Someone wrote asking me for tips on clearing cords and other foreign energies. I thought I'd share my reply with the list, some things I've learned from various sources, including the book _The Unquiet Dead_ by Edith Fiore, healer Cynthia Cross, Michael channel JP Van Hulle, and my own experience:

Cords are psychic "suckers" that people attach to other people to take life force. Cords are not the same as connections (for example, between hearts or minds), which are wider, softer, higher-vibration bands of light that bond and allow sharing but do not pull or deplete; they exist in stasis.

In addition, the world is full of all kinds of psychic flotsam that can get caught in or attached to our energy field. It's like allergens that we may not see but affect us nonetheless. This psychic debris is in the "air" and can settles like dust in our aura. This is a big problem for artisans, whose aura tends to be large and diffuse. I often recommend to artisans that they
visualize a rainstorm of light washing their aura a couple times a day; it's not a bad idea for the other roles, too. The purpose of the visualization is to instruct and make space for our inner self to cleanse itself. When we pay attention to a process, we empower it. The visualization keeps us focused on it.

Sometimes, we deliberately take on pieces of other people's heavy energies, thinking to help them (priests are especially prone to doing this, and they can become very burdened) or out of curiosity (a scholar specialty). It's important to be clear that we aren't doing anyone a favor by taking on other people's stuff. At best, there's some short-term relief for the other person, but if the underlying causes aren't addressed, the person we're
trying to help just recreates the bad energies, and we're stuck carrying burdens that aren't our own. Some people I work with are severely burdened in this way, and the energy work of the session may focus on the "heavy lifting" of beginning to clear it; sometimes it's like blasting through rock.

Signs of cording or other forms of energy attachments include not feeling entirely yourself, being drained, feeling that something is off, etc.

Those more prone to picking up cords and foreign entities include women (the feminine is receptive), men with high female energy, sensitive and/or nurturing people in general, young children (due to their vulnerability), ill and injured people, and, especially, substance abusers.

Places frequented by alcoholics and addicts are sometimes full of earthbound spirits who were alcoholics or addicts when they died and who are ready to attach themselves. In more severe forms of possession, people suddenly become alcoholics, addicts, gluttons, etc. because the possessing entity is still addicted and is using the person to satisfy his cravings. Successful spirit releasement can result to an instant cessation of these symptoms.

Hospitals are another problem area: people who have just died but don't want to move on often hang out there, and patients undergoing surgery, etc. are especially vulnerable to spirit occupation or possession. Many big problems often have their genesis during or shortly following hospitalization, and not for the obvious reasons.

Here are techniques for clearing foreign energies either in yourself or in other people. In working with other people, be sure to get permission first from them or from their essence. If you're working with someone else in person, you can coach him to do the work himself while you support him and give feedback. Many people would be surprised to find how much they're able
to see and do. However, if the person isn't able to get the images, you can do the work for him.

We use our imagination, which is our ability to work with images, either visual or feeling, to see energies. Close your eyes and ask to see, feel, or simply know your energy field in your mind's eye.

Ask to see all the cords. They look literally like cords, thick or thin, in different colors and textures, attached to different parts of the body. Some people are loaded with hundreds of them, especially among those who are caregivers in whatever form (therapists, healers, channels, personal trainers, etc.) and who appear to others to be strong. Capture them in white light. In the name of the Christed One, the Tao, or whatever term you
prefer, command that they all dissolve. Scan them all the way to their roots on both ends, continuing to "stare them down" until they dissolve into light. You can address them all at once, and then handle the stubborn ones that still remain one at a time.

Fill in the holes the roots left in your aura with a healing color, such as pink or blue, or whatever feels good to you.

Create in consciousness a protective light keeping out further cording and other intrusions; a big egg-shaped bubble around you is a good picture to use. Form and color aren't important, though--they're just ways to focus your intention.

Go in your mind's eye to the people who corded you, and give them pictures of how to connect with their own source: from spirit above them through their crown, from the earth below them through their feet, and from their essence through their heart. Tell them that, as adults, they don't need to take other people's energy; they can connect with their own source. Let them know that you won't any longer permit them to cord you.

You may need to repeat this process once or twice a day for a couple weeks, because others have the habit of cording you, and you have the habit of letting them.

Also clear any cords you are attaching to others. Forgive yourself and apologize in spirit to those you corded.

Cords are meant only for small children (and perhaps invalids for whom you've deliberately taken responsibility) to supplement their energy; because their bodies are small, the energy drain on parents is minimal. Older children and adolescents may need to cord their parents occasionally, but that should happen less and less as they mature. Ideally, all adults attach only to their own inner source, but currently, the world is a mess, with many adults never growing up and a lot of mutual cording going on.

In addition, many judged, denied or otherwise unintegrated fragments of self are lost in other people's energy fields or in the ethers. This is a time of calling all parts of ourselves home (known as soul retrieval in the shamanistic tradition) and clearing out everything we carry that isn't of our true nature (spirit releasement).

You can repeat the same process with foreign entities. They have various shapes and sizes. Again, work collectively with them, and then individually with the stubborn ones. If they won't fully go, you can work with them in more depth. You can state the following (speaking aloud can be more powerful):

1. I command that you fully reveal yourself to me. (You should get a detailed picture or feeling.)

2. I command that you stretch yourself to the full reaches of your reality creation. (Making them thin helps dissolve them. See them expand three dimensionally if possible, although some entities just exist in two dimensions.)

3. I command that you be thankful for what you have been. (This removes the charge of judgment and self-judgment, acknowledging that all things play a part in our collective growth and evolution. This is amazingly powerful.)

4. I command that you release from all levels and layers of my reality creation NOW. (Then "stare them down" until they release into the light. Be strong with them. Repeat the steps if necessary.)

Some people might object to making commands, but it's your energy field, and you have the right to determine what is there. Many of these entities are dense and won't respond without a show of strength. Still, you can also be compassionate when working with them; most of them aren't malicious, just lost and misguided.

Many attaching entities are not very intelligent; they're the psychic equivalent of parasites or insects.

There are also a lot of pieces of denied emotions from people both living and dead floating around that can get stuck in your energy field. In my experience, these appear like characters in old movies, stereotypical and without subtlety, revealing just one emotional quality. For example, one of these entities might look a bit like a bitter W.C. Fields character; another, like a victimized Nellie tied to the railroad tracks. Dissolving them into light will usually cause them to break down like compost into
their component parts so that their substance can be recycled.

If you're working with more intelligent energies, such as fragments of earthbound souls or living people, you may need to play psychotherapist. Explain to them in consciousness (you don't need to involve the conscious personality if you're working with a living person) that they've been stuck in a bad place, and you want to help them move on to a state that will be better for everyone concerned. Find out why they've been hanging on to you and compassionately show them a better way. Call to their guides to accompany them to the light, and encourage them to go. To my surprise, I've sometimes found that earthbound spirits are more likely to listen to an incarnate human being than their guides. For one thing, some of them don't realize that they're dead and don't believe in spirits!

Explore your payoff in letting others cord you or otherwise invade your space. Maybe you feel unloved and see this as a way to be needed. Maybe you subconsciously feel responsible for some bad thing that happened in the past and are trying to pay penance by carrying others. Or maybe you just wanted to help. The cording or possession may have happened when you were a child; children are very generous in their willingness to try to help or carry others, especially their parents or other caregivers: they see it as being in their self interest, because if their parents die, they might die, too. (You see that with animal companions as well, who sometimes take on some of their person's illness.)

In psychological terms, these are boundary issues. Setting good boundaries applies to the realm of spirit as well as to our outer relationships.

A related subject is psychic attack. I didn't used to believe in it, but I've experienced it firsthand. It's part of the dark side of shamanic traditions, where it can be quite sophisticated, but it can result when anyone strongly wishes you ill. Becoming aware of what's happening can allow you to easily take control and expel the intrusions; such attacks rely on your not knowing what's happening, or, if you are aware, on your being intimidated. Light is stronger than darkness; love is stronger than hate. However, if an attack is overwhelming, you might want to seek the assistance of a healer; someone else joining with you can amplify your power greatly.

When I first learned those four steps for clearing entities, I found about 100 entities, and it took me three days of hard work to eliminate them. Afterward, I found channeling to be easier; it eliminated a draining, jerky rapid breathing that used to happen when my body was clearing a client's energy debris during sessions. The entities were really clogging my energy field, and clearing them changed my life. I had worked with several healers
on the breathing problem previously, and nothing worked long-term, but this has been a permanent correction, thank goodness.

When I take walks or meditate, I often clear cords and entities as part of my aural hygiene :). I also check to see if I'm cording anyone else. It's not something you can do just once and be done with it. Being a channel and healer, my energy field is very open and stuff is bound to get in. I am slowly learning to protect myself better, and one key for me is remembering to bring my upper chakras back down to the size of a golf ball after doing a
session. We can all benefit from learning to control our energy field and chakras. Keeping chakras too open all the time is as bad as keeping them too closed. They need to be flexible and responsive to our need.

We can also learn to keep a protection of light around us designed to filter out intrusions. However, so far, I haven't gotten to the point at which it's totally effective. I still, for example, get drained in chaotic places, such as when I'm shopping. A certain amount of that is probably just an occupational hazard, but I keep working on it.