Grounding & Shielding

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Aoife	19 Jan 2003
I'm not sure if I've posted this in the right forum? I've been doing searches about these subjects and there's so much helpful and fascinating information - some specific threads, but many other posts in less-than-obvious places. I was hoping these could be drawn together. I'm sorry, I don't know how to insert direct links. Two questions arise for me: 1. I practice grounding first thing in the morning but it doesn't last all day! Does that mean I'm getting it wrong or not-right-enough? I don't have the privacy [and often not the time] to re-ground, so to speak, during the day. 2. It is very obvious I need to practice shielding. I think I understand what I should do, but I still can't figure out how to do it. Sub-question: How do I remove the shield when it's no longer required or when it would be a barrier? No, on reflection I still don't really understand shielding. Any advice would be gratefully received.

HOLMES	19 Jan 2003
ok here we go , 1. during the day it is customary to renew the grounding and to picture yoruself with light and affirm to your day i am surrounded by the light i am filled by the light i protected by the light and i am the light . ( pictureyourself in a tube of light, becoming a tree, angels standing behind your wielding their swords or shield of light or a big bear walking besides you ) 2. it is not good to keep up a shield per se as such a thick shield not only stops dark forces but you will start to become distant to those your love and you will feel,, what is the word blocked in energy wise and you shan't know why. the thing they recomend is to put up a net if you must put up anything so it will let the good things in and the good things out. yet i felt even with this i was starting ot stay away with those i perosnaly judge to be lesser even though they were human beings ( i know i was bad when i was young ehhe ) or strangers . instead the prefered method is a bubble of light to reinforce your energy field, to raise your vibration so lower forces can not affect you and to proect yourself with affirmations and visulations while keep yourself open

RedWood	19 Jan 2003
Well another way....to ground..is to stand up ..picture yourself as a tree or growing roots like a tree...delving down into the earth...going lower and lower...until you attach to something..loop around it....

HudsonGray	19 Jan 2003
I've found that this site here -- http://www.psipog.net/activepsy/contents.html -- has an excellent description on how to do the grounding, centering & shielding in plain language under their 'basic skills' section. You can fine tune a shield & snap it up quickly, once you know how. It works very well when you're in close quarters bumping shoulders with people (weddings, state fairs, etc.) so you don't get drained of energy. You can also ground at the end of the day also, replenish what you lost during the day. Make sure you're eating right too, and take a multi vitamin or a B complex if you feel too run down all the time.

WolfSpirit	19 Jan 2003
HudsonGray - thanks for that link, seems to have some interesting stuff there :) A very simple way in which I ground during the day is just put my feet flat on the ground and "feel" the earth, also works with shoes on except if you wear high heels.

tigerlily	19 Jan 2003
I also find that the right body posture is important for effective grounding. What works for me is to activate the pc-muscle (the muscle that constitutes the pelvic floor ... anatomy in a foreign language *is* quite difficult ;) ...) and simultaneously to relax the muscles in the small of my back. If I'm doing it right, I feel a line of heat running down the inner sides of my legs - some meridians perhaps? And I feel stabilised, having found my center of gravity. Shielding - I imagine a wall of white light around me. We have a little dog in the neighbourhood that is barking at me and my dog every time we pass him. If I manage to hold the image of the shield, my dog won't react. If my concentration falters ... well, 50 kg accelerate ...

Centaur	19 Jan 2003
What a very fascinating link Hudson-Gray.

Musie	19 Jan 2003
Just eating and petting a cat will help you ground :)

Centaur	19 Jan 2003
Musie, do you actually mean eating the cat???!!! HEHE Centaur

zorya	19 Jan 2003
hee hee musie, i hope you mean eating food and petting a cat. :laugh: aoife; after practicing whichever grounding method works best for you, for a while, you will be able to ground more quickly and easily. it now takes me just a couple of seconds to ground. for grounding, i connect through the ground, feeling energy coming up through my feet, through my body and out the top of my head. at the same time, i am feeling myself connect upwards. i feel energy coming in through my head, my body and out through my feet. it is important to keep the energy flowing. through and out. it is best not to just take it in. one method i use, that is particularly powerful and healing, is to lean up against a tree (that calls or attracts you). imagine you have roots like the tree and reach up like the leaves of the tree. then do the above method. with shielding, i envision a white light, or a blue egg (i use this for heavy duty shielding) around me. practice shielding when you can, and eventually you will be able to put it up and take it down at will. you can also learn to use a shield as a filter. allowing in 'that of light' and keeping out, the negative.

Musie	19 Jan 2003
oh gawd - yes I mean food and then petting the cat *ROFLMAO* Sorry!! hehe :D

HudsonGray	19 Jan 2003
Trees are excellent to lean against & 'ground'. I also visualize myself reaching into the heart of the planet & putting my hand on the planet core (that always gets me a burst of energy). Yes, that site over at Playful Psychic has some excellent advice. I love the fact it's in plain language so everyone can see how easy it all is. No hype, no mumbo-jumbo.

Aoife	20 Jan 2003
for sharing your wisdom and advice. I'm practising....I persevere! Holmes, [quote]Originally posted by HOLMES "pictureyourself in a tube of light, becoming a tree, angels standing behind your wielding their swords or shield of light or a big bear walking besides you ) " I immediately pictured a piece of textile art by Nancy Erikson [in another thread i had nominated her as someone whom i would like to see produce a tarot deck]. I found a picture of the piece - it is of a woman seated on a low stool, feet planted on the ground; she has an orange/golden ribbon encircling her. In the room with her are four bears. The piece is enitled "The Gathering" and captioned, "Blackfoot Indian Chief, Earl Old Person said "every gathering is important". And I realised that all of you here on this website are extremely important to me. One of the biggest influences on me in the past ten years has been "Women Who Run With the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. She talks of the Wild Woman archetype accessible to all women if we would only see. She tells a story of "La Loba", an old woman who collects bones, all creatures but her speciality is wolves. When she has assembled them she sings out over the bones and they begin to flesh out and the wolf comes into being. Estes tells us that if we are tired and a bit lost La Loba may take a liking to us and show us something of the soul. Was it just my imagination of did I feel the touch of a silky muzzle against my hand today? I do hope so!

Aoife	22 Jan 2003
I think anyone who's ever worked in orgainsations where different teams have different tasks will recognise the power of the unspoken conflict between them. I've experienced my fair share of office politics and tensions and over the years have dealt with them increasingly by ignoring them or offering sympathy to both sides. Today though, I was on the receiving end of a wave of unspoken anger from another team. When walked into the room I can only describe it as a wave of negative energy coming towards me - a split second realisation that I needed to shield myself but....too late, too inexperienced, inadequately shielded. It hit home hard and I felt really shaken - not a word had been spoken and it was certainly not a situation of being glared at, most barely glanced up. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel their anger is directed at me specifically but rather at me as a member of another team whose conditions are better than theirs. Although I could be wrong? I think that a month ago I would not have been consciously aware of what happened and later in the day would have felt unaccountably miserable, churned up. I'm trying to hang on to the positives - I'm the one seeking inner knowledge and strength, and there will be a price to be paid. I'm just a bit anxious that I've been feeling emotionally buffetted in the last couple of days and my previous coping mechanisms won't be enough. I know now I've got to work harder at shielding myself and maybe I'm still feeling shaky because I'm still too close to the experience - but it was very strange and unnerving and I'm a bit worried about how I'll cope if these experiences continue to come thick and fast.

WolfSpirit	22 Jan 2003
I used to work in a big offivce where the different departments were hostile towards each other - silly but true. I think that noone can be prepared for unexpected hostile reactions,even if they have a lot of experience in shielding. It is not like an unpleasant conversation that you know is coming, so you can prepare yourself. I think you handled it quite well, regarding it as not hostile towards you personally. If you have a few minutes for yourself after a thing like this happens. you can try to relax and find your balance again by doing grounding and centering. So you have still had the unpleasant experience, but you can digest it better so it does not linger on and starts to lead a life on its own, become bigger than it actually is. But it seems you are heading in the right direction !!

firemaiden	22 Jan 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Aoife One of the biggest influences on me in the past ten years has been "Women Who Run With the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. She talks of the Wild Woman archetype accessible to all women if we would only see. She tells a story of "La Loba", an old woman who collects bones, all creatures but her speciality is wolves. When she has assembled them she sings out over the bones and they begin to flesh out and the wolf comes into being. Estes tells us that if we are tired and a bit lost La Loba may take a liking to us and show us something of the soul. Was it just my imagination of did I feel the touch of a silky muzzle against my hand today? I do hope so! Wow, thank you for reminding me of this. I loved "Women Who Run with the Wolves", and it was one of the biggest influences on me in the last ten years too!

Aoife	26 Jan 2003
I just have to share with you how well I feel! I think I'm getting it right - thanks to all of you and those on Happiness' thread in talking tarot, 'feeling sick'. I've been concentrating more on my breathing, thanks to Insomnia Turtle's advice. Tigerlily, it started with the sensation you describe with the base chakra then I felt a surge of...... well, excitement is the best word I can think of. I actually FELT the clean energy surge through me, kind of like a blossoming through each chakra and then out from my crown chakra to form the clouds of shielding light tarotbear describes. I feel..... amazing! Thank you all so much! Eve

tarotbear	26 Jan 2003
Some other suggestions for grounding can be found in the thread 'I Feel Sick' in another section.....

Aoife	26 Jan 2003
All of this has set me thinking...... A few years ago I slipped a disc in my neck. As part of the treatment for pain relief my physio suggested accupuncture. I seem to recall it was just two needles in one hand below he junction between thumb and index finger. I wasn't aware of much whilst the treatment lasted [about half an hour, i think] but shortly after I left I was overtaken by a wave of emotion - rather like that dreadful feeling when you suddenly realise you're going to throw up - but this was tears. Worse than that, heavy sobs - which I couldn't control. I remember running - I was in a very public place and it was deeply embarrassing. Fortunately no one came after me because they'd have thought I was mad - there's no way I could explain it - I wasn't feeling in the least bit unhappy [ok i was in quite a bit of pain] - it was like a purely physical reaction. I cried/sobbed solidly for 2-3 hours then on and off for most of that day and 2-3 days afterwards. I asked some friends what they thought it might be but I didn't understand their answers and I kind of mentally shelved it. I never repeated the experience! I'm now starting to wonder if there's a link between chakras [of which i know nothing] and the workings of accupuncture. I'm not getting this reaction with grounding but it was the last time I can remember such a powerful and unaccountble physical reaction.

firemaiden	26 Jan 2003
Grief. True grief. Comes up like a tidal wave. All you can do is let it carry you away, and flow until its over. Something you'd been holding for years, it sounds like. Be grateful. Love Firemaiden

zorya	26 Jan 2003
firemaiden, i love accupuncture! firm believer in it. i'm not an expert, but as i understand it, accupuncture works with different energy meridians that run through the body. i believe some are the same as the chakra system we know of. what happens is these meridians get blocked, so energy can't flow. you had one of your meridians unblocked. stuff that had been building up, was released and came pouring out. this was a good thing, believe it or not. you must have had a very good accupuncturist.

The Grounding & Shielding thread was originally posted on 19 Jan 2003 in the Spirituality board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Spirituality, or read more archived threads.