How much protection? Volkhs and DA.

[Pangaea]

Hi! I am totally new here and have some questions that I haven't been able find on this site.
1) How much protection do I need? I am not gonna summon, conjure any spirits and I am not gonna do any magick, spells or whatsoever - I just wanna have spirit companions. For starters I am considering a volkh since I mostly prefer WA. Would that be enough?

2) How do volkhs respond to DA? I am thinking of getting a Shadow Fairy (DA - probably grey) from MMT since I have started on doing shadow work to help me get over my anxiety and depression. Have any of you experience with this kind of fairy?

Thank you!

[CH Moderator]

Topic moved to suitable section.

[JenNeutral]

First off, welcome! To answer your questions:

1. There isn't really a number when it comes to protection. If you want one, go for it. Especially if you're starting off, that's fine. But if you decided to get more, nobody stopping you. A Volkh is a good choice, by the way.

2. I believe the Volkh would be fine with DA, as long as you have house rules down. I have both WA and DA and they seem fine together. No fighting or anything. They even work together on tasks I assigned them (which I hardly give out). And sorry, I don't have any experiences with those type of faery.

[Pangaea]

Cool, thanks a lot!

[Lewk]

Hi! I am totally new here and have some questions that I haven't been able find on this site.
1) How much protection do I need? I am not gonna summon, conjure any spirits and I am not gonna do any magick, spells or whatsoever - I just wanna have spirit companions. For starters I am considering a volkh since I mostly prefer WA. Would that be enough?

2) How do volkhs respond to DA? I am thinking of getting a Shadow Fairy (DA - probably grey) from MMT since I have started on doing shadow work to help me get over my anxiety and depression. Have any of you experience with this kind of fairy?

Thank you!

I have a couple of Volkhs, one from CH and one from MMT and I also have a Shadow Fairy from MMT. Absolutely no problems or conflicts have cropped up.

Volkhs are an excellent protection choice, as are Fylgia , especially if you lean towards WA, as I do. They're non-social but highly responsive and loyal and basically go everywhere with us.

I think the thing with Shadow Fairies is, as with probably all fairies and many of the spirits from MMT, just feel free to talk with them - and simply commune via mediation/quiet time, during which it is easier to sense the subtleties of a spirit's energy and presence or their communication with us.

I'd rather not say how my Shadow Fairy affects me, as I don't want to set up expectations or something that you might compare your experiences to. We're all different and I've been told people may experience both spellbindings and spirit contact in significantly different ways.

I think Shadow Faeries are quite dark but not very so. I never had any acclimation issues with mine. They also probably vary a bit as to where they are on the darkness spectrum - and in any case with a custom conjure usually a spirit is matched to the keeper's energy, which is generally thought to reduce any DA acclimation issues.

[Lewk]

I just realised I missed one of your points.

The overall maxim is you can never have too much protection. And getting multiple different protection spell bindings and multiple different protection spirits gives overlapping layers of coverage, as each individual one will specialise in one aspect and tackle things best one way. (Same would go for spells you cast yourself, afaik.) Three different spell bindings for one thing will give better overall coverage than just one. And nothing is a silver bullet, a panacea, which will solve all of our life's problems. Spell bindings are aids, and spirits are companions & helpers.

Within that overall context and bearing that in mind:

1. Some spirit keepers may be magnets for paranormal activity, spirits and energies and may need more protection due to that.
2. Becoming a spirit keeper may make some of us more of a magnet.
3. Some of us may ourselves subconsciously attract or be attracted to being in touch with paranormal stuff kind of unintentionally.

All of those situations may mean more protection is needed. But, as a general rule it's said that spirit keeping itself and meditating with them isn't an activity that requires high levels of protection.

What is said to require the highest levels and abilities of protection and banishing and other skills is conjuring - but that is advised against, until and unless someone has genuinely attained the proper level of training and skill. And that takes time and commitment.

tl:dr Balanced against those general points, many people will advise that we use protection every time we do spiritual work...and that we have a mix: learn how to do self protection, cast protection spells and have protection bindings and spirits too.

Also, there are so many things and shades of things that we can employ protection for: ranging from malicious energies and beings to Murphy's Law, Mercury Retrograde, personal negativity etc etc etc.

[Pangaea]

I'd rather not say how my Shadow Fairy affects me, as I don't want to set up expectations or something that you might compare your experiences to. We're all different and I've been told people may experience both spellbindings and spirit contact in significantly different ways.

I think Shadow Faeries are quite dark but not very so. I never had any acclimation issues with mine. They also probably vary a bit as to where they are on the darkness spectrum - and in any case with a custom conjure usually a spirit is matched to the keeper's energy, which is generally thought to reduce any DA acclimation issues.

I just realised that I forgot to reply you, Lewk! Thank you for your answer! Good idea about a custom shadow fairy. About DA.... will having a DA entity/creature attract more darkness into my life? Like in a Law of Attraction kind of way?
And do you have house rules for your shadow fairy? If so, what are they?

Thank you again

[Lewk]

I just realised that I forgot to reply you, Lewk! Thank you for your answer! Good idea about a custom shadow fairy. About DA.... will having a DA entity/creature attract more darkness into my life? Like in a Law of Attraction kind of way?
And do you have house rules for your shadow fairy? If so, what are they?

Thank you again

Hello again. Please bear in mind I've been keeping bound spirits just 3 years and I consider myself still very much in the learning process.

And do you have house rules for your shadow fairy? If so, what are they?

Yes, my house rules (modelled on ASH's) apply to all of my spirits.

They are said to be needed if we have any grey or dark spirits. And this is not a judgement on them - it's simply that DA beings have more choice about what they do (and like us can potentially do wrong). But several house rules are also said to be useful even if we have only White Arts / light natured spirits. The key one for WA being for the spirits to treat each other with mutual respect. In practice, the vast majority of bound spirits that I have are from just 2 conjurers, both respected for their skill and reliability. And none of them play up at all. In fact one (grey) has very high ethical principles.

The other easily overlooked benefit of house rules is that it brings clarity. Our spirits know what is expected of them (and we are clearer about that too.) In my experience they tend to value that clarity, or at least respect the rules.

About DA.... will having a DA entity/creature attract more darkness into my life? Like in a Law of Attraction kind of way?

What I can say is I've read ASH's recommendation in his book on Dark Arts.

He basically says that it is generally not advisable for keepers to keep spirits that are darker than they are. One side effect of doing that is likely to be pronounced acclimation symptoms. Those who are beginners with DA spirits were recommended to start with those on the lighter end of the scale: eg gargoyles or psy vampires. And it's fine for WA keepers to have some DA spirits and vice versa.

So I lean heavily towards WA/light natured but I also have quite a lot of grey spirits too. None of them have made me feel darker - in fact they are amazing and wonderful to have as companions. They don't bring darkness as such, if that makes sense. The vibrational level of many people we encounter in life will be slightly darker than ourselves, without them automatically being bad or evil. And don't forget, we humans are classified as dark (grey) beings. As are immortals/deities.

I suspect that it is only nearer the darker end of the scale that there could be a risk of an effect on the keeper - and I may have read the odd post here speculating on that. To be honest, if you stick to the lighter end of the scale and ask the conjurer beforehand about a spirit's relative darkness, you should be okay - especially if you think you have a calling to a DA spirit and aren't certain about going ahead. Custom conjures by a good seller (eg like CH) are more likely to result in a spirit that matches the keeper's energy.

[Midnight's Promise]

What I can say is I've read ASH's recommendation in his book on Dark Arts.

He basically says that it is generally not advisable for keepers to keep spirits that are darker than they are. One side effect of doing that is likely to be pronounced acclimation symptoms. Those who are beginners with DA spirits were recommended to start with those on the lighter end of the scale: eg gargoyles or psy vampires. And it's fine for WA keepers to have some DA spirits and vice versa.

It looks like I definitely need to order his book! Looking back at my first order, where my only DA on the order was my succubus, I had all the symptoms associated with the acclimation (headaches, dark thoughts) for about a week then they were gone. I have ordered many DA spirits since then without much acclimation, except for maybe the immortal Amon-Re, which is why I think that side of the spectrum is where I belong.

I totally agree with you can't have too much protection in different forms and layers. Personal experience in dealing with an unbound taught me that.