Shields Up

Yesterday, I was chewed out by one of my family members regarding the fact that I do witchcraft. They went on and on about how I was a weirdo, and that what I believed in made no sense.
Now I respect their opinion about what I do in my life, and I understand their reasons for feeling this way about something they neither understand nor accept. However, just because I am a peaceful, non-confrontational Pagan does not mean that I am going to sit there and allow myself to absorb the negativity they are directing at me, instead of deflecting it away from myself. Yes, what they said did bother me for awhile, but not as much as it would have without my psychic shield. And so this experience got me to thinking about psychic shields and protection,

To me, a psychic shield is not only protection from someone sending out negative energy accidentally, but also for people sending out negative energy around you and towards you. I feel this way because in my life I am constantly surrounded by negative people that happen to clash a lot, most definitely on a daily basis. So being in the middle of this kind of energy all the time not only puts me in a difficult position to go about daily life in, but also makes it very difficult for me to concentrate on meditation, magickal workings, or anything I may be doing, such as writing this blog, for example. Basically, I find it hard to be a spiritual person in everyday life when I am faced with this onslaught of unending negativity all the time. Plus it drains me emotionally to the point where I feel depressed and upset. So I need my psychic shields up and ready at all times.  

Now I haven't actually read any books going in depth on the subject. My knowledge of shields comes from the small sections I've read in 101 books on Wicca or Witchcraft, and from some information I've gleaned off the internet. Therefore my expertise in putting up and using shields has come mostly from my own personal experience than techniques I learned from a book.

At first try, I found that my shield did not work as much as I wanted it to. I think I had set my hopes a bit too high for the first try, not to mention that I hadn't practiced enough visualization before putting my shield into action. I would say it took me about two months before my shield became effective enough to truly feel a difference after a negativity attack. Nowadays I have no problem with visualizing my shield, and I can put it up at a moments notice whenever I need to.

I'm not going to say how I visualize my psychic shield because there are so many ways to visualize a psychic shield. Instead, I urge everyone to experiment and find out what works best for them when they are faced with difficult energies. On that note I would like to say that having my shield as protection from negativity has made my life so much better. I don't think I can go back to not using one now. Negativity, for me, is very harsh energy, and my emotional psyche has become very scarred over the years because of it. A psychic shield has become a permanent fixture in my waking hours, and it has definitely made me a stronger person on the inside and outside.

Negativity will always follow someone on a different path and for those of us that are more sensitive to these energies, shields can be a valuable source of protection and comfort.