Magic works, BUT if you believe your spell or ritual won't work, it won't.. And if you do believe in the power of magic, then you need to realise that when you use it ...

you are putting your hands on the same forces that move the tides and create a tornado. And that by doing so, you have the potential to harm yourself or others.

I cannot emphasise this enough, as misuse of magick to do harm to another is downright evil and against the Wiccan Rede - remember "an harm ye none".

Magic is like rock climbing. It takes years of study and practice before you're ready to try it. It is fairly safe, if you know what you're doing and take appropriate safety precautions. At the same time, a mistake can ruin your whole day, someone else's - or far worse.

In this article, I will outline a few basic techniques for protecting yourself and your home !

Shielding

This is a technique for creating a magical 'force field' around your person or a place, to keep out unwanted energy. This could be psychic 'background noise', spiritual, or magical energy directed at you. Many people do this unconsciously all their lives. Others of us have to learn how.

Visualise a 'net' of energy around the area to be shielded. Remember to 'see' it in 3D, a sphere rather than a circle. I generally use my personal energy to power it. I visualise negative energy being absorbed by my shields and flowing into the earth. I visualise it as porous, though, so that energy I send can pass through. With practice, you will be able to shield yourself instantly, without thinking.

n.b I have found that exhaustion or alcohol quickly erode my ability to shield, so keep this in mind.

Warding

…is a similar technique. I define a Ward as a Shield anchored to a physical place.

Instead of using your energy, though, you let Earth energy flow upward to power it. With practice, you can create a stable, Earth-powered shield. This leaves more energy, or allows you to drop your own shields and recharge.

Reinforce the visualisation regularly, and it can be permanent, to protect your home.

I tend to anchor wards with physical objects-e.g. a crystal or stone. But it is the visualisation that really matters. If the mental image fails, the shield will fail.

Occasionally, when going about my daily life, I will feel a 'tickle' at my aura as some kind of psychic energy contacts it. Other times, the hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I quickly raise my shields. And on rarer occasions, I feel a sudden energy drain as my shields go from standby to maximum power before I know what's happened. In these situations there are a few shielding tricks I use:

The Mirror

I visualise the outside of my shields as a perfect mirror, reflecting any energy back to its source.

I make the inside of my shield a mirror. I use this to contain any psychic energy I might be emitting, making myself psychically 'stealthy'.

Iron Wall or 'Stone Tower' 

I change the thin energy shield into a massive fortress. This requires a lot of power, but when huge waves of negativity are breaking over you, it really helps.

Active Self Defence - use with caution!

If negative energy keeps coming at me, I don't sit back and continue to shield until exhausted. The ancient warriors knew that any purely defensive battle is doomed, if it goes on long enough.

An excellent technique which must NEVER be misused (for your own sake if nothing else) is calling :

White Fire

This is the Light energy of the universe, the silver-white of the Moon and the fire-white of the Sun, the sum total of the magical Elements. It is not to be used lightly, nor unprovoked. I cannot emphahsise enough how disastrous the consequences would be for you to use this in an unprovoked attack on someone. However, the Rede does not prohibit self-defence.

Calling White Fire

Let it flow in from all around you until you feel like a ball of lightning, then send a directed bolt of it back in the direction the negative energy came from.

While the mind alone is all you need to do this, a sword/athame or a clear quartz crystal wand is a perfect tool for this to aid direction of the energy.

If this doesn't work, you can still call on the warrior/protector aspects to help you.