Shielding Grounding
& Centering
You’re attending an
intense, focused business meeting where everyone is shouting
their ideas. You feel disconnected, chaotic, confused. A committee
is formed, and two people volunteer to chair the position.
When it comes to a vote, the person who doesn’t “win”
feels angry and rejected. You pick up on this emotion, which
manifests itself as dismay, panic, and a physical symptom
of nausea. After the meeting you have a terrible headache
which even your favorite Reiki practitioner has trouble dissipating.
Maybe you should quit attending
meetings forever and retire to the Bahamas. Well, that’s
not quite a practical solution. You need your job, and it
is mandatory to go to the business meetings. The service club
you belong to provides vital benefits to the community, and
besides, you made a commitment to attend its planning meetings.
So rather than quit in despair, it’s time to learn how
to shield.
Shielding, grounding and centering
are basic magic techniques that every Pagan must be able to
master, from the freshest “newbie” to the most
seasoned high priestess. You’re going to need to shield
yourself in religious situations such as a large ritual circle
or group meditation, where energy can run freely. You definitely
must use shields during a big outdoor gathering, especially
a conglomerate of other magic-users. After all, we project
our energy as a matter of course. It certainly doesn’t
hurt to shield yourself during business meetings, whether
it’s for your coven’s holiday planning session
or your professional career.
In some Earth Religious traditions,
it’s up to the ritual leader to shield all the participants
within the ceremony. Those with magical experience may be
responsible for protecting individuals who cannot shield themselves
because of a temporary or permanent incapacitation. (These
people may include little children, pregnant ladies, elders
and those with catastrophic illness.) Wiccan clergy are often
responsible for creating a sacred space and protecting everyone
within it. This could be why the traditional Witches’
coven only has thirteen members. Shamanic guides must help
to facilitate their students’ journey during a trance
state. This might be the reason that shamanic work is often
done one-on-one or in small numbers within a ritually cleansed
lodge. Yet during community meetings or in the midst of huge
Pagan gatherings, it is not possible for the leaders to control
all the energy of large numbers of people. Therefore it’s
up to each individual to learn how to shield. Here are a few
suggestions:
Using Crystals: Stones, gems,
and crystals have long been utilized by magic-users to “ground”
or “earth” disruptive energies. Some good grounding
stones include jasper, quartz, hematite, and malachite. A
crystal can act as a lightning rod, which attracts a charge
and channels it safely into the earth. Hold the stone in your
hand, place your feet on the earth (or the floor, if it’s
connected to the earth… if you’re in a vehicle
sometimes this doesn’t work, as there is rubber or plastic
between you and the ground). Envision the stone collecting
any baneful vibrations and sending them down into the earth.
As the energy is grounded, it becomes stable and harmless.
Plain quartz can collect energies
and neutralize them, while sending them “out”
rather than “down”. Hematite is great for mellowing
anger. Other stones and gems can collect and change the focus
of energy. Two excellent sources on the use of crystals and
stones, available from Llewellyn, are “Cunningham’s
Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic”, by Scott
Cunningham, and “Crystal Awareness”, by Catherine
Bowman. The latter includes a description of how to cleanse
your gemstone after its ritual use.
A note – energy is energy
is energy; in and of itself it’s neither “good”
nor “bad”. Just like electricity can be used to
power your toaster vs. a lightning bolt that blasts the tree…
it must be channeled properly to prevent it from causing harm
to any given individual.
Use Talismans: Not quite the
same as stones, a talisman acts to deflect overly-intense
or harmful energy and helps to bring about positive influences.
While gemstones naturally carry their own magical capability,
talismans often have to be charged. This can be done during
a ritual for that purpose, or by placing them in sunlight,
moonlight, running water, or even burying them in the earth.
Talismans include jewelry with a magical or religious symbol,
runes, herbs, planetary squares and medicine pouches. The
medicine bag may contain natural artifacts that an individual
has discovered for him/herself, often during life events or
rites of passage. Some Hermetic traditions use very elaborate
talismans with ancient languages and planetary sigils. Many
amulets can be purchased at local businesses. A very personal
talisman can be created by an individual for a unique purpose,
and be made of feathers, clay, beads, fiber, and/or metal.
Making a talisman can be as
simple as drawing a symbol on a piece of paper, or as elaborate
as engraving an image onto a golden disc. Simply writing a
word of power, such as “Clarity” or “Decisiveness”
can help to focus your energy on achieving that state. To
give your talisman extra power, you can inscribe the word
using an older alphabet, such as Ogham, Runic, Hebrew or Theban.
(Unless you know the original language, you’re gonna
be writing the word in English, but using the ancient alphabet’s
letters.) The book “The Magician’s Companion”
by Bill Whitcomb, subtitled “A practical and encyclopedic
guide to magical and religious symbolism” contains literally
thousands of sigils, alphabets, emblems, God names, and correspondences.
Any one of them can be used to create your own talisman.
There are several very good
books on crafting and using magical talismans, including The
Complete Book of Amulets and Talismans by Migene Gonzales-Whippler,
and Making Talismans: Living Entities of Power by Nick Farrell.
To further empower your work, anoint your symbol with appropriate
oils, or wrap it in colored cloth, as you ask it to function
as a shield. Cunningham’s Incense, Oils and Brews can
give you some ideas on how to use essential oils for magical
purposes. Carry your talisman in your pocket during business
meetings to avert dangerous energies and increase positive
results.
Using Light: Nearly everyone
has heard of surrounding oneself with colored light as a shielding
technique. White is often associated with the sun, the moon,
and in some traditions as death. A white light can push anything
else out of the way, yet it is sometimes too harsh (think
of a police spotlight). Blue is the color of the sky, and
it’s less astringent than white light. An infusion of
blue light can offer protection without being overwhelming.
Soft yellow light can be healing. For meetings where you truly
love everyone, but don’t necessarily agree with their
world view, try surrounding yourself with a rosy pink light,
the color of the dawn. Here’s an example: You’re
at your family reunion, and Aunt Bertha is commenting that
if you’d just lose 20 pounds and leave your “religious
cult”, you’d finally be happy and rich, just like
her son Egbert. Visualize a soft, rosy pink light arising
from the East with the dawn, and surrounding you with its
gentle protection. Smile and say, “Yes, Aunt Bertha,
I’ll take that into consideration” while your
whole body is surrounded, cocooned, and embraced by the pink
light. Okay, it sounds “fluffy” but it works.
Preserving Personal Space:
If you are wearing hematite underwear to a business meeting
and you’re still getting upset by a heated discussion,
you’ll need to work on creating your own safe personal
space. A moment before the meeting, take time to ground and
center. Feel your feet connected to the floor, which is connected
to the foundation of the building, which is in turn anchored
in the earth. Envision roots of energy arising from the ground,
nourishing you with water and nutrients of the earth. Feel
this sustenance at the center of your body. Or create a sacred
space as a buffer around yourself. You may perceive this space
as protected by golden light, or an impenetrable wall, or
a bubble of energy that allows only helpful ideas and suggestions
to enter. Some more creative images include a “bug-zapper”
that strikes negative emotions before they can harm you, or
a protective coating of oil that all harmful energies stick
to. With the latter image, a ritual cleansing bath will be
necessary after the meeting.
To discover more good ideas
on writing your own magical ceremonies, check out Deborah
Lipp’s Elements of Ritual, which includes tips on how
to protect yourself during a magical working.
For really tense situations,
you may actually need to call on your own personal deities
to assist you. Ask them to guard you, protect you, and guide
you in finding solutions which are agreeable to all parties.
A Mother Goddess who is used to settling disputes between
her offspring, or a God of communication or justice would
be appropriate. Several Llewellyn books contain a list of
God and Goddess names. Since I’m on a Celtic path I
frequently use Edain McCoy’s Celtic Myth and Magic.
For other pantheons, please look at the many sources available
on Egyptian, Norse, Hindu and other deities.
Finally, to preserve your
sanity during business meetings, don’t take it so darn
hard! Think of your high school homecoming football game.
All the cheerleaders are screaming for victory. Handmade signs
proclaim “Destroy the Bulldogs!” Now, the crowd
doesn’t really want to murder the opposing team. They
just want to win the game. During a business meeting, your
opponent in a debate doesn’t really want to ruin your
entire life. But they do want to win the argument and have
things go their own way. After all, their way is the best
way, right? The most effective method to deal with this situation
is to remain “emotionally centered”. Realize that
the goal is not to embarrass you, personally, but to implement
a particular idea or enforce a certain rule. Keeping this
in mind, focus your energies on creating the best situation
for everyone involved. Words of power such as “Solution”
or “Clarification” can be chanted to yourself,
or written on your notepad. Touch your talisman, amulet or
stone as you remember the true focus of the meeting –
such as a roaring success for your Pagan Pride Day event!
Finally, please realize that
in a magical gathering, the goal is empowerment. Within a
volunteer organization, nobody is getting paid to work at
their job; they’re doing it for the love of the cause
and out of personal dedication. Just like you are!
| Authors Details: A.C. Fisher Aldag
- Unknown Web Site |
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