Ghost Month 2021 : What are Dark Souls?

A Flame Mouth is a Hungry Ghost who cannot eat food because it will turn into fiery coal in their hands. From Best Price Travel’s article

I decided to take advantage of this festival to write about a little talked of subject : Los Muertos Oscuros. The Dark Dead. This is something that is universal amongst all traditions, both old and new. Even Reiki practitioners have talked to me about the use of Reiki to help or aid the dead. Especially those lost in the darkness.

But first, what is this festival about?

Today at Sunset, the Hungry Ghost Festival begins. For those who don’t know, this is when the dark or toxic spirits of the dead are released. Specifically those who died and went to Hell for their sins. Hell isn’t entirely a Christian concept. Many faiths have their own version of Hell under different names.

Or states of hell. Sometimes referred to as “reincarnating into the lower realms.” Although lower realms isn’t always hell. Sometimes it’s limbo or even reincarnation as an animal. Though I personally don’t believe reincarnating as an animal is “lower” at all.

It’s being a part of nature. Humans after all, are animals. Typically, Hungry Ghosts are classified into three groups : Needle Mouths, Flame Mouths, and Corpse Mouths. A Needle Mouth is when a hungry ghost has a throat that is so tiny, it’s like a needle. Which is why they cannot eat food.

Flame Mouths are people that cannot eat food because it will burn up or transform into coal. And Corpse Mouths are the very worst. Those are people who were so evil in life, that they become decomposing corpses. They can’t eat because their mouths rotted away. This is a testament to their very literal rotten character.

For many generations there was very little that could be done for such people. It wasn’t until the Buddha’s two disciples, Maudgalyāyana and Sariputta had to face the fires of hell to save their mothers. Both of them had selfish and greedy mothers, who when they died, went to Hell and became Hungry Ghosts. If you want to read the whole story, go to my 2018 Article on the origins of the Festival. This also covers the rituals needed to appease them and ease their sufferings.

In addition to Buddhism, the same entity exists in Hinduism, known as a Preta. Which becomes a flesh eating undead revenant.

A depiction of a Corpse Mouth

In addition to not being able to eat because of their mouths, Hungry Ghosts have large distended bellies. This is for them to eternally starve to death without starving. Now, most religions also have what I call Dark Ghosts. Toxic spirits of the dead. They aren’t necessarily people who went to Hell.

Not everyone believes in Hell. But various religions have something akin to limbo or purgatory. And in this place a spirit with no light as we Santeros say, or divine energy, just keeps getting darker. And then more violent and nasty. Until they become something far removed from who they once were in life.

A soul that was put into a blender and so messed up that it’s unrecognizable as who it once was. In Santería we call this an Eggun Buruku. Literally the dark dead. In fact I believe the Shadow People mentioned in modern paranormal accounts are these types of spirits. Not demons but really dark souls.

Although at least some of them, do become demons according to certain folkloric beliefs. In Catholicism they are called Anima Solas or “lonely souls” that live in purgatory. In Ancient Roman beliefs they were called Lemures or Larvae. The root word meaning “mask”. Because their visage was so horrible that they were masks of fear to those who beheld them.

And of course we have the Jewish Dybbuk. The soul of a sinner who, unable to become one with God, is hunted and beaten by Angels for sport. So they must come down to our realms in order to escape. They are called Dybbuks because the root word in Hebrew is the word for “attachment”. They attach themselves to the living or outright possess them.

Whether they be animals or humans makes no difference to them. Symptoms of Dybbuk possession include speaking with someone else’s voice (dead person’s voice). Having any ailments or pains they had in life like back pain or anything else they had. Or total personality changes. In certain spiritual circles the belief of a deceased soul doing all of this to a possessed person is identical.

Dark, but not always Evil

Not all of these dark souls are evil or even punished by God through the Angels however. Some Dybbuks are just dark because of how they died. Such as suicides. And they stay in a state of constant purification until they are ready to become one with God, like the Anima Solas in Purgatory. A Rabbi once told me that such a spirit will be attracted to someone who acts like them.

So if a Dybbuk committed suicide, they will go to someone thinking of it. If a Dybbuk was a murderer, they will go to someone thinking of it. Once there, they possess and oppress the person. The person starts getting visions of this dead soul in life. And they relive all the things the deceased went through.

The person in theory, understands that killing themselves or someone else won’t give them peace. So they change their ways and live out their lives. The Dybbuk departs from the human. And they having fulfilled their duty, are fully purified. Thus allowed to enter Heaven.

This is just one of many ways that the dark dead are able to be purified. It’s not always about sin but more often than not, miasma. Negative energy from some event holding them back. And by being unable to release this bad energy, they stop themselves from going forward. Usually, what happens is that a descendant doesn’t remember their ancestors.

There’s this modern belief that the dead are automatically fine. That when they die, they go to God and that’s it. Some go to Heaven, others go to Hell, done. But it doesn’t work like that. Even in Purgatory, there are many different forms and dimensions.

Same with reincarnation. Not all reincarnation is the same either. But I digress. When people forget their ancestors, that’s a nail in their spiritual coffin. When they don’t give them offerings of food and money or drink or incense and candles etc.. the soul becomes like a homeless person.

Alone. Trapped. Always hungry and thirsting. Always cold or hot because they have no home to protect them. Always alone or in the company of spirits that make you feel alone.

This is why on Hungry Ghost Month Hades Money or Hell Money is burned. It’s a kind of fake currency that is charged with prayers or belief. Once it’s burned in honor of a specific person, that person has the spiritual version of it with them. And to them, it’s a real currency.

Here we back our currencies with gold or natural resources. Their, faith, belief, power, energy is what backs such a currency and makes it real for them. I knew one woman, who would burn the paper using a holy candle. The holiness of the blessed candle would be permanently infused into that money. So that the money would appear to the dead person she offered it to as a talisman.

It wouldn’t run out.

Warding

In many traditions we have some kind of altar or idol for the nameless and forgotten dead. In Yoruba practice, we have statues of Babalu Aye and Oro who are Orishas that have power over the nameless and forgotten dead. They are placed outside the house. And offerings are given to them to make sure these spirits are pacified and won’t harm the living. Special idols for Hekate are placed outside of household doors to ensure bad spirits stay away.

Or just plain using sea salt barriers to block anything or anyone from coming in. While everyone is in danger of being effected by them, the sick, the elderly, children, and pregnant women are most at risk. Animals should avoid being outdoors at night as well. If you keep them outdoors, you need to ward your front and backyards. As well as ward their places of sleep.

Bless their food and drink and ask the Gods to fill them with protective grace to ward off enemy spirits. By enemy I mean anything that could harm you, even if unintentionally. Do extra protections. These are some links with information with good advice on what to do during this month.

Staying safe through Hungry Ghost Month

While Vietnam had their own Hungry Ghost Festival on July 15, this is still good advice and applicable to this festival.

Ghosts and other Myths : How Vietnam celebrates the 7th Lunar Month

Hungry Ghost Month & the Star of Yin Gate (More Good Advice for this month)

Finally, if you do decide to give offerings this month you need to be very careful. The Hungry Ghosts congregate all around people giving offerings. You need to charge your food and drink for libations but ask the Gods to put a timer on when the energy can be released. So that once you put it outside, it won’t release the energy until you have left and are safe. And wait until you are outside and far from home.

Pray to the Gods and ask them to charge the food and water. And that even if it is devoured right away in the physical world, it may endlessly replicate into the spiritual world until morning. That way many souls will be free. Or alternatively for the blessings on the food and water to be a gigantic bomb that will liberate an entire night’s worth of spirits when eaten. Cleanse the whole home.

Hungry Ghosts, like most spirits will possess an animal to eat on their behalf. The Hungry Ghost eats the energy inside the food, and the animal eats the physical food. Give your home an extra strength blessing. Do it for your Cars in case you need to be out late. Wear a protective charm with you.

And anoint yourself with oil. Or holy water. Bless any food or drink you have before you eat it and pray for protection. That way you will be given divine grace to protect yourself. Don’t offer the food to them when inside your home.

Because that will be an open invitation to them. And next thing you know, you will have legions over running your house. So when you do this outside, first have protection. Cast a circle, or wear a protection around your neck, have a charm bag etc.. even a salt circle around your car will do. Make it large enough to walk inside of.

Choose a place far from your home. Then what you need to do is pray to the Gods to charge the offerings. Either to ascend or elevate whoever will eat them. And that in exchange for them being crossed, for more good spirits to enter our home instead. That’s my advice.

Also, for this month it is very good to offer incense to your Gods and spirits for good Karma. Have a good Ghost Month everybody.

– M

A play based on Hungry Ghosts I found this very interesting

Death on the Horizon

The Virgin of Mount Carmel or simply La Virgin del Carmen in Spanish. Mary as the Queen of the Dead. She has the power to free souls from Hell and Purgatory.

A few days ago, I got a nasty feeling. My land lady is a Romani woman. One of her animals almost died. And the red scarf around her neck that she uses to protect herself from the evil eye was loosening. Some nasty person whom she is already aware of had sent her a curse.

And said animal absorbed it. After the incident, I started getting a warning from my own spirits. And I am now doing special protective rituals for myself.

Leading the lost and angry souls out

Not too long after that, I received a blog post notification from an Orisha Temple in California. And they had a very interesting thing to say. They were warning of sudden death.

IFA To Overcome Death from OTURAOYEKU

In Yoruba religion, we have sacred signs. And they have different stories attached to them. They tell various stories that are sacred texts. But this sign I did not recognize. It’s called Oturaoyeku.

I had to call up an old Santero from Cuba to look it up. Apparently it’s referred to as “the devil’s mark” and a “sign of demonic power”. It means there are people plotting mischief or harm of some sort. Betrayal that could lead to murder. Curses from unethical practitioners.

Strange deaths, bad luck of every sort, the works. I looked it up later for myself and yes. This is a sign of corruption and vice. It symbolizes the “rot of corpses”. It means “even the Devil has a protective Egun” (spirit of the dead, a spirit guide).

This is a metaphor reminding us that everyone, even bad people, have spiritual protectors. And these evil spirits aid them in causing harm to good people. Speaking from past experience, that’s very true. Also we have a Mercury Retrograde headed our way next Saturday (Jan 30th, 2021). Which means Hermes is headed towards his cthonic aspect of Terrestrial Hermes.

Terrestrial Hermes, the guide of the dead

Hermes as a God of the dead. Their guide and protector. Hermes is a God of many things. From magic to technology, to languages, and business. Not just communication.

So when he enters his reaper aspect, everything he’s in charge of goes in reverse. Marriages break down, businesses go down, friends become enemies, etc.. And of course money problems. So now is not a time to make projects. Now is not a time to argue with anyone or try to prove yourself right. It will all backfire on you.

Now is the time to honor your dead through Hermes. Ask for his guidance. Retrogrades happen for a reason. And that reason is that things need to be corrected. And given the clusterfuck of a year we had in 2020, that’s an understatement.

Meditate, be a hermit. And stay the hell out of trouble. If someone mouths off to you, ignore them. Be polite and move the fuck on. It isn’t worth it.

Because all it takes is one confrontation. Just one, and you could get beat up. Or arrested, cursed, hell even killed. It isn’t worth it.

Leading them to their eternal resting places

So we all need to slow down. Don’t go out as much. Try to avoid dangerous situations. During a normal retrograde, accidents happen. But given that the Babalawos have sensed death in the air this isn’t something you want to tempt. And have a lot of patience because you need it.

They prescribe using Iyerosun. It’s a type of magical powder that comes from a tree named the Iyosun tree. Loosely translated it means Iyosun powder. It’s wood dust normally made by termites. And it’s blessed with ashe (divine grace) by the Babalawos.

The instructions are in their post. However, you should only do this if you are either a Babalawo or have some kind of knowledge on it. For non initiates that will be a lot harder. Unless you can find someone in your area who practices. If not I would suggest doing an offering to Orula and Odudawa for some heavenly protection.

You don’t have to be a Santero for that. I’ve seen Rootworkers pray to Orula and give him offerings. Do a divination and ask for help. Ask them what they want as an offering. Or even look it up.

It won’t have the exact same effect as what is prescribed. But the Orishas always listen to those who wish for help. Same with other divine beings. Just make sure you respect the culture and heritage. If you have questions book a reading with the Babalawos.

I normally offer that myself. But in these matters, these are high priests and have greater knowledge and spiritual authority. Or if you have a God you already feel comfortable with or a Saint or whoever, ask them. This isn’t a contest. Everyone has their own spirituality that works for them.

If you wish to work in your own culture, but need a few tips, book a reading with me. Studying folk magic prepared me for helping others to carve out their own rituals. Make it there’s. Regardless, there’s a few things that the Santero I spoke with gave me as advice during this time.

– He said I should pray to Orula and Odudawa. For protection of myself and family.

– Make offerings to Babalu Aye and Oro.

Babalu Aye handles disease. Oro is a very strange being that didn’t quite make it to Cuba. Essentially he is a God of the dead and necromancy, and he punishes the wicked. When he kills them, their ghosts join his group or entourage and they punish people for him

him.

A Babalawo first told me about him. But good luck getting any real information. His cult in Nigeria is a mystery religion, for men only. It’s a secret society. And when they do their night time rituals, people know to stay in doors.

There was a controversy in Nigeria a few years ago. It was over a Muslim woman at was out on the road at night. The cult was doing a procession in the streets with drums. People are supposed to stay in doors. But she was out at night and had encountered the men doing their rituals.

A taboo that hasn’t been broken in a long time. I can’t remember too much except that I think she got hurt. And it made a huge religious debate. The question was raised about whether or not everyone in a community, should be subject to taboos from religions they don’t practice. Regardless, Oro’s cult and it’s secrets are known only to those who initiate.

What I do know from a Paranormal case where I asked a Babalawo for help, is that Oro and Babalu Aye are often called upon together. They’re given offerings and called upon for protection from evil spirits. From Black Magic. From cursed lands and weird deaths etc.. So it makes sense this old Santero would tell me to call upon them. Apparently we are to ask from protection from them as well.

– Wear a Cross or Protective Charm around your neck.

He says that at this time, the Devil’s power will be at it’s strongest. That in his day, he was told to wear holy items around his neck if something like this came about. It wasn’t always a cross either. Sometimes he would wear some kind of amulet in the form of a small charm bag around his neck. At other times a tiger’s eye stone, or a medal of a Saint.

So no matter the religion, wear something protective around your neck. A crystal, a small bag or ring. He even mentioned having small family heirlooms blessed. You could wear that around your neck and it would work too. He didn’t go too deep into it except that it was a taboo he observed.

In my case I don’t have my necklace because it broke recently. So I am using a red band blessed by by the Romani woman with the medals of St. Benedict around my wrist. The use of charms is a very important taboo to follow now.

– Avoid all forms of negative thinking, action, or speech

What he was told when he was a young man, was that the bad spirits can hear you more clearly under this sign. So if you complain about something, or just say something nasty in general, they’ll make it worse. They’ll take it as an open invitation to come bother you. Even if it’s something nasty about a person who is nasty themselves. Don’t speak on it.

Don’t do curses or just retribution spells. Instead do offerings to your higher powers and let them handle stuff for you. These beings want to give you enough rope to hang yourself with. Don’t give them that satisfaction. And with a retrograde, that is likely to happen almost anywhere.

So don’t just quarantine because of the pandemic. Staying out of the streets is a good thing even if we didn’t have a plague on our hands.

– Beware of betrayal. And beware of gifts from enemies.

You have no idea what they’re really giving you. A special emphasis was made on witches who curse objects they gift you. These objects are supposed to turn your life upside down.

– Beware when divining

He mentioned something about these spirits trying to reach us when we divine. If we must divine it should only be in daylight hours. Never in the night. And only if we know how to block negative spirits from messing with our visions and messages. This is something very prevalent in this sign.

Especially with the use of cards I am told. Which is probably some kind of psychic interference these entities do in this sign. They seem to cause confusion and misinformation. Which leads me to the next taboo.

– Don’t make decisions with a bad mind

The bad spirits will make life more stressful. They will try to spin you every which way. To get you off guard so that you can make a mess out of your life. These are things that sound a lot like a Retrograde. But unlike a retrograde, this is not for your own good.

It’s meant to take you backwards in life.

– Beware of dark spirits

Specifically, beware of Eggun Buruku or “dark dead”. These are the angry ghosts of people who either weren’t good in life. Or they died in horrible ways, were forgotten and lost by their descendants etc.. They’ll be roaming the streets more than usual. Many cultures or faiths have their own version of dark ghosts. The Japanese even had their own books detailing what kinds of Yūrei (angry ghosts) were out there.

So probably brush up on your banishing rituals and recharge your charms. And when walking into your house, walk backwards with your back entering the home. Otherwise, certain spirits can follow you inside. This is something they do in Trinidad to break your tracks so entities can’t follow you in.

– Avoid being out at night if you can. If you have to be out, ward your car and yourself with charms and prayers.

– Treachery from children. Whatever that means.

There’s a bunch of other stuff associated with this sign and all of it is bad. But I think I made my point. Oh and one last thing, cleansing baths. And the use of holy water. To cleanse your soul and mind.

Or if you are good with herbs, cleanse with that. Cleanse daily to avoid dark energy in yourself and your body. Be safe everyone,

– M

Adios Juan, Hasta la vuelta, Until we meet again Grandfather

A monument of an Angel crossed with Themis, the Goddess of Blind Justice, carrying a fallen Mambi soldier from Cuba.

Many in my personal life who read this blog are already aware of this. But last Tuesday my  grandfather Juan had passed away. My grandfather did not have an easy life. He had a life marked by pain and by isolation. John Donne said that man is not an island. But with respect, he never met my grandfather.

And while his poem praised human unity, very few humans ever lent him a hand. He was born out of wedlock to a Babalawo and to a white woman of Spanish blood. A woman with a deep interest in the Occult. She loved her Babalawo despite the fact that he was a married man. The two conceived my Abuelo Juan.

His uncles hated him. Because his father was biracial, they told him he wasn’t really a part of their family. Instead he was a “negro they found in a hill somewhere and took pity on”. This was Cuba before the Revolution. My great grandmother had to hide him on that farm with her uncles and mother.

A child born out of wedlock and born of two ethnically different parents. It was a scandal and a shame for the family. And especially for early Cuba. My grandpa had to go through beatings and emotional abuse until he became an adult. His grandmother to her credit, loved him.

And didn’t care that he was mixed. She loved him and took care of him and defended him from his uncles. And was always making sure that he was alright. His mother would visit him on the weekends. He always blamed his father for everything.

Said his father was too much of a coward to tell him who he really was. My family said that his mother kept his existence a secret. She was afraid to ruin his father’s life. My grandfather spent a lot of time alone. He had his friends but he loved his solitude.

He absorbed himself in books, in poetry, in history and politics, and in writing. He was a bit of a ladies man and seduced many woman. He even warned me to be careful with any Cuban girls I date. Because they could accidentally be related to me. Which would put a dent in my dating life to be sure.

But despite all the womanizing he did, there was one person he seemed fixated on since his early years : my grandmother. In his youth, he fell in love with her. She was 17 and he was 14. And while she didn’t pay attention to him at the time, he always vowed that one day she would be his wife. She married a violent and corrupt Batistiano Captain of the police.

He beat my grandmother and was responsible for war crimes against the people before and during the Revolution. My grandfather was a soldier of lower rank under this man. He waited for the bastard to drink himself to death so that he could approach my grandmother and propose to her. And she said yes. Something I don’t think she ever thought she would do because of the age difference.

They were both involved in the failed Counterrevolution on the island and ultimately divorced. But he still loved my grandma. So much that before she died he almost seemed to sense it. And he said to my mother,

“Hija, if one day your Mother should die, please don’t tell me. Because I know I’ll fall apart if I know. Just tell me she’s still alive,”

Unfortunately, he did find out and he went into a state of shock. Which led to him having two strokes and developing Alzheimer’s. Just as he told us, my grandmother’s death undid him. He seemed to go into an accelerated physical and cognitive decline in just months. He was rapidly turning into someone else.

Each month was like a decade for him, and soon the man who helped raise me as a child was disappearing before me. When I was a boy, my grandpa was one of the best and greatest people in my life. He defended me from my father when he got abusive. And  asked my mother what the hell was going on and what she planned to do about it. He warned me about the dangers of cult brainwashing.

You see I was raised in a Fundamentalist church and he didn’t want me to blindly follow the doctrines of men, disguised as ‘divinity’. He claimed to be an agnostic, and once said that he believed,

“In the God who created Heaven and Earth. But I don’t know who the fuck this Jesus guy was. He was probably a delinquent and that’s why they crucified him,”

To my very Christian and very horrified mother. He also “shit on the Seven African Powers” and “Shit on every Saint in Heaven!” whenever he was angry. I always laughed and he couldn’t help but laugh with me. He would also write vulgar poems about Christian people, including a certain sect that knocks on doors to preach the good news.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses say that soon Armageddon will come, but I laugh, I dance, and I shit on the Mother of God,”

I remember that when he took me out to eat at a Cuban diner. It was the very first memory of him I have. I think it was our first outing. He gave me an unlit cigarette and put it in my mouth and said,

“There, now you’re a man damn it!”

I think I was 6 or 7 at the time. My Mom went apeshit when she found out. It was awesome! Since that time we would go together to Little Havana where we would hang out with his friends on the side walk. Where we would work together on the farms with the animals. We would even make deliveries to places of bird food and sometimes the unsavory deliveries of animals to be sacrificed by Santeros.

Something I vehemently oppose to this day despite being a Santero myself. I would actually wake up at 5am on Saturdays to go with him to have a good breakfast and to plan out our day. We’d go to a Santero Botanica where I would go to help him bring in merchandise. We’d go see old friends of his, which included a couple that got married thanks to him (long story). Other times we would meet random strangers and talk over  cortaditos about random things.

Oh, and then there was the Cuban-Chinese Restaurant. He’d go there not to eat Chinese food. He went there because they had “the best rice and stake he’d ever eaten,”. My mom used to tease him about it. “What? It’s true,” he’d say.

Mostly it was the solitude we both enjoyed. I loved talking to my grandpa about everything. We had no secrets. He quickly learned that he wasn’t so happy by himself after all. I was his partner.

I remember spending an hour eating cold pizza in his old truck. The windows down, the breeze of a nice day. The grey skies that promised a dark and stormy day. Oh how we both loved that kind of weather. Or at least I do.

Maybe he just enjoyed it because he knew I did. I remember when he bought me my first black leather jacket for the cold. I wore it even until the leather went bad and when I was hot. People thought I was crazy or that I was trying to be a punk rocker or something. But really I just enjoyed it.

When it was cold and early in the morning we would go to a diner and have a good breakfast. Then just enjoy the cold weather with a hot cafe con leche and eggs and ham. I knew all of his friends and they knew me. But despite that, he was silent as a tomb about his most private affairs. I dare say I probably know more about some of the things he went through or experienced than most people.

Only my mother knows more.

As a teenager, he loved the cemetery for example. He would spend hours immersed in the silence and the solitude. He’d even go there after school to do his homework. It was also one of the few places where he felt truly at peace. Death didn’t really scare him.

I’m sure like a normal man he feared the pain. But the act of being freed from this world did not bother him. What he feared if anything, was a life un-lived. That gusto for lifetook the form of travel, strange adventures with friends, the occasional brawl (even with younger men, he always won), affairs with younger and older women, and a lot of laughter. He even had an affair with his land lord’s wife.

I remember facepalming myself and going “Ay Abuelo tu eres tremendo,” (Oh Grandpa, you’re something else). I figured he’d end up having to find a new home. But as it turns out that is not what happened at all. He discovered that the man was beating his wife. So one day in their kitchen with both present he promptly said,

“She and I are together now. So, I don’t give a fuck if she’s married to you. She’s not your property. If you touch her again, I am going to crack your skull open and you’ll have a closed casket funeral,”

He said this nonchalantly while both the man and his wife where in the room. The story was told to me by her. That’s how I even know it happened. My grandpa had many flaws, but he loved you and was loyal to you. And he defended you with no care to what would happen to him.

Needless to say, while they were together the beatings stopped. I remember how bizzare that relationship was. That this guy had a tenant he knew was sleeping with his wife. And that the wife treated my grandpa like her husband instead of him. She even cooked breakfast or special foods for him.

My grandpa really seemed to like her. He once told me that talking to her he felt better than if “he fucked the princess of Spain!”. And he meant it too. Which made it funnier. This man could write poems in old Spanish verse yet that’s how he described his personal life.

One time, after he was already sick and looking like a corpse, my mother was “dating” some asshat that had a reputation for hitting women. She didn’t know that when she decided to give him a chance. But grandpa sure did. He sized this guy up, literally looked him up and down. So he looks at my Mom and says,

“Hija what is your size and weight?”

She replied and he said,

“Good! If some piece of shit ever lays a hand on you, you take your fist and you hit him as hard as you can under his chin and fuck up his jaw. He’ll live to regret it,”

The guy laughed nervously. He knew my old man had him pegged nice and good. And even while he was so weakened from his first stroke, that one hard gaze was enough to make even a younger man think twice. This was my second father. In many ways my real father, as he had influenced me in ways that my own could never do.

I remember visiting him at the retirement home for the first time. I took a Lyft to travel from Sweetwater to Miami Springs. I remember it was a beautiful sunny day and I actually enjoyed the little trip. But no one told me, no one warned me about what I would find when I got there. I liked the building, I thought it looked nice from the outside.

I searched for his room in the hallway. That rancid smell hit me all at once. That smell that lets you know there are elders who have not bathed yet. Like a smell of dust accumulating. People who can no longer move on their own.

Who need constant supervision. Then I found his room. He was sharing it with three other people. How can I describe seeing him turn from a strong man, despite his age, into a living corpse? I was shocked to say the least. Holding my emotions in was no easy task

That first day when I got to the Home he had to be placed in and saw him in that bed I hardly recognized him. I’m not exaggerating when I say he looked like death itself. He had lost so much weight, his skin grew so pale as if no blood flowed through his veins. And to make it worse, he couldn’t even stand up anymore. Now he required a wheel chair and a diaper.

Most of his friends weren’t around. He had fallen out of touch with all of them by this time. But not me, I’m your partner remember grandpa? Till the end. I stayed with him all day as he slept. I only left to eat in some little Restaurant around the corner.

I came back and I stayed until 5 or maybe 5:30pm. I knew it was late because night was breaking through. I took another Lyft home and felt mixed up inside. Confused. So, so confused.

I took pictures of him and shared it with my uncle and with my sister. For three years almost without fail myself, my mother, and my sister visited grandpa every weekend. We would bring him Cuban cafe, and chocolate pudding. Sometimes jello. He would devour it and then sing lewd songs aloud.

Mostly he would change the lyrics of Guantanamera to “Juan Cagalera” (Juan Shits alot). He would also sing about a man taking a shit. And that he saw that he had a small gun and a sack with two bullets. My mom was trapped between being embarrassed and laughing at the same time. I’m pretty sure he did it to piss off all of those old society ladies in the home.

The ones who wore fancy pearls and thought they were Spanish aristocrats. One of them was named Daisy. She came up to us to try and complain about my grandpa. My mom quickly defused the situation.

“My what nice pearls you have Daisy!”

“Why thank you child, I’ve had them since I was a little girl,”

Then my grandpa said,

“Coño (damn) they must be over a 100 yrs old. Quick! Run to an Antique Dealer, you’ll be a millionaire!”

My mom, sister, and I tried so hard not to laugh. We went red in the face. And Daisy walked off so pissed we thought she’d have a stroke herself. Gradually, this became the new normal. And my mother said seeing him like this was even worse than watching my grandmother die.

We never thought this would happen to him. We never thought he would end up in a home. We are a family that takes care of our elders. All my other grandparents lived with the family. With their children and grandchildren.

We wanted Abuelo Juan to live with us too. But he was so stubborn. He didn’t want to be a burden on us. He lived on his own and had his own place. But with his cognitive decline, the owners of his building began to tell us that he was falling asleep in the hallways and forgetting where his apartment was.

We never thought a retirement home was where he would end up. It was unheard of in our family. But with each stroke and the growing Alzheimers he needed help only professionals could give him. He’d more or less become accustomed to his new surroundings.  He believed it was a new apartment building.

He’d talk with other people but it was just small talk. The only people he really talked to were younger, attractive nurses. He would hit on them and make them laugh with his jokes. And would speak gibberish that he claimed was Arabic or Russian. But he only really came alive when he saw us.

Especially me.

“Pepito Carajo! Que bueno verte,”

(Pepito Goddamn it! It’s great to see you).

He was the only one I allowed to call me that. Pepe is my father. And I hate being seen as similar to him in any way. But somehow my grandpa changed the meaning of the name for me. The last peaceful memory I have of my grandfather was the last time me and my mom visited him.

My sister had already moved to another state. It was a calm Sunday afternoon. Sunny outside and the light coming from the window cast shadows that made it look as if the room were under water. You know what I mean? Like the reflection of water from a pool. He was already almost immobile by this point.

He never wanted to get out of bed now. Although he seemed more alert and happy strangely. He stayed awake talking to us for a bit and asking me how old I was now. And as usual, when I said 33 he would be shocked. He remembered me as I was in my teenage years.

He thought I was 15 again. He started drifting to sleep. And then we left. And that was the last time I saw my grandpa alive. Because then the pandemic hit.

And his retirement home was shut down. My uncle and mom were able to see him through the window and talk to him. Or sometimes talk to him through the phone. He started developing a cough and we began to get worried. We suspected it was the Coronavirus right away.

But they assured us it was a case of pneumonia. Nothing more. They took forever to test him, if that is what they actually did. And claimed he tested negative for the virus. My mom breathed a sigh of relief for the first time that day.

So imagine what it was like the next day to be ordering dinner and finding out that he passed away. My mom said she had felt a heaviness in her heart. That she knew something was going to happen but not what. She had left work earlier that day to give him a visit but no one answered from his room when she called out. Not even a nurse.

Not his usual protests of “shut the fuck I’m trying to sleep!”. Nothing. The nurses claimed they came in with his food and found him dead at 5:30pm. I had to be the one to break the news to his friend from his old job that he possibly died of Coronavirus. The assisted living facility we took him to, had apparently had 106 cases of Covid 19.

We learned about all these cases nearly a week after he died. We were starting to get grounded. We were starting to come to terms with what had happened. Only to watch Univision at 11pm for one of their daily Coronavirus reports and see this.

I just found out that the Senior Living Facility my Dead Grandfather was living in has 106 Confirmed Cases of #Coronavirus! It was called #FairHavens @ 201 Curtiss Pkwy (#MiamiSprings) they told us he died of Fucking Pneumonia! https://t.co/K8F9I2pJ7i

— Adventures of a Mage in Miami (@MiamiMagus) May 2, 2020

My rage, my pain, my anger. So much hurt in so little time. This had to be the shittiest week of my life. Nothing else could ever compare to this. I used to think my ex leaving me was bad.

I wanted to marry her and have a family. But this was far worse. In fact it set the bar for just how much worse something could be instead of a breakup. Someone you dated leaves you? Big Deal. There’s someone out there for everyone.

You just have to go out and find them. But there are some losses that one never truly gets over. Losing someone that you have loved since you were born, the first person who held you as a baby. That’s a fate worse than death. Or perhaps it is a death of some kind.

It’s as if my life force had been sucked out of body. As if something in the Universe just went cold. I feel numb and almost cold inside. I have had to keep myself from crying and grieving because my mother needs me. She just lost both of her parents now.

She’s not going to see them again for a very long time. Until her time comes to depart as well. I’ve been sleeping on the floor of her apartment so she wouldn’t be alone. And today I heard her talking to her husband (who is stuck in Honduras now). I pretended to still be asleep.

And I heard her crying on the phone. Telling her husband that she’s worried about her brother. Because their Dad’s death has so deeply effected him. That he blames himself for his death. Because he had power of attorney.

Because he trusted the scum from that facility to care for his Dad. That he would be safe and cared for. As mother’s day nears, it won’t be quite the same. For all intents and purposes she’s an orphan now. They have a cliche for this kind of thing.

You know, the one that says that with a person’s passing, the world gets a little dimmer. Well, it’s not a cliche. It’s truth. In Judaism, God is believed to be this gigantic swirling pool of light.

And all of us come from that pool of light. We’re all pieces of Adonai’s great cosmic soul broken down into human form. So when we die, our souls or our light, returns back to the Source. And that Quantum Source is God. Or comes from God.

So when we die, we are dimming the world. Because our light flees this place to go home. We leave the world dimmer and darker than when we first started out because our presence made it a better place. So the dead are not whom we mourn, but ourselves. The dead find peace (usually).

As long as they are remembered, as long as they are not forgotten and the proper rituals and prayers are offered, they are well. It’s only when they are forgotten and unloved that they suffer. No, we mourn ourselves because just a little bit of that light left our world and went back to it’s source. And we are left in a world far less bright, than that which we lived in before. How did I do Abuelito?

Did I succeed at condensing your long, eventful life, into one gigantic post? I found it hard to do. I feel that the Earth has shifted underneath my feet. That my hold over everything is lost. That I am lost. But I won’t mourn you Abuelo, I’ll celebrate you.

We will take our time to grieve yes. But not to feel bad about ourselves. Instead, to heal and to move on. To honor your spirit and your memory. To cherish all the fond memories we have of you.

And to light your way so that you may be with the ancestors. Adios Juan, hasta la vuelta. Until I see you again grandfather. I love you.

 

 

Angry with the Gods

Nehushtan, the Idol of the Hebrew Goddess Chokmah or Sophia. Moses made it out of Bronze to magically heal the Hebrews from the snake plague unleashed on them by Adonai.

Lately, it seems that this year, as positive and bright as it was meant to be, has gotten bogged down in negative energy. I was hopeful and even boasted that this would be the best of years. But I am reminded again, that what may be good in the spiritual world won’t necessarily be good for us. And this goes for every God and spirit. Even the Christian God sends trials and tribulations in the Bible.

Lately I’ve been pissed off because of it. Every once in a while, it’s good to be angry with your Gods and spirits. Because as my priest (of Zeus) once told me,

“Most of the Gods have never been human. So most of them don’t know what it’s like to be in our shoes and suffer. This is why we normally appeal to our ancestors for most personal things,”

And he’s right. Some of the Gods have been human at least once. Not just Jesus, but Gilgamesh, Herakles, the Orishas in Yoruba culture lived as men and women on Earth as well. And they all suffered horribly. Yet I find myself not doubting my faith, just angry.

I know there are cosmic reasons for why the Gods don’t give us the Paradise we desire. I know much of what’s wrong with our world is our fault. But it also feels like we live in a Multiverse that is rigged from the top. The Gnostics warned us of this. They talked about the Archons, false gods who are Demonic and often impersonate the real Gods.

They are the reasons our world is a living hell half the time. So the Gnostics busied themselves with special exorcisms and amulets to ward off the Archon’s and their influence. I consider myself a Gnostic Pagan. Gnostic Christians understand many things and I agree with much. But I don’t entirely agree with everything they preach.

Still, that’s the Christianity that I love and embrace. Because I feel a divine glimmer of truth in it all. I know that what goes wrong in our world isn’t really the fault of the Gods. I just wish they wouldn’t let things get so bad. And that goes for the Saviour God of the Christians too.

They claim to have all answers, but in reality they are just as lost as everyone else is. Which is why I embrace spirituality, not religion. I decide for myself what is or isn’t right instead of just blindly following religious leaders as many do. This doesn’t mean I don’t ask my leaders for guidance. It also doesn’t mean that I disrespect traditions or elders.

Just that at the end of the day, I think for myself and follow my own connection to the Gods. Which is a prime tenant of Gnosticism “truth comes from within,”. At this moment I am asking them for help in this current pandemic. And that is what I am sharing with you today. This is what came to me in my own meditations based on my mixed practices.

On Hekate’s Deipnon which I celebrated Sunday (day before the last phase of the Moon) I divined and asked for information. Why is this pandemic unleashed? What’s going on? What can be done about it?

 

Divinations

I did a combination of Bone Casting, Bibliomancy (Catholic Bible), and Cartomancy (cards). This is what I was told :

– Give offerings to Babalu Aye, Oro, and Hekate to fight the spirits of disease. I don’t know what this meant, except maybe they mean the Animistic force or energy of the disease. Everything has a soul after all.

– Pray to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and bless red strings and hang them on the entry points of every home. This is supposed to symbolize the blood magic that kept the Angel of death away from the Hebrew Slaves in the Bible.

– Also get sticks that look like Snakes and bless them to become like the Bronze idol Moses used to cure people from the plague of snakes (Hezekiah the Hebrew King disrespectfully called it Nehushtan or brazen thing). I suspect it was an idol of Sophia also called Chokmah, Goddess of Wisdom. This is to keep the pandemic itself away. Place them on the four corners of your home and ask them in the name of Sophia, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, finally God himself to ward away the plague.

– Give offerings to the “Mighty Dead” the Kings and Queens of the Ancestors. From Adam and Eve all the way to the dead Tribal Chiefs of various cultures. Great heroes, Saints, Buddhas, and other ascended masters etc..for them to divide into one of two camps : defense and offense. For some to defend you and your loved ones as well as other humans. And others to attack the spirits of disease.

This kept coming up frequently. What it means I can only guess at. The disease is spoken of almost as an entity or group of entities.

– Give offerings to all Gods of the Dead to kill the pandemic and turn away death itself from you, your loved ones, and the world at large.

– Give offerings to all the Animal Totems, Nature Spirits, and the Dead themselves to defend us and block death and disease.

– Offerings to the Apotropai, the Gods who ward off evil. That can be Jesus or whoever else you believe in. Every God has an Apotropaic aspect.

– Offerings to all Healer Gods and Spirits. Primarily I was directed to St. Raphael the Archangel. I even received two emails strangely enough that were related to Raphael. One of them was a new blog post from WordPress.

Three Prayers for Times of Illness and Disease

– Pray to the Sea and Earth Gods and Goddesses and their spirits to replenish the life forces of the Earth. This means going to places that are rural or wild and the sea itself as well as rivers or canals. You’ll have to look into your own religion or culture to see what the acceptable offerings are.

– Now finally, a lot of things are being mentioned towards the end of my divinations about water and the need to purify with water. I don’t know if the key to defeating this pandemic lies in water. But these references do mention the use of ablutions. That is to say, using holy water to heal and purify. I believe all homes need to be cleansed both spiritually and physically.

You don’t need to go to a church for that. Pray over the salt and water separately. Then mix the salt and water together and do one final prayer asking for it to be empowered as holy water. Then sprinkle it daily inside and out of the home. Apparently we are being warned to be hygienic both physically and metaphysically.

– The final divinations mentioned war coming. This can be metaphorical a “war against disease”. Or perhaps it’s a literal war. The US is always declaring war on somebody for natural resources or territories. So that doesn’t even come as a shock to me anymore.

– We are being warned of the old prophecies, specifically I am reminded of the 7 Fires Prophesies of the Ojibwe.

“The Seventh Prophet was younger than the others who had come and there was a glowing light from his eyes.  He said that there would come a time when the waters had been so poisoned that the animals and plants that lived there would fall sick and begin to die.  Much of the forests and prairies would be gone so the air would begin to lose the power of life.

“The way of the mind brought to the red, black, and yellow nation by the white nation would bring danger to the whole earth.  In this time there will arise Osh-ki-bi-ma-di-zeeg, a new people who will emerge from the clouds of illusion.  They will retrace their steps to find the treasures that had been left by the trail.  The stories that had been lost will be returned to them.  They will remember the Original Instructions and find strength in the way of the circle.  Their search will take them to the elders and the new people will ask for guidance.  But many of the elders will have walked the Path of the Souls to the Star Web.  Many elders will have forgotten their wisdom and they will not be able to help.  Some of the elders will point in the wrong direction and others will remain silent because of their fear.  Some of the elders will be silent because no one has asked them for their wisdom.

“The task of the new people will not be easy.  If the New People will find trust in the way of all things, in the circle and remain strong in their quest, they will no longer need the selfish voice of the ego and they can begin to trust their inner voice.  The Waterdrum of the Midewiwin Lodge will again sound its voice. There will be a rebirth of the Anishinaabe nation and a rekindling of old flames. The Sacred Fire will again be lit. Wisdom will be once again be found in dreams of the night and of the day.

“It is at this time that the light skinned race will be given a choice between two roads. If they choose the right road, then the seventh fire will light the eighth and final fire, an eternal fire of peace, love, brotherhood and sisterhood. If the light skinned race make the wrong choice of roads, then the destruction they brought with them in coming to this country will come back to them and cause much suffering and death to all the Earths people.”

I don’t think this needs much interpretation. All the old apocalyptic stories and tales are being brought up by people. Some will say this is the reaction of ignorant religious people. Others still will say that this is just paranoia and it will all blow over. Except pretty much every prophesy we have read from almost every culture perfectly describes our current world.

At some point, one has to stop shrugging and going “Oh well this is normal,” and say NO, this is not normal. Because it isn’t. Accepting it as normal is like that Meme of the Dog in the burning house. Even if you think religion is BS, you have to admit that the fact that the Letra del Año (Letter of the year) out of Cuba said diseases would be really bad this year, is kinda accurate isn’t it?

“But M! We always have diseases etc..”

Yes that’s true, but everytime a Shaman or some other spiritual person makes a prophesy it tends to come true. I remember the first time I read the Oyeku Ofun Temple’s monthly divination saying death would come via water. I kept hearing almost every day of a new water related death. Including a mother who went crazy and murdered her own son. Then chugged his body into a nearby river.

It’s only coincidence if you’re lying to yourself and everyone around you. At some point you have to admit that something strange is going on. And then do something about it. I leave you all with this. I hope it will help arm the religious and spiritual amongst us against this new plague.

Updates

This section is for anything new that appears.

– Necromancy is needed. Specifically, Necromantic rituals for warding off the Dark Dead. Those forgotten and nameless ancestors. It would seem that at the heart or root of this plague are these toxic and sad spirits. It makes sense, diseases can be spread by all sorts of spirits.

But chief among them are Demons, Angels, Nature Spirits, and Ghosts. It looks like at the heart of this pandemic are the angry and restless dead. I believe that humanity having forgotten or abandoned many of our ancestral rituals has caused a surplus flow of the dead. I actually spoke of this recently to two different clients. I am beginning to think the dead are all angry and tired of being forgotten.

With that said, act as if this were Samhain : use protective rituals. Magical charms and crystals, barriers of magic, use Fire as well as the holy water. Specifically begin using blessed candles and incense. In mediaeval times, on Samhain, and even in the Christianized Hallow’s Eve and Hallow’s Day, sacred Bonfires were made to keep the roaming dead away in the Fields.

Another thing which was later used was the Yule Lamp, which was an oil burner with a blessed candle inside. Blessed oil as well, burned at night to keep all malign forces at bay. And especially to empower the thresholds of the house to keep bad things out of the home. If you have anything like that, use it. In my case I don’t, so I have to improvise.

Do rituals to avert evil as if in Winter time when they are strongest! I cannot stress this enough. Winter is dying hard. The departed and dark wintery spirits in general do not want to leave our world. It’s necessary to make them leave.

Tuesday March 24th

I’ve been told to perform the Hungry Ghost Ritual for all the dead everywhere. This is to appease as many as possible to

1) Weaken the pandemic as it seems death itself is causing it.

2) To ask the Divine Forces to permeate all worlds in an effort to cease the pandemic. As much as possible.

For information on what a Hungry Ghost is and how to do the ritual,  please read my 2018 article on Ghost Month.

https://miamimagus.wordpress.com/2018/08/13/ghost-month-2018-the-hungry-ghost-festival/

Thursday 26th

After I performed the Hungry Ghost Ritual, I have been told to pray to the Mighty Dead. To the Great Kings and Queens of the Dead. Asking them all to fight the disease and destroy it. Also for inspiration to help us fight it scientifically. And I was told by the spirits to specifically pray to my own ancestors and ask for guidance.

For protection. And to keep my family together. You reader, should do the same.

 

Sunday March 29th

We should all be making offerings to the Primordial Gods and Spirits of every religion. Particularly to the really arcane primordials. Such as the Hecatoncheires and also the original Three Cyclops brothers (Greek Religion) Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. Those ancient Black Smith Gods who built the charmed weapons of Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. While not everyone agrees they are Gods (just godlike beings), in my personal cosmology I view them as actual Gods.

In the early twilight hours of Saturday, I came to know that these were the Gods I had to personally pray to. I am also giving cthonic offerings to Kronos. Asking him to drain the pandemic away into Tartaros with him. While asking both the Cyclops Traid and the Hecatoncheires to lock the door behind. I also get the feeling these two sets of Gods are the ones we need to ask to handle the aftermath of this miss.

Including the mass crossovers of all the dead.

Thursday April 2, 2020

Final Update

I performed all of the rituals to empower the spirits to fight against the disease baring spirits. I will be doing a whole new Divination now. One for dealing with the pandemic itself.

Conclusion

Take what I have said with a grain of salt. I’m not prophet. In conclusion I will say this : I love the Gods, don’t think that I don’t. I also believe in them, have had experiences with them. But remember, even Jesus asked,

“Father, why have you forsaken me?”

And I don’t know about you. But I find myself asking myself that question a lot in these last few years.

– M

 

 

 

Darkness

During the time I had been away, I was entering a dark period in my life, quite literally. But everything seemed to coincide with the predictions of the Babalawos earlier this year. With my strange visions when I was doing my calender, and most of all with Hurricane Dorian. I made the conscious decision to turn my blog into a private diary for my occult experiences as well as a record of the strange things happening in the world.  I may one day actually pass this blog on as a Diary to any apprentices I may have.

That’s why I have privitized my blog. Strangely, a few people seemed to show interest in it and asked to follow me. But now to my observations. Before the panic of Hurricane Dorian, I noticed that a lot of negative energy was being released. 
So much so that I had to sit down to divine what was going on.

As I sat down to ask the spirits what was going on, I felt a wave of nausea hit me before I could activate my protections. Some dark entity had actually followed me home in broad daylight. How it was able to do so baffled me. But after burning some lavender to tell it to fuck off, and washing my floor’s with cleansing water, I set up all the protections. I used a very special trance to be able to talk to the dead since they are closer to the realm of darkness.

Plus a lot of spirits make the stupid mistake of thinking deceased humans are too weak to bother with. I followed a special formula and spoke to them. They told me that even natural events like storms of this kind, are also spiritual. And that most of the time dark nature entities are behind events like this storm. They informed me that before a natural disaster happens, dark spirits of almost every sort will flood areas to prepare to feast on the Miasma.

They also weaken or erode the will of people. This is to stop them from becoming strong enough to organize or do any of the things they are supposed to do. To make us all lazy and indifferent so that we’re sitting ducks essentially. And the panic set off by all of us during the storm was also attracting them. As well as feeding them.

Making them strong enough to cause us problems. I noticed the streets were rife with extra negativity. The spirits also told me that likewise, storms occur to sweep negativity away. They rip out the miasma from the roots. Like a gardener pulling the weeds out.

Most of the time, storms actually force hidden spirits or sleeping dead spirits out to be dealt with. So this is a form of nature cleansing that we all need no matter what. But they told me that this particular storm was negative in general. That something nasty was coming with it. So I began to send out texts and emails to my friends. 

I told them of my findings and telling them to put up extra wards on their homes. To prepare spiritually to deal with the fall out. And later that day I received a vision when walking home that I needed to feed the idols of the Underworld Gods. This was not only to protect my neighborhood, but for all the people and animals who were going to die as a result of this storm. This damn storm was a thorn in my ass for this whole week.

My sister sent me all the supplies I needed via Amazon. So I was free not only to ward but to organize a meeting with some of the other witches in my neigboorhood. We talked about Weather Conjuration in the hopes of weaking the storm. Or at least deflecting it back to the cold waters to kill it. But it was no use.

Others had been told a powerful force was behind the storm. Something so strong that a thousand weather wizards might not be able to weaken or deflect it. Luckily, it seems nature was deflecting it to the North away from us. But people are still going to get hurt no matter what. 
Later I learned that Santeros all over Florida were doing a state wide conjuration against it.

“Here comes Dorian, be banished damn it!”

The Hurricane memes related to Santeria still haven’t stopped. During the week I called people and we each did group divinations while on the phone. Eventually it was a celtic witch who came up with the idea that the storm was not meant to cleanse us of negativity. But to send negativity everywhere. 
Whatever had sent it, came from Underworld.

From regions beyond those occupied by the dead. This made all of us freeze and go quiet at one point. Finally, I related my story to Sister Morrigan as we nicknamed her, and I asked her why the dead didn’t tell me this before. She said,

“They have their limitations, as all spirits do. Whatever this is, is probably keeping tabs on the grape vine the same way governments phone tap people,”

I should have known this. But I fear I have grown too arrogant and too accustomed to always getting the right answer. It never dawned on me that something could be hidden from me. Or that I would need so many other witches to amp my power up to see. I am usually a solitary practitioner.

 
I like to be on my own with just the spirits and my Gods. I don’t like hierarchies or power dynamics. But I was reminded of why our ancestors usually practiced together. Why we even have churches and temples in the first place. Besides divine worship and veneration, comradery, and just seeking answers, it’s for the accumulation of energy. 

Like living in a commune and pulling our resources together. Eventually we came up with a plan of action. We started first through private and group prayers, private and group offerings, and then a collective meditation. We waited until we were answered. Sister Morrigan was told she needed to pray to her Matron the Morrigan to stop the storm. 

I was told to pray to Nemesis to wreak vengeance on the spirits of the storm. And a darker practitioner was told to evoke a very dark entity whose name I will not repeat here. But he is a fallen spirit who appears as a Knight. This was to initiate a “wild hunt” on any dark souls that were wandering around. Nemesis and Morrigan would handle souls that were not evil, but who were not at rest. 

Every one else was told what to do with their Gods or spirits. And Dorian went from arriving in Miami on Tuesday to showing up Thursday. Well, Thursday was yesterday and the weather has actually been sunnier. So far, all is well. I heard a rumour that a group of Muslim mystics were conjuring an army of good Jinnis to fight the storm spirits. This is just a rumour.

I have no idea if it’s true or not. Although Jinn like Angels and Faeries and other spirits can command the weather. I know any skeptic or cynic reading this blog will say that it’s a mass delusion brought on by fear and probably self aggrandizement. I couldn’t care less. In ancient times, there was no evidence that electromagnetic energy existed either.

Back then we knew of hidden energies without science to prove it. We know now that these energies and forces exist. And I am sure of this : had so many magic users not done anything against this storm, a lot more damage and loss of life would have happened. I know it probably would have arrived here sooner even than Tuesday.
By Saturday there were already winds knocking the power out in some places.

At the very least there is a correlation here even if not known. That combined human efforts against a disaster and the actual end result. Even if let’s say you don’t believe in magic, it should at least be theorized that maybe human energy can be commanded with other energies against another force. At least those are my thoughts at this moment. We also did a mass cleansing ritual.

I got the idea to do this a few years back. The National Paranormal Society or NPS seemed to be under attack. Everyday I noticed that people were having relationship issues they didn’t have before. Work problems with money, and just general conflict. I spoke to the NPS members on their messaging boards.

And I suggested that a lot of things in the spirit world didnt want this group becoming successful. That they were in fact being attacked. They all began to do personal rituals and talked about the positive effects. Others did public rituals with group members and posted up special prayers. Within a few days all the nasty activity seemed to go away.

People were able to have normal lives again. And all was well. So we started passing an email around exhorting people to do the same things. The negativity is maybe 90% gone. But I still see weird things around my neigboorhood.

So I am going to have to divine some more and maybe work with these fellow magic users to see what’s going on. That’s all I have to report for now. But the next time a storm is brewing, and you see people all around you frightened or even acting strangely. And you feel sick to your stomach, and almost see shadows even darker than the normal shadows, remember. If storms can take things out, they can also bring things in.

Strange things. Occult things. Things that normal practitioners might not be able to see. Things that sometimes only animals can see. And that’s why your favorite dog or cat might growl or hiss.

Why even the insects and birds seem more skittish than usual. Why even the people around you are becoming darker and more angry than before. Beware,

“I could tell that I was at a gateway of a region half-bewitched through the piling-up of unbroken time-accumulations; a region where old, strange things have had a chance to grow and linger because they have never been stirred up,”

– Herbert Philips Lovecraft 

-M

Consultation with the Babalawo

Priests of IFA engaging in Divination

I promised all of you, that I would keep you up to date on what came of the child. I have very good news to share with all of you. Since the banishing of the negative spirits was done, it would seem that her health has greatly improved. She is doing better and for the moment seems stable. However, this also comes with some bad news.

I began receiving visions of a woman, a nasty one. I got the feeling that someone had cursed the child’s mother to cause a miscarriage. That was what I had suspected in my last post near the end. I received confirmation from a medium that I was correct. We combined our powers and I began to perceive two other women. 

The end result is something so horrible that I am not going to post my suspicions here because the family reads my blog. The news was shocking to the medium and the baby’s grandmother. We believe there are three women involved. But who they are we still don’t know 100%. Someone has done a lot of hardwork to cover their tracks and the illusion spells they cast are too strong for us to see through. 

They had formed a coven of three to gain power. And while there is a generational curse, it seems that they had also cast a spell upon the child while she was in the womb. But nothing could prepare me for what the Babalawo I went to informed me of. A Babalawo is a high priest of the Orisha (God) Orula. The God of Divination and Magic. 

One of the highest deities of the pantheon. Babalawo or simply Awo means “father of all things material and spiritual” or “father of the mysteries”. These are the primary diviners of traditional Yoruba faith. We go to them for some of the most complex cases there are. I had decided to go to a special Babalawo that I met less than a month ago.

Tuesday June 11th 2019 Feasts of St. Bartholomew and the Roman Goddess FortunaHour : 3:30pm-4:00pm

The Bablawo who was initiated into IFA faith of Orula in Nigeria, spoke with me and the Grandmother. His master is the head of the Aworeni family, basically the Pope or Dali Lama of the IFA sect. He performed a long series of prayers to the Orishas. After a little under an hour he mentioned a much older generational curse. One that causes strange deaths in the family.

 The Grandmother told us the baby’s grandpa died from a very strange work related accident at a young age. The details are not fully known. I had not seen this. But it made sense. He also mentioned that the state and town the baby’s family has lived in are full of nasty spirits. 

Ghosts of people who have died from horrible diseases and sudden deaths. The Babalawo said that if the child does not leave that area, that it would be good for special idols to be sent. One of Babalu Aye (God of disease and healing) and the other of Orisha Oro to be fed offerings of animal blood. But we explained that the girl’s mother is very stubborn and will not allow such a thing. Oro is a God of Necromancy and the ancestors. 

He is invoked to stop Eggun Buruku (dark ghosts) from harrassing the living. He also punishes criminals. He is served by his cult in Nigeria who have their own woods to meet. This is not an Orisha to call upon for no reason. If he is mentioned by the priest, it means that the spiritual atmosphere of the area must be dark and toxic indeed. 

He also mentioned that the child’s soul does not wish to be on Earth. Her Ori or doppelganger wants to depart to Orun (heaven). This is a common theme in Yoruba faith. There are special magical children called Abiku. They have pacted with friends and family from their previous lives to rejoin them in heaven soon after reincarnating.

That they will only live for a few hours, days, months, or years on Earth and then return quickly to their old family. 
Now, neither he nor I am stating she is abiku. I am just explaining that this is one of the common beliefs about such children. We agreed upon him doing the Ebbo ritual himself here in Miami, Florida. This include one animal sacrifice, food, fruit, and special prayers. 

He will is also sending and preparing a bracelet of IFA and a special soap with herbs inside of it to the child. The herbs will cleanse the child of any and all negativity. The Mano de Orula (Hand of Orula) bracelet will keep her grounded to Earth so she doesn’t pass away. The ritual which was also be video taped so that the family could see the rituals impressed me and them alike. Upon researching the area where the family has lived,  I discovered that there is a history of epidemics.

 Such as typhoid fever, scarlet fever, but most of all cholera. When I told the Medium this, she decided to have a closer look with the angel Uriel. Uriel began sending her visions. She said she saw men and children working in factories with long pipes and black smoke. She also saw people sick in beds. She thinks the two are related. 

I believe these individuals may have died from the smoke inhalation. I personally recieved something about coal factories or coal miners in the 1800’s. After making some inquiries online I found images that seem to coincide with what she saw. It seems to have happened all over that state. Not just the family’s town.

 This took place during the Industrial Revolution. I provided the Grandmother with links showing the historical research. I have asked my Shaman friend Michael Robishaw of Alexandria Paranormal Investigations if his researcher can look up odd deaths in the area. But so far everything the priest mentioned is backed and verified. Including strange deaths even in the baby’s family.

 Michael also did Shamanic healing for the child while all of this occurs. I continued my banishing now to include a Pagan Christian funeral mass for the Angels of Death to cross over as many lost souls there as possible. Finally, today the grandmother showed me a video of Penny and she is becoming a normal baby. Growing fast. You wouldn’t have known that she was ever a premature baby. 

The doctors still have no idea what caused her disease or even why she is suddenly getting better. But it worked. That’s what’s important. The banishing ritual and the funeral mass will continue until the spirits are fully removed. If anything changes, I will keep you posted.

– M