The Base Camp...

    I recently moved into a new place, like a big blank canvas for me to expand in. I didn't particularly like where I was living, for the most part, as it was cramped and felt rather cave-like. There was not enough room for my stuff, nor space enough for me to really work or create in. As such, the energy always felt a bit on the stagnant and opressive side, not allowing for growth, expansion or progress, things I actually saw reflected in my every day life. Why was this?
    Well, we spend a lot of time in our homes. Eating, sleeping, showering and doing whatever it is you do at home. It is your space, your domain, where you go to regroup, recoup and recharge your internal battery. It is also your tiny little "base camp" in this vast universe, where you lay out your life plans and decide what you want to bring into your universe. This is the crucial key, because if you are surrounded by negativity, you are going to unintentionally bring in negativity. I call this the Negative Life Flow.
    Negative Life Flow is when the energy of your Life pattern keeps you away from or even moves away from your desires and goals. This can occur because of road blocks, things pushing you another way, or even negative energy holding you stuck in place, dooming you to a repeated negative cycle that is nothing but toxic to your dreams and goals. Having your base camp in a place that is negative in some way can create this Negative Life Flow, keeping things from manifesting in a way you are wanting or even needing, keeping your Life from moving in a positive direction. What you need is a base camp that instills positive feelings, attracts the energy you need to create a Positive Life Flow in your life. To understand how to do this, you first have to understand the three key components of Positive Life Flow.  
    The first component of Positive Life Flow is attracting positive energy into your life. I once had a friend who was continuously bombarded with crap. What I noticed about them was that it almost seemed like when there was a lull in the action, they would basically stand there acting like they were waiting to recieve the next big pile of crap in the face, like they were inviting it, ordering it with a side of more crap. Crap attracts crap. Stop looking for crap. Your base camp should be a positive space, full of motivating, positive visual, audio and other sensory cues. You should be able to just step into this space and instantly feel the awesomeness coming towards you. Think of Positive Energy as the cool people everyone wants to hang out with. Your base camp has to be a space where the cool positive energy wants to come, hang out and do awesome things for you, like attract prosperity and love.
    Your base camp also needs to be an exclusive club, meaning absolutely no negative energy allowed. This is the second component of Positive Life Flow, keeping the negative out. Negative energy is like that really annoying friend that nobody really likes to hang out with, always bitching and complaining about how much their life sucks, the party sucks and they pretty much suck the life out of everything. How do you get away from them? You don't invite them in. You don't give them a house key. They are persona non grata in your base camp. If they show up at your door like a creepy pizza guy, you deal with them at your door, figuring out exactly what you need to do to deal with them as quickly as possible, all the while not letting them in. That is the key to dealing with negative energy.
    I am not saying you have to be happy and positive every moment of every day because that is not even remotely possible without some serious pharmacology. What I am saying is that when you are smacked in the face with a crap pie, you don't stand there and wear it for a while like a facial treatment. You figure out where the negative energy is coming from, why it is there, and how to disperse, rechannel and just drop kick it out of your space. If you can't figure it out, ask for help. If you don't have time to deal with it, set it aside with the clear and strict intent that you will not deal with it until you have time, and will not dwell on it or wear it around like a freaking crap hat. You will also give a specific time frame because you do not want this stuff just sitting there like roaches, festering, having babies, setting up housekeeping, creating a big fat pile of crap that keeps you from moving forward. The amount of negative crap you will have to shovel out of your path is directly proportionate to the amount of time you let it sit there and grow. Shovel it quick and be done with it so it is not blocking your forward progress.
    This is the third component to Positive Life Flow, keeping this positive life energy moving in a forward direction. This can actually be a tough one, especially if our base camp is full of what if's, if only's, and momentos of loss and regret. They act like pause buttons on your DVD player, holding you hovering in that one spot in time and not allowing you to move forward. There is nothing wrong with tokens and momento of the past in your base camp, but they should inspire you fly, give you comfort and strength to move forward, not act as anchors to hold you fixed to a moment in time. These are the things that should be in your base camp.
   Now, your base camp does not have to be your whole home. I am fortunate enough to where I could probably do that here as the only thing my boyfriend cares about is where he can put his tools and his underwear. Whether you are doing a big space, like a whole house, or a small room, the first thing is to pack away what triggers anything negative. You don't have to throw it away, just put it in a box for now until you can deal with the emotions it brings to the table. When you are finished doing that, look at what is left. How does it make you feel? Move stuff around; add stuff; subtract stuff. At each interval, stop and see how it feels. Leave the room for a while and come back, seeing if you still feel that positive life flow going on.
    Also, look at the space in your base camp and imagine how energy would move through it. Would it be able to flow freely or would it get bogged down? Would it even make it through the door? Positive Life Flow is about moving your life forward towards your goals, so the energy has to be able to move forward. Clutter equals chaos which equals negative movement, so stop it. Weird stuff lingering in your space distracts the energy, makes it stop and say "wtf?", ditch it. Be brutal, be honest. be real.
   And you realisitically cannot just tackle your entire house all at once, so don't beat yourself up or drive yourself insane. Start small. One room, one space. I, luckily, had that blank slate of a new place to work with. We brought just the furniture in and set that up. I had them place the boxes in the garage and started adding pieces in. I also utilized a number of the methods I talked in the blog I wrote back in January called "Magical Living Spaces". It is full of fantatic ideas about how to place things in a way to keep that Positive Life Flow on track.
    The bottom line is that a good base camp will keep that Positive Life Flow energy moving in the right direction. Added benefits are that your base camp is a place of healing, of finding your center when the rest of the world is just crazy, and a place where you honor the Divine within yourself. It doesn't have to be huge. Start by creating a small safe, nurturing and positive base camp in your corner of the universe, and see what happens to your universe.
Blessings
Urban...

Protective Practices Part Three: Preventative Practices

Preventative Protective Practices

    The best way to do damage control is to do everything you can to prevent psychic hazards before it actually happens. Once they are imbedded in your life, it is not just the magic you are up against, but all of the mundane fall out that may come with it. Financial issues, personal issues, even the loss of a job or relationship and much more can be part of the mundane fall out from a psychic hazard. The purpose of a psychic attack is to really wreak havoc on your life, and undoing that havoc can be ten times worse that undoing the harmful magic that caused it.

My advice is that preventative protective practices should be a part of every witch’s, energy worker’s, reader’s, community leader’s, metaphysical shop owner’s and anyone else’s every day life who is part of or tied to a metaphysical community. I also advise it for anyone else who understands what kind of crappy things people can do to one another and is willing to do a little work to protect themselves.

The following are absolutes when it comes to preventing any psychic attack or danger from wreaking havoc in your life. I will give you some general information and guidance on these, but it is always best if these things are shaped by your own personal traditions and practices as you will be more likely to maintain them.

First, you must physically and spiritually cleanse your space often. This removes any harmful energy that may have collected in your space and works to try and prevent negative energy from being able to collect or take root. Physical cleaning and decluttering creates an important positive energy flow. This means that good energy flows through your space bringing in with it positive things, and will even cycle negative energy out if it should make it into your space. Physical cleansing includes what is called reiving, the practice of physically cleaning with the added intent that you are removing the build up of negative energy yuck. Cleansing and protective herbs and crystals can be added to your cleaning solutions to take your cleansing to an even higher level and enhance the reiving effect. Once this is finished, smudging the space with protective incense, resins or herbs will remove what is left.

Second, you must also actually establish what the boundaries of your space are and set up protective wards. Wards are shields that we put in place to protect a specific location. The first step in warding is to actually set the physical boundary of your space by walking clockwise the boundary of your location with the strong intent in mind of “marking this as my space”. You can also use physical marker to outline the boundary of your space with quartz crystals and other protective stones, or even by sprinkling your boundary with blend of salt and protective herbs.

Once you have established your boundary, set your ward in whatever fashion you feel comfortable using and maintaining. Most traditions will have something about wards as part of their repertoire. I usually recommend using what is part of your tradition because it is something you are going to have to want to maintain regularly, so it should feel comfortable to you, be a compilation of practices you are already familiar with.

The method I use is similar to setting a circle. I walk my boundary, sprinkling an infusion (think strong tea) of salt and protective herbs as I go. I then call on each of the quarters and ask them to protect the space. I do not use invoking pentacles to affix them to the space as I am asking politely that they just keep an eye on things, asking them to linger about without locking them in place. I will then call upon a protective deity of hearth and home to watch over my space. These will be the Deities that are honored and incorporated into my house altar as a sign of respect and gratitude. A house altar is also a great part of your warding, working towards blessing your home, inviting in prosperity and honoring ancestors and the Deities you have incorporated into your warding.

You can also set guards in the form of totems. These can be mythical creatures or animals that you feel deeply connected with. I have known several people who have used images of gargoyles, dragons and fairies as part of their ward for their homes. In my home, I have turtles and owls because these are the totems that I connect with. Each likeness of my totem has been “animated”  with protective energy by way of a small ritual, and are recharged on a regular basis.

 I maintain my wards often, at a minimum of every full moon, making sure to thank the deities I have chosen to guard my space. I will repeat the entire process once a month, or sooner if I feel like there may be something going on or may potentially be a problem. I will also repeat the cleansing and warding process if I have been doing a great deal of magical work.

Other locational protections include Witch bottles. These are forms of warding that redirect negative energy that may be heading towards you. The bottle is buried away from your home and will contain the harmful energy safely where it can’t harm you, slowly neutralizing it with the energy of the surrounding earth. These can take a number of forms, and instructions on their construction are widely available.

Third, you must also cleanse yourself and set personal boundaries in the form of grounding, maintaining a strong sense of center and shielding. The two easiest ways to cleanse your self are to smudge yourself and take a cleansing salt bath. You should realistically smudge yourself as soon as you walk in the door every day to cleanse off any of the day’s residual ick. Arguments, bad traffic, stupid people and daily annoyances can easily attach negative energy to you like gum on your shoe. Incense can remove most of the ick, and a cleansing salt water bath can do the rest. You can also add herbs to your bath if you wish with cleansing properties, tucking them in a piece of panty hose, tying a knot, then tossing it in your bath.

Meditation will help with the mental and emotional cleansing to prevent the dangers we may spin ourselves, like thoughtforms. Grounding is the way in which we can gather energy, but we can also use it to keep our personal energy charged and cleansed. A strong awareness of our personal center keeps track of what is going on in your spiritual and physical body and helps to keep your energy centers functioning properly, like keeping your spiritual immune system up and running. I equate our personal center to the artificial horizon on an airplane’s control panel, used by pilots to keep a plane’s bearings.

Shielding is what some witches can find challenging. Understand that an aura is not a shield but an energy field through which we filter the energies that come our way, how we experience them, and is a reflection of our own personal energy. A good shield will not only protect us but also help to warn us if harmful energy or vampiric intentions are being directed at us so that we can act before it becomes a problem, strengthening our shield or even removing ourselves from the situation. If you use too much of your personal energy for this, you can be left feeling like you are dragging. The remedy I use to is pull Earth energy for my shield. I am always conscious of the energy beneath my feet, which can be tapped to cycle through for my shield. Other people employ other elements, power animals and deities to fuel their shield. Look at your own personal tradition to find a method that you will be most comfortable with. Also, a shield does not have to span out 20 feet in all directions but rather like a second skin or item of clothing. Visualizing your shield is also helpful, seeing it as a suit of armor or protective pajamas with an awesome hood (great way to teach the very young how to shield at large gatherings), even as the Cloak of the Goddess herself, the first method I learned as a very young priestess.    

Amulets are also a great form of protection to be use in addition to wards and shields. An amulet is a pendent or piece of jewelry that we have charged through ritual with protective energy. Unlike talismans, which work to attract something to you, amulets are designed to repel things like bad luck or danger. You can also create an amulet by placing a few protective herbs, stones and symbols, either written on paper or carved into something, in small drawstring bags, charging each item as you place it in with protective energy and then charge the entire bag as well. These can be worn or carried with you in your purse or pocket. You can even create for one for your car to hang from the rear view mirror or place in the glove box. Amulets can also be hung from windows and doors as part of your warding as well. The uses of protective amulets are as endless as your imagination.

Finally, you must learn to be aware of your surroundings and the types of energies you allow into your life. All the protection in the world will amount to naught if you invite and allow negative energy into your personal, spiritual and actual space. Think about how the people you allow into your space make you feel. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Think about the places and events you go to. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. This includes thoughts, deeds, other people and the places we go.

I have one final word of warning about all of this. Even the absolute best preventative protective practices cannot stop a bullet. There are real life monsters out there that are flesh and blood. While you can work physical protection into the warding you do for your space, and your own personal shield, you have to understand that it does not make you bulletproof. It can change your path to keep you from going into danger or any number of other things, but these things are not designed to take direct physical hit, and they certainly will not work against stupidity.

Here are a few helpful books on protective magic are:

The Witch's Shield by Christopher Penczak

Practical Protection Magick by Ellen Dugan

I am hoping that this series has been helpful in some way. I am leaving much up to you to research and figure out for yourself as part of practicing magic is putting some work into it rather than having it handed to you. I will be posting an additional blog with some helpful correspondences and tips.

Be safe and Goddess Bless,

Urban Crone.