Staying Grounded in Thin Veil Season
For many of us, October is one of the most anticipated months of the year. The evenings are darker, the air sharper, and the shops are full of witching season décor. In witchcraft and folk tradition, this time of year is often described as a season when the veil feels thin. You may already be noticing it. Perhaps your dreams are intensifying, your emotions feeling more heightened, or your intuition is whispering louder than usual. You may also be feeling the pull to move within.
While this can be beautiful, it can also feel a bit… a lot. Because alongside the natural pull towards reflection and ritual, there’s another October phenomenon: the online ritual boom. Your feed fills with “do this tonight!” spells, portal talk, mass cord-cuttings, spirit contact challenges, and cleansing routines that promise instant transformation. Some of it is genuinely helpful. Some is performative. And some of it is simply not safe or suitable for where you are right now.
Spiritual protection is not assuming the world is full of bad energy waiting to get you. It’s about supporting the wellbeing of you spiritual life rather than destabilising it, so for this month’s tarot draw, I’m asking about energy protection and how to stay safely anchored. I’ve drawn three cards and created a couple of mini rituals you might like to try.
Card 1: Where am I most energetically porous right now? The World
The World is a card of completion, wisdom, and integration. It’s the moment in the tarot journey where you can look back and see how far you’ve come. The World invites us to reflect on all we’ve learned, lived, and gathered before we begin a new cycle.
And yet, The World also carries a subtle temptation, especially in thin veil season: the sense that everything is available, everything is calling, and you should be able to hold all of it.
In your day to day, this can show up as overwhelm by a barrage of options.
- Too many teachers, too many rituals, too many “right” ways to practise.
- Too many spiritual voices in your ear, all offering different answers.
- Too much information, too much content, too much stimulation.
The World reminds us that wisdom is real, but so is humility. Even when we’ve gained experience, we are still in a cycle. In tarot, The World is not the end forever. The next step is The Fool, the beginning again.
So if you’ve been feeling fragile or porous, it may not be because you are “too sensitive” or “not protected enough”. It may be because you’re trying to take in too much at once.
Thin season can make us feel like we should be doing more. More ritual. More shadow work. More cleansing, connecting, learning. More becoming. And yet the one thing we might truly need, is protection.
A simple question to ask yourself this month is: What am I consuming spiritually, and is it nourishing me or flooding me?
If your nervous system is already stretched, adding more intensity won’t make you more spiritual. It will just make you more tired.
Card 2: What boundary or protection practice will support me most this season? Five of Cups
The Five of Cups is often seen as a card of disappointment and focusing on what has been lost. But it’s also a great card for discernment, because it shows how quickly our attention can be pulled towards lack.
In the context of spiritual protection, the Five of Cups asks us to be mindful of what makes us feel “less than”. This is especially relevant online, where spiritual content can quietly trigger comparison.
- “Everyone else is opening their gifts, why am I stuck?”
- “Other people’s rituals look so powerful, mine feels small.”
- “They’re having huge experiences, why am I not?”
Comparison is an energetic leak. It drains your confidence, pulls you out of your own path, and makes you more suggestible. When you feel lacking, you’re more likely to reach for a ritual out of urgency rather than readiness.
The protection practice here is simple: notice what is yours, and what is not. Not every emotion you feel is yours. Not every mood belongs to you, or every spiritual “should” is meant for you.
Whenever you feel heavy, unsettled, or pulled off-centre, try this mini practice:
- Pause
- Breathe out slowly.
- Ask: Is this mine?
If it is yours, you’ll feel the warm draw towards it. If it’s not, you can release it, and maybe return to it another time, or set it aside entirely. Setting this kind of boundary is a quiet yet powerful way to protect your energy.
Another aspect of the Five of Cups is an invitation to curate your inputs. Protection is being discerning about what you allow into your mind and energy field. If certain accounts, videos, or conversations leave you feeling inadequate or hooked into fear, step away. You don’t owe your attention to anyone but yourself.
A mini practice: Soft Shield + Threshold
If you’d like a simple protection practice you can use before sleep, before ritual, or before stepping into a busy day, try this.
- Arrive: Place both feet on the floor. Inhale slowly through the nose, exhale gently through the mouth. Do this three times.
- Ground: Imagine roots dropping from your feet deep into the earth. With each exhale, let your body soften.
- Shield: Visualise a soft, luminous light around you, like a warm cloak. It’s breathable and soft. It lets love in, and keeps overwhelm out.
- Threshold intention (say aloud or in your mind): “Only what is for my highest good may enter my space. Everything else must stay beyond my boundary.”
- Close: Place one hand on your heart and one on your belly. Whisper: “I am safe. I am protected. I am here.”
If you want a physical closing, wash your hands afterwards. It’s an easy way to tell your body, and your energy, that the practice is complete.
Card 3: What helps me stay clear after ritual or spiritual work? Death
Death is the reminder that opening is only half the work. The closing matters just as much.
Many people know how to begin a ritual. They light the candle, set the intention, pull the cards, and open the space.
But then they linger.
They struggle with trust. They keep pulling clarifiers. They keep asking the same question in different ways. They keep the energy open long after the moment has passed.
Death says close the chapter—not as a harsh reprimand, but to help you trust in yourself, and to close with integrity. This October, (and in truth, all the time) when you finish spiritual work, give yourself a clear ending. You can do this by thanking whatever you called in, and releasing it. Extinguishing the candle, putting the cards away, washing your hands, eating something, and even stepping outside for fresh air.
If you journal, try this simple integration prompt after ritual:
- What did I feel?
- What did I learn?
- What do I need now?
And once that’s done, let it go.
One last message with Death is how it’s also a boundary with the past. If you’ve been doing ritual work around old stories, this card encourages you not to keep revisiting the wound in the name of healing. There’s a point where healing becomes repetition, so protection, here, is knowing when to leave something behind.
A closing phrase you can use after any ritual is: “I am back in my body. I am back in my life.” Rather than lingering in an old story, you mindfully land back in the present. Try it and see how the affirmation makes you feel.
Discernment in thin veil season
A final word on the online ritual boom: not everything that is trending is meant for you.
If you’re unsure whether a ritual is wise for you right now, ask yourself:
- Does this use fear or urgency to hook me?
- Does it involve calling in energies or spirits I don’t understand?
- Does it skip consent, boundaries, or closing?
- Am I doing this from curiosity and steadiness, or from stress and spiralling?
- What would the gentlest version of this look like?
Your spiritual practice should only ever feel like support, never chasing a high or performing to fit in.
When to pause & seek support
If spiritual content or ritual work is increasing anxiety, insomnia, or emotional dysregulation, it’s wise to pause. Return to basics: food, water, rest, breath, nature, and simple grounding.
And if you are struggling, it’s always appropriate to seek professional mental health support. Spiritual practice can be a beautiful companion to wellbeing, but it’s not a replacement for care.
The World, the Five of Cups, and Death together offer a clear message for thin veil season.
There’s no rule stating you must hold everything. Your path is yours alone – no-one else’s. And you don’t need to keep a door open just because you once walked through it.
Spiritual protection is not a barrier to magic. It’s the vessel that makes it safe and allows you to grow in comfort and security.
This October, move slowly, choose wisely, and close what needs closing. Let your sensitivity be a gift you can live with, not something you have to recover from.
Have a wonderful October!
About the Author: Julie Embleton
