Living in a haunted house is some people’s dreams. And for others, it’s nightmare material. We’re apathetic here. We moved into a somewhat haunted house but the initial spirit fragments that remained behind went away eventually and now the only spirits that are here are either passing ghosts looking for help from the Necromancer or my own spirits doing their thing.
You can absolutely live harmoniously with spirits. It’s totally doable. Here’s how.
Be respectful
You’re sharing space. It’s a non-corporeal roommate. Remember that whoever is staying with you might not be human (anymore) but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a person. Respect their rights. If they’re not human to begin with, such as fae or other spirits, then you’ll want to pay special attention to their particular cultural habits.
That being said. They should also be respectful of you. You’re paying rent after all. They’re not. You get to set the rules first.
Set up your protections
Setting up protection spells can be as easy as dumping as many protection spells as you can cast on your space. But how do you set up those protection spells that will still allow spirits in?
Easy. You specify in the spell that you want only malevolent spirits or those with ill intent to stay out. It’s as easy as that. If you already have protection spells set up, you might need to tear them down and put the back up accordingly.
Save yourself some trouble and put up your regular “no entry at all” protection spells in private areas like bedrooms and bathrooms. You only need to look up to see a ghost looming over you in the bathroom mirror once to make sure that it never happens again. (FYI, in such an example, don’t punch the mirror. It doesn’t help. Trust me.)
Establish household rules (Set up a magical information board)
One way to do this is to pick up an object and magically set the rules. The information could be something like “anyone who harms a member of the household evicts ALL spirits” or “no playing music at three a.m.”. That usually makes sure that spirits govern each other and gives you less work to do. Set the item in a window, by the door, in the yard, or by the offerings. If the spirit has a space, leave it near their space (but not in the space).
How to do this is easy. Pick up your selected object and let it sync up with your energy. Keep the energy level minor (you don’t want to hurt the entity). While passing on a light trace of energy, also think or say what you want to say. A quartz crystal is especially good for this.
If you’re really lucky, you’re rooming with an entity that can also do magic and you can pass each other imaginary memos about stuff. Which can be really cool or completely weird.
Set up some offerings
This is hit or miss. I leave offerings but not daily. It allows me to keep my schedule flexible and makes sure people don’t get greedy. There’s nothing worse than spirits setting off fire alarms or breaking stuff because you didn’t give them a glass of water.
It’s up to you though. Do what you want and work that out among yourself.
Leave a space for them
This might not be doable for you but leaving a space that’s their is important. Usually spirits will treat to less used areas when we inhabit homes. Leaving a space dedicated to them means that you know where to go when you want to talk to them and you’ll know where they hang out.
You should not enter this space unless you need to talk to them or need something stored in this room. For example, our spirits have three rooms, technically but two rooms have animal inhabitants so the spirits tend to stay away. Instead, they hang out in the heater room is where we store things like paint cans, tools, and cat carriers. Since we rarely need those items or check the machines in there, we leave it for the spirits.
That’s only possible because we have a lot of unused space in our house. Your situation will be different. A closet or basement is popular but might not be ideal merely for the creepy factor. You could also set aside a chair or something similar for them instead.
Warn when you’re going to cleanse the space
Cleansing is the “did you turn it off and on again?” of magical practices. Which means we tend to do it a lot when weird stuff happens.
But cleansing can be harmful to spirits. To hedge your bets, give the spirits a warning when you plan to cleanse the space. A simple “hey, I’m doing a cleansing. Clear out for a while” works just fine.
Have your banishing tools on hand
If a spirit becomes aggressive, banish it and cleanse the space. You may want to adjust your protection spells or you can let it back in once it has learned it’s lesson. Up to you. But keeping those tools available on hand can save the day.
Be patient
Just because you’re sharing space doesn’t mean that they’re going to be around all the time. You may never physically see the spirit sharing your space. That’s OK. You’re not meeting them on their level either so they probably won’t try to meet yours.
If you do want to see them, then you may need to try some meditation or astral projection in order to sync up spiritually. Even then, you’re more likely to sense them than see them. Physical manifestation is difficult for spirits to do and for people to see. The mind doesn’t really like it. Be patient and know that it may never happen.
That’s it! Living with spirits is a lot like living with people. Sometimes they’re annoying and sometimes they’re awesome. It can take a while to get use to living with them but the most important thing to remember is to stand your ground. You pay for rent, not them, so you get to make the rules. When in doubt, kick them out.