Left Turn into Harsh Land

Flying Girls mixed media art installation by Nigerian Artist Péju Alatise

On the eve of immense change within my home country of America, I find myself abroad for several reasons both deeply personal and professional. It was not an easy decision by any means. Necessity and intention often sling me forward in ways of expansion - like gentle green tendrils of growth from cracked seed up against the earthy soil, and out into the bright contrasting light of day under a hot screaming sun. In this case...Africa.

I have gone through many emotions about the currents running through my homeland over the last many years since as young as I can remember. Now like millions of other Americans, I watch with baited breath as my own fate continues to unfold before me regardless of the large scale drama of bad weather that continues to waft across the globe and my own country in particular. I had contemplated the necessity of continuing with my website and podcast, and the more I settled into moving forward in service and balance, the more fate found a way to loosen what wasn’t supporting this intention, while keeping what will shape my vessel into the future as I go along. It would appear that the ballast of the two (website and podcast) will shape me as much as I attempt to shape them in tandem and for as long as I am meant to share my experiences to support others, the vehicle continues.

"It is often the left turns that I took that brought me immense growth."

It is often the left turns that I took that brought me immense growth. I was never one to go with the crowd even as much as I tried. I always ended up going my own way about things eventually. Nigeria so far has been about land and culture as I continue working on my esoteric skills and greater understanding of divination, how fate operates and being of service in a supernatural way while walking a mystical path of service. Exploring Nigeria so far has been more of an extremely cautious ‘one foot in front of the other’ approach with an over-abundance of respect for the occult practices here.

Nigeria with its congested clashing of hundreds of tribes in a struggling economy and many languages all against a backdrop of the occult, poverty, corruption and lack of infrastructure, continues to be as pungent as sulfur. It is also exquisitely beautiful in increasingly layered and dynamic ways both ancient and modern. The land and weather are barren, lush and aggressive. There is one gentleman in particular who passes by my heavy tall double locked iron gate of mythical proportions (as is common in Nigeria for safety) looking for frequent opportunities to engage (I am grateful for the overly-protective Christian Nigerian family I live with). Beyond the creep factor, he is half-way outside of his body and something very foreign energetically is occupying the rest. Whether it is deity possession or any manner of other supernatural nastiness, I have yet to discover. The word VooDoo comes to mind, yet this is just a distant offshoot of the intense originating occult practices that are prevalent here.

"...once a Nigerian begins to actively worship one or more of the ancient pagan deities connected to the environment here, the deities find a way of strapping you to the land to keep the worship going."

The Christian locals who refuse to go near anything “juju” say that once a Nigerian begins to actively worship one or more of the ancient pagan deities connected to the environment here, the deities find a way of strapping you to the land to keep the worship going. The mentality often is described like a barrel of live crabs...there are always several keeping you from climbing out. I respectfully find their observations fascinating…is it from the imbalance of why people worship deities, usually for personal gain or revenge against other humans? Or is it because of the human qualities of the ancient deities themselves that expect absolute dedication in specific ways? Or is it just something about the overarching culture that got entangled with deity worship over time? I hope to find some answers.

Back to the land…now I find the little creatures coming around more closely such as lizards, mice, birds…along with the nearby ghosts of deceased people. The variety of bird calls I can hear are increasing as well. It was REALLY slow at first, my energy very foreign I would imagine, like a space alien to the nature around me. Many times I would sit outside and just observe the natural goings-on reaching out mentally to say hello to a lizard passing by at high speed over shards of glass on the uppermost part of the concrete wall – Nigeria’s way of keeping trespassers from climbing over and into places they shouldn’t be. Dragonflies would zip by cutting through the humidity. Even the little mice have somehow gained a furry swagger now as I chip away at my laptop on the couch by flashlight in the early hours of the morning…my peripheral vision being incredibly present. No sooner do I turn my head and the little guy is half way across the tile in the living room making its way towards me. The slight shift in movement of my body sends him flying back across the room and diving under the door to the next. As you can imagine, the modest kitchen in the flat needed a near military grade overhaul just to keep insects and critters out.

If you are passionate about the paranormal/supernatural and have the patience, and are not constantly looking for shortcuts, the slow build of observing and connecting with intention to your surroundings WILL start a process of unfolding reward.

For a Paranormal Investigator, this will help to further hone one’s instinctual senses, and for the Psychic or Medium, it will expand your awareness beyond the deceased haunting of ghosts to increasing experiences that will eventually put you closer on the path towards shaman or mystic.

The ancient wisdom that arises for me personally here even in my own humble beginnings upon the path, is that if you listen with balanced intention, patience and truly wanting to be of service…eventually the land will speak to you, just not in the ways you might expect!

~Amy Beauchamp