Summoning the Gatekeeper

A Folk-Catholic Perspective on St Peter

Foreword

Saint Peter is a complex spirit. As the patriarch of the Catholic Church, he’s portrayed as strict and rigid in his morality. However, in practice, he presents himself with humility and compassion that are unbefitting of his reputation. As heaven’s gatekeeper, he’s called upon through supplication and prayer to bring about blessings. Typically, this gatekeeper aspect is invoked for the use of his keys; ritually binding a situation to manifest a result or unbinding to remove something. As a fisherman, he’s known for providing sustenance and security for those who ask for his aid. Either offering guidance in a storm (literal or emotional) or bringing about abundance, sympathetically referencing a large catch of fish.

Your understanding of Petros will be unique to you. Diving into his lore will produce many avenues of mystical exploration. Using the tarot, I understand his energy as a combination of The Hierophant, The Hermit, The Fool, and The Magician. He has some pretty hilarious wizard battles in the bible.

In your research, be mindful of the overlap of ATR synchronization. St Peter is often synchronized with other gatekeeper spirits in African-derived religions. I‘m thusly cautioning you because a lot of the occult information about St Peter is stolen from spiritual practices like Hoodoo, Santeria, and New Orleans Voodoo. For our purposes, we’re relying on biblical stories, catholic tradition, and iconography to provide our mystical lens.

For me, Saint Peter is a bastion of divinity. He opens the way for other spirits and serves the divine alongside us. He’s often a spirit I work with for complicated rites, asking for his help and guidance as I perform magic. He feels like a wise old wizard mentor who’s down bad for Jesus. It’s my opinion that we each develop a different lens and relationship with spirits. In some ways, it’s like we all have our own St Peter. The best way to develop a relationship with him is to practice - get to know your gatekeeper!!

This ritual I offer you is a combination of a novena and a spell. It must be performed an odd number of times, ideally 9. It’s effective but not in any exclusive sense.

On a personal note, St Peter has helped me so much in my life. He’s deeply loving, a bit harsh, but endlessly devoted to goodness. A final tip before we dive in: He has an especially powerful influence over anything involving keys, literal or not.