Attunements are one of the few things that are universal in the energy worker community, so I want to talk about them as broadly as possible at first, and then I will be more specific about how I use the word along with other terms. Generally speaking, if you want to work with a specific energy you must have access to it. Just knowing it exists is not enough to be able to call on that specific energy. The way we pass energy from one person to another in a way that then allows them to work with it and pass it on to another person is called an attunement.
An attunement is a strong bundle of a particular energy that connects a person with the source of that energy so that they can then channel that energy at will. You might think of it as a tube that connects the person to the energy source that allows the energy to flow from one to the other. But that’s not really accurate.
Imagine you are a radio and all the different spirits out there are like radio stations. Getting an attunement tunes you into the spirit’s station and sets it on speed dial so all you have to do is hit the button and you instantly begin to receive that energy from the universe.
Since you are just a station that can turn the signal off and on, you are not possessed by the spirit and do not necessarily even carry that spirit’s energy with you all the time unless you are working with it.
Energy workers have channeled many thousands of different types of energies. If a particular person was the first to channel a particular energy and attune others to it we typically say they created that attunement and call them the founder. The people who do this often create many different attunements with different energies for all different purposes. Most are variations of a particular form of energy like Reiki. People can create attunements out of anything they want as every concept has energy. These are not always from a particular spirit.
To differentiate when I get an attunement from a specific spirit from what others tend to do which is to make an attunement from a specific power from a spirit, I decided to call these initiations. Initiations are very common in religious and magical communities. Typically what happens is a spirit offers its power to a person, usually a leader, who then uses it to help the community and can then pass it on to others. A solo practitioner can also receive an initiation from a spirit directly. I simply started using this word to help the occultists who where my original customers understand what was going on. What makes my initiations different from others is that I ask the spirit to grant me and the people I pass it on to full access to all of their energy and powers. So instead of just getting one power like healing, you have access to everything that spirit can do. Obviously, the word has many different meanings, but this is what I mean when I use it. Don’t expect others to use it the same way.
When I create an attunement that is just one power from one spirit I call these empowerments. This is purely my own way of using this word. So my empowerments do not give full access to all of a spirit’s powers, only one specific one. If you have an initiation you do not need an empowerment as an initiation gives access to everything that spirit can do.
Finally, when I officially name something as an attunement, that is an energy that combines the powers of multiple spirits for one or more purposes. These are often rituals that I call on multiple spirits. It does not give the full access to each spirit, only the power they contributed.
To sum up, in general, attunements are what people use to pass one energy on to another person. I use the word often to describe all of the different kinds of energy I have for this reason, it’s the generic term used in the community. However, I use the term initiation to specify when an attunement gives full access to all the powers a spirit has. I call attunements that only offer one power from one spirit empowerments. And when I create an energy from multiple spirits I call that an attunement. I know it can be confusing, but now hopefully you understand.
