Drawing Energy

 

Energy, as we use the term here, is the power source for magick workings. In magick, you use your will/concentration to focus energy and intent toward a specific goal. In Druidism, three basic types of energy are used.

The first type
 of energy is the energy found within oneself. Up to this point, that is the energy we have been working with in the lessons. Your own energy is the easiest to work with, since it is the energy most familiar to you.

The second type
of energy is the energy that comes from the things around you.

The third type
of energy is that which comes from the gods/the divine/the Source.
 
Working with energy that comes from outside of yourself. You can draw energy from other people, animals, plants, the earth, the air, and the many other things that surround you.

A Note On Magickal Ethics

Energy can be taken both with and without permission. You can choose to ask the nearby tree to share some of its energy with you, or you can choose to take it without that permission. It is not my job to tell you which to do; that is always a personal decision. I will say that the path of a Druid most often requires working closely with your environment and the beings found within it. This is much easier to accomplish if you are on good terms with that environment. Therefore, it is always polite to ask permission before taking energy, and be willing to accept "no" for an answer. Often, those who take without asking find themselves at odds with their surroundings, and it requires greater and greater effort and willpower on their part to stay "dominant" over their environment. Most Druids see this as a rather silly waste of energy, since you can usually get much better results at a fraction of the effort simply by being polite and considerate in your workings. But again, ultimately that decision is your own; as long as you are willing to accept the consequences of whatever actions you take, no one can deny you your right to choose your path.
 
To define "drawing energy" as bringing energy from outside yourself into yourself for use in a ritual, working, etc. This will inherently have more danger involved then simply using your own energy. You could draw in too quickly, and send your body into a kind of shock. You could tap into negative energy, or energy too powerful to handle at your present capabilities. So why bother? Because your personal energy, though it is the easiest and safest to work with, is limited. You only have a certain amount of personal energy to use at any one time; trying to use more depletes your body resources, which are slow to build back up if you overextend. By drawing on energy sources outside of yourself, you are able to have more energy at your disposal to do whatever you wish to do. This also allows you to accomplish things you would not be able to if all you had to work with was personal energy.
 
If you have not achieved a decent proficiency in grounding, I would not recommend trying this lesson. The ability to ground out excess energy means you can practice drawing in energy, grounding it, drawing again, and so on so that your skill improves. Grounding is also useful if you happen to draw in energy that you can't handle; you can ground it out before it does lasting damage to you. There are several techniques and visualizations to use when drawing in energy. If you try one and it doesn't work for you, try another, since different things work for different people.

Everything around you has energy; some people are able to draw energy in by simply visualizing energy pouring into them from all around.

Many people prefer to use parts of their body as channels or conduits for energy flow; you could envision the ground as energy and draw it in through your feet or spine, this technique might be confusing if you also use the earth to ground.

Many people like to place their receptive hand on an object and draw energy in through that.

Definitions: most people have what can be called a "dominant" hand and a "receptive" hand. The dominant hand is USUALLY better at sending out energy from the body, while the receptive hand is USUALLY better at drawing energy into the body. Also, the dominant hand USUALLY corresponds to the hand you write with, by now you should be getting the impression, correctly, that there are exceptions to all of these. In addition, some people find that they can do either equally well with both hands. There is no one way to determine which is your dominant and receptive hands. The easiest way is by practice; working with one hand at a time, sending out energy and drawing it in, and sensing which hand works better with which function.

Like the grounding exercise, where you could create a connection/channel/conduit between yourself and the ground, many people prefer to draw energy from a specific object, and establish a similar connection between themselves and that object, then draw energy into themselves through that channel.

Another visualization similar to a grounding technique is to imagine roots extending from yourself into the earth. However, to draw in energy, visualize your roots as drawing nourishing energy from the earth, much like tree roots draw water.

Physical activity can be used to raise energy. Dancing or other physical activity, fasting (going without food), or a vigil (going without sleep) can help some people to draw in energy and/or raise their own energy level.

NOTE:

 some people, for example those with low blood pressure, should not fast, and some people also shouldn't go without sleep; if you think you might be one of these people, find another way to draw energy.
 
There are many methods out there, these are just a sampling for you to try and to help spark your creativity. Feel free to adapt or change these methods to properly suit you, or create a method of your own. If you are succeeding with your attempt to draw in energy, you will definitely know, as there will be a tangible difference. Once again, the sensations are different for different people. People can feel energy as heat, coolness, tingling, pressure, itching, the sensation you get when your leg "falls asleep", smell, or even pain. As you are drawing in the energy, concentrate on drawing in only available energy (if you have asked permission and gotten a "yes"), and concentrate on making that energy blend with your own. If energy is too different, and you do not make it resonate with your body's energy, then you won't be able to use the energy you draw. It might be a good idea to attempt to draw in only positive or neutral energy. Some people visualize a "filter" that they draw the energy through before it enters them; this may be too much to try at first, but might be a good exercise to use once you have achieved basic success with drawing energy.
 
A safety precaution you can take is to have a ground established before you attempt to draw in energy; thus if negative energy is drawn, or wild energy, or energy otherwise too much to handle, you can shunt it through your ground before it damages you. When practicing the drawing of energy, make sure you have something to do with the energy, someplace to send it. Don't try to keep it in your body for too long; if you do, you'll start to notice your high energy feeling turning into exhaustion. This is due to the fact that the body isn't designed to hold that much energy for lengths of time, and it will overload your body. If this does happen, make sure to eat a good meal and rest soon afterward. Actually this is a good idea to do whenever you are finished with an exercise, ritual, or working; it helps center your self back in the physical and replenishes your body's resources faster. A good exercise to practice both the drawing energy and grounding skills is to draw in energy, ground it, draw more, ground that, and basically make your body a circuit. Do this only for a short time at first, so as not to overextend yourself, then increase the time and/or amount of energy you cycle through yourself. Make sure when you stop that you end with roughly the same amount of energy you had when you started; you will have a little less, because of the effort, but try to make sure you don't accidentally send out your own energy with the other energy. The ideal to achieve in this exercise is to be able to work with outside energy without depleting your internal energy.
 
 
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