How to Tell If ?

I didn't know Star Anise had protection properties...

Any herb can be used for any element or emotion or focus. You can use cinnamon for earth (brown color) you can use cinnamon for sweet (something good) you can use cinnamon for fire ( alot of it = heat) whatever connections are made in your mind with a simply "this for that" also possible...it all matters on your focus and intention with said herb. Also, when others write this herb is for this...it's a sort of rule-guide for you to put faith in that "yes...a equals b" since it's written.

Thats very untrue, OakWillow. Not every herb can be used for everything and anything... Expecially just because Cinnamon is earth color does not mean it can be used for the Earth element. -.-

And yes, Vramel. Star Anise is often used for protection, its among its many uses. :)

Okay, thankyou Fallen.

Alright, then you don't understand chaos magic and how it's possible.

In chaos magic, every ritual, every tool, every herb gets replaced on each time so as not to create reliance on any single path or ritual...but it still gets results.

This thread has been moved to Other Spells Discussion from Welcome.

I can see where both of you are coming from. Herbs and any tool for that matter is just a way to give us focus. If we believe an herb is protective, and we use it, it helps us to focus our will through the herb and create the result. Many paths of magick use whatever they have on hand that calls to them without ever researching their use. Everything has energy, so the energy certain items give off give us more of a boost to get the job done. But in essence, all we need to perform magick is a quiet location and a focused mind.

But some enjoy researching the correspondences of herbs, stones, symbols, moons, times, etc because it puts order and consistency into their magickal practice. Even when setting up their ritual, the magick begins, because they are focusing on their goal as they prepare. We are creatures of habit and repetition allows our mind to retain information and react without consciously thinking about it. When you drive to work everyday, eventually you won't have to think, "I need to turn left now", you automatically know where to go and which way to turn. Magick uses the same concept by giving us consistency and repetition through magickal correspondences. But they are totally optional.

To the original poster. Divination is the main way people ascertain whether they have magick placed upon them or someone else and what the nature of that magick is. Some have an affinity for deciphering magick. When you become more experienced, you'll just sense it and know. It's hard to explain, it isn't anything anyone can teach you. Some see it clairvoyantly, others feel it empathically, and still others just develop an instinct for it, like a hunter develops a sense of when he no longer is the predator and something is hunting him!

its kinda hard to tell. do a simple cleansing or banishing. you can set up a shield to protect yourself from spiritual attack.

I used to get hexed a lot, so I created this handy little notify spell. If you get hexed or cursed, a sharp stabbing pain will alert you to what part of the body is being affected and it will give a first instinct reaction on how to deal with it.
1. Break a medium sized mirror in to seven pieces.
2. Put the pieces in cold water.
3. After thirty minutes, take the pieces out at touch a different one to each chakra point.
4. Say "As I touch the broken shards to skin, may their hallowed points alert me to curses without or within."
5. Take the mirror shards and bury them on a moonless night.