Stand and return to your normal state of mind. Think in practical terms: I have a mess to clean up, I better take a shower, I have to get up early in the morning, and so on. When you’ve returned to your usual state of mind, close the circle as you normally would, clean up the ritual space, let the candle burn down, and throw both the crab claw and the banishing drawings and paintings in the trash.
When one thinks of the word exorcism, they may imagine demonic possession and the process of exorcising an invader. Though rare, a spirit possessing a human body does happen and is a serious occurrence. But more often than not, what appears to be a human body inhabited by an external entity is, in actuality, the manifestation of a psychological imbalance and is better tackled through psychotherapy. (Indeed, we can become “possessed” by certain aspects of our mind if they’re not kept at arm’s length.) Magick and spirituality are both greatly psychological in nature, making these methods potentially effective as well.
For practical purposes, I’ll present an exorcism spell that isn’t for demonic or spirit possession of a person, but for the house and home. Rather than focusing on spirits that attach themselves to one’s person, this spell is focused on the banishing of unwanted spirits from one’s place of occupancy.
There are a number of reasons why a room, house, or plot of land can become invaded by malevolent forces. It’s essential to analyze the whys of a haunted house or area of land. To use an example, I once visited an area on the East Coast that seemed to have literally ten times more spirits than human inhabitants—it was unlike anything I had ever seen. The area’s brutal, fearful, dense energetic feel contributed to an inevitably scary and unexpected experience throughout my time there. I could perceive ghosts and spirits in nearly every house or building I visited in that area. It was only after I left that I realized the land’s history: an epicenter of war, bloodshed, Native American slaughter, palpable curses on the land, and so on. The area’s history created not only residual effects for the land, but for any who set foot there. The cause of the area’s tainted nature was historical, and each earthbound individual or disincarnate (ghost) had its own story. Some were simply “replaying” their moments of death like a broken record (which can signify that the energy is in a time-loop and may not actually be a sentient being), others seemed to be lost and wandering aimlessly, and still others seemed to have acute awareness and specific intentions.
Because every haunting is dependent on a variety of circumstances, one must first dig for reasons, which requires objectivity. Though you and others may perceive averse forces at work, what is the easiest and most rational explanation behind the events? Taking an objective, skeptical approach can be for the best in this situation, in order to perceive the experience at its clearest.
The following spell assumes that the practitioner genuinely believes that their house is invaded by malevolent, ill-wishing forces—not benign, curious, or generally good-natured entities or beings (which can be dealt with in more subtle ways). It also assumes that the practitioner has both researched the possible reasons for the occurrence and has attempted other methods of spirit banishing, which include compassionate communication, direct orders to “stop and move on,” and psychically communicating with said entities. This home-exorcism spell requires a demanding, strict approach to giving the boot to unwanted guests, and it should only be undertaken after all other methods have been exhausted.
Stepping Back & Further Application
There are many things to consider before performing a complete banishing or exorcism on one’s house. What is your area’s history? How about the history of your house? What have you experienced lately that could contribute to the perception of invading spiritual forces? Are these spirits ghosts, spirit guides, or astral wanderers? Are these actually forces of your own mind, or are they independent and external spirits? Do they really exist?
The number of questions required to take an objective approach to such a situation are endless and greatly dependent on each case, certainly including the people experiencing the phenomena. Additionally, one mustn’t jump to conclusions about the case without analyzing every piece of evidence. Just as some individuals strictly and wholeheartedly disbelieve in the paranormal, others tend to believe that nearly every occurrence in life carries supernatural associations. Both extremes are unhealthy, and striking a balanced outlook on life is essential for the Witch or magician. This is the benefit of cultivating objectivity.
If you have determined that, yes, your house is indeed haunted by a spirit or spirits, you must next examine the intentions of the beings. Ghosts and other spirit creatures all have their own intentions. Hauntings are not rare, however, as many people simply don’t realize they’re haunted! Most ghostly experiences are nonthreatening, though their surprising occurrences can make them seem scary. Are you intentionally being frightened, targeted, or attacked? If you’ve firmly concluded that you are, this spell may be an ideal method of exorcism.
Supplies
• a round incense-burning charcoal disk and sand in a dish or censor
• a fresh book of matches
• Mixture 1: a powdered incense mixture of asafoetida, benzoin, cinnamon, frankincense, mandrake, turmeric, and myrrh
• a fan, feather, or bird’s wing (for fanning smoke)
• a very loud and noisy shaker, rattle, or drum
• a small amount of either black sand or black salt (“Witch’s salt”)
• lemon juice mixed with a small amount of Four Thieves Vinegar (see Notes)
• Mixture 2: a powdered combination of the herbs angelica root, anise, bay leaf, basil, dill, garlic, Low John root, mandrake root, mistletoe, and vervain
• a number of small square pieces of paper
• a purple marker or pen
• a wand of dried sage
Notes
• Apo pantos kakodaimonos is Greek, translating as “Away, every evil spirit!” The phrase is greatly used in Thelema and is incorporated in a basic Thelemic ritual called the Star Ruby.
• I recommend having a separate, portable coffee grinder specifically used for powdering herbs. This is the easiest way to create the powders for this spell and others, and ensures that the contents won’t be somehow ingested when preparing your morning cuppa’.
• Four Thieves Vinegar, a component of many Hoodoo workings, is said to have gotten its name from the time of the European plague (approximately ce 1334–1350). Many people at the time would rob bodies of their jewelry and other valuables, and legend says that a band of four thieves were able to ward off the plague by rubbing their bodies with a vinegary concoction before robbing the diseased corpses. Four Thieves Vinegar is now used as a strong protection and banishing formula and is available through many occult supply shops. Substitute apple cider vinegar if unavailable.
• The match heads are made of are sulfur (brimstone), thus their use in the spell.
Procedure
Begin by performing protective exercises and altering your consciousness. Clear your mind, bring focus to your breath, and meditate for at least a few minutes. When ready, begin the spell.
With all the tools in front of you (and easily transportable), ignite the incense coal with a match, and wait until it turns into a glowing ember. Stand upright with your arms and legs outstretched. Look ahead and shout:
Apo pantos kakodaimonos!
With your right pointer finger, draw an upright pentagram before you, beginning at the bottom left angle of the star (this is a Banishing Pentagram of Earth). Trace the star in five swoops of the finger, sealing it with a sixth (the sixth stroke should bring your finger to the uppermost point of the pentagram). Envision the star glowing in a blue flame.
Standing in the same position, turn around and face behind you. Shout the phrase once again and trace the pentagram. Turn to your left and do the same, and then to your rig
ht. Finish by shouting the phrase while looking at the ceiling, and again while looking at the floor, so that a pentagram is traced in each area.
Light one of the matches, blow it out, and place a small pinch of Mixture 1 on the charcoal. In a widdershins manner, walk around the room, ensuring that the smoke touches every part of the room. Use the fan, feather, or wing to blow the smoke high and low. If necessary, open doors, windows, cupboards, and closets, so that every inch of the area will be touched by smoke.
Next, walk the room in a widdershins manner with the musical instrument in hand. Shake, rattle, and bang loudly so that every inch of the room is touched by the sound vibration.
Complete by once again shouting:
Apo pantos kakodaimonos!
Walking widdershins once again, sprinkle the black sand or salt around the room, ensuring that the grains hit the walls. Do the same with the lemon and vinegar mix, using your fingers to asperge the walls.
Finally, take a bowl of Mixture 2 in your left hand, putting a small pile of the powder in your right hand. With a quick breath, blow the powder in each area of the room. Do this while walking in a deosil manner.
Continue these steps in every room of the house, starting with the igniting of a match. When cleansing hallways, simply treat them as though they are an extension of a room you’re exorcising. Additionally, bring all these ingredients around the outside of the house, securing the exorcism “within and without.”
When you are completely finished, go to the central area of the house and declare:
All cunning, cruel, and crooked spirits of the land, I command you back to your terrain!
All ghosts, spooks, and unrest spirits of the past, leave this place and go to the light!
All those who have been created or commanded by the will of another, return now to the original source!
All those energies that wish to injure or feed upon this place, I demand your immediate exodus!
All pools of stagnation, vacancy, malady, and vapidity, I command you to flee and dissolve!
NOW! NOW! NOW!
Apo pantos kakodaimonos!
ABRAKALA!
So mote it be!
Finally, draw the number 888 in purple marker or pen on the pieces of paper. Do as many as you’d like, and hang them above or on the doors and windows of the house—every single one, if you wish. Otherwise, hang the papers above the doors that see the most foot traffic.
To complete the spell, ignite the wand of sage and walk the entire course of the house (deosil in each room) to get the smoke in every nook and cranny. Finish by walking deosil around the outside of the house with the burning sage.
This spell is concerned with the creation of a bottle or vial whose purpose is to aid a person with their divinatory practices. Keeping this bottle next to your tools can add a boost of power to any of your divinations.
Virtually all cultures and religions practice divination in one form or another. Divination reveals the unknown, tapping into mysteries of the self and the world. Divinatory tools allow practitioners to glimpse the unknown, tapping into vibrations of the past and present and lending a certain clarity to present-moment experience. The divinatory tools themselves do not reveal the insights; the reader is the seer, while the tools are just conduits of information.
Divination is connected to psychic phenomena—an ability that all humans possess and can bring forth with proper work. The term divination is nearly synonymous with the word augury. Augury refers more to divination in preexisting phenomena like bodies of water, trees, and the movement of animals rather than the casting of stones, cards, sticks, and so on. However, many practitioners use the terms interchangeably.
The word scry comes from descry, meaning “to reveal.” These days, scrying refers to the act of gazing, be it in a body of water, crystal ball, black mirror, or anything else. If your intent is strong enough, you can divine in anything. I’ve gotten visions from the ceiling and scryed in the fish tank and in patterns on wallpaper. There is, in fact, an infinite amount of information around us—Spirit is present in everything, permeating all physical items, just waiting for us to discover the information we need for progressive transformation.
Common divinatory tools include tarot cards, oracle cards, runes, pendulums, crystal balls, scrying mirrors or balls, tea leaves, the Ouija board, and a host of other tools too expansive to list here.
Mugwort seems to be the herb most associated with psychic vision. It’s a good idea to cleanse your divination tools with mugwort tea, or smudge them with a bundle of the dried herb. If mugwort isn’t immediately available, select another herb that is associated with cultivating psychic powers—those listed in the ingredients for this spell are some of the most potent.
In addition to utilizing mugwort, the tools can also be charged by the light of the Full Moon. It’s ideal to let the tools soak up moonlight for at least three days. Another great method is to charge them in a magick circle on the night of the New Moon. They should be allowed to sit outside on the altar, or in a windowsill where moonlight reaches, for one complete Moon cycle (until the next New Moon). At that time they will be fully charged and ready for immediate use. The New Moon is an ideal time to perform divination, as the astral-physical veil is thin, and much of the unseen becomes revealed. It’s best to cleanse your divination tools every New Moon, especially if you use them on a regular basis. This, in addition to the following spell, can help boost the power of a psychic, medium, divinator, or any other person wishing to extend their perception beyond our current time, space, and paradigm.
Stepping Back & Further Application
Before performing this spell, question your reasons for wishing to boost your divinatory powers. Do your powers seem to be inaccurate more than not? Are you just starting to hone your abilities? Do you simply wish to add to your accuracy?
If something in your divinatory practices just doesn’t seem to be right, try other methods first: perhaps you need to study a different deck of tarot cards or oracle cards. Perhaps you need to experiment with different methods of divination. Maybe your powers are more pronounced in areas like hands-on healing or meditation, thus implying that divination is a skill to revisit later in life.
Whatever your personal experiences, this spell will certainly not ensure complete accuracy in your divinations—such a feat would be impossible, even by the most skilled! I once heard a statistic that roughly 70 percent of legitimate psychic phenomenon tends to be accurate, while 30 percent remains incorrect. This makes sense. Because we are incarnated in this instant of time, it’s impossible for us to fully, completely, and accurately immerse ourselves in every detail of the past or future. Along similar lines, this is one reason I personally find divination on one’s present moment to be the most successful.
Supplies
• 1 white candle and 1 purple candle
• a stick of sandalwood incense
• a small, transportable glass vial, jar, or bottle
• a small owl feather (gathered, not plucked)
• a freshly picked plant leaf (see Notes)
• any combination of the herbs bay leaf, hemp (or marijuana if it’s legal in your area), mugwort, sandalwood, and wormwood, in a bowl
• your own hair and fingernail clippings
• 9 small moonstones (small enough to fit in the bottle)
• a purple permanent marker
• a few drops of bay (laurel) essential oil (not “fragrant” oil)
• 9 inches of purple thread
• a small sticky label (small enough to stick on the vial)
• a small piece of transparent tape (to cover the label)
Notes
• When completed, it is best to store this bottle with your divinatory tools; this way, its energy will merge with your tools regularly, and you will have t
o touch the bottle (linking you to the spell) before divinatory practices.
• The freshly picked plant leaf should ideally come from a plant known to aid with psychic or divinatory work. If one is unavailable, substitute any nontoxic, freshly picked leaf.
• The Greek Gnostic mantra of IAΩ (eye-ay-oh), which is Iota-
Alpha-Omega, represents the Demiurge (the power of creation) and has numerous correspondences. Its usage here is to tap into worldly energies in order to give the practitioner greater psychic insight.
• The following “knot spell” used for the moonstones is a variation of Doreen Valiente’s “Spell of the Cord” (see her Witchcraft for Tomorrow) used in traditional Wicca.
Procedure
Begin by casting a circle, calling the quarters, chanting, or raising energy as you normally would, performing protective exercises, and altering your consciousness. Clear your mind, bring focus to your breath, and meditate for at least a few minutes. When ready, begin the spell.
After clearing your mind, ignite the candles and incense and gaze at the tools in front of you. Situate the tools as follows: Place the bowl of herbs at the bottom, the feather resting atop them, the leaf atop the feather, and the bottle on the top. Place the candles on either side.
Pick up the bottle and place your hair and fingernail clippings inside. Next, add the moonstones one by one, saying one line with each stone added:
By moonstone one, the spell’s begun,
By moonstone two, it cometh true,
Planetary Spells & Rituals Page 7