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Graveyard Dirt in Magick

Mention graveyard dirt in a magical context, and chances are good

you'll get a lot of strange looks or questions. After all, it sounds a bit

creepy, right? Who in their right mind goes around scooping up soil out of

cemeteries?

Well, believe it or not, a lot of people. The use of graveyard dirt isn't all that

odd in many magical traditions. In some forms of folk magic, for example,

the magical connection of the dirt is more significant than just being from

a grave. What's more important is the person who's inside the grave. Dirt

from the grave of someone you loved could be used in love magic, while

dirt from the burial site of a very wicked person might be incorporated into

malevolent workings. In other words, the dirt from the grave is a physical

object that corresponds with the traits of the person buried beneath it.

How does one obtain graveyard dirt? It would be easy to just meander

into the local cemetery with a trowel and a bag and start scooping, but

it's better to be more respectful than this. First and foremost, it's important

to choose a gravesite correctly. The best choice is to use dirt from the

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grave of someone you knew in life -- a family member or friend who has

passed. If the person is someone you cared very much about, and who

had a positive impact on your life, dirt from this grave could be used in

any number of positive magical workings.

The second option would be to use dirt from the grave of someone who

you may not have known personally, but who is known to you. For

example, soil from a famous writer's grave could be used to inspire a

creative spark. Earth from the grave of a wealthy person might be

incorporated into a working for prosperity.

No matter whose grave you choose to collect dirt from, it's important that

you do so in a respectful and honorable manner. Ask permission first -- and

if you begin to feel uneasy, as thought the person buried beneath you is

unhappy with what you're doing, then stop. It's also a good idea to leave

an offering or small token of appreciation. Only take a small amount of

dirt -- no more than a handful. Finally, be sure to say thank you when

you're finished.

Lady Hannah

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RITUAL COLLECTION OF GRAVEYARD DIRT

Methods by which one pays for graveyard dirt vary from worker to worker,

but the principle is always the same. You have to get in touch with the

ancestral spirit and make a respectful application and payment. Beyond

that there are numerous details -- whose grave, the kind of death they

died, where the grave is located with respect to the cemetery gates,

whether you dig from the head, the heart, or the feet, whether you leave

dimes or pennies or whiskey or a combination, and how you place the

with respect to the grave.

Because i collect graveyard dirt quite often, i have had the opportunity to

try each of the different forms of the ritual that i have been taught -- and i

have found them to be equivalent in practice, with one exception: i have

come to appreciate the advice to get dirt from the grave of a soldier,

because such dirt is from the grave of one who was unusually strong and

obedient.

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GETTING TO KNOW THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

I believe that you will learn more and do more effective spiritual work if

you do not think of what you plan as "capturing" graveyard dirt but think

of it by the term that it generally called, namely, "buying" graveyard dirt.

There is a huge difference between capturing a person / spirit (which is

unlawful enslavement) and offering to pay for the person's / spirit's services

(which is an honest transaction of employment).

I recommend that after you enter a cemetery, if you have no particular

grave in mind to visit, that you let yourself be spirit-led to the grave that

attracts you. If you wish to learn more about the spirits in a particular

graveyard, i suggest that you go to each grave site in turn, individually

and respectfully. I would place a small offering of flowers first, keeping

other offerings, such as coins, in reserve for possible use. I would speak to

the spirit, *listen* deeply to what was offered or denied, and then i would

comply with the wishes of the deceased, which may differ from grave site

to grave site.

If  you  are  in  the  graveyard  at  night,  make  sure  you  take  your  camera  –  take  pictures  of  

the  orbs  

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HOW TO USE GRAVEYARD DIRT IN SPELL-WORK

There are basically three ways that Graveyard Dirt is employed :

• in spells of protection

• in enemy tricks

• in love spells .

Despite its inclusion in such harmful formulas, graveyard dirt is not evil per

se, and it has uses all its own that reflect its venerable stature in the African

religious practice of ancestor veneration.

(But who uses it for white magick – Black Witch S)

In African-derived magic such as hoodoo and Obeah, graveyard dirt is

an important "magical link" (in the Crowleyan sense of that term),

because of the powerful culutral beliefs centered around the role of the

dead in rituals of invocation. This was and remains especially true in the

Kongo, from whence most African-American slaves came, and in West

Africa, where most Afro-Caribbean slaves came.

(You may find veneration of ancestors rather misleadingly called

"ancestor worship" by earlier Western scholars, and you will often see it

referred to in that way in books published in English prior to the 1990s, but

American and Eurpeoan scholars have recently come around to using

the more accurate African term "ancestor veneration," due to their

contact with Africans who have entered academia and gotten on the

internet .. and still practice ancestor veneration.)

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In Palo Mayombe, a mostly Cuban and Brazilian survival of Kongo religio-

magical practice sometimes admixed with Catholicism, the dirt from

graves is kept in a "prenda" on an altar.

In hoodoo, as in African magic and in Palo, graveyard dirt can be used

for good or for ill. There are several well-known love-spells that utilize

graveyard dirt, and just as many spells to hold someone down or restrain

them in some way (what British people might call a "binding spell".

In hoodoo, the ritual of collecting graveyard dirt -- by the practitioner him-

or herself -- is called BUYING graveyard dirt. The usual payment in the US,

since the 19th century at least, has been a silver dime, and in the old

days, this was preferably a Mercury dime. Customs vary, but although

payment may be offered to the dead in the entire graveyard, it is more

commonly offered to the specific spirit from whose grave one will dig the

dirt.

This practice of the individual buying dirt from a graveyard led early on in

hoodoo to the root worker / herbalist buying the dirt and then re-selling it.

No stigma is attached to this practice, but the re-seller may be questioned

closely as to whether the dirt was properly "bought and paid for." I have

ads in old catalogues in my coillection dating back to the 1920s in which

graveyard dirt was offered for sale to the African-American community, so

this is not a recent phenomenon. -- like most of the mercantile aspects of

hoodoo, it arose as urbanization made the personal gathering of symbolic

ingredients difficult to achieve. The price of graveyard dirt is usually

nominal -- it's dirt cheap.

Neo-pagan authors such as Scott Cunningham have written that

graveyard dirt is "just code" for certain herbs, such as mullein, but this is

easily proven untrue by simply asking the average root-worker. In the

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African-American community (if not the Wiccan community) graveyard

dirt is dirt from a grave that's been ritually "bought and paid for."

WORKING WITH THE SPIRITS OF MURDER VICTIMS AND THOSE UNJUSTLY

EXECUTED

It is important that those

who propose to collect dirt

from the graves of murder

victims and those executed

for crimes they did not

commit understand that

when dealing with the

spirits of those who were

unjustly put to death, there

is no "one size fits all"

approach that can be applied.

Some such spirits may seek vengeance -- especially against people of a

particular surname, occupation, class, race, social position, etc. -- and

they may be willingly employed as spirits of vengeance.

Other spirits may be filled with a strong desire to see that people currently

alive -- perhaps their lineal descendants or people of their own former

occupation, class, race, social position; or perhaps all people -- do not

suffer injustices as they did, and they may be employed to bring justice to

present cases.

Still other such spirits may be filled with the nectar of forgiveness and

compassion and may be employed to bring harmony and unity of

purpose to difficult situations.

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Unless the spirit of a grave mentally reaches out to you first -- which often

happens -- the only way to learn what that spirit will or will not do for you is

to approach the grave, state your proposal, and *listen* to what you are

told.

HARMFUL SPELLS EMPLOYING

GRAVEYARD DIRT

If one wishes to do harm, one might buy the dirt of someone who "died

badly" -- before their time, through execution, or so forth, because their

spirit, once invoked, would be inclined to perform evil deeds with little

compunction.

• Graveyard Dirt -- along with

• powdered sulphur,

• salt,

• powdered snake heads or snake skin "sheds,"

• red pepper,

• black pepper,

• powdered bones,

• powdered insects or snails,

• greyish herbs such as mullein or sage,

• anvil dust (the black iron dust found around a blacksmith's anvil),

and

• magnetic sand

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In some Graveyard Dirt spells -the intent is to harm someone, and the

graveyard dirt is used to symbolize death to the enemy. Spells in which a

doll-baby representing the enemy is placed in a miniature coffin and

buried in a graveyard fall into this class, as do spells in which a black

candle symbolizing the enemy is deliberately extinguished by turning it

upside down into a saucer of graveyard dirt.

In harmful spells like the above, the dirt is best collected from the grave of

a sinner or someone whio "died bad," that is, a criminal or the victim of a

violent death. Some people like to use dirt from the graves of soldiers for

such work, too, because they say that soldiers are brave and follow

orders.

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GRAVEYARD DIRT FOR PROTECTION

If protection is desired, one might buy dirt from the grave of a soldier,

policeman, fireman, or strong family member.

The deployment of graveyard dirt in protection spells may specify that the

dirt come from the grave of a family member or a friend. In these cases

the spirit of that person is protecting you or your home. This is again a link

to ancient African beliefs and practices, in which ancestor vernation is a

key component of how one relates to the spiritual world.

A GRAVEYARD DIRT LOVE SPELL FOR

ATTRACTION

If one wishes to bring about love, one might buy the dirt from someone

who loved one in life (a relative or a deceased spouse, for instance)

because their spirit, once invoked, would be inclined to help one achieve

lasting love.

Some workers prefer dirt from a baby's grave, because they say that the

spirit thus invoked is loveable, malleable, and biddable; but others say it is

too weak, being young, and will not prove as effective as dirt from the

grave of an adult.

You need green paper, vandal root, and dirt from a graveyard. You write

your name and the guy's name on the paper, put the vandal root and

graveyard dirt in the center of the paper, wrap it up and leave it under

your bed.

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I got this spell from a spell book published by Baron Blanc in Sydney,

Australia. Please understand that (in the book's words)

"it is one of the most powerful love spells and should be undertaken only

after other love spells have failed. Not for the faint hearted."

Miss Dana's post provoked long discussions in usenet concerning why

someone would use graveyard dirt in a love spell , so i'd like to add some

commentary:

I myself have never used this love spell , but i can tell you that it does

have quite a bit of historical basis behind it and there are people who say

that it has worked for them. The trouble is, the spell as related in Miss

Dana's book just calls for any old graveyard dirt, and the way i was

taught, that is not quite right.

The man who gave me my version of the Graveyard Dirt Love Spell -- and

he was no "Baron" from Australia, but an African-American candle store

owner in Oakland, California, back in the 1960s -- said to use the dirt from

the grave of someone who had loved you in life. He said, "Your

grandmother, mother, father; your lover, husband, or wife who passed on

before you -- you get dirt from THEIR grave only, and not from anywhere

on the grave either, but from over the HEART."

When i told him that all my relatives who had died were buried far away

and i could not get to their graves, he said, "Everybody has had at least

ONE person to love them, even if it was just a little yellow spotted dog." I

told him i had once had a cat who loved me and that i knew where she

was buried. "Then you can use the dirt from her grave," he said. I never did

it, though.

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The idea behind this spell is that the dead one who loved you will work on

the live one who does not love you yet, and will set their mind to thinking

of you. That's why you want the dirt from over the heart of one who loved

you -- you want their spirit on your side, working on the mind of the one

you love.

The vandal root called for in the spell is a root with alleged powers to aid

in establishing contact with the dead and it is said to create spiritual

contacts with the other world. This reinforces the idea that the graveyard

dirt should be from a grave that holds meaning for you, not just any old

grave.

In the 1930s, Harry M. Hyatt collected information about hoodoo from

1,600 African-American informants, and one of them gave him a variation

of the Graveyard Dirt Love Spell. It is simpler than Baron Blanc's version, in

that it does not include the Vandal Root, but it is also much more direct

because rather than hide the materials under your bed, as Baron Blanc

suggests, you sprinkle the graveyard dirt on yourself when you go to be

near the one whom you wish to attract. This is the way i was told to do it,

too.

Incidentally, the person who gave this love spell to Hyatt noted that it only

works as long as you keep using the Graveyard Dirt. In other words, it only

works while the spirit of the dead person is helping you.

In fact, the use of Graveyard Dirt to force someone to love you is so well

known in the black community that it was specifically described in the

blues song "Conjured," recorded by Wynnonie Harries on August 6th, 1964

in Chicago, Illinios. Here are the lyrics, transcribed by Eli Marcus

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CONJURED

by Esmond Edwards

as recorded by Wynnonie Harris

Chicago, August 6, 1964 (Chess CHV412)

You said it was love made me stutter when I talk,

But is it love that makes me stagger when I walk?

The Gypsy woman told me, "She's got you conjured, son"

Well, somebody's lyin' -- you are that Gypsy one.

You said I was jealous when I didn't go to work,

You sprinkled my shoes with graveyard dirt,

The Gypsy woman told me, "She's got you conjured, son"

Well, somebody's lyin' -- you are that Gypsy one.

(repeat last verse and chorus)

So, you see, although these are unusual love spells that not everyone

could or should use, they have a long and legitimate history in African-

American folk-magic. The origin of these spells lies in African religious

beliefs about the dead, especially beliefs that came from the Congo,

where contact with the spirits of the dead is strongly emphasized and their

help is sought on behalf of the living.

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HOMEWORK

o Think about the type of graveyard dirt you need to collect. Write it

down in your BOS o Do your research on your local cemetery/s o Do your research on who’s grave you need to visit o Collect the toold you need for collection o Take a token for thanks o Take a pen to write down the details o Don’t get caught, and if you do – we didn’t tell you to do it

Blessed Be…..