Esoteric Empathy: A Magickal & Metaphysical Guide to Emotional Sensitivity

By Raven Digitalis

This powerhouse of a book examines the experience of empathy from every imaginable angle, taking the reader on a philosophical and experiential journey of what it means to be empathic. Specifically written with the magickal or mystical practitioner in mind, the book introduces techniques, practices, and philosophies designed for empaths to get the most out of life's journey, including:

• How to function in society as an empath
• Psychic gifts related to empathy
• Rituals, meditations, spells, and spiritual exercises
• Stones, herbs, tools, plants, and deities for empaths
• Grounding, shielding, and protection techniques
• How to create personal boundaries and routines
• How to work with stress, anxiety, and depression
• Empathy in history, science, and metaphysics
• Emotional contagion and mirror neurons
• Absorptive versus projective empathy
• Ways to empower yourself as an empath

Whether you experience empathy on a regular basis or simply want to know more about this fascinating topic, Esoteric Empathy provides much-needed answers about the emotional abilities that are ushering our species into a new phase of conscious evolution.

Praise:

"I admire Raven Digitalis. . . . His books are well written and reflect long observation and reflection on any particular subject. Esoteric Empathy is no exception. It promises to become the classic work on empathy. . . . A very worthwhile volume."—Raymond Buckland, author of Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft and Buckland's Book of Spirit Communications

• Language: English
• Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
• Release date: Dec 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9780738749655

Raven Digitalis

Raven Digitalis (Hawaii/Montana) is the author of The Empath's Oracle, The Everyday Empath, Esoteric Empathy, Shadow Magick Compendium, Planetary Spells & Rituals and Goth Craft. Originally trained in Georgian Witchcraft, Raven has been an earth-based practitioner since 1999, a Priest since 2003, a Freemason since 2012, and an empath all of his life. He holds a degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Montana, co-operated a nonprofit Pagan Temple for sixteen years, and is also a professional Tarot reader, DJ, card-carrying magician, small-scale farmer, and animal rights advocate.

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About the Author

© Raven Digitalis

Raven Digitalis (Missoula, MT) is the author of Shadow Magick Compendium, Planetary Spells & Rituals, and Goth Craft. He is a Neopagan Priest and cofounder of an Eastern Hellenistic nonprofit multicultural temple called Opus Aima Obscuræ (OAO). Also trained in Eastern philosophies and Georgian Witchcraft, Raven has been an earth-based practitioner since 1999, a Priest since 2003, a Freemason since 2012, and an empath all his life. He holds a degree in anthropology from the University of Montana and is also a professional Tarot reader, DJ, small-scale farmer, and animal rights advocate.

You can visit Raven online at:

www.ravendigitalis.com

www.facebook.com/ravendigitalis

www.opusaimaobscurae.org

www.facebook.com/opusaimaobscurae

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

Esoteric Empathy: A Magickal & Metaphysical Guide to Emotional Sensitivity © 2016 by Raven Digitalis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Any unauthorized usage of the text without express written permission of the publisher is a violation of the author’s copyright and is illegal and punishable by law.

First e-book edition © 2016

E-book ISBN: 9780738749655

Book design: Donna Burch-Brown

Cover art: iStockphoto.com/23544248/© PaCondryx

Shutterstock.com/315073178/© photolinc

Cover design: Kevin R. Brown

Interior illustrations: Adam Kadmon on page 131 was originally published in The Kabbalah by Christian D. Ginsburg, 1920, public domain. Baphomet by Eliphas Lévi on page 277 is reprinted from Dover’s Esoteric and Occult Art. Page 83 by Mary Ann Zapalac All other art is by the Llewellyn Art Department. iStockphoto.com/23544248/©PaCondryx

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the sensitive souls in the world, past, present, and future. Emotional sensitivity is an immense strength, not a weakness. It’s a profound gift that deserves attention, recognition, and a joyous embrace. Your purpose is to help lead a revolution of consciousness on many different levels. May your peace and authenticity continue to help propel the evolution of consciousness on a global scale, rippling out one placid wave at a time.

Rise from the mire! Grow from the murk! Reclaim your sacred nature! Without you, the world would be gravely lacking in love, truth, and self-awareness.

May your life and all future lifetimes be a Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art).

Lvx ad infinitum,

~ O. R. D. N. ~

Contents

List of Figures

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Opening Text

CHAPTER I: Understanding Empathy

CHAPTER II: The Metaphysics of Empathy

CHAPTER III: Balancing the Self

CHAPTER IV: Grounding, Shielding & Energy Management

CHAPTER V: Approaching the Mundane World

CHAPTER VI: Empathy & Magickal Work

CHAPTER VII: Empathic Healing & Social Service

In Conclusion

Closing Text

About Opus Aima Obscuræ

Bibliography

Figures

Emotional Energy Entering the Body 83

Qabalistic Tree of Life 90

Prana Mudra 108

Rudra Mudra 109

Prithvi Mudra 110

Anjali Mudra 111

An 1888 Depiction of Adam Kadmon 131

Vesica Piscis Shield 149

Anahata Chakra 219

Double Heart and Eye 220

Empathy Symbol 221

Sign of the Empath 222

Sei He Ki 223

Inguz 224

Chalice Well 225

Mirror 226

Water Yod 227

Alchemical Copper 228

Hand Spiral 229

Protection Symbol for Empaths 230

Quintupled X 231

Baphomet by Eliphas Lévi 277

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 310

Jai Ganesha, Jai Ganesha, Jai Ganesha Deva

Mata Jaki Parvati, Pita Mahadeva!

Om Jai Shiva Omkara

Swami Jai Shiva Omkara

Brahma Vishnu Sadashiv

Brahma Vishnu Sadashiv

Ardhangi Dhara

Om Hare Hare Hare Mahadev!

Om Jai Parvati Mata,

Maiya Jai Umaya Mata

Brahma Sanatana Devi

Brahma Sanatana Devi

Shubhphala Ki Data

Om Jai Gauri Mata!

Acknowledgments

Endless gratitude to my loving family, extended family, chosen family, and tribe. Without you I would not be.

Deepest praises to Priestess Estha McNevin for the limitless guidance, wisdom, and holistic love; you help make me who I am, and for that I am grateful beyond measure. Om shanti shanti shanti.

Love and appreciation to my beloved godmother Debbie McGaw for keeping me in check and for being a great force of compassion and Crone wisdom—and entertainment—in my life!

So, so, so much gratitude to the amazing pre-editors of this book; thank you for sharing your talents and wisdom: Barbara Holmes-Smith, Komal Vasundhara, Denise Potter, and Rhiannon Potter, as well as my in-house editors Elysia and Andrea—not to mention awesome publicist Kat and the art department’s Kevin and book designer Donna: your work is masterful!

A huge, heartfelt thanks to those who helped educate me about empathy in my teens and twenties, and who encouraged me to hone my abilities at a young age: Sonya Armitage, Zanoni Silverknife, Valann Valdason, Shari Stevens, Terry Bechard, Alan Wittenberg, James Brown, Mellonie Irwin Taylor, and many others.

Love and gratitude to my amazing brother Aru (Alex Sharma) in New Delhi. Bless you for the constant support, inspiration, and Hindu compassion. You have a heart of gold, mere bhai-ji. Jai Mata Di <3

Praises to my loyal friends and all of the loving community members and coven-family at the Opus Aima Obscuræ (OAO) Temple in Missoula! I am deeply blessed to know and love you all.

Many thanks to my devoted book readers and supporters; you keep me writing and keep me confident! Thank you for being who you are. Please feel free to keep in touch. You are sacred to me!

Namaste,

~C/R~

esoteric | ‹esә›terik

adjective

intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest

empathy | ‹empәTHē

noun

the ability to understand and share the feelings of another

Oxford Dictionary

The Desiderata

by Max Ehrmann, 1927

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

CHAPTER I

Understanding

Empathy

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest—a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

—Albert Einstein (in a letter to Robert S. Marcus,

Political Director of the World Jewish Congress in 1950)

EMPATHIC ANECDOTE

An Emotional Revelation

There was a time during high school when I would wear elaborate clothing, creative makeup, and spiritually significant jewelry all day, every day, in order to visibly proclaim my adherence to Witchcraft, magick, and alternative lifestyles. These fashion tastes developed shortly after I discovered both occult spirituality and musical subcultures. At this point it became normal for me to wear as much esoteric jewelry and gaudy spiritual bling as possible, especially pentagrams. This allowed me to grab people’s attention and, on some level, tell the world that there is more to our reality than meets the eye. It was delightful to have discovered a glimpse of this hidden knowledge through metaphysical living, and it was a point of pride to have discovered a place in unconventional art and fashion.

Admittedly, despite this newfound dedication to global spirituality and subculture, these best years of your life weren’t living up to the hype. Spiritual highs were coupled with emotional lows and an unfortunate propensity for deeply pessimistic thinking. As a typical insecure teenager, I would only allow myself to leave the house if I looked a certain way; for me, this meant perfect hair and makeup. The abundance of eyeliner, eye shadow, face powder, foundation, and various Gothic accoutrements served a similar purpose to the fancy jewelry. This unconventional appearance was urging onlookers to question reality, question art, and question gender! The intention behind this was to utilize heavy makeup as a type of protective barrier against overwhelming external energies. Ironically, this alternative appearance was actually a cause of social judgment, triggering an influx of external energy that may not have been there otherwise. Rather than covering emotional sensitivity with makeup, I was actually busting open a door that invited even more public scrutiny, for better or worse.

After experiencing a series of emotional breakdowns, it was the help of spiritual elders, good friends, and natural healers that provided the greatest assistance. A big cause of these depressive cycles, I was told, was my appearance. What I was experiencing was an energetic buildup of other people’s passing judgments coupled with my own teen angst. I was absorbing a painful amount of public energy without even realizing it and finding myself unable to distinguish between my own emotions and those of other people. (These days I tend to wear creative makeup only when I’m feeling confident and expressive rather than shy or insecure—quite the contrast!)

In tenth grade, my longtime friend Eric introduced me to his mother, Sonya. She was the first spiritual elder to tell me that I was clearly an empath. A what?! I was somewhat acquainted with the psychic arts but had never heard this term used to describe a person. The description was a perfect fit for my personality. It explained the reason for my atypical sensitivity and the emotional overloads I experienced. It also explained why I was so gullible, persuadable, and forgiving to a fault.

Sonya and other elders educated me on what it meant to be highly empathic, which gave me a sense of empowerment and comfort in knowing that I wasn’t alone. I also came to realize that empathy is an evolving field of study that permeates both science and metaphysics. Amazing! Not only was I not the lone village empath, but maybe my own insider’s perspective could also contribute to the growing field of empathic research. Perhaps my perspective could even help others in need who have similar constitutions.

It’s my pleasure to offer that very contribution here, dear reader, with the book you hold in your hands. It is an honor to walk beside you on your own unique journey. Together, our heartfelt efforts can help make this all-too-harsh world a more gentle and loving place in which to exist.

✴ ✴ ✴

Describing Empathy

Empathy is an emotional experience. It can be described as the ability to feel what another person is feeling. Empathy is everywhere, taking place on numerous levels simultaneously. It’s in the father rocking his baby, in the woman ordering coffee with a smile, in the child snuggling the kitty cat. Empathy is the social web that upholds and maintains all positive social interactions. Empathy is an active force that permeates life’s daily experiences. Think of any positive social interaction and there you will find empathy to one degree or another.

We emotional humans find ourselves in a process of personal and cosmic unfolding as we discover our own unique empathic voices in a world that is in dire need of universal compassion. We are all developing empaths. The connective web of empathy is growing and strengthening on our planet with every passing day.

For Witches, Pagans, magicians, and other spiritual seekers who have dedicated themselves to aligning with the tides of nature and the self, empathetic awareness can help in navigating life’s trials and tribulations. Empathy is an invaluable asset in both spiritual and magickal progression. Having the capability of stepping into someone else’s emotional worldview opens a door of unlimited spiritual potential. We all find ourselves navigating this crazy place called reality, constantly influencing each other’s lives through emotion-based interactions. Thoughts and emotions work hand in hand to influence our consciousness and behavior, which in turn influences everyone around us. By understanding the necessity for emotional awareness, emotional connection, and emotional control, we enter a realm of empowerment as the influential magickal souls we’re meant to be.

Scott Cunningham, one of the foremost practitioners of Wicca in the United States, once wrote, To perform effective magic, three necessities must be present: the need, the emotion, and the knowledge. ¹ The function of emotional connection within magickal lifestyles cannot be overstated.

About This Book

This book will explore many different aspects of empathy, both as an affective experience and as an intentional practice. While I do cover scientific research to some degree, the primary focus of this book is to examine the metaphysical aspects of empathy that can aid us in becoming more self-aware, empowered, and balanced emotional beings. If you are a spiritual seeker who frequently absorbs emotional energy, I invite you to take refuge in the ideas and practices presented here.

Esoteric Empathy is especially written for those emotional souls who are drawn to magickal and mystical lifestyles. The term esoteric implies something that is known or available only to a select group of people, and, well, magically inclined empaths don’t exactly make up the majority of the population. But there are more and more of us emerging every day.

Anyone who identifies with empathy can get something from this book. Because the overwhelming majority of self-identifying empaths also identify with spirituality of some sort, the tips and techniques throughout this book are likely to resonate with a majority of readers—on a psychological level, if nothing else. This book is written for you, so you’re more than welcome to utilize whatever benefits you personally. May it serve you well, fellow affectonaut!

A concept I will refer to throughout this book is to find your balance. In order for us to live as healthy, empowered, functioning empaths, we should seek a balance in all aspects of life: physically, emotionally, cognitively, spiritually, behaviorally, and so on.

As both a biological and a spiritual reality, empathy is about unity and connection. This book is not exclusively for people who identify as empaths. There’s no denying that labels can be empowering, but labels can also distance us from the rest of society if we become attached to a special identification. I believe that empathy’s greatest lesson is that there is a deep interconnection between all people and all life. Creating labels of exclusivity works against this. Rather than "this versus that, empathy teaches this is that." It is my hope that people wishing to understand their own empathic nature can gain something from this book.

Much of the material in this book draws from my own personal experience as an empath, but it is not meant to be a personal purging as much as a guide to common experiences shared by emotionally sensitive people. Some empaths will not relate to certain experiences or commonalities shared by other empaths; just the same, I’ve included information here that seems to be common among empaths that I, myself, may not directly relate to. I have also chosen to represent many different spiritual paths and practices throughout the book.

In both science and metaphysics, empathy is a field of study. It is for that reason that I have chosen to cite others whose work continues to help shape these fields. Throughout this book, you will encounter a variety of quotes, references, and citations to existing works related to the topic of discussion. Empathy is a communal experience. It is universal and collaborative. You will also see a variety of quotes from friends and acquaintances whose eloquent phrasings are too poignant not to recite!

This book is designed to help readers activate their empathic abilities in positive and constructive ways. Readers are encouraged to get in touch with themselves and with the environment we find ourselves in. We sensitive folk must actively choose to invoke confidence and gain control of our bodies, minds, and emotions. Even when the world seems unfeeling and overwhelming, we all have the ability to safely access and share deep levels of empathic compassion. As the human species enters an evolving stage of emotional development, may this book serve as a guiding light along the path.

A wide variety of readers will approach this book from their own unique vantage point. People seem to have different baseline empathic capacities: the ability to which one can actively participate in another person’s thoughts, feelings, and emotional states of being. In addition to the obvious readership of self-identifying empaths, I hope that many people who do not identify as empaths will read this book in order to understand the ability better and potentially invoke more empathy into their own lives. You do not have to be an empath to identify with the experiences or ideas presented in this book, and you do not have to identify as such in order to have empathetic experiences in everyday life. This isn’t a book designed to help readers cultivate empathic abilities or become an empath, but I do believe that people who wish to enhance their own empathic capacity can easily apply information from this text to their own lives. I also encourage you to see the bibliography for further reading suggestions that approach the topic of empathy from a variety of perspectives.

Also, I ask that readers keep a personal empathic journal, magickal journal, or Book of Shadows that directly pertains to their own work and reflections as an empath. I highly encourage every empath to keep a journal of some type and write in it regularly! A number of the exercises, spells, and meditations in this book ask the practitioner to follow up the activity with journaling or documentation of some manner. If you don’t have a journal of some type, now is the time to start one!

Empathy in Action

The experience of empathy encompasses an emotional converging or matching, which manifests through another person’s or animal’s body language, vocalizations, and movements. One’s energy converges and interacts with the other’s during the empathic process. Those who are highly empathic have the ability to act as an emotional mirror. But it doesn’t stop there. Empathy refers to knowing what another person is feeling, feeling what another person is feeling, and (particularly in psychology) responding compassionately to another person’s emotions. That last step is key.

What’s even better is that empathy actively advances love, which in many ways can be considered the highest and most spiritually significant force in reality. If spiritual views of karma, reincarnation, and individual dharma are to be believed (ideals that spring primarily from Hinduism and Vedic philosophies of ancient India), then everyone (both human and animal alike) comes into our lives for a reason. We interact with each other on the earth plane to propel each other’s spiritual progression, often in order to heal old imprints of trauma buried deep in lifetimes forgotten. Experienced mystics believe that empathy and love serve to resolve these trauma-based imprints, unhinging our spirits from soul-level depths of sorrow and violence and emphatically pushing us to our highest human potential and more deeply toward interconnectivity. Empathy is the key to love, and love is the key to enlightenment.

A person termed an empath (sometimes mistakenly spelled impath or inpath) is one who demonstrates an extremely high amount of empathy on a consistent basis, whereas most other people experience a high degree of empathy only in spurts, maintaining a more manageable baseline throughout the day. My personal definition of an empath is an emotional psychic. This definition assumes that both empathy and psychicism are not paranormal or supernatural, but are both very natural and normal aspects of human consciousness.

As you’re probably aware, the term empath has become very common in modern metaphysical circles. The term was first used professionally in the late 1970s by educator and researcher Karla McLaren, whose definition of an empath is "someone who is aware that he or she reads emotions, nuances, subtexts, undercurrents, intentions, thoughts, social space, interactions, relational behaviors, body language, and gestural language to a greater degree than is deemed normal." ² I encourage you to reflect on the italicized parts in this definition, as these may be the very things that set empaths apart from other emotionally sensitive individuals.

Being an empath means that a person experiences life in a different way than do the majority of people. It’s okay to be different; in fact, isn’t it desirable? For those who are unaware of their empathic skills, it can be wounding and confusing to discover that not everyone shares the same inherent set of ethics or compassion. It can be a long road of self-discovery to gain emotional equilibrium, build confidence, make self-supporting life choices, and create personal practices that encourage one’s own emotional health.

In the words of empathic therapy researchers Leslie S. Greenberg and Robert Elliott, Empathy is not simply friendly rapport, sympathetic encouraging, listening, or being warm and supportive … Empathy is the process of deeply contacting the inner world of another, being attuned to the nuances of feeling and meaning as well as the essence of another’s current experience. ³

Pagans near and far have no qualms about embracing the term empath as an empowering descriptor. Sheri Breault Kreitner, also known as CricketSong, is a nontraditional Wiccan in New England who offers both empathic and magickal services through www.lunarwisdom.net. In one of her educational YouTube videos for empaths (username LunarWisdom), she explains, An empath is a person who is born with the ability to psychically tune into the emotional experience of a person, place, or animal. They are able to sense what another person is saying, even before the individual utters a single word. … Some empaths are so sensitive to the energies of the people and environments surrounding them that they absorb the foreign energies into their own bodies, allowing them to feel emotions that aren’t even theirs. ⁴

A man named Jad Alexander (Jadoa Tai Alexander), who passed away in 2008, was greatly responsible for the widespread use of empath as a self-descriptive term in metaphysics. In the 1990s, Jad contributed the term and its description to Internet forums in order to find others with similar abilities—an experiment in sensitivity! This gave rise to a series of unique mystical teachings and written materials, the foremost of which is his online Book of Storms series, which refers to the internal storms that we human sponges experience regularly (visit mysilent echo.com). In 1998, Jad dedicated 11/11 as the annual World Empath Coming Out Day. He also developed the concept of Dreamtongue, the invisible flow of information between the psychic/empathic unconscious mind and the surrounding universe. In his online material, Jad describes our abilities as such: An Empath is sensitive to the visible as well as the invisible. An Empath reads body language, tone of voice, body movements, the words people choose when they speak, the words they avoid, the logic they use, and the hidden things that only an Empath can sense inside another person. ⁵

For empaths, their ability dictates everything they do, feel, and experience in life; nothing in the empath’s life is unrelated to their ability, no matter how much they work to suppress and repress their capabilities. Much like psychic gifts, everyone feels empathy to one degree or another, and its intensity can fluctuate based on a person’s mood, health, environment, and other factors. Biological and physiological influences also come into play, which we will explore later on. Empathy and psychic powers are both intuitive, but they each utilize different aspects of one’s perception.

There seem to be two initial levels that categorize the empathic experience. Empathy, on one hand, is a palpable emotional identification, sharing, and understanding with another individual or a situation. This is similar to sympathy. Secondly, empathy includes the emotional absorption or emotional mirroring of the other. A consistent experience of these levels of empathy is common to people who identify as empaths.

Empathy is an emotional absorption or deep identification with another to the point of personally experiencing the sensation of another person, a situation, an animal, an environment, etc. Empaths experience others’ emotions as if they were their own. Those who consider themselves empaths frequently experience a taking on of the emotions and energies of others in their presence. Empathy, while not an emotion itself, is an expression of emotion. If someone near me is acting giddy and excited and I instantly feel giddy and excited vicariously, this is an experience of empathy.

I find it so very refreshing that modern descriptions of empathy also take its definition a step further. While the older definitions of empathy recognized the taking on of emotions between two individuals, they did not necessarily include the component of compassionate response. In modern parlance, empathy includes this additional step of caring. While it’s true that a person can experience another person’s emotional state and then exploit it to their own advantage—a phenomenon I will examine later in the book—I would argue that the true empathic experience must, by necessity, include the additional step of compassionate action.

Rhea is an owner of the metaphysical shop Between the Worlds in my home state of Montana. She is also a good friend, with a radiant, empathic heart. She once put it well by saying, Empathy is not at all self-focused. It can be hard for people to really feel what another feels, because at that moment we are not self-contained or self-absorbed. When empathy happens, we are truly experiencing someone else’s reality.

Empaths are unique souls whom the world is so desperately in need of. With the turning of each year, humankind grows in empathy as a natural step in evolution. As the older, stricter, and more destructive forms of monotheism begin to fade in favor of ancient wisdom, modern science, and personal mysticism, empathy is finally being allowed to flourish as a social and spiritual strength. Finally, we are being allowed to feel and to love on greater levels than our species has ever done. For empaths, there exists a deep knowing that we are born this way because it’s meant to be, even in the worst of times. For empaths, our emotional bodies are the springboards from which we experience all life through the physical senses. For empaths, emotions are our raison d’être.

Technically Speaking …

Empathic ability refers to the experiences of an empath, while the term empathetic refers to everyday human empathy, much as a person demonstrating apathy is called apathetic rather than apathic or a person demonstrating sympathy is sympathetic rather than sympathic. However, you will see that I use these words interchangeably, which is how they tend to be used in modern lingo, in both scientific and metaphysical circles.

Though the experience of empathy is as old as consciousness itself, the actual word empathy is less than a hundred years old. Can you believe that? This is greatly due to the fact that empathy is a somewhat elusive subject, one that’s not blatantly physical or dominantly cerebral. Empathy is experiential and strictly emotional. Empirical scientific studies into the empathic capacity of humans have begun to be conducted only very recently. The word empathy itself comes from the German Einfühlung, meaning feeling into. This term is connected to the Greek empatheia, which consists of em- (in) and pathos (feeling).

Emotional Knowledge

To understand empathy, we should have a basic understanding of emotion. Though I won’t dive too deeply into the scientific nuances of emotions in general, numerous attempts have been made to categorize, quantify, and understand emotions. In many ways, emotions are abstract and complex and can be difficult to identify precisely. Our various emotions are neither good nor bad; each one helps us respond uniquely to any given situation. We are shaped by our emotional responses to experiences and by the emotional responses of those around us. Everyone is wired in a different way by a combination of nature and nurture, which affects the manner in which our brains process information. Emotions are internal judgments by which we are able to understand and experience the world around us, allowing us to respond accordingly.

Emotions can be triggered in numerous ways. We experience emotions simply by observing and assessing life itself. Emotions rise and fall when we interact with others, either as a response or as a shared experience. Emotions may come to the surface when we are recalling or discussing emotionally significant events or when we are using imagination and visualization. We can also self-create emotion by changing our facial expression, body language, and physical appearance.

Emotions can be seen as instantaneous reactions to experiences that seem significant to our welfare. Emotions make reality come to life; they engage us with our experience and make it meaningful, significant, and spirited. The most self-aware people in the world are deep feelers.

While emotions are the driving force of human experience, emotions themselves can sometimes be illusory; some emotions are reactions to misunderstandings or assumptions. We can most easily find our balance