Grounding And Centering

Though often linked together in practice, grounding and centering your mystical energies are two separate processes. . . . "Grounding" is one of those energy words taken from technology -- in this case, electricity. To an electrician, to ground (or "earth") a current is to direct it into the ground, where it can then dissipate harmlessly. The [E]arth can absorb and dissipate a great amount of electrical energy. Thus, electrical wiring is typically grounded so that a short circuit (a flow of electricity heading somewhere where it's not supposed to go) will be redirected harmlessly into the [E]arth. Lightning rods work the same way. . . . [E]nergy workers [who] use the word ["]grounding["] . . . mean more or less the same thing -- taking excess energy or energy that is heading somewhere it isn't supposed to go and diverting it into the [E]arth.

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Centering is a function of attention. All energy-working systems seem to agree that energy follows attention. . . . Centering, therefore, is moving your attention inside yourself, to your center. . . . When you center yourself, you are shifting energy to create a stable center of balance within yourself.

~ Phaedra & Isaac Bonewits in Real Energy.

Grounding and centering are "basic" practices of the Witch. Wicca 101. And, yet, the longer I practice, the more I find that I focus quite a bit on grounding and centering, both during my "daily practice" time and throughout the day.

When do you ground and center?

Picture found here.

Update: Isaac Bonewits is back in the hospital after emergency surgery. Modern neo-Paganism owes him a huge debt. You could light a candle tonight on the full Moon.