How to Ground & Center
What is grounding & centering?
Have you ever noticed that, sometimes, you feel a little scattered? Maybe you feel like you're all over the place, or you can't focus, or your anxiety is cresting and crashing into your body at random intervals. Perhaps you get so caught up in whatever "thought tornado" that is whipping its way through your brain that you can't really see anything else.
Sound familiar?
Grounding and centering to the rescue!
Grounding and centering is a term often used by the witchcraft & meditation communities (among others, I'm sure!). It refers to grounding our energy and centering our attention. It's a deceptively simple practice, and I'm the first to admit: As a novice witch, I would totally skip over the notes in my books that said I should ground and center before performing any witchy or energetic work.
And guess what happened?
I would burn out. I'd end up using all of my own energy for whatever spellwork or effort I was doing. Or I'd get what felt like an energetic "high," only to crash hours later, immobile and cranky.
This leads to inefficient and ineffective energy work, not to mention it doesn't feel good.
When we ground and center, we intentionally connect to the earth's energy and orient ourselves to our soul's energy. The earth is a beautiful, wonderful source of energy: It can take any energy we send into it and filter it, recycle it, refresh it for new use. When we ground & center, we gain confidence, energy, stability and security.
How can I ground & center?
There are as many ways to ground and center as there are witches, I'm sure. While everyone has their own way of grounding and centering, I've developed a technique I call "anchoring." It feels like a three-dimensional version of grounding and centering that anchors our physical bodies firmly in the physical (or "middle") world, as well as in a particular space and time. Because the witchcraft I often do involves astral work—whether astral journeys, astral projection, lucid dreaming or simply energetic work on the astral planes—this technique for grounding and centering helps me and my students journey into the upper and lower worlds with confidence and without any lingering physical effects.
As you probably know by now, I’ve been dedicated to working with the Goddess Hekate since 2018, and many of my students and clients are Hekatean witches. The technique below includes notes about how Hekatean witches can adapt this to their witchcraft. But you don’t have to use those parts if you don’t want to!
Grounding and Centering using the Anchoring Technique
To begin, close your eyes and take three deep breaths. Then turn your attention to your heart center—the electromagnetic center of your body. From there, visualize your energy extending down your body and into the earth. This could look like tree roots growing from your feet, an electrical cord plugging into the earth or any other form of energetic connection that makes sense to you.
Really feel the energetic connection. Dig those roots or cord deep into the earth. As you exhale, release any tension in your body—let it slide on down the cord, from your body and into the earth. As you inhale, breathe in the new energy from the earth. Do this a few times.
(Hekateans: Visualize a black ribbon or cord unleashing from your heart to connect to Her lower realm. You may want to call on Hekate Kthonia.)
When you're ready, keep that connection in place as you turn your attention back to your heart center. From here, do the same thing, but this time, up into the heavens.
Grow your tree branches or electrical cord or energy column up into the Earth’s atmosphere and anchor up there. With every exhale, release the thoughts that no longer serve you to be swept away and renewed. As you breathe in, notice the fresh air energy as it enters your energetic body. Do this a few times.
(Hekateans: Unleash a white cord or ribbon to connect with Her upper world energy. Call on Hekate Astrodia.)
When you're ready, keep that upper connection in place and return your attention to your heart center. You are anchored above and below, and now it's time to anchor in this middle world.
This time, on each inhale, breath in energy from both above and below. On each exhale, visualize your energy extending from your heart center around your body, perhaps in an egg or circular shape around you about the distance of your arms. This is a sphere—you are completely protected within this energetic boundary you are creating. Do this a few times, until you feel your energetic container is strong.
(Hekateans: Visualize the black and white energies coming together to create the red blood of life on earth.)
After you've establish your three-world anchor, you can begin your energy work, whether you are going on an astral journey, doing spellwork or simply meditation.
When you have finished your practice, be sure to return your attention to the anchors you put in place, and retract them. I like to think of it like a measuring tape, retracting itself back—swoosh!
Energetic Boundaries and Protection
This anchoring technique for grounding and centering is a great way to begin building your energetic boundaries and protection. Try doing this exercise each morning before you get out of bed. At the end, when you retract your anchors, focus on retracting only the anchors in the upper and lower worlds—leave your energetic container in the middle world intact. If you need to you, you can focus on that container throughout the day to strengthen it.
There are so many ways you can experiment with this protective energy sphere. When you set it up each morning, think about how you want to program it. Do you want it to be strong and solid so that absolutely no one's energy gets through? (I've created containers that I visualized as steel-lined concrete!) Do you want it to be permeable to specific energies while keeping out others? Have fun trying out different visualizations, and see how you feel as you go through each day.
As you practice this technique daily, you'll build your energetic muscles and work toward creating a solid energetic defense with protection that you are confident in.
Written by Kee Hawthorne Reiter, a witch, tarot reader and psychic medium focused on helping clients live empowered lives.
Curious about witchcraft or Tarot? Uncertain about energetic boundaries or protection? Seeking guidance for a spell? Book this session to chat through anything you’d like more information on.
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