10 Ways to Protect Your Home from Negativity – Warding for Beginners

There are a lot of perks of being a witch. You have a stronger intuition, a higher sensitivity to the energy around you, and a sense of empowerment over your life. However, witchcraft also has some disadvantages. Indeed, being more sensitive to energy makes you more vulnerable to the negativity around you. On top of it, a spell can always backfire and attract unwelcome guests into your home. For those reasons, a witch’s home needs protection. Remember that prevention is better than cure. A good ward will keep your house protected and safe, saving you a lot of trouble. Believe me, casting a few protection spells is way easier than breaking a hex!

What is a Ward?

A ward is a protective spell, made to repel, filter and deflect all negative energies. When set properly, it works independently from you, as if it had its own will. A ward works on the long term, but to prevent it from fading, you must reactivate it occasionally. There are a lot of ways to set a ward on your house, and all of them will work if your intention is strong enough. Here are 10 easy ways to set a ward on your home.

1. Have a Good Spiritual Hygiene

As I wrote earlier, it’s easier to prevent than to cure. If you have a regular spiritual hygiene routine, you are less likely to bring negative energies with you when you come home. In other words, if you cleanse your aura and ground yourself every day, you will be less vulnerable to the negative energies that are crossing your path.

2. Enter Your Home Mindfully

I can’t stress this enough: magick is a matter of intention. Hence, the simplest way of warding your home is to enter it mindfully. So, every time you pass your front door, do it with the intention of leaving all unwanted energies behind. Here are some affirmations that you can say to yourself:

I leave all unwanted energies behind.

This home is a place of love.

I banish all negativity from my home.

However, that method can’t be your only ward, because it is easy to forget. Besides, for it to work, everyone in your household needs to do it, and there is no way to check if they are doing it for real. So consider this one like a prevention method that can be combined with another warding technique.

3. Purify Your Home Regularly

Just like having a regular spiritual hygiene routine, purifying your home often prevents the accumulation of unwanted energies. It also brings a good, relaxing vibe into your living space. I recommend you purify your home at least every season. If you follow the Wheel of the Year, you can purify your home at Mabon, Yule, Ostara and Litha.

How to Purify Your Home

Choose a cleansing tool that appeals to you. For instance, you can use bells, a smudge stick, a singing bowl, blessed water, salt, crystals, a broom, or plain visualization. Before you start, take a few moments to get into the right mindset. Set your intention. Ask your guides to help you cleanse your house from all negativity and stagnant energies. You can say a prayer if you feel like it. Then, use your tool in front or each door and each window of your house in a clockwise manner. If it’s a musical instrument, play it; if it’s a smudge stick, spread the smoke in front of it with a fan, starting from the top. If you are using salt or blessed water, simply spread a little bit of it on the ground. Make sure that all your doors and windows are open during the ritual, so that everything can get out. When you are done, go through each room in the same manner. Activate your tool at each corner of the room in a clockwise fashion. Then, go back to each door and window and close them in a counterclockwise manner.

4.    Use Symbols of Protection

The pentacle of Solomon is a very ancient symbol of protection.

Symbols have been used for protection since the dawn of times. A lot of occult symbols can be used for home protection, such as the pentagram, the eye of Horus, the hamsa, the triquetra and the pentacle of Solomon. Runes and sigils can also be used for this purpose. The simplest way to use a symbol of protection is to draw or print it on a sheet of paper and stick it on your front door. You can also hide a symbol behind another piece of furniture in your entryway, like a rug or a picture frame. If you like crafting, you could even include a protective symbol in a DIY home decor. Then, while you are installing your object, imagine that it glows and pulses with power. In your mind’s eye, visualize your symbol becoming bigger and bigger, to create a shield of energy in front of your front door. Repeat this visualization until it is very clear in your mind.

5.    Hang a Broom Over Your Door

In witchcraft, brooms are used to cleanse and protect a space. Thus, hanging a broom above your front door is an easy way to create a ward. Choose a wood with protective properties (such as birch, cedar or oak) for best results. To active your ward, visualize a shield of energy surrounding your entrance while you are installing your broom.

6.    Make a Home Protection Herbal Pouch

You can create a herbal blend to ward your home against negativity. Here’s how to do it.

1. Choose a few protective herbs using a table of correspondences. You can also find a lot of recipes online.
2. Place your herbs in a small cloth or muslin bag.
3. To charge your herbs, take your pouch in your two hands and visualize a ball of golden light around it while focusing on your intention.
4. Hang it above your front door or hide it in your entryway.

7.    Place Crystals on Your Windowsills

You can also use crystals as wards to protect your home. To do so, choose a crystal with protective properties and simply place it on a windowsill. Dark colored crystals (tourmaline, obsidian, smoky quartz, etc.) and cleansing crystals (selenite, clear quartz, citrine, amethyst, etc.) should work perfectly. Before placing them, cleanse and program them using the method of your choice. Place them into a crystal grid for best results.

8.    Make a Protective Wreath

This is another way of protecting your house with home decor. There are tons of tutorials online that will teach you how to do a wreath. Choose herbs with protective properties, and while you are weaving them, focus on your intention. Visualize a shield of energy around your entrance while you are installing it on your front door.

9.    Create a Home Guardian

The last two warding methods of this article act on the astral plane. To use them, you need less material, but it requires high level visualization skills. A home guardian is an emanation of your will, meant to protect your home from intruders. Since you are creating him, your guardian can have the appearance of your choice: a spirit animal, an elemental, a fairy, a gargoyle, an angel, etc. Follow the steps below to get started.

How to do it

1. Choose the appearance of your home guardian. To reinforce your visualization, you can use a physical object (a doll, a statuette or a drawing) to represent your guardian.
2. Cast a Circle of power like you usually do. Say a few words to summon your guardian into the circle.
3. Visualize it into your mind’s eye. Create your guardian using all your senses. What does he/she look like? What’s his smell? What does he wear? What does he feel like?
4. Now, talk to your guardian and ask him to protect your home.
5. Walk around your house with your physical object if you have it. Otherwise, imagine that your guardian is accompanying you. Show him all the rooms, exits and windows of your house. If there is a place or an object that needs more protection (your altar, for example), let him know.
6. Set a small shrine for your home guardian where you will place his physical representation. Leave offerings regularly to maintain his power.

10. Root Your Home to the Earth

Here is a visualization to anchor your home to the Earth. The goal is to create a permanent and self-regulating network of energy in your house. I adapted it from the French website Les Portes du Sidh, find the original post here. It might take a few tries to work, but don’t worry. Every time you will visualize it, it will get stronger.

How to do it

1. Find the central point of your house and sit there to meditate.
2. In your mind’s eye, visualize a big tree root passing through your body.
3. Imagine that the root is spreading across your house, connecting it to the ground. If you live above the ground (for example, in an apartment on the second floor), visualize the root passing through the lower floors to reach the earth.
4. Now, send all the negative energies of your house into the tree root, back to the center of the Earth. Imagine it as a current of black light reaching down in a straight line.
5. When your home is cleared from all negativity, it’s time to reverse the flow. Imagine a warm, clear energy coming from the Earth’s center, passing through the tree root, filling your home with positivity and joy. Visualize it as a green or golden light.
6. The next step is to connect that current to your home. To do so, visualize an energetic network that connects each room of your house to the central tree root. Don’t forget to include the room where you are sitting. Your network can be made of anything you want: metal pipes, colored strings, glass tubes, spiderwebs or smaller roots. Then, link the four exterior corners of your house to the network in the same manner.
7. To activate your new network, draw more energy from the Earth like you did before. Visualize a green or golden light coming from the central tree root, filling every channel of your energetic network.
8. This network will work on its own permanently. Keep this in mind and consider that your work is done. If you feel that the energy starts to fade, repeat the whole process.

Final Thoughts

Like all magickal act, warding your home can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. When selecting your warding method, consider your needs, your style and your personal strengths. Do you want something subtle or obvious? Which tools do you use the most? Are you good at crafting, or would you rather visualize? There is no good or bad way to protect your home, if your intention is strong enough.