Light a candle, burn some incense or otherwise, make yourself comfortable. Cast a circle if you like and create sacred space. Breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth, focusing only on the sound of your breath. Now imagine that you are a tree. You are sitting in an open field with the sun shining down upon you. With each exhale of your breath, feel all of your energy leaving the roots of your tree and entering the earth. Concentrate on this feeling. Start with the thoughts in your mind and release them down into the trunk of your body and exiting through your roots. Feel your roots reaching deeper into the earth, winding around rocks and pushing deep through the soil. With each exhale, push all of your energy out of your roots into the surrounding soil. Feel it leaving your face, your lips, your eyes, your hands and shoulders etc. and free your entire body of any thoughts that may keep you back from your magickal intent.

When you feel you have properly grounded, take a deep breath and reverse the process. You are now going to replenish all of your energy that you have given the earth with new positive earthly energy. As you breath in through your nose, imagine with each breath that your roots are absorbing white light. Feel the nutrients of our Mother being absorbed and slowing climbing your root system until it reaches the trunk of your body. Feel the light entering your legs, your belly, your breasts, your arms, hands and finally your head. Concentrate on this feeling of oneness with the earth. Feel the energy of Her body entering your own. Now as the energy is rising within you, feel it burst forth out of the center of your head, your crown chakra, and form the canopy of a tree. With each breath, you form new branches and new leaves form bursting with life. Feel the sun shining down on your body (tree) and know that with each ray of sunshine, it is giving you the ability to create your own energy within you. Now step back from yourself and look at the tree. See how you are one with the earth, and one with the sky. You are fully grounded and one with the Lord-Sky father and the Lady-Earth Mother. You are now ready to center and raise energy.

I personally like the above method of grounding for before I do ritual. It offers me time to release things of my mundane life and enter a magickal realm of positive thinking. The following method is great for either before or after, however, I tend you use this for after I raise a lot of energy.

Written by Oscianna but exercises shared and gathered by many texts and Coven teachings...

Blessed be!