The Art of Banishing

(I wrote this a few years ago, but wanted to share it with the masses)

*There is some info online you can search for about the appropriation of certain cultures when it comes to banishing with sage -- please feel free to do your own research and use what feels appropriate to you.

Sometimes you need to do a banishing, or you should do one anyway. Maybe you had some negativity in your home recently (a person, an accident). Perhaps you are banishing a harmful and toxic person from your life (we’ve all been there). It could be that you’re trying to get rid of a ghost (if you’re a believer). Whatever the reason you feel the need to banish, do it! Banishing, or, as I prefer to call it, cleansing, is an excellent way to let go of the past and move on from negative things and people.

I’ve been doing banishing spells for years. I've written banishing poems; I’ve burned sage for years as a way to dispel ghosts, negativity, and people, and I've done much more than that.

In fact, here's a recent banishing spell/poem I wrote:

I banish your negativity

And send it back for you to see

The pain and anguish that you caused

And to open your eyes to your flaws

Your narcissistic words can't harm

For you are now disarmed.

When it comes to banishing, it’s all about your focus – during the banishing, whether you’re burning sage or palo santo, whether you’re chanting a rhyme or yelling “get out,” focus on that person or thing leaving your home, your life, and never returning. When you’re done, let go. Stop thinking of the negative person, stop thinking of the ghost lurking in your halls, and focus on positivity.

Banishings can include no longer saying someone’s name, casting freezing spells, burning herbs that aid in banishing, and burning candles that banish (black candles are excellent for protection). They can include reciting chants like the one I shared above.

In "The Craft," Nancy took all of her magical workings to a negative, dark side of things. She was definitely a black witch. Sarah did a binding spell, using only a chant, to get Nancy to stop her rampage. While it didn’t work immediately, Nancy ended up bound in the hospital, strapped to a bed so she couldn’t hurt anyone or herself. In metaphysics, time is fluid and linear. We just can't ever know when a spell or banishing will finally happen.

You can banish and bind with words or without words, with smoke or without smoke, with herbs or without herbs. Magic and witchcraft are individual things unless you’re part of a coven that requires you to do spells as a group.

I was 13 when I started practicing witchcraft and became a Pagan. That was in 1988. I did my spells out of the books I owned — followed them line for line. Ten years later, when "Charmed" began its original run on television, I realized I could blend my love of writing poetry with my practice of witchcraft and create my own rhyming spells.

In the past years, I have done many successful banishing spells. Success is a point of view, and what may be a success to me may not always be a success to you. But that’s the thing with life -- we all perceive things differently, and that’s okay.

Here is a bit of a shopping list you can use for things to go along with your own banishing spells:

Palo Santo (removes negativity)

Sage (cleansing)

Mugwort (removes negativity)

Lavender (removes negativity)

Black candle (protection)

Purple candle (healing, enhancing psychic abilities)

Holy water (dispels evil)

Birch bark (renewal and protection)

What are some of your favorite banishing spell components?