Shielding

This is a technique for creating a magickal 'force field' around your person or a place, to keep out unwanted energy. This could be psychic 'background noise', nasty astral critters, or magickal energy directed at you. Many people do this unconsciously all their lives. Others of us have to learn how. The method I use is to visualise a 'net' of energy around the area to be shielded. Remember to 'see' it in 3D, a sphere rather than a circle. (This is where those visualisation exercises come into practical use.) I generally use my personal energy to power it. I visualise negative energy being absorbed by my shields and flowing into the earth. ("Ground and Centre" here.) I visualise it as porous, though, so that energy I send can pass through. With practice, you will be able to shield yourself instantly, without thinking. I have found that exhaustion or alcohol quickly erodes my ability to shield, so keep this in mind. Once you have shields, there is lots of nifty magick you can do with them.