7 Techniques for Protection Here are seven techniques from which anyone can benefit: 1 - Smudging ? Smudging refers to passing yourself or an object through sacred smoke as a means of purification. When burned, certain herbs release a high vibrational energy that is used to purify unwanted, harmful forces ? what most people call negative energy. Herbs like sage, cedar, sweet grass, pine, and lavender can be burned, as well as incenses such as frankincense, myrrh, and copal. Simply wave the smoking substance around you and make sure you pass through the smoke. Don?t do too much. It?s an energetic process, not a physical one, so you don?t have to feel like you are asphyxiating. 2- Sea Salt Bath ? Similar to smudging, taking a sea salt bath can cleanse the physical body as well as the energy. Put two tablespoons of sea salt or kosher salt in your bath water and soak. Imagine all the stress and harmful energy you have accumulated or taken on from others flowing into the water. Sit in the bathtub as its drains and imagine it flowing down the drain, neutralized by the salt and water. I have a friend who puts a spray bottle of sea salt and water and gives herself a little spritz and sponge bath. The salt neutralizes any harmful energies, and then she just wipes it off. It's a great way to clear yourself if you're on the run and a bath is too time consuming. 3 - Amulet ? Symbols and charms have long been lauded for their protective powers. In almost every culture, there is a tradition of wearing or carrying a particular amulet, often blessed by a priest/tess, to confer the powers of divine protection upon the wearer. Take a symbol you find sacred and divine. Find it in a jewelry or pendant form. If you cannot, try drawing the symbol on a piece of paper or wood, and carrying it with you. If you are Christian, use a cross. If you are Wiccan, use a pentacle. Hindu, try the Ohm symbol. There are a variety of symbols, from the Star of David to the Hammer of Thor. Find the one that speaks protection to you. Smudge the amulet and hold it in both hands. Think about protection and infuse your thoughts into the amulet, activating its power to protect in the name of your divinities. Carry the charm with you to receive its protection. 4 - Protection Stone ? Like a symbolic amulet, you can carry a stone known for its protective and grounding qualities with you. Most dark colored stones have magical associations with protection. Some of my favorite choices are hematite, smoky quartz, onyx, obsidian, jet, and aragonite. Other stores that are protective include red jasper, amber, citrine, and clear quartz. Like an amulet, cleanse your stone and infuse your intention into it. 5 - Meditation ? Meditation is one of the greatest keys to psychic defense. Regular meditation practice leaves you clear, centered, and in a mental place where you can respond to potential threats, rather than unconsciously react to them. It doesn?t matter the style or tradition of meditation. Regular practice is the key. You will not get the long term psychic protection benefits of meditation by doing it only once every few weeks. It must be like exercise, done regularly. I suggest at least three times a week. If you can do it daily, so much the better. 6- Healthy Emotional Boundaries ? Emotional boundaries are not the most esoteric form of psychic defense, but one that quite a few people leave out. Sometimes psychic defense - particularly from people who are harmful to us, intentionally or unintentionally - is the ability to say ?no? and stick to it. If someone asks you to do something or go somewhere, and you only say yes because you are afraid of being ?mean? or ?letting them down? but you know its not a good situation for you, you must learn to say no. As an adult, only you define what is acceptable and unacceptable in your life. Draw those boundary lines and stick to them. 7 - Living Your True Will ? The best form of psychic self-defense is to live out your true will. What is your divine purpose? Find it! Then actually live it. If you are doing what you are meant to be doing, the universe will support you and very little anyone else does or says will be able to stop you. You true will, or what some call your magical will, is not your destiny. It doesn?t happen regardless. This your partnership with the divine. You must choose to fulfill it. But once you choose to be a full, conscious partner with the divine, you will have a divine protection that will help you in all of life?s difficult areas. For more information and an expanded view on these techniques, and a whole philosophy on psychic self defense, look to my full length work, The Witch?s Shield: Protection and Psychic Self Defense. May the divine guide, bless, and protect each of your steps. Date: 2004-07-12 By: Christopher Penczak http://www.llewellynjournal.com/article/651 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To Rid Yourself of a Threat Ingredients: 4 tblspns frankincense or myrrh 4 tblspns black powdered iron 4 tblspns sea salt 4 tablespoons orris root powder 1 white candle 1 bottle with cork or lid 1 mortar and pestle parchment paper black pen black thread Mix sea salt, orris root and iron in a bowl. Then cut a piece of parchment to fit inside the bottle. Write on it: "I neutralise the power of (name) to do me any harm. So mote it be." Roll up the parchment, tie it with black thread and place in the bottle. Fill the bottle with dry ingredients. Take the white candle, turning the bottle counterclockwise, and drip wax over the cork to seal. Secretly bury the bottle where no person or animal will dig it up. (Source Unknown) -------------------------------------------------------------- To Protect an Object (Scott Cunningham): With the first and middle fingers, trace a pentagram over the object to be protected. Visualize electric blue or purple flame streaming from your fingers to form the pentagram. Say this as you trace: "With this pentagram I lay Protection here both night and day. And the one who should not touch Let his fingers burn and twitch I now invoke the law of three: This is my will, so mote it be!"
Basil Protection Spell
You will need:
1 orange candle
1 carnation
Basil
Place the carnation in water, and the basil in front of the candle.
Breath
deeply, and clear your mind. Begin to concentrate on the powers of
protection and say in a powerful voice:
" I call in the guardians and the power of the masculine and feminine. I
surround myself with the fire of protection. The earth's grace supports
me.
The winds bring me gentle shifts and the flow of water eases the energy
of this
time. I believe in this protection and I release my fears, so that I may
connect
to the pulse of life. I ask that this be done within the greater good.
So be it,
and so it is. "
Let the candle burn as long as you like. Throw the basil out on the full
moonThe Tower of Light Exercise
1. Stand erect, feet shoulder-width, arms at your sides, breathing evenly and deeply.
2. Progressively relax your entire body starting from the top of your head working slowly down to the bottoms of your feet.
3. Mentally visualise that you are surrounded by a long ellipsoid of intense, bright blue light that extends 9 inches outwardly from every point on the surface of your body.
4. Continue to maintain this image and visualise a globe of brilliant white light above (but not touching) your head. The globe is inside of your bright blue aura.
5. Concentrate on this bright white globe so that it becomes brighter, glowing white like burning magnesium.
6. Keep both images of the bright blue aura and the brilliant white globe and mentally aspire to the highest standards of morality, good, and love that you can.
7. Next, feel the white globe showering you with glittering white light filled with silver sparkles.This white light should permeate your entire being, coursing vibrantly through you.
8. The outer shell of your aura should be an intense bright blue filled with the vibrant, sparkling white light. Concentrate on this complete image as long as you can, fully believing in its reality. Feel your outer auric shell as a hard, sharply defined blue as you feel blissful and alert.
9. As you close, let the image fade slowly while believing that it is not fading from reality.
A Witch's Bottle for protection
Gather a bottle or jar with a tight fitting lid, rosemary, needlesm and pins. Fill the jar with these items, saying as you work:
Pins, needles, rosemary and wine
In this witch's bottle of mine,
Guard against harm and bad ill:
This is my will
So mote it be!
Visualize the items doing just that. When the jar is full, pour in some red wine. Then cap the jar and seal it with candle wax from a red or black candle. Bury it at the furthest most spot form your house on your property or place it in a place where it will not be seen. ( i personally recommend burying it. I made one and placed it in our attic. I must not have sealed it that well with the wax because when the wine got warm, it came out of the jar.)
© 1997