So, I just ordered a Gregori Watcher. Hopefully, everything turns out well. But I'm a little bit confused about the house rules for them. I already have house rules for my light nature Watcher but I'm not sure about the Gregori Watcher.

Should the house rules be different for them since they are DA? If it should, what house rules do you guys have for DA?

Here's some recent (maybe not so recent) threads on house rules, as this topic has been covered multiple times.

viewtopic.php?f=68&t=78903&p=800537&hil ... es#p800537
viewtopic.php?p=799762#p799762
viewtopic.php?f=263&t=76476&p=777659&hi ... es#p777659

Each of these have links within them to further sources that would help you with house rules. Generally, think about your spirit as if they were a roommate. What kind of boundaries do you need to set? What do you want to make sure doesn't happen if it isn't communicated clearly? What do you need in order to stay safe with where you are living?

Mine generally fall along don't mess with family, stay clear of the dogs unless I mention they can play, do not ever manifest anything around my dad, do not act on my in-the-moment thoughts, keep the place protected, make sure any unbound who does not respect the rules gets escorted out. I have never had any problems with my spirits, even without these.

I have heard of spirits moving objects as tricks and stuff. So you could also make a house rule about never moving or hiding important things. For me that’s all keys and a few guns I own. I made that an explicit rule to NEVER touch either of those.

I have the same house rules for most members of my keep, white and dark arts except immortals. Some rules are work as a team and do not flicker the lights. I once had an unbound who flickered the lights and appeared right in front of me as a way of saying hello and that shock has stuck with me ever since.

You can have different house rules for different spirits. You'll need to make a clear record of which is for which so as not to be confused.

Hi

One of the founders of Creepy Hollows, ASH, has set out his core House Rules here

viewtopic.php?f=368&t=42051&p=436730

If you search this forum for 'house rules' with ASH as author, you'll see other threads where he has joined in discussion on house rules, which I think may include those links given above in this thread.

DA - rules neeeded

He has also said that house rules are needed if we have Dark Arts spirits. (No matter whether they are grey/neutral or darker.) You can also get a poster from the shop with the simplified bullet point list of 10 and you can even buy a binding of the house rules.

WA - some rules useful

In the CH White Arts book, written by Magnolia, it says if we only have WA/light natured spirits, we will still benefit from a couple of basic house rules. (I think this may be because of the benefit for our spirits when we give them clarity.) The basic foundation, even with WA spirits, if I remember correctly, is that all of them treat each other with respect.

So:
1. Yes, house rules are strongly recommended if we have any DA spirit.
2. They are not so essential if we have nothing but WA spirits - but a couple of basic ones can be helpful.

Forum members have often discussed how they have added customised details on top of ASH's basic 10 house rules.

House rules are like a form of tasking

Our spirits come because they want to be with us and help us. But they need us to tell them want we want them to do. We may have so many conflicting thoughts or mental subroutines or complexes going on that it can be hard for them to know which we actually want acting on - so we give them specific tasks and ask them to help achieve specific goals. I see house rules as not much different. They give clarity and common purpose.

Why have any rules?

I once lived in a large house with an assortment of other 'freaks' (hippies). We set no house rules or standards. Yes, it was do your own thing, man - but, wow, it was chaos. The place became a tip. And it led to unpleasant consequences for me.

I've also lived in a house with even more people but we had a shared understanding of who did what and all agreed to abide by those rules. The experience was much easier on me.

Until I set house rules for my spirit family, I didn't realise how much easier on us all it would be to have that common purpose and clarity.

...Actually, the house rules poster contains 12 rules...

Thanks, guys! I will copy the rules down on my document so I won't forget.

But now this leads me to another question: how much rules is too much? I was thinking that 10 rules would be enough for a DA. But is it?

I wouldn't worry too much about the number of rules than what the rules actually entail. House rules are more or less guidelines for your spirits to follow in order to have peace and clarification with you and your life. To me, number of house rules is variable from keeper to keeper depending on what the keeper needs for their Keep

Oh, ok. Thank you.

But now I have another question (sorry): can they break the house rules?

Technically yes. Most spirits or entities won’t, but occasionally there are a few who will test you, but that’s the exception. House rules are more like guidelines....