CONTENTS

PLEASE NOTE -that by the term "Thumper" I do not refer to any one particular group. A "Thumper" is any creep who insists you believe as they do or "suffer the consequences". These folks can be Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Atheist, or even fellow Pagans who think the God/dess talks only to THEM and not you. They practice religious intimidation and even black magick (though they won't admit it) to get their way. Stand firm!

 WARDS AND GUARDS I - Shielding 101

I think you will find this page most helpful. I have found "Thumpers" of all sorts, but particularly the Religious Warfare types, take themselves far too seriously. A good belly laugh does wonders for relieving the tension and, quite frankly, they have no idea of how to deal with laughter. Keep smiling

SHIELDS

OK, you've heard that you should practice your shielding, right? Books, live teachers, etc. all say you should be doing this, and do you? It's like exercising - one morning you wake up tired, say "I'll let it slide JUST TODAY" and the next thing you know you've turned into a limp noodle with barely the strength to use the TV remote. Don't despair! You can still erect a barrier against the attacks of Those Who Mean Us Harm.

#1, THE WARM FUZZY
This is for the Profoundly Limp Noodle to use, as all it requires is that you're still breathing. If you aren't breathing religious bigots are the least of your worries. That said, as you inhale imagine energy and strength pouring into your body with the air. As you exhale, imagine your expelled breath as a golden mist. As you continue to breath in and out visualize this mist becoming a warm, protective sphere around you, growing larger with each exhalation.

You can do this while tuning out exhortations to REPENT OR BURN! by letting your eyes rest somewhere less distracting than the slavering idiot next to you and setting your face in a contemplative expressive. The idiot will think you are considering their viewpoint while you are actually achieving Nirvanna through this simple meditation. Nod occasionally and make polite, affirmative noises from time to time. When they start to wind down, thank them for their concern, say "You've given me much to think about", and LEAVE - BEFORE they invite you to their Bible study group. These folks are used to dealing with clear opposition, not passive resistance.

This is also a good shield to cook up any time you feel a need for a little extra protection. I frequently summon it up while waiting for commuter trains or when I need to ride the bus home at night. I wouldn't call it a heavy duty shield in general although with practice it can become surprisingly strong.

#2, MIRRORED SPHERE
This one requires a little more visualization power but is well worth it. It is designed specifically for repelling psychic attacks.

When you cast your shield visualize it as a mirrored sphere with you on the inside. The mirrored surface reflects the Nasty Influences trying to harm you. Actually, I visualize a geodesic dome of mirrors. Some people prefer boxes. The important point is that it completely surround you with reflective surfaces.

How to build this? It takes a little practice (or a good Astral Construction Crew). I started practicing at home in quiet surroundings, working on how I wanted the final form to look and building it in my mind. Once I got the shape firmly set I worked on summoning it up by an act of will at a moment's notice. I had incentive, as I was working with Fearsome "Thumpers" at the time, and I got to the point where I could almost instantly snap it into place regardless of the chaos around me. If you are often in situations where you feel mentally assaulted take the time to develop this shield.

OK, those are two very basic shields. Keep them in mind, because we'll be using them in the next section.

 WARDS AND GUARDS II - Quick 'N' Easy Protective Spells

A word about various supplies and implements first: this section assumes you are either in an emergency situation or a situation where donning elaborate robes and engaging in a 3 hour ceremony is not practical. Therefore, when I say "salt" I mean everything from ritually consecrated sea salt harvested by a 10,000 year old ritual under the proper astrological sign you just happen to have in your pocket to those little paper packets from the fast-food emporium of your choice. In fact, I tend to assume the little paper packets are more readily available. Use your own best judgement, folks. As I said, these are "quick and dirty" spells for tight situations and most of the energy in them comes from your need, not the ingredients themselves.

TURNING YOUR SURROUNDINGS INTO A PLACE OF WORSHIP
What better way to foil the plans of religious bigots intent on converting you at work than to make your desk a Holy Place? If you are waiting in the hospital for news of a loved one's health, why not pray where you are instead of worrying about chapel hours and possible Roaming Missionaries?

PROTECT YOUR DESK
Summon your Warm Fuzzy Shield at least once a day while seated at your desk. I used to do this over a hot cup of tea as part of my daily "settling in". If anyone asks what you are doing say you are either 1) trying to wake up, 2) going over your list of things to do in your head, or 3) praying for world peace. If they ask why you don't pray the way they do tell them you use a different phone service than theirs, one with fiber optic lines so you don't need to pray as loud 'cause the signal is clearer. If it isn't morning, tell them you're taking a moment or two to compose your thoughts, or you're on your coffee break. Over time your desk will accumulate a Warm Fuzzy aura.

STEALTH WATER AND SALT BLESSING
All you need for this is water and salt. If you have the time and means, use spring water (easily available these days at the corner store) and sea salt. However, this can be extremely effective with water out of the tap and condiment packs of salt. I know of at least two instances where this was done in a hospital situation in the wee hours of the morning with great success.

Summon a shield - I prefer Mirrored Sphere for this myself, as it is a mini-ritual, but Warm Fuzzy will certainly work if that's all you've got the juice for - add a pinch of salt to the water, and speak a brief blessing over it. I usually go for "Mother Goddess and Father God, bless this water and salt and make them holy" - it's short, it's sweet (alright, salty), and easy to remember under stress. Certainly, however, you can get more elaborate if you desire.

Now, with your finger, draw a circle around the area you wish to protect. With a desk, I'd drag my wet finger around the edges of the desk. With a hospital bed, do the same for the bed frame. If you're in a waiting room do your chair. If you're in court do your chair, but discreetly. For cars, circle the entire car. If anyone asks, tell them you're removing smudge marks from those [expletives deleted] neighborhood kids. No, salt isn't good for the finish, but a pinch in a glass of water is not nearly as toxic as your average winter's road salt.

Add any additional protective signs and/or runes you feel would be of assistantance to you.

INCENSE POTPOURRI
with the potpourri trend continuing this is a fashionable means to protect yourself. Either buy or (better yet) make a protective incense or oil. You want something with an odor even without being burned. Get a small, nice, pretty container - pottery works best for me, followed by glass. Plastic is usually incompatible with this but there are exceptions. Fill the bottom of the container with the incense and/or oil, then make a "tossed salad" of protective herbs and/or flower petals. Use some sense - you want a perfume, not a fumigation. Be subtle. Set it on your desk, on a counter, wherever. If anyone asks, it's air freshener.

STEALTH ALTARS
If you have a definite work station - a desk, cubicle, whatever - why not make it into an Holy Place? In the four cardinal directions hang a picture for the element - a landscape for Earth, birds or clouds or musical instruments for Air, seascapes for Water, you get the idea. Or, in a corner of your desk, put a stone, bird feather, seashell, and piece of charcoal in a small bowl to represent the elements. There are an infinite number of variations on this. Add a cut flower (or even a dried one) in a small vase. I know of several Pagans who keep a God/dess image on their desk - usually a postcard with a female or male image, solar disk, or a picture of the grove they worship in. If these items are small they will fit on almost any desk. I used to keep a toy dinosaur, Darwin fish, and a copy of Stephen Jay Gould's _Ever Since Darwin_ on my desk to fend off the Creationists. Use your imagination. Since this is a personal altar/holy space whatever has meaning for you will make a good addition. Consecrate the area with the Stealth Water and Salt Blessing and perform a daily shield exercise there. You'll feel much more connected and serene and the Fundies will have absolutely no idea you are (EEK!) performing PAGAN RITES in PUBLIC!!!

P.S. - don't forget to decorate your work area for Halloween, Yule, etc. - it's traditional, it's Pagan, and it's fun.

SONIC SHIELDING
Take your favorite ritual music in an instrumental only version and play it while your work. The Fundies will have no idea what it is (although oddly enough they often wind up enjoying it...). If you play it softly it will help drown out distracting sounds (such as loud "Thumper" praying) while improving your basic frame of mind. This can be almost anything really - harp music, whale song, rain forest noises, a jam session at the last Sabbat, whatever. I have a collection of Yule songs on tape along with some VERY Olde English Carrels that either have little to do with Christmas as a Christian holiday or deal very irreverently with the childhood of Jesus which I love to play throughout December. Pumpkin Carols are good for Halloween. Madrigals can be appropriate for May celebrations (pay attention to some of the lyrics). There are Pagan songs that share tunes with Christian hymns - Simple Gifts/Lord of the Dance and That Old Time Religion come to mind. If you play an instrumental version you can enjoy YOUR version and the Christian Fundies can enjoy THEIR version at the same time! And if that ain't a feat of magick I don't know what is...

 WARDS & GUARDS III: SERIOUS MAGICK FOR THE RELIGIOUSLY OPPRESSED

Okay, your shields are up, your surroundings filled with incense, images, and sounds to reinforce you on the psychic plane, and you are STILL being harassed. It could be frothing rabid Christians force-feeding you Bibles, it could be a plague of Jehovah's Witnesses leaving knuckle-imprints on your front door, it could be disbelieving atheists who want to either excise your "misguided and superstitious beliefs" or have you committed, it could be relatives or others intent on taking away your children because your beliefs are more than a little unconventional. What do you do? You get serious.

There is, however, one obstacle that people sometimes trip over, the prohibition of the Wiccan Rede that goes "harm none". Well, if you AREN'T Wiccan this probably isn't a problem - so skip the rest of this paragraph. If you ARE Wiccan please remember that "harm none" applies to YOU, TOO. We aren't talking about strolling down the street indiscriminately turning innocents into loathsome toads, here. You are under attack, those you are opposing are not innocents and you are an agent of the Three-fold Law - the one where you get what you give, times three. Or, in this case, THEY get what they give, times three. None of this "turn-the-other cheek" stuff, please.

That said, keep in mind that the following are not "quickies". You will be dealing with some considerable force here, so be respectful of it. Do a psychic pest removal of your space before working, and make sure you will be undisturbed while doing the spells. Although I've written these from a Solitary perspective, there is no reason they can't be modified for use by a group.

DEFENSE
Your home should be your refuge, whether that is where you are experiencing problems or somewhere else. Just as you should buy strong locks for your doors, you should also thoroughly equip your house with psychic guards. I find the following can be easily incorporated into spring cleaning, although certainly it can be done any time you have the energy to thoroughly scrub your entire dwelling place.

1. As always, take care of the mundane cleaning first. Scrub floors and paint walls, etc.

2. Light purification incense in center or "hearth" of the house. This is not necessarily the physical center, but the room you intend to spend the most time in or the magical work area. In my case, this is the kitchen which is way off to one side of the apartment, but I spend a lot of time there. Invoke Deities of your choice. In this case, I don't think a Circle is practical as you aren't intended to contain energy but to drive out Nasties. Bless salt and water and combine them in a clean spritzer. You don't need to make salt-water sludge, here, just a pinch will do. 3. Carry the incense from room to room, "fumigating" each room and hallway. Spritz rooms lightly with salt and water. Don't forget attics and basements! If you are truly obsessive do the yard as well (if you have one). Work from the center outward. 4. Optional: repeat fumigation with a blessing or prosperity incense.

5. Engage Wards and Guards (see below)

6. Decorate.

7. Think happy thoughts.

SUGGESTED INCENSE: A basic purifier of sage, cedar, and bay. Or those smudging sticks that are getting so popular these days. This not only works, but doesn't leave the sulfur-and-brimstone ambience of some other purifiers. Other additions are copal or myrrh. Or, if your tradition has a particular preference, use that.
For blessing incense, use a cinnamon and clove base with other pleasant scents as additions for a pleasing atmosphere.

UNSUGGESTED INCENSE:
Pretty much all the "traditional" ones, those containing such lovelies as garlic, sulfur, asafoetida, and other - *ahem* - aromas guaranteed to exorcise both the dead and the living. Some formulations are downright toxic. Don't use these unless you have a MAJOR infestation of high-caliber Nasties. In which case, why would you want to live there anyway?

WARDS AND GUARDS: PENTAGRAMS:
Draw a pentagram, point upward, on the side of all doors with a white pencil. Draw pentagrams, point outward, on all windowsills. These pentagrams do not need to be large or conspicuous.

OILS:
Anoint doorways and window frames with protective or anointing oil. A dab on jambs, thresholds, and lintels should do.

HORSESHOES:
Okay, we've all heard of horseshoes and we all know what they do. The question is, points up or points down? As near as I can determine, points up attracts and stores luck, but some say this luck then STAYS in the shoe until it is inverted. An alternate theory says that points-up negative energy enters one end of the horseshoe and exits the other, deflecting Nasties. Points down mean the luck showers down across a threshold, like a gentle waterfall, which should be an interesting way of blessing your houseguests, but no word on when, if ever, the "luck runs out" and you need a new horseshoe. EVERYBODY agrees that iron is A Good Thing, so get those horseshoes up whichever way you hang 'em.

IRON NAILS:
These should be old, preferably handmade antiques, or railroad spikes. Charge four of 'em up and place one in each corner of your house. Around windows drive three nails (nail nails, not railroad spikes), one in each bottom corner and one in the top center of the frame, forming a triangle.

Okay, now that that's done, don't forget to do an occasional "fumigation" of your occult work area.

WITCH BOTTLES - WHY WITCH BOTTLES?

Well, because they work, for one thing. I became interested in protective spells out of a personal need. A short time later I was taught a group of spells called "Witch Bottles", all of which had certain properties in common:

As to which might be "better" - for beginners the cumulative witch bottles should be easier to produce in an effective manner, not requiring the intense, focused concentration of those that need a large initial "charging". For an adept, however, it may be more a matter of what is felt to be appropriate.

Although you can use huge, quart or larger size mason jars you can also be equally successful in using smaller bottles and jars. Clear glass seems to be the preferred material, although there is nothing to say that colored glass or plastic wouldn't work.

This is the only Reference to a Witches Bottle, So if ANYONE has any others, please let me know, so I can add them to this listing...

NOTE: THIS "BOTTLE" IS RATHER DISGUSTING AND IF YOU HAVE A WEAK STOMACH PLEASE SKIP THIS PART...

OLD WITCH BOTTLE

This is a "reflective" spell to turn a specific act of evil magic directed against you back toward the originator. It is specific to one person, the one whose bodily fluids are incorporated into the spell. It is also quite powerful. Some of the ingredients are pretty icky (the "gross" factor is a vital component of both the spell and its power) so this may not be one to pass around to beginners or the squeamish, and some people might have problems with using actual blood, especially the suggested menstrual blood.

It can also be used as a general warding spell if placed inside the walls of a house or buried on private property. If it is to ward a household I suppose blood from all living under the same roof can be incorporated if you're feeling especially thorough or threatened, but one person alone should provide more than enough power to handle even worse-than-average Nasties. In any case, this one is sure to set "Thumper" teeth on edge and make them run screaming and gibbering into the night (heh, heh, heh).

MATERIALS: Small jar or bottle; Debris: broken glass, broken mirror, rusty nails, old razor blades, barbed wire bits, other similar objects; hawthorn thorns; urine; blood; disposable lancet if needed for blood letting (check drugstores or medical supply stores where diabetic equipment is sold) - if you don't use disposable - sterilize! black candle
I also recommend protective gloves

VISUALIZATION: You don't need to know the source of your misfortune in order for this to work, you need only focus on the actual problem, spell, curse, or other reason for this spell. Of course, if you can name names that is all to the better.

The negative influences are attracted to the urine and blood, which carry your essence, but are caught in the wire and metal, baffled and cut by the glass, impaled by the thorns, dissipated by the iron. and drowned by your urine (pleasant, ay?). The blood lends more power to the spell.

Thorns and mirror are optional, but considerably increase the spell's power. Thorns have long been recognized as useful in defense, and the mirror shards reflect any residual baneful energies away from you.

VOICE OF EXPERIENCE: Use some sense around rusty metal, razor blades, and broken glass. Use gloves to protect your hands - nothing says you can't, after all. Wire cutters and similar paraphernalia may be needed to cut barbed wire and such to a length that fits in the bottle. Do this as prep work.

ALSO do use common sense around anything that comes in contact with blood, we all have heard about HIV, so like I said, Common sense please.

HOW TO:

1) My sources doesn't mention this, but I'd suggest constructing this within a Circle.

2) Fill the jar with the "debris" and hawthorn thorns until they form a tangled mass. Nails and wire bits should be bent. Blades should be broken, bent, and/or rusty. The glass should have jagged edges. The pile should not only LOOK nasty, it should BE nasty.

3) Cover these with your own urine. If you're female, or simply uncoordinated, it is perfectly acceptable to  urinate in a container prior to starting this project and pouring it from the chamberpot into the witch bottle. Or else use a really big jar with a wide mouth.

4) Add some of your blood. A few drops is sufficient, let's not get carried away. Menstrual blood is particularly effective. However, if you're male or otherwise do not have access to this substance please use a sterile implement and some sense. You only need a FEW DROPS, not buckets worth.

5) Seal the bottle with black wax. If you wish, inscribe runes or other symbols into the seal to further fix the spell but do not break the seal. If you do, remove it and start with fresh wax again.

6) Clean up any spilled bodily fluids with bleach, Pine Sol, Lysol, or similar heavy-duty disinfectant.

7) Take it to where no person or animal will find it and bury it upside down in the Earth with some sort of appropriate banishing words.

This is not the Limit to this listing, everyone is different, and everyone has different tequniques for getting their own "peace"...So don't take this as the definitive guide to everything about Wards, take it as a general reference..

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This page last modified by Inf0pumper on Tuesday, March 02, 1999