Last night, I performed a banishment ritual of a demonic or negative entity that i believe has been attached to me for quite some time, perhaps left over from my Christianity before I converted to paganism. This entity manifests itself through strife in my waking life, but recently, for the first time, I had a truly terrifying and intense face to face standoff in a lucid episode of sleep paralysis it used to attack me in, in which I saw it’s true form for the first time, and I fought it off in a spiritual standoff. I thought I had won, but the next night, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a bell ringing in my bedroom, a metaphorical hells bell. So I decided to perform a ritual and chant to banish it the next night at the same time I had heard the bell before. Now I know many pagans, especially those who are damaged from prior experiences with abrahamic religion, often deal with such energies and forces left over, and I’d like to share the process with you all to offer some insight into how you might go about banishing and cleansing such an energy. Keep in mind that everybody has different trauma and experiences that negative entities feed off of and manipulate, so my solution will likely not be a catch-all, but it is a place I think some of you may consider starting from as a scratch sheet!

Things you’ll need:

- a candle, preferably white, but any will do the trick, (I used a scented pine candle, representative of myself and my intentions.)

- a match or lighter to light said candle

- some sort of cleansing liquid, smoke, or oil, to purify and shield yourself from attack (I used storm water personally)

- an idol to a god or some other religious token to protect you during your ritual (I used an obsidian goddess carving and summoned Melinoe to look over and witness the ritual)

- a spell bag to place somewhere in your house as a ward to prevent future attacks, you can fill this bag with any combination of things, but I personally used:

• a sigil to ward off demonic or malicious spirits

• a small piece of black tourmaline

• a small bushel of dried Hawthorne

- and finally, you’ll need to write your banishment chant. This is important, as these are the words you’ll use to order the banishment of the entity. Make sure the chant is true to your intentions for it, is clear and precise with no room for being construed, and is true to your desires for its effect on your target.

The steps I took:

The actual ritual looked something like this, in simple steps that I believe successfully warded off this demon, wether that will be temporarily or permanently, time will tell, as abrahamic demons are some of the most powerful and potentially dangerous dark energies and entities in any religion or spirituality I’ve practiced. Here are the steps I took regardless:

Step one: place your items in front of you on a flat surface, with your candle in the middle of them.

Step two: hold the idol in your hands, and speak the name of the deity, angel, spirit, or any other entity, summoning them to be a witness and protector over you during your ritual. (Again, I chose to summon Melinoē, Hellenic goddess of the afterlife, and ruler of daemons and ghosts to bare witness and arbitrate the ritual.

Step three: with your patron deity or spirit summoned to protect you, you may now light the candle with a match or lighter, and begin speaking your banishment chant, make sure you have it laid in front of you if you need a teleprompter to keep you focused, as it’s important not to break focus for too long.

Step four: once you’ve finished your chant, and believe you have successfully banished the oppressive force it’s targeted at, take your oil, incense, or other protective agent and mark yourself with it in some way to protect your body and mind from any negative energy produced during this ritual, so that it doesn’t longer afterwards. (I poured storm water over my forehead and than used my finger to spread a ring of it around the candle to conceal any energy before I put it out)

Step five: extinguish the candle to end the ceremony. Once you have, give permission to any deity or other spirit you summoned to leave, and thank them for their attendance and guidance.

Step six: finally, if you haven’t done so already, take the items you’ve gathered for your ward pouch and place them in it, tying the strings to activate it. Than place it in a spot in your home relevant to your experience. (I placed mine inside my pillow, as this demon most often used my dreams, and sleep paralysis episodes to attack me with.)

And now, you’re done! If all has gone well, hopefully, you will have banished the entity responsible for this oppression wrought upon you. Be careful, be responsible, and be aware of yourself and how you fight this force, as it will determine if you ever have to face it again. Thank you, and have a blessed day. - Isaac.