Olokun, one of the Orishas of the Ocean. His Sopon or vessel contains actual water blessed for him, my Godmother in Santeria once cleansed me with water she personally blessed in Olokun’s name.
Tonight is Hekate’s Deipnon, and I figured I would write this. I was also asked to write this by a client who needed her home and personal space cleared of negative energies. After I took a heavy curse off of her. The following is a ritual I came up with from various practices. But I made this ritual neutral so that it can be used by any religion and any God.
Idols come in both genders or can appear genderless
In Ancient Greece they used sacrificial animals, people, food, or even idols called Pharmakoi. The idea was that they were vessels that retained the bad energy. And that when you sacrificed them, you were killing the bad energy. So the first part of this is a Pharmakos cleansing. You’re trapping the bad energy into a vessel.
You have to map out where you are going to go. For instance you need to know every nook and cranny in your house. Every corner. If you have an attic, start there. And make sure you go to every spot in your property and home.
Ending in the basement as well as outside your prosperity. You have to pray, or chant, or do a spell. And you command all negative energy and bad spirits to be bound to the vessel. You do this while you are walking around. The vessel is a sacrifice that soaks up all of the bad energy around.
You also rub yourself, all members of the house (including pets) with the vessel. This is done so that any attachments or bad vibrations can be drained into the vessel. You’ll know it’s done because you will feel the property be instantly lighter. And you and those around you will feel lighter as well. If this was a bag of garbage, toss it into a public dumpster or community dumpster ASAP.
And say that no one will be harmed by this bag. That you consign the dark energy to its own dark world never to return. To be bound to chaos forever. Chaos meaning the primordial void. Then turn around and walk away without looking back.
If it was food, you need to go to a crossroads, railroad, or body of water, even a pond will do. And call upon the spirits of those places (in the name of your God/Goddess) to remove the bad spirits and energies. And that as the animals eat the food, they will not be in danger. That they will destroy the negativity. Again turn around and walk away.
Position your car so that you don’t have to turn around to face the spot when getting inside. You don’t want to look at the area even by accident. Make sure you can leave and leave fast without turning around. The reason for this is that all the negativity will go to you worse than before if you do. Or worse, you might see the spirits that are going to take away the bad energy.
Which can be dangerous by itself. Another possibility is you will see the bad spirits that you bound and they will be freed instantly to haunt you. Make sure you leave the proper offerings at the site for the spirits or God you called upon. Go home.
Part 2 : Casting Aspersions
An Asperger also known as an Aspersorium or Aspergillum, a device used to cast aspersions of holy water. This Aspersorium comes from Rowan Morrigan
The term “casting aspersions” comes from this. It’s a form of cleansing with holy water. You basically flick holy water on the walls. On the ground. On anything and on everyone even pets.
That’s what casting aspersions actually means. This is to bless everyone and everything the water touches. So with the water you blessed with your own prayers, bless the home. You will need an Aspersorium which is a fancy word for an object that you can use to flick the holy water with. The church uses fancy metal devices or even brushes or small buckets to do this.
But any object will do. You cast the aspersions from the outside in. From the front and back yard. Call on your God or Goddess and their spirits to protect and bless the property and dedicate it to them. Say,
“I dedicate this home to be your divine temple. This I holy ground and only that which you allow can enter,”
Bless the outside in. And enter the front door and bless the house from the basement all the way to every nook and cranny up into the attic. You should feel another wave of relief come upon you. Make sure you flick the water or asperse it everywhere.
Sometimes I even use the cap from the plastic bottle I keep my holy water to asperse everything. If all else fails just use your hand. You will feel the wave of relief hit and once that happens you will know the dedication ritual is done. Granted some people don’t choose to dedicate their houses to their Gods. Instead they just do normal blessings.
I’m just not one of those people. My house is a temple to the Gods. I want them to live there. Sure the upkeep is a little more stressful but ultimately it’s better.
Part 3 : Reclaim your Authority
Think of your Will as a personal forcefield. And as a reality altering force. Your enemies, including evil spirits, have no power over you.
With this part, walk around with a holy item that represents your faith after the cleansing.
Used Horse Shoes are powerful talismans and can represent many religions and folk practices, from El Tarot De Yemaya (the tarot of Yemaya occult store)
And command that any unwelcome or negative spirits need to go. Command them to leave in the name of your God/Goddess/Gods. And say that only the Gods and their divine spirits can be in your home. Do this to reinforce and reassert your control over the home and property. It restored the natural barriers that exist to keep bad spirits out.
And it also re-empowers them to keep things out you don’t want.
Part 4 : Warding
From the Sacred Signs Archive drawing sacred symbols or hanging up magical charms is a common method of protection
This part is a long term project and it’s not something you can do in one day or night. You go through the process of learning special prayers. Or getting or making amulets to ward off negative energy. Or talismans to bring protective energy. Also drawing symbols or writing special words or letters of power is important.
You have to research your own religion. Or your culture and heritage. And find out what is useful in keeping bad influences away. This will increase the power of the dedication and/or blessing.
Since writing about Otura Niko, I got curious and wanted to know more about it. I had never heard of this sign before. And I wanted to trace its origin. I think I found the possible origin. Translated from the original Spanish article here.
In the land of Yewe Inle, there was a time when there was a terrible drought. Everything was a great disaster. It was then when the main kings met with the Obá Ikú (king death), Elegua, and Iroko to deliberate in an assembly. The result of that assembly was that everyone should do Ebó. The last three, as they had no money for the Ebó, decided to ask Oba Ikú for twenty-four coins, he accepted.
But with the condition that they pay him back within three days. They formally promised to do so. When the three days passed. Obá Ikú went to Elegba’s house to collect. He found him sitting in the doorway of the house, he refused to pay.
Obá Ikú bashed him with his cane and killed him. And made a hill of crab land (Ilekan) and buried him there. Together with his hand of Ifá, he sacrificed a rooster for him, and said:
“From today onward, you will be the Orisha (God) Elegua,”
Obá Ikú continued to the house of Iroko. And found him in the heart of the mountain. He asked for his money back. But he refused. And so Obá Ikú took his cane and killed him.
Throwing two majá that Iroko had in his room, two white jars, and killing a white chicken, he sang to him:
“IROKO DILOYU, IROKO DILOYU, BABA IKU EGUN LAYE, IROKO DILOYU,”
(ROCO DILOYU, IROCO DILOYU, FATHER OF DEATH CURSED IN LIFE, IROCO DILOYU)
And he said to Iroko,
“You will become an Orisha, everyone will worship you,”
And at that moment a sacred tree rose, which is the Iroko. Obá Ikú sent an envoy to Orunmila. Who by now had made his daily divination and saw the Odu (text) Otura Niko. So he performed an Ebó, feeding his ancestors along with the land and his Ifá, and he prepared a large casserole of ajiaco.
Otura Niko becomes a child when Obá Ikú arrived
An Orula baby doll
Orunmila invited him to lunch, when they finished Obá Ikú thought:
“I killed Elegba and Iroko, I must now finish with Orunmila as well,”
Obá Ikú raised his scythe to land a blow to Orunmila. But he dodged the blow of Obá Ikú. Who then pursued him tenaciously. And while he was escaping, Orunmila performed sarayeye (cleansing by rubbing a sacred object on the body) using the stick known as Espanta Muerto (frighten the dead). A cleansing to keep him safe from death.
And he arrived at the river. Out of fear, Orunmila leaped into the River. But Obá Ikú absorbed the river to catch him. But Orunmila still escaped. Then Obá Iku, disheartened, walked away.
Leaving Orunmila the victor. The river continued its normal course. And Orunmila came out of the water singing:
“IRE IRE WANWAN LELE ASHE IFA”
(GOOD LUCK WANWAN LELE DIVINE GRACE OF IFA)
Then Orula transforms into a child, to avoid being recognized and starts crying. He stands at the foot of a laurel bush, which had a lot of curujey (West Indian tufted airplant) on top and continued to cry. At that moment he meets two women who were passing through. They prepared a jar and opened one of the jugs. And filled it and leaves, some plants and placed the child (Orunmila) inside and took him to the house of Olodumare. One of them suckled him from her breast.
When they arrived at Olofin’s (GOD’s) house, the child surprises everyone by speaking to Olofin and tells him that he wants Aiyé to take him home. She rejects this, but because it was a direct order from Olodumare, Aiyé accepted and took him. She prepared a mat next to hers. When night came Orunmila returns to her in his normal adult state and says:
“I am Otura Niko and now I am your husband. With these transformations I defeated Obá Ikú. Because I am the foreman of the Egun (dead). But never reveal this secret to anyone,”
Orula
The woman was engaged and they lived happily. Where the fame of Otura Niko began to spread throughout that land.
After some time,
Shango, Egun, and Oshumare come to visit Otura Niko. To receive them all worthily, he tells his wife, Aiyé, to cook great delicacies. She replies in front of Shango:
“I have no time,”
Then Otura Niko threatens her. And she mocks and insults him, saying:
“You are only great because you are the foreman of the Egun (dead) and capable of shape shifting,”
At the moment, Otura Niko took his Irofá and ran after her. She was on her way to Olofin. But before arriving, Otura Niko caught up with her and gave her a blow from his Irofá and killed her. Then he said,
“I killed you for violating your oath,”
(You see, his power was in that he had become the foreman of the dead. And apparently, no one knew that. Nor that he was such a mighty shape shifter. To know the secret was to share in the power. And I suspect that Orunmila also didn’t want Iku, the Orisha of death, to know the secret of his survival).
Shango and Orunmila
Immediately, he made a pact with Shango. Also giving him the secret and the ashé (power) of Otura Niko. He took Aiyé and buried her. Then he put his Ifá next to her tomb and gave 2 black chickens to the spirit of Aiyé. Along with his Ifá.
And put the chickens with Ekó to Egun. They lowered the vultures and ate them. Letting him know the power of Egun that he had.
Prayer of Otura Niko, Otura Ogbe
“Otura Niko adifafun iku alashona oumbo wa ni eshu ishonshon oba lele iroko oba lele orunmila ore lawa oba iku yen ore amaiyekun belele iya lele lokua ariku omi orunmila oun sede otura niko umbo atefa ni egun agboran iku agboran olofin yewe inle oba iku onika ododo sekun iroko segun gbogbo iya kalalu elebo owunko elebo moyeni iku orunmila akue ye akualosiña iya laye oba iku,”
(Otura Niko, the death of our child’s mother, is the God’s faith, the king, the king, the king, the king of death, the king of death, the eternal friend of the mother, the king of heaven, he is the king of heaven).
It’s unknown if Otura Niko was named after him. Since he ritually becomes the “foreman of the dead” after this. Or if the Odu (text) already existed prior to him taking on this title. But that doesn’t really matter at this point. As the Foreman of the dead, Orula is immune to death.
He’s also shown to be a masterful shapeshifter. So he could take on any variety of forms and escape Iku. And foreman is another term for supervisor. Perhaps it even means he could command the dead in this form. Or command Iku to leave him be.
I’m not sure yet. I have to ask my Babalawo about his knowledge concerning the text. And see from there what happens. Take care of everyone. And as usual, be safe.
– M
The Eggun or dead, looking at their own corpses on a battlefield
I declare that September is early October and that therefore NOW is the time to begin Halloween until the third of November and beyond lol. So here we begin.
Lemures or Larvae. The dark souls of the ancestral dead
As if the festival of the Lemuria wasn’t already chalk full of some strange, and often dark mystical energy. The Gods have chosen to make it more bizarre by making the final day of the Lemuria land on a Friday 13th. I have mentioned this holiday before. But I haven’t really gone into full detail about it started or why. So here we delve into the background.
First I need to apologize. The holiday started on Monday. But I couldn’t find the time to write. It’s on May 9, 11, and the final day being the 13th.
Romulus Haunted by Remus?
The Twin Boys destined for greatness, and tragedy sadly. Here with their adopted mother, the She-Wolf Luperca
The story goes back to Romulus and Remus. After they did all of their great heroic deeds, they decided to build a new city. It was their time. They wanted to prove that as with all things in their life, they built everything with their own two hands. They returned to the Seven Hills and went to work on building what would be Rome.
But soon after they began to quarrel. Romulus wanted to build the city on the Palatine Hill. While Remus wanted to build it over the Aventine Hill. When they couldn’t come to an agreement, they decided to let the Gods choose. Remus saw six birds that represented good luck.
But then his brother saw twelve. Which he claimed was proof the Gods choose the Palatine Hill. When he was creating the walls of Rome (some sources say a trench) his brother Remus criticized the work. Then obstructed the project. And finally, he skipped over the walls to mock his brother and the city.
Romulus entered a rage and murdered Remus.
Romulus killing Remus
By the time he realized what he had done it was too late. He buried his brother. But soon after the first Romans began celebrating a holiday called the Remuria. It’s believed that Romulus instituted the festival himself. Probably on the advice of Oracles.
Now I can’t back that up all of the way. That’s just speculation on my part with what I have read. But it makes sense. The whole holiday is about using an exorcism ritual to drive away dark ancestral spirits. He probably feared the return of his brother.
And as you will soon see, it’s also a holiday about removing guilt.
What are the Lemure?
A Lemure or Larvae is the angry spirit of the dead, every family has at least one. Toxic souls that are upset either because of how they died. Lack of proper funerals, burials, and/or rituals. Or lack of offerings by living relatives. They are similar to the Dybbuk of Jewish lore and the Causas (Causes) of Puerto Rican Sanse.
Or the Eggun Buruku of Santeria. Or even the Hungry Ghosts of Buddhism and the Preta of Hinduism. All of these are just names for the dark dead as we commonly call them in Santeria. Souls that go so deep into the darkness that some of them don’t even resemble humans anymore. The Preta for example are cannibalistic.
You can pretty much find a variation of a dark or mutated soul of the dead in every culture. Under different forms, species, and names.
Also being forgotten or unnamed can lead to them achieving this state. Some even due to the lack of funerary rituals. In Catholicism they have something similar called an Anima Sola (lonely soul). This is a person trapped in Purgatory as an unclean soul. Waiting for God to take them to Heaven. But without the proper rituals that could take an eternity.
In Latin American folk magic, these dark souls are called upon in magic. In exchange for prayers and masses done in their names, they will do favors for the humans who pray for them. It’s said that these purgatorial ghosts can tell you the locations of graves. Lost treasures. And they can grant certain wishes.
It’s not uncommon for women to call on female Anima Solas for love spells and magic. While male Anima Solas are usually called upon for financial security. All you have to do is to burn holy candles and do masses for them. This should be done before and after asking for their help. If you don’t, they will retaliate.
But you should always be careful when asking the spirits for help. Only work with spirits you trust. Who will never screw you up.
Some Anima Sola are violent
And spending so much time in Purgatory is enough to drive them insane. Those who do become insane, turn into the darkest and angriest spirits. And to make it worse, Purgatory is a giant oven of purifying fire to make your sins go away. To clean you before God. And it hurts as if you had gone to Hell.
Purification of the Anima Sola
Only special rosaries and masses can soften the purifying flame and eventually set them free so they can enter Heaven. Such a place would be the perfect grounds for an angry or dark spirit to be. And what all of the stories have in common are that these beings live in a dark world between worlds. A dimension where it isn’t exactly what Christians would call hell, but it definitely isn’t a paradise either. In some cases you could end up there if the wrong rituals are performed.
A fellow blogger had once told me a messed up story about how a Buddhist woman was trapped in a limbo like state. Because her Christian daughter gave her a Christian burial instead of a Buddhist one. The daughter had nightmares of her poor mother alone, in the darkness of an endless labyrinth. Until she spoke to a Buddhist Priest and the proper rituals were followed. Then the dreams stopped.
All of this is to give you a hint and a range of what dark souls are like. And how one can be violent while another is peaceful and scared. Sometimes even looking scrawny and hungry. Looking for help. Of course some of them are just evil bastards.
People who enjoyed hurting others and causing problems or sufferings. And they intentionally stay in places similar to a limbo or purgatory to avoid punishment (if you believe in that). Or maybe not punishment. But to avoid being sealed away in the spiritual world so they can keep haunting or bothering the living. Now as I said before, a Lemure is not always an evil spirit.
Just a dark one. Toxic due to its death or from some circumstance that keeps them in such a state. But each Lemure or dark soul or whatever should be judged according to four things :
1) What kind of dark soul they are?
Maybe instead of a Lemure they are a Jewish Dybbuk or a Preta.
2) Their intentions
Are they good or bad? Do they desire peace and help? Or do they want death and destruction?
3) Their culture
What is normally done to the specific dark souls and what do elders of certain traditions say about them?
And finally
4) The country they are in
If it’s a Preta in a country outside of India, chances are it’s connected to a local family or community. Maybe someone who recently passed away. Or someone who is ancient and follows a family where ever they move to. But either way, they’re in another land. There are rules they must abide by under the local spirits.
Indigenous spirits will always have more power than foreign spirits. And therefore the foreign spirit will have to keep their hauntings or activity in line with whatever local spirit rulers command. That being said, you can call on a local spirit for help battling a dark soul. This should help you gain the upper hand.
When the exorcisms were performed, the Father of the family placed his thumb between his fingers. And washed his hand with pure, clean water (maybe holy water). Then he placed uncooked black beans in his mouth and began spitting them all over the home.
Then in Latin he would chant,
“Haec ego mitto; his redimo meque meosque fabis,”
(With these beans I redeem me and mine)
So this ritual was one part expiation of sins and one part exorcism. He would do this nine times without looking back. The belief was the Lemures would take the beans and thus the sins. But they were in the house already and looking back meant they could attack. The next thing he would do is to beat on pots and pans and say,
“Ghosts of my Fathers and Ancestors, be gone!”
This would also be done for nine times which meant the ritual was complete. Only after the ritual was done could he look back.
The use of beans to confuse spirits or force them to count them until dawn is something still done today. And for more than just ghosts. Vampires and even the hag (demon witches) or werewolves of lore are also warded off by them. In some stories even nature spirits. But this ritual actually used them to remove sins as well. To cleanse away any reason the Lemures would have to be angry at the family.
And the use of noise to scare away evil spirits or spirits in general is another ancient practice. And still used today around the world.
Now, as for Friday the 13th, no one really knows what the origin was. I have written about it maybe once when it coincided when John Dee’s birthday. Since I don’t really have any new information I won’t go into it here.
Plus I have given you an eyeful with this post.
What I will say though, is that many witches consider Friday the 13th to be a day of good luck. And more importantly, a day where our powers are actually stronger. My Godmother in Santeria dedicates this day to prosperity work. As well as to cleansing and removal of curses. I do as well.
Though in my case I do past life healings and other work for clients on this day. My necromancy is also stronger on this day. And I use it as a mini version of Halloween to be able to speak with the dead. And gain information as well as to pass messages on to others. All kinds of magic is done on this day.
I focus on the darker energies of nature for healing. Another great thing to focus on is the use of Magical Oils. Like Lucky Friday the 13th Oil which is used as a talismanic potion for good luck. There’s also Friday the 13th Banish Evil Oil which is used as an amulet against evil. Then of course my favorite : Black Cat Oil.
The ingredients being Black Cat hair, iron fillings, bay leaves, sage, and myrrh. This one is my favorite since it is multi use. And it uses the energy of a black cat for magic. The ingredients are simple. But effective.
Now because the Lemuria falls with Friday the 13th this year, it’s a good time to do karmic cleansing and expiation of sins. The added power of this day will grant an extra kick to all sorts of rituals. But especially to curse removals and negative energy removal. And healing in conjunction with Mercury Retrograde. Which happens for the purposes of correcting problems and mistakes.
Speaking of Astrology, we have some interesting astrological events happening as well.
Super Flower Moon & Lunar Eclipse in the Sign of Scorpio ♏️
Sunday May 15th will be the Super Flower Moon of May. The moon will become visibly red. This symbolizes the blood of the Earth. Fertility, sexual energy, birth, and did I mention sex? Yeah be careful. You don’t want to wake up pregnant.
Or find out you’re gonna be someone’s father before you’re ready to. Fertility is at its strongest now. May is always fertile. But this just adds more power to it. I can’t help but think of a woman’s period.
This is a time of both life and death. Negative energy removed so that life can be possible. To make that theme stronger, we have the Eclipse in Scorpio making an appearance. Eclipses reveal hidden things. Either occult secrets or secrets about ourselves.
Combine that with a Retrograde and the remnants of the Lemuria and Friday the 13th energy. And that’s a lot of occult power that may not entirely be controllable. This is a time for Talismanic magic. I mean that in the original Astrological term. Talismans were originally medals with zodiac symbols on them.
Charged with the signs powers through special ceremonies. That’s where the name comes from. From the Arabic tilsam which means “graven image”. Being the image of the zodiac sign. Those were the original talismans.
You can create your own talismans. Not with images but with charms that will absorb the power and energy of these days. That way you can use them for whatever magic you seek to use later. But beware, don’t over do it. Try doing your magic so that you charm specific items for specific days.
Don’t over do it and then get an over powered charm that will blow up in your face when you try to use it. For Friday the 13th and Lemuria I will charm the bones of my dead familiar spirit. From midnight until dawn the 14th it will soak up all that energy. Meanwhile from the 15th to the 16th I will be charming something else for that energy. What I still don’t know yet.
I’ll probably bless an oil or something. Well, letting you all know ahead of time so that you can plan and do your work now. I hope this was useful. I’m sorry it took me so long to write about the Lemuria. But I have been busy doing the rituals myself.
Plus there’s another Roman holiday that is in May and has to do with the dead called the Rosalia for dead soldiers. So yeah, busy as hell. See you all later.
Negative Forces are around us since before the end of last year
I didn’t want to comment on this. Largely because as someone who believed in the Paranormal, I am trained to debunk everything. I thought it was just me seeing something that wasn’t there. But I have since changed my mind. Last year, my dog Sheldon was attacked by an American Bulldog.
He’s saved my mother from that dog. Fought like a champion to save her life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just him. There has been an epidemic of attacks on dogs and dog owners since then. When I translated the Letter of the Year of the IFA Priests, I noticed something.
They said “dogs would bring good luck,” this year. And after that I have seen that all over Florida dogs and dog owners are getting attacked. As my mother and dog had been attacked. I began to see a pattern there. And I divined to ask the spirits for guidance.
Near as I can tell, the Ajogún (warriors of evil) which is what the Yoruba people call demons, are all over the place. Feeding off of the chaos of humanity. Most people believe that human activity is all caused by spirits. But sometimes the reverse is also true. What humans do in our world causes spiritual activity.
Like a massive tremor in the spiritual world. The conflicts in different countries, global food prices going up, inflation and political division. All of this is food for the Ajogún. Negative spirits feed off of negativity. It’s like food and steroids for them.
It increases their powers and gives them a larger foot hold in our world. The Ajogún consist of corrupted spirits. Some were once human.
The Ajogún in their world
And others are forces of nature that have become perverted. So these demons are not like the devils with horns you would see in movies. Not saying there aren’t horned versions of them. But they are living forces, or sometimes even nature spirits that have become bad.
Imagine gravity if it were evil. Imagine a force like the Devil, in a million forms at once. And just having this force visit you is enough to bring bad luck and death. One of the ways in which the Ajogún visit is when you have a “bad head”. If you are angry or depressed or generally have a negative attitude, that’s an invitation for them.
The Ajogún can actually see your negative mental energy from their shadowy world. It’s like a beacon to them
And it’s also food for them and other negative spirits. They will feed off of your energy. Increasing the bad luck and making things worse for yourself. It acts as an invitation for them to come visit you and run amok with your life. And because these negative spirits are forces of nature that are so massive, you wouldn’t know you had a spirit messing with your life. It certainly wouldn’t come out in most divinations. Unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn’t know what was going on.
These forces are also called Osorbos, Osobos, or Bears. Due to their aggressive and predatory nature. And those words are also synonymous with bad luck. It’s my opinion that based on this violent wave, and other factors, these entities are running amok this year. And one of the ways it’s doing this is by targeting people’s dogs.
This may sound ridiculous. But remember, they are trying to strike down the sources of our luck. That which protects us. And it won’t just be dogs either. Anyone or thing that protects you is up for grabs.
A person in your life who keeps you safe. Charms that protect you. More than likely any other animal that acts as your guardian which would substitute a dog. The Osorbos are on the attack and we must be ready and prepare to strike them down. Now you must be thinking, What the hell can we do? These aren’t even normal demons.
You’d be right. This is the equivalent of trying to use holy water and prayer to attack the Leviathan. It might effect a small portion of his skin cells, but he’ll barely feel it. No. You need to call in someone who can defeat them. These are the specific Osorbos I believe are involved in all of this :
1) Ofó (Loss)
The living embodiment of loss of loved ones, missed opportunities and so fourth.
2) Iku (Death himself)
Not a God of the dead, though he is a Deity of the Dead. He is the embodiment of death. Like Thanatos in Ancient Greece. It is he who is being used the most.
3) Arún (Disease)
Self explanatory.
4) Oran (Problems)
Again, self explanatory. A force that is the embodiment of problems and obstacles.
5) Ijá (hatred and war, conflict in general)
6) Eyo (tragedy) though I think this one is more a by-product or companion to the others mentioned before.
Now I am not a Babalawo. I am not even a full Santero yet. I’m just an apprentice in training. I have used what I do know to identify these things. I see patterns and I try to identify how to alter or stop certain things.
The only way to stop the Osorbos is with their opposite. The Orishas. So I would give a sort of feast to Elegua the Orisha of the Crossroads. A massive feast asking him to get all of the other Orishas involved to fight the Osorbos. It doesn’t have to be anything too ceremonial.
Elegua, the God of the Crossroads, Magic, Guardian of all dimensions. He is the Master of the Keys and Gatekeeper of all.
Just get a lot of food and drink. And offer it to him. And he’ll ensure the assistance of the Orishas in your general area and especially to you. And then your normal ways of protecting yourself should be empowered by them. Made stronger.
The Babalawos usually do their own ceremonies with tons of food and other offerings. But since not everyone can afford those services, I am giving you a simpler version you can use. Elegua loves lots of food. He also loves fruits like mangos and bananas, and he enjoys rum. His number is three.
He eats everything except pigeon. He will not touch that. And while Coconut is sacred to him, I don’t offer it to him because Coconut is supposed to be his head.
Offerings for Elegua
Elegua’s younger, child-like Avatars usually get candies and toys. But the older Avatars love hard candies, toasted corn or popcorn. Eleggua also eats goat, rooster and bushrat, as well as smoked fish. Now you don’t have to kill any animals. You can serve a cooked chicken dinner to him.
Smoked fish is easy to offer. That should be enough. Make sure you put all of these offerings at the crossroads or on a railroad track. Whichever is closer. Start the offering with a libation of rum, and finish with three pennies.
The Orishas
Three of each offering is good. And at your house, you can burn three candles and offer up three Abre Camino (road opener) incense sticks. Ask him fervently in prayer for help. To bring down the other Orishas to battle the Ajogún. And then finish with three pennies.
Then cleanse and bless your home as you normally would. Keep your head down, and your eyes open. And try your best to avoid conflict, negative attitude, or anything else that could screw you up. That sounds like a tall order. But it can be done.
Especially with prayer, focus, fasting, and meditation. May the Divine Powers protect us all.
I was supposed to have written this account last year. But I was so busy with everything that I couldn’t write a single word. So here I am finally committing words to blog. This happened to my baby cousin. And I was called in to help her.
What I am going to talk about is probably one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had. It even tops the Witch Bird case from a few years back.
Let me start by saying that the term Mourning Women is an umbrella term for a special type of spirit. They are the opposites of the Llorona or Wailing Women, they can be good or bad, human and non-human. The good or at least neutral ones, are always human souls.
Women who for whatever reason have decided to stay behind because they are mourning another person. And they decide they have to perform funerary vigils for that soul even when they themselves are dead. There’s one famous Mourning Woman in Mexico called La Dama Enlutada from San Luis de Potosi, who visits several churches just to pray for the souls of the dead. This class of Mourner are obviously good spirits, and they may even be psychopomps (guides of the dead) who cross them over.
A Mourning Woman ready for a soul. From the fake “Spirit Photography” of William Hope. Still cool though.
However, there’s a second class of Mourning Woman who are demonic. Either human souls that have been demonized in death, or pure demons that have never been human beings. For whatever reason, they enjoy the motif of a mourning woman.
They take this form as a way to mock their victims. These tend to be what Paranormal Investigators call “Soul Collectors”, evil spirits that capture the souls of the dead who have not crossed over, and enslave them. These poor souls from that point on, are bound to the soul collector until someone is able to bind the entity and free the souls. Unfortunately, this was the type of Mourner that was haunting my cousin.
For a few weeks, I started to get a bad feeling about my cousin. The dread slowly began to build. Until I finally decided to text her. I figured I was being silly right?;
“Hola Mama, ¿Cómo estás?”
(Hey Mama how are you?)
“Eh more or less. Hanging in there,”
“What’s wrong?”
“I keep seeing this woman dressed in black. I don’t know if it’s for real or if I’m going crazy. But I can barely sleep. She’s in my nightmares too,”
Now obviously when she said that, I said screw the texting and called her. I asked her why the hell didn’t she pick up the phone and call me. She said she wanted to but couldn’t seem to find the time for some reason.
It should be noted, these beings can manipulate humans into forgetting. Making us too tired to seek help, or making us second guess ourselves. I have no doubt that’s what was happening here. Especially with how fatigued she sounded over the phone.
I got all the details surrounding this spirit. Which wasn’t much. It was just that it appeared seemingly out of no where and didn’t leave. Then my Mom, who doesn’t practice, but has the gift said the name of a deceased family member. A nasty family member.
“It’s Leona, she’s there for some reason,”. Now this family member was a witch in life. A bad one. She was my great aunt. Despite all her claims of being an Evangelical Christian, she was well known in our neighborhood and in our family as being a black witch. My mother’s side of the family are full of practitioners. So they don’t go around calling people “devil worshippers” unless they mean it.
They really meant it with her.
In pretty much every culture, when an evil witch dies, they can become these demonic or semi demonic spirits in death, then haunt the living. Some hurt the living by feeding off of their vital energy. Others just seem to be happy tormenting and killing people in strange ways.
They gave her a Christian burial thinking that would be enough to put her to rest. But even before she was buried, she had been causing trouble. Her spirit returned to haunt my cousin’s mother. It had violently pushed her to the ground.
It kept making trouble in her house with Poltergeist activity, all this before she was even buried. My older cousin suspected it was Aunt Leona. But she pretended it wasn’t real. It wasn’t until I told her that the strange activity was was due to Leona’s presence that she finally admitted she wasn’t imagining it. Leona had raised her.
So she loved her, but she also wasn’t a fool. She knew what kind of person Leona really was. Still she had no idea why Leona was attacking her in death. I had to do a major reading and call some of my strongest spirits. In life I’d never dared gone against her.
In death she would be twice as powerful. I didn’t want to face her with just my normal spirits. I conjured some extra help. The spirits told me that Leona had made a pact with something nasty. It was never officially revealed to me what that was.
Faust selling his soul to Mephisto
Not a demon per say, but something else. Maybe something that serves demons. Maybe some kind of mutated spirit. But whatever it was, it demanded one thing in exchange for the powers she sought. It wanted my cousin and her daughter.
At first, because she was my relative, my cousin asked me not to banish her. But to do special funerary prayers for her. Try to pacify her in death. For a few months it worked. But then she came back.
And this time she didn’t come back alone.
She had completely infested the house with scores of evil spirits. Some former humans and others were clearly never human to begin with. It was one room in my cousin’s house. A room, filled with Leona’s old things. It was shrouded in a dark field of energy.
As thick as pea soup even for my sight. I could not see through whatever was in that room. My cousin and her family was physically sickened just by being near it. Something attached itself to a teenage friend of my little cousin, and before you knew it she was being spiritually oppressed.
Again, it was fucking Leona whom I had seen there. With that nasty, smug, smile. Victory was practically written over her face. In death, she looked like she was in her twenties. Not the 80 yr old whom we buried months before.
The spirit was too strong to enter her friend’s body. But via oppression, it gave her enhanced strength. I had to call on the Hindu Gods and the Ancestors to force this entity to release her. She was finally freed. I told them they needed to dump all of Leona’s stuff on a crossroads far, far away from there.
That time, I had consigned Leona to hell in the name of Lord Shiva. I told her to stay there and be judged by King Yama, the judge of the dead. That time, I saw her spirit sucked into a vortex of infinite darkness. Finally she was gone. Or so I thought.
I finally know now why ancient peoples went to such extremes to keep the dead, dead. Putting boulders on their corpses. Placing blades around their necks to decapitate themselves. The whole nine. It’s because of people like her.
The dead who won’t stay dead.
My banishing and binding had worked for a few months to a year. But then, my older cousin died under mysterious circumstances. Without going into detail, we think foul play was involved. But an autopsy showed nothing out of the ordinary.
It was still a strange death though. We think to this day that it was murder. But we could never prove it with forensic evidence. So it was officially labeled an “accidental overdose” and the case was closed.
But soon after, her daughter, my little cousin began seeing that a tall strange women dressed in black mourners clothes was in her house. This happened out of the blue. It was always around her, she was afraid to sleep. Because when she did, this thing was in her sleep.
And as stated above, it was my mother who revealed the entity’s true identity.
Leona herself. But she looked so different. So different in fact that when I saw her in this form I had no idea it was her. I would never have known this was her. She had changed so much, looked so different.
When I saw Leona the first time as a ghost, she was in her younger form. She was 20 years old, dressed in a short black dress, with long reddish brown hair. She would have been beautiful if not for that sinister smile.
But that had been back when I banished her. This time was different. I had sent her straight to Hell where she belonged. Now I could see that the time spent in the abyss had perverted even more than before.
She was taller than she was in life. Unnaturally tall. Her face was covered by a black mourners’ veil. Human no more. Now she was something else.
I kept seeing her in my mind. And I couldn’t shake this horrible feeling. The feeling that if she lifted her veil, the face underneath would be something so ugly. So deformed, that it could scarcely pass as human. But then I had an even worse thought.
What if there’s no face under there? Not all Mourners have a face. The ones who are faceless, are the worst ones. More powerful for some odd reason. I think the ones who are faceless are given a higher authority. Maybe the lack of a face symbolizes the lack of humanity or compassion.
I know this sounds like a horrible thing to say about a relative. But I just wanted her to go to Hell and stay there. Permanently. So I called my cousin and we did a remote ritual together. First I sent her images of my indigenous spirit.
A near identical replica of the statue I have. I won’t take a picture of mine because the spirit inside doesn’t like it. This one was made by Samuel Lightfoot
He’s inside a statue. His soul resides there, I don’t actually know if he’s a warrior or not. I can’t tell. What I do know is he has powerful magic. He must have done many great deeds in life because he has many feathers in his headdress.
Regardless, he has never failed me. I sent an image of him and of a Animal Spirit that he has with him, a separate statue. I told her to look into his eyes and enter and accept him there with her. Moments later, she felt him and his animal appear.
The Mourner formally known as Leona was very angry. She started trying to attack my cousin. Which was a mistake. Both my spirits took the opportunity to absorb her attack and turn it on her. Restraining her in the process, but Leona wouldn’t leave.
Some power was allowing her to stay. So I needed to upgrade to an even stronger guide. I had them restrain her while I called him down. For this I used a sort of Jewish-Christian and Muslim ritual that I devised. All three religions worship the same God.
So I called on my Guardian Angel in the name of Jesus, Enoch, and Muhammad. I drew the symbols of all three faiths with Cascarilla chalk on the floor. And did separate prayers to God for each faith. Then I just sat kneeling and asking Yahweh for help. Yes, Yahweh.
The God El’s incarnation as a God of war. That’s the version of El that Christians worship. Hence why he’s kind of bloody in the Bible. But I digress. I beheld my Angel, he was cold and hot at the same time.
A warm heat on a cold day. But also a refreshing arctic wind on a hot day, an aura that reminds me of the aurora borealis. I told him the cliff notes version of what was happening, and he instantly departed.
When he did I heard my cousin give a huge sigh of relief.
From Fine Art America
This is the closest representation I could get to what he looks like. But his body is weird, he looks like a giant, like a human with the giant disease. That gives them a bigger frame.
His wings are golden and emit a kind of solar energy. But the center of his body emits a white and cold light. When he turns down his bioluminescence for me, I have seen that he looks like a dark skinned middle eastern man. His black hair slicked to the back. His eyes also glow golden.
“I can feel him,” she said as she sighed. “I feel so good right now,”. The Mourner tried to run. But even if my two other guides weren’t restraining her, she didn’t stand a chance. My Angel is too powerful.
My cousin said she felt his presence like a warm wave of positivity wash throughout the house. Like all the trouble and problems she had just washed away under that warmth. He removed her at once. This time for good. That’s what I should have done in the first place.
But I believed my necromancy and my banishing was strong enough to keep Leona down. No matter how strong in life she was. This time she wouldn’t be allowed to return. Since she had such fun in Hell and clearly had a lot of friends, we sent her somewhere else. I asked him where else in the afterlife could she be sent.
He replied.
“Her demonization must be lifted first. That will take some long time. And when it’s done, we can send her into the void of reincarnation. Let her live life times with her karma as judge and jury,”
So that’s where he took her. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Let her own sins become a burden to her when she comes back to Earth.
I also requested he stay with her for a week, healing her and removing all bad energy from her. She said she slept good for the first time in a long time. A few months had passed and she encountered another Mourner in her house. She thought it was Leona.
This one was weirder than Leona herself. But it wasn’t her. My guardian is too strong, and the place he sent her is sort of like Jewish Purgatory. Before she is to be reborn. See Jewish Reincarnation.
I interrogated the entity and discovered she was a familiar spirit to Leona. She told us Leona had worked with Mourner Spirits before. And that’s when they met. Shortly thereafter a pact was formed between witch and her new guide. But this guide like I said before, was strange.
Leona had ordered this familiar spirit to appear as her, to act like her, and to have all her memories. In case one day her spirit would be bound or banished somehow. It was interesting to hear this from her familiar.
That Leona had become so obsessed with immortality, that she ordered her Mourner to become a backup of her. Almost like a clone. Her mind and memories absorbed by another Mourner prior to death. And unleashed the moment Leona was taken out for good. I also learned that she kept setting her free every time I banished her.
Leona ordered her to hurt my cousin. To kill her in fulfillment of some pact. On the off chance that she didn’t finish it herself. I ordered her to tell me who the pact was made with and how to break it. And she told me the name of a Demon whose name I will not repeat.
But this entity is female and well known in Jewish lore. You probably already know just by that. She’s also a demon in ancient Sumer. So I called on the Angels Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf to empower my curse breaking ritual. It’s the same ritual for breaking generational curses that I wrote about here.
The curse was broken. But something still felt off. Turns out my cousin still had some of Leona’s belongings with her. A cross or a Bible that turned out to be cursed, can’t remember which. I told her to bury them in a separate crossroads.
After that, the hauntings had stopped. No more Mourners. Everything went back to normal. But that was one of the strongest entities I ever had to banish before and I hope to never see one again.
If you see a Mourner, know this; prayers and the normal stuff you use, won’t work. These are really nasty, and really powerful demons. Even protection spells can fall short here. Because these are the children of that demoness that I won’t mention here. But those three Angels can banish and bind her and her children.
The Mourners serve her, they are a type of hag or demon-witch hybrid like she is. So you’ll need to step up your game if you’re going to face off against one of these beings. That’s why since then I have tried to learn all that I can about fighting them back.
The names of those three Angels and also the names of Adam and Eve can be called to drive her out. Especially when written around a Star of David. Of all the Hags or demon witches I have studied, Mourners seem to be the top tier ones. I don’t know why, but they are.
I will keep you updated when I find better defenses against them. But for now, my cousin is better.
Traditional Cascarilla powder sold in Santero magical stores. They are usually round egg shell powder. First finely turned to powder, then made into a kind of chalk. From ConvenienceBuy on Etsy
Today I am going to explain how someone can make blessed eggshell powder at home. It’s very simple. The technique I use comes from Santeria. From how I was taught. Combined with my personal studies into the Orishas.
It can be used by any culture and by anyone. I have even seen rootworkers and wiccans use it as a matter of fact. It’s not some big religious taboo, it’s a magical ingredient.
Cleaning and Drying the Eggshells
From Grandma Pearl’s Backporch a nice article on how you can give egg shells to wild birds for calcium
First of course are the eggshells. You can just wait until you are making an omelette or frying some eggs. And instead of discarding the shells, clean them out with soap and water. There is usually a transparent and slimy membrane still inside the shell. Once cleaned, you can also heat it up in a preheated oven for a minute or two to kill the bacteria.
Ritual for cleansing and blessing eggshells
This is how I was taught to bless them. I exorcise the shells with holy water. Most Santeros use exorcised water from a Catholic Church. But I use water I ask Yemaya herself to bless. I dip them in her salt waters.
And I ask the Orishas of the oceans and seas to cleanse them and cast out all impurity from the shells. And to grant them the power to dispel any impure force. Once that’s done, I place them on a white plate under the sun. And I pray to Aganyu the Orisha of Volcanoes, Fire, Heat, and the Sun. And I ask that he blesses the egg shells with the energy of the sun and it’s life giving rays.
To fill them with much Ashe (divine grace) so they can be used for any and all magic. And then I leave them there to soak up the energy of the sun and light until nightfall. Charged with power as talismans, they are now ready to be made into powder. Most people make them into a chalk for various reasons. For instance, drawing magical symbols or sigils on places.
Some people prefer to make them into actual chalk like this,
This is how it becomes the chalk we’re all so familiar with. But the eggshells need to be ground into a fine powder for that. With either coffee grounders or the traditional motor and pestle.
My Cascarilla
Kept in a spice bottle
Mine is broken into dozens of small pieces. But it’s not a fine powder. In fact they still have their sharp edges. I do this in order to make them spiritual weapons. Each edge is like a blade against an obstacle or an enemy.
By keeping it in a spice bottle, the little filter also ensures that I don’t use too much of it. Just the right amount.
Now this is the basic ritual and ingredients. But every person can add to it. I have known children of Oshun the Orisha of love and prosperity to add honey to their Cascarilla. It’s for good luck, love, and general positivity. I add my own secret ingredients to make my Cascarilla more magical.
Like blades for my enemies
Also they’re far easier to carry without making a mess. So make them how you want to make them. This is a magical technique for making a special ingredient. You could apply it to your own culture as well. After all, traditionally it’s cleansed with Catholic holy water which is a foreign element not associated with African culture.
So clearly, being foreign isn’t a problem. We use an element of a hostile religion intolerant to our practices in our magic. So if we as Santeros can abide that, then we should also abide other religions being able to bless Cascarilla as they wish to do it. In fact It’s a nice little home project and a starter for someone interested in making powders and potions.
Uses
Anointing the soles of your feet with a Cascarilla Cross from : El Poder de los Rituales (The Power of Rituals) blog.
If you make it into chalk, you can anoint parts of your body like the back of your neck and your feet for protection. You can also place some on the floor of a ground into a cross to ward off evil from your home. Sometimes even your hands to fill them with magic. Or sigil work. They can also be used as an ingredient added to a magical spell or ritual.
Or it can be used all by itself. I have used Cascarilla in cleansing baths. I have used them in rituals to call up elemental spirits. I have used them to bar negative spirits from entering a home. The uses are basically endless.
You can use them even for spells. With only your will and intention, the Cascarilla will read you and know what you wish it to do. Cascarilla can only be used for positive magics. Not cursing or anything like that. The one and only time they are “negative” is when protecting you from an enemy spell caster.
Or a harmful spirit. Because then, the healing powder determines that the spirit or person harming you is a disease. And what is healing if not antibodies killing a disease? So that is the one exception. Just like how holy water is used for healing and blessing. But for a demon, it would be like acid on their skin.
Cascarilla can even be used against psychic attacks. Eggs and their shells have natural healing capabilities. It’s said that they are the pure manifestation of Olodumare’s Ashe. Hence why they are only harmful to someone or something harmful. Drawing crosses with them on the inside of your shoes protects your steps and your ways from harm.
They also open your roads for prosperity. So, use this technique wisely. And save the ritual and the preparation technique.
Michael casting Satan out of Heaven, with a banner above that reads “Who is like El (God)?” in Latin. The battle cry of the loyal Angels during the War in Heaven.
Fun fact, Mikael (Me-Kah-yel) in Hebrew means “Who is like God?”. So the battle cry in Heaven was also the Archangel Michael’s name. It was meant as a double insult and a taunt to his fallen brother Samael (“The Poison of God”). This day is closely related to the Harvest Festivals. In fact it’s sort of a Christian Harvest Festival.
It’s a Christianized version of Alban Elfed. (1) The theory is that the medieval church, assigned the cross quarter days to the Archangels and to the four writers of the gospels. In an attempt to convert worshippers of the Old Gods i.e. Pagans. Or at least that was the belief.
Michaelmas is close to Alban Elfed. So people began assigning almost the same types of rituals or ways of celebration to Saint Michael. And out of that curious Amalgamation of religions, a fascinating new tradition was born. For instance, this is believed to be the day Satan was cast out of Heaven. And that he fell into a patch of blackberries and cursed, spat, and urinated on them (2).
So that they can only be eaten before the harvest and never after. This is also why blackberry pie is one of the traditional foods to eat on Michaelmas. The flower of Michaelmas became the Aster. (3) Which is believed to have some power of resurrection (at least in this tradition). It was renamed, the Michaelmas Daisy.
A Michaelmas Sylph among the Asters, the flower sacred to St. Michael, also called the Michaelmas Daisy
Faeries also came be to be identified with Michaelmas. Especially the butterfly winged Sylphs. Possibly because being an aerial spirit made it easy to identify them with Angels. But that’s just speculation at this point.
The visiting of holy wells and drinking holy water from those wells was also prominent. And that’s important to note, because this was done in a lot of traditions in the United Kingdom. (4) In Western Scotland, Struan which is a type of toast was made for St. Michael and blessed in a mass. Straun was also blessed in a special mass in memory of the dead and given to the poor (5).
Michaelmas, a great recipe for Christo Paganism
On the left we see St. Michael defeating Satan in the form of a Dragon. On the right we see him as a Heavenly Warrior Prince clothed in royal garbs
While I am aware that this is the Christianization of a Celtic Polytheist holiday, I do also worship Jesus. What I am is sort of hard to put into one single label. I suppose you would call me a Gnostic Pagan. Of course I don’t entirely agree with other Gnostic Christians. But this mystical sect of Christianity acknowledges all Gods.
And the Priests in their churches often worship many other Gods and practice magic from many traditions. They don’t call themselves Christo-Pagans because they believe all Gods are part of the same family. And that there is not one, but many Supreme Gods out there. That even the Christian God has parents. And so they are the closest to my theology that there is.
They believe all religions come from the same source. That in the beginning there was no religion, just occult knowledge or gnosis from the Gods. Later humans created religion and it all went to shit from there. That’s why they are called Gnostics. From Greek gnōstikós (“those who know”).
Those who remember the true origins of the Universe. Before humans divided ourselves into different factions. Before we forgot the sacred knowledge of our Gods. So I celebrate the traditional Alban Elfed as best as I can. I read up on some of the traditions and I try not to replicate them.
But to use the knowledge of how they were celebrated to sort of make a more modern version. I don’t eat the same foods. But I do make sure I have a nice dinner with family and give thanks. And then a few days later Michaelmas comes. And I honor St. Michael with harvest type foods.
Things that remind me of a harvest. I lay it on an altar outside for him and the spirits of the land to feast. I also pour libations for him. Burn candles and incense, and also do my own Gnostic Mass for him. The Altar is a stone that looks like a table.
It’s my outside version of a St. Joseph’s Table. I pay St. Joseph three pennies under his stone table for him to send my prayers to Michael. And then I continue until the next day. Michaelmas is celebrated first in the Eve (September 29th) then it continues until the next day. I also break curses for clients on this day.
And I spend the day making specialized holy waters. I also make and bless charms. And I meditate with the Angels and with the Saints. I ask for guidance, perform divinations, and a bunch of other things. I also spend a lot time doing blessings.
In the center of Heaven, we see Jesus with St. Michael in front of him commanding the Angels to enter battle with Satan. The loyal Angels rejoice having defeated Lucifer and the Fallen Angels
I also use this festival as a time to protect myself from the wild spirits that come out during winter. Many believe that Winter is the time of the dead and of darker or wilder spirits that are set free. That doesn’t always mean “evil”. But even spirits we see as friendly might not understand they are hurting you or causing some kind of harm. Rituals were done to placate the spirits and get them to calm down.
I use this holiday as a way to ward myself and my loved ones before the winter times come. And before anyone says anything yes I know. Samhain as a feast for the dead is a modern custom. But my intuition tells me that it’s still a time to be careful. That dark things still roam the cities at night during this time.
Much of the articles out there mention the same things I have here. I am just giving you a condensed version that’s easier to read here. The only thing I left out is that goose is traditionally eaten at Michaelmas. But that’s a tradition that is quickly dying out. Also, poor geese!
Sorry everyone, I’m trying to become a vegetarian. Not only for my own health but for the animal’s sake. All I can say is that it’s harder than it looks. Especially because I don’t have a coach to help me do this. But anyways, happy feast of Michael and the Guardian Angels!
This happened maybe three or four days after my last post
It took me a while to write about it because it’s only now that I have everything under control. But it’s a hell of a weird experience. I waited to write this to see if I could debunk it. But also because I am having trouble accepting this could be paranormal. My skeptical mind keeps jumping in.
It’s also a reminder that even experienced magic users can be dumbasses. I’m the said dumbass this time. So we’re not supposed to go out at night. Because dark spirits are out at night. At Ghost Month it’s even worse.
I’m the first person telling everyone not to step out even for a moment. I warded my house up. Did cleansings before hand. I made some specialized wards. Blessed myself and my family, the works.
I ordered a mini air conditioning unit for this small ass slum apartment I live in. I did it as a surprise for my mother. But whoever delivered it, left it on the porch of my Landlord instead of mine. It was dark already. Not full nightfall, the sun still had one slight streak in the skies.
And the sky was the color of dark blue, about to become true night. It was hot as hell and I figured we were okay. So I lit the porch light on knowing the dark things hate the light. I had recently put wards on the outside of my apartment as well. I salted my welcome mat with raw sea salt.
Blessed by Poseidon via his statue. I was confident that nothing would be able to come near us. So I stepped outside and closed the door.
Then I grabbed the box and entered backwards into my house
As I was taught by some old masters of mine from Trinidad. This is to prevent roaming spirits from following me inside the house. I locked the door and thought it would be fine. But as soon as I turned the light off, something started scratching the door. And my dog began to emit a low growl in response and started sniffing at the door.
His growl got louder and louder until he started barking up a storm. I shouted at him to be quiet and go sleep in his bed. But that weird scratching sound kept on. And the dog kept emitting that belly deep growl. One he only reserves for a person rather than an animal.
Now at first I was trying to ignore it. I did get goosebumps. And almost right away I thought I knew what it was. But I ignored it. I was trained by Paranormal groups in the basics :
1) Debunk everything first
2) Not everything is Paranormal, some is psychological
3) Try to find a logical explanation first
Fine. Got it. But you ever have something really eerie happen? You don’t know why it makes you feel weird. You have no logical reason to be afraid. You don’t know why it freaks you out.
But it does. But I pretended that it was nothing. There’s lots of stray animals out there. Street cats, ducks, and even a few possums. The problem is I also know spirits can possess animals.
Especially the dead or nature spirits. And Hungry Ghosts are notorious for that. I’ve never seen a Hungry Ghost before. I go out of my way to avoid them. I follow the rules, leave the offerings, and stay in.
I won’t even take my dog out at night anymore. This thing kept scratching in a sequence. One scratch, then silence. A second scratch, then silence. And a third scratch.
Then it would wait a few minutes and return to the same pattern. I kept thinking that’s weird for a cat.
“Hijo, ¿que es eso?”
(Son, what is that?)
“Es solo un animal,”
(It’s just an animal)
¿Un animal que hace eso como si estuviera enviando código morse?
(An animal that does that as if it’s sending morse code?)
I was hoping she didn’t notice the pattern. One because she’s more skeptical than I am. She won’t just believe something is magic or paranormal. And she’s noticing it’s weird. And two because I didn’t want her to be freaked out.
But even she felt something was off.
“That’s very strange,” she finally said.
She hit the door a few times, hard, to try and frighten it away. It didn’t have any effect. The scratches kept coming louder and seemed to be deeper upon the door. She wondered if someone had broken into the property and was playing a prank. But the scratches happened the moment I shut the lights off when I was inside.
No one is that fast. No one is out there. Plus the Gates were shut, my landlord is an ex cop so she has security cameras everywhere. And she’s nosy as hell. She would have seen a stranger coming and brought her gun out to meet them by now.
I wanted to text her anyway but my mom stopped me.
“What happens if no one is there? If there is no animal? What are we going to tell her?”
She was right. And it also seemed by how she phrased it, that she came to the conclusion this was paranormal. Without me having told her anything. After about six minutes of this I was like Why am I trying to debunk this? I’m not investigating anyone so I have nothing to prove. I began playing some Buddhist music and reading a few sutras out loud.
And that was it. It just stopped as suddenly as it had begone. My dog also calmed down afterwards. Even now I’m trying to debunk it. Maybe the music and the sound of my voice scared the animal off.
But my voice level was just as loud when my mother and I were speaking. And the Facebook videos she was watching before were way louder than the music I played. Hell hitting the door should have frightened it away. Not attracted it more. But it kept scratching the door uninterrupted.
Why would Buddhist music and Buddhist texts be enough to scare a random animal away? I was going to do a divination on it but my spirits stopped me. They asked not with words but with feelings Why ask when you know the answer already? Confirming that it was a Hungry Ghost. Not just my imagination or superstition. A nasty roaming soul. Drawn by the activity of a person opening their front door.
Venturing out like a fool when they should not. I should have known better. When will I learn that even magic and prayers are not 100% full proof? I don’t know. After that for a few weeks we both dreamed of the dead. Specifically of decomposing corpses that were not zombies.
But they could still walk around. I didn’t tell my mother about what a Hungry Ghost is. She’s a Jehovah’s Witness, she doesn’t believe in them. But she still dreamed of them. And she knows something strange happened that night.
I finally asked my spirits what was up. And they told me that this thing sniffed us both out. And it was trying to find a way in. So I had to do a far more powerful banishing to get rid of it for good. The dreams stopped for the both of us.
I didn’t tell her about the banishing ritual to see if she noticed a difference. I did a whole new cleansing, re-blessed everything and her and myself. Then I re-salted everything from the inside and out. Final thought, the morning after the strange scratching, I was sure that the landlord was going to complain about the marks. I wanted to be ready in case she tried to blame my dog.
Except there were none. I took 15 mins and even asked my mother to look. Short of a magnifying glass, I’m fairly confident that no animal scratched the door. She thought it was weird too. I started doing research online to see if it was possible for an animal like a cat to scratch something without leaving a mark.
I found nothing. If anything I found evidence to the contrary. That even a common house cat can scratch up the metal of a car given the right circumstances. This door is made of wood. There’s no way those loud ass scratching sounds happened and nothing was left behind.
Not even so much as a faint outline. Believe me or don’t. I don’t care. I didn’t see it. But I felt it.
Both of us did. Even my dog did. And I mean really felt it. It was the sensation of a wicked, child like mentality. Something nasty that has nothing better to do than fuck with people.
I can’t say for sure it was a Hungry Ghost. And even now as I write this I can feel my spirits facepalming themselves. As if to say we told you what it was already, why are you doubting us? But logically speaking I can’t prove that’s what it was. Any skeptic reading the blog would see this as a mere hysteria on my part. The common nightmares? A shared delusion between my mother and I.
Even though she doesn’t know anything about Ghost Month. The scratching noises that didn’t yield any scratch marks? The wood is obviously sturdy enough to resist despite the loud scratching. So it was just an animal. Tada! It’s explained away. The animal not being scared off by our voices or my mother repeatedly hitting the door to scare it away? Nothing.
And it’s just a coincidence that a sutra and some religious music was used by me at the moment the animal in question stopped. But I’ll say this, skeptics be damned. They aren’t here when the night falls and strange things come out of the shadows. Something strange is in the night shade. And if you should find that a package is on your door step or at your neighbor’s step, leave it behind.
Wait until the morning. Or else you might hear a strange, rhythmic scratching at your door. Scratch, then stop. Second scratch then another stop. Third scratch and a longer pause.
Adventures of A Mage In Miami 