Shields Up, Witches!

Now is as good a time as any to start a daily practice with shielding

Yup, you have not been imagining it -- a lot of us are on edge. Looking down the barrel of the future right now is frightening, and then you load up all the pressure and weirdness of the end of year holidays and it can get frazzled at best and outright oppressive at worst.

If you don't already have a regular shielding practice, now might be a good time to get one.

What does that mean?

While this is a super cool example of a shield, this is not what I’m talking about here. Photo by Anna Saveleva on Unsplash

Shields are what they sound like -- energetic barriers that you erect around your person to protect yourself from things that would come at you. Sometimes when we get fancy we call them "wards." Effective, properly constructed shields are a great thing to include as part of your everyday practice. They can help with a lot of things -- help you deal with challenging people and situations, help you deal with being in places that do not always feel safe, help you conserve energy so that you have enough wherewithal to deal with all of the tasks of your day, and so much more. A good shield is a lot like a good home security system. You hope to not need it, but having it can bring you sense of peace that is reassuring.

There are lots of ways to construct shields. They can be as simple as imagining a shell of white light around your person. They can be complicated affairs involving smoke cleansing and athames and anything else that you can think of.

Some things to think about as you devise your shielding practice:

• What are you shielding? As I have written previously, protecting is less about the actual magic doing the protecting and more about knowing with clarity the boundaries you are trying to enforce. Understanding how the thing or person you are trying to protect (including yourself) moves within the world, how it occupies space, and what its actual safety needs and requirements are. If you are protecting a raw lamb chop from germs, wrapping it in cling wrap is a good idea. But wrapping a live lamb in the same way to protect it from predators will not yield the results you desire on any level.

• What are you shielding from? Trying to protect something from anything that might ever happen is an exhausting proposition. As my old torts professor in law school used to say, you could build a car that would be completely impervious to damage from any collision, but it would cost ten times as much and it would be incredibly uncomfortable and unenjoyable to drive. Do not waste your energy trying to build shields against things that you are unlikely to encounter on the everyday. Learning how much protection is enough is something that will take time, and require applying some thought to what the real risks are that you face as you move about your world on the daily.

• Is magic really the best protection here? Magic works, magic helps, but magic won't protect against stupid. It's a good idea to ward your backpack so that people don't try to nick things from it if you leave it someplace. But the fact that you have wards on the backpack does not mean it's okay to leave said backpack unattended at a bus stop all day. Find a locker. Magical protections are a supplement to the mundane stuff you do, not a substitution. And if you need to apply shields to be able to endure a toxic situation you face daily, perhaps the solution isn't more shields, but finding a way to alter the situation requiring the shield in the first place.

• How much is too much? Knowing how to build shields that let good things in while keeping bad things out is important. Over-engineered shields end up turning away EVERYTHING, which may not be what you actually want. As is always true with magic, intent is important.

Given that most of us are busy in our daily lives, and can often barely muster enough time and energy to do a morning devotional, a daily shield practice needs to be simple.

Here's a daily shield practice that I find useful. The only thing you need to create this shield is a crystal whose energy you like. I have a few different crystals that I use interchangeably based on what my needs are on a particular day. On a day when I need nurturing, loving energy, I might use a rose quartz. On a day when I am feeling like I need extra protection, I might use obsidian. If I am in need of extra get up and go, I might use citrine. As always, clear quartz is a great all-purpose option because clear quartz is highly programmable and will take on whatever intention you imbue it with. I like to use a fairly large example of the crystal in question, but it doesn't need to be large to do the job. And if you have a found rock from your yard that you like the feel of, that's completely okay too.

Alythia's Daily Crystal Shield Practice

While in a comfortable standing or seated position, hold crystal over your heart. Imagine an invisible protective energy filling your body and surrounding your insides.

"Protect that which lies within, that I may be filled with love and joy and peace"

Hold crystal with both hands so that it rests in the hollow just beneath your lower lip. imagine a ward that will protect all that proceeds from. your hands and your lips.

"Protect that which emanates from, that the words of my mouth and the work of my hands my promote love and joy and peace."

Stroke the crystal against the palms of each of your hands before resting it exactly at your hairline at the center of your forehead. If you're bald, at roughly the top of your forehead.

"Protect from that which would assail, so only that which intends love and joy and peace my successfully reach me."

While holding the crystal in place with one hand, imagine a protective waterfall of energy emanating from the crystal, and use your free hand to brush that energy wave into place around you so that it covers your whole body.

"Connect these wards each [move the crystal to your heart] to the other [move to the hollow below your mouth] three [move to the hairline] that I may be fully and wholly protected, in love and joy and peace. [as you do this, imagine each of the wards you have created connecting together and resonating with the same protective energy]

hold the crystal between your palms with hands in prayer position over your heart

So mote it be.

Shields up, witches! And blessed be.