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For grounding after a Circle -
-- After your magickal work, pause for a few minutes. Gaze at your
Goddess and God candles or at their images on your altar. See them as
physical objects and focus on their physicality. Sometimes it works to
focus on the smoke from your candles or incense, but see it as a
physical presence, not a spiritual one. Put thoughts of your ritual out
of your mind. -- This only worked for me when I was able to refocus my
mind on the physical nature of my sacred objects. Helped pull me back
to the mundane.
-- Tighten up your physical body starting with your toes and working to
your scalp. Hold the tension for a few seconds. Then slowly, starting
in reverse order, concentrate on relaxing each part of your body and
feel the return to the physical world.
-- Cakes and Wine works for some. Since food is of the Earth it gently
returns us back to the physical reality. For special celebrations I use
the crescent shaped cookies (recipe, I think, from a Cunningham book).
-- Taste a bit of salt and scatter a bit around your Circle. -- This
one works great for me. Smacks me right back into the physical.
-- A friend of mine does something very simple -- he claps his hands
loudly one time.
-- Visualization sometimes works. If you imagine the power you have
created as a mist or an aura, then it can be "earthed" by holding up one
of your tools and visualizing it absorbing the energy (the tool should
be in your receptive hand). Some people thing this helps keep the power
in their tools to be released at a later time.
-- Keep an extra candle beneath your altar to use only at the end of
your ritual. They light it with the Goddess candle (or their separate
lighting candle if they have one) and then imagine all the energy being
pulled into that candle. When they snuff it the energy is contained
within. To be released upon a later lighting of the candle. I do this.
The candle is used to light my Goddess candle at the start of my
ritual. Then I snuff it. At the end of the ritual I re-light it with
my Goddess candle and imagine the power flowing back into it.
-- Use your knife (or wand) to "cut" your Circle at the end and imagine
the power surging into the tool.
-- At the end of your ritual, stand before your altar with your
receptive hand outstretched. Visualize the energy coming in through
your palm and sinking into your body. I prefer to earth the energy in
another container, not myself. But this works for a lot of people who
want the power to remain within.
-- If you use methods in your Circle whereby you create energy moving
clockwise, then deliberately move counterclockwise to undo each energy,
visualizing it's decrease as you move.
-- Lay down within your Circle with your body outstretched in the shape
of the pentagram. Sense the elements running through you and becoming
one with your physical being. Upon standing up imagine that you are the
vessel which contains the power which has been harnessed until your next
need.
-- I have a friend her uses her broom both to symbolically clean the
area of her Circle before casting and afterwards to "clean up" and
ground leftover energy. She says the physical effort of brooming brings
her back to the physical world and helps her focus return to the
mundane.
Personally, I use the Tree of Life vizualization described by Starhawk
(I'm a child of the 60s -- Starhawk's forms of meditation usually work
best for me). It is a beautiful ritual used for grounding and centering
prior to visualization, and I have adopted it within my Circle. If
anyone is interested, I'll be glad to send that out to either the list
or individuals who request it. It's a page or two of typing, and this
is already a long posting. I would love to share it, as it works so
very well for me.
When meditating, I also hold in mind a physical scene that is my
"return" cue. It's a moment I experienced on a cliff a the oceanside
years and years ago. I use that to slowly bring me back to the
physical. I also use it to snap myself back quickly if I sense a
problem when I'm Between Worlds (a negative influence or disturbing
presence). I have trained myself to react immediately and to view that
image as a way of re-centering myself.
Sorry for the long posting -- Hope it helps some. Let me know if you
want the Tree of Life posted.
Love to all
Ahneke
Copyright remains with the original author
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