Often when I am performing a psychic reading, my readee will be so interested in what I am saying that she will expand her aura until it encompasses me. This if more likely to happen if my readee closes her eyes and falls into a deep state of relaxation. When my client's aura intermingles with my own, or vice versa (it is much easier to blame everyone else for encroaching upon your space than it is to acknowledge that you are invading theirs!), this not only feels uncomfortable to my body, but makes it more difficult to clairvoyantly read the client.
If you try to look at an object by putting it right up to your nose, you will not be able to see it clearly or see the whole thing, because it is too close. This concept also applies to psychically viewing a person's aura. This is why I usually have at least a few feet of physical distance between me and my readee, even though my eyes are closed. Sometimes I find it helpful to ask the readee to sit back in her chair and call her aura closer to her body. However, this request sometimes confuses or invalidates the readee. Therefore I often opt to take matters into my own "psychic hands" by visualizing an object at the end of my aura and postulating that my client's energy is receding to the opposite side of this separation object.
A separation object is valuable because it helps you create an energetic boundary between yourself and others, and in turn helps strengthen psychological boundaries, which may be weak (a separation object is a necessity for people who struggle with issues of codependency). A separation object reminds your body and your energy what is yours and what is not yours. It also serves as a method of protection. However, I prefer to refer to this tool as a separation object rather than a protection object because when your focus is on protection, you may inadvertently attract that which you are trying to avoid (through your resistance).
This technique can come in handy in everyday life, as I discovered one afternoon several years ago when I attended a fascinating lecture on crop circles given by the pioneering and inexhaustible researcher Colin Andrews. The lecture hall was packed and I took the only remaining chair. A woman with a child strolled into the room, and a generous man gave her his seat and walked to the back of the room, where I was seated. The lights were dimmed as Andrews began his slide show of the exquisitely complex crop circles. I have no idea how much time had passed until suddenly I was overwhelmed by a heavy wave of exhaustion.
"Oh my gosh, what is wrong with me?!" I wondered. A minute before I had been feeling great, but now I felt that if I did not lie down, I would pass out. Thankfully, I became aware of the gentleman who had earlier relinquished his seat. He was standing next to me only a couple feet away. I tore my eyes from the slides to glance at him and noticed that he was uncomfortably shifting his weight from foot to foot. "Hmm," I wondered. "Could I be matching this man's state of exhaustion? After all, he has been standing all this time."
I quickly imagined that there was a bright red daisy circulating around the edge of my aura. I visualized his energy as a bluish color leaving my aura and returning to his body. I then called back my own energy to my body. As I did this, the man looked at me as if on some level he knew I was
doing something, and then walked to the other side of the room.
I instantaneously felt better and returned my attention to the lecture. However, about twenty minutes later I again felt that same wave of exhaustion. "Maybe I was mistaken," I said to myself. "Maybe I am just getting sick and it had nothing to do with that guy." The lecture ended and as I stood up to leave, I stumbled into the same man who at some point, without my knowledge, had inconspicuously taken a position right behind me. I extracted myself from the room, rechecked my separation object, and once again felt like my normal self.
A separation object can be visualized as any object: a flower, a tree, a fence, a mirror, a hundred dollar bill (to remind you of your abundance), etc. It is helpful to use the same type of object over a period of time, because you can take a clairvoyant look at the object from time to time to see if it has changed due to the energy it may have absorbed or been affected by. As with a grounding cord, you should frequently destroy the separation object and create a new one to make sure it is working for you in present time.
Also, different situations may call for different sizes, strengths, and qualities of an object. If I encounter a hostile person who is actually wishing me harm, I will sometimes imagine a mirror or a fan that is flinging back whatever energy is coming at me. At other times I will visualize a giant heart with a Smiley face on it to remind myself (and maybe that hostile person) that love is stronger than hatred. I might even visualize something really funny or ridiculous to change the negative vibrations around me, since amusement is a much higher vibration than anger or fear.
Your separation object should be at the edge of your aura. If it is only at the edge of your body, or somewhere within your aura, then whatever you need separation from will still have access to your aura and will affect you as if it were in your body. You can visualize a single object that rotates around your aura, or you can use several objects. Beginning students who have less trust in their separation object tend to want to create more of them, to cover every inch of their aura. However, one object will work just fine.
You can postulate that even though the object is located at a single spot on the edge of your aura, it has the ability to protect your entire aura and body. You can see the separation object as being stationary or as orbiting around your aura, since moving energy is more powerful than stagnant energy, as mentioned earlier. You can use your other tools, such as running energy and grounding, in conjunction with your separation object to further increase its effectiveness.
A separation object is a highly effective tool, so you have to be careful not to create such a strong fortress around yourself that you become invisible or isolated. This is usually not a problem until you have been practicing the technique for a long period of time.