Druid Sphere of Protection Daily Banishing Ritual

The Sphere of Protection is a daily ritual that cleans your etheric and astral bodies and shields you from nasty influences from both human and non-human entities. For people who already know something about the occult, it's essentially the Druid version of the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram from the Golden Dawn style of magic. I did not invent any of the above. The Sphere of Protection was invented in the 1950s by occultist Dr. Juliet Ashley.

For a detailed walkthrough of EXACTLY what I am trying to achieve, please read this series. It is 8 parts. The comments are also quite enlightening.

Phase 1: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/5712...
Phase 2: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/5847...
Phase 3: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/5930...
Phase 4: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/5996...
Phase 5: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/6075...
Phase 6: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/6148...
Phase 7: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/6218...
Phase 8: https://ecosophia.dreamwidth.org/6262...

What I am doing during this ritual:

In a nutshell, I am play-acting with a bunch of singing, speaking, and body gestures; that is all. Please keep in mind I am not much of an actress! While I do this, I envision the gods via feelings about nature scenes I am invoking and seeing in my mind's eye. I start with the opener, the Elemental Cross. Personally, I sing it, but that's not a requirement, I am just singing it because that what feels more natural to me.

The Elemental Cross creates a center point of stillness from which to do magical work. It establishes a home base where you're stating to the powers "Hey, I'm here, doing stuff!"

I bow between parts of the ritual to thank the powers. Again, that's my adaptation that you may choose to do or not to do.

After the Elemental Cross, I move on to the actual Sphere of Protection. The SoP is divided into six parts: four map directions with corresponding gods from my pantheon of choice, Spirit Below, and Spirit Above.

A word about "pantheon of choice". Yes, you heard that correctly, one can choose what pantheon they work with. What this means is that a Christian can use aspects of Jesus for the entire SoP (in fact, the early SoP is said to have resembled the Stations of the Cross). I am invoking the Druid gods because that's who I like, however, there are plenty of Hellenic polytheists doing the SoP with the Greek gods and a few Cthulu worshippers using the fictional Lovecraftian pantheon. It's really up to you, however, most people report it's much more effective to stick to a single pantheon and not a jumble of gods from different traditions. Atheists can invoke/banish the directions with natural forces with no gods.

When I face East and draw the invoking (clockwise) circle, I picture a spring meadow with birch and oak trees with a fresh gust of wind blowing across it. When I banish and trace the same circle backwards (counterclockwise) I imagine the same meadow with winds blowing away all of my irritability, fogginess, and haughtiness.

Then I face South and draw the invoking (clockwise) triangle, I picture a path through one of my favorite forest preserves in midsummer. When I banish and trace the same triangle backwards (counterclockwise) I imagine the same path with the summer heat burning off all of my unwarranted anger, spitefulness, and frenzied energy.

Then I face West and draw the invoking (clockwise) upside-down triangle, I picture either a lake, a river, or the ocean. I am standing on the shore watching the sun set. When I banish and trace the same triangle backwards (counterclockwise) I imagine the same body of water with the tide carrying away all of my unwarranted despair, unwillingness to set clear boundaries in my life, and pointless guilt.

Then I face North and draw the invoking (clockwise) circle, I picture a peaceful graveyard at midnight in the dead of winter. When I banish and trace the same circle backwards (counterclockwise) I imagine the same graveyard with the Earth slowly freezing and digesting all of my miserliness, greed, and tendencies to become distracted from what's important.

I reach towards the Earth, trace the circle, and invoke the goddess below. She's "mama" to me usually but in this version I call her Ced. I envision the roots of the oak tree and the rich soil sending up silver-green rays of light into my belly area.

For the spirit above, I see the leaves of an oak tree stretching towards a blue sky. Afterwards, I thank the All-father. Notice there is no banishing part for Spirit Above or Spirit Below.

Lastly, the actual Sphere completes the ritual. I sing the word "AWEN" and as you probably noticed, the names of all the gods were sung. This is my way of vibrating the names. There's far too much to explain for 5000 words, so if you have questions, please leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them.