To Trust or Not to Trust the Spirits

© Copyright 2024 Fran Carey, All Rights Reserved.

Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota is built around its namesake barometric cave, a network of underground passages that is the traditional birthplace of the Lakota people. It is now a historic, geological, and nature preserve overseen by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, which is, for the first time in history, headed by a member of the Pueblo of Laguna, New Mexico native Deb Haaland.

The original, breathing entrance has been preserved, and cave tours enter through another entrance, enlarged for the purpose in the 1800s. At the time of this writing, tours are suspended for elevator replacement, but they explore less than a mile of the 167 mapped passages, all under just 1.25 square miles of surface land. This is also one of the oldest known caves, estimated at over 300 million years old.

There are several versions of the Lakota creation story. In the one shared on the National Park Service website, the first humans were lured to the surface of the earth through the trickery of a bored spirit being, Iktomi, and his accomplice and spirit victim, Anog-Ite. They were baited by gifts sent to their underground paradise and followed the spirit wolf Sundmanitu Tanka through the natural entrance to Wind Cave onto the surface of the earth. The first humans were later turned into bison by the boss divinity, the Creator, Takuskanskan, who heard them crying at their point of exit when the winter came and they were unprepared but discovered they couldn't go home again.

Many moons later, the Creator led the people from their underground home to the surface when the exact proper time for this relocation arrived, and the people prospered as they lived by the cycles of nature. At least until the Europeans arrived, which we all learned about in history class.

Today the natural entrance remains a sacred site, and the park service allows the People, Lakota and other nations, to keep it holy and perform rituals and prayers there. If you go, you will see prayer bundles and the native version of prayer flags tied to plants around the breathing hole in the ground. Look, but don't touch. Certainly say your prayers for the salvation of our joint mother, Earth, and the plants and animals who live on her. Do that at every sacred site, Catholic, Lakota, Wiccan, whatever. Pile more energy on the pleas already uttered there. Saturate the world in prayers for the planet and her inhabitants.

This is not the only story which features deceptive spirits who didn't have the best interests of the humans they met in mind. Odin is well known as a trickster, as are Coyote, Raven, and Deer Woman. How do we know if the voices we hear are good spirits, bad spirits, or our own little minds leading us toward good or bad ends?

I asked that of a priestess I know, and she said to evaluate their request(s) by are they good or bad suggestions for all concerned. Do they pass the old test of "An it harm none", in other words. Think this out carefully, even making notes with one column for good outcomes and one for bad if needed. Will this action hurt anyone or anything, including you, your friends and family, the planet? What are all the possible outcomes, no matter how far fetched, and how likely is each outcome? What is the risk/reward balance?

To quote Laurell K Hamilton, "Willie McCoy had been a jerk before he died. His being dead didn't change that." (Guilty Pleasures, Hamilton, 1993) If the person to whom you are listening was untrustworthy when they were alive, they can't be trusted after death. If the spirit being has a rep for being a manipulator, they probably earned it. Do your research about gods, goddesses, and other spirits before agreeing to work with them.

Always read the fine print. What do you get out of this deal, and what are you expected to do beyond the initial request? Make your contact spell it out. The stakes can be higher than a time share in Florida. If they won't spell it out, walk away.

Finally, go to your higher power, the deity with whom you work the most or trust the most, and tell them what's going on. Get their opinion. Use a trusted tarot reader, a priest or priestess you know and trust, or something you can't misinterpret like a random number generator on your phone or computer. (Odd is "no", Even is "yes", decide before you push the "go" button.)

Not all supernatural beings have your best interest at heart. Think through their requests and get a second opinion if needed, from an unbiased outside source. Don't let the tricksters turn you into road kill on the highway of life and spiritual evolution.

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