Welcome to Gaia! ::

Over Ostara (perhaps coincidental, perhaps not) I've pinpointed a few things that are not helping my magical practices. One of which is that I can barely raise energy any more, and when I do it fizzles out quickly. I've usually managed to raise a bit through trance; I find the right state quickly because I've done it for so long - all I do is recall the state I know - but I don't remember exactly how or why I do it and it's becoming less effective.

Does anyone have any alternative methods that work for them, similar issues, or general advice? mrgreen

I would suggest grounding and centering and just general meditations. If that doesn't work, try to not do any energy work for three days, then try again. And if that doesn't work, try a whole week--all the while meditating and doing things that relax you. The thing you SHOULDN'T do is stress out a lot, that will just shut the ability completely down. If you're still having problems, PM me and I'll try to work it out with you. 3nodding

And maybe after that, check out my Energy and Shielding class in the Academy--lol 3nodding It might actually help you.

Music is great. If I am looking to get myself to a certain place, either emotionally or energetically, a certain song can often do it for me.

I have always found that the more crazy and stressful my life is, the less I am able to focus energy. I agree that you should take a littel break, give yourself time to "recharge". When you feel rested, start back at the beginning. Pretend that you are just starting out again, practice making small energy bubbles and then move on to larger ones until you feel like you have everything back on track. You already know that you can work with energy, so the best thing you can do is not worry and everything will work itself out.

I do a "shower ritual" so I can sort of "clean" myself mentally as well as physically before I try to raise energy. If you can just imagine while you are soaping off, that you are cleaning all the negative energy and the energy of the mundane world and wash it flow off you like the soap bubbles and down the drain.

Sometimes you just need to be good to yourself for a bit before you can give (or receive) energy.

I love the shower method. It helps very much, especially if you are a water element. I prefer it as a preparation though. But I digress for my point that I originally wanted to say. Meditating and focusing is nice but sometimes you need to think outside the box. A great way to raise energy, a lot, is to become happy. Really happy, EXCITED, ECSTATIC! If your alone you could spin in a continuously circle, getting dizzy, but don't stop. Keep spinning until you actually collapse from not being physically able to stand yourself up. I mention this because it has worked well for other people and myself on more than one occasion. If your in a group and you like music then turn it into a drum circle. Have a few people playing hand drums at a fast beat/tempo while everyone else dances around moving clockwise. I'm sure it may sound a little funky but its a lot of fun and it works great! My group and myself do this for every group ritual we have. Main sabbats though.