Wierdness in MY World

[wtbengineer]

Thant's pretty much along the lines of what I expected you to say, thanks for the response.  I know from experience that you are right, physical attributes mean nothing at all in spiritual battles.  We fight not against flesh and blood and all that.

I never tried the angry approach but it seemed like just ignoring the whole thing helped to keep it/them at bay, for the most part anyway.  I also never tried any of the things you mention like salt or copper or herbs, nothing like that.  And I never heard of sacred tobacco.  When I was attacked I was a teenager and didn't know squat.  Just ignored it like I did when I was a little kid and footsteps came across my bedroom floor and someone sat on the edge of my bed.  Grew up in a haunted house, at least I was being haunted, don't know if anyone else was.

I haven't given it much thought, but I agree with you that spirits are associated with particular geographic regions and stay in those regions.  Kind of like rulers over the land in a spiritual sense.  I also believe that they are ranked according to power.  I also know I don't like to spend too much time thinking about these things.  It seems like it gets their attention.  Anyway, lots of information in your post, thanks for taking the time to write it out.  And I really would like to hear your story about your fight with a demon, if you ever feel like telling it.

Yes, ignoring them can work, if you can do it. Many of them are akin to "psychic vampires", and actually get energized by being noticed, more so if they can generate fear in you to siphon of that emotional energy that generates. Ignoring those types tends to starve them away.

There is a learning curve to using props like copper, iron, salt, and herbs, and some of those only work in certain situations, but not others. Most of the herbs are really just medicinal, and only have spiritual effects secondarily -and remember, it's really probably just your own will and intent being focused on them that makes them work at all.

As far as the sacred tobacco goes, this is one variety I'm growing. I got the seed for that one from Prarie Moon. It's from the Great Lakes region. This is the other variety I'm growing, and that company is in Canada, and is where I got the seed for it from. While it claims to be "1000 year old tobacco", grown from seed found in a thousand year old clay pot at an archaeological dig, I'm pretty sure that is just bullshit marketing. It looks like Cherokee tobacco, and I'm pretty sure that's what it really is. I looked through all manner of archaeological literature, and never found any mention of any sproutable seed being found in a 1000 year old clay pot - and I'm betting that would have been big news. I'm guessing they just bill it as they do to avoid trouble from the Cherokees. There IS a difference between the two, most noticeable at the moment in the leaf shape - the Midewiwin has leaves that are a bit longer and a bit more narrow, and the other has leaves that are shorter and wider, more "squat" looking. It has a gazillion uses in native American culture. Basics are that it's used to give thanks to the good spirits, and attract them to you. Then the good spirits defend you against the bad ones, because you apprecited them. One way or another, it seems to keep the bad spirits at bay.

It's used to give thanks to the spirit of a plant when you take something from it in the woods. You leave a pinch at the base of the plant you are taking something from. Some tribes use it to attract "little people" to dwell around their houses, or just to thank them for not playing tricks on you in the woods. It's offered to water, and it's offered to sky spirits, and Wishemanitou. All I really know is that since I smudged the house to get rid of the bad, and hung the leaves to prevent it's return, I've not been scratched any more. I'm sure that can be built upon as I learn more - that learning curve thing. Right now, I'm in contact with some Anishinaabe to find out how they use it, and how they cure it. That's probably more relevant to the Midewiwin tobacco.

One other thing about the native tobacco  it traditionally cannot be sold or traded. That would be demeaning it, turning it into a crass commercial commodity, like commercial tobacco. It can only be gifted.  For example, you take a batch to the medicine man when you have a request of him. if he accepts it, that means he accepts your plight, and will do what he can to alleviate it.

Here's the story of the fight with the demon, or whatever it was. You can take it as gospel truth, or as a tall tale, or as the ravings of a lunatic. I don't care which, I know what I saw, and no one else has to believe it.

Once upon a time, as all good fairy tales start, I was a young man. maybe even a teenager. I don't know what made me do it, other than being young and dumb, but one fine sunny spring day, I was feeling my oats, and out of a clear blue sky, I said right out loud "I ain't scared of shit. I ain't even scared of the devil himself! Bring on yer worst, you ain't got nothin' on me!"

Right after that, I discovered that I WAS scared of shit.

I was seized by a terrible searing pain in my midsection, and I shit you not, when I looked down my belly had been ripped open. Blood everywhere, and I could see my own guts trying to dump out.

I'm not sure if "scared" even begins to cover what I felt at that instant.

I yelled "God help me, that sumbitch done gutted me". I've always been an irreverent sort, and I reckon the Good Lord takes that into account most days, since that's just the way he made me. Then I collapsed on the ground, passed right out. Dead to the world. I don't remember anything until I woke up. No dreams, no visions, no nothing but blackness. When I woke back up, or came to, or whatever I did, it was some time later. The sun was a good bit lower. All my innards were back where they were supposed to be, no scars, no blood, not even a scratch to show anything had ever happened at all.

That was about as confusing as having seen it in the first place.

I was not drunk, nor stoned, nor anything of the sort... but what I was was tired. Incredibly tired. Wore slam out. It took me forever to get back home, and when I did I slept for 18 hours straight.

I don't really know what happened. I know the pain was real, and the worst I'd ever felt, even to this day, but I often wonder if seeing my own innards trying to become outards might not have just been some kind of illusion flung on me. More so because I could not find any evidence that it ever happened, no scars, no scratches, not even a red mark. It was probably "all in my head", but what the hell PUT it there?

Whether it was a demon, or a devil, or some other kind of pissed off haint, I can't say. What I CAN say is that my ass was whooped, and whooped bad. I can also say that it raised the bar, for me, as to what there is and ain't to fear. It didn't make me fearless by any means, but it did raise the bar a few notches.

So there it is. take it or leave it. If nothing else, it'd make a fairly decent campfire tale, I reckon.

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Yeah, I was able to ignore them, or at least to act like it.  I learned that from an early age ignoring the poltergeist or whatever was terrorizing me as a boy.  It was more like just being petrified by fear.  When I was a kid I'd hide my head under the blankets and pretend I was asleep.  I figured if whatever it was thought i was sleeping it wouldn't get me.  Well, it never did anything beyond scare me so i guess it kind of worked.  And after a time it stopped trying to scare me too, although it ramped up quite a bit at around the age of 18.  It seemed to get pretty intense.  
Thanks for telling me about your fight with the demon.  I believe they can do that kind of thing to you.  Everything we perceive is only happening in our minds after all.  Through our sensory organs that transmit the signals to our brains.  It's easy for these beings to manipulate those signals, or the way that our brains interpret them.