Psychic defence
One of the key areas of magical work is personal protection. This can be a general defence against a hostile psychic environment (for example you live in Baltimore :) then the stray psychic noise may well be sufficient to justify psychic protection. You may also want something more specific against potential or actual psychic attack. If you are planning on joining a group then some will think it appropriate to "test" newcomers. < place gossip about neopagan group here >. Individuals may also cause problems, many years in the neopagan community has taught me that there are plenty of hippy love-monkeys who think nothing of sending ill-will for little or no cause. It happens for the same reason ‘trolling’ happens online, people do it because they assume it is anonymous. The more reputable groups and movements inhibit these behaviours in various ways. We take a dim view of those sorts of games, for instance. Realistically whatever your spiritual path, some defensive arrangements are sensible.
You can learn to do this as a group, Druidic Circles are a good example and is a strong method but does require a group which may not always be available. As a side note if you are working with any organisation that sets up protective wards before working then it is a good idea to inquire who they feel the need to be protected from? That can be a very informative question!
There are lots of different approaches to what we'll broadly call Psychic defence. In books and online you can find various advice about Shields, Wardings etc. These can be useful and as an approach that can be seen as the current state of protection magic from the western Occult tradition. So modern Druid and Wiccan organisations do group protective rituals but you can see the roots of these techniques in earlier western occult writings. Bear in mind that the neo-pagan movement's founders were generally widely-read westerners so naturally they were influenced by earlier writers. One of the best early works on managing energetic integrity was Dion Fortune’s Psychic Self-Defence first published in 1930 (revised edition available on Amazon) and although dated in many ways it is still a useful handbook for the beginner. We would recommend it.
But when embarking on personal protection endurance and mental health are a factor. It is possible to setup personal protective spells. It is also possible to become paranoid. It is possible to use such protective magic constantly but it is also possible to exhaust one-self in doing so. It is not unknown for competent practitioners to reduce themselves to exhausted paranoia. Not because they don’t have the talent, but because they do. Do what you need to do, but don’t let your talent be used against you.
