Sala maleco,

I find that I’m working on long-form posts, but that the work and research takes so much time that I end up posting super irregularly. Thinking about this made me think of how the same thing can creep up on your spiritual work.

You have to have small things to do. It can’t always be a huge production to sit with spirit, no matter what kind you are working with or working on. Whether it’s connecting with the nganga, or sitting at your boveda, or praying to your santos — complicated spiritual work ends up being work you Rarely due. It can’t always be a five course meal….sometimes you gotta just have a snack.

Is there some small thing that you can do every day, bare minimum? Even when extremely busy? That’s the commitment you need to make. Sing that one mambo. Smoke the ritual tobacco and draw that firma. Small things build huge momentum.

It’s worth considering because we are what we Do, and what we Do every day ends up being a greater part of that identity. Take the lesson of the Ceiba. Little things, when watered, can grow to become huge.

Sala Malaco y’all,

Having had a powerful second experience with Ayahuasca, I’ve been contemplating the understanding we’ve all gained of our selves/minds/souls through the mystical experience. There are things that we’ve got some shared experience in, and the shared experience connects us not just to other adventurers, but also to the wizards of our past, and the mystics in our future.

From the descriptions I’ve read and what I’ve been lucky and blessed enough to experience in mediation, the experience at the height of this medicine is likely exactly (although possibly just Extremely Similar) to the experience of Samadhi that the Buddhist monks speak of, to the experience of the Ineffable that the Christian mystic writes of. It’s the experience of dissolution and Oneness that Western Alchemy promises. It’s dissolving into the kalunga, being connected and standing amongst the ancestors, both dead and yet to be that we experience in Palo. A near-universal experience for powerful mystics seen through many different cultural lenses.

Obviously all of these things aren’t the *same*, but I’m going to say that they’re of the same stream. I don’t know how many other people have experienced most of these things separately, but I’m in the rare position of having done so as a part of disparate traditions. I’ve been able to compare the experiences, and there is something to be said for the understanding that there is a central line of wisdom/experience that links all humans to certain mystical experiences.

It’s wild to me that a plant can deliver the kind of gnosis, the kind of deep spiritual experience that in other ways is only available through a lifetime of religious asceticism or ecstasy. Deliver it reliably, repeatedly, and powerfully.

I’m struck by the wisdom of our ancestors in creating relationships with plants. The medicines we have from plants make these experiences accessible to everyone blessed enough to encounter them. No church needed, no hierarchy, no power bowed to. Only respect for the plant, and for the persons working with it for you.

The most powerful medicines are plant medicines. If you want to make a change in the world, you can start with plants and be met with success for almost any goal. If you want to expand your being, alter your consciousness, there is no better aid, no better friend to the mystic, the healer, the sorcerer. Have an enemy? Plants have an answer. Desire a lover? Plants…..well they have an answer, but that shit’s fucked up. Need wealth? Plants. Illness? Plants. Sadness? Depression? Pain? Yes, plants.

If you don’t have a deep relationship with particular plants, you’re probably leaving a lot of practical wisdom on the table.

Consider connecting with elders around plants. What do you know of your local ones? What do you know about the ones you use all the time?

I’m working on a longer letter with an accompanying video delving deeper into this subject, but it’s such a looooong work that I wanted to send out some thoughts now. Will share more soon.

In the meantime, in the comments below, I’d love to hear about who Your plants are. Let’s talk about them.

Hey y’all,

There is a tendency to chop what we are in life into silos; we are one thing at work, another at home, another with one group of friends and still yet another with our parents or our siblings. Often with good reason… it can be difficult to fully express yourself with every group or place you find yourself, and wisdom / politics often require a certain amount of discretion to avoid negative consequences. Folks at work don’t need to know you spent Saturday enjoying the beach after dropping LSD. Maybe your friends don’t care to hear about work politics. Silos can be useful.

This tendency can have a disastrous effect on us, though, as it can chop us up into parts, instead of letting our being swell. Folks who are perceived as “larger than life” often have this figured out, consciously or unconsciously. They have a way of being, a fundamental set of principles, that is applied consciously and with effort to All of their interactions, to all of their places of being. Doing this empowers them. Doing this gives them a stable foundation. You can build big on stable foundations.

In Western Alchemy as well as in Palo, there is the idea that we move most powerfully when we move with the hand of nature. For example, if there is a river moving through the middle of my property — a powerful expression of nature — I can’t stop it by standing in front of it and pushing. I would be washed away. This is standing in opposition to nature, and foolish. If I’m wise, I carve the ground in such a way that I guide the direction of the river. Because I’ve moved with the river, I’ve also given my self the ability to move with the power of the river. Now I can use nature’s power to irrigate my fields, or to power my home, or to destroy a habitat. Nature has many powers, many less obvious than a rushing river, to which this same principle applies.

Our principles as persons can be this same kind of power. When we don’t live by our principles, by the ways of being that allow us to express ourselves fully and proudly, we can find that we are standing in front of the river. Those silos where you are untrue to the way of being that you cultivate will feel uncomfortable, they will be full of suffering. Those where we are able to express those principles correctly are where we often shine, find ourselves happy and welcome. This applies to careers, to spiritual places, to groups of friends…even to where we buy our groceries. We are most powerful when we guide nature’s hand, instead of standing in opposition to her.

For persons with powerful spiritual lives (or ambitions to spiritual power) this is incredibly important. If you are a Palero, or a Houngan, or a Santero, a sorcerer … you believe that intent paired with ritual can create powerful results. Does this express itself everywhere in your life, or only in your individual spiritual silo?

Do you have talismans built to create peace in your home? Do you have rites in place to ensure success at work? Have you connected with the spirits of place in your town, on your land? When you have a large project coming up, do you connect and pray to your ancestors or spirits for success? Do you divine the needs of friends and family, and do work to ensure those needs are met? Are you *actively* working your spiritual principles….or just responding to disasters when they appear?

When we are working actively and broadly applying our principles to our entire life, and not allowing them to flit in the wind, we can become ourselves a Force of Nature. We can be larger than we are, and in doing so create results that are larger than we could dream.

As a hunter I make decisions that honor the principles we have. If I don’t have game in the freezer I try to spend the extra money to buy meat that is most humanely treated. It means less meat per meal, but I’d rather have a smaller farm-raised, air chilled chicken than some large monstrosity from Foster Farms that has been tortured it’s whole life. The same principle that drives that decision also ensures that when I use roosters in spiritual work that minimizing suffering and honoring the animal are fundamental driving forces. That same principle makes me pause when doling out punishment to my children, attempting to choose patience and grace instead of pure severity, regardless of offense. Consistency is the key to growth, and the key to power, in my opinion.

Consider taking a look at life, examining who it is you wish to be and achieve, and striving for that consistency. It’s hard to do at first, but it builds up incredible momentum, and like that river, it can sweep away obstacles and provide nourishment for the body and soul.

Be well! —Christopher

Picked up two turbo-cute roosters.

Usually I prefer mean, angry Bantams. Roosters that wear their dinosaur ancestry on their sleeves. I once had a bunch so mean that they were literally trying to kill each other on the way from the farm to the kindembo (the temple, the space where we work Palo at home ). One had gotten free of his bonds and pecked the eyes out of one of his bound rivals. Cruel and vicious creatures.

These roosters, however, were super calm. Beautiful plumage. Very few attempts to murder each other on our way, all things considered. The cute guys make the whole process just a little bit tougher.

I like that it’s tough, and that I have to steel myself to take these little lives.

I eat meat every day. I slaughter, with my diet, many giant and small animals quite regularly, without having to wield the knife (and feel the moral and emotional brunt of the action). So, I kill these creatures with intention. I kill them first with my heart, declaring my purpose more important than their continued lives. I own it. I look them in the eye, give them smoke and rum, speak my purpose into their uncomprehending minds. Then I kill them with my hands.

I’ve killed so many more animals the irresponsible way. Casually buying a steak at the grocer, without having to watch the cow I’ve killed do his death-dance on the slaughterhouse floor.

Mind you… I ‘d still eat the steak. I’d still cut the cow’s throat and watch it dance the last of its life away. I would do this with seriousness, with mournfulness, and with the joy that comes with feeding one’s family. It’s just so much easier to skip all that and buy that little plastic-wrapped package at the grocery store.

Some of y’all would never eat meat again, if you had to earn it.

Looking these animals in the eye, and taking them myself, is the least I can do. Especially when killing for what is primarily a spiritual purpose.

I use their menga, their blood to feed the spirits of my munanso. Both embodied and dis-embodied. Taking the life of these roosters, giving their blood to my ancestors, to my nkisi and particularly to my nganga, creates a cycle of sustenance. I consume a portion of the roosters as well…this way we share a meal, share in life. We deepen our connection and I invigorate their presence and ability to ‘work’ on our plane of being.

I use their bodies for ngandos, building medicines and concentrations of meaning that make changes in the world around me for myself, for my godchildren, for my clients. I use them.

I’m grateful for them. I kill them with a sharp knife, with refined technique. It’s a skill, wielding the knife. There is a powerful incentive in Palo to make their deaths clean and as painless as possible. I learned from my padrino Tata Ndi Bilongo Eric Colon, in his kindembo, taking roosters and four-legs humanely and as cleanly as possible. There is ZERO chance I could have done this properly without tutelage. I think this skill is one of the most important that we teach our engeuyos (new initiate in Palo, also called Pino Nuevo). Especially now that most folks don’t farm, and can go their entire lives letting other people do all the killing for them.

Don’t let the idea of ‘clean’ killing disabuse you of what it is. Killing is killing. The goats I’ve killed pissed themselves in fear in their cages, smelling the blood of their compatriots in the air. No amount of sweet-words and delicate stroking change the nature of this thing. No one who participates leaves unchanged. No one who does this can waste meat with a clear conscience. I never throw away meat. I don’t let my kids do it either.

If you have never killed a thing you are eating, you aren’t fully aware of the impact you have on the world. Not viscerally. Having the mental understanding is a start, but the physical experience is something that places you fully and powerfully within the circle of nature. It’s difficult, it’s powerful, and it’s important. It isn’t nice. It isn’t easy. Neither is life. Killing places you in the world, as a human. You either kill or you die. Even your vegan friends, unless they’re growing their own food and making their own plastics and fuel (*note…they are Not) are killing to survive. You can kill with your own heart and your own hand, or you can let someone else do it on their farm or their factory. When you do it yourself, you bear the full weight of the act, the full responsibility. I feel this is the correct way to Be in the world. I understand it isn’t for everyone, every time.

I would challenge my readers, at least once, to wield the knife directly. Look a living thing in the eye, feel it’s warmth and heart beating in your hands. Then kill it, and eat it.

You’ll value every meal thereafter. Eating isn’t mundane, it’s a sacred thing.

Every time I do this it reminds of why I want to feed my family with hunting. Fill that freezer and remove myself from the factory-farming hells. The clean life in the wild, followed by a humane death, is so far superior to anything an animal experiences on our factory farms. The death at our hands is better in every way than the end animals have in the wild at the hands of nature or other animals. This is an honorable thing.

Some may find these ideas controversial; feel free to comment and express yourself.

For my premium subscribers (just $7 a month y’all!) I’ll be providing a primer on humane killing and ritual sacrifice in the coming week. We’ll speak about the spiritual connotations, the practical physical considerations, and how to properly butcher the common animals used for this. I know there are a lot of folks who have been initiated into Palo, for instance, who haven’t received this understanding from their elders for whatever reason. This document will hopefully provide a way for you to work with animals (what a delightful euphemism, ‘work with’) humanely, respectfully and with confidence. Look out for it.

—Christopher