Basic Magickal Protection & Psychic Self-Defense.  --------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------    Merry Meet, all!    Magic works. This is the first thing you have to learn. If you  don't believe that magic gives you the power to reshape the  universe, you're wasting your time. Because if you believe a spell  or ritual won't work, it won't. Period. And if you do believe in  the power of magic, then you need to realize that when you use it  you are putting your hands on the same forces that move the tides  and spawn tornadoes. And that by doing so, you have the potential  to harm yourself or others. I have often compared working magic to  rock climbing. It takes years of study and practice before you're  ready to try it. It is fairly safe, if you know what you're doing  and take appropriate safety precautions. At the same time, a  mistake can ruin your whole day or worse.  In this article, I will outline a few basic techniques for  protecting yourself and your home. While these are essential while  working magic, they are also useful anytime. For example, there's  no better night's sleep than in a room that's been magically  shielded to keep out psychic noise.  Let's start with Shielding. This is a technique for creating a  magical 'force field' around your person or a place, to keep out  unwanted energy. This could be psychic 'background noise', nasty  astral critters, or magical energy directed at you. Many people do  this unconsciously all their lives. Others of us have to learn  how. The method I use is to visualize a 'net' of energy around the  area to be shielded. Remember to 'see' it in 3D, a sphere rather  than a circle. (This is where those visualization exercises come  into practical use.) I generally use my personal energy to power  it. I visualize negative energy being absorbed by my shields and  flowing into the earth. ("Ground and Center" here.) I visualize it  as porous, though, so that energy I send can pass through. With  practice, you will be able to shield yourself instantly, without  thinking.   I have found that exhaustion or alcohol quickly erode my ability to  shield, so keep this in mind. Once you have shields, there is lots  of nifty magic you can do with them. I'll describe some of these in  an article for an advanced class.   Warding is a similar technique. I define a Ward as a Shield  anchored to a physical place. Instead of using your energy, though,  you let Earth energy flow upward to power it. With practice, you  can create a stable, Earth-powered shield. This leaves more energy  for spell work, or allows you to drop your own shields and  recharge. Reinforce the visualization regularly, and it can be  permanent, to protect your Circle or home. I tend to anchor wards  with physical objects-a stone, carved runes, etc. But it is the  visualization that really matters. If the mental image fails, the  shield will fail, no matter how many runes you carve.   Occasionally, when going about my daily life, I will feel a 'tickle'  at my aura as some kind of psychic energy contacts it. Other times,  the hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I quickly raise my  shields. And on rarer occasions, I feel a sudden energy drain as my  shields (thank the Lady and Lord) go from standby to maximum power  before I know what's happened. In these situations there are a few  shielding tricks I use. First is the mirror. I visualize the  outside of my shields as a perfect mirror, reflecting any energy  back to it's source. Next is making the inside of my shields a  mirror. I use this to contain any psychic energy I might be  emitting, hopefully making myself psychically 'stealthy'. Last is  the 'iron wall' or 'stone tower' visualization, changing the thin  energy shield into a massive fortress. This requires a lot of  power, but when huge waves of negativity are breaking over you, it  really helps.   Now on to a few active techniques. If negative energy keeps coming  at me, I don't sit back and continue to shield until exhausted. The  ancient warriors knew that any purely defensive battle is doomed, if  it goes on long enough. Invoking the Lady and Lord is probably the  surest and simplest defense. Malevolent entities (wether astral or  earthly) tend to avoid the presence of the Deity. In fact, the  nastier they are, the faster they run. But like most kids, I don't  like bothering Mom and Dad all the time with small problems I've  been taught to handle myself. The most basic technique is calling  White Fire. This is the Light energy of the universe, the silver- white of the Moon and the fire-white of the Sun, the sum total of  the magical Elements. Let it flow in from all around you until you  feel like a ball of lightning, then send a directed bolt of it back  in the direction the negative energy came from. While the mind  alone is all you need to do this, I find my sword/athame is a  perfect tool for this. (I feel the Rede does not prohibit self- defense, but that's another article, too.) If this doesn't work,  you can still call on the Lady and Lord in their warrior/protector  aspects to help you.   So, good luck as you study the Craft of the Wise. Remember, the  Bad Guys are out there, and they're after us. That's how we know  we're the Good Guys.