A Witches Guide to Ghosts

From paranormal podcasts and TV shows to religion ghosts, spirits, and demons have been part of our culture for centuries. Whether it's a fascination with what will happen to us when we die or just general human curiosity humans and our culture seem to heavily rely on the other side.

This article covers basic information on ghosts, spirits, and demons. This includes negative entities, how to get rid of them, methods of seeing ghosts, and different ways to help deal with the entities that may come your way. It must be said though, that ghosts and spirits can often be curious creatures. If they aren't bothering you, don't bother them.

Ghosts vs Spirits

The two terms are commonly interchangeable in most uses but there is a slight difference in definitions. The definition of a ghost is: a disembodied soul; the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of the unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness. Essentially meaning that a ghost is a person who died and their soul or energy was trapped here.

Whereas the definition of spirit being: a supernatural being or essence, as a: Holy Spirit; Soul; an often malevolent being that is bodiless but can become visible; a malevolent being that enters and possesses a human being. Meaning, a being who was never alive, often malevolent, who has the ability to possess people.

Ghosts

Ghosts are people who have died yet have not crossed over and are staying on this plain. The reason they haven’t crossed over is specific to them. Typically children spirits are afraid to cross over and are waiting for a parent or guardian to die so they can take them over. Other times a ghost may have unfinished business they are hoping to finish or see someone finish. This can be from keeping a promise they made in their life like to protect someone or if they were murdered to find their killer. Sometimes a ghost simply doesn’t want to cross over. They feel content where they are and want to stay there in death. Some adults stay for the same reason as children, they’re afraid of what’s on the other side and therefore are afraid to cross over so they stay with what is familiar.

Most time these ghosts are harmless and live with the living in peace; however, sometimes the ghosts are possessive over their homes or something in their home and become dangerous. Other times the ghost takes offense to something the living say or do and thus become negative. Sometimes a positive ghost will protect the living in the household from the negative ghosts.

Ghosts can take on many forms. The most common one is appearing as a see-through, glowing, person. Another common one is small glowing orbs that appear to hover above the ground or move about in strangle, unexplained patterns before disappearing. Funnel ghosts are also very common. They appear as funnels of light that move around in almost a tornado motion. Ecto-Mist is a form that can be cause for more skepticism. It's simply mist or fog that appears to swirl, lingering in place, and then moving away quickly. This fog can appear white, grey, or black. Some people claim that the mist can dissipate and leaves behind a ghostly figure in its wake.

Demons

There are many references to demons throughout history. Christians say that they are fallen angels who sided with Lucifer. Other religions have a much more broad view, claiming they are everything from fallen angels to any hybrid creature. The list includes fallen angels, hybrids, ghosts, goblins, "evil" nature spirits, daevas of Zoroastrianism, the narakas (creatures of hell) of Jainism, and the oni (attendants of the gods of the underworld) in Japanese religions. Some even say that those who go to hell after death become demons. No matter what their origin though demons can be particularly frightening when you come face to face with one. They appear in all manner of forms, some even claiming that they are witches familiars.

This idea of a demon being a familiar came about the same time as the European witch trials. Many accounts say that the accuses sold their soul to the devil in exchange for the magic ability to hurt others and the devil would give them a familiar, a demon servant of the devil. The familiars gave them the energy and magic for their daring acts in exchange for the animal, usually a black dog, to suckle from them. The place that the familiar suckled from would be dry and deformed and was known as a witches mark.

Spirits

Spirits are, for all intense and purposes, ghosts but with the distinction of never being human. Spirits take on a human form or no form at all sometimes and have their own personalities. The most common reference to spirits is nature spirits like nymphs or elementals.

Negative Ghosts/ Spirits

A negative ghost is very dangerous to whoever is living with it. While a ghost can’t actually do physical harm to the person it can influence things surrounding the person’s health. It can cause sleeplessness, inanimate objects to move, increase in health issues, and subconscious decisions (acting as the “devil on your shoulder”). Often if there is physical contact it’s hair-pulling. It takes a demon or very very strong ghost to make physical contact with someone such as pushing, pulling, scratches, and bruising. Usually, activity that lets you know a negative entity in around include: banging, smelling rose and or lilac, footsteps, flickering lights, electronic malfunctions, unsettled/bad feeling, not feeling like the place is home, heavy feeling in the air, pets acting strangely to one part or the house or at night, whispers/voices, items moving and reappearing elsewhere (keys move from counter to middle of the floor twenty minutes later), increase in negative emotions.

Activity can escalate depending on what you are doing, how long you are in the home, if the entity dislikes you, and how negative it is. Some have found that by bringing negative energy into a home that is haunted you actually increase the likelihood of seeing activity. Others have found that, depending on the entity, moving into a home while pregnant or getting pregnant while in the home will also cause heightened activity. You can usually tell if it is male or female and if it wants to do physical harm to you. If a house is empty for a long period of time or it has had higher than average tenet rate then these are usually good indications that there is some sort of negative entity in the house or on the property. Often times leaving a property that is haunted by a negative ghost can increase the ghost’s strength so it is better to banish the ghost instead of just leaving the home.

Some ghosts and demons will even follow a person from one home to another. There are many different types of negative ghosts/spirits that one might encounter. These different types might be turn out to be the same thing or live in the same house. Poltergeists and shadow figures are the most common.

Poltergeists

These are ghosts that can either be a shadow figure or retain their living appearance. They are often violent and are stuck in a certain household, attached to property, or connected to an object. They can cause objects to move, footsteps heard, random warm or cold stops, a heat signature to show up on infrared, and if one is strong enough physical harm. These ghosts are fueled by hate, anger, and pain.

They can affect the living around them, especially those already prone to these negative emotions. They often heighten these emotions through their activity described above or through their energy. They then feed off of the negative energy the living produce when feeling these emotions. Most poltergeists have the goal to drive the person away, to gain power, and to just generally hurt others. They are driven by anger, revenge, and pain. Poltergeists are also often created when a person who is vicious, nasty, and mean dies and becomes trapped on this plain as a ghost or stays behind to guard something. As the saying goes: as in life so in death. The are simply very angry ghosts who are very violent.

Shadow Figures

A figure that can move in the light who appears to be a shadow. When in the dark it appears darker than the rest of the shadows or is a shadow that seems out of place. More often then not, these figures appear most noticeably in the night. These figures try not to move when appearing as a shadow when directly looked at and can quickly disappear when looked at head on. They are often the unexplained shadows seen moving out of the corner of one's eye. These figures are human shaped and but can appear as very tall or slightly deformed ie. having no necks. Some say you can tell if they are older or newer depending on their level of deformation. Some of these figures are more blob-like and some shift. Either way a figure looks like a solid black human or a solid black figure that has random disproportions. These can range in height and width.

The presence of a shadow figure doesn't necessarily mean there is a negative spirit there. Often the figures simply mean that someone continues to reside there who is no longer living. Shadow figures can be found where there is very high activity or very low. The presence doesn't mean that anything else may happen like objects moving or voices being heard. Most of my personal experiences with them is that they are simply there. Shadow Figures are very easy to live with peacefully and without intervention. If you see a Shadow Figure, it is best to leave it alone and keep an eye out for signs of a possible negative entity.

Banishing Negative Entities

If you are experiencing activity from a negative entity then there are many ways help with the activity. You could hold a seance to see what they want (with professional guidance), smudge the house, complete a prayer ritual, use sulfur or Vesta powder, spells, or even demanding it to leave. Do not demand the entity to leave before you know what you are dealing with. To trap the entity in one room use salt. You can use any kind of salt but sea salt or black salt seems to be the most powerful. Spread the salt at the base of doors, windows, or other areas the spirit can escape the room. To protect a person or object put a ring of salt around them.

NOTE: place salt in a tube or hula hoop and stick those to the floor so entities can’t influence the wind to blow the salt away.

Vesta Powder

Vesta is the Roman virgin Goddess of the hearth, home, family, and the sacred flame. Her Greek form is Hestia. Vesta is thought to be one of the guardian deities in Roman times and, in exchange for offerings, she would protect the home and family that resigned inside of it. The powder is a white powder containing one part Saltpeter (potassium nitrate) to one part cornmeal. This powder is highly flammable and should be kept in a safe place. To use this powder you place a charcoal disk into a cauldron, light the disk, throw a pinch or two of the powder onto the disk, and walk around the house. If there is a spirit present the powder will let off a large mushroom cloud of smoke; if not it will simply fizzle and go out.

Smudging

Smudging is a purely Native American method of cleansing and can only be used by Native Americans. It involves burning white sage while walking from room to room around a house and is often accompanied by prayer or demanding the entity leave. The sage can also be accompanied by sweetgrass and cedar. The smudging mix purifies the energies and allows you to push negative energies out. In order to successfully do this you must open a window or door anywhere you can so the energies can escape or else you're simply chasing that negativity around. According to some you have to smudge nine days in a row to ensure the entity leaves for good. However, each day the activity will increase. If after nine days the entity is still there then it’s time to go to the next level and use sulfur or Vesta powder. For a more potent smudging burn sweetgrass and or cedar with the sage when smudging and tie the bundle with pure gold.

Cleansing

Cleansing is done with regular sage and various other herbs, oils, and sigils. There are many different ways to cleanse yourself or your space.

For personal cleansing you can take a shower, adding oils to your products or buying natural products utilizing different scents. Simply shower with the intent of cleansing yourself using products with sage, sweetgrass, cedar, jojoba oil (hex breaking), hemp seed oil (cleansing, protection), walnut oil (protection, banishing), shea butter (protection), coconut oil (protection, purification), and lavender. Using shea butter or coconut oil as moistener with the intent of cleansing is another great way to both have amazingly soft skin and cleans anything attached to you. You can also have a smoke cleanse, kind of like smudging, or get a personal, hand mister and add drops of essential oil to it as a way of cleansing yourself.

Cleansing a space or object have even more possibilities. You can use candle magic: taking a white candle, carving it with sigils and spells, annotating it in oils, and lighting it. This can be done in any variation. Burning a variation of herbs and continuing as if you're smudging is another way. Spraying oils around the room or on the object is another. You can even place things on sigils that are meant to cleans things or above doors/windows to "cleans and purify all who pass through here".

Protection Field

When about to rest or if you feel threatened by a malicious force the protection field helps to fend them off. Start by taking deep breaths, this calms you and strengthens your aura. Then envision a light spreading from you and going around you. This light can go as far as you would like but remember that it weakens the further it is spread. Envision the light as an unbreakable force, you can even envision more waves of light going out and meeting the first one. Now envision the light staying there for as long as you need it. The light can be whatever color you want. You are now protected but remember the light comes from your energy so you might have to stop to rest every so often.

Methods of Seeing Spirits

Some things just come natural to people. Seeing ghosts or knowing when one is there, being able to hear them. It's all things that we could do when we where children but some of us still retain in adulthood. No matter if you have these gifts or develop them through hard work and dedication it's no secret that people try endlessly hard to catch a glimpse of these other worldly being. Not that I have to tell you, dear readers, about this desire to perhaps see something that's moved past the veil of life.

Astral travel

Astral travel is one of the most coveted tools in a spirit workers arsenal, as it takes time and practice to even end up on the astral let alone be able to see everything vividly. Astral travel allows the person to travel to a plain where spirits are naturally, making communication, relationships, and physical contact with them possible. This method is not safe for beginners as it is very dangerous and you can even die while in your astral form.

The Second Sight

This method has been spoken of for centuries, sometimes with reverence, other times with dread. If you have the sight you are born with the innate ability to see otherworldly creatures and ghosts, and while this may sound amazing, it’s horrifying. You cannot turn it off, they know you can see them so they seek you out, and it’s forever. If you do manage to shut them out you have definitely caused a major energy block which will have damaging effects in the future such as losing touch with spirituality, chronic migraines, and reoccurring nightmares. No one knows for sure why some people are born with the sight, some say it’s a curse, other say the fae have blessed you

Energy Signatures/Assisted Energy Signatures

One of the most basic forms of seeing spirits that is common when you start spirit work. It’s defined as seeing trace amounts of a spirit’s energy, whether it be a colored tendril, smoke, shadows, or even sparkles. It is the shadow you see out of the corner of your eye, the strange subtle light you see in a pitch black room, the fog in a place that doesn’t belong. No matter what it is though it's done with the persons own ability. Assisted energy signatures are when a spirit manifests their energy to let you see it or to let you know they are there and is fascinating to witness as it is normally stronger than normal energy signatures.

Mental Imagery/Forced Mental Imagery

Mental imagery is when you "see" spirits in your mind. This happens when you look around a room and even though you can't physically see anything there you know where the spirit is and what it may look like, almost like intuition. Sometimes it’s just a face, other times it’s a full body image. Forced mental imagery is when a spirit sends a mental image into your mind for one reason or another. It could be as simple as an eye, a mouth, or a hand or as complex as whole scenes, actions, and words.

Mind Scrying

This is similar to mental imagery but more in-depth and requires more focus/control. You see spirits in your mind but you can look through your house, property, or even general location and see what is around you. If you want to know what someone is doing you simply focus on them and you can see what they’re doing in great detail and where they are, you can easily check your house for intruding spirits, etc.

Making a Spirit Trap Stone

If you’ve got problems with a nasty ghost, a wicked spirit, or an enemy witch’s familiar, this is a possible avenue to take. Find a small stone near a large building or tree. Take it home and cleanse it with running water (creek or faucet) repeat “hollow heart, empty prison” as you do it.

Dry it and mark on one side a diamond with an ex through it. On the other side, hold it above a flame and let it turn completely black. Repeat “keep in that which I bring to imprison”

If you know specifics about the spirit, write them down and burn the paper. Set the stone on the burning page.

Leave a fingernail or a strand of hair on top of it until the spirit is trapped. Burn the stone and bury it to get rid of the spirit. Keep it to serve you, if you can command it.

Black Salt

• Incense ash- Sandalwood recommended
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Ashes from a burnt protection sigil
• Charcoal (from wood burnt inside the fire at home or something like that)

Mix all ingredients and store in a dry dark place. Keep topping it up as needed.

Can be used in witches bottles, ingredient in protection spells, sprinkle by doorways or window in a no pet house, dissolve in water to make sigil paint, extra boost for negativity-absorbing spell jars

Banishing Spell

“Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust,

May the wind blow you, wandering ghost

And clear the world of the living,

Turn you to where you belong,

And may you disappear without a trace.”

Cleansing

“Cleans this space,

remove the past.

I’ve found my happiness at long last.

Fill this place, with joy and love; send your blessing from above.”

Negativity Trap

• A sealable jar
• Sea salt
• Clean water
• Lemon or lime essential oil

Fill the bottom of the jar with sea salt, add a few drops of your chosen essential oil, fill the rest of the jar with clean water, shake to activate, leave the jar in a place in your home that receives a lot of traffic from guests and members of the house.

The point of this spell it to trap the negative energy (with the sea salt) and purify it (with the water and oil) which will only allow good energy into your home.

Sigils

Sigils are a great way to help you with spirits. Draw the sigil on a piece of paper or the wall and charge it before leaving it alone and it's done. You can use black salts mixed with water to create the sigil which means you don't have to charge the sigil manually anymore. Every once in a while go back and either repaint it using the black salts or recharge the sigil. They work better if you forget about them and, some say, even forget what they mean by not writing it alongside the sigil. But it's however you want to do it.

You can even create your own sigil through various methods you can find with some quick research or using a witch's sigil wheel. This involves taking a wheel full of letters put on at seeming random and deciding on a word that resembles what you want to accomplish (such as LOVE, HEALTH, PROTECTION). Then, starting from the first letter, trace the letters of your word in a straight line from one to another, ending with the last letter of your word. If you want, you can connect the last line back to the first to create a closed shape or leave it as an open one.

When you’re finished, you have a simple sigil that can be etched into a candle and burnt down, or you can write it down on paper and add it to a small bottle or pouch with herbs. Here's one for you to use: