The first lesson in both spiritist and shamanic schools is discernment. Discernment is the sentinel that guards the door—it is the art of discrimination that allows us to distinguish this from that, truth from falsity, and light from darkness. Without it, one may be overcome by forces they do not yet understand.

The dark night is long when it comes for those who find themselves walking it. But for those who carry a flame within, the encroaching darkness becomes the very canvas on which their light paints its emergence.