Spiritual Integrity

March 21, 2014

Tarot readings at the Full Moon party in Koh Phangan, Thailand

A really good galpal recently asked me why is it that I am the only spiritual healer she knows who walks the talk and has the kind of energy you would expect? (Boosting my ego… c’mon she is a good friend, not a client… 🙂 )
I wanted to understand more about where her question was coming from before answering. She said that she is so fed up with people claiming to be ‘spiritual’ but are full of negative energy and b…shit, that she is becoming allergic to any spirituality talk. And she lost faith that spiritual healers, who she says evidently need help themselves, can actually help anybody else…

My (controversial) answer is this: good intentions do not make a good spiritual healer. Being impeccable does. Spiritual healer may have the best of intentions and still do harm. Most people associate sorcery with doing harm intentionally. There is actually a much finer line between spiritual healing (shamanism) and spiritual harm (sorcery). Sorcery is about the abuse of power, even with the best of intentions. Shaman uses power to be of service to the world and her intent has to be impeccable. Shaman is amoral, meaning  she has her own set of morals , and acts with integrity.

Shaman is a person of knowledge and power. If she doesn’t learn and consciously practice how to hold this power, she may easily become a sorcerer to herself or others. Self-sorcery is about our self-talk, it is about our own language patterns. The more power we have the more we can harm ourselves. The worst kind of sorcery is often self-induced. It is about not knowing or not being aware of our internal dialogue, not being able to stop the incessant inner chatter. If Shaman doesn’t know her shadow and doesn’t acknowledge her darker aspects, whether they are of personal, family, cultural or societal nature, she gives away her power and becomes vulnerable. Some simple questions one can regularly ask to help bring own shadow aspects to light are around: what am I most afraid of in finding out about myself/my family/my culture/my world and what are the biggest lies I tell myself?

“If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.” – Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas

Apart from self-sorcery, the unintentional sorcery may happen when Shaman (or any spiritual healer for that matter) mixes up the place of service with sacrifice. Shaman is supportive and compassionate, but she does not get emotionally involved. When we become emotionally involved, we start identifying with what the other person is going through and we inevitably start projecting. Or we may want to help the person by doing the work for them. Projecting strong emotions, such as shame, guilt, anger, rage and fear, is harmful to self and others. A well trained Shaman knows how and where to hold that ‘bad’ energy. She knows that there is a lesson behind all fear and suffering. She trusts that her clients can resolve their issues and she holds the sacred and safe space for them to make their own steps towards healing. Shaman holds the vision of their healed self for them. This is not possible when spiritual healer gets emotionally involved…

The unintentional sorcery may happen when spiritual healers are poorly trained or unprepared for the work they are undertaking. Or when they do not create the sacred space and protect their clients properly. Or when they get involved with the intentional sorcery  by ‘returning’ the harmful energy of  spells, curses, cords etc. to the originator. An impeccable spiritual healer works on behalf of all her clients, not only the ones who asked her help, but all those who are impacted in the process of healing (that may include the originator of the intentional sorcery for example). Shaman is always negotiating with spirits, on behalf of her client and on behalf of the world.

I know more than a few spiritual healers who walk the talk and act with integrity. But they are the ones who do their own work first. They know their shadow and learn their red flags. They are the ones who live their life the way they do their work. Impeccable. All of the time. With reverence for all life and all spirit 🙂 .