Real Witches: Protection Magick
Arguably, protection magick is the most important thing that you can perfect. It is an essential practice to ensure that the elements you are working with, the spirits you are speaking to, the spells you are casting, and more are safe and sound. Is it fool proof? No… But is it necessary? Absolutely.
There are many forms of protection magick so we will break this down into a few categories to help us navigate the basics.
1. Protecting Yourself
If you are energetically sensitive, get worn out easily around people, feel overwhelmed in public spaces, channel spirits, cast spells, or anything of the sort- you should be performing some type of protection magick around yourself daily.
I personally think one of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is with your intention and energy. You can do this in a few different ways. The first step in each is to call your aura in close to you. Ask for it to come in close so you can ensure your physical body and aura are fully protected.
Next you will want to imagine a protective shield of some sort around you. This can be as simple as a bubble or as elaborate as a rose bush. Imagine that the shield grows around you and surrounds your physical body and your aura completely. You can make multiple layers if you would like and set a different intention for each. For example, the first layer around you could be to help turn any “negative” energy into “positive” energy in your field. The layer on top of that could be for complete protection, ensuring that nothing that is not in alignment with your highest good is able to penetrate it (keep in mind that sometimes what’s in line with your highest good isn’t always pleasant! sometimes it’s what you need to grow and growth can be uncomfortable!). You may then want to add a third layer that is set with the intention to make you a shadow or appear a certain way to others.
You can set bells or alarms at each layer so if they were to be attacked by energies, you would be alerted and can put back up your shields. As you put these “alarms” on your layers, set the intention of how you will be alerted if they should fall (ears ringing, repeating number, or something that suits you best).
One of the most important parts of this is ensuring that you “plug in” your shield to Mother Earth or Gaia depending on how you commune with her. This ensures that your personal energy is not drained while maintaining the shields, instead Mother Earth supports the energetic drain. You can do this by simply imagining a plug coming off your shield and you plug it into the Earth. I imagine it just like a plug going into a socket into my home.
HOT TIP: you can program something that you do daily to set up this shield for you. For example, if the first thing you do each day is put in your robe, set the intention that your protection shields go up for the day the moment your robe is put on your body! (thanks Val for this suggestion!)
Other ways in which you can protect yourself:
Carry crystals that carry protective properties such as: Amazonite, Chalcedony, Jasper, Malachite, Obsidian (be careful with this if you suffer from depression!), Smoky Quartz, Tiger’s Eye, Tourmaline. Make sure to cleanse & charge your crystals before setting their intention and placing it on your person or around you.
Create a spell jar: you can create a spell jar that is for your personal protection! Pick flowers, herbs, crystals, seashells or other materials that align with the protection energies you are looking to carry with you. Check out my Evil Eye Spell Jar download for a FREE spell jar recipe for personal protection.
Turn your jewelry into protective pieces: you can turn any piece of jewelry into a talisman for protection. There are a number of ways to do this: 1- hold jewelry and push your intention for protection into it; 2- place piece of jewelry in a dish with herbs/flowers for protection with the intention that it will soak up the protective properties (sage, rosemary, lavender, agrimony, basil, cloves, fennel, mugwort, nettle, etc.); 3- using some of the crystals noted in the first bullet, you can set your jewelry into a dish with the crystals with the intention that it soaks up the protective energy of the stones.
2. Protecting Your Home
Protecting your home can be very similar in how you can protect yourself. The same type energetic shield(s) can be created around your home and again, need to be plugged into Gaia. I personally reinforce these every week or so while I set my personal shields daily. Do ensure that when you are completing the “bubble” of protection, that it is providing protection from your water lines, internet lines, power lines, etc. coming into your house. These are conduits for energy to enter your home that need to be secured.
Creating a crystal grid around your house is one of my favorite things to do! I personally do this with quartz found out in nature. I circle my house with the pieces of quartz then connect them with an energetic thread. The grid is set with the intention to protect our home as well as amplify the magick of our lands and home. You could do this with any of the protective stones noted in the section above as well.
One thing that I find is rather critical in protecting your home as well as everyone in it, is locking your mirrors and screens. To do this you will need a key- any key will do! You will take the key in your right hand, spin it 3xs clockwise in front of the mirror and/or screen and repeat the following: “With this key, I lock thee. Nothing can come in or out without me. So mote it be.”
Planting herbs for protection around the entry ways to your home (either directly in the ground or a planter) are fantastic at helping ward off any “negative” energy. See section 1 for herbs for protection recommended that can be used in this way around your home. I personally have rosemary and basil in planters at my front door.
Other ways to protect your home:
A spell jar: as with your personal protection, you can use spell jars for home protection as well. I have two spell jar recipes that you can use to do this: Home Protection Spell Jar and Home Blessings Spell Jar.
Creating & placing sigils: you can easily create sigils with the intention of the type of protection you would like for your house and draw them under doormats, on doors or doorframes, around property lines, etc. You can also use Nordic Runes that already have the intention you want to set as well. You can find tons of articles online to show you how to create a sigil or with the details of what runes mean what. Explore to your hearts desire!
Crush your egg shells: I continually collect egg shells while we are cooking. After I have a decent amount, I bake them at the lowest setting in my oven for roughly 5 minutes. I then crush them up using my food processor. After I walk around my property spreading the egg shells in a circle around my yard setting the intention that no one can cross the threshold that does not have the best intentions for our family.
Blessing land with moon blood: If you are someone who bleeds, you can collect the blood from your moon cycle and then pour some on the four corners of your property. As you pour the blood into the land, set the intention that your blood bonds you to the energies of Mother Earth and that within that bond you and your space are protected.
Hang witch bells on your entry doors: bells help clear any negative energy so if you hang bells that will ring each time an entry door to your home is opened, it will clear any energy entering your space helping protect your energetic balance within your home
3. Protecting Children
I find it critically important for me to help my kids protect themselves energetically. They are both sensitive to energy shifts and for some reason tend to pick up “tag alongs” (entities that hang onto auras they like to siphon energy from). In order to do this, I work with my kids to call in their aura as described in section 1 and have them add their own bubble of protection after. Make it fun for them! Glitter shields! Their favorite color! Whatever they love, find a way to incorporate it into their energetic shields so they want to put them up each day.
Other ways to protect your kids:
Give them crystals or crystal jewelry: see the list in section 1 of protective stones that you can get your kids. They can carry them on themselves or you can get them a piece of jewelry if they like it to help support them.
Draw sigils and runes: I draw sigils and runes on their book bags, on the soles or inside of their shoes, in clothes, placed under their mattress, on doorframes, and more! Be creative!
Make a spell jar (or bag!): the Evil Eye jar can definitely be used for kids, but for those who are school aged who may also struggle with attention at school, the Back to School Bag is perfect for your kiddo!
4. Other Forms of Protection
Salt circles are forever pictured in movies and the sort when showing witches casting spells (like in Practical Magic!) or for protection (as seen in Hocus Pocus 2!). Salt circles are incredibly helpful when casting spells, but I do not suggest them for overall protection. If you are casting a spell, creating a salt circle around your spell work is a fantastic way to provide protection. This works great when surrounding a spell jar or candles; however, it is not best practice to put a huge circle around you while outside. Salt can be incredibly toxic to animals in high doses so if you want to do this, please do so inside away from animals. This is why I do not favor salt for overall protection.
