The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Or perhaps all at once.

Depending on the type of energy you can access and work with the best.

Either of these. There's not really an absolute 'right' way for everyone; 'what you can access and work with the best' is the right way for you. And anything you can learn about working with methods that aren't the ones you work with best puts more tools in your toolbox.

Sunflower

To me the pen is more of an instrument that would be associated with air, that of intellect and fire, that of creativity. Though I usually don't think in elemental types when it comes to where I get energy from.

Tai Chi is usually taught in conjunction with energy related exercises such as Qi Gong.

I can't help much, but I thought I'd drop this link; I like her energy and aura posts pretty well.

I've been mulling this over, and my answer really comes out to "It depends what I'm using that energy for."

Doing ritual work and related magic: my training and practice is to pull the energy into me from a variety of sources (which ones vary, but it could be 'ambient energy around me', 'energy raised by the people I'm doing ritual with', or various energy raising and focusing techniques like breathing, dancing, chanting, trance, or specific ritual practices.

And then 'program' it for what my goal is, using various ritual and magical techniques, and then send it out.

Smaller, ongoing practices (centering, grounding): all within my energy body, with effects on my physical body.

More complicated but non-ritual things like preparing myself before a conversation that I thing will be challenging or a job interview: energy body practices like the category above, but usually also using jewelry (not usually obviously magical) to help focus it.

I'll also set up a piece of jewelry for ongoing workings, like job hunting or dealing with a continuing situation, partly as a mental reminder (every time I touch it or remember I'm wearing it, I send a little energy to the desired outcome)

In a situation where I want a general mode to be apparent: I do the trick of shaping my aura and colouring/filling it with the kind of energy I want to project. For example, if I'm presenting at a conference, that might be my more outgoing self, my most confident self.

If I'm at a big event (where I sometimes feel uncomfortable networking), I might project "Hey, I'd love to chat, want to come talk to me?" that way, and get into more individual conversations that I enjoy more (and find more productive.) Nothing demanding, just the energetic equivalent of a "Hey, I exist."

This is also the mode for when i'm in a crowd and feeling buffetted by other people's emotions, and want to shield.

This all takes a bit of attention (not necessarily constant, but checking in with myself every 5 or 10 minutes) that can be hard to sustain for a very extended period of time.

Other thoughts So, the thing for me about pure energy stuff is that it takes keeping track of. Which is complicated when there are things like work or commuting or doing the dishes or whatever involved. (I can't always maintain that stream of attention.)

The thing about charging an item (whether that's a piece of jewelry, a stone you keep in your pocket, or something else) is that then the item holds the remembering for you, and you can add a little more to the intention every time you get a chance, but it's not the same constant drain of attention. So, they work better for some situations. (Again, especially things that will last days or weeks or months.)

I didn't just mean Pagan events! I use the same technique at professional conferences or meetings, when I go to a concert or to go vote, or something else like that.

(And I use a variation - 'don't notice me' adjustments in my aura - when I want to go to my public librarian without being asked by a random patron if I'm a librarian. I am, but not there, and sometimes I just want to get in and out with my books.)



So, the thing I do is religious witchcraft, and my ritual work is in that mode. If I'm doing ritual work related to magic, that means casting a circle (making choices about how I do that that support my goal, which can include everything from what's on the altar to what I say in different parts of the 'casting a circle' part of it.)

I then do any final steps in figuring out exactly what I'm doing (that might include divination or meditation, but often the process of casting the circle and creating ritual space will make me realise how I want to phrase something.) I then raise and direct the energy. Sometimes that's putting the focused energy into an object. Sometimes it's running it through me or someone else (for example for healing or self-development workings). Sometimes it's sending the energy out into the world to have an effect.

There's an essay on my website about steps in how I do circle set-up and ritual work, as an overview that goes into a lot more detail.) You might also find the 'what's a circle for' essay of interest.



Some people use the term that way, but I actually use it slightly more broadly: I use the term centering for being aware of what's me and what's not me, and the term grounding for managing energy flow between me and the things around me.

Sometimes that's connecting with earth, but it could as easily be connecting with water, or drawing energy from music, or even something like going for a walk. An overview and some stuff on grounding in specific, both on my website in more detail.



I don't think of it like that, honestly. I think there's lots of kinds of energy out there, and that people can use different kinds based on their own preferences, what's available to them, etc.

And then people use all different *kinds* of methods of accessing energy (I have, for example, playlists on my phone that will give me a quick energy boost with 20 minutes or so of listening, much better than a cup of coffee.)

On the other hand, I think it's often a complicated conversation to have, because it's sort of like asking someone "Why do you eat the foods you eat, what did you have for dinner last night? How does that make your body feel?"

Sometimes that's a natural conversation, but a lot of the time, it's more complicated and personal than someone wants to get into, or it just isn't that relevant to the conversation - what matters is the thing you're working on doing.

It'd be a big help in answering your questions if you could trim your quotes and reply to the specific bits you've got questions about (like I've broken it up here.)

About using aura and personal energy manipulation in different spaces:


Depends on how you define magic, but it's smack in the middle of things I define as magic. (Creating change in accordance with my will.)



You asked about my practices. I told you about my practices.

I also do ritual (and energy and magical work) for religious reasons, but the process of casting a circle for purely magical or energetic work is not very different for me from religious ritual work. The difference would be whether one invites deities or other beings to be present, and the focus and goal of the work.

Some people ask the deities they invite to help power the magical work they're doing - I mostly am more likely to ask for guidance or advice, and then do the work of the magic myself. I might ask them to help show me things I should be paying attention to that I might miss otherwise.

(I'm pretty sure a couple of jobs that I applied for that were important in the process came to my attention that way: they were posted in places I wasn't regularly checking, but something about those jobs helped me articulate what I do well in better ways, and made me a stronger candidate when I was applying elsewhere.)

But most of the actual *work* of the magic was my energy, at my direction, and as much me doing things as sending out resumes and writing cover letters was.

About grounding


No, it doesn't just work for those. As I said, it works with any kind of energy you can reasonably access: grounding is a process of opening yourself up to energy and rebalancing.

(Also, I'm pretty sure you use *some* forms of earthly and solar energy: if you're a human being, your physical body uses some of them, and your physical body is connected to your energetic body. It may not be your preferred method or one that's easy for you to consciously use, but it's part of what you're doing, all the time, like it or not.)

Plus, saying "I can't do that" tends to make it harder to do, y'know?


 
You may have noticed that I use a variety of examples when trying to explain something. I was also talking about different kinds of energy.

Mostly, I think energy is like light or water: it has many different variant forms, but it's still basically the same stuff, it just interacts with different objects or in different settings in different ways. I don't think that there's one bucket of energy that is ley lines, and one bucket of energy that is Sun, and one bucket of energy that is my personal aura, and one bucket of energy that is the stars.

I believe we're all part of a great and glorious cosmos, an intricate system of things interacting. Our bodies interact with the food we eat (and where it comes from) and with other people, and with whether it's sunny or rainy or if there's changes in the world around us, like weather systems.

If our physical bodies do that, then it makes sense to me that our energetic bodies are just as flexible, and just as much interacting with other people. I might go to a great concert and pick up energy, I might trade energy with a friend when I hug them, I might need to recharge after a complicated day at work.

So the energy flows back and forth, in all sorts of different patterns. Some of them will be easier for me to get access to, or things I prefer, and some of them will be harder (just like I like some foods more than others, or hate having to be a morning person due to my work schedule.)

But over time, I can probably learn to increase the range of things I can use as resources, energetically, and get more skilled in how I use them. (And in fact, I did: that was a big part of my witchcraft training. I continue to do it, though the rate of learning has slowed down a lot.)

It'd be a big help in answering your questions if you could trim your quotes and reply to the specific bits you've got questions about (like I've broken it up here.)
About using aura and personal energy manipulation in different spaces:

Depends on how you define magic, but it's smack in the middle of things I define as magic. (Creating change in accordance with my will.)

You asked about my practices. I told you about my practices.

I also do ritual (and energy and magical work) for religious reasons, but the process of casting a circle for purely magical or energetic work is not very different for me from religious ritual work. The difference would be whether one invites deities or other beings to be present, and the focus and goal of the work.

Some people ask the deities they invite to help power the magical work they're doing - I mostly am more likely to ask for guidance or advice, and then do the work of the magic myself. I might ask them to help show me things I should be paying attention to that I might miss otherwise.

(I'm pretty sure a couple of jobs that I applied for that were important in the process came to my attention that way: they were posted in places I wasn't regularly checking, but something about those jobs helped me articulate what I do well in better ways, and made me a stronger candidate when I was applying elsewhere.)

But most of the actual *work* of the magic was my energy, at my direction, and as much me doing things as sending out resumes and writing cover letters was.

No, it doesn't just work for those. As I said, it works with any kind of energy you can reasonably access: grounding is a process of opening yourself up to energy and rebalancing.

(Also, I'm pretty sure you use *some* forms of earthly and solar energy: if you're a human being, your physical body uses some of them, and your physical body is connected to your energetic body. It may not be your preferred method or one that's easy for you to consciously use, but it's part of what you're doing, all the time, like it or not.)

Plus, saying "I can't do that" tends to make it harder to do, y'know?

You may have noticed that I use a variety of examples when trying to explain something. I was also talking about different kinds of energy.

Mostly, I think energy is like light or water: it has many different variant forms, but it's still basically the same stuff, it just interacts with different objects or in different settings in different ways. I don't think that there's one bucket of energy that is ley lines, and one bucket of energy that is Sun, and one bucket of energy that is my personal aura, and one bucket of energy that is the stars.

I believe we're all part of a great and glorious cosmos, an intricate system of things interacting. Our bodies interact with the food we eat (and where it comes from) and with other people, and with whether it's sunny or rainy or if there's changes in the world around us, like weather systems.

If our physical bodies do that, then it makes sense to me that our energetic bodies are just as flexible, and just as much interacting with other people. I might go to a great concert and pick up energy, I might trade energy with a friend when I hug them, I might need to recharge after a complicated day at work.

So the energy flows back and forth, in all sorts of different patterns. Some of them will be easier for me to get access to, or things I prefer, and some of them will be harder (just like I like some foods more than others, or hate having to be a morning person due to my work schedule.)

But over time, I can probably learn to increase the range of things I can use as resources, energetically, and get more skilled in how I use them. (And in fact, I did: that was a big part of my witchcraft training. I continue to do it, though the rate of learning has slowed down a lot.)