TRAINING THE SPIRITS: MORE THOUGHTS ON SPIRIT WORK
When Father Aaron and I had our occult jam session a couple of weeks ago, we said a few things like teasers, but we didn’t go deeper on the subject. One of them we talked a little about was the idea that spirits can only address issues in depth, as far as our knowledge takes us (something like that). Now, this is not to say that spirits sometimes don’t know more than us on certain things. They most certainly do. For example, there’s no way I could know more about Heaven than an angel who dwells there.
But I think it’s a different scenario when you talk about using magic to make things happen in our daily lives. If I don’t know how to do candle magic to get a job or a promotion, it will be much harder for a spirit to help me do that sort of work. Yes, they can and do teach many things to someone over a long-term relationship with them. But I have found in my development with spirits that my workings are much stronger when I have a substantial knowledge base that they can reference and embellish or adapt to make sure what I do is effective.
The other place I see this, routinely, as a diviner for others is in the problems people bring to me that relate to spirits. I had one recently where numerous New Age shamans and practitioners told someone that they had over 30 spirits possessing them. These same people also told them they had no idea what to do about those many spirits, wished them luck, and sent them on their way with no solution. Of course, they still took their money! When I looked, there were no spirits attached to the person. My own divining spirit confirmed this. What I saw, instead, was that whoever looked at them was unable to tell the difference between discrete spirits and negative energy that can behave like a spirit but is not. It's more like something that takes on a life of its own. Telling someone they have a biblical-level population of spirits in their body is also a bit of a stretch and so rare as to almost be unheard of.
I am bringing this up because a core tenet of Espiritismo is that we train our spirits. That sounds demeaning or derogatory, but it is not. It is the understanding that even elevated spirits are removed from their formerly human existence, sometimes for thousands of years. They do not automatically understand everything about human existence, technology, etc. They sometimes also don’t understand the boundaries of social conventions and other things, so it is the espiritista’s job to teach them that.
Similarly, our spiritist practice is active. We don’t just gawk at spirits and marvel at their manifestations. Espiritistas who are well trained know that they have to, to quote the Bible, “test the spirits” and insist that a spirit tell them details that give evidence of who they are and their purpose. If a spirit fails to observe those protocols, they get dismissed. A person cannot adequately develop with a spirit if that spirit is not clear about these things. The development can’t happen adequately because our relationship with our spirits is such that we understand why they are with us and their core mission by their area of focus for our life.
Finally, a considerable part of the development is discernment. Remember in my previous post I talked about how important the ability to see and perceive spirits is in Espiritismo. Spiritual sight is essential to see what is going on accurately. Without it, things get misdiagnosed, and worse, for those with actual attachments, it can prolong their suffering. This concept of training spirits is also not unique to Espiritismo. It is done in Solomonic magic and several other modalities I am aware of. It is also a way to build an authentic relationship with said spirit as you develop mutual understanding, much like in our intimate relationships when we navigate expectations, hopes, fears, and everything in between to deepen our bonds. In a sense, we train each other in our human relationships all the time. If you are reading this today, I hope you can find an authentic spirit relationship like this. The bonds of it will get you through many of life’s ups and downs.
