A Break In Sacred Trust
Spiritual Predators In Our Healing Communities
Spiritual: of or relating to sacred matters
Predator: one who injures or exploits others for personal gain or profit
These two words don’t seem like they should go together. How can someone be spiritual and connected to the sacred and still be injuring and exploiting others?
Yet, we see again and again the rise of predators in spiritual communities, churches, Ashrams and schools teaching spiritual practices, in medicine ceremony circles and in individual spiritual and energetic healing and guidance sessions. Basically, anywhere that God and humanity meet the darkest versions of man seem to want to take over.
From the outside, it is easy to judge and wonder how people can not see that they are being taken advantage of or getting involved in something that is controlling or abusive. There are many mechanisms going on, both on the part of the seeker and the teacher or organization which must be understood.
We seek spiritual communities in order to know God, to know ourselves, to feel a part of something and to heal the parts of ourselves that feel alone, vulnerable and broken.
We so desire to touch the Divine that we forget that touching the Divine through a human intermediary sets us up for exploitation of those same vulnerabilities that we came to explore and work through.
Time and again we see people with a desire to heal, study and grow be used and injured by the very organizations and individuals who are stepping up to help them.
Molestation and sexual abuse, financial and personal control, destruction of families and lives can happen so quickly, so subversively that it leaves us at times unable to see it happening until it has gone on for possibly years.
Like the frog in the pot of slowly boiling water, we wonder, “How did I get into this mess?”
At some point, we look at the person we have given our power away to and wonder how it happened. We try to back track our steps, looking for the signs that should have warned us. We blame ourselves and have to go through a personal healing process that is often on top of the trauma, illness, injury or pain that was the initial reason for becoming a spiritual seeker.
When we are on the path of the light, we want to believe that everyone else is operating under the same altruistic banner that we do. We want to believe in spiritual leaders and healers. We see their power, their connection, their wisdom and take it all to mean that their actions will reflect the same light that they are preaching.
Teachers are important, healing work is valuable, spiritual communities can be uplifting and noble places. There are vast numbers of incredible, talented, ethical practitioners, facilitators and spiritual leaders, but we must understand the reality of this world reflects the outside world in every way and is not immune to abuses. We are all influenced and have wounds that can be exploited.
In our desire to open, surrender, trust and heal we can be opening ourselves to people and institutions that end up doing more harm than good.
So how does a spiritual seeker or one working on their own healing and personal growth, choose communities, practitioners and mentors?
We must look deeply at those that we seek from. Do they truly resonate with light, love and grace? Do they contribute, really contribute to the planet or are they mostly talking about their own magnificence and the brand they are creating? Do they fill your heart with peace or do they inspire fear? Are they wanting you to constantly destroy your ego, break with your family or do they tell you that you have attachments, implants and trauma that you can’t remember? Do they require an unwavering allegiance or extreme financial commitment? Are they kind or do they put people down, laugh at them or say things that are intentionally mean? Are they racist, sexist, or non-inclusive?
Does this person or community tell you that they are the only one who loves you or that they are your only allies or the only way that you will find salvation or healing is through this person, practice or place?
Do you feel this person ‘in your field’ when you are not around them? Do they seem to visit you psychically or in dreams or are you required to be in close proximity to them at all times or would they rather you not go too long without seeing them for a session or teaching?
True spirituality is not about creating fear. It is not about making you feel bad or wrong or that you have to atone and be punished or give yourself over in order to receive healing, forgiveness or enlightenment. A good spiritual mentor or healer will encourage your free thinking, your sovereignty and your personal process. They might offer tough love, but not from the perspective of punishment, fear or degradation.
Just because someone has all of the spiritual lingo down, just because they can look you in the eye, tell you about what it is like to be an empath or they have energetic power, Shamanic gifts or psychic abilities DOES NOT mean that they might not also have sociopathic tendencies, exhibit narcissistic behavior or be acting from deep wounding, fear or shame.
Having psychic or ‘spiritual’ insights or abilities absolutely does not mean that they are a good person or that you should give your power away to them.
Conscious and healing communities are often infiltrated by those that take advantage of the love and light. They see an opening with those that operate from acceptance and inclusion. They understand that these worlds draw in people who have been victimized in the past and who will be easy targets that they can pull energy from and manipulate.
Bring in ego stroking from community recognition for the perfect Yoga pose, musical or artistic skill, intelligence, or healing ability and you have the basis for someone taking advantage of a sort of celebrity status. From here, they might push for sex, take advantage of people financially or any other mode that they might see for utilizing the open hearted as a source to feed their baser needs. Even those that have the highest of intentions, at times, can be victim of their own power and popularity, their ego becoming deranged as more and more people flock to them.
Just because someone is masterful at a healing modality, or memorizing ancient texts or can reproduce sacred geometry in the most mesmerizing way does not mean they have done any of the internal work that keeps them from taking advantage of people when they start to have more power and influence.
It doesn’t mean that they have seriously confronted their demons, childhood woundings, anger or control issues. It doesn’t mean that they are immune to negative entities and dark thoughts. Facilitating plant medicine, writing a book, leading a group event in a way that would only be described as genius does not make you a good person. And, even good people make huge mistakes.
No one should touch you sexually or even therapeutically without clear, expressed consent on your part before the healing session begins. This means that the practitioner needs you to give full permission to everything that will go on before it ever begins, while you are in your normal frame of mind. Once you are open, relaxed and lulled into a trance state it is easy for someone to take advantage of their energetic power and turn the session into a sensual, sexual or ‘root Chakra healing,’ which is likely not to be very healing at all.
Any sexual contact that feels coerced, demanded or expected, or if you feel like you should not or cannot say no to someone at any time is not consensual and is abuse. Power differentials are real and one way to expand and exploit that power is to take advantage of others sexually.
Unfortunately, more and more people are utilizing our sacred plant medicines and other entheogens as a way to put you in an open place where you will accept sexual advances. It is hard to say no when one is in a truly altered state. If you are interested in doing journey work, do so in a group setting until you find the right practitioner for you. Individual sessions hold greater risk of impropriety.
Spiritual practices can actually be used as mind control mechanisms. Lack of sleep and food paired with hours upon hours of mantra, teachings and extreme exercise can break down your consciousness to make it vulnerable to control and suggestion.
Subtle and not so subtle processes of hypnotism, inducing altered or trance states, Neuro-Linguistic Programing (NLP) and other modalities which influence the unconscious mind can be used for healing, transformation and growth. Negatively, they can be altered to help someone warp your personal sense of what is right for you.
The old standbys of shame, belittlement, harsh judgment and punishment can break your spirit and be the more obvious ways that people control others, but be aware that often these shaming mechanisms are subtle at first. You might be made to feel bad for not believing enough, being ‘in the light’ enough, or for being ‘in your ego,’ or for questioning or speaking out of turn.
Ask your friends and community. Especially if you are a woman, ask other women who have worked with this teacher or healer. Of course, men are victims as well, I am only saying that asking your male friends about a practitioner might not be enough due diligence. Were there red flags or things that made them feel uncomfortable? Ask people who are not current clients or followers but those that might have stopped seeing this person if possible.
Take what other’s say with a grain of salt and understand that especially when we are depressed, traumatized, lonely or ill we can seek so much outside of ourselves that we risk losing the gifts of this life which are self-awareness, embodied truth and radical self-preservation built upon knowing our own worth.
If you have had a damaging experience with a practitioner, teacher or mentor it is important to seek help and support from those that can understand and help you through the healing processes that it takes to handle this break in sacred trust. Give yourself time, patience, and a lot of self-love. This was not your fault and forgiving yourself is vital for forward movement.
You are not alone. Many people, intelligent, strong, capable, successful people have found themselves in these situations. You did not create this or ask for it. There is support for you.
Afterward, it is important as well, to do energetic clearing work, cutting the cords from this practitioner or teacher that you have given, of your own free will, permission to have influence over you in some way. You may need help with from an energy work or Shamanic practitioner, but here is link to a simple process that you can do yourself.
You are a sovereign being. Claim it. Know it. Cultivate this awareness.
Sometimes, as negative as they are, these experiences catapult us into a whole new way of being. One in which we honor and respect ourselves, stand in our power, utilize our boundaries and our discernment and learn how to truly trust ourselves.
Take care of yourself out there. Trust your gut, yet understand that at times we can not know the full truth because we want to see the light in others, we want to find someone to embody that for us, to lead us out of our own darkness.
Keep asking questions, looking closely and standing in your own value and worth.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://selfscroll.com/a-break-in-sacred-trust/
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