Frater Vameri
Painting by Frater Vameri.
I believe now that the more intimate we become with the spirits in a certain system the easier becomes the interaction with them. In practice this means that some formalities become unnecessary and that some ritualistic acts become redundant or irrelevant.
The more the interaction and the work with a specified spirit or with some class of spirits the closer we get to them. We can build on that and start to put more complexities such as new elements over an altar or new offerings that please that very spirit. This construction will be laborious at first but when the foundations are solid all the rest will come more smoothly.
There is probably no better example of that than the very daily interaction with the spirits. Without proper experience it is likely that it will not exist or that it will be subtle to the point of going unnoticed. However, as the relationship gets stronger those interactions will become more natural and inseparable from regular life. I do not pretend to suggest that one should start to see a spiritual basis to everything but that one start to experience life through some very special lenses. There is a clear difference between thinking that just about everything carries a message from the invisible and to know that everything can potentially be related to the invisible. To tell those things apart is a maturation process that comes along the connection to the spiritual.
But how do spirits communicate with us? Well there are so many ways as there are possibilities of events in the natural world. In other words, there are infinite ways. Thoughts. Insights. Inspirations. Sensations. Concret facts. For sure, at some point, some of those messages become more obvious than others. New ways of communication can also be revealed by unprecedented events.
To give an example: I´ve noticed for a while now that every time I go into some kind of trance, more specifically into a certain stage of trance, a necessity to draw and to paint rises inside of me. I am no artist and I have no singular talent, but I can draw some figures in not such a disastrous way. It took a while for me to get used to this drawing urge and it was so certainly because of my certainty that “I was no artist at all”. I am fairly confident that others have met themselves in a similar situation. Maybe instead of drawing it happened with music our math or whatever that it is that blooms in the reader.
Does it matter if what we produce in those conditions is beautiful or valuable to the eyes of critics? The value and the passion are on the very expression of the soul touched by the spirits and whatever comes of it is to be considered sacred because it will be art. In this art other will see only colors and lines but the one who painted will recognize far more and will know that in there are messages (hidden or in plain sight).
There is a saying that goes something like this “those who have eyes shall see”. So it will be with whatever we produce under the influence of the spirits. Those who were/are touched by the spirits shall recognize something familiar. Those who still were not touched by them maybe will be then through that bridge between invisible and visible that is the building of this symbol by “four hands”.
Of course I´m not stating that I´ve produced great mysteries and impressive secrets. It is clear that those “mysteries” and expressions produced by this contact with the spirits are very personal. I´ve decide only to share this essay e some of my paintings hoping that maybe someone would see a bit of himself in my story and be encouraged to see the great value of his very own expressions.
Painting also by Frater Vameri
Thus, we do have a union between ethereal and material that gives birth to a fertile relationship. A life is born and that life made of paper, paint, plaster or of whatever it is that you prefer to use is pulsating and strong. Magic is also an exploratory art. To explore the universe is fundamental. To look inside and to put out those pictures can be a nice way to begin that exploration and that can be triggered precisely by those encounters.
This magical child is the result of a ritual of close partnership. Evocations and vibrations of barbaric names will not be necessary. Not even a robe of a certain color (although everything can be used, of course). The person that is in contact with the spirits (Like those from the Lucky Hoodoo Grimoire at the Vodoun Gnostic Workbook) will receive the inspiration and contact will be made organically and in a simple way.
For each and every one of those contacts and those children generated there will be layers and layers of comprehensions and meditations. New doors will be opened and endlessly hallways will be free for exploration. It is a work of self-knowledge and also of understanding what is beyond.
To learn how to let the spirits change us and transform us seems to me like one of the great goals of magic and of spiritual practices. After all, what are we doing if not looking for a transformation? Would it be all just for fun? Just to earn some pennies here and there? Nothing wrong with all those objectives but there is a name for people who go see a priest and ask for counseling: client. During our lives we are clients quite often but if we want to be more than that in magic and in the spiritual we got to understand what really push us forward. I believe that this thing may be a burning desire of transformation both internal and external. Forgive me if I fail to put it in clear words but it is very tricky to generalize such a thing that appears in different forms to each one of us.
So, if you are working with some spirits and if you do have some kind of relationship with them you should try to identify how they are affecting your life. What changes are they promoting? What do you know to have happened because of them? What have they told you? Even if you believe that spirits are nothing but mere partitions of your own being, this will not diminish the importance of those questions and the effects of the transformations. To evaluate those things can be indeed very valuable.
Painting also by Frater Vameri.