(An interview with Cajun Medicine Man "Omolkhua".)
MoonJoey: Are malevolent spirits that are chased out of a particular residence gone from this world or do they just go to another location and continue to wreak havoc; is their time limited by laws that cannot be broken?
Omolkhua: What has been shared; what I have learned from when my grandfather would talk, he would start with one story, not relevant to the subject but it ties in at the end. He would say that death was just another step as things would unfold. Concerning when people pass on... let's say that you were a grumpy person, no matter what you did, who you saw, even if you just saw a bird fly by, you were just plain grumpy. It's that type of a person who has such dislike for all things, items that make no difference, things that have no control over them... this person is a "feeder." There is what we believe, an attachment. When you first came into this world, none of this was a problem. Attachments can occur in early stages of a child and as they grow into an adult, they don't know the difference. I'll give you an example of a wedding band. The band has strong symbolism and 99% of the time you are wearing it, you don't realize it is there on your hand. You continue with your activities with no second thought. This is what a "feeder" does. It is a person, for some unknown reason finds a dislike to something that has no merit, a person, dog or cat, dirt, that rock, that color, mean nothing to you personally, but yet it bothers them immensely. So the personality they have now, you will have when you move forward. If you are a man of peace, a person who admires the gentleness of what is around us, whether it be a hill, a tree, or something unique that you see like a dragonfly, they're not very common in certain areas, your spirit is at peace. When you move forward from this world, this is the personality you take with. If you're heart is full of anger, hatred, dislike for whatever reason, and this is who you become, when you move forward, some call it the afterlife or as a ghost, what happens? We believe that the changes that happened to you, become permanently within you.
Omolkhua: remember when we were talking about the four-legged? (THIS IS A REFERENCE TO A SKINWALKER OR "THOSE WHOSE NAME WILL NOT BE MENTIONED")
MOONJOEY NOTE: (I placed myself at risk of attention by "those whose name will not be mentioned" by using the "S" word in this article).
MoonJoey: Yes.
Omolkhua: The name itself, the thought itself, it has no physical bounds, no time bounds for that creature to lock on. It's like a radar. They are surrounded by the unseen and the unseen are the ones that serve this beast and guide them. They are able to transcend through time and distance. It doesn't exist in that plane like it does with us where you have to physically have to get up and go somewhere. I guess you can say it's like the blink of a thought, they're able to move. When there are certain ceremonies that are conducted, for example this past one that was held... I got there early... way early, something like two hours before it was to start! That building is in the IAIA (Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa, Fe, New Mexico, USA). The doors were locked when I got there and so I called security. They said, "well it doesn't start yet." I replied that I understood that. I wish to smudge and cleanse the hogan before people arrive. The native security guard said, "oh, ok. I'll be there shortly to let you in." Without a thought or a second's hesitation, without asking "why smudging," it was acknowledged and accepted the same as if I asked if you were thirsty and you would reply "yes, I am." These ceremonial processes, when different people come in... what I do when I seal that door, the attachments are able to move in, depending on how strong they are. If they are weak, they simply detach and remain around the outside and swarm around like bees around flowers, just waiting for that person to come back out and reattach itself. I had been in there by myself, and things move on their own. It's very interesting to see when these things occur. You show no fear, even though fear may be in your heart. You cannot see them but they can see you. The spirits, the unseen, the unwelcome, they who have been around as long as man, or before mankind, have learned how to walk in this world, and learned how to basically "consume" people... consume who you are. They will absorb you. You don't necessarily become them but you become part of them, but not in the sense of you having an awareness of being part of this thing as it moves about this world. You become something that they can feed on until there's nothing left of you. It doesn't mean that it happens in an instant. It happens over a very long time. These are the things that do happen with people who have passed on and as I said... when a person, man, woman or child, people who have passed on, when a person feels that some items were not addressed, i.e. a mother who has moved on and the child is left behind, a brother concerned over his family for the items that were not finished, having left suddenly... the grieving family members can literally anchor them to this plane and not let them move. One of the things that transcends them through this process of life and death is love. People can be held in place accidentally. When my mother was about to pass away, she simply said, "let me go." The family had known her time was coming, that she didn't want to be maintained alive artificially or chemically. It was her time to move forward. As painful as it is for any human being to lose someone else, we accepted it.
Those people alive now who live in the dark path, what we call the "black road," who try to take advantage of any opportunity or chance to take advantage of you, whether it be for the dollar or for simply the jacket you might be wearing... they're intent as people, anything having a negative connotation to it, draw the entities that feed on them. Using "holy smokes," I may not be strong enough to remove them, but I am strong enough to "bind" them, and it's only temporary. When I ask for guidance, I talk to my mother, grandfather. Even thought they've left this world, I just remember them and ask the question: "what am I dealing with? What is this being that I see?" They give me an image. I call it "a memory that never was... something that happened that I can see it clearly, but it's not part of anything I've encountered." So, the unseen, the spirits, those that you know or have met, grandparents, uncles, cousins, great-grandparents if you were blessed enough to know them, they are part of your immediate group that you can call upon by memory. But you can also ask the others who are part of your blood line to come forward.
One of the things when you conduct a ceremony, your vision quest, you're by yourself with no one... there's somebody who watches over you, but mainly your isolated. You're isolated alone, no water, no food. You are just exposed to nature and its full wrath... wind, hot, cold, whatever it may be when you decided to go on this. When you have a fire, if you're allowed one... when the fire burns, your ancestors are on the opposite side from where you sit or stand. You can say, "I do not know you, but you know me. I know that you are my blood, but only my recent family members know you or can remember you." You begin to talk to them, not like total strangers, but as family members that you haven't really met but wish to. There is no sense of hesitation, an invitation that you move forward with acceptance, that those who have passed on know. My mother passed away. I remember my grandmother, grandfather. I remember seeing my great-grandmother. Through them they know their parents, grandparents, etc. The communication begins with the most recent ones that have passed on close to the fire. The ones more distant to you from life are further away, but you are connected.
MoonJoey: Do they eventually expire?
Omolkhua: As a spiritual being, my grandfather said that those with a good heart live forever. Those who meant to harm others became in life "feeders," and in death they were consumed. They were absorbed into those other things and those other things just grew stronger. You basically served as a meal. I believe I told you about my uncle?
MoonJoey: Yes. You told me an incredible story about that. (NOTE: I WILL REPOST THAT STORY ABOUT THE FOUR-LEGGED AGAIN IN THE NEAR FUTURE & I PROMISE YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS IT).
Omolkhua: OK. So even though he (the uncle) was consumed and killed in life by the other people around him because they feared him, (NOTE: THIS CONNECTS WITH THE STORY ABOUT THE FOUR-LEGGED), in death he just became part of the creature he had made the deal with in becoming the four-legged, the skinwalker. When they make themselves bound to these beings, not one, there are multiple beings, they are basically saying "when my time expires in this world, I am yours." These beings will relish the time, because to them time means nothing. The process of how it occurs is something my grandfather hesitated to talk about. I would ask him but he would say, "not yet... too soon, or it's the wrong season." Patient I was not. He just shook his head at me every time I would ask something. If he didn't want to answer, if he was mad at me, it was a stiff head shake... no, no, no, no, and you wouldn't get anything from him. My aunts would tell me, "don't push him!" I would answer, "why not?" They said, "you don't push grandpa." When I had gotten out on break in the service, I went to visit him. He had a high respect for military people, realizing the path that I had taken and accepted it. He would say, "Ceremonies are sacred. When yo want to see, open your eyes." I said, "but grandpa, my eyes are open!" He shook his head at me and moaned, "you're not getting it." I realized in his sense of teaching, he was not speaking about the physical me, he was speaking about the spiritual me. He would say, "open your eyes," in other words, open your senses. "If a thought comes through, let it manifest, let it happen. Don't judge it. It might be different. You might not understand it, but sometimes things will appear and you will not know until time has passed. When a circumstance has arisen, then you'll understand." I would hang around with my grandfather quite a bit when allowed. Some of the times, he would get up and walk. I'd get up and be right behind him. He'd stop, turn around, shake his head slowly at me, turn back around and keep walking. I'd stop and watch as he would disappear in the distance. I would turn to my aunts and ask, "ok, what gives... what's the deal with grandpa?" They would say, "he's going on his own... he'll be fine." Here I am confused that a gray, elderly gentleman is walking by himself into the bayou. The family was not worried to see him go. I thought "this makes no sense." I would ask my mother what was he doing. She would tell me to remember that my grandfather was a "seer," he's going to answer someone's call. I asked "what does he do." My mother replied, "we don't know, he just goes." I said, "does anybody ask?" My mother replied, "we don't ask him." I said, "shouldn't you be asking?" My mother replied, "no, you're thinking wrong!"
Traditionally, the old folks won't give you an answer to a question you didn't ask. They will give you an explanation to an item you had no idea about. I had learned that his way of thinking was the old traditional way. I had to learn to just not ask so many questions, follow when I was allowed, stay behind when I was told and just wait. Well, I learned a little trick. Grandpa loved coffee in the morning. I would get up and make sure it was brewing. It was the old cowboy style, the one where you had two rocks, a fire and an oven rack and the pot boiling on top of it, all ground coffee. That was his favorite drink. As he would be enjoying his coffee, he would start to talk. Some of the things he didn't like talking about was how he endured things as a child and the things that happened to him. When we would walk he would say, "listen." The wind would just be rattling the surrounding growth, the trees, the high grass. I would listen and all I would hear would be the wind. He would ask, "do you hear all of that?" In frustration, I didn't know what he was meaning back then.
MOONJOEY NOTE: “Senescence” is defined as “deterioration with age”, and, in biology, usually refers not to an accumulation of external injuries over one’s life, but to an inherent process of going downhill physically and physiologically, as many of us are experiencing now. One might wonder why trees can live long lives simultaneous with Senescence. Now read the following:
Omolkhua: We believe that if there is an unwelcome unseen in the home, you can catch it physically ... I still owe you that video (NOTE: THIS IS IN REFERENCE TO A DEMONSTRATION OF HOW TO CAPTURE THE UNSEEN)... and bind it to a tree. In other words, when you have caught this being, you approach a tree that you feel will be around for some time, at least longer than you will be alive, you release the being and tell the tree to hold onto it. You ask for help. We believe this tree will capture it and not let it go. When the tree dies, then this thing is released. We do not believe that time or space matters to these beings. They just exist for a very long time. Those that have a dark heart, being influenced by the dark ones, causing all kinds of chaos and hatred, that person is a battery and the beings will feed on them. Once that person dies, they will take them. My grandfather said, "they don't come back." He would battle in his own ways, certain things. He would get up early and walk in the dark around the property by himself, no flashlight, no light... just walk. He would disappear into the darkness. You could hear him slowly walking by. Sometimes I could hear a word or two and before I knew it he was back. Even though I was dying to find out what he did, I would not ask. He'd just look at me, smile and come inside. He eventually would tell me. He would announce that where he was, no one else was welcome and he would sing his medicine song. At this last meeting that we had at the hogan, not only did I smudge the building, the door, sealed it... nothing is welcome in this meeting until this meeting is over. I would ask people how it felt in the building. They replied it was peaceful. (At the very end, Omolkhua shared a prayer that belongs to his people, describing): It requires an openness of heart. You do not hesitate to speak. When you sing the song, you do not sing it for the living. You sing it for those who have moved on. It resonates. It transcends the physical world and it enters the spiritual world. Those that are not welcome are literally pushed away. Those that mean no harm and have good intent, it is something of a memory of what used to be to them, that it is now. Some of the ceremonies that have taken place, those that used to be alive and used to partake, they stand around like sentinels. They don't move; they don't go anywhere. They wait for the ceremony to begin. Again, time means nothing to them. It might be six weeks and they're still there. They're beings and they partake. If during the ceremony a coyote is heard howling, then you quickly look into the sky and you could see whatever is being driven out. So, during the ceremony, animals are not welcome, dogs or any pet because the unseen will literally insert themselves in them and be around. You can always ask the help of those who are around waiting, to help you hold these other things back. If it is a creature or spirit, some people will call them "elementals," these things are older than time. They move about this world with the freedom they have always had. If some are not good, some have learned to feed and gorge themselves. Those are the ones that are very strong. It takes a very strong medicine man or woman to cast them out. For this one that we saw in Los Alamos, I had a Chanupa carrier and myself (NOTE: A CHANUPA IS A SACRED, CEREMONIAL PIPE). He performed his song and he prayed and I did mine and I bound it. Some asked if it was gone. I told him he didn't understand. This is as large as a tall tree and dark as can be. It has been on this land for a very long time. It is as old as the dirt itself. It has always been here and always will be. It will take six strong medicine people to use their medicine to cast it or seal it in the ground.
When the engineers at Los Alamos decided to move the natives off the land because it was the best portion, the flattest that had been cleared and maintained, these things were released. People of science do not believe in anything of what I am saying. They consider it hogwash... superstition. To us, it is as real as the breath you take right now. These beings are strong. We have the medicine to keep them at bay or keep them away, but not necessarily to do away with them. For example, you and I have spoken about "those whose name will not be mentioned," how they could travel to see who is summoning them and impact your life. You have the strength to keep them out of your home. They will stay out but you've got to be careful. These beings are like fish in an aquarium coming in all sizes and shapes. You're imagination of what an ugly creature could look like is you giving them that form. (NOTE: REPEATING THE LAST LINE... YOU'RE IMAGINATION OF WHAT AN UGLY CREATURE COULD LOOK LIKE IS YOU GIVING THEM THAT FORM!) If you image these beings just being a silhouette, a sphere, translucent, whatever, then this is what they become because this is what you've given them. But if you imagine the worst creature ever, manifested in your mind, they will become that. Then you're worst fear has come to life. They know this. The greater the fear, the more they will feed on you. The greater the anger, hatred, the more they feast. And when you're spent & leave this world, then you're theirs.
To be continued...
- MoonJoey