Four years ago, I worked a high-stress job, creating severe anxiety in my life. Negative energy permeated the staff to the point I dreaded getting up in the morning. In the end, I left the position but I did learn a few things about shielding through the experience.

In this time of stress due to the coronavirus, emotions are running high. People are experiencing a lot of fear and anxiety. So, I’m going to share how I’ve learned to transform negative energy into something useful through shielding.

Shielding: A Definition

“Do you know how to use a protective energy shield?” This is a question I’ve asked a lot of people who’ve come to me for Intuitive Tarot readings. Taking into consideration the blank stares I’ve received from a number of individuals, it’s become clear many do not. So, I thought a definition might be a good way to start.

In essence, shielding or to use an energy shield is a means of insulating oneself from overwhelming emotional/spiritual/mental energy (often negative), or protection from baneful magick. Let’s be real. There are times negative energy or spellwork may be directed from one individual to another in an intentional attack, while in other situations the energy may be accidental. Regardless of which you’re dealing with, it is important to know how to shield.

Gwyn’s Basic Technique for Shielding:

Imagine a light at the top of your head or a warm glow. Allow this light or warmth to travel down from your head to the tips of your toes. Notice how the light or warmth envelops your body like a second skin. Feel how the light or warmth pulses with energy. This is your ethereal body. You may keep the energy close to your physical body or push it out until the energy forms a bubble or egg shape.

Shielding: What Do You Need?

For many people, shields act to repel negative energy. In fact, many will imagine the surface of their energy shield to be reflective so that whatever hits it bounces off or returns to the sender. For many years, this is how my shield functioned, until I found myself in a situation where something else was needed.

In my stressful job as a claim adjuster, the negative energy formed from a hostile work environment. The effect on myself and co-workers noticeable in the excessive turnover. In that situation, the energy shield I created was impenetrable but also created a kind of energetic isolation. After leaving the company, I realized my need for a different way of shielding.

Rather than build a shield as a “mirror”, I now put a magickal filter into place within the shield. Positive energy is allowed to come through while negative energy is repelled. I’ve found this to work better for me, less stifling. Obviously, a magickal attack will always be returned to the sender. S.O.P.

Even so, there is another adaptation that I now employ as well. I learned of the concept through Dorothy Morrison a couple of years ago (although I cannot remember the book).

The idea is to transform negative energy into beneficial energy that serves you.

Shielding: Energy Is Power

Honestly, the thought of transforming negative energy into positive or helpful energy blew my mind a little bit. Yet, it makes so much sense. Energy can be manipulated through intention. That is the point of magick. To use energy and focused will to create something. And I have found this way of shielding to be an excellent technique for making a stressful situation work for me rather than against –say, like a shelter-at-home scenario, for instance.

Here’s how it works:

Use Gwyn’s Basic Technique for Shielding (listed above) When the shield is erected, create a filter within the shield to separate positive and negative energy. If it helps, think of a coffee filter or cheesecloth collecting particles while letting the brew you desire into the cup. Now, take the particles of negative energy and turn them into something else. See the white light or glowing warmth of the shield cleansing the energy or think of the leftover particles from the coffee filter or cheesecloth and using them for compost. Do this with residual negative energy caught within the filter. You can store this power for future use in spellwork, to perk up after a long day, etc. Create the leftover into something which will serve you emotionally/physically/spiritually. Nasty spellcraft still gets returned to the Witch or magickal practitioner who sent it (maybe with a boost from the collected extra energy).

**If you find you do not have need of additional energy, use a grounding technique to release the excess or sifted negative energy by imagining the energy slipping down through your feet into the earth where it can be absorbed and/or neutralized.**

Shielding (as with centering and grounding) is an important part of my practice as a Witch. Not only does it help me in my everyday life but in my witchcraft as well. My family and I have discussed these techniques and why they are valuable on 3 Pagans and a Cat in an episode included in our First Steps series. I invite you to listen:

You May Also Be Interested In Guided Meditations with Gwyn: Shielding.