Silence is at the heart of mysticism: it is arguably the most important tool in the spirit worker's kit. If we want to commune with our ancestors and the other denizens of the worlds seen and unseen, we must first learn to be still. Our lessons to date have required you to seek out items and to take positive actions. This one asks only that you do and say nothing, that you put your Self away to stand quiet and empty in the presence of those who came before you and Those who came before them.
Although it sounds simple, you may find this step very challenging. The hum of tires against asphalt, the ceaseless aspiration of our computer fans and the rumbling buzz of our air conditioners, the high-pitched electronic mosquito hum -- our modern world is a very noisy place indeed. Because of this, we have grown accustomed to overstimulation. When we are forced to spend time in silence, we find it uncomfortable. Boredom soon sets in: we think of more entertaining ways to spend our time and what should be restorative becomes instead an ordeal.
The best approach to this problem is the same one you take when you're trying to get into shape: gradually working up to longer periods of silence. In time you will find yourself able to keep still well enough and long enough to strengthen your ancestral connection. You may even develop a taste for peace and quiet, and find yourself called to an increasingly contemplative lifestyle: many a reluctant beginning jogger has gone on to finish multiple marathons. For now, try to spend five minutes sitting quietly and thinking of nothing at all. If you fail at that, find a period within which you are able to enforce an internal radio silence. Try to repeat that period, increasing a little bit each time: keep a chart of your efforts, just as you would for any exercise regimen.
Thoughts will arise while you are trying to maintain this quietude. Let them rise, then let them disintegrate back into the silence. The distractions and temptations which trouble you are only as important as you allow them to be. Once you learn to separate your thinking Self from the chattering of the monkey-mind, you will find yourself better able to concentrate in mundane life and better able to find your calm still center in a crisis. Background noise and personal distractions will drift through you like smoke swirling through air.
It is within this clear state that you will have the most profound interactions with your ancestors. When you go into the place of silence and reverence, this place where all magic begins, you will find them waiting there. They will bring you the knowledge they bore in their bones and carry it through marrow and sinew. They will whisper to you in the soft slithering beat of the blood that you share.
Showing posts with label beginner's guide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beginner's guide. Show all posts
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Beginner's Guide to Working with the Spirits Pt. 3: Water
Part 1 and Part 2 can be found here. This section focuses on ancestral work. This connection to the roots and the lineage is key to further progress in spirit work. Ancestral veneration is important in every culture and religion: these lessons can be applied to any spiritual path which calls you.
In Vodou the dead reside anba dlo, en bas de l'eau, under the water. Deceased members of a société (a Vodou house) may be reclaimed later and housed in govis, ceremonial clay pots which show they have been drawn back to our world like water drawn from an ever-flowing river. Water gives us life and keeps our dead; it is the home to Les Ville aux Camps (Milokan or Minokan in Kreyol) where the lwa reside, the great barrier which separates us from and carries us to Gineh.
Because of this, water can serve as a spiritual gateway. The offerings, holy symbols and images help them to feel at home and provide grounding, while the illuminations guide them. The glasses of water which you place on your altar are the doorway through which your beloved dead can return. By staring into that water, you may be able to speak to your ancestors through scrying. Focus your eyes on a point within the glass and relax: make note of any images that rise within your field of vision, but do not try to control the visions or force the action.
(As with everything else, this improves with practice. Scrying is also a bit of an innate talent, so if you have little luck don't despair: there are many other means by which you can communicate with your ancestors and I will be discussing them in due course).
Water flows into all crevices and fits all containers: it takes unto itself the nature of all it passes over and through and returns it to the great mother ocean. You can use this to your advantage: water drawn from a stream or river in your family's ancestral homeland, for example, can be used to establish your ties with the oldest roots of your lineage. Put this in a small vial or bottle which you then seal with wax (so as to avoid exposure to the air and other elements), and place it on your altar. Like a river, it will provide a means of transport between distant places and times.
Because it takes all things into itself, water can purify an area. It is vital that you change the water on your ancestral altar regularly: I would recommend doing so each evening before going to bed. Fresh water attracts positive spirits, but standing water which has become stagnant attracts spirits of decay and corruption. On an aesthetic note, it also becomes covered with scum and the bodies of small flying insects -- hardly the sort of thing one wants on an altar.
Do not confuse water with alcoholic spirits, particularly hard liquor. Water cools the spirits and makes them more peaceful: alcohol heats them up. You can certainly give alcoholic beverages to an ancestor who enjoyed a drink in life, but those drinks should be placed on the altar along with water, not as a substitute. (And you may wish to refrain from giving such offerings altogether if your family has a history of alcoholism).
In Vodou the dead reside anba dlo, en bas de l'eau, under the water. Deceased members of a société (a Vodou house) may be reclaimed later and housed in govis, ceremonial clay pots which show they have been drawn back to our world like water drawn from an ever-flowing river. Water gives us life and keeps our dead; it is the home to Les Ville aux Camps (Milokan or Minokan in Kreyol) where the lwa reside, the great barrier which separates us from and carries us to Gineh.
Because of this, water can serve as a spiritual gateway. The offerings, holy symbols and images help them to feel at home and provide grounding, while the illuminations guide them. The glasses of water which you place on your altar are the doorway through which your beloved dead can return. By staring into that water, you may be able to speak to your ancestors through scrying. Focus your eyes on a point within the glass and relax: make note of any images that rise within your field of vision, but do not try to control the visions or force the action.
(As with everything else, this improves with practice. Scrying is also a bit of an innate talent, so if you have little luck don't despair: there are many other means by which you can communicate with your ancestors and I will be discussing them in due course).
Water flows into all crevices and fits all containers: it takes unto itself the nature of all it passes over and through and returns it to the great mother ocean. You can use this to your advantage: water drawn from a stream or river in your family's ancestral homeland, for example, can be used to establish your ties with the oldest roots of your lineage. Put this in a small vial or bottle which you then seal with wax (so as to avoid exposure to the air and other elements), and place it on your altar. Like a river, it will provide a means of transport between distant places and times.
Because it takes all things into itself, water can purify an area. It is vital that you change the water on your ancestral altar regularly: I would recommend doing so each evening before going to bed. Fresh water attracts positive spirits, but standing water which has become stagnant attracts spirits of decay and corruption. On an aesthetic note, it also becomes covered with scum and the bodies of small flying insects -- hardly the sort of thing one wants on an altar.
Do not confuse water with alcoholic spirits, particularly hard liquor. Water cools the spirits and makes them more peaceful: alcohol heats them up. You can certainly give alcoholic beverages to an ancestor who enjoyed a drink in life, but those drinks should be placed on the altar along with water, not as a substitute. (And you may wish to refrain from giving such offerings altogether if your family has a history of alcoholism).
Sunday, July 3, 2011
A Beginner's Guide to Working With the Spirits Pt. 2: Food Offerings
When working with ancestors (or any other spirit), it is important to remember that our relationship is a reciprocal one. The spirit world is not a place where entities wait patiently to dispense free enlightenment, prosperity and better sex to all who ask. Remember the old Hermetic axiom: as above, so below. You expect to be compensated for your time and efforts, and so do the spirits. By making offerings to the ancestors you will strengthen the connection between the worlds: instead of relying on miracles out of nowhere, you set up a system of exchange which provides continuing benefits to both sides.
As Nutty Professor pointed out in the comments to my earlier post, food is an excellent offering. If your great-grandfather loved chocolate cake in life, why not give him a slice now that he's shuffled off this mortal coil? This allows him to relive one of his favorite sensory experiences. African tradition says the food of the dead is to be prepared without salt: if you are making food specifically for the ancestors you might want to keep that in mind. However, I have found that you generally can feed them food from your own table, even if salt was used in the preparation. This is especially true if you are cooking a traditional family meal or something which your ancestors particularly enjoyed.
There are good practical reasons why the Holy Eucharist began as a communal supper: bread and wine sealed a covenant among fellows and provided spiritual as well as physical sustenance. Leaving a plate for the ancestors along with your own food helps to connect you and your family to those who have gone before you. It also sanctifies the act of eating, turning your meal into a prayer. Your food becomes not only nourishment for you but for your lineage... and people, like plants, grow best when their roots are well-fed.
That being said, avoid consuming the food which you place out for the ancestors: do not nibble from their plates or drink from their glasses. The dead consume the essence of what they are given. When you eat their offerings, you are exposing yourself to spiritually tainted food. (You may also be exposing yourself to bacterial contagion, as I have found offerings to the dead will frequently decay at a greatly accelerated rate). It is important to establish communication between the realms of the living and dead: it is equally important to recognize and honor their boundaries.
This devotion can be practiced easily and discreetly. One of the most brilliant and dedicated Houngans I know leaves a bite or two on his plate at every meal. When he is done, he taps discreetly on the table, thereby alerting his ancestors that what remains is theirs. Thus he feeds his ancestors and commingles his spiritual and material lives without attracting undue attention. Learning to pray quietly and unobtrusively will increase the opportunities in which the ancestors may involve themselves in your life. It will also serve you well when you begin to explore more challenging and potentially dangerous paths of spirit-work.
As Nutty Professor pointed out in the comments to my earlier post, food is an excellent offering. If your great-grandfather loved chocolate cake in life, why not give him a slice now that he's shuffled off this mortal coil? This allows him to relive one of his favorite sensory experiences. African tradition says the food of the dead is to be prepared without salt: if you are making food specifically for the ancestors you might want to keep that in mind. However, I have found that you generally can feed them food from your own table, even if salt was used in the preparation. This is especially true if you are cooking a traditional family meal or something which your ancestors particularly enjoyed.
There are good practical reasons why the Holy Eucharist began as a communal supper: bread and wine sealed a covenant among fellows and provided spiritual as well as physical sustenance. Leaving a plate for the ancestors along with your own food helps to connect you and your family to those who have gone before you. It also sanctifies the act of eating, turning your meal into a prayer. Your food becomes not only nourishment for you but for your lineage... and people, like plants, grow best when their roots are well-fed.
That being said, avoid consuming the food which you place out for the ancestors: do not nibble from their plates or drink from their glasses. The dead consume the essence of what they are given. When you eat their offerings, you are exposing yourself to spiritually tainted food. (You may also be exposing yourself to bacterial contagion, as I have found offerings to the dead will frequently decay at a greatly accelerated rate). It is important to establish communication between the realms of the living and dead: it is equally important to recognize and honor their boundaries.
This devotion can be practiced easily and discreetly. One of the most brilliant and dedicated Houngans I know leaves a bite or two on his plate at every meal. When he is done, he taps discreetly on the table, thereby alerting his ancestors that what remains is theirs. Thus he feeds his ancestors and commingles his spiritual and material lives without attracting undue attention. Learning to pray quietly and unobtrusively will increase the opportunities in which the ancestors may involve themselves in your life. It will also serve you well when you begin to explore more challenging and potentially dangerous paths of spirit-work.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
A Beginner's Guide to Working With the Spirits Pt. 1: The Ancestors
I get questions from around the world asking about service to the lwa. Many of these people are unable to travel to Haiti for initiation and study: their circumstances do not allow them to move to an area with an active Haitian community or even to attend fets in person. Yet they feel called to approach les anges d'Haïti, the Mysteries of Haitian Vodou. What I have tried to provide here are ways that they might work with their spirits. This is not intended to be a substitute for a Kanzo or for any other ceremony in Sevis Gineh.
Let's start at the beginning: you were born. An ovum and a spermatozoon met, consolidated their genetic payloads, and commenced a process which resulted in you. Were it not for the donors of those chromosomes, you would not be here. Nor would you be here were it not for the people who joined their bodies together throughout history for love or lust or any of a million other fucking motivations. The blood in your veins is the culmination of an orgasm which began in the protean past and which arcs shimmering into the distant future. It is the sap which comes up from your deepest roots; it nourishes your body and spirit and shapes your growth; it carries within it all that was and all that will be. But to claim its power, you must first recognize its history - your history.
If you live near where your ancestors are buried, or if you can get to an ancestral cemetery, you should make sure their graves are kept clean. You should also make sure to get a tiny pinch of soil from their final resting place. In Kongo traditional cosmology, and in Vodou and many other African Diaspora traditions, the dirt on the ground can hold and transmit the essence of a place and what has transpired there. The earth from a grave can provide a powerful link between the realms of the living and the dead - and ancestral spirits are generally inclined to help you, since it is in their best interest to see their (and your) lineage carried forward.
If this is not possible, try to get some dirt from the place where your ancestors were born. If you have a relative who was killed in a battle or who died in some historical event, you can get earth from that site. You can also use dirt from a place where your ancestors lived. If you know where your family came from it would be worth your time to make a pilgrimage to those ancestral homelands if you can. The earth which provides a carpet for the living and a blanket for the dead can be used to carry messages between their respective worlds.
You will not need any of these things to create a "White Table." While the White Table actually originated in Kardecian Spiritualism, it has become popular among many Haitians in the Diaspora who do not have access to their ancestral graveyards. As per its name, a "White Table" is a table washed with Holy Water (some use water which contains some of their first morning urine), which is covered with a white cloth and atop which is placed a crucifix and glasses of pure, clean water. (If your ancestors were not Christian, use an appropriate symbol representative of their faith. This is important even if you are no longer a believer in that tradition - since they are your elders you must show them respect and honor their beliefs).
You can add to that any pictures of departed relatives you may have - but make sure not to include pictures of the living, since you (and your living relatives) don't want to confuse the two realms. If you have it, also be sure to include any dirt from ancestral sites, preferably in a small box (a ring box will do). And light one or more candles atop the table: these will provide light for the departed and help bring them to you. Then sit back and listen. In time the ancestors will come: you will feel and experience them. Some are able to talk to the spirit world directly, while others just get hunches, impressions and images and some may even become mediums through whom the spirit speaks.
As time goes on you can add more ancestral items to your table: if you can leave it up permanently that is good. Make sure to get a screen or some kind of block which you can place between your white table and your bed should you have sex, and try to avoid cursing, drunkenness and disrespectful behavior around your white table. If you cannot you can take it down and put it up as required whenever you need to seek guidance. Vodou is a flexible tradition which allows for considerable adaptation in the face of necessity, as might be expected given Haiti's long history of scarcity and privation.
This table will provide you with a link to your ancestors and to their protection and guidance. And while I speak in the context of Vodou, ancestral veneration has been an important part of nearly all spiritual traditions. No matter what spiritual path you walk upon, you can benefit by learning your heritage and paying proper respects to those who have gone before. A strong ancestral link will help you to avoid the worst spiritual and material pitfalls and help lead you to the places you were born to reach.
Let's start at the beginning: you were born. An ovum and a spermatozoon met, consolidated their genetic payloads, and commenced a process which resulted in you. Were it not for the donors of those chromosomes, you would not be here. Nor would you be here were it not for the people who joined their bodies together throughout history for love or lust or any of a million other fucking motivations. The blood in your veins is the culmination of an orgasm which began in the protean past and which arcs shimmering into the distant future. It is the sap which comes up from your deepest roots; it nourishes your body and spirit and shapes your growth; it carries within it all that was and all that will be. But to claim its power, you must first recognize its history - your history.
If you live near where your ancestors are buried, or if you can get to an ancestral cemetery, you should make sure their graves are kept clean. You should also make sure to get a tiny pinch of soil from their final resting place. In Kongo traditional cosmology, and in Vodou and many other African Diaspora traditions, the dirt on the ground can hold and transmit the essence of a place and what has transpired there. The earth from a grave can provide a powerful link between the realms of the living and the dead - and ancestral spirits are generally inclined to help you, since it is in their best interest to see their (and your) lineage carried forward.
If this is not possible, try to get some dirt from the place where your ancestors were born. If you have a relative who was killed in a battle or who died in some historical event, you can get earth from that site. You can also use dirt from a place where your ancestors lived. If you know where your family came from it would be worth your time to make a pilgrimage to those ancestral homelands if you can. The earth which provides a carpet for the living and a blanket for the dead can be used to carry messages between their respective worlds.
You will not need any of these things to create a "White Table." While the White Table actually originated in Kardecian Spiritualism, it has become popular among many Haitians in the Diaspora who do not have access to their ancestral graveyards. As per its name, a "White Table" is a table washed with Holy Water (some use water which contains some of their first morning urine), which is covered with a white cloth and atop which is placed a crucifix and glasses of pure, clean water. (If your ancestors were not Christian, use an appropriate symbol representative of their faith. This is important even if you are no longer a believer in that tradition - since they are your elders you must show them respect and honor their beliefs).
You can add to that any pictures of departed relatives you may have - but make sure not to include pictures of the living, since you (and your living relatives) don't want to confuse the two realms. If you have it, also be sure to include any dirt from ancestral sites, preferably in a small box (a ring box will do). And light one or more candles atop the table: these will provide light for the departed and help bring them to you. Then sit back and listen. In time the ancestors will come: you will feel and experience them. Some are able to talk to the spirit world directly, while others just get hunches, impressions and images and some may even become mediums through whom the spirit speaks.
As time goes on you can add more ancestral items to your table: if you can leave it up permanently that is good. Make sure to get a screen or some kind of block which you can place between your white table and your bed should you have sex, and try to avoid cursing, drunkenness and disrespectful behavior around your white table. If you cannot you can take it down and put it up as required whenever you need to seek guidance. Vodou is a flexible tradition which allows for considerable adaptation in the face of necessity, as might be expected given Haiti's long history of scarcity and privation.
This table will provide you with a link to your ancestors and to their protection and guidance. And while I speak in the context of Vodou, ancestral veneration has been an important part of nearly all spiritual traditions. No matter what spiritual path you walk upon, you can benefit by learning your heritage and paying proper respects to those who have gone before. A strong ancestral link will help you to avoid the worst spiritual and material pitfalls and help lead you to the places you were born to reach.
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