What’s a Curse, Personal Shielding? Is It Necessary?

This is a very complicated conversation. It can seem straightforward to some Wiccans; “Something has gone wrong in my life. Has someone ill-wished me? Is someone psychically attacking me? Maybe I have been cursed? I must take action to protect myself!”

Angry, hateful thoughts can certainly send lot’s of ugly energy your way. It’s true. It is important to remember, however, that none of this will manifest into anything if you don’t allow it to stir your own emotions or cause worried thoughts. It especially won’t manifest any karma if you don’t send anything back in response. Personal energy shields do not help you control your emotions. They don’t help you entrain your thoughts or keep you from engaging in a silent mental/emotional battle with someone.

You can be sure that, except in really rare instances, curses (the formal magickal/prayerful action against someone else’s wellbeing) aren’t anything to worry about either. It should be said that most people, especially Wiccans tend to be fair, peaceful people. Wiccans just don’t generally act against each other like that. In general, human beings are not hateful, evil people who try to hurt others. Most of the time, there’s simply no need to worry about that or conclude that personal shielding is needful. If you are worrying about it, consider carefully if there’s really someone like that in your life or if you are just experiencing some paranoia about the issue as you learn more about magickal intentions.

Almost all of the time, when things go wrong, only two things are happening. One is that you were in the wrong place, at the wrong time and others karma landed on you. Most of the time, for most of us, prudence in making choices avoids that kind of thing more often than not.

We must also acknowledge we can’t spend our lives working super hard and expending tons of energy avoiding the fall out of others actions. It’s just not possible to live this life without community karma having an impact on our lives. Accepting this is part of the human experience is a part of spiritual maturity. It is a very good reason to have concern for others and to act with kindness.

This is all assuming that we aren’t getting our can kicked from our own karma. If its our own karma, no one else did that to you and no one else can change your karma but you. With spiritual maturity, you can learn to look into situations and discern what’s yours and what belongs to another and what’s mutual stuff. That takes practice and clarity and a willingness to be wrong and to not judge others harshly…but mostly it takes clarity and that comes with time and maturity. By the way, the last bit comes under a topic head of transference. You might want to do some reading on the topic. You can find lot’s of books about transference by doing a search on Amazon. You can also find some good topical books if you search for “codependence recovery.” These suggestions are not an assumption of your mental health or ability to deal with relationships. I suggest this study because it teaches key concepts about discerning “what’s yours and what’s mine” within the milieu of relationship. It also helps you figure out what’s “ours.” This is important to the topic of karma in general.

For more about karma and how it works, see this post, called, “What is Karma?” Understanding what karma is, how it works and how reality works is important.

It is also important to understand the flip side, that we are One Mind and One Heart. What we do/think/feel doesn’t only effect ourselves. It effects others and it works a little like a pebble dropped in a pond. Our lives bring consequences to others, both wonderful and ugly until we mature spiritually into full awareness.

In any discussion about Curses, we’ve got to understand how energy, how consciousness, how karma and how reality works before we can understand what is really going on and whether we really do have a curse situation. And we have to understand the deeper principles involved in managing our lives with equanimity and generosity.

It should be said before you read any further that our best protection from karmic consequences is compassion, generosity and happiness…If you want to live free of psychic static, then  begin to live these principles sincerely even when others are angry around you; even when others aren’t being kind or are being selfish.

This work I’ve just covered is intensive and it will be life changing. It is also very difficult in many ways, but it’s also really fulfilling. Your karma will change. And I suspect that you won’t be wondering about curses in your normal life any more if you do that study and change your life with deeper awareness. I am tempted to end the conversation right here. Mostly because people don’t understand that their work is NOT with shielding or magickally tossing off curses, but with cultivating an open heart and a mind in which the clouds of ignorance have been cleared by the brightness of awareness.

When this happens, happiness and unconditional love dawns so powerfully that it’s very existence supports resilience for any group karma that still happens. And this happiness and unconditional love is durable in the face of anger, jealousy and those other things we shrink from normally for fear it will hurt us. Truly, this is where the work is and it’s where our focus should be. Not on fear of curses…

But, we live in a world in which bad things happen to good people because bad people actually do intend it. That said, the first line of defense, really IS what I’ve already covered. It really IS a defense with more power than you can imagine!

Truly.

I remember being in a place in my life in which I was not able to hold the emotional and intellectual equanimity that I strove for. I was weak. I was not resilient. I was wounded emotionally and I just couldn’t do it.

In those cases, you need a practice, a ritual, a meditation…or all of the above. You need something tangible to work on anywhere, any time. You need a cornerstone to lean into when you are terrified and not succeeding.

More recently, I’m at a place where I want to deepen my heart consciousness further. Again, it helps to have a practice, a meditation or a ritual to support that desire and help develop spiritual maturity even further.

Believe it or not, you can find practices which meet both needs and that’s what the balance of this post will be  about.

I suggest the power of Gratitude first of all. Gratitude is a living energy. If you don’t believe me, then focus on it awhile. invoke it by embracing a sense of deep gratitude for something you love and appreciate. You’ll see that it’s a natural aspect of the Divine. When the consciousness of Gratitude is fully invoked, a tremendous grace fills your body, heart, mind and your whole life. It’s potent stuff. Also all good things are contained within this amazing consciousness; love, compassion, resilience, peacefulness, kindness, joy, happiness…. It is profoundly protective and it changes how you are viewing your whole life. This is a potent shield…and it is a shield in every way. It also doesn’t require you to put up a ritual circle (aka psychic shield),  which is draining of your spiritual energy. It feeds you instead.

Next is a practice to “turn back” negative karma and naturally includes the action of dispelling curses. It’s a Buddhist practice called Tonglen. To learn how Tonglen works, do a search using the key words “The Heart Practice of Tonglen.”

When you discover this site, pay attention to the directions. Do it just how it instructs you to do it without alteration until you fully understand the practice as the Buddhists explain it. This will take a year or two of diligent practice. If you are dealing with a curse, don’t think about the person harming you directly…instead think about others who might feel as you do; attacked, afraid, said, weary, impatient, angry…think about that and have compassion for you all. That’s the proper way to do this practice for a curse.

Buddhists have made a science of all I’ve just shared/taught you. By comparison, this is a poor attempt. Wiccan practice doesn’t have any mind/heart training techniques to help a priestess learn to discard habits of thinking and emotion that bring negativity into her life. I strongly recommend Wiccans make use of tools that work. This one helps. If you want to learn more about Tonglen, read some of Pema Chodron’s books. She’s a really great author. If you want to learn more about reality, karma and such topics, you could also do some reading. I particularly love the writing of a Tantric practitioner named Shambhavi Sarasvati, who wrote a book called Pilgrims to Openness. Fabulous book. Shambhavi also wrote another book called Tantra: The Play of Awakening, which is really good.

So…let’s talk further about the terrible rarity. A real curse that’s full of actual malevolence and power.

If you’ve got an evil person who is actually casting curses, there’s things you can do.

Most Wiccans would say that you need a shield. Shields are made by basically casting a circle and staying in it. It is very expensive to do this in terms of energy and focus. It takes a tremendous amount of energy and focus to maintain this kind of shield for long periods of time. That makes it rather prohibitive for a long term solution which could last days, weeks or months. Such a shield doesn’t just keep out the bad stuff. It is like a woolen barrier against all things coming into your life. It deflects the good with the bad. In my opinion, its a last resort or perhaps a temporary crutch for someone who isn’t really capable of keeping their thinking and emotions positive because they are suffering from depression, for example. Even then, it must be a temporary measure, not a life time action.

If you can cast a strong circle of intention for a ritual, then you don’t need me to elaborate on how to create a personal shield. The only thing you might want to do is anchor it to a physical object like a talisman. If you want to know how to do that, then I assign you reading authors Scott Cunningham Starhawk, who each cover the making of talismans in one or another of their books. The short version here is:  Just ground your circle in the talisman and if you seems to wane, re-cast it and ground it again.

The most important thing to say about people who curse is to protect yourself with standard methods anyone would use. Get away from such people. Such people are also the type to do physical harm if they have opportunity. Don’t give it to them. It is just like getting away from any other perpetrator of violence. So do what’s needful to protect yourself in regular ways too, just like anyone else would do.

The next thing you can and should be doing is to make relationships with powerful, good spirits. I have written a number of posts that outline  techniques of Windhorse. The most basic concepts about Windhorse were introduced in a post called Elements Breaths. (I will be writing more on this subject as time passes, so check  for comments on both these posts to find links to newer posts on these topics.) Windhorse practices should be a daily practice the same as gratitude meditation is. You protect yourself spiritually by surrounding yourself in loving energy and enlisting the protection and friendship of loving spirits. These relationships will protect you from curses if they were ever, in a rare instance, to fall upon you.

I am going to emphasize Tonglen here too. It is a really powerful practice. Tonglen is a shield of sorts based on a martial arts principle. Anyone who has studied self-defense methods will tell you that if you work with the movements and energy of someone trying to attack you, you’ll wear them out and likely not be harmed.

So…Don’t oppose curse makers…do Tonglen. Don’t stand firm against them, do Tonglen. Don’t attack in return, do Tonglen. Don’t be angry or frightened or doom-saying, do Tonglen. Examine your own feelings and embrace all who feel that way fully…completely. The curse will dissolve and ground itself without grasping you in any real manner.

I have been cursed by a truly powerful witch whose curses were corrosive and powerfully effective. I know all my suggestions  work;  even in the face of such a one. It is true that I experienced a temporary psychic wound from the curse, but I didn’t experience its damaging karmic effects on my life nor did my family. I did Tonglen. I did Windhorse. I prayed to my spiritual relations for help. I know these measures  work.

My spiritual allies took care of the karmic consequences of the curse. They healed the wound caused by the curse too. And let me say this…the cursing actions and attitudes of this person lasted for weeks; almost two months. When it effected my sleep, I put up a shield…but I otherwise did Tonglen on behalf of myself and all those I love and all that I owned and I found that nothing particularly bad happened. And in fact, I grew as a human being. I grew happier, while her effort was all for naught. She wore herself out and after a time forgot about me. I grew into a more powerful, wiser human being. No terrible things happened. I prayed and worked on my own karmic issues. I didn’t let the focus of my life change in the face of her hatred and her foolish idea that she has the right to punish me for some imagined wrong.

I say this with all seriousness: The commonly seen Wiccan belief that a shield or combative magick is the only right response in these situations is truly incorrect. It is one of the few things about Wicca that I found I should doubt or disagree with. The belief in shields and reactive or combative magickal activities is out of keeping with other principles that are primary in Wiccan philosophy; “An it harm none…” If we react toward others and lash out for any reason, we are acting against our principles. This singular action against our own beliefs will make magickal energies and karma recoil upon us. We will be harmed as a result of acting against our principles. It is how reality works. It is why hatred, anger, war, and any form of striking against another does not work to our benefit. We must understand this natural law to have a happy life and to become powerful, wise people.

I say this from the standpoint of a warrior. I’m a “pop the asshole in the nose for that!” kind of person. I grew up on a military base. I believe in defending myself. It’s in my blood, but combative responses usually make things worse. They usually embroil us in a mess and keep us in it for long after we’d have otherwise seen peace restored. It’s just how anger and combat works. I had to learn that being a spiritual warrior is best attended to through soulful activity called Tonglen and Windhorse…and by understanding that the real martial practice should be directed inside ourselves…not outside.

We should not be at war with anyone or anything…especially not ourselves…but a martial practice is diligence at effort toward peace as a way of life…and that really must be attended to from the inside.

The Elements Breath

“We are composed of the 5 elements; earth, water, fire, air and spirit.”

This post is a follow-up on this post.

This topic is a rather extensive one. I’d say it’s just as deep as when discussing the Goddess and God. It can also be an intangible concept. For the purposes of this essay, let’s assign the elements a tangible symbolism from which to conceptualize the elements: earth=body, water=mind, fire=heart, air=soul and spirit is a Great Mystery. More posts will be forthcoming on this topic, but for now, that will get us started on this concept.

The “elements” is not a term that refers to scientific elemental table of that which describes and composes life, but here the term does reflect that very thing  in an esoteric sense. The elements refers and describes a qualities for us and helps us understand something of how our reality works We can name those qualities and compare them. For example, we can say our body is like a roc. It has solidity and our bodies have solidity. Since our bodies  are the most solid part of who we are  we refer to our bodies as the “earth” element.

So now you have the general idea of how what I’m trying to impart when I use the term “elements”, I want to talk to you about some methods of developing a relationship with these symbols and more specifically to relate the element to how we conduct our lives.

Most Wiccan authors make it obvious that the traditional method of approaching the elements is both magickal and ritualistic. You can find many examples of this in any publication on the Wiccan religion. I have two very favorite texts to recommend for newcomers to Wicca when it comes to learning about the Elements. One is called Circle Round: Raising Children In Goddess Traditions by Starhawk, Diane Baker and Anne Hill. The other is called The Pagan Book of Living and Dying: Practical Rituals, Prayers, Blessings and Meditations on Crossing Over by Starhawk, M. Macha Nightmare and the Reclaiming Collective. Come to think of it another book called The Twelve Wild Swans: A Journey to the Realm of Magic, Healing and Action by Starhawk and Hilary Valentine is also an excellent reference for elemental ritual, meditation, songs and other liturgical resources. Starhawk has co-authored some of the very best texts describing how to approach elemental studies and under the duress and celebration of many life experiences. You’ll find these indispensable references for your Wiccan training. I consider them required reading.

Since such texts already exist, I really don’t need to head in that direction. It is reinventing the wheel so to speak. Instead I’ll offer some additional ideas and viewpoints…some additional concepts and meditations to consider adding to your liturgical studies.

So let’s talk about needs and begin the conversation by adding another new concept;  Windhorse, or Lungta, a concept of Asia. It is a very useful shamanic concept to understand. I can only touch upon this deep concept here. As it is, this post is 4 pages long. I will speak more about it as time passes…but indirectly. I will not further describe the concepts, only show you methods for cultivating Windhorse. You can learn far more about the concept if you read a little from one of the traditions the concept comes from. I recommend the writings of the late Sarangerel, a Buryat shaman. As well you can do a search on her name and find websites devoted to her memory and teachings. You can explore this concept also by using the search term “Riding the Energy of Basic Goodness.” This is an essay by Shambhala/Tibetan Buddhist Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, who describes what Lungta or Windhorse is from a Buddhist perspective.

In any case, these terms refer to a basic viewpoint of personal power . It is a commonly articulated concept throughout many cultures. It is just described uniquely depending on the culture. Here’s a few terms you might better recognize: kundalini, chi, prana and other terms.

Lungta or Windhorse refers, as other terms do, to the idea of life force or soulfulness. But Windhorse is unique in that  it also refers to  a kind of sovereign dignity or royalty of being. It may expressed as a durable loyalty to personal welfare, (but this doesn’t mean being self-absorbed, in fact generosity and giving of one self a required activity  to build Windhorse). Windhorse  manifests as  personal charisma, resilience and stamina and yes, nobility of being.  As Sakyong and his father Chogyam Trungpa taught, this is an energy that rides basic goodness. This is what the term refers to when we talk about Riding Windhorses…and when we speak of this concept in relationship to the elements, we are referring to developing a synergy that’s in harmony with all creation. This is what Wiccan teaching urges us to cultivate…but I think that some other cultures have a more expansive ways of speaking about it than Wiccans do…which is why I urge you to study these teachings.

Developing Windhorse naturally reduces karmic tensions. In Kashimir Shivaism, they refer to this idea of developing Windhorse, as “saving Shakti.” and so I also again, refer you to the text which Shambhavi Sarasvati wrote called Pilgrims to Openness as this topic is also discussed. I consider that the activities of building Windhorse and cultivating a relationship with the elements to be crucial to a happy life and to being a mature Wiccan priestess.

So let’s get started by talking about needs. It is fairly obvious that our needs, if not met, will leave us vulnerable to illness and worry, hopelessness and boredom. Having our needs met, makes us feel whole and available to those we love and we stay centered and healthy. If you’ll pardon the obvious statements of fact, the point is, that this is what we’re doing the practice for…it is not to be exciting or eccentric compared to the rest of Western society…this is the reason to bother with studying the elements to begin with. They are a vehicle for learning…but it should be said that the concepts out to drop away after some years and mastery. Abiding in the balance that the study brought should be the goal and resulting daily practice.

With that in mind, I offer the initial practice I think would really enhance your Wiccan practice….I firmly believe in the Ayrvedic and Yogic practice referred to as Dinacharya. This is a method of daily self care. It is a regimen and it is the most basic way to approach the magickal work of building Windhorse. You can easily find information about that by typing the term “Dinacharya” into a search engine. My favorite explanation and instruction comes in a pdf form. It was written by Shambhavi Sarasvati  and may be found on a website called Jaya Kula dot org under the heading of daily practice.

In my opinion is you do no other activity to discover the elements in your being, this would be the activity! It is not Wiccan, but it is a healthful tool and making use of it reflects traditional Wiccan flexibility in making use of what works. To continue with the discussion, click the number 2 below:

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