First, I'll talk about the anatomy of energy bodies, then about

2. Grounding,
3. Centering,
4. Shielding,
5. Cleansing the aura.

ANATOMY

In the last fifty years, since the work of Einstein, physics has been telling us that matter as we know it is actually another form of energy. The molecules we thought were solid are made up of "particles" that are actually vibrations. So our bodies are actually bundles of vibrating energies, and a great deal less solid than we think.

In fact, there is growing proof that the mystics have been correct for all these years, and we do have "subtle bodies" made up of energy patterns around our physical bodies. These energy bodies act as templates for the growth and development of our physical bodies. The subtle bodies are much less dense than the physical body, and so are much more likely to be affected by the energy forms we call emotions and thoughts.

The theory is that dis-ease actually starts in the subtle bodies with disharmonious thought forms and emotional patterns. If these patterns persist over time, they cause blocks or areas of contracted energy in the subtle bodies. If these energy blocks are not released, they can eventually start to effect the flow and function in the denser energy forms that are our physical bodies.

Dr. William Tiller, a professor and researcher at the Stanford Department of Material Science, offers the following model:

FUNCTION <===> STRUCTURE <===> POSITIVE TIME-SPACE ENERGIES (PHYSICAL BODY) <===> NEGATIVE TIME-SPACE ENERGIES (THE ETHERIC BODY) <===> MIND <===> SPIRIT <===> DIVINE

An important aspect of this model is that the flows of effect are all bidirectional; spirit effects our physical body, but the physical body also effects spirit. It is true that as we connect to the Divine and let that awareness effect our thoughts and emotions, we will eventually heal our bodies. It is also true that we need to look after our bodies if we want to avoid allowing the dense energies of dis-ease to effect our spirits. Healing can start at any part of the system, from spirit to structure, but it needs to penetrate all the layers in order to be permanent.

The denser the energy form, the longer it takes to change negative patterns. Therefore, one must be aware that emotional release, while wonderful in terms of helping us feel better about ourselves, can take a long time to manifest as release of disease processes in the physical body. Thus, it could be several months before your good work on your thought patterns will result in an easing of your aches and pains. Regular bodywork can speed the process.

There are many different ways of referring to the layers of the aura. Most suggest that there is a thin layer next to the body called the "Etheric Double," which is the energetic map of the physical body. The next layer is the "Emotional Body." The next layer is the "Mental Body," which according to some authors has sub-layers. The outermost layer is the "Spirit Body." If you are gifted with the ability to see auras, you might want to read a great deal more about this; I'm just covering basics here. Barbara Brennan's books, "Hands of Light" and "Light Emerging" are excellent on this.

The chakra system is a system of nodes of energy that span all the layers of the energy bodies and connect them with the physical body. At these points, translation between the layers is faster. There are seven major chakras, which happen to correspond to the points on the body where the major hormonal glands are located. Treating these points and keeping the chakras healthy is vital to healing the system.

There are also "minor" chakras on the soles of the feet, at the knees, and on the palms of the hands. These are energy vortices as well, but they are not associated with endocrine glands so they have less of an impact on physical health. The palm chakras tend to be very strong and open in those who do hands-on healing work. Healthy foot chakras are necessary for grounding.

There are many ways of working with the Chakras, and I don't want to turn this into a treatise on Chakra work. Generally, visualising their colour glowing brightly in their location and/or placing appropriate stones on them, and/or toning, and/or working with appropriate affirmations will all contribute to their health. This information can be accessed by clicking on the names as they appear below:

CROWN CHAKRA THIRD EYE THROAT CHAKRA HEART CHAKRA SOLAR PLEXUS NAVEL CHAKRA ROOT CHAKRA

GROUNDING

This is a way of extending your energy body down into the Earth to keep yourself solidly rooted there. A physicist thinks of a grounding cord as a way of grounding out excessive energy surges, and certainly your energetic grounding cord provides a way of letting go of any energy you don't need any more. Your grounding cord allows you to bleed off extra energy, and also allows you to dispose of any energy you have picked up from an external source.

Many people like to think of their grounding cords as their "roots". Like a root system, your grounding cord stabilises you, so that whatever happens in the world around you, you aren't carried away. You remain stable in the calm, cool energy of the Earth. Plants also use roots to gather the moisture and nutrients they need from the soil; I will teach you how to pull in the nurturing energy of Mother Earth through your grounding cord.

Being grounded helps you stay solidly in your body. When you are strongly connected with the body of Mother Earth, you are more aware of the sensations and energy flows in your own body and all the details of the world around you. This helps you respond to the world in a more immediate and appropriate way. You stay in the present moment, letting the past be and trusting that the future will be even better. This skill is vital for healing or magic, and even more so for healthy living.

Once you learn how to ground, you will want to use this skill consistently in day to day life. When you start to feel stress, worry, anger, hopelessness, or any other emotion that erodes your peace, get your body grounded and breathe in the healing Earth energy. Breathe out whatever may be excessive in your emotional response to the situation. You will start to feel calm and in control. Then you will most likely be gifted with a greater degree of clarity about your situation.

So, here is a meditation that may help you learn how this state feels:

Sit in a chair with your feet flat against the floor. Let your spine be straight and comfortable. If you want to lean against the back of the chair, do so. Take a moment to complete any small readjustments to make yourself perfectly comfortable, and close your eyes.

And gently let your attention come to your breathing. No need to change your breathing in any way, just become aware of it. Become aware of the air entering your nose and travelling down into your chest. Be aware of the slight pause before you breathe out. In. Pause and out. Be aware of the muscles that work as you draw in the air, and how they relax as you let the air out. Easily and effortlessly. Gradually your breathing becomes deeper and more even as you relax into it. Breathe in relaxation, and let any concerns that you don't need to pay attention to now seep away with your out-breath. In, relaxing; and out, releasing. Enjoy this rhythm for a few moments.

Now let your awareness feel where your body touches the chair. Feel where the weight is lighter and where it is heavier. And bring your awareness to the point where your buttocks are firmest on the chair. Feel that connection to the chair, and let your breathing focus on that spot, drawing your breath deep to that point of connection, and feeling as if the outbreath seeps out through that spot. Breathe in. Deep, deep breath right to the chair. And out, straight through your body and seeping through the chair and down below it toward the floor. In, and out.

And as you breath deep and deeper, let your connection to the floor deepen, so that some intangible part of you is sinking deep and deeper through the floor and the foundations to connect with the earth below your house. Even if it doesn't sound rational, why not pretend for a minute that it can happen, and just allow it to happen. Easily and effortlessly. Breathing deep, through this connection right down into the earth, and then push that air out, into the soil. Letting the connection grow further and deeper. Feel the nourishing coolness of the soil. Sense the roots of the trees around your root, and greet them if you wish....

Further and deeper, through the soil, down through the rocks underneath, down through the bedrock. As far down as you feel comfortable going. And feel that part of your being that you have extended deep into the earth go straight through to the core of the planet, to the heart of Mother Earth. Feel your connection with Her heart and enjoy it. This is sometimes called a grounding cord.

And be aware that energy can travel through this connection. Ask the Mother to send you her love, and let it flow up through your grounding through the earth...and the floor...and into your body. And let it flood your whole being. And know that this love is always there for you whenever you care to ask for it. As abundant and free-flowing as the air we breathe, so too is the love of the Mother. You can't take more than your share because the supply is infinite. Let it fill your whole being. Let your being shine.

Once you have felt this feeling, you can make the connection more quickly by focussing on your breathing to bring yourself into your body, and then extending your grounding cord through the floor and deep into the Earth.

Some quick ways to ground include:

Take off your shoes and socks and stand on bare earth or grass. Feel the earth under your feet and feel your energy body sinking into the earth. Breathe right down into the earth so that it begins to feel like an extension of your body.

When it's too cold or wet for bare feet outdoors, or when you're too ungrounded to be able to visualise, try this. Take off your shoes and walk across a room in super-slow motion. V...e...r...y... s...l...o...w...l...y . Concentrate on feeling all the shifting of the muscles, bones, and tendons in your feet and legs as you ever so slowly move and change your balance. It should take 3-5 minutes to walk across a 20 foot room. About halfway across, start focussing on the downward flow of energy from your feet to the Earth, and on Her upward energy flow supporting your weight. You will be grounded by the time you reach the other side.

Pet a cat.

Have a real good belly-laugh.

Sing the deepest note you can...feel it vibrate deep in your belly and pelvis. Imagine the sound extending deep into the earth...and see if you can sing a little deeper....

Work with stones: many suggest obsidian, black tourmaline, or tiger eye, but any rock can help you reconnect with the earth.

Once you know how to ground, you can often do so in 2-3 deep breaths. Just feel that downward flow of energy as you breathe out, like a special type of gravity is pulling your energy body into deep connection with Mother Earth. On the inbreath, feel Her energy coming up to you.

A quick way to confirm that you are grounded is to balance on one leg. If you are properly grounded, this should be easy, and you should be able to move the other leg around in the air without losing your balance.

Whenever you consciously ground and clear your own energy field, you will come back to the present moment, conscious of your own truth rather than another's, and able to face the world around you with greater clarity. Blessings of the Earth to you!

CENTERING

Some people suggest centering to help you with whatever visualisation you wish to do to ground. Others suggest grounding first. The bottom line is that if you are hopelessly ungrounded, you probably won't be able to center too well. Use one of the more physical techniques to get grounded and then center.

Centering is bringing all your mental processes into the center of your head. It is necessary to do this in order to have the focus necessary to meditate, visualise, or do magic or healing.

To center, let your awareness come to a point in the very center of your head. Put one finger directly between your eyebrows and another at the base of your skull in the cleft at the top of your neck. Imagine a point halfway between your two fingers. See or feel a golden light glowing there. Breathe in and see or feel it glow a little brighter. Focus on the light, breathing quietly until your thoughts quiet and the light is all you are aware of.

At any time when you are working, if your thoughts seem to get scattered you can quiet and center them by taking a few deep breaths while focussed on this light in the middle of your head.

A note about visualisation. There is a lot written about visualisation in healing and magical texts. Most people can learn to do it to some extent if they work on it. But every one of us is different, and some people will have more success using sound or body sensation to accomplish these basic energy tasks. This is why I often give techniques that use sensation as well as visualisation. If the techniques I suggest don't work for you, please look in other places. Most books on energy work or magic cover these basic tasks and some will be more visual or sensory...you should be able to find something that works for you.

If your strongest sense is hearing...try to find a note of a pitch that will resonate in that level of your head that I described. Entone that note a few times, allowing the vibration to fill your head, and let it become all you are aware of.

It is actually both interesting and healthy to center in other parts of your body at some times. Many yoga and martial arts techniques train people to center in their "center of gravity." This is around the navel, usually a little higher for men and a little lower for women because of how their body weight is distributed. Focussing here allows the practitioner to shift her weight without losing balance, and keeps one very centered in the body. It is a wonderful feeling to center all your awareness in your heart at times; this is especially useful when doing healing work or before making love.

Shielding

This is a process of defining your personal space in such a way that any energy that is not for your highest good will either not be able to enter, or be reflected, or slide off, or be destroyed when it comes in contact with your aura.

I have no conscious experience with what people call "demons" or "curses," so I don't really believe in organised attacks of evil. But it is certainly possible to pick up anger, fear, shame, or depression from other people, and these are well worth protecting yourself against.

The first step is to become aware of the boundaries of your aura. You may need a friend who is experienced in feeling auras to help you with this the first time if you tend to have an overly expanded aura. Some people have auras that are tight to their body, closed in to protect them. Others have auras that are expanded over many feet around them, diffuse and open to whomever comes along. The former state doesn't allow for a wide range of experience and feelings. The latter allows any and every bit of emotional expression around you to get in to you.

Most people can feel the innermost layer of the aura. The more sensitive you are, the more layers you can feel. Try this....

Rub your hands together until they are warm and tingly. Then put them out facing one another, a little wider than shoulder width apart. Bring them together slowly, and at some point you will feel a resistance, a springiness . Bring them closer together and see if you encounter this feeling again. This is what it will feel like when you encounter a layer of someone's aura. So try it on yourself. Rub your hands together again to wake up the palm chakras, and then start at arm's reach and move your hand inward, facing flat toward your body, until you detect that same feeling of resistance. You you'll probably feel the layer 1-3 inches out, and may feel layers about 8-12 inches out, or even 2-3 feet out.

Ideally you want to function with your aura about two-three feet in all directions around you. If you are meditating in a safe space, you might want to expand it to fit the room. If you are in a place crowded with strangers, you might want to pull it in close, especially if there are intense emotions around. Once you are aware of where its boundaries are, practice pulling it in and letting it out. See what is comfortable. You also want to try to keep it an even distance around you. Many people are pulled in in back and expanded in front. Play with it, now that you can.

So, there are many ways to reinforce the outside of your aura to protect yourself. Many people like to put a silver coat on the outside to reflect whatever comes their way like a mirror. The other most popular shielding is to wrap the aura with white light; the advantage of this is that it will let in anything that is of a similar or higher vibration to the quality of light used, but reflect the rest.

Some people like to use light of different colours, often blue or violet; blue emanates a quality of confidence and peace that repels negative energy, and violet is the highest spiritual vibration, with the capacity to transform lower vibrations to higher ones. When there is a lot of negative energy around me, I will use three layers, white, blue, and violet. The advantage I see to this is that rather than reflecting negative energies to others who might be less able to deal with them, it transforms them.

One technique many people use is to visualise a rose out in front of them to absorb any negative energies. Many people have symbols that are sacred to them which they draw around themselves, or draw and expand so that they can step into them. Some Reiki practitioners work with the Reiki symbols this way.

Another technique many people use is to visualise a ring of fire around them. This could be the regular red-orange fire, a white-hot fire, or a violet flame.

Aura Cleansing

There are many ways to cleanse any unwanted energies in your aura. Some of these are physical acts like smudging or showering. Some are visualisations . When we speak of cleansing the aura, we are not implying that it is "dirty," but one can over time, especially when dealing with other people through the course of a day, pick up bits of their energy and emotions. These may be positive or negative, but they are not yours, and can effect your ability to stay grounded and centered in your truth.

A favourite technique is to burn some sacred herb or incense and let the smoke waft through your aura, carrying any impurities away. Sage is used commonly, both by Native healers and shamans and by witches. Some other herbs used in cleansing incenses are Hyssop, Cedar, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, and Lemon.

Water, of course, is purifying. It can be sprinkled into the aura or one could take a shower...with hot water or rain water! One may want to use saltwater or water with herbs infused in it, or water with essential oils in it. One may use a sprig of a herb with cleansing properties as an asperger to sprinkle the water upon oneself; favourite herbs for this are Hyssop and Rosemary. One can also visualise a shower...and make the water droplets golden, white, rainbows or any other colour that seems appropriate . Sitting in a bath, feeling negative energies seep out the pores also works; it's fun to imagine the dark energies swirling down the drain as the tub empties.

Of course, light can cleanse your aura, too. Letting white or gold light flow in through your crown, through your aura and body, and down your grounding cord will remove any unwanted energies.

It can be interesting and useful to spend some time imagining mists, smokes, rains, and lights of different colours filling your aura. How does a golden rain make you feel? What about a green mist? Or a purple smoke? Or a glowing red light? If you experiment in this way, note the colours that feel good for you, and go back to them for a while before you close.

One can cleanse the aura using nothing more elaborate than breath, just using the outbreath to send any unwanted energies through the grounding cord . This is fast and subtle, so it can be used anywhere, anytime.

The aforementioned violet flame is another effective way to cleanse the aura of negative energies. It transmutes such energies to a higher vibration.

After the aura is cleansed, fill it with your own energy. This is usually a mixture of Earth energy pulled in through the grounding cord and Universal energy pulled in through the crown. Mix the two in the core of your being, and let this energy pour out your crown to fill your aura. Let it shine bright. This is you.

In general, an aura-hygiene program should be part of your routine on rising and retiring, just like washing your face or brushing your teeth. As a minimum, it would include grounding, centering, shielding, and running energy through your aura to cleanse it. Most people like to follow this with a period of meditation, and finish by ensuring the grounding and shielding are still strong.

Of course, you can utilise any of these processes in an elaborate form before ritual, or in a simple and subtle form at any time in the day when you feel scattered or besieged, or when you are about to start any sort of process with other people. You can't control how other people react to anything you say or do, but you can control how their reactions effect you. If you are grounded, you won't be swayed unduly by their reactions. If you are centered, you will be able to respond in a clear and focussed way. If you are well shielded, anything that is negative won't get into your being and make you want to react. If your aura isn't cluttered with other people's energy, your response will be based in your own Truth, not a whole lot of responses you have been taught by others.

Taking control of your energy body is the first step to taking authority in your own mind and emotions. It is one of the first steps to claiming your power as a healer or worker of magic, or indeed as a individual.

Blessed Be.

Text, Design, Graphics Copyright Willowsong /97