Psychic Protection

Bill Duvendack

Megalithica Books
Stafford England
 Psychic Protection by Bill Duvendack
© 2019 First edition, eBook edition through KDP 2020

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or

portions thereof, in any form.

The rights of Bill Duvendack to be identified as the author of this

work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

Cover Design: Danielle Lainton

A Megalithica Books Publication through KDP

An imprint of Immanion Press
[email protected]
www.immanion-press.com
 Contents
Protecting Yourself: A Foreword by Storm Constantine
Introduction

Section One-Physical Plane Tools

Chapter One: Proactive Health and Self-Defense
Chapter Two: Psychic Attacks, the Experience
Chapter Three: Semiprecious Stones
Chapter Four: A Protection Apothecary

Section Two-Emotional Plane Tools

Chapter Five: Emotional Health and Protection
Chapter Six: Vampires

Section Three-Mental Plane Tools

Chapter Seven: Body Language & Hypnosis
Chapter: Eight: Critical Thinking Tips

Section Four-Spiritual Tools

Chapter Nine: Daily Spiritual Regimen
Chapter Ten: Living Spirituality

Afterword
Bibliography for Further Reading
About the Author
Other Books by Bill Duvendack
 Dedication
This book is dedicated to all those who want to further their self-
empowerment through self-control and knowledge, rather than
control of others.
 Protecting Yourself
A Foreword by Storm Constantine
The philosophical principle known as Occam’s Razor tells us that
the simplest explanation for something is usually the correct one. Bill
Duvendack keeps this principle in mind throughout the book you hold
in your hands.

Psychic attack is traditionally regarded as a situation in which

someone believes another person is trying to do them harm – but in
secret via mind and will rather than through a physical assault, or by
causing trouble with lies and accusations behind a victim’s back. In
this book, Bill argues that what might seem to be psychic attack
could easily be the result of a host of other, simpler causes. He
examines the ways in which you can protect yourself psychically –
not just from potential ill-doers but from unwise life choices and
habits. If you think you’re under psychic attack, the chances are
you’re not, so it’s vital to eliminate all other causes of symptoms and
effects before tackling the idea that you really do have an enemy out
there pitting their will against yours.

The way you look after your body is of vital importance. Being
dehydrated can cause depression and anxiety, perhaps leading to
the feeling that someone is working against you. An unhealthy diet,
heavy on junk food, causes illness in the body, such as diabetes,
which itself leads to feeling enervated and dizzy, as if someone is
directing negative energy at you. Not getting enough sleep or
worrying too much – all of these can contribute to a situation where
you might feel weak, exhausted, disempowered and besieged. The
book covers in detail how best to take care of yourself in these
respects. As well as working to be physically and mentally well, you
can learn how to protect yourself physically, by learning some form
of self-defense; this contributes to greater well-being as you are
inexorably led to feeling more in control of your life and less under
threat. But once all the possible causes of physical and mental
illness have been examined and dismissed, and the signs of attack
are still there, it’s time to consider taking action on another level.

This book gives comprehensive advice on using gem stones and

herbs to protect yourself, describing in detail the properties of these
materials, how they work and why they are useful. Sometimes, it
might be necessary to deal with others who are causing harm –
whether intentionally or in ignorance. You might’ve come across the
‘psychic vampire’ type who can drain your energy if you spend too
much time in their company. You’ll find descriptions of the different
types of ‘vampire’ – not those of legend who feast on blood, but
those who gorge themselves on the energy and emotions of others.
Some might do so intentionally – others without realising the effect
they have on people. You can develop techniques to deal with all
types, preventing them from affecting you detrimentally.

The way you carry yourself also contributes to your personal

psychic protection. You’ll learn how to adapt your body language to
help create effective armor when dealing with day to day situations,
when someone might seek to bully, control or subdue you. There are
tips on how to think critically, analysing situations to get the best
results. Overall, with practical techniques in addition to those I’ve
described here, Psychic Protection provides tools to deal with the
ups and downs of work, socialising and the home, so that you may
become the commander of your life rather than a victim, blown this
way and that, feeling out of control. This is an empowering book. No
matter how experienced you are in the subject of psychic protection
there will be ideas and suggestions here to add to your store of
knowledge.
 Introduction
You may be asking yourself “Why another book on psychic
protection? Hasn’t this topic been discussed to death?” Yes, it has, in
books both good and bad. There are a few things that separate this
book from the countless others that already exist. First, the emphasis
is on practicality. You will find discussions here on helpful herbs and
semiprecious gemstones that are useful. However, you will also find
information on reading body language, and techniques you can use
when you might not have other tools available. The layout of this
book is also unique in that we will look at tools and techniques
associated with the four planes in the Western Esoteric Tradition.
This point alone means you can flip quickly to the appropriate
section for speedy research. Tools for the physical, emotional,
mental, and spiritual planes will be discussed in depth. After all, a
large part of success involves using the right tool for the job.

Special attention will also be given to discernment. Not every

hardship, challenge, or lesson we go through while we are
incarnated is a psychic attack, after all! As a matter of fact,
something I learned a long time ago is that if you think you are being
psychically attacked, you are most likely not. To understand this
takes an education in astrology and karma, and thus both of those
points will be addressed in here, albeit cursorily, but enough to
establish a baseline for critical thinking. This does set the stage for a
warning, though, which is that if you are disempowered, guilty of
Chicken Little syndrome, then you will either find yourself challenged
to get through this, or you may not resonate with it at all. (Chicken
Little syndrome is when you constantly think the sky is falling. In
other words, constantly worrying that situations will go bad. By
worrying in this way, you can create a negative event to happen in
the future.) Many people would rather play the victim than put in the
hard work necessary for growth, and this book is not for them.
 Like my earlier title Spirit Relations, this book is a manual
intended for those who want to do the work necessary to protect
themselves in everyday life. Because of this, spiritual fantasy vs
spiritual reality will also be discussed in here. In this way, this book
will challenge what you think you know, and while it will elucidate
subjects in clear, concise, and practical terms, it will also encourage
you to question what happens to you in day-to-day life from a new
empowered perspective. When you have finished reading it and
implementing what is discussed, you will find your life is more under
your control than ever before. I have worked with every technique in
these pages and most of them extensively at that, so I can say from
experience that these are proven techniques that should be available
to all. If you are an experienced Will worker, you can enjoy what is
contained herein because of the wide-ranging topics and subjects
discussed. And if you are a beginner, this material can help you
avoid a lot of issues that many in the past have suffered, as they
performed trial and error with their lives as petri dishes. Enjoy, and
be ready to step outside your comfort zone. This is the only way
growth occurs, though. Don’t believe me? Ask any seed that has
broken the comfort zone of soil through conflict to become a fully
blossoming plant. Cheers!
Bill Duvendack
St Louis MO USA
Spring Equinox 2019
 Section One
Physical Plane Tools

Proactive Health and Self-Defense

Physical Health

Let’s start with a disclaimer. I am not a dietician, nor a doctor of

any variety, so take what I say here as inspiration and additional
information to what your health care professional says. The material
in this chapter and the next are meant as additional perspectives and
insights into physical and mental health and the professionals that
address such topics. This is not meant as replacement information.
In other words, don’t be an idiot. Are we good? If so, let’s go.
There are many people in the world who have health situations
they deal with on a regular basis. Some of these are visible while
others are invisible, and it is not the place of this book to make any
judgments or comparisons on said people or topics. After all, to
quote the World Teacher Aleister Crowley, “It is the mark of the mind
untrained to take its own processes as valid for all men, and its own
judgments for absolute truth.” Just because you or I can do
something doesn’t mean everyone can do it, and this is an important
fact to keep in mind while reading this chapter.
Some authors in this field will tell you to get healthy, but they fail to
define what that means. Or, worse yet, they will tell you what it
means, leaving out the fact that this is from their experience and
perspective only, and may not apply to everyone who reads their
book. I completely agree with them it is wise to get healthy, but that
means health as it relates to you, not necessarily me, nor really
anyone else. In order to do this, you should consult with a health
care professional to get a handle on your health. Perusing topics on
your own is inadequate. Arrange a consultation with a health care
professional to establish a baseline and then peruse said topics. The
point of this is not to become the picture of health you find in pulp
fitness and beauty magazines. Rather, the point of this is to make
sure you have a firm grasp on your health so that you are more
empowered in your life and are in a better position to read the
messages from your body and the universe.
For example, let’s say you have undiagnosed diabetes. This may
manifest as feelings of vertigo or lack of energy, among other
characteristics, and you may interpret this to be a psychic attack,
when in reality it is your health calling for attention and has nothing
to do with a psychic attack. A large part of dealing with psychic
protection lies in the critical thinking tool of Occam’s Razor. In short,
Occam’s Razor simply says that most times in life, the simplest
answer and solution are generally the correct ones. Competent
ghost hunters are very familiar with this when they explore a
location. Instead of assuming everything is a spirit, they will look for
copper wires and other explanations before jumping to conclusions.
This is the application of logic at its finest. Claiming a phenomenon
has a supernatural origin should be a last resort conclusion rather
than a first option. The best way to get into this headspace is to have
a firm grasp and understanding of where your health is currently at.
To come back to the previous example, if you know you have
diabetes and you experience those symptoms, then you will know
what you are experiencing is related to it and not some supernatural
cause.
An extension of this is to learn how to read your body. This is a
little more challenging and may require more effort than just setting
up a consultation with a health care professional. Did you know that
one of the manifestations of dehydration is depression? It is true.
Sometimes when we are depressed, we are really just lacking the
appropriate amount of water our body requires to perform at optimal
levels. Thus, the next time you feel yourself depressed, drink a
decent amount of water for a while and see how you feel in time.
One of the ways you can tell if you are dehydrated is to look at your
urine in the toilet. If it is a dark color, chances are that you are
dehydrated. This paragraph is only one example of a lot of material
that is available for those who are willing to do the research, and you
can see how valuable it is to know these things. Sometimes people
are depressed, and they think there is a supernatural cause for it,
when in reality it is the result of biological and physical needs
connected with their body.
Another example is cramps. No, I am not talking about menstrual
cramps. I am a guy after all, so really I don’t have any right nor place
to discuss such things. I am talking about experiencing cramps in
your legs or hands. Cramps can often make situations like sleep
paralysis occur. Many times, this can indicate a deficiency in
potassium. This can get into sticky territory though, because of a
topic often times misunderstood, which is sleep paralysis. Sleep
paralysis is actually perfectly natural, but what makes it distinctive is
that sometimes people wake up during it, generally having horrific
nightmares in the process, and many of those times people think
they are under psychic attack from creatures from another world,
which of course they are not. An entire book could be written about
the subject, specifically from an occult perspective, so I will not
spend a lot of time on it here, other than to show how it relates to
psychic protection. If you know about sleep paralysis, then you can
more accurately discern whether you are suffering from that or an
actual psychic attack. Logically, and more frequently, someone
suffers sleep paralysis rather than an attack from a nonphysical
entity. Sleep paralysis basically occurs when your body becomes
immovable in order to protect you while you are asleep. It does this
so you don’t do something that would be damaging to yourself while
you are resting. As you can see, a potassium deficiency could cause
more severe sleep paralysis due to the cramping factor. We can get
cramps at any time though, and if we don’t know about the
potassium link, we may think it is the result of an attack.

Mental Health

So far we have been discussing physical symptoms and health,

but let’s take a moment to discuss mental health. I put this section
here instead of the mental plane chapter of the book because many
times mental health is due to a chemical imbalance or some sort of
physical defect rather than a state of mind. We will discuss traumas
in the next chapter where we focus on emotional health. Mental
health is as serious if not more so than physical health, and so it
deserves some time and attention here, especially in light of a lot of
misconceptions, dogmatic views, and outright incorrect information
that is currently popular in the world.
I want to start off addressing a common phrase currently in use
that gets a bad reputation, but that is due to being taken out of
context and being misunderstood: “I meditate, not medicate.” I first
learned this phrase at the turn of the century when I was just getting
integrated with the local neo-pagan community, and I first heard it
from several ex or current hippies. And yes, when I say hippies here,
I am specifically referring to those from the 1960s and 1970s, and
not this new form of hippy that I see out and about in today’s world.
Yes, there are many differences, but that is a conversation for
another time and place.
The point and context of this saying that people tend to ignore or
are simply ignorant of is that it came about from the generation that
furthered the exposure of many drugs into society in an attempt to
open minds and increase the spiritual progress of the species,
especially in the Western world. The phrase really has a two-fold
meaning. First, it is saying that many use drugs for spiritual progress,
when meditation works just as well, if not better. Secondly, it is
saying that sometimes people use prescription drugs as crutches,
choosing not to face whatever it is the drug addresses, and this
practice is wrong and unhealthy. However, remember that this
phrase is quite old now, and its transmission has been diluted by
newer generations that only heard it, but have never heard it
explained like this. I was fortunate enough to have it explained to
me. In current society, people use this phrase as an attack on the
pharmaceutical industry and indirectly people who use artificial
substances instead of natural cures. Which of course means they
miss the whole point of what it is really saying. You can’t blame them
for missing the point, though. Their heart is in the right place in that
they are saying it is better to use natural means than live with a
crutch or in denial, and in these times of expensive pharmaceutical
drugs that have the side effect of “may cause death,” there is truth in
what they say.
But, the major problem with this is that people use it as a blanket
term and do not apply critical thinking to its application. Of course, it
is always wiser to meditate than medicate. There are several things
to consider before making a decision about this, though. First,
psychedelics and many other drugs are fantastic gateways to further
spiritual growth and personal gnosis, so using them in the beginning
of your spiritual journey is not necessarily wrong, and anyone who
tells you otherwise has no understanding of shamanism or the roots
of current humanity. However, if one never progresses beyond their
use, then they become crutches and thus limit true growth. Secondly,
many people cannot meditate instead of medicate, because the
medications they are on balance out chemical imbalances in the
brain, so the pharmaceuticals are acting in the stead of what natural
chemicals would be doing, if they were present in proper and healthy
amounts. Third, why is the phrase an either or statement at all? I
know many people who are on pharmaceutical drugs to balance out
brain chemistry who still meditate, so why pressure someone into
something unhealthy, like being guilted into meditating and not
medicating? Yes, it is true that guilt is a choice though, so that
should be considered as well.
Another problem with the phrase is that a strong argument is being
made that the modern psychiatry movement, including the over
prescription of pharmaceuticals, is retarding the spiritual evolution of
the species, and is therefore detrimental en masse. Many of the
great religions and spiritual practices of the world have their roots in
spiritual experiences triggered by natural mind-altering substances
and possibly even mental illnesses. One example of this is that it is
widely believed the Book of Revelation in the Judeo-Christian Bible
was written by St John while he was on a hallucinogenic journey!
Another, more controversial example of this, is that many of the
times key spiritual leaders and influencers through history claim to
have heard stories, they may have been suffering from split
personalities, hearing voices in their heads, rather than actually
interacting with spirits. This one point alone could be discussed in
depth in a separate volume to this book, but it does illustrate the
point that many times throughout history mental issues and altered
states of consciousness have actually bettered us as a species
rather than retarded our growth. In the modern world,
pharmaceuticals are dulling and oftentimes stopping our spiritual
experiences, which as you can see when you look at the world, is
hurting our development.
Am I advocating for or against using mind altering substances with
regards to spiritual practices? Those who truly know me already
know the answer to that, but in short, it comes down to Do what thou
wilt shall be the whole of the law. Make the decision that is best and
most appropriate for you, but before you decide, DO YOUR
RESEARCH!
Dr Israel Regardie is famously known for making the statement
that before you begin magick you should get a clean bill of health
from a mental health professional (I am paraphrasing his exact
words by the way). This makes sure you are mentally competent,
and it helps to establish a baseline for collating the results of your
work. However, later in life he changed his view on this for various
reasons. Ultimately, this concept is something it is wise to ponder,
but there is no dogmatic right or wrong as to whether or not you
should do it. The choice is yours. His idea of establishing a mental
baseline is a good idea and logically sound, though, which means it
is worth considering before you begin. If you are already working
with magick, then it is wise to periodically review your journals to see
how much you’ve changed through your experiences.
All of this should be kept in mind when considering psychic
protection, because it is wise to know what something is going to do
to your body before you ingest it. It is also wise to know what your
limitations are, and to accept them. For example, if you are
schizophrenic and choose not to take medicine for it, then how can
anything you spiritually experience be good? Yes, I did mention
above that sometimes these things have helped the evolution of the
species, but that was then and this is now. It is a different world we
live in, and because of that, the responsibility is upon us to look at
things differently and from a more enlightened perspective. Before
you decide you are under a psychic attack, make sure your mental
health is in order. If it is not, then you’re probably not under psychic
attack, but rather your mental condition is manifesting, and thus not
the fault of anyone else. Then again, everything is your fault if you’re
any good.
 One final piece of the health picture to consider has been
advanced by metaphysics over the last few decades and is based on
a magical principle. This is the idea that parts of the body, and
corresponding conditions, can be interpreted symbolically and can
reveal nonphysical situations we should address for our own health
and growth. This idea gets a lot of criticism, though, for the same
reason as I mentioned earlier: it is commonly misunderstood or
misapplied. The theory behind this is that the human body is the
microcosm of the macrocosm of the greater multiverse we inhabit,
and thus is based on the Hermetic axiom, “As above, so below.”
Thus, the working model is that if we are experiencing something
physically wrong with a part of our body, it is telling us about a
deeper spiritual wound that is calling for our attention. An extension
of this states that when we address the spiritual situation, the
physical body will heal. At this point it should be clear why this
receives criticism. Here again, people take this too literally and as an
absolute when it is not. I have found it to be very profound and of
great use through the years, though, and it is important enough to
discuss here. Yes, you can use your body this way to reveal deeper
spiritual, mental, and emotional situations that are calling for
attention. However, and this is a large caveat, there are a few other
factors that should be taken into account: genetic karma, spiritual
karma, the randomness of living in a world where free will is the rule,
and family karma. Keeping those points in mind alone can prevent
one from looking at the matter from a mutually exclusive and
absolute perspective. After all, everything is life is a sliding scale of
grey.
Here is an example to illustrate the point. Let us say you are
currently stuck on a spiritual quandary. Then, seemingly out of the
blue, your left eye becomes red with irritation, and you begin
scratching it. If you are right-handed, the message here is that there
is something not being seen that has to do with your emotions and/or
intuition. If you are left-handed, though, it could mean there is
something logical you are not seeing. In either case, the message is
that something is calling for your attention, and when you address it,
you can move forward. Why does your dominant hand matter, you
ask? Well, most of the symbolism discussed here, and its
metaphysical roots, are based on the world of a right-hander, which
means the foundation is outdated and toxic. True, most people are
right-handed, but there are a large number of people who are not,
and if you don’t account for this, the esoteric meaning and teaching
behind this translation of symbolism will always be slanted against
left-handers. In most sources, the right side of the body corresponds
to the mental plane and the left side corresponds to the emotional,
but if you are left-handed, this means the insight from that material
will always be against you. I know this because I am left-handed,
and many years ago got sick and tired of living in a world that was
bigoted against me. I had to seek out better teachers and information
to explain this. Eventually I found it, and it became the basis for what
I am sharing here. Interpret this material from the perspective of
dominant hand vs non-dominant hand, rather than right or left.
Consider the fact that when metaphysics was just coming into being,
the church considered left-handed people evil or sinister, which
means we really can’t trust the justification for this interpretation. It is
better to say the dominant side corresponds to the mental plane
messages, and the non-dominant corresponds to the intuitive. This
can be a useful interpretation technique to use, but don’t forget to
factor in the various types of karma I mentioned above. Sometimes
what you are dealing with has nothing to do with spiritual growth in
the sense of how I’m discussing it here. Sometimes you might be
dealing physically with karma connected to lessons being learned
and situations being worked through during this incarnation.
Let’s look at an example. Say that you are right-handed and you
broke your right wrist. Using the above information, you could
deduce that maybe you are not being flexible enough with your
thinking. Or, it could simply be that you made a poor decision. This is
another example of Occam’s Razor in action. Sometimes the
spiritual lesson is something so obvious we tend to miss it, looking
for deeper meaning when there is none. Keeping this in mind when
looking for psychic attacks is very powerful, for it reminds us just how
much of our lives, and what occurs in it, are under our control. We
should always look at ourselves first and foremost before searching
for external causes. After all, a major spiritual teaching that has been
around for a long time is that every interaction we have is an
interaction with the divine in some way, shape, or form. But if we are
divinity incarnate, then that interaction is often time with ourselves.

Diet

Here again I reiterate the disclaimer at the beginning of the

chapter. For accurate personal insight into diet, please consult a
professional. Having said that, let us proceed. A proper diet is
necessary not just for good health, but also as a defense against
psychic attack. If your diet is in accord with what you need for your
health, you are in a healthy state of mind to see what might be a
psychic attack and what is the result of poor diet choices. One
parable of wisdom to remember is that garbage in does equal
garbage out. Many times, I have seen someone with a poor diet
think they are being psychically attacked when in reality, it is the
consequences of their poor dietary choices catching up with them.
For example, if you eat low quality food and it gives you diarrhea,
that does not mean you are the target of some cacodemon, but
rather your body is protesting what you are doing to it.
A lot of emphasis has been placed on the diet from a spiritual
perspective over the last few decades, and while a lot of this
emphasis has been good, some of it has been toxic to the point of
physically damaging, and thus works against any spiritual growth
you may otherwise be achieving. Fad diets and health trends are
also best avoided whenever possible. Yes, there is wisdom in
keeping up with information and the ideas connected with this, but to
simply jump on a bandwagon for the sake of being trendy is always
toxic. By eating what is best for you and adhering to a diet that
optimizes your health to the best of your abilities, you increase your
body’s protection not only to disease and breakdown, but also to
misinterpreting signs of psychic attack. Really though, if we’re going
to discuss diet, we should break it down into two components:
physical and liquid.
The human body is roughly 75% water. What this means on a
practical level is that we should consume a lot of water on a daily
basis just to maintain good health. Drinking fluids simply isn’t
enough. We should specifically drink a lot of water. Yes, juices and
other liquids that are good for the body should definitely be indulged
in, but water should be considered the baseline and standard. In the
past, information has come out that says you should drink ‘X’ amount
of water to be healthy, but here again, there is a major problem with
that, in that not everybody has the same weight or physical build, so
how can water consumption for everyone be the same, and set in
stone? That’s just illogical. I will not get into specifics here with how
much water people of different weights and body builds should
ingest because it is not my place. Rather, I simply want to emphasize
that this should be researched, and the amount of water you drink
should be in line with what is best for your body. Earlier, I mentioned
that one of the symptoms of dehydration is depression, and it is
worth reiterating here. If you are depressed, drink water. If you think
some sort of supernatural force is the cause of your depression,
drink water first to make sure that is not the case. It is not enough to
simply think you have enough water in your system when you are
assessing psychic assault. There are many causes for dehydration
after all. We lose water not just from sweat, but also from different
environmental factors, too. For example, it is easy to become
dehydrated during cold seasons because the air is dry, and therefore
we need more water to maintain standard hydration. This was a
difficult lesson for me to learn, but here is how I learned it. I first
observed that during cold weather I had a tendency to get depressed
easier. At first, I thought it was seasonal affective disorder, but then I
learned how the body gets dehydrated easier in cold conditions, so I
increased my water intake as an experiment to see if it affected my
moods, and guess what? The more I increased my water
consumption, the less depressed I was! Since then, I am very
mindful of my water intake during periods of cold, and my emotional
control has vastly improved. I also frequently check my urine as
mentioned above, whether I am feeling emotionally out of sorts or
not, just to be safe. I would rather err on the side of caution, after all,
than get blindsided. If you are dehydrated, your urine will be a darker
color than normal. The trick is to avoid becoming paranoid about it!
When it comes to food, it is another story. First, do your research
and consult your professional. I will avoid having a detailed
discussion about this for that reason, but there are some key points I
do want to address. Some of them are physical, and some are
metaphysical, but all should be kept in mind. Eating a healthy and
balanced diet in line with your physical body is the best way to
maintain health. Some people say being vegetarian is best for your
spiritual growth, while some people say being vegan is best, but both
of those views are junk spirituality. There is no “best diet for spiritual
growth.” That is an illusion at best, and an attack on your health by
pretentious people at worst. As with most situations in life though,
especially those we’ve been discussing here, it all has to do with
what is best for your body, nothing more, nothing less. I know many
people who would love to eat meat, but they can’t because their
bodies can’t handle it. Conversely, I know many people that would
love to avoid meat, but they can’t because their bodies can’t handle
it. You could also apply this logic to veganism, too, and it still holds
true. While some people simply want to avoid eating animals, that is
a conversation for another time and place.
The main take away lesson from this is to know what is best for
your body, and to respond accordingly, regardless of what anyone
says you should do. Unless they are a certified health care
professional, they don’t know, and are simply reiterating what they
were taught, told, or what works best for them. The key to working
with this is to remember “everything in moderation, including
moderation.” This phrase should be tempered with a strong warning
though, which is that sometimes if you stray from your diet, you may
end up more damaged, beyond repair, or even dead, which means
that a lot of times your necessary diet for health does not give you
room to stray, a point which should be taken into consideration very
seriously. But I like to employ the 80/20 rule. This is an approach that
effectively says, “For eighty percent of the time I am on the straight
and narrow, but I allow myself to cheat twenty percent of the time.”
Supplements are worth mentioning here as well, but only in
passing. Sometimes a busy lifestyle means it is nigh on impossible
to eat healthily at every mealtime, and many people consider taking
supplements to compensate nutrients when they might otherwise be
lacking. For approximately a decade I worked anywhere from two to
three jobs, seven days a week, averaging ten to twelve hours each
day, and because of that I relied heavily on supplements, so I know
the feeling. However, I ceased that when my schedule and lifestyle
changed. Getting nutrients from food is always better than getting
them from supplements, but sometimes it can’t be helped. Before
taking any supplements, consult the appropriate professional to help
you with your choices.
There is also a metaphysical side to your diet and that has to do
with the colors of the foods you eat. One food theory is that you can
eat foods of a particular color to produce a particular effect. For
example, if you want more optimism in your life, eat yellow foods.
Often times, this theory is extended to address the chakras and their
colors. Another example: If you want to improve your ability to work
with the throat chakra, eat blue foods. I understand the logic here,
but as I am pretty sure you can see, this is something that should be
handled very carefully, for the health considerations mentioned
above. Yes, this can be useful to increase mindfulness, but not if it is
detrimental to one’s overall health.
Food as it serves in magical functions is something else entirely
though, so let us take a moment to address it. An age-old magical
teaching states that one should not eat anything heavy before
executing magical rituals because it will ground the individual and
higher states of consciousness may not be achieved. I have seen
this to be true time and again. This should be tempered with the diet
as discussed above though, and there are a few other important
points to address. The standard magical teaching is that one should
not eat for a period of three hours before ritual. The teaching is that
this helps mentally prepare the person and the body for the incoming
energies. However, as you now know, if that is not possible for you to
do for health reasons, then don’t attempt it. It is better to be safe
than sorry. Often people will eat a light snack before ritual as a
substitute. I don’t want to get into a diatribe of eating for ritual, as this
is not the place, but the other important piece of the puzzle is that
eating something heavy after ritual serves to ground you back into
your body, and this is very important indeed, especially if you are
attending a ritual that is not at your home. Being grounded and
focused after ritual is good because it brings your attention back to
the physical world, and when driving a vehicle this is a safety
measure as much as it is anything else.
 The way this applies to psychic protection is that if you do not
ground after ritual you open yourself to the possibility of psychic
attack by not fully extracting yourself from the ritual. Rituals need
time to work, and the separation of consciousness after a ritual helps
to ensure the results come at a time that is best in line with your
greatest growth and good and not potentially hazardous, which
would be the case if you drive home while ungrounded.
Finally, the last point of health to address in this chapter is that of a
healthy sleep schedule. I cannot stress this enough for various
reasons, and this is as important to pay attention to as the physical
food we consume and the water we drink. According to
professionals, at least last time I checked, a healthy amount of sleep
is somewhere between 5-8 hours a night. Anything less than that is
not enough, and anything more than that is too much. Our bodies
rest during sleep. Our mind gets a chance to process events.
Advanced magick practitioners even do a lot of magical work during
this time.
Lack of sleep, or an unhealthy sleep schedule, can put you in a
vulnerable mental state, susceptible to psychic attack, but also to
tricks of the mind that may make you think you are under attack,
when in reality it is your mind calling for attention because it is sick.
The body is naturally attuned to sleeping at night, but for many this is
not a possibility. Lack of sleep can also open the door to mental
disorders if it occurs for an extended period of time. Many books
have been written on the subject and there exists an entire set of
sleep professionals to assist you with this if it is an issue. But I
mention it here because before you assume you are being
psychically attacked, make sure your sleep is healthy and that it is
not the symptom of a sick mind, or one that is in some other way
negatively affected by sleep issues. This also means that if you are
having sleep issues, it may be wise to skip any sort of formal ritual
work until they are resolved, as your perceptions of the results of
your ritual may be skewed.
It may not seem like this chapter has much to do with psychic
protection, and while I have given several examples throughout, you
may still be left wondering why I started this book with this material.
Bluntly, it was inspired by a teaching from the “Builders of the
Adytum” (BOTA) mystery school. In the beginning of the program
they tell you that before you begin their work (which could be
extrapolated out here to be THE Work), you should have your house
in order. In their context they are not talking about your physical
home, but rather your physical world life. Before pursuing psychic
protection methods, make sure you are centered, focused, and
grounded, and that is the point of this chapter. Often, we think we are
a target when in reality it is our own irresponsibilities that are coming
back to bite us in the ass, as the saying goes. By being proactive
about the ideas discussed here, you put yourself on solid ground to
move forward in a more self-empowered way.

Self-Defense

Most books about psychic protection don’t even touch on this

topic, and I am still at a loss as to why. Bluntly, learning a form of
self-defense should be a given, but since this is neglected frequently,
we will examine it here. This is one of the most if not the most
powerful form of psychic protection because it is a protection tool for
the physical world we live in, and therefore should be foundational.
However, understanding it and working with it are a little more
complex than one can imagine, so let’s get started.
As a precursor to this is exercise, (and which we touched on this
earlier in the chapter), I simply want to call your attention to it now to
pave the way for what follows. Self-defense takes many different
forms, so rather than go into detailed conversations about all of
them, I will give highlights and principles and will trust you will seek
to learn what appeals to you. Part of addressing self-defense is in
knowing your limits and interests. Not everyone is a picture of health,
and therefore some of the classic self-defense techniques such as
Karate, Jeet Kune Do, or Ju Jitsu, may not work in particular
situations. If this is the case, then find some other way to defend
yourself. The best way though, is through discrimination. Knowing
how and what situations to avoid are of the utmost importance for
protecting yourself. This doesn’t always work, as we know, and when
it doesn’t, other means should be employed. I strongly suggest
learning a form of martial art, but this is a wide-ranging category, so
it is highly subjective to you, your path, and your health. While many
don’t realize it, Tai Chi is a form of martial art, and I list it here to
show that not all such arts are as aggressive as stereotypes and
propaganda may lead us to believe. In any case, if you are
interested in pursuing this direction, I encourage you to do your
research and experiment to see what works best for you. Let’s play
devil’s advocate though, and say that because of health problems
and challenges, none of them work for you. If that is the case, then
there are alternative ways to consider.
The most common forms of self-defense outside of martial arts
involve tools and weapons. While this may make many
uncomfortable, the alternative should be even more uncomfortable,
the alternative being a life lived in fear. After all, fear is failure, as the
good book says. Some of the most common tools people use for
defense include pepper spray and tasers. While I advocate people
practicing self-defense, I also understand that as we change our
focus to discuss tools and weapons, another perspective should be
considered, and that is mental health. We touched on this broadly
earlier, but let’s face facts. Some people are not mentally balanced
enough to be trusted with any of these weapons. This imbalance
could be caused by unhealed trauma, or power going to their head,
inflating and distorting the ego. Just because you have these tools
and weapons at your disposal doesn’t mean you should use them
liberally or frequently. Conversely, if you find you are using them
more often than not, then it is time to look in the mirror and see what
you’re doing wrong in your life to continually find yourself in positions
where you have to use them. If learning a martial art is not for you,
then perhaps carrying pepper spray or a taser will work just fine.
If these don’t work either though, there is another route to go:
weapons. Straight up weapons should be considered as a form of
protection, and I cannot stress contemplating these enough. I’m not
saying everyone should have one, but too many people dismiss this
because they would rather rely on herbs, stones, or oils, but I can tell
you from firsthand experience those don’t do any good in certain
situations. As an Islamic proverb says, “Trust in Allah, but tie up your
camel.” Carrying a knife or being trained in the use of a gun cannot
be understated. Do I believe everyone should do this? Of course not,
but this should be considered none the less. Yes, these are not
possibilities in some countries of the planet, or in some facilities you
may frequent, but they should still be considered none the less. By
not thinking about them, you are neglecting looking at a
comprehensive picture of what self-defense is, what it means, and
how to do it.
This may seem like an odd discussion to have in this book, but
remember that if you can’t protect yourself on the physical plane, you
really don’t have much of a platform to work from when it comes to
working with the higher and finer planes. This is true of many
metaphysical topics and not just self-defense ones, by the way. In
some ways it is the karmic law of attraction, and in others it is just
good, old fashioned, spell work and logic.
The main difference between learning a system of martial arts for
self-defense and using a weapon or a tool is that if you work with
martial arts, you are training yourself to be the weapon. You are also
creating muscle memory so well that you can subconsciously fall into
that behavior when necessary. A tool or a weapon takes conscious
use, but a martial art kicks in automatically if the situation merits it.
Martial arts also create mental discipline and strength, both of which
can assist you very well in other areas of your life, especially when it
comes to rituals and living your spiritual path. In all of these cases,
trust your judgment and seek out trained professionals to learn from.
 Chapter Two
Psychic Attacks, the Experience
In order to understand protection, you should first understand the
attack. Being psychically attacked is quite an interesting experience
to say the least, and varies from person to person, based on
individual empathy, interaction with the general public, people to
people skills, and individual psychic abilities. What one sensitive
person would call a psychic attack is not necessarily what another
would recognize as a psychic attack, or even go so far as to call one.
Psychic attacks occur when negative and/or lower vibrational energy
is directed your way. This energy is more direct and focused than
higher vibrational energies, so it hits a very visceral and gut level. (If
you are already familiar with what a psychic attack feels like, feel
free to skip this chapter, unless you want a refresher and a different
perspective.) Let’s clarify what I mean by lower and vibrational
energies, too, before proceeding.
This is discussed throughout the book, but it does necessitate a
brief mention here. I will use practical terms and examples, just to
clarify. Lower vibrations are things that are denser and more finite in
a lot of ways. I say “things” here, because everything is vibrating at a
different rate. For example, steel vibrates at a much lower rate than
glass, and glass at a much higher rate than plastic. This idea is also
true when it comes to beliefs, principles, and behaviors. Love is a
higher, sometimes more fragile, vibration than hate. This idea is
reflected in the phrase “you get farther with honey than you do with
vinegar.” Higher vibrations are very uplifting, whether they are
inspirations for your creativity, or emotions such as love. But they are
also more fragile because of this. A feeling associated with psychic
attacks is an almost palpable feeling of energy, usually, but not
always, through emotions. Results can also manifest in the form of
headaches, nausea, instinctive feelings, and even more physical
ways.
Thus when we say a “lower vibrational energy,” we are talking
about a source that is denser than most, and in a lot of ways sturdier,
and is more in tune with the physical world we inhabit, since the
planet Earth is the densest of all. Well, at least to people living here.
This is one of the reasons why it can be so effective and leave such
an impact. Technically, our bodies are lower vibrational too, as what
they are made of is denser than our spirit. This also means that
naturally consciousness is a higher vibration in general. When we
put two and two together, we see that if someone stews in their own
bitterness and jealousy aimed at you, they are choosing to immerse
themselves in lower vibrational energy, and then direct it at you. This
is initiated from them and follows the path of least resistance to you,
so it arrives directly, through whatever means is best appropriate. If
you read between the lines here, you learn a more esoteric example
of this. This is also how someone who doesn’t know much about
energy manipulation can still send negative energy your way. They
simply think of you, project their lower vibrational energy into their
thoughts, and like a heat seeking rocket, it will find you. From time to
time there are stories that illustrate this. An example that comes from
mind is when you think to yourself about someone you know who
you find annoying: “I wish they would just die!” Then the next time
you hear anything about them, you find that they died shortly after
you had that thought. Yes, that is one form of psychic attack, and as
you can tell, this is an example of how it can happen without the
attacker realizing what they are doing.
Here is another example of an unintended/unaware psychic
attack, and this is one of my favorites. Let’s say you are one of the
few from your family who is not Christian, and you have a zealot of
an aunt, and every time she sees you, she says, “I always pray for
you when I go to church.” That, my friends, is an unintended psychic
attack, because it is fueled by worry energy, and worry energy is
lower vibration energy because it is rooted in fear. Even though this
aunt may not mean you any harm, she is, actually, fearing for you,
and that is a form of negativity, because she is fearing the unknown.
Because what you do is different, then by Jove, it must be from the
devil! Ha! One of the ways this may manifest is that every Sunday
morning when she goes to church, you feel sick to your stomach.
Remember, though, that if you are not particularly close to her, or
empathic, you might not feel anything at all. But even if you don’t feel
anything, that doesn’t mean nothing is happening. This is one of the
many reasons why it is wise to keep up your cleansings and
banishings continually. You never know who is sending what kind of
energy your way, so it is better to be proactive when it comes to
protecting yourself, than being reactive and having to deal with it on
the back end, as they say. You can also deduce from all of this
material how to give psychic attacks, but that is a conversation for
another book at another time.

Now that we’ve looked at two examples of unintended psychic

attacks, let’s look at a few ways in which attacks may manifest upon
you. The first, and least reliable method of detection, is a gut feeling
that you are being attacked. Why is it unreliable, you may ask?
Unless you are highly skilled and experienced, you run the risk of
projecting your own fears and perspectives onto a situation that has
nothing to do with a psychic attack. For example, just because you
had a bad day it doesn’t mean you were psychically assaulted.
Furthermore, if you have a bad day, come home, and upon reflection
you think you are being attacked, you probably aren’t, because you
are projecting that view onto a situation that is most likely not there,
creating your own headaches in the process, which means the
karma falls on your shoulders ultimately.
Some people simply feel a throbbing in the skull, much like a
migraine headache, while others may get nauseous when under
assault. If you are an adept clairvoyant, you may get a message in
the form of a visual impression of someone attacking you. But here
again, this could be self-delusion. If you do get a visual of something
like this, be very, very skeptical, and cut the situation with Occam’s
Razor. If there’s no reason for you to be psychically attacked, then
you probably aren’t. If you are in line with your ascended self and the
universe, you may see signs when you are out in public that are
telling you that you are being attacked, but here again, this technique
is really only worth its salt if you are a developed person.

I realize this chapter is smaller than the others, but that is because
a lot of this is covered throughout the book. The intention of this
chapter is simply to give a point of reference and background to
those that may not be familiar with a psychic attack.
 Chapter Three
Semiprecious Stones
One of the most common, effective, popular, and cost-effective
tools out there is the use of semiprecious stones to add to your
protection repertoire. Also known as gemstones, these can be of
great use to you in a very low maintenance way. Stones, as they are
commonly called, have been used for thousands of years in various
spiritual and cultural contexts all over the globe. Their use in ancient
Egypt and the Middle East catapulted them into the Western mass
consciousness, and it is through early writings that their use has
been continued to this day.
The study of semiprecious stones is known as gemology, and this
field is oftentimes linked with geology, due to the fact that they are
found in and under the earth. Not every gemologist works with the
stones’ metaphysical properties though, and sometimes this can be
good, because they will price stones based on their non-
metaphysical value. Other times though, this can be not so good,
especially if a stone merchant discounts metaphysics. What this
means is that when you are “rock shopping,” it would be wise to
know what kind of person you are dealing with, because this will
affect not only prices, but also what kind of experience you have
overall. I know many people who have stopped at rock shops looking
for stones for their metaphysical properties, only to be surprised
when they find that they are dealing with someone who doesn’t
‘believe’ in metaphysics and related subjects. This is a detail point
really, but it bears keeping in mind to protect yourself from possible
negative experiences with the proprietor.
Because gemology is scientific study, there is inevitably a hard
science aspect to it, but most metaphysical books do not go into
detail about this side of stones. This information is readily found in
more scientific oriented books and resources, though, so it is not that
hard to acquire. There are some metaphysicians who include this
information in their books and let this point be of use to you when it
comes to picking quality books on the subject from a metaphysical
perspective. In this book I will give the chemical compound of the
stones we discuss. Sometimes this information can be useful
because it can tell you if there are any toxic components in the
stones you want to use. And, along the scientific lines of things, it
should also be considered that sometimes a stone’s toxicity only
comes out when activated. Usually this occurs by getting the stone
wet. For example, the stone malachite. By itself it is quite safe to
hold, but if you put it in water to make a gemstone elixir, it can be
toxic in large quantities. This underscores the point that you should
do your research before working with any stones. Most stones are
safe, but there are some you will come across that are not, so it is
wise to not always to trust your intuition alone with them. Your
intuition will tell you whether or not you should work with them, but
further information can give you guidance on how it would be safe to
work with them.
Stones are quite popular because in some ways they are about as
low maintenance as you can get. They all have particular vibrations,
and this gives them a basic level of consciousness, too. They are
sentient, but nowhere near as developed as an animal or a human.
They belong to the mineral kingdom, and of course are some of the
oldest tools at our disposal. They absorb and enhance surrounding
vibrations, or can change extenuating vibrations, depending on the
stone. Stones have varying degrees of consciousness based on the
vibration they carry, and this is generally reflected in the density of
the material that constitutes the stone. The heavier and denser the
stone, the more manifested the properties. For example, the traits of
various jasper stones are of a more physical plane nature than the
traits of an ametrine, which is generally physically lighter and more
translucent in appearance. Many stones are kept out of sunlight for
concern their color might fade, while others are wise to keep dry. A
lot of this varies from stone to stone, so it is wise to do research
when you begin working with them, as I said above. Really the only
regular maintenance they require is energetical cleansing. Oh, and
give them a rest every now and then. Like people, stones need
periods of rest to recharge.

The Care and Feeding of Your Gemstones

 Technically, how you clean your gemstones is entirely up to you.
Most people use white sage to smudge them, but some use copal,
dragon’s blood or even frankincense and myrrh incenses, passing
the stone through the smoke. If you are familiar with smudging
techniques, then you already know how this works. For those of you
who are not, here is a quick overview. Light whatever it is you want
to use as your smudging instrument. When you have a good trail of
smoke flowing, pick up the gemstone and pass it through the smoke.
While you are doing this, you can say a prayer for cleansing it if you
wish. Or you can visualize white light coming down from above to
cleanse it. This is a highly subjective process that should be
performed in line with your spiritual tradition. Regarding this point,
there is no technical right or wrong way, as long as you show
reverence for what you are doing, respecting the stone, and not
behaving in a flippant manner under the pretense of ritual. After you
feel that the stone has been cleansed, extinguish the smoke and
either put your stone away, or keep it on you, depending on your
intent.
Another method that has been mostly an oral tradition is to set
your stones out in a spot in the home where they can absorb the
light from a full moon. So yes, this requires a full moon in order to do
this. There are a couple of details to make note of though, which
should be kept in mind if you’re looking at using this technique. The
first point is that this does mean you have to take all of your stones
outside and put them in direct moonlight. Of course, yes, this is the
preferred way to go, but it is not the only way. You could put your
stones on a window ledge, for example, as long as the moonlight
streaming in can bathe them. The second point is practicality. Bluntly,
I don’t have the ability to take all of my stones out for charging each
month because I have so many, and I know others in the same
situation. Or it could be that your stones are too big to move by
yourself. No matter the reason, this should be kept in mind when you
are thinking about how and when to cleanse them. Be smart with it.
Don’t feel like you have to conform to any official preset ways,
because there are none. Since I can’t take my stones out every
month, I only recharge the ones I’ve been working with routinely.
Often I will also charge a stone in the full moon for use afterwards.
Think through how you want to handle this and do as thou wilt.
Before we progress, I would like to interject a quick note here
about the correspondences and traits of gemstones. Their
characteristics, correspondences, and attributes have been arrived
at by a couple of different ways over the centuries. The first is that
their traits have been passed down through the centuries, and
logically it stands to reason that the traits attributed to them are
simply lists of effects that have been noticed when people worked
with them routinely over time. The other method is that people have
meditated while with the stone, and the focus of that meditation was
to make contact with the stone and learn about what it has to teach
us. As you can see, this is a highly subjective method, but is one that
is commonly utilized none the less. So for those of you who were
wondering how all of these traits came to be, there you go. Each
stone also has a hardness factor, which is exactly what it says it is.
This is known as the Mohs system of hardness (devised by the
German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs in 1812). This represents the
density and solidness of each stone, up to a hardness of 10. The
lower the number, the softer the stone. Chakra astrological
correspondences have all been correlated to them as well.
Moving on from their maintenance, let’s talk about stones
themselves. They can be communicated with, and while I prefer
verbally talking to them, you can use the power of your mind to
contact them. Your ability to communicate with them is based upon
your natural psychic abilities. As I discussed in my book Spirit
Relations, we are all psychic, but what varies is how we are, and to
what degree. Some people will just intuitively feel their stones, while
others may go so far as to hear voices coming from the stones they
work with. On top of this, some stones are highly enough evolved to
be programmable, as is the case of clear quartz.

Clear Quartz

Clear quartz is the highest evolved stone in the mineral kingdom.

It is so powerful and evolved that it is used in every computer on the
planet. You can also program it for different effects. If you want it to
protect you, then you can meditate with it or in some other way
energetically charge it to align with your intent, and that’s all it takes.
When you’re done with using it for that purpose, you can cleanse the
programming and replace it with something else. Naturally, clear
quartz is an energy amplifier, so you can put it with other stones to
enhance their attributes. This is what makes it the most versatile
stone in your repertoire. Most other stones are specialized in their
functions though, and in some ways since they are more focused,
they can be more powerful. Scientifically, clear quartz is: SiO2, and
is silicon dioxide. Its hardness level is 7.

Rutilated Quartz

Rutilated quartz is another good stone to work with because it is

an energy amplifier similar to clear quartz. However, it amplifies the
stones around it, whereas clear quartz amplifies whatever energy
you give it, or that it comes into contact with, thus making rutilated
quartz more like an amplifier in general. It is basically the same as
clear quartz but has golden rutiles in it. These are made of titanium
dioxide and are often called “The Hairs of Venus.” There are other
similar stones to this as well, and one of them bears examination
after we finish this discussion. The rutiles in the stone are known as
inclusions, and many stones possess these. Not all inclusions are
physical artifacts like rutiles though; some are natural formations
within the stone that appear to be something special, such as
images of angels, faeries, etc. Scientifically, rutilated quartz is SiO2,
silicon dioxide with titanium, which are the inclusions. Its hardness is
7 as well.

Tourmalinated Quartz

This stone is a combination of the concept of rutilated quartz and

black tourmaline, which we will discuss a little later. In short,
tourmalinated quartz is clear quartz, but the infusions in it are black
tourmaline, rather than the rutiles mentioned previously. Black
tourmaline is the stone that repels that which is not of the light, and
when it is found in clear quartz like this, its effect is amplified. Thus, it
is basically a more powerful version of black tourmaline. Therefore,
scientifically, it is SiO2, and is silicon dioxide, with tourmaline
inclusions, and its hardness is 7.

Smoky Quartz

Next in the quartz family of protection stones to discuss is smoky

quartz. We slightly shift our focus here, as this stone is highly
alchemical in nature. Using smoky quartz assists you to change
negative energy into positive energy. You can see that this deviates
from the concept of a protector stone and bridges the gap into the
transmutation of energy. Often, it is easier to change the energy
around you rather than pit your Will against it in the name of safety.
After all, the energy being sent to you is free energy, and you have
control over what you do with it. The reason this type of quartz is
smoky is because it has been radiated from the stones around it
over the course of extended periods of time. This radiation is not
harmful to us, though. It is worth noting that smoky quartz has gotten
scarcer over the years, and because of that, many specimens you
will find have been artificially radiated to produce the deep smoky
color. It can lift depression and assist with bringing positive energy to
a situation. It is the same as above, SiO2, with a hardness of 7.

Blood Quartz

The lesser known blood quartz can be of great use as well when
it comes to protection magick. No, it does not have blood in it, but
what it does contain is just as valuable when it comes to protection
magick. In it is found hematite, a stone long and widely known to
absorb negativity. This works much the same as tourmalinated
quartz, in that the surrounding quartz amplifies the natural properties
of hematite. This makes it a great stone for absorbing negative
energy that may come your way on any given day. Since it is in the
immediate quartz family, it is SiO2, with a hardness of 7, and has
hematite inclusions.

Now we’ll step away from the quartz family and broaden our
perspective to look at other stones that have protective properties.
There are some that will be on this list that are not specifically
protective stones per se, but they have properties that can be
worked with in the name of cleanliness and protection. The way the
stones are listed will be in order of importance from my perspective.
And away, we go!

Black Tourmaline

Tourmaline is really an entire family of stones, ranging in a variety

of colors, even to the degree that there is one that is an
amalgamation (watermelon tourmaline) of several. This is a classic
stone for protection, as it repels that which is not of the light. This is
very important to keep in mind because when you decide to work
with it, certain people or situations in your life will oftentimes leave or
diminish, and these may be ones you didn’t expect! Yet, you may
find that their diminishment improves your life, and this is the way
black tourmaline works. It repels negative vibrations, but it does not
discriminate, and it takes humility on our part to trust that the stone is
doing its work. It has a hardness factor ranging from 7-7.5, and its
chemical composition is XY3Z6 (T6O18)(BO3)3V3W. It has a definitive
appearance as well, as long, deep, parallel lines are found in almost
all, if not all, specimens.

Hematite

Hematite is a metallic grey colored stone that feels lighter than

you would think when you look at it. It is a very light stone overall
and is quite fragile. As a matter of fact, its softness reveals one of its
characteristics. It is said that you will always know when a hematite
has absorbed all of the negative energy it can take, because it will
break. Sometimes in jewelry settings the stone won’t break, but the
piece will simply disappear. This also means you should be careful in
general when handling it, because if you drop it you may accidentally
break it, which would cause negativity! It has a chemical composition
of Fe2O3 and has a hardness factor of somewhere between 5 and
6.5.

Labradorite
 Labradorite is a chatoyant, (meaning that reflections from
inclusions in the stone cause bands of bright luster to appear within
it), translucent green and blue stone that refracts light, which often
produces the appearance of a rainbow in the stone. This is a very
valuable stone because it seals the aura against energy leaks and
leeches, making it a fantastic anti-vampire stone. When you look at
it, it resembles a quartz rather than a black tourmaline or a hematite.
Its hardness factor is surprisingly about the same as hematite, which
is interesting to me, because I have heard of more pieces of
hematite breaking than I have labradorite. Its chemical formula is
NaAIASi3O8, but there are variances that are known.

Unakite

A lesser known but very powerful stone is unakite. Aesthetically,

it may not have the appeal of some of the other stones discussed
here, but energetically it is quite profound. Unakite keeps your
energy clear when in close proximity to negative people. You can
see why this is so appealing! If you are getting ready to go into a
situation where you will be surrounded by negative people, then this
is the stone for you. This is one of my favorite stones for that reason.
Because of these properties, thus making its use so specialized, you
really only have to work with it when the situation merits it, so it can
get plenty of rest to stay fresh. But then again, if you find you are
using it more often than not, you may want to do some inner
reflection and look in the mirror. It has a hardness factor of 5.5, and
its structure is {Ca2}{Al2Fe3+}(Si2O7)(SiO4)O(OH).

Turquoise

This is one of the classic protection stones going back hundreds

of years. It is opaque, and ranges in color from aquamarine to sea
foam green, to a darker shade of light blue. It has been used in
cultures all over the world in various ways, ranging from jewelry to
makeup pigmentation, but is usually associated with Native
American cultures. It is excellent for psychic protection as well as
maintaining a good state of well-being. It is also a healing stone,
specifically when it comes to emotional and spiritual healing. On a
physical level, turquoise detoxifies the body and addresses other
maladies, but its focus on psychic protection is why it’s mentioned
here. It has a hardness factor of between 5-6, and its structure is
4H2O. Notice the connection to the structure of water (H2O). This
shows a strong connection not only to water, but also then, by
default, to our bodies. Since it is one of the most popular stones in
use today, much has been written about it, so it is easy to find more
material for those who are interested.

Ruby

Another stone that can be found throughout time and across

cultures is ruby. Ranging from pink to blood red, it is a variety of
corundum, meaning it shares a connection with sapphire. It is known
as one of the stones of nobility. When it comes to protective
properties, it gives a general protection, but specifically protects the
wearer from plagues and pestilence. More broadly, it also offers
protection for the physical form in general. In addition, it protects
against bad dreams and offers defense when it comes to affairs of
the heart. Its hardness factor is a 9, and its structure is AI2O3Cr.

Lapis Lazuli

My personal favorite stone, lapis lazuli (Lapis for short) is similar

to ruby and turquoise in that it is commonly found in ancient cultures
from many different places and is known to be one of the more
powerful stones that have been used throughout history. It ranges in
color from light blue to a deep, night sky blue. Usually it has golden
flecks in it, giving it a starry appearance. It is opaque, and
sometimes contains veins of milky white. The white comes from
calcite, and the gold flecksare pyrite inclusions. Protectively, it is said
to give the wearer psychic protection and facilitates astral travel. It
also offers protection from the evil eye and negativity in general. It
works extensively with the development of higher consciousness and
can thus shield the wearer against negative thoughts and vibrations.
It has a hardness factor of 5-6, and its structure is (NaCa)8
(AISiO4)6, (S, SO4CI)1. Complex, yeah, I know, but that is because
lapis is a rock, not a crystalline structure as other stones we’ve been
discussing.

Amethyst

Another popular stone, amethyst is generally known for its

common moniker of being the stone of sobriety, or perhaps its ability
to stimulate the third eye and clairvoyance. However, what is not as
well-known are its protective properties. These aren’t traditional,
though, in that it doesn’t shield you from psychic attacks, etc. Rather
it is protective because it is an energy cleanser. And since it
corresponds to the Ajna chakra, it can be seen as protective in the
way that it stimulates the clairvoyance faculty, putting you in a
position of empowerment. The energy cleansing properties it has
allow the user to cleanse themselves of any toxic energy they may
have encountered during the day, so in this way, amethyst is more of
a detoxifier. Be careful with it though, as it will fade if exposed to too
much sunlight. It is generally a deep purple color, especially the
strains coming from South America, and is chatoyant. Its hardness
factor is generally a 7 but will be lower if it is not top quality. Its
structure is SiO2, and it is a member of the quartz family.

Prehnite

Green prehnite is an interesting selection for protective stones,

because it’s not so much protective in nature as preventative. But as
we all know, being proactive is better than being reactive. Working
with green prehnite helps you empower your precognitive skills so
that you can anticipate things that are coming your way. This
addresses not only precognition, but also enhancing your intuitive
skills. It has a hardness factor of around 6, and its structure is
Ca2A(AISi3O10).

Carnelian

Carnelian is another stone that you might think does not belong
on this list, but it does have protective qualities that are worth
mentioning here. A form of chalcedony, carnelian is generally
considered a stone of sensuality, and with its chatoyant orange
reddish appearance, it is easy to see why. In addition to these
properties, though, it also grants the bearer courage and physical
power. This is another stone that has been use in various cultures
dating back to antiquity, and because of that, includes many more
properties beyond the scope of this work, but are worth noting
nonetheless. When it comes to psychic protection though, the
granting of courage and prowess are the two of the most important
qualities you can possess. It has a hardness factor of 7, and its
chemical makeup is SiO2.

Gold Tiger’s Eye

Commonly known as simply “tiger’s eye,” this deep brown stone

with gold striations is generally considered a masculine stone, but
mostly due to its beauty and composition more than anything else. It
is quite a popular and powerful stone and has a red variation. Red
tiger’s eye is not as common though, and its traits carry it out of the
purview of this text. Gold tiger’s eye is a stone that assists with
providing the bearer with strength, willpower, stamina, fortitude, and
courage. Thus, you can see how it can be a fantastic stone ally. It
has a hardness of 7, and its structure is SiO2. At this point, it is wise
to note the common reoccurring SiO2 mentioned in this chapter. This
is because so many stones are related, geologically speaking. What
separates them on a scientific level are details outside the
parameters of this book, but I do feel it is important to mention this
here for the sake of clarity.

Tiger Iron

Related to tiger’s eye, tiger iron is similar in the traits it can

provide. The stone itself is a combination of gold tiger’s eye,
hematite, iron, and red jasper, which we will discuss shortly. It has
properties similar to gold tiger’s eye, and in addition to those, it also
grants the bearer refuge when going through periods of intense
change. The hematite also aids in absorbing negativity, and because
of the other properties of the stone, can assist in transmuting the
negative into positive. It has a hardness factor of somewhere
between 6.5-7, and its structure is SiO2 and Fe2O3.

Amazonite

Amazonite is a very interesting and powerful stone and its

importance should not be understated. It is known as the stone of
courage and of truth. It is also the stone of overcoming loneliness, as
well as dissipating negativity and aggravation. In addition to these
traits, it also filters out geostress, absorbing electromagnetic
pollution, microwaves, and the energy from cellphones. Geostress in
this context refers to how natural energies get distorted when they
come into contact with humans, and how these changes adversely
affect the human condition. It also helps ward against people that try
and take advantage of you. Its sea-green color makes it a fit for most
fashion trends, whether jewelry or clothing, and its opaque nature
makes it one that is good for grounding, in addition to everything else
mentioned. It has a hardness factor of somewhere between 5.5-6,
and has a composition of KALSi3O8.

Sugilite

Another opaque stone, sugilite is a beautiful dark blue or lightly

purple stone with striations of white in it. While most of its qualities
have to do with concepts other than protection, there is one
significant trait that aligns it with this text, in that it helps you to
accept the here and now, so it is very pragmatic and practical in that
regard. It has a hardness factor of 6-6.57, and its structure is
KNa2(Fe, Mn, AI)2Li3Si12O30.

Jet

Technically, jet is not a semiprecious stone, but rather it is

petrified wood. However, for all practical purposes, it is used
interchangeably as such. It is also related to the coal family, and the
bulk of jet comes from Russia. It is good for grounding, purification,
and protection, as is indicated by its black color. It is a soft stone
though, so you would be wise to keep this in mind while working with
it. It is also good at cleansing the aura. Another subtle feature is that
it can help those who are working through grief. It has a hardness
factor of somewhere between 2.5-4, and its structure is C1H1O-
2H2O.

Zebra Stone/Zebra Marble

Alternatively known as aebra stone or zebra marble, it is

technically related to the jasper family, which we will discuss in a
moment. It is named as such because of its black and white stripes
and is generally opaque. It is usually white with black stripes, but
there are also variations that occur. It is good for increasing your
energy and vitality, as well as healing. It is also appropriate for
grounding and manifesting your Will. It promotes creativity, stability,
and security. It is a softer stone, having a hardness factor between 3-
3.5, and its structure is SiO2.

The Jasper Family

Really, jasper is a family of stones rather than just one stone, so

it is almost impossible to cover it all here. And even if I tried, some of
the information would be beyond the scope of psychic protection.
Rather than going through all of the stones in the family, I will only
focus on a few here that are specifically pertinent to psychic
protection. This concept is also true of the agate stones. They are a
family just like the jaspers, but only a few are specifically appropriate
for psychic protection. We will discuss the agates in a moment, but
for now, let’s discuss a few jaspers that are good for psychic
protection: fancy jasper and starry jasper.
Fancy jasper is good for strength, courage, determination, and
harmony. It is also appropriate for bringing harmony and alignment
between an individual and their environment. It is a varied stone,
ranging in colors and patterns from light blue/borderline white all the
way to shades of black or dark red. It is also a good stone for
tranquility. Its opaqueness is overshadowed by the “fanciness” of its
appearance. It has a hardness factor of 7, and its structure is SiO2.
Related to fancy jasper is starry jasper, which shares a lot of the
same properties as other stones in the Jasper family, including
F=fancy jasper, but it differs in that it is good for protection,
especially when traveling. It can also assist with being grounded and
healing. It is known as “starry” because it often contains pyrite
inclusions, which appear as gold in the stone itself. To give you a
perspective on pyrite, it is also known as “fool’s gold” due to its
golden appearance. This gold shines through in starry jasper,
making it quite attractive. It has a hardness factor ranging between
6.5-7, and its structure is SiO2.

The Agate Family

Agate is like jasper in that there are many, many variations of it,
and while they often vary regarding their properties, they have many
in common. This is also true of their chemical makeup. For our
purposes, there is one main agate to discuss, and that is turritella
agate. One of the things to keep in mind is that the agate family is
full of color and bright, vivid striations. One of the unique
characteristics of turritella agate is that it contains fossils, which
enhance its natural brown color. It ranges from deep brown to lighter
shades of brown, yet they all contain fossils of some sort. Turritella
agate is also translucent in nature, which is a trait that is commonly
found in the agate family. It has a hardness factor of 6.5-7, and its
structure is SiO2, relating it to a lot of stones that have been
discussed up to this point.
The Aventurine Family

Another family of stones that is broad and varied is the

aventurine family. Most people that are reading this are probably
familiar with green aventurine due to the fact that it is known as a
stone of abundance and good health, but fewer might be familiar
with one of its relatives: red aventurine. Yes, there are many more
aventurine stones than just these two, but these are the type of
interest in respect of psychic protection. Red aventurine is, as you
may have suspected, red in color, and usually it is an opaque red. It
ranges from light red to deep red. This is an interesting stone when it
comes to psychic protection because its qualities and traits are
concerned with taking action, vitality, commitment, discernment, and
executing good judgment. It is red due to the inclusion of hematite,
which also reveals it is good for absorbing negativity. It has a
hardness factor of 6.5, and its structure is SiO2.

The Obsidian Family

The final family to address here is that of obsidian. Really, the

fact it is considered a stone is a little bit misleading, as it is
technically volcanic glass. It comes in a variety of colors, but black
obsidian is the variety that most applies to this subject. As I’ve made
clear in this chapter, black stones are generally seen as protective
stones, and black obsidian is no exception. It is good for clearing
muddled energy, protection, grounding, clearing, and overall
cleansing. It is light to the touch and can be almost translucent. It
can also help you to get to the bottom of any negative patterns you
may have, and as we know, when we uncover these things, we are
in a position of empowerment to raise our vibration, which is the best
protection of all. It has a hardness factor of 5.5, and its structure is
SiO2.
I realize this list could be added to by people who are more
familiar with gem stones than I am, but it is my intention for this to be
a quick reference point for those who are just starting to work with
stones as a method of protection. When in doubt, remember that
black stones are protective in general, and they can also assist with
staying grounded. Feel free to do your own research when it comes
to stones. One of the most beneficial characteristics of stones is that
they can be very specialized, so while a lot of these are general
protective stones, you can also see that some have highly specific
properties. This is worth keeping in mind because you may find a
rare stone that addresses a certain kind of protection that fits your
specific situation, and it may be more powerful than a general
protection stone mentioned here. If this occurs, adjust your
application and work accordingly.
 Chapter Four
A Protection Apothecary
Another popular and common physical tool to use for psychic
protection are herbs, and derivatives of them, such as oils. Many
books have been written on those topics over the years, and some
from the perspective of science, while others from the perspective of
metaphysics, and still others, a blending of the two. Because of that,
I am going to tackle this subject similarly to my discussion of stones.
I will let you know up front this is not a “be all end all” book on herbs,
but rather what you find in here will be sufficient for the purposes of
psychic protection.
Unlike most stones though, there is a huge point to note, which is
before you use any herbs, oils, or other derivatives, DO YOUR
RESEARCH! Many herbs, and therefore their extractions and
variants, can cause serious health issues, either immediately or
through extended use. Some may work fine for some people, while
for other people they cause severe health issues, so always, always,
always, research an herb before you use it, regardless of what
people might tell you about it. Also of note is that some herbs are
okay in one form, but in another they are potentially hazardous.
When in doubt, consult a certified professional in the field, and even
then, double check their credentials. In this day and age, having
certification or a degree doesn’t amount to much, due to the
influence of the Internet and its culture. As a matter of fact, the cynic
in me says that really, education and certification don’t amount to
much in most cases, as anyone can be certified in anything, but I
would also say that is not necessarily completely true here. We are
talking about your physical health after all, and that is not a subject
to be taken lightly. This can make working with herbs more
challenging than working with stones because of the research time
involved. However, herbs are a lot more flexible and adaptable, so
they can be used in a variety of ways, more so than semiprecious
stones. This also means that if someone can’t work with a particular
herb or derivative, then it is on them to find an alternative. Too many
times people use their inability to work with an herb as an excuse to
be disempowered, and that is one of unfortunately common
tragedies today. It is actually the opposite of psychic protection.
Keep in mind that all herbs do not grow in all places, which may
impact your ability to acquire them in your local area. If this is the
case, you can research alternatives. Like so many things in magick it
is always better if you can grow your own, but if you can’t, that is
quite alright, too. It is wise to buy herbs if you can’t grow them, rather
than go without at all. Basic science should be considered in this
discussion too, as some herbs can’t grow in particular environments.
Further, some herbs are endangered, so you should consider the
ethics involved in acquiring herbs that may be endangered. It is fairly
easy to find alternatives to some of the herbs discussed here,
because the common correspondence is that they should be
predicated around psychic protection. Unlike stones, usually the
characteristics of herbs are general rather than specific. For
example, when discussing protective stones, a stone may help you
transmute negativity, which is a form of protection, but you would be
hard pressed to find an herb that specifically did that. In some ways,
this is a good thing, as it means it is easier to find herbs that work
with you and for you. The drawback, of course, is that this makes
herbs more generic, but more applicable. For example, chamomile. It
is good for relaxation and helping you sleep. For contrast, the stone
rose quartz is also good for promoting sleep, but specifically for
gently falling asleep rather than just “knocking you out,” as
chamomile often time does.
Finally, in the following herb list, you will see that the Latin name is
mentioned. I have included this because not everyone who reads
this will be English speakers, and thus by including the Latin names,
it makes it easier to find the proper translation in your native tongue.
I have learned this over the years through experience. In other
words, it creates a baseline for all of us to use. You will also notice
that some things on this list are not herbs in the strictest definition of
the word, but I put them here because generally they’re lumped
together in resources having to do with psychic protection. Things
like myrrh, which is the gum from a tree, are included, too. All of
these are listed in alphabetical order for your convenience. After we
get through this list, we will discuss different applications of this
information, so you will see they are just as, if not more so, flexible
as stones, which stands to reason. Keep in mind that this is not a
completely comprehensive list, and you may come across herbs that
are not on here that you can use for protective purposes. Feel free to
add them to your personal journal in addition to what you find here. It
is almost impossible to make a fully comprehensive list, because
some herbs are only found in one spot on the globe, and therefore
one would have to visit every square inch of the planet AND learn all
of the herbs found there, AND discover their protective properties, in
order to establish a be all and end all list, and that would take a
lifetime or two to complete. That is the reason why I will not even
attempt it here. It would be a fool’s errand to attempt that in this text.
Anyway, enough of the background and context. Let’s begin!
 Common Name Latin Name Planet
The
Aloe Vera Aloe perfoliata
Moon
The
Angelica Root Angelica archangelica
Sun
Anise Seed or
Pimpinella anisum Jupiter
Star
Balm of Gilead Cammiphora opobalsamum Venus
Bamboo Bambusoideae
Basil Ocimum basilicum Mars
Bay/Bay Laurel Laurus nobilis Sun
Blackberry Rubus Venus
Bloodroot Sanguinaria Mars
Blueberry Cyanococcus
Bodhi Seed Ficus religiosa Jupiter
Burdock Root Arctium Venus
Cactus Cactaceae
The
Carnation Dianthus caryophyllus
Sun
The
Cedar Cedrus
Sun
The
Chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum
Sun
Clove Syzygium aromaticum Jupiter
Cumin Cuminum cyminum Mars
Dragon’s Blood Dracaena (There are many
Mars
Resin variations of it beyond this)
Fern Polypodiopsida Mercury
Frankincense The
Boswellia
Tears Sun
Garland Chrysanthemum coronarium
 Garlic Allium sativum Mars
Honeysuckle Lonicera Jupiter
Hyssop Hyssopus officinalis Jupiter
Ivy Hedera Saturn
The
Juniper Juniperus
Sun
Lilac Syringa Venus
The
Lily Lilium
Moon
Lucky Hand Orchis (There are many
Venus
Root variations beyond this)
Mandrake Root Mandragora officinarum Mercury
Mint Mentha Mercury
Mugwort Artemisia vulgaris Venus
Mullein Verbascum Saturn
Nettle Urtica dioica Mars
The
Oak Quercus
Sun
Pennyroyal Mentha pulegium Mars
The
Peony Paeonia
Sun
Pine Pinus Mars
Raspberry Rubus idaeus Venus
Salvia officinalis (And there are
Sage Jupiter
more types)
Sea Salt Sodium chloride
Tulips Tulipa Venus

When they are known, I have included the planets that particular
herbs correspond to, but you will notice there are some that don’t
have planetary correspondences. There are various reasons for this,
and in the future perhaps there will be correspondences, but as of
right now I couldn’t find any. This doesn’t mean they aren’t out there
though, but considering we’re focused on the herbs for protection,
knowing the planetary correspondences is secondary. Let’s take a
closer look at the above list, because not all herbs are created equal.
The first thing you may notice is that not everything on that list is
technically an herb. Roots, a seed, and resins are also listed. Even
though they are different, I include them here because in a broad
sense, all of them derive from and reside in the natural kingdom. In
the above list there are basically four categories, if you want to call
them that. There are standard herbs, roots, resins, and salt. All of
them should be researched before use, but the different types can
give rise to different applications. There are also different ways to
work with them, too. Regular herbs don’t really require much
explanation beyond what we have already discussed, so let’s look at
the other groups.
Let’s start with the roots that are listed above. For all practical
purposes, they are functionally the same as the regular herbs. The
list above contains three roots: angelica root, burdock root, and lucky
hand root. The main difference only applies if you are going to make
tinctures, which we will discuss shortly. What this means is that if you
are going to make an herbal pouch, they can be put in there with the
regular herbs and can have the same results. The same is true with
the resins mentioned above, regarding their use in a protective
pouch. In the above list, there are three resins listed: balm of Gilead,
frankincense, and dragon’s blood. Resins are secreted by various
plants, usually trees, and are often used as incenses, either burned
on charcoal tablets or in joss stick form. We will talk about incense a
little later, too. The other odd ball on the list is an obvious one, which
is sea salt. There’s not a lot to discuss here about that, other than to
say it has been used for a long time for cleansing and protection. I
simply point it out here to clarify the above table. Now that we have
established a working list, let us move on to discuss the various
applications.

Pouches and Poppets

 Much has been written about both of these topics over the years,
and I see no reason to retread trodden ground. We will take a few
minutes to discuss both of them though, as they are appropriate to
the overall book. Carrying herbs in pouches is something that goes
back thousands of years across the globe in many different cultures,
and the premise is simple: carry herbs on your person for various
ends. In some cases they were carried to be taken internally at a
later time. In others, they were carried for the effects they could
produce just by being in the auric field of the carrier. Sometimes this
was a form of sympathetic magick, where the carrier believed that
the herbs were symbolic, and thus being surrounded by them could
produce various effects. Sometimes though, it was not sympathetic
magick at all, but rather based on the knowledge of the carrier. For
example, the carrier knew what the herbs were good for, and had
them on their person for that reason. To clarify, one might know that
when they carried a flower like lilacs on them, that while they smelled
better, they were also treated differently by the people they
contacted. Tradition says it is always best to make your own pouch,
and while I agree with that, if that is not your skill set, it is perfectly
acceptable to buy a premade pouch. The secret to working with
herbs that are carried in a pouch is to keep them in your auric field.
Usually this means in a pocket, but if you do not have pockets, you
might have to get creative. I know many women who carry a pouch
in their bra, as an example. Some herbs are more specific though.
When I was much younger, I learned you should carry mullein leaf in
your shoe for safe travel. While yes, it was messy, I also saw it
always worked! In American Hoodoo and African-Caribbean
practices this is discussed extensively, and those would be your
starting points.
Poppets on the other hand, are lesser known, but quite powerful.
Usually you will find information about them from the same sources
you consult for pouches, so it should be no issue to acquire more
detailed, advanced information about them if you desire. The gist of
a poppet is that it is roughly the shape of a person. You can make
them as detailed as you want, though, which means you could make
a poppet in the form of a male or a female. The next step is to fill it
with appropriate ingredients. There are many different materials you
can employ for this, ranging from bone powder to what is more
appropriate to our discussion: herbs. Sometimes people will
consecrate a poppet to a particular person, in the case of the
pedestrian view of “Voodoo Dolls,” and magically, the idea is often to
control or guide another person. The stereotypical image that comes
to mind is the doll that gets stuck with pins in order to cause another
person pain. When it comes to psychic protection, though, the
application of the poppet is quite different. One of the ways you can
use a poppet for protective purposes is to fill it with an appropriate
herb, or herbs, and then put it in your sacred space (or at least a
safe place) in your home. Consecrate it to give you protection, and
leave it be for however long you choose. This works on the belief
that it is a representative of your spirit. Thus, while you are out and
about living life, this poppet is protecting you from a distance.
Remember that energy knows no distance. Using a poppet this way
dates back to predynastic Egypt, so it is time-tested and a global
technique. Remember the basic rules of creation when you use this
technique, though. You can also consecrate the poppet to someone
other than yourself, and thus the individual would receive the
protective energy from the herbs contained within it.

Incense

The burning of incense, i.e. herbs and/or resins, on some sort of

fire is another application that goes back thousands of years, cross-
culturally and globally. Many herbs have been used as incenses over
the years, and these range from natural blends, such as what you
would find in potpourri, to blending them with some sort of carrier,
placed on a stick, and burned that way. A carrier is something that is
used to bind various substances together. Some of the ones listed
above, though, are resins, and they require a little bit of discussion.
Generally speaking, resins are secretions such as sap that come
from various trees. An exception to this is amber, but that is a
conversation for another time. Resins are very easy to use as
incenses due to their naturally sticky nature, and while they are not
technically herbs, often you will find them in the same places as
herbs. Most resins are safe to use as is, but at least one in particular,
dragon’s blood, can be toxic to the touch over an extended period of
exposure, which is why it is always important to do your research
before using anything in this chapter.
Incenses are so common, whether you believe in their
metaphysical properties or not. It has been proven time and again
that the olfactory senses have a profound impact on the human
psyche, and many people use incense just to aid relaxation, if
nothing else. The three common ways incenses are used are either
in stick form, burned over charcoal tabs, or burned in cone form. You
can see that, whatever form you choose to use, you will most likely
need accessories as well. Stick incense needs a container that can
hold it up as well as catch the ashes that fall. Cone incense needs to
be burned in a flameproof container that can also catch the ashes.
Incense burned over charcoal is the highest maintenance, but is the
most pungent, and often the most cost effective. You will need the
incense, charcoal to burn it on, a flameproof container to burn it in
and something to light it with. It is down to personal preference which
type of incense you burn, if you should choose to use it. Simply know
that it is purely down to personal preference, regardless of what else
you might read about it.

Fragrances

Another subject that needs very little to no introduction is the use

and application of scented oils. Generally known as aromatherapy,
oils have been used for thousands of years for various purposes.
Commonly, they are used to enhance charisma and attraction, but
you can also use them for protective purposes. Most oils are derived
from herbs and resins, and from a metaphysical perspective are
considered a higher vibration than incenses. They penetrate the finer
planes easier and can reach greater heights. There is also the fact
that they are generally less pungent than incenses. For those of you
who may not be able to tolerate smoke for various reasons, you may
find oils are better suited for protective purposes. No matter the
case, simply know that oils are a great alternative. Since they are
generally more socially acceptable, they can be used in
environments that might favor light scents rather than the earthiness
of incenses. Another point to remember is that smoke, no matter
what kind, is thicker and therefore lingers longer and sticks to clothes
and items longer than oils. The scent of oils tends to wear off before
that of incense smoke, so you may find you adjust which tool you
use in proportion to the event or environment you are in. I have been
in several corporate meeting where oils are more appropriate than
being covered in incense smoke, as an example. The same health
warnings apply here, though, as oils can be as dangerous as some
herbs.
Here is an example from many years ago. While working in a
metaphysical shop, a regular customer came in wearing a head
band. It wasn’t his normal style of dress, and when we struck up a
conversation with him, we ended up with a lesson. It turns out he
had performed a ritual for prosperity since the last time we’d seen
him. He did his research and found out that cinnamon oil was good
for prosperity, so he drew a pentacle on his forehead as part of the
ritual. Well, when applied to the skin, essential cinnamon oil burns,
so he ended up with a burnt-in-the-skin pentacle on his forehead!
Not only did he suffer the burning sensation from the application,
there was also the minor skin irritation that stayed for long after the
ritual. All of this because he didn’t do thorough research. Even
though this was skin irritation, you can imagine how things would
have played out differently if there was an allergic reaction that could
have caused anaphylactic shock!
Because of this, and for various other reasons, such as
environmental consciousness, many people will use artificial
fragrances instead of pure essential extracts. Like pouches and
poppets, energetically it is always better if you can use the real thing,
but if you can’t, it will work just as well if you use the artificially made
ones. In this day and age, it is actually more responsible to use
artificial incenses and oils due to the many endangered species that
produce the things we love. For example, frankincense and
sandalwood are endangered due to being over harvested because of
its popularity, so whenever you get the chance to go with artificial
versions of them, it is ethical to do so. While natural is preferred,
energetically it makes no difference for all practical purposes.
 A newer application of fragrances that can be used almost
anywhere are misters. Misters are made when you mix an oil with
water and some sort of other liquid that helps with cohesion and
potency. Thus, you spray yourself or an area with it, and it has the
same effect as an oil, but it is much lighter, subtler, and therefore can
be used in more places than either oils or incenses. Like the other
applications that have been discussed here, it is wise to do your
research before simply jumping in to use them. I simply mention
them here for the sake of completeness.
Finally, another way that essential oils can be used are through oil
diffusers. The simplest way to explain this is that a diffuser is some
sort of device that contains water. You put a few drops of the desired
oil in the water. The next part of a diffuser requires a heat source,
because the way it works is that the heat source heats the water,
which in turn releases the scent of the oil into the air. I realize I am
being vague here with a lot of the details, but that is because there
are many ways they are made and used. Some diffusers plug into
electrical outlets, which provides the heat source, while other
diffusers use a small candle such as a tea light under the water
container, which in turn heats the water and activates the oil. Still
others can plug into the cigarette lighter of a vehicle and work the
same way. Some diffusers will use a cloth or something solid rather
than water, but the effect is the same. I know parents who have used
the ones that plug into electrical outlets with soothing oils, which can
help put their children to sleep or those who suffer from anxiety.
The final way fragrances can be used is through a distillation
process known as tinctures. These are no strangers to those who
are familiar with alchemy, but in recent years have gained
widespread popularity due to the spread of witchcraft and Hoodoo.
Specifically, a tincture is an extract from a plant that is produced from
soaking the plant or plant part in ethanol or a comparable alcohol.
This produces a distillation of the essence of the plant. It is more
potent than fragrances, as we have discussed before, but generally
they are purer. Some people shy away from tinctures though,
because they do involve alcohol in some form. Those who have had
alcohol problems in the past, for example, prefer to use one of the
other methods instead of this one, and as you have probably
deduced by now, it really doesn’t matter what form of fragrance
provider you use, as long as it works for you.
Sometimes, a criticism of working with oils is that they are
psychosomatic in nature, meaning that if you know the herb or
fragrance is good for protection, then when you are using it, it works
because you believe it will. On one hand there is a lot of truth to this,
because the mind is more powerful than most people realize or give
credit to, but on the other hand, I have seen herbs work to the effects
they claim to have, even for people who did not know the effect
ahead of time. Let’s turn our attention to this end of the spectrum,
namely that the herbs actually do have the properties they are
purported to have. This is the final application of herbs in this
chapter, and another subject that has been written about extensively.
This is commonly known as kitchen witchery.

Kitchen Witchery

Kitchen witchery is one of my favorite applications of herbs for

various reasons. First, anyone can do it. Secondly, it is subtle. Third,
while we are discussing it from the perspective of protection, you can
use this technique like many of the others listed here, in non-
protective ways. So, what exactly is kitchen witchery? Yes, it involves
a kitchen, which means it also involves cooking and other things you
would do in a kitchen. Kitchen witchery is when you cook or in some
other way apply the herbs to food and internal consumption to
produce desired effects. I know several people who do kitchen
witchery that have no other or deeper interest in the occult. They
simply know herbs, what they can do, and use that to their
advantage. This technique isn’t relegated just to food, though, as
they can also be used in drinks. For example, often when I am giving
a public presentation or teaching a class, I will drink cinnamon
coffee. The reason for this is that cinnamon is an herb that promotes
prosperity, so I am taking in the idea of prosperity to assist with the
success of whatever I am doing. Some people I know will cook their
significant other a meal that has calming herbs after a challenging
day at work to soothe the vibes in the household. These two
examples are but the tip of the iceberg for what you can do with
them, and remember that since this is a book on protection, you
could use the above list to experiment with, in order to find what
works best for you.

Ethics

We haven’t discussed what I hinted at yet, though, which is how

this works without the idea of psychosomatic effects. I saved this
discussion until now because it also requires an examination of
ethics. I know several people who have done kitchen witchery
without other people knowing it. This isn’t common, but it does
happen, and quite frequently at that. So, if you are going into a
situation that may require protection, you can fix yourself food that
includes protective herbs to prepare for what you may encounter. Or
conversely, if you know your loved ones are going into those
situations, you can make the food for them so that they are extra
safe. This is our segue into ethics though, so let’s shift gears.
To many people, if you do energetic work on or for someone
without their knowledge or consent, it is seen as immoral, or at least
unethical. It does not require much explanation to see why this is, for
the principles are the same as two people having nonconsensual
sex. And in a lot of ways, what we are discussing here is so much
more intimate because it is spiritual in nature. There are many ways
to process this, so let’s look at a few of them. First, context must be
created in order to fully process this. Let’s use the example of a
romantic couple. Let’s say that one of them practices this skill, while
the other one doesn’t, but the other is okay with this. If this is the
case, then the kitchen witch should have no problem telling their
partner what kitchen witchery they are executing. However, if the
other does not know their partner does this, and it is done without
their permission, then it is easy to see it is practiced non-
consensually. While I am a firm believer of Aleister Crowley’s wisdom
that “ordinary morality is for ordinary people,” I also realize not
everyone shares that view, so the ethics of using kitchen witchery
should be considered before being put into practice. This is
especially worth keeping in mind for those of you who read this and
are not necessarily interested in other realms of occultism. Rather,
you simply know you need energetic protection in your life for one
reason or another. This does mean though, that this is another
takeaway from this chapter in addition to doing your research on the
safety of herbs and oils. Morality and ethics should be considered
when you are working with protective techniques, and we will return
to this in depth in later chapters. For now, though, simply be aware
that with herbs, oils, and the like, ethics should be considered due to
the number of applications and ease and convenience of use.
This quick sidebar into ethics is necessary, because I have seen
people use the kitchen witchery application of herbs to great effect
on those who did not know they were being worked for, and to the
desired effect of the herb. This pretty much ruins the idea of the
effects of all herbs being one hundred percent psychosomatic, and
least logically and to the intelligent. After all, you can’t say all herbs
and their effects are psychosomatic if they work on a person who
doesn’t know what effects they will have, or even that they are under
the influence at all.

This chapter is brief and an overview, and that is completely

intentional. Many authors have written extensively on these subjects,
so there are plenty of in depth resources to consult. In this new
aeon, a lot of that material has been digitized as well, making it more
accessible to those who have a desire to explore and become
educated. The intent of this chapter is to be a quick reference guide
if you are in a jam and this is the only resource you have. There are
usually many different methods to accomplish several of these
applications, so you may find conflicting information. For example,
you may find multiple ways to make tinctures, and all of them are as
equally valid as another. If this becomes the case, trial and error is
your friend. After all, all magick, if done correctly, involves trial and
error, pioneering and being visionary. There are most likely other
ways to work with herbs than those mentioned here, so you may find
techniques and applications that come from your own culture and
background, and even places on the planet that you visit. If you
connect with them, then by all means test them out! Remember to
give credit where credit is due, though, so as to avoid passing such
techniques off as your own. It is far more impressive to say you
learned an obscure technique that works very strongly than it is to try
and pass it off as your own. In addition to it being impressive, to be
honest is also karmically cleaner and more responsible.
Explore! Experiment! But do your homework! Not all herbs are
created equal, and personal health should be considered first and
foremost. If you are unsure about an herb, or your health, then
address both. Sometimes an herb might appear safe when you
research it, but it turns out you have a reaction to it you didn’t know
about until you tried it. And, some things change over time. When I
first started working in a metaphysical shop, I had no issues with any
herbs. However, over time and due to prolonged exposure, I
developed a slight allergy to mugwort and wormwood, and even
frankincense. So now I have to be careful when I use those three in
particular, and I am more cautious before working with herbs in
general. Our bodies and their biology change over time, so
periodically in our lives we may find we have to put some herbs
down in order to work with others that do not harm us. However, que
sera sera: such is life.
 Section Two
Emotional Plane Tools
 Chapter Five
Emotional Health and Protection
Like in the previous chapter, I will tread fairly lightly here,
because there are trained, certified emotional and psychological
health care professionals who should be consulted when it comes to
dealing with emotions, and I will always defer to their expertise. They
should always be consulted if you are dealing with emotional issues
such as the ones we are about to discuss. What we are going to
discuss here are broad concepts to keep in mind in the name of
protecting yourself emotionally. The reason for this is that not all
psychic protection issues can be solved with physical plane tools. It
is always wise to use the appropriate tool for the job, and in this
case, if you are dealing with emotional issues and situations, then
approaching them from an emotional or mental perspective is the
best way to go. This is one of the most sensitive, if not the most
sensitive topic, and thus the potential is the highest for the greatest
damage. There is a general tendency to throw the baby out with the
bath water, so to speak, when it comes to emotions in general, so
this can be a smorgasbord for energy vampires in one’s life.

We’ll start off by discussing the science behind this chapter. This
really wasn’t too much of a concern in the previous chapter other
than providing the Latin names and discussing the fact there are
warnings that should be considered, but in this chapter there is a
little more to discuss before we move on to techniques. First of all,
remember that the human body is seventy to seventy-five percent
water. This is one of the reasons the phases of the moon have an
effect on us. The principle is the same as the effect of the moon on
the tides. Just as the moon exerts a pull on the tides, it exerts a pull
on us as well. This is worth mentioning up front because one of the
first ways to protect yourself emotionally is to know and be aware of
the cycles of the moon. By themselves, these cycles can tell us the
ambient energy in the air. It has been proven over centuries, time
and again, that the Moon has a direct impact on the human form, if
for no other reason than the fact that humans are seventy percent
water, and it is a well-known scientific fact that the cycles of the
Moon affect the tides, and thus, water in general. On a deeper level,
these cycles can specifically affect people based on their astrological
makeup. For example, if someone is born on a full moon, they will be
affected by the full and new moons in different ways than others, and
often these ways are stronger, with particular characteristics.
Also keep in mind that in the Western Esoteric Tradition, the
element of water corresponds to emotions and the ability to move
between the planes. Part of this also entails spirituality, in particular
spiritual initiation. We can thus see how this is an appropriate
correspondence: water to emotions. One of the ways this applies to
the purpose of this text is that whenever you encounter emotional
body issues, you can always focus upon your own personal and
spiritual development as a major way to handle them.
Here I would like to interject some thoughts, and while they will
point you in the direction of professional emotional support, this is
not meant as a complete dissertation. Let’s say someone is going
through an emotional rough patch, such as a romantic breakup.
Then, on top of it, they get fired from their job. To a casual observer,
this may seem like a psychic attack, but it is simply a case of
projection and cause and effect. Another part of this to consider is
that you may not be necessarily getting psychically attacked, but
rather going through a spiritual initiation of some sort. It is easy to
confuse the two. An extension of this is that instead of being
psychically attacked, perhaps you are going through a spiritual test
of some sort. The twelve laws of karma I discussed in my book Vocal
Magick are some of the ones I am referring to here, but there are
many more universal, spiritual, and natural laws that may be coming
into play. An example of a physical law that might seem like a
psychic attack is that the biology of the human body changes
through the years. This includes stages like puberty, the fact that the
human brain doesn’t fully develop until the mid-twenties, and the
biological changes that happen after one turns forty. It can also
relate to someone experiencing some sort of traumatic experience in
their life, or even latent DNA that becomes activated through various
means, such as when a person gets exposed to the triggers that
activate them. Changes of life may seem like psychic attacks, when
in reality they are natural processes. Learning about the human
condition, physically, emotionally, and mentally, is invaluable when it
comes to protecting yourself. This is one of the reasons why it is
always wise to pay attention to science and what is continually being
learned about the human condition and our physical bodies. Anyway,
enough of the foundation. Let’s turn our attention to more specific
matters.

Maturity and Responsibility

The title of this section alone reveals one of the most if not the
most important way you can psychically protect yourself when it
comes to emotions. The tricky part of this is that how you do this is
subjective, only applicable to your path, and where you are at when
it comes to personal and spiritual development. So, while I can give
you insights, advice, and tips, it still ultimately comes down to what
works for you. We will break each one of these topics down and
explore them in depth to create a baseline for ideas we will talk
about later in the book. Let’s start with maturity.
What maturity means to you is different than what it will mean to
me, but let’s start with the dictionary definition to establish a common
point for reference. Unfortunately, the Oxford simply defines it as
“The state, fact, or period of being mature.” So, let’s turn our
attention to what mature means. The Oxford tells us the definition of
mature is “fully developed physically; full-grown.” The second
definition is much more in line with our focus here: “(especially of a
young person) having reached a stage of mental or emotional
development characteristics of an adult.” Thus, when we talk about
emotional maturity, we are discussing handling and protecting one’s
emotions as an adult rather than as a child. While this may seem like
common sense, I think we all know people that have problems with
this, so it does bear mentioning here.
One of the meanings of maturity, in context of what we’re
discussing here, is that as we grow and evolve, we should learn to
handle our emotions in better ways. The temper tantrums we threw
as children to get our way should not be employed as we become
adults, yet the vast majority of people still do throw fits, and often it
works, because they are not told “no”. If you are practicing psychic
protection, handling your emotions in positive and mature ways
protects you from those who seek to manipulate you emotionally.
Many people gain energy from you if they rile up your emotions.
They may not be aware they are siphoning off your energy, but they
are doing it none the less. The trick here, though, is to realize that if
you can’t figure out how to handle your emotions in mature and
healthy ways, then it is on you to find someone who can teach you,
and there is a whole professional field dedicated to this. Therapists
and counselors can be of great assistance, and while a great many
people do seek them out, a vast majority do not. One of the reasons
for this is the stigma that is attached to this kind of therapy. People
have a tendency to look down on others who seek assistance for
handling emotions, yet ironically, they too should be in counseling,
more often than not.
Everyone has emotional baggage. Most people in society today
have experienced some sort of emotional trauma in their lives, and
this is worth keeping in mind because it removes the stigma from
seeking therapy. It is quite healthy to admit to yourself and to others
that you are emotionally wounded and need help. Not only is it a sign
of spiritual and personal growth, it is also the responsible thing for
you to do, not only for yourself, but your loved ones, the planet at
large, and the species as a whole. When we heal our emotional
wounds, we take back our personal power that was lost at the time
of the wound. In so doing, we increase our ability to achieve our
goals and contribute to the overall growth of the human species. This
also reinforces why we should treat others with compassion and
understanding. Most people are reacting to things that occur from
an emotionally wounded space, and while they may not be aware of
it, this does not diminish this truth. It is easier to be in charge of your
reaction to people and situations if you keep this in mind, because
you are approaching the situation from a higher ground.
Often we can find sublime spiritual and occult truths in other areas
of life, and in this case, we find an important occult lesson in martial
arts. One of the common teachings in the swordplay of various
cultures is that of the necessity of having the higher ground as a
strategical advantage. Depending on the path you study, you will find
various reasons and explanations for this. Particularly relevant to the
purposes of this text are:
1) If you have the high ground, you have the advantage of better
sight.
2) in the area of occultism, having the high ground means being
on the plane above the one you are engaging. When it comes to
dealing with emotions, the high ground is the mental plane. By being
firmly rooted in the mental plane, you are in complete control of your
emotions. In other words, you are doing the emotions and not letting
them do you.
This is no easy task, though, as you may assume. It is extremely
difficult to reign in your emotions in the name of mental clarity and
personal self-control. A side effect of this is that other people may
see you as emotionally cold, detached, and distanced. While on one
hand this may be true, it is only because it is necessary at that time.
Keep in mind that just because others perceive this, it doesn’t make
it true. As a general rule of thumb, people fear and do not like what
they don’t understand. This doesn’t mean having no emotions at all,
for that is actually quite psychotic. Rather, it means exercising
emotional control to the degree you can do what needs to be done at
that time, in the appropriate way. A good axiom to remember is that
“courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
(Mark Twain) There are two helpful points to remember to help us
accomplish this. First, the person who gets an emotional response
from you controls you, and second, emotions are food, and therefore
you are effectively starving your opponent. We’ll speak more about
this in a moment, but for now it should be clear. Let us shift gears to
discuss emotional responsibility.

Emotional responsibility is something that is a little more difficult

to understand, because part of it entails taking responsibility for your
actions and emotions. This means honoring yourself as well as the
emotions of others. For example, if someone says something to
make you angry, it is responsible to tell them that, but not to throw a
temper tantrum. Another point to keep in mind is to take the
emotions of others into account when making major decisions that
may impact them. This doesn’t mean changing your decision so that
they are not hurt. Rather, it means knowing that what you are
deciding may affect them emotionally, and therefore you are
responsible for how you engage with them when it comes to
discussing the matter. There is a fine line here, though, which is that
while you should be aware of how your decisions may emotionally
impact others, this does not mean you are responsible for their
emotions. The way to handle this is through your delivery and
conversation with them.
Another part of emotional responsibility lies in honoring yourself,
as mentioned above. Yes, you may be angry about something, but
how do you vent that anger? That is the true test. Let’s look at this
from a more scientific perspective. When our emotions get triggered,
certain chemicals are released in the body. These chemicals vary,
depending on the emotions involved. Some of the chemical reactions
also entail the release of adrenaline. Now knowing this, what do you
do? The easy solution is to engage in some sort of activity that
allows you to vent not only your emotions, but also those built up
chemicals. I always like to joke with people that when I am the most
upset, my place gets cleaned the most! I often use cleaning as a way
to discharge those chemicals so that they don’t stay imprisoned in
the body. If you let those chemicals build up, they have been proven
to lead to health issues down the road, especially if this is done over
extended years. Much has been written about this, both
metaphysically and physically, so there is plenty of further material
available. By venting the chemicals as they build up, you keep your
body closer to clean and pure than if you let them build up. This is
one example of honoring yourself and handling your emotions in a
healthy way. As another example, some people discharge their
feelings by going through a workout at a gym with a personal trainer.
No matter what you do, remember to engage in something that is
productive rather than destructive. This is not only more satisfying, it
is also safer. Part of the way this plays out is that by the time you are
done venting those chemicals, there may not be enough energy left
to have an emotional reaction to the situation. And, if you find that
there is energy left for that, then engage in some other form of
physical activity to vent the rest of it. Continue to do that until you are
exhausted. Then, after the chemicals are vented, rest. One of the
best phrases of wisdom I learned early in life is to “sleep on it.” This
means getting a full night’s rest before making a decision or a plan.
Not only does this recharge the body, it also gives you a chance to
step back mentally and look at things from a fresh perspective. And if
you should wake up feeling just as upset as you were the day
before, then guess what? Yep, get back to the physical activity until
you are exhausted. Repeat this cycle for as long as it takes.
Sometimes, though, we do not have the benefit of time that allows
us to do this. In these instances, it is wise to keep a lock on our
emotions, and to observe the chemicals running through our body
rather than engaging in them. This is an idea that has been
thoroughly discussed in various Buddhist teachings over the years,
so you may find it helpful to look in that direction for further guidance.
If you do temporarily turn off the emotions to focus on the task at
hand, just remember to come back to dealing with them when you
have the opportunity. If you find you cannot make time to do this,
then introspection would be good to do, to see what subconscious
block prevents you from loving and honoring yourself. One of the big
reasons for this is that you may run the risk of living in denial of your
emotions, and that could be more damaging down the road, not only
to your health, but to the health of others. Not developing the ability
to process emotions as an adult can lead not only to health issues,
but also addiction problems and violent outbursts.

Astral Imprints

Now we turn our attention to the metaphysical side of the

equation, but before we do that, we should lay some groundwork.
Let’s examine the astral plane. It is the closest plane to the physical,
and encompasses the realms of emotions, desires, and basically all
subjects related to raw, primal emotions. In Jungian terms, it is the
alchemical imagination. It is where our desires create what we
perceive, and this plane is the gateway between the world we live in
and the upper worlds. In this way, the astral plane acts like a bridge.
It’s interesting that this bridge is built on desires and the imagination.
There is an objective astral plane, too, and through the centuries this
has been the meeting place of many adepts of various cultures and
spiritual traditions. If you can conceive it, it exists on the astral plane,
the realm of horror and splendor.
It is in this astral realm that we find valuable information about
psychic protection, for people subconsciously and consciously have
desires all the time. The astral plane can best be understood as
being a gel or viscous fluid. It is malleable, but it can also be sticky
and almost solid in some ways. Its fuel is the energy of the emotions.
An easy formula to use to understand this is that energy follows
thought, and thought begets form. The more emotions you pour into
a situation or location, the denser and more palpable you make it.
This is true of not only memories, but also physical locations. In
other words, the more a particular spot witnesses repeated
emotionally charged situations, the more it is imprinted with the
general vibe and nature of those situations. For example, a place
that is constantly home to people who have fits of rage, the more
those locations are charged with a rage-filled energy.
A good example of this is in an urban setting, but the principles
can apply anywhere. Let’s say there is a tavern at 221B Baker St.
And let’s say that it has commonly been home to its fair share of bar
brawls. Let’s even say that it got so bad that eventually the tavern
had to close. And, continuing the illustration, let’s say that a new
business, an apartment building, went up on its location. The astral
imprint of the physical location being a place of debauchery, anger,
and sorrow continues, even though the physical form is long gone. It
would manifest in the way of attracting tenants that have those
characteristics. Thus, even though the original purpose of the
building has changed, the same kind of people might still frequent
the location. So while the tavern is no longer there to encourage the
same rage-filled behavior, it may be reported by various people in
the apartment building. I hope this is a clear example of how the
astral plane gets imprinted by repetitive actions fueled by emotions.
This is also one of the reasons that holy sites will retain their
potency, even if the dominant religion changes.
Another part of the equation is that this idea can be extrapolated to
include the fourth dimension, that of time. This tells us that the longer
a particular physical location is subjected to particular emotional
experiences, the stronger it becomes, and the longer it will remain
that way, almost regardless of future influences. This is the reason
why holy places that are thousands of years old are still strong to this
day. And of course, the greater the number of people who invest in
its strength, the stronger it will become, and the longer lasting, too.
This concept is tied into a larger paradigm that consists of
thoughtforms and egregores, and while egregores are outside the
scope of this book, thoughtforms are right in line with emotional
health.

Thoughtforms

Truth be told, the term “thoughtforms” is a fairly new invention

and has only been around for approximately 115 years or so. The
book Thoughtforms by Annie Besant and C.W. Leadbeater was
initially published in 1905, and while articles appeared in the
magazine Lucifer before that, the term and concept weren’t used
much before the late 1800s at the earliest.
Thoughtform is a Western term adopted by the Theosophical
Society that describes a far older concept: that of the “tulpa.”
References to this concept can be found in the Buddhist text
Samannaphala Sutta, which is one of the earlier Buddhist texts, so
we can get a rough idea of the time of its creation (a few centuries
before Christ. Approximately 600 years BCE). In Buddhism, a tulpa
is a being created through the concentration of psychic or mental
energy.
As we can see, the way this applies to our text is that by knowing
this, we now understand that the energy that is pooled on the astral
plane in certain places can develop a level of sentience due to the
energy generated by the same vibration of people over time. Using
the aforementioned example of a tavern that no longer exists, we
see that the consciousness of the thoughtform located there would
have a consciousness produced by the type of people who
frequented the establishment. So, the consciousness of the
thoughtform would include the very primitive, base level traits of the
alcoholic. If a proportion of the regulars were experiencing problems
at home, then the thoughtform would also hold emotional baggage
as part of its mentality. Further traits might include anger and
extreme moodiness. Hopefully, it is clear where I am going with this.
Understanding this is important, because it reveals the level of
consciousness vibration possessed by the thoughtform. Once you’re
aware of its consciousness level, you’ll know what you can do about
it. If you find yourself visiting places such as this, you should
remember that maintaining a sense of logic, sobriety, and stable
emotions can help protect you while you are there. If you do not
protect your energy in such a location, you run the risk of gaining a
lower astral attachment that may follow you home, and either begin
to influence you in the name of survival, or simply catch a ride with
you until it finds a more suitable host. In much the same way school
children transmit diseases by bringing them home, thoughtforms can
transmit themselves to the best vibratory fit for their survival. This
also means you can create thoughtforms through conscious effort,
but that is a conversation for another book.
Many times, the sources of psychic attacks may be energetic
thoughtforms rather than flesh and blood people. There have been
occasions in my life when I’ve had to cleanse myself energetically
after being in such a stained location, and having picked up a
particular thoughtform that was using me to get to its next meal, or
worse yet, thinking I was its next meal! Basic banishings and
cleansings will generally take care of these situations, and it is worth
noting that this also means the more regularly we do our cleansings,
the less impacted we are by these insidious beings.
Not all thoughtforms are negative, though. Consider a thoughtform
of a local church that is known for its strength of faith. This could be
a positive thoughtform that could manifest through someone who
begins regularly attending services there, and their life turns around
for the positive. Does this ring a bell or sound familiar to you? When
you seriously consider and work with thoughtforms, you can see that
they are the root of all gods and goddesses everywhere! Of course,
this statement is based on the premise that we created the gods. We
did, didn’t we? Anywho…
Sometimes what we perceive as a psychic attack is actually an
interaction with a thoughtform. Continuing the above story, let’s
discuss this for a moment. In the case of the churchgoing lady, she
has come out ahead in life. The energetically sensitive person may
have thought they were under psychic attack if they frequented the
tavern mentioned above, but in reality they simply picked up on a
thoughtform that was trying to survive. Yes, that could be considered
an attack, or you could look at it as a primitive beast trying to devour
what it needs to in order to survive.
One of the reasons for knowing all of this information is so that you
will be in a better position to not only take care of your energy based
on where you may find yourself in life, but also so that you can spot
this in friends and loved ones. It also helps reinforce why we should
perform regular energetic cleansings and banishings. People can
accidentally create thoughtforms, especially around their own home
or place of employment, and not realize it. By knowing how all of this
works, we are more empowered and have a great tool of creation at
our disposal.
Being aware of thoughtforms also reinforces why it is important to
have emotional control. The strongest energy out there is that of
emotions, and thus we see that the thoughtforms built through strong
emotions – even those that are out of control – are the ones that are
the strongest, but also the most primitive in their manifestation. By
primitive, I mean that they are pure – concentrated and focused to
the point that they appear singular in nature, when in reality they are
simply focused. Underestimating thoughtforms is dangerous, so it is
wise to tread lightly and carefully when dealing with them. To a lot of
nonphysical entities, emotions are food, after all.

Points to Consider

When facing emotional situations, there are some valuable points

to keep in mind to make empowered decisions that also protect your
emotional body. There is much more advice available on this topic
than the points discussed here, and there are plenty of books on the
subject of emotional health, so if any of these strike a chord with you,
you may want to consider investigating and researching them
independently from the concept of psychic protection. There are also
many health care professionals out there who are better equipped to
help you if any of these are reoccurring themes in your life. The
points discussed here are intended simply to stimulate your thought
processes with regards to what it really means to protect yourself
emotionally.
A good point to keep in mind when dealing with emotional
situations is to “hold tightly, let go lightly.” This is a reminder to live in
the moment and be able to detach almost as quickly. You can see
why it is great in principle, but of course implementing it is not so
easy. Many people struggle with this throughout their lives, which
means it is understandable if you struggle with it. While it is an
excellent perch to attain, actually getting there is another story, and
usually it is complicated by the fact it is a sliding scale of grey. You
may go back and forth on this in various aspects of your life over the
course of your life, and that is quite natural. However, by striving
towards emotional control, we are constantly improving ourselves.
There are many thought and behavior patterns to watch out for,
and by being aware of them, you are further protecting yourself
psychically in a proactive way. The first thought pattern or behavior
to address is fairly common: “If you really loved me, you’d do *x*.”
This is an unhealthy view to take, because love should not be
demanding. This is known as emotional manipulation or emotional
blackmail.
A trait to avoid when in romantic relationships is to rely on the
other person to provide your happiness. This can be very dangerous
leading to codependent relationships. Each person is responsible for
their own happiness, which means it is on them to produce it when
appropriate. While we can sympathize and even empathize with
another, we should not put the power outside of ourselves when it
comes to producing happiness in life. If our loved ones are down and
depressed, then by all rights it is quite healthy to be down and in the
dumps with them. This does have limits, though, and while the limits
are subjective to each person, the overall concept is the same for all.
Allow yourself to connect with your loved ones through sympathizing
or empathizing with them but be careful not to take on those
emotions as your own. An empath, particularly a natural one, may
take on the depression of others to their own suffering and detriment.
Another good policy is to follow your heart, but lead with your
head. Yes, follow your heart. However, apply logic, reason, and
rationale to the situation, and use them to approach situations from a
clear position. If you are the only one who uses this technique, then
you might end up having to deal with other people’s emotions and
situations. Most likely this may manifest in a dramatic fashion. For
example, if your heart says, “move across the continent,” applying
your head to the situation would tell you to figure out a plan on how
to do it, rather than just picking up and moving without a plan. This
also hints at the bigger picture, which is that the heart and brain are
not mutually exclusive, but rather you should work with them
together in a healthy fashion to achieve fulfilling success in all of life.
Expectations are something to avoid as well. Thinking things like “I
know they’ll change,” when it comes to your loved ones, should be
avoided. If they want to change, they will make it known and will
actually do the work. On one hand, beware of blind faith, but on the
other, it is all about making sure you see all emotionally charged
situations clearly in life. This is also a warning against making
excuses for the behavior of others. A line of thought here is “I’ll let
this slight go because I know they’ll change their behavior.” If
appropriate, then yes, this is a healthy line of thought, but if you
continue to say that to yourself, it might become an excuse you tell
yourself instead of dealing with the problem, which is of course the
other person or people involved in the situation you are pondering.
You should also watch out for abusive addictive relationships, as
they can be insidious, forming from seemingly nothing into
something huge to handle. These relationships might begin as an
intense, passionate natural connection, only to turn into something
that needs itself in order to survive. In other words, it becomes
addictive. There is a serpent in paradise, and that is abuse, for
because such relationships are so passionate and active, they may
manifest as abusive, depending on the individuals involved. If the
relationship ends up this way, both partners become addicted to
each other, so neither leaves, the real issues never come up to be
addressed and get swept under the rug, and the same pattern
repeats. The true tragedy of these relationships is that there is a
world of passion present, but little to no guidance, so things explode
rather than evolve. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll stop here
for now.
 The universal law of diminished returns must also be kept in mind.
If you find you are putting more into the relationship than you could
possibly get out of it over its duration, then it is wise to cut your
losses and leave. This universal law teaches us discernment. If
situations are lopsided, then there is no equality, rationale, etc. There
is simply one ego conquering the other, which is okay if it was
agreed upon from the start, but in most relationships this happens
slowly rather than being planned. Universal laws are a subject that is
not clearly understood by many people, and while the concept gets
quoted a lot, they are very rarely discussed in depth, but they are
important nonetheless. There are many of them, and even more are
being discovered every day as we evolve as a species, which means
more will be forthcoming in the future development of humanity. As
we spiritually evolve, we open ourselves to being receptive to much
more being brought to our awareness.
Having healthy boundaries and clear intent with people helps
protect your emotional self, too. Regarding most situations in life, if
you are in a position to put boundaries in at the beginning of a
relationship rather than later, this is a wise move to consider. It is
always easier to lay down boundaries early on but adding them in
later can be emotionally sticky. You might find this technique helps
you move forward, rather than if you apply it an existing, long-term
relationship in your life. However, if you think you can heal a
longstanding relationship by applying this idea, then go for it, and
more power to you. A tangent of this is to have clear intent in all that
you do. Not only does this warn against muddled energy that can be
transmitted by having divided attention, it also reminds you that there
is strength in purity, and that strength is formidable when used
appropriately.
A powerful perception to keep in mind when you are interacting
with people on a day to day basis is that everyone is doing the best
they can with the tools at their disposal. This can be a hard lesson to
learn, because it teaches you that you shouldn’t get angry with
people who don’t live up to your expectations. Accepting that the
decisions other people make on any given day are the best
decisions they can make takes a lot of courage and strength. It also
requires humility and acceptance. While you might think it’s sad that
those are the only tools such people have at their disposal, it should
still be accepted without judgement.
A valuable question to ask yourself when it comes to many
emotional situations is “What’s the point?” This hints at perspective
and reminds you to keep everything in clear context of the greater
whole. Sometimes, if you’re not careful, you might blow situations
out of proportion in your mind and make mountains out of mole hills.
This lesson warns against that. It also tells you that through working
with this material on a regular basis, you’ll see that sometimes you
are disappointed with the behavior of others but, keeping the lesson
in mind, do you really have a right to be?

As you can see, the central theme of this chapter is emotional

control, and also being aware that sometimes we have to call in
professionals who work with these situations on a regular basis. If
any such situations are occurring in your life, you may want to seek
help from qualified professionals. Keep these ideas in mind when
you are evaluating and addressing situations in your life concerned
with emotions and emotional charges. Remember that many beings
feed off the raw energy that we all emit on any given day. Their
activity and attention to us may appear falsely as psychic attacks,
when in reality there are other causes, such as psychological and
emotional issues, (as addressed above), or perhaps a lower
vibrational thoughtform scrounging for sustenance. It is wise to keep
these things in mind during assessment of what is happening in your
life. This can save a lot of headaches later down the road. It can also
help develop your clairvoyant skills as you look at things magically
throughout your life. By keeping to the principles discussed here, you
are in a greater position of empowerment through the entirety of your
life. When in doubt, remember to control the emotions and not let
them control you.
 Chapter Six
Vampires
Originally, I was going to talk about boundaries in this chapter,
but instead of treating the symptom, let’s treat the cause and look at
the underlying energetic. Let’s discuss vampirism.
You can tell by the context that we’re not going to be discussing
the classic folk character that drinks blood and could really use some
vitamin D. We are going to focus on energetic and emotional
vampires specifically, as they are the ones that will most likely be
encountered in day to day life. They are the vampires that can do the
most damage to a person and their life. We can’t just discuss them in
a broad swath approach though, as there are many different kinds of
vampires, and not all are bad. I have known many in my life who are
good people I enjoy spending time with, but by that same token, I
have known many who were horrible people, moving in and
destroying lives like professionals. This broad spectrum of types of
vampires explains why there are so many misconceptions in both the
modern spiritual movement, and outside of it, as to what vampirism
actually is, and its visage to the general public.
As we take a closer look at the subject, we should remember that
at the end of the day, almost everyone has experienced a certain
level of vampirism, either engaging in it or being victimized by it, so
to pass any blank judgment on the subject or particular people you
may know or meet, would be a naïve exercise in morality. Like most
things in life, situations you may encounter should be viewed
subjectively, in that each one is unique and teaches a different
lesson, even though it may resemble situations from your past.
Often, spiritual lessons that were not learned the first time will come
back around to be dealt with in a different way, and sometimes a
lesson is more complex than it first appears, so there is more to be
learned than what can be packed into a singular experience.
The vampire subculture that consists of dress, culture, and the
exchange of blood on a consensual basis is outside the range of this
book. We will specifically be looking at emotional and psychic
vampires, because they are generally the ones you may have to
protect yourself against. These people are the ones who feed off
emotions or the psychic energy of others, either subconsciously or
knowingly. Vampirism, as it relates to this book, is when one takes
something from another living being in order to feel healthy or
fulfilled. To a certain extent, everyone has experienced this. Think
back to a time in your life when you were enjoying time with friends,
and after you left their presence, you still felt that particular joy.
Sometimes this may manifest as feeling energetically drunk, as in
the buzz generated from a massive release of psychic energy and
emotions. This is worth remembering because it reminds us to be
compassionate when appropriate.

Different Types of Vampires

Before we move onto metaphysics, let’s talk about the

accompanying psychology that is necessary to note to emotionally
protect yourself. Functionally, there are two types of vampires:
Knowing ones, and those who are engaging in the practice, blissfully
unaware of what they are doing. Each one requires a different
approach, so be aware that this is a case where a blanket response
is best avoided. Once we discuss these two perspectives, we will
move onto the next level.
People who engage in vampirism fully aware of what they are
doing can again be split into two categories: people who do so
ethically, and those who don’t. It is easy to know which side of the
fence someone is, though, because the ethically inclined will not
practice vampirism upon someone so without permission! So the
various combinations of these are knowing vampires who are ethical,
and those who are not.
Those who practice vampirism knowingly and ethically are some
of the more interesting and intelligent people I have had the pleasure
of knowing. They are generally full of life and enjoy the pleasures of
the world and the flesh, and can thus be good people to talk to if you
have a dilemma that could negatively impact your enjoyment of
incarnation. If they want your emotional or psychic energy, they will
ask and discuss it with you. This also makes them some of the most
polite people you may meet. On average, these people are safe from
an emotional perspective. Of course, there are jerks in all groups, so
you may encounter a rogue jerk, but that is true of all groups in
society.
However, those who do it knowingly and unethically are those who
have bred negative stereotypes that most people in society know
and do not like. These are the people who will take your energy
without asking for permission, which could leave you feeling drained
after being in their presence. They take and give nothing in return,
completely disrespecting you in the process. These people can be
hard to spot, as they generally do their best to conceal their agenda.
However, this also makes them a cautionary tale for those who think
there is no value in emotional boundaries or daily cleansings and
banishings.
There is another side to the equation, though, and this addresses
what the true danger is in day to day life. What we are talking about
here are those who do not know they are psychic vampires yet affect
people negatively without realizing it. These are the people who will
do their best to get an emotional rise out of you, because on some
level it feeds them. In some cases, this is a medical condition that
can be addressed and, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, it can also be
a treatable mental condition. There are those who are fully aware
and conscious of what they’re doing, and those are who we’re talking
about here. This hammers the point home, I’m sure. This is why it is
always smart to project emotional boundaries as a normal practice,
and to make sure you handle your emotions carefully and healthily
as a natural state of being.

Knowing, Ethical Vampires

I have known many of this type over the years, and they can be
some of the more interesting and nicest people you’ll meet in the
occult community. They tend generally have an interesting fashion
sense, and actually know what they’re talking about when it comes
to all things related to vampires. Many of them feed psychically in
some sort of mutual exchange with people over the course of their
life. Some even take it a step further and exchange actual blood.
Like many communities out there, it has its share of problem people,
but for the most part they are as uncommon in ratio as any other
subcommunity in society.
They have their own code of ethics but, as I don’t spend enough
time in that culture to know the nuances of said ethical code, I won’t
try to talk about that here. From what I have experienced, it is in line
with an honor code from an honorable person in general. They are
also generally very good at working with and embracing consent
culture, which is always a nice thing to see! They, like many other
people in various occult communities, simply like to follow their
spiritual path without interruption, and some of the gnosis they have
brought to occultism is very interesting, to say the least.

Knowing, Unethical Vampires

As hinted at above, these are vampires who can be particularly

troublesome, because at their very core they are largely narcissists.
They are driven by their reptilian brain, believing in sensory
gratification, and the more immediate, the better. They truly feed off
the energy they obtain from others, and this is often the energy
generated by strong emotions. Some feed on the natural psychic
energy a person emits, but no matter the type of energy, it is still
sustenance acquired from an outside source. Sometimes this need
to feed is a subtle manifestation of internal chemical imbalances, so
in some cases, this deficiency can be remedied with medical
treatment. Not all go that way though, and many choose to turn it
into part of their spiritual path in some way. The interesting thing
about this group is that they may not be interested in the occult or
spiritual at all. This is what makes them truly dangerous. This also
tells us that there is often something wrong with them
psychologically.
When they take that energy from others, it fills a void within the
self. Forgetting the Hermetic axiom, they often become
disempowered, believing they are a victim of circumstances outside
of their control, when in reality they are choosing not to look within in
the first place. If they’re not careful, they could also become addicted
to this sort of behavior, making their condition worse. They are often
very nice and sociable people, but there are most likely emotional or
psychological issues that go with their condition. This underscores
the need for patience and also that you should take time to get to
know people in general as a good emotional health defense
mechanism. Remember that to the mature mind, trust is earned, and
never given freely. It is not so much that there is a defensive agenda
being advanced, but rather that you are working in an ongoing way
with the principles of the planet Saturn to achieve success
throughout life. Saturn is the planet of maturity, foundation, structure,
discipline, karma, and being grounded.

Unknowing, Unethical Vampires

There’s not a lot more I can add here that wasn’t discussed in the
previous section, but there are a few points I can make for clarity. Th
behavior of this type is more or less the same, or similar to, that of
the knowing unethical vampire, but they are simply unaware of the
whole process. In this way they are usually drama kings or queens,
causing commotion in their lives from which to feed, and then
wondering why drama never leaves them alone. Many times, they
are emotional manipulators, which of course underscores the
importance of working with the traits of Saturn.
A certain level of compassion and care should be taken when
dealing with this type, though. First of all, if you know someone like
this, and you think you can help them address the matter for their
own benefit, the first thing to do is to seek out the appropriate health
care professional. See if your concerns are grounded or not,
because sometimes what we see in others is what is internally
occurring within ourselves that needs to be addressed.
Not everyone can handle being told they are a vampire of any
kind, which is why compassion and care should be kept in mind.
Make sure the other person can handle the conversation. Think very
carefully before bringing this topic up because relationships can end
or take a turn for the worse if this isn’t handled delicately. In most
cases, tenderness can assuage this kind of conversation, so make
sure you know the person very, very well before engaging in a
discussion. Remember that the point of the conversation is for their
healing. For example, you can approach the conversation from the
perspective of: “This is what I’m seeing. Is it true?” Or, “I’ve seen
some traits you have that raise red flags, and I want to know if I’m
seeing things clearly.”

Non-Physical Vampires

Previously we discussed thoughtforms and psychic stains that

can be left in particular places, and the sentience that goes with
them, but let’s add to that conversation. Some beings you may
encounter through your development might not be physical and will
not fall into the category described in the previous chapter. The initial
beings that come to mind are demons and other malevolent entities
that are common themes for the plots of stories centuries old. The
succubus and incubus come to mind at first thought, and with a few
moments of reflection, I’m sure plenty of others will come to your
mind, too. These very very old thoughtforms have attained a degree
of consciousness that no human can fathom. How can I say that with
certainty? Well, we have physical limits and the limits that come with
being in physical form. We also do not have access to all of the
memories of the part of us that extends beyond just this one life. The
beings mentioned above are not confined by either of these
restrictions, and therefore possess an unbroken consciousness
dating from the first recording of their type and/or name until now. All
we know of ourselves is what we remember from this life, and what
knowledge we have gleaned from spiritual development about the
memories of other lives.
A strong warning comes up here that should be kept in mind when
dealing with spirits of all kinds. While we may be able to relate and
interact with them, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that we
know their minds. Consider this, though: 90 percent of the time
people interact with spirits successfully, so while this sounds scary
due to its alien nature and nebulous nature, it really isn’t, as long as
you follow the protocols for spirit communication that works for them
in their spiritual growth. This lesson warns against hubris, which has
been the downfall of many a good magician over the centuries.
These beings have their own agendas, perceptions, and mental
strengths and weaknesses, just like we do.
If an entity is vampiric in nature, this tells us they have many
different ways to drain our energy, and even if we sat around and
thought about this for a long time, we could not figure out all of their
methods, nor should we even try, really. If we deal with them, then, it
is on us to treat them respectfully and fairly. As long as we do that,
interaction should generally go smoothly. Here again, though, this
largely depends on what we learned about the being before
choosing to work with them. The value of knowing correspondences
cannot be understated, as we learn about their psyches so that we
can manifest positive results. We learn their tastes, their
peculiarities, and their abilities, and thus we know how to relate to
them. Funny enough, this brings us full circle to the intelligent
application of boundaries.
For the most part, these beings are not confined to any particular
place, unlike the thoughtforms discussed previously, but some are
stronger in certain places than others. Usually these are the places
in which they were born and are commonly found upon our research.
And, many times, they are just one of a number of spirits that share
the same characteristics, so there are many out there in the world at
large. Consider the fact that many different cultures and civilizations
believe in beings with similar correspondences, only differing by
name. You can see that running into these beings can be quite
common even if you go through life unconsciously. By adjusting your
vibration, these beings are easily shed, but it does take an indefinite
time to solidify the higher vibration. After this occurs, the vampiric
being cannot find a connection to the occultist, and thus usually
moves on to find another source of sustenance. After all, energy
follows the path of least resistance throughout the cosmos. These
rules drastically change when it comes to magicians, but that is a
conversation for another time and place.

Avoiding Vampirism

To each their own when it comes to spiritual growth, as long as it

is harming no one else, but this discussion does set the stage for the
next part of this chapter. We can, and should, make sure we are
healthy enough to avoid the pitfalls that can lead to vampirism if it
would diminish our overall quality of life and spiritual ascent. You can
see from the listed conditions that if you’re not careful, there is
actually a danger of becoming an unknowing vampire. So it is wise
to concern yourself with making sure things are copacetic.
I hinted at this earlier, but let’s expand it. What is it, you ask? The
Hermetic Axiom. Attributed to being written by the Egyptian god
Tehuti (Thoth) himself, this is one of the older pieces of spiritual
wisdom over the centuries, and it simply states “That which is above
is like that which is below, and that which is within is like that which is
without.” Or, something like that. Translations and interpretations
vary, but this is the essence of it. We are the microcosms of a
greater macrocosmic reality, and as we are internally, we are
externally, too. Many cynics over the years have taken issue with
this, but by and large, spiritually speaking, this is truth. If we feel like
we have an internal void, we will try and fill it, consciously or not.
The way this applies to our conversation is as a reminder of why
we should practice emotional health. A lot of things pertaining to
emotional and spiritual fulfillment can be found within rather than
without. If we think we need something without, we should first look
within to see if we can fulfill that need ourselves. Sometimes this can
be done through spiritual and psychological means, but other times
we may find we have accidentally come across a chemical
deficiency within ourselves. Or perhaps it is that we discovered a
part of our psyche that needs some healing. In any event, I trust you
see what I mean. We cannot always assume that the Hermetic
axiom is always true. It does have its limits when it comes to biology
and science but, for the most part, what we lack internally can be
resolved by going within.
Through our emotional vigilance, we stay on top of our emotional,
spiritual, and mental health. At the same time, we also sharpen our
senses, not just for our own well-being, but also to see those around
us who may need some healing. When we do this for long enough
and thoroughly enough, we sharpen our psychic skills in the process.
This makes it a win-win situation. it also puts us in a better position
of greater personal empowerment when it comes to interacting with
the average person in our daily lives. However, it also means that
our psychic skills will grow on their own. This point is worth
emphasizing because I have known people who have awakened or
sharpened their psychic skills to the degree that they could then see
spirits and energy when they couldn’t before, and it caught them off
guard. They didn’t know this was a potential side effect and were
therefore blindsided. Sometimes this resulted in them shutting down
psychically, and in some cases they did or did not open them back
up later. This is further proof that all of our bodies are connected
(Physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual).
After we take a moment to reflect on everything we’ve digested in
this section, we see that it is not so much about knowing a particular
reactionary way to protect ourselves, but rather training ourselves to
be able to spot the principles at work around us most of the time we
are out and about in our daily lives. Being able to recognize what is
going on around us, and our role within it, we further empower
ourselves to achieve success and to protect what we have. This is
the foundational cornerstone of this book: proactivity through
perception. The best psychic protection you can have is knowledge,
and the best response is to be in control of your actions. Remember
when we discussed swordplay earlier? When it comes to dealing
with emotions, the high ground is considered the mental plane, and
being in control of one’s emotions to deliver the appropriate
response.

Emotional Responses

Continuing the deferral theme of “there are many books available

devoted solely to this subject,” this section will be fairly short and
open to further exploration if something within it resonates with you.
The same response is not always the appropriate one to a given
situation, and this is a common rule for life.
Several years ago, a friend of mine told me something interesting
before he died. He told me that when he was raising his children, he
taught them to make appropriate decisions in addition to basic
morality. In a lot of ways, this rearranged my thinking, moving the
concept of appropriateness to a higher priority in my mind. Then I
was able to connect the dots to another interesting piece of the
puzzle. Something I learned from hypnotherapy many years ago was
that the way a person responds emotionally to various stressful
situations can tell us a lot about the level of their emotional maturity.
The general line of thinking here is that if someone responds to an
emotionally charged situation as an adult in a way that is immature,
this reaction reveals at what age the person received such an
emotional wound that they ceased to learn coping skills as they grew
older from that age. For example, if you know someone who
punches a wall every time they are emotionally upset, you can
deduce that they experienced a major emotional trauma at a young
age, usually under the age of five or six, specifically, because that is
how a young child would react. Yes, this is a blanket concept, and it
should be remembered there are exceptions to every rule, but by
and large, if you keep this in mind when dealing with others and their
emotions, you will find that you develop a better intuitive
understanding of most people, and this can be helpful when you
meet and interact with them in daily life.
The trick lies in doing your research to learn what ages could
potentially cause particular reactions so that you know how to
analyze what you experience. I can provide some basic ideas, but
for more detailed information, seek out the appropriate material
written by professionals in the field. Usually, if someone responds
from a tantrum perspective as described above, this reveals that the
emotional wound occurred when the individual was very young, and
had not learned how to handle their emotions yet, so you could
guess (and I emphasize ‘guess’) that the emotional trauma probably
occurred before age six. A trick I use to evaluate this is to think back
to my younger years when confronted with these kinds of situations.
I think back to where I was mentally when I would have responded in
that fashion. This narrows things down dramatically and puts me in a
position of greater empowerment for when it is time for an
appropriate response. This is one of the fruits of the Buddhist
teaching that you should watch your thoughts flow through your mind
like a river, yet never engage with them. While this may seem
extremely abstract at the moment, we will be coming back to it in the
next section when we turn our attention to the mental plane, so it is
better to recognize the foundation being built here.
Another revealing response is found through astrology. If we know
the basic elemental makeup of who we are interacting with, we can
have an idea of how to interact with them, and how to respond to
them. This is an advanced thought to consider, but it is still important
to note here.
Yet another point to keep in mind when evaluating someone’s
response is whether or not the person closes off emotionally. This
doesn’t necessarily reveal anything about the age at which they
suffered an emotional wound, but it does reveal how the person
processes (or not) emotions when they come up in life. Living in
denial or suppressing emotions can be a toxic practice, and
eventually can lead to physical damage, as recent studies have
shown. Thus you gain insight into their emotional body and health,
and this information can be used in the name of healing, or whatever
response is appropriate.
So much of how to protect yourself emotionally can be found
through consulting professionals in their respective fields, and I will
not even attempt to match their expertise here. This illustrates the
necessity of consulting the correct channels for greatest health. I
could tell you about all kinds of emotional cleansings rituals, etc, but
I see no reason to, because everyone has their own spiritual path
with corresponding practices. Even though this is a smaller chapter,
it discusses one of the largest, if not the largest area of our being
that needs protection. This is good foundational material for growth,
rather than meant as a be-all-end-all resource. More people have
emotions than are into occultism, and therefore these themes will be
dealt with in more places than occult scenarios and environments.
Daunting as it may sound, this also makes it the greatest area of our
lives for proactive healthy growth. While some may see all of this as
defeating, it should also be considered as opportunistic. It is because
of all of this that we can achieve tremendous emotional growth
during this lifetime, and often this feeds directly into our spiritual
growth overall.
We now turn our attention to the next plane, the mental, and we
should remind ourselves of the wisdom of Dion Fortune: “In order to
have power over a plane, you must approach it from the plane
above.”
 Section Three
Mental Plane Tools
 Chapter Seven
Body Language and Hypnosis
We’re now going to shift gears and rise to the mental plane, but
before we do, there are a few preliminary points to discuss. The first
relates to the order of the planes. The mental is higher than the
emotional because it is the mind that is in control of the emotions in
a healthy life. However, these planes overlap, and are not mutually
exclusive. In other words, when we are engaging our emotions, our
mental plane is also engaged, and when we are using our mind, our
emotions are stirred. This line of thinking also applies to the physical
and spiritual planes and has been discussed in many self-
improvement books in recent years that address becoming
emotionally invested in living a full and fulfilled life.
I have noticed through the years that there are two wide groups of
people:
1) those who go through the motions in all that they do, never
really emotionally connecting with what they’re doing.
2) those who are emotionally invested in the processes of life.
Generally, these people tend to get further than those who just go
through their lives on autopilot, internally emotionally dead. By
cultivating a good connection between the heart, mind, and spirit,
one achieves health and success.
The mental plane is the realm of logic, reason, rationale, clear
intent, focus, and discipline. At the higher end of the plane, it
encompasses abstract thoughts, and at that point it begins to blend
with the plane above it, the spiritual. Most of what we will be
discussing in this section will concern mental discipline, emotional
detachment, and logic. However, remember, “Follow your heart, but
lead with your head.” This is the plane a lot of people have
challenges with due to the amount of self-control and mental
discipline it takes to achieve success. Part of the price you pay for
being adept with the mental plane is being seen as emotionally cold
or distant, removed from one’s emotions. Over time, I have noticed
though, that these people need support more than others because of
the internal intensity they experience when working with this plane
repeatedly. If you are not careful, you can lose your spiritual and
emotional bearings, and become the cold hearted person you might
have been accused of being for far too long. This withers and
atrophies compassion and emotions in general, and I’m sure I don’t
need to tell you the various psychological issues that come with that.
So why would one develop mental plane skills, if these are the
dangers? The most obvious answer is emotional control. A tangent
of thought here is that often the people who are the most adept with
the mental plane are natural empaths who have chosen the path of
self-control and healing in the name of understanding their gifts and
spiritual growth. Another benefit to developing these skills is that it
puts you in a position to receive greater spiritual gnosis from higher
vibrational beings the more you develop that skill set. By cultivating
these skills, you also train your mind so that you have less reliance
on tools overall. About that…
Do we need to use tools to accomplish our Will? Technically no,
but boy, are they fun to use! Ultimately our mind is the ultimate tool,
but this doesn’t mean you should avoid using tools. Using tools
creates muscle memory but are ultimately left behind when we die
and continue our journey on the other side. I have met people who
felt like they could do nothing without their tools, but I have also met
people who don’t use magical tools because of what we’re talking
about here. Remember that extremism in any case is wrong and
unhealthy, so it is wise to come to your own conclusion regarding
tools and to stick with it, changing it when necessary. By developing
mental plane skills, you will come into an increased sense of
awareness, which in turn will feed your spiritual growth.
Because of the cerebral nature of this plane, many of the
techniques and tools we’ll discuss will be more psychological in
nature, which means that you can find more qualified professionals
in their respective fields than I, and the same words of wisdom
mentioned before apply here as well. We will once again touch upon
broad concepts and subjects that you can use to protect yourself
psychically, but to fill in the details it will take research and
experience. I have found what we will talk about in here will also
cross over into the spiritual realm, and yet remain in the mental
plane, forming a bridge of sorts. When applied on a regular basis,
this information can help train your mind to think in new ways and
perceive things that others might miss. This means you will begin to
separate from others, but this is a good thing, as it helps you attain
new heights of spiritual progress. The mind is the ultimate tool, but
that also means it takes the most work in a lot of regards. Thus this
plane is not for the hobbyist and can lead to a new way of life, a new
way of being. Let’s break things down and get to the details.

Body Language

The ability to read body language cannot be emphasized enough

when it comes to protecting your emotional body. If you had to pick
one skill from this chapter to learn, this would be the one. Thankfully
enough, this is also one subject that has been written about a lot
over the last several decades and is in common use in more areas of
society than just occultism, so there is a plethora of material
available to the curious seeker. A great book to begin with is The
Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris. It has been around for about fifty
years and is a wonderful starting point.
In this book, the author, a human biologist, discusses the
animalistic side of human nature, in particular how our bodies
behave in social circles and situations. It is a great primer to
understanding the animal side of our nature that so many modern
spiritual thinkers and writers tend to ignore. Never forget that we are
humans, but we are also half animal. It is wise to keep this in mind
throughout life, because if we deny our animal side, we are only
setting ourselves up for pain later in life. This suppression can fall
into the same category of what we have previously discussed
regarding the suppression of emotions. Neither one is good to do.
We should engage in and deal with our emotions, and we should
engage in and deal with our animal nature, too. The trick is to stay in
control of how this happens. If we lose control, very bad things can
happen, because our human side would be second in strength to our
raw, primal, nature. This usually manifests as acts of violence, but
there are many ways it can play out in life.
 One of the perceptions Morris makes in his book gives us valuable
insight into what we can expect from it, and also serves as an
introduction to the kind of techniques that are effective on a mental
level. Related concepts will be discussed in this chapter, but it is in
no way a comprehensive or exhaustive list. It does serve as a
starting point for our conversation and opens the door to a greater
understanding of mental psychic protection. A technique from the
book I found memorable and useful concerns people-watching,
especially couples. If you are out and about in society and you see a
couple who are obviously in a romantic relationship, watch them for
a few seconds. Read their body language, but specifically look at
where their hands and arms are. If they are an affectionate couple
and hold hands, or even put their arms around each other, look to
see where those arms fall. If they fall around the waist and seem to
be more relaxed, then the odds are that they have had sex since
their relationship began, whereas if the arms are tenser and located
higher on the torso, then they probably haven’t. I use this here as an
example because it is a clear-cut example of what this book
discusses, and what we are talking about when it comes to reading
body language. Details and subtleties can provide a lot of insight into
what a person is thinking and what their subconscious is telling you.
This works both ways, though, as knowledge of body language
also puts you in the driver’s seat to use those same techniques to
protect yourself against anything that might come your way. Some of
this information may be more common knowledge than other
aspects of reading body language, and this simply enforces how
common this knowledge is. Its value is almost unlimited, though, and
studying the subject would definitely be worth your time. At least, I
have found it worth my time, and have had success with the
techniques we are discussing here. If you are aware and in control of
your body language, you project that energy into the multiverse at
large and this inherently raises your vibration. After all, the body is
the subconscious mind. It is the microcosm to the macrocosm of the
ascended self. I’m going to discuss techniques simply as they are
and generally will leave the intent of their usage up to you, because
many of them can be used proactively and reactively, so I see no
reason to go into that level of detail. After all, it’s a scientific method
of thinking. If something is true, so is its converse, meaning if
something can be used one way, it can also be used in an opposite
way. Simply, this one piece of scientific wisdom can expedite spiritual
and personal growth, and can assist in developing the
consciousness in interesting and unique ways.
One of the most, if not the most commonly known technique of
body language is that of crossing your arms across your chest when
someone says something that triggers your defensiveness. If you are
talking to someone and they do that, you probably hit a nerve or a
hurdle of some kind. Remember common sense, though, and pay
attention to your environment. If it is cold outside, then it is more than
likely the chill that is causing the person to cross their arms rather
than revealing any subconscious information. That idea applies to all
body language information and techniques in general. The
environment supersedes a revelation of a subconscious intent. Yes,
many times they are hand in hand, but be careful not to mistake one
for another. When we look at this technique energetically, we see
that when someone crosses their arms across their chest, they are
blocking their solar plexus chakra, the manipura, largely preventing
energy from reaching it. If you do it, it accomplishes the same goal,
and thus we can see how it is a defensive move.
It is harder for energy to lock onto you if you are constantly or
almost constantly in motion. One of the ways you can use this
knowledge is to constantly be in motion in some way, subtle or overt,
when you are interacting with people. I use this technique a lot when
I am doing public presentations, and I have seen other professional
motivational speakers do it, too, so it is more common than you
might think. Rocking back and forth, or at least being in movement
when talking, can keep unwanted energy away from you. This is also
a good way to keep your own circulation going.
Some situations might occur, however, when we are not in a
position to do either of these techniques, so we may feel caught off
guard. When surprising situations occur, there’s not much we can do
in the moment, but we can control our response. A technique I have
found useful is that when the first opportunity avails itself, take it and
excuse yourself to the bathroom. Wash your hands in water, and
while you do so, visualize washing away all of the energy
accumulated from the previous environment. With concentration, you
may find this easier and easier to do through repetition, and it will
leave you feeling pure and clean. There are other concepts and
techniques like this that can be done, but they are all derivatives of
this one. Some of these you can discover on your own through
experimentation, but others you may find through research.
A technique I learned through spiritualism is also done when you
are alone. Run your projecting arm down the front of your body in a
sweeping motion, crossing your torso. While doing this, visualize that
your arm is cutting energetic cords that may have attached
themselves to your chakras and aura in general. Once you get
comfortable with that technique, a tangent of that is to run your arm
down your back as well, to achieve the same end. This is also a
reminder that we should watch and cleanse our back, and that it is
not all about the front of our bodies. Many times, this point gets
glossed over or completely ignored in energy work, but it is of vital
importance. What is true for the front of the body is generally also
true for the back.
Body language is part of a greater paradigm that we can look to
for further techniques to protect ourselves. This greater paradigm is
that of consciously co-creating your daily reality in line with your Will
and your vision for yourself. The most common and popular way to
do this is not founded in mysticism or the occult, but rather through
the power of your mind, hypnosis.

Hypnosis

Do you want to quack like a duck on a stage in front of people? If

you do, then you can look into prestidigitation, (conjuring or stage
magical tricks) or the siddhis of Eastern traditions (a variety of
alleged supernatural powers). While a form of hypnosis is used in
these practices, it is not the kind we are discussing here. We will
look specifically at using hypnosis, and self-hypnosis, as a means of
psychic protection. This technique is included here because a lot of it
can frequently overlap with body language, and when the two are
combined, they can achieve powerful results. This is true not only
from a protection perspective, but also from a co-creative one, too.
Hypnosis also points the finger in the direction of being proactive, so
it can be a very empowering skill to learn. Good friends of mine are
professional hypnotherapists from whom I have learned a lot over
the years, and I wish to share a lot of their practices here. Again,
seeking out the proper professionals in the field is the preferred way
to go, but if you want a quick reference and brief tips, I will include
them here.
Before discussing techniques though, there are some preliminary
thoughts to share to create a common foundation. The first one I
hinted at above, which is that the body is the subconscious mind. I
realize a lot of people might not believe this, but more and more
scientific research is revealing a mind/body connection that we are
only beginning to understand and address, but the evidence
demonstrates there is some sort of connection, regardless. As to the
extent and power though, this is still highly subjective and open to
interpretation. Bluntly, not enough research has been done to clarify
this further at the time of writing, but the connection itself does exist,
and has been proven. This tells us that the more we develop and
train the mind, the more we gain control over our bodies. Conversely,
we can also read our body to see what is going on in our
subconscious.
We should cut this subject and information with Occam’s Razor
though and remind ourselves that sometimes what is going on with
the body may not be reflective of the mind at all. This is easily
analyzed when we stop to remind ourselves that we have genetic
karma as much as we have energetic or spiritual karma. When we
choose to incarnate, we do address karma that concerns being in
physical form. A lot of times, this genetic karma relates to the family
line and settling up family karma; it is not so much indicative of the
subconscious as of what physical karma is being addressed. We
should not assume that just because we read something in our body
it is automatically a message from our subconscious. It may be a
message regarding genetic karma.
Another point to be aware of is that, on average, it takes twenty-
eight days for the subconscious to learn a new behavioral pattern. I
say on average because it depends on the pattern being addressed.
If you have a deeply embedded behavioral pattern from childhood, it
may take a lot longer than just twenty-eight days to address it, so
patience is always encouraged when dealing with training the mind.
You can also see that by my choice of words that modern
psychology can also be consulted to gain further insight into what we
are discussing here. And, as you may have suspected, psychology
and hypnosis have more in common than differences, and people
who are proficient in one are often proficient in, or at least
knowledgeable about, the other, even if they don’t practice it. I have
known many hypnotists over the years, as well as those who learned
it on their own, and all of them have an understanding of psychology
as well. Knowing how the mind works, both physically and from a
behavioral perspective, can be of great value when it comes to
protecting your energy. Whether you use this information to protect
yourself, or simply to be able to spot it when other people are using
those techniques in your presence, it is still important to be aware of
all aspects to keep your energy clear, and to give you another tool in
your toolbox for the co-creation of your reality.
When you are embedding a new behavioral pattern in yourself, it
will take at least twenty-eight days of sustained effort. This also
teaches us a valuable esoteric lesson. It is better to focus on
attracting what we want and play to our strengths, delegating our
weakness. A good real-world example of this is that if you are
against war, you don’t go to an anti-war rally, but rather you attend a
pro-peace rally. Energy flows where attention goes, after all. I
covered this extensively in Vocal Magick, and you can reference that
book for more information.
Esoterically speaking, this also removes the possibility of a
polarity-based conflict. This matters because, remember, the key to
success is in having the high ground, whether it is moral, mental
over emotional, or simply in psychologically removing yourself from a
polarity-based situation. There is a lot of energy generated through
conflict, which can be harnessed and applied to various goals, but
the more time and energy you spend in conflict, the more you will
engage in a battle of wills, which rarely ends well. When protecting
your energy, it’s wise to remember you can choose to exit any sort of
conflict you encounter. This doesn’t mean you should; it also means
that you shouldn’t. Maintaining the high ground is important, but
sometimes the energy of the conflict can be put to good use in
producing larger than expected results for various projects in life.
In order to improve your mental armor, it is wise to learn this
information and apply it at various periods in your life to achieve
various goals. You can use this information to break bad habits you
may have, to train bad behavior out of loved ones, and to be able to
spot when such tactics are being used against you. An extension of
this material is NLP, which is short for “Neuro-Linguistic
Programming.” In short, this is the incorporation of body language
into traditional hypnotic techniques, and while it’s a fairly new subject
of study, it has really been around for quite a long time, as anyone
who works in sales will tell you. This can further enhance your ability
to defend yourself mentally.
A common way this is accomplished is through the popular
technique of affirmations. These are brief sayings you can tell
yourself in order to advance a particular way of thinking. Sometimes
they are called mantras, but that is an inaccuracy, as mantras are
specific to the Hindu tradition. The concept is the same, though. An
example of an affirmation is “All I can handle for my greatest growth
and good is brought to me at this time.” The point of this affirmation
would be to reinforce an optimistic and personal development
thought pattern. Affirmations serve to affirm a particular way of
thinking, so it is best to use those that enforce the positive. As you
can see, affirmations are a form of self-hypnosis and this illustrates
another way the mind can be manipulated. We will discuss how to
use affirmations to achieve spiritual effects later, but since the
concept is mental in nature and application, it does require
discussion and introduction here.
By being proactive when it comes to addressing and training the
mind, you put yourself in a position of protection, for it is the mind
that is usually influenced or affected during psychic attacks. It is
harder for the energy to get a foothold if the target has mentally
trained their mind in various disciplines that we are discussing here.
While we have touched on hypnosis, NLP, body language and
affirmations, there are many other ways to train the mind. I don’t
claim to know all of them, but am familiar enough with the fact that
there are many more out there I have not come across. Much of
what we’re discussing here relates to your creative problem-solving
skills as much as with using logic and reason, as mentioned before.
It might seem counterintuitive to consider creative problem-solving
in the context of this discussion, but it serves as a reminder that the
higher part of the mental plane is abstract. This is where it also
begins to blend with the spiritual plane. As much as we develop our
logical and mental faculties, we should be mindful this doesn’t
become our prison, limiting our thinking. Yes, logic is good, but it is
not an absolute solution. As mentioned before, living your life occurs
upon a sliding scale of grey, rather than black and white extremes.
This also includes how you handle protecting your energy.
Approaching psychic protection from a sliding scale of grey can be
invaluable because it reminds you of appropriate responses to any
situations you encounter. To illustrate, if you have a cut on your
finger, you do not amputate the whole thing! Instead, you use smaller
and more appropriate responses to the situation. Instead of
amputation, you cleanse and bandage the wound, saving the finger
in the process.
While this may seem unrelated to psychic protection, it is actually
a very valuable lesson. Proportion should be kept in mind when it
comes to responses. This can keep a tight rein on your personal
karma as well. If you overreact to a situation, and are aware it is over
the top, you have incurred negative karma to deal with as a backlash
further on down the road. Yes, you can incur karma by responding to
situations in over the top ways. While it does matter whether or not
you know your reaction is over the top, it is important to ask yourself
if your response is appropriate to the situation. This ties back into
issues we discussed earlier, so I’m sure we need not revisit that
conversation here.

In Conclusion

Suffice to say, there is a lot more that could be said about the
mental plane than what is covered here, but I will not be
presumptuous enough to try and address everything related to
hypnosis, affirmations, NLP, and other related topics. I would rather
leave that to the experts, and while I am putting the work back on
your shoulders, it will be more fulfilling if you do the work yourself.
After all, what works for you may not necessarily work for me, and
vice versa. For example, while I am familiar with affirmations, I have
not used them in this way for a great many years. It is a technique I
have had great success with in the past, but I have put it aside to
refine other techniques more in line with my spiritual path. I do still
work with affirmations, but generally from a spiritual perspective
rather than a mental one. That approach will be discussed later in
the book, but it is worth mentioning here because it shows that a
technique or approach you use on one plane can also be used from
the perspective of other planes. This liberates us from thinking they
are mutually exclusive, or specifically tied to the plane in which they
are the most effective or even how they’ve been introduced in this
text.
When confronted with psychic attacks of any kind, it is always wise
to take a step back mentally before you react emotionally. It’s always
best to take a deep breath, and this opens the door to another
subject that may seem unrelated, yet can be very powerful; the
science of breath.
In Hinduism, there is a branch of Yoga dedicated to breathing,
called pranayama. I have known about this for years, but it has only
been in the last few years that I’ve made a more determined attempt
to put it into practice. Since I have done that, I have noticed that
overall I am more composed and in control of my responses to
situations. Coupled with developing the skill of having a poker face, it
has led my consciousness and personal development in very
interesting directions. An intriguing side effect of this development is
that it has led to some powerful and interesting gnosis. However, it
has also caused my consciousness to develop in ways that are
separate and generally alien to the minds of others. Everything
comes with a price, though, which is another powerful lesson.
As you develop your proficiency with mental plane subjects and
techniques in the name of psychic protection, you will experience
unknown or unintended side effects. This is normal and to be
expected. While I share some of my experiences above, your
experiences will vary, and you will discover different pieces of gnosis
on your own that is in line with your spiritual and personal
development. The main thing to keep in mind when you notice these
side effects is to make sure that they are happening for your greatest
growth and good. As much as a mind can be trained in these arts, it
can also become unhinged in the process. After all, it is the mind we
are discussing here, and by and large where the mind leads, the
body follows.
If you are already dealing with psychological conditions and
diagnoses, then please consult your mental health care professional
before proceeding. As is also true in occultism, working with these
forces can unleash powerful forces on the mind, and more than one
budding occultist has suffered mentally due to their occult interest
and activities. In a perverse inverse of why people turn to
psychological related concepts (usually to heal themselves, even
though they may not be aware of it at the time), some people who
venture into occultism and the paranormal often discover
psychological issues that they never knew existed. Unfortunately,
many times, this occurs in a very sad and dramatic way. This
reinforces the necessity for a structured exploration into whatever
part of the subject interests you and requires regular vigilance on
your mental state to monitor your psychological stability and
progress.
If you find at any time that working with the mental plane is taking
a serious, negative toll on your mental health, then focus on the
other planes to balance this out. There is such a thing as “too much
of a good thing,” and the overdevelopment and over-reliance on one
plane to the detriment of another can produce sickness and worse. A
good everyday application of this is that when your emotions get too
strong to control, you pour that energy into a different project, such
as a physical exercise routine, or in my case, cleaning the house.
This burns out the adrenaline and exhausts me physically, creating
emotional detachment. I am quite frankly too tired to engage in the
emotions, so am able to view the situation more clearly, not
influenced by emotions. Always observe the whole of your life, not
just one particular area of it, for we do not know where and when we
will need to protect ourselves, and the best form of defense is often a
good offense.
 Chapter Eight
Critical Thinking Tips
We’re now going to turn our attention to various thoughts and tips
that I put under the blanket of critical thinking. There are many other
critical thinking techniques out there that I will not include here,
largely because I don’t know them. I say this because the subject of
critical thinking skills has long been studied regarding philosophy
and related subjects, and I defer to their centuries-old wisdom.
Logical and critical thinking skills are easily found for those who
desire to know more. And, bluntly, I never really got into philosophy.
It always seemed too passive to me, and the wisdom of the East was
more vibrant and applicable to my young mind when I first learned of
these subjects. That bias I developed decades ago still exists within
me to this day, and I have no intention of changing it, for reasons
that are not only outside the scope of this book but are also
personal.
However, what we will discuss here are critical thinking examples
of metaphysical wisdom I have picked up over the years that I have
found very helpful when it comes to protecting the mind against
those who might try to dull my senses and cause me to lose my light.
In this way, the concepts here are somewhat hodge-podge within the
chapter, but they are all related in that they can be of great value and
assistance regarding mental protection. If you know of other
techniques and insights in addition to what is discussed here, then
add all of this to your repertoire. Remember that the more you
increase your palette; the more spirit can bring you, because you
can receive more.
As we move forward, we must first reinforce the knowledge of one
of the core concepts of magick. This is that we are constantly
creating, or co-creating, our reality in line with our Will, every minute
of every day. This also serves to remind us how powerful we truly
are, but with that comes increased responsibilities. It is easy to lose
track of this if one is the subject of a psychic attack of any nature,
which is why reminders are always good. This philosophy should be
tempered with other concepts such as humility, genetic karma, and
other limiting factors discussed previously, but overall it is a good
philosophy to work with and evolve.

The Now

Through the last twenty years, this topic has received widespread
acclaim and criticism, with both occurring for good reason. The
concept of “the now” is quite simple. We live in an eternal moment,
with no past and no future. This has been adopted from particular
Eastern traditions, especially Buddhism, and has been brought into
the Western world through the technological evolution that has
begun to interconnect the planet. I have known many people over
the years who work religiously with this concept in a very healthy
fashion, but I have also known many who work with it in a toxic way,
based on denial , so be careful if you are interacting with people who
claim to work with this on a regular basis.
The core concept is a good one. It tells us to be mindful of our
thoughts. If we worry about things or are always living in or reflecting
on the past, our attention is not on the present, which is where the
power is. After all, our memories of the past are over and done with.
We may still have strong emotional attachments to them, but they
are gone. I realize this sounds cold, but that is simply a fact. What
causes pain in situations like this is our emotional attachment to
whatever those memories are. Some people will say that the lesson
here is to detach and focus on the moment. While I largely agree
with that, there is still the fact that the very people telling you that
may be living in denial of things from their past. The part of this I do
not agree with is simply shifting your consciousness to the present,
because it could lead to denial or psychosis. Rather, before you
embark on this teaching, do yourself one big favor first: Heal.
We often reflect on the past because of some sort of emotional
trauma, or sometimes emotional victory, so it can take some serious
work to move forward. Setting this unhealed wound aside is one of
the most damaging things you can do to yourself. Enacting healing in
order to move forward may be what is needed before embracing the
concept of living in the eternal moment. It is quite healthy, natural,
and normal, to still reflect on emotional situations of the past, but you
should be careful not to get stuck there. Even if this is a gradual
progression, as long as it continues, spiritual and personal growth
will occur, and that can be more valuable than living in the now.
From a more severe perspective, this kind of thinking and behavior
can lead to psychoses of various kinds. If you simply stop thinking
about the past, then it becomes harder to be aware of the
consequences of your actions, and eventually it becomes impossible
to accept the consequences of actions at all. If this disregard is
present, it can easily spiral out of control into unhealthy behavior
patterns. To me, it is quite psychotic to be so focused on the moment
that you lose sight of cause and effect, action and reaction, and
action and consequences. This can lead to a total disrespect and
abuse of others around you. I have known a few people like that in
the past, but they are in the minority. This cautionary tale serves as a
stark reminder to be eternally vigilant.
Since Lewis Carroll is right, (“It’s a poor sort of memory that only
works backwards.” – from Alice in Wonderland), we should now turn
our attention to the converse. What if we were to spend all of our
time and energy focusing on the future? The end result would be the
same in that our attention and therefore our power would not be in
the moment, so we would be denying ourselves personal power and
potential impact on those around us. The difference, though, is that
most people are not thinking of an emotional trauma when they are
thinking about the future. Most people are daydreaming, lost in
fantasyland, and usually this is motivated by escapism, turning their
attention away from their current life situation. The moral issues and
dilemmas from the past don’t necessarily compare with this, but what
we get instead is simply someone who is not paying attention to
what is occurring around them. In this way they are still choosing to
deny themselves their own personal power over the moment, but
through careless behavior and half-thought through decisions. While
reflecting backwards does indicate strong emotional and empathic
affinity, looking forwards indicates someone who is highly creative
with many ideas. Too many, almost, because they have more than
they can bring down into physical manifestation. Developing the
element of earth is good for these people because it draws their
attention back to the present, and it physically produces results.
It is wise to focus on the present whenever we can, but we should
be careful to protect ourselves from the pitfalls discussed above. It is
through our unhealed wounds and lazy minds that we can be
attacked, or at least be manipulated into thinking we are being
attacked when it is our own demons getting to us. As with all things,
temper this teaching and approach with common sense and an
application especially in line with your spiritual path.
One of the ways to make sure you are staying on top of this is
through the use of affirmations and periodic internal reflection and
review. When do you pause to reflect on what has happened before?
This is harder to do if you don’t keep a journal, but if you do, you
already have the best starting material you could ask for. Just make
sure that you keep it up to date. I have found that the best review
cycle is one that lines up with a particular rhythm in your life. For
example, I usually do it around the first day of each season, but
some people do it once a year, perhaps on their birthday or at the
festival of the New Year. It is really up to you when and how
frequently you want to do this review but building it into your routine
life is good to do, simply so you can track your growth. The basic
concept here is simply that if your life is improving, then your spiritual
and personal growth is successful. If things are falling apart, you
may want to re-evaluate what you’re doing, and why. The caveat that
comes up here, though, is that sometimes circumstances have to
disintegrate before they can get better, so sometimes your life will
dip down before rising to new heights of greatness. Since your
analysis of this is subjective and unique to you, you have to use your
best judgment when applying it to what you’re going through, so
there isn’t much I can say on the matter from an objective
perspective. Just be aware that this is a possibility, and if that is the
case, then remember that every night has its dawn.

Focus and Discipline

A person cannot serve two masters. This is one of the most

important things to keep in mind when it comes to personal and
spiritual development. Where is your focus? Is it on the spiritual and
the uplifting, or is it on lower ego gratification? It is not my place to
pass any kind of judgment on another’s choices concerning their
spiritual path, but I simply point this out for you to notice and
contemplate. The true essence of this teaching is to ask yourself
where your focus is, and of course in a perfect world it should always
be on the spiritual and developmental perspective, but hey, we’re all
humans. Your attention is going to waver from time to time, and there
is nothing wrong with this. The key is to simply keep working on
improving your discipline and focus as you go through life. Being
aware of your strengths and growth opportunities puts you in a better
position to self-evaluate, and reflection is always a good thing.
Practicing thought control, especially control of your own thoughts,
is what is achieved by addressing both of these points. Many people
think thought control applies only when it comes to the thoughts of
others, but that is only one side of the equation. The other side is
that you can apply this same idea to policing your own thoughts. This
is one of the best mental plane defense tools I have discovered. By
being in firm control of your thoughts, you protect yourself from the
ability of other people to influence you in ways that could be
detrimental. All this takes is discipline, and can be easier said than
done, but it is still true none the less. The cultivation of mental focus
and discipline can bleed over into other areas of your life, producing
surprising results, and this reinforces the call for vigilance. Some of
the best psychic protection you can have is the ability to remain
calm, cool, and detached when everyone else has succumbed to the
emotions of the situation. While I prefer the tools of the mental plane,
(in essence what we have been discussing in these last two
chapters), we should note another pitfall related to it, which is
dogma.

Dogma

According to the Oxford Dictionary, dogma is defined as “a belief

or set of beliefs held by a group or organization, which others are
expected to accept without argument.” In other words, it refers to
being in a group and its beliefs cannot be argued with or critically
examined - basically, if you have ever been in a group and you are
not allowed to question anything, and other members are very
offended if you do. This may even extend to the point of ostracism
and/or emotional repercussions within the community. This can be a
tricky topic, and again is highly subjective to various factors, but in
toxic groups dogma can be a powerful tool of control, usually by sick
people. In a healthy spiritual system, dogma would be very light.
Why is this, you ask?
Everything in reality needs a structure of some kind in order to
grow. Everything needs boundaries and limits. After all, “growth for
growth’s sake is the ideology of a cancer cell.” (Edward Abbey). So
in this regard, dogma is good because it helps create structure and
set limits. However, problems arise when there is too much dogma,
or it is used in a malicious way as discussed above. Yes, develop
your mental plane tools. Yes, cultivate your own spiritual system.
But, be careful not to get so stuck on or in it that you don’t allow
room for spontaneous growth. This idea has been passed down over
the centuries in the form of the esoteric teaching that if you think you
know everything, you generally don’t know anything. The wise
person is confident in their knowledge, yes, but should not be so ego
driven that they are completely set in their ways, so they cannot
learn anything new or change what they do know into a higher state
of being. Astrologically speaking, this is a lesson of Saturn. Structure
builds foundation.
Why is it so necessary to be aware of dogma? From a social
perspective, guarding against this can keep you out of harm’s way
when it comes to cults. Secondly, people may try to manipulate you
through the application of dogma via the method of guilt. Finally, and
this is an important one, if someone says that what they know is the
be-all-end-all, this is a red flag to think twice about them and their
teachings. No one person, myself included, has a corner on
teachings of any kinds. Sure, some people may be right about a lot
of things, but they are humble enough to recognize their limits, and
are open minded enough to listen to alternative points of view. After
all, if a belief cannot stand up to scrutiny, how strong is the belief,
really? A true belief can be challenged and still hold up, at least if it is
any good. How do you know when to question things you hear, other
than the previously mentioned discussion on dogma? The answer to
that is the segue to the next section of this chapter. Consider the
source in all things.

Consider the Source…

…in all things. A serious point to note, this is a very powerful but
also a very touchy subject. When you hear or read new information,
consider its source. What does the informer have to gain by telling
you the information? More importantly, do they know what they’re
talking about? For example, when I learn more information to
improve my business skills, I research people who are successful
businesspeople, and haven’t declared bankruptcy. When I want to
improve my cooking skills, I learn from people who can cook, not
someone who can’t.
You can see how this could become touchy very quickly. After all,
what if the businessman had to declare bankruptcy because the laws
changed? Well, on one hand, they still became bankrupt, so their
foresight and certain aspects of what they have to teach could still
wrong and ultimately doomed to fail. But, on the other hand, you
can’t fault them for making that decision if they simply found
themselves in a bad situation. This line of thinking can also be
extended into who you learn from. Do you pay attention to people
who have demonstrated competence, or do you learn from people
who have only read about something and have no experience under
their belt? There is a correct answer to this, which is that you should
learn from someone who is proficient in the skill you’re researching,
rather than someone who has only read about it. Yes, there should
be a good balance of theory and practice, but at the end of the day
you need both to be successful. When in doubt, remember that “an
ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson).
Again, be careful with this, because if you rely on it too much, you
might miss buried wisdom from unexpected places. I’m sure the
esoteric application is clear here, so I won’t dwell on it too much, but
it is worth keeping in mind, because it helps prevent being conned by
people who don’t know about a subject yet are trying to make you
belief they do; generally for nefarious purposes. This can best be
summed up by a quote from the late Dr Timothy Leary: “To think for
yourself, you must question authority…” Or, as Donald Michael Kraig
has said, “Think for yourself, question everything.” Yes, question the
source of all things, and this includes yourself. For example, as of
this writing I have never been married, so when people ask me for
romantic insight or advice, I am generally very careful to keep things
focused on healthy communication, compassion, and other
foundational pieces of healthy relationships, and that’s about it. I
keep in mind that my knowledge may be limited, and I should be
careful not to speak out of my element. You wouldn’t learn rocketry
from a banker, so why would you not use this same line of thinking
when it comes to your spiritual and personal growth?

Asking the Right Questions

This may seem obvious but does merit inclusion as a mental

plane tool of protection. It can be summarized into one main
question to ask yourself when you are confronted with major
decisions in life: “Is this for my greatest growth and good?” In her
important book, “Ask the Right Questions,” Debbie Ford actually
provides ten questions to flesh this out, but here we’ll focus upon this
fundamental question. Sometimes psychic attackers will try to dull
our senses so that we make poor and even damaging decisions, so
by keeping this is mind, we make it harder for them to influence us in
negative ways.
In addition to asking this about yourself, extend it out to include
your loved ones. How will the decision you are about to make going
to affect them? If you are in a position of leadership, how will this
decision impact them? By doing this, you also create an opportunity
to stop, center, focus, and ground, so that you can see the situation
clearly with less influence from others. This technique also keeps
you focused on self-development and aimed at making the best life
you can for yourself and your loved ones.

Predatory Consciousness

The title of this section may sound scary, and that is intentional
on my part, because I want to stress how powerful and intimidating
this concept can be, but also how misunderstood it usually is. The
consciousness of a predator has certain characteristics that can be
helpful when exercising psychic protection. After all, which would you
rather be in life, predator or prey? Part of this concerns living life with
confidence, and another part concerns thinking in proactive ways.
After all, the best way to deal with potential psychic attacks is to do
your best to make sure you don’t find yourself in that situation in the
first place! As trite as it sounds, it is true. This isn’t a one hundred
percent set-in-stone rule, though, and there are exceptions to it.
Sometimes you can do your best and still be involved in a sticky
situation, so while this is a good goal to strive for, it is still not an
absolute destination. Thus, avoidance is not something to work
towards, but it is good to be aware of, regardless.
Another earmark of predatory consciousness is that of being
proactive rather than reactive, and really that is the whole focus of
this book. This, and every other book on psychic protection out
there, are written with the intent of helping you be proactive so that
your energy remains safe and protected. In this way the books are
predatory in nature, and some of them even in tone. See? Predatory
consciousness isn’t so bad. It’s a lot like the concept of manipulation.
Generally, people believe manipulation is a dirty word, but if we were
in a room together and I asked you to close the door, then technically
I am manipulating you, but in this case, it is something harmless and
theoretically, potentially something good. So to say that manipulation
is always bad is to misunderstand what it is, and how intent can
influence situations that are neutral and make them either good or
bad, depending on the whim of the person doing the manipulating.
This is also true of predatory consciousness. It is a state of being, in
which you are aware of your own personal power and can use it
effectively in many areas of life in order to achieve success.
Problems only arise if you allow base desires and gratification to get
in the way of true evolution and maturity.
Another characteristic of this kind of consciousness is that you can
also make a habit of creating win-win situations periodically
throughout life. This kind of situation takes skill to develop, but when
you do cultivate it, you can achieve more success than if you don’t.
To develop it, though, takes a shift in consciousness more than
anything else. The shift is that in order to create win-win situations,
you must first develop the ability to see all situations in life as
possible win-wins. Some people, especially those who are
pessimists, may be challenged by this, and to be blunt, it took me a
while to learn it myself, so if you struggle with developing this ability,
I can sympathize. I’ve been in your shoes, and all I can say is that
one of the best things you can do is to reflect on various situations in
your life. See what benefits you got out of situations that you thought
were “losses.” This is related to the idea that you should be careful,
because you might get what you thought you wanted, and it might
not be what you really want at all, or maybe more than you
bargained for. After you can see the majority of situations in your life
from a win-win situation, you are then in a position to train yourself to
create them for yourself, in line with your Will.
Interestingly enough, this is a fantastic psychic protection
technique to develop, because it makes it harder for psychic
attackers to throw you off your center. If you train yourself to see the
positive in all situations, or at least the ‘win,’ then those that would
normally negatively impact you emotionally no longer do so. You will
be more prepared for the unexpected. This can also have side
effects that expedite your spiritual growth because ultimately it brings
your attention full circle to the power and necessity of the moment
mentioned at the start this chapter. This is one of the ways you can
intertwine the two. By adapting a proactive consciousness, you
become in control of what truly matters – your reaction to everything
that comes your way.
As for many things in life, the power is in the response, and the
person who cares the least usually controls the situation the most. I
don’t think I need to discuss the many, many exceptions to this that
you may be thinking of, but they do exist. By and large, though, this
is a good way to live. Not only does it frustrate psychic attackers, it
also helps to further discipline your mind in a proactive and healthy
way. When you realize this, you also realize that how you prioritize
things is of major importance when it comes to protecting yourself. A
teaching I learned many years ago is to not sweat the small stuff,
and it’s all small stuff. The motivational speaker Stuart Wilde spoke
of this, and eventually, after many experiences spread out over many
years, it finally sunk in, and became one of the more valuable
teachings I have used in the name of psychically protecting myself.
Often, no reaction is the clearest reaction of all, and not all events in
life require a response. Before you respond, you should ask yourself
if you should, and if you decide to, then you should do your best to
react from a space of clear, mental thought.
What the ideas in this chapter call for is discernment. By choosing
what to focus on and where to spend our attention and energy, we
insulate ourselves against those who might try to attack us
energetically. Remembering how to prioritize, and improving our
ability to do so, can be invaluable and can train our consciousness in
the process. This allows for more spiritual gnosis and personal
success to come through in day to day life. Knowing when to
address a situation versus when not to can save a lot of headaches
and emotional heartbreak. Knowing how to respond seals the deal
for mentally protecting yourself. With these two points in mind, you
can handle almost anything that comes your way. Of course, you can
also see how powerful this can be when used in conjunction with
other techniques discussed in this section, and it is always good to
experiment with different combinations to see what works best for
you. These are not mutually exclusive and should be combined to
produce powerful effects in your life. When you turn your attention to
being proactive with these techniques, instead of only using them to
react to situations, you open up a whole new dimension of
experiences that can further your personal growth, hasten your
spiritual ascent, and improve the quality of your life in general. And
really, all of this is only the beginning of the development of your
mind. The material we are discussing here can be used as
preliminary work for what you read in Spirit Relations, or it can be
used as stand-alone material for your own psychic protection.
Regardless, remember that in this case it is truly the intent that
determines how things play out.

Occam’s Razor

Finally, I want to close this chapter discussing one of my favorite

principles from philosophy, that of Occam’s Razor. Named for its
progenitor William of Ockham, it basically suggests that if you are
faced with a situation that has two possible explanations, the
simplest is usually the correct one. I really like this idea because it
can be applied to many, many things, and a lot of them protective in
orientation. A good example of this is the craving for a hamburger.
You may look at this metaphysically and think that your body needs
the meat to ground, and yes, that might be true from a metaphysical
perspective. Or, it could simply be that you want a hamburger,
nothing deeper than that.
To summarize, the fewer deductions, suppositions, and
speculations, the more accurate the answer probably is. This
reminds me a lot of how energy follows the path of least resistance
through the multiverse, and thus I find a resonance with it. It reminds
us life is all about simplicity. The human mind does have a tendency
to see things that are not there, or to blow things out of proportion,
both of which enforce the necessity for mental discipline in the name
of safety. Occam’s Razor can be very useful to keep us grounded in
the here and now, and not read too far into things. Yes, there is
generally a metaphysical cause for how things manifest in the
physical world, but we should never rule out what is directly in front
of us. However, we should also not ignore the metaphysical in the
name of the physical. After all, everything is intertwined.

As we draw to a close, we can turn our attention to the next

plane, the spiritual plane. While at the higher end of the mental plane
ideas shift from hard logic and reason to abstract thought, it is also
true that we move into a blending place for the spiritual plane. The
highest part of the mental plane is the lowest part of the spiritual
plane, so for the final section of this book, we will look at more
spiritually themed techniques and tools. Remember, though, that
there are many more spiritual techniques, practices, and tools, than I
can list here. Rather, I will present key points and highlights that
work for me. If you have specialized media that addresses your
spiritual path directly, now would be the time to pull that information
out and have it at the ready, for some of the things we will talk about
have counterparts in many different pantheons that I may not
mention here.
 And, now that we have come this far, take a moment to reflect on
the essence of psychic protection. The essence is your approach to
life. How do you project yourself? Are you self-confident? Are you
disciplined and focused upon ways that can improve your life? If your
answer to these questions are positive, then you are probably
already protecting yourself more than you realize. If you could use
some work in those areas, then turn your attention to those first and
foremost, but as you do, be aware that you will be causing ripples
and changes in your daily life, so be prepared and proactive, and
you will achieve success.
 Section Four
Spiritual Tools
 Chapter Nine
Daily Spiritual Regimen
Continuing the theme that alignment with your spiritual path is of
primary importance, I would like to open this chapter with a simple
point: that your daily spiritual regiment is completely in line with your
spiritual beliefs – but I emphasize this: As long as you have a daily
spiritual regiment!
Having such a routine is a wise and practical practice to establish.
It can lead to enhanced spiritual and personal growth and adds a
layer of protection against those who would do you harm. It
accomplishes three important things. First, it keeps your personal
energy clear. Second, it keeps your mind spiritually focused. Third,
the energetic strength generated through the repeated pattern can
act as an energetic bubble of protection that immediately makes it
harder for energetic beings to attach themselves. I have found all
three are of major importance when it comes to self-protection and
advancing your spiritual growth. Yet at the same time, it requires the
much-loathed skill of self-discipline, which is why many people do
not engage in it. But the rewards are worth the effort, at least as my
experience has taught me. I have been performing a daily spiritual
regiment for almost twenty years, and have found it of immense
value and assistance, so I do encourage its exploration at least.
The practice consists of activities focused on your spiritual and
personal development, but beyond that it’s a concept that is largely
subjective and includes activities from your belief system. Since I
have never walked a mile in your shoes, there’s not much I can say
beyond that. However, what we will be discussing are examples from
various traditions to spur your imagination, and also to show you
some of the techniques available, that can be used in conjunction
with more pantheon-specific techniques. Some of these are generic
thoughts you can apply to many spiritual paths, and you can adapt
these easily to what you believe and how you practice it. This makes
them more like the execution of principles in a sense.
 Pantheons

The first and most important suggestion to note is to know your

pantheon! Almost every pantheon has at least one protective deity,
and through personal workings you can contact them and develop a
relationship with them for your own protection. A pantheon is a
collection of spiritual beings (usually referred to as gods and/or
goddesses) that are generally tied to a particular society or culture.
They often have similar traits and strong connections to each other
and an overall theme that binds them together. For example, a lot, if
not most of the Hindu pantheon have correspondences concerned
with consciousness and the manipulation thereof. This serves as a
strong reminder to learn about who you are working with spiritually,
and to discover as much about them as possible in order to make a
stronger, deeper connection. This can be a lifelong process, and the
journey itself an exercise in growth. The gods are a part of us, and
because of this, when we work with them, we are activating parts of
ourselves.
Everyone has a preferred pantheon to work with, even if it is one
of their own making. Everyone works with multiple deities, even if
there is a hierarchy within their chosen system. For example,
someone can be a Christian, meaning they predominantly work with
God, but rest assured that they also work with Jesus, Mary, or saints
and angels. This may be to a lesser extent, but it is generally true. It
is relatively uncommon for people to work only with one deity, but it
does happen.
Take a few moments to think or write down who or what comprises
your pantheon. These may include beings deriving from the same
culture, such as if someone works with the Celtic pantheon, but
these beings do not necessarily have to share the same cultural
background. This often occurs when someone creates their own
pantheon. There is nothing wrong with this, and by and large people
do it all the time. However, a lot of people work with the pantheon of
one particular culture, excluding all others. Some people even work
with multiple pantheons, but there is usually a preference of one over
the other. Sometimes, this may involve two different pantheons, such
as in the case of someone who works with the Celtic and Norse
systems. Other times this can be an existing pantheon in conjunction
with a pantheon of one’s personal creation. Really it doesn’t matter,
and it is up to you how you choose to do it. It is stronger to work with
pantheons that already exist, but that does not mean those are the
only ones available to you.
And, while we’re on the subject, let’s talk about the gods and
goddesses for more insight and to stimulate the imagination. Let’s
apply a little bit of pragmatism to this much vaunted concept. I
always like to discuss this point because we live at a very interesting
time in the evolution of our species, and a lot of people are trying
new and different things in a spiritual sense. I know many people
who are experimenting with unconventional pantheons, and while
from the outside this might appear crazy or silly to practitioners who
prefer a more conventional approach, the experimenters are living
out behavior that has been passed down through the centuries.
What I’m talking about here are people who work with pantheons
that derive from popular culture. I know many people who have
begun working with characters that originated in video games,
movies, novels and stories and even TV series. While, to some, this
might seem delusional, but when we take a closer look at it, we find
some very interesting magical principles at work. First, if you really
stop and think about it, this must be the way that most pantheons
were created back in the early years of their formation. Someone
has an idea. They share it with others, and over time, all of this
energy coalesces into the beings that correspond to the stories they
are sharing. Recent discoveries and evidence tells us that statues
from the Greco-Roman period were painted in much the same way
people paint statues now, in very dynamic colors and color schemes.
This reminds me a lot of how people paint models today.
This means that when someone begins to work with an
unconventional pantheon, they are walking in the same footsteps as
millions of people throughout the centuries before them. While you
might find it uncomfortable to accept people working with the
pantheon from the Star Wars universe, or even from Pokémon, these
systems are as valid as others that have been around for centuries
longer. There are far fewer people working with either one of those
pantheons as there were with older deities, but this doesn’t
necessarily mean they are less effective. Some people say that this
approach falls under the category of pop culture magick or chaos
magick, and as far as its categorization here goes, I share no
opinion, because it is really none of my business, and if it works for
them, then so be it. Simply know that this illustrates how liberally you
can view and interact with a pantheon, so let your imagination be
your guide.
Common and popular pantheons include: Celtic, Norse, Hindu,
Egyptian, Sumerian, Hebrew, Christian, Native American,
Zoroastrianism, Greek, Roman, and many, many others, depending
on where you live and various other factors. The best way to begin
working with a pantheon, if you haven’t already, is to study the
history of your own culture. This can either be the society you live or
were raised in, or the culture that is found through various DNA tests
and other means, such as family history. Another way to find a
pantheon that works for you is to listen to your intuition and see if
you feel a strong energetic connection with a particular one, because
there is probably some reason why it calls to you. This can be based
on soul memories or comfort, or some other reason unbeknownst to
you or me. Folklore tales can also be a profound source of insight
as well and should not be neglected in your research.
Some people claim that you will have the strongest connection
with a pantheon deriving from your homeland or home soil. For
example, I currently live in the USA, and therefore, following this line
of logic through, I would have a natural affinity for the belief systems
and pantheons indigenous to North America, which would include
Satanism, Native American spiritual beliefs, Mormonism, and
Scientology. What a diverse selection! Personally though, I have
found a strong connection with native teachings, specifically Native
American ones, but as to the rest on the list? I don’t really feel a
connection with them at all. I mention this here because it can be a
good starting point if you are unfamiliar with this concept.

Protection Deities

Almost all, if not all, of these pantheons have protective deities

that can be called upon during times of stress and duress. This point
is worth keeping in mind because it brings up a very valuable insight:
If you have to call constantly upon protection deities, then you may
want to reevaluate what you are doing spiritually. After all, if you are
constantly being attacked or feeling like you are being attacked, then
there is something seriously wrong with your spiritual and personal
growth, or at least the system you are using.
Most protection deities generally appear as very scary or
intimidating when you search for images of them, and of course this
is intentional. The stories as to why they are this way is generally
connected with the spiritual and cultural context that led to their
creation, which reinforces the reasons why research is so important.
Their fierce visages are meant to intimidate the beings they square
off against, but also to intimidate those who want to work with them.
After all, if you’re not strong enough to face these fierce looking
deities, then do you really have the strength to face malevolent
forces in general?
Not all protection deities are the same, which is important to keep
in mind when you are working with them. The specific point I am
addressing here is that not all protection deities are violent, or
strengthening, or possess any other particular characteristics. Be
careful when you reach out to them now that you know this, because
you may get more than you bargained for when you start this
relationship. Here is a hypothetical situation to illustrate the point. If
you are generally a pacifist, and you find yourself in a position where
you want to work with a protection deity from your pantheon, you
might be quite put off if your life takes a more intense and possibly
violence-filled turn after you start the relationship. Yet that is what
you really asked for – protection. You just didn’t specify how you
wanted it, or maybe you picked the wrong deity with whom to
engage. Continuing our conversation from the previous two
chapters, one of the ways to avoid problems like this is to expand
your consciousness to see your situation in a new light from a
different perspective. This could lead you to work with familiar deities
from the pantheon in new and different ways. As you can see, this
can increase your spiritual and personal growth faster than you
might have anticipated.
 Law of Vibration and Resonance

One of the best things you can do to work with protective deities
from your chosen pantheon is to make sure you feel comfortable
when in their presence and with having them in your life. You will
achieve a stronger connection with them if you do. Sometimes this
comfort can be established in your physical space, through creating
altars and shrines, but in can also be accomplished by making your
mind, heart, and spirit conducive to the deities’ residence. For
example, if you are working with a protection deity that is known for
its aggression, then it would be wise to carry yourself with
confidence and engage in proactivity. If you want to work with
protective beings, then you should cultivate your personal strength. If
you are working with a more aggressive protective being, then being
more aggressive in your day to day life would be wise to do. I don’t
think I need to give any more examples to illustrate the point, as I’m
sure it is clear that you want to establish a resonance with the being
so it may align with you. It is through this alignment that you can
cultivate a deeper and stronger relationship more conducive to
success than if you just prayed to them and didn’t make them feel
welcome. A more important spiritual lesson here is that you want to
make the being comfortable in your company, just as you would
when conversing with a person. The more you remember to use the
same principles you would use when dealing with human beings, the
more success you will have when dealing with nonphysical beings.

Solar Alignment

While technically an optional protection technique, this can still be

an excellent way to align yourself spiritually and to send safer,
stronger energy into the universe to dissuade would-be energetic
attackers. In short, this is a broad category and usually includes
solar worshipping. However, this can also be extended to include
religious and spiritual traditions that include specific times to pray.
While I list these two as examples here, I’m sure that with a little
creative thinking you can find other ways to break up the day and set
aside time to align yourself with a being greater than yourself. I’ll
break down two commonly encountered daily regimen to illustrate
my point. If you know more, then you will have a greater sample to
draw from while we continue this discussion. You can also be
pioneering and develop your own daily spiritual practice. For
example, I work a lot with the Egyptian god Anpu (Anubis), and he
had two specific times of day sacred to him: dawn and dusk. At both
of these times the veil between the worlds is believed to be thinnest,
a time when it is easy to have a foot in both worlds, the physical and
the nonphysical. This generally isn’t mentioned a lot in current
conversations on the topic, but it illustrates how you can think
outside the box if you decide to create your own timetable for
spiritual practices.

Solar Adorations

This is the most common form of daily adoration, and as you can
tell by the name, it is based on the cycle of the sun over the course
of a day. The most common structured form of this practice you will
encounter dates back thousands of years but has been changed and
modified throughout the centuries. However, its essence remains the
same. This also means it is a good framework if you want to adapt it
to your own beliefs. There are four times of the day that this
procedure is usually performed: sunrise (or when you wake up),
noon (or when the sun is at its height), twilight, and finally midnight
(or when you go to sleep).
Because of the source of the oldest recorded solar adoration, the
deities called on of Ancient Egyptian origin, but you will see when
looking at the structure that you could easily replace the Egyptian
deities with whatever alternatives make you feel comfortable. I will
list the most common form of this below, and you will notice it is very
formulaic. This makes it easier to construct if you choose to create
your own version, and it also makes it easier to memorize. Anyway,
enough with the ambiguities. Let’s lay it out for digestion:

At dawn (or when you wake up), face east (The direction of the
rising Sun):
Hail unto thee, who art Ra in thy rising,
 Even unto thee who art Ra in thy strength,
Who travellest over the heavens in thy bark at the uprising of the
Sun.
Tehuti standeth at his splendor at the prow and Ra-Hoor abideth
at the helm!
Hail unto thee from the abodes of night!

At noon, face south, the direction of the sun at its height. (Keep in
mind though, this is only correct if you are in the northern
hemisphere of the planet. If you are in the southern hemisphere, you
would face north):
Hail unto thee who art Hathor in thy triumphing,
Even unto thee who art Hathor in thy beauty,
Who travellest over the heavens in thy bark at the mid-course of
the Sun!
Tehuti standeth at his splendor at the prow and Ra-Hoor abideth
at the helm!
Hail unto thee from the abodes of morning!

At twilight, face west. (The direction of the setting sun):

Hail unto thee who art Tum in thy setting,
Even unto thee who art Tum in thy joy,
Who travellest over the heavens in thy bark at the down going of
the Sun!
Tehuti standeth in his splendor at the prow and Ra-Hoor abideth
at the helm!
Hail unto thee from the abodes of day!

Finally, at midnight, or before you go to bed, face north (If you are
in the southern hemisphere, you would face South):
Hail unto thee who art Khepra in thy hiding,
Even unto thee who art Khepra in thy silence,
Who travellest over thy heavens in thy bark at the midnight hour
of the Sun!
Tehuti standeth at his splendor at the prow and Ra-Hoor abideth
at the helm!
Hail unto thee from the abodes of the evening!
 The particular phrasing used above is from the writings of Aleister
Crowley, and while it is in line with the original material, it does vary
slightly. It is found in Liber Resh vel Helios, which is easy to track
down for those of you who like it. As we take a closer look at it, we
can see that it is written in stanza form and is very much a template.
I like to point this out because it suggests that if you use the
template, it is easy to adjust to your personal preferences. Now it
also becomes clear (as I mentioned earlier) about the incorporation
of Egyptian gods. You can swap them out for other deities you may
prefer, but keep in mind that they should align with the particular
times of the day during which they are called. In addition to the
words and directions mentioned above, there are also various body
postures Mr. Crowley included in his writings, but these are not
mandatory. I have found the body gestures help to align with these
energies, but you might feel differently. Or, you may find other body
postures in line with your spiritual path that would be more
appropriate. This may take a lot of research on your part and even
experimentation, but in the end it is worth it. I can tell you that from
personal experience.
Performing a sun adoration has an interesting powerful side effect
that you would be wise to note. Often, by repeating this for an
extended period of time, you will align yourself with the cycles of the
Sun. I’m not joking or exaggerating when I say that. I have
experienced this, as have many others I have spoken with over the
years, and the precision of this never ceases to impress me. Many
times, I have turned my attention to the clock only to see it is the
exact time for the next solar adoration in the sequence. This is a very
real and physical alignment that is occurring, which can be of great
value for those who like to maximize what they can accomplish in a
day in order to practice living a life of abundance. This technique
also keeps our attention on the moment and can increase our
awareness and discipline for accomplishing what we desire.

Another example of a daily adoration is found in the religion of

Islam. In short, there are five times a day that a good Muslim will turn
his attention to the direction of their holy city of Mecca. This is known
as Salah. They then lay out their prayer blanket, drop to their knees,
and pray to Allah. If they are unable to fall to their knees for various
health reasons, they can skip this requirement, as long as they still
execute their prayer. There are many more components to this
practice than I mention here, but since this makes it more complex
than solar adorations, I leave the details out in the name of brevity.
This practice serves as a good example of how you can approach a
daily spiritual regiment without focusing it on the sun. Some of the
Muslim times are solar focused, but other times they are not. If you
are considering making your own daily adorations, you may want to
consider researching this further to see the various variations to
stimulate your imagination for creating your own.
Technically, you don’t have to align yourself with the sun, but it is
simply the easiest focus to use. If you think of all of this as a ritual,
then also consider the fact that everyone has rituals they execute
throughout the day at particular times, so it should be easy to
convert your consciousness to include more spiritual foci. While you
may find it better to use an adoration that already exists, it is always
powerful and fun to create your own when you are ready, as you see
fit.

Symbolism

Another trait common to many spiritual systems is that of

symbolism. Symbolism is one of the most powerful subjects you can
ever study or use, so I suggest you enjoy studying it. As a matter of
fact, for a lot of the twentieth century, psychological professionals
have studied the effects of symbols on the subconscious, and in
recent decades this has expanded to include hypnotists and
practitioners of other related fields.
So, what are symbols? First, they are not words. This means that
when we work with them, they bypass the conscious mind and go
straight to the subconscious. This also means they are retained
more strongly and last longer in the mind than the many words we
encounter over the course of the day.
As the concept applies to our work here, there are protective
symbols which are unique to different spiritual systems that are
protective in nature, and when applicable, they should be sought out
and used. For example, in Christianity a cross is a commonly worn
symbol of faith and protection. In ancient Egyptian beliefs, the Eye of
Horus was known as a protective symbol. Another that has gained
popularity in recent years is the Hamsa hand from the Middle East.
These are just a few examples from a plethora of spiritual traditions
that span the globe, so I’m sure you can easily find symbols that
derive from your spiritual path that can aid you in your protective
measures.
And hey, if all else fails, why not make a protective symbol for your
journey? After all, personalizing your path is one of the hallmarks of
the true spiritual seeker. I have known people through the years who
have kept trinkets that formerly belonged to loved ones, and while
they called these their “good luck tokens,” really they were protective
items that were symbolic, and thus held power and meaning to the
bearer. This makes them just as potent as any established symbol in
the world today and therefore they should not be underestimated.
Just because they’re not traditional does not make them impotent.
There is plenty of information available to those who want to learn
more, and I strongly encourage you to seek out the information you
feel is best appropriate to help your defense for those times you feel
you need it. This can also lead to a deeper study on how to make
your own holy symbols, which in turn can open the door to sigils and
automatic writing and drawing, so symbols truly open a portal to a
whole new level of spiritual ascent and attainment.

Mantras

I get kind of twitchy about this subject, because I have a lot of

experience with mantras through a dear friend and teacher of mine
now in Spirit. I’m not going to name drop but suffice to say it was a
quality education. He and his wife taught me a lot about Hinduism,
which is the origin of mantras. Mantras are specific to the Hindu
tradition, and the word itself is Sanskrit. There’s simply no discussion
past that to be had. However, almost every spiritual system out there
has something comparable, and while they are usually similar, they
are not mantras! Period. It gets old seeing misguided and
disrespectful information out there about mantras. Mantras are
Hindu, and yet while they are from that spiritual system, they can be
used outside of it quite easily in a modular fashion with other spiritual
systems. Essentially, this makes them spiritual technology rather
than something belief-fueled and intrinsic to their native system.
The theory of mantras is quite simple, and at this time in history,
fairly well-known. Mantras are based on manipulating sound
frequencies, thereby affecting vibrations. When we chant something
in a particular way, certain energetic patterns come into being, and
over extended use they can manipulate reality. In Hinduism, the
seed sound of all creation is the “OM,” so when mantras are
chanted, they are generally based on this baseline.
Breaking down the details, each letter in a mantra is a letter from
the Sanskrit alphabet. Like Hebrew, there are a multitude of
correspondences associated with each letter, and it is through
chanting them that their abilities are accessed. The other half of the
equation, or rather how they make the magick, as it were, is that
each one of us has an energetic body that parallels the physical
form. The most common name for this is the chakra system, again
from Hinduism, but it is also known by other titles, such as in
Theosophy where it is simply “The Etheric Double.” Residing in this
energy body are conduits from major concentrations of energy that
flow into each other. These pools are known as chakras, and they
whirl and swim as they are pooled there. These interdimensional
energy vortices are altered and changed when one chants mantras.
What this means is that when we are chanting mantras, we are
altering the energy as it moves through our bodies, but also
changing what we emit into the multiverse around us. So, we are
changing our reality by energetically reprogramming ourselves to
project differently, more in line with our Will.
There are many mantras for protection available from Hinduism,
and with minimal effort, you can find the right mantra for the job in
hand. Beyond that, all you need is a little knowledge to get started. I
assure you though, this is a very brief and down and dirty
introduction to mantras. The best introductory book has already been
written in the form of Healing Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Farrand. I
am going to clarify a lot of things so that if you see wrong or false
information out there, you know how to treat it. To undertake a
proper basic mantra discipline means you say the same mantra 108
times for 40 days in a row. There are variations on this and note that
this is the basic information you need to know to get started.
Some people will tell you that you need a mala, (a string of prayer
beads) and while I do think this is a good idea, it is not essential.
There have been several times in my life I have simply used pencil
and paper to record what I was doing because I didn’t have a mala,
so don’t feel inhibited about starting if you don’t have one. As long as
your Will is there, you can accomplish working with mantras. An
advanced technique of tracking repetitions of mantras only requires
your fingers even, so all one truly has to do is learn mantras and get
to work.
Originating from other spiritual systems are parallel concepts that
could best be explained as prayers or affirmations, or hybrids of
both. They accomplish a goal similar to what was discussed earlier
about affirmations, but have more of a chant format to them, and
have a spiritual bent and emphasis. Many people mistakenly call
them mantras, but they are technically not. And even functionally
they are different in that they are more hypnotic in nature whereas
mantras are more energy body manipulative, but the two techniques
usually share the same end result, so they fall into the same
category.

Banishing Rituals of the Pentagrams and Hexagrams

We’ll end this chapter by discussing my favorite set of rituals in

the Western Esoteric Tradition, especially considering they can be
used for a variety of purposes including protection, making them
some of the most flexible rituals available. They are also some of the
most popular rituals, and because of that, they have been written
about extensively, so there is no shortage of material available. I
want to take time to discuss them now, because it has been my
experience that they are the most potent forms of banishing rituals I
have encountered. I have seen disciplined routines of their execution
completely turn lives around for the positive time and again. I have
seen them at work in my life as well. However, they take time to
work, so they require discipline and patience.
 These rituals derive from the practices of The Hermetic Order of
the Golden Dawn and its tradition. They are similar to mantras in that
they are spiritual technology and can be used in a modular fashion.
Or, they can be used in their pure form in line with the practices of
the Golden Dawn. The rituals are different from mantras in that while
you are vibrating certain notes and tones, you are also tracing either
pentagrams or hexagrams in the air, and third, visualizing particular
images and invoking certain forces. Yes, they are advanced, but
what they deliver is on a level unparalleled.
I like to include them in all discussions concerned with psychic
protection because when people ask me what the ‘big guns’ are, this
is always the answer.

This chapter provides a brief overview that hits on a variety of

general subjects and points concerned with psychic protection. It is
meant as an introduction to encourage you to answer the questions
posed here as to how you can protect yourself from a spiritual
perspective. Take from this what you will, leave what you choose, but
know that if you are dealing with mental plane attacks, rising to the
spiritual is the next logical step.
 Chapter Ten
Living Spirituality
To round this book out, we will change our focus to look at the
ultimate psychic protection: focused growth. I dare tread into sketchy
ground here and will share cursory thoughts on spirituality in general.
I say this is sketchy ground because your spiritual path is unique to
you, so by and large, my thoughts are from the outside, and not from
the perspective of someone living it. However, there are key points,
common to most people, that can be addressed to assist in your
development.
If you are truly focused on the development of the self and your
spirituality, you continually evolve and spirituality mature, making it
harder for malevolent beings to negatively impact you – the desired
result of this book.
Expanding upon something I mentioned earlier, energy goes
where attention flows, meaning that if we are focused on a
singularity, the impact of polarity situations does not affect us in the
same way or with the same intensity as it does others. This does
have an impact on our morality and ethics, which we should note
and address periodically.
The singularity is our personal development and spiritual growth.
Why do I differentiate between the two? Other authors might
emphasize one or the other, or treat them as one in the same, but
they are very different. How do I know this? Why am I confident in
that statement? Well, language is the reason. We’re going to break
this down for further insight that can be applied to your work. Let’s
first look at the spiritual side of things. After all, thought begets form.
Spirituality

Interestingly enough, the older I get, the more I see this word
needs further clarification and explanation, because a lot of people
think it means something other than it does. Being a spiritual person
is in no way indicative of one’s character! Just because someone is
a spiritual person, this does not necessarily equate with having a
moral high ground. Being a spiritual person simply means that you
work with the spiritual side of life, or some could say, the unseen
forces of the cosmos. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less. There
seems to be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about this in
the world today, so this is my attempt to clarify the matter. For
example, demons are just as spiritual as angels, so you have to be
specific.
Part of the understanding lies in when and how this idea came into
being. In the early part of the 21st century, more and more people
were declaring themselves “spiritual but not religious.” They got this
idea from writings that occurred in the 1960’s e.v. (Era Vulgaris). The
idea discussed here is that one can be a spiritually minded and
focused person without submitting to any outside authoritarian
structure, particularly a religion. In other words, you can develop a
deep, rich, meaningful inner life, without the restrictions that come
with a religion.
We see, then, that in this context, the word “spiritual” is used as
synonymous with being someone who constantly works constantly
on their enlightenment. Historically, this is true, and the two words
have been used interchangeably, so I can understand where all of
this is coming from, I get it. But we are no longer in the 20th century,
so it is time to update our understanding of all of these concepts.
Let’s start with the word spiritual.
The word spiritual conveys a concept, which is that there is a
focus on the spiritual world, the world of the spirit. Astral plane,
etheric plane, whatever term you want to use, is what is being
discussed here. Thus, someone who is a spiritual person makes it a
point to work with these energies in hopefully healthy ways for their
greatest growth and good, and the greatest growth and good of
those around them. We cannot assume, though, that they will
achieve this. There is a wide spectrum of people currently
manifested into physical reality, and they come from all levels of
vibration. What this means is that just because someone calls
themselves spiritual, does not necessarily mean they are an ethical
person. I really wish I didn’t have to write this but feel I must. I have
known my share of frauds, phonies, and other dubious types over
the last twenty years or so, which is why I share this here, as the
final piece of psychic protection. Saying you are “spiritual but not
religious,” is about the same as saying you are “Christian” or
“Muslim.” We will come back to this later in the text for clarification.
Well, to me, it means about the same, really. I believe spirituality
indicates focus and attention, that’s all.
The reason this is important when it comes to psychic protection is
that if you’re not careful, you may subconsciously put someone on a
pedestal when they say they are spiritual, and many times this leads
to sorrow down the road. This is called the assumption of authority,
which works in a few ways. First, this is a technique many occult
authors use to try and give more credence to their work. This isn’t as
common now as it used to be, but many in occultism still do it. For
example, if you were going to write an occult book and you wanted
people to give it more weight and credence than other books, you
could assume the non de plume of “Hermes,” or some other figure
that people know and respect. Look at it this way. Which sounds
better, a book written by “Bob” who is a new author, or “Hermes,”
who has a long-standing and respectable reputation? The other way
the assumption of authority works is that many times we
subconsciously put some people in our lives on a mental pedestal as
a voice of authority on a particular subject. The latter is what ties into
the book here. Just because someone is well known as an authority
on ‘X’ (name a subject), doesn’t mean they have any more of a
moral code than you or anyone else, for that matter. It took me a
long time to train that trait out of my mind, so I can relate if it takes
you a while to process this and adapt, but it is worth it. The only
danger you risk when you do this is that if you’re not careful, you
may become cynical in the process, which is not always a good
thing.
Technically, almost everyone is spiritual, even atheists, if they are
familiar with science, at least, because more and more scientific
evidence is showing that there is a vast, invisible side to nature and
reality, so to deny its existence is true denial. Recent scientific
exploration is even addressing what happens to our consciousness
when we die. While this is inconclusive at this point, it is still worth
keeping in mind because it tells us that occultism and science are
healing a centuries old rift, but in new, more scientific and less faith-
based ways. So, spirituality in the sense we are discussing it here, is
part of the nature of reality, and is thus a scientific subject in a lot of
ways, or you can at least apply scientific methods and principles
when exploring it. Keep all of this in mind throughout your day to day
life so that you don’t accidentally put someone on a pedestal in your
mind, which could cause you to turn a blind eye to red flags that
would normally protect you.

Living Your Spiritual Truth

Now that we have established a clear and working definition of

spirituality, let’s discuss what it means to live it. This is something I
was introduced to a few years ago through astrology, and have not
only found it useful since then, but also something that other people
connect with, which is the ability to live your spiritual truth. This takes
your personal development to the next level. It’s an easy lesson:
walk your talk. While this may seem like a no brainer, to many
people it is not, and can therefore be something to improve in order
to improve your personal development and protect your energy. After
all, as I mentioned earlier, there is something to the idea of purity of
focus, especially as it applies to protection.
There is an easy way to approach this, but doing it is another
story, because in the short term it will take a lot of mental energy and
discipline. In short, practice what you preach, and do what you say.
The marriage of your spiritual values to the physical world we live in
can be a little tricky. Here’s an example that I have encountered
commonly before. Let’s say you believe in being careful with your
energy, which includes protecting it, and also being careful who you
spend your time with. This means, then, that you are careful with
your money also, right? After all, money is the physical
representation of the exchange of energy, so it stands to reason that
someone would be as mindful of that as who they spend their time
with. It’s just logical. But I think you will know people, as I do, who
don’t share that belief.
Another example is of someone who claims they believe in
oneness, and yet exclude a group of people, or say things like
“Except for that person.” They always have exceptions to the rule
that are thinly veiled beliefs of racism, xenophobia, or any of the
other “-isms” out there. So, which is it? Do you believe in oneness or
not? If you truly do, then a lot of personal reflection, meditation, and
internal work will show you how to believe in oneness and include
everyone, yet still be able to be angry at individuals when
appropriate. After all, believing in oneness and loving everyone does
not mean you are always in a state of love with them! Just ask any
parent…
Now we’ll look at a third example, but by now I’m sure you get the
point and can think of your own examples from your own
experiences and life. A third example would be someone who makes
bold claims to be very spiritually advanced and powerful, yet
constantly has a drama in their life, and they show no signs of having
stability in the world. This is someone who does probably know their
material, but they have not learned how to apply what they have
learned to provide for their needs. The key thing to remember is the
criteria by which you judge. Each person has their own lifestyle, so it
is hard to judge someone if you haven’t walked a mile in their shoes.
To one person, success in life means standing on one’s own feet, but
to another, it may be living with an elderly person to take care of
them, sacrificing certain things for something greater. With astute
observation, it will become clear where particular individuals fall in
this spectrum.

Judge Not… Ha!

While not directly related to psychic protection, it is a discernment

skill that can be used to protect your energy, by remembering it is a
tool in your spiritual arsenal. Being non-judgmental is a common
tactic many will use to save face from saying something risqué.
Eventually, this becomes habit, and subconsciously they turn into
what they were initially fighting against becoming. I have known
many people through the years who use the phrase “I’m not judging,
but…” as a tool of emotional manipulation. A related way this phrase
(I’m not judging) is to use it as a cop out so as to avoid making a
decision or taking a stance. Like every other subject we’ve been
discussing here, there is a sliding scale of grey to be looked at when
you’re dealing with this, so let’s break things down for clarity.
Commonly, people do their best not to judge because they don’t
want their lower ego to get the best of them, so in this way it is used
as a protective measure. I completely agree with this motivation, and
I fully encourage it! But something else should be taken into
consideration.
This phrase is inspired by a quote from the Christian Bible: “Judge
not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall
be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to
you again.” (Matthew 7:1-2, King James Version). In other words, as
it is commonly said, “Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself. By the
measure you judge, you too, will be judged.” (Me!) There is much
spiritual wisdom contained in that phrase, but usually it is taken out
of context.
Essentially, this phrase is saying be careful how severely you
judge, because you will be judged just at the same level. It does not
say you should never judge at all, but rather you should be careful
how harshly you judge, because it may come back to you as harshly.
It is a lesson in compassion. Too many times people have
bastardized this to a shortened version: “Judge not.” Wow, talk about
missing the point! Judgment is a key discernment skill to develop,
but yes, we should be careful to keep our lower ego in check.
After all, you made the judgment call to pick up this book. You
make the judgment call every day to get up and do what you need to
do. These are choices, and we make judgments with consequences
every day of our lives, so to think we shouldn’t judge is to not
understand decisions, actions, and consequences. It is through
judgment that we protect our energy, after all, but we should still
practice compassion, sympathy, and empathy when we judge.
So yes, we should judge frequently. We should constantly improve
our judgment skills, but as we do, we should also exercise
forethought and compassion. Now that we have dissected what
spiritual is and isn’t, let’s look at the other side of the equation. Let’s
take a closer look at religion, because a lot of people are not clear on
what religion is, and it is a tricky subject, to be fair.
Religion
 Before we discuss a spiritual dimension to this, let’s establish a
baseline. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word is defined as
“the belief in the existence of a god or gods, and the activities that
are connected with the worship of them, or in the teachings of a
spiritual leader.” The second definition is “One of the systems of faith
that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular god or
gods, or in the teachings of a spiritual leader.” In the name of
providing a different perspective, it is worth noting that according to
the law of the United States of America, as of the writing of this book,
even atheism is classified as a religion. I won’t get into the legal
jargon here, but feel free to look it up. This means that really, like a
lot of words and concepts, there is what is found in the dictionary
and through linguistics, and then there is the physical world
application of them. And, many times, these two definitions conflict
and may not make sense.
Notice how they both include the word god? This shows how
narrow the definition of the word is, but also why so many people are
adverse to religion. Going by the dictionary definition, the
organizations hinted at above are the largest and most well-known,
and they all make you believe in a god. A further implication is the
dogma that those groups impose in the name of shared beliefs,
cohesion, and group power. So, what this means is that for the most
part, people have an aversion to dogma and the subjects mentioned
above in the definitions. And really, I completely understand that.
Heck, I fully support it, actually! The dictionary definitions are too
narrow minded and old aeon, and could use some updating,
especially when we turn our attention to a third, far different
definition.
This enlightened definition comes from Spiritualism and makes
much more sense. I always like sharing this because this is the
definition that brought me peace of mind when it comes to seeing
religion as a positive force, especially during this time of change. In
Spiritualism religion is defined as “Living in accord with natural,
universal, and spiritual laws.” In other words, living in alignment with
the world around us. That’s a pretty innovative definition, isn’t it? It’s
also light on dogma and widely open to interpretation. What one
person considers harmony may not be true for another person, and
according to this definition, that is okay and largely healthy.
The way this applies to psychic protection is that it suggests you
should do your best, however you define it, to live in line with the
world around you. This helps keep the mind and Will focused on
your individual needs and what you need to do fulfil them. When you
are this focused on your life and spiritual ascent, it is harder for
beings, physical or not, to attack you. Through this singularity, you
develop a certain type of energetic armor, and it’s passive, which
means it takes little to no effort to maintain. Oh yeah, speaking of
armor…

Shielding and Armor

Many people practice the art of energetic shielding. The way this
works is that when they see they are going into a situation where
there may be vulnerable to psychic attacks, they prepare themselves
mentally and energetically and put up what they call a shield. This is
an effective technique, and much has been written about it,
especially over the last few years. Shields are generally faith and/or
energy based, and almost anyone can create them, because all it
requires is mental attention and intent. There is a problem with
shielding, though; it can leave you feeling drained because of the
amount of energy you expend on it.
Armor, though, is a different story. It is developed in another way,
because it can be put on or taken off at a moment’s notice. It can
also, however, be a permanent protection. It is created through day-
to-day energy work over an extended period of time and will remain
in effect unless you take it off. I have found that if you develop your
armor continuously for a long time, it simply becomes a new state of
being. By working with mental armor, you shift your consciousness.
Part of this shift is connected with strengthening your Will and also
with raising your vibration. Creating and working with mental armor,
and the subsequent raising of your vibration, allows you to view
situations with more clarity and from new perspectives, which
includes more applications of compassion and patience.
 You might be wondering how you go about creating mental armor.
The answer to that is quite subjective, but there are common traits
and characteristics that can be discussed. One of the first things you
can do is to make sure you have self-discipline in abundance. If this
is already present, the procedure get easier from there. You should
also learn some sort of energy movement technique. This can be
whatever you want. A lot of people learn the system of Reiki, but
there are several other systems out there, and I encourage you to
learn at least one so you have a firm understanding of energy and
how you may manipulate it. After all, everything is energy. And, think
outside the box. A highly effective technique I know is to use
symbols to imprint the aura for the sake of protection. This is a very
simple and subjective technique, because it only requires two things.
First, it requires a knowledge of symbols, as we discussed earlier in
the book. When you learn the protective symbols of your chosen
pantheon, even if you made that pantheon yourself, then you’re
ready for step two. This is to focus mentally on imprinting the symbol
or symbols onto your aura. This takes only about half an hour each
day when you focus and concentrate, mentally visualizing the
symbols slowly sinking into a space of about two to three inches
away from your physical form, which is where your aura is located.
Remember to do this at least twenty-eight days in a row so it gets
firmly embedded in your subconscious, although I have noticed that
the more you do this, the more you enjoy it, and you generally end
up doing it for much longer. This can be quite a fun exercise to keep
your imagination active and your focus on your personal and spiritual
development. So, if you choose to use this technique, make sure to
make this a fun exercise. After all, existence is pure joy, and laughter
is the unpronounceable name of god. By making this fun you have
already raised your vibration and made your development enjoyable,
rather than feeling like it is a chore.
No matter which technique, (shielding or armoring), you use,
remember it is going to take discipline and time to cultivate these
skills, so be patient. The more patient you are, the stronger your
natural defenses will become. This, in turn, means the skills will feel
more natural to you, even more so if you stay on course with your
development. There is another applicable technique you can use,
and while the name of it is occult in nature, millions of people use it
every day, regardless of whether or not they are into occultism.

Talismanic Magick

A talisman is an object that is thought to bring good fortune and

other beneficent powers to the bearer. If you’ve ever had a good luck
charm, you have been working with this technique. This shows how
common a practice it is, yet most people who do it don’t look at it that
way, but its true none the less. This concept can be expanded to
include ideas that are still protective but also unorthodox. The idea
that comes to mind here is insurance. It is very common for people
across the world to have insurance of some kind, whether it is for a
business, a vehicle, health, life, or some other important topic.
Insurance is basically something you have so that if an emergency
comes up, it can help protect you or at least lessen the impact of
whatever event occurs. This is the basic philosophy behind the
concept. You have insurance so it is there should you need it, but
also because it fulfills the idea that it is better to have it and not need
it, so in this way it is something that is acquired in the name of
protection. When you look at this from a metaphysical position, it
tells you that you are projecting that energy out into the universe.
You are being proactive regarding what you are doing. In this way,
you tell the universe that you are taking steps to insure success, but
are prepared to deal with the outcome if success doesn’t manifest.
As a matter of fact, the Boy Scouts of America embody this
technique in their motto of “always be prepared.” During those times
when you feel you could use a little extra something to help grease
the wheels of your project, this is an easy way to go about it. Best of
all, it is completely fluid and flexible.

To Work in Silence

Another proactive protection technique is the idea to work in

silence. This is similar to the idea that discretion is the better part of
valor. In the Western Esoteric Tradition, this is known as the fourth
power of the Sphinx, which is to conceal something, or to work in
silence. Not speaking of what you are doing can often be a defensive
maneuver in and of itself. The reason for this is that people can send
negative energy to you to thwart your efforts, even if that is not their
intention. Before we get to that though, let’s lay some groundwork.
While this might involve some subjectivity, the principles are true
almost across the boards.
People send energy to other people almost every moment of the
day. This generally occurs when we think about someone, or various
situations that elicit an emotional reaction. Each time we think of this,
we send a bolt of energy to feed that memory and experience. This
is the foundational principle behind the metaphysical teaching
“energy follows thought, thought begets form.” I wrote about this
extensively in Vocal Magick, so you can find more information there.
However, it is worth coming back to here, because the converse is
also true. A lot of the time people are thinking about us too, and
when they are, energy is being sent our way. This energy can be
either positive or negative, which means that people send out
negative energy to other people or situations the more they think
about them in a negative way. This can also be extended to include
worry energy.
When you or someone you know worries about something, strong,
negative energy is sent out to the target. This feeds the strength of
the target, and locks both the projector and the target into a
polarized relationship, reinforcing the relationship with the duality
existence we all experience while in physical form. This means that
we are all exposed to negative energies that are out of our control all
the time. Much like the fact we are all exposed to cosmic radiation
every day yet don’t suffer the effects, we are constantly a receiver
and a sponge. Granted, the people who project worried energy
generally approach life from a fear based (read: weak) perspective,
but many times, in their minds, they feel they are doing the right
thing. This is especially true of those who engage in a lot of prayers.
We can’t hold ill-will towards them, because their intent is founded in
love. Remember the key piece of information here, though: They
only worry about what they know about!
Sometimes it is helpful to keep your meaningful personal
development projects to yourself while working on them, so that
others cannot accidentally send you negative energy through
worrying about your success. This also keeps the information away
from detractors, too. While many people might want to see you
succeed, there could be just as many who want to see you fail. But
they only get the information you allow them to have. Thus, you can
appreciate the protective skill of operating in silence.
By concealing what you are doing, you are in effect protecting
yourself from the ill intentions of others. However, you might also be
concerned that you’re not putting yourself in a position to receive
supportive energy from loved ones. Therefore, it is okay to tell
trusted loved ones who you’re sure wish you no ill intent but listen to
your intuition. In any event, I’m sure the point is made that you can
tell someone if you choose but be mindful of this principle.
Obfuscation can also result in what is known as a sin of omission.
This is when you intentionally leave something important out, and
what you left out could change the whole tone of the experience.
Keeping one’s mouth shut is one of the best skills you can cultivate
through your development.
Practicing the art of discretion through such practices as a “need
to know” basis, and “plausible deniability,” we protect ourselves from
the negative energy of others, even if their intention is well-meaning,
and through doing this, we raise our vibration by showing the
universe that we are selective when it comes to what we are doing.
“Never cast your pearls before swine” also comes to mind, as does
“why give someone steak if they have a taste for hamburger?” A
general rule of thumb to abide by is that not everything we do should
be the business of others. To remember this is to put your spirituality
into practice. As my friend Bob North said, if we are the microcosm
of the universal macrocosm, and it is half concealed, then perhaps
we should be, too.
Working with this principle will take time, and you may adjust it to
your spiritual path as you see fit, but through extended work you will
find the right balance of silence vs speech, which will further
strengthen your mental armor.

There is Love, and There is Love

 Finally, we come to the end of this chapter and almost the book
for that matter. We will wrap things up on a high note, focusing on
the power of love. It may not seem like it fits here, but there is a lot of
powerful energy that love can provide us in the name of our spiritual
connection and personal growth. There are a few things I would like
to focus on that can be of use when it comes to protecting your
energy from a space of love. First, we must understand what love is
in a clear and metaphysical way. In other words, in a way that we
can apply to everyday life. This makes it practical love, if you will.
The Ancient Greeks had six different words for love, yet they knew
that all forms of love are equally valid. Some of these can be used to
protect your energy, but to do so may require looking at situations in
a new way and from a new perspective. We will now take a closer
look at the different forms of love and discuss the protective
properties they contain.
The six types of love are:
1) Eros, which is sexual love, commonly known as passion
2) Philia, which is the type of love that comes with a deep
friendship
3) Ludus, which is defined as playful love
4) Agape love, which is love for everyone, which could include
unconditional love
5) Pragma, which is longstanding love
6) Philautia, which is the love of the self.
It is obvious how certain of these types of love might offer
protective qualities. For example, philia. This type of love can
provide an ally on one’s side no matter what, so you know you don’t
have to face most things in life alone or be caught off guard. Another
example of a protective quality of love can be found in philautia, the
love of the self. After all, if you don’t love yourself first, how can you
love anyone else? And, part of loving yourself is taking proactive
steps to raise your vibration and protect your energy.
Really, you could easily find protective qualities and traits in all of
these kinds of love, and I encourage you to do so as a mind and
spirit building exercise. Often, people think of love outside the realm
of psychic protection, but it should definitely be part of the
conversation. Love is a high vibration, after all, and we should
always be looking at the mental high ground, as I mentioned earlier.
This includes the metaphysical idea of raising your vibration beyond
a polarity existence.
We live in a polarity-based reality, as has been proven by science
dating back to Isaac Newton and his third law, which effectively
states that if something is true, so is its opposite. Almost two
thousand years before him, Hermeticism said the same in its axiom:
“As above, so below, as within, so without.” There’s no denying this
fact of the physical world, but it is predominantly restricted to this
plane.
There is a trick to working with this, though, which is that we live in
a polarity-based reality, so technically, while we’re in physical form,
there is no getting away from it. As a matter of fact, friction from
polar opposites can release a lot of energy that can be applied to the
projects of your Will. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to go
beyond it, though, but a lot of this entails a shift in consciousness
more than how you interact with the outside world. Rising above
polarity is a mental activity that can be quite useful, but most of the
work is internal. It concerns seeing situations from an inclusive
perspective, rather than a dual one. I have found this very useful
when it comes to the decision-making process. Looking for solutions
that entail everyone and everything in an inclusive way is a
challenge, for sure, but is worth the mental work. For example, when
you look at the division in the world today, you can either see the
division, which is very real, or you can mentally step back and look at
the bigger picture. What is causing the division? How can solutions
that take care of everyone be found? Why do people approach
problems from an “either or” perspective? Why can’t it be both?
As you can see from these examples, they are tough questions
that require new ways of thinking, and courage to take chances and
act on them. This is a hidden lesson of psychic protection – courage
and taking chances. If we are under psychic attack or mental
manipulation for extended periods of time, we might default mentally
to a safe head space. In psychology, this is known as having a
bunker mentality. This phrase is borrowed from the military and is
based on the idea that when things get intense, you should lower
your head and dig down in the bunker until the danger passes. I
point this out because many people approach life from a bunker
mentality by default. This is something that occurs over time, and
usually happens subconsciously, so many are not aware they are
doing it. The bunker mentality might have its uses, but if it becomes
a long-standing habit it begins to infect the consciousness in a
negative way, limiting the enjoyment of life and acting as a barrier to
the spiritual lessons we came down here to learn. Courage is the
way to proceed, but this is not an absolute either, as sometimes
applied courage without forethought is a recipe for disaster. All of this
simply reminds us of the value of periodic internal review and
seeking new ways to grow. In this way, it is the most powerful
psychic protection. By staying on target when it comes to your
personal growth, and being mindful of finding your middle point of
courage vs using the tried and true methods, you will maintain
proactivity, and in so doing, your vibration will remain in a state of
positive flux that makes it harder for energy leaks and leeches to
lock onto us. As has been said many times in professional sports,
“The best defense is a good offense.”
 Afterword
As you can see by now, the secret to psychic protection lies in
the mind and the ability to apply the principles we have discussed in
practical ways. That’s it, nothing more. It’s not as scary as you may
think to be under a psychic attack because it’s not as daunting as
you might believe to protect yourself. After all, people protect
themselves unknowingly all the time, so it’s not really that big of a
deal; it’s easier to protect yourself than you may think. Boundaries,
responsibilities, and maturity are all proactive ways to make sure you
are safe when living life.
True psychic attacks require several moving parts to be a
legitimate attack. First, you have to have people in your life who
have the desire and means to attack you. This rules out the bulk of
people in society today, because it does take true occult skills to pull
off a psychic attack. An easy way to think about this is to take a
mental tally as to whether or not you have people in your life who
practice the more of occult spiritual traditions, such as witchcraft,
Voodoo, etc. Secondly, they also require your belief in polarity
consciousness. After all, the best revenge against someone who
wishes you failure is success and living life to the fullest. Some could
argue that this is emphasis on denial, but it does not have to develop
into that if you are aware of the trap and focus on avoiding it. Third,
you have to believe you can be attacked. Yes, some attacks can be
successful even if you don’t believe such attacks are possible, but
that is another matter entirely for another time. There are many times
in my life when I have been psychically attacked, and the attacks
didn’t work because I gave them no mental time or effort. I turned a
blind eye to them, and it was enough to nullify the effects that were
aimed at me because I didn’t feed energy into them. But there have
also been times when I was psychically attacked and suffered
tangible effects. The difference was that the successful attacks came
from certain kinds of occult traditions that are not commonly known
about or practiced, and to explain the details would take a book in
and of itself to explain.
 If you are not surrounded by people who practice those occult
traditions, then the probability of being attacked immediately
decreases. You may still be surrounded by psychic and energy
vampires, and some of them may not be aware of what they’re
doing, but if this is the case, then you have to handle it with care.
Now you have the tools to combat attacks and succeed.
Keep in mind that this is an overview and a beginner’s book to the
principles behind psychic protection, and as is true so many times,
someone who came before me summarized it succinctly. These
words of wisdom should be kept in mind regarding all things in life.
To quote Dion Fortune from her book Psychic Self-Defense: “Times,
points of view and fashions change, but never principles.”
 Bibliography
For Further Reading
Ask the Right Questions by Debbie Ford
Crystal Power, Crystal Healing by Michael Gienger
Crystal Prescriptions Book 5: Space Clearing, Feng Shui and
Psychic Protection, by Judy Hall
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem, & Metal Magic by
Scott Cunningham
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs by Scott
Cunningham
Compendium of Herbal Magick by Paul Beyerl
Healing Mantras by Thomas Ashley-Farrand
Magical Housekeeping by Tess Whitehurst
Psychic Self Defense by Dion Fortune
Sacred Space by Denise Linn
The Art of Psychic Protection by Judy Hall
The Magical Household by Scott Cunningham
The Magical and Ritual Use of Herbs by Richard Alan Miller
The Master Book of Herbalism by Paul Beyerl
The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal by
Desmond Morris
The Witch’s Shield: Protection Magic and Self-Defense by
Christopher Penczak
Your Life: Why It Is the Way It Is and What You Can Do About It
by Bruce McArthur

*And, don’t forget what we discussed throughout the book.

Almost every spiritual tradition has specific material on protection, so
consult those sources when appropriate.
 About the Author
Bill Duvendack is an ordained independent Spiritualist minister
who is an internationally known psychic, presenter, and author. He
has presented in many venues, ranging from colleges and high
schools to national and international conferences. He is the author of
eleven published books, including Vocal Magick, The Metaphysics of
Magick, and In the Shadow of the Watchtower, Enochian Grimoire
Volume 1, Spirit Relations, and Dark Fruit, Enochian Grimoire
Volume 2. He has had over a dozen essays published in various
anthologies, and his magical writings have been translated into 6
languages. He regularly teaches classes on magick, astrology, and
modern spirituality nationally and via webinars. He has been
interviewed by the NY Times, RTE 1, and has made many TV and
radio appearances. For more information about him, please consult
his website: www.418ascendant.com.
 Other Books by Bill Duvendack
Spirit Relations
Vocal Magick
The Metaphysics of Magick
Astrology in Theory & Practice
In the Shadow of the Watchtower: Enochian Grimoire Volume
One
Dark Fruit: Enochian Grimoire Volume Two
A Draconian Egyptian Grimoire
Sat En Anpu: a Book of Anubis
Awakening Lucifer (with Asenath Mason)
Qliphothic Astrology
Oraculum Leviathan Tarot Set (with Asenath Mason)