Protection
Of all the powers that herbs possess, perhaps the most widely used are those that are protective. These are the herbs that disperse evil and set up a powerful protective barrier wherever they are burned, hung up, or carried.
Since these herbs are possessed of good or positive vibrations, they automatically work to repel negative, or evil, vibrations. Thus, when these negative vibes come up against a psychic energy barrier of positive vibrations, the negativity is bounced back. Protection is conferred.
All operations of protection are best done in the Waxing Moon. Red and white are the colors most commonly used for sachets, altar decorations, flowers, etc. Place a white cloth on the altar. On it arrange white, brand-new candles in candle holders and a vase of protective flowers, such as snapdragons, cyclamen, or rue blossoms, and some greens like trefoil, juniper, or rosemary.
For your ritual bath, add a few grains dragon’s blood bath salts, if available, or make up your own protective bath salts by putting one cup sea salt into a jar, and adding several drops rosemary, frankincense, or any other protective oil. Keep adding and mixing until all particles are moistened. Let sit for several days. Store in a dark, cool place.
To use, add three pinches to a very warm (or, if you feel up to it, very cold) tubful of water. After drying, anoint yourself with a protective oil, such as rosemary, rose geranium, hyssop, basil, or frankincense.
Burn pure frankincense or myrrh in your censer for a powerful incense, or use the following blend in equal parts: frankincense, wood betony, and dragon’s blood. Then, while the smoke seethes and swirls around you, do your protective magic! (There are varieties of dragon’s blood that are harmful. Some can cause pregnant women to abort. Be cautious.)
Protective Herbs
The list of herbs possessing protective properties is quite lengthy, but the most-often used are mentioned here.
Angelica
Asafoetida
Ash twigs and leaves
Avens
Balm of Gilead
Basil
Bay laurel
Betony
Cyclamen
Dill
Elderberries or leaves
Fennel
Fern
Flax
Fumitory
Horehound
Hyssop
Juniper
Mistletoe
Mugwort
Mullein
Peony roots
Periwinkle
Pimpernel
Rose geranium
Rosemary
Rowan
Rue
St. John’s wort
Snapdragon
Tarragon
Trefoil
Vervain
Use this list when making up sachets and protective amulets. (Note: Angelica closely resembles poisonous hemlock, which can be fatal. Take care to identify it correctly.)
Protection Sachets and Other
Protective Charms
One of the most effective protective charms is the protection sachet.
Get a piece of white cotton cloth, seven inches square. Next, select three, seven, or nine of the dried herbs listed above. Take equal parts of each and place them into an earthenware bowl. Mix them together silently for a few moments with your hands and then set aside.
Spread out the cloth on your altar. Transfer the herbs to the center of the cloth. Gather up the corners and, with a red piece of string, yarn, or thread, tie firmly around the gathered-up corners, capturing the herbs inside. As you tie the first knot, say in a firm voice:
I bind thee to protect this house and all within it.
Knot twelve times more, repeating the above with each repetition. When finished, stand, facing north, holding aloft your magic knife in your strong hand, the sachet in the other. With the tip of the knife pressed against the sachet, say such words as these:
May this that I have fashioned tonight
serve as guardian and protection for this house
and all who reside within it.
May it serve me well.
If the sachet is being made for a car, boat, or other vehicle, substitute the proper words.
Now, hang it up by its red thread, in the highest point in the house. If this is impossible, hang it inside a closet, or over the main entrance.
When used in cars or other vehicles, place it under the driver’s seat. It is also good to make up a few extras to hang over the doorstep, or to bury in the garden. They are truly all-purpose protective devices.
A simpler method of making an herbal protective was used extensively not more than one hundred years ago in the British Isles and on the Continent. Pick several protective herbs and bind the stems together with red thread, then hang up. This practice dates back to Babylonian times.
A close cousin to this was very popular in Italy a few centuries ago and is still effective. Get a twig of rowan on May Day (for best results). Twine several dozen yards of red thread or yarn around it, then place it in a window where it will be visible. This is an all-purpose protective charm.
At one time, Witches hung an acorn in every room in the window to protect the house. Some put a whole mandrake on the hearth for similar reasons.
Anti-lightning charms, for those who live in lightning-prone places, can be made of mistletoe, hawthorn, and bay laurel. Tie up as with the protection sachet, but use silver or white thread. Hang up in the chimney, or on the chimney, or in the highest point of the house.
Garlic, one of the most powerful of all protective herbs, was once placed beneath the pillows of sleeping children to protect them at night. A string of garlic helps ward off diseases, but do not hang it around your neck. Hang it up in the bedroom.
Onions are very protective. A half-onion is kept in the kitchen to absorb diseases and ill luck. It should be replaced every few days.
Babies are given necklaces of cloves that are hung in cribs or in the cradle as a safeguard against diseases and other ills, but be sure to keep all plants out of baby’s reach.
Finally, for a personal protective charm, take twigs from an oak or rowan tree. Put them down on your altar into a solar cross shape (equal-armed cross, the antecedent of the Christian symbol). Bind them together in this shape with red thread. Touch it with the point of your magic knife and infuse it with protective purpose, saying these or similar words:
Rowan (or oaken) tree and scarlet thread,
I conjure thee to be a protection
and safeguard against all adversity and evil.
Protect me well.
Always wear or carry it with you (it can be placed in your wallet, purse, etc.). The same charm can be made of larger branches and hung up in a room for protection.
As with all things, prevention is easier than curing. When protective measures have not been taken, or maintained, however, purifications are sometimes necessary.
Purifications
Purification is the casting out of negativity, evil influences, etc. It is usually performed when a sense of tension or uneasiness is felt in a house, particularly if several people notice it.
It is always performed just prior to moving into a new home or apartment, to be sure that no vibrations are left behind from the last tenants.
Then again, some magicians perform a purification ceremony every three months to keep the home harmonious and pleasant.
The best time to perform purification ceremonies is during the Waning Moon. A purification is a minor form of exorcism. Be absolutely certain that you are alone in the house or apartment. After your bath and anointing, you will dress in a white robe or clothes (you’ll be leaving the house halfway through the ritual, so dress accordingly). Open all windows, cover all food, and remove all pets including cats, dogs, reptiles, birds, even fish. There are to be no living things in the house save yourself.
If you are doing the ritual at a friend’s house, be sure that these preparations are carried out, and keep your friend out of the house. Take your bath and do your anointing directly before going to the house that needs purification, if it is not your own home.
Light the twin candles on the white altar cloth and set a quantity of the following incense alight in the censer (again, if at someone else’s home, set up a small altar there):
Purification incense: Bay, avens, mugwort, yarrow, rosemary, St. John’s wort, angelica, basil, juniper berries—equal parts of each. Powder and mix in the mortar and pestle.
While the incense is smoking in the censer, take several garlic cloves, one for each room of the house (including attics, garages, basements, etc.). Peel the outer skin off the garlic and place one in each room, in the center of the floor. If you have very bad feelings about one room in particular place one peeled clove garlic in each corner of that room.
Now, add more incense to the censer and carry it with you, going from room to room in the house, thoroughly censing the area. If you have a swinging censer, swing the bowl in a counterclockwise direction, which is the direction of banishing, of clearing. Clockwise is the direction of invocation.
When finished (do not forget attics, etc.), add more incense to the censer and place it, on a length of aluminum foil, in the center of the house on the floor. Leave the building (stand outside, sit on the front porch, in the car, whatever) for about thirteen minutes. (Wait until you feel that it is time to go back in).
Once back inside, gather up the garlic cloves, without touching them, put them in a plastic bag and put in the trash. Leave the candles burning for the rest of the evening. You can burn a little frankincense to purify the atmosphere. But the purification incense should never be burned while people are in the house.
Protection Wreath
As a closing to this chapter, the construction of the charming protection wreath is quite fitting.
Take several long branches of fresh rosemary, from one to two feet long. Fashion them into a circular shape, tying the ends together with fine green cotton thread. When the basic wreath shape has been accomplished, flesh it out with additional rosemary, securely tying the individual sprigs to the main body of the wreath.
When the wreath is full enough for your tastes, tie a red ribbon into a bow at the top or bottom of the wreath. Next, pluck any of these protective herbs from the garden or wilds and insert them into the twined rosemary: bay laurel, vervain, mistletoe, rue, mugwort, hyssop, fennel, basil, etc. The dried seed heads of rue, dill, and fennel work well too. Make sure the wreath has a well-balanced appearance, and that all herbs are firmly attached to the rosemary.
Now, collect several of these flowers and poke three, seven, or nine into the wreath for added protection: snapdragons, cyclamen, garlic flowers, marigolds, carnations, or roses. Attach string or a fine steel wire to the wreath in two places and hang up wherever protection is needed: over the hearth, on the front door, or in windows.
Any protective herbs may be used in this powerful wreath. The fresh flowers will have to be replaced at regular intervals but the herbs will dry beautifully.