B is for: Bonds & Barriers
This post is the second in a series I’m so excited about: “The ABC’s of What I’ve Learned as a Medium and Intuitive Healer.” This has been my full-time career for years, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned!
*I say Spirit to mean God, the Universe, the Cosmos - I use these phrases interchangeably for all enlightened beings who help us. I use “greater Spirit” or “Spirit” to mean everything out there, taking care of and managing in here: Them as a group and concept. You may choose to substitute the word “Spirit” with Jesus, Archangel Michael, Allah, Lakshmi, Kuan Yin, The Universe, The Cosmos, or about a billion other names, and it doesn’t matter. Spirit is all this and so much more than we can ever understand. They don’t care what you call them so long as you give them the same respect they give you. I work with these beings closely, as they are an integral part of my practice and career. It is a relationship I heavily encourage everyone to build, as it enhances every aspect of our physical lives and spiritual practice.*
Bonds & Barriers
It’s become my opinion that most patterns of pain can be traced back to one of two energetic contributors: subtle energy bonds and/or poor energetic barriers. Even when a client didn’t technically come to talk to me about one of these things, we regularly end up having to discuss them, as they’re relevant so much of the time. We most regularly find subtle energy bonds in our energetic barriers, so these two really go hand-in-hand!
Energetic Barriers
Our energetic barriers are the layers of our personal auric fields, and can essentially be broken into four categories: physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual boundaries. They overlap, so a layer may be physical and emotional, emotional and relational, etc.
These are the boundaries between us and the world, helping us filter, process, and understand the information coming toward us. (Our auric field interacts with the fields of others, and this is part of how we decide how we feel about others.) Unfortunately, most of us have boundaries which are frankly slashed to hell - they’ve been battered and broken repeatedly without any healing to restore them. Our barriers are only healed by energy work or genuine changes in behavior, which is very difficult with energetic baggage present. (This is what we do in energy healing - we tangibly get energy moving so one can have an easier time changing behaviors which would normally be much more difficult to change with energetic blocks, bonds, damage, etc. present.)
Our broken barriers contribute heavily to repeating behavior - once a behavior is present in our subtle energy systems, we’re much more likely to continue on with the behavior. If we have a pattern in the third layer of our auric field affecting our relationship with food, we will struggle to break free not just because of the pattern, but because this layer will work with our third chakra and add emotional problems concerning willpower, determination, and self-confidence. If we have gaping holes in the first and second layer of our auric field from having been abused as a child, we’re going to meet people whose trauma matches ours, and now we’re being yelled at again as an adult.
Most of the problems come from each soaking up the energy of others and losing our own energy through these layers. A good amount of every energy healing session (of mine) is removing others’ energy and returning the client’s energy back to them from wherever it has migrated. This can make people feel so much tangibly lighter, they feel they should weigh less! It brings a lucidity which we are sadly often lacking, due to constantly trying to process the thoughts and feelings of others, and not having held onto our own.
Most of this post will be devoted to subtle energy bonds - but the two really go hand-in-hand! Our subtle bonds are most regularly in our energetic barriers (the layers of our auric field), so they’re affecting particular concerns. As you read about the bonds, think about this! If we have a bond with a parent draining the fourth layer of our auric field (related to the heart chakra - the fourth layer is an emotional and relational barrier), it’s going to affect every expression of love in our life. If a bond draining one of intuitive gifts is in the third layer of our auric field (related to the solar plexus chakra - the third layer is a physical and emotional barrier) we will experience issues with self-esteem regarding our gifts, as well as willpower to even want to work on them, etc.
Subtle Energy Bonds
Subtle energy bonds (I will also refer to these as attachments or subtle attachments) are energetic links between people, people and spirits (humans who have passed away), or people and non-human entities (a lot of people see this and read demons, but the options are actually fairly endless and not all of them are negative). Attachments, at the structural level, are for the entire lifetime unless one does the work to remove them. This means even an inactive bond with someone you don’t speak to can have consequences, as the bond itself will go on until it’s removed. They are found in the layers of our auric field (most common), or our meridians, nadis, chakras, and acupoints. (These are generally what I’m referring to when I say “subtle energy systems:” these are the channels by which subtle energy flows through and around the body or the warehouses where information is stored in between moving, respectively.)
I perceive bonds in different colors which let me know the likely relationship between parties (I have yet to work with anyone who perceives them exactly like I do [not to say they don’t exist - I just haven’t met them yet] - I’d love to know if anyone else has a color system). Each also has a different general “vibe” about them: some may look heavy, icky, throbbing, wet, etc. - some look lovely, bright, and charming. Sincerely! Everyone’s intuitive gifts are incredibly unique - trust how you perceive these attachments and trust that what you perceive is a representation of what you need to see to get the information you need.
I also tune into an attachment as I’m working on it to feel the flow of energy - I feel in my own body whether the exchange is a gentle trickle, a good flow back and forth, rushing or draining in one direction, or many other options which are harder to explain as they are particular to specific energetic exchanges. For each type of attachment, if you cannot see it, try to feel its presence and sense the shape of it or anything else which may come through - there’s a lot of information available through each intuitive gift. One can receive information about attachments through psychic sight, hearing, feeling, or knowing, and each is valid.
I make a point to say how I perceive anything energetic because I don’t expect you to perceive it exactly the same way. Ten energy healers could be in a room and come to the same information, and I promise every single one got the information a different way. If you’re expecting your gifts or intuition to look exactly like someone else’s, you’re likely to miss out on many of your abilities! I regularly mentor students who have gifts they don’t recognize because they’ve been looking for them in the wrong places or expecting something very specific and missing the actuality of it.
Cords
Many are familiar with the most prevalent type of subtle energy bond: a cord. Everyone living has energetic cords. To me, a soul cord looks just like that, like a hollowed out cord through which energy flows back and forth. A cord is between two beings, though other attachments can be between more. A cord exchanges energy and lets us know the nature of the energy being exchanged between two parties. In some cases, these bonds are positive! We have soul cords with our entangled souls which were agreed upon with our spirit guides before anyone was born into the current lifetime. When these go well and there's a healthy flow of energy in each direction, these can help us and our lives immensely.
Our pre-birth cords will be between us and entangled souls (those whom we know well in spirit and regularly incarnate with), as well as souls with whom we’re not technically entangled but with whom we share some past-life history. These cords stay active throughout the entire lifetime (energy will always be exchanged) regardless of whether negative information is being passed and regardless of whether the two people are still involved with one another. Spirit will almost never deactivate these cords, and despite popular opinion, they're *very* hesitant to ever dissolve one between entangled souls - I have facilitated several “cord cuttings” between entangled souls and I have only seen Spirit willing to do so when the relationship has become dangerous. Everything entangled souls do on this plane will contribute to what they have to do in future lifetimes, and deciding to end a contract that way has future-life consequences, so Spirit will only do it in extreme cases. Negative information passed through these soul cords during a lifetime contributes heavily to karma the two will have to work through in later lifetimes.
(I’m editing some time later to say I’m finding Spirit more and more willing to dissolve cords which are dangerous, even among entangled souls, as Earth is going through very painful and strange times and our energetic exchanges now have a lot more weight. A bad one means a lot more, and this has changed really just in the last year.)
We also usually have active post-birth cords, created since we were born this lifetime between our higher self and someone else’s, and not necessarily with the oversight of spirit guides. I regularly see these cause many problems, and our guides are almost always willing to help us dissolve them.
Nearly everyone has inactive cords - these are cords where the contract may or may not have been fulfilled, but in any case they have been “deactivated” by one’s spirit guides: essentially labeled no longer applicable. These no longer exchange energy, but they are essentially just weight which mucks up the works, and Spirit is happy to remove them.
Bondage
Another type of subtle energy bond is bondage. Some people call these “curses,” it’s just not my favorite term. With these attachments, one party has almost always been tricked or forced into them. I perceive them like spaghetti or a mess of tangled cords. They take more energy to dissolve than cords, especially as these are often familial and affecting a whole line. I usually see these when an ancestor has passed trauma down to their descendants. Like miasms, these are generally from past lives rather than this one, and only being reactivated for this lifetime. Bondage is just like a soul cord in that through it, all affected members exchange energy. In every case, bondage should be dissolved.
Subtle Energy Holds
Rather than a bond, a hold is an energetic issue which holds a person in a specific situation. Until very recently, myself and most other energy healers referred to the following as bonds as well, so this is likely how you would have heard of them before. The difference between a hold and a bond is that a hold does not exchange energy between members, even if more than one member is affected. Bonds also always have a contract associated with them, and the following may not. This is why I have begun to distinguish and so have many other healers!
The holds I see by far most often are miasms. A miasm is a familial hold in nature. These can be placed upon an entire family by an outside entity, or it can be placed by someone within the family to ensure everyone in their line follows their system and psychological rules, no matter how unhealthy (I see the latter with significantly more regularity). To me, it looks intuitively like a patterned net in the auric field, and the same patterned net would be in each member of the family who is affected. When alcoholism runs in families, we often find miasms which are holding everyone involved in either an addict or enabler role. Everyone involved in a miasm has a role, and is essentially being held in that role by their place in the net. The same situation will play out with the person in that role in different areas of their life until the underlying energy is addressed. In every case, miasms should be dissolved.
Another is markers. These look intuitively like X’s to me, and they mark a person to tell others how to treat them. They’re similar to bondage in that the person affected by the marker did not typically agree to it. Markers can be responsible when we repeatedly go through the same poor treatment, like when we have the same situation with bosses or coworkers, or friends or partners treating us the same way over and over, etc. In almost every case, markers should be dissolved.
We also have implants. I come across implants pretty rarely! These are like us being held by a former version of ourselves. These are usually in people who have had lifetimes elsewhere, places more technologically advanced than Earth, as these come from when someone passed away with a medical device or other foreign implant in their body. Usually, it’s a former medical device meant to help (such as an equivalent to a pacemaker, a stint to help someone walk, etc.), but we don’t do well with passing away with foreign matter in the body and sometimes, a subtle version of this implant will show up in one of our subtle energy systems, causing symptoms this lifetime. In every case, implants should be dissolved.
I have also more recently discovered two energetic situations I now call holds. One I have begun to call a tunnel - these are self-placed energetic holds and it’s almost exactly what it sounds like. It’s more or less a tunnel we make in our energetic systems and we can think of it a lot like a neural pathway. Once the tunnel is there, it makes it very easy for us to go with the same behavior that caused it and makes it incredibly difficult to do anything differently. The second I would call a burrow, and these can be self-placed, but are more often placed by other entities and I see them most often in entity removal. It is almost like a hollowed out spot in the energetic systems (especially acupoints) where something can be hidden at the bottom. (Many different things can be hidden at the bottom - if it’s self-placed, it’s likely a repressed feeling, memory, or thought someone is not likely ready to deal with. A burrow placed by an entity is usually something like a trap door or entrance path for them to get back into your energetic systems through these burrows.) In either case, each a tunnel or burrow should always be removed.
Energy healing is one process of working with Spirit to remove subtle energy bonds and holds, fill in and clean up the auric layers, and begin to feel better on purpose!
In any of these cases, there is something which can be done! Knowledge is everything. Often, just knowing about these things begins to change the way we move through the world. We can only clean these things up with energy work or changed behavior - it’s always our choice!
Through my Etsy shop, I offer a PDF reading specifically for soul cords each positive and negative.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and I’d love to hear what these things look/feel like for you when you intuitively perceive them!