- Original WF Link
- http://wizardforums.com/Thread-Discerning-Authentic-Spirit-Contact
I've been meaning to write a blog post on discerning authentic spirit messages as I've received many emails from readers regarding this issue. Reading through the forums lately, I've noticed several posts related to this very topic. Perhaps some of these notes I've made so far will help those of you who are just starting out.
1. Know, listen to, and trust your body
This sounds silly but it important. You need to pay attention how different subtle energies manifest in your body. What happens when you enter a highly charged environment like a sporting event or a nightclub? Pay attention to the minute changes in your body and learn to identify them and their patterns. Perhaps you get an instant gut reaction, perhaps your hands tingle or your ears ring. These subtle queues are your body sensing the subtle changes in the environment and informing you that something in the ambiance has changed. These same sensations will also trigger when in the presence of spirits. Your body is your most important magical tool, learn to use it to the fullest capacity.
Along this vein of 'knowing your body', and as mentioned by Orismen below, it is very useful to identify those things (heavy foods, caffeinated drinks, etc.) that interfere with your ability to be receptive to the subtle changes.
For myself, I discovered early on that my hands and left leg are indicators. My hands tingle and heat up when in the presence of spirits when the energies are exceptionally strong like when I sit before my padrino's nganga I feel a slight discomfort in my left leg when the muerto comes down (and yes, I've had it checked out by physicians who insist that nothing is biologically wrong). These indicators are my bread and butter, I know that when these sensations are active the spirits - even when I cannot see or sense them in other ways - are present and listening. Inspirations that come to me together with these physiological reactions are messages that I know are coming from the spirit world and to which I pay extra close attention .
2. Keep a diary
When I first learned the Nkobo divination system used by my Palo munan nzo, I spent months doing a daily reading and recording the results in my journal. Throughout the course of the day I noted everything from my dreams to the most mundane events of the day. By looking back at the diary I was able to see how the individual letters of the reading manifested in my life.
This same principle applies to spirit communication. Whether you are attempting to communicate via scrying, meditating or invoking. Write down the messages that you receive, even if you think they are subconscious chatter. I cannot stress the value of having this record as something to look back on and check against.
If you do your ritual work in the morning, you can then look back on your diary prior to going to bed (or when you wake up the next day) and see how the messages manifested in your day-to-day life. Overtime you will learn to identify the patterns and differentiate the voices of spirits from your own mental "voices". Eventually and as a result of continual practice, it becomes rather obvious and you stop questioning the authenticity of the information as it is very clear what is a message from spirit and what is not.
Do yourself a favor and put down that fancy leather-bound diary and use something you always have access to like iCloud Notes or a similar app on your phone...it will ensure that it is nearly always at your disposal and you can easily update your entries throughout the course of the day.
3. Learn your triggers and learn to identify different states of consciousness
To obtain any form of spirit contact we must learn to shift our consciousness to a receptive state for spirit interaction. This isn't a deep trance, it's much more subtle and is best described as a light trance state in which you are fully in control.
Spirits are omnipresent, but from a very early age we are thought to narrow our experience of consciousness through a single filter that benefits our social interactions with the material world. This is a form of social conditioning that is necessary to make each individual a functioning member of society. However, when it comes to spirit work, we must learn to drop that filter and allow the spectrum of messages that we normally tune out to be registered by our conscious minds.
There are any number of methods to trigger this shift. Many traditional societies use song,dance and rhythm; invocations and prayers achieve the same result. You will need to experiment and find what works for you.
One of the key indicators that you are in the correct state of mind is loosing time. Perhaps you say a long prayer and for a moment afterwards you feel extremely calm and in a sense slightly zone out. When you then look at your clock, you realize that what seemed like seconds was actually minutes. Learn to sense this state and to stay within it and consciously aware of it as long as possible. As with everything, it takes practice but overtime you will identify the specific triggers that put you into this correct state of mind for spirit interaction. When messages come to you in this state you should pay extra attention to them.
It is worth pointing out that the triggers do not need to be anything overly elaborate. It can be that first flicker of the candle light, the first whiff of incense, etc.. For myself, the simple act of lighting a match or that first puff of a cigar while watching the smoke rise up puts me into this state.
More elaborate exercises such as the Middle Pillar and other forms of complete body energy circulation (i.e. chakra work, the "Preliminary Rite" from Ars Vercanus, etc.) serve to strengthen your subtle body and your subtle senses, literally opening you up and putting you into this mental state. To Hagen's point continual practice and sticking to the system that works for you is key! In the end all this is quite personal and the triggers and rituals that work for others may not work for you.
4. Embrace the path
What does this mean? Simple, if you choose to live a magical life and interact with spirits, you need to understand that messages can come to you from the spirit world in many forms and at any time (not just in ritual settings). Next time you walk by that crazy homeless man on the street corner, take a moment to listen to what he says...you may be surprised. What others tune out as the ramblings of a mad man may in fact be a spirit speaking to you through that individual and as one who walks the path, it behooves you to listen. Many times spirits will communicate to you through others (particularly those whose mental filters are down, i.e. the sick or dying or mentally unstable).This also includes animals and other natural phenomenon. Pay attention to these queues and note them in your diary.
5. Divination
While this post was intended to focus more on the sensory aspects of spirit communication, to Fork's point in the response below, divination is the core method to receive, elaborate upon and verify the source of the message. And not calling it out initially was a major oversight on my part.
Some living traditions such as Palo incorporate two forms of divination - the Chamalongos primarily used for obtaining fast yes/no type answers while in ceremony and Nkobo divination used for deeper and more elaborate readings. Both can be used as well as any other adequate systems (i.e. pendulum for yes/no, geomancy, bone tosses, tarot, etc., etc.). It is always good practice to cross-check your experiences with a divination, particularly at first when you might be unsure about interpreting your sensory signals.
One thing to call out is that the complexity of the tools of the divination system does not equate to its accuracy. Much of the skill of a diviner is knowing how to ask the right questions and learning to lead from one question to the next in order to develop an ongoing dialogue with the tool and spirits involved while also maintaining a degree of skepticism and learning really challenge your results. For example, if using a pendulum to determine if a message received in a dream the night before was indeed from a spirit, you can start with "was I visited by a spirit last night?", if affirmative, go through a list of potential spirit names based on the symbolism of the dream but don't simply stop when receiving an affirmative response. Then rephrase the question again along the lines of "did spirit X come to me last night?" and then go on to ask more detailed questions regarding the specifics of the dream, etc. This chaining of questions and constant circling back to recheck the initial query will make it so that you can proceed with confidence regarding the authenticity of the message.
I would argue that prior to divining one should still strive to obtain that appropriate receptive mental state for spirit communication. Having spirit present and engaged is what separates proper divination from an exercise of probabilities. Once spirit is present, more elaborate divination systems (i.e. tarot, geomancy, nkobo, etc.) can be used as the actual vehicle for receiving messages if you find yourself aware of the spirit presence but not hearing the spirit voices.
1. Know, listen to, and trust your body
This sounds silly but it important. You need to pay attention how different subtle energies manifest in your body. What happens when you enter a highly charged environment like a sporting event or a nightclub? Pay attention to the minute changes in your body and learn to identify them and their patterns. Perhaps you get an instant gut reaction, perhaps your hands tingle or your ears ring. These subtle queues are your body sensing the subtle changes in the environment and informing you that something in the ambiance has changed. These same sensations will also trigger when in the presence of spirits. Your body is your most important magical tool, learn to use it to the fullest capacity.
Along this vein of 'knowing your body', and as mentioned by Orismen below, it is very useful to identify those things (heavy foods, caffeinated drinks, etc.) that interfere with your ability to be receptive to the subtle changes.
For myself, I discovered early on that my hands and left leg are indicators. My hands tingle and heat up when in the presence of spirits when the energies are exceptionally strong like when I sit before my padrino's nganga I feel a slight discomfort in my left leg when the muerto comes down (and yes, I've had it checked out by physicians who insist that nothing is biologically wrong). These indicators are my bread and butter, I know that when these sensations are active the spirits - even when I cannot see or sense them in other ways - are present and listening. Inspirations that come to me together with these physiological reactions are messages that I know are coming from the spirit world and to which I pay extra close attention .
2. Keep a diary
When I first learned the Nkobo divination system used by my Palo munan nzo, I spent months doing a daily reading and recording the results in my journal. Throughout the course of the day I noted everything from my dreams to the most mundane events of the day. By looking back at the diary I was able to see how the individual letters of the reading manifested in my life.
This same principle applies to spirit communication. Whether you are attempting to communicate via scrying, meditating or invoking. Write down the messages that you receive, even if you think they are subconscious chatter. I cannot stress the value of having this record as something to look back on and check against.
If you do your ritual work in the morning, you can then look back on your diary prior to going to bed (or when you wake up the next day) and see how the messages manifested in your day-to-day life. Overtime you will learn to identify the patterns and differentiate the voices of spirits from your own mental "voices". Eventually and as a result of continual practice, it becomes rather obvious and you stop questioning the authenticity of the information as it is very clear what is a message from spirit and what is not.
Do yourself a favor and put down that fancy leather-bound diary and use something you always have access to like iCloud Notes or a similar app on your phone...it will ensure that it is nearly always at your disposal and you can easily update your entries throughout the course of the day.
3. Learn your triggers and learn to identify different states of consciousness
To obtain any form of spirit contact we must learn to shift our consciousness to a receptive state for spirit interaction. This isn't a deep trance, it's much more subtle and is best described as a light trance state in which you are fully in control.
Spirits are omnipresent, but from a very early age we are thought to narrow our experience of consciousness through a single filter that benefits our social interactions with the material world. This is a form of social conditioning that is necessary to make each individual a functioning member of society. However, when it comes to spirit work, we must learn to drop that filter and allow the spectrum of messages that we normally tune out to be registered by our conscious minds.
There are any number of methods to trigger this shift. Many traditional societies use song,dance and rhythm; invocations and prayers achieve the same result. You will need to experiment and find what works for you.
One of the key indicators that you are in the correct state of mind is loosing time. Perhaps you say a long prayer and for a moment afterwards you feel extremely calm and in a sense slightly zone out. When you then look at your clock, you realize that what seemed like seconds was actually minutes. Learn to sense this state and to stay within it and consciously aware of it as long as possible. As with everything, it takes practice but overtime you will identify the specific triggers that put you into this correct state of mind for spirit interaction. When messages come to you in this state you should pay extra attention to them.
It is worth pointing out that the triggers do not need to be anything overly elaborate. It can be that first flicker of the candle light, the first whiff of incense, etc.. For myself, the simple act of lighting a match or that first puff of a cigar while watching the smoke rise up puts me into this state.
More elaborate exercises such as the Middle Pillar and other forms of complete body energy circulation (i.e. chakra work, the "Preliminary Rite" from Ars Vercanus, etc.) serve to strengthen your subtle body and your subtle senses, literally opening you up and putting you into this mental state. To Hagen's point continual practice and sticking to the system that works for you is key! In the end all this is quite personal and the triggers and rituals that work for others may not work for you.
4. Embrace the path
What does this mean? Simple, if you choose to live a magical life and interact with spirits, you need to understand that messages can come to you from the spirit world in many forms and at any time (not just in ritual settings). Next time you walk by that crazy homeless man on the street corner, take a moment to listen to what he says...you may be surprised. What others tune out as the ramblings of a mad man may in fact be a spirit speaking to you through that individual and as one who walks the path, it behooves you to listen. Many times spirits will communicate to you through others (particularly those whose mental filters are down, i.e. the sick or dying or mentally unstable).This also includes animals and other natural phenomenon. Pay attention to these queues and note them in your diary.
5. Divination
While this post was intended to focus more on the sensory aspects of spirit communication, to Fork's point in the response below, divination is the core method to receive, elaborate upon and verify the source of the message. And not calling it out initially was a major oversight on my part.
Some living traditions such as Palo incorporate two forms of divination - the Chamalongos primarily used for obtaining fast yes/no type answers while in ceremony and Nkobo divination used for deeper and more elaborate readings. Both can be used as well as any other adequate systems (i.e. pendulum for yes/no, geomancy, bone tosses, tarot, etc., etc.). It is always good practice to cross-check your experiences with a divination, particularly at first when you might be unsure about interpreting your sensory signals.
One thing to call out is that the complexity of the tools of the divination system does not equate to its accuracy. Much of the skill of a diviner is knowing how to ask the right questions and learning to lead from one question to the next in order to develop an ongoing dialogue with the tool and spirits involved while also maintaining a degree of skepticism and learning really challenge your results. For example, if using a pendulum to determine if a message received in a dream the night before was indeed from a spirit, you can start with "was I visited by a spirit last night?", if affirmative, go through a list of potential spirit names based on the symbolism of the dream but don't simply stop when receiving an affirmative response. Then rephrase the question again along the lines of "did spirit X come to me last night?" and then go on to ask more detailed questions regarding the specifics of the dream, etc. This chaining of questions and constant circling back to recheck the initial query will make it so that you can proceed with confidence regarding the authenticity of the message.
I would argue that prior to divining one should still strive to obtain that appropriate receptive mental state for spirit communication. Having spirit present and engaged is what separates proper divination from an exercise of probabilities. Once spirit is present, more elaborate divination systems (i.e. tarot, geomancy, nkobo, etc.) can be used as the actual vehicle for receiving messages if you find yourself aware of the spirit presence but not hearing the spirit voices.
