How to shield oneself.
Given that all almost every pagan I have met is some form of empath one of the first thing I teach my students is how to ground and how to shield. If you are an empath going out in the world without a shield is like leaving your home out into a blizzard without a coat.
There are lots of different ways to do this and you are going to have to find one that works for you. If you are an empath it is absolutely irresponsible to not to learn and practice these skills. You can cause harm to yourself and your family. You know the saying if mama ain’t happy aint no body happy. Well if you just walk around like a giant magnet for everyone’s energy you’re going to feel icky and that affects your family. You may also start to feel depressed or fatigued and you not only don’t need to but you shouldn’t have to. That choice however is up to you. I know I may sound harsh but I am so saddened by the amount of sensitive souls I see that are harming themselves and then feeling awful and sometimes lashing out at others. I don’t want you to be in pain. I don’t want you to suffer. I want you to take responsibility for your care.
How to ground.
This is the one I use and teach but there are others.
To start with you must take deep breaths and calm yourself. Breathe yourself into your body. Wiggle your toes and shift your attention to each part of your body. When you get to your crown breathe in and then visualize roots coming out of your feet or your bum going down, down, down into the earth. If say you are on the 30th floor you just have to visualize really long roots. Make your roots strong and feel yourself as part of the earth. Let excess energy flow down the roots into the earth.
How to shield.
Center yourself and slow and deepen your breath. (Yes you can do this in public without people noticing) you are going to want to create a bubble around you. You can do it several ways here is just a few.
1. Breath out and blow your bubble up so that it surrounds you.
2. Picture a golden (or color of your choice) starting at your feet and swirling up around you creating a shield around you.
3. Again breath in and out and picture a bright light glowing inside of you and you breath in it grows and grows until you are surrounded in blinding bright light.
You get my point it. Working with your breath you are going to construct some sort of bubble around you. When you are in a situation that you feel to be particularly bad see your bubble as a mirror. See your reflection in it and picture the energy or emotion coming at you being reflected back to the own of it.
A final note. I have heard some folks say they don’t like this idea as they feel it will make them disconnected with their loved ones or the energy exchange that they do with their children. This can be true or it cannot be true. It is completely up to you and how you build your bubble or circle. You can also use words to set your intention of your bubble. Such as
“Within this bubble I’m safe from unwanted energy or emotion. I am in charge of my being and in charge of my energy. I freely let energy flow unless it would be harmful for me.”
This might not be easy at first and that’s ok. It is a learned skill and the more you do it the easier it will become. Eventually you will be able to just snap a bubble around you or put up a mirror when you feel unwanted energy.
Brightest Blessings.
Poppy
bookofshadowsandblessings 