Protection

What are you actually protecting yourself from?

It's worth answering honestly, because armour that has no target tends to keep out everything — including the things you've been asking for.

Protection is not permanent armour. It is a decision about access. When it works, you feel more open, not less, because you know where you end.

A settled sense of being able to stay yourself in other people's weather.

Sealing everything so tightly that connection can't reach you either.

• Name the specific thing you want protection from.

• Ask whether it needs protection or a boundary.

• Pair every protective act with one practical change.

• What am I protecting, and from whom?

• Where has protection become isolation?

• What would I let in if I felt safe?

Black Tourmaline, Obsidian and Onyx; Rosemary, Rue and Juniper; the Threshold Protection Ritual.