There are five Reiki precepts that are taught in a traditional Reiki I training; five pithy rules that Reiki practitioners are asked to adhere:

Just for today:

– I will do my work honestly

– I will not worry

– I will kind to myself and others

– I will be grateful

– I will not be angry

I’ve always had problems with the last one.

One of the main reasons I am attracted to Shamanism and Earth-based spirituality is that it is so inclusive of the dark forces. We see these everywhere in nature – tsunamis, thunderstorms, tornados, scorpions, volcanos, great white sharks, cancer, parasites.

Even though these things are unpleasant and even abhorrent to us, we don’t really see them as a kind of problem in of themselves; as things that shouldn’t exist or that shouldn’t be happening. They simply are. They are part of the grand design, the great happening – Nature expressing itself in its myriad of ways.

We humans too have a nature; an inner nature of feeling and emotionality that that if allowed to flow unimpeded mirrors exactly what we see from the larger perspective above.

It is my belief that in general, healing is most often about helping people move more fully into their nature – owning all of themselves – not just the parts of them that are polite, safe, socially acceptable, and unthreatening.

We are all in a constant state of evolution, and if we are coming from the supposition that we are divine beings, than we must look at all the parts of us that we try to hide – jealousy, resentment, anger, annoyance, frustration, lust – from a standpoint of evolution.

They are there, because they serve deep and meaningful purposes.

And if we can SKILLFULLY harness their energy, observe and honor their presence within us, and listen to what they are trying to teach us, they can become not dark forces that we are victim to and have to contend with, but dark allies that can help to light our way.

I recall a story a teacher of mine had told me about his commute to the city from Staten Island. My friend is one of the most wise, realized and kind people I know. But he is also a self-identified witch. And witches aren’t afraid of the dark.

One day, I was talking with him about some annoyance I had just had with some company on the phone. Endless talking to a computer, ridiculous customer service, press this button and that button, overcharges and unethical business practices – We have all been there. I was really mad and worked up, and I had asked him, if I could be more skillful in the face of a situation like this.

He said, squinting his eyes and with a dark grimace on his face, ‘The other day I was on the Staten Island ferry on my commute home from the city. It was so hot, and the ferry was packed. There were children everywhere, smelly people, others playing boom boxes loudly, and a lot of pushing and shoving to squeeze as many people on the boat as possible. As I sat there, trying to make myself small, my knees in my chest, closing my eyes to try to drown out the experience, I had a fantasy: I wanted to kill EVERYONE. I fantasized about how I would do it. Murdering them all. Suffocate that child, strangle that one, and throw that one overboard. Everyone would be terrified by me as I relished in their fear and misery, my hatred in full bloom, one by one destroying them ALL!’.

We both, of course, burst out laughing.

But what he was conveying to me, was something that can be so helpful in the therapeutic process – making friends with what’s happening – even if it’s dark, shameful, or ‘wrong’. In that moment, my friend was getting on his own team. The full expression of his dark thoughts was an act of compassion toward himself. It helped him to not fight against the moment, but rather to really be with what’s there.

Now, I am of course not advocating blind reactive anger, or chronic anger (often the result of deep wounding). But rather, an intelligent presence; a kind acknowledgment that ‘this is happening’. It’s only in this recognition, that we can begin to look at what is underneath; what our darkness is trying to teach us.

In another session with my teacher, I remember expressing real jealousy at another person’s accomplishments. He smiled and said, ‘Oooo, what are you yearning for? What might you need to do for yourself, to not feel that any longer? What direction does it point you toward? This jealousy is there for a reason. How is it helping?’

Again, making friends with what’s happening; getting back on your own side.

Theres a tradition that I love among gurus, shamans, spiritual teachers; those who have done lots of work on themselves – its a tradition of LAUGHING. They seem to always be laughing. And the laughter seems to stem from the fact that to them, NOTHING really is all that scary. Even our darkness.

My work is about teaching people to hold themselves in ALL that they are. In doing so, they can start to remove the subtle ways in which they turn against themselves and the world.

Shamanism pre-dates, and underlies all spiritual paths and systems. Unitive contemporary spirituality seeks to find and identify that which is true and resonant for all sentient beings. And, the wisdom of the ancient indigenous cultures does this through the reverence of nature.

The reason why we would want to revere something is because we are inspired by it, because we want to align with it; to be more like it.

There is an inherent and unmistakable perfection in nature. Nature exemplifies order and design. When we look at it, we see a system that is self-generating, self-healing, holistic, and deeply interconnected. There is an ‘is-ness’ to nature that is, as Alan Watts would say ‘of itself so’. There is nothing to add or leave out, nothing to improve upon or deny. It is a web of life that functions and exists effortlessly; the sum of all of its parts.

There is no such thing as an imperfect cloud, a neurotic ocean wave, a self-loathing giraffe, a guilt-ridden tree, a shameful thunder storm. Even when nature is violent or unpleasant to us, we still see it as somehow necessary and inevitable. In Shamanism, we use nature’s example of un-conflicted wholeness as a template in which to guide us in our lives.

This is good medicine.

We are nature. Our bones are earth, our breath is air, our blood is water, and our emotions and metabolism are fire. There is nothing that goes into us or comes out of us that doesnt come from or return to the Earth. We are all the children of Pachamama, the Earth Mother, and she nourishes us every second of our lives.

We, as a species, are in trouble because the Earth is currently under threat. She is not a commodity to be exploited. She is a source of life that deserves our love and gratitude. And, she will never be beaten into submission.

And it is through sacred activism, and the inclusivity of our vision, that we can help to save Her and ourselves.

It is my hope that Nature becomes a mirror for all of us to see and recognize the inherent divinity and holism that is our natural state; our birthright.

Curses, evil spirits, and possession – When people contact me believing that they are victims of these things (or the like), I am often wary about taking them on as clients.

My reticence is not that a prospective client is ‘cursed’, ‘possessed’ or ‘haunted’, but rather that they are operating from a cultural and psychological belief system (and an energy system that is following suit) that makes them ‘curse-ABLE’, ‘possess-ABLE’, and ‘haunt-ABLE’.

When I was working with a shaman is Brazil, he said something that I will always remember regarding the importance of maintaining strong energetic boundaries and protection:

‘You get to have your body and the three feet around you. That’s yours – Your energy, your aura, your body. The universe can have absolutely everything else.

But that is YOURS to do with as you choose’. 

What the shaman was speaking about is directly related to what tends to happen when one MAKES ONESELF energetically vulnerable to these low-frequency or ‘bad’ energies. There are many reasons why this occurs.

Negative energy and harmful intentions toward others, are of course, very real things.

To see this in action one need only watch two boxers before a fight – in each other’s faces, staring each other down, scowling and sneering. You can observe them trying to hurt the other just with their thoughts.

But it’s also important to note that both fighters seem to have built up psychological and energetic defenses that make them impervious to the other’s ill intentions. They have found a way to seemingly not allow the negativity to permeate their field.

Curses, as I’m discussing in this context, are actually quite similar to the psychic warfare created between the boxers.

It is my hope that the following helps to clarify (and debunk) the nature of ‘curses’ in a way that can empower people to relate to these kinds of energetic disturbances in a workable way.

It should also be noted that I am speaking about energetic and notphysical violations (which could also be considered a kind of ‘curse’).

The use of the word ‘body’ in the above quote from the shaman may imply that he is suggesting that we always have a ‘choice’ in what happens to our physical bodies. This is of course, not the case, nor is it my intention to suggest otherwise.

PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE

Implied in the language of ‘curses and evil spirits’ is a kind of victimization and powerlessness – ‘I am weak and vulnerable. This evil thing has been done to me by another. I have no control over it. The world is a very dangerous place. I am haunted’.

This way of thinking often comes from a specific personal belief system in which people choose (or subconsciously want) to see themselves as subject to these energies.

But its origins can also be the result of a cultural context (a nationality, geographic location, or a nuclear family) in which there has been culturally-sanctioned victimization, discrimination, or disenfranchisement.

From the psychological perspective, there is often a great ‘benefit’ for people to see themselves as victims. This allows them to blame others, not take responsibility for their lives, and to continue to live life from their wounds (I’m broken, such and such has been done to me, so I’m allowed to be a mess’).

I have seen a real pattern of attachment to this victim identity; this powerlessness. And it can feel like a real threat to even talk about dismantling it. But this is what most often needs to be the focus of the healing work, not the ‘spookiness’ of the ‘curse’.

Additionally, I have never had anyone come to me asking for curse removal where there wasn’t a history of trauma. I’m not saying that trauma and ‘curse’ always go together, but I personally have never seen it otherwise (more on this to follow). And there are a host of other possible psychological explanations such as mental illness or chronic anxiety and fear.

From the cultural point of view, the quality and nature of curses seem to differ by nationality, location, and religion. For instance, Haitian Voodoo doesn’t seem to exist in Buddhist countries, the only place to supposedly find a legitimate exorcist is at the Vatican, and I’ve never heard of a Hindu needing a de-possession. There is simply no standard, cross-cultural context for any of this.

In many cultures around the world, women are often subordinate to men. And by adopting (or accepting) a paradigm that readily allows for curses to exist, women secretly indoctrinate themselves into the possibilty of more ‘power’ (its the only way they think they can get it) and at the same time mirror their culture’s sense of female weakness and low status. This dynamic can, of course, apply to men too.

ENERGETIC CONSIDERATIONS

From a shamanic perspective, low entities and dark forces absolutely do exist. But they can only attach themselves to a willing host. This means that when energetic boundaries are in some way compromised – when there is a ‘hole’, so to speak, in the aura, something ‘bad’ can then ‘come in’.

The universe abhors a vacuum, and energy finds a way to balance itself (even if its by taking on bad energy). In other words, when we aren’t energetically ‘all there’, we are then open to other energies that ARE NOT OURS. This is what can make one susceptible to a curse or dark force.

There are many ways in which we lose ourselves. For instance, during trauma like physical or sexual abuse, pieces of our vital essence (or soul) can splinter off from us. Or we can consciously or unconsciously send them away (disassociation). These are adaptive reactions that are trying to help protect us from further pain (‘If less of me is here, it hurts less’).

Another possibility that might remove parts of us from our own energy field is if we have sublimated a core need in order to hold someone else’s (a parent’s for example), or in an effort to fit in.

For instance, a child who’s core need is not met, will often adjust by forming a sense of self that pretends that need doesn’t exist, or he will in some way banish it entirely from his field. This then leaves a space for a foreign entity to attach.

Healing requires us to be energetically FULL OF OURSELVES. This means having very clear boundaries and bottom lines, being vigilant about what (and who!) we allow in to our energetic field, and having a personal belief system that is self-loving and nurturing. The idea is, as the shaman said, that ‘you get to have your body and the three feet around you. And you can do with it what you choose’. 

Evil spirits and curses are powerless and cannot hold or attach to a vessel that is filled with love, self, and personal power. It’s impossible. It’s like a mosquito trying to bite an iron bull.

So, its not about changing the ‘curses and evil spirits’, it’s about changing the vessel!