The ReiQueer Pod Episode #5 - Fact or Fiction: Reiki Edition & Spiritual Suspicion

As a queer child growing up in a strict Jamaican household, let’s just say that I was never beating the “demon possessed” allegations.

That said, I still grew up with a distinct discomfort and most of all, a terrible fear of all matters of spirituality that couldn’t be traced back to White Jesus™ and the Christian bible.

In episode 5, we play a little game of “fact or fiction” Reiki edition, and we chat about one of my favorite topics ever:  Spiritual suspicion. 

Spiritual suspicion is very much a way of life for many, many households, Caribbean like mine and even across other cultures. One peculiar thing I’ve noticed is that most of the cultures that have this spiritual suspicion baked into their belief system, are typically cultures who have been touched by the greasy, wet hands of colonialism. 

For example, in the Afro-Caribbean (see: Afro-Jamaican) context, my people were not only bound physically, but were also thrown into a type of spiritual warfare which sought to strip them of their ancient knowledge, and interrupt their connection to the land, to themselves, to each other and to spirit within and without. 

As with any great attempt at erasure, there will always be those who clutched and stowed away what they could, practicing and ritualizing, even with limited resources and a fading ancestral memory.  It is for those people in my lineage, that I go strongly and divinely guided into my spiritual journey, without fears of shadowy demons or dark red men with forked tongues. 

I recognize, of course, that with all things, there is the inverse. There are the branches, and there are the roots. This is where our sense of discernment, and if we’re being totally honest, a healthy amount of spiritual suspicion becomes necessary to aid, identify and trust those “gut feelings”, unobscured by pointless shame, fear or even worse - religious guilt. 

There is something to be said about maintaining a sense of curiosity, without any invisible commitments or life-altering shifts. As I say all the time, if you’re going to say “no”, then try to make sure it’s coming from a place of knowledge and rejection, rather than fear and rejection.

What is underneath your fear? What are you afraid of? Who really are you, stripped of all that you should be?

Food for thought.

Until next time,

Chloe, The ReiQueer ✨