Protection in Magic and the Power of Positive Thinking

I have already received a couple of inquiries about this subject so I decided to write a post on it and clear things up. Before I start writing, I would like to emphasize that everything that is said here is my opinion and that everyone is free to disagree with me on anything. You can choose to look on the things you read here as facts, suggestions or anything you like, but I believe that I'm not communicating any wrong information. 

Now that we've got that cleared up, let's get stared, shall we? :)

Positive Thinking

Why did I choose precisely this title?

Well, I believe that positive thinking is a sort of subcategory of magic. If you think you're not as well as informed on this subject as you would like to be, you can read my previous post entitled "Magic and Wicca". To elaborate, if magic is the conscious control of energy and thoughts, then the term "positive thinking" definitely falls under the category of magic (the very name gives us a hint). The term "positive thinking" implies directing positive thoughts towards a certain goal in order for it to come true/to be achieved. This is, basically, a slightly paraphrased definition of magic. I believe that one can achieve a lot with a positive attitude, and this has been proven correct for me in many occasions. All you have to do is be precise enough with your wishes and visualizations and understand that nothing comes without hard work (or at least a little bit of work and effort). Positive thinking, and magic in general, can only serve as an additional help or means of motivating. So how do you put this into effect? Well it's quite simple, think positively! Remove all negative options from your mind and don't accept any other outcomes other than the one you want. The results might not be exactly what you wanted them to be every time, but they will surely be better than outcome you had in mind before you changed your way of thinking.

Not only can the power of positive thinking help you in achieving your goals and making your wishes come true, but it can also protect you. This is why I combined these two topics into one post.

I can try to sum this all up in one sentence: positivity attracts the positive and negativity attracts the negative. That is to say, if you act and think negatively, then mostly bad things will happen to you because, in a way, you invited them. Of course, this has been a very popular debate topic for quite some time. People have a right to ask "So was I really the one that wanted that accident to happen?" or things like this. My answer to questions of this type would be: not necessarily. There are many factors that have to be taken into consideration, and most often than not, the thinking process of only one person isn't enough to influence a large-scale situation. I believe that some things are simply karmic and that they are necessary for an individual to learn something from that experience and grow as a person (be it in this dimension or some other one, in this life or the next or however you wish to see this). I repeat that this is my opinion.

To get back to the topic. How can positive thinking protect you? Well, if you attract only positive things, then there is a smaller chance that anything bad will happen to you. That seems logical enough to me. Do you agree? Also, the more skeptical you get about something and the more you doubt it, the smaller the chance is that you will succeed in it (unfortunately). This is especially important in magical works; the more you doubt the success of a magical ritual, the smaller the chance is that it will work. I tell you this from experience, both mine and that which I gathered from talking with people who share common experiences with me.

Protection Methods in Magic

You might be asking yourself: "But what if I can't start thinking that way?" or perhaps "What if I don't believe that this works?" (and if you don't believe, then it probably won't work because, like I said, the chances of your plan succeeding will proportionally get smaller the more you doubt you success). If you believe that you can't fence yourself with positivity, then what can you do? I will try to give you a few suggestions for this, though they don't have to be the answers to all your questions. They are merely pieces of advice which I give you with the best of intentions in mind.

I have never experience something that people like to call a "magical attack" nor has anyone ever "stolen my energy". I think that this is so because I don't believe that this is even possible which automatically creates a fence around me which prevents any effect of that sort. This sort of influence simply doesn't exist in my mind and hence cannot affect me. So I can make this a bit clearer for you, I'll give you an example with something that is surely familiar to all of you: chocolate. If you are not aware of the word "chocolate", then you cannot perceive chocolate as "chocolate" when you taste, see or smell it. Man didn't know about fire until he discovered it and he didn't even have a name for it earlier because it didn't exist. In my mind, the noun "attack" and adjective "magical" may exist, but my brain doesn't perceive them as facts/occurrences or anything real but as mere words.

Therefore, one way for you to defend yourself from such energetic/magical attacks is to not acknowledge them as such. Two things that can be of a great help here are laughter and optimism. If you learn how to laugh at something, you probably won't look at it in such a serious way. But I'll return to this a big later. Let us go a few steps back.

Why Protect Yourself?

My logical train of thoughts is that you wouldn't even be reading this post if you didn't want to protect yourself on some energetic level, but I still feel like I should give some reasons. Firstly, protection of any kind can make your life a lot simpler. Let me give you the following examples: if you use condoms (presuming that you don't want children), then the chances or you making a child/getting pregnant are much lower, so you will be able to be more relaxed. If you put a lock on your door, you will feel more secure than if you didn't have a lock and you will be able to walk around your house more freely and relaxed. The same goes for energetic protection. If you set out everything as it should be for yourself to be protected, then you will be able to relax.

Not only will this protect you from the influence of those around you but everyday problems will have a smaller impact on you also. A stressed out person usually gets that way because of the small things that accumulate over time (at least that's how it happens to me...you know, one problem occurs and then a million other tiny problems accompany it). I believe that these everyday problems have a strong influence on your subconscious, psyche and physical body. Also, every problem is born in the mind. For example, gastritis (an inflammation of the lining of the stomach which is usually caused by larger amounts of stomach acids) is a typical illness of modern man which almost every person has/had (in fact, every person I know has it or had it in some time of their life). If it isn't treated properly, than it can easily turn into a peptic ulcer. How do you get gastritis? Most often because of stress....and stress originates from the psyche. This is only one possible example. Basically, your everyday little problems can cause a chain effect in your psyche and body if you don't stop them on time, or even better, prevent them from even beginning to develop. An interesting system of energetic healing helped me hear called Reconnection, but more on that in another post. What you need to remember is that the aura plays a big role in this healing system, as it does in every system of this type and in all the things that I'm talking about in this post.

In case you are still skeptical about how your subconscious (or perhaps even consciousness) can have this big an impact on your physical body, then here's an interesting story.

Once upon a time, there lived a lady called Bess of Congleton. Congleton is a town on the border of England and Wales, so quite far from London. Bess lived in this town at the time when the Black plague was passing through London and this town was spared because of its distance from the capital...until one day when a family in Congleton received a package from their family in London which brought with it the Plague. Half of the town caught the disease and the population rapidly started declining. Some people decided to help those that were in need of medical attendance thus putting their own lives in danger (because they directly contacted the diseased). The only woman who didn't catch the disease among the aforementioned "doctors" was our dear Bess. She healed and motivated people going from home to home. In the process, she saved a little girl from one of the diseased houses. The girl had lost both her parents to the Plague so Bess took her in. By some miracle, that child was spared of the disease. The point of the story is that Bess was courageous and willing to help others as well as very motivated. When you think about it, it is truly fascinating what people can endure when they are mentally strong.

The Aura

If you believe in the existence of the aura, then the following will be clear to you, but if not, I won't bear a grudge so feel free to simply skip this heading. Basically, the aura is defined as a circle of energy which your body emits. According to this, every living being has an aura. The aura can also be seen as a security system, a wall of sorts. But just as every wall has some kind of entrance, so must the aura. Therefore, it isn't impenetrable, but it is very strong. This entrance can help you control who "goes in" or "goes out" so you can allow people you trust to enter your personal space and in the same way ban people you don't trust from entering it. But what can you do to strengthen your aura? You can simply strengthen in with exercises and stop it from weakening. The aura often weakens when the person is sick (has a fever and such), but also when some sort of fear influences it. If fear is the problem, then it is important that you confront it. The worst you can do is ignore it and pretend that it doesn't exist. You have to get rid of that fear, but try not to take it too seriously because this can make it all the harder to get rid of. This is usually done by means of various visualizations which you can make up yourself, or you can try out some exercises that I will suggest in this post. You can get rid of fears in the many physical ways you have learnt during your lifetime and which are quite familiar to you, but it is best to be cautious no matter which method you decide to use.

Auras are usually thought of as individual elements, but they can also be a group element. A very common example is the group aura of a class. You have probably experienced this, if nowhere then at least in elementary school during those rare moments of compatibility with your classmates. You probably shared a belief, desire or had a common goal. This usually happens when a group of people spend large amounts of time together (this is very common in smaller groups of 2-3 people for example when best friends "read each other's thoughts" or when couples finish each other's sentences). This is when a nice relationship is established and when several smaller auras combine into a larger one. A very good example in the animal kingdom would be ants. They are so interconnected and joined with this group aura that, if you separate their file with something, the rear part of the file won't know how to return to the anthill without the front part. Group auras are common phenomena in wolf packs, among fish and also birds. 

So you can become aware of your aura a bit more, you can try actively thinking about it and visualize it becoming stronger the more you think about it. If you have a certain fear, be aware of it and think about how you can get rid of it. Be fair and aware of your actions, i.e. have certain principles that you will stick to. Try to achieve a balance in those aspects of your life which seem insecure to you. You can also try to recall those everyday situations in your life which are stressful or negative to you in any way and see if you can change them for the better. In short, be aware of yourself and your surroundings and try to remove all negative influences (or at least as many as you can).

What if...?

What if you believe that someone/something is actually menacing you? Be it emotionally, physically, spiritually or energetically.

The person you're dealing with might not even be aware that they are "stealing" your energy (I mention this because it is often the case). The "attackers" are, in these situations, usually called energetic vampires...heh...I must admit that I find this name sort of funny but hey, I didn't make it up. You can feel the energy being drawn from you when you are, for example, near a person who you find difficult for no special reason (they don't do anything to upset you, therefore they unintentionally upset you and tire you out). This can be any person who you simply don't like to be around, or an elderly person who needs constant taking care of, but it can also be someone who intentionally "steals" your energy. Personally, I don't believe that such people exist...but that might be exactly the thing that protects me :) But if you do believe in such people, there a person such as this might appear  who could/will try to "suck your blood" (metaphorically speaking, of course). So what to do if this happens?

If you want to be polite, then try staying away from that person, and if that is unavoidable then try to keep yourself distanced when you are near them (fold your arms and legs, try not to sit facing them etc.). This is thought to be a way of (for lack of a better word) protecting your energy. I guess that the term "body language" is familiar to you. All of the above actions are examples of negative body language (i.e. the way you behave when you don't like someone and the chances are that you won't like this person for some valid reason). In fact, it's best to avoid any contact with that person because energy is always transferred one way or another. Some will also recommend not letting that person into your home, not receiving any gifts from them etc. All of this would be thought of as bad manners by any standards, but I refuse to give my personal opinion on the subject because I would like to leave it up to you; how far will you go to protect yourself? On the other hand, maybe you won't even have to concern yourself with this if you are like me and don't believe in the possibility of this happening.

By the way, if this person intentionally wishes to harm you, then it is often the case that they are insecure and that this was their last option. Therefore, they are desperate to achieve their goal (even if it seems good only from their perspective). By this point in time, they have probably spent a lot of time and energy trying to harm you, which gives you a certain advantage because you are going to be the ones with more energy to use for protection. This fact might even raise your self-esteem, and I mention this because self-confidence can do wonders for energy.

Others may decide to use amulets or talismans for protection. In case you aren't familiar with these two concepts, let me explain them to you. Both of them are types of objects used for protection. The difference is that amulets are entirely natural (they aren't modified in any way by humans i.e. they aren't engraved, covered with anything, decorated using any glues etc. They can possibly be altered by weaving or being bent in any way if possible, but in any case, the surface must not be damaged). A talisman, on the other hand, is a modified object. It can be made out of wood, metal, crystals and so on. You will often see various symbols engraved in talismans, but this is a too broad topic to be discussed in this post. If you decide to use either, then you mustn't forget to cleanse and consecrate them before you as well as meditate on its use during the process.

Visualizations / Exercises

At the beginning of the post, I promised to give you some good exercises and pieces of advice on how to strengthen your aura and protect yourself. I would first like to give a few suggestions and I ask that you keep them in mind when doing the exercises that you can find in this post (if you even decide to do them).

It is important that you don't let yourself be led by emotions, but by reason. You have to think rationally and get rid of negative emotions because they are the ones which lower your self-esteem and create insecurity and, in this, weakening the effects of your visualizations. You can guess the chain reaction for here on out for yourself.

So, if you have a problem with negative thoughts/pictures during your visualizations, you first have to get rid of them. You can play around with what you visualize here and think of something good destroying the bad. For example, if you are afraid of failure, try to first visualize a situation in which you are succeeding in your plans and feel your fear leaving you. Think of the situation with a happy outcome with which you are satisfied. You should really try to avoid any visualizations which are negative, or which scare you or basically cause you to feel any negative emotions. Quite common reasons for bad pictures are lust, fear and even a guilty conscience. Remember when I mention before that you subconscious can influence your physical and energetic health? Well the same goes for this. You may have to find your own ways of dealing with these negative thoughts and emotions, but my advice to you would be not to ignore them, but to accept them. If you are lustful, then tone it down a bit and rationalize, face your fears and think carefully why you might be feeling guilty or even if this guilt/fear is rational because these feelings are often only subjective and have no rational foundation.

There's a very nice exercise that could help you here.

Cutting the Cord

This is an excellent exercise which can help you get rid of negative emotions and even cut off any emotional links with objects.

If you're dealing with an object, take it into your hands. If you're dealing with something intangible, then think of something that represents it. Make the room as dark as possible and sit comfortably. Now visualize a soft light radiating from that object/what you are visualizing (be it physically there or not). Imagine a cord made out of light arising from this aura of light (it is thin and fragile...it links the object to your solar plexus, or you can visualize it beginning from the object and then just rising into the heavens with no end). You now notice a pair of scissors (or a knife) glowing in this half darkness and see yourself cutting this cord with them (or it). When you cut it, don't hesitate even for a moment because this action has to be confident and quick for it to work properly. Also, in the moment of cutting the cord, it is great if you can visualize it fraying and then sort of rolling into itself so there is no chance of it ever being put back together.

Like I already mentioned, you can do this exercise with a physical object or you can imagine a symbol of that object and work with that.

Rituals are also a great way for protecting yourself because they include making a safe place to work in (and think in). It is for this reason that I have written down a group ritual for protection that I found, but I think it can easily be adapted to only one person.

Group Work for Psychic Protection

1. Prepare the space according to your religion/taste. I have talked a bit more on how this is done in Wicca in one of my previous posts on ritual form.
2. Stand in a circle facing inwards (if you're working alone, simply stand facing the center and looking towards the east).
3. Hold hands in this circle so that your right palm is facing downwards and your left palm upwards (if you're working alone, hold both hands in the palm-up position).
4. The leader of the group (of you're working alone, that would of course be you) now has to state the goal of this ritual. You should take care to form this goal carefully.
5. Each member should now visualize two circular walls of light encircling the entire group concentrically. The first wall of light is very high and bright. It radiates a blueish-white light and finishes only slightly outside the circle of people. This circle rotates clockwise. The second wall look exactly like the first one, but it is a bit further out of the circle of people and higher than the first wall (so that you can see only the top of the second wall from behind the first one). This wall will rotate anti-clockwise. These two walls will now spin in opposite directions faster and faster, but be careful to give enough time for each member to do this visualization as best as possible.
   NOTE: This is a difficult visualization so don't rush through it or feel bad if you don't succeed the first time you do it. Try to visualize both walls, but if you're having problems with that, one wall will do for starters. P.S. The visualization stays the same even if you're working alone.
6. All the members part (if you're working alone, of course this doesn't apply to you).
7. Each member individually does the exercise of the Tower of Light (I have listed it just below this exercise).
8. Rejoin hands and share your energy (you may feel it circling anti-clockwise through you because every person will be receiving energy with their left hand which is facing upward and sending it with their right hand which is facing downward). If you're working alone, you can try to clasp your own hands and feel this circulation.
9. State again, but this time all together, what your goal is. The leader can show you in which tempo to speak, or one person begin and the others follow so this can turn into a sort of a chant or you can simply let everyone talk in their own time. It's all a matter of agreement, but you won't have that problem if you're working alone :)
10. Everyone now visualizes the pre-defined symbol of protection (more on this in the next subheading) and see it radiating a bright light and floating in the middle of the circle above your heads and, in this way, protecting you. You can now chant the name of the symbol or a word or two that represent it. Imagine the symbol radiating an ever brighter light.
11. Finish the exercise by stating, for the final time, your goal. After this, you can let go or each other and close the circle as you see fit (you can also find the Wiccan way of doing this in the above-mentioned post).

Your Protection Symbol

I just mentioned a protection symbol so I should elaborate on this. I don't intend to go into detail, but it is important to note that this symbol is individual because everyone will have a different vision of protection. Some people will choose to adopt a universal symbol which has a well-known iconography (for example, some rune, the ankh, the Latin cross, the pentagram etc.), while others will prefer to imagine their own symbol or decide to pick a certain number or something completely different. This is up to you to choose and meditate on it because you can use this symbol for another great and simple exercise, which functions very well even when it has to be done in a hurry.

1. Turn in the direction from which you think the threat is coming (and if you don't know, then turn facing the east).
2. Imagine your protection symbol on your forehead radiating a bright blue light which cannot be any brighter than it already is.
3. Lift your hands straight in front of you so that your palms are facing outwards. Join the tips of your forefingers and thumbs (as in the picture) to from a triangle.
4. Keep your hands in this position and put them against your forehead so that the symbol you are visualizing fits into the triangle (so palms still outward). Stay like that for a few moments.
5. You can now say something that will strengthen your protection symbol and the triangle symbol (be it a word of protection, the name of a God/Goddess you believe can help you and protect you etc.).
6. Abruptly thrust your hands outward as if you want to catapult the symbol you are visualizing towards the threat (presuming you know the direction, but even if you don't, remember that it will find its target). When doing this, your hands will loose contact and the symbol will practically blind you from brightness.

You can do this exercise (or its simplified version) in basically any situation. The simplified version consists of you simply visualizing your protection symbol on your forehead glowing as brightly as possible. 

The last exercise I would like to recommend you is the one I previously mentioned and it is called

The Tower of Light

1. Sit comfortably.
2. Breathe deeply and evenly (do this throughout the whole exercise). 
3. Gradually relax your whole body (I recommend squeezing and then relaxing each muscle in your body in turn, starting from your toes, going to your face muscles and returning down toward your fingers).
4. If you are standing, then be sure to stand fully upright. If you are walking while doing this exercise, then do so calmly, taking even paces, with a straight back and let your hands swing freely. If you are sitting, then let your back be straight, feet naturally set apart and firmly on the ground and put your hands facing downward on your thighs. I wouldn't recommend you lie down, but if you decide to do so then take care to feel as stable as possible. The best choice would be for you to do this standing up.
5. Imagine a bright blue light shining around you in an ellipsoid (oval) form. Make it shine out to about 20cm from your body (both in height and width) but let it shine about 40cm outwards from your feet and head. You aura is usually much larger than this, but it's easier to visualize this smaller amount of light as well as easier to control. Why does it have to be blue? Because blue is the color of protection (although the aura is usually visualized as silver).
6. When you feel secure enough in this visualization, imagine a sphere of white light floating above your head (it has to be inside this aura of blue light).
7. Imagine this sphere radiating more and more light (you don't have to look towards it, just sense that it's there). This sphere resembles the light of your higher self, your higher consciousness and it isn't recommended that your higher self contact your physical body (or ego, or even your consciousness), so take care not to let this sphere touch your physically. 
8. Continue visualizing both the white sphere and the blue aura and feel their protection, aim towards your highest goal; try to be the best person you can be.
9. When you're ready, start visualizing this white sphere like it is "snowing" except these snow flakes are silver and continue floating around your aura (they don't fall to the ground). Imagine these snow flakes slowly integrating with your blue aura and pervading it.
10. You blue aura is still and has a clearly defined perimeter (it's still ellipsoid), but it now glows with a silver light in addition to the blue one.
11. Keep this vision in your mind for as long as possible. Become aware of your higher self and feel secure in your aura. Relax. When you are ready, visualize the white sphere fading and be aware that it isn't fading from existence or from your consciousness, but merely from that vision. You can get it back whenever you like because it is a part of you, it is you, and you can't really loose yourself.
12. Slowly come back to reality by opening your eyes.

The Pyramid of Light

I had to add this exercise because it really did help me a lot. You can do it even when you don't feel threatened. It is useful when you simply don't want to seem negative that day (or radiate any negative energy), but it is also great for stopping negative energy from coming into contact with you.

1. Stand up straight.
2. Visualize a four-sided pyramid around you (it has a square for its base and for sides that meet in a point just above your head. Make it big enough for your whole body to fit into it).
3. Imagine it being filled up with white light which symbolizes purity and positivity. Be aware that this light and the pyramid won't allow the flow of negative energy that day (so you won't be able to receive it or send it).
4. When you have strengthened this picture, imagine the pyramid changing its solidity (I'm guessing that you visualized it as being made out of glass up to now). Make it be more flexible...a bit jellylike (it doesn't have to be jelly, but it has to be flexible and transparent). Now try to move your hands about until you are sure that it is flexible enough and that it completely adapts to your body shapes and poses.
5. Make a few steps and slowly move around until you are completely sure that it will adapt to you no matter what.
6. Simply continue with your day.

This exercise helped me and everyone else I recommended it to. It is very simple, it doesn't last long and its effects last the whole day.

Before I conclude this post, I would like to give you a few more suggestions and explain a few more things. 

Namely, the physical, mental and astral planes are linked. It is because of this that you subconscious can have an influence on your physical and emotional health, but also your emotions on your physical health, and not to forget the physical on your mental and astral well-being. It is all interlinked. We could say that the astral and mental worlds connect the physical and spiritual.

Once you have strengthened your aura with exercises, meditations, by contemplating etc., it is important that you keep it strong. Try to avoid anything that might cause you harm, and primarily refers to stressful surroundings. Do the Tower or Pyramid of Light when you get the chance, or possible even during the day if that will make it any easier for you. Learn to express your wants, fears and goals. Continue to develop as human beings and believe that all the positive things you do will come back to you in a positive way or attract positive things. Learn to be self-sufficient, at least in some aspects of life (don't always depend on others). A good way to do this is to find a hobby which includes a lot of handiwork (e.g. creating sculptures out of clay, wood or any other material, painting, building things, playing an instrument etc.). Mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body), so don't forget to take care of your physical health (eat right, exercise etc.).

In any case, give yourself 10-15 minutes of relaxation per day so you can have a chance to escape the everyday stress and obligations. If you feel that you've "had enough of it all" in any moment, then simply stop for a second, close your eyes, breathe in deeply and reflect on your true self.

Perhaps some of these things sound strange to you now, but I only ask that you try at least one of these exercises before you discard them all. If you have any questions, suggestions or objections, you're welcome to speak your mind. I know that this was a very long post, but I hope that it will be of some use to you. And now I wish you a nice day :)

Until next time. Yours,

Witch's Cat