To Wake the Spirits of a House

This rite is intended to wake the spirits in a home as you begin to unpack and settle in. (It can also be used to acquaint yourself with the spirit of a home you have already been residing in, if you are just getting started in spirit work and hearth magic.) Acquire a handbell (or any other instrument for making sound, such as a triangle, tambourine, hand gong, or even just clapped hands) and a small offering that you can replenish each day (a candle, cream/milk/butter, a piece of cake or bread, or whatever is fitting for your practice/tradition).

Go around the home with your instrument, making noise as you go. You should begin and end your walk around the home at what you consider (or what you have established as) the spiritual hearth. It does not particularly matter what kind of instrument you choose or what kind of noise it makes. I have a personal preference for bells for this working because of their similarity to the chimes of an old-fashioned alarm clock, which I find useful for an intentional “waking” of the spirits—but any noise will do.

As you move around the home making noise with your instrument or clapped hands, chant:

Wake, wake, spirits all!
Hearken to my witch’s call.
Rouse in the walls! Rouse in the beams!
Let this home with spirit teem!

Come now, spirits kind and good,
Spirits in the stone, in the brick, in the wood.
I call on you to join my craft,
Protect the home, keep out the drafts.

Awake! Awake! Now, spirits, come!
By bell and chant! By clap and drum!
I call you, I wake you! Let us start—
To soul the home and keep the hearth!

Make sure that you walk around each room of the house and fill each room and closet with sound to wake the spirits. When you have completed the walk and returned to your starting point, leave an offering on your Hearth Altar (if you have one, but a windowsill, doorway, mantle or any space that will not be disturbed will do). Speak aloud over your offering, saying:

Spirits gathered, spirits good,
Spirits of the stone and wood.
I greet you now with food and flame.
Sit, if you would, and share your name.

Let all spirits now awake
Make a choice, their part to take.
Join me in magic, join me in working.
To care for this home, the task never shirking.

Join me, if you desire, in friendship,
In spirit bond, hearth bond, ever in kinship.
Hail, you spirits, good and kind,
Be honored, welcomed, and enshrined.

I task you now to guard this home,
To bless the rooms in which you roam.
Let no shade come here within.
Bless the kith and bless the kin.

You can stop here and wait for the spirits to respond. I personally like to continue leaving offerings for a certain number of days before judging if the welcome I’ve extended to the house spirits has been accepted. You can follow this working up with a period of observing for communication and omens, or with a formal divination session to check the success of the working if you prefer.