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Tag: protection

Crow Folks: Hold Fast

During the dark moon this week, I went to visit Na Morrigna in my usual manner, and we again gathered outside around their large cauldron.  I had pulled an ogham fid as an anchor before starting the journey — Dair, associated with the oak tree (among other things) — and when I arrived at the cauldron, I found myself holding the walking stick I had received from the spirit of Dair during my work with them and the rest of the spirits of the ogham feda.  There was also a small stump I hadn't seen before, and I was instructed to stand on the stump — which was hardly big enough for both my feet — and to hold my walking stick parallel to the ground, for balance.  "Hold fast", They told me, and I was given images and sensations of things flying at me, trying to make me move, but I resisted and kept my footing.

My personal kenning for Dair (which I developed in communion with the spirit of Dair as I came to understand them better), is "Dignified Steadyness" and that seems to be the lesson Na Morrigna were ingraining in me, this time, and the message they mean me to pass along to all of you.  Hold your ground.  Be immoveable.  You are strong; they cannot harm you, and they cannot sway you.

While I wasn't expecting to basically have a martial arts lesson, I guess it makes sense after last month's message asking us to plan.  We planned, and now its time to keep moving on those plans, to implement them and make sure the foundations are solid.

I expect we're at the beginning of another uptick already, though it may not be obvious until we get closer to the equinox.  Make sure your agreements are honored and your wards are tight, and it might be time to reread my blog series about a Defensible Home (1, 2, 3) if you haven't, and the one about protection during otherworldly high tides.

Open post

Suggestions for Protection During Otherworldly High Tides

This blog is a sort of sequel to my last one, because while Irene Glasse covered how to fight for Hope in the human world better than I could, when Morgan Daimler wrote about their own experiences with the Otherworldly War, they included some advice their Folk had given them regarding protection, and I realized I hadn’t touched on that at all! Oops!

Morgan wrote:

For my own part my Other have strongly emphasized the power of solar symbols and things like gold, amber, red stones, for protection. They have repeatedly encouraged heavy duty cleansing of a spiritual nature and to stay on guard against unseen spirit dangers.

And while I can’t now recall if I first heard the solar advice from them or from Seo Helrune, it’s definitely something I’ve since incorporated into my protection work, particularly last summer after I got elf-shot and ended up with Covid. But I’ll come back to that. First, let’s talk about generally recommended apotropaic items and substances (the word “apotropaic” means “able to avert evil influence and bad luck”) and how spirit relationships can help protect you. Ha, people who read my series on home protection are not surprised to see that second part, I’m sure! This blog is also sort of a sequel to that, but focused on personal protection, instead.

First the big three: Iron, Salt, and Fire. These are traditional, they’re fairly cross-cultural though fire is by far more universal as it’s been used around the globe. Iron is considered the best protection against fairies in Irish lore, and you’ll see the term “cold iron” sometimes with a variety of explanations as to what that means, but really it’s just an old way of saying “cold steel” which is nowadays a gun but really just means “a weapon made of steel”. So “cold iron” is just any sharp thing made of iron or steel. I do find that stainless steel blades work just fine, but in my personal experience there seems to be something a bit more potent in something made by hand. I have a collection of hand-forged nails — which are pointy enough to be a deterrent but not obviously-a-weapon enough to be offensive to my Locals if they’re kept in my bag — that I can use to set up a circle or barrier if needed, and my spouse has a ritual knife we bought from an artisan blacksmith made out of a railroad tie. My favorite example of fire as a purification and protection is probably the traditions of driving cattle through a fire or between two fires to protect from disease and enchantment, but most people are familiar with the uses of salt and fire, and there’s a ton of information out there on them, so I’m sort of going to just leave it there and move on instead of repeating what other people have explained more in depth.

Other common materials include: silver, certain crystals, hagstones, and protective and purifying plants. Silver is of course well known from pop-culture, being effective against werewolves, some vampires, and a host of other movie and video game monsters. Depending on whom you ask, it is associated with either moonlight or starlight as well, and on a scientific level, silver has some antimicrobial properties. Personally, silver is one of the materials I used to always reach for first, because I also find that it works well with my personal magic style. Again depending on whom you ask, there are dozens of protective crystals and semi-precious gemstones, and I don’t have space to really talk about all of them in depth here, but a few of my favorites are: obsidian, black tourmaline, tiger’s eye/tiger iron, and hematite (although that’s easier to find if you look for lab-grown, and I don’t find there to be much of a difference magically, as most of the stones I find are a little disoriented from being dug up and transported around the world anyhow). Hagstones (also called “holey stones”) are any type of stone with a natural hole formation going all the way through — these are commonly found on beaches and riverbanks (though you shouldn’t take them from anywhere it’s not permitted, like a national park), but they can also be purchased online. They’ve got a long history of lore in Ireland and Britain, and again I’m going to suggest you go read about that elsewhere as I’m trying to be brief! There is again a huge possible list of plants, but I tend to use plants that are known for being both protective and purifying, like mugwort and juniper. Generally I burn them and use the smoke, but I’ve also made oil infusions and tinctures and water-based sprays, depending on what I’m doing. When I’m settling into a new house, I like to clean the windows with a water and vinegar based spray that has a little sea salt and an herb sprig in it, just to cover my bases. Some plants are said to be both used by witches/fairies and also to protect against baneful magic when they’re prepared a certain way, like rowan twig crosses made with red thread, which are said to ward off the Fair Folk.

Similar to the rowan crosses, there are also apotropaic items that get their power from their form and not the material they are made from. Some examples of these are the nazar (also known as the “evil eye”, which is commonly seen as jewelry), Pennsylvania Dutch barn hex signs, and blessed religious jewelry (such as Catholic saint medallions). We pagans can of course make our own amulets and blessed jewelry with the imagery of our own faith(s).

However — and here’s the point at which we move back into the Otherworldly Tides discussion and UPG-land — some of these seem not to work well against the unhael newcomers. Which is where the solar suggestions come in. Instead of iron or silver, think gold (especially yellow gold). Use solar-aligned gemstones and minerals like rutile quartz, amber, carnelian, and pyrite. For solar-aligned plants, think yellow or orange flowers or anything heliotropic, or look for solar plants in Culpeper’s Herbal (Project Gutenberg version available here) or other magical herb books. I suggest starting with angelica, St John’s wort, bay laurel, rue, sunflowers, or marigolds. I’ve acquired a few gold-plated sun charms, like might be used as pendants for necklaces, or on charm bracelets, and that’s an inexpensive way to acquire a little gold jewelry to bless or enchant into an amulet. I think it might work even better on a gold-plated chain, and if a charm of the sun isn’t really your aesthetic, consider sunflowers or bees instead.

Alas, I have a lot of metal sensitivities, and I can’t usually wear gold unless it’s very low carat white gold because that’s usually blended with one of the metals I can tolerate: rhodium. But that’s not solar-aligned, and neither is copper, so I went off to look for more solar help and ended up reading notes on some old alchemical correspondences, and as it turns out Platinum was thought to be a combination of gold and silver back then and was therefore associated with both the sun and the moon! So I went looking for a (relatively) inexpensive platinum plated chain, and I found one, bought it, enchanted it into a shield, and started doing experiments. I wore it while wandering around in the Otherworlds and when I was called on to do some guardian work and when I ran into some unhael beings, and while I can’t say if it’ll work well for anyone else, it worked really well for me! Gold doesn’t work well with my magic, either (which may or may not be related to my metal sensitivity) but platinum worked just as well for me as silver does, which was very exciting. And while I was doing the guardian work one of the times I got elf-shot at again and that time — instead of piercing all my shielding, making me nearly faint and have convulsions, and leaving me vulnerable to Covid — the arrow itself got lodged in the platinum necklace where it was easy for me to remove and repair the enchantment. It seemed like it was drawn there almost magnetically, and I was pretty amazed!

And then the last part — if you find yourself getting drawn into the Otherworldly part of this Great War, I really think the best way to protect yourself is to throw your lot in with allies who are also fighting and who are willing to protect you. (If you can stay out of it, though, do that!) I mentioned in the first blog that I’ve been drawn in through relationships with my Local Fair Folk, and despite that I still think I’d prefer to have those relationships rather than not. It’s no walk in the park, but trucking with the Fair Folk rarely is. There are sublime moments, but there’s also a lot of difficulty. I tend to give the same warning about this kind of work as I gave above: if you’re not being drawn in, stay out! That’s easier and safer, if you have a choice. I didn’t really have a choice (or rather, the choice was to look into paganism and witchcraft in the first place, and then I believe all roads would have inevitably led here) so I’m making the best of the hand I was dealt.

Hopefully some of the above suggestions will work for ya’ll, and I hope everyone manages to stay safe out there, even when the tides of the Otherworldly War are rising to new levels and spilling over the bulwarks and into our neighborhoods and daily lives.

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Warding for a Defensible Home

I first started thinking about writing something on this topic a few months ago, when Irene Glasse posted a very good blog on Set-And-Forget Protection Magic. She touched on things like using iron, witch bottles, and witch balls, and a number of rocks and plants that are known as protective.

That got me thinking about my own methodologies, including my personal reasons not to use iron. I made a few notes, and then… didn’t write the blog. Fast forward to last Dark Moon, and the instruction to make Defensible Homes, and I realized it was time to take this back out. The image below (which is also the one used in the thumbnail) is what comes to my mind when I imagine “defensible”. It’s a strong, tall, castle wall, with a few places for archers and lookouts and other defenders.

I’m not sure what castle this is, as the image was provided by unsplash, but look at that wall! Those crenellations!

In my own practice, the first thing I tend to do in a new house is a claiming. I greet the spirit of the parcel of land, and of the house itself, and I inform them that I will now be dwelling here, and caretaking these spaces. This is now, as I explain, my territory, and I will build a safe nest, and I will defend it against all who wish me ill. Generally, the spirits of land and house are just happy to have been spoken to at all, and they’re willing to allow me to proceed.

Then, I’ll usually walk the perimeter (as best I can) and repeat the claiming there: all that I encircle is my territory, my home. This was traditionally done with burning torches in places like Norway and Scotland, but I’ve done it with a candle, and I’ve done it with sprinkled oats, and I’ve done it with a staff. Clockwise is best for this sort of thing, at least in my personal practice, beginning and ending either at the front door or the driveway (if there is one).

Once claimed, I’ll then sweep and smoke out any stagnant or unwanted energies, and evict any spirits who won’t play nicely with others. You’ll want to do that before you’ve set up the strong wards on a new house, or after you’ve taken down the old wards, if you’re rebuilding them, to make the sweeping out easier.

Next, I’ll refill the space with the sort of energy I want to have in the house – generally I use some kind of a blessing, in water or smoke. You shouldn’t just sweep out the unwanted, without have a clear idea of what should replace it, because otherwise you may create a magical vacuum, which of course will then fill itself with whatever is nearby.

Once the energy I do want is filling the space and spilling out, I’ll return to the perimeter, and this is the part where if there’s land, I’ll sink in a few spikes or nails as anchors. Railroad spikes are very popular and very effective, but my work involves the Fair Folk far too much for me to want to use iron as my ward anchors, so I tend to use copper instead (silver would also work very well for me, but it’s a bit more expensive). I place anchors at each corner, and the edge of each entrance (like the driveway, and the front walk), moving in a clockwise direction. I set part of the enchantment into each anchor before I drive it into the ground, so that I can feel those and pick them back up when I’m ready to weave the warding-walls. (Though don’t think of “walls” as just a fence – you want to block off access above and below you as well.) For my ward weaving, I usually work primarily in trance, with very few props (outside of the anchors I’ve already driven into the ground), but you could also create some sort of object to hold the spell, if that’s the kind of work you’re more comfortable with. You could tie all the anchors back into a jar spell of some type, perhaps.

As I move around the perimeter, I also ask for the help of any trees or shrubs near the property line, near the driveway and front walk, and near any back or side doors. Although I haven’t really lived in a place where I’ve done a lot of landscaping, if you’re considering putting in some new bushes or shrubs in any of those places, maybe do a little research on which plants are considered protective! I have a little baby hawthorn that’s still in a pot for now, but will hopefully one day be placed near my front walk. Some protective plants are already pretty common in landscaping, such as roses and holly!

I also set up zones within the perimeter, to designate whether and when friendly-inclined spirits are allowed in. For example, I generally recommend that children’s bedrooms have an extra layer of warding to keep out everything but allowable humans and pets, and the child’s own guides and guardians. I also usually have tight wards around my own bedroom, and the bathrooms. I try to keep the Folk who are “wandering through” confined to my office (which doubles as ritual space) and not out in the house at large. And while you’re thinking of wards, don’t forget the other types of entrance: water pipes, electricity, the internet. I tend to use sigils or bind-runes above doors and windows, as well as around pipes and conduits, as my inner layers of warding, sometimes literally drawing them in paint. Do remember to paint over or otherwise remove them before you leave, if you move away, though!

In addition to the “zones”, I’ve drawn sigils around my house to create a sort of “flushing” system, so that if I need to clear the house quickly, I can use a sigil on the front door and activate the others throughout the house to flood the area with a deluge of cleansing energy. It’s not as good as a deep clean, but if you’ve ever wanted to smoke-cleanse the whole house after an unwanted guest left and you found yourself too drained to do so, you should maybe try it. It lets me address an issue in the moment, pretty much regardless of my current energy levels, and stops the problem from getting too bad before I can get around to a full cleanse-and-bless.

One thing that I try to do with wards that I don’t see talked about a lot, is I try to create some kind of feedback system, so that I will be aware quickly if anything tries to get past the wards, or if they are damaged. Part of my system for that includes my House Steward, one of the key spirits in my household, who can do some repairs on his own, and is more than capable of grabbing my attention when needed. Spirits and spirit relationships make up another entire layer of the defensibility of my home, but I think that might be best discussed in its own blog, so we’ll do that next week!

The final thing I’ll say, though, is that even most set-and-forget wards and protections need to be looked at once a year or so. If you’re using a jar as a focus object, maybe put that jar somewhere it’s not in the way but you’ll still see it occasionally, so that you will notice quickly if it breaks or something else problematic occurs. For anything you can’t see to check on periodically, it might be a good idea to incorporate a check-in into your seasonal practice somehow! Maybe every January (New Year, New Wards) or some time in March when you get sucked into Spring Cleaning. Whatever makes the most sense for your personal practice!

Here are the links for the blogs on Spirit Relationships for a Defensible Home: Part 1 and Part 2.

Weather Protections

A few weeks ago, Hurricane Matthew was bearing down on the east coast of the United States.  I was safe enough, inland in Virginia, but my husband had family very close to the coast near Jacksonville, FL, where landfall was expected.  They did not manage to evacuate, in part because one of those stranded was his 91-year-old great aunt.  My mother-in-law was very distressed, and asked if I would attempt a protection spell to keep them safe through the storm, and I promised I would do my best.

There was just one problem.  The storm was being powered by the Wild Hunt, and they do not take kindly to outsiders interfering in their work.

So, I turned to a friend with some excellent Wild Hunt connections via Gwyn Ap Nudd.  Initially I asked her if she would just present my case to Gwyn and ask his advice.  What would I need to do to get my spell let through?  I knew I could make a decent spell, but I was worried about being able to send it south to get to them, and I was worried about anchoring it.  I needed this to be a spell cast and set, not something I’d need to constantly pour energy into, because the storm could be there for days.

My friend went journeying to see Gwyn, and came back with a somewhat unexpected answer: he’d allow my spell through, but only if my friend went to bat for me.  She would need to give offerings, give my spell her essence, and stand guard throughout the storm.  I was hesitant, not wanting to put that much pressure on her, but Gwyn had made it very clear that this was the only way.  She agreed, much to my relief, and gave me directions.  I was to enter her place of power and take away a goo-like material gathered in a pool there, and use it in the Otherworlds-side part of my spell.

That required a journey on my part, so I found a quiet place to lie down, and let myself drift into my Waystation.  From there, I left by the portal door and ended up in a dark forest, where it was an autumn night.  I followed a path up a hill and then down stone stairs cut into a cliff face, to the mouth of a cave.  Once inside, I intuitively made my way to the cavern where I knew I would find the pool.  Although I normally glow somewhat in dim light Over There, I did not disturb the blackness of the cave, because my clothes had adjusted to be something like black-out curtains.  Even my face was veiled and my hands were gloved – I moved without seeing where I went. Once I found the place, I briefly lifted my veil so that just the dim glow of my face could be seen – the place needed to know who I was, needed to recognize me, so that I could take some of the goo without mishap.  I could vaguely see or feel someone back towards the wall ahead of me, though as I was the only source of light, I could not see them clearly.  At first I hesitated, wondering if I would have to prove myself to this being, but whoever it was, they simply watched, perhaps making sure I was not taking more than I had agreed to, and that I wouldn’t overstay my welcome.  I bent down, uncertain how I was going to scoop up some of the goo when some of it jumped out, a droplet the size of my fist.  I held out a belt pouch to catch it in, and the goo landed but bounced back up once, twice, three times before settling, and then I closed the bag.  I put it back on the belt at my waist, lowered my veil again, and made my way out the way I’d come in.  Once I was outside the cave, my clothes became my usual airy dress, and this time, instead of heading up the stairs, I leapt into the water at the base of the cliffs. I used the water as a portal, leading me through to the water of my own Waystation, where I emerged.  Once out of the water, I headed for my temple, in which I do most of my offerings and spellwork in the Otherworlds.  I transferred the goo from the belt pouch to a glass jar, where it bounced around in a vaguely annoyed manner – I got the feeling it didn’t like being cooped up, but I wasn’t yet ready to add it to my spell and I needed to put it somewhere for the meantime!  Then I ended the journey, coming back to myself in this realm.

Once I was grounded and back to my usual self, I set about readying the Over Here portion of the spell.  I selected a jar, cleaned it out and dried it and set it on the counter.  Then I found a square of paper – one with waves, from my one-a-day coloring book desk calendar.  On the reverse side I wrote the address of the place my husband’s family members were staying, in red ink.  I then crossed it with the word “safety” three times in blue ink, folded the paper towards me twice, and put it at the bottom of the jar. On top of that, I put sand from a bucket we’d gotten at a gem mine.  There weren’t any large pieces, but any small pieces that went in with the sand I promised in offering to the Wild Hunt.  Once I dismantle it, those will likely go on my faery altar.  On top of that, I poured just about a half a container of sea salt. Next time I think I’ll use a narrower jar!  Into the sea salt I stuck the handle of a small folding knife, with the blade close to and facing the edge of the jar.  Behind the knife I put in a seashell, given to me by my husband from his collection.

While I was doing this, my husband went to the store to get some stew meat, for an offering to the Hounds and the Wild Hunt.  When we returned, we selected three pieces and put them on a plate on the balcony, making it clear to the spirits who and what it was for with a short invocation.

Then it was time to head back to my Waystation.  Again, I found a quiet place to lie down and once I had drifted to my Waystation I went to the temple where I had taken the goo.  I brought the jar with me, solidifying it’s existence in that world, too – although Over There it was in a much prettier and larger jar.  Once it was solid, I focused first on the paper at the bottom, the address.  I visualized it on the map, visualized my husband’s family in the condo, and saw it protected, anointed, covered in the paper that would keep it safe.  Next, the sand: I imagined sand bags circling the building, the sand of shore and coastline buffering the waves and stopping  the storm.  Then, the salt: protection of the highest degree. Protection for them, protection for the spell, the glue holding everything together. Kin to the ocean water, that it would not be seen as foreign, but a natural barrier.  Lastly, the shell, encasing it all, keeping it safe, keeping them safe inside a bubble of protective energy.  The blade I visualized parting the wind, breaking the storm winds around them so that the brunt of the storm was elsewhere, so that the condo was in a calmer pool of air and water.  Finally, I uncorked the jar of essence goo, and added that – it smelled of my friend, and then she was there, claiming it, and the storm raged fiercely in the jar and she met it just as fiercely, tooth and blade, claiming her area as beyond its destruction.  The storm truly parted, then, and the bubble I had made was encased in an additional bubble of this essence, of her power, and my husband’s family members were made safe.

Back to myself, I stood and closed the pickle jar then, and on top I placed a tea light, and lit it, so that the work I had done would be sealed and it would come to pass as we had willed.

They will weather the storm, I thought to myself.

And I was not wrong.  A whole day passed as the storm raged, and I heard it batter against our protections. A second night passed, too, before it becalmed.  Then we heard word from those stranded: they were safe, they were fine, they had weathered the storm alright.  The spell’s work being done, I released it, though I did not dismantle it right away in case I had need of it again.  But the storm passed and did not return.

 

[If you’re interested in doing a similar spell, yourself, contact us and I’ll be glad to give you more concise instructions.  Or, if you’d like to pay us to do spellwork on your behalf, contact us and we’ll talk!]]