Okay, I'm going to do my best to not get super preachy...but there are a few thoughts out there that really bug me and I wanted to talk a little about that today. Energy isn't a physical thing! It's not bound by the rules and laws of the world that we are used to dealing with.
So, this may seem obvious, I mean of course energy is non-tangible...it's like smoke right? But it's really not, in the sense that smoke is still a physical thing. It follows many of the same rules as other things we interact with, the rules of our reality that we grew up with.
We think of smoke as being untouchable...because we can wave our hand around in it, and our hand passes right through. There is no resistance, there is often no sensation. Smoke is there, and then it isn't, it dissipates and we can't see it anymore.
But if you trap the smoke in a bottle and seal it up...it stays contained. The smoke can't pass through the bottle, and this is a common perception of how energy works for many people. They see the physical things of our world as having stopping power.
This brings up a whole slew of concerns, especially for people who are just starting out. It doesn't help that some of these concepts continue to be passed along, taught from one person to the next, as if they were TRUTH.
One I remember reading about very early on, that seems to have almost died out now, is that you should do your magic skyclad (naked) because clothing interferes with the energy you are working with. Like somehow my teeshirt and jeans will stop the magic from flowing out of me and to where I want it to go.
Firstly, most people don't go walking around fully wrapped up in clothes, and even if you did, even if you wanted to do magic with a full onsie on, lying on your bed with your blankets pulled over your head and tucked around you....you could!
I always thought it was a bit crazy that people had no issue blindly believing that clothes stopped energy, but that I could cast a healing spell on someone miles away without a problem (and that energy would presumably go right through my walls and through any walls in the way...).
Speaking of walls, one I still hear a TON that makes me twitch a little is the idea that you need to open a window when cleansing to let the bad energy (or demons....I've seen plenty of people say 'to let the demons out' *sigh) escape when you sage.
Okay, yes the house traps the smoke from the sage (or incense) in your house...but again, smoke isn't energy. Now, this may seem like a bit of a contradiction, because aren't the walls of our house keeping all that bad energy inside in the first place? Why isn't it drifting away like smoke would?
I feel like there are a couple of factors here. Firstly, a lot of energy is sort of clingy. It doesn't move on it's own, so if left to it's own devices, it stays put. This is why many systems of energy work look at the flow of energy in a place. Because certain things will move the energy. Often it's us, as we move through our house, we draw energy along with us, we break it up and shift it.
Of course we can also create areas that are sort of magnetized to hold energy. If we constantly sit in one place in our house when we are sad, we build up a resonance there for sadness, and if we don't take care of it, that spot will start to collect sadness.
So what actually happens when we cleanse a space? Whatever tools we are using, we are focusing our intent on shifting the energy in our house. We might see it as driving the stagnant energy out, replacing it with better energy (like we do with sage or incense) or we might see it as transmuting the energy from something less desirable to something we want (often done through visualizations involving light).
One thing I find particularly perplexing about this 'must open a window!' perspective of energy having to conform to physical laws is it is very inconsistent. Some people will strongly affirm that if you are saging you must open a window, but you can use sound or a light visualization just fine to cleanse your house. Why would the sacred smoke (and your intentions) be unable to shift the energy if sound/light could. Technically your walls block all three of the physical tools you are using (yes windows allow light in and some sound passes through, and our houses aren't airtight or we'd all suffocate..but you get my meaning!)
Windows bring up another odd belief about energies, and this one ties into the moon. Many people like to charge things (stones, tools, water) by the light of the moon (full moon usually). They take their stuff and put it outside, where the moon light can fall upon it). But they fret about whether or not they can put it on a windowsill inside, or keep their things in a container outside (to protect them from weather or critters..or people)...as if the glass would stop the energy from reaching their things.
Another, very specific thing that I've heard people worry about, is if there are clouds in the sky or if a certain astrological phenomenon (mostly eclipses) are not visible in your area, can you still work with those energies. I kind of feel like if the energy of the moon can reach me across ALL that space...a few clouds aren't going to stop it.
All of these examples boil down to people wanting to understand energy, but missing the mark just a little. By nature, we want to compare things to other things that we understand. So energy gets explained as being 'like smoke' or 'like light' or 'like electricity'. This is enforced as we visualize, and those are three very common images that people hold in their minds, when they 'see' energy.
But energy operates by different rules than the physical world. It exists not only around us, but inside us. Your aura isn't an energy field that surrounds your body...but one that exudes FROM your body...it shares the same space and more! When we charge an item, we aren't wrapping it in energy, we are filling it with energy.
When we cast circles, we are creating a boundary of energy...designed to help hold and control the energy we are working with. When we direct energy, we are moving it, and we can move it through any number of physical things!
Thinking about energy in physical terms limits your ability to work with it because you are creating boundaries that don't exist. If you believe that your walls will stop the bad energy from getting out, then you are actually setting the intention that bad energy should linger (because you don't believe it can escape, you are basically creating your own barrier to keep it in).
If you can start to break down these ingrained beliefs, you can start working with energy in new ways. You can be more flexible, and work around the physical world, rather than being bound by it.
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