wicca

The Monsters of "Supernatural," Season 2, Episodes 7-9

What is a banshee? How can you make a deal with the Devil like Robert Johnson? Hellhounds (black dogs), Roanoke, goofer dust and death omens all get covered in this roundup.

An illustration from The English Dance of Death, drawn by William Combe. I’d say a skeleton lounging in front of your fireplace is a pretty strong death omen

S2E7: “The Usual Suspects”

Monster: Death omen

Where it’s from: All over the world

Description: This particular figure is pale, with dark red eyes and a slit throat. In his typically eloquent fashion, Dean describes the death omen as “Casper the Bloodthirsty Ghost.”

La Belle Dame Sans Merci, or The Banshee by Henry Meynell Rheam, 1901

In Irish folklore, a banshee is a female spirit, and when people hear her horrific wail (one tradition holds that it can actually break glass), they know someone will soon die.

What it does: Like the banshee, death omens foretell that someone will perish in the near future.

I love black cats…but some cultures believe them to be harbingers of death — especially if one meows at midnight

Death Omens

In this episode, the printer keeps repeating the name Dana Schulps. That’s creepy, but here’s a shortened list of some famous death omens, according to Superstition Dictionary:

  • A black cat meowing at midnight

  • Bees swarming a rotten tree (there will be a death in the family owning or living on the property within a year)

  • A bird entering the bedroom of a sick person and landing on the bedpost

  • A pigeon flying against the window

  • A sparrow attacking another swallow and throwing it from its nest near a home (a son will be born and a daughter will die)

  • An owl hooting in a tree right above your head (a relative or friend of yours will die within a year)

  • A dog persistently howling under your window

  • A mouse running over your foot

  • A white rabbit crossing your path

  • A cow giving birth to twin calves

  • A cedar tree you have planted dying in your yard

  • A peach tree blooming early

  • A clock striking 13

  • A portrait falling off the wall

  • A rainbow over a house (sounds more gay than scary, to be honest)

  • Seeing your shadow without a head on New Year’s Eve

How to defeat it: At first the boys think this is a vengeful spirit. In true Winchester Brothers fashion, Sam says, “We have to salt and burn her bones. It’s the only way to put her spirit to rest.” To which guest star Linda Blair, famous for her head-turning performance in The Exorcist, replies, “Of course it is.”

Thing is, why would a vengeful spirit lead Blair to her remains? Turns out it’s not a vengeful spirit after all. As a death omen, she wants to warn people, and she’s finally at rest once the murderer is killed.

You certainly don’t want to be a victim of a hellhound attack

S2E8: “Crossroad Blues”

Monster: Black dog or hellhound

Where it’s from: England and Scotland

The Black Dog of Newgate has haunted the prison for 400 years, appearing before executions

Description: They’re larger than your average pooch and are covered in shaggy black fur, though some reports say they can have white, spotted or brown fur as well. Glowing red eyes, long fangs and saliva reeking of sulfur complete the look.

Sam describes them as “demonic pitbulls.”

“I bet they could hump the crap out of your leg,” Dean adds

What it does: Hellhounds collect souls that are due in payment for deals made with the Devil. One man wanted to be an overnight musical success. This calls to mind Robert Johnson, who is said to have made just such a deal. He supposedly came across Satan at a crossroads and offered to sell his soul in return for becoming an amazing bluesman. He went on to write and perform some popular songs, including “Cross Roads Blues,” “Me and the Devil Blues” and “Hellhound on My Trail.” But he died mysteriously, choking on his own blood, at age 27 (like Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin and others) in 1938.

The blues musician Robert Johnson is one of the most famous people (Faust aside) to sell his soul to the Devil

With another person they’re investigating, Dean wants to know why the man made a pact with a demon: “What’d you ask for anyway, Evan? Never need Viagra? Bowl a perfect game?”

“My wife,’ Evan says.

“Gettin’ the girl,” Dean nods. “Well, that’s worth a trip to Hell for."

You can supposedly get your heart’s desire if you make a pact with the Devil — but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea

How to Sell Your Soul to the Devil

If you’d like to make a deal with the Devil (and we really can’t recommend doing so), here’s how to do so.

Plant yarrow flowers in the corners of a crossroads to summon the Big Guy.

Get a tin box and fill with the bones of a black cat, graveyard dirt and a picture of yourself.

“That’s Deep South hoodoo stuff,” Dean says.

How to defeat it: Sam and Dean think one of the people they visit has grabbed the wrong shaker (those boys are completely obsessed with salt). But the man made no mistake. He’s keeping away demons with another hoodoo trick: goofer dust.

“Be warned that the goofer dust will affect anyone who steps onto it. Victims will develop a chronic illness that may result in death.”


Goofer Dust Recipe

  • Sulfur

  • Salt

  • Skin or head of a venomous snake, dried and ground

  • Black pepper

  • Graveyard dirt

Optional ingredients:

  • Red pepper

  • Ground bones

  • Ground insects

  • Sage

  • Mullein

  • Anvil dust

 

Here’s another version:

  • Graveyard dirt

  • Black salt

  • Ground sulfur

  • Snake skin

  • Magnetic sand

Optional ingredients:

  • Dried pigeon feces

  • Ground insects

  • Powdered bones

  • Black pepper

Sounds like there’s some leeway with the recipe. Mix what ingredients you can find together. But be sure not to touch the powder after you’ve made it.

Sprinkle it in a place where you know your target will definitely walk onto it. Be warned that the goofer dust will affect anyone who steps onto it. Victims will develop a chronic illness that may result in death.

 

If you regret having made a satanic pact, use a Devil’s Trap to ensnare the demon or devil and strike a deal by threatening to exorcise it.

 

S2E9: “Croatoan”

Monster: Demonic virus

Where it’s from: the United States

Description: There’s a telltale sulfuric residue in the virus.

What it does: Those infected turn murderous. They’re also fond of spreading the love: The virus is passed by by blood to blood contact. The infected like to cut themselves and then slice open their victim so they can drip blood into the wound.

The boys find a reference to the Lost Colony of Roanoke (it was also a theme in American Horror Story: Roanoke). The colony was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 in what is now North Carolina. Five years later, all 115 or so settlers had vanished mysteriously — the only clue being the word “Croatoan” carved into a fencepost. The Croatoan were an Indian tribe, though Daddy Winchester had a theory that it’s the name of a demon also known as Deva, or Resheph, associated with pestilence.

That’s Resheph off to the right, the personification of plague. He’s hanging out with his friends Min (the fertility god with the big boner) and Qetesh (the goddess of fertility and sexual ecstacy)

How to defeat it: You’ve got to kill those infected. Guns work. And Molotov cocktails would do the trick, too, one imagines, as the Winchester boys were planning.

It also helps to be immune, like Sam. –Wally

“I bet they could hump the crap out of your leg.”
— Dean Winchester

The Monsters of “Supernatural,” Season 1, Episodes 10-12

Learn witchcraft spells to protect yourself from ghosts, pagan gods demanding human sacrifice and Death itself.

It really is kind of effed-up what English teachers sic upon impressionable young minds. I read Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” when I was 15, and it has stuck with me ever since. I was intrigued by the idea of a modern town ritually sacrificing one of its members, based on a pagan tradition so far in the past they’ve simply ceased to question it. And the final scene, where even the poor woman’s own son is given pebbles to help stone his mother to death, shook me to the core.

There’s a similar type situation in this roundup of Supernatural monsters. And we’ll also meet Death himself.

“Symptoms of ghostly possession can include oily skin, rashes, feeling like your eyes are being pulled inside, migraines, the sensation of being strangled, loss of appetite (or increased appetite), tics and miscarriages.”

There were only two people posing for this pic!

Apparently, ghostly possession is way more common than we think

S1 E10: “Asylum”

Monster: Ghost

Where it’s from: All over the world. About 30% of the world’s population is possessed by ghosts, according to the Spiritual Science Research Foundation, which I’m sure is totally legit.

Description: This particular spirit possesses people and feeds off their rage.

Encountering a ghost? Don’t panic — we’ve got you covered

What it does: Symptoms of ghostly possession can include oily skin, rashes, feeling like your eyes are being pulled inside, migraines, the sensation of being strangled, loss of appetite (or increased appetite), tics and miscarriages. In this particular case, those possessed turn murderous and then suicidal.

How to defeat it: A rifle loaded with rock salt can repel the ghost. Salt has a long history of protective properties.

To fully destroy the ghost and restore those who are possessed to themselves, Dean and Sam Winchester have to find the original corpse and burn it.

 

That scarecrow could come to life with the murderous spirit of a pagan god

That scarecrow could come to life with the murderous spirit of a pagan god

S1 E11: “Scarecrow”

Monster: Vanir, a pagan Norse god

Where it’s from: Northern Germany and Scandinavia

Freya is the goddess of beauty (and a bit of a slut, turns out)

Freya is also the goddess of war and death

Description: This branch of the Norse gods holds in its ranks Freya, goddess of love, beauty, sex, gold, war and death (busy gal), accused by Loki of having slept with all the elves and gods, including her brothers.

Pagans would offer sacrifices to Freyr, the Norse god of fertility

Freyr’s power over fertility is symbolized by his giant phallus, as depicted in this idol

Speaking of which, her brother Freyr, god of fertility, was a popular guy. People’s well-being and prosperity depended upon him, including bountiful harvests. This was apparently symbolized by his “enormous, erect phallus.”

What it does: Freyr was a frequent recipient of sacrifices, including the celebration of a harvest. Instead of offering up the traditional sacrifice of his favored animal, the boar, the townsfolk in the episode lured one male and one female to their deaths. With the sacrifice, the town assures a good harvest and general happiness.

The personification of this Vanir takes on the form of a living scarecrow, which actually has more of a connection to the Celts and their wicker man.

Julius Caesar wrote about the Gallic practice of burning humans alive in a giant wicker man

This sick ritual was described by none other than Julius Caesar in Book Six of The Gallic War:

“The whole Gallic race is addicted to religious ritual; consequently those suffering from serious maladies or subject to the perils of battle sacrifice human victims. … Some weave huge figures of wicker and fill their limbs with humans, who are then burned to death when the figures are set afire. They suppose that the gods prefer this execution to be applied to thieves, robbers and other malefactors taken in the act, but in default of such they resort to the execution of the innocent.”

How to defeat it: In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the mythical tree that connects the nine worlds, which include Asgard, where Thor and his relations live, and Midgard, their term for Earth.

In Norse mythology, the sacred tree Yggdrasil connects the nine worlds

In this episode, there’s a sacred tree that’s tied to the Vanir. Once the Winchester Brothers chopped it down, the god — and his blessings — abandon the village.

Our personification of death as the Grim Reaper began in Ancient Greece


S1 E12: "Faith"

Monster: Reaper

Where it’s from: All over the world, especially the United States and Europe

An old tarot Death card from Germany depicts a reaper

An old tarot Death card from Germany depicts a reaper

The reaper uses its scythe to chop up bodies

Description: The Grim Reaper is the personification of death. He’s most often depicted as a skeletal figure wearing a black hooded robe and carrying a large scythe. In some parts of Europe, his robe is white.

Ancient Greeks worshiped Thanatos, or Death, who was portrayed as an attractive, bearded man with wings and an extinguished flame (what vivid symbolism!). Departed souls had to pay the ferryman Charon to get across the River Styx into the underworld. Some sources described Charon as a skeletal figure much like today’s Grim Reaper.

What it does: On the show, reapers can stop time — and only their victims can see them coming for them.

How to defeat it: As the altar Sam discovers attests, you can gain control over a reaper with a binding spell.

 

Poppet Binding Spell

This spell is best worked on a waning or dark moon.

Cut two layers of black cloth in the rough shape of the person or creature you wish to bind and sew together to create a small poppet. Leave part of the head unstitched.

Fill the poppet with earth, a smoky quartz and an amethyst. Also include hair or nail clippings, or a photograph or sample of handwriting of the person you wish to bind.

Create a sacred circle, then take an altar candle and a black candle. Hold the poppet out in front of you and say:

Creature of cloth thou art,
Now creature of flesh and blood you be.
I name you [name of the person or creature you are binding].
No more shall you do me harm,
No more shall you spread false tales,
No more shall you interfere in my life,
Nor in the lives of my loved ones.
By the power of the gods and by my will,
So mote it be.

Draw an invoking pentagram over the poppet.

Now take some black ribbon or wool and begin to wrap the poppet like a mummy, leaving no space unwrapped and say:

I bind your feet from bringing you to harm me.
I bind your hands from reaching out to harm me.
I bind your mouth from spreading tales to harm me.
I bind your mind from sending energy to harm me.
If you continue to do so, let all negative energy be cast directly back at you!

Tie off the ribbon and hold the poppet in front of you. Visualize all the negative energy this person has sent you being cast back at them.

Wrap the poppet in a piece of black cloth and tie with a black ribbon. Say:

Great Mother, I have bound this person
From harming me and my loved ones.
By the powers of three times three,
By Earth and Fire, Air and Sea,
I fix this spell, then set it free,
’Twill give no harm to return on me,
As I will, so mote it be!

Let the candle burn out while the poppet sits at its base.

Then take the poppet and the remains of the candle and bury them in the ground or toss them in the ocean. Walk away without looking back.

 

Now, it’s not always possible to get nail clippings and the like from your enemy (does Death even have fingernails?!), so this spell from Free Witchcraft Spells might work better. It takes some time; so hopefully you can avoid the reaper in the meantime!

 

Black Candle Binding Spell

Anoint a black candle with sandalwood oil while you concentrate on the person or creature you want to get out of your life.

Wrap a piece of black thread around the candle until you use the whole length, then tie it tightly.

Repeat this, with a piece of black yarn. Then, on top of that, wind around a piece of rough twine of the same length. The exact lengths of the cords don’t matter — just use the same for all three. About 18 inches works well.

Light the candle, and let it burn out completely. Try to do this spell in the evening, letting the candle burn down overnight. Keep it somewhere safe and flameproof because the strings might catch fire as the candle burns down. I’ll burn candles in a small cauldron for my peace of mind.

You can try, but there really is no escaping death


Give it a go, but let’s face it: If your time has come, Death will find you. Have the Final Destination movies taught us nothing? –Wally

Love Spells From the Gypsies

How to cast a love spell to make someone fall in love with you — or fall out of love with you. Plus, secrets from the Roma that will reveal your future spouse!

Why are these Gypsies so happy? Cuz their love spells worked!

Gypsies, the apparently un-PC (but somehow fitting) term for the Roma, are said to have originated in North India, including what are now the states of Rajasthan and Punjab. A nomadic people, they traveled around in horse-drawn caravans and became known for their magical prowess. They’re especially gifted when it comes to divination, curses and love magic.

Here are some Gypsy love spells to win that special person’s heart, catch a glimpse of your future spouse — or to chase away an unwanted suitor. 

“If you dream of your love, then you will surely marry him or her.”

Spell to Make Your Lover More Attentive

Sit before a dying fire and gaze into it, clearing your mind of all but thoughts of your lover.

Have a small basket of laurel leaves between your knees.

Keeping your gaze fixed on the fire, dip your left hand into the basket, take out a handful of leaves, and toss them onto the fire. As they burst into flames, chant out loud the following:

“Laurel leaves that burn in the fire,
Draw unto me my heart’s desire.”

Wait until the flames have died down, then repeat the action. Do it a third time.

Within 24 hours, your lover will come to visit you.

 

Spell to Dream of the One You Will Marry

In the morning, as soon as you arise, peel a small lemon.

Keep two equal pieces of the peel, each about the size of a half-dollar. Place the pieces with the insides together and peel-side-out, and put them in your right-hand pocket or in your purse. Leave them there all day.

At night, when you undress for bed, take the peel from your pocket or purse and rub the legs of the bed with it. Then place both pieces of the peel under your pillow and lay down to sleep.

If you dream of your love, then you will surely marry him or her.

 

Spell to Attract a Specific Lover

Set a wineglass on the table.

Suspend a ring (traditionally your mother’s wedding ring, but any ring will do) from a length of red silk ribbon.

Holding the ribbon between your thumb and forefinger, with your elbow resting on the table, let the ring hang in the mouth of the wineglass like a pendulum. Try to keep the ring still.

In a loud, clear voice, call out your own name followed by the name of your would-be love. Repeat the name of your love twice more (three times in all).

Then, spelling out his or her name, allow the ring to swing until it clinks against the side of the wineglass, once for each letter.

Now take the ribbon and tie it about your neck, allowing the ring to hang down on your chest over your heart. Wear it for three weeks.

Every Friday, repeat the above ritual. By the end of the third week, if it is meant to be, then the loved one will come to you. 

Spell to Reveal Your Future Spouse’s Initials

Find the brightest red apple with the longest stem you can (from anywhere except off your own tree).

Sit by the fire and hold the apple by the stem as you gently twist it. For each twist given, state a letter of the alphabet (in order). The letter called out as the stem breaks free is your spouse’s first initial.

Toss the stem into the fire.

Then peel the apple skin off carefully in one long peel. If you mess up,you have to start again with a new apple, so be careful.

When done, take the peel in your left hand and toss it over your shoulder so that it lands on the ground behind you. Turn around and see what letter’s shape the peel has taken. That’s the first letter of your future spouse’s last name.

If the apple peel should break when thrown, that means it’s going to be a stormy relationship and that there will most likely be more than one instance in which you will consider calling the whole thing off.

Spell to View Your Future Spouse

In a room on a table covered with a black cloth, place a clear goblet of water filled to the brim.

On the goblet’s left, burn a white candle. This should be the only light in the closed, silent room.

On the right, burn frankincense, jasmine or sandalwood incense.

Close your eyes and relax by taking a few deep breaths, as you envision the faces of possible spouses in front of you.

Keep your eyes closed as you repeat the following three times:

“Scry, scry, scry for me
Bring the face that I must see.
Let me gaze on my future mate,
To know which lover will be my fate.”

Clear your mind of everything so that you are ready to accept whatever you see. When ready, open your eyes and gaze down into the water and you’ll glimpse the face of the one who will become your spouse.

 

Spell for Getting Rid of an Unwanted Suitor

Take a small square of paper and write on it the name of the annoying would-be lover. Use black ink. It’s best to use a feather quill, if possible. Let the ink dry.

Then light a white candle and burn the piece of paper in its flame over a cauldron or ashtray while thinking of the person running away from you.

Gather the ashes into a small bag and carry them out to a hillside. There you must place the ashes on the upturned palm of your right hand and hold it up, saying:

“Winds of the North, East, South and West,
Carry these affections to where they’ll be best.
Let her/his heart be open and free,
And let her/his mind be away from me.”

Then blow on the ashes so they scatter to the winds.

Spell to Give Someone the Courage to Admit Their Love for You

This should be done at the same hour on seven consecutive Fridays, ending on the one closest to the full moon — not just after.

Take a pink candle and mark six rings around it, at equal distances apart. This will give you seven sections of a candle.

Light the candle and call out the name of the one you think loves you.

Then say:

“Gana, be with me in all that I do.
Gana, please bring me a love who is true.
Give him/her the strength to put into words
His/her feelings, and sing like the song of the birds.”

(Gana is another name for Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon.)

Think about the person for a few moments — picture them coming to you and declaring their love.

Then repeat the chant. Keep doing this until the candle has burned down to the first line. Then extinguish the candle (by pinching it out — never by blowing; it helps to wet your fingers first) and put it away till next week.

On the final week, keep it lit until the candle burns itself out. –Wally

 

Sources: MojoMoon and In the Dark Book of Shadows

How to Protect Yourself From Jinns and Black Magic

blackmagic

Black magic in Islam is a serious concern — and the holy writings offer numerous ways to negate magic jinn.

 

I’m torn. Sometimes I think there’s a power in belief. That just by acknowledging something’s existence, you’re giving it relevance, even substance.

On the other hand, I know I can’t just force myself to not think about djinns while I’m in their lands. Heck, telling me not to think about something is pretty much guaranteeing it’ll be top of mind the entire time we’re in Fès.

“There’s even one to recite, ahem, before you have sex.”

So, I ultimately decided to investigate ways to protect yourself from djinns (also called jinns and, to most Westerners, genies).

Not that I think we’re really in any danger — or that these superstitions will actually help prevent something bad from happening.

But heck, after what happened last time, I figure it sure couldn’t hurt.

Pages from the Iran Islam Temtem-e Hendi Pictorial Book on Talisman, Charm & Mysterious Sciences in Persian (Farsi ): Instructions on What to Do to Put Demons & Genie ( Jinni ) Under Your Control & Info About How to Make Brass Plates to …

Pages from the Iran Islam Temtem-e Hendi Pictorial Book on Talisman, Charm & Mysterious Sciences in Persian (Farsi ): Instructions on What to Do to Put Demons & Genie ( Jinni ) Under Your Control & Info About How to Make Brass Plates to Avoid Black Magic & Use White Magic

 

Spells, Prayers and Protective incantations

A lot of the sites I found during my research focused on prayers to Allah for protection, such as this one:

“I seek refuge in Allah from you. I curse you with the curse of Allah.”

That seems a bit extreme — maybe it’s best to keep that one as backup if things get particularly dire.

This is one you recite upon leaving your house:

“In the name of Allah, I place my trust in Allah. There is no solution, no way out and no power except by Allah.”

There’s even one to recite, ahem, before you have sex:

“In the name of Allah, O Allah! Keep us away from Shaytaan [Satan] and keep Shaytaan away from what you bestow upon us.”

This assures that if a baby is conceived, Satan will never dare harm it. It also prevents a djinni from “taking part in a man’s sexual intercourse with his wife,” according to IdealMuslimah.

Here’s a nice general-purpose prayer that works all day long. Say this upon rising in the morning, and you’re said to be protected from djinns until you retire in the evening:

“I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the outcast. Allah! There is none worthy of worship but he, the ever-living, the one who sustains and protects all that exists. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes him. To him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the Earth. Who is he that can intercede with him except with his permission? He knows what happens to them in this world, and what will happen to them in the hereafter. And they will never encompass anything of his knowledge except that which he wills. His throne extends over the heavens and the Earth, and he feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. And he is the Most High, the Most Great.”

Here it is in Arabic:

أَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ "اللهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ

'A 'oothu billaahi minash-Shaytaanir-rajeem. Allaahu laa 'ilaaha 'illaa Huwal-Hayyul-Qayyoom, laa ta'khuthuhu sinatun wa laa nawm, lahu maa fis-samaawaati wa maa fil-'ardh, man thai-lathee yashfa'u 'indahu 'illaa bi'ithnih, ya'lamu maa bayna 'aydeehim wa maa khalfahum, wa laa yuheetoona bishay'im-min 'ilmihi 'illaa bimaa shaa'a, wasi'a kursiyyuhus samaawaati wal'ardh, wa laa ya'ooduhu hifdhuhumaa, wa Huwal- 'Aliyyul- 'Adheem

This is the one Duke and I ended up reciting every morning before we left the riad. And we didn't have one bad djinni experience! It works!

Here's another, though, to play it safe:

“In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Master of the Day of Judgment, thee do we serve and thee do we beseech for help. Keep us on the right path. The path of those upon whom thou has bestowed favors — not of those upon whom thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray.”

And one more for good measure:

“I seek refuge in the Lord of the Dawn from the evil of what he has created. And from the evil of the utterly dark night when it comes. And from the evil of those who blow on knots. And from the evil of the envious when he envies.”

Wonder what that blowing on knots is all about? It appears to be a term for (and practice of) the secrets arts of sorcery.

The black king of the djinns, Al-Malik al-Aswad, in the late 14th century Kitab al-Bulhan or Book of Wonders

The black king of the djinns, Al-Malik al-Aswad, in the late 14th century Kitab al-Bulhan or Book of Wonders

 

Other Means of Protection

Finally, I found some types of protection aside from spoken prayers or spells:

dates

The Prophet (peace and blessing upon him) said, “Whoever eats seven pressed dates every morning before eating any food, will not be affected by poison or sihr [witchcraft]!”

Preferably, you’re eating ajwa, a kind of date grown in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

This is from Al-Bukhari, one of the major collections of Sunni Islam: 10/249, the Book of Medicine, Chapter: Treatment of Sorcery With 'Ajwah.)

 

ablution (wudu)

First think about your niyyah (intention) in performing ablution to cleanse yourself of impurities.

Say, “Bismillah,” which means “in the name of Allah.”

Wash your right hand up to the wrist (and between the fingers) three times.

Repeat with the left hand.

Rinse your mouth and spit out the water three times and rub the teeth with a miswak, a teeth-cleaning twig.

This site has a more elaborate form of wudu that includes putting water up your nose and washing your feet.

Do this and you’ll be protected by an angel and therefore immune to black magic.

 

potty prepping

Apparently, Satan likes to lurk in bathrooms. So before you go in, you might want to say, “O Allah! I seek refuge in you from the male/female Satans.” The Devil apparently likes to hide in “this filthy place, which is the home of Satanic jinn,” according to Al-Bukhari. 

 

I'm not saying I'll follow all of this advice…but I do feel that I'm going back onto the djinns' turf better-armed. –Wally