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