In a nutshell:

 

I'm D. Spring, and I've practised folk-magic since 1997, using knowledge gleaned from intensive independent study and practice, and instructional interaction with practitioners of various cultural expressions of natural and folk magic. I grew up in Florida, with a maternal lineage that spans centuries in New Orleans, mixed with Mexican heritage through my father.

 

I hold a Religious Studies B.A. from the University of Toronto, have been initiated in Western ceremonial magick through Temple of  Isis Urania, received initiation in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math lineage of Vaisnava Hinduism, and have taken lay Buddhist vows at Tengye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Temple. I am certified Meditation Teacher through Vedansha Institute of Vedic Science & Alternative Medicine in Rishikesh, and a Usui Reiki Master-Teacher. I maintained an energetic healing practice in Toronto from 2000-2019, called Prana Devi Healing Arts. My primary personal spiritual practices are ritual devotion & pilgrimage.

The long way round:

 

The women on my maternal side have long been known to be possessed of various spiritual gifts. My mother is very clairvoyant and is a gifted reader. Clairsentience, claircognizance and clairaudience are the gifts that I have most strongly, but I do have flashes of clairvoyance from time to time, most often when in meditation or ritual. I also am quite capable of communicating and working with spirits, and this happens quite naturally and easily when I set out to make contact. I do not, however, consider myself to be a medium as the spirits are generally not that of those who have passed (with the exception of saints), but rather divine spirits, angels, or other non-physical entities. Some of these spirits, such as Santisima Muerte and Sri Ganesha, are constant guides and companions.

I feel my practice has evolved the way it has due to my cultural and ethnic heritage. My maternal family line has been continually present in New Orleans since the mid-1800s, and we have a family crypt in Lafayette Cemetery #1 that is still in use. I was brought up on my Granny's cajun cooking and her endless tales of life in NOLA, including more than a few bits of folk-belief. Visiting New Orleans frequently as an adult has helped me reconnect to this magical city that is so much a part of my heritage. 

My father is Mexican-American, and I always had a deep reverence and fascination for folk Catholicism, indigenous spiritual expressions, and folk traditional medicine. In my attempts to understand and assimilate that half of my ethnicity, I've researched and been drawn into the practices of Mexican folk magic. On a 2008 trip to Oaxaca, I was privileged enough to have a limpia from a curandero, or traditional healer, who helped me understand my own spiritual practice and make-up more deeply. Along with being a devotee of Santisima Muerte, I have also developed a very beneficial rapport with with the blessed Dr. Jose Gregorio Hernandez, and also St. Dymphna, the patron saint of mental illness and nervous disorders, incest and rape survivors, and runaways. I am happy to provide healing and blessing services tailored to these concerns that petition the aid and intercession of either.

I was also initiated and trained by a Western Golden Dawn Ceremonial magic lodge, Temple of Isis Urania, and received training in Qabalist ritual magic methods of invocation, evocation, herbs, incense, talismans, etc in a working temple. This is where I re-established a strong rapport with the angelic realm, that had been something my mother had taught me as a child and came naturally at the time, but had faded in my teen years. 

I earned my Religious Studies B.A. from the University of Toronto, with a focus on the Eastern traditions. The academic work led me into an ongoing journey into Hindu devotional practices . I am an initiated member of the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math lineage of bhakti yoga. Along with Sri Krsna, I am also a devotee of Sri Ganesha, Sri Lakshmi, and Durga Ma, Shiva, Kali Ma, and others as well. I trained as a Meditation Teacher, at the Vedansha Institute of Vedic Science & Alternative Medicine in Rishikesh. Combining a pilgrimage to Varanasi with attendance at a residential training program in Rishikesh helped fulfil dreams of spending an extended time in India. I have also taken several of the Buddhist lay vows through Tengye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Temple, and practice Buddhist meditation regularly. 

 

I am passionate about pilgrimage, and travel as often as I am able to the ashrams of my guru for further study and contemplation, to Hindu temples and sacred sites, as well as visiting significant folk Catholic shrines in Mexico, and pre-colonial Mexican sacred locations. Being blessed enough to pay respect to Dona Queta at the Tepito shrine of Santisima Muerte was a particularly powerful highlight.

Since 2000 I've been a Usui Reiki Master-Teacher, and over the years have learned many complementary energetic healing modalities. This understanding of energy manipulation and direction ties directly into my folk magic work, and also enables me to provide particularly effective healing and blessing services - including distance healing if requested. 

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