If you look at almost every ritual, you will at some point find an instruction that tells you to "ground and center." For instance, you may be told to drum and raise energy, send that energy into your spell, then ground and center. No problem, right?

Except for one thing: hardly anybody actually tells you how to do it. Maybe Witches are supposed to be born knowing how to ground and center? But just in case you don't, here are some simple suggestions.

There are really two different kinds of grounding and centering, and we do them for two completely different reasons. (Yeah, I know, many of the books don't mention that either. So pay attention.)

The first is when we start a ritual, and need to focus on what we will be doing. In this case, grounding and centering serves to give us the strength for the task ahead and helps us to shut out distractions so that we can give all our attention to the magickal work.

The second is toward the end of a ritual when we have built up all sorts of magickal energy and sent it into our magick. In this case, grounding and centering serves to channel any remaining, excess energy out of us and into the ground. If you don't do this step you will probably be up all night, buzzing and humming and bouncing off the walls. (Which, while amusing for those around you, can be kind of unpleasant.)

You can use the same techniques for both types of G&C. The simplest method is to close your eyes, take three slow, deep breaths and feel your body connect to the Earth below you. If you are doing G&C at the end of a ritual, sometimes it helps to put both your hands flat on the ground (or floor, if you're inside—the ground is still under there somewhere) and visualize the energy moving down into the Earth.

If you need something more powerful, say to ground yourself before a ritual if you are frazzled or upset (who, us?), then try this exercise:

Start with three slow, deep breaths, and then visualize yourself as a tree. What? Oh, any kind of tree, it doesn't matter. See your roots coming out of your feet and growing slowly downward, getting larger and stronger as they go. Take however long you need to do this, then see your branches spreading up toward the sky. If it helps, you can lift your arms up. Feel the energy of the sun coming down to meet the energy of the Earth as it moves up, and visualize them meeting in your center as a ball of glowing light. Take another few deep breaths and then channel that light and power into your magick.

And that, my friends, is how you ground and center.

Excerpted from Everyday Witch A to Z, by Deborah Blake