This was the presentation I gave on February 23, 2012 for the Kansas CIty Northland Wiccan monthly event. I have actually split it up into three parts as it is incredibly lengthy. I have also expanded on a number of the things we discussed that I really did not have time to get deeper into. I also have added things through out all three sections that I would have liked to present but was pressed for time. This is a topic I could spend an entire day discussing as it is a deeply significant as well as controversial subject.
The Pink Elephant in the Room
Protective Magic is an odd topic. Some people want to discuss it in one breath, while passing it off as pointless and saying that there is no need for it in the next. There are those who genuinely want to believe that “Harm None” is enough to keep the most enraged Witch from whipping out her wand, or that fear of the Threefold Law might at least somehow stay their hand. The wiccan Rede is sometimes viewed in the same light and carrying the same weight as Judeo-Christian doctrine. And there are those who would like to believe that Wicca is all light and love, and that no Wiccan would ever dare to do anything to the contrary.
The reality is that while we would like to believe that all of us are spiritually evolved to find understanding and forgiveness for those who have grieveously wronged us, we are human. We have moments of fears, rage or envy, and we may manifest, either consciously or unconsciously, harmful intent and energies towards another person(s).
Also, understand that Wiccans do not own, did not invent nor has the market cornered on Witchcraft. Witchcraft is far older than Wicca and spans every culture, each having its own type of sympathetic magic and ethical code. With enough time, access to information and determination, anyone can learn Witchcraft. Not all Witches are Wiccan. And, not all Wiccans are nice.
Psychic Hazards
In order to protect yourself, you need to know what is out there. It isn’t pretty and can sometimes leave you feeling a little unnerved at the ways in which things can go sideways. But, being forewarned is forearmed, and knowledge can truly be power, especially in a magically charged community. Understanding what psychic hazzards are out there can help you protect against and prevent many of them from occuring. Psychic hazzards are, simply put, dangers posed by harmful energies. There are really two types of psychic hazzards.
The first is the psychic attack, the manifestation and directing of harmful intent and energy, whether consciously or unconsciously, towards another person, group, etc. These types of attacks can be divided into two catagories, the intentional and the unintentional.
Unintentional Psychic Attack
In my opinion, about 70% of all psychic attacks are unintentional, unconscious attacks by people who are afraid of someone or something they represent, angry or hurt about an incident, or envious of something someone else has. These heavily-charged, energy-rich emotions are forms of negative energy that, if left unresolved, will build themselves a head of serious steam. If someone happens to have a good visualization skills and the ability to project energy, the subject of these emotions can actually experience a psychic attack of some sort. These are actually some of the hardest to deal with as they are chaotic in nature and require you to not only deal with the attack itself but all the emotions of the person sending the unconscious attack.
Unintentional psychic attacks can also take the form of gossip, criticisms and harsh judgments from other people, especially if these are unwarranted and untrue. Many people do not realize when they take part in these negative behaviors, they are also building and creating harmful energy towards the subject of the attack. These behaviors can create a web of negative energy that can cause the target of the unintentional attack physical illness and other manifestations.
Another curious form of psychic attacks are things like uninvited prayers, Reiki, and other forms of “healing and energy”. It is strange to see these as such, because these are sent with the best of intentions. However, if a person is feeling under the weather or a bit off kilter, they may take the time to diagnose the situation and take the appropriate steps to set things right. These steps may include mundane measures as well as very complicated pieces of magic or energy work. Then, all of a sudden, there is some foreign energy being flung at them that can perhaps complicate the issue even further. Also, keep in mind that you may not know the entire story or know what is actually wrong with this person. What they are going through may be something they are meant to go through as part of a life lesson or some higher purpose.
Here’s the thing, there is nothing wrong with prayer, reiki, etc when it is asked for. Then, the person expects this in flux of energy and can deal with it accordingly. Again, you never really know the whole story and what measures they are taking to resolve the issue, so it never hurts to ask first. You can’t go wrong with a little courtesy, especially when doing something that may change someone’s life.
Psychic Vampires
Psychic Vampires fall in between intentional and unintentional psychic attackers. They are individuals who draw upon the emotions and the energies of others so that they can feel better, getting a high from it. These people will bounce from person to person, group to group, until they either tire of the energy they are pulling or it becomes obvious of what they are doing and are shunned. Most of these individuals do not realize they are doing this, just that they like the high they experience when around their target.
I place spell/divination/reiki beggars within this category as they are unintentional psychic vampires. There are those who need help, but these people always need help, or healing or the answers to some life or death question. They blow up your phone, facebook and email with their energy sucking pleas of neediness. You help them once, and then it just never seems to end. These are unconscious vampires of your time and energy.
There are people who are fully conscious of being psychic vampires. Whether they attend every single gathering and fawn all over everyone or stir up drama so they can feed off the energy, they are always in the middle of it all, licking their fingers as they stir the pot, and cozying up to the most energy-rich and unsuspecting targets in the room. It is actually easier to fall prey to these psychic vampires than you think as they usually employ another form of intentional psychic attack called Mesmerism.
Mesmerism is a type of glamor, using a combination of charm, flattery and manipulation of energy to suppress another persons will. They are persuasive, convincing and sometimes seductive, making their target do their bidding without the target really realizing what is happening. For some people, this can be an unintentional, unconscious act. Others, know exacty what they are doing, people that can be seen as web spinners, slowly wrapping the strings around you until you lose yourself. Some leaders and collectors of psychically gifted people are like this, gathering people about them as they feed off of the rush from controlling others. Some will also attempt to separate their target out from the rest of the group, especially when others see them for what they are. Most of the time, the targets have no clue they have been mesmerized until sometime later when they are able to look back on their relationship with this person.
Intentional Psychic Attacks
These are the most sinister, and in skilled hands, can be deadly. These are curses, hexes, and folk magics, like soul bindings and the evil eye. These are intentional psychic attacks that while people do not like to discuss them, they need to be aware that they exist and understand something about them in order to be able to protect and combat against them.
A Hex is usually specific, being tied to a specific event, a specific time frame, or some lesson the target must learn for the hex to be dispelled. For example, Karmic Hexes are set up so that if the target changes their ways and learns their lesson, the hex dissipates. All hexes are have a built in expiration, dispelling when whatever the caveat of the hex is fulfilled. It also means that should the target die, the hex will die with him. Curses, on the other hand, can sometimes be passed from generation to generation.
Curses are malevolent spells intentionally done to continuously inflict harm upon another, which is what makes them different from hexes. Curses can have a very long shelf-life, sometimes not only affecting the intended target but their entire bloodline for generations to come, like a rather unsavory inheritance. Curses do not have an expiration date, but must actually removed by the caster, the target or an agent of the target.
Ancestral curses are the hardest to break because there may be no information regarding what the original issue was or even how long ago the curse was cast. As decades and centuries pass, ancestral curses often become bad runs of luck for a particular bloodline, often also following the gender line (male or female) as well. If you can, do your research and trace the run of bad luck as far back as you can to try and discern when the curse occurred, even the geographical location. These can sometime give you clues as to the type of curse it was, as curses do run in fads, as well as the culture that may have shaped by the curse itself. If you cannot find any information, you are going to have to figuring out how to transform the harmful energy into something positive and break the cycle, or find a curse breaker that may be able to assist you.
These ancestral curses are usually forms of folk magic, sympathetic spell work that encompasses local customs and religious practices. One of the most common of these is the evil eye. Some form of the evil eye can actually be found in many cultures, including Indian and Italian. It is believed that the evil eye is the directing of harmful energies from one’s eyes to another, or even their third eye, disrupting the spiritual body of a person, or even chakra column, causing illness and other things. This person can appear to be lethargic and disconnected from their own consciousness.
Soul bindings (the blanket term I use to describe something that has many names in many different cultures) are the taking and holding, for some sort of compensation, a piece of or a whole soul. These are another form of folk magic, especially prevalent in places where spirituality and magic are part of everyday life, like Haiti Louisiana Africa . There is a belief that when one is ill, it is because part of their soul has been separated from their body. Certain practitioners of folk magic can take and keep this part of a person’s soul, usually holding it until they receive what it is they were after. If one is a deep sleeper known to astral travel, the spirit body can also be at risk for a soul binding.
Another form of soul binding is the taking of a deceased person’s whole soul. This is more prevalent in cultures where there are very serious and specific funeral rites that are performed in order for the person’s spirit to pass on. This can happen to someone before the spiritual rites have been completed, the whole soul being kept from the family until they give the taker what they want, sometimes a blood debt or ransom. This is not generally talked of in the United States
A final word on Folk Magic: if you choose to travel to another country, take as much time to learn the local folk customs as you do the language. There are things that we often ignore every day in American culture that are seen as insults or worse in other cultures. This does not make these people ignorant or savages in any way, but people who honor the folkways and mores that are probably far older than our own and should be shown respect.
All of these curses, hexes and folk magics are intentional psychic attacks, things that other people consciously do to someone else. There are other things that one should protect their selves from as well, what I call psychic dangers.
Psychic Dangers
The difference between a psychic attack and a psychic danger is that attacks come from other people where dangers just come from everything else. These things include:
Things evoked that were never dismissed: We cast a circle and call upon things for ritual and magical workings. We sometimes forget to release them, or close a gate we have opened. The rule here is to observe good magical hygiene. This means that if you open it, close it. And, really, do not open a door if you cannot close it. There are gates, veils and doors between each level of the astral plane for a very good reason and they are not to be played with. Good magical hygiene also means that if you call it, let it go. Gods, Goddesses, elementals and spirits of all types and dimensions find it very disrespectful to be called upon and then not graciously released because you forgot, and will express this in a number of unsettling ways.
Lingering spirits attracted to magical energy: when we do what we do, it is like we light a flare of energy that attracts all manner of celestial critters, some good or otherwise. I do consider Fairies, pixies, brownies and the like to be these. There are those who can coexist with these beings without issue, and some who cannot, especially when they are uninvited. Sometimes, these spirits will leave when the excitement is over, and sometimes not. To combat this, it is good to be in the habit of practicing another piece of magical hygiene, if you create it, clean it up. All energy work of every kind will leave residual energy behind so it is critical that you cleanse your space often, especially after working magic or performing a ritual. A good rule of thumb is at least once every lunar cycle, and more if you are doing a lot of energy work.
Thought forms that have taken on an essence and life of their own: I have always said we create our own demons, and I am literal about this. We obsess over negative ideas, feeding them a ton of negative energy until they take on a life of their own. Left unchecked, they can manifest into entities that can wreak havoc on your life. Thoughtforms are actually common and usually mistaken for undeparted souls. They usually are manifestations of a person’s anxiety about a personal issue or the safety of one’s self or loved one. I also consider being such as house wights to be thoughtforms, as they often have a basis in unresolved, highly charged emotions attached to a location by someone, even if the person no longer lives there. Cleansing your person and your space regularly can prevent these from being able to taking hold. Also, things like journaling, meditation, and anything that can help you maintain a healthy emotional view of things, or be able to see and acknowledge when an issue may be growing into an obsession. Reconciling obsessions by looking at their cause and how they may be resolved, or getting help when needed, can often prevent thoughtforms from forming in the first place.
I consider past-life energy dangers to be thoughtforms created by the unconscious mind. These are thoughtforms that we carry with us from one life to the next usually stemming from significant unfinished business in our past life. The thoughtform usually tries to move the unsuspecting person towards finishing the work, which is often not apparent and may manifest as an OCD act we cannot explain. Divination can be useful in pin pointing what the unresolved issue from the past life was so that it can be somehow resolved. Practitioners of past life regression and readers of Akashic records can be invaluable in this instance.
Souls that refuse to depart: I am not going to get into huge detail about these for a few reasons. One of these reasons is that when I am approached by people thinking they have an issue with an undeparted spirit, it, most of the time, ends up being a thoughtform created by the person’s anxiety. It is often far easier to blame a ghost than to deal with one’s own issues, especially when if comes to serious traumas and instances of abuse or neglect. These a few of the most common forms of thoughtforms and can linger in a location long after the person has left as a menacing house wight.
The other reason that I will not go into huge detail about undeparted souls is that they are reasonably uncommon forms of psychic danger. On the rare occasion that this is the case, these can take several forms including souls that are attached to a location because of incidents that led to their death, recently deceased souls that have not yet transitioned, and souls refuse to pass on due to unresolved issues. Divination by a skilled practitioner should be used to determine if this is the case as actual hauntings are not as all together common as people think they are. If this is the case, some research should also be done regarding the soul, location and any other pertinent information and then measures taken to release the soul from that space so that they can move on. There are some very good rituals available for this, and it is advisable to find a reputable person that can do this.
The next section will discuss the signs that you may be experiencing a psychic hazard of some sort, either intentional or otherwise.
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