Book Of Shadows: all about the practice and paths

Grounding

(Yes Lisye, this is especially directed at you, you dumbass. No wonder you're always tired.)

Grounding is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, alright peeps. If you don't know how to ground, you cannot do any magick that requires the minimal amount of effort.

Magick is energy., and as we work with it, we add it to our energy, take away from it, and just generally throws it off course. For empaths, individuals who are like a sponge to the energies around them, aka me, it's even more difficult to ground oneself, because we are always continuously absorbing everyone's emotions and energies.

What in the living hell is ground, you might ask. The term "grounding" refers to the grounding of an electrical system. At its essence, it is the practice of balancing our energy.

If you don't ground regularly, especially so if you perform any type of magick, you're probably going to experience the backlash, which will feel like exhaustion, stress, confusion, and many other symptoms. Trust me, you have to ground, especially before doing spells.

You don't have enough energy to do spells without grounding kids. You just don't. And drinking half a liter of black coffee won't give you enough energy (I'm looking at you 12-year-old Lary, we all remember when you passed out from exhaustion after doing a simple bottle spell, you dumbass). So take it from my experience and ground yourselves, kids!

You should ground before and after rituals and spells, or any magic work in general. Grounding sharpens your focus and puts you in a positive state of being which can be important when you're performing a spell or ritual. You can also use grounding in your everyday practice. I ground myself every morning and night, with some exceptions due to some magick work that I might do, like astral work, or dream work.

Some magic doesn't require grounding before you get to work, and sometimes it may hinder your performance.

Spirit work, astral projection, dreamwork, and any magic involving emotion will be hindered by grounding before, but you should ground afterward to balance your energy again.

And how do you ground?

The three most common - and in my experience, effective - methods of grounding are the rooting method, the body awareness method, and what I like to call the circuit method.

Rooting method:

Place yourself in a comfortable position, and become as relaxed as you can. Place your feet firmly on the ground, and imagine your energy extending down into the earth and forming roots. The energy of the earth will fill your body, all the way up to your head, and then make it's way back down through the roots.

That energy balances yours gets rid of any excess energy and fixes any lack of personal energy.

Continue to do this until you feel calm.

Body awareness method:

Place yourself in a comfortable position, remain relaxed, and slowly go over every part of your body. Pay close attention to how everything feels, and encourage your energy to balance itself out.

Continue to do this until you feel calm.

Circuit method:

(you will need some form of plant for this. It may be a patch of grass, a tree, or a simple potted succulent. If it's a plant and uses photosynthesis, it works. )

Sit comfortably, and place the tips of your fingers on your selected plant friend. As you breathe in, imagine a string of energy (can be any color you want, mine are white and gold) coming from the plant, entering the tips of your fingers, then your bloodstream. Visualize these strings of light going through your entire body, getting all the negative energy, the excess energy, everything that is unwanted, getting stuck in the string. I see this as small specs of coal getting stuck on the string, you will see it differently. Imagine this string slowly exiting your body through your fingertips as you breathe out.

Repeat until you feel calm.

Other methods that might work better for certain people:

- water

- wind

- crying/laughing

- stones and crystals (hematite)

Another simple way to ground is simply walking barefoot on grass and dirt. I normally do this if I don't have enough time to properly ground, if I'm lazy or if I'm trying not to flip out on my family members