I have explained what I, as a spiritualist, believe. I also believe that there are many spiritual beings in the spirit realm. As a spiritualist I strive to allow them to help me and for me to help others as we all go through the sometimes battlefield called life. As brought forth by many famous psychics and mediums, our loved ones reside there. They may not stay on the other side for eternity. They may return to live another material experience here again. But for now, let us list our loved ones as the inhabitants of this other world reality. Sometimes (depending on their level of progress) they act as protections or guides. My daughter saw the aunt I had named her after when she was about nine years old one night in her room. The next morning she told me about this experience and said she didn’t think anything of it because the woman she saw had red hair (as do I). For a few minutes, she thought it had been me checking on her. She then noticed that the lady’s eyes were blue (my eyes are green) and that they were the bluest eyes she had ever seen on anyone in her life. This aunt had aqua, crystalline blue eyes that you could see a half a block away. She said she realized at that point that it wasn’t me but that the lady was so nice, she felt very comfortable. One of her grandmothers, who was never one to discuss seeing spirits, saw her son (my daughter’s father) shortly after his death. A friend of mine, who is Jewish sensed her mother in the delivery room with her when she delivered her first-born son. Another friend of mine, who is Chinese, felt a grandmother around her, playing with her hair. All of these experiences were not upsetting. They were intriguing but comfortable.
Shortly before my first husband died, he told me that if there a way to get the message through to me that there is life after life, he would let me know. Even if he had to kick me in the a—. Well, don’t you know, the night after his death as I lay in bed awake (who could sleep under these circumstances?) I was KICKED OUT OF BED AND LANDED ON MY BUTT! I could feel a foot mark right there on my butt, as if I had indeed been kicked in the a--.
As famous psychics and now reputable psychotherapists through regression hypnosis have determined, people travel in groups or clusters (as some people call them). This means that our families and friends tend to ‘migrate together’ so that we are all souls sharing living experiences sometimes many times over. My husband (now) and I were lovers during the Civil War and a fire took him from me at that time. When we met, we each felt a recognition of each other that was very profound and we each knew we would get married.
Are there animals there? Although many debate whether or not animals having souls, my own opinion and experience verify that they indeed do. When my childhood dog died, I would hear her and feel her going under my bed and hear her nails clicking on the linoleum when she walked just like they used to when she was alive. Visiting relatives have seen a beloved dog that had passed way recently on our sofa in the living late at night and they have no abilities to speak of at all. For, me the afterlife would be a sad place if there were no animals there. I hope to ride my horse on green pastures when we share the afterlife together!
Loving and familiar spirits know the challenges of life and understand pain and heartache and worry and sorrow and so, depending on their own level of spiritual development, they can be of comfort and help to us.
There are guides and protections that are with us from birth. They will project the image of the lifetime in which they had the strongest identity, were the most comfortable or that reflects their greatest strength. This is why guides are seen as Indians, gypsies, knights, or ninja. They can also reflect the particular medicine that they may have mastered or that they practiced in their last life.
Other spirits are transient. I remember one spirit, a matronly woman, being with me for about a year. She had a distinct perfume and in my mind, I could see how she looked. She came to me at a time in my life when my own mother was extremely ill and I feared she would not make it through her illness. The circumstances of this period of time is shared in “Raphael and Me” (Chapter 8). My mother had been disabled since I was nine years old and so our roles were reversed for most of my life in that I became her caregiver at a very young age. With the fear of losing my mother, I came in touch with the fact that I had been her ‘mother’ rather than she being mine and I mourned losing her before I knew what it was like to have a mother in the way everyone else did. Well, this spirit, whom I called “Mother” would come to me when I felt sad or lost. I had many a conversation with her, heart-to-hearts that I had never had with my own mother. I talked to her about my fears, my love for my mother and my own dreams and I always felt better. When my mother’s health improved and she was out of crisis, “Mother” simply went away.
THERE ARE ANGELS. I will share my own experiences with an angel in an upcoming chapter, as I said. The important thing about angels is that they want to help but never having been human they do not know what it is to suffer, thirst, hunger or be ill. Because they cannot know what we want or what we need, we must ask as clearly as we can. Example: We should not say please take my worries away. If we know what the worry is, we should say it . For example, “I just got laid off from my job and can’t pay my bills without a job. Please help me find a job as quickly as possible.”
There are guardians of the continents, guardians of the elements and of every direction (north, east, west and south) that I commonly refer to as Gatekeepers. Among tribal people and modern people who practice the old ways, even plant spirits are asked permission before picking for use as a medicine or liniment or cleansing bath. Much like the raven, who will exchange one item for another, an offering is always made. Wiccans do this, Native Americans always share with the earth, and Buddhists make offerings of candles and incense or grain.
Remnants of these old ways can be observed in the use of lights on the Jewish holidays as well as in Catholic churches in the offerings of prayers for people and the lighting of candles.
The interesting thing about earth-bound creative entities is that some are not removed from the human condition and often have weaknesses as well as strengths. These weaknesses are jealousy, rage and competition. These are entities that are neither good nor bad but will act in ways you give them permission to act. This is one reason why fear can be problem working with spirits. (This is the reason for the protective circle so common in ritual). I know I do not need any more challenges than I have sometimes. I don’t need anything extra because I did not focus properly. This is why asking the Creator to protect and bless the effort of your work and prayer is so very important. I always ask the Creator to look into my spirit and heart so that my intentions can be evaluated. I always ask for protection. If these intentions are as true in purpose as I believe them to be, I ask that I be granted what I ask as the Creator sees fit. I then seek permission of the reigning or primary guardians of the craft or medicine I am working with to assist me with my prayer, petition or work.
I remember spending the better part of my life wishing there were fairies, leprechauns and woodland guardians. You may be surprised to know that among spiritualists, Wiccans and shamans, it is a given that these beings, although known by different names, do indeed exist. When we are young, the thrill of the unknown is programmed out of us. The wish is replaced with the want. And, although wanting plays an important part in any work or spell, to me, the joy of the spiritual path is that all things we want to believe in, are very real to us. Perhaps, that is why a part of us remembers that favorite fairy tale and why we so enjoy reliving those moments with our own children. Perhaps it is that spirit side of us, that part of us that knows all the things adulthood reasons away, that reminds us of the magic all around us. The next time your son or daughter talks about the “friend” that only they can see, do not be so quick to think that it is child’s play. If you listen to what they tell you, you may find that what they “see” is beyond the scope of their years or experience. Allow them to see. Allow yourself to experience majick through their eyes!
But, knowing the world of spirit is more than knowing about spirits, conjuring, spells and divination. It is a responsibility to live life with Majick in it! Majick is acknowledging the power of the Creator and importance of prayer or petition and the Spirit. Prayer is for the human condition as a whole, peace for the earth, for the dead, ill and for those who by reason of mental incapacitation cannot pray for themselves, including spirits. Prayers of thanksgiving are not to be overlooked either for even in difficult times things can always be worse than they are.
In my opinion, good intention is an important quality. It is not as easy as wishing someone a good trip. It is asking(or casting) for that which you want or need and, no matter how desperately you need, deciding you do not want it if even someone you do not know can be affected by your work. This ethic is not all that common with many practitioners who, for a price, will do a work for any purpose. You see, if we are sending energy ripples throughout the universe, we can never know whose life or choice may be affected by our will in order to bring about what we have asked for. True followers of the Old Ways know and respect this possibility.
There is a wonderful short story that demonstrates this perfectly. In it, a husband and wife find a talisman that grants three wishes. Being poor, the wife wishes for money. Shortly after the wish, she receives the news that they came into money as result of their only son’s death from an accident at work. Desperate in her grief, the mother grabs the talisman and wishes her son alive again. He is then heard walking up to the door. At this point, the father grabs the talisman from her and wishes him dead again because the son had been mangled by machinery in the accident and the wife had forgotten to ask that the son be brought back WHOLE. This is a favorite story of mine that keeps me mindful of what can reaped if good intent and full awareness is not in tact.
My spiritual path is a way of serving for the good and working to better circumstances and must include knowing how to do this without repercussion. Understanding this concept of reincarnation and karma and is all Spiritualism. It is the realization of what CAN BE DONE as well as considering what COULD HAPPEN as a result. It is not just about spirits letting themselves be seen or known or having the ability to see and communicate with them. It is about being prepared and learning to develop the skills needed work successfully and harmlessly. It can be about reinventing our lives through change and enhancing our intuitiveness. My spiritual truth says all are part of the Spiritual Path. Spiritualism is also being able to address problems we can experience as a result of spirits that carry their private “Hell” around with them.
Recall for a moment my explanation of “Hell” (Chapter 4). There are many spirits that die and bring their “hell” with them. Having felt hopeless here, they are hopeless in spirit. Many attain ecstasy to discover the wonders of the next life but some are so locked into their misery when they die, they bring this misery and rage with them to ‘share ’ with the living. This absence of higher purpose and elevation as well as the continuation of earthbound suffering is their hell. It is a blindness to a whole new realm where love and comfort can bring such joy to the soul that all suffering might even seem worth it! These are souls that could never find something or someone to believe in; souls whose lives on earth had the path of rejection or abuse by family or mental illness. They were unable to find their own spirit and the Creator’s light to steady their course through that life. In short, they failed their own challenge.
Such tormented souls can have many different alternatives on the other side. Some are sent to a sleep-like state where the spirit can be replenished. Others are given pleasant and happy delusions to calm a troubled soul. Others resist and clinging to their anger, reject any and all assistance thus leading themselves on a retrograde spiritual path. In their darkness, they prey upon the living often attaching themselves to people with similar problems. These problems can be anger management, alcoholism, violence and/or drug abuse. They can disrupt relationships, cause severe depression and nervousness which ultimately can become true medical conditions. They do this because since they know no other way to be, they enjoy continuing to be within the midst of these problems or, in the absence of them, they create them. They are but some of the negative forces that can invade a home or a person’s mental state or health. An experienced Shaman or spiritualist or witch can be helpful in sending these spirits on their way and purging an environment of their influence through prayer, baths, incensing and other remedies.
If these spirits do not become educated, eventually, they will have the same life path again and again until they manage to find their own light and fight to remember who and what they really are: spirits on the road to majesty. Their Karma will be challenging to say the least and it is for these souls that spiritualists also work and pray. A spiritualist will pray that somewhere in their darkness there is a way for the light of all that is good, that comes from the Creator, to pierce that darkness and alleviate the loneliness and sorrow these souls endure.
All the major established religions believe in angels. Even people who belong to no organized religion believe in angels. New Age influences has brought angels back into the fore front as mankind, despairing and feeling a void that cannot be filled, seeks to believe once again in something. I am of the opinion that people need to believe in something (even if it is to regenerate by sitting atop a mountain.) Agnostics, I believe, are people hoping to find a reason to believe. That is why they only doubt. At least their mind is open. Atheists often say there cannot be a God because of all the evil and ailments of the world. It seems to me someone who becomes an atheist is someone whose childhood faith greatly disappointed him or her. The faith of my family sorely disappointed me, as I shared earlier. I can see disenchantment causing someone to disavow a belief in anything. In my case the unusual and adversity found their way onto my path over and over again to thump me on the head. But, oddly enough, it seems to me that atheists are strange bedfellows with religious people because they look at the punishment and pain religion uses to believe in God and, being unable to accept this (like me), walk away from their God rather than walking away from the teachings. Who, in essence then, believes more—the person who believes the things God will do or the person who, not believing a God would this, abandons God?
The Bible will be quoted as the basis for belief in pain and punishment and granted one may choose to accept it as a literal depiction. I admit, I look at it in an allegorical manner since my beliefs are diverse, it seems to me the Bible is one of many excellent blueprints or general maintenance manuals printed by the manufacturer, if you will. Do psalms help? Indeed they do. They help because like any other prayer, they give us the words when we are too distressed or frazzled to find our own. Is there an ultimate Creator? I personally believe there is and that it is the head of a grand chain of command above us. I believe there are divisions and sub-divisions, angels, “workers” (who carry out the tasks given by the angels in specific ways), protections and guides (former human souls working their way up divinity’s ladder), guardians of every planet, universe, direction and element, lesser deities of each continent, the seas, mountains and islands. The United States is very unique because having a citizenry of various ethnic origins, spirits of the various countries (African, Ireland, England, China etc.) now also have a place here.
Many people forget however, that the continental United States was originally all Native American. I always remember this before embarking on another medicine especially since I am of a Native bloodline. I approach and respectfully ask to be allowed to do my work and for assistance, if necessary. I was recently involved in assisting a woman afflicted by African craft. After asking the protection of the Creator, I asked my Native protections to step in and assist if we ran into trouble because the bottom line was, we were on Native soil.
Because there are so many overlapping domains, I have an awareness of all areas of expertise each angel, spirit, or minor deity has. If we have need of a lawyer, would we seek a doctor to come with us to court? Of course not. It is not that some assistance would be gained by asking a patron angel for something out of its jurisdiction, it’s just that asking for help from a specialist can be quicker and more effective. There are so many avenues the Creator has provided for us to utilize in order to receive help, I cannot doubt the existence of a Creator nor of the spiritual “family” that is always with me to nurture, help and love me.
A word of caution. Do not ‘dabble’ in anything with which you not familiar. As a novice, depending on your gifts, which you may not even be aware of, you can attract any number of spirits to you too quickly. Even spirits eager to help can feed you too much information, flood you with confusing dreams or carry out a vengeful whim because they have not elevated to a more enlightened level. There are many spirits eager to deceive, eager to be heard and eager to learn how to become more helpful. They cannot always fashion themselves. Sometimes, they have to be fashioned by us. Based on how we guide them can also determine how they will spiritually elevate. Spirits that guide us on the other hand, are enlightened, service oriented beings. We cannot, as novices always tell the difference. This is why every practice has its ritual and its symbols. These are like a spiritual language complete with a dictionary and only the adept should modify a ritual, prayer, symbol or spell.
There are lost spirits eager to attach themselves to people that have the same or similar physical or addictive conditions they had. There are spirits so unenlightened, that they simply enjoy bringing misery to people who are doing okay. There are spirits so desperate to be listened to, they cling and appear even to people who do not believe in mysticism and may not even know they have gifts! Who knows how many nervous breakdowns began which such attempts at communication. This is why I will repeat that the arts are not for dabblers. Prayer or petition is the best and only place for a beginner to start. Prayers of thanksgiving, for the earth, for the suffering for the lost souls, for the community and for guidance prior to reading any spiritual material can help your heart and spirit find the truth you are seeking for yourself.
Because there are so many spirits and so many traditions, let’s take a minute and discuss how to acknowledge the spirits whose guidance you seek. Some offering to share what you have or that you have gained is always a practice of the Old Way. Keep in mind that spirits are not materialistic so that one’s more expensive offering is not valued more highly than a poor devotee’s seemingly meager one. Offerings, for the most part represent the intent of the heart. Which is of greater sacrifice: the expensive incense someone can afford easily or the offering of cornmeal that could actually be a breakfast meal for someone else? There is no guideline to decide because someone of comfort can provide more expensive or elaborate offerings. They should do this especially if their blessings are a result of devotion and a dissolution of their own individual suffering. In their case, it is fitting that they offering something more elaborate as a remembrance and in thanks. A poor devotee may still be struggling spiritually, suffering on an unfixed life path and yet, remains true to the truth that Majick, no matter how small, can be in everyday life.
Offerings from those undergoing hardship hold a special place as well. The thing that matters most is the intent of the heart when the offering is made. Truthfully, there are some spirits whose requirements for certain types of assistance and devotions are exact and specific and cannot be modified according to specific tradition and ritual. These spirits are in the specific domain of certain disciplines but even in these disciplines, there is room for smaller offerings and not so rigid rituals in many cases. Basically, anything can be offered. You can offer a fasting, candles, incense, food items to represent a share of your survival and/or prayer rituals. In my household, whenever there is a gathering or holiday, the spirits receive the food prepared before anyone else as an offering of thanks. Then the spiritual leader is served, then the elders, and finally the rest of the guests. This is the spiritual tradition of my truth which includes Native and other Pagan/Earth traditions.
As to who is really out there, everything is out there! From fairies to elves, from angels to imps, from loved ones to animals and above all else and The Creator from whom only good things come.They bring us our premonitions, protect us from danger, whisk us away in dream-time and instruct us,( which we may or may not remember). They help our flowers and plants grow. They help us find the right doctors, lawyers, friends and jobs!
They are just waiting to be asked and waiting for us to simply begin.