The Essential Guide to Possession, Depossession, and Divine Relationships

by Diana L. Paxson

Overview

Bestselling author of several fantasy novels including Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ancestors of Avalon, Diana L. Paxson now turns her attention to Trance Possession. Specifically, how to safely and effectively enter and to exit possessory trance. In possessory trance, one voluntarily offers one's body as a vehicle for spirit work. This differs from other forms of trance in that one's "normal" personality is replaced by a personality that is identified by oneself and one's community as a spirit or a god.

Here Paxson explores all aspects of trance possession, including:

• how to prepare for possessory trance
• how to enter and exit trance possession safely, and what to do if things get too heavy
• connecting with Saints and Spirits, including those found in AfroDiasporic religions

A practical book of particular interest to witches and pagans, each chapter includes two to five exercises that will assist you in your personal experiences with possession.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578635528
Publisher:	Red Wheel/Weiser
Publication date:	03/01/2015
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Diana L. Paxson has been teaching classes and leading rituals on trance work for more than twenty years. She is the coauthor, along with Marion Zimmer Bradley, of Priestess of Avalon and has continued the immensely popular Mists of Avalon series on her own.

Read an Excerpt

I believe that we are wired to enjoy sex because it encourages us to reproduce. The fact that humans find pleasure in ecstatic religious experience suggests that such states also have a purpose. If we long for connection to God, or the gods, it is because there is Something out there to desire. In partnership with the Divine, we transcend our limitations. As the Powers expand our psyches, we grow into our true selves. This book will not make you an instant shaman, mystic, or trance medium. For those who seek to get closer to their gods, it will offer ways to satisfy that longing. For those who feel compelled to go further, it will provide guidelines for healthy spiritual relationships and techniques for opening up to possession or closing it down. -from the introduction

Table of Contents

Introduction xv

Part 1 Self-Possession 1

1 Persons and Personas 3

What Do You Want? 3

Who are you? 4

Who are you, really? 7

Exercise 1.1 The Bucket List 7

Exercise 1.2 Needs 8

Exercise 1.3 Wants 9

Exercise 1.4 What's in a Name? 9

Exercise 1.5 The People in Your Neighborhood 10

Exercise 1.6 Who Are You? 10

2 The Soul Party 11

Body, Mind, and Spirit 11

In Search of the Soul 12

Analyzing the Psyche 12

Soul Parts 14

Toward a Field Theory of the Soul 17

Exercise 2.1 Mind and Body 19

Exercise 2.2 Breathing 19

3 In Search of Yourself 21

Meaning 22

Purpose 23

Identity 24

Integrating the Elements 26

Help fir the God-Bothered 28

Exercise 3.1 Meditation on the Name 30

Exercise 3.2 Baseline for Checksums 31

Exercise 3.3 Self Blessing 32

Exercise 3.4 The Question 33

Part 2 Choosing Partners 35

4 Absolutes and Archetypes 37

The God Beyond the Gods 37

Sacred Geometries 39

Archetypes 40

Exercise 4.1 The Stillness at the Center 45

Exercise 4.2 Working with Archetypal Energy 46

5 Powers as Persons 49

Gods 50

The Mighty Dead 57

Personal Ancestors 58

Allies and Guardians 60

Wights 61

Exercise 5.1 Surveying the Field 61

Exercise 5.2 Honoring the Ancestors 63

6 Divine Relationships 65

Getting to Know You 65

Background Check 67

Altar Work 68

Invitation 72

Your Place, Not Mine 73

Creation of the Scene 74

Exercise 6.1 Speed-Dating 76

Exercise 6.2 Date Night 77

Exercise 6.3 The Family Album 78

7 Terms of Endearment 79

Relationship Models 81

Living with Love 89

Exercise 7.1 Human Relationships 89

Exercise 7.2 Divine Relationships 90

Exercise 7.3 Identifying the Relationship 90

8 Communication 91

Angels or Illness? 92

Eloquent Locutions 93

Learning to Listen 94

Divine Dictation 97

Discernment 101

Exercise 8.1 Seeking Omens 104

Exercise 8.2 Words in Water 104

Exercise 8.3 Remember When 104

Exercise 8.4 Dream Work 104

Exercise 8.5 Dictation 105

9 Devotion 107

Relationship Readiness 108

Bhakti 108

The Crowley Method 109

Commitment 114

Anatomy of an Initiation 115

Private Initiations 119

Maintaining the Relationship 120

Exercise 9.1 Relationship Readiness Questionnaire 122

Exercise 9.2 Nine Ways of Working 123

Exercise 9.3 Approaching the Aspects 124

Exercise 9.4 Dining for Deities 124

Part 3 The Dancing Floor 125

10 Possession in the Past 127

Pagan Europe 127

Africa and Asia 132

Exercise 10.4 Trance Analysis I 137

11 Saints and Spirits 139

The Afro-Diasporic Religions 140

Spiritualism 144

Spiritism 145

Exercise 11.1 Trance Analysis 2 147

Exercise 11.2 Speaking to the Dead 147

Exercise 11.3 Field Trip 147

12 Possession in the Pagan Community 149

Wicca 150

The Assembly of the Sacred Wheel 151

The First Kingdom Church of Asphodel 151

The Universal Temple of Spirits 152

The Conjure Dance 153

The American Magic Umbanda House 155

Possessory Practice in the Hrafnar Community 156

Exercise 12.1 Trance Analysis 3 160

Exercise 12.2 Ritual Design 160

13 The Field and the Players 161

The Action 161

The Players 167

The Possessory Ritual Survival Guide 170

Exercise 13.1 Design a Ritual 177

Part 4 Invitation to the Dance 179

14 Leveling Up 181

Levels of Trance 181

On the Road 184

Opening the Head 186

Receptivity 188

Exercise 14.1 Altered States 190

Exercise 14.2 Shadow Play 191

Exercise 14.3 Moving Meditation 192

15 The Mirror and the Mask 193

The Severed Head 194

Channeling 195

Masks 196

The Goddess in the Mirror 197

Exercise 15.1 Self-Evaluation Before Training for Possessory Trance 200

Exercise 15.2 Channeling 203

Exercise 15.3 Masks of God 204

16 Horse Training 207

Exercise 16.1 Body and Souls 217

Exercise 16.2 Releasing and Protecting Soul Parts Using Germanic Imagery 218

17 Filled with the God 221

Coming to the Work 221

Inducing Trance 223

Negotiation and Consent 227

Dispossession 230

How to Avoid Trance 231

Exercise 17.1 An Attitude of Prayer 233

Exercise 17.2 Dress for Success 233

Exercise 17.3 Throw a God Party 233

Exercise 17.4 Outline for a Possessory Ritual 234

18 A Tour of the Issues 237

You're Doing It Wrong 237

Uninvited Guests Guests 238

Who Don't Leave 240

Breaking Boundaries 240

Deception and Self-Deception 245

Discernment and Validation 246

Personal and Group Dynamics 247

Conclusion 251

Acknowledgments 257

Works Cited 258