Protecting Yourself on Paranormal Investigations

It is common knowledge that everything is made up of energy, and that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can be transferred.  Protecting yourself from energy transfers or attacks that can occur during paranormal investigations is of the utmost importance for your health, safety and well-being.

You may or may not have heard of the following:

-Entities following people home from investigations;

-Entities attaching themselves to people; and

-On the more extreme side: psychic attack & possession.

All of those situations involve a transfer of energy, and it is my belief that we can develop practical methodology that may help limit the chances of these circumstances occurring.  We owe it to ourselves and to our research to take the proper precautions to make sure our bases are covered.

I think one thing that most of us can agree upon is that the last thing you want to do is bring something home with you from an investigation! Your home is your home, period…it is your refuge and safety, it is where you relax, recharge, and where you can be yourself at all times.  Trespassers are typically not met with a welcoming smile, nor are they typically allowed to linger.  Trespassers can make you feel violated, and most of us will respond with fierce protection of our home– we want to keep them out and away! 

Through my research and experience, I believe that your energy space (aura) is the home for your mind/spirit.  Just how protected and safe it is directly contributes to the well-being of your spirit/mind; just as how the protection and safety of your house contributes directly to the well-being of your physical body.  I have developed the belief that by remaining strong, knowing your space, caring for your space, and really owning every last speck of your space, anything that doesn’t belong will have a hard time sneaking in, and if it does find a way in, it will have a very hard time staying in.  This is true both your physical house as well as your energy space.

I have learned that every person, place, and thing in the universe has energy.  In the context of paranormal investigation, you are exposing yourself to familiar and unfamiliar energies associated with many different things- things we have a general understanding of, things which we know little about, and even some things we have yet to discover and define.

One thing that is generally understood about paranormal phenomena is that it exists for the most part on a spiritual/mental plane.  It is my belief that the one sense we are all equipped with to help us understand this spiritual/mental plane is unfortunately our weakest sense.  I am talking about the 6^th sense: intuition.

As you develop your 6^th sense through meditation, paranormal investigation, and other techniques, your investigations may take on a new level.  However, because we mostly depend on our 5 physical senses to guide us, in combination with experimental equipment to produce measureable evidence, our investigations & our navigation of the spiritual plane is somewhat limited.  It is my belief that this feeling of limitation can open us up to having fear about our ability to protect ourselves from things that we cannot always “see.”

We all know that negative and dark energies exist out there, and these are the energies that can make us the most fearful – especially if we feel limited in our understanding and/or limited in our ability to protect ourselves. 

How do those that exist on the spiritual plane interact and engage in attack? Generally, it is understood that they do their damage mentally & spiritually.  Yes, there are accounts of negative energies that have caused physical harm to people, such as bites and scratches, but it is generally agreed that how they really hurt you is on the spiritual/mental level.

With a weak 6^th sense, our ability to interact and defend ourselves is weak, because our certainty in our intuition is weak.  Lack of certainty in our own intuition makes room for fear, and fear is what dark and negative energies are attracted to and it is what they feed upon.  The more certainty we lack, the stronger dark and negative energies become.  I believe that protecting yourself begins with becoming grounded and developing our certainty and objectivity.

So, how can one protect oneself from entity attachments, psychic attack, and possession?  From my research and experience, I have found that as you discern your truth, know the feel of your energy, make your certainty a priority and commit to it, that it will become easier for you to notice when foreign energy tries to enter into your space and affect you.  You may notice that the energy feels foreign, and you may notice that the thoughts and feelings are originating from something other than yourself. 

I believe that developing the ability to immediately delineate what is your energy from what may be foreign energy is an effective tool that will help you keep your spirit/mind, as well as your home and family safe from rogue energies that may intend to follow you.  

The Neutral Location Idea

I believe that my idea presents a positive and safe way to help paranormal investigators develop their grounding and certainty, and it also provides a methodology for developing the ability to immediately delineate what is your energy from what may be foreign energy.  I believe that my idea will help a paranormal investigator develop his/her intuitive abilities, knowledge of himself/herself, and will help to eliminate fear of the unknown.  As the members of paranormal teams strengthen their intuition/6^th sense and certainty, teams may have more thorough investigations, and stronger evidence may be collected.

What you will need

-  A working knowledge of a grounding meditation

-A personal, investigation journal for each participating member of the team

Groundwork

First – learn about grounding meditation & introduce the idea to your team.  Please don’t pressure anyone into doing anything that they are not comfortable with.  Grounding meditation is NOT associated with any occult practices- it is a very safe, natural, successful, and widely accepted method of meditation. 

You will want to make sure that you and those on your team who agree to participate develop a familiarity and working knowledge of the ins and outs of grounding meditation prior utilizing it to assist in protecting your energy space for investigations.  There are many classes out there that teach grounding meditation.  If you’re in Chicago, I would recommend InVision – which is where I learned grounding meditation, and it was a great experience!

Proposed Methodology

Designate a neutral location for your team to collect prior to and after the investigation.  Do not designate anyone’s home or office as the neutral location.  It’s probably best to designate a safe, well lit area.  This should be a place that has no significant meaning to anyone, as it is going to serve as a place to energetically and spiritually/mentally prepare for the investigation, and a place to debrief and clear energy after the investigation.  This area is where you will do your grounding meditation before and after the investigation.

Once you all arrive at the location, do a grounding meditation (together, but each member focusing individually).  Try to do this meditation for at least 10-25 minutes.  This meditation time aims to bring you back to yourself, and bring you into the moment.  With this meditation, you should try to clear away any thoughts or distractions that have been claiming your attention recently.  You should aim to clear your mind and bringing your focus and attention into the here and now.  I would wait to start the meditation until after everyone arrives, so that you don’t get distracted.  PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make sure you are in a safe area before you do this.

Next, everyone should take the next 10-15 minutes to jot down some notes immediately after the meditation in their journal.  Write down how you feel, and as you write – make sure you are as “in the moment” as you possibly can be.  Do you feel like you cleared your mind?  Is there anything still bothering you?  What is bothering you & why?  Do you feel like yourself?  Do you feel light, generally happy, excited?  Do you feel safe?  Do you have any aches or pains in your body that you are aware of?  Did you have any intuitive experiences about the pending investigation while meditating?  Even after your intuition becomes better developed, I still recommend this grounding and journaling, as you never know what you could pick up & how it could potentially mentally/spiritually attack you.  I recommend that if you do not feel right that you DO NOT participate in the investigation, as you are not going to be fully grounded and you may be more vulnerable to spirit attachment/attack.

It’s important to really dedicate yourself to this journaling time, as this is going to provide you with the material you will use to assess yourself after the investigation.

Immediately following the investigation, the team should head back to the neutral location to debrief and get centered.  Make sure it is still safe!  If something seems off, find another safe neutral location.  You should each pull out your journal – and write your thoughts about the investigation, write about any instances where you felt off kilter or where you may have felt some fear.  What made you feel that way?  Was the ground uneven or did the off kilter feeling come from something else?  Really think about it & trust your intuition!  What made you feel fearful – did you just randomly feel scared, or did something happen that caused you to feel scared?  Do you feel light, heavy, drained, angry, tired, sick, hungry? Do you have any pain anywhere?  Be especially cognizant of how you feel if anything paranormal touched you, spoke to you, scratched you, bit you, if you felt a paranormal wind blow on you or through you, or suddenly felt sick or angry; it’s a natural thought that these specific experiences could signal that a paranormal entity has engaged in some kind of contact with you & that it could be an attachment attempt. Write it all down.  Dedicate about 20 minutes (or more) to this as a group.  Don’t talk, just write. 

After everyone is finished, do another 10-25 minute grounding meditation.  Let go of anything that happened on the investigation.   Let go of any thoughts or feelings, anything that made you feel scared, anything that made you feel off balance, let go of any heaviness, tiredness, pain, or nausea; just let it all go down your grounding cord & get it out of your space.  Pay attention to changes in how you feel as you let things go.  Flushing out anything foreign should make room to completely bring yourself back into your space.

Once you are finished with the post investigation grounding meditation, you should take at least 10 more minutes to write about how you feel.  Do you still have any physical feelings/sensations that you picked up during the investigation?  Look at your notes - how did you feel before the investigation?  How do you feel now?  Even after grounding, do you feel more heavy or drained than before the investigation – anything negative? Is anything off? – trust your intuition, only you know how you feel.  This is your time to reflect and evaluate your energy space for anything that shouldn’t be there If something still seems off to you – LET YOUR TEAM KNOW.

If you notice that there is any sort of wrongness with how you feel after the investigation – that should be a red flag that something may be trying to attach to you or follow you.  Do another grounding meditation focusing specifically on what is off, even say a prayer if you want to.  The team should be aware of your concerns, and everything should be documented.  Take care to monitor your behavior, and anything weird that suddenly starts to happen around you.  Write down ANYTHING that seems even slightly strange. 

IF YOU DEVELOP ANY SIGNS OF ILLNESS OR PAIN– CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FIRST.

Rule out any possibilities of illness or injury FIRST with a doctor.  If the doctor determines that your health is normal and you do not have any injuries, you may want to consider getting a 2nd opinion just in case – that is your right.  If you accept the doctor's opinion that your health is normal and that you have no injuries, you may want to try contacting a trusted intuitive/psychic/medium or trusted energy healer that can help you to identify anything that could be congesting your space.

Based on my research and experience, I would recommend that you keep doing regular grounding meditations in a safe place, such as a dedicated quiet area at home.  Try to meditate twice a day during this process & continue to try to clear out any foreign energies that you feel may be affecting you.  Doing this should help you keep your energy strong.

Also, eat as healthy as you can, drink plenty of water and herbal teas, limit caffeine, alcohol, and drug use (**talk to your doctor first about limiting prescription drug use and go with what your doctor recommends**), take your vitamins, limit smoking if possible, and try to get restful sleep.  If you can afford to take some time off of work, I recommend considering taking a few days to just get some R & R.  Engaging in these healthy activities and focusing on getting yourself back to normal should help detoxify your body and should fuel your own energy.  I theorize that similar to fighting a virus, taking time to rest and replenish should help optimize your ability to clear any foreign energy that is sticking in your space when used in combination with grounding meditation.

Please note, if paranormal activity that could be tied to the investigation is occurring in your home, you should contact someone that has experience with blessing a location.  You must work on everything that is affected to ensure that the energy is successfully removed from your home and your personal energy space.

If you feel that your condition is worsening, see your doctor again FIRST.  If nothing medical can be ruled out, you should seriously consider consulting someone experienced with energy attachments & their removal.  Most faiths and spiritual denominations have someone that specializes in this whom you can turn to (priest, bishop, spiritual healer).  Please note well, if you feel that this entity is of a demonic nature, contact a priest or demonologist that you feel comfortable speaking with & and disclose everything you are experiencing.

Additional Items to Consider Adding to Your Toolbox

• Black Tourmaline
• Myth & Lore:  Black Tourmaline has long been used by shaman in African, Native American and Aboriginal tribes.  Native Americans used it as a protective stone against negative spells.  Black Tourmaline dispels the negativity and protects against harmful energies such as anger, envy, and greed.

• Interesting Facts: Tourmaline crystals are hemimorphic, having a different shaped top than the bottom of the crystal.  Some crystals of Black Tourmaline can reach a rather large size and can display a great variety of crystal faces.  Another interesting characteristic of this stone is that it is pyroelectric which means that when heated, a positive charge develops at one end and a negative charge at the other.  These charges reverse themselves when the crystal cools.  A piezoelectric charge can be developed if the crystal is compressed (or vibrated) at both ends.  Conversely, if an electrical potential is applied to the crystal, it will vibrate.  Metaphysically speaking, this can help break up an energy blockage, thus bringing new clarity of purpose by helping one integrate and experience the physical and spiritual worlds as one.

• Metaphysically Speaking: Associated with the Root Chakra (grounding/protection/survival).  One of the most powerful psychic protection stones.  Protects against negative energy and negative entities of all kinds, as well as being a strong spiritual grounding stone.  These stones also purify the area in which they are located.  It does not “absorb” negative energy, but is said to convert it into positive energy.  Helps you to let go of negativity and self-doubt, feelings of anxiety.  Black tourmaline is perfect for spiritual grounding and grounding meditation.  It is said that this stone does not send the negative energy back to where it came from.  It is inexpensive, as well.

I welcome you to share your thoughts on what I have presented.  This idea is a work in progress.  Thank you for reading!!

This post presents experimental theories, ideas and suggestions that have been assembled through research and personal experience.  I aim to share what I have learned and experienced, and the methodology presented may provide paranormal investigation teams with tools that may assist in protecting personal energy space.  The success of the methodology (which is a common personal energy maintenance and protection meditation methodology) has not been tested/confirmed in the context of paranormal investigation, as far as I am aware.  However I have used the methodology in personal energy maintenance and protection, and I find it to be successful for clearing my personal energy space.  WHAT WORKS FOR ME MAY NOT WORK FOR YOU.

With this post, I aim to do nothing other than to suggest methods and ideas that I believe could possibly help someone find ways to protect himself/herself as a paranormal investigator.  No theories or explanations in this article are to be taken as indisputable fact.  You ultimately make your own decisions, and you are at your own risk.

I have studied paranormal phenomena and energy, and have participated in paranormal investigations since 2004.  I have studied meditation techniques and biofeedback and have actively been meditating and doing biofeedback techniques since only the beginning of this year (2011). I am not a doctor and I am not a guru.  I am an empath, I do practice what I preach, and I have experience with energy work and with clearing and protecting my own energy.