by Jaclyn Cherie
I don’t know about anyone else but the combinations of Capricorn (my rising sign), Neptune in Retrograde (I have Neptune in the twelfth house) and Pluto’s influence, have seemingly sucked the life right out of me.
All the while making me full of angst, and bringing to the surface deeply buried emotional debris that I must face, and release.
This all began on my Solar Return of this year, which was on June 24th and happened to coincide with the Cancer New Moon; it has been a series of tests, rapid growth, and transformation ever since.
As a Cancer, a true Moon child, I don’t always handle Full Moons well and find myself far more sensitive and open to energy than I am on a regular day.
In recent years, I have gained a sensitivity to the New Moon as well; both influenced by the moon, the madness’s displayed are two different forms of lunacy.
You see, dealing with energy is not anything new for me as a witch, for any witch.
I know that many fellow traditional witches steer clear of using the term energy worker, they often associate it with the term lightworker, and new age, pseudo bullshit, but the reality is:
Everything we do is a matter of manipulating energy, and bending it to our will.
Working with energy all the time can, and does take its toll.
The magickian requires rest, and self-care the most when participating in ceremonial and/or ritualistic magick, or a burnout is imminent.
If you are anything like me, your everyday life is a ritual—everything you do is intertwined with your magick, everything you do serves and feeds your Higher Self.
Which is precisely why self-care is paramount.
Since I first read the book Alice in Wonderland I have always thought the analogy of “tumbling down the rabbit hole” was perfect for the esoteric/magickal path.
I mean, we do basically wake up one day and decide that how we are doing things is no longer working; it’s no longer serving our Higher Selves and we realize that some serious life adjustments on all levels are required.
Once the process begins, it’s forever; the moment you think it’s over, or that you possibly can’t learn anymore, is the exact moment you need to pay attention because the Universe is going to serve you a piece of humble pie.
Dealing with all this energy, processing massive amounts of information, discerning fact from fiction, sorting through what resonates and dropping what doesn’t is hard, demanding, grueling work.
So how do we recover?
How do we restore our energy, and balance, even our sense of normalcy after being rocked by a cosmic event? Or, any major event for that matter?
What are the best methods for any witch, mystic and/or spiritualist to take so that we can bounce back after being thrown into the abyss?
Grounding:
There are many ways you can ground your energy—the trick is finding a method that works for you.
One tried and true method for myself is carrying or wearing Black Tourmaline, Smoky Quartz, Jet, Nuummite, or Labradorite (any stone associated with the Root Chakra will do).
Since it is summer time here in the Northern Hemisphere, simply going outside barefoot, laying in the grass, or hugging a tree (yes, literally) can have an automatic grounding effect.
I find that setting intentions while grounding helps tremendously as well.
Cleansing your Energy Field/Aura:
As with grounding there are many ways this can be done.
You may take a Selenite wand for example, and in a gentle clockwise motion make small circles all around your body. Those small circles in turn become moving pockets of high vibrational energy surrounding your body.
Or, you can do an herbal smoke bath; the traditional herb to use is white sage (Salvia Apiana) but you could use a mixed bundle depending on your desired outcome.
Other suggestions would be Cedar (Thuja), Mugwort (Artemisia Vulgaris), and Palo Santo (Bursera Graveolens).
Another effective way to cleanse your energy field is by holding, carrying or wearing a piece of Citrine, and/or Clear Quartz. They are both master healers, and do their job without any effort on your part.
Lastly, my personal go-to method to cleanse my aura when I have absorbed too much is a shower, bath, or simply walking/hiking near water.
Nature in general has healing effects on the body but water amplifies those properties tenfold; if you want to add an element of grounding to your shower or bath, add Epsom or Pink Himalayan Salt.
Staying hydrated, and eating well:
This probably sounds crazy to many of you but, what we put into our bodies has a significant impact on us, and many people don’t think about the effect it has on our Magick!
When we eat foods that are full of preservatives, additives, and are labeled as “food like substances” we are not nourishing our body—so we are surely not nourishing our souls.
I know that healthier food options can be pricey and not everyone can afford organic this or that; that’s not the point, the point is clean eating.
Try to eat a balanced diet, and everything in moderation—no one is suggesting depriving yourself the joys of food.
Another tip that goes along this same train of thought is eating foods associated with your chakras.
This can be done by eating color associated foods, or foods that are by nature associated with your chakras (ie. root vegetables for your Root Chakra, or aphrodisiacs for your Sacral Chakra.)
Staying hydrated is a general tip for our well-being, but how it relates magickally is, water is a carrier – it carries into us vibrations.
If we are thinking, or talking negatively and sip some water, we have essentially just taken into our bodies all that bad energy. Same theory applies to positive talk.
To combat any negative energy riding on the waves of my H2O, I add crystals to the water (be sure to study beforehand that the crystals you choose can be submerged). I have Smoky and Rose Quartz in mine.
Movement:
What I really mean is exercise or, at least active meditation; it doesn’t have to be hard or strenuous on the body. I find yoga and hiking are what work best for me.
Tai Chi, and dancing have been game changers, too. Both are great ways to get the heart pumping, and the body loosening up.
We store our emotions, and excess energy (stagnant, trapped, or otherwise) in our bodies, and the only way to get that energy moving is to get it out.
We are powerful beings, energy sources in our own right but we must remember to restore the used energy or else we get stuck in a never-ending cycle of pouring from an empty cup – which in the end only harms ourselves.
Regardless of the path we walk, our number one priority should always be ourselves, and our well-being; that includes taking care of both our spiritual and mundane selves.
When you forget to take care of the spiritual, the mundane will suffer and vice versa.
It’s all an act of balance.
IN CONCLUSION
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