Vision 08: Land Magick

This is one of the three places I go outside of Cavern House (Cavern House is the name for my home which is also an independent press, spiritual shop, and eco conservation site) for consecration rituals. This place in the video above and the photo below capture the beauty of the Dragon Mountain monastery and Buddhist temple.

I love that this sacred place honors the indigenous people of the hills (Tamien people) and also the indigenous people of Southeast Asia, specifically tribes from Vietnam. There are several large statues of various Buddhist teachers, warriors, leaders, and deities.

I am fortunate that I am able to share this space so that I can consecrate talismans (and other items like ritual tools, spirit boards and planchettes, ancestor dolls, and so forth) surrounded by the majestic Calaveras (Skulls) Hills. Land magick is slower than other elemental magick, but when we include air and sing for parts of the ritual then we are able to speed up the process. This makes for a prolonged, precise enchantment.

These hills are powerful. I can speak to the Land from anywhere but for me the communication is clearest when I am in the hills of my childhood and my studies when I was a younger witch.

The deities show up in bright colors, orbs, sounds. They send signs and messages through the crows, vultures, hawks, squirrels, foxes, gopher and garter snakes, rattlesnakes, butterflies. I usually consecrate talismans at home and then do a second round at one of my three sacred sites (like here at the Dragon Mountain monastery). I say Buddhist prayers to open and close the ritual because I use Buddhism to frame all of my magick work. I speak directly to the Land and the nearby spirits. Depending on the talisman and its use, I complete a ritual to bond a spirit to the item (bond, not bind). This protective energy accompanies the item or is imbued in the item, again depending on the spirit. When I’m done, I ask for a confirmation from the Land that my ritual worked. I get very clear messages within a few seconds of asking. Today the confirmation came in three doves fluttering across my line of sight from the right to the left (during meditation and channeling, messages come in from an electromagnetic channel and I sense it on the right side of my head). I don’t just look for any ol’ element in nature and then claim that it is a message. I wait for the message and the message is always clear, definite.

Many years ago, I got word from the Land that I was sick with a terrible infection that I would need medication for. This is while I was finishing a poetry residency for VONA (Voices of Our Nation Arts Foundation). Before finding out the news, I was really concerned about incidents in my life, unrelated to my bodily health. I was sitting on top of a hill in San Francisco when I decided to speak to the Land and spirit guides for help. When I asked for a message, a large hawk attacked two crows in front of me. They fought midair and fell. Then, without words, I knew I was sick— without question. This is an example of a transmission. About 10 minutes later I got a call from my doctor with the bad news. Messages don’t sound like words all the time, but the meaning is delivered in a sentence of some kind. I don’t have to wonder about the meaning and I certainly do not depend on books or online sources to decipher the message via symbolism.

I teach my students that the Land listens, that we are the Land. Decolonization must lead to Land back, and that includes us returning our psyches to nature. Land back is acquiring native land for native people, but it is also about acquiring our Selves, sewing back together our segmented psyche or nervous systems to the greater part of our spirits that we can’t see.

Vision 07: Spirit Communication

Cavern House Press is my family’s publishing house and online shop. Our online shop features a few digital comics and a variety of spiritual tools for folk practices rooted in the diasporas of people from South Asia, Southeast Asia. I am Waray. My partner is Laos and Thai. My son is Waray, Coahuiltecan (native, turtle island), and raised in this settler-colony of the USA. We are all Autistic and speak to spirits, but in different ways.

When involving others who don’t speak to spirits, I use a spirit board or talking board to communicate with anitos (spirits of nature and ghosts of the dead). But, I can speak to them without the use of a board. I’ve been able to do this my entire life but could only clearly speak back-and-forth to them without a board since about last year. Before that, I was simply a receiver, a radio, picking up on signals. Now, I want others to learn how to do this because it’s knowledge that has been robbed from us. I usually start by discussing animism and electricity, sound, magnetism, color. Then, I like to move on to the board:

If you’re neurodivergent you can technically speak to spirits without any extra ceremonial stuff, but if you want to learn how to protect yourself for a more sustainable practice feel free to try the following:

1. Wear a white head scarf, head cover of some kind to cover your hair. Your crown is sacred and has a ton of information spewing from it, emanating like a cloud, and your hair works like copper wires. The color white helps contain your energy so that you’re not freely sharing it with the spirits you’re interacting with. You’re in charge of how you direct your energy. When your hair is covered you can concentrate your energy and feel a stronger spiritual connection.

2. Choose a quiet time. Spirits are around nearly all the time but they can be overwhelmed by loud noises and busy areas. Spirits are typically active late at night/early in the morning because us alive people are inactive during this time.

3. Invite them with warmth, color, beauty. You can do this by lighting candles, caring for your altar, leaving objects out for the spirits to look at or interact with. They are more likely to stay and provide an experience if there’s an exchange of some kind. If you’re trying to speak to specific spirits, keep something out that has their DNA (a hairbrush, for example) or something that holds sentimental value for them.

4. Make the board yourself with pen and paper. Include all the letters of the alphabet and the numbers 0-9. Include “yes” and “no” and even “maybe.” It doesn’t have to be perfect, just legible. Use a planchette. Check our online shop for pre-made boards and consecrated planchettes.

5. Ask the anitos who are kind and honest to speak to you. Ask your own ancestors to speak (though few of them will use the board and might simply speak directly to you). Be polite as though you’re speaking to living people who are guests in your home.

6. Thank them once you’re done. They get tired so they might speak to you for 15 minutes or an hour, it depends on the spirit. Cleanse the air or clear it by lighting incense or spraying with homemade clearing potions like Florida Water. Speak out loud, state that the session is over. You can kindly remind the spirits nearby that they must respect your home, or that your home must remain unbothered until you decide to engage next time.
   

Vision 06: Fractals & Clearing

Dear Kind Readers:

Hi all, I made this illustration for the Hilltop School (for pregnant teens).

Happy Full Moon in Libra (this Saturday). I'm writing to you with two things on my mind: Fractals and Clearing. I just had an interaction with a yt person who works for an arts organization. It was a reminder that most people who are in charge of the art world (curators, marketing directors, gallery owners, etc) are not working class people. Since the art world is an extension of the bourgeoisie, their workers are either aspiring to fit into the capitalist mold or already model examples of 'success'. They operate from an ableist, racist, sexist point of view; it is the default in settler-colonies like the USA. They are no different than the upper middle class who vote according to their liberal or conservative needs while ignoring the poor, ignoring indigenous people, ignoring people who have been incarcerated.

If, during an interaction in which an art marketing director was condescending to me, I chose not to stand up for myself then I would be setting up others who come after me for exploitation. Each time we BIPOC, Queer, neurodivergent people bend to the rigid, fractal trap of capitalism and capitalist expectation, we lose ourselves. We cut off our limbs to be small, to be on time, to be exploited at every turn. What do we do to jump off the spiral, the circular, returning episodes of micro aggressions and exploitation? We speak up. We speak CLEAR, we speak direct. Then, we clear energetically, Southeast Asian style:

Trinidad's formula for clearing (use as a spray for altar consecration & energetic cleansing of a meditative space):

1. Vodka

2. One glass jar

3. Dehydrated or fresh slices of orange, pineapple, grapefruit, blood orange or satsuma, clementines, Buddha's hand.

4. Dehydrated or fresh ylang-ylang flowers.

5. Cassia, ceylon, saigon cinnamon sticks.

6. Cedar sticks.

7. Sprigs of mugwort, sage.

8. Star anise.

9. Soursop (guayaba).

Fill glass jar with ingredients and seal it air-tight, store in a cool place for 3 months. Ask the ancestors and spirits of the land to protect the potion as it sits. Mix 1:4 with filtered water before use.

Xxx Trinidad

Vision 05: Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Virgo

This is my War Water. I use it for hexing. In some magick traditions hexing isn’t allowed and there are rules about energy “returning 3 fold” (or coming back three times as bad). This applies mostly to Wiccans, and those who follow other European lineages, who were brainwashed by the Christian and Catholic churches. When the church violently colonized pagans and animists in Europe their efforts to deter the practice of magick included these false claims that magick backfires. These same cultures also gave rise to wealthy, secret fraternal orders and cultural legacies, norms, that we still deal with today. For instance, in protesting political and racial oppression, anti-imperialist students at universities all over the USA last year were persecuted and physically attacked by law enforcement and mobs. The students who defended themselves were met with brutality by cops and punishment by the schools. Zionist celebrities paid people to physically intimidate these students on campus. Standing up for Gaza or demanding the right education on campus was an inconvenience to those in power. As the authority in the eyes of the public, the schools continued to punish those who spoke out against their school’s racist policies. The general public applauded and encouraged this mistreatment of intelligent, future-oriented students. Those in power who say that violence doesn’t justify more violence, “an eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind,” are the same people who are oppressing and causing the violence. The students protesting to demand justice are within the same vein as the poor, throughout history, hexing to get justice. I mean, of course the oppressors don’t want you to know you have power. They simply want to brutalize you and your people without you fighting back.

As a Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander, hexing isn’t circular and doesn’t operate like a boomerang. My studies and spiritual experiences made it clear: hexing is about balance and a deep, aligned relationship with nature's energies. Our actions, thoughts, beliefs are all beams of light and sound (just like color is just an expression, how our nervous system makes sense of the light being absorbed or reflected or emitted by an object). Actions, thoughts, beliefs are bits of electromagnetic radiation that we make sense with using our amazing nervous systems. They do not exist in reality except as beams of light and sound. We can physically gather these actions, thoughts, beliefs (including karma coming our way) and concentrate them, direct them like an arrow at our enemy’s heart. We are like bots in a simulation. There are cheat codes. Our ancestors, guides, and the Land give them to us. Most of my potions and rituals borrow from open practices like indigenous Buddhism, local herbalism, and the rest of the instructions come directly from Higher Beings.

Trinidad’s formula (complex version) for War Water. Ingredients in bold are stock potions or blends made by me:

-       10 storm rusted nails or coffin nails per 4 oz

-       2 oz or more of Dark Moon water and 2 oz or more Full Moon water

-       1 spoon graveyard dirt

-       1 alligator tooth

-       3 snake vertebrae

-       1 piece of snake skin or 8 drops Snake oil

-       1 bee or 4 drops Bee oil

-       Fish scales or 2 drops Sea oil

-       One moth or 2 drops Moth oil

-       One spoon “Justice” herb blend

-       One spoon of “Nightmare” herb blend

-       1 piece of “Midnight Horror” bark

-       3 whole pieces of Hook root or Devil’s Shoestring

-       5 spoons of black salt

-       One spoon of powdered eggshell

-       3 crushed bay leaves

-       4 drops of my blood or Full Moon menstrual blood

Sometimes I add more but these are the main ingredients. I leave a batch of 4oz or more outside under the Dark Moon or New Moon. Then, I use it for rituals on the Full Moon. DO NOT CONSUME OR PUT ON SKIN. It’s up to you how you want to use it in rituals or spells but be careful not to ingest.

I always ask for the support and energy of the spirits of the land, ancestors, and wandering souls before beginning any hexing ritual. Below are a list of results after two decades of hexing:

• Enemy was plagued with ghosts in their house. They were so plagued that they moved out of their house and formally asked for my forgiveness.

• Enemy was plagued with back pains so badly that they needed spinal surgery.

• Enemy was plagued with emergency after emergency, costing them their job, savings, reputation.

• Enemy was plagued with a terminal illness.

• Enemy was plagued with insomnia and reported that they, for years, never got rest. They saw shadows moving around them all the time in the corner of their eyes.

Folks might develop sympathy regarding pain that is caused in other people’s lives through a hex. I only hex people for incredible wrongs (abuse, rape, molestation, racism)— not for personal, petty issues. My hexes are strong because I do a lot of good in my community and stand on the side of justice every time. I’ve gained the favor of spirits, ancestors, guides. I don’t feel that sympathy for enemies because the hex can only work if the perpetrator or enemy caused the same kind of pain, or comparable levels of pain, to someone else without reason. The hex simply gathers what is coming for them and makes the karma very concentrated, prolonged. Ultimately, they are supposed to learn from the hex and if they don’t then it will continue. I do not play about my family, my community, my people. Too many of us allow what shouldn’t be allowed and it leads to brutality and incarceration, rapes and molestation kept hidden, even mass atrocities and war. Get justice now.

Vision 04: Siren Offerings

This evening is the Worm Moon and tomorrow is the lunar eclipse in Virgo. First things first, I have new items up in my Cavern House shop on my website. For the first time, I am offering ritual items and magick totems. They're really cute and I'm excited to offer them. I have magick mermaids (sirenas) and magick moths. You can see pics of the items here. These are not curios or novelty items. I am an initiate of Dalikmata and Magwayen and communicate with them directly. I am a Tara devotee for 30+ years and have been guided by her closely. All of my comics were possible because of this deep spiritual practice. Please share with a friend who might need Filipina spirituality in their life <3

***

Okay! Let's get down to business. The images for this post are from issue two of my printed comic Komix & Resistance. I tasked my cohort this week with an air assignment. I'm not teaching young artists how to draw. I'm teaching them how to generate and also clear their creative portals so that new information can easily come through. I've combined elements of comics theory with elements of spirituality to empower students with skills needed to fight this Empire with their entire nervous systems AND their spirits. It's contemplative art x10 without the colonial New Ageism that robbed our indigenous and Asian spiritualities.

 Again, this cohort didn't have to pay for these classes. They're totally free, but they had to apply to get in. The organizations involved raised money so that I could give the ten students stipends. So far we have worked with Earth elements (inviting the ancestors to speak to us, foundational elements of comics) and Air (communicating with the ancestors, sound meditation, transitions and word-image relationships in comics).

We work for three hours every Sunday and have a final reading at the Hormel LGBTQ Center in the SF Library on Thursday April 17, 2025. The students will read their final comics which are 2-4 pages long.

Thanks for reading this update.

Xxx

Trinidad

Vision 03: Driving Home

Good morning kind readers:

Greetings, I hope you are all well. This is a two-page comic that I made a few days ago. I dropped off my son at school and on the way home along the winding road by the foothills of my town I channeled a message.

The world is going through a major shift. A recursion is happening and we must break out of the fractal pattern of power, colonization. We cannot simply vote our way out of this fractal, we cannot simply study our way out either. All suffering must be alchemized, transformed into true empowerment: interdependency, mutual aid, compassion, fierce and undeniable community. The more we pull our spirit guides into this work the more we will be able to do.

Over the years I have made erotica as a response to sexual violence against Asian and indigenous women. I have made comics on classism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism-- these 'isms are all tools of the Empire. They are used to keep us apart. As much as possible we must eradicate these "tools" within us and around us. This means a complete rejection of the systems that oppress (including this government) and a rejection of the colonizing tools found within us (our own internalized classism, racism, and so forth). No more mimicking the Empire, no more parroting its lies.

One of those lies is that the Dollar is God and our indigenous spiritualities are superstitions. The higher up in the socio-economic ladder you go, the more you will find the use of magick to control, to oppress, cause harm. The lower you go the more you will find magick and spiritual practices that aim to uplift, liberate, enrich.

Even if you don't currently have a spiritual practice, try speaking to your guides in your mind. If you're a BIPOC or other person of color you might find that ancestors and guides have been waiting for you this entire time. Your Queer neurodivergence allows easier access to the spiritual plane, FYI.

I will be teaching this spring in San Francisco five classes on how we can use our artistic abilities to tap into the spiritual world to fight this damn Empire.

Xxx

Trinidad

Vision 02: Heart Awakening

I’m not an artist, I am not a human. I am a being playing a role here, I am a pin, a turning point, on a node in a great program. I am placed along people’s paths for a reason, just like other Autistics and sensitive people.

I am placed here in this family of mine to analyze and rearrange the grid for others to learn and grow. I am called to teach others like me who feel lost that they are whole, that they have a lot to offer to themselves and the greater collective.

I am called to teach others how to resist the powers that control and oppress us all. I encourage others who want to follow a liberatory path to place their hand over their heart and acknowledge how fragile they are.

I encourage these people to say over and over, “I am strong, I am fragile.” Feel your heart beating, feel your human body, feel the spirit that resonates within and all around this human body. You are not merely an artist, you are not only a human, you are here for a reason. Awaken your heart. She is scared, but she is ready.

Vision 01: First Blog Post on Dalikmata

I met a being when I was 19 years old while visiting the Philippines. This was around 2006. She had introduced herself when I was much younger but I only noticed her when I turned 19 and had a heartbreaking experience by the ocean.

I had experienced a particularly painful moment with my adoptive family. My mother’s side of the family rejected me in a very public, loud manner that shocked me. No one in my family knew that I was disabled because my mother was so ashamed. My disabled traits annoyed people. She allowed people to think that I was just demanding, entitled. I was very direct and very sensitive. I cried easily because people didn’t understand me but they interpreted this as manipulative, attention-seeking girl behavior. This is a sexist part of our diasporic cultures.

Most of my life I was selective about who I spoke to and how much I spoke. I was technically a nonverbal child who also experienced Autistic catatonia. I would drop down to the ground, almost like fainting, but I would be awake. Sometimes people in my family helped me, but I was ignored so much that often I was left on the floor or in the shower without help. Catatonia spells got me in high school, too. But in high school students helped me. I remember a powerful moment when I went into a catatonic state at school and a bunch of girls who I didn’t know well helped me and surrounded me in a protective circle before the nurse came.

It took a tremendous amount of skill and fine motor development to speak my mind well. When I cried because my adoptive cousins were going to slaughter a pig that I was playing with they interpreted this as selfish, dramatic, entitled, white-washed (I was vegetarian but never preachy about it!). I was intuitively connected with the animal and felt shocked, couldn’t hide it as an Autistic person. I was not ignorant about Philippines customs. I respected my culture.

Later, after the family yelled at me and left me to cry alone, they had a food fight with the dead, cooked pig (lechon). Pig parts were flung around the rest house and I sat in one place, out of place, falling apart inside as I watched my family ignore me for the rest of the time. I felt alone and wished I had my birth family with me. As I cried out for my family, I was initiated.

This moth appeared and died in front of me. It wasn’t simply a sign, it was an initiation, an introduction to a being who had witnessed my pain. The being was feminine, associated with the mind and visions, mourning. I don’t know her actual name— I don’t think the gods have true names. I chose to depict her as Dalikmata (Dalikamata, Daligmata) because of her ties to my motherland and where my birth parents are from. Ever since that time when I was a teenager, moths show up during major changes in my life, landing and dying in front of me. These have been consistent messages, transmissions, that I have received for many years. It is a precious part of my everyday reality. She refines my ability to discern messages and sends me messages in my dreams. I learned to embroider and found my art style by dreaming, not through study. This is my savant trait and I get this from beings like her. I really don’t care anymore who doesn’t believe me. My path has led me to amazing, kind people who are authentic all the time. It’s been a challenging but phenomenal life.