HOW TO KNOW YOU’RE WORKING WITH THE RIGHT SPIRIT: NOTES FROM ESPIRITISMO
I am in social media discussion groups that often have people ask really good questions about occultism and spirituality. One question I am seeing as of late is how does a practitioner of any spirit work tradition KNOW that the spirit they are calling out to is the one who responds – and that they are not being fooled by a trickster spirit? The answer to this can vary, because our traditions vary. Initiatory traditions, like ATRs, have some safeguards built in to help a person with this. We have godparents, we have things like misa espirituales (like a séance), and we have time tested processes to train our senses and ritual knowledge. With that in mind, I am going to highlight one foundational tool based on my knowledge and experience of Espiritismo.
As I have been reminded by one of my elders, believing in yourself is really, really important. Not believing in yourself is the thing that people doubt when spirits DO connect with you. We are so indoctrinated with Western scientific minds and religious minds, among many other hangups. Godparents of ATR traditions have to spend a lot of time at the start of a person’s journey deconstructing all of that.
When you believe in yourself, it doesn’t mean you don’t have doubts in your life or practice. It simply means that you don’t allow them to make you miss the consistent way your ancestral great-grandparent touches your head with noticeable warmth. It means you know it’s your Congo connecting with you when you start rubbing your knees. Believing in yourself opens your spiritual sight to see and understand the consistencies of how your spirits connect to you. This is important to grasp because it is a process of connection that continues whether you are new to the practice or seasoned.
All this said, this is probably not as straight-forward with other spirits that are not ancestral or a part of what espiritistas call one’s spiritual court. What espiritistas know, however, is the same process they use of believing in themselves and trusting their spirits’ consistencies comes into play with, for example, an angel conjured through Solomonic magic. If the Angel responds and agrees to connect and work with us, we expect certain consistencies of how they come forward, how their energy feels and how they will work with us (versus someone else who conjures the same spirit).
The consequences of not believing in yourself in spirit work means things will be wonky, inconsistent and your magic will likely not work as expected. The doubt out of control creates roadblocks that makes it significantly harder for the spirit to manifest things in your life or, for example, the lives of clients. It has to work through all of that crippling doubt, which is an energetic expense, before it can get to the task at hand. Spirits will usually choose the path of least resistance, but they cannot bust through our doubt to make a lot of things happen. Why? Because they respect our sovereignty. In a sense, believing in yourself means you respect yours.
The more we work on ourselves, the easier spirit work will go. This is just one aspect, however. Much more can be said, and will be.
