Those are things I could write pages about. Instead of giving you pages of technical descriptions, I'll walk you through an actual working I did some time ago. Plus it will be easier to understand in context.

I had a friend, a young woman, who was in a very toxic and abusive relationship. She went through years of domestic abuse from her husband who was very controlling and psychotic. Upon advice from several of her friends and myself, she decided to finally just leave and make a run for it. Now if you've ever dealt with a situation like this, you know that when the abused try to break free, it's the most dangerous time and the mostly likely time the victim will be killed.

So she asked me for a protection spell to keep her safe while she fled. I agreed and we agreed on a time for her to make her break. We actually timed it for the new moon so the spell would have the strongest influence.

So that day I cancelled everything I had planned, all of my appointments and sent the kids packing for the day. I cleared out the house and took the phone off the hook. I made sure there would be absolutely no distractions.

First, I burned sage to clear the whole house of any lingering negative energy. I lit candles and burned incense. I found out long ago that not only does the incense help to displace negative energy, it rebuilds the positive energy in the house. It also helps me to relax and focus on what I need to get done.

Next, I started my meditation routine. I always start off with what we call centering. Centering is taking all of the chaotic, free floating energy around you and within you and calming it and focusing it. I visualize myself sitting on a seashore with tidal waves and crashing waves and stormy seas. Those waves and storms are all of the chaotic thoughts and frantic energy that you've built up through the day. Maybe you had a lousy day or encountered someone who just made you feel awful. Either way, you are scatterbrained, can't get anything done and you are panicking. Centering helps to tame all of that energy. In my mind I visualize myself slowly calming those seas, and becoming the observer of my thoughts without judging them. I observe and then I let go. I slowly calm those tidal waves and storms and visualize that energy flowing back into me until it's all inside a neat little ball that is calm and serene. I usually spend about 30 minutes doing this.

Then, I want that calm space within me to be protected, and I want protection from any negative energy or spook that I might attract through my spellwork. We protect ourselves by doing what we call shielding. It puts up a psychic barrier to keep good energy in, and negative energy out. I've done this little trick with psychics who absolutely could not read me once I had 'my shields up'

I begin by lighting a white candle dressed with herbs and oil for protection. Black candles work well here too. Then I'll begin my breathing routine and visualize myself surrounded by white light. In my mind I'll speak my intent which is to form a circle or barrier of protection around me as I do my spellwork. I'll visualize a ring of fire taking shape around me. Or I'll visualize a bubble forming around me. Not only does this create an energetic barrier around me to keep my energy in, it keeps any negative energy out, and any spirit with an intent to do harm. I'll work on this for about another 20 to 30 minutes. Once I've saged, centered and shielded, its time for the actual working.

In the case of my friend, I basically did the same thing for her as I wrote above. I lit one dressed black candle for protection while I wrote my intent down and in my mind I spoke my intent while visualizing her being surrounded by white light and I extended my 'shields' around her. I also did a binding on her abuser where I basically reversed everything and instead of it being a protective circle for him, it became a circle to protect others FROM him. While he was in the circle he couldn't harm anyone, even himself. Again I wrote out the intent and spoke it aloud and in my mind. This way, no harm would come to him, yet he would harm no one.

I did then what we call raising power, or the cone of power. Everyone does it differently but for me, I create a scenario in my mind to bring forth a particular emotion. In this case it was love, peace and a desire to protect. I also coupled that with a little righteous anger thrown in for intensity. My overall desire was to bind him and protect her so I brought forth the corresponding emotions. I built up the emotions to a place where I felt they were ready to be released. Some witches visualize energy leaving them through a cone of power. Some witches dance until exhausted. Some ring the bell. Some scream. I've seen some pull their hair out. Some do Tai Chi. It is all a means of physically releasing that energy back into the universe. It creates an energetic imbalance which the universe fixes by altering reality to your will, thereby correcting the imbalance. After this particular working and I had raised the energy, I released it by literally speaking my intent into the universe while I burned the petitions that I had written in my cauldron. I'm past the point where I need the physical release. I simply sit back at the end of a working and say in my mind, "For the good of all so mote it be" This takes the responsibility for the results off off of me and puts it in the hands of the universe. I let the petitions burn completely and leave the candles burning. That is the end of the spell phase.

Then after all of that, we do something called grounding. It's the wrap up, energy clean up phase.

It is a means of grounding your energy with the earth. It channels off the excess energy you have left over from spell and energy work. It balances you out and keeps you from what I call 'frying' - If you have ever experienced it, you know exactly what I mean. Too much energy is nearly as bad as no energy. Just like a low energy state will make you feel bad, crashing from a high energy state will make you feel worse. You need a way to take that energy and bleed it off.

The way I do it is to sit in the lotus position and visualize roots leaving my body and anchoring myself to the earth. It becomes a two way path where you receive energy from the earth and excess energy from you, is channeled out of you. It balances out the energy. If you don't ground after a spell don't be surprised if you suddenly feel like you got hit by a semi truck.

That is centering, shielding and grounding in a nutshell. There is so much more and I just gave you the basics. This is a topic worth your time to study.

To wrap it up, my friend made it out fine and the spell(s) worked.