Silvered and Turned Aside is a banishing mirror spell — a defensive working that uses a candle-lit mirror to meet harm aimed at you, turn it aside, and let it go harmlessly to ground. Nothing is sent anywhere and no one is struck. At midnight the mirror stops being glass and becomes a shield: whatever ill has been loosed meets a polished face, finds no purchase, and slides away into the dark and the earth, where it goes cold and comes to nothing.
Correspondences for This Spell
- Colour: black, for endings and the clean removal of what has been sent against you.
- Herbs: sage, rosemary and garlic — or a pinch of black pepper for a fiercer edge — burned to purify the air between you and the dark.
- Crystal: black obsidian, the scrying-stone of reflection and guard (black tourmaline serves as well).
- Day: Saturday, the day of severance and firm boundaries.
- Planet: Saturn, ruler of limits, endings and the closing of doors.
- Element: Fire, carried in the candle flame that doubles inside the glass.
- Moon: the waning moon, essential here — its darkening light draws the harm away as it decreases.
For the wider table of these matches, see the correspondences guide.
What You Will Need
- A black candle and a holder, to give the doubled flame.
- Cleansing incense — sage, rosemary or a banishing blend — and something to light it.
- A mirror that stands upright on its own, or a stand to prop it.
- A bowl of salt, sea or plain, to lay the protective ring.
- A quiet place near the door or quarter the trouble comes from.
The Best Time to Cast
Cast at the stroke of midnight on a Saturday, while the moon is waning. Midnight is the still hinge of the night, when a mirror most readily turns from glass to threshold; Saturday belongs to Saturn, the planet of endings and hard boundaries; and the waning moon lends its own decreasing light, pulling the harm down and away as it shrinks toward dark.
The Working
- At the stroke of midnight, stand a mirror upright so its face turns outward, toward the quarter the trouble comes from — a doorway, a road, a name.
- Set a black candle before it so the flame doubles in the glass, and light incense to cloud the air between you and the dark.
- Draw a ring of salt around the mirror’s foot to hold the working steady and keep the reflection from spilling back on you.
- Look into the doubled dark and name aloud what has been sent against you, refusing it word by word.
- Speak the incantation, watching your own reflection harden into a shield of cold silver.
- Turn the mirror’s face fully outward and cap the candle, letting the incense smoke carry the returned intent away down its own road.
- Leave the salt ring until dawn, then sweep it out through the door in the direction the mirror faced.
The Incantation
Glass at midnight, silver-cold,
give back the harm that hand would hold.
What was sent, I send anew —
not mine to keep, but theirs to rue.
Turn on the threshold, turn and go,
home to the sender, swift and slow.
By the doubled flame and the ring of white,
wear your own dark face tonight.
Variations & Substitutions
- No black candle? A plain white candle will carry the work; deep indigo or grey also suit the banishing mood.
- Stronger salt ring: black salt — table salt blended with scraped charcoal or fireplace ash — deepens the barrier, though ordinary sea salt is entirely enough.
- No standing mirror: a propped compact, or a bowl of dark water set before the candle, will double the flame and serve as the reflecting surface.
A Word on Intent
This is a shield, not a sword. The Wiccan Rede — an it harm none, do what ye will — holds even when you are the one under attack. Notice that the working sends nothing new: it returns only what was already loosed, and asks that it go home rather than that the sender suffer. Cast to close a door, to refuse a harm, to be left in peace — never to injure a person.
Related Banishing Spells
Return to the Grimoire for more workings, or keep your own record in the Book of Shadows.