It’s never easy to know when you’re under psychic attack and there’s an awful lot of paranoia about. I’ve even heard it said that if you think you are under attack then you probably are. Nonsense. Most of the time odd happenings can be explained – but it’s when the really inexplicable starts happening that you’d better get out the garlic and salt.

We’ve already looked at things like strange (and usually unpleasant) smells, a feeling of dread, a feeling on pressure on the chest (particularly at night), odd sounds (some people report hearing bells when there are none in the house), but all of these can have a natural explanation.

Most psychic attacks aren’t deliberate, but just a build up of spite, resentment, jealousy etc., which have been allowed to go unchecked. Never underestimate the power of spite, it has been responsible for some very unpleasant psychic attacks indeed.

It’s even possible to cause your own psychic attack, by brooding on past wrongs and instead of projecting these outwards (which is what normally happens) you find they are projected back to you. This can happen especially when you are brooding about something without any hope of redress. For example, when someone who has upset you is long since dead. In cases such as these, the attack can be very difficult to pin down. These attacks are actually quite common.

The rarest type of attack is one from a person who knows their stuff, magically speaking. The deliberate attack from a skilled attacker. These can be frightening and hard for a beginner to deal with. This is why I always suggest keeping up a reasonable level of psychic self defence at all times.

This approach isn’t paranoia, it’s just the psychic equivalent of locking your doors and closing the windows when you go out. Exercises to banish negativity are useful because they keep the home/office/car psychically clean and prevent a build up of thought forms that might attract problems. Think of it like putting bleach down the sink!

If you can’t bear the thought of doing banishing exercises with a sweeping brush then try ringing a bell – pure sound will banish negativity very effectively and cleanse the space where it is rung. Ringing bells is also good for cleansing objects. Done properly you can ‘feel’ the vibrations in the air afterwards. A large bell will clear a much larger area than a small one.

I would say that when in doubt about a psychic attack, begin by cleansing. This will probably clear about 75% of most problems. You might have to cleanse several times for a further 20% of cases.

That leave you with a difficult core of perhaps 5% of cases. But you aren’t powerless against these attacks, even if they come from a really skilled occultist. The difference with these cases is that they will not stop unless you do something about them. Time and effort have gone into the attack – so time and effort must go into your defence.