Very nicely explained!!!:screamcat:Well hello marra. Welcome. And as always before I comment here. These are my personal opinions and not aimed at or meant to judge or ridicule any one else's.
I will. Tell you how Sage would work. Or certain Symbols or Phrases. These things have do to with Spiritual Paths. They are connected with Spirituality's, Some of which date back thousands and thousands of years. You mistake the use of Sage, Symbol and Phrase/Word/Vibration as frivolous tools with no power but Superstition. You seem to assume that those who use these things would be better served by demanding respect and establishing energetic dominance through self will and yet you use metals as your tool to get to that place. Those metals don't actually increase YOUR energy, they create an Energy Field apart from Yours that aid's in your Protection.
Sage may seem like just a plant to you but plants possess unique Energy Signatures just like the metals you are using... maybe more powerful actually, as Plant's are a Living Being and Metals are Elements. That burning plant material release's the unique Energy Signature/Property of the plant... which is as unique to each plant as your particular energy composition is to another human... or your gold is to your silver. Different energy patterns for different situations. But, that is not the true point of Sage. Sage and its particular Energy Signature/Property is not suppose to be used to fight Spirits or to Clear Spirits. As it should be used, Sage is used to Call on a Higher Spirit of Light to do that for you or Aid you in doing this. Because 99.9% of the time that is the ONLY thing that will work. Sage is Prayer.
Symbology is used in much the same way - Symbols occupy the level between Spirit/Vibration and Word/Physical. Each symbol is unique - each unique symbol has an Energy/Vibration level. Symbol came before Word. So, if you sit at one end of a table and Say - GET OUT and you Place a Symbol which Mean's GET OUT on the other end of the table. The symbol will put out a more powerful energy signature then your words. In situations where you are dealing with dark energy the spoken word has a lower level of Protection then Symbol.
And phrase's. Well. Some phrase's were drawn as incantations by Mystics now faded into the mists of time and speaking them correctly evokes a specific response... I won't get into that because I don't want to. But. I will tell you this. If I am in trouble and Call out the Phrase "I Call on The Power's of Light" and MEAN IT --- That Protection is Available and Active immediately. You may call this Faith. I call it Wisdom.
I admire your thoughts on 'Leveling Up' (which is what you are doing when you Challenge) and agree completely that being passive is NOT the way to go. But telling yourself that you can best a dark Spirit by establishing a line and insisting it is not crossed is at best, a sneeze away from dangerous.