing something, it's the momentum of the universe that will accomplish things. It's hard to do though, which explains the popularity of the, ahem, 'lightning method' for charging sigils where you only have to focus your attention for a few seconds.

At least that's what Bardon meant who was also big on one-pointed concentration in his IIH. It's mind magic, and apart from rock-solid concentration, you'll possible need good visualisation skills as well if you want to create entities, if that's what you mean. Haven't tried it myself though.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

IMO, intention is the deep-seated desire that you program into your subconscious. Synchronicity is what you get when you are in the correct mindset for magic, but have not specified an intent - you get whatever was buzzing around in there at the time. Yeah, sure, the unlikely event of your taxicab number matching up with your credit card number - but so what?

'Alignment' is a good word - you are trying to align yourself with the future version of yourself where your intent is fulfilled; you are literally trying to program yourself to be that person.

I have come to realise (so to speak) that the 'lightning method' works for short term intents, but to succeed long term in magic, you need to learn some form of empty-mind meditation - even if it's just the ability to banish the odd thought at will.

 

[Lion]

Im not sure I understand. How does empty-mind meditation link with intention? is a buddhist technique?

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I'm not sure I understand. How does empty-mind meditation link with intention? is a buddhist technique?

The process normally goes like this:
1) Devise intent
2) Create an external representation of this intent
3) Program the external representation into your subconscious
4) Forget about it
5) Don't tell anyone about it until it completes

Step 3 is normally done as quickly as possible, but this is only really useful if your intent is a simple one. For more long term results, you need to do the programming through meditation of some kind, perhaps in the same way that repeating a mantra long enough destroys any meaning it had.