Hi. So paint wise you can use any you like, I’ll just be suggesting empowering it in a ritual and also putting some items in it to soak before you use it. Color wise most people will agree that red or black are most often used for protection. If there is a color that equals protection to you for whatever reason, you could also do that instead of red or black. I find people who prefer chaos magic or eclectic magic often do well following their guts when it comes to color associations, and how they affect their magic. If I were making such a paint these are the more readily available ingredients I would put in it; blackthorns, elder berries, rowan berries, alder bark, rose thorns, rue, vervain, cloves, basil, nettles, bay leaf, rosemary, etc… Materials that are a bit harder to source or not in most kitchen cupboards I would include are; tobacco, mandragora, black nightshade, malevolence aka purple devil (It’s a plant), stinging nettle, a porcupine quill, a sting ray barb, a shark tooth, most animal claws, knife dust, a bullet, a fang, etc… select what you feel symbolizes protection and add them into your paint (If the herbs used are small use a tea strainer for them and if you use poisonous materials definitely never use that tea strainer for any other purpose.) wood wise if I were making this I would use blackthorn, alder, oak, ebony, or iron wood. Other woods can certainly work but in my personal practice and experience, these are the woods I would choo
Ritual wise since you are new with this and don’t have a specific practice I would suggest preforming this on a Tuesday (The planet Mars influences that day). You can do this in the light of the sun or moon depending on the energy you’re going for. I would preform it at night around midnight or three but Im a bit nocturnal and work with darker energies and spirits. There are many solar based spirits and deities that are associated with war or protection so you should pick based off of which feels empowering and protective to you personally.
For the actual ritual I figure we should keep it as simple as possible. The main things I would recommend having are black or red candles that you will engrave a protective rune or sigil on, a sharp sterile object to draw blood, if you have a protective deity an image/statue of them present could only help, some martial or protective incense (Think spices, dragons blood resin, herbs I listed above, etc…), an incense burner, three longish sticks, and some oat flour if you got any. If you don’t have any of these things don’t worry you can honestly make do with just your blood or if you can visualize relaying heavily on that. People in prisons or that are disabled often preform powerful spells without the need of extra items. Think of herbs and tools as being keys to the magic door you want to open, a key is super helpful and empowering, but doors can also be kicked open or bypassed for another way in.
Okay silly metaphors aside you would take your paint that has your chosen herbs and items in it outside into the light of the sun/moon and set up your work space. I use oat flour often to make a large magic circle but you could also use an athame (ritual knife) to carve a circle into the sand/dirt, you could use water you create a temporary circle with on concrete (this can be a cool method if you work the fading of it into a spell), you can use stones to make a circle, you can use wooden stakes to make a circle, you could use a rope or cord, sticks you place in a circle, or a location that has a natural circle boundary (I don’t recommend mushroom circles unless you work with fae.). Anyway once you’ve created your boundary you’re going to use the stick or draw a triangle around the paint. Make sure the point is down (towards you). After that take you candle and engrave it with the protective symbol you’ve chosen. Then prick or make a small cut to draw blood (please do not do it from your palm like they show on tv and in movies, we want your hand to remain functional.) Once you’ve drawn blood take it and rub it into the symbol on the candles and then put them on either side of the paint outside the triangle. (You can use just one and just sit it behind the paint outside of the triangle.) if you have a statue or image of a protect Definitely place it behind the paint outside the triangle and if you have a candle there set it at a safe distance behind the candle. Super easy now you just need to light your incense which you can sit on either side of the triangle or in behind it if you have room. Know you just need to either visualize the intent and protective properties of the things your imbuing it with or do what I would do and also ask the spirits of those things to lend you their protective abilities to imbue the paint with and leave them an offering (you can usually appease most things with milk, honey, red wine, tobacco, or blood… maybe skip blood though since you’re new to this and we don’t want trickster spirits or worse messing with you.) if you want something cool to say literally name the items you’ve added and state your intentions out loud. Say you call upon the martial protective powers of mars and the moon/sun and picture it beaming down into your paint. If you want to write out your speech or rhyming spell for this and memorize it, I would think that was wise and can only enhance your results.
I tried to make this so it could work regardless of your personal beliefs or experience level. I wanted you to feel empowered and able to take the concept and make it work for you and your chosen path. If you can’t get any of the items save for the paint stick to Tuesday and pick night or day for your time frame. Once you’ve decided on that you’re going to use your visualization skills and intentions mainly. If you can meditate or have a mind palace you could preform the spell there, literally in your own mind. I recommend creating such a place in your mind for this very purpose. For me I see a dense woods within it is a large grove that has a lake, a small waterfall flowing over a cave, and my altar and little cottage in a tree. I use the cave as a portal journey starting point for astral travel or traveling in fetch form. I have a large stone altar there with all of the things I need. If I need ingredients I simply walk through the woods and find them. You could do your spell and ritual completely in your personal mental anchor point. Many advanced practitioners will preform a ritual physical as well as mentally simultaneously to add to the power of the spell or ritual.
I apologize if this was a lot or not well organized. I’m tired and recovering from Covid. I do hope this is helpful to you though and wish you luck on your project.
