The Healing Circle
Starting Your Own Healing Circle

Starting Your Own Healing Circle Many people who become interested in holistic spiritual healing at one point or another feel drawn to sharing their talents with others like themselves. There are many ways to do this. You can join an organization that provides healing and meets weekly. There are many organizations who hold these kinds of meetings. One respected group is organized through the Edgar Cayce Institute in Virginia Beach, Virginia. You can join online groups that take requests for healing and then work with healers to assign those requests. One respected organization for online healing is The Distant Healing Network. Or you can start your own healing circle.   Staring Your Own Circle Whither you're practicing by yourself or with a group of healers, the main process for setting a circle is the same. It can be as elaborate as you'd like, or as simple. Don't under estimate the simplistic, it's often the more comfortable and therefore can be more successful.   You'll need a few supplies. A incense or smudge sticks Make sure no one has allergies first. I prefer to use a sage and cedar smudge stick. A green candle. It can be any color of green you choose, but it should be a little larger than a votive candle. Something to light them with Something to safely put them in A CD player and healing music to provide some soothing new age type music to help drown out outside noses and distractions. Today there are many wonderful compilations of healing music. You can find many online at Amazon.com. For some suggestions, view a list of my personal favorite Healing Music. A list of those who have requested healing. The list should have the person's name, their location (city, state, country) and ailment or need for healing.   You can read the names and conduct healing on each person individually. You can have each person and their ailment listed on individual pieces of paper and everyone in the circle takes a person to focus their healing on. Or you can focus on the entire list as a whole group. But decide what you're going to do, before you enter the circle.   Setting The Circle A healing circle is typically set in a specific diameter. If you are alone, you'd set your circle about 3ft in diameter. If you have a small group, you may want to set the circle 6ft in diameter. If you have a larger crowd, a 9ft diameter would be used. If you have a large enough crowd, you'd simply add 3ft to your circle to accommodate the number of people who have come to participate; 12ft, 15ft and so on.   The circle can be made on the floor with rope made of natural fibers, such as cotton rope. Or it can be outlined with chairs. Wooden chairs are best, but if what you have available to you are metal folding chairs, then by all means go ahead and use them. None of this is written in stone. But when you lay out the circle, leave a small entry into the circle resting in the north side.   Before anyone arrives, enter the circle from the north. Stand in the center and face the north. Then light the incense stick. Hold it out in front of you and move in a clockwise direction saying a prayer to your form of the Divine and ask for clearing, cleansing and divine protection in this circle.   You can replace any of this with the labels you feel more comfortable with. For instance, I'll The GreatSpirits which is the label I give to the divine force in my beliefs. You might prefer to use God, Jesus, Goddess, Abraham, Buddha or some other name for your beliefs. The point is to choose the label that feels most comfortable to you and your healing partners.   For instance I might say: GreatSpirits, I ask for your help to clear and cleanse this space for our gathering to provide healing to those in need. To send your love, energy and protection to bless our work and empower our working with your divine light and energy. So Mote It Be.   If your circle is large, you might want to start in the center of the circle, then move outward until you have encompassed the entire space with your incense. You want to move around the circle in a clockwise direction. Just make sure you stop in the same direction as you started so you are sealing the energy.   If your circle is large enough to set a small table in the center, that would be a perfect place to safely set your incense and the green candle, along with the matches. Word of advice, make sure the table is sturdy and can take a little knock of someone accidentally bumps into it. Nothing can ruin a circle more quickly than an unexpected accident. So TV trays, and talk decorative tables usually don't work well.   Conducting A Circle For Healing There are many ways to conduct the mechanics of a healing circle. The following method is one I like to use and is based on a circle I attended at the Edgar Cayce Institute many years ago. You can use this method verbatim, or use it to inspire your own process. This method can be performed by one person, or a group of people. It's very flexible and effective for any number of healers.   When your healing partners arrive, keep everyone out of the circle until you're ready to sit down and focus. When you are ready, turn on the music to a comfortable volume. You don't want it so low that you can't hear it and it becomes distracting. You don't want it so loud that it over shadows the person who will be leading the healing visualization. So check with your guests and make sure everyone is comfortable with the volume.   Now you and your healing partners can enter the circle from the north. Enter in single file and move clockwise around the circle until everyone is standing before a chair. When the last person enters, arrange the chairs so you're closing the entry way of the circle.   Before everyone sits down, one of you should light the green candle and as you do everyone should say a prayer to the Divine asking for help and guidance in performing the healings that are about to take place. You can pre-write the prayer, or say it off the cuff. But this is an important step to bring everyone’s focus to the work at hand. Prayer said, have a seat.   Technically, this method to raise energy is called a "Cone of Power". Through this method you will connect with your healing partners, center your energy, and direct the divine, loving healing energy out to those on your list.   You can write your own visualization script, or just use the following. Just make sure you and your healing partners are comfortable with what you're saying and doing in this visualization. Everyone close their eyes and place their hands, palms up, in their lap. See a light of love, a pink light, coming from your heart and moving to the center of the circle and the flame of the candle. There our energies join together and rise up, gently swirling together in a clock-wise motion like a giant spiral column. As it joins together and rises visualize the light slowly changing color to a beautiful crisp and clear dark green. Like a clear emerald gemstone. Everyone see this loving healing energy move up and through the roof of this building and quickly travel to (the location of the 1st person on your list). Visualize this light finding (state the person's name) and providing healing for (state their ailment). See (state the person's name) basking in the love and healing sent to them by this circle and the GreatSpirits. See this energy fighting the disease that has attacked their body and returning them to good health. Visualize in detail the green healing energy consuming the atoms of the disease and destroying it forever.   Continue the visualization for about 1 full minute. Depending on the ailment you may want to hold this visualization for 2 minutes or longer. When you're ready continue with the following. We give thanks to the GreatSpirits and offer prayers of health and strength to (state the person's name). We release the energy to them and see our love and healing light return to our humble circle and the light of our healing candle. We know that the GreatSpirits will continue to light their way as long as needed, as we move our divine healing energy to (state the next location). We watch our love and healing light travel once again through the roof of this building and to (state the name of the next person on your list) to provide healing for (state their ailment).   From this point you just keeping performing these steps until you get through your list. When completed your healing work, you will need to bring the energy back to the healers, close the energy and the circle. Everyone see the healing light gently fall into the flame of the candle before us. Now we see the light of love and healing release it's connection of unity and gently travel from the flame back to our own heart and bodies. We welcome the healing and love we shared with each other, and see it replenish our own energies so we feel refreshed and revitalized and full of energy. We give thanks to the GreatSpirits and to all those who came here today to assist in these special spiritual healings. We share our joy and love with each other as we close our healing circle. Many Blessings to all - So Mote It Be. You could also say - Peace be with you all, Amen. Everyone open their eyes and have a good stretch.   At this point you can remain in the circle and share your experiences. Or you can leave the circle.   Clearing The Circle When you're ready to leave, everyone should rise at the same time. In a single line follow each other out in a clockwise direction and exist to the north in the same location you entered. If possible leave the candle burning; as long as it will be safe to do so. Once everyone is outside the circle you can move the chairs and take down the circle. Move the candle to a safer location if you need to.   It's also a good idea to have some healthy snacks after this kind of healing gathering. For some people sending out this kind of energy can drain them. Getting a little snack helps to revive everyone and it's also a good time to share with each other.   Finally, it's always a good idea for people to keep a log of their workings. Even in group situations, there can be a lot of information written and shared for future workings. It's also a good idea to record the names of those who were sent energy, including their location and ailment. So here are some things you might want to keep in your log. The date and time the healing circle began and ended. The weather (yes it can be an important bit of info). The names of the healers who attended. Count them up and record the number of healers. The structure of the circle. How was it set and what items were used. Did you use rope to create the circle, or chairs? Was the rope made of natural fibers, were the chairs metal or wood? Describe your circle. Record the names, locations and ailments from the list. If you remained in the circle and shared your experiences, you might also enter descriptions or summaries of those as well. Sometimes people will receive feelings or visions about the person they're healing. It's a good idea to record these and refer back to them when you learn about the condition of the person in the healing. Often times you will hear back from people who know you were scheduled to send them healing energy. Finally record any additional happenings after the healing circle was closed. This might be something you go back to the next day, or before the next healing circle session.

Source: 1 Created: 07.29.2002            Updated: 02.11.2008