W

Warding

Wards are magick raised and set into place to protect a space, object or person. The traditional Four Directions are warded, but one should ward “up” and “down” as well; “ooglies” and negative energies can “tunnel” over and under on the astral plane! For this reason, raise
a sphere rather than a Circle.

Obviously, in order to ward one must first learn to raise magic. Here’s a
simple but effective method. Stand erect and visualize roots growing from the
soles of your feet deep into the center of Mother Earth. Then, draw up magickal
energy into yourself until you feel filled with it. Don’t overdo it at first!
You can return unused magick the same way. Then, retract your roots. Don’t ever
leave leftover magick lying around. It will mutate and draw “nasties” that feed
on it like roaches feed on crumbs.

Why ward? For the same reason you keep your car and your house doors
locked: to protect yourself, your property, and your personal space. While
actual effective psychic attacks are quite rare (this is one of the hardest
magickal works to learn and the easiest to defuse; most people who can do this
sort of thing know that it is something that seldom should be done), other
things still need excluding: the negative energy of your mean, nasty, constantly
quarreling neighbors (especially in  buildings) and the fervent prayers
for the salvation of your soul (which to all intents and puiposes is an attempt
to force you into their mold by any means necessary and in my opinion borders on
black magick) which may be being offered up “for your own good” even as you read
this by your parents and their church! Also, magickal  increases levels
of sensitivity, and you just may feel the previously undetected energy of others
pressing in on you.

To ward yourself strengthen your aura daily by filling it with blue or
white magick. If you can’t assemble enough of it in your solar plexus to get the
job done (and don’t feel bad if you can’t; these things take time and work) draw
up some from Earth to “prime the pinup.” Some also visualize a helmet over their
heads with a protective symbol between the eyes and slightly upward (the
location of the “third eye”). If you do feel you are under psychic attack (its
symptoms can resemble those of the flu) and need additional protection, grasp
hold of cold iron. An old railroad spike works dandy. Consecrate it to Thor if
you like. Cold iron breaks hexes and dissipates psychic attacks. Or, it may just
be the flu you’re coining down with. Its treatment is somewhat different,
and beyond the scope of this article.

To ward an object (for instance, a trunk containing your magickal
supplies), put a protective sign on it. The Elhaz (Algiz) rune (the fifteenth
rune in the Elder Futhark) works just fine. To make one, get a peace sign, cut
off the circle around the edge, and  it upside down. It should look roughly
like a three-pronged antler. Or, you can just draw or paint it on. Cover the
object with a “chain link fence” of blue magick. Be sure some magick is in the
spaces between the -links. Anchor the wards to the protective sign. Visualize
them keeping others from touching the warded object Clean and maintain
periodically (at least once a month) to avoid your wards dying and perhaps
unpleasantly decaying. Also, don’t let others touch the object so it won’t give
them a nasty psychic shock You can make your car “invisible” (not readily
noticed) by putting magickal screens around it and willing that others not see
it. Be careful, or you might have a hard time finding it yourself when you
return, or find it’s been hit by another car even though in plain sight!

The “chain link fence” technique will also ward your house or apartment. I
advise homeowners to ward their homes around the walls, floors and ceilings
facing the outside of the building (not interior walls between rooms or the
floors/ceilings of multistory houses) and set up secondary wards around the
property lines. You’ll need something to anchor your wards to. I suggest driving
charged railroad spikes with the Elhaz nine painted on them at the corners (of a
square lot). White (clear) quartz crystal points work well for the corners of a
home as anchors. By the way, white quartz is the best “generic” stone for
general use, so don’t panic if some book says only the rare and costly Atlantean
Moonstone (available from the book’s publisher, needless to say) will do for
what you need to accomplish. White candles work well for most spells too. White
light contains all colors. That’s why sunshine can be broken up into a rainbow.
Clean those stones first Try to get some that haven’t been handled by a
bajillion people before you bought them. White quartz picks up and holds the
random charges of people who handle it. It picks up and holds a charge just
fine. That’s why you want it. My partner can’t stand handling white quartz
points in stores, so I get that job! I once pointed one at him and said “Zap!”
It was a joke, but it zapped him anyway, much to his chagrin. If you are
sensitive and need to handle, select and purchase them, try warding a pair of
gloves for the purpose! When you get them home, soak them overnight in cold salt
water. Take them out, rinse and dry them, send a wave of cleansing energy
through each one, and charge them one by one. You’ll need to do this
periodically in your ward cleansing, and should try to put each one back in its
proper corner each time. Then set your wards. Let them “jell” for an hour or so
before you go out, at least when you are initially setting them up. You’ll get
an extra bit of “Oomph!” if you do you warding on the Full Moon (and the
Full Moon will thereafter be a reminder to clean and recharge your wards). Be
sure to take down and ground your wards if you move!

Anything that can be done can at times be done just a bit too well. If
your wards are too tight, nothing can get in, but nothing can get out, either!
You might find the space difficult or impossible to sleep in, with an
increasingly heavy or oppressive feeling. In extreme cases, ghostly images of
people not currently there might be seen. These arise from personal energy that
cannot dissipate. A certain Lexington Pagan (not I) had this happen to her once!
In the unlikely event that this happens to you, turn the “volume” down on your
wards a bit and then do a basic magickal cleansing of the area. Use your magick
to sweep the area clean of accumulated magickal debris and trapped energy, and
take it as a sign that you can ward and ward well. Talk about beginner’s
luck!

A useful adjunct to your wards is a household guardian. Charge a small
statue. A frog dragon, cat or dog works well. Give it a name and decide its
gender. Fill it with magick, making it vigilant and friendly to you, your family
and friends but wary of and hostile to unwanted intruders, and finally and very
importantly, subject to your will. It is essentially an extension of your
will, a magickally ensouled thought form enshrined in the small statue. Feed it
regularly and tie it in to you. If you don’t, it will mutate, develop a will of
its own (probably a surly one) and create problems for you. You’ll have to
disassemble your creation, and it will be much harder to take apart than it was
to put together to begin with.

I recommend that every Pagan and magick user learn to ward. Wards are real
and wards work. I’ve seen psychic ickiness sliding off the wards of my apartment
when my partner and I let them get dirty. I once saw them repel a psychic attack
launched by some naughty local Pagans. I even sensed who was sending what was
tying to get through, and had the reality of the attack and identity of its
perpetrators confirmed by mundane means a few days later. When my partner and I
took down the wards in our old apartment right before we finished moving out (we
set the spell to take them down gradually) I saw curious little astral critters
move into space from which they previously had been excluded. Nevertheless,
there’s only so much warding can do! I once knew a magician who claimed only
Gods could get through his wards. Not surprisingly, two people independently got
through them without any problem, and one of them brought back unusual
information which was soon, without his inquiring, confirmed by “mundane” means.
Hubris will get you nowhere but into trouble.

Warding won’t protect you from the consequences of your own unethical
actions, nor from problems created by “getting in over your head.” With magick
as well as anything else, you’ve got to walk before you can run. If needed,
there are other things you can put into your wards. They can reflect negativity
or attacks (like a mirror) or even boost the strength of the attack and send it
home to bedevil the sender, potentially even killing anyone who can manage to
launch a very strong psychic attack against the warded individual. These are
techniques for the more advanced magician. Needless to say, don’t tell others
the details of your wards. Today’s friend may be tomorrow’s enemy in the all too
often dysfunctional world of the Heathen/Pagan Communities, so use discretion,
but avoid paranoia

Realmagick.com