Personal Wards

For personal wards, the same visualization techniques apply, just on a smaller scale. And it’s perfectly acceptable to use a different visualization for your personal wards than you do for your property wards. For example, I find it much easier to use a bubble or a circular containment figure for my personal wards than the webs I use on my home. When visualizing a personal ward, you’ll picture the same construction process, but around yourself rather than a space or a dwelling.

Personal wards move and travel with you. They bend and flex as needed, and can be as large or as small as you like. They can fill a whole room or hover just a hairsbreadth above your skin. It all depends on how much space you need to feel safe and what your personal boundaries are.

Regardless of the size, shape, appearance, or location of your ward, it has one purpose – to protect that which is inside. And once you’ve built it, it generally stays in place until you dismantle it or refresh it. Wards can fade over time, simply from day to day wear of repelling bad luck or whatever harm you’re keeping away. Personal wards generally last for a much shorter period of time than property wards. I would recommend refreshing a personal ward on a daily or weekly basis, where a property ward might only need bolstering monthly or semiannually. Tying personal wards to clothing or jewelry can increase the longevity of the magic, but it will still need to be re-upped occasionally.

Again, you’ll still need to employ mundane safety measures with your magical protections, be they personal or property-based. And if you’re in an unsafe situation, do not, for heaven’s sake, rely on magic to get you out of it. Use common sense and be prepared as far as is reasonably possible.