Techniques of Psychic Self Defense For Every Day Use
Someone posted a question on X (Twitter) the other day asking, “What techniques do you know of to ward off unwanted contact from NHI?” The question was posted by @The_Astral_ account and I answered it by suggesting the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and by adding a link to my post on that subject.
But it got me thinking and I woke up early the next morning with this question on my mind. I think it deserves an answer that is more helpful. For all kinds of reasons, many people won’t bother learning the LBRP and it’s a bit cumbersome for everyday use anyway. It retains the stigma of occultism that doesn’t always resonate well with people who have an inherited bias towards any form of unconventional esotericism.
Note: I’m using the American spelling of defense in this context because it’s better for SEO purposes.
Who Needs Psychic Self Defense?
People feel the need for psychic self defense for all kinds of reasons. They may feel they’re associating with people who drain their energy, or they have to visit places that bring them down the frequency scale, or perhaps it’s just the state of the world that generates the longing for some protection. Some people use it when travelling, putting on an extra layer as they use public transport. Others simply feel a need without really knowing why.
In this world and in the seemingly chaotic times through which we are now living, developing some kind of cloak of protection is a great comfort and it’s something that we can all do with just a little bit of practice. However, in order to do so we have to remind ourselves of some things we may have forgotten.
Just Your Imagination
We mention the imagination in everyday speech, but we sometimes forget to consider its power.
- It’s all in your imagination
- Use your imagination
- Let your imagination run wild
- You have such an active imagination
- Imagination is more important than knowledge (Einstein)
- Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions
The first thing you have to remember when you decide to protect yourself is the power of your imagination. It’s a mental muscle you need to work out daily. Most of us leave it under-used throughout our adult lives. It’s naturally active when we are children. As a child, your imaginary world is as real as this strange new world into which you find yourself born, but education and society teaches you to put away childish things and close down most of your imagination.
The adults who do use it can often be found in the arts; musicians, artists, sculptors, authors, and poets, or they might be the engineers and inventors. Whether you’re an artist or a software developer, you bring concepts into reality. You make things, and whatever you make was born or discovered in the world of imagination or downloaded from it.
Some believe these concepts are transmitted to the artist or engineer by an intelligence in another dimension. Take crop formations (crop circles) for example. It is possible that the few that are actually built by human beings are generated using the human being(s) as a medium. The idea is that they are not designed by humans, just made by them while the guiding force works through them.
The Artist’s Muse
What is the artist’s muse but a figment of their imagination? The muse is usually an influential figure who evokes strong emotions or ideas in the artist, driving their motivation and creativity. The presence of a muse fills the artist with energy and imagination to pursue their craft. The artist feels an almost spiritual connection to the muse, viewing them as the catalyst for their artistic expressions. Historically, the muse was represented as a female goddess from Greek mythology who would inspire the creativity of artists, poets, and musicians.
Today, the concept of the muse is more abstract – it can be a person, place, idea, or feeling that stirs the artist’s passion and awakens their creative spirit. Finding and connecting to that muse is considered an essential part of the artistic process and it’s all done in the imagination.
Why reading books is better than watching TV
One way of using your imagination is to read more books. For a story or any kind of writing to become real you have to use your imagination to create the mental pictures of what the author has written, augmenting it with other physical sensations to make it seem real. If the author is talented and you use your imagination to good effect, the story becomes vivid and absorbing.
TV and other screens don’t require much imagination. Watching screens is a passive activity that requires little imagination because it’s all done for you. It’s not that it’s wrong, and it can be a form of recreation. Cinema is an art form, after all, but if you want to exercise your imagination reading, contemplating, and visualising are far better.
Why social media can be corrosive
Too much screen time and in particular too much social media can also make your imagination limp and flabby. Endless scrolling is as nourishing for the mind as junk food is for the body. It won’t kill you if you have the occasional burger and fries but don’t make a habit of it. Similarly, don’t (doom) scroll through social media, letting the junk output from other people soak up your precious time.
People follow others on social media for all sorts of reasons; inspiration, education, entertainment, curiosity, or just to spend time living vicariously through that person’s life. If you’re following others for inspiration or education, what are you actually doing with that inspiration or new knowledge? Do you take action and make positive changes in your own life? Or do you just scroll on and defer resolutions for yet another day?
Use your imagination to visualise yourself making the changes that were inspired by those you follow, and then make those changes.
Those Who Know, Do. The Astral World
The magicians of this world, be they occultists, ceremonial magicians, witches, priests, priestesses, sages, etc, know full well that the world of the imagination is real. There are all kinds of names for it. We in the West often call it the astral world.
The astral plane, or astral world, is a plane of existence postulated by esoteric philosophies, mysticism, and some religious traditions. It is conceived as a subtle plane or realm that co-exists with and transcends the physical world. The astral plane is held to be populated by angels, spirits, or other immaterial beings and it is where the human soul or consciousness goes after physical death.
The astral plane is fundamentally linked to thought and imagination, so experiencing it involves an expansion or alteration of human consciousness. Adepts through meditation, lucid dreaming, deep prayer, or other methods train themselves to access the astral plane at higher levels of awareness. It is perceptible to clairvoyants and mystical adepts.
Journeying in the astral plane can provide transcendent experiences but also carries certain risks. The astral plane has been described as a realm of abstract archetypal imagery, possibility, and creative imagination.
The Emotional Plane
The astral plane is sometimes referred to as the emotional plane or realm. Here are a few key points about this:
- The astral plane is considered to be closely linked to emotions, desires, feelings and imagination. It is the realm of thought-forms and imagination.
- Some esoteric teachings view the astral as the plane where our emotional energies reside and take form. Emotions have a creative power here to shape environments and experiences.
- It is said we take our emotional bodies with us when projecting consciousness onto the astral plane. How we feel determines what we experience.
- In theosophy and anthroposophy, the astral is called the soul world and is seen as a realm of soul-life and emotions. Our astral bodies are formed by our feelings and desires.
- Some psychic mediums and channellers claim to receive communications from the astral realm that contain messages of an emotional, sentimental character.
- Adepts seek to purify and transform emotional energies in the astral to attain higher states of being. Overcoming lower desires and addictions requires mastery of the emotional astral.
So in summary, yes the term “emotional plane” is very applicable to the astral realm due to its close ties with human emotions, fantasies, and desires. Learning to elevate emotions is key in the development of the soul.
Getting There Using Nature’s Psychedelics
Psychedelics like Ayahuasca, Peyote, Fly Agaric, and Psilocybin mushrooms have been traditionally used by shamanic cultures to induce non-ordinary states of consciousness. They open up the doors of perception into the other dimensions that are closed off to us most of the time. The appearance of amanita muscaria (Fly Agaric – the red toadstools with the white spots), in fairy tales is no coincidence. Psilocybin mushrooms are also known as Pixie Caps. The land of Fae is never far away.
In simple terms, they give you a few minutes or hours in which you can see and interact with the world of the imagination, the astral world, which is every bit as real as this ordinary world we call reality. In fact, it’s more real. It’s the “real” world that is in fact the illusion.
Users of these substances report experiences of accessing other realms and interacting with spirit beings.
- Psychedelics alter brain chemistry, opening portals beyond ordinary perception and ego. This allows conscious access to deeper levels of the collective psyche.
- The indigenous view is that these plants and fungi are sacred medicines that reveal normally unseen realms and dimensions.
- Users often describe vivid visions, psychic awareness, out-of-body travel, and communing with guides, deities, and archetypal beings.
- Ayahuasca induces intense visions of journeying through the spirit world. Peyote produces kaleidoscopic visions and spiritual insight. Psilocybin mushrooms provoke mystical states.
- With proper set, setting and intention, psychedelics can provide safe, supervised entrance to realms described as astral or spirit worlds.
- Shamans use drums, rattles, chanting to induce trance states and guide consciousness through these inner landscapes and encounters.
- The astral realms accessed through psychedelics are believed to enhance wisdom, self-awareness, mental healing, and contact the divine within. However, respect and caution is advised.
Techniques of Psychic Self Defense
Now that we’ve covered the importance of being aware of the imagination, let’s get down to how to protect yourself from unseen forces that may be operating from this realm.
First of all, let’s not get paranoid. Non-human intelligences may seek contact for all kinds of reasons. They may be offering guidance or support. They may be curious. Just occasionally, like the faeries, they may be mischievous. And, on very rare occasions, they may be malignant. It’s extremely rare and therefore very unlikely that you are under any kind of targeted psychic attack, but just as we wear clothes to protect ourselves from various types of weather, donning a psychic cloak of protection can be a good idea when the astral winds blow too hard.
Here are some common ways that people in the West have practised psychic protection and shielding.
Visualisation of a protective sphere of white light
This is my all time favourite and one I use frequently. You don’t need anything except your imagination. You don’t need to do it every day but then again, as a meditative exercise, it’s a great way to connect to the Source whether you feel the need for psychic protection or not.
Practise this so that you can quickly use it in any situation.
- Begin by taking a few deep breaths to centre yourself.
- Imagine a column of pure white light descending into the top of your head, passing through your body, and connecting with the core of the Earth.
- As the white light passes through you, it boosts the energy centres along your spine.
- Imagine a glowing sphere of brilliant white light forming all around you, enveloping you completely.
- See and feel this white light expanding out in all directions, above, below, and on all sides. Imagine it fills up your personal space around you.
- You may visualise this protective sphere in different sizes, from just around your body to surrounding a whole room or environment you are in.
- As you breathe slowly, reinforce and amplify the vividness of the white light, making it brighter and stronger.
- This white light is seen as intensely pure, positive energy that dissolves, transmutes or repels any unwanted negative energies.
- Visualise the white light sphere transmuting any lower vibrations into pure light. It acts as a filter to only allow positive energies to reach you.
- You can also imagine this protective light energy shielding your chakras or specific parts of your body and aura.
Whenever you feel the need for psychic protection, remember to visualise your sphere of bright white light for both cleansing and shielding.
Casting Pentagrams
The pentagram is a powerful protective symbol used for dispelling negative energies in many magical and shamanic traditions. You can use your imagination to cast pentagrams around you to form a psychic barrier, or simply to seal doors and windows.
- Visualise a large pentagram, the five-pointed star, in bright blue or white light.
- Psychically draw this pentagram in the air at each of the four cardinal directions around you – east, south, west, and north.
- As you draw each pentagram, project energy and intention to form a protective barrier.
The four pentagrams create a protective grid of positive energy, sealing you within a sacred space that cannot be penetrated by lower vibrations. Pentagrams can also be envisioned on doorways, windows or any perceived psychic vulnerabilities needing shielding. Drawing Pentagrams in this way clears space, sets psychic boundaries, and allows only higher spiritual forces to enter one’s energetic field.
Other Techniques of Psychic Protection or Cleansing
Shielding with mirrors
Visualising a mirrored shield reflecting back any harmful energies sent one’s way. Like a protective mirror shielding your aura.
Wings of protection
Imagine giant wings surrounding you like a protective cocoon, made of white or golden light. The wings dissolve all negative energies and keep out all malign influences.
Calling on spiritual guardians, angels, or saints
Ask angels, spirit guides, animal totems or other spiritual helpers to watch over you and keep you safe from psychic harm. The Christian tradition contains many such prayers that call upon the archangels in this way.
Smudging/incense
Burning sage, sweetgrass or other herbs is used to clear and purify a space energetically. We may wash our bodies and clean our homes but how often to we clean a space psychically? Space clearing is a skill that anyone can learn.
Salt baths
Bathing in salt water is thought to cleanse the aura of negativity and boost psychic protection. It’s good for those times when you’ve been through a rough patch, physically, emotionally, or psychically.
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
This ritual used in ceremonial magic traces a pentagram in the air at each of the four cardinal directions, accompanied by the Kabbalistic names of God, invoking protection and cleansing a space.
Similarities Between Cyberspace and Astral Space
| Cyberspace | Astral Space |
|---|---|
| Internet | Quantum field |
| World Wide Web | Astral Plane |
| Dark Web | Lower Astral |
| Cloud | Akashic Records |
| Websites | Portals |
Books on Psychic Self Defense
Psychic Self-Defense
In “Psychic Self-Defense,” Dion Fortune shares her insights and experiences related to psychic phenomena, spiritual attacks, and various methods of defense. She discusses the nature of psychic vampirism, thought forms, psychic cords, and how these energies can affect individuals both mentally and physically. The book provides practical techniques and exercises for safeguarding one’s energy, strengthening the aura, and maintaining spiritual balance.
The Art of Psychic Protection
We protect ourselves in many ways–insurance policies, locks on our doors, and so forth. But our physical safety is not the only thing that needs looking out for, so too does our psychic well-being. We all need the occasional boost to defend against unhealthy invading energies. This is particularly the case for exceptionally sensitive people or those who work as therapists or healers.
