Clearing:
A Guide to Liberating Energies Trapped in Buildings and Lands
B Y   J I M   P A T H F I N D E R   E W I N G

Foreword

Jim is a voice for the Earth, giving us much needed inspiration and information about living in harmony. And he is, as I consider myself to be, a practical teacher in the realm of Spirit. In this book, he helps us bridge the gap between the energetic realm - a realm more subtle than that which our culture has taught us to perceive, let alone be able to manipulate or transmute - and the world of matter and solid objects with which we are more familiar and comfortable. Although I consider this book a marvelous guide in its specific focus of identifying and transmuting energies in order to live in greater harmony with our environment, I also sense that it is of broader import than that: it provides an effective metaphorical bridge for us as we walk toward working with the energetic realm in all aspects of our lives.

As we approach the prophesied Golden time of harmony, beauty, and peace becoming realized on this sweet Earth, it is clear that our most powerful and useful interaction with the world around us can often be an energetic one. Won't it be wonderful when we create a dream / plan, focus our love and attention on it, and the larger world conspires with us to bring something into manifestation? How different from our present, energetically-draining practice of pushing and shoving around the weighty material world! Will it not be magnificent when we move into the non-manifest realm and do our gentle work there, rather than use the personal power it takes to attempt to make major changes from the material plane? To make this more concrete, I offer you an example from the healing work which many of us experience. On a weekly basis we can massage the kinks and tensions out of a fast-paced executive's body whose mind-set is that of a worrier. Or, more effectively in terms of energy and time, we can move into his light body and change any choices/patterns involving strain, worry, fearfulness and over-work. We go into the energetic body, to the pattern in the etheric realm where the person's patterns are set, and there shift the pattern, so that all future manifestations through that particular window are forever changed. This means that not only is it easier to make the changes, but also that the new pattern holds over time; it's not just a one-shot deal, but lives on out into his life. The executive (or any one of us) walks forward with more ease and confidence, as well as openness to input and perception, thus making the completion of tasks more efficient and easeful, perhaps even joyful. He even has more personal energy left to do the specific work needed on the material level, and perhaps even a bit more for his family when he gets home, too.

This way of working within ourselves and with the world around us is the most useful thing we can be learning at this point in time. Jim gives us simple and clear ways to make this energetic connection, understanding that opening to wisdom from the realm of guides and spirits anchors us in that higher focus and allows us to receive the information we need to make a difference in the specific situation we face.

Becoming aware of situations and places in which the energy is less than positive, less than harmonious, is a first and very powerful step. We become aware and stand in a place of power to make positive changes. These changes harmonize not only the specific situation or place concerned, but add a sweeter energy to the whole Earth. In becoming more aware, we become more perceptive, more sensitive, more present in the rich, sweet world of this amazing planet, our Lady Gaia. And perhaps more willing to honor and respect all that we see and feel. As each of us uses our consciousness and intent to make these changes, the world continues to grow in beauty, peace, and harmony. We do our part to bring about the Golden time; it is right and good that we do so.

Brooke Medicine Eagle
Sky Lodge, Montana
April 2006

Getting Started
Have you ever walked into a room and felt a chill, or that something wasn't quite right? Or have you entered a space and suddenly become sad or agitated for no apparent reason? On the other hand, are there places which you have visited that consistently bring about an inexplicable sense of contentment?

All the spaces we inhabit - the places where we live, work, or visit for various reasons - may harbor spirits or types of energy that affect our well-being. If spirits are trapped, their energies may cause us mental or emotional distress, while in other cases their presence can uplift us emotionally or contribute to a wholesome state of mind. Additionally, energy patterns in structures or on land can be either negative or positive, depending on their origin and vibrational rate. Fortunately, spaces can be cleared by liberating trapped spirits and then transmuting any negative energy to positive energy by raising its vibrational rate. Given proper instruction, anyone can do this without expert intervention - with the assistance of guides and spirit helpers, instead, who actually do the work - despite the fact that in our materialistic society, there is a bias against believing in the reality of anything that can't be touched or measured.

Everyone has the capacity to perceive phenomena energetically and to work with energy. This capacity only needs to be developed, just as you would have to tune a radio in to the waves being continually broadcast. Once the proper techniques are mastered, it is possible to sense the energy of spaces and coordinate activities to effectively discern and work with energy for greater health and harmony.

As a practitioner of "environmental shamanism," affecting the essential nature of places, I am often asked to clear spaces - that is, to dissipate or transmute negative energy - when people move to a new house or apartment. Likewise, I am routinely requested to cleanse business locations, transmuting energy to a more positive form by raising the vibrational rate, and thus making the space more attractive to employees and customers so that business improves. A frequent comment after such spaces have been cleared or cleansed is, "I can't believe how delightful this place feels!" The effects from even one treatment can last for months, prompting visitors entering after a long absence to feel like a light has been turned on. Similarly, when tracts of land are cleared or cleansed, the changes can be just as evident - as in a flourishing of flora and fauna, for example. Such transformations in the energy of structures or landscapes often increase abundance, catalyze healing, or inspire human creativity.

Nearly any space can be improved energetically as long as its composition and properties are comprehended. Fundamental to such an understanding is basic knowledge of physics: just as a house or other structure has enclosed space, objects that appear solid (such as rocks) contain more space between the atoms, nuclei, electrons, protons, and quarks than matter - roughly equivalent, proportionally, to the spaces between the sun and planets in the solar system. Further, all this space between matter (in addition to the space around us that contains matter) is capable of holding positive or negative vibrations of energy. Vibrational frequency in the spaces between matter is what characterizes all energy, whether its effects on people are positive or negative. When a person enters a room and feels "chill bumps" for no apparent reason or gravitates toward a spot that inspires joy, these reactions are based on subtle internal sensibilities in response to vibrational frequencies within the spaces.

The purpose of this book is to help readers live in harmony with the buildings and lands they love by learning how to identify and transmute various kinds of energies, changing them from one form to another. Although most people may be unaccustomed to transmuting energies per se, they are familiar with transmuting water and matter. Water can easily be transmuted by altering its temperature: when frozen, it is ice; when heated, it becomes vapor; when cooled, it condenses back into water. Matter can be transmuted by burning it or leaving it out in the elements to decay. Likewise, it is possible to transmute energies - cause their patterns to change - through intent, by developing the practices and performing the ceremonies taught in this book. People sometimes ask, "How do you do this work, this transmuting and healing of spaces?" The answer is really quite simple: I don't do it; the guides and spirit helpers do it. A great truth too rarely understood is that humans are the only physical beings on the planet who have self-consciousness and thus walk between the worlds of substance and spirit; when we realize our potential power and are guided by spirit we are capable of much beneficial energy work for the common good of the planet.

The book focuses on basic instruction, including exercises to develop capabilities for working with energy, as well as suggestions for discerning when assistance is required and how to seek it from guides and spirit helpers. Readers are encouraged to keep a notebook of observations that might prove useful in future clearings; some entries from my own notebook are provided as samples. Each chapter concludes with an at-a-glance review of major points for easy reference.

A portion of the sale of each book will be donated to nonprofit organizations dedicated to acquiring and preserving Native American sacred sites so that all may benefit from this gift of the Creator.

Chapter One
Identifying Places of Sadness, Suffering, or Agitation

Know thyself.
- Inscription at the Delphic Oracle

MOST PLACES THAT need clearing broadcast the fact strongly by exuding negative energy, causing a distinctly oppressive feeling, but it takes practice to "read" and interpret types of energy. The key to identifying places which need clearing of sadness, suffering, or agitation is knowing your personal energy and becoming more sensitive to the energy around you. It is necessary to perceive the subtle vibrations of both external and internal energy patterns; this is a capability that usually has to be learned. Since people generally tend to be more extroverted than introverted, and since our culture does not encourage discernment between types of energy in daily life (through ritual, for example, as did many ancient cultures) such perception takes practice. Intuitively, we are all aware of the power of personal energy. Upon entering a room, we have all unexpectedly experienced strong feelings emanating from someone - a rival in business, a former lover, or even a stranger. We also know from movies of the "one look across a crowded room." The intuitive faculty picks up the energy of another and translates it into feelings.

Although we are often aware of sensing the energy of people and places, rarely are we taught how to perceive energetic qualities consciously or how to use them advantageously. Gaining the ability to consciously perceive and beneficially transmute energy patterns takes training, like learning to read and write. Initially, squiggly lines in books are unintelligible to a child, who later is able to understand their meaning. Similarly, it is possible to learn how to "read" the interior spaces of structures and the exterior spaces of land if we first learn the "alphabet" of their energy patterns by becoming aware of subtleties within our own inner spaces and accessing our intuition. We do this by finding our Stillpoint, the place in our being of total silence and stillness.

Finding the Stillpoint
The ability to discover the Stillpoint is a prerequisite for learning to "read" energy and transmute it for increased health. The Stillpoint is where intuition and creativity originate, and where balance is achieved through relaxation and centering. It is the source of being, where individuals exist as their most authentic selves. The Stillpoint is a key element in spiritual practice, inviting recognition of the sacred in all things through awareness of the sacred in oneself. The Stillpoint may be accessed in any number of ways, and all techniques for discovering it lead to two empowering realizations: the world is a rich place that can inspire infinite exploration, and you can access your Stillpoint whenever you choose because stillness is within and not something to be sought outside yourself.

One method of discovering the Stillpoint is simply to do something that you love - such as painting, writing, knitting, playing a musical instrument, or making model airplanes - allowing total absorption in the activity to lead you to inner stillness. Alternatively, the Stillpoint can be found more deliberately by becoming increasingly aware of living in the present moment, with no thought about what you did yesterday or plan to do tomorrow, thus stopping accustomed mind chatter. A third means of locating the Stillpoint is through meditation. When doing a meditation practice, keep in mind that it is most likely to lead to the Stillpoint and remain sacred if there is a beginning, middle, and end.

The following is one such meditation practice: Place your hands in the prayer position and focus on your middle fingers. As thoughts arise, consciously dismiss them without anger or annoyance, with patience and gentleness toward yourself, understanding that the proliferation of thoughts is a deeply entrenched habit of the ego in order to sustain its existence. With practice, you can succeed in breaking this habit of involuntary mental activity, achieving refreshing clarity.(1)

Another meditation concerns being fully present with whatever you perceive. For example, hold an egg in your hand and study it, taking in as much information as possible: its weight, shape, texture. To deepen your awareness of the egg, recognize and then release any prior associations you may have with it - such as a childhood memory of an Easter egg hunt or of cooking omelets with a loved one. Whatever thoughts or memories surface, acknowledge them, experience them, and then let them go. As they are released, you may feel more relaxed and gain a deeper awareness of both the essence of the egg and your unique consciousness.

Finally, the most fundamental meditation is to become aware of how breathing affects energy flow and states of consciousness. Breathe deeply from the pelvic region, pushing your belly out and expanding your lungs until they feel full, then hold your breath briefly before exhaling gently, contracting your belly until your lungs feel empty. Settling into a gentle rhythm, with each inhalation feel energy coming in and envision your consciousness expanding; with each exhalation feel tensions in your body being released. In this state of simply breathing and being, explore your surroundings with your mind, heart, and full range of senses. What is the quietest sound you can hear? Is it internal or external? What does the silence "taste" like? What do you "see" without looking? How much can you perceive through the simple act of breathing? Where inside you have you gained awareness through experiencing life without an agenda?

Accessing the Stillpoint enhances both your perception and your ability to envision potential and be creative. Once your Stillpoint is found, learn to operate from that space confidently and fearlessly. Then you will be able to affect the energy of a place as you choose, from a centered state of "knowing" that is neutral, protected, and empowered. This is done by grounding, centering, and shielding.

Grounding, Centering, and Shielding
Grounding entails connecting energetically with the earth to ensure that consciousness is not operating from other dimensions or overly-affected by other energetic forces. To ground yourself, visualize a thread of energy extending from the base of the spine (the pelvic floor or perineum, the root chakra) deep into the earth, imagining that it connects you to the healing and life-sustaining power of the earth and provides support wherever you go. Do this at intervals throughout the day to reaffirm your established connection, preferably leaning against a rock or tree - something that touches the root chakra and enables you to feel linked to the physicality of the earth in order to minimize influence from the energy forces of other dimensions.

Centering involves locating the core of consciousness in the body and drawing earth energy from below and higher perception from above in order to operate from a balanced awareness. To center yourself, feel the earth's energy, the life-giving power of nature, coming up through your feet and legs into your midsection. Simultaneously, sense the life-giving energy of the sun - or of the stars at night - flowing through the top of your head (the crown chakra) and into your midsection, where it meets the earth energy coming up from below. Using this process to create a "knowing space" will protect you from upsets and allow you to function in a balanced manner.

Shielding is to create, through intent, a protective energy layer around yourself in order to deflect external negative energy. To shield yourself, visualize a cocoon of mirrors surrounding you, reflecting unwanted energy outwards. Put this invisible armor on as you would a coat. You can envision it as simply a bubble of white or blue light; it is a shield, but not a veil, to protect you, not to remove you from anything. Merely knowing that this shield is keeping you safe and that you can summon it to envelop you simply through intention will deflect all negative energy. From time to time, energize the protective quality of the shield by re-affirming your intention.

Becoming Proficient at "Reading" Places
People are always relating with their environments on an unconscious level, and learning to "read" the qualities and types of energy in various locations can be advantageous for balanced living. To become proficient at "reading" places, start by noticing energy around you wherever you go. If you suddenly find yourself distracted, sad, or irritated, try to see or feel the energy of the place and determine what may have caused the emotion. As you are assessing locations and types of energy, clear your mind of preconceived assumptions and judgments about the place or objects in it; such conditioned responses are the principal obstacles to assessing energy accurately. Awaken inner faculties that have been dormant in order to see or feel the ebb and flow of energy.

In addition to practicing assessing qualities and types of energy in various locations, you can also hone your senses (see Exercise 1) and increase your knowledge of the potential significance of energies. For example, if a strong energy emanates from a particular object which seems symbolic, research where it came from and what cultures use such objects, as well as the qualities associated with it, and then record your discoveries in a notebook for future reference. In this way your observations will lead to a continuing education that both sharpens your senses and broadens your general knowledge. At times these observations may unexpectedly result in important revelations for self-knowledge and personal development.

Exercise 1:
Accentuating the Senses through the Power of Opposites

Senses may be heightened in order to enable better "reading" of energy in spaces by utilizing the power of opposites. For example, if a warm object is held in the hand and then something cold is touched, the sensation of coldness will be accentuated. The same principle may be applied to the experiencing of energies attached to a particular area. To increase your awareness of this potential, go to a place where intense feelings of both sadness and joy have transpired and compare their energies. Begin by accessing your Stillpoint; then ground, center, and shield. Approach this space as a neutral observer, trying to feel all the types of existent energy. In this way, you will gain maximum awareness of the site's energies. Make a game of it: imagine yourself guiding someone who is blind, while observing and reporting everything that might prove valuable to that individual. Carry a notebook and jot down your impressions. The intention is not to be affected by the energies but rather to identify their subtleties.

Softening your focus, either through gazing from the side or squinting, feel the energies and try to sense the source from which they are emanating. Then, closing your eyes, notice if you become conscious of an emotion and what may be triggering it. If you are outdoors, are the energies affected by the arrangement of the natural or urban landscape? By how the houses or other structures are situated? By how features of the terrain are geometrically related to one another? If you are indoors, are the energies affected by the arrangement of rooms or interior objects? What precisely are the energized elements, and what is the nature of that energy? After practicing this exercise, it may become evident that sensory awareness is accentuated by the simultaneous existence of opposite types of energy.

In order to practice a variation on this exercise, go to a place which has energies which you wish to change and follow the same steps. See if certain features or objects exude different types of energy; assess what kinds of energy they emit, and consider how they affect you. Then decide how you wish to shift this energy. Although it will take continued practice to discern the "alphabet" of energy and to become adept at "reading" it, this exercise can make you more aware of opposing energy forces, as well as of the full spectrum of energies affecting various locations.

From the Energy Notebook:
An Instructive Gift from Guides

A few years ago, researching the origin of an object and the qualities associated with it led to a significant revelation for my personal development. Someone presented me with a curious gift - an ugly, rusty, animal trap - after finding it in a tumbled-down shack by a river and following the advice of his guides, who told him that it would present me with a valuable lesson. It is always important to trust guides, since as powers of the universe they have more information than we do, so I accepted the unusual gift as the positive offering it was intended to be. However, realizing that a person's preconceived assumptions and judgments are the principal obstacles to assessing the energy of an object or place, I had to overcome my prejudices about trapping animals and view the object with detachment.

For weeks the trap sat in a corner as it became increasingly obvious that the gift held some kind of strange power. This was reflected in the reactions of various people, who would glance toward the trap even though it was almost hidden from view, while their faces darkened momentarily. Eventually, it became apparent that the trap was actually collecting negative energy. The original owner had cared for the trap as a precious tool of his livelihood and although he was no longer alive, the power of his intent and the resultant pattern of energy remained embedded in the object. The trap was still functioning as intended, but in accordance with its new surroundings - instead of trapping animals it was trapping negative energy, which was the intended "prey" of its new owner. The trap actually adapted to my own intent and energetic environment. That is, I saw that the guides of the gift-giver had indeed shared with me a great lesson: how we treat objects affects their essential energy since our intent can become embedded in their energy. Once I learned this lesson, I placed the trap on the front porch, reasoning that it was better to keep negative energies from entering than to trap them inside the house.

Review
How to identify places of sadness, suffering, or agitation:

© 2006, Jim PathFinder Ewing

MORE ABOUT Clearing: A Guide to Liberating Energies Trapped in Buildings and Lands
Working from the premise that every natural and human-made space has an energy of its own that can physically and emotionally affect anyone in that space, this introduction to ancient practices of environmental shamanism - or transformation of the energy of spaces - explains in practical terms how to liberate old, unproductive energy that may be stored in any space, making room for new vibrations to circulate and increase inhabitants' well-being. Real-life examples, guided exercises, annotated endnotes, and an extensive glossary to supplement case studies are also included. $11.96 (Findhorn Press).

You can purchase this book direct from the publisher by clicking on this link.