by Rev. Michael J Dangler, originally published on his Patreon
There are actually two videos in this update! The first is the video above, which is all about the historical examples of warding magic that I considered when working to create the ritual I ended up making, and the second is the ritual itself!
Content Warning: There’s some description of genitals and sexual acts as warding methods on the ancient world. On the YouTube page, you can find a set of chapters, and you can skip all of that by just clicking on the third chapter when I say the words, “Genitalia and images of genitals are a common sympathetic warding as well.” It’s all discussed in context and shouldn’t shock most people, but it’s worth a note of warning.
This one took a lot longer to put together than the original healing working did. I ran into a versioning issue with my script document, and that led me to lose some of the material I’d written. Fortunately, I had all the sources, so it wasn’t a big deal.
I did get to have some fun looking up weird ways to ward people, places, and things. It was a great exercise, and I made my sigil in one sitting, so that was cool, too. I like the way the sigil came out, as well:
And you can see exactly how I made it in the video.
Magic for Priests, Practicum Question 2: Historical
As we did with the previous Practicum question, we’re going to work something a little different. Today’s video comes in two parts. The first, which you’re watching now, is concerned with history. The second is a practical ritual you can do at home, and follow along, whenever you need it. The question prompt for this working is:
Warding Work – Provide and explain one example of warding or protection magic from an Indo-European culture, and write an ADF-style warding working based on that example.
What does the question mean?
So today we’re going to do the first part of this question: we’re going to cover three or four different types of warding magic from different cultures, and then I’ll be recording a second video, which you can find a link to in the video description or in the transcript, and you can go watch that to follow along and see how I took the practice from historical example to modern rite.
So, what’s the question asking?
This question is, like all these practicum questions, at its most basic, “How do you translate historical methods into modern magic?” Again, there’s no wrong way to do this. Most ADF members doing this will use some version of the Core Order of Ritual, but some might get more ceremonial or dive into their background for a different way of looking at it. Your magical style is yours, though, so you get to decide how it goes. The trick is to look at the boundaries of the Core Order of Ritual: to make it an “ADF-Style rite” mostly means to craft a ritual that deals with a tripartite cosmos, relies on relationships with the Spirits, and involves some dialog with them, all while avoiding being crafted with features from the list of items ADF rituals do not include.
Strategies for Answering This Question
In most of the questions, we’ve had the opportunity to attack the question in different ways. Here, however, we’re going to have to study up on a warding process, and work from there. All the practicum questions are like this, so this is just how I’ve decided to manage it. I’ll outline several different options from different cultures before I settle onto one type of warding to discuss and develop a ritual for.
The Evil Eye
To preface this discussion, it’s worth mentioning that in order to talk about warding in the ancient world, I’m going to speak extensively about the evil eye. Known throughout the ancient world, our modern concept of the evil eye is both the name of what is warded against, and also often the name of the thing that does the warding. Other names include mati and malocchio. A lot of cultures give power to those who are envious, allowing them to do evil or curse others merely through the power of that envy. It’s often not characterized as intentional, but may even be accidental.
A lot of warding spellwork is focused heavily on averting, avoiding, or stopping this particular form of magic, so when we discuss the concept of warding, it has to be part of the conversation.
Warding Magic Technique 1: Warding by Magical Signs (Icelandic Grimoire Tradition)
When we think about warding in a modern context, though, the idea of drawing symbols that are filled with power is a common trope; the reason for this is that it’s also a common process in magic throughout history, and particularly the late grimoire traditions that Hollywood likes to derive their work from. So we’re going to start with a process exemplified in one of the Icelandic Grimoires from the 17th Century, Galdrakver, whose original scribe is unknown. Most of the book is apotropaic, meaning that it is highly concerned with averting evil and warding off bad things.
The particular spell we’ll focus on is on the back of page 12, and a basic translation by Christopher Smith is as follows: “These four symbols guard against all magic from all four directions of the world, and bear them on thee.” Then, drawn out, are the four symbols, which I have reproduced here for your viewing pleasure, and possible use. (You can also find a file attached if you’re watching this on Patreon, of course.)
The instruction here is fairly clear: take these four symbols, and carry them, or possibly draw them, on your body, and no matter what direction magic comes from, you will be guarded from it. I could see a person carving them onto a four-sided piece of wood and slipping that in their pocket… and indeed, I’ve created such a talisman to sell at The Magical Druid, because I liked the idea so much.
But most people would likely simply draw the symbols on a sheet of parchment or vellum and carry it, warding their way through the world. One could even tattoo them on, if they wanted to.
When we go to do our warding working in the next part of this video, we’ll be working this concept into a modern magical context, crafting it as my 3×3 Warding Working.
Of course, it’s important to note that this style of warding is far older: you can find it in the Greek Magical Papyri, where characteres are combined to form amulets (PGM XLIX), or the Charm to Restrain Anger (PGM X. 24-35), or the phylactery to guard against daimons and phantasms (PGM VII. 579-590). In these examples, signs and symbols are drawn around magical words and barbarous names. They are written on tin, silver, gold, or papyrus, and then carried for protection from these specific items of concern.
Warding Magic Technique 2: Warding by Sympathy (Pan-Indo-European)
One very common process for warding is the use of a nazar, or mati, most commonly called in English an “evil eye amulet.” Pultarch speaks of these in the Moralia, in Table Talk problem 7, saying, that the “anti-evil-eye” talismans “draw off the gaze by their bizarreness, so that it rests less upon those that are affected by it.” In the Aegean portion of the Mediterranean, blue eyed folks (like myself) were rare; as such, they were considered likely to bestow the evil eye, and the most common apotropaic image in that area is a stylized blue eye that can be produced as beads, necklaces, and keychains. I’m not wearing my keys but I usually have one on. These deflect the envy and curses cast, intentional or unintentional, through sympathy.
Sympathy is the concept that things that are alike have magical connections. Those connections can be exploited by the magician to ward against evils, which is what we’re concerned with today. When the evil eye is delivered, as Lucretius says in Of Natural Witchcraft for Love, by “venom strained through the eyes,” it makes good sense to deliver the remedy through an eye-like image, as well.
Pliny tells us that in the Forum in Rome, the statues of satyrs were specifically consecrated, rather than all the statues, to ward off the effects of the evil eye. (Natural History, 19.19) These statues were designed to bring to mind the wildness of the outer lands, the uncontrolled spaces beyond the boundaries of the city. Certainly, the evil eye is something ancient, uncontrolled, and frightening to good, civilized people of the city; so, it is natural that these particular statues of ancient, uncontrolled beings would ward off the evil eye if consecrated to do just that. So, sometimes it’s form, and sometimes it’s function, but it’s often sympathy.
In ancient Greece, the head or figure of the Gorgon, with exaggerated features and fangs, was a common averter of evil. You find this on Athena’s aegis and Agamemnon’s shield, but also above doors and on coins or tombstones.
Genitalia and images of genitals are a common sympathetic warding as well.
We know that the Romans used apotropaic images of winged penises to counteract evil. These were called fascinum (from which we derive the word “fascinate”), and were designed to protect people, particularly children, but also victorious generals: one was said to be slung beneath the chariot during triumphal parades. Pliny describes it as the medicus invidiae, or the “doctor of envy.” They are considered to be images of the “divine phallus” (thus the wings you often see on them), and provide protection through that divine connection.
There’s even a fascinating image of a penis ejaculating into an eye at Leptis Magna in northern Libya; the idea here is that one could cover up the offending eye with sexual fluids and thereby avert its impact on you. One can, in effect, blind the eye of envy with this sort of apotropaic display.
But genital images as wardings extend beyond the Roman world; the next best known wardings are the herms of Greece and (possibly) the sheela na gig found around Europe.
The herms are boundary guardians of a sort: they are pillars with busts atop them, often of the god Hermes (thus the name), with genitals carved in at the appropriate height. These would be set at crossings, borders, and in front of temples and houses. They could appear just about anywhere, and played part in one of the biggest scandals in Athenian history, when the general Alcibiades was accused of knocking the penises off the herms before the ill-fated Sicilian Expedition.
When it comes to female genitalia, the sheela na gig, found throughout modern Spain, Ireland, the UK, and northern Europe are probably most familiar to those of us who have read literature about the divine feminine; these are often images of women holding open their exaggerated vulvas, designed as architectural grotesques (think of gargoyles on churches). Many of these seem to have been imported to Ireland and the UK through Spain and France, and appear almost exclusively associated with Christian architecture, but there is some thought in academia that these are related to pagan survivals of the apotropaic power of genital display. After all, these may be an example of anasyrma, or “skirt lifting,” where the genitals are exposed, which is another common apotropaic gesture.
There’s also a potential reflex found in the Ormhäxan stone, also known as the “Snake Witch Stone,” but it’s worth noting that while the figure’s legs are spread, genitals are not at all prominent on this relief, and we’re not actually sure it’s a woman, either. Still, it’s a neat picture stone to look at.
Warding Magic Technique 3: Warding by Gesture (Roman, Greek)
Any of us who have ever been stuck in traffic are well aware of the apotropaic nature of gestures: some of us may even have used them from time to time. But gesture is an ancient process of warding that is worth looking at.
Ovid, when describing the Lemuria in the Fasti (V.429-434), says, “In the middle of the night lends silence to sleep, and all the birds and dogs are quiet, the worshipper who remembers the old rites and fears the gods arises; no knots ensnare his feet, and he makes a sign with his thumb between his closed fingers, in case an immaterial shade should meet him.” There’s also a casting of beans over the shoulder and a cleansing of hands, and the ghosts are commanded to leave the godden-fearing person alone, and they do.
Spitting was another method of warding against the evil eye: Pliny mentions in his Natural History (28.7.39), “When a stranger enters the house, or when a person looks at an infant while asleep, it is usual for the nurse to spit three times even though infants are under the divine protection of the god Fascinus.”
Spitting is still done today, warding off evils, especially in the eastern Mediterranean, with parents spitting at a child when it is praised, or at the bride at a wedding. Yes, if you saw “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” that’s exactly what those old aunts were doing as the bride walked down the aisle.
Warding Magic Technique 4: Spoken Charms (Vedic, Irish)
We started by mentioning warding through symbols as a common Hollywood trope, but another common trope is the spoken charm. This also has a long history, with ancient charms found in the Atharvaveda, and more modern ones found in the Carmina Gadelica… and everywhere in between.
In the Atharvaveda, there are charms against danger from fire (AV VI.106), lightning (AV VII.11), wild beasts and robbers (AV IV.3), and envy (AV III.15). These are often a prayer to the thing to be avoided, or the specific god who holds sway over it. In the case of the lightning charm, it reads like this:
With broad thunder, exalted, a sign of the gods that pervade all, with the lightning do not smite our grain, O God; nor destroy it with the rays of the sun! – AV VII.11
Many of the other charms are longer, but this short one illustrates the formula well: it calls out to the (unnamed, yet obvious to the speaker) deity, who is praised and asked a specific request, in this case to neither smite their grain with lightning nor destroy it with the sun.
In the Carmina Gadelica, there are a number of charms for protection and warding. Many clearly come from a tradition of Christianity, but some are also deeply pagan in their root. One charm, to be said while plucking the yarrow plant, calls out for protection. You speak this as you pick it:
I will pluck the yarrow fair,
That more brave shall be my hand,
That more warm shall be my lips,
That more swift shall be my foot;
May I an island be at sea,
May I a rock be on land,
That I can afflict any man,
No man can afflict me.
Yarrow is a plant of healing, said to have been carried by Achillies to treat wounds in battle, by girls in the British Isles to divine their future husband, and also to cause the second sight. In this case, its defensive nature is called upon to let the holder work their will, and not be worked upon in turn.
Crafting the Ritual
Now, with all those options, I get to craft a ritual, like I did for other questions.
In order to create the ritual, I have to decide what the purpose is. In this case, it’s not hard: the assignment is to take a warding practice and create a warding rite from that ancient practice. So, that bit is done.
Next, I want to think about my audience: how will people connect with this ritual? I’d like to create a ritual that anyone can do at home, from wherever they are, which means that it should be something simple, using normal tools they can obtain quickly and easily.
So, thinking about what people have access to, I’ll have to create a short list of items needed, and craft a ritual that meets my ritual participants where they are. Then, I’ll need to provide instruction, and a petitioning prayer, and guide them through it in the video I’ll be creating.
Last time, I wrote the prayer first, but this time, I’m crafting action before the prayer, as I’m working off the directional working I discussed first in this video. You recall that bit, where the four Icelandic staves were carved onto four directional sides of a piece of wood and carried? We’ll be doing something similar. To keep it simple, we’ll do just one sign, though.
The 3×3 Warding Working will look at that four-directional template and make it a little more Druidic. Druids like their multiples in 9’s, so we’re going to add to the template and craft a single sign that will work for us. I’ll provide a template sign, but you can, of course, craft your own. I’m going to recommend a book for you to work from if you want some extra credit: Laura Tempest Zakroff’s Sigil Witchery will provide you some additional, modern starting places to work from as you craft your own sigils and signs for this work. Chapter 2 is something like 60 pages of symbols and meanings and such. Totally worth checking out.
Anyway, I worked my sigil based on the idea of protection, and the fire, the well, and the tree in our rituals. It’s a simple charm, meant to be said and carved at the same time. Because I want to carve it quickly as I speak, the sigil cannot be very complicated.
I want the prayer to be simple, and straightforward, something that a person can remember. Unlike the healing rite, however, I have called this a “three by three” warding; it makes sense, then, that this might have more than the four simple lines that my healing working had. So, as I thought on it, I came up with something like this:
Seeking my peace and protection for all,
Fire, Well, and Tree, three by three, I call:
One in the heavens, warmed by the sun,
One where it sets, when day is done,
One where it rises, over the hill;
One in the waters, cooled by the chill;
One where waves meet, crashing ashore;
One where the spring flows, from whence blessings pour;
One in the forest, where animals play;
One wizened tree, with rest in the shade;
One root and branch, that grows mighty tall;
Three by three now, protected from all.
If you learn nothing else from my examples, I hope you learn that being a great poet is not at all required to do work that has meaning and power for you.
As you speak the prayer, you can draw the symbol as you go; I’ll provide the on-screen steps, and encourage those following along to craft their sigil during that work.
Now, I want to wrap this up into a working that is unmistakable as an ADF-style working. To do this, I’ll want to provide some additional structure. Because this is a warding, and I want it to be applicable and useful to the largest number of people possible, I don’t think it should be too structured, and it should invite people to lean on their personal relationships with the Spirits, rather than try and box them into working with someone they either don’t know, or aren’t comfortable with.
So, to that end, I’ll ask folks to visualize a Spirit, known to them or unknown, who can connect with their needs and offer them a path toward protection. And then once the rite is done, we’ll offer to the Spirit, and thank them.
Conclusion
So, that’s the basics of my ritual, and I hope that you’ll find something to inspire you in this work as well. Pop over to the working video, and see how it all came together. And, of course, maybe get some warding yourself, while you’re at it.
Magic for Priests, Practicum Question 2: Practicum
Welcome to a part of my study guide for the Ár nDraíocht Féin Clergy Training Program’s “Magic for Priests” course. Today’s video comes in two parts. The first, which I’ve prepared initially for folks who are subscribed to my Patreon, is concerned with how I wrote this. The second, which you’re watching now, is a practical ritual you can do at home, and follow along with for warding and protection. The question prompt for this working is:
Provide and explain one example of warding or protection magic from an Indo-European culture, and write an ADF-style warding working based on that example.
What does the question mean?
So I spent a whole video going over various kinds of warding and protection magics from the Indo-European world, and I settled on a working based on one of them to work from. In that video, I dove into grimoire magic, sympathetic magic, gesture magic, and spoken charms before I settled on the specific spell from the 17th Century, Galdrakver, which provides a series of sigils to ward off evil from the four directions.
So, onto the ritual, and the important disclaimer
What I’m going to do is guide you through a ritual designed to craft an empowered, charged warding sigil. Of course, protection isn’t a single-faceted tool: you should remain alert, be smart, and keep your wits about you. No one relies on magic alone, and whatever comes your way, I hope and pray that you have the ability to always be safe and secure in your person to go along with this work.
What supplies do I need?
This rite will require some items. You’ll need:
- A candle and some matches.
- A vessel or bowl of water.
- Something to write on: a piece of paper, parchment, or even a small piece of wood.
- Something to write or draw with; perhaps in a color that speaks to you of protection. I’ll be using a red pen.
- An offering or something of value. Usually, this is a coin or stone that has some meaning or value to you.
Arrange your altar and space simply: the candle before you, the offering and your writing tools within easy reach.
What will we do in this rite?
The focus of this work is protection, and so we’re going to be calling out to a Spirit and asking for some help. Unlike my healing rite, this is designed to be a one-time rite where you’ll craft a single item, but it’s important to know that you can come back and re-craft that item should you wish to do so in the future, or if you want it to look a little different.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a personal relationship with a Spirit: we’ll be seeking out, specifically, a spirit who is interested in helping you, and in your personal security and protection. Even if you’ve never sought a connection to or built a successful relationship with a Spirit before, you can do this work. It doesn’t matter what culture your connections come from: those connections might surface here. And that’s awesome. We’ll be calling out in a way that is both generic and specific: to a spirit whose title we will call as, “The Spirit Who Helps Me.” It sounds general, because it could be any spirit. And it is. But to the Spirit who knows that they will help you, it is the most descriptive name you could use, short of their actual name.
We’ll begin by establishing our space as sacred, sanctifying your space as secure and protected, and calling out to the Spirit who will aid you in this work. Then, we’ll speak a charm and draw our sigil; you can use mine, or craft your own. Then we’ll thank the Spirit who appeared to help you.
All you need to do is follow along at your own hearth shrine. Let’s get started, shall we?
The Warding Rite
Setting the Cosmos
Begin by taking a moment to find your center. Seek it within you, wherever you typically find it. You may want to watch your breath for a moment: in, and out. In, and out.
Here at our center, we kindle our flame. [Lights candles.] Here at our center, we brighten the Waters. [Passes hand over the vessel.] Here at our center, holding ourselves between land, sea, and sky, we open ourselves to the cosmos about us, as we seek to ward that which is ours.
Calling to the Spirit
Take a moment now to reflect on your connections to the cosmos: think about how you are a part of the larger world, and how connections have come to you in the past. And if it helps, take a moment to close your eyes and breath once again.
Now, let us call out to the Spirit who will work with us.
Spirit Who Helps Me, I call to you. You who have come from the mists to be here for me, who have opened the paths: I see you now and I hear your call.
Step into the Center with me, O Spirit: parting the mists of magic that flow, welcomed by the light of my fire to the edge of these waters.
Guide my hands, Spirit. Make them bright. Spirit Who Helps Me, stand beside me as I work.
I invite you now to take up your writing implement and your paper. As you speak the charm of warding, draw your sigil as it comes to you, or follow my strokes, as you will.
Charm of Warding
Seeking my peace and protection for all,
Fire, Well, and Tree, three by three, I call:
One in the heavens, warmed by the sun,
One where it sets, when day is done,
One where it rises, over the hill;
One in the waters, cooled by the chill;
One where waves meet, crashing ashore;
One where the spring flows, from whence blessings pour;
One in the forest, where animals play;
One wizened tree, with rest in the shade;
One root and branch, that grows mighty tall;
Three by three now, protected from all.
Listening for the Spirits
Finish your sigil, following the lines that your hands find most favorable. And here, having crafted this simple sign, take a moment to listen to all that is around you. Listen to yourself as well. Feel your space secured around you, and hear the voice of the flame in the candle wick.
The Offering
As is right and proper, for the work we have done today, and the aid of the Spirit Who Helps Me, I make this offering. I place it in these blessed waters, to return to the earth when I am able. [coin placed in the waters]
Thanking
Spirit Who Helps Me, I call out to you: For standing beside me, for making the space safe, and for guiding my hands in this protective work, I thank you. I know that you will be there, should I call again, to deepen this relationship over time.
Now, in your mind’s eye, see once again this Spirit: standing here in your space, preparing to take their leave of you. As they turn to go, see their smile, and watch them slip once more into the mists of magic around you.
Closing
And here at my center, with token blessed, a bright flame kindled, and protection marked into place, I seek now to return this space to what it was before. As I extinguish this flame, may the mists roll back, and all be as it was before, save the blessing, and the protection I have received.
And with this work done well, this rite is ended. So be it.
After the Ritual
Warding work can be simple and effective, and sometimes just the sign is enough. I loved making this sign, and maybe you have developed your own instead; no matter what, you have a sign you can carve, charge, and use wherever you find yourself needing a little extra protection.
If you want to affix this to a door of your home, a rear-view mirror, or slip it into a kid’s backpack before they go to school, you can reactivate and refresh this sigil at any time by speaking the last line of the prayer:
Three by three now, protected from all.
Conclusion
So, that’s my example of an ADF-Style warding ritual, and I hope that you’ll find something to inspire you in this work as well. And, of course, I look forward to the next question, which is a ritual about cleansing work. If you want to be the first person to catch that rite, consider subscribing to my Patreon. I can’t wait to discuss purification and cleansing with you!
Thanks!
