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    Astral hygeine and shields

    Does anyone have a regular astral hygiene practice +/- a regular shielding practice? Tell us about it. What do you do? What are you tips for beginners? For advanced practitioners?

    I had a minor epiphany last night when I was doing my weekly shield maintenance. For a very long time, part of my weekly maintenance has involved patching up a recurring hole that appears in the same place in my shield every single week. The last few times it hasn't been there, which is a little disconcerting because I've been patching it for so long that it's feels weird to not have to patch it. Last night I realised why the hole wasn't there anymore... because I quit my toxic job and don't have a daily emotional and mental drain sucking at me.

    So what has this experience taught me? Recurring holes in your shields (or auric attachments, or cords, or leeches or whatever) have a source that perhaps should be investigated and resolved rather than being taken for granted!

    #2
    Re: Astral hygeine and shields

    Yes. Every now and then, one should tweak the vibrational frequency of one's shields. One of my favorite breaching techniques (yes, I'm an evil, vengeful bastard) is to constantly "lean on" my target's shield and slowly match vibrational frequency, then I can sorta seep right in. I've had certain situations that took years to breach. Therefore I continually vary the frequencies of my own shields.
    Last edited by Rick; 24 Jun 2016, 23:32.
    I often wish that I had done drugs in the '70s. At least there'd be a reason for the flashbacks. - Rick the Runesinger

    Blood and CountryTribe of my Tribe
    Clan of my Clan
    Kin of my Kin
    Blood of my Blood



    For the Yule was upon them, the Yule; and they quaffed from the skulls of the slain,
    And shouted loud oaths in hoarse wit, and long quaffing swore laughing again.

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      #3
      Re: Astral hygeine and shields

      I use a meditation my CUUPS leader taught me for shielding. I meditate alternating breathe in through nose out through mouth, in through mouth out through nose. I visualize sitting in a field and drawing the energy of the sun down until the light envelopes me. From crown to toes. I typically include some sort of grounding visualization here as well, but it's not necessary if I'm in a hurry and patching weak spots.

      Astrally I tend to have some reoccurring places I visit, people I check in with, etc. But I'm not sure if that's what you mean by hygiene. I do do some practice with hopping back and forth to strengthen that ability to transition quickly as needed.
      Last edited by Shahaku; 25 Jun 2016, 18:43.
      We are what we are. Nothing more, nothing less. There is good and evil among every kind of people. It's the evil among us who rule now. -Anne Bishop, Daughter of the Blood

      I wondered if he could ever understand that it was a blessing, not a sin, to be graced with more than one love.
      It could be complicated; of course it could be complicated. And it opened one up to the possibility of more pain and loss.
      Still, it was a blessing I would never relinquish. Love, genuine love, was always a cause for joy.
      -Jacqueline Carey, Naamah's Curse

      Service to your fellows is the root of peace.

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        #4
        Re: Astral hygeine and shields

        Finally replying!

        It's a bit new-agey but I use the violet flame to both cleanse my aura and to shield, I guess because it's a technique I stumbled upon early on so it's stuck with me. I've been using it much more lately, especially before pathwork because for some reason I'm finding myself unnerved during some of my journeys. I don't think I appreciated the importance of shielding until I felt the difference after I began incorporating it into my regular practice. In the past it was always something I just did when I felt physically in danger, like when walking at night.

        Something I struggle with is in accepting that we can all affect these things just with our mind. Especially if you believe that the energy centres and auras are as real and integral a part of the body as say, the lymphatic system rather than existing on some etheric or imagined level. Of course, some people can control their heartbeat, or body temperature or whatever seemingly with their mind, but not everyone can do this. So why then, are we so sure that imagining our chakras are spinning, makes them spin, or imagining a shield around us makes that so? It's for this reason that I have for a long time used physical things like certain yoga asanas or herbal teas to activate my chakras, just as I might use massage or exercise to affect things like my lymphatic system or circulation.

        Recently, as an extension of these thoughts, I've been thinking that it's not really about our imagination at all, but that our breathing is the most important aspect when it comes to astral hygiene. I can't control my heart rate with my mind, but can slow my heart rate with my breath. So I'm not sure my chakras are really clean and healthy because I imagine a big yellow sphere above my naval, but because the slow, regular breathing I'm doing while I imagine that is helping my entire physical, mental and spiritual being to relax, de-stress and re-energise. It follows then, that just as being physically fit and eating well can improve your immune system, regular deep breathing and meditation will make your spiritual bodies stronger and more able to fight off spiritual attack. The imagination of the shield may not actually be so important after all.

        This seems a reasonable enough argument, but then it doesn't explain why I have been feeling so much better since I started visualising my chakras compared to when I was using the cauldrons of poesy and focusing mainly on my heart. Unless of course, it isn't really the change in approach that has caused the change, but the fact that I started working with the chakras again because of something someone said at a moot.. the day I started to interact with local pagans after a long hiatus. Could it actually be this socialising and belonging to a community that is making me feel so much better?

        Lots of conflicting thoughts, lots of questions.. no idea! ^^

        As for tips, despite what I've said, I do think visualisation helps us on a psychological level in that it gives us the feeling of security. I think a potential difficulty is in the visualisation itself though. Not everyone can imagine things clearly. My imagination is quite vivid but I have periods where I struggle to create images in my mind. I've found that speaking really helps me with this. So instead of just imagining violet fire rising up from my feet, I will say aloud 'The violet flame is rising at my feet... I can feel it's warmth... I can sense it's cleansing power..' and so on.
        Last edited by Jembru; 08 Aug 2016, 18:03.
        夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

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          #5
          Re: Astral hygeine and shields

          This is something that I've been pretty lax about but I've been intending to start working on. I'd gotten a book a while ago, The Witch's Shield, by Christopher Penczak that's just been sitting on my shelf. I really loved his other book, The Inner Temple of Witchcraft, and I have a feeling that I'll really like this one too.

          Yesterday I had a conflict with another person where I could literally feel their anger/hate beating down on me, like a thrumming heat source. It made me nervous that I wasn't shielded well enough at all if I could feel that. I've only ever felt something like that once before several years ago during a road rage kind of incident. I'd forgotten about it until this latest incident, but now I'm thinking I need to concentrate more on shielding and learning better techniques than the very basic stuff I know now.

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            #6
            Re: Astral hygeine and shields

            Originally posted by SleepingCompass View Post

            Yesterday I had a conflict with another person where I could literally feel their anger/hate beating down on me, like a thrumming heat source. It made me nervous that I wasn't shielded well enough at all if I could feel that. I've only ever felt something like that once before several years ago during a road rage kind of incident. I'd forgotten about it until this latest incident, but now I'm thinking I need to concentrate more on shielding and learning better techniques than the very basic stuff I know now.
            Why is it a bad thing to feel the threat? Isn't it a good thing to be aware but withstand an assault?

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              #7
              Re: Astral hygeine and shields

              Originally posted by Azvanna View Post
              Why is it a bad thing to feel the threat? Isn't it a good thing to be aware but withstand an assault?
              Huh; I didn't really think of it from that perspective... good point. It's a really horrible feeling and I was just thinking I'd really like to avoid feeling it again. Also, it didn't really feel like I was successfully withstanding the assualt... That may be more the problem then making it disapear all together.

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                #8
                Re: Astral hygeine and shields

                Originally posted by SleepingCompass View Post
                Huh; I didn't really think of it from that perspective... good point. It's a really horrible feeling and I was just thinking I'd really like to avoid feeling it again. Also, it didn't really feel like I was successfully withstanding the assualt... That may be more the problem then making it disapear all together.
                I know what you mean. A couple of times (usually road rage incidents) I've felt people's anger try to pierce me like an arrow. Sometimes I can deflect but other times the incident will stick well into the future. It's those kind of "attacks" I'd like to learn how to respond to better.

                I've never really got into shielding (though have tried), I do better at setting up an atmosphere in the room wherever I worship and work through emotional issues there. Not sure if it's at all the same. When I start to feel down, I try to bring it before God in prayer and let my spirit be joyful and comforted there. Powerful healing and release can take place there.

                Is this what shielding feels like? Or is it more in the mind rather than emotions?

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                  #9
                  Re: Astral hygeine and shields

                  I think for me I think of my shields and such like an automobile that surrounds me. Then like an automobile I need to take it into a car wash and give it a good cleansing. Not just the surface body and wipe the windshield but get into the wheel wells where all the crap from the astral and physical roads tends to build up and collect. To get up in the engine block and motor housing area where all the oil and residue that makes the car run tends to leak and build up as the day to day operations make it run and leak here and there as it gunks up the works and the grit and grim builds up over time. But also under the body where the frame and structure is located that everything sits upon and gives structure, form and strength to my shields and practice. That stuff in my magical car that tends to get ignored probably as often as most of us tend to ignore the underside of our physical car when it comes to actually cleaning them, especially during the winter when they get exposed to the heavy corroding affects of the harsh elements.

                  Sometimes you need to beat the old metal and hammer it back into shape or fill in the holes where time, the elements or objects have impacted upon it and penetrated part way or damaged the protective body. Hammer out the dents, maybe put in a layer of bondo or even cut the section out and put in a whole new panel or part to replace the bad section. Sadly even realize that at times you have to trade the old jalopy in and purchase a whole new vehicle and tweak it to make it your own.

                  But I think one thing I always think about as I work on my shields and hygeine on my ole jalopy is what one of my elders told me. A car and its windshield serves to protect you from things that are not directed with the intent to penetrate its protective body. The fly or the other body that is bouncing off of your protective shield because they happen to be in the way not because they are intent on attacking you. Yet never presume the object that is meant to penetrate that shield will stop it. A rock thrown with the intent and purpose to smash the windshield will break it. A rod driven to penetrate the side or front of the body will penetrate it. That and a body even inside its protective shield that is not properly restrained and set can still be destroyed by what it encounters as it bounces and moves within its protective bubbles.

                  But then I admit I have a differing perspective towards shielding and things.
                  I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

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                    #10
                    Re: Astral hygeine and shields

                    I have found that, for me at least, it is best to let another's anger flow around me like water on a duck's back. You can be aware without "owning" it. It doesn't penetrate so there is no reason to "react" which gives you a way to respond, trying to correct the situation instead of amplifying it. What another person feels about me has no effect on how I feel about myself so it has no bearing on how I feel about them. Practice assertion instead of aggression.
                    The Dragon sees infinity and those it touches are forced to feel the reality of it.
                    I am his student and his partner. He is my guide and an ominous friend.

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                      #11
                      Re: Astral hygeine and shields

                      Originally posted by DragonsFriend View Post
                      I have found that, for me at least, it is best to let another's anger flow around me like water on a duck's back. You can be aware without "owning" it. It doesn't penetrate so there is no reason to "react" which gives you a way to respond, trying to correct the situation instead of amplifying it. What another person feels about me has no effect on how I feel about myself so it has no bearing on how I feel about them. Practice assertion instead of aggression.
                      Can you unpack this further? Because I'm very good at doing what you've suggested most of the time. However, there are times when I can be curious about another person's emotion and not take it on, but it's as though the curiousity itself becomes a sticking point. So I'm not responding out of anger towards them, I'm trying to find an appropriate internal response long after the fincident has happened. Is a simple incident of road rage the kind of thing that can damage a shield in the first place?

                      Also Monsno I like your analogy about the windscreen very much.

                      How do you clean a shield? Jembru says she envisions a violet flame. What else is there and do you have to be aware of what you're burning?

                      One of the meditations I've learned in yoga has been to do an energy scan. So, to sit in stillness and imagine white energy circulating in a loop through my body scanning it. When I find a place where the energy is hard to push through or sluggish, I keep scanning that area until I can circulate through it easily or until I run out of time. Does this sound like a shield repair?

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                        #12
                        Re: Astral hygeine and shields

                        Originally posted by Azvanna View Post
                        Can you unpack this further? Because I'm very good at doing what you've suggested most of the time. However, there are times when I can be curious about another person's emotion and not take it on, but it's as though the curiousity itself becomes a sticking point. So I'm not responding out of anger towards them, I'm trying to find an appropriate internal response long after the fincident has happened. Is a simple incident of road rage the kind of thing that can damage a shield in the first place?
                        Shields are about keeping the muck off you, like a road rage incident. They shouldn't be used as an alternative to learning how to deal with the people around you, though. You can't just throw up a shield and hope that you will never feel another person's anger toward you... that's not really how they work. They work in conjunction with all the inner explorations about working through your own responses etc. You do the intensive inner work, and the shields keep you from picking up the daily muck around you.

                        Originally posted by Azvanna View Post
                        Also Monsno I like your analogy about the windscreen very much.
                        Monsno's car analogy is one of the best explanations of shielding I've ever heard! Though I will add that it is possible (with advanced practice) to construct shields that will protect against active attack... but they are difficult to maintain in the long term and are better constructed in the short term while you are having specific problems with a person.

                        I also like this analogy because it makes it very clear about keeping the daily muck off vs keeping directed attacks or chronic abuse off you. It's very difficult to maintain shields against chronic abuse/negativity/difficult situations, and a better plan of action is actually to look at whether you can change the situation or the way you process the situation. Your car can only take so much, and if you're always driving it through harsh conditions, it wont get you to where you're going.

                        Originally posted by Azvanna View Post
                        How do you clean a shield? Jembru says she envisions a violet flame. What else is there and do you have to be aware of what you're burning?

                        One of the meditations I've learned in yoga has been to do an energy scan. So, to sit in stillness and imagine white energy circulating in a loop through my body scanning it. When I find a place where the energy is hard to push through or sluggish, I keep scanning that area until I can circulate through it easily or until I run out of time. Does this sound like a shield repair?
                        Your yoga meditation is a body scan, but you could adapt it to a shield. In a lot of ways, maintaining the shield is easier than clearing out body energy, because it really does just need an etheric equivalent of a wipe down, maybe a scrub of stubborn areas and a few patch ups. I literally spin out energy 'thread' and stitch up the holes in mine, sometimes constructing more 'fabric' from my hands to use as a patch. I also have a waterfall in my Innerworlds home base that acts as a shield shower of sorts... when I stand under it, it cleanses all the muck away. You could use any sort of visualisation for cleaning the shield... even if it's an astral bottle of spray-n-wipe and a chux cloth! Most people are used to some sort of 'white light', 'blue flame' or similar, because that's what's in most of the 101 books and so it's our first exposure to the concepts. But it doesn't have to be... the visualisation is just a mental tool to help the brain shape the energetic field around us.

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                          #13
                          Re: Astral hygeine and shields

                          Originally posted by Azvanna View Post
                          I know what you mean. A couple of times (usually road rage incidents) I've felt people's anger try to pierce me like an arrow. Sometimes I can deflect but other times the incident will stick well into the future.
                          Yes, that sounds like what I was feeling. It feels like an attack, not just regular anger.

                          Originally posted by Azvanna View Post
                          It's those kind of "attacks" I'd like to learn how to respond to better.
                          Me too!

                          I've got to say, this thread has been so informative... It sometimes amazes me how much knowledge can be gained from joining in a forum... Sometimes the information is better than any book I have found.

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                            #14
                            Re: Astral hygeine and shields

                            Originally posted by Azvanna View Post
                            Can you unpack this further? Because I'm very good at doing what you've suggested most of the time. However, there are times when I can be curious about another person's emotion and not take it on, but it's as though the curiousity itself becomes a sticking point. So I'm not responding out of anger towards them, I'm trying to find an appropriate internal response long after the fincident has happened. Is a simple incident of road rage the kind of thing that can damage a shield in the first place?
                            Your curiosity is a connection to the outburst from another person. Once you attach yourself to the emotion you begin to own it. You've noticed being around happy people that you become happier, that's because you connect to those emotions. The same thing happens with any other emotion once you connect to it. Find your center and remain aware of that without casual attachments to other's emotions.
                            The Dragon sees infinity and those it touches are forced to feel the reality of it.
                            I am his student and his partner. He is my guide and an ominous friend.

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