The Basics: Grounding

Once you can center yourself, the next step is grounding. Those two are necessary to set good shields.

Grounding is one of those things that I never really thought about, never considered to be particularly necessary. But have you ever tried to accurately throw a basketball while standing on a very tipsy rock? (No? That’s just me? Ok then. But you can imagine it’s awkward.)

Grounding is the metaphysical equivalent of standing on a solid rock to throw a ball. It gives you something solid to base everything else on.

To ground yourself for the first time, find a quiet, soothing place where you do not have distractions. Whether this is a private studio, or a church, or even a laundry room, the key is to distance yourself from noise and irritations.

Close your eyes, rest your hands in your lap, and relax body, mind and spirit.

Start visualizing yourself. Paint a picture of yourself in your mind, sitting wherever you are. Around you, visualize nothing. Leave yourself alone in a dark room, or on a patch of ground in a dark forest. Feel the ground under your butt, your legs, and just sit silently for a moment.

When you feel completely relaxed, as though your body has just received the best of massages, open your eyes and stretch.

If nothing else, grounding is a wonderfully relaxing, quieting exercise. It relieves tension and nerves and eases physical pain. In more esoteric uses, it is one of the first and most important steps of any metaphysical activity.

Another way to ground effectively is to channel a line of energy from yourself into the ground. By creating this link, you can stabilize yourself if you are of a less advanced level. This is how Lia started grounding. Total immersion in the earth was something she was only able to achieve later.

The important thing to remember when grounding is that you are trying to stabilize yourself. Once you have grounded and centered yourself, all other workings become remarkably easier.

Witchy Tip: If you’re having trouble grounding, try centering again. If you’re still having trouble, try to find a tree you can ask for help. See the channeling article for more details on how to use assistance.

The Basics: On Centering

I was informed when I started my training that grounding and centering were two of the most important things I could ever learn. Ever since, I have tried to emphasize these basics to those I’ve helped.

Centering is the first skill I would recommend anyone learn. It helps to bring balance and order to your mind and spirit, and after you’re centered, doing any other work becomes much easier.

As always, it is easier to know you are getting things right if you have a mentor with you when you attempt to learn a new skill. If possible, I would recommend someone who has been centering for a while and can check what you are doing and give you immediate feed back. If that is not possible, however, you can still attempt to center.

I personally think of centering as pulling yourself together. During the course of the day, your psyche gets scattered and settles in odd ways. Centering gets your mind and energy in order for a new day.

In order to “center” (the verb) you must find your “center” (the noun). The best description I’ve heard of how to do tells you to look inside yourself. You will feel your own energy and feel it going deeper and deeper in many layers. Eventually you will go down far enough that you will find a place that pulls at your consciousness. This is your “center”.

Once you have reached your center, you must reorder. Though other people reorder through meditation, I do this by pulling my energy, or as much of it as I can grasp, into my center and holding it there a moment before letting it slide back out to fill my body.

Witchy Tips: Some people find looking inside themselves hard. Check for blocks if you are having trouble looking past the surface.

The Basics: Becoming Sensitive

If you’ve just taken the Sensitivity Test and found that you are not currently sensitive, you have a few options.

First, you can do nothing. Especially if there are others around you who are sensitive, then it might be in your best interest not to try to open yourself up. Sensitivity can be an extremely dangerous thing. It attracts the world of the supernatural to you, and that can be a dangerous and scary thing. Consider carefully whether or not opening yourself is the wisest choice.

Second, you can ask for help with taking down your blocks. I’ve done this twice for other people, now. Each time it was hard and tiring work. Their sight was blocked through their own fears. This is just as draining and hard for the person having the blocks taken down, because in order to keep the blocks down they must confront and overcome each of these fears.

Third, you can try to take the blocks down yourself. This is probably the most dangerous, because you will be working without the safety net of another person. That is not to say that it can’t be done, however. Because you will be working alone, it will take more time than if you had help. You will need to identify parts of your life that bother you and come to terms with them. This will be an ongoing process for most of your life, but the more things you are at peace with, the more open to the world you will become.

If you start to notice things you have never noticed before-extra pleasure when petting a cat, possible spirit activity, if you can tell how others are feeling by their ‘vibe’-you are getting closer to your goal.

Witchy Tip: Coming to terms with your problems doesn’t just mean accepting things passively. Change what you can, and be reasonable in your expectations. Only when there is no more you can do should you just accept things.

The Basics: Are you Sensitive?

Many seasoned veterans are probably shaking their heads, but this is a very real and possibly dangerous question. This isn’t about whether you can see ghosts or cast spells, this is if you are in tune enough with the supernatural to actually see (or feel) what is happening around you, or in some cases to you. It is very important to know whether or not you are sensitive.

Fortunately there are a number of things you can do to find out if you are sensitive.

First, please answer this series of questions.
1) Do you ever get ‘vibes’ from different places and people?
2) Have you ever seen a person you instantly disliked for unknown reasons, even if they looked perfectly normal and friendly?
3) Have you ever seen a place you ‘just knew’ was a bad place to go?
4) Have you ever touched something or been some place and known more about the object/place than you rationally should have?
5) Have you ever felt like you were being attacked when there was no one there?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, then there is a good chance that you are indeed sensitive. Even if you answered no, there is also still a chance that you might be at least partially sensitive, or that you might become sensitive.

The easiest next test involves the help of another confirmed magick user. If you know one, you will need to ask for their help.

Ask your friend to channel a small bit of magick through your arms. This will entail them holding both of your hands and passing magick from one hand to another through you. Pay attention to whether or not you feel anything odd. The first time someone did this for me it felt like a warmth was spreading up my arm. If you do not feel anything, don’t despair, there is a possibility you are just blocked and can become sensitive with a little effort.

If you do not have any other magick users near you, it can be a little more difficult to determine whether or not you are sensitive. This second method with take more time and effort. You have to try to observe the world around you like never before. Look at people for their emotions. Look at plants for their vitality. Cats are an especially good way to test this as they are highly attuned and intelligent creatures. See if you can feel what you’re cat is feeling the next time you pet one.

If you are sensitive, congratulations! You are about to step into a whole new world. If you are not sensitive and want to be, don’t worry, you can become sensitive.

Witchy Tip: If you think you might be sensitive, but are still not sure, meditation is another good resource for you. Check the meditation post to know more.

Welcome Friends

If you have found this blog, there is a reason. Unfortunately I’ve only just begun to chronicle my experiences and discoveries. I have to admit, this is as much for myself as it is for others, but I see this as a way to keep my friends informed and to help those that I know.

Witchy Tip:
Everything you do will come back to you threefold. Therefore the best “curse” is ‘may you get what’s coming to you’. It protects both you and the innocent. It’s even better to try not to say things in anger, though.