This week’s magical inspiration comes from the Banishment card from the Witchlings.  You have the power to banish negative energy and unwanted problems.

Holy guacamole, do I have a lot to say about banishing magic.  I’ll keep it brief though so that I don’t end up going on and on with a big lecture.  I promise!

Banishing magic is one of the things I get asked about the most. A really good part of the time when I get an email from someone looking for magical help they’re looking to banish a person from their lives.  For some reason it’s always a person that needs to be banished, not a bad habit or a belief or anything like that.  It’s most often a person who has caused problems for my dear email friend and they want a spell to banish that person from their lives.

Banishing magic is truly no joke.  Certain traditions may approach banishing almost with a lighthearted nature but at its core banishing magic is about getting rid of something for good.  When you get rid of that thing you also get rid of he things that are connected to it.  When you cut one tie you are likely going to cut off anything else that was connected to it.  If you don’t you can bet things might get awkward later in you bump into each other.

Banishing magic is not something you should do because in the heat of the moment you’re pissed at someone.  Banishing magic is something that should be a last resort not a first reaction.

If your first thought is to banish a person, asking yourself what the problem is.  I had someone ask me about banishing a meddling mother-in-law.  The dear soul who wrote me, who we’ll call Sally, said her mother-in-law was meddling in her 2 year old marriage and trying to turn her husband against her after the two woman had a falling out.  Suddenly what seemed like a fine family blending turned sour quickly because the mother-in-law didn’t like a personal decision Sally had made, a decision that didn’t have any impact on either her husband or mother-in-law.  The mother-in-law decided that Sally was not good enough for her son and has since been slyly trying to pull the two apart.

“I’d like to banish my mother-in-law so she can’t ruin my new marriage, take away my husband, and possibly ruin my life.  My husband is the love of my life but she is my nightmare.  Is there anything I can do to make her leave us alone for good?”

Ehh…no.  Here’s why.

Sally’s husband, who we’ll call Bob, was not seeing the same things from his mother.  He didn’t witness to event that caused the rift and he felt Sally was being overly sensitive.  Since Bob didn’t have any issues with his mother and didn’t really believe there was a real problem with and Sally, he wouldn’t have any reason to cut off communication with his mother.

What does that matter?  Because while Sally could do a banishing on her “nightmare” Bob wouldn’t have any reason to change his relationship with his mother. This means she would still have an influence over Bob that would still trickle down to Sally.

Tell me that wont make for an awkward Thanksgiving!

Sure, Sally can banish her mother-in-law from her life but if she tries to banish her from Bob’s life too, without Bob’s consent, or at the very least him feeling the same way about the situation, she’s just setting up a series of problems to come her way.

When you feel like you need to banish a person from your life you need to look at the trickle down effect of that banishment.  Who are you mutually connected to?  Are you still planning to maintain those mutual connections?  How do you plan to handle still coming into contact with that person through friends or family?

Inevitably it’s more trouble than it’s worth.  Instead, banish the problem.  I guarantee you the person isn’t the problem.  What happened between you to?  What caused the rift or the situation that is making you want to be rid of them from your life?  Find the true root cause and banish that!  You’ll be glad you did because then you’ll have your loved one back too!

And, even better, always start with you!  What attitude, actions, or beliefs of your own are contributing to the situation and possibly making things more complicated? How are you perceiving things that might not be completely honest and accurate?

Since banishing issues between people and relationships is what I get asked about the most, you magic for the week is around putting that relationship on the “freeze” so you can take time to rationally find a solution to the problem. This will help banish the negative energy, at the very least for a a time if not permanently.

 

Freeze and Banish

You Will Need:

• Piece of paper {4×4 square is good}
• Piece of black string
• Pen
• Little bit of water
• Plastic sandwich bag {optional}
• Your freezer

On the paper write down what needs to be put on ice. “Bob and his temper”, “Sally and her wild imagination”, etc.  If you’re going to name another person have a reason, not just “Mark”  Why are you banishing or freezing Mark out.

Now take your string and tie it in knots, one over the other, in the center until you have a knotted ball of thread.  As you do say:

Tied and bound,
bound in knots,
I banish away __________.
In these knots
and frozen in ice,
this can no longer bother me.

Take the string and place it in the center of the paper and fold the paper as flat as you can.

Next take a little bit of water and drip it onto the paper, just enough to soak through the paper and the string.  Place this somewhere in the back of your freezer where it wont be disturbed. If you want to add a little extra layer of protection, you can place it in the sandwich bag before putting it in the freezer.

Leave this there until the problem is resolved or leaves your life for good.