The Witch and the Crossroads. Understanding the world of spirits through the eyes of a healer.

The Witch and the Crossroads. Understanding the world of spirits through the eyes of a healer. by Mictlán Moonshadow

I want to start by saying that the stories I share here are based not only in experience. This is not me foolishly experimenting with the world of spirits without the knowledge needed to do it safely. What I do comes from years of training with qualified teachers. I do not recommend jumping into the world of spirits unless you know what you are doing in a safe manner. That said:

There is so much I want to write about, yet this is a touchy subject. So in order to do this right I will stay in my lane. I will write about the spirits of the dead and my own practice of witchcraft and shamanic healing. I want to put aside the myths of books, horror movies and belief systems based in fear and not love and compassion. It is time to go down the rabbit hole and see things from the eyes of a healer, the eyes of a Witch.

So for those of you new to my writings here, let’s break down who I am. Why do I call myself a Shaman and a Witch. This is not a blog about my life story so I will keep it brief. I started my path in Shamanism as a child. I entered the path through traditional Shamanic Illness. My illness manifested as an upper respiratory issue that only went away when I had a vision of the Mother Goddess and I agreed to be of service to her for my whole life. As an adult I have come to learn many healing arts ( including Shamanism ) in order to fulfill that promise. That is also what has brought me to the initiatory path in Wicca, another way to fulfill my promise to the Mother Goddess.

To most people Shamanism and Wicca are two paths that don’t mix. Many see them as completely separate. Yet they are parts of the same growing tradition. Like a tree with many branches. You see? All of human religion ( Including Wicca ) began with Shamanism. Before there was the Priest, there was the Shaman. The Shaman was the healer, the seer, the bridge between the worlds of the spirits and the world of mankind. As humanity evolved so did its belief systems and the Shaman became Clergy. Shamanism is the origins of Witchcraft as well as Wicca, at least from my perspective! As time has passed we have demonized both the Shaman and the Witch. Shamans by mainstream culture are oftentimes seen as primitive and ignorant. As if a Shaman is a relic from a time long left behind with little use to the modern world. The Witch has also gotten the short end of the stick.

The Witch has gone from clergy, healer and seer to the villain of many stories. The word Witch carries such stigma and baggage. Those of us

determined to reclaim it want the power of that word, much like the concept of the Shaman to be put towards healing our world and our communities. It is time for the Shaman and the Witch to come out of the shadows and bring their healing touch to a world ridden with spiritual illness. Our collective souls ache for the healing touch of someone who sees pain that goes beyond the flesh.

The meeting point in the practices of Wicca and Shamanism is the use of liminal space. In Wicca we practice our craft in a magic circle, a place between the worlds of man and gods. In Shamanism we do our work in a trance and we become part of that liminal space ourselves traveling the many places in reality. As such after some time of practice, the Shaman and the Witch both live our entire lives at the crossroads between the worlds. We are creatures neither of the mundane nor the magical alone. We are beings that embody both realities. As such it is always the Shaman and the Witch that live at the proverbial crossroads.

Different practitioners will deal with those energies and concepts in ways that fit their own individual nature. In my case due to my own abilities as a psychic, I work on behalf of those who no longer have their own voice. I work with the dead. Call them ghosts, restless spirits or lost souls. I have something they don’t: A voice and ability to help them in ways others can’t. It has been a long journey getting to where I am. I am just now scratching the surface of what one day will become my ministry. I resisted my abilities as a medium, Shaman and empath for so long. Yet life has a way of bringing us all to face with our true selves. The one living being nobody can ever escape and outrun is ourselves. It is important to understand that the dead have no voice. Why? Because all of the problems they cause the living come from that very issue. Most of them are trying to get a message across of some type. Many are asking for help.

Yet this is nothing like Hollywood! No holy water and dramatic confrontations in order to minister to the dead and those without their own bodies. In order to understand why spirits tend to cause so many issues to the living, we must realize something important: There is a time and a place for everything.! Recently I have been training and beginning to practice a modality called Compassionate Depossession. From the perspective of that modality. When a spirit has gotten a hold of a human beings body, it is because they are out of place. For example the guardian spirit of a place in nature can contribute greatly to its home. It may keep it healthy and its energy sacred. Cram the spirit of a forest into the body of a human being, then will see issues.

Even in cases when we are dealing with the dead. Deceased human beings are a unique bunch. They still carry the baggage that they had in their time as living human beings. It is only in the afterlife that they tend to get the help they need to learn their lessons and transcend their limitations. In the afterlife they can become a better person. But you cram the restless spirit of an alcoholic with serious anger problems into a school teacher things are not going to go well. In the cases of beings that culture all over the world consider “ Evil ” ( and I don’t like that term ) Those spirits have a purpose they serve in their own cultures. In their own planes of existence they are part of a puzzle and very much needed in order for their part of the universe to work as it is meant to.

Do you want to help those without a voice? Well the first step is learning to have compassion for all beings. You see spirits that haunt or possess the living, are only doing because they are lost or in pain themselves. It may not seem like it at first glance but it if you look at their energy with empathy you will see the truth of that statement. Earlier in my progress as a healer I had the opportunity to learn the true depth of those words myself. After the story I am about to share I cannot denny that they are just lost and in pain. A couple of years ago some then friends invited me to go along a few of the sessions they did clearing houses of hauntings. During those trips I used my training in Shamanism to cross spirits over. At one particular session something was not going according to plan and the energy not moving. It was then that we learned that the spirits that needed to be crossed over, due to reasons I cannot share, were all members of a white supremacist group. Yes there I was a terrified Mexican man before several generations of restless souls in full ceremonial ritual regalia that marked them as white supremacist. Had these beings been alive that moment would have marked the end of my life. Yet when I explained that I was not there to judge them, nor to either agree or disagree with them. It was when I told them that I was there to help them leave this place filled with pain and help them go somewhere where they could be happy and learn from their mistakes. It was then that they began to cooperate and I crossed many of them over.

I no longer clear houses, nor do I intent to ever again. My work is with human beings who are alive and haunted or have spirit attachments. However in the last story I can tell you, had I entered that space from a mentality of good vs evil. Had I tried to confront all those lost souls my life and the lives of the team I was with would have been in danger. In that moment compassion saved my life. It was that moment that was catalyst that set in the path I am currently in and sought out ways of working with lost souls with compassion, empathy and respect.

It is so easy to judge! However, it is rarely the solution. Did you know that in many instances suffering beings possessing the living that identify as “Demons” are not “Demons” by origin. Many of them started as other kinds of beings that as the belief systems of the living around them changed, they were cast upon the “Demon” role. In those cases is the power of the belief in “Demons” That twisted them out of shape. Real Demons exists in many faiths but it is important to see things with empathy to understand what they really are. The universe is like a big pice of machinery, when something is out of place things do work as they should. In order to remedy such situations you need to see beneath surface through the eyes of Compassion. For as you see now things are not always what they seem.

Mictlán MoonShadow is a Psychic Reader and Shamanic Healer at Teotl Tonalli Intuitive Arts. He is an active member of the Keepers of the Flame Coven, ATC (The Ever Green Hearth) Please check our Community Connections page to find ways to connect with Mictlán or other members and Affiliates of The Ever Green Hearth.