Espiritismo: Puerto Rican Mediumship & Magic

center, she would experience problems not only with her health, but also in
her marriage, with her children, and, in time, with members of the center.
Lina received the cleansing and the healing prescribed for her, but she
was unwilling to close down the center or to get training. She didn't want to
do the foundational work and healing required to become a true espiritista.
She had grown to enjoy all the praise and attention she got from running the
center. She wasn't acting out of love, but rather for her own selfaggrandizement.
By doing so, she was disrespecting the tradition and the
spirits, and working against the very tenets she claimed to follow. In fact,
she was simply transferring her clients’ issues onto herself. Once she was
cleansed and healed of the negativity she had attracted to herself from
others, many of the people she had previously “helped” began to experience
all the same issues she was supposed to have resolved.
About a year later, I saw Lina again and she was in an even worse state.
She was feeling more drained than before and her health issues had
worsened. She had suffered several major financial losses and her husband
was in the process of divorcing her. The center had been under a number of
spiritual attacks and there were conflicts among its members. Many of the
center's members had left and the center was no longer able to pay for itself,
much less anyone working in it.
ALTARS
One thing that you can do on your own, however, is to set up an altar, a
mesa espiritual, although it is preferable to have a proper guide to help you.
This is the place from which you serve the Divine, and connect with your
luz and your cuadro. It is also the place where you learn to communicate
with your spirits and open your spiritual faculties so you can learn
discernment.
At its most basic, an altar consists of a small table or the top of a dresser
that is covered with a pure white cloth. It usually holds a large bowl or glass
of water at the center—the fuente—as well as a white candle, a Bible, and
other prayer books. It may also hold flowers, an incense burner, and a
rosary. Many people keep pictures of deceased relatives on or around the
altar, but these should never be mixed with photos of living persons.