ROGERS PARK — Halloween might be over, but Rogers Park resident spiritual counselor Elizabeth Ruiz said, in her opinion, the package found on Monday at Jarvis Beach was most certainly meant to curse an enemy.
And if you see it — certainly don't touch it, she opined. Curses don't discriminate between believers and non-believers.
"When they do this kind of work, it's kind of like you have to take seven steps back because even if you don't believe it, it's just the energy. And this was the work of jinxing of somebody," Ruiz said, a "spiritual healer" and therapist who studied counseling at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.
A passerby called police Monday morning after discovering the package fully wrapped and believing it was a human head.
In reality, it was a group of about five decapitated birds — pigeons, chickens and a crow — sitting with a dead fish and surrounded by chopped fruits and vegetables. Several dollar bills and a candle were also found at the beachside scene.
The chickens and roosters were sacrificed so their spirits could "do the bidding" of the person behind the ritual, and the chopped foods were meant to provide the birds' souls sustenance before death.
The fish is a symbol in at least two rituals Ruiz could think of, saying she believed it was meant to throw off suspicions for anyone who might come across the package.
Dollar bills symbolize the desire to block someone from being successful and "moving on" with life in a positive way, she said.
The cloth the items were wrapped in, she suspects, was likely the clothes of the person being cursed.
It's the work of "multicultural" rituals, including elements from VooDoo, black magic and folk magic she said. Ruiz said she was not surprised at the blending of themes in the sacrificial package because it matched the community's diversity in cultures.
Specifically, the package was meant as a tit-for-tat deal with a spiritual saint in order to either gain financial prosperity for oneself, or take it away from another, she said.
"The sacrificing of the animals is like offering their spirit to the saint they are devoted to. 'You give me this, I give you this,' sort of thing," she said.
Santeria is similar, she said, but gives off a "good" energy instead.
Many local residents who frequent the neighborhood's beaches have said sights like the one at Jarvis have become commonplace.
"This kind of practice, there's a lot here on Jarvis," Ruiz said, citing other nearby beaches and cemeteries.
In March, a deer head was found atop a stake in the ground at nearby Loyola Beach, which appeared to have a flag emblazoned with a logo. DNAinfo consulted Ruiz in that case as well.
Ruiz said this display was unlike the most recent in that the deer head was mean to symbolize a "warrior" meant to "calm down" energy and negativity in the area.
For a while, it worked she said.
But with the latest package found at Jarvis Beach, she said the message has shifted from healing and protection to "revenge" on another.
Ruiz recommends leaving a bit of rosemary or lavender in one's doorway, or lighting a tea light from time to time for good, positive energy in the home.
"You always have two energies, the bad and the good," she said. "We always have to be guarded."
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