I think, after all those gods and stuff, the core of Mahikari is attaching spirits, or spirit disturbance. They account for nearly everything you experience in your life. Heaven forbid that there are regular, you know, sciencey or logical reasons for anything.

Photo by Photos_frompasttofuture on Unsplash

Let’s start with what Mahikari says about attaching spirits in Primary Kenshu:

This phenomenon of a spirit attaching [to your body] is called the phenomena of attaching spirits. The person who is attached by a spirit will come to develop similar conditions as the spirit.

For instance, if a person is attached by a spirit who died of tuberculosis … the person will develop tuberculosis, and if a spirit died of asthma attaches to a person, within about a week or so the person will develop asthma. [pg 18]

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From the various actual examples I have just given, no doubt you understand by now that whether it is sickness, crime or other unhappy phenomena, we can quite clearly state that 80% is caused by spirit disturbance.

No doubt you will experience this from now on. If there are a 100 people, even at a conservative estimate 80 will be receiving some sort of spirit disturbance.

In modern medicine, however, there is no spiritual research done. Without solving problems to do with attaching spiritis, such as people dying due to warnings from their ancestors, no matter how people look for happiness, it is impossible.

Here lies a basic mistake in today’s modern medicine. If mankind is really to look for happiness, it is first necessary to become awakened to spirituality and discover the way to solve spirit disturbance. So Sukuinushisama [the founder dude, Okada] often appealed to us that it is essential to awaken to the world of spirit, starting with those who have the attitude to do so, and strive to awaken all humankind to this. [pp 29–30]

So here’s how it goes down. Someone dies – happens to the best of us. Maybe they have a grudge against you (you know, from that time when you …). Maybe they have resentment against your grandfather (it’s OK, we all know he was a bit of a dick). Maybe they are in love with you (naaaaw). Maybe they’re lonely. Maybe they’re out for revenge. Maybe they’re a sneaky fox, raccoon or snake (like, the animals, for reals). Whatever, it typically comes down to your karma, or your family’s sins and impurities.

But – instead of toddling off to the astral world to do their training after death, as they should, they decide to hang around. And they do that by attaching to your spiritual body. Like a remora. Only with more spirit stuff, and less fish.

Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

And when a spirit attaches to you, you get whatever ailment or psychological problem they have. So if they died from heart disease, you’ll get heart disease too.

So Mahikari logic says that if you solve the spirit disturbance, you’ll be healed too. Heal and counsel the spirit so it’s no longer angry or out to get you, or in love with you, or whatevs, then it will release you and go back to the astral world, where it belongs. And all the problems it was causing for you will stop. Simples.

How do you solve spirit disturbance, you ask? Good question!

Well.

What do you know. It mainly involves doing a lot of divine service (unpaid labour!) for the group. ‘Saving others’. This raises your spiritual level, and improves the situation for the attaching spirit.

And sometimes you can have spirit investigations if things are really getting out of hand. This is when one of the doshis (priests) or kanbu (senior staff) gives you Light to the soul spirit (forehead) and talks directly to the attaching spirit during the session. So you have your eyes closed, and they are chatting away to the spirit. They ask it questions like what is it, where did it come from, does it have resentment or love or anger etc towards you, and which part of the body is it attached to.

Sometimes the spirit will make you move, like rocking back and forth, or shaking your head. And they can speak. People report they can suddenly speak another language like Japanese (a popular option) even though they don’t know Japanese! Because the attaching spirit is Japanese (again, a popular option), and is speaking in its own language. I call fucking bullshit. I experienced this, many times, and one time had a Japanese warrior ‘attached to me’. Yes, I spoke Japanese to my inquisitor (who it must be said was speaking English) and all I said was the basic Japanese words I already knew like ‘Yes’ and ‘No’.

At least they are trying to understand and counsel the spirit, to help it give up emotional and physical attachment to you. They aren’t about banishing it. So that’s nice.

In Primary Kenshu they go through a list of all the different types of diseases, and what causes them. Yes! It’s mostly attaching spirits! Surprise! And the rest is caused by toxins. They love toxins. Just a reminder, all medicine is toxins.

The following is typical advice about whatever ailment you care to name:

Women’s Problems:

As for Okiyome, give Okiyome thoroughly on the back and front of the uterus. Also, such things as anteflexion of the uterus, miscarriage, stillbirth, uterine cancer and so on are mostly caused by an attaching spirit with resentment concerning a man-woman relationship. Such resentment from a man-woman relationship may, for example, be if grandfather had had a mistress but left her to die in misery. If things like that happened such spirits become resentful and attach to people. There are many cases where it is due to something that happened with the ancestors about 3-5 generations or so ago. Or it may have something to do with the husband or the wife at the present time.

In such cases, it's necessary to reflect on one's life, and if there's anything that indicates such mistakes, it’s first necessary to apologise saying, 'I won't do anything like that anymore, please forgive me', and receive Okiyome. Otherwise it won't do any good.

Whether it's something to do with the ancestors or oneself, it's important actively to save people to erase such sins. As you save others, your own impurities will be erased and you'll be saved. – Primary Kenshu, pg 117

You might notice the big focus on saving others. Big focus. That means hunting for new members. Constantly. So, to solve the problems that the cult ascribes to attaching spirits, you need to do masses of divine service, and try to get others to join. Convenient (for them).

Also. Attaching spirits can also cause traffic accidents, and interfere with your divine service! No, it’s not your bad driving or your gut telling you you’re in a cult. It’s spirits. The subject for further blog posts. Stay tuned, and til then, be kind to your attaching spirits!

#kenshu #spirits #karma #illness #medicine #health

Did you know you have a guardian spirit? And they have some ‘behind-the-scenes’ helper spirits too. Cos it’s a lot of work looking after you. Fuck, you’re annoying.

Your guardian spirit is of a spiritual level a little higher than you. So this means they can see into the future a bit, cos it’s like they’re on a hill, and you’re on the flat bit. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? So many many assumptions here …

Aaaanyway … it’s important to realise that your guardian spirit is arranging things for you. They go off and chat with other guardian spirits, get them to arrange for their humans to come to your new shop, arrange for you to get into that swanky college, stuff like that. And they make their plans happen by changing what you’re thinking and deciding to do. Let’s see what Mahikari’s first initiation course (Primary Kenshu) has to say:

No doubt you've all had experiences such as “I just happened to think of ...”, “I just noticed”, “I felt like” or “My hunch was right”. All this kind of thing is due to such arrangements [by guardian spirits].

So, amongst such cases where people think of something or expect something to happen, in fact there are many cases where the people are made to think or made to do these things.

If a person thinks that it's all because his brain is superior or because of his special ability, sooner or later he will fail.

[My emphasis added.]

The big takeaway here is that sometimes your thoughts and ideas are not your own. Your guardian spirit is making you think and do things 😐

Now, there are levels for these things. Naturally. Cos it’s not quite fucked up enough to take on board that your thoughts and actions aren’t always your own. Also, don’t go thinking that you’re clever.

If your guardian spirit is of a low level, like in hell, you won’t be able to escape living in poverty all your life. They can’t see very far into the future, there’s not a lot of nice hills for future-looking for guardian spirits suffering in hell. Maybe just frozen lakes. And they don’t give a shit.

Oh they’re going to miss the train, because there’s a gaping chasm in the footpath? Meh.

But if you have a high level guardian spirit, well, then you’re set! They can see 2 or even 3 years in advance, cos they’ve got a nice high hill to look into the future from. They can make sure you meet the right girl or boy. They can make sure you back the right horse, buy the right stocks, get the best deal.

So, how can we leverage this ‘spiritual truth’. Oh I know … how about this:

Furthermore, the degree of one's activities will differ depending on how high or low the rank is of the spiritual level of the guardian spirit.

Taking the physical world, it shows up as a broad range of acquaintances of the person.

Well, it's better to have a guardian spirit of a higher spiritual class protecting you. Then what is the relationship between a person and his guardian spirit? It is according to the principle of balance all the way.

That's why ultimately it is important to elevate one's spiritual level.

Translation: Do a lot of service for Mahikari 🙄 [My emphasis added to that last line. Cos fuck them.]

Now,  if a person becomes purified step by step by practising the Righteous Path directed towards God (Seihō Kamimuki) his spiritual level will  be elevated, and accordingly, his guardian spirit will  be elevated as well.

When the rise reaches a certain level  and the person's guardian spirit hasn't enough ability, the guardian spirit will change to one who is balanced with the spiritual level of the person.

A person in such a case is called a fortunate or a happy person.

So offer a lot of Divine Service to the cult. But even if you elevate, and help out your guardian spirit, at some point the poor bugger is going to be left at whatever their ‘maximum possible level’ is, and you get to swap up.

In psychology this is called mutation.

Is it, though? 🧐

I think we need some warnings now, to bring home the point and add a bit of fear indoctrination:

In the opposite case, if a person with a nice life in the physical world and who has a good guardian spirit, for instance, does all sorts of bad things, sooner or later the red [spiritual] part will go downwards and fall. Then somehow at some time God will change his guardian spirit to one whose sōnen [innermost attitude] is rather low.

In this way the power of your guardian spirit has an extremely important relationship with you, so it is essential to purify your spiritual condition both by purifying each other with Okiyome [Light] after receiving Mahikari Omitama [holy pendant], and by reversing your sōnen progressively.

Translation: Do a lot of service for Mahikari. And be scared 😐

Then, as a result you will rise in spiritual level and we are taught that there will be a change of the guardian spirit in balance with the spiritual level to which you have become elevated.

Translation: If things in your life get worse it is very much your fault, and it is evidence that you have been very very bad. Also, your thoughts and actions aren’t your own. So … your guardian spirit is making you do shit, but also at the same time your thoughts and actions can elevate them, or bring everything down. But, your thoughts and actions are being influenced by your guardian spirit. But you can do bad things and make their level go down, through your own thoughts and actions …

Have fun with that particular logical inconsistency. Confusion is what cults depend on. Just tell members it’s incredibly high level spiritual revelations that they might understand when they are ‘elevated enough’ (ie fucking never) 😒

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All quotes from Primary Kenshu Textbook, Day 2, extracts from pp 56–58

Photo credit: Jovan Vasilevic, Unsplash

#sukyomahikari #mahikari #guardianspirit #fearindoctrination #cult #spirits

A lot of Mahikari's teachings focus around the process of cleaning our spiritual, astral and physical bodies of all the disgusting sins and impurities that currently pollute everything about us. It's a rather confusing topic, so I've made this ridiculously oversimplified ~~fish~~ diagram to help clarify things.

Still confused? Don't worry, Mahikari has a lot to say about Misogi Harahi. A lot.

Here's a basic definition from the Primary Kenshu (initiation course):

Concerning Misogi Harahi, true Misogi Harahi is “removing the impurities of the spirit and opening the yang spirit”. In the Divine era “spirit” used to be called “Mi”, and to remove impurities of the spirit, that is, to scrape off the impurities, was called Misogi.

Some more from Kenshu:

In other words, if you have committed sins and impurities in your previous lives, they'll return to you and you'll receive suffering phenomena in greater measure. This is called Misogi. If you haven't compensated in the astral world for the sins and impurities you committed in your previous lives through your reincarnations and transmigrations, you must compensate (aganahi) for them in the physical world. This is called “aganahi”. As it says ... “sins and impurities of ancestors spirits”, unless the ancestors erase their sins and impurities, these sins and impurities will enter their descendants. The sins and impurities of your ancestors will come into you.

In the same way you yourselves have impurities. Therefore, if you have any disease or illness, any kind of continuous suffering or turmoil, disasters that go on and on, that is, if unhappy phenomena are happening to you or your family, it means that impurities are now being shown like this because in your previous lives you yourself or your ancestors made other people suffer, or harmed or killed them. And such sins and impurities have accumulated.

Maybe some teachings from their book of holy words, where Su God is speaking directly to Okada (the founder), will help?

The earth is contaminated fully with spiritual poison, producing a foul scent in the Divine Realm. The very time is approaching when I cannot but carry out the great MISOGI-HARAHI of this earth. Do humans recognize a means to stop this chaos with their intellect and power? Unfortunately they do not. They will end up being blown away.

What about these?

Nowadays there are too many in the human world who are controlled by evil spirits. Therefore, due to my intensifying the Divine Light, the compensation phenomena will become more serious and widespread. Many souls in the three worlds of the Divine, Astral, and Physical will begin to feel uneasy, thus, “the Age of anguished resistance (AGAKI)” shall come. Consequently, in the human world, chaotic and aberrant phenomena will ceaselessly increase. Thus, NINGEN will continue to create the cause of twofold and threefold sufferings and plunge into agony. This is, indeed, the self-inflicted suffering. It cannot be avoided since the great spiritual cleansing (MISOGI) has started. They do not realize until I cleanse them. They must be forced to go through compensation (AGANAHI) with the Power of Spirit and Fire, unless they realize this by themselves and start making voluntary compensation (AGANAHI). Otherwise, they cannot complete the cleansing to develop the Positive Spirit (HARAHI); and furthermore, they cannot bring about the positive world of pure spirits (AKANAHI) forever.

Or this?

You may well think that God takes cruel action; however, it is not so. It is a manifestation of God's Great Love for eternity that the Arrangements have been set by the Law to let them end up in such a result. To begin with, these Arrangements had begun to be planned and set in motion at about the end of the creation of Heaven and Earth, that is, around the time when God began to create HITO. Therefore, it is not an arrangement that has been and will be able to be made by NINGEN who is so vain and conceited as to say, “God has been made up by NINGEN.” On the contrary, he will eventually go rampant in accumulating sins toward the Celestial World (AMATSU-TSUM1) and the Terrestrial World (KUNITSU-TSUMI) and leaving the negative karma to his descendants. Besides, he, himself, will have to go through suffering for hundreds of years in the astral world; and his bereaved family and descendants will have to suffer from worry, distress, and calamity in this world until their compensation can be completed. Thus, both of them have to go through the cleansing (MISOGI) together. It is due to God's “necessary evil” that is the goodness in MAHAYANA (in the Light of God).

Any clearer?

Anyway, here's how you compensate, according to Primary Kenshu:

Even if you say you haven't done a single bad thing ever since you were born into this world, still, if the impurities from your ancestors have not been completely erased, these impurities are transmitted to you. Therefore you need to have Misogi, that is, to scrape off the impurities of the spirit. And if you don't have aganahi, you can't become a bright spirit. Well, the point is that one's life will be completely different depending on whether one goes through aganahi willingly and actively or receives it passively.

With passive compensation the impurities committed must nevertheless be scraped off. Therefore, if a person killed someone or something like that previously, he would have to have a major accident, for example, and have his leg amputated and suffer for the rest of his life with a disabled body. Or he may have to have a horrible face injury, and by living the rest of his life with an ugly face, going through a lot of insults and shameful experiences, he continues to apologise and pay for the sins he committed. Or, he might have to suffer from, say, cancer or be paralysed from stroke and so on.

Then there follows a bunch of stories about how kumite who were destined to have serious accidents to erase their sins and impurities ended up just having minor accidents instead, because they offered divine service.

In this way, major disasters change into minor ones, and minor disasters change into no disasters at all. In other words, if a person devotes himself wholeheartedly to serving God, that is, continues compensating actively, he will erase his impurities. Even though he is receiving the same compensation, the suffering will be rather small. Well, after this kenshū I hope you'll become involved in active and willing service for God.

So there you have it, folks, the divine arrangement for changing major disasters into minor ones, and minor disasters into no disasters at all.

#mahikari #cleaning #misogiharahi #compensation #ancestors #karma #spirits

Before I get stuck into this one, let’s have a look at the group’s current public statements about health, how they present themselves to non-members.

BTW, light = True Light = Okiyome (their 'purifying energy from God').

The Sukyo Mahikari American site says, on their FAQs page:

Does light heal illness?

No. As the light purifies the spiritual aspect of human beings, positive effects can occur on many different levels. However, the purpose of the practice is for spiritual development.

On their Health page it says:

Receiving light is not a substitute for medical examinations and treatment. Sukyo Mahikari advises people that it is necessary to receive medical advice and take appropriate medical care of themselves and their families.

Their European site says about Health:

In general, the Western approach to health does not acknowledge a spiritual dimension. However, this attitude is gradually changing. By introducing more people to the principles that govern the universe, Sukyo Mahikari anticipates an era in which more people enjoy good health and well-being.

So, I guess that doesn’t sound too bad, if you’re into a bit of spiritual stuff in general. They sound kinda reasonable? Maybe? Fairly benign? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Well, hang onto your fucking hats, boys and girls. Cos here we go … down the rabbit hole of Mahikari’s actual teachings on health. What they don't tell in public. Despite their more benign public face, you can be 100% sure that their actual teachings have not changed.

There's a lot to discuss, so to save your eyes bleeding, I'll only assail your sensibilities a bit at a time, and do this over a few blog posts.

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First of all, you need to know that God is getting a bit fed up with we humans, and the world is entering severe times, called the Baptism by Fire. What with COVID-19, climate change, and reality TV, I’m not arguing there. But this has been a constant warning, since the group surfaced in the late 1950s. Are we there yet?

Here's a quote from their 'bible', Goseigen:

Medicine (Kusuri), Revelation at 3:00 am on April 3, 1959

God feels true pity for the present condition of the world because you cherish medicine so much, just like ants that gather around sugar, so I shall clearly show you the Correct Path or the Vertical (spiritual) Path. Medicine (KUSURI) is not sugar. When it is overused, it can be the cause of losing mankind's spiritual power and facing disastrous death.

For reasons which could not be disclosed in public, God once allowed medicine to be used by humans. It was because of the Arrangement which could not be revealed in those days. However, there is a vast difference between the present condition and what God truly intended, so I [God] shall tell you [Okada] the truth. ...

Although you have been enjoying and have been allowed to enjoy this poison, even naming it medicine on your own, you should know that its true nature has been shown at the same time by the KOTODAMA of KUSURI. “KU” indicates suffering', which you always talk about, and the function of choking. “SU ' means the function of the power to control, and it also brings the phenomena of termination and restriction. It works as the power of decision, as the power used in the response of “yes!” and also as the power to stop. “RI” has the power to close, such as closing a door, to tighten and harden everything. ...

Therefore, God is finally going to intensely cleanse the poison of the triplicity of your MI (the spiritual, astral and physical bodies) and develop the positive spiritual power. Otherwise, the true children of God (HITO) will lose their original power, which will make fruitless the purpose for which God created His children, the Earth and food prepared for them. For this reason, God must finally carry out MISOGIHARAHI which is one of the causes of the evolution of the Divine Plan, progressing step by step towards the time of the Baptism of Fire. It is one of the most principal reasons for reinforcing the spiritual essence of Fire in the Universe.

It goes on further, but you get the gist. God used to let us use medicine for secret reasons, but now we can't, and we didn't pick up the hints He left us in the Japanese name for medicine, and now He's going to clean us up. So we can work for His plan.

Secondly, drugs and injections harden inside your body (hard drugs, get it?). Nope, no such thing as drug metabolism or excretion. I mean, why even bother having a liver and kidneys? Also frozen foods make your body harden from the cold, so don’t eat them. No ice cream for you! ☹️🚫🍦

This is what Okada (the founder) wrote for primary kenshu (the 3-day initiation/brainwashing course):

The poisons that go into your body by pouring them in or breathing them in become incredibly hard in your body. Medication or injections, for instance, when they are first put into your body they are in liquid form, a powder or something like that. Well, there'd be no problem if these toxins came out of your body after you put them in there, but they don't. They become solid.

So people who take in poisonous medication make their muscles change from living flesh to something like wood, and finally into something like mineral rock. Eventually such people make their muscles like concrete, Sukuinushisama* said.

In short, things become hard. And when things become hard like this, people call it a tumour, cancer and so on. But in fact it's only hardened medication that had been taken orally or through injections.

That's why more cancer is found in the so-called civilised people. Isn't cancer becoming a national disease in America and such countries? Lately in Japan as well there's been a tremendous increase in cancer.

Stupid medical researchers! Why haven’t they discovered that cancer tumors are made up of hardened medication yet? And I'm still shocked that my doctors haven't figured out I have concrete muscles.

Next thing to know. Germs help to cause fevers which can melt these toxins. The higher the fever, the harder the toxins they can melt. The gross stuff that comes out of you, like snot, phlegm, diarrhea, and pus, is the molten toxins coming out, cleaning the inside of your body. Because that's exactly how bodies work. 🙄

So it’s obvious that stopping a fever is stopping your body from being able to get rid of these toxins. Stopping diarrhea and runny noses, infected sinuses and in fact any infection of any type is also reprehensible! You’ve only got yourself to blame if you end up dying from cancer. 🤷🏼‍♀️

The beauty of Mahikari, though, is that Okiyome / Light can melt those hardened toxins in your body, too! Woo! So by receiving Light, you can avoid needing such a high fever to melt toxins and be purified. Or whatever.

But wait! There's more! It’s not just medicine and other crap you eat!

No, you can also generate toxins in your body by getting angry. So don't ever feel angry! See, proof is in kenshu teachings! 🚫😡

Human beings also generate poison when angry. That is why those who lose their temper lose out. This is why the lifespan of short-tempered people is short. It is because in such people's bodies more poison is generated than in other people. So, such a person accumulates a lot of poison in him during his lifetime.

If a person becomes impure it is necessary for God to clean his cells to let him achieve his natural lifespan, so a major cleaning will occur.

In other words, he'll get a major illness. So from now on everyone, please remember that if you get angry, you'll lose out.

BUT! All this is only 20% of the cause of so-called diseases which Mahikari do not acknowlege the existence of!

You’ve ALSO inherited a bunch of sins and impurities from your ancestors, going way back, and from humanity as a whole. AND let’s not forget attaching spirits. Who could forget those guys. They can be ancestors, other dead people, evil spirits, or animal spirits. They attach to your body, and can cause all kinds of diseases. 👻

Any 'disease' is 20% physical (crap you’ve been putting into your body) and 80% spiritual (attaching spirits, karma, negativity and other bad shit).

As it says in primary kenshu:

As I explained yesterday with various actual examples of spirit disturbance, 80% of problems are spiritual.

Therefore, the most important thing is to solve spirit disturbance. This is extremely important for human life, for all humankind as well.

Therefore, the main essence of medical science should really be solving spirit disturbance.

And THERE IT IS. I’ll say it again for those at the back. THE MAIN ESSENCE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE SHOULD REALLY BE SOLVING SPIRIT DISTURBANCE.

And how do you solve spirit disturbance, boys and girls? YES! You become a member of Mahikari, give Okiyome, offer Divine Service, make donations, have an ancestors’ altar, and all the rest. You put God and the Dojo first.

In short, in Mahikari, to the very end, healing (treatment) is not the aim. The aim is to become free of illness. What is particularly important here is to find out the spirit disturbance of the person and solve it. In solving the spirit disturbance guide the person to reverse his sōnen [innermost attitude]. This is the most important thing.

To the very end we have to make people repent from the soul and change into Divine character. If a person repents from the soul, he'll become a practitioner of Seihō Kami Muki, and arrangements will occur for health, harmony and wealth naturally. Okiyome is for this purpose.

What Sukuinushisama* and Oshienushisama** strongly emphasised as the medicine of the future is “true medicine for the salvation of the world, medicine (great study) in which the trinity, spiritual medicine, mental medicine and material medicine, are combined as one body.”

And the point is that spiritual medicine makes up at least 80%. Mental and material medicine combined is 20% at the most. Because thinking in this modern age is opposite to this, there are diseases with unknown causes and the number of sick people is increasing.

So the Yōkōshi [sunlight children] movement is to try to change this current flow and give rise to a medicine (great study) for the sake of mankind.

Please distinguish this matter clearly.

I gotta say, re-reading all this stuff is making me feel sick. Must be spirit disturbance ...

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*Sukuinushisama is Okada, the founder dude. **Oshienushisama is Okada's 'adopted daughter' (cough mistress cough), who 'inherited' the leadership from Okada after he died and a huge legal battle.

Photo credit: Danilo Alvesd on Unsplash

#medicine #health #toxins #Okiyome #light #Goseigen #kenshu #spirits

Spirits and ancestors are a big deal in Mahikari. Spirits attach to your body, and cause diseases or other ailments. But that’s another blog post.

What I want to talk about today is the obsession with a special sort of spirits — your ancestors. In Shinto tradition, ancestors are revered. A great deal of Mahikari is based on Shinto.

In Mahikari, if you’re really devout, you have an ancestor’s altar, and then a second one for your maiden line, so both parts of your family are covered and you have twice as much to do.

The altar sits on a high shelf in your living room, usually. There are all kinds of rules about where in the house it's allowed to be located. Can't have any beds with their feet pointing towards it, for instance.

The alter contains name tablets. There’s a main one for all ancestors who died more than 30 years ago. Those who have died more recently get their own name tablet, inscribed with a new name, to help them give up attachment to their past life. There should always be a tiny vase with some scented flowers in it, too. There is also a Japanese-style bell.

Ancestors require constant attention. Their altar has to be opened every morning, the light turned on, with a good morning greeting. If you go out, you need to tell them. And tell them when you’re back home too. Introduce them to any visitors to the house. Inform them of any major events. Close it at night, turning off its light, and wishing your ancestors a pleasant evening. So civilised.

And they need dinner every day. They have a tiny set of dishes, glasses and cutlery, all bought new (second-hand is not acceptable, not pure enough). These are all put on a small tray. Mahikari members are forever seeking out cute tiny crockery and cutlery. Liqueur glasses are popular as wine glasses. Miniature cutlery sets are the best. All sorts of tiny things, like this ...

For dinner, they should be served a small part of your meal, and the best part of it, too. Don't forget the wine. And don't cook anything with a microwave oven, because that destroys the spiritual aspect of the food, which, after all, is what your ancestors are 'eating'. And they should be served before you eat. The bell is struck to get the ancestors’ attention, to call them for dinner.

When cleaning up after dinner, don't use your usual dishwashing things, either. Special washing up cloths for the special ancestors' crockery and cutlery 🙄

Their altar also needs to be cleaned regularly. With special purified altar cleaning cloths (Mahikari has a lot of purity rituals!). And they need to have Mahikari prayers and teachings read to them regularly. Don't ever sit with your feet pointing towards the altar, either. So rude.

Ancestors send warnings too. If you get headaches, or head injuries, or eye problems, or anything like that, it’s your ancestors telling you to ‘look up’ and pay heed to them. Aren’t you glad you know that now? Feeling guilty yet?

Looking after an ancestors altar or two is a shitload of work, and keeps you very involved in daily ‘cult tasks’, all the time. I still get nightmares about the fucking thing. But maybe that’s my just my poor imaginary ancestor spirits having a bit of a grizzle about my neglect?

Aaaw, diddums.

Quite a responsibility, really. I'd rather have a dog.

#Mahikari #cult #ancestors #rituals #warnings #karma #spirits