Protection from Evil Spirits and Ghosts

This is something that comes up a lot. What do I do to protect myself from mischievous spirits? This one is easy, so easy in fact you probably already have it. Ready for this: Sodium Chloride. Yup, regular ole' salt. What's so special about salt you say? It's so mundane. It's also in everything: the Earth, the seas, our bodies, our food. Besides water - salt is a life force. Without it we would die, too much of it and we die. 

Down through history in just about every culture around the world you will find stories about the history of it's use in magical rites of purification and protection. In the Jewish culture it is said you should put kosher salt in every corner of a new home or one that has been standing empty for a while to keep the spirits at bay. If your Catholic, salt is an essential ingredient in Holy Water and it's used in exorcisms. In Armenia, you put salt in all your doorways and windowsills to keep out the Evil Eye. In Buddhist tradition, salt repels evil spirits, which is why it is customary to throw salt over your shoulder before entering your house after a funeral: it scares off any evil spirits that may be clinging to your back. Shinto religion also uses salt to purify an area. If you spill salt, throw the spilled salt over your left shoulder to ward off bad luck. In witchcraft it is used to create a protective circle for rituals and spells. It is said no evil can cross the circle if it's complete. You also use it to protect from nightmares if a bowl is placed under your bed. You would be hard pressed to find a religion/culture that didn't have a "superstition" regarding salt.

Here's a little story from 2 weeks ago: We were sitting in our living room, our dog Asher got terrified all of a sudden. No reason what so ever. He was staring at the walls, the mirror in the office (that's a whole other story) and down the hallway, trying to desperately get out the doors and windows, shaking like a leaf in a tornado. He was clinging to us where ever we went. No matter what we did he did not calm down. We would take him outside and he'd calm down after about a block away. As we got near the house, he'd start all over again, wouldn't go up the stairs, pulled at the leash to get away. We had to pick him up to get him in the door. Poor little guy. It lasted all night long. The next day was his scheduled Play Day and we let his trainer know what happened. While he was gone we put salt in all the windows and across every door casting a protection spell with the salt. I also added a protective black obsidian grid to strengthen the salt. When he got home he stopped at the stairs, cocked his head like he was feeling it out and bounded inside like nothing ever happened. The salt is still in it's protective positions and he's doing fine.

There are many similar stories. If you have a salt story please share!

Different kinds of salts have different properties. I can only speak for witchcraft here but here's a few things I've put together:

Black Salt also known as Drive-Away Salt:

• Keep in a dish under your bed or in a little bag under your pillow to negate bad dreams & ward off unwanted watchers or spirits while your sleeping.
• Add to bath water when you are feeling especially depressed, angry & negative.
• Mitigate the negative effects of Mercury Retrograde by carrying some with you.
• Add a bit to floor washes to cleanse your home, front walkway and ritual area of negativity.
• Sprinkle liberally on items or possessions that you feel have bad memories or spiritual attachments to them. Put small antiques in a bowl of black salt before bringing into your home.
  
• Add red pepper flakes to black salt to move someone out. If one walks on black salt/red pepper, they will become dissatisfied with the place where the salt was placed and will want to move away from that area. 
• Sprinkle black salt across your doorstep, around your work area, or any other place where you want enemies to stay away from. 

You can make black salt by adding powdered charcoal to your kosher salt and mix well. You can add black pepper to the mix to strengthen the energy. You can also add brimstone (sulfur) to the black salt to hex someone, prevent evil or negativity entering your home.

Pink Salt:

• As salt absorbs psychic energy, it can be used to transfer or transmute a wish or spell to the higher powers by first making the spell, then throwing the salt into a fire where it burns up and in doing so, releases the psychic charge into the higher dimensions. For a wish spell: hold a little salt in your power hand, make a wish and then throw the salt into the fire.
• Pink salt should be thrown into water: a well, a river or into the sea to carry wishes, or take away burdens and clear attachments from the aura.
• Carry in a red pouch with Love herbs and a personal item from the desired person to draw their eye toward you. 
• Use in a bath with rose petals to help soothe a wounded heart and clear out the negative feelings left behind.
  

Himalayan pink salt is easy to obtain. You can usually find it at the dollar store. In a pinch, you can add grind rose petals into kosher salt.

White Salt:

• With salts extreme ability to draw away remnants of psychic energy, including "ghost manifestations" of many different kinds, salt has always been used for psychic clearing and for purification. Sprinkle in every corner, across doorways and windowsills.
  
• Magicians and priests routinely prepare for ceremonies by taking a bath which contains salt as one of the main ingredients.
• Magical objects and crystals are cleansed by immersing them in salt water.
• Bowls of salt may be placed into a room to absorb negative energy or psychic energy disturbances.
• Food and objects can be purified by adding a small amount of salt, or placing a small amount of salt nearby. In the dark ages it was rumored salt would take away death from poisoned food (this has not been proven). It did however help to preserve many meats. It was witchcraft, I tell ya! 😁
  
• Throwing salt is generally regarded as a device to clear the aura of a person or an environment of leftover psychic energy and warding off bad luck.
  
• A box containing salt can be used to purify anything that is placed in it. I use it for my tarot cards and crystals often.

Most prefer Kosher, Sea Salt or Dead Sea Salt. Some believe you can take table salt and bless it with a simple prayer - " Bless this salt and may it do what I tell it to do."

No matter if you believe in the power of salt or just use it to flavor your food, there's no denying the history that it helps us in many different ways. 

Be well Witches and always have salt on hand. 

Audra