Possession: is there the physical possession of the incarnated person?   2nd and Final Part

Continuing to quote the texts of Allan Kardec which are constant in chapter 14 of the book The Genesis, here is the complement of item 48 of the aforementioned chapter:

Cases of this kind are numerous, in different degrees of intensity and many cases of insanity do not derive from other causes. Frequently there are also pathological diseases, which are mere consequences and against which medical treatment affords no help, whilst the brought about causes persists. ⁽¹⁾

 As we get to know this source from where part of the human miseries comes from, Spiritism indicates the remedy to be applied: to act on the evil that, being an intelligent being, must be treated through intelligence means. ⁽¹⁾49 -The majority of times these human miseries are individual such as obsession and possession; but not uncommonly they are epidemic. When a flock of evil spirits are cast over a place, it is as if a troop of enemies has invaded there. ⁽²⁾  The number of individuals being attacked can then be very considerable. ⁽²⁾

One can see therefore that Allan Kardec has not failed to register in a basic work his new position on the subject of possession. Unfortunately, as with Revue Spirite, the book The Genesis  is almost unread by spiritists; only a few attempt to read it, and so, understanding becomes mistaken when one, based upon Kardec’s previous view, affirms that physical possession does not exist, as he changed his stand when the facts were presented to him.

We take the liberty to suggest to the Brazilian Spiritist Federation, that in the aforementioned works – The Spirits Book, The Book of Mediums and The Genesis, - this information is registered as a footnote, aiming at alerting the reader to a change of understanding by Kardec.

Another factor which we cannot leave aside is attention to the fact that for Kardec, possession did not necessarily mean an obsession, as many of us believe. For Kardec, it is only an event in which certain spirits; either good or evil – depending on the case; literally “take ownership” of the body of the medium,  This is what becomes clear to us from reading the aforementioned items 47 and 48. 

February 1869 – Revue Spirite 

According to Kardec’s narrative in respect of a spirit who did not believe it was dead, but only dreaming, we can find something else about the theme we are dealing with. Let’s see

In the seance of 8^th January at the Society of Paris, the same Spirit came to manifest itself again, not by writing but through words, using of the body of Mr. Morin in spontaneous somnambulism. He talked for about an hour, and this was one of the most curious scenes, as the medium adopted his pose, his gestures, his voice and his language to the point that those who had met him recognised him without difficulty.(...)

in another seance, a Spirit talked about this phenomena in the following communication:

There is here, a substitution of a person, a simulation. The incarnate Spirit receives freedom or falls into inaction. He is in the position of a man who momentarily lends his house, and who watches the different scenes that take place with the help of his furniture. If one enjoys ones freedom more, one can, unless there is no use in one  remaining an spectator.

It is not rare for a Spirit to act and talk through the body of another. If one must understands the possibility of this phenomenon, one then can know that the Spirit can remove itself with its perispirit more or less far from its body envelopment.  When this fact occurs without any Spirit taking advantage of occupying the place, there is catalepsy. When a Spirit wishes to put itself in there in order to act, its part in incarnation takes only an instant, it unites its perispirit to the sleeping body, awakening the body through this contact and replacing movement to the machine; but the movements, the voice are no longer the same because the perispiritual fluids do not affect the nervous system in the same way as its true occupier. This occupation never can be definite. For it to be definite the absolute disaggregation of the first perispirit would be needed which would forcibly lead the body to death. Occupation cannot be of a long duration, the reason being that the new perispirit has not been united to this body since its formation, therefore not having roots in it, not being moulded to this body, it is not appropriated to the performance of its organs. The intruder Spirit is not in a normal position, so it is clumsy in its movements and it is for this reason it leaves this borrowed vest behind as long as it no longer needs it. (Kardec, 2001, pages 48 to 49)

Here then, faced with the theme included in one of the books of the basic works, one cannot contest the subject as constituting of the spiritist philosophy. As we said previously, we would have already accepted it as being demonstrated so objectively in the Revue Spirite, and as an answer to the initially reported personal experience we had. The news is that Kardec affirms that even a good Spirit could possess a body of an incarnate being, as long as the required conditions are as dealt with in previous topic. 

Opinions on the subject 

In chapter 19 – Trances and Incorporations from the Book In the Invisible, Leon Denis talks precisely about that which we are presently studying.  Let’s see then what the one who is considered Kardec’s successor has said on the matter:

The state of trance is that degree of magnetic sleep that allows the fluidic body to externalise itself, loosening itself up from the body of the flesh, and the soul return to live for an instant, its free and independent life. The separation however is never complete; absolute separation would be death... In trance, the medium speaks, moves, writes automatically; however upon awakening, the medium has no remembrance of these actions.

The trance state can be provoked, either by the action of a magnetiser or by the action of a Spirit. Under the magnetic influx, the ties that unite the two bodies loosen themselves up. The soul, with its subtle body, gradually frees itself; recovering the use of its occult and compressed power by matter. The deeper the sleep is, the more complex detachment comes to be. (...)

In the body of a medium momentarily abandoned, a substitution of Spirit can take place. It is phenomena of incorporations. The soul of a discarnate, even a soul of a sleeping living being; can take the place of the medium and use of his material body to communicate through words and through gesture with the people present. (DENIS, 1987, page 249)

On this point Léon Denis mentions Dr. Oliver Lodge and Professor Myers as witnesses to the reality of these events. And we read: Certain experimentalist people question: Does the Spirit that expresses itself become incorporated effectively in the organism of the medium? Or does it operate through distance, through mental suggestion and through thought transmission, as can the externalised Spirit of the medium?

An attentive examination of the facts leads us to believe that these two explanations are equally admissible, according to the case. The quotes we have just made prove that incorporation can be real and complete. These spirits, disturbed by death, still believe, though much time has passed, they belong to earthly life. Without allowing their coarser fluids to contaminate them regarding the relationship with more evolved Spirits, they are taken to study groups, in order to be taught about their new condition. It is sometimes difficult to make them to understand that they have abandoned carnal life, and their stupefaction reaches comical level, when they are invited to compare the body that they momentarily animate with that which they possessed on Earth when alive, and so they are forced to recognise their mistake. In such case one cannot doubt complete incorporation of a Spirit.

In other circumstances, the theory of transmission at a distance seems to better explain the facts. The impressions originated outside are more or less accurately perceived and transmitted by the organs. Along with proofs of identity which allows no hesitation about the authenticity of the phenomenon and the intervention of Spirits, expressions, phrase constructions and the customary way of pronunciation are also verified. The Spirit seems to project the thought into the brain of the medium, where it acquires the former’s forms of familiar language. In such cases the transmission takes place within the limit of knowledge and aptitude of the medium, in vulgar or chosen terms, according to the mediums degree of scholarship.

Hence the certain incoherencies which must also be attributed to the instrument (medium).On awakening, the medium’s spirit looses all consciousness of the impressions received in the sense of freedom, in the same way the medium will not memorise any knowledge of the role that his body has performed during the trance. The psychic senses, which for a moment had acquired possession, extinguish themselves again as matter extends its cover; all remembrance fades away. The medium awakes in a state of perturbation which gradually dissipates. (DENIS, 1987, page 252 -254)

Léon Denis’ collocations come to corroborate with what Kardec himself said about possession. Now, more than ever, we are convinced of this reality, as all the collocations we have mentioned are coherent amongst themselves, nothing existing as something which shows any contradiction amongst them.

We can still add, only to reinforce this idea, something that we found in the book In the Domains of Mediumship by Chico Xavier and dictated by the Spirit André Luiz.

Let’s see passages in which it talks about a medium:

“When one lends the vehicle (body) to suffering or demented entities, caution is asked from us, as almost always one leaves the body to the mercy of the communicating spirit, when one’s responsibility is the duty to assist us in containing them (entities) in order that our fraternity’s attempt does not bring damage to one’s physical organisation”. (Xavier, 1987, page 30)

According to our thinking, if a medium “lends the vehicle (his body) to entities” it is because the spirits take possession of one’s physical body or, in common language, incorporates itself in the medium.

(...) However by adapting itself to the body of a woman it loved, and going on to being obsessed with her, in her it found a new instrument of sensation, seeing through her eyes, listening through her ears and often talking through her mouth and vitalising itself with the common food used by her. In this symbiosis both lived on for almost five successive years, however the undernourished and disturbed woman showed major organic imbalances. (...) (XAVIER, 1987, page 54).

This is practically what Kardec wrote at the end of item 47, in the passage commented upon in item 4 above – The Genesis. The only divergence is that whereas the codifier talked about momentary possession, below he described one which probably lasted five years.

We notice that Eugênia-soul moved away from its body, keeping itself close thereto by a distance of some centimetres, whilst supported by spiritual friends who assisted it, the visitor sat close leaning over the psychic equipment and  juxtaposing itself thereon in a manner of someone looking out of a window. (XAVIER< 1987, page 54 to 55)

(...) in these works, the medium never keeps himself a long distance from the body... (XAVIER< 1987, page 56)

It is impressive how the passage above is similar to the speech of the spirit that explained how it possesses the physical body of Mrs. A..., in the possession case mentioned in Revue Spirite. And for those who watched the film Ghost, this description reminds us of what happened with the character portrayed by Whoopi Goldberg, who at first played “incorporated” spirits and then went on to truly “incorporated” them.

Mind you: all this fits with that which is written in The Genesis, even though in the book of the spiritual author André Luiz extremely identical facts are reported, we read the following in the book In the Domains of Mediumship : - “ The mind is found at the basis of all mediumistic manifestations, whatever the characteristics may be which express themselves.

This precisely contradicts what is described in the same book by Andre Luiz, when incorporation and obsessions cases are characterised by the possession of the medium’s body or according to the case, of the obsessed being. Thus we believe that there could be some exaggeration when one says in absolute manner that the mind is at the basis of all mediumistic manifestations, as it is affirmed in the aforementioned book, unless we are misunderstanding what the spiritual author is trying to say. Perhaps the author may even want to say that this basis is the mind of the discarnate being, not as being the mental connection between those involved in the mediumistic phenomenon.

We can mention Dr. Hernani Guimarães Andrade who used the same passages that we cited from André Luiz, when he studied the question of mediumistic incorporations, obsessions and possessions.  

He tells us: “Mediumistic incorporation” can also be distinguished through several modalities of communication: psychophony, psychography, partial or total possession of the manifestations of abilities not learned such as painting and drawing, surgery, sculpture, music; and also mechanic writing in foreign languages, polyglots, multiple personalities, transfiguration (the latter also belonging to the field of ectoplasm), etc.

The mechanism of “mediumistic incorporation” is easy to understand. It can begin with the approximation of the entity who wishes to communicate. This can eventually influence the “medium” helping with the “trance”. The medium who goes on to suffer an astral projection and its dome together with the astral body, dislocates themselves partially or totally in a manner that allows the dome and the astral body of the communicating Spirittooccupy partially or totally the free field left by the “astral body” of the medium.The more space given by the astral body of the medium on leaving his physical body, the more perfect the incorporation, leaving place for the dome together with the astral body of the communicator. This – the communicating spirit – shall suffer a similar process on astral projection in order to allow that its dome and the astral body can juxtapose themselves to the free space left by the medium. There are cases in which the astral part of the medium dislocates itself only partially, allowing that only a fraction of the astral part of the communicator Spirit is in contact with the animistic-perispiritic (from perispirit) zone of the medium.

Even in these conditions communication can take place, which could be partly direct or partly telepathic. In similar circumstances there is always the possibility of control of the communications by the medium. This could interfere with the process, even if the medium is totally removed as the connection with his animistic-perispiritic zone does not cease as there is always the presence of the “silver cord” guaranteeing the control of one’s own somatic equipment. (ANDRADE, 2002, page 122 to 124) 

Conclusion 

We have learned as an opportune lesson that we must always research in all of Kardec’s books before we reach a final opinion. We cannot stay with the first opinion which we come across. According to what has been demonstrated in this study, Kardec changed his opinion about possession many times; hence we can conclude that he did not hold anything as absolutely true but as always liable to new understandings.  To go further by saying, in relation to the evolutionary progressivity of Spiritism: “If new discoveries demonstrate that there is a mistake about a point in Spiritism, one must modify one’s standing on this point. If a new truth becomes revealed, one accepts it.” (KARDEC< 2007c, page 40)

We must therefore reformulate our concepts on possession, having in view that Kardec’s last opinion must prevail. It is this opinion that comes to speak of the real possibility of possession by a spirit of an incarnate being’s body. We can say that in subjugation the incarnate does not want to do whatever it may be pressed to, but it is constrained to carry out that which the obssessor spirit wishes. The action of the spirit is through involvement. In this hypothesis the incarnate being is conscious of the situation, but there is nothing it can do to avoid it. But during possession the incarnate being has no idea of what takes place with him; he carries out the will of the spirit without being conscious, as we have perceived in the majority of cases that we have come across. In this situation the incarnate being is completely unconscious, offering not even minimum resistance to the will of the obsessor, who makes a puppet from the obsessed being, if we can say so.

In face of what has been reported here, the conclusion we arrived with our study is that we can accept without mistake that in some cases there is real incorporation in the exact meaning of the word, applied to this mediumistic phenomenon.

References: 

ANDRADE, H.G. -Spirit, Perispirit and Soul , São Paulo: Pensamento-Cultrix, 2002.

DENIS, L.,  -In the Invisible,  Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 1987.

KARDEC, A.  -The Genesis, Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2007c.

_________  -The Spirits’ Books, Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2007a.

_________  -The Mediums’ Book, Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2007b.

_________  -Revue Spirite, volume 6, 1863, Araras – SP: IDE, 2000.

_________  - Revue Spirite, volume 12, 1869, Araras – SP: IDE, 2001.

XAVIER, F. C. In the Domains of Mediumship, Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 1987.

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⁽¹⁾ Cases of cure of obsessions and possessions: Revue Spirite, December 1863, page 373 ; January 1864, page 11; June 1864, page 168; January 1865, page 5; June 1865, page 172; February 1868, page 38; June 1867, page 174.

⁽²⁾ The epidemic which fell upon the village of Morzine in Savoy was exactly of this kind. The full account of this epidemic can be found in the following issues of Revue Spirite: December 1862 – page 353; January, April and May of 1863 (pages 1, 33, 101 and 133). (KARDEC, pages 347-351).