Spirit House

From Traditional Witchcraft Wiki Project

A Spirit House is used to house both malevolent & benevolent spirits & familiars, the former to keep them out of mischief (see Spirit Trap) & the latter to keep them within one's household. Such spirits are normally conjured or invited within.

Many things are capable of housing spirits, such as specially constructed dolls, bottles, gourds, skulls, cloth bags & similar; vessels made of glass or earthenware are considered especially efficacious. If a glass bottle or similar was used it would usually be filled with hundreds of beads or bits of thread, but examples have been found containing all sorts of ephemera, no doubt associated with the peculiar proclivities of the spirit in question. Other sorts of spirit houses include those that are literally house-shaped.

Offerings are normally placed into the spirit house, or a shrine is set up, upon which the house is set, and offerings are placed before it. Such offerings depend greatly upon the spirit housed within.