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cosmology

Possession

The state of a person being controlled or inhabited by an external spirit or entity — the entity as subject acting through the person's body, rather than merely troubling them from without. Distinct from haunting (a discarnate soul or place-bound presence that interferes without necessarily entering and controlling a living body) and from spirit_conjuration (an operator deliberately commanding a spirit's appearance, the reverse relation — here the spirit is uninvited and in control, not summoned and subordinated).

24 passages · 2 traditions
western_esoteric: 19 passageswestern_esoteric19theosophy: 5 passagestheosophy5
western_esoteric19
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 9 (part 1)
“CHAPTER II The Rituals of Transcendental Magic § 1. The Arbatel of Magic THE term transcendental must not be interpreted in any exalted or philosophical sense when it is used, informally and conventionally enough, in such a connection as t…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | Preface-h
“Moreover, there is a considerable literature on the subject to be found in quarters where one would least expect it - in accounts of folk-lore and ethnology, in the State Records of witch-trials, and even under the guise of fiction. These…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 5. Vampirism-b
“Such cases are by no of means uncommon, and clear up rapidly when the victim is separated from the vampire. Whenever there is a record of a close and dominating bond between two people with the devitalisation of one of them, it is a good p…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 5. Vampirism-d
“It was, in fact, the same method that I was instructed to use in dealing with my were-wolf, but it is a much more formidable task to absorb and transmute the projection of another person than to absorb one’s own, and could only have been ac…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 6. Hauntings-a
“THERE are two forms of “haunting” which have to be considered, the one which is due to a discarnate soul who interferes with a particular person, and the one which is due to the conditions prevailing in a particular place, and which affects…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 6. Hauntings-b
“It soon became noticeable that she, who had previously had a very lovable and gentle disposition, was gradually changing, so that not only in temperament, but in facial expression, she was growing like her late husband. Next a curious thin…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 7. The Pathology Of Non-Human Contacts-d
“The great Orders have their definite contacts and work strictly within them, keeping a firm hand on neophytes; outside the Orders there is a good deal of chaos and banditry, and it is unwise to venture far save in the company of an experien…”
Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune) | 7. The Pathology Of Non-Human Contacts-f
“I smashed my way through two entire tea-sets and all the mantelpiece ornaments. The ornaments just fell off the mantelpiece one by one of their own accord. I actually saw two of them do it. I did not know at the time that the Element of…”
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theosophy5
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 6)
“It comes to this: Mankind in its first prototypal, shadowy form, is the offspring of the Elohim of Life (or Pitris); in its qualitative and physical aspect it is the direct progeny of the "Ancestors," the lowest Dhyanis, or Spirits of the E…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 10)
“** The so-called "Spirits" that may occasionally possess themselves of the bodies of mediums are not the Monads or Higher Principles of disembodied personalities. Such a "Spirit" can only be either an Elementary, or -- a Nirmanakaya. [[Vo…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 61 (part 4)
“We answer: firstly, because the knowledge of such animals is a proof of the enormous antiquity of the human race; and secondly, to show the difference between the zoological real meaning of the words "dragon," " Naga, " and "Serpent," and t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 70 (part 5)
“144.) Then why, in this case, should not historical man be the product of a modification on a pre-existent and pre-historical kind of man, even supposing for argument's sake that there is nothing within him to last longer than, or live inde…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 74 (part 3)
“Let every lord of the Dazzling Face (an adept of the White Magic) cause the Viwan of every lord of the Dark Face to come into his hands (or possession), lest any (of the Sorcerers) should by its means escape from the waters, avoid the rod o…”