#death work

Got the call an hour ago. The cancer won.

My altar for Trans Day of Remembrance.

listen, i don't know who needs to hear this, but you don't have to practice ancestor veneration or build an ancestor altar if you don't want to. and if you're going to argue with me and be rude, consider that a) i don't gaf, b) fuck you, and c) i don't gaf

i've been a practicing witch for over eight years now. i have a contract with the lord of the dead. i neither have an ancestor altar nor regularly light candles, incense, or meditate with my ancestors. i have many reasons for this, of which i'll list below, but just know that it doesn't Matter what your reason is. it is your choice and yours alone what you do with your practice.

reasons why i don't practice ancestor veneration:

the only "ancestor" i would bother venerating is my mother, who i lost when i was seventeen. to some people, that might seem like a long time ago, but it's still too fresh for me

i have no connection with the older generations, nor do i think they (hardcore christian, white) would respect me (queer, trans, and a witch) in the slightest

many of my ancestors were mean, hateful, or very ill people

unless someone reaches out to me, i have no interest in trying to force a connection with someone just based on the fact that they were biologically related to me. see above for why

i value the peace of my dead, and because no one is reaching out, i assume they'd rather be left alone

Corpse roads (also called bier roads, coffin paths, or lych ways) were traditional paths taken to transport the dead from remote villages to the consecrated grounds of a parish church or cemetery. These paths were often used in medieval and early modern Europe — particularly in England, Wales, and parts of Germany and Scandinavia.

Purpose:

• In many rural areas, only certain burial grounds were deemed acceptable (i.e., blessed or consecrated).

• Outlying communities lacking their own churchyards would have to carry corpses long distances to the central church.

• These routes often traversed unchanging, specific paths — over hills, moors, fields, and even through forests.

Magickal and Folk Beliefs

Spiritual Residue:

• It was believed that a corpse leaves a trace of spiritual or necrotic energy along the path it travels.

• These paths were seen as thin places — liminal zones between life and death, the material and the spiritual.

No Returning Spirits:

• Folk belief held that if the path wasn’t followed exactly or rituals weren’t performed properly, the spirit could wander back.

• To prevent this, routes often crossed water (spirits were believed unable to cross running water).

Corpse Stones / Resting Stones:

• Along the road were flat stones or "coffin rests", where pallbearers could pause. These places became magical waypoints and sometimes shrines.

• Local legends say that these stones became charged with necromantic or chthonic energy.

No Building on a Corpse Road:

• Buildings placed across corpse roads were said to become haunted or cursed. The belief was that the death current must remain uninterrupted.

Death Currents (Thanatocurrents)

A death current (sometimes called a thanatocurrent, funereal ley, or psychic necroline) is an energetic trail left behind by repeated rituals of death, especially funerary processions, executions, or spiritual trauma.

These are more than just myth — they're used in psychogeography, witchcraft, and spirit work to map and manipulate chthonic flows of energy.

Examples & Known Corpse Roads

Around The World:

The Lych Way (Dartmoor, England)

• Used by villagers in Bellever and Postbridge to carry their dead to Lydford Church, roughly 12 miles across desolate moorland.

• Even after it fell out of use, strange lights, phantom processions, and hearing footsteps on the wind were reported.

Corpse Road of Grasmere to Ambleside (Cumbria)

• Carried dead from remote Grasmere to the consecrated church at Ambleside.

• Local stories claim black dogs, death omens, and shrouded figures still walk this path.

German "Totenweg" (Death Ways)

• In Bavaria and the Alps, villages had Totenwege where corpses were carried on foot. These were often carved directly through wilderness.

• Witch trials sometimes cited the use of these paths for necromantic rituals and summoning the dead.

Russian “Doróga Mértvyh” (The Road of the Dead)

• Corpses were carried on specific routes not used for daily traffic and it was considered extremely bad luck to cross these paths during funerals.

• After the procession, the route was swept with juniper or water blessed by an otets (priest) or vedma (witch) to sever spirit ties.

• These roads often skirted the edge of forests, believed to house the spirits of the dead and entities like the Rusalka or Nav (spirits of untimely death).

Irish Bealach na Marbh (Path of the Dead) Dingle Peninsula

• “The Path of the Dead” was used to carry bodies from the remote villages of Ballyferriter to Kilmalkedar Church.

• The path passed through stone circles and ancient monastic ruins — blending Christian and pagan liminality.

• These roads are said to host phantom processions during Samhain and Imbolc. Witches and druids believe the path holds ancestral songlines — geomantic links between burial mounds, dolmens, and faery forts.

• Spirits known as The Silent Host or An Slua Sí are said to follow these roads at night, and one must never greet them.

Italian Via dei Morti (Roads of the Dead)- The Via Appia Antica in Rome

• In Etruscan and later Roman culture, necropolises were located outside city walls along well-traveled funeral roads.

• Bodies were processed along this road from the city to catacombs or necropoli.

• It is energetically dense, carrying the residue of countless deaths, rituals, and ancestral offerings.

Japanese Shinimichi (Paths of the Dead)- Mount Osore

• Considered one of the gates to the underworld, this sacred volcanic site is reached via ancient pilgrimage roads associated with the journey of souls to the afterlife.

• The approach to Osorezan is a living death current, said to allow the souls of the dead to communicate with the living during Obon.

• Practitioners of Shugendō or Onmyōdō may trace these roads for spirit pacification or to find kekkai (spiritual seals) weakened by restless dead.

In The United States:

The Natchez Trace (Mississippi–Tennessee)

• A historic forest trail extending 440 miles, used by Native Americans and later by settlers.

• The “Death Trail” section between Nashville and Natchez was used to carry bodies or for funerary travel.

• Known for ghost sightings, wailing sounds, and unseen footsteps — often connected to spirits of murdered travelers or unburied dead.

• In magickal mapping, it's considered a death current of sorrow, betrayal, and bone memory.

Boot Hill Transport Routes (Western U.S.)

• "Boot Hill" cemeteries in places like Dodge City (Kansas) and Tombstone (Arizona) often had makeshift roads used to carry the dead — mostly murder victims, gunslingers, or outlaws.

• These routes are now deeply haunted and contain repetitive death energy, especially in places where ambushes or executions occurred.

• Folk belief (especially among rootworkers and folk necromancers) is that these roads act like psychic arteries, especially during late summer and Samhain seasons.

Indian Mounds and Spirit Roads (Midwest to Southeast, US)

• Many Native American burial sites (e.g., the Effigy Mounds in Iowa, Etowah in Georgia) are aligned with spirit pathways — meant to allow souls to journey to the afterlife.

• Some tribes believed that the dead travel west — and so ceremonial roads were built westward.

• These spirit roads act as pure ancestral death currents — still respected and avoided by locals.

• Witches working necromancy in these areas often leave offerings on these paths and do not cross them at night, lest they attract wandering spirits.

Gettysburg’s Blood Lines (Pennsylvania)

• After the Battle of Gettysburg, tens of thousands of bodies were carried by wagon to makeshift burial pits or church cemeteries.

• The paths taken by these wagons (e.g., Taneytown Road, Baltimore Pike) became loaded with residual death energy.

• Sightings of phantom soldiers, marching feet, and disembodied voices are common.

• These are artificially forged corpse roads — built through trauma and grief.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 Funeral Routes (New Orleans)

• New Orleans funeral processions (especially in the 1800s–early 1900s) followed specific ritual routes, often with jazz music, to the famed cemetery.

• The roads between Treme, Congo Square, and the St. Louis Cemeteries form a necromantic circuit.

• The air along these streets is often said to feel “thick” or “pressurized,” especially during hurricane season or around All Saints’ Day.

• Vodou practitioners and witches use these routes to channel ancestral spirits, call upon Baron Samedi, or work graveyard conjure.

Magickal Applications in Witchcraft

Death Current Tapping:

Witches, especially in necromantic traditions, may:

• Divine along these lines (using pendulums or bone runes).

• Channel energy from a death current for baneful or ancestral workings.

• Establish guardians or spirit allies tied to these flows.

Pathworking or Shadow Walking:

One may astrally walk the corpse road, connecting with:

• The shades of the dead carried along it.

• Spirits of grief, psychopomps, or death gods.

• The road as a living egregore of transition and loss.

Necromantic Spell Example: Binding with the Death Wind

On a known or symbolic corpse road, one could:

• Lay a thread soaked in grave oil across the path.

• Chant the name of the spirit you wish to bind.

• Use a liminal hour (twilight, 12am) to "catch" a breath of the death current into a vessel (like a jar, skull, or black mirror).

• Seal with iron and bury under a lychgate or crossroad.

Corpse Roads vs. Ley Lines

Origin:

Corpse road- Human ritual use.

Ley line- Natural/geometric alignment.

Energy Type:

Corpse road- Necrotic, liminal, ancestral.

Ley line- Elemental, geomantic, solar/lunar.

Use In Magick:

Corpse road- Necromancy, psychopompy, death rites.

Ley line- Portal work, energy raising, manifestation.

Associated Entities:

Corpse road- Spirits of the dead, psychopomps

Ley line- Fae, elementals, land spirits (genius loci)

Walking Deadlines

"We call upon the ancestors of our line, the progenitors of our queer spirits, those who came before and laid the path behind them, the mighty transgender dead." - 'Basic Trans Ancestor Elevation Ritual Prayer' by @rockemsockemrocket & @trans-rite.

For today, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, I created a small altar atop the cabinet that houses my beloved dead, for the transgender dead.

I lit the candle from my beloved dead's altar as well as a fresh black candle (I wish I had some actual Pride representation, but for now the glass prisms will have to do). I offered some hot milk with honey and a touch of turmeric, later followed by a cup of fresh water, and read the 'Basic Trans Ancestor Elevation Ritual Prayer' in its entirety.

Who counts as an ancestor, and why should you talk to them? How does ancestry relate to family, to trauma, to animals and plants? Honoring Your Ancestors is a human and heartening guide to a very tricky subject, which will benefit anyone seeking a resource for genuine spiritual connections.

Conscious of religion, but not distracted by it, Mallorie Vaudoise provides useful approaches to connecting and working with ancestral spirits from a variety of perspectives. Those who are hesitant to work with the spirits of their own family will not feel that she is trying to convert you or coerce you—there's a great deal of honesty in her approach to the issues of consorting with the dead.

Vaudoise moves easily between traditional contexts and her own anecdotes, balancing the practical and personal extremely well. She instills confidence in her advice right alongside a humble relatability that imparts of a sense of magic and ritual as natural, approachable rights belonging to all humans. Her skill in this is matched by few other authors. Chapter 11, "A Selection of Spells" is full of lovely and brilliant rituals; at once potent and achievable. She is upfront about the fact that some of the spells "look more like practical advice than magic until you apply them and see the results for yourself." Vaudoise is right: sometimes very real magic does flourish in seemingly mundane tasks and rituals do indeed begin with their preparation. Fear not; the author is very clearly aware of the concrete reality of magic and miracles. Trust the process. In Chapter 1, Vaudoise mentions that restless ghosts, unlike ancestors, shouldn't be strengthened with offerings or called upon for intercession. This is sound advice for the kind of spiritual systems this book provides—however, the very brief section on ghosts does gloss over the robust history of seeking out the restless dead to carry out magical operations. Probably a wise choice on her part, casual readership considered. On the subject of spiritual hygiene, she mentions that foul odors are often considered attractive to evil spirits (like to like). While there are certainly many cases that underscore her point, there are also many customs that contradict this statement and could be mentioned here; such as the burning or wearing of sulfur, garlic, or asafoetida, to keep foul and dangerous spirits at bay.

Honoring Your Ancestors pulls from a colorful basket of magical and religious paths to provide concrete rituals and prayers one can use with ancestral spirits. Vaudoise is candid about her Italian-American Catholic touch points, but kindly provides many alternatives and permission to adapt her rituals as needed. One non-biblical variation of a prayer to the hyssop plant on page 113 (of my edition) struck me as particularly beautiful:

Mighty hyssop, forgiving hyssop, you who have washed away so many mistakes: please wash away the pain of what I have done, for which I am truly sorry. Guide me back to my true path, the path where I am able to nourish the living and bring honor to my ancestors.

This prayer is an effective charm: conjuring the precedence of hyssop's expertise, honesty and sincerity from the speaker, and purposeful motivation for the work at hand.

This book is obviously focussed on ancestral veneration, however it simultaneously provides a workable and approachable template for any spiritual practice. I highly encourage anyone who moves through it to consider how they might adapt the advice and rituals from various sections to other kinds of spirit work and magic. My book club and I performed a group version of the "Ritual to Reconnect with Your Ancestors" from Chapter 1, page 23. It was a powerful and sweet experience, which brought us closer as a group and also brought each of us into closer connection with our familial ancestors. It beautifully harmonized with the warning Vaudoise gives about spells sometimes sounding like 'practical advice,' as much of the magic in this ritual comes from the preparation for it. I'll leave you to discover that for yourself.