by Nathaniel
This goes further – often, it's quite easy to be able to recognize the ghosts of those who passed away. They were humans, and after death, according to all traditions of this World, the way they look remains the same. Thus, our brain is able to recognize what it seeks, and assign specific details to such magical perception. If you were familiar the still-alive person that you see, you might be able to recognize the ghost easily. If you do not know the person, you may be able to describe what you see in details, and someone might recognize the ghost.
With growing sensitivity, another thing develops – in modern psychic circles it is called "extra-sensory perception". Messages can reach your mind, messages from spirits – you may actually hear the words inside your mind (clairaudience), or just "know" what the spirit is communicating to you. But we will discuss the communication with spirits later. Right now, know this – all these magical senses elements makes you able to recognize the entities and learn their intention. At least to some point. Because there is something we call "projection".
Spirits project themselves to your senses. Projection is a way the spirits make themselves appear to you. At least this is how we understand this phenomena. If a spirit wishes to be recognized by you, it will project intentions and "visions" that are related to your knowledge; thus your brain will have it easier to understand what it perceives, and you will be able to recognize the spirit. This happens to a lot of spirits. Those spirits that have a clear intention (clear doesn't necessary mean good) will project their real, easy-to-recognize form. But the spirits that have unclear or negative intentions may falsify their projection and change their appearance. This if often used by spirits who seek prey – sources of life force to feed upon. And this phenomena of false projection often occurs in modern Channeling, closely related to New Age, in which inexperienced magick practitioners become victims of their own ego without even realizing it. Remember – spirits can deceive you. It is a well-known occult truth. It's another reason why it's important to read, learn, experience and keep the safety rules in mind.
Know this - if you do not know the entity that you're facing, you may not recognize it as a famous deity from a famous "mythology" - just like you may not be able to understand a word in a foreign language without learning this language first. But even more, if you do not know the spirit closely, then you may believe you're facing an Archangel, but in reality, you will be facing a minor parasite spirit which wants to gain access to you.
So, build a large "database" of symbols, terms and images of spirits from different traditions. This way, you will be able to recognize the spirits easier.
Spirits from Different Traditions in a Foreign Countries
In the past, the spirits of the specific region of the world could be found only in that specific region. But with time, followers of different paths traveled the world, and once exotic practices can now be found in the Western world, and vice versa. This way, the spirits from Hindu tradition can be met in Western Europe, and the Christian deities walk the Australian land. This often proves to be a problem for those skilled in exorcisms, but also for other magick practitioners. This happens for two reasons.
First, most entities react to the symbols of the specific region. If the symbol – a specific tool or phase – was used to banish that specific spirit, the entity will react to the energies of that symbol and will turn away. But if the entity doesn't recognize the symbol, it will stay. The exorcism might not work if the improper tools has been used. Second, the same thing applies to magical protection. For example, if you go to a meeting of Wiccans or pagans, it's wise to use a classic pentagram symbol for protection. But if you head to Yoga class and you're worried you may encounter some nasty entities, then wear the Om symbol.
It is not a problem to meet or communicate with an entity from once-exotic tradition if you live in United States or the Western Europe. From what I can tell, and I speak from experience, only the Nature Spirits do not travel. All other entities follow those who worship them, or those who need their help. Therefore, today the practitioner of magick must read books about other traditions and magical or spiritual paths just to stay "up to date" with the entities, types of energies or spiritual events that he may experience.
Different Types of Spirits
Actually, what kind of spirits you may encounter as a practitioner of magick? Well, I should rather say "as a human" – because spirits often interact even with those people that do not deal with magick or spirituality. That is why people do not deal with anything spiritual or magical can be guided by Angels or influenced in a negative way by parasite spirits.
The following categorization is based mainly on books and personal experiences – my own and those of my friends. It works well for most schools of magick and spiritual growth, so the following pages should give you the basic ideas as to the population of the spiritual realms.
Gods and Deities
One of the types of entities which you may encounter on the path of magick are gods and deities of a different sort. Now, these entities should not be mistaken with the concept of God. In reality, rarely any school of magick or spiritual growth has a specific concept of the primary deity under the name of God or similar. Native Americans might speak of Wakatanka, and the Buddhist may call it an "Absolute" while Huna says that God is the society of higher minds, which creates a universal network. But all these concepts are very abstract, and they are more related to the spiritual understanding than practical application of magick.
On the path of magick, we deal with gods and deities – strong and old spirits, some of them very ancient. From the perspective of magick, beings like buddhist's Avalokitesvara57 is a deity; Norse mythology mentions Odin, Thor, Freia and others; Egyptian mythology speaks of Ra, Ptah, Bast and other.58 There are other mythologies – for example Slavic or Hindu. And many traditions, from North America to Australia. Every tradition in the world developed a concept of gods and deities. What are these beings? There is no definitive answer to this question. Rather, we should say that every tradition has its own preferable explanation and understanding. Here, I would like to present some basic, general theories as to the nature of gods and deities.
Some theories say that, under different names, we can find the very same entity. This entity is described through archetypes or specific attributes of the character, but even under a different name and with different appearance, it is the very same being.
Some theories say that we truly deal with different spirits, which have decided to take over specific areas of interest in different parts of the world - for what purpose, I cannot say because I do not know the answer to such question. Because of these areas of interest that influence their appearance and personality, they are being described through specific attributes of the character.
Some theories say that gods and deities are nothing more than egregores – beings created out of people's desires, emotions and beliefs. This would be truth, but the thing is that an egregore dies if he stops receiving life force. And this happens when the amount of believers drops below a certain level. And yet, today the same entities with ancient knowledge and experience still walk the Earth even if the numbers of believers dropped to a couple of people at one or another moment of history.
Some people believe that deities and gods are nothing more than just a visualization of the archetypes and that in reality, they exists only within our own mind, and there are no actual spirits included. Actually, according to some people, this rule applies to all spirits, from deities to household guardians.
The tradition, which you follow, may have other explanation for the existence and purpose of these strong spirits. But in the general idea, gods and deities do exist and due to some practices, they can be encountered face to face – and as I said earlier, it doesn't matter if the deity is not related to your tradition, or that the deity is not "local" for the specific area of the world. There are no limits when it comes to the magical realms, and it's normal for practitioners of Asatru to face Egypt
ian deities, or for the Native American to meet with Buddhist Bodhisattva.
Today, the practices of worship of these entities – gods and deities – becomes alive once more, due to the "pagan" revival that is not only related to the European pagans, but also to the mythologies of Egypt, Greece and other countries of the world. Why these entities exist, what do they do and why do people work – these are all good questions. Yet as mentioned earlier, every magical tradition has its own explanation for this.
Most schools of magick consider gods and deities to be yet another type of beings to exist in the world, just like that. Some schools of thought perceive working with gods and deities as useless entities that cause more trouble than good. Other schools consider these beings as rules of the world, and other schools consider gods and deities as "partners" that can do one thing in exchange for another. Thus, working with gods and deities is often based on the law of exchange, which I will explain a little bit later. Finally, some schools of magick consider these strong spirits as something that can be bound and used for magus's own purposes. These are very general points of view from different magical paths. Which one is yours, this should be consulted with proper books or experienced teachers.
There is one thing common for this type of spirits – at some point of history these spirits have been considered gods or deities, and thus they have been included in the "mythologies" of a different sort. Besides that, we may say that here we talk simple about specific, strong spirits which are neither good nor bad – they have their own ego, their own goals and their own perception of the world, which makes them entities that are far from the real concept of God. Yet, they are merely one type of entities which may be encountered in your magical practice.
Ghosts and Earthbound Spirits
While we've discussed some strong spirits of the upper realms, here we are discussing another type of entities, which dwell in the middle realms. Ghosts and earthbound spirits – which are stuck in the realm of man. At the time of writing these words, ghost hunting is still very popular – people run through old houses with digital cameras and voice recorders, seeking spirits of those who have passed away. While, in reality, it is not such an exciting hobby, and it's definitely not a safe one, ghosts and spirits of people who have passed away is one of the most common types of entities which you may encounter on your path. Some people call them spirits of the ancestors – yet I believe these spirits dwell in the lower realms, and they are something different. What we distinct here is a type of beings which are often communicated with by psychics and mediums. One can find a lot of books and TV shows, in which a psychic share his or hers stories of meeting with ghosts.
Now, in reality, ghosts are problematic. First of all, what are they? Ghosts, or as some people call them "earthbound spirits" are what remains of a person that passed away. As you should know, there are many layers of the world – and there are many layers of a human being, as well. Most schools of magick agree that something we call "soul" goes to Heaven, or the realm of ancestors, or the Source or to the next incarnation. But there is something else, an energetic shell, an astral body which should "decompose" after death, but for some reasons, it cannot do so. Thus, the astral shell – full of emotions and memories – remains trapped between the worlds. This often happens if the person had unresolved issues, or strong emotions or trauma during the time of dying, or when the person doesn't want to leave his friends or family, or even because the person does not realize he or she is dead. In such case, the soul moves on, but the ghostly shell remains with a slight level of consciousness.
Often, these earthbound spirits communicate with the living, explaining the nature of the afterlife, passing knowledge from the other side and participating in channelings that born new New Age books. But these spirits have been deceived by their own emotions and expectations. This is why the reports of the afterlife vary so much one from another. It's because based on our own expectations, experiences, dreams, emotions and beliefs the astral world is shaped around the ghost, and thus that which remains after our soul moves on perceives a specific world around itself. This world is not real – neither is the knowledge of the ghost which knows only things that he have learned as an alive person. This is why channelings are so dangerous and problematic, and why it's important not to trust ghosts beyond a specific limit.
With time, the ghost becomes corrupt because, in order for the energetic shell to remain in this world, the ghost needs to draw energy – life force. And it does that by draining the life force out of living people, usually family members or people the ghost sticks to. The more of such energy is drained the less of the original person remains, and the ghost's positive emotions become corrupt and turn into negative emotions. Then, the path leads the entity towards psychic vampirism, and this is dangerous for people.
Such ghosts often try to manipulate the living based on the ghost's emotions and beliefs that work like operating software inside a computer – it's just a program, not a conscious decision. And thus, ghosts force family members to do the ghostly bidding. They manipulate, and they force decisions and often destroy life. Imagine a ghost of a parent who hated the relationship of his daughter. The ghost will do everything in its power to destroy the relationship, and it will be easier for the spirit because most people don't even consider such possibility, and they may even believe that the parent was right and the relationship was destructive while, in reality, the relationship is OK, but the ghost of the parent is hindering it.
This type of spirits causes hauntings, sleepless nights, weird dreams and negative events. Even if everything is all right at first, with time the ghost becomes corrupted, and things turn to the worse. This doesn't mean that experiences of people who passed away coming back to say "goodbye" to their family etc., are not real. They might be – because most schools of thought agree that, for few days up to few weeks, the soul remains in this world – but eventually, it moves on, and only the ghostly shell may remain in the middle realms.
If someone passed away in your family or among friends; or if you moved into a new place in which someone passed away; or if you're spiritually sensitive (in which case ghosts can sense it), then in such situations you may encounter earthbound spirits and you may have to deal with them. Sending spirits to the light is what can be done in order to deal with that problem. Psychics, and different magick practitioners, based on their magical tradition, perform rituals that are meant to release the spirit – return the ghostly shell to the Source, or Mother Nature, or the Universe, or a place that is meant for such entities according to the specific tradition.
Some people explain to the spirit that it is dead, and now he should forgive himself as his earthly life has come to an end. So he should look around himself, and seek the bright white doors that "lead on". Some compassionate people who have clear intentions can actually use their intention and understanding of such gateway to the other side and visualize the gate; thus opening it. Some people, on the other hand, call in Archangels to help guide the ghost into the light. And finally, some people simple call in the ghost's spiritual guardian to lead the entity into the light.
Boddhisattvas and Other Light Beings
Another type of entities is called "Light Beings" - these are often positive, helpful and strong altruistic spirits which often help people in their earthly endeavors. Some of them take care of Mother Earth and things that live on this planet, from plants to animals. Other of such Light Beings help people in their spiritual growth. Bodhisattvas are on of such Light Beings, and Angels are another. Angels point out to an interesting aspect of magick – which I will discuss later.
Do not be mislead, though. Light Beings are not always nice and pleasant. Sometimes, they do things that from our perspective can be negative, aggressive or painful. Angels may cast us to the deepest and most painful layers of our memory, and Boddhisattvas may cause tragic accidents – yet in the end, these bad things that are caused by Light Beings are caused for the purpose of the highest good. Highest
good, which is impossible to comprehend by living people.
These spirits often come when we ask them for help – depending on the magical path of your choosing, different spirits may come. If you call an Archangel Michael for help, he will come. If you call Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the Avalokitesvara will come. They may protect you, help you deal with inner pain, teach about spiritual practices, or show the right path towards the light.
This entire "light" and "positive" and "good" thing is essential here – these entities rarely have ego. Their purpose is to bring light to the World, and harmony along with it. There is little law of exchange here, little negative side, and little earthly problems and pains. They are often encountered by people who wish to grow spiritually, or to heal, or to bring peace and harmony to the world. While these entities teach about harmony between the light and the darkness, they are leading towards light.
One experience taught me a lot about our perception of spirits, and the way the filters of knowledge and experience are used by our brain to serve us images. At some point of my life, I began the practice of ten thousand repetitions of the famous mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum. I was aware that this mantra is associated with the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, yet I never had the opportunity nor Will to look at the images of representations of this particular Bodhisattva. There are thousands of paintings and sculptures, yet I have seen none at the time.