tunesmyth

I have a friend with severe movement handicaps, for whom various forms of rituals of spiritual cleansing, banishing, and protection that are relatively simple for most people to execute are simply just not an option. I did recently run across a ritual that requires no movement at all, though. It seems it is an early form of The Sphere Of Protection that was taught by Rev. Matthew William Shaw. Shaw started The Modern Order of Essenes, the spiritual healing tradition that John Michael Greer ecosophia has recently been sharing on his blog. The instructions for this simpler Sphere Of Protection is, however, buried in the middle of a longer entry which focuses on other things.

For my own use, and ability to forward easily to my friend, I here present just the instructions for this version of The Sphere Of Protection (SOP).

While you are meditating, contemplating, praying or healing yourself within this Sphere of Protection, no harm of any kind will come to you.

Most of the time nothing bad will happen anyway. As a precaution, we do suggest placing yourself within a Sphere of Protection any time you want to pray, meditate, contemplate or practice spiritual healing.

There are many ways of doing this. Here's the Essene way of forming a Sphere of Protection, as taught by Rev. Matthew Shaw:

1. Sit or stand comfortably and close your eyes. Relax and breathe deeply.

2. Bring your consciousness to your heart.

3. See a dot of white light shining in the center of your heart. This white light is the Light of the Divine. It is the Unconditional Love of the Universe. It is the protection against all things. See this dot of white light.

4. Each time you breathe out, see this dot of white light slowly expanding. Over the course of seven breaths, see it expand so that it forms a sphere completely surrounding you.

5. Each time you breathe in, feel the unconditional love of the universe filling you more and more. Then watch this sphere of white light expand as you breathe out.

6. Stand within this sphere of white light, this sphere of the unconditional love of the universe for three breaths and enjoy the peace, energy and love.

7. Give thanks to the Divine for protecting you and proceed with your purpose for forming this Sphere of Protection around you.

This is one way to create a Sphere of Protection to keep negative energy, power and entities away from you. There are several others. Choose one that suits you.

Update 1/31/2023:
THE HEART SOP

Having practiced this version for a little bit now (which I have started taking to calling the "Heart SOP" to myself), I believe it is really quite a worthy exercise. I am not positive yet how effective it is as a protective ritual, when compared to the more modern versions of the SOP or other protective rituals. JMG said he practiced it enough to experience that effect, but then again, he has decades of daily practice at a wide variety of protective rituals and could probably turn eating a ham sandwich into an effective protection ritual if he tried.

But here are several data points that suggest its possible benefits.

♡ Performing it, I don't always notice the effects (then again, my subtle senses are rather insensitive), but sometimes it leaves me with a marked feeling of relaxation and ease.

♡ sdi reports in his case a different result, of it making him intensely focused.

♡ He also notes that it's a gentle-but-effective method of exercising one's spiritual heart, causing it to "light up" and strengthen.

♡ I can't say for sure whether it's connected to the exercise or simply personal growth that happens to have coincided with my adoption of it, but I am finding recently that I am becoming a bit more impervious to criticism. I am a lifelong vegetarian, and unfortunately some of JMG's warnings about vegetarians (how as they are less grounded, are often overly sensitive to what other people think and often overthink small things and blow them into big things) hit the target pretty squarely with me. But these feelings have lessened noticeably over the last few weeks as I've practiced the exercise, even though I haven't performed it every day. SDI points out that the heart is associated with the Sun and that the Sun is associated with imperviousness to criticism ("Sol Invictus").

♡ The other big change I've noticed since then-- again, not sure if there is a direct connection-- is that I've really been able to enter into the music while I sing in front of an audience lately, and bring it up to the surface as a kind of bubbling musical joy. It's quite pleasant. SDI again notes the Sun connection, of Apollo and his lyre, and being the leader of the muses; and to joy (radiating light).

♡ I have some concerns over the safety of the regular SOP done around young children. This is a somewhat different issue and I may write about it separately at a different time. However I'll just say that the Heart SOP is so far the only ritual form of protection which my divination has suggested is okay to do around kids (as in, not with them right there with me, though). This makes sense to me, as it is (a) only minimally grounded in the material plane, due to a distinct lack of physical movements, and (b) it doesn't call on a gallimaufry of deities and/or angels and/or spirits and/or elemental powers, etc etc, but very simply connects directly to the highest level of the Unconditional Love aspect of the universe that one is currently capable of accessing. Of course, if you have kids around, you should probably check this yourself rather than taking my word for it.

♡ Finally, and this is proof of nothing of course, but I'll share that I've been having some interesting heart coincidences of late.

This heart-connection process may have started with me before I even started the Shaw SOP-- though the effects I speak of, I've only become aware of recently. But even before I began, since October I have been doing weekly prayers on the hour of the Sun for the benefit of others' health. Even more interestingly, it was specifically for heart ailments.

First for a friend of mine who was having heart surgery, and I committed to doing six sessions on his behalf (6 being a traditional number associated with the Sun). His surgery was successful, and I dutifully continued through all six weeks.

On the very Saturday following the final Sunday of the six week sequence, my father informed me he'd been diagnosed with arrhythmia and was having trouble even moving across a room without getting tired. So immediately the next week I began the same sort of sequence for my father's heart problems. Although he sort of got better, in that he found medicine which seems to let him function more or less normally without overwhelming side effects, he is be no means completely healed or back to normal. And so when I contacted the Covid Ecosophia group about Covid vaccine remediation therapies, the idea of the Ecosophia prayer list, which had existed as a seed possibility in my mind for at least a couple of years, finally took root.

So I'd been connecting with the Sun, specifically about heart issues no less, for a couple of months before even trying the Shaw SOP. It now seems rather meaningful to me that this "Heart SOP" would appear right at this time, when I had otherwise given up on having a safe protection ritual while raising young kids, and right when I was discussing the matter with my physically-impaired friend, to boot.

UPDATE TO MY UPDATE

Tonight at my restaurant gig there was a table of five-- three ladies, two men-- who kept making heart shapes to me, and I joined back several times-- which now that I mention it, means there were 6 of us doing so all told. I swear it was them who started it, not me! :-) The coincidences continue!