Intuitive Energy Work

Grounding and protection are two different skills used in a variety of spiritual practices. The term “grounding” refers to bringing one’s self into a state of feeling physically present, balanced and connected to the Earth. In itself, it can be a state of rest or readiness depending on what work you are about to do. When you bring in the purpose of protection, grounding becomes a state of stopping, bracing, closing down vulnerabilities and drawing up energy.

Probably the most common reason someone would ground and protect was if they felt threatened. In such an instance, the reaction is to drop back and shield one’s self from the verbal, physical or psychic menace. Being able to ground in a crisis helps in dealing with sudden emergencies. People who work as healers work to develop this ability so that they can maintain their own energies while doing healing on others.

Doing meditation or visualization is a good way to get grounded if you don’t feel that way. After attendance at large public rituals, many people who practice with smaller groups or as solitaries will often report feeling very spacey and ungrounded. Most often people visualize a connection with the Earth when grounding, either drawing up energy from the ground if they feel tired and are trying to re-energize, or let excess energy soak into the soil if they feel too hyper and wound up. Drinking water or having a light snack can help you to feel more “back in your body.” Tasting a pinch of salt is sometimes done to help ground energy especially at the end of a ritual.

When working protection in with grounding, often a visualization drawing energy up from the Earth is done.  This energy is then imagined as a sphere or barrier between the person and the environment.  You can individually make your protective aura let in or keep out whatever you wish, and it can be as large or small as you need it to be.  Some people visualize a large ball around them, others see their protective energy as a thin layer like a psychic wet suit.

Some people like to work with crystals for grounding and protection.  The first chakra is strongly associated with both qualities.  Corresponding colors are dark reds and black.  The black offers more of the protection and red is good for drawing up protective energy or strengthening your ground connection.  Obsidian, smokey quartz and hematite are good stones as are rough pieces of ruby.  Rose quartz makes one feel more comfortable being in the body; being a pale pink, it acts like a gentle red and is good for people who feel like they are somehow out of their bodies.

Centering and projection refer to the ability to raise one’s own energy and then direct it as needed. This could be for your own sense of well-being or it could be as part of a magical task at hand. Before you really work on these skills, it helps to already be able to ground and protect. Once you can connect with an energy source, you can then work towards moving that energy.

In centering, most often the person is encouraged to find their own center. Feel where in your body the “center” is. Where do you feel like you are in your body? When you are centered, you can feel yourself in your body not only physically but mentally. When centered, you wind up observing yourself along with your environment. In this state, there is no expectation. Physical feelings and thoughts are allowed to come and go as they will.

Once centered, you may wish to ground again or do other exercises to align mind, body and spirit depending on how you feel. If you yourself are balanced and well-focused, then you are in a good state for doing ritual work or healing without becoming drained or unfocused. As mentioned above, one of the key qualities of centering is to be free of expectation, not only our own expectations but those put upon us by others.

Once you can ground yourself and then draw up a reserve of energy to use, then you can work on projecting. This refers to sending energy out, and it can be manifest in both passive and active forms. Sending out energy in a receptive way can work as a form of personal sonar, letting you sense energy and vibrations that are physically further from you. Or it can take an active form for use in healing or manifestation work.

One of the best exercises I ever did for projecting was at a festival. The workshop group was led through grounding and centering exercises first. Then we stood in a circle with one person in the center. That one person was told to shut their eyes, and hold up a hand, palm facing outwards from themselves. Turning slowly, we each tried to “feel” what was in front of us, pointing with one finger whenever we felt “something.” With an incredible degree of accuracy, each one of us took a turn, almost unerringly pointing at the other people standing in the circle as we turned. All I can say was my hand nearly always felt a “warmer” spot when it was facing a person versus an empty space.

You can practice at home by yourself too. Try seeing if you can sense houseplants around a room. Or you can put some crystals in the sunshine to get nice and charge up and then place them around a room and try to feel them. If you have cats and they walk by silently, you may be surprised to find that you can learn to “feel it” even with your eyes closed.