Everything is natural.
On Sunday, a pen tapped the page of my journal incessantly. The floors were cleaned with a milky, orange scented substance. On my hands and knees, with an old rag. I regretted not cleaning them with an infusion of Ruda and whispering a spell for he and I. “When spring comes around soon,” I promised. “I will return to the floor and do it right.” I had dirt underneath my fingernails from re-potting my children. I sang them songs of care as I examined their root structures. Today, I see that they have been restored. I rejoice.
I reflect on last week, how it feels so far away now. Since I finished the book on Curanderismo, the one that gives people chills when they touch it, the nightmares have stopped. Or at least, they’re dull enough to negate my remembrance. Last week was a week where I almost went to a High Priestess for help. An intensive banishing, I felt, was needed. But I handled it, and I advanced to another level in my life long training. I opened a channel to something and didn’t mean to. I didn’t pray for anyone or anything, I didn’t send for an answer to a question. I was simply flooded, as I was unguarded. As I sit here now, I ask myself if it is an uptick in my spirit communication analytics, or is it just a reflection of me?
Last week, as I sat on a small stool, so close to the ground, my elbows pressed into my knees, I had a vision. I had that book in my hand, and as I turned the page, I saw myself with a patient. Someone whom I had never seen before who desperately needed a diagnosis. I had one of my hands on her forehead, and the other on her Cerebro, the base of her skull. I could hear her vibration, and within it, a disturbance. I then saw a spirit behind the woman, his fingers plugged into her Cerebro as if downloading. He said, “I remain behind you, for your eyes cannot see me.”
When I broke trance, I was looking out the window to a bright sun. I knew the bushes outside were preparing to sprout their first few hints of green. I could feel it. I felt as though I had unlocked something sacred. A key to tapping into the spirit of others, a better way to heal them. A way to lift the veil and cross over. The gift of sight and healing, El Don. I thought about putting a drawing of what I saw in my Book of Shadows later in the day. As I continued to read, I discovered that what I had just seen in trance was written out on the pages of the book I had turned to. I broke out in laughter. I said out loud “Fuck, I love when I do that.”
The following are things I learned the hard way. To begin, traveling to other worlds, especially the realm of spirit, requires the proper armor and the proper approach. Remember that your shields and your process is personalized to you, no one written way should be followed exactly. Existence is intuitive. In the physical realm, we trust our instincts and guard ourselves from beings in human form on a daily basis. Although the types of shields may be slightly different for the spirit realm, it is the same process. You must enter prepared. To expand, our communication practices must be devoid of stigma. We have been conditioned in western society into believing that crossing the veil into the realm of spirit is a fantastical and performative exercise for the mentally ill. Or a new age practice to be amused by and then to ignore. This only perpetuates fear and internalized guilt. I am writing this today to tell you that the spirit realm is natural to you, as you are a spirit. Before you had a body and mind, you were a soul on the other side of that veil. You must approach your spirit visitor as your equal, as all is one. Each spirit has an essence of being, just as you have. You will find that once your approach to the spirit realm changes, it will become easier to lift the veil at will. Always remember that you are in control of your reactions, and with proper spirit identification techniques, you can communicate and act accordingly. Also remember that not all spirits are good, just like humans. It is up to you to enhance your spiritual sight, just as it is up to you to improve your judgement of character. This is called a craft for a reason. Mastery requires time.
For those of us who work in both realms on a regular basis, namely healers, there are energetic protections and boundaries that must be set. The same as locking the front door behind you when you get home. There are energetic laws that spirits tend to follow. We do not enter where we are unwelcomed, or where is locked down to the point of total non-entrance. There are hundreds of home and self protection practices to choose from that have been discovered an tested by our ancestors and magical practitioners of the past. Whether you are washing your windows, doors, and floors with an infusion of Ruda, growing onions on each corner of your property, keeping many house plants, wearing a talisman, or placing protection sigils where they are needed, something must be done. Your goal is to prevent misinterpreted communication that may lead to a lingering presence. Or to place somewhat of a filter on your invitations to spirits to enter your space. Each trip into the spirit realm is not going to be perfectly executed, not even for a master practitioner.
On this particular instance, I started having horrific nightmares after diving into Chapter Six, The Spiritual Level. Alongside experiencing terrible and sudden fatigue that forced me to sleep and to dream. I felt like I was supposed to be receiving a message in this time, but instead of something direct from one of my guides or otherwise, it was a flooding of information so fast paced that it dizzied me. Even when asleep. I felt presences that I had not felt before, and they lingered throughout the day. The final straw, however, was the feelings of irrational fear that would come on suddenly and almost cripple me. Even to the point where my beloved tarot deck began to show me irrational fear.
To diagnose situations like these, meditation is extremely important. In times where you feel compromised psychically, it can be an arduous task, indeed. Let those feelings pass, as you must remember that you are in control at all times. Negative spirits, whether they be succubi, demons, or malicious forces, will cross your path. They should be greeted with the utmost amount of questioning, diffusion, and in serious cases, force. Your first line of defense when entering that space is your own energetic force. It can be used to challenge abrasive forces if needed. Call your power from your preferred source. As an earth dominant being, I prefer to draw up my energy from the Earth itself. When doing energetic scans of myself and others, I use the Luminous Egg method. Drawing up energy through the spine, up to the crown of the head and letting the white energy pool there until it overflows, surrounding you. This adds an energetic shield from outside forces. I also like to burn a white sage incense for protection, or for more intensive works, I will combine frankincense and myrrh. In hand, I carry labradorite. From here you can scan your own vibration. Any messages you receive, images you see in your minds eye, feelings that arise, are valid and should be regarded as parts of your final diagnosis. You may receive direct communication in this time. Hear it, but question it.
In this meditation, you can also call upon your guides for insight on the situation, as typically, they are able to diagnose deeper and offer specific solutions. My personal guides in this instance, showed me that I was lost in this energetic thicket. Using my Deity Swords method that I will outline in a future post, I cut through it, but it took time. I was instructed to do one intensive herbal bath, burn a black candle, and do an elemental shield on a daily basis until the situation had subsided. I also called upon my guides to monitor the space. However, in cases where you do not want to investigate and simply banish, you must declare your space and ask your visitor to leave. Most of the time, it really is that simple. If it persists, you should do a full banishing rite. Often times, it involves summoning the columns, and only takes about five minutes. The windows of your home should remain open for this rite, but that is based on preference.
In closing of this mostly informational post, these are the reasons that magical practitioners teach protection first before other forms of magick. Often times, there are many misconceptions as to why we prioritize this, but the truth of it is, we are dabbling in worlds that know no spoken language but only speak through energetic currents. These currents have the potential to deeply affect our lives in a negative way if interacted with in a careless manner. In the practice of Curanderismo, for example, these energetic or spiritual ailments are diagnosed on a daily basis and are treated with similar practices and rites. The curandero is able to diagnose the spiritual disturbance in their patient before or after it has manifested psychical or serious psychological symptoms. I will be going deeper into the practices of Curanderismo and how it fills the gaps in the American healthcare system in later works.
I wish you protected reachings into the realm of spirit. So mote it be!
Photo Note: Spirals typically symbolize healing, but can also provide an easier passageway for energetic currents and spiritual diagnosis. For advanced practitioners, a spiral can be drawn on the cerebro and third eye placement for enhanced spirit communication. In this photo, I show one that was drawn on my hand with a simple pen for diagnosing a patient.
