A DIFFERENT KIND OF PATRIOTISM

Happy Friday! Today I took a shift toward the creative again, and decided to post this poem from Langston Hughes. It felt especially appropriate as the country settles into the unknown of the next four years. I commend these words to you and hope they bring you some hope and solace during this time. 

"LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN"

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

HOLY MOLY!: THE SAINTS & HOODOO

It may seem at first blush that Hoodoo and Christian saints don’t have much of a natural connection, especially outside of the context of New Orleans, Louisiana, where there has been a longstanding historical synergy. If you ever read any of the Hyatt books, where a lot of Southern Hoodoo is cataloged in sociological style, you will see quickly that working with saints was not reserved for that one part of the South.

The connection is not as far-fetched as it might seem. For one thing, saints are Christian spirits. Hoodoo itself has strong Christian roots and tended not to work with a lot of other spirits outside of the Bible (mainly because the most considerable Abrahamic influence on early Hoodoo was Protestant Christianity, not Catholicism). But even for a Protestant worker, if they were Black, they were also working on a foundational premise of African spiritualities (and really, any indigenous spirituality). That premise is that Indigenous people recognize power wherever it comes from. Sometimes anthropologists see the practical results of this belief and assume Black people will worship anything—and when they do, they are missing the point.

The saints have long been established witnesses in the lives of the Catholic, Orthodox, and Episcopal churches. Workers would have seen or known people who revere the saints in the church, seeing them in prayer, at feast days, and so forth, and the light bulb would have gone off.

Add to this the fact that Hoodoo and American Spiritualism/Spiritualist Churches began to exchange ideas and fuse into each other’s practices, and you have the perfect storm for some rootworkers who choose to work with saints. What I find fascinating is, when I read some of the stories and prescriptions Hyatt received where saints were mentioned, the rootworkers would combine reverence for, for example, Saint Expedite with rootwork to get some quick money or return a lost lover. With its reverence for these spiritual superheroes, the “high magic” of the Church made love to the “low magic” of working roots, tying knots, and fixing money to hunt more money!

In some of my classes, I, too, show how I work with certain saints to specific ends. For example, there is no better saint for mental and emotional issues than Saint Dymphna. My first working with her years ago was for a dear friend whose brother got into trouble with the Law and had to do some serious time. The problem wasn’t his crime as much as his mental health. His mom had visited him when he was just in holding, and she could tell that his mental health was already bad. So, she reached out to me and asked if there was anything I could do. So I prayed to Dymphna like I knew how. Pretty soon after, I received a spiritual bath and candle ritual. Dymphna taught me that a mother could take baths for their child, and its benefit would reach the child—because they have an unbreakable bond. And sure enough, when we visited her son, he was much better and wasn’t sure how!

Like other spirits, saints are great teachers and will show you what you need to know. I hope you consider them and their value in your practice.    

THE THREAD OF SPIRITS: ARE THEY THE SAME EVERYWHERE?

There are certain people for whom some spirits seem to walk with them no matter what they practice. This means that from tradition to tradition, that spirit always seems to find them. This is an interesting phenomenon because it bucks some of the trends, assumptions, and gatekeeping that others seem so intent on doing.

Before people start bugging out, I am not saying all spirits are the same or that all spiritual traditions are the same. Just going from a church to a mosque to a Hindu temple will make the point that there are some significant and noticeable differences in belief and expression of those beliefs. In espiritismo, though, I have noticed this phenomenon more than in other places. Although, as a reader and guide of others, I know many people where I can see the thread of a specific spirit manifesting itself across tradition lines when I look with them at their spiritual paths.

What does this mean? To be sure, I do not have all the answers to that. But I will make an educated guess based on my knowledge of different indigenous traditions (which I include espiritismo as one). In spiritualities that work with Congo spirits, the Congo often has a name and attributes all their own. But this palpable sense is also that the Congo walks powerfully with nature force energies. So it may be a healing Congo with an intense energy of the nkisi known as Kobayende. The Congo is NOT Kobayende, but that force of nature is so strong with that Congo that the person who has that Congo as a guide will sometimes feel that more potent energy comes forward.

If spirits like Congos are like this, there is no reason we would not be the same. This is partly why, in Orisha traditions, children of a particular Orisha tend to behave throughout their lifetime with that Orisha’s energy. For example, Chango children can be arrogant. But let me tell you, it is far more menacing to meet one who is humble—because the kingly power of Chango is there and rooted in a deep self-confidence that does not need arrogance to keep it afloat!

My theory is that we draw this sort of thread because it is the choice we made pre-incarnation as our default natural state in relation to the natural order of Creation. With something akin to the Law of Attraction, we then will draw energies and vibrations that align with that, and over a lifetime, we have the potential to become that energy in powerful ways. Just think of people, big and small, who we know who seem to do just this. I don’t think all spirits are the same, but I believe the spiritual thread of like attracting like brings the entities to us that we most align with.

What are your thoughts on this? I'm eager to hear your perspectives and experiences. After all, our individual journeys contribute to the rich tapestry of spiritual understanding.

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey Folx!

I have another piece of exciting news to share. My dear and beloved friend, Michelle Jacques, has produced a fine album of music rooted in a larger-scale project she has been involved in for years called “Daughters of the Delta.” This artistic project highlights the unique contributions certain women have made to the music and culture of the Louisiana Gulf region. As she says in the link I have provided below, it is a living tradition, and she is doing her part within her musical community to uplift and preserve it.

But I want to get personal for a moment. I have known Michelle for many years, as long as I moved to and lived in California. She is also the music director at my church and is an award-winning international Jazz and Blues artist in her own right. One of the charisms of my multiracial church is the music ministry. Several local jazz and blues musicians participate in the church’s music ministry, and no other church in the Bay can boast of such a claim. Chelle, as we call her, is also a dear friend who has walked with me during some difficult life moments, so it is an honor and joy to share this impressive accomplishment in her life’s work with you.

With that, I commend to you the music of the Daughter of the Delta and warmly encourage you to listen, make a purchase, and let the sounds, rhythms, and spirit of Louisiana enliven your soul!

https://roundwhirledrecords.bandcamp.com/album/daughters-of-the-delta

SOMETIMES, THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE

A few years back, a friend needed my help at the relatively last minute, through no fault of his own. A situation turned urgent for him, and he reached out for help. I had not long had a specific spirit who worked quickly in communication and commerce, so I knew immediately to go to that spirit and see what I could negotiate to help.

I did as I had learned, calling out to the spirit and divining. Sure enough, he agreed to assist. Then came the part that always makes me pause a little—the payment!

It was the first time I had worked with said spirit for someone other than myself. See, people like me, when we receive new spirits, we know not to ask them to do a bunch of stuff, even for us. The first several weeks I usually spend sitting, meditating and talking. Sometimes, I will light a candle or blow some smoke or rum. But this person needed me to act, so act, I did.

Do you know what this spirit wanted? It was nothing more than a candle with some specific herbs rolled onto it.

I was floored. I expected a significant ask/demand for such a last-minute situation. But instead, it just wanted light. Now, to be sure, light is no small thing in ATRs/ADRs. Those of us who practice espiritismo often say that all you need to work with spirits is a candle and a glass of water. I have done this enough to know that it is that simple.

But I digress a little. Light is essential for several reasons. One is that it is an offering of light to the spirit. It makes it easier for them to see in some ways. It brings light to darkness, whether that is the situation, something someone is hiding, or to ease my communication with my spirit. Light also uplifts prayers. It is akin to what the Bible calls the “sweet burnt offering” going up to the Divine. Light means many things.

For my friend, this meant that all the spirit needed was some light and herbs to procure money to get things moving. My friend had what he needed in precisely three days. This spirit has an uncanny ability to accomplish goals in three days, so much so that I know that’s how it works.

But this post is really about the power of simplicity. I am learning of another related ATR system that is far more straightforward than most. We live in an age of oversaturation of many things, so when something simple yet effective comes along, there can almost be a tyranny against believing it has real power. For some of us, we get stuck thinking that what’s powerful is what takes hours and hours to carry out. Some things are this way, yes. But other ways are not.

This is yet another reason why I teach Hoodoo the way I do. To be sure, there are complicated rituals in Hoodoo. But the vast majority of its tools are simple, direct, and effective. Hoodoo was not borne out of a state of luxury but of necessity. It also had to be something that could work on the move because Hoodoo’s original forebears often had to keep it moving while still doing what needed to be done spiritually. If you want to learn more about the simple spiritual practice I teach, please join me in my current cohort of Working the Roots. You will be glad you did!

The link to the class is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.

See you in class!

MAKING MAGIC WORK FOR YOU

Several years back, much earlier in my practice and development, I had a good friend who reached out in need of help. He had lent someone a significant amount of money, and though they agreed at the onset to pay him back, he reported that they started to hedge on their promise. His not receiving that money back would have devastated his life, based on everything he said to me.

I had a few spirits I was learning to work with, but few of them had come through strong yet. But that day, one of my spirits did. Very much so. Someone within my spiritual cuadro that was new to me, who I hadn’t even established much understanding about how to work with her. But she came through STRONG. And with her presence came a strong download of specific work to do with her.

What threw me at that moment wasn’t that she was talking so much. Or even that she stood up to assist me in helping my bud. What THREW me was the specific work she gave me. The things she instructed me to do were not things I knew or understood to be something that went together. Yes, I had worked with them separately and in different situations. Cussing someone out. Banging a machete on the ground. And fire, LOTS of fire.

But I knew enough of them to know better than not to do what that spirit gave me to do. And I kid you not, my friend had all his money back in three days, precisely when she said it would return!

What I learned at that time was that it is okay, and even necessary, for me to make my magic work for me. Yes, tradition is important. It is vital to me as an ATR practitioner. There is a way to do things that get consistent results, and more importantly, it connects me to a long line of egguns who did the same thing. So when I follow the traditions, I am not just doing it with the energy of now. I am doing it with the power of countless ancestral spirits who went before me. Even my saying that does not entirely capture the mystery of it, but it is what it is.

Tradition is important, but it only carries you to a point. At some point, a trust needs to be established where your spirits teach you the stuff that tradition alone cannot and will not. This is because tradition is valuable and valuable. It’s because there are mysteries and ways of working that are authentic to you and your spirits that only they can teach. I think this is often misunderstood, to be honest. I think the misunderstanding leads to people thinking teachers like me can teach that, but none of us can. What we can teach is the foundation. We can teach our version of tradition that gives your tree roots from which you and your spirits grow and branch.

I get it, though. We live in an age of instant information, of many people teaching many things. But we also live in a time of Covid and other social problems that make many of us feel we need something clear and specific to deal with. The problem is that we need more than tradition alone to get what we need. The tradition is more like a means to an end than the end itself. In my spiritual work, especially with spirits, the story I told above has repeated itself so many times with so many different spirits that I trust what I am given to bring relief and aid to folks. I know it will work because they have shown it WILL.

Now, I don’t want to romanticize any of this. We are all different, develop differently, and have different skills, gifts, and talents. Some people I know can work with or pass spirits with little effort. Others, like me, have had to work through a lot of challenges to have a consistent practice. The difference I encountered was who my elders were. If I had controlled elders and not worked with me to build my confidence, my development would be slow. If a mentor had an ulterior motive for keeping me in a relationship of dependence with them, my development was slow. But when an elder encouraged me to trust myself, I grew.

Making your magic work for you is fundamental to any spiritual practice. The medium doesn’t matter to me: chaos magic, Solomonic magic, PGM magic, Lucumi, Abakua, etc. Any of them should bring you to the place where however that system works takes you to a practice authentic and unique to you. The methods may not be unique, but how you carry them out should, over time, reflect how you perceive the spirit world. It should reflect a protocol you follow to connect to your spirits, herbs, or astral energies to make things happen as you need. It is not a dismissal from a teacher for you to be on your own unless you choose to be. Following a tradition should connect you to others who walk that same path, even if you walk it differently.

I hope everyone reading this finds their own way to this authentic place. It is what will carry you through the long haul of a lifetime practice.

ANOTHER REASON I TEACH HOODOO THE WAY I DO

The occult world as we know it is chock full of numerous traditions. Among them are a fair number of initiation-based ones. Some initiatory ones, like any ATR/ADR, require hefty commitments and an even heftier price tag. And I am talking about honest spiritual houses, not the ones trying to exploit people. Those are a whole other post for a whole other day.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any tradition as long as it does not add to the numerous forms of oppression anyone with eyes can see. But as I keep reiterating, initiations are not for everyone. They are not. If a santero, palero, babalawo, blah blah blah, is hustling you to believe initiations ARE meant for everyone, do an about-face and walk away.

I actually went to a misa (read: ATR séance) not long ago where both myself and the person the misa was for were told we needed to receive a million different initiations across three traditions. The person did pass their spirit, but I could feel right away that the spirit was not very evolved. This was confirmed for me when the other person, who is in recovery, was offered an alcoholic drink by the spirit. The spirit tried to push it on them, so I stood up, blocked them, and said NO. If a spirit is elevated, it will know a detail like that and not do something destructive to a person’s life. But I digress a bit.

I am teaching my brand of Hoodoo because there should be spiritual practices that do not require initiation so people can fulfill their potential and walk their path with the right tools. Foremost among the tools I teach is for people to name their social location as the starting point for their personal power. It is also where some people discover or rediscover that they come from a community that brought them to this moment, good or bad. Reflection on this in the class context can help people discern how they will serve the communities around them. I haven’t taken many other classes that take the time to do this.

Most of the time, these things I highlight are things I don’t hear about as much while the class takes place but in the days, weeks, and months after. Usually, when a person fully incorporates what they have learned to practice rootwork in ways that work for their context. It is always fantastic to get this feedback because, honestly, it helps me to know whether my teachings are on track and having the positive impact on students’ lives that I hope for. So, to that, I say thank you.

If you still need to take Working the Roots, know that my next cohort through the Blackthorne School is starting on 10/21. I would love to have you with us! The link to join is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-roots/.  

WANNA WORK WITH SPIRITS? START WITH YOUR ANCESTORS!

I have written about this periodically here and there, but I thought this post would address what I believe to be an important part, if not the important part, of spirit work. Many people approach me and ask me how to work with spirits. Sometimes, this comes up in a reading. Other times, people seek advice and counsel about developing that part of their spiritual practice.

My answer is almost always the same: start with your ancestors. Another word people will hear me use a lot is eggun. This word in the Lucumi ATR world I am in signifies two sets of spirits. One is your blood ancestors. You typically know these people a few generations back, and some you only know through family stories. Our ancestors are a mixed bag of noble and sometimes scandalous people. But what is significant is if they show up for you in your ancestral spiritual development, they are likely in a good spiritual place where they wish to help their posterity from the other side.

The second set of eggun are called “ara onu,” which translates roughly in the Nigerian dialect as ancestral spirit guides. All ancestral spirits are eggun, but not all are ara onu. Some are both, but that tends to be rare. These are spirits that are usually not part of your bloodline. They can be from any place, time, or culture and almost always have a specific mission with you during this lifetime that they have come to you to assist you with. These spirits are also often where many of your spiritual abilities originate, and in many cases, they enhance things such as psychic vision, divination, working with herbs, and so on.

There’s one reason I lift these spirits up above any other for the average person. With most other spirits, you have to work hard to connect, then give offerings, devotion, and whatever else to make a pact with said spirit and eventually achieve what you desire. This can be time-consuming, and there is always a chance such a spirit—even a god- may not follow through. Eggun are different. You don’t have to spend inordinate amounts of time to connect because they are already connected to you. They are already inside of you, in your bones and DNA. They are a literal part of you. The trick with them is not so much connecting but building a solid relationship and foundation.

In all my ATR traditions, eggun lead everything. Most ATR ceremonies cannot even happen without eggun being propitiated first, especially in Lucumi. When you connect, especially with a practice like espiritismo, you also begin to discover that while most spirits walking with you are meant for devotional work, some with you are working spirits. Some do not need your devotion but rather are workhorses that address, attack, or resolve the challenges in your life. Each of them tends to have a specialty and makes that known as you connect and sit with them.

The things people run to demons, angels, djinn, and gods for can easily and more quickly be done by your working ancestral spirits. Sometimes, even the other eggun will assist one of the others, and you quickly discover you have a whole army at your back. There’s nothing wrong with those other spirits, but the fact that it takes pacting with them in some way to get what you want means success depends on their whim. Your ancestors, on the other hand, have a vested interest in the line's success. If you fail, they fail. If you go broke, nobody gets anything. I would bet my bottom dollar on that any day above any other spirit. I encourage you to do the same, especially if you are wondering how best to foundate your practice. I don’t know of any better than Eggun.  

Ancestral Reverence: Some Scattered Thoughts

This is an oldie I wrote a year or two ago, but a goodie. Much of this still applies to revering those who went before us. Enjoy!

My ancestors and spirit guides have been heavy on my mind as of late. So have some of my close family members who have passed away in recent years. In fact, around my birthday date in August, I suddenly got this strong urge to get a Mets baseball cap. Why? Because growing up, when I was a little boy, I used to spend a lot of time with my grandpa watching Mets games on TV. I actually dreamed someday of taking a trip with him to Shea Stadium and seeing a game live.

We never got to do that before he died. He died suddenly after a minor surgical procedure, months later, while I was in college. But he was a major force in my childhood. When my parents divorced, it was devastating to my mom on several levels, especially financially. She struggled for at least the first ten years of my life to stabilize our lives and rebuild her life. My grandparents were KEY to that process. They often picked me up from school while Mom worked late. They would feed me dinner. 

The cool thing is I never felt a sense of lack. I knew what my Mom was doing, getting her education and then her very busy job as a guidance counselor. She was doing the work with poor families to get them stable like she had done for her and I. And she drew on the community around the school to help her do that, just like she did with grandma and grandpa.

Fast forward to grandpa’s death. I got asked to speak at the funeral. By now I was a student leader in the Protestant church at college, so everybody in the family saw me as a preacher-man-in-training. The night before the funeral, I was typing away on my word processor.

All of a sudden, I felt a spirit hovering over and to one side of me. In my mind’s eye, the spirit showed itself enough that I knew it was Grandpa Chuck. I simply said “Grandpa?!” No sooner had I said that, he passed on and away, like Superman. I later learned that this was a thing in the Black community—that our deceased ancestors will sometimes pass over loved ones to let them know they are okay.

It would be even more later that I would learn that my grandpa continues to be with me in a special way, and is a guiding force in my life. You can then imagine that, when the signals started coming through that it was time to get a Mets cap and honor my Grandpa, I did not hesitate!

Alright, so here’s the thing. The reason I am writing about this is because sometimes people are saying and doing weird shit around ancestor reverence. I hear stories of people saying someone reached out to them about their ancestors to tell them what their own ancestors want them to do. It just doesn’t work that way, periodt. The only thing somewhat similar to that is a misa or a séance that is focused on you and “pulling” your ancestral spirits, to assist in your development. But no ATR person is going to just randomly go around telling people about their ancestors. 

You already have your ancestors with you. The connection is also already there, but sometimes it needs some work to make it so that you can perceive them. Also, yes, some of us have so-called bad ancestors. Some people want to write ancestors off completely because of those rotten apples. I say that’s a huge mistake. Your ancestral line is old, really old. It goes back to the ancestors we all share, which even science confirms. I do believe it is possible to reach back to those, what I call Primal Ancestors. Do I have a specific way of doing that? No. But from all the stuff I see in occultism and how far out it gets, I wonder why people would balk at trying to reach back ancestrally, but have no qualms conjuring the Devil and every demon of the Goetia? Them spirits you have to work to even have the connection to begin with. With your ancestors, it is already there.

Another critique I hear of ancestral veneration is that people talking about it don’t really show a clear-cut method with concrete results. That’s a fair one. Some of us don’t. But the ability to connect to ancestors and spirit guides just is not a cookie-cutter thing. It’s not like Solomonic magic, for example, where if you do all the steps correctly, you will experience SOMETHING. 

No, because our ancestors are first and foremost carried in our bodies, it means our individual ability to connect to them will have variance. For people like me, I can sit at my White Table and connect to them without a problem. For others that never works. Maybe they need to have a ground altar. Maybe they need to take a walk in nature and take off their shoes and learn to hear the ancestral voices guiding them.

Or maybe it’s as simple as buying a Mets cap and letting the connection with that person come through the memories, sensations and joy they inspired in your life. 

Perhaps this is why people are so critical of ancestral reverence, because it’s not easily reproducible like scientific research. Spiritists and Spiritualists have been doing this work for a long time, and those I know who are good at it ALL seek first and foremost to determine how a new person to the Art connects. A lot of that is experimentation. What’s challenging, though, is that some of it only happens well in the context of community. There are things I learned about my family line ancestrally that would have taken me many years of work to perceive, but with the assistance of espiritistas in my spiritual house, I made much faster progress.

All of this is to say to you that if you feel any draw to your ancestors, I want you to not be afraid to experiment and try different things. They are already guiding and running your development as a spirit and human being, so they will also guide you around this. There will be things you try that you connect with immediately, while others not so much. Sometimes that is one of your ancestral spirits letting you know that this interest in, let’s say calligraphy is because you have a Japanese spirit guide who was a Buddhist monk and practiced writing. But we don’t have an understanding of that until we do the doing.

You don’t have to have a fancy white table.

You don’t have to give expensive liquors.

You don’t have to cook massive feasts of ancestor food.

You don’t really need anything to connect with your ancestors.

They are already in your body, blood, bones and DNA. 

You can call out to them right where you stand, right now.

Then just be still

And they will come.

DID YOU KNOW?: THE PRACTICE OF ESPIRITISMO

You have all heard me speak and teach pretty openly on practices connected to espiritismo, or Spiritism, that I can teach before it gets into the aspects you need a teacher/mentor for. But I wanted to write a bit more about the background so you might also understand a huge part of my spirituality and why I say many of the things I say.

I believe that spiritism originated in France. It began with an academic pseudonymously named Allan Kardec. He was not super religious, nor did he initially believe in the occult. I think he was invited to attend a séance, and when messages came through for him, they roped him into this fledgling tradition. Soon after that, he encountered what is known as the Good Spirits. They told him that his life mission was to teach and expand the practice of Spiritism to the known world and, in that way, combat the encroaching darkness of the Opposing Forces. They also warned him that those Forces would do everything possible to stop the spread of the Light, disrupting humanity’s ability to progress and evolve as a race. And that if he accomplished this, Spiritism would spread all over the world.

You can argue that Kardec accomplished just this. The practice had modest success across Europe. Then, as Europeans either traveled, immigrated, or were kicked out of their mother countries and into the so-called New World, the practice DID go global. The Caribbean, Mexico, and other parts of Latin America quickly grasped it. In these places, Spiritism also connected to the various indigenous and African cultures and practices and took on a different flavor altogether, almost to the point that you would not recognize espiritismo from European Spiritism. But they are related.

When espiritismo was adopted by non-white people, it underwent a fascinating transformation. It became more earthy, less formal, and less scientific in approach. It stressed experience, the passing of spirits, and the development of spiritual sight. This adaptability is a testament to the resilience and evolution of espiritismo, inspiring us to embrace change and growth in our own spiritual journeys.

Spiritism adapted once more when it hit American soil. When it came here, it became what’s called Spiritualism. Also, because America has always had a race problem (which European Spiritism also had), racism caused there to be two different sects. Numerous Black Spiritualist churches combined elements of Protestant, Catholic, and Spiritist ways. The white churches were much the same, but they tended to see non-white spirits as lower in intelligence and power. Spiritualism is mainly where the concept of candle color came into American magic. Before this, our ancestors used oil lamps and beeswax candles (and preferred lamps). This is why you have heard me say that color magic is cool but unnecessary. It’s not “native” to Hoodoo.

Espiritismo is so important to me because, besides my Christianity (my oldest practice from my childhood), it is the part of my spirituality that ties them all together. It is what has taught me over and over again that the divisions religions and human beings make are primarily artificial and self-serving some group, somewhere. It is the practice that moved me away, the older I get, from an anthropomorphic understanding of God, toward one of God as Light and Intelligence Who stands above all concepts of religion, but is accessible to any and everyone. It is the practice that makes all the isms we persist in holding onto as utter nonsense, because any of us have spirits from any place, time or culture. It is the tradition that helped me accept the possibility of reincarnation NOT as a sideways Hell like Hindus and Buddhists tend to articulate but as merciful opportunities to grow and learn and evolve ourselves over lifetimes.

It is ALSO the practice that the more I do it, the more I experience the Divine in every spiritual place I go. One of my mentors said that an espiritista who is earnest in practice can walk into any spiritual space or place of worship and feel that Presence. I have experienced this personally. Espiritismo leaves me open and helps to hold back any tendencies I have in myself of absolutes and black-and-white thinking that limits me. Few spiritualities can do this because most of them out here are concerned with declaring what is Truth. But espiritismo leads to beautiful places when not limited by our prejudices.

As you navigate your spiritual journey, I encourage you to explore practices that resonate with you, much like espiritismo has resonated with me. May the heart of life always reveal itself to you as something good.

CABRINI: SOME POINTS OF REFLECTION ON THE MOVIE

I had the chance to see the movie Cabrini at the beginning of this past weekend. And don’t worry—I won’t say much about the actual film here! The movie did inspire me to write this post, however.

What I was most struck by in the movie was the depth of the hatred for newer European immigrants by older European immigrants. This took place in the late 1800s, so it was not far after the end of the Civil War and American Slavery. Many people also do not know the tumultuous history of New York City during this period. The City nearly burned to the ground two or three times, if my memory serves me. When the movie “Gangs of New York” came out, I thought it was a historical fantasy. In later years of going to seminary and taking specific theological courses centered on Critical Race Theory, I learned that the history in that movie was entirely accurate. Before white people decided to stop hating and killing each other and lay down the false narrative of older European immigrants being more American, they picked up the mantle of whiteness. They invited most European immigrants who came here to join the club. That began what we are still under as a nation today.

The hatred Mother Cabrini dealt with was quite real and unending. Making matters worse, the patriarchy of both the Catholic archdiocese and the secular authorities of the city merged for a particularly virulent opposition. She was also gravely ill in the latter part of her life and illness. As I watched all of her triumphs and sorrowful defeats and setbacks, I was reminded of the power of faith. Her keeping hold of a bigger picture, a reality larger than her reality, made her keep going, one foot in front of the other. I think we can sometimes lust for burning bushes, much like how occultists lust for results sometimes. But the real strength of having faith, any faith, is the grit it gives you. It is the growing edge Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman speaks of in this poem:

All around us worlds are dying and new worlds are being born;

all around us life is dying and life is being born.

The fruit ripens on the tree,

the roots are silently at work in the darkness of the earth

against a time when there shall be new lives, fresh blossoms, green fruit.

Such is the growing edge!

It is the extra breath from the exhausted lung,

the one more thing to try when all else has failed,

the upward reach of life when weariness closes in upon all endeavor.

This is the basis of hope in moments of despair,

the incentive to carry on when times are out of joint and men have lost their reason,

the source of confidence when worlds crash and dreams whiten into ash.

The birth of a child — life’s most dramatic answer to death —

this is the growing edge incarnate.

Look well to the growing edge!

She called that growing edge God and seemed to walk closely with it until she couldn’t. Times are hard in our day and time, too. The movie actually could not have come out at a better time, where in America, racial hatred and xenophobia seem at an all-time high to me. In the face of that, Cabrini would probably ask us what kind of an America we want to create now? We have that opportunity right now. We can continue to repeat the toxic and hateful patterns of those in this country who went before us. Or we can acknowledge to ourselves and our communities that all that does is give us a false sense of security that eventually crumbles.

I think it’s time to look for the growing edges in our day—the places where weeds and plants stubbornly shoot through ghetto concrete. I know they’re there; I see them and sometimes feel them. My prayer is to perceive this more.

Where do you see the growing edges?

IT ALL CATCHES UP: THOUGHTS ON SELF-CARE, SELF-AWARENESS (AND TO A LESSER EXTENT, ANGELS)

Self-care has to be a priority when you work in a helping profession like mine. I have done this work long enough to see what happens to people when they don’t. For example, I live in the land of “spiritual, not religious.” Nothing is wrong with that if spirituality or religion doesn’t work for you. But when you do helping work, you must work harder to find something outside yourself that grounds you and enables you to find your center. I have seen younger and less experienced healthcare clinicians burn out or give up because they did not understand this.

In the world of hospice, where I have my day job, we are not only dealing with death and dying and all the medical issues that come with it but also the way the specter of death unleashes ALL of the “closeted” and often toxic family dynamics. When I served people as a chaplain, my social worker colleagues and I took the brunt of the psychosocial and spiritual blowback with this, struggling with families to balance their grief and emotions with focusing on the sick person’s plan of care. A lot of times, though, people make things about them and not the ones who are dying.

I include clinicians when I say that. Chaplains are the only discipline in hospice care with training that forces self-reflection on how one's identity affects one's work. We undergo intensive training that continually confronts our defense mechanisms and how we avoid staying with someone’s pain. By the end of that training, you never want to do it again—but at the same time, you are grateful for the increased self-awareness you have about yourself as you do the work.

I am bringing this up because sometimes, even neglecting self-care to care for everyone and “take one for the team” belies a deeper self-centeredness. What people typically call a savior or martyr complex. Many people in the helping professions have this issue, which is why psychotherapist training programs and certification bodies often mandate trainees to be in therapy themselves. The bottom line with these professions, especially the psychologically oriented ones, is we cannot help others heal if we do not have our own experience and awareness of being healed.

However, even if a person is aware and does their work and tends to the garden of their own spirit periodically, the hard truth is the work of human services WILL get to you. It just will. If you are the least bit empathetic, intuitive, or a compassionate and loving person, bearing witness to the suffering of others will get to you. I can only go so long hearing about brutal domestic violence, childhood abandonment, and sexual abuse (among a very long list of misfortunes!) before the sadness makes my heart hurt. This, for me, is the moment where I need to plug into the Source of what I believe in to remind me of the bigger picture—a picture where I have zero control over it but get to be a note in the symphony I call God.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with angels at this point. When I look at entities like the Shemhamforash Angels, I see an entourage of spirits with long-standing relationships and care for humanity. Though I cannot prove this, I think the connection is intimate with them because they are the “descendants” of the more ancient Decan spirits. These spirits historically were bound to a part or function of the human body. If I am right, these Angels can be understood to be intimately concerned with our well-being. When we are discouraged and mentally overwhelmed by the evil we see, we can appeal to Elemiah for relief from its burden. When clients live in mortal fear and guilt over a shady past, we can teach them to work with Aladiah to find the courage to live through the shame. When we are saddled with depression, and even if a psychiatrist cannot find a way to lift the dark cloud, we can pray to Ornael and seek their companionship to remember we are never alone.

I lifted these Angels and created a class in their honor because I believe having allies who meet you where you are is good. There is value in reaching for something big like the Holy Guardian Angel. But there is also something to be said about being able to dial up your oldest friend who gets you, where there’s no bullshit in the relationship, and no matter how long it goes between talking, the moment you pick up the phone, it’s like no time has passed. We need both guiding forces to get through the challenges of this life.

This is going to be my last post about my “Working the Names” class, but I have had these thoughts percolating for a few days and wanted to share them. The link to join before we close the registration is here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-names/.

May the Angels always guide you to your best self.   

EVOCATION TO VISIBLE APPEARANCE: MY THOUGHTS & CONCERNS

When I was in seminary, students of color, LGBT, and women students (and yes, some were all three LOL) had this way of differentiating schools of theology between “neck up” and theology of the whole body. Most of the theologians we had to study were “neck up” European men who articulated their theology as if doing theology could be pure if one just focused on the attributes and actions God takes in the Bible and the world. The lack of consideration for context was frustrating in the classroom discussions. People like Paul Tillich, Karl Barth, and James Cone wrote during historical periods of immense socio-political upheaval—namely the Nazi regime and World War 2, and the Civil Rights and Black Power movement for the latter. Not considering the context these men wrote felt silly and disingenuous to many of us. Even so, some seminary colleagues insisted on the neck-up theology as supreme. I was not one of them!

Sometimes, I feel the same when I read through ceremonial magic texts. It doesn’t take much exploring before you start to see that bringing spirits to physical manifestation is the chief aim of many grimoires. What I find light in many grimoires is the same whole picture sense many of us in seminary wanted. As my elders in this tradition teach, many grimoires either assume you know the context or intentionally hide it. The Arbatel is the only one I have read that has somewhat of a developed sense of purity that goes deeper than fasting and days of abstinence. This book makes it clear that purity is about how you live and how you serve humanity. The beginning of that grimoire is something that, if I were teaching traditional ceremonial magic, I would point students to study first. Preparation, for me, begins with how I walk in the world. The rest flows from that.

But I digress a bit. The fixation I see on visible appearance concerns me, especially for people just starting in spirit work. It is almost as if this bar was set to discourage people from practicing (because it takes so much effort) or set an unreal expectation. Case in point: I had some students recently note that they DID feel a significant presence during their operations, but because they did not see the spirit, they wondered if things worked. Thankfully, they had the spiritual development and maturity to recognize that things did work. The community we created also validated them.

I know from my years of practicing espiritismo that spirits manifest in multiple ways to let you know they are present. Physical manifestation is one of many ways such things can happen. In all my years of doing this practice, however, I have not seen it happen in the context of our version of a séance. Most of my experiences of visible appearance happened in moments when spirits like Orisha appeared in human form and then vanished. It has happened twice to me. Most times, however, they have come through a person and given a message, much like what happens at a Misa in espiritismo. But it is also common in espiritismo to “see” spirits through another sense. For example, many spirits register on my body with heat and cold flashes. When that happens, shortly after, I will catch a vision of who it is. That opens up a floodgate of messages, more images, visions, and sometimes even emotions from the spirit. We know we are not making this up by the evidence we give to the intended target with the spirit’s messages.

All of this said, instead of stressing something like visible appearance as the standard, teaching people the different ways spirits manifest and encouraging them to develop themselves while remaining open to experiencing Spirit any way Spirit chooses to make itself known. It is an excellent practice to surf the fluidity of our connection and communication with spirits, where the control and who’s in control flow back and forth.

I am not saying physical manifestation has no place or is irrelevant. It is time to relativize its place in spiritual development so people can grow and apprehend their unique abilities in working with spirits. As you do this work, know that the best is yet to come.    

A LITTLE FRIYAY INSPIRATION!

On this Venus Day, I wanted to share a bit of creativity from my guru in the spirit, Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman. This is a beautiful piece of the many poems he wrote, the sort of thing that waters my spirit during dry and weary times. I commend to you and hope you enjoy it. Have a great weekend!

The Threads in My Hand

Only one end of the threads, I hold in my hand.
 The threads go many ways, linking my life with other lives.

One thread comes from a life that is sick; it is taut with anguish
 and always there is the lurking fear that the life will snap.
 I hold it tenderly. I must not let it go …

One thread comes from a high-flying kite;
 it quivers with the mighty current of fierce and holy dreaming
 invading the common day with far-off places and visions bright …

One thread comes from the failing hands of an old, old friend.
 Hardly aware am I of the moment when the tight line slackended
 and there was nothing at all — nothing …

One thread is but a tangled mass that won’t come right;
 Mistakes, false starts; lost battles, angry words – a tangled mass;
 I have tried to hard, but it won’t come right …

One thread is a strange thread – it is my steadying thread;
 When I am lost, I pull it hard and find my way.
 When I am saddened, I tighten my grip and gladness glides along its quivering path;

When the waste places of my spirit appear in arid confusion,
 the thread becomes a channel of newness of life.

One thread is a strange thread – it is my steadying thread.
 God’s hand holds the other end …

WHY IT’S GOOD TO HAVE A PSYCHE BACKGROUND AS A DIVINER

I recently had a divination client who asked me about their current relationship and the many issues she came to discuss. By all accounts, the relationship was stable. However, as most know, stability is not the only important thing between a couple. There was a lack of intimacy and focus on priorities in a way where this person was not a priority. I answered all the questions about their relationship.

However, my assisting spirit made me feel strongly that there was a deeper communication issue. So, I put my tool down and talked about what I saw in their communication and the need for clarity for her sake so that she could feel more emotionally safe and secure in the relationship. This is what prompted this post.

Should diviners be counselors or psychotherapists? No. There are many reasons why the two things should remain separate for most emotional or spiritual issues. Especially if a diviner is not psychologically trained, they can cause enormous damage in addressing a client’s emotional issues—beyond urging a referral to a mental health professional.

However, being psychologically trained helps me differentiate the two issues. Even if someone has an issue containing spiritual and emotional problems, they must be addressed separately. No ritual is going to entirely and magically remove an emotional problem and vice versa. An exception is when, for example, a spirit is the root of the emotional distress. But even then, sometimes a person will need counseling or therapy to deal with the damage that spirit caused so they can move forward with their life more healed from the wounds of that.

The other reason this sort of background is good for a diviner is because I have to know when an issue requires divination and when it requires counseling. I depend on my divining spirit to identify the issue, but then I take the reins and unpack—in the case of the aforementioned client—what concrete steps need to be done to ameliorate her situation. I spoke about the need to set more timelines so the person was not in a limbo of multiple years waiting for their partner to get their shit together. I talked about the importance of her internal deadline, which is how long she would let things go the way they are before she decides she has given it a hero’s try.

Lastly, a psychological background was initially crucial to my day job as a bereavement counselor and chaplain. At the beginning of my career, I would see people’s mental health problems, but I didn’t understand what I was seeing and why they were behaving that way. Years later, with experience and training, I can assess that and adjust my approach to create the best chance for them to get what they need from me to help themselves. I have seen this so much that I have long felt that my training has paid for itself many times over.

This is to say that if you desire to become a diviner in any system, I strongly encourage you to find a method of studying psychology to strengthen your divinatory and assessment skills. Trust me, you will be glad you did.

ANOTHER EXCITING CLASS FROM MUERTERO YAMIL!: LEARNING MUERTERISMO

Hey There, everyone! I'm excited to share some news with you.

You have heard me rave about my spiritual brother from another mother, Yamil Henriquez. I just learned from him that he also teaches another crucial course for many people's development and spiritual path. This class is on a folk/indigenous spirituality called Muerterismo. The closest comparison to Western European magic would be considered necromancy.

I have heard Yamil speak about this spiritual practice through YouTube interviews, and I find them fascinating. It is a way of working with the Dead that allows a practitioner to honor those who have gone before them and those who have been neglected in the boneyard. Nothing is sadder than going to a local graveyard and seeing gravestones in disrepair and in such states of neglect that you can tell no one has visited them in a very long time. From what little I know of Muerterismo, it is a tradition that speaks to these spirits and empowers you with powerful allies.

If this interests you, reach out to Yamil at Lamagiasanta@gmail.com. Let him know you’d like to join up in this upcoming cohort. The class begins next Monday!   

I also want to share Yamil’s own words on the subject, as he states well what Muerterismo is all about:

MUERTERISMO THE PRACTICE OF LATIN CARIBBEAN NECROMANCY AND SPIRITUALITY. This is a class you don’t want to miss. Here you will learn how to develop yourself with the dead, working with tools connect you with the spirits that are closest to us. Have that interesting piece of bone and don’t know what to do with it. This is the class for you. Want to work with the spirits of your family or working with graves. I will teach you how to make pacts with the dead, work with them, develop a relationship with them and how to pick a good spirit to do your bidding.

See you in class!!!

ANGELS, ANGELS EVERYWHERE!: SOME ADVICE ON HOW TO PROCEED

A question that comes up regularly when doing readings where people want insight into their spiritual path is what sort of spirit they should work with. It’s a valid question and often an important one. Even in one tradition, such as Solomonic Magic, you can have multiple grimoires, spirit registers, and approaches to do the same thing. Sometimes, people also want to combine systems and create something they feel is more suited to them. This is where things can get wonky and, quite frankly, dangerous. Even in the same system, like grimoire magic, it can be tricky to merge two or more.

What, instead, is a better answer? Well, anyone who has been following me for any time will see my consistent message that spirit work is best done with a strong familiar, guardian angel or patron deity at your back. Can it be done without that? Sure. But why would you? If you have a choice between getting into a fight with your best friend at your side or going into the fray solo, it would not be very smart to choose the latter.

But I wanted to highlight a bit more than this. Let’s stick with Angels for the sake of this discussion. In the traditional ceremonial world of magic, the most important Angel in many ways is the Holy Guardian Angel (HGA). Attaining this Angel is grueling work, but the result is not only a lifelong spirit companion but dominion over hordes of demons—some of whom also choose to follow and assist the initiate. With this kind of spirit at your back, it is much easier to progress into other magical systems, especially ones with what I will call wild spirits. The Angel helps you put and keep those spirits in place, among many other things initiates have told me.

Then there are systems such as the Key of Solomon, which focus on the seven planetary Archangels as the patron spirits one conjures and bonds with. These angels do not go in you the same way the HGA does, nor do they impart authority the way the HGA does. But they ARE a way to establish a similar authority to command and conjure spirits of the Key system. I have not heard many Solomonic magicians speak to working with these Angels in the fashion one would work with the HGA to oversee spiritual development, but that certainly does not mean it would not be possible!

The third option that comes to mind is the Natal Angels. Aaron Leitch has a wonderful mini-course on these entities. The most laborious part of attaining them is gaining their name. Once you have that, you can build an entire practice with this Angel, much like the HGA. There is no specific Natal Angel system like the Key of Solomon or Abramelin. Still, one could easily jailbreak, for example, the Key of Solomon into a conjuration system that focuses on your Natal Angel’s planetary correspondences.

The last I will highlight is a system of angels I use and teach called the 72 Shemhamforash Angels. I have always seen these angels as close-to-earth entities who have an easier time manifesting things on our plane of existence than some higher-order angels. This implies no sense of less-than but rather a difference of purposes. If you read through the tables of 72, you quickly see they focus predominantly on this-worldly issues. They lend themselves greatly to the practical magical focus of Hoodoo and other folk systems, which is part of the reason I created my own course to just that effect. That and the Shem Angels did have a historical connection to Hoodoo through some famous grimoires in the Hoodoo system. This system also has the capacity for people to ascertain their birth Ruling Shem Angel, who can be worked with in ways similar to the angels I already mentioned. I will include a link to the course here, in case you’re curious: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/working-the-names/.

I am aware of a few more angel systems than these, but I made my point in these highlights. There are many ways to approach angel magic and spirituality. And yes, some of these systems can be functionally combined, even if one respects them as separate systems. By that, I could attain my HGA and then connect my practical work with my HGA to one of the Shem Angels systems being taught, giving me greater versatility in addressing practical and theurgical needs I might have. The HGA would be the guide and indicate which Shem Angel to work with for a particular issue. The path one chooses depends on your goals and aspirations for yourself and your practice. Such as whether you want to be a solo practitioner or an eventual public servant worker who provides spiritual services to the community. Or do you want to do this magic solely to develop and evolve yourself spiritually, or do you want to engage in a lot of practical magic?

Whatever you choose, know that there are people like myself who take what they teach seriously but also have a sense of joy in teaching what we do. May the Angels guide you and help you contemplate your bliss!   

HOW I GOT TO WHERE I AM: SOME REFLECTIONS

This post may disappoint some readers because it is about something other than occult subjects (at least, not in an obvious way). I often receive compliments on my writing. You would think such a thing would be a stroke to the ego. But what it does to me, instead, is remind me of how I got here.

I did not get to this place of proficiency alone. I had a lot of trouble writing in fourth grade, especially with grammar. Things like how to structure sentences and paragraphs so my thoughts build on each other. I was particularly fond of fantasy writing. I could envision worlds in my mind’s eye just fine, but as many writers know, putting those worlds to pen and paper is a whole other thing!

My English teacher could see all of this as fate would have it. I couldn’t see the potential yet, just the problem. But SHE saw the potential and did not give up on me. She called me up front after class one day and made me an offer: if I were willing to spend an hour, every day, after school for a year, she would teach me how to write better. So I did.

I didn’t know until years later that the time she spent with me was time away from her family. She had a baby at that time. Yes, she had a husband, but anyone with children knows it is hard for a mom to be away from her newborn. I also learned that she and her husband, from Belfast, Ireland, had lived through the Time of Troubles there. Her husband would give a homily at school and show us one of the bullet casings he pulled out of the wall of their home when they were shot up one night. They made it out, but many people did not. I went to Ireland many years later after those Troubles ended, and I saw pubs still empty and charred from rockets fired into them.

She and her husband had been through a lot and had to rebuild their family here in America. By the end of their careers, they were hands down the most celebrated and revered teachers in the history of my grade school.

I am telling this story because, as good as my writing may be, I did not get to this place alone. Every single time I pick up a pen or put my fingers to a keyboard, I remember Mrs. H. Every time I get up to speak or preach in front of a group of people, I remember Rev. Dr. DeVries, my first spiritual mother who encouraged me to articulate my progressive Christian faith aloud in a religion where my Religious Right brethren have dominated for way too long. Every time I pray, I think of Grandma, who taught me how to get on my knees to stay strong.

The list of people I could name who shaped and formed who I am is long. I know there are self-made people in this world, in my country, but I am not one of them. I have met some self-made people, and they are impressive. But even with them, if you get down to it, someone almost always helped them become who they are.

It is a strength of America (and no, not ONLY America!) that we can come from wildly different and diverse backgrounds and when we are operating at our best, we lift each other up. We make each other better than when we found each other. Sometimes, I shudder to think what kind of educated Black man I would have become had that Irish woman from the Time of Troubles not opened her heart to me. But she did, and in doing so, she lit a fire in me to do the same for others who cross my path.

We hear a lot about what’s wrong all the time, and it is very easy to focus on that and get lost down that rabbit hole. That’s why I take moments like this and actively remember what is right and good—that my life is not just disappointments and struggles but a life of light, love, and compassion, sometimes from the most surprising of places.

I’m not going to be Polyanna about it, though. I know some have never had this sort of experience. I have had my share of crushing moments myself. Sometimes, the fact remains that, in those places and spaces where hope is grim, we have to make the hope ourselves. One of the reasons I practice the spiritualities I do, especially ATRs, is because they do not acquiesce to fate. It may take sacrifice, even painful sacrifice, but change can happen. I also subscribe to the theology of Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, who repeatedly asserted that the contradictions of life are never final but held by God in all their fullness. My sense of being held through the good and bad was the difference between giving up and taking just one more step. That, and remembering people like Mrs. H., who didn’t give up on me, believed in me, and, in a way, saw me before I saw myself.

Few of us are self-made, but we can help each other become better versions of ourselves. That is my prayer and hope, anyway.       

A FRIEND’S NEW CLASS ALERT: WORKING WITH THE ANIMA SOLA

Hi Folx!

So, it is not very often that I talk up a lot of new people (meaning new to me), but I have made the acquaintance of a fellow brother in the spirit who is teaching some fantastic things. His name is Muertero Yamil Henriquez, and in addition to being a spiritual teacher, Yamil is also a diviner with many years of experience. I can personally attest to his skill and what we call in the ATR world “vista,” where he was able to decipher a puzzling relationship to a spirit that has walked with me in a way no one else, not even previous elders of mine, were able to do.

This post, however, is about an upcoming class on a folk spirit whose influence spans the Americas, Europe, Africa, and parts of the Caribbean. The class is about learning how to work with the Anima Sola. I am not going to go deep into who and what the Anima Sola spirit is here, as I know all of that will be covered in Yamil’s class. But the reason I am lifting his course up and encouraging everyone interested to take it is because Yamil dispels a LOT of misperceptions about Animas (and yes, there are more than one of them!). This class is not about fear but about empowerment and understanding.

I myself have seen that the vast majority of information out there is fear-based. At best, people will tell you to pray for her soul that she be freed from Purgatory. But this is missing a lot. It is missing a vibrant and life-giving folk tradition that does not fear Animas, but works with them, tends to them, and uplifts them. When we uplift spirit, we uplift ourselves.

Animero Yamil has already been very gracious and free in sharing the fundamentals of connecting to the Anima Sola on social media, but he has assured me that this course goes into far more depth with the Anima and equips those brave enough to become an Animero. This course has the potential to transform your understanding and relationship with the Anima Sola.

Yami’s courses are available for sign-up through his “Magia Santa” account on Instagram. If you cannot access that platform, you can contact him at Lamagiasanta@gmail.com. See you in class!

I fully intend to answer the call. Why don’t you?   

TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL: WHAT IT MEANS (TO ME) TO HAVE AN ANGELIC GUARDIAN

Many who read this will likely walk away thinking, “What he said could be applied to any guardian spirit.” And you would be right! In some ways, that is why I am writing all of this and reflecting on one of the most important foundational concepts of spirit work that I noticed tends not to get emphasized as much. There is a definite precedence of diving right into a spirit system and its correspondences without considering how people will protect themselves or what they will do when things go sideways. I have been practicing my spiritualities long enough to know that even when everything is done with all the proper protocols, sometimes things go sideways anyway. Or you pick something up from that person’s cleansing or exorcism.

There are several compelling reasons to take on a guardian and have them take on you. As I already stated, guardians protect us. I already wrote recently about how my head Orisha did so for me, without me even asking or knowing at the time that Orishas did that. This brings me to another important facet of their role: they will guide you. I cannot tell you how often my guardian spirits have told me NO to trying a new system. When I ask why, they frequently clarify that while that system may work well for many people, it will not work well for me. What’s even wilder is to go to a reader and have them confirm this without asking. There are many reasons a guardian spirit may say no to us, and I have worked with mine long enough to trust a no as a no and not push it further. Whenever I ignore that guidance, things don’t go well…

Guardians play a role that may surprise many of you, especially in an age of gatekeeping and fear of cultural misappropriation. They also serve in spirit leadership. This was something I first witnessed in Espiritismo, where spirits from vastly diverse and different modalities work together for their charge in this life. This experience shattered the rigid divisions that religions and some of us make, showing that they don’t mean a thing in the bigger picture of the spirit world. Your guardian will direct the traffic of all your spirits, regardless of their origins. If you find yourself having difficulty with one of your spirits, your guardian is the one you can turn to for help. I know this because I have done it and seen how they refocus spirits.

Another benefit of a guardian is they can often gift familiars. I am using the word familiar here and know it is not universal across systems. Guardian spirits tend to be able to call forth other serving spirits to assist you in your work. However, doing this requires a super strong bond with your guardian. You can sense this when you open Solomonic grimoires, even angelic ones, and see phrases such as Angel so and so commands 600 legions of spirits. Whenever you see that sort of language, there is a strong implication that one of the legion spirits could be assigned to you.

While we often focus on the benefits of guardian spirits to us, it's important to remember that the relationship is mutual. Working with guardian spirits helps them understand more about what it means to be human, with all our wants and needs. Even if they were once human themselves, they are likely far enough removed from that lived existence that they need reminders of it. This sort of knowledge can help with the way you work with them. Deepening their understanding will make for more accurate work and results.

Guardians can also learn how to see and experience our mortal, material world through our eyes. I worked with a Thai Prai once, and after doing the requisite chant and feeling the spirit on me, I invited him to experience eating again through me. I FELT its presence more strongly and could feel its sense of pleasure at experiencing food with me. Aside from teaching and reconnecting them to something long foregone, it also sometimes feeds some of what may be lacking in them.

Perhaps most important is that any of these connection points, when nurtured, means guardians grow as spirit-beings with us, and as we grow and develop together, the bond gets that much stronger. Much more can be said, but I will leave it here for now and encourage all reading to consider a guardian spirit that best suits the magic and life you intend to achieve and maintain. Blessings to you all!