Basic info about magic I probably should have talked about a long time ago but... just didn't.

In Wicca and other Pagan magic, there's a lot of talk about "raising power" and "grounding energy".

The basic idea is that through ritual, such as dancing, chanting, drawing magic circles, arranging crystals, sprinkling holy water, burning inscence and sage, waving wands and swords, arranging sacred objects on altars, speaking in rhymes, and so on (preferably in robes or nude) one can somehow tap into outside sources of what goes by many names (mana, ki, qui, magic, power, energy) but I call spiritual energy.

Grounding is releasing the energy when you're done with it, if any remains (and there almost always is some). One can also be come charged with unwanted energy for any number of reasons - picking up on the negative vibes of an urban area, absorbing the anger or grief of people around you, encounters with hostile spirits, to name the more common I've dealt with.

It's the methods for grounding that got my attention.

Standing barefoot outdoors.

Taking a shower.

Holding a grounding stone.

While they're as varied as the rituals, these all have something in common. They're the same as electrical ground.

Standing barefoot on bare earth will quickly ground any static charge you might have. Certain stones could in theory absorb low voltage charges (though they'd need to themselves be discharged later). Water tends to short out electric circuits and disperse current.

Intrigued, I tried out other techniques for ritual grounding that are unorthodox but should be electrically grounding.

Washing hands.

Holding a metal railing.

Holding the metal pole of chain link fence.

All of them worked.

In an urban environment with nothing but concrete and asphalt and no way to reach the earth, this suggests a novel approach to "street magic" - clutch any metal fence (preferably one of its poles) to ground oneself. That should, if the pole reaches into the earth, carry the spiritual energy away.

(However, I find grounding stones counter-productive. They tend to become ruined with negativity. Similarly, stationary metal objects that don't go to ground like the aforementioned metal railing could possibly experience the same problem... and being immovable, it's worse than the grounding stones.)

So the grounding methods I'd recommend are these:

Standing barefoot outdoors.

Taking a shower.

Washing hands.

Holding the metal pole of a chain link fence.

What I find most interesting, is all of this suggests to me that spiritual energy is electrical, or electromagnetic, in nature. It may be these are ways of manipulating one's own bio-electricity. Or perhaps spiritual energy is a complex electromagnetic pattern, which is how it can be "programmed" by emotions and intent during ritual to work prayers and spells. At least, that's my working theory.