On 9 January this year, I had a spiritual experience that made me revert back to Evangelical Christianity for a period that lasted less than two months. This ‘Spirit of Python Deliverance’ was a powerful and very real experience but the conclusions I jumped to and the assumptions I made were, well… wrong. They were wrong because they were created in an all-black-or-white vacuum that only existed due to religious trauma.
If you have been following my blog, you know I started processing this trauma as soon as I uncovered it in early March.
My approach to religious trauma recovery was threefold. I read the book ‘Leaving the Fold‘ by Religious Trauma Syndrome expert Marlene Winell. Additionally, I used EFT tapping and art therapy in the creation of the Wyld Godde Tarot.
As I began to heal and recover, my understanding of what had actually happened in January started to shift. But before I describe what I now believe happened, let’s wind back…
An excerpt from my 9 January Spirit of Python Deliverance post
“In December 2022, I started watching deliverance videos. After watching a few, I started praying along. And guess what? It worked. I got rid of the spirit of Leviathan and some sleep-related spirits that I feel were very much generational. They had definitely been with me since childhood. I also got rid of a spirit of anger that I also believe was generational.
But I still did not believe it was possible that I could have a Spirit of Python. Nope, not me. I had done everything by myself and worked hard to be able to interpret the cards and other systems of divination. It had nothing to do with spirits and everything to do with my gift and calling. Also, since I started falling back in love with Jesus, I didn’t want to go down the legalistic route, nor did I wish to lose my income. Yet, deep down I knew that in spite of the previous deliverances, I wasn’t free.
When I started a spiritual water fast four days ago, the sense of being oppressed started growing. Last night, I could barely breathe because of it (…).
The Spirit of Python
So this morning, I was watching a video that had a deliverance prayer for the Spirit of Python. I had been aware of the video for a few days but I had put off watching it, in spite of feeling God nudge me to do it. This morning, I thought, ‘What’s the harm? If there is no Spirit of Python in me, nothing will happen and I can keep doing what I do best.’
[ETA 30 April 2023: What happened clearly had to happen one way or another. I was stuck in a rut and not growing anymore. Nor did I operate at my highest capacity.]Well, not only did something come out of me but it was by far the most physically manifest deliverance I have experienced. My body was hissing and convulsing until the spirit came out with a whimper… and then came the tears. Both of my dogs came and jumped up on me to comfort me. It was a really sweet moment in both a transcendent and a mundane way.
I had been praying since the start of the year, even before the fast began, that God would show me His will for my life. (…) And I was sick of feeling like I was going around in circles. As I drew closer to God, I started seeing the futility of what I was doing. I started asking myself if what I did was for the Highest Good. Most importantly, my heart was no longer in it. Yet I felt obliged to continue.“
What I Learned from My Spirit of Python Deliverance Experience and Healing from Religious Trauma
What preceded my Spirit of Python Deliverance Experience was a re-entry into the Dark Night of the Soul. From about November-December 2022, I started experiencing a sense of restlessness and dissatisfaction. This was an 8 of Cups sort of Divine Restlessness. It signalled that was about to level up but I couldn’t see it because of a rigid and negative mindset. Instead, I reverted back to religious purity programming.
And really, it was any remaining religious programming that was about to leave my life as I levelled up. What I didn’t know was that I was getting ready to expand into the limitlessness of my soul. But first I had to remove the binary (all-black-and-white) Evangelical gatekeeper programming.
The Role of Divination
Divination can be used to disempower. And it can disempower both the reader and the clients. As much as I tried to steer clear of that in the past, I did not always succeed. Instead, I sometimes tried to live up to the expectations of clients who wanted the future served up on a silver platter rather than having to take responsibility for their lives. I’m not saying that was true of all or even most of my clients but if you work in the industry, you know that many clients approach you for a reading that exists exclusively of fortune-telling. It is sometimes hard to say no.
It’s not really that it’s wrong to look at possible future timelines. As long as you make it very clear that the future is not set in stone, you can definitely play with that. The problems and karmic lash-back occur when you do not empower every single Seeker to come up with the best solution to get to exactly where they want to be, and instead facilitate them being passive recipients of a ‘fate’ that they might settle for.
And empowering the Seeker in this way falls into coaching rather than fortune-telling. This is why I now refer to my services as Tarot Soul Coaching. Divination is still very much a part of what I do. However, I do not predict set-in-stone outcomes.
The Girl with the Python Spirit
Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” And she kept this up for many days. Finally, Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. (Acts 16:16-18)
I am now able to look at the story in Acts 16 in a different light. Yes, the girl in the Book of Acts was “delivered” from the ability to tell fortunes. On some level, she consented to Paul casting the Spirit of Python out of her. She probably consented because she was being used as a slave to tell fortunes for the financial gain of her masters. I don’t know what happened to her after her deliverance. The story of her after-care (if there was any) is sorely missing.
Paul used the name of Jesus Christ to cast the ‘spirit’ out of her (or to block her Kundalini/Serpent Energy). But he could have probably achieved the same result without invoking the name of Jesus. As a member of the Sanhedrin, he was well-versed in the magickal arts. Note that he doesn’t cast the spirit out until it no longer serves his purpose. It wasn’t an act of compassion. He just got annoyed. Wow.
A Visit by Divine Mother
Over the past week or so, I have asked to connect with Divine Mother in the way that best serves Her in the world today. I tried Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene but didn’t feel their presence. I tried Freja/Freya/Freyia but didn’t feel her either.
So last night I did an energy healing session to clear my channels completely with EFT using a 111 Hz tuning fork. I don’t know if anybody else has tried this but it felt really powerful. And a powerful dream ensued.
My Wadjet Dream
In the dream, I find myself in a dark room with another woman. She touches my left shoulder blade and says, ‘You have a Wadjet there.’ She is trying to remove the Wadjet from my back but as she does, I start levitating. I wish to keep my Wadjet.
However, rising up into the air freaks me out so I try to shout out for Jesus to save me. I try calling his name three times but there is no sound and I know he can’t or won’t hear me.
Though I was freaked out about levitating, I was also thrilled at the same time. The thought entered my mind in the dream that I must be demon-possessed if I’m levitating. That’s a load of bollox, of course. Levitation is a siddhi and did you know that many Christian saints and mystics are known to have levitated too?
Obviously, the Wadjet places me firmly in the camp of the enemies of the tribal deity Jehova… but not necessarily of Yeshua, not if you go by Gnostic beliefs. Personally, I prefer direct experience anyway. Gnosis blends faith and experience. It doesn’t ask you to buy a faith wholesale.
So as I rewire my entire belief system and invite the Goddess back in, there is some chaos. I’d better be fine with that for a while or might lose my mind. And I’d better have a sound spiritual practice in place.
The Soul-Body Connection
The left side of the body represents the past/mother. Shadow/what we can’t see is found in the back.
The throat chakra relates to self-expression. My throat chakra was blocked in the dream. I am still trying to find my voice.
The Lord/God represents (Jesus) conscious rational thought. The Lady/Goddess (Wadjet) is the subconscious mind and intuition.
While this dream alerted me to the fact that I’m still tying up loose ends in my religious trauma recovery, it also told me that I am about to enter a much more powerful phase of my life.
Don’t Play with Snakes
As a final lesson, I think the great myths and legends of our ancestors all teach us the same thing. We have to respect the Serpent Power. We play with it or dismiss it at our own peril. If we choose to engage, we have to do so in a way that is ever-mindful of the Highest Good.
