I have been in several ritual situations where the power of the energy and the
emotions overwhelmed me to the point of crying and shaking. Rituals and spellwork
do create a large amount of psychic and spiritual energy that you can feel on
an emotional and physical level. If you are not prepared for the ritual properly,
this can become overwhelming to you.

While it is interesting to observe the power of magick over you, crying and
shaking during a ritual is not a common occurrence. If you are to have an effective
magickal practice, you�ll need to learn to harness the emotional power
you are feeling in order to send it out into your spellwork.

One of the reasons you might be feeling �swept away� by the whole
experience is because you are not properly grounding and centering yourself
before performing your ritual. I�ve seen this especially in those new
to the craft who don�t see the importance of a proper grounding technique.
This is one of the first things you should master as a witch. The good part
about practicing grounding is that it can be done throughout the day apart from
your regular ritual practice. Both of these exercises should be done during
a quiet and calm time during your day.

Grounding means understanding and feeling the connection between yourself and
the earth. Begin by relaxing your body and close your eyes. Stand with your
feet comfortably apart and your palms spread open wide. Take a few deep breaths
and visualize a ball of white light at the center of your body, over your heart
chakra. See the light spread from this point in your body throughout the rest
of your trunk, and then your limbs. Finally the light will spread out of your
fingertips and through the bottom of your feet. As the energy flows from your
feet into the ground, feel it blend and mix with the energy of the earth. Visualize
the earth�s golden energy enveloping your white light, and start to travel
through the bottom of your feet. See it move up your legs, through your trunk,
down your arms and up your neck to the top of your head. Feel yourself glowing
with the earth�s golden energy and feel grounded to the earth.

This exercise should be done at least once a day when you are first learning,
and definitely before every ritual. Practicing grounding may seem like one of
the �boring� parts of magick (I know a lot of people just want to
get to the spells) but it is as essential to your practice as learning your
ABCs is to reading. I sincerely hope that practicing grounding will help focus
your energy and allow you to enjoy this path.