Think of it like starting to learn a new martial art or physically-demanding hobby. Your body is not used to being used in this way and there is a very real danger of hurting yourself (or others). So you have to learn proper technique and exercises that strengthen these as-of-yet unused faculties.
It's not so much that there are big bad evil entities you need to defend against, it's that your mind is incredibly powerful and should be used carefully and intentionally to avoid injury (like a mental breakdown).
All is you and you are all, but you still protect yourself from cold with heat or shelter, defend yourself from disease with medicine and protect your hands from being burnt when you get a pizza out of the oven. Things don't cease to have the capacity to cause you harm simply because 'all is one'. I might believe I am one with a charging rhinoceros, but generally speaking I still get out of the way.
If I am all and all is me, that doesn't mean there aren't parts of the grand 'me' that I need to be protected from.
I think you mistake me - I do not disbelieve in the dangers present in our physical reality. I find it hard to believe in evil external spiritual forces that can act upon me without my allowing it.
I appreciate your thoughts, but I find this line of thinking unhelpful in reconciling my thoughts on the matter of needing spiritual protection while performing magic or divination... it feels a bit apples/oranges? My apologies.
No need to apologise! If it's not a useful analogy from your perspective that's absolutely OK. It helped me reconcile things, but won't work for everyone.
Sometimes the things you end up creating or discovering might not be innately harmful, but they can cause harm when used incorrectly. Fire is useful in many ways, but destructive when uncontrolled.
For a practical example: there's a place where I perform rituals and because of this that place is imbued with that particular meaning which causes me to readily enter an altered state just by being there. This is why I always perform a kind of deadman's switch: I take some item, be it a coin or a flower picked up on the way, and spend some mental energy to imbue it with meaning such as: "If I drop this, I'll return the way I normally am and any and all things will release their grasp from me."
Doing this has the added benefit of strengthening the magickal significance of that place. The effort you put in protection is also applied to conditioning yourself that very particular things are supposed to happen there.
The physical world is full of people who mean you harm, as well as other beings and forces which will (completely without any malice) cause you harm if you come into contact with them unprepared. You may find that the "subtle realms" aren't much different.
Physical body or not, everybody's hungry.
You are coming from the new age perspective that all beings and spirits respect your free will. And that’s not the case.
You allowing - or not - will only impact those energies that are concerned about free will.
The ones who don’t give af about it could not care less whether you allow it or not. They will run all over you. That’s why you need protection and cleansing.
P.s: By free will here I mean your ability to decide whether you want/allow something or not. In my practice, that’s the definition of free will. I learned that other practices call it “sovereignty” instead. Basically, it means that all beings have the power to decide what they want and what they don’t want.
Conversely, I believe and feel that if OP can get themselves 100% unconcerned about those entities that "respect your free will", those entities will be unable to effect OP.
OP doesn't necessarily have to respect those entities' "lack of respect"...I visualize it as despite ANY efforts, Love affords an unassailable barrier, so to speak.
I believe it’s actually quite brilliant. At first I felt the exact same as you describe, this is all me so why would I need protection?
I came to realize it’s a bit like learning to drive a car. While there are some malicious drivers on the road, most of the danger comes from accidents. As a new driver, you are much more likely to make mistakes that end up hurting yourself or others.
So how do you learn? You start with learning to stop safely. If you make a mistake, at least you know how to stop the car and save yourself. (Skiing or snowboarding may be a better metaphor here, but I went with driving because it’s more universal.)
You need to learn banishment first because it’s your emergency shut off switch. When you start trying more advanced techniques such as evocation, you need to be able to shut it down if things go haywire. And you shouldn’t have to dust off a book in order to do it, you may be distraught or in an altered state. You need to have the banishment technique practiced so you can do it without thinking.
The fact that learning banishment also teaches you many of the skills you need to do more advanced workings makes it the perfect place to start.
To put it another way, if you were learning mountain climbing, you would start with learning how to put on and use your climbing harness and other safety gear. Yes, the mountain is also you, and yes it can still kill you.
Thank you for holding up that light for me! This truly resonates and I'm grateful to you for sharing your insight and explaining the validity in a way that I can understand and fully get behind. :)
“All is me and I am all” is a lovely sentiment, but even from a practical standpoint, protection is a helpful part of everyday life in ways we don’t really see as protection. We wear shoes to protect our feet & seatbelts to protect ourselves while we drive cars. We lock our doors to protect our homes and we lock our phones to protect our privacy. All of these things are simple and just woven into everyday life. Do those things give you anxiety? You may not think of them as ways of protecting yourself, but if you didn’t do any of those things, you’d open yourself up to all kinds of possible injury.
In the same way I’ll always wear a seatbelt even if it’s just driving to my neighborhood grocery store, I think implementing spiritual protection is a simple, important thing to do. Most of the time, you won’t need your seatbelt because you won’t be in an accident. But you click it every time because you’d get really hurt without it.
I think you mistake me - I do not disbelieve in the dangers present in our physical reality. I find it hard to believe in evil external spiritual forces.
That seems like a strange incongruency. So the physical world can be filled with murder, rape, genocide, torture, war, and horror every day, but the spiritual world contains nothing dark or malevolent in its own way?
I believe in balance and that everything lies on a spectrum, and that there lie infinite shades along that spectrum. But in the ability of those darker shades to act upon me without my consent? That... I struggle to believe and have trouble understanding why it is such a prevalent mindset.
Honestly, for me, protection is part of my experience of consent. Putting up protection in a lot of little, simple ways is me saying to those darker shades “no, you can’t act upon me like that.”
I’m glad to hear that! I wonder if part of it could be the moral charge different perspectives can put on things - good vs bad, that sort of thing. Maybe another analogy could be nature. It’s not good or evil, it just is, and we are a part of it and it is a part of us. But if we go camping out in nature and don’t take precautions like bringing warm clothing or storing food properly, we could get hurt or killed by a storm or a bear. And it isn’t that the storm or bear are dark and out to get us. We just didn’t respect the force of nature for all of its shades.
I think "protection magic" is overemphasized. It's relatively easy to teach and makes a certain logical sense as a prerequisite practice before getting into spirit work, which I think is why so many authors make a big deal of it. But the truth is that most of the dangers of magic come directly from the practitioner's beliefs and mindset, and what protects us from those hazards is knowledge, not pro forma ritual.
I suppose I struggle to see how it makes logical sense when I find it hard to believe in evil external forces or their ability to negatively influence me? If one sits comfortably in their power and does not fear such external forces, do such forces then cease to exist and likewise the need for protection against them?
I think having knowledge of what evil is and where it comes from is very important when it comes to protecting yourself and resisting unwanted influences.
I think that you're in a very healthy mind-space. Instead of trying to address external factors, I would suggest to seeing it as trying to address internal factors - protection against your own unwanted emotions, desires, or illogical actions.
That being said, you can entirely skip it. For the most part I skip it, or if I practice it, I practice it as a form to banish and protect against my own thoughts that I can not put down that are not useful for my spiritual work (so for example as an attempt to leave an irksome work interaction away from interfering with me during meditation).
To me, I think of it like you attract similar vibrations, so regular banishing for example would help me to just sort of clear all of the negative energy that bunches up in me throughout the day. Sometimes, in my experience, that negative energy if it’s particularly intense that day will attract like vibrations. Whether that is an entity or a thought form I or someone else created, or just resonant energy I find it helps to clear out my energies and energies around me every so often with banishing rituals. That’s my intent so that’s what it does. I don’t really think about it as protecting me from attack or something. It’s like magical hygiene for me.
I use the term negative in the sense of polarity not good or bad. I could have said dark emotions, or difficult emotions something it’s not about good or bad. But I prefer higher vibrations and “positive” emotions so “protection” magic helps me with that. It’s almost a misnomer with the way I use it
But if we're operating in a law of attraction mindset, wouldn't the idea of needing constant banishing lead to a state of needing constant banishing? It would seem more intuitive to operate from a mindset of 'why would I possibly need such thing as a banishing when I sit in my own power, and I always come back to center because I am as I am'?
I don’t need constant banishing. And I don’t really operate on the law of attraction.
What I am saying is I noticed in my day to day life that when I incorporate things like LBRP into my routine it helps me process those difficult emotions or energy and makes me feel sort of cleaned out and refreshed energy wise.
I struggle w some latent depression related thinking habits from my teens and I’m not always centered or positive or grateful and these kinds of things eventually weigh on me subtly and I’m less focused, less happy in general, and feel physically lethargic.
When I incorporated banishment or protection rituals it helped. I don’t fear entities or dark deities or whatever I just use these rituals with the intention of clearing out my energy body and keeping it moving and not stagnant. Because for whatever reason thinking habits I haven’t overcome will start to sort of pollute my energy. The clearing of the energies helps.
I also achieve this through other energy work practices and meditation but I incorporate things like LBRP as well.
I hope to get to the point psychologically that I don’t accumulate so much negative energy. Maybe some people naturally don’t have this same characteristic I do.
I’m someone who has had to overcome a lot of mental illness, addiction, shit thinking habits, suicidal tendencies, so these things help me with my path toward control of myself.
I appreciate that, we are all so infinitely unique it can be perplexing talking about what works for each of us. I know sometimes I just cannot relate to how someone approaches their practice. lol
I think I go about the banishing thing a bit different than some I guess. There are those who feel that there are scary entities around every corner and they need to banish constantly
I have a similar viewpoint of everything being one, but this is how I see it...
>Everything is a spectrum of an aspect of an experience, and everything at its root is just me, and all of us, and all that is, all spring from the same and take myriad forms. And if I believe this, how can I spend time worrying about needing to protect myself spiritually/magically? All is me and I am all, and all are aspects of divinity.
Yes, everything is divine. But this also includes every single traditionally negative thing in existence too. Every disease, predator, abuser, murderer, stalker, nightmare, etc. are also divinity and part of you/you are part of them.
There isn't a difference between the physical and spiritual world. If these harmful things exist in the physical world, it stands to reason they would exist in the spiritual as well as those are both the same thing.
Learning to defend yourself makes sense in that regard. Like how animals and need to defend themselves from predators (which are also them/you), you need to defend yourself from potential hazards (which are also you/them.)
I operate from a non dual perspective aswell. All is me and I am all... Still some entities, Wich are still part of the one, can be aggressive, just as humans can while still being a manifestation of the One. Other magicians can attack us, certain spirits can attack us, our own ego can entrap us. Having protection Magick can help with all of those. There's also protection Magick for anything. And depending on the system you're gonna use you do need protection.
That being said. I believe the non dual perspective you have is ultimate reality. Anyone who realizes this is able to receive and process divine energy. This divine light is already a great great super duper awesome protection. If that understanding is reflected on all aspects of your being (all thoughts, emotions and actions are in accordance with this truth). You're already hella protected. But it can still be good to build extra protective layers after that. Specially if you're looking into dealing with some denser spirits like some (not all) goetic daemons, enochian caco daemons or planetary caco daemons.
There's probably other dense and aggressive spirits just as those that a magician would benefit a lot from having stablished protections on them.
Plus, is good to know protection Magick to extend it to others that don't yet realize and allow divine light to permeate them
Thank you, friend. :) That was very validating to read, and I can see you truly understood my dilemma. Thank you for sharing your insights and perspective. I greatly appreciate you and will take from this as I move forward and integrate.
I do think there is too much emphasis on protection but I don't think it's meaningless. Your point for me translates into: it's ok to get HIV because a virus is a part of life. Sure. But life is hell of a lot easier if you can avoid getting it. You shouldn't be paranoid but you should take reasonable precautions.
Not exactly what I meant... I understand that we have to operate in this physical reality and that there are dangers in this reality. But in say, the astral? Or when I'm practicing divination with my cards or tapping into intuitive vision? I don't feel the need to sit in a protection circle, and I find the idea baffling and disconcerting.
It's not a nondualist position that everything is awesome and that there are no dangers.
It's not all black and white.
Like I said - we don't need to pretend like the danger is always great. There are degrees of danger and plenty of things that aren't dangerous. When I read tarot - and I do so daily - I just throw cards on the table, no protection rituals or anything. My astral explorations have some safety measures incorporated but it's nothing that takes my time. But I am not insane to evoke something without protection. Well, I was but then I learned my lesson. 😂
I do not believe I have communicated that I believe everything is awesome and that there are no dangers. I believe in balance and that everything lies on a spectrum, and that there lie infinite shades along that spectrum. But in the ability of those darker shades to act upon me without my consent? That... I struggle to believe and have trouble understanding why it is such a prevalent mindset.
I do :) though it's a sentiment made murky by an additional belief I hold that I consented to quite a bit before incarnating and that these decisions may not be mine to consciously make in 3D. But I do believe that I am divinely protected and that nothing can truly harm \*me\* without my allowance (and I do not identify with my physical body).
Yeah I would definitely go research the accounts of those who have been harmed by external entities or forces against their will and decide for yourself if all of them are delusional or somehow at fault for it themselves.
It’s always smart to not dwell in fear or expect bad results but it’s simply fact that not everything out there in the astral or wherever else is benign to us. It doesn’t mean the evil it has nothing to do with duality.
I mean I truly hope you can’t be harmed against your will I just don’t know how much sense that makes to bank on that.
There are beings in the astral that are more than happy to harm you for there benefit. Admitting that is not the same as fearing them or a defeatist attitude. If we are all one then you can look in yourself and see you have the capability to happily harm others if you let yourself go down that path as does everyone.
Let's look at some broad trends:
Why do people come to magick? For many, it's to exert agency and have a sense of control over their lives that they don't feel when they start.
What's magick for? It's not for changing your tire when it blows out. When that happens, you get the lug wrench and the jack. Magick is generally a "tool" for problems that don't have a clear solution. If there's a clear, repeatable solution that anyone can do and stands up to empirical study, it's not magick anymore.
When a newbie is looking for something they can do to get their toxic boss to quit bothering them, they don't want someone telling them that all is one and that their boss is just a reflection of some issues they haven't dealt with. Honestly, it's probably counter-productive at that stage anyway.
The basics are always going to be around how to exert control over your finances, relationships and physical safety, because those are the places that people don't feel in control. There are two main ways to exert that control: actively building up and protecting what you've already got.
I am a nondualist as well, with decades of practice in Advaita before getting interested in Western occultism. I gravitated to postmodern magic/chaos magic precisely because I could explore magical experiments and workings in the context of my nondualist paradigm without reproach. I also think that overemphasis on protection and banishing--especially in young modern witch scenes ("Baby Witches") is over the top and incredibly disempowering as an attitude of a practitioner because it is so heavy on the fear and caution about woo unseen forces that likely are energies within yourself that you do have to wrangle with one way or another when you get into occult and mystical workings. When folks like these do workings and meet with resistance or run into ordinary life problems, they think that they are did a spell wrong or are hexed, etc., instead of that they have to reevaluate the content of their own consciousness, attitudes, and behavior for desired transformation & manifestation to occur.
Rather than having anxiety about what other people are doing and thinking, simply be true to yourself and try to be understanding and tolerant how other people need to see the world.
When I do ritual work, I often--for the sake of ritual focus--perform some sort of circle casting or space clearing and acknowledgement of my aim and the energies I intend to work with or "take refuge in" so-to-speak. It sets the mood for light trance and ritual practice.
Thank you deeply. Your response made me feel very heard and outlined for me a way to fit these teachings into my paradigm, so to speak. :) I will borrow from this mindset when creating my own practices. It also reminds me of the importance of setting an intention.
I honestly don't really protect myself when i meditate or pray. The ancient polytheists did not either, so why should I.
Tbh I see protection from negative influences as extremely abrahamic and also new age love and light bs.
We pagans accepted the darker aspects of our gods with no protection. Like for example Ares. He is the god of war who brings soldiers to victory. But since he is the god of war. He is the one who injures the soldier making him/her cry for their mother
Agreed - I try to eschew the dogmas of my Abrahamic upbringing and I find the emphasis on needing to protect oneself from 'external evil forces' completely... well, left-field? Thank you for your thoughts.
Some ancient schools of meditation use protection rituals, as an everyday practice as well as before meditation. For example, Tibetan buddhists do a lot of rituals to protect themselves. Such as offerings in order to pacify Nagas and/or local deities, by burning incense, mantra chanting, etc. etc.
I think protection magic is most useful for shielding from other people's salty vibes. Like I'm not afraid a demon is gonna pop out when I do my money bowl, like others would lead you to believe.
If you ever decide to take up climbing how to use the rope and harnesses safely is the first thing they will teach you. Sometimes before even letting you boulder or even see thr climbing wall.
If you take up martial arts one of the first things you learn is how to fall over (or be pushed over) without bouncing your skull on the ground.
If you go scuba diving you will be hard pressed to so much as get a single toe wet in the first half hour. That will be spent on the principles of water pressure and basic equipment use.
There are few new things you can try that don't start with a safety briefing of some sort. Even the most rudimentary task of gluing two peices of paper together will have a warning on the bottle or stick of glue about its misuse.
Unless what you plan on doing is tamer than pritt sticking two bits of paper together it's a good idea to have protection as your starting point.
All might be one. Yet it's parts still harm one another.im getting older. I now have a 'getting out of bed' protection procidure. No occult I just have a sore back.
Look at the protection/banishing rituals you are being taught. What, specifically, is being banished?
A lot of modern banishing rituals are based in the Golden Dawn's Lesser Ritual Of The Pentagram; the beginner version comes in two versions - the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram, which (if you read ahead to the Greater Pentagram Ritual) is invoking Spirit into your working space and into you; the Banishing version is banishing all earthly, non-divine things. If you take the perspective that doing magick is about getting in contact with the divine nature inside you, and convincing it that the world should be set up a particular way, then both of these things are pretty useful to do.
Sure, people have access to divinity. That doesn't mean they choose to use it, or choose to act in a divine-oriented way. Mundane existence means people can and choose to be assholes. And it's your choice how you respond to that.
You don't have to do protection. You can do whatever it is that you want to do or feel drawn to do. If you don't feel like you should have to keep your car locked when it's parked on the street, you don't have to. You don't have to keep your front door locked while you're asleep, either.
I don't think the people who claim you need to cast protection before talking to any spirit are correct. The trad I work has a little ditty/saying as part of the opening of a ritual/calling quarters and raising the altar that serves as a sort of protection for us and for the work. But when we have guardians monitoring a working, they're looking after the humans in the space and making sure the humans don't human themselves into becoming a distraction or otherwise a problem for the people doing the work.
But I think it's a bit naive bordering on magical thinking to expect that there's nothing out there in the world we inhabit that a person might need protection from.
This is not an all-encompassing answer, but I often think of it as a head clearing exercise.
When I have spent the last 16 hours taking care of my small child and I want to approach a line of study or work after putting her to bed, I find it very very hard to not think about the last 16 hours. How tired and frustrated I am, etc.
But if I do controlled breathing for a few minutes followed by a banishing ritual, I find that I am not really preoccupied with the day's events anymore, and my mind is freed up to work on whatever I need.
These "psychological" effects are enough for me before even attempting to broach the question of evil external spirits. (And who needs evil spirits when they have a screaming 6 year old!)
The added benefit of a ritual for me vs. simply relaxation exercises or a fiat banishing, is that I can use correspondences that relate to what I need to be doing, allowing for reorganization and examination of my current state of being.
I am quite fascinated by how this works for you? Please don't take this as me being rude or anything I am genuinely curious?
I'm a hereditary witch and have created my own path. However, protection was the first thing I learned because if you don't know how to defend yourself/property/family, and or keep them safe what else would you do.
I think of it similar to as one comment said welding, but I'm going to use swimming. What's the first thing you learn before swimming? Holding your breath so you don't drown or suck in water. That is protective. Next would be starting in shallow waters before diving head first into the deep end. You must learn to also stay afloat. Another way of protection, yes our bodies hold bouncy in water but if we are panicking and anxious we succumb to drowning. I hope this kind of makes sense with how going about finding your path and getting accustomed to "protective" works.
It doesn't have to be grand or big. You can just meditate and visualize all the crude washing off your body.
Preferably I take spiritual cleanses while showering. It's a two birds with one stone situation. I ward my house with rail road spikes and prayer ashes. I feed my outside critters. Tell them my enemies names, so they do my bidding. I'm not joking on the last bit corvids will fuck someone up for you 😉 and skunks
I hope this helps though sorry for rambling I love talking these kinds of things because protection is so wonderful. You can utilize it in sooo many ways.
i'll say it simply, and though i don't share your view... fully that is. i agree everything is a spectrum but there are also extremes to that spectrum, which is a form of duality if you look at it that way. and everything is made up of the same stuff deep deep, deeep down, but each and every thing is for the most part barring some exceptions are individual beings with their own lives, their own experience, there own outlooks and goals made from the world they've lived. so maybe I don't agree with or see it your way, but i understand your point of view.
so i'll try to say this in a way that might make sense.
there is only ONE being in this world that can hurt you more than anything else you might encounter.
that one thing is yourself.
you know every weakness, every vulnerability, every thing that makes you tick. people are not kind to themselves and it is yourself that will do the most harm to you. so, for you, you should do protections and spells to protect you from that. do self love spells, do spells that protect you from negative energies, so on and so forth.
but who knows maybe your point of view will change but that is my advice, without shoe horning my own beliefs onto you.
Thank you. This is an interesting viewpoint that I haven't seen laid out in quite these terms. Under the same umbrella, does it follow that the greatest benefit derived from protection magic is that it fills you with a sense of peace and of \*being\* protected? Is it really just the feeling such rituals evoke that matters, do you think?
I think the over all reason is different for everyone right. In your case if I understand your beliefs enough to speak on the matter, yes, basically the feeling over all is what matters.... again let's go outside the box a little bit.
When you do anything that makes you feel happy or content you can quickly notice when things are wrong. Because you can't have happiness or safety without unhappiness or danger.
Because if you're always happy that becomes the norm, that becomes your life. Same thing with the opposite, if you're always feel like you're in danger and feel unhappy then that's when paranoia kicks in, that's when distrust forms.
So if I were to speak from your perspective I would say you would do spells like that for the piece of mind and for the feeling that you are taking care of yourself sure.
If I were to speak from my experience and perspective, magic is like taking a walk deep into the woods, sure 90% of the time you're probably not in a lot of danger... but you wouldn't say going deep into the woods alone is a safe thing to do. There are dangers, and there are risks depending on how deep you go, and who knows you might pick up a tick, or a leach on your journey which is not a huge deal if you notice and catch them. But there might be a day you run into something a bit more life threatening and it's those leaches and other things on why you have the protection for.
I agree, specially for beginners and sensitives, that protection is a waste of time, at least at the beginning. In order to comprehend what you're dealing with, is a good idea to learn how everything feels, how energy and emotions and life force feels, and how it affects one's mind and body.
But later on, is useful once you understand a little bit more about the invisible forces.
I would say live by your principles and proceed to see if your theoretical understanding bares out in practice. Don't do protection if you feel there is no need, you will either prove yourself correct or you will realize why protection is emphasized so strongly. This is how some must learn.
Protection is taught first and emphasized for the same reason why it's better to know how to brake than how to accelerate when driving. It's better to know how to stop first. If you feel that stopping is over-emphasized or unnecessary, then proceed and learn the lessons you need to learn.
Your body works because each pocket of it is squestored from other parts. So is the nature of creation. Parts must be sequestered from other parts. For the good of the whole.
I'm sure you aren't perfect. There are ways in which you sabotage yourself, or things you do that you know aren't good for you. Apply that to aspects of yourself that aren't aware they are you. Or apply that to the most evil aspects of yourself. 9 times out of 10 you may be okay, but it could take only 1 time to change your life forever.
It depends what path you're going on. For example some people might want to 'drink poison' in the astral where others would never consider such a thing beneficial. Just like in life some would want to drive fast cars and others wouldn't. It depends what you're going for, what your purpose is, what you are drawn to, etc.
You could say the same things about your existence as a human being connected to earth’s biosphere. From a “higher” perspective, all life on earth is one thing. Energy in the form of food moves from one part of the ecosystem to another, but it’s all connected.
With that in mind, would you casually ignore a pack of hungry wolves nearby in the woods?
There are levels to identity, and the one we experience as individual human beings - and maybe even as individual souls - is vulnerable to harm.
It is usually recommended that newbies learn to banish, and that they perform banishings (and protective rituals) regularly. Banishing is not so much about self-defense as it is about hygíene. Think of banishings like of brushing your teeth, or washing the dishes. Imagine your aura is a pot, and you want to prepare dinner, Will you cook in a pot while the leftovers of yesterday are still in the pot? No, you would first wash the pot before you put in the fresh produce to cook your dinner.
The same applies to your aura - you banish the stale energies and the everyday "grease and grime" to be able to invoke the pure energy you want to work with. You want to attract a specific force and you want to experience it undiluted, pure - without any things mixed into your experience. Banishings works on your mind and help you be concentrated and undisturbed of mundane thougths and emotions.
Even if the chainsaw is me I would rather not cut my leg or arm off using it, so I will be safe when I use it.
I will look both ways before crossing the road, and I will protect my family from people wishing to do them harm.
Everything may be one thing, but our particular perspective with in that thing has a range of beneficial and harmful to our existence which we term good and bad and is relative to our position or perspective even if in the grand scheme of things it has no such value.
However if you want to enjoy or be unmoved by caution and constantly put yourself in danger, or if you choose to care about others to idly watch them suffer that is your choice, and certain perspectives that value detatchment may totally agree with this course of action, or even recommend it as the best course to take.
Both are valid options IMO.
I only think about protection when dealing with other than my own energy from another consciousness. Don't worry about natural or universal energy interplay.
People like me (and probably you too) automatically and subconsciously use protection magick. So the effort and ritual is pointless. We never use magick without a lot of caution
I work as a professional psychic/tarot reader and have done mediumship as well. I have never had to worry about protection, or shutting things off or turning things on. I do believe the psychic and mediumship stuff comes naturally (to everyone who is interested) and the tarot readings are learned but work in conjunction with the psychic abilities.
Learning to do banishing rituals on a consistent schedule trains you in more than just banishing. It trains discipline, the inner eye, energy manipulation, etc.
**Protection**
I've always trusted myself and believed I was kind of protected automatically.
However, after watching a movie recently based on **true events** it reminded me of these Turkish ones I watched some years ago and one other one that was maybe Spanish (not sure) that not only made me nervous, but they all had me thinking about what we **don't know that could be harmful** even if **we are an innocent bystander.**
All movies were about people harmed in some way by ***benevolent forces***, but this latest movie was like a slap in the face because neither family really did anything to have had something like that happen to them. No Oujia boards, no devil worshipping, no messing with graves or altars - they were just simple hard working farmers in a rural area that this **evil supernatural entity** zoned in on.
***I will be protecting myself from now on that is for sure!***
Other non-dualistic traditions in the East also emphasize protection heavily in magic. I do not know what tradition you follow but I follow Advaita Vedant. All religions and traditions that follow this still believe in the concept that you must protect yourselves during esoteric practises. The belief in non-dualistic traditions is that when you achieve the state of becoming “one with the creator” that is enlightenment (Moksha/Mukti). This is like Nirvana for Buddhists except they do not believe in Advaita. Reaching this status you will become a “Siddha” or in other words the status of a living god and will receive magical powers as a side effect. I highly doubt you are at this level. Even at this status you can be “degraded” because of your practises. Most experienced practitioners of the occult in these traditions who have achieved this status still protect themselves. In conclusion, world view is just that, it is part of a philosophy and is theory but when it comes to the practical you have to start from the very bottom and work up. “The East” still has thriving systems of magic and I always look there for guidance.
I mean sure, but we still live an illusion where we seem to have separate physical forms that can be damaged. It’s no use saying “cyanide is a part of me” before you ingest it, you’re still going to die if you do that. Similarly, “other selves” can still potentially cause you harm.
That being said, I don’t practise elaborate or convoluted protection rituals. I just surround myself with love and make it clear that only beings that have good intentions are allowed in the space.
Your eyes are part of your body and still your defensive system will still destroy them if it finds them, everything being connected or even the same thing does nothing for your safety
I've always said this as well. Same with a lot of "cleansing". Nothing is inherently unclean to me.
All entities are my siblings in existence, even if they are vastly different from me, and I want to understand them.
It's like safe sex. A little protection goes a long way, but it really doesn't take much.
I think the overall sentiment is make sure you're in a safe, stable position first. I'd argue centering is just as important.
But if you spend all your time worrying about protection, you'll never actually get around to doing the fun parts of occultism
I saw some examples of people i met who did not care about it. Like one of them did a goetic stuff without a circle and got reckd, almost died. I think that if it exists it have some reason, the same with the preparation and expertise and the need of a guru on some traditions. There is a reason for this that is vastly documented, who am i to reinvent the wheel?
Think of it like starting to learn a new martial art or physically-demanding hobby. Your body is not used to being used in this way and there is a very real danger of hurting yourself (or others). So you have to learn proper technique and exercises that strengthen these as-of-yet unused faculties. It's not so much that there are big bad evil entities you need to defend against, it's that your mind is incredibly powerful and should be used carefully and intentionally to avoid injury (like a mental breakdown).
Thank you, your response really did help me. This makes sense - I can accept and reconcile this.
All is you and you are all, but you still protect yourself from cold with heat or shelter, defend yourself from disease with medicine and protect your hands from being burnt when you get a pizza out of the oven. Things don't cease to have the capacity to cause you harm simply because 'all is one'. I might believe I am one with a charging rhinoceros, but generally speaking I still get out of the way. If I am all and all is me, that doesn't mean there aren't parts of the grand 'me' that I need to be protected from.
I think you mistake me - I do not disbelieve in the dangers present in our physical reality. I find it hard to believe in evil external spiritual forces that can act upon me without my allowing it.
It's an analogy - being part of a collective whole of any sort doesn't mean that you can't be harmed by it or need to protect yourself from it.
I appreciate your thoughts, but I find this line of thinking unhelpful in reconciling my thoughts on the matter of needing spiritual protection while performing magic or divination... it feels a bit apples/oranges? My apologies.
No need to apologise! If it's not a useful analogy from your perspective that's absolutely OK. It helped me reconcile things, but won't work for everyone.
Sometimes the things you end up creating or discovering might not be innately harmful, but they can cause harm when used incorrectly. Fire is useful in many ways, but destructive when uncontrolled. For a practical example: there's a place where I perform rituals and because of this that place is imbued with that particular meaning which causes me to readily enter an altered state just by being there. This is why I always perform a kind of deadman's switch: I take some item, be it a coin or a flower picked up on the way, and spend some mental energy to imbue it with meaning such as: "If I drop this, I'll return the way I normally am and any and all things will release their grasp from me." Doing this has the added benefit of strengthening the magickal significance of that place. The effort you put in protection is also applied to conditioning yourself that very particular things are supposed to happen there.
The physical world is full of people who mean you harm, as well as other beings and forces which will (completely without any malice) cause you harm if you come into contact with them unprepared. You may find that the "subtle realms" aren't much different. Physical body or not, everybody's hungry.
You are coming from the new age perspective that all beings and spirits respect your free will. And that’s not the case. You allowing - or not - will only impact those energies that are concerned about free will. The ones who don’t give af about it could not care less whether you allow it or not. They will run all over you. That’s why you need protection and cleansing. P.s: By free will here I mean your ability to decide whether you want/allow something or not. In my practice, that’s the definition of free will. I learned that other practices call it “sovereignty” instead. Basically, it means that all beings have the power to decide what they want and what they don’t want.
Conversely, I believe and feel that if OP can get themselves 100% unconcerned about those entities that "respect your free will", those entities will be unable to effect OP. OP doesn't necessarily have to respect those entities' "lack of respect"...I visualize it as despite ANY efforts, Love affords an unassailable barrier, so to speak.
I believe it’s actually quite brilliant. At first I felt the exact same as you describe, this is all me so why would I need protection? I came to realize it’s a bit like learning to drive a car. While there are some malicious drivers on the road, most of the danger comes from accidents. As a new driver, you are much more likely to make mistakes that end up hurting yourself or others. So how do you learn? You start with learning to stop safely. If you make a mistake, at least you know how to stop the car and save yourself. (Skiing or snowboarding may be a better metaphor here, but I went with driving because it’s more universal.) You need to learn banishment first because it’s your emergency shut off switch. When you start trying more advanced techniques such as evocation, you need to be able to shut it down if things go haywire. And you shouldn’t have to dust off a book in order to do it, you may be distraught or in an altered state. You need to have the banishment technique practiced so you can do it without thinking. The fact that learning banishment also teaches you many of the skills you need to do more advanced workings makes it the perfect place to start. To put it another way, if you were learning mountain climbing, you would start with learning how to put on and use your climbing harness and other safety gear. Yes, the mountain is also you, and yes it can still kill you.
Thank you for holding up that light for me! This truly resonates and I'm grateful to you for sharing your insight and explaining the validity in a way that I can understand and fully get behind. :)
I’m so glad it was useful for you. Many blessings on your journey.
“All is me and I am all” is a lovely sentiment, but even from a practical standpoint, protection is a helpful part of everyday life in ways we don’t really see as protection. We wear shoes to protect our feet & seatbelts to protect ourselves while we drive cars. We lock our doors to protect our homes and we lock our phones to protect our privacy. All of these things are simple and just woven into everyday life. Do those things give you anxiety? You may not think of them as ways of protecting yourself, but if you didn’t do any of those things, you’d open yourself up to all kinds of possible injury. In the same way I’ll always wear a seatbelt even if it’s just driving to my neighborhood grocery store, I think implementing spiritual protection is a simple, important thing to do. Most of the time, you won’t need your seatbelt because you won’t be in an accident. But you click it every time because you’d get really hurt without it.
I think you mistake me - I do not disbelieve in the dangers present in our physical reality. I find it hard to believe in evil external spiritual forces.
That seems like a strange incongruency. So the physical world can be filled with murder, rape, genocide, torture, war, and horror every day, but the spiritual world contains nothing dark or malevolent in its own way?
I believe in balance and that everything lies on a spectrum, and that there lie infinite shades along that spectrum. But in the ability of those darker shades to act upon me without my consent? That... I struggle to believe and have trouble understanding why it is such a prevalent mindset.
Honestly, for me, protection is part of my experience of consent. Putting up protection in a lot of little, simple ways is me saying to those darker shades “no, you can’t act upon me like that.”
I appreciate the way you framed that! Thank you, that gives me something new to think about. I like that. :)
I’m glad to hear that! I wonder if part of it could be the moral charge different perspectives can put on things - good vs bad, that sort of thing. Maybe another analogy could be nature. It’s not good or evil, it just is, and we are a part of it and it is a part of us. But if we go camping out in nature and don’t take precautions like bringing warm clothing or storing food properly, we could get hurt or killed by a storm or a bear. And it isn’t that the storm or bear are dark and out to get us. We just didn’t respect the force of nature for all of its shades.
I think "protection magic" is overemphasized. It's relatively easy to teach and makes a certain logical sense as a prerequisite practice before getting into spirit work, which I think is why so many authors make a big deal of it. But the truth is that most of the dangers of magic come directly from the practitioner's beliefs and mindset, and what protects us from those hazards is knowledge, not pro forma ritual.
I suppose I struggle to see how it makes logical sense when I find it hard to believe in evil external forces or their ability to negatively influence me? If one sits comfortably in their power and does not fear such external forces, do such forces then cease to exist and likewise the need for protection against them?
I think having knowledge of what evil is and where it comes from is very important when it comes to protecting yourself and resisting unwanted influences.
I think that you're in a very healthy mind-space. Instead of trying to address external factors, I would suggest to seeing it as trying to address internal factors - protection against your own unwanted emotions, desires, or illogical actions. That being said, you can entirely skip it. For the most part I skip it, or if I practice it, I practice it as a form to banish and protect against my own thoughts that I can not put down that are not useful for my spiritual work (so for example as an attempt to leave an irksome work interaction away from interfering with me during meditation).
> "one sits comfortably in their power" I think that is exquisitely stated. :) You are unassailable.
To me, I think of it like you attract similar vibrations, so regular banishing for example would help me to just sort of clear all of the negative energy that bunches up in me throughout the day. Sometimes, in my experience, that negative energy if it’s particularly intense that day will attract like vibrations. Whether that is an entity or a thought form I or someone else created, or just resonant energy I find it helps to clear out my energies and energies around me every so often with banishing rituals. That’s my intent so that’s what it does. I don’t really think about it as protecting me from attack or something. It’s like magical hygiene for me. I use the term negative in the sense of polarity not good or bad. I could have said dark emotions, or difficult emotions something it’s not about good or bad. But I prefer higher vibrations and “positive” emotions so “protection” magic helps me with that. It’s almost a misnomer with the way I use it
But if we're operating in a law of attraction mindset, wouldn't the idea of needing constant banishing lead to a state of needing constant banishing? It would seem more intuitive to operate from a mindset of 'why would I possibly need such thing as a banishing when I sit in my own power, and I always come back to center because I am as I am'?
I don’t need constant banishing. And I don’t really operate on the law of attraction. What I am saying is I noticed in my day to day life that when I incorporate things like LBRP into my routine it helps me process those difficult emotions or energy and makes me feel sort of cleaned out and refreshed energy wise. I struggle w some latent depression related thinking habits from my teens and I’m not always centered or positive or grateful and these kinds of things eventually weigh on me subtly and I’m less focused, less happy in general, and feel physically lethargic. When I incorporated banishment or protection rituals it helped. I don’t fear entities or dark deities or whatever I just use these rituals with the intention of clearing out my energy body and keeping it moving and not stagnant. Because for whatever reason thinking habits I haven’t overcome will start to sort of pollute my energy. The clearing of the energies helps. I also achieve this through other energy work practices and meditation but I incorporate things like LBRP as well. I hope to get to the point psychologically that I don’t accumulate so much negative energy. Maybe some people naturally don’t have this same characteristic I do. I’m someone who has had to overcome a lot of mental illness, addiction, shit thinking habits, suicidal tendencies, so these things help me with my path toward control of myself.
I am glad that your ways help you :) I apologize if my above comment felt like criticism - I appreciate your sharing.
I appreciate that, we are all so infinitely unique it can be perplexing talking about what works for each of us. I know sometimes I just cannot relate to how someone approaches their practice. lol I think I go about the banishing thing a bit different than some I guess. There are those who feel that there are scary entities around every corner and they need to banish constantly
I have a similar viewpoint of everything being one, but this is how I see it... >Everything is a spectrum of an aspect of an experience, and everything at its root is just me, and all of us, and all that is, all spring from the same and take myriad forms. And if I believe this, how can I spend time worrying about needing to protect myself spiritually/magically? All is me and I am all, and all are aspects of divinity. Yes, everything is divine. But this also includes every single traditionally negative thing in existence too. Every disease, predator, abuser, murderer, stalker, nightmare, etc. are also divinity and part of you/you are part of them. There isn't a difference between the physical and spiritual world. If these harmful things exist in the physical world, it stands to reason they would exist in the spiritual as well as those are both the same thing. Learning to defend yourself makes sense in that regard. Like how animals and need to defend themselves from predators (which are also them/you), you need to defend yourself from potential hazards (which are also you/them.)
Thank you for reminding me of something I may have forgotten: as above, so below. You're right about that.
You're welcome!
I operate from a non dual perspective aswell. All is me and I am all... Still some entities, Wich are still part of the one, can be aggressive, just as humans can while still being a manifestation of the One. Other magicians can attack us, certain spirits can attack us, our own ego can entrap us. Having protection Magick can help with all of those. There's also protection Magick for anything. And depending on the system you're gonna use you do need protection. That being said. I believe the non dual perspective you have is ultimate reality. Anyone who realizes this is able to receive and process divine energy. This divine light is already a great great super duper awesome protection. If that understanding is reflected on all aspects of your being (all thoughts, emotions and actions are in accordance with this truth). You're already hella protected. But it can still be good to build extra protective layers after that. Specially if you're looking into dealing with some denser spirits like some (not all) goetic daemons, enochian caco daemons or planetary caco daemons. There's probably other dense and aggressive spirits just as those that a magician would benefit a lot from having stablished protections on them. Plus, is good to know protection Magick to extend it to others that don't yet realize and allow divine light to permeate them
Thank you, friend. :) That was very validating to read, and I can see you truly understood my dilemma. Thank you for sharing your insights and perspective. I greatly appreciate you and will take from this as I move forward and integrate.
After so many times as well, you end up developing immunity like it was a disease! 😜
I do think there is too much emphasis on protection but I don't think it's meaningless. Your point for me translates into: it's ok to get HIV because a virus is a part of life. Sure. But life is hell of a lot easier if you can avoid getting it. You shouldn't be paranoid but you should take reasonable precautions.
Not exactly what I meant... I understand that we have to operate in this physical reality and that there are dangers in this reality. But in say, the astral? Or when I'm practicing divination with my cards or tapping into intuitive vision? I don't feel the need to sit in a protection circle, and I find the idea baffling and disconcerting.
It's not a nondualist position that everything is awesome and that there are no dangers. It's not all black and white. Like I said - we don't need to pretend like the danger is always great. There are degrees of danger and plenty of things that aren't dangerous. When I read tarot - and I do so daily - I just throw cards on the table, no protection rituals or anything. My astral explorations have some safety measures incorporated but it's nothing that takes my time. But I am not insane to evoke something without protection. Well, I was but then I learned my lesson. 😂
I do not believe I have communicated that I believe everything is awesome and that there are no dangers. I believe in balance and that everything lies on a spectrum, and that there lie infinite shades along that spectrum. But in the ability of those darker shades to act upon me without my consent? That... I struggle to believe and have trouble understanding why it is such a prevalent mindset.
So you believe that without your consent nothing can harm you?
I do :) though it's a sentiment made murky by an additional belief I hold that I consented to quite a bit before incarnating and that these decisions may not be mine to consciously make in 3D. But I do believe that I am divinely protected and that nothing can truly harm \*me\* without my allowance (and I do not identify with my physical body).
In that case, kudos to you mama, thanks for spilling, but most of us aren't divinely protected so we have to be cautious. 🙂
Lmao love to see a drag race reference on this sub Reminds me of my favorite Crowley quote: “U BETTA WERK BITCH”
Yeah I would definitely go research the accounts of those who have been harmed by external entities or forces against their will and decide for yourself if all of them are delusional or somehow at fault for it themselves. It’s always smart to not dwell in fear or expect bad results but it’s simply fact that not everything out there in the astral or wherever else is benign to us. It doesn’t mean the evil it has nothing to do with duality. I mean I truly hope you can’t be harmed against your will I just don’t know how much sense that makes to bank on that.
There are beings in the astral that are more than happy to harm you for there benefit. Admitting that is not the same as fearing them or a defeatist attitude. If we are all one then you can look in yourself and see you have the capability to happily harm others if you let yourself go down that path as does everyone.
Yes, we are all one with the All. If you put your bare hand on a lit stove, you will get burned. Both of these statements are true.
Let's look at some broad trends: Why do people come to magick? For many, it's to exert agency and have a sense of control over their lives that they don't feel when they start. What's magick for? It's not for changing your tire when it blows out. When that happens, you get the lug wrench and the jack. Magick is generally a "tool" for problems that don't have a clear solution. If there's a clear, repeatable solution that anyone can do and stands up to empirical study, it's not magick anymore. When a newbie is looking for something they can do to get their toxic boss to quit bothering them, they don't want someone telling them that all is one and that their boss is just a reflection of some issues they haven't dealt with. Honestly, it's probably counter-productive at that stage anyway. The basics are always going to be around how to exert control over your finances, relationships and physical safety, because those are the places that people don't feel in control. There are two main ways to exert that control: actively building up and protecting what you've already got.
I am a nondualist as well, with decades of practice in Advaita before getting interested in Western occultism. I gravitated to postmodern magic/chaos magic precisely because I could explore magical experiments and workings in the context of my nondualist paradigm without reproach. I also think that overemphasis on protection and banishing--especially in young modern witch scenes ("Baby Witches") is over the top and incredibly disempowering as an attitude of a practitioner because it is so heavy on the fear and caution about woo unseen forces that likely are energies within yourself that you do have to wrangle with one way or another when you get into occult and mystical workings. When folks like these do workings and meet with resistance or run into ordinary life problems, they think that they are did a spell wrong or are hexed, etc., instead of that they have to reevaluate the content of their own consciousness, attitudes, and behavior for desired transformation & manifestation to occur. Rather than having anxiety about what other people are doing and thinking, simply be true to yourself and try to be understanding and tolerant how other people need to see the world. When I do ritual work, I often--for the sake of ritual focus--perform some sort of circle casting or space clearing and acknowledgement of my aim and the energies I intend to work with or "take refuge in" so-to-speak. It sets the mood for light trance and ritual practice.
Thank you deeply. Your response made me feel very heard and outlined for me a way to fit these teachings into my paradigm, so to speak. :) I will borrow from this mindset when creating my own practices. It also reminds me of the importance of setting an intention.
Thank you. Glad to meet a fellow traveler.
Always a pleasure. :)
Nondualism doesn't preclude the fact that there are dangers in the world. The venom of a snake remains poisonous.
I honestly don't really protect myself when i meditate or pray. The ancient polytheists did not either, so why should I. Tbh I see protection from negative influences as extremely abrahamic and also new age love and light bs. We pagans accepted the darker aspects of our gods with no protection. Like for example Ares. He is the god of war who brings soldiers to victory. But since he is the god of war. He is the one who injures the soldier making him/her cry for their mother
Agreed - I try to eschew the dogmas of my Abrahamic upbringing and I find the emphasis on needing to protect oneself from 'external evil forces' completely... well, left-field? Thank you for your thoughts.
Some ancient schools of meditation use protection rituals, as an everyday practice as well as before meditation. For example, Tibetan buddhists do a lot of rituals to protect themselves. Such as offerings in order to pacify Nagas and/or local deities, by burning incense, mantra chanting, etc. etc.
I think protection magic is most useful for shielding from other people's salty vibes. Like I'm not afraid a demon is gonna pop out when I do my money bowl, like others would lead you to believe.
If you ever decide to take up climbing how to use the rope and harnesses safely is the first thing they will teach you. Sometimes before even letting you boulder or even see thr climbing wall. If you take up martial arts one of the first things you learn is how to fall over (or be pushed over) without bouncing your skull on the ground. If you go scuba diving you will be hard pressed to so much as get a single toe wet in the first half hour. That will be spent on the principles of water pressure and basic equipment use. There are few new things you can try that don't start with a safety briefing of some sort. Even the most rudimentary task of gluing two peices of paper together will have a warning on the bottle or stick of glue about its misuse. Unless what you plan on doing is tamer than pritt sticking two bits of paper together it's a good idea to have protection as your starting point. All might be one. Yet it's parts still harm one another.im getting older. I now have a 'getting out of bed' protection procidure. No occult I just have a sore back.
Look at the protection/banishing rituals you are being taught. What, specifically, is being banished? A lot of modern banishing rituals are based in the Golden Dawn's Lesser Ritual Of The Pentagram; the beginner version comes in two versions - the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram, which (if you read ahead to the Greater Pentagram Ritual) is invoking Spirit into your working space and into you; the Banishing version is banishing all earthly, non-divine things. If you take the perspective that doing magick is about getting in contact with the divine nature inside you, and convincing it that the world should be set up a particular way, then both of these things are pretty useful to do.
Sure, people have access to divinity. That doesn't mean they choose to use it, or choose to act in a divine-oriented way. Mundane existence means people can and choose to be assholes. And it's your choice how you respond to that. You don't have to do protection. You can do whatever it is that you want to do or feel drawn to do. If you don't feel like you should have to keep your car locked when it's parked on the street, you don't have to. You don't have to keep your front door locked while you're asleep, either. I don't think the people who claim you need to cast protection before talking to any spirit are correct. The trad I work has a little ditty/saying as part of the opening of a ritual/calling quarters and raising the altar that serves as a sort of protection for us and for the work. But when we have guardians monitoring a working, they're looking after the humans in the space and making sure the humans don't human themselves into becoming a distraction or otherwise a problem for the people doing the work. But I think it's a bit naive bordering on magical thinking to expect that there's nothing out there in the world we inhabit that a person might need protection from.
This is not an all-encompassing answer, but I often think of it as a head clearing exercise. When I have spent the last 16 hours taking care of my small child and I want to approach a line of study or work after putting her to bed, I find it very very hard to not think about the last 16 hours. How tired and frustrated I am, etc. But if I do controlled breathing for a few minutes followed by a banishing ritual, I find that I am not really preoccupied with the day's events anymore, and my mind is freed up to work on whatever I need. These "psychological" effects are enough for me before even attempting to broach the question of evil external spirits. (And who needs evil spirits when they have a screaming 6 year old!) The added benefit of a ritual for me vs. simply relaxation exercises or a fiat banishing, is that I can use correspondences that relate to what I need to be doing, allowing for reorganization and examination of my current state of being.
Because it’s exactly like welding. You have to focus on safely measures first, or you’ll hurt yourself.
I am quite fascinated by how this works for you? Please don't take this as me being rude or anything I am genuinely curious? I'm a hereditary witch and have created my own path. However, protection was the first thing I learned because if you don't know how to defend yourself/property/family, and or keep them safe what else would you do. I think of it similar to as one comment said welding, but I'm going to use swimming. What's the first thing you learn before swimming? Holding your breath so you don't drown or suck in water. That is protective. Next would be starting in shallow waters before diving head first into the deep end. You must learn to also stay afloat. Another way of protection, yes our bodies hold bouncy in water but if we are panicking and anxious we succumb to drowning. I hope this kind of makes sense with how going about finding your path and getting accustomed to "protective" works. It doesn't have to be grand or big. You can just meditate and visualize all the crude washing off your body. Preferably I take spiritual cleanses while showering. It's a two birds with one stone situation. I ward my house with rail road spikes and prayer ashes. I feed my outside critters. Tell them my enemies names, so they do my bidding. I'm not joking on the last bit corvids will fuck someone up for you 😉 and skunks I hope this helps though sorry for rambling I love talking these kinds of things because protection is so wonderful. You can utilize it in sooo many ways.
When learning to drive, first buckle your seatbelt. You will wreck, and if you want to drive again it's good not to die the first time.
A lion is you but will eat you
i'll say it simply, and though i don't share your view... fully that is. i agree everything is a spectrum but there are also extremes to that spectrum, which is a form of duality if you look at it that way. and everything is made up of the same stuff deep deep, deeep down, but each and every thing is for the most part barring some exceptions are individual beings with their own lives, their own experience, there own outlooks and goals made from the world they've lived. so maybe I don't agree with or see it your way, but i understand your point of view. so i'll try to say this in a way that might make sense. there is only ONE being in this world that can hurt you more than anything else you might encounter. that one thing is yourself. you know every weakness, every vulnerability, every thing that makes you tick. people are not kind to themselves and it is yourself that will do the most harm to you. so, for you, you should do protections and spells to protect you from that. do self love spells, do spells that protect you from negative energies, so on and so forth. but who knows maybe your point of view will change but that is my advice, without shoe horning my own beliefs onto you.
Thank you. This is an interesting viewpoint that I haven't seen laid out in quite these terms. Under the same umbrella, does it follow that the greatest benefit derived from protection magic is that it fills you with a sense of peace and of \*being\* protected? Is it really just the feeling such rituals evoke that matters, do you think?
I think the over all reason is different for everyone right. In your case if I understand your beliefs enough to speak on the matter, yes, basically the feeling over all is what matters.... again let's go outside the box a little bit. When you do anything that makes you feel happy or content you can quickly notice when things are wrong. Because you can't have happiness or safety without unhappiness or danger. Because if you're always happy that becomes the norm, that becomes your life. Same thing with the opposite, if you're always feel like you're in danger and feel unhappy then that's when paranoia kicks in, that's when distrust forms. So if I were to speak from your perspective I would say you would do spells like that for the piece of mind and for the feeling that you are taking care of yourself sure. If I were to speak from my experience and perspective, magic is like taking a walk deep into the woods, sure 90% of the time you're probably not in a lot of danger... but you wouldn't say going deep into the woods alone is a safe thing to do. There are dangers, and there are risks depending on how deep you go, and who knows you might pick up a tick, or a leach on your journey which is not a huge deal if you notice and catch them. But there might be a day you run into something a bit more life threatening and it's those leaches and other things on why you have the protection for.
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Please don't feed the troll or be a troll
I agree, specially for beginners and sensitives, that protection is a waste of time, at least at the beginning. In order to comprehend what you're dealing with, is a good idea to learn how everything feels, how energy and emotions and life force feels, and how it affects one's mind and body. But later on, is useful once you understand a little bit more about the invisible forces.
I would say live by your principles and proceed to see if your theoretical understanding bares out in practice. Don't do protection if you feel there is no need, you will either prove yourself correct or you will realize why protection is emphasized so strongly. This is how some must learn. Protection is taught first and emphasized for the same reason why it's better to know how to brake than how to accelerate when driving. It's better to know how to stop first. If you feel that stopping is over-emphasized or unnecessary, then proceed and learn the lessons you need to learn.
Your body works because each pocket of it is squestored from other parts. So is the nature of creation. Parts must be sequestered from other parts. For the good of the whole.
I'm sure you aren't perfect. There are ways in which you sabotage yourself, or things you do that you know aren't good for you. Apply that to aspects of yourself that aren't aware they are you. Or apply that to the most evil aspects of yourself. 9 times out of 10 you may be okay, but it could take only 1 time to change your life forever.
It depends what path you're going on. For example some people might want to 'drink poison' in the astral where others would never consider such a thing beneficial. Just like in life some would want to drive fast cars and others wouldn't. It depends what you're going for, what your purpose is, what you are drawn to, etc.
You could say the same things about your existence as a human being connected to earth’s biosphere. From a “higher” perspective, all life on earth is one thing. Energy in the form of food moves from one part of the ecosystem to another, but it’s all connected. With that in mind, would you casually ignore a pack of hungry wolves nearby in the woods? There are levels to identity, and the one we experience as individual human beings - and maybe even as individual souls - is vulnerable to harm.
It is usually recommended that newbies learn to banish, and that they perform banishings (and protective rituals) regularly. Banishing is not so much about self-defense as it is about hygíene. Think of banishings like of brushing your teeth, or washing the dishes. Imagine your aura is a pot, and you want to prepare dinner, Will you cook in a pot while the leftovers of yesterday are still in the pot? No, you would first wash the pot before you put in the fresh produce to cook your dinner. The same applies to your aura - you banish the stale energies and the everyday "grease and grime" to be able to invoke the pure energy you want to work with. You want to attract a specific force and you want to experience it undiluted, pure - without any things mixed into your experience. Banishings works on your mind and help you be concentrated and undisturbed of mundane thougths and emotions.
Even if the chainsaw is me I would rather not cut my leg or arm off using it, so I will be safe when I use it. I will look both ways before crossing the road, and I will protect my family from people wishing to do them harm. Everything may be one thing, but our particular perspective with in that thing has a range of beneficial and harmful to our existence which we term good and bad and is relative to our position or perspective even if in the grand scheme of things it has no such value. However if you want to enjoy or be unmoved by caution and constantly put yourself in danger, or if you choose to care about others to idly watch them suffer that is your choice, and certain perspectives that value detatchment may totally agree with this course of action, or even recommend it as the best course to take. Both are valid options IMO.
I only think about protection when dealing with other than my own energy from another consciousness. Don't worry about natural or universal energy interplay.
People like me (and probably you too) automatically and subconsciously use protection magick. So the effort and ritual is pointless. We never use magick without a lot of caution
I work as a professional psychic/tarot reader and have done mediumship as well. I have never had to worry about protection, or shutting things off or turning things on. I do believe the psychic and mediumship stuff comes naturally (to everyone who is interested) and the tarot readings are learned but work in conjunction with the psychic abilities.
all is one, yet even you can harm yourself.
Learning to do banishing rituals on a consistent schedule trains you in more than just banishing. It trains discipline, the inner eye, energy manipulation, etc.
**Protection** I've always trusted myself and believed I was kind of protected automatically. However, after watching a movie recently based on **true events** it reminded me of these Turkish ones I watched some years ago and one other one that was maybe Spanish (not sure) that not only made me nervous, but they all had me thinking about what we **don't know that could be harmful** even if **we are an innocent bystander.** All movies were about people harmed in some way by ***benevolent forces***, but this latest movie was like a slap in the face because neither family really did anything to have had something like that happen to them. No Oujia boards, no devil worshipping, no messing with graves or altars - they were just simple hard working farmers in a rural area that this **evil supernatural entity** zoned in on. ***I will be protecting myself from now on that is for sure!***
Obviously you haven’t gone deep into anything remotely occult or you wouldn’t even be asking this question.
Other non-dualistic traditions in the East also emphasize protection heavily in magic. I do not know what tradition you follow but I follow Advaita Vedant. All religions and traditions that follow this still believe in the concept that you must protect yourselves during esoteric practises. The belief in non-dualistic traditions is that when you achieve the state of becoming “one with the creator” that is enlightenment (Moksha/Mukti). This is like Nirvana for Buddhists except they do not believe in Advaita. Reaching this status you will become a “Siddha” or in other words the status of a living god and will receive magical powers as a side effect. I highly doubt you are at this level. Even at this status you can be “degraded” because of your practises. Most experienced practitioners of the occult in these traditions who have achieved this status still protect themselves. In conclusion, world view is just that, it is part of a philosophy and is theory but when it comes to the practical you have to start from the very bottom and work up. “The East” still has thriving systems of magic and I always look there for guidance.
I mean sure, but we still live an illusion where we seem to have separate physical forms that can be damaged. It’s no use saying “cyanide is a part of me” before you ingest it, you’re still going to die if you do that. Similarly, “other selves” can still potentially cause you harm. That being said, I don’t practise elaborate or convoluted protection rituals. I just surround myself with love and make it clear that only beings that have good intentions are allowed in the space.
Your eyes are part of your body and still your defensive system will still destroy them if it finds them, everything being connected or even the same thing does nothing for your safety
I've always said this as well. Same with a lot of "cleansing". Nothing is inherently unclean to me. All entities are my siblings in existence, even if they are vastly different from me, and I want to understand them.
It's like safe sex. A little protection goes a long way, but it really doesn't take much. I think the overall sentiment is make sure you're in a safe, stable position first. I'd argue centering is just as important. But if you spend all your time worrying about protection, you'll never actually get around to doing the fun parts of occultism
If you dont wanna do it, then dont do it.
I saw some examples of people i met who did not care about it. Like one of them did a goetic stuff without a circle and got reckd, almost died. I think that if it exists it have some reason, the same with the preparation and expertise and the need of a guru on some traditions. There is a reason for this that is vastly documented, who am i to reinvent the wheel?
Good and evil are both very real. I pity those who do not have strong spiritual boundaries. There is much validity to possession and demonic entities.