Working with Spirit Guides: Prometheus

A very strange visit from the ancient god of prophecy

“In the universe, there are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between, there are doors.” - William Blake

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As we wrote about in our recent Leo Full Moon Deep Dive titled “Prometheus” HERE on Substack, Prometheus— the ancient Greek god of prophecy— has been, well, hanging around as of late.

Here’s a little synopsis from our previous post for those unfamiliar with the lore surrounding Prometheus:

“Not only is he the Titan associated with both fire and snakes, but he’s also the oldest god of prophecy in the ancient Greco/ Roman pantheon— literally infinitely older than the Olympians, including Zeus!

Prometheus is most famous for gifting humanity with the “fire of the gods”, a nebulous term that almost certainly didn’t just mean literal fire at your local camp ground. As a result of this forbidden gift to help humanity, Zeus tied Prometheus to the side of a mountain for aeons, tasking an eagle with eating his liver everyday— only to have it regenerate at night to kick off the tortuous cycle all over again the next day.”

Here are a few more “facts” about Prometheus, and his mythology, that I have uncovered in the last week or so:

• Prometheus was eventually freed from Zeus’ version of Abu Ghraib prison by the demigod and hero Hercules. He did this while on his quest to retrieve the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, managing (in classic demigod fashion) to shoot the eagle that ate Prometheus’ liver everyday with an arrow, freeing him from his chains.

• While Zeus had the idea to create human beings, it was Prometheus (with the help of Athena) that actually made them on his behalf. This makes Prometheus one third of the team that crafted our species, indicating that he quite literally has “skin in the game” when it comes to humans surviving— and thriving.

• Despite me thinking that Moly, the white flowers that sprang up where the Titans’ blood was spilled in their epic battle against the Olympians, were from Cronos…they’re actually the product of Prometheus’ blood, spilled when Zeus’ eagle got at his liver everyday during his long prison sentence on the side of the mountain. Because of this, Prometheus is inextricably associated with plant medicine, herbalism, and yes, even flower essences.

• The name “Prometheus” translates to “foresight”, indicating the very unique phenomenon of which he is a god: prophecy. As with Odin, his confidence in his knowledge of future events is what enables him to surrender to his own torture and dismemberment, understanding that it’s not permanent and that, one day, he will be free again. Because of this, Prometheus is a god of shamans and shamanism, supporting us as we make everyone uncomfortable with our dark proclamations at the dinner table.

• Prometheus is one of a handful of Titans the Olympians “allowed” to live after their great war— which was, for the most part, waged against Cronos. He was spared mostly because he stayed out of the fighting, refusing to take a side and, instead, waiting for future events to unfold— and give him the upper hand. Again, his ability to see beyond the “ignorant present” and sidestep an ego reaction proved to be very, very useful.

All in all, the mythology surrounding Prometheus has proven to be more layered, nuanced and interesting than I would have previously thought. Unlike other ancient Greco-Roman deities like Hecate or Persephone, Prometheus seems to have largely escaped the bright light of pop culture capture and exploitation. It appears that his ability to casually sidestep the spotlight— not to mention conflict or infamy— enables him to retain the subtle nuances that make him feel so real.

My own experiences with Prometheus reinforce these theories, and I can honestly say: I’ve never worked with a Spirit Guide quite like him.

In the beginning

Prometheus first showed up as a “limited edition” Spirit Guide for me several years ago. At the time, I was being “sued” for being a whistleblower (it was really an elaborate intimidation tactic to open up “negotiations”), and while a settlement (in my favor) came very quickly, there was a pocket of time in which I was super stressed about the potential outcomes.

While sitting in my meditation center in Oak Park, attempting to find a pocket of inner peace, Prometheus popped in to my mind’s eye to assure me that it would be okay. His energy was completely neutral, devoid of emotionality. This communication came along with flashes of images of moss on stone, abandoned marble statues alongside bush branches at the edge of a forest, and cloud-covered daylight. There were the subtle scents of fresh dirt, pine resin and lake water.

In short: his energy was very different from anything else I had encountered, and was notably very, very peaceful.

Of course, he was right about the lawsuit— it was barely a blip on the radar. And while I was grateful for his brief appearance, I quickly moved on as I readied myself to move my business (and my family) from Chicago to Texas.

It was only in the last few years that Prometheus started to pop in again, dusting my days with an occasional sprinkle of cloud-covered, quiet communion with his energy. The total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, seemed to bring the beginning of Prometheus at the forefront of all things Woo— at least for me.

And, ever since the start of the Wood Snake Year (which we wrote about in detail HERE), Prometheus has been front and center for me and my personal spiritual, shamanic work.

Turn your eye around

Since the start of the Wood Snake Year, Prometheus has been “gifting” me extraordinarily amplified “second sight”, arming me with some very high-definition prophetic visions in both my sleep state and my waking reality.

This rapid acceleration and amplification of my psychic abilities felt like a second bookend to my earlier activations, particularly those that seemed to come in the wake of my focused Spirit Guide work with Odin. So, to gain more insights into my work with Prometheus and what was happening, I checked in with Odin. He made it clear that, while he’s not going anywhere, he is stepping back— and Prometheus is stepping forward.

He reminded me, yet again, to “turn my eye around”, a missive that came along with a series of the wild psychic phenomenon we explored in our previous post “A New Song” HERE on Substack. Odin showed me that, to do this, he loaned me the abilities of his famous eye, which could be seen or interpreted as the Moon. In contrast, he then showed me that I was now borrowing Prometheus’ eye, which could be seen as the Sun. He explained that the former (the Moon) was self-knowledge, spiritual expansion and personal development, whereas the other (the Sun) was now focused on the world around me, connecting me with visions and prophecies that hinge on world events, the truth of our shared reality, and the real history of this dimension— and our species.

I shared a few not-so-lovely examples of these more humanity-oriented flashes of psychic insight in this recent post HERE, and let’s just say: it hasn’t slowed down since then!

But it’s not all doom and gloom. In fact, in spite of some bonafide vignettes of psychic horror, I feel strangely calm and grounded near Prometheus’ energy, even benefitting from his presence in a recent remote reiki session! In it, I was the client, and as the remote reiki practitioner worked on me, I saw a whole movie unfold in my mind’s eye.

In this session, Prometheus came to me clear as day— and no, for the record, I was not altered in any way. He said to me, “Tell her [meaning the practitioner] that she is going to feel pretty banged up in the next few days. I’m working through her physical body, and she’s not configured to hold or anchor my energy. I need to remove some things from you. Don’t worry— they’re not cancer. They’re just stagnant energies that need to be removed before they turn into dis-ease.”

Then, I saw him reach into my throat, solar plexus and other areas of my body, removing what looked like steaming hot black tar with his bare hands and placing the gunk into a large, silver bowl filled with water and ice. When he was done, he wiped his hands with a towel and assured me that I was going to be fine.

Strangely, the reiki practitioner referenced all of the body parts I saw Prometheus working on, and immediately after the energy work session I urinated what could only be described as a lifetime detox! I know, I know, TMI…but that’s kind of how energy work, well, works (at least for shamans).

After this, his already-subtle presence seemed to fade a bit.

And then, about a week later, it came back with a thunderous roar.

Those who wander

The pages of the Victor Hugo book I found while connecting with Prometheus on my strange walk

Now, here’s where things with Prometheus get very, very weird. And very, very tangible.

It started three days ago. I woke up in the morning, but felt like I couldn’t shake the altered state that comes with dreaming. I had two very strong cups of coffee, and realized that I just couldn’t organize myself fully. I chalked this up to the fact that my husband and I had been apart for the first time in years. His mother had passed away, and he was helping his father out and attending her service. Adding to the potential variables informing my strange state of consciousness, I told myself, was the guest that had just left. I mean, I don’t get a lot of visitors, so maybe I was just all weird in the wake of her returning home.

Or something.

But, as it would turn out, it was none of these things.

It was, in fact, Prometheus, and this was the first time I started to feel the full swell of his energy— as opposed to the glimpses and drips in the past.

Unclear on how to proceed with my day and distrustful of my ability to lock in and do organized work, I went for a long walk in a state that I can only describe as “autopilot”. It was a cloudy, cool day with a strange, sallow sun peeking out from behind the rapidly moving clouds. As I walked without a destination of any kind, my gaze was suddenly drawn to a few pieces of weathered paper on the ground. They were next to a strange set of branches and brambles, mostly bare against the background of greener trees and an even greener open field.

I looked down, picked up the papers, and folded them to place them in my pocket.

I continued to meander around for almost ten miles, feeling the strange, supernatural influence of Prometheus. There were no words or whiz bang visions, just a washed out sepia-tone to the natural world around me. I could feel his presence the whole way through.

Then, several hours after I got home and settled in, I remembered the weathered pages in my coat pocket. I retrieved them and started to read them. Within a few seconds, the record scratch of synchronicity tore through my reality. It was so intense that, upon remembering that I was home alone with no house guest or husband, I actually started to get a little freaked out.

Why? Well, the weathered papers were actually pages from a Victor Hugo novel titled, “The Toilers of the Sea”. The first sentence on the first page? “The master of a barque who had sailed almost entirely round the world affirmed that among the Tongusians all sorcerers were subject to bleeding at the nose.”

It went on for four pages that covered such topics as: St. Michael, crows and magpies, human + fairy hybrids (called cambions and marcous, in the French), their “wooden shoes”, the magic of herbalism and the metaphysical significance of the Fleur de Lis— as well as the healing powers of a “witch’s mark” in the shape of this iconoclastic flower. In the story, the supposed sorcerer— who the author decided was not half-demon but was, in fact, half-nature spirit— defended animals being abused by their owners and, at one point, even returned a bird’s nest filled with eggs to their proper position on a cliff after some of the town’s children had stolen them.

Now, at first blush this is surely strange, but what you may not be aware of is just how specific and personal these references were to me— and conversations about the Woo I had JUST been having with my houseguest in the days before.

One example: the Fleur De Lis.

My recent houseguest and friend and I had been talking about how much she loves our Black Mirror TOTEM Flower Essence, which is made of a breed of iris flower literally called “Black Mirror”. I had excitedly described how large the blooms are (literally the size of a Chicago-style softball) and shared how, when they first blossomed in our garden (the first of our flowers to do so in Austin), a “fairy” had left a tile with a Fleur De Lis on it on my back doorstep— an obvious “thank you” from the other side for planting and caring for these weird and Woo plants.

Now, the “sorcerer” featured in these pages from a Victor Hugo novel, had a witch’s mark shaped like a Fleur De Lis. This birthmark was not just an indication of this character’s mystical, hybrid genetics, but also served to heal the townspeople should he allow them to touch it!

Needless to say, I didn’t think my strange, altered state or my weird, meandering walk were mere coincidences. These pages were a direct message from Prometheus— and would likely serve as a kind of prophecy (or acknowledgement of prophecy) in my own spiritual practice.

Take a look at the details in the scanned pages pictured above for more high strangeness. I mean, I know I use the term “spiritual scavenger hunt”, but this particular round of the game is…just too much!

And, of course, it got weirder.

The next day

Pair of shoes under the tree where I first found the lost pages (day #2)

The next day, I walked the same route in a slightly less altered shamanic state, dedicated to looking under the tree where I found the book pages to see if the whole book was there— or what other garbage may be present. There was something strangely comforting about the theory that someone had just dumped a bunch of stuff— and that these book pages weren’t particularly (or esoterically) significant in any way.

That theory was destroyed by yet more evidence of specific high strangeness— as was the tacit comfort I had secured in the potentiality of the mundane.

Under the same squat tree, I found a pair of men’s shoes (pictured above). They appeared to be placed there quite purposefully, aligned and facing the sidewalk with their heel towards the tree.

Now, the excerpt from “The Toilers of the Sea” had a snippet on the strange shoes belonging to the supposed sorcerer.

And, while the picture certainly conveys a very strange sight, it does not adequately convey the feeling that came along with finding these shoes in this exact location. My first reaction? I actually said (out loud, mind you), “This is some fucking TANIS shit”, referring to the spooky, supernatural podcast of the same name.

Then, I felt my face get hot as I remembered that I was still going to be very much alone in my house that night— a paranoid shamanic nightmare when dealing with overt high strangeness!

So, while I took a photo of the shoes, I resisted the urge to actually bring the shoes back home with me. I embrace similar restraint with regard to the fairy gifts I get in my backyard flower essence garden, leaving them outside in a nice container where I also store the gifts I offer to them in kind. While many of these gifts from our nature spirits are beautiful, including items like a stunning quartz crystal cluster, I don’t really know what I don’t know…and, therefore, air on the side of caution, leaving them out in their wild habitat.

It’s worth noting: none of this felt negative or evil or bad. In fact, it was overwhelmingly positive, uplifting, and sweet in its specific attention to my recent experiences, conversations, and interests. It just slaps different when it’s actually happening in real time— when you realize, as a rational human being, that the other side is absolutely real and here and hears us and wants to interact.

I mean, it’s one thing to contemplate this kind of stuff in the abstract. To bandy about some esoteric theories or theorems or explanations. But, as we’ve covered here on Substack many times before, the map is not the territory.

Walking the talk just slaps different, and it shifts your perspective in irrevocable ways.

TOTEM Tarot Deck: Two of Trees

Just ahead of her trip to visit me in Texas, my friend had pulled the Two of Trees Card from our TOTEM Tarot Deck. I mean, tarot card pulls often do serve as a form of ongoing cosmic inside joke, and this card felt particularly relevant to our discussions— and took on new meaning for me in the days following her departure.

You know. When I was finding pages from books about nature spirits and sorcerers and, well, empty shoes beneath trees.

As our TOTEM Tarot Deck booklet outlines, the Two of Trees (aka the 2 of wands card in a traditional deck) is a tarot card of unmitigated spiritual adventure. Pulling this card indicates the beginning of a real life shamanic journey, one in which we step into the unknown with a spirit of openness and receptivity.

The image is not just meant to be indicative of a path in the woods, but also of a neural pathway in our minds— one that enables us to travel to other realms and see with our “other eye” (or, as Odin would say, “Turn your eye around”).

What’s even weirder about my friend’s precognitive card pull? This image was a lot like the leafless branches and low-to-the-ground trees along my adventure the last two days. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.

Want to learn more about our self-published TOTEM Tarot Deck or secure your own copy? They’re now sold out of Amazon, so the last few copies are only available via our Etsy Shop HERE.

If you’re game for some, well, the spiritual game being “afoot”, I can’t recommend our deck enough. According to many clients, it’s super duper weird.

TOTEM Flower Essence Deck: Black Mirror

All this talk of irises and our Black Mirror TOTEM Flower Essence is a great reminder of the power of herbalism and plant medicine— particularly for psychic endeavors.

Our Black Mirror Flower Essence facilitates psychic connection to the “other side”, energetically supporting psychic development and acting as your personal portal to high strangeness. Black Mirror Iris Flower Essence is great for anyone wanting to explore divination, prophecy and psychic work in general.

If you want to learn more about this flower essence or secure your own bottle, head over to our Etsy Shop and take advantage of our 60% off sale HERE.

After this week’s events, I have even more reverence for the humble iris, and will be spending more time researching it as well as the symbol of the Fleur De Lis. We gain so much meaning from learning more about the history and mythology of this stuff— one of my favorite aspects of being a full-time working shaman;)

The image above is from our TOTEM Flower Essence Deck, designed to be both a functioning oracle deck (for use in psychic readings or daily card pulls) and a learning tool to help folks gain insights into the world of flower essences and spiritual herbalism. Like our TOTEM Tarot Deck, our TOTEM Flower Essence Deck is a self-published labor of love that distills our lessons learned growing and communing with the weird plants in our flower essence garden.

If you want to learn more or get your own copy of the TOTEM Flower Essence Deck, check it out on our Etsy Shop HERE.

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Going deeper with Spirit Guides

So, what’s the conclusion? The summary? The so what? The point to all of this high strangeness and cards and shoes and flower essences?

Well, it’s complicated. And I think I’m kind of at the beginning of working with Prometheus as a Spirit Guide, so stay tuned here on Substack for more to come!

Thus far, I think it’s safe to say that this new Spirit Guide is upending my previous understanding of the world around me— particularly the natural world of trees, bushes, brambles and, well, footless shoes.

Were the Titans of Greek mythology really, in fact, the native population of this planet? Are they the same as the fairies and nature spirits? And, if so, are some of them really still “alive” and present with us to this day?

Am I in contact with one of them? And, if so, what the fuck does that mean for me? I mean, I’m already pretty overwhelmed with an Etsy shop, some chickens, and an absurdly large “dog” on the daily. I guess we’ll just have to see what unfolds next on this wild spiritual scavenger hunt, huh?

And it’s even more wild when we consider that this particular adventure is just one snapshot in time of many examples in my own life of working with Spirit Guides. If you multiply that by the exponent of the Spirit Guides that come into my Spiritual Transformation Coaching clients’ lives (and psyches and energy bodies), it becomes immediately obvious just how real, important, and all-pervasive this part of shamanic work really is.

So why do we as a society ignore it?

Strange, right? I think so.

Reflecting on this, I’ve been feeling really grateful for being a working shaman with an active client practice. I get to pull at these threads until we have a breakthrough insight or are able to ground the esoterica of it all in material reality, making it both real and useful for myself and my clients.

If this little case study intrigues you or parallels your own, please share your story in the comments. Please also encourage your friends and families to support our work here on Substack by becoming a paid subscribers— the more of these subscribers I can get, the more of this high strangeness I can write about with all of you!

And, if you want to go deeper into this strange world just beneath our world, check out our TOTEM Spiritual Transformation Coaching Program HERE or book a free coaching consultation to learn more with me HERE.

For reasons that I hope are obvious in this post, all of the coaching work I do is one-on-one, and we tailor it depending on where your Spirit Guides seem to be taking us.

It’s a wild ride, but one that infuses my life with a genuine sense of wonder, awe and childlike enthusiasm.

I’m cautiously excited to see what comes next. I mean, those shoes belong to somebody, right?

-Rachel