Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

GROUNDING

The process of temporarily shutting down Psychic Awareness and reorienting the concious mind to the material world. This clearing and releasing excess energy is most often performed after magical or psychic work. The practice of grounding aids a ritual magician or witch in reconnecting with the physical plane and is believed to prevent illness as well as unwanted energy and/or thought forms from attaching themselves to an unwary host.

The term is also used, though less commonly, to describe the process of focusing attention and ridding oneself of distraction when preparing to work Magick. In this sense, to ground yourself is to psychically reinforce your connection with the Earth by reopening an energy channel between your aura and the ground.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc