Tobacco & Cornmeal Banishing & Protection Ceremony

Protection & Banishing Ceremony with Native American Roots

In September of 2015 a dark entity of sorts came to dwell on our property.  It could certainly be felt by us humans and all wildlife.  Almost all our two legged and four legged animal friends would not come around during the day when the evil energy was the strongest.

We knew that we had to do a banishing as well as a protection ceremony to not only rid the property of the entity/being, but to prevent it from coming back.

It had already preyed on one small crippled animal and caused its death prematurely.  As mentioned all other animals were being warned off by the “feeling” and sensing of the dark and evil presence.  

We know at night evil and dark energies are their weakest because of all the nocturnal animals that come out and offer protection from sunset to sunrise.  It is these animals that we give food offerings to for what they provide.  This gave us the setting for the ritual, after dark and close to the full moon.

We were blessed to be able to do it at almost the 100 percent full moon, one day before we had the Blood Moon or Red Moon.  We performed the below cleansing, sealing and protection ceremony on September 26, 2015.

The below ceremony is written by myself for two participants.  On this occasion we had a third participant that sprinkled salt, played a rainmaker and held the light so we did not stumble and fall as it was a large perimeter that we had to walk.

Items Needed:

• Sage (or sweet-grass or cedar) for smudging
• Cornmeal
• Tobacco
• (Placed in bowl or container that can easily be carried)

Before starting, smudge bodies of all participants to protect them while you are doing this ritual/ceremony.  Do not forget to do the feet.

First do the honoring of the four directions outdoors. Near the main entry is good, but where you can see the sky.  Tobacco is the only offering here.

Each direction you face sprinkle tobacco and say "Oh Great Spirit bless this place and protect it from harm and evil spirits. Take away any that would harm the two-legged or four-legged this is a place of beauty and spiritual peace not to be soiled by the unclean lurkers."

The tobacco will go first, then the cornmeal when doing the below. Start the circle at the north, ending at the north, leaving an opening (gate) as explained below.

As you walk the circle the tobacco sprinkler will say while lightly sprinkling, " "You do not belong I banish you in the name of all that is good, in the name of the Gods and Goddesses, in the name of the Creator."

The cornmeal sprinkler with say while lightly sprinkling, "In the name of the Great Spirit I ask that this place be protected." (this person can also ask for other things, or a second person can also sprinkle the cornmeal and include any personal requests)

Leave a small opening as you complete the circle referred to as the Gate.   Walk around this area with the smudge. You can sing any kind of song if you want or just chant softly. At this time you can also do any additional petitioning.

When done two of you will face each other, like gate posts, one with the tobacco and the other with the cornmeal.  Say, “Oh Great Spirit bless this place and protect it from harm and evil spirits. Take away any that would harm the two-legged or four-legged this is a place of beauty and spiritual peace not to be soiled by the unclean lurkers. May nothing evil remain and may this seal out the evil spirits and unclean ones.  May this bless this place.”  Then conclude with the sprinkling of tobacco first then cornmeal, sealing the gate.

As mentioned the above has Native American roots, but has a mix of Paganism in the for of Wicca in there as well. Many of the same things are worked with by all Pagans, including Native Americans. The directions, colors, honoring, offering and giving thanks.

Note: The wording provided in bold was offered by an elder from Canada....a wise woman.

Are Altar Tools Necessary When Performing Magic, Witchcraft and Spell Work?

My family tradition is one of training, training and more training. Even if you live a philosophy that you ARE the magic, physical practice is part of that YOU. And few are born fully aware of how one fully uses all the gift from the gods.  Magical tools...either natural or more formal ones, like wands and athames, created for magical use in Wicca, are simply tools to train the witch. Not to mention that there are many schools of magical training, numerology, runes, languages, the elements, symbols, etc., that are wonderful to know from a historical point of view or to simply expand one's knowledge of magic.  It all adds up to becoming the ultimate magical tool.

As others say - tools are not really needed to work magic.  If you can wake up one morning, decide that you are a witch, and begin working magic in your mind...all blessings to you.  If one records one's successes and failures and one's records prove one's success is not wishful thinking or self delusion...then one is a truly gifted natural witch.

Most of us need to educate and exercise our magical muscles. One of these ways is by using tools, especially if you are trained from childhood in magical thinking because some magical principles are too complex for a younger mind. Not to mention we are tactile beings. One can be in love with one's mate without ever touching them, one can grieve without shedding a tear, one can have a theoretical knowledge of skydiving but no one would argue that knowledge and experience are not the same things.  All these things are knowledge with different shades of understanding. Why would one want to limit one's education?

Another use for tools is that they keep one grounded. It is perfectly possible to do magic in one's head but few can do that for long periods of time without losing perspective. Then, there is the fact that most people do not have complete control over or even clear understanding of how one’s mind or emotions work. The result being that these things often lie to us. If I ask you to close your eyes for ten years and remember the color blue - you would have to be an extraordinarily remarkable person to open your eyes and not be surprised that your memory was slightly off the reality. However, if you were allowed to open your eyes to refresh the memory, the memory has a better chance of recording accurately.

This is the same if you type for years and suddenly do not have access to a keyboard. Ten years later your fingers and mind will remember how to type.  The same about bike riding and roller skating.  If you are the magic, that means the whole you, your body and physical practice, is an integral part of your magical ability.

I was taught to begin with tools using a philosophy of sympathetic magic. That like images attract like images, even those symbolic tools gathered in nature; stones, leaves, feathers, shells, flowers, herbs, barks, water, soil, salt - used with pictures, handwriting samples, mementos of those we work for. Then one can learn to do it without these things.  Even still, I return to the tools occasionally to stay grounded,or to learn a new discipline just to expand my magical knowledge or for the shear joy of learning.

Danger and Impending Doom Scenarios - Why Are They There?

There is a Lakota Prophecy that states the beast will reign for 2000 years: consume and control everything and just when you think there is no hope the beast consumes itself. Then the thousand years of peace comes along with a reunion with the Star Nations. There are ancient rock paintings showing one world being consumed by the other the snake eating itself and a movement into the fifth world. Crop circles which show two worlds coming together also speak of the future. There is no doubt we are on the fast track now and close to an evolutionary leap or shift in consciousness and dimension.

Einstein said," Space and time are not conditions in which we live, they are modes in which we think."

Buddha said," We are what we think, all that we are arises in out thoughts, with our thoughts we create the world."

Jesus said, "As you believe, so it is."

What all these great minds are saying is as we evolve in consciousness so does the world in which we live. I have often spoken of the vibrational continuum where consciousness is lowered into light then energy and once again into mass. Mass is more empty space than anything else and there are times it is a wave, other times it is a particle. In the ultimate reality it is condensed consciousness, the slower the vibration the more solid or what some call real it becomes. What happens when the vibration increases to dense physical matter? It becomes more malleable, more reactive, we have more control over the form it takes. This is what is happening on the planet. As the consciousness and frequencies rise we will have more control of our environment. We magnetize people and events to us according to our consciousness. Our bodies are not ruled by genes but by consciousness. Being unconscious of this allows them to run amuck and react to the environment rather than taking charge and creating what we wish to experience. The same goes with our outer world.

What the masters are saying is take charge of your world. Move into creationary mind rather than reactionary mind. Did you know there is no such word as Creationary? Run a spell check on it. Did you know you are bombarded with messages of fear, danger and impending doom for a reason? It is to keep you in a frequency that can be controlled. Where is the good news, the hope, the new breakthroughs in healing, quantum physics, the fact that we are not alone in the universe? You don't hear of these for a reason.

There is a war in consciousness. There are those who know the only way to control the masses is through fear. These controllers also know their time is short and a greater consciousness is manifesting. It is beyond their control and their efforts through technological and mental deviation will be futile. It is a greater power and it moves in mysterious ways. It is natural, a spiritual force and part of our destiny to evolve with it not stand against it. Have you seen what happens when you stand against Nature? Nature always has her way, she is often slow to react but thorough when she does. Have you ever tried to deceive an enlightened one, transgress against them? The reaction is almost instantaneous. Can you imagine trying to deceive the Creator what ever name you wish to give it. The intelligent designer has a plan for these folks. Rest assured there is a plan.

It may get darker before the dawn but this is part of the great uncovering. Tyranny will be exposed on every level; it will experience the reactions to its actions which will be increased exponentially. Those who have aligned themselves with Tyranny will not find a place to hide. No underground bunker, no off world base, there will be no place in the universe to run. You cannot run from yourself. Those who have been willing participants in the plans of the tyrants will also experience the same fate. There will be some very embarrassed politicians, corporations based upon greed and profit at the expense of humanity and nature will be exposed along with all their puppets. The Earth will do what she must to cleanse and heal herself and a greater brother/sisterhood that loves you greatly will come forward in the days to come. There will not be a nuclear war, it will not be allowed because the people will turn their backs on the fear and warmongers. There also will be watchers that will not allow it; part of an unseen group waiting in the wings. You will see unprecedented change in the days to come. It will happen on every level. Now is the time to awaken, listen and act with loving detachment. This is the best advice we can give in the days to come.

Out In The Woods - Maiden, Mother and Crone

Out for a walk in the woods one night
I did behold an awesome sight
Around a cauldron their cloaks held tight
Three hooded figures, and a stag to the right

The sat there silent, the stag as well
As if they were waiting, in that leafy dell
The moon came out and without a word
The all stood up with one accord

They dropped their cloaks and merged into one
The Maiden, the Mother and the Crone
The stag came to her and knelt at her side
Paying homage to his Lady as she stroked his side

It was a wonderful sight as the bright moon shone
But, when I looked again they both had gone
I have returned many times at night to that wood
In the hope's that I'd see them.  I wish I could

Lord Of The Wild Hunt

Deep in the wood in a hidden dell
Along by a stream where the waters fell
A baby was born who was destined to be
Tall with horns, strong and free

His father said "Now listen to me son
Your days of learning have just begun
You'll stay with your mother until you are three
And then you'll come and live with me

I'm the Lord of the Wild Hunt, big and strong
And I roam the forest all day long
Both I and my friend, called the Green Man
Will teach you everything we can

So when my time on Earth is done
You will take over and be the One
Called on by witches to aid in their rites
Deep in the forest late at night

Mayan Sun Ritual - In The Dawn Light

This practice is said to have originated in Atlantis. It is associated with the Emerald Tablets (now in print) and the place of the Grandmother in the center of the Earth (not the underworld). This practice was kept by Mayan elders who past it on to a North American native elder about 25 years ago. She has taught it in circle gatherings to many people in this country. This practice is ideally performed every day and at least every solstice and equinox. The first time it is performed should always be on solstice or equinox. Summer solstice is ideal since it is the longest day. You are "initiated" by the dawn light lords in the dawn light. It is advised to fast for one or more days before. 

This practice demands energetic movements, energetic breathing and a strong intent. Sit outside on the ground facing where the sun will rise. Your eyes are lightly closed and your hands at your sides, palms on the earth. Visualize pulling energy from the center of the earth. Breath deeply and when you feel the energy of the earth in your hands -- this might only be a change in the feeling -- bring the hands up overhead and slightly in front of you head, palms together and cupping towards the sun. Visualize that you are holding a small earth in each hand and that they become one earth once your hands are together. When they are together, over your head, the sun rays fertilize the earth that you are holding. 

Now you hold a glowing ball of energy. With a rapid and powerful cupping movement and strong exhale, pull the ball into your solar plexus area. At this point the breath is out and the fingers are pointing into the body. Hold as long as you can and then with a rapid inhale, forcefully pull the energy up from the solar plexus to the 3rd eye area, your fingers moving up in the same position. When you have completed the inhale, you have reached the third eye and your fingers are pointing into the head. Hold and then release the breath rigorously exhale while moving the fingers up to the top of the head and back down to the starting position. In the last movement you are pulling the energy up to the top of the head, off the crown of the head and back to the ground. Be fiercely intent about this. 

Repeat this six times. On the seventh time, you can start from a kneeling position and end fully prostrated on the ground, allowing the earth to balance your chakras and entire body. You can use this time to allow the earth to speak to you or to travel to the center of the earth.

Midnight Prayer by Darrell Grizzle 

Save me, O God, from the temptation to be less than fully human, less than the child of God You created me to be. 

Save me, O God, from the temptation to view my sexuality as a curse, rather than as a precious Gift with which You have blessed me. 

Save me, O God, from those who seek to heal what does not need healing, who seek to further wound me by making me think I am a mistake, rather than made in Your image. 

Save me, O God, from easy and simplistic theology, which seems to offer security but really offers shackles and blinds the soul from knowing You in all Your complexity, beauty, and wonder. 

Save me, O God, from everything and everyone that would distract me or dissuade me from living into Your calling on my life. 

 Amen.

 

Note: For instructions on forming a pagan circle for rites & rituals visit my blog post:  https://www.dalehyde.org/2021/01/a-wiccan-ritual.html