Althaea Sebastiani - By Rust of Nail & Prick of Thorn: The Theory & Practice of Effective Home Warding

The Theory & Practice of Effective HomeWarding

Althaea Sebastiani

copyright 2017 Althaea Sebastiani

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoymentonly. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people.if you would like to share this book with another person, pleasepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre readingthis book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for youruse only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer andpurchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work ofthis author.

Inreading through this book, you will likely notice a differentapproach to witchcraft than is found in other books youve read.You will not find copious lists of correspondences nor scriptedmagick devoid of explanation for you to repeat. Nor will you findsuggestions to call upon Gods you dont know or to perform highlygeneric spells for your specific needs. Rather, the approach towitchcraft herein is much more pragmatic and based on the simplegoal of encouraging you to be the most competent and effectivewitch you can be.

A witch is someone who practices witchcraft-there are no other qualifiers. And a competent witch issomeone who, after having learned the basics, is capable ofanalyzing their unique situation, of determining how best toapproach the situation, and follows through with appropriate actionsupported by their own abilities and the materials that theyalready have on hand.

Remember, its called witchcraft notwitchthink: the magick you work will always be moreeffective than the magick you dont work.

It is my hope that this book encourages youto be willing to act, to figure out how to solve your problems, andto do the witchcraft. There is no need to stress about nothaving the right materials or for the Moon to be in the right phaseor that you just arent ready. You have everything you need, theMoon is just fine, and you are ready just as you are. If you have aneed for magick, then you are ready, right now, to use it for yourbenefit.

Witchcraft is inherently secular, able to bepracticed within or without any religious context due to its ownfluid nature. Should you choose to incorporate religion, anyreligion -not just Wicca and generic Paganism- that is entirely onyou. There is no judgment to be found here, merely the hope thatyou will choose to act when, before, you may have made excuses notto and that you walk your path with integrity and sincerity.

That said, to make the most of theinformation within this book, you should already have a good (ifnot firm) grip on the basics of witchcraft, that is, how to feeland move energy. These skills are critical for any sort ofcompetency and to effectively use magick in any way. All otherskills and abilities are based on these fundamentals. Step by stepinstructions for everything will not be included in this book,though for the purpose of being comprehensive, basic steps forrendering an object an effectively charged ward will bediscussed.

If you take nothing else away from this book,would that it be the willingness to act.

Basic wardingand protection magick are fundamental to the practice ofwitchcraft. Reasons for this are similar to why you would safeguardyourself in any other situation. You lock the doors to your homeeach night not because you think someone is going to break in butbecause it is a precautionary measure, serving to keep out unwantedguests -be they human or animal (Im looking at you raccoons)- andcan even prevent damage to your home in the event of severeweather. Likewise, you safeguard your physical health by washingyour hands, wearing a seatbelt, and getting vaccinated. In thisway, warding is a combination of magickal prophylactic and basicmagickal hygiene. It is a preventative means of magickally guardingyour spiritual health and helping to better keep you at the top ofyour game.

Wardingis a practical magickal means of protecting and securing a personor place. The exact procedure and materials can range from complexto deceptively simple. However, its important to remember that,with magick, the power lays not within the objects or the words,but within the witch and their ability to tap into the wild andancient forces that exist within and without us all. For thatreason, very ordinary objects can be rendered very powerfulwards.

When done effectively, warding can keep yourhome protected from all outside influence -the exception, here,being unless you personally (or someone else with whom you shareyour home) bring that influence into the warded dwelling (andoutside influence can very easily be brought into your home by yourvery own doing, however unconsciously. But I digress) Note thatwarding is not an action that renders the interior of yourhome cleansed and/or purified, rather, it is more so a means oflocking the house down: shutting all the entrances and lockingthem, thereby keeping whats out out and whats inin. This is a very important point to keep in mind shouldyou find yourself subject to a curse or spirit attack and needingto secure your home as part of the process. In such an instance,warding your home would be the final step.

The exact details of what is allowed to passthrough your wards can be laid out as part of the creation andsetting of your wards. In this way, warding does not interfere withyour spellcasting nor does it interfere with the travel and tasksof any spirit allies, the fetch, or familiars, and it does notinterfere with your ability to worship or work with any Deities. Inthe case of worship of or work done with a Deity, if you regularlydo so at a shrine (dedicated physical space that has been devotedto that particular Deity) or an altar (purposely constructedphysical space that serves as a portal between the worlds throughwhich energies and entities may be called forth or sent through)then that Deity already has a free pass on access to your home asthat shrine is Theirs and that altar is a doorway through whichThey may enter because it was created for Their use.

Most means of warding utilize physicalobjects as anchor points for energy. Those physical objects barethe same name as the action they take and the same name as anypurely energetic barriers that may be constructed to safeguard yourhome: wards.

The simplestway to think of what warding is, regarding your home, is that it ismerely shutting a door and locking it against intruders. And forthe witch who is regularly practicing magick, there are asurprising number of things that are best locked out of your home,things that will interfere with your witchcraft (not to mentionlife in general) and that can easily go unnoticed.

For the witch, warding the home can be a fairly casual practice. Itdoesnt take much to throw up a good ward that will serve to keepyour home secure from unwanted energy and entities. This isnt apractice done because of some paranoia-based idea that there arepeople out to get you. Rather, as afore mentioned, its basicmagickal hygiene, a form of prevention that also provides you witha continuous opportunity to practice your witch skills (therebystrengthening your power.)

It is important to note that most people whopractice magick and/or witchcraft will never be cursed intheir lives. While that in itself is a topic for another time, itcomes down to two simple points:

a) most magick practitioners dont have theskill to effectively curse, regardless of what they think, and

b) those that do have the skill more likelythan not do not know you, do not care about you, and/or dont seeyou as being worth the effort and consequences of cursing.