Man I Needed To Hear This

Al Khazneh, Petra, Jordan

Introduction to Shielding

If you haven’t already, check out my lessons on visualisation for the basic knowledge you’ll need to begin practicing shielding.

So what is shielding?

Shielding is a manipulation of energy, used to create a barrier between yourself and unwanted, usually negative or malicious energies. It’s a basic aspect of spellwork that everyone, beginner or experienced, should use to keep themselves safe.

What can I use shielding for?

Some beginner-level uses for shielding are drawing a circle, or casting a spell. A more experienced individual might use shielding in astral travel or spirit work, where there are a lot more malicious energies involved. Personally, I use shielding as often as possible, for instance when I do tarot readings, spells, spirit work, shadow work, and especially cursing. It gives that extra guarantee that you won't flood your personal space with unwanted energies.

Other uses include shielding against real-life dangers, to a certain degree. I often shield when I am walking through town at night for extra protection. But please remember to take other measures too! Call someone, pretend to be on the phone, plan your route, and even carry pepper spray if it's legal where you are.

An easy shielding method:

The easiest way to explain this is to think of your energy as a physical manifestation. Think how power attacks are shown in anime or cartoons - a streak of colour or light, or an element. Make it personable to you: fire signs (Leo/Aries/Sagittarius) might visualise fire, or a red energy or light etc.

Firstly, some people prefer to cleanse before shielding. I don't think its all that necessary but the choice is yours.

Begin by easing yourself into meditation. Get comfortable, and use whichever technique works for you. I have various methods for this in my visualisation lessons if you are struggling.

Attempt to visualise the energies surrounding you in your mind. It might be a swirling colour of light, almost like a cloud of dust. It could be flames, it could be water. Maybe try to see it held within your hand.

Now, attempt to shape this energy around your entire body. You might want to start with a bubble or a cube surrounding you. Feel this shape surrounding and protecting you. Visualise negative and unwanted energies being held back by it.

You can also layer shields, so if you are working with a particularly malicious energy you might want to have multiple shapes surrounding you, all within each other. You can also work with deities or spirits to ask them to shield you too.

Shielding Incantation

When I am shielding, I recite a spell as well as using visualisation techniques.

The shield of protection, I carry it strong, No ill wishes or trouble shall come along, You cannot harm me, or weaken my soul, My light is my weapon, and peace is my goal.

Try it out for yourself and let me know in the comments how it went! Thank you as always for reading. Please message for requests.

Warding

Warding is a form of magick intended to protect a person, place, or thing from negative/parasitic energies/entities. Wards are like energy and will fade over time.

There are 3 types of wards-

Trapping- Trapping negative entities.

Circumventing- Diverting negative entities.

Filtering- Allowing positive energy in while keeping negative energy out.

It is important to note to cleanse before warding, otherwise you will be keeping anything negative within your space.

Some examples of wards-

Sigils

Energy

Spirits

Poppets

Satchels

Enchanted items

Crystals/Crystal grids

Botanicals

Types of water

Types of dirt

Types of salt

Home Protection Magic: A Method For The Low-Spoons Spellcaster

After a rough couple months of mental health, all my wards and shields kinda… fell by the wayside. Since I’ve been putting them back up, I thought I’d offer a general explanation of how I do it.

Basically, I use a form of sympathetic magic to reduce the toll my wards take on me. Otherwise it has to be an obnoxiously complex multi day process. Since this works just as well, I don’t see the point in putting myself through that.

So clearly it comes in handy if you have limited energy reserves, but it’s also useful if you have issues visualizing. I’ve included another method to make this work specifically for folks with visualization issues.

Supplies

All you need is a few writing utensils in assorted colors and some paper, or an image editing program. It doesn’t need to be a fancy one, you can literally do this in Paint if that’s what you’ve got.

The Prep Work

For the sake of convenience (and also not publicly posting my actual house on the internet like a dingus) I’m gonna be using a random Sims 3 lot for this post. Say hi to our demo house:

We’ve got the house, so now we’re gonna map the place!

If your place is on its own lot, include the whole lot. I like to do this from a top down view so if I’m struggling I can go to Google Earth and get a reference.

But since I’m using the Sims for this demonstration I’m gonna just… shift the camera angle.

So, from here you’re going to mark off the property line, walls of the house, trees, gardens, paths, frences, decks, etc. Whatever you think is relevant.

It doesn’t have to be perfect or 100 percent straight, just enough you can tell what’s going on.

This is what I ended up with for the demo house:

So yeah, clearly it doesn’t have to be perfect, just close enough you have everything of importance covered.

This is a lot sloppier than I’d normally do it since it was like 5 AM and I wanted my bed, but it would still work because I don’t really do a ton with plants so the missing tree and chunk of garden aren’t a big deal to me.

(That said, be smarter than me when you’re doing this for realsies. Don’t do it for real when you’re about to drop from exhaustion.)

So, now you set up your external protections.

For this exercise I picked a fire based ward for the property line to incinerate malicious magic and deter anybody nasty, a ward filler that was inspired by Apollo and made up of golden arrows that will sap the strength of malicious magic and cause extreme discomfort to people with less than honorable intentions who got through the first ward, a fog based ward to slow/delay any intruders and to hold any magic that gets through the rest of it till it dissipates, and a sanitization ward at the front porch and the back deck because I’m an empath and don’t like taking residual crud from outside into my house.

You can set these up in a few ways, but I’ll be including one with visualization and one without so this doesn’t get any longer than it already is.

The Procedure: Visualization Edition

Drag your finger along the lines of the diagram and visualize the ward going up on that part of your property. While you do, focus on what you want your ward to look like, how it feels, what you want it to do, how strong you want it to be, where you want it how you want it to react to an attempted breach, etc. That’s it!

It’s still going to take energy, but the drain on your resources should be a lot smaller.

The Procedure: Not Visualizing Edition

So, this is a little more complicated but not too much so. You might want to make a few copies of your diagram (or take a couple pictures on your phone. Just in general replicate it a couple of times.) just in case, because you’re gonna draw your wards.

Grab some pens/pencils/markers in colors that correspond to your wards (or pick colors in your graphics program if you’re going the tech magic route)- elemental affinity, purpose, both, up to you.

Using my example wards, I ended up with this:

Since you’re not visualizing, focus on the intent as effectively as you can while you’re drawing, because you’re gonna speak (or think!) those suckers into existence.

Describe what you want it to look like, what you’d want it to do, how strong you want it to be, where you want it how you want it to react to an attempted breach, etc. All the same things you’d be visualizing if you were going that route.

If you’re confident in your art skills, you can save a bit of energy by not focusing as much on what you want it to look like and drawing a direct representation of your ward instead. (I’m not fantastic, so I’m sitting there adding stuff like “this red line is a wall of fire taller than the house” into my description. Still works!)

This is a little less energy efficient than the visualization method in my experience but it’s still heaps better than doing it all on a large scale.

So that’s the process! It’s the same deal inside your place, except instead of rocks, trees, and decks you’ll be marking windows, doors, and furniture.

Feel free to modify the method here however you see fit, and if you do I’d love to hear about it!

Perfumes for winter

Alien by Thierry Mugler (jasmine, cashmere wood, white amber)

Black opium by YSL (vanilla, coffee, pear, jasmine, patchouli, pink pepper, orange blossom, bitter almond)

By the fireplace by Maison Martin Margiela (chestnut, vanilla, guaiac wood, peru balsam, cloves, cashmeran, juniper, pink pepper)

Code pour femme by Armani (honey, Italian orange, vanilla, jasmine, orange blossom, bitter orange, ginger, sandalwood)

For her l’absolu by Narciso Rodriguez (musk, tuberose, patchouli, jasmine, amber, sandalwood)

Hypnotic poison by Dior (vanilla, almond, coconut, sandalwood, brazilian rosewood, plum, jasmine, caraway)

Jasmin noir by Bvlgari (jasmine sambac, almond, gardenia, licorice, tonka bean, precious woods, amber, musk)

Noir pour femme by Tom Ford (vanilla, kulfi, amber, sandalwood, ginger, rose, bitter orange, orange blossom)

Pure poison by Dior (jasmine, gardenia, orange blossom, sandalwood, orange, white amber, bergamot, cedar)

Velvet orchid by Tom Ford (rum, black orchid, honey, vanilla, myrrh, suede, sandalwood, peru balsam)

FATIGUE-BE-GONE JAR SPELL

I’m a witchy soul with chronic fatigue syndrome, so I whipped up a jar spell to help me banish fatigue from my life and welcome energy and healing! 

You Will Need: 

1 cleansed jar of any size

amethyst point ( protective, healing, and purifying)

orange or yellow string

dried dandelion flower (happiness, strength, perseverance)

wings of a bumblebee (strength, hard work made easier)

yellow candle 

dried orange peel (love, divination, luck)

leaf of an african violet ( spirituality, protection, and healing)

anise seed ( find happiness, and stimulate psychic ability)

basil flowers (dispels confusion, fears & weakness)

cloves (protection, banishing hostile/negative forces, and gaining what is sought)

coffee (dispels negative thoughts, overcome internal blockages, energy; provides peace of mind and grounding)

blessed salt

sugar (joy, peace of mind, sweet thoughts, energy)

ginger (personal confidence, prosperity, and success)

jasmine (charging, magickal energy)

mustard seeds (courage, faith, and endurance)

oregano (joy, strength, vitality, and added energy)

rosemary (completing tasks, improve memory and aid clear thinking)

To Do: 

cleanse your jar using sage incense or spray

add ingredients to your jar one at a time, layering them, with the basil flowers, dandelion, and bee wings on top

tie your amethyst point using the orange/yellow string and tie it around your jar

use yellow candle wax to seal your jar

give your jar a kiss on the lid and thank the components for the help they will bring to you

set the jar near your bed or on your headboard, give the lid a kiss every time you need a boost of energy

~ King’s Grimoire 

Flameless Hearths & Devotions

Ideas for Hestia devotees/worshippers who are unable to use a fireplace or flames in their worship. Welcome for all who find this helpful!

Using flames safely and/or discreetly:

(For the occasional need)

Use a tea light or lighter outside; on a fire-safe surface such as concrete or gravel.

Burn objects over your sink or a bowl of water.

Outdoor fire pits or grills. 

Creating your hearth:

Your hearth should feel like a central, focused place that represents your home. Someplace where you feel calm and safe. Traditionally, this was often in the kitchen; but it can be anywhere in your home. It can also be in multiple places, or small and contained. 

My shelf altar. I keep it clean and tidy. It contains items that remind me of home, and offerings to Hestia. It represents hearth and home, and is a space I can visit when I wish to feel connected to her. 

My dedication wall. I used to have a wall with a dried marigold garland, soothing poetry, devotional poetry, artwork and prayers on it. This is an excellent way to have a discreet (if you so choose) dedicated space that doesn’t take up much surface area. 

My stovetop. Each time I put the kettle on for tea, I feel connected to Hestia. I offer the first sip to her. I simmer pots of water with herbs, spices or other scented things (such as orange peels) to spread a beautiful aroma around my home. 

Don’t have a stove? An electric kettle and microwave will do!

My oven. Each time I bake (both the preparation and the baking itself) I feel connected to her and give a portion as an offering.

My woodstove or outdoor firepit. It is worth noting that because I have these things (and use my woodstove as a primary heating source) I do often use these as my hearth and burn offerings here. 

Flame and candle alternatives:

What feels right to you? What matches the energy/warmth of fire and flame?

Electric candles, especially ones that flicker and have warmer colors.

Electric tealights in candle holders. 

Solar charged lanterns

Fairy lights in a jar

Himalayan salt lamp

Wax or oil warmers (with heat bulbs).

Electric fireplace

Flame ambiance videos

Scents:

For me, certain smells embody home. And this is wonderful, because we can control them–even without candles or incense!

Essential oil or reed diffusers 

Wax or oil warmers

Scented electric candles

Potpourri 

Scented sachets

Room/pillow sprays

Pot of water on the stove with scented things

You  may also like:

Resources for Hestia devotees - a masterpost

Hestia small devotional acts

Bedridden devotion to Hestia

Book of Shadows Ideas that Aren’t Basic

A local specific myth, cryptid, or legend

An obscure historical witch or an old historical spell

A map of your neighborhood with locations that appear ghostly or have interesting energy

Your personal associations to colors, plants to supplement traditional correspondence charts

A chart detailing information of spirits you have communed with

A guide to sailor knots for knot magick

Sustainable and eco friendly lifestyle tips

Magickal practices around the world

Obscure magickal tools or tools you invented

Varying viewpoints in magickal philosophy and technique

Did my 1st simmer pot yesterday, setting intentions for the new year.

BLACK SALT (also known as WITCH’S SALT) is used primarily for protection, banishing, and repelling.

Those uses aren’t exclusive—it has also been known to feature in baneful magics, and can be used in uncrossing rituals.

WAYS TO UTILISE BLACK SALT

To protect your property from negative spirits, people with ill-intent, unwanted visitors, and negative energy: sprinkle black salt around the perimeter of your property.

To both banish any residual icky energy that a person may have left in your home, and prevent them from returning: sprinkle black salt on the front step and sweep it away. If you’re feeling more traditional (and brave!) you can throw black salt at the back of someone that is leaving your home also.

To prevent nightmares: use in a sachet and keep beneath your pillow.

To repel negativity, unwanted visitors, and rumours/gossip: sprinkle generously across windowsills and doorways.

To cleanse your home and keep nasties from entering: add black salt to a floor wash and go ham on your floor. Focus especially on high traffic areas.

To undo a curse, hex, or other form of malignant magic that has been cast upon you: use in an uncrossing oil or powder. Learn more about uncrossing [here].

To alleviate any negative thoughts and feelings that you are carrying: add a pinch of black salt to your bath, or to an oil with a similar purpose that you anoint yourself with.

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