PROTECTION ROSES

Celtic Vision · PROTECTION ROSES

Boundary to Your Sacred Space

by Erika Ginnis
article (sixth in a series)

I am going to talk about a couple of different awareness techniques in this article. The main focus is going to be on what I will refer to as your "Protection Rose", which I will explain in a bit. However, in order to actually teach this technique, I need to first talk about the aura, since these two things are closely linked.
Your aura is an energy field that surrounds your body. It is all around you like an eggshell is around an egg, or like the glow from a candle. Many different people have opinions about what it is made of or what it consists of. I am not going to give a great deal of background along those lines, since there is so much good material already available on this topic.
Your aura is constantly changing depending on what you are doing and what you are experiencing at any given moment. It is your personal, private psychic space. Whatever is going on within you is also being projected in some fashion out into your aura. The energy of the chakras, which I talked about in the last article, flow out into and through your aura. This is one of the things that someone looks at when they "read" your aura. They are looking at these same energy patterns. Your aura is the window through which you see the world and through which the world sees you. It effects your perception. It is also your very own sacred space.
I am of the opinion that it is worth as much time and attention as any other sacred space on the planet since, as we learn to treat ourselves with respect, we will bring this into our lives and onto the earth.
Not many of us were taught as children that we had our own space at all, let alone having an aura. You may have given up this idea to some extent at an early age. So this concept may seem foreign to you. Using energy working techniques can assist you to regain that lost awareness. Your personal space is yours, plain and simple. You can chose to give it away, share it, trash it or revel in it, but it is yours for this lifetime.
The first step to owning something is of course to know you have it <grin>.
Take a moment and close your eyes. Let yourself become aware of your body.
Let yourself become aware of the energy surrounding your body; notice it above your head and underneath your feet, on both sides of you and all around you.
This is your aura. Let yourself have an awareness of the edges of your aura.
Notice how far away from your body this extends. You can have your energy extended really big, or pulled in really tight. Play with it a little and notice how it feels. I suggest letting your aura relax and flow to extend it one and a half to two feet or so all around the body. This gives you space and at the same time doesn't encompass any unnecessary energy in your general vicinity. If you have trouble gathering your energy around you, breathe and relax and increase your grounding. (If you don't know what I mean by grounding check the end of the article for that technique.)
Whether you know it or not, your aura is being effected by lots of different energies throughout the day. You may take things on as you go through your day, you may project things outward, it all depends.
Have you ever been around someone who you knew was really angry but it wasn't from their words or their body language? You were probably tuning into the energy that was being projected out into their aura. And if that person had their energy moved out from their body a great distance, you might not have been simply perceiving their energy, you may have been actually experiencing it.
As you become more tuned in to your own energy, by grounding and centering and moving your energy consciously, you may find yourself becoming more sensitive to energy in general. It is also very possible that you have always been sensitive to energy and that is what drew you to working magick in the first place. One of the things that I have found important in my own work is to find a way to be able to have some ability to control how sensitive I am at any given time. When you walk around being sensitive to everything around you it can be very uncomfortable to say the least. It can make you want to turn everything down, or find a way to "harden" yourself to the world at large and people in specific. This can be painful to do especially if you are inclined to be a seer or healer in any way.
What I have found to be a much-preferred option is to increase awareness, and not rely on sensitivity as much. This may seem like splitting hairs, however there is a difference. When you are aware, you can perceive energy without being directly effected by it in the same way you would be if you were "sensitive" to it. You can then have more of a choice as to what kind of energy you want to experience. I have found this essential when I am working with people in a healing capacity. If I had to "feel" everything they were going through along with them, then I would be of much less assistance to them. Instead of working on healing, I would spend much of the time either writhing in pain on the floor, running from them, or else trying to control them so that they wouldn't be feeling anything I, also, didn't want to experience. Sound at all familiar?
As I allow my empathy for their situation to combine with my awareness of the energy around it, I can best see what kind of work to do and do so without taking on the energy into my own aura. I am not saying I do this perfectly, because I don't. That is what grounding and releasing energy is for!
However, having techniques to use to increase awareness and relieve some of the excess sensitivity has been an integral part of my own well being. In my case it has actually increased my ability to really relate to people, since I don't have to spend as much time worrying about becoming overwhelmed by them.
I would like to share one of the techniques that I have used for many years that assist in this process. This technique as I mentioned earlier is called "the protection rose". This is a symbol that you create and place at the edge of your aura. It helps you become aware of the edge of where your energy ends and the rest of world begins. It is like a marker. Kind of like having a fence that marks the boundaries of your yard, a protection rose is a marker that announces to you and to the world that you are consciously aware that you are spirit and that you have space.
People will actually respond to this in a big way, even if they don't know what it is to which they are responding. I especially like using it when someone is trying to push their energy into mine in a way that is unwelcome or is trying to convince me of something (such as when encountering a particularly intense sales person). I also use it on the freeway a lot when someone is tailgating me <grin>. If I put up my rose, almost without fail, the person will move around me or back way off. What I think happens in this case is that the rose surprises the person who has probably been driving on mental automatic, and reminds them that there is indeed another car right in front of them. People respond amazingly well to energy even if they are not consciously aware if it.
I have also known of a few people that have had the experience of someone actually commenting on being aware of the rose and asking them "why do you have that rose floating out in front of you?". Animals will also be aware of it, and it can be a handy way to create space if you are dealing with an unknown animal, or even a well known pet that you would like a little more space from (say when you are trying to meditate).
It is also a protection in that it acts as an absorber of energy. If, let's say as in the example above, you are in the company of an angry person and they consciously or unconsciously throw a little energy your way. If you have a protection rose up, that energy will hit the rose first and get diminished somewhat before it effects you. This may of course wear on your rose a lot but you can easily destroy the old protection rose and create a new one any time you wish. In reality, I always suggest that you check your p-rose periodically to make sure it hasn't gotten destroyed by miscellaneous energy as you go through your day. It is also very informative to notice your rose when you are in a situation when you think that someone might be throwing energy in an aggressive manner. If you notice your rose keeps disappearing that can be an indication that you are getting some extra attention.
As magick workers you are no doubt familiar with many different way to shield yourself from energy. The protection rose is not technically a shield. It is really more or a marker, a reminder to yourself and the world that everything from the rose in, is you, and everything from the rose outward is not. One of the downsides to shields in general is that they can sometimes attract more energy than they repel, or they can insulate you more completely than you really wish. I am not saying that there aren't times and places where shielding totally appropriate and extremely useful. However what I am saying is that you can have a p-rose up and not attract a ton of attention or isolate yourself BUT you can keep your sensitivity from overwhelming you while at the same time gaining awareness in general. I have even seen it assist people who are uncomfortable in social situations, because they feel less "raw" or claustrophobic.
Another way you can benefit from this technique is to use it within intimate relationships to maintain your own sense of selfness, or to create enough space so that you can continue to really see and appreciate the other person. It is also a way to maintain or regain your uniqueness after an intensely bonding experience without having to push the other person away. In addition it can be very helpful in discussions or even during conflicts with a loved one, so that you have more of a chance to communicate what you are really intending to communicate and still maintain respect and awareness of boundaries.
Lastly the p-rose can be really helpful in maintaining an awareness of your own sacred space. If you want to know where the edge of your aura is you can just look for your protection rose. If you notice it is really teeny tiny this may be an indication that your aura is way way out there and this might be the reason you feel overloaded or kind of spacey. This gives you the cue to perhaps draw your energy in around you a bit more. Or if you notice your rose being up against your nose... you might decide that you might like a little more breathing room and relax your space a little. The key here is that you are the one who is now able to respond and choose. This is a sacred precious place you inhabit. Your body is a temple and the aura is like the sacred ground that surrounds it and within which it is housed. Let yourself honor this as you would any other sacred place on earth.
Technique Review: Grounding and Centering
Sit in a comfortable straight-backed chair or on the couch, with your hands and feet separated. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Be aware of your first chakra. This is simply an energy center (vortex) that is located in the general area near the base of the spine.
Be aware of this area, and allow a cord of energy to cascade downward from your body.
Through the chair you are sitting in.
Through the floor and down through the building you are in.
Through the foundation and into the deep earth beneath. Allow your grounding to flow down into the earth past all the rocks and layers of the planet, past the water, deep into the earth into the warm heart of the Mother. Until it reaches the center of the earth. Allow your grounding cord to connect securely into the center of the planet.
Be aware of your grounding cord being securely connected also to your first chakra.
Take a nice deep breath and bring your awareness into that safe neutral place behind your eyes and back a bit. Allow your attention to settle comfortably there. This is an area that is called the center of your head and is related to seeing and non-judgment. It is one way to center your energy in your body.
Notice how you body responds. It might have a reaction to you being centered. Let that reaction simply be, notice it. If you experience any discomfort, release it down your grounding.
Begin to Run your Energy: Earth Energy
While keeping your attention focused in the center of your head, be aware of your feet. Silently say hello to them. Allow the energy of the planet (earth energy) to begin to gently flow into the arches of your feet. Feel it as it flows up through your feet, and then moves slowly into your calves and thighs. Relax and feel this flow of energy, it may be warm or cool, or it may be simply an awareness Let the energy flow into your hips and then move through that area called the first chakra and then flow back down your grounding. This flow of energy will strengthen your grounding and cleanse it as it flows.
This is Earth energy, the energy of the planet. It is the energy that our bodies are made from. It is a very powerful and validating energy for our bodies to experience. It can be very healing when we consciously move it through the leg channels in a gentle and cleansing manner. Take a moment and simply allow your experience to unfold. Breath. Once you have this energy moving simply let it be, and it will move on it's own.
Cosmic (Sky) Energy
Check your grounding and refocus in the center of your head. Allow your Earth energy to continue its flow. Be aware of the top of your head. Create a bright ball of Cosmic (Sky) energy above your head; allow it to be like bright warm golden sunlight. This is the energy that emanates from the cosmos; it is unlimited and always available. It has many vibrations, gold is one that I particularly enjoy and recommend working with.
Allow this bright energy to gently flow into the top of your head and flow down either side of your spine to your first chakra. Breathe and relax.
Blending of Energies
Making sure you are still grounded and centered. Notice how your Earth and Cosmic energies, as they flow, meet in your first chakra. Allow this meeting of energies to be a dance, a blending or your own unique mixture of Earth and Sky. Allow this blend of energies to begin to move gently up the front of your body and out the top of your head like a fountain.
Healing and Creative Energy
Finally, as you breathe and relax allow some of the energy that is flowing up your front channels to branch at the cleft of your throat and flow down your arms and out your hands. This is your healing and creative energy. If you want to enhance your work further you can add creating and destroying roses (creating each rose six to eight inches out in front of your forehead and then destroying it one after the other as a way to cleanse your energy).
Aura and Protection Rose
As you allow your energies to run, tune back in to your aura. Be aware of it surrounding your body on all sides, in front of you and behind you and underneath your feet. Notice that the energy fountaining out the top of your head is flowing out and through your aura clearing and cleansing it. Own your aura for yourself, take your hands and run them through this energy field and see what that feels like. Begin to get aquatinted with you own energy. Keeping your eyes closed, be aware of creating a large rose out in front of you. (This will not effect the roses you use when you practice the create and destroy technique since this one will float at the edge of your aura.) Let this rose stay at the edge of your aura about face height. This is your protection rose. Notice how it feels to be in the center of your head, behind your p-rose which is at the edge of your aura. How does it make you feel? Let this rose go and make a new one, just so that you have the experience of recreating it. How does this new protection rose feel? Is it easier to feel? Play with expanding and contracting your aura and notice how this effects the placement of your rose.
This is a very simple technique, and also very powerful. Give yourself permission to play with it and notice what kind of awareness it gives you. Use your rose in different situations and see how it effects your experience. Let it be a marker an announcement to yourself and to the world that you know that you are spirit and that this space around you is yours and is sacred.
When you are done, open your eyes, bend forward and touch your hands to the floor, as you relax your neck and release any built up energy around the head and shoulders into the earth. Slowly sit back up. If you journal this would be a great time to record your experience. If not, then you're ready to go on to the rest of your day or evening. Blessed be.

Erika Ginnis works as a psychic and practitioner in Seattle. She offers, counseling, classes, reading and healing through her practice "Inspiration is the In-Breath of Spirit" She can be reached at (206) 669-5881 or through her web page: http://www.inbreath.com

Copyright © 2006 by the article's author