Energy is incredibly contagious. We are taking in and absorbing energy all the time—some of which may not be beneficial. For example, if you spend a great deal of time around people who constantly criticize others, you may find yourself soon doing the same thing.

Everyone knows someone who can’t see anything but the negative. It’s like they approach each and every situation almost as if they are looking for something to complain about.

The same goes for anger—some people walk through life looking for things to take offense at. Spend much time around these people, and you’ll find yourself becoming as miserable and angry as they are.

I thought about this a great deal when I was in prison; about how we absorb energy from people around us. The thought of beginning to resemble the energy I was surrounded by was horrifying, so I constantly took measures to protect myself.

When magicians perform large rituals, they’re attempting to accumulate as much of a particular kind of energy into an area as possible. The first step in such a ritual is what is called casting a circle. When we do this, we’re usually drawing a circle of light around the area where we’re doing the ritual. When constructing a shield, we do the same thing, except we’re drawing the circle around ourselves so that it moves with us throughout the day. This ritual is a greatly simplified version of a circle of invocation and was one of the things I did daily in prison. Of the shielding rituals, it is my personal favorite due to how effective I’ve found it to be:

• I close my eyes and take several deep and even breaths.
• As I inhale, I visualize myself pulling in energy from the world around me. I envision it as white light, which passes through my body and into the earth beneath my feet. With every inhalation, the earth is filled with more and more bright light until, by the tenth breath, it’s completely filled with as much brilliant light as possible.

• After about ten inhalations, I stretch my right arm out before me, with the first two fingers of my hand extended and the last two fingers folded into my palm with my thumb over them. In magick this is called the sword mudra because it can be used to sever energy. It is also used for directing energy.
• I begin to turn in a circle while envisioning the light within the earth rushing back up through my body, out of my pointing fingers. I use it to draw a circle of white light around myself. I imagine it looking like a hula hoop made of light, surrounding my body at slightly lower than chest level. I make sure to end where I began, so that the circle is complete.
• I then stretch both arms out to my sides with palms up and “grasp” the ring of light. I slowly raise my arms up above my head while visualizing that I’m stretching the light and closing it above me like a dome. Then I stretch my arms out to my sides again with palms facing down and stretch the energy to close it beneath my feet.
• I am now standing inside a brilliant egg-shaped sphere of white light. I sometimes even feel a kind of energetic “pop” as I close the sphere around myself. This is caused by the sudden severing or separating from the energetic field we exist within.

When you first begin this practice, you’ll have to reinforce the shield a few times a day. The more accustomed you grow to doing it and the stronger your ability becomes, the longer and more effectively it will stay in place.