Protection Symbols in Magic

Acorns, Elk, Earth Squares, and More
When it comes to magical protection symbols the variety is endless, depending on the magical or shamanic tradition with which you work. For instance, according to the Druids, the symbol of an acorn is said to bring protection into a Druidic symbol. Certain Native American tribes use the symbol of the Elk as protection against psychic spirits. Earth religionists often reply upon the Earth Square (a cross within a square) to draw on protection energies from the four directions of the earth. Needless to say, when it comes to picking protection symbols the variety can seem overwhelming.

Guidelines for Choosing Symbols
It's not possible to review every magical symbol out there but here are a few guidelines you can follow when choosing protection symbols to use in your magical practice.

1. The protection symbols should come from a fully-working and complete system that has a history of success, such as the Tarot deck (we use the Waite-Rider deck), the Futhark Runes, or a specific tribal tradition.

2. Your chosen protection symbols should relate to the areas you want to protect. For instance, if you want to protect something large and physical, such as your property, you would want to choose a protection symbol like the Disc (a star surrounded by a circle) or the symbol of three mountains. Both of these symbols relate to anything on the physical plane. If you wanted to protect and nourish your Spirit, you would want to choose a symbol like the Sun from the Tarot. In the Tarot the Sun card nourishes and protects the Spirit.

3. Put your protection symbols where they can do their job. For personal protection, many people wear their protection symbols as amulets, rings, or earrings. For protecting your property, your can put the symbol up around your property or just at the entry points, such as over the doors. For protecting people far away, you can put the person's picture on a keyed plate and put the protection symbol on the plate with the picture.

Choosing protection symbols to use for various magical purposes can take some real thought and research. If you are not sure whether a protection symbol is right for your needs you can always use your pendulum to test it. If you are trying to choose between different protection symbols, you can lay them all out in front of you on a keyed plate and let your pendulum show you which ones will be the best for your needs. Last, but not least, if you start using some protection symbols and they don't seem to be working, go back and do some research and choose some different ones to try. Remember, magic is always an experiment in progress. While you may not get everything right the first time around, remember that you can always go back and fix something that is not working.

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Daily Magic for Everyday People

Can everyday people do magic or do you have to be descended from some line of witches and wizards to do magic? Balderdash! Anyone who wants can do magic. Magic is, in fact, the birthright of every planetary citizen, and that means you! If you're new to magic or you want to learn more about the magical arts, one of the best ways to get started is to do daily magic. Daily magic is the practice of simple rituals everyday to enhance your life. It can easily become a part of your daily routine, like doing yoga or drinking coffee.

Here are three simple rituals to get you started on your daily magic practice.

** 1. Need Some Info? Ask Owl! **
If you need some information in your life that you can't find on Google, such as some spiritual insight, you might check in with the Spirit of Owl. The Owl totem has all of the best qualities of physical owls: they can see extremely well, can hear extremely well, can turn their heads 180 (eyes in the back of their heads), are wise and are excellent hunters. If you need someone to hunt down some information for you, Owl is the one to turn to. Here's how you work with Owl in doing daily magic.

- Say aloud or in your mind, "Spirit of Owl, I request your help."

- Wait a few moments until you feel the presence of Owl (no more than a few seconds).

- State your request. For instance, if you need help seeing what's causing the relationship issues in your life, you might say, "Owl, please come with me today and show me what is causing these accidents in my life. Please show me in a way that I can clearly understand. Thank you in advance for your help." As always, when you ask for spiritual help appreciation is important.

- Stay open to what Owl will show you. Owl may bring up old memories, send you a phrase from the mouth of a stranger, or bring a chance meeting with another person. Owl will use any and every device to help you see. The more you contact Owl in your daily magic practice the faster these insights will come.

** 2. Need Energy? Burn a Sun Candle. **
One of the easiest daily magic techniques is the use of the Sun Candle. Create your own energy source by burning Sun Candles as often as you can. Carve a sun face into a candle and burn it, or just buy a bright sun yellow candle. Did you know that the color sun yellow (bright yellow with no orange) actually nourishes and refreshes your Spirit? If you're feeling groggy, grumpy or grouchy, sit in front of a lit sun yellow candle for a few minutes. It will refresh you and give you happy, joyful energy. Be sure to light the candle with paper or wooden matches since cigarette lighters have butane, which causes unwanted side effects.

** 3. Swing Your Worries Away **
Sometimes a little action is called for in your daily magic practice. If you're in a sticky situation and you can't find an exit, use your pendulum to clear the air. Find a quiet place and sit in the south facing north. Focus on the situation you want to clear and begin swinging your pendulum in a clockwise direction. Allow the pendulum to continue swinging until it stops naturally - it will stop swinging your situation has cleared. Then see what changes now that the situation has been cleared by your pendulum.

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The Magic of the Long Moment

Time travel, or the manipulation of time, has long been a shaman's tool for healing or research. For instance, a shaman might take a person back into a past life event so that person can understand what happened, or a shaman might travel into the future to explore possible what-ifs. For shamans and magicians time is elastic: it can be stretched like taffy, compressed like cotton, or frozen like ice.

One of the simplest ways to begin playing with time magically is to practice the art of the long moment. The art of the long moment is simply the ability to slow our perception of certain events so that we can really see what is happening in present time. It's also called the Cortothalamic Pause. Why do we need such a pause? Because we normally rush headlong through life events at the speed of sound, which doesn't give us optimum time to respond appropriately.

3 Steps to Instant Reaction
Here's the 3 step process that normally happens in any life event:

1. We receive an incoming perception: A person speaks loudly to us
2. The perception is immediately routed by our flow of associations to a certain place in our memory: In this or a past life, we have memories of loud voices and anger.
3. The perception is assigned a meaning: The person is angry with us.

These three steps happen in less than a second. Less than one second after we receive an incoming impression, we have assigned a meaning to the perception and are already beginning to react. We will assume that the person is angry with us regardless of what the person is actually feeling.

In the regular course of things, our time is compressed in this way. There's no time to really evaluate the incoming perception and respond appropriately. Do you ever overreact in the heat of the moment and wonder why? It's because you had no Cortothalamic Pause. You reacted based on memory. In other words, most of us are interacting with life using mechanical reactions from memory -- we are hardly ever in the "now."

The Magic of the Long Moment
This is where the long moment comes in. If you can slow yourself at the moment you receive an incoming piece of data then you can stretch time. In this long moment you give yourself the power to evaluate the information you have received and give a true response.

How can you practice the art of the long moment? It's not hard. Twice a day practice the Cortothalamic Pause. When someone asks you a question or asks you to do something, stop everything inside yourself for 2 seconds. Stop all thought and consideration. Get quiet. Then respond to the person. For a long time you won't actually be able to stop your internal thoughts, but you will be able to see all the mechanical reactions and thoughts that immediately spring up. You'll be truly surprised at the massive and often chaotic activity that happens inside yourself. It will give you true insight into the way you interact with life.

Flower Essences for the Long Moment
To enhance the probability of having a long moment, you can include these flower essences as part of your daily regimen:

- Lavender and Chamomile for calming
- White Chestnut for reducing repetitive thoughts
- Thyme for helping to manipulate Time

Explore the Long Moment and More
Want to explore more flower essence remedies and other techniques for self-healing and self-exploration? Check this out:

Energy Healing for Self and Others (ebook)

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Magic Rituals: This One is Very Cool

Here's the magic question of the day for you:

What's the difference between a ceremony and a ritual?

The answer may vary according to the tradition in which you study, but based on my review of multiple tribal traditions (along with my own observations and experiences), a ceremony is a reenactment of some past event and is meant to bring that event (and its meaning) into present time. For instance, certain dervish sacred dances are ceremonies that reenact past events. A ritual, on the other hand, is a magical act that has an intended magical effect, and therefore must be suitable to the here and now, even if that means adapting it for modern times.

Just a little magical tidbit to think about.

And while you are pondering the possible implications of that, here's something else to play with. Recently we had some of the more advanced students in our school design their own magic rituals as part of their original research. One student came up with what I thought was a fabulously fitting ritual, very in keeping not only with the here and now, but also with the effect that he wished to create.

The Very Cool Magical Ritual
So here was his situation: he had just moved into a new neighborhood and had had some less-than-positive encounters with his new neighbors. Wishing to restore harmony, both within himself and in his relations with his neighbors, he used an ordinary landscaping task to create a powerful ritual.

He needed to trim an olive tree that day. As he approached the tree, he realized that olive branches are the traditional symbols of extending peace to another party. Perfect. As he trimmed the olive tree, he used the Navajo Beauty Way Walking Litany to create a sacred space around himself, the tree, and the entire area surrounding the tree.

Then, to expand the circle of sacred space and restore harmony, he carried an olive branch to each border of his property, saying the Walking Litany as he went. Those of you who have used the Walking Litany know that this form of the Beauty Way is actually a spell in motion. By saying the Walking Litany as he carried and placed each of the olive branches, he was in effect putting up a magical spell matrix around his property and in contact with his neighbors.

He reported that he felt appreciative of his neighbors' efforts to beautify their yards after performing his self-created ritual to extend peace to his neighbors. Prior to the ritual, his emotions ranged between anger and scorn toward those neighbors, especially when the neighbor's yard improvement projects overlapped with his own.

The external results have yet to be fully played out, but without a doubt the ritual created an internal effect. Because an internal change in us always leads to an external change in the world, this student is bound to soon see the positive physical effects of his personal ritual.

Pretty cool, huh? I think so.

Daily Magic Rituals for You
You can learn more about daily magic rituals in our "Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want in Life Ebook" ebook. This ebook features numerous magical rituals that you can easily incorporate as a part of your everyday life, plus teaches you the process of creating your own magic rituals.

Check out the ebook here:

Daily Rituals for Attracting What You Want Ebook

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Magical Self-Defense: When to Use It

When to Use Magical Self-Defense

As magicians, it's important to study the area of self-defense carefully since we have considerable power and force. The inappropriate use of that power and force can cause Universal backlash. We must be especially careful to control our tempers and not use our abilities reactively.

According to Western magical practice, "You have a right to be here and follow your own path so long as you hinder no one else in doing likewise." This foundational principle asserts our right to exist and follow our own path and by extension, our right to defend ourselves against those who might seek to prevent us from walking our path.

As you grow in magical ability, you will inevitably attract beings on different levels that seek to interfere with your path in some way. Writer Clarissa Estes, author of Women Who Run With the Wolves, so accurately states, "If you have beauty in your life, know that it will attract the dark as well as the light. Don't be surprised. Be prepared."

Here's a good rule of thumb to use when it comes to self-defense:

"In cases of direct and violent personal harm you are entitled to defend yourself by any means available, provided you did nothing to encourage or provoke the attack."

For a more in-depth look at when to use magic for self-defense and some techniques to use for magical self-defense, take a look at these articles:
Magical Aikido for Self Defense: What to Do if Someone Grabs You
What You Probably Don't Know About Magical Self-Defense

OR

Learn Magical Self Defense at home with our online course.

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