#Wards

[broomsick]

My favorite simple wards to guard the home

Hanging rosemary above the doorstep, and/or above doors of the house for protection.

Sprinkling a line of dried red pepper on a windowsill, to counter a curse.

Placing a mix of dried & ground eggshells and black pepper in every corner of a room to keep out unwanted spirits.

Placing a decoration representing a witch in the kitchen, to keep away illness and to favor health.

Crafting an effigie (no matter how crude!) and make it into the guardian of your home by charging it with your intent of protection and placing it near the front door.

Crafting small witch ladders to hang around the house.

[inky-duchess]

Fantasy Guide to Wards and Fostering

I get a lot of asks about wards and recently it's been a FAQ. So here's a quick guide to warding.

What is Warding?

Warding was a tradition in which a noble it royal family would take in a child from another family to their home for the purpose of educating them and preparing them for adulthood or to protect their interests. Warding was seen as a big compliment to the family of the foster child, especially if the family that fosters their child is much higher ranking. However, warding could also be in response to the family's misbehavior and insubordination or in some cases their death. Warding isn't adoption. Warding does not entitle the child to inherit anything. They cannot inherit a place in the succession, they cannot inherit lands or money or titles.

The Ward

The ward was usually a child of a lower ranking family, between the ages of seven to maturity at 16 or so. Wards usually had parents in which case the foster family was charged with the child's physical and educational welfare. The ward could return to their parents at any time either at their insistence or with the blessing of their foster family. Wards were raised alongside the host family's children as well as other wards. They were fed, clothed and educated by their foster family as essentially treated as part of the family. However, wards that come from unfriendly or rebellious families were essentially used as chips for good behaviour. If their parents or kin act up, they could be killed. Wards could also be orphaned. In this case, their foster father would have control their lands and money which is why an overlord would seek to claim warship over a vassal heir to ensure peace. Wards could also be adopted by family.

The Foster Family

The family were nearly always higher ranking and usually had another motive other than charity for taking in the ward. Sometimes the child could be used as collateral against an untrustworthy family or sometimes they were prospective spouses for the family's heirs. It was the responsibility of the foster family to discipline, educate and protect the ward. They would be charged with teaching the ward all the trappings of their position from warfare to statecraft to etiquette.

Wards to Royal families

In some cases, a ward might strike gold and be warded at court by the monarch. Wards would live at court but would be unlikely to be taught the skills by the monarch or Consort personally but would be provided with the best tutors. Wards could be brought in to be companions to the Royal children or in order to ensure their inheritances were not subjected to disputes if they were orphans or again, if their family were likely to commit trouble. Royal wards were always nobility but in some rare and extreme cases they could also be royal themselves, usually of displaced and exiled families or as prospective matches to royal children.

Wardship & Women

In some cases, an unmarried woman or a widow could be placed in the protection of an overlord or male relative in order to protective her interests. If a woman was the heir to a grand title or vast fortune and had no father or brother, the monarch or overlord would insist that a male relative or her overlord would take her in lest her claim put her in danger. Usually, it would be up to their host to arrange a match or aid her in brokering one herself.

[dagda-the-doodler]

Glory Girl!

(TW for Body Horror and Worm Spoilers)

...and what became of her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey all, been a little bit!! I'm workin through the start of sophomore year, I hope you like this GG piece! I'm reading Ward right now, and I really wanted to get that horror and awfulness of what Amy did across. Have a good one!

[windvexer]

Lowering Wards: Steps for new and established spells

"Lowering" a ward means to temporarily pause some or all of its protective effects, usually to make way for other magical actions or divination; "lowering the draw-bridge." Here, a ward is any protective spell.

Although these steps will work for just about any spell. An alternate title for this post is, basic spell administration: managing your spells after they've been cast.

The whole caboodle is deceptively easy. No need to over think it.

Lowering any wards, even for spells not established with convenient lowering in mind

SELECT WHICH EFFECTS SHOULD BE PAUSED. Hypothetically, a ward with multiple effects can have some effects paused, while others are ongoing (*this is highly variable and really depends on how the spell was built).

But technically, if you have a ward that's A) no magic can come into my house, and B) no energies of ill-will can come into my house, you may be able to allow magic to come into your house while a friend sends a positive spell your way, while still filtering out ill-will.

In my experience, protection loopholes are a bit of a beast, and if your magic starts behaving weirdly, or won't work, or friends can't magic on you like they can for others, check out to see if you've sealed yourself in a labyrinth of protective measures.

Sometimes you'll want to pause all effects - that's fine too. Just have in mind what you want to have happen.

IMO, an excellent way to deal with this step is to just state what it is you want the ward to allow for.

"Let this Discord friend do a reading for me."

"Make way for this spirit to leave the house."

Etc.

TAKE ANY BASIC STEP TO MANAGE YOUR MAGIC.

Enter, or at least brush up against, magical mindspace.

Find the spell - this is easier if its attached to a physical object, which just means finding the object.

While in magical mindspace and interacting with the reality that your spell exists, do any of the following:

Just tell it what you'd like it to temporarily do

Put a black cloth over the spell vessel with intent that it be paused

Hide it away in a drawer, or turn it so that it's "facing" a corner

Draw some sort of stopping symbol on top of it (pentagram or an X work well)

Put the ward close to an energy battery and have it take a break and go out for lunch

Any action that, for you, makes sense to represent a "pause, time-out" instruction

WHEN READY, PUT THE WARD BACK UP. Take away the black cloth, put the ward back in its proper position, "wipe away" the blocking symbol. Especially communicate through magical speech, thought, writing, signing, etc., that the ward is to resume its normal mode of behavior.

For those curious about sorcerous theory, reading on a ward before and after you raise and lower it can offer helpful feedback

Of course, that stuff might not work well, so making a ward with an eye for pausing it is a good idea

Spellcrafting can get complex and there could be any number of reasons why a ward created to be a permanent wall doesn't have convenient, easily-workable drawbridges.

Building a ward with drawbridges is easy. First, decide how you want the drawbridge to work.

You can design a ward where one effect ("no ill-energy") is always active, while another is meant to be raised and lowered ("no outside magic.")

You can design a ward with a skeleton key, where all of the doorways are unlocked at once

You can design wards in such a way that outsiders may be able to obtain the key and unlock them (like, a passcode and energy signature you share with others), or you can design them in such a way that only you can unlock them (like, requiring you yourself to draw a symbol over them in the physical realm)

Etc.

One example of an unlocking action is tapping on the spell vessel three times and saying, "stand down until sunset* so [specific thing the ward is blocking] can occur."

*For the forgetful, giving the spell a timeframe is useful.

When casting the spell, whenever the time feels right, go into a portion where you 'teach' the spell how to listen for your instructions to lower defenses, and how it should operate when this occurs. ("Never stay unlocked beyond the next twilight; the guards named No Bane are eternal, but the guards named No Spying sometimes lie down to rest.")

You can always go back and "open up" old spells to modify loopholes and improve unlocking mechanisms

My paradigm allows for certain things:

Most spells are not so much mindless machines but rather are more like garden plots, or animals. They may be bad at performing a certain thing the first time you ask them to, but over multiple lessons, even a very stubborn spell might learn a new trick.

Therefore, it can take time to teach a spell how to do something new that it wasn't designed to do.

Learning can be improved by holding a formal class. This is the equivalent of taking the spell back into spellcasting space and partially re-casting new magic on top of the old base.

The gist of re-forging an old spell is to carefully outline what you want to change, remove, and add. Using your preferred spellcasting or ritual format, connect with the spell and provide new parameters.

I find this process to be different than casting an entirely new spell, so I think it's normal if it all seems a bit different.

Provide the spell with more energy, tie off the ritual as normal, and deploy the spell immediately or give it a little time to firm up, as you prefer.

[charseraph]

“Individual” being loosened in regards to wards, who exist as a clotted continuum of intelligences sharing few bodies.

[lailoken]

A specialized house ward, meant to prevent spiritual eavesdropping within the warded structure. It utilizes a wild-gathered Walnut shell, which was stained with a pigment made from Indigo and Azurite, sealed using an empowered wood varnish made from precious tree resins, and studded with a Black Tourmaline crystal.

[thewitchesfortune]

How to cleanse your house for manifestation, and "clear your door ways" of negative shit

Clean your front door. I am not joking, clean the fucking door. Especially if you have VISIBLE grime on it, clean it physically. Take your multi-surface cleaner, spray it to fuck, then wipe it down with paper towels until everything is gone. And then, take a prepared wash (spiritual wash of whatever sort you feel necessary, could even be a multi-action bath for cleansing and protection as well as prosperity if you do it right) and re-wash the door with this mix. If you don't have visible grime on your door, you can skip the multi-surface cleaner and go straight to the spiritual wash

Once a month at least, especially for warding work or for road opening work (would not try to make it for both, if you do road opening have a separate ward set up at the door)

Easy Warding recipe

-baking soda

-bay leaves

-peppermint

-basil

-ashes of psalm 23 (or another if you have a preference, or a petition written for the protection of the home)

Wash the door, then throw the remaining liquid at the door and let it air dry

Easy Prosperity recipe

-cinnamon

-clove

-nutmeg

-ginger

-bay leaf

-holy water (optional, but adds an extra kick)

-coins (will be strained out and given as offerings at a crossroads after the wash is made)

-petition for prosperity and abundance burned (also psalm 23, and Mathew: 7:7-8)

Wash the door while petitioning for prosperity, for money to always be flowing in, and for blessings in general to always be flowing in. After entire door is washed, throw remaining liquid on door and allow to air dry. Take the coins and go to the nearest crossroads and drop them on the corner (if you live in an apartment complex, the entrance to the complex is the best place. Not the nearest gate, the ENTRANCE. My nearest gate is exit only, and you want abundance flowing IN)

Anyway, hmu if you want a reading, or if you'd like a specific work done! Info is in the pinned post on my page, lmk if you're interested!

[firefight-art]

Clockblocker

[popculture-hag-shit]

The Shield

A spell to protect that which is precious

What you'll need:

The Shield (or something to represent it)

The Earthy (same as above)

What you wish to protect

Marker

Something to charge your item with

Something to use as your "key"

Draw the shield on your item in an inconspicuous place

On the feathers write what the item is you're protecting and what/who you're protecting it from

Charge your item alongside The Earthy and The Shield

With your key pressed to the drawing of The Shield, recite "Oh card of the Clow Reed, lend me the power of the key to transfer the powers of the card to the key! Shield!"

Periodically recharge the ward, reciting the incantation

[incorrect-wormquotes]

Weaver: Well well well.  Clockblocker: You sound like a villain.  Weaver: What?  Clockblocker: With your "Well, well, well..."  Weaver: No, I said "Well well well."  Clockblocker: Yeah?  Weaver: "Well, well, well" is VERY different from "Well well well." 

[jennychrist]

here's my interpretation of Shadow Stalker. I based the mask off a mix of Doctor Doom and whichever scary movie guy wears the hockey mask idk I never saw those movies, but I really wanted to drive home that she's a psychopath. The cape is inspired by grimdark Batman because she's always monologuing like she wants to be him.

Based on a picture of Catwoman that I found on Pinterest posted by Joel27 not sure the original artist of that picture.

[heathen-faggot]

Confusion and misdirection spell jar 

Many people will do tarot readings on you, whether you know about them or not. So lets throw off some salty hoes and confuse the ever loving fuck out of them! This spell is similar to a decoy jar, and it is used to create confusion and misdirection in any sort of divination that is being done about you without your consent. 

What you will need: 

Jar or container of choice

Yarrow - Banishing  (properties : banishing, death, courage, psychic powers)

cloves: banishes hostility/negativity, used for protection.

black peppercorn: banishing negativity, protection from evil. 

Paper with sigils correlating to your intention

Some sort of reflective object to bounce the reading off of you

Teeth for defense 

Any sort of baneful ingredients you enjoy to give them a little punishment for trying to divine about you 

Black salt(regular works fine) to protect you from prying eyes. 

Process

Cleanse your jar with your preferred method 

Fill it with the physical ingredients 

Write on a piece of paper, or say this out loud whichever you prefer

“Curiosity will kill the cat and no amount of satisfaction can bring it back. Anyone who tries to divine me in hopes of an upper hand will get back only nonsense and a prick back. Your tarot will turn against you, your bones will break, your runes will never fall into place. Your scrying and divination will only show your own ugliness. May this spell confuse and blind those who wish to spy on me

Write your sigils on the back of this paper, activate it by dabbing oil onto it, i used yarrow oil 

Seal your jar with black wax and string

[dagda-the-doodler]

Surprise! It's Weaver!!

Designing her was really fun! I hope you enjoy my last entry into the trading cards series! I'm gonna take a small break, but don't worry, I have lots of fun art planned >:)

[broomsick]

Hello, all! I’ve recently been really intrigued by American folklore that’s related to fields and crops. Since I have never lived in very rural areas, and since I’m not American myself, I’d never heard such legends. Some time back in the springtime, one of my online American friends told me about how her mother forbade going into the fields, or looking at them at night, due to “the people who lived in them”. Other such friends posted about how their family would place mason jars filled with glass shards in the backyard, as some kind of protection from whatever hid in the fields. But I looked up these legends online and I unfortunately haven’t found much.

If you’re someone who knows about these types of folkloric beliefs, please share them with me! I’m not even sure they’re exclusive to America, so if this applies to you are you’re not from the US, please share as well! I really want to find out more about them, but my research has been unsuccessful so far.

[apolloslyrics]

Lazy "Wards"

So today, I was lying in my bed, and I was thinking about how I desperately did not want to refresh my wards. I was feeling tired, burned out, frustrated, and just generally awful. I knew I needed to refresh them, but I also knew that it was going to take so much effort that I didn't have. Thus began the thought:

Is there an easier way to ward my space?

Turns out there is! Now, I know wards are normally random things you put in your room and re-do every once in a while, but ✨️these ones are fun and cool✨️. I compiled a list of the five easy wards I do for when I'm feeling absolutely AWFUL. Here they are!

Morning and Night Playlists

Make two playlists— one that you'll listen to as soon as you wake up, and one that you'll listen to right before you sleep. They don't have to have any specific genre; just do what you feel like you need during those times. Maybe even create a playlist cover photo if you're feeling inspired!

Turn your fan on

I am dead serious with this one, folks. It could technically be considered cleaning, but FUCK IT. Open your window and/or your door and turn on a fan. Let that air flush OUT the energy from inside and pull IN the good shit from outside. I would probably do this like once a week. Have fun with it! Maybe even play those playlists and have a whole dance party!

Stuffed Animal of the Month

That's right. You heard me. Choose a stuffed animal that will protect your space for a month. Next month, choose a different one. Repeat that for, like, forever or whatever. The important thing is that you choose a stuffed animal, you tell them "Hey, I need you to guard my shit," and you give them LOOOOTS of cuddles in return. I love this one a little too much.

Tape a picture of a sigil on your door

This one's for the people who are able to be out as a witch. If you can't do a sigil, even putting a picture of an animal or object is good enough! Just tape it to your door, either facing you or the outside, and let it do its thing.

Incense and screaming

This is more of a cleansing method than a ward. DO IT. Open your window and/or your door again, light that shit up, and scream out all the energy that you've been building up. Tell it to get-the-fuck-out or you'll roundhouse its ass. But also find the good shit and ask it to join you!

I hope yall like this post. I really liked making it!! These methods are probably not all new, and I'm most definitely not the one who invented them, but STILL. I like them and I hope you do too!