Creating Containers

Containers provide energetic, spiritual and physical boundaries for any kind of practice, experience or ritual. Containing energy keeps in the energy we are cultivating or working with, and protects the space and participants from outside energies. Containment is foundational to working with magic, spell, ritual, group experiences, and it is also a foundational principle in working with Sovereignty. 

Types of Containers

Personal Container

This is the primary type of container we are going to work with and practice establishing. It is good to do this first before any kind of practice, whether it be just your morning meditation, prayer or movement, before holding a larger container for a group, before seeing a client, before an important conversation, before doing any kind of magic, energy work, psychic work, etc. 

Your body is the vessel, or container, that houses your spirit. Your personal container is how you connect to the experience of your spirit being fully embodied within your physical vessel.

The audio practice attached to this lesson is one example of how you can set and hold a personal container. This is my personal favourite way to set up my bubble of energy, but please adapt the practice to make it your own. You can listen to the audio several times to get the hang of it, or use it for inspiration to guide yourself.

The important thing about creating a personal container is that you are connecting with your unique energy and essence, and feeling the interconnection of your essence with the divine. I like to connect my field with both the Earth for grounding and feminine energy, and Source for expansion and masculine energy. With both these channels open and your heart in resonance, you will feel what it is like to be "in your centre". We ideally want to be practicing this feeling every morning before we engage with the world, especially if you are spiritually, emotionally, or energetically sensitive (if you're here reading this, probably like me you are all three). 

Getting into the regular practice of connecting with your personal container makes it easier to stay in your bubble of influence, your Sovereignty and power, as you move through life and potential challenges that arise along the way. It also offers a reference point of what it feels like to be fully embodying your own energy, so that you will be able to more easily identify when you are out of your energy, or when other energies come into your field. With that awareness, you can easily and naturally turn to your clearing and cleansing tools to move out energy that is not yours.

Group Containers

Group containers bring together multiple energies and create a cohesive unit. I create group energy containers for any group spaces I am facilitating, whether it is a group workshop, online class, long term container like this one, or a retreat. Group containers are not bound by space, although sharing space can enhance the group container experience (which is why I love retreats so much). 

Creating intentional containers for groups provides a sense of safety, unity and harmony to a group of people who do not otherwise necessarily feel connected. You can feel when the field around a group is well held and maintained, and when the energy feels scattered, disjointed, or disconnected. Group ritual and spells especially require a containment of energy.

It is important to both open AND close group containers. Whereas personal containers are ongoing, and can be something we practice to strengthen our conscious connection to a container that is more or less permanent, group containers are held for a specific length of time. Closing a group connection is just as important as opening it.

Relationship Containers

Although we don't always think of it this way, our personal relationships also have energetic containers. More often than not, they are established unconsciously and not communicated directly, but we have certain boundaries, expectations, and energetic cords in all of our close relationships.

Making these containers conscious and intentional is so helpful. For example, when we enter into a romantic relationship, we can discuss the terms of the container (length of commitment, intention for the connection, needs, boundaries, communication preferences, repair processes, etc.) Making these commitments conscious and verbal helps us meet the terms of the container, and ensures the shared energy the two people create is harmonious and positive. 

Physical and Time Containers

So many things can be considered a container when you think about it. Your altar is a space that contains your personal practice and magic. Your home is a container that holds your intimate life and family. Going to school is a container of time committed to study. 

Containers are boundaries that are created with intentional time and space constraints. They allow energy to be harnessed, and to press up into the edges of the container. 

Considerations for Creating Containers:

Containers are created mentally, through intention. All of the specific practices we do as witches are done to bring the power of intention to whatever it is we are doing. The stronger the intention, the stronger the container.

Containers also usually are bound by time and space. When moving into a practice or ritual, we may set the container by preparing the space, closing the door, preparing ourselves, purifying the body or space, and setting aside a specific amount of time. 

Containers are spaces for energy to flow freely within safe limits. They help us fully surrender to somatic experiences, trance states, psychic downloads, or other mystical experiences. The imposed limits provide a feeling of safety that we will not "go too far" or lose ourselves in the experience.

We can call in our divine guides or spirit team to help us hold and fortify our containers in the energetic realm. These unseen forces can often be more helpful at protecting and guarding our containers from other unseen energies. 

Closing containers is essential. Keeping entanglements open energetically after a space has closed is dangerous for everyone involved and can create messy situations. Fully releasing a container around a personal relationship when that connection is no longer a part of your life is just as important. This protects your psychic space from the energy, intentions, thoughts and wishes of someone else. When people feel they "don't have closure", whether it's from a job or a relationship, it is likely because there was no intentional closing of the container, so the energetic connection is still in place, despite the tangible experience being over.

We open and close containers with intention. The level of intention that went into opening the container should be matched with the level of intention in the closing. There are many things we can do, both energetically and tangibly to signify the opening and closing of containers.

The practice on circle casting will walk you through some tangible steps to formally open rituals and close them. Any formal actions taken in the practice of magic are done through the power of intention, and the collective intention of these specific words and actions being repeated and held as sacred for so many people across time. Symbols, words, specific movements, and the use of magical tools can all assist in opening and closing containers. The complexity involved in any traditional ritual or spell work is significant in that, the greater the complexity, and the greater preparation is required, the greater energy and intention has gone into that spell or ritual. Usually, you will know exactly what needs to be done in order to open or close a container if you turn inward and listen.

HOMEWORK:

Read the above lesson, and either with the attached audio, or on your own, practice working with and establishing your personal container every morning before you start your day. Even if you just have a few minutes, sit at your altar and connect to your personal container daily.

This is one of the core practices I teach in the first module of Rose Temple Academy. It's one of the practices that forms the foundation we use as we tap into our most powerful magic, energy, and essence to create profound transformation.

*Doors are closing soon for this year's cohort*