Lessons Learned About Respecting the Spirit World and Energy Work
So I spent the weekend binge watching Lovecraft Country...and I love it.
The one thing I notice in that show is how White people are fearless about the use of magic and Black people are scared of it and think it's evil, that is basically my experience of things.
I always laugh when Black people say White people don't rely on magic for ish.
I used to believe this and laugh that this was harmless and would often be the only Black person at White retreats and healing spaces.
Ask me why I try as much as possible to work with healers of color now.
When it comes to magic and spiritual ish, White people are fearless and will open portals that don't need opening and won't think twice about it.
I’ve seen things in these streets and the lit-est/scariest ish I have seen in the spirit world that taught me mad respect for that world and that this stuff isn't a game, came from White spaces because they can be wild wild west in those spaces.
I used to think that ish was cool until I had too many run ins with spirit beings (some gave me warnings to stop disturbing them) and spent a whole night lost in the spirit world with a Brazilian Shaman trying to get me back to this plane and a White Afrikaans friend praying over my body.
As all this was happening I was calling on ancestors and learning ish I didn't know to survive and get myself to stay in my body.
The crazy thing was as all this was happening, all I could think was, "God Please don't let me end up in a hospital or institution because my family will kill me for participating in this and my mom and sister are probably the only people who can help me."
And then there was the time I took spelled mushrooms because I thought it would be fun.
I ended up having to stick my fingers down my throat to vomit and drink ash water to get back to normal.
These are just a few stories I have, and whilst these experiences cracked me open and helped me heal some deep ish, they also shook me and changed my approach to healing.
You can't get me to just do, say, eat or drink random ish because it's “spiritual.” I have been warned too often by various spirit beings and they didn't play with me. My lessons were rough.
I will say though - White folks made me a believer in the spirit world and magic.
Phew!
Anyway back to Lovecraft Country, which is really dope. I like the underlying message that we also have magic that is innately within us and we need to start tapping into it to free ourselves.
There are reasons we were told our spiritual practices were evil - those that oppressed us understood their power and were scared of it.
