Anyone who is around Pagan or metaphysical people for long will inevitably hear about warding. Circles and other sacred spaces are warded during worship to protect participants. So what are wards? Wards are magick raised and set into place to protect a space, object or person. The traditional Four Directions are warded, but one should ward "up" and "down" as well; "ooglies" and negative energies can "tunnel" over and under on the astral plane! For this reason, raise a sphere rather than a Circle.

Obviously, in order to ward one must first learn to raise magic. Here's a simple but effective method. Stand erect and visualize roots growing from the soles of your feet deep into the center of Mother Earth. Then, draw up magickal energy into yourself until you feel filled with it. Don't overdo it at first! You can return unused magick the same way. Then, retract your roots. Don't ever leave leftover magick lying around. It will mutate and draw "nasties" that feed on it like roaches feed on crumbs.

Why ward? For the same reason you keep your car and your house doors locked: to protect yourself, your property, and your personal space. While actual effective psychic attacks are quite rare (this is one of the hardest magickal works to learn and the easiest to defuse; most people who can do this sort of thing know that it is something that seldom should be done), other things still need excluding: the negative energy of your mean, nasty, constantly quarreling neighbors (especially in apartment buildings) and the fervent prayers for the salvation of your soul (which to all intents and puiposes is an attempt to force you into their mold by any means necessary and in my opinion borders on black magick) which may be being offered up "for your own good" even as you read this by your parents and their church! Also, magickal training increases levels of sensitivity, and you just may feel the previously undetected energy of others pressing in on you.

To ward yourself strengthen your aura daily by filling it with blue or white magick. If you can't assemble enough of it in your solar plexus to get the job done (and don't feel bad if you can't; these things take time and work) draw up some from Earth to "prime the pinup." Some also visualize a helmet over their heads with a protective symbol between the eyes and slightly upward (the location of the "third eye"). If you do feel you are under psychic attack (its symptoms can resemble those of the flu) and need additional protection, grasp hold of cold iron. An old railroad spike works dandy. Consecrate it to Thor if you like. Cold iron breaks hexes and dissipates psychic attacks. Or, it may just be the flu you're coining down with. Its treatment is somewhat different, and beyond the scope of this article.

To ward an object (for instance, a trunk containing your magickal supplies), put a protective sign on it. The Elhaz (Algiz) rune (the fifteenth rune in the Elder Futhark) works just fine. To make one, get a peace sign, cut off the circle around the edge, and apply it upside down. It should look roughly like a three-pronged antler. Or, you can just draw or paint it on. Cover the object with a "chain link fence" of blue magick. Be sure some magick is in the spaces between the -links. Anchor the wards to the protective sign. Visualize them keeping others from touching the warded object Clean and maintain periodically (at least once a month) to avoid your wards dying and perhaps unpleasantly decaying. Also, don't let others touch the object so it won't give them a nasty psychic shock You can make your car "invisible" (not readily noticed) by putting magickal screens around it and willing that others not see it. Be careful, or you might have a hard time finding it yourself when you return, or find it's been hit by another car even though in plain sight!

The "chain link fence" technique will also ward your house or apartment. I advise homeowners to ward their homes around the walls, floors and ceilings facing the outside of the building (not interior walls between rooms or the floors/ceilings of multistory houses) and set up secondary wards around the property lines. You'll need something to anchor your wards to. I suggest driving charged railroad spikes with the Elhaz nine painted on them at the corners (of a square lot). White (clear) quartz crystal points work well for the corners of a home as anchors. By the way, white quartz is the best "generic" stone for general use, so don't panic if some book says only the rare and costly Atlantean Moonstone (available from the book's publisher, needless to say) will do for what you need to accomplish. White candles work well for most spells too. White light contains all colors. That's why sunshine can be broken up into a rainbow. Clean those stones first Try to get some that haven't been handled by a bajillion people before you bought them. White quartz picks up and holds the random charges of people who handle it. It picks up and holds a charge just fine. That's why you want it. My partner can't stand handling white quartz points in stores, so I get that job! I once pointed one at him and said "Zap!" It was a joke, but it zapped him anyway, much to his chagrin. If you are sensitive and need to handle, select and purchase them, try warding a pair of gloves for the purpose! When you get them home, soak them overnight in cold salt water. Take them out, rinse and dry them, send a wave of cleansing energy through each one, and charge them one by one. You'll need to do this periodically in your ward cleansing, and should try to put each one back in its proper corner each time. Then set your wards. Let them "jell" for an hour or so before you go out, at least when you are initially setting them up. You'll get an extra bit of "Oomph!" if you do you warding on the Full Moon (and the Full Moon will thereafter be a reminder to clean and recharge your wards). Be sure to take down and ground your wards if you move!

Anything that can be done can at times be done just a bit too well. If your wards are too tight, nothing can get in, but nothing can get out, either! You might find the space difficult or impossible to sleep in, with an increasingly heavy or oppressive feeling. In extreme cases, ghostly images of people not currently there might be seen. These arise from personal energy that cannot dissipate. A certain Lexington Pagan (not I) had this happen to her once! In the unlikely event that this happens to you, turn the "volume" down on your wards a bit and then do a basic magickal cleansing of the area. Use your magick to sweep the area clean of accumulated magickal debris and trapped energy, and take it as a sign that you can ward and ward well. Talk about beginner's luck!

A useful adjunct to your wards is a household guardian. Charge a small statue. A frog dragon, cat or dog works well. Give it a name and decide its gender. Fill it with magick, making it vigilant and friendly to you, your family and friends but wary of and hostile to unwanted intruders, and finally and very importantly, subject to your will. It is essentially an extension of your will, a magickally ensouled thoughtform enshrined in the small statue. Feed it regularly and tie it in to you. If you don't, it will mutate, develop a will of its own (probably a surly one) and create problems for you. You'll have to disassemble your creation, and it will be much harder to take apart than it was to put together to begin with.

I recommend that every Pagan and magick user learn to ward. Wards are real and wards work. I've seen psychic ickiness sliding off the wards of my apartment when my partner and I let them get dirty. I once saw them repel a psychic attack launched by some naughty local Pagans. I even sensed who was sending what was tyying to get through, and had the reality of the attack and identity of its perpetrators confirmed by mundane means a few days later. When my partner and I took down the wards in our old apartment right before we finished moving out (we set the spell to take them down gradually) I saw curious little astral critters move into space from which they previously had been excluded. Nevertheless, there's only so much warding can do! I once knew a magician who claimed only Gods could get through his wards. Not surprisingly, two people independently got through them without any problem, and one of them brought back unusual information which was soon, without his inquiring, confirmed by "mundane" means. Hubris will get you nowhere but into trouble.

Warding won't protect you from the consequences of your own unethical actions, nor from problems created by "getting in over your head." With magick as well as anything else, you've got to walk before you can run. If needed, there are other things you can put into your wards. They can reflect negativity or attacks (like a mirror) or even boost the strength of the attack and send it home to bedevil the sender, potentially even killing anyone who can manage to launch a very strong psychic attack against the warded individual. These are techniques for the more advanced magician. Needless to say, don't tell others the details of your wards. Today's friend may be tomorrow's enemy in the all too often disfunctional world of the Heathen/Pagan Communities, so use discretion, but avoid paranoia. If you'd like more information on these matters, consult The Magical Household by the late Scott Cunningham (published by Llewellyn Press, call 1-800-THE-MOON for a free copy of their catalogue) and Psychic Self Defense (S-D may be hyphenated, take note when searching) by the late Dion Fortune. Please feel free to email me with comments or questions.