ghost in the machine

(I was going to use a serious title, but then I thought of the pun, and puns always win)
A friend recently did some damage to her energy body. She asked me to take a look, see if I could figure out what had gone wrong, and what she did, so I did just that. I told her I saw a blockage in a certain area, three hours later she left a party in pain, three hours after that she was in the hospital . Sure enough where I saw the block there was a calcification in her body, a literal physical block, and it flared up bad. Don’t know which came first, the energetic or the physical, both can bleed into the other, but it doesn’t really matter. (She’s being treated and doing better in case anyone cares about my random friends)
Anyways, this story is to make a point, but first I have to make another supporting point, I was right. Sounds odd, but the thing is I met this friend once in passing, we’ve really only communicated online via facebook. I don’t have any physical links to her, haven’t known her long enough or connected enough to have etheric links to her, but none the less I was able to link to her and view her, evidently accurately, without any difficultly.
On facebook a week or so back The Professor mentioned that she left facebook open on her computer, which was kept right beside her bed. She found her dreams and the people in them corresponded with people using facebook at that time, and more interesting than that two people messaged her in that time, and she dreamt of them messaging her, though her dream communications were different from the real ones. Here it looks like she is accidently connecting to people through facebook in her dreams. Both of these events got me thinking about attitudes around the internet and links in magick.
Despite this, all the time in books, and more ironically online, I see people saying you can’t get a magickal link online, that you can’t hook that astral connection through a digital medium, and then talking about all these super complicated ways to forge links. I’ve had someone tell me that my divination services must surely be fraudulent because I don’t require pictures, names, and birthdates to do my readings. I’ve seen people in flame wars (cause let’s face it, magickians can still be a big bunch of children online too) say they’re safe from magickal harm, not due to their defense, but because it’s the internet and you can’t reach them through it.

I don’t know where this attitude came from. I could see it being from two related sources. Either the inability for some magickal folks to update to the times, or a resistance to such experimentation because it seems goofy. I guess I was lucky I avoided this attitude (in part because the net was barely a thing when I started some of my training), but early on I was taught how to grab links through phone conversations, and when chatting moved online it was just a skill I transferred. (Or maybe the horrible portrayal of Technopagans on Buffy shot down the serious discussion) Or perhaps I was influenced the other way through growing up watching Reboot and could see the net as being a thriving and alive system to surf from place to place?
Personally I don’t see why you can’t establish a link online. “But people use aliases and fake names.” And they do so in real life, and they might have shields and glamours, but you can still grab a link if you know what you’re doing. “But the net is just ones and zeros, there is nothing for magick to travel along.” Other than the communication itself, or the signals, or the wires… “If you don’t already have a connection, you can’t make the link.” Funny that doesn’t seem to be an issue when we exclude the net, we make do, and I argue the net works just fine.
Now, my caveat before I continue, is you can’t necessarily use any communication online for a link (or perhaps you can, but it just becomes far more difficult). There does seem to be a time limit. I won’t even posit how long it is, but it seems like the older a communication online is, the harder it is to connect with. Think of it like sensing someone’s energy in a room. You can walk in a few minutes later, and get them no problem, an hour, it’s a bit harder, a day, maybe, more than that it will take serious work to grab on. Online it’s the same, also there is an element of diffusion I find. I can use an email or facebook message as a link for a longer period than I could a facebook status or forum post. I don’t know if it is because one is directed at me, or if being more public it gets “washed” away, or some combination (or third or more options, reality is complex).
Without the internet, if I lack a strong link the easier way for me to connect to someone is through a mirror. (Some of my earliest training was with magickal mirrors, so it’s not surprising I fall back into it) I sit in front of the mirror (I have a triangular black mirror I use), often have candles going to get the light level right, and I relax. Then any connection I can muster I put into the mirror. Just their name if I only have that, or a memory or incident (the man who ran into my mother at the store), or connections (So-and-so’s boss), whatever mental or energetic link I can drudge up I put into the mirror. Eventually this builds until the mirror becomes a gate, and I can skry through it. No physical or pre-existing link needed, but now I have my way to reach them. (Simplified, but more or less this is all there is to it.) Oddly, folks rarely complain that I can’t do this, I guess this just seems more classically magickal?
Not surprisingly again the way I use the internet is almost the exact same, but actually so much easier. That chat window or the email, or whatever, that already has all the link I need in most cases. I just open it up, make it take up as much room as possible on my computer, and I skry through it. I say skry, but as I’ve mentioned before on here the line between skry/project can be blurry, but I might say I more project. That internet communication is like my attuned mirror, relax and go through. I don’t have the time or energy to get into the how’s here in detail, and I’d like to think my friends here have a sense on how to do something arguably basic, but here is a simple simple explanation of how to do it.
Have the screen open. If you’re not used to it, you might want to turn off the lights, put the screen down to a dim setting so it doesn’t hurt your eyes in the dark, then sit, relax, meditate and centre yourself. Then when you’re ready draw your awareness of yourself up into your head, take the attention you have of the world around and feel it compact into your head. You’re trying to make almost a point of consciousness. Don’t worry if you can’t/don’t lose awareness of your body or surroundings, it’s not necessary, but the bulk of the focus should be in this sphere in your head. Then “pour” it out your eyes (Third eye included) or the top of your head into the computer connection. That screen is your mirror, your gateway, your link to that person, it’s a window and they’re on the other side. For me there is usually a tumbling and falling sensation as my mind follows the links, never lasts for more than a second or two, and then suddenly I’m there, with the person. To come back you can either reverse the trip, or without doing so shift your awareness to your navel centre, like you did with your head before, but there is something about shifting your focus to the navel that seems to be an automatic recall (at least for me).
It is arguably, as simple as that. So if you’re one of those people who think you can’t get links online, try The Professor’s accidental method and leave an email or facebook open beside your bed, see what happens, or try skrying my way, and see what comes from it. Or if you’re someone who doesn’t see the internet as an impossible magickal divide, what do you do to connect with someone over the internet, especially when you have little or no previous connection to them?