Start With Cleansing and Protection: For Witchcraft Beginners

Since many young or new witches today did not start with a fully functioning religious or spiritual tradition, it is important that those of you in that category be trained in the basics of the basics.  Before you even start touching spells or conscious will-projecting workings, you need to have mastered cleansing and protection.  These techniques are essential in maintaining your spiritual wellbeing.

At the moment, you are like an infant.  You have lots of potential, but at the moment, you are barely taking your first steps into a new world.  Trying to jump ahead is disastrous.  You may be well on your way to being the spiritual equivalent of a great shark hunter, and you may have enough talent to swim fairly well, but someone throwing you into the ocean at this point would simply get you eaten before or after you drowned from exhaustion.

As I have said many times, you should try to find a live mentor/teacher.  You will not learn all you need to know from reading about things.  It is also a good idea to have a second set of eyes, and an alternative perspective.  I may be a good writer, at least as I’m told, but I am not living with you, in your situation, or inside your head.  If you can’t find a live mentor, pray and give offerings to both your Gatekeeper and Lawgiver, as well as your parent/head deity towards this goal.  Not having a mentor should not discourage you though.  From the time you enter this realm, you should be learning.  Make due with what you can.  I hope that I am some help in this.

These are very basic methods and techniques.  Cleansing and protection are huge topics and there is no way I could fit it all, even all of the basics, into one article.  This is just a few things to get you started.

Cleansing

Cleansing is the process of ridding someone or something of inappropriate or “negative” energy.  In some ways, it is like pushing “reset”.  It is not absolution.  A person’s actual conscious wrongdoings or harmful behaviors will not be erased by cleansing, nor will the consequences of their actions.  It can however, be helpful in changing their ways and opening the way for correction and making amends…or accepting punishment/consequences.

Cleansing breaks negative patterns.  It removes blockages and inhibitions to improvement.  It also clears the connection between people of inappropriate and harmful energy.  A common problem solved in part by cleansing is the “evil eye”.  This is a psycho-spiritual situation of harmful energy accumulated or dumped upon someone due to other people’s jealousy, possessiveness, or ill will.  It is like a burden that builds in the soul and psyche one stone at a time until the person is drained of energy and may ultimately lose the blessing others were jealous of or exploiting.  Cleansing helps to clear the buildup.

It may not seem as glamorous as casting a spell, but it is an extremely powerful thing.  Some witches do almost only this, and are never lacking clients.  So we’ll start with some simple techniques that you can use on yourself and loved ones.  With time and experience, you will be able to apply this to clients.

A word of caution before we begin…some people and places have very nasty, scary stuff attached to them.  So don’t try any of this until you’ve read the next section on protection.  If you encounter something that you can’t handle, don’t try to be proud.  Get some backup.  It may be awhile until you encounter something truly horrifying, but it is coming someday.  Banishing strong old hostile be-ings requires advance banishing and exorcism skills.  It takes most people a long time to master these, and even they take some hits.  Hopefully though, Eshu or your Gatekeeper will make your progress gradual so that by the time that day comes, you are fully ready.

To smooth the way, you definitely want to make sure to give some offerings for this work.  Unless you’re doing yourself, you really have no idea what your soul may be touching when you cleanse someone.  You want there to be a nice padding of divine grace in the mix so that the “fire” required for the cleansing doesn’t burn you out. Again, traditions vary, but usually the offering is going to be something equivalent to a carton of cigarettes or box of cigars.

Smoke

Except for loose liquids, most people and things can be cleansed reasonably well with the smoke of cleansing incense.  The basic recipe for Eshu incense that you can make yourself or buy from another witch or botanica will do the job.  Because smoke from certain plants and resins is antimicrobial, some people in arid areas even clean their physical bodies with smoke/soot.  The Himba do this.  So there is a very long history of smoke for cleansing.

Some typical ingredients used in cleansing smoke are:

• charcoal for burning herbs and various charcoals of sacred trees such as pine, olive, oak, and cedar
• myrrh, especially if there was any psychological trauma involved
• frankincense, drives out harmful energies/spirits
• coffee, also drives away harmful energies, especially those of a parasitic or thieving sort
• alum, aggressively neutralizes harmful energies and those it doesn’t neutralize, it makes very unattractive to stick around
• dragon’s blood, very aggressive and kind of “razes” through the air like little tiny knives against harmfulness
• rosemary and rose in combination, generally cleansing, and tends to ward off evil eye energy especially well
• peppers, for serious banishing of inappropriate and harmful energy
• sage, a bit overused, but it does the job

This is by no means a complete list.  I encourage you to study and look around in your local Nature to find cleansing herbs.  This list is just to get you started on what you should make or what may be in what you buy, and why it’s there.

Smudging is often done to cleanse places with a rolled stick of burning herbs, a shell or plate, and a feather.  You can do just as well with a censer of burning incense and a hand fan.  Though there are certain standards that are fairly globally used, there is no universal specific technique for smoke cleansing that works for everyone.  Go by your ancestral, local, and/or divination revealed techniques.  Futuristic witches who are Ogun or like deity inclined, may be called to use an electric bakhoor burner or USB cup warmer if they like.  It’s not “anything goes”, but there are many ways, and one should choose the one that works best for them.

If you are cleansing a person, they should stand with their arms spread and their legs far enough apart to get the censer between them safely.  If they are disabled, make the necessary adjustments.  Open a window or door to the outside so that the air flows freely.

As with any ceremony, call your Gatekeeper(s) first, and light some incense for them first as well.  The general rule is to always feed your Gatekeeper(s) first when doing any magical ceremony. They are the bridge between the realms.  In some traditions, such as Vodun and related diaspora systems, Eshu is fed first unless it is a blood offering, in which Ogun would be fed first since he owns all weapons.

Light or put the cleansing incense on the charcoal.  Circle the smoke around them.  Some traditions start at the head, some at the feet, and some at the center of the body or around the heart.  I like to start at the center of the body and “throw” things outwards.  Meanwhile, it is good to chant and/or shake a rattle as a way of focusing on the purpose and adding sound vibrations to heighten the cleansing effect.

After the initial smoking, set the censer down between their feet nearby, and use your hands to “brush” away harmful energy.  Later, you may use a consecrated broom, fan, or horsetail for this, but when you’re starting out use your hands.

You know the cleansing has done all it can do when the room is fairly full of smoke or the air is heavy enough that there is some coughing, tearing, and/or sneezing.  In smoke divination, the fullness means consensus, balance, harmony, or things are in agreement.

Then thank your deities and close the ritual.

Let the person rest in the room.  It is a good idea to have someplace comfortable for them to sit or lie down.  Give them water to drink, and perhaps some snacks of fresh vegetables if there is time.  It is a very good sign if they need to use the restroom after.

To cleanse a home or room, you need to get smoke into all of the doorways, corners, and windows of the home inside and out.  It may take more than one dose of incense, and some hours to complete.  Be thorough and patient.

Start at the front door, and make a circle around the home.  In many cultures, one should make considerable noise so that harmful energies and spirits are scared away.  When you get back to the front door, start going through the home.  Work your way from there to the back door or window.

Saltwater

Saltwater cleansing is a bit more intimate.  It is done calling the Gatekeeper and the Mother.  Take the person to the sea, or have them stand or sit in a bath while your pour or splash saltwater over them from head to toe.  If it is a bath, the water should be warm but comfortable.  The salt concentration should be at least at the level of amniotic fluid.  That is around 2%.

You can do this for yourself too.  You can also add other cleansing herbs to the bathwater.  For driving away harmful energies, I like to make this experience a bit boisterous.  That’s my traditions though.  Yours may be different.

You can let them soak for awhile, but try to keep the water moving.  You don’t want it to stagnate.  When the bath or soaking is over, if it is possible, they should let the dried remnants of the saltwater stay on them until the next morning.  If not, then it’s okay if they shower, but I find that the cleansing sticks better of the salt is left on overnight.

Protection

The purpose of protection is to repel inappropriate, mischievous in the way of mainly geared towards misfortune, or harmful energies and spirits.  It is something that needs to be maintained.  There is no “one and done” protection.  You have to refresh it periodically.  Your Gatekeeper probably has a holiday or holidays.  These are good times to refresh protections.  If there is no record of their holidays, choose times of the year that seasons change.  This will depend on where you live.

Offerings for protection should be given to your Gatekeeper and Protective Warrior(s).  They should also be called upon during the ceremony to make your amulets or protection salts.

A Simple Protection Amulet

The most basic protection amulet should be a charm bag with:

• ashes from your daily observances or incense offerings to your Gatekeeper and Warriors you’ve done in the past
• a piece of jet if you tend to be a peaceful person, a sharp piece of obsidian if you are a warrior or fighter type, add also an iron nail if you are of a west African or diaspora faith
• about a small spoonful of three protective herbs.  Some options are:
  • thistle, protects from people with harmful intentions
  • cinnamon, protects from things that would cause you to lose face or status, also from disease
  • clove, protects from general misfortunes and bad luck
  • red pepper, protects from stabbing or things that cause bleeding
  • black pepper, protects from sickness and bad luck
  • garlic, protects from parasitic and/or vampiric people or energies
  • dill, protects from psychic attacks

There are many others, but this should cover most things.  I encourage you to find as much as you can locally.  It helps  if at least one ingredient is something you foraged or found outside.

To make the charm bag, get your supplies together, and then open the ritual.

Give offerings to your Gatekeeper and Warriors, and then return to assemble the bag.

On a clean square of white or natural cotton cloth (cotton is also protective against ill will) mark the name or symbol of your Gatekeeper on the top left corner.  As you do so, do a mindful but concise prayer that they protect you.

On the bottom right, mark the name or symbol of your main Protective Warrior.  Say a prayer that they protect you.

Then on the bottom left, mark then name or symbol of your Father deity.  Say a prayer that he watch over and protect you (specifically mention watching over because it implies keeping you from doing things to bring misfortune on yourself).

On the top right, mark the name or symbol of your Mother deity.  Say a prayer that she guide and protect you.

Make a good smear with the ashes in the middle of the cloth.  Then mindfully add the other ingredients.

Then fold the top left so that it matches corners with the bottom right, and the bottom left up to meet the top right.

Then shake it a bit so that the contents settle down into the corner that was the middle. 

Then fold the open ends down, and the corners in.

Carefully sew it shut.

Pass this through the smoke of the incense you are currently burning, and ask that your Gatekeeper and Warriors imbue your amulet with protective energy.

At this time, you can leave the packet as it is, or you can dress it up by putting it into a prettier bag, or encasing it in some other more aesthetic or stealthier material or container.

Pass it through the smoke again.

Thank the deities and close the ceremony.

Please treat your amulets with care.  They may take a bit of a beating especially if you have to hide them somewhere, but don’t leave them around for disrespectful people to molest.  A protection amulet is like a small fetish, and once you make it, you are responsible for its care until you gift it to someone else.  Once you make that last pass through the smoke, it is a living being.

Speaking of which, these things gain energy every time they are gifted.  Some may even tell you when they want to travel, or since they are heavy with Gatekeeper energy, take it on themselves to go somewhere.  If one disappears on you, take it in stride.  Besides, if someone stole it then it will do the opposite of protect them.

Protection Salt

A bare bones protection salt contains:

• ashes from observances or offerings
• salt
• black pepper
• red pepper

Open a ceremony, and call your Gatekeeper and Warriors.

Give them offerings.

In a nice bowl, mindfully add and mix all of the ingredients while saying prayers requesting protection.

Pass the bowl through the smoke of the incense, asking that they imbue the salt with protective energy.

Thank them for their presence and attention.

Close the ritual.

Keep the salt in a closed, dry container until it is time for use.

This protection salt should be sprinkled in a perimeter around one’s home.  A bit can also be placed here and there in areas you’d like to protect.

Real Talk on The Consequences

Your first forays into practicing actual witchcraft will probably not be without incident.  Your awareness will open in ways that theory and normal prayer didn’t accomplish.  Once thought becomes action, and you begin to work your will, your Gatekeeper will begin to show you things.  They may not all be nice to see.  I’ll be honest…much of it will be very not nice.  This will be a test of your ability to keep your cool, be discrete, and stay benevolent or at least not overly destructively inhumane.

Like a flower blossoming, you will receive a perspective/universe-view that will enable you to operate.  It may or may not be a good idea to tell others about it.  Different people are given different views that are usually just as true as one another.  Some “bouquets” of universe-views are similar enough that they have categories that I will not discuss in this article, but you’ll see them and find what to respect about each of them.  The reason the groups seem to vary so wildly in the details, but still respect one another is that we know that none of us has the “absolute truth”.  Those of us who make it through the initial trials have all been gifted by our Gatekeeper(s) with a means to do our work that will be effective.  We are given a view that is filtered to not explode our minds and render us useless.

You have probably heard some horror stories by now, of people who didn’t make it.  They ended up dead or institutionalized or shamed.  In some cases, their mind went to another world and never came back.  People who bumble mindlessly through the “poison path” are the most infamous cases because there are actual chemicals to blame.  This can happen without drugs though too…which is why it is important to maintain one’s mental and physical health.  I have a “by any means necessary” view on that.  If you need to take psychiatric drugs, take them.  If you need to eschew them, then eschew them.  If smoking two packs a day keeps you from freaking out and telling people about themselves in an inappropriate way, then well…switch to e-cigs to reduce the harm, but do whatever you have to do that doesn’t harm others unduly, to stay sane and healthy.  For some of us warrior types, that means harming some people who are harming others unduly, because some wrongs we can’t bear to happen on our planet without going nutbars.  Once you actually start practicing witchcraft, you can’t afford certain weaknesses.  These may vary from person to person, and this is yet another good reason for daily observance.  It helps you to stabilize and notice when things are off balance.

Another thing to be aware of is that when you start doing protection, energies and be-ings who were maintaining the status quo will fight you.  Many people who profited energetically from your and your loved ones’ lack of awareness and conscious knowledge will come out of the alternate realm woodwork.  Some of those you may have to battle may be your loved ones.  Most families have some sort of dysfunction to deal with, and one of the first things you will receive clarity about once you start doing protection and cleansing is what all they were getting out of being jerks.  It wasn’t just an ego boost.  So you may be in the position of having to discretely protect family and loved ones FROM family and loved ones.

You will receive some attacks and backlash from time to time when you are doing cleansing and protection.  Over time, you will get better at handling this.  Just know that it will happen.  Most of the time, it will be unconsciously, so it will be easy to maintain your discretion.  At some points though, it may move into the conscious realm.  Someone will sense that their energetic gravy train has stopped, or their dirty bubble of the psychospiritually enslaved is leaking, and go looking for reasons and solutions.

Just be ready.  It’s not all love and light out here.  In fact, those who claim to be all about love and light tend to be the worst of all.  As a friend of mine, Ben, who is a sweet person but chooses a sort of goth-metal look (because he also likes the music) once told me, “Better light cloaked in darkness than darkness cloaked in light.” So until you know you can trust someone, watch your back.

These recipes and instructions should help you get started in practicing actual witchcraft.  Feel free to comment and ask questions.

Blessings and Ase!