Basic grounding and centering.

Blessings Darlings!

I don't seem to have posted on grounding and centering - and since I just did it in a group on FB, I'm going to share that post here.  Enjoy!

Grounding and centering is some of the most basic energy work you can do. The surprise is that so few folks seem to consider these things to be energy work!

Grounding is just keeping a clear and active energetic connection with the Earth/Malkuth/the material world - this is the energy of manifestation. There will be plenty of times that you will want to connect with other sources of energy for specific purposes, but for day-to-day magic, this is what you will need - magic to make changes in your life and the lives of those around you.

Much of what I suggested in my post in The Start Menu was aimed at clearing away barriers to being grounded, clearing away things that keep you from having a clear and active connection to Earth Energy. As you can tell from that post - I see most of those barriers as being self-inflicted.

What I do now for grounding is just turn my attention to the always existing connection between me and the earth, or make myself a cup of coffee or tea, invoke Earth with the cup (earth invoking pentagram: top middle of pent to lower left/lower left to upper right/upper right to upper left/upper left to lower right/lower right to top middle/top middle to lower left) and drink it mindfully. But for beginners, taking the time to learn it thru' a guided meditation is a good idea. There are many such guided meds out there - here's a link to one of Patti Wigington's: http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/dreamsandmeditation/ht/EarthMeditation.htm

Now - centering.

For me, centering is being clear on where you end and the rest of the energetic world(s) begin. Making sure that you have barriers keeps you from being blown about by random strands of energy that are in play in every day life. It gets even more important when you're out and about playing in the Other Worlds, too.

I LOVE the Emerald Heart meditation for this, published by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. in his book "Spirit Speaks" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EHE4K0/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 I'm a fan of the entire book, for that matter. But that's not for every day work! For everyday work, I like to just move my awareness to what some call the 'transpersonal chakra' above my head, notice it bringing energy to my auras, and focus on having it pump out a silver sparkle colored (to me, at any rate!) energy to cleanse my auras/chakras/etc of uninvited attachments and strengthen my auras in general. I've also had great results on centering from doing what's like 'chakra tuning' work, just focusing on each chakra in turn, from sacral on up, spinning in it's appropriate color. Again, there are tons of other exercises out there aimed at helping you center, just like there are plenty of them to help you ground.

So - ground.  Center.  Be wonderful.

Frondly, Fern

The Waters of Avalon

Blessings Darlings!

There is a pagan chant, a filk of the hymn "Waters of Babylon" that is based on Psalm 137:1, that has been running thru' my mind this week.

"By the waters, by the waters, by the waters of Avalon,
We lay down and wept, and wept, for this aeon.
We remember, we remember, we remember Avalon"

Rivers.  Weeping. Remembering. 

I grew up in the Chicago area.  Hymns - either Judeo-Christian-Islamic or Pagan - that referred to 'going up on the mountain' were rather at odds with the land we lived on.  And, trust me, you're going to lose a battle with the genius loci every time.

But water and rivers WERE a feature of our land, flat as it is.  My first years were spent living a half block west of Lake Michigan, which I ran to at every opportunity.  The western most border of my 'home area' was the north branch of the Chicago river. 

Other local rivers joined my internal map as the years went on.  The Des Plaines river - as far west as I tended to bike, and on the shores of which I got married.  The Fox River, where my family had owned a tiny bit of land and a barn, and where they spent as much of the un-air-conditioned summers as they could.  Stories were told of that house and land, of my uncles walking the plowed fields near the river searching for arrow heads.  Later I occasionally swam in it.  Still later, my husband and I lived along it, and had our child while living there.

Once in Maryland, while driving over bridges over waterways was pretty standard, we lived along the Patuxent River.

Now, I live in the Rocky Marsh watershed, on the Potomac river, close to the confluence of the relaxed and relatively clear Potomac river and the fast and muddy Shenandoah river.

Living water has always been my go-to for grounding and peace.  Even when visiting Sedona, Arizona - I wasn't hiking to the vortices.  I was staying north of the city along the Oak Creek River, swimming in it, listening to its voice as I slept.  Days were hiking the West Fork trail, along the creek.  I could sit on the bank of the creek for hours, watching it, listening to it.

In this Tower Time, I'm called back to the rivers.  I'm going to sit by the confluence of the rivers and listen for the wisdom.  Let the river wash away the feelings of sorrow and helplessness.  Let the living waters, as old as the hills, shapers of the land, fill me with their endurance, persistence, and power. 

And then I'll return.  And help kick ass, as best I can.

This post inspired by many folks and waters, but mostly by Eridanus Darryl Kummerow's post about how he's going to be looking for peace in his home - which happens to be near the very same Fox River that runs thru' my life.

Frondly, Fern