Customer Reviews

The Witch's Shield: Protection Magick and Psychic Self-Defense

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a witch, but until this book, I never really looked at the art of psychic self-defense. This book opened me up to a whole new world. It's fascinating and the techniques are so helpful, I wonder now how I managed to get along all these years without having this knowledge.

Mr. Penczak is a great teacher, and one of the few who writes with real honesty and simplicity. I never had questions; everything was explained in detail, and the bibliography can be used to further your knowledge on the subject.

The included CD is of excellent quality, the exercises, brilliant. I use them almost every day and I see such a difference in my life. It amazes me.

Mr. Penczak is truly a gifted person. I also highly recommend his Temple series.

This book has truly been a revelation..having just started my spiritual journey after a life time of "visitation's" and having been too scared to deliberately seek guidance from my "visitors" I have found a way to explore my spiritual connections without feeling fear or intrepidation. This book explained so many things that I had personally experienced on my journey in such a matter of fact, down to earth way that it gave me the confidence to really stretch to my full potential...Thanks Christopher for going against convention and bringing the love and light of your experience out of the closet - great book for anyone who has experienced the dark ones during a meditation and been put off by the fear of their return...not only does Christopher give you a tool box of symbols, rituals, meditations and incantations he backs that up with a healthy wit and openness that I have found lacking in other books of the same genre..Christopher speaks of his experience whilst not allowing the door to close on how our own experiences may be interpretted...I would recommend this to anyone starting to experiment with spiritual journey's, seeking conversations with their spirit guides, wanting to know the protocols for a shamanic journey and many more traditionally secretive ceremonies...thanks for sharing the light :)

Christopher Penczak is both a good friend of mine and an extremely influential figure in my life. I do not give this book 5 stars because I know him personally, but because this book is worthy of the highest rating possible. The information included is absolutely wonderful. Very well-researched, well-written and easy to understand; all you have to do is be open to accepting the teachings. Some of the skills herein are more advanced, while some take on more of a basic-level, either making the reader say "Why didn't I think of that before?!" or jump-starting them on long-awaited self-protection practices (like me!).. I would recommend this book along with his "Temple" series. If you like Christopher's work, you would also like Kala Trobe and Dianne Sylvian to name a couple. As an Empath, this book has provided me with necessary practice procedures AND there is a FREE CD included! Chris' lovely voice guides the practices, which are extremely effective & wise. Thank you, Christopher, for another amazing publication. And it is such an honour to be included in the "Acknowledgements" section. Thanks for all the inspiration. You are truly amazing.
Live lightly, Live fully,
~Colin Smith / OakRaven Narcosius~

As someone who is sensitive to energy of all kinds, I found this book to be quite useful and with plenty of common sense advice, as well as ways to protect yourself from unwanted "attacks" and energy, while letting positive energy through. Penczak is a wonderful writer who speaks with a style that is down to earth and not "new agey" in the least. While I disagreed with a couple of minor points in this book, I still found it to be highly informative.

He speaks first of why there is a need for psychic protection. Psychic attack while rare does indeed happen and there are those "energy vampires" that we all need to watch out for, however subtle they may be. It's not a bad idea to be able to "shield" ourselves from them. He then describes the various types of "dangers" around, including harmful energy, the dreaded "psychic vampires," curses and ancestral energies to name a few. He goes on to describe the symptoms of this form of attack and ways to "clear" yourself of this form of attack.

He also talks about various forms of protection you can employ, including charmed amulets, symbol magic, protection stones and herbs, grounding one's self, and setting up a "protective shield" for yourself. The book's later chapters describe angels, power animals, and guardian nature spirits you can enlist to help protect yourself. There are also several other techniques you can employ. He does have a banishing spell, but cautions this should be used mostly as last resort.

Penczak has done a great job with this book, it's one that any practicing witch should likely have.

Christopher Penczak's books about Wicca and magick became an invaluable resource for me several years ago. Consequently, I was very excited when I was able to obtain a copy of his 2004 book "The Witch's Shield". Written in eight chapters and 191 pages (not including the bibliography and index at the end of the book), Mr. Penczak proceeds to explain not only the numerous sources of psychic dangers and attacks, but more importantly, he explains numerous methods for defending oneself, including the use of protection magick.

The typical sources of psychic dangers and attacks that he categorizes and explains include physical harm, harmful energy, harmful judgments, harmful projections, the "evil eye", time traps, psychic vampires, unenlightened gurus, unwanted spirits, curses, psychic attacks, mesmerism, prayer, ancestral energies, past-life energies and finally, one's self. Yes, at times a person's worst enemy is his or her own self. Mr. Penczak also includes descriptions of typical symptoms that harmful energies can cause. Symptoms can include adverse physical, emotional and spiritual affects. He also discusses denial and paranoia before explaining several techniques that can be used to diagnose the harmful energy.

Balanced protection from harmful energy and psychic attacks, as Mr. Penczak explains, is rooted in the four elements of air, fire, water and earth, as well as the fifth element of spirit. He then discusses one of the most important concepts, which, very simply, is that "prevention is the best medicine" in the third chapter entitled "Psychic Hygiene". Here, he uses the four elements to explain our spiritual bodies and discusses various techniques that can be used to maintain good psychic hygiene, including smudging, ritual bathing, journaling and meditation. He also briefly discusses the possible need for professional therapy and counseling. In the proceeding chapters, he discusses protection charms & symbols, protective stones & herbs, grounding, sealing holes that may exist in one's aura, mental flexibility, neutralization and direct action, which may include spells and/or compassion. Various protective spirits (such as guardian angels, animal spirits and deities) are discussed in Chapter 6. Specific protection spells (including banishing, binding and counter magick) are discussed in Chapter 7.

Mr. Penczak also recorded a CD included with the book that has meditations and guides for conducting specific rituals. Overall, I rate Christopher Penczak's 2004 book "The Witch's Shield" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it. In my opinion, this is a must-have book for any one interested in finding ways of protecting themselves from various forms of harmful energies & psychic attacks. It has helped me immensely.

I am a 63 yr old and I am new to wicca. I feel as if I had been born to this. I am reading as much as I can on the subject; taking it slow and easy; baby steps. I have not quite finished reading The Witch's Shield: Protection Magick & Psychic Self-Defense, by Christopher Penczac, but I have read enough to agree with the others who have rated this book that it is, indeed, a brilliant piece of work. One thing that sticks out is that it teaches responsibility.

Even though this book is not a piece of "fluff" it *is* easy reading for the "newbie."

The CD that comes with the book is very good quality. Christoper Penczak's beautiful voice guides you through each step.

Yes, I have to give this book a five (5) star rating. I am looking forward to purchasing both his The Inner Temple of Witchcraft and his The Outer Temple of Witchcraft and the CDs that go with it.

For someone who has never been exposed to psychic-self defense, this is probably a good book, if a bit strong on the "harm none" aspect. It has some decent meditations and he spends a lot of time working on mindset, which I consider to be the most important part of defense. However, as someone who has read a number of other books on energy work, I found it to be rather strong on emphasizing ritual and materials. As a college student, I am unable to practice the smudging he talks about, and its not economically feasible for me to purchase all the different herbs and mixes and such that he recommends to use to protect yourself. I would have preferred a book that focused on things like affirmative visualizations and thoughts than one that requires to you rely on spirit allies and physical tools.

Christopher Penczak's `The Witch's Shield' is a marvelous and practical guide to protection magic. A rather short book, at least compared to his other works, it is packed with myriad of protection techniques that range everywhere from meditation and spells to potions, charms, and ceremonies. Penczak also guides readers to work with personal power and connect to their gods, totem spirits, angels, and guides for added magical support.

Like Penczak's other works, `Witch's Shield' is highly accessible and useful. Combining practices from across Occult traditions including Witchcraft, Ceremonial Magic, and Shamanism, Penczak creates a definitive guide to protection magic that covers such diverse topics as psychic attacks, protection shields, hauntings, and psychic wellbeing. His unique approach to protection magic is rooted in the Elements of Life--Earth (grounding), Water (compassion), Air (understanding), Fire (power), and Spirit (purpose).

If you've never read about protection magic, after reading `The Witch's Shield', you won't need to. The text is so comprehensive and so complete that you will refer to it for many years to come. It gives the reader down-to-earth techniques on daily protection and advice on dealing with more bizarre situations, should the situation arise. The rituals, meditations, visualizations and spells present all the tools needed to become a magical black belt. Highly recommended!

5 out of 5 magick wands!

*courtesy of Copper-Moon.com*

I always considered the negative energy in my life to come from myself. It wasn't until recently that I discovered someone attacking me and I realized I needed to learn how to protect myself.

This book will clarify whether your bad luck is your own karma or someone wishing you harm. Bad luck can be an attack from another witch(es) or it can come from a jealous coworker either way protection is imperative.

Christopher gives very easy, step-by-step instructions on how to:

***Know the Evil Eye is being used and how to break it.
***Build your own personal sheilds.
***Make simple amulets and talismans.
***Cleanse and clear your space.
***Use your personal guardian to protect you or others.
***And much more.

Christopher does explain the different sides to sending a hex out against your attacker. There are differing views on this that is discussed in the book and the decision is left up to the individual to decide whether or not she wants to attack the attacker.

I bought this book because of the title. I've been Wiccan for over 20 years and I have yet to see any reason for protection or psychic self-defense. So I was curious as to what this book is all about. It's a good reading book with various ways to protect and self-defend. I learned a lot from it but still I never ran into any of the negativity the book speaks about but I've got to tell you if I ever do, I am well prepared for it. I do recommend this book to non-magick and magick folk just so you know what to do in case you get involved with the kind of negativity the book speaks on.
Plus it is so cool to get a book with such a direct link to the Harry Potter movies and books class of Defense Against The Dark Arts.