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The Spellbook · Protection

The Spellbook

Protection spells

53 traditional workings for protection, from many traditions — each with what you need, how to do it, when, and where it comes from.

53 spells

Solomonic MagicA Protective Pentacle from the Key of SolomonClavicula Salomonis, Italian and French manuscripts of the 15th–18th centuries; S. L. MacGregor Mathers's edition (1889)ProtectionModerate Black & White MagicÆgishjálmur: The Helm of Awe as a Protective StaveIcelandic galdrastafir, 17th–19th-century manuscripts; name from Old Norse legendProtectionCourageModerate ChristianityAngel of God: The Guardian Angel Prayer and Its HistoryLatin Christian devotion; Angele Dei traced to the 11th–12th century; feast of the Guardian Angels from the 16th–17th century; Orthodox evening prayersProtectionBlessingsPeaceSimple High MagickAngel of the Day Talisman from the HeptameronHeptameron seu Elementa magica, attributed to Peter of Abano; printed 1559 with Agrippa's spurious Fourth Book; English translation by Robert Turner (1655)BlessingsProtectionWisdom & studyModerate ChristianityAnglo-Saxon Journey Charm for a Safe RoadAnglo-Saxon England, Old English charm recorded in the 11th centuryTravelProtectionSimple IslamAyat al-Kursi at Bedtime and the Guardian from GodSunni and Shi'i devotional practice; hadith of Abu Hurayra in Sahih al-Bukhari (9th century); Qur'anic teaching on guardian angelsProtectionPeaceSimple Ancient Magic · historyBes and Taweret: Ancient Egyptian Household ProtectionAncient Egypt, Middle Kingdom to Roman period (c. 2000 BCE–3rd century CE)ProtectionHome & hearthAdvanced ChristianityBrat Bríde: Leaving Out Brigid's Mantle for HealingIrish Catholic household custom of St Brigid's Eve, recorded 19th–20th centuriesHealingBlessingsProtectionSimple Witchcraft & WiccaCasting and Closing a Circle in Wiccan PracticeModern Wicca, England, 1940s–1950s, drawing on Renaissance ceremonial magicProtectionBlessingsModerate Vodou & HoodooChalk Cross and Psalm 23 for a Protected ThresholdAfrican American hoodoo and Protestant folk piety, southern United States, 19th–20th centuryProtectionHome & hearthPeaceSimple KabbalahChildbirth Amulet of Sanoi, Sansanoi and SemangelofJewish amulet tradition: Alphabet of Ben Sira (c. 8th–10th century); Sefer Raziel ha-Malakh (Amsterdam, 1701)ProtectionBlessingsSimple ChristianityCompline Psalms for a Quiet Night and Peaceful SleepChristian monastic night prayer, Rule of St Benedict (6th century), with Jewish bedtime parallelsPeaceDreamsProtectionSimple Ancient MagicCornicello: Blessing the Italian Horn Against the Evil EyeNeapolitan and southern Italian folk custom, with roots in Roman apotropaic amuletsProtectionLuckSimple Witchcraft & WiccaDaisy Wheel: Drawing a Hexafoil Ritual Protection MarkEnglish and wider European ritual protection marks, medieval to 18th centuryProtectionHome & hearthSimple Witchcraft & WiccaEnglish Witch Bottle for Protecting a HomeEnglish cunning-folk and household counter-magic, c. 1600–1900ProtectionHome & hearthSimple ChristianityFour Angels Round My Head: The Old English Bedtime PrayerEnglish popular devotion, recorded by Thomas Ady in 1656 and probably medieval in origin; related 'evening blessings' in German and other European languagesProtectionPeaceBlessingsSimple Ancient MagicGreek Mati: Blue-Eye Protection and the XematiasmaModern Greek folk Orthodoxy, with roots in ancient Greek baskaniaProtectionCleansingSimple JudaismHanging a Hamsa to Protect the Home from the Evil EyeJewish communities of North Africa and the Middle East; Mediterranean folk custom, medieval to modernProtectionHome & hearthLuckSimple Ancient MagicHekate's Deipnon: The Household Supper at the New MoonClassical Athens, 5th–4th century BCE; revived in modern Hellenic polytheismCleansingHome & hearthProtectionSimple Witchcraft & WiccaHorseshoe and Threshold Protection for a HomeBritish and wider European folk practice, attested from the 17th centuryProtectionLuckHome & hearthSimple Ancient Magic · historyLamashtu Amulets: Babylonian Protection for Mother and ChildAncient Mesopotamia, Old Babylonian period to the 1st millennium BCE (c. 1800–300 BCE)ProtectionHealingAdvanced High MagickLesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (Golden Dawn)Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, London, c. 1888–1900BanishingProtectionCleansingModerate Black & White MagicMalocchio Oil and Water Test for the Evil EyeSouthern Italian and Italian American folk Catholicism, 19th century to the presentProtectionDivinationCleansingSimple ShintoMorishio: Japanese Salt Mounds for Purifying an EntranceJapanese folk and Shinto purification custom; widespread from the Edo period to the presentCleansingProtectionHome & hearthSimple Ancient Magic · historyNamburbi: Babylonian Rituals for Averting Evil OmensAncient Mesopotamia, Assyrian and Babylonian scholarly ritual, chiefly 1st millennium BCEBanishingProtectionAdvanced Herbal MagickNine Herbs Charm: An Anglo-Saxon Herbal BlessingAnglo-Saxon England, the Lacnunga manuscript, c. 1000HealingProtectionBlessingsModerate DivinationNorse Rune Casting and Bind Runes: Ancient and ModernGermanic and Norse runic tradition (2nd–11th century CE); rune casting and talismanic bind runes largely 20th-century developmentsDivinationProtectionLuckModerate ChristianityOjo de Venado: The Deer's Eye Amulet Against Mal de OjoMexican and Central American folk Catholicism, 19th century to the presentProtectionBlessingsSimple ShintoOmamori Charms and Hatsumōde: Japan's New Year RenewalJapanese Shinto and Buddhist shrine-temple custom; omamori from the medieval period, mass hatsumōde from the Meiji eraProtectionLuckBlessingsSimple Black & White MagicPow-wow Blessing to Guard a House Against ThievesPennsylvania German Braucherei, after John George Hohman's Long Lost Friend (1820)ProtectionHome & hearthSimple Black & White MagicPow-wow Fire Blessing from Hohman's Long Lost FriendPennsylvania German Braucherei (pow-wow), John George Hohman, Reading, Pennsylvania, 1820ProtectionHome & hearthSimple Witchcraft & WiccaProtection Spell Jar for the Home with Salt and HerbsContemporary witchcraft, late 20th–21st century, modelled on the English witch bottleProtectionHome & hearthSimple ChristianityPsalm 121 Blessing for Safe Travel and JourneysJewish and Christian travellers' devotions: Tefillat ha-Derekh (Talmud, Berakhot 29b–30a) and the Itinerarium of the Latin breviaryTravelProtectionBlessingsSimple JudaismPsalm 91 for Protection in Jewish and Christian PracticeRabbinic Judaism (Talmud, Shevuot 15b); Sefer Shimmush Tehillim; Christian monastic ComplineProtectionPeaceSimple BuddhismReciting Om Mani Padme Hum with a Mala of 108 BeadsMahāyāna Buddhism; first attested in the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra (c. 4th–5th century CE), central to Tibetan devotionPeaceBlessingsProtectionSimple Ancient MagicRoman Lararium Offering to the Household LaresRoman domestic religion, Republic and Empire (c. 3rd century BCE–4th century CE); revived in modern Roman polytheismHome & hearthBlessingsProtectionSimple Witchcraft & WiccaRowan and Red Thread: A Scottish Protective CharmScottish, northern English and Irish folk practice, recorded 17th–20th centuriesProtectionHome & hearthSimple Herbal MagickRue (Ruda) for Protection: A Sprig by the DoorMediterranean, Spanish, Italian and Latin American folk practice, antiquity to the presentProtectionHome & hearthSimple Witchcraft & WiccaSalt and Rosemary Protection Line at the ThresholdEuropean household folk magic, revived in modern witchcraftProtectionHome & hearthSimple ChristianitySmooring the Hearth: A Gaelic Night Blessing of the FireScottish Highlands and Hebrides, recorded in the Carmina Gadelica (1900)Home & hearthPeaceProtectionSimple ChristianitySt Michael Protection Prayer with a CandleCatholic devotion; prayer composed by Pope Leo XIII and ordered after Low Mass from 1886; biblical figure of Michael in Daniel, Jude and RevelationProtectionCourageSimple Taoism & Chinese ReligionTaoist Fu Talisman for Protecting the HouseholdChinese Daoist and popular religion, Han dynasty to the presentProtectionHome & hearthSimple Ancient MagicThe Abracadabra Triangle Amulet of Serenus SammonicusRoman medical verse, Quintus Serenus, Liber medicinalis (c. 3rd century AD); later European folk useHealingProtectionSimple Taoism & Chinese ReligionThe Bagua Mirror: A Feng Shui Cure for the Front DoorChinese feng shui and popular religion, late imperial period to the presentProtectionHome & hearthSimple JudaismThe Bedtime Shema and the Four ArchangelsRabbinic Judaism: Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 4b–5a and 60b; angel formula from midrashic tradition, found in medieval and later prayer booksProtectionPeaceSimple ChristianityThe Caim: A Gaelic Encircling Blessing for a JourneyGaelic Scotland and Ireland, recorded in the Carmina Gadelica (1900)TravelProtectionBlessingsSimple IslamThe Hand of Fatima: Khamsa Protection in Muslim CustomPopular Muslim custom of the Maghreb and the Middle East, medieval to modern; Shi'i devotion to the Five of the Prophet's householdProtectionHome & hearthLuckSimple ChristianityThe Himmelsbrief: Writing a Protective Letter from HeavenGerman and Pennsylvania German folk Christianity, printed letters of the 18th–20th centuriesProtectionBlessingsModerate High MagickThe Rose Cross Ritual of the Golden DawnHermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Second Order teaching, c. 1890sProtectionPeaceModerate Ancient MagicThe SATOR Square: A Word-Square Charm for the HomeRoman Empire (Pompeii, before AD 79); medieval and early modern Christian folk magicProtectionHome & hearthSimple Vodou & HoodooVan Van Oil: The New Orleans Formula for ClearingNew Orleans and southern hoodoo, late 19th–early 20th centuryCleansingLuckProtectionSimple Black & White MagicVegvísir: Drawing the Icelandic Wayfinder StaveIcelandic galdrastafir (magical staves), Huld manuscript, mid-19th centuryTravelProtectionSimple ChristianityWeaving a St Brigid's Cross to Protect the HomeIrish Catholic household custom, attested from the 17th–19th centuries to todayProtectionHome & hearthBlessingsModerate