Donald Michael Kraig graduated from UCLA with a degree in philosophy. He has
also studied public speaking and music (traditional and experimental) on the
university level. After a decade of personal study and practice, he began ten
years of teaching courses in the Southern California area on such topics as
Kabalah, Tarot, Magic, Tantra, and Psychic Development. He has been a member
of many spiritual and magical groups and is an initiated Tantric.
Precis: Although true psychic attack is very rare, the writer shares an
example of what happened when one of his students suffered from just such an
attack.
The following description is adapted from my personal magical diary. The
event took place about 20 years ago. At the time I was living in San Diego,
sharing a two-bedroom apartment with Scott Cunningham. Scott was making a
living at the time by writing articles for private newsletters and writing
novels under pseudonyms. His first occult book, Magical Herbalism, had just
been published and he was starting to become famous.
I was making a living selling magazines on the phone and occasionally working
at occult shops (including Ye Olde Enchantment Shoppe and The Bead Bag -where
they also sold strings of beads and individual beads for craft projects), a
magic store for sleight-of-hand magicians, and by giving individual classes
and lecture series on a wide variety of magical and spiritual topics.
One day, an eager, energetic young woman came bounding into The Bead Bag.
"Lauren" (not her real name) was slender and had long hair. In
years to come, her dynamism would attract a wide number of people to her
circle. She announced to me, "Hello! I'm trying to learn about the
occult. Can you help me?"
I replied I'd be glad to give her any help that I could. "But there are
many different directions in the occult. What area are you looking to learn
about?" She replied that she was just starting and had gotten a book. It
was a pocket book, written by a popular author, about how to become a
Satanist. "Well, the first thing you could do is get rid of that
book," I said.
We spent several hours that afternoon (the shop was not really busy that day)
discussing where she might start her studies. I gave her some introductory
information based on classes I had been teaching for some time. (It was this
type of information, and my experiences teaching, that became the source for
my book, Modern Magick.)
Over the next several months, we met several times to discuss occultism and
her practices. As I said above, she was very eager and worked diligently. At
least, that's the way it seemed to me. I was impressed with Lauren's
progress.
UNDERSTANDING THE TIME
Before going on, it's important for readers to understand the situation at
the time. Even though it had been around for a quarter of a century, Wicca
was just beginning to become popular. At the time, you could have counted the
number of Wiccan traditions on the fingers of both hands. Most of the books
on magick were from twenty years earlier, based on work done fifty years or
more before that. (This, of course, excludes the absurd "complete"
books on magick and Witchcraft that explained everything in 200 pages of a
pocket book!)
One of the areas most seriously missing information was that of psychic
attack and psychic self-defense. At that time there was really only one book
on the subject. It was by Dion Fortune and was originally published fifty
years earlier. I had read it several times and didn't really like it. It
seemed filled with paranoia, and the final solution to her problem -
initiation into an occult group - was something many people could not obtain
then. And due to the secrecy surrounding many occult groups today, even now,
more than seventy years later, many seekers cannot obtain local initiation.
It was into this environment that Denning and Phillips released their
Practical Guide to Psychic Self-Defense: Strengthen Your Aura (originally
titled The Llewellyn Practical Guide to Psychic Self-Defense and Well-Being).
What an amazing book this was - and is! It gives practical, usable techniques
for psychic self-defense. More importantly, rather than being based on
paranoia, it is based on logic and reason. It presents the clear idea that
psychic attack was actually quite rare. However, as I wrote in Modern Magick,
"Be that as it may, the feeling of being under psychic attack can be a
very real feeling. Also our psyches are constantly under attack from society:
salesmen order us to buy; TV ads order us to buy; friends, family and even
strangers, knowingly or not, try to psychologically maneuver and influence
us."
"A real psychic attack is not usually caused by a person doing a spell
to harm you. Rather, it is caused by a person or persons who for some reason
are angry with you. Their rage causes them to unknowingly send a stream of
energy filled with their anger toward you. What is more likely, however, is
that you simply believe that some negativity is coming toward you. In either
case, you will still feel as if you are under attack, and both cases can be
dealt with in the same way." (p. 45-46)
But there was one method that I didn't describe, and it helped me and the
woman I was advising. It is a simple method to use, especially in a strong
situation.
A KNOCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
Scott was out and I was alone in the apartment. I was listening to the radio
and reading. I heard a knock at the door and looked at the clock. It was well
after 10:00 p.m.
I looked through the window next to the door and saw that it was Lauren. I
opened the door and invited her in. Her eyes looked wild and she grabbed onto
me. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"
"You've got to help me," she begged.
"What's wrong?" I asked again.
"I broke up with my boyfriend last week. He said he was going to get
even with me and I think he has psychically attacked me."
I had her sit down. "Does he know magick?" I asked
"No," she responded.
"Well, chances are that he doesn't know enough to psychically attack
you," I said, trying to calm her. "You know, most of the time
people think they are under psychic attack they are creating the impression
themselves. Most of the time it's nothing real."
"But it's been following me. Everywhere I go it shows up. You're my last
hope."
"This apartment is pretty well protected. I don't think anything magical
could..."
She jumped up and stood behind me, holding on as if her life depended upon
it. "Then what do you call that?" she said, pointing next to the
green chair in which she had been sitting.
The air had grown colder. I sort of half closed my eyes to allow my psychic
senses to come out. I held my right palm forward, trying to sense where the
coldness I now felt was coming from. Its source, indeed, was next to the
chair in which Lauren had been sitting.
Finally, my vision opened to a level where I could see the
"creature." To me it appeared to be a shadowy, semi-transparent
thing, perhaps as much as two-thirds of a meter in height, and one of the
nastiest looking things I had ever seen. It was spherical, covered with sharp
quills like a porcupine. On either side it had a bent leg like a bulldog. Its
mouth was vicious with dangerously sharp teeth. Its eyes were so filled with
hate and rage that I could feel it.
FIRST ACTION
It was those hate-filled eyes that gave the thing's creation away. "Do
you see its eyes?" I asked.
Lauren was holding onto me from behind. My arms were spread out so if the
thing attacked, I could protect her. She half-whispered, half-hissed,
"Yes."
"That hate, anger, and rage are the source of its creation. Your ex
doesn't know magick, but his emotions have created it."
"Can you do anything?"
I walked to the door, keeping myself between her and the creature of hate. I
opened the door. Then we moved back to the position we had been in before,
leaving a clear path between it and the door. I stood up tall, and in a
commanding voice I said,
"Leave! I order you to depart."
The result was that the thing snarled horribly. I could feel Lauren cringing
behind me, her body tense.
I increased the "psychic pressure" (for lack of a better phrase) on
it.
"In the name of Yud-Heh-Vahv-Heh I command you to leave. It is not I who
commands you but Adonai!"
The thing didn't move, but the appearance of its eyes changed and its snarl
seemed a bit less vicious. I knew I was on the right track.
I gave the same command several times. Finally, it started to move. It slowly
inched toward the door. At the door, it was facing outward. It turned its
face toward us and snarled again. Then it turned to us and I thought it was
going to jump and attack. I repeated the command and it seemed to relax. Then
it started to fade. It took about five minutes before all trace of it was
gone.
KEEPING IT AWAY
When I was sure it was gone, I used the pentagram projecting method to keep
the thing away. This involves visualizing on the forehead a "bright,
electric-blue pentagram with one point uppermost." (Modern Magick p. 46)
I surrounded this with my hands forming a triangle and then projected this
toward where the thing had vanished. I did this several times. I separated
myself from Lauren, went over and shut the door. The sound of it closing
seemed very final to me, but I knew there was more to do.
I turned back to Lauren who was shaking. "Is it gone?" she asked.
"Yes, for now. But it will come back unless we do something about
it."
"Why will it come back?"
"You still have several magical links with your ex. They're caused by
the time you spent with him, that you were psychologically attached to him,
and that you had sex with him. That thing follows the links right to
you."
"What can I do?"
We needed to cut those links. An ideal method for this was something that I
called the "I.O.B. Technique" when I revealed the system in Modern
Magick.
The "I" stands for "identify." The first thing to do is
identify the true source of the problem. The "O" stands for
"objectify." This is done by giving a shape to the source, if it
does not already have a shape. Since we knew the source, the technique
requires that we make a visualized mock-up of it - or in this case, of him.
"Do you have a picture of your ex?"
"In my car. Is that a problem?"
"No, it can just be used as a basis for visualization. But we don't need
it. What I would like you to do is visualize him standing on the other side
of the door. Visualize him as strongly as possible. I'll be back in a
moment."
As she visualized her ex-boyfriend, I went into my room (Scott's room was on
the other side of the apartment). In my room I went to my altar and took out
the black-handled knife I used in many rituals. By the time I came back to
the living room where Lauren was sitting, I could see she had a somewhat
fearful look in her eyes. She looked quickly at me and then back to where her
visualization was. "I don't want to see him anymore. How long do I have
to keep this up?"
I walked forward and with my extended vision saw numerous strands of energy,
like white sinews, stretching through the door and into various parts of
Lauren. "Not long," I replied. I stepped forward and started
cutting the cords that linked her to her ex. Some were like a hot knife going
through a container of ice cream. Others were tough and I had to saw back and
forth to sever them. With each cut, I could hear her slightly gasp.
Once they were severed, I stepped between her and where her visualization of
her ex had been. As before, I projected pentagrams in the direction of her
visualization.
Finally, I did the "B" or banishing of the technique. I pulled
Lauren out of her chair and had her sit in the center of the room. I
performed the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram around her. (The
instructions for the I.O.B. Technique and the Banishing Ritual are included
in Modern Magick.)
The "creature" never came back and she never heard from her
ex-boyfriend again. I consider this operation a success.
CHANCES ARE YOU'RE NOT UNDER PSYCHIC ATTACK
In most cases, if you think you are under psychic attack, chances are you are
not. However, on rare occasions it does occur. When it does occur, it is most
common that the attack is a manifestation of the attackers anger and rage and
not a calculated magical act.
If you feel like there is something - or some thing - attacking you, one of
the easiest and quickest things you can do is simply this: tell it to leave!
If that sounds simple, it is. It is so simple that it works and can work
quite powerfully. For added strength, you may wish to add the I.O.B.
Technique and a banishing ritual.
But for your first defense, just tell it to go.
RECOMMENDED TITLES:
MODERN MAGICK - ELEVEN LESSONS IN THE HIGH MAGICKAL ARTS:
A series of progressive lessons in ritual magick, including work with Qabalah, talismans, astral travel, the Keys of Solomon and sex magick, with reveiew self-tests and rituals.
LLEWELLYN PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE:
A dynamic, strong psychic aura will not only shield you from the stresses, pressures and "psychic noise" that surround you every day, it will also recharge and invigorate your life force, give your immune system a boost, and guard against physical harm.
MAGICAL HERBALISM:
Step-by-step guidance to the preparation of herbs for incense, amulets, sachets, and more.
PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE:
Fortune explores the elusive psychic element in mental illness and, more importantly, details the methods, motives, and physical aspects of psychic attack, and how to overcome this energy.
PRACTICAL PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE:
Keep the devil from making you do it, and learn how to stop other unseen negative beings from influencing your thoughts and your life.
PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE PERSONAL TRAINING MANUAL:
The title says it all.
These title and others can be found at Isis Books & Gifts! With over
500 Wicca and Witchcraft book titles in stock, your sure to find one right
for you!
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