“Ancestors, loves, come one, come all.
My blood, my bone, immortal home.
Behind me, before me, in red river stream,
Enfold me in your world of dream.
Make known to me the secret Other,
Reveal to me, my Mothers and Fathers!
My life in honor to you all,
Hear me, hear me, hear my call!
Knock once, knock twice, once more makes three,
My allies welcome, I Will it be!”
– A.M.
What is Tapping the Bone?
I first heard the term “Tapping the Bone” as a dedicant of a Traditional Craft coven I had joined. I was utterly fascinated watching an inanimate object come alive, and the room become thick with shades. Only when I finally performed this intimate act for the first time did I understand what a sacred, humbling and powerful reciprocal gift it is.
Tapping the Bone is another way of describing Calling the Ancestors, working with the Dead, reaching the River of Blood where the bones and spirits of our Ancestors flow. It is the practice of necromancy. It is a way of opening the gateway to Their realm and allowing the Ancestors to join us in our lives and Work, offering guidance and knowledge.
How Tapping the Bone Works
The goal here is to give life to whatever fetish you have to represent the Ancestors. Mine is a ceramic skull. I do maintain a fantasy of having a real human skull someday, but I’m pretty picky when it comes to the history of the object I’m brining into my home for Work.
The main part of my altar where my skull usually sits is lower than eye-level, so the first thing I do is get down to eye-level with the skull. More often than not, I actually pick up the skull and cradle it in my hands.
I close my eyes, quiet myself, and allow myself to start to feel the yearning. It starts in my root chakra. I yearn for Them, lust for Them, crave Their embrace and presence. I slowly raise my fire, my life breath, up through my body and the yearning begins to feel painful. It wants to break free, but I don’t yet let it. I let the fire grow and raise until it reaches a point that my body can no longer bear until I have no other choice but to release, exhaling my fire breath into the mouth of the skull. A fiery spirit kiss that warms and awakens the skull, brings it to life. And I feel it breathe in and breathe back out to me.
Pick up some of our Tapping the Bone incense, made specifically for Ancestral workings, necromany and divination.