Linkage Before I dared to consciously draw from the universal energy or even received anything specific from it, I felt it. There are times when I actually feel at one with all that is. This is more than imagination. This is a feeling of wholeness that transcends any physical contact or spiritual connection in my prior experience. Most of my triggers for this have been natural events. The air full of softly drifting snowflakes, bare trees enveloped in rolling fog, the silver blue beam of a full moon, a stormy night sky crackling with colorful jags of light... All these things can help me feel the Oneness. This is more than a poetic appreciation of Mother Nature. If I stand out in these events, close my eyes and extend my arms, I feel as thought I am reaching for the edges of the cosmos. Soon I am no longer a corporeal entity. My consciousness is out there, communing with the grandness. Actually, anything may trigger my link to the Oneness. It used to come as a surprise to me. I'd almost gasp aloud when I felt it. All too soon it seemed to fade again. I have since learned to invoke it myself and make it last a bit longer. I cannot stay there because I am, at those times, out of the loop on this plane, in this reality. Still, it feels so good to reach out and link to everything, at least on an overall scale. I have occasionally reached out to feel everything buzzing on this planet but it quickly disturbs me. There's just too much detail going on, like an overload of input. I might use that for gathering at some point but for now I use these exercises to restore my inner peace and refresh my energy. In a way, I am resetting my power after a drain or an overload. Even as I sit here, if I stop writing for a moment and concentrate, then I can commune. I can clear my mind of the noise and let my spirit lift from this body. This takes practice, especially shutting out the noise, not just in the environment but in my own mind. I may drift slowly upward until I escape to scatter suddenly into a million points of glittering light then spread out through all of space among the stars. I see the universe around me. I feel the freedom and openness. At some point, when I feel relaxed and filled with joy, then I draw myself back together and return to my body again, my spirit refreshed. My favorite place to go has been out near Jupiter, hovering over the moon Io. Ah, if you're skeptical, that's good. At least you're thinking. You will have your own special places to go. Actually, I go somewhere between the orbits of Io and Europa with Jupiter looming. I'm not sure yet just why that is, why I picked that place or why it draws me. I just subconsciously went there once and it works well for me so I keep using it. I do not have a body there but I have enough of a form and freedom to wisp around, dance, fly, giggle and play in the cool open space, comfort of darkness and twinkles of starlight. I am in fact a manifestation of light with very little form. When I am through, I slip back quietly into my body here, usually smiling. I believe a similar connecting activity may be called Grounding in some circles. It's discussed much like grounding an electrical circuit. It's a way of releasing excess energy, into the ground, possibly by imagining oneself as a tree and having roots that reach down into the soil. This would store the excess energy in the soil beneath your tree so that you could draw upon it later. They speak of Centering as well. When one has scattered energies for a task, then it is best to draw them back again, to re-center all your own energy back to yourself or to refill from your reserves. They also refer to reaching out for the energy in the same way, much as the limbs and branches of a tree reach out so the leaves may take in rain and sunlight to perform the process of nourishing itself. It is recommended that one Ground and Center before and after any ritual or task. Well, I do that in a way. Quieting the noise may require different measures but after an event I almost automatically go out to my section of space near Jupiter and Io so that I may release my spirit to complete freedom then draw myself back again. I have a few other scenarios if this doesn't work for some reason, but usually, it does. I will offer a warning. There may be a temptation to find a photograph or painting or scene in a movie to try and simulate this. I have done that. It's terribly disappointing. In fact, it can ruin travel to that location. Bringing it down into two-dimensional space, as in a picture or graphic, seems to also flatten the experience of being there in spirit. I recommend that you record these travels in a journal just for reference, but try to stay away from making some pale image to go by. Photos of the planets are fantastic, but they can never capture the volume or dimensionality of my own spirit trips. If you use some place that's more worldly, then by all means, select a tree in your yard if you wish. That is in three dimensions, so it may help. Just don't be bound to what you can only see with your physical eyes. Learn to feel your connectedness and to see with your mind's eye. (Linkage)

If menu is missing, click here.