­Drawing Down the Spirits, IV (10-11)

Contents

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Pars

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Capitulum

PP.

IV.

Possession

10.

The Spirit-Possessed Medium

168-200

11.

The Spirit-Possession Episode

201-31

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10.

The Spirit-Possessed Medium

168-200

pp. 176-7 sexual gendre-barrier in deity-possessions

p. 176

[seidkona G.] "Being ridden by male deities is not something that I do ..., at least not the ones that are very sexually male, like Thor and Freyr.


I have a special relation with Mimir -- ... but he's got no body, so gender isn't an issue for him {his} riding me.

{Mi`mir is a male's living decapitated head -- it may be that any woman involved with him is intent on forcing her vulva against his lips; but she may at be same time be evading any possible contact with a male's genitalia.}


Odin is really good at shifting his "shape," ... in order to fit into someone; ... he doesn't seem to trigger the gender barrier for me the way that other gods do."

p. 177

"nor would a [possessee] dedicated to Pan be attractive to Hestia."

{The inimical couple ought be Priapos and Hestia (GM 20.b).}

p. 179 "insane"?

"it may get you ... institutionalized ... If you are part of the percentage of the population who actually suffer from a brain-chemical mental illness".

{There is no such thing as "brain-chemical mental illness" : this term is a malicious slander deceitfully fabricated by mendacious psychiatrist medical-doctors at the behest of the oppressive capitalist ruling-class. (The authors of this book must be exceedingly deluded to consent to such a capitalist-materialist-atheist-inspired mode of deception.)}

p. 180 altered likings due to spirit-possession

"There's also the fact that the aftermath of a possession can leave a horse with a "residue" of the spirit that spent time inside them. They may find themselves liking or disliking things that are {or rather, have hitherto been} uncharacteristic of them but quite characteristic of that spirit."

p. 183 "mental illness"?

"If you suffer from schizophrenia ... or other ego-dystonic psychological conditions, you should approach possession with extreme caution ... .

{There is no such thing as "schizophrenia" : it is simply a slanderous term of opprobium applied by psychiatrists to all their victims whom they keep incarcerated in so-called "insane asyla". (For the authors of this book to accept such a term must indicate cowering submission to the capitalist-stooge medical-doctors.)}

These preexisting disorders will not ... disqualify you ... from being [regularly spirit-possessed]; some spirit-workers do have continuing struggles with mental illness."

{There is no such thing as "mental illness", although some victims of the psychiatrists may consent to be labeled thus in order to mollify [supposedly] those vindictive persecutors the state-psychiatrists (who torture to death many of their hapless victims).}

p. 186 either or?

"Modern-day worshippers frequently fall into one of two camps. Either they think the gods ... will happily do their bidding upon call (or at least act benevolently toward them) ...

{In actuality (without being quite "somewhere in the middle"), a pagan/heathen worshipper can (and often will) believe both that the deities are benevolent and that the same deities are all-knowing and all-powerful. It is the Christians' god who is neither benevolent (intent on destroying the world in an apocalypse) nor all-powerful (unable to rescue himself even while being crucified against his will).}

or else they believe that the gods are all-knowing and all-powerful and we should be blindly obedient before them."

"When presented with a divine demand that will be the opposite of beneficial to the community, you may well be able to make alternative arrangements."

{A non-beneficial divine demand is likely to have been made in sarcastic irony, intended to ridicule mortals on account of mortals' follies. The irony ought to be understood, and appropriate self-corrections made.}

pp. 190-1 mortal slaves of a deity

p. 190

terms for 'god-slave' : Old English /goda-teow/; Kretan /doera/ ('female slave') {But this latter word /doera/ is otherwise translated as "women employed for seasonal work" ("LBSSH", p. 11).} {'slave of a deity' is in Skt. /deva-dasa/ (feminine /deva-dasi/), where /DASA/ ('slave') is cognate with Hellenic */DOHOl-/ (later /dool-/, /doul-/).}

p. 191

"Many tribal shamans will say bluntly that their spirits will make them ill or even kill them if they quit ... their job ... . Some god-slaves ... are grabbed up without their consent, much like the classic tribal shamans who are driven ill by their spirits until they accept the call, and must continue to do the work indefinitely or the illness will recur."


"(Indeed, a "bankruptcy-level" amount of karmic debt seems to be the most common reason why some people are taken as slaves by gods without their consent.)"

{It is quite unlikely that there is any such thing as "unfavorable karman" (for, after all, mortals are caused by deities to do whatever it may be that they do). That some persons are compelled by deities to become shamans is better explicable by the principle, "From each according to abilities; to each according to needs." (Persons chosen by deities to become shamans are chosen on account of their abilities to serve in that capacity.)}

"LBSSH" = J. T. Hooker : "Linear B as a Source for Social History". In :- Anton Powell (ed.) : The Greek World. Routledge, London, 1995. pp. 7-26.

p. 195 food & drink in spirit-possession

"Have some of that spirit's favorite items on hand and be ready to offer them. ... Aften giving a spirit some of their {his or her} favorite food and/or drink seems to help "seat" them {him or her} and anchor the possession".

p. 195 mortal co-creator with deity

"in many spirit-working traditions, gods and man work together.

{Yea : for, the deities would not have sent us mortals into the material world if they did not need us here to perform some necessary task for them.}

Orion Foxwood, a Faery-tradition seer, has referred to our relationship with the spirit-world as one of "co-creators" (The Faery Teachings. R. J. Stewart Books, 2007)".

{This term "co-creators" is similarly employed by some flying-saucer contactees, etc.}

pp. 196-200 sexual activities in the material world by deities who are possessing a mortal's body

p. 196

[Pagan spirit-worker A.] "When I see Frey in the flesh, I understand why, in the ancient Ing rites, women would come out to fling themselves before the man who was chosen as Ing, in hopes that he would bless them with his body and seed."

p. 197

"One might remember ... Ing/Frey riding through the villages with women throwing themselves at him because to do it with him would bring ... fertility. ...

When it comes to divinities who want sexual offerings, one good solution it to have ... someone who considers themselves to be a sacred prostitute or the like, and who is willing to interpose themselves between the god or goddess and the audience and offer themselves

p. 198

sexually, and is trained in ... the astral or spiritual shaking up that we've found is often a repercussion of sex[ual intercourse] with a god or goddess. ... An even better idea ... is someone who is already a dedicated god-spouse of the deity in question". "most deities generally want a ritual, often a public one, in order to officially marry their human spouses, and many are not satisfied unless they are allowed to consummate the wedding as well.


(This is very different from Afro-Caribbean spirits, who don't physically consummate weddings.)

{In West Africa at least (and apparently also in the Caribbean islands), a wedding between a mortal and a deity is expected to be consummated in dreams (at least if the deity chose the mortal spouse; though when instead the mortal spouse is choosing the deity, this may be seldom achieved). [As usual, the authors evade any treatment, discussion, or mention of dream-aspects of the deities, though these aspects may be conspicuously praesent in their alleged source-informants and source-information : this omission is glaring and repraehensible, and perhaps an indication of insincerity on their part.]}


This means that {being possessed by} a deity for their wedding can ... end with physical intimacy. ...

p. 199

When it comes to the wedding, gods who are marrying their spouses tend to put the horse entirely in the trunk."


[Pagan spirit-worker A.] "when I had a god ... he did things to my astral body that would not have been possible without

p. 200

sexually touching my physical body with another physical body. ...


My gods can be here, in the world of the body, and they value our bodies. It made me value my body more than I had, knowing that ... a god desired it -- and my soul, too."

{Actually, the deities value and esteem the dreaming-world body more than the waking-world body (because the dream-world is theirs, the deities' own world). The dreaming-world is by far more of the nature of "my soul" than is the waking-world, which is almost entirely lacking any connection with the soul.}

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11.

The Spirit-Possession Episode

201-31

pp. 201-4 devotional cultivation of spirit-possession

p. 201

[Pagan spirit-worker S.M.] "Even with those gods with whom I have a close and established relationship, I am almost always required [by those gods] to begin making formal devotional observations a week or more in advance ... .


... I feel that creating a formal, purposeful space ... keeps me safe and helps the deity shape the way in which they desire {he or she desireth} to be known."

p. 202

[seidkona G.] "I keep altars to all the gods who use my body, even though some of them [the altars] are small things on shelves. ... I need to be able to kneel before them and quietly speak with Them, meditate on Them, open myself to Them, before taking Them into my body. This is partly because I need to know about any special thing that They might want before They show up".

p. 203

"Sometimes the possession can be helped by the [possessee's] having spent some days beforehand observing specific taboos related to the deity that they {he or she}

p. 204

will be accomodating. ... It might mean food taboos geared to the deity in question, or wearing certain colors. If the [possessee] has developed a decent relationship with the deity, they [the deity] will often let them know what would be most useful and welcoming for them."

pp. 204-5 dedicated costumes for spirit-possession caerimonies; consecration of costume for spirit-possession caerimonies; formal attire of a possessee for a caerimony

p. 204

"One thing that ... really helps a [possessee] achieve a possession is what we ... call "haunted costumes," ...

p. 205

that belongs only to that deity and donned only to [become possessed in] them. It can be ... as elaborate as ... rites of Korean mudang shaman[esse]s ... utilizing dozens of ceremonial costumes, donned one after another by the spirit-worker[ess], to see which spirits enter into them and become their helpers. After a while ... the costume gets ... to be used as a gateway for that deity to enter ... . ... the ceremonial costume [for spirit-possessession caerimony] must not be used for any ... non-possessory ceremonial ... .


Sometimes a ceremonial deity-costume can make itself haunted. ... costumes for ritual participants while speaking ... not instances of god-possession, only sacred theater ... would ... start to feel like the deity wanted to come in, right now. ... While something like this happens ..., It is now a sacred artifact of that deity, and should be reverently put away and used only ... that they [the deity] may choose to take [spirit-possession of] the body on which it hangs ... . Among northern African-diaspora religions, pieces of costumes are left ... on the altars so that the lwa or orishas might dress themselves should they ... arrive.


Formal dressing of the [spirit-possessee] is rare ... in traditions like Vodou, where the possessions might come fast and furious and leave just as quickly. Candomble` and (to an extent) Umbanda are exceptions to

p. 206

this rule; there may be pauses during the ritual to dress the [spirit-possessee] in an appropriate outfit, and beaded masks may be used to help induce a possession. Santeria rituals also pause to dress the [spirit-possessee], but only after the signs of trance possession have already begun -- glazed eyes, uncontrolled movements, and so forth.

In both Umbanda and Candomble`, there is also the tradition of the "steel point," usually a specially consecrated ceremonial dagger, which is held pointing upward ... while swaying [one's body] and chanting in order to create a kind of "lightning rod" for the spirits to enter."

p. 212 in some cultural circumstances females tend to become spirit-possessed more readily than males

"it appears that females have a greater predisposition to trance possession than men. This is particularly true of ... the Shriekers of Tsarist Russia and Ukraine, the nuns of seventeenth century Loudun, France, and

{This disparity (of more females than males) in cultural circumstances devaluating spirit-possession is due simply to males being more severely poinalized than females for becoming spirit-possessed in those circumstances.}

the possessed women convulsing on [Ong 1987, p. x] factory floors in modern-day Malaysia ... . ...

{This may be due to those women's assigning the magical meaning to Skt. /yantra/ 'machine'.}

In the Hellenic world both the oracles and the Maenads were overwhelmingly female. In East Africa the Zaar cult is largely the province of women, while in ancient northern Europe the practice of seidh was ... confined almost exclusively to women".

Ong 1987 = Aihwa Ong : Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline : Factory Women inMalaysia. Binghampton : State U of NY Pr.

pp. 213-4 sexual-gendre praesentations of deities

p. 213

"Extremely masculine spirits like Ogou and Ghede will possess men and women alike, as will hyperfeminine spirits like Erzulie Freda and La Sirene."

p. 214

"Ogou is a most manly man indeed, while Freda's penchant for perfume, jewelry, and teary displays of emotion can become ... stylized ... . (... Danto, the "poor" sister of the Ezilis, is by necessity as well as temperament a strong, independent woman who can do a man' work; her wealthy sibling Freda need not concern herself with such matters ... . ...) ...


Among the lwa, Legba, Ayido Wedo, and many of the Gedes combine male and female ... . Among the orishas of Santeria, Candomble`, and Umbanda, Ellegua, Obatala, and Olokun ... can appear as male, female, or both".

{Where instances of a deity-name can be indifferently masculine or feminine, this could be an indication that the name is repraesentative of a family, clan, tribe, or nationality of divinities in a divine world.}

p. 221 spirits who cause bodily ailments

In antient Mesopotamia, "there were two sorts of [medical] doctors : the asu, who dealt with herbal remedies and the bandaging of wounds, and the

ashipu,

{cf.[<ibri^] />as^pah/ ('quiver (arrow-case)')?}

who dealt with illnesses caused by evil spirits" ("HAMM&I").

"In India the Atharva-Veda included this charm ["PDDCA"] against possession by the rakshas ... :

"1. O (amulet) of ten kinds of wood, release this man from the demon (rakshas) and

the fit (grâhi) which has seized upon (gagrâha) his joints!""

{evidently, arthritis}

"HAMM&I" = Massoume Price : "History of Ancient Medicine in Mesopotamia & Iran". http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/ancient_medicine_mesopotamia_iran.php

"PDDCA" = "2:9. Possession by Demons of Disease, Cured by an Amulet of Ten Kinds of Wood". Maurice Bloomfield (transl.) : Atharva-Veda. SACRED BKS OF THE EAST, Vol. 42. 1897. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe42/av051.htm

pp. 223-4 spirit-obsession of peasant women; prophesying by nuns

p. 223

"In 1860 ... Aleksei Feofilaktovichv Pisemskii noted a connection between sexual assault ...

p. 224

and ... klikushestovo (possession by shrieking demons) in Russian peasant women." (Worobec 2003, pp. 119-22)


"In 1491, the nuns of the Augustinian convent at Quesnoy le Conte in Cambrai, in the Spanish Netherlands, were attacked by demons that ... caused the sisters ... to prophesy the future, and to reveal secrets." (Sluhovsky Dec 2002)

Worobec 2003 = Christine D. Worobec : Possessed : Women, Witches and Demons in Imperial Russia. DeKalb : Northern IL U Pr.

Sluhovsky Dec 2002 = Moshe Sluhovsky : "The Devil in the Convent". AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW 107 (5). http://archive.is/Jeiz

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Kenaz Filan & Raven Kaldera : Drawing Down the Spirits : the Traditions and Techniques of Spirit Possession. Destiny Bks, Rochester (VT), 2009.