Emily Carlin - Defense Against the Dark: A Field Guide to Protecting Yourself from Predatory Spirits, Energy Vampires and Malevolent Magic

Copyright 2011 by Emily Carlin

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK

EDITED AND TYPESET BY KARA KUMPEL

Cover design by Ian Shimkoviak/The Bookdesigners

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carlin, Emily.

Defense against the dark : a field guide to protecting yourself from predatory spirits, energy vampires, and malevolent magic / by Emily Carlin.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.

ISBN 978-1-60163-170-1 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-656-0 (ebook) 1. Protection magic. I. Title.

BF1623.P75C37 2011

130--dc22

2010054605

www.redwheelweiser.com

www.redwheelweiser.com/newsletter/

This book is dedicated to all of the wonderful witches and wizards who have helped me along this journey.

Special thanks go to The Grey School of Wizardry for inspiring this project and helping me make it happen.

Heartfelt thanks go to my parents. Your support and understanding has never wavered no matter how far down the rabbit hole I've gone. I don't say it often enough, but you mean the world to me.

Many thanks go to my wonderful husband, Ty, who is endlessly patient and supportive of my weirdness.

To my wonderful friends who not only put up with my weirdness but love me for it. Susie, Kristen, and AlixI adore you. Raeyour support for this project from its inception has been breathtaking and I can never thank you enough for keeping me excited, even when I felt overwhelmed.

Massive thanks go to all my friends and colleagues at the Grey School. Without you, this project would have remained an idea floating in the back of my brain to all eternity. Special thanks go to Moonwriter for showing me that writing a book was actually possible and to Rainmaker for continually inspiring me to excellence.

Part I
A Field Guide to Magickal Creatures and Occult Happenings

Part II
Magickal Protection

There are more things in heaven and in earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean an invisible demon isn't about to eat your face.
Jim Butcher

When we lie awake, listening to the sounds of the night, we imagine all the things that could be making those strange noises. We know, of course, that the rumble is the sound of the refrigerator coils, the knocking is from the old furnace, and the creaking is nothing more than the house settling...isn't it? For all that we try to convince ourselves, somewhere in the back of our minds we ask, What if that wasn't the refrigerator? Did I just hear a voice? For 99 times out of a hundred it was just the refrigerator, but what about that one time it was something else? For all that the modern world has beaten back the world of the unseen, taught us that it couldn't possibly exist, we know that things exist for which science has yet to account. Our ancestors knew it, and took precautions to protect themselves from what they couldn't understand rather than hiding under the covers and hoping the impossible would go away.

A skeptic might ask what proof there is for the existence of an unseen magickal world. The only answer is this: Seeing is believing. At some point in their lives, most people experience something they simply cannot explainlights moving in the garden that couldn't be flashlights, voices shouting in an empty house, objects moving of their own accord. We laugh and slough off these experiences, attributing them to sleep deprivation or bad sushi. But if we looked at them more closely instead of ignoring them, we might see something more.

This book does not require you to believe. All I ask is that you approach this subject with an open mind. The symptoms caused by the presence of unseen entities or magick can be felt by anyone. Many of us have had moments when we've seen movement out of the corners of our eyes or felt a sense of intense foreboding in an empty room. These are some of the most common indications that there is more going on than meets the eye. The methods I suggest for dealing with particular sets of symptoms are things that folklore, magickal wisdom, or experience have shown to alleviate the symptoms. If you find yourself tripping on nothing and keep finding your keys in the oddest places (and you don't have children), you can perform a simple banishing. If the phenomena stop, does that mean you had pixies or goblins in your home? Probably! But does it really matter? If the symptoms exist and the suggested methods alleviate them, what more is needed? Don't shun ritual or folkloric remedies just because they seem silly; you've little to lose by trying, and a lot to gain.

The world of the unseen is full of wondrous things: Faeries and sprites dance in the moonlight when they think we're not looking, and most of the powers and beings that dwell outside our normal perceptions are benign, or at least have no interest in us. Unfortunately, not all metaphysical creatures are good. Just as there are good and bad people in this world, so are there good and bad denizens of the unseen. Many of the creatures who dwell outside of the mundane see the world from a completely different perspective. What may seem wrong from our point of view might be perfectly reasonable or even virtuous from theirs. They may not mean us specific harm, but may do it nonetheless. Most of what people encounter of the unseen world is simply annoying, the result of curious or bored creatures playing and testing boundaries.

Other creatures are less ambiguous. There are creatures dwelling in the darkness who delight in frightening or harming human beings. The world of popular fiction is rich with fantastic tales of malignant creatures from the depths of the abyss who seek to destroy our world. This makes for truly compelling reading, but it doesn't teach us much about what's actually out there. Fiction is just that: fiction. Truly malevolent beings are incredibly rare. Malevolent beings with vast and horrific magickal powers are rarer still. If they existed with anything like the profusion found in fiction, the world would have been overrun long ago. Yes, there is an infinitesimally small chance that you might come across such a creature, but don't bet on it. Be cautious with the unseen. Protect yourself. But don't worry too much.

At its heart, this book is a guide to magickal defense against all the things that go bump in the night. This is not an introductory text on defensive magick. Part II, Methods of Removal, does include information on the basic mechanics of magickal self-defense, but it is by no means exhaustive on the subject. This book will give you enough information to deal with any negative magickal encounter you are likely to have. It will teach you how to protect yourself and deal with the immediate effects of negative magick and malicious creatures, and instruct you on when you should seek the help of a more experienced magickal practitioner. If you ever feel that a magickal situation puts you or others into real physical danger, please seek help immediately. Better to have help and not need it than to really need help when it's nowhere to be found.