Basic Offering Ideas For Spirits

How to Commune with Spirits While in a Graveyard

Post originates from my website. Headstone is from Julian Pioneer Cemetery.

In the death work community, most people emphasize gathering graveyard dirt and bones. Yes, these tools are significant: they connect us with the deceased when we’re outside of a cemetery. But in my practice, I rarely collect graveyard dirt when I visit the dead’s resting place. Instead, I practice other forms of devotion, spirit communication, and magic.

I don’t recommend packing up grave dirt during your first trip to the cemetery for a couple of reasons:

you don’t know the cemetery yet;

you need to be absolutely sure that you want to work with a certain spirit, because once you collect the dirt, you’re responsible for dealing with that spirit afterward.

I’ve received a lot of questions about how to contact the dead in a cemetery without using a divination vessel. Like any method of spirit work, this connection with the deceased develops through practice. The best way that I can answer this question is to respond with what I, personally, do in graveyards. Every death witch practices differently. Hence, this post is just here to give you ideas about how to advance your death witchcraft.

When I enter a new cemetery, here’s what I’ll do.

I explore. I can already hear the chorus of “duh” echoing from across the computer screen, but allow to explain what I’m looking for. Most cemeteries have sections that may or may not be clearly labeled. Older headstones tend to huddle together; babies and young children often get buried in one area. Depending on your path, you may want to focus on one specific section.

I am silent. I listen. If you’re familiar with energy work, this is the time where you want to focus on your own energy and senses. Sometimes, a particular soul or plot will jump out at you, or even call you towards it. To catch these signals, you must concentrate. This is not the time to chat or take pictures (although I understand how tempting picture-taking is).

I may meditate within the cemetery. If you have a hard time connecting to the graveyard’s energy, you’ll want to practice a meditation technique. I usually do this under a tree, because these spirits understand their graveyard well, and may inform me on where to go. In my experience, the best technique is to enter a meditative state, and connect your energy to the earth. Once you have a feel for the earth, sense the wind. Both elements are strongly tied to ghosts and will link you to the graveyard.

I donate offerings and tidy the area. Because we can’t take every grave’s dirt home, we need to communicate with the dead in other ways. This is a great way to communication with the deceased. For offerings, I usually give coins, small candles, and herbs. But you can also offer flowers and stones as well. Personally, I like granting offerings to effaced or destroyed grave sites: the Forgotten Dead. I also throw away trash and brush off dusty or mud-covered headstones (WITHOUT moving any offerings already present). The deceased usually appreciate the sacrifice and inform me about their lives.

I may sit with one grave for a long time. Once you explore the cemetery exhaustively, you’ll likely locate a grave or two that peaks your interest. I usually remain by these graves for the bulk of my cemetery time–listening, cleaning, gifting, honoring.

Even if I don’t bring home graveyard dirt, I may perform magic for the spirit once I get home. Depending on my interaction, I may give the spirit further offerings, or perform more magic to help the soul heal or move on. Later on, I’ll return the cemetery to confirm whether my spell worked.

While we’re talking about cemetery trips, here are some etiquette/safety tips to keep in mind:

DO NOT sit on top of headstones. It’s rude and unsafe.

If you see a fallen headstone, DO NOT try to upright it yourself. These stones are incredibly heavy and require several people to repair. Instead, contact the cemetery’s staff members.

DO NOT throw away offerings that are already on graves, including dead flowers. Leave that to the cemetery caretakers. However, you may upright a flower pot if it has fallen over.

If a staff member asks you to move or leave, do as they say.

DO NOT burn candles or incense inside the cemetery. It may start a fire.

DO NOT interrupt other peoples’ mourning time.

I hope this post inspires you to view cemetery visits as more than a way to gather tools. These visits allow us to communicate with the dead, advance our abilities, and build a reliable reputation with the spirits. I wish you best of luck in your path.

Simple Home Wards

For outside:

Drive sturdy sticks into the corners of your property to bolster those areas and strengthen wards. It adds firm definition to where you are warding. Using sticks from your property is a great way to connect everything on your land

Hammer three nails in the ground near your front door to act as a potent warning to spirits below.

Use solar powered lights to line your path to the door to keep it feeling bright, warm, and inhabited. Keep a small light on your keys and it will help to keep you from getting lost. Make sure to program all lights and keychain lights at the same time to sync them together.

Enchant wreaths to draw in abundance and repel misfortune and negative entities.

Choose a striking door knocker to act as a guardian against thieves and predators.

Plant hardy flowers and bushes that are native to/thrive in your area around all entrances and exits. Find out what the bees in your region like (if possible)!

Use windchimes to ward off entities looking for stagnant places. Sound and motion tend to clear away that kind of energy.

Draw (or use energy instead of a drawing utensil) a sigil on the outer walls of your home, especially on pillars and doorframes. You can do this before your home is completely built if you are in that process!

Draw similar sigils and/or statements on your driveway in the summer to bake them into your land and charge them. You can use water in a squeeze bottle to do this as well, and it will fade away immediately if your area is hot.

During the winter, you can also use water to cut through the snow or to freeze onto your property. Be careful, of course, and bear in mind where you or your pets may walk.

Use potted flowers to hide non-deteriorating crystals and wards. Put permanent wards inside the pots before planting.

For inside:

Enchant and place coins or other small tokens above every doorway and in every windowsill of your home to draw in wealth and repel malevolent forces. Bobby pins, dimes, toothpicks. It all works, but I recommend charging them every month or so.

Hang tapestries or other kinds of wall decor to break up stretches of potentially stagnant spaces. Clocks move and typically have a sound, which have always served me well in cleansing and keeping up with the flow of energy.

Salt lamps are actually quite useful. They are very dangerous for animals and small children, though. If you're good with the lamps being safe, they are excellent at cleansing, warming up, and protecting an area.

Rugs can be used to make wards all ob their own. You can create a design on the underside if you want, or just use energy to enchant it.

Wipe vents down with some sort of ritually clean and positively charged solution. Gem elixir, moon water, herbal tincture, etc.

Enchant fixtures already setup to protect you and your family. Smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, security systems, locks, etc. Use energy opposed to physical materials for most of these to protect their functionality.

Ward your attic. Birds get in, squirrels get in, entities and energies get in.

If you have a chimney, ward the fireplace or surrounding objects. Grates and screens are awesome for this.

She’s camouflaged 🧡💚

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Shadow Work Info 🧿🌀🥀

[credit: @risingwoman on Instagram]

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Depression Support Jar Spell

If you/a loved one are in a slump and need a little extra push getting out of it, this spell is for you!

materials:

jar

lemon (for happiness, purification, beauty and longevity) and/or orange peel (for confidence and creativity)

rose quartz, for love, inner beauty and empathy

black tourmaline, for absorbing negative energies

black tea, for courage and stimulation

cinnamon, for purification and strengthening love

clove, for attracting prosperity and love

elderberry, for healing and banishing negative thoughts/energies

mustard seed, to promote courage, faith, and endurance

pink/Himalayan salt, for purification, cleansing and self-love

catnip, for love, happiness and beauty

a rosebud, for love and beauty

black and pink candle (optional)

taglock, if you’re doing the spell for a loved one (hair, nail clippings, a photograph, or simply a piece of paper with their name written on it)

in my experience, when you’re doing the spell to support a loved one, it works best if the person (1) knows that you’re doing the spell, and (2) is receptive to the help. if they aren’t willing to accept the help, or don’t know that you’re doing the spell, the spell will be much less effective.

Please note that this jar spell is not a substitute for real medical advice/attention. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, or thoughts of harming yourself/others, please seek professional help by calling the National Suicide Prevention Hotline (800-273-8255, English and Spanish available), making an appointment with a therapist, or checking yourself into the closest emergency room.

instructions:

Tip: before adding each ingredient to your jar, hold each ingredient in your hand and visualize its properties and intentions. This will make a world of difference!

Cleanse your jar and your space as you normally would. Prep your space for spellwork by casting a circle, or however you would typically prep your space. I like to take this time to meditate on my intentions, and clear everything out of my head before starting my spellwork.

If you have black and pink candles, go ahead and light them now.

Add your salt to the bottom of your jar. Next, your stones. Then, add your tea, cinnamon, mustard seed and catnip. Then, your clove, elderberry, lemon/orange peel, and rosebud. Lastly, you’ll add your taglock. As you add your taglock, visualize yourself (or, the person you’re doing the spell for) happy, confident, and fearless. Visualize the depression and self-doubt melting away. You may choose to meditate at this step.

Finally, cork your bottle, and (optional) drip the melted candle wax of your black/pink candles on top of the cork, sealing the jar shut. If you plan on giving this jar to a loved one, you may wish to gift it to them.

Carry the jar with you/your loved one, or place it under your pillow/on your nightstand. If the jar begins to feel dull, or if the depressive thoughts continue, sit out in the sun with your jar and allow it to recharge.

Blessed be, witches! <3

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A Crash Course on Channeling

What is Channeling?

Channeling is allowing a nonphysical entity to use your physical body, in order to accomplish something. If that sounds, vague, it’s because it is. Channeling takes many different forms and intensity levels! Depending on how it’s done, it can be a medium-difficulty task or one of the most advanced things a spirit worker can do. 

Types of Channeling

I once heard channeling described as a car ride, and in my experience that’s very accurate. The car is your body, and you’re in it with an entity. Sometimes you’re in the driver’s seat, and the entity is in the back seat giving directions. Sometimes you or the entity is in the passenger’s seat: not calling most of the shots, but able to reach over and grab the wheel if needed. Sometimes you’re in the backseat watching the entity drive, and sometimes you’re in the trunk. In practice, this can take a number of forms.

Speaking on Behalf. This is the kind of channeling people do most often. The entity isn’t controlling you, just feeding you lines which you can then relay to a third party. You’re translating their messages to something other people can comprehend. If you’ve ever answered a question for a spirit in their words, you’ve done this. 

Isolated Channeling. The entity takes control of just a part of the body, usually the hands or fingers. This is mostly used for things like automatic writing.

Assuming Form. Also known as consensual possession. The entity is in the driver’s seat, speaking and acting for themselves without your help. Some people will call this “horsing.”

Possession. While the word “possession” could technically cover all of this, within the spirit work community it’s usually reserved for channeling where the human did not consent beforehand. This doesn’t necessarily mean in a violating way- I once had a friend who got possessed just long enough for an entity to yank them out of danger; once I was taken for just a moment to convey a quick (but very direct) message to a devotee, and snapped out of it right after. 

Reasons to Channel

Everyone will have a different reason to channel but most of them fall under a few categories:

Helping Someone Else. You’re channeling on behalf of someone who can’t [easily] reach the entity themselves, in order to ease communication between the two parties. This is often seen with mediums contacting spirit guides and Ancestors.

Aid in Other Works. The entity is better suited to accomplish a certain task than you, so you let them take the lead. This is often seen with a familiar or spirit companion, someone the practitioner works with closely enough to know their strengths and trust them. 

Easier Communication Overall. Channeling is a way to get really familiar with an entity’s energy. Again, we often see this with spirit companions and is more to bond than to achieve another goal.  This would include automatic writing or letting a spirit experience things “through” you. 

Ritual Invitation. In some traditions, it’s common to invite deities to ritual events. Often, some type of channeling/possession is expected and is usually reached through ecstatic experiences. It’s taken as a sign the deity has arrived at the party, either a sign the offerings have been received or a time for the deity to convey important messages. 

Before-You-Begin Essentials

Know How To Protect Yourself. This is non-negotiable. Is your discernment tuned enough to spot an impostor or malevolent entity? Do you know how to end a session early? Do you know how to banish a spirit in an emergency? If the answer is no, then study up and return to channeling when you’re ready. 

Know Your Entity. Channeling, by nature, puts the practitioner in an intimate and vulnerable place, so you don’t want to give that access to an entity who may misuse it. If it’s your first time channeling, make sure you trust this entity with your life. 

Don’t Channel Alone. When you channel, you’re in an altered state of consciousness. Having someone grounded near you helps keep the session on track and keep you out of trouble should you need it. (Either by forcing an entity out if needed or just keeping you from climbing that tree.) 

Other Notes

It’ll Probably Take a Lot Out of You. Have something ready to ground and rehydrate yourself after a session, and make sure you don’t have anything high-demand planned after. 

Start Small. No need to jump head-first into the most advancecd and high-intensity types of channeling! Start with automatic writing or painting and get used to the feeling and work your way up.

Don’t Make It Weird. Basic etiquette still matters. Channeling is not a pass to give unsolicited messages to other practitioners, speak on behalf of their deities to them (unless they’ve specifically asked), or say hurtful things cushioned by: “What? It wasn’t me who said it.”

Messages Are Rarely “Pure.” This means everything is still filtered through you, the practitioner. Your values, morals, biases, and beliefs can inform what messages get through and how they are conveyed. Nobody wants to send out a message they disagree with, after all. This becomes less of an influencing factor with experience as one learns to hone their skill and let go more, but it’s important to always keep in mind. (If a channeling friend says a deity doesn’t accept your gender identity or something, that’s a good sign that really your “friend” doesn’t accept it.) 

Safe Crossings for Someone Who’s Passed

A simple ritual to help someone who’s passed find peace.

Ingredients:

A small candle (white or black is good, or a color you associate with the deceased)

A small piece of paper and pen/pencil (or special treat or toy if for a beloved pet)

Rosemary oil or leaves

Thyme

Violet, marigold, or rose petals

Ground clove

A pinch of sugar (any kind)

A small candle-safe bowl/holder (needs to be a bit larger than the candle itself so herbs can be placed around)

1.) Write the name of the person or pet on the piece of paper. Write what you wish for them (peace, rest, happiness, love, reunions, etc.). Include the toy and/or treats around the bowl if for a pet.

2.) Place the paper under the candle. If you have rosemary oil, rub the candle with it lightly. If you have the leaves, you can stick them into the candle in a ring around the outer edge.

3.) Create a ring around the candle with the herbs and petals. Sprinkle the sugar around on top last.

4.) Light the candle and say the pet/person’s name and the things you wish for them.

5.) Leave the candle burning as long as you are able, but it’s okay if that’s a short amount of time.

6.) Bury the herbs/petals and paper- or burn them if you’re unable to bury.

Kitchen Witch Masterpost

- General Posts: [The Basics Of Kitchen & Cottage Witchcraft] [Infusing and Charging your Drink] [Basic Ideas For Kitchen Witchery]  [Bedridden Witchcraft: Kitchen Witch Edition] [A Guide (Of Sorts) To Kitchen Witchcraft]  [Ethics of Enchantment of Food and Drink] [Mini Herb Packets] [On Kitchen Magic]

Correspondences:  [Fruit & Veggie Correspondences] [Useful Spices] [Taste Correspondences] [Onions In Witchcraft] [Grocery Store Alternatives for Magical Ingredients] [Food Correspondences]  [Witchcraft For The Home: Herbs & Spices] [Herbs & Witchcraft] [Herbs, Incense, Oils]  [Food Magic Correspondences]  [Magic Pies] [Herbal Correspondences] [Kitchen Magic Altar Herbs] [Cucumbers] [Magical Uses for Kitchen Tool] [Teas For Witches: The Basics] Spells:  [Charmain’s Self Love Mug] [Kitchen Charm Magnet for Fresher Food Longer] [Kitchen Cabnet Abundance Jar] [Protection Powder] [Rotten Apple Banishing]  [Abitwitchy’s Bath Bag] Recipes:  [Soups! Kitchen Witch Masterpost] [3 Spring Witchy Recipes] [Warming Autumn Soup] [Family Good Health Soup] [Honey Lavender Bread] [Pumpkin Pie Happiness Spell] [Grandma’s Pumpkin Bread] [Imbolc Poppy Seed Tea Bread] [Edible Wealth Spell] [Luck & Love Bread]  [Peace Spell] [Feel Better Charmed Soup] [Give Me Sunshine Potion for Happiness] [Healing Tea Recipe] [Soups & Broths In Magick] [Happiness & Luck Smoothie] Tips/Random: [Kitchen Witchcraft Baking Tips]  [Kitchen Witch (#10)] [Honey for sigils] [Storage tip] [Lemon Juice For Invisible Sigils] [Kitchen Witchery Tips] [Cinnamon Stick Runes] [Baby Kitchen Witch Tip]  Thank you for the suggestion @choijiae1893!  I hope this helped you! Enjoy! Have a lovely day 💖