The Threshold of the Unseen is a treacherous coast on which to bathe. There are potholes and currents and quicksands. The strong swimmer, who knows the coast, may venture in comparative safety. The non-swimmer, who takes counsel of nothing but his own impulses, may pay for his temerity with his life. But we must not make the mistake of thinking that these invisible forces are necessarily evil and inimical to humanity. They are no more inimical in themselves than are water or fire, but they are potent. -- Dion Fortune, Psychic Self Defense
Years ago, at a house three doors down from ours, a woman's son left a key in the lock. Later that night someone broke into the house and raped her at gunpoint. In 1985 Sedley Alley raped Lance Corporal Suzanne Collins of the United States Marine Corps to death with a tree branch that was repeatedly inserted twenty inches into her body. She is now at rest in Arlington National Cemetery. There are people who will commit murder in cold blood or who take pleasure in torture, get a thrill from raping a stranger or seducing a woman with drugs. Some of them are serial killers like H. H. Holmes or Lawrence Bittaker, others are merely
child molesters, rapists, or murders. Monsters do exist in the world.
Similarly, there are things that exist on the astral that can be considered monsters. Entities that will feed on fear, send an individual spiraling into cyclic depression, will come into a home and refuse to leave, or are simply unpleasant to be around. These range from minor to extreme, from having slightly-worse-than-usual nightmares to having mirrors jump off of walls, a room becoming virtually uninhabitable, or becoming involved in systematic and deliberate attempts to destroy a person's life.
The art of self defense is multifaceted. Physical self defense involves being aware of oneself and one's surroundings: Getting out of the bar before the fight starts and simply not being in the neighborhoods where and when it is unsafe. Psychological self defense involves being aware of oneself, of how one is being treated by others, and making the conscious choice to not be a victim.
Magical self defense is no different and involves elements from both physical and psychological defense.
In physical self defense, sometimes a situation is unavoidable. You are mugged at knife point, someone tries to force you into a car, or you get lost and find yourself in a bad area of Tijuana at night. Perhaps you made a bad decision to get yourself into that position, perhaps someone else made that decision, but now the principle key of self defense is how do I get away from the situation.
No avenue of escape should be discarded: Perhaps the solution is as simple as handing over your wallet or running away.
Then again, you may have to gouge out an eye and shatter their kneecap before you can get away from the situation.
Self defense training, such as with a program like RAD or a martial art along the lines of Hapki Do, Krav Maga, or Hertao can help improve your chances of walking away from such a situation in one piece. Studying a martial art (which one is best
depends on you) can help you avoid problems in the first place and raise your own confidence level so that you are less likely to freeze and more likely to respond correctly when everything goes to Hel. This is not something to fear, but rather something to be ready for should it happen to you.
Obsessing over the possibility of being attacked or overly fearing what might be out there is not healthy and can increase your odds of being attacked. On the other hand: training, listening to your instincts, and being prepared to respond can save your life and the lives of those you care about. Don't let yourself be a victim.
Abusive husbands (verbally, emotionally, or physically), friends
who constantly use you or take advantage of you while giving nothing back, and dealing with people who want to use you to their own ends and turn you into a pawn in their games are all examples where you need to defend yourself psychologically. Psychological self defense is about recognizing these people and the situations they put you in and taking the necessary steps to avoid them or to remove yourself from both the situation and the person. Easier said than done--abusive spouses often go through phases of being intensely apologetic afterwards, the victim may think that she deserved it
(never the case), or the situations may leave the victim thinking that she can reform
him on her own. Psychological Self Defense is about recognizing the situation and taking the necessary steps to make it stop.
Again, obsessing over the possibility is not wise and, in some cases, can bring about exactly the situation that is feared or cause an individual to remove himself or herself from completely healthy relationships for fear of being hurt. A spouse who becomes clingy and suspicious of her partner every time he comes in late is more likely to end up with her partner cheating on her. A person who starts interrogating her friend every time that friend cancels or has to talk about her problems is going to end up without any friends. Just as with physical self defense, a sane and rational approach is needed.
The key to magical self defense is no different than for physical or psychological self defense: being aware of both yourself and your surroundings. Just as with physical and psychological self defense, avoiding or getting out of the situation in the first place is the wisest step and the one that is the most likely to work. Sometimes, however, you or someone else screws up and you end up with a fear feeder or psychic vampire knocking at your door. There are also people out there who will use magical attacks against you for a variety of different reasons.
Everyone is susceptible to these entities and attacks, some of us more than others, but those who do not consciously practice the occult arts, such as most mainstream Christians, seem to carry with them a certain level of personal resistance. I believe that this happens for three reasons:
natural immunitythrough the psychosomatic effect.
It is important to emphasize that this is a level of resistance
and not immunity. A non-occultist who disbelieves can still subconsciously bring an entity into his life without intending to, can still be latched on to and fed upon, and can still inadvertently create things that attack both himself and others. The non-occultists are not completely protected from these attacks, but they are more resistant to them.
Once an individual begins in an occult tradition, from Wicca and Ásatrú to the Native American beliefs, they find out that such entities do exist, they begin to raise energy and summon entities into their homes, and they consciously interact with entities on other planes of existence or that are otherwise out of phase
with what we call the physical world. They lose that natural defense
and now have to deal with a whole new class of entities which they are not used to interacting with. The solution is to learn the skills to defend oneself.
This is not to say that most of these entities are out to hurt people who are new to the craft. Similar to people, most of them are going to be ambivalent--with a fair share of their reactions falling somewhere between tolerant and benevolent. Just as with physical and psychological self defense, it is counterproductive for new students to obsess or be fearful of such encounters, but they can happen. Monsters exist.
Having too much fear with respect to these creatures can inadvertently create them or attract and feed those that already exist, but even if an individual does not create them or deliberately invite them, there are entities out there that have been created and/or fed by others and have since moved on. Further, if a new witch or magician does create one of these creatures, ends up inviting one in, or runs into one that someone else fed then the question that comes up immediately is what next?
First let's talk about what this is not. It is not an instructional guide to magic. It is not meant to introduce you to neopaganism or the concepts behind magic, or provide resources to that effect. It is meant to be a discussion--some philosophical, some practical--on magical self defense.
It will be divided into five lessons, including this introduction:
This essay contains a variety of examples and exercises. The case examples
are either things that someone I know and trust has witnessed or that I have personally witnessed. In many of these cases the names are changed, but the genders are kept the same. The exercises are written by me (unless otherwise noted) but are often based on exercises that were either taught or explained to me by another person. Credit is given where it is appropriate to do so.
This is by no means written by an expert. I have approximately 6 years experience studying and/or practicing magic, both as a solitary and with a coven. Not a lot by any stretch of the imagination.
This has been written because it needed to be. Partly because it was asked of me, partly because I thought it would be a good thing to have, partly because it was part of another essay that got out of control, and partly so that I could attempt to formalize my own thoughts on the subjects.
Feedback is, of course, always welcome.
First we will discuss some of the principles of self defense in generals and magical self defense in particular. Just as with physical and psychological self defense, magical self defense can be broken down into a similar set of categories:
Being aware means knowing both yourself and your surroundings, it means constant situational awareness. Staying out of bad situations involves not putting yourself in harm's way and removing yourself from situations that are about to turn ugly. Protecting yourself proactively means shielding and adjusting your shields to the circumstances, taking self defense lessons, and giving controlled and measured responses to different situations: being mentally, emotionally, and magically prepared. Doing what is necessary is not being afraid of getting your hands dirty.
The key here is situational awareness. Being aware of both your surroundings and your own condition, capabilities, and limitations at all times and in all places. It means checking the back seat of your car before climbing in and looking around before closing the car door or right after getting out. It means sensing around the area where you are casting your circle to see what kinds of things are there.
Being aware is also part of living an occult lifestyle. Sensing subtle shifts in the energy around us, paying attention to the small details that others miss, analyzing our dreams, or meditating on the web of life. In terms of magical self defense this means knowing and recognizing boundaries to domains, paying attention to signs and how entities feel about your presence, and other things of that nature. Most things aren't out to get you, but they do demand respect.
Barriers and Domains
About two weeks before writing this, Rev. Ailea and I were walking in a wooded area along a creek-side late at night. The air seemed to be getting heavier as we walked along and there was a lot of activity outside among the faeries and elemental spirits. We both began to feel the sensation of being watched and the hairs on the back of our arms stood out.
Eventually, as we walked, we encountered a wall. To me it seemed very similar to something that the entity Q might generate in Star Trek: The Next Generation and it shimmered before my eyes. Rev. Ailea sensed it as heat on her hands and face. We looked at each other, turned around, and left the domain since we obviously weren't wanted there.
Later that week we came down again, and the feeling was better but the wall was still there. Here I knelt and asked politely for passage through the entity's domain, prepared to offer small sacrifices if necessary to grant our passage. It, and the other entities with such walls in that area, acquiesced to this, though many of them were very suspicious of us they had still agreed.
In each case we did the right thing and turned back when our gut instincts told us to based on the situation. Would anything have happened if we had stayed and persisted? Other than a continual bad feeling and some fear probably not, but you never know and it never hurts to be polite.
It is also important to be aware of yourself. Are your knees/clothes going to be okay with kicking today? If not, then don't try to throw kicks (it wouldn't do for your knee to go out in the middle of attempting to fend off a robber). According to Dion Fortune the words that are written above the gates of the inner mysteries are know thyself
and they have become a maxim of the occult world--magical self defense and, indeed, self defense in general is no different.
It is easy to misinterpret this as living in fear,
but there is a fundamental difference between being cautious and being paranoid. We take precautions with fire alarms and extinguishers in the unlikely event of a fire not because we live in constant fear of such happening but because in the event one should happen we will be prepared. Being aware is no different--you are simply taking precautions against the possibility of a problem.
Awareness--both of the self and your surroundings--is a critical part of any occult tradition. An occultist needs to be familiar with the river and what is in it before attempting to navigate it on their own.
Increasing Awareness
thank you Alicewhen she hands you your check, but try to make sure you recognize it and use it.
How many people,
how many of them are female,and
where are the exits?From there the detail in the questions can be increased as you both get better at the game.
This principle is also known as don't go looking for trouble.
If you are in a bad neighborhood, get out of it quickly. If you are in a bar and you see a fight about to break out, get out before the fight starts. Don't walk home alone while drunk--make arrangements to stay where you get drunk, get a ride from someone you trust, or walk with friends.
In terms of magical self defense, this means not going into situations where you know that there are things that don't want you there (either that or obtaining permission before passing), not associating with those who bring you unwanted harm or removing yourself from the presence of those who do, and things of that nature.
This principle gets violated more often than any other. You will find yourself in a situation you cannot avoid, with people you have to socialize with, or in a situation where there is a risk but is considered acceptable in context. Again, this rule boils down to don't go looking for trouble
: if you can avoid unnecessary risk, then do so. Avoid irresponsible thrill-seeking.
Breath Shield
Picture a blue energy egg
or bubble around you. Make sure you visualize it so that it covers both your front and back, top and bottom. Every time that you breathe out visualize the energy replenishing the shield.
Protecting yourself proactively requires preparing to defend yourself before it is necessary to do so. Making sure you keep your shields up, warding your house, and training in a martial art that emphasizes self defense are all proactive
things that you can do that improve your odds of turning out on top in an encounter or in avoiding the encounter altogether.
This extends beyond outside influences. Protecting yourself proactively means having a good diet, not stressing an injury, exercising and otherwise taking care of your body, etc. Defense of the self doesn't start with other people: it starts with you.
Do not be afraid to get your hands dirty. If you are attacked physically you cannot be afraid to gouge eyes, shatter kneecaps, or crush tracheas if that is what it will take to escape. If you are attacked astrally a similar principle applies: you cannot shy away from techniques such as aggressive shields, energy spikes, and mirrors.
Mirror Shield
The purpose of this shield is to deflect a spell back at the caster. It is one of the most common forms of defensive magic employed.
Creating a mirror shield is relatively simple:
This can be used continuously, like the aforementioned Breath Shield, or it can be used to deflect a specific attack.
A witch who can't hex can't heal.
First, it must be understood that there is no honor in hurting another entity--human being or otherwise. Such can be necessary, it can be the right thing to do, but there is no honor in it. The goal of this is to defend yourself or, in some cases, the people you care about even if you have to hurt someone or something in order to accomplish that. There can be honor in such defense or in defending others, but it is in the defense itself and not in the harming of someone else to accomplish it.
In order to properly defend yourself from a magical attack you must first know the kinds of magical attacks that will be coming at you. It is also wise to learn how to perform these attacks, simply so that the intricacies of how to defend oneself are not lost. Knowing how to attack can provide a strong reality check when learning how to defend yourself--it is easy to lull yourself into a false sense of security if you don't know that your shields can still be dropped by someone or something with enough experience. Knowing the attacks and the methods of attack allows the occultist to prepare for these threats and be capable of dealing with them more effectively.
It must be understood that magical attack is no different from casting any other form of spell. It can be done with astral constructs, summoned demons, trojan horses
--a device or object which acts as a delivery mechanism for the spell--or through any number of magical techniques. If one is capable of casting anything then one is capable of performing magical works that are decidedly Left Handed in nature.
The Insane Strega
Someone I know, we'll call her Alice, was dating someone who's ex-girlfriend, call her Becky, was a Strega (Italian witch) who was a bit off. She cut herself and threw herself on her former boyfriend to try and get him to take her back, and has used suicide threats to try and manipulate him into going out with her again and/or into giving Alice up. She has also turned violent at times and attempted to force her way through a door to attack Alice.
After going back to her home country she was admitted to (or placed in) a hospital from which she calls the former boyfriend on a daily basis. She then uses the phone to establish a trace
to where he, and Alice, are sleeping and sends Alice nightmares in which Becky plays a prominent role.
The traditional solution in these situations is a Mirror Shield
which deflects the attack back at the attacker. Rebounded spells will make most attackers reconsider continual attacks, whereas in the case of a less aggressive shield they will simply keep prodding until you either grow lazy or they find a weakness.
In this case, since the attacker obviously wouldn't stop if her spells backlashed and she was reported to be unlikely to be capable of breaking through even a weak shield, the best solution was simply to ward her out,
sever her connections, and hope that she would go away.
It is well beyond the scope of this document to go into various techniques of magical attack. Suffice it to say, however, that if you want to be capable of defending yourself then you need to be capable of breaking down someone else's defenses.
Before you do anything else take a breath and calm down. Being attacked is not the end of the world, though it can be very frightening, and help is out there to get you through this. The steps when being magically attacked are generally the same no matter the nature of the attack itself:
Before you can do anything try to calm yourself down, focus, and block out the attack. Grounding and centering is a fundamental magical techniques that is taught by multiple magical schools under myriad names. If unfamiliar, good exercises can be found in Starhawk's Spiral Dance and Deborah Lipp's The Elements of Ritual.
Shielding is another basic technique, an example of which can be found in the Breath Shield
exercise in this lesson.
Many times, what will seem like an attack is just a combination of circumstance, psychosomatic effect, or the events that are happening in a person's life at that moment. Just because everything is going badly or there is an intense feeling of fear does not necessarily imply that there is an attack and construing everything as an attack tends to just be a way to shift blame away from one's own failings.
There is no litmus test
that can be applied to determine whether a set of feelings and circumstances is a genuine magical attack. It should be noted that just because it might not be (or even is not) a magical attack doesn't mean that it shouldn't be taken seriously. As my mother, who used to work in CPS, says: Just because it is all in your mind, doesn't mean that it isn't real.
If it isn't an attack of some form, however, the only way to get rid of it is to change your circumstances, have patience, or change yourself since the problems will very rarely go away on their own.
Dreams and spirit guides are a good place to start, as are basic techniques of divination.
Once you have figured out where the attack is coming from, the time has come to trace it back to its source. This means that, once you have identified the attack, you can follow the thread of the attack and locate the original attacker.
This simply takes practice and experience.
Alright, there is an actual magical block that is hindering your life or entity that is attacking you. You have traced it to that entity or discovered the magical block that is getting in the way.
Did you place it there? If it is an entity, did you create it or invite it into your life?
Dion Fortune points out that we, as occultists, see many of the same things that those who are schizophrenic with paranoid delusions see. Indeed, we even can sometimes see their delusions because a schizophrenic will make them real astrally. She points out, however, that while we can banish them this is only a temporary remedy at best since the individual will recreate them. If you are creating the astral entities that are attacking you or have set up your own magical blocks in your life, then they will not go away--at least not permanently--until you have fixed those problems within yourself.
Adam's Vampire
A few years ago a roommate of mine was dating someone who we will call Adam. Adam was a 2nd dan in Tae Kwon Do and believed himself to be invincible. He would spin stories, boast, and do other things to make sure he was the center of attention.
Adam carried around a small entourage of things that fed on the energy he put out in trying to draw attention. The vast majority of these were benign, and them running into the shields around the apartment gave us a nice warning when he was coming
One day my roommate came to me and said that the shields in her room were being banged on all night from something big trying to get in through her window. She had asked Adam about it and he explained that it was an astral entity that followed him around and that he fought off every night in his dreams, but strangely it never came into his dreams while he slept at our place.
It turns out that Adam had invited this psychic vampire into his life and that it fed on him by pretending to lose in his dreams. The vampire was attempting to feed on my roommate and on my girlfriend, and so it was beginning to become an issue.
This caused problems for us for a long time: the shields and banishings being only a temporary solution, and eventually my teacher's coven destroyed the vampire. Since Adam could not be convinced that he had invited the creature into his life and thought he was fighting it off, the only permanent solution to keep it from happening again was to get rid of Adam. Otherwise, it was simply a matter of time before he would invite something else, and only a matter of time after that before he invited yet another entity best left alone into his life.
Shielding the problem out is often advocated by harm none
advocates because most shields are benign in nature and are not likely to give an attacker more than a bit of a jarring. This is an unfortunate attitude, however, and can lead to the attacker attempting to bring down your shields or, over the long run, simply waiting for your guard to drop long enough to slip inside. Further, for some kinds of attacks, shields just are not sufficient. Simply blocking it out is a good temporary solution when it can be done, but makes for a poor permanent solution. The goal needs to be making the attacks stop permanently so that you don't need to keep your guard perfect against an evolving and ever improving adversary.
Peaceful, face-to-face resolution is best but is not always possible. Bargaining with a hostile entity so that it will stop bothering you in exchange for some specified boon or sacrifice, talking to someone who is engaging in magical attacks on you so that you can resolve your differences without engaging in a Butter Battle Book type of scenario, etc. are generally preferable. Sometimes, however, those talks don't work, can't happen, or won't happen for one reason or another. Other times, such as when dealing with psychic vampires or fear feeders, these talks are not practical or even necessarily advisable. In these cases, more drastic action is not only appropriate, but necessary.
If the attacker is a person one of the first steps after negotiation, to whatever degree is possible, is extirpation of the relationship between you. Return any items given to you, attempt to get any items back from that person you might have given, stop seeing that personal socially or talking to them as much as is possible.
If it is an astral entity that is attacking or feeding on you then nullify any agreement between the two of you--forcefully and directly. This can be a lot harder than it seems, but is often a necessary step in removing such a parasite from your life.
The goal here is to remove anything that the other individual or group might be using as a vector of attack. Attacking someone or something in a vacuum is much more difficult than when you see them regularly, keep contact with them, or if one of you owns something that belongs to (or that was once a part of, in the case of hair and bodily fluid) the other.
Banishing is the magical equivalent of severing all ties with an entity and getting a restraining order for them. By performing a banishing, the caster pushes away (or dispels) the energies or entity which is causing problems.
These take many forms: from simple spells to complex rituals and it is important to remember that a banishing can be used on people just as readily as it can be used on astral entities. It can also be used on spells that linger around, such as bindings.
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
The LBRP is a very common and potent magical tool that can help with a multitude of problems beyond unpleasant elementals. It is also good for clearing a space before a ritual or magical working.
Find and/or write a version of the LBRP that you are comfortable with. I personally like to use versions that are closer to the original, but I'm comfortable with the system that it is based in. There are other versions for different sets of symbolism, depending on what you are comfortable with working with.
Once you have found one that works for you practice it twice a day. Even once you have it memorized and have it precisely down, there are always things that can be worked on. As Master Duke Lee puts it: No matter how long you have trained, if you begin to think of yourself as knowledgeable, you commit an error.
Astral Creatures are one of the most common things that are encountered in one form or another. From astral constructs to faeries to full-and-out demons, these creatures are beyond count or measure and can be sensed on a variety of levels of existence.
This is not a comprehensive guide and will only discuss three types (elementals, fear feeders, and psychic vampires) briefly without getting in-depth into the types or techniques of dealing with them. For that I recommend Greer's book Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings and, for stories surrounding specifically faeries, Keightley's The World Guide to Gnomes, Fairies, Elves, & Other Little People is a good reference work in understanding them (though it is not as useful for dealing with or handling them beyond giving some context on such creatures).
I do summon, stir, and call thee up...
Whenever we call the Quarters in the Wiccan or Golden Dawn derived systems, we are evoking elementals and bringing them into attendance. For this reason elementals of various sorts are some of the most common entities that we deal with. Most of them are not even slightly malicious, but they can be very troublesome. Air elementals have a bad habit of knocking things over, while water elementals can cause backed-up or exploding pipes all without trying to ruin your property. This makes banishing especially important at the end of your rituals, to make sure they are good and gone and not likely to wander around the house upsetting the cat.
Most of the time elementals will not cause any problems when evoked, but we must prepare for the possibility of the worst while hoping for the best and sometimes an elemental with the best of intentions can still be fairly destructive if the summoner is not prepared to deal with it.
An Unpleasant Elemental
Some of them can also truly be nasty. One day I was practicing the Lesser Invoking/Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram (what the Wiccan quarter system comes from) and, when I was performing the westward direction (water), I felt the air shift while performing the LIRP and things just didn't feel right. I should have stopped and dealt with the problem right then, but I persisted and the problem progressively felt worse.
After I banished the area I felt the presence diminish (but not go away) had a headache and so I decided to leave the room for awhile (for the record: I now know I should have stayed and kept at it) and attend to some other tasks. When I entered the room later the feeling of ickyness hit me in the face and my headache came back in a big way--it had turned the back bedroom where I was practicing into its domain and it wasn't happy about me visiting.
After I felt it hit me like that I recoiled for a moment and when I came to my senses went back to my room, picked up my athame, and then proceeded to banish the water elemental repeatedly until I couldn't detect its presence at all.
These entities are functionally similar to Psychic Vampires in that they feed on our emotions and our energy, they are not nearly as advanced though and the rules for handling them are a bit different. I am uncertain whether they feed on the energy we produce while we are afraid or they feed on our energy and make us afraid in the process, possibly a combination of both.
These do not need to be invited in--if you are particularly high energy or in their area when they are active, they can simply latch on like a leech. They are not common, but their frequency increases in psychically active areas or areas of high stress, such as college campuses. Thankfully, even basic shields seem to keep them out and a banishing can drive them (at the least temporarily) away. Again, most non-occultists seem to carry a level of resistance to them (maybe a bad feeling in the pit of their stomach).
Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
These can be truly nasty entities. Thankfully, however, they are very rare. I have only ever encountered one and, by all accounts, that's a lot. In order for them to truly latch on to anyone they have to, at some point, be invited into that person's life. Often they will grant some kind of boon--more quickly growing hair, a feeling of superiority, something and in exchange get to feed on that person. It never works out in the favor of the person who made the pact as the price is almost always too high--there are other entities that are less duplicitous and that deals can be struck with more safely than Psychic Vampires.
Getting rid of a psychic vampire is not easy. The best advice I can give for most people is to find an experienced occultist who can help them out. It is, however, much easier to block them out. Basic shields will do it for most vampires and most people, and beyond that just be careful about inviting them in to your life (or associating with people who have invited one into their life).
Again, it must be emphasized that these entities are rare, but they do exist.
Just because they do not practice magic does not mean that they are not a potential danger or that they do not need to be defended against. Oftentimes it is not even intentional--simply the stress or even just the simple energies of a large group of people can drive a sensitive individual nuts. As far as individuals go--a person sending negative energy towards you constantly might be getting it back threefold, but in the meantime you get her energy to deal with.
Good shielding is the key here. Against a group of people it will simply keep their combined energies from adversely affecting you--even a room full of happy people or a group that is waiting patiently for a presentation can cause headaches. Worse are groups where that energy is negative or stressful: a set of students waiting for a hard test can make the unwary occult practitioner sick with the stress that the group is feeling. A strong shield can stave off the headache and keep the stress of others from making the occultist stressed out.
Intermediate Shields:
Skintight Shields, Drawing Energy, and Grounding
Breath shields are wonderful because they are simple, easy to maintain, and do not take much skill to successfully implement. They are prone to problems though simply because they cycle with your breath, can be overloaded, and the breath shield tends to drain power directly from the occultist who is using it.
Bringing The Shields In
The first step is to shrink the shields so that they are just about skin tight. To do this, just visualize the breath shield, same as before, and visualize it shrinking until it fits to your body like a glove. Visualize it moving with you and covering your entire body.
Drawing Energy for Shields
Many people notice that after the keep their shields up for a long time they get tired. It becomes difficult to go all day, particularly if you need to keep them up when surrounded by stress or something else which continually presses against your shields. The solution here is to draw the energy used to charge your shields from somewhere other than youself.
Draw a line of power up from the ground inside of your shielded area and into your shields. It is important to draw it from inside of the shielded area because an adversary can attack these power lines
and leave your shield feeding off of you. Visualize it continually drawing power from all of the elements in your particular system and feeding them into your shield.
Many people find that charging a piece of jewelry to do this and to generate the shield is useful. Astral constructs that are unattached to an object tend to degrade quickly in this plane, and so the theory behind it is sound. Still, it is a good idea to think of this piece of jewelry as an aid to shielding yourself rather than thinking so long as I wear this ring, I will be safe.
A difference from the Breath Shield, at this point, is that you should visualize the energy being drawn as flowing continuously, rather than being synced with breath. Now your shields should not cycle with your breath, but should remain constantly steady and strong.
Grounding Shields
Your shields can still be overloaded or disrupted. Just as with an electrical circuit--and for many of the same reasons--your shield needs to be connected to the ground. It also is not a good idea to have the shield ground through you, since then if the shield itself is attacked you may suffer as the attack channels through you and into the ground.
To ground your shields draw a line of energy (think of it like pulling a thread
) from your shield to the ground, being sure to ground within the domain of the shield. Again, many people find that connecting an object to the ground and then grounding the shield (and themselves) through that to be helpful. These grounding posts
can be very useful for helping to maintaining your shields at all times, though they are not necessary.
A former friend wants to keep someone from getting together with their ex-boyfriend, a jealous co-worker who is a witch and just wants to make life miserable, or even a friend
who thinks that a binding is the best interest of the person they are casting the spell on. All of these are examples of why and how an occultist might magically attack another occultist (or a non-occultist, for that matter). They may even feel justified in performing such spells (they may even be justified in such, don't assume that just because someone cast a binding or a banishment on you that he is automatically in the wrong).
These kinds of attacks are rare, but they do happen and can be some of the most difficult to defend against.
A Witch's Bottle
(Originally from Daven, paraphrased here.)
Used with permission.
Take a small jar made of glass or ceramic and fill it to the halfway mark with glass shards, razor blades, nails, needles, obsidian fragments, and things of that nature. Add a few dozen hairs and some of your fingernails, and then fill it with urine and possibly menstrual blood as well. Seal the jar so that it is airtight (with wax if nothing else), and bury it someplace on your property.
If the seal or the jar breaks, then you will need to start over and produce a new jar, but more jars never hurt. Remember that the urine is essential and that the blood is recommended.
People who come at you magically when you have one of these things are ultimately only hurting themselves. When they stop coming at you, it stops going back at them.
Self defense is about defending yourself. Not just against those who mean you harm, but against those things that might cause you harm without intending to as well. Part of this defense, however, is not worrying overmuch about it and keeping yourself practical. Daven, with respect to a related phenomena, writes:
Your thoughts and attitudes resonate on the Astral Plane. They can act as a lure for those beings and entities, drawing them to you as a moth is drawn to a lamp, and as a fish is drawn to something bright and shiny. The more you worry and think about something, the more powerful the attraction.
Obsessing over the possibility of an attack is counterproductive. Instead work on improving yourself and be confident that, in the unlikely an event that an attack occurs, you will be ready for it. Your shields will be strong enough and your countermeasures potent enough to ward off the attack. Even the most technically advanced and well put-together shield will fail easily without that belief, while the simplest shield will work wonders if you honestly believe that it will keep the attacks out. As with all of magic, the focus is your Will.
Added: 11 August 2004.
Updated: 26 November 2004.
Copyright © 2004 David Hartwell Clements, All Rights Reserved.