I am quite aware that much of my blog will tend to come over as a bit “fluffy bunny”: so be it. The area that I probably will come across least of all as “fluffy bunny” is psychic attack.
I believe – no, I KNOW psychic attack is real, and is something one should – in the interests of being a responsible adult - be prepared to consider, just as responsible adults are aware of the risks of physical assaults and act appropriately to prevent such from happening.
In the case of physical attacks, such measures may include avoiding places where one is at risk of such assaults (e.g., war zones, areas where riots are taking place, or groups showing aggressive behaviour), taking self defence lessons (don’t get overconfident!), commonplace security measures such as locking doors and windows at night and car doors (when driving in cities or towns), and reducing relevant karma that one may have in that area (oops – that last one just slipped in: have a look at my posts on “Workshop on Past Lives”).
In the case of psychic attack, such measures may include avoiding places where one may be at risk of such assault (e.g., wherever one’s enemies are, or areas with negative [read: disharmonious to YOU] energies, learning about psychic self defence, commonplace security measures such as closing one’s aura and flaming and “asking” (including prayer, if that is what you feel most comfortable with) for protection, and reducing relevant karma that one may have in that area (oops – that last one just slipped in: have a look at my posts on “Workshop on Past Lives”).
Hmm. A few overlaps there.
Now, let’s take a step back and look at a few basic concepts
In essence, everything can be considered to be energy. The old example of Einstein’s E = MC2 equation often gets trotted out to illustrate this, but that’s only looking at physical energy; a number of mythologies describe the spiritual foundation and sustenance of the physical world. Getting back to the point of this post, the world has a host of living aspects that our physical senses do not necessarily show us. If unguarded, we’re open to the influences of this energy.
You could consider it similar to the influences of food: when we look at it, our senses may tell us the food is appetising, but we can’t see the vitamins and minerals (or the bacteria, if it hasn’t been cooked and handled safely). Some energies will sustain and nourish us, others may not agree with us – and, just as that varies with food (some people have problems after eating “hot” [spicy] food, whereas others find it wonderful), so too does it with energy. To illustrate that with an analogy which is closer to the world of energy, some people like the colour green, others don’t – and that may depend on the shade of green being discussed.
Also, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. If I recall correctly, at least some of the British explorer Scott’s companions (and possibly Scott) suffered from the effects of hypervitaminosis A, which is too much vitamin A (from eating the livers of their sled dogs). We need vitamin A: the word vitamin itself has references to life (from the Latin vita, meaning life), but it is possible to have too much.
As a further example of this idea, a friend of mine from some time ago told me of a period in her life when she was under a great deal of stress. Her daughter suggested she try chamomile tea: she did, found she was more relaxed - and found that she liked the taste so much she drank quite a bit of this nice tasting tea. She also found she was having trouble staying awake, and couldn’t understand why until her daughter explained that chamomile tea helped people sleep. In an energetic sense, as an example one may choose to meditate on, say, green because you find it relaxing: but if you overdo it, you may find this exercise leads to trouble being motivated to take action (while still being pleasant and rewarding/satisfying all the while).
This leads into the idea that “one person’s poison is another’s food”. I like green (dark green – I have a light green T shirt which does nothing much for me when I wear it), blue and purple as colours: my partner dislikes purple, but likes red. If I wear too much red, I can find myself becoming aggressive (or, if it is more maroon, I can build a sense of frustration). If I spend too long in the city without getting out into the bush or onto the water, I find myself getting on edge: I need contact with the wild places for the sake of my psychic health (I could do with some of that now, actually – I’d like to get to the nearby Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve). But other friends of mine get nothing out of going bush, and need the people contact and active social energy of the city.
To some extent, it doesn’t matter whether one is experiencing a problem because of psychic attack, or because of contact with an energy which is disharmonious with oneself (and may be perfectly harmonious for others [there can be adjustments to chakras which can help one to find more energies harmonious, but that’s a topic for some other, future, looong distant post). You still need to exercise a certain amount of responsibility, protect yourself, and build up your psychic strength.
The other VERY important point is that psychic attack is not necessarily malicious or “evil”. One of the strongest examples of psychic attack that I experienced in my early days was due to a friend’s jealousy – I still feel the impacts of jealousy and Tall Poppy Syndrome energies (and, for what it is worth, always based on inaccurate perceptions), and am of the opinion that such energies cause much harm in the world. Another major problem energy is gossip: it does cause actual harm to the victims of that energy. In my experience, a major problem with psychic attack is people who are termed "office psychiopaths" (and I am currently experiencing MAJOR problems with a client with exactly such a person, and has been unprofessional enough for me to be currently considering taking further action); this sort of person is the "deny all personal responsibility" character described in "People of the Lie", an excellent book by M. Scott Peck about evil. In terms of psychic attack, groups who preach intolerance or hatred or are aggressive (I am thinking of groups of drunken yobbos, here) are actively radiating harmful energies.
You may have worked out that you, if you are having some problems, could also be radiating such energies, perhaps? If you have, good – congratulations, well done; if you haven’t, no problems – your skills may lie in other areas. In either case, conducting oneself to avoid doing harm is important. Just as you wouldn’t wander down a street firing a gun, there is a psychic equivalent to that. The Buddhist Eightfold Path is – in my opinion – a pretty reasonable guide to good conduct. For those who haven’t come across this before, the Eightfold Path comes out of Buddha’s teaching of the Four Noble Truths:
1. life inevitably involves suffering;
2. desire (including those desires which lead to rebirth) is the cause of suffering;
3. the cessation of desire (in the sense of non-attachment) leads to the end of suffering;
4. the Eightfold Path is the way to the cessation of desire, and that Path involves:
- right views,
- right intention,
- right speech,
- right action,
- right living,
- right effort,
- right mindfulness,
- right concentration.
After that, the interpretations of what is “right views” etc gets a bit muddy ... (in my view).
There are other guides to “rightful conduct” – for instances, I’ve found the following in internet searches around Asatru (and the Odinic Rite):
The Nine Virtues: courage, truth, honour, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, self reliance, industriousness, perseverance
The Nine Charges:
1. To maintain candour and fidelity in love and devotion to the tried friend: though he strike me I will do him no scathe.
2. Never to make wrongsome oath: for great and grim is the reward for the breaking of plighted troth.
3. To deal not hardly with the humble and the lowly.
4. To remember the respect that is due to great age.
5. To suffer no evil to go unremedied and to fight against the enemies of Faith, Folk and Family: my foes I will fight in the field, nor will I stay to be burnt in my house.
6. To succour the friendless but to put no faith in the pledged word of a stranger people.
7. If I hear the fool's word of a drunken man I will strive not: for many a grief and the very death groweth from out such things.
8. To give kind heed to dead men: straw dead, sea dead or sword dead.
9. To abide by the enactments of lawful authority and to bear with courage the decrees of the Norns.
(I disagree with the second part of charge 6, with would seem to me to contribute to insularity and xenophobia; I’ve got some reservations about part of Charge 5 also.)
From the point of view of this post (i.e., psychic attack), the most important thing is to know oneself – don’t have unknown frustration, anger, pain, resentment, etc rattling around in one’s unconscious. Be aware of what one is truly feeling, and then do something constructive about it. That may simply be short term things like physical activity to express anger, or – if it works better for you – meditating, or Tai Chi, or – in the longer term - NLP or other counselling, or personal growth work, or changing one’s life circumstances (e.g., changing a job if it is a source of stress – or, if you need that job (e.g., it may be what is paying the bills and buying the food, and you may not be able to find another job), work out how to cope with that job and it’s demands. You should still take action to prevent yourself projecting energy, but if you are dealing with yourself in a healthy fashion, you are less likely to suffer from any of the problems that go with suppression (e.g., I find if I suppress anger or frustration, I can become quite depressed).
I also keep in mind the Cherokee (I think) story of the two wolves we had inside us, one good, one bad: the one which is strongest is the one we feed most.
Now, before we move onto some techniques, I want to briefly cover:
- the notion of “astral baddies”;
- how to know when one is under psychic attack.
In the overwhelming majority of cases, what are considered to be “astral baddies” are simply entities who are earthbound and experiencing great pain and distress, and the energy being felt is their pain – it is not some malevolently directed attack by a “super evil dude”. One case I heard of was a small boy who had died, found he was invisible, and wound up using psychokinesis to do things like move chairs when people were about to do (as some small boys would like to do). There are, on the other hand (ever hear of the joke about the benefits of the one-handed politician?), people who die who are just as addicted to power, control, sadism and the like when they were dead as when they were alive. Those people are people to be wary of – just as I would recommend being wary of such people in the physical world. Learn how to be assertive, maintain a balanced scepticism, maintain your self respect in any such contact – and practice the techniques I’ll outline.
There are lists of symptoms around for psychic attack, which cover things like feeling out of sorts or unwell, apprehension, not sleeping, los of appetite, acting out of character, etc. It is absolutely VITAL that anything due to actual problems (such as mental problems, chemical imbalances in the blood or spinal fluid, etc) be dealt with by the appropriate professionals. It may well be that a problem is partly psychic, and partly physical. It is also possible that you could be deluding yourself, or being influenced psychically, to assume that something is psychic when it is physical. (Let’s say you died as the result of someone’s actions, wound up earthbound and then found the person you blamed for your death: if you could influence that person to avoid treating a problem by having them think it was psychic when it was physical, would you – or, rather, would someone who was bent on revenge?)
Checking:
1. ask for protection (see the section below on prayer)
2. visualise clear (BPM) light (or positive energy) around you
3. ask for the component of whatever you wish to check is psychic attack be removed from you for a short time.
This effectively relies on you having enough accumulated good karma (or access to “karmic credit”) for your guides (or Higher Self – again, see the section below on prayer) to remove or mask the symptoms for you for a short time. Be wary of kidding yourself (i.e., a placebo effect) or being misled: think about what you’ve done, develop your self awareness, be objective (you’re not trying to prove the existence or otherwise of psychic phenomena: you are checking to honestly find out the best way of dealing with a situation).
So let’s move on to some actual techniques. What I want to cover are:
1. prayer
2. shielding
3. grounding
4. releasing
5. flaming
7. building psychic strength (other sources)
6. Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
7. throwing awareness ahead
8. project clear (BPM) light
9. balance knowing when to fight, and when to withdraw
10. learn assertiveness
11. know thyself
12. be careful about possible links
1. Prayer
Now, in my opinion, there is some form of higher intelligence or force involved in the Universe. I do NOT believe in the concept of a vengeful, male God espoused by some of the Abhrahamic religions; I do think there is something in the Wiccan concepts of Goddess and God (expressing duality), and I think polytheistic religions may well be using multiple deities as personifications of specific energies or principles (anthropomorphism of the energy world, perhaps?). If I was pushed to adopt a definition, however, I’d probably start with that one I found in Stuart Holroyd’s excellent book “Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth” (which is a wonderful example of how to have a healthy scepticism – e.g., consideration of the possibility of telepathic influence of a sitter upon a medium; my copy pub. Corgi 1979 [ISBN 0 552 10997 5], originally pub. W. H. Allen, 1977), which is something like:
“a universal intelligence which grows on love”.
Apart from that, there are the concepts of:
- spiritual guides
- ancestors
- one’s own Higher Self.
Somewhere amongst all that lot there is probably something you would feel comfortable asking for assistance from.
One such prayer I was taught is:
“There is but one power in the Universe, and I am a perfect manifestation of that Power. As such, I will that the boundaries of my aura be strong and healthy, repelling all unwanted energy while remaining open to healing and positive energy.”
Another prayer I sometimes use is:
“ I ask the Forces of Light for maximum constructive protection for myself and all people and things that will influence or be influenced by me thought the coming day [night].”
2. Shielding
This is a fairly simple technique for most people:
- visualise yourself inside an egg of positive colour (typically clear (BPM)).
The idea is that the visualisation directs healing and strengthening energy to the boundary of your aura, to help the auric “skin”.
There are people who have problems visualising (or make mistakes like visualising the egg away from them, rather than visualising it from the position of being inside the egg). If you are one of these, you may have to physically act out something like painting or polishing the edge of your aura with your hand while you project energy through your hands (probably hand chakras).
It is a very good idea to also ask for help (from one’s guides/Higher Self/concept of Deity) in closing one’s aura.
3. Grounding
The following is from the blog I contribute to at http://www.qabalist.org/ (the blog is at http://qabalist.org/q-blog/).
It is important to be in control of one’s non-physical bodies when doing any form of psychic work (including meditation). One technique to help with this is grounding. Not being grounded can lead to distraction, ineffective work, accumulating negative or excess energy in your aura, being easily influenced or “flighty”, and problems such as headaches or tiredness.
One way ground is to imagine a cord (or several), or something like a tree root, going from the centre of your body (or perhaps the soles of your feet) into the Earth.
4. Releasing
It is possible to have simply too much energy, which can result in problems such as restlessness, trouble sleeping, difficulty coming out of trance, etc.
This a technique where one relaxes, and wills – or allows – energy to drain out of oneself into Mother Earth (for recycling).
5. Flaming
This is an exercise whereby one visualises light and/or heat flushing out one’s aura, or burning out any impurities. You could visualise a small fire or light in the centre of your body radiating out light and/or heat, or a (positive energy) fire starting and growing till it spreads through your aura.
7. Building psychic strength
There are a wide range of psychic exercises for this: I won’t go into that here.
6. Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram
The following is from the blog I contribute to at http://www.qabalist.org/ (the blog is at http://qabalist.org/q-blog/).
- Face east
- Perform the Qabbalistic cross: stand with arms outstretched, visualise a beam of bright golden-white light coming down from above, passing through your being, and then another beam coming from the right, passing through your arms (forming a large cross [keep in mind that the Cross is a symbol of significance to more than just the Christians!). Then vibrate out “powerfully across the Universe”: “Arteh Malkuth, Ve Geburah Ve Gedulah, Le Olahim, Amen” – which I recall meaning “to the Thee God be the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory”. Some translations I’ve read add “Unto the Ages of Ages”. This is described differently in the links I provide further on in the blog, so I suspect I’ve adapted this to a “non-standard” version: I frequently do, but if it works better for me, I’m not so worried about having done so.
- Using forefinger and middle finger extended together, draw a pentagram in the air, visualising it being created out of golden light as you do so. For this first set of pentagrams, which is for “banishing” (cleansing), begin at the lower left corner, go to the top, then down to the lower right, then up to the left “shoulder” of the pentagram, across horizontally to the right “shoulder”, and then back down to the left corner.
I tried to draw some diagrams of this, but wasn’t able to add them to this post. I’ll work on that!
I tend to think of this in as (and this is probably somewhat old fashioned) of flinging something from the physical or material world to the spiritual.
- After you have drawn the pentagram, touch the centre of it, and sound (you are meant to vibrate this across the [immaterial] universe) Adonai.
The descriptions I will link to further on in this post give a range of God-names to use, and I will try those at some stage, but for the purpose I am writing about, I use the God name of the Sephira Malkuth, which I understand to be Adonai (or Adonai Ha Aretz in full).
- Face the next quarter, and repeat this process, and continue until you have come back to the East. The description I read originally said to use the quarters thus: east, south, west and then north. That is standard Northern Hemisphere practice in a wide range of traditions. In the Southern Hemisphere, where I live, if you are attuned to the seasons and the elements, you may well find this more effective performed in the Southern Hemisphere way: east, north, west, south. In the Southern Hemisphere, north is often fire and south earth, which makes sense if you are south of the latitude of the Tropic of Capricorn, and therefore the sun is to your north. However, this form of attunement is not the be-all-and-end-all. I personally like using the clockwise direction because of my Tibetan Buddhist experience, and because of the association with the Crown and higher chakras and the “Earth Star” chakra below the feet, which helps connects people to the Earthly realm* (which may frequently be found to spin in a clockwise direction [or to need to]). I dislike using the clockwise direction automatically because it has overtones to me of (and I’m putting my tongue in my cheek here!) “Northern Hemisphere imperialism” … Returning to a more sensible position, I think one of my teachers had one of the best comments I ever came across on this topic: does it matter where a transmitter is placed? In other words, the energies we are dealing with a non-physical, so does it matter where one is physically when one calls those energies in? It probably does for some people, who use direction as a key to prompt psychic connection, but not necessarily for everyone. I suggest you try both directions, and find what works best for you - and that may change depending on the season, your mood, the working etc. As someone who used to live in the tropics (in Queensland, Australia), I used to be in the Southern Hemisphere, and yet occasionally have the sun to the south of me.
* I think I first came across these extra chakras in Katrina Raphael’s book “The Crystalline Transmission”, which – as with “How to Understand the Qabbalah” – I no longer have, so cannot check that recollection. I did a quick internet search, and one site which looks as thought it may be useful to get an understanding of these extra chakras (although this is not the system I use) is http://www.anoint.com.au/chakra2.html. No doubt there are others.
- Repeat the Qabbalistic cross.
This is essentially the “Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram”. There are some very good descriptions and commentaries on this ritual. A quick web search before I started writing this article yielded the following links:
On the Lesser Banishing Ritual, by Tim Maroney (part of “The Internet BookØ of Shadows at sacred-texts.com” ) at http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos026.htm, which has a section commenting on the “politics” of the ritual (which is basically noting that people will tend to adapt the ritual to suit themselves and their belief/working systems), how to vibrate “God names” and postures;
The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, composed from various sourcesØ related to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, by Mazohir at http://www.kheper.net/topics/Hermeticism/LBR.htm;
Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) atØ http://www.asiya.org/lbrp.html, from the Asiya’s Shadows website (at http://www.asiya.org/intro.html), which links to a good section on using pentagrams for invocation and banishing (at http://www.asiya.org/drawpentagrams.html).
No doubt there are others.
7. Throwing awareness ahead
I’m not sure how I do this, but I project my awareness along routes I wish to travel, and sense the energies that are there. I then chose the route which feels most right.
It’s a bit like looking at a map, and choosing the easiest way to travel.
8. Project clear (BPM) light
If someone is behaving aggressively towards you (and this is very commonplace in workplace meetings – I’ve had some dreadful experiences at the hands of “office psychopaths” and bullies), ask for protection, and visualise clear (BPM) light projecting from yourself to your antagonist’s centre (their solar plexus or stomach area).
Commonly, the projection is from your own centre, or a similar point where you feel comfortable and strong (e.g., I sometimes use the heart chakra).
The trick is to do this while not being distracted from the physical interactions as well, and to maintain a neutral state of being so you genuinely project only positive energy.
A friend of mine once taught this to her son, and he used it very effectively to repel bullies on a school bus.
9. Balance knowing when to fight, and when to withdraw
This is a fairly obvious point: there are times when you can fight back against psychic attack, and there are times when it is most appropriate to protect oneself and get out of a situation. Consider aspects such as:
- Are you stronger than your antagonist?
- Is there any possibility of self delusion - on either side?
10. Learn assertiveness
I can’t emphasise strongly enough the importance of dealing with your own emotional issues: learning assertiveness is one of the most effective tools for fair communication in the physical world. It also has the same benefit in the non-physical worlds, and counters a fairly common way of being subjected to psychic attack, which is being manipulated (“controlled”).
11. Know thyself
As I said, I can’t emphasise strongly enough the importance of dealing with your own emotional issues.
12. Be careful about possible links
I used to be somewhat sceptical about this issue, which is basically being aware of hair, fingernail clippings, etc – until I stayed at a small town hotel where the publican quite obviously found me an unpleasant, radical experience. She was such an unpleasant person that, when I found my toothbrush had been moved after I returned from work, I threw it out.
Bad mistake.
I consider this woman to be completely unlikely to indulge in any deliberate act of psychic attack – but the toothbrush was enough of a link for her anger and discomfort to find me, and magnify some health problems I was experiencing. (The cure was a combination of both seeking physical help for the physical component, and undertaking psychic self protection exercises - mostly the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.
Anyway, I hope this is of some benefit to someone. There are some useful books around - for instance, "The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Psychic Self Defence and Well-Being: by Melita Denning and Osborne Phillips, although some of it grates (e.g., the reference to women needing to know about psychic attack because "in theior roles as housewives"!)
The photo was taken (by me) on a beach near Lang Lang, on the eastern side of Western Port (usually called Westernport Bay).
Love, light, hiugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
Tags: energy work, personal characteristics, Psychic attack, Qabbalah, rituals
First published: 17th June, 2007
