How to Get Rid of a Ghost

You wake up suddenly from a sound sleep.

You can hear footsteps outside your door... they are getting closer. The door is not closed all the way, and you can just see out into the hall through the narrow opening. The steps are getting nearer... your heart is racing. The steps slowly pass by the door, but you do not see a soul.

You leap out of your bed, yank the door completely open and look down the hall. No one is there.

You turn around and glance at the clock, which reads 11:48 the exact same time that it was when this happened last night and the night before and the night before last.

Why is this happening to you? How do you get it to stop?

Living in a haunted house can be the stuff of nightmares. A ghost does not have to be malevolent to cause terror among the living. Their mere presence can be terrifying to those in the home. Strange noises, things moving on their own, shadows in the corners, it just never stops. The children are terrified to go upstairs, they won't go to sleep and you are sick and tired of having this thing in your home.

Some people find the thought of a ghost comforting. They think of the entity as quirk, its simply part of the house. They consider the ghost to be almost a member of the family. They are more than willing to allow the ghost to remain as long as the ghost respects certain rules.

Others want the ghost to be gone. They do not want to share their home with a spirit. If you are the kind of person who does not want to share your home with a ghost, there a number of things that you can do to prevent a spirit from moving in. And if you already have a resident ghost there are a variety of different tactics you can employ to get the spirit to move out or on.

Among the most common methods for removal are; the direct approach, sweeping, smudging and blessing. Any or all of these may aid in your efforts to get an unwanted entity to vacate the premises.

If you do decide that you want to get the ghost out of the house there are a few things that you really should consider. It is very important that you have a good idea of what kind of ghost you have in the house. You should not only try to determine what kind of spirit is in the house but why it has chosen to remain. Spirits remain for any number of different reasons and why a ghost remains often tells a lot about their intentions and the nature of the actual spirit.

A ghost that is inactive is usually completely harmless because it has no awareness of those that are around it. These ghosts may be frightening but they do not have any ill intentions. On the other hand a ghost that is active and feels that you are invading his or her home may be malevolent. These are the ghosts that like to deliberately cause harm to those who are living in or visiting the house.

Poltergeists tend to be interactive but they do not usually have ill intentions. They often interact with the living to get attention or because it amuses them. These ghosts are often fun to have around if you do not mind having your keys go missing occasionally or hearing a bump or two in the night.

Knowing what kind of ghost is in the house will help you to determine what kind of action you need to take to remove the ghost. There are some very easy and quick ghost removal methods that are effective. But, if you do have a very strong, negative ghost in your home it may take quite a bit of effort and focus to convince the entity to leave the premises.

If the ghost in your home is extremely strong you may want to get help with your removal efforts. Be very wary about who you do call to assist you with a ghost eviction. Sadly, there are more and more con artists out there who claim to be paranormal experts and due to the nature of this field it is very difficult to actually check out someone's credentials. Be careful! If you take the time to do your research you will find that there are quite a number of groups and organizations that will not only help with the removal but they will not charge you a penny.

• Direct Speaking
• The first thing to try when you decide to get a ghost out of the house is the direct approach. This is very easy. You are simply going to tell the ghost that you want it to leave. Many people feel that ghosts remain among the living because they are actually unaware that they have passed on. They do not know that they are dead. By speaking directly to the ghost and telling them that they are dead and that the home is now yours, is often enough to convince some spirits that it is time to move on. All that this spirit needs is to realize and understand what has happened. They need to be told that they are not wanted in the house and that they have to leave.
• When you do try this method it is very important that you do it with authority. You want to speak in a clear strong voice. You are not asking the ghost to leave you are telling it to go. You should slowly move from room to room repeating the same basic phrasing. You might say something like "this is my home, you have to leave, and you are not welcome here".
• Sweeping
• The best kind of broom to use when doing a "sweeping" is one that is made from all natural materials. The idea here is to sweep away the spirit.
• You start at the corner of the house that is farthest away from the door and begin to sweep. You want to always move towards the door and sweep in a rhythmic motion. As you sweep you should say a mantra or chant. What you say should be something like;
• This is my house I want you gone

• You are dead you have to move on

• You are a ghost it is time to move on
• You have to sweep the entire house. That means that you should sweep every room, closet and even the carpets. Sweep right out the door. When you have finished sweeping do not bring the broom back inside. If you intend to keep the broom you will have to clean the broom first. You can do this by simply washing it with a water and salt solution. Alternatively you can throw the broom in the garbage or you can burn it.
• Blessing
• It does not matter which faith you follow if you plan to do a blessing. What is important is that you move into each room and offer a prayer or a request which pertains to your personal beliefs. You have to do this in every room of the house.
• Another way of blessing is to ask the leader of your religion to bless a number of objects. Once they have been blessed by your spiritual leader you place the objects throughout the house. You can also ask if that person would be willing to come to your residence and offer a blessing. If you feel confident with this person, you can explain the situation to them and ask them to bless each room one by one. If not simply ask them to do a general blessing of the house.

One of the things that concerns many people when dealing with the spirit world is the possibility of encountering a negative entity. Believers often fear using witch boards and other channels in case they open their homes or their person to unwelcome spirits.

If you are worried about having any kind of negative spirit in your home you should perform a cleansing ceremony. Many people like to perform this ceremony both before and after a séance.

To perform a cleansing ceremony you begin at the front door of the house. You light the smudge stick and begin moving through the house in a clockwise direction with the smudge stick in front of you. Stop at each and every window and circle the widow with the smudge in a counterclockwise motion. You then want to slowly wave the smudge in front of the window creating imaginary bars. As you do this you have to ask that nothing and no one be allowed to enter through the window.

At each door you want to circle the door with the smudge but do not make the bars. As you move the burning herbs around the opening ask that anyone who enters have only positive energy. Ask that all those with negative energy be left outside the house. You should also include any attic doors in the procedure and be certain to enter the attic if possible.

You have to go in every room of the house and continue to move in a clockwise direction. You want to make certain that you get into each and every corner. If any corners or spots are very dark or seem to have a negative feel to them you should sprinkle salt for added protection.

If your guests are helping with the ceremony you can ask them to help bless each room with a phrase that is unique to that room. If you are going through a bedroom you might ask that the room bring only peaceful sleeps and quiet dreams. In the living room you might ask for a warm and welcoming room for both family and friends.

When you get back to the front door you should finish the ceremony with the circling motion and then put the smudge out.

A cleansing can be performed by anyone and it does not have to wait for a séance. Anytime you feel a negative energy in the residence you can do the ceremony.

A smudge stick is a bundle of dried herbs that is usually wrapped with a string. The bundle can either be a single herb or a group of herbs. The most common herb used for smudging is white sage.

The term smudging comes from the Native North American Indians who used smudge sticks in a number of different ceremonies. Shamans would make their sticks from sage, juniper and sweet grasses. The sticks were used to purify places and people. They also used the sticks in many of their celebrations to Gitche Manitou the creator.

Many modern beliefs have adopted the practice of smudging in their purifying and cleansing rituals. Smudging ceremonies are used to repel and cleans an area or person of negative energy.

Spell bottles are another way that you can protect your home and family from negative spirits and energy. Keep in mind that there are no set rules to making a protection bottle. Bottles have been used by many different cultures and are made for many different purposes. Some people believe that the more personal the bottle the more protection it offers.

A very simple protection bottle can be made using the following ingredients;

• Red wine: drowns the evil

• Rosemary: repels the negative spirits away

• Needle and pins: impale the evil

When you have all the ingredients together place them in a seal-able bottle while saying this spell pr something similar:

Rosemary, pins, needles and wine

Together in this bottle mine

Guard against evil and negativity

This is my wish so mote it be!

When you have finished putting the ingredients in the bottle close it up and seal it shut using candle wax. You can use a red or white candle to make the seal. You then keep the bottle somewhere in the home or if you choose you can bury it in the yard. These kinds of bottles have been made and used for hundreds of years.

Another traditional spell bottle for household protection might include:

• Sea salt: the most common banishing element

• Vinegar; another ingredient that is used in all kinds of cleansing and banishing spells.

Once you have the two primary ingredients in the bottle let your imagination guide you. Many individuals like to use some or all of these things in their protection bottles:

• Nails

• Needles

• Pins

• Crystals

• Stones

• Wood chips that are marked with protection words or symbols.

• Herbs; cinnamon, sage, frankincense, lavender

• Personal items i.e. hair or nail clippings

Once you have all of your ingredient assembled you might want to say a protection spell and then be certain to seal the glass jar with wax. Again it is best to use either white or black.

Salt is used in many different beliefs for a great many different things. It is considered to one of the best repelling and cleansing elements.

To make the most of salt you should use it before you try to contact any spirit. You should also have salt on the table if you are planning a séance.

For added protection you might want to circle the witch board with salt to prevent any evil beings from entering or using the board. Or if you are having a séance you can create a salt circle around the perimeter with all the people and the table in the middle. Make sure that nobody breaks the circle of salt as they cross over, the protection circle must be unbroken for it to be effective.

To keep spirits out of the house you can sprinkle salt across all the doorways. You should also sprinkle salt on the sills of all the windows in the home and be certain that you do not forget to spread a bit across the front of the fireplace if you have one. This should all be done before you begin trying to make contact. You want to be certain that you are sealing the negative energies outside and not inside.

If you have a house you can place salt in a bag and walk around the house in a clockwise direction sprinkling salt and telling the spirits that only those with positive energy will be welcomed.

When I began researching ghosts and discovered the enormity of the subject I realized that having only one lens could not truly do the material justice. Therefore, I decided to break my Ghost lens into five separate ones with each one focusing on a particular ghost subject.

Please note that my lens was written with the fun of Halloween in mind. None of the content is meant to be offensive in any way to anyone or any religion. The contents does not necessarily represent my own beliefs or practices.