Why Protect Ourselves?
There are some that would say that not protecting ourselves psychically is similar to leaving the backdoor to our house wide open for all and sundry to walk in. Protection is a psychic boundary or barrier which we mentally construct in order to deflect or keep out negative energy or entities from our aura.
If you are naturally sensitive to energy; if you have ever felt yourself very suddenly feeling sick, dizzy, uncomfortable, angry or frightened for no apparent reason (and especially in a place which is said to be haunted or you feel ‘has bad vibes’), then a protection procedure may empower you. Feeling frightened at the thought of ‘ghosts’, ’spirits’ or opening up psychically, but knowing that you are protected, can provide inner reassurance in the knowledge that there is something that you can do, and there are steps that you can take to regain internal control of a situation. Protection is the psychic equivalent of creating healthy emotional boundaries within relationships. Saying ‘No!’ or ‘Enough is enough!’ to perceived negative entities, gives great practise on more tangible levels of relating to others; an understanding on one level of awareness can often filter through to other levels.
There is another train of thought which is the ‘no protection’ method. The premise with this is ‘Why do we need to be protected? If we believe that there is a need to be protected are we focusing on negative energies within our personal reality and therefore manifesting them and inviting them towards us?’ This works on the principal that we create our own reality and what we pay attention to, can come about. The no protection approach demands a purity of thought and a strong faith which can build up over time through experience. With ‘bravado’ we may put on a false front on which is often no more than a veneer of denial, thinking such thoughts as, ‘ I don’t believe things like that exist so I’ll be fine’ yet underneath there may be a niggling fear or doubt which questions ‘could there be something out there which I could attract from a client which could cause trouble for me?’ If this is the case, it’s worth protecting ourselves, because in doing so, we are also empowering our self.
Our natural protection is apparent when we compare how our body feels when we are ‘open’ compared to when we are ‘closed’. When we are open we may be relaxed, warm, empathic, engaged, accepting, permissive, revealing, honest, expansive, receptive, curious, intrigued, exposed, porous, vulnerable, accessible or available. When we are ‘closed’ we may be withdrawn, stubborn, sceptical, obstructive, conditional, distant, inflexible, impermeable, dogmatic, rigid, oppressive, controlling, blocked, secretive or with-holding. There are different levels of openness along the spectrum between open and closed, such as the doubting believer and the open minded sceptic and all is right for where we’re at, being closed can be an intuitive decision to protect ourselves against actual harm. When we are open to something we are more likely to take it on board, when we are closed our energy naturally deflects outer experiences.
The ultimate protection is love. Love melts negativity which comes from fear (the opposite to love). It follows that when we are operating from a place of unconditional love, we are protected, as the energy that emanates from us naturally deflects, transmutes or melts the negative. Remaining centred and being in a place of unconditional love can be very difficult to maintain 24/7. It is a process of self-development which involves learning to love and respect ourselves. If you do feel in ‘need’ of protection, addressing your inner fears on the mental level, will certainly be of benefit on the spiritual levels too.
Methods of Protection
A traditional method of protection involves surrounding yourself in a white bubble. After grounding yourself, imagine a column of white light which is streaming down from Source and flowing through the top of your head (the crown chakra). As it flows through your body cleansing, purifying and instantly transmuting any negativity, it flows out through all of the chakras, cleaning them too, and out through the pores of the skin until it forms a white bubble around you. You are now protected. This may take a while for you to visualise initially, but once you are familiar with the process, it takes literally seconds to do (depending on how grubby you are feeling to start with!) A quick method is to just visualise yourself in a white bubble straight away, which can trap unshed negativity in there too, but prevents you from taking on more.
It’s advisable to use this protection whenever you open up to do any psychic work such as readings, when you are meditating, when you are on the internet and when you are out and about such as in the supermarket. You may find that it needs to be replenished and re-visualised regularly.
If you feel the presence of a negative entity, you can call upon Archangel Michael, your Guardian Angels and or your spirit guides for extra protection (we have to ask for their help, they cannot intervene unless we ask). Firmly, but lovingly send the entity away with love and respect – blank them – know that it is done and immediately refocus on and pay attention to something else. Do not attempt to communicate or engage with them; do not ask them why they are there etc. Engaging, via communication even if this is mental, will feed and give power to the negative energy inside or outside of you. Send them away, know that this is done and know that this power is within you, we all have it within us to do this. They have to leave – unless on some level, for instance via a soul choice, you have subconsciously drawn this experience towards you to learn from. Be assured that within that experience Archangel Michael will watch over you and you can call on his guidance or that of your spirit guides to assist you; we only get what we can handle. Archangel Michael may inspire you with suitable steps to take. If you feel afterwards that you might have sent away a guide, do not be concerned, they lovingly know why we do the things that we do and they understand and respect our choices and decisions.
When it doesn’t work
Protecting ourselves does not mean that we can protect ourselves from our own perception, or that nothing ‘bad’ will ever happen to us again. ‘Bad’ is a matter of perception and we can take ‘good’ out of those bad experiences by beginning to look at and understand what we have learnt from those experiences which will benefit us, and perhaps others, in the present and in the future. You may also want to consider that when your protection fails there may be something for you to learn within that. It’s all experience which may help us to understand something at a deeper level and often that can fall within the realms of our own self-development and awareness. It may be time to look within at our shadow self.
If you find that protection isn’t working for you then you may want to look at other methods of protecting yourself, see ‘additional psychic protection methods’. You may also benefit from looking at your emotional boundaries. If your sensitivity (including psychic sensitivity) has opened up through trauma or abuse, you may be lacking the emotional protection of healthy boundaries and may need to seek help from someone knowledgeable in this area. You may also benefit from using some aura strengthening exercises, such as connective therapy, to seal any holes in your aura which could be attracting negativity towards you.
There are a few seemingly conflicting theories about psychic protection, and whether we should protect ourselves or not. I feel that there’s validity in both depending on where we are at with our development and also with regard our personal beliefs. It is a matter of personal choice whether you decide to protect or not, as always go with what feels right for you. If you are new to psychic development, I would recommend that you protect yourself initially until you gain more experience and feel confident within yourself.
Emma © 2007
