Uncrossing and Magickal Defense

Uncrossing is magickal self-defense. When your spells go awry, when spirits move in where they shouldn’t, when another witch casts curses against you or when you just feel that things are not right, uncrossing is the first and best step to fixing the problems. In many cases it may be all you need. In more intense situations, it might be followed or preceded by more targeted magickal work.

Simply put, uncrossing is a cleansing (and an exorcism) that washes away negative influences from yourself and your home. You cannot have someone else do this work for you, but you will find this is not a complex process to follow. It is intended for *anyone* to perform, even if they have no experience in the magickal arts.
What follows is a fairly standard Uncrossing, with a few added tricks I’ve picked up over the years:

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Step One – Look for Curses, Tricks, Talismans, etc.

If you have reason to believe a curse has been cast against you, the first thing you should do is search for a magickal object hidden somewhere on your property. (This will be more relevant in some parts of the world than in others.)  There *may* be something buried or hidden – most likely near or directly under where you must walk past every day – such as under the doorstep or front pathway.  If you can find such an object- like a bottle full of nails, cloves of garlic nailed together, etc- immediately dig it up, dismantle it, burn what can be burned, then toss the ashes (and/or anything that couldn’t be burned) into a body of running water.

Step Two – What You Will Need

Whether or not you find such an object, you must then “uncross” yourself – that is, remove the curse. This will involve an herbal ritual bath and a house cleansing.  Here is what you will need to gather together:

– Sacred herbs:  I use the nine herbs listed in the Key of Solomon for the sprinkling of holy water.  They all have traditional associations with cleansing:  vervain, fennel, lavender, sage, valerian, mint, basil, rosemary and hyssop.

However you can also use other herbs in other numbers.  Hyssop and rue, for example, are commonly used together for uncrossing.  Further uncrossing herbs are: Agrimony, Alkanet, Alum, Angelica, Bay, Benzoin, Black Pepper*, Blessed Thistle, Camphor, Cayenne Pepper*, Chives, Copal, Dragon’s Blood, Eucalyptus, Garlic, John the Conqueror, Lemon, Lemongrass, Lime, Mullein, Onion, Pine, Sandalwood, Sulfur and Wood Betony.   You may use these herbs in groups of 3, 5, 7, 9 or 13.  (* – Be very careful when using pepper in a bath.  You do not want to burn your eyes!)

-Spring Water and Salt (or Holy Water obtained from a Church).

-A White Candle.

-Olive Oil.

-Frankincense or “Church” Incense.

-A white towel and white clothing.

– Over the Herbs, Candle, Incense, Olive Oil and Salt: recite the Lord’s Prayer (or a prayer appropriate to your faith – Wiccans can use the Charge of the Goddess, etc). Then recite your own prayer asking for these materials to be blessed and sanctified and all hindrances and evil spirits be expelled from them. (Note – if you have obtained Holy Water from a church, you do not need the Salt.)

Step Three – The Bath

The bath is very important to this process!  It will wash away any negative influences that have attached themselves to you, and purify you so that the remaining steps are possible.

– Take the nine herbs, grind them up and boil or brew them like a tea.  Strain out the plant material.

– Then, at dawn on a Sunday, run a tub of warm water, cast in some of the Salt or Holy Water and pour in a portion of the brewed herbal “tea.” (Make sure you don’t use up all of these things, as you will need more later.) Then light the candle and incense.

-Enter the bath and pour the bath water over your head several times, making sure your entire body is covered, while reciting the following Psalms at least three times each:

If a curse has been cast against you or enemies are attacking you:

Psalms 51 (“Have mercy upon me, O God…”) and 37 (“Do not fret because of evildoers…”).

Or Psalms 101 (“I will sing of your love and justice…”) and 68 (“May God arise, may His enemies be scattered…”).

Or Psalms 35 (“Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me… “), 55 (“Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.”) and 109 (“Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise.”).

For general uncrossing:

Psalm 5 (“Give ear to my words, O Lord…”)

Or Psalm 51 (“Have mercy upon me, O God…”)

Or Psalm 40 (“I waited patiently for the Lord…”)

Or Psalm 10 (“Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?”).

If the problem is due to an unwanted spirit, choose three of the following:

Psalm 5 (“Give ear to my words, O Lord…”)

Psalm 10  (“Why standest thou afar off, O Lord?”)

Psalm 15 (“Lord, who shall abide in thy Tabernacle?”)

Psalm 19 (“The heavens declare the glory of God”)

Psalm 29 (“Give unto the Lord, O ye Mighty”)

Psalm 40 (“I waited patiently for the Lord”)

Psalm 66 (“make a joyful noise unto God”)

Psalm 68 (“Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered”)

Psalms 101 (“I will sing of mercy and judgement”), and/or 144-145 (“Blessed be the Lord my strength”, “I will extoll Thee, my God”).

-Leave the bath, use the burning incense to perfume your entire body.  Do not dry off with a towel, allowing yourself to air-dry instead.  Allow the candle and incense to burn away completely.

-(UPDATE 7-2014): I recently ran across an extra step that might come in handy:  Just before you drain the tub, collect some of the water in a bottle.  Then take the bottle to a crossroads, leave it there (or toss it in the nearest dumpster) and walk away without looking back.  Go home, via a different route than the one you came.

-Though this is not necessary, some of you may find this egg-cleansing technique useful.  You can do it before the bath to see what is stuck to you, and/or you can do it after the bath to see if anything is still stuck to you.

Step Four – Cleanse and Seal Your Home

-First, simply give the place a good scrubbing, from top to bottom, just like spring cleaning. (Including throwing out old and unused things, etc.)

Important!:  The floors must all be washed:  Add the left-over “herb tea” and some ammonia to the water in the mop bucket, then wash the floors starting from the back of the house and moving toward the front, ending with the front doorstep. (For carpeted areas, put some of the floor wash into a spray bottle.  Lightly spray over the carpet and brush with a broom.)

In the end the house should be bright and cheery, with open windows, fresh air and sunlight.

-Then put on the white clothing and light more of the incense.

-If you blessed Salt previously, cast some of that into fresh spring water and recite your chosen prayer of blessing over the salted water.  If you obtained Holy Water from a church, you do not need to add salt or pray over it.

-Then walk around the entire house- sprinkling the water and perfuming each and every room, every corner, every nook, every dark place. While you do this, recite Psalms 90 (“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place…”) and 91 (“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High…”) over and over.

-When that is done, take the blessed olive oil. Dipping your finger into it, seal every door and window in the house – marking with the oil above and on either side of the doorway or window. As you do this, think of the passover in Egypt (when the first-born of the Jews were spared from the Plague of Death) and recite the Lord’s prayer (or your chosen prayer of blessing) over and over.

NOTE – How Often?

You might perform the ritual bath and house cleansing once for small purposes, or more often for more intense situations. You can do this three days in a row, or seven, or nine, or thirteen days in a row. (The full spring-cleaning of your house should only need done on the first day. A lighter cleaning can be done each day afterward, including the floor washing of course!)

This will either entirely remove, or drastically weaken, any magick being used against you or spirits that may be attached to you or your home. If your problem is merely an evil spirit that is harassing you, then this may well solve the problem. However, if there really is a witch casting curses against you, then further steps will have to be taken to put a stop to it.

Here is my favorite mirror-spell for putting a stop to evil magick.

Here is my favorite egg-defense spell to “divert” evil magick sent your way.

In LVX
Aaron