Lets Talk About Spirit Possessions

[JustGeorge]

No, not items belonging to spirits.

The phenomenon of a spirit of some sort possessing the body of a living person, either partially or fully.

Have you witnessed it? Does your tradition utilize such practices?

(Note: This is not a debate thread. If you don't believe in such things, this isn't the place for you to argue that its nonsense.)

 

[Arnaud1221]

There is witch in my book.

 

[rocala]

I once read an interesting book on this subject. The author, after lengthy research, concluded that there are three types.
1/ By spirits of the dead. 2/ By unearthly spirits, possibly what is traditionally known as demons. 3/ By certain living people who developed the power by training.

 

[wellwisher]

The fourth type is from the archetypes of the collective unconscious. These are personality firmware, of the brain's operating system, which when active, can take on an autonomous form, parallelling to the ego personality. Back in the day, the late Psychology Carl Jung could treat such patients with his theory of the collective unconscious; psychosis. This now requires drugs, since the rest of the talk theory is not advanced enough. Drugs numb it out. Knowledge of the collective unconscious gives tools that allow coexistence and/or a way to shut these off.

As an example of this effect, that most people have had, is falling in love or infatuation. Something triggers a driving compulsion that puts your head in a cloud. It can be sort of nice and alive, so most people do not see this as a problem, but a natural part of life. It can become a problem if the other person does not reciprocate, but the firmware will not shut off. One is left floundering and reliving.

There are other firmware that have a more sinister effect and often drive the sociopath. In a sense, it can take the form of an evil spirit that tells the person to do things. These firmware can also project making it appear outside you. It may not be a vision, but a projected gut feeling about something out there, walking in the woods at night.

With oppressive law and the need to repress the evil to avoid punishment, the archetypes can polarize to good and evil; angels and demons. This is why in myths and fairly tales have good and evil characters; polarized by law and knowledge of good and evil. Natural archetypes are more neutral.

The archetypes can become the paradox of the inner voice and the inner self. The inner self is below the archetypes, while the inner voice, depends on how deep you go. It can cone from the inner self or from above the inner self; firmware. The shadow is half way between the ego and inner self and its inner voice is caused by law and repression of the darkness; It follows us around like our shadow. The repression consolidates the shadow, and itcan have a life of its own; Angry Liberalism playing games. I sense possession since many cannot successfully, reason, while lecturing on reason; projection effect.

 

[George-ananda]

No, not items belonging to spirits.

The phenomenon of a spirit of some sort possessing the body of a living person, either partially or fully.

Have you witnessed it? Does your tradition utilize such practices?

(Note: This is not a debate thread. If you don't believe in such things, this isn't the place for you to argue that its nonsense.)

I listen to channeled sources that 'get out of the way' and don't have conscious memories of what happened in the trance. I call that possession.

I think many ancient cultures that have barely survived into the modern age make use of possession as part of their ceremonies.

I would have once thought this all nonsense. Now I believe.

 

[JustGeorge]

I listen to channeled sources that 'get out of the way' and don't have conscious memories of what happened in the trance. I call that possession.

I think many ancient cultures that have barely survived into the modern age make use of possession as part of their ceremonies.

I would have once thought this all nonsense. Now I believe.

I believe, too.

That being said, how does one figure out when they've had/witnessed a genuine one?

 

[an anarchist]

I believe I am possessed by a spiritual entity that is separate from me.

Doctors call this hallucination and I try my best to believe them.

I'm not going to go into details, but when I cannot convince myself to be atheist/agnostic for the day, I am aware of my possession.

 

[an anarchist]

That being said, how does one figure out when they've had/witnessed a genuine one?

Good question. Perhaps it's impossible to know.

 

[George-ananda]

That being said, how does one figure out when they've had/witnessed a genuine one?

We have to judge the quality of the channeling and its consistency with other positive sources.

 

[Quintessence]

It's not how things are framed in my tradition, so I'm not sure how comparable the practices I have are to the intended spirit (sorry) of the topic.

For me, all beings have nonphysical aspects but only some beings in the present time and present space have physical aspects. "Spirit" is a term I use to mean the essence or nature of an individual; the all that it is. Everything has a spirit or essence or nature. And all spirits also interact with one another since nobody lives or exists in isolation from others. Sometimes this is with bodies, other times it isn't. Whether embodied or not, spirits or individuals routinely channel essences that are not their own through themselves. As I write, the Spirit of Composition flows through me. As I breathe, the Spirit of Air fills my lungs. As I eat, I literally consume the Spirit of whatever it is I am killing to live. So I see things in a much more interconnected, relational, animistic way than the spiritualist types who believe in possession are usually talking about.

And then there's invocation, which is probably a bit more similar to the spiritualist beliefs.

When one takes the view that other spirits flowing through us is routine, normal, and an expected part of everyday life then mindfulness can play an important role in recognizing these flows. There are lots of different practices that do this, but invocation is probably the most relevant to the topic. Invocation is a very full-throated, powerful, and strong pull of the flow of another spirit into yourself. To the point you are almost no longer you and let that other spirit more fully take over than happens in the usual flow of spirits through us. While in my experience this is not particularly dangerous, it isn't a practice to be done by those who are ill-prepared. You have to trust yourself to maintain at least enough semblance of your own spirit or nature to snap back if things start getting too weird.