Roses & Thorns ~ Intermediate Shielding Meditation

This is a more thorough and "heavy duty" shielding exercise than the previous exercises on this site, and is best used as an additional layer to your basic shielding, in conjunction with grounding and centering. You should be well familiar with the Basic Centering, Grounding, Shielding Meditation, before attempting this exercise, as the beginning of this one includes quickly going through that one, without providing detailed instructions for how to do so.

This action is much like the personal, internal equivalent of casting a circle, if that is something with which you are familiar. (If not, don't worry about it - You don't need that information for this.)

As with all the meditations found on this site, you should read all the way through this page at least once before you try to do the meditation.

Before you start:

Now, you are ready to begin...

As usual, the guided meditation track uses a chime to begin this meditation

• Close your eyes, take a couple of cleansing breaths, and center your energy back into yourself. Focus your breathing, drawing in your energies and blowing out everything that doesn't belong.

• Send your roots down into the Earth, grounding yourself and drawing Her energy into you, and send out that energy to recreate or reinforce your flexible, clear, protective shield, as always. Also as always, only the positive, accepted, and intended can enter. Everything else is deflected.

• This is the point at which you should invoke, invite, or welcome whatever energies or entities if any, you may wish to bring into your space, or simply contemplate what you wish to achieve during this time. No one and nothing else will be permitted inside once you have placed the next shield, until you decide to take it down again.

• Now, bring your focus once again to your roots, deeply rooted in the Earth, and begin sending them out in all directions, toward the edges of your personal shield, and continuing to strengthen and nourish them with the Earth essence from the rich soil.

• Once you have spread your roots all the way to the very edges of your space, up to the shielding "wall", will some of your roots to begin travelling upward, back toward the surface of the Earth. When they are just below ground, send an extra burst of energy through to sprout new shoots up from the roots, through the soil, quickly growing and multiplying, offshoots branching from offshoots, growing, climbing your shield wall, some thickening into branches, others forming artfully twisting vines.

• See and feel your new branches growing, climbing, twisting and spiralling, almost as if in a complex dance as they grow, faster and faster, weaving themselves in a web of tangled beauty from all sides, up and around, until they all meet at the apex of the dome, further entwining and growing back down the sides, until your entire shield is lined with a web of strong, beautiful branches, brambles, and lush, green vines.

• Now that you have your framework, draw further on the boundless energy of the Earth to facilitate another burst of growth. This time, you are growing leaves, thorns, and flower buds. These may be roses, or, perhaps they are some other sort of flower, maybe even something drawn completely from your imagination. It only matters that they are beautiful to you as they burst into glorious bloom, mostly from the vines and branches facing the inside, towards you, vying to keep up with the multitude of sharp, curved thorns, which primarily cover the surfaces facing outward, along with the smattering of blooms peeking through on that side.

• Breathe deeply, smelling the all encompassing fragrance of your blooms, and knowing their presence automatically comes with the strong branches and sharp thorns, forming a barrier that is completely impassable from the outside. The aroma becomes homogeneous with the protection. The moment your senses become aware of the blooms, they are also aware that your barrier is protecting you from any and all outside intrusions.

• If any presence needs or wishes to leave your orb of protection, the soft and abundant blooms will form a safe path through for them to do so, allowing them passage to the outside, though they will not be able to re-enter once they have passed through. Nothing and no one can come in from outside as long as you have your barrier in place.

• You are now ready for another spiritual practice, ritual, solitary contemplation, private communications with those you have invited in, or whatever you wish. Anyone or any separate energies or entities is free to leave whenever they desire, but no one and nothing can enter until you are ready to allow it.

• I will now remain silent for about ten minutes, to allow you a chance to do whatever you came here to do.

• At this point, if you wish additional time to rest or work within your fully shielded enclosure, you are welcome to pause or stop this track, or even to simply ignore the rest of the directions until you are ready for them. You can simply tune into your own, inner space and/or the music as long as you need or want to.

• Whenever you are ready to allow communications with the rest of the world, you may do so, simply by calling your living barrier back into your root system. Just as you drew your energies back into your core - your center, now draw this new growth back toward your root system. Watch as the vines and branches retract, releasing their blooms as they flow back into the ground, once again becoming roots, leaving behind only a gently fragrant and velvety blanket of soft petals in their wake, to remind you that they are always there, ready to grow out again whenever you need them, bursting forth anew with their blooms and thorns to protect your sacred space.
Next time, you will find that you are able to grow or retract your beautiful, protective barrier much more quickly, and very soon after, you will be able to do it all in an instant, with nothing more than a thought.

• Now, at your own pace, feel free to return to physical time and space, and, when you are ready, stretch, open your eyes, take in your surroundings, and rejoin this realm. Welcome back. Be secure in the knowledge that even though you are now open to the outside world again, you are, as always, still grounded, centered, shielded, and safe.