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            Magicians set up an intent by putting 100% of their attention on it.  Whatever their desire is, they have themselves feel an intense longing in their hearts for the object of their desire moment-to-moment, all day long, every day.  With every indrawn breath they draw the object of their desire to them, and with every expelled breath they blow away the obstacles in their path.  They do not permit themselves to think about, or to desire, anything except the object of their intent.  Average people, who don’t have the mental control to be monitoring their thoughts and feelings all day long, can still obtain a similar effect by just intensely desiring something as powerfully as they can.  Desires that have been longed for for many years have enough strength behind them, by virtue of their sheer repetition, to serve as intents (commands to the Spirit).  If there’s something which you’ve desired obsessively for a long, long time, then you have enough intent stored up there already and don’t have to do anything more except to drop it. 

            Once the intent has been set up by obsessive concern, the only way to make it happen, to let the Spirit free to do our bidding, is to drop the concern completely.  What locks the Spirit up – keeps it from helping us – is our inability to just let go and abandon ourselves to it, to just trust it to come through for us. 

            Master magicians are able to just drop obsessive concerns because they have their true feelings so finely tuned that they can switch them off and on at will.  They are not as wrapped up in their desires and feelings as are average people.  They don’t have such an ego stake (success / glory versus failure / shame) in the outcome of anything, so they can throw their attention completely behind a desire, and just as completely release it.  Average people can’t do this – they cling, and cling, and cling to their desires and thought forms.  They don’t know how to let go.  They don’t have the discipline to be able to just drop something without looking back.  So what average people have to do is to trick themselves: after setting up an intent through obsessive concern, they should then arbitrarily choose some other area of their lives to become obsessively concerned about, and shift all their intense, obsessive desire to this other area.

            In actuality, the mental control necessary to maintain one’s attention fixed on a specific feeling all day long, and then to stop thinking about it cold, is not as hard as it sounds.  You can call upon spirit helpers, or even your death thought form, to assist you by constantly reminding you to return your wandering attention to the object of your desire; or to quit thinking about it, as the case may be.

            But it really isn’t necessary to do creative visualization all day long.  Just do what you can, in good faith, on a level you feel comfortable with, and everything will work out okay.  The important thing to remember is that hope is the fuel that propels desire lines forward.  This means faith not in ultimate success, but in ultimate self-worth.  In the end you have to abide by the dictates of power.  You win a few; you lose a few; that’s the way it goes. 

            One further application of creative visualization which is useful in untangling light fibers with other people is to try to remember times when you’ve been angry or cruel to other people.  It would be best to actually go to them personally and ask their forgiveness; but if this isn’t possible you can go to them in your visualization and humbly ask that they forgive you.  Then imagine them forgiving you.  You should humbly visualize yourself asking and receiving forgiveness from anyone you’ve ever felt angry at or have hurt.  This helps in freeing up your karma (unblocking light fibers) that holds you back from opening your heart.

(excerpted from Thought Forms Copyright © 2000 by Bob Makransky.  All rights reserved)

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            Creative visualization is essentially a frontal attack on the doubt thought form, which will fight back with every trick it knows.  Your doubt thought form is what tries to hang you up in “Will this happen or not happen?  Maybe it won’t happen, so I shouldn’t let myself get too excited about it so I won’t feel disappointed if it doesn’t happen, etc. etc.”   Creative visualization is a way of cutting across all those endless circles of doubt, by taking primary joy in the act of visualization itself.  It’s like playing with an imaginary companion:  a child who has an imaginary companion doesn’t care if it’s real or not – he or she just has fun with it in the now moment.  And that’s the attitude you must bring to creative visualization – take primary pleasure in imagining it happening right now, rather than worrying about whether or not it will actually come true in some future.

            The difference between creative visualization and normal daydreaming is that in creative visualization there is no doubt: as in dreaming, the experience is too vivid and intense for doubt.  In normal daydreaming, on the other hand, people don’t really want the fantasy to come true.  They’re afraid of taking responsibility for that probable reality, for having that much power and control over their own destiny.  Ergo, they detach themselves from their desire by projecting it into a future which will never come, instead of knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the probable reality will come true – by living that reality in the now moment, which is what is done in creative visualization.  Successful people are already using creative visualization unconsciously:  they have no doubt about their intentions.

            In creative visualization you are trying to connect with a true feeling (a probable reality in which your desire is realized), whereas in normal daydreaming you are idly indulging in some glory scheme.  There’s no true feeling in most daydreams, just the false joy of undeserved glory.  In creative visualization you are not desiring validation from other people; you are desiring and calling forth a sense of merit and reward from within yourself.  In daydreaming you say, “Everyone applauds me because I am so wonderful”  whereas in creative visualization you say, “Everyone likes me because I like myself”.

            Both creative visualization and normal daydreaming tend to bring about the conditions they visualize.  The trouble is that daydreaming can only bring about conditions in the world of society, not true happiness, because what is being visualized is not true happiness but rather a thought form copy of it.  Daydreaming is phony – it has only glory attached to it, not true desire or true hope.  Both daydreaming and creative visualization are commands to the Spirit, but creative visualization is a command of fulfillment whereas daydreaming is a command of lack. 

             In normal daydreaming you are standing back and watching yourself, applauding yourself, patting yourself on the back.  The “you” in the daydream is just a puppet; the real you is watching this puppet perform.  But in creative visualization, the real you is smack dab in the middle of the action, taking primary enjoyment from being in the scene that unfolds around you, rather than standing back and gloating over it.

            In normal daydreams other people only serve as mute witnesses to how wonderful you are or how right you are; they are mere puppets who are impressed by you, or turned on by you, or repentant at how shabbily they’ve treated you; whereas in creative visualization they’re warm, alive, and unpredictable, and you take great pleasure in being in their company. 

In normal daydreaming you write a rigid script, and usually run the thing over and over again, perhaps making little revisions here and there to enhance your glory; whereas in creative visualization the idea is to get to a point where you are so lost in the joy of it that you are no longer controlling the course that it takes any more – the other people in the scene (if there are any) are making all the suggestions about what will happen next.

            Whereas normal daydreaming is a means of escaping from the rigors of life, creative visualization entails knowing that you called your outer circumstances to you for some reason; and knowing that you can also change that reason if only you don’t lose sight of (feeling for) the ultimate goal.  It means to make a conscious decision to stop obsessing over what you lack and instead focus upon how much you have.   It means to drop your moaning and groaning self-pity and roll up your sleeves and get down to work.  It means reaching out to probable realities in which there is joy, no matter how improbable they may seem at the moment, rather than to ones which will only reinforce your self-pity and self-hatred.  The legend of Pygmalion and Galatea is not a myth – it’s a true story.

            When you catch yourself indulging in normal daydreaming, switch it to creative visualization.  The point is to stop thinking and to let yourself feel; to give yourself permission to feel as much joy as you would feel if your desire were to come true, without making that joy contingent upon whether the desire comes true or not.  Then it really doesn’t matter whether it comes true or not; and this clears the way for it to come true.  Having set up an intent by intense, singlepointed desire, you must then drop the obsessive concern and become indifferent as to the outcome.  The trick to magic lies in the ability to turn the importance switch on and off at will.

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            Since there are some excellent books on creative visualization readily available (e.g. Shakti Gawain’s), we will only summarize two creative visualization methods here:

1)         Affirmations can be spoken aloud, voiced mentally, written down, or chanted.  These are positive, uplifting statements:  for example, “Every day in every way I am getting better and better”;  or “I got that raise I wanted because I truly deserved it!”;  which are repeated over and over.

2)         Treasure maps are collages of photographs or drawings which illustrate us getting what we want from life.  The visual images can also be accompanied by written affirmations.  The visual images are examined and the accompanying affirmations read with the aim of conjuring up the feeling of that image coming true in our lives.

            In using both affirmations and treasure maps, the important point is to get to the feeling of the desire, and not just do it by rote.  To make it heartfelt, you should be in a happy, delighted mood – lose yourself in reverie.  Try to connect with a feeling of intense longing – a pang of sweet anguish – in your heart.  Actually, once you have the intent firmly set up, you can dispense with the visualization (mental imaging) part altogether and just feel the feeling of your desire as a pang in your heart.  This is a more economical way of doing it in terms of energy expended.  The pang feeling is not unlike the feeling of fear, except you feel it in your heart instead of your solar plexus.

            Creative visualization should be done for at least ten minutes or so upon awakening, and again at night before going to sleep.  Try to do your visualization as you drop off  to sleep.  This is difficult at first because the attention needed to maintain an image in the forefront of the mind (importance) is the opposite of the attention needed to enter the dream state (relaxation).  The trick is to drop off to sleep with the feeling of your desire uppermost in your mind rather than the thought forms, which is a lot harder to do, and indeed is the equivalent of astral projection – entering lucid dreaming from a position in wakefulness.  However, if you keep plugging away at it you’ll soon get the hang of it – the necessary balance.

            You should also visualize your desires during the day – just like daydreaming, but in the present rather than the future tense, e.g., “I’m so happy now that such-and-such is happening in my life!”  The secret of creative visualization is to convince yourself that what you are wishing for is already true, and you’re just hanging around for a few minutes in the waiting room while the universe finds it and hands it to you.  To visualize a desire as if it were already achieved means to imagine it happening in the here and now, as if it were taking place in front of you.  You mustn’t set up any contradictory agendas such as, “In the event that this creative visualization doesn’t work for me then I’ll do this other thing.”  You have to put all your eggs in one basket, in the probable reality in which your desires come true, rather than cover your posterior in the event of failure.  The more energy you can bring to bear upon your desire, the faster you’ll start seeing results.  But be patient:  Rome wasn’t built in a day.

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            Creative visualization is used to change our basic beliefs – e.g. our beliefs that we are poor, or ill, or lonely, or unhappy.   Our basic beliefs are the armatures of thought forms which support our customary moods and concerns.  One common basic belief, for example, is the notion that we’re here on this earth to suffer.  Those of us who share this basic belief have a cadre of thought forms at hand to twist everything that happens to us around to support this basic belief:  e.g., since we’re so good and wonderful and don’t deserve this terrible fate that has befallen us, that just proves once more that we’re here to suffer. 

            The way to change our basic beliefs is by truly wanting to change them, in our hearts – not our minds.  We change beliefs in our hearts by simply deciding that isn’t what we want for ourselves anymore; and then the beliefs will change.  This is the purpose of creative visualization – to change beliefs.  It’s a matter of changing our mood from self-pity to eager expectancy.  Only after our own beliefs are changed can the universe be changed around.

            The first basic belief that has to be dealt with is the belief that things “just happen” to us, rather than that we have in fact called them to us.  It doesn’t even make any difference whether this is true or not:  only  fools would go in there on the assumption that they have less than 100% control over what is happening to them, and thus can get by taking less than 100% of the responsibility for it.  Once we have intellectually convinced ourselves of the truth of this axiom, or at least adopted it as a working hypothesis, we can then get down to changing specific beliefs. 

            Creative visualization is a form of self-hypnosis.  In fact, all magic is a form of self-hypnosis.  In fact, all waking consciousness is a form of self-hypnosis.  You hypnotized yourself into thinking that you are poor, or sick, or lonely; and you can just as easily hypnotize yourself back out of it again.  If you believe that the world is a drag, rest assured that the world will become a drag; conversely, if you believe that the world is magical, the world will become more magical than you could have ever dreamed possible.

            It is to be expected that you will be doubtful and hesitant at first; but if you have even a modicum of belief in the possibility that what you are doing is valid, that will be enough to make it happen.  Of course, the more heartfelt your belief, the faster and more impressive the result will be.  Creative visualization is essentially the same thing as casting spells, or prayer; and it has the same result, except that you don’t invoke a deity.  If you are accustomed to praying to a deity, then by all means continue to do so, since this can be even more efficacious than straight creative visualization (of course this depends upon who the  deity is and what you’re praying for).

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            I, personally, am possessed by a group of deities who belong to the pantheon of the indigenous people where I live (Guatemala).  I was originally working with these deities in a more casual fashion, with regard to agriculture, when my spirit guides suggested that I invite them to possess me, and I did so (spirit guides are just that – guides.  They have neither the power nor inclination to possess humans).  These deities help me in various ways.  They prop me up – help me accomplish things that I could not normally do by myself.  For example, they taught me how to hold my attention fixed on a single feeling moment-to-moment, all day long, every day.  At first they lent me their power, so in the beginning I found the exercise remarkably easy; then little-by-little they withdrew their power, which made the thing progressively harder and harder to do, but still doable, until I was able to do it by myself.  This training was part of their teaching me how to drop the obsession of everyday life by breaking its fixation. 

            Another thing they’ve done on occasion is show me scenes from my past and future in my mind’s eye, but incredibly vivid and emotionally compelling, not unlike what the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future did to Ebenezer Scrooge.  Sometimes they have altered my consciousness - like taking a psychedelic drug - to show me things.

            Also, the frequency and intensity of omens and portents in my life seem to have jumped exponentially ever since these deities took over the controls.  And they talk to me and tell me about all sorts of things, like agriculture, divination, healing, etc.  They also have introduced me to some interesting people.  They come to me in dreams and show me things.  Actually, they’re a trip.  But beyond the weird stuff, they’re also good friends.  I trust them and feel comfortable in their presence; and they’re omnipresent.

            The relationship between humans and spirits is symbiotic.  Possessing humans gives spirits embodied agents in the physical world through whom the spirits can extend the range of their activities.  Spirits cannot act directly upon the physical world;*  all they can do by themselves is wait until a fortuitous juxtaposition of circumstances pops up, and then give things a little tangential shove this way or that.  But they are not capable of acting in the world in a sustained, methodical fashion; for that they need human (or animal, or vegetable, or mineral) agents.

            The dilemma for the aspirant is that the spiritual path requires calmness, gentleness, and humility; and spirit possession militates against the development of these qualities.  On the other hand, the spiritual path also requires fierce determination and an unwavering sense of direction, which are really only available by means of some form of possession.  A human guru tries to prevent his or her disciples from indulging in excesses by constantly kicking the legs out from under their self-importance (which is why e.g. Don Juan, Sri Yukteswar, Gurdjieff, etc. were so harsh and abusive to their disciples); but with spirit possession there are no such restraints.  On the other hand, in this day and age there are very few true gurus out there, so the aspirant on the spiritual path has to make use of what tools are available.

            Being possessed by a spirit is like packing a loaded pistol.  Some people get a real charge out of having a gun in their hands, and it makes them act in all kinds of crazy and stupid ways.  People like that are a real danger to themselves and to others.  But there is such a thing as responsible gun handling; and there is such a thing as responsible spirit possession.

            The widespread fear and condemnation of spirit possession in our society is complete hypocrisy, considering the sizable percentage of the population which is possessed.  Just as up until very recently society made us feel ashamed of our sexuality, so too does society make us fear a perfectly ordinary and commonplace phenomenon such as spirit possession.  It’s about time everyone came out of the closet and copped to what’s really going on.

* * * * * * *

* Actually, here and there spirits can act on the so-called physical world; poltergeists are an example.  But for the most part their interventions are hit-or-miss rather than deliberate and methodical.  Spirits need humans to make connections for them in the physical world.  This is the purpose of priesthood in all religions. 

(excerpted from Magical Living, Copyright © 2001 by Bob Makransky.  All rights reserved.) 

More of Bob Makransky’s articles are posted at:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagicalAlmanac/files  

            In contrast to demon possession and societal (thought form) possession, which are usually unconscious, unskillful manifestations of possession,* the spiritual path is the conscious acknowledgment and employment of possession as a tool.  For people on the spiritual path who don’t have human gurus, spirit possession is about the only avenue open to self-transformation.  The spiritual path is sufficiently complex an undertaking – a maze with so many dead-ends, and requiring so much strength of will – that few people could succeed in following it without the guidance and power obtained from a possessing agent, either a human guru, or a spirit.

            Most religions recognize this, and provide a ritual for calling in a possessing spirit.  In Christianity, the aspirant is called to “make the decision for Jesus” or “invite Jesus into one’s life” or “ask Jesus to come live inside one”.  When the aspirant makes such a firm decision of his or her own free will, he or she is at that moment possessed by Jesus (or rather by the Holy Spirit, which is directed by Jesus).  Similarly, the Buddhist aspirant is exhorted to “take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha”.  The act of “taking refuge” is the same thing as inviting the spirits of Buddhism to take possession.

            Two points to remember about spirit possession are 1) spirits, whether good or evil, can only possess a host by invitation; although many people who are possessed by demons invited the demons in dreamless sleep – i.e. the invitation doesn’t have to be conscious; and 2) spirits can be exorcised by the same process of firm decision to cast them out as was used to invite them in.

            Like everything else, spirit possession has its advantages and disadvantages.  For a person on the spiritual path who does not have a human guru, possession by a beneficent spirit such as Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, etc. is de rigueur.   The spiritual path is just too tortuous and tricky to manage without a navigator who is outside of and above us, and who can take a detached and long-term view.  Indeed, the essential thing on the spiritual path is relinquishment of ones’ own will (decision-making).  Ironically, although possession can facilitate the relinquishment of self-will, when abused it has the effect of increasing self-will.

            To be possessed by a spirit is to tap into a source of great power, and few people have the sobriety and calm to withstand enslavement by this power.  Jesus, for example, is most certainly a good spirit; yet it is also true that some people who are possessed by him become intoxicated with power – with the certainty of their own salvation, with the imminent triumph of their dogma, with the compulsion to shove their trip down other people’s throats.  This isn’t Jesus’ fault:  he certainly tries to steer his votaries in the right direction.  Nor can he unilaterally withdraw his power from those who abuse it:  possession is a contract which can only by terminated from the human side.  Neither Jesus, nor Mammon or Bacchus for that matter, call on their votaries to destroy other people; but this has been the not infrequent result of possession by them (only demons call for the out-and-out destruction of others).

            Being possessed by a beneficent spirit is like having a bracing tonic for the heart and nerves available at hand whenever needed, to get through the spiritually dry periods when we feel like throwing up our arms in exasperation and crying, “How long, O Lord, how long?”  At those times it’s helpful to be possessed by a spirit, because there’s comfort in the sense that although everything may be spinning out of control, there’s somebody up there somewhere who understands what’s happening and whispers in our ears, “Leave the driving to us.”

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* * * * * * *

* The exception is black magic, in which demons are quite consciously called and manipulated.  Black magic requires great self-control and audacity, since demons will readily turn on the practitioner if given the slightest opportunity to do so.  But since black magic is the road to hell, the question of how skillful it is, is debatable. 

            Now, possession can be defined as the delegation of responsibility for making decisions.  Nowadays our tendency is to allow ourselves to be possessed by society – i.e. to let society decide everything for us.  This is so extraordinarily commonplace that we take it for granted, but in fact the overwhelming majority of what we call “our” feelings (like about 99.999%) are just the feelings of other people – parents, spouse, boss, teachers, peers, and the media – which we have accepted as our own.  Practically everything we like, dislike, desire, fear, sympathize with, disdain, etc. is just what we’ve learned to like, dislike, desire, fear, sympathize with, or disdain.  Advertising and politics are the two sciences of societal possession.  Society has us repress our own true feelings and dictates what we “should” feel instead.  About the only feeling it lets us feel for ourselves is pain.  Societal possession is the default option for people not possessed by spirits.

           Actually it is not society which possesses us, since society has no soul, but rather our own thought forms (habits and predilections) which are shaped by society.  Everything we have learned since the moment we were born is a thought form; and these thought forms are beings with volitions all their own.  This is why our habits and thoughts seem so uncontrollable to us – thought forms do indeed have wills of their own which can be at variance with ours.  Thought forms are not evil – without them we’d be as helpless as newborns – and it’s quite possible to utilize thought forms skillfully.  We don’t have to be mindless robots operating on social (thought form) programming.  In other words, we don’t have to delegate unconditional decision-making power to our thought forms.

            As is the case with all forms of possession, thought form (societal) possession is in essence a trade:  we trade power to our thought forms, namely the power to make decisions for us; and they give us power in return, in this case, the power to act in society.  Basically, the power we receive from any form of possession is the suspension of doubt.  E.g. our belief that society works (can be depended on to deliver the goods for us) is the result of our possession by our own thought forms.

            Of course the only reason it works is because of our collective belief that it works.  Society – our possession by our thought forms – depends upon our credulity, our willingness to put all doubts aside and give our hearts and minds to a system of belief without examining it too closely.  The reason we have difficulty making spirituality (trust in the Spirit instead of society) work at first is because of our initial doubt that it works, which is the residual effect of our possession by society.

            The reason we get on the spiritual path in the first place – no matter whether New Age or Christian or Buddhist or whatever – is because of our realization that society doesn’t  work.  Doubt creeps in and undermines our possession by society’s thought forms.  We realize that although our society has a lot of neat tricks up its sleeve, happiness is nowhere among them.  At that point we have to conjure up new thought forms – ideals and beliefs – to possess us; otherwise we’d go stark, raving nuts, as some people do when they realize that society has “failed” them.

            The point is that possession by society, like all forms of possession, gives us a sense of direction and purpose in life – an orientation and a force of will (lack of doubt) to sustain us.  And, like all other forms of possession, it can easily enslave us.

            Some societal possession does have a spiritual basis.  Obsession with money is often the result and cause of possession by Mammon; and many drunks are possessed by Bacchus. This is no metaphor; these sorts of deities indeed exist, in the same sense and to the same degree that Bill Gates, for example, exists; and they do indeed possess their votaries.  Neither Mammon nor Bacchus are intrinsically evil spirits; rather, a stout heart is required to resist enslavement by the power of any spirit, even a good one.

(continued …)

            Here is a fictional example of demon possession from the children’s book Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, which shows how people call demons in to possess them at moments of great vulnerability.  In the story Harriet has just been rejected – deservedly –by all of her friends:

            “She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finally ‘I feel different’ came slowly into her head. … ‘Yes’, she thought, after a long pause.  And then, after more time, ‘Mean, I feel mean.’            

           “She looked around with a mean look for everyone.  Nobody saw her.  She felt her face contorting.  It was an impressive moment that everyone missed.  It was a moment that Harriet would never forget.

            “When the bell rang for lunch, it was as though she didn’t have to think any more.  Everything happened as though she had planned it but she really hadn’t.  For example, when the bell rang Pinky Whitehead jumped up and ran down the aisle.  Harriet put her foot out and he fell flat on his face.

            “A terrific wail went up from his prone body, and when he raised his face his nose was bleeding.  Harriet looked extremely blank.  Inside she felt a sense of very personal satisfaction.”

            Note that calling a demon in unconsciously, in a thoughtless fit of undisciplined anger or self-pity, has all the consequences of conscious demon-possession (the demon won’t leave unless deliberately exorcised).

            In fact, our society is founded upon demonism.  The fundamentalist Christians are quite correct in their appraisal of the extent to which Satan and his minions run our society.  All our closed-heartedness to one another – the hard-edged snarl that underlies most of our interactions with other people – is urged on us by demon “advisors”.  The cartoon stereotype of a little angel and devil perched on the shoulders of a character alternately whispering in his ears, is 100% accurate. 

          Psychopaths are extreme examples of demon possession (not much humanity left there at all), but actually we’re all like that just beneath the surface, which is why we’re so fascinated by gruesome news stories:  that’s us.  We’re all allowing ourselves to be swayed by the blandishments of demons all the time, even if we’re not actually possessed by them, and the psychos we see on the news are just acting it out openly for everyone else. 

For example, when we are driving and another driver cuts in right ahead of us and we beep the horn in anger, that’s in fact an exchange between that guy’s demons and our own.  Our anger is like a little snack to the demons who hover around us constantly like mosquitoes waiting for a little dart of anger, fear, etc. they can suck.

            Only people who are completely at peace in their own hearts are not supplying fodder to the demons who coinhabit our sphere and live off of the seething emotions generated by the frustration and despair which living in an unjust society (such as ours) produces.  In a just society people are happy, and therefore produce little demon-food; and as a result such societies are not run by or bothered by demons.  This whole “problem of evil” jazz can be easily sidestepped just by not harboring evil intentions in our hearts, and by treating other people in the same way that we’d prefer they treated us.

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            The subject of spirit possession is not well understood in our society; moreover, it has a somewhat unsavory connotation and is not mentioned openly, nor considered a serious topic for discussion.  In fact, lots of people are possessed by spirits without knowing it.  In this essay we will take a quick survey of the whole subject of possession.

            The most common form of possession – which is also the most dangerous – is possession by other people.  This is because in the entire universe, including all the hell worlds, there are no demons which are as malignant, tenacious, and gratuitously cruel as our fellow humans.

            Possession by other people occurs whenever we let them impose their feelings upon us.  Any time we allow ourselves to feel another person’s mood, we are temporarily possessed by that person.  When we experience a great work of art, or even a gripping TV show, we are allowing ourselves to be possessed by the artist, and by the spirits who inspired him or her.

            Most children are possessed by their parents unless they’re super-rebellious hellions from the cradle on; and infatuation is a species of mutual possession.  These types of possession are called “being under the shadow” of another person.  This is not necessarily a bad thing; all forms of apprenticeship and learning involve putting oneself under another person’s shadow.  What is being passed from the teacher to the learner is wholly subconscious and emotional; i.e., possession entails a direct transference of knowledge (assurance), no matter what intellectual symbols – beliefs or techniques –  it may be wrapped up in.  To be possessed by another person means to allow oneself to be emotionally directed by that person.

            Being under the shadow of another person only becomes detrimental when the shadow is imposed by coercion, through fear or guilt.  Most parent / child relationships and marriages have at least a tinge of these elements.  Basically the only way of casting off the shadow of another person (once it’s in place) is by diminishing one’s own self-importance, so the other person is left with nothing to manipulate.  It is usually much more difficult, traumatic, time-consuming, and painful to cast off the shadow of another person than it is to exorcise a demon.

            Demon possession is also a common form of possession.  Most of the people who are habitually, obsessively angry, fearful, repressed, depressed, irritable, self-destructive, chronically ill, etc. are demon-possessed.  Mainstream psychotherapy’s rejection of the notion of demon possession is totally absurd:  it’s like trying to formulate a science of physics while rejecting the calculus – you can still do it, but are handicapping yourself unnecessarily.  Practically all mental illnesses are symptoms of demon possession, and while they can be treated without reference to the underlying problem, this is not a very skillful way of doing it.

            People call demons in to possess them when they feel vulnerable and in need of drastic protection and security.  Demons give them strength – rationalizations, shamelessness, hard-heartedness, self-pity – with which to fend off the attacks of other people and the buffeting of circumstances.  An infant may call a demon in at birth to protect him from his parents; a dying person may call one in to dull the emotions in the face of overwhelming fear.  Demons can be called in any time to cover vulnerability with hardness.  Usually the decision to call in a demon is made in dreamless sleep (i.e. unconsciously).

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The following excerpt from Magical Living has implications for a proper understanding of both cognition – the nature of consciousness – and of comparative religion.   From the point of view of comparative religion, the common denominator in most religions is channeling information and guidance from spirits.   The form of this channeling may vary from place to place; and of course the spirits being invoked vary from religion to religion; but the basic technique of spirit communication and interaction is pretty much the same throughout the world.  

For example, the Catholic mass is an invocation of Jesus and the Holy Spirit; and the Jewish Passover Seder includes an invocation of Elijah.  It is because the form of spirit communication is mandated by the spirits involved themselves that religious ceremonies the world over tend to be very similar in their rituals:  darkened rooms, candles and incense, repetitive litanies, etc.  These techniques, which derive from shamanism, put participants in a light trance state to make them more receptive to the spirits’ messages.  Trance channeling can be considered a temporary manifestation of spirit possession.  Priesthood is an example of benign spirit possession:  priests are able to perform magical operations (such as healing and casting out demons) because they can call upon the power of the spirits of their religion (Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, whomever) who possess them to assist them in these tasks.  

            From the point of view of consciousness, spirit possession is a fact which must be reckoned with in our calculations.  Merely because the society we live in pretends that spirit possession doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that spirit possession doesn’t exist.  As the essay Channeling Spirit Guides says, all we really are is a flux of thought forms (images, opinions, beliefs, and expectations learned from our parents and society) which is being urged this way and that by spirit forces.  That is all we are.  The sooner each of us as individuals wakes up to this fact, the sooner we can take command of our lives and destinies.  That’s what the practice of magic is all about.   

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