A blessed Ostara to you! It's hard to believe it's spring already. The weather around here has been snowy off and on, windy, and cold. The wolves of winter are not giving up without a fight this year. The only sign of spring I've seen is the fact that I've got an extra hour or two of daylight (not exactly sunlight) when I get home from work and a few sad daffodils braving the muck. Honestly, I feel like it's still time to hibernate. I think it's time for some serious spring cleaning to jump start a change in my energy.
A blog about the darker side of magick and pagan spirituality from author Emily Carlin
20 March 2012
02 March 2012
Protection at Work
If you work full time you probably spend more time at work with your co-workers than at home with your family. As a result, the energies in your work environment can greatly affect your well-being. Most of the practitioners I know have good solid shields for when they're at work, but that's all. If you work in a high stress environment, like say a high volume law firm, then shielding alone might not be enough for you. In that case, you might want to take some more active protective measures.
If you have a permanent workspace (desk/cube/office/etc.) then you can set up basic wards on your space. Traditional wards are often worded along the lines of "nothing intending me or mine harm may pass these bounds." This type of ward really only works if you have absolute control of your space; if you don't necessarily have control over who comes into your space (like your belligerent boss or conniving co-worker) then other wording is necessary. I find that my work wards are most effective when I'm reasonable with them. Rather than saying "Co-worker X cannot come into my space and spew negativity on me," I would say "Limit co-worker X's entrance to my space to when it is absolutely necessary to complete a work task and s/he will depart as soon as our business is concluded." Part of being an adult and holding a job is learning to deal with people we don't like. To have our magick geared to make everything go "our way" all the time is tantamount to having a magickal tantrum - no wonder it's ineffective. I have wards on my desk to keep a particular co-worker from stealing my pens (and chewing on them like a beaver - so gross!) worded as "When Y needs to use my pen he will use it, not chew on it, and then put it back." I could have worded it as "Y shall not touch my pens!" but I really don't care if he uses them as long as he doesn't chew on them and walk away with them. I like to keep my wards at work to the bare minimum necessary to meet my needs because I really don't feel that I have the right to put my needs above the genuine needs of my co-workers.
Another reason to be minimal in your office protections is because many companies actually have office spirits. By that I don't mean that they're haunted, but that the culture and ethos of a business can actually create a thoughtform that embodies the espree d'corps of that business: its spirit. The older and more established the business, the stronger its corporate culture, the stronger its spirit will be. If you model your protections so that they work for the good of the business (e.g., asking for the ability to maximize your efficiency or to get critical work done before being bothered with the less important - thus minimizing your stress and making you a happier and better worker), you can tap into the power of this spirit, making your protections stronger and more effective. You can take further advantage by giving specific offerings to the spirit of your office. I've found that work spirits seems to really love offerings of service like bringing in cookies for the office, being the one to always make a fresh pot of coffee, or other "extra mile" services that make your office a more pleasant place to be.
I like to enhance the protections on my workspace by filling it with subtle, yet powerful objects that give me positive energy and a sense of refuge. One of the most important objects I have at my desk is my mini-altar. To the casual observer my mini-altar is nothing but a tin of altoids.
However, when you open the tin it's a very small altar geared towards protection.
It has a tiny candle, match, an obsidian, a small vial of salt, and a small vial of war water. It's nice to know that should an emergency ever arise I've got everything I need to do a full protective ritual; though I hope to never really need it. (A big thanks to Moonwriter for teaching me how to make tiny altars!)
The other thing I keep on my desk is a large stuffed bat.
His name is Bert (don't ask me why, it's just what came to me) and he sits with my tea. He was given to me by my husband and I find that giving him a squeeze is a great stress reliever. He may not be strictly magickal, but anything that can give me a sense of love and well being just by looking at it is magickal enough for me.
It's possible to have many seemingly mundane objects in your workspace that do double duty in both strengthening your magickal intentions and making the space your own. Pictures and postcards, stuffed animals, quirky coffee mugs, tea jars, pretty rocks (aka crystals), desk toys, hand lotions, lip balms, snacks and candies, pens, etc., can all be imbued with intent and can serve as reminders of your intent or even charged anchors for spells. Get creative with bringing magick into your workspace as subtly as possible. Even if your co-workers are open and understanding of your practices, subtle is better. Other than making certain muggles uncomfortable, having your magick out in the open can actually drain it of its power. Of course, you also don't want to be so subtle that your objects get fiddled with or thrown away by well meaning co-workers. Use your common sense; you know what is and isn't acceptable in your workplace, and if you don't check with your supervisor.
If you have a permanent workspace (desk/cube/office/etc.) then you can set up basic wards on your space. Traditional wards are often worded along the lines of "nothing intending me or mine harm may pass these bounds." This type of ward really only works if you have absolute control of your space; if you don't necessarily have control over who comes into your space (like your belligerent boss or conniving co-worker) then other wording is necessary. I find that my work wards are most effective when I'm reasonable with them. Rather than saying "Co-worker X cannot come into my space and spew negativity on me," I would say "Limit co-worker X's entrance to my space to when it is absolutely necessary to complete a work task and s/he will depart as soon as our business is concluded." Part of being an adult and holding a job is learning to deal with people we don't like. To have our magick geared to make everything go "our way" all the time is tantamount to having a magickal tantrum - no wonder it's ineffective. I have wards on my desk to keep a particular co-worker from stealing my pens (and chewing on them like a beaver - so gross!) worded as "When Y needs to use my pen he will use it, not chew on it, and then put it back." I could have worded it as "Y shall not touch my pens!" but I really don't care if he uses them as long as he doesn't chew on them and walk away with them. I like to keep my wards at work to the bare minimum necessary to meet my needs because I really don't feel that I have the right to put my needs above the genuine needs of my co-workers.
Another reason to be minimal in your office protections is because many companies actually have office spirits. By that I don't mean that they're haunted, but that the culture and ethos of a business can actually create a thoughtform that embodies the espree d'corps of that business: its spirit. The older and more established the business, the stronger its corporate culture, the stronger its spirit will be. If you model your protections so that they work for the good of the business (e.g., asking for the ability to maximize your efficiency or to get critical work done before being bothered with the less important - thus minimizing your stress and making you a happier and better worker), you can tap into the power of this spirit, making your protections stronger and more effective. You can take further advantage by giving specific offerings to the spirit of your office. I've found that work spirits seems to really love offerings of service like bringing in cookies for the office, being the one to always make a fresh pot of coffee, or other "extra mile" services that make your office a more pleasant place to be.
I like to enhance the protections on my workspace by filling it with subtle, yet powerful objects that give me positive energy and a sense of refuge. One of the most important objects I have at my desk is my mini-altar. To the casual observer my mini-altar is nothing but a tin of altoids.
The other thing I keep on my desk is a large stuffed bat.
It's possible to have many seemingly mundane objects in your workspace that do double duty in both strengthening your magickal intentions and making the space your own. Pictures and postcards, stuffed animals, quirky coffee mugs, tea jars, pretty rocks (aka crystals), desk toys, hand lotions, lip balms, snacks and candies, pens, etc., can all be imbued with intent and can serve as reminders of your intent or even charged anchors for spells. Get creative with bringing magick into your workspace as subtly as possible. Even if your co-workers are open and understanding of your practices, subtle is better. Other than making certain muggles uncomfortable, having your magick out in the open can actually drain it of its power. Of course, you also don't want to be so subtle that your objects get fiddled with or thrown away by well meaning co-workers. Use your common sense; you know what is and isn't acceptable in your workplace, and if you don't check with your supervisor.
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