wilecoyote said:
Esoquest, do you have any websites or books to recommend on Yantras/mandalas or any technique or system which can aid one in understanding such energetic influence?
I don't mean to cop out on you, but honestly, I found that the most useful material we can discover is that which is revealed by our own searches. That is because to find we need to learn to search. There is a lot of material on the web. Search, and let your inner compass point you to that which is resonant for you. Then look to find the BS (and there is so much that I am reluctant to point you in any direction) in it and remove that, if you can. In truth, systems are irrelevant, because a lot depends on individual predisposition.
First: I think it is best to realize that the ability is in you, and not the "system".
Second: Use rituals not so you can copy them, but to learn what is behind them. Rituals are just dramas of enacting our intent usuing archetypes. So, if you choose to explore in that direction, you need to understand it, and do some research.
For example, if you choose a Hindu motif, discover what is behind the shakta and all its representations. Read the myth, and try to see what it is trying to say beneath its symbolism. The purpose of this is so that you can design your own symbolic dramatizations of intent, using the same archtypes, and knowing that it is not the drama, but your understanding of the meaning behind it that matters.
Symbolic dramatization is an art, and does not even have to be complex. It is best, I found to discover the bare essentials or necessities of meaning in any dramatization and downscale as much as possible. It is awareness that does the work not the form into which it is channeled.
Third: Learn to discern what is going on in your environment, when people have ill intent toward you (even though they conceal it), when you are being manipulated. Gain confidence in your ability to understand the objective world around you, and you can approach the inner world without superstition or preconceptions. As Godot said, the greatest curse upon humanity is the Matrix. Learn the matrix and its ways of entrappment, and you can learn to safely choose creative forms of expressing your refusal to be entrapped.
Fourth: The crucial part of any "magic" is the transference of sensed awareness (aka "energy") from our self to the action and its representation. So you need to sense your awareness as the presence of your being. Meditation helps in this. Forms of bioenergetic circulation can also help. Self observation is a good way to discern sensed awareness through its "normal" action in you.
Fifth: Your intent must be clear, and you must feel justified in it. You need to experience what a strong conviction feels like, and connect that feeling with your sensed awareness of sense of self. This focuses our sense of the right to be. When countering any ill intent, it is important that we affirm our right to be without forcing it. This all happens naturally when your true I emerges.
As you can see, and the above five points are only some examples, the "recipe" approach to magic is not recommended. Setting foundations is, and that takes time. If you sense malignant energy in your life, if you can sustain a stabilized presence of self and level of awareness, then often enough just facing that energy/pattern with your conviction and presence is enough to disperse it.
"Magic" is like a speaker membrane in a stereo system. That is where the sound comes from, but it is only the last stage of a complex stereo system, music and power source that really combine to produce that outcome. designing speaker membranes usually works for those who already have stereos and a current outlet to plug them into (not to mention music to play).
I found most of the stuff on magic on the web worthless. And I spent years exploring the creative aspects of it, mostly as a hobby. What I got the most was the ability to think "magically", to experience any symbol in terms of how it reflects in my being as sensed awareness. By the way, language and writing is also "magical" because it provokes effects at a distance in other people. Of course, we take that for granted because we have explanations for it. Ancient peoples, however, had high regard for the written and spoken word, which we take for granted.
To use symbolic dramatization, you need to channel your awareness, to channel your awareness you need to sense it clearly. To sense it clearly, you need to have it, and hence develop it, because in most people it is muted. So research the zone to learn if you like, it may be useful, but ultimately you need to separate the little wheat there is from the chaff, and understand the basic principles behind that wheat. For that you need awareness, sensed and applied in seeing the unseen.
) I wish you well, I've Seen your heart's wound (with you Soul's permission of course) -your father and everything that went with it. I hope that heals. I also hope you find a suitable Other.You're a decent honourable man. 
