The Bad Vibes Field Guide: A Definitive Handbook for Psychics and the Afflicted

by Devin Hunter, M. Belanger (foreword)

Learn how to cleanse, protect yourself from, and transmute bad vibes, regardless of their size or origin. Devin Hunter provides the support you need to face any energetic problem, whether you're a beginner or an experienced psychic. Each topic builds upon the preceding one, growing with you as you gain experience. This comprehensive book covers everything from dealing with unwanted ghosts to turning spiteful energy into soul nutrition.

Devin shares personal stories and secrets from more than twenty years as a professional psychic medium and teacher. He covers a wide range of topics and provides quick, step-by-step procedures to tackle any issue. He also offers tools and advice for expanding your abilities as a psychic or empath. This book is packed with ways to protect yourself from and cleanse your life of bad vibes.

Genres: Witchcraft, Spirituality

272 pages, Paperback

Published April 8, 2025

About the author

Devin Hunter is a professional Psychic Medium and modern witch and is the resident House Medium at The Mystic Dream in Walnut Creek, Ca. He holds third-degree initiations in both the Northern Star Tradition of Wicca as well as the Dianic Tradition of Witchcraft (the Cult of Diana) and is the founder of his own tradition, Sacred Fires. His AV Club favorited podcast, the Modern Witch, has helped thousands of people from all over the world discover and develop their magical abilities. He is a blogger for Witches & Pagans magazine and is the creator of Modern Witch Magazine. Devin is currently teaching with the Black Rose School of Witchcraft and is the reigning Master of Ceremonies at the New Orleans Witches’ Ball. His first book, The Witch’s Book of Power releases from Llewellyn World Wide in July of 2016!

Reviews

[TM]

So not what I thought it was I just seen it and picked it up from the library without flipping threw. I did speed read threw every chapter but I'm not the right target.

[Michelle Avery · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a lot of books on psychic self-care and protection, and The Bad Vibes Field Guide stands apart for its structure, precision, and sense of purpose. Devin Hunter has written something that feels like both a manual and a curriculum. Every chapter leads logically into the next. The layout gives you a clear path for learning instead of a loose assortment of techniques.

The four major sections, Sensing Vibrations, Bad Vibrations, Cleansing and Triage, and Protection and Transmutation, form a natural progression. You begin by learning to sense and identify different vibrations, then move into understanding their sources, and finally learn how to cleanse, protect, and transmute. It feels like a complete system that supports growth at every stage of practice.

The list of exercises is extensive. There are forty in total, and they cover a wide range of methods. The early ones such as Core Beliefs, Grounding and Centering, and Focusing and Connecting to Source create a foundation for deeper work. As you move forward, you encounter exercises like Iron Activation, Source Star for Self and Immediate Surroundings, Bridge Reading, and Crossing a Spirit Over. These lessons build both confidence and skill. The later chapters introduce advanced material such as Creating an Intentional Thoughtform and Elemental Transmutation, which expand the possibilities for experienced practitioners.

One of the strongest qualities of the book is its practicality. The instructions are direct and free of unnecessary complication. Hunter writes as someone who knows what it feels like to face energetic overwhelm and who understands how to navigate it. His explanations of vibration anatomy, energetic scanning, and psychic hygiene make the material easy to apply without sacrificing depth.

The personal stories throughout the text add authenticity. When Hunter describes dealing with difficult environments or learning to differentiate between his own emotions and external currents, it creates trust. It feels like guidance from someone who has truly done the work, not theory imagined from a distance.

The section on transmutation is particularly meaningful. Rather than focusing only on removal or avoidance, Hunter presents methods for transforming negative energy into constructive forms. The idea that energy can be repurposed instead of discarded gives the reader a sense of empowerment. Exercises such as Hydro Transmutation and Elemental Transmutation illustrate this principle beautifully, and they show how energy work can become both restorative and creative.

M. Belanger’s foreword strengthens the book further. It situates Hunter’s material within the larger field of contemporary occult study and psychic arts. The partnership between these two voices gives the book both practical and scholarly weight.

The Start Here in Case of Emergency section deserves special mention. It offers quick, effective steps for moments when a reader feels overwhelmed or energetically compromised. Having that section at the very beginning makes the book immediately functional, even before you start the deeper lessons.

Since reading it, I have noticed real improvements in how I handle energetic strain. The grounding and reorientation techniques reduce fatigue after readings or social interactions. The cleansing and shielding methods are simple enough to repeat daily, and they genuinely help.

The Bad Vibes Field Guide succeeds because it treats psychic health as a serious and teachable skill. It gives you the structure, vocabulary, and confidence to maintain balance in complex energetic situations.

[Amanda Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved The Bad Vibes Field Guide. I’ve read a lot of books about psychic protection, cleansing, energy work, and dealing with spirits over the years, and this is easily one of the most comprehensive and genuinely useful books I’ve encountered on the subject. What immediately sets it apart is that Devin Hunter doesn’t just give you a collection of protection techniques and tell you to shield yourself from everything that feels uncomfortable. He teaches you how to actually identify what you’re experiencing, consider where it might be coming from, understand what is happening energetically, and then figure out what to do about it. That diagnostic approach alone makes this feel like an actual field guide rather than another general book about psychic self-defense.

The scope is also incredible. Hunter covers psychic and empathic overwhelm, unwanted spirits and ghosts, hostile or spiteful energy, energetic contamination, cleansing, protection, psychic sensitivity, and so much more, while showing how these things can overlap without necessarily being the same problem. I really appreciated that because so many books treat every uncomfortable energetic experience as if it requires exactly the same response. Here, you’re given tools for understanding the situation first and then responding appropriately.

My favorite aspect of the book, though, is the emphasis on transmutation. Rather than encouraging readers to become frightened of negative energy or to spend their lives building bigger and bigger walls around themselves, Hunter explores ways of transforming what comes your way and even turning harmful or spiteful energy into something useful. I found that approach incredibly empowering. Psychic protection becomes less about being afraid of what might get through your defenses and more about becoming skilled enough to deal with whatever you encounter.

You can also feel the amount of real-world experience behind the writing. Hunter has spent decades working as a professional psychic medium, witch, and teacher, and it shows. The advice feels like it comes from someone who has actually encountered strange, complicated situations and had to figure out what worked rather than someone simply repeating the same handful of protection techniques that have appeared in occult books for decades. Everything is straightforward, practical, and designed to actually be used.

That’s ultimately what I loved most about The Bad Vibes Field Guide: it makes you feel more capable rather than more afraid. It doesn’t leave you thinking the world is full of terrible energies you need to hide from. It leaves you feeling like you have the knowledge and tools to recognize a problem, understand it, cleanse it, protect yourself when necessary, transform what can be transformed, and move on with your life. This is absolutely the kind of book I’ll keep within reach and return to whenever something weird happens and I need to figure out what the hell is going on. An outstanding resource and easily one of the best books on psychic protection and energetic self-defense I’ve ever read.

[Thomas Pinneck · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Bad Vibes Field Guide is more systematic than its deliberately casual title suggests. Devin Hunter approaches psychic protection as a problem of diagnosis before intervention, beginning with the anatomy and identification of vibration and then separating one’s own energetic material from other people’s influence, environmental conditions, and genuinely preternatural disturbances. That sequence immediately makes the book more useful than the common occult reflex of treating every unpleasant sensation as attack, attachment, or haunting. Hunter’s background as a professional psychic medium is evident in the way he emphasizes observation, scanning, grounding, discernment, and graduated response before escalating to stronger techniques. The result is less a collection of defensive spells than a practical taxonomy of psychic disturbance, and that conceptual clarity is probably the book’s greatest strength.

The exercise sequence is impressively broad and cumulative. Foundational work with grounding, centering, higher-self contact, directing energy, and psychic scanning develops into shadow work, cord cutting, spirit communication, cleansing procedures, crossed conditions, hauntings, thoughtforms, protection systems, and increasingly sophisticated methods of transmutation. I especially appreciate the use of a graduated cleansing model, because it introduces proportionality into an area of magic that often rewards unnecessary drama. A minor energetic irritation does not require the same response as a persistent spirit problem, and a competent practitioner should be able to distinguish between them. Hunter also moves beyond simple banishing by teaching ways of reformatting or transmuting hostile energy, including the memorable idea of turning spiteful energy into something the practitioner can actually use, which places psychic self-defense within a larger theory of energetic metabolism rather than permanent siege mentality.

What makes the book particularly successful is that protection and psychic development are presented as inseparable disciplines. Greater sensitivity without better discrimination can simply produce greater confusion, while aggressive shielding without sensitivity can become a habit of treating the world as inherently threatening. Hunter instead teaches the reader to perceive more accurately, establish better boundaries, select an intervention appropriate to the actual problem, and eventually become capable of transforming difficult energetic conditions rather than merely fleeing from them. Some readers with deeply developed ceremonial or spirit-working systems may find individual procedures intentionally straightforward, but the sophistication lies in how the techniques are organized and when they are applied. The Bad Vibes Field Guide earns the term “field guide” because it trains the practitioner to identify what is happening before deciding what it means, and in psychic protection that habit of discernment is considerably more valuable than possessing another hundred methods of banishment.

[Julian Mercury · Rating 5 out of 5]

The older I get, the less interested I am in being told that something has bad energy and the more interested I am in knowing what kind. Devin Hunter seems to share that impatience. A miserable atmosphere after an argument, another person's emotional debris, a residual haunting, a spirit attachment, a thoughtform, and one's own anxiety may all feel unpleasant, but treating them as the same problem makes about as much sense as prescribing antibiotics for everything that hurts. The first third of this book is therefore devoted largely to sensing, scanning, and figuring out what you are actually dealing with before attempting to clear it. That may be the most useful decision Hunter makes.

There are some wonderfully specific techniques here. He works with grounding and centering, the Higher Self, Source, scanning through psychic perception, pendulums and tarot, cord cutting, elemental forces, salt, sound, curse removal, spirit crossing, protective systems, and methods of transmuting or reformatting troublesome energy rather than merely banishing it. The book even develops a graduated scale of cleansing so that every energetic inconvenience does not receive the magical equivalent of calling an exorcist because somebody burned dinner. I appreciate that enormously. Proportion is an underrated occult skill.

Hunter is also much better than many psychic writers at recognizing that some bad vibes originate in us. Shadow material, emotional states, habits of thought, and our own energetic patterns have to be considered alongside hostile people and paranormal explanations. That does not mean he reduces everything to psychology. Ghosts, hauntings, attachments, psychic vampires, curses, and stranger phenomena remain very much on the table. He simply refuses to make the supernatural explanation the automatic winner, which is precisely the sort of discernment psychic work requires.

The final move into transmutation may be the book's most distinctive feature. Protection literature usually teaches us to block, cleanse, return, banish, or destroy unwanted influence. Hunter also asks whether some of it can be changed into something usable. I like the audacity of that. A witch who can only function in energetically pristine conditions is going to have a very difficult life, because people are messy, places hold residue, spirits do peculiar things, and sometimes the person generating the terrible atmosphere is sitting in your own chair.

I would still place The Witch's Book of Spirits above this among Hunter's work because I find its larger spirit cosmology more compelling, but this may be one of his most immediately useful books. It feels written by someone who has spent years being handed strange situations by clients and students and gradually developed a mental flowchart for them. What am I sensing? Where is it coming from? How serious is it? What is the least ridiculous intervention likely to solve it? Those are excellent questions for any psychic or witch to learn to ask before reaching for the spiritual flamethrower.

[Sandra Fargo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read more books on psychic protection than I can possibly remember, and The Bad Vibes Field Guide still managed to give me things I hadn't encountered quite this way before. Devin Hunter approaches the subject almost diagnostically: something feels wrong, so before reaching for the magical equivalent of a sledgehammer, figure out what you're actually dealing with. He distinguishes between different kinds of energetic and spiritual problems and gives the reader ways to recognize, assess, cleanse, protect against, and respond to them. I particularly appreciated the emphasis on discernment. Not every unpleasant feeling is a curse, not every difficult person is a psychic vampire, and not every strange experience means there's an entity in the room.

Where this really won me over was the practical detail. Hunter doesn't stop at telling you to cleanse yourself or put up a shield and assume the problem is solved. He gets into how these unwanted influences behave, how we interact with them, what makes us vulnerable, and how different situations may require different responses. There were techniques here that were new to me, along with explanations that made me reconsider methods I've used for years. His experience as a psychic comes through particularly strongly because the book pays attention to what these situations can actually feel like from the inside, including the difficulty of separating your own emotions and perceptions from something you're picking up around you.

I also enjoyed the tone far more than I expected. A book about curses, attachments, psychic attack and hostile spiritual influences could become frightening very quickly, but Hunter never seems interested in making the reader afraid of the invisible world. The point is to become more perceptive and capable, not more suspicious. I've always believed that psychic sensitivity without discernment can cause more trouble than it solves, and this is one of the better books I've encountered for developing both. After all these years, I added several new tricks to my psychic-defense toolbox, and apparently there was still room in there.

[Alex M · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The afflicted” is an excellent way to address an occult readership, several of whom probably arrived tired and carrying too many books. The Bad Vibes Field Guide has an inviting premise for anyone interested in psychic work who also wants guidance on managing its less welcome aspects. Devin Hunter gives protection and cleansing a practical focus, with step-by-step procedures to explore. I appreciate having instructions available when a subject can otherwise produce a great deal of discussion and very little clarity.

The progression is particularly appealing. Topics build on earlier material, giving readers a foundation before moving further into the work. That suits my preference for understanding how a technique fits into a wider practice. It also makes the book useful to approach in sequence before returning to individual sections as a reference.

The inclusion of unwanted ghosts connects naturally with Hunter’s work in The Witch’s Book of Spirits. I’m interested in how a practitioner approaches boundaries within spirit relationships, including deciding which encounters they’re willing to engage with. Curiosity can get a person quite far into a situation before judgment catches up. Having methods to consider beforehand seems sensible, especially for those of us whose enthusiasm occasionally volunteers us for things.

Hunter’s personal stories give another point of entry into the material. I enjoy seeing how a teacher’s experience informs the questions they think to address. The guidance for developing psychic abilities also gives the book relevance beyond dealing with difficulties. There’s value in considering how perception and protection belong within the same ongoing practice.

I’d keep this alongside Hunter’s other practical books as a resource for studying spiritual boundaries and energetic work. My own approach still leaves room to investigate ordinary explanations when something feels wrong, and I’m interested in techniques I can consider calmly. The field-guide format appeals to that preference. I’d much rather become familiar with a method while I have the patience to learn it than try to decipher instructions while already unsettled.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

„Świat potrafi być mroczny i przerażający.”

𝗢𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗔 𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗧𝗬𝗖𝗭𝗡𝗔. 𝗞𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝘇𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗱𝗻𝗶𝗸 𝗼𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝘇𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗶 𝘄𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗷𝗮𝗺𝗶 𝗶 𝘀𝘇𝗸𝗼𝗱𝗹𝗶𝘄𝘆𝗺𝗶 𝘄𝗽𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗮𝗺𝗶 to nie tylko książka.

To kompendium wiedzy i przewodnik po tym, jak strzec się złej energii. To coś stworzonego dla każdego człowieka, który z pełną świadomością i premedytacją chce się chronić przed negatywnym wpływem cudzej energii.

Ile razy w życiu mieliście z tyłu głowy „ta osoba daje mi dziwny vibe, czuję niedobrą energię”? Mnie zdarzało się to wiele razy i prawie za każdym miałam rację. Wszystko dlatego, że ufam swojej intuicji i staram się żyć raczej czysto - nie trzymam toksyków blisko siebie, a rzeczy, które nie sprawiają mi przyjemności są spychane bardzo daleko w hierarchii.

I jest to coś, co zaleca sam autor, który jest medium. W jego książce każdy znajdzie idealny dla siebie sposób do pracy z energią - czy to oczyszczenie siebie i swojej przestrzeni, wykorzystywanie kart tarota i innych ogólnodostępnych przedmiotów, aż po kontakt z innymi bytami duchowymi. Wszystko zależy od tego, jak bardzo jesteś zaawansowany i jak dużo czasu możesz poświęcić na ochronę swojej energii.

Dodatkowo Hunter opisuje swoje doświadczenia, które zgromadził przez ponad dwie dekady praktyki jako medium i, nierzadko, ostatnia deska ratunku dla ludzi zdesperowanych. Dodatkowo opisuje swoje przeżycia z nawiedzonego domu, w którym jako dziecko mieszkał. Sprawia to, że jego sugestie, popierane przykładami, stają się o wiele bardziej wiarygodne i aż chce się je wdrożyć do swojego życia.

Autor opisał tutaj między innymi:
✨techniki rozwoju swoich zdolności jako medium
✨wahadełka, świece, kadzidła, tarot - czyli narzędzia do pracy nad energią
✨sposoby na radzenie sobie z energiami niepożądanymi
I wiele więcej!

Jeśli interesujecie się tym, jak chronić siebie przed nie do końca życzliwymi, jak chronić swoją energię to ta książka jest dla Was!

[Mark Rundle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devin Hunter’s The Bad Vibes Field Guide approaches spiritual discomfort as something worth investigating rather than immediately dramatizing. The book offers psychics and magically minded readers a vocabulary for distinguishing ordinary emotional reactions from energetic disturbances, unwanted influence, psychic overwhelm, and encounters that may require firmer boundaries. Its field-guide format makes the subject feel practical, giving readers ways to observe what is happening before deciding what kind of response is appropriate.

The most useful material focuses on grounding, cleansing, protection, discernment, and learning when not to engage. Hunter’s approach encourages readers to examine their own state alongside the atmosphere of a person or place, which helps prevent every unpleasant feeling from becoming proof of an attack. The book is particularly valuable for people whose sensitivity makes crowded spaces, intense relationships, or emotionally charged environments difficult to navigate. I appreciated the emphasis on agency and practical judgment rather than fear.

What makes the book work is its balance between acknowledging spiritual possibilities and discouraging needless panic. Bad energy is not treated as an exotic monster that requires increasingly elaborate defenses. Sometimes the answer is a ritual. Sometimes it is leaving the room, setting a boundary, resting, or recognizing that another person’s crisis is not yours to absorb. Hunter gives readers tools for making that distinction, and the result is a grounded guide for anyone who experiences the world as more energetically permeable than most people realize.

[Jessica Nightshade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprisingly quick read considering how much Hunter packs into it. The book moves from learning how to sense and identify different kinds of energy into cleansing, psychic protection, spirit-related problems, and ways of actually changing or transmuting what you’re picking up rather than just shielding yourself from everything. I liked that it gets down to business pretty fast and doesn’t spend half the book explaining what energy is before giving you something to do.

There are a ton of exercises here, and quite a few went beyond the usual grounding, shielding, and “imagine yourself surrounded by white light” material that shows up in almost every psychic protection book. I especially appreciated the emphasis on figuring out what you’re actually dealing with first, because not every weird feeling or bad vibe needs the same response. Some of the techniques were already familiar to me in one form or another, but there was enough new material that I ended up marking several things to experiment with later.

I also think the title makes this sound slightly lighter than the book actually is. It’s very approachable, but Hunter gets into some fairly serious psychic hygiene and energetic troubleshooting without making any of it feel overly dramatic or complicated. Definitely one I’d recommend to readers who are sensitive to places and people, do divination or spirit work, or just want more options in their magical toolbox than cleansing everything with smoke and hoping for the best.

[Sylvia Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of books on psychic protection and energy work, and The Bad Vibes Field Guide is by far the most approachable one. Devin Hunter explains things in a way that feels clear, down-to-earth, and easy to apply right away. Nothing feels overcomplicated or out of reach, which makes it perfect for both beginners and those with more experience.

What really stood out to me is how practical the book is. The step-by-step methods are laid out so well that I was able to start using them immediately. I’ve already noticed a difference in how I handle stressful environments and draining interactions. The techniques for turning negative energy into something supportive have been especially helpful in my day-to-day life.

It’s also reassuring to see how much of this comes from Devin’s personal experience. The stories he shares made me feel less alone in what I’ve gone through, and his guidance has given me tools that actually work. For me, this book has been a real source of support and growth.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by bad vibes, heavy energy, or just the emotional weight of others, I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s the most accessible resource I’ve found, and it’s already become an essential part of my practice.

[Kevin Worcester · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely loved this book. the bad vibes field guide is one of the most useful books i’ve read on psychic protection and dealing with unwanted energy. devin hunter covers a huge range of problems, from everyday energetic messiness to ghosts and more serious psychic issues, and gives you practical ways to actually figure out what’s happening and do something about it. loved that it isn’t just another book telling you to cleanse everything with smoke and put up a psychic shield. there are techniques for cleansing, protection, transmutation, strengthening your abilities, and even turning negative energy into something useful. you can really feel the years of experience behind the material, especially in the personal stories and little details throughout. practical, creative, and packed with techniques i’ll actually use. definitely one i’ll be keeping around as a reference.

[Jon Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hunter understands that "bad vibes" isnt one single thing, sometimes its emotional residue, sometimes another person, sometimes a ghost and sometimes your probably just tired and need to stop blaming the astral plane. I really liked the diagnostic approach and theres a ton of actual exercises here for scanning, grounding, crossing spirits, building thoughtforms, cleansing and eventually transmuting nasty energy instead of automatically throwing everything into the psychic garbage disposal. The transmutation material especially got my attention because turning hostile energy into fuel is exactly the sort of slightly rude magical solution I tend to appreciate.

[Paola Dunbar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Devin Hunter’s The Bad Vibes Field Guide is a brilliant, structured handbook for anyone looking to master their personal energy. Packed with straightforward, step-by-step exercises, it safely guides you through everything from banishing unwanted spiritual activity to transmuting negative everyday vibes. Hunter’s extensive background as a medium shines through in his practical, grounded advice. Whether you are a practicing witch, an empath, or just someone looking to protect your peace, this book is an invaluable tool.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devin always writes a book worthy of any practitioners shelf.

This is no exception, especially in these times.

[Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent overview of energy work and psychic protection.

[Helen Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay I am OBSESSED with this. I thought it was going to be mostly psychic protection and cleansing which I already have like a million books on, but its actually way more about figuring out wtf is happening energetically before you start throwing protections at everything. Like is this your own emotional stuff, did you pick something up from another person, is the space weird, is there a spirit involved?? That sounds obvious but honestly so many witchcraft books skip that part completely and just tell you to cleanse and shield lol.

There is SO much in here too. Ghosts, psychic overwhelm, empath stuff, cleansing, protection, strengthening your sensitivity, energetic junk you pick up from people and probably my favorite part which is transmutation. The idea of being able to take shitty energy thats coming at you and actually turn it into something useful instead of constantly being scared of it or trying to block everything feels so much more empowering to me. Also “turning spite into soul nutrition” is such an insane concept in the best possible way 😭 I literally had to put the book down and think about that one for a minute.

You can tell Devin has actually dealt with this stuff for years because there are little things throughout that feel way too specific to come from somebody who just researched psychic protection for a book. I also love that its written so you can actually grab it when something weird is happening and find something useful instead of having to reread 60 pages of theory first. This is 100% staying near my tarot and witchcraft books instead of disappearing onto one of my shelves because I already know I'm gonna be grabbing it again the next time the vibes are fucked 😂 easy 5 stars.

[spider73 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devin HunterThe Bad Vibes Field Guide is the rare book that manages to feel like a spiritual handbook, a survival manual, and a slightly unhinged best friend grabbing you by the shoulders and saying “nope, not today homie” It doesn’t preach, it doesn’t scold, and it definitely doesn’t sparkle emoji you into submission. it observes, diagnoses, and gently (sometimes not so gently) points out where the bad vibes are hiding so you can shut the door on them without guilt.
Sharp, funny, grounding, and weirdly comforting this book does exactly what it promises and then hands you your power back with a grin.