To Invite Contact from a Spirit Familiar

This rite is intended to announce yourself to the spirit world as seeking a spirit familiar. This ritual is not meant to bind or command, but to invite and request contact. It is best performed in a quiet and undisturbed place. An outdoor threshold (such as a crossroads, hedge, or forest edge) is ideal, but a symbolic or conjured threshold within your home will also work.

To begin, gather a candle, a small offering, a protective herb, and something to make a sound (such as a bell, rattle, or stone to knock three times). Place your candle in the center of your working space, with the offering bowl beside it and the herb laid across or near the candle’s base.

Light the candle and take a moment to center yourself. Mark the boundary of your working space with your hand, wand, stang, staff or other tool as appropriate, turning clockwise as you say:

By iron, by ash, by bone and heart,
By place of power, witch’s hearth.
I mark this space, betwixt and between,
Where worlds may meet, uncanny, unseen.

Stand or sit quietly for a moment and prepare yourself for calling out to the spirit world. When you feel ready, knock or ring three times to call the spirits’ attention and say:

O spirits old, and familiars near,
Hear now the call of witch sincere.
By breath and bone, by blood and flame,
I call thee forth! Come in thy name.
I seek not a servant, but one who will stand
As kin, as ally, with heart in hand.
If there be one who would walk beside,
Let signs be shown where they may bide.
Come not in malice, come not in guise,
But in the form that’s true to eyes.

Place the offering gently in front of the candle and say:

Take this gift, a token sweet,
Of welcome, kinship, and words we’ll keep.
In dream, in sign, in shadowed glade,
Let our paths cross, let bonds be made.

Sit in stillness a while. Pay attention to any shift in the air, flickers of light, sensations, or impressions. This is not the time for certainty but for opening the door. When you are ready to close the rite, speak clearly:

Spirits hear me, spirits kind,
My words are spoken, my will aligned.
This rite is ended, the cross undone,
May what is begun be rightly run.

Snuff the candle and leave the offering outside if indoors. In the nights to come, be mindful of signs (such as strange dreams, repeated animals, unshakable feelings, or objects that catch your attention). Keep record of all unusual occurrences.