Mystification as Protection: How “Dark” Coding and Encrypted Language Serves Sacred Communities
Consider this a safe space for us to be able to admit how absolutely annoying it can be trying to decipher the cryptic symbols and messages from the spirit realm. It’s confusing, it’s time consuming, and sometimes I just want things to be explicitly spelled out. This has been a source of frustration between me and the Divine for quite some time and I began to question God about why mysticism has to come with its own obscure and mysterious language. Why can’t They just speak English, save all of us some time, and simply share the messages it has for us in a language that They know we understand? One thing I love about building a relationship with the Divine outside of traditional religion is that we’re able and even empowered to express our frustrations authentically, ask tough and uncomfortable questions such as this, and receive answers without feeling like some sacred commandment has been violated and that there would be punishment for it. This is something I felt I could never do under the Christian god, so I feel inclined to acknowledge how grateful I am for this freedom. This week as I’ve been meditating on this burning question about the purpose of what I consider to be “spiritual encryption”, a clear answer was given to me and honestly, it made so much sense that I felt silly for ever being upset.
Protection…
The Great Spirit and its legion of spirit guides, angels, and daemons has its own unique language and uses mystical encryptions that include numbers, animals, songs, plants, images, phrases, symbols, etc. to protect the sacredness of cultures that rely on mysticism and the work that’s being done by these communities. Why do the inner workings of mystical cultures and communities need to be protected? Outsiders would love to believe that the knowledge and ways of non-traditional spiritual practices is hidden, encoded, and encrypted due to its evil nature but that’s just propaganda created by the minds of people who watch way too much TV. It needs to be protected for the same reasons we protect anything else, because it’s precious and has value! Knowledge IS power and power in the wrong hands can bring devastation and corruption to even the most sacred of things, so our communication with higher realms is put into code to protect it from those with malicious intent. Not only does the knowledge and practice need to be protected but so do the people inside of these communities. Historically, people with alternative spiritual practices have been targeted, attacked, and purposely eradicated by those with no understanding of our purpose and ways of life. This is not to say that we should hide out of fear, but that we shouldn’t disregard the painful lessons we’ve learned from centuries of past experiences. Most people within our community were born into it and carry a distinct genetic memory of our people being burned at the stake, murdered, and exiled because of their spiritual practices and it would be irresponsible for us to ignore the pattern of harm inflicted on non-conventional religions. Needless to say, it is a must that we acknowledge the need for privacy and security.
There’s a “dark” side to enlightenment and conscious spirituality that includes the unfortunate fact that there are indeed entities and beings that seek to corrupt and prevent powerful spiritual beings from achieving their higher purpose. One of the most highly used tactics is surveillance, psychological and spiritual surveillance where our psyches are essentially being “tapped” and the messages that are intended to just be between us and our spiritual counsel are intentionally intercepted and used for foul purposes. I must acknowledge how difficult it is to come to terms with this sometimes. I would love for this world to be solely love and light, and when I left religion, I had hopes that everything would be all rainbows, butterflies, and unicorns with no trace of evil or corruption but that is not reality. It’s important for us to know these things, understand them, accept them, and integrate them into our practices so that we do our part to protect our communities. The power of our work is magnificent and not just the world, but the Multiverse will be changed because of it. Collectively we must respect and honor the safeguards that are put in place to make sure it can continue.
Initiation & Integrity
Encryption is “the process of protecting information or data by using specific models to scramble it in such a way that only the parties who have the key to unscramble it can access it.” As it relates to mysticism, encryption not only protects us from antagonists, but it also serves as an initiation for the few who are guided towards this path. In Greek, mystic means “initiated persons” and to be initiated confirms that you’ve successfully overcome the trials that affirm one’s position within an organization. As much as I would like for more people to be able to experience the liberation and magic that comes with being a mystic, I also have had to accept that mysticism does not have an open-door policy. Not everyone is invited and not just anyone can get in (trust me, I do not mean this in an elitist, mean girl, social hierarchy kind of way). The simple truth is that not everything is meant for everybody, including alternative spiritual practices, and initiations help us to determine who’s meant to walk certain paths. When you stop and consider the ways that mysticism has provided guidance, healing, and salvation to the Chosen, oppressed and misunderstood, it becomes obvious why initiations are so necessary, one of those initiations being learning to decipher the code of the Multiverse and speaking the language of the Divine. Intentionally learning to do so helps one to understand the time and dedication that is required and shows one’s devotion to the craft (something that is required in all religions). Not being willing to put in the work to do so means that you are most likely not ready to take this journey and that is okay.
Another layer of the initiation is lessening your dependence on your logical mind and breaking down encryptions serves as the perfect psycho-spiritual exercise to assist with that. Mysticism is metaphysical in nature and not limited to the logic and senses that we have come to depend on. These exercises help to build one’s intuitive muscle and deepens one’s trust in Self and the Divine. Having initiations in place protects the integrity and sanctity of a community and further ensures that the initiated person has the moral and spiritual principles within them to handle the responsibility of being a part of such a special order.
Culture and Community
The coded language we use also serves as a cultural form of endearment. Special language fosters a sense of intimacy between community members and helps to identify like minds and kindred spirits. When we communicate with each other using the codes and scripts that we co-created with the Divine it says “I see you” to those in our community who are often not seen, heard, or understood by others who do not share our beliefs. Our encrypted language is art! It’s how we express ourselves in a way that is unique and creative to us. As mentioned previously, mysticism is a metaphysical study and practice that goes beyond the material world and what can be perceived with the typical human senses. The language we’ve come to know and understand is poetry and we intentionally use deep and “dark” coding to create a picture of what is otherwise unseen. We call deep transformations death because apart of this journey does indeed feel so uncomfortable and gruesome at times that the only other thing we can compare it to is death. We compare some experiences to Hell to convey the unpleasantness of some of our missions. We call some parts of ourselves “shadows” to detail the fact that there are certain aspects of everyone that are indeed apart of us but typically goes unnoticed by the conscious mind and we make it a ritual of identifying those parts of ourselves and bringing them to the Light. Using provoking and sometimes triggering language conjures strong emotion. For people like us it’s important that these impactful emotional energy signatures be encoded and encrypted within our language so that it may ever be forgotten.
Being given the opportunity to understand the unique and mysterious language of the Divine and the spirit realm is an invitation to a stronger connection with God. It is a sacred rite of passage that ushers one into a dark and magical new world and understanding the need to protect that world is key to a holistic and integrated spiritual journey and the continuation of our magnificent work. Yes, deciphering the multiple symbols and decoding the “spiritual encryptions” can be tedious and it does require patience, but it is also an honor and seeing it as such brings us one to step closer to unburying sacred knowledge, accessing our gifts, fulfilling our purpose, and actualizing the life that we have always dreamed of.