Grounding

One of my favorite things about my Witchy little path is the fact that one part of my practice makes me sound like a lightning rod. Grounding refers to a few specific techniques used in two or three circumstances. In all cases, it serves to stabilize the person doing the grounding by emphasizing our connection to the earth, or helping us to focus on the material part of our existence. My best friend has been known to tell her five-year-old son to put his tail in the ground. (*exasperated sigh* "I already did, Mommy!") Eating something will do it, as will sitting on the ground (your floor counts). Heck, hug a tree. Play in the dirt. Wash some dishes.

What is this supposed to accomplish? Well, that depends on when and why you're doing it. Grounding, along with centering (from my very first post), is such a simple, basic thing that helps you remember who you are. It's a crucial part of my routine when preparing to meditate, or pray, or read Tarot cards, or celebrate a ritual. It's also something I do when I'm a little tired, or dealing with stress, or going into a crowded place. Honestly - centering, grounding, and shielding (its own topic) can benefit any one on any spiritual path - or no particular path. I'm referring here to the "tail in the ground" type of grounding: My energy connects me with the earth. I can draw what I need from the earth. I can give her my stress or sadness or whatever to be cleansed. I can celebrate my own part in the universe, and feel how I am one with every other part. Once I have centered and grounded, I am ready to reach out and experience the Divine. I, like all of you, am part of the Divine.

The "eat some chocolate while you hug a tree" grounding finishes off my ritual/meditation. It's very easy to want to leave your head in that fantastic space where you felt your gods touch you. It feels good there. We aren't meant to stay there constantly. We have lives, and families, and jobs, and obligations, and physical needs. If we don't bring ourselves back to the regular, physical world, we basically overdose. Some people get spacey. Some people get irritable. Some people get dangerously clumsy. Some people get headaches. Everyone who doesn't ground themselves in the physical world sometimes loses spiritual clarity. It's like your significant other or kids, who don't want to talk to you until you're on the damn phone. You can't hear either conversation because they're interfering with each other. So if I did a ritual to ask my Goddess for healing for a friend, didn't ground afterward for two days, and then did a guided meditation to connect with a spiritual guide, and then didn't ground afterward, etc. - my practice would be fuzzy and ineffectual and outright stressful. So I eat something. I wash dishes. Even using the bathroom pulls your focus completely into the here and now.

Touching God is an amazing thing. But in the end, if we can't find our gods in the world we live in, have we really found them?