Possession: is there the physical possession of the incarnated person?   Part 1

"And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded" (Acts 19:16).  

Introduction  

Many the times we have come across this question when people asked us whether, in cases of obsession, there would be a truly physical possession of the flesh, that is, if the obsessor "would" actually enter the body of the obsessed and start to act with that person's body.

Our own experience leads us to believe that in some cases, there is even the distinct impression that it does so. But it is important to note that in any way, we are generalizing to all cases of obsession. We are now going to report an episode that led us to revise our previous position that the physical possession could not occur under any circumstances whatsoever.  

Reality v Theory: A patient under obsession  

About one and a half years ago, we were called to help a young woman who had been hospitalized for being behaving abnormally. However, among the relatives, some realized that she was influenced by spirits: therefore our assistance was requested. When we arrived at the spot where she stood, we noticed that the opportunity she was actually under the influence of a spirit was evident, because in addition to speaking with a male voice, she spoke of other things that in her normal state it was not usual to her. At that moment, holding her arms, were two strong men, restricting her movements because she wanted to harm herself. Through one of those present in the room, we heard that the town's parish priest had been there for a quick visit. The priest, upon leaving, said that when she got better, he would return. As the saying goes: Big deal! (...)

A team of mediums, who accompanied us on that fraternal assistance, also had the same impression. We started to establish a dialogue with the spirits that were tormenting her. And after several spirits having introduced themselves, we could finally free her from that influence, a fact that made her get back to her normal state.

After a few days, we were again called to help that young lady. This time she was in her own house, with the same symptoms, talking in a voice that was not hers, and trying to assault herself; in other words, she was behaving exactly like the first time. On the occasion, we talked to various spirits. The situation was difficult because as soon as we had barely managed to convince one spirit to move away from the young lady, another one "entered" her. And so we went on for over an hour. Finally, given our inability to resolve the problem, we recommended to the relatives to take her to the Andre Luiz Spiritist hospital, in the capital city of Minas Gerais state, for an assessment and treatment, if the situation required so. The Hospital team found that the girl was, as a matter of fact, under a strong spiritual influence, thus recommending that her name be taken to a lengthy specific mediumistic meeting that took place on a weekly basis where she would receive passes, in addition to prescribed drugs to tranquilize the patient, in accordance with traditional medical procedures for the case.

Hence, whenever possible, the family took her to the Spiritist Group we attended. At the time of the magnetic pass, it was always a struggle because the woman would close her eyes and, bang: she tuned up with the spirits that pursued her. Thence, we advised the pass-givers not to let her concentrate during the pass giving time.

However, at a certain time, after entering the pass chamber, she went into a trance in a clear spiritual tuning. By the way, we have never seen a person tune up as easily as she did. We were immediately called in for help. Although the situation was extremely inappropriate, similarly to the previous, we started the dialogue with the spirit that tormented her and, at a great effort, we managed to make the spirit promise that he would "get out of" the woman. Immediately after he said that, she lost all control of the body falling to the ground even before we could do anything, due to how quickly it happened. Helped by the fellow workers, with relative difficulty, we sat her on a chair trying to revive her, which occurred a few minutes later. Upon returning to her normal state she could not remember anything of what had occurred to her in that period of time. She went out as naturally as she had come in, so that anyone who saw her leaving the pass chamber did not realize what had happened there.

It was from this episode that we started to question the concept that all mediumistic phenomena are based on the mind, in other words, everything happens at the level ofmental tuning between those involved, without any physical connection. But the fact occurred made us believe that there really was a physical possession, which, in our view, justified the fall of the woman after the "withdrawal" of the spirit, if we can express ourselves, her own spirit could not resume control of the body in time, so as to prevent its fall.

This issue was discussed among the members of the Group and, on occasion, we were sent a text published on the website named `Portal of the Spirit`, in which the writer argued, or rather, showed that Kardec had said something about it. Let us consider, then, what can be found in the Kardecian works.   

The issue in the Basic Works  

We will present in chronological order what was found about what Kardec said so as to clarify the evolution of his understanding of the subject.  

1) April/1857 - The Spirits' Book  

Asked the following questions:

473. Can a spirit temporarily assume the envelope of a living person--that is to say, can he introduce himself into an animate body, and act in the room and place of the spirit incarnated in it?

"The Spirit does not enter into a body as you enter into a house. He assimilates himself to the incarnated spirit who has the same defects and the same qualities as himself, in order that they can work conjointly. But it is always the incarnate who acts at his pleasure on the matter with which he is clothed. No other spirit can substitute himself in the place of the spirit who is incarnated in a given body, for a spirit is indissolubly united with his body until the arrival of the hour that has been appointed by Providence for the termination of his material existence."

474. If there be no such thing as “possession", in the ordinary sense of that term-that is to say, cohabitation of two spirits in the same body, is it possible for one soul to find itself dominated, subjugated, obsessed by another soul to such a point as that its will is, so to say, paralysed?

"Yes; and it is this domination which really constitutes what you call possession. But you must understand that this domination is never established without the participation of the spirit who is subjected to it, either through his weakness or his free-will. Men have often mistaken for cases of possession what were really cases of epilepsy or madness, demanding the help of the physician rather than of the exorcist."

The word possession, in its common acceptation, presupposes the existence of demons, that is to say, of a category of beings of a nature essentially evil, and the cohabitation of one of those beings with the soul of a man in the body of the latter. Since there are no such beings as demons in the sense just defined, and since two spirits cannot inhabit simultaneously the same body, there is no such thing as "possession" in the sense commonly attributed to that word. The word possessed should only be understood as expressing the state of absolute subjection to which a soul in flesh may be reduced by the imperfect spirits under whose domination it has fallen (KARDEC, 2007a, p. 282)

In that circumstance, there is no room for doubt that at that time he did not think that there could be physical possession, but subjugation. And Kardec justifies why not to want to use the term possession, as they could relate it to demons, beings that do not exist according to Spiritism, but in the sense of imperfect spirits and still dedicated to evil.  

2) Jan. /1861 - The Mediums' Book  

In Chapter XXIII, titled On Obsession, Kardec once again refers back to the subject.

240. The third degree of obsession, viz., subjugation, is a constraint which paralyses the will of its victim, and makes him act in spite of himself, reducing him to a state of absolute bondage. Subjugation may be moral or corporeal. The subjugated medium is often drawn on to do things which are foolish or reprehensible, but in which he is deluded to regarding as wise and proper; it is a species of fascination, but one which is exercised on the will as well as on the mind. In the second case, the spirit acts on the material organs of his victim, provoking involuntary movements or acts; as is shown in the case of writing mediums, by an incessant desire to write, even at the most inopportune moments. We have seen a medium, thus enslaved, who, for want of a pen or a pencil, made movements with his finger, as though writing, wherever he happened to be, even in the streets, upon the doors and walls. Corporeal subjugation sometimes goes still further, and forces its victims to do the most extravagant things. We knew a man, neither young nor handsome, who, under the influence of an obsession of this nature, was constrained, by an irresistible impulse, to throw himself on his knees before a young girl for whom he felt no admiration, and to make her an offer of marriage. At other times, he was forced by a violent pressure on his back and loins, to kneel down, in spite of his strenuous efforts to the contrary, and to kiss the ground, in public places, and in the presence of the crowd. This man passed for mad among his acquaintance; but, most certainly, he was not mad; for he was fully conscious of the absurdity of what he was thus made to do against his will, and suffered horribly in consequence.

241. In former days, the term possession was employed to express the empire thus exercised over men by evil spirits, when their influence went the length of producing what appeared to be mental aberration. For us, possession would be synonymous with subjugation. If we do not adopt the term possession, it is for two reasons; first, because it implies a belief that there are beings created for evil, and perpetually doomed to evil, whereas there exist, in fact, only beings more or less advanced, all of whom can improve them-selves: and, secondly, because the term possession implies the idea of a stranger-spirit taking possession of the victim's body

by a sort of cohabitation with the spirit of his victim, while, in fact, the obsessor's action is only one of constraint. The word subjugation expresses our thought perfectly. Therefore, as we hold that no one is possessed, in the common acceptation of the word, there exist for us, among the victims of evil spirits, only the three categories of the obsessed, the fascinated, and the subjugated (KARDEC, 2007b, p. 297-298).

Still here Kardec has not changed his mind; he sticks to the one he already had on this subject, just as a good educator, he explains in more detail what he had said before.  

3) Dec/1863 - Spiritist Magazine  

At this point Kardec changes his opinion, correcting his earlier thought, after a proof that there is actually physical possession. Let us see what he tells:  

A case of possession - Miss Julie

We said there were not possessed in the ordinary sense of the word, but subdued; we return on to this too absolute a statement, because we have now been demonstrated that there can be true possession, i.e., the replacement; however partial, of a wandering spirit for the incarnate's spirit. Here is a fact that is the first proof of this and that shows the phenomenon in all its simplicity [...].

[...] He [the spirit] states that, by willing to talk to his old friend, he took advantage of a moment when the spirit of Mrs A..., the somnambulist medium, was away from her body, to put myself in her place [...].

P. What did the Spirit of Mrs A. do during that time...? - R. She was there beside me, she looked at me and laughed to see me in that clothing (KARDEC, 2000, p. 373-374).

As noted, we have only transcribed what seemed interesting to our study. However, based on Kardec's own assertions, some people do not consider this matter as doctrinal yet, as it is only in the Spiritist Magazine. In fact, it is perfectly acceptable to think that way in face of what Kardec said in the Introduction of Genesis: "The Revue, often, represents to us a test site to gauge the opinions of men and Spirits on some principles before admitting them as constituent parts of the doctrine "(KARDEC, 2007c, p. 17).

We would, like the majority, have also dismissed this issue as closed, since the evidence was too strong to contest, though, particularly, we are not seeing the issue this way, because for us the change of opinion in the Spiritist Magazine is too clear, and it is not a case that the question was put there to see the views on the subject. For us, by saying so, he, Kardec, is making public his opinion on the theme.

But on continuing the research, we came across something that does not leave any doubts and making it clear that it is definitely part of the underlying principles of the doctrine. At last, let us then see what we have found in our research.  

4) Jan. /1868 - Genesis   

Kardec returns to this issue, in a definitive statement on the subject in this book, in Chapter XIV, The Fluid, when dealing with obsessions, he says:

46 - Just as maladies are the result of physical imperfections which render the body accessible to pernicious external influences, obsession is always that of moral imperfection which gives place to a bad spirit. To a physical cause one opposes a physical force; to a moral cause it is necessary to oppose a moral force. In order to preserve one's self from maladies, one must fortify the body; in order to guarantee one's self against obsession, one must fortify the soul: hence for the obsessed the necessity for working his own betterment, which is often sufficient to cure obsession without external aid. This aid becomes necessary when the obsession degenerates into complete subjugation and possession; for then the patient sometimes loses his volition and free will.

Obsession is nearly often due to vengeance, exercised by a spirit, and which most often has its source in connections the obsessed has had with it in a previous existence. In case of grave obsession the obsessed is enveloped and impregnated with a pernicious fluid, which neutralizes the action of the salutary fluids, and repels them .It is necessary to remove this fluid. Now, a bad fluid cannot be removed by bad fluid. By an action similar to that of a healing medium in a case of illness, it is necessary to expel the bad fluid by the aid of a better one.

The latter, which is a mechanical action, does not always suffice. It is necessary, above all, to act upon the intelligent being, to whom it is necessary to speak with authority, and this authority is given only to moral superiority. The greater the latter is, the greater the authority. That is not all, however. It is necessary to lead the perverse spirit to renounce his bad designs; to awaken within him the desire to do good and true repentance, by the aid of cleverly directed instructions, by the evoking of particular spirits to aid him in his moral education. Then one can have the double satisfaction of delivering an incarnated being and of converting an imperfect spirit.

The task is rendered easier if the obsessed, comprehending his situation, joins his will and prayers with yours. It is not thus when the latter, seduced by the deceiving spirit, is deluded in regard to the qualities of his ruler, and delights in the error into which the latter plunges him; for then, far from seconding, he repels all assistance. Such are cases of fascination always vastly more obstinate than the most violent subjugation (The Mediums' Book, Part 2, chp. XXIII).

In all cases of obsession prayer is the most powerful auxiliary to act against the obsessing spirit.

47. - In obsession the Spirit acts exteriorly by the aid of its perispirit, which he mingles with that one of the incarnates. The latter finds himself bound as if in a network, and constrained to act against his will. In taking possession of a human organism, the free spirit substitutes itself, as it were, for that of the incarnated one, instead of acting exteriorly; he chooses a home in his body, although its owner does not leave it entirely, which can take place only with death. The possession is then only temporary and intermittent, for a disincarnate has not the power to take the exclusive possession of a human organism, only when a molecular union of the perispirit and the body can be performed at the moment of conception. (Chapter XI, no 18)

The spirit in momentary possession of the body uses it as his own. He speaks through its mouth, sees with its eyes and moves its arms as he had done in life. It is not like in mediumship when the incarnate speaks the thoughts of the disincarnate, which are transmitted through him. It is the latter who speaks; and, if one has known him in life, one recognizes him by his language, voice and gestures, even to the expression of his face.

48. - Obsession is always due to the influence of a malevolent spirit. Possession can be taken of a human being by a good spirit, who desires to speak in order to make a deeper impression upon his auditors, borrows the medium's body, as the latter loans it to him voluntarily as he would lend his coat. This is done without any trouble or bad effect, and during this time the medium's spirit is free as in a state of emancipation, and he frequently remains beside his substitute in order to listen to him.

When the Spirit in possession is a bad on, all is otherwise. He does not borrow the body, but forcibly takes possession of it if the owner has not the moral force to resist him. He does it for malice towards the latter, whom he tortures and torments in every way, desiring to kill him either by strangulation, or by throwing him in the fire or other dangerous places. Using the limbs and organs of the unhappy patient, he blasphemes, injures, and maltreats those who surround him - delivers him to eccentricities of action, which have the character of an insane person. (To be continued next issue.)