What is a protective ward?
A protective ward, otherwise known as a “witch’s bottle,” is a jar into which you have 
placed items from your household, plus your magical intentions for protection for your home and all who reside therein. You then bury the jar on your property or in a potted plant if you are renting.
What you need to do in order to create a protective ward.
Firstly, be prepared to dig. Wards should be buried for 2 main reasons that are just practical:
1) animals won’t mess with them
2) people won’t see them & shoot disbelief at them, thus ruining their effectiveness.
When I create a physical ward (instead of a protective Thought Form, which is a whole different thing altogether) I follow an old recipe I read in a book somewhere. It may have been in one of Silver Ravenwolf’s books now that I think back.
MATERIALS:
- a jar with a secure lid
- enough sea salt to fill most of the jar (if your case is severe and you’re using the 5-jar method I mention below you will need a lot of sea salt to fill all 5 jars)
- a candle
- a lighter
- protective herbs like bay leaves, whole cloves, garlic, black pepper, rosemary, star
anise, whole cloves – any herb that when dried has sharp pointy ends will also work, as well as the super combo of frankincense & myrrh resin
The idea is as the energy attempts to enter your home the sharp items you placed into the jar cuts up the energy, thus deflecting it’s power to do any real harm. It may still get in, maybe even cause a little chaos, but it will be relatively harmless.
You can use nails, bits of glass (I will put a food jar in a plastic bag & smash it with a hammer, which is fun!), anything with sharp, pointy edges.
Mixed with that should be the following for each jar used:
- some dirt from inside your home (a dust bunny, cobweb dirt off the floor, crumbs off a kitchen counter). This puts the energy of the INTERIOR of your home into the ward so the energy knows what needs protecting. You can even add a slip of paper onto which you have written your street address.
Note: if you live in an apartment building I highly recommend you do include a slip of paper with your address AND the number of your apartment. When you bury your ward, instead of burying it outside, which you would do for a house or place of business – you bury it within a potted plant that you keep either inside your apartment or out on the balcony. Also be sure to keep that plant alive.
I’d also recommend some hair from each family member, including all the pets. Again, that tells the energy who needs protecting.
I sort of layer this stuff with a lot of sea salt into which I have mixed some powdered garlic, black pepper, dried rosemary, and crushed dried bay leaf – all known to keep evil away.
Now some will also say it requires fluid. Sometimes I do that, sometimes not. Again, you can take water from your tap inside your home. Some will even use their own urine. I’ve never gone that route myself because it’s just too gross for me.
Mix it all together, cap it and then get a candle & a lighter & allow the wax to drip along the edge of the lid to seal the jar. Then you bury it.
Special prayers aren’t really needed, but you can always pray to your Higher Power, or ask Archangel Michael for his protection as you bury your ward.
Good places to bury it – depending on how your house is oriented – would be, next to the front door, next to the back door, or next to the garage door – the common entrances into a home.
You bury your ward as close as you can get it to the door (some house doors like mine are surrounded by concrete).
Now, if the case is extreme (awful neighbors, for example, or a dangerous neighborhood) you will need FIVE jars and you will bury four of them at the 4 corners of your property, plus 1 at the door you use the most often.
If you are RENTING: instead of burying the jars you will place them as close to the 4 corners of your apartment as you can get them and make sure they remain out of sight so no one bothers them. Once you move out you may then dispose of them.
If problems resume at some point it is time to renew your wards. I have lived in my house 15 years now. I have replaced the wards only three times. For me, on average their effectiveness lasts for 5 years. This will differ from location to location and you will need to use your own best judgment as to when you will need to renew your wards.
Whoever moves in my house next, if they ever dig along the foundation to put flowers in or whatever, they are going to find a lot of very strange stuff LOL!
Best time to create wards: during a waning moon on a Saturday. Waning moon runs from the day after the full moon to 3 days prior to the new moon, so check an online lunar almanac.
Until next time, wishing you & yours many blessings!
~ Nefer Khepri, PhD., R. M-T.
Tarot & Lenormand Readings, Spells, & Visionary Art
Email: IsisRaAnpu@gmail.com
Twitter: @NeferKhepri
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The Magickal-Musings of Nefer Khepri, PhD 