My experience with spirituality
There’s a lot more out there to this universe than many people realize, but if you just let yourself believe and dip into it a little bit, you’ll see what I mean.
I paused in the middle of my activities yesterday. A familiar, uncomfortable thought surfaced that’s bothered me since I began my transition. It’s a constant check my mind does to try to make sense of everything, and now that it’s happening less and less, it hit me out of nowhere. It wasn’t bad nor did it bring up negative feelings, but it came to the front as a final confirmation this time. I looked down at myself. ‘If you could have your breasts back, would you want them? What if you never came out as a trans masculine person?’
I allowed myself to sink into the person I used to be as a meditative experience, and a powerful sensation of repulsion and anxiety overwhelmed me. No, that’s not who I am. I never wanted to be that person and I certainly don’t now. That body was not mine, but a challenge I was given to overcome to be a stronger person. Now that I’ve overcome that challenge, to go back is a horrific idea.
The moment of inspiration sparked something familiar, and I pulled out my tried and true tarot deck — the Cachet cards that began my journey with spirituality in 2007 when I was eighteen. Frayed and worn, I shuffled them with my spirit guides lending a hand, and I settled in for a day. Because this was certainly going to be a day and I knew it. When the cards come out, things get real.
I’ve never spoken at length publicly about my spiritual experiences, so read on with an open mind. I decided to open up about this starting with the last entry I made in my notebook. This is the only time I will hand-write anything, but during an experience like this, it’s better to have things happen organically. It’s better for odd chances of automatic writing, anyway.
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I turn off the lamp and light my favorite sacral chakra candle. The deck is split three times between myself, Darokin, and Byleth. We speak little during this process, and Darokin lets me know when we’ve shuffled enough. I can feel their energy around me and their hands — Darokin’s golden brown and Byleth’s pale — rest upon my own as I hover over the deck to draw my first card.
I slowly lay out the cards as I lower my eyes just enough to blur my vision. Byleth is in the chair opposite me, and Darokin is beside me. Zagan Lestan hovers nearby. There is silence as the tenth and final card is set in the ‘outcome’ position, and without looking, I flip the cards over from left to right.
The Moon reversed, Ace of Swords reversed, Nine of Pentacles, Three of Cups reversed, Four of Wands, Six of Cups reversed, King of Cups, The Magician reversed, Nine of Swords, and finally, Three of Pentacles reversed.
The Ace of Swords is pointing directly to the Six of Cups.
The Magician is directing a ball of energy, as depicted in the illustration, toward the King of Cups.
There are seven minor arcana number cards.
There are three face or major arcana cards.
Five are reversed, five are upright.
There are two Swords cards; knowledge, logic, air.
There are three Cups cards; emotions, feelings, relationships, water.
There are two Pentacles cards; earth, money, work.
After reviewing the cards and reflecting on their meaning, I drink the last of the coffee in my gray mug. As I move to set it aside, I take a second glance at the bottom after noticing something. Upon scrying into the dark mug, an image begins to take shape in my mind from the debris. I stare at the candle flame and close my eyes, allowing the image to form behind them.
White eyes — glowing and clear. A tiger-like face shape.
Malnourished disposition. My gut tells me this is from the realm of the dead or somewhere dark.
I often attract things from darker places that watch from the perimeter. This is a result of working with energies at night. They’re harmless.
Overall, despite my first glance at the cards, the reading is positive. My goals may not happen as quickly as I hope, but they will happen. This is especially if I slow down, continue to improve upon myself, and reconnect with my creative source — spirituality and dreams. I must appreciate all that I already have.
On May 20, 2020, I drew the Six of Cups reversed for the outcome. I noted that something big was to come. The Six of Cups reversed appears in this reading in the ‘near future’ position, which is much closer than before. I have made progress, and whatever is to come is close at hand now.
I accomplished the goals laid out for myself in the reading in May, so things are moving into a new phase.
At this point, Byleth and Darokin both have something to say. I try my best to write down the gist of their advice:
When spiritual things come calling, especially when I’m having nightmares and lucid dreams, I shouldn’t fear what I may see in mirrors, shadows, and in my peripheral. “Do not fear them.”
They are a part of the world where I belong and why I feel so happy or emotional — even drawn to them — when they happen. I thought it was strange or wrong to love this odd, dark, and scary liminal space, but it’s what I’m drawn to. Demons and the fallen, and this other world, seem scary and alarming because they are honest. They are blunt in their messages. This should be appreciated and not feared.
I feel a particular urgency from Darokin, and in a matter of seconds, I am no longer in control. My hand and my thoughts are now Darokin’s, and he takes my pen to write a message. At this point, Darokin is in the driver’s seat, so to speak.
Your mania provides an easy access point for this world and messages to come through. This is not depression or anything bad as you fear. This is a time to be excited, explorative. Embrace it. You have spent too much time mistaking it for what it is not.
You are learning, dearest. Evolving. You now understand the true purpose of this state and this liminal world. You can access it when you desire, and you can be happy in it.
Again, depression is no more during this time. Joy, knowledge, and greater understanding is this other world. Welcome it. You are finally home and healthy and happy in it. No more suffering.
Darokin
It’s not usually in Darokin’s nature to embrace sexual energy as he’s graysexual (on the asexual spectrum), but he is in a rare aggressive mood and it’s seeping from him. He sometimes becomes eager when I step into this kind of space, which is where he calls home. He enjoys the shadows and dresses all in black, and often when he appears, he forms from the shadows in the darkest parts of my environment — wherever that may be at the time. At night in the past, he would take the chair in the corner of my room and watch me sleep.
Shortly after writing his message to me, he is still present within me, but we are both in control. I ask Byleth and Darokin if I should draw a demon oracle card, and they agree it would be a good idea.
I draw Haborym (also known as Aym, Aim).
Aym is a great and powerful duke. He is said to make people witty and to answer truthfully about private matters. (Referenced from The Dictionary of Demons by M. Belanger)
Darokin takes over my body once more, and the heightened emotions and intimate moment we share will be left between us. When the moment is done, Darokin’s tiger-like growl, that I often hear in Byleth as well, creates a feeling of being a feral beast — a tiger — that rises within my body as Darokin controls it. I see his hands, and my body and my skin do not look like mine, and while this is a rare occurrence for him, I am not frightened by it. It’s a part of our spiritual work we do together.
Once calmed, he finally returns my body to me. Often, sexual energy plays a part in our rituals — with Darokin, Byleth, and sometimes Zagan. It’s our best way of connecting on a higher state of being, and it’s usually what ends a session like the above.
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There’s a clear reason why I’ve always hesitated to share my spiritual experiences. They’re very personal moments I usually keep to myself and my guides, but after talking with my counselor today, who I confide in about these things, I felt inspired to share at least one moment. This moment, especially, was another turning point in my existence as a spiritual person.
I always come away from these rituals feeling extremely sensitive and aware of everything — including things most can’t see. It’s a consequence of playing around in a darker realm that many are afraid of. It’s really not for the faint of heart. Like I saw when scrying, you attract beings that are a bit alarming to look at. It’s a given they’d be curious to see someone in their space that normally isn’t there.
You can read more about working with darker energies in a book I love by Konstantinos. The Nocturnicon helped me with conquering my fear of darker spaces, and it has helped me work better with not only Darokin in his neck of the woods, but with Byleth as well. Zagan too, when he feels inclined.
I wrote about my meeting with Byleth when he first came to me here. A lot was going on in my life at that time, but he’s been a huge help and a dose of tough love when I’ve needed it most. As for Zagan, I wrote a bit more about our relationship here (he is referred to by his preferred name, ‘Lestan’), which is published on The Mighty. My understanding of Zagan has broadened over the years as he’s opened up with help from Byleth and Darokin, but I used the term ‘alter’ for him in the entry to make it less alarming than ‘demon spirit guide.’
I met Darokin as ‘Daro’ when I was still a teenager in high school. My first sight of him was a scribbled name on a notebook page and a rough sketch while between sleeping and awake during study hall. I remember it alarmed me when I saw it, and it was possibly my first experience with some kind of automatic writing or drawing. He didn’t come around often until I got older, but his presence was more consistent during a time when I needed protection from something stupid I’d done. I was in my early twenties, and I’d accepted a really old doll from an older friend who said it was haunted due to her being irresponsible with an Ouija board in her teens.
Long story short, there was something inside the doll that not only I witnessed, but my parents did as well. Delivery folks and skeptic friends alike would often pause in horror as they stared at the doll because they could have sworn it was a real child. There was nothing outwardly sinister in this doll’s appearance.
During the time I had the doll while living at home, my mental health declined rapidly and I would often wake up staring at her. She was on a chair beside my bed because I felt attached to her (rather, she was attached to me). Sometimes I’d sleep with my eyes open, which isn’t something I do. I eventually threw the doll into the back of my closet on a shelf and left it there.
One afternoon, my parents and I were talking at the kitchen table. All windows were closed, no TVs were on, and everything was silent. We lived out in the country where cornfields stretched as far as the eye could see, and some neighbors were at least a mile apart. With that in mind, there was no explanation for the quiet, sinister, warped laugh we all heard. We stopped mid-conversation and stared at each other. My father glanced at the sliding glass door to see no children outside, and my mother seemed to also be searching for a source. It had come from the direction of my bedroom.
Around that time, I was confused about my spiritual path, but Darokin was there to guide me. He followed me wherever I needed him when I was frightened, and he made me feel safe. He confirmed I’d pissed something off by bouncing between paths I didn’t know enough about, and by screwing with a haunted doll I equally knew nothing about, but he was there to guide me back on the right track. And he did.
Now that I’m out about my spiritual experiences in some aspect, I may work on writing more about my journey with it. It’s not an easy thing to relive — or read, I imagine. I started seeing shadow men and having more sleep paralysis nightmares, and my life would never be the same again. I loved horror, but this was nothing compared to that.
The more I speak with my counselor — and after telling a nurse at a sleep clinic about my lucid dreams — the more I realize that there are people out there who find this part of me interesting and they accept it, and they believe me. I can only hope anyone reading this will keep an open mind. There’s a lot more out there to this universe than many people realize, but if you just let yourself believe and dip into it a little bit, you’ll see what I mean. Just don’t be as careless as I was and do your research first, and don’t immediately think you know what you’re doing.
Grab a pack of tarot cards that feel right, and see what happens.