Spirit communication is a foundational part of magic and witchcraft. So much of what we do as witches is built on the relationships that we have with spirits. And if you can’t reliably communicate with the spirits around you, your magic is going to be much more difficult and much more confusing than it needs to be. So today, we are going to talk about how you can begin to contact and communicate with spirits and spirit guides without feeling like this is some big, scary thing.
I know there is a lot of fear-mongering out there about communicating with spirits, but today we are going to put all of that to rest and get you in contact with spirits in a way that feels simple, safe, and comfortable.
How Do We Stay Safe During Spirit Contact?
First, we need to cover the basic safety steps that you should take before contacting any spirits. These steps are really more about your mindset and discernment than they are about any kind of actual magic that you do. The reality is there is no spell, no ritual that will make you impervious to the riskier parts of spirit work. Creating a sacred space, casting a circle of protection, and cleansing to try to keep away bad spirits are all fine, but none of these things is a replacement for solid discernment.
Communicating with spirits is like communicating with people. When you don’t know a person very well, getting to know them and communicating with them puts you at risk of being lied to, being manipulated, and otherwise having bad experiences. Spirit communication is the same! This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t communicate with spirits at all, though. Just like the risk of occasionally running into a less-than-savory person doesn’t mean that we should isolate ourselves and never meet new people.
Instead, we focus on learning to give our trust slowly and develop discernment about whether or not a person, or in this case, a spirit, is actually trustworthy. This is the most important skill that you can build as a witch when you are beginning to work with spirits. If a spirit is new to you and you don’t know them very well, do not give them your complete trust. They should prove themselves to you, and you should prove yourself to them. This should be a two-way street, exactly like in your human relationships. If they are making promises to you that seem insane or completely fantastical, if they are telling you to ignore common sense, if they are behaving in ways that damage your mental health, if they are asking you to believe things that you have absolutely no way of verifying, it is not just okay to be skeptical, it is an absolute necessity that you are skeptical.
This skepticism and going through the discernment process and building this trust slowly is how you keep yourself safe in your relationships with spirits. As you begin to develop relationships with spirits, you can simply ask yourself, am I comfortable? Do they respect my boundaries when I set them? Do they understand that I am a human living a human life and therefore I have boundaries and needs that they may not? Can I verify the things they are telling me in any way? Have I seen any proof that what they are telling me is true? The more evidence you have that a spirit is being honest and respectful with you, the more trust you can give them.
If a spirit repeatedly proves to you that they are lying, that they are being dishonest, or that they are manipulating you or hurting you in some way, you should cut them off.
This is how we keep ourselves safe. It’s all about developing discernment and learning to have healthy, functional relationships with these spirits, not about trying to set up all of the protection spells and casting circles and doing banishing rituals. You have been having relationships your entire life. The only difference between the relationships you have with people and the relationships you have with spirits is that you have to use magical means to communicate with them. So let’s talk about how exactly you go about communicating with these spirits.
Divination
The most accessible way for you to communicate with spirits is through divination. This is why I focus so heavily on divination in The Occult Witch Academy. It is an invaluable skill that will allow you to build relationships with spirits without necessarily having to have your psychic senses fully opened up. Hell, I have been able to see, hear, and communicate with spirits for my entire life, and even I use divination to speak with my spirits on a very regular basis. It is extremely helpful for getting concrete, understandable messages from the spirit world.
Using divination to speak with spirits simply requires you to address your spirits when you are doing divination. As always, I recommend you use both a yes-no form of divination, like a pendulum, and a more nuanced form of divination tool, like tarot cards. This combination allows you to receive messages in a much more concrete way and to check that your understanding of the messages is correct. All you need to do is sit down with your tools, invoke the spirit if necessary, and ask them to communicate with you through your divination tools.
It might take a little while for you to get proficient with this method, but it is by far the fastest way for you to begin building relationships with your spirits quickly and safely. I recommend that when you’re starting, get yourself into the right headspace, take a deep breath, and then ask a specific question. The clearer your mind and your question are, the easier it will be for you to interpret the answers you’re getting through your divination tools.
There are, of course, alternative means of divination for spirit communication, such as ouija boards, automatic writing, or scrying in a candle flame or water, and if these methods appeal to you, use them! The best way to divine for spirit communication is the one that works for you and allows you to communicate with the spiritual realm effectively.
Psychic Contact
The next method of communicating with spirits is direct contact through your psychic senses. Now, this is obviously more difficult if your psychic senses are not well developed yet. But if you are naturally more psychic or if you are very interested in developing your psychic ability, focusing on communicating with spirits is an amazing way to expand these abilities.
Our brains are social by nature. Our minds will prioritize whatever feels socially relevant and important. This is one of the big reasons why I recommend that, rather than keeping a dream journal, my students have conversations about what they’ve been dreaming about. I find that these conversations help to open up dream recall so much faster than just a dream journal.
When we are having that conversational importance added to some aspect of our psychic abilities, they will expand faster to allow us to have those conversations. Our brains, are programmed to treat connection and communication like it is the most important thing. It is literally how we function in our world. It is the thing that keeps us safe, that makes our lives move forward. So the more conversational you can be in your psychic development, the faster that development will grow.
Now, as I’ve said before, I really recommend you pair psychic contact of this sort with divination. The two skills used simultaneously will help you to get significantly clearer messages from your spirits. I switch back and forth between them depending on my needs, how psychically tuned in I am for that day, and which spirit I’m communicating with.
Signs & Synchronicities
The final method of making contact and communicating with spirits is through signs and synchronicities. Now, this is by far the most difficult way to communicate with spirits because you have to learn to interpret normal everyday occurrences through a spiritual lens. This method of spiritual communication can take a long time to develop. It is one of the slowest forms of communication to develop, but it can still be extremely rewarding and useful when used appropriately.
As an example, I have one spirit that I work with who communicates with me largely through insects. It’s not my favorite means of communication, but it’s a sign that is well known to be associated with him. And while my home is generally free of insects, when he wants to speak to me, I will suddenly start having bugs show up in my house multiple times a day. Now this is an unusual occurrence. That’s part of what makes this a sign. I do not normally have bugs in my house. So when I start seeing spiders and insects in my house, I have learned that it is his attempt to reach out and make contact with me. Once I go and I communicate with him, usually through divination or my psychic senses, the bugs will go away. Once you get the message, the sign or synchronicity stops.
Your spirits, whichever spirits that you are communicating with, will have their own lexicon of signs and synchronicities that they will use to communicate with you. And you can ask them to communicate with you in specific ways. For example, the spirit that I was just speaking about once sent a wasp directly into my house. I was obviously not pleased about this. I made it very clear to him that I was not okay with him using stinging insects to motivate me and he has not done it since. So while signs and synchronicities are often determined by the spirits in question, you have a say in how you interpret them and what your boundaries are.
Again, this is about discernment. When you ask your spirits to communicate with you in a specific way, do they respect that? If yes, you’re speaking with a great spirit, keep going. If they can’t or won’t respect that, they may not be a good spirit for you to continue communicating with.
Start The Conversation
These are all great ways to communicate with spirits, but if you want to communicate with a particular spirit, you have to make it clear to them that you are open to communication and how they should attempt to communicate with you.
Let’s say, for example, you want to communicate with Archangel Michael. You can’t simply expect him to show up without prompting and start speaking with you. Instead, find something that will help you make contact with him. You might use a Saint Michael the Archangel candle, a common prayer that is used to connect with him, or make an offering of your favorite incense or water. Do something to open up the lines of communication.
You also need to speak! This is a conversation after all. Spirits can hear you, so speak out loud and invite them to communicate with you through your chosen means of communication. Ask them to communicate with you through your divination. Ask them to help you understand the signs and synchronicities that they send to you. Ask them to help you open up your psychic senses so that you can receive messages. And then listen, use your divination, pause, and tune into your psychic abilities, and just see what is there.
You may find that with some spirits, you get little or nothing from them. That is okay. They may simply not be interested in working with you and that is completely normal. Try again with other spirits and see what you get from them. Each of us will connect with individual spirits in different ways. The spirits I connect with may not connect with you well. And you may connect with spirits that I would never consider working with. And that is okay. Be experimental. Use your discernment. And be willing to put yourself out there.
This is like trying to make new friends. You cannot make new friends if you don’t step out of your comfort zone with an open mind and introduce yourself. If you never put yourself in a position to meet anyone new, you will never make new friends. The same is true of spirits. If you want to meet spirits, if you want to speak with spirits, then you have to put yourself in situations where meeting and communicating with spirits is a natural byproduct. Reach out to the spirits that you are interested in and see who reaches back.
How you communicate with the spirit will be unique to you. But you will never figure out the ways that you personally like to communicate with spirits if you never simply start and give it a try.
