Witchcraft's Romance With Necromancy
Working with spirits in witchcraft is commonly known as necromancy, there are different ways to go about working with spirits in magic depending on your ability, expertise, knowledge and comfort level.
Necromancy Is Something That Shouldn’t Ever Be Taken Lightly!!!
In this post, I'll cover how to work with the spirits that are familiar to you, that are often around you and that know you rather than summoning up unfamiliar spirits that you don’t know.
Here I'll Cover:
- Who your (familiar) spirits are and who they aren’t
- How to differentiate between your (familiar) spirits, your loved ones in spirit and unknown/wandering spirits
- The difference between high magic and low (folk) magic necromancy and spirit work
- How to introduce yourself to your spirits
- What offerings to make to your spirits
- Protection needed when working with spirits
- Different types of workings, divination and magic with your spirits
How To Work With Spirits In Witchcraft
Who Your (Familiar) Spirits Are And Who They Aren’tWhen talking about who familiar spirits are, this refers to the spirits that are always around you and willing to help you in your daily life and sometimes magical workings.
If you’re a practitioner or witch who’s used to spirit visitations, you may be acquainted with the spirits that are often around you or that frequently visit.
These spirits (which can be called familiar... not to be confused with familiars, which are often as animal familiars... rather these are spirits that you’re used to in some way and aren’t foreign to you) can often be ancestors, people that you’ve known from past lives or spirits that are drawn to you and your type of work or that you have some kind of bond or spirit agreement.
These spirits work to watch over the practitioner or witch, protect them and their home, and can assist with magical workings if asked and if the spirits agree with the working or magic.
Sometimes, you may get the names or appearances of the spirits around you and in other cases, you may not get their names at all.
Names are not as important in the spirit world as names are only really connected to the physical world. While saints, deities and other mythological figures have names, other familiar spirits may not be attached to their previous incarnate names and decide not to have a name or they may choose a different name that they want to be called.
So if you don’t immediately get a name of your spirits or any name at all, don’t worry too much about it.
You’ll still be able to communicate with them and sense them through their energy and presence.
The spirits that are around you can also be household spirits that help to maintain and protect the home.
Folk tales about household spirits are common throughout different cultures, including in Slavic countries such as the domovoy (domovik) and kikimora. Household spirits often work for protection, keeping the house tidy and in order and helping with chores. Household spirits like a domovoy (domovik) require offerings of food and drink and a tidy house, otherwise he will get offended, make a mess and leave forever.
Spirits that are worked with in necromancy magic or daily workings with your common or familiar spirits aren’t the same as spirit guides.
Spirit guides work with giving advice, guidance and counsel to help you in your life and carry out the “Master” plan for your life and your life purpose.
How To Differentiate Between Your Familiar Spirits, Your Loved Ones In Spirit And Unknown/Wandering SpiritsWitches who work with spirits will rarely feel as though they are completely alone even when they are by themselves. In times that they know they are alone with no spirits around, they'll feel a sense of isolation. Some witches have a connection with their spirits from a young age, many of the spirits are dismissed by friends or family as simply being “imaginary friends” and many who interacted with these spirits at a younger age tend to “grow out” of talking to the spirits.
How To Recognize Familiar/Known Spirits
You may not notice them as much as other spirits because you’ll likely have become accustomed to their presence. You may notice often when one or more becomes more apparent in your presence, but it’ll still feel familiar and comfortable.
How To Recognize A Loved One In Spirit Visitation
When a loved one in spirit visits, you may feel a shift in energy in the room as if someone walked in. You may also notice something out of the corner of your eye, a light , maybe movements or even shadows. Feel or see with your psychic abilities if you can determine who it is. Sometimes a loved one who is in spirit will have a signature scent or image that they’ll project to you so that you know who it is.
If you’re unsure, ask who it is and wait to mentally see or hear the response. You may get a name, a letter or an image.
If it’s a loved one in spirit that you like and want them to stay, you can talk to them and invite them in. If it’s a family or friend in spirit that you didn’t have a good relationship with and don’t want them around, ask them to leave. Next is how to get an unwanted/wander spirit to leave.
How To Recognize An Unwanted/Wandering Spirit
When a witch performs magic and or mediumship, spirits will naturally become drawn to them. This can happen in public and through acquaintances that the witch knows or even through neighbors who have spirits visiting them.
Unwanted/wandering spirits will sometimes come into your personal space or home and, just like you wouldn’t let anyone just walk into your home off the street uninvited, the same boundaries must apply to uninvited spirits.
Just like a loved one in spirit visitation, you will feel a shift in energy when a wandering spirit comes in to your spirit radar and psychic senses.
However, the feeling or sense of not knowing the spirit won’t go away, unlike becoming reacquainted with your loved one in spirit.
This can give you a chance to scan your psychic senses to see if you know this spirit, if it is perhaps a spirit that someone you know knows (such as a friend of a friend or a relative of a friend or acquaintance) or if it’s a complete stranger spirit that has wandered over to you.
If you’re comfortable enough to communicate with the spirit to get more information, then you can try to do so. However, sometimes you have to set boundaries and tell the spirit to leave.
This is on a case-by-case basis, and you’ll have to set your boundaries.
Show them to door and tell them “out”.
Proceed then to cleanse your home spiritually and protect it also in the way you see best.
Difference Between High Magic And Low (Folk) Magic In Necromancy And Spirit Work
To know more about techniques of spirit conjuring which has influences of high magic, check out Spirit Conjuring for Witches: Magical Evocation Simplified by Frater Barrabbas, which I have read more than once and love.
What Offerings You Can Make To Your Spirits
Making offerings to your spirits is one of the best ways to keep an open dialogue with your spirits and to keep them happy. If you’re unsure at first what kind of offerings your spirits want, ask them in meditation and wait to receive an answer. You can make the offerings on your main altar or create a separate altar.
When working with your spirits and/or household spirits, you can choose to have a main household altar that is set up in the main room of your home or a room in which you and/or family spends the most time in.
If you’re unable to have more than one altar or keep on in open view in your home, you can set up your altar some place private and make your spirits offerings there.
An altar doesn’t have to be elaborate and can be simple. Here are some examples of offerings:
- Alcohol – e.g. vodka, rum (gold, silver or spiced), rye, whiskey, bourbon, gin, white wine, red wine
- Water
- Food – e.g. cake, bread, fruit, etc.
- Incense
- Flowers
- Tobacco / cigarettes / cigars
The usual amount to leave the offering on the altar is 3 to 4 days and the offering can then be disposed of either by throwing it outside, or burying the offering on your property.
Protection Needed When Working With Spirits
Protection is always needed when doing magic and/or working with your familiar or unfamiliar spirits.
This can be done by using protection dust/powder, oil, salt, incense, protection sprays, Florida water and other protective methods to create a protection barrier around you and your home.
During the autumn months, it’s especially important to continue to use protection magic around yourself and your home as the veil thins from the month before Samhain until the month after, as Samhain being the time when the veil is the thinnest.
Crystals can also be used for protection and the darkest crystals (often black) offer the most protection, such as black tourmaline, black kyanite, jet and onyx.
Wear a protective crystal at all times (including to bed if possible or under your pillow if safe to do so that no pets or young children will get it) and create a protective barrier around your home with salt, Cascarilla or protection dust such as at doorway entrances, window sills and gates leading to your home or yard.
Necromancy is described as any magical working done with spirits which can be from spells with your common spirits, summoning to graveyard magic.
If you have a working relationship and open communication with your spirits, they will be watching you when you perform your rituals and/or spells and magic.
Your spirits will always be looking out for you and often know what’s in your best interest better than you and will assist you when it’s appropriate and may refuse if they don’t agree with what you’re doing.
Working with your spirits can be done for any type of spell work or magic as long as your spirits agree and accept the type of working.
This can be such as money spells, love spells, work spells, protection spells, etc.
Graveyard magic is a topic that’s much different than what’s detailed in here, from working with your familiar and common spirits around you. While working with spirits can be rewarding, it requires a great deal of respect and understanding of your spirits and what they will and won't assist you with. Building a relationship and a connection with the spirits around you will help you keep your magic flowing and can offer a great deal of protection and saftey when needed.
This type of magic requires a lot of attention to detail and precision, including caution. Stay safe and do not dabble!! Many Blessings J.
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