I wrote this as a small side note in my previous post about the faerie house I built. And a bunch of people reached out to me and said I should write more about that. Everyone from novices to more skilled elders (who know way more than me) wrote. This is an example of what I call practical religion. How to practice easier and more efficiently.
Basically, work smarter and not harder.
So here’s an example : preserving your food offerings. Or any other kind of offering that can go bad. In this case, I put my offerings all inside an old medicine pill bottle. I re-use these bottles for offerings. Such as small fruit.
Or even wine or water for libations. Easy to store.
They keep the items fresh. Protect them from bugs. And also protect your nose from the offerings beginning to rot. They fit great with your altars and shrines. And you can carry them in your pocket.
That way when the time comes to place the offerings in nature, you don’t attract attention to yourself. When no one is looking I go to a secluded spot. Usually one of my outdoor shrine-altars. And I quickly toss them out of the bottle to the appointed spot. Then put the bottle back inside my pocket.
Same for liquids like water or wine. Just make sure it’s properly sealed. Pill bottles are more or less for liquids. They can leak. I should also say that you can buy empty pill bottles online at Walmart for $11.95.
They’ll ship it to your house. Of course for me it’s just easier to walk to a Walmart and get it there in person. I think it’s a waste of money (if you pay shipping) and time to wait for the mail carrier to get you the pill bottles. You can also buy labels for your bottles. In this bottle, eye of newt.
In this other bottle, dragon fly tail. And so on and so on. You can also go to the Bottle Store and order any kind of recycled bottles you want. If an offering is too big, use zip lock bags. Again you can order those anywhere.
Don’t make it hard on yourself. You don’t need an infestation of roaches in your property to prove your devotion. My last neighbor who practiced Santeria did that all the time. It was gross. I was the one who introduced them to using sealed bottles and bags.
I was taught to do that by Wiccan friends. They taught me that you don’t need fancy sticks and idols to do practical magic. Some of them used their emails as their “book of shadows”. So that their families would never find physical copies of them. Prove your devotion by being creative.
I actually wrote most of this on Sheelah’s Day. And yesterday. I was tired as hell. And I had already posted the random links of the day. So I figured I would wait till today to post this.
Both yesterday and today something interesting happened. I was blessing some idols to hide on the property of the apartment complex. I spent a lot of time in the sun today. I felt a surge of energy around me when I walked outside. Like someone else was laughing and dancing around me.
But from the other side of the veil.
It was one of the elemental spirits I’m friends with here. I mentally wished him a happy Sheelah’s Day. This one was an immigrant spirit. One of the Celtic beings who followed the Irish and other groups into this country. He (or is it an it?) sort of looked like this.
I think it was a male spirit. But one that looked like the Sheelah. I started feeling that odd buzzing in my head. Which usually happens when Fae are tuning into me. It’s kind of how they “talk”.
And I began to remember the post about helping the Fae have a home. But I felt like there was something else that I missed. What did I miss? I asked. I had a lot of signals. And it gave me a headache.
So finally I decided to do an offering of fresh, cold water to a tree. And then I asked them to show me the way. To tell me what it is I needed to know. So I went about the rest of my day doing offerings. And I went to my earth and astrology shrine on the balcony.
I was gifted this white translucent candle box.
There was a large green candle in it originally. A jar candle. But I’m burning that for Queen Asherah, the Great Creatrix. God the Mother, who was renamed “the holy spirit” along with her daughter Sophia. Or Chokmah in Hebrew.
I’ve been doing a major spring ritual for the Great Queen herself. And for her daughter. Then I added Gaia and the Virgin Mary and a whole host of other Goddesses. Mostly to do a massive healing on me after the events of the battle with my last client. And yes I worship Mary as a Goddess.
And the Saints as either ascended spiritual masters (who are ascended dead). Or as Demi Gods. Because I have Catholic readers. And I know a lot of you are gonna get triggered by that. Getting back to my point, I saw the empty candle box.
And I remember the outdoor shrines or saint houses as I call them. That you find outside many households. Not only in Florida, but wherever there is a large Catholic population.
I found this image originally on Pinterest but then I read the caption and saw that it originally came from Crows of Arroyos blog here on WordPress.
I tried using it as a place for Gaia to use as a throne. But she didn’t like it. She let me know that it felt like a prison of sorts. She’s the creator of the Earth. The living source of all nature.
Just like Asherah.
She had no interest in being stuck inside of a glass case. But then it hit me……now I knew what I was missing. All my outside shrines were protecting and giving shelter to spirits. But I forgot to give hospitality to the earthly spirits who visit my balcony. Which leads me to today’s post.
I had written an post titled spirits need warmth and love too. I talked about how the Tuatha Dé Danann were preparing me to truly be a caretaker for the land. By learning from them, I have grown closer to nature spirits of various cultures. As you might remember, I had read a post from the British Faeries blog. About whether or not Faeries feel the cold.
There were many techniques and traditions for doing this. The original tradition, was if a storm came, you had to abandon the main room of your house. Then go to bed early. So that the Fae would have a place to sleep if a storm came in. And they couldn’t get home on time.
The Irish extended their hospitality even to the spirits. The Tuatha let me know that I needed to do something similar. What I learned was that many people would also hang mistletoe over their doors. And the Fae would transform into their energy or spirit forms. And enter the plant.
That would be their resting place until they could reach home.
So the Gods spoke to me. And said I needed to do something like that for the local Fae of the spirits of the Niiji. The native or First Nation people. I knew what to do almost immediately. I cleaned the candle holder.
And I began to add magical prayers to it. A few holy incantations stating that it was now a house for the spirits. Be they Ghosts, Fae, or any other type of spirit who needed a home for the time being. That it was only temporary. Only the Fae who already visited me as well as my spirit guides could stay there permanently.
I had a magical stick that didn’t really fit in with my usual works. I couldn’t use it as a wand. And it didn’t work as a normal totem. It was too wild. But it wanted to come home with me.
So last year I took it. I figured I would find some use for it. I now designated the stick as a totem for the spirits outside. I took a feather from a shrine to one of the Orishas (Yoruba Gods of Nigeria). I promised that I would replace the feather with a new one.
If this God would only lend their ashe (divine grace) to the totem for the spirits outside. The Orisha said yes. I also gave this Orisha a gift as an offering in the meantime. They were very happy. I should state that magic feathers belong to all cultures.
Not just Niiji. It really pisses them off when some white guy wants to learn about,
” their culture and the magic feathers! ”
So this feather I added to the totem was African magic. Because Hoodoo is a mix of different forms of magic and includes some Niiji magic, the Niiji spirits didn’t mind. Yoruba magic uses a lot of magic feathers. Druids too actually. In my research I learned that a lot of Druids made masks and even cloaks from the feathers.
From whatever birds they had in their natural surroundings. So after finishing the incantations I set up the Faerie House.
Gaia and the Faerie Shrine
The thing is, it was pointed out to me that the candle holder would rust. With all my daily water offerings. That’s not counting the rain. So I had to move it away to where there was more shelter. It made sense.
After all this is supposed to be a place where they would be dry if it rains. Also while Gaia is one of the Queens of the Earth, she isn’t Niiji. So I moved the shrine to its own space.
Too many libations, but my plants love that shit. So do the Fae usually
The first of Fruits from trees of the land. The staff of the complex pluck them out of the trees. To have a nice treat. I wrote some things in practical ways to practice religious ritual. I realize now that I wrote a lot about this without intending to.
Clearly someone wanted me to share this. So I put this little section aside. If you want to skip all the lecturing, please do. And move on to the images of the shrine.
Some notes on practical religion
Anyways I put my offerings all inside an old medicine pill bottle. I re-use these bottles for offerings. Such as small fruit. Or even wine or water for libations. Easy to store.
They keep the items fresh. Protect them from bugs. And also protect your nose from the offerings beginning to rot. They fit great with your altars and shrines. And you can carry them in your pocket.
That way when the time comes to place the offerings in nature, you don’t attract attention to yourself. When no one is looking I go to a secluded spot. Usually one of my outdoor shrine-altars. And I quickly toss them out of the bottle to the appointed spot. Then put the bottle back inside my pocket.
Same for liquids like water or wine. Just make sure it’s properly sealed. Pill bottles are more or less for liquids. They can leak. I should also say that you can buy empty pill bottles online at Walmart for $11.95.
They’ll ship it to your house. Of course for me it’s just easier to walk to a Walmart and get it there in person. I think it’s a waste of money (if you pay shipping) and time to wait for the mail carrier to get you the pill bottles. You can also buy labels for your bottles. In this bottle, eye of newt.
In this other bottle, dragon fly tail. And so on and so on. You can also go to the Bottle Store and order any kind of recycled bottles you want. If an offering is too big, use zip lock bags. Again you can order those anywhere.
Don’t make it hard on yourself. You don’t need an infestation of roaches in your property to prove your devotion. My last neighbor who practiced Santeria did that all the time. It was gross. I was the one who introduced them to using sealed bottles and bags.
I was taught to do that by Wiccan friends. They taught me that you don’t need fancy sticks and idols to do practical magic. Some of them used their emails as their “book of shadows” so their families would never find physical copies of them.
The Shrine
These are mostly pictures.
Enjoy!
Shrine wall
The wall of the shrine was decorated by family. I gotta admit they added a nice touch.
This was once an in door shrine. With crystals, semi precious stone, hag stones, regular rocks, and shells I use for magic. They told me they wanted them for their faerie house. I hadn’t realized they were already lining up for the house. Figured I would have to do a ritual or something.
What can I say? They love shiny stuff. And then there was this.
They chose this spot for their house. It took me a while to figure out what they wanted.
It’s a tree house. I practically facepalmed myself to death. Of COURSE they would want a tree house. The pot was once dried, empty earth. It suddenly has little green plants in it again.
I had watered it before to no avail. Originally, my sister had brought a plant that died there. I blessed the poor thing’s soul. Purified the spirit of the plant. They’re using it as a bed to take a dirt nap now.
The above plant is being used by them as another section of house. The candle holder is a house but more like a front door to this complex. They’re telling me they want either animal statues or bones to represent the animal spirits. An image of a dead native person to represent the local indigenous ghosts. Problem with that, is that I have to do some more research.
And I doubt I will find an image of someone from the local First Nations. It’s not like stuff like that grows on trees. Or perhaps there is a traditional representation for ancestors of the Niiji. Particularly Florida’s Miccosukee. But for the moment the immortal spirits of nature have their home.
Today I am doing a special random links of the day, for our friends in the United Kingdom. From England to Ireland. I know the UK is way bigger than that. But I would spend years trying to find something from every square inch of the land. But since I have so many readers from Europe and a few other places I figured I would dedicate this to you.
As a sort of love letter. Some of my favorite Irish and English writers. Or people who aren’t necessarily European but follow a pantheon associated with the United Kingdom in some fashion. But first, I’m happy to share this news with you today! From our friends at History of Ireland,
In the old Celtic calendar, today is Sheelah’s Day. In ancient Ireland, it was an annual festival to honour the fertility Goddess known as Sheela-na-gig. Naked Sheela-na-gig figures appeared in Irish churches constructed before the 16th century, but most were defaced or destroyed during the prudish Victorian age.
According to some sources, the origins of ‘drowning the shamrock’ have also been traced to this date. In the eighteenth century, William Hone reported on the celebrations surrounding Sheelah, who has been variously identified as the wife, mother, or other relative of St Patrick – noting that, the people of the day ‘are not so anxious to determine who ‘Sheelah’ was, as they are earnest in her celebration. All agree that her immortal memory is to be maintained by potations of whiskey.’ At the end of the day, the faithful would then take their shamrocks and drop them into their respective glasses before downing the contents.
(okay so Ostara is technically Germanic rather than from the UK, but the Celts and Germans had a lot in common and many Wiccans and other traditions celebrate Ostara as well)
Happy Vernal Equinox! A Time for Renewal and Celebration of New Life!
As the Equinox arrives on March 20th in the Northern Hemisphere, it marks the beginning of Spring and has long been revered as a time of regeneration and rebirth in nature. This sacred moment brings a harmonious balance of day and night, light and darkness, prompting us to seek balance in all aspects of our lives, including the nurturing of both feminine and masculine energies.
In many ancient traditions, spring is linked with the East direction, where each sunrise signals the dawn of new beginnings. It fills us with renewed optimism, inviting us to embrace fresh opportunities and positive energies. As we emerge from the quiet introspection of winter, it’s a time to kindle our inner light and focus on nurturing the seeds of our dreams and aspirations, ready to blossom into fruition.
Let us commemorate Mother Earth’s renewal and our personal growth by honoring the light within each other, engaging in purifying rituals, lighting candles, making offerings to the Earth, and mindfully appreciating the emergence of new life. Together, let’s celebrate the beauty of new Life!
“Her eyes, if she had any, were dark like the empty void of space,”
I apologize for not having written this sooner. But I’m still in deep recovery from what was going on in that house. Not since my very first haunted house (that I lived in) have I ever uncovered activity this bad before. So we last left off with me encountering a nasty force in the client’s home. What we discovered was that it seemed to be an entity that was connected to plagues and death.
It took the form of flies in my dreams. I thought that would be the worst of the infestation. I was wrong.
I entered the world of dreams again. This time I went a little farther. I felt I still wasn’t getting to the heart of the matter. I entered the dream realm by actual sleep. But I only entered at the surface level.
I felt like I had reached the limit I could go by myself. There was some kind of fire wall in there keeping me out. I had to go deeper if I was to confront and remove whatever this was. I decided to lower my protections. To lower the barrier between my mind and the astral realm.
Let something come attack me. My spirits weren’t too happy about that. But they know me only too well. So instead they advised me on how better to prepare for the situation. And for that, I needed a guide.
So there’s a sort of mini forrest nearby. It’s not a forrest by our standards. It’s a park. With a lot of foliage. But there’s a tunnel like grove of trees there.
“There, that park. Find a parking spot and let’s go,”
My new hippie friend was acting as my chauffeur. This was the closest location to the house.
“Bro, no offense, but don’t you witchy types find spirit guides in the glades? This is kinda low rent don’t you think?”
“There’s energy everywhere friend,” I said. “But if we go all the way to the Everglades, we’re not likely to find a guide who is well versed with this area. What we need is someone from here,”
He shook his head. But I wasn’t sure if he understood. Or if he was still skeptical. We walked into the small grove shaded by the trees. Some lady looked at him (looking like he walked out of an Ali Baba and the 40 thieves movie).
For all of you readers, that comment is going to be so ironic and so telling of the future.
And me just randomly carrying a big ass bag with me. And him a huge water container. She probably thought I was his dealer or something. She would be more scandalized if she knew what we had actually come there to do. I took a water bottle and dropped a libation of pure, clean, water.
I asked the grass to guide me to the right tree. The hippie looked at me like I had lost my shit. Which made me chuckle.
I kept hearing the voices of the grass. Leading me all the way to one specific tree. It looked different than the other trees. In fact I could tell that this must be the last of the trees that must have grown here naturally. The others were a newer and non native species.
“We’re here,”
The hippie didn’t like the tree. I kind of understood, because there was something odd about it. It was all withered and alive somehow. Alive almost the way a human can be. I can’t really explain it.
This is what the tree sort of looked like,
An ancient oak tree in Safety Harbor Florida, it’s been here since before European colonization of the land
In Yoruba religion, we’re taught that some trees like the Iroko tree have human or non human spirits in them. Spirits that are separate from the trees themselves or even a part of them. Even Gods could live inside of them. Or Gods that are them. Imagine a tree that was also a God.
I mean it makes sense doesn’t it? The Abrahamic God has appeared as a burning Bush. Or a fire in the sky. Or a voice or even a dove coming down as the holy spirit. Gods can be anyone. Be anything.
Iroko was killed by Iku, the Orisha (God) of death. And Iku cast a spell on him, that brought him back to life. As the first Iroko tree. Our Yoruba tree of life. And a brand new Orisha.
That’s why no one in Nigeria goes near that tree or tries to chop it down. It’s spooky. They say you can hear his voice if you get close enough to the tree. And the Iroko Man will come out of the tree and drive you crazy or kill you. This tree did feel odd.
And the truth was, I couldn’t tell if it was alive or dead by looking at it. I just knew that it exuded a kind of power. So I sat with my spine against the trunk and grounded. And then did the meditation my medicine woman taught me. I entered the spirit world.
Gradually the world around me vanished. And I saw a whole grove full of trees that looked just like this one. Only they were younger. More beautiful. I saw the day the city destroyed the grove.
I felt the sadness of this tree. I was in it’s mind. Experiencing its memories. And then heard it speak.
“How dare you enter the spirit with me? You are unworthy just like all your species,”
I felt anger and grief inside this poor tree. So I replied,
“I can’t debate you on that. Because you’re right. Humanity is unworthy. Except maybe those who try to live differently. I’m not here to grovel. I have come to ask you what kind of offerings you like,”
He/she/it seemed confused. As if it was expecting me to try and hurt it or exploit it.
“It’s true that I have come to ask for help. But I am not here to use you against your will. If you don’t want to help me, simply tell me what you like as an offering. And I will give it to you. And then take my leave,”
I felt an odd vibration. Which I assume means the tree was meditating on it. Then I saw images of what I had brought with me for the tree. The tree was looking into my mind. Seeing what I had brought.
It really wanted a drink. So before it could finish, I asked my hippie friend to feed it water. Till I told him to stop.
“Damn this shit is heavy,” he said. “Was it necessary to bring a damn water cooler?”
(I chuckled at that)
“Yes”, I could hear the tree, “It is,”
I could feel the tree illuminate. I had blessed the water before hand. Infused it with energy and holiness. So that not only would the cool water feed the tree. But also it’s spirit.
And in doing so feed the spirits of the trees and soil there. I performed a serious dedication ritual over the water. Stating that whatever was watered with it, would be dedicated to the Gods and their spirits. And also the original indigenous spirits of the land as well. When all was said and done, I could feel the tree spiritually regenerate.
As if burned flesh were being renewed before my eyes.
“Stop,” it said this word with force. With such authority. There was gravity to his command now. It choose the voice of a man to speak this time. Before it was just a myriad of voices. Or perhaps I was hearing it’s guardian spirit.
“Go and feed the others,”
I said to my companion. Though I can’t tell you if that was really me talking or the tree through me. Or some weird hybrid of both. I think I was beginning to annoy the hippie. Not that I blame him. That water cooler was heavy.
He fed all of the trees. I could tell the tree wanted to ask me for the other offerings. But he was kind of embarrassed. He didn’t need to. I had not come to be a leach.
“Brother, I know I annoy you. But do you think you could put the pebbles on every tree. Including this one?”
He said nothing. Just did as I had asked. The pebbles you could get in any dollar store. They’re small bags. Raw stones that people polish down into pebbles.
It’s better than stealing rocks from other places.
I individually cleansed and blessed each bag for a week. And then prayed over them. Asking that whatever God or spirit the trees or places serve, use the stones as avatars. We helped make a tree sanctuary. They would have been happy with the stones themselves. Trees like to be decorated and fussed over.
But this was better. It would allow the spirits and the Gods to transmit whatever help or blessings these trees needed. By acting as the antenna for the divine. As talismans and amulets for them to act. I wanted to bring red mulch as well but I could tell my companion wasn’t in the mood for that.
When it was done, I could feel the divine powers descending from their world. And entering those stones. And simply by being there, the native spirits and the heavenly spirits began to emerge. Meanwhile I prayed outloud. Declaring that as these stones were laid down, this place was now a sanctuary to the Gods.
I could feel the peace there. Though my friend didn’t seem to notice a change. I think he was just tired. I bet he never expected spirituality to be so active lol. I was about to leave the tree behind after saying my goodbyes.
But the tree stopped me.
“You came here to ask for help, tell me what you need,”
Piercing the Veil
He entered my mind. And I felt myself get dizzy. I felt as if he had entered my skull. Going under the scalp itself. Burrowing deeper and deeper into my psyche.
It was a tree root. One massive spiritual tree root. It touched my entire nervous system. Hippie asked me if I was okay. I told him not to pay any attention, just to let me do this.
I felt myself almost falling asleep. But I remained in that level between sleep and waking. Then he stopped abruptly.
“I don’t know why you decided to enter this place. But I will grant you safe passage. Tonight as you rest you will enter the spirit. But you must beware. This won’t work all the way. You need to be on your guard,”
I felt my head bow down in rest and I said,
“Thank you,” and woke up.
“Who were you talking to?” Hippie asked.
“The spirit guide,”
I was tired. That was good. I needed to be tired to enter an exhaust trance. And get to work. I didn’t tell him the spirit guide was the tree.
I wasn’t going to bother telling him that everything is a spirit. We went home and I bathed and cleansed. He made sandwiches for us both. When I finished the cleansing bath, I showered afterwards.
The Rotted Woman
I ate lightly. Then slept on the bed again. Wrapped in a comforter I had brought. I was so tired. I said all of my protective prayers ahead of time.
And put some charms on. I asked my spirits silently in prayer to shield my body while I entered the other side. The hippie came in the room with me.
“What made you change your mind?”
“I think I can handle Casper,”
(Dumbass 🤦♂️)
I think he was skeptical of me after today. After all he witnessed me listening to grass and talking to a tree. Must have thought I was a burnout or something. And that nothing would manifest because it was all in my head. Big mistake.
“At least use some spiritual protection,”
He took out a cross from around his neck. I tried not to smile. Okay brother, if you think that’s enough, then enjoy. “Let’s get go to sleep then,” And kick over a bee’s nest while we’re at it. I thought.
The void of dreams
I can’t remember when I fell asleep. Only the vague sensation of leaving my body. The spirits protected my physical form. I took flight into the other world. And I saw the tree.
Actually it was weirder than that.
It looked like a barn inside of the tree. Jesus I thought. This is what the spirit guide really looks like on the other side. This is how big it really is. How much more powerful it is.
It was beyond my power. Beyond my comprehension. We see something on Earth. And we judge it by its size here. By what it can or can’t do in our reality.
Completely unaware of its true power. Of what it truly is. Or what it can do. Compared to this being, I was as insignificant as the minerals in the soil. Probably less than that.
It was night. And I was being ushered into the tree barn. By a man and a woman. They screamed at me “hurry!”. And I flew into the window.
They sealed the window as fast as they could. Though the window was heavier on the inside. Like iron, so they had trouble forcing it down. They were afraid. And after I looked behind me, I could see why they were so scared.
Shadows. That’s the only thing I could think of.
These things were right behind me. And I couldn’t hear them much less see them or sense them. And somehow they hadn’t reached me either. I had no idea who these two people in my dreams were. If they were spirits, or other dreamers like night workers.
But whoever they were, they protected me. And sealed the window shut. I could hear and feel the pounding on the window. But the iron remained unmoved. Then I felt the tree move.
Not physically but some other way. Almost like it teleported. Or perhaps phased out of existence. And the pounding stopped. I knew that we had departed.
Gone elsewhere else. Looking back now, I think the tree sent these people to me. They kept me shielded. I also think, that this wall of shadow people, was what blocked me from entering the spirit world. They must be the soldiers for whatever the master spirit is.
I remember thinking in the dream. The main theme of these spirits seem to always be plagues and dead things. All of this keeps coming up. The same themes. Decay.
Death. Desolation. How did such a white bread family end up with this? The husband is as spicy as mayo. And the rest of the family was so (seemingly) normal it was painful. Then I remembered how shady the family was.
They clearly hadn’t told me everything.
I remember speaking to several spirits inside the barn. The barn looked like an opera house on the inside. And there were lots of people I spoke to. But I couldn’t remember what it was they had told me. What I knew is that the place was a bunker.
Nothing could get inside. When I finally left, I was teleported out. Or rather it was the tree who left me behind. It felt like it teleported without me. I was somewhere familiar.
Little Havana here in Miami. I saw a tall woman, legs so long that I thought they were stilts at first. Until I saw that she wasn’t falling or losing balance. There was something really weird about them. Disturbing, like the legs were only half created.
She looked like Yemaya. But I was dead wrong. This abomination in front of me was not the Orisha Yemaya. That was just a trick to deceive me. And I fell for it.
This thing was able to send spirits to attack me. The attacks lasted days after this encounter. Later I realized from one of my masters that a portal had been opened. One similar to a Quija board. I had a “dream gate” that allowed things to come to me.
It wasn’t inside of me but outside of my body. I had to be put into a meditative state and allow my friends to cleanse me from the inside out. Close the doorway and banish what was there. I was so pissed. But not as pissed off as this thing was.
Once it tried to come back. And found the door was closed. It took me a few days to finally figure out what had deceived me. But I finally got it. It was a Si’lat.
A female ghul. One of the Shayateen. Jinnis who are demonic. Ghuls are snatchers, spirits who lead you into a trap and then take you. After I broke her connection, she tried to come at me again.
The Hippie had some bad nightmares in that room with me for days. And finally went back to the couch. He couldn’t handle the worst of the attack. I’m surprised he resisted as long as he did. I’m not sure I could have without my backup.
This monster forced me into a nightmare she could control.
In Islam demons are not fallen angels. They’re fallen jinn. Islam teaches that angels don’t have free will. So they can never rebel against God. The Jinn were created from a substance called vril (smokeless fire).
And like humans, they can rebel. Their civilization on Earth was misled by Iblis (Satan). Who was the first evil Jinn. He caused a civil war on Earth when God created humanity and declared Adam a superior creation. So he commanded his other creations to bow before Adam.
As a sign of respect towards his new creation. But neither Iblis nor any of the other jinn were happy with this. They felt betrayed by their maker. Furthermore, Iblis scoffed at the idea that Adam was superior. Stating that Adam was made from clay, and thus inferior.
Iblis also known as Shaytan
He claimed their powers alone made them superior to humanity. And so he led a rebellion. He was named Shaytan which comes from Ha-Satan (the adversary) or enemy of God. His followers called themselves the Shayateen (the Satans) in his honor. So he called himself Iblis (The Satan).
The original adversary against God. They led an armed assault against God’s armies. But mighty as they were, they still fell. Angels are naturally stronger than jinn. So they defeated them easily.
Now, not all jinn were Shayateen. But because most of them hadn’t tried to stop Iblis either, God destroyed their civilization. Regular jinn were forced into exile in an alternate earth. The ones who stayed behind, were forced to live in ruins. And other desolate, abandoned places.
Some even live in cemeteries or broken down houses. But the Prophet Muhammad came to the jinn many years later. And preached the Koran to them. So those jinn who were not evil, were given a second chance to enter paradise like humans. And so there are the faithful or good Jinn loyal to God.
The Shayateen
And then there are the infidels that serve Iblis. Among the Shayateen, there are a type of demons called Ghuls. The original ghouls actually predate Islam by thousands of years. They were Sumerian, called Gallu, and were all male demons. Lustful.
Jinn are beings of smokeless fire, they’re master shape shifters, they can appear as humans, human animal hybrids, or in some cases they can mutate their forms like this. The image comes from Harold Davis on his Digital Field Guide website. Titled Spirits of the Night, this is disturbingly close to how some Jinnis have appeared to me. Primarily, demonic jinn
Constantly wanting to mate with human women. But in Islam, some ghuls are female. I’ve heard some people claim they’re the spirits of dead sex workers. And others who say that they are completely non human in origin.
In the original hadiths, ghuls were not human at all. They were a species of jinn called marids. Who were burned when trying to enter Heaven. They became deformed and insane. And their skins were charred black.
The many forms of the Jinn
Other people claim that the Jinn can recruit from among humanity.
So the idea they might be dead women may actually be accurate. Some became vampire-like creatures in death. Many being similar to succubi though not always. And while they are sent to feed on the dead, they can and do feed on the living. The Si’la are referred to as “Hags”.
Which also means they’re witch-like demons. Evil witches. Not good witches. And some are so human like that they can pass themselves off as living people. Even marry and bare children.
Obviously, these female demons are very alluring. They’re said to be children of Lilith. When they feed on living people, it’s usually soldiers dying on the battle field. Or refugees crossing borders. Lots of food for them.
And no one the wiser. They have other ways of luring prey. Often exuding a supernatural pheromone. Which only the most righteous people are immune to. This is how they lead men and women to their deaths.
But like all spirits, and especially Lilith’s children, they have great psychic powers. And they can distort perceptions of reality. Jinn good and bad are specialists in this case. So she must have probed my mind. And saw that I’m a Santero.
Another example of the forms they take
And took Yemaya’s form to fool me. My Niiji friend who practiced magic, was the one who figured her out. He said she was a strange entity similar to La Llorona or the wailing woman. An entity that died in a river somewhere. And then rose from the dead as this thing.
From the Islamic perspective, she could be both types of creatures at once. As for Muslims, all Supernatural creatures could be considered jinn. And a Llorona could fall into the jinn archetype just fine. Ghuls aren’t mentioned in the Koran. But in the hadiths which are the folkloric tales of Islam.
She paid me a visit. And she wasn’t happy with me.
Do you know what a Yurei looks like? It’s a Japanese vengeance ghost. They look like the girl from the ring. I saw something similar to that. Only she wasn’t Japanese. Right from the start the dream was off.
It was in black and white. I dreamed that I was with the whole family and the neighbor. Even the dog was there. I was sleeping on the couch when the family woke me up. There was a radio broadcast warning people to seal their doors and windows.
And not to let anyone in their homes. Because a strange woman and other people were coming. They were knocking on doors trying to get people to let them in. And I think there was mention of hypnotic powers. They used this to sucker people into opening the doors to let them all in.
And that’s when I heard the knock at the door. No one made a sound. Not even the dog. Everyone was petrified inside. Including me.
They were all freaked. But the 15 year old more than anyone. I tried to bury my feelings and not show I was scared. Though I’m sure I didn’t do a good job of it. I walked gently to the door.
I looked through the peephole. And I saw the shadowy silhouette of a woman.
A brunette. Or at least I think she was a brunette. The truth is her hair could have been any color. But it was so pitch black out there I wouldn’t have been able to know for sure. And I couldn’t tell at first if she were a demon or a ghost or something in between.
She was a half rotting corpse of a woman.
This is actually an image of the Goddess Hela I found online, but it was the closest depiction I could find to what this woman in my dreams looked like. Of course the “real” world version of her is more terrifying than a mere picture could depict.
She was beautiful in life. That was obvious from the part that wasn’t rotting. Her lower jaw was either missing or covered in so much blood I couldn’t see it. Couldn’t tell. Or maybe it was the shadow that cloaked her.
Her eyes, if she had any, were as dark and empty as the void of space. She kept talking in this creepy voice trying to get me to let her in. But I wouldn’t. I was able to look through the peephole without putting my feet on the mat. Because somehow she could look inside through the cracks on the door.
And like an idiot I accidentally looked into her eyes. It was as if she were willing me to do it. By planting a suggestion in my head. That I was curious and wanted to see if she could control me. Thoughts I would never think.
My spirit guides spoke in my mind and said
“She can’t enter because of the hearth cross you placed in the kitchen window,”
It’s true. For this family, I made a hearthe cross. I wasn’t sure why I did it. Basically, in Gemma Gary’s book The Black Toad, I learned that the English witches made crosses from whatever was in their kitchen. They would create and bless a special cross to protect against black magic.
Because the hearthe is the center of the home. So if you ward the hearthe, the home is likewise protected. The one I created is stronger. I put the St. Benedict exorcism prayer on it. Even her hypnotism seemed to be weakened to the point of being nullified.
All she could do was make me look into her eyes. But apart from that, she could t force me to open the door. I suddenly woke up. It was pitch black. But otherwise, I was fine.
Now I had to work. I had the strongest feeling that this “woman” or thing, whatever she was, was at the door that night.
My Hippie chaperone said that he was paranoid that night. He covered all the windows and made sure the doors were locked. He had the odd sensation that someone was watching him. And he was afraid of a burglary. I didn’t tell him of the night’s events right away. He clearly thought it was just regular paranoia.
Divination
My Catholic confirmation Bible. This has been my faithful friend for years. As the pages have fallen off, I use the Bible paper for all manner of spells.
I won’t bore you with the details. I’m sure I do that already. Bibliomancy is a form of divination that uses books to know answers. Specifically, Bibliomancy is the use of sacred books or spell books. Or books on a spiritual subject matter.
So I did a Hebrew-Catholic ritual. Cleansed and uncrossed myself. And asked for divine revelations. I asked what this abomination was that came to me in my dreams. What I got was this,
When I read that, I got all sorts of strange feelings and visions. Concerning the Succubi. Daughters of Lilith. I asked if I was right concerning that this thing is a Si’lat and not just a normal demon. And I got Isaiah 34.
I won’t quote the whole thing. But long story short, it mentions Adonai being angry with nations. And unleashing his wrath upon them for rebelling against them. Which led me to believe someone in this family had done something bad. But then it talks about how he leaves civilizations in total desolations.
Like cemeteries. What really caught my attention was this part.
It’s said that this part of the Bible (according to Hebrew scholars ) isn’t talking about animals. But demons. The main belief is that when Adonai (or any God or Goddess really) abandons someone, they become forsaken. And evil spirits can haunt them. And in the Bible, demons and even angels can sometimes appear as animals or animal headed humanoids.
Which is a common theme in a lot of middle eastern civilizations. A small note from the Hebrew scholars concerning this text.
The “screech owl” is another name for Lilith herself. Because in ancient Sumer, and even Palestine owls are sacred to her. And she frequently takes this form when she hunts for human blood. I got my confirmation that she’s a ghul from that text. But more importantly, I believe this whole thing was alluding to someone pissing God off.
That someone had purposely invited something dark into the house. And that is why I have been having such a hard time driving this shit away. As I continued the Bibliomancy, they began to give me more details. I’m certain the 15 year girl is responsible somehow. She did something.
Concerning the ghul and the dream I had, spirits told me that she projected herself into the front door and tried to enter. But couldn’t because of the hearthe cross. That’s when she tried to get my “permission” in the dreams to enter the home. Because if I allowed her entry there, the barrier would have fallen. But my spirits were with me.
I did a targeted banishing with help from some friends. Including a friend who is a dark mage. Well, calling him a “friend” is an overstatement. We’re allies when it’s convenient. He takes cursed objects off my hands.
He likes to use them for his temple. In this case he helped me extract this thing. He wanted to use it as his demonic familiar. His servitor. He astral projected and hunted her down with his animal guide.
Meanwhile I performed a closing ritual. And I reversed whatever was done to bring this shit in. The hippie kept getting his ass kicked for a week. They kept making him break stuff. At first he said it was just coincidence.
But little by little random occurrences stopped being random. At one point he went outside. And the wire fence started to fall apart. Now you probably think oh well it was probably old and not kept in good condition. You’d be wrong.
The husband in the family is a freak about home repair and decor. And this fence like everything, was kept in good condition. And relatively new. And it only broke in the places where this guy was walking. Imagine that he walked from point A all the way down to Z, and as he walked along the fence, it started to unravel.
Finally, the entire thing fell down. I told him not to walk so close to it. Because whatever was on him was tearing shit apart. And he just told me to stop being superstitious. Then his phone screen broke inside his pocket.
And his hand was bloodied from the glass. He hadn’t felt or heard anything pop. That was enough for him to admit something was off. He finally agreed to do a banishing ritual with me. I smudged again, and cleansed with aspersions of holy water.
We also did a physical cleaning of the house. He managed to repair the fence. And after looking at it, admitted there was no reason for it to fall apart like that. I burned the sage on the abalone shell and prayed,
“In the name of the Great Spirit you are hereby forced to leave this man. Leave his body. Leave his soul. Leave his mind. Do not enter his dreams anymore. I command you to depart, go to the foot of the Great Spirit, who is Lord over all,”
It took a while longer for the evil spirit to leave. But when it did, he said he felt a thousand pounds lighter. And the surroundings also felt lighter. He was so tired he didn’t want to take a shower.
“You should, cause bad spirits love it when people and places are dirty,”
That’s all it took. I gave him some lavender oil to bathe in before showering. And when he came out he was in better shape. His personality went back to being nice and chill. He stopped acting like an ass.
Looking back on it, we both agreed he was being influenced. The banishing was fine. So was the reversal. Now we just needed to do an intervention with this family and see what else was needed. And here I end this chapter of the account.
It was long just to write this. Even longer to try and edit it. I apologize for the typos. But just reliving this in my writings is tiring as hell. I’ll come back with the final chapter another day. Take care,
Plague art depicting the dead during the Black Plague via CVLT Nation
I don’t even know where to begin. But I did this for the benefit of everyone who reads my blog. Instead of making one giant monstrosity of a post, I will brake it down into parts. So now I am left with figuring out how to write this. So where do I begin?
Week 1 : Weird Ass Shit
I hate this thing, no this isn’t an actual picture of the clock. I wouldn’t post that anywhere online.
So this family asked if I could stay at their house for a week or two. It ended up being slightly longer than that. In fact I celebrated the entire Parentalia over there. Figuring I could tap into the power of the ancestors to help out. And banish what was there.
That also means I spent Valentine’s with one of the most dysfunctional families ever. A lot of weird shit happened. I am not allowed to say how I was contacted. I am not allowed to even make up names for the family members. Yes they’re that paranoid.
But I let them know I write of my experiences. And while the husband was upset (more on him later) I let him know I don’t give a fuck. He was lucky I was even there to put up with them. That is the least they could do. So he can kiss my ass.
I get the feeling that maybe they have a reason to be so paranoid after all. That family is shady as fuck. I wasn’t comfortable being there at all. They weren’t delinquents or anything like that. I wasn’t afraid of being stabbed.
But it’s hard to focus on paranormal activity, when you’re surrounded by people who aren’t truthful. So I show up at around noon. I asked where most of the spirit activity was manifesting. And when. They said at night and all over the house. So I choose to sleep on the couch even though they had a guest room.
This is the center for energy, the common ground for everyone living there. And there I made my stand. The family dog liked me. But would not stay with me. They said that was strange.
When I asked them to elaborate they wouldn’t tell me shit. Because they were testing me to see if I was for real or not. Just fyi. If you want someone to help you, don’t bullshit them. Or beat around the bush.
I have seen skeptics who need help do this to the mediums and others they hire. To “test them”. You can test my balls on a hot day in Hell. Don’t waste my fucking time. I damn near almost left.
And even now I still get the weird feeling they didn’t tell me everything. Normally I’d tell them to go fuck themselves. But they have kids ages 6 to 17. And a sweet pooch who was afraid all of the time. What could I do?
But here’s one of the ways in which not telling me the info I needed caused this to be such a lengthy fucking problem. The activity started in the master bedroom. It would have been nice to know that instead of wasting my time playing psychic catch-up. The Mom didn’t say anything to me. Hell she hadn’t said anything to anyone.
Because she assumed that it was her imagination. And didn’t want to worry anyone. But for a week before the incident I am about to talk about, she felt goosebumps in the bathroom. So did the husband.
(A testosterone filled skeptic douche bag, who felt the need to mock my faith)
The 15 yr sister was was in the bathroom making a video of her trying a dress on. It was for her friend. And explaining fashion stuff like she was an influencer. When she entered the bathroom and recorded the video, this weird black shadow that looked almost like a person crossed right in front of her. It happened on video while she was recording it live.
It wasn’t a case of looking back at video evidence and seeing it afterwards. Then the same shadow was right back in the same spot it was before. And it kept walking across her screen repeatedly over and over until the video went white and shut down. I saw the video myself. But that isn’t the strangest part.
She sent the video to her friend. But her friend showed us the video. The whole thing was in slow motion and silent. You couldn’t hear a thing this girl was saying. And it never got to the shadow in the bathroom.
It looked like some weird found footage shit. It was strange. I told them both to delete the damn video. She wanted to send it to me for paranormal proof. I said fuck the proof.
I don’t care if anyone thinks I’m nuts or lying. I know what I know and that’s it. At the moment they asked me to do a smoke bowl (smudging) ceremony. The problem is I suspected one or all members of the family were behind the activity. Not faking it, but were feeding it somehow.
So while I did do it, and things did calm down, I couldn’t do it properly unless they all left. I explained in detail why that was. And El Douche, the husband, tried to accuse me of wanting to steal. or doing “weird things” which he wouldn’t elaborate what those things would be. I kinda wanted to be sarcastic.
But I kept my mouth shut. The girls and mother realized I was losing patience. And they politely told him to fuck off. Which he didn’t like. But he had no choice.
I started wondering if it was all coming from him. But I was told no right away by my guides.
“He’s too insignificant,” they told me. “He’s not the one behind this,”
So moving on.
They left me with a friend of the family they trusted. And he helped me do the ritual. I liked the guy. He was like a modern day hippy. And he was chill.
He also turned out to be the perfect attendant for my rituals. Very respectful and could be serious when he needed to be. I performed the smudging. And also used holy water and my rosary. Plus I did an exorcism in Latin. Well my own butchered Latin.
I speak Spanish so I pronounced the words as best as I could. The intent and the divine powers is what’s important. Plus knowing the meaning behind the words and having faith. I also did the Buddhist Atanatiya Protection ritual as well. Normally I do that and it goes away.
Even a normal smudging gets rid of what’s in a house. But that didn’t happen here. It was weakened. And irritated. But it did not leave.
So I told the mother on the phone that I needed to dig deeper into the activity. She asked me to sleep in the master bedroom. That it could be on the floor if I wasn’t comfortable sleeping on a stranger’s bed. But to take advantage of their absence to see things. So I made a make shift bed on the floor.
The guy asked me if I wanted his company. And I said,
” It depends. Your friend might want you to keep an eye on me. But in truth, I’m going to confront this thing. And they like to attack while you sleep. So I leave it to you. But you need to know what you’re getting into beforehand,”
He decided not to. Can’t say I blame him. It took me two hours before I finally fell asleep. But it was hard. There was an air of dread in that house.
I have walked cemeteries in the dead of night. And felt fine. The dead are my friends. And I never walk alone. Besides my guides, I ask the Gods and special spirits of the area to walk with me.
But this place had me jumpy. I hadn’t seen anything yet in the first few days. But I could feel that something was off. You know when you have that feeling of dread like something really bad is about to happen? It was weird. This entity made me feel like a child. It made me feel like it was scolding me.
Like I was going to get in trouble with my parents if I didn’t leave. I had to catch myself a few times. And realize I’m an adult. And this thing was messing with me. I’ve done nothing wrong to feel guilty or afraid.
But something was strange about those feelings. Is it possible one of the girls did something wrong? And one or more of the spirits were seeking vengeance? I filed that away in my notes. And the worst part was that fucking clock.
It was an old antique clock that they kept. And you could feel the arms of the clock make sharp movements. Loud movements. Something’s wrong with that thing, I thought. I made notes of that too.
Placed it under the heading of possible cursed or haunted object. Wasn’t sure what it was yet. And when I finally did fall asleep, it was some weird trippy shit. This third night that I was there, I dreamed I was in a garbage dump? Or maybe a Potter’s field. You know, one of those public graveyards for people that got abandoned.
Or who were too poor to afford a proper burial. There was this mass of flies. They were altogether and seemed to be one mass. And then I had the strange thought that they were. One entity with many bodies controlled by a singular intelligence.
I looked at it and said something weird like,
“Do you serve him?”
Remember this is the Dream world. I was trained by my medicine woman to have have some control. But there are things I know when I am asleep that I don’t know when I’m awake. And it replied no almost like a shriek. What I do remember, is that I had enough control in my dream to banish it.
I said,
” Spirit of darkness, in the name of the mystic, (can’t remember what I said ) I command thee to leave now and return to (can’t remember), “
The thing shrieked and flew away. And when I woke up, it was morning. The neighbor had made pancakes and bacon for us both.
“Dude I had the weirdest, trippiest dream,” he said, ” There were giant cockroaches from Hell flying in and out of the house,”
A lot of evil spirits take the form of vermin. That was my first experience in the first week. And I spent almost everyday banishing these fuckers in dreams and in waking life. I will explain the next week tomorow. If I have the energy.
These last few weeks have drained me. I slept the whole day when I got home. And then half a day, the day after that.
I’ve been away for sometime. I apologize for my absence. I have been busy. And super tired. I just got back home.
I was helping a family through some fucked up shit. I was actually asked to stay at their home and sleep on the couch. To make sure I could be there 24/7 to help them. They basically wanted me to move in with them. I said no way.
But I did help where I could.
I won’t know until tomorrow morning if my work bore fruit. Right now I am trying to sleep. Will tell you all everything later today.
Adventures of A Mage In Miami 