SHAMANIC DETECTIVE WORK

#4 Flight MH 370 and a Chinese Goddess of the Sea

MY SON RECEIVES A BLESSING AT THE TEMPLE OF CHINESE SEA GODDESS MAZU IN KUALA LUMPUR

In a previous article here I explained that I intended to do a major piece of shamanic work while flying from London, UK to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. This related to two notorious aviation disasters which both happened in 2014: Flight MH 17 (shot down over Eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur) and Flight MH 370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which disappeared and was never found (other than one “flaperon” - a piece of the right wing - which washed ashore on an Island in the Indian Ocean called Reunion and some other debris was found on the shores of Eastern African countries LINK). If you joined my Substack recently, I strongly suggest you read the previous pieces before proceeding to read this one and future instalments:

#1 IN-FLIGHT SHAMANIC WORK ON THE CROSSROADS OF TWO AVIATION DISASTERS

#2 INFLIGHT SHAMANIC WORK, Preface: Basic Principles

#3 SHAMANIC DETECTIVE WORK: Flight MH 17

In my last piece we had arrived in Doha, Qatar and I had been guided to create an energetic “twin” airplane to fly alongside our own plane to Kuala Lumpur, as part of the psycho pomp work. As an act of spiritual devotion I kept my attention on this work non-stop, literally the whole way from London Heathrow Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (with a 3 hour stopover in Doha). I accepted the food and drink they gave me, but I did not allow myself to watch any inflight movies or read books. No distractions at all.

Map reproduced courtesy of the Nations Online Project

For the first part of this flight we were flying south-east, down the Persian Gulf. We then set course over the Arabian Sea (to the west of India). I still tuned in (for good measure) but, unsurprisingly, felt a complete radio silence regarding flight MH 370. There was nothing there. One (way out) theory claims that Flight MH 370 had been diverted to Kazakhstan for nefarious reasons. For reasons of completion I checked the flight routes for that and flying from KL to Almaty (or another location in Kazakhstan) takes a flight path over Dhaka in Bangladesh (situated on the eastern border of India) and then further northwest over Nepal and Tibet.

Another theory suggests that Flight MH 370 was diverted (and safely landed) on Diego Garcia (the main island in the Chagos archipelago, way south of the southern tip of India, in the Indian Ocean), which is in use as a joint US - UK army base. We were not flying that far south but I still tuned in and I sensed no trace of MH 370 there either. However, while still flying over India, I nodded off for perhaps ten minutes and “came to” again. And during those ten minutes I was out, there was a “spirit download” (dream message) about a snippet of a song.

In the dream I saw how a studious young man was listening to music on his headphones (on Flight MH 370). I was shown how the vibration of this song still continues as a song line in the Indian Ocean. In the dream I was told that there are some important clues in the lyrics of this song. I am hopeless with pop music, so I googled this, (our plane had internet! I was sending off a quick email while flying over Iraq!) The most popular song of 2014 (the year MH 370 disappeared) was “Happy” by Pharrel Williams. I hasten to say that this initially felt like a highly inappropriate “info-byte”, before I really started working with it. The refrain or “hook” (I remembered now how many people kept singing the four final words aloud at the time) was:

(Because I'm happy) clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.

The second verse starts with the following line:

(Because I'm happy) clap along if you feel like a room without a roof

“The room without a roof”, strangely, became a major clue or leitmotiv in my work in Malaysia. Eventually I realized that “happiness is the truth” refers to all souls eventually crossing over and joining the Ancestors, in a place where there is no pain (the spirit world). This happiness, of “going home” and being reunited with Divinity or Source is the (ultimate) “happiness that is the truth”.

Things became more lively, or interesting, once we were done flying over India and we reached the Bay of Bengal (south of Bangladesh) and the Andaman Sea. I did sense activity in this larger region (but further south), more about that in my next article.

We then arrive in Malaysia to spend time with our middle son and his partner, but I still keep one eye on this project and what comes to attention. On our last day in Kuala Lumpur my son organized a visit to the Thean Hou Temple, dedicated to the Chinese sea goddess Mazu (I suspect that he did this to please me! The picture of Mazu and my son appears at the top of this blog). We are told that she was a female shaman from Fujian, who is said to have lived in the late 10th century. After her death, she became revered as a tutelary deity of Chinese seafarers, including fishermen and sailors. Her worship spread throughout China’s coastal regions and overseas Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia, where some Mazu temples are affiliated with famous Taiwanese temples. Traditionally, Mazu was believed to roam the seas, safeguarding her devotees through miraculous interventions. SOURCE

INCENSE BURNING AT THE THEAN HOU TEMPLE IN KUALA LUMPUR

I take this opportunity to petition Mazu and she tells me the following things about Flight MH 370:

• That ALL elements (so not just land, water and air but also FIRE!) were involved in bringing down this flight. This could well support the theory that a large shipment of ion lithium batteries self-ignited and set the plane on fire, but it could also refer to a serious electrical fault.

• That this incident was “not the fault of just one human being” (Captain Zaharie Amad Shah, accused of the dreadful crime of deliberately setting course towards Antarctica on a suicide mission and crashing the plane in the Southern Ocean). It happened due to large constellation of circumstances and human errors or misjudgements, all coming together in one disastrous event.

• That the wreck on the seabed is nowhere near Australia. It is considerably further North than investigators have assumed (and where searches have occurred).

The final thing Mazu said was that “far worse things have happened in her waters”, involving the death of far larger numbers of people. I tried to, very politely, point out that this comment is not very helpful from a human point of view (especially the relatives of victims left without closure or a funeral). She then said: “But I am the Sea Mother! This wreck rests ‘in high mountains on the bottom of the ocean’, in other words: between my breasts, where I cradle all these people lovingly as only a mother does.” She then “spoils it” (from a human perspective) by asking: “Why is a watery grave not good enough for them?” In her words I hear echoes of sea burial as long-standing maritime tradition. Not just that, but the Norse goddess of the Sea is called Rán. Her name literally means “theft” or “robbery” and it refers to the fact that she considered the souls of people who drowned at sea “to belong to her”. In this case (I promise that I will provide my reasons in the next article!) I have good reason to believe that many of the passengers died in the air (before the plane descended into the ocean). Whatever way you work it, they found their final resting place under water, in the domain of a Sea Goddess.

OUR FLIGHT (NOT MH 370) APPROACHING KUALA LUMPUR

We travel around Malaysia. We visit the Highlands in central peninsular Malaysia, where a frightening accident occurs before our very eyes (and we get involved in the rescue operation, more details to follow in my next article). Next we spend three days in Cherating, a popular beach town on the East Coast of (peninsular) Malaysia, the perfect place to make some offerings, where I talk to Mazu again.

I will share these experiences in my next piece because, emotionally speaking, this feels like enough for today (also, Substack operates a word count limit!) And if you want to support me on this journey, consider inviting likeminded spirits to subscribe or follow, thank you!

I try to send out two essays a week, but this sometimes fails due to travel, international teaching commitments and family care responsibilities (our family lives with Alzheimer’s and I have written several posts about that). If you would like to see regular posts about about Nordic spirituality and my life as a Forest Witch (and of course short videos of all the wildlife here!), please follow me on Instagram or Facebook, thank you!

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Imelda Almqvist, London, UK

BIO FOR IMELDA ALMQVIST

Imelda Almqvist is an international teacher of Sacred Art and Seiðr/Old Norse Traditions (the ancestral wisdom teachings of Northern Europe). So far she has written four non-fiction books and two picture books for children. Natural Born Shamans: A Spiritual Toolkit for Life (Using shamanism creatively with young people of all ages) in 2016, Sacred Art: A Hollow Bone for Spirit (Where Art Meets Shamanism) in 2019, Medicine of the Imagination - Dwelling in Possibility (an impassioned plea for fearless imagination) in 2020 and North Sea Water In My Veins (The Pre-Christian spirituality of the Low Countries) was published in June 2022.

The Green Bear is a series of picture book for children, aged 3 – 8 years. The stories and vibrant artwork, set in Scandinavia, invite children to explore enchanting parallel worlds and to keep their sense of magic alive as they grow up.

Imelda appears in a TV program, titled Ice Age Shaman, made for the Smithsonian Museum, in the series Mystic Britain, talking about Mesolithic arctic deer shamanism.

Imelda’s eagerly awaited book about the runes (the title is Portals, Patterns and Pathways, a Handbook for Rune Magicians, Star Gazers and Myth Makers) will be published by Collective Ink on 26 May 2026). She is currently working on a book about Inuit deities and mythology.

Imelda prefers being contacted by email. She only rarely checks (or responds) to DM’s on social media platforms.

Please note that Imelda’s on-line school called Pregnant Hag Teachings went off-line on 3 September 2025, due to a quadruple raise in fees imposed by the hosting platform. PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT AND FULL EXPLANATION

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