Warding is a way to protect yourself and your space, as well as keeping things away. They are like energy barriers. They block negativity and unwanted energies, spirits, entities, and witches sending you bad stuff etc out and protects you from them.
For a warding ritual, you will have to go around the whole place you want to ward. It can be around your room, around the outside of your house, or the border of your property etc.
Gather your materials
You can use use salt water to represent earth and water together, and burning incense to represent air and fire together. You may combine elements like this or represent them singly using different materials.
If you dont wish to combine the elements, you can use something that are related to the elements. You can for example represent earth with sand, air with a large feather, fire with a candle, and water with ice. Decide if you want to represent the four elements in pairs or singly, and then choose elemental representations that work best for you.
Clear your space
Much the same way you clear a space before casting a circle, you will want to clear your home of negative and chaotic energies before you put up a protective ward. Any form of cleansing will do, no matter if its smoke, sound or anything else. What you want is to chase away any negative or unwanted energy so that your home is fresh, clean, and calm before the ritual. Remember, you want your wards to keep the good stuff inside and the bad stuff outside!
Perform your ritual
Choose which elemental representation to use first, and carry it with you while you walk the entire perimeter of the space to be warded in a clockwise direction. As you walk, visualize the element/s forming a great barrier going up all around the space. You can visualize the elemts protecting your space in any way you want. Pass the elements over all portals (windows, doors, fireplaces, gates, etc) twice, for extra strength and protection.
As you pass each of the elements over your home in turn, repeat this chant while you walk: By (element) , I ward thee:
Guard this space from all ill will and all those who wish me/us harm.
If you are representing the four elements singly, you will go around your space four times, each time chanting the above incantation for the specific element you carry. If you are representing the elements combined in pairs, you will go around your space twice, alternating your chant back and forth between the two elements you carry.
Maintain your wards
With this ritual, you will create living wards that need regular maintenance to stay strong and effective. To put it in another way, you will need to feed and care for your ward as you would a pet. When you are healthy and your energy levels are up, you can strengthen and repair your wards with your own energy.
(Example) To do so; you will sit in the center of your home with your eyes closed and palms up, and You visualize pouring your own energy from your palms into the wards around you.
(Example) Another way to strengthen your wards without depleting yourself is to draw energy from an outside source and channel it into your wards. You can for example channel the energy from a candle over to your wards, and also from warm sunbeams streaming through your windows.
How you choose to maintain your wards is up to you, but you must understand that regular maintenance is important to keep your wards strong and effective.
Ethical considerations
What if you share your home with a roommate? What if you rent your home and you'll be moving out in another eight months? What about common walls shared with other dwellings? As practitioners, we must remain sensitive to the ethical i mplications of using magic to protect ourselves.
If your home is a shared space with family, significant others, roommates or other housemates, it is important to discuss your intentions with them before performing a warding ritual. It is entirely possible that housemates may feel uncomfortable with the idea of having the home warded. If this is your situation, it is important to respect their point of view. You may present your reasons why you believe warding the space would be beneficial, but I urge you against coercion or secretly warding the home anyway.
If you are unable to reach compromise with your housemates on warding the entire home, you may wish to ward your private space. This ritual can be made as large or as small as the practitioner requires.
Dismissing your wards
Whether you are leaving a rented dwelling, selling your house, or if you just need a fresh start, there are almost as many ways to tear down and dismiss your wards as there are ways to bring down a ritual circle. You may choose to walk around the space in a counterclockwise direction and dismiss the energies as you go. You can also sit stationary in the space and draw all the energies through you and ground them into the earth, leaving nothing behind.
