Luckily for us, thought forms are usually short-lived, perhaps no more than an hour or two. To create something more substantial requires a certain intense state of mind. Five year olds whose peers have excluded or bullied them are quite capable of brooding on this and coming up with an imaginary friend as a solution. For the duration of their existence these thought forms are as real to them as anyone at school or home.

However although we are all capable of creating these forms unintentionally, if you actually set out to create one you should observe certain precautions. There are some pagans, witches and would-be occultists out there who seem to think all you need is a hot soak in a bath surrounded by rose petals. Nonsense.

This may be enough if you are just playing at magic (and even then I have my doubts) but with thought forms there is an added hazard - if you create something which for some reason can’t reach its intended destination it is just as likely to come back and attach itself to you!

So from the outset you have to try and maintain a good, healthy aura. Not only is this a form of psychic self-defence (since it denies negative thought forms anything they can relate to) it also prevents them from returning and gaining a foothold in your auric field.

This idea of creation and return is important. It explains why some people seem to have a cloud of gloom and doom around them, why they thrive on disaster – because try as they might, the thought forms are all but smothering them. It’s become a habit. To break free of it will require long effort and patience. And like recovering alcoholics, you have to spend the rest of your life avoiding whatever it was that caused the problems in the first place.

Understanding how thought forms works can also lead us into a better understanding of hexing. You can hex yourself accidentally or unintentionally. You can dwell on unpleasant, gloomy or negative things so much that your auric field – which can normally be relied upon to protect you against most things – is shattered and broken.

Although many people claim that once you stop thinking about something it ceases to exist in the psychic world, in my experience this is a tad optimistic. Thought forms only cease to exist once the originating thought has lost its energy. Unless of course, they decide to return to sender (You!), or have been picked up by someone else’s mental energy or attach themselves to energies collected in a particular geographical place.

Haven’t you ever noticed that some places have a really bad – or good – atmosphere?