Due to some problems we’ve come across with this shop, we are adding a new requirement that you must meet before adopting a companion:
Knowledge of warding and protection both physically and astrally
The knowledge of these two subjects are imperative to have in order to keep both you and your companion safe. Diving into spirit work head first without any protections set up is basically telling everything around you,”HEY! OVER HERE! FRESH MEAT!” This is how you attract malicious spirits.
A malicious spirit can not only harm you, but potentially your companion as well. Just because your companion is a spirit, doesnt mean they are immune to other spirits. Inviting them over without any wards puts them at risk, which is unfair. It is like calling over a friend to your ‘house,’ but not having any walls set up to protect them from the elements.
You must set up physical AND astral wards. “But J! I don’t know how to astral travel yet! I can’t set up astral wards if I can’t astr-” Yes you can. There are plenty of ways to set up astral wards without astral traveling. Visualization is your friend. If you can think of it, you can use it. Go all out with your camouflage, anti teleportation, invisibility, etc when you’re setting up your wards. As long as you have a strong intent, the wards will be strong. Granted, some wards don’t prevent some spirits, so you will have to tweak them sometimes.
Do not forget to maintain your wards !!!!! Check up on them weekly at least so they are at their strongest. Make them super mega thick with super mega layers. Make them rubbery so nothing can crack it. Do anything you want.
The way I set up astral wards without astral traveling is super simple. Look at your physical room (or wherever you spend the most time/feel the most comfortable). Follow the lines of where each wall meets another and visualize white light trailing in the wake of your vision. Follow the lines of one wall first, and once you make a square with your white light (or whatever shape your wall is), visualize the square being colored or filled in with your wards of choice. Continue this procedure until all of the walls, floor, and ceiling is warded. Then, expand your wards out to the rest of your house to keep every room and everyone inside safe. Use your intent to make sure it is impenetrable.
If this method doesn’t resonate with you, make up your own! There are no rules, really. Be creative. There are plenty of warding methods that you can find on tumblr as well. Try looking here if you want
Physical wards are another layer of protection to keep you safe. For physical wards, I use: – witchy jars – plants – salt – sage – incense – sigils All of these are filled with my intent to keep me mega safe, because lord knows i don’t need any more trouble.
“But J! I am a closeted witch! I can’t do any of those thi-” Yes you can. There are hundreds of tips out there that are for discreet witches. Sigils are easy to hide. Use an oil diffuser with essential oils that correspond with protection. Light candles with corresponding intent. Plants are inconspicuous. So is salt. I carry a salt packet in my phone case. Hoard all of those salt packets from restaurants. No shame.
You can do anything if it makes you feel safe. Does hopping around on one leg in circles make you feel lighter and the room clearer? Then do that. Does making snow angels in the carpet make your room feel safe? Then do that. There aren’t any rules. Do whatever if it makes you feel safe, no matter how silly it may seem. Does that necklace that you found at the playground when you were younger just seem to hum with protective energy? Bam, use that.
As long as you have measures set up that are supposed to keep you and your companion safe, you should be okay at first. Of course, you will have to renew them and tweak them every once in a while to keep them in their best shape. My dedicated day to ward strengthening is every Sunday on cleansing day (which is also an important thing to have, but that post is for another time), but if need be, I fix them through the week as well. No protection is too much protection.
Let’s just start a series of crash courses in witchcraft, since sometimes we need to learn things the quick and dirty way. Today, let’s talk about wards.
What are wards? Wards are protective energy barriers. They keep things out. You can place them around your home, certain rooms, even on certain objects. With practice and clear intentions, you can focus the wards to block out everything or only certain things. We’ll get to that in a bit.
Why should I ward my space and my things? Wards can keep out all sorts of things you don’t want in your home. They can block out negative entities, wayward spirits, mischievous entities, demons, and (if you’re really good at what you’re doing) even gods. Some people ward their divination tools so they know there are no spirits tampering with the results.
So what do I need to do first? Cleanse. This is very important. Wards are kind of like walls, or perhaps more accurately, bubbles. If you don’t clean the space first, you might trap things inside your ward bubble. You do not want that. There are lots of methods of cleansing, from burning sage to spritzing oil-infused water. Find a method you’re comfortable with and cleanse everything you’re going to be warding.
I’ve cleansed my home/item. Now what? Now we ward. I’m going to give you a couple methods. Let’s start with my favorite, incense warding.
Incense warding can also be done with spritzes of water/essential oil blends or herb-infused water if you can’t have smoke in your space. Whichever you’re using, you want to have a blend of protective herbs. Bay leaves, cinnamon, ginger, mustard seed, and salt are some great options that you can find in the grocery store, no fancy witch shop necessary. If you’re using incense, make sure you’re using natural incense and not super cheap stuff that’s artificially scented. The magic is in the herbs, and you won’t get that from fake scents.
How to Incense/Spritz Ward an Item
Smoke or spray item.
Visualize the smoke or spray clinging to the item and wrapping around it like a tight blanket, protecting it from anything that would cause harm (or interference, etc.).
How to Incense/Spritz Ward Your Space
Pick a place to start. I always start at my altar, but it’s up to you. If you’re doing multiple floors, start either at the top or bottom floor.
Moving continuously to your right, smoke or spray along the walls and door frames. As you go, imagine a barrier being formed around the walls, ceiling, and floor, pushing outwards to fill the room. Visualize the smoke or spray forming the barrier to keep out anything that will do you harm. [If you have a hard time with visualization, you can simply focus on the intent of the smoke or spray keeping things out.]
Keep moving right, following the layout of your home, making sure you get all the closet spaces. You basically want to outline the entire area you’re protecting, whether it’s you’re room or your whole house.
For multiple floors, repeat on each level.
For big layouts where there are rooms in the middle, go around those rooms as well.
I like to reinforce the wards over outside doors, windows, and mirrors. These are all passages of sorts, and when I reach them, I use the incense to draw a pentagram in the air over them. This is entirely up to you.
You’re done when you’ve reached the point where you began.
So why do we go to the right? Is that important? Kind of. Going to the right is like going clockwise. It’s about making things and progression, where going to the left or counter-clockwise is about deconstruction or reversal. [I read this idea in a witchy book a long time ago and will try to find a source when I can. If you honestly don’t feel it makes a difference, do whatever you’re comfortable with.]
Can I place wards that keep out certain things but not others? Sure. When you’re going around your space/warding your item, your intent is what’s important. I like to ward out entities that mean harm – it’s nice and general and doesn’t keep the fae out. Some people might want certain spirits and not others. Have your intentions clear in your mind as you place your wards.
That’s neat and all, but what are some other ways to ward? Let’s list a few.
Symbol/Sigil Wards
Choose (or make) a symbol or sigil that has protective properties. I’ve done this with Pluto’s astrological symbol because I worship him and it’s my way of being like, “Hey, Pluto. Please protect me, kthanxbai.” Pentagrams are nice and basic witchy/pagan symbols if you like them.
Draw the symbol over doors and windows. You do not literally have to draw it. It can be in water, incense smoke, or just your finger against the surface if you want.
As you’re drawing, make sure you have your intentions in mind – that nothing harmful can pass through this door, that the windows remain closed against entities, etc.
Energy Bubbles (if you have control over your energy)
Pick an item – any item.
Get your warding intentions in mind.
Channel lots of energy into the item. Visualize it emanating from the item in a bubble to fill your space.
If you’ve got mad skillz, you can form the bubble to the walls and be super exact with where its barriers are.
Vocal Wards
If you like spoken (or thought) spells, come up with a small chant to protect your space.
You can repeat this chant as you focus on your item being protected or as you walk around your home, protecting every room.
This is really great to incorporate into basically any other form of warding and gives your magic an extra bit of oomph.
I’ve heard wards can “fade” over time. True or false? Wards are just energy. Like all energies, they can disperse and weaken over time, or if something particularly nasty puts effort into destroying them. Redo your wards every so often (I do mine every few months, but it’s up to you), and especially before spiritual interactions. I also like to do mine after I’ve had lots of company, to kind of clear out family’s lingering energies and reinforce what I don’t want in my house.
In general, the intent of your wards is the most important part. Know what you want to keep out. This concludes our crash course on warding. Now go forth and protect some stuff!
You will need: Anise or Lavender incense stick and 3 candles. Go to the room you want to keep as a safe place. Put the candles infront of you (its better to sit down in the ground and have them near you). Light up the candles from left to right. Then light up the incense stick. Close your eyes and think about all the things that make you calm and feel free. When you are relaxed and in complete silence start chanting words that will bond the emotion you want to give to the place with the physical room. The words can be anything you want that echo what you feel but you can also use the ones we wrote :
This place is safe from all harm Peace of mind will stay around and welcome any friendly smile
My magic soul will stay intact
Once you finish the chant, stay in silence until you feel you are ready and open your eyes. Blow off the candles and let the incense stick in a place where it can fill the room with scent until it finishes.
The purpose of this is to just show you how I have done some of my more specialized wards in the past to give an idea of the kinds of things that you can do and what’s involved in them. The procedures for these were adjusted so that they can be used universally instead of being specific to me and my abilities. However, that means that I haven’t tested the efficacy of each when made from their new procedures. There really shouldn’t be much problem, I mean the major difference is just the way the sigils are programmed as I have a private and unique way for making sigils, but I wanted to throw the disclaimer out there anyway. Anyways, use at your own risk and I’m not responsible for anything that happens if you choose to do these. P:
Remember that I did leave out some of the finer details to keep myself safe.
Going under readmore because I feel like it should
Hey, it’s the next part of my jar spell series! Warding and protection is super duper important when working with witchcraft and spirits in general. I designed these spells specifically for strong protection and I charged them with the specific intent I wanted. This little bottle can be jam packed with power if you charge it well, and the larger the capsule is, the more you can get.
For this spell, I used…
crushed bay leaves (protection, psychic power)
sea salt (purification, cleansing, protection)
sage herb (purification, psychic power, protection)
Ward your home from ill presences and negative energies. Find a flat stone, the size of your fist. The stone represents the Earth, your home. Clean it with water and empower it. Thus:
Speaking the words below, repeatedly, pass the stone over the smoke of a burning incense and then over the flame of a candle. Drip a few drops of the candle’s wax on the surface of the stone. Anoint the stone with an oil from any protective herbs.
Shield yourself like mad. Make your shields specifically with the intention to reflect any emotions that are not yours away – so make it shiny like a mirror in regards to visualization.
You can also enchant a piece of jewelry you wear often to keep external emotions at bay. (These can all be modified specifically for your intent of keeping yourself protected from external influences.)
[Here] is a post about empaths and crowds that talks about witchy things to do to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Besides that, there are spells geared to absorb / reflect people’s emotions. Not all of them can be carried around, but at least they can be inspiration for ingredients / ideas for other things you may be able to do.
teakepp 