Dear Julia:

What is all of this I hear about getting "grounded?" It sounds like getting in trouble to me, like when I was growing up and my parents told me that I couldn't go anywhere for a certain period of time. Yet several times in recent weeks, different people have told me that I need to "get grounded." What's it all about, and how do I do it? My birth date: 6/2/69

- Katie

Dear Katie:

Thanks for a great question! While I'm no astrologer, I had to smile at your birth date. My best friend is a Gemini, and she has a lot of trouble getting and staying grounded as well. It only makes sense, since you twins are ever doing two things at once, flying here and there, and you're air signs to boot. Air signs (Geminis, Libras and Aquarians) are generally very MENTAL. We tend to live "in our heads," which means that we can drift between our mental bodies and our physical bodies without really noticing it. Of course, all the other signs also experience the same thing, but it's not as hard for some folks to get grounded as it is for others.

"Getting grounded" just means being fully present in your body. That in itself may sound pretty weird. When are we NOT in our bodies? Actually, folks are MORE OR LESS in their bodies depending on who they are, what they're doing, where their "heads are," etc. When we daydream, for example, we're generally NOT grounded.

I have many times seen people aurically begin to slip out. For folks who can see auras, this looks like a shadowy etheric outline of that person beginning to drift to the side. A silhouette of sorts may emerge from one side or the other or the top of the head. It can also look like a blob of energy that sort of oozes out, but never separates from the physical body. If you ponder the English language, you'll see lots of phrases that reflect our (more or less subconscious) awareness that this sort of thing is happening all the time. We say that people are "out of it," "not with it," "out to lunch," "space cadets," "not all there." We say we need to "get our wits about us," or "get back down to earth," etc.

There are many times when getting grounded is actually not desirable, and being "out there" may be beneficial in these situations. During magic or ritual work, it's common to energetically soar above the physical, and this is why grounding work is traditionally incorporated at the end of such practices. When I'm doing reading work, I'm in an altered state of consciousness and not fully in the body. It's related to the need to get up to a certain vibration. The physical body is vibrationally the slowest/ densest aspect of our beings. If we can sort of "leave it behind," it will be easier to achieve a higher vibration in the aspect of our beings that is CONSCIOUS at that moment.

Please don't confuse what I'm describing with full astral projection. When people say that they had an "out of body experience," what they mean is that their consciousness "left the building." No one is suggesting that you're completely out of the body - just that your consciousness is not fully rooted in it.

While drifting may be good for spiritual work, not being grounded in our everyday lives tends to pose some problems. Some signs that you're not grounded include losing/misplacing things frequently, bumping into stuff or tripping, feeling dreamy or disconnected, making "stupid" mistakes, cutting or injuring yourself while working at some task, "waking up" to what's happening around you while driving or making driving blunders, suddenly realizing that you don't know what a speaker has been talking about, etc.

Basically, whether you're a teenager in trouble or an adult who is stumbling through life, it's good to be in control of whether you're grounded or not!

To get grounded, you need to get literally down to earth. How often do we do this these days? How often do you walk around with dirt under your fingernails and between your toes because you've been communing with Mother Earth? A basic grounding ritual in Wiccan circles is to simply lay down with your belly on the ground, or to sit in a yogic child's pose, which means you're on your knees with your arms stretched out on the ground ahead of you, your rear end back down between your heels, and your forehead on the ground. Feel yourself getting totally present right where you are. You can drain off excess energy into the earth, and consciously establish a strong sense of rootedness. Simply breathe and pay attention to your body, the feeling of the ground, your breath as it moves in and out, your muscles, your bones, your undeniable physicality.

Less formal methods for grounding include simply slowing down (not easy for a Gemini, I know)! Just stop what you're doing and tell yourself that you can accomplish everything you need to get done without racing. Put sticky notes up, tie a string around your finger or create some other form of reminder to "take things slow." Remember: we lift ourselves energetically right off the ground when we start "flying" around.

You can also use reminders to become more aware of your body at regular intervals throughout the day, or whenever you notice signs that you're not grounded. Clasp your hands together tightly and squeeze. Bite your thumb. Slap your cheeks. Squeeze the muscles in your arms and legs. Smack the bottoms of your feet. Beat on your chest like Tarzan (this is sure to snap you back into your body!) The more startled you are by these feelings (assuming you're not hurting yourself with all that smacking and biting), the more you were "out of it" prior to getting back to earth.

You can also just do something physical, like work in your garden, clean out your drawers or closets, scrub your floors, mow the lawn, chop wood, cook a healthy meal or bake bread, etc. If what you choose is too repetitive, however, you may find yourself "drifting off" again. Playing tennis would be much more grounding than taking a walk, for example, because you have to think consciously about what you're doing all the while. Lifting weights is another good choice.

Also, if you wanted to raise your vibration, you'd eat really light, high vibration foods, like fruits and vegetables. (Or you might fast, which can really send you soaring). It follows then that to get grounded, you should eat heavier, "earthier" foods like nuts, cheese or dairy, bread, potatoes and meat, if you're not a vegetarian.

In telling you that you need to get grounded, your friends (and maybe Spirit, VIA your friends, since you're hearing this over and over!) are basically telling you to get out of your head and back into your body. You must seem to be "out of it." Remember that there's nothing wrong with this, except that it can make living here in "reality" a bit more difficult than it has to be. In fact, everyone on a conscious spiritual path is dealing with this either consciously or subconsciously, because as we evolve, we naturally rise in vibration, and instead of having to stretch to get out of the body, we have to make more and more of an effort to stay grounded.

Pay as much attention to your physical needs and habits as your non-physical needs, and you should be quite comfortable both here in the physical world AND in the subtler planes interpenetrating this one, such as that mental plane you probably spend most of your time in!

- Julia