The long and difficult road

One of the things that has been brought home to me many, many times in my spiritual journey is just how difficult following a spiritual path truely is. Its as true for me in Sanse, as it for a person of any other faith. When I first started practicing vodou I had ideas of the Mysterio saving me from singledom, helping me to fix my career and saving me from my own flaws and foibles.


Since then my hearts been thoroughly broken, my creative streak was severely damaged, I've had spiritual experiences that have scared me to death, I still don't have a steady career, savings or a house to call my own. And I still get depressed by the lack of these things, so why am I still practising Sanse?


Because I love God and I love the spirits and because as much as these are the things I wanted, over time I realised they weren't the things I needed. Instead of the love of my life, the spirits brought me many friends who love me and remind me so frequently. They helped me through my step dad's death, made me realise the career I would had settled for would have ultimately left me unhappy, stressed out and unfulfilled. They helped me out through my depression, allowed me to face my creative block, made sure I never wanted for money, made it possible for me go travelling through India, Canand and New Zealand. Finally they protected me from harmful individuals, brought me the confidence and strength I needed to stand up for myself and the peace I needed to accept the pain and hardship and disappointment that life can bring.


And instead of handing me the things I wanted from life on a platter, they gave me the insight and skills I would need to get them myself. And that means when I do eventually achieve my goals in life, they will be the things that I truly need and I will have earned them for myself. And that will be the greatest gifts that God and the spirits could give to me.

The Centinela

Within Sanse one spirit for me is particularly important, vital in fact for for my spiritual development and that is my Centinela or principle spiritual guide. This is because a guide is the elevated spirit of someone who has died that now acts to guide the spiritual development of another individual. In doing so not only do they act to spiritually elevate that person but themselves as well. As such my guide and everyone else's will be unique and personal to them.


I work with my guide alot, as for me they act as a personal messager and a spiritual gate keeper. This is because although the guide is still an elevated spirit, it is not as elevated as the Mysterio (powerful, elevated ancestral spirits that are normally associated with various spiritual forces). It is therefore easier to reach and work with my guide and would be less draining for me if I was to become possessed by him.


In Sanse there tends to be less of an emphasis on physical offerings, this is because the spirits are capable of gaining energy and light from other sources such as song, dance and prayer. As such although I will give the occasionally offering to my guide. It is not as necessary as it would be with a practice such as Haitian Vodou or Santeria.

My personal experiences of God

For me one of the most beautiful verses of the Koran begins: "God is the light of the heavens and the Earth"

Now for me personally as a Sanse practitioner, this is one of the most poignant lines from the Koran. It is one of the sutras that I recite most often and it is a verse that I keep very close to my heart. This is because, for me God is the source of all light in the universe and I see God as the being that will grant light and elevation to us and the spirits. As such I wanted to share seven of my thoughts and feelings that I had when I was meditating on God.

1) God is a flash of blinding light, that leaves me utterly dazzled.
2) God is a flame inside you that turns into an inferno, when you meditate on its radiance.
3) God is the beauty of passing clouds on a clear day.
4) God is yearning and longing, that is made much sweeter for the ache His absence causes.
5) God is the absence of light and the waiting in the dark for a hint of His light.
6) God is the shame you feel, the pain, the confusion when you think he is not listening and the relief you feel when you find out he is.
7) God is the joy you feel when you discover how beautiful and glorious you truly are.

A new blog

Sometimes the best thing to admit to yourself and to other people is that you don't know as much about a subject as you would like to. This is because when you write about a subject without knowing enough about it, you can make yourself look rather silly. Or as Ogun Feray once said to me "Some people who be fools, don't know they be fools".


Now this is the second Sanse blog that I have created. I took the first one down because at the time of writing, I began to realise that I didn't know enough about Sanse as I needed to. With this new blog, I wanted to create a fresh start. A way to explore my own spiritual growth and reflect on what I have already learned. In doing so I hope I will be able to elevate myself further and become closer to the God and the spirits that I love so much.