I’ve had a curious couple of days, replete with synchronicities and coincidences. Most of these concern the propriety of my chosen spiritual path - an eclectic and magic-friendly form of folk Catholicism - tending to validate it in my eyes.
The run of synchronicities began Wednesday night when I prayed for guidance on my spiritual path, which I hoped would take the form of a divinely-sent dream. There are epistemological hurdles here - does it or doesn’t it prove anything if I seem to have received an answer? (Perhaps the epistemological hurdles are insuperable: I have a mounting pile of circumstantial evidence over the years suggesting that Providence is leading my life in the direction of Independent Catholic priesthood and eclectic folk Catholicism, but in a fit of scrupulosity I’m always prone to discount all of it, because you can always say it’s merely a coincidence or you were being led by spirits other than the Holy. Be that as it may, there is a disproportionate distribution of evidence: nothing whatsoever construable as evidence for the propriety of vanilla Christian orthodoxy as my personal path, but enough experiences recommending eclectic folk Catholicism to seem like divine guidance unless you specially-discount the reliability of any such indications by denying the possibility of supernatural guidance or the reliability of its source).
It was an interesting dream, in which my unsuspecting dream self came under attack by demonic spiritual forces. I was minding my own business talking to a friend, but I was repeatedly attacked by a poisonous talking snake telling me that obedience to conventional religion is the most important thing there is and I should stand still and let myself be poisoned. I kept trying to back out of the snake’s territory to circumvent conflict, in case I was invading its territory, but it kept following me into my territory (even hunting me) and deliberately forcing a confrontation. When I was almost bitten, my friend took a shovel and split the snake in two, saying that the snake was trying to poison me with “dualism”. Then I prayed for guidance from God, and heard a still small voice telling me that I should heed Vallabhacarya’s interpretation of the Bhagavad Gita and follow a Christian instantiation of pushti-marga, and I should make this a matter of pure bhakti and eclectic improvisation rather than doing everything by formula. Love God and be true to your devotional instincts; don’t go for scrupulosity or repression. There was nothing to interpret because the still small voice spelled it out explicitly.
What do you think? You pray for a divine message, you seem to get one, but you know that a lot of people wouldn’t recognize the possibility of it being a divine message because of what was communicated. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or demonic, or “just a dream”. You never know.
That evening I decided to catch a little bit of Iowa Public Television - and it turned out to be a program about dreams, what they mean for the psyche of the dreamer, whether or not they are generally reliable and helpful and adaptive and “mean” something. The religious views and the scientific views converged in everything but vocabulary - yes, dreams are meaningful and generally adaptive (not just mental white noise) and are either the dreamer coming to insight and adaptation strategies for their life situation or messages from gods/spirits/ancestors. A fairly interesting coincidence of content, I should think, given the immediate context.
Today is the Feast of Saints Barlaam and Josaphat, a pair of good folk saints I decided to honor by a trip to Caridad del Cobre (the local botanica) and other places in order to have a little fun with my mother.
Mother apparently decided to stop being an EWTN fundamentalist, because she was perfectly happy going to a couple of magic-themed stores like Ancient Ways (an herb and oil shop in Sherman Hills, part of the moody Bohemian/gay ghetto of Des Moines) and Caridad del Cobre (a dilapidated storefront run by santeros in the barrio). Mom even asked the clerks about the stones and herbs that would be most helpful to her, then proceeded to persuade me to buy them for her! These adventures were inconsequential (though intensely socially awkward: I’m regarded as an exotic curiosity in Caridad del Cobre for being their only Anglo customer) but it was all a great deal of fun.
At some point, Mother decided enough was enough and we needed to go to one of her stores for a change, so we went fleamarketing near some grain processing plants on the industrial east side. We both got a few things, and I managed to happen upon a few items that I’ve been wanting/needing for my hoodoo practice - a Native American bust to represent Black Hawk (an “Indian Spirit Guide,” folk saint, and icon of resistance native to this corner of the Upper Midwest) and a number of oldtime medicine bottles to store homemade oils and brews. The bottles couldn’t have been more perfect - they were all products of the 19th century “medicine show” movement (faith healing, folk herbalism, and snake oil), including one old bottle of a dubious panacea known as Hamlin’s Wizard Oil:
HAMLIN’S WIZARD OIL
FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL USE
THROUGHOUT this country, from Alaska to Florida and also in Mexico, Canada, and South America, Hamlin’s Wizard Oil is known and it is liked. It is appreciated most by those who know it best, and in thousands upon thousands of families it has become a household necessity.
The large number of remarkable cures which have been performed through the instrumentality of this great remedy is unparalleled in the history of medicine. Hundreds of supposed cripples for life, and sufferers who have languished upon beds of sickness, receiving no aid from other sources, testify to its wonderful healing properties.
When once Hamlin’s Wizard Oil is introduced into any section of the country, it never dies out. Its sale is constantly increasing, and at the present rate has assumed such proportions as to justify us in the assertion that it has never been equalled by any other remedy. Forty years record of success, is proof of its merits.
Many analytical chemists pronounce it one of the most valuable medical combinations ever produced. Innumerable physicians constantly endorse and recommend Wizard Oil and they use it in their practice. Every wholesale druggist carries Wizard Oil in stock, and it is quoted in their price-lists as a staple article of the drug store. You need have no trouble in getting it.
CURES: Rheumatism, Lame Back, Stiff Joints, Contracted Cords and Muscles, Neuralgia, Headache, Toothache, Earache, Deafness, Cuts, Wounds, Sprains, Bruises, Burns, Scalds, Bites of Dogs and other Animals, Stings of Insects and Reptiles, Sore Throat, Quinsy, Croup, Diphtheria, Dyspepsia, Indigestion, Gastralgia, Stomach and Bowel Complaints, Cramps, Colic, Cholera Morbus, Ulcers, Fever Sores, Sore and Bleeding Gums, and all inflammation and pain from whatever cause
PRICE, 50c AND $1 PER BOTTLE
SOLD BY ALL DRUGGISTS
Prepared at the laboratory of
HAMLINS WIZARD OIL CO.
CHICAGO, ILL.
We got home from this adventure just in time to randomly tune into Iowa Public Television’s broadcast of the series We Shall Remain, a documentary of Native American resistance to genocidal imperialism - which seemed like a very fantastic coincidence given the Black Hawk bust until it was topped by a commercial for an upcoming episode of Living in Iowa which concerns Delta Blues performances in Davenport, Iowa, the song “Crossroads” by Robert Johnson, and the white host’s inability to master the mysteries of “mojo”! (Note: I do not have a television in Iowa City, and therefore did not know about this program when I wrote this). At this point my mother looked over at me and more-or-less demanded I hand over a love spell immediately, because if I am this obscenely lucky, probably it would have a beneficial effect on her life indeed!
[...] I briefly touched on the epistemology of religious experience, though my parenthetical treatment of the issue threatened to become the main narrative and take [...]
[...] trying to keep me in a state of mortal sin and/or excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, yet another sign from God that he REALLY wants me to pursue the Anglican/Indcath/folk Catholicism angle, or a ten [...]