Newsgroups: alt.magick
From: carlton@apollo.hp.com (Carl Hommel)
Subject: Not Shields but Centering & Grounding
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1992 16:24:20 GMT

So, in the interest of furthering enlightenment, I would like to see a
discussion on "centering & grounding: how to". There seems to be
general agreement that C & G are among the first techniques that
novices should learn to avoid damage to the environment...

Here is how I describe the process to others.

When you are giving someone a backrub, sometimes the muscles running
up and down along the spine are bunched up into tight cords.  You must
gently but firmly work those cords back into flat sheets, by pressing
outward from the spine.  Centering is like that.

Close your eyes, and think about your body.  Normally, you perceive
yourself as living in just the central core of your body.  Extend
outward and fill up the rest of your skin.  Make sure that there isn't
any room for anything else.

Grounding could happen next.  Keep extending yourself outward, beyond
your skin.  Reach downward, to the earth, or upward, to the sky.  Both
"grounds" are useful for dissapating various kinds of unwanted
energy.

The proof is in the pudding,
Carl Hommel
carlton@apollo.hp.com

===
From: friday@netcom.com (Carol Anne Ogdin)
Subject: Re: Not Shields but Centering & Grounding
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 92 00:01:23 GMT

The most direct means of centering and grounding I know: Take off your
shoes and stand in dirt (no floors, no concrete, just the skin of
Mother Earth).  Now, visualize your energy flows seeping into the
soil, using the energetic flow to connect the spine, down through the
legs, into the Earth.  Keep that connection going deeper and deeper.
Sometimes, I get a mile or more below the surface (although I
recommend against reaching for the magma!).  Five-ten minutes of that
can work wonders; it is especially nice for someone who is--in the
moment--spacey, flighty, and out-of-sorts, or reeling from the assault
of just too much "stuff" to cope with.