Home of the Undying

Howdy! It’s your friendly neighborhood witch here: Let’s talk about warding!

Warding is any form of magick intended to protect a person/place/thing from a negative entity/energy

Warding is most often used in either a personal sense, or a spatial sense, let’s do a deep dive into what that actually means

SPATIAL WARDING ~~~~~

Spatial wards are put on SOMETHING or a PLACE/SPACE/NON HUMAN THING with the intention to protect it. This could be warding your room or entire house by contacting the egregore, this could be casting a circle when you are about to do a spell, etc etc. This is not the same as warding a piece of jewelry though, that goes into the next type of warding: Personal Warding

PERSONAL WARDING ~~~~

Personal wards are created with the intent to protect a person (most likely YOU, the practitioner). These are most often portable/wearable like jewelry or in some cases crystals! A lot of the time, you can create some wards to be both personal and spatial, in essence killing two birds with one stone

When I was first learning witchcraft, my magic teacher showed me how she rubbed oils on her window and door frames. This is not a new concept; many cultures, from the ancient Egyptians through the Middle Ages, rubbed oils on doors and windows.

More commonly, people would hang, plant, or scatter herbs near their doors for protection. Oil blends are easier because they are subtle and can work in any home, including college dorms and apartments.

You’ll need:

Rose geranium oil (use plain geranium if you can’t find rose geranium)

Lavender oil

Frankincense oil

A glass, airtight container for the oils

Clean and consecrate your container. I used a vintage perfume container that I found at a thrift store. You can cleanse the vial through many methods, from crystal charging to moon water. Personally, I consecrated it with myrrh incense.

Combine the oils with two parts rose geranium, one part lavender, and one part frankincense. For example, if you use two drops of rose geranium oil, pour one drop of lavender and frankincense oils. I did ten drops of rose geranium and five drops of the other two.

Leave it on your altar overnight to charge. I placed mine on a wooden Goddess symbol. If you perform this spell during a full moon, you may charge it with the moonlight. Do NOT charge it in sunlight; the light will degrade the oils.

The next morning, take your oil vial outside with a cotton ball. Place the oil on a cotton ball and rub it along your door and window frames. If you live on the second floor or above, you may do this inside.

Try to rub the oil on all four corners, if possible. You do not have to cover entire doors in oil. A little bit goes a long way.

Refresh this spell every six months.

What are wards?

Wards are magical barriers that protect the caster from a variety of things. These things include, but are not limited to: curses, spirits, undesired energies, attention, etc.

These barriers can be constructed through a variety of ways. Of course it goes without saying that each of these ways requires intent, focus, passion, & energy work. 

Why every single practitioner should use them:

In every practitioner's life, they’ll come across something they would rather keep at arm's length. Most commonly it is going to be unwanted energetic or spiritual presences, provided the practitioner has sufficient energetic awareness. However, protecting from curses is always a good course of action. 

There exists a plethora of methods to ward, ranging from very dense and complex, to physical and simple. However, it is important to note that some methods are more effective than others. There are also methods you’ll find on the internet that just don’t do anything. One that immediately comes to mind is the Golden Egg or Egg Shield, as these methods operate off of pure visualization; which is to say that they are imaginary. 

●●● Warding II

★ As with almost everything in magic, there are countless ways to create protective barriers around objects and places.

☆ Wards need to be effective and powerful, so choose methods you can relate to, and avoid experimenting with things you don't know or have a lot of experience with.

❗ Before creating a protective barrier anywhere, physical and spiritual purification is necessary, because in the same way that wards are able to prevent certain energies from entering, they also prevent all energies that are already inside from leaving. Ideally, the physical space should be clean and purified, to prevent existing energies from influencing the expected final result.

→ Warding Methods 101

• Spray warding

   This is a simple method that doesn't require much visualization, and is recommended for beginners. The intention placed at the time of creating and applying the flavoring, and choosing the right herbs is enough.

   Wards made from air fresheners are not as durable, and need to be redone every month or so. There are ways to enhance the effect, at the time of creating the flavoring, by combining it with sigils, crystals and using a good amount of herbs with protective properties.

• Incense

   For warding, it is recommended that only natural resin incenses are used, made from herbs with protective properties. If that's not possible, make an herbal smoking stick, but don't just use incense sticks to create energy barriers. Avoid using them, but if you still want to, combine them with other methods, or your ward will have low energy and will quickly deactivate.

• Sigils

   The best thing is that you create a specific sigil for the warding of the object or place you want to protect. You can adapt bindrunes for this purpose, but beware of runes that will be formed unintentionally during the process, as they can weaken or get in the way of the desired end result.

• Energy targeting

   If you're already experienced with energy manipulation and directing, this is a great way to work on these aspects and make your ward exactly the way you want it to look. It's also a very customizable way, so it's great for creating your own personal way of making energy barriers.

• Containers

   Barriers made using containers as a base have good longevity, and need to be reinforced less frequently. Choose a variety of fresh or dried herbs with protective properties, and add other ingredients that can boost energy, such as properly purified and energized essential oils and crystals for protective purposes.

• Salt

   Works well for creating temporary barriers. The salt used can be coarse salt, sea salt or table salt as a last resort. For more intensified protection, I recommend black salt

This is something that has come up a LOT and something I have either mentioned in asks or have been asked about, so let's talk a bit about it and WHY you should layer your protections and what strong and weak protections entail.

When creating your protections, whether you use jar spells, candle spells, amulets and talismans, energy work, or anything else, you obviously want to make the strongest protection you can, right? Well, the secret isn't in creating a single protection spell that will last and be effective for however long you need it, it's about layering.

*Insert sound bite of Shrek and how onions have layers

Just having one jar spell or candle spell to protect yourself may be good for a bit, but the more protection you have layered on top of each other, the stronger they will be. You should layer your protection like an onion: have many different types of protection, different layers, to make the strongest protections you can manage.

If you only have one protection spell and someone casts against you, then that protection may not be able to hold the line for very long, it may fail, or it may not be strong enough to defend you after that one attack to continue being a proper protection spell.

Same with energy shields/protection. If you have just one shield around your home or property, that's fine and dandy, but the more shields you add to it, layer on top or beneath it, all with different effects, the stronger your protection will be.

You want your protections to not just be layered on top of each other, but also have variety. Maybe you have one protection spell that is just keeping you from magical harm. Maybe add another one that is a return to sender protection spell, and another that is offensive so that if something does hit that shield, it will send back a hex (a fuck around and find out spell). Maybe make another one to inflict damage only if they get too close. Another to prevent spying on you so no divination can be done on you without your consent, lest it be obscured and anything divined is incorrect information. If you have houseplants, make those into wards/protections too. If they start dying suddenly (and you know you have been taking care of them properly), heal the plant to heal the ward.

You can also choose to have energy wards that do different things. Say, for example, one transmutes negative energy sent your way into abundance and prosperity for you. The next layer would then take any energy that cannot be transmuted and reflect it back. The next would absorb and use anything that still remains.

Layered protections act as a filter. When you have a water filter, it's not just one layer of cloth that filters out the dirt from the water, although that is needed too. There may be bacteria in the water not being caught by the cloth. You may then want to add charcoal, or other layers to your water filter to get all the impurities out of the water that you can. Same goes for your protections. The more you have, the less you need to worry about things coming your way.

Energy Protection Tip: If you have a selenite tower, visualize an umbilical chord of sorts connecting from your wards to your tower, or even to solar panels (if your house has them) or something else entirely that can keep supplying energy and can cleanse the wards as they need to be. Wards get tired and dirty too, a quick refresh can do a lot of good. Tying them to something to help with that makes wards almost ZERO maintenance.

Can you be TOO protected?

Yeah, to an extent. If you are so well protected that you are essentially living in a magically padded room, then nothing good OR bad can get in. If you set up your protections with wording like "protect me from things that are not of my highest good" so that anything that may need to happen for character development or experience building can happen. If you dont fall off your bike and scrape your knee, you don't learn anything. It takes little accidents to learn, and if you don't have any of those, then are you really learning anything in life? (not saying that bad things happen for a reason, there are bad things that should not happen and dont happen for any reason whatsoever, but like, minor things like a skinned knee and shit is what im referring to).

I always preach energy protection because I find it is the most effective and the easiest to create (once you have a basic understanding of using your energy and such). So i will attach some of those recommended posts for further info.

Hi everyone! Five years ago I started THE WITCHES' WORKBOOK, a book project designed for beginners to start their practical journey into magic, witchcraft, and spellcraft. I'm so happy that it's been helpful to you all over these years, and wanted to put up a post!

CHAPTER ONE: BEGINNING WITCHCRAFT is an orientation into what witchcraft is and isn't, common misconceptions, avoiding cultural appropriation, vocab, and other basics.

CHAPTER TWO: ELEMENTS OF WITCHCRAFT goes into all the aspects and fundamental pillars of witchcraft, ritual, spellcraft, and other "witch adjacent" crafts like herbalism and divination.

CHAPTER THREE: ENERGY ESSENTIALS is a guide on how to perceive and manipulate energy, including meditation, grounding and centering, raising energy, charging, and more.

You can read the three chapters so far here: https://theoryofmagick.gumroad.com/

It's also available in PDF form on Discord, via @archives-discord.

The books are always free, but tips are always appreciated! I hope to continue the project with more volumes as time goes on. Happy 5th Bookiversary to you all! <3

Full list of contents below:

Witchcraft: Fruits

Apple:

Protection, immortality, romance, longevity, adoration, endurance, warding, happiness, and love.

Apricot:

Admiration, compassion, cheerfulness, devotion, bliss, love, happiness, romance, and optimism.

Avocado:

Compassion, adoration, contentment, optimism, pleasure, romance, happiness, lasting love, and positivity.

Banana:

Fruitfulness, affluence, sexuality, lustfulness, fertility, prosperity, passion, bounty, sensuality, and desire.

Cherry:

Resurgence, reawakening, prosperity, revival, rebirth, sensuality, romance, rejuvenation, and fortune.

Coconut:

Purifying, revolution, rejuvenating, reawakening, exclusion, cleansing, transformation, and banishment.

Dragon Fruit:

Conquest, opulence, strengthening, excellent luck, victory, energizing, achievement, and success.

Grapes:

Extravagance, lushness, prosperity, fruitfulness, magnificence, regard, bountifulness, fertility, and luxury.

Lemon:

Cleansing, invigorating, cunning, purification, dexterity, refreshing, intelligence, and banishing.

Lime:

Regeneration, cleansing, stimulating, sustenance, reformation, revitalization, purification, energizing, and transformation.

Lychee:

Good fortune, sophistication, love, attraction, wealth, excellent treasure, elegance, romance, splendor, and abundance.

Mango:

Cheerfulness, success, happiness, delightfulness, prosperity, pleasure, abundance, and blissfulness.

Orange:

Cleansing, creativity, energizing, positivity, purification, refreshing, regeneration, Solar Energy, successfulness, and transformation.

Olives:

Camaraderie, coherence, cleansing, harmonization, restoration, purification, cooperation, synchronization, and healing.

Papaya:

Escalation, inspiration, contemplation, love, prosperity, and compassion, attraction, introspection, and romance.

Peach:

Vitality, perseverance, rejuvenation, wellbeing, spiritual rebirth, vigor, fertility, longevity, vitality, and fecundity.

Pear:

Synchronization, intelligence, wellbeing, affluence, endurance, harmonization, healthiness, prosperity, and longevity.

Pineapple:

Decadence, magnificence, affluence, knowledge, abundance, understanding, good luck, and opulence.

Pomegranate:

Fruitfulness, attraction, majesty, magnetism, lushness, fruitfulness, splendor, magnificence, and fecundity. 

Tomato:

Relationships, accomplishment, dignity, reward, triumph, desire, connections, success, honor, bounty, victory, and lustfulness.

Watermelon:

Witchcraft: Berries

Acai Berry:

Nourishment, happiness, energizing, motivation, productivity, healing, and blissfulness.

Blackberry:

Banishment, abundance, affluence, healing, dispelling, warding, prosperity, and protection.

Blueberry:

Gratitude, tranquility, harmonization, contentment, understanding, balancing, and healthiness.

Boysenberry:

Growth, ambition, accomplishment, inspiration, rebirth, hopefulness, and transformation.

Cloudberry:

Illusions, nourishment, glamours, healthiness, energizing, distortion, and energy manipulation.

Cranberry:

Healthiness, romance, elegance, purification, healing, cleansing, majesty, and sensuality.

Elderberry:

Blessings, fortification, invocation, healing, summoning, warding, conjuration, and protection.

Goji Berry:

Longevity, growth, motivation, vitality, ambition, expansion, lasting life, and motivation.

Gooseberry:

Happiness, enlightenment, joyfulness, sacredness, delightfulness, transformation, and spirituality.

Huckleberry:

Protection, wealth, defense, insightfulness, fortune, warding, affluence, and enlightenment.

Lingonberry:

Creation, fortune, beauty, wealthiness, good luck, attraction, prosperity, and potential.

Mulberry:

Calculation, abundance, intelligence, prosperity, patience, introspection, strategy, and good wealth.

Raspberry:

Warding, romance, kindness, protection, admiration, fortitude, compassion, and true love.

Salmonberry:

Compassion, courage, kindness, romance, bravery, generosity, insight, and awareness.

Strawberry:

Romance, purification, magnificence, kindness, cleansing, elegance, and sensuality.