I mean, if there are empaths out there, there must be people who don’t feel a darn thing.
I struggle so much with feeling anything but my chair or bed during meditations that I wonder if I’m doing it wrong, and I’m never sure if I’m actually feeling anything from crystals or if I’m just imagining it. Is it just me or do any of y’all struggle like that?
I often feel that way. I have been around people that obviously have a gift and think to myself…huh. I don’t feel that. It’s like standing in a garage, trying to become a car.
What makes a witch? Is it in their blood, or something granted to them? Can anyone become a witch, or am I just standing in that garage trying to become that car?
Hii my lovely and sweet amethyst! 
I read your topic and I couldn’t help replying! I want to tell you something sweetheart, as you already know that I am an empath, I want to share something else about empathy here that I have experienced very often. Whenever I feel tooo much (almost everytime), I realize it is like a splash of watery emotions on my heart. And what exactly do I feel? I feel what people are thinking or feeling right then, around me, I feel all the plants’ spirits that I am surrounded by and I experience the vibrations in the air. But, yes but…many of the empaths out there who actually are empathic and feel a lot wouldn’t want or like to admit this that, we almost immediately, when faced with hurt or stress, stop feeling anything & everything. Why? As per my assessment, this is because of overload of various emotions swirling in the heart and mind at once! This results in a sudden lack of the ability to feel sometimes and a sense of huge emptiness. I am myself someone who has this problem. I have no problem in saying this too. As for, your question here, I really think that you probably don’t feel anything while meditating or focusing because, maybe, you are just…I dunno, kinda neglecting your emotional expressions…brushing off heavy emotions? Because I know one thing that is for sure…NO one can be practically head blind! Literally no one. That is also because God has given every living being a heart and the ability to feel. This is no gift. This is just a mere realization. A part of you that is uncovered after this realization. It can be from birth or happen at any other age in one’s life. There is really no difference! I think so because being gifted as we say, would mean that others are not. That’s precisely a lie. Or an illusion. It is honestly just a matter of everyone’s different life paths leading to one destination and some are ahead, some are behind, some are slow and some are fast. Not at all mattering, as the destination is same! Meaning, even if you don’t feel anything like that, you do feel small happy moments and sad times. That is the proof that you can start feeling (get even closer to your soul) everything if you believe and trust in the process! 
That was too long and i sincerely apologize hun 
but all I wanted to say in one line is that, “you are perfect in just the way you are!” Oh and also, I read this quote somewhere,
“The Universe was once God’s imagination”
Soo yeah, 
if you are imagining the energy around you then too it is real! Because your mind is then trying to believe. And that is the most powerful force ever…
I think you never did anything wrong and you should start believing that you are perfect. That is what is going to wash away the doubt named obstacles from your magickal journey darling! 
Blessed be love! 
I know that with visualization at least some people just don’t see anything, that’s called aphantasia… however you can visualize not just with sight, but other senses too, like I remember reading an article about someone who could visualize with touch really well, even if they couldn’t see anything in their mind. I could see if I can find the link.
Different things work for different people… I think it’s the same with feeling energies. I’ve never seen anything visually… other people’s emotions I can feel very clearly. I’m not sure about crystals, I have to be very relaxed and in a certain kind of a mindset to pick up things.
EDIT: Found the link! I Think in Shape-Feels: Aphantasic Thinking - A Digital Garden
There are some dragons, gods/goddesses, and crystals whose energies I have to really concentrate on to feel. At times, when I have to really concentrate, I too have question what I am really feeling, but I’m learning to not try too hard. It’s kind of like looking for the hidden so and so in a picture. Try too hard and you’ll miss it or think you’ve found it when you haven’t.
No, you’re not alone at all!
There are a lot of people out there that can feel energy. There are also a lot of people out there that say they can feel energy when they really can’t. There are also a million different ways to feel energy, and even more ways to describe that feeling.
I think that just like @CelestiaMoon said – there are more ways to experience energy rather than just physically feeling it the same as there are many ways to visualize things. And sometimes it just takes practice to open yourself up to the other ways of sensing anything when that’s not what you’re used to.
I know I recommend it all the time, and usually, it’s about physically sensing energy, but Psychic Witch by Mat Auryn is a great place to start if that’s what you want to do.
I am of the opinion that as long as you’re not hurting anyone in any way, believe what you’re feeling, hearing, or seeing. This is one of the ways you can build confidence in yourself and start to trust your intuition. Oh! That reminds me – I also recommend a book called Intuitive Witchcraft by Astrea Taylor
Anyway, all that rambling to say that no, you’re not alone. 
This was well said @Solasta_Amore, not long at all, I think needed. I too like you when stressed stop feeling anything and everything as well.
I did not know there was a name for that. When I do the meditations on here and they say visualize yourself here and there, I just can’t picture it but when I am having my eyes closed I see flashes of light and I can feel the energy in my body. I try to hard to visualize and I just get fustrated so then I calm down and just let the energy flow thru me.
I can feel your frustration… I’m glad you’ve found ways to make them work for you though. If I had to pick the best advice I’ve ever heard, it would probably be “take what resonates and leave the rest”, it works here too… always annoying though when you have to leave out something that someone’s put a lot of love and effort into.
Something I’d love to see, would be guided meditations for different senses, clearly labeled… while I can visualize with my sight too, I’m kinesthetic and tactile before visual, meaning that descriptions of how things move and feel to touch, feel more vivid to me than how they look. From your description of feeling the energy flow, kinesthetic might work for you too.
That’s me. I feel like that girl from A Chorus Line who didn’t feel it when her acting teacher told her to be an ice cream cone. I’m glad it’s not just me!
I don’t think it hampers me from being a witch though, so there’s that. It’s just an extra hurdle I have to get through sometimes.
My dearest @Solasta_Amore, I think you hit the nail on the head. I had a lot of bad things happen to me and I had to lock up a lot of stuff in a box in the back of my mind to be able to go on. So maybe some shadow work is due. Urgh. I’ll talk to my counselor next month. See if I can phone it in rather than go in every week.
And I believe that the energy around me is real even though I don’t feel it, it’s just that sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one who feels this way, you know?
Thank you for the reassurance though, my love.
@CelestiaMoon I can see it, I just don’t feel it. Like today it said I should feel as if a livewire was running through me in the meditation I was doing and all I felt was my chair. It’s funny but my safe mental space is the house I lived in over twenty years ago. And you’re right, maybe I just haven’t found my niche yet. Thank you!
@Kasandra don’t tell me it’s like one of those hidden pictures, I could never see those darn things. LOL!
But yeah, I can see where concentrating too hard doesn’t help. Thank you!
Thank you, my dear!
I tried reading Psychic Witch, maybe I need to get it in an audiobook because I just couldn’t get into it reading and doing the exercises. I got frustrated.
I’ll try the other book though, that sounds good. And thank you for the rambling. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one.
I would have to agree.
@Amethyst I used to feel that way all the time. I couldn’t understand what it was I was supposed to be feeling, seeing, anything. It took me a very long time before I could differentiate between what I wanted to sense or thought I should sense between what I was actually sensing.
I still have times where its like that part of me is shut off & I get nothing again.
I have started (I actually do this when I’m laying down & need to work through something or just… I guess… relax…) I will lay down & start breathwork but as I’m doing it actually notice what I hear through 2 breath cycles, then almost like a body scan… what I feel on my feet… pressure, warmth, the comforter, where the mattress is touching, any soreness, nothing, where my socks are touching, then the next part of my body where I feel something & then kind of the same things… the tangible things then to soreness, relaxed, tingles, warm… then just my full body settling into the mattress is it soft, comforting… then inhale everything that has happened before that moment in the past & exhale it out & the next inhale notice the air coming in my nostrils & mives through & down & exhale everything away feeling it move out.
Sounds weird but it helps me to remove remove my focus from trying to feel what I think I’m supposed to feel & then just inhale & hold then exhale & hold & kind of let thoughts float by… it keeps me from overthinking it & tensing up or wondering those same things.
During a meditation just kind of letting myself breathe in & out & letting the thoughts kind of float by & my body relax the way its going to on its own, you’ll notice things you didn’t before & its a much more relaxed feeling when it happens.
I really hope that made sense. 
Now I just kind of do it… but at first I had to learn it & both ways have helped to get rid of the tension & kind of thinking about whether or not I am feeling something pr nothing.
There are so many great replies here
You’re definitely not alone, my friend!
Energy is a curious thing, and I can attest that meditations and visualizations are tricky by nature- even those with a natural talent for it still have a lot of room to grow and improve. At the end of the day, meditation, visualizations, and energy work are not personality traits nor inherent features, but skills- they manifest differently for different people, and can always be nurtured and developed further.
In one of the meditation books I read, the author made a great point that even when they had what some would consider a “bad” meditation (their mind wandered the entire time and they felt they couldn’t focus at all), it was still a worthwhile experience- simply the act of trying can help bring peace, stability, focus and improve your overall practice 
In that sense, there is no such thing as a “bad” meditation- if you’re trying, you’re doing great!
Additionally, meditation and energy work come in so many forms- while some people enjoy guided meditations to listen along with, others prefer to embark on grand visualized adventures. To others, the best meditation is to not visualize anything at all- empty mind meditations are popular in Zen traditions and are very peaceful (despite being really difficult to do, in my experience! )
Again, with so many styles and options out there, there’s no wrong way to meditate or do energy work. And if you feel like whatever you’re currently doing isn’t helping you in the way you’d like, my best advice would be to switch it up and explore some new methods! Perhaps there’s another method or style that will give you a new experience 
Adding in my love and support too, Amethyst!
@Amethyst my love…you must set this in stone inside your mind that you are never alone. Myself and all of your loving fellow coven members are with you everytime! 
I think I just tried to dive in deep for this topic you created and I could feel your frustration. I want to really really hug you tight honey, because that’s the only expression which could tell you how much I love and support you. And yes, you should know that you are not the only person suffering that way! This is the case with so many of us! So, I am energetically, sending you lots of love and confidence in your own self darlin’! Much Love!
@Heav3n Yes my dear I can absolutely relate. 
And thank you love! Blessed Be sweetie! 
It mostly made sense. LOL! I get what you mean, acknowledge all the sensations and then push them away. I may try this. We’ll see, I do so much better with guided meditations.
Thanks love! I appreciate this sentiment!
Thank you again. You all mean the world to me.
Thanks so much, hon! I like knowing I’m not the only one, you know? I need more confidence in my meditation. Maybe I’ll add a nightly meditation on top of my morning one. That might help. Thank you so much for your love and support!
You are definitely not alone!!
I like how you described it-head blind. I think there are days where we are all head blind and sometimes that is because we think/worry to much.
Many blessings to you!
Honestly, the only parts of that book I really got into or recommend are the exercises. I don’t agree with a lot of Mat’s theology and style of practice, so the rest of the book doesn’t really resonate with me. The exercises, though, really helped me (and still help me) with my focus and concentration which I think are the underpinnings to everything else we as witches do.
I still do the very first exercise to practice my focus and concentration. That’s the one where you count backward from 100 slowly and every time you lose focus or you get sidetracked, you start over. Sometimes I make it all the way through. Sometimes I have to start over a million times but I can notice a difference in myself when I practice.
@Amethyst… I do much better with guided meditations & it was definitely a learning curve to do this. Now when I go to bed I lay down & kind of do a variation of it with mindful breathing just kind of breathing in the day, holding, & then letting it go then the same type of breathing noticing how I’m laying, & then more relaxed by deeper breaths more focused on a mantra of go to sleep or something around time to rest or something along those lines…
I’ll try to see if I can find the written version 
of the original way to do it because honestly once I learned how to do it & it wasn’t so, mechanical & I just did it then I kind of tweaked it so it sounds like a lot but when you’re doing it, it really isn’t & doesn’t take that long.
I’m off to see if I can find the original of how I started with it & then kind of combined 2 & tweaked it based on other guided meditations & things that worked for me. That might help it make sense too.
Hi Amethyst,
Recleanse and consecrate all of your crystals.
Do you ever think of how much information is thrown at you, just in day-to-day living? How much is thrown at us just walking by the TV? Your parents, your teachers, boss, friends… Hon, it’s no wonder you’ve become overwhelmed.
I agree that no one is completely head blind, but there are times you need to just clear yourself of all ectopic noise, thoughts, etc. Your body knows, it just takes time for your mind to catch up with your heart and body. (We’ve all been brainwashed over, many years of society trying to make us into clones).
You’re doing nothing wrong. Trust in yourself. You are very powerful but being an empath, you need a shield to defend yourself. When you meditate try to imagine a glass wall, transparent and unbreakable. You can see through it but no one can see in. Now surround yourself and your area, does that feel better? If any visualization bothers you, just drop the wall.
Then make it an impregnable titanium wall. You need to shut out everything but yourself. Get to know and accept all of you. I think you are going to like her, I do.
Remember, no matter what shield you make, it is yours to put up or drop. You can never be trapped behind it. This will be your safe zone.
I say again, this is your safe zone, but should any danger surround you (fire, etc) you will instantly become alert to everything happening around you.
I love you more than chocolate~
Blessed be to you as well.