Unquiet Voices:
The Magical Art of Laying Ghosts

Editorial Reviews:

 

"This book is a concrete step-by-step overview of the laying of spirits and the various tools, rituals and approaches one can employ.  More importantly, this book stresses relationship with spirits so that you do not inadvertently disrupt a spirit minding it's own business.  This volume breaks down this sometimes overwhelming field for all who have ever been curious about what goes into paranormal work.  A thoroughly enjoyable read!"

―Ben Stimpson, author of Ancestral Whispers

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"Unquiet Voices is a guidebook steeped in tradition and culture. The reader is instantly transported to a fireplace in Scotland where the practice of laying ghosts has been passed on for hundreds of years―and now its our turn to learn! Using both science and ancestral lore, Rob and Nonie Douglas impart their years of experience and research in ways that are easy to incorporate into any spiritual practice. They teach both a deep respect for the tradition and the mechanics needed should the reader find themselves in need of action. From investigating a disturbance to choosing a method of resolution and everything in between, this book is a must-have addition to your spiritual library or paranormal investigation toolkit. Rob and Nonie's passion for magic and working with the spiritual realm bleed off of every page and leaves the reader hungry for more."―Courtney Buckley, professional paranormal investigator, educator, and "ghost bait" on Sacred and Alone

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"How do you effectively respond to a spirit disturbance or lay an unquiet spirit? In Unquiet Voices – The Magical Art of Laying Ghosts, Rob and Nonnie Douglas provide the reader with a practical guide informed by their many years in the field and magical practice. The book has much to recommend it; from its brief history of necromancy and its misunderstanding in the Western tradition, to its technical classification of deceased human spirits. There is too a concise and exceptionally helpful discussion of Aristotelian philosophy and its enmeshment with later occultism. One such motif, of afflicted souls’ drowning in the borderland or sea of ‘Qarth Arqa’, permeates the book. The authors use this allegory, and the detailed exploration of the associated realms and states of being associated with it, to help the reader to connect the philosophical/occult ideas to the practical art of sciomancy.
The authors emphasis on precise language is linked to the need for prospective sciomancers to be able to communicate effectively with those in need who do not necessarily share their worldview, and this adds a level of reason and compassion to the work which is very welcome. This is a highly readable and clear exploration of necromancy or sciomancy, both in the past and present, enlivened by the authors’ Scottish folk magic roots."

― Dr. Peter Hewitt, Folklore Museums Network founder and Museums Officer, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland.

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"One does not often hear the term “necromancy” in polite circles, and even in metaphysically open and accepting groups the word can send hairs up on the back of a person’s neck like a shock of icy water. However, it would be foolish to deny the deeply important role that necromantic work has had in Western Occultism over the past centuries (and even millennia). In Unquiet Voices, the authors guide the reader into the cosmology and practice of necromancy, and more specifically, sciomancy–which aims to provide relief to the living and the dead through occult action. Wife and husband team Nonie and Rob Douglas have put in the time–both in the library and in the field–to create a densely-packed and invaluable look at the work of interacting with spirits of the dead, and occasionally spirits of other kinds, as well. The book is thoroughly researched with an emphasis on Classical texts like Agrippa and medieval grimoires, and breaks down the necromantic worldview into something empirical but alive–an Ars Scientia. The Douglases also turn to folk traditions–namely the Scottish practice of “laying ghosts” as well as esoteric and often semi-heretical work such as “sin eating” to show the practical applications of necromantic philosophy.
The book’s emphasis is distinctly European, but many of the methods will be recognizable to practitioners outside of the Eurosphere. Spirits do not simply come in a few garden varieties, but have myriad forms and thus require myriad methodologies to relate to them effectively. Additionally, the approach here is universalist, working from the cosmology of spirits at the level of hyle–essentially the fundamental state of matter or being–and building up from there. The reader will spend time learning about tools–philosophical and material–which can be effectively used to encounter, interact with, and ultimately integrate or dispel spiritual forces. This is not a simplistic book about ghost-hunting, but instead a deeply rooted and incredibly painstaking examination of a widely misunderstood occult practice."

―Dr. Cory Hutcheson, Folklorist, Educator, Author of 'New World Witchery'

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