Category:Spirits and Spirit Guides

From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers

Spirit Work is a term that covers a broad range of altar work and prayer as well as magical spell casting in which root doctors may contact or seek the aid of Spirits and Spirit Guides.

Many cultures around the world petition spirits, ancestors, and spirit guides in their spell casting work. By working with these entities, the conjure doctor gains the assistance of a spirit behind the scenes; a spirit ally to help accomplish work in the spirit realm.

Within the Spiritualist tradition, the term Spirit Guides refers to discarnate entities who are called upon by spirit mediums to guide them in revealing information sought by a client. They may be personal guides, seen only by one spirit medium or they may be well-known and even popular spirits whom many trance mediums consult.

Petitioning Spirits and Spirit Guides

Spirits not associated with any one religion or form of worship come in many forms. Some are the worker's personal blood-lineage ancestors while others are associated with places of power like the crossroads or the cemetery. There are even some spirits, like the Native American Sauk tribe leader Black Hawk, or the Western and Central African ancestral spirit Bwete, who are tied to cultural lineages or ethnic groups, but whose fame and power has spread beyond their original boundaries. Each of these spirits has a story, a unique way of being petitioned or honored -- and one or more magical or spiritual specialties when it comes to helping people.

The following Spirits and Spirit Guides are petitioned for aid by conjure doctors and hoodoo practitioners who are Spiritualists or folk magicians, or who serve a primarily Spiritualist or folk magical client base. Click on any of the Spirit or Spirit Guide names below to learn more about them, see a picture, and find out what kinds of prayers, petitions, and magical spell-craft are associated with the Spirit or Spirit Guide among Spiritualist workers in the folk magic tradition.

Popular Spirits and Spirit Guides

Ancestors

Working with ancestors for beneficial spiritual blessings as well as protection from enemies or negative spirits is a strong and ancient part of hoodoo and conjure practice; ancestor work may be performed for you by your root doctor, or, through Magical Coaching, you may be instructed in how to create your own home ancestor altar (Read More...)

Black Hawk

Black Hawk was a Native American Sauk and Fox tribe leader who, in the Spiritualist Church is a spirit guide who grants strong protection; he is also venerated by people of Native American heritage who wish to honour their lost and missing tribal ancestors. (Read More...)

Bwete

In Western and Central Africa the veneration of ancestors is called the cult of Bwiti or Bwete; people of African descent in the Americas have adapted Bwete figures for use as guardians of the containers in which their own ancestral family relics are kept. (Read More...)

The Crossroads

The crossroads or the “forks of the road” where two roads cross is a suitable site to perform magical rituals or cast spells, use as an altar where offerings can be laid, or select as a place for the ritual disposal of finished magical works. (Read More...)

The Dead and the Graveyard

The spirits of those who have passed possess certain gifts and abilities. Graveyard dirt may be used in casting magical spells for clients and certain container spells, such as mirror boxes may be buried in a graveyard on behalf of a client. (Read More...)

Djinn

Djinn, Jinn, or Genies are powerful spirits of nature, the desert, and the elements as conceived within the Near Eastern and North African traditions. Belief in djinn spans from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean and their presence is found in a variety of cultures, but most prominently among Arabic people and those who work within the Islamic tradition. (Read More...)

Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez

Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez is a contemporary beatified personage who is immensely popular in Latin America; a physician in life, he died in 1919 while traveling to visit a poor patient in his native Venezuela. (Read More...)

Intranquil Spirit

The Intranquil Spirit is petitioned to return a wayward lover by harassing them with restlessness. (Read More ...)

Jesus Malverde

Jesus Malverde is a Mexican folk saint who protects those who live outside the law. (Read More...)

La Madama

La Madama is a Cuban spirit who presides over the work of playing card readers, bone readers, and conjure doctors. (Read More...)

Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau is a New Orleans Voodoo Queen who has become a spirit guide for Louisiana Voodoo and other spirit-workers who call upon her to grant them power in matters of court cases, love, revenge, and spiritual mastery. (Read More...)

Maximon (San Simon-Judas)

Maximon and San Simon-Judas are the contemporary names for an ancient Mayan underworld god, Ma'am, which means "Great Grandfather," and who is a destroyer of witchcraft, a guardian of agriculture and fertility, and a deity of the heavenly crossroads. (Read More ...)

Nkisi Ndoki

Nkisi Ndoki are physical manifestations of the Kimpungulu or deities of the religion of the Congo in the forms of humans or animals.

Santisima Muerte

Santisima Muerte, or Most Holy Death, is a Mexican spirit petitioned to help keep husbands faithful, even to the point of death. (Read More...)

Mediumistic Spirit Guides

Within the religion of Spiritualism, Spirit Guides are discarnate entities who are called upon by spirit mediums or channellers to guide them in revealing information sought by a client; they may be personal guides, seen only by one spirit medium or they may be well-known and even popular spirits whom many trance mediums consult. (Read More...)

See Also

• Spirit Work
• Mediumship
• Altar Work and Prayers
• Spirits and Spirit Guides
• Angels and Archangels
• Catholic Church Saints
• Catholic Folk Saints
• Hindu Deities
• Orishas
• Kimpungulu

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