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Warding and Protection During Spirit Flight

This Post is for and dedicated to @ivycrownedwitch, who generously commissioned me for research by way of donation to the CvltSqvad Fundraiser, to gather together spells or talismans on warding, and protection during spirit flight. NGL, This was a bit of a tricky ask, and I honestly wasn’t sure where to start to find historical examples 😅 However, the search was not entirely fruitless at least from an operative witchcraft angle, and I found a few solid examples, and enough related information that anyone interested should be able to build out a warding method from a variety of materials for a variety of use cases.

In The Viridarium Umbris, Daniel Schulke lists a variety of plants that could be allied to suit the purpose with a little ingenuity:

Of further interest to the topic of protection while outside the body, are these sections of Roger J Hornes Folk Witchcraft: A Guide To Lore, Land, and the Familiar Spirit for the Solitary Practitioner::

“Mallow is often prepared as an unguent and applied to the body in order to protect against harm and cushion the wearer from metaphorical “barbs” he or she may experience.”

“[…] Simple talisman is made of rowan berries, pierced and dried, then strung on a red thread. Over it, the following charm is spoken to awaken its protective qualities:

Rowan Berry and red thread,

Bring all evil to its sped.”

“[..] charm of defense and blessing was used against “elf-shot” a kind of attack from the spirit world that could be performed by faeries or by witches during spirit-flight.

I charge thee against arrowshot,

against doorshot, against wombshot,

against eyeshot, against tongueshot,

against livershot, against lungshot,

against heartshot, all the most.

In our Lady’s name, I pray it.”

In Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways, Author Gemma Gary Provides the following: This recipe, apparently intended to be employed as a sprinkling powder:

“To raise a protective boundary in preparation for potentially dangerous, harmful, or unfamiliar situations and in cases of suspected ill-wishing:

Clove Oil - 5 drops

Dragons Blood - 2 tsp

Fern - 3 tsp

Frankincense - 1 tsp

Holly - 1 tsp

Horehound - 1 tsp

Juniper - 1 tsp

Mint oil - 3 tsp

Mullein - 1 ½ tsp,

Pine needles - 1 tsp,

Alum 1 - 1 ½ tsp

As well as the following charm:

“An old iron key, tied to a red cord that passes through a hag stone, is another charm that employs the holed stone to bestow otherworldy protection upon the home and all who dwell within it, whilst also making use of the potent protective qualities of iron”

In The Black Toad, The same author provides these examples of protective warding talismans, which could likely be put to good use for the purpose*:

The following paper talisman found in the Black Toad is an interesting example of talismanic magic, and several variations of this seal exist, a version also appears in Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft:

Within The Galdabrok, (Flowers translation) are found a number of talismans for similar ends, which could also be leveraged specifically for the purpose of astral travel:

The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells By Judika Isles is likely my least favorite texts to source, but does list the following:

“ROLOR Square

This magic square allegedly enables you to fly like a crow. Write the following onto parchment, preferably using Raven’s Feather Ink [Typo?]

R O L O R

O B U F O

L U A U L

O F U B O

R O L O R

Pin this paper to your chest. Close your eyes, relax, and see whether you fly.”

The same text recommends an incense for spirit flight, originally authored by Dion Fortune:

“Benzoin Dittany of Crete Sandalwood Vanilla bean Grind all the dried ingredients into a fine powder, burn on lit charcoal [..]”

As well as another incense, composed of Mugwort and Dittany of Crete, also employed as a powder, and recommends petition of the Goddess Artemis:

“Dittany of Crete and Mugwort, two herbs closely associated with Artemis, offer assistance with accomplishing astral projection, and protection during the journey.”

Burn the Herbs as incense to accompany your journey

fill a pillow with the combined herbs

Simultaneously appeal to Artemis for assistance with your goal”

And recommends maintaining Air Potatoes (Dioscorea bulbifera) on your property to prevent uninvited witches from reaching your home through spirit flight.

Again, thanks to @ivycrownedwitch for commissioning me for research by way of donation to the Cvltsqvad Fundraiser for Sloth!

If you would like me to dig up some spells in a similar vein from these and similar texts, please read the pinned post on my blog and make a donation to our fundraiser!

ivy-kissobryos

Protection Spells

Source: Dictionary of Ancient Magical Words and Spells by Claude Lecouteux

deerhoofandrabbitsfoot-deactiva

Want to hear something neat? I was watching Halloween Town with a friend, having a nostalgia date, as you do.

When the characters have to say the magic spell over Merlin’s talisman, they say some words that are hard to memorize. The character Marnie says she thinks they’re Welsh or Old English. Well, I did a bunch of searching and she’s right. The Halloween Town script states that they say, “Bet y March, bet y Guythur, bet y Gugaun, Cledyfrutm anoeth bid”.

That is Welsh, Middle Welsh specifically. It comes from a 13th Century text called the Stanzas of the Graves. This text states, “Bet y March, bet y Guythur, bet y Gugaun Cledyfrut anoeth bid bet y Arthur.” Translated this means “There is a grave for March, a grave for Gwythur, a grave for Gwgawn Red-sword; the world’s wonder/ difficutly (anoeth) a grave for Arthur.” Source

Here’s the original text:

soritadeste

I love this 16th century image of Witches!

Enjoy the season of the witch!

pintoras

“Imagine a woman in the long skirts and high collar of the early 20th century standing in front of the painting she created. It is a massive piece—about 10 feet tall by 8 feet wide—and it is not a landscape, a portrait, a still life, nor a scene from myth or history. Dominating the composition is a bold yellow form reminiscent of a plant or sea creature, glowing amid colorful, biomorphic shapes and vigorous lines. This is just one of 10 such works that she has created almost entirely alone—sometimes walking on her work as she lays down the paint—and one of 193 radically abstract paintings that she has made in a few short years, between 1906 and 1915. None of these details fit with the story told in museums and art history courses. We know the first abstract painters so well that we often refer to them by last names alone: Kandinsky, Malevich, Mondrian. We know who is celebrated for doing “action painting” on giant canvases laid on the floor—Pollock. Each of these men has been lauded for opening a way into new territory. As it turns out, that territory had already been explored by another artist. Her name was Hilma af Klint.”

— Who Was Hilma af Klint?: At the Guggenheim, Paintings by an Artist Ahead of Her Time by Caitlin Dover

unpretty

justgot1

THE FUCK

pyromancing

It gets even better.

Hey do you have a good Samhain playlist?

I don’t really celebrate Samhain to be perfectly honest with you. But I should make an October playlist.

decided to start using tumblr again so i had to update some things. does anyone i used to know on here still use this?

kitchenwitchupinthisbitch

Father in law: You should put your loose tooth under your pillow for the tooth fairy.

6yo kid: My mommy said we don't summon entities we're unfamiliar with.

plantsandgods

The golden god of healing

The dark lord of epidemics

The god of duality

Apollo

allhealwesttexas

the Mountain Goats - In League with Dragons

omgthatdress

Shoes

Isabel Casanovas, 1989

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

salemwitchtrials-deactivated202

do u have anything abt the manic pixie dream girl phenomenon / male fetishisation of quirky not-like-other-girls girls? sry if this is 2 niche....

ah i think i get you. most are vague, some are not & some are more serious & to the point … all in all i think these either cover the notion of “not like other girls” or a commentary of how it feels to be a woman under patriarchal standards etc.

‘Difficult Women,’ Roxane Gay

‘Woman Hating,’ Andrea Dworkin

‘Sexual Politics,’ Kate Millet

‘Girl,’ Jamaica Kincaid

‘Why Does He Do That: Inside the Minds of Angry & Controlling Men,’ Lundy Bancroft

‘Why I’m a Feminist: Interview with Simone De Beauvoir’

‘We Should All Be Feminists,’ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

‘The Newly Born Woman,’ Hélène Cixous

‘The Double Standard of Ageing,’ Susan Sontag

‘The Female Body,’ Margaret Atwood

‘Men Explain Things To Me,’ Rebecca Solnit