Fundamentals for Working With Energy Safely

Looking at ways energy workers, once they've developed their necessary skills and practices, can create a supportive atmosphere to work in and enough self-care to keep up their quality of life.

Transcript

Fundamentals for Working With Energy Safely

People work with Akasha all the time. They set intentions, play the lottery, order things "As Seen on TV", make plans, work through their To-do lists, all without being conscious of the energy involved. That's because for the most part they are simply utilizing the Akasha which is running through them in abundance as a natural course of being alive. If they want a little more oomph they may do prayers, meditate, or engage an item as their good luck charm, and then get on with the stuff of daily life.

Those who work more formally with Akasha in all its variety of forms often find they need to be more conscious about the physics of things. Healers, therapists, those who work in ceremony, coaches, herbalists, medicine people, and manifestors of all kinds discover quickly that in order to do their work they not only need to have the required skills and tools, they also need to provide a supportive atmosphere to work in and enough self-care to keep up their quality of life.

Keeping things clean is often the first thing they become aware of. Massage therapists spend as much time washing sheets and towels as any hotel, if not more. Therapists and coaches need to freshen up their space after a long day of emotional processing has funked things up. And manifestors often end up with more than they bargained for which then needs to be dealt with and disposed of in order to move forward with their plans.

Realizing the benefits of protection and grounding usually come soon after this either as a practical means of making a practice sustainable or in response to negative experience(s).

To put this in perspective, it can help to think of any or all types of energy/Akasha work like cooking. Yes, you can have absolutely no education and still manage to feed yourself. You can have only one bowl, one cup and one spoon yet still eat without getting ill. You can never clean your food, never wash your utensils and still survive. I don't recommend it, but there are literally thousands of college students right now proving this to be true.

However, it is healthier and more conducive to happy eating if you prepare things well ahead of time, use the correct implements, and clean up afterwards. This is what protection, grounding, and cleaning are all about.

Protection

There are two general categories protection falls into concerning Akashic work: preventative and supportive.

Supportive protection is much like using potholders when touching something hot. If we're going to do work where we need to focus our attention and energy narrowly either on ourselves, the process or both, then it is helpful to set something in place which keeps the area we're working in free from random intrusion or various types of interference. 

This is in part the purpose of setting up or delineating sacred space. In Wiccan and Goddess practices a circle is set as a boundary which keeps the work and energy in while allowing the "normal" world to be held out. Churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples do the same thing in religious settings. White noise makers and receptionists serve this purpose for therapists while indigenous healers may use corn meal, salt or rice to delineate sacred space.

Preventative measures are more like birth control or, in cooking terms, turning the pot handles in towards the center of the stove to keep small hands from grabbing them. There are things we know which could happen and we want to make sure they don't, so we set protections in place specifically to ward against them.

Turquoise worn at wrist, throat, or waist protects from negative energy intrusions of all kinds. Making and wearing a power piece which represents a protector spirit or totem allows the wearer to call on those energies in difficult situations. Binding rituals, done in a good way as a means to prevent harm, keep the negative behaviors of individuals from reaching the binder. And protective grids of all kinds can engage a property or building in becoming a protective and protected space.

The thing about preventative protection measures is it helps to know what you are working to prevent. There is no reason to buy, transport, and set up a shark cage with shark repellant and shock prods if you are working on dry land in a land locked state far from any aquarium. If you've put supportive protections in place and you find you have problems with a specific person or issue, then adding preventative measures to take care of it are warranted.

It's also important to note that while setting energy wards in place via non-physical means such as setting intentions, visualization or incantation is effective for short term events or brief moments in time, it isn't a good long term or sustainable solution. Energy wards, protective prayers, spells or intentions have a very short shelf life. They dissipate as rapidly as they are generated since their source is the person's Akasha/life force/Prana and controlled with their conscious will. This means if you think a protection into being you have to maintain it with your thoughts, which of course will wander even if they aren't required to be elsewhere. It's better to have something more permanent so you can focus on the task at hand.

Grounding

Common wisdom sees grounding as a means of bringing things to a conclusion or of tidying things up. We ground to get ourselves out of our heads, to calm down when things get too busy and frenetic, or to bring ourselves back to mindfulness. This way we can recharge our batteries, get still and hear some of our inner wisdom, and come back to a sense of our true selves if only for a moment.

Grounding is built into many spiritual practices such as savasana in Yoga, silent meditation after Tai Chi, or downing the energy in Wicca. It is also the purpose of having a meal after doing ceremonial work. Food grounds us not only back into our own bodies, but sharing a meal with others grounds us in community and common experience. 

Most of these practices are done after the fact, as a means of cleaning up after the work is done or of coping with what the work, or just living, entails. However, grounding should also be done proactively to provide additional resources for us while we work. Think of it like the burner under the pot we will be cooking with. Grounding is how we turn on the burner.

Like electricity, life force has the ability to be constructive or to destroy depending on how it is utilized. In order to be constructive, it must have a clear channel, just as electricity is conducted via a wire, and it needs to have a ground in order to manage overage or discharge. It can seem counter intuitive to be securing yourself in the physical when you are attempting to energize yourself, to move heavenward, as it were, but in order to become more fully yourself you must first be fully in yourself. If you don't ground well before working with the Akashics you can suffer negative side effects such as coffee-style jitteriness, wooziness, and lightheadedness instead of being able to experience the full import of your journey. Being grounded also provides a comfortable and easy means to return to your body refreshed and balanced with clear memory of your experiences and the ability to integrate all you have received from the Akashics.

Grounding is, in actuality, a generator of energy. It is something to plug into which provides us monumental support for our lives and our work.

There is a counterbalance to our bodies and our lives in each and every moment. If all you do is reach upwards, you'll lose your balance and fall. We've all experienced this when stretching up to grasp something on the highest shelf while standing on our tiptoes. Or think about heavy lifting. If you are going to lift something (safely without tweaking your back) then you first get a wide stance, sink low to the ground, then push up. You go down to go up. Grounding is this process in your spiritual life as well as the physical.

There are various methods for grounding and each person will need to find out for themselves what kind and how much works for them not only in general, but in various situations. Grounding can be done by working barefoot on a solid surface and consciously connecting our energy into the earth. Having and using petrified wood will automatically ground a person or even an area. River rocks can create a grounding field when working indoors. For some jars of sand sets grounding in motion and for others an offering of heavy foods on an altar can connect them with rich earth energies.

Cleansing

We most often think of cleaning up as something we do after the work is done. Dishes get washed after the meal and workspaces get cleaned up after the working is complete. But cleaning should happen before as well. It's always helpful to wash your hands before handling food and making sure your cooking implements are clean before you get started.

Native American and First Nation peoples do this as part of every ceremony by not only smudging ourselves, but also the entire area we will be working with and each item we will use. Muslims wash their hands before going into Mosque, Catholics anoint with holy water before finding a seat in the pews, and therapists work to clear their heads and hearts before heading into the workday.

Once the work is done, cleaning up not only helps set everything back to rights again and make it ready for the next day, but brings things full circle and allows us to integrate what we have experienced and who we have become through the process.

Water is a natural cleanser which not only removes things from the skin, but attracts negativity and used energies out of any energy field. A bowl of water present during Akashic working can act as an air filter, keeping things cleaner throughout. It can then be poured down the sink or into the toilet and the bowl washed.

Cord cutting can remove connections which are no longer needed. Smudging can remove energies which are clinging to surfaces both animate and inanimate. Various types of incense such as copal and dragon's blood can be used if you need something stronger than sage. Sound can be used to move energies which have permeated structures or deep into living tissue. Deep drumbeats break up stubborn energies while bells and clapping move things out of corners and disperse them through doors and windows. 

Just as in cooking, none of these practices are interchangeable. Using potholders won't clean a skillet, washing a bowl won't heat up the soup, and turning on the burner won't keep you from burning yourself. Cleansing should happen, at least minimally, before starting the work and include the workspace, the worker, and the implements. Protections can either be set in place or if they are permanently resident they should be "woken up" or activated for that day's working. Grounding puts Akashic energies in motion so we have plenty of resources to work with and allows us to release them once we are done. Protections can be put away once we are done working which then allows us to clean up and prepare for the next day.

Each of these activities has a role in energy work which interconnects with the others, all of which make for a successful Akashic experience.