Developing a “litmus test” to intuitively and energetically assess someone’s character or spirit is a powerful tool, but it does require mindful development of your own discernment, intuition, and sensitivity to energy.
Below are steps to help you create a personal method for reading people’s energy while tapping into both alchemical and spiritual principles.
1. Prepare Yourself as a Clear Channel
• Cultivate Your Own Energy: To read others effectively, your energy needs to be grounded and balanced. Practices like meditation, breathwork, and grounding exercises help ensure your own energy is steady and clear.
• Set Intentions for Discernment: Alchemically, intention is powerful. Before meeting someone, set the intention to see beyond superficial impressions and connect with their true essence. This primes your mind to stay receptive and focused.
2. Tune into Your Body’s Signals
• Notice Immediate Reactions: Your body gives immediate feedback when interacting with others. Pay attention to sensations like warmth, tension, or ease in different parts of your body. These responses are often unconscious but hold clues about how your energy is interacting with theirs.
• Practice with Empathy and Neutrality: Discernment requires balancing openness with detachment. Avoid judging the person; instead, neutrally observe your body’s reactions as data points. If you feel an aversion or a pull, ask yourself, “Is this my intuition, or am I projecting something?”
3. Use the Alchemical Approach of Observation
• Observe Elemental Traits: In alchemical traditions, people are often associated with elements (fire, water, air, earth). Notice whether they seem warm and intense (fire), calm and deep (water), light and communicative (air), or stable and grounded (earth). This elemental “scan” helps you discern their predominant energy.
• See Beyond the Mask: Alchemically speaking, many people have a “persona” or outer “mask.” Intuitively try to see beyond this and observe whether their actions, words, and emotions align. Misalignment can indicate inauthenticity, emotional suppression, or unresolved energies.
4. Ask Silent Questions
• Internally ask questions like, “What is this person’s true nature?” or “Does this person’s energy resonate with me?” Then pause, clear your mind, and notice any subtle impressions that arise. This technique helps you tap into intuitive insights that may bypass your logical mind.
5. Look for Energetic Signatures
• Observe Their “Energetic Field”: You might sense this as a kind of aura or feel their energy even when they aren’t speaking. A harmonious, balanced energy feels open, inviting, and calm. In contrast, a chaotic or “heavy” energy might indicate unresolved issues, hidden intentions, or emotional instability.
• Notice Changes in Your Energy: When you’re around someone, observe if your own energy shifts in any unusual way. Positive, aligned energy tends to uplift, while discordant energy may leave you feeling drained or uneasy. Use this as part of your personal “litmus test.”
6. Ask for Confirmation through Inner Knowing
• Listen to Your Inner Voice: If you receive a “feeling” or “knowing” about someone, trust it, but also ask your inner guidance for confirmation. Often, intuition provides more than one sign. Give it space to clarify by staying open to synchronicities or additional insights about the person.
• Practice “Energetic Objectivity”: Approach your assessment with an open mind, suspending personal biases. This openness enhances true discernment, allowing you to see the person’s essence without distortion.
7. Test Over Time and Through Patterns
• Observe Their Consistency: One meeting may not reveal all facets of a person’s energy. Notice if your impressions remain consistent across different situations. Sometimes people’s energy shifts depending on their environment or stressors, so looking for patterns offers more reliable insight.
• Track Your Insights: Journal your impressions after meeting someone and revisit them later to see if they match with the person’s actual behavior or energy over time. This helps you develop a calibrated “litmus test” by confirming your intuition in real-world experiences.
8. Refine Your Intuitive Language
• Identify “Energetic Red Flags”: Over time, you may start to recognize certain energy signatures that signal untrustworthy or draining individuals. Trust these as your system’s “alerts.”
• Note “Green Flags”: Similarly, develop an intuitive sense for people whose energy feels open, uplifting, or aligned. Recognizing positive energy helps balance discernment with openness to authentic connections.
9. Use an Object or Symbol as an Anchor
• Alchemical Anchor: Some people find it helpful to carry a small object (like a crystal, stone, or talisman) and ask it to serve as a reminder of clear discernment. Symbolically, this object can represent your commitment to truth, protection, and insight, helping you stay centered when assessing someone’s energy. The alchemist point of view hints that the properties of gold being the purest of metal helps to protect and seal your own energy. Having a very firm and grounded sense of self is key to reading the energy of others.
This personalized approach allows you to develop your intuition over time while ensuring that your discernment becomes increasingly accurate and reliable. Trust the gradual process, as this discernment skill grows stronger with practice, refinement, and self-awareness.