Protection Spells

Protection

           Eventually you will need to protect yourself or possiably your friends from some rather unfriendly practicioners and the like within the occult community. General ill-wishing can be guarded against with a special feild of power that acts as a secuirty blanket, or firewall. This energy firewall is easily created by using power objects, amulets, to protect yourself and your home. These amulets often used by novice practioners induce states of optimism, harmony, expansiness, and security. You can carry these good luck amulets and it's a good idea to place a few around the home also. Amulets can be made from many things. In many protection spells and amulets they rely heavily on the element of Earth. Earth rerepsents healing, fertility, and sustenance. It is important to place yourself under some sort of protection even when begining on a magickal path.

House Protection Spell:
On the day of New Moon, obtain a fresh hens egg, a fertile one is even better. At midnight on the night of the New Moon use a Tellurian Incense and place salt and water in your cup, and announce your actions to be "in Herta's name." Then, holding your Athame in your right hand and the egg in your left walk desoil around the outer perimeter of your house or property three times concentration on Hertha's image and invoking her by chanting:
Hertha, Great One, Mother of all life,
who gives birth to all
and renews her Lord the Sun each day
who bestows himself on all men equally;

Guardian of sky and sea, all power and potencies,
through your might alone all nature falls silent then sinks into sleep.
You bring back the light to dispel the darkness
only once more to cover us most safely with your shadows.

You in whose hand rests everlasting chaos,
even wind, rain, and storm,
at whose word oceans roar;
who chases away the light and stirs up the tempest
and at whose whim sends forth joyous day again;

Ever faithful sustainer of all life;
when our souls depart, they fly to your keeping
thence to return yet again.
Rightly you are called Great Mother of All,
for you conquer by your name alone.

Source of strenght for all men and gods
without you naught is born nor perfected;
I call upon you, ruler of creation;
I call upon you as divine,
I call upon your holy name,
Hertha, be pleased to grant that which I ask,
protect this house and home
and all who live therein,
so shall I always thank you with due faith.
Hertha may be visulised as a dark, statuesque woman of mature age, robbed in russet and green and holding in her arms a sheaf of golden corn dotted with scarlet poppies. With each step of your ritual visualise your feet leaving glowing, blue footprints of power on the ground behind you where you have stepped. You are surrounding your house with a giant protective circle of light. Once you have finished your circumambulations seal the egg into a previously prepared and excorsied black box cusionted interally with a dark fabric (old clothing works well for this). Next bury this box deeply and permanently underneath the hearth or as close to underneath the threshold of the house as you can get it. Alternatively you may wish to wall up the box in the house somewhere like an attic or even better, a basement. The point is to incorporate the egg into the basic foundation of the house. Whatever spot you decide you will need to exorcise the spot with your Earth incense and salt water before placing the egg in it. After that place the box in the space calling on Hertha three times to protect your house and bless all those within it with harmony and good fortune. To finish spit into the hole three times and fill it solidly and permenently.
This ritual places your home in Hertha's care and is the vestige of an ancient sacrificial earth ritual. It is ideal for protection and as a home blessing. This is also used to bless pastures and ploughed fields.

Square of Saturn Spell:
The Square of Saturn Spell is not an amulet but a talisman instead. This spell uses the Cabalistic magick square sort of like the Square of Mercury but made of different things. Saturn is the earthy chthonic principle of material things. To make a Square of Saturn chose a Saturday on or after the New Moon at 8 AM, 3 PM, or 10PM. Use a Tellurian Incense and place salt and water in your chalice. Exorcise a piece of taliman paper by fire and water and using your pen and ink of art divide the paper into nine compartments. Deliberately and slowly fill in the squares with the appropriate numbers beginning with 1 and ending at 9.
The Square of Saturn
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
While filling in the numbers like the Squre of Mercury concentrate on Hertha's image and chant a phrase that suggests the Earth power. This can be a chant of goddesses' names like "Rhea, Ceres, Hulda, Vesta" or "Hertha, bless this home and those within" or the like or perhaps a stanza of a poem which evokes feelings of safety, propersity, protection. Another chant to use would be the Hertha invoktion in the above spell. Once the square 9 is completed turn over the paper and draw a simple and plan or sketch of your home surrounded by three concentric circles (drawn clockwise beginning with the outermost). With each circle repeat your chant. Your picture represetnst he magickal security of your home. Cense and seal it with the triple cross and a phrase like "So mote it be!" or "By the magick of old, be it done!", fold the paper into a packet, tying it firmly with a red ribbon and knot it three times. Conceal this immediately in a place consecreated in Hertha's name in the structure of your home.

             While those two spells will generally keep your home happy and protected many people also use other measures of protection. You can reinforce protective earth currants by hanging other things like holystones and sachets of protective herbs in certain places in your home. Some good places for such objects are the hearth, over doors and windows, in attics and cellers, the threshold, and over beds. Witch balls, keys, witch bottles, horseshoes, iron objects, and holystones are usually placed in these places for protection. Iron objects are very good for defense and protection. Pentacles used as door symbols are also very protective. English holystones are stones which have holes in them; however in order to be effective amulets the holes must be formed by natural proccess of erosion by wind or water. Also, holystones should be found not bought. When you find a holystone as you pick it up you must declare you do so in Hertha's name and you can place or hung as near to you hearth as possible. If you have no hearth, hang them in the room you spend most of your time such as the den, kitchen, or possiably bedroom. Just like with the egg method you do not need to pass your holystone though fire and water as purification is not neccessary. It's an' amulet which means it does not need to be charged in any way and is used in the natural state.

           There are also protection amulets and such that can be worn and are portable. I recommend wearing one and but not too many at a time. Most people collect many of these over time and some can be worn together while others are not such a good idea to mix. At first you should, in my opinion, wear just one at a time to get the feel for their energies and effectiveness. Try to restrict yourself to wearing just one at a time and as you develop in your craft you will find yourself relying less and less on such items.
            The cross-stone, or staurotides, is a crystal of ferrous aluminum silicate of staurolite, which is naturally occuring in a crystal possesssing three planes set at right angles to each other. The crystal is formed in the shape of a Greek cross or solid cross of nature which symbolically indicates the seven mystical dimensions of space (north, south, east, west, the abyss above, the abyss below, and the holy centre). You should suspend this amulet in a red cloth bag tied with red thread from the neck of the bearer. Another powerful protection amulet is Elf-shot. Elf-shot is flint or stone arrowhead of pre-Celtic "Pictish" origin and is worn in the same manner.

The Mandragore and the Alraun:
It is traditional to seek a mandrake of the opposite sex of your own. However, the main concern is that when you find a mandrake to carve it to represent the opposite sex of your own. On a day when the moon is waxing (just after the new moon is best) between the winter solstic and vernal equinox look for your mandrake in a hedgerow or piece of wasteland. That night using the knife as a digging instrument loosen the earth around the root and without injuring the main section of the root, remove the plant from the soil. You may have to tug rather hard on the root and perhaps will even hear the "groaning" from the earth as it leaves the soil. Next, trim the foliage of the plant off the main stem but leave a small piece of root adhering to it. You should replant this where you took the original mandrake from; take the major portion of the root home with you and carve the features of a doll the opposite sex of you on it with your Athame. As you carve chant something such as "Guard this home in Hertha's name." The carving should take the form of an accenting salient features of the root. After you have carved it plant it in either a church yard or place in which two paths meet or cross to ensure maximum potency. If you cannot find either of these locations any place conveient which it will grow will suffice. Before replanting, however, draw a circle, desoil, in the soil. For the next lunar month (28 days) from when you uprooted it water the plant regularly. There are two mixtures for watering it, one is distilled water and blood and the other is distilled water and milk, either way the water should be the predominate liquid (about 12 parts to 1). When the lunar month has passed and it's near midnight, draw your circle around the spot were the root is buried and and once again dig it up with your Athame. You should find that your mandrake root's carving scars have healed over with new root and it is in the form of a mannikin. To finish, clean the root and dry it throughly by either placing it in a heated oven containing the smoke of vervain leaves or let it dry out on it's own passing it daily through the smoke of a vervain incense. The latter method takes around three months, mandrake is a very slow drying root. Should vervain not be obtainable, the garden verbena is a good substitution. After you have completed the process place your root, or magistellus, as close to your hearth as possiable.

Another sort of magistellus that has the same purpose as the mandragore is to find a witch tree or quickbeam. In Europe these are rowan and moutain ash trees. In tradition, the alran was used by male practioners instead of female, but today it doesn't really matter. The time of year for the alran making is the same as that of mandragore. Find your tree on the night of the waxing moon, draw a desoil circle around it with your Athame, and declare your inent to compose an alraun in Hertha's name. Then, water the tree for a lunar month with the same mixture used in the mandragore method. As you water, selecte a branch in your mind for carving (one of reasonable thickness) and declare your intent. When the month has passed, sever your selected branch with your Athame and care it into a female image between five to twelve inches long using a spoken charm like that used in the mandragore as you work. Once you have finished pass the image though vervain smoke. To finish this ritual you must sleep put the alraun in your bed on the night of the full moon looking to it that night "as your wife." To initiate the alraun's protective energy enshirine it somewhere near your hearth.

General Protection:
    For this spell you will need a clear glass goblet (wine glasses work nicely), spring water, apple cider vinegar, and sea salt. Fill the goblet about halfway up with the spring water and then add three drops of apple cider vinegar, a pinch of sea salt and place outside at dusk somewhere where it will reflect the light of the full moon. Let the liquid absorb the moon rays until after midnight and stir the liquid with your right finger in a deosil (clockwise) direction nine times as you recite this:
By fullest moon
My shades be strong
And keep my soul
The whole month long.
To finish this rite, drink the contents of the goblet!

Traditional Witch Bottles:
    Witch bottles are usually used for protection. Generally they are made when one moves into a new home or living area. Never take a witch bottle from your old living space to your new one; this is generally considered unlucky. Also, if you have weathered a psychic attack while using a witch bottle you make want to get rid of that one and make a new one. They are genearlly jars or bottles filled with unpleasant things (iron nails are very popular) to absorb negative energy and the like that may try to come into your home or harm you. This particular one should be made during a Black/Dark/New Moon. You will need a bottle with a cork stopper or jar with a lid, a 1 1/2" white candle, 2 strands of black cord, 1 strand red cord, 1 tablespoon powdered Gum Arabic, 4 tablespoons sea salt, 4 tablespoons black pepper, 1 tablespoon powdered frankincense, 1 tablespoon powdered myrrh, 1 tablespoon powdered benzoin, red ink or if possible dragon's blood ink, and parchment paper. In a bowl with your protective (right) hand, mix all the dry ingredients. Next, cut a piece of parchment to fit inside your bottle or jar and write a message of protection using your ink. Dragon's blood ink is best, but any red ink will do. After that roll up the parchment, tie with a black thread to bind it and place this in the bottle. New fill it with the dry ingredients. If you wish items such as iron nails, urine, and other "yucky things" may be added at this point to enhance the protecting power (but don't try to pee into a bottle, this may have messy results!). Now, take the white candle and drip the wax over the corked bottle nexk to seal it while turning the candle in a deosil direction and the bottle neck in a widdershines direction. (That step may take some concentration and cordination.) During the Witching Hour (12-2am) bury the bottle in a secret place while remaining unseen. Chose a spot in which it will be undistrubed for at least nine months. Gardens, yards, and even potted plants (in the case of apartment dwellers) work well. Once the bottls is buried, sprinkle the area with sea salt and recite the following once:
Mandatum.
After all this is finished leave and do not look back. If you have buried it outside do not return until after it has rained; if you have buried it in your home, you can forgoe this precaution and limit your contact with it for awhile.

Protection of Children:
First I must say this spell was written to be potent during daylight and you should always look after your children. A protection spell isn't sufficent protection for your children, you must always be there and look after them. In secret, cast a handful of rice, sand, or someother kind of grain after your child as s/he leaves the home for school, etc. As you do this recite the following:
La lumiere du soleil encerclent
et protegent des mes jeunes
pendant que vos rayons
English: Sunlight encircle and sheild my young/ ones as your rays are above our feet.
Because this spell uses energy from the sun, it has no power after sunset. This is an old French spell for forming protective shields around children until nightfall.

Protection from Nighttime Specters:
     Children are more sensative than adults to supernatual beings such as ghosts, specters, and otherwise unwanted visitors. At nighttime these creatures may manifest themselves as monsters in the closet or under the bed. This spell is to help you protect your chldren from these unwanted guests. Be sure though you do not give in to all your child's fears, they need to develop their natural shielding. You can however teach them this or do it on your own without their knowledge. Before you do this you will have to ask your child where the "monster" was. Once you have the exact location of the "monster" you no longer need your child with you. Annoint a coffin nail, or other iron nail with garlic oil (alluminum nails won't work; they invite communication and clairvoyance). Taking your nail, poke it into the spot your child saw the "monster and say:
Begone and trouble the young no more!

Pet Protection (best for cats and dogs):
    Get a chain collar for your pet. Then take a black ribbon and lightly anoint it with patchouli oil. Once annointed weave the ribbon through the links of the chain collar. Now put the collar in a white silk cloth with each of the following stones for seven days and seven nights: lapis lazuli, obsidian, moonstone, and tiger's eye. After the eight morning remove the collar from the silk cloth and place it around your pet's neck and whisper the incantation in the pet's ear:
Aucuns web tordus d'armure funeste.
English: No twisted webs of baneful weave.

Protection Against Fire:
   On the night of a Dark Moon annoint a red candle with Dragon's Blood oil. Fill a chalice or glass with rain water and then sprinkle onto it a pinch of salt. Dip your right finger into the water and stir counterclockwise while chanting:
Fire burns
But none so bright
Shall Break this charge
Or flames ignite.
Then drip the water over the candle flame (being sure you don't burn yourself) and recite this phrase until the flame is extinguished:
Des flammes soient allees!
Once you have done this bury the candle in the earth and pour the remaining water ontop of it. Sprinkle some salt over the site and leave.

Protection Against Theft:
     In a mortar and pestle combine the following dried ingredients: 1 part Heather, 1 part Basil, 1 part Angelica, and 2 parts Garlic. Then spread the mixture on an altar facing east and draw a circle with a dot in the middle with the index finger of your right hand. To finish, place a grey taper candle annointed with Dragon's Blood oil in the center, ontop of the dot, and recite this:
Laisse rien a prise la chute de mes mains.
English: Let nothing treasured fall from my hands.

To Keep From Being Intimidated:
Carve the zodiac sign of Leo into a piece of wood and annoint it with Dragon's Blood oil. Now, place your carving in the sun for eight days and on the eighth day recite this:
Aucun mot, aucunes volontes, aucunes mains
peut ne casserai pas monesprit.
English: No words, No wills, No hands may break my spirit.
This will work as a charm and you should keep it with you. If you find yourself becoming intimidated, rub the charm with your index finger of your left hand and recite "No words, No wills, No hands" under your breath.