The Subtle Energy Body: Your Passport to the Mystical Realms
by Constance Rodriguez, Ph.D.

Have you ever walked into a room or building where the energy felt dark and heavy? Or have you been with another person and their energy felt either dark or light? Perhaps you have been at a power spot on the earth when you noticed a change in the space around you, or in a cathedral and felt uplifted. You were noticing the energy field at these places or around a particular person.

Scientists and researchers are finding that around every living and “non-living” thing there exists an energy field. This was first discovered in Kirlian Photography as the “phantom leaf effect.” Through this method, an entire leaf could be photographed after half the leaf was torn off. In other words, the energy form around the leaf was still visible enough to be photographed. At The International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (ISSSEEM) conference I once attended, doctors presented research with what is known as “the phantom limb” syndrome. In these situations, people who have lost a limb often complain of aches and pains in the missing limb. In this research they found that by actually manipulating or massaging the missing foot or limb, it helped decrease the pain. This has led scientists and researchers to acknowledge the human energy field as having a bonafide place in Western medicine.

The Subtle Energy Body
The energy field around your physical body is called the subtle energy body, sometimes referred to as the aura, and extends beyond your physical body between twelve inches to several feet, depending on your state of health and emotions. It consists of interpenetrating layers or levels of energy that oscillate in and around the body like an opalescent egg-shaped bubble. Within this bubble and connecting to the spinal area of the body are energy centers known as chakras. The chakras correspond to the glandular system of the body and move out of it both front and back like funnels of rotating energy. Imagine the rotating energy funnels within the egg-shaped bubble of the energy field; this is what it might look like using inner vision.

A vital key to having physical and emotional health and balance, as well as the joy of following your soul’s passion, is maintaining your subtle energy body at its optimal level. How do we find this enlivened state and maintain its optimum state of vibrancy? There are several ways. You can do this through meditation, yoga, and clearing and balancing the energy body.

Becoming aware of your subtle energy body and clearing and removing any blocked energy that may be carried in these layers and chakras is the first step to not only maintaining a healthy vibrant state, but also allows you to develop many perceptual states well beyond the five senses. At this optimal state your subtle energy body, like an antenna that picks up all sorts of information, can access help from the invisible realms. The invisible realms are what I call the Mystic Realms. Masters and teachers throughout time have been able to move through these realms. The Mystic Realms are dimensions “beyond” the third dimension – the physical plane - and are well known to shamans, mystics, and yogis. These invisible realms exist at higher frequencies in the multi-level dimensions in the universal energy field than does the reality we know as the physical plane. To experience these many wonderful dimensions and the invisible helpers that reside there, start by clearing and opening the subtle energy body so you can resonate with these higher dimensions of consciousness. When you have done this, the subtle energy body becomes the traveling gear that allows you entrance to these many realms.

As noted above, the subtle energy body contains levels, like layers of an onion, each having its own purpose with regard to who you are as a soul inhabiting your physical form. The first four levels of the subtle energy body are the most important for clearing and developing perceptual awareness outside the five senses - inner sensory perception (ISP). We all have ISP; it is simply a matter of fine tuning the subtle energy field and your ISP opens up.

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An Interview with Constance Rodriguez, Ph.D., Author of Gifts of the Soul
by Llewellyn

In your book, Gifts of the Soul, you talk about your desire to “see.” How did this journey lead you to write the book?

In the beginning, I did want to learn to see psychically, but I had difficulty with what “seeing” was supposed to “look like” in that way. As I describe in Gifts of the Soul, it slowly began to happen somewhat on its own as I worked with clients in altered states. I learned that as I guided them into altered states, I would be able to see with inner vision what was happening, and I began to understand that I was getting information through images that we both shared.

How has your background in psychology helped shape the tools and exercises you present in Gifts of the Soul?

My background in Jungian psychology opened the door to ideas about the collective mind, the universal energy field, and all that this means in terms of the way we can access otherworld realms as well as invisible beings. Because I was having out-of the-ordinary experiences in my sessions, I became curious as to how they might fit into psychology. As I studied the interactive field in psychology, it led me to research in quantum physics and science, ancient healing methods, and esoteric traditions regarding subtle energy fields. Although each of these areas of study has different ways of describing it, they are all essentially speaking about the energetic matrix that exists around every living thing, including the earth. The exercises in Gifts of the Soul are not new—they come from the various traditions I studied.

How would you define your “Soul Self?” Why is important to be in contact with this level of awareness?

The Soul Self is that part of our selves that precedes and succeeds our physical life experiences. Known as the Higher Self and Oversoul in some literature, I prefer “Soul Self” so as not to relegate it to a scale of “better self”. The Soul Self has a level of awareness that goes beyond the level of “ego consciousness.” Our ego is the part of our personality that is about this life, developed during this life’s experiences and family background. It operates with a limited viewpoint of who we are. The Soul Self is not limited to time or space and is author of our soul’s purpose. This level of consciousness can guide us in ways that the ego self may be blind to. Dreams, for example, give us an overview of what is going on beyond the ego’s capacity to know what we need to know.

What is Inner Sensory Perception, or ISP? How it different from the more familiar concept of ESP?

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The Real Scoop on Digging in the Dirt
by Dorothy Morrison 
As silly as it may sound, there's something both magical and therapeutic about plunging your hands into the soil. First of all, it reaffirms your link with the Earth and increases your capacity for walking between the worlds equally. It also provides a link to the collective consciousness of everyone who has ever tread that piece of ground. Just as important, though, it stabilizes the psyche and allows you to see everything in a new light—a brighter light—a light in which solutions are found, problems are solved, and fresh starts abound. And after the dormancy of Winter, that's something we can all use.   Dorothy Morrison, author of Bud, Blossom, & Leaf, shares gardening rituals for affirmation and growth.

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The Esbats of the Goddess
by Ann Moura
What constitutes a new moon? How should modern-day witches go about celebrating this lunar phenomenon? Ann Moura, author of the Green Witchcraft series and Grimoire for the Green Witch, shares different ways to celebrate the New and Dark Moon Esbats.

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A Traditional Foundation
by Jason Kitchen
Magick has evolved tremendously over the past few years. It has stood the test of time, overcome the slander of contrary opinion, and it has taken a very deep position in the mainstream community. The new faces and names to the occult remain loyal to their traditions, but are not bound by it, and all of us have built our foundation from the techniques of elder work. What will the magickal foundation be like for those of tomorrow?

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Communicating with Trees

Beltane Tarot Spread

A Traditional Foundation

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Drawing Down the Moon
A ritual in which the Goddess is drawn into the body of the High Priestess. Traditionally the rite is performed by the High Priest, leaving the High Priestess open to receive the Goddess. A new expression, “Drawing Down the Sun,” is sometimes used to describe a ritual wherein the God is drawn into the body of the High Priest. Thus invoked, the Goddess or God can communicate with practitioners and enjoy the experience of having a physical body.

Clairsentience
One of several psychic abilities, this is a description of general supranormal feelings. That is, a person with this ability can sense or feel something beyond the normal purview of the physical senses. Sometimes described as a “knowing” of some information.

New Moon
The New or Dark Moon is the beginning phase, when the Moon and Sun are together (conjunct) in the sky. This occurs each month and in each sign, with the occasional 13th New Moon falling in the last degrees of the same sign as the previous New Moon. This event is called a "Blue Moon," and the term "once in a Blue Moon" is used to indicate a rare event.