Advantage on Arcana

Assets for Ghost Game

What follows are the handouts I used for my ghost game, given to my players as they uncovered the relevant information. See here for context.

William Candler's Notebook

William J Candler's notebook has four different kinds of entry:

1. Rumours of objects he calls mementos.
2. Lists of objects he stole from graves or death sites.
3. Ruminations on the afterlife.
4. Strange errands.

The objects he calls mementos seem to be objects with supernatural properties. Each entry has some (but rarely all) of the following details about it: what kind of object it is; the object's history; who is believed to possess it; what the object can do; and who he heard this from. Next to some entries he has marked a small x, and next to some of these he has printed, "confirmed." Some examples:

• a diary from the American Civil War; if a person has it on their person as they die, their body cannot be identified; has both an "X" and the word "confirmed" next to it
• a fencing mask; Victorian, but provenance unknown; a splash of blood appears on it when worn; allows the wearer to see ghosts, except for those of relatives; has both an "X" and the word "confirmed" next to it
• a lock of hair; made by three powerful necromancers, two sisters and the woman with whom both had "unnatural relations"; good for finding graves; has both an "X" and the word "confirmed" next to it
• a statuette; supposedly used by a woman to bash in the head of her lover's wife, and shortly after used by her lover to bash her head in; identifies the presence of ghosts; has both an "X" and the word "confirmed" next to it

The items he stole from graves are mostly just lists, with no further information. A few items, however, are elaborated on. Here are two examples:

• a dancing card; stolen from the family of a young woman, notoriously aloof, who died suddenly of illness at a fancy gala; Candlers notes it is good for identifying ghosts, though a little inconvenient
• a deck of playing cards, taken from the grave of a notorious card sharp; lots of speculation, crossed out; the last bit of speculation has a little "X" next to it: will always give a dying man a good hand

His ruminations on the afterlife are fragmentary. He has some repeated concerns:

• repeated idea that the spirits in the afterlife can grow in power and knowledge, with many versions from many sources (religions, necromancers, ghosts)
• his conviction that a person can prepare a map or guide to the afterlife to allow them to either gain power there, or escape it back into the world of the living, or both
• ideas for making such a guide that he can take with him into the afterlife
• the idea that ghosts have anchors binding them to the world of the living
• plans for making an artifact that can become an anchor for him sometime after he died, drawing him back into the world -- and he keeps coming back to his book of rituals as the ideal object for this purpose

His errands seem to be done on behalf of other people, whose names he lists next to them, and include tasks like sending someone's book of poetry to a publisher, exposing someone's embezzling, or solving the murder of the person whose behalf he is doing it.

On Mementos

Mementos, as they are called by certain societies of ghost whisperers and necromancers, are objects that gain occult properties, usually (but not necessarily?) through their role in someone's death. Information on them is somewhat contradictory, but the following claims are common across the sources you came across:

• mementos always have an uncanny property, usually no more than one;
• mementos are also difficult to break, and cannot be destroyed accidentally; and
• mementos are solid to both the living and the dead.

William Candler's Book of Rituals

William Candler's book of rituals contains a few score different necromantic rituals, all with clear instructions on how to perform them and what results the practitioner can expect, and some with extra notes. Although it was clearly compiled over time, it does not have the speculative nature of his notebook: by the time he recorded a ritual, it seems he had vetted it.

Although many of his rituals have results or elements you don't (yet) understand, some seem straightforward enough:

• a ritual for moving along a lingering ghost, whose issues are resolved but who remains attached to the mortal realm; requires white salt;
• a ritual that allows a ghost to speak through the mouth of a participant; requires a basin of fresh rainwater;
• a ritual that allows you to see the last moment's of a cadaver's life through the person's own eyes; requires oils, incense, and access to the body;
• a ritual to make a universal skeleton key; requires a key whose lock no longer exists, a black thread, and your own blood (you must dip the thread in your blood, wind it around the key in a particular way, and wait for the blood to harden);
• a ritual to get a ghost to protect someone; requires cash and a contract, written in your own blood, that details what you will do for the ghost and what the ghost will do for you (the page it is on is the most worn, and a note at the end specifies you really should do whatever you promised the ghost);
• a ritual for gaining useful information about an obstacle you face; requires either a Saint Brigid's Cross (you prick your thumb on one and let a drop of blood fall into your eye) or a willow basket you made yourself (you hold it over your head in the rain until it fills with water);
• a ritual to send someone a doppelganger that will harass them; requires cracked mirrors, a dark and smoky room, and icons representing the target's vices; and
• a variant of the previous ritual, which send a doppelganger to observe the target.

On further study of the book, the following ritual catches your attention that had not fully made sense to you:

• a ritual that requires some three to five people making up part of a circle, with the rest of the circle made of broken objects; lighting candles and reading a passage aloud (transcribed in the book) can temporarily bind the broken objects to nearby ghosts as anchors, lasting one month

Research About Ghosts

You find lots of information about ghosts from various sources, often dubious, sometimes contradictory. After sifting through it, the following points stick out to you as either seeming consistent with what you've already learned or being recurrent points of disagreement.

• Ghosts usually exist in an incorporeal state invisible to most people and animals, but still "located" somewhere in particular (ie. not in some other world); however, they can also manifest in various ways, becoming visible, possessing objects, and so on. Ghosts have strong relationships with particular objects associated with their life or death, widely called anchors. These anchors help them stay in the world of the living; although you don't have to destroy an anchor to exorcise a ghost, and destroying an anchor is not enough to exorcise one, it sure does seem to help.
• Ghosts get stronger when the living remember them, either in fear or grief or love or humour.
• There's vigorous debate about what ghosts are: are they disembodied souls or are they some kind of ephemeral copy of a dead person, like a shed skin? Those who do not believe there are souls at all of course adopt the second position, but those who do believe in souls can take either position.
• Ghosts not only have various ways of manifesting, they also often have various powers in the world: some can move objects, like poltergeists, while others can create strong emotional effects.
• Those who believe ghosts are ephemeral copies, and not real souls, often cite the existence of doppelgangers as evidence for their position: sometime a ghostly double of a still-living person stalks and torments them, and presumably that person is also still ensouled. Detractors suggest doppelgangers aren't really ghosts.
• Some ghosts can possess animals or even people.
• Some people say that ghosts who want to manifest need to make the space, or a nearby object, "open" to them first, which might not be visible to mortals but often has subtle signs ("cold spots," certain smells, the vague sense of being watched). Others say that only applies to particular manifestations or abilities, and others say those signs are just side-effects of the haunting, not prerequisites for any particular kind of manifestation.
• There is some debate about why doppelgangers so often torment their original. Some say it's because the doppelganger resents their original for living the life the doppelganger feels is their own. Others say it's because the doppelganger is stuck as the person was at a particular moment and is therefore distressed that the person is growing, changing, and making decisions differently. Others say it's just that the doppelganger finds the original as uncanny and as existentially disturbing as the original finds the doppelganger. Still others say that doppelgangers are mentally alien and can't be understood in terms like "jealousy" or "existential anxiety."

Curse Removal Ritual

After combing through various rituals, with no real sense of which are reliable and which are not, you begin to notice similarities between some of them, as though some underlying pattern is expressed through different cultural idioms and spiritual beliefs. One ritual is Wiccan, another is Thelemic, a third is Protestant of a decidedly charismatic strain, and a fourth appears to be some kind of Vedic, though the translation is bad so it's hard to tell what kind of Vedic it is. The following ritual, found on the Wayback Machine's archive of a now-defunct New Age forum, is likely the best for your purposes: it's the median ritual, more like each of the others than any of those others are like each other; it doesn't require any religious commitments or ordinations; and it evidently has a pedigree. All of this suggests it's most likely to be real of all the rituals you've found.

I learned this ritual from my teacher, who used it to clear me of a curse a toxic ex laid on me. I've used it four times since then on friends and clients, so I can promise it works if you do it right. It won't work if you try to perform it on yourself, and a bond of trust between the patient and the healer greatly improves your chances of success.

First, the patient holds a vessel in both hands, and they keep holding it for the whole ritual. The vessel can be any object, but it's best to choose something durable that you can keep safe.

Second, you mark each of the patient's seven chakras. My teacher used ashes (mixed with a little oil), but he taught me that scented oils work, too. I use essential oils, and once I even used perfume in an emergency. I went to a retreat in Colorado a few years ago and met someone there who had learned this ritual from her teacher, and she uses honey. Any of those will probably do.

Third, you announce that you are expelling the curse from the patient, mind, body, and soul. I like to say a few affirmations first: I tell them they are loved, that they are wise, that they are sacred, and that they are healthy. Then I announce that I'm expelling the curse from them, like this: "I am expelling the curse from Name, mind, body, and soul."

Finally, you kiss the patient. I kiss them along the axial channel, such as on the mouth or forehead, but the healer I met in Colorado says she kisses them on both cheeks. Symmetry and balance are important. I don't know if it has to be on the patient's face, but better safe than sorry.

That's it. At this point, if the ritual succeeded, the curse will be trapped in the vessel. If the vessel ever breaks, the curse will return to the patient, so be careful where you keep it. I have bound two curses in the same vessel before, so I know it can be done. I don't know how many curses can be bound in one vessel before you break it. If that's a question that comes up for you, you may need to consider what kind of life you're leading that you're attracting that kind of negative energy.

You don't have to do this, but I always like to cleanse the space first with amethyst and sage, and afterwards I always share a pot of oolong tea with the patient.

I hope this helps!