Energy Work

I was encouraged to write this guide for someone who practices  Christian Wicca. It is based on my own past experience and training in Reclaiming/ Alexandrian Wicca.

Energy

Energy is around us all the time. It is the intuitive language of the body. It is the essence of who we are. It is the subtle vibration underlying everything physical,  both living and inanimate.We subconsciously respond to it in many ways.

We are immensely powerful beings, yet ultimately all true power and energy comes from the Divine source. The Divine is manifest in the Universe, in the Earth and all Nature through this energy. To rely only on our own generated life force, we use up our own energy reserves and we eventually become dry, and unfruitful, and are of no help to others.

There are many ways of describing this energy.
In Chinese medicine it's called Chi
In Reiki,  it is the "universal spirit" Rei meaning universal, and Ki meaning Spirit.
In Buddhism and Hinduism it's called Shakti.


Anatomy of the Soul

The Aura is an energy field that surrounds our body and projects at about arms length. It is formed of various colours that change with our health, mood, etc. We can learn to see the aura, yet even if you cannot see auras, they can still be felt.
Have you been somewhere where you meet someone and you seem to like them right away? Have you met someone and come away feeling tired and drained? This is your body sensing the subtle energy of another person's aura.

The Etheric body surrounds us and extends out about two to three inches from our body. This is where our consciousness resides. It is where our Akashic records, or our entries into the Book of Life are stored. This is our true body that lives on after death.

The chakras are seven channels of energy that run down a midline of our bodies. They all have their distinct colours: red(root), orange(navel), yellow(solar plexis), green (heart), blue(throat), indigo(third eye), violet (crown). The three lower chakras are associated with our physical self. The three higher chakras are associated with our spiritual self. In the core of our being, is our heart chakra or heart centre,   It is where we embody love, compassion and Divine presence.
Our spirit,  higher self, or Dove, also known as the eighth chakra, is about a foot or so above our crown or the top of our head. It's colour is white. This chakra channels energy from the Divine source, through the Spirit and Christ Consciousness. Think of it as a kind of transformer. (!)
  

This video is a quick overview of the chakra system and it's importance in spiritual development  from a Christian perspective.

Mother Clair Watts on the Chakras and Kundalini energy

Acts of love and service also serve to elevate our energetic level from lower chakras to higher ones. So that the energy we receive from the Spirit doesn't always express itself at the lower chakras.

I'm sure you have a lot of books on this.
A good book that I find helpful and explains our bodies energy is Intuitive Healing by Dr Judith Orloff. She is a psychiatrist, intuitive and an energy medicine practitioner. She is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at UCLA. It puts the energy systems of our bodies into an easy to understand format. She explains how important it is to connect to it for our spiritual, mental and physical health and gives you ways to moving past blockages and correcting imbalances in the bodies energy.

Grounding and Centering

The first thing we need to do in working with energy is to ground and centre. Always. It dispels negativity and focuses and stills the mind. We send any negative energy into the earth, neutralizing it, and receive earth energy. Grounding exercises or meditations should be part of a daily spiritual practice for anyone.  Following is a few exercises that we did, but you may find many others that you like better. Adelina, I think is going to write a book that contains many different exercises.

One daily grounding practice is the Tree of Life Meditation. This was one of our favorites, that I still do:

Sit comfortably on the floor, or a chair if you need to. As you breath out, visualize the energy in you moving down your spine. Breath out, imagine roots moving down through the floor and into the earth from your root chakra.    
Down, and down and spreading out to become firmly rooted in the centre of the earth.
Then as you breath in, visualize the earth energy flowing up through the roots, glowing with energy. Moving up into your legs. Breath in and the energy moves up into your trunk and arms, then up unto your head. Once the energy moves through your crown chakra, visualize branches growing out of the top of your head and bending back down to touch the earth.  Breathe in, energy rises through the body. Breathe out and the energy flows back down through the branches into the earth. Do this for a few minutes. When ready, place your hands onto the floor and release any excess energy back into the earth with thanks.
Once you learn what it feels like to ground and centre, it becomes easier for you to move into that space.

One traditional Wiccan way of centering is called candle gazing or scrying:

Sit still in a quiet place with a lit candle in front of you. Allow your eyes to soften as you gaze at the flame. Do not let the image of the flame split into two or become blurred. You may feel like closing your eyes. That's fine. When your mind begins to drift, open your eyes again and refocus on the flame. Do this for about five to ten minutes.

From a Christian perspective, there is also Centering Prayer. This has become part of my daily practice.

It is centering, yet it is also a relationship with the Divine. We make ourselves available to the Divine presence in this simple and gentle monastic practice. It is essentially, sitting in stillness.

Ideally, this should be done for at least twenty minutes once or twice a day. 

Fr. Thomas Keating on Centering Prayer

This practice, like any deep meditation, helps to open up our awareness. We may find ourselves unloading deep emotions or may even experience psychic phenomenon.  In this prayer we are not to dwell on these experiences but simply let them go and rest in the Divine presence.
An excellent book on Centering Prayer is  "Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening" by Cynthia Bourgeault.

Know Thyself
The Ego and the Shadow

 There are a lot of exercises that focus on dealing with negative emotions and blockages that are generated by the shadow self. The shadow is created by our repressed feelings of fear and unworthiness. The shadow squats on the threshold  between us and the Divine presence within us. The shadow puffs up our ego and uses it to hide and protect itself.  It prevents energy from flowing freely by blocking or diverting it. Our shadow also develops all kinds of diversion tactics to avoid confrontation and often projects itself onto others. What we fear in our selves, we attribute to the "other" not self. This is how much evil is brought into the world.

When someone or something makes us angry, ashamed or afraid, it has touched on our shadow. We need to accept it for what it is, in all it's rawness, if we are to get past it and out of our ruts, dependencies and prejudices and become truly powerful, become who God intends us to be. The best way to confront the shadow in ourselves and others when it arises is with compassion. It is the lost and frightened child within each of us that is just looking to be safe and to be loved. If we are deeply entrenched in the ego, confronting the shadow can open channels of deep emotion that can be difficult to deal with without help. In Prayerful meditation, this aspect of ourselves is held within the Divine presence.

 

All this is dealt with in depth in Starkawk's Book. Spiral Dance. Her work was the basis for much of the work done in my previous tradition. It is a good idea to have a supportive community when undertaking these exercises.

Sensing Energy.

Daily practice of these exercises will strengthen our sense of intuition. Intuition may manifest itself in a sense of knowing, or feeling, or a small voice of guidance, or in dreams. Intuition is very helpful in sensing energy.

The only way to sense energy is to practice with yourself and others.

To see the aura, in a softly lit room, preferably against a pale background, look at your subject, ( yourself or another ) and let your eyes soften as you gaze just past the edge of the body. Very much like candle gazing. Our vision may become dim. The etheric body is usually the first we are able to see. Some people only ever see the etheric body. It is like a pale light, or a clear shadow that surrounds the body. As  you continue to gaze, you may notice a colour flare out from the etheric body. As you continue to gaze it may become stronger. There is a ton of information written on what the different colours of our auras mean. We have our base colour that is part of who we are. The other colours ebb and flow. My base Aura colour is green. Most people never see auras. At best all they see is an optical illusion called a Mach Band.
The aura can also be felt. Lower your hand towards your body, or someone else. As your hand moves into the aura you may feel a slight feeling of pressure, heat or resistance against your hand. Slowly sweep your hand across the body. You may notice areas where your hand finds the energy field to be higher or lower. These are fluctuations the in aura.
When we are happy and well, our aura extends out to encompass people. When we are feeling sad, or unwell, our aura retracts to protect the self. If someone is very ill, in pain or emotionally needy, they may draw the energy from your aura or directly from your heart centre. Unless you shield yourself this can drain you very quickly. Several shielding techniques can be practiced. One good one is visualizing a white light surrounding yourself. You can also draw light from your "Dove", or eighth chakra.

You can practice shielding and extending and retracting your own aura, using your visualization techniques.

Sending and Receiving Energy.

We are sending and receiving energy all the time. Energy flows through each chakra. Chakras also draw in and send out energy, like breathing. Place your hands over your individual chakras.
What do you feel. A pulse, heat, pressure, tingling? Just being mindful and paying attention to each chakra will help it open more. There are also small chakras in the palms of our hands and the soles of our feet. We generally receive energy in through our left and send it out through our right.
Energy follows intention. Practice sending energy by holding your hands about two or three inches apart. Direct your energy from your heart centre down your arm and through your right hand. Feel the pressure against your left hand. Repeat with the other hand. We can not only use magical tools but also crystals and  symbols to help direct energy. The sign of the cross is an example of a symbol used to direct energy.
The quickest way to ground is simply to stand barefoot on the earth and ground through the foot chakras. Remember, energy follows intention. Always send and receive energy with gratitude.

Clearing

After working with someone else's energy field we always need to cleanse our own. Ground. Cleanse. Bathe. Be around people that make you feel good and affirm you. Spend time alone in nature.

Everything She touches, changes.

Everything that changes, She touches.

Touches. Changes.

Touch Us, Change Us.

I think that is all I have to say about Energy Work for now.