Beginner's Guide to Shielding

Questions and Answers for where to begin on the Darker Spiritual Paths.

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This is a very basic, beginner type overview of psychic shielding. You will probably find a lot of this information, you already know, and just have never applied it this way before.

Let’s start with definitions. What exactly IS psychic shielding? The short answer is that it’s your first line of defense – a nonphysical structure that surrounds you to keep you safe. Most psychic shielding covers the aura. However, some psychic shielding covers the mind. Psychic shielding exists to keep energies out that you do not wish to interact with, it serves to keep energies in that you don’t want to share with the world, it keeps your psyche safe from magickal manipulation, it keeps you safe from magical attacks to a point.

There are a LOT of different types of psychic shields, but they generally fall into three categories. Masking, defensive, and offensive. I personally recommend that you use a combination of the three types – I also recommend that as you become more proficient in shielding, you learn to weave and layer shields. You can NEVER have too much protection, with one exception – I have met one person (only one) who, every time they shielded, made themselves psychically blind. I’ll get to what she did wrong in a bit, but obviously, that’s too much protection. If you can’t see shit coming, and you can’t see how that shit affects the shields you put up to keep that shit from coming, obviously, that shielding does you no good.

Shields blunt energy problems, but they don’t always succeed in absolutely preventing something from reaching you. Consider them your first line of defense, but also your first warning system. In that way, personal psychic shields function a bit like wards.

Offensive shielding isn’t something I’m going to discuss in this article – offensive shields are definitely not for beginners, and they’re very personal, so when you get to the stage where you’re comfortable enough with shielding that you feel ready to create offensive shields, you will want to create ones that suit your own methods best. Any advice I offered about this would merely hold you back.

Defensive shields are the most common, and most often used. Those will be the main focus of this article.

Masking shields are fairly common to mid-level practice, and so I will be touching on those.

Typically, your innermost shields are going to be offensive, your outermost shields masking, and in between them, are your defenses.

Let’s start with defensive.

The 3 D’s of Defense are: Distract, Diffuse, and Deflect. Any defensive shield should be a construct that can do at least one of thee, preferably all of them.

Distraction shields have a variety of styles – my personal favorite is my own, of course. My shields have gold letters all over them from multiple alphabets, including some that don’t exist. Anyone looking at that shield who doesn’t know it’s a trick will be trying to figure out what the letters say, believing that knowing the wording will provide the weakness. Another form of distraction shield is one that directs the viewer’s attention elsewhere. Think of it as a magician’s sleight of hand tricks, or a Jedi mind trick.

Diffusion shields are sometimes also called absorption shields. Their job is to take anything that hits them and absorb the energy of it, using that energy to further power the shielding matrix as a whole. Most often, such shields also include some variant of transmutation magick – it’s an alchemical shield. Its job is to take something you don’t want and turn it into something you can use. Diffusion shields can also dispel or disperse energies – simply break down the energy without using it, or simply scatter the energy away from you. This moves into deflection territory.

Deflection shields come in two forms. One deflects energies harmlessly. Often, deflection shields will either send the energy back to where it came from (though this can be tricky) or may earth the power in some way. Shields that deflect energy back to the source can be tricky in that they’re mostly in the form of mirrors, and with the exception of actual spells, the energy they’re reflecting is the energy that’s just radiant – so if someone radiates negative energy, negative attitudes, and your shields deflect that back to them… they see YOU as the source of their own energies, they see those energies as external and something to fight. This causes a lot of social distress, and until you know how to mitigate the effects of mirroring, it’s best not to mess with it. The other version is to take the energy, redouble it, and send it back like grabbing a live grenade and throwing it back behind the lines of the person who threw it first – with a second grenade behind it. This moves into offensive shielding and may be something you want to experiment with carefully.

So far, we’ve talked about the different types of psychic shields – things you will layer onto your aura.

There are two other types of shields that we’ll be discussing further. One is vessel shields – spells, servitors, and spirited objects you wear that provide specific types of shielding for when you are in a situation where you either don’t have the energy or don’t need the distraction. Vessel shields have some benefits – they’re less susceptible to your own mental and emotional shifts, and also less susceptible to your energetic shifts… however, they are also static. They do not adapt or adjust… and it can be hard to tell if one is starting to fail until it’s too late and whatever’s happening has already hit your face. They also require more maintenance than personal shields. They need a charging source, or they need you to actively recharge them regularly, and they need regular cleansings.

The other type is the mental guard. Protecting your mind is VERY important. It helps prevent things outside of yourself from warping your view of reality. This doesn’t mean it will stop you from warping your reality – it will not stop delusions. However, if there’s someone or something outside of you that’s mucking about in your mind, mental shielding is pretty useful. Mental shielding is also considerably easier to put up. Think of a substance or an object which you associate with keeping people out. My object is a sturdy oak door. I know someone else who simply uses the idea of steel. Once you know what you’re going to use… simply… be that thing. For me, I am the closed door. Yeah. It’s that simple.

You’ll note that so far I’ve mostly talked about what is essentially passive shielding. This is where beginners start. Eventually, you do move up to active shielding, and some of what I cover in this article will be active shields – but bear in mind that active shields require more attention than passive ones.

The first shields I ever learned were: the bubble, the golden light, the mist, the climbing rose, the rolling ball. I eventually added glamor as a type of shield.

The bubble is simply that. You put a bubble around you. The bubble can be any color, though most people choose blue. The bubble can be a difficult one because too many people end up thinking soap bubbles, and those are easily popped, so consider other types of materials that create bubbles when you’re wearing this one.

The golden light is like a coating over your aura. It’s similar to the bubble, but instead, it’s gold and white and acts more like a filter. Think of it as an invocation of divine protection.

The mist is a difficult one because the mist is a difficult substance. It’s not collected, it’s diffuse. But that’s the point. Mist shields absorb energy and transmute it, but they also make it pretty hard to find the person behind the mist. They are distraction shields at their heart.

Next, the climbing rose. You are surrounded by vines, so thick and such a multitude that there’s no finding you without an industrial weed-wacker and possibly even a chain saw. All over the outside of these vines, flowers bloom. There are so many flowers that someone outside the shield cannot see the vines, only the flowers. Whenever something hits your shield, a flower grabs it. The flower closes over the energy and drops off the shield. If you have enough skill, you can convince the shield to regrow flowers, but it’s actually better practice to constantly check this type of shield and regrow the flowers yourself. You need to know when something is wrong, after all – in case you need to be a bit more proactive.

Finally, glamor. My glamor is basically the “Jedi mind trick” effect. It tells people to think, “small, not worth your time, nothing to see here, not the droid you’re looking for move along, not interesting, not big enough to be worth bothering with,” you know… a fade into the background ignore me glamor. (I know, it doesn’t seem to work, but trust me. It actually does.) And the more my energy fluxes, the more power I’m working with at any given moment, the stronger the glamor, because I have all that excess shifting in my aura feed the illusion. Anything that’s supposed to be hidden by the glamor feeds it. Every time your energy shifts, that movement feeds the glamor. So when you are, say, working with abyssal energies, your glamor would feed on the deep waters, on the chaos, on the void, that’s expressed by that work, in your aura. This means that your change of mood powers your glamor. Your being well-rested, tired, grumpy, hangry, whatever… it all feeds the glamor – it all powers it.

Choose who you want to display to the world, and then create a feedback loop between that image and your aura. Basically, you’re earthing the power being worked with through your aura into the glamor instead of grounding it in the earth. Note – some rare children will see through the glamor, but for the most part, you’ll be ok. And don’t JUST use glamor – you’ll want to weave other forms of shielding into the glamor, over it, or under it. The glamor itself is just a disguise, it’s not a true form of protection EXCEPT that it makes you less noticeable (or if you go for a biggenator type, MORE noticeable but scary-too-much-effort-to-fuck-with – though I have never tried using that… just in case something decided to try anyway).

None of these shields are designed to warn you or to act on their own beyond their function, which is why they’re considered passive shielding.

No matter what type of shield you go with, though, you will want to make sure that your shield functions a lot like a really well-tinted car window. You can see out, you can send out, you can receive if you choose – none of YOUR awareness is cut off… but no one outside can see in, no matter how close they get. Remember that person I mentioned that, when she shielded, did so to the point of cutting off all her senses entirely? Make sure you can see/sense out of your shields. If you can’t, you’ve done it wrong. Take it down, examining it and yourself the entire time, to figure out where you went wrong. Always make sure that you can see out.

Lastly, you want to set up some form of alarm shield. Basically, if your layers of passive and active shields, defensive, offensive, and masking shields, are all passed through, you want a final shield that will scream bloody murder at you so you will go on the offensive. Once your shields fail you, there’s a reason for that, and it’s time to take matters into your own hands, because if you’ve done it right, penetrating your shielding will take a concentrated and deliberate attack, and you must reply in kind.

My alarm shield isn’t a very good one – I get these rippling waves of tension as if my skin is having an anxiety attack. The problem with that is that… I have PTSD and GAD – the alarm going off is likely to trigger an attack, or be mistaken for one. I haven’t yet figured out an alarm that works and doesn’t cause me issues.

And now, the practical.

There are several ways you can create psychic shields over your aura, and I’ll let you decide what way works best for you, but I suggest you try them all before settling on any one method. Better yet, use multiple methods. Anything worth doing is worth over-doing. 😉

Now, as always, you want to start by grounding and centering, and entering a light trance state so that you’re more aware of energy. Focus on your aura, stretch out your consciousness of it. Become as aware as you can of its shape, size, feel. When you find the outer skin (if you’re not an empath who doesn’t have a skin because your aura is the size of a small country and so it’s all whispy at the edges – empaths need to read viewtopic.php?f=36&t=10289 ), move your consciousness just beyond that skin. Now, begin creating your shield, layering it carefully over that skin. Why do your shields from the outside in, rather than the inside out? Two reasons… if you’re outside them, you KNOW they won’t block you off from the getgo, and if you’re outside them, you’re more likely to see if you miss any spots. Is it a good idea to practice shields while you’re inside them? Yes, definitely.. but for this particular exercise, shielding from the outside in will give you far more information about shields and how they function, and how to create them, than doing it the cheap, fast, and easy way. Also, I exist to overcomplicate your life.

For the vines, simply grow them. For the golden shield, just layer it like a not breakable glass ball around you that radiates. The golden ball is purely radiating energy. It shines. For the mist, just raise the mists around you, all around you, until you can’t see yourself behind them.

For the rolling ball, which is the ONLY one you should create from the inside… you start with a sigil. Once you have your sigil created, you basically set up a frame. Draw the sigil above and to the right of you, above you, above and to the left of you, in front of you, to your left, behind you, and to your right, and below you to the left, below you, and below you to the right. Draw each sigil nine times over each location. The sigils will then link up, and you will be in a ball. It’s fun to walk in. You literally feel like you’re rolling in one of those big plastic balls people walk across rivers in. However, it IS difficult to ground in the rolling ball. That will take practice to get the hang of.

The last technique is the psy ball technique. In other exercises, I’ve explained how to create a psy ball, but briefly: rub your hands together until they’re sensitive to energy (you can skip this if you don’t have that problem anymore). Focus your energy in between your hands until it becomes a point. Run that point side to side until it becomes a line, constantly adding energy as you go. When you’ve got a line, spin the line until you have a plate, continuing to add energy. When you’ve got a plate, start flipping it to make a ball, again adding energy. DO NOT make this a compression charge psy ball. (For more on this technique, see: https://satanandsuns.com/viewtopic.php?f=248&t=7168

Now, program the psy ball as a shield. Begin to add energy to it so that it grows. When it’s large enough to fit you and your aura inside, step into it, and seal it to your energy field. Again, make sure you can sense beyond the shield. If you can’t, take it down, start over, and make changes to your programming.

For vessel shields, the technique is similar, but instead, you’ll be doing all the work to shove into an item you wear. Sigils, programmed psi balls, protection spells, divine blessings, servitors, even spirits… go ham. Remember the weaknesses. Also, remember to create some kind of energy source for the vessel’s workings.

Why did I not suggest you do so for the shields you’ll be wearing? Because you are the energy source in all those cases. First of all, they’re on you, so they’re passively charging all the time anyway, second, you want them to actually be a part of you, not separate from you. Lastly, if they end up draining you more than usual once you’re used to them, it’s a passive type of alarm. You will obviously want to practice some awareness so you can tell the difference between ordinary drains, and shield drains… and bear in mind that in the beginning, your shields will take a lot out of you anyway because you’re not used to having a constant drain on your energy. This is also why when you first start practicing personal shields, you will want to practice recreating those shields. A LOT. I have, at times, told people to rebuild their shields every time they think about it during the day, even if that means they rebuild them 18 million times. ALWAYS rebuild your shields when you get up in the morning and before you go to sleep at night. The reason is two-fold. One, until your shielding becomes second nature and passively maintained, you will need to devote energy to it regularly. Two, if you’re checking it that often, you’ll be more aware of what it feels like and looks like when a shield is disturbed.

Even once your shielding becomes second nature and is maintained entirely subconsciously, you should check it regularly for maintenance. Check it before and after major rituals, at least once a week no matter what, and any time you’ve been around things you feel you need protection for. Go to a club? Protection. Summon Andras? Protection. Meet your mother-in-law? Protection. Dealing with a toxic boss? Protection.

Oh. One final note. There are places on the human body that even the most skilled and practiced person may miss when doing shields. They are as follows: the back, the palms of the hands, the soles of the feet.

ALWAYS check to make sure you’ve covered your ass.

And that, people and kin of all genders and none, is my ted talk “Beginner’s How To: Psychic Shielding.”
~fin
"She’s all the unsung heroes who... never quit." ― R. A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
― H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: First Series
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Regarding the Rolling Ball shield sigil - experiment. You'll find one that works. You can use one of the Futhark runes for protection. You can use one of the ayurvedic symbols. You could even make your own. "I am protected from all energies not beneficial to me." Something along those lines. 

Thanks to Aprophis for pointing out the need to clarify that bit. :devillove:
"She’s all the unsung heroes who... never quit." ― R. A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” ― William Shakespeare, Hamlet
“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
― H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: First Series
idkwhatosay
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Thank you so much for this!! :devilgrin: I really needed information about shielding since I only knew the bubble and the golden light ones and I found it really hard to shield myself, I still don't really know how to do it properly but this post helped me to see why I couldn't do it before!!
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Blckmagickx
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Hi,

First of all, great guide! Really informative.
I only don’t understand why you put on shielding when doing evocations of demons? I have read that when you put protection on while summoning a demon, that will piss off the demon.

Or is this allowed because this is shielding in general and not aimed at that demon in particular that you’re trying to summon and communicate with?

Please correct me if i’m wrong, and I don’t want to mess things up when i’m evocating Lord Lucifer or something lol.
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Zygimantas Puze
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This is Gold for me 🏆 I realy need this information because I'm dealing with a sludge 😆 It's my fault that i forgot my Spiritual Foundation.
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How come it can’t fly no better than a chicken?’ Milkman asked.

Too much tail. All that jewelry weighs it down. Like vanity. Can’t nobody fly with all that [stuff]. Wanna fly, you got to give up the [stuff] that weighs you down.’

by Toni Morrison

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