Energy and Light

Energy is what creates and sustains all forms of life – animal, vegetable, mineral. Kinetic energy is energy that moves, Chemical Energy is released when something burns, Radiant Energy is carried by light, Thermal Energy by heat.

The Sun is the ultimate source of energy for most of life on Planet Earth. The Sun derives its energy mainly from nuclear fusion in its core, converting mass to energy as protons are combined to form helium. This energy is transported to the sun's surface and released into space in the form of radiant (light) energy.

All living beings are sustained by energy – some of it is tangible, visible, knowable – like the Vitamin D we get from the Sun and the foods we harvest from the Earth to eat, and the nutrient-rich water we drink, and the muscles and strength we get when we exercise. But some of the energy that fuels and sustains us is invisible and less knowable, except when we train ourselves to identify it and begin to work with it.

That is really, at the core, what Magic is: understanding energy, respecting energy, and using energy in responsible ways to affect change of a physical and spiritual nature. The refinement of the Self that I talk about – where we raise ourselves to our Higher Divine Genius in accordance to the agreement we have with God, or the Divine Source – is an alchemical process using energy to inch us toward enlightenment.

Just like the Sun – the Center of our Universe – powers life throughout the Solar System including all of life here on Earth – you also have an energetic center and that is your Soul or Spirit. No matter your faith, your religious traditions or your beliefs, you cannot deny that you are Energy and Energy does not die – it only transmutes or changes or evolves. A tree that blooms in spring and yields fruit in summer and sheds leaves in fall that die in winter, is a perfect representative of the seasons of a life – we are born, we begin to grow, we blossom into fullness, we recede and change and wither, and we die but then there is rebirth. That rebirth may simply be the release of our invisible energy force – our qi or ki or lifeforce as it is called in the East – into the world. Or it may be that we are buried and new life grows around our bones. Or perhaps there are people who will tell stories about you for hundreds of years after your death. Or maybe you go to a proverbial Heaven. Or maybe you are born again – reincarnated back into a human life form here on Earth again. We all have our beliefs, and the study of energy will grow our beliefs, not necessarily destroy them.

I want to talk about the Light Body. The human energy field is made up of several layers. The etheric body, mental body, astral body and emotional body are all aspects of the light body. With electrical impulses, energetic bodies beyond the physical can be detected. Aura photos, also known as Kirlian photography, can capture images of these bodies. Shamans and gifted healers regularly work within these fields.

The Egyptians had a term called Merkaba – Mer (light) Ka (soul) and Ba (body). Merkaba is also a Hebrew word meaning Chariot of the Soul (mentioned 44 times in the Old Testament). The Merkaba is associated with the Tarot Card of the Chariot, and the Merkaba is also a symbol -

The symbol, which takes the shape of a star, is believed to be a divine vehicle made entirely of light and designed to transport or connect the spirit and body to higher realms.

You can find crystals in the shape of a Merkaba. You use a Merkaba to purify and activate your Light Body. You can also use it in Reiki, which I’ll talk about in a bit.

There are some people who can literally see the ki or lifeforce of another person – that lifeforce when visible is known as an Aura. An aura is described as “an emanation surrounding the body of a living creature and regarded as an essential part of the individual.”

Auras are energy fields around the body that change color according to the chakras that may be affected by their lifeforce and sometimes by people’s moods and thoughts. Now, few people can see Auras clearly although many people get a slight impression of color, sometimes out of the corner of their eye, when they encounter someone’s Aura. If you associate a particular color with someone, it may be that you experienced their Aura without realizing it, and retain the memory of that color.

Nowadays, infrared technology exists that allows computer imaging to capture the color impressions of an Aura so that even those who normally cannot see Auras, might be able to sense the colors they are projecting. While some discredit this as junk science, I have found Auras to be particularly alluring and tangible – in large part because of my work with the chakra bodies and the identification of colors with each.

Many metaphysical shops around the country have Aura sensing technology that you can schedule and experience. A photograph will be taken of you and an image will appear on the screen of the person doing the recording, and they will print that image out for you along with some information about what you may be seeing (particularly as it pertains to the colors that are visible) so that you know what areas of the body may require attention, and what energetic experiences are showing up in your Aura field.

I have written before about the Figure 8 (the infinity symbol) and the ways that both Energy and Light travel along it. Here is the best way I can explain it to you, based on what I experienced when I first saw it:

The energy that created and sustains you, created and sustains all things including all people. So you are never disconnected from that Energy Source. That includes the Sun, which sustains life, but also your Spirit, and also the Divine Source. You can never be disconnected from the Energy that sustains you although your connection to your energetic power centers can diminish (because of poor health or depression or other things that diminish your qi or lifeforce). It is important to know when your energy is sapped, so that you can takes steps to restore your energy and strength. Get rest, eat healthy, stay hydrated, move and exercise, meditate, spend time with friends, listen to music, be in nature, enjoy the sunlight, pray and play – these are all ways to strengthen your connection to your energetic power sources so that you are fully alive and connected to your purpose.

The most powerful of these energetic sources is God itself, or the Divine Source. The qi of your lifeforce comes from your Soul but was gifted to you by God. If you lose your qi, your life ends. Qi gong which is also known as tai qi (tai chi) is an excellent way to build your relationship with your lifeforce, to play with it and strengthen it and honor it. It’s also a fantastic way to move and stretch and feel rejuvenated within your physical body.

But, to go back to the Figure 8: Imagine you are standing on one side of the room, and a group of other people are with you – all forming a circle together. This could be family, or good friends, or your magical tribe, or all the humans on the planet even. You form a circle, with the center being the energetic power source that connects you all – God. Now picture energy emanating from God – the best way to see it is as a beam of light, clear and clean and brilliant. That beam of light emanates from the Center of God and it enters you through the center of your being, through your Solar (the Sun – get it) Plexus. That beam of light carries your energy, your lifeforce, your Qi into your being but it doesn’t just stay there. It moves throughout your entire being, fueling and filling  you, and then it passes back out again and when it does, it crosses the beam that came into you. As your light and energy returns to god, it forms that Figure 8, and the light that you see within the Figure 8, the dual beam, the double helix of energetic life, the light is caused by the energy continuing, unceasingly, to pour out of God and into you, to flow out of you and back into God. Qi is known as the Universal Life Force.

But that same Figure 8 goes from God into everyone, and from everyone back into God. It also goes from you into everyone you connect with and from everyone you connect with back again into you. This is why tribes are so critically important in all aspects of life, including magic. Because we are stronger when we are together. That flow of lifeforce fuels us so significantly when we are with others who recognize what it is, honor it and celebrate it. We are more powerful when we know the strength and the source of what fuels us, and we can begin to work with that energy in light form.

One of the most powerful light forms available and accessible to us is Reiki.

Reiki is a Japanese form of energy healing, a technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by laying on hands and based on the idea of the unseen Universal Life Force – in fact the word Reiki is a combination of two words: REI which means “God’s wisdom or the Higher Power” and Ki (Qi) which is “life force energy.”

During Reiki, a practitioner (who has been trained by not only learning about Qi and techniques used during Reiki but who has been gifted with life force healing by their teachers) will lay their hands over parts of your body, rarely ever touching you. They are sensing your Qi or lifeforce but also using their own to determine where the flow of energy is needed to heal the body or the spirit. Reiki masters are able to work remotely, which has been beneficial during the times of COVID and if anyone here wants a recommendation, I am happy to share one. I had a really powerful remote reiki session with a friend during the peak of my recent grief experience, where I had a lot of fear and anxiety associated with my loved one dying and needed a path through it that felt safe and empowering.

The other topic for tonight in terms of energy is the idea of ESP – Extra Sensory Perception.

ESP, sometimes called the Sixth Sense, is the gift of knowledge not gained through the other five senses. It is not literally seen, heard, felt, smelt, or touched and yet, it is an intuitive sense of something that we pick up during life experiences, during dreams and during meditation.

Second sight, which is one version of ESP, involves the knowledge of things based upon a vision – specifically about something that happens in the future. I have had second sight experiences.

But the form of ESP I want to talk to you about tonight is more about energy, and the physical body. While all of us, from time to time, will pick up certain clues about our environment or gut hunches about events or red flags in certain people (and we should nurture those talents and learn from them as we grow stronger in our intuition), our physical bodies are often the greatest conductors of energy that we can base these perceptions upon.

The hair rising on your arm. A tingling feeling across the top of your head. Itchy palms or wrists. The feeling of someone standing over your shoulder. Butterflies in our stomach. A lump in the throat. A smell that reminds us of someone that disappears.

For those of you who are just now beginning to identify your intuition and desire to grow it, the physical sensory perception you have is your body opening a portal and letting you know that the talent to know is there, but needs to grow. It is the first sign of your awakening, and your sense that there more than meets the eye and you want to learn it.

I often get the feeling of pressure on my upper back, right between my shoulder blades. It feels like someone is standing behind me, pushing lightly but firmly with the bottom of the palm of their hand against my back. I call it “the Angels pushing my wings” and there seems to be no obvious physical reason why I would feel pressure in this part of my body. I haven’t strained any muscles or have any nerve damage – it’s not directly in the center or right over my spine, but usually a little left or right of the center. It just comes and then it goes, but it often feels like something is leaning on me – not literally but figuratively. Like they want me to do something, but I don’t really know what.

In those moments, I can work with my other senses including my sixth sense to ask myself questions like:

Is there something I am supposed to be doing right now?

Do I feel pressure coming from myself or from other people that I haven’t responded to?

Am I stuck, and need to move forward in some aspect of my life?

As a reiki practitioner, working with clients and conducting an energy scan, I usually feel a vibration in my left (non dominant) wrist when scanning a chakra that is not in healthy flow.

Sometimes, your own ability to work with energy starts with those physical sensations. Pay attention to them. Journal about them, maybe. Start noticing what your particular sense usually is and how often you are right. As you become aware of it, it will grow stronger and eventually grow beyond the physical.

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