CHAPTER:



“Dark Journey”

Book 1 of The Brujo War

©2013 Sonia C. Brosz, All Rights Reserved.

Or, how I began the “Journey to Ixtlan” and ended up in “Hotel California”

“Lucifer drives a Mercedes”

I saw the oncoming headlights in my lane and wondered if the devil was out for a midnight ride. It’s not like I wasn’t expecting him; I knew he’d catch up with me sooner or later…

So many years had passed since the day in 1972 in Coronado, when I first encountered Francisco. I had gone to visit some friends on the island and found myself wandering through a bookstore in the village, bored, disappointed and thinking of staying at a motel instead. What I’d thought would be a relaxing time at the beach turned into a long string of uncomfortable moments as my friends maniacally overindulged in an amount of drugs and alcohol that was staggering and incomprehensible to me. They used to be into Zen and a quiet life of reflection, but time passes, things change, and not always for the better.

I wandered through the shelves, oblivious to the people around me, shifted psychically, ‘feeling’ for the right book to ‘ground me’ again. Twenty minutes later I had finally selected some useless piece of sixties ‘spirituality’ and was getting ready to check out when an unusual book in the tower beside the cash register caught my eye. The cover art was interesting and the energy of the book enveloped me a second later; it was “The Teachings of Don Juan” by Carlos Castaneda. I thought, “Hey, alright!”, dumped the other book and was counting my cash when I heard a soft Spanish accented man’s voice behind me say, “That is the right book for you, miha.”

My ears began to buzz a little as the voice continued, “Life is not always what you expect it to be, is it?”

It’s interesting now, as I look back, that I didn’t turn around right away to see who was speaking even though I ‘knew’ he was talking to me. It just seemed ‘normal’ for me to hear that quiet voice.

I paid for the book, then turned around and realized I was two inches away from a pair of intense brown eyes, deep set into a handsome, but rugged Hispanic face. Except for a slight smile on his lips, there was no hint of actual warmth, just a studied sense of recognition as though he knew me. I suddenly had an intense feeling of déjà vu followed by a weird sense of unusual power emanating from him. Had I taken a minute to think about it, I would have been alarmed, but curiously, I felt as though I’d known the man forever.

A strange sense of acceleration began to take hold, as though my adrenaline was ramping up but I wasn’t afraid. Then suddenly I had a sense of disconnection with everything around me. I was a little intimidated, but strangely calm at the same time and didn’t speak to him at all. I just nodded, shrugged and smiled at him as though we knew each other so well we had no need of words. He nodded back, smiling now, and I stepped past him and out of the store. I was almost halfway down the block before the realization of what had just happened hit me and I quickly turned around to find him and ask him who he was.

He wasn’t on the street or the bookstore. I checked. Unless he flew out of there, he couldn’t have ‘just disappeared’ like that and I knew it, but strangely, I don’t remember thinking or even feeling that his behavior was odd. I was just disappointed that I had missed him.

It was twenty four years before I saw him again. He was holding off the devil and reached through time and space to call me for help.

…the headlights were nearly blinding, speeding directly towards my car, but I was determined and angels were riding with me. We held our course and the headlights passed right through us.”

God’s an Equal Opportunity Employer

I was shoveling snow at my dad’s house when the phone rang. My best friend, Rev. Todd was on the line really jacked up about something, talking a mile a minute. I asked him to wait while I took my off my jacket but he was still talking when I laid down the phone.

“So what do you think?” he asked when I picked up.

“Think about what? I didn’t hear anything you said, Todd. I told you I had to put the phone down.”

“Oh..,” he paused, “what didn’t you hear?

I laughed and shook my head; same old Todd. “Start over,” I said.

He began to tell me this incredible story that began with a Tarahumara drum falling off a wall in Las Vegas, rolling over to him while he was sleeping on a friends couch a month ago and him knowing it was a sign. And now he was in El Paso, having just returned from attending the Tarahumara Easter service with his friend Suela. On their way back from Copper Canyon they had stopped at a huge and amazing clinic south of Juarez, now abandoned and falling into ruin in the desert. It had been built by a good friend of hers who had died three years ago but no one could use it anymore because it was haunted and wasn’t it a shame that the clinic was in that shape and would I help him exorcise the building and heal the land?

And, oh, by the way, the man who built it had been a doctor and famous Mexican choreographer and now the water quit running at the clinic, which was incredibly important because the rancho used that water to irrigate also and the entire family was dealing with a major curse and a lot of people were having a hard time, so please consider helping.

I just stood there shaking my head in disbelief. I remembered when he had told me he was going to Copper Canyon. I had unconsciously shifted into ‘seer’ mode and knew at once he would put himself in great danger by going. I told him that what was drawing him was not a drum but a man, a brujo (Spanish for witch)…and not a regular brujo, but a very powerful brujo. I saw that this brujo had known Todd before and had chosen Todd as the person to help him many years ago.

Even back then, the brujo had known it would all come to this one day and that he would need Todd to step up on his behalf. I also remembered telling Todd that if he agreed to get involved but decided partway through to quit and not finish the job, the brujo would take him over and complete his work through Todd’s body. I had finished with, “Are you really sure you want to do this? It’s an all or nothing deal.”

He said quickly, too quickly, I thought, “Don’t worry, Sonia, I can protect myself.”

I realized right away he hadn’t thought about it at all but was already committed. And I knew something else as well, that if I helped him take care of this situation for the brujo, both our lives would be on the line and perhaps we wouldn’t live through it, and even if we did, we’d never be the same. It was the classic situation of Carlos Castaneda’s book, “Journey to Ixtlan”, where he tells the story about a man who decides to follow power, meets an ‘ally’, or spirit helper, who spins him to change his view of the world and the man later finds he can never return home, because he is not the same man who left.

I shook my head…I had a husband and two grown sons to consider. They were used to me stepping out to help other people in spiritual and personal trouble, but I wasn’t sure if they would support something as dangerous as this. They could also be harmed through my involvement if I agreed to help Todd. If this brujo was even half as powerful a sorcerer as I thought he was there could be some serious ramifications. I had to think Todd’s proposal over carefully and decide what to do before giving him an answer.

I began to tell Todd that he could get the water running again if he performed a healing ceremony for the land by starting a vortex to join heaven and earth, even if he didn’t exorcise the clinic, but he told me no.

He told me, in his usual run-on way, that it wouldn’t be possible to only deal with half the problem because the doctor had been such a famous brujo that when he died some people had been so afraid of his spirit getting revenge that they had cursed the land and killed his dog too, and that’s why the water stopped flowing.

He went on to say that he, personally, could not deal with a curse this powerful and that he could just feel how dangerous it all was by walking on the property. He said, “I spoke to the Diocese in Juarez already and they told me they will not get involved in this, period. You’re the only one I know who can handle this; you specialize in Latin American magic. I know you can do it and you know it too, in your heart. You have to come.”

I was stunned. Before Todd had become a Spiritualist minister, he had been a Wiccan High Priest and Warlock, amongst other things. He was one of the most powerful and knowledgeable people I had ever met, and yet he knew that what he was ‘seeing’ on this property in Mexico was beyond his ability. Hearing him admit he had no idea what to do shook me to my toes, and why did he think I was the only one who could handle this situation? What did he see in me that I didn’t see in myself?

And then, all of a sudden, without warning or even awareness of what I was saying, I said, “Ok. I’ll come. But you have to have Suela call me. She’s the lead woman of that clan and I need to talk to her.”

I heard that come out of my mouth, gasped in shock, and abruptly sat down at the kitchen table. I ‘knew’ my agreement to help him had come from God and I knew I had to go. Oh my, I thought, what in the world was I getting into now? I knew the devil was hip deep in this entire thing and I was, right then and there, scared to death and felt totally inadequate.

Todd was ecstatic and yelled, “Ok! Alright! It’s a plan! I’ll come to Dallas in two weeks and we can come back here and take care of this!”

“Yeah, ok.” Was all I could muster.

I hung up and even though I was already sitting down, my knees began to knock. Two weeks? What; from today? Oh, crap!

I said a quick prayer and suddenly felt power begin to flow from God to fill me and I suddenly felt strong; stronger than I had ever felt in my life. I felt God’s power move down from the top of my head throughout my body, not as I was used to feeling as in the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but a power that declared total commitment, determination and a complete lack of fear.

My dad and stepmother walked into the kitchen right then and my dad took one look at me and knew something important was up. I told him that a minister friend of mine needed help and I had to go to Juarez to take care of something God wanted done, so I would have to leave sooner than I planned. Dad sat down across the table from me and gave me his John Wayne look for a few moments. He wasn’t used to seeing the religious side of me and this trip had already been a stretch for him as far as his predetermined judgment of ‘who I was’ was concerned.

I had flown up to ND to heal him as he had been dying of septicemia from a broken pelvis after my little sister had called me and declared, “You have to go home and heal daddy.” Mercifully, God had performed a miracle and healed him through my anointing and prayers. The shock of that alone stunned my dad and my stepmother as well. I don’t think either of them knew I was a healer.

I think that now, when he heard where I was going and why, he figured God would take care of me, so he finally he nodded and quietly said, “Well, be careful then.”

My stepmother, a woman of deep faith herself, knew there was more to the story and looked very concerned, but gave me her blessing as well. I left the next day and went to work getting my life in order, just in case I died in Mexico.

The Angel Book

By the time I landed in Dallas I had already written several pages of notes. I’ve been a ‘seer’ since birth and when God wants to ‘talk’ to me, it comes as a ‘knowing’ in my heart, not words in my head.

God kept downloading information to me about the situation in Mexico; the clinic, the doctor, his family and his enemy. In twenty-four hours, I ‘knew’ how the doctor had died and why, who killed him and the secret his family had hidden from everyone but those who knew him best.

Mixed within that informational download were Bible verses I would need, many of which I had no memory of even though I had read the Bible through several times.

I also began writing down names of stones I would need to buy, along with a few other items. I would need to learn the Hail Mary in Latin and use Latin as much as possible. Since I wouldn’t be able to remember everything, I needed to write it all down in a journal so I would have it all at my fingertips. On the way home from the airport, Tim, my husband, stopped at the small Catholic bookstore near our house and I ran in and bought one with angels on the front.

God impressed upon me to write ‘Adonai’ (one of the names of God in the Bible) on the front and back cover to keep the demons from reading what I would write inside, so I did that on the way to the house. I know that probably sounds strange, but I can tell you for a fact, it works.

Tim never had understood my love for Mexico. I got it from my grandmother; my dad’s mother. She loved Mexico and she and my grandfather spent the winters out of the ND cold in McClellan, TX every year, making frequent trips across the border, buying gifts and mementos and bringing them home. Perhaps because I loved her I loved Mexico as well, and even as a small child I dreamed of one day living there, although I was twenty-four before I was actually able to visit any part of it. The second I stepped foot in Mexico I felt at home as though I’d spent many lifetimes there. I felt like the prodigal son coming home when I first crossed the border into Tijuana.

The very name, Juarez, scared Tim to death. He’d heard all the rumors plus what we knew to be true about Juarez and was not at all comfortable with me going there with only Todd to have my back. As much as he liked Todd, he felt that Todd really enjoyed jumping in the deep end of things without looking and was very worried that he was dragging me off a cliff with him. After I told Tim that it was really God who wanted me to go, he grudgingly said ok.

We had no money and unless Todd’s friend Suela could help me with that, I had no idea how I would get to El Paso. I doubted they would want to invest in someone they had never met, so it was really up to God to sort this out.

I told Tim, “If God really wants me to go, he’ll provide the money. If not, I won’t go.”

He said, “Ok…no money, no trip.” And that seemed to satisfy him. So I continued to write down information and make my plans…just in case.

I had this incredible friend, Mari, a Peruvian Shaman. I called Todd and told him that when he arrived I wanted us to go to Mari and get a reading. He was excited about doing that, told me he’d be arriving in a week, stay at my house for a few days to rest and then we’d leave for El Paso. He was in Oklahoma, staying with another friend at the moment. I called Mari and made plans to see her the following week.

Now, you might ask, why would I need a ‘reading’ from a shaman before proceeding? I was born a natural seer, I already knew God wanted me to go so what did I think I needed to hear from her? I had no idea. I just ‘knew’ I had to go get a reading before I left and I wasn’t going to argue with God about why.

I met Mari several years earlier in 1993 before I began working as a demonologist again. I had taken some time off to heal from a surgery I’d had and used the time to better educate myself about some of the ‘island’ and Latin American magic and sorcery.

The first time I met Mari, my friend Kiko was with me. She was a ‘royal’ of Fiji, and like her mother and grandmother before her, was very prescient. Kiko had wanted a ‘real’ reading for some time and we had looked in the local spiritual bulletin many times to find ‘just the right one’. One day it all came together. I took one look at Mari’s picture and ‘knew’ she was the real deal and took Kiko to see her. Kiko got her reading while I sat in Mari’s rustically decorated living room that emanated the most incredible energy I had ever felt.

When they were done, Mari asked me if I would also like a reading. “No,” I told her, “I don’t have the money.” But Kiko stepped up and said, “You should get one, Sonia, and I’ll pay for it.”

At this point you’re probably wondering why a Christian woman would want a psychic reading, because many Christians feel that psychic readings are evil or dabble with demonic spirits.

After years of working in the area of demonology, I simply don’t believe that is true. Perhaps some people rely on spirits for their information, but in my experience, very few do. I think there’s a lot we don’t know about the human mind or even the ‘extended mind’ that ventures into the metaphysical world. We need to be careful not to lump our abilities to ‘see’ and understand that which is unseen into ‘witchcraft and sorcery’ or ‘demonically inspired’ cubbyholes and containers.

There are mystics and seers mentioned throughout the Bible in a positive way. Yes, what is written down is religious in nature, but what they said other times is not. How many times could they have been eating at a friend’s house and suddenly said, “Someone’s donkey has gotten loose and is eating your greens near your gate?”

Being a seer myself, I must say that not everything God informs me of is religious in nature. Sometimes I just ‘know’ things that others need to know. I know it comes from God, not the devil, and many ‘aware’ people that may not be called ‘seers’ because they aren’t members of my church, also know when God is telling them something. Just because they adopt the term psychic, doesn’t mean they’re infested with demons.

I think that mankind has done an incredible job of misinterpreting some of the verses in the Bible to mean things they were never meant to mean at all and we run a real risk of staying in the dark ages when it comes to understanding the human brain and capabilities of the mind. Psychics and scientists alike have been vilified for knowing something people of religion did not and I think it’s time we crawl out of our superstitions and walk into the light.

God is perfectly capable of constructing a human brain that is phenomenal and capable of genius in both the ‘seen’ and ‘unseen’ worlds. It doesn’t take being in league with the devil to be an extremely good analyst of people, cards, runes, or any other tool you use to give you a good idea about what’s going on under the surface. They’re simply indicators. And it’s also true that some people are metaphysically aware of things happening or being said at great distances. For thousands of years yogis have been able to ‘know’ when a great cataclysm has taken place in other parts of the world. Why is that so? We don’t really know, but I truly don’t believe it has anything to do with demons, and I think that to classify everything as such is actually an insult to God’s intelligence and creativity as the ultimate mind of the Universe.

I sat down at Mari’s kitchen table, ready for the reading; picked the deck of Tarot cards I liked, shuffled and cut them. Mari dealt them into a layout. What turned up were all Major Arcana cards, which is highly unusual. Mari looked at the cards, then looked at me, looked back at the cards, said, “The first card is the Hierophant and all the rest tell me that you’re the one who should be giving me a reading. I believe you’re an ascended master and you’ve come back to teach. Are you teaching now?”

I sat there staring at the cards for a few minutes, shaking my head. It was not the first time I had heard that and I had no idea why I kept hearing it. And it wasn’t all I’d heard either. I was getting really perplexed about that, and I have to say, quite uncomfortable as well. There’s just so much to this universe we don’t understand. We’re barely scratching the surface of simple things and I think we have a long way to go to handle the complex.

I said nothing and Mari looked at me with her ‘shamanic eyes’ and said, “You don’t know, do you? Who you are or what you’re here to do. Or maybe you do but you think it would sound ridiculous to say such a thing so you just leave it alone. Yes. That’s it, isn’t it?”

I just mumbled something like, “I honestly don’t want to discuss it.” And let it go. But after that day, she and I became close friends and she never mentioned it again.

Now Todd and I were going to Mexico and risking our lives to help a family I had never met and I needed her to tell me we would come home alive and she did. But mostly, I told her things. Everything God had told me about the clinic, the doctor and his sister, his family, how he died and why, what had happened there and how it happened and who was responsible. And as I was closing, Mari leaned back in her chair, wide-eyed at something bringing its own light into the room behind me.

I felt her before Mari told me she was there. I felt the power, the love, and her hand on my shoulder, and I knew immediately that it was Our Lady of Fatima, my protector and guide. I had met her in a dream when I was in a lot of pain from a back injury.

In the dream, I was walking down an alley paved with cobblestone or a pattern of some sort resembling a place in Europe and I came out onto the cement courtyard. There was a beautiful circular fountain ahead of me and a friendly looking, modestly dressed, middle aged woman with curly brown hair sitting alone on the flat wide edge around the perimeter of the fountain. I walked up to the fountain and greeted her. She smiled warmly and said, “Everything will be alright.”

I wondered what she meant, but simply said, “Thank you.” She seemed so familiar to me, but I didn’t know who she was, so I asked politely, “Who are you?”

She smiled and softly said, “I’m Our Lady of Fatima.” And I woke up.

Even though I’m Catholic now, I was raised a pragmatic Lutheran, so my first thought was, “What? Who talks like that? Would Mary really say who she is that way?” It just seemed to be an odd way to refer to oneself and I was not at all sure I had ‘really’ met her, although I ‘knew’ in my heart I had.

The amazing thing was that later that morning I received a rosary and information about Our Lady of Fatima in the mail from the Fatima Society. I had requested it by phone, at night, while watching their broadcast on TV only two days before. The letter would have had to have been mailed the day before I got it to be able to arrive the next morning, and it wasn’t coming from a local area, and this was in 1992 when the mail took longer than that just to process. So getting it that quickly only meant one thing to me, it was confirmation that I did, indeed, meet her in my dream.

When I opened the envelope, a plastic rosary fell out and I nearly fell off my bed trying to catch it before it hit the floor. When I regained my balance, I realized I could ‘feel’ God’s power in the rosary and at that point I ‘knew’ she and I were connected somehow and no matter what happened in my life, “Everything would be alright.”

Todd arrived the same day we got the check. It was a reimbursement check from our pharmacy insurance company for five hundred dollars for overpayments we had made on our prescription medication. We were all shocked when we saw what it was and how much it was for. I had added up what I thought it was going to cost me to go to El Paso, and stay as long as necessary, told Tim I figured I’d need about five hundred, and now, here it was, complete, in my hand. I had to know how we qualified for such a rare reimbursement and called our pharmacist to ask if he knew anything about it.

He was a strong Christian man of deep faith and knew I had been very ill for a few years. He was also aware that our medical insurance from Tim’s employer had gone to an eighty/twenty pay policy and that Tim and I could not always afford the co-pay necessary to buy my medication. Being the owner of the pharmacy, he decided to give his profit on the medication back to us through the insurance company. He explained that by doing it that way he didn’t have to charge us the full price anymore.

Tim realized God had arranged everything. Our pharmacist had put the information into the insurance company a full month before I went to my father’s house. Who else but God could arrange things like this so perfectly? So Tim relaxed a little, knowing God was indeed in control and wanted me to go to Juarez.

The morning we were to leave, Our Lady of Fatima woke me up. I didn’t see her, but I heard her voice in my dream just before I woke up saying, “Go to the bookstore, I left water there for you.”

I jumped out of bed immediately and called Sheila, the owner of the Catholic bookstore and asked her if she had any water there from Fatima. She made a squeaky screaming sound and nearly dropped the phone. “Yes, I do!” she replied, “How did you know?”

I told her that Our Lady of Fatima told me in a dream that she had left me some water there for me.

Shocked to her toes, she told me that a woman she had never seen before was waiting outside her store that morning when she came to open up and that the woman told her she had just returned from Portugal. She was carrying a gallon jug of water and handed it to Sheila saying, “I have no idea why I’m bringing you this, I only know I’m supposed to give it to you. I carried it all the way from Fatima.” Then she turned and left, not offering her name or any further explanation.

I had called Sheila less than five minutes later.

Sheila said, “This entire thing is blowing my mind. Come down and get it, Sonia. You can have all of it.”

I laughed and said, “No, that’s ok. You take some to give to others. I won’t need the full gallon.”

How did I know that? I have no idea, but I did and she kept some and gave the rest to me.

I had spoken privately to my priest the day before after mass in the morning. He listened intently and when I was finished he said, “I don’t personally know any priest that would attempt what you are planning to do, and I don’t think you can expect any help from the Diocese of Juarez. They aren’t going to touch a situation concerning sorcery and witchcraft or get anywhere near it. You’ll be on your own down there. God be with you.”

We left later that morning. Tim and our oldest son, Jeff, drove us to the airport saw us off. We were all looking anxiously at each other by the time Todd and I boarded the plane. Todd and I looked quickly at each other as we found our seats and shook our heads in disbelief that we were even going through with this. The gravity of the situation was beginning to become all too real to us. What we had originally thought was just a blessing and exorcism over a clinic was taking on Divine proportions and we had no idea what we were heading into, but we knew it was about to get very serious. Fear gripped us with clammy fingers as we left the ground, wondering if we’d make it back.

If I had known then what I know now, I would have stayed in bed in Dallas, shaking like a fearful weasel, whining multiple apologies to God.

Francisco’s ‘Dreaming’ Clan

We arrived in El Paso on March 10th, the day before Mexican Mother’s Day. It was Suela’s birthday. She met us at the airport. I saw a tall, elegant and graceful woman with short silver-gray hair and a beautiful smile walking up to greet us and I liked her immediately. I also felt a sense of familiarity with her, although I had never seen her before. We had talked briefly on the phone but that had been our only ‘meet’ thus far.

She smiled warmly and told us she was taking us to Mark and Inez’s home, Todd’s friends, but that she would return after work and pick us up so we could attend her birthday party. She told me to just leave my suitcase in her car as I would be staying with her at her daughter Valencia’s, where Suela was living at that time and where they were holding the party.

I asked her if the doctor’s family knew we were coming and she said, “Yes, in fact, they’re anxious to meet you.” I sensed something in her tone and was a little skeptical that they were ‘happily anxious’, I got a distinct vibe that they were wondering who and what I really was and what my arrival would actually mean to them or cost them. I knew we’d have to establish trust before they’d actually relax, although I wasn’t so sure any of us would relax much until our work there was done. I said nothing to Suela at that time about my feelings, but I talked to her for quite awhile later that night.

Mark and Inez are terrific people. They were close friends of Todd’s and I’ve forgotten how he met them originally, but they were very warm and hospitable to me right from the start. I felt a sense of trust with them immediately and I think they felt the same with me. We became very close in the ten days I was there and to this day I think of them often. What I didn’t realize at the time was that of the family that now owned the clinic, only Francisco’s sister knew them at all. If I remember correctly, their connection to the clinic was that they had been students of the brujo Francisco, who taught Medico Blanco (the ‘positive’ type of brujaria medicine). What is truly amazing is that had they not been there every day to help me, I might not have been able to complete my work. They were lifesavers for Todd and me in more ways than one, and I will never forget to pray for them.

Inez fed us a light lunch since we were going to have dinner at Suela’s later that night. We had a chance to visit until Suela came to get us, and being able to talk to someone who had known Francisco was a real blessing to me, as I was riddled with curiosity by then.

Todd had called me originally from Mark’s house and I had spoken to him a little that day at my father’s, so Mark began to tell me about the clinic and a little about what happened there from his perspective. I realized that Inez was a Curandera (Mexican folk healer) and a good one at that. She had many clients call while we were there. Listening to Mark and Inez, I realized that God had told me much more than most of these people knew about the doctor, so I held back certain facts at the time.

Suela arrived as promised and took me to Valencia’s house. Todd was tired and decided to stay at Mark’s home, rest for awhile and possibly come later. Although the virus was not active in Todd, he was HIV positive from IV drug use in his ‘wild days’ and had been for many years. So there were times when he really needed to just ‘bag it’ as he called it and lay down for awhile.

The party was in full swing when Suela and I arrived at Valencia’s home in the newer area of northwestern El Paso. She introduced me to a bunch of cheerful people milling about the living room, working our way to the kitchen.

I casually walked into the kitchen and nearly sank to my knees in shock. I recognized every one of them and had seen them many times over the years. The reason I was so shocked was that I had ‘dreamed’ them all that time and had never met them in person, and in fact, had never thought they truly existed.

I had first ‘dreamed’ them in the seventies not long after I began reading Castaneda. I had a very vivid dream one night that I ‘knew’ was a ‘reality’. I was in front of an older adobe house with the same Hispanic man I had seen at the bookstore in Coronado. He greeted me in the dream and walked with me to the adobe and opened the door. Inside, around the living room, were six people; the very same people now sitting, standing, laughing and joking in Valencia’s kitchen. In ‘my dream life’ I knew them all very well.

Perhaps the man had realized I was a seer and had tried to train me to be a woman of knowledge. I realized that evening in the kitchen when I met the others, that I had spent dreamtime with them off and on for twenty years while I had been studying and working with him. Even though my dreams had been extremely vivid, I had simply dismissed them as an ‘interesting’ dream, nothing more. It never dawned on me they might be indicative of another actual life I was living in another dimension of existence. But what really made me stagger was the realization that the man in the dreams, the same man I met in Coronado, could be none other than Francisco.

I always thought I had the dreams because I read too much Castaneda. To see the people in my dreams all at one time in the kitchen of a perfect stranger was too much for this North Dakota girl to handle calmly and I grabbed a beer, found a lawn chair on the patio and tried to deep breathe to slow my mind down a bit.

The only thing that made any sense was that Francisco was actually a Man of Knowledge, a Master Brujo (commonly interpreted as ‘witch’, but actually means so much more than that) and the same man I met in Coronado so many years before. I actually felt ‘set up’, and wasn’t sure how I felt about that at the moment.

Francisco was a real person, not a mythical composite of people lumped into ‘one teacher’ that Castaneda had written about. So I needed to separate him from what Carlos had written and see him for who he really was instead. But I was really conflicted about that, because I was beginning to understand that no one I’d talked to so far really knew Francisco on that level. They all had a different view of him and I was beginning to think that not one of them actually understood what he was capable of at all. Another possibility also existed. Perhaps, like me, he hadn’t been entirely sure of what he was capable of either.

The Flow of Desert Sand

Mari could have been right all along. She had said I really didn’t know who or what I was and maybe that was true, not only of me, but of Francisco and all human beings as well. Perhaps we were all creatures of a much larger and more expansive existence than we had ever realized possible. And if that were true, then we’d been selling God short throughout our entire existence since our ‘birth’ in the Garden of Eden.

If he really created us in his image, and I firmly believe he did, then he is truly a supreme entity to be reckoned with. Not some outdated idea of an old man sitting on a throne somewhere in the clouds, dictating rules and laws of behavior to punish us, but a vital force of constant creativity with unlimited power. He, alone, has the most intimate understanding of the totality of the extremely complex flow of energies, dimensions, combinations of particles and possibilities of the universe and the cosmos. He endowed us with abilities of phenomenal proportions that he has only revealed one bit and piece at a time to our physical consciousness that has been struggling to comprehend. The rules and laws he gave mankind were and are simply to guide us to an understanding of how to use his creation properly as we evolve in competency, intelligence and comprehension of its entirety.

The most important thing I realized about God was that when I began working with him as the guiding intelligence, everything he ‘told’ me to do had to be done in an absolutely precise manner. I had to be impeccable in my intentions and my actions at all times. If I did not listen well enough and made mistakes, nothing I did worked for long, if it worked at all. Like any complex Swiss watch or even a software program, if one thing is not measured, written or installed properly, the watch or program simply won’t run correctly and will soon fail. The experiences I had in that respect taught me about ‘rituals’, what they are, what they’re for and why we do them and I began to understand why the most ancient ritual is as important as the most modern. But what surprised me is that not all of God’s rituals are ‘religious’ rituals. Many are just common sense rituals designed to help the earth or the life on the earth. Only when we are ‘worshipping’ God are the rituals religious. God is the author of rituals and has tomes of them available for every circumstance if we ask him for wisdom and knowledge.

God knew how the energy of the universe and cosmos actually worked, how they melded together like the desert sand, so he told mankind exactly how to set up each act they performed to get the desired result each and every time. Some of the things we do need an ‘agreement’ to be reached between universal and cosmic energies to be effective. All things must have balance and what is seen must be balanced by what is unseen.

God alone knows how to ‘command’ the universe (‘seen’- observed matter and common ‘push-pull’ energy) and the cosmos (‘unseen’- etheric dimensions and planes of existence and the subtle energies) of his entire creation, and each new ‘ritual’ he instructed early man to perform was a complex set of commands that had to be done in just the right order, in exactly the right way to get the correct result.

So basically, the universe (matter and simple energy) that we easily observe around us and the cosmos (what we do not see but exists in a ‘finer’ and more ‘subtle’ way) is orderly and functionally designed to respond to God’s command. God never told anyone not to command the universe; in fact, he gave Adam dominion over the earth.

Even after Adam and Eve ate the apple, God never said that Adam no longer had dominion over the earth, he just told him he could no longer live in Eden and that he would have to work harder to convince the earth to do what he wanted. Whereas before Adam ate the apple, perhaps he had only to ‘think’ about something to get it to cooperate, after the apple, he had to use a ritual to get the same reaction. For example, preparing the ground, planting seed, watering the field and harvesting the crop is a ritual. It has to be done right and in the correct order or there is no crop. Any tribal person can tell you that.

Cooking food is a ritual, washing clothes is a ritual, shaving is a ritual. All these things must be done properly and in the right order or the food is nasty, the clothes don’t get clean and you can cut yourself shaving or end up with half a beard. See? Not all rituals are religious, but all true tasks are rituals of one sort or another. Just because you’re not burning candles and waving sage around doesn’t mean you aren’t performing a ritual.

God began to teach man, not only how to manipulate the universe around him, but why he had to follow the laws of creation to be able to accomplish those manipulations correctly. He had to bring some rules and laws of behavior to the table to curb our innate tendency to ‘do it my way’ mindset, as well as our human proclivity towards self annihilation.

By rebelling against God, we were effectively telling him ‘not to teach us anything’, and that we would find out for ourselves what was and wasn’t true. What we didn’t realize was that we were setting ourselves back millions of years in our understanding of the universe and cosmos because, quite frankly, we’re not geniuses and he couldn’t teach us if we didn’t listen.

What we commonly consider a genius IQ only holds true for us at this point in time. Imagine what God’s IQ score would be. Since our math is even now outdated and fairly useless on a physical and cosmic level, we couldn’t score God mathematically anyway.

The Tree of Knowledge was the ultimate answer to all questions, but for Adam and Eve, eating the fruit of the Tree wasn’t their biggest sin. God would have fed them generously from it. Their mistake was to eat it because they believed the devil and thought God was hiding something from them. After listening to the devil’s inspirational speech about the benefits of knowing everything and becoming gods themselves by eating the fruit of the tree, they felt desire for the first time like a child smelling a chocolate chip cookie. I doubt they really understood what the devil told them about knowledge. What they believed was that God didn’t want the competition. As if! Seriously, since they were born yesterday; how ‘smart’ could they have been? But the truth is that people are still buying that ridiculous story even now.

Unfortunately, Adam and Eve fell for the lie and ate the apple. But then, instead of admitting their mistake, they lied about it to the one entity that loved them enough to help them understand their new-found knowledge. God can understand mistakes. What God cannot tolerate are lies. One lie puts a reverse spin on the subtle energies and that can disrupt a great many other energies. So lies cannot be tolerated.

Knowing Adam and Eve were newborn and ignorant, God wasn’t really angry with them, he just realized that knowing too much too soon broke the order and flow of subtle energies that were fundamental to the life force and harmony of his creation. For him to keep the break in order and flow from destroying everything he had created through dissonance, he had to send mankind out of the garden and make them learn the truth through a longer, more circuitous route. Otherwise he’d have to wipe the slate clean and start over. God loves life and hates death, so it’s not difficult to understand why mankind ended up on the long path.

Not all mistakes we make trying to manipulate energy can be rectified by a blink of an eye. Sometimes it takes many years for the energies misdirected by a faulty ritual to regain their proper flow in creation. People would do well to remember this when they want to perform a ritual of any kind. Just ‘making one up’ is not going to end well for the practitioner in most cases. Karma can be very difficult to overcome.

I believe it was God that gave the spiral, circle, lines, etc. to mankind and taught them how to use those energy tools to heal themselves, the earth and other life around them. All ‘sacred’ geometry and early spiritual teaching is based on the order and flow of the universe. God’s designs that are used in certain ‘ritual’ movements to command the universe work because they follow the correct designs of order and flow. When those symbols or movements are reversed, the result is a limiting of flow which can create a blockage or complete stoppage of that flow. The proper order and flow of the afflicted energies must be put back to rights or long term damage can result.

If the earth cannot accomplish this reordering of flow and/or healing by itself, it puts out an SOS of sorts to God for help. This is true of all life in this universe, animate or inanimate. God will respond to the SOS and the damage will be repaired. Sometimes the chaos is allowed to continue because the damage that has been done will cause events to happen that are necessary in the long term to change the planet, universe or cosmos to a new ‘upgraded’ version of itself. Most of the time the earth is like a self regulating and repairing software; other times, it is incapable of repairing the mistakes by itself.

When a being with free will and choice decides to manipulate things in such a way that their actions damage or destroy life or the order and flow of things, their action, in fact, becomes the definition of the word ‘sin’. Sin means to deliberately disrupt, restrict, end or stop the flow and order of God’s creation in a way that will harm, injure or destroy. Sin can ‘kill or murder’ life’s flow, or life itself, as God created it. The acts of sin are ones that truly damage things to the point where God must step in to rectify the situation before it causes irreparable damage to that which is innocent, whether it is animate or inanimate.

All acts that are self serving and without thought to their damaging effects are ‘sinful’ acts, and it’s not complicated to understand sin if you realize this. It’s also why God frowns upon sin and demands that justice be served and penance made for those deliberate acts. If he did not, the universe and cosmos as we know them would cease to exist.

To sin is to cut off your own nose to spite your face. What you are really doing that you are setting up the energy and flow to actually harm all of creation, including yourself. So the first thing to do when you know you’ve done something wrong is apologize and be truly sorry for committing the act and ask for forgiveness. That puts a ‘stop the presses, I take it back’ energy in motion and programs a ‘repair’ energy to begin resolving the damage before it gains too much ‘reverse’ motion.

Sin is like a snowball, no matter how small it is, as it rolls, it picks up speed and size by collecting other small sins to its body. Before long it’s huge and a juggernaut to contend with, rolling over what is good like a steam roller, leaving devastation in its wake.

The Nephilim deliberately committed sins of total disregard for the natural order, and that’s why God flooded the earth. They literally began to damage the energy of the Earth so badly God had to wipe out all life but the family of Noah and start over. Even then, however, he kept the family of Ham alive, even though he knew Ham was not as righteous as his father or brothers. He had to keep a balance so men could choose good over evil.

Black magic is based on ‘reversal’ ritual, which is much more powerful than simple sin which is more of a spontaneous reaction than a deliberately planned action. Therefore a black magic ritual harms everything that flows in a ‘natural’ order around it. I suspect that Sodom and Gomorrah were so steeped in reversal magic that had God not obliterated them, the spiraling emanations of those energetic reversals would have spread outward and began to destroy the natural order and flow of all life around it until the entire world was compromised and had to be flooded once again. Whenever black or reversal magic is used, even in what we might consider a small way, there are ripple effects that, by their very nature, injure, destroy and even kill. If the single or group practitioner is stopped and the effects reversed to the proper flow, healing will begin and the energies of affected life forms and even inanimate objects such as rocks, will, in time, reset to the correct order and flow needed to maintain the harmonic balance.

Dancing With the Masks

Francisco, through his metaphysical studies, had realized this and had understood, through God’s help, how to ‘redirect’ the damaging energies of illness and heal. When he first began his ‘medico blanco’ or white medicine practice, he thought he needed the power of earth bound spirits to enable him to harness the power necessary to manipulate the energy to accomplish his intentions. However, the only way to get those spirit entities to cooperate was to literally bind them through ritual and force them into a container so he could use their ‘contained’ energy. His collection of masks were ‘batteries’ as they became ‘ritual’ containers for the spirits. Used together as a group, they became a spiritual generator of incredible proportions and capable of immense acts of power.

After he was freed from his demons and their negative thinking by the Tarahumara shamans, he began to listen to God’s instructions and realized that God was the only power that could actually heal and that what God healed stayed healed. It was then that his ability to heal illness long term and even cure that which seemed incurable began to become evident to everyone who knew him. But to the man who had been his best friend, who was still controlled by the negative entities we call ‘demons’, he was despised for his rejection of the philosophy they had once embraced together. This man saw Francisco’s spiritual reform as a betrayal, and as Francisco’s fame grew, the other doctor’s hatred for Francisco also grew. Like Cain, full of hate and jealousy towards Abel, he decided to kill Francisco; the one God loved enough to share his secrets with. It never dawned on him that God freely gives all men knowledge when their intentions are to not disrupt but enhance life and they approach him in humility.

When I began to understand Francisco and what he had been through, I began to understand why he had been able to recognize a kindred spirit in me, and why he came up behind me that day and spoke in my ear. Those of you who haven’t read Castaneda may not understand this, but being a man of knowledge, he could ‘see’ that I had a natural ability to manipulate energy and understood that my choice of the Castaneda book also illustrated my choice to pursue additional knowledge. His interaction with me allowed him to ‘imprint’ my energy pattern in his mind so he could locate me in the astral plane of existence where we often go when we dream.

I don’t know if living another existence through our dream state is actually something anyone ‘consciously’ does. In fact, it may be an inherent ability we don’t even realize we have unless we study the writings of ancient gurus and sages seriously. Once we do realize it’s possible, however, we can actually act with intention in our dreams as we do when we’re awake. Through years of practice, we can begin to ‘set up our dreams’ and interact with actual people we encounter in the dream as we normally would interact with them when awake, even though we’re physically sound asleep. Our mind is capable of so much more than we think it is in our ordinary way of thinking. Over the years of study and research I have become aware of a small part of this knowledge and how to apply it, but I know there is a great deal more to learn.

Without touching me physically, Francisco had also managed to ‘shift’ my point of perception that day. That basically means that he ‘adjusted’ my perceived view of the world to ‘see’ more of it in a way not normally seen by the ordinary person. It’s called the non-ordinary viewpoint.

It’s true that after that day in Coronado I was never quite the same. I was much more serious about my life and considerably more determined in my actions and intentions. I began to realize that manipulating energy and understanding the flow of it came naturally to me. But because I had firm intentions that were based in positive beliefs, I was not interested in the darker side of the occult, but in finding God’s position in the universe and how he viewed this newfound knowledge that I was learning.

In the meantime, however, I had to be careful not to manipulate energy around people who didn’t really know or understand what I was doing or how I was doing it. I once had a friend in Minneapolis to whom I demonstrated my abilities.

We were both counselors in a group home for teenage children and one day he wanted to talk about whether he should stay in Minneapolis or move on to a job offer he had received from the West Coast. We packed a small picnic basket and drove to the countryside. I could ‘see’ that this change was indeed necessary for him. I didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but I understood he had hit a wall of complacency in Minnesota and needed new input to decide what he really wanted for his life.

All afternoon he had listed pros and cons about each situation, bouncing back and forth like a ping pong ball. “I’m going,” he’d say, then “No, I should really stay,”

Finally I had had enough.

We were sitting on a small hill in a pretty little meadow in the middle of a warm, summer day. There was no breeze of any kind and I was actually getting overheated from the sun and more than a little frustrated with his indecision.

“Have you ever read Carlos Castaneda’s books?” I asked.

He shook his head, “No, who’s he?”

I ignored the question. “Do you mind if I show you something?” I asked, secretly plotting my move. “What would make you decide to leave instead of stay?”

“I don’t know,” he answered, “But go ahead and show me something, that’d be great,” he said.

I got up and walked down the hill away from him, walked about four hundred feet and turned around. I yelled, “If I can make the wind blow, will you go?”

“Yes, I will absolutely go if you can make the wind blow!” he laughed, humoring me.

I leaned to my right, extended my arm, reaching behind me as though I were going to throw a baseball, intended the wind, and yelled, “Then go!”, and threw the wind towards him with all the strength I had.

He was standing straight up and as I completed the throwing action, this huge gust of wind came from nowhere and nearly knocked him off his feet.

He was absolutely stunned, shocked, and then as he realized what happened, his eyes got huge and he yelled back, “Ok, I’m going. I’m leaving tonight!”

He went back to our picnic area, threw the leftover food in the basket, grabbed the blanket and before I could even walk back up the hill, had thrown it all in his car and was waiting for me looking mad as hell.

When I finally got to the car, he stared at me with squinted eyes and demanded, “How the hell did you make that happen?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I really don’t know. It’s just something I can do, sometimes.” I continued, “It’s a good example of why you have to leave though. There’s so much more out there you haven’t seen or experienced. You must have needed to see me do that to prove it to yourself.”

He calmed down, got behind the wheel, and turned to me with a grin on his face. “You’re right; completely right on. I couldn’t believe my life here was all there was, all I’d ever be. I’ve always wanted to experience more.”

He did leave that night and I never saw him again. But before he did, he introduced me to his girlfriend who also wanted to leave but was held back by a curse put on her from an old boyfriend. The next day I helped her to get rid of the curse and she followed my friend west to their new life together.

If either of them read this book, they’ll remember that day, so contact me if you’re out there, ok? I’d love to know what happened to you through the years.

-------

Once I realized that Francisco’s interaction with me had been a very important part of my growth and how I came to find myself in El Paso, I also began to see how his influence explained many other things that happened to me through my early years; off the wall things, like the brujo I met in Las Playas that for no real reason gave me incredible prices on antiques he was selling from his mother’s estate.

She had owned an antique store and left him and his wife an entire building stuffed from top to bottom with all kinds of goods. Some were valuable, some not so much, but she had completely stuffed a three thousand square foot building with second hand purchases she had made over her lifetime. It was so bad he and his wife had had to move to Las Playas from Mexico City to liquidate it all and had been trying to put a dent in the collection for at least two years before I met him.

He had stood back at first, but after a few minutes of watching me ‘look’ for items by holding my right hand over them to see if they were ‘clear’ of spirits and negative energy, he walked up and offered his hand. “Welcome,” he said, “let me know if you find something.” With that he walked off to another room and had lunch with his wife, trusting me not to take advantage of his absence. He didn’t return until I called his name and told him I was ready to go. He didn’t have any security cameras or two way windows to watch me through, but I can tell you without doubt that had I tried to take one thing, he would’ve known and stopped me before I made it out the door.

We hit it off right from the beginning. I knew he was a brujo immediately and he also knew we were both on the “positive energy’ path. I returned many times to see him over the years, sometimes to buy, other times just to visit. I sold many things from his shop to decorators in San Diego. I never said one word to him about brujaria, energy, my studies or research, nor did he to me; but at the moment I found myself sitting on the patio in El Paso, I instinctively knew that he and Francisco had been good friends.

Did you ever have the feeling that you are living another life at the same time you’re living this one? But you have no conscious memory of it? Well, many people do, but to have it brought home to you in a conscious way so suddenly takes some serious self control to handle the revelation and carry on with the people around you like nothing happened at all.

Suela’s sister-in-law joined me on the patio and soon the entire clan-group was out there. She had long graying hair, laughter crinkled eyes and a friendly smile, and I had liked her right away. She sat there for a moment, and then she leaned forward, “It’s really nice to meet you, Sonia, but I feel as though we’ve met before. Do you think we have? You seem so familiar.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just told her what I had realized as I walked into the kitchen and let the cards fall where they may. She just sat there for a moment and then called her husband outside and told him, “I was right!” she quipped, gleefully. “I was right about the dreams.”

He just stood there staring at me. He finally turned and gestured for the rest to follow him out.

Then suddenly they were all standing and staring. No one said anything and I figured they were probably trying to decide if they should call the cops and have them drag me off to the nearest mental hospital, but instead they gradually began to come up and give me a hug. It was the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.

They began describing the dreams they’d had and I heard very little difference between one person’s dream and another’s.

When they had all told their version, they asked, “What do you think it means?”

“I have no idea, really.” I answered, shrugging my shoulders. “Maybe he taught us things we’ll realize over time.”

The one common denominator we had was that none of us belonged to any kind of ‘clan’ or group other than the mundane and ordinary clubs, etc., in our waking lives at all, yet we all had similar dreams about being together with Francisco and each other.

I doubt, even today, that much of our discussion makes sense to them, like very little of it makes sense to me. Since none of us remembered actually ‘doing’ anything during those dreams, we don’t know what we may or may not have learned.

They did tell me they were glad I was there to help Francisco’s family and get the clinic straightened out, and asked if I thought the water would flow again. I answered the questions I could, the best I could and had another beer. I’m not a drinker at all and can’t drink even half a beer without getting buzzed, but that night, two beers later, I was cold sober and my mind was going a million miles a minute.

Suela came outside and saw us chatting like old friends. She smiled and said, “Well, I’m glad you all got to enjoy my party!” and we all laughed. What happened that night was a real mystery, but it happened to all of us at the same time, so at least we didn’t go through it alone. I still don’t know what to make of it. I don’t think we humans actually know squiddley about our true capabilities in this phenomenal universe.

Suela was the last to be told about the dream stories and she was stunned as she listened to all of us talking together comparing notes about what we did and didn’t do in the dreams. She told us that she didn’t remember the dreams at all, but since we all seemed to think she was there, perhaps she was.

She told me later that she had never heard anything like that in her life and asked me to tell her the absolute truth and did I honestly believe any of what we had discussed actually happened. I told her I had no idea, not really, but that it all ‘seemed’ to have happened, and since we all remembered dreaming the same things, who knows.

My final thought was that it didn’t matter if any of the others believed it or not. I knew I had to try to believe it or I wouldn’t be able to help Francisco. Because if those dreams were possible, then anything might be possible, including defeating the enemy brujo.

How many lives do we really have going on at one time? Is that what dreams really are; multiple aspects of our self? Seeing what our ‘other self’ is doing while ‘this self’ sleeps? Dimension hopping while our body rests? Maybe, eh…just think of the possibilities.

Tiffany Twisted

As the birthday party began to wrap up, I met Francisco’s youngest sister, Fiona. I knew the instant I saw her she was possessed. She was middle aged, with bright red badly dyed short hair and the stretched skin ‘tight’ face of one who has a demon in residence. Had she not had to feed her life force to a demon, and perhaps changed her hair color to something more natural, she would have been very pretty.

She only stayed for a few minutes, more to see if I had actually arrived than anything, I think, and was visibly relieved when she saw I had. At God’s urging, I had purchased an expensive St. Michael medal made of sterling silver to give her. It was blessed and I asked her if she would like to wear it. She looked at it, smiled, fought like hell to keep the demon at bay and with gritted teeth, said, “Yes, very much.” She never took it off the entire time I was there.

I blessed her with Fatima water and exorcised oil, and she was reassured we would come to her home the next night, she left. To this day I have no idea how she was able to fight that demon to keep that medal on, but before I left many days later, she moved the medal from where it usually hung on her chest and there was a gaping hole nearly to the bone. She said, “He didn’t like it being on me, but I was not going to give him what he wanted. I wanted to be free from him and now I am.”

Brave, strong Fiona…I still pray for you.

A year or two before Francisco died he had come into Juarez to see Fiona who ran the small clinic, or consultorio, in Juarez. When he walked through the door, to his horror, he found her possessed, pinned up against the wall several feet off the floor, held there by a demon. He tried to remove her by himself, but couldn’t, and had to call his nephew Jude to help him. Jude was young and strong and pried her off the wall and carried her to his mother, Estelle’s, home where she stayed for a long time. Most of the family was terrified of Fiona, not because of Fiona herself, she was a nice woman, but of the demon. Perhaps Francisco knew why she was possessed, but he didn’t tell anyone.

God had told me before I even left Dallas about Fiona and the devil and what to do about it.

The Walls Have Ears

It was nearly eight o’clock in the evening before we made it to Fiona’s house the next day. Todd, Suela and I were invited to her Mother’s Day party and would be leaving with her to go to the clinic the next morning. Her apartment was above the consultorio below where she worked during the day as a doctor.

The first thing I noticed in Fiona’s home was that it was decorated with hundreds of masks…everywhere I looked there were masks on display; not inexpensive masks but museum pieces. Incredible masks from all over Mexico, Latin America, Spain, South America, the Caribbean, Africa and elsewhere, were hung on every wall. I had no idea where some of them came from, but the one thing I realized immediately was that every mask contained at least one spirit. Not some run of the mill spirit…but powerful ‘ally’ spirits, entities that emanated an astounding amount of power. I realized that as I ‘saw’ them, they ‘saw’ me and knew I was there; a truly unnerving experience. Todd and I just looked at each other with wide eyes. He had seen the masks on his previous trip, but they still scared him to death.

I felt no discord in their feelings towards me, it was as though they had expected me to come, and in some cases, I felt almost welcomed by them. I realized at once that they belonged to her brother and had all been obtained through ritual. Even though he had died physically, he still controlled them. I knew he was a Man of Knowledge, but standing there in her living room, I began to realize how powerful he really had been during his physical life and how powerful he still was. I also knew he was not dead, nor had he ‘crossed over’ to anywhere. He was there in all his dimensional totality, standing guard, trying to protect in death what he had not been able to protect in life as he body weakened and left him.

I remember feeling his presence beside me as I turned slowly to look at Fiona who was watching me intently, her eyes shifting from ‘herself’ to the ‘spirit’ of the demon inside her. I thought, this is going to be a real rodeo. ND Badlands ranch girl and the possessed Mexican Master Brujo…but I wasn’t afraid. I saw her as someone who desperately wanted her freedom from her imprisonment instead. I knew her brother would help me. He was as concerned as I was.

There were many people at the party and we sat on the porch in the warm summer evening, taking in the sounds and smells of Mexican cooking and children playing next door. Some guests would leave and others arrive. A nursery owner who brought beautiful flowers, a very intuitive teacher who had lost his mother a few weeks before and with whom I felt an immediate rapport. I lost track of names except for his. There was something quite special about him for some reason I couldn’t fathom, perhaps it was his faith and dedication to St. Mary, I’m not sure, but he seemed to be someone I had known before.

After a few hours all the guests left and we retired to the living room to talk over our plans for the next day. Fiona asked me what I intended to do about the clinic and I told her that the spirits had to be cleared from the clinic and the ground blessed and purified. I wasn’t sure what else I was going to do, but I knew those particular things had to be done first.

While we were talking, I suddenly told her that the brujo who caused Francisco’s death was also the brujo that was responsible for her possession. I knew he was watching her constantly through a statue of an owl, a large white owl that a friend had brought to her, seemingly as a ‘gift’, but was actually a tool to spy on her. She stared at me with wide eyes and then slowly moved aside so I could see behind her. There, on a small round table behind her couch, sat the owl. It was nearly a foot high and seemed to be staring directly at me. Todd and Suela gasped in shock, and Fiona’s eyes were big and round as she saw me lower my head and look intently at the owl. Todd told me later it was like watching a matador face a bull. I guess it was. I was angry clear through and got up and grabbed a dishtowel and covered the owl and placed it outside.

We discussed everything. Nearly all that I knew and what we would begin to do the next day. Because demons are notorious for telling each other all they hear and see, I did not disclose what God had told me to keep private, but kept that secret.

The next morning was filled with shopping. Somehow the new tennis shoes my dad had bought me only two weeks before had vanished and I knew I would need some while on the rancho, so I had to get another pair. I had thought we were leaving early, but in fact, we didn’t leave until nearly noon. Fiona made sure we took enough groceries with us to feed us all for a few days so we wouldn’t be a burden to her nephew and his family with whom we’d be staying while at the clinic, and Suela had to tie up a few ends also at the last minute, so we ended up eating lunch before we left as well.

Finally, we were all ready to leave and for the first time, I drove south of Juarez towards what would be the first day of most intense and incredible ten days of my life.

Ixtlan

“A Lovely Place”

The tollroad stretched out in front of us, rolling past pyramid shaped hills that Todd was convinced held real pyramids underneath the soil. The wire fence on the right side of the car seemed to run forever, until we dropped over a small hill and saw a raven sitting on it, watching for us.

I ‘felt’ Francisco’s spirit in the raven. He was watching over us as we traveled to meet our destiny. Dark elements were roundabout and I could sense that the ‘attention’ of another brujo was riveted on us as we drove.

As we passed the raven, I felt myself shift into ‘seer’ mode. At that point I knew we had crossed into warrior territory spiritually. The further we drove, the more surreal the landscape became to my eyes. I knew my assemblage point had moved at least an inch and every fiber of my being was literally ‘tuned’ to the phenomenal world of the sorcerers’ eyes and awareness. The years of reading Carlos Castaneda and my studies with Mari were beginning to take over my instincts and I knew I would never be the same after this journey. I didn’t need the mythical Don Juan of Carlo’s phenomenal world; I had God, a vital and powerful influence who understood this world better than all of us. He began to guide my every move.

Men of Knowledge, or Toltec Sorcerers, as some call them, are men who have practiced their skill and art for so many years that they literally become able to move through dimensions freely and at will. For them it is all about the Will and the Intent to accomplish their feats of ‘phasing’ and magic.

Francisco was born in Oaxaca, Mexico. He studied medicine in Mexico City and later, Cuba. His younger sister Fiona also attended the same schools. They became doctors and opened the Consultorio in Juarez a few years later. They were also exceptional dancers and founded a folk dance troupe of Mexico, traveling the world bringing the beautiful and colorful folk dances of Mexico to their audiences. Their repertoire included some new and interpretative dances designed by Francisco as the choreographer as well.

At some point in his career, Francisco decided to buy some land from his oldest sister’s husband and build a clinic where he could give his patients intensive treatment . He named it the Clinica De Estelle after his eldest sister.

He accomplished incredible holistic cures at the clinic with his unique mud baths, using locally found native mud and his holistic treatments were known for curing many diseases, including AIDS. He was even asked to speak at the AMA convention in San Diego about his cure for AIDS.

He was diagnosed with AIDS himself around 1991 and the disease claimed his life in 1993. You may say, “Well, if he could cure AIDS in others, why could he not cure himself? The virus he contracted did not come by ordinary means. His AIDS virus was literally ‘sent’ to him via his enemy brujo, and it was demonically charged and transmitted. Had he cured himself of this strain of the virus, his entire family would have suffered.

When he first contracted the disease, he did attempt to cure himself, but his medicines had virtually no effect. He did not realize why he was not making progress in his fight against the disease until a serious incident involving his sister, Fiona, surfaced.

One day he drove into Juarez to pick up medicine for the clinic and found Fiona pinned against the wall of the consultorio, three feet off the floor, possessed and held in that position by demonic forces. She was being tormented horribly by a demon that belonged to Francisco’s enemy brujo, who, being a doctor himself, had masqueraded as Francisco’s friend and colleague, but who, in fact, was deeply jealous and resentful of Francisco’s success. Francisco tried desperately to remove Fiona from the wall, but to no effect. He quickly went to his house in Juarez to retrieve his holy sword, the blessed and anointed sword of justice, dedicated to St. Michael, and raced back to the consultorio to command the demon to free her. When even his commands using the Catholic exorcism Ritual had no effect, he called upon his nephew Jude to help her.

Jude was Estelle’s youngest son and was home at the time. He ran to Fiona’s assistance, pried her off the wall and took her to Estelle’s home where she was able to rest physically, but the family was not able to free her from her possession. Even though they contacted the Church for help, and their family priest came over, he could do nothing to help her. It was at this point that Francisco realized that his illness was not an accident brought on by accidental medical exposure to the HIV virus, but by a diabolical plot, perpetrated by his old friend.

The enemy brujo had carefully laid a trap for Francisco by first infecting an innocent and beautiful young nurse with AIDS without their knowledge. Then, knowing that Francisco was always shorthanded at the clinic, he recommended that person to Francisco as someone to help out around the clinic. He knew Francisco would fall in love with the nurse and become infected with AIDS during their relationship. Francisco had never married, and although very successful, was, I’m sure, very lonely at times and would have been swept off his feet by the lovely nurse the other brujo had selected. His family told me that Francisco had been deeply in love and was shocked beyond words when he became infected and realized that the love of his life was also dying from the disease. He knew who had infected the nurse and himself. There was only one man that could have done such a thing and who had the motive to take such a heinous action, but Francisco also knew he could not tell his family who his killer really was. He saw Fiona’s possession as a warning to not involve the family in this knowledge. Even though his brother was high up in the government, this was a war between two brujos and there would be no solid evidence to prove the guilt of the man responsible. He knew that to tell his family would put them at great risk of also being cursed through the sorcery and witchcraft of his enemy, and he also knew that he would not be able to cure his disease without great repercussions for his innocent family, so he allowed himself to die.

Francisco and the nurse were both sacrificed by the dark brujo, who was, after Francisco’s death, considered the leading holistic doctor in Northern Mexico. He took over most of Francisco’s clients, his students and clan members as well, but never freed Fiona, who he held all those years in thrall to his demon. She was his trophy and now, his biggest supporter. He would never free her, because it was his way of continuing Francisco’s suffering, even though he was now in spirit, and that made him very happy.

The family never realized the truth until I arrived with this knowledge. Francisco had successfully kept it to himself because he knew that had they become aware of the depth of the plot, they would have sought revenge, and knowing the power and ability of the other brujo, their efforts on Francisco’s behalf would have ended in disaster. They would have all be brought to ruination. Everything they had worked and strived to accomplish in their lives would be forfeit if they came against the other brujo personally or legally. So Francisco gave up his life to protect the people he loved the most.

Did any of the people who loved Francisco know how they fit into this incredible patchwork quilt of retribution and vengeance that God was sewing by hand? I don’t think so.

But God knew what he was planning, long before our trip to Juarez ever happened, and had prepared his redemption of Francisco and his family brilliantly. In 1972, I was twenty-four when he arranged for me to meet Francisco in Coronado, and years before that, when Todd was only eight, a picture of him sitting on a small burro in Tijuana was taken. Todd was wearing a sombrero with the name “Pancho” written on it. Todd had the picture to prove it and I had the memory of the day in San Diego and the dreams of significance with the clan.

The complexity of the astounding picture weaving of God’s plan, the wheels within wheels of his genius was not lost on us. As we began to put all the pieces together, the picture that emerged proved that God had known years ahead of time all that would happen and had set his plan in motion. Francisco, himself, would have been astonished at the complexity of it all. The plan was genius, way beyond the thinking of ordinary man, and we knew it. We had no idea what God wanted to accomplish in the long run, we only knew that we had to perform our part in its execution with incredible precision and listen constantly to God’s instructions to stay tightly on the narrow path to the finish.

As I write this now, I realize why I couldn’t write it before. I wasn’t ready because the time was not right. Only God really understands what he is doing and what his plan will eventually accomplish.

The road to the clinic left the small village and proceeded southwest out of town for nearly 20 miles before you had to make a left hand turn onto a dirt road, covered by a little gravel. There were a few farmsteads near the dirt road, but they were small enterprises with single family homes. As we continued down the rutted little road, we had to cross little gullies and dry creek beds that you could tell ran high during rainstorms, as the beds had washed away considerably and it was sometimes difficult to even find a drivable path through the small ravines. Suela drove slowly and carefully, having driven this road many times, she was used to it. I had seen roads like this in my native badlands of western North Dakota, but even my dad would have been shocked at the condition of this road. How anyone could get out of here when it rained was beyond me. They must have been skilled drivers, indeed.

The road took twists and turns and went on for about five miles or so before we began to see the clinic rising out of the desert like a huge whitewashed glorious event. We could see the bell towers first, with the crosses above the towers shining in the afternoon sun. I was amazed at the sight of this large, incredible edifice sitting alone in the desert. It was stunning and entirely unexpected.

The road began to pass through worked farmland and suddenly, directly south of the clinic, it had an abrupt turn to the left as it turned into a driveway on the south side of an irrigation canal that ran in front of the clinic. We parked there and got out. There was a little curved cement bridge with iron railings over the canal and a large courtyard in front of the clinic that boasted a beautiful fountain, nearly eight feet wide and circular, with a cement wall around it to hold in the water. The center of the fountain was nearly six feet high and with a flower motif that seemed to rise to the sky as it opened at the top. Even though the water no longer flowed at the clinic and the fountain was dry, I could imagine how spectacular it must have seemed to the people who had come there for treatment.

The Clinica De Estelle, itself, was an imposing and beautiful structure, built by hand of adobe bricks, mortar and plaster. It was very large, possibly five thousand sq. ft., total. The front of the clinic was strikingly beautiful with a long expanse of white walls in the middle, flanked by two two-story bell towers on either end, with a covered portico stretching the entire length of the building, from bell tower to bell tower, featuring hand carved wooden posts decorated by flower motifs. All the doors and windows were edged in wood as well, with two large wooden doors in the center, also hand carved by superb Mexican craftsmen. Wings extended back from each bell tower to the north, while the center housed the treatment center and dining area.

The bell tower on the right was dedicated as a chapel to St. Michael the Archangel and had room to seat at least a hundred people. Behind the altar was a beautiful twelve foot hand carved crucifix, resting against the wall at the north end of the chapel. Although small, it was a beautiful but temporary chapel. Francisco had intended to build a church on the property west of the clinic and had begun work on it before his death. He had planned to dedicate it to St. Michael, and when finished, he would move the contents of the chapel into the church. He had only laid the foundation of the church before he became ill and was never able to finish it. I believe he was going to turn the right bell tower into his living quarters and home, had the church been built.

The other bell tower was unfinished and had been the ‘bunkhouse’ for his workmen that had helped him build and work on the clinic.

When we entered the beautifully carved front doors of the clinic we were immediately struck by the beauty of the place. The small foyer had fine art and collectables on all four walls, hand painted tile on the floor, sweeping arches of hand carved wood, and a private door leading to Francisco’s office and treatment rooms immediately to our right. The arch straight ahead led to the window enclosed hallway/portico between the kitchen and food preparation area located in the left wing of the building and the right wing which housed the guest rooms.

There was a fully furnished dining room through the left arch. It was beautifully decorated with artwork, sturdy matched tables and chairs, and extended to the far west wall where a long hand carved wooden bar graced the decor. A door on the northwest end led to a professional kitchen with two stoves, ovens, two refrigerators and a large pantry. It was large enough to enable cooking for close to a hundred or more people in the dining room.

The hallway between the two wings had the same hand painted tile on the floors seen in the foyer, and was complete with a full wall of screened windows and doors that looked out upon a large center courtyard and directly led to the outdoor covered portico. All the posts in the hallway and portico were perfectly matched hand carved wood that matched the posts supporting the portico in the front of the clinic.

There were several old trunks in the hallway, some antique, some not, but they were unique and incredibly beautiful. At one time the walls had held hand painted icons by a famous Spanish iconographer. He and Suela had been married when she first met Francisco and he had gifted Francisco with eight of his icons. The icons were now stored in a trunk moved to the foyer, while the trunks in the hall were now filled with the spirit-containing masks that the family could not bear to see. No one had opened them since Francisco’s death and the family had thought the icons had been stolen.

In the right wing were eleven double rooms containing three to four double or queen size beds each, including private bathrooms. The rooms were large enough for two families to stay with their loved one while they received treatment which is standard practice in Mexico. At the north end of that wing were four private rooms containing hand built mud baths.

Stepping out of the double door to our left, just before the baths, we exited into the center courtyard where two large eight person ‘kiva’ style adobe saunas stood, one of them now slightly in disrepair. To the west of the saunas, a few feet away, was large modern swimming pool, now empty of water and littered with leaves and debris.

Of all the sights I had seen so far, I think seeing those empty mud rooms, the kiva saunas and the debris filled swimming pool was the saddest. In my mind I could ‘see’ Francisco working there and the people he was treating during that time. I could feel how busy it had been, but yet, how much hope and confidence Francisco had exuded. It must have been amazing to his clients and their families who were praying for a healing to take place. Just the sheer magnitude and opulence of the clinic must have filled them with awe.

Francisco’s private room was number 12, located on the right hand side if you entered the right wing by the chapel. It was smaller than the rest and had one wall with built in bookshelves completely filled with books all written in Spanish; medical books, books on magic, all sorts of books. His jeweled athame was also there, carefully set on the shelf. The room was sparsely furnished with only a simple twin bed, a few pictures on the walls, a night table with his cane leaning against it, one chair and a desk, with a small bathroom built into the southeast corner. No one had touched a thing in his room except to keep it immaculately clean. In fact, the entire clinic was spotlessly clean, and it was now three years after he had passed away.

Suela and Fiona told me that in his house in Juarez, he had had a large library of rare books, most of which had come up missing after his death. They felt that some of the workmen who had lived with him had taken them and sold them, but they couldn’t prove it.

At one point, not wanting the clinic building itself to go to waste, the family had turned it into a restaurant and bar, but that soon closed and of late, they were not using it at all. The building was simply too haunted and the grounds had been seriously cursed by someone who had hauled a large six foot cement cross from the local graveyard and left it on the grave of Bruno, Francisco’s dog, who they had also killed and buried near the foundation of the unfinished St. Michaels Church.

They must have really feared Francisco’s spirit and believed the dog to be his ‘familiar’ to do take such drastic action. I doubt very much that the dog was anything of the sort, even though by all reports he had been a huge dog and could look quite terrifying, the family had loved him and he was a well behaved dog. Francisco had turned his life around and dedicated himself to God. He wouldn’t have placed that burden on his beloved pet, but superstition rides high in northern Mexico. I knew they had been put up to it by Francisco’s enemy. He knew he would be going out to the clinic and if the dog was guided by Francisco’s spirit, he could have easily been killed or seriously attacked by the dog and so he had him taken out of the picture.

I deliberately jumped ahead of my story by describing the clinic, but it’s important for you to know how the clinic was designed to understand what happened when we arrived at dusk on the first day.

You See Beauty, We See a Prison

We drove up to the rancho belonging to Estelle and her husband at dusk on the 12th of March, 1996. It was a cool evening and we put on our jackets. Juan, Estelle’s middle son, and his wife, Paula and their two boys, lived on the rancho now that Estelle and Jorge had moved into Juarez.

The first order of the day was to rid ourselves of the ‘spy’ owl. We had wrapped the statue in a blanket and put him in the trunk for the trip. Todd, Fiona, Suela and I went to an irrigation canal bordering the property, climbed up the levee and removed the blanket we had wrapped around the owl statue. We dug a hole to bury it in and Todd got ready to break the owl. We had to break it up to release the demon trapped inside it otherwise burying the owl on top of the levee could put the levee and anyone innocently walking on top of it in danger.

I don’t normally advise breaking an object containing a spirit or demon, as the spirit could theoretically attach itself to whoever breaks the object, or anyone accompanying that person, but in this case, I had to send all the curses and demons involved back to their originator, the practitioner who had commanded them into the objects. I wasn’t sending them back ‘with instructions’, just commanding them to return to the origin of their manipulation, thereby freeing them and removing the demons and spirits themselves from having any additional influence over Francisco’s soul, his family, and any property or possessions they might possess.

There is a danger to the practitioner when a demon or spirit they infused into an object flies back at them. I’ve seen those people become very ill or have some very bad experiences because the demon or spirit is very angry at them for imprisoning them or using them. That happened with the practitioner who cursed the owl. When the spirit returned to him, the people who worked for him walked off the job, he became so ill he ended up in the hospital and wasn’t able to be healed until he prayed and repented for his misdeed. One of his friends thought I cursed him, but I did not. The demon was angry and took a toll on him of its’ own accord.

We said a prayer, and Todd tried to break the owl with a rock. It refused to break. So he walked to the rancho and brought a sledge hammer to help him. Todd was 6’5” and swung the sledge as hard as he could several times and only chipped off a small piece of the owl. The statue was made of plaster, not cement or wood, so it should have broken but would not; it became obvious that a powerful entity contained in the owl was keeping it in one piece.

I asked Fiona to hand me Francisco’s sacred knife he used in brujaria; his athame. She had had his alternate athame at her apartment, leaving his main athame in the clinic, and I had asked her to bring it and one for herself and Suela as well. I figured the spirit in the owl might not go gently and I was prepared.

Fiona was very surprised at my request. I don’t think she expected this from me, a Christian, but then, I’m a little different in how I approach things anyway, and in this case, I knew I would have to pull out everything I knew to get the job done.

I had both women hold their personal athame up facing east and I picked up Francisco’s, which at this point in time I saw more as the sword of St. Michael than a tool of witchcraft. I turned to the east and with great intention, issued a challenge and an oath to Francisco’s enemy while verbally binding the demonic force residing in the owl from returning to bother Francisco’s family and thrust the athame up with my arm straight out and up at a forty five degree angle pointing to the east as I finished the statement. As my arm reached perihelion to the origin of the demon’s emanation, Todd struck the owl once more and it literally exploded into hundreds of pieces. Fiona, Suela and I weren’t facing the owl, but Todd said that brilliant rays of red light flew outward from the inside as the owl blew to bits.

We gathered up the chards and pieces of the owl and dropped them into the hole we had dug. Then we buried what was left of the owl, sprinkling it with holy water, salt, sage and tobacco to purify and bind all the knowledge the owl had picked up through demonic means into those pieces forever. We then inscribed a binding symbol on top of the covering dirt, blessed the grave with holy water and walked to the rancho to get supplies to needed bind the spirits and demons living in the clinic so we would be safe working there. I knew we had only a short time to do it before the oath I had taken over the owl was answered by the enemy brujo and we hurried to the clinic to complete our task.

Fiona’s nephew, Juan, was going to turn on the lights of the clinic, but he had to flip on the breaker box located deep within the clinic to accomplish that. I realized I couldn’t allow him to go into the clinic with those trapped entities now in an agitated state. He wasn’t prepared nor protected to handle the beehive of angry spirits waiting for us, so the four of us went alone in the dark with a few small candles, smudge sticks of sage and bottles of holy water from Fatima.

We had to clear the building from right to left, counterclockwise, as we needed to back off any witchcraft that had been practiced there before we could set things to rights later, and so, we began in St. Michael’s chapel with Todd leading the way. He was a fully ordained Spiritualist minister but had once been a high Wiccan priest and knew exactly what to do now, so the rest of us followed his lead. At that point, I had never been in the clinic and to witness it for the first time in total darkness lit only by our small candles was more than a little intimidating. I could feel the incredible anger and restlessness of the imprisoned spirits emanating from the building and thought we would be lucky indeed to finish unscathed.

After clearing the chapel, we proceeded through the side door that opened into the right wing hallway by Francisco’s room. We cleared his room and tried to open the door on the other side of the hallway only to find it locked from the inside of his examination room in the center of the building. It was now a storeroom, but it was vital we cleared every single space in that clinic that night. So I stayed where I was, holding back the spirits in the hallway of the right wing while the others went through the main doors and found their way to the storeroom.

After they left, the crap really hit the fan for me. The spirits were all riled up and came from everywhere towards the hallway. Todd and the women were moving as fast as they could to clear the rooms they had to go through to get to my door, but to me they seemed to be taking forever. I was saying the Lord’s Prayer repeatedly trying to hold my ground against the advancing horde of angry demons. My candle began to flicker wildly and each time it did I would see more demons filling the space in front of me. They swooped in as close to my face as they could get, ugly and horrible, screaming all sorts of hate filled remarks in many different languages. I didn’t understand what they said, exactly, but I fully recognized the tone and could imagine the rest. Then my sage began to burn out and I had to stop praying out loud to blow on it and hold it over the wimpy candle to keep it burning. We had not thought to bring ‘jar’ candles and all Fiona could find in the chapel were slender six inch candles that dripped wax on our hands as we were carrying them. The entire affair could have ended in disaster had God not been looking out for us.

Todd was carrying a blessed crucifix, but I had not thought to take one myself. We were all wearing blessed rosaries, but with both hands occupied holding the sage, candles, and holy water, I could not grasp the crucifix on the rosary and hold it up for additional protection.

Finally, Todd and the others got to the storeroom. There was a window between them and I and he could see the spirits diving around me and right in front of my face. I heard him begin yelling his prayers and commands as loud as he could, hoping he could drive some off as he realized I was in serious trouble. It didn’t work, but he tried.

Knowing I had little time left, I called on St. Michael to help me. I literally felt his wings brush my face as he stepped in front of me and backed off the demons to a safe distance.

They finished the storeroom only to find they could not get the door open to join me. They had to retrace their steps to get to me before my candle and sage could go out completely. I began to back up towards Francisco’s room, not realizing that the other brujo’s demon ally was now in it, holding Francisco’s spirit back from helping me. He had hid himself well, when we did the initial clearing, but God stopped me from going back inside as Todd reached the side door and swooped in like an avenging angel.

Whew…God bless him! I was never so glad to see anyone in my life. Had I had any inkling this would happen, I would have brought Francisco’s alternate athame with me, although I left it in the rancho on purpose as I didn’t want the other brujo keying on it.

Suela and Fiona were truly frightened by now, not seeing what Todd and I were seeing, but knowing us well enough by this time to realize it was serious beyond words for us to be acting and looking as terrified as we were.

Todd took the lead once more and began to move down the hallway towards the mud bath rooms, clearing all the bedrooms in turn. I began saying the Hail Mary in Latin and immediately felt additional angelic support arrive. One on my right, another on my left, St. Michael in front and a group of angles behind us; Todd turned to look at me and said, “I smell roses!” and it was true, even with the air full of sage smoke, we could all smell roses. The Blessed Mother was there with her army. We finished the clinic with no further problems, but resolved to not work carelessly again without the proper spiritual weapons in our hands.

I don’t think we ‘fell’ asleep that night, I think we passed out from exhaustion. The rancho hacienda was quite small, with only two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and bathroom. There were two full size beds in the second bedroom and Fiona and Suela shared one while I slept alone in the other. Juan and Paula’s two sons slept on the floor beside their parents’ bed in their room and Todd slept on the couch in the living room.

Estelle and her husband had raised their four sons in this house and it had seen many good times as well as hard times, and I could feel the energy coming from the building itself. It was Estelle and her husbands’ positive energy that radiated from the home and a place filled with laughter and love more than a place that spoke of the difficulties of life.

I woke up once during the night to find Fiona in a possessed state, standing directly over me staring into my face with wide open eyes in what was going to be a nightly ordeal of mental games perpetrated by the dark brujo. It took all I had to not scream or let him realize he had frightened me. I simply asked her if there was something she needed. She said, “No.”

I suggested we all go back to sleep as we had a full day tomorrow. She turned robotically and climbed back into bed. I rolled over and kept my eyes open for as long as I could, grasping my rosary, hoping he wouldn’t induce her to kill me in my sleep.

“Heaven or Hell”

I woke up to Todd’s cheerful voice talking to the Paula in the kitchen as she prepared breakfast. Suela and Fiona were already up and I wondered how long everyone had been awake ahead of me. I found out they had let me sleep for nearly an hour longer than they had. I was still tired when I got up even with the extra sleep and wondered how they were managing to be so chipper. Suela was nearly seventy two years old, and I have to say she had more energy than all of us put together. She was an amazing woman and I was constantly in awe of her.

We had a pleasant breakfast and walked the eighth of a mile to the clinic. I was not prepared for the beauty of the place when I first walked in. As we toured the building, I began to see the ‘rest of the story’. The entire building was filled with masks…and these spirits were not friendly, nor were they ‘ordinary’ spirits, ghosts or demons. These were Francisco’s ‘wild bunch’ of ‘nature’ spirits, what brujos call allies. They were not tame, they would never be tame and they wanted to go home to the land they were taken from however they could manage it; over you, around you, through you, it made no difference to them. If we made even one mistake binding any of them we’d be toast and Todd and I both knew it.

“Wow,” Todd whispered to me, “I didn’t see this when I was here before. I got all caught up in the beauty of the place and just didn’t see the masks. How many spirits do you think there are?”

I realized I was holding my breath and let it go, “Perhaps eight hundred, if not a thousand or more. I don’t know how many are tied to each mask. Lord have mercy, we have to remove every single one, plus all the spirits and demons and the negative objects that have been touched by the other brujo’s demon.”

Todd and I both turned to Fiona…”You have any large garbage bags?” we asked in unison. “We’re going to need a lot of them.”

She went to the kitchen and brought back two boxes of fifty thirty gallon green bags and handed us each one. We took out our exorcised oil and went to work. Fortunately for us, Mark and Inez showed up to help. They held the bags while Todd and I blessed each mask with the sign of the cross and put it inside. At the end of the first day of climbing up and down ladders, we had filled eight bags and were done with the dining room and Francisco’s office. The bags were then removed from the clinic property and placed on the farmland until the family could decide what to do with them.

I don’t remember much about the second night except the good food we all shared, followed by Fiona’s usual visitation to my bed at three in the morning, leaving me shaking while I kept a tight grasp on my rosary for hours afterwards.

The third full day went pretty much like the second, but Mark and Inez arrived much earlier. They were driving back to their home in El Paso each night and back to the clinic each day, a round trip of eighty miles or more. I don’t know how they managed to do that and work all day besides.

That night we dropped Fiona off in Juarez and crossed the border bridge into El Paso. Suela had some personal things to take care of the next day and we were all very tired and needed a break anyway. We had completed clearing half of the clinic, but the major spirits and most dangerous masks were still in residence. The controlling mask of the allies, El Diablo, still rested in the punched tin trunk, waiting…

“The Scorpion Strikes”

We had all gotten a good nights’ sleep after returning from Juarez and woke up ready to go the next morning. Suela dropped me off early at Mark and Inez’s where Todd was staying and the four of us decided to go visit Roberto at his herb shop in El Paso.

I had briefly met Roberto with Suela after we bought my shoes the day we left to go to the clinic. There were a few things she had picked up for herself and she had wanted me to meet him.

Roberto had studied with Francisco for quite a few years and had been one of his closest friends as well. Francisco had given all of the students that were also in his clan a ruby ring set in a design he had drawn himself. They also were given a sacred athame with gemstones on it. According to Suela, Roberto was Francisco’s prime student and second in line in the clan when Francisco died, so I was looking forward to meeting him.

When Suela and I walked in, Roberto greeted us warmly, but I could see he was withholding judgment about me. The look in his eyes was not exactly friendly, but not off putting either, it just ‘was’ what it was. I didn’t expect any less from him, actually. I had been a part of the older clan and ‘knew’ I had never met him, even in dream state. So I didn’t exactly trust him either, but he ‘seemed’ nice, so I thought, and maybe as time went on he would see that he could at least come to be friends with me.

When Todd, Mark, Inez and I arrived at Roberto’s store, it was nearly eleven o’clock in the morning. He had no customers there at that hour so we knew we would have a chance to catch him up on what we were doing at the clinic and what we still had left to do.

Todd and I knew that clearing the building of masks was only part of the work necessary at the clinic. We also had to balance and bless the land and set up a protective barrier to further interference. To do that we had purchased Herkimer crystals to anchor the corners of the property perimeter and had worked out a ritual using the Tarahumara drums that Francisco had collected from the tribe over the years.

The ‘Raramuri’ or Tarahumara Indians were a very important part of Francisco’s life; more so than most people realized as he had not told them everything about his early years and his later relationship with Augustinio, the head Tarahumara shaman. After Francisco’s education in Mexico and Cuba, he had traveled a great deal, working his magic and learning more and more about his craft. Somewhere along the way he had become possessed and the demons were not complimenting Francisco’s spiritual nature. When he decided to take a trip to Copper Canyon with another friend from his alma mater to do charity medical work, Augustinio had taken a liking to him and saw more potential in Francisco than he saw in himself. He also realized that Francisco was possessed by an evil spirit and told Francisco that he needed to be freed from that bondage.

Francisco agreed and Augustinio, along with some of the other shaman set up a cleansing and exorcism for him. It took many days for them to completely clear him of the demons he had acquired over the years, but when they completed the exorcism, Francisco returned to Juarez with a new outlook on life, returned to the Church and began to build the clinic to help other people less fortunate than himself. He became a philanthropist as well and the trips to Copper Canyon to bring medicine, supplies and his skills as a doctor to the Tarahumara Indians evolved into a biyearly project for him.

His relationship with the Tarahumaras became very important to his life and after his death his ashes were brought to the Tarahumara and, with beautiful ceremony, first the village priest, and then the shamans held his funeral. After the service, Augustinio and the other shamans of the tribe asked Suela to carry his ashes, with the family following her, up their sacred mountain where his ashes were spread by the shaman in a special place. This was the shaman’s highest honor and bestowed with love for their friend.

Each Tarahumara man is believed to have three souls, the women four, because they give birth, and each soul, as it passes, becomes a star in the sky. Being adopted by the tribe as an official member of the Rahamuri meant that Francisco’s souls would now shine down over Copper Canyon forever. They had enabled him to live his life to the fullest and now his souls would be a sacred part of the heavens for eternity.

When Todd had experienced the Tarahumara drum falling off the wall at his friend’s home in Las Vegas and got Suela’s message the next day asking him to accompany her to the Easter celebration “Semana Santa” held each year by the Tarahumaras, it was no accident. When they arrived, he was immediately struck by the beauty of the Copper Canyon area. That night the moon was full and the landscape lit up with a blue light.

He had thought it amazing, but he was more amazed when he arrived at my house and saw the painting I had painted a few months before of exactly that scene although I had never been there. He raved about it to Suela and the rest and was stunned by the way everything was unfolding in this entire scenario of he and I being the ‘ones’ chosen to help Francisco free himself from the domination of the other brujo’s demon.

After the Church part of the Easter service, the head shaman selects two people to make the trip to the top of the sacred mountain with the tribe. That year they selected Suela and Todd. The trail to the top of the mountain goes past the Stations of the Cross that are set into the mountain. The rest of the people who attend are allowed as far as the final Station, but no higher. Suela and Todd were taken to the top and invited to be a part of their most sacred ceremony there. This ceremony is for the shamans ‘to honor God’, and ‘God’s blood’, or Tesguino, an alcoholic drink made from fermented corn, is a part of this ceremony observed only by the shamans and the one or two chosen guests. The dead are honored as well as prayers said for forgiveness for the living and a blessing for the tribe. Todd was shown where Francisco’s ashes we scattered and he told me how beautiful it was up there. He was humbled to be a part of it all.

When we arrived at Roberto’s shop, he asked Todd if he had returned to the Tarahumara. Todd was a little taken aback at the question, since there was nothing going on now in Copper Canyon and the Tarahumara spread out all over the area unless there was a celebration of some kind. He told me later it concerned him that Roberto asked him about that.

Exorcists learn that there are two kinds of demons, serpents and scorpions. When a first class relic is held to the nape of the neck where the skull meets the neck, and the eyelids are opened, the eyes of a possessed person will roll either upwards or downwards until only the whites of the eyes are showing. If the eyes roll up, the possessing demon is a serpent; if they roll down, the demon is a scorpion. Whatever that demon touches or influences, those traits are also evident.

When the four of us entered the herb shop, we moved to the back storeroom to talk. Roberto stood by his desk and countertop that faces east and the four of us each took a chair forming a loose semicircle around him. Todd was on the end facing west and Roberto’s counter. I was directly to Roberto’s right, Mark to my right and Inez sat between Mark and Todd.

As we were talking about the ceremony to strengthen and heal the land, Mark suddenly moved his left hand in a gesture towards the window directly behind Todd. The building was made of cement block and the window was near the top of the eight foot wall. It was a small rectangular window covered by a white shade. There was no sill, just a small one inch jutting ledge where the window had been set into the brick.

As my eyes followed Mark’s gesture, I saw a shadow appear against the shade. It appeared to be the front of a scorpion making its way onto the small outside ledge. However, it seemed to be walking on a flat surface, which was impossible, since there was no ledge at all on the outside wall. Had it been a ‘real’ scorpion, it would have appeared to be climbing at an angle onto the ledge. Mark had noticed the movement and also had realized this was no ordinary scorpion. In fact, the angle of the sun precluded it shining on anything to be able to cast that kind of shadow, since it was now after eleven o’clock in the morning and the sun was no longer in position to shine directly on the window.

Within seconds the scorpion began to gain in size and I motioned to Roberto to look. He saw the scorpion moving towards the center and reached for his athame and held it as though ready to throw it. Todd was sitting well away from the wall, but his head was centered in the window area so it appeared as though the scorpion was getting in position to attack him. Todd was wrapped up in a conversation with Roberto and wasn’t paying attention to the rest of us even though we were trying to catch his attention. Suddenly the scorpion grew to over six inches high against the shade and his tail reared back. Roberto took no action, even though he should have banished the scorpion or warn Todd, he did nothing.

I leaped from my chair and though there was at least eight to ten feet of distance between myself and Todd, I covered the area with one step, grabbed his arm and literally pulled him from the chair and to my side in one move. Todd swung around to face the window and nearly screamed when he saw the scorpion which struck just as I pulled Todd out of position.

Even though you might think ‘that was only a shadow of a scorpion’, let me say that in studying the metaphysical all these years, I know that it is not just what is ‘real’ and ‘solid’ that damages a person spiritually or physically, it is more what is ‘unseen’ or sent by intention. To this day, when I see a black spider in my house, I know witchcraft is afoot, because the brujo and his clan sent many of them to watch me and report.

Had Todd remained where he was, he could have been killed by a sting of a scorpion that large; killed or possessed, either one was possible. The fact that Roberto did nothing to stop it made me realize immediately that in the three years since Francisco’s death, he had become a student of the other brujo, and also in full or partial possession himself, which is why he was unable to act against the brujo’s demon. I knew we could no longer talk strategy around Roberto, he would report back everything we said and did. None of Francisco’s clan that remained faithful to him could use products from Roberto’s store either as they would most certainly be infested by the other brujo’s demon.

I glanced at the others and saw that they also understood we must leave. I had said nothing, but they were all well trained and knowledgeable people. They had also realized that Roberto no longer played for Francisco’s team.

We used the rest of the day to work out our ceremony for clearing the clinic property and purchase a few essential items. We also made note of the fact that we needed to pick up the Tarahumara drums and rattles at Fiona’s apartment the next day as well.

That night Suela and I watched “The Prophecy”, a movie about fallen angels, angels fallen from grace and the faith of man to overcome evil; possibly one of the most inspiring movies I’ve ever seen. It was a favorite that I watched at least ten times before going to Juarez and another ten times since. It was the final statement by the character ‘Thomas’ that enabled me to stand my ground in Juarez when the devil came to call.

El Diablo

Day four at the clinic began very early as we left El Paso to pick up Fiona, the Tarahumara drums and ready ourselves to finish clearing the masks. Mark, Inez and Todd followed Maria, Fiona and I in their van as we began the early morning trek south.

I had risen very early and walked outside to look at the few stars left in the sky and reflect on what I was about to do. El Diablo had to be taken from the tin punched trunk today. I had no idea what to expect, but turned to Francisco in spirit and saw a soft smile on his face. “Ah,” I thought, “he already has it under control”, and I relaxed.

I knew it would take a great deal of power for Francisco to subdue the demon. I wasn’t sure how he was going to accomplish this task, but left it to him, making a mental note to stop at his room and say an extra prayer that he be given the strength to withstand the onslaught and free himself afterwards. I wasn’t sure he could, but hoped anyway.

Francisco must have been a soul dearly loved by the Blessed Mother. God was so potently powerful the entire time we were working on the clinic. If I missed even the slightest detail, the Holy Spirit was right there to remind me. Even when I first met Estelle, and she asked me why I came to help them, I, personally would not have known what to say, but suddenly found myself telling her that I was there because God had heard their prayers…and I knew that was the truth. The Holy Spirit had brought me utterance and his words, not mine, had issued forth.

The Holy Spirit taking charge happened many times to Todd and me. I would ‘see’ something and know it needed to go or that something was not quite right. We worked well as a team. What I didn’t see, he did. What he didn’t know, I did. But what was amazing was how God worked with both of us. We would complete each other’s sentences and think the same thoughts, being in agreement before either of us could voice what we were thinking. It was awesome and wonderful to work with someone as knowledgeable and brilliant as Todd and I miss him terribly.

A large number of Francisco’s family and students and clan would be arriving for the ceremony tomorrow. If we were able to finish the clinic cleansing today, we would perform our healing ceremony the land and clinic the next day and bless the family to remove the illness and curses they had been struggling under. Suela’s daughters were also coming.

The enormity of what we were doing and about to do should have overwhelmed me. I was far from being the one that could take all this on and I knew it. Todd and I, for whatever reason, just kept putting one foot in front of the other, so intent on listening to God’s instructions we never thought about it all in its totality. Thank God for sparing us that. I think we would both have run for cover and hid somewhere had we actually ‘been aware’ of what was happening from one minute to the next.

We all stopped at Jude’s ice cream store on our way to the rancho. He made incredible ice cream and we bought his delicious queso that he also made there. He was a young man in his thirties, but very personable and good looking, always with a smile that lifted everyone’s spirits. It was easy to see why Francisco had chosen Jude to free Fiona from the wall when she was held there by her possessing demon. His face radiated a spiritual light that Todd and I recognized immediately as belonging to one whom God favors. I’m certain Francisco realized that about Jude as well.

We arrived at the clinic around eight and immediately ate breakfast and went to work. We cleared the rest of the rooms of masks and questionable items, blessing all and placing them in the bags which had to be tied with red thread and knotted three times, ( "A cord of three strands is not quickly broken." – Ecclesiastes 4:12), each knot blessed with holy oil as well as the outside of the bag. The bags then were taken off the property onto the farmland past the driveway of the clinic.

It was finally time to open the trunks and bag the masks inside. We were very nervous about this and began in the area where we did not feel any masks in the trunks, the foyer. In one of those trunks, we found the precious Spanish icons, which was a huge relief for the family who had not been able to find them and had wondered for years if they had been stolen.

Then we took a deep breath and moved into the hallway, opening one trunk at a time, blessing and removing the masks. Everyone had their blessed rosaries on and had been anointed that morning with holy water and oil, and still we were, at our core, terrified of what we might find in the punched tin truck. It was the most beautiful, but it seemed to vibrate with the energy of El Diablo.

We reached the last trunk and Todd and I looked at each other. El Diablo was inside and we could feel the dark power of the spirit, even from several feet away. Now we had to open the trunk. I told him about my experience with Francisco that morning and he said, “Let me say a short prayer for him.” We all bowed our heads and prayed together that Francisco would be successful and also able to free himself afterwards, and when he was finished, we opened the trunk together.

There were eight masks in the trunk, seven covering El Diablo. There were eyes looking at us through those masks and they were fierce. Todd and I reached in together and each picked one up and blessed it. We did not look into the eyes. We carefully put the masks in the bag that Mark and Inez, wearing gloves now, were holding gingerly, with the open end as large as possible so the masks would not touch them on their way inside.

Finally it was time to uncover El Diablo. Todd began to reach for him but I stopped him. I just ‘knew’ that if Todd touched that mask it would attack him, even though I could ‘see’ that the energy of the demon and Francisco’s energy were entwined and there were two colors emanating from the mask, blue, which was Francisco and a swirling reddish brown that was El Diablo. They twisted and turned, Francisco fighting desperately to contain the demon, the demon fighting desperately to get free. I began to pray the Hail Mary out loud in Latin to call upon the angels to help Francisco and reached in and picked them both up. The energy swirled over my hands as I held the mask with my left hand and blessed it with my right thumb. “En Nomeni Patri, et Fili, et Spiritu Sancti”, I said as I made the sign of the cross with holy oil across the top of the forehead of El Diablo. The reddish brown energy stopped flowing and stood still for a few seconds.

“NOW!” I said out loud to Francisco’s spirit. The blue energy flowed aside from the red and I swept the mask containing El Diablo’s energy into the bag. Todd immediately began wrapping and blessing the red string to bind the demon inside the bag. We anointed the bag many times with holy oil and Todd carried it outside and off the property.

I saw Francisco’s energy, now quiet and many shades lighter than it had been, lying very still in the trunk. I sprinkled the trunk with Fatima water and his energy began to revive. I sprinkled some more with the blessing and said the Hail Mary once more. By the time I finished, his energy was once again brilliant blue as it rose from the trunk and moved slowly towards his room.

We left the trunks all open after sprinkling them lightly with salt, and went to the front of the clinic and sat on some benches under the shade from the portico. We all really needed a break.

A few minutes of peace went by and suddenly Todd sat straight up and said, loudly, “Oh no, we need to get the village priest here before nightfall to bless and sanctify the chapel and clinic!” We all turned and simply stared at him, horrified. We had forgotten this needed to be done the day we were finished and no one had contacted the local priest, Fr. Miguel. Todd ran out into the field to see if Jude could fetch the Father, but he was in the middle of planting his crop and could not take the time to drive thirty miles to the church another thirty miles back to the clinic before darkness fell.

Todd and I were frantic. Now what, we wondered? Would all our hard work fall apart because we couldn’t get the clinic blessed in time? We weren’t just dealing with demons, but nature spirits and we had a full moon tonight. This was a bad sign as they would be at full power.

So many people make a terrible mistake. I clear their homes and a few days later they bring all the icky stuff I had them remove right back through the front door. They were supposed to get rid of it, but they didn’t want to part with it and the spirits come right back with the cursed items, riding through the door like kings. People go through exorcisms only to disregard going back to church and wonder why the demons return. Unless you fill that swept house with God, the demon exorcised from it goes out and finds seven worse than himself and comes back triumphant with a full crew from hell. We were not about to let that happen here and were trying to figure some way of getting the good Father to the clinic in time, but there were no answers available and we thought all might be lost. We were devastated.

Inez came from inside the clinic and told us there were a few minor masks left in a storeroom near Francisco’s room, so we hurried to get those. We bagged them, tied and blessed them, talking the entire while about our plight, and then, finished with the last mask in the clinic, Todd took the bag off the property. As he set it down, he turned to see an unknown car drive up to the clinic. I was sitting on the porch with Suela, Mark and Inez, watching as he went to greet whoever it was.

He turned suddenly to face me and pointed to the man getting out of the car, “It’s Father Miguel!” he yelled, “It’s Father Miguel! He’s come to bless the clinic!!”

I nearly fell over in shock and so did Suela. Mark leaped to his feet and ran towards the rancho to tell the family.

Suela and I went to greet the Father and noticed that the Mother Superior of the school was also with him, as well as the man who drove him. Todd was talking excitedly to Father Miguel, telling him everything in possibly the fewest and longest sentences I had ever heard. The Father was listening intently, and began to realize that his ‘trip to simply ‘see’ Francisco’s clinic’, was in fact, preordained by God. He turned to the man who brought him, said a few words in Spanish, to which the man nodded in the affirmative, then turned smiling to greet family, now at a dead run from the rancho to the clinic. If Todd thought he was excited, he paled by comparison to the family who looked like they had just witnessed a miracle. And in truth, they had.

You see, the man who drove the Father, was in fact, the man who for many years had channeled the St. Nino De Fidenzio. The Christ Child of Fidenzio was a folk saint of Mexico, but known throughout the world for his healing miracles. He, through the man who channeled him, had been featured in the National Geographic magazine and had appeared on many documentaries. And this man, who the Christ Child had chosen as his host, had been sitting at home, relaxing, when suddenly God had told him to go get the priest and take him to see Francisco’s clinic. Fr. Miguel had never seen the clinic and was very happy to go with him to see it.

The Mother Superior had also decided to come, and the man had asked her to go get the Father’s vestments and kit. She did, and so the Father arrived with his vestments and everything he needed, except Holy Water, to bless the clinic. He was very surprised when I handed him the Fatima water. It had not been blessed by a priest, but Fr. Miguel blessed it and sanctified the chapel and blessed the clinic and all of us in attendance. He was astounded when he heard the entire story from the family.

The family wanted to give the masks to the church to sell, but I cautioned the Father not to take them as they were still filled with spirits. I said I thought they should be donated to a Mexican public museum where the spirits would be freed as they would no longer be ‘owned’ or controlled by any ‘one’ person, therefore they would be free to leave the masks and return to their native lands. Fr. Miguel agreed with me and so they helped Mark and Inez load their van with bags and had them go to the Museum of Juarez and leave them there as a family gift and donation.

I believe Fiona either asked for some of them to be returned or bought them back, eventually, but it was after the Museum had taken ownership of them and the spirits were no longer present.

The family was thrilled as were we after the blessing and truly in awe of God’s planning. [To this day, I’m simply stunned by God when he’s working!]

I knew nothing about the driver at the time when the Priest arrived and did not find out who he really was until they had gone. I was blown away when I realized who had brought the priest. So was Todd, although what is amazing is that the St. Nino De Fidenzio was always Todd’s favorite folk saint of Mexico and he had bought many candles of the Saint as well as St. Jude and St. Michael for us to burn pleading for their prayer support while at the clinic and many more for our prayer warrior Therese, in Los Angeles, to burn while we were in Juarez. She was one of those completely trustworthy people you entrust with such a huge responsibility. She never let those candles go out without another being lit the entire time we were in Mexico and is now one of my closest and dearest friends.

The one thing that we did notice, however, is that the driver held our hands that we proffered for him to shake with both hands and looked deeply into our eyes before smiling at us. I felt a great sense of peace within him. It was his last action as the channel for St. Nino De Fidenzio. He had been the channel for nearly thirty years and he retired that month and a new channeler took his place. Perhaps he was waiting for us to come to release Francisco. I don’t know. But it appeared that way to Suela, and I think she was correct.

When you look at all the things that happened there, you cannot discount God’s intentions all the way from the beginning to the end of this story; nor can you discount the love God and St. Mary have for Francisco. Truly, I believe he will someday become a folk saint of Mexico.

Todd said there was a spot on the property where a natural spring will flow one day and the Virgin Mary will appear. It is marked with a statue of her that he bought and gave to the family. Considering that Todd was always right when he was operating as a ‘seer’, I believe him and know in my heart that one day this spring will actually flow from that land. The family had built a small altar to St. Mary on that spot many years ago in gratitude and kept a statue there for many years. When Todd first saw it, he ‘saw’ the spring and what would happen and also realized that their statue was getting really old and faded, so he replaced it when he returned to the rancho with me.

Did everything that happened at the clinic and rancho happen because God was preparing a place for the Holy Mother at some point in the future? Was I involved because this book needed to be written so no one will ever doubt it was his plan from the beginning? I wouldn’t doubt anything when it concerns God’s planning.

Healing the Land

Todd and I met that afternoon in Francisco’s office to plan the ceremony the next day. We emptied out all the crystals we had purchased on the desk. Todd wanted to use only the best and clearest of the Herkimer’s, so he did the sorting. Todd had forgotten more about crystals than I knew at that time, so he took charge of that.

When Todd had visited the clinic earlier with Suela after leaving Copper Canyon, the family tractor was not working. Although they had done everything they could to get it started, it simply would not start. Todd walked over to see what they were doing and they told him about the tractor. He said, “Just a minute”, went to the house and got his holy water, returned and blessed the tractor, and said, “Now try it.” And it started right up.

So after he had talked to me and agreed that the land would need healing, he told the family that they needed to build a small altar to St. Michael on the small hill on the west side overlooking the clinic and they had. He also told them to buy twenty-five lbs of rock salt to use around the perimeter and they had done that also. By this time, the family knew Todd was somebody special to God, so they weren’t about to doubt him when he said something was necessary.

Todd, Suela, Fiona and the family began planting and blessing the crystals on the east corner (St. Michael’s corner) of the property. Suela was to beat her drum four times when Todd had finished, and standing on the small bridge crossing the irrigation canal leading to the driveway of the clinic, I would respond with four beats on my drum anchoring the line of energy from the corner to the center of the property.

Finished in the east, they moved to the south corner, or St. Raphael’s corner, west to St. Gabriel’s corner, north to St. Uriel’s corner and back to St. Michael’s corner and repeated the action, with me repeating the response. (some may not agree with these respective directions for the Archangels, but they are the directions we were given. They’re the Gaelic directions and for whatever reason, God wanted them used.)

When they were finished, and all the energy lines of the property aligned with the center, I began to build the vortex that would hold the corners to the center of the land under the earth, through the earth and to Heaven.

I stood in the center of the small bridge and began to beat the drum. Each beat was separate, bringing the drum from down at my right side all the way up to point directly to heaven. There were thirty-three beats of the drum.

The seers watching the ceremony told me that my hair changed color as it blew in the wind that began to come up and get stronger with each beat. My hair was nearly to my waist in length and loose that day as I knew it was important to leave it loose to act as an antenna, drawing upon the subtle energies of the cosmos. The first four beats signaled the corner point energies of the property to begin their ascent as the center joining began to spin slowly. As I tied the east side to the center, my hair turned bright red, as the south came online, my hair turned black, as the west point began to vibrate, it turned brown and when the north point was touched, my hair turned white.

The vortex began to grind in a clockwise direction and with all four points spinning now, the vortex gathered speed at the base for the first ten beats, and my hair blew about my shoulders. As I brought the drum up for the eleventh beat, the vortex tightened in the center, dividing the ‘earth’ base, and what would be the ‘heaven’ top.

By the fifteenth beat, the center of the vortex column was very tight and spinning rapidly, and my hair was now blowing about my face, whipping in the wind caused by the speed of the vortex. With the sixteenth beat, the vortex began to open once again to make its full speed for the ascent to the top, sucking my hair up into the rising tornado that was climbing ever higher towards heaven.

With the twenty-first beat, my hair rose higher, whipping around just over my head in a flat spin, making me look like I was wearing a hat with a large brim. The energy of the vortex began its final ascent with a roar of wind that seemed to suck all the energy from the earth below as the spinning rushed towards the sky.

Once the drum sounded the thirty-first beat, I could hear nothing but the wind cycling around my head, and I raised the drum again for the thirty-second beat. Now the vortex was spinning wide at the base, narrow in the center and fully opened at the top as it sped up through the sky and out towards the cosmos itself. The roar of the wind was deafening and my hair was beginning to raise higher and higher above my head.

Finally I swung the drum for the thirty-third beat. I had no idea what would happen, but when I struck the drum, a strong line of energy came from the earth through the vortex base, through me and the vortex center and went straight up through the top of the vortex and I could feel it shooting all the way out into space in a straight line until finally it connected with “The” power source. I felt the vibration in the line cease, and then it seemed to explode into millions of lights, glowing gold as they shot outward, up through the vortex and down into the earth in little fiery sparks, like a gold electrical circuit had been established with a huge power source at the center. My hair was pointing straight up as the connection was made, then it began to whip frantically around my head, the individual hairs glowing gold and white as it raised and lowered and rose again.

I stood there for a few minutes until I realized there was only silence as the light from the column lit everything around me and the landscape appeared iridescent. I remembered I needed to breathe and took a deep breath. As soon as I did, the light disappeared, but I could feel the flow of energy still building. I began to walk across the bridge towards the clinic to sit down and noticed that everyone was standing in front of me, staring upward, silent, and unmoving.

I wondered if they had seen or heard what I experienced, but I was exhausted and had no energy left to even ask them any questions.

Todd and Suela came over to me immediately and helped me to a chair. I couldn’t believe how fatigued I was. I had never built a vortex this size before. Normally I would build the base, and wait six months to a year for the base to stabilize before building the top. But this one had demanded a full vortex of incredible proportions be established right from the beginning. I knew going in that what God was asking me to do was totally beyond my ability and so I had completely relied on him to not only give me instructions and direction in my work, but the power to spin the vortex as well. He had built something magnificent and awe inspiring and I would never forget the view from the center.

Todd brought me a glass of lemonade, and sat down with Suela and I as the family returned to the clinic. Some of the family came over and said things like “Wow” and, “That was incredible!” before they went in, but others, like some of the brujas, just looked at me funny and went inside.

Inez, Fiona, Todd, Suela and Estelle saw the entire thing unfold and build. They all told me that they were in awe of what I had done. I just laughed, softly.

“Do you think I did that?” I asked. “There is no way I could have done that myself. That was God, totally, one hundred percent, start to finish, and I am in as much awe as you.”

Todd just leaned back and looked at me sideways, smiling. Finally he said, “Right. You’re right. You’re also a bit wrong, but we’ll discuss that later.” And he got up and ambled into the clinic laughing softly.

I just watched him go, laughing and shaking my head. Trust Todd to not get excited about anything, I thought. Personally, though, I was in awe of what happened, just like the other women, and I knew for a fact that what happened was entirely God’s doing.

A year from now the vortex would complete and the connection would be solid. Todd and I would have to return to say the final blessing for the water to once again flow. Seeing the faces of the brujas as they entered the clinic earlier, I had no doubt we’d find ourselves in a tense situation when we returned. They weren’t too friendly now, but give them a year to talk amongst themselves; they’d be a real handful. Right now they didn’t know what to expect from us, so they kept their heads down, taking notes, but give them a year without us around and they’d think they had us all figured out, be full of pride once again and want to challenge us both. And, in addition to dealing with a bunch of pissed off witches, I’d have to release Francisco’s imprisoned allies in the west bell tower too. I wasn’t looking forward to the return trip, and wasn’t sure Todd would even show up to help me complete it.

As it turned out, he didn’t, but God provided me with another strong believer and my son also stepped up to steady the boat as well. The trip became something you only see in movies, and it rocked our world. Everything we thought we knew or understood about the world changed during that trip and it’s a book in itself.

The Snakes in the Graveyard Cross

It was 103 degrees the day we performed the land healing ceremony and we were all sweltering from the heat. Everyone was relieved and hungry when it was over. The women went to prepare lunch while Todd and I began to talk about the family blessing ceremony to be held the next day.

A lot of family and friends would be coming to the clinic throughout the afternoon, some to stay at the rancho and clinic that night, with the rest planning their arrival the next day, so there were many preparations to complete.

Todd and I decided we needed to remove the cattle heads rotting on the west side of the clinic and do a search to see if there were other cursed objects still on the clinic grounds. We blessed five or six animal skulls and carried them over to the field past the driveway where they could be disposed of. They weren’t cursed, or at least some weren’t, but they had to go anyway. Not all were clean skulls; some were rotting in the sun.

Standing near the field, Todd sighed and said, “Well, it’s time to get that cross off the property.”

I just looked at him. It was hot, I was tired and that cross had to weigh at least one hundred and fifty pounds. “How are we supposed to carry that?” I asked him.

“Slowly.” He replied, grimfaced. “Very, very slowly.”

We took a deep breath and soldiered up. Gag…we were not happy right looking at that huge cross. It had been stolen from the nearby cemetery near the highway and brought onto the grounds to seal poor Bruno, Francisco’s murdered dog, into the ground, complete with a binding spell and cursed graveyard dirt. To say we were repulsed is too mild a phrase.

We had to walk over rough prairie and down three to four feet through a dry irrigation canal, no longer used, and up the other side to get to the dogs grave. The canal was full of brush, rocks, cactus and cholla, a really nasty type of tall skinny cactus with long sharp spines, which made the trek very difficult, especially since I was wearing a dress and tennis shoes, but eventually we made it to the other side and stood looking down at the cross. We were more concerned about rattlesnakes than the cholla, with scorpions coming in a close second, but we saw neither.

The cross had been poured in cement, using four by four pieces of lumber for a mold, so it was very heavy. Six feet high and four feet in width, it was prodigious. I was not sure at all that we could carry the thing ourselves and said so. Todd said there was no help for it as all the men had returned to the fields, and figured if it proved to be too much, we could get them to help us later. But he wanted to try, so I said a quick prayer for strength and stepped up.

Todd picked up the heavy end nearest the arms and I picked up the other end. We had only moved a few feet when he suddenly began to yell.

“Oh my God!” he screamed, “There are black snakes crawling up my arms! Oh my God, help me, help me!”

I set the cross down and ran over to him. He kept asking me if I saw them, but I didn’t see the snakes. I certainly believed he saw them though. He was in a panic and nearly hysterical, trying to shake them off, flailing his arms about wildly.

I had a small bottle of holy water in my pocket and a small vial of exorcised oil, and I pulled them out and began pouring holy water on his arms and literally throwing it all over him and the cross until he quit screaming. Then I anointed him and the cross with exorcised oil while praying and exorcising the curse.

Todd said the snakes had now gone back into the ground where the cemetery dirt was, but we both had to take a minute to catch our breath. That was really a grim development and we both wondered what we’d encounter next. I did anoint the cemetery dirt before moving on, I can tell you.

We picked up the cross again and continued our trek to the field. We had to stop many times as we climbed in and out of rough areas of the virgin prairie around the rocks and cactus. It was tough going and we were very relieved when we finally put the cross down on the field about thirty minutes later. We really wanted to sit down, but with all the nasty stuff lying in the field, we decided against sitting in the dirt.

Legion

We returned to the clinic by crossing the driveway and bridge, but as we stepped off the bridge, my psychic ‘attention’ was drawn to the sight of something strange laying in the yard.

I kept my eyes on it while pointing at it and asked Todd, “Is that a boars head?”

He was ahead of me and turned around to see where I was pointing. Grimfaced, he walked over to the object. “No, silly,” he said, busting out laughing, “It’s just a chunk of wood!” and he held it up so I could see it, but I was not convinced.

“Really?” I asked, not believing him, “Are you sure? I could have sworn that was a boars head.”

He said, “Of course I’m sure, but since it caught your attention, I’m not taking any chances.” And he carried it over to the field and left it on the ground.

I waited for him to get return and we walked together to the clinic to help clean it up for the guests arriving later that afternoon. We both knew that what happened was more than a simple incident, and we were wary, looking at everything with suspicion.

Fiona and Estelle were in the clinic, cleaning the kitchen, when we walked in. They were happy and smiling, really enjoying the feel and brightness of the clinic now that all the masks and cursed objects were gone. They were amazed as Todd told them the story about the cross, but were incredibly relieved that it was now blessed and removed.

Todd and I grabbed brooms and began to sweep off the inner courtyard portico that was littered with dead leaves and grass. We were sweeping for about thirty minutes when Todd decided to get us some bottles of water. I continued sweeping and Juan’s oldest son rode up on his bike to see if any of us needed any help. He began to walk past me to the kitchen when suddenly Todd screamed. It scared me so badly I froze and dropped the broom.

Todd had a high voice but I had never heard him scream like this before, not even when the snakes were crawling up his arms. This was the kind of scream you hear in horror movies!

He began screaming my name, yelling, “Sonia! Sonia! Come quick, the boars head, the boars head!”

“Oh my God”, I thought, at a dead run now, “I ‘knew’ I saw a boars head!”

I nearly ran over Estelle’s grandson on my way into the kitchen.

Todd’s face was completely white, which is really saying something because he had Spanish and Polynesian blood. He was literally shaking from head to toe, staring at the freezer.

I turned by the door to look into the freezer and there it was. The boars head. Tusks, eyes wide open, the full head, ears and all, there it sat, frozen solid. I knew it was a simple animal head, but I could see what Todd saw, this one was possessed. Smug and evil…full of every damned spirit from that clinic and property that had been able to run fast enough to hide in it. And there was more, a full head of a steer with horns sat right behind it. Both sets of eyes were looking directly at us, unblinking, but full of malice.

We had to get these two heads out of this clinic immediately, but I had to seal those spirits inside right now, before they could get out. I had pulled the holy water out as soon as I saw them and, using the bottle, sprayed it all over the heads while binding the spirits inside, and then did the same thing with the oil. I did not touch the heads with my bare hands, nor did anyone else. We knew exactly what those spirits could do and wanted none of it.

Fiona handed Todd a box of garbage bags and Fiona and I put two or three inside each other and held them open while Todd and the grandson put on gloves and tried to dislodge the boars head from the freezer. Pull, twist, turn, struggle as they might, that head was going nowhere. Todd and Juanito were strong guys but they couldn’t move that doggone thing even a fraction of an inch.

Juanito said, “Maybe I should get the sledge hammer.”

But Estelle stopped him and said, “Can’t we just defrost the freezer and get it out? What’s wrong with it anyway? It’s a delicacy.”

It suddenly dawned on me that neither Todd nor I had told them why we were so upset. I felt bad about that, right then, and turned to Fiona and Estelle and began to explain our reasoning.

I explained, “Remember when Jesus allowed the demons to flee into the swine when he exorcised the man at Gerasene? Well, that’s what’s happened here. The demons that escaped the masks or those that were drawn here because of the curses, spells or presence of the other spirits fled into this boar’s head when they realized that we were going to seal them into the bags. They didn’t know what we were going to do to them and were afraid of God’s wrath so they had to find somewhere to hide. We have to remove this head and the steer’s head behind it, not because the steer’s head is infested, but because it’s touching the boars head, and that exposure to demonic energy makes it dangerous as well. These heads must be removed, blessed, sealed and buried or the legion of demons hiding in them will simply come out of the heads and re-infest the clinic when we’ve gone.”

Estelle and Fiona were shocked to their toes and more than a little frightened. But at least they were now totally in agreement with the removal of both heads.

The boars head was frozen fast, but Todd and I both knew it wasn’t just the freezing of the flesh, but the demons themselves that were holding it in the freezer. I felt righteous anger and no small amount of determination welling up inside of me and suddenly I knew what to do. I told the guys to get several more bags and put them inside each other. It was obvious that the boars head was really heavy and I knew it would easily break through one or two bags, so they put three together and got ready to catch the thing.

I said, “Lean back a bit.” and I reached upward and called on St. Michael to help me. I yelled as I did in martial arts while I hit that boars head as hard as I could with the ridge of the palm of my left hand. As I extended my arm, I felt additional power flowing through the top of my head and out of my hand.

BAM! I hit that head, and believe me, it was outta there! That head spun around three times and fell right into the bag, “Boom!” and scared the hell out of everyone in the kitchen.

Sweet, dignified Estelle and Fiona ran for their lives and left us grappling madly, trying to contain the boars head inside three bags, which it broke. We added more and more bags until we had it contained and then used the same tactics with the steer’s head. I think we used nearly twenty bags in all.

After we had both heads bagged, blessed and sealed, the Juanito and Todd dragged the heads to the field, came back for a shovel, returned to the field and buried them.

Todd came back to sit down outside the clinic and stared at me. He said, “I know you’re into martial arts, but how the hell did you manage that?”

I just pointed up. “St. Michael.”

I was exhausted. We’d finish cleaning the next day; enough fun and games for this one. Todd reminded me that Estelle’s husband was making barbequed turkey tails for dinner, so we closed up the clinic and began to amble towards the hacienda.

After the heat of the day, the land healing ceremony, the hard work carrying the cross, finding the boars head and everything else we’d done that day, we were beyond tired. Todd and I began to walk to the hacienda and ended in a heated argument over who could shower first. Todd took forever and I wanted some hot water left when I showered.

Todd was so tired he was nearly sick and I was still trying to back off the adrenaline from the confrontation with the animal heads. Instead of being nice to each other, we were quite the opposite, acting like children needing a nap. I was cranky and saw Todd as whiny. He saw me as being unreasonable and beat me to the shower where he deliberately used all the hot water. So naturally, by the time I climbed into the shower, it was ice cold, but I couldn’t just jump out, I was filthy dirty, so I had to wash my long hair in cold water, yelling at him the entire while. I’d have hours of sitting in the heat until it dried a gummy mess full of leftover shampoo, only to have to rewash it in the morning. I was very unhappy, and from his tone, he wasn’t too thrilled with me either.

I came out of the shower to see Todd sitting glumly on his bed picking the pills off his blanket. I just looked at him and without knowing why, I began laughing, not at him, just at the absurdity of the entire situation between us.

He looked up with a smile and said, “God really got to me while I was sitting here,” he said thoughtfully, “You couldn’t cool off so he dumped you in cold water and I was taking these pills off the blanket and suddenly realized I had been nitpicking. He nailed us.”

I sat down on his bed and turned towards him, still laughing. “You’re absolutely right, Todd. He nailed us.” I sighed and shook my soapy head, “Ah, well, I’m hungry. Let’s go check on those turkey tails.”

[The Work is very difficult and I have been accused of ‘throwing tantrums’ before when I’m really tired. I would like to ask other Workers not to be too judgmental of each other for their human failings when lives and souls are on the line and the stress gets overwhelming. To some of us, defeat is not an option and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform, which, of course, tends to bring out anger as well as frustration, not at other people, but really, at the demonic force we’re up against. I know the attack seems personal when we blow up in your face, but ninety nine percent of the time it really isn’t. So try to be forgiving and understanding and just gently remind the person who or what they’re really angry at.]

That night the family asked us if we would stay on to reopen and run the clinic, but we had to decline. First of all, there was no doctor to staff the clinic. Secondly, it would take a year for the water to flow again, so it would be impossible for the toilets and baths to work. We told them that perhaps we could discuss it when we returned next year.

For now, my family was back in Dallas, and there would be no paying work for my husband to do at the clinic and we had bills that needed to be paid back home. Todd had commitments and his own work in Los Angeles, so at this point it wasn’t economically possible. But the truth was that we really did want to stay, actually, and had there been any way we could have, we would have. I still think of that beautiful clinic and wished I could have kept it open. Maybe one day I can return with the money to fix it up and reopen it. I never know when God puts his mind to something what I will end up doing.

The Shadow Man

That night many of us slept outside the clinic, since we had the blessing ceremony in the morning. Suela and her daughters, some of Francisco’s female students, Fiona and I took the double beds out of the clinic set them in front of the east bell tower. There were enough beds if we all shared with someone else, and since that gave us a certain security as well, we fell asleep quickly. Todd slept in his bed in the hacienda. He had been infected with HIV from his earlier drug use and lifestyle, and even though he wasn’t showing any symptoms, he didn’t want to infect others via mosquitoes. He was always very careful not to compromise the health of others.

I woke suddenly around midnight and quickly turned to look at the hallway door leading to Francisco’s room. A blacker than black shadow creature began to creep out of the doorway, making its way toward the innocently sleeping people. I recognized it immediately as slithered around. It was the enemy brujo’s demon. I knew its’ intentions were to possess someone and I prayed a binding prayer to stop it. I also began to silently pray the Lord’s Prayer over and over again. I was very tired and wanted to stop, but everytime I stopped the shadow moved forward again.

I prayed for the strength to continue until dawn and suddenly remembered the statement Jesus made to the apostles about them falling asleep and not praying all night with him in Gethsemane. When I first read that, I was much younger and at the time I naively thought, “I wouldn’t have gone to sleep, I’d have stayed awake and helped him.” Having remembered that childish boast, I thought, well, Sonia, now’s the time to keep that promise, and with renewed strength and determination, I committed myself to pray with him for these people as long as he needed me.

Finally, the sun broke over the eastern horizon and I knew we had made it through the danger. The shadow was gone. With great relief, I closed my eyes and slept for about ninety minutes, when everyone decided to get up. You’d think I would have been incredibly tired that day, but to my surprise, I felt terrific all day, thanks to Jesus.

A lot of Francisco’s students and clients arrived that day to see the clinic again and to be part of the blessing ceremony. People neither of us had met were everywhere, watching Todd and I intently.

In Francisco’s office where we were writing what we were going to say during the blessing ceremony, Todd wheeled Francisco’s chair around, looked out at the gathering crowd, saw the looks on their faces full of suspicion and dislike for the gringos coming in and turning their world into a ‘show’, and said dryly, “We’re the talk of the town now, Sonia. You can bet on that.”

I nodded. I had already heard some of the comments the brujas had made, not knowing or caring if I heard them. They weren’t complimentary. We were in trouble and Todd and I both knew it.

“They’re going to come at us with everything they have when we’re done, Todd.” I said. “Don’t stay in Juarez; they’ll probably poison your food. You can see by their faces how many of them have gone over to the clan of the other brujo. I’m surprised he didn’t make an appearance himself.”

Todd snorted. He said, “He wouldn’t dare. Estelle would run him out of here with his own pitchfork. She’s one powerful woman. I’m glad she’s devoted to God.”

I nodded in agreement and laughed. “You’re so right, my brother.”

It may seem like we were joking, but I can tell you for a fact we weren’t. I loved Estelle. She was incredible as was her husband and they made a powerhouse couple. Coming from aristocratic bloodlines of the first ten families of Mexico, they were well educated and very intelligent as were their siblings and children. They had raised a large family, farmed a difficult piece of land, and supported the entire family with their giant hearts and wise counsel. They were formidable and not to be trifled with. They were wonderful. I could see why Francisco named the clinic after his sister, Estelle. She was a gift from God.

Her patient husband, Jorge, tried to teach me Spanish while I was there. Day after day, he would correct my words and teach me new ones as we were working. If I asked for a glass of water, or anything else, he would make me say its’ name in Spanish. It was great fun and I learned a passable conversational Spanish. Sometimes God gives me a ‘knowing’ about other languages. I can’t actually speak them or understand everything, but whenever it’s really important, I will ‘know’ what someone said, even though I actually have no idea what the words were. Some words I retain, but most of the time, he makes me do the work myself. Sometimes though, understanding is all in the tone and body language used. One may not understand the words, but understanding someone’s tone of speech is second nature to most people.

We had eaten breakfast and Todd and I were still working on the ceremony when one of Suela’s daughters came to the clinic to tell me what was going on back at the hacienda. One of Francisco’s students who had gone over to the other brujo for lessons had secretly cut five roses from Estelle’s prize rose bush and brought them as a ‘gift’ to Estelle, pretending someone else had cut them.

Estelle was furious at the disrespect and ‘knew’ that the brujo’s demon had put the woman up to it, so she refused to even touch the roses. When Suela’s daughter told me what happened, I set out for the hacienda. Something had to be done quickly to rectify the situation or Estelle would demand the woman leave. Since the woman was intelligent, I was sure that she had a backup plan in case of such an eventuality and decided I needed to cut her off at the pass, so to speak.

I walked back to the hacienda, found the woman and asked her for the five roses she cut from the bush. She looked at me startled, wondering how I knew she had even cut them. She was aware that I had been at the clinic all morning. I said nothing, but reached my hand out for the roses, which she pulled from behind her back. She said, “I don’t know how you knew, but here, you can have them. I don’t want them anyway.”

I had the bottle of Fatima water with me and went over to front door of the hacienda, and, in front of Estelle, poured the holy water over them until they were purified. I said, smiling, “The Blessed Virgin has provided us with these beautiful red roses for our ceremony.”

Estelle looked at the roses, now with droplets of Fatima water glistening on the petals, reflecting the sun and smiled. She took them and kept them in water until the ceremony.

I later used them as I handed each woman of the family in the circle a rose. Interestingly enough, there were, in fact, exactly five women, a fact I could not have known. The grace of our Holy Mother provided her own blessing that day.

The women stood in a circle that went around the interior of the fountain in the center of the outer courtyard between the clinic and the little bridge. Each woman was blessed in turn and given a rose; then the men stepped in, stood in a circle and were individually blessed. The words God gave me to say were beautiful, I know this because they told me afterward, I had no idea what I was going to say, even though I had written what I thought I would say earlier that morning. But when I began the ceremony, I asked God to say what he wished to say instead, and he did. The families and children were blessed in an incredibly gracious way and the curses lifted from the immediate and extended family.

Before the ceremony, I had gone to the chapel to pray. I had purchased a white embroidered scarf for my mother for Mother’s Day before I left Dallas and had intended to mail it to her from El Paso, but had not been able to do that. I still had it with me and placed it over my head to say a prayer for her and the ceremony.

There are times when I have no ‘written’ preparations, but ask God to give me utterance. I will approach the moment knowing that what God wants said will issue forth. The interesting thing about simply climbing into the Sacred Heart of Jesus and allowing God to do his own talking is that I rarely remember what I was actually said. I may remember bits and pieces, but not all of it.

The people listening often come up to me afterwards and tell me how beautiful the talk or teaching was, how wise the words were and how valuable the message was to them, and although I thank them warmly, unless I have recorded it all, I have very little recollection of the talk itself.

As I prayed, I was asking to be absorbed into the heart of Christ and for God’s words to issue forth to bless the people. I had realized by this time that the entire situation and the people involved in it were there by God’s planning, not by ours. Whatever his plan was, the blessing was an important part of it, because I had received this instruction to do a blessing from him before I even came to the clinic from Dallas. So it was time for me to ‘step aside’ and let him finish his work.

As I began to leave the chapel, I still had the scarf over my head. I was wearing a long dark blue dress and I guess the combination of blue and white was too much for two of Francisco’s brujaria students sitting in the back row. I heard one say, “Who does she think she is, the Virgin Mary?” and they both laughed.

“Wow!” I thought, as I lowered the scarf to my shoulders as I left the chapel, “is that the impression I’m giving them? Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Had they known just how inadequate I felt even being a part of the entire affair and how I had to pray constantly for guidance every minute of the day, they probably would have realized I was just an ordinary woman, and they would have been disgusted that anyone was holding me in awe at all.

I certainly did not see myself the way the others saw me, and neither did Todd. We knew each other well; all our faults and foibles, and what we did know and what we didn’t, (which would fill tomes, literally) was always at the forefront of our minds, keeping us honest and truthfully humble, waiting for God’s next word of wisdom and knowledge. Without his guidance, we wouldn’t have gotten out of bed, much less gone to Juarez.

The Miracle of the Pool

At this point the clinic was cleansed, the land in a healing process, the family blessed and the curses removed. So we were beginning to celebrate as a group.

The family decided it was time the collection pool for the irrigation water was cleaned out. It was a large pool, nearly eight feet long, six feet wide and about four feet deep. It was located on the southeast side of the clinic, about sixty feet away from the corner of the east bell tower where the pump house was located. No one could tell by looking at it how deep it was at the moment because it was dark with algae and slime, and had been since the water stopped flowing. But you could tell that the pool contained other things as well, dangerous things, because barbed wire stuck out of the water in several places.

Todd and I could tell that there had been land movement under the clinic that had eventually blocked access to the aquifer. The family said it had happened not long after Francisco died, about the time his dog was murdered. There was a groaning followed by a booming sound and the water had ebbed to a trickle of its former flow rate. That’s all that anyone could now see coming out of the pipe, perhaps a gallon a minutes. For a rancho that depends on irrigation, this trickle of water was disastrous. If they were to irrigate without their own source of water, they had to buy water from someone else and that was prohibitively expensive.

We passed by this cement pool everytime we walked to the clinic or hacienda and always had remarked to each other how nasty and dangerous it was. We were very concerned about it.

Jorge called Todd over to look at the pond with him. He said he was sure there were dangerous things in the water now because he had reached in with a pole and hit something that felt like wire and possibly wood posts and even rocks. Unless they could see what they were dealing with cleaning it out would be a serious problem.

Todd went over first and came back and asked me if he could have the holy water. I told him no problem and handed him the jug. He told me that the pool was cursed with iron and barbed wire and who knows what else and he had to clear the curse before he could give them any advice.

I was finishing some work in one of the storerooms when I heard him yell for me to come. I hit the ground at a dead run. We’d had so many serious problems at the clinic that none of us took yelling calmly anymore. As I approached the pool, I was amazed. The water was perfectly clear of scum, algae and dirt and you could clearly see everything that had been placed in there. I looked at Todd questioningly with raised eyebrows. He was ecstatically happy. He said he prayed over the pool and poured a cup of holy water in it and the pool water became brilliantly clear instantly. It was a miracle. We were both astounded, as were all the people in attendance.

The pool proved to be full of junk. Iron bars, straight wire, barbed wire with the fence posts still attached, tin cans, bottles, broken glass, nails, bolts, etc. It was incredible really. There was no way the things in there would have fallen in by chance. They had to be thrown in on purpose. The family was fastidious about the cleanliness of their rancho. It would be unthinkable for them to do anything like this to their irrigation pool. As they took note of all those items, you could see the anger in their eyes as they looked at each other, deeply offended by what they saw, wondering who had committed this act of disrespect.

They immediately set to work, fishing the large items first, and taking the small items out with a shovel. They had it completely clean in a few hours. Jorge even got into the pool, which was amazing, since he had contracted severe asthma a few years prior and wasn’t even able to stay at the rancho for more than a few minutes usually. But today he did not get sick at all. And in fact, he told me that since we had cleared the clinic, he hadn’t been sick once while at the rancho. That was another miracle for which we were all thankful.

It had been a hot Friday at the end of a very warm week. Everyone was excited to have their mini ‘pool’ back. The women came up from the hacienda and sat on its cement edge dangling their feet while the children now jumped in and began to play safely in the cool water.

I saw that Todd and the rest of the men were over at the pump house talking serous ‘man talk’. Todd was ‘talking with his hands’ in wide gestures as the men looked skeptically at him and then back at the pipes.

I wondered what they were talking about, but decided I didn’t need to get involved. When Todd carried on like that, I knew God was speaking through him. I could hear a little bit, and noticed Estelle was eavesdropping a bit too.

Todd was trying to make the case that they needed to enlarge the pipe from a four inch diameter to a six inch diameter. They were trying to tell him how much it would cost to do that, and since the water wasn’t flowing well enough to fill the four inch pipe, how would replacing it with six inch pipe benefit the rancho?

Todd was adamant. He told them that when the land finished healing next year, the water would gush out of that pipe like a fire hose and if they didn’t enlarge the pipe they would lose their system altogether. He said the water pressure would literally force the four inch pipe out of the aquifer and they would find the pipe and pump ten feet away from the pump house. The damage would be very serious and by then it would be too late to be able to change anything and cost a lot more than what he was proposing.

I could tell the men were really torn about spending the money to enlarge the irrigation system, so I left it to Todd. After all, he had helped them with the tractor, purified the pool with only a cup of holy water, and if they thought he was wrong now, that would be on them. I knew his “God voice” when I heard it, and I was hearing it now. His God voice had a moderated tone, whereas his normal voice, when excited, could get a high piercing quality that could truly fray one’s nerves.

I guess the men also realized that he wasn’t ‘just talking’, as they did change out the pipe in the next few months to the six inch diameter he had specified. Todd had gone back to the clinic specifically to make sure it was done right and called me with the news.

“Can you believe it, Sonia?” he said, wonderingly, “That new pipe cost them nearly fifteen thousand dollars and they replaced it because I asked them to.”

I laughed and said, “Hey, their tractor was a goner, Todd, and you got it started simply by blessing it. I would expect nothing less than affirmative action where the pipe is concerned.”

Growing up on a farm with a father that not only collected John Deere tractors but who was also a very gifted diesel mechanic, I had taken one look at their tractor and considered what Todd accomplished nothing less than a miracle of reincarnation. That old thing should have been toast. Those men were all good mechanics, but had failed to get it started after weeks of restoration until Todd blessed it. Had I been them I would have replaced the irrigation pipe on faith alone, which in fact, is exactly what they had done.

After we ate dinner, the majority of us left for Juarez, glad to be done with the clinic, happy to leave a smiling family behind us.

I had gone to Francisco’s room to say goodbye. I knew I wouldn’t be returning for a year, so I sat down in his chair for a moment. “I hope we completed what you asked, Francisco,” I said, and at that very moment I knew I needed to make sure I returned in a year to release his allies contained in the north bell tower. I had never collected allies, much less released them, so I had no idea what to do. “Bring a hat, a large brimmed hat,” was the unsaid but deeply felt response.

I told Todd what I had felt and asked him what he thought. “He said bring a hat, so bring a hat.” He quipped, smiling.

“Ok, then. I will.” Hopefully, before I returned, Francisco would let me know the rest of the instructions.

The next day we had to clear Francisco’s home in Juarez. According to everyone in the family, that would be a real task. His brother lived there now and his family had been putting up with all kinds of paranormal activity since they moved in. They were excited about us coming to clear the home. We, on the other hand, were not. I had a bad feeling about that house clearing and so did Todd. He told me we’d better be on our toes over there. He was more than aware that the scorpion was still waiting for its’ chance and was feeling very anxious about going the next day.

On the way home, Suela asked me if I would take a minute to help her friend from work. She had just come through a very nasty divorce and her ex-husband had put a curse on her and her mother’s house where she and their children had taken refuge. But when we arrived, it was already late and the house lights were off, so we went to Valencia’s and went to bed early.

That night before I went to sleep, I opened the Bible to Revelations. At some point during the day the ‘idea’ of reading about the Seven Churches in Revelations became a driving thought and I knew I had to read those chapters before going to sleep, so I did.

The demon attacked at three fifteen in the morning. He threw himself on top of me and began to attack me physically by pounding on me and holding me down. I was really concerned as I began to realize he wanted to attack me sexually.

I had had an earlier thought that I needed to sleep with my Rosary on and so had hung it around my neck that night. The demon pinned me to the bed, but the Rosary, constantly being my Weapon and my Protection, kept him from pressing down against my chest to keep me from breathing and I had enough room to move my right hand up to grasp the crucifix. My left arm was able to escape the covers and reach upwards to the wall behind the bed. Suela had a blessed picture of St. Therese of Lisieux above the bed, and with great effort, I managed to touch it with one finger. The second I did, the attack stopped and the demon disappeared.

Even though I was shaken to the core, I was somehow also very calm. I took a drink of water and went back to sleep without incident. But the next morning I was very sick.

The Seven Churches and the Scorpion

I woke up late. I had been very tired when we arrived in El Paso the night before and after the demonic attack, I felt exhausted. Suela called me from work around eleven to see if I wanted to join her for lunch, but could tell by my tone that she had awakened me. She asked me how I was and I told her I could barely keep my eyes open.

She replied, “Well, it’s no wonder you’re tired. It seems you were busy all night.”

I thought, what does she mean by that? I hadn’t told her about the attack.

Suela began laughing. “When I met my friend this morning I apologized for missing her last night.”

I said, “Oh, your friend with the house problem? Maybe we could fit that in this evening.”

“There’s no need, Sonia, you were already there.”

“What?”

“She said you came in the middle of the night to her house, blessed it and gave her a white stone before you left. So it’s no wonder you’re tired this morning.” She chortled. “You were working hard all night.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake; I did nothing of the sort.” I replied, exasperated. “What is she saying, that I bi-located like Maria Esperanza of Venezuela? I’ve never been accused of that before.” Maria Esperanza was a seer and mystic, well known and loved, who lived in Venezuela. Many people had experienced her bi-locating, or physically appearing in New York or elsewhere, while she, herself, was still at home, sleeping in Venezuela. This was a gift that many Saints of the Catholic Church had also been given, such as St. Padre Pio.

“Yes, that’s exactly what she’s saying, Sonia. She’s never met or seen you, yet she described you perfectly, even told me what you were wearing; the same blue dress with the little flowers you wore at the clinic yesterday.”

“Oh, my God! Really?”

“She didn’t know if it was a dream or what, but she had the white stone in her hand this morning and it was one of those little calcite blocks Todd gave you from the quarry on the rancho. She couldn’t have gotten that otherwise. Anyway,” she continued, “I’ll come and get you in a few minutes and drop you off at Mark and Inez’s so you can go clear Francisco’s house. Do you want anything to eat?”

“No, no thank you,” I said. “I’m actually feeling a little nauseated this morning.”

We hung up and I ran to shower and get ready, even though I felt like throwing up every minute. I had been feeling nauseated since last night and I knew it had to do with the demonic attack. Maybe Inez would know what to do.

Suela arrived laughing as she recounted to me what her friend had told her once again. I just felt confused, exhausted and sick, and told her I was pretty darn certain that I was not a saint popping in on people at midnight and blessing houses in my sleep.

She looked at me skeptically and said, “Actually, I’ve known this woman for a long time and I believe her. You never think highly of yourself, so I have no doubt you think she’s making it up, but I can tell you that she wasn’t. She said you knocked on the door and when you walked in, you saw the spirit that was haunting her and ordered it out of her home. You blessed each room with holy water and gave her the white stone to keep in her house so the demon couldn’t return. She described your hair, your figure, your clothes, shoes, what you said and the stone accurately to the smallest detail. She didn’t imagine it, Sonia.”

I just shook my head in disbelief and told her I had no clue how any of that could have happened. I didn’t remember anything about it, so I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. We had to clear Francisco’s house and I had to remain focused on that.

We pulled in Mark’s driveway and Suela said smiling, “Well, it is what it is, Sonia. God knows the truth. Be careful today.”

She didn’t have to tell me twice. I already knew the home today would be a problem.

I walked into Mark and Inez’s home and said, “Hi guys,” and before they could answer I told them how sick I was and asked Inez if she knew how to help me get rid of the nausea. She shook her head. “I have never dealt with this type of thing,” she said, “I wouldn’t know where to start.”

I told her about reading Revelations the night before and said, “I think I need holy water from seven churches. Do you think we could go get some?”

She looked amazed and said, “I have holy water from seven churches!”

“What? Really?”

“Yes, I’ll go get it.”

She brought back seven bottles with the names of each church written on them and put them on the table. I took one after the other and anointed myself completely with each one, paying special attention to my stomach. When I was finished, I felt fine. No nausea at all and completely energized and ready to go. God was amazing.

All throughout this entire experience we had been working in very hot weather in the desert, not much rest or sleep that wasn’t interrupted by Fiona’s standing over me or some emergency of some sort, and yet I had felt no serious fatigue or lack of energy the entire time. In fact, I had never felt better. I had been energized, calm, collected, focused and happy throughout the process. Both Todd and I had noticed how good we had been feeling and knew only God could have kept us going like that. Neither of us was used to the heat or so little sleep, so we knew it wasn’t our ordinary physical state that was able to keep going day after day like that.

For one thing, even though both Todd and I were committed and devoted to God, we certainly weren’t used to praying constantly every minute of the day, yet we were doing it now, even while holding conversations with others. It was as though there was a constant conversation with God going on in the background of our minds. I’d never experienced that before and neither had Todd, but we were both in constant divine communication during the entirety of those ten days. We knew God was responsible for that, completely.

We had made a list of what we would need to take with us. Fiona had given Todd a beautiful medallion that Francisco had designed, had made and wore when he was working to wear throughout these ten days, so he was going to wear that. We made sure we had five candles, our holy oil and salt, sage and crystals in our bag. Todd had written a blessing prayer for the home as well and tucked his Bible under his arm. He said we’d need it for the first part of the ceremony as he intended to hold a small ritual with the four of us standing at the four points of the sacred angelic directions to pray before we began.

When we arrived at the home I was amazed at the size of it. It was a large two-story, square, white home, beautifully decorated with large four foot angels located on each corner of the flat roof looking out to each of the four directions. I had never seen anything like it. It was very unique and beautiful. There was a small ell that protruded from the entry way that had stained glass windows and all the wood of the home was hand carved or beautifully formed. No expense had been spared on the design or building of that home. It was a work of art.

Todd had only seen it once and that was from the outside when he and Suela had returned from Copper Canyon, but he had felt the power emanating from the home and knew this house would need a special ritual even before we set foot into it. He had told me about the angels, but nothing could have prepared me for the real thing. They were actual statues carved in Italy; not reproductions or pre-poured forms, and they were exquisite.

Francisco’s brother Manuel opened the door and greeted us warmly. He was stood about five feet eleven inches tall, was somewhat stocky in build, but not overweight, regal and authoritative in appearance even dressed casually as he was now. He was prominent in the political arena of Juarez and was perfectly groomed, with short black hair, mustache and warm brown eyes like his brother.

The front door opened on the left side of the room and as we stepped into the home, and looked to our right, we were immediately taken by the architecture of the forty foot living and dining room expanse. High ceilings with beautifully carved molding and trim swept around the room ending at a curved staircase with a hand carved railing. The dining room was set up several steps from the level of the living room and the entrance was flanked by carved wood columns that surrounded a large beautifully hand carved table and chairs set off by marble tile. An arched balcony from the second floor master suite looked down upon the dining room. With fine art covering the walls above and below; the combined effect was breathtaking.

The living room area was elegantly furnished in period couches and chairs, but managed an air of warmth, comfort and livability as well. Very Spanish in design, yet metropolitan and sophisticated, the home exuded warmth and a classic sense of taste.

To the left of the small entrance foyer was a beautiful private chapel ringed by stained glass windows. It was a small chapel, no larger than twelve square feet, but held an altar and several elegant statues of Jesus, Mary and a few Saints, topped by a hand carved crucifix on the North side.

I was stunned at the beauty and elegance of the home. The inside was as well crafted and beautiful as the outside. Manuel softly remarked, “My brother was a learned and well traveled man of exquisite taste and he used to entertain many notable people in this home. We’ve tried very hard to keep it in pristine condition.

Considering the fact that Manuel had three children and was a notable man himself, I thought he had done an excellent job of keeping the place in elegant condition. Nothing was out of place and the home was immaculately clean.

Todd, being the outgoing sort, struck up a conversation with Manuel immediately, and soon, Manuel’s elegant and beautiful, but warm and hospitable wife, Flora, joined our group offering coffee and cold drinks.

We had specified before arriving that the children needed to be out of the home in a safe place before we would clear the home, so they had been taken next door to stay with friends of the family. We never knew when cleansing a home if the innocent children or animals would be affected by spiritual debris and were adamant about having all children and pets off the premises when working.

None of us had formally met Manuel or his family as he had been very busy during the week prior, so this was our chance to ask him questions about Francisco and perhaps find out more about what happened to him, but it turned out that he knew nothing more than the rest of the family about that.

He began to tell us about the home and what they had been experiencing. Every night, and even sometimes during the day there was paranormal activity in the home. The children had a very hard time getting a good night’s rest because they were constantly awakened by odd noises and apparitions gliding about their rooms or coming out of their closets at night.

Flora told us that during the day when she was alone, it was common for odd things to take place in the kitchen, located just off the dining room. She showed us where she usually saw apparitions as they would emerge from somewhere in the dining room and glide past her in the kitchen and out the back door. She said it was very unnerving, but when things were moved or missing, it was downright frustrating. She felt constantly watched as well and often felt someone was directly behind her, even though she confessed that she did not turn around to look. She really ‘didn’t want to know’ if some sprit was actually there or see something that would scare her out of her wits.

Manuel said it was rare that an evening would go by that the chapel lights would not flash at least once or twice and that there would be activity in the living room as well. No one had been threatened or harmed, but the constant comings and goings of these spirits was disrupting their peace and they wanted it to stop.

Todd thought we should set up the candles and the ritual ceremony in the dining room, so Mark, Inez and I simply followed his directions as I had no idea what he intended to do.

He set up a Merkaba, the Kabbalah “Tree of Life” design with the crystals in the middle of the table and set the candles around that. Then he had us stand at cardinal points of the four directions and began his prayer. When he was finished, he left the candles burning on the table but picked up the crystals and put them away.

We began the clearing of the home in the dining room and as we were stepping down to the living room, Todd hit the center of the top of his head a very sharp blow on the overhead crossing the columns that flanked the dining area. He was a tall man, six foot five, and he had hit the edge of the archway exactly right, hard enough to bring him to his knees and nearly knock him out. His legs had no strength at all and we helped him to the couch where Flora immediately brought him a glass of water and ran to get some ice for his head, as a lump was already making it presence known.

I took holy water from my bottle and anointed him at once, binding the force that had struck him and commanding it away from him. He and I both knew that it was the scorpion that had struck him in the most vulnerable spot, the part of the head that stays soft when we are a baby and gradually hardens as we age and our skull is fully developed.

Todd warned me there had to be a scorpion on the premises, but his thinking was that it was not a live scorpion, but a statue or other representation of one, and told me to stay alert for its appearance as we went about the house, blessing it. He would not be able to help us as he was too dizzy to stand and too weak at the moment to walk.

Mark grabbed a ‘containment’ bag, just in case we found the scorpion and he, Inez and I began the cleansing process. We began upstairs, leaving the living room, kitchen, downstairs bath and the small chapel for the last.

We proceeded to bless each bedroom, closet and hallway before blessing the stairway on the way back to the living area without incident. Every wall, floor and ceiling had to be blessed with holy water and oil, masks removed (yes, there were masks there also) and other objects that I could ‘see’ contained spirits as well. I took Todd’s position of using the holy water with Mark and Inez following me with the oil. It took at least an hour to finish just the upstairs.

There were four bedrooms of varying sizes, many storage closets and two full bathrooms, including the master en suite. We were already feeling the fatigue by the time we descended to the living room. We had been working seven days straight at this point and we were all tired of climbing up and down ladders, etc.

When we arrived in the living room, we were relieved to see that Todd was doing much better and drinking a cup of coffee and eating a cookie while visiting with Manuel and Flora.

I decided to start where we left off and went to the kitchen first. Its best when cleansing a home if you don’t jump from room to room, but instead continue to bless each room thoroughly in order, moving constantly towards the front door which you do last. As we approached the kitchen, which had a small pass-through into the dining room, we saw the scorpion sitting under a stool placed by the bar. It had been in the dining room all along, but went unseen. It was an iron boot pull in the shape of a scorpion. Not steel, but old fashioned wrought iron, and I’m sure that it had historical as well as practical value. Whoever had placed the curse on Francisco’s family had cursed everything made of iron they owned. We had had to clear every single object made of iron, even on the rancho, which, as an operating farm, had a lot of iron objects used in daily life. It had been a really difficult process and only someone with years of training as a seer would’ve been able to find them all.

We pointed out the scorpion to Manuel. He was shocked. He had never personally used the boot pull and had completely forgotten it was there. Even Flora was taken by surprise. She said, “I know that’s been here all this time but I never really saw it for what it was before; how odd that it should be a scorpion!”

I was also shocked. Growing up on our farm a few miles from the ND badlands, we had many boot pulls as we had many cattle and rode horses constantly. I never saw my father wear any shoes other than cowboy boots in his life, even when dressed formally. Many boot pulls were designed like a scarab with long antennae, but not a scorpion with a raised tail. In fact, looking at this scorpion, I was wondering how difficult it had been to even use such an item. The tail curved a bit over the back which meant it would have actually been a bit in the way for the person pulling off his boots. The entire thing was odd and I wondered where this boot pull had come from. Did Francisco buy it or was it a gift from someone? I had a feeling that the same brujo who had cursed Francisco and the family had brought the boot pull as a ‘gift’, just as he had sent the owl statue to Fiona as a ‘gift’. I told Manuel and his wife what I thought.

Manuel asked me if I knew the other brujo’s name and I had to say no. I had asked others who Francisco’s ‘doctor’ friends were many times by now, but had not ‘recognized’ any of the names they proffered. I had not been able to download that information spiritually because I had been blocked by his demon. What I did know about him was that he was perfectly possessed, so his ‘human name’ was not really a practical way of tracking him when trying to ‘see’ him. The name of the demon was the only way I could have really ‘tracked’ him, and I had not focused on learning it as I already had enough to deal with. It’s not spiritually healthy to focus on the name of a demon unless you are confronting him in an exorcism. Focusing on a demonic name can call him to you, and I already knew this particular demon knew more than enough about me as it was. He had also attacked me through several different people, so giving him more power would have been absurdly stupid.

We bagged the scorpion boot pull, knotting the string three times, blessing each knot and the bag itself with exorcised oil and finished the home, giving Manuel instructions about how to bury the objects properly off family property and on public land instead. Sometimes if it’s just a small object, it can be buried on holy ground without disturbing anything, but if you actually have to dig a hole, choose public land, like a forest or park where no one will find it or see you burying it. It can also be put in the trash if it’s taken to a public dump, or thrown into moving water, like a river. Just don’t put it in a creek that dries up several times a year. It will need to stay covered by the running water or by the earth to keep the spirit within bound from returning to the person ridding themselves of the cursed object and attached entity. The object, if buried, must stay bagged, so it’s best to bury it deep enough that the bag does not surface accidentally and be found by an innocent person.

Manuel said that was no problem as he had a rancho miles from town near a public area of wilderness and could bury it safely somewhere in that public ground.

When the house was done we blessed and sealed the doors and other entrances with holy oil and went to say our goodbyes. Manuel kindly asked us if there was anything of Francisco’s that he could give us as a gift, or if he could pay us for coming. Todd and I immediately said no.

We never take money or expensive gifts for our work, as that would be enticing the world to become involved in Supernatural or God related work. Whatever demons we would have cleared from the property would have immediately sensed greed on our part and attached themselves to the object or money accepted. We had no desire to retain those forces in our own lives, and so declined. However, we do sometimes accept a small, inconsequential gift of no real monetary value, and since Manuel was determined to give us something, we told him that whatever he chose would have to fit that parameter.

He listened to what we had to say, smiled and said, “Please wait a moment, and went upstairs and returned with two pictures of pyramids. One picture was of the Giza plateau in Egypt and the other of Chichen Itza in Cancun, Mexico. Todd loved Giza and reached for that one. I loved Chichen Itza and chose that. We were both very happy with our gifts and Manuel could see that he had chosen well.

We left then and went to Estelle’s home to have some lemonade and take a short break before returning to El Paso. She had asked us over to check her home for items that might carry some negative energy, but we found none. While we were there, her sister, Rosa, called and told Estelle she had found several masks under some blankets in her closet and asked if we would stop at her home and remove them. So we went to her house and Todd and Mark removed the masks as Inez and I visited with Rosa and drank some delicious hibiscus tea. Like Estelle, Rosa was a strong but warm woman. Her hair was naturally turning gray but had a pretty cast of silver to it. Her hair was more a light brown than black and she had a cherub face more given to smiles than anger. She was a joy to visit with, witty and funny, but serious at the same time. I liked her immediately.

As we were leaving, her grandchildren arrived and she asked me if I would bless them. I happily agreed and blessed them in the front yard. After I finished, I looked up and smiled at Rosa, and she raised her eyebrows and glanced towards the street indicating that I should turn around and look also.

Mexico is predominantly Catholic and when people see someone they respect paying attention to someone who is blessing people, they are immediately drawn to that person, believing that they must be someone special or they would not be treated with such respect. They had no idea who I was or was not, all they knew was that if someone was blessing people with oil and wearing a rosary, they must be of God and therefore, worthy to receive a blessing from as well. So when I turned around, there were people waiting by Rosa’s fence, her gate, coming from across the street and others coming down the street, curious about what was happening.

By the time Todd and Mark exited the house, there were more than twenty people by the fence getting blessed and more coming to be blessed. I actually had to ask him for his vial of oil, as I had used nearly all of mine blessing Francisco’s home and was running low. He gave it to me smiling and said, “Well, now, you’ll end up a folk saint if we don’t leave soon.”

I looked at his with a ‘save me’ look and he shook his head and laughed, returning to the porch to ask Rosa for some tea.

I continued blessing people for some time, even up to the door of the van before we left, with people lowering their heads to get them near the passenger window. They were so sweet and I loved every one of them. One of the young boys had been crippled and his mother had asked me to say a prayer for him after he was blessed. I did and gave him a hug too. As we pulled away, I had such mixed feelings about myself and how this had all happened and why. I’ve never figured out what God’s intentions were at that moment, but I could feel the Blessed Mother with me the entire time. I think it was really she who they were drawn to and who blessed each in turn, not some middle aged housewife like me. It’s still a mystery to me.

We returned to El Paso that afternoon, ready for some rest and an opportunity to relax and talk with each other about something other than our work, which we ended up doing anyway as we had the consultorio and Fiona’s apartment to clear the next day.

Todd took Mark, Inez and me to a bookstore that sold old manuscripts and antique books, where he had done a few readings during his earlier trip to El Paso. While we were there, Todd called me into the back room of the store where they kept their more expensive antique books and showed me some early books on magic and witchcraft, and a large tome written in 1871, called the “Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry” by Albert Pike. Todd opened the book to point out a few passages that made me wonder what in the world Masonry was really about. Nothing I read there had been made public as far as I knew, and to say I was shocked and dismayed to read those passages would be a severe understatement. I’ll say no more on this subject, now, but suffice it to say that if anyone reading my book, this book, is a Mason, what you’re told about Masonry is very probably not what Pike wrote in his book and I would urge a bit of research if you plan to continue to embrace Masonry, especially if you consider yourself a Christian man.

Late that afternoon Suela got a call from Manuel. He owned a personal rancho outside of Juarez and asked her if we would clear and bless that for him before going to the consultorio. Fiona had some appointments that morning and wouldn’t be ready for us until the afternoon, so we agreed to come and he said he would meet us at his home in Juarez the next morning and we could leave from there.

Todd

We were up bright and early the next day, excited that we were nearly finished clearing all the family property. Todd loved coffee, especially gourmet bean coffee and had consumed so much of Valencia’s expensive coffee that she hadn’t been able to make a cup for herself before work the day before. She told Suela that he was not to touch the replacement coffee she purchased, and that was final. She was ready to beat him with a stick as he had not once offered to replace what he consumed and she felt that he was really taking advantage of their relationship.

Suela had told me about Valencia’s anger the day before, so I had passed the information to Todd. He was on thin ice and had better replace the coffee or stay away from Valencia’s if he didn’t want a drubbing. He had only stayed at my house in Dallas for five days, yet he had consumed my entire supply of Jamaican coffee, so I knew exactly how she felt.

He had taken us to the bookstore and done a few readings and had made some money, so I suggested he buy a little replacement coffee for Valencia. He took one look at my face and knew he’d better do exactly that, so he went to the store she bought hers at and bought two pounds of beans, which he brought over and gave her the next morning. She was happy with that, but wasn’t shy about giving Todd a piece of her mind before forgiving him.

Suela and I had exited to the patio when Valencia started in on Todd and were grateful it wasn’t us she was angry with. Valencia was a down to earth, straight-forward person who did not tolerate bad behavior. Todd may charm others, but Valencia did not consider him charming at all, in fact, quite the opposite. She saw him as self absorbed, selfish and flighty, with no concern for the belongings of others.

To be fair to Valencia, she had entertained him on his earlier trip and he had done the same thing, drank all her coffee, ate his fill of food and replaced nothing, so she had good reason to be angry. But those who knew Todd for any length of time realized that his thoughts ran in multiple directions constantly. If you didn’t point out his offensive behavior to him, he didn’t realize he’d done anything wrong. He was brilliant but could be scattered and thoughtless at times.

There were times when I was exasperated with him to the point where I got into nasty arguments with him, as did Therese, his closest friend in Los Angeles, and even his family. We forgave him his failings quickly most of the time as he was truly a good hearted person, but to say he was a ‘ordinary’ person with ‘good’ days and ‘bad’ days was simply untrue. There were simply days he was a little crazy and days he was crazier. After you got to know him really well, it was part of his charm.

His ‘off the wall’ behavior depended on his drug use, which had been prolific when he was younger, but which he had hidden very well from me and others like Suela and Valencia, at least until Juarez. I had simply thought he was rarely dependable about anything unless it was something he truly felt inspired about doing. But that failing actually had more to do with his inability to concentrate because he had ADHD.

He had suffered from ADHD as a child and had grown up medicated with Ritalin. Consequently, he never wanted to ‘slow’ down, and he had turned to methamphetamine early in his teenage years and acquired a semi-addiction to it that he fought constantly. It was probably why he drank so much coffee when he was working.

After Todd told us about his childhood and early addiction problems, Therese and I didn’t really care so much if he drank all the coffee as long as he could stay off the meth. He normally smoked marijuana to ‘relax his brain’, as he put it. He wasn’t high all the time, just ‘when he felt like it’, which was often, but not constant and he never used drugs around regular ‘straight’ people; he kept his problems private.

I didn’t care if he smoked marijuana as long as he didn’t smoke it around me and most of his ‘straight’ friends felt the same. The reason he stayed at Mark and Inez’s house instead of Valencia’s was because he could go outside in their garden and smoke to his heart’s content when he wasn’t working. He didn’t dare use drugs around Valencia and staying there for a week during his earlier trip had made him irritable and difficult, so Suela was more than happy to drop him off at Mark and Inez’s house, even though it was out of her way.

Valencia didn’t know everything about Todd and it wasn’t my business to tell her. She would’ve really had a fit. She was a highly respected surgical nurse and it was her elegant honest mother that was ferrying Todd around Juarez, going in and through some very dangerous territory. Had Valencia known what Todd did on the first trip to Mexico, she would have put her foot down and made life very difficult for Suela and her involvement in the clinic work impossible.

Suela, Fiona and I had gone ballistic when we realized while driving down to the clinic the first day that Todd had brought some smoke with him into Mexico in a film cartridge container. We found out when he asked if Suela could stop along the road somewhere so he could smoke a joint outside the car. She nearly drove off the road when he pulled the film container out of his pocket.

He had placed Suela and me in very serious legal danger crossing the border carrying a drug that was not legally prescribed, and in an offhand way, when we yelled at him about it, said, “What’s the problem? They never stop you on the way in.” which was completely not true. The Mexican Federal Police had drug dogs everywhere at the border and if one of them had picked up the scent of his marijuana, we would have been stopped for sure and all three of us thrown in prison.

Suela stopped the car alright and made him thrown the marijuana away on the spot. Boy was she mad and she and Fiona really let him have it and told him what he could do with any further ideas of drug use in Mexico. We had a government check point ahead of us and she was not taking any more risks with him. No one at the rancho and clinic would have been happy to see him indulge either, so he had to live without drugs throughout our work at the clinic as well as any other work we did in Mexico.

Thank God we found out about his habit before it blew up in our faces. We were taking on demonic forces but he was more upset that we had made him toss his drugs. So Valencia was right, there were times when he could be very self-absorbed, but many more times when he was generous, sweet, kind and loving, and Valencia had not known him long enough to see how truly good a person he really was at heart.

He was brilliant when he was sober and I thank God for that. We could never have worked together in Juarez or at the clinic had he been using. The risk to us all would have been horrendous. God exposed Todd’s demons in time for us to change the situation to one of relative sanity and safety.

Even though I had grown up in the sixties, I had never been a recreational drug user. Did I try a few? Yes, but I hated the ‘out to lunch’ or ‘out of control’ feeling they inspired. I was never a fan and neither were my close friends. The only thing we really liked about the sixties and seventies was the music. We were much more into science, law and medicine than free love and ‘partying hearty’. Once I was prescribed pain medication for about six months after a bad car accident and it nearly killed me because I accidentally took one pill too many, so I was not enamored with prescription drugs either.

I remember how sad I was when I realized Todd was an addict and how hard it was for him to stay away from drugs. A few years after Juarez, Todd came to live with my husband and me so he could get off drugs and alcohol. His sobriety didn’t last long after he left, but just before he died, he had planned to return to our home on Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs to try again. He called our house his ‘mountain monastery’.

What we were doing for God in Mexico required a clear head with all our faculties intact and sharp just to stay alive ourselves, much less save and protect the lives and souls of the family we were attempting to help. So Todd and I reached a mutual understanding that first day at the clinic; no drugs or alcohol allowed or I would finish the work by myself without his help. I prayed over him for release from those spirits, but knew God would protect and guide me if Todd could not overcome his addiction. Even though Todd’s knowledge was something I really needed, I felt certain that God would provide. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that, as God worked a miracle in Todd that day and he felt no need to use while we were working.

It turned out that God’s intervention that day turned his life around. Until he passed away too soon, in the year 2000, Todd grew to be a wonderful person and solid friend, and his dedication to God grew as well. He began to realize in Mexico how much God truly loved him and became a better person because of it.

The Fire in Heaven

We met Manuel in Juarez a little before noon on Saturday, two days before leaving for home. The four of us said goodbye to Suela, who we would meet later at Fiona’s, got into his car and left for his rancho. He was a wealthy man, so Todd and I didn’t know what to expect. To our surprise, it was a modest and very modern place in the country about twenty miles to the ESE of Juarez, a completely different direction than what we expected as all Estelle’s children and their family home was south of Juarez.

We forgot that it was Jorge’s family that emanated from that part of the State of Chihuahua, not Estelle’s family, who had migrated north from Oaxaca years ago and settled in Juarez when their father had been given a political posting there. Both families had been influential in Chihuahua, but Estelle’s family had remained active in politics in a much more active way, lived in the city and owned land nearby, but to the east, a wealthier area of Juarez, developed later than the southern ranch and farmland, which had been organized closer to the main highways and railroads in the early days along the main road that lead to Chihuahua and Monterey.

Manuel had dressed like a gentleman farmer today and surprised us by wearing a cowboy hat and boots. Even though he wore casual clothing, it was pressed and starched and adding the extra height from his boots and hat, he looked every bit the gentleman farmer, as well as cutting quite the imposing figure. It was easy to see how the men of Francisco’s family had become influential in the State and Country. They were all highly educated and very sophisticated in their appearance, tone, dress and taste, as well as intelligent and knowledgeable about every aspect of Mexico.

Estelle’s husband, Jorge, was a powerful force as well, although he tended to deliberately dress down and portrayed the more relaxed manner of a ‘country gentleman’. It was easy for the ignorant to see him as an ordinary farmer and not realize the power he actually wielded, but being a major landowner in Mexico, he was a substantial influence in the agricultural affairs for the State of Chihuahua.

There were no masks or other aspects of evil in or around Manuel’s rancho, and after a simple house blessing and clearing, we left to return to Juarez and begin on the consultorio. Our trip to the rancho had simply been a nice diversion and helped us energize and center ourselves in preparation for the afternoon, and I’ve always thought Manuel took us out there more for that reason than his concern over his country home.

Mark and Inez and I began on the lower floor of the consultorio. Todd was still not feeling very well from the attack on his head day before, but he walked through the small office with me, identifying what needed to go and what could stay.

When we entered the consultorio, the first thing we saw was the waiting room that contained a very large, six foot, elegantly carved wood statue of St. Michael, standing directly in front of the wall Fiona had been pinned to by the demon that possessed her. He stood guard over the place and I was certain he was blessed as well.

To the right was a step up to another large room through a grand archway. A large mahogany desk stood in the center, with a large picture of Francisco hanging on the wall behind it, draped with his ruby rosary. To the right of the desk were several file cabinets, as well as some curio cabinets placed decoratively against the wall.

To the left of the desk was a huge, brilliantly red statue of the Hindu Goddess Kali. It was facing the desk and actually was a bit shocking to me to see it there. It took a second for me to realize why it had that effect, but it was quickly clear to me what happened.

The consultorio was small, but contained a huge number of secular and religious items from many different places and religions, some cursed, some not, but the worst problem was that many of them simply fought with each other because their energies were diametrically opposed. I found it hard to believe anyone coming to the clinic could be cured or even treated successfully in such an atmosphere.

I asked Fiona why so many divergent religions were represented and how Francisco could have worked in such a space. She glanced around the main room and back at me with a slightly guilty look on her face. “I brought many of these things here from the main clinic,” she said softly. “I liked them and didn’t want anything to happen to them, and had nowhere else to take them.”

I felt sorry for Fiona. These items were incredible, some rare, like the ancient dinosaur egg Francisco had gotten from somewhere in southern Mexico, but some were simply artistic. There was the huge four foot high statue of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death, time and change, known for her fierceness but also her mother aspects.

I am familiar with the Goddess Kali and her many aspects, but have never seen her painted a shocking red before, as her statues or pictures are normally painted or dyed black or left as simply natural stone. I supposed someone had painted her red to represent fertility, playing up her beneficent ‘mother’ qualities as some of the newer representations show Kali wearing red clothing, although she, herself, is never totally red. The feeling I got from the statue, however, was a flat out emanation of anger that radiated outward from the statue throughout the clinic. I didn’t know if Fiona had performed rituals there that Kali felt dishonored her, or if she was simply angry about the proliferation of evil entities, as she is also known to protect people from them, but for now, the statue had to be removed so we could work. We all took a deep breath of relief as she was carried from the room.

The dinosaur egg also had negative energy coming from it, having also been used in a ritual for fertility, I was certain, something for which it was never meant to be used.

The anger in the small consultation office was palpable. We had the egg taken to the Museum, along with a few other anger emanating pieces and the statue of Kali, but we’d have to clear the left over negativity before we proceeded. I could see that Fiona was also angry about losing the items, but she really needed to start over and let these items go as the many powerful energy conflicts were literally damaging her life force.

We lit some Frankincense and Copal, high incense used by churches and South American shamen, to clear the negative energies from the clinic. Things brightened up considerably at that point.

At that point we began to remove the masks, and, my goodness, what a confusing bunch they were. Talk about the ‘wild bunch’, this was it. There were masks hanging on nearly every wall except the entranceway. Incan and Mayan masks opposite Voodoo masks, Aztec and Toltec masks opposite Egyptian masks, and the conflicting energies were staggering.

Todd and I just looked at each other, horrified. I swear the hair on our bodies was literally vibrating with the power crossing between the lines of opposition because the personalities of the entrapped entities were horrendously unbalanced and consequently became destructive in nature. I blessed each mask and took them off the wall as quickly as possible, trying to bag like masks with like masks so they could ‘relax’. Slowly but surely the energy structure of the clinic began to right itself again, which made me very happy because I was really beginning to feel battered by the ordeal.

Todd had gone outside while we removed the masks to smoke a cigarette and I joined him for a break. He was standing beside the clinic with his right foot against the wall, laughing.

I said, “Hey, what’s so funny? I’m getting my ass kicked in there and you’re out here laughing?”

“Yup!” he replied, “I don’t ever think I’ve seen you so tightly focused for such a long period of time. I wasn’t sure if you and the masks were going to start punching each other or what!”

“It crossed my mind.” I said, dryly. “They were really blasting me in there.”

“You need to wash your face and clear yourself with some holy water,” he observed. “Your energy is a mess and the stuff in the back of the clinic is really nasty; best to clear yourself now, I think.”

I nodded. He was right. I felt like a pounded brisket ready for the grill. I went in and doused myself with holy water and cleared Mark and Inez too. I could sense a weird energy coursing around in the back of the clinic and didn’t like what I was feeling. At this point I wasn’t sure what it was, but I soldiered up and thought, whatever it is, I have to deal with it, so I’d better get with the program and quit wasting time.

We moved towards the rear of the clinic and began again. Mark and Inez worked quietly, never saying anything, just intent on keeping themselves alert and focused on what we were doing. They were being very careful not to touch the masks or allow anything to touch them. I could see in Inez’s eyes that she was ‘seeing’ the energies around the room and that she was scared to death that they would attack us for removing them or having the effrontery to even touch their abodes as I picked up one after the other.

I worked as quickly and safely as I could, knowing the entire time that these particular masks were going to make my life a living hell for some time, as I could feel them attacking me like so many small serpent bites and scorpion stings. I just kept praying and focusing on God as I worked, hoping that most of the venom would wash away when I was done.

There were little alcoves in the back, each containing a cot or examining table, used by patients when they were being treated. The last alcove contained a twin bed, perhaps for patients, but I think it was only used by Francisco when he stayed at the clinic for any reason. Fiona told me that when he was very sick, he had stayed there when he was treating himself and too ill to drive himself to his house in town.

I could see a mortar and pestle and other pharmaceutical tools on a small shelf over the head area of the mattress, and reached down to touch the pillow. His energy was still there and actually much stronger than it should have been.

Suddenly, I had a vision of Francisco. He was lying in the bed, watching a demon that looked like a dragon fly around his body and head, diving at him. The claws of the dragon were grabbing at Francisco’s soul as he tried to spiritually run from it, but the demon caught him again and again, beating him severely over and over again.

I lost my sense of time and to me, it was happening ‘now’ and I was incapable of walking away. I found myself enraged as I looked on and somehow spiritually stepped into the vision and began to fight the demon trying to get him to leave Francisco alone.

The demon dived at me and I leaped upward to meet him, grappling and wrestling each other, screaming and clawing, we rose high above Francisco’s body as he lay there dying. I was screaming at the demon in Latin; the demon responding in English and Spanish.

I had no idea what I was doing or how I was even doing it, I just knew the fight would continue until only one of us was left and I was going to be that one, or the demon would take Francisco and I wasn’t going to let him have him.

I remembered Bible verses in Latin that I had written in my angel book and yelled them at the demon as loud as I could. The demon responded by roaring deafeningly while blaspheming horrible things and I’d hear myself immediately responding in Latin with a surety and wisdom I knew I did not personally possess.

We spiraled higher and higher, locked in battle, me trying to stay away from his claws, him trying to stab them through me. We went into the clouds and into a storm with hail and high wind, still wrestling, spinning, screaming at each other.

The sound of the fight hurt my ears and felt like it was reverberating in my skull. The wind whistling past and around us, pelting us with hail as we flew through the air, thunder and lightning cracking again and again until it seemed that Heaven itself was on fire as we struggled over the body of Francisco. Time, itself, stood still and the fight seemed to go on forever, until suddenly we flew past the storm and broke through into space itself.

I could see the stars and far off galaxies now, spinning around me, gas clouds of nebula and once in awhile a planet skimmed by us as we spun and spun through space.

Suddenly I heard myself repeating “My Lord and My God” in Latin, echoing St. Thomas when he realized Jesus had actually been resurrected in the flesh after the crucifixion. “My Lord and My God” (“Dominus meus et Deus meus” Jn 20:28), he had said as he embraced Christ.

I kept repeating those words over as we spun through the stars, feeling the cold creep into my bones in the far reaches of space.

Suddenly right arm began to reach upward and I saw the two edged sword of the Word of God over my head.

I grasped the hilt as it seemed to slap into my hand and with all my might yelled, “Exorcizo te, omnis spiritus immunde, in nomine Dei (X) Patris omnipotentis, et in noimine Jesu (X) Christi Filii ejus, Domini et Judicis nostri, et in virtute Spiritus (X) Sancti, ut descedas ab hoc plasmate Dei.” [I exorcise thee, every unclean spirit, in the name of God (X) the Father Almighty, and in the name of Jesus (X) Christ, His Son, our Lord and Judge, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, that thou depart from this creature of God.]

I swung the blade with all my might towards the head of the demon, screaming as I delivered the death blow and it flew off his body, backwards into space, flipping through the air over and over, disappearing into a strange fog that now began to envelope us.

I felt myself begin to fall backward towards the Earth. Faster and faster I fell, through the cold of space and into the violent storm below me.

Streaks of light began to shoot upward around me as I plummeted, picking up speed, and suddenly I came to a stop. I felt a hand on my arm, steadying me, holding me up, and I heard Francisco’s soft voice say, “Life is not always what you expect it to be, is it?” and I slumped to the floor.

The Devil Comes to Call

It took me a few minutes to gather myself, but I finally got to my feet. Todd was hovering over me looking very concerned. He said, “What happened? Mark and Inez came to get me. They said you looked at the bed, then fell to the floor and wouldn’t get up. Are you alright?”

Slowly I realized that what had seemed to me to take hours, had ‘in earth time’ only lasted a few seconds. I stood there for a bit, shaking my head in disbelief, then looked up at Todd and said, “I’ll tell you later what happened. I don’t have any energy right now.”

He handed me a tissue, “You’d better take this; your nose is bleeding.”

“Is it really?”

“Yes. When we get done today, I want to hear exactly what happened. You’re drenched with sweat and blood from your nose is all over your face. You’re scaring me. Are you going to be able to finish?”

Inez took my arm and led me into the front office where Mark had cleared off a chair for me to sit on, and Todd helped me sit down. “Maybe we should get Fiona to take a look at her, Inez.”

“Just leave her alone for a moment. Let her rest. I think she’ll be alright.”

She gave me a wet cloth to wipe the blood off my face and squatted down in front of me. Looking into my eyes, she said, “I ‘saw’ you fighting some horrible thing. I don’t know what it was, but I think you’re lucky to be alive.”

”What did you say?” “What?” I repeated, uncomprehendingly, “You saw it? You saw what happened? Really?”

She nodded and told me the little she saw would give her nightmares the rest of her life, and as she told me a bit of what she saw, I became dizzy again and asked her to stop. I was afraid the demon would come back and I’ve had nightmares about it ever since.

I began to understand what happened in that room, to a point. I would have never known or been able to remember all those verses and phrases in Latin, ordinarily, as I had never studied the language in depth, but I had written everything I had used in the fight weeks earlier in my angel book. I knew the Holy Spirit had brought me remembrance when I needed it the most.

The rest of the battle, what it actually meant, the head flying off the beast, me falling, Francisco’s voice; it was all too strange to try and figure out. I didn’t even know how to think about any of it, so when I felt better, I stood up and told the others it was time to finish the consultorio and head upstairs.

It took another hour for us to finish clearing the clinic of possessed items and bless the place. We had Fiona’s apartment upstairs to do and knowing what she had up there for masks alone was daunting, if not downright exhausting to think about. The sooner we began the better.

None of us had eaten lunch and Fiona had taken out some chips and dip out for Todd. He had been queasy all day and needed to eat something, but Mark, Inez and I decided to push on. We were really tired and wanted this day to be over.

We began on the left side of her living room as you walk inside. She had a small alcove there and it was full of masks, with two large ‘guardian’ masks shaped like large bizarre animal heads, complete with glass eyes, hanging on either post going into the alcove. These were the masks Todd had seen first on his prior trip to Juarez and had realized were possessed by spirits. They had belonged to Francisco, who had gotten them, along with all the others, in his travels, but the spirits inside had been placed there through a very powerful ritual. I could tell that the ritual used did not belong to any religion I was familiar with and asked Fiona where he had gotten them. She told me that he had shown up carrying the masks in Cuba and that he had procured them somewhere in the Caribbean Islands. She had no idea what ritual had been used either, but said that her brother had studied magic for so many years, so who could keep up with what he knew or the people he had met along the way.

I could understand her feelings. Even though she had worked with her brother and practiced brujaria, herself, and not casually either, I had no idea what additional education in metaphysics she had. I didn’t ask and she didn’t volunteer; I just kept working to balance the energy and harmonics of her apartment. Like the downstairs it was filled with energy conflicts from many objects, and as we blessed and cleared the masks, she kept finding new ones that had been hidden away in cupboards, closets and boxes. She was as eager to simplify her life as we were to help her.

There were a great many wonderful artifacts of the Tarahumara Indians hanging in her alcove. Handmade and painted drums, at least a hundred or more years old, hung beside modern weavings and jewelry purchased by Francisco and Fiona or given to them as payment by grateful people on their philanthropic trips to Copper Canyon. We didn’t need to remove any of those, nor any of the items and art purchased in Italy, Egypt or Spain. Fortunately none of those things were affected by the spirits either, so once we were done packing all the items that needed to go to the museum into the bags, we were nearly finished. The only thing left was the house blessing.

As Mark and Inez took the last of the bags to their van, Manuel and his wife arrived, having decided to take us all out to dinner. Suela also arrived a few minutes later at their invitation. She told me we were invited to stay at Estelle and Jorge’s home that night in Juarez. We were leaving for home on Monday so they had kindly organized a small party for Sunday afternoon as a thank you present. Todd and I were thrilled just thinking about attending their small fiesta. We’d been looking forward to it all day.

I was finishing up one of the back bedrooms when I heard the gate open below. My head came up and all my senses were acutely firing. I knew that whatever had opened that gate was pure, unadulterated evil, and as it began to climb the stairs, I knew the devil had arrived.

I stepped out into the hallway and turned to my right to face the living room and front door. Manuel and his wife were sitting at a small table to the left of the door, with Todd and Suela sitting nearby on the couch with Fiona, laughing and talking.

When I appeared at the doorway separating the two rooms, Fiona took one look at my face and immediately got up and walked past me into the hallway. She said, “I need to get dressed to go out to eat,” and walked quickly towards the bedroom.

I said nothing and simply stood there staring at the door. I wanted to warn Todd, and tried to get his attention, but he was deep in conversation with Suela and talking too loudly for me to be able to interrupt without yelling.

Each footstep on the stairs outside made me tense up even more. By the time we heard the knock on the door, I was standing completely straight, head up, my hands on my waist. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I could feel the anger emanating from the demon and knew he had come to get even for all nine days we had been busy disrupting his carefully laid plans and intricate trap of curses and illnesses he had placed around Francisco and his family.

I wanted to tell Manuel not to open the door, but could not. It was not my house, and I knew at that moment that there was no hope for it but to allow him to open the door and let the devil come in.

Manuel realized something was up as he glanced towards me when he got out of his chair to open the door. His face turned ashen as he reached over and turned the doorknob. He opened the door and the devil walked into the room, smiling.

The good Lord knows that even today, my blood runs cold as I write this. I will never forget even one second of being in the same room with this creature. The memory has haunted my sleep, my thoughts and remained with me all these years as fresh and raw as it was that minute.

A man in his early sixties entered the room. He was wearing possibly the most expensive charcoal pinstriped suit I had ever seen. White shirt and tie, black Italian shoes, a gold Swiss watch and diamond rings on several fingers of both hands topped his attire.

It is his silver hair that I remember the most. Perfectly cut, short, but just right, it swept to his right perfectly, not one hair out of place. A tan chiseled face of perfect proportions with elegant wide set eyes, flaunting long dark eyelashes to set off his flawless nose and semi full lips, a firm neck and perfectly shaped ears filled out his appearance.

He did not look sixty, but I knew he was at least that old. His skin was firm, not exhibiting the ‘tightness’ we see in the possessed individual, but firm in a healthy way. I knew he was the most perfectly possessed person I had ever seen and would probably ever see if I lived two hundred years…or if I lasted the next half hour, actually.

I knew this was not Satan, but Lucifer himself. I knew that at that moment we were sharing a room with the mightiest angel God had ever created and I was beyond terrified and couldn’t move a muscle. My face had held itself motionless from the time I heard the first footstep. I had no expression whatsoever. I felt frozen in time, in space, as I stood looking into the calm, controlled, curious eyes of Lucifer, as he sized me up then dismissed me, turning slowly to Manuel to say hello.

I have no idea how Manuel held it together. Working with the law as he had for so many years, he had seen many things, but when he saw the exchange of looks between this ‘man’, this doctor they had all known for many years, he was very confused and had no idea why we had looked at each other with such intensity. I could see the wheels of his mind whirling as he tried to figure it out.

The ‘doctor’ reached his hand towards Manuel and greeted him warmly, to which Manuel responded in kind. Manuel’s wife, Nola, also greeted him, left her chair for him to use and walked over to take the chair Fiona had been sitting in next to Suela.

Todd had glanced up when Lucifer entered, realized it was no one he knew, dismissed the intrusion and kept talking to Suela, who had, at least, nodded to the doctor, who she also knew. She was able to stop Todd long enough to introduce us. She gave him our names and told us he was Dr. Christophe. He did not turn around to greet either of us, but drank the coffee Manuel brought him instead.

Christophe and Manuel talked quietly for a few minutes until Todd paused holding forth, regaling the women with stories. Then Christophe turned around, very slowly, like a large snake eyeing his prey and calmly asked which of us had attended the Tarahumara Easter service.

Todd, laughing at his latest joke he had told the women, brightly remarked, “That would be me!”

Christophe smirked and said cuttingly, with derision, “Ah, so you’re the one they ‘embraced’.

I don’t know what reaction Christophe was looking for, but he got none. Todd completely ignored him.

What was wrong with Todd, I thought. He wasn’t paying the least bit of attention to what was going on, nor had he taken even a second to actually look at Christophe. For Todd this was strange behavior indeed. He was always very curious and watching everything around him, yet the doctor had been in the room for over ten minutes and Todd hadn’t even ‘seen’ him. I was getting a bit worried. It felt like Todd was flirting with a cobra and ignoring the fact that the snake was inches away from him.

I moved closer to Todd without taking my eyes off Christophe…a fact not lost on Christophe either, whose eyes moved over me in a slow studying way. He knew I would protect Todd and also knew I knew who he really was but was not backing down, so his eyes took their time passing over me, rudely sizing me up.

Then, not taking his eyes off me, he asked Todd what his favorite thing about the celebration was, knowing the answer all along.

Todd stopped talking and remarked laughing, “Their Tesguino, of course! I loved that stuff and wish I had more of it right now.”

The doctor turned slowly and looked directly at Todd, who had now turned to look at him as well. “Hmm, I can get you as much of that as you want,” he replied ‘ultra’ smoothly, and when Todd answered him with a “Great! I’d really like that.” Christophe looked intently into his eyes and smirked while his left hand flipped off the back of his chair towards Todd.

It’s hard to explain accurately, but I saw a ray of what appeared to be a reddish tinged ray of light leave his hand as though he was firing a Star Trek taser and I stepped in front of it, somehow knowing I could block it before it hit Todd. But Todd suddenly began to get the dry heaves and immediately leaned to one side and forward, his left shoulder moving against my right thigh and effectively blocking me from being able to deflect the hit. The light caught him in the left side of his rib cage and glanced off my right side near my waist.

At this point, Todd began to heave and gag, again and again, not spewing up anything, but retching several times before he could collect himself. He looked up at Suela and said, “I’m so sorry everyone, I don’t usually get the dry heaves unless I’m around evil or witches.”

When he said that, he spun around to look at me. He saw my eyes opened wide and he realized what he had not seen earlier; that indeed he was in the presence of evil ‘and’ a witch, the worst witch possible. The master brujo that had caused all the misery we had encountered since our arrival was sitting at the table in Fiona’s living room and Todd now had a look of sheer terror on his face as he also realized that ‘the’ demon that had tried to kill him was with the brujo. Todd didn’t know yet that the doctor was possessed by Lucifer. All he knew was that he was deeply afraid of this man and he had no idea what to do.

I remember feeling the burning pain in my side and thinking, “Oh, Lord, we need your help so much right now. I have no idea what to do here.”

Christophe was chuckling to himself, pleased with what he had accomplished, but I knew he was not finished with us. I knew he wanted us dead and he would do whatever it took to accomplish that. Todd had run to the bathroom, and Christophe had turned around to talk small talk with Manuel, who was clearly beside himself, not really understanding what was happening in the room but knowing that whatever it was, it was very serious. I watched as he tried to collect himself and appear civil in his answers, but as I glanced around the room I saw deep alarm on the faces of both Suela and Nola. They were staring at me with wide eyes, looking past me towards the bathroom, realizing that Todd had possibly identified Christophe as an evil witch before he left.

How many years had all these people known Christophe? I had no idea, but I wondered when Lucifer had taken him over. It must have been as big a shock to Francisco as it was to me when he revealed himself. No wonder Francisco had allowed himself to die.

A ton of questions went through my mind while Christophe was chatting with Manuel. Would I also have to make that sacrifice to save my family? Would Todd? What was Lucifer planning? What could we do to protect anyone? Who were we anyway? Just two people from nowhere who had the hubris to think that God thought they were special.

God…God…suddenly I remembered God and just as quickly realized I had forgotten him. Is this what the devil does, I wondered? He makes you forget God? Forget He’s there, forget your faith, forget that He is always with you? Did the devil emit a pheromone like some kind of mental blocking drug that kept humans from thinking straight? Or could he control our minds, even though we had guarded ourselves when he showed up? Whatever he was doing, it was powerful and leaving me confused and unsure of myself.

I leaned back and my rosary hit my chest and the power of God hit me suddenly like a freight train at full power. I nearly lost my breath. I felt the power of his anointing pour over my head all the way to my toes and must tell you I have never felt as alive in my life as I did that second. Every cell in my body began to vibrate at a very high rate of speed that would have possibly killed me any ordinary day. I felt myself withdrawing into the heart of Christ as my body amped up even more. And suddenly I felt him arrive, full force, full power, full authority, God’s greatest angel. St. Michael dropped over me like a cloak and I’m telling you, I felt the air sizzle as he landed and began to glow with the glory of God.

Christophe stopped talking, Todd returned and upon ‘seeing’ St. Michael, quickly grabbed Fiona in the hallway and they stood together, not moving a muscle. Suela and Nola moved to the edge of the small nook at the edge of the room and Manuel tried to stand up but couldn’t. He looked at me helplessly, but even though I saw him, Michael did not pay him any attention. I could do nothing myself now.

Christophe turned slowly towards the great angel of God and stood up. The doctor inside was as scared that minute as me, I was sure. Neither of us had any idea what would happen now and I knew how fearful he really was as I ‘saw’ him shrinking to nothing inside Lucifer. Some part of me felt justified and happy to see him cower, and even though I knew we could both lose our lives right now, I didn’t care. I would go to God and Christophe would go to hell.

Lucifer stood calmly, looking at Michael with contempt. Michael looked steadily at him and said nothing, but his arms on either side of him began to move outward, like a man who is loosening his arms for a fight.

Suddenly the air was full of light, red light, blue light, the entire spectrum of light flashed between the two large angels, the Archangel and the Seraphim, Lucifer glowing bright like ten suns, Michael a concentrated ball of incredibly bright firelight, flashing and sparking through the darkness of the room as they began to trade blows, one after the other, the beams of light battering them, red from Lucifer, blue from St. Michael. My body felt nothing although it was hit again and again. I watched as the laser light from both angels was fired in a concentrated way, then a wider and wider circle, arcing, then straight on as it hit my body and Christophe’s body. The angels threw light like laser beams, neither speaking, only the intensity of light crackling and breaking like thunder through my brain as each wave hit and rolled off my body and would have blown me into a million pieces had I been in human form at the time.

Suddenly, it stopped as Lucifer left Christophe’s body and the ‘man’ now stood alone facing St. Michael. I saw sweat begin to run off Christophe in rivulets running down towards his eyes. He suddenly turned towards the door, sweating profusely now, but saying his goodbyes graciously, nodding towards the women and Todd as he turned to go.

I felt St. Michael lift off me and realized I could actually hear again. I hadn’t noticed that I could hear no sound in the room before, only the thunder of the fight. My ears popped and I heard Todd as he said, “Sonia, Sonia?”

I took my eyes off Christophe and turned to answer him. Todd was standing a bit behind me to my left and the second I looked away, Christophe spun in the doorway and fired off a red bolt of light directly at Todd and hit him a glancing blow on the left side of his head. I reacted before it could connect fully with Todd, grabbed his right arm and pulled him towards me. When the light hit his ear, Todd grabbed it and said, “Ow! Something bit me!” but nothing had bitten him.

I threw a blue beam of light towards Christophe and it glanced off his back and he nearly ran down the stairs when leaving.

We didn’t go out to dinner that night. We went directly to Estelle’s, had a few sandwiches and spent the night, both Todd and I exhausted and in pain.

In the middle of the night, Fiona brought Suela and Estelle to my bedside. As I was sleeping a huge golden light emanated from my body up and through the ceiling of the home. I awoke when I felt them in the room, but when they questioned me with wide eyes and disbelieving faces, I told them simply the light was caused by my guardian angel and they went back to sleep.

What I actually believe is that God healed my body from the fight between St. Michael and Lucifer during the night because I woke up feeling much better than I had the night before. I had been so exhausted at a deep soul level when I went to bed that, quite frankly, I wasn’t too sure I would live through the night.

Todd told me that afternoon that he had seen the two large angels fighting their war, but he didn’t believe anyone else had seen much of anything. He said it was like they were locked in time, not moving or blinking until the fight was over. But they knew something phenomenal had happened. They were all drained of energy and I don’t believe any of them ate much that night, but went directly home and to bed after we left. I know Suela could barely drive the few blocks to Estelle’s house.

The next day before lunch, I broke down crying in Estelle’s bedroom in front of Suela. I was beyond tired, beyond scared, beyond thinking straight; I couldn’t hold on anymore.

Suela reached over and took my right hand. She turned her left hand on its’ side and stroked the top of my right hand gently. She said, “Te doy luz.” (I give you light) and told me it’s what Francisco used to do and say to people who were suffering. I never forgot it.

We moved to the portico and Fiona and Estelle came out. They had realized I was in tough shape that day and wanted to reassure me. They said some very kind things to me, then Fiona said, “I want you to see something”, and pulled aside the St. Michaels medal I had given her nine days ago at Suela’s birthday party. There was a hole eaten through the skin down to muscle under the medal. She said, “The demon tried to get me to remove it but I refused, so he did this.” When I reacted in horror, she said, “Es nada, it’s nothing, Sonia, we all suffered, but it was worth it, eh?” and she smiled brightly, at least free for now.

By this time I looked at these women and their families as I looked at my own, and loved them all. I gave everyone a hug as Suela, Todd and I said our goodbyes and returned to El Paso. I would fly home to Dallas the next afternoon, but Todd would be staying on for awhile with Mark and Inez.

St. Michael’s Grace

For nearly two weeks after I got back, people treated me differently. Perfect strangers smiled and waved and approached me like I was long lost family they had missed for far too long. One woman said to me, “You shine like an angel.” And a child in the grocery store grabbed my hand and said, “You’re an angel aren’t you?” And that’s when I realized what they were seeing and feeling was St. Michael’s grace still emanating from my aura.

Epilogue

On December 1st, 2000, Todd died of a broken left eardrum that caused infection resulting in spinal meningitis. On March 11th, 2003, the same day we first arrived at Fiona’s home in 1996, I would be hospitalized for three weeks, near death from infection and complications when a sudden intestinal blockage on my right side was removed by an incompetent surgeon. I don’t know what happened to Christophe, but I’m sure he’s had his problems as well.

The next year, before I returned to the clinic do perform the final blessing and release Francisco’s spirit allies, I had a dream about Francisco.

In the dream, he and I were standing on top of the Tarahumara’s sacred mountain. He was dressed in a plaid shirt, jeans and boots, no hat, with his black hair reflecting the moonlight.

He greeted me warmly and gave me a hug. He held out his right hand, and in the palm, he held his ruby ring. It was set in gold and the setting was inscribed with many sacred geometric figures. He told me to put it on my right hand and after I did, he turned my body so I was looking north, in the direction of the clinic.

It felt like we were flying towards the clinic, and when I looked down, I saw it, but it wasn’t the same setting it had been in before. There was a large paved parking lot in front of it, full of cars, and the clinic shown golden in the sunlight. A very large white cathedral stood next to the clinic, with a large statue of St. Michael in the front, and a statue of Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin, set into a niche in the building of the front of the Church, over the entrance. Under her feet was an inscription carved into the stone. It said, “Our Lady of Hope.” in Spanish and English. [“Nuestra Senora de la Esperanza”]

As he turned me southeast from the church and clinic, I saw many people walking past the hacienda towards the little vale between the trees where Todd had placed the statue of Mary he brought to the family. Some were on crutches, some in wheelchairs. There was a small spring of water glinting with light and trickling towards a small pool where people were filling bottles with the water. Above the little hill, floating in the air, I saw Mother Mary, smiling at the people below her. I could see through the Blessed Virgin, so I knew it was her spirit that was there. The people would stop and pray at a statue of her that was much larger than the little tiny one Todd had placed, go to the water, and walk away from their crutches and wheelchairs. They were laughing and smiling, crying and giving thanks.

I turned towards Francisco, who was now smiling at me. He said, “Tell Todd what you’ve seen.” I nodded, and woke up.

Someday, I know, this vision will become a reality. Todd saw it, and I have now seen it. I don’t know when it will happen, only that it will. Perhaps everything we did for God at the clinic was to clear the way for the appearance of the Blessed Mother. I would like to think so.

When I returned to the clinic, later that year, I realized that he had spiritually given me his ring so I would be protected from the allies. They would ‘see’ the ring on my hand and know that it was Francisco’s decision to free them and they would not attack me when I asked them to jump in the hat.

But that’s another story…and just as exciting, if not more so, than the one you just read. Because on that trip, all bets were off and the brujo hunted us down.

Introduction to Dark Journey

There are stars in the Southern sky

And if ever you decide you should go

There is a taste of time sweetened honey

Down the Seven Bridges Road

From the moment Todd decided to leave for the Tarahumara Easter celebration until we returned home from our trip to Juarez, we had no idea if we had done everything right. We would not know at all, in fact, until we came back the following year to perform the final blessing and release Francisco’s allies, his ‘natural’ ‘spirit helpers’ he had gleaned from his travels as a sorcerer in the land of Mexico itself. Right now, they were contained by the force of his Will in the North bell tower of the clinic, their strength had been holding the clinic physically together, but you could see that in the Southeast corner, the furthest away from the tower and their influence, some decay and damage had already set in. Would Francisco’s intention and the focused energy of the allies keep it from crumbling in the next year? Hopefully so, but we wouldn’t know until then how successful they were.

This analogy may sound odd to some of you, knowing that I was a person dedicated to serving God through deliverance and exorcism, Todd being an ordained minister, and Francisco having dedicated himself to God as well, concerning ourselves over spirits, energies and entities from the land, but the reason Todd and I were chosen for this task is because we understood the reasoning of God in this. He created everything. And that includes other spirits, entities, energies, the land, the world and the cosmos, and sometimes “religion” limits God simply through lack of understanding and allowing God to flow through all his creation. Too often I think that the reason people leave their church is because they can see the dichotomy of this thinking and the absurdity of it also.

You don’t have to be a genius to understand that if God created everything, there was a reason for it. Not good or bad, just a ‘balancing’ reason for it. The real reason God’s creation ‘works’ is the balance and harmony of his planning itself.

There is no light without dark, no stasis without spin, no health without illness, no life without death. Everything must find it’s harmony within the relation to its opposite. And these relationships must be honored. You cannot embrace one without embracing the other. You cannot honor one without honoring the other. There are many dimensions and layers of planes of existence beyond what we see. We know this instinctually, yet we are told by churches that to believe that or pursue knowledge of those things is wrong and will lead us into evil. But we know the churches have been wrong in their assessment of these factors before when they put Galileo on trial for his theory of the solar system, and their treatment of early science that they branded heresy. And so it is now. They refuse to consider the totality of what mankind is capable of because they do not understand it, and they wait until they have proof before they embrace it. But no proof will come forward without sacrifice by the faithful that follow God’s lead and explore these things with his guidance, fearing not in their quest, but trusting him to lead them into understanding, wisdom and knowledge.

The churches have once again hit an impasse just as they did with Galileo. We, as a human race, created by God, must now explore and further our knowledge of the unknown once again, trusting in him and following his lead. Like the shepherd who leads his flock to a new and unknown land, we too must trust in his knowledge that the land he has given us and leads us to is good and wholesome. It is by this trust that we achieve spiritual and mental evolution, not by cowering in fear, being left alone in a land where the milk and honey no longer flows, or by following the lead of a selfish shepherd who thinks only of his own aggrandizement. No. We must stand our ground in faith, in trust, and embrace that which the church fears if we as a species are to grow and prosper in this new world and Canaan Land God has prepared for us.

If we do not follow God in our quest to grow and become informed, we will end up following the silly men St. Paul warns us about in the 3rd book of Timothy, v: 1-9. There are men even now who practice black magic and sorcery. They are trying to convince us that the way to wisdom and the universe is by leaving our humanity by the doorstep and to embrace nanotechnology to the point where we become machines, and that only through this step will we be able to travel into space and explore the universe. And the kicker, of course, the hook, as it were, is that after you download your mind into this machine, you will live forever as an immortal machine.

Becoming a machine to travel the stars is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You’d give up your humanity to travel through space, thinking you’re immortal, only to find that you still reside in the mind of God, only now you are bound to a machine and will never know the freedom of truly ‘knowing’ the universe. You’ll be forever trapped in a never ending computer game, sailing around his mind in your suit, just a child who thinks they’re a man of knowledge but never realizing your true potential to travel, truly know and experience the entire cosmos without a suit or a computer. Happy trails! Believing a lie will never make it the truth. You’re just doing it to get richer as if money actually mattered in the mind of God. That’s why it’s the root of all evil, because Satan uses that logic to trap you into thinking it’s true and that you’re a man of logic and science. By discounting the intelligence and power of God over your own, you’ve become just another misguided Adam in a long line of greedy men wanting knowledge but too impatient to wait for the real thing because you’ve been fooled into thinking God is withholding it from you and that he thinks like a man and guards his most precious secrets. Satan definitely saw you coming and is just using you to make another attempt to slap God in the face, which, bad news, Satan, he’s not taking personally. He already knows your nature and disregarded your ‘brilliance’ when he threw you out of heaven.

And there are also those who teach ‘new age’ doctrine that is a trap of false wisdom sown by demons. What they imply is that God doesn’t want you to know anything important or useful about the universe through the natural use of your brain, but only by using their techniques will you find true wisdom and the ability to transcend the prison of religion and God, who would hold you captive in a fundamental way that limits your ability as a full creation of phenomenal ability. They use the rigidity of the churches and the fear of new things that are sometimes incorrectly preached to back up this claim. These people are ‘false teachers’ who appear to have great power and abilities that impress and awe, seemingly working miracles and great feats of prowess, leading people around by the nose, charging thousands for their ‘seminars and endless empty courses on how to be more than incredible’, but are so ignorant that they are blindly using demonic power to perform their feats. They’re quick, however, to point out that their ‘guides’ are ‘special’ or they’re a reincarnation of a genius, or whatever storyline is famous today and wouldn’t you like to have some of this yourself? They never give God any credit for what they are able to accomplish, or they tell you what they think you ‘need’ to hear to think they’re actually great people and are addressed succinctly by St. Paul as “ Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Timothy 3:5

Basically, what St. Paul is saying is that where it concerns these ‘serious men of innate brilliance’, what you think you’re learning is actually garbage. What you’ll honestly get is fleeced. Jesus says in Matthew 23:28 “Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” So don’t jump at the next new ‘teacher’ on the new age front thinking he has all the answers. He might have a few, but how many thousands of dollars are you going to spend following some inanity only to find out he doesn’t? If the guy was real, he’d only charge enough for his traveling money and lodging like the Apostles who actually had something of value to bring the people.

Shunting God aside so you can find your ‘true freedom’ only means that you will labor through the darkness alone, as your prized ‘guides’ will soon realize that hanging with you will avail them nothing as they’ll find they cannot regain their place in heaven by hiding inside your soul. They’ll abandon you out in the astral plane somewhere or take you to live in their own soulless place, forever pretending they ‘own’ a soul, but never regaining God’s grace. A true guide does not lead you away from God, but to God, for only there will you find the wisdom and experience you seek.

Both of the examples I listed above are good examples of mankind’s gullibility. We’ve been trying to figure it all out since the devil convinced Eve that God was hiding secrets and she fell for it. Adam wanted to believe that also or he wouldn’t have bit into the apple. God would have told them everything anyway, but he would have given them the knowledge at the time they were actually able to understand and appreciate it. The truth is that there is no place in God’s creation where we cannot go with him as our guide. No knowledge is withheld from us if we follow him into his library. There are no limits to God’s understanding or willingness to teach us, bring us wisdom or to nurture us to the full totality of our abilities and capabilities with which he endowed us from the beginning. It is only by distrusting him or placing him into a manmade box of limitations based in ignorance that we lose our birthright. The only thing “Occult” or hidden in this universe is what you hide from yourself because you’re not ready to understand it yet. There are tribal people in this world that understand more about this universe than the most learned graduate from MIT. They learned it because they trusted God. We were withheld from it because we trusted man’s views of the universe instead. And also because God knows us better than we know ourselves. Giving some of us that knowledge would be like giving a kid a credit card or a magic wand; which is why there is no real ‘Hogwarts’. I shudder to think of the consequences. Seeing bloated aunts flying around the sky would be the least of our problems. We’re just not ready yet for some things.

The way to actually embrace your totality as a human being with unlimited potential is to read, learn, listen, act, but all the while asking God what is true, what is real, what is the ‘right’ information, what is ‘of Him’ and what is not. There are, unfortunately, no approved guidebooks available to help us that are written by God himself. There are books that some people write, misguided by perhaps their own mental failings believing wrongly that their writings are inspired by God. But if you are truly listening to God, giving yourself up completely to his guidance, you will ‘know’ what is and isn’t true. Because the most important thing you must have to truly grasp your totality and be able to use it is humility. Jesus said in Matthew 23:11-12, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” If you do not approach God’s knowledge with humility, you will not be able to receive it (to understand it enough to use it).

God never tells you not to learn and study, and when Ezekiel addresses sorcery and witchcraft, and says he’s tired of ‘your new moons’, he’s not saying new moons aren’t important, he’s simply saying God is so much more, has created it all, knows all the answers, can perform things no one using witchcraft or sorcery can even come close to and will teach you everything he knows if you simply trust him to guide you. That’s what Jesus said literally in Matthew 21:21-22. “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” So don’t believe me, believe him. How do you think I was able to do those things I did at the Clinic? I read what God put in front of me. I studied and I trusted him and went out and did what he asked. I believed and asked him in prayer for the knowledge and ability to do his bidding. And he gave me what I asked and did not take the knowledge of how to do it away because he knows I only work with him. I only use that knowledge when I know he wants me to use it and he gives me the power to execute the ritual or ceremony or whatever he asks me to do. Like the tribal people I know the answers because I listen to God and because I listen to God I will not use the knowledge in a wrong way. Sure, I’m human, and ask anyone, I have a temper. But using what God taught me to exact revenge or fill my own pockets would seriously injure me spiritually and I would then be a kickball for the devil. That’s why God says “Vengeance is mine”. Acts like that require the human spirit to lower itself to a base level of evil and that invites and many times results in possession just by itself. God will not allow his knowledge and power to be used by a demon, so he will remove that knowledge and power until you repent and rid yourself of the demon and the unwillingness to set your own desires aside and listen to him. There are powers and energies in this universe that would eat your human energy like a pizza roll in two seconds. You cannot zip about the universe as a person of knowledge without being impeccable in thought, behavior and intention. If you’re having a ‘human day’ of mixed bag emotions and can’t focus enough to have impeccable intentions, just wash your hair or clean your car or something that won’t get you killed or seriously diminished by an entity you can’t see coming. Wandering around through dimensions and planes of existence just looking for excitement is inviting disaster. Know what you want to accomplish and keep your focus or indeed, bring along extra cheese. Maybe you can throw it and distract the entity looking at you greedily long enough to run away intact. My money’s on the entity, just to let you know.

Jesus will not come again until he comes. No matter who says they are Jesus, don’t believe them. When Jesus arrives, all will know he is who he is at the same time. There will be no doubt. One will not say, ‘that’s the Messiah’ and the other say, ‘no, he’s not’. There will be no confusion or misunderstanding, as those are the devils tools, not God’s tools. So until Jesus comes, don’t worry about the false prophets or those appear with fanfare to sway you. They’re not Jesus or we’d all know it at the same time, so pass them by. God does not ‘sneak’. No one pretended Jesus wasn’t Jesus when he was here before and that time he looked like an ordinary man. This time, it says in the Bible he won’t. So no matter what man or entity acts like you should believe them, don’t. You won’t have to ‘think about it’ when Jesus really makes his next appearance. So until then, learn, study, experience and realize God will help you accomplish your gathering of the answers, everything you want to know, he will tell you and show you and help you accomplish.

God is not out of our lives or your reach. People were told he wouldn’t attend the dance so no one asked him. We’re living in his mind. What makes you think he doesn’t have a sense of humor? Or love us more than anything else he created? And quit telling me ‘you’re God’. That is not a unique idea, and I can tell you where it came from. The last entity who decided he was God got kicked out of heaven for impertinent behavior. He’s just hoping you’ll buy the line because he’s hoping God will be offended by his creation of stupid people. You are not God. Raised the dead with your own power lately?

You have the abilities God has because he wants you to have them. But if you think you are God you will lose any chance at true humility and without it you will become nothing but egocentric and weird. So knock it off if you want to really accomplish something phenomenal in this life; seriously.

When God performs a miracle, everyone present knows it. There is no confusion. When God truly speaks through someone, everyone knows it is God who is speaking, because, quite frankly, we’re not that brilliant, no matter what we think of ourselves.

The true power of God is love. The mind of the heart responds to God’s love and knows his voice. If you love God you will always know his voice. The Holy Spirit enables that ‘knowing’ and the response of your heart mind. You may doubt your brain mind, but not your heart mind. The brain mind is capable of believing all sorts of stupidity, but the mind of the heart is not fooled. That is where your spiritual mind resides, in your heart. And that is why I surrender myself to God’s heart, the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is the blood of Christ that purifies us and covers our sin so that God the Father can look upon us. Jesus said, “Whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, that I will do, that the works of the Son may glorify the Father.”

As you walk forward in this life, learning, studying, reaching out into the dimensions and planes of existence God has placed in this universe for you to explore, ask the Father in the name of his holy child Jesus to protect and guide you and Jesus will come as the Good Shepherd and lead you through the valleys that appear so fearful to our human minds, but are in reality just a valley that the sun has not yet risen enough to shed its light upon. It is not a frightening place, but a beautiful valley of green grass and pure water, flowers and trees. If you remain there long enough, your ‘eyes’ will adjust and you will see the moonlight and moss in the tress. Fear no evil, this valley too resides in God, in his mind, in his creation and in his cosmos and you have no reason to fear if you hold his hand and trust in him.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.” Mark 16:17-20

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