The Protector
The Forty Servants in Theory & Practice
Hello, good people of the internet, and welcome to The Forty Servants in Theory and Practice, a new series where I take a deeper look into the philosophy, use, and evolution of The Forty Servants system, drawing on nearly a decade of hands-on experience and magical experimentation.
A lot of this series will be for paid Patreon Members only, but I will also be doing lots of free posts in this newsletter too. In this free section of the series we will be looking at each individual Servant with regard to their magick and divination use, along with background on the art, sigil, and symbolism. We will also look at what Servants work well together, and anything else that's relevant.
If you would like to support this series, please consider a paid Patreon Membership, or sending a donation!
If you know nothing about the magick and divination system The Forty Servants, then have a look at this link HERE. You can start using The Forty Servants straight away, as there are totally free resources available at that link that give you access to everything the system has to offer.
So let’s let’s go!
THE PROTECTOR
The Protector shows us how to protect ourselves and our loved ones from harm. It encourages us to value protection, security and safety.
ARTWORK
The artwork for The Protector started life as a cover for a friend of mine's anthology comic that never made it to print due to funding reasons. You can see the original version below at the end of the post.
The artwork remained pretty much the same from that version other than I changed the hood of the cloak, changed the eye colour, and changed the overall tone of the piece from yellow to purple. I used the original art again for a bonus version of The Protector card that appears in the “Forty Servants Birthday Box” which goes on sale once a year at Halloween for the anniversary of Servant’s launch.
But why a bird as a protector? Well, I’ve been afraid of birds since childhood, a phobia rooted in two separate occasions where I was attacked by birds, and so I wanted to use something that terrifies me to protect me. It's a bit like Batman – he became a “bat” because a huge bat once terrified him, and he wanted to strike the same fear into his enemies.
The symbols behind the bird are two decagram stars, one faded in the background and one directly behind. In between is a downward point triangle which often represents the Water element – the Protector doesn’t just protect on a physical level but on an emotional level too.
The decagrams have ten points, which I created by spinning two pentagrams around each other. Ten points symbolise completion, divine order, or totality. So, the Protector doesn’t just guard the physical and the emotional — he stands watch over the entire sphere of being. The layered symbols represent protection from without and within, from above and below.
In other words, he’s all angles covered.
THE SIGIL
The sigil is a stylised bird. I wanted it to feel almost like a fossil or that it was skeletal.
It’s one of the Servants’ sigils I find myself using a lot: chalked on the ground, over bedroom doors and the entrances to my house, scrawled under floor mats, drawn on my body, and kept in my wallet and car. When I paint a room, I will draw the sigil on every wall first and then paint over it. It’s all over my studio/office space. If I ever get a tattoo, it would probably be this.
I even made a version out of sticks and string that hangs in my studio — a sort of witchy totemic ward. It broke a couple of times and needed to be repaired, so I assume that it works as intended to ward off any harm directed at me.
You can use the sigil similarly. Chalk it on your doorstep. Scratch it into a candle. Draw it with water on your forehead. Trace it astrally around you, or even use it as part of a LBRP style banishing and Protection ritual. Visualise it in front of you and walk into it. Place it above doors or entrances before you enter. Use it when you feel you need to cross into enemy territory. Place it between you and other people in heavy situations or emotional conversations.
Sigil Quick Uses: Personal and home protection, emotional shielding, warding objects or spaces, spiritual perimeter setting, and defensive magick.
DIVINATION
When The Protector appears in a reading, it's a sign that something needs defending — a person, a boundary, an idea, a part of yourself. You may be feeling exposed, vulnerable, or under pressure. Are there people or situations in your life that are draining your energy or causing you stress? This card says that now is the time to draw a line.
What are you protecting? And why? Are your defences still serving you, or are they blocking growth? Are you hiding behind a wall that no longer makes sense?
Depending on the context and other cards in the spread, He may also be asking you to be the shield for someone else — to hold space while they gather themselves. Or to remember that protection doesn’t always mean withdrawing. Sometimes it means showing up. Holding steady. Standing visible in front of the storm.
Sometimes you need to show a display of force.
Protecting yourself from internal harm is just as vital as shielding yourself from external attacks. That might mean silencing the endless loop of negative self-talk, refusing to hold on to shame that doesn’t belong to you anymore, or just giving yourself a break. There’s no shame in saying “no.” The Protector tells you that sometimes the kindest, most powerful thing you can do is simply not let the wrong thing in.
SHADOW REVERSAL
Reversed, The Protector can point to hypervigilance, overprotection, or the inability to let anyone in. Maybe you’ve been burned before, and now you’re guarding your heart so fiercely that nothing, good or bad, can reach you. Or perhaps you’re protecting something that doesn’t actually need defending any more.
In another light, it could mean false protection. Are you clinging to people or patterns that feel safe but are actually stunting you? Or are you trying to protect others at the expense of your own energy, constantly draining yourself to act as someone else’s shield?
He may also appear when you are not taking the need for protection seriously. Are you ignoring real danger, hoping something will go away instead of standing up to it?
MAGICK
The Protector is one of the most practically useful Servants in The Forty. His energy can be applied to home protection, emotional resilience, psychic shielding, and even traditional defensive magick.
You can evoke The Protector when you feel psychically or energetically overwhelmed, you’re entering hostile or tense environments, you want to ward a home, workspace, or object, you’re recovering from betrayal, violation, or heartbreak, or when you need to set physical, emotional, digital, or magical boundaries.
He’s a strong presence to invoke in the home through placements of the sigil around entrance and exit points and thresholds. Carry him in your car, add his sigil to the soles of your shoes, or draw it on envelopes to protect sensitive communications. The Protector also works very well when establishing spiritual “wards” around long-term magickal projects or sacred objects.
You can use the Protector’s sigil to set up boundaries around you. Draw the sigil using your finger or in your mind’s eye in each direction around you, including above and below, connecting them as you go with a line.
SERVANT COMBINATIONS
The Protector works beautifully with The Mother, for protecting families, children, or the vulnerable. He combines well with The Witch, when creating protective wards or general spellcasting.
The Protector works well with The Healer, for emotional and spiritual recovery after trauma and with The Dead, in ancestral or spiritual protection work.
He can also be called upon to stand between you and manipulative forces. Pairing him with The Opposer or The Protester may create a fierce shield against influence, deception, or gaslighting while standing up for yourself and your causes.
THE FORTY SERVANTS IN THEORY & PRACTICE SERIES SO FAR
ARTICLES:
THE WITCH
THE GATE KEEPER
THE MOTHER
THE FATHER
PATREON VIDEOS:
001 — Introduction
002 — Beg, Borrow, Be.
003 — Art History
004 — The Book Of Pacts
And that's it for this time, I hope you got something good from it. If you'd like to chat about it, you can leave a comment below, or come find me on Bluesky!
If you would like to support me in doing all the things I do, then feel free to join the PATREON, buy a FORTY SERVANTS deck, get me a book or something from my Amazon Wish List, or just send me some money via PAYPAL. It all really, really helps, and is very much appreciated.
So, until next time,
MAY YOUR BEST DAYS BE AHEAD!
Tommie
