Chains of Silence

In the course of my work, I often run across the same kinds of curses, bindings, and soul-injury across several people.  Today, I'd like to tell you about one I call the "chains of silence" which I most often see in older (55+) women.  (however, that demographic is over-represented in my clientele)   To me, this affliction appears as a chains, sometimes barbed wire, wound around the person's throat.  It is sometimes accompanied by thyroid problems (about 40% of the time, IME) or other throat or neck issues.  I am reasonably confident that it is related to being silenced as a child, most often, being silenced after a trauma.  I will first describe how I diagnose and treat it in someone else, and then how you might treat it at home, if you suspect you may have this issue.  I have never done this work on myself, but I would imagine it is harder on yourself than someone else (as most curse breaking is).

How to Diagnose:

Enter into the Other Place in your usual fashion, and contact an ally you work with for diagnosis Asklepios is excellent for this work, although I usually work with Merlin instead, who has given me a sort of tricorder/dowsing-rod when we do this work.  You might ask for a similar diagnostic tool.  It is extremely important to work with a trusted long-term ally for this, and to do a lot of grounding first, to be sure that you're not projecting your own issues onto other people.

Examine the soul-body.  (While not relevant to this particular affliction, be sure to check the feet and ankles.  I often find bindings there.)  To me, this affliction presents as chains or barbed wire wound around the neck, but I do not know if it will appear that way to you or not.  Examine the area.  Most often, the chains have grown into the flesh in a very unwholesome way, like they would into a tree.  Sometimes, they can be almost completely covered in skin.

deviantart.com/tahnja/art/Our-Lady-of-Sorrows-184163446

Examine the chains to see if they are attached at any other points.  Sometimes, there is some involvement in/near the heart chakra as well.  If there is, you may need a more complicated healing than what follows.  Once you have examined the area, call Our Lady of Sorrows.  This is not a spirit I usually work with, but she taught me this technique, and so I work it with her.  If you are strongly opposed to working with her, I imagine you could work out a similar technique with another goddess who weeps over her child, perhaps Demeter of Eleusis.  The crying is important.  When she has come, ask her to tell you about the chains, what caused them, and how they can be removed.  As I said above, in my experience, these chains are a small curse laid on little girls, most often by their mother, when they are not permitted to speak about something bad (often, but not always, sexual abuse) that has happened to them.  

How to Ameliorate:

Explain to the patient that you will be working on unbinding their throat, and unsilencing their voice, and that they may feel pressure on their neck while you work.   Make sure they know to tell you if it becomes too much, and they want to stop.  Tell them that the most common feeling they will have is a "lump in the throat" such as accompanies grief and they may experience unpleasant memories.  Advise them that the best thing they can do is to try to observe in a detached manner.  It is very tempting to reach out and try to grab at these memories. "Oh no!  My grief!  I need that!"  Advise them to avoid that as much as possible.  However, make sure they know that they can stop you at any time, and that if they ever feel like they want you to stop, even if they can't talk, they should gesture or tap you.  Many people will not feel anything.  If you have psychic glimpses of their trauma-memories while working (this is common for me), it's better to keep that to yourself.

When everyone is ready, return to the Other Place and ask Mary (or whoever) to cry on the chains.  This will transform them into rose vines (with thorns).  These can very slowly and carefully be unwound.  Try not to tear the surrounding area, but some tearing is inevitable if they are really overgrown.   You might not be able to unwind all of it in one session.  When you and/or the patient have had enough, use a magical knife to cut the vines.  Take the part that you have removed to a disposal location, such as a naga pool or volcano or abyss.  DO NOT leave it lying around, because it can slither like a snake and re-attach (or attach to you).  

Return to the patient, and call Hygeia (or another healing deity who carries a cup).  Have her wash the wounds from her healing cup, and then apply solar energy (mine is in salve form) to promote healing.  Often times, the patient's power animal will appear and lick the wounds clean.  Bandage the wound with clean white dressings.  Sometimes, Theotokos offers her veil for this purpose.

If necessary, repeat the procedure at a later date, but allow time for healing in between.  (I would say at least a month).  Tell the client that they might expect some dreams related to this, but to report if there are repeating nightmares, or if they develop a sore-throat or any other throat symptoms.

How to Cure in Yourself:

If you have experience with the sort of work outlined above, I think you could use a very similar procedure on yourself.  You may wish to call all the allies at the beginning, and instruct them all before beginning.  However if you do not feel you are up to that, then I think you can probably do this:

Begin by journaling about the silencing that you think caused the affliction.  Get out as much of it as you can, and then burn the paper.  Prepare a salt bath, as salty as you can get it (if you do not have a bath, you can just scrub your head, neck, shoulders, and chest with salt and then wash it off).  Light and candle, and get in the bath.  While bathing, recite a prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows (googling "Our Lady of Sorrows novena"  produced several nice results, all of which are too Christian for me, but maybe you like them).  Repeat this for nine days, ideally while the moon wanes.  Close with the hymn to Hygeia, which is below.  I would imagine you would probably need to repeat the process three times (ie, do the novena for nine days each of three waning moons).  If you do this work yourself, please report back to me on how it goes.

Orphic Hymn to Hygeia
Ever-blossoming Queen of All,
Many-blessed All-Mother, Hygeia, I call.
You banish all injury, affliction, and illness
And cause every home to blossom in bliss.
Every craft lusts after your ordering hands,
Reaching out, ever gentle, you plumb the dry lands,
Saving those souls that Hades would destroy,
And filling up every house with the fullness of joy.
You’re hated by Hades, who plunders the souls of the living.
Eternally thriving, your prayers are life-giving,
Without your your holy magic, your guiding spells,
Humans lives drift, bobbing like corks on the swells,
In the absence of you, Plouton’s gifts lose their sweetness,
And human old age brings only hardship and weakness.
For you alone hold such power over peasant and king.
Multi-mysterious Goddess, your praises we sing,
Defend us from sickness and all leaden pain,
Let us bask in your light and rejoice in your reign.

Threshold Protections (Witch House excerpt)

I'm sorry I havn't been posting much. The Orphic Hymns Grimoire is in its final stage of editing, and that has basically consumed my whole life. But, I thought I'd give you a sneak peak of my next book, which is a beginners' book on enchanting your house. This is from Chapter Three:

Protections for the Threshold: 

An Excerpt from Witch House: Enchantment Room by Room

The Eye Against EvilBelief in the “evil eye”, a type of curse thrown (often unintentionally) by malevolent or jealous gazes, exists all over the world, but is particularly common in the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East. Doubtless you are familiar with the blue glass eye charms used as wards against the evil eye all across the Mediterranean. These talismans are especially popular in Greece and Turkey, where they are called “nazar”. The nazar is a glass disk (or sometimes a sphere or bead) mostly cobalt blue, with concentric circles of white, light blue, and dark blue (like an eye).

In Greece, belief in the evil eye is very old; the classic blue eye design appears frequently on ancient pottery. In addition to the use of glass talismans to ward off the evil eye, a form of exorcism called “ξεμάτιασμα” can be performed to “cure” the affliction. While the Orthodox Church has a prayer for this use, it is more common for each family to have it’s own prayer, a closely guarded secret handed down from grandfather to granddaughter, and from grandmother to grandson. I cannot teach you my family’s prayer, but here are two I’ve written to inspire you to write your own, and start your own family tradition:

Holy Virgin, Queen of Heaven,
Mother of God, Mother of All,
take us under your sky-blue cloak,
and protect us from all evil.
Avert, avert, avert!

or

Thea Euryphaessa, Queen of Heaven, 

Holy Wide Shining One,
Mother of the Dawn, and the Moon,
and the ever unconquered Sun,
Yours is the eternal Aithre; yours the clear blue sky,
Yours is the vision of prophecy, yours the all-seeing eye.
Shine your light upon this home,
And send all evil away to roam!
Avert, avert, avert!


I like to hang a large nazar talisman where it can glitter in the sun. Because my front door is shaded by the porch roof, mine hangs instead in my front window.

The Amulet of the Open Hand

The blue eyes of the nazar are often found at the center of another type of amulet, one shaped like an open hand, made symmetric with outward curving pinkie finger and thumb. These amulets are called “hamsa” in Hebrew and khamsa in Arabic; both words mean “five” and refer also to the hand. Although they certainly predate Islam and Christianity, and likely also predate Judaism, they are also sometimes referred to by more religious people as the “Hand of Miriam” (Moses’s sister), “Hand of Mary” (Jesus’s mother) or “Hand of Fatima” (Mohammed’s wife). To me, these names strongly indicate that the talisman is associated with the Great Goddess, who is sister and mother and lover of us all. This is bolstered by the fact that similar open-hand designs occur on ancient ritual objects sacred to Ishtar, Inanna, and Tanit, respectively Babylonian, Sumerian, and Carthaginian names for Her.

In ancient Carthage, as well as in Jewish, Arab, and Berber houses around the world, a handprint is often painted on a door; usually in white on red doors or red on a white door. Instead of painting onto the door, however, most times the hand is hung as a metal ornament upon the door, either inside or out. Such amulets are nearly ubiquitous in Middle Eastern stores, with inexpensive versions made in steel and pot metal, and fancier version in sterling silver or cobalt glass. Small bells are often attached to the ends of the fingers. Unlike the handprints, which usually occur fingers up, metal hamsa are usually hung with the fingers pointing down.