Necromancy: How to lay spirits to rest

At some point, just about any witch or magic worker encounters a situation where the spirit of a deceased being must be 'laid to rest' and encouraged to move along their journey through the otherworld. One may wonder, why the deceased don't automatically go to their next destination (be it reincarnation, a place of repose, or something else). Sometimes, the dead get 'stuck' on their transition. If the death is particularly traumatic, the deceased may hang on to what they can of life because of anxiety about the transition they have experienced. This is also true if the deceased has an exceptional focus upon elements of their life that they refuse to surrender. These two things are the most common reasons for hauntings.¹

Laying a spirit to rest is not exactly the same as an exorcisim. An exorcism is a forcible ejection of a spirit from a location usually accompanied with a binding and counter magic to keep the spirit from returning. Laying a spirit to rest has a vaguely similar goal to exorcisim, which is moving a spirit out of a location where they're not supposed to be. That, however, is where the similarity between the two rites end. In the case of laying a spirit to rest, the main thrust of the ritual is to help the spirit resolve what ever business they have keeping them tied to the physical plane and assist them in continuing on their journey.

The first step in most rituals involving spirits after the general format of establishing ritual space is to invoke the practitioner's spiritual allies. This can be anything from praying to their patron deities, asking the wights of the location to aid them, calling on their ancestors for help, or appealing to other spiritual beings that are friendly towards the practitioner and willing to assist them in the process. It is important to have help from friendly spirits because it helps to establish your control over the situation. While the force of your will does have a mighty impact upon the situation, the aid of spiritual allies acts as a safety net to help you keep control over the situation. They also provide the service of letting the other spirit know that things are not completely out of control because there are others who have more experience there to show them the proverbial ropes.²

Once the location is prepped and all spiritual allies are in place, the practitioner summons the spirit. Summoning spirits is not something I am keen on but this is one instance where summoning is vital to success. Formal summonings can include offerings to the deceased alongside invocations. All the bells and whistles that you can think of for a ceremonial summoning of a spirit can be used here. Or, you can go with the most basic and just do a direct invocation of the deceased.

After you have the spirit present, it is good to have a conversation with them. Talk to them and learn why they are lingering. Learn what they need to continue on their journey. Learn what troubles them about said journey. If they have desires or requests that must be met before they can move forward, make sure that they are reasonable and can be met. If they can not, negotiate an acceptable alternative. Remember that the goal is to get the spirit to a point where they are willing and able to transition to their next step in their journey after death.

In your discussion, present the needs, desires, and requests of the living who are impacted by the spirit's presence. Inform the spirit what they can do to rectify problems from their end of the situation. It may be that the spirit has no desire to move out and wishes to remain in the location as a wight associated with it. Part of the goal of the practitioner is to facilitate a smooth working relationship between the living and the dead. To be successful at this, one must keep the non-negotiable elements of the situation in mind and make clear to the spirit that these are points that one will not bend on. Like the living, there are spirits who will take advantage of any perceived loopholes and weaknesses in the agreement to get what they want out of the situation for the least amount of effort.

Now, if the discussion reveals that the spirit needs certain objectives completed before they can depart, establish a plan for having those objectives completed. When presenting the completion of those objectives as part of the agreement for the spirit's departure, make certain that you make those objectives dependent upon the spirit's departure. If you present the situation as 'when you leave, XYZ will be taken care of' rather than 'XYZ will be done and you can leave' it shows the spirit that in order to have their needs and desires met, they must comply with the directive to exit.

Some spirits will depart immediately after this arrangement is established. Others will need some guidance to do so. There are many different meditations that can be used to assist them in the process (spirits meditate too!) but all of them have the spirit moving along some sort of path to a destination. Trust the spirits and allies that you have with you to help the spirit that is being laid to rest along their journey to their destination. Your job is simply to get them on the path. The others will take care of the rest.

With the close of the ritual, thank your allies. Cleanse the area and make a point of restoring it to an energetically 'neutral' state. This makes the place less inviting for the spirit to return and take up residence again. It would be like having all of your stuff moved out of your apartment after you left. Living there again would take work to make it comfortable and functional for you. Some also choose to do protection magic to maintain the location as a spiritual neutral ground and keeping unwanted entities out. This would be the equivalent of locking the door to said apartment and arming the security system.

And that is how you lay a spirit to rest, in a very general format. If you need direction for specific cases, message me. I will try to make some posts for the most common situations that come up in the messages. I will also message you back with some suggestions for your situation. Please be patient, however, because there will be some delay in replies right now.

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1. I will be giving a more complete discussion of hauntings at a later date. It may be after September, depending on if I have the opportunity to get the work done on the post. This particular post has been in various stages of development since mid-April. If you have any questions regarding hauntings, post them in the comments or send them to me. In any email, note Veiled Witch as part of your subject line, this way it doesn't get dropped into the spam folder.

2. Not all spirits will be psychopomps but they'll help the spirit in question to get a hold of one 95% of the time. That other 5% of the time, they do something but I can't tell you what exactly it is. I ask my guides and they just say that they 'take care of it' and nothing more.

July for Loki # 15 Giver of gifts.

Loki gives gifts. He's famous for the ones he gave to the Aesir. He has a reputation for giving gifts to people he is involved with. The gifts range from really useful and timely to strange and confusing, but hilarious. Loki is also great for helping you find the right gift to give someone. I'm not saying that Loki is my personal shopper. There is no way in the nine worlds I would be able to afford that, let alone the range of things he would suggest.

I was going to post about how Loki has given me gifts in the past and the way that worked out. But circumstances today happened so that my post focus shifted. It was because of Loki's influence that I was able to find the exact gift that Beloved would have enjoyed the most. I walked into the thrift store planning to possibly get a new pair of pants, a wicker basket, and maybe something else that was small. I walked out with research material, music for writing to, the basket I needed, and Beloved's gift. And I paid less than I would have dreamed for all of it at retail cost.

Some may call this silly but these are also the same folks who think I'm strange because of my godphone, but I am pretty sure that it was because of Loki's influence that I found those things. When I am out shopping for people, Loki likes to tag along. He does more than discuss fashion and jewelery. Loki helps me pick out the right things for the right people. I asked him once why he does it and he just grinned at me. I think it is one of those hobbies that makes him happy.

Loki likes, it seems, to make people happy when he has the opportunity. It isn't that he is trying to butter you up for some con game (though he does do that at times). He seems to genuinely enjoy watching someone light up with delight over a gift and an unexpected gesture of appreciation. It is a trait that I have noticed seems to run through the people who are involved with him as well.

It was Loki who showed me how when you give a gift, you are giving yourself one at the same time. It wasn't something that made sense to me when I was younger. I thought that gift to myself was the warm fuzzy feeling that came from making someone else's day a bit brighter. Then Loki showed me something of how we're connected to each other and the subtle ties that bind us together.

He showed me how the acts of gift giving strengthened not only those ties but the people involved. It added to their spiritual energy. I told him he was breaking physics when he told me that energy was being created out of nothing. Loki did what he usually does when I say that. He waggled his fingers at me and went "WOOO! Spooky actions at a distance." The last time I said something like that to him, he put on a robe and wizard hat. But, there you have it. Loki the giver of gifts.

July for Loki # 14 Homebody.

Loki is a deity that is very on the go. He is into everything and doing everything. (And I did not intend for that to sound dirty but he seemed to find this hilarious so I'm just going to go with that. Currently, I hear him laughing so I figure it can't be too bad, right?) A lot of the time, Loki seems to be in perpetual motion.

Restless and Loki are two things that just seem to go together like peas and carrots. Except for when they don't. Sometimes, Loki just wants to chill. I tend to forget that he likes downtime because he is almost always presenting as energetic and in perpetual motion. But he does slow down and I've noticed that he seems to appreciate the domestic side of life quite a bit. When ever I am baking, he shows up. If I am having a rough time dealing with some sort of household task because I'm having a bad brain day (a very technical term for when my disability decides to act up), Loki will distract me from the angst that goes with it and hang out as I am doing my work.

I didn't realize just how much he appreciated being a homebody until someone else (one of his wives, actually) called me on the carpet for insinuating that he was a perpetual motion machine. After she pointed out the error of my assertion, I had to stop an reexamine how things went on between him and I. As I looked at it, I realized that a pattern emerged that I had never noticed before. Loki actually likes domestic stuff. It isn't a thing where he tolerates it or otherwise endures it.

If I am doing gardening or puttering with my plants, he will hang around and at times note the one that I forget. (And there is always at least one plant that gets forgotten until the middle of the week, it changes every week though.) When I am cooking, he is interested in the process of developing the next week's menu, shopping, preparing, and eating it. (Some days, it really does seem like the way to his heart is through his stomach. His love of chocolate is perhaps greater than my own, which is saying something.) Even if I'm doing the most boring of tasks (laundry), Loki will visit and actually enjoys it all.

I felt like a fool when I realized that I completely missed this pattern. Loki, with his big heart and even bigger grin, told me that it was adorable to watch me realize it. At least he wasn't too annoyed, just amused with me.

July for Loki # 13 Animal Association.

If you are in the Lokean community or know folks in it, you may have heard the PCPG^* that Loki is associated with foxes. Everyone familiar with the myths of Loki is aware of his association with horses, wolves, and serpents. And by way of Freya, we have his association with birds. I have another animal that I associate with Loki. I don't know how common it is in the community but I suppose I will find out.

Squirrels are noisy, mischievous, and inquisitive animals. They are also fairly bold, cunning, and cute. I see a lot of Loki in them. North American red squirrels are not very common around my house. I usually see them at parks in the area because that is where there are more conifers. Occasionally, however, a random red
 squirrel will show up in my yard. I'm pretty sure it is because Loki wants me to pay attention to my environment at that time.

They have shown up in my dreams several times. When this first started happening I was wondering why Ratatoskr was so present in my dreams. It was when Loki clubbed me over the head with the obvious stick and the squirrel in my dreams started talking with his voice that I figured it out. Since then, red squirrels tend to make an appearance when there is some kind of change about to happen or something of a 'gift' happens. In either case, the event bears an unmistakeable (to me) mark of Loki's involvement.

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* Peer Corroborated Personal Gnosis

On other topics.

I have been posting quite a bit about Loki. This does not mean that I have forgotten about Dea or the laundry list of other topics to be written about here. Right now, writing about Loki has been the easiest thing. With the business of my children being on break from school, writing what is easiest has become a thing right now. I am currently working on a manuscript that I made mention of in A Year with Dea.

The manuscript is coming along slowly because my time for writing has been limited. I hope, however, to have it completed mid-August and ready for publication towards the end of September. Drowning in Light is the title of this project. The manuscript is in four parts. The first is a list of visions that I have had regarding Dea. The second is exposition and refinement of the meaning of those visions. Third section will be sayings that I have heard from Our Lady and her Angels. The fourth and final section is a record of spontaneous recitations of praise and worship of the Daughter specifically.

In the process of assembling this manuscript, I have been combing through the multiple volumes of my Book of Shadows for the different bits of wisdom contained therein. I have also been reviewing things from my journals because these things are not solely the province of my spiritual writing. They have popped up in a myriad of places in my life because Dea is a major part of my life. When it is valid, I may be including something about the context of the visions and what was going on in my life at the time they happened.

It has been almost a year and a half since I felt Dea's presence directly. It is something that I am adjusting to. I don't think that it is a case of her setting me aside. I thing that this apparent silence is here for a reason and that I am supposed to learn something from it. I doubt that it is pure coincidence that approximately when this silence began I moved into a phase of seriously intense business regarding my mental health. Indeed, I have come to suspect that Dea's silence is to allow me to focus on what I am dealing with in that respect (with a portion of this actually influencing my relationship with Dea from my end of things).

While I hold out hope that I will hear her voice again directly, I am going to continue the work that I have before me and that work happens to include the mystical writings that I am working on at present. While it may seem that at the moment it is all about Loki, I assure you there are more things going on that I will be writing about in the not so distant future. 

July for Loki # 12 Speaking of motivational...

Because Loki has been throwing this at me for a while, I am sharing it with all of you. Why? Because it is now stuck in my head as a thing with Loki.

TROLOLOLOLOLOL for Great Justice!

July for Loki # 11 Godphone (part 10)

Yes, I am leading my post off with a geeky joke. If you know binary, you will get the subject line and the jest. It was Flame Hair's idea. It is like the 'Dad jokes' that he drops from time to time. They're so bad that they're good. For example: what do you call a fish with no eyes? FSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I hear Loki on a regular basis. There are times where he has snarky commentary on what is going on. There are times where he has really good advice on how to handle a situation. (He is often excellent in his advice for parenting. Also on how to take stuff apart.) My 'godphone' gets exercised everyday. (Heh, he just said: No. Exorcized.) I feel really lucky that Loki is comfortable enough to let his hair down and do stuff like make suggestions on what kind of stuff I should cook. And informs me that my fashion sense is questionable when it comes to hairstyles half the time as well. I know that Loki has a lot of things on his plate. Just chilling with me as I am doing stuff around the house and derping on the internet is pretty remarkable when you consider how much he has to do.

But Loki doesn't just hang around and do the invisible best friend thing. He will also give me messages to pass on to people. He will tell me things that need to be done, help me interpret runes (sort of) and tarot cards (often). He has told me a few times that my 'godphone' is not just a gift for myself. He has on several different occasions told me that it is something that I should share with the world (with discretion) because it is needed. That threw me for a loop the first time he said that.

I asked him to explain it one time and his answer was this:

Sometimes, you are given a gift because it is just how you were built and you won the genetic/spiritual lottery. Sometimes, you are given a gift because you asked and it was given for your joy.
And sometimes, you are given a gift because you're on a mission from god.

By the way, folks, he was doing the whole Blues Brothers impersonation on that final statement. I asked him which of the three it was in my case. He laughed and told me that I had to figure that out on my own. I'm still not sure how it works out in my case, but I'm not troubled. When Loki (or pretty much any other deity) shows up with a message for someone, an agreement is reached and (most of the time) I pass the message on. Once in a while, I will turn down someone who wants me to convey a message. And I make a point of negotiating how the message is passed on and payment for services rendered (though there have been some cases where that measure was skipped).

Does this mean that when Loki tells me he wants me to pass on a message that I broker some kind of payment from him? No. He's a close personal friend and family to me. I treat things like I would with regular people. I don't know if it is arrogance to do that. I make a point of being respectful and I do my best to be as clever as I can manage (because Loki and Odin both have told me that is extremely important). I also will vet things with Loki and Odin because, honestly, they know a lot more about stuff like that than I do. For the most part, it's been Loki who has had opinions on how and when I pass messages on.

I don't know how that will evolve in the future. But I know this, Loki's got plans for me and my 'godphone.' I'm not sure if it is trolling the normals or something more serious. Either way, it is going to be an interesting ride. You could say that Loki is my co-pilot. The question is what exactly it is that I'm flying. Can't be sure, because I got blindfolded in the process. Loki says that makes things more interesting. WHEEE!!!