Psychic Self-Protection – What You Need to Know
I’ve held off writing about psychic self-protection for a long time, because I didn’t want to write about dark entities, demons or anything else that may come to mind when you read the words ‘psychic self-protection’.
The very fact that you might need to protect yourself in psychic development sounds bad, doesn’t it? But, this website is called Psychic but Sane, NOT psychic but scared 
This article isn’t designed to frighten, and there isn’t much to be scared of anyway, in my view. I wish I had known that several years ago, when I was exploring psychic development.
Instead I used to be so fearful of the spirit world – worried about being startled or attacked by spirits and unsure of how protected I was when I was doing psychic work. These days, I feel confident and safe. Over the last ten years, I’ve tried many processes for psychic self-protection and in this article I’m going to talk about what did and didn’t work for me.
Do We Even Need Psychic Protection?
You may have heard some people say that psychic protection isn’t necessary at all. I also used to believe that some people didn’t need psychic protection.
I believed that if you kept a ‘high vibration’ all the time (i.e. you were in a state of happiness most of the time), you wouldn’t attract negative spirits.
That is partly true, but it’s only part of what psychic self-protection is about.
Negative Spirits?
Psychic self-protection, for me is mainly about protecting yourself from unwanted energies like random ghosts and astral entities, so that you don’t waste any time on channelling them, and so that you don’t feel drained or affected negatively by them. But ghosts and astral entities are not necessarily dark or negative. So this article is not so much about protecting yourself from ‘the dark’. It’s more about protecting yourself from channelling entities that probably don’t have a higher perspective than you. So that you can focus on channelling the entities that do – your higher self, guardian angels and spirit guides.
The Dark Realm
My experience of the psychic realm is so far removed from the idea of dark entities and demons. Over the course of several years, I read books by well-known authors (such as Robert Bruce) which teach you how to avoid demons and dark entities and I ended up scared stiff and paranoid – it did me no good at all.
Over time, I have come to believe that certain ‘spiritual’ issues such as dark entities attacking us, are actually psychological gremlins (i.e. our own creations, borne of fear and anxiety, projected outwards and taking shape in our minds as a dark entity.)
I also believe that what seem to be dark entities might instead be astral entities (ghosts) who are appearing much scarier than they actually are.
Ghosts or astral entities (when they attach to a person’s aura) drain energy and echo our negative emotions, but they don’t put thoughts in our heads or victimize us in any way. They’re stuck and lost – not evil or twisted.
The Importance of a High Vibration
Having a high vibration is important, but it’s MAINLY important at the moment of tuning in to get psychic guidance – not so much when you’re just going about your business and not really having anything to do with spiritual guidance.
How to Raise your Vibration Temporarily
One of the best ways to raise your vibration temporarily for tuning in psychically is to involve the Divine in your tuning in process. Involving the Divine means calling on God or an Archangel (such as Michael, Gabriel or Raphael). You could also call on an Ascended Master (like Ganesh, Jesus, Mother Mary, Krishna, St Francis, Quan Yin or Buddha.) Preferably you would do this in conjunction with a breathing exercise, which also raises your vibration.
In the Psychic Awakening course, I teach students to involve the Divine in their ‘tuning in’ process, and we also do a breathing exercise as part of the process.
Positioning your awareness at the divine level through an exercise like this, is the best way I know of to ward off unwanted energies.
The Second Best Protection Tool
The second best tool for psychic self-protection that I know of: being more selective about whom you channel.
Don’t open yourself up to channel just any old entity. Ideally, you want to be channelling ONLY your spirit guides, higher self, guardian angels (and other entities who are with you on your journey through life, at the choosing of your soul.)
If you’re channelling a being and you’re not sure who it is, I’d recommend you stop, and find someone who can teach you, or give you some tips on how to channel the right sources of guidance, like your higher self and spirit guides. Otherwise, you may find that you’re channelling a ghost/astral entity who has no more perspective on your life than you do. And over time, that can be draining.
Who Needs Psychic Protection the Most?
Empaths and natural intuitives need psychic protection the most because they already have very open and porous energy fields, even before they do psychic development. Psychic development work opens them up even further, so psychic protection is especially important for such people.
An empath is a person who has some kind of talent for exploring what it is like to be another person. Empaths are effectively ‘flying in spirit’ and putting themselves into other peoples’ shoes, and they can often come back into their own consciousness with unwanted astral garbage from another person’s experience. Even if an empath is of a very high vibration, they may still be picking up unwanted energies all the time.
What Doesn’t Work?
Here are some tools for psychic protection I’ve tried that didn’t work.
Smudging with sage
This clears your space by making astral entities (or ghosts) flee. But it doesn’t offer any permanent protection unless you do it every day.
White candles
This is a psychic protection ‘tool’ beloved of scamming psychics who offer to remove a curse for you (that you never really had) in return for a lot of cash. Part of the therapy for removing the curse often seems to be lighting a white candle. But white candles offer no more protection against unwanted energies than your lucky underpants do.
Psychic shields
Psychic shields are like band-aids. They sometimes work, and when they do, they’re a temporary measure. Ideally, you’d want to have control over your own energetic boundaries so that you don’t need a psychic shield. The best type of psychic protection in my view involves strengthening your energy field, rather than using shields.
Sea Salt
Taking a bath with sea salt in it is excellent for clearing a hyperactive state, but it does nothing for stopping unwanted energies coming into your space.
How do you know when your psychic protection is working?
Your methods for psychic protection are working when you feel confident and safe when you venture out into the astral/psychic realm. Not only that, but you should not at any time feel drained or light-headed in your psychic development.
Book Recommendation
Out of everything I’ve read, the best book I know of on spiritual protection is Susan Shumsky’s book Exploring Auras: Cleansing And Strengthening Your Energy Field
Do you have tips, experiences or anything else that you’d like to share here on psychic self-protection?
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I used to be SO concerned about this too when I first started delving into the psychic realm and developing my abilities. I still do psychic protection from time to time but I’m not obsessed about it. Great article!
I can’t wait for your professional intuitive course in the Summer!
Anna,
There are many good points here and I have done the smudging and salt baths as well. Like you said it is only temporary.
I DIDN’T KNOW I was an empath until I got older though.
OK, I don’t want to scare anyone, but choosing who to channel and calling for help from God sometimes isn’t enough.
Technically, there are astral critters and almost demonic entities that are nothing more than parasites – and they drain life energies. Sorry, but not every spirit is lost, some spirits aren’t spirits at all, they’re like animals, parasites looking for pray, and they can suck the life out of you – and it’s not a metaphor.
Indeed, the methods Anna describes are mostly temporary. The best defense you might have against astral entities and psychic attacks as well (we leave in a world where psychic vampirism and black magick is quite popular, and heck – it works, only too well) is a disciplined mind. And disciplined mind is a mind without subconscious wholes in your psychic defenses. Your tolerance and acceptance towards negative actions is a whole in your defenses, allowing the entities and people to attack you. Your fear against possible attacks is also dangerous. Your negative mind patterns – broken heart, fear of being poor, even blocked creativity, all of this blocks your connection with higher power (God), thus lowering your psychic defenses.
Let’s not scare people, but also, let’s not hide the truth that sometimes you can be kicked in your back, and it can be very dangerous kick.
Thanks Frances! I can’t wait for my course to be finished too
Hi Nathan,
I don’t agree that negative entities come looking for people at random to come kick us in the back. I don’t advocate watching our backs all the time out of fear.
I’ve been experimenting with psychic protection for ten years, clearing entities for four and the idea that negative entities habitually come looking for people, to prey on us like wild animals doesn’t fit with the things I’ve experienced and seen in practice with hundreds of clients.
In my experience, it’s a psychological condition. I do not believe that perceived negative entity attacks are spiritual. I think they are psychological – the manifestation of some kind of illness, whether it’s physical or mental. I had swine flu last year and had some pretty awful nightmares and hallucinations, involving evil creatures coming to get me. At the time it seemed so real to me.
I could have told myself it was an entity preying on me while I was weak, but instead I believe I had a really high fever, and that affects the brain. When I got well again, I was fine and stronger than ever.
I think to experience psychic attacks often, you have to be pretty focused on the dark (avoiding it, outwitting it, fearing it) in order to see evidence of it, like a psychological self fulfilling prophecy. From what I’ve seen and experienced, it’s like the more you are scared of it, the more it appears to come after you. Those who focus on happiness, peace, God and on the Divine as part of their spiritual experience simply do not experience that.
Anna,
What can I say – I’m happy that you haven’t encountered the Dark Side of the Force yet
.
For years I’ve been playing with black magick, dark arts and psychic vampirism, because of this today I’m little more sensitive to evil than most psychics. I know what to look for – and when you don’t know, you can’t perceive attachments and astral critters – it’s almost like most psychics and sensitives are blind to low vibrations.
But when you know what to look for, you can see that many people these days have attachments, meaning astral critters feeding upon them. Psychic vampirism isn’t rare, as well. I’m not saying that we should be scared all the time, I’m saying that we have created ourselves a kind of civilization that is like huge food source for the beings from astral planes.
People who live happy life, who pursuit spiritual growth, who prefer positive thinking, they’re fine. That’s what we should all be doing. But look around the world around you – people live in stress, they’re afraid of everything, they also carry negative patterns from previous incarnations, not mentioning negative patterns taught by their parents, teachers and friends. They go to places of negative energies – restaurants, shopping centres, fast food. In places like this, astral entities seeks food – just like we do so. They seek those who are psychically and spiritually weak, and they attach to them.
Even spiritual development can’t save from this – because most people who seek spiritual growth forget that the first step is to clear their intention. Negative intentions are magnets for low vibration energies.
It doesn’t mean that a lot of our fears and so called “psychic attacks” isn’t just our psychological effect. Of course there’s a lot of psychology working here. But psychological and emotional problems are also gateways for more serious problems, problems rarely psychics and energy workers like to see. An effect of more modern approach to esoteric arts. There’s serious astral dynamics going on beyond the veil, which cannot be refered to as just “psychological effect” because it’s something more.
When you know what to look for, you might be surprised. I’ll say this – if your techniques work for you, then continue your work. A lot of astral attachments can be broken by working with psychological anchors. But the fact is – astral planes are filled with many beings – good and bad, goodlooking and ugly, angelic and demonic. Not all of them are just products of our imagination. And some of them can be really nasty.
I remember that kid – he was so eager to summon ghosts. He wasn’t afraid of them, he just wanted to prove they don’t exist at all. There was no psychological factor like “oh, I’m so afraid”, on the contrary, he was so skeptical that most psychics would say he’s closed to any energetic influence. A perfect defense, some might say. Yet the two entities feeding from him I sensed didn’t care if he believe or not…
Hi Nathan,
What can I say – I’m happy too that I don’t encounter anything dark these days!
I have had experiences with what seemed to be demonic or negative beings in my late teenage years (hence my search for psychic protection), and my experiences with that are recounted in my psychic awakening course. But in hindsight, I feel my experiences were psychological, and came from fear and anxiety. I went through a rough time emotionally from about 16 onwards.
When a client I’m reading for believes they’re being psychically attacked, when I have a look, it’s usually a different issue on the level of the aura that they have misdiagnosed. Thinking you have a negative entity attachment is all too common in the New age community, like a ‘catch all’ diagnosis. And I think it has gotten out of hand in a way.
I believe that part of the reason for this is: astral entities (or ghosts, as they are more commonly known) can make a person feel pretty crappy, because when they’re in your energy field they magnify negative emotions. They are often mistook for something nastier, but they are simply magnifying your emotions and the negative triggers that are there. Remove the underlying pain, anger or guilt (or whatever), and the entities have nothing to magnify. So, people who feel victimized by entities don’t always like this (because it is much harder work than simply removing an entity), but I believe our spiritual health really starts with us, and we can take responsibility for it. I really believe we don’t have to go round being scared of being kicked in the back by negative entities.
Your insightful comment got me to thinking that there is a missing piece though in this article, which is about spiritual and emotional health. Maybe I’ll write a follow up article.
This website attracts high awareness people, and I generally get incredibly aware clients too so I didn’t even think to include the part about emotional and spiritual health.
Phew. Long comment!
As I said – entities attach through the “holes” in our subconscious – these holes are bad emotions, negative memories and thought patterns (like “rich people are thieves” pattern). Remove the pattern or ease emotions of the memorized event, and the entity will have nothing to attach to.
You’re right – New Age resulted in that “catch all”, like everyone who feels sad thinks he’s possessed by demons. But it doesn’t mean that demons don’t happen
.
And just to clarify – when you say “ghosts”, are we talking about spirits of people who passed away, or about all astral entities, even egregores, thought-forms, deities, gods, and other beings there were never human?
Anna,
I definitely agree with what you said in regards to this. I have experienced both sides (The dark as people call it) and that was most definitely at a time when i first started my spiritual development (before letting go of fears and baggage) and all of my fears were magnified.
After learning and trusting higher self and my guides, I came to realize that there is nothing to fear whatsoever, which has caused nothing but better experiences, balance and a clearer head of what is really taking place. And I am still learning…but when I focused on (what seemed like an attack)…it just got worse and worse.
So now I just focus on growth and realize (just like you said), that their is no good or bad, it is just astral debris (that when not clear), may take shape of your worst fears and deep-rooted emotions.
Thank you for this insightful post
Hi Anna.
I love what I’ve what I’ve read of your articles so far. I am looking forward to reading more. I am no expert in this area, but I have had a lot of experiences with what my spiritual framework at the time told me were dark entities. I really agree with what you said about “psychological gremlins” and astral entities “in disguise”. As soon as I “switched frameworks” I never encountered another demon! I’m sure it was my belief in and fear of these ideas that created them in my experience – and very convincingly! Thanks for the guidance, affirmation and insight. I’m looking forward to experiencing more of your resources.
Tim.
Psychic Protection Week — that’s great!
What color ribbon will we all wear on the lapel of our jackets?
I’ve been doing a lot of readings lately and find myself more exhausted than ever. I can’t figure out if this is because I’m not protecting myself enough, or because I’m sick. Or both? It’s hard to tell!
Thank you Anna for this article. I have recently become aware that my young son is being visited by spirits at night, and they’re scaring him. I met a woman who will be teaching him about what is happening, and what he can do to protect himself from unwanted visitors. He is also very sensitive to people’s feelings, and needs to learn how to shield himself from their negativity.
I am so glad I found your website- it was one of those “coincidences” that I found it just when I found out I am clairsentient. Keep up the great work.
Interesting points, I guess I still remain skeptical about the whole idea of negative spirits somehow “attaching” themselves to you. Since channeling isn’t an exact science I don’t know how anyone could prove spiritual interference or, like you mentioned, your own psyche.
I’m not very involved in psychic protection, but I can see the usefulness in it. I tend to pray for protection. It usually works. Yay.
About negative entities… they’re just.. there. They won’t harm me if I won’t let them.
Hi Lindsay,
I reckon a gold ribbon for spiritual protection week
Re. your energy levels….I guess if you’re sick, you’re probably feeling more tired than usual, so have less energy for readings.
How do you feel when you’re not sick, after a reading? That’s probably a better measure of whether your psychic protection is serving you or not…
What a nice change this post is – I get rather tired of hearing about how all spirits must be negative or demonic and need to be cast out in the name of somebody-or-other. I have never been of that opinion myself. In fact I have a spirit quite closely associated with me, and he is nothing but sweet and polite and helpful. I couldn’t do without him around me!
I think it’s much like anything else – if you’re a nice person you’ll attract other nice people (or entities). Like attracts like. And according to the Law of Attraction, worrying about something negative apparently only draws it closer anyway. So I don’t.
All of these energie — Oh, I mean comments, are very insightful.
I’ve been feeling ‘crappy’ these last days, with my usual impulsive neediness behaviour and reaching out to people that I barely know. This is a pattern and I recognize it as such. Could such pattern then form into a thought form? I’ve asked around and I’ve been told that this is what it basically is. So, is a thoughtform based on a negative pattern considered a negative entity? If so, can you psychically protect yourself from such an entity even though it was self – created.
I think Sel mentioned something about ‘erasing it from my aura’, but I’m not sure what that means.
Insights?
Sorry for the double comment (Anna, is there a way to merge the comments?) but I have some insights to share.
The consciousness of these entities, ghost or not, are usually not very enlightened. Of course it’s as Anna write that they DO magnify your ‘harmful’ emotions because they need energy. Sometimes when I’ve ventured into the astral, my solar plexus chakra has released this ‘fear’ energy and instantly lowered my vibration, making things all dark and gloomy (and snowy). For the most of the time, it automatically gets heightened again if I don’t pay attention to it or feel no fear.
Is there nowhere to run or hide, if the demons are inside? I think I need to get some sleep now.. it’s 1:00 and I believe I’m not fully conscious. I’ll get back to you tomorrow.
Night.
Oh, sorry for the spam.
Spoke with higher self…and she said just to ask the Divine for protection.
i just had a psychic reading and she told me that the man who is stalking me is a strong energy in the reading because stalkers are very good at projecting their thoughts this man is a homeless man the police have been notified and they have said something on my behalf and he has continued for a couple of years.when I am approaching my menstral cycle I pick up feelings from people such as power, spirituality, sexual energy and depression, I also get random mental images of people but this happens 5-6 times a year. Once I did get a very vivid mental picture of my stalker. My question is do I need psychic protection from him this is all very new to me and will it work? I don’t want his sexual energy projected to me is it possible that I will pick this, and his thoughts subconsciously as well? I am not a developed psychic so how much is really possible?
You can also use the teal flame or the gold flame to protect yourself. Visualizing a burnt orange flame especially works to protect against and dissolve dark entities.
Protection is one thing. Ideally you also want to dissolve what is attacking you.
Thank you for this article and comments. I wish I had learnt these things at school when I was a child! I can attest to the enormous relief and freedom felt after having released a heap of psychological and spiritual stuff on deep levels, my field is much stronger now. For this I have worked closely with my guides and angels, and I believe many energy parasites have now lost their purchase on my aura. Frequently calling on my helpers assists with auric sanitation (root word ‘sane’?
) as does using the Emotional Freedom Technique to deal with emotional charges immediately. Of course my mental state is vastly improved. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if more mental health workers and mainstream therapists were open to these type of teachings?!
Re:
” You could also call on an Ascended Master (like Ganesh, Jesus, Mother Mary, Krishna, St Francis, Quan Yin or Buddha.) ”
Are there any Jewish Ascended Masters — like Moses or Abraham, maybe? Just wondering …
I assure you, entities do attach to people whether or not they have high vibrations. People like Robert have higher level of vibration and they still get the occasional attack. It is true that like attracts like, but opposites also attract. Just because you raise your vibration, and just because you’re on a spiritual journey doesn’t automatically mean you are “safe” from these beings.
“Over time, I have come to believe that certain ‘spiritual’ issues such as dark entities attacking us, are actually psychological gremlins (i.e. our own creations, borne of fear and anxiety, projected outwards and taking shape in our minds as a dark entity.)
“Ghosts or astral entities (when they attach to a person’s aura) drain energy and echo our negative emotions, but they don’t put thoughts in our heads or victimize us in any way. They’re stuck and lost – not evil or twisted.”
That’s not the point. This is when Robert’s methods can help. And they are not all stuck and lost. I know this from personal experience. Some of the more powerful ones are capable of gaining access to your mind and interfering with your thoughts and emotions to the extent where you are no longer sure which thoughts and emotions belong to you, unless you take action to remove them from your space at the start.
Also, I agree with involving the Divine, but to me, the Divine is my higher self. So I don’t usually ask the arch angels for help unless I’m in a serious situation, I just get the attention of my higher self. Different strokes for different people.
Other methods of protection are: performing the LBRP twice daily. Drawing electric violet or magenta energy into your chakras and aura is good. It works far better than white light, in my experience. Daily energy work will strenthen your defences (and your general health!). All of these methods are extremely powerful and effective when used daily.
Sea salt absorbs negativity. I also know this from experience. It does work by clearing you and your space of negativity. But it’s vital used sea salt be thrown away and replaced with fresh salt regularly otherwise it won’t be effective. For people with serious issues, regular mega salt baths can, and often does, help.
Not everyone will find the same methods helpful. Different things work for different people.
Take care.
Hi Kate, Yes I believe Moses is an Ascended Master.
I am so pleased that you said it was fear. I have panicked a few times when i have closed my eyes and seen “things” or nasty faces. After reading your article i feel that it is my fear (and maybe inner insecurities). As much i want to start developing (since having an incredible urge to do so), i fear that fear is ruling at the moment and i need to let go of that.
Did you have difficulty in visualising peaceful places rather than blackness?
Do you have any further tips on this,
Hi Anna,
I just stumbled across this post and read through the comments afterwards. Overall, I agree with what you wrote. However, I felt the need to speak up.
Being an empath myself and after much training with a medium one-on-one, along with intuitive development/mediumship classes – I must point out that the “Dark entities” are very real. One night during mediumship class comes to mind. You get a room full of mediums together and you get A Lot of spirits together – good and bad. (per every medium that was in the room)
I must agree with Nathan and Gemma, as they seem to have a real understanding of what we’re dealing with. I must also point out the psychological theory, since I’ve been schooled in psychology also. Yes, mentally unstable people could get caught up in their own imagination, and I do believe that you must have a strong and mental mindset to do any form of intuitive work.
I want to point out a very real fact, and it’s Gemma’s opening statement: “I assure you, entities do attach to people whether or not they have high vibrations.” Although, I do not want to scare anyone, I do want to point out not to be naive. With that being said, I would definitely recommend to anyone who is just spiritually awakening to find a mentor or someone to properly guide you.
I wanted to point out Gemma’s statement because the mediumship class that I mentioned above had mediums who used Mother Teresa, Mother Mary, Archangel Michael and other Angels – just to name a few – as their protection and level of connection to the spirit world for communication. To be blunt, if you believe that you can raise your vibrations so high and be blind to “dark or negative” energy – well, then, they’re just waiting for you. (I had to learn that the hard way!)
What works for me? I say, “Yep, hello. I see you and you know you aren’t welcome here. Good bye.” Think of dark entities this way: They are like spoiled little brats who just want attention and you are the parent. You discipline them, they Do Not discipline or rule you.
I did not comment to offend you, Anna, or any of your readers. I just want people new to psychic awareness to be safe…and to also know that it’s not a game. If you are serious about it and handle it with responsibility and respect, it’s a path that you will fall in love with.
Shannon
Hi Shannon,
Thanks for your comment!
It is not offensive at all. It is OK to post your views here even if I don’t agree with them personally!
Adding to what nathan said..I do agree that negative astral entities ‘hang out’ in places easiest to get energy. James van pragh touched on this in one book. They loooove bars. Why? B.c people are lowering their vibration drinking. Any substance drugs, alcohol lowers our vibration and makes it a little easier for said critters to latch. I think this is why one intutive I knew never imbimbed much especially when she was going to be doing a reading. Makes sense. Very interesting to consider too.
The concept of negative energy is very real. It can be misused by those into darker aspects of magik. The notion that the divine can remedy such attacks is true. The Alpha and Omega is the beginning and end and all things must submit to Him. The law of Karma states that what is sent out comes back to you. Therefore, if you are subject to psychic attack the attacker will have the karma return to them three fold/nine fold. It is not the spirit world you need to worry about but Occultist who hide malicious intent in the form of friendship.
To further what I wrote, the world is divided into several schools of thought. There is the New Age, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and so forth. All claim the way. The religions and beliefs of people make no difference to the flow of the divine energies. The divine consists of positive and negative, light and dark, good and evil. Evil seeks to disrupt what is good by making what is good appear evil. The essence of Magik is to gratify self for what ever reason. This by its nature is egocentric. Evil seeks to gratify desires such as greed, lust, envy and so forth. Negative energies therefore are associate with the darker realms of eternity. Dwell in the Occult and you will discover that reality for with power comes the corruption of the soul. The greatest lie created by the Occult is that God does not exist. God certainly does exist. He is the ultimate energy of light and good the opposite to all that is evil. All witches and practitioners of Magik, all spiritual forces and forms are subject to Him. None can surpass him. He is the life of the eternal soul and evil is the death of it. He is the best form of protection and the opposite to all people desire in this world.