Ritual Ready Petition Paper Format

A petition paper is a written request or command directed at a spirit, demon, or deity, physically embedded into a candle working, jar spell, or vessel.

And its power comes from the interaction of material, layout, and handling rather than eloquence.

The format matters because a petition paper does three jobs at once:

1. it names the target,
2. it states the intent,
3. and it becomes a physical anchor that a candle, jar, or vessel can burn, hold, or carry over time.

Get any one of those three wrong and the working drifts.

Materials and Tools for Petition Papers

Paper choice carries both symbolic and practical weight.

• Paper: parchment for formal pacts and evocations, brown paper sack for grounded or hoodoo-style work, plain paper for everyday petitions
• Ink: dragon’s blood or resin-based inks for force and command work, commercial red ink for love or aggressive intent, black for banishing or binding, gold or silver for deity and high-spirit formalities
• Pens: a dedicated ritual pen if you have one, but a plain ballpoint is acceptable for daily practice
• Dressing supplies: anointing oils suited to the intent, powders, dried herbs, small curios or chip crystals
• Tools: a small carving tool or narrow drill bit if you plan to hollow a candle for loading

Most of this you can source from an occult supply shop, but a kitchen drawer often has what you need in a pinch. 

How Do You Lay Out a Petition Paper?

The layout is where most beginners go wrong, and it’s the part that actually fixes intent onto the page. Write the target’s full name vertically, repeated an odd number of times. The count signals gravity with higher odd numbers often used for more serious or long-term workings, including Goetic or Luciferian pact work.

Once the names are down, turn the paper and write your petition across them, crossing the repeated names at a right angle. This crossing technique is what binds the stated intent to the named target rather than leaving two separate elements floating on the same sheet.

• Size: roughly a few inches square for candle work; slightly larger if the petition will sit inside a jar
• Cutting vs tearing: cutting gives clean, deliberate edges for formal work; tearing by hand suits raw, urgent, or hoodoo-rooted petitions
• Sigils and symbols: place a sigil or seal in one corner, never over the crossed text, so the page stays legible for handling or burning
• Tidiness: keep the sheet flat and uncluttered. A petition covered edge to edge in extra notation is harder to fold cleanly and harder to load into a small cavity

What Should You Write on a Petition to a Spirit or Demon?

Address forms set the tone before the request even lands. Open with a direct address line naming the entity by title and name, something like “Great Andras, I call upon you” or “Clauneck, patron of treasure, hear this working.” Keep the invocation short. Spirits and demons respond to clarity, not flowery language.

The Three-Question framework works well as a scaffold: state what you want, why you want it, and what you’re offering or willing to do in return. That third question is often skipped by newer practitioners, and it’s usually the one that makes a petition feel complete rather than one-sided.

• Candle petition template: “[Name], I petition you for [specific outcome]. Let it come to pass by [rough timeframe]. In exchange, I offer [action or dedication].”
• Jar petition template: shorter and more compressed, often just the entity’s name, the fixed intent in one sentence, and a closing line like “So it is bound.”
• Pact-adjacent phrasing: imperative language (“You will bring me…”) suits command work; petition language (“I ask that you…”) suits diplomatic or long-term spirit relationships. Choose one register and stay consistent.

Sign and date formal petitions, especially anything tied to an ongoing pact or vessel. Skip the signature on quick, disposable candle work where the paper burns the same night.

How Do You Consecrate and Load a Petition Paper?

Consecration turns a written sheet into a charged object. The process is brief but sequential, and skipping steps shows up later as a working that feels flat.

1. Cleanse your space and yourself with smoke or a mist spray, and speak a short invocation calling in the spirit or ally you’re working with.
2. Pass the folded or unfolded petition through the smoke to clear residual energy before dressing it.
3. Anoint the paper at five points: all four corners and the center, using an oil suited to your intent.
4. If using herbs or a small curio, press it lightly into the wet oil at the center point before it dries.
5. Seal with a drop of candle wax if the petition will sit under or inside a candle, or fold it directly if it’s going into a jar.
6. If loading a candle cavity, roll or fold the petition to fit the hollow, insert it, and seal the opening with melted wax from the same candle.

Pro Tip: A pinch of herb between your thumb and two fingers is plenty for most workings. Oversaturating a petition with oil makes it slippery to fold and can smear ink past legibility.

Folding, Placement, and How to Burn the Petition

1. Fold the petition toward yourself if you’re drawing something in, such as money, love, or protection.
2. Fold away from yourself if you’re banishing, binding, or removing an influence.
3. Match your fold count to your name-repetition count. Three names, three folds. Nine names, nine folds.
4. Choose a placement: under a candle for straightforward workings, taped to the bottom of a glass candle, loaded into a carved cavity, rolled and dropped into a jar, or slipped into a shoe for a petition you want activated by walking on it daily.
5. Decide before you start whether the candle will full-burn in one sitting or run vigil-style over several days. A full burn suits urgent, single-event workings. Vigil-style suits sustained pact or relationship work.
6. Let the candle finish naturally when possible. Only snuff early if there’s a genuine safety concern, and note the burn pattern afterward. Uneven burns, soot, or unusual flame behavior are worth recording as part of the working’s record.

A Complete Petition-Loaded Candle Ritual

This is a full working you can perform tonight for a straightforward request such as opening a blocked opportunity or drawing steady income.

Materials:

• One brown paper sack square, cut to roughly 4×4 inches
• Black or red ink pen (red for drawing money or opportunity, black for removing a block)
• One taper or pillar candle in a color matching your intent
• A small carving tool if using a pillar with a cavity
• Anointing oil suited to the intent
• A pinch of an herb associated with your goal (basil for money, bay leaf for opportunity)
• Matches or a lighter

The Petition Text (adapt the bracketed sections):
Write “[Your target or your own name]” an odd number of times vertically.

Turn the paper and cross it with:

“[Entity name], I petition you to open the way for [specific outcome] before [timeframe].

I offer [dedication or action] in return.”

Execution:

1. Cleanse your space with smoke and speak a short call to your working ally.
2. Write and cross the petition as described above.
3. Anoint the four corners and center with oil, pressing the herb pinch into the center.
4. Fold the petition toward yourself seven times.
5. Carve a small cavity into the candle base if using a pillar, insert the folded petition, and seal with wax. If using a taper, simply place the petition under the candle holder instead.
6. Light the candle and speak your invocation aloud once more.
7. Let the candle burn fully in one sitting, or set a vigil schedule if the timeframe warrants it.
8. Once the candle finishes, note any unusual burn patterns, and record the date the outcome should manifest by.

Watch for practical signs over the following days: a phone call you’d been waiting on, an unexpected offer, or a shift in a stalled situation. Record what happens and when, so you can judge the working’s timeline against your own petition text.

 

Scaling a Petition for Bigger Workings

Question:

Hi BWS,

I see that you sometimes use parchment paper for spells. This is why your spells have success? I can’t seem to find parchment paper? I also, Don’t have the means to buy my own witch tools ….So any advice would be helpful. Thank you, 

S, Ohio

 

Answer:

Hi S,

Straight up…..it doesn’t really matter what you write your spell petitions on, as your spell will fail for other reasons first, before your choice of paper. After all we don’t have animal skins to write on anymore!

Real parchment paper, comes from calf skins. Back in the days before we had access to a great variety of paper,  we had little choice. So many old spell recipes tell you to obtain parchment paper. So unless you’re slaughtering your own animals, obtaining a calfskin is not only expensive, but also difficult to obtain.

I must admit I go through phases, where in some years I love to do everything traditionally, and in others I sit it in remote locations, using only my mind for all rituals. This year I totally love using parchment paper, and I think it’s because I’m living in New Orleans right now, so I’m leaning in towards Santeria and Witchcraft practices. One of my own teachers only uses parchment paper, cut into thin strips – Where the petition is written with small font, and either put under the candle or burnt in the offering bowl.

In various pact writing rituals and many of my black magick spells, the pact/intention is released into the spiritual world via flame. If I was to use traditional calf skin, my Temple would stink (burning animal skin), and the calf skin takes much longer to burn (more fire resistant)- So it’s definitely not suitable for me! In saying that, I think it would be really cool if you are writing your own pact, to write it on a calf skin, and store in a secret space.

So does it really matter if we use white paper or brown paper for writing of our petitions?

I say that you have to do whatever makes you feel like you’re doing it properly. If using modern parchment paper makes you feel like you’re conducting your rituals correctly, then by all means you should invest in parchment paper. If you cannot afford Parchment paper consider these options.

Alternatives to parchment paper in spell casting

1. Of course you can use a brown paper bag found in your super market for your hoodoo petition writing.
2. Cookie sheet lining parchment paper works too. Best part is, you can cut off just what you need.
3. Put a sheet of white paper into a frying pan (Without oil), and let it “crisp” or brown a little.
4. I love using Post-it notes as well!

I hope this inspires your choices! If anyone else does something cool to create their own parchment paper, please share below!

BWS