Psychic protection is something all of us need to practice at certain times in our lives. It’s good to have a few go-to essential oils for protection in your toolbox for whenever you may need them. We recommend the use of protective oils when you need to create distance between yourself and someone who maybe draining your creative energy or projecting their own shadow onto you or when you’ve perhaps accidentally picked up someone’s unhealed energies. These oils can also be very helpful when working on healing and transforming traumatic, dark or heavy ancestral stories, because they protect from unconsciously taking on or being possessed the unintegrated traumas of the past. We often say that to begin to heal an ancestral lineage, it is important to get the wounded ancestors to stop ‘sitting on your lap.’ One way of doing this is to consciously step back and protect yourself by putting a drop of a protective oil in the palms of your hands, rubbing them together and directing the aromatic molecules around your aura. You can do this whenever needed and during certain periods we recommend doing it twice daily. These oils can also be used to protect spaces in the same way.
St. John’s Wort has been used in Europe for centuries for its protective qualities. In French it is referred to as “chasse diable”, which means ‘chase the devil.’ This plant is in full flower right around the summer solstice and the aroma of the essential oil can synesthestically take the form of a powerful light. It pushes out the dark, shadowy areas by filling them with fierce light and sun energy. If you need protection, carry the oil with you and smell it whenever you need. We also use it for protection when journeying and working with difficult ancestral situations. Smell the oil while journeying, maybe in combination with another oil. People with a tendency to hypochondria or who are taken over by feelings of being impure, ill, or damaged in some way can really benefit from this oil’s energy that will help them find their inner sun.
Sweet Fennel has many similarities with St. John’s Wort. According to the” Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants” in Europe, it is a powerful anti-demonic plant connected to the Saint John’s feast day which is the summer solstice. In France, they believed that if fennel was “drawn through St. John’s fire nine times it would offer protection against enchantment.” Both plants also have strong symbolism for bringing strength and courage to the person using them. In England fennel was pinned to the door to protect the house from evil powers and fortune tellers used it to protect people from bewitchment. (1)
Agastache or Anise hyssop, which is native to North America, was used by the Chippewa tribe in protective charms and burnt in incense for the same reason. It is an herb used for cleansing and purification and works deeply on a soul level to heal and restore. Personally, I use Agastache in a different way than the above two oils for protection. Its strong anise scent helps us to connect to our inner knowing and psychic abilities and it is in this way that it acts protectively. The more we trust our intuition, the safer we are. Agastache works on this level.
The ancients knew we needed to protect ourselves and our homes and there are definitely times in today’s crazy world when we still need to do so. Having at least one of these oils in your kit can be very helpful when you are dealing with a dominant boss or invasive mother-in-law or even just because you are in the wrong place at the wrong time and you pick up negative energy. Health practitioners would do well, using an oil daily as part of their daily hygiene to prevent themselves from unconsciously picking up negative energy from unwell clients, which we all do to a greater or lesser extent. Taking on such energies can lead to ‘burn out’ or compassion fatigue and actually unconsciously prevents the client from being empowered to transform their challenges. When we as healers practice protection and cleansing of challenging energies, this ripples out to our clients.
