I'd like to protect some stones ;-)

[cherrypie]

Hi there,

I wanted to ask this since quite a while: I am very attracted to stones (in fact, I have toted so many of them home I fear my favourite forest will be stone-less soon ). So, in this my favourite forest there is a sang where I put nice stones on. I have done this for a very long time now, stones of all colors, and other walkers have added stones or built small stone piles out of them. Lately, I always felt a really strong and warm energy, when I held my hand over them, very grounding.

But again and again, especially after the weekend, I find the snag empty, with the stones thrown all over the place. The first few times, I was so incredibly angry. Now it has happened so often that I have simply stopped getting upset and just start re-collecting other stones. Until it happenes again, and then the circle starts again. I do have a suspicion who it could be, but Im not sure. Anyway.

I wonder if there is sth I can do to protect these little stones? I'd like to try, at least. there were so many really beautiful stones, in all colors and shapes, it physically hurts me when I discover the little spcae has been destroyed again.Why do people such things? This is pretty harmless, but I always wonder how people can enojy damaging or destroying things, just for fun, or because they are weirdos

Any ideas appreciated

[SpiritTalker]

Just random ideas:

-Place witches bottle protection at quarter intervals. Baby food jars are easy to bury.
-Place witches ladder protections In trees at the corners.
-Spell cast shields along the pathway. Bells are handy additions.
-Brew a big batch of protection potion with garlic, hot paprika, black pepper & salt and draw a line that cannot be crossed.
-Put up a sign inviting others to add to the rocks with their creative efforts.
-Haters' gonna hate. Do a nine-knot binding spell on discordant interlopers.
-Visit a Native American burial site and try to enter the site past their protective shields. See how far you get . Then study what you felt as you quickly retreated as if the Hounds of He'll were snapping at your heels. Ancestor protections are Big. You'd need to research that one.
-Place the stones then lay chicken wire over it and fasten the wire down with fence wire staples pushed into the soil...I saw that done at a bird sanctuary Using stones wired down on a hill to fight erosion.

[EveningWithAstaroth]

Hi.

Reading of this bad behavior from others is very disappointing. I feel for your situation.

Alright it seems spirit talker covered the spiritual protections quite nicely.

At the moment I do have a couple physical approaches you could try.

Number one is a trick and it's delightful, this is ancestor magic- learned from my still living very much so grandmother and it is simply this- when good old gramp got curious and went to put his hand into knitting baskets and other areas my good old gram was hiding her "Nips" she had a very passive, but good solution for the problem. She kept pins sticking up in these areas- pins for sewing- remember no broken glass, we don't want to actually harm someone, you want enough to get the point across- but not in a way in which is obvious- it doesn't even have to be a needle that pokes either- think scent, anything you could get a hold of that smells terrible to many humans, but that may not bother you yourself- does everyone despise the scent of horse manure?

The Natives call this coyote or trickster medicine, for good reason.

The culprits learn a valuable lesson, you don't want a needle? Stay out of the "Knitting basket" or Aka- "Where good old gram keeps her beverages".

I call this move "The Physical protections", for when the "Spiritual protections, aren't enough", technique.

That and there is the other thing I was thinking- which is to catch them, and then deal with it after you find out just who or what is doing it.

In this case, and I do not know for certain about what I am about to suggest as I am not the most technology savvy- in this case you'll want to look into perhaps a battery run video surveillance camera- if there is one out there- capable of recording long enough stretches of time- then you will want to consider to back trace in your living memory- the times of day the instances where this is happening, happen. Then you'll want to set up that camera in order to get the time of day that comes up the most. If you do not have enough to go on- the times of day seem random- wait longer- chances are if this is a human they will start to leave indication of having a routine.

This method of dealing with this will take time.

You could also hide out of sight around the area- make sure you are absolutely quiet and well hidden. Wait for the culprit to come, and if you had properly hid with view of the area, yet still out of sight, you may just be able to get a look at who or what is behind it that way.

These last surveillance methods are going to take a good amount of patience, effort, and work.

You of course have the choice of asking the individuals if they are indeed human to please stop, if you catch them. But I'd be very very wary of trying this without bringing a communications device- working cell phone with you- in case they should grow a spine and try harm- In which instance you ask Is there a need for this? I intend to call the cops with this, and have the phone at ready- again this could be risky if these are humans- they are humans, and strangers- enough said. A group of squirrels probably are not going to threaten to harm you.

All that said, I wish you all the luck in the world with this.

Definitely give spirit talkers suggestions a try as well. Perhaps the spiritual protection alone may be what is needed, and just enough.

I am also now very interested about these ancestor protections.

All my best to you.

[SpiritTalker]

Just a word on the Amer-Ind ancestors ... The city I live in is located where former Potawatomi tribes had a trading center & used the river for navigation. Down stream a ways from town is an Indian burial mound. The local museum excavated 2 of the burial mounds in the 1960s and with supervision from local tribal council put everything back where they found it & closed the archeological site. Then the tribe did private ceremonies to restore the site.

Ok, so years and years later I'd driven over to visit the site which was quite a ways down a dirt road twisting along side the river. I hadn't seen the mounds since I was 10 & our Blue Bird (pre-campfire girls) group had toured. Well-meaning, I'd brought tobacco to leave as an offering. I started walking along the 1/2 mile foot path that leads to the mounds & Wham! I hit a force field like a brick wall. My goosebump meter topped out. I was given the bums' rush in no uncertain terms, lifted by the elbows and invisibly escorted back out the way I'd come so fast I don't think my feet touched the ground more than once in every five steps. I very much had the feeling of don't let the door hit your back side as you leave. Whew! I was gently deposited at the entrance &'unhurt. I left the tobacco on the outer path as apology for intruding. I just stood still for quite a while wondering what just happened, & looking back along the path to mentally go over the experience for clarity. I have no wish to go back.

[cherrypie]

Hi there,

thanks for the good ideas! I will try several of these.

While I guess, hiding and waiting for the culprits or putting up cameras would take it a bit too far (and I also don't have the time waiting behind a tree all weekend ), I will try some of the spell ideas.

Your experience with the burial site is amazing, SpiritTalker - what power must be behind such rituals! I doubt I would ever be capable of doing sth similar. Do you think their spells would work in good old Europe, too? My ancestors would be Celts or Teutons, probably Romans and others, but I'm not aware of any such protection rituals in their culture. At least not as distinct as with the American native people. But this topic sounds interesting enough - is there any good literature about such practices out there?

[SpiritTalker]

I've never looked into the research. Some tribal councils have web sites so it's Likely that there is info out there but it won't be an instruction manual. Is it something you can learn from a book? Shrug. But it's all One Planet & the Earth is a good teacher , so why wouldn't rites work universally, taking into account genus loci? The concepts of Elder guidance and protection is accepted by indigenous cultures world-wide. Ancestor work is summoning. How often have you seen the words "ancestor altar" in witchcraft discussions? Did simply reading it bring understanding? Reading guides. Experience teaches. I'm not saying to copy cat some cobbled together ritual , good golly no, but rather to observe, listen and learn from various cultural ways. Apply their guidance to the situation.

Maybe start by getting a feeling of what a protection ritual is. Y'know, just think about what would need to be involved to make you feel protected. There's no one-size-fits-all method but you know what a standard Wiccan ritual format is from casting a circle. Soo, why not erect a circle at the site of your rock arrangement? Apply all the bells & whistles.

Just use what you already know. You already feel Gaia's Presence through rocks, so let Gaia show you. The circle is a good place to Ask. The circle's 3-D sphere unites the realms above, mid & below. You'd be in a place that facilitates communication. You could ask the Earth Herself to protect the collection you and other passers-by have arranged in Her honor. If we learn from the Earth herself then it is what Gaia herself wishes to teach us & we are not appropriating anyone else's culture.

[cherrypie]

Thanks for the input - I already was inclined to do something with small stones, but had no shape in mind - good idea.

I have read a few books about magick only to get an understanding, but I rather go with my feeling and perception to do things. I don't know if I will ever call myself a witch, but I don't care about that anyway. I have seen nature spirits (I'm pretty sure they were nature spirits), I have this deep, deep love for nature and animals, I always have certain animals that accompany for a certain time and show up constantly, so I will let nature guide me and learn from her.

I wouldn't expect a "manual" for those rituals, I'm generally interested in reading about them. Have to do some research sometime.

[Shekinah]

Dust the stones with silver nitrite powder. It turns skin black and can't be washed off. At least you will know who the culprit is. Might want to transplant some stinging nettles around. Relocate your stones to a hidden secure area.

[SpiritTalker]

@Cherri - Im still thinking about this & I know you want to "get it". Make your protective circle then designate & charge 4 of the rocks - 1 at each of the quarters - to hold the intention of protecting the site. 4-way crosses (+) and cross roads are all about holding-in-place in the material world. The Circle force itself is in motion. The Quarters anchor the circle in place. This is the same purpose behind the suggestion of putting the witches bottles or witches ladders at the corners. And what you want to hold in place is protection of that location.

Point: You can't get much more directly symbolic of the purpose and meaning of + than using an anchor to represent a 4-way cross. That can help you remember the meaning and uses of quarters: they anchor, concentrate & condense force. :serpentrune: is called the witch's foot as a 3-D image & is the same concept. The upright center line is above and below. The x is the quarters. It's similar in meaning as an anchor.

If you could see the energy you would see that the circle is a spiral, in constant motion. It forms an inverted cone like a witch's hat, with the brim on the ground. The force emanates from the Earth which itself is constantly in motion. Where the spiral intersects the surface of the ground makes the temporary circle like the hat brim. Ive observed that the spiral moves (<) when it emerges from the ground and I sense but haven't seen that it spirals (>) within the ground. Have you seen the rock-carved, double spirals at New Grange? The two parts spiral in reverse of one another. I think these carvings are images of the earth force. Three-way spirals are intersections where the energy's condensed. When we cast circle we work with the earth force and cast (>) to hold our energy & help anchor that fluctuating force in place. Most Wiccan texts say to use deosil to increase energy and widdershins to dampen the flow, but what is happening to the energy is either grounding it or releasing it, not shutting it off. Basically its opening and closing. Again, it's the same effect.

Those of us who simply dote on rocks probably feel this force in the special rocks we gather. Naturally egg-shaped stones generate the two-way spiral. Others may feel similar force in motion near running water which involves more psychic senses. So our bodies and our natural senses are antennae for these earth energies. Earth energy is sometimes felt like a wriggling force beneath the feet & depicted as a serpent. In the Garden of Eden story this energy was the serpent, IMO. We can reliably work with the gut feelings we learn to decipher. A cast circle puts them into a manageable form. And the forces respond to focused intent, strong thought energy. Thus a circle can be programmed. Covens do this and so can solitaires.

You know it's a courtesy when the spirits let you see them. If they are seen at the site where your rocks are being worked and laid out, they may be curious and also willing to protect the stones if you explain what you are doing & ask nicely. You can get some of those restaurant honey packets and leave them opened as offerings.