#castingacircle

🪐 EXAMPLES OF WARDS 🪐

There are more than just these examples, but this is a great place to get started! This picture is all over the internet, and you’ve probably seen it before haha- nonetheless it’s still useful information! I am gonna go into detail about some specific ways to ward your space/self, but as always, witchcraft is a very personal thing and your practice is unique to yourself so these things may work for you, they may not! It’s all up to what you’re willing/able to do in your practice :))

ANYWAYS...ONWARD 

FIRST STEP TO CREATING A WARD: Cleanse!!!! You don’t want to trap any negative energy in your space when creating your ward. Cleansing will give you a blank slate to protect you or your space. 

SECOND STEP...ACTUALLY CREATING THE WARD: There are multiple methods to create a ward (as pictured above) but I will go over some easy, beginner friendly ones for the sake of time and my sanity. These will mostly be about spaces, but I will talk about enchanting things like jewelry on another post if that’s something y’all would be interested in...?

Incense Warding

This can be done with either incense or a water/essential oil blend if you prefer to not use incense (i personally vomit from the smell of smoke and incense is no exception...it’s quite a dilemma being a witch and not being able to use incense haha) 

Be it incense or a spray blend, you want to utilize herbs with protective properties, some common ones being: bay leaves, cinnamon, ginger, mustard seed, and salt 

If you’re warding an item, you can either smoke/spritz it with your incense or water/oil mixture and visualize the smoke/spritz encircling the item like a ball of light, protecting it from anything that would intend to cause it harm. (I suck at visualizing, I think i have the thing where you just cant visualize stuff, so instead of harping on my inability to think in pictures, I just focus on the intent of what i’m doing. it’s all the same, the visualization is just to help amplify intent. If you are already confident in your ability, you are okay to not visualize.) 

If you’re warding a space, it’s pretty similar. You start in one area of your house (or room), and move to the right, spraying the walls and doorframes, all the while visualizing a barrier being formed around the walls (again, hard time with visualizing won’t mess up your ability to ward, just focus on intent). Just keep moving right throughout the entire space, creating an outline of whatever it is you’re protecting. If you’re familiar with kitchen magick, a lot of the time you will be stirring the pot clockwise to represent the creation of good energy and progression, so we move right throughout the space when warding to create a strong ward that will protect from any and all unwanted energies. 

Sigil Wards

I will go more into sigils on another post, but you can easily ward a space with sigils! Create a sigil with the intent to protect (ie: creating a sigil from the phrase “my house is protected from all negative energies) 

Place the sigil in windows or on doorframes, if you want to keep it permanently there. You can use water, black salt, regular salt, your finger, whatever floats your boat. 

A funky way I like to use sigils when warding is to use them when I clean! I will be cleaning my floor and spray the cleaner/floor polish in the pattern of my sigil and then when I go over it with the mop, I am “breaking” the sigil, therefore releasing the energy into my house to protect it! I was never really told that this was a way to create a sigil and use it but I have found it’s worked and it’s really easy- esp if you’re in the broomcloset 🧹 

Spoken Wards

This can be a spoken thought or incantation of sorts that is created/uttered with the intention to protect your space/you

You can repeat this daily like an affirmation, walk around your space and chant, whatever floats your boat! 

Here is an example of a spoken ward: (this is utilized when walking past the representations of the elements in your home) 

“By (element) , I ward thee: Guard this space from all ill will and all those who wish me/us harm.”

THERE ARE PLENTY MORE WAYS TO WARD, THESE ARE JUST A FEW!

I recommend using MULTIPLE methods of warding (at least two) to really maximize the protection you have on your space

Alright lets talk about another important aspect of warding....

WARD MAINTENCE 

Wards can be temporary (casting a circle during a spell), or long term (a ward to protect your space) 

It’s important to regularly charge your wards, to keep them “up and running.” This can be with crystals, intent, incense, whatever your preferred method is

You also may need to take down your ward and place a new one up every so often; even the metaphysical can collect gunk. There isn’t really a timeline on this, just whenever you feel your ward needs to be re-done. 

OTHER IMPORTANT WARDING INFO

Thank you for sticking with me on this long informational post :)) 

Again, I really recommend using MULTIPLE wards as a little protection combo because protection is the basis of your craft. Putting up a ward is really important before you start any type of spell work or any magick for that matter. Protection is KEY! 

To dismiss a ward, you can go around your space counter clockwise (to the left) and visualize/have the intention that the energies you have created are “coming down” (there are other ways, this is what I prefer) 

Remember it’s always important to cross reference your information, for this post I used multiple sources I knew have been vetted by much more experienced witches than I am- but still! You need to make sure what you’re reading is credible

CITATIONS/SOURCES/MORE INFORMATION

Wards: Basics 

Warding Masterpost

Crash Course In Warding

Defend The Keep