The hidden danger of banishing: why your spells might backfire
In short: Banishing is the art of sending something away, but it requires more than just a ritual. If you are fueled by unexamined anger or hurt, you might inadvertently invite the very conflict you seek to escape. True banishing requires a careful balance of intention and practical action.
In the practice of Wicca, banishing is a term of art used to send away a person, influence, or energy. While it is often used to address situations of profound injustice or cruelty, practitioners must approach it with extreme caution. The danger lies in the practitioner's underlying emotional state. If a spell is cast while one is secretly harboring woundedness, exhaustion, or frustration, that hidden energy may fuel the ritual, causing the target to react with equal intensity.
One practitioner recounts a personal lesson learned after using a banishing pentagram on a difficult boss's office door. Although they believed they were acting calmly, the underlying emotions of frustration likely caused the boss to explode and ultimately fire them. This illustrates that the energy behind the ritual is just as important as the ritual itself. To avoid such outcomes, one must ensure they are not simply projecting buried anger.
A simple banishing ritual involves using elemental energies to create a boundary, much like digging a moat or raising a wall. One method uses cayenne pepper to represent a hot, external energy, tempered with the purifying properties of sage. By grinding these together in the palm of the hand and moving in a counter-clockwise direction—the direction of banishing—the practitioner can then blow the mixture outside to signal the departure.
Crucially, magic must be paired with 'acting in accord.' A spell is rarely effective if it is not supported by real-world behavior. If you seek to banish a toxic person, you must also change the locks, stop answering emails, and say goodbye. The final, vital step is to move on. To truly banish something, you must refuse to devote any further energy to it, washing your hands and focusing entirely on the next chapter of your life.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: How to Cast a Banishing Spell | Wicca
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