An experience as an embodiment as a human being on earth and then blissful existence in the spirit world (preparing for reincarnation) is the essential pattern in the “life” of a soul.
At death the spirit usually passes to the Light, the white brilliance seen in a near-death experience. However, a departing spirit does not invariably reach the Light. It may be confused, even to the point of not knowing the physical body has died. Ignorance of fear of punishment may cause it to be diverted or not even be aware of the Light. Some spirits remain earthbound in a familiar place, where they may be seen as ghosts; and others, not uncommonly, attach to other embodiments such as friends or relatives, perhaps out of concern for that person or to satisfy an addiction or even revenge. Still others may attach to a person who is simply more vulnerable due to illness, physical or emotional trauma such as an auto accident, a fall, a beating, etc., or condition of their aura; someone who, in life, would be a complete stranger to them. There are even cases that have been described in which organ transplant recipients appear to have received the spirit of the donor.
The condition of spirit possession; that is, full or partial takeover of a living human by a discarnate being, has been recognized or at least theorized in every era and every culture. In 90% of societies worldwide there are records of possession-like phenomena.
An attachment can be benevolent, totally self-serving, malevolent in intention, or completely neutral. It may be completely random and even accidental, and it may occur simply because of physical proximity to the dying person at the time of death.
Contemporary clinical evidence suggests that discarnate spirits of deceased humans can influence people by forming a physical or mental connection or attachment, subsequently imposing detrimental conditions and symptoms. This condition may be referred to as, “possession state”, “spirit possession syndrome”, spirit obsession”, or “spirit attachment”. An attached spirit can affect a living person in many different ways. The discarnate entity retains the psychic energy pattern of its own ailments and can produce (in the host) any mental aberration or emotional disturbance and symptoms of physical illness. Therefore, many areas of a person’s life can be influenced by one or more attached entities.
A spirit can remain earthbound by emotions and feeling connected with a sudden traumatic death. Anger, fear, jealousy, resentment, guilt, remorse, and even strong ties of love can interfere with the normal transition. Erroneous religious beliefs about the afterlife may prevent a spirit from moving into the Light, because it isn’t what he was taught to expect. Death by drug overdose or alcoholism may cause that spirit to continue his appetite for the substance and he finds a vulnerable human, often an addict, to continue to satisfy his need. In this case it is called a “parasitic attachment.”
Most people are vulnerable to spirit attachment on many occasions in the normal course of life, though it has been postulated that people whose auras vibrate at high frequency are impervious to spirits of a lower frequency.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Historically, the treatment of spirit possession has been primarily in the hands of the shaman, medicine man, or clergy. Rituals of many kinds have been used, from verbal incantation and incense to beating with sticks. Baptism and christening of infants is a form of exorcism and the Native American sweat lodge is a means to the same end. The “Rituale Romanum”, which is the priest’s service manual for the formal rite of exorcism sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church was first written in 1614 and was left unchanged until 1952 when two minor revisions were included. Dr. William J. Baldwin discusses possession in regard to soul-mind fragmentation, and outlines and integrates the shamanic concept of “soul loss” in reaction to trauma, as personality splitting and dissociation in Multiple Personality Disorder; the key concept being the idea of sub-personalities or fragmentary souls which figured quite prominently in the basis of those techniques for the psychotherapeutic integration of the personality by Jung and many others.
Depossession was the first medically used by the American physician and psychologist, Carl Wickland, who had attended many spiritualist séances.
He and his wife Anna did most of their work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wickland’s depossession method was quite unique. He invented a static electricity machine that transmitted a low-voltage electric shock to the patient, which was the forerunner to the low voltage electric shock treatment used in psychotherapy. The shock was to make the spirit uncomfortable so it would leave the victim and enter Anna’s body, and then finally give up and depart forever. Perhaps his process was not complete enough, since Anna died in a mental institution. Today things are moving in relationship to spiritual hypnotherapy and counseling of many kinds regarding spirit releasement. The increased practice of spirit release and the appearance of books and specialized journals on a wide range of spiritually based therapies speaks and predicts well for the future. Association in the U.S., the UK, Continental Europe, and Brazil are growing, with many training programs and conference. The Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists formed in 1999 has a very large membership and its research is underway.
DEPOSESSION (Spirit Releasement)
Depossession is the act of exorcising discarnate human spirits and even nonhuman spirits, allegedly attached to living people, causing a host of physical, mental, and emotional ills. Various types of deposession are practiced throughout the world. For thousands of years, human beings from a wide variety of cultures have maintained that disembodied sprits or entities from the “other side” can take over the mind and body of a living human and cause distress such as changes in personality and consciousness.
These spirits need gentle and loving coaxing to move back into the Light from the earthly plane, and the “host” needs tender care to fill up his or her “empty spaces” which preciously housed the departing entity. Depossession is accomplished by a trained professional, or small groups of trained professionals, using unconditional love to release the attached spirit or spirits. The open-minded therapist who has a working knowledge of both Past Life Therapy and Spirit Releasement Therapy will find evidence of both conditions-past life trauma and spirit attachment.
SIGNS OF POSSIBLE SPIRIT POSSESSION
- Low energy level Character shifts or mood swings
- Inner voice(s) speaking to you Abuse of drugs or alcohol Impulsive behavior Memory problems
- Poor concentration
- Sudden onset of anxiety or depression
- Sudden onset of physical problems with no obvious cause Emotional and/or physical reactions to the explanation of deposession
- Sudden changes in behavior-especially after surgery or a traumatic event
- Increased anger, rage, mood swings
- Increased depression
- Thoughts of suicide
- Panic or anxiety attacks
- Migraine headaches, head or neck pressure
- Chronic fatigue or loss of energy
- Attraction to dangerous situations
- Cravings for alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, gambling, or history of addiction
- Repeating patterns of behavior
- Night terrors and nightmares, difficulty sleeping
- Elusive physical symptoms
- Social problems, relationship problems
- Inability to love, nurture or bond with other individuals
- Feeling detached, isolated, alienated
- Strong tendency to dissociate, be ungrounded
- Compartments of Consciousness-sometimes called “multiple personalities”
- Issues that will not respond to regular treatment
If you have any questions regarding depossession, please contact Us for more information.
