Please watch the video and read the ritual steps all the way through.
This practice is intended for mystics, hilots in the diaspora who have worked with legitimate gurus and teachers, neurodivergent folks with spiritual savant traits and abilities, BIPOC and/or South and Southeast Asian descendants in the diaspora who are high level or advanced meditators. This is not meant for: folks cosplaying as Babaylan or other traditional healers, social media influencers who seek to commodify or appropriate spiritual culture and indigenous sciences, and so forth. This practice is protected by a spell. May any colonizers, including those from within our own diasporic people, be cursed if they so choose to bastardize, commodify, appropriate this offering.
I created Water Serpent Dharma, a syncretic dharmic folk practice, over the course of 30 years. I am a devotee of Ma Tārā and wanted to worship in a way that was free of appropriation and commodification that are so common in the diaspora. There are also institutional, bureaucratic, and patriarchal ideas that have been tacked onto animist Hindu-Buddhism over the centuries to control wealth and women. Water Serpent Dharma contends with these factors.
Water Serpent Dharma is a syncretic folk practice that centers Adi Shakti or the feminine, action energy of the cosmos. I developed Water Serpent Dharma via tantric meditation, sorcery, demon work, Karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, social justice and environmental justice work, and all with the guidance of gurus and lamas from mostly Nyingmapa sects. The bulk of my knowledge comes from the meditation itself and receiving transmissions while making art. You can learn more about my background and experience in the “Mediumship” section of my website.
A few activists, mystics, hilots, educators and other kinds of healers have been chatting about how we can offer spiritual, protective support for those fighting the Empire in Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland and other cities around the USA. Many of our indigenous customs have been lost, have died along with the culture bearers and healers themselves over the course of centuries. With only a few exceptions, most of our spiritual practices in the diaspora are de-rooted, uprooted, and disconnected from the raw wisdom of our motherlands. Still, we possess power and can use living religious and tantric practices as a framework for explorations of consciousness. Many inner and secret teachings require a guru of the appropriate lineage so please do not mistake me for an orthodox guru or indigenous teacher. I do not claim to be either. However, my deep exploration and practice have led to the acquisition and empowerment of siddhis, or powers and cosmic knowledge. The Goddess granted visions and the Goddess herself granted a visit. I am permitted to continue my practice of sharing within my communities, without seeking to profit from or commercialize sacred knowledge. I offer my open practices out of high reverence for the sadhus, yogis, and mystics who have paved the way for us lost in the diaspora, during the fall of Empire. My closed practices are not for the public.
I offer the following protective meditation for those who would like to learn just one introductory method to Water Serpent Dharma. Please read through before starting. The items in bold are the necessary supplies for this practice. Allow for two hours at night to complete this ritual. The time that most potent to complete this ritual is during the New Moon or Full Moon.
Wash your hands and face, or bathe.
Clean your altar and your room.
Place murtis of deities (diwata) and ancestors, nature spirits (anitos) on your altar.
Dress your murtis with garlands of flowers or herbs.
Offer fruits, nuts, rice to your murtis.
Offer small cups or bowls of water.
Offer a paste of sandalwood powder or turmeric on their third eye.
Light diyas or small lamps, small candles. Offer light to the murtis.
Light incense if possible and offer to the murtis.
Ring a bell to welcome and invite deities, ancestors, nearby spirits.
Ask Ganesha (Murti statue or illustration or photo of sculpture) to remove obstacles in your path, in the paths of the residents. Ask for forgiveness for any mistakes in this pooja and meditation. You may chant “Om Gam Ganapataye Namaha” to accomplish this while concentrating on these sentiments.
If you’ve taken Refuge, you may offer your learned version of the Triple Gem (Triratna) here.
Offer a song, mantra, hymn for your deities and ancestors. You may play an instrument. The deities and ancestors can see you through the murtis. Make sure you are clean, your room presentable, and the instruments are cared for.
Sit comfortably before your murtis and altar. Prepare your body for meditation. Clear your channels, breathe normally. Play the video from Tarapith Temple. Listen to the chant at a volume that fills your body with vibrations, and watch the images. Turn it off when it’s finished (10 minutes).
In silence. Imagine that you’re seated inside the center of a giant apple. Your energy pours out from your head and along the surface of the apple. If you are able to imagine in your mind sparkles or waves of light, hold this visual for several moments. Your energy travels down the length of the apple, back towards your feet, and into your body again. Gently focus on rainbow energy in the form of sparkles or colorful water that flows over this apple shape from the top of your head, around your body like a globe, and into your body again through your feet.
Imagine you are rooted to the Earth, the Land beneath you. Say hello to it, feel your energetic roots that pull you down towards Earth’s core. Thank the Land for holding you and all of your loved ones. Thank the Land for creating all living beings. Ask the Land to lend you some of its energy. Sing “Om”, holding the syllable for as long as you can. If you have mala or a meditation necklace, use it to count 108 “Om” chants. Continuously hold this image of energy traveling up from the Land into your body as though your body were merely a limb of the Land. Perhaps the light is golden or silvery in color.
Push/pull up the energy from the Earth into your body, circulate it through your arms and legs. Make sure to keep singing the “Om” syllable for as long as you can each time. Your energy mixes with the Earth’s, combining as one, pumping up and throughout your body.
After several long moments, concentrate the energy near your heart. Imagine that it swirls here, concentrated and bright. Take time to build up this light. Make sure you are still holding the visual of the protective apple-globe shape encircling your body. If visualizing is difficult or impossible for you, simply tap into the sensation, the feeling. Feel the energy rushing through you and around you. Ask the deities and spirits present to assist you.
Speak words of protection to the residents and activists in Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, and all the places in the USA that are suffering. This must be a creative, spontaneous burst of words that come from your own heart. Let the words pour. Ask the deities and spirits present to assist you. As you speak these words, imagine you are shooting this energy out from your heart in their direction, no matter where you are on the map. Your colorful, rainbow energy covers the people like a cocoon. You are a Super Saiyan, you are a Care Bear :) It shoots out of you like a power you’ve never seen before. Hold this sensation or visual for as long as you can as you speak to the people. If tears come, allow yourself to cry or scream. You may need to rock back and forth to cope with the sensations. Ask the deities and spirits present to assist you. This part should take the longest of the ritual. Take your time.
When you’ve sent out this energy, thank the Land. Thank the ancestors and nearby spirits. Thank them for accepting your offerings. Thank the Buddha or any sage that you study. Thank Ganesha for purifying your ritual. You may bow or prostrate to give complete gratitude.
Call in your chest energy while still protecting the energy around your body. Breathe, stretch. Eat your offerings, clean your altar.