Lesson 1: Reasons We Shield

In these lessons, a few of the different types of shields will be discussed as well as what can be done with the shields. But, it will also be stressed that these are just the beginning of the shields, there are literally dozens that you can do, just by altering or changing an existing shield into something new. Overshielding will also be discussed at the end of the lesson series. For now, as we go through the different styles of shields, just experiment and find what works best for you. These are just the beginning tools that are necessary. So, enjoy!

There are many reasons to shield; psychic self-defense, blocking negativity, and keeping yourself from affecting others are just three of the reasons, and these are the most common reasons that we will be covering.

However, before we can even be able to shield properly at all, we have to be able to be fully grounded and centered for the shield to take hold effectively. If you haven’t grounded and centered, yes, you can still make a shield, but it will not be as effective. This part comes so naturally to some people that it is hard to remember that this is a conscious act that you need to fulfill. Thank you Dierdre for the reminder of this vital step.

One method that you can do to ground and center is called the “Tree of Life.�?A Witch (Lady Ursula Grey) originally taught the tree of life to me (Cherry) when I first started following my path. Since her originally teaching it to me, I have altered it slightly to what is stated below.

The Tree of Life

You can do this sitting or standing, par your personal choice.

See (or feel) yourself as a tree, your branches reach high into the air and your trunk is firm in the ground.

Feel your roots grow deep into the ground. They reach far and deep. Don’t force them in, let the soil part to make way for your roots gently.

Reach with your roots as far as you desire, making sure you have a good reach in the soil.

Drain all of your old energy down through your roots into the ground, letting the Earth and soil take the used energy to convert it to positive.

When you have drained all of the old energy into the ground, feel it move away from your roots.

When the old energy is clear of your roots, feel the fresh clean energy start to flow up your roots.

It slowly climbs, filling you from the bottom up, like a bubbling spring.

It fills every portion of your body, all of the toes and fingers. Each cell and organ. It flows through your blood.

When it has your body completely filled, see (or feel) the energy pour out of the crown of your head is an golden shower. It showers like rain all around you. It sparks like a sparkler firework, but does not burn.

Let this shower continue for a few seconds, to a few minutes.

When you are ready, close the crown of your head and let any excess energy drain back through your roots and back into the Earth and soil, remembering to retain your normal amount of energy.

When you have drained the excess, slowly pull your roots up and out of the Earth.

If done correctly, you should be grounded and centered.

The purpose of the Tree of Life grounding is, when you first put your roots in the ground and drain the excess energy, it clears your energy of any residual bad energy that might contaminate your new shields. Then when you fill back up with the energy and you let it shower out of your head, this lets you go within yourself to feel your center. You can feel when the energy has showered long enough because you are tuned in to the center of your being and are feeling with senses other than the peripheral senses (i.e. your hands, eyes, ears, etc.) Then when you drain out the excess energy, you leave yourself filled with your normal capacity of energy and so you are not bouncing off the walls with the excess or lethargic with too little energy.

Now on to the reasons of shielding, keeping in mind that grounding and centering is one of the biggest keys to being shielded.

The first reason to shield is to keep yourself from affecting others. Not many people consider this a part of why to shield…mainly because they do not see how they could be affecting others. If you are an Empath, you are only too aware about how you can affect others just as others can affect you. If you can shield yourself properly, then if you are having say…a high emotion day, you can put up (or thicken) your shield so that your emotions don’t reach out and affect others. Just as shields keep others from touching you, your shield can keep you from touching others.

Next is blocking negativity. This one plays in a lot with the first one. When we shield, we are erecting a barrier, one that will stop others from touching you personally, which is a very good thing when it comes to negativity. How often have you walked into a room that was thick with tension and it gave you physical symptoms of it, possibly even making you feel ill. When we shield properly, we can block out most, if not all, of these so it does not affect you mentally or physically.

Finally, we come to psychic self-defense. This is the reason people think of when it comes to shielding. How can we defend ourselves with shields? We will discuss different shielding techniques and how you can combine them in later lessons, but when it comes to shielding and self-defense, we first find the shield that feels the most comfortable for us, it can even be multi-layered and combining different shields. After we figure out our preferred shields, then we can program the shield. Program it? Yep. When we program a shield we are telling it to do this certain thing with this type of energy and another action for another type of energy. It can even be setting up defenses like shocking someone if they get too close. We will also cover this in a later lesson.

Does this mean that it is guaranteed that shielding will work each and every time? No. Shielding is an added protection, but it is not absolutely guaranteed that it will work. The more you practice and learn and try out different shields, the better chances you have at it blocking out what you want. But also keep in mind that just as our lives vary from day to day, so can the shields. They do take maintenance…the longer you have them up, the more “damage�?they sustain that you have to repair. Chips, chinks, weak spots, rips and tears…these all can play into how well a shield works. In a later lesson, it will be discussed how you can test and repair your own shields for better chances of it working. Shields can become damaged in many ways; attacks, too long of wear, your own emotions, other peoples emotions…these are all ways that your shield can sustain the damage, it is why being aware of your shield will help you to know when to repair any damage and where the damage is located.

Before I learned to shield, I was very vulnerable to the different energies and even had a psychic vampire latch onto me. Since I didn’t know how to shield I was scared so I talked to the woman who was “teaching�?me about wicca and she went into an even bigger panic than I did and she quickly taught me to shield. Well the shield was not a very good one and did not fit me very well, but it did achieve the effect of giving me a little protection. I asked this woman why she had never thought about teaching me to shield before and she replied with something like she didn’t think it was necessary. This was about 5 months into my learning. It dawned on me that shielding should be one of the first things taught and it should be taught in a way that people know there are many different shields that can be done.

With these lessons, they are mostly shields that you create with thought-forms, in your mind. If, for some reason, you have trouble visualizing these shields, do not worry. We will also go over a couple shields done via spell, locking the shield to various objects and go over some pointers for those who are having problems visualizing. If you are having visualization issues, don’t give up, all we ask of you is to keep trying. The more you practice, the easier shielding becomes and the easier time you will have developing and maintaining the shields.

Homework:

After reading the lesson, answer these questions.

1)      What do we have to do before we can shield

2)      Why is it so important?

3)      What are some of the other forms of grounding and centering that you know? (you don’t have to go into detail unless you wish to)

4)      What are the main reasons to shield?

5)      What kind of shields are you aware of?

6)      Why is it important to shield?

7)      Do shields guarantee protection at all times?

8)      Should shielding be a part of the beginning process of learning?

9)      Is there only one type of shield?

10)  Does each shield fit each person the same?

11)  Is it possible for shields to become damaged?

12)  What kinds of damage can a shield sustain?

13)  Is it possible to know where your shield is damaged?

14)  What do you hope to get from these lessons?

15)  Have you had a particularly unpleasant experience that led you to want to learn to shield?

Please post your responses to the questions under here