In varying traditions the element of graveyard dirt can be seen as an ingredient used in some ritual practices, people may also find certain ceremonies are conducted in graveyards. What is the benefit of using a graveyard for magick? Are there any dangers associated with these practices?
When most people view a cemetery they see it generally as a place to visit and bury loved ones who are no longer with us, but I find a cemetery to be so much more than this. When I think of graveyards, I think giant altars and an accumulation of power that is concentrated and intelligent. People willingly feed their energy to the land in various ways, some is received by spirit, but most is absorbed by the ground. Funeral rites, graveyard rituals, prayers for loved ones, prayers to deities, offerings of flowers and the like, this all equates to power. This power is birthed from devotion and a willingness of energy offered in varying forms, how is this not an altar? How is this not a place of worship? Regardless of the macabre or taboo nature of it, shamans and spiritual masters of many traditions have always worked with their dead, and what we call necromancy is merely a bastardized version of a practice that can be pure and beautiful in approach. Cemeteries are a shared spiritual space that no religious group or body of belief can call their own. Death is the one thing that we all have in common above everything else, the same as being born to begin with. No matter what words are spoken over the casket, we all return to Gaia in the end.
The element of danger is real however, and the line between madness and sanity is but a string. Working with the dead is not without risks and the margin for error is very small. Even when done correctly, respectfully, and with good intention, a person can still find their energy body becomes corrupted by the death energy when regular practice and exposure occurs. It is through appropriate training, practices of negating the corrosive quality of death nature, and sadhanas to keep life energy peaking that we are able to traverse this path in a mostly safe way. Deviation of any kind will bring nothing other than sorrow, insanity, and pain. Due to the nature of the graveyard, the power held comes from a couple factors. A graveyard holds strong and intense emotional energy, which can be attractive to all manner of entities and creates a way station of sorts. Cemeteries are a symbolic boundary between the world of the living and the Underworld, this naturally creates a thinning of the veil and allows for more potent magick to be conducted.
Pro Tips
When in a graveyard and you begin to smell roses or sweet scents, a benevolent being is within reach. You can call out to that being and ask for blessings or a sigil so that you may work with them in the future and create an altar or space on your altar to call to and worship that being.
Before performing any magick in a graveyard you should always petition the local land deity and ask its permission along with gaining its protection while conducting graveyard work, I can not over state the importance of this.
Newly deceased ghosts are most powerful in a graveyard more than anywhere else due to the prana and lifeforce that still remains in their physical bodies, this can be of benefit or detriment to a magician.
An owl that follows you at the gates and continues to follow you around the graveyard is a signifier that you do not have the blessing to be in the graveyard and that a demonic entity is present and you should leave immediately.
Plants growing in a graveyard have just as much raw energy and power as graveyard dirt does, it can be harvested and worked with in the same manner.
Some Wiccan and Thai graveyard spells will call for a certain type of gravesite for the maximum potency of a working. (A murdered person for a cursing spell, rich man or woman for money spells, a child’s grave to induce fertility, even using a couple buried together for a binding love spell.)
Placing dolls in a graveyard to be haunted vessels will work, but often times the end result is multiple spirits inside the doll and a magician needs to be skilled enough to sift through and cross the spirits not needed and also be able to tame and create a spiritual contract with the contained spirit.
Demonic spirits or wraiths will often be attracted or drawn to a ritual working in the graveyard, this is why shielding combined with the land deity blessing and keen perception will be needed to avoid having a ritual backfire.
When entering a graveyard at night it is essential to leave through the path you entered and not leaving through a different route, doing so traps part of the astral body in the graveyard. It is also advised that you not wear new articles of clothing such as brand new shoes in a graveyard.
Elemental purification is needed for anything removed from a graveyard, this is because the death energy needs to be converted and made inert, broken down to pure energy that can be worked with. Whatever is taken from a graveyard, more must be returned in its place, otherwise more will be taken from that person without control over what is taken.
Associated Dangers
In the past, cremation and embalming wasn't a common practice and as such there was an abundance of vampiric wraiths, draugrs, and revenants due to the dried blood still inside of the corpse buried in the ground. This is also why the old superstition of iron gates keeping the dead inside became a common practice that now isn't as common in newer cemeteries. Iron gates acted as a natural barrier that prevented a spirit from crossing through the gates and plaguing the surrounding areas, the iron would disrupt the ghostly body and compel it to return back to its body anchor. This is why I suggest anybody entering a graveyard should wave a piece of iron all over their body upon leaving to detach and remove any tethers they may have picked up while in the graveyard. Astral parasites are abundant in cemeteries, they are drawn to the grief of loved ones, ghost shells, and easy pickings of offerings and energy. It is akin to a buffet and as such they are drawn to such places, it is also a feeding ground where demonic entities and parasites can and do feed on ghosts that are unable to defend themselves. Hell Hounds and the like can also be found in graveyards and wraith transformations can occur. Depending on the area, running into an occultist may pose need for concern depending upon their practices, I have performed many graveyard rituals, and have been present for them and not wished ill upon anybody who might stumble upon the ceremony conducted. However, I have also walked into certain places where certain cults or practitioners meant ill well and sought to harm me in a physical manner.
I plan on sharing some of my cases in the near future on this blog.
If anyone wishes to learn more about the paranormal or graveyard workings I do teach classes and provide a wealth of resources and thoroughly train my students, this post was meant to be a brief introductory lesson for those who may not have any idea about graveyards and the occult.
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