The more time you spend walking the path of magick, the more ways you tend to find of doing a particular thing—kind of like that old saying, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.” We would never skin our cats. It’s just a saying! But there are countless ways that an energetic shield can be constructed. I’m going to give a couple more examples that will perhaps inspire you to experiment and come up with your own method if you’re so inclined.

The first variation on the shielding technique utilizes your heart center and your aura.

• Imagine a gold sphere of light in the center of your chest.
• Begin taking slow, even breaths, seeing the sphere glow brighter and brighter with every inhalation as you fill it with more energy.
• After breathing deeply at least three times (I myself prefer to do it ten times), exhale and see the golden energy you’ve accumulated spread out like a ripple in all directions through your aura, until it reaches the very outer perimeter—about an arm’s length around you in every direction.
• As you see it spread through your aura, know that it is patching and repairing any damage that you may have accumulated. It reinforces the outer perimeter of your aura, giving it a pliable yet tough boundary—slightly rubbery, and capable of bouncing any energy directed at you back to its source.
• I recommend repeating this process three times, following it by grounding out any excess energy into the earth with one of the visualization techniques from Part 2.