Speaking with spirits and the dead
Mediumship, ancestor rites, possession and the offerings made to the unseen.
Speaking with spirits and the dead is the aim of mediumship, ancestor rites, possession and necromancy. It runs from the spirit mediums of Korea and Brazil to Vodou possession, Chinese ancestor offerings, the Mexican Day of the Dead, Victorian spiritualism and the Witch of Endor of the Bible. It is a central practice in some living religions and a frequent target of fraud in others. This page covers who speaks to the dead and how they are judged.
Ways of contact
Methods differ. In possession, a spirit or deity is said to speak through the body of a medium, as in Vodou, Candomblé, Haitian and Brazilian rites, and in Korean gut. In trance or dream, a shaman travels to the spirit world. In offerings and festivals, families feed and talk to ancestors, as in the Hungry Ghost month in China and the ofrenda in Mexico. Spiritualism added the seance and the table-rapping of the 1840s.
Who may
In many societies, women lead: Korean mudang, Okinawan yuta, Brazilian mães de santo and the Western spiritualist mediums of the nineteenth century, who found in mediumship a public role denied elsewhere. Elsewhere, the role is for elders and ancestors' descendants. Some traditions require initiation, and some say contact with the dead is not for outsiders to attempt. Spirits and ancestors are not always friendly: mediums report angry, hungry or lost beings, and rites exist for settling them, such as offerings for neglected ancestors in China and Vietnam.
Authority and fear
Religions disagree. Christianity, Judaism and Islam each forbid certain contact with the dead while honouring prayer for them. Spiritist movements around Kardec in Brazil and France treat communication as a doctrine. Colonial authorities banned possession cults in many places, often labelling them devil worship, and some Pentecostal churches today condemn them in the same terms. The rites are widely found in Africa too, where ancestors are consulted at the family shrine and are held to watch over the living.
Fraud, grief and study
Grieving people are vulnerable. Fraudulent mediums, from the Fox sisters, who confessed in 1888, to modern cold readers, have taken money by exploiting loss. Researchers point to cold reading and to the ideomotor effect behind the Ouija board. Many bereaved people also report real comfort from rites that keep a bond with the dead, and counsellors acknowledge that continuing bonds are common. Doctors and psychologists note that a grief reaction can include hearing or sensing the dead, which is common and not in itself a sign of illness.
Speaking with spirits and the dead on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 5 moreSpiritual Baptist
An Afro-Caribbean Christian faith blending African traditions with Baptist worshipTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living
🇷🇸 Serbia and 3 moreSerbian folkloreСрпски фолклор
The folk traditions and epic poetry of the Serbs, blending pre-Christian customs with Orthodox faith.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Power and authority Living
🇵🇸 Palestine and 1 moreRachel's TombQever Raḥel; Qabr Rāḥīl
A shared holy site near Bethlehem revered by Jews, Christians, and MuslimsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living
🇨🇺 Cuba and 4 moreSanteríaRegla de Ocha
An Afro-Cuban religion blending Yoruba spirits with Catholic saintsTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇸🇪 Sweden and 5 moreMidsummerJāņi; Joninės; Jaanipäev; Enyovden; Litha; Juhannus
A summer solstice festival marked by bonfires, maypole dancing, and feasting across Europe.Tradition · Protection · Luck and prosperity Living
🇸🇳 Senegal and 5 morePentagramπεντάγραμμον
A five-pointed star figure used across history for protection, ritual, and cosmologyCharm · Protection · Binding and oaths Living
🇺🇦 Ukraine and 1 moreUkrainian folklore
The folk traditions of Ukraine and its ethnic communitiesTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 2 moreSoul cake
A spiced cake given to soulers during Allhallowtide to remember the dead.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreDay of the DeadDía de los Muertos
A Mexican holiday honoring the dead with altars, food, and humor during Allhallowtide.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Luck and prosperity Living
🇵🇪 Peru and 1 moreQuyllurit'iQoyllur Rit'i
A syncretic Andean pilgrimage celebrating the Pleiades and the Lord of Star SnowTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇳 India and 5 morePilgrimage
A journey to a sacred site for spiritual growth or religious dutyTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇲🇽 Mexico and 5 moreFolk Catholicism
Local religious customs that blend official Church teaching with indigenous or regional traditions.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇭🇹 Haiti and 2 moreHaitian VodouVodou
An Afro-Haitian religion blending West African traditions with Catholicism and FreemasonryTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇳 India and 5 moreSnake worship
Veneration of serpents as divine or ancestral beings across global culturesTradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇧🇷 Brazil and 5 moreSanto Daime
A Brazilian syncretic religion using ayahuasca for spiritual work and healingTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreVotive offering
Objects left in sacred places to honor a deity or fulfill a vow, never to be recovered.Tradition · Protection · Healing Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreHoly well
A water source revered for healing and ritual across pagan and Christian traditionsTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago and 4 moreTrinidad Orisha
A syncretic Afro-Caribbean faith blending Yoruba spirit work with Christian and other traditions in Trinidad.Tradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Living
🇺🇸 United States and 5 moreSpiritualist church
A worship service led by a medium to communicate with the deceasedTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Living
🇿🇦 South Africa and 1 moreSacred caves of the Basotho
Cave networks in South Africa and Lesotho used by the Basotho for ancestral rituals and healingTradition · Healing · Protection Living
🇺🇸 United StatesQuviasukvikᖁᕕᐊᓲᑎᖃᕐᕕᒃ
An Arctic festival marking the new year with sunrise rituals and community gatherings.Tradition · Luck and prosperity · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇭🇹 HaitiChristian-Vodou
The blending of Haitian Vodou and Roman Catholicism into a single spiritual practiceTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Protection Living
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandSegen
A German term for blessing, charm, or spell rooted in Christian and folk traditions.Belief · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Haitian Vodou: Sam Fentress, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Quviasukvik: Jodie Wilson, CC BY 2.0, source
- Egungun: Ìṣẹ̀ṣeAssembly, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Midsummer: Kora27, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Pentagram: Tomruen, Attribution, source
- Ukrainian folklore: U.S. Army Europe Images, CC BY 2.0, source
- Soul cake: Samantha, CC BY 2.0, source
- Day of the Dead: RubeHM, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Quyllurit'i: AgainErick, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pilgrimage: Ali Mansuri, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Folk Catholicism: Calvin Hennick, for WBUR Boston, CC BY 3.0, source
- Snake worship: Alexandermcnabb, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Santo Daime: Tonelada, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Votive offering: Walter J. Pilsak, Waldsassen ( W.J.Pilsak at de.wikipedia ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Holy well: The Speckled Bird, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Serbian folklore: Uroš Predić, Public domain, source
- Spiritual Baptist: N Chadwick, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Rachel's Tomb: Lane-Poole, Stanley, Public domain, source
- Spiritualist church: Jim.henderson, CC0, source
- Santería: Jorge Royan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sacred caves of the Basotho: JMK, CC BY-SA 3.0, source