Banishing Magick

Banishing magick removes something specific: an unwanted presence, a harmful energy pattern, a person’s lingering influence, a curse or ill-wish, or a condition that has settled into a space or a life. Where general cleansing sweeps a space of accumulated residue, banishing targets something identified and sends it away with deliberate force. It is one of the most important categories of protective and remedial magick, and most experienced practitioners regard it as essential maintenance for their personal and home space.

Banishing works on the principle of displacement and boundary. What is named, confronted, and directed out of a space can no longer remain there. The working creates a clear limit and asserts the practitioner’s authority over their own space and energy.

History and origins

The ritual banishment of hostile spirits, disease-bringing entities, and malicious influences is one of the oldest recorded magickal acts. Mesopotamian exorcism texts from the second millennium BCE describe elaborate rituals for driving out demons and disease; the Babylonian Maqlu and Shurpu texts are among the most detailed examples. Ancient Egyptian priests performed regular purification and banishment rites in temples and domestic spaces. In Greece and Rome, apotropaic practices using salt, fire, and specific prayers were used to clear spaces and remove harmful presences.

In European folk tradition, sweeping the home with specific herbs, sprinkling salt, burning cleansing plants, and spoken charms for removal were all common practices documented in cunning-craft records. The ceremonial magick tradition formalised banishing in the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, developed in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the late nineteenth century, which has become one of the most widely practised banishing rituals in contemporary magick.

In practice

A banishing begins with clear identification: what, specifically, are you removing? A vague intention to banish “bad energy” will produce less precise results than a targeted intention to remove a specific person’s influence from a space, or to banish a pattern of anxiety from your own energy field. The more clearly the practitioner knows what they are removing and why, the cleaner the working.

Banishing is typically followed by a sealing or protection working. Clearing a space creates a vacuum that will fill with whatever comes next; a ward set after banishing ensures that what was removed does not simply return.

A method you can use

Banishing a space: Begin by physically cleaning the space as thoroughly as you are able. Banishing does not substitute for mundane cleanliness; it works with it.

Open windows and doors if possible. Light a black candle at the centre of the space and state your intention clearly: what you are removing and that it is no longer welcome.

Prepare a banishing blend of black salt, a pinch of pepper, and dried rue or rosemary. Walk through the space widdershins (counterclockwise), scattering a small amount of the blend at each doorway, corner, and window. Speak directly: “What does not serve here, go. What was brought here against my will, go. This space is mine and it is clear.”

When you have completed the circuit, gather or vacuum up the banishing blend and take it out of the home, disposing of it in a rubbish bin outside or by burying it. Close the space by sealing the boundary, a sprinkle of regular salt across the threshold, a ward set at the door, or a protection candle lit at the entrance.

Banishing a personal energetic pattern: Light a black candle. Write the pattern or influence you are removing on a piece of black or grey paper. Speak directly to it: name it, acknowledge that it has served some purpose, and state clearly that it is finished here. Burn the paper in the candle flame, releasing it. When the burning is done, cleanse yourself with salt water, smoke, or a shower with the intention of washing the released pattern away.

In myth and popular culture

Banishing, under different names, is one of the oldest documented magical acts. Ancient Mesopotamian exorcism texts, including the Maqlu and Shurpu series, are substantial collections of rituals for driving out disease, malevolent spirits, and the effects of curses, some dating to around 1000 BCE. The Hebrew scripture records Moses performing acts of removing plagues from Egypt through command and ritual, framed as divine authority overriding hostile forces. In Greek mythology, Hermes in his psychopomp role conducted the dead away from the living world, a mythological parallel to the practice of sending spirits on.

In medieval and early modern European literature, banishing figures prominently in romances, saints’ lives, and demonological texts. The Solomonic tradition, in which King Solomon bound and commanded demons by the power of his seal, became one of the most influential magical frameworks in Western esotericism. Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus (c. 1592) depicts Faustus commanding and dismissing spirits, reflecting the practical magical literature of the period.

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, developed within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the late nineteenth century, has become one of the most widely disseminated ritual texts in modern occultism. It appears in Israel Regardie’s “The Golden Dawn” (1937) and has been reprinted, adapted, and commented on in dozens of subsequent magical textbooks.

Myths and facts

Common misconceptions about banishing magick are worth addressing directly.

• Many people assume that banishing always involves aggressive or confrontational energy. Effective banishing is grounded in clear authority and intention rather than aggression. Calm, centered, and definitive assertion is consistently described by experienced practitioners as more effective than dramatized anger or fear.
• A widespread belief is that banishing will anger or antagonize spirits and create more problems than it solves. Most traditions teach that firmly maintaining the integrity of your space is appropriate and that benevolent or neutral presences respect a clear and dignified assertion of boundaries. Problematic presences may resist initially but persistent, grounded practice is generally effective.
• It is sometimes assumed that banishing magick belongs only to ceremonial practitioners with formal training. Effective banishing is practiced across folk, Wiccan, Hoodoo, and eclectic traditions with a wide range of methods and levels of formality. The core elements are clear intention and consistent follow-through rather than elaborate ceremony.
• Many beginners believe a single banishing session should permanently resolve any energetic problem. Some situations require repeated work over days or weeks, particularly where the conditions that created the problem have not changed. Consistent maintenance is as important as the initial banishing.
• The assumption that banishing is essentially the same as exorcism misses an important distinction. Exorcism, as understood in formal religious contexts, addresses demonic possession within a specific theological framework and carries particular cultural and spiritual protocols. Banishing magick as practiced in modern magical traditions is a broader category covering many types of energetic removal, not all of which map onto the exorcism framework.