Spiritually Gifted Children

New mommyhood has been a trip!

I am a spiritual person, i.e., I quite literally interact with the realm of spirits. Entities of all natures fly onto my radar. At various points during the day, some more convenient than others. And I keep daily or regular rituals to keep my home as spiritually balanced as possible. Sometimes that means sealing it as tight as a drum. Other times, it means calling on certain spirits for their assistance or guidance. So when I became pregnant back in 2024, I most definitely thought about the unbelievably certain “chance” my soon-to-be-born baby would also be a spiritual person.

Well everyone, I am here to tell you that I was right.

Photo by Tim Umphreys on Unsplash

And I thought it might be nice to share and come together to talk about this phenomenon: the spiritually gifted child. Because I believe, as I have seen with my own eyes, there are lots of gifted kids out in the world. Some children go on to demonstrate their gifts throughout their whole lives, some just during early childhood. Some children will then become adults who completely forget about their gifts, perhaps until some kind relative reminds them of their spiritual past.

In any case, if you are the parent of or you know a gifted child, I hope this post will help you navigate how to engage with or help said child.

Before Delivery

I am who I am, which means I knew pretty soon after the strip turned pink that I was going to give birth to a gifted child. Then, 8 weeks later, I found out that I was going to give birth to a gifted baby boy. And not just a gifted baby boy, a very gifted baby boy.

I didn’t know how his gifts would emerge, and I did not know when. But I knew in my bones, it was coming!

What did I learn during this time?

1. Acceptance is yet another way to show your love for your child.

2. Not everyone needs to know everything about your unborn child.

3. You can begin to talk to you unborn child about what it’s like to live as a spiritual person. Start the conversation early, as many experts say.

4. Rest when you need to. If you are gifted yourself, then your baby’s gifts will compound yours and you’ll need more spiritual self-care than usual. If you are not gifted, then you will feel more tired than a pregnant person might otherwise.

5. Encounters between your baby and the realm of spirits can start even in the womb. Don’t be too surprised to find out that your baby needs rest too from all the energy spent toward spiritual management.

6. Psychic attacks might become a thing or more frequent. Your gifted child is now casting a beautiful beacon of light into the spirit world. This might attract all kinds of spirits, curious ones as well as not-so-pleasant ones.

Occurrences like visions or extremely vivid dreams might start to happen. Your eyes might start to “play tricks” on you — during the day and at night. Odd happenings or coincidences could begin as well. All par for the course.

(For all expectant mothers: How rude am I?! Congrats to you and your family on such wonderful news!)

After Delivery

It’s 3:00AM. I’m half awake, rummaging in the walk-in closet to find empty bottles to fill with formula. I’ve closed the door to keep the bright light from entering the baby’s room but I can still hear my poor baby boy’s sharp cries from late-night hunger. I try to hurry without making a mess.

And then, I hear something. My night shift mind must be messing with my senses because I swear I have just heard shushing.

I carry on with my work, slightly worried about my lack of sleep now.

And then I hear it again. It’s definitely shushing. A definite, “shhh, shhh” can be heard from the other side of the closet door.

Now, I feel bad. The baby’s cries have woken up my mom, who has graciously decided to live with us for a month and a half to help out with our newborn. She must have come into the room to help me, sometimes she does that, which is always very kind of her. Finishing up with the bottles, I turn off the light and open the closet door — only to find no one at the side of the baby’s bassinette. Only seconds have passed since I heard the last shush.

No additional bodies are there. All I see is my baby whimpering in his bed. Nobody else. That’s it.

My chest caves into my stomach. This is mostly certainly not what I need at three in the morning!! I am livid. No, beyond livid. To put it finely, I do not appreciate a spirit encounter in my sleep-deprived state. I do not appreciate a spirit encounter in the middle of the night. And I positively do not appreciate a spirit — a stranger —interacting with my newborn baby while I am out of the room!

No one asked me for permission to enter my home, my baby’s room, or to speak to my baby. I felt violated on so many spiritual levels. I still get angry about it today just recounting the memory.

But that night taught me a very valuable lesson: expect the unexpected when it comes to gifted children.

What have I learned since that night?

1. No need to watch a pot of water, it will boil eventually. Your child’s gifts will emerge at the time they are supposed to. No need to try and speed up the process. No need to wait with bated breath.

2. And no need to keep asking your child about their gifts! Yes, even if they are newborns. Normalizing their gifts and pestering them about their gifts are two very different mom modes.

3. Bring your energy level down by several notches when you do talk to your child about being spiritually gifted. It should be a calm and mundane conversation, like when you describe the weather forecast or how to tie your shoes. Make their gifts, and yours if this applies to you, an everyday thing. This will help with any fear or distress their gifts might cause — which might happen, depending on the gift.

4. Dispel secrets or silence about spiritual gifts. I have found that the more honest I am with my baby, and my mom actually, the more meaningful my relationships become. I don’t mean you should go and tell everybody on Facebook or Instagram about your spiritually gifted family. But cultivating transparency about spirituality between a parent and child is invaluable, in my experience.

5. Ask for help. Whether for yourself or for your child. Even if it’s just for confirmation or affirmation about the spiritual activity going on around you.

6. You’ll save yourself a lot of worry and anxiety if you find someone to confide in. A trusted friend or again, someone who also helps you with the management of it all. Find someone you can text at 3AM. You’ll be so happy you did.

You’ve Got a Friend

I’ll keep it brief. I do want to share a little about what’s going on over here, in the event someone else is going through the same thing we are. (Feel free to send me a message if you need someone to text at 3AM!)

So far, my baby is primarily dealing with:

1. Seeing dead relatives

2. Seeing spiritual beings, familiars, etc.

3. Astral projection

He takes it all in stride, my little Aztec warrior. But his gifts, like all spiritual gifts, feel like blessings and at times, burdens. I’m just grateful to have an understanding Abuela, a helpful Abuelita in heaven, and a patient child.

And another generation of alternatively spiritual people is born!

I’m sorry that I have been away for so long! But I think you now know why! My life is more spirit-filled than ever these days. Now, it’s just a matter of finding a moment to sit down and write about it. When I’m not chasing after the little warrior, that is.

If you have a moment, let me know in the comments what you have been up to this year! I’m still living vicariously through people. And I love this cozy community we have here at café de olla.

Also, let me know if you want more gifted children stories.

Wishing you all a blessed holiday season.

With cariño,

Maribel