Types Of Ghosts, Spirits, and Entities

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types of ghosts, types of spirits, types of entities, ancestral spirits

Although many people are afraid of spirits, most types of ghosts are completely harmless. Many “hauntings” are actually just spirits stuck on earth trying to work through their trauma.

However, there are many types of spirits and beings in general. Not all of these “otherworldly” beings are human souls.

It can be really fun to learn about the different types of ghosts as well as kinds of spirits and entities. There are so many cool types of beings that exist in other realms, but there are also beings that we should all be aware of for protection purposes.

Types Of Ghosts, Spirits, and Entities: 

There are so many types of ghosts and spirits, plus a bunch of different types of entities. It would be impossible to list every single kind on this list!

Instead, I’ll list the types of ghosts, spirits, and entities that are most common when you’re working with the spirit world. There are certainly others and I will add to this list as I encounter them.

Ancestral Spirits

Ancestral spirits are, quite literally, the spirits of your ancestors. They tend to be around you because of their connection to you or to your lineage.

Sometimes, you may have ancestral spirits near you who you actually knew in person (such as a grandmother) while other ancestral spirits will be from generations back.

I find that some ancestral spirits simply enjoy being around their family members while others actively want to work with you.

Ancestral spirits are my favorite types of ghosts or spirits to contact if you’re just beginning spirit work. They’re very safe and will protect you.

Unlike other types of spirits, who could potentially mean you harm, ancestral spirits are very safe. It’s hard to set up good boundaries when you haven’t done a lot of spirit work, but ancestral spirits are always on your side, so you won’t need to worry.

You can simply ask your ancestral spirits if they would like to work with you and see who shows up. I use my pendulum for this, but there are many ways to communicate with spirits (tarot cards, psychic divination, meditation, etc.) to see what spirits would like to work with you.

If you’re a witch, working with your ancestral spirits will almost certainly enhance your power. They’re always there to aid you, but there’s also something about keeping it within the bloodline that draws power.

Ancestral spirits will typically show themselves in a form you recognize. Even though they could take on any form they desire, they probably want you to know how they are.

However, their appearance may be slightly modified. For example, your grandfather might appear slightly younger and healthier than he was when you last saw him alive.

Earthbound Spirits

Similar to ancestral spirits, earthbound spirits are types of ghosts who were actually alive on earth at one point in time. 

Most earthbound spirits are on this energy plane because of their connection to a place or event. The most harmless and classic “hauntings” occur because of this type of ghost.

It’s common for earthbound spirits to get “stuck” in a place. If they had a traumatic death, they may linger around the scene of the death, unable to release their negative feelings. 

Spirits can also linger when they feel that they have unfinished business. Some spirits don’t realize they have died right away and can hang around for this reason.

Mediums work with earthbound spirits to release them. Ideally, a spirit can choose to visit earth but isn’t necessarily stuck. However, it can be tricky to get earthbound spirits to this place if you’re not an experienced medium.

Some “scary” spirits are actually just earthbound spirits who are personally tormented. They may not even realize that they’re hurting anyone. Always consider this as a possibility if you’re dealing with a difficult spirit.

Recordings

Recordings are one of the common types of ghosts that show up on haunted reality shows. However, they aren’t actually spirits in the physical sense.

Instead, a recording is a ball of energy that gets stuck playing on a loop in one specific location. The event that cased this energy to get stuck was probably very traumatic or emotionally charged.

For example, some mediums see these types of ghosts replaying their own death over and over. The ghost doesn’t actually exist in the sense that the spirit is still there (unlike an earthbound spirit), but the collection of energy is strong enough that the events appear to happen on a loop.

It’s pretty scary to encounter a recording when you’re witnessing a traumatic event, but these types of ghosts can’t hurt anyone. They can’t even interact outside of their “loop” because they are just a memory.

Keep in mind that these types of ghosts aren’t actually suffering. You don’t need to help them release the trauma; the actual spirit has already moved on. At some point in time, the energy will start to dissipate. This is a natural process that happens quite often.

If you have ever felt spooked in a supposedly haunted place, that was probably because you could sense recordings. They are more common types of ghosts than we realize and are much less scary than they seem.

Of course, if there is a recoding playing in your own home, that may be an issue. Recordings are some of the hardest types of ghosts to get rid of because there’s no actual spirit to work with.

You may need to call in other spirits to help you shift the energy. It’s a lengthy process! If you do find yourself in this situation, feel free to email me for more detailed plans.

Spirits Of The Dead

Spirits of the dead are similar to ancestral spirits, but they just aren’t related to you.

I find that most spirits of the dead are around certain people. For example, a husband may have his deceased wife’s spirit around him, or his good friend may “haunt” him in order to keep contact.

Spirits of the dead can be any type of earthbound spirit or other spirit. They aren’t necessarily stuck on earth (or stuck at all), but they may visit from time to time. Spirits like to keep contact too!

I find that spirits of the dead generally aren’t harmful. They’re usually people you know who just want to say hello.

If you do have a spirit who is being malicious, you should first consider whether this is an earthbound spirit or recording. Many spirits will cause harm without realizing it because of their own trauma.

Of course, because all people become spirits when they die, there are some spirits who do wish to cause harm. It’s helpful in this case to consider that you are much stronger on this plane than most spirits. Any spirit of the dead has to work extremely hard to move an item, but it barely weighs anything to you.

A simple cleansing and warding of your home should do the trick if you need to get rid of a scary spirit.

Alternatively, you can summon spirits of the dead using necromancy. You don’t actually revive them into a human body (as the word necromancy is used in pop culture) but instead summon them into a semi-physical form in order to communicate or work together.

I don’t recommend doing this. You can certainly ask if the spirit of someone you lost will visit you, but forcing them to appear through summoning typically has negative results.

You also run the risk of summoning the wrong spirit. Unless you’re a very advanced witch or magician, this is incredibly tricky and can be quite dangerous.

Spirit Guides

Your spirit guides are personal to you. They are often around your energy field and are available to offer advice and counsel.

Spirit guides can be anyone from deceased ancestors to souls you’ve never met, ascended masters, or even angels.

I find that most of us have a bunch of spirit guides at any one time that are automatically assigned to us and changed as needed. You can also request spirit guides for a specific purpose.

Some witches believe that you can have both positive and negative spirit guides. I have never personally experienced this, but it does make sense to me that you could attract a lower-vibrational guide based on life choices or events.

I use my pendulum to “upgrade” my spirit guides if needed. I ask for spirit guides of the highest vibration for the highest purpose.

Plant Spirits

Did you know that each and every plant has a concrete spirit separate from its being? I always knew that plants had energy, but didn’t realize that plant spirits were a type of ghost (or spirit, more accurately) until I got deeper into my work with plants.

When you work with plants, it’s essential that you treat them as an actual spirit. If you feel no connection to a plant, that’s probably because you’re just working with the material of the plant rather than the spirit. It may as well be fake!

Plant spirits are wonderful types of spirits to connect with. They’re very safe and gentle because plants are immobile. They all have their own wants, needs, and personalities.

I recommend that you first interact with plants spirits of the plants in your home or yard. This way, you’ll have enough contact to build a relationship with the plant spirit. You can simply begin talking to the plant as though the spirit is listening. This is enough to activate the spirit if it has become dormant from lack of care.

It’s really important to treat your plant as a living being once you activate the spirit. Ask your plant how much water it would like, what placement in the house it enjoys, which plants it wants to be next to, etc. Try to get a feel for your plant’s spirit. Is it gentle or more outgoing?

It can be hard to do any of this if you’re not psychic. I’m not terribly psychic myself, but I do get intuitive hunches about things. Most of us do.

I also use my pendulum when I’m working with plant spirits and find that this is an effective way to get my questions answered.

Make sure that once you begin working with a plant spirit, you give it regular care and attention. This doesn’t need to be anything too fancy! The spirit just wants to know that it is cared for and even loved. You can create a rift or negative relationship if you force the spirit to activate and then ignore it.

Related: How To Be A Hedge Witch: Solitary Practice, Hedge Jumping, & More

Mineral Spirits

Although mineral spirits aren’t common or well-known, they’re types of spirits that are all around us. If you have crystals, minerals, or even stones in your home then you’re around mineral spirits without realizing it.

Mineral spirits are incredibly diverse because there are so many different types of stones and crystals. You can communicate with your mineral spirits using your intuition, cards, or your pendulum to learn more about the specific spirit and what they like.

Each mineral spirit will want to work with you on different things. For example, one spirit may like to work on relationships or self-love, while another prefers to work on health issues.

Most mineral spirits enjoy interacting with people as long as they’re treated respectfully. Ask them where they would like to be placed, how much sunlight they need, and how they would like to partner with you, if at all.

Some of these spirits just won’t want to work together. This is rare, but it does happen. They may be super unhappy being pulled out of the ground. The best course of action is to bury this mineral spirit in a place natural to its habitat.

Negative Entities

Entities are types of spirits that feed off your energy. They aren’t human in the sense of ancestral spirits or spirits of the dead.

Some entities may be with you for just a short time to get a boost of energy while others feed off you for a long term. They basically hang out in your energy field and suck vitality out of you.

When you have entities attached to you, it’s common to feel depleted, angry, or depressed. There are many different types of entities, but the common thread is that they all steal your energy and are rather hard to get rid of. 

Some of the more common negative entities are:

  • Geopathic Entities
  • Black Spiral
  • Vampire
  • ET Surgical Contract
  • Beast
  • Henchman
  • Disincarnate
  • Demon
  • Negative ET
  • NOW Zombie
  • Witch
  • Warlock
  • Tengu Spirit
  • Poltergeist
  • Draco Shapeshifter
  • Murderer
  • False Light Being
  • Greys
  • Nordics
  • Psychic Weapon

Some of these entities are actual beings while others are energetic “build-ups” that don’t have a true consciousness. Either way, they all drain you.

You can clear entities using your pendulum or meditation. However, entities are more likely to attach to you when you’re either engaging in low-vibrational behavior or when you’re near people with many entities.

Difficult situations (such as a toxic relationship or traumatic event) can also cause entities to flock to you.

Generally, entities don’t cause any harm on the physical realm. You probably won’t even know that they’re around, but your emotions can be subtly influenced and your energy will certainly be drained.

Related: 3 Types Of Energy Vampires & How To Handle Them

Goetic Demons

There are 72 Goetic Demons which were first discussed in the Lesser Key Of Solomon, written in the 17th century. These spirits aren’t very demonic and can be really helpful if you want to work with a spirit.

Each of these demons has a specific talent or skill. For example, if you wish to work on money magic, there is a demon who can help you with just that.

These aren’t types of ghosts because they’re not really spirits of people. Instead, Goetic Demons are comprised of many different types of spirits from different beings. There’s a lot of variation here.

Goetic demons typically like working with witches or spiritual practitioners. It’s common for them to help out with spells. They may want something in return, so I recommend negotiating carefully (I do this using my pendulum) before you commit to working together.

I don’t find that Goetic demons cause issues unless they’re summoned. If you haven’t specifically summoned a Goetic demon and are having a problem with a spirit, Goetic demons probably aren’t the source.

This is a great pocket guide that I highly recommend if you’d like to learn more about working with Goetic demons.

Related: 2 Easy Money Spells That Work + Money Spell Troubleshooting

Psychic Cords

Although psychic cords aren’t actually types of ghosts or spirits, I thought it was important to include this classification because the energy is very much alive. Psychic cords can have a huge impact on us and can sometimes mimic energy vampires, entities, or other types of ghosts.

A psychic cord is a link between you and another living being, although they’re most common between humans or humans and their pets. Some psychic cords can be wonderful because they transmit love and empathy, but more often than not, psychic cords drain us.

Have you ever left a conversation with someone you care about feeling a little vulnerable or overly connected? This may be a psychic cord. It’s usually a feeling of codependency.

Luckily, psychic cords can be easily cut in meditation. Simply visualize the cord between you and the other person then release it.

The Fae Folk

The Fae Folk are types of spirits that exist in a dimension adjacent to ours. Because they’re so close to our world, you can interact with them physically much more than you’re able to with other types of ghosts.

Many practitioners are afraid of the Fae. Working with fairies is definitely somewhat advanced, but it can also be really cool. I’m a huge lover of the Fae Folk. Even learning about the Otherworld itself is insanely interesting.

Most Fae Folk are location bound. This means that if you encounter a fairy on a hike, you probably won’t bring the spirit home with you. However, this isn’t always the case because fairies don’t have the same physical rules as us.

The Otherworld, which is the dimension where fairies exist, is filled with many different types of spirits and beings. When you think of a fairy, you’re probably thinking of a pixie, which is just a specific type of Fae. However, there are too many types to count. We probably don’t even know all of the different sort of Fae Folk that exist.

Working with the Fae Folk isn’t necessarily dangerous, but you must do your research before you begin. Some practitioners tend to assume that everything spiritual is meant to help them and this is not the case. Like humans, Fae Folk can be benevolent, evil, or everything in between. Unlike humans, locked doors don’t keep them out once you make an enemy.

I recently wrote a whole post about working with the Fae Folk for those of you who are interested. I could go on and on about fairies for days because I find the Otherworld to be vastly interesting!

Elementals

Elementals are quite literally the spirits of the elements. For example, there are elementals for air, earth, fire, and water. These beings are a part of the elements but are also tasked with safeguarding their element and nature in general.

Every tree has a spirit within it; every body of water has a water spirit tied to it. You can probably find elementals right in your backyard!

According to some traditions, there are actual gods or guardians of each element. For example, in some traditions, there is a specific god of water, also known as an elemental king.

Alternatively, there are spirits that guard different pieces of nature. Gnomes, which are also a part of the Fae kingdom, are elementals of earth, while nymphs are elementals of water.

If you want to work with a particular element, it can be worthwhile to call upon the elemental spirit associated with it. 

Deities & Gods

There are so many different types of deities, gods, and goddesses that it’s hard to know where to begin!

Basically, every tradition or religion has its own set of gods and goddesses that (I believe) exist in other dimensions and realms. These deities will sometimes agree to work with us based on a variety of factors.

There are Olympian gods and goddesses, Roman deities, Viking deities, nature deities, Celtic deities, African deities, Hindu deities, Pagan/Wiccan gods and goddesses, etc. 

If you’re interested in working with deities, the best place to start is by researching. Do a lot of research into the types of deities you’d like to work with before beginning.

My first experience working with a deity was pretty scary. I felt called to contact Hades, so I burned an incense stick as an offering. I also wrote his sigil on a slip of paper, activated it, and put it under my pillow.

Well, this was not ideal for a few reasons. First of all, I was actively working with a massive deity during sleep, which is my most vulnerable time. I literally invited him into my dreams. Secondly, I should have simply asked him if he wanted to work with me and waited for a sign. Instead, I forced the issue.

I ended up having a series of really horrifying, gruesome dreams. Truly terrible things happened to myself and my family in my dream world. I found myself in a hell-like pit, but every time I woke up, I also had negative entities in my room. I literally couldn’t escape it.

Finally, I burnt the sigil and asked that we part ways. The dreams stopped immediately. I cleansed my house and everything went back to normal. 

I was afraid I had mistakenly summoned a demon, but I later realized that this was Hades. I had assumed that all deities and gods were beneficial and out to help me. However, gods are really powerful and you have to be ready to work with them in entirety. They’re multifaceted and definitely won’t represent new-age spiritual guides.

Working with deities, gods, or goddesses isn’t just a cake walk. You have to be ready to experience anything. 

If you want to work with deities, I recommend doing a lot of research on the different types of gods and goddesses. There are so many! 

You may want to put your intention into the universe and see what deity responds. Keep an eye out for signs and symbols. This will be the most pain-free way to partner with a deity. Once you know who is interested in working with you, make regular offerings to keep the relationship positive.

Angels

Many practitioners work with angels. There are so many different types of angels and too many myths to count surrounding these celestial beings, but there is often something attractive about the idea of a higher being that simply knows more than other types of ghosts or spirits.

Angels are incredibly powerful. In fact, we can’t even contemplate the kind of power that they hold; our minds just could not understand the concept. 

One thing I have noticed from my work with angels is that they’re often very black and white in their thinking. They have concrete ideas about what is right and wrong and there is no room to bend.

If you want to begin working with angels, do some research and reading into the mythology. Read texts on Enochian Magic as well as Biblical references. Learn about the angels throughout different cultures and religions.

I used to recommend Doreen Virtue as an angel guru, however she recently switched directions and became a Born Again Christian. While I don’t follow her work anymore, I do still love some of her old books that you can find used on Amazon.

Demons

Okay, so we have Goetic demons up above, but what about demons in general? Demons have been a source of fear and interest for centuries, so I definitely want to address these types of ghosts, if you can call them that.

Demons, by and large, are chaotic. They are the opposite of angels in this way. Angels are very structured and oriented.

While angels each have a designated role, demons mainly serve themselves. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re bad, it just means that you don’t always know what to expect when you’re working with a demon.

The Goetic demons are some of the demons out there, but many more exist. I find that chaos witches often work with demons because they literally gain power from chaos.

Demons are neither good nor evil. Any demon can act good or evil, but there is no inherent bias.  Some demons enjoy working with humans, but they often have a price for their help. Make sure that you negotiate carefully so that both parties are happy with the agreement.

Of course, demons can be negative and scary. Some negative entities are actually demons, but this doesn’t mean that all demons are bad. Angels can be scary, and so can the Fae, elementals, or even regular types of ghosts. You just need to be strong, keep your protection wards up, and know exactly what you want before you try summoning a demon.

One last note: demons probably own’t seek you out if you don’t try to contact them. If you feel like there’s a negative being in your house and have done absolutely nothing to call this being to you, it’s probably one of the other types of ghosts or entities. In fact, I would be much more cautious around some of the entities I talked about above than I would with demons in general.

However, demons can be pretty powerful, so you should know what you’re doing if you summon them. Unlike the more benign types of ghosts, some demons have quite a bit of physical power on our plane. They can move large objects or hurt you.

Demons can be hard to get rid of once you have summoned them. Make sure you have your cleansing and warding down pat. It’s also good to have some pretty strong banishing spells under your belt before you attempt working with demons. In general, this is a good practice unless you’re working with the much safer ancestral spirits or types of ghosts who you personally knew.