Wicca for Beginners (7 page)

As I said, there are lots of other ways to ground too. If the taproot idea doesn’t work for you, try something else. Here’s a quick-and-dirty list of ideas. Experiment with these, or find another that makes sense and works well for you.

Quick Grounding Techniques
and Visualizations

breathing.
Breathe slowly and deeply, and imagine pushing excess energy out of your body with each exhalation. Don’t draw in extra energy with the inhalation; just draw in air. Remember to breathe slowly. Breathing in and out quickly helps you raise energy rather than get rid of it.

shaking hands.
Visualize pushing the excess energy into your hands, then shake it out of your hands as if you were shaking water off of them. Just be careful not to aim at anyone or “hit” others by accident. You can make someone very queasy this way.

tree grounding.
As with shaking hands, visualize pushing the excess energy into your hands. Touch the trunk of a tree, and imagine the excess energy flowing from your hands into the tree, down the trunk, out the roots, and into the earth. I tried this once when I was at an outdoor audition for my vocal group, and it saved my bacon. I found out at the last minute that I would have to be the soloist instead of just a backup singer. I was scared to death, so I gave all of my jitters to a very obliging oak tree in the park. As I touched its trunk, I could feel the fear flow out of my stomach, through my arms, and into the tree and earth. I’m sure my performance would have been a warbling mess if I hadn’t grounded first.

stones.
You can use the tree grounding technique with a stone. We keep a large hunk of jet that I got from a gem and mineral show in a drawer in our altar so people can pull it out and ground with it if they need to. They may push energy into the stone with their hands, or even put the stone up to their foreheads and let the energy run into the rock from their “third eye”—the energy center in the center of the forehead, between the brows. Your stone doesn’t have to be large, though. It can be pocket-sized so you can carry it with you anywhere. I have a small piece of jet in my purse for that reason. Folklore has it that black stones like jet or obsidian work best for grounding, but I’ve had good luck with hematite too. Others swear that any good solid rock that they find in the woods or by a stream will do. Once you have grounded yourself with the rock, you can ground the rock and “empty” it of whatever you’ve put into it by placing it in running water, in a bowl of salt, or simply on the ground. This isn’t always necessary, but as you saw from the energy-feeling exercises earlier, some rocks really retain energy (crystals, in particular, are like rechargeable batteries), and if you’re going to use the same rock to ground with later, it may be a good idea to “empty” it. There are lots of excellent books about the properties of rocks, and many of them list which rocks are good for grounding. See the suggested reading list for more information.

running water.
Sitting by or getting into running water is another excellent grounding technique. Stand in the shower and visualize excess energy running off of you with the water. If you have the luxury of living near a clean stream or river, or even by the ocean, swimming in flowing water is a great alternative. One word of caution: If you have so much energy that you’re feeling loopy or dizzy, keep someone nearby to monitor you if you’re going to ground in water. You don’t want to slip in the shower and crack your head or get sucked into the undertow, because then you would need a different type of grounding altogether.

eating.
Eating can bring you back to earth quickly. It’s hard to stay dizzy or heady when your stomach is full. If you’re eating to ground, slowly eat a small portion of something solid, preferably without a lot of sugar or caffeine in it. Sugar and caffeine will give you the shakes. A slice of cheese, salami, or good, heavy bread will do. You won’t need much food to ground, and overeating when you’re grounding can make your stomach uncomfortable. Many Wiccan rituals include a small ceremonial meal or snack to help participants ground.

the direct route.
Perhaps the easiest, no-props way to ground is to get down on your hands and knees and press your forehead into the floor or ground. Imagine the excess energy flowing from your forehead into the earth. I attended a ritual at a big pagan festival where the ritual leaders provided a large, flat stone for people to kneel in front of and lay their foreheads on. Public rituals can be pretty heady, if only because there are so many people there, and this was a great solution to the problem of people wandering away from the ritual site without grounding.

Shielding

Like grounding, it is important to understand shielding before you begin more advanced energy work. “Shielding” is essentially creating an energy field around you that helps you control what energies you pick up from the world around you and what energies you give off. To continue with my
Star Wars
comparisons, it’s like the force field around the Death Star—an invisible protection that you can take down or put up at will. You can create a shield that keeps everything out or a semi-permeable one that only filters out negative stuff like a sieve and lets the rest through.

Most people have natural shields that pop into place when they’re uncomfortable or scared. To protect yourself, your mind already may have built a “not if you were the last man (or woman) on earth” shield that you unconsciously put up when some creepy person sits next to you during happy hour. Or maybe you’ve got a “please, please don’t notice me” shield for when you didn’t prepare for your class or business meeting and you don’t want your teacher or boss to ask you questions about the material. (Word to the wise: Don’t use the “don’t notice me” shield when you’re driving. You’re more likely to get home in one piece if the other drivers can see you.) These are more traditional “barrier” shields, but you may also already have a shield that gives off a specific kind of energy that you want to project, such as the “I’m strong and powerful, and I could take Jet Li in a fight with one arm tied behind my back, so don’t mess with me” shield for when you are walking down a dark street alone.

Why do you need a shield? When Wiccans work with energy and try to improve their psychic skills, they naturally become more sensitive to their environment, and shielding helps them filter out ambient energetic “noise.” You probably don’t want to pick up the vibes of everyone around you in a crowded restaurant, for example, or a shopping mall the day after Thanksgiving. If you’re psychically sensitive, it’s easy to get overwhelmed in noisy public places. Sometimes, too, we have to deal with “toxic” people at work or elsewhere, and although we can’t avoid them, we can shield ourselves to prevent the negative stuff that they exude from sticking to us. Once Wiccans have created shields that strain out that extraneous stuff, they can focus on whatever ritual or spell work they’re doing without energetic interruption, and draw in only the energy that they need and want.

When some Wiccan students first hear the word shield, they interpret it as if it were referring to a literal suit of armor, and begin to worry that if they do energy work they will need to protect themselves from evil spirits or black magic. Don’t worry—working with earth energy is not going to attract negative energy beasties and malevolent imps to your front door. You’d have to be doing some pretty dark magic to conjure up things like that—if they even exist at all. You also might encounter people who say they use shields to ward off “psychic attack” or negative magic directed at them. Most of the time, this is just plain silly. It’s true that you can use a shield to prevent such an attack, but don’t go worrying that people are using some secret psychic power to mess with you. Most people either can’t or won’t carry out a psychic attack against someone else. It’s not that easy, and it’s not at all common. With the Rede and Threefold Law, any Wiccan would think twice before attempting psychic attack. When someone tells you that they’re under psychic attack, take it with a grain of salt. It’s certainly not impossible, but more often than not, people create stories like this to ferment a little drama and get some attention.

That said, a shield is still an important tool for a Wiccan to have. Building one is simple.

exercise 7: shielding

First, think of an image that you could use to protect yourself. For example, it’s common for Wiccans to imagine their shields as a bubble encircling their bodies. Others imagine that they’re wearing a suit of armor or are surrounded by a ring of fire. I have one student who uses a castle with a moat and drawbridge, and a friend who imagines a powerful snake coiled around her (loosely, of course). Choose something that you can picture easily and that you don’t think is silly.

Once you have chosen an image, sit comfortably and relax. Ground. Take several deep breaths. Imagine a ball of energy sitting at the top of your taproot. Make it a color that you associate with protection. Visualize the ball of energy until it feels real to you. Then extend the energy to surround your body and take the shape of the image that you’ve chosen. If you’re working with a bubble, you might see the energy as a blue bubble that begins in your body but grows to expand past the bounds of your body and surround you. Use visualization to make the bubble real and solid. Imagine unwanted energies bouncing harmlessly off the surface. Stand up and move around. Your shield should move with you. Practice keeping it up while doing ordinary tasks such as vacuuming or brushing your teeth. Visualize it until it is absolutely real for you.

Practice shielding regularly in a quiet space. When you think you’ve got it down, try doing it in public and see if people react to you differently. Remember that this shield is purely defensive; it’s not meant to project your energy at others. Try using it in several different places and circumstances, and note what feels different about it in each one. And don’t just practice putting it up. Take it down too. To do that, simply “suck” the energy back into the ball at the top of your taproot, and ground out any excess energy through the taproot. See how quickly you can put your shield up and take it down. Practice doing this in a crowded place where there are many distractions.

If the bubble image doesn’t work for you, here are a few others to try. Remember, though, that the strongest shield will be the one you make up yourself.

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Imagine that you are surrounded by a brick wall. The wall is impenetrable, but it is light, and it moves with you.

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Imagine that you are surrounded by a ball or ring of fire.

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Imagine that your skin is a shiny, reflective surface that bounces back any energies you don’t want.

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Imagine that you are wearing a light but impenetrable cloak and hood.

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Imagine that you are surrounded by protective light in the color of your choice.

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Imagine that you are wearing an energetic haz-mat suit.

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Imagine that you are surrounded by barbed wire. (Only use this one if you don’t want anyone to come near you.)

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Imagine that you are surrounded by a wall or ring of clear ice.

exercise 8: shielding with a partner

Now that you’ve got a strong shield, try working with a partner to see if you can feel each others’ shields. Sit in chairs or on the floor, facing each other. Start with your shields down. Ask your partner to start with his or her hands far away from you and then slowly move them toward you, stopping when he or she feels your natural shield. This is not the shield that you have created for protection; this is your natural energy field. For some people this field extends several inches out from the body, and for others it’s very close to the skin. It will feel like gentle resistance. Once your partner has felt your natural shield, see if you can feel his or hers.