Instant Defense?, What can I do against sudden attack? Options

Today something happened that caught me off guard. I was in a parking lot with my father, helping him with his shopping. He had a difficult operation recently and has trouble walking. That is why he parks close to the entrance of the mall.
When I put the bags into the car, a woman came up to me, chiding me for parking there. She did not even ask me anything, she just judged and attacked.

I explained that it was not my car and that my dad has had an operation and can't walk far, but she did not listen and shouted at me. I could not see anything unusual, but I felt her aggression and bad vibes. Her mother joined her, and they both started attacking me verbally. I've been in arguments before, and usually I stay calm, but this was not a normal argument. I've never felt that helpless and aggressive in my life, there was definitely some kind of psychic attack going on.

I'm not usually aggressive, but I felt very aggressive towards them. I didn't recognize myself any more because I'm normally stable and balanced and I don't let people get to me like that.
My father came and ended the argument by offering to leave. I had the strong impulse to stay between him and them because I somehow feared they could do something to him.
No, this definitely wasn't a normal argument.

When I was alone, I almost started crying, for no apparent reason. I used my instant magick trigger and visualized three rings of blue light around me, repeating the phrase "Thrice around the circle bound, evil sink into the ground" three times, only then did I manage to calm down.
I do energy shielding regularly, but this time it was like the shield wasn't there at all. I'll definitely work on my shielding technique (I've already discovered the shielding thread in this forum), but:

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/help.gif) Is there any instant magick I can do against this kind of attack? Anything I could have done right there, in the parking lot, other than running away?

OOHHHH..I despise people like that. I take it that you're rather young? Or even that you look young? People like that feed off other people's anger. They thrive on finding people that can be easily upset and they move in for the kill so to speak. You, being young, looked like an easy target. A normal person would have asked why you had parked there or, simply minded their own business.

They also thrive on negativity. They prowl around looking for something to become angry at and nothing makes them happy, and if you attempt to make them happy, they will become angrier. The more you feed them, the stronger they get and the more they expect. In truth, what you experienced is nothing short of energy theft. Though, in a small burst like that, they tend to be overwhelming and overbearing, but after a while they become simply annoying. Their energy is often spent quickly, being pulled through from anger.

Sad to say, you've become nothing more than a victim to them. They work in packs obviously, feeling that arguing with you, accusing you, and intimidating you will make them feel better. They're just angry and lonely people.

The best way to defend yourself against people like that is to be able to spot them. If someone asserts themselves like that again, the best way is to stay calm. Smile if needs be, maybe laugh. Laughter is the best way to diminish magick and power. Giving into anger is usually tempting, but if you feel you are in that situation again...walk away. DO NOT say anything. They thrive off of the back and forth communication. If you simply walk away, leaving them midsentence, you've stunned them. You've denied them a great source of energy and you have made them look rediculous. You don't need to defend yourself against people like that, they don't care what you have to say. If they attack you, then they're in the wrong and will go to jail.

If you're able to do that successfully enough, you'll find you won't have to protect yourself magically. You'll have been able to simply ward off energy thieves.

This post has been edited by Angalor: May 27 2006, 01:15 PM