Personal Protection Routine

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I teach protection magick at the Grey School.  One of the things that I get questions about is what sorts of protection routines my students should practice.  The answer is: it depends.

I believe that anyone who practices magick needs some kind of personal protective routine.  People who practice magick tend to attract more metaphysical attention than non-magick users.  Using magick lights up your aura like a lighthouse in the fog – that light pierces the astral and draws the curiosity of the things that live there (friendly and unfriendly).  This increased attention makes a magick user a lot more likely to be plagued by unfriendly entities than non-magick users.  People that practice magick also tend to be more sensitive to ambient energy and the energies given off by other people.  Practicing magick teaches helps to develop people’s energetic senses.  On the plus side, being more sensitive to energy makes working with it easier, on the negative it makes unpleasant energy feel a lot worse than it did when the senses were less sharp.  These increased sensitivities can make dealing with negative energy (most often from other people) quite difficult.  A regular cleansing and protective routine can make dealing with these things much easier.

Here is the routine I recommend:

Monthly (or at least once every three months): A full house cleansing and warding

Weekly: A cleansing ritual bath (can be done more often)

Daily: A protective spell in the morning and another at night

As needed: smudging

I recommend doing a fully house cleansing and warding, like the strong house cleansing ritual in my book, roughly once a month.  This will clear out stagnant or negative energies in your surroundings and help keep you from getting bogged down in old energy or the negative energies of your neighbours and keep your protections fresh and strong.

A ritual bath is far and away my favourite way to do personal cleansing.  It can be as elaborate as a full bath with steeped herbs, essential oils, and salts, or as simple as taking a moment during your morning shower to envision negative energy and attachments flowing away from you with the water and going down the drain.

I have a very quick and simple blessing that I say every morning to protect and guide me through my day.  I feel a little lost if I don’t say it (yes, I know that’s totally OCD but it works for me).  I also have a fairly extensive nightly protection ritual that I’ve talked about before.  If such ceremony feels like too much, something as simple as pausing for a moment before you head out for the day and envisioning yourself protected by the energy of your own aura would be better than nothing – the mindfulness of protection is the real goal.

And last but not least, I smudge whenever I feel that my energy is a bit gunky.  I personally like the heavy, earthy feeling of white sage or dragon’s blood, but any smouldering herb or incense can be used as long as it feels cleansing and healthy to you.