Saturday, June 8, 2013

dynamics of afflication

If one were never afflicted, one could learn very little about compassion.  Sleep paralysis was my most bizarre problem, I'm still trying to figure out what it taught me. I was haunted by it until about 7 years ago. You've seen the paintings perhaps, a woman stretched out on a bed with a enormous demon lying on her stomach? That is what it feels like. You wake up and can't move your body. At first your hearing changes, it sounds like someone's turned a radio station with very poor reception full blast. You might hear voices or just crackling electric static. You might "see" things around, for instance, things that look like the spirits of dead pets or souls passing through. Then you start to feel pressure, as if something evil is squeezing you, and as hard as you try, you can't move to escape. It takes all your will power to get your body to move, and as soon as that happens, you wake your body up and escape the state.

 The last time I had Sleep paralysis I had started working with Joe Monkman, a shamanic healer with incredible discernment and compassion. I give him credit for curing the afflication. The last time the pressure and loud noises started to come over me, there was a sudden flash that looked like a candle flame right in front of my third eye. That was the last time I felt it creep up on me. It has never come back. I'm so happy that I was led to the shamanic path via Joe, and if you tease me and ask me if I burn sage from time to time, or if I'm a believer in spiritual medicine, I'll say hell yes. The tradition has been incredibly merciful to me. I don't understand why I suffered from this, what the true nature of it is, but I'm very hopeful that the situation improved.

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