Full Shielding 1;

                              Shielding

The key to "putting on the armor of God," which is Jesus Christ, for basic shielding purposes is visualization; that makes this a kind of ritual. For the Christian there is the exterior work of calling on the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Other than this, we can do this work if we want to or have to without any exterior ritual. We are blending the two realities, the inner spiritual reality we have by virtue of the faith of being protected or shielded by the armor of God, and the outer physical reality of our environment; the environment in which we live, move and have our existence. Thus it clearly includes our physical bodies. But it also might include our room, or our entire home. It also might include our family and loved ones.

In the practice, technique, gift, and ritual of visualization we see, with our inner spiritual eyes, sometimes called our "Third Eye," the protective shielding of the power and presence of Jesus Christ as a Light that encompasses us and enfolds us. We see it embracing our actual ecology. It is this level of reality; the reality of Jesus being the Light that leads Christian shamans to confess, "I am a servant of the Light." Jesus said in John 8:12 that he was the Light of the World and we as Christian shamans are servants of that Light, in all we do, including our ritual works.
The color of the Light can be any color. Often in visualization in a shielding a shaman will see the Light in various colors depending on what they are protecting, why they are in need of this protection, or what they are shielding from; it is the same when doing any other ritual work including healing work. As you continue in the sacred paths you will develop your own knowledge of shielding and other kinds of spiritual warfare and you will learn on your own through study and intuition what colors are correct for your usage. For now you can envision the Light as Golden white, because it is the color of precious purity, of wealth, and like purple it indicates royalty; an appropriate color for Christ The Light as our protector.

As with all ritual, you should center and ground first. Then you should place yourself in circle, whether you formally cast a circle or simply envision yourself in circle. Now connect using your grounding. Remember that being grounded means being rooted and anchored in Christ, and in the energies of the earth and the universe.

As you connect with the reality that you are in Christ, begin to visualize that Christ's presence is in you. See this as spark of golden white light (or any color you wish) in your heart. Focus on this spark and expand it into a glowing little sphere. Very slowly, with your "third eye," see this sphere expand bigger and bigger until it is big enough to enfold you. If you are shielding more than just yourself, keep expanding it until it is big enough for all you are shielding. Once you've gotten the sphere of golden white light the right size, begin to focus on "hardening" the light that is the sphere. As you do this, you can say a mantra over and over.

For example;

I Exist
In the Sacred Name of Yashua Christ,
I am Secure
In the Holy Name of Yashua Christ.

Visualize the light sphere becoming more and more firm until it is opaque and solid in your second sight. Then you can say something like;

All Powers
That would Hinder and Bind Me
Are Now Shielded and Blinded
By the Light of  Christ
In which I Dwell.

I am One with The Light!

Once you have put up a shield like this, it should remain with you always if you regularly maintain it. All that Jesus wills for your good can pass through it, but no spiritual force that would harm you will easily pass this barrier if you are right with God. Every so often, when you think of it, see the sphere of light again and "harden" it up once more. At times you may have to repeat the whole visualization to focus on the reality that you are standing in Christ's protection.
Shielding like this is good if you are being troubled by bad dreams. A good shield of Christ-Light may stop the bad dreams, unless there is a reason that you are having them. You can put up a shield for someone else, but I wouldn't recommend for beginners to try it. As you become capable in this, only do a shield for someone else if they or their higher selves agree to it; understand what it is you are doing for them, and you know their situation and can see them somehow in your visualization.

 Many ritualists in other Traditions understand the function of grounding as a way of releasing extra energy after doing story and ritual work. However, in our tradition we understand the function of grounding as not only something we might find necessary after ritual to release energy, but also as something we want to practice before, and throughout ritual. This difference could be due to the fact that we may mean something slightly different by the term than other Traditions. So if you find another discussion of grounding quite different than our discussion, please refrain from thinking they are doing it wrong or for the wrong purposes (Or on the other hand thinking that's what we're doing)! Let's remember there is lots of diversity among all spiritual traditions and just because one path is different than another doesn't mean one must be better or worse than the other.

So what is grounding in our path? For us being grounded is like being rooted or being anchored.
We ground so we are rooted and anchored in power when we do any ritual work. For us this includes beginning ritual, doing ritual, and releasing ritual afterwards. We ground because for us, as any power that occurs in our ritual and story work is not merely our power. For us being a shaman is not about us having power, it's about us being power, and surrendering to and into the power of the Divine. It is grounding which plugs us into this surrender and connects us with the power of the Divine so that any ritual work we do isn't us doing ritual but rather the Divine Spirit doing ritual in us and through us. It is about becoming The Holy Grail, a vessel, a theurgy!
This makes grounding, as we practice it, one of the most Christian elements of our shamanism. Why? Because first and foremost we, as Christian shamans, ground ourselves in Jesus Christ who is the living Tao, the living Sophia, the living Word, that dwells in all creatures and ignites the beauty of the plains. Think of our grounding in Christ as us recognizing that God not only our Father, or Husband, but is also our Mother and we are going to Her breasts so Her milk may nourish us and fill us.
As Christian Nature Mystics we do not ground in Christ apart from the creation, as if Christ was not the living energy that permeates all creation. One thing for us to remember is that the specific grounding we do at particular times and places is really the repeated manifestation of our continual grounding in Christ and into the earth. Grounding is the outworking of connections we already have through ritual and story. As Christians we have a connection to Jesus Christ. As Humans we have a connection to the earth and to God. Grounding doesn't create these connections, instead it actualizes them by reinforcing them and us; as we remember and activate what already is true for us.
This means the first place to begin with learning to ground is not the specific act of grounding, but instead the general reality of rooting our entire existence in Christ and Christ's creation.

In the mainline Protestant Churches and the Catholic Church it is in Baptism where we find the reality of our being grounded and rooted in Christ. Baptism is great for thinking about our grounding in Christ because it also connects us to our grounding as human beings in nature. Baptism is a "rebirth" and it is our original birth which grounds us in nature; in our natural birth we are born in water, and in our spiritual birth of Baptism we are also born in Spirit.
So at this point, if the seeker reading this is Christian than it is important to ask the Seeker if you are baptized. If you aren't and wish to continue to evolve spiritually as a christian then it is vital that you receive the sacrament of Baptism. If you are already Baptized but have never confirmed it, then it is vital that you receive confirmation through confession of your faith in Jesus Christ. Please talk to your priest or minister (if you have one) about all this and do whatever you need to do.

 Now, let's talk about the specific act of grounding, which is simply a renewal of your continuing grounding in Christ and in nature. When we ground we are doing it through the power of remembering. Remembering is simply bringing to mind something we know or have experienced in the past and making it present for ourselves by focusing on it, imagining it, and surrendering into it. we are also empowered by it!
For many of us this is a spiritual exercise we are quite familiar with, we experience it when we celebrate communion, or when we remember our Baptism by touching holy water. We also experience it when those of us who are married witness a wedding and remember ours. A more secular experience of this is when we sing the National Anthem or another song like "God Bless America" and we remember our connection, or grounding, in our country.
A powerful example of grounding, which some of us unfortunately understand, is a negative example- a grounding into something that hurts us and harms us. I'm talking about re-experiencing trauma such as abuse, abandonment, war, or rape. This happens when the past seems to overwhelm us and we lose the distinction between the now and the then and we relive the trauma.
Grounding is like this, except we are reliving a positive reality instead of a negative one, and we are doing it intentionally.




The way we activate this is by focusing our thoughts and our imagination (our attention and intention) on the reality which we wish to acknowledge and focus on. For us it is being anchored in Christ and rooted in the earth. If you are unfamiliar with this kind of spiritual discipline it may take you a short time to learn how to do it. But the basic idea is simple. We think over and over again about being in Christ and part of the earth and we use our imagination to image this anchoring and rooting in concrete ways. We continue this thinking and imagining until we are overwhelmed by the reality. A lot of us experience this overwhelming as what we call "feeling the presence," we feel the energy, and The Holy Spirit of God. Others of us experience a profound sense of peace and release, as if we were a baby being held in comforting arms. There are as many different experiences as there are people, because God meets people where they are and reveals Himself to them in many different unique and individual ways!
Like so many of the spiritual exercises you will learn, there are many different ways to do this, but for now you can use the specific method I'm going to describe until you can do it easily. Then you can explore other ways to accomplish grounding.
What you need to do when you ground, is begin to repeat in your thoughts the following sentence: I am grounded and anchored in Christ, I am grounded and rooted in Christ's earth, I am grounded and anchored in Christ. After each thinking of this sentence pause just a moment and return to your center, then repeat the exercise.

But that is only half of the exercise. At the same time you are thinking this in words, image this reality. Imagine an anchor of spiritual energy and being, coming out of your heart and passing down through you into the depths of the earth. Imagine at the same time roots reaching from your feet down through your body and into the earth. Imagine the anchor holding you secure and the roots filled with life flowing. Imagine your being flowing down the roots into the earth and Christ so you are one with Christ and the earth. Imagine the energy of Christ and the earth flowing up the roots to you, the energy of life, of the Spirit, of love, and of being. As you imagine, symbolize this with a downward pushing of your hands, start with your hands at your heart, then push your being down into the ground, then keep your arms extended and keep pushing. Also recognize the energy and presence of God in you, and over you and imagine a beam of love and light coming down from God, from the sky above moving into you and through you, becoming one with you. You can imagine your head and arms as branches of a tree receiving life giving rains from the heavens; just as your body is the trunk of a tree, and your feet are the base with roots drawing up life giving nutrients from the earth beneath!
Keep doing this until you are overwhelmed by the reality that you are grounded and rooted in Christ and you feel grounded and rooted in the earth. You may experience this as an awareness that the earth is a planet and you are riding her. You may experience this as The Holy Spirit; You may experience this as profound peace. Or you may experience this as some other way. But you will know when you are grounded!

Armor of God: as laid out in scripture;

The sword (sword, belt, and sheath of healing) of truth / the word

Helmet of salvation / asking for forgiveness of sins, atonement, and salvation; standing in the promise, the hope, and the faith; this is about receiving Grace

Shield of faith / prayer and standing in the power and authority of His Love and Light

Sandals of peace / aligning ourselves to his will, being still and quiet in God in order to hear God’s instruction. This brings rest to the spirit. “not my will but Thine be done”!

Breastplate of righteousness / right action and attitude; standing in virtue, this is where works and faith come together

 

 

 

"Creator, you are the God, the Spirit, and the Breath of Truth. We come together this day in this common prayer for deliverance from the ignorance the blinds us from your Truth. Deliver us, our Creator, from the cowardice that shrinks from The Truth, from the laziness that is content with half truths, and from the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth, so that we may rightly perceive the path to the Truth that will awaken us in union, communion, and Oneness with you."

Amen

Author of prayer unknown!

 

 

Titus 1:15
Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

Always test the spirits and know who you are dealing with. Scripture says that any spirit that professes that Jesus  (Yashua) came in the flesh is of God. So ask whatever spirit you are dealing with if Jesus came in the flesh, and if they say yes then they are ok, and if they say something else then send them away.

Do not pray to or worship anything but God. Do not pray to Mary or the angels. We are to pray to God alone and give him all our worship.  If you feel you need an angel then ask God to send you an angel. For instance, if you feel you are being spiritually attacked and want Michael to come then say God please send me Michael. Now this doesn’t mean that you can’t talk to, work with, and say thank you to your spiritual aids. You should do all of that, but prayer is a form of worship that is to be reserved for God and God alone! If you work with Mary, than welcome her and say thank you for your help and leave it at that; and the same goes for any other help you have. Ask God to send you whatever help you need! Sometimes you will be amazed at who he sends, and who shows up to help!