#🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿REPELLING BAD ENERGY. FUCK OFF.🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿

[aprilmr]

Broke my arm, my orthodontist drilled my cheek on accident during my last appointment, my wisdom teeth decided to come out AFTER I've got my braces off AND now I've got a call from the hospital that my appointment I've been waiting 3 months for got cancelled because the doctor took a sick leave and they don't know when she'll be back. All in the span of 1 month. Who the fuck cursed me?????

[thecatsandthecrone]

Witchcraft 101: cleansing, banishing, warding. What are they and why do I need them all ?

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash  

☽🔮☾🕯🃏🌕🕸✨🍃🍄🧿🌙✩ 🪄📚

     It is not difficult to find unexperienced witches on Tumblr, Reddit or other communities asking "help, I cleanse my space ALL of the time but bad energies keep coming back, what am I doing wrong?". It is also likely you have read the answer of an exhausted, experienced witch saying "that's because you don't ward...". You might also have read older witches insisting that you MUST ward before playing ouija or experimenting with spirits, and mentioning that cleansing a space might not be enough if you forgot to ward, and you might need to BANISH some presences. But what do this terms mean, and how are they different?

     There is a lot of confusion when it comes to this three terms and I relate to younger witches that do not understand the difference or end up thinking they are the same. There is so much information out there, and some of it is so obscure, that it is easy to get confused and choose the easiest option. However, if we want to grow into fine practitioners we must fill in the gaps in our knowledge and grow.

     Cleansing, banishing and warding are the three components of repelling bad energies and protecting yourself. They are similar, but not the same, and they are complementary: while using only one might be enough, you probably want to combine the three to be truly safe (especially if you play around with things such as spirits or black magic). This three components are like sweeping, vacuuming and moping: you can probably get by by doing only one, but for a proper house you probably should be doing all 3.

     Cleansing is the simplest, most basic step to protect yourself. To make an analogy, cleansing would be like sanitizing your house to make sure no insects or small animals are attracted to your house. Cleansing is a small ritual to get rid of any bad energies or negative vibes that might be in your space: if anything negative happened to you recently, if a toxic person visited you... you probably want to cleanse. Cleansing is usually easy and requires very little steps: it might be as simple as *actually cleansing your house*, using cleansing incense, spreading salt in your altar or on top or your important objects, or using sound (such as rain sounds or bell sounds) to purify a space.

     Banishing is slightly stronger, and it is usually done when you know there is negative energies around you. For example, if you know someone gave you the evil eye or a hex, if you suspect a bad presence or a spirit is attached to you or if it has been a very long time since you cleansed, you probably need to banish. To go on with the analogy, banishing is like shooing away any insects that are already in your house. There are simple banishing rituals that you can practice, sometimes specific or sometimes more general: burning sage, using strong incense or candles, screaming "FUCK OFF SPIRITS" while banging pots and pans, rituals that can "send back" hexes and dark spells...

     Warding is the last step, and it involves protecting yourself and your space. It prevents evil energies or off vibes from re-entering your space. Going back to the analogy, warding is closing the window to prevent the insects from getting inside. It is crucial that you ward *after* cleansing or banishing: otherwise, you might trap the bad energies inside your home. Warding can be as easy or as complex as you want: simple salt lines in front of your gates and windows are enough, but there also plenty of rituals that are absolutely wonderful.

     Why do all of this get conflated together? Because the terms are pretty similar, and often go hand in hand, taking into account numerous herbs with cleansing proterties also have warding properties. Sage, one of the most well loved cleansing herbs also works for warding, for example. While you can combine a herb with both properties for both things, it is not ideal: intent and focused effort count a lot here.

     All in all, cleansing, banishing and warding are similar terms, but not the same. All three are important in your practice, and while doing only one might get you by you need the three to actually be "well covered" and to be well protected. They must be done in a particular order for them to be effective (cleanse or banish BEFORE warding) and they can be as simple or as complex as you'd like. You might combine this steps in one, but they might not be as powerful as if you do them one by one (don't forget that focused intent counts a lot in witchcraft!).

I hope you have enjoyed this post. If you would like me to continue making posts like this please support me so I can continue making them: you can support me by donating here https://ko-fi.com/bunnymatchamochi or by visiting my Etsy store here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LovenestAtelier?ref=profile_header Reblogs and likes also help ! Thank you so much for reading me !