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POSSESSION

DEMONIACAL AND OTHER

POSSESSION

DEMONIACAL AND OTHER

AMONG PRIMITIVE RACES, IN ANTIQUITY,
THE MIDDLE AGES, AND MODERN TIMES

BY

T. K. OESTERREICH

PROFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TUBINGEN

LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., LTD.

BROADWAY HOUSE : 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C.

I 930

Authorized Translation by

D. IBBERSON

M.A, (OXON)

FEINTED IN QEEAT BRITAIN BY
SELLING AND SONS LTD., GDT1DFOED AND USHER

CONTENTS

PAGE

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE . . . . ix

FOREWORD xi

PART I
THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

INTRODUCTION

THE CONSTANT NATURE OF POSSESSION THROUGHOUT THE
AGES ....... 3

CHAPTER

I. SOURCES . . . . . .12

II. THE EXTERNAL SIGNS OF POSSESSION . . 17

Changes in the physiognomy of the possessed, 17. Changes
of voice, 19. Muscular strength, 22. Old descriptions, 25.

III. THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED . 26

i. THE SOMNAMBULISTIC FORM OF POSSESSION.

Apparent substitution of the spiritual individuality oper-
ating in the organism, 26. Examples of dialogues with
" possessing spirits," 29. Autobiography of one of these,
81. Somnambulistic possession without inner duplica-
tion, 32. Transformation of the personality, 34. The
problem of division of the subject, 36.

ii. THE LUCID FORM OF POSSESSION.

Kemer's and Eschenmayer's cases, 40. The Janet-
Ravmond case, 45. Jeanne des Anges, 49. Father
Surin, 51. Staudenmaier, 57. Caroline St., 61. Fritz
Algar, 70. Montan, 75. Possession and obsession, 77*
Temptations, 80. Transformations of lucid possession,
83. Jeanne des Anges, 86.

IV. THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION.

EXORCISM . . . . . .91

Autosuggestion and compulsive processes, 91. Fathers
Surin, Tranquille, Lactance, 92. Kerner's cases, 94.
Causation of possession by medical treatment, 96. Ex-
pulsion of " possessing spirits," 100. The magic papyrus
of Paris, 101. The Manuale Exorcismorum, 102.-t-Exor-
cism in Japan, 107. Cure by simple autosuggestion, 108.

vi CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

A modern psychological exorcism by P. Janet, 109. The
death through possession of Lactance, 117. Extension of
the idea* of exorcism, 119. Age and sex of the possessed, 121.
Modern extensions of the idea of possession, 121. Un-
conscious possession, 123. Allied morbid states of the
present day: psychasthenia, 124. Acute hysterical attacks,
125. History of psychic pathology, 128.

PART II

THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION AND ITS
IMPORTANCE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF
RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY

V. SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION PROPERLY SO

CALLED AMONGST PRIMITIVE RACES . . 131

Possession in Africa, 132. Amongst the Kabyle, 132. In
Central Africa, 133. In Abyssinia, 136. In East Africa,
137. Amongst the Ba-Ronga of South-East Africa, 138.
In South Africa, 143. In Asia, 145. Amongst the Bataks
of the Malay Archipelago, 145.

VI. SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION IN THE HIGHER

CIVILIZATIONS . . . . .147

(i.) IN THE PAST

1. Antiquity. The region of the Tigris and Euphrates,
147. Ancient Egypt, 149. Hellenistic Egypt, 151.
Classical antiquity, 154. Primitive and classical Greece,
155. Late antiquity, 157. Early Christian times, 158.
The Christians as exorcists, 164. Possession amongst the
Jews, 168. The Old Testament: Saul, 168. The time of
Jesus, 169. The last days of Judaism, 170. Possession in
Ancient India, 172.

2. The Middle Ages.Cases from the life of St. Augus-
tine, 176.- Bernard of Clairvaux, 177. Henry the Saint, 183.
The Kabbala, 185. In Syria, 185. In Northern Africa,
186.

3. Modern times. Luther, 186. The epidemics of posses-
sion, 187. The possessed and witches, 191. Zooan-
thrppy, 191. The Age of Enlightenment, 192. The romantic
period, 194. In France and England, 195. Russia, 196.
Greece, 196. America, 197.

(ii.) IN THE PRESENT.

The Catholic attitude, 199. Protestantism, 202. Spirit-
ualism, 202. France, 202. Germany, 203. Russia, 203.
The Jews of Eastern Europe, 206. America, 210.
The Near East, 212. India, 213. Siam, 217. Burmah,
218. China, 219. Japan, 224. Egypt, 230. Arabia,
231. Abyssinia, 234.

CONTENTS vii

CHAPTER PAGE

VJI. ARTIFICIAL AND VOLUNTARY POSSESSION
AMONGST PRIMITIVE PEOPLES. SO-CALLED
SHAMANISM . . . . . .236

Autosuggestibility of primitive races, 236. Cases of death
by autosuggestion, 238. Artificial and voluntary possession
amongst primitives, 241. Masked dances, 242. Shaman-
ism amongst the pigmies of the Malay Peninsula, 243.
Amongst the Veddas of Ceylon, 247. Shamanism amongst
primitive races of normal stature, 253. In Central Africa,
253. Tripolitania, 255. East Africa, 263. The Malay
Archipelago, 265. The Bataks of Sumatra, 265. Malacca,
276. The Tonga Islands, 276. First-hand testimony of a
native, 278. Melanesia, 280. New Guinea, 284. The Fiji
Islands, 285. America, 286. The masked dances of the
South American Indians, 287. North American Indians,
289 The semi -civilizations of ancient America, 292.

VIII. THE SHAMANISM OF THE NORTH ASIATIC
PEOPLES IN ITS RELATIONSHIP TO POSSES-
SION . . . . . . .294

Ancient accounts, 294. Gmelin, 295. Wrangel, 295.
Castren, 297. Pallas, 299. Choice of Shamans, 300.
Their social importance, 304. True North Asiatic Sham-
anism not possession, 305. Radloffs description, 305.
Tschubinow, 306.

IX. ARTIFICIAL AND VOLUNTARY POSSESSION

AMONGST THE HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS . 311

(i.) IN THE PAST (THE GR^ECO-ROMAN WORLD).
Cassandra, 311. The Pythoness of Delphi, 311. Recent
descriptions of her states of inspiration, 313. Ancient
sources, 314. The problem of the chasm in the Adyton
of the temple, 316. The psychological nature of the Py-
thoness' state, 320. The part played by the priests, 322.
The oracles, 323. History of the authority and influence of
the oracle, 325. Relations between Christian antiquity and
the Pythoness, 326. Later views, 331. The Sibyls, 332.
The cult of Dionysos, 335. The " Bacchje " of Euripides,
336. Religious fervour of the cult, 337. Divine possession
in the Mysteries of Jamblichus, 343. The cory bant ism
of the Phrygian cults, 344. Possession in the other oracles,
344. Plato's theory of possession, 347. The Emperor
Julian, 347. Possession in Egypt, 348.

(ii.) IN THE PRESENT.

In Asia, 348. Possession in the Hindu religion, 348. The
" devil-dancers " of Southern India and Ceylon, 349. Bur-
mah, 351. Siam, 352. China, 355. Early accounts, 356.
Marco Polo, 356. Wu possession in the Chinese oracles and
their kinship with that of Delphi, 357." Spirit-hopping," 361.
Mrs. Taylor's account of Chinese possession, 362. Posses-
sion by snake-spirits, 364. Europe and America, 365. The
spiritualist movement, 365. Alleged incarnations, 366.
Semi-somnambulism, 368. The Piper case, 371. Auto-
matic writing and speech, 374. Extension of the idea of
possession, 375.

viii CONTENTS

PAGE

CONCLUSION . . . . . .376

General survey of the distribution and importance of pos-
session, 376. Possession and rationalism, 379. The situa-
tion in the primitive world, 379.

APPENDIX ON PARAPSYCHOLOGY . . .381

Parapsychic states in primitive possession, 381. Amongst
civilized races, 381. The problem of the parapsychic
faculties of the Pythoness at Delphi, 383. The philology of
neo-Shamanism in the light of tradition, 383. Recognition
of parapsychic phenomena by German idealism and specula-
tive theism, 384. Attitude of modern philologists and his-
torians, 387. Dependence of philologico-historical criticism
on the further development of parapsychology, 389.

INDEX . . . . . . .391

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

PROFESSOR OESTERREICH, the author of this work, has made
a survey of the history of Possession from the most ancient
times down to the present day and in all countries of the
inhabited globe, together with an analysis of its nature and
relationship to other phenomena, such as hysteria and the
manifestations of spiritualism.

The subject treated is a very fascinating one, to the
general reader as well as to the student of psychology and
ethnology. It would be difficult to see the human race in a
more fantastic light than that cast by these stories of Pos-
session. The work abounds, moreover, in suggestions for
further research.

As regards the text, the authorized French version has
been followed in its occasional abbreviations of quotations
given in the original work, and M. Sudre's footnotes on
spiritualism in France have also been inserted. The German
text has, however, been used throughout for purposes of
translation. All English quotations have been traced to
source except one, which it has not been possible to discover,
and classical extracts, many of which the author gives in the
original, have either been translated or replaced by corre-
sponding passages from English versions. The passages
from the Bible are given in the Rev. Dr. Moffat's well-known
version, by the kind consent of Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton,

its publishers.

IX I.

ix

FOREWORD

THIS book is the result of investigations which have
been published in the first two issues (simultaneously
produced) of the review Deutsche Psychologie. The present
extensive work is not, however, a mere reprint; it is very
much fuller than the original publications. As the subject-
matter is gathered from widely scattered literary sources,
some of which are difficult of access, so that the reader cannot
be expected to examine them, I have not hesitated to quote
freely, since first-hand knowledge of the texts cannot be
replaced by any secondary account. The attention of
classical philologists is especially directed to the passages
concerning the oracle of Delphi (pp. 311 sqq.) and the cult of
Dionysos (pp. 335 sqq.). I should think myself well rewarded
for my labours if they for their part were induced to approach
these two problems, which are of peculiar interest to the
philosopher, from a fresh angle.

After the completion of the work I was obliged through
considerations of space to renounce the idea of adding a
table of relevant literature. Essential works are indicated
by the notes.

THE AUTHOR.

TUBINGEN,

Early March, 1921.

XI

PART I

THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

INTRODUCTION

THE CONSTANT NATURE OF POSSESSION
THROUGHOUT THE AGES

THE book affording to us inhabitants of the European
zone of culture our earliest glimpse of the states called
" possession m is the New Testament. Bible stories often
give, in fact, an accurate picture of these states, which were ex-
tremely frequent in the latter days of the ancient world. To
the authors of the New Testament they were evidently very
familiar, and their accounts, even should they be recognized
as of little or no historical value, bear in themselves the stamp
of truth. They are pictures of typical states exactly re-
produced. 2

The following are a few quotations to refresh the reader's
memory :

And as soon as he stepped out of the boat a man from the tombs
came to meet him, a man with an unclean spirit who dwelt among
the tombs ; by this time no one could bind him, not even with a
chain, for he had often been bound with fetters and chains and
had snapped the chains and broken the fetters nobody could
tame him. All night and day among the tombs and the hills he
shrieked and gashed himself with stones. On catching sight of
Jesus from afar he ran and knelt before him, shrieking aloud,
" Jesus, son of God most High, what business have you with me ?
By God, I adjure you, do not torture me." (For he had said,
" Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.") Jesus asked him,
44 What is your name ?" *' Legion," he said, " there is a host of
us." And they begged him earnestly not to send them out of the
country (Mark v 2-10).

I will pass over the rest of the passage, the alleged entry
of the devils into a herd of swine. The same story is to be
fojind in Matthew vii 28-33 and in Luke viii 26-39.

1 In ancient, as also sometimes in later times, it was customary to
class as possession other states of enthusiasm or inspiration. I shall
at first confine myself here to possession in the accepted sense, and later
extend the acceptation gradually in each direction.

* Besides the quotations given in the text (Moffat's trans., pub.
Hodder and Stoughton), cf. also Mark xii 24 sq., 48 sq., Mark iii 22 sq.,
Luke xi 14-26.

8

4 THE NATURE OP THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Some strolling Jewish exorcists also undertook to pronounce
the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying :
*' I adjure you to the Jesus whom Paul preaches !" The seven sons
of Sceuas, a Jewish high priest, used to do this. But the evil
spirit retorted, " Jesus I know and Paul I know, but you who are
you ?" And the man in whom the evil spirit resided leapt at them,
overpowered them all, and belaboured them, till they rushed out
of the house stripped and wounded (Acts xix 13-16). 1

Now there was a man with an unclean spirit in their synagogue,
who at once shrieked out, " Jesus of Nazaret, what business have
you with us ? Have you come to destroy us ? We know who
you are, you are God's holy One." But Jesus checked it; " Be
quiet," he said, " come out of him." And after convulsing him the
unclean spirit did come out of him with a loud cry (Mark i 28-27).

A man from the crowd answered him. " Teacher, I brought
my son to you; he has a dumb spirit, and whenever it seizes him
it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth and grinds his
teeth. He is wasting away with it ; so I told your disciples to cast
it out, but they could not." He answered them, " O faithless
generation, how long must I still be with you ? How long have
I to bear with you ? Bring him to me." So they brought the
boy to him, and when the spirit saw Jesus it at once convulsed the
boy ; he fell on the ground and rolled about foaming at the mouth.
Jesus asked his father, " How long has he been like this ?" " From
childhood," he said; " it has thrown him into fire and water many
a time, to destroy him. If you can do anything, do help us, do
have pity on us." Jesus said to him, " ' if you can '! Anything
can be done for one who believes." At once tfie father of the boy
cried out, *' I do believe; help my unbelief." Now as Jesus saw
that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he checked the unclean spirit.
** Deaf and dumb spirit," he said, " leave him, I command you, and
never enter him again." And it did come out, after shrieking
aloud and convulsing him violently. The child turned like a
corpse, so that most people said, " he is dead " ; but, taking his
hands, Jesus raised him and he got up (Mark ix 17-27. Same story
in Matthew xvii 14-21, and Luke ix 35-45).

Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he
healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw (Matt, xii 22).

When he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath,
there was a woman who for eighteen years had suffered weakness
from an evil spirit; indeed she was bent double and quite unable
to raise herself. Jesus noticed her and called to her, " Woman,
you are released from your weakness." He laid his hands on her,
and instantly she became erect and glorified God (Luke xiii 10-13).

Comparing these brief stories with accounts of the
phenomena of possession in later times, we find what may be
described as the perfect similarity of the facts extremely
surprising, while our respect for the historic truth of the
Gospels is enhanced to an extraordinary degree. Excluding

1 It is not without importance to the understanding of the New
Testament writings and their bearing on the psychology of religion
to observe that the term weCpa is not only used in the expression
77-vefyta ayiov, but that the devils of the possessed were designated under

the name

INTRODUCTION 5

the story of the herd of swine, the narratives are of an entirely
realistic and objective character. In particular the succinct
accounts of Jesus' relation to these events, his success and
failure together with that of his disciples, as well as the
particulars of his cures, 1 coincide so exactly with what we
know of these states from the point of view of present-day
psychology, that it is impossible to avoid the impression that
we are dealing with a tradition which is veracious.

In order to show the constant nature of the phenomena of
possession throughout the ages and to vindicate the import-
ance of these various quotations, we will place side by side
with the extracts from the New Testament several cases from
more recent times. It would be easy to count them by dozens
and even by hundreds. The lives of the saints of the Catholic
Church as related in the Ada Sanctorum, are full of stories
of possession and its cure. But it is not only in Christian

1 In this connection quotations such as the following, the historical
truth of which is incontestable, are extremely characteristic.

Now when Jesus had finished these parables he set out from
there and went to his native place, where he taught the people
in the synagogue till they were astounded. They said, " Where
did he get this wisdom and these miraculous powers ? Is this
not the son of the joiner ? Is not his mother called Mary and his
brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas ? Are not his
sisters settled here among us ? Then where has he got all this ?"
So they were repelled by him. But Jesus said to them, " A prophet
never goes without honour except in his native place and in his
home." And he did not many mighty works there because of their
unbelief 2 (OVK eVoi^ac^ Ki Swa^cis TroAAas Sta TVJV dmariav avrwv) (Matt,
xiii 53-58).

A few chapters later Matthew relates how in one instance an exorcism
by the disciples of Jesus failed, and he replied to their questions as
to the cause of the failure: Sid ryv oXiyo^iariav vpajv, on account of your
little faith (Matt, xvii 14-21 ; cf. Mark ix 28 sq.). Both accounts are in
full agreement with what psychology would lead us to expect in the
attendant circumstances. Moreover, the first report is not even favour-
able to the miracle-working power of Jesus. It must rest on specially
old and reliable tradition which in this passage has not yet been
retouched. We should indeed rather expect to read: There he was
not able to work many miracles owing to their lack of faith. It is
obvious, however, that this mode of expression cannot proceed from
a naif outlook which regarded these cures as miracles. Moreover, Jesus
might, in face of the lack of faith opposed to him, have been instinc-
tively withheld from any greater efficaciousness.

2 I have followed the Revised Version in this sentence only, as it is
in accordance with the text used by the author. Moffat's version,
which I have otherwise used, reads : " There he could not do many
miracles owing to their lack of faith " (TRANS.).

6 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

literature that such facts are described, it is also in that of
non-Christian antiquity.

Let us first take the Greek world. Here, by way of ex-
ample, is an extract from a dialogue of Lucian (born A.D. 125) :

I should like to ask you, then, what you think of those who deliver
demoniacs from their terrors and who publicly conjure phantoms.
I need not recall to you the master of this art, the famous Syrian
of Palestine, everyone already knows this remarkable man who in
the case of people falling down at the sight of the moon, rolling
their eyes and foaming at the mouth, calls on them to stand up and
sends them back home whole and free from their infirmity, for
which he charges a large sum each time. When he is with sick
persons he asks them how the devil entered into them; the patient
remains silent, but the devil replies, in Greek or a barbarian tongue,
and says what he is, whence he comes, and how he has entered into
the man's body : this is the moment chosen to conjure him to come
forth ; if he resist, the Syrian threatens him and finally drives him
out. 1

At the beginning of the third century A.D. the Greek
sophist, Flavius Philostratus, in his biography of the ascetic
and thaumaturge Apollonius of Tyana, compiled at the request
of the wife of Septimius Severus, Julia Domna, a Syrian full
of wit and beauty (A. Furtwangler), relates the following:

. . . These discourses were interrupted by the arrival of the
messenger. He brought with him Indians who implored the aid
of the Wise Men. He presented to them a poor woman who
commended her son to them; he was, she said, sixteen years old,
and for two years had been possessed by an evil and lying demon.
u On what grounds do you believe this ?" asked one of the Sages. " He
is," said she, " of particularly pleasing appearance ; therefore, the
demon loves him ; he does not leave him the use of his reason, but
prevents him from going to school, from learning to shoot with the
bow, and even from remaining in the house; he drags him away
into desolate places. The boy no longer even has his own voice;
he utters deep and grave sounds like a grown man. The eyes
with which he looks forth are not his eyes. All this afflicts me
deeply, I rend my bosom and seek to bring back my child, but he
does not recognize me. As I was preparing to come here, (and I
have thought of it already for a year past), the demon revealed
himself to me by the mouth of my child. He declared to me
that he is the spirit of a man killed in war who died loving his wife.
But his wife having defiled his couch three days after his death by
a new marriage, he came to loathe the love of women and has
diverted all his passion on to this child. He promised me, if I
consented not to denounce him before you, to do much good to
my son. These promises tempted me for a little while, but now
for a long time past he has been the sole master in my house,
where he thinks of nothing but mischief and deceit."

The Sage asked her if the child was there. " No," replied the

1 Lucian, The Lover of Lying (^tAo^etfSijs), 16. Complete works,
ed. C. Jacobitz, Teubner series.

INTRODUCTION 7

mother. "I did all that I could to bringj him; but the demon
threatens to throw him into gulfs, over precipices, in a word to slay
him if I accuse him (the demon) before you." " Be at peace," said the
Sage ; " he will not slay your child when he has read this." And he
drew from his bosom a letter which he gave to this woman. The
letter was addressed to the demon and contained the most terrible
threats towards him. 1

A Christian author of the following century, Cyril of
Jerusalem, gives the following general description of pos-
session :

. . . the unclean devil, when he comes upon the soul of a man
. . . comes like a wolf upon a sheep, ravening for blood and ready
to devour. His presence is most cruel; the sense of it most op-
pressive; the mind is darkened: his attack is an injustice also, and
the usurpation of another's possession. For he tyrannically uses
another's body, another's instruments, as his own property; he
throws down him who stands upright (for he is akin to him who
fell from heaven); he perverts the tongue and distorts the lips.
Foam comes instead of words ; the man is filled with darkness ; his
eye is open yet his soul sees not through it ; and the miserable man
quivers convulsively before his death. 2

Zeno of Verona (died c. 375) writes in precisely the same
manner:

But we, my brethren, who do not give ourselves over to con-
jectures of the mind, but are taught by God himself . . ., we can-
not so much lay claim that the souls of the dead live as rather
prove it by manifest facts. For the impure spirits of both sexes
which prowl hither and thither, make their way by deceitful
flatteries or by violence into the bodies of living men and make
their habitation there: they seek refuge there while holding them
in a bondage of corruption. But as soon as we enter into the
field of the divine combat (exorcism) and begin to drive them
forth with the arrow of the holy name of Jesus, then thou mayest
take pity on the other when thou shalt have learnt to know him
for that he is delivered over to such a fight. His face is suddenly
deprived of colour, his body rises up of itself, the eyes in madness
roll in their sockets and squint horribly, the teeth, covered with
a horrible foam, grind between blue-white lips; the limbs twisted
in all directions are given over to trembling; he sighs, he weeps;
he fears the appointed day of Judgment and complains that he is
driven out; he confesses his sex, the time and place he entered
into the man, he makes known his name and the date of his death,
or shows by manifest signs who he is; so that we generally learn

1 Flavius Philostratus, Works, iii, 38, ed. Westermann, Paris,
1849. There is a trans, by E. Berwick, 1809. Apollpnius of Tyana was
himself a companion of Jesus. Given the romantic character of the
whole biography, it is much more proper to regard this narrative as a
typical example of cases of possession seen by Flavius Philostratus
than as an historical document.

2 Cyril, Catechisms, xvi, No. 15, Engl. Trans., The Catechetical
Lectures of St. Cyril, in Library of the Fathers (Oxford, 1839).

8 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

that there are many of these who, according to our own memory,
persisting in the worship of idols, have recently died a violent
death. 1

The sixth-century French chronicler, Gregory of Tours, is
also acquainted with possession and its specific treatment:

It is not uncommon that on the appointed feast-days those
demoniac fall into a state of downright madness in the churches.
They break the lamps, to the terror of the assembled parish. But
if the oil of the lamps fall upon them the demon leaves them and
they regain their right senses. 2

In the seventh century it is mentioned in the life of St.
Gall:

This young girl, having been held by the cruel persecution of the
Old Enemy, was led to the monastery by the care of her parents,
who were not of obscure origin. When she entered into the oratory
of the blessed Gall the Confessor, she immediately fell to the earth
by reason of the assaults of the horrible demon, and rending herself
in a lamentable fashion, began to utter loud and terrible cries
accompanied by the most filthy words. Then one of the brethren,
of the name of Stephen, moved by her distress, recited an exorcism
until such time as her torments had ceased. He later told the girl
when she had come to herself what penances she should perform,
and applied himself to fasting and prayer for her. But as the
wretched woman made free use of forbidden meat the demon
invaded her forthwith so strongly that she could hardly be held
by several persons. 8

The following cases belong to the beginning of the
thirteenth century; they are taken from the oldest biography 4
of St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226).

There was a man of the name of Peter in the town of Fulgineus.
At that time he was on his way to visit the abode of St. Michael,
either in consequence of a vow or else of a penance self-inflicted
for his sins, and he drew near to the fountain. While, wearied
with travel, he quenched his thirst at this fountain, he thought
he saw drinking there demons which had haunted him during
three years, and which were horrible to see and to hear. As he
went towards the tomb of the Holy Father (St. Francis of Assisi)
cruelly torn by the demons in their fury, by a manifest miracle
he was marvellously delivered from them as soon as he touched
the sepulchre. . . .

1 S. Zenones Episcopi Vcronce Sermones, Ed. Ballerini, 1739, i, 16,
c. 3.

2 Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, book x (Migne's Patrology,
vol. Ixxi).

8 Vita S. Galli, lib. ii, c. 24 (Pertz, Monumenta Germanice historic?,
vol. ii, p. 26).

4 Brother Thomas of Celano, Vita prima et secunda S. Frandsci
Assisiensis, Rome, 1880, cap. iii. De demoniacis (Rome edit., 1906,
p. 142). There is a translation by A. G. Ferrers Howell, The Lives of
St. Francis, London, 1908.

INTRODUCTION 9

. . . This woman having been brought from the town of Narnius
in a great state of madness and wandering of the mind, doing
horrible things and uttering incoherent words, there appeared to
her in a vision the Blessed Saint Francis, saying: " Make the sign of
the Cross." As she replied, " I cannot," the Saint himself made
it over her and purged her of madness and demoniac imagin-
ings. ...

Many men and women, tortured by the divers torments of devils
and deceived by their spells, were also delivered by the surpassing
merits of the holy and glorious Father. . . .

The following extract relates to a case in the sixteenth
century:

The latter (a girl) was possessed by the demon who often threw
her to the ground as if she had the falling sickness. Soon the
demon began to speak with her mouth and said things inhuman
and marvellous which may not be repeated. . . . The girl had
always shown herself patient, she had often prayed to God. But
when she had called upon the name of Jesus to deliver her, the
evil spirit manifested himself anew, he had taken possession of her
eyes which he made start out of her head, had twisted her tongue
and pulled it more than eight inches out of her mouth, and turned
her face towards her back with an expression so pitiful that it
would have melted a stone. All the priests of the place and from
round about came and spoke to her, but the devil replied to them
with a contempt which exceeded all bounds, and when he was
questioned about Jesus he made a reply of such derision that it
cannot be set down. . . . x

Now follows an extract from a narrative of the eighteenth
century:

At the unexpected rumour that two possessed women had
been brought into the workhouse of that place, I followed the
dictates of my pastor's conscience and went to the workhouse on
the evening of the 14th of December, 1714. After . . . the
paroxysm began in one of the possessed women, and Satan abruptly
hurled this invective at me by her mouth: " Silly fool, what are
you doing in this workhouse ? You'll get lice here," etc. I
made him this answer : " By the blood, the wounds and the martyr-
dom of Jesus Christ, thou shalt be vanquished and expelled !"
Thereupon he foamed with rage and shouted: *' If we had the
devil's power we would turn earth and heaven upside down, etc.
. . . What God doesn't want is ours !"

In the morning, towards 11 o'clock, this possessed woman came
at my request, but not willingly, into the church of the place.
There, in order that I might inform myself of her most wretched
state, I began to sing the canticle : " May God the Father be with
us," and after such preparation as I judged necessary I read from
the pulpit the two remarkable passages concerning possession in the
fifth and ninth chapters of St. Mark, so earnestly and for so long
that Satan who was in the possessed cried to me from below the
pulpit: "Won't you soon have done?" After I had replied:

1 J. Kerner, Geschichten Besessener neuerer Zeit, Stuttgart, 1834,
p. 122.

10 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

** When it is enough for God it will be enough for thee, demon !"
Satan broke into complaints against me: " How dost thou oppress,
how dost thou torment me ! If only I had been wise enough
not to enter thy church 1" As he cried out impudently : " My
creature must now suffer as an example I" I closed his mouth
with these words : " Demon 1 the creature is not thine but God's !
That which is thine is filth and unclean things, hell and damnation
to all eternity !" When at last I addressed to him the most violent
exhortations in the name of Jesus, he cried out: " Oh, I burn, I
burn ! Oh, what torture ! What torture I" or loaded me with
furious invectives: " What ails thee to jabber in this fashion?"

During all these prayers, clamourings, and disputes, Satan
tortured the poor creature horribly, howled through her mouth
in a frightful manner and threw her to the ground so rigid, so in-
sensible that she became as cold as ice and lay as dead, at which
time we could not perceive the slightest breath until at last with
God's help she came to herself. . . .

Although the possessed once more recovered her reason on this
occasion without being able, be it noted, to remember what Satan
had said by her mouth, he did not leave her long in peace after my
departure ; he tormented her as before. . . . l

Finally, here is another case from the beginning of the
nineteenth century:

The first woman possessed in the Biblical manner with whom
I became acquainted, writes the Swabian poet and physician Justinus
Kerner, I owe to the confidence of Doctor . . . He had sent her
to me for cure, informing me that all treatment by ordinary methods
had been fruitless when applied to this woman.

The patient was a peasant-woman of thirty-four years. . . ,
Her past life up to this time had been irreproachable. She kept
her house and showed due regard for religion without being espe-
cially devout. Without any definite cause which could be
discovered, she was seized, in August, 1830, by terrible fits of
convulsions, during which a strange voice uttered by her mouth
diabolic discourses. As soon as this voice began to speak (it
professed to be that of an unhappy dead man), her individuality
vanished, to give place to another. So long as this lasted she knew
nothing of her individuality, which only reappeared (in all its
integrity and reason) when she had retired to rest.

This demon shouted, swore, and raged in the most terrible fashion.
He broke out especially into curses against God and everything
sacred.

Bodily measures and medicines did not produce the slightest
change in her state, nor did a pregnancy and the suckling which
followed it. Only continual prayer (to which moreover she was
obliged to apply herself with the greatest perseverance, for the
demon could not endure it) often frustrated the demon for a time.

During five months all the resources of medicine were tried in
vain. . . . On the contrary, two demons now spoke in her; who
often, as it were, played the raging multitude within her, barked
like dogs, mewed like cats, etc. Did she begin to pray, the demons
at once flung her into the air, swore, and made a horrible din through
her mouth.

1 Mr Hartmami, 6\ M. Andrea Harimanns Hauspostill, 1745, quoted
by J. Kerner, ibid., p. 107.

INTRODUCTION 11

When the demons left her in peace she came to herself, and on
hearing the accounts of those present, and seeing the injuries
inflicted upon her by blows and falls, she burst into sobs and lamented
her condition. By a magico-magnetic (that is to say, hypnotic)
treatment . . . one of the demons had been expelled before she
was brought to me; but the one who remained only made the
more turmoil.

Prayer was also particularly disagreeable to this one. If the
woman wished to kneel down to pray, the demon strove to prevent
her with all his might, and if she persisted he forced her jaws apart
and obliged her to utter a diabolic laugh or whistle. . . .

She was able to eat nothing but a soup of black bread and water.
As soon as she took anything better, the demon rose up in her and
cried: "Carrion should eat nothing good!" and took away her
plate. She often fasted for two or three complete days without
taking a crumb of food and without drinking a drop. On those
days the demon kept quiet. Through distress, suffering and
fasting, she had grown thin and was little more than a skeleton.
Her pains were often so great, by night as well as day, as to beggar
description, and we like herself were in despair over them. 1

Narratives such as the foregoing, above all those relating
to early Christian times, have long excited the interest of
doctors and religious historians, and from time to time
formed the subject of monographs. In these circumstances
it will be worth while to subject the question to a thorough
examination from the psychological point of view, the more
so as the most recent descriptions on the medical side are
inadequate and have thrown little light. The psychological
conception of possession is still so little known that even
a man like Harnack thinks it " often defies scientific analysis
even in our own times, and leaves us all at liberty to
suppose that certain mysterious forces are brought into play.
In this domain there are facts which cannot be ignored and
yet of which no explanation is forthcoming." Wrede has
expressed the same opinion. 2 In reality, there can be no
question of particular enigmas in the matter of possession;
the province of psychology where they are in fact encountered
lies quite elsewhere.

1 J. Kerner, Nachricht von dem Vorkommen des Besessenseins, Stutt-
gart, 1836, p. 27.

8 A. Harnack, Medizinisches aus der dltesten Kirchengeschichte in
Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahr-
hunderten, 3rd edit., Leipzig, 1915, vol. i, p. 137. W. Wrede, Das
Messiasgeheimnis in den Evangelien, Gottingen, 1901, p. 25.

CHAPTER I
SOURCES

AFTER these preliminary historical remarks we shall now
pass to psychological considerations proper, casting a rapid
preliminary glance over the materials on which a psycho-
logical study may be based.

Possession has been an extremely common phenomenon,
cases of which abound in the history of religion. Only where
a high degree of civilization prevails does it disappear or
retreat into the shadows. The number of detailed accounts
is by no means proportionate to this frequency; in the majority
of cases, as in the ^aifiov^o^evoi of the New Testament, the
narratives are so short that no psychological explanation can
be founded upon them. Happily we possess a series of
sufficiently complete accounts; during the last centuries, in
proportion as we approach the present one, their number has
become appreciable, and it is not uncommon to light upon
matter of this kind when looking through theological and
psychiatric literature. Just as states of possession have a
general typical resemblance, the same may be said of the
relevant documents. The bibliography scattered through
this book forms an index to a great number of these, and I
shall here confine myself to mentioning those few which
constitute sources of the first importance; they are for the
use of the reader who desires to consult original documents
of a more detailed nature.

The facilities for an analysis of possession are much
inferior to those enjoyed by the student of states of ecstasy.
For these latter we possess a mass of sources, autobiographical
in the widest sense of the word. Autodescriptions of pos-
session are, on the contrary, extremely rare. No one, of
course, can say what surprises may await us in the sheaves
of manuscripts belonging to the Middle Ages and later
centuries now buried in libraries; but judging by what has
already been rediscovered we must abandon hope of seeing

12

SOURCES 18

good accounts brought to light, even in very limited numbers.
This poverty of autodescriptive narratives has a profound
psychological reason which springs from the very nature of
possession. We are to some extent dealing with states
involving a more or less complete posterior amnesia, so that
the majority of victims of possession are not in a condition
to describe it. It is therefore necessary a priori to avoid
confining ourselves to autodescriptive sources, and to regard
this matter as one in which concessions must be made. Not
only material coming from observers who have seen in
possession purely and simply a morbid psychic state will be
regarded as admissible; the most interesting and detailed
accounts come precisely from authors who believed in the
reality of possession, and when they combine exact obse^va-
tion with good description may very well be used in spite of
the writers' outlook.

To the principal sources belong old journals kept by two
Swabian doctors of the school of Schelling: Kerner and
Eschenmayer, who made therein careful notes of their cases in
a manner so admirable as to give a clear picture of the
states. Both these authors have a demonological point of
view in harmony with the spirit of the last days of roman-
ticism; they believe in the existence of demons, and their
invasion of the soul and organism of human beings. Their
three works are :

Justinus Kerner, Geschichten Besessener neuerer Zeit.
Beobachtungen aus dem Gebiete kakodamonisch-magnetischer
Erscheinungen, iiebst Reflexionen von C. A. Eschenmayer
iiber Besessensein und Zauber. Stuttgart, 1834.

The first part appeared under the title: Die Geschichte
des Mddchens von Orlach, Stuttgart, 1834. Reprint " with
a retrospective historical survey by the author, of some
similar cases in antiquity, including those in the Holy Scrip-
tures, a literary-historical supplement by Wilhelm German
and two illustrations." Schwab. Hall, 1898.

Justinus Kerner, Nachricht von dem Vorkommen des
Besessenseins eines damonisch-magnetischen Leidens und
seiner schon in Altertum bekannten Heilung durch magisch-
magnetisches Einwirken, in einem Handschreiben an den
Obermedizinalrat Dr. Schelling in Stuttgart. Stuttgart and
Augsburg, 1836.

14 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

C. A. Eschenmayer, Konflikt zwischen Himmel und Holle,
an dem Damon eines besessenen Madchens beobachtet.
Nebst einem Wort an Dr. Strauss. Tubingen and Leipzig,
1837 (C. St. Case).

Franz von Baader, Fragment aus der Geschichte einer
magnetischen Hellseherin. Complete works, part i, vol. iv,
Leipzig, 1853, pp. 41-60.

Gottlob Muller, Griindliche Nachricht von einer begeisterten
Weibsperson Anna Elisabeth Lohmannin, aus eigener Erfahrung
und Untersuchung mitgeteilt, Wittenberg, 1759 (L. Case).

Of great importance is the case of the mystic Surin
(sixteenth century). Details may be found in: Aubin,
Cruels effets de la vengeance du Cardinal Richelieu ou Histoire
des diables de Loudun, Amsterdam, 1716 (cf. particularly
pp. 215 sq.) Delacroix, fitudes d'histoire et de psychologic
dumysticisme, Paris, 1908, pp. 328-344 Henry-Marie Boudon,
La vie du R. P. Seurin ou Vhomme de Dieu 9 Chartres and
Paris, 1689.

In addition the Bibliotheque diabolique, published at Paris
from 1882 onwards by the pupils of the great Parisian
clinician Charcot, is of considerable value; it has rendered
accessible a mass of old writings, partly printed and partly
manuscript. We will cite :

Vols. i and ii : Jean Wier (Johann Wier or Weyer, a
physician, the first adversary of belief in witchcraft, 1516-
1558), Histoires, disputes et discours des illusions et impostures
des diables 9 des magiciens infantes, sorcieres et empoisonneurs,
des ensorcelez et d6moniaques et de la gu&rison d'iceux, Paris,
1885 (Orig. edit. : De prcestigiis dcemonum et incantationibus
ac veneficiis 9 Bale, 1563).

Vol. iv (Anonymous) : La possession de Jeanne F6ry
(1584), Paris, 1886.

Particularly interesting is book v : Sceur Jeanne des
Anges, supMeure des Ursulines de Loudun (seventeenth
century), Paris, 1886. In this work we have the autobio-
graphy of a case of possession which has acquired historic
importance.

We must also quote the translation of the work De mago-
rum Dcemonomania, of the famous state philosopher Bodinus
(Hamburg, 1698), in which several detailed cases will be
found.

SOURCES 15

The following works also contain interesting isolated
cases :

F. Sebastian Michaelis, Histoire admirable de la possession
et conversion d'une ptnitente, Paris, 1613.

A. van Gennep, Un Cos de possession, "Archives de
psychologic," x, 1911, pp. 88-92.

Pfarrer Blumhardt, Krankheitsgeschichte der G. D. in
Mottlingen (hysteria gravissima); printed in full by Theodor
Heinrich Mandel, Der Sieg von Mottlingen im Lichte des
Glaubens u/nd der Wissenschaft, Leipzig, 1896, pp. 16-87.

This is the first complete impression of this remarkable
" case-history " (it is untrustworthy as regards a number of
points which are for us without importance), only previously
known to- us by fragments inserted in the biographical notice
of Friedr. Ziindel (2nd ed. Zurich-Heilbronn, 1881). Thomas
Freimann has given, under the title Die Teufelaustreibung
in Mottlingen, a reproduction which is incomplete and full of
inconsistencies (taken, perhaps, from one of the numerous
copies in circulation of the Blumhardt original, which was an
official deposition).

Anonymous, Wahre Geschichte der Befreiung eines vom
Teufel Besessenen, translated from the review Der Missionar,
edited by a learned Catholic society with headquarters at
the Palazzo Moroni in Rome (Borgo Vecchio, 165), Aix-la-
Chapelle, 1882, 2nd ed. 1887).

Anonymous, Am Ausgang des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts.
Eine Teufelsaustreibung, geschehen zu Wemding in Bayern,
anno 1891, Barmen, 1892. This work contains the story of
a modern case of possession, told by the exorcising priests
(the M. Case).

The work of Ludwig Staudenmaier (Chemistry master at
the Lyzeum of Freising, near Munich): Die Magie als
experimentelle Naturwissenschaft, Leipzig, 1912, is also of
interest as containing a series of personal experiments.
There is no doubt that the author, extremely susceptible
to the phenomena of psychic control, would some centuries
earlier have experienced the most terrible states of
possession.

The authors and editors of these cases are almost always
silent as to their personal opinions.

In the new French psychiatric, or rather psychological

16 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OP POSSESSION

literature, the following works are of outstanding value and
may be recommended for thorough study:

Paul Richer, fitudes cliniques sur la grande hystMe ou
hystfro-tpilepsie, 2nd edit, revised and considerably enlarged,
Paris, 1885.

Pierre Janet, Un Cas de possession et d'exorcisme moderne,
in Neuroses et idies fixes, Paris, 1898, vol. i, pp. 375-406.

Aug. Lemaitre, Fritz Algar, histoire et guMson d'un
dtsordre c6r6bral prfaoce, " Archives de psychologic," v, 1906,
pp. 73-102.

As regards ancient literature, one of the best works for
those who study these problems, although it is not, properly
speaking, written from the psychological point of view, is
L. F, Calmeil's great book: De lafolie considSree sous le point
de vue pathologique, philosophique, historique et judiciaire,
depuis la renaissance des sciences en Europe jusqu'au XIX e
sidcle, description des grandes SpidSmies de d&lire simple on
compliqut qui out atteint les populations d'autrefois et regnS
dans les monasteres. Expost des condamnations auxquelles la
folie mtconnue a souvent donni lieu. Paris, 1845, 2 vols. This
is a very valuable collection of material. True it does not
form a complete survey of the literature of the subject, over-
looking as it sometimes does a number of important works.
It nevertheless serves as a most useful guide, giving a mass of
information direct from original sources. I have borrowed
from it more than once.

A great quantity of material has also been utilized by
the well-known disciple of Schelling, Joseph von Gorres, in:
Die christliche Mystik, vol. iv, part 1: Die Besessenheit,
Regensburg, 1842, but this work, written under orthodox
Catholic inspiration as a corollary to the ideas of Schelling,
is lacking to an astonishing degree in criticism of any kind.

It is regrettable that the reproduction, even in abbreviated
form, of the materials utilized is impossible by reason of
their extent. I can only refer the reader desirous of acquiring
first-hand knowledge to the original publications. 1 I shall,
in addition, make free use of quotations.

1 Here, as generally speaking on every occasion when early sources
have to be consulted, the need for the publication of a documentary
collection, Monumenta Psychologica, makes itself felt.

CHAPTER II
THE EXTERNAL SIGNS OF POSSESSION

REVIEWING the series of cases which have just been cited,
their first and most striking characteristic is that the patient's
organism appears to be invaded by a new personality; it is
governed by a strange soul. This is what has given to these
states, from the earliest times when we can observe them up
to the most recent, the name of " possession." It is as if
another soul had entered into the body and thenceforward
subsisted there, in place of or side by side with the normal
subject.

This possession is manifested in three ways:
In the first place the possessed takes on a new physiognomy.
The features are changed.

The features which, in their habitual state, express serenity and
benevolence, change from the moment when the devil appears
in this man, and his individuality vanishes in the most horrible
of infernal grimaces. . . .

Of N., who believed herself possessed by the soul of a
dead man, it is related :

As often as the demon took possession of her she assumed the
same features which this man had had in his lifetime and which
were very well marked, so that it was necessary at every attack
to lead N. away from any persons who had known the deceased,
because they recognized him at once in the features of the de-
moniac. 1

Eschenmayer also gives as characteristics of the C. St. case:

The appearance of a completely strange individuality with
features distorted and qiiite changed. 2

, . . As soon as this demon made himself heard the features
of the girl were transformed in a very striking manner, and each
time she cast round her really demoniac glances. Some conception
of these may be gathered from the picture in Klopstock's Messiah
where the devil offers Jesus a stone. 3

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 14.

2 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 18.

8 Kerner, Geschichten, etc., p. 105, M. B. case.

17 2

18 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Sometimes possession shows itself in an intermittent form
but still with change of personal expression: " Thus persons
and faces were metamorphosed with unheard-of rapidity." 1

The same thing is true of the principal victim of possession
in the epidemic of Loudun. This is what a contemporary
eye-witness says:

. . . that Asmodeus (a demon) was not long in manifesting his
supreme rage, shaking the girl backwards and forwards a number
of times and making her strike like a hammer with such great
rapidity that her teeth rattled and sounds were forced out of her
throat. That between these movements her face became com-
pletely unrecognizable, her glance furious, her tongue prodigiously
large, long, and hanging down out of her mouth, livid and dry to
such a point that the lack of humour made it appear quite furred,
although it was not at all bitten by the teeth and the breathing
was always regular. That Beherit, who is another demon,
produced a second face which was laughing and pleasant, which
was again variously changed by two other demons, Acaph and
Achaos, who came forth one after the other: that Asmodeus having
received the command to stay on and the others to retire, the first
came back again. 2 Monsieur (brother of Louis XIV who went to
Loudun to see the possessed women) having desired to see all the
devils which possessed this girl appear, the Exorcist made them
come into her face one after another, all making it very hideous but
each one causing a different distortion. 3

This transformation of the physiognomy appears in all
descriptions; since the investigations of Flournoy into the
case of Helne Smith there is no longer any reason to cast
doubt upon such accounts. She too showed an alteration of
the features, which assumed an immediate resemblance to
the portrait of the person whom she professed at the moment
to incarnate.

H^lene Smith presented a whole series of personalities,
some very diverse. The two most important were the
imitations of Marie Antoinette and of the celebrated late
eighteenth-century magician Cagliostro, both examples of
somnambulistic copies of historical personages. Flournoy
thus describes the incarnation of Cagliostro :

It is only slowly and step by step that Leopold (Cagliostro)
succeeds in incarnating himself. Helcne at first feels as if her arms
were seized or did not exist; then she complains of disagreeable,
formerly painful, sensations in the neck, at the base of the skull,
in the head; her eyelids droop, the expression of her face changes
and her throat swells into a sort of double chin which gives her a

1 Eschenmayer, loc. cit., p. 47.

2 Histoire des diables de Loudun^ Amsterdam, 1716, pp. 226 sq.
a Ibid., p. 229.

EXTERNAL SIGNS OF POSSESSION 19

kind of family resemblance to the well-known picture of Cagliostro.
Suddenly she rises, then turning slowly towards the person in the
audience to whom Leopold is about to address himself, she draws
herself up proudly, even bending slightly backwards, sometimes
with her arms pompously folded across her chest, sometimes with
one hanging down while the other points solemnly up to heaven,
the fingers forming a sort of Masonic sign which is always the same.
Soon, after a series of hiccups, sighs, and various sounds showing
the difficulty which Leopold experiences in taking possession of the
vocal organs, comes speech, grave, slow and powerful, a man's
strong bass voice, slightly thick, with a foreign pronunciation
and a marked accent which is certainly rather Italian than any-
thing else. Leopold is not always very easy to understand, especi-
ally when his thunderous voice swells and rolls' at some indiscreet
question or the disrespectful remarks of a sceptical onlooker.
He stammers, lisps, pronounces all u sounds as ou, accentuates
the final syllables, sprinkles his vocabulary with obsolete words
or others unsuited to the occasion. He is pompous, unctuous,
grandiloquent, sometimes severe and terrible, but also senti-
mental. He addresses everyone as " thou " and creates the im-
pression that his listeners are dealing with the grand master of secret
societies. . . . When she (Helene) incarnates her guide, she really
takes on a certain facial resemblance to him, and her whole bearing
has something theatrical, sometimes really majestic, which is
entirely consistent with what may be imagined of the real Cagli-
ostro. 1

The classic cases of double personality (dddoublement de
personnalite) described by Azam 2 and Bourru et Burot 3 also
attest a change of countenance.

Physiognomy, closely related to and consistent with
which are bearing, gait, etc., is an expression of psychic
constitution. As every affeetive phenomenon has its typical
expression, so has the personality regarded as a whole.
These phenomena, still imperfectly known and relatively
constant, may be designated under the name of " expressive
stereotypes " as oppose^ to expressive movements. 4 They'
must of necessity participate in the great change which
affects the whole personality during possession.

The second characteristic which reveals change of per-
sonality is closely related to the first : it is the voice. At the
moment when the countenance alters, a more or less changed
voice issues from the mouth of the pej*9$i in the fit. The
intonation also corresponds to the character of the new

1 Flournoy, Des Indes a la planete Mars, Geneve-Paris, 1900, p. 100.

2 Azam, Hypnotisme, double conscience et alterations de la personnalitt>
Paris, 1887. ^.

3 Bourru et Burot, Variations de la personnalite, Paris, lUfe.

4 The first attempt, dogmatic but nevertheless very worthy of atten-
tion, to explain these expressive stereotypes^systematically is due to
Lavater.

20 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

individuality manifesting itself in the organism and is con-
ditioned by it. In particular the top register of the voice is
displaced; the feminine voice is transformed into a bass one,
for in all the cases of possession which it has hitherto been my
lot to know the new individuality was a man. Thus in
Kerner's M. B. case a little girl of eleven years suddenly gave
utterance to " a deep bass voice," and later to another, but
always with a timbre qualitatively different from the normal.
The same thing is true of the maid of Orlach (p. 36). Eschen-
mayer also observes of his patient C. St. :

He (the alleged demon) spoke to-day in a voice resembling more
than ever a man's bass, and at the same time showed an insolence
of look and gesture which beggars all description. 1

In an old case quoted by Janet, it is said :

It was a very extraordinary spectacle for us who were there
present to see this wicked spirit speak by the mouth of the poor
woman and to hear now the sound of a masculine, now that of a
feminine voice, but so distinct the one from the other that it was
impossible to believe that only the woman was speaking. 2

In other cases the timbre of the voice is not changed to
an extreme degree:

A voice was heard which might readily have been taken for a
strange one, not so much from the timbre as from the expression
and articulation. 3

A good general idea of possession is given by the philo-
sopher Baader's description of a case observed by him in a
Bavarian peasant woman of twenty-four years, who side by
side with demoniacal possession showed yet another abnormal
state, a " sacred " one.

... In truth this satanic reaction grew hourly stronger and the
somnambulist, who, in her seizure, spoke like a saint, expressed
herself in her ordinary waking state in a somewhat worldly and
impious manner (beginning of possession). Her countenance,
gestures, and even her manner of speech assumed withal a certain
coarse and offensive tone quite foreign to her normal character.
Formerly she was willing and submissive; now she showed herself
bad-tempered, disobedient, and spiteful. On the evening of the
16th of October the cacodemoniac possession finally broke forth
in all its horror with a hicteous and yelping laugh. Dr. U. asked
her in my presence the meaning of such a laugh, to which she

1 Eschenmayer, loc. tit., p. 59.

* Pierre Janet, N6vroses et ides fixes, Paris, 1889, vol. i, p. 884.
8 Blumhardt quoted by Mandel, Der Sieg von Mottlingen, Leipzig,
1896, p. 80.

EXTERNAL SIGNS OF POSSESSION 21

replied in a hoarse and deep tenor voice, with furious gestures
and burning glance, that she was laughing solely because of her
prompt conversion which would be as promptly wiped out ; and
she burst into a torrent of mockery and abuse of everything con-
cerning religion and holy things.

... If two states had up to that time been distinguished in
her, the ordinary waking state and the magnetic (somnambulistic)
waking state, it was now necessary to distinguish three: the
ordinary waking state, the good magnetic waking state and the
bad magnetic waking state. The voice, gestures, physiognomy,
sentiments, etc., were in the last two states exactly like heaven
and hell. In particular the features changed so rapidly that one
could hardly trust one's eyes, nor recognize her in the satanic fit
as the same person who was in the good magnetic state. 1

But the most important particular in which " the invasion
of the organism by a strange individuality " is manifested,"
is the third: the new voice does not speak according to the
spirit of the normal personality but that of the new one.
Its " ego " is the latter's, and is opposed to the character
of the normal individual. Even if this is described as good
and irreproachable, the words uttered by the strange voice
generally betray a coarse and filthy attitude, fundamentally
opposed to all accepted ethical and religious ideas. The
accounts of these particular cases are full of vile expressions
and abuse of all kinds.

The following is reported of the maid of Orlach:

During these fits the spirit of darkness now utters through her
mouth words worthy of a mad demon, things which have no place
in this true-hearted maid, curses upon the Holy Scriptures, the
Redeemer, and all the saints. 2

The same is true of C. St.:

. . . He straightway began to utter through her mouth mockeries
and abuse. In short, the demon was there. He flung himself
with clenched fists on D. and heaped insults upon him: cheat,
scoundrel, etc. . . . 3

Hardly had he begun to say his prayers when her eyes and
whole features were completely changed as on the last occasion. . . .
And then these strange sounds were heard: "O ! Ta, Te, Ta!"
pronounced with extraordinary rapidity. All this was accom-
panied by abuse, clamour, and gesticulation. ... D. read the
prayers again. When a holy name was pronounced, the demon
had an outburst of diabolical fury, and with clenched fists breathed
forth threats. . . . When operations were suspended these out-
bursts died down also. 4

1 F. von Baader, Sdmtlichte Werke, Leipzig, 1853, vol. iv, pp. 56 sq.

2 Kerner, Die Geschichte des Mddchens von Orlach, p. 36.

8 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 14.
* Ibid., p. 19.

22 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Baader cites analogous features in his case :

In this violent seizure she also spoke of herself in the third
person and heaped insults and mockeries on herself with no less
fury than on those present. 1

And Kerner remarks generally :

. . . that all that these demons say by the mouth of such a man
is entirely diabolic in nature and completely opposed to the character
of the individual possessed. It consists in mockeries and curses
against all that is sacred, against God and our Saviour, and par-
ticularly in mockeries and curses directed against the persons whom
they possess, whom they outrage by their own mouth and beat
with their own fists. 2

Of case U. the following is reported :

In this state the eyes were tightly shut, the face grimacing, often
excessively and horribly changed, the voice repugnant, full of
shrill cries, deep groans, coarse words; the speech expressing the
joy of inflicting hurt or cursing God and the universe, addressing
terrible threats now to the doctor, now to the patient herself,
saying with deliberate and savage obstinacy that he would not
abandon the body of this poor woman and that he would torture
both her and her near ones more and more. Thus she was one
day constrained by the demon to beat her beloved child, when
during one of the attacks he knelt down beside his mother to
pray lor her. The most dreadful thing was the way in wliich she
raged when she had to submit to be touched or rubbed down
during the fits; she defended herself with her hands, threatening
all those who approached, insulting and abusing them in the
vilest terms; her body bent backwards like a bow was flung out
of the chair and writhed upon the ground, then lay there stretched
out at full length, stiff and cold, assuming the very appearance
of death. If in spite of her resistance anyone succeeded in ad-
ministering something to the patient she at once manifested a
violent movement to vomit up again what had been forced upon
her. This occurred each time with diabolic howlings and a terrible
panting, alternating with satanic bursts of laughter in a piercing
falsetto. 8

These important psychological phenomena are usually
accompanied by others, foremost among which are strongly
marked motor ones. The affective disorder of the possessed
is translated by their movements, which equal in intensity
those of veritable raving madmen. It must, however, be
added that these movements cannot be entirely resolved into
expressions of emotion and their derived manifestations, a
great number appearing to come from an autonomous excite-
ment of the motor system. For the movements are partially

1 Baader, Fragment, p. 47. 2 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 13.

3 Kerner, ibid., p. 88.

EXTERNAL SIGNS OF POSSESSION 23

deprived of sense; they consist in a disordered agitation of the
limbs, with contortions and dislocations in the most impossible
directions the body is bent backwards like a bow, etc. The
proof that they are not due to simulation or voluntary action
is that such contortions cannot, as a rule, be executed volun-
tarily. Thus in Kerner's case quoted above.

The force with which such movements are executed is,
moreover, immensely greater than normal. The writers of
case-histories always stress that the united strength of several
persons is insufficient to master and hold the patients.

When Diirr began his magnetic (hypnotic) manipulations, the
whole body twisted and reared with such ease and rapidity that
one might have believed it under the domination of an external
force. Three persons had all they could do to master it, and
the friends accompanying me had sometimes to lend a hand. . . .
The jerking of the head was intensely violent, so that it had to be
constantly held. . . . This fit of rage which lasted a full hour
calmed itself when Diirr . . .*

All this was accompanied by abuse, uproar, and agitation of the
limbs, so that three people had constantly to hold him (Caroline's
supposed demon) down. If he was able to seize anyone by the
clothing, he held him so firmly that it was difficult to make him
let go. . . . He clenched his fist, uttering threats and shook his
head with such rapidity that all Caroline's hair was flying loose. 2

Even if nothing else had shown the existence of an alien and
hostile creature, there would have been this diabolic force which
he exercised in the weak limbs of a frail girl. Two persons were
incapable of mastering her, and one would have been in danger of
strangulation. . . . 3

Quickly he rose (the supposed demon of the patient) with such
violence that he sat up on the sofa when it was least expected and
could not be forced to lie down again in spite of the aid of the five
persons present, mostly strong men. 4

The greater the religious ceremonial brought to bear in
exorcising these states the more violent are the movements.

Rather than multiply examples we may quote as typical
the account of case M. 5 which is very instructive in its
conciseness. It displays all the phenomena dealt with up
to the present.

Since Shrove Tuesday (February 10th) a man called Miiller
and his wife noted astonishing phenomena in their eldest son M.,
who was ten years old. He could no longer say a prayer without
getting into extraordinary rages, nor suffer near him any object
which had been blessed, was guilty of the coarsest offences towards
his parents, and showed in his features such a transformation

1 Eschenmayer, loc. cit., p. 15.

2 Ibid., p. 18. 3 Ibid., p. 58. * Ibid., p. 91.
6 Am Ausgang des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Barmen, 1892.

24 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

that they were forced to believe that something extraordinary
had taken place. At first the parents sought to obtain from
a doctor some remedy for this wretched state of their child, but
in vain. . . .

The vicar of the parish was next called upon for help, and sent
parents and child to the convent of the Capuchins at Wemding
where the care of the patient was at once undertaken according
to the prescriptions of the church: . . . On our first visit we
found in the child the astonishing manifestations mentioned
above. We first pronounced over him the customary benediction.
At this he showed such uneasiness, or rather such rage and out-
cries, that it was impossible to think of anything except a demoni-
acal influence. At the same time he gave proof of a degree of
physical strength such as it was impossible to find in a boy of ten
years: it was so great that three grown men were hardly able
to master him. What the parents had come to seek and what we
also so earnestly desired could not be achieved.

As often as the boy had to pass a church, crucifix, or monument
raised in honour of the Mother of God or any other saint, he was
seized thirty paces away with sudden agitation and fell unconscious
to the earth. He had then to be carried away from the pious
object, after which he was able to continue his walk. W T e observed,
moreover, that in church he showed terrible uneasiness, quite
particularly marked during the holy elevation; he could never
turn his eyes, which were always closed, towards the altar. In
this wretched state the boy passed almost six months, and as no
improvement appeared in spite of prayers, but on the contrary
he grew worse each day, the father wrote to his Grace the Bishop
of Augsburg begging him to proceed to solemn exorcism.

He obtained the Bishop's permission and the exorcism took
place. Father Aurelian, who played the chief part in it, relates
in these words what took place :

" With heavy hearts but confident in the help of God, we,
Father Remigius and Father Aurelian, proceeded for the first
time (in the church) to solemn exorcism. . . . Some time before
we began the exorcism the boy boxed his parents' ears in an in-
describable manner, and when we had him led to the presbytery
a truly frightful scene took place. For when they would have
executed our order, the possessed uttered a terrible cry. We
seemed no longer to hear a human voice, but that of a savage
animal, and so powerful that the howlings the word is not too
strong were heard at a distance of several hundred metres from
the convent chapel, and those who heard them were overcome with
fear. It may be imagined what courage we priests needed. And
worse was yet to come ; when his father tried to bring the boy into
the presbytery he became weaker than a child beside him. The
weak child flung the strong father to the earth with such violence
that our hearts were in our mouths. At length, after a long
struggle, he was overcome by his father, the men who were wit-
nesses and one lay brother, and led into the presbytery. By
way of precaution we had him bound hand and foot with straps,
but he moved his limbs as if nothing of the kind had been done.
After these preliminaries we disposed ourselves to perform the
rite of exorcism, full of confidence in help from on high. We used
the grand ritual of Eichstatt. Although this is not mentioned
therein, we exposed the fragment of the Holy Cross. When the
Sign of the Cross was made with it, the young man uttered an
appalling scream. All the time he did not cease to spit forth

EXTERNAL SIGNS OF POSSESSION 25

vile insults against the fragment of the Cross and the two officiants
Father Remigius and Father Aurelian. The clamour and spitting
lasted without interruption until the recitation of the litanies of
the saints. Then took place the exorcism, which we pronounced
in Latin. To all our questions the possessed made no reply, but
he showed great contempt for us and spat upon us each time. . . , l

Paintings and drawings give a clearer idea of possession
than any verbal description, and the art of the past includes
a whole series of pictures of it. The most important have
been published by Charcot and Richer in a special work, others
in the iconography of the Salpetrire, where they may be
consulted by the reader.

Charcot and Richer, Les D&moniaques dans Vart, Paris,
1887.

Paul Richer, fitudes cliniques sur la grande hysteric on
hyst6ro~6pilepsie, 2nd ed., Paris, 1885.

Gilles de la Tourette, Sur un tableau perdu de Rubens
repr&sentant la gu6rison de la possedee (Iconography of the
Salpetrtere), v, 1892.

P. Richer and H. Meige, Documents intdits sur les
dimoniaques dans Vart, ibid., ix, 1896.

Jean Heitz, Les demoniaques et les malades dans Vart
byzantin, ibid. 9 xiv, 1901.

H. Meige, Les tapisseries de Rubens, ibid., xiv, 1901.

J. Heitz, Un possedd de Rubens : la transfiguration du
Mus6e de Nancy, ibid., xiv, 1901.

However frequent motor hyper-excitement may be in
the possessed and it is this which has focussed attention on
those pathological disturbances it does not arise in every
case; some are entirely without it, and show no tendency to
violent activity. In particular it may be absent when the
patient believes himself possessed not by a demon but by the
soul of a deceased person.

1 Loc. cit. 9 pp. 5 sq.

CHAPTER III
THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED

1. THE SOMNAMBULISTIC FORM OF POSSESSION
Now that we know the impression produced by possessed
persons on the observer, we shall study the inner aspect of
their condition. What is the subjective state of the possessed,
what do they feel in their paroxysms of rage, are they in the
same condition as raving madmen, or do they present a
different reaction ?

A review of the above-mentioned cases at once empha-
sizes the fact already remarked, that the personality which
appears in demoniacal seizures is totally different from that
of the normal state. In the old cases it is principally
" demons," or " devils," which speak. In some instances
there are even several which appear by turns Jeanne des
Anges possessed a whole collection seven in number, which
in the manner typical of all these early cases were called
Asmodeus, Leviathan, Behemoth, Isacaaron, Balaam, Gresil,
and Hainan.

Kerner has made similar observations:

It often happens that we recognize in a single individual not
merely one demon but several at once or in succession ; there speak
in him two, three or more voices arid individualities. They
say that they have chosen as seat such and such a part of the body,
and cause him such and such pains and sufferings. . . .*

There were also in a certain case two men and an old woman,
who spoke by the mouth of a possessed woman of thirty -two years
of age. 2

In more recent times, especially in the eighteenth century
and still much more in the nineteenth when belief in the devil
is diminishing, it is more particularly the souls of the dead
" not at peace " who enter into the living. Nevertheless,
ancient examples of this are also found. Thus Justin Martyr
speaks of men " of whom the souls of the dead had taken

i Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 13. 2 Ibid., p. 40.

26

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 27

possession and who had been cast to the ground and said by
all to be possessed of demons." 1 As regards the souls of the
dead, the idea that they can^enter into man is the more
readily admitted in primitive times as certain souls, especially
the deeply degraded ones of criminals, are often conceived as
wandering. For this reason it is generally bad souls which
cause possession, but there are also " good " possessions. 2
Kerner also lays down from personal experience that " it is
common to many of these accounts that the demons describe
themselves as the outcast spirits of the unhappy dead, just
as almost always the good demons (guides) who manifest
themselves in agathomagnetism give themselves out as
blessed spirits of the dead." 3 Naturally, the mere act of
imagining a living person may also lead to possession, but in
actual fact this has occurred but rarely; at least, I have
only been able to find two cases in literature.

The first is the L. case. The girl in question, aged eighteen
years, believed herself to be " bewitched " by a hunter's boy
of her acquaintance, and in a part of her fits (in which,
however, she retained full consciousness), the latter spoke
through her mouth :

She seemed (writes the exorcist who narrates the case) of a
mortal pallor and dragged her limbs languidly; she complained
to me of her attack (the fit which was approaching), and that the
Evil One in the person of T. (the hunter's boy) had spoken by
her mouth, as I had already heard myself in one of her paroxysms. 4

And he relates of another fit :

. . . Thereupon she made as if to raise herself from the ground,
which she had not the strength to do, and cried out in a masculine
voice: " I am a good fellow ! I am ..." (the name of the young
hunter follows in a periphrasis). 5

The second case is taken from an English author: 6

Miss A. B., a young woman of about thirty, experienced a sudden
and demonstrative attachment for a man, C. D., living in the same
neighbourhood. The affair attracted some unpleasant notoriety,

1 Justin Martyr, Apologia, ii, quoted by Kerner, Geschichten, e

2 Such a case is that related by von Miiller, Grundliche Nachncht,
in which possession by an evil spirit alternates with possession by a
good one.

3 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 60.

4 G. Miiller, Grundliche Nachricht, p. 22.
Ibid., p. 67.

6 F. Podmore, The Newer Spiritualism, London, 1910, pp. 279 sq.

28 TJffi NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

and the young man, who had apparently acted a rather passive
part throughout, abruptly discontinued the acquaintance. Miss
A. B. continued, however, to cherish the belief that the man had
been influenced by the malice of her enemies, and that he was still
profoundly attached to her. A few weeks after the breach she
felt one evening a curious feeling in the throat, as of choking
the prelude probably* under ordinary circumstances, to an attack
of hysteria. This reeling was succeeded by involuntary move-
ments of the hands and a fit of long-continued and apparently
causeless sobbing. Then in presence of a member of her family
she became, in her own belief, possessed by the spirit of C. D.,
personating his words and gestures and speaking in his character.
After this date she continually held conversation, as she believed,
with C. D.'s spirit; "he" sometimes speaking aloud through her
mouth, sometimes conversing with her in the inner voice. Occa-
sionally " he " wrote messages through her hand, and I have the
testimony of a member of her family that the writing so produced
resembled that of C. D. Occasionally also A. B. had visions, in
which she claimed to see C. D. and what he was doing at the
moment. At other times she professed to hear him speaking or
to understand by some inner sympathy his feelings and thoughts.

Given the mass of fanciful nonsense with which we con-
stantly have to deal in this subject, it is hardly a matter for
surprise that no notice has been taken of the difficulty in
these two cases of the possessing spirit being at once in his
own organism and in a strange one.

Finally, there is " animal possession "; it is no longer a
strange human being or a demon who speaks through the
possessed, but an animal. But we shall have to return to
these primitive phenomena when reviewing possession outside
the European sphere of civilization.

The strange individuality which has ostensibly entered
into the patient always speaks of himself in the first person;
when the mouth of the possessed says "I," this almost always
means the intruder and not himself.

This is already abundantly clear in the New Testament
cases of possession, but still more so in detailed modern
accounts. Here, for example, is Gerber's description of the
maid of Orlach :

But the transformation of personality is absolutely marvellous.
It is very difficult to give a name to this state; the girl loses
consciousness, her ego disappears, or rather withdraws to make
way for a fresh one. Another mind has now taken possession of
this organism, of these sensory organs, of these nerves and muscles,
speaks with this throat, thinks with these cerebral nerves, and
that in so powerful a manner that the half of the organism is,
as it were, paralyzed. It is exactly as if a stronger man drove
the owner from his house and looked out of the window at his ease,
making himself at home. For no loss of consciousness intervenes,

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OP THE POSSESSED 20

a conscious e^o uninterruptedly inhabits the body. The mind
which is now in this girl knows perfectly well, even better than
before, what is going on around it; but it is another occupant
who dwells in the house, 1

Before pursuing our explanations further, I shall add two
quotations which will serve as examples of the dialogues
which are generally carried on between the demon and the
spectators. The contents are for the most part very common-
place.

The first dialogue is taken from a seventeenth century
narrative concerning a little twelve-year-old servant girl who
was possessed:

. . . David Brendel, who for eleven weeks remained night and
day beside the little girl, had amongst others these two remarkable
conversations with Satan.

In the first place he asked the evil spirit if he had also been with
the beloved Job and the daughter of the woman of Cana. And
the devil replied yes, that he had helped to persecute them
finely.

BRENDEL. Have you also been with the blacksmith's daughter

up in the clearing at Meissen ?
THE DEVIL. Yes, there were a hundred of my companions there ;

I helped to take the rich man to hell.
B. Do you also know the traitor Judas ?
D. He sits beside me in hell.

B. Did you also know the unrepentant Thief, Pilate, Herod,
Dr. Johannes Faustus, Christoph Wagner, and Johannes
de Luna ?
D. Oh, they are my best friends. I have in hell the letter of

Faust written with his blood.
B. Does it not burn ?
D. Oh no 1

B. Of what use is it to you ?
D. I must have it so that I may produce it and convict him

thereby.

B. As you know so many things, do you also know how to
pray?

D. I shall shit down your neck.

B. What would you do to me, if you had me in your power ?

D. I should break your neck, and my face would be distorted

with rage.

After that, when Satan had exercised his cruel tyranny to his
heart's content and revealed many strange mysteries which must
not be spoken of, he began to cry out frightfully by the mouth of
the little servant girl, and said: 44 You are minded to send for the
Lord and Master."
B. You are not far from the mark ! (And he began to read aloud

a prayer).
D. Ha I ha I ha ! I learnt to read long before you did I

1 Kerner, Geschichten, etc., pp. 48 sq.

80 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

B. If you boast of being a conjuror, we men know more than

you, for we can pray and you cannot.
D. No, I shall never be able to do that again. 1

The following extract dates from the beginning of the
nineteenth century:

. . . While the fit was upon her the possessed woman uttered
the lamentations of the damned in the following terms :

I, to be damned ! I so young ! Oh, how richly I deserve it all !
I will curse to all eternity those who are the cause !

QUES. Who are they ?

ANS. My parents; but it shall be my pleasure to torment them
eternally, them and Calvin.

QUES. Why Calvin ?

ANS. I am the wretched Maury whom he wished to use in order
to produce the belief that he would work miracles. I
deserved it all. She also, his wife. As for her, I will
reproach her eternally with being the cause of my horrible
torments. I should have loved your God so much, and I
am damned so young !

Q. What age were you then ?

A. Twenty-three years. But nevertheless I have deserved it all,
for I was a Catholic. But I denied everything. Do not
do as I did. Do not follow my example : an eternity ! . . .
always to suffer ! . . . endlessly 1 and already for so
long . . . and no one thinks of it thus !

Q. You have been suffering for more than three hundred years ?

A. If only after three hundred thousand times as much I had
a minute (of rest) ! . . . But no ... eternity. . . .
How long the word is ! ... If a confessor had come (to
see me before my death), perhaps I should have had some
remorse. . . . But no ! Yes, I will curse him eternally. . . .
Do not follow my example. ... I should have blessed
him through all eternity, your God. ... I should have
had a reign of glory, instead of which I have a reign of
eternal wretchedness. . . . Calvin bid people to murder
the Catholics who would not change their religion. . . .
If every three hundred thousand (years) I had a minute
(of rest) ! . . . But no I ... an eternity ! . . .

Q. How were your parents the cause of your downfall ?

A. They consented to this religion (they were converted) and
let me marry a Protestant. ... If only I had a minute
(of rest) ! I do not even ask for a minute, only half a minute.

Q. Do the torments of hell grow greater or else do they remain
always the same ?

A. How could they grow greater, since they are infinite ? . .
Oh ! to have seen them once, and never see them again,
these frightful (spectacles ?).... I am one with the
demon, I died with the demon, and I shall be with the
demon eternally. . . , 2

1 Historischer Benefit, was sich mil einem bessessenen Mdgdlein zu
Lewenberg in Schlesien von Lichtmess bis auf Himmelfarth im Jahre
1605 fur uberaus schreckliche Dinge zugetragen, beschrieben dutch Tobiam
Seilerum t printed in John Bodinus' Dcemonomania.

a Van Gennep, Un cas de possession, "Archives de psychologic," x,
191 1, pp. 91 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 31

The strange individuality even frequently relates a sort
of life-history. It is hardly necessary to add that these are
a matter of pure imagination or reminiscences (the patient's
memories) of the real life of the personality which is supposed
to have entered into the organism.

One of these verbal autobiographies of a " possessing
spirit " set forth in detail, is found in the " Geschichten " of
Kerner. It begins thus:

In my lifetime I was called Caspar B r (the possessed is a

woman of thirty-one years) and I was born in 1783. I went to
school, but learnt nothing. Nothing entered into me, and at the
time of confirmation I had neither faith nor reason. At home the
most important thing, good upbringing of the children, was lacking.
My father was sometimes too severe, my mother always too kind ;
she believed all that I said and I lied continually. I disowned my
father and he was perfectly aware of it. When that put him into
a rage, I insulted him repeatedly, as well as my mother. Once
when I was angry I shook my father and took him by the throat.
I learnt milling, but did no good at it; I was inclined to drink
and forgot myself with persons of the opposite sex. One of them
became pregnant by me. I denied stubbornly that I was the father
of the child. I said formerly that I had cleared myself on oath,
but that is not true; it is true, however, that I drove the girl
to take an oath. When she had sworn she said to me : " This oath
will weigh upon your soul." From that minute onwards I had no
rest. The devil blinded me and for a long time I nursed the idea
of killing the woman, but nothing came of it. I ran after other
women, and thought no more of her and the child. Another girl
was got with child by me, but I denied it. I urged her also to take
an oath, but she did not take it because she had already been with
others; as she too was already corrupted, that affair did not trouble
me much. Nevertheless, I fell deeper and deeper into evil ways,
became addicted to drink, and committed breaches of trust, for
which I could always find opportunity. To tell the truth my
conscience often awoke, but uneasiness drove me to the ale-houses
and I drowned my worries in drink. When I was drunk, I tried
to pick a quarrel. Once, at Kirchberg, at Staffers inn, I knocked
down the best of my boon companions. He did not remain dead
upon the floor, but died soon afterwards of the blows he had
received. This affair had no consequences. As for the comrade's
name, I certainly do not know it I think it was Michel Diller.
If my conscience has never been at rest on this new count, I have
never repented of what I did. I even went sometimes to com-
munion without acknowledging my sins either before or after nor
repenting of them. This only made me sink the deeper in drunk-
enness. Once I stole a watch from a miller's boy, but it did not
occur to anyone that I might have done the trick. I sold it for a
song and soon squandered the money. At the mill I constantly
cheated the customers, but I also did one good thing: I sometimes
gave the stolen flour to the poor. . . , 1

1 Kerner, Geschichten, etc., pp. 92 sq.

32 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

All the confessions of " possessing spirits " are analogous;
they always consist in admissions of wrong-doing.

We must now examine whether possession entails division
of personality.

To theology, which until recently has alone had occasion
to concern itself with this question, the reality of an inner
division in the state of possession is clearly evident. " The
patient's conscience," we read in Harnack, " his will and
sphere of activity are duplicated. In all subjective truth
frauds naturally always (?) creep in he has the impression
that there is within him a second being which dominates
and governs him. He thinks, feels, and acts now as the one,
now as the other, and with the conviction that he is dual.
He confirms himself and confirms those around him in this
belief by actions which are coolly deliberate, even if in-
wardly compulsive. Enforced self-delusion, cunning activity,
and helpless passivity are here combined in an uncanny
fashion. . . ," 1

If recent detailed accounts are examined from this point
of view, we discover with surprise that such a duplication of
consciousness is not by any means present in every case.
It is lacking in many, even in most; the demon generally
controls only the organism, while the subject has completely
lost consciousness of his habitual individuality. In those
cases which, as we have said, appear to constitute the great
majority, things happen in a manner quite different from that
laid down by theology. Eschenmayer, from personal observa-
tion of eight cases, considers " loss of consciousness " as the
essential characteristic of possession. He believes that there
is " a sudden loss of consciousness " and a " total ignorance
of what has taken place during the fit." 2

When the fit occurs, the person immediately loses consciousness,
the mind's ascendancy over the body ceases, and it is a completely
strange individuality which inhabits the body and may be appre-
hended through it. 8

In point of fact, this is true in the majority of cases.

The transition between the two states is, and we must
again emphasize this, scarcely ever continuous; the new ego
does not grow gradually stronger at the expense of the old

1 Harnack, Medizinisckes aus der dltesten Kirchengeschichte, p. 105.
8 Kerner, Geschichten, etc., p. 140. 8 Kerner, ibid., p. 141.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 38

one until the latter has disappeared. Rather the transition
is brusque : there is a loss of consciousness and on re-awakening
possession has already taken place. Inversely, on the cessa-
tion of the fit no memory of it remains. We may give certain
examples.

Case of a girl of eighteen years :

Before either of the demons spoke, the girl closed her eyes, and
when she reopened them she did not know what the demons had
said by her mouth. 1

Case of a child of ten observed and related by the professor
of Theology, Ch. Kortholtus (1653):

Throughout the whole duration of the fit, the child knew abso-
lutely nothing of what was happening to or around him ; but when
he came to himself it seemed to him that he had been asleep all the
time. Thus when the fit came on in full daylight and lasted far
into the evening (as sometimes happened), the patient, when the
evil spirit had gone out of him, could not reconcile himself to the
idea that it was already night. When he learnt from anyone after
the fit what he had done and said, he could not believe it, and cried
when he realized that he had treated someone in a rude or insulting
manner. So long as the fit lasted he felt no bodily sensations either,
except that the latter became sensible when Satan, on his departure
or in bidding good-evening (which he did with filthy words of
which chaste ears should remain in ignorance) announced that he
was now going to torment him. ... At the end of the fit he had
the whole appearance of someone awakened out of sleep by fright,
for his eyes closed a little and immediately afterwards he started
up like a person in a sudden access of terror. 2

The following case also deserves mention :

Without definite cause she was seized with terrible convulsive
fits. They appeared to give rise to a magnetic state in which her
own individuality was each time as if abolished. Other persons,
dead, so she said, uttered demoniac discourses by her mouth.
She awakened from that state to regain her original person-
ality without having the least idea of what had happened to her
or what she had said, and was therefore unable to give any informa-
whatever about it. . . . 3

When the demons left her in peace and she came to herself,
heard the stories of those who were present and saw the hurts she
had received from blows and falls, she dissolved in tears at being
in such a state. . . . 4

Kerner again relates a case observed by him :

. . . Suddenly the little girl was tossed convulsively hither and
thither in the bed, and this lasted for seven weeks; after which
suddenly a quite coarse man's voice spoke diabolically through

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 42, cf. also the case on p. 19.

8 Fr. Guden, Schreckliche Geschichte, pp. 131 sq.

3 Kerner, Geschichten, etc., p. 74. 4 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 29.

84 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

the mouth of this eight-year-old child. She could not be brought
back to life, for every time the demoniac voice resisted, uttered
maledictions, cursed our Saviour and prayer. , . . Often she
tried with a diabolical face to beat her father and mother and ttye
onlookers, or else she insulted them, which was not at all in accord-
ance with her character. If these things were related to her after-
wards, she did not wish to know anything about them, but cried
over what she had done. 1

Johannes Caspar Westphalus reports 2 the case of a little
girl of ten years, whose fits constantly invaded her normal
psychic life, so that on reawakening the patient seemed to
be in the middle of the conversation and continuing the same
sentence which had been interrupted by the fit in which
she had " lost consciousness " (hysteroepilepsy ?). Neither
Francois Bayle nor Henri Grameron, 3 moreover, found any
knowledge or remembrance of the fit in the cases of several
women.

With these cases should be compared the nineteenth-
century one described later, which in the transformation
resulting from the copy of a character shows close kinship
with the case of Hetene Smith turning into Cagliostro. The
state of possession, before attaining its full maturity, began
by an obvious transformation of the patient's character into
that of a deceased mayor of his locality.

In the autumn of 1835 I was taken to the house of a well-to-do
farmer of F., a man called G. of thirty-seven years of age. Until
his thirtieth year this man had been, by common account, a worthy
fellow, quiet and reasonable. In his vicinity there was a mayor
who was greatly addicted to drink, extremely proud and quarrel-
some. He had never been on good terms with F. He died when
the latter reached the age of thirty.

A year later F. was seized with frequent pains, with distensions
of the abdomen, and distorsions of the facial muscles. But the
most astonishing thing was that his character and mode of life
were at the same time completely transformed. F. who had
previously been very sober, began to drink enormously; from
peaceable he became quarrelsome, and from modest extremely
proud and arrogant, trying to give orders to everyone in the village,
which drew down upon him heated quarrels and rebukes.

All this caused his wife to fall into the most extreme poverty,
especially when F., formerly such a hard worker, would no longer
attend to his crops. Nevertheless this new state of affairs was not
continuous; it often lasted for weeks and months, and in the
intervals the old F., sober, modest and peaceable, reappeared until
the bad character took the stage again.

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 29.

a Pathohgica dcemoniaca, etc., Lipsise, 1707, pp. 9 sq. and 17 sq.
8 Relation de Vttat de quelques personnes prttendues posstdtes, Toulouse,
1682, pp. 10 sq. and 67.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 85

. . . This singular state grew more continuous and more marked
during five years, and spelt destruction to the happiness of the
household.

In the sixth year F. one day without apparent reason spat in
his wife's face and suddenly spoke with a completely strange voice.
" And do you know who did that ?" " Unhappy wretch !" she
replied, upon which the voice shouted: "Sow! don't you know
then that I have been in this ass for six years ? I am the mayor
S., and I will drive all you oxen in pairs I" Thereupon he was
thrown to the ground by the most violent convulsions. From
that day onwards the demoniac voice of the late mayor spoke
by the man's mouth, and it was recognized that the complete
individuality of the former had for a long time past got the upper
hand of his own.

When the demon was at peace in him . . . the old F., amiable
and gentle, reappeared and was greatly upset at having recently
spoken and acted in so different a fashion. But while he was
lamenting thus his eyes were often forcibly closed (the shutting
of the eyes indicated the presence of the demon) and the other
personality appeared with its curses on God, prayer and F. him-
self. This individuality came forward with particular rapidity
when F. wished to engage in prayer, and rolled him upon the ground
in convulsions. 1

These cases, which it would be easy to multiply, will
perhaps be sufficient to prove that the possessed do not always
or even generally preserve a clear consciousness of their fits.
It is the " demon " alone which expresses itself by their
mouth during the fits and the normal individuality has totally
disappeared. This is in no way contradicted by the par-
ticularly remarkable fact already indicated, that the " pos-
sessing spirit " (we retain this terminology for the sake of
brevity) is not without intellectual knowledge of that normal
individuality. The new personality possesses whether
always in totality the documents do not allow us to judge
conclusively, but it seems to be so an u objective know-
ledge " of it, but in the way in which we know other
people; its relationship is that of a quite distinct
individual.

Thus Gerber, who seems to have been a keen observer,
relates of the fits of possession of the maid of Orlach :

And in all this the girl herself is not forgotten : he (the possessing
spirit) speaks of her, he knows quite well that she is alive, but he
pretends that she is not there, that it is he who is there ^ and he pours
out abuse and calumnies against the girl herself, whom he never
calls anything except " the sow." 3

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., pp. 44-46. 2 Kerner, ibid., p.

Ibid., p. 31.

36 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Another observer says the same thing of the patient U. :

In the demoniac state or at the onset of possession, the patient
always speaks of herself in the third person and it is not then per-
missible to speak to her; anyone wishing to be understood must
rather speak to the demon himself. 1

This purely logical consciousness which the possessed
have of their normal individuality should not be in any way
confused with personal consciousness.

Are we confronted in these cases with two new subjects,
two " egos " ? If this hypothesis is accepted there are two
possible interpretations: we must either believe in the
physiologically or metaphysically conditioned appearance of
a new subject bearing no relation to the first, the normal one,
except that both certainly sprang from the same original
physiologico-metaphysical source, or else in a real division
of the first subject. In this hypothesis the fact that the
subject of the division observed nothing would show no
contradiction; it should rather be said that in the nature of
things it cannot observe anything. The subject only registers
the processes which properly belong to it, the states, the forms
of activity and aff activity which are its own. If a state is
no longer its own but belongs to a second subject, the first
immediately ceases to observe it. If there is division of the
subject we have therefore two series of psychic processes:
the one belongs to the one subject and the other to the other.
Neither of the two possesses an immediate knowledge of the
other, nor does the subject observe anything of the processes
of division. It is also true to say in this connection that only
what it in some way perceives belongs to it. There is no
immediate communication from subject to subject, but only
and always imitation, imagination, intuition.

By the unaided use of intelligence, by the understanding
alone, we can conceive no idea of the manner in which such a
division is accomplished. This is because with us the unity
of the subject is an ultimate one beyond and behind which we
cannot penetrate. Our imagination is limited to subjects
which exist continuously; we cannot form the remotest idea
of how the division of a subject is effected, except by trans-
ferring to it, although it is psychic, the general concept of
division borrowed from objects in space. All resources fail

1 Kerner, ibid., p. 85.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 37

us here; we cannot observe this process, nor can we from
other experimentally acquired ideas concerning the realm of
psychic phenomena deduce any kind of conclusion on the sub-
ject of the experience, any more than we possess a priori any
categories, any primordial forms of thought which would
permit of it. In whatever way we try to approach the
subject, we find ourselves bounded by our horizon which
knows in the first place one subject before the process of
division, and two subjects afterwards. The phenomenon of
splitting-off of the second from the first is inscrutable to us.
It would even in reality be doubly incomprehensible, in the
first place because it entirely escapes our knowledge, and in
the second, because so far as we know the first subject would
have nothing to do with it. Psychologically-empirically
regarded, this is never the case: the subject always remains
what it is. And even if a change took place in its states
and affections it would always remain this same subject
which can never be mistaken, whereas in the division of a
corporate cell the mother-cell after the division generally no
longer exists as such : it has become divided. We here touch
deliberately upon a point where the hypothesis of division
comes into contradiction with logic.

If the subject is something absolute, not only from the
point of view of functions or composition, but as constituting
a unity in itself and for itself, its division is in every
way impossible, particularly if it must be effected without
change.

It would be possible to refuse an absolute value to this
line of argument because it derives arbitrarily from unities
of a functional or compositional nature. These are not in
fact susceptible of division unless the first is divided and
therefore fundamentally eliminated. But is the same thing
true of the division of real unities ?

It seems to me that this objection cannot be accepted.
It is inherent in the very idea of division that the thing which
divides thereby suffers prejudice. Its unity does not brook
disturbance; otherwise its very being ceases to exist; it does
not remain to the full extent what it was before.

Whatever attitude we may adopt concerning the possi-
bility of division in the subject, it must nevertheless be
asseverated that in the present state of our knowledge it is

88 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

completely undemonstrable, and personally I cannot see the
general lines on which demonstration could be tackled.

If the metaphysical division of the ego or the appearance
of a new subject in the organism is admitted, we come back,
this time, moreover, with our eyes open, to the old theory of
possession which postulated the existence of two different
egos in the organism; always, however, with this difference,
that the old theory talked of " spirits " which enter into the
body, while the new believes either in a metaphysical division
of the primary subject or in the " endogenous " appearance
of a new subject. In other words, it supposes that there is
an absolutely new subject, having until that moment no
existence in the world, but which nevertheless does not
" incarnate itself," in the old sense of the word, in the body.

We must, moreover, bear in mind that the new subject
would bring with it a quantity of " innate " ideas: not every-
thing that it says will be founded upon its own experience;
it would know innumerable things without having experienced
them, and would be master of speech and a number of other
complex capacities without any apprenticeship.

As regards psychology without a subject 1 and its inter-
pretation of disturbances of personality, I shall not criticize
it again here, but refer the reader to the thorough examination
to which I have subjected it in my Ph'dnomenologie des Ich.

After what has been said the only adequate explanation
of possession is that postulating a simple alteration in the
functions of the ordinary subject. The subject presents no
division, nor does any new ego appear in the organism: these
hypotheses are entirely superfluous and are beset with the
gravest difficulties. It is one single and identical subject
which finds itself now in the normal, now in the abnormal
state. The individuality, the personality, is only a state of
the subject, it is a system of determined functional and
affective dispositions. 2 They may change in certain patho-
logical conditions and thus constitute a " second " personality,
but apart from this the subject remains the same; nothing is

1 There is no single phrase in English which gives the exact connota-
tion of " subjektlose Psychologic,*' which I have literally translated
" psychology without a subject." It may, however, be taken to refer
to the school of psychology, which, denying the existence of a single
continuing " ego," analyzes the personality in terms of a series of
separate though correlated psychological states (TRANS.).

2 Cf, my fhdnomenologie des Ich, Leipzig, 1910, book i, pp. 315 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 39

changed except its states, the manner in which its functions
are operating, and its dispositions. If the subject no longer
considers himself the same, if he believes, especially from the
numerical point of view, that he is another subject and not
that he is in another state, this is false and should be con-
sidered as a passing delusion.

The truth of this assertion becomes fully evident if we
consider cases where no radical transformation of the per-
sonality takes place in a single operation, but the alteration
in the psychic system unfolds slowly and as it were before
our eyes.

A state such as those which have been described, in which
the normal individuality is temporarily replaced by another
and which leaves no memory on return to the normal,
must be called, according to present terminology, one of
somnambulism. Typical possession is nevertheless distin-
guished from ordinary somnambulistic states by its intense
motor and emotional excitement, so much so that we might
hesitate to take it for a form of somnambulism but for the
fact that possession is so nearly related to the ordinary
form of these states that it is impossible to avoid classing
them together. There are other reasons in support of this,
to which we shall return later. Whatever the reader may
think on this question of terminology, the most important thing
is to see clearly that we are dealing with a state in which the
subject possesses a single personality and a defined character,
even if this is not the erstwhile one. The subject retains
the memory of these past states, but he can no longer be
conscious that this other personality has normally been his.
He considers himself as the new person, the " demon," and
envisages his former being as quite strange, as if it were
another's: in this respect there is complete analogy with
the ordinary somnambulistic variations in personality. As
applied to this form of possession, which seems to have been
very frequent, in fact, more so than any other, the statement
that possession is a state in which side by side with the first
personality a second has made its way into the consciousness
is also very inaccurate. Much more simply, it is the first
personality which has been replaced by a second.

The accepted term for this state is " somnambuliform
possession," or more simply " demoniacal somnambulism."

40 THE NATUKE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

2. THE LUCID FORM: OF POSSESSION

Side by side with the somnambulistic form of possession
there exists another yet more interesting. It is distinguished
by the fact that the patient does not lose consciousness of
his usual personality, but retains it. In the midst of the
terrible spectacle which he presents in the fit, he remains fully
conscious of what is happening; he is the passive spectator
of what takes place within him.

Careful observers have noted this fact for a long time past.
Thus the distinction between the somnambulistic and non-
somnambulistic forms of possession is clearly indicated
not, of course, under those names, but in a manner corre-
sponding to the fact in the early Christian writer John
Cassian (c. 350-c. 435). In his Collationes patrum, one of the
two personages of the dialogue expresses himself thus :

What you say happens to the possessed when they are in the grip
of the unclean spirit, namely, saying or doing what they would
not or being constrained to dp such things as they know not, is
not contrary to our aforementioned teaching. For it is very sure
that they do not all bear this invasion by spirits in the same way.
Some are so excited that they take no account of what they do or
say; but others know it and remember it afterwards. 1

The following is related of the epidemic of possession at
Kintorp (sixteenth century) :

A little before their fits and during the same, they breathed
from their mouths a stinking breath which sometimes continued
for several hours. In their malady none ceased to have a sane
understanding, to hear and recognize those around them, although
by reason of the convulsion of the tongue and the parts used for
breathing they could not speak during the attack. 2

Kerner also was not unaware that there were cases of this
kind. He writes:

Some of these patients, when the demon manifests himself and
begins to speak in them, close their eyes and lose consciousness
as in magnetic sleep; the demon then often speaks through their
mouths without them knowing it. With others the eyes remain
open and the consciousness lucid, but the patient cannot resist,
even with his full strength of mind, the voice which speaks in him ;
he hears it express itself like a quite other and strange individuality
lodged within him and outside his control. 3

1 Collationes patrum, vii, 12. Petschenig (Vienna, 1886-88), trans.
Gibson in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Oxford and New York,
1894), xi.

2 Calmeil, De la Folie, i, 269; quoted from S. Goulard, Histoires
admirables et memorables, Paris, 1600, vol. i.

8 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., pp. 13 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 41

As it is of great importance to know the manner in which
these possessed persons feel their state, I shall, in view of
the rarity of precise accounts, quote freely.

The first case is that of a Spanish abbess who was involved
in an epidemic of possession at Madrid (1628-31).

The request of Dona Teresa breathed candour and humility.
Having related the misfortunes which had befallen three of her
companions, she added :

When I began to find myself in this state I felt within me move-
ments so extraordinary that I judged the cause could not be natural.
I recited several orisons asking God to deliver me from such
terrible pain. Seeing that my state did not change, I several
times begged the prior to exorcise me ; as he was not willing to do
so and sought to turn me from it, telling me that all I related was
only the outcome of my imagination, I did all that in me lay to
believe it, but the pain drove me to feel the contrary. At length
on the day of Our Lady the prior took a stole, and after having
offered up several prayers, asked God to reveal to me whether the
demon was in my body by unmasking him, or else to take away
these sufferings and this pain which I felt inwardly. Long after
he had begun the exorcisms and while I was feeling happy to
find myself free, for I no longer felt anything, I suddenly fell into
a sort of swooning and delirium, doing and saying things of which
the idea had never occurred to me in my life. I began to feel this
state when I had placed on my head the wood, which seemed as
heavy as a tower. This continued in the same way during three
months and I rarely felt myself in my normal and natural state.
Nature had given me so tranquil a character that even in childhood
I was quite unlike my age and loved neither the games, liveliness
nor movement habitual to it. Accordingly it could not but be
regarded as a supernatural thing that having reached the age of
twenty-six years and become a nun and even an abbess, I com-
mitted follies of which I had never before been capable. . . .

It sometimes happened that the demon Peregrino (that is, the
sister possessed by this devil, who played the part of superior to
the devils) was in the second-floor dormitory when I was in the

rrlpur, and he would say : " Is Dona Teresa with the visitors ?
will soon make her come. . . ." I did not hear these words,
but felt inwardly an inexpressible uneasiness, and rapidly took
leave of the persons who had come to see me, doing this without
previous deliberation. I then felt the presence of the demon
who was in my body ; I began without thinking to run, muttering,
" Lord Peregrino calls me"; so I came where the demon was, and
before arriving there was already speaking of whatever thing they had
under discussion and of which I had had no previous knowledge. . . .
Some people said that we feigned to be in that state through
vanity, and I especially to gain the affection of my nuns and other
serious persons; but in order to be convinced that it was not this
sentiment which actuated us it suffices to know that out of our
full number of thirty nuns there were twenty-five who were in this
state, and that of the five others three were my best friends. As
for outside persons, we were in a state more likely to inspire them
with fear than to make us beloved and sought after. 1

Calmeil, De la Folie, ii, pp. 3 sq.

42 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

In very severe cases of possession the consciousness may
also remain perfectly clear, as is shown by the following
instances :

. . . Finally it often threw him (speaking of an old man) to the
ground with all its strength, even while he was praying. These
fits often decreased for a period of six months, and then again grew
worse. In the years which followed . . ., the convulsions often
flung him out of bed at night. The strangest thing was that he
was then constrained to insult and abuse wife and children ; without
being able to give any reason he could no longer endure these
latter.

The death of his wife, whom moreover he dearly loved, brought
no change to this state any more than did a second marriage which
he contracted in spite of these fits. He was advised, although a
Lutheran, to apply to the Catholic priests. In presence of such
of these as were able to work on him his head turned convulsively
and he uttered involuntary roarings, but without articulate words.
With others, however, the malady did not make itself felt, but
when he went away from them it raged anew with all the more
violence. . . .

He had grown much thinner, and when he spoke of his state his
head and body were convulsed at frequent intervals and shrank
together visibly. He was also suddenly and without being able
to resist, obliged to cry out like an animal.

In his natural state he seemed a very gentle and reasonable man
and spoke accordingly, but in the midst of a conversation the ex-
pression, attitude, and tone of voice would change brusquely and
he would begin to walk precipitately and make movements as if
he were full of anger : notwithstanding which he was always fully
conscious. 1

One of Kerner's women patients thus describes her own
state:

When the magnetism (the hypnosis) had been applied during
three weeks I was obliged immediately after the magnetization
to pronounce, in part mentally and in part by soundless movements
of the lips, beautiful religious sentences from which I drew great
hope of a cure, and the fits became less frequent. But after three
weeks had elapsed the Evil One who was hidden within me began
to rage again. I was obliged almost without ceasing to utter
cries, weep, sing, dance, and roll upon the ground where I went
into horrible contortions ; I was forced to jerk my head and feet in all
directions, howl like a bear and also utter the cries of other animals,
things which had, moreover, all happened before on previous
occasions. 2

I strove vigorously (on the doctor's instigation) to repress the
fits, but only succeeded at the end of fourteen days and solely by
the help and prayers of a dear and very pious woman.

I am never absent, I always know what I am doing and saying,
but I cannot always express what I wish ; there is something
within me which prevents it. In the most furious fits I dare not
offer the slightest resistance, for I should only make myself more

Kerner, Nachricht, etc., pp. 50 sq. a Ibid., pp. 62 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 48

unhappy, and force is, moreover, of no avail ; it is therefore volun-
tarily that I give myself up to the power of the Evil One and let
him rage, for it is only so that I can once more get a little rest. 1

Eschenmayer relates of the C. St. case observed by him:

. . . The strange and demoniac individuality which formerly
contented itself with shouting and uttering animal cries by her
mouth, began to speak diabolical words. The girl retained con-
sciousness when the voice spoke, but she could not prevent it
even by trying with all her might; she heard it resound externally
like that of a strange individual lodged within her, without being
able to control or dp anything with it. 2

His (the possessing spirit's) rage was always directed against
Diirr; when he could do nothing to him with hands and feet (C. St.
was held down) he spat upon him. Between whiles C. was often
heard sighing, " Oh, my God ! Oh, my God I" 3

. . . She had heard and seen everything which happened.
For she never lost consciousness, but in spite of Tier efforts she could
not resist the demon when he took possession of her body. We
asked her whether the tears which the demon shed must not have
been inspired by her, but she denied it positively. 4

In the same way Janet relates of his patients :

. . . He murmured blasphemies in a deep and solemn voice:
" Cursed be God," said he, " cursed the Trinity, cursed the Virgin
..." then in a higher voice and with eyes full of tears : ** It is not
my fault if my mouth says these horrible things, it is not I ...
it is not I. ... I press my lips together so that the words may
not come through, may not break forth, but it is useless ; the devil
then says these words inside me, I feel plainly that he says them
and forces my tongue to speak in spite of me."

. . . The demon twisted his arms and legs and made him endure
cruel sufferings which wrung horrible cries from the wretched
man. 5

The derangements caused by possession in the victim's
actions are particularly striking:

. . . Finally the conversation had to be broken off because the
impression wliich it made upon him put him completely out of
temper. He became very weak and was hardly able to utter
another word. The hands fell inert. We begged him to make
Caroline wake up in order to revive her a little ; at first he would
not, and it was only by begging that he induced him to do it. But
then a strange scene began. Someone stood before C. with the
coffee which the demon did not like. As often as she wished to
put it to her lips, he came back and she took nothing. If the bowl
was taken from her, C. came back and wished to drink. Thus
personalities and faces alternated with a hitherto unheard-of
rapidity, 8

1 Ibid., pp. 64 sq. a Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 4.

8 Ibid., p. 15. * Ibid., p. 28.

5 P. Janet, Ntvroses et idees fixes, i, pp. 384 and 383.

6 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., pp. 46 sq., cf. p. 123.

44 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

But hardly had D. and R. accompanied her to the staircase
when they dragged her in again to the door, for the demon would
not let her go further. ... When she had lain down on the sofa
he at once began his diabolical grimaces, shook his fist at us, and
as on the first occasion had a fit of violence during which he shook
Caroline's head so terribly that all her hair flew out around her
a torture from which she expected the worst, for it always rendered
her unconscious. We then applied ourselves four to one to hold
her head and arms and master him, but he rose up again with
great violence. 1

. . . The demon had grown yet more hardened, and Caroline
complained that he prevented her from praying either by obsceni-
ties, abuse, or suffering. 2

During the most violent compulsive motor manifestations
the consciousness sometimes remains perfectly clear. The
following is a case in point :

. . . On the 3rd of January he was taken with a fit so violent
that he believed that if it were repeated he would die. This
fit was of the following nature : the devil threw him into the air
and when he had fallen raised his feet one after the other with
terrible rapidity, making them fall and strike the earth at the same
rapid rate and with a noise that was heard from a long distance,
and which two storeys away resounded like a horse's gallop. Soon
he began to move his arms in circles with the same furious speed,
and to fling himself hither and thither in the bed. We laid him on
two sacks of straw, which were lying upon the floor, so that he
might not do himself an injury. Night and day these unspeakable
torments continued. 3

Little by little the devil manifested himself more and more by
day. Until now he had only uttered a shrill whistling by the
mouth of the tormented man ; in the last days he passed to other
sounds which were like the cries of divers animals. Soon he crowed
like a cock, hissed like a serpent, mewed like a cat, called like
a cuckoo, and finally neighed like a horse.

Then came the most dangerous period. The state of the brother
grew considerably worse and his will, which had until then re-
mained free to resist the devil, often became as if paralyzed. From
time to time the devil twisted his face in order to make a mock of
our worthy father but the latter said to those around him : " You
should not laugh at these dreadful things but should most earnestly
execrate this demon from hell !" This continued until the ex-
pulsion, which took place the other day. 4

In the afternoon of Thursday the 10th of February, the entry
of the evil spirits really took place. It was pointed out to me
that he had whirled round in a circle three times in a strange
manner, and when I caused the brother who had observed him to
imitate it, that so modest a brother would not indulge in such
buffooneries of his own accord. He came into my room to dance to

1 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, pp. 56 sq.

a Ibid., p. 92.

8 Anonymous, Wahre Geschichte der Befreiung eines vom Teufel
Besessenen (translated from the review Der Missionary 2nd ed., Aix-
la-Chapelle, 1887, pp. 6 sq.

4 Ibid., pp. 8 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 45

a light tune. Nevertheless he once more took a staunch resolution
to vanquish the infernal influence and began to sing the canticle
" All to the honour of my God." The dances which he executed,
now and also later, were very finished ones in which he showed
much grace and elegance, accompanied by bows, etc. It should
be noted that the possessed man had never in his life put one foot
before the other to dance, which showed that it was certainly the
devil who was the real dancer. Suddenly he cried: " Who wants
to come to hell ?" He screamed and clawed with both hands.
The devil was therefore present once more. 1

The possessed was in my room: he danced incessantly. It
caused the poor brother atrocious sufferings, as he was obliged to
abandon his body to these compulsory and endless dances. When
the diabolic voice cried through his mouth: " We will dance him
to death !" the exorcism was hurried on. 2

It is clear that these cases present phenomena entirely
similar to those appearing in a number of modern cases of
divided personality, such as I have described at length in
the first book of my Phanomenologie des Ich.

A mild form of these phenomena is by no means rare.
They include all cases in which an individual feels that
another person thinks within him and criticizes him.

" I feel," said a woman patient of Sollier, " that another person
is drawn out of me, as if my limbs were stretched to form new ones.
The last time that this happened to me the sensation was so strong
that I joked about it, saying, 4 1 am in the same case as father
Adam when his wife was taken out of his side.' The person is
absolutely similar to myself. . . . She speaks just as I do, but
is always of a contrary opinion. ... I feel her especially in my
head, preventing me from speaking so that she may say the opposite
of what I think. This lasts for whole days and exasperates me
when I am obliged to hold a conversation. It leaves me with a
head like a block of wood for a long time." 3

If we imagine such secondary processes growing stronger
and stronger, not stopping short at mere compulsive ideas,
but reaching the stage when a strange vital sentiment is also
imposed on the individual, together with, as it were, the whole
character of another person, it will be seen that we are getting
perceptibly nearer to true possession. Possession with con-
servation of the original consciousness is a strict extension of
the state of a patient of Janet-Raymond who experienced a
strong impulse to imitate the bearing of shop-girls and often
succumbed to it when he was alone.

A young man of twenty-nine years, Ch., has been subject for
the last eighteen months to the kind of fits which are somewhat

1 Ibid., pp. 16 sq. 2 Ibid., p. 18.

8 P. Sollier, Les Phtnomtnes d'autoscopie, Paris, 1903, pp. 19 sq.

46 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

gratuitously described as somnambulism. The patient's mother,
who has sometimes, but rarely, been present when the fits took
place, has described them; but above all and this is worthy of
note the patient himself has done so; it is he who relates in his
own way what he experiences and what takes place. Almost
every day, preferably in the morning, he may be surprised alone
in his room in strange attitudes. He stands before a mirror and
seems to smirk and simper at himself. He smiles, half closes
his eyes, throws sidelong looks, bends down and gives little shakes
of the head or makes beckoning gestures with his hand. Then
he walks about the room, but it is not at all his ordinary gait:
he advances with mincing steps, his body swaying to and fro with
brusque sideway movements. He balances his hips as if to swing
a dress from side to side, and in fact runs his hands over an imaginary
skirt, always accompanying this performance with grimaces
and little shakes of the head. From time to time he comes to a
standstill and changes his style: he now assumes a grave and
majestic mien ; his eyes are half closed in an expression of modesty
and dignity, but he maintains his womanly deportment with its
undulating skirts and chatters under his breath, bending right
and left. This performance is prolonged with many variants in
the grimaces and attitudes for several hours.

If we now question the patient and ask him what those ridiculous
scenes mean, he is quite ready to give an account of them and
explain them himself, for he remembers them perfectly and will
describe in great detail the strange sentiments wliich animate
him while he is indulging in his little comedies. . . .

" If I make these grimaces it is not my fault," he repeats, " it
is one of those girls who has eclipsed me again. You cannot
imagine the mischief they do me. They are little girls whom I
have met every day for two years past in this wretched quarter
where I am obliged to live. I feel driven to take up my stand
along the road by which they go to the workroom and in this way
they eclipse me. When I am alone there are moments in the day
when I am no longer my own man: the picture of one of these
girls appears to me so vividly that I see her talking, gesticulating
... It is so clear and precise that I follow the movements of her
head and copy them without realizing it. Then it is useless for
me to seek myself, it seems to me that I disappear, I lose my ego,
my real existence ; it is as if I no longer existed, as if they had taken
my place. My body takes on the manners of one of them, her
funny little ways, the little bird's head moving all the time. When
another invades me she produces a different impression, carrying
the head high and proudly; others give me erotic ideas or oblige
me to chatter like themselves; in fact, each of them transforms me
.... I feel such self-disgust that I even beat myself; I have put
up genuine struggles against this other ego, but it is all in vain.
I spend hours seeking for myself in the midst of the impressions
left upon me by these girls, and against my will I disappear more
and more." 1

To-day we no longer have the same conviction. A more
exact analysis shows that the states of mind apparently

1 F. Raymond and Pierre Janet, Dtpersonnalisation et possession
chez un psychasthtnique. " Journal de psych, norm, et pathol.," 1004,
vol. i, pp. 28 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 47

belonging to a second ego are really a part of the original
individual.

In early psychological theory such cases are naturally
regarded as showing two souls one within the other. The
demon has not only entered into the strange organism but
into the human soul. " A spirit may dwell within a spirit "
declares Kerner. 1

In the case of the Janet-Raymond patient there is an
obsessive state of intuition and imitation. The sense of life
which animates the girls takes possession of him and fills him
to such a point as to produce compulsive imitation of their
bodily movements.

In principle the state of possession is of exactly the same
nature. The documents reproduced show how the possessed
are filled against their will with psychic activity and, as it
were, a complete personality, a demon. But everything is
incomparably stronger and more violent than in the case of
Janet's psychasthenic, and the scope of these phenomena
is also much wider. His case showed bodily attitudes and
movements of moderate amplitude. Here, on the contrary,
speech also proceeds from the patients, who think and feel
with far more acute intensity, and also manifest affective
and motor phenomena of such force that several adults are
incapable of mastering a frail girl. Finally, there are a
number of passive derangements of attitude against which
the patient's will is equally powerless. His head is twisted,
his tongue hangs far out of his mouth, his body is bent back-
wards like the arc of a circle, so that the feet almost touch
the head, etc.

The compulsive actions are particularly impressive in the
case of Jeanne Fery :

The devils constrained her to cry out in such a way that
the clamour never on any occasion lasted less than two or three
hours. Often, moreover, seizing her by night, they threw her
from her bed . . . several times they prevented her from eating
and drinking for the space of three days.

. . . What is more, these same devils feeling their strength
little by little to grow less by the power of God in his Church, did
their utmost to take away her life. Thus one day amongst other
things they led her so swiftly to the river which runs hard by
behind the cloister and plunged her therein so cleverly that

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc.

48 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

her guard had no succour but to shout for help. Nevertheless,
whatever efforts they made to submerge her they were in no way
able to do her harm; but she was, by divine grace, and by the good
aid of the nuns her fellows, dragged out and brought back safe
and sound to the chamber. But they did not for all that desist
from following their cruel enterprise: for one day they threw her
out of the windows of her chamber into the courtyard or the monas-
tery. And three separate times did they take her up to the highest
storeys of the house in order to throw her down, but their efforts
were frustrated by divine protection. 1

In the following case the state was confined in the beginning
to compulsive movements which did not at first appear to
imply any division of personality, then finally this latter
supervened under the influence of the medical " treatment ":

A young gentleman used from time to time to fall into a certain
convulsion, having now the left arm alone, now a single finger,
now one thigh, now both, now the backbone and the whole body
so suddenly shaken and tormented by this convulsion that only
with great difficulty could four menservants hold him down in bed.
Now it is a fact that his intellect was in no way disturbed nor tor-
mented: his speech was untrammelled, his mind not at all confused,
and he was in full possession of all his senses, even at the height
of this convulsion. He was racked at least twice a day by the said
convulsion, on coming out of which he was quite well except that
he felt prostrate with fatigue by reason of the torments which he
had suffered. Any skilled doctor might have judged that it was
a true epilepsy if the senses or the mind had been deranged withal.
All the best doctors being called in, judged that it was a convulsion
approaching very nearly to epilepsy which was excited by a malig-
nant vapour enclosed in the backbone, from whence the said vapour
spread only to those nerves which have their origin in the back-
bone, without in any way attacking the brain. This judgment
having been formed as to the cause of the sickness, nothing of what
the art prescribes was left undone to relieve this poor sick man;
but in vain we put forth all our efforts, being more than a hundred
leagues from the cause of the malady.

For in the third month they discovered that it was a devil who
was the author of this ill, who declared himself of his own accord,
speaking freely by the mouth of the sick man in Latin and Greek,
although this latter had no knowledge of Greek. He discovered
the secrets of those who were there present, and principally of the
doctors, mocking at them because with useless medicines they had
almost caused the death of the sufferer. Any and every time
that his father came to see him, as soon as he saw him from afar he
cried out: " Make him go away, do not let him come in, or else
take from him the chain round his neck," for being a knight he
wore, according to the custom of the French knights, the collar
of the Order from which hung the image of St. Michael. When
aught from the Holy Scriptures was read 111 his presence he became
much more irritated, indignant, and agitated than before. When

1 La possession de Jeanne Fery (1584) " Bibliothfeque diabolique,"
vol. iv, pp. 8 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 40

the paroxysm had passed the poor tormented man remembered
all that he had done or said, repenting thereof and saying that
against his will he had done or said those things. 1

We have very full information concerning the possession
of Jeanne des Anges, who has left us an autobiography.
This is not the best personal evidence available; as coming
from a highly hysterical person of somewhat weak moral
nature, it must be accepted with great reserve; but in any
case it is interesting enough and not least so as constitu-
ting an authoritative source of information concerning a
personality of this psychic type. In the study of possession
it has inter alia some importance as showing how the excite-
ment of anti-religious sentiments resulting from the influence
of the idea of possession, is partially accepted by an hysterical
young nun not particularly well suited to the life of devotion,
but who, on the other hand, does not rise above the religious
ideas of her environment but conforms to them outwardly
from force of habit and upbringing. This partial acceptance
takes place when the ideas are, moreover, so potent that the
girl is impelled to suffer their ascendancy which is stronger
than her own will. Like many other cases of possession the
state is further complicated by hallucinatory phenomena
which, however, I shall have no occasion to discuss.

At the commencement of my possession I was almost three
months in a continual disturbance of mind, so that I do not re-
member anything of what passed during that time. The demons
acted with abounding force and the Church fought them day and
night with exorcisms. 8

My mind was often filled with blasphemies and sometimes I
uttered them without being able to take any thought to stop
myself. I felt for God a continual aversion and nothing in-
spired me with greater hatred than the spectacle of his good-
ness and the readiness with which he pardons repentant sinners.
My thoughts were often bent on devising ways to displease him
and to make others trespass against him. It is true that by
the mercy of God I was not free in these sentiments, although
at that time I did not know it, for the demon beclouded me in such
a way that I hardly distinguished his desires from mine; he gave
me, moreover, a strong aversion for my religious calling, so that
sometimes when he was in my head I tore all my veils and such
of my sisters' as I could lay hands on; I trampled them under-

1 A case of Ambroise Parl, quoted by Calmeil, De la Folie, etc., vol. i,
pp. 176 sq. CEuvres competes d* Ambroise Part, Paris, 1841, vol. iii,
pp. 68 sq.

* Sceur Jeanne des Anges, " Bibliothque diabolique," p. 65.

50 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

foot, I chewed them, cursing the hour when I took the vows. All
this was done with great violence, I think that I was not free. 1

... As I went up for Communion the devil took possession of
my hand, and when I had received the Sacred Host and had half
moistened it the devil flung it into the priest's face. I know full
well that I did not do this action freely, but I am fully assured to
my deep confusion that I gave the devil occasion to do it. I think
he would not have had this power if I had not been in league with
him. I have on several other occasions had similar experiences
for when I resisted them stoutly I found that all these furies and
rages dispersed as they had come, but alas, it too often happened
that I did not strongly constrain myself to resist, especially in
matters where I saw no grievous sin. But this is where I deluded
myself, for because I did not restrain myself in little things my
mind was afterwards taken unawares in great ones. . . .*

At this reply the evil spirit got into such a fury that I thought
he would kill me ; he beat me with great violence so that my face
was quite disfigured and my body all bruised with his blows. It
often happened that he treated me in this way. 3

As for outward things, I was much troubled by almost continual
rages and fits of madness. I found myself almost incapable of
doing any good thing, seeing that I had not an hour of the liberty
to think of my conscience and prepare myself for a general con-
fession although God caused me to be moved towards it and I was
so minded. 4

By far the best account that we possess of these states
comes from the French mystic Snrin, who, already much
exhausted by a long and rigorous life of asceticism, himself
fell a victim in the course of his exorcisms to the great seven-
teenth-century epidemic of possession at Loudun.

His narrative is so interesting that it should be reproduced
in all its details so far as these have hitherto been given to the
public. One important manuscript is still unpublished, and
unfortunately the war precluded me from consulting this
document, which the authorities of the Bibliothque Nationale
had, with a kindness deserving of thanks, expressed readiness
to communicate to me, 5 and which may be presumed to
contain many further matters of interest. It is so easy to
divest Surin's writings of the theological form in which he
describes his condition that this necessitates no explanations.
He holds his state to be possession in the true sense of the
word, and construes it as a result of his sins.

1 Sceur Jeanne des Anges, p. 71, 2 Ibid., p. 79.

3 Ibid., p. 85. * Ibid., p. 108.

6 In this connection I must point out that the statement of H. Diels
(Internationale Monatschrift, book ix (1915), pp. 133 sq.), according to
which the French Bibliothcque Nationale, at the Government's sugges-
tion, categorically refused an exchange service with Germany, is in-
accurate.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 51

Surin's chief testimony is a letter to a spiritual friend
written on May 3rd, 1635, and which seems in the first place
to have been printed separately. It is generally quoted from
the extracts of Calmeil 1 and Ideler, 2 but their versions are
not very complete and Ideler's translation is slightly inaccurate
in places. I shall therefore go back to the presumably complete
version found in the work: Cruels effets de la vengeance du
Cardinal Richelieu ou Histoire des Diables de Loudun. This
book appeared anonymously, and is by a writer called Aubin.

There are scarce any persons to whom I take pleasure in re-
counting my adventures, save your Reverence, who listens to them
willingly and derives from them reflections which would not
readily occur to others who do not know me as does your Reverence.
Since the last letter which I wrote you I have fallen into a state very
different from anything I had anticipated, but in full conformity
with the Providence of God concerning my soul. I am no longer
at Marennes, but at Loudun, where I received your letter recently.
I am in perpetual conversation with the devils, in the course of
which I have been subject to happenings which would be too
lengthy to relate to you and which have given me more reason
than I ever had to know and to admire the goodness of God. I
wish to tell you something of them, and would tell you more if
you were more private, f have engaged in combat with four of
the most potent and malicious devils in hell. I, I say, whose
infirmities you know. God has permitted the struggles to be
so fierce and the onslaughts so frequent that exorcism was the
least of the battlefields, for the enemies declared themselves in
private both by night and day in a thousand different ways.
You may imagine what pleasure there is in finding oneself at the
sole mercy of God. I will tell you no more, it suffices that knowing
my state you should take occasion to pray for me. At all events,
for the last three and a half months I have never been without a
devil at work upon me.

Things have gone so far that God has permitted, I think for
my sins, what has perhaps never been seen in the Church, that in
the exercise of my ministry the devil passes out of the body of
the possessed woman and entering into mine assaults and con-
founds me, agitates and troubles me visibly, possessing me for
several hours like a demoniac. I cannot explain to you what
happens within me during that time and how this spirit unites
with mine without depriving me either of consciousness or
liberty of soul, nevertheless making himself like another me and
as if I had two souls, one of which is dispossessed of its body and
the use of its organs and stands aside watching the actions of the
other which has entered into them. The two spirits fight in one
and the same field which is the body, and the soul is as if divided.
According to one of its parts it is subject to diabolic impressions
and according to the other to those motions which are proper to it
or granted by God. At the same time I feel a great peace under

1 Calmeil, De la Folie, vol. ii, pp. 59 sq.

* Versuch einer Theorie des religiosen Wahnsinns> vol. i, pp. 394 sq.
(Halle, 1848).

52 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

God's good pleasure and, without knowing how it arises, an extreme
rage and aversion for him, giving rise to violent impulses to cut myself
off from him which astonish the beholders; at the same time a
great joy and sweetness, and on the other hand a wretchedness
which manifests itself by cries and lamentations like those of the
demons ; I feel the state of damnation and apprehend it, and feel
myself as if transpierced by the arrows of despair in that stranger
soul which seems to be mine, while the other soul which is full of
confidence laughs at such feelings and is at full liberty to curse
him who is the cause; I even feel that the same cries which issue
from my mouth come equally from the two souls, and am at a
loss to discern whether they be caused by joy or by the extreme
fury with which I am filled. The tremblings with which I am
seized when the Holy Sacrament is administered to me arise
equally, so far as I can judge, from horror of its presence which is
insufferable to me and from a sincere and meek reverence, without
it being possible for me to attribute them to the one rather than
the other or to check them. When I desire by the motion of one
of these two souls to make the sign of the cross on my mouth,
the other averts my hand with great swiftness and grips my finger
in its teeth to bite me with rage. I scarcely ever find orisons easier
or more tranquil than in these agitations; while the body rolls
upon the ground and the ministers of the Church speak to me as to
a devil, loading me with maledictions, I cannot tell you the joy
that I feel, having become a devil not by rebellion against God
but by the calamity which shows me plainly the state to which
sin has reduced me and how that taking to myself all the curses
which are heaped upon me my soul has reason to sink in its own
nothingness. When the other possessed persons see me in this
state it is a pleasure to see how they triumph and how the devils
mock at me saying: " Physician, heal thyself; go now and climb
into the pulpit ; it will be a fine sight to see him preach after he has
rolled upon the ground." Tentaverunt, subsannaverunt me sub-
sannatione, frenduerunt super me dentibus suis.

What a cause for thankfulness that I should thus see myself
the sport of the (evil) spirits, and that the justice of God on earth
should take vengeance on my sins ! What a privilege to experi-
ence the state from which Jesus Christ has delivered me, and to
feel how great is the redemption, no longer by hearsay but by the
impress of that same state ; and how good it is to have at once the
capacity to fathom that misery and to thank the goodness which
has delivered us from it with so many labours ! This is what I
am now reduced to almost every day. It is the subject of great
disputes, and \factus sum magna qucestio, whether there is possession
or not, and if it may be that such untoward accidents befall the
ministers of the Gospel. Some say that it is a chastisement of
God upon me to punish an error ; others say some other thing, and
I am content and would not change my fortune with another,
having the firm persuasion that there is nothing better than to be
reduced to great extremities. That in which I am is such that I can
do few things freely: when I wish to speak my speech is cut off;
at Mass I am brought up short ; at table I cannot carry the morsel
to my mouth; at confession I suddenly forget my sins; and I feel
the devil come and go within me as if he were at home. As soon
as I wake he is there ; at orisons he distracts my thoughts when he
pleases; when my heart begins to swell with the presence of God
he fills it with rage; he makes me sleep when I would wake; and,
publicly, by the mouth of the possessed woman, he boasts of being

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 68

my master; the which I can in no way contradict. Enduring
the reproach of my conscience, and upon my head the sentence
pronounced against sinners, I must suffer it and revere the order
of Divine Providence to which every creature must bow. It is
not a single demon who torments me; there are usually two; the
one is Leviathan, the adversary of the Holy Spirit, for according
to what they have said here, they have in hell a trinity whom the
magicians worship: Lucifer, Beelzebub, and Leviathan, who is
third in hell, as some authors have already observed and written.
Now the works of this false Paraclete are quite contrary to those
of the true, and impart a desolation which cannot be adequately
described. He is the chief of all our band of demons and has
command of this whole affair which is perhaps one of the strangest
ever seen. In this same place we see Paradise and Hell, nuns
who taken in one way are like Ursula and in the other worse than
the most abandoned in all sorts of disorders, filth, blasphemy, and
rages. If it please your Reverence, I do not at all desire that you
should make my letter public. You are the only one to whom,
except for my confessor and my superiors, I have been willing to
say so much. It is but to maintain between us such communica-
tion as may assist us to glorify God in whom I am your very humble
servant. JEAN-JOSEPH SURIN.

And by way of post-script um, I beg you to have prayers said
for me of which I have need, for during whole weeks I am so stupid
towards heavenly things that I should be glad if someone would
make me say my prayers like a child and explain the Pater Nosier
to me simply. The devil has said. to me: I will deprive thee of
everything and thou shalt have need to keep thy faith for I will
make thee besotted. He has made a pact with a witch to prevent
me from speaking of God and so that he may have strength to keep
my spirit broken, and I am constrained, in order to have some
understanding, to hold the Holy Sacrament often against my head,
using David's key to unlock my memory. ...

I am content to die since Our Lord has done me this grace to
liaye retrieved three consecrated Hosts which three witches had
delivered into the hands of the devil, who brought them back to
me publicly from Paris where they were under the mattress of a
bed and left the Church in possession of this honour, to have given
back in some measure to her Redeemer what she had received of
Him, having ransomed it from the devil's clutches. I do not know
if Our Lord will soon take my life, for being hard put to it in this
affair I gave it to Him and promised to part with it for the price
of these three Hosts. It seems that the devil, by the bodily ills
which he inflicts on me, desires to exercise his right and gradually
wear me out.

This narrative is a document of the utmost value, which
offers striking confirmation of all that we have hitherto said
as to the nature of possession. At the same moment Surin
feels himself full of profound peace and furious rage. His
soul is "as if divided," he is filled simultaneously with
different sentiments; 1 one of these is normal, it is that of

1 On sentiments of a dual nature, further details will be found in my
Phdnomenologie des Ich, vol. i, chap. xiv.

54 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Surin in the narrowest sense; the other is of a compulsive
and coercive nature, and is regarded by Surin as belonging to
the demon. It is very evident from his account how false is
the conception which supposes that there are really two egos
in the consciousness, as has hitherto been maintained by the
majority of authors treating of possession, (an error which I
also shared until I made a closer study of the problems of the
ego.) He says as clearly as possible that both groups of
sentiments belong to him in person; he is filled at the same
time with serene joy and foaming rage. And if he does not
accept the rage it nevertheless appears to him that the strange
soul is " like to his own." In reality it is his also, only these
states have a character of compulsion. If he is of opinion,
like all analogous cases, that his state is dual, it is an illusion
which tries to impose itself upon him, but to which he never
completely surrenders; it always remains clear to him that
the second sentiments are states which belong to him equally.
This is particularly well demonstrated by his remark that he
seems to himself to have become Satan: in fact, this indi-
viduality is a new and extremely complex state of himself,
as is his original individuality. Up to this point he has a
certain right to say that he has assumed a Satanic personality.

The conception that there are really two different subjects
and not merely two different states of one and the same subject
presents insurmountable difficulties of interpretation. How,
indeed, would it be possible for Surin to say of himself that he
feels the rage and anger of the demon, that he finds himself in
a dual affective state and that the second soul is also similar
to his own ? How could he feel sentiments immediately if
they were not his own sentiments ? How is it possible to
imagine one ego entering into another with subsequent direct
apprehension thereby ?

Whichever way we turn, it is impossible to avoid the
conviction that the impressions of others are only experienced
indirectly (nacherlebt) and not immediately like our own. This
" after experience " has not necessarily an active character;
it may also be purely passive or compulsive.

There is really a separate problem, as we are beginning to
perceive, in the fact that the interpenetration of mind by
mind is not possible, and that no one ever experiences any-
thing but his own emotional states. This is evidently not a

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 55

purely empirical statement, for then the contrary state of
things might also formerly have been realized. We shall
have to establish a necessity in the realm of empirical know-
ledge, exactly as we affirm in all certitude that the movement
of a body can take place only in the present and the future,
but no longer in the past. As a matter of fact, the position
of such judgments from the point of view of the theory of
knowledge is not yet explained, however obvious they may be.
The quotations which we have made from Surin are
supplemented by the still unpublished manuscript of the
Biblioth&que Nationale of Paris. Delacroix has given extracts
from it in his excellent work, Etudes d'histoire et de psychologic
du mysticisme. 1 I have borrowed from him the following:

Surin's turbulent state of possession, to which the quotation
given above relates, ceased after he had succeeded in his exorcisms
at Loudun and brought about the recovery of the principal case
of possession in the convent, Jeanne des Anges. It was, however,
not given to Surin to regain his first state; he traversed a peculiar
state of depression which did not show the same excitement as the
first, but which visibly belongs to the group of phenomena of
possession. He came out, as he himself relates, " of the manifest
obsession which rendered the presence of the Evil One in his
person sensible to him, and passed into an inner travail of the most
extreme nature."

These torments lasted no less than approximately twenty-five
years.

. . . He came to lose all power of movement and even of speech,
and towards the autumn of that year he left Loudun. He became
so overwhelmed that he lost all ability to preach or to take part
in conversation. . . . His suffering rose to a pitch of violence
where he even lost the power of speech and was dumb for seven
months without being able to say Mass, read or write, even to
dress and undress himself, or, in short, make any movement. He
fell into a sickness unknown to all the doctors, whose remedies
were of no avail. Thus he passed the whole winter.

Surin describes his state as a " constriction " (resserre-
ment). It was a case of motor inhibitions due to auto-
suggestion, but other phenomena also supervened.

One morning he found himself troubled in his natural mind by
fits of rage which rendered him altogether contemptible in his own
eyes; that is to say, there appeared in him compulsive sentiments
for which he imputed blame to himself.

He had temptations to suicide and even made a serious attempt.
He had an 4 * extreme and vehement impulse to kill himself."
Even when he was conscious of doing some good action he thought
he was disobeying God by leaving the ranks of the damned to
which he had been relegated. He also had fits of hatred against

1 Paris, 1008, chapter on Peines mystiques.

56 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Jesus Christ. ... He had heretical ideas, notably that of Calvin
on the Eucharist, and very violent temptations against chastity.

He reached a condition in which he could neither walk nor
stand upright, nor attempt to dress and undress himself. . . .
He was driven to outrageous things contrary to human intelli-
gence. He kept reason and awareness. But * this horrible power
which governed me made me do what I would not and I accom-
plished it to the letter. . . ."

In spite of all this his soul did not cease from looking towards
God. " Often in the midst of these infernal pains came impulses
to unite myself to Jesus Christ in unions with Him which were
very sweet and the memory of which greatly touches me now,
but which were completely lost and forgotten when the despair
returned. ... It is yet another marvel that during all this time
of my greatest sufferings and despair I composed all the canticles
on divine love which being gathered together have made a whole
book . . . and gave myself great strength by composing them
'. . . ." In his trials he felt at once despair of acting in conformity
with the will of God and desire to do so.

This state of Surin is essentially of the same nature as
the case of possession at Loudun already cited. It is never-
theless distinguished therefrom by the lack of compulsive
acts of violence and in addition, at least as it seems from
Delacroix 9 publication, by something very important to us:
the absence of the idea of possession. It seems that Surin
simply regarded himself as a sick man. " They are in no wise
madnesses, but extreme sufferings of the mind," said he.
Those around him were incapable of reading his mind and
regarded him as mad during the twenty years which his
illness lasted, by reason of the great number of senseless
compulsive actions which he committed and his inability
to make others understand him his voluntary actions were
always thwarted by inhibitions or compulsions and he was
inscribed upon the registers of his Order as sick in mind.
This was justifiable inasmuch as from the psychic point of
view he was really seriously ill, but unjustifiable inasmuch as
it is only customary to class as insane those whose understand-
ing deserts them in their fits.

The total duration of the illness of Surin, who was already
a neurotic exhausted by ascetic practices when he came to
Loudun, amounted to more than twenty years; he was
delivered from it in the last years of his life, but then fell
into another abnormal state which cannot be studied here. 1

Surin's autoanalysis should be read in conjunction with

* Particulars of this will be found in vol. ii of my Phdnomenologit
des Ick. Cf . also Delacroix, op. tit.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 57

the statements of Ludwig Staudenmaier. 1 Following on
experiments in the writing known as automatic, a number of
obsessive personalities developed which he thereafter culti-
vated more or less voluntarily, but which subsequently
acquired a high degree of autonomy and finally produced in
him a strong resemblance to the possessed, particularly of
the non-somnambulistic type of Surin. Only the element of
violent agitation remained absent. Although Staudenmaier
also fails to interpret the case aright he leans towards the
synthetic conception of the ego which prevails in Franco-
English psychology his analyses nevertheless show with
great clarity that the compulsive functions of his own ego
are concerned throughout. These functions developed to an
extraordinarily high degree, so that he came to feel them as
highly obsessive. Staudenmaier seems never to have fallen
into the somnambulistic state properly so called, but like
Surin to have retained full and uninterrupted consciousness
of his state. (In addition to these phenomena and others
purely psychological, particularly hallucinations, he developed
other abnormal psycho-physical manifestations, the reality
of which is beginning to be generally recognized, but whose
nature is still unexplained, for which reason I shall not discuss
them.)

From the beginning of his experiments in automatic
writing Staudenmaier preserved the full or almost full con-
sciousness of what he wrote under compulsion in the passive
state. There was therefore no complete unconsciousness
of the writing as has been claimed, at least with reference to
other cases. But the character of the writing was without
doubt purely passive. He wrote compulsively with his
sensory consciousness, but not voluntarily. Acoustic sen-
sations were soon added: he heard immediately before what
he had to write, and this phenomenon rapidly took pre-
cedence, so that Staudenmaier finally gave up the writing
completely and contented himself with listening to the
voices with which he was able to converse while fully con-
scious. Some of these voices were evil in character, as we
have seen in other cases. In spite of a proper realization
that they were not incarnated spirits, Staudenmaier treated

1 Staudenmaier, Die Magie als experimentette Naturwissenschaft,
Leipzig, 1912.

58 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

them as autonomous beings, as did the early cases of possession,
spoke to them, reproached them, etc., which evidently
favoured the development of these secondary phenomena.

I will confine myself to reproducing a few particularly
interesting extracts fror* his description:

In the end the inner voice . . . made itself heard too often and
without sufficient reason, and also against my will; a number^ of
times it was bad, subtly mocking, vexatious, and irritable. For
whole days at a time this insufferable struggle continued entirely
against my will.

Often the statements of these so-called beings proved to be
fabrications. Opposite the house where I lived a strange tenant
was just moving in. By way of test I asked my spirits his name.
Without hesitation I received the reply: Hauptmann von Muller.
It later proved that the information was completely false. When
in such a case I afterwards reproached them gently, I often
elicited this sincere reply : " It is because we cannot do otherwise,
we are obliged to lie, we are evil spirits, you must not take it
amiss !" If I then became rude they followed suit.

"Go to blazes, you fool ! You are always worrying us ! You
ought not to have summoned us ! Now we are always obliged
to stay near you I" When I used stronger language it was exactly
as if I had hurled insults at a wall or a forest: the more one utters
the more the echo sends back. For a time the slightest unguarded
thought that passed through my mind produced an outburst from
the inner voices. 1

Particularly precious is Staudenmaier's admission that
little by little the nexus of personal sentiments corresponding
to the different voices manifested themselves in him.

Later there were manifested in a similar manner personifica-
tions of princely or ruling individuals, such as the German Emperor,
and furthermore of deceased persons such as Napoleon the First.
At the same time a characteristic feeling of loftiness took possession
of me ; I became the lord and master of a great people, my chest
swelled and broadened almost without any action on my part,
my attitude became extremely energetic and military, a proof
that the said personification was then exercising an important
influence. For example, I heard the inner voice say to me majestic-
ally : " I am the German Emperor." After some time I grew tired,
other conceptions made themselves strongly felt and my attitude
once more relaxed. Thanks to the number of personalities of
high rank who made their appearance in me, the idea of grandeur
and nobility gradually developed. My highness is possessed
by a great desire to be a distinguished personality, even a princely
or governing personality, or at least this is how I explain after
the event to see and imitate these personalities. My highness
takes great interest in military spectacles, fashionable life, dis-
s hed bearing, good living with abundant choice beverages,

order and elegance within the house, fine clothing, an upright
military carriage, gymnastics, hunting and other sports, and seeks

Ibid., pp. 20 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 50

accordingly to influence my mode of life by advice, exhortations,
orders, and threats. On the other hand, my highness is averse to
children, common things, jesting and gaiety, evidently because he
knows princely persons almost exclusively by their ceremonial
attitude in public or by illustrations. He particularly detests
illustrated journals of satirical caricatures, total abstainers, etc.
I am, moreover, somewhat too small for him. 1

In other words, Staudenmaier is moved by personal
sentiments which are not identical with his own and which
he does not fully accept. But these states of feeling are also
and naturally states of his own ego and not those of another.
He excludes them a priori from his character or else gives
himself up to them for a time and imagines that he has
passed into another psychic state. For example, in the
following case which concerns a feeling that he is a child:

Another important role is played by the *' child " personifica-
tion: " I am a child. You are the father. You must play with
me." Then childish verses are hummed, " The little wheel goes
thud, thud, thud," "Comes a little flying bird." Wonderfully
tender childishness, and artless ways such as no real child would
show in so marked and touching a manner. In moments of good
humour I am called Putzi, or else he says simply " My dear Zi."
When walking in town I must stop at the toy-shop windows, make
a detailed inspection, buy myself toys, watch the children playing,
romp on the ground, and dance in a ring as children do, thus
consistently behaving with an entire absence of loftiness. If
on the request of " the child " or " the children " (at times there
occurred a division into several kindred personalities), I happen to
pause in a shop and look over the toy counter, this personification
bubbles over with joy and in a childish voice cries out ecstatically:
44 Oh, how lovely ! It's really heavenly !" a

Since the " child " personification has acquired a greater in-
fluence over me, not only has my interest in childish ways, toys, and
even shops increased, but also my search for childish satisfactions
and the innocent joys of the heart, a fact which acts upon the
organism, rejuvenating and refreshing it, and driving away many
of the cares of the grown man, accustomed more and more to use
his intelligence. In the same way a number of other personifica-
tions also have a beneficial effect upon me. For example, my
interest in art and understanding of artistic things have increased
considerably. Particularly remarkable and characteristic of the
profound division which takes place in me is the following fact:
that whereas my interest in art was formerly very slight, especially
as regards that of antiquity and the Middle Ages, certain of my
personifications are passionately interested in these latter and
have continually impelled me to devote attention to them. 3

It will not be surprising to find that with Staudenmaier
the sentiments of strange personalities also have an influence
on the physiognomy.

* Ibid., pp. 29 sq. a Ibid., p. 30. Ibid., p. 70.

60 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

The facial expression often had a character of its own, and I
no longer displayed my known and habitual features, a fact which
did not escape the persons who knew me well. 1

... It also often happened that my features changed visibly.
When the notions of grandeur were particularly active in me I
found on glancing into the mirror that the whole expression of
my face was becoming that of Napoleon. I could often recognize
merely by a glance what cerebral centres were playing the leading
part, for they visibly imprinted on me the lineaments of the persons,
real and fictitious, whom they were imagining most vividly. 2

The phenomena of obsessive personality alone are remark-
able, but the fantastic nature of the psychic image grows still
more marked in a number of cases: at times there arises a
very remarkable inter-relationship between the possessed
and the personality imposing itself upon him. It is not
merely impulses and inhibitions which traverse the normal
life of the individual and may, as in the case of Staudenmaier,
disturb it so little that those around him have no knowledge
of them, the possessed retaining a sane judgment of his state
and not being, therefore, deranged in the strict sense; but
the phenomena of obsession take forms which at first sight
disconcert even the modern psychologist and oblige him to
bethink himself in order that the sequence of the psychical
processes may become quite clear to him. The possessed,
already filled with the idea that a strange spirit has entered
into him, behaves towards his abnormal state in a manner
consistent with this belief. Like Staudenmaicr he addresses
the demon in his soul, talks to him, petitions him, etc.; in
short, treats him as an ordinary living person. And now
comes the most remarkable fact: the " second " personality
behaves as if it really were such a being. It gives replies,
makes promises, feels repentance, just like a real person.

Things may reach the point of an audible conversation
between the possessed and his state of psychic compulsion.
In such cases we are confronted by a marked aggravation of
this state which also appears in modern nervous affections,
where it takes the form of a colloquy with pseudo-hallucina-
tions.

In possession, therefore, everything is accentuated. It
is not in imagination that the possessed hears someone
answer him, his own organs of speech enter into movement
which is not voluntary but automatic and compulsive.

Ibid., p. 28. a /#</., p. 101.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 61

Thus there occurs the singular spectacle of two persons
appearing to express themselves through the same body.
It is said in one case that the phenomenon was of such a
nature " that one seemed to hear two persons engaged in a
sharp dispute and loading one another with abuse." 1

In certain cases we have exact information as to the gist
of these " conversations with oneself," and even possess frag-
ments of them. They arc in the same nai'f form which the
" possessing spirit " uses sometimes in furnishing auto-
biographic details.

The " obsessing personality " in lucid possession behaves
both towards the outside observer and the exorcising priest
as if it were a real person, a statement equally true of som-
nambulistic possession. The documents quoted have already
contained some examples; reports show that the possessing
spirit talks with the exorcist, grows angry with him, insults
him, attacks him, replies to questions in short, behaves as if
a demon had entered into the body of the possessed.

The accounts of possession are full of these things. In
lucid cases the " demon " also converses with the person who
" speaks to " him. It is as if actors interpolated here and
there in their parts replies improvised on the spur of the
moment. There is only this essential difference, that they
would act voluntarily whereas the possessed replies on com-
pulsion. I will quote examples taken from original texts:

Caroline related that the night before when she was reciting
a long canticle he had intervened several times in a great rage;
but that, when reminded of his promise, he had remained quiet
from one o'clock onwards. 2

Caroline told us several times that the demon, in consequence of
the scurvy tricks of his comrades in hell, was always made to waver
in well-doing, which she felt deeply, and was only able to keep him
in the right way by remonstrances and incessant prayers. But she
perceived that she could not master him unaided and keep him
from backsliding. 3

. . . On the other hand, Caroline received this morning at seven
o'clock from the higher angels the order to make another serious
effort alone with him. She obeyed. She began by prayers and
supplications. She exhorted him in so lively a manner that the
demon was moved thereby and prayed. He repeated three can-
ticles after her. In the beginning it was to all appearance with
earnestness. She went through each passage of the verses as if
she were teaching him the catechism, aptly and well, so that he

1 Quoted by Janet, Neuroses et idtes fixes, Paris, 1898, i, p. 384.
9 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 30. 8 Ibid., p. 67.

62 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

might apply everything to his inner state. We marvelled at the
cleverness with which she said : " Look, my dear child, it is thus
that you should understand it." In this way she brought him
to speak of confession, but this already was only by forcing him.
In the end he was, at her express injunction, to say the Lord's
Prayer three times. The first time he got through it, but we ob-
served that his seriousness was vanishing. The second time when
he was in the middle of the prayer he began to laugh. To our
reprimand he replied arrogantly : "I won't pray any more !"
Caroline tried to force him, but in vain; the angel told her that
she must give it up. This attempt had lasted from seven to
eleven o'clock in the morning. 1

When he was asked whether he also went to church, he replied
that he liked to go, not to hear the sermon but to see beautiful
and well-dressed ladies. ... As for the Gospel, he had never
troubled about it but had believed that he would go to heaven.
When we asked him whether after death he had not at least been
permitted to go and see it, he replied: "What do you suppose I
I wasn't allowed to have a taste of it, for the Old Man (it was thus
that he referred to Satan) came and growled: " Off with you to
hell !" His departure thither was hastened with a kick, then the
Old Man got out the register of sins, read him all his own, and with
an ironic smile said to him: " Look, W., I tempted you, then se-
duced you ; why did you always listen to me ? Now you are mine!"
No man knows the half of his sins, but they are all recorded there in
writing as fine as a hair.

He gave with a shudder of fear particulars of the place in hell
where he had been. " Everything which is here esteemed beautiful,
lovable, and agreeable, becomes down there hateful, nauseating,
and shapeless. The devil forces one to continual copulation with
the women with whom one has had one's way on earth. There
is a stench, filth, and loathsomeness which can hardly be borne,"
etc., etc. 2

In many other cases there are also " attempts at con-
version " of the demon. The exorcist speaks as if he had
before him a sinner to convert. Thus conversations of the
following type occur:

. . . Although all the manifestations appeared unfavourable
I wanted ... to make an attempt to know whether there was in
him any response to good. I asked gravely: "Can you repeat
* God be merciful to me a poor sinner and receive me with pity
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ?' " He refused and told us
contemptuously to mind our own business, saying : " I shall not
do it, and even if I did, what good would it do me ? For me all
pity is lost !" Nevertheless, we did not leave him but comforted
him with suitable passages from the Gospels. In the end he began
to stammer like a child: "Go-Go-God!" Here he stopped and
said: " Ah, if you knew how much that costs a damned soul you
would not insist !" . . . 8 Soon he lent ear to our remonstrances
and we took up again the thread of yesterday's conversation. He
now had the choice of preparing for initiation by becoming pro-
gressively better or else being expelled by violence. Again we

Ibid., p. 113. 2 Ibid., p. 16. 3 iind. 9 pp. 22 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 63

commanded him to repeat after us : " God be merciful . . ." which
he did with less effort. As for our desire to make him say Our
Father, he at first refused obstinately, asking how he could say

Father" when he was damned and lost. Earlier, earlier, it
might have been possible. . . .*

Already during the repetition (of a canticle) it was observed that
he was profoundly agitated. But soon he was seized with a lively
repentance of his sins and, breaking into poignant lamentations,
wrung his hands, imploring the pity of his heavenly Father. " Yes,
yes, cried he, "compassionate and pitiful!" All his features
were animated by an emotion hitherto unknown to his heart.
From his eyes (lowed the tears of repentance, he was overwhelmed
with indescribable grief. 2

It will be noted that all these cases relate to conversations
with the " demon " during which the possessed kept their
full consciousness. Eschenmayer expressly emphasizes this :

She liad heard and seen all that occurred. For she never lost
consciousness, but in spite of her utmost efforts she could not resist
the demon when he took possession of her body. We asked her
then if the tears which the demon shed must not have been inspired
by her, but she denied it positively. 3

In the narrative of Ambroise Pare we read :

This demon, constrained by the ceremonies and exorcisms, said
that he was a spirit and was not damned for any crime. Being
questioned as to who he was, or by what means and by whose
power he tormented this gentleman thus, he replied that he had
many dwellings where he hid and that at the time when he left the
sick man at rest he went to torment others. For the rest, that he
had been projected into the body of this gentleman by a certain
person who should be nameless, that he had entered by the feet,
creeping up to the brain, and that he would go forth by the feet
when the day covenanted between them should have come. He
discoursed of many other things according to the custom of demon-
iacs. I assure you that I do not bring this forward as a new thing,
but so that it may be known that sometimes devils enter into our
bodies and torture them with unheard-of torments. Sometimes
also they do not enter in, but trouble the good humours of the
body or else send the bad ones to the principal parts.*

Although these conversations may be very remarkable,
our distrust of the whole state is greatly enhanced by the fact
that the demon only replies very cautiously to ticklish
questions. Thus the demon of Caroline St. did not like to
be questioned as to his earthly past.

This was the opportunity for recalling to him old, earthly relation-
ships, a matter on which he replied with great reluctance. In the
end the conversation had to be broken off, because the impression

* Ibid., p. 24. a Ibidt9 p. 25 . 3 j^rf., p . 28 .

Quoted by Calmeil, De la Folie, i, 178, CEuvres Completes d'A.
Pare, Paris, 1841, iii, 64. F

64 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

which it made on him was completely distasteful. He became
very weak and was hardly able to utter another word. The hands
fell inert.*

When questions by means of which we desired to explore more
deeply the secrets of healing and grace were asked, we were gener-
ally rebuffed with the reply: " You are going too far; that also I
ought not to tell ; it is left to each man's faith. 9 ' 8

Nevertheless, as a more complete study of pathological
cases shows, it would be quite false to conclude that this
generally results from cheating, that C. St. was deliberately
playing a part. Such a conception of fraud on the part of
the possessed must be regarded as an absurd hypothesis
when the cases are considered as a whole and it is observed
how the patients suffer from their state. It is certain that
these dialogues are most intimately bound up with the
terrible motor excitement of the fits. No one will ever
pretend, however, that this latter is simulated, for the bodily
strength displayed by the possessed during the fits is so
great that they are revealed as pathological at the first glance.

And now, how are all the cases to be explained ? Is
there a second apperception so that the obsessing personality
is in reality entirely autonomous, existing side by side with
the normal one and understanding what the exorcist says to it ?
And also, when the possessed reprimands the spirit who is
within him, does the latter hear, does it understand, and does
it according to circumstances accept the rebuke or not ?
The " psychology without a subject " which we have rejected
is inclined in the first case to answer in the affirmative, since
it regards the demon merely as a secondary psychic complex
which is in essence of a nature entirely similar to that of the
individual himself, and consequently hears and understands
as he does. In the second case, where we are dealing with
the relations between the possessed and his demon, psychology
without a subject has not yet pronounced itself. Manifestly
it ought also to admit between the two complexes reciprocal
relations, in part purely intellectual, since the demon reacts
to thoughts not expressed aloud.

Together with psychology without a subject, into which
we do not wish to enter more deeply, we also reject its explana-
tion of the reciprocal relations between the possessed and

his demon.

1 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, pp. 46 sq.
a Ibid., p. 125.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 65

The true state of things is essentially the same as when I
converse mentally with someone and in imagination hear him
reply, by which means a conversation may be enacted. In
these . Ircumstances the arguments of the other person may
also have a character of compulsion.

In the case of possession there is nothing more than an
extraordinary accentuation of this phenomenon. Instead of
the discussion being purely and simply a figment of the
imagination, there is simultaneous compulsive excitement of
the vocal organs and eventually yet other actions of a com-
pulsive nature. But there is no essentially new phenomenon ;
we are dealing throughout and always with parasitic psychic
obsessions. There develops in the psyche a sort of secondary
system of personality which directs the person's life against
his will. The subject loses control over a considerable
number of his states, and it is this part of his personality
which plays the obsessive role of a demon. The fact that
the latter, questioned on delicate matters, hesitates and
refuses to reply, should be thus interpreted the imaginary
person conducts himself exactly like a real one. Compulsions
are not in themselves entirely heterogeneous in the psychic
life, but in their character of intellectual processes are of
exactly the same nature as all others of their kind. They are
distinguished by the single fact that they are not of a
voluntary or simply passive nature^but are accomplished
against the will of the subject.

If we bear very clearly in mind that the processes in
question as intellectual functions resemble in principle all
others of the same category, we shall be less surprised that
they are not entitled by their content to a place entirely apart.
They may be characterized by comparing them to the per-
formance of a more or less eminent actor who plays his part
in more or less close accordance with the author's text.

Particularly remarkable and noteworthy is the impression
gleaned from a survey of accounts of the demon's general
conduct: we feel that it is " incoherent " and " incalculable."
This is a fact which strikes every careful reader with a know-
ledge of psychology. It is nevertheless, at least in one
respect, a complete delusion. For if by way of experiment
we adopt the point of view that a strange " spirit " has lodged
in the soul of the possessed, this impression disappears and

66 THE NATUBE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

*

his conduct does not seem to be less the result of determina-
tion and motive than that of a real living person.

Considered from another standpoint, however, this highly
deceptive appearance is not really so deceitful after all. For
in effect the conduct of the ordinary man also defies calcula-
tion; we know none of the psychic laws which would enable
us to forecast it. Only intuitive sympathy enables us to
experience after the event and consequently to " understand "
why a man acts now in this fashion, now in that.

If this intuition ceases, as is the case at least in the first
moment when we realize that we are dealing not with a pos-
sessing spirit but with compulsive phenomena, we at once lose
the feeling of an intimate connection between the mere
verbal declarations and the other " demoniac " reactions.
We now realize very plainly how unpredictable the reactions
of a personality really arc, not because the conduct of the
demon is much more haphazard and irregular than that of
real persons, but rather because the reactions of the latter are
just as fortuitous and incalculable as those of the demon.

But if we now consider that in the compulsive functions
there is also an " inner coherence " analogous to the expression
of a real personality, and that they proceed from a personal
consciousness, even though it be only secondary and obsessive,
we once more have the feeling 1 when intuition of this state
resumes its sway, of an inner coherence in these compulsions;
with nevertheless this difference: we now know that there is
merely a deceptive appearance and not an entirely genuine
second person. Not an entirely genuine person, I say, for
such a person appears only when the subject becomes
identified with this second personality, as in true demoniacal
somnambulism. So long as we are not dealing with such a
case the second person remains unreal and apparent; it is
no more than a body of compulsive functions.

The casual observer of possessed persons always has the
impression that there are two wills in the same individual.
This is particularly clear in the already quoted narrative of
Eginhard :

It was a very extraordinary spectacle for those of us who were
present to see this wicked spirit express himself through the mouth

1 The word is not used in the sense of an emotional phenomenon,
but, in default of a better expression, in the sense attributed to it in
common parlance.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 67

of the poor woman and to hear now the sound of a masculine
voice, now that of a feminine one, but so distinct the one from the
other that we could not believe that the woman alone spoke but
thought we heard two people in a lively quarrel loading one another
with abuse. And in effect there were two persons, there were two
different wills on one side the demon who wished to break the
body of which he was in possession, and on the other the woman
who wished to be delivered from the enemy who obsessed her. 1

Does this description correspond exactly to the facts ?

Such is far from being the case, for the possessed do not
speak with a dual will properly so called, they speak from
processes which impose themselves upon them, but they do
not say that their will is exercised alike in both directions.
They only exercise it on one side, while on the other they
suffer and rebel. This is a fact of the greatest importance,
for it shows that the very core of our personal being is in the
will. Our states may be what they please, and in fact they
may be exceedingly strange and contradictory; they are
" ours " in the proper and strict sense of the word because
we voluntarily range ourselves on their side. Until that
moment they do not reach the heart of our being.

There are naturally other states and functions which we
repudiate but which nevertheless make good their claim as
belonging to us; for if not they would have to be those of
another subject and in that case we should not be able to
experience them, in the proper sense of the word, as original
states, but only to imagine them. We should then be once
more confronted with the same psychological situation of
sentiments due to obsessive imagination which the subject
rejects by the action of the will.

Something happens here to which we habitually pay no
attention namely, that all entirely normal states and
functions, before becoming such, have to pass through another
stage, that of acceptance. In the normal subject there are
as a rule only a relatively small number of processes which
do not pass this test, and they generally vanish very quickly
after repudiation. In pathological cases these processes may
on the contrary be extremely numerous, arise with great
intensity, and be uncoercible. But they are nevertheless
states of the subject, and in exactly the same measure as

1 Quoted by A. Maury, La Magfe et Vastrologie, 3rd edit., Paris,
1864, p. 327 and P. Janet, Nforoscs et idfas fuses, Paris, 1898, vol. i,
p. 384.

68 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

those which have attained to acceptance, with this sole
difference, that the first are obsessive processes to which the
subject feels himself compelled, while in the second case he
appropriates them to himself by the action of the will. Only
the will, in the narrowest sense of the word, has no need to
pass through this stage of acceptance.

The existence of such a threshold of acceptance is not
contradicted by the fact that sometimes a process is refused
at a certain moment to arrive at acceptance later. In these
cases it is the judgement of the subject which has been modi-
fied, a change usually of a passive nature and which as a rule
defies real explanation. But it also remains a fact that every
process has to undergo a more or less careful examination
before being completely accepted. The result in the case of
analogous processes is not, however, always the same, this
being dependent on whether it has or has not been preceded
by changes in the censor.

In order to complete the survey of this subject attention
should be drawn to the fact that a conversation may seem to
be exchanged between compulsions. Cases have occurred
in which the individual did not appear to be possessed by a
single spirit but by several, which spoke through him in
succession and even held discussions amongst themselves.
Thus in the case published by van Gcnnep 1 the individual
was possessed by the " spirit of a dead man." This latter was
questioned as to relations in the Beyond and made all sorts of
replies until a demon intervened and reproached him with
unveiling transcendental secrets.

(At first it is the spirit of the dead man incarnated in
the possessed which speaks to the narrator.)

. . . Do not pray for the damned, for prayer is a torture in
hell ... it is a redoubling of pains. ... I am speaking to you
as a damned soul, do you hear ? Do you understand ?

Here the damned discoursed for an hour with a gloomy, terrifying
and melancholy eloquence, and that with such rapidity that it
was impossible to write down what he said. Then after this
monologue he continued :

Do not follow my example. ... If only after five million
million centuries I had a minute's rest. . . . But no I it is always
eternity. . . .

Are your parents damned too ? the narrator asks the spirit.

. . . My parents are here, happily, for I can make them suffer.

1 Archives de psychologic, x, 1011, p. 02.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 69

Here there is a change of scene: it is a demon who takes the
place of the damned and threatens to double his torments because
he has unveiled the mysteries of hell.

In these cases of dual possession also there is merely an
exaggeration of the state in which every dramatist or novelist
finds himself when he hears various persons holding con-
versations.

The relations between the demon and the possessed in
various circumstances call much more urgently for comment
and explanation. The former expresses himself on this
subject, in cases of somnambulistic possession as well as
others, exactly as if he had introduced himself into the
latter. The researches of the nineteenth century have
enabled us to throw light cm somnambulistic and hypnotic
states, and the facts as observed are so astonishing that the
obstinate persistence of belief in the demon is not in any way
surprising; it must even be said that it disappeared from the
scene before a complete psychological explanation of posses-
sion was possible. For a long time people contented them-
selves on the most difficult points with the conviction that
pathological manifestations were involved.

Observations by the demon about the possessed may be
found, for example, in the ease of Caroline St., who was
sometimes in a somnambulistic state and sometimes in one
of possession.

The demon said of Caroline. . . . Prayer is generally too
irksome for him, as well it may be, for Caroline prays much and
says: " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanse me from all my sins ";
and adds every time 1hc prayer that it may also cleanse W. (the
demon), so that she prays for' him also the* silly thing I 1

He related himself how Caroline had prayed and had spoken to
him on the previous night. The protecting spirit (a vision which
Caroline has in addition to her phenomena of possession) had not
guarded him sufficiently; the evil spirits had come back, had
mocked him and striven to turn him aside once more. On the
apostrophe of Caroline who was weeping bitterly he had again seen
things differently, had decided to remain good and had left her in
peace. 2

. . . Then he touched upon his relations with Caroline. He said :
Since lie had been converted (in the lucid state she had sought
to convert him) and felt the same as herself, she could no longer
clearly distinguish herself from him. The two of them were so
united in their prayers, in their canticles, and generally in all that
they did and refrained from doing, that she asked him constantly:
** Is it you, W., or I V" for as he not only speaks with her voice

1 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 24. a Ibid., p. 31.

70 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

but also thinks with her mind, his being is completely confounded
in hers, he has exactly her voice except only when he is excited and
provoked to fight; then he resumes his manly voice with a heavy
strain on her vocal organs. 1

The apparent confusion of the two minds is particularly
evident in Lemaitre's case observed in our own times.

The case is one of somnambulistic possession and concerns
a schoolboy of fourteen, Fritz. The spirit which is in him is
called Algar and professes to be an Armenian. A few quota-
tions will show the relations between Algar and the pos-
sessed boy.

. . . Then Fritz rose and spoke in a deep guttural voice with
a strong exotic accent which obliged me to make him repeat several
words which were badly enunciated. My own questions will be
found in parentheses.

(Has Frit/ seen or read any Armenian ?) " Picture postcards."
(When and how did Algar appear ?) "* Fritz was twelve years
old. It was one day when he was very tired with having studied
his geography. . . . (Discretion obliges me to leave out several
passages which I replace by dots). As a punishment he had
been told to work . . . in the garden. Fritz refused and was
given a box on the ears. (Will Algar remain long with
Fritz ?) It is necessary for another two months, or perhaps
less, until the cure, but M. Lemaitre must help by making Fritz
come more often than every Wednesday. (What relations
are there l>etween the Algar family and Fritz ?) The family
has done much to comfort Fritz when he was scolded, especially
the daughter. . . . Algar was the first name of the son, aged
about twenty. ..."

During lesson-time Fritz had, in a short fit of somnam-
bulism, recited some Latin verses.

(Who composed the Latin verse which Fritz said to me in the
course of a lesson?) "I know Latin arid Fritz can write it
when I am there. It is, however, better that he should not tire
himself with the study of this language which is too difficult for
him."*

(How comes it ... that Fritz quoted to me a verse which I
finally discovered in Horace ?) " I did not know," replied
Algar, 4t that that verse was from Horace, but if I re-discover it
this is because Fritz must have heard or read it some time at school,
even although he never learnt Latin there."

It is true that Algar has only dwelt in Fritz for three years, but
that does not prevent him from bringing up from the depths of his
consciousness accidentally and without any desire to do so, poetry
casually heard many years before. Thus . . . Algar expresses
himself in the following terms about some verses : " I wrote this

1 Ibid., pp. 83 sq.

2 A. Lemaitre, Fritz Algar, "Archives de psychologic," v, 1006,
pp. 85 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 71

poem which Fritz had probably heard recited by a servant when
he was four or five years old."

. . . On the subject of Fritz 9 total amnesias Algar adds : " All
that Fritz loses (in his somnambulism and fits of abstraction) it
is I who get hold of it." 1

How are these strange declarations to be explained ? Is
it true that in the principal person there is yet another who
understands everything for the second time and retains the
memory of it ?

The position is essentially simpler and will be easier of
approach if we remember what we have learned elsewhere
about somnambulism. In typical somnambulism memory
extends over the whole life, including normal periods as well
as previous periods of somnambulism. The contrary is true
of the normal state in which memory of the somnambulistic
state is almost always impossible. The admirable researches
of Janet, 2 as also of others, have shown, moreover, that when
the waking state A and the somnambulistic state B of an
individual X show very wide general differences from the
psychic and characterological point of view, the person in the
somnambulistic state ^is not always willing to identify
himself with the normal individual, but sometimes speaks
of him in the third person, although he sees before him a 1
the past life of the individual X, and A as well as B are no
other than particular states of X. An error of judgement
has arisen: instead of recognizing that the general psychic
state of X has changed, the subject falls into the mistake of
no longer regaining states so foreign to himself as his own,
but seeing them as a separate person.

Something else also escapes Fritz-Algar. In the Algar
state he embraces all his past life, the normal periods as well
as the (short) somnambulistic ones; he has even a certain
hypennnesia : he remembers events which were not present
to the memory in the normal state. But instead of realizing
his own identity in the various successive periods he makes
the mistake of believing that the normal state of Fritz is
quite another person. As, however, he sees before him in
memory the whole of Fritz' life he interprets the positions by
thinking he is always present in Fritz and has full control
of his memory. On exceptional occasions Algar has an

1 Ibid., p. 88.

9 P. Janet, L'Automatisme psychofogique, Paris, 1889, pp. 131 sq.

72 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

intuition that he only represents a part of the psychic
existence of Fritz:

(Where did you get this name of Algar?) "I am Algar
and do not know who gave me this name, but 1 may have got it out
of Fritz."

(Then you are in some sort Fritz' consciousness ?) " Exactly/' 1

Thus the problem resolves itself very simply, 2 and the
solution throws light on the last remaining riddle.

Algar also predicts some of Fritz' future actions, which
the latter will carry out while himself half-unconscious.
One day, for example, he declared to Lemaitre: " Fritz will
be taken home again to-day without knowing it, lie will write
a poem which he will bring to-morrow and perhaps also a
Latin sentence."

On the following day Fritz did in fact bring both: on one
sheet of paper the poem which, without knowing how, he had
written on the previous evening before dinner, and on the
other sheet a Latin verse of which he did not know the meaning
and which he must have written after dinner 3 (manifestly
under an inner compulsion).

Algar had boasted he is a true Armenian of possessing
a special language and script. Lemaitre therefore begged
him to write in that language.

After a few seconds he replied in the affirmative, and that Fritz
when awake would remember nothing about it. " In the night
I am going to tell Fritz to write in my handwriting. He will not
know that it is my doing, but I will make him get up and go back
to bed again afterwards, and then on the next day he will see these
childish scribblings and say: ' Isn't it funny, I found this on my
table!' "4

The psychological state of things is here as follows:
during somnambulism Fritz (Algar) proposes to write a poem
on his return home. Then he executes this intention and
in doing so falls back into an abnormal state (he had mean-
while returned to his normal one). The intention to carry
out an action is realized in exactly the same way as many
hypnotic suggestions, compulsively and mechanically, even
if not, as a rule, unconsciously. The resolution taken by

1 A Lemaitre, loc. cit., p. 90.

2 It is amusing that Frit/' aversion for Latin manifests itself in the
somnambulistic state also.

8 Ibid., p. 86. Ibid., p. 88.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 78

Fritz in the somnambulistic state remains alive under the
threshold of consciousness, even after he has returned to
normal, and fulfils itself as soon as the prescribed moment
arrives. Everything occurs as if Fritz had received a corre-
sponding suggestion from a hypnotist, the only difference
being that in the present case it is not a hypnotist but actually
Fritz who introduces into himself the " determining ten-
dency " (autosuggestion) which will later release the action. 1
The error concerning the non-identity of Fritz and Algar
therefore leads Fritz the somnambulist into a remarkably
inept mode of speech. He ought to say, " I propose to do this
and that, this intention is realized in such a way that I observe
nothing of it and am afterwards astonished to see the writing
in question on the paper " (we may suppose that Fritz the
somnambulist knows that things must happen thus, because
he remembers previous cases where in the same way he
proposed acts when in a state of somnambulism, and
remembers, perhaps by a sort of hypermnesia 2 how such
somnambulistic resolutions were carried out later in the
waking state, mechanically, without full consciousness).
Instead of that he says, " I (Algar) will do this and that
and Fritz will be very much surprised afterwards to find a
letter written."

Here are two other examples of realization of a tendency
created during somnambulism.

Lemaitre agreed with Fritz the somnambulist that the
latter should add to a piece of homework a sheet with a poem
on it. When Fritz in the waking state gave in his exercise
book on the following day, Lemaitre duly found the agreed
paper inside without the normal Fritz having the least idea
that there was an extra sheet in the book. 3

1 Naturally the question at once arises of studying more closely
this parallelism between external hypnotic suggestion and voluntary
somnambulistic determination; it is an extremely interesting problem
of experimental psychology, our knowledge of suggested actions being,
generally speaking, inadequate. There are, moreover, plenty of other
problems. Thus it seems that Algar was able to disappear at will,
that is to say, that Fritz was able voluntarily to end his somnambulism
and recover his normal state, while the converse was manifestly not
within his power.

2 The generally hypermnesic character of Fritz* somnambulism
is also demonstrated by the creation and use of a personal alphabet
which would have taken some time to learn in the normal waking state.

3 Loc. cit., pp. 92 sq.

74 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Another time Lemaitre agreed with Algar that the latter
should write him a letter and gave him an addressed envelope
for the purpose. This was executed in the following manner:

He explained to me that he had written his letter in one or two
minutes during the previous night at one a.m., and that he at once
slipped it into the envelope which I had given him. For this
purpose Algar had made Fritz get up for a few minutes. Fritz
had this envelope containing the letter in his pocket all day Friday
without knowing it, then in the evening Algar, taking advantage
of an errand which Fritz had to do at the shoemaker's, took pos-
session of his person and dropped the letter into the box. 1

In the circumstances it will not be surprising to find that
Algar, that is to say, Fritz in the somnambulistic state,
remembers all sorts of previous states having the character
of possession and over which Fritz had no control, which he
was not able to " assimilate."

(Did Algar know the two personalities who were in Fritz a
few weeks ago?) "Yes, for I was already in him, but I
should not have been able to merge them single-handed." (When
did this double personality begin?) "At school, and it would
not have developed but for Frit'/' troubles. Between us (Algar
and myself) we have made it disappear and when Fritz is well
again he will never have known me. Then I shall go away,
you will be able to explain everything to him and he will have
difficulty in believing it.

(Why did Fritz' second personality always play the part of an
important personage ?) It was so that he should not be too harshly
treated, because, for example, as a general one is better used than
as a private, and because while commanding he liked to go away.
People had made his illness much worse, they laughed at him when
he put on a new tie or new shoes, and gave him nicknames . . .
and this was his form of revenge. 2

There is no contradiction in the fact that Algar remembers
these states of Fritz although at that time he was not " in
Fritz." Algar is no other than Fritz in the somnambulistic
state. But somnambulism implies a hypermnesia relating
to the subject's whole life, so that Algar remembers facts
in Fritz' life which occurred at a time when Algar was not
yet there, that is to say, before Fritz showed these som-
nambulistic troubles and modifications in the general psychic
structure of the personality which arc distinguished by the
name of Algar. The very contradiction that Algar remembers
states of Fritz dating from a period when he, Algar, was not

1 Ibid., pp. 94 sq.

2 Ibid., pp. 89 sq. Fritz suffered from obsessive day-dreams in
which he always saw himself playing the part of a great personage.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 75

there, shows with the utmost possible clarity that Algar is not
a spirit which has introduced itself into Fritz from without
but Fritz himself in the somnambulistic state. The fact that
Lemaitre did not refrain from reproducing all Algar's declara-
tions, however disconcerting and strange they might appear,
gives to his publication a unique value as bearing upon the
theory of the ego.

It is not fully clear how Fritz-Algar comes to predict
so accurately that he will vanish at the time of Fritz' cure
and that the latter will not remember him. Is this due to
hypermnesia of things perhaps heard by Fritz at some time
and relating to the course and cure of his possession or else
to autonomous conjectures founded on his own experiences
and the knowledge acquired from them that Fritz in the
waking state does not remember the somnambulistic periods ?

Finally we will draw attention to another interesting
analogous case. In early Christian literature there exists a
passage where the possessing spirit also makes statements
as to the state of mind of the possessed at the moment of
possession. It does not much matter that in this case
possession is not by a demon but by the Holy Spirit conceived
entirely as a person. The quotation relates to Montan,
the founder of " Montanism." Several utterances of the
Holy Spirit are enunciated by his mouth, in one of which the
Holy Spirit describes as follows Montan's state when inspired:

Behold, man is like a lyre And I come Hying unto him like a
plectrum The man sleeps And I am waking Behold it is the
Lord Who draws men's hearts out of their breasts And who
gives to man a heart. 1

This passage is remarkable because in the whole of
literature I have not found another in which the second
person of the possessed says something about the occasionally
recurring condition of the first.

Even the somnambulists of Janet 2 are silent on this
point; true, however, they were not questioned about it.

By reason of this lack of documents it is difficult to say
anything more on the psychic mechanism which Montan's
words really attest. It seems as if there had been as it were

1 St. Epiphauius (User.), 48, 4, ii, p. 430), cd. Dind, quoted by
Bonwetsoh, GeschicMe des Montanismus, Erlangen, 1881, pp. 10 sq.
* L'Automatisme psychologique, Paris, 1888.

76 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

a residue of the first " person " in the total field of conscious-
ness: this is what would be indicated by the word " sleeps."
It is with the new person in the man as if the first slept.

The passage also shows that man possesses in this second
state as well as the first a sense of the ego, for otherwise the
following utterance would have no meaning: "That God
takes men's hearts out of their bosoms and gives them a
heart " (another heart evidently). This second heart is
that of the Paraclete.

We must consider once more the other saying from the
mouth of Montan : I, the Lord, God, the Almighty, descending
into man, eya> tcvpios o 0eo? 6 Travro/cpdrcov /carayiyv6/JLvo^ ev

It shows at least that, in this case also, the new person is
so placed as to be only per nefas in the man in question. 2

1 Epiphanius (liter.), 48, ii.

2 This interpretation of the words of Montan is found also in their
translator Weinel (Die Wirkungen der Geister im nachapostolischen
Zei falter bis auf Irendus, Freiburg, 1809); but Weinel forgets that the
normal personal consciousness has disappeared, and therefore falls
into a completely false interpretation ; he pays no attention to the fact
that the personality gifted with apperception who thus remarks that
the ordinary person sleeps is not at all this latter but the new and divine
one.

Weinel himself offers (loc. cit., pp. 92 sq.) these observations: " Mon-
tan has perfectly described the prophet's personal experience, or rather
not Montan but the * Lord ' who speaks. (Here follows the sentence
quoted above uttered by the mouth of Montan.) In this state the man
is as if he slept or as if his heart, the seat of consciousness according to
the ancients, were drawn out of his bosom and a strange power had
given him another for such time as it should speak by his mouth. It
is with him as often with us in dreams : as if he were only the spectator
or auditor of what the strange force which has ' taken possession of him '
says and does. As in a dream he hears only a distant and strange
voice which uses his vocal organs like a plectrum striking the strings.
And this state had seized him as if some strange thing had ' flown ' into
him, like a puff of wind or a heady perfume. All this is not depicted
by the man but by God who is within him. We may wonder whether
the man in his waking state remembers it.

"... He who carries the spirit within him shows to a marked degree
the need to elucidate his state, to explain this strange thing which has
come suddenly into his life and imposed itself upon him. This is what
gives rise to these naif theories formulated from time to time, partly
in the waking state and partly in ecstasy. We will allude here only
to the (lairvoyante of Prevorst who has reflected at length upon her
state and who in the half-waking condition wrote rhymes similar (at
least in certain cases) to the words of Maximilla.

" ' Play of thought Thou dost bear me away from the goal My
prescience is subtle So works in me the other's thought Among the
intruding thoughts Of the earthly tumult Remains long flickering
The sense of spiritual things/ "

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED, 77

In striking agreement with what we have already said
ibout the character of possession according as the possessed
lo or do not offer a strong resistance to the anti-religious
compulsions, is what has been handed down concerning the
frequency and distribution of the incidence of possession and
obsession.

Before proceeding further, I must interpolate a remark
on the terms possession and obsession. Under the name of
obsessions modern French psychology includes in a general
way all the states of compulsion. 1 Under the name of
possession are designated two particular groups of states,
demoniacal somnambulism as well as the state of inner
division in which the individual imagines he feels the
demon as a second self within him.

It should be clearly stated that the theological psychology
of the present time, like that of the Middle Ages, classes these
phenomena of division as obsessions and only reckons as
possession well-developed demoniacal somnambulism. This
is the definition of Poulain, one of the most eminent specialists
in the new theology:

We shall call a person possessed by the demon in the strict
sense of the word when at certain moments the latter makes him
lose consciousness and then seems to play in his body the part of
the soul: he uses, at least to all appearance, his eyes to see with,
his ears to listen with, his mouth to speak with, whether it be to
those present or to his companions. It is he who suffers as if from
a burn if his skin is touched with an object which has been blessed.
In a word, he seems incarnated.

We shall call a person obsessed when the demon never makes him
lose consciousness but nevertheless torments him in such a manner
that his action is manifest: for example, by beating him. 2

But it must be said that this terminology has not always
been strictly observed. The more nearly the state of obsession
approximates, at least apparently, to possession, the more
readily is this designation applied. Thus the case of Surin
has always from the beginning been called possession, whereas
it should have been called obsession by reason of the retention
of intelligence.

In the case of the Clairvoyante of Preyorst, however, it is she herself
in her character of clairvoyante who gives an account of her state,
while in the case quoted above it is the Paraclete.

1 E.g. y Pierre Janet in Les Obsessions et la psychasthtnie, Paris,
1003.

8 A. Poulain, Des Grdces tforaison. Traitt de tMologie mystique,
5th edit., Paris, 1006, p. 428.

78 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

It is, moreover, extremely important to remember that
although we call such a state of division obsession, 1 it is far
from true that all obsessions are consequently states of
division.

Modern psychopathic literature on the subject contains
descriptions of an extraordinary number of compulsive
phenomena which have not, however, been felt as " posses-
sion " by the persons concerned. The richest collection of
cases is found in the great work of Pierre Janet, a French
psychologist originally psychology master in a secondary
school at le Havre, but now for years past director of the
Psychological Institute of the Paris Psychiatric Clinic of the
Salpetriere Les Obsessions et la Psychasth6nie.~ It includes
hundreds of the most diverse examples.

Hardly less rich are the materials which Lowenfeld has
accumulated in his book: Die psyschologischen Zwangser-
scheinungen. 3

The forms of obsession arc innumerable. Some patients
are haunted by the idea that they have committed a crime
or an offence of some sort against religion ; others by the idea
that they are suffering from an illness. Yet others are prone
to ask themselves mentally all sorts of questions on any and
every occasion. Some have a mania for counting their steps
or the paving-stones in the streets. Others are haunted by
the dread of being contaminated by the objects which they
touch. Yet others cannot resist the impulse to wash their
hands at every moment. There is no idea, no tendency, no
torturing conception which may not be capable of assuming
compulsive possession of the mind 4 without the patient
thereby losing consciousness of the morbid character of the
process taking place within him.

I have had, writes H. Oppenheim, to treat several lawyers,
jurists, and doctors who were worried to death by the obsessive

1 Thus the expression obsessio was used arbitrarily in the sense of
possession in a Hesponsum of the theological faculty of Rostock, as
early as the year 1691 (cf. Magikon, Archiv. f&r Beob. a. d. Gebiete d.
Geisterkunde, 1853, see vol. v, p. 227.

2 Two vols., Paris, 1903. Vol. ii., which gives a detailed analysis of
these cases, was written in collaboration with the neurologist of the
Salpetriere, F. Raymond.

3 Wiesbaden, 1904.

4 The psychological structure of these states, which is insufficiently
explained by psychiatric literature, has been closely analyzed by me in
the first vol. of my Phanomenologie des Ich (chap. xiii).

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 79

idea of having made a mistake, of having forgotten something in
their prescriptions. It is not rare in obsessions to have committed
a morally reprehensible action. Thus an intelligent lawyer had had
his windows furnished with shutters when the idea occurred to
him that this was an act of cowardice. He was unceasingly
tormented by this display of moral inferiority and consulted not
only doctors but also philosophers, ecclesiastics, etc. When he
came to ask my advice the trouble had lasted, with intermissions,
for twenty- five years. 1

Sometimes it is the idea of being destined to attempt the life
of another, particularly amongst the patient's near ones, which
makes its way into the mind and becomes obsessive. One of my
patients could not go into the street because he was distracted
by the idea of wounding someone with his walking-stick or um-
brella. 2

Obsession is a peculiar torture when almost every idea takes the
form of an interrogation, when on every sensory impression, every
action, irrcsistably arouses the question : What does that mean ?
Why arn I doing that ? Why do I do such a thing and not such
another ? Why is this object in this place ? etc. It may even
be completely absurd conceptions bearing no relation to the normal
mentality of the individual which assume obsessive domination.
For example, one of my patients was obsessed by the idea that
he carried the head of his dead father under his arm, that his skin
was that of a mouse, etc. There are other cases in which the
patient must exhaust himself in the search for certain names.
Thus I treated a woman who strove to find a name for every object
and who had no rest until she had written it down; she had sacks
full of pieces of paper inscribed with names. With other women
it is a sort of mania for orientation and analysis. They must keep
an exact account of what they have thought during a certain time,
of what they have done, of the objects which they have seen in
going through a room, of the order in which these were arranged
when they passed them, etc. 3

These compulsive ideas may also have a religious content,
the most frequent taking the form of blasphemy.

To speak evil of divine things, to think of the devil while saying
prayers and to insult God instead of praying to him ... to be
able to utter nothing but coarse and malevolent expressions of
hatred against God, to rebel against him and curse him, to utter
blasphemies as soon as the thought of religion occurs. . . . Swine
of a God, etc., such are the words which a number of these patients
repeat. 1

Such states are not identical with possession. They may
facilitate its appearance, but in themselves fall short of it.

It also behoves us to be circumspect about sources.
Authors often say that the devil has entered into a soul even
if according to our terminology there is nothing beyond the

1 H. Oppenheim, Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten, 6th edit., Berlin
1013, ii, pp. 1525 sq.

8 Ibid., p. 1526. * Ibid. 9 p. 1525.

4 P. Janet, loc. cit., i, p. 12.

80 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

ordinary compulsive phenomena without the sentiment of a
second personality being imposed. It is only when the person
feels himself divided that we speak of true possession.

It is evident, that such possession must arise much less
often to-day than formerly when belief in the devil prevailed.
All compulsions, even when very mild, were immediately
personified, but this did not mean that every obsessive idea
resulted in an immediate division of personality.

As regards the growth of compulsions in the psyche,
certain prominent systematic theologians are of opinion that
possession never attacks, except in very rare and transitory
cases, persons who strive earnestly after moral and religious
perfection. 1

They really find this a matter of experience. Meynard
also thinks " that it is excessively rare that possession should
appear in souls called to the contemplation of God and to an
intimate union with him; it is rather a punishment than a
purifying trial." 2

This, however, can only be affirmed of the most extreme
forms of possession, for authors worthy of credence report
that almost all exorcising priests themselves fell victim to
possession.

On the other hand, obsessions are very often encountered
in persons of deep religious life : all the biographies of saints and
mystics are full of such cases. There is nothing surprising
in this, for in order to become a mystic it is necessary to have
an inner leaning towards persistent processes.

Thus Suso speaks of " the imaginings of the evil spirits,"
of the " insinuations of the evil spirit," which he heard from
time to time. He characterizes them as " hateful thoughts
which the evil spirit puts into me against my will." 3

Amongst his sufferings there were three intimate ones which
were very painful to him. One of them consisted in false ideas
concerning the faith. Thus it occurred to him to wonder how God
had been able to become man and other similar things. The more
resistance he offered the more he went astray. God left him for

* Poulain, op. cit., p. 424. Scaramelli, Direttorio Mistico, v, 41.
Schram, Institutiones theologies mysticce, Augsburg, 1777, no. 208
(ed. of 1848, no. 217).

2 Meynard, Traite de la vie int&rieure, vol. ii, no. 139.

3 Heinrich Suso, Deutsche Schriften in neuhochdeutscher Schrift-
sprache, ed. by H. Denifle, Munich, 1880, book i, pp. 483 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 81

almost nine years in these tribulations with sorrowful heart and
weeping eyes which implored the aid of God and all the saints. . . .

Another intimate suffering was a vague sadness. Without inter
mission his heart was heavy ; it was as if a mountain weighed upon
it. ...

But the third intimate suffering was that he was assailed by
distressful thoughts, that his soul would never find healing and
would be damned eternally whatever good he might do and what-
ever application he might show, that the fact of his being one of
the Just was of no avail, and all was lost in advance. And thus he
afflicted his soul day and night. When he had to go to the choir
or do some other good action his miseries returned and he lamented
" Of what use is it to you to serve God ? To you it is only a curse,
there will never be any healing. Give over betimes; you are lost
even as you set about it. . . ."

As these terrible torments had lasted for about ten years. . . - 1

Even in sermons Suso comes round to the subject, and we
learn in this way that for some time he was haunted by obses-
sive impulses towards suicide.

Now there arc four different sufferings which are the direst of all
that the human heart is called upon to bear, so dire that no one
could conceive such suffering hearts to exist had he not experienced
them himself or unless it were given him from God ; if their suffer-
ings leave them not (and their sufferings would be lightened if
they only turned to God) then will they endure the most painful
of all tribulations. The depth of these sufferings should be measured
not by the harm which they do to the soul but by the active torment
which thev inflict. The four sufferings arc as follows: doubt in
matters of faith, doubt of the mercy of God, thoughts of revolt
against God and his saints, and temptations to take one's own life. 2

This whole description is eloquent of the fact that Suso
suffered from states of psychic compulsion. The word
temptation (Anfechtung) is not really proper to these states,
for it is generally used when it is desired to express that the
moral attitude of the individual endangers something or
another. Thus Luther occasionally speaks of a purely
physical malady as an " Anfechtung." But where the word
is used for psychic phenomena it implies that the individual
experienced these within himself against his will. Suso resists
all the sufferings enumerated by him: doubt in matters of
faith, doubt of the mercy of God, anti-religious ideas and
ideas of suicide. But this means that all these were states of
spiritual obsession (consequent on a nervous system broken
down by incredible practices of asceticism lasting over a long
period of years).

1 Ibid., pp. 00 sq.

2 H. Suso, Deutsche Schriften (in der Originalsprache), ed. by K. Bihl-
meyer, Stuttgart, 1007, p. 408.

6

82 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

The case of Ste. Jeanne de Chantal who had " violent
temptations and torments of soul " is the same. Her seven
or eight last years were passed in a continual moral anguish
of death which only disappeared in the last months of her
life. " Dryness " (that is to say, drying-up of the sentiments
of religious exaltation), doubts as to the mysteries, inclination
to blaspheme God, the feeling that God hated her, evil thoughts
about those near her and scruples of conscience, all these
torments assailed her. 1

Maria von der Menschwcrdung suffered like Suso from
suicidal tendencies.

One day when I found myself near a window I had a horrible
temptation to throw myself down, for my understanding was com-
pletely darkened. 2

. . . And at this very moment a terrible inner force impelled
me to throw myself down from hatred of God. Particularly once
during the crossing; this temptation to suicide was so sharp and
strong that had there not chanced to be a balustrade near by my
soul to which I clung I should have thrown myself into the sea. 3

It is shown by experience that God always sends trials to souls
which strive after perfection; and sometimes throughout their
whole lives. All the biographies of the saints give proof of it, and
the masters of spiritual knowledge establish it by common consent.
This general rule applies more particularly to souls greatly given
to prayer, especially if they are favoured with mystic gifts of
grace. ... "If ever," says Scaramelli, " my book falls into the
hands of a person who aspires through vain mothes to infused
contemplation, I beg him to reflect on the cruel pincers that must
rend his flesh, and the wine-press of many sufferings beneath which
he must groan before attaining to it. Perchance then all frivolous
desire for these favours will vanish from his heart." 4

The complete disappearance in possessed persons of con-
sciousness of the original personality seems therefore to depend
to a considerable extent on the voluntary resistance offered by
the patient to these phenomena of psychic compulsion. If
resistance is weak, the compulsions end by suppressing the
primary personality. This is fully consistent with the fact
that children scarcely ever retain consciousness in their
compulsive state, but are immediately dominated by the
phenomenon. Their individuality is not yet sufficiently
strong and capable of resistance.

As regards the distinction which Poulain draws between

1 Quoted by Poulain, La Plenitude des grdces, vol. ii.

2 Ibid., vol. ii. 8 Ibid., vol. ii.

* A. Poulain, Grdces <Foraison, 5th edit., Paris, 1906, p. 805. Scara-
melli, Direttorio Mistico, v, 41.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OP THE POSSESSED 83

possession and obsession, this is a matter of well-established
tradition. Ribet also distinguishes in the same way:

Possession is the invasion by the demon of the body of a living
man, whose organs he exercises in his own name and at will, as
if the body had become his. 1

In possession the spirit acts from within and seems to be substi-
tuted in the body for the soul which animates and moves it. a

Obsession, on the other hand, is thus defined:

An extrinsic compulsion which, while leaving to the mind the
consciousness of its vital and motor action upon the organs, never-
theless imposes itself with such violence that the man feels within
him two beings and two principles in mutual conflict: the one ex-
ternal and despotic which seeks to invade and dominate, the other
internal, that is to say the soul itself which suffers and struggles
against this foreign domination. 3

It is naturally false to designate possession as " external "
while obsession is called " internal," the first representing a
domination of the body, the second a domination of the mind.
Possession does not denote a lesser but rather a deeper
disturbance of the mind than does obsession.

It should be observed that in addition to internal obsession
Ribet admits an external kind which consists in visions of a
demoniacal nature. The temptation of St. Anthony by
visions of women is a case in point. In this kind of obsession
'the devil manifests himself as it were outside the individual
and not within him.

We have defined possession as a state of compulsion.
This may be transformed in several ways. The first consists
in the subject gradually weakening in his resistance to the
compulsive processes which constitute the essence of the
" demon "; they begin to be accepted. Even this proceeding
is obviously not altogether subject to the control of the will
the general opinion that it is so is fallacious. On the
contrary the subject may realize very clearly the way in which
resistance is slowly worn down within him. When the
struggle is relinquished the patient ceases simultaneously as
a rule to harbour compulsive ideas and to imagine the con-
sciousness of the second personality. In the last analysis it
was only a travesty, a personification of the compulsions.

1 M. J. Ribet, La mystique divine, Paris, 1883, vol. iii, pp. 191 sq.

2 Ibid., p. 179.

8 Ibid., pp. 179 sq.

84 TIIE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

C. St. offers good examples of this :

The worst thing is that she should no longer be able to dis-
tinguish whether the evil thoughts and intentions come from her
or from the demon. The angel said: "It is sad; take care lost
thy soul suffer harm.'* In the night she nevertheless appeared to
recover strength and from four to five o'clock she prayed very
heartily, which I heard from below. 1

In the afternoon towards two o'clock she engaged in a violent
conflict which lasted until six o'clock and in which faith and doubt,
perseverance and irresolution alternated constantly. She now
began continually to parry his thrusts and used the same spiritual
weapons against the demon as the latter had formerly used against
Satan. 2 At first we paid no attention, taking it for a pure mimicry,
and often said : " Let the Evil One talk away and take no notice."
But she replied: "You don't understand. If I do not repulse
each one of the attacks which he makes against my soul, he enters
more deeply into me and I am lost."

The angel knew this better than we did and often cried : " lie is
cast down; press forward in faith or thy soul will suffer for it."
The spiritual infection seemed to become greater and greater, and
to deprive her of all her good thoughts and intentions, so that she
cried out as if in despair that to him who would take her life she
would give a great reward; what she suffered inwardly was in-
describable ; everything was now contradiction. If she 'said with
all her strength of will : fck The Evil One must give way !" the voice
replied from the depths of her heart: " No, he will remain !" If
she said in faith: "The Lord will come and will deliver me,"
** No 1" said the inner voice, " the Lord will not eome and will
not deliver thee !" We therefore had to judge for ourselves
whether it was possible that this martyrdom should last any
longer. True, the angels who were always at her side did not fail
to speak words of consolation to her, but the struggle was not
mitigated thereby. 8

The case of C. St. shows very clearly and more than once,
as has already been seen, 4 this fear of becoming powerless
against the compulsions. Here is another quotation:

We already saw that the demon and Caroline were completely
united in the period of conversion, so that in utterances of various
kinds, prayers, recitation of canticles and psalms, C. often asked:
" It is you, W., or I ?" In particular during the struggle with
Satan, being afraid that he might give way while her organs and
speech were in action, she often used to ask : " Are you there ?"
to which he generally replied : " Never fear, I am here P 5

After passing through this psychological condition develop-
ment may occur along one of two lines. The first leads to
demoniacal somnambulism. The original personality vanishes
and in its place comes the second, which was hitherto a mere
compulsive state. This seems to be the rule with young people,

1 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., p. 149.

2 I have not examined further the phenomena thus alluded to.
Ibid., pp. 132 sq. Ibid., p. 93.

6 Jbid., p. 13. An explanatory theory of Eschenmayer follows.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 85

as with them the original personality is not yet so strong as
in adults. Or else there occurs little by little, in proportion
as the compulsive functions are accepted, a fusion of the two
personal consciousnesses; the individual remains conscious
of who he is, but his character suffers a complete change for
the worse. This second phenomenon seems often to occur
in the modern " demoniacal fits " of highly hysterical
persons. So far as the relevant literature, with its lack of
precision, allows us to judge, the subject now seems far from
struggling against demoniacal states as he did formerly under
the influence of the religious periods. Then there existed
compulsive states of the most violent character, whereas
it appears that to-day the element of compulsion is lacking.
The patients give way much more easily to the impulses and
suffer no division of consciousness ; they abando n themselves
heart and soul to the fits of frenzy. 1

Generally speaking, all states of emotional compulsion
have a strong tendency to become the true nature of the
individual. Thus a patient whom I have been able to examine
closely remarked one day: " An obsessive state of feeling will
be experienced as belonging to the subject far more readily
than an obsessive idea, in spite of any criticisim which it
may incur." 2

The strength and duration of resistance to the compulsive
processes generally depends on the force of character of the
individual. The more sharply his character is in opposition
to the compulsive feelings the more energetically does he
combat them. Conversely, the more affinity these senti-
ments have to his own being, the more readily are they
accepted.

It will therefore not be surprising to find that in the case
of devout persons having attained a high degree of holiness
possession seems confined to the early stages of their career,
before they have advanced to the higher degrees of
ecstasy.

1 It is urgently desirable that the detailed psycho-pathological
analysis of hysteria should at length be extended to the acute states of
hysterical excitement. The accounts and descriptions, some of them
classic, of the investigators of that malady: Charcot, Richer, Gilles
de la Tourette, Pitres, Janet, Sollier, Binswanger, Hartenberg, etc.,
are insufficient for the needs of psychology.

2 Journal fur Psychologic und Neurologic, viii, p. 62.

86 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Poulain, who has studied Catholic mysticism for forty
years, ventures the statement:

From the lives of the saints it appears evident that a strong
diabolic domination manifests itself to the highest degree before
the stage of ecstasy or revelations or really divine visions is reached.
Sometimes it is for a time, when the divine revelations are inter-
rupted, but sometimes also it comes in the midst of these very
evidences of grace. 1

The autobiography of Jeanne des Anges permits us con-
versely to realize how much less clearly marked is the division
of mind in a characterless and morally inferior person than in
others. 2

At the beginning, indeed, she was not subject to com-
pulsions, as is clearly shown by a scries of quotations from her
biography :

They generally acted in conformity with the inclinations which
I harboured within me, which they did so subtly that I myself
did not think to have demons. I took as an insult that I should
be told to distrust myself, and when anyone spoke to me of posses-
sion by them I felt greatly moved to anger against those persons
who spoke to me thereof, being unable to refrain from showing my
resentment. Little by little 1 took a great loathing for the things
of God, in such wise that I left off all kinds of prayer, audible as
well as silent. When I was at any observance of the community
I suffered very great uneasiness ; it is true that I did not do myself
the violence necessary to resist my inclinations. Through this
laxity I fell into such great hardness of heart that none of the
things of God any longer touched me more than as if I had been of
bronze. 3

It is the same with sexual feelings. She conceived a
passion for a priest and abandoned herself to it in imagination
without any effort of will.

They (the demons) inspired me with desires to see and talk to
him. . . . 4 It is true that I have been faithless to combat the
impure thoughts and impulses which I felt ... If I had heartily
studied to mortify my passions, never would the demons have
wrought such havoc in me. 6

. . . His operation in me was to oppose himself to all the actions
which concerned the worship of God in my soul. I must admit
with truth that my cowardice had given to this wretched spirit a
great hold over my heart. For the space of two years or more
he kept me in a continual state of spiritual dcadness, with incon-
ceivable hardness of heart; I used to go for a week without per-
forming any act of adoration. If I was constrained to go to

* La Plenitude des grdces, ii, 108.

2 Biblioth&que diabolique, vol. v, Paris, 1806, p. 13, cf. particularly
the introduction by the editors Lgue and G. de la Tourette, pp. 1-51.
a Ibid., p. 66. * Ibid., p. 67. * Ibid., p. 69.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 87

or to some other regular exercises, it was without paying any atten-
tion; my mind was occupied in finding means to prevent others
from serving God.

This accursed spirit insinuated himself into me so subtly that I
in no way realized his workings. I took no trouble to get out of
this miserable state; I did not fail to recognize the great peril I
was in as regards my salvation; I resolved in despair to be damned,
and my salvation became a matter of indifference to me. 1

We see that up to this point Jeanne des Anges, quite
unlike the majority of similar patients, gave way without any
effort of will to the anti-religious tendencies which arose in
her. For this reason she long retained an undivided per-
sonality and did not at once present the phenomena of
compulsion.

But we must not be misled: the Jeanne des Anges case
belongs to the same category as all the other cases of posses-
sion. She too shows the development of an emotional stajte
different in character from her ordinary emotional excite-
ments. But it does not appear in her obviously and at once;
for just as the feeble-minded show no compulsive ideas,
such phenomena being transformed into delusions through
the critical inferiority of the subjects, so with persons of more
or less weak moral resistance the abnormal sentiments which
would change in normal individuals into feelings of com-
pulsion, immediately become genuine and fully accepted
owing to the lack of character of their hosts.

Nevertheless we are dealing with phenomena sui generis
which very manifestly follow other psycho-physical laws
from those governing the true primary feelings, even as
experienced by these individuals so little capable of resistance,
and which above all have a different, although not yet
determinable, origin. For the development of this abnormal
state of feeling in Jeanne des Anges is inexorable. It reaches
the point of blasphemy. Of herself the patient offers no
energetic resistance, but nevertheless the words are already
uttered in a manner which is automatic and compulsive rather
than personal and voluntary. Thus at this period Jeanne
des Anges realizes that these are not normal affective states
to which she is now subject; their character of compulsion
becomes manifest and at certain moments, when resistance
is stronger, there is a distinct division of consciousness. Sub-
sequently we reach a stage characterized by acts of violence.

1 Ibid., pp. 70 sq.

88 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

My mind was often filled with blasphemies, and sometimes I
uttered them without being able to take any thought to stop
myself. I felt for God a continual aversion, and nothing inspired
me with greater hatred than the spectacle of his goodness and
the readiness with which he pardons repentant sinners. My
thoughts were often bent on devising ways to displease him and
make others offend against him. It is true that by the mercy of
Cod I was not free in these sentiments, although at that time I
did not know it, for the demon beclouded me in such a way that I
hardly distinguished his desires from mine; he gave me moreover
a strong aversion for my religious calling, so that sometimes
when he was in my head I used to tear all my veils and such of
my sisters' as I might lay hands on; 1 trampled them underfoot,
I chewed them, cursing the hour when 1 took the vows. All this
was done with great violence ; I think that I was not free.

The spirit of these wretches (the demons) and mine came to be
one and the same thing, so that, through their influence, I adopted
all their sentiments and expressed all their interests as if they had
been mine; I was indeed very desirous of doing otherwise, but
could not compass it; it is true that I did not work to that end
with sufficient efforts and perseverance. The difficulties which I
found in this combat often made me give up, for in truth it needs
little to give great power to the demon when he is in possession
of a body. 1

The following declarations show, moreover, how Jeanne
des Anges recognizes lucidly the abnormal and compulsive
character of the phenomena, how nevertheless she sometimes
accepts them willingly and even induces them, so that it
is impossible for the division of consciousness to become
permanent in her.

I lamented continually at the bottom of my heart and asked God
to send me some person who should penetrate to the depths of my
soul and recognize the disorders which these accursed spirits created
with my unruly passions. ... I felt that I had scarcely any
further strength to resist the horrible temptations which I suffered.

The devil often tricked me by a lurking satisfaction I had in the
agitations and other extraordinary things which he wrought in my
heart. I took an extreme pleasure in hearing them discussed and
was very well content to appear more tormented than the others,
which gave great strength to these accursed spirits for they are
well pleased to be able to beguile us into watching their operations,
and by that means they insinuate themselves little by little into
our souls and acquire great ascendancy over them; for they con-
trive so that we feel no dread of their malice. On the contrary
they make themselves familiar to the human spirit and win from
it by these little satisfactions a tacit coiisent to operate in the mind
of the creature whom they possess which is very harmful to them
(the possessed), for by this means they impress upon them what-
ever they please and make them believe what they desire, the more
readily in proportion as they are the less regarded as the enemies
of salvation ; and if they are not very faithful to God and attentive
to their conscience they are in danger of committing great sins and

1 Ibid., pp. 71 sq.

THE SUBJECTIVE STATE OF THE POSSESSED 89

falling into grave errors. For after these accursed spirits have
thus insinuated themselves into the will they partly persuade the
soul of what they desire. . . .

This is the way in which they often treated me ; whence it came
about that I was almost always in remorse of conscience, and with
good reason, for more often than not I saw quite well that I was
the prime cause of my troubles and that the demon acted only
according to the openings whic-h I gave him. 1

It is not that I think myself guilty of the blasphemies and other
disorders into which the demons have often thrown me, but that
having let myself be carried away by their suggestion in the be-
ginning, they took possession of all my inner and outer faculties
to use them according to their will and afterwards threw me
into these great disorders. 2

As I presented myself at Communion, the devil took possession
of my head, and alter I had received the blessed host and half
moistened it the devil threw it in the priest's face. I know well
that I did not do this thing, but I am fully assured to my great
confusion that he would not have had this power if I had not been
in league with him. I have experienced similar things on several
other occasions, for when I resisted them strongly I found that all
these furies and rages melted away as they had come; but alas,
it too often happened that I did not make very violent efforts
to resist, chiefly in things where I saw no grave sin ; but in this I
deceived myself, for as I did not restrain myself in the little things
my spirit was afterwards surprised into great ones and the demons
who possessed me had the subtlety not to confront me with evil
suddenly but little by little. 3

. , . My malady was as much within me as without. 4

. . . For a long time I had no freedom except at night, arid thus
I could not make known the state of my soul. 5

... I cannot express the violent torments of mind which I
suffered during that time. I say with truth, I do not think that
there has ever been anyone who resisted God so much as I or who
was so hotly pursued. 6

. . . They gave me very evil desires and feelings of quite li-
centious affection for the persons who might have helped my soul,
so as to lead me to further withdrawal from communication with
them. 7

One night, when I had arisen to say orisons, I felt myself much
tormented by unseemly thoughts. 8

One day he (a demon) would have prevented me from com-
municating in order to make me interrupt my novena. To this
end Behemoth (another demon) and he laid hold of my head as
soon as it was morning and agitated me in such a way that although
I recognized my disorder I had no force in me to prevent it.
All that I could do was to submit myself to the command of God
and accept my disorder as a punishment for my infidelities. 9

... I felt forming within me in a very intelligible manner a
voice which told me that. . . . 10

. . . Three days during which my mind was exercised by divers
thoughts on all these things, together with fear of speaking out
about them. 11

1 Ibid.> pp. 76 sq. a Ibid., p. 78. s Ibid., pp. 79 sq.

* Ibid., pp. 86 sq. 5 Ibid., p. 100. Ibid., p. 103.

7 Ibid., pp. 108 sq. 8 Ibid., p. 135. Ibid., p. 168.

Ibid., p. 173. " Ibid., pp. 174 sq.

90 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Given the whole character of Jeanne des Anges it is not
surprising that the sexual feelings hitherto suppressed by her
religious calling should have broken violently loose during
possession. This is what happened moreover to her com-
panions, who took her as model for their derangements. The
acts of exorcism which have come down to us contain on this
subject a mass of disgusting details. This is what L<*gu
and G. de la Tourette say:

Each day they were exorcised in the various churches of the
town. Jeanne des Anges attracted particular attention by the
violence of her fits, the obscenity of her language, and her cynical
postures. . . . The inventions of the most licentious imagination
would find it difficult to come anywhere near the facts. The pen
refuses to set down here the cynical actions which were customary
with Jeanne de Anges and her companions, and the obscene remarks
to which they incessantly gave utterance. 1

The case of Jeanne des Anges is finally remarkable from
another point of view. It shows that in certain circum-
stances movements, even of great violence, may occur in
possession without a concomitant affective state.

Although I was outwardly in a state of great agitation, I felt
within a calm and brightness which were the effect of what the
Father said to the demon, for although 1 understand Latin not
at all and the demon ilid what he could to distract my attention,
I could not but make many reflections upon the wickedness of
souls which arc unfaithful to God and upon the happiness of those
who are faithful to him. 2

I had a furious contortion which bent me backwards; my face
became frightful. ... I should say that, when the demon wrought
this contortion of which I have spoken, he impressed upon my
spirit a lively sense of the destruction which he brings, and thus
it seemed to me that I was a damned soul. 3

The compulsions often thwart and disturb the purely
interior actions of the subject. This is demonstrated with
particular clarity by the fact that Jeanne des Anges makes
it a matter for remark when these derangements are lacking
in her.

For the period of a month I found much liberty in all my religious
exercises; it seemed that my enemies had lost their accustomed
power to hinder me by their disturbances from performing them. 4

... lie (an exorcist) could not give me back my outward
liberty ; I sometimes had it inwardly. 6

I sometimes had my liberty when I was not at all with Father
Surin.

1 Ibid., pp. 22 sq. 2 Ibid., pp. Ill sq. 3 Ibid., p. 205.

* Ibid., pp. 114 sq. Ibid., p. 122. 6 Ibid., p. 175.

CHAPTER IV

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION.

EXORCISM

How does possession originate ?

In the majority of cases no differently from any of the
other simultaneous duplications of personality. There may
be a priori two emotional states, parallel and separate, which
co-exist and create at first sight the impression of an inner
division of the mind. Or else there arc simply compulsions
which form the centre of crystallization of possession. As soon
as their special psychological character is recognized, the
general view of possession current at the time or in the
patient's circle immediately causes these compulsions to be
interpreted as arising from a second individuality. According
to the disposition of the person affected this may easily and
automatically lead to imaginative identification with the
second personality ; the autosuggestion resulting from distress
of mind must favour this. Nevertheless, in looking through
the accounts of possession, one hesitates to regard all cases
as alike in this respect and to believe that the imposed con-
sciousness of a second personality was always the first cause
of possession.

Much more probably it was often rather the conviction
of being possessed which brought about a real division of
the mind, whereas in the divisions observed to-day the
relation is reversed: first there arises a genuine division of the
inner life, and then the individual declares himself dual.

The difference is due to the fact that in the times and
social circles to which the majority of cases of possession
belong, there was a general belief in possession, whereas in
our modern civilization this is entirely on the decline. The
reign of superstition was responsible for the fact, as the
abundance of documents at our disposal show at every step,
that the mildest compulsions were immediately taken for
demoniacal possession. Modern pathology establishes that

91

92 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

these processes do not in themselves represent any real inner
division, and we are therefore driven to the inevitable con-
clusion that by no means all those described as possessed
experienced genuine division of personality, for this is not so
easily produced by autosuggestion.

Thus it is by no means true that all the numerous saints
and ascetics affected by obsessions had dual personalities;
apparently 'scarcely any of them have shown more than the
most commonplace compulsions. If our theory is right there
has always been either and we shall regard this as being the
rule unreasoned and muddled acceptance of a prevalent
superstition, or, even where it is lucid, purely intellectual
and autosuggested conviction of an entirely unreal inner
division. Where, however, division does arise, it is entirely
primary, " spontaneous," and does not result from the auto-
suggestive action of previous intellectual conviction.

Another very frequent cause of possession is the sight and
company of possessed persons. This at once furnishes the
explanation of epidemics of this nature. 1 Exorcising priests
were particularly exposed to this " infection," and scarcely
one of them escaped it completely. L'Histoire des didbles
de Loudun 2 quotes an old writer of the seventeenth century
who reports that " the Exorcists almost all participate, more
or less, in the effects of the Demons by vexations which they
suffer from them, and few persons have undertaken to drive
them forth who have not been exercised by them." 3

It is hardly necessary to remark that the true source of
this infection is not the mere sight of the possessed but the
concomitant lively belief in the demoniacal character of
their state and its contagious nature.

A case of such infection has already been met with in the
exorcist Surin.

But in the epidemic of Loudun several other exorcists
were also affected: Fathers Lactance, Tranquille and Lucas.
Detailed accounts of their cases have come down to us. 4

1 By way of curiosity we will mention this note on the epidemic
of Kintorp: . . . Now, some were more tormented than others, and
some less. But this was common to them, that as soon as one was
tormented, at the mere sound the others shut away in various rooms
were tormented also. (Calmeil, De la Folie, i, pp. 209 sq., quoted from
Goulard, Histoires admirables, i, Paris, 1600).

2 Amsterdam, 1716. 3 Ibid., p. 207.

4 Calmcil, abstract of Histoire des diables de Loudun, ii, pp. 54-60.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 93

We shall meet that of Father Tranquille later. VHistoire
des diables de Loudun reproduces a contemporary narrative
concerning Lucas who was stricken immediately after
Tranquille:

For when the Extreme Unction was administered to him (Father
Tranquille) the demons, feeling the eilicaoy of this sacrament,
were obliged to raise the siege ; but it was not in order to go far
away, inasmuch as they entered into the body of a good Father,
a very excellent Friar who was there present, and have always
possessed him since; whom they vexed at first with contortions
and agitations very strange and violent, puttings-out of the tongue
and most frightful howlings ; redoubling their rage again with every
unction given to the sick man, and increasing it afresh at the sight
of the Most Holy Sacrament which was fetched; because the real
presence of this Man and God in one forced them to let die in peace
him for whom in this last journey they would have desired to lay
some snare. Thus at the moment of his death, in their fury and
rage which they had because they could lay no further claim to him,
they cried out horribly: " He is dead !" as if to say: " It is all over,
we 'have no further hope of this Soul." Thereafter, falling more
fiercely than ever upon the other poor friar, they agitated him
so strangely and terribly that although the Brethren who held him
were quite numerous they could not prevent him from aiming
kicks at the dead man until he had been carried out of the room;
and he remained thus violently and cruelly agitated day and
night until after the burial, so that it was always necessary to leave
Brethren to assist him. 1

Father Lactance (who had expelled three demons from
the prioress of Loudun) :

44 While he was about this work . . . was much harassed by
these evil spirits, and lost in turn sight, memory, and conscious-
ness; suffering from sickness, obsessions of the mind and various
other distresses."

Later he became still worse: " he was always raving and
furious during his malady," until at length he died. 2

Calmeil claims, although I do not know on what grounds,
that the excitement of the corybantes was of the same
infectious character.

Almost always the ancient corybantes, leaping in cadence to
the sound of their cymbals, with violent movements of the head,
imparted their enthusiasm to those who watched them too closely. 3

As in other psychic states, a psychic infection of possession
is naturally produced amongst those who live together. 4

1 Histoire des diables de Loudun, pp. 354 sq. 2 Ibid., pp. 206 sq.
' Calmeil, toe. ci*., ii, 161.

* Two cases in Kerner, Geschichte Bcsessener neuerer Zeit, pp. 104-
112.

94 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

But there are yet other ways in which possession may arise.
One of these begins with a hallucination : the new person is
at first corporeally represented as some little distance away.
Then it draws near to the individual and suddenly seizes upon
him in order to " incarnate " itself in him. The crudest
possible conceptions evidently underlie this kind of possession;
it is not only a strange soul which enters into man, it is even
a strange body !

To this group belongs the case of the maid of Orlach who
was obviously a creature of very limited intelligence. 1

From the 25th of August onwards the black spirit subjected her
to more and more violent temptations; he no longer remained
under disguises outside of her, but made himself master, as soon
as he appeared, of her whole interior, lie entered into her and
henceforward uttered by her mouth demoniac discourses. . . .

From the 24th of August the black monk always appears to her
in the same way. In the midst of her work she sees him in human
form (a masculine shape in a frock, as if issuing from a dark cloud;
she can never clearly describe his face) coming towards her. Then
she hears as if he spoke a few brief words to her, for example
generally : " Won't you yet give me an answer ? Take care, I
shall torment you !" and* other similar things. As she stubbornly
refuses to answer him, (naturally remaining quite mute), he always
continues: "Well, I shall now enter into you in your despite!"
Then she sees him approach, always from the left side, feels as it
were a cold hand which seizes the back of her neck, and in this way
he enters into her. She then loses the sense of her individuality
properly so called. She is now no longer present in her body; on
the contrary a deep bass voice makes itself heard, not in her person
but in that of the monk, with the movement of her lips and with
her features, but diabolically distorted. 2

Hardly had she arrived there when the black spirit appeared
to Magdalene. He now had something white on his head, like a
tuft, which stood out in contrast to his dead black colour. He said :
" So I'm here again, eh ? You are going to cry because this is
the last time ! You see that there is something white on me."
When he had pronounced these words he went towards her, seized
her with a cold hand by the back of the neck, she lost consciousness
and he was once more within her. 8

In the same primitive way arose the possession of C. St.
in Eschenmaycr's case:

Four years ago C. was one day going home from her work when
she met in the street the apparition of a woman which spoke to her.
Suddenly something like a cold wind blew down her neck as she
was speaking, and she at once became as if dumb. Later her voice
returned, but very hoarse and shrill. 4

1 As Kerner remarks : " It was very diflicuit to get book learning
into her head, although she was good for work of other kinds ; thus later
on she never spent her time in leading books " (Ges. Bes., p. 20).

8 Ibid., pp. 35 sq. 3 Ibid., p. 42.

4 Eschenmayer, Konflikt, etc., pp. 1 sq.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 95

From the course of the malady it is clear that the girl,
without much education, immediately believed that a spirit
had entered into her.

These cases generally illustrate the most primitive way in
which states of possession are generated. The strange soul
is conceived as a material breath, ^xtf, and at its entry into
the body it enters also into the mind, as yet incapable of
distinguishing itself clearly therefrom.

At so primitive a level of culture and with patients of such
enhanced autosuggestibility, it is not surprising that a state
of possession should readily arise. The individual at once
feels the strange spirit in his mind which is not yet sharply
differentiated from his body.

In other instances the autosuggestion of possession breaks
out quite unexpectedly, as in the following case observed in
Japan and reported by Balz. The person in question was
suffering from exhaustion following typhus and was also
nervous from birth. The form of possession is here " animal,"
that is to say the victim believes herself possessed not by a
human being but by the spirit of an animal.

A girl of seventeen years, irritable and capricious from child-
hood, was recovering from a very bad attack of typhus. Around
her bed sat, or rather squatted in Japanese fashion, female relations
chattering and smoking. Everyone was telling how in the dusk
there had been seen near the house a form resembling a northern
fox. It was suspicious. Hearing this, the sick girl felt a trembling
in the body and was possessed. The fox had entered into her and
spoke by her mouth several times a day. Soon he assumed a
domineering tone, rebuking and tyrannizing over the poor girl. 1

Consciousness of guilt may also produce the illusion of
possession by means of autosuggestion. The Catholic priest,
B. Heyne, relates the following " from the reports of the
missionary fathers ":

A Chinese catechumen wished to take part in a heathen marriage
where sacrificial meat is customarily eaten. She had been ex-
pressly warned against it a short time before. She transgressed
the interdiction and after the meal believed herself to be possessed. 2

With this should be compared the case of Achille reported
below by Janet.

Finally we shall emphasize as vital, because it furnishes
a further explanation of the great frequency of possession

1 Biilz, Wiener klinische Wochenschrifl, 1907, p. 1041.

' B. Heyne. Ueber Besessenheitswahn, Paderborn, 1904, p. 62.

96 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

under the influence of belief in the devil, the fact that pos-
session has often been cultivated by the doctor from the most
insignificant beginnings.

The cause of this strange fact is that all possible ailments
were laid to the account of the demon. " The number of
demoniaco-magnetic affections," says Kerner again, " is
really very great." 1 For years possession might only be able
to manifest itself by pains, cramp, etc. In this respect
Swabian romanticism descended very nearly to the level of
the primitive races who believe that all maladies and mis-
fortunes are caused by demons. It was a revival of German
mediaeval Christianity, which in some circumstances considered
animals and houses too as possessed and subjected them to
exorcism. 2

According to Kerner the doctor's task in suspected cases
was to bring the demon to light, that is, where as yet no
extreme psychic disturbance existed, to produce it. Kerner
says expressly that before the cure the demon must be made
to speak, which the exorcist commanded him to do " in
steadfast faith and in the name of Jesus." 3

He says very naively:

Only novices or wicked persons can be so mistaken as to think
that magico-magnetic treatment begins by putting into the minds
of these patients the idea of a malign second personality. 4

In order fully to elucidate this doctrine we must be allowed
to amplify with a sample case of the " hidden demon " type
such as may also be found in Kerner's works. A patient
writes of himself:

Already in my first youth I had had heartburn from the stomach
with which there came to me against my will all sorts of strange
and tormenting ideas causing inward struggles and melancholy.
But these sufferings were often of short duration, for I was able
to put an end to them by fervent prayer. They were often com-
pletely interrupted for several years at a time until I was in my
thirtieth year, but this condition then set in again with increased
violence and frequency.

I had recourse to all sorts of medical treatment, but in vain, for
the malady rose year by year and finally reached the head. I was
tortured with twitchings, prickings, and dizziness in the head which
often made it seem as if I were being struck on the back of the neck

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 60.

2 Bodinus, Doemonomania, Hamburg, 1698, p. 156. Calmeil, De la
Folie, i, p. 183.

8 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., p. 10. 4 Ibid., p. 11.

THE; GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 07

with the fist and my body dragged upwards as if someone wished
to throw me to the ground with murderous violence. It often
seems to me that I have on my head a weight of several quintals
which must break down my legs. This attack comes on almost
every day and I feel that under this heavy burden my feet leave
prints on the ground. From day to day these terrible pains in-
crease, together with diabolic thoughts of blasphemies against God
which are a most anguishing inner torment. This agitation in my
body and these painful eructations are often most violent during
prayer and I then have horrible feelings of suffocation.

For a long time past I have used quantities of every conceivable
medicine to cure these pains, but always without result.

PIIILIPP NKGELE,

Forester.
BUBENORBIS,

VMh Jan., 1836.

Kerner adds :

The forester Negele is a very intelligent and truthful man.
There is no doubt that his malady is of a demoniaco-magnetic
character, although no demon speaks by his mouth. A magico-
magnctic treatment would probably induce the demon to speak.
It will be very difficult for him to be cured by any other treatment. 1

Jeanne des Anges also became possessed in good earnest
thanks to exorcism. 2

In particular cases the compulsive idea is developed into
a complete obsessive personality, a " demon " because by
suggestion practised upon this latter a cure succeeds more
easily. Thus in his case Janet from the first spoke directly
to the demon; it is true that he did not subsequently proceed
in the manner of the old exorcists. 3

In the following case the practice of exorcism resulted
in a strange voice suddenly beginning to speak in a man who
for years past had suffered from fairly severe compulsive
phenomena without nevertheless reaching a complete inner
division :

A man of seventy-one years, an old magnetic demoniac, wished
also ... to ask for help. In his thirty-sixth year this man had
had, according to his own account, a swelling in the region of the
stomach accompanied by sharp pains. In spite of this he was
able to eat all kinds of food, and even found himself obliged, con-
trary to his former habits, to cat heavily. As his pains continued
to make themselves felt day and night, without leaving him any

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., pp. 57 sq. There is in Kerner (Geschichten,
etc., pp. 110 sq.) another case in which possession was produced, or at
least enormously intensified, by exorcism.

2 Bibliotheque diabolique, vol. v, Soeur Jeanne dcs Anges, Paris, 1886,
p. 17.

8 P. Junct, Un cas de possession et (Texorcisme moderne, in "Nevroses
et idees fixes," i, Paris, 1898.

7

08 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

rest although the swelling of the stomach had subsided, he used
for two years a great many medicines, but without result. He
nevertheless noticed that during prayer there was always something
which seemed to rise up from his belly. Finally it often threw
him to the ground with great violence even while he was praying.
These attacks often ceased for six months, then came on again
with increased strength. . . . The strangest result was that he
found himself constrained to insult and abuse his wife and children ;
in particular, and without being able to give any reason, he could
no longer endure these latter.

The death of his wife, whom he dearly loved, brought no change
in his state, nor did a second marriage which he contracted in spite
of his attacks. He was advised, although a Lutheran, to go to the
Catholic priests. In the presence of those who were able to work
on him his head turned convulsively backward and he uttered
involuntary roarings, but without articulate words; with the
others his malady gave no sign, but as soon as he left them it
raged anew with added violence. . . .

In spite of these disorders he was, at least from time to time,
able to work. According to his wife it was only a few years since
he had himself carried the stones to a great building which he had
undertaken.

He had grown very thin, and when he spoke of his state his head
or body was suddenly bent and visibly drawn inwards. Without
being able to prevent it he would suddenly be obliged to cry out
like an animal. . . .

In his natural state he looked a quiet and gentle person and
spoke accordingly. But in the middle of the conversation the
facial expression, bodily posture, and tone of voice often changed
suddenly, he became irascible, walked gesticulating as if filled with
anger, but nevertheless always retained the full use of his senses.
He is a peaceable and God-fearing man, but not bigoted, and his
wife is like him. . . .

The magico-magnetic treatment had the result of obliging the
demon who had hidden in him for thirty-six years to speak forth-
with. A strange demoniac voice then made itself heard by his
mouth, which had never happened before. 1

These singular 4t methods of treatment " are of great
interest from the psychological point of view, for they show
that by artificial means and in appropriate suggestive and
autosuggestive conditions it is possible to induce division of
the psychic life. Naturally this method might still be applied
with success to many ignorant persons, and we should then
be in an ideal position, theoretically speaking, to explore the
psychology of possession in a truly experimental manner.
But from the practical point of view the student could hardly
bring himself to provoke these disturbances voluntarily, for,
as the literature of the subject shows they are far easier to
cause than to cure. It would be difficult to make them
disappear by hypnotic suggestion, because persons affected

1 Kerner, Nachricht, etc., pp. 40 sq.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 00

by compulsive phenomena are only slightly, if at all, suscep-
tible to hypnosis. For this reason we should, at least before
trying to induce possession, impart in the state of hypnosis the
suggestions which would later serve to make it disappear.
In any case attempts of this nature would entail such a
responsibility that they are to be deprecated.

Finally yet another case may be cited in which timely
psychiatric treatment intervened before the demoniac visions
resulting from a priest's suggestion of the idea of possession
had produced derangements of the personality.

The fits of sleep generally succeeded convulsive attacks; V. was
not forewarned of their advent. Their duration varied from one to
four days, and they ended in tears and depression. " Everything
seemed odd to me, I did not recognize myself at all." The greater
the efforts to calm and console her, the more her tears redoubled.
In addition she was prostrate with fatigue.

At Lariboisicre (a hospital) the almoner came to see her after
her attacks; he told her that it was the devil who made her ill.
Presently under the influence of this idea her malady redoubled
in intensity and in the delirious period of the convulsive fits she
saw the devil. " He was tall, with scales and legs ending in claws;
he stretched put his arms as if to seize me; he had red eyes and his
body ended in a great tail like a lion's, with hair at the end; he
grimaced, laughed, and seemed to say: " I shall have her !"

The nun and the almoner had persuaded her that she was pos-
sessed by the devil because she did not pray enough, and that she
would not recover. She had masses said for which she paid a
franc or one franc fifty; she confessed and took communion; the
almoner sprinkled her with holy water and made signs over her.

Sometimes V. saw the devil between her fits. If she was in bed
she hid her face under the bedclothes to escape from the appari-
tion; but she saw it nevertheless. The more she was talked to
about the devil the more she saw him and the more violent and
frequent became her attacks.

In the first months of her admission to the Saltpetriere she still
had diabolic visions. As she went to church less and no one talked
to her any more about the devil, she gradually regained her tran-
quillity and finally got rid of the idea " that she belonged to the
devil.''*

The fact that possession springs from belief in the devil
joined to auto- and hetero-suggestion accounts for the fact
that it has always been most extensive in the least educated
classes of society.

Hardly any example is known of possession in a really cultured
individual. This affliction generally befalls persons of inferior
station, which explains the coarse and vulgar tone of the alleged
demons. 2

1 Iconographie de la Saltpltriere, iii, pp. 10G sq.

2 Perty, Mystische Erscheinungen, p. 344, quoted by Kiesewetter,
Geschichte des Okkultiswus, vol. ii, p. 069.

100 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Finally, as regards the artificial extinction of possession,
it has always been suggestive in character and has even
resulted from " exorcism," that is to say, the emphatic
ordering of the so-called demon to leave the possessed person.
The stories of the Gospels are in this respect typical of the
procedure of exorcism at all times. It has never varied, either
in the time of Jesus or during the millenaries before and since.
The exorcist always speaks to the demon and tries to induce
him, by contingent threats and in the name of a deity (Jesus,
etc.), to leave the possessed. The most frequent procedure
has been one of threats and commands.

Exorcism presents the exact counterpart of the genesis
of possession. In the same way that the latter springs from
a man's belief that he is possessed, conversely it disappears,
when the exorcism is successful, through his belief that it will
no longer continue. The inner nature of this effect of con-
viction on psychic phenomena is not known and cannot be
elucidated. The theory of suggestion can do no more than
recognize it. Just as we can say little about the physiological
effects of suggestion and autosuggestion, the production of
vesications and bleeding stigmata, so do their deep-seated
psychic effects escape our closer knowledge. We cannot
avoid the difficulty by merely affirming the connection
between faith and the changes which it brings to pass.
What should, however, be possible is a more exact analysis
of the psychic state during enhanced suggestibility. 1

Of specimens of exorcism there is no lack. We possess
some dating from the first days of the Christian era, and also
from earlier times. Recent finds of papyri have been par-
ticularly rich in them, but it should be noted that as sickness
and possession have often been identified, the great abundance
of exorcisms does not correspond to an equal number of true
cases of possession, but to pathological states of every
kind. Exorcisms of possession properly so called are in the
minority.

As example of these latter we shall give the grand formula
taken from the magic papyrus of Paris and published by
Wesseley. It certainly served against possession, since the
demon was summoned to give an account of himself. Accord -

Th. Lipps, Zeitschrift fur Hypnotismus, vol. vi, and O. Vogt,
ibid., vol. v, have given excellent analyses of suggestion.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 101

ing to Deissmann it is an exorcism of Jewish origin into
which a pagan has introduced the name of Jesus.

Against demoniacal possession. The tried formula of Pibechis
(a celebrated magician). Take of the juice of green fruits, together
with the plant Mastigia (?) and lotus-pith, and heat it with marjoram
(the colourless kind) ; then pronounce the following words : " Joel,
Ossarthiomi, Emori, Theochipsoith, Sithemeoch, So the, Joe,
Mimipsothiooph, Phcrsothi. AKEIOYO, Joe, Eochariphtha ; get
thee out of N.N." (and other formulae). But write the protecting
charm on a tablet of tin: " Jaeo, Abraothioch, Phtha, Mesentiniao,
Pheoch, JJEO, Charsok," and hang it upon the sick person. To every
demon it is a thing of fear which he dreads. Place thyself in front
of the patient and conjure him. The formula of exorcism is the
following: " I conjure thee by the God of the Hebrews, Jesus
(later interpolation from a non- Jewish source), Jaba, Jae, Abraoth,
Aia, Thoth, Elc, Elo, /Eo, Eu, Jiibsech, Abarmas, Jabarau, Abelbel,
Lona, Abra, Maroia, Arm, appearing in fire, thou, Tannetis, in the
midst of plains, and snow, and mists; let thine inexorable angel
descend and put into safe keeping the wandering demon of this
creature whom God has created in his holy Paradise. For I pray
to the Holy God, putting my reliance in Ammonipsentancho.
Say : " I conjure thee with a flood of bold words : Jakuth,
Ablanathanalba, Akramm." Say: " Aoth, Jathabathra, Chach-
thabratha, Chamynchcl, Abrooth. Thou art Abrasiloth, Allelu,
Jelosai, J$rl: I conjure thee by him who manifested himself to
Osrsel by night in a pillar of fire and in a cloud by day and who has
saved his people from the hard tasks of Pharaoh and brought down
on Pharaoh the Ten Plagues because he would not harken. I
conjure thee, demoniac spirit, to say who thou art. For I con-
jure thee by the seal Solomon placed upon the tongue of Jeremiah
that he might speak. Say therefore who thou art, a celestial being
or spirit of the airs. 1

A detailed history of Christian exorcism is to be found in
the seventh book, second part, of A. J. Binterim's work:
Die vorziiglichsten Denkwiirdigkeiten der christ-katholischen
Kirche? In the third essay entitled ** Of Energumens and
their Treatment in the Primitive Church," the information
furnished by the early Christian writers about the possessed
is collected and dealt with.

Like so many other things in the Catholic Church, the
growth of exorcism came to an end at the time of the Counter-
Reformation. This was due to the publication in 1614,
consequent on the repeated request of Paul V, of the Rituale
Romanum. The rite of exorcism formulated therein has
remained the accepted one up to the present time.

1 A. Deissmann, Licht vom Ostcn, 3rd edit., Tiibingen, 1909, pp,
192 sq.

1 Mainz, 1888.

102 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

Amongst other works the Manual e Exorcismorum 1 gives
a complete insight into the procedure of exorcism. It
contains instructions as to how exorcisms should be carried
out and gives a great number of ritual formulae. These latter
are in some instances voluminous, the most important occupy-
ing close on forty pages.

Exorcism never draws its strength from the exorcist, but
is always carried out in the name of God, of Jesus, etc. The
Manual warns the exorcist that he is dealing with an ancient
and astute adversary, strong and exceedingly evil: antiquo
et asturo hoste, forti et nequissimo. The first arm and the
most important is therefore a lively faith, an absolute con-
fidence in God and Jesus. The exorcist must be convinced
that nihil se posse absque ejus singulari assistentia et
auxilio.

By way of subjective preparation for exorcism he must
compose himself inwardly. Revocabit mentem et spiritum a
curis et negotiis scecularibus eamque pacatam et tranquillam
reddere studebit meditationibus piis et precibus. Preliminary
fasting and prayer arc also recommended: Nunquam ad
exorcisandum aecedet nisi prcevio ieiunio vel aliis pcenitenticc
et satisfactoriis operibus nisi prcesens necessitas aliud videatur
exigere. Incessanter orabit etiam privatim aliosque ad prcedicta
bona opera et pietatis exercitia invitabit eleemosynasque elargiri
curabit. 2

The scene of the exorcism should in general be the church
or some other place consecrated to God. Only in cases of
urgency may it take place in a private house. Women and
children should be excluded, as well as the vulgar curious.
But the exorcist should not operate without witnesses. He
should provide ut adsint viri graves et pii, prcesertim clerici 9
Sacer dotes vel Religiosi 9 si haberi possint, qui non solum erunt
testes sacrarum actionum, sed etiam ipsum iuvabunt orationibus
et piis desideriis. 3 It is left to the discretionary power of the
exorcist to decide whether the exorcism shall take place in
public or not.

1 Manuale Exorcismorum, cpntincns Instructiones et Exorcismos
ad eiiciendos e corporibus spiritus malignos et ad qusevis maleficia
depellenda et ad quascumque infestationcs dtemonum reprimendas :
R. D. Maximilian! ab Eynatten S.T.L. Canonic! et Scholastic! Antver-
piensis industria collectum. Antverpiae, 1626.

Ibid., p. 3 Ibid. t p. 20.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 103

At Loudun there must have been at times as many as
7,000 spectators.

The exorcisms of Nicole de Vervins (1566) were also great
spectacles. All the Catholics and Protestants came in crowds
from the surrounding district to the cathedral of Laon, the
civil authorities were also present, and the Huguenots claimed
reserved seats; 1 nothing was lacking except the collection
of an entrance fee. It almost came to a serious fight between
the armed Catholic priests with their following and the
retainers of a Protestant landowner of the district.

The principal exorcism of the Rituale Romanum published
by order of Paul V is enclosed between long prayers at the
beginning and end and in the middle is inserted another
prayer, so that the whole is divided into five parts: prayer,
exorcism, prayer, exorcism, prayer, again interrupted in
many places by readings from the Scriptures. From the
psychological point of view this construction is by no means
inept. While the exorcism seeks to work upon the " demon "
by threats and commands, the prayers are designed to help
the possessed person, reinforcing his desire to be delivered
from the demon, and increasing his confidence in the divine
power which is invoked. Nevertheless cures by a single
application of exorcism appear to have been rare; exorcisms
last as a rule for days, weeks, months and even years. The
impression made upon the possessed by the conjuration is
further enhanced by signs of the cross (*$<) and the winding
of the priest's stole round his neck together with layings-on
of hands; sacraments, holy water and other sacred objects
are also used. The exorcist must speak as is formally pre-
scribed, constanter et magna cum fide.

Two passages from the exorcism may be given as example:

Exorciso te, immundissime spiritus, omnis incursio adversarii,
omne phantasma, omnis legio, in nomine Domini nostri Jesu
Christi ; ^ eradicate et effugare ab hoc plasmate Dei. ^ Ipse
tibi imperat, qui te de supernis ccelorum in inferiora terra demergi
praccepit. Ipse tibi imperat, qui mari, ventis et tempestatibus
imperayit. Audi ergo et time satana, inimice fidei, hostis generis
human! , mortis adductor, vitse raptor, iustitiae declinator, malorum
radix, fomes vitioriun, seductor hominum, proditor gentium, in-
citator invidiae, origo avaritiac, causa discordiae, excitator dolorum.
Quid stas et resistis cum scias Christum Dominum vires tuas

1 Louis Langlet, Etude mtdicale (Tune possession, thesis, Paris,
191 0,p 43.

104 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OP POSSESSION

perdere ? Ilium metue, qui in Isaac immolatus esl, in Joseph
vemimdatus, in agno occisus, in homine crucifixus, deinde inferni.
Triumphator fuit (Sequentes, Cruces pant in fronte obsessis).
Recede ergo in nomine Patris >J< et Filii ^ ct Spiritus ^ sancti,
da locum Spiritui sancto, per hoc signum >J Crucis Jcsu Christi
Domini nostri. Qui cum Patre et eodem Spiritu sancto vivit et
regnat Deus per omnia saecula sacculorum. 1

Adiuro te serpens antique, per Judiccm vivorum et mortuorum,
per factorem tuum, per factorem mundi, per eum qui habct potes-
tatem mittendi te in gehennam, ut ab hoc famulo Dei N., qui .ad
Ecclesite sinum recurrit, cum metu et exercitu furoris tui festinus
discedas. Adiuro te iterum ^ (in fronte) non mea infirmitate,
sed yirtute Spiritus sancti, ut cxcas ab hoc famulo Dei N. quern
omnipotens Deus ad imaginem suam fecit. Cede igitur, cede non
mihi, sed ministro Christi. lllius enim te urget potestas, qui
te Cruci suae subjugavit. lllius bracchium contremisce, qui
devictis gemitibus inferni, animas ad luccm perduxit. Sit tibi
terror corpus hominis tfr (in per/ore), sit tibi imago formido Dei ^
(in fronte). Non resistas, nee moreris discedere ab homine isto,
quoniam complacuit Christo in homine habitare. Et ne contem-
nendum putes, dum me peccatorcm nimis esse cognoscis. Im-
perat tibi Deus ^ Imperat tibi maiestas Christi >J<. Imperat tibi
Deus Pater ^, imperat tibi Deus Filius ^-p, imperat tibi Deus
Spiritus ^ sanctus. Imperat tibi sacramentum Crucis ^. Im-
perat tibi fides Sanctorum Apostplprum Petri ct Pauli, et ceter-
onun Sanctorum ^. Imperat tibi Martyrum sanguis ^. Im-
perat tibi continentia Confcssprum ^Jj. Imperat tibi pia Sanc-
torum et Sanctarum omnium intercessio ^. Imperat tibi Chris-
tianse fidei mysteriprum virtus ^. Exi ergo transgressor, exi
seductor, plcne omni dolo et fallacia, virtutis inirnicc, innocentium
persecutor. Da locum dirissime; da locum impiissimc: da locum
Christo, inquo nihil invenisti de pperibus tuis, qui te spoliavit, qui
regnum tuum destruxit, qui tc yictum legayit. . . .

Adiuro ergo te, draco nequissime, in nomine Agni ^ immaculati,
qui ambulavit super aspidem et basiliscum, qui cpnculcavit leonem
et draconem, ut discedas ab hoc homine ^ (fiat in fronte), discedas
ab Ecclesia Dei ^ (fiat signum super circumstantes), contremisce
eteffuge. . . . 2

In later times the curative action of Christian exorcism
derived mainly from the solemn nature of the ritual. The
Latin tongue ceased to be generally understood by the
uncultured victims of possession.

In place of command and menace, other methods of healing
may also be used. In the C. St. case of Eschenmayer, for
example, efforts were formally made to convert the demon.

The feature common to all methods is that the exorcist
always addresses himself to the possessing spirit, never to the
possessed. In clear cases of somnambulism it would more-
over be inherently impossible to speak to the possessed
because he does not generally react when called by his ordinary
name. It is different in cases where the normal personality
1 Manuale . . ., pp. 44 sq. a Ibid., pp. 46 sq.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 105

is preserved, and where it would be perfectly conceivable for
the exorcist, in our day the doctor, to try to convince the
patient that the demon will leave him at a given time. But
even to-day, in the only case of this kind known to me, the
doctor, that is to say, the psychologist, addressed himself
to the demon, 1 for the undoubted reason that the patient is
more accessible to strong suggestion in the somnambulistic
than in the waking state.

It is worth emphasizing that as a rule success depends on
the authority and power of suggestion of the exorcist. It is
even important, particularly in a religious period, that he
should himself be religious and convinced of the reality of
possession if by that means his faith in the success of exorcism
is increased. Secondary expedients of a suggestive nature
are also brought to bear.

In this connection Kerner formulates in his dogmatic
way that:

The cure is produced magically by prayer and conjurations, and
chiefly by the name of Jesus pronounced with an assured faith. 2

But this magic influence (conjuration) must be given forth with
the firmest will and faith, as if addressed to a real demon and not
a malady, and the conversation with the articulate demon must
be carried on in the same way. . . .

If the prayer and conjuration are not carried out with the most
complete faith that there is a real demon incarnate (and not poison
from a scratch, etc.) no cure follows. 3

In the same way that a firm faith is required of him who conjures
the demon, the patient should for his part and so far as in him lies
take care not to weaken, and everything which might distract him
must be kept from him. Persons able to perform conjuration
with much faith are found rather amongst shepherds than amongst
the educated. 4

Harnack similarly remarks:

The message of Christian preaching does not alone suffice to
cure the malady. Behind it there must be firm faith and a person
sustained by that faith. It is not prayer which heals but he who
prays ; not the letter, but the spirit ; not the exorcism, but the ex-
orcist. 5

It might better be expressed: It is the faith of the possessed
himself in the joyful message which comes to his aid; his
shortcomings are, however, helped by an adequate personality
in the messenger.

1 This is Lemaitrc's case. 2 Nachricht, etc., p. 17.

8 Ibid., p. 18. Ibid., p. 19.

5 Harnack, Medizinischcs aus dcr dltesten Kirchengeschichte. In
Texte und Untersuchungen zur Gesch. der altchrist. Liter atur, viii,
pp. 105-50.

106 THE NATURE OF THE STATE: OF POSSESSION

There is no doubt that in present-day Christian missions
there still survives something of that joyful assurance, that
faith in the domination of the world, which animated primitive
Christianity, and that their strong influence where they have
penetrated rests essentially on the same factors which led
early Christianity to success : the preaching of the Redeemer
with an ardour free from all egotism, ready for sacrifice, even
death, and combined with a standard of personal conduct
corresponding to the faith.

This great power which the exorcists alone have exerted
has been described by St Jerome (348-420) in the episode of
Hilarion the anchorite which is contained in the highly
apocryphal biography of the latter. The facts are, however,
not beyond the bounds of possibility.

Nor must we omit to tell that Orion, a leading man and wealthy
citizen of Aira, on the coast of the Red Sea, being possessed by a
legion of demons was brought to him. Hands, neck, sides, feet,
were laden with iron, and his glaring eyes portended an access of
raging madness. As the saint was walking with the brethren and
expounding some passage of scripture the man broke from the
hands of his keepers, clasped him from behind and raised him aloft.
There was a shout from all, for they feared lest he might crush his
limbs, wasted as they were with fasting. The saint smiled and
said : " Be quiet and let me have my rival in the wrestling match
to myself." Then he bent back his hand over his shoulder till he
touched the man's head, seized his hair and drew him round so as
to be foot to foot with him; he then stretched both his hands in a
straight line, and trod on his two feet with both his own, while he
touched the man's head, seized his hair and drew him round so as
to be foot to foot with him; he then stretched both his hands in a
straight line, and trod on his two feet with both his own, while he
cried out again and again. " To torment with you 1 Ye crowd
of demons, to torment I" The sufferer shouted aloud and bent
back his neck till his head touched the ground, while the saint
said, " Lord Jesus, release this wretched man, release this captive.
Thine it is to conquer many, no less than one." What I now relate
is unparalleled: from one* man's lips were heard different voices
and as it were the confused shouts of a multitude. Well, he too was
cured, and not long after came with his wife and children to the
monastery bringing many gifts expressive of his gratitude. . . .*

In more than one case the demon lays down conditions on
which he will depart. Balz has observed some of these cases
in Japan. Here is one :

At the end of some weeks a renowned exorcist of the sect of the
Nuhiren was summoned and proceeded to solemn exorcism.
Neither excommunication nor censing nor any other endeavour

1 Jerome, Life of St Hilarion, 18. Library of Nicene and Post-
Nicene Fathers, second series, vol vi, St Jerome, pp. 30G-307.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 107

succeeded, the fox saying ironically that he was too clever to be
taken in by such manoeuvres. Nevertheless he consented to come
out freely from the starved body of the sick person if a plentiful
feast was offered to him. " How was it to be arranged ?" On a
certain day at four o'clock there were to be placed in a temple
sacred to foxes and situated twelve kilometres away two vessels
of rice prepared in a particular way, of cheese cooked with beans,
together with a great quantity of roast mice and raw vegetables,
all favourite dishes of magic foxes: then he would leave the body
of the girl exactly at the prescribed time. And so it happened.
Punctually at four o'clock when the food was placed in the distant

fmnrklo t.lin rrirl eirrhprl r^rofnunrllv and died: " He haS gOIlC 1"

temple the girl sighed profoundly
The possession was cured. 1

Exorcism is not, however, efficacious in all cases, but
generally speaking we have as yet no precise evidence as to
why suggestion is used with effect in one case and not in
another.

A case in which all the forms of suggestion, even hypnotic,
failed, was observed by Balz at Tokio. We shall have
occasion to quote it again later.

My efforts to produce a cure by verbal suggestion or otherwise
by hypnosis, electrical manipulations, etc. did not succeed.
The patient had passed without success through the hands of so
many professional suggestionists, priests, and exorcists of all sorts
that I could do nothing more in that direction. Her malady had
taken the form of a regularly periodic obsession and she tried to
make terms with it. Between the fits she had the full use of her
reason, except that she was easily frightened. Her memory had
not suffered essentially, nor was there any sign of degeneration.
I do not know what became of her. 2

The following is a cure of a somewhat violent nature also
reported by Balz:

Many cases of cure by the threat of sharp weapons are known.
In Japan a despairing father tied his youngest daughter, who was
possessed by a fox, to a pillar and rushing upon her with drawn
sword cried: " Wicked spirit, if thou dost not forthwith leave this
child I will kill you both 1" The girl was cured. 3

The phenomena of exorcism correspond to those of the
genesis of possession. Like the intruding spirit the spirit
to be expelled is in most cases conceived as something subtly
material which must be driven from the body and which
leaves it bya specific place.

For thir reason it sometimes happens that the spectators

1 Wiener klinischc Wochenschrift, 1907, p. 1041.

1 Ibid., pp. 084 sq. Ibid., p. 1092.

108 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

are subject to delusions or even hallucinations. For example,
an account of a case of possession dating from 1559 relates:

. . . and the evil spirit was at length driven out of the girl and
made its way through the window like a swarm of flies. 1

We will quote by way of curiosity a modern case observed
by d'Allonnes, in which every method of treatment, religious
exorcism and medical hypnotism alike, was fruitless until the
cure was operated by the sole and unaided virtue of
methylene blue.

... At length she even had recourse to doctors. It must be
admitted that they are the only persons who obtained any result.
They prescribed pills containing methylene blue, the sole effect of
which is to colour the urine. This coloration produced a great
effect on Alexandra and her devil; he no longer dared approach
that part of the body which he believed to be poisoned. 2

But there are also cures by simple autosuggestion, the
most remarkable of which is that of the maid of Orlach. Its
starting-point was a hallucination occurring at a time when
there was as yet no possession.

. . . That same day at half-past seven the girl perceived at the
back of the cowshed, "against the wall, the grey shape of a woman
whose head and body were enveloped in something like a black
band. This apparition beckoned to the girl with its hand.

An hour later when she was giving forage to the stock the same
form appeared to her again and began to speak to her. It said:
" Flee from the house ! Flee from the house ! If it is not pulled
down before the 5th of March of the coming year a misfortune
will happen to you. . . . Promise me that you will do it !"

The girl then gave the promise. Her father and brother were
present and heard her speaking, but saw and heard nothing else. 3

On the 23rd of August there was a new hallucination, the appari-
tion of a white spirit which again recalled the promise to pull down
the house on the given date. From this moment onwards the girl's
father made arrangements to demolish his house and build a new
one, so marvellous did this appear to many people. 4

After more than five months the possessed was brought
to Kerner. As he records, he encouraged the parents'
belief

..." in the demoniacal possession of their child, and this
was mainly for the girl's sake and in order to be able to subject
her to a more searching observation. I explained her state solely
as a malady against which all the usual medicaments would be

1 Kerner, Geschichten, etc., p. 123.

2 Dupray, Psychologic (Tun demon familier, " Journal de psychol.,"
vol. iii (1906), p. 532.

* Kerner, Geschichtrn, etc., pp. 22 sq. * Ibid., p. 35.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 109

useless so that they had up to that time rightly refused for their
daughter the aid of all the chemists' bottles, boxes of pills, and
pots of ointment. To the girl also I recommended no remedy
except prayer and low diet. As for the action of magnetic passes
which I only tried upon her two or three times, the demon tried
to neutralize them immediately by counter-passes made with the
girl's hands. This remedy also failed as did, generally speaking,
all others without this causing me any anxiety, because I had in
any case recognized the girl's state as demoniaeo-magnetic and
had confidence in the divination of the better spirit, that which
had promised her cure before the 5th of March. I left her in this
belief without anxiety." 1

See below the account of the real healing.

Yet more remarkable is the following self-cure, on the
occasion of which an exorcist had an hallucination and spoke
automatically by the mouth of the possessed, so that another
possession supervened side by side with the demoniacal one.
(I shall not study this phenomenon.)

On January 20th at eleven o'clock in the morning, the very
hour that the girl in a waking state (told, as she said, by an angel),
had announced as the hour of her deliverance, the cessation of
these incidents (fits) took place. The last that was heard was a
voice issuing from the girl's mouth and crying: "Impure spirit,
come out of this child ! Knowest thou not that this child is my
best-beloved P Then she recovered consciousness.

On January 31st the same state returned with all its symptoms.
. . . On February t)th, which had similarly been indicated by the
girl on January 31st us the day of deliverance, her torments came
to an end in the same way as the iirst time. On February 9th
at noon, after the same voice had several times announced his
departure, these words were heard to come from the girl's mouth:
" Hence, impure spirit ! This is a sign of the last time !" The
girl awoke and has remained in good health up to the present day. 2

Finally in many cases where, as in the epidemics of pos-
session, the fits had generally no deep-seated foundation in an
hysterical affection but were more or less voluntarily induced,
it was sufficient simply to isolate the patients in order to
restore their peace of mind. This was the case with Jeanne
des Anges and her companions : with isolation all the pheno-
mena ceased at once. 3 (Owing to fresh exorcisms they were
subsequently called forth again.)

Janet undertook a psychological exorcism of a refined
nature upon one of his patients who had already been ill for
four months before coming into his hands. He first assured
himself that the psychological cause of the phenomena of

1 Ibid., p. 40. 2 Ibid., pp. 105 sq.

9 Bibliothtque diabolique (1886), v, p. 19.

110 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

compulsion was remorse of conscience for a conjugal fault.
The procedure employed by Janet to end the possession
consisted simply in putting the patient into a state of som-
nambulistic suggestion and then sorting out and gradually
effacing all the memories which tormented him. The apogee
and crux of this treatment was to suggest the presence of the
patient's wife who appeared before his hallucinated eyes and
solemnly forgave him.

This scene of pardon was only an hallucination, but
although its elements were therefore false they constituted for
the patient's conscience a living reality so strong in its effect
that the oppressive memory and remorse disappeared in him,
together with all the phenomena of possession.

By reason of its interest, I will quote the principal passages
of Janet's account.

The patient is a man of thirty-three years who was brought to
the Saltpetriere four years ago in Cbarcot's time. I was able
closely to examine this person confided to my care, and was fortun-
ate enough to restore his reason completely in a few months.
The cure has been maintained for more than three years and the
patient has been followed up for a sufficient length of time to
render it possible now to study his delirium, examining the means
which effected the cure and which may be called modern exorcism,
and finally to extract from this observation the maximum of
information possible. There is, moreover, no objection to my
relating the misadventures of this unfortunate man; I will give
him a false name and change that of his native place together with
his social position; the psychological and medical facts alone will
be accurate. . . .

Achilla, as we will call him, belonged to a family of peasants in a
small way in the south of France; he was brought up amongst
simple people, evidently without much education. This confirms
Ksquirol's remark that the delirium of possession is to-day practic-
ally confined to the lower classes. His parents and the villagers
were superstitipusly inclined and strange legends were current
about his family. His father was accused of having at some
previous time given himself to the devil and of going every Saturday
to an old tree-trunk to converse with Satan who handed him a
bag of money. . . .

. . . Achille was hereditarily predisposed to insanity . . .; he
was a degenerate in the classic sense of the word.

Achille had a normal childhood; he was educated in a little
grammar school and showed himself studious and diligent although
of only average intelligence; he had in particular a very good
memory and read voraciously without much selection, lie was
sensitive to impressions, took everything seriously " as if it had
really happened," as he said, and remained upset for a long time
after a fright, a punishment, or the slightest incident. He did not
share the superstitions of his village and even had very few
religious beliefs. He might have been declared almost normal
had he not frequently had sick headaches and had certain small

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 111

facts which seem to me to have their significance not been observed.
Although very sensitive and affectionate he did not succeed in
making friends, but was always alone and rather an object of ridi-
cule to his schoolfellows. . . .

Achille, having left school early . . . engaged in a small business.
... A very fortunate thing for him was that he married early,
towards the age of twenty-two years, a kindly and devoted woman
who corrected several imaginative aberrations and made him
sensible and happy for several years. He had one child, a little
girl who grew up absolutely normal, and everything went well
with him for about ten years. Achille was thirty-three years old
when he experienced a series of accidents which brought him in
the course of a few months to the Saltpetriere. . . .

Towards the end of the winter of 1890 Achille had to make a
short journey necessitated by his business, and returned home
at the end of a few weeks. Although he said he was quite well and
made efforts to appear in good spirits, his wife found him changed.
He was gloomy, preoccupied, he scarcely ever kissed his wife
and child and spoke very little. At the end of several days this
taciturnity increased and the poor man had difficulty in muttering
a few words during the course of a day. But his silence assumed
a quite peculiar aspect: it ceased to be voluntary as at first;
Achille was no longer silent because he did not wish to speak, but
because he was not able to speak. He made fruitless efforts to
utter a sound and could no longer manage it ; lie had become dumb.
The doctor consulted shook his head and found the case very
grave; he tested the heart, examined the urine, and concluded
that it was general debility, a modification in the humours, dys-
crasia, perhaps diabetes, etc., etc. The fear of all these drove
Achille distracted he rapidly recovered his speech in order to
complain of all sorts of pains. . . .

As at the end of a full month there was no perceptible improve-
ment, Achille went to consult another doctor (who diagnosed
angina pectoris).

The unfortunate man took to his bed and was overcome by the
blackest depression. He no longer did anything and moreover
no longer understood a word of what he read, often seeming unable
even to grasp the remarks addressed to him. To all the questions
of his despairing wife, he replied that he did not know what de-
pressed hini in this way, that he still kept a stout heart, but that in
spite of himself he felt the most gloomy presentiments. He slept
from time to time, but even in sleep his lips moved and murmured
incomprehensible words while tears streamed from his eyes. At
length his presentiments appeared to be realized. One day when
he was more depressed than usual he called his wife and child,
embraced them despairingly, then stretched himself upon his bed
and made no further movement. He remained thus motionless
during two days while those who watched beside him expected at
every moment to sec him breathe his last.

Suddenly, one morning, after two days of apparent death, Achille
arose, sat up with both eyes wide open, and broke into a frightful
laugh. It was a convulsive laugh which shook his whole body,
a laugh of unnatural violence which twisted his mouth, a lugubrious
laugh which lasted for more than two hours and was truly satanic.

From that moment everything was changed. Achille leapt
out of bed and refused all attention. To every question he replied :
" Do nothing, it is useless, let us drink champagne, it is the end of
the world." Then he uttered horrible cries, 4 * They are burning

112 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

me, they arc cutting me to pieces." These cries and wild move-
ments lasted until the evening, then the unhappy man fell into a
troubled sleep.

The reawakening was no better; Achille related to his assembled
family a thousand dreadful things. The demon, said he, was
in the room, surrounded by a crowd of little horned and grimacing
imps; still worse, the devil was within him and forced him to
utter horrible blasphemies. In fact Achille's mouth, for he de-
clared that he had nothing to do with il, abused God and the saints
and repeated a confused mass of the most filthy insults to religion.
Yet graver and more cruel was the fact that the demon twisted
his legs and arms and caused him the most hideous sufferings which
wrung horrible cries from the poor wretch. This was thought to
be a state of high fever with transitory delirium, but the condition
was lasting. Achille but rarely had calmer moments when he
embraced his daughter, weeping and deploring his sad fate which
had made him the prey of demons. He never expressed the least
doubt as to his possession by the devil, of which he was absolutely
convinced. " I have not believed sufficiently in our holy religion
nor in the devil," he often said; "he has taken a terrible revenge,
he has me, he is within me and will never leave me."

When he was not watched, Achille escaped from the house, ran
across the fields, hid in the woods where he was found the next day
completely terrified. He tried especially to get into the cemetery,
and several times was found lying asleep upon a grave. He seemed
to long for death for he took poisons; he swallowed laudanum
and part of a little bottle of Fowler's drops; he even tied his feet
together and thus bound threw himself into a pond. He neverthe-
less managed to get out, and when found on the edge said sadly:
" You can see well enough that I am possessed by the devil, since
I cannot die. I have made the test demanded by religion, thrown
myself into the water with my feet tied together, and I floated.
Ah, the devil is certainly in me*!" It was necessary to shut him up
in his room and watch him closely; after three months of this
raying, which terrified his poor family, they had to make up their
minds, somewhat tardily and on the advice of a wise doctor, to
take him to the Saltpetriere as the most propitious place to-day
for the exorcism of the posvsessed and the expulsion of demons.

When Charcot and my friend Mr. Dutil, who was the head of
his clinic, handed over this interesting case to me, I at once re-
marked in him all the recognized signs of possession as described
in the mediaeval epidemics. . . . He (Achille) muttered blas-
phemies in a muffled and solemn voice: " Cursed be God," said he,
" cursed the Trinity, cursed the Virgin !" . . . then in a shrill
voice and with eyes full of tears: " It is not my fault if my mouth
says these horrible things, it is not I. ... I press my lips together
so that the words may not escape, may not break out, but it's no
use, I can feel plainly that he says them and makes my tongue
speak in spite of me. ... It is the devil who drives me to do all
these other things," said Achille again. " I do not want to die,
and he drives me against my will to make away with myself. . . .
For instance, he is speaking to me at this moment ..." and he
resumes in his deep voice : " Priests are a wortliless lot I" then in his
high voice: " No, I won't believe it 1" and there he was talking
with the devil and arguing with him. It often happened that he
disputed in this way with his demon who had the bad habit of
criticizing him incessantly. " You lie," said the devil to him.
** No, I am not lying," replied the poor man. . . .

THK GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 118

The possessed did not merely feel the action of the devil within
themselves, they saw and heard him. Achille did the same. . . .

These signs (the stigmata) and especially the last (insensibility)
also existed in the case of the unfortunate Achille. True, his
insensibility was not continuous, but when he twisted his arms
in convulsive movements, they could be pricked and pinched
without his observing it. . . . When I tried to comfort the poor
man and calm him a little I was extremely ill received: all my
efforts were useless. I vainly sought to gain an ascendancy over
Achille, to force him to obey me ; as a last resource I tried whether
it was not possible to send him to sleep in order to have more
power over him in a hypnotic state ; all in vain, I was unable by
any means to suggest or hypnotize him; he answered me with
insults and blasphemies, and the devil, speaking by his mouth,
mocked my impotence. . . .

At my special request the almoner of the Saltpetriore was good
enough to sec the patient, and also tried to console him and teach
him to distinguish true religion from these diabolic superstitions;
he had no success and told me that the poor man was mad and
rather needed the help of medicine than of religion. I had to try
again.

I then observed that the patient made manjr movements un-
consciously and that, absorbed in his hallucinations and ravings,
he was extremely absent-minded. It was easy to take advantage
of his absence of mind to produce in his limbs movements which he
executed unwittingly. We all know those absent-minded people
who look everywhere for the umbrella which they are meanwhile
holding without knowing it. I was able to slip a pencil into the
lingers of his right hand and Achille gripped and held it without
noticing anything. I gently directed the hand which held the
pencil and made him write a few strokes, a few letters, and the
hand, carried away by a movement which the patient, absorbed
in his ravings, did not realize, continued to repeat these letters
and even to sign Achille' s Christian name without him noticing
it. It is generally known that such movements, accomplished in
this manner without the knowledge of the person who seems to
produce them, may be designated as automatic, and they were
extremely numerous and varied in the case of this patient.

Having noted this point I tried to produce these movements
by mere command. Instead of speaking direct to the patient,
who, as I well knew, would have replied with insults, I let him rave
and rant as he pleased, while standing behind him I quietly ordered
him Lo make certain movements. These were not executed, but to
my great surprise the hand which held the pencil began to write
rapidly on the paper in front of it and I read this little sentence
which the patient had written without his knowledge, just as a
few moments before he had unconsciously signed his name. The
hand had written : " I won't." That seemed a reply to my order.
I must evidently go on. " And why won't you ?" said I quietly
to him in the same tone; the hand replied immediately by writing:
44 Because I am stronger than you." " Who are you then ?"
" I am the devil." " Ah, very good, very good ! Now we can
talk 1"

It is not everyone who has had the chance of talking to a devil ;
I had to make the most of it. To force the devil to obey me I
attacked him through the sentiment which has always been the
darling sin of devils vanity. " I don't believe in your power,"
said I, " nor shall I do so unless you give me a proof." " What

8

114 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

proof ?" replied the devil, using as always to reply to me the hand
of Achille who suspected nothing. " Raise this poor man's left
arm without him knowing it." Immediately Achille's left arm
was raised.

I then turned towards Achille, shook him to attract his attention,
and pointed out to him that his left arm was raised. He was
greatly surprised and had some difficulty in lowering it. " The
demon has played me another trick," said he. That^was true, but
this time he had played the prank on my instructions. By the
same procedure I made the devil execute a host of different actions,
and he always obeyed implicitly. He made Achille dance, put out
his tongue, kiss a piece of paper, etc. I even told the devil, while
. Achille's mind was elsewhere, to show his victim some roses and
prick his finger, whereupon Achille exclaimed because he saw
before him a beautiful bunch of roses and cried out because he had
had his fingers pricked. . . .

Thanks to the foregoing method I was able to go further and do
what the exorcists never thought of doing. I asked the demon
as a final proof of his power to have the goodness to send Achille
to sleep in an armchair, and that completely, so that he should
be unable to resist. I had already tried, but in vain, to hypnotize
this patient by addressing him directly, and all efforts had been
useless ; but this time taking advantage of his absence of mind and
speaking to the devil, I succeeded very easily. Achille tried in
vain to struggle against the sleep which overcame him, he fell
heavily backwards and sank into a deep sleep.

The* devil did not know into what a trap I had lured him: poor
Achille, whom he had sent to sleep for me, was now in my power.
Very gently I induced him to answer me without waking, and I thus
learnt a whole series of events unknown to everyone else, which
Achille when awake in no way realized, and which threw an entirely
new light on his malady. . . .

In spite of the sleep in which Achille was apparently plunged he
heard our questions and was able to reply : it was a somnambulistic
state. This somnambulism, which had come on during our con-
versation with the devil and in consequence of a suggestion made
to this latter, is not at all surprising. During the course of his
malady Achille had several times shown analogous conditions;
by night and even by day he fell into strange states during which
he seemed raving, and woke later retaining not the slightest memory
of what he had done during these periods.

. . . Achille . . . once put to sleep, was able to tell us a mass
of details which previously he had not known or had known without
understanding. In this state of somnambulism he related his
illness to us in a manner completely different from heretofore.
What he told us is very simple and can be summed up in a word :
for the last six months he had had in his mind a long train of
imaginings which unfolded more or less unconsciously by day as well
as by night. After the manner of absent- minded people he used
to tell himself a story, a long and lamentable story. But this
reverie had assumed quite special characteristics in his weak mind
and had had terrible consequences. In a word, his whole sickness
was nothing but a dream.

The beginning of the malady had been a grave misdeed which he
had committed in the spring during his little journey. For a short
time he had been too forgetful of his home and wife. . . . The
memory of his wrong-doing had tormented him on his return and
produced the depression and absence of mind which I have de-

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 115

scribed. He was above all things anxious to hide his misadventure
from his wife and this thought drove him to watch his lightest
word. lie believed at the end of a few days that he had forgotten
his uneasiness, but it still persisted and it was this which hampered
him when he wished to talk. There are weak-minded people who
can do nothing by halves and constantly fall into curious exaggera-
tions. I once knew a young woman who, wishing similarly to
hide a fault, began to dissemble her thoughts and actions. But
instead of dissembling on the one matter she was carried away
to the point of hiding and garbling everything, and began to lie
continually from morning until night, even about the most in-
significant things. In a sort of fit she let slip the confession of
her fault, obtained pardon for it and completely ceased to lie.
In the case of Achille it was the same thought of something to hide
which produced this time not lying but complete mutism. It is
already evident that the first stages of the malady are explained
by the persistence of remorse and the phantasy which it occasioned.

Already the anxieties, the day and night dreams, were growing
more complicated. Achille overwhelmed himself with reproaches
and expected to fall victim to all sorts of sufferings which would be
no more than legitimate punishments. He dreamed of every
possible physical disorder and all the most alarming sicknesses.
It is these dreams of sickness which, half- ignored, produced the
fatigue, thirst, breathlessncss and other sufferings which the
doctors and the patient had taken successively for diabetes and
heart trouble. . . .

Achille was always dreaming. Who has not had similar dreams
and wept over his sad fate while watching his own funeral ? These
dreams arc frequent with hysterical people who are often heard
softly to murmur poetic lamentations such as: *' Here are flowers
. . . white flowers, they arc going to make wreaths to lay on my
little coffin," etc. Achille, sick and suggestible, went further;
in spite of himself he realized the dreams and acted them. Thus
we see him say farewell to his wife and child and lie down motion-
less. This more or less complete lethargy which lasted for two
days was only an episode, a chapter in the long dream.

When a man has dreamed that he is dead, what more can he
dream ? What will be the end of the story which Achille has told
himself for the last six months ? The end "is very simple, it will be
hell. Wliile he was motionless and as if dead, Achille, whom
nothing now came to disturb, dreamed more than ever. He
dreamt that, his death being an accomplished fact, the devil
rose out of the pit and came to take him. The patient, who during
somnambulism related his dreams to us, remembered perfectly the
precise moment during which this deplorable event took place.
It was towards eleven o'clock in the morning, a dog was barking in
the courtyard at the time, disturbed 110 doubt by the stench of
hell; flames filled the room, innumerable imps struck the poor
wretch with whips and amused themselves by driving nails into
his eyes, while through the lacerations in his body Satan took pos-
session of his head and heart.

It was too much for this weak mind; the normal personality
with its memories, organization and character which had until then
subsisted somehow, side by side with the invading dream, went
under completely. The dream, until then subconscious, found no
further resistance, grew and filled the whole mind. It developed
sufliciently to form complete hallucinations and manifest itself
by words and actions. Achille had a demoniacal laugh, uttered

110 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

blasphemies, heard and saw devils, and was in a complete state
of delirium.

It is interesting to see how this delirium was constituted and
how all the symptoms which it presents may be explained as conse-
quences of the dream, as manifestations of psychological auto-
matism and division of personality. The delirium is not solely
the expression of the dream, which would constitute simple som-
nambulism with strictly consistent actions manifesting no dis-
order ; it is formed by the mingling of the dream and the thought
of the previous day, by the action and reaction of the one upon the
other. Achille's mouth utters blasphemies, that is the dream
itself; biit Achille hears them, is indignant, attributes them to a
devil lodged within him, this is the action of the normal con-
sciousness and its interpretation. The devil then speaks to Achille
and overwhelms him with threats, the patient's interpretation
has enhanced the dream and sharpened its outlines.

If we wished to cure our unhappy Achille, it was completely
useless to talk to him of hell, demons and death. Although he
spoke of them incessantly, they were secondary things, psychologic-
ally accessory. Although the patient appeared possessed, his
malady was not possession but the emotion of remorse. This was
true of many possessed persons, the devil being for them merely
the incarnation of their regrets, remorse, terrors and vices. It
was Achille's remorse and the very memory of his wrong-doing which
we had to make him forget. This is far from being an easy matter
forgetting is more difficult than is generally supposed.

In my work on the history of a fixed idea I have shown how this
result might be approximately obtained by the process of ' dis-
sociation of ideas," and that of " substitution." An idea or
memory may be considered as a system of images which can be
destroyed by separating its constituents, altering them individually
and substituting in the whole certain partial images for those
previously existent. I cannot here repeat the examination of
these processes, I merely recall that they were applied afresh to
the fixed idea of this interesting patient. The memory of his
transgression was transformed in all sorts of ways thanks to sug-
gested hallucinations. Finally Achille's wife, evoked by a hal-
lucination at the proper moment, came to grant complete
pardon to her spouse, who was deserving rather of pity than of
blame.

These modifications only took place during somnambulism,
but they had a very remarkable reaction on the man's conscious-
ness after awakening. He felt relieved, delivered from that
inner power which deprived him of the full control of his sensations
and ideas. The sensibility of the whole body was restored, he
recovered the full use of his memory, and far more important, began
to take an objective view of his ravings. At the end of only a few
days he had made sufficient progress to laugh at his devil and him-
self explained his madness by saying that he had read too many
story-books. At this period a curious fact must be noted: the
delirium still persisted during the night. When asleep, Achille
groaned and dreamt of the torments of hell: the devils made him
climb a ladder which mounted indefinitely and at the top of which
was placed a glass of water, or else still amused themselves by
driving nails into his eyes. The delirium also existed in the sub-
conscious writing where the devil boasted that he would soon re-
claim his victim. These facts still show us therefore the last traces
of the delirium which might persist without our knowledge. This

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 117

should be carefully noted, for a pjitient abandoned at this point
would before long fall back into the same divagations.

Thank* to analogous measures the last dreams were transformed
and soon disappeared completely. . . . The patient no longer
had the same complete forge If ulness after somnambulism nor was
he now so deeply anaesthetic during the subconscious writing.
In a word, after the disappearance of the fixed idea the unity of
the mind was being reconstituted.

Achillc was soon completely cured. ... It is pleasant to
add that since his return to his little village the patient has often
sent me news of himself and that for the last three years he has
preserved the most perfect physical and moral health. . . .

This case shows how useful it may be to analyze the ideas
of possession and to throw a patient suffering from com-
pulsions into complete somnambulism because of the enhanced
suggestibility of this state. In addition the case shows what
importance emotional excitement may have in giving rise to
possession ; in some people it enhances susceptibility to auto-
suggestion to an extraordinary degree. But to cite a pre-
ceding affective experience is not, in spite of the view main-
tained by many psychoanalysts, to give an " explanation "
of possession.

Truth to tell, exorcism has not always been successful.
" In such desperate cases," says Keruer, 1 " we vainly wish
ourselves as mighty as the disciples of Jesus." It seems that
exorcism failed conspicuously to help when possession had
developed not in an hysterical temperament but on neuras-
thenic and psychasthcnic ground such as results from ascetic
mortifications. Thus the possession of Surin resisted all
exorcism. It disappeared gradually in consequence of a
spontaneous transformation of the psychic state, but not as
a result of suggestion or autosuggestion.

Whereas in spite of all his torments Surin escaped with
his life, two other exorcists concerned in the struggle with
the epidemic of Loudun, Lactance and Traiiquille, succumbed
to possession. This death is one of the most frightful which
can be imagined, the patient being sick in mind while fully
conscious, and a prey to excitement so violent that finally the
organism breaks down under it. I know only this one case,
of which we possess a detailed account.

In the following year, 1638, the famous Father Tranquillc died.
He was a Capuchin preacher, the most illustrious of all the
exorcists then remaining. In his last hours he uttered frightful

Keruer, Geschichlen

118 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

cries which were heard by all the neighbours of the Capuchin
convent, and the report soon spreading to the town there were a
great number of people who made their way towards the convent
and the adjacent streets in order to hear these cries and see for
themselves if the rumours were true. No one went there but
was convinced, and still to-day there should be no one who is
not convinced of the truth of this thing, seeing the circumstantial
account of the death which has been given to the public by a
Capuchin and of which the following is an extract :

Father Tranquille was a native of Saint Rcmi in Anjou. He was
the most famous preacher of his time. Obedience summoned
him to the exorcisms of Loudun. The devils, fearing this enemy,
came forth to meet him in order to frighten him if it were possible,
and caused him to feel on the road such debility in the legs that he
thought to have stopped and remained where he was. For four
years he was employed as an exorcist, during which time God
purified him by tribulation like gold in the furnace. He thought
at first that lie would expel the demons promptly, trusting in the
authority which the Church has received from Our Lord. But
having learned his mistake by experience he resolved to have
patience and await tlie will of God. Fearing that his talents
were a snare and would be an occasion for pride to him, he desired
to abstain from preaching and gave himself entirely to exorcism.
The devils, seeing his humility, weie so enraged thereby that
they resolved to take up their abode in his body. All Hell
assembled for this purpose and nevertheless was unable to achieve
it, either by obsession or full possession, God not having permitted
it. It is true that the demons made sport in his inner and outer
senses; they threw him to the ground, cried out and swore by his
mouth; they made him put out his tongue, hissing like a serpent;
they bound his head about, constricted his heart and made him
endure a thousand other ills; but in the midst of all these ills his
spirit escaped and was at one with God, and with the help of his
companion he always promptly routed the demon who tormented
him and who in turn cried out by his mouth: "Ah, how I suffer !"
The other monks and exorcists pitied Father Tranquille in his
sufferings, but he rejoiced in them marvellously. . . .

The devils having resolved to bring about his death . . . they
attacked him more fiercely than ever on the day of Pentecost
when he was to preach, and the time for the sermon having come
he was not disposed for it. His confessor commanded the devil
to leave him alone and the Father to go into the pulpit from obedi-
ence, which he did and preached with more satisfaction to his
hearers than if he had passed weeks in preparation. . . . After
this sermon the devils besieged him yet more than before. He
said mass on three or four days, at the end of which he was con-
strained to remain in bed until the Monday when he died. He
vomited filthy stuff which was thought each time to be a token of
the expulsion and from which those around contrived to gather
some hope of relief, but the surgeon judged him to be in a very
serious condition and said that unless God soon arrested the course
of this diabolic work it was impossible that he should survive, for
as soon as he had taken any food, although with appetite, the
demons made him spew it out with such violent palpitations of the
heart that the strongest would have died of them. They gave
him headaches and nausea of a kind not mentioned either in Galen
or Hippocrates and in order to explain the nature of which one
must have suffered them like the good Father. They cried out

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 119

and raged through his mouth and nevertheless his mind was
always clear. All these torments were joined to a continuous
fever and various other unexpected complications which cannot be
understood by those who have not seen them and who have no
experience of the ways in which devils act upon the body. . . .
Thus he died in the forty- third year of his age. . . - 1

The caution which should be exercised when the equivocal
word " possession " is used in bald accounts is also necessary
in dealing with the formulae of exorcism. No one of them may
be considered as evidence of the presence of true possession.
Such charms were applied to ordinary physical maladies
when these were mistaken for demoniacal possession.

The idea of possession, in all its original scope, still persists
in our own time. At bottom the ecclesiastical benediction of
a church is an echo, for it signifies putting the building into
a state of resistance to anti-divine forces. The blessing of
livestock and their fodder has this same meaning and is
often carried out by simple people even to-day. Corre-
sponding inversely to this blessing is the exorcism of one
who is already given over to the powers of darkness. These
two, benediction and exorcism, need not, moreover, be very
sharply discriminated from the practical point of view. The
blessing is often the expulsion of supposititious demoniac
intruders who may possibly be present. The " Manual "
already quoted above gives numerous examples of exorcism
of this kind. Here is one:

Exorcibinus pro maleficato in proprio corpore.

Alia formula cxorcisandi maleficiatos quoscumque.

Hemedia contra febres, pestem ct alias infirmitates naturales.

Ilemedia spirittialia contra philtra amatoria.

Remedia spiritualia pro impeditis per malcficia, ope dicmonum,
in matrimonio.

Modus exorcisandi circa quaevis animal ia per maleficia et vene-
iicia afllicla.

Exorcismus contra maleficia lactieiniorum (foods composed of
eggs and milk) et aliorum comestibilium, frugum, etc.

Exorcismus pro lacte.

Exorcismus pro butyro (butter).

Here is an example of exorcism for milk:

Ecce Crucem *J< Domini, fugite partes advcrsjp, vicit leo de
tribu Juda, radix David. Exorciso te, creatura lactis in nomine
Dei patris omnipotent^ *J<, ct in nomine Jesu Christi ^ filii eius
Domini nostri, et in virtute Spiritus >|< sancti, ut fins exorcisatum
in salutem fidelium, et sis omnibus ex te sumentibus sanitas auimae

1 Histoire ties diables de London, pp. 317 sq.

120 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

et corporis, et cffugiat atque discedat a tc ncquitia omnis ac ver-
sutia diabolicac fraudis, omnis(]ue nocendi facultas in tc omnis
modo per ministros satanicos introducta. 1

The following is an example of ancient exorcism against
children's maladies. It comes from Egypt; sickness itself
was there considered as a demoniacal being.

Go hence, thou who comest in darkness, whose nose is turned
backwards, whose face is upside down and who knpwest not why
thou hast come (repent). Hast thou come to kiss this child ?
I will not let thee kiss him. Hast thou come to send him to sleep ?
I will not let thee do him harm. Hast thou come to take him
with thee ? I will not let thee carry him away. J have secured
his protection against thee with afa root, onions and honey, sweet
to men but evil to the dead. 2

In the Bibliolhcque universe! le suisse? Henri A. Junod
has depicted under the title: Galagala, Tableau de maeurs de
la tribu des Rongas (Delagoa coast) and in the delightful form
of a novel, a personal experience of primitive exorcism in the
case of a man suffering from pulmonary inflammation. In
spite of the witch-doctor's formal diagnosis of possession and
his violent exorcism by noise, the patient showed not the
slightest symptom of possession.

Yet more interesting is the account given by a traveller
in Guiana of a primitive cure for headache. In that case also
there is no question of exorcism proper since the fever was not
taken for possession, but nevertheless treatment by primitive
exorcism is so nearly allied that the case should be cited.
It is the only one where, to my knowledge, the traveller
himself underwent the cure. It is in Bastian's work: Ueber
psychische Beobachtungen bei Naturvolkern* It gives a very
clear impression of the terrible nature of primitive medical
treatment which temporarily plunges the patients into an
entirely abnormal state of mind. Such being the case with
a European ethnologist it may be imagined to what degree
the native, far more suggestible, must be thrown off his
psychic balance.

This closes our survey of the typical states of possession.
Their nature has always consisted in phenomena of pyschic

1 Manuale exorcismorum, p. 245.

a H. Schneider, Kultur und Denken der alien /Egypter, 2nd ed.,
Leipzig, 1909, pp. 364 sq.

3 One hundred and first year, vol. ii, 1896, pp. 512-551.

4 Publications of the Gesellschaft fiir Experimental-Psychologic
zu Berlin, vol. ii, Leipzig, 1890, pp. 6-9.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 121

compulsion, the aggravation of which not infrequently
renders the victims somnambulistic. Motor hyperexcite-
ment, however frequent it may be, is not necessarily a con-
stituent part of possession.

The appearance of possession, particularly in its gravest
forms, is always in point of fact associated with belief in the
devil. It is this belief which by means of autosuggestion
nourishes possession and maintains it.

So far as age is concerned, the first appearance of posses-
sion is not connected with any given time of life. But as
regards sex, the predominance in women is extraordinarily
marked. Out of thirteen cases related by Kerncr and in part
observed by him, there are only two men, aged 37 and 71;
all the other cases concern girls and women, aged, so far as
particulars arc available, 8, 10, 11, 20, 31, 32, 34, 36 and
70 years. Thus the climacteric periods are almost solely
involved. These numbers are in essential agreement with
those derived from other sources, except that perhaps the
male sex is slightly, but not much, better represented. The
epidemics of possession have almost always smitten convents
of nuns or similar establishments, men being only occasionally
affected. For the rest, the possessed almost all belong to
the uneducated lower classes.

In addition to the states which we have studied there
are others, rarer, it is true, in which the persons concerned
affirm in the same way that they are possessed, that there is a
spirit within which torments them, but where the general
condition is nevertheless different in that it attests no pheno-
mena of compulsion. These arc cases of mere delusion or
even of real hallucinatory ideas which may have a very
different origin. The mildest cases concern uneducated
people who, in order to explain maladies, particularly of a
psychic nature, adopt the vulgar notion of possession. The
more serious ones concern paranoiacs, paralytics and other
persons suffering from diseases of the mind which produce
hallucinatory ideas and in whom the delusion of possession
arises. Such affections defy exorcism, or if not, a new
illusory idea will immediately take the place of a former one.
It must be admitted that such a purely intellectual form of
possession exists, but it is undoubtedly very much more rare
indeed than the true states of possession; so rare, in fact, that

122 THE NATVHE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

I cannot quote one indubitable case in all the documents
known to me. I shall therefore give up all idea of dealing
with it further.

It is impossible to concur in the description of " true
cases of possession " which Pelletier and Marie apply to
patients who harbour the delusion of having parasites in the
body. 1 Such a terminology must lead to the most mischievous
confusion. Possession should only be spoken of in cases
where derangements exist of the nature of those analyzcvi in
this book. Naturally they may be associated with these
ideas of parasites, but the latter alone do not authorize us to
speak of possession.

A further development of these ideas of parasites into
states of possession seems to Seglas to be frankly a modern
form of possession:

This assimilation of the delirium of possession by small animals
to the early demoniacal delirium may be demonstrated by the
evidence of mixed cases. I have observed several very clear ones,
amongst others that of a woman who professed to be possessed
by the devil who had entered her body in the form of microbes
which she designated by a strange name and which played all sorts
of malicious tricks on her. This case shows the association of
the two ideas, demoniacal possession united with the modern
conception of the microbe, the form which the devil was supposed
to have taken.

This woman had, moreover, very severe coenesthesic troubles,
a particular form of delirium and a very clearly marked duplication
of personality; she also had ideas of negation, such as that of
having no stomach, no intestines, no tongue.

I have made similar observations concerning another woman
patient who was possessed by a tse'iia (tapeworm). 3

Furthermore it must be emphasized that in French psycho-
logical literature another state is included under the name
of " possession." In this state, at least according to the
Franco Anglo-Saxon school of psychology headed by
P. Janet, the psychic processes attributed to the " pos-
sessing spirit " are no longer in the consciousness, lucid or
somnambulistic, 3 of the individual, but remain completely
unconscious.

1 LSOrigitie cenesthesique des idees hypocondriuques microzoomania-
ques in Bullet, de FJnstitut. gen. psych., vol. vi (1906), pp. 64 sq.

2 Ibid., p. 64.

3 No objection need be taken to this expression which is here used
for the sake of brevity.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 128

The patient observes that his arms and legs execute without his
knowledge and in his despite complicated movements, he hears his
own mouth command or mock him; he resists, discusses, fights
against an individual who has sprung up within him. How can
he interpret his state, what is he to think of himself ? Is he not
reasonable when he pronounces himself possessed by a spirit,
persecuted by a demon which dwells within him ? How can he
be in doubt when this second personality, taking its name from the
most well-known superstitions, declares itself as Ashtaroth, Levia-
tlian or Beelzebub ? The belief in possession is only the popular
rendering of a psychological truth. 1

This psychological trutli consists precisely, according to
Janet, in the tact that beside the conscious psychic phenomena
belonging to the normal individual, yet others unfold in the
organism which do not belong to this first individual but are
bound up into a second ego. (Janet and almost the whole
of the new Franco Anglo-Saxon psychology hold the view
that the ego is merely a synthesis of psychic processes.)
Such states would naturally be quite different from those
which we have hitherto studied. If they existed, the expres-
sion " possession " would be much less metaphorical when
applied to them than to other cases, for there would really
exist in the individual a second mind, entirely autonomous,
side by side with the first and disputing with it for the control
of the organism.

Whatever bearing it may have upon our subject, we cannot
here go into the question of ascertaining whether such cases
exist. But it is indissolubly connected with the problem of
the unconscious, that is to say, whether there exist psychic
processes which are completely " unconscious," as Janet
understands the word, and what is their extent. The above-
mentioned state of possession would then represent the
maximum development of the unconscious. I will reserve
the elucidation of this question for a general study of the
unconscious, as it can only be resolved along such broad lines.

As we have already observed, it is of great importance to
the criticism of sources 2 to know that in an early stage of

1 P. Janet, ISAutomatisme psychologique, Paris, 1888, pp. 440 sq.

2 There may, moreover, be found amongst these sources narratives
completely grotesque in character. For example : tfc Those who are
possessed by demons speak with their tongue hanging out, through
the belly, through the natural parts; they speak divers unknown lan-
guages, cause earthquakes, thunder, lightning, wind, uproot and over-
throw trees, cause a mountain to move from one place to another, raise
a castle in the air and put it back in its place, fascinate the eyes and
dazzle them. . . ." (A. Pare, Ctiuvres, 9th edit., Lyoii, 1033, quoted by

124 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

civilization no psychic disturbance is counted amongst the
distinguishing symptoms of possession, whereas simple
bodily derangements arc regarded as sufficient proof of its
existence. According to the belief of primitive peoples, not
only every spiritual affection but also every physiological
one is the consequence of an intruding spirit within the
sufferer. This idea has persisted far into the higher realms of
civilization; that of the Euphrates and Tigris region was
completely permeated by it as well as that of Egypt.

In other words, by no means all the states designated as
" possession " in the raw materials of history are such within
the meaning of the present work, and, moreover, by 110 means
every exorcism transmitted to us envisages these latter states,
many examples relating only to physiological disturbances
and their conjuration.

This identification of all sorts of maladies with possession
is of great importance as a suggestive factor in the genesis of
true, i.e., psychological possession, because such a belief
by its universal prevalence creates an atmosphere particularly
favourable to autosuggestion; conversely the present-day
conception that, generally speaking, nothing of the nature of
possession exists, is a powerful obstacle to the development of
the states which we have analyzed.

Naturally the present time does not show a complete
absence of states akin to possession. Possession has appeared
to us as a particularly extensive complex of compulsive
phenomena, which naturally exist in great numbers to-day,
every marked nervous state habitually bringing them in its
train. But these processes do not now develop with the same
ease as formerly when the autosuggestion of possession
supervened.

Literature contains innumerable examples of such com-
pulsive functions. I have given some particularly charac-
teristic ones in connection with the psychological analysis
of psychic compulsions in my Phdnornenologie des Ich (vol. i,
chap. xiii).

Yet more interesting is another state which is apt to

Calmeil, De la Folie, vol. i, p. 176.) Belief in the possession of animals
also exists, moreover. It is related of Hilariori that he once cured a
possessed camel. Cf. J. Burckhardt, Die Zeit Constantins des Grossen,
Leipzig, 1880, p. 380. Also in the New Testament the devil once passed
into a nerd of swine.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 125

produce in the persons concerned the idea that they are
guided by an extraneous power and which still to-day pro-
duces the idea of possession although generally in a transitory
form. It is the state of affective and voluntary inhibition
which so strikingly dominates the clinical picture of acute
psychasthenia.

In such states of psychasthenic inhibition the individual
loses all consciousness of his activity yet nevertheless sees
himself act. The " determining tendencies " create action
but are only feebly felt, so that the person considers his own
actions as an enigma. This state readily produces the idea
that the actions have originated in an extraneous power,
another individual. The fact remains, however, that educated
patients of to-day do not, on the mere suggestion, really accept
this idea.

When I was small, says Rp., I used to feel a mysterious power
which compelled me and took away my liberty; I believed then
that it was the Holy Virgin ; to-day I feel the same thing, and
wonder whether I ani not under a malign spell.

" I am exasperated," says Nadia, " always to feel something
mysterious which holds me back and prevents me from succeeding
in my ambitions ... it seems to me that the fates are against me
and always will be so long as I live . . . it is as if there were a fatal
destiny hovering over my head which never leaves me ... it is
my fate which will bring about what I am most afraid of and make
me grow fat, so that I may be still more worried . . . there is a
force which drives me to take ridiculous ouths, it is the devil who
drives me/'

" I have incessantly," says Giscle, " the feeling of a stronger
power which holds me, the feeling that I struggle against something
greater ; it is this power which I have called God and which I am
also tempted to call the devil . . . ;" and Lise always speaks in the
same way: " It seems to me that I profane something sacred by
struggling against this greater power; that is what constantly
makes me think of the devil." 1

Ill the same way a case of acute psychasthenia handed
over to me by O. Vogt for thorough psychological enquiry
had in the beginning shown a certain idea of possession.
Under the influence of the doctor's explanations this had at
once disappeared, so little resemblance do these psychasthenic
ideas bear as a rule to obsessive ideas.

Certain of the graver forms of hysteria, at which we shall
now glance, show a much greater likeness to the classic cases

1 P, Janet, Les Obsessions ct la psychasthtnie, Paris, 1903, i, pp.
275 sq.

126 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

of possession than do these psychasthenic states, so quiet in
their demeanour.

It was Charcot and his school who recognized that such a
relationship existed to some extent. Charcot has spoken
definitely of a " demoniacal attack," and it is described in
detail, with numerous suggestive documents, in the admirable
work of Richer. 1 If the descriptions there given of certain
hysterical states to which I can only here refer the reader
are compared with accounts of possession, we are driven to
the conclusion that the phenomena involved are essentially
the same. The contortions and violence of excitement are
alike in both, and it seems agreed that in both certain patients
retain full consciousness and memory of their states.

During this kind of attack the loss of consciousness is not com-
plete. Some patients even. remain fully conscious of their state,
and at the end of the fit assert that during its course they were
unable, for all their efforts, to master their agitation. When they
succeeded in doing so for a few moments they only ended by bring-
ing on a more violent fit soon afterwards. 2

Marc . . . and Ler . . . (two of Richer's patients) themselves
distinguish quite clearly the attacks which they call their " twist-
ings " (tortilkments) from the others which are the severe attacks.
They can even foretell from the intensity of the phenomena of
the aura what kind of attack is coming on. They greatly prefer
the severe attacks to the twistiiigs : in the first they completely lose
consciousness, whilst in the second they say that they lose con-
sciousness for only a few minutes at a time (during the cpilcptoid
period) and complain of suffering the most frightful tortures imagin-
able. 3

The affective states are also the same as in possession.
This may be seen in the following case where the patient
really lost consciousness during the fits. It is reproduced
as an example of modern hysterical " demoniacal attacks."

... Suddenly terrible cries and howlirigs were heard ; the body,
hitherto agitated by contortions or rigid as if in the grip of tetanus,
executed strange movements: the lower extremities crossed and
uncrossed, the arms were turned backwards and as if twisted, the
wrists bent, some of the fingers extended and some flexed, the
body was bent backwards and forwards like a bow or crumpled
up and twisted, the head jerked from side to side or thrown far
back above a swollen and bulging throat; the face depicted now
fright, now anger, and sometimes madness; it was turgescent and
purple; the eyes widely open, remained fixed or rolled in their
sockets, generally showing only the white of the sclerotic; the lips

1 P. Richer, titudes cliniques sur la grande hystMe, Paris, 1885,
pp. 303 sq.

2 Ibid., p. 202. a 2bid. 9 p. 200.

THE GENESIS AND EXTINCTION OF POSSESSION 127

parted and were drawn in opposite directions showing a protruding
and tumefied tongue.

If fright predominated the head was slightly inclined towards
the neck and thorax, the two clenched hands clutched the eyes
and forehead tightly giving from time to time glimpses of a drawn
face and haggard eyes; the body was as it were huddled up, the
legs and thighs close to the trunk ; the patient either lay on one side
twisted upon herself, or on her face with legs doubled up on the
abdomen and both hands hiding her face.

If anger was in the ascendant she flung herself upon the obstacle,
tried to seize, clasp and bite it ; often she was her own victim, tore
her hair, scratched her face and bosom, rent her clothing, and
during this melancholy spectacle aggravated the frightful nature
of the scene by an accompaniment of cries of pain and rage.

The patient had completely lost consciousness. 1

The relationship between these fits and possession is
sufficiently obvious,

But are the states completely identical, as Richer and
almost all French psychologists assert ?

A closer study shows that such is not the case and it is
very regrettable that this should not hitherto have been
adequately recognized, for it would otherwise have been
considered essential to enquire more deeply than heretofore
into the psychic state during hysteria of the interesting cases
which the Saltpetricre has had the opportunity of studying.

The great difference between modern hysterical attacks
and the old states of possession is psychic. Viewed from the
outside, as regards contortions and motor excitement the
states are similar; but from the psychological point of view,
in so far as the study of modern cases permits us to formulate
a judgement, they are, owing to the attitude adopted by the
patients towards their fits, totally different. To-day they
consider them as natural phenomena, pathological manifesta-
tions, even although they sometimes try to resist them.
They never doubt for a single instant that they and they alone
experience these states which even now seem often to show
a compulsive character (a consequence of their persistence,
even when an individual struggles against them). Formerly, on
the contrary, the idea of possession supervened and occasioned
an automatic development of the compulsion in the direction
of a secondary personality. Judging by the reports, no
manifest second personality ever speaks by the mouth of
modern patients, a fact showing between hysteria and pos-
session a difference so radical that, at least from the psycho-

1 Ibid. t pp. 441 sq.

128 THE NATURE OF THE STATE OF POSSESSION

logical point of view, it is impossible to speak of the states as
in any way identical.

So profound is the influence of general outlook on psychic
processes that it imprints on even the most acute manifesta-
tions of hysteria widely varying physiognomies. It would be
interesting, if such an attempt were possible, to analyze
closely in the documents of psychiatric literature this trans-
formation of hysterical attacks under the influence of progress.

It would be a chapter from the history of psychic pathology
a history hardly as yet seriously broached by the method of
psychology and in particular from the history of hysteria,
for hysteria really has a history. And if it is not alone in this
psychasthenia is also not without its history, and the
hallucination-systems of psychoses, particularly paranoia,
often bear a certain " stamp of the times " its history is,
owing to the acute suggestibility which characterizes this
state, quite particularly voluminous. An historical survey
of psychic pathology would only be possible on a very wide
basis and after a thorough and fairly exhaustive study of
general historical sources bearing on the story of the mind
and of civilization. It would raise the question of the diverse
psychic constitution of races and nationalities with an acute-
ness proportionate to the light thrown on that great psycho-
logical problem, the psychic decadence of whole epochs.
All these are problems far exceeding in scope its particular
domain of psychology. 1

1 Henri Crcsbron (? Cesbron) has given an interesting preface to a
history of hysteria in his thesis for the doctorate of medicine : Histoire
critique de Vhysterie (Paris, 1909). This work is at once a history of
hysterical phenomena in European civilization, of research, and of the
various theories of hysteria. The first subject is somewhat less well
treated than the second ; the author has, moreover, confined himself in
the main to the French literature of hysteria.

PART II

THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION AND ITS

IMPORTANCE FROM THE STANDPOINT OF

RELIGIOUS PSYCHOLOGY

CHAPTER V

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION PROPERLY SO CALLED
AMONGST PRIMITIVE RACES

HAVING in the previous chapters made a detailed study of
the psychological nature of possession, we shall now proceed
to examine its importance from the standpoint of religious
and racial psychology.

In order to investigate this question we must distinguish
two forms; possession as we know it represents only one, in
addition to which there is another, very similar and at the
same time very different. Whilst the states of possession
hitherto considered are, taken as a whole, absolutely involun-
tary, so that the patient desires ardently to be rid of them,
there is another form of possession voluntarily provoked by
the possessed and the advent of which he seeks by every
possible means. We shall have to deal with this second
voluntary and desired form of possession later. For the
moment we shall still confine ourselves to the first and consider
the extent of its distribution.

This may be said to be universal, for there is no quarter
of the globe where such phenomena have not occurred. The
great majority of the cases designated by the name of posses-
sion have, in fact, been no more than physical maladies,
considered, as we have seen, by primitive peoples as due to
the entry of a demon into the human body.

As regards the wide dissemination of the first-named or
involuntary type of possession throughout the Christian era,
I have already given at the beginning of this work a series of
testimonies demonstrating the constant nature of its mani-
festations from century to century and thereby justifying the
fact that I have based my analysis on documents belonging
to widely different periods.

To the foregoing evidence I shall now add further material
in order to show that possession essentially similar in nature
has occurred outside the bounds of Christian civilization.

131

182 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The documents cited have no pretension to be exhaustive.
In perusing the accounts of ethnological travel I have con-
stantly found new cases, but this increase in documentation
brings nothing fundamentally new. Fresh matter can only
be expected from a detailed study of particular cases, which is
not possible except to an investigator living for a long period
of time on the spot or to a missionary. Further systematic
research into all existing documents, including those still
undiscovered or widely dispersed, would have only an ethno-
geographical significance inasmuch as it would give, with all
possible plenitude, a general view of the distribution of these
phenomena amongst the various branches of the human
species, a task falling outside the scope of our subject. A
detailed discussion of cases quoted will generally be super-
fluous, as everything necessary to their understanding is
to be found in explanations already furnished.

I shall begin with primitive civilization, as regards which
the data concerning spontaneous possession are still exceed-
ingly scanty. The majority of the relevant documents which
I can produce relate to Africa, where happily the main regions
furnish their contribution so well that we may consider
possession as a frequent phenomenon widely disseminated
throughout this giant continent.

Here are first some cases observed amongst the Kabyles
by Mayor, a missionary at Moknca, and later communicated
to Flournoy by H. Besson. 1

First case : I was called one day to go to a woman who used often
to come to the station. I knew her as a sensible person, affectionate
towards everyone, intelligent, quiet, natural, healthy in body and
mind. I found her sitting in front of the house surrounded by
numerous people. A priest, holding a lighted wick in front of the
sick woman's mouth, was commanding the " spirit " to depart.
Hearing the sound of my steps on the gravel, Falma cried out
in a completely changed voice: " I do not want him who comes
with his iron-shod boots, I will not see him, I do not want the
Gospel." I had not finished speaking to her before she became
natural again and at once declared I hat she had distinctly felt
herself under the influence of the devil. Two years later she had
another lit.

Second case : M. and Mine. Mayor had gone to a Kabyle village
to hold a service. They found a woman named Teitem struggling
in the grip of several persons who held her fast ; she wanted at all
costs to run away. The missionary was told that " the demon had

1 H. Besson, Notes sur quelques " possessions " en Kabylie, "Archives
de psychologic," vol. vi (1907), pp. 387 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 133

smitten this woman," the expression used by the natives to denote
these cases. The pricvst was exorcising her and commanding the
demon in the name of all the saints in the Arab calendar to depart.
A strange voice issuing from the woman's mouth refused ener-
getically. M. and Mme. Mayor were both seized with the feeling
that they were in presence of a demoniac influence. They began
to pray. During the prayer the voice cried: " Go away !" Then
the woman returned to her right senses. Later she was again
taken with similar fits.

Third case : A man was known locally as being " sick of the
demon." When in his right senses he obtained shelter in the
mosques and monasteries. He often came to the station, where
M. Mayor used to give him food and talk to him ; his demeanour
was that of a quiet beggar. When the fits took him, however, he
used to flee into forests and caves, and wound himself with stones
and pieces of wood. He one day came to the station in the course
of an attack; he did not recognize M. Mayor and fled with wild
gestures as soon as he was approached.

When he came to himself he declared positively that during
his fits he was possessed " by an evil spirit."

M. Mayor observed (Besson adds) several other cases of the
same kind, but the three quoted arc the most characteristic.
Here are the general observations which up to the present he has
been able to make on these unfortunate people: the fits come on
suddenly and go off in the same way, leaving the body in a certain
lassitude. The voice is changed ; the glance is fixed and haggard,
but the eyes are in a normal position; the pulse beats regularly.
The patient recognizes neither relatives nor children; he refuses
to eat or drink; a force drives him to run away. His moral being
seems changed, and it is as if there were a substitution of person-
alities. The presence of the missionary excites him to the highest
degree or else frightens him, whereas, restored to his right mind,
he shows affection and confidence towards '' the man of the Book."
Some cases have a fit every month, others every six months.
Some only have two or three, or even a single one, in their lifetime.
The proportion of women affected by this malady is greater than
that of men. 1

The distinguished ethnologist Frobenius has collected
documents relating to possession in Central Africa. 2 We
shall take cognizance of them later in so far as they deal with
voluntary possession. But they also contain accounts of
spontaneous possession which by their data as to its genesis
furnish an ideal complement to other reports, the great
majority of which give hardly a glimpse of how possession
arises amongst primitive people. It emerges from Frobenius'
accounts that the phenomenon is the same as we have already
seen amongst the quite uncultured representatives of central
European civilization.

1 Jbid. 9 p. 388.

2 Leo Frobenius, Und Afrika sprach. . . . Wissenscliaftlich cr-
weitcte Ausgabe des Berichts iiber den Verlauf der dritten Reiseperiode
der deutschen innerafrikanischen Forsclnmgsexpedition aus den
Jahren 1910 bis 1912, vol. ii, Berlin, 1012, chap. xi.

184 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Frobenius' work, based on the stories of the natives whose
confidence he had won, describes an exorcism in detail. It
conveys the impression that primitive man is much more
suggestible than his civilized brother. The latter may perhaps
be frightened in the darkness of the night, and when he is very
much afraid it may seem to him as if from somewhere a
shape emerged. Primitive man at once suffers hallucination
and may through terror when confronted by the ghost fall
into a lethargic condition with transitory psychic disturb-
ance; at least, Frobenius' narrative can hardly be otherwise
construed.

To a man who goes out by night it may befall to be met by a
babaku (a black spirit) who gives him a sickness. The ailed jenu
(another name for the spirit) may then go his way, but the man
has been deprived of his intelligence, he is sick. 1

A little later Frobenius feels able to explain more exactly
these statements of the natives.

At the moment when the babaku makes the man ill, the latter
utters cries and falls in convulsions. His face is distorted and
he makes convulsive movements. He later falls into a condition of
lethargy. It must obviously be understood from this that the
babaku throws him to the ground and goes on his way. If he
lies there apathetically they say that the babaku has gone on his
way. . . . 2

His family, to which he returns in this state, awake (this certainly
means from the lethargy) but ill, can do nothing aright with him.
As soon as the cause of the affair is known to be an ailed jcnu the
family goes to seek the gusulfa, that is to say the " old woman "
who has the functions of magadja (priestess) in the J3ori (an African
religious animism). The latter receives the sick man and summons
her partner, the adjingi (priest). Neither can do anything without
the other. There is between the two a remarkable relationship
which is in strict agreement with the fact that according to the
legend the Djengere and Magadja are bound together, so that
neither can accomplish anything without the other. . . .

Thus our patient is taken by his family to the gusulfa and the
latter calls in the adjingi. She asks the family for a red cock. . . .
She prepares the ceremony of the lire and smoke while the adjingi
goes into the bush and gathers all the roots and ingredients necessary
tor the cure.

A certain broth is then prepared for the sick man. He must
also inhale a certain smoke.

But the most important thing is when the sick man is wrought
upon through the sense of hearing.

... A goye-player, a violinist (otherwise a guitar-player) is
summoned. When he plays before the patient he must reproduce
in music the names of the various alledjenus. According to the
ancient rite each alledjenu had, indeed, his tones, concords, harmony,

Ibid., p. 252. Ibid., p. 254.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 185

and melody. It was a musical language, just as there still exists
to-day a flute-language and a drum-language.

Thus the goye-player expresses in notes the name of the alle-
djenu. And when the name of the one who has brought the sick
man to such an evil pass is pronounced, he returns and nils the
man from head to foot. 1

Or as Frobenius has described it again and more exactly
later:

. . . When the music, be it of the violin or guitar, speaks the
mime of the alledjenu again, the sick man once more cries out, falls
into convulsions and manifests great excitement, but relapses once
more into a state of the most complete indifference. And all this
seems to mean that the babaku has again filled him from head to
foot and then left him. 2

After it has been recognized which alledjenu is concerned, the
adjingi rubs the patient with medicine and the sitting continues
day and night for seven days to the sound of the violin and the
beating of the calabash.

Three days later the patient is carried into the bush and washed.

Then the babaku who possessed that man or woman departs. 3

That we are dealing here, as Frobenius thinks, with " a
sort of epileptic state," does not appeal to me as probable,
and these fits from the way in which they come on and dis-
appear rather produce the impression of depending on external
suggestive conditions. This is in perfect agreement with
what Frobenius relates of the solemn sacrifice which takes
place three days after the expulsion of the babaku; on this
occasion sundry onlookers fall into similar states which,
however, seem to disappear promptly of their own accord.

Three days later comes the sacrifice of a white ram. ... It is
killed, cooked and eaten, and after this repast there occur great
dances and protracted rejoicings, during the course of which the
second essential part of the cult is accomplished, when very often
one of the farifarus suddenly inspires one after another of the
onlookers. They start to execute violent leaps, pirouette in the
air, and suddenly drop to the ground on their back. It is this part
of the ceremony which is sometimes turned into an amusement
by the Bori people ; the sacred dances degenerate into triviality. . . .
As a matter of fact, this dance is all that the people show to
strangers. But the essential part of inspiration by the farifarus
(white spirits), greatly desired by the people of Bori, resides in the
prophetic spirit which takes possession of the dancers. 4

A fact showing yet more clearly the autosuggestive
character of these states is that they occur when the people
of Bori indulge in the forbidden use of beer.

1 Ibid., pp. 252-254. 2 Ibid., p. 254.

8 Ibid., pp. 254 sq. 4 Ibid., p. 255.

136 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The people of Bori and Asama drink no beer. When a follower
of Bori ttikes beer, the ailed jenu swoops down upon him like the
wind. His eyes are filled with darkness. Then the alledjenu has
seized him ; the man falls as if dead. 1

For his restoration to health a ceremony similar to that
described is carried out. The possibility that some of these
states may be of a true epileptic character is naturally not
excluded; it is to be presumed that epileptic fits originally
served as a model for the autosuggestivc states and that the
latter are an imitation of them. However that may be, it is
untrue to say that nothing except epileptic fits occurs.

Entirely analogous to the C. St. case of Eschenmayer
already cited are the declarations that " each spirit is like a
wind, is itself a wind," and that " when someone is overthrown
by a spirit of Bori in a storm of wind, he at first lies as if
dead." 2 This means that a gust of wind, supposedly animated,
may determine the fit in a predisposed person, in the same
way that Eschenmayer's patient believed her possession to
have been occasioned by a gust blowing over her.

Here is a case slightly more detailed. It comes from
Abyssinia and is reported by Waldmeier of the Bale Missionary
Society, who writes:

It often happens in Abyssinia that people seem possessed by an
evil Spirit. The Abysshiians eall it Boudah. I witnessed these
wonderful and dark occurrences many times, but will relate one
only and even in this ease I must not describe the most horrible
and disgusting details. One evening when I was in my house at
Gaff at, a woman began to cry out fearfully and run up and down
the. road on her hands and feet like a wild beast, quite unconscious
of what she was doing. The people said to me: *' This is the Bou-
dah ; and if it is not driven out of her, she will die." A large number
of people gathered round her, and many means were tried, but all
in vain. She was always howling and roaring in an unnatural and
most powerful voice. At length a man was called, a blacksmith
by profession, of whom it was said that he was in secret connection
with the evil spirit. He called the woman, who obeyed him at
once. He took her hand in his and dropped the juice of the white
onion or garlic into her nose, and said to her or rather to the evil
spirit which possessed her :

44 Why didst thou possess this poor woman ?" " Because I
was allowed to do so." " What is thy name V" " My name is
Gebroo." " Where is thy country ?" " My country is Godjam."
41 How many people didst thou take possession of ?" " I took
possession of forty people, men and women." " Now I command
thce to leave this woman." " I will leave her on one condition."
" What is that condition ?" " I want to eat the flesh of a donkey."
44 Very well," said the man, " thou mayst have that."

Ibid., p. 256. 2 Ibid., p. 257.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 1B7

So a donkey was brought which had a wounded back from
carrying heavy loads, and its back was quite sore and full of matter.
The woman then ran upon the donkey and bit the flesh out of the
poor creature's back; and though the donkey kicked and ran off,
she die! not fall down, but clung to it just as if she was nailed on the
animal's back. The man called the woman back to him, and said
to the evil spirit: "Now art thou satisfied?" "Not yet," was
the reply, and a disgusting mixture was asked for, which was
prepared for the woman and put down in a secret place which she
could not see; but when the man said to her, " Go and look for your
drink," she ran on all fours like an animal to that very place and
drank the whole potful to the very last drop. Then she came
back to the man, who said again : u Now take up this stone."
It was a very large stone which she would not have been able to
move in her natural condition, but she took it up with ease upon
her head, and turned round like a wheel until the stone flew off on
one side and she on the other on the ground. The man then said:
" Take her now away to bed, for the Houdah has left her." The
poor woman slept for about ten hours, and awoke and went to her
work, and did not know anything of that which had passed over
her, nor what she did and said. 1

From East Africa Dannholz reports the following:

Deceitful spirits give the mpcpo sickness, which seems to be
a sort of possession. This malady particularly affects women, and
is considered as a noble and distinguished "affliction. Hysteria
perhaps plays some part in it, although various phenomena arc not
capable of explanation by hysteria. Many persons affected speak
in a strange voice, the women in a deep bass or in a foreign tongue,
Swahcli or English, although they neither understand nor speak
it. After the arrival of the " spirit " who operates in the sick
person, the people speak of mpcpo }/a mzuka, possession by the
vampire, ya-ijciti, by a kind of spirit related to the mzuka, ya
A/*Mtf/*r///by the male of the Swaheli, ya Mringa, by the Masai,
ya Mktnnba, by the male of the Kamba, tjti Mzungu* by the Euro-
peans, and also t/a nkoma t generally by tlie spirit of a dead person.
Abnormal eagerness for food, pepper, and other strong condiments
as well as for bright, gaily-coloured clothing and other showy
things characterizes possession. On request the " spirit " some-
times relates the story of his life, boasts of his crimes, indulges in
the most filthy language, and suddenly the possessed is seized by a
lit of rage punctuated by convulsions. To the rhythm of the
nipcpo drum she dances 'in a ^yild and terrifying manner until
completely exhausted, after which she feels a temporary relief.
The mahidy breaks out in epidemic form, descends upon whole
regions, and even spreads from the coast into the interior. It was
not known in former times, but seems to have made a recent appear-
ance in East Africa. It has been observed that Christian natives
are not subject to it, and in Mbagu various persons sick of the
mpepo have been cured by the words of our Christians, by prayer
and a sober train of life. The heathen never offer victims to the
deceitful spirits, but rather drive them out of the sick by exorcism,
although the use of sacrifice is beginning to be rumoured. 2

1 The Autobiography of Thcophilus Waldmeier, London, 188G, p. 64.

2 J. J. Dannholz, Im Banne des (Jetsterglaubens, Ziige des animis-
tischen Ileidentums bei den Wasu, in der deutschen Ost Afrika. Leipzig,
1010, p. 23.

188 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Part of this description might well have been taken from
the account of no matter what case of possession in Central
Europe, so completely do the states correspond. The remark
that possession in East Africa comes on in epidemic form
is interesting. Given the great suggestibility of primitive
peoples, spiritual epidemics must generally be frequent
amongst them, but unfortunately we possess up to the present
very few accounts.

Here is, however, a note on the suggestive effect of
possession in Madagascar:

In Madagascar the saccare were evil demons by whom men
and women were possessed. Flacourt reports: "They appear
in the form of a fiery dragon and torment men for ten to fifteen
days. When that occurs a sword is put into their hand and they
take to dancing arid leaping with strange and unrestrained move-
ments. The men and women of the village surround the possessed
nian or woman and dance with him, making the same movements
in order, so they say, to relieve the sick person. Often there are
in the crowd possessed persons who arc seized by the diabolic
spirit, and this sometimes happens to a great number." 1

It may be assumed without further ado that these " pos-
sessed " were not so previously but became so while accom-
panying the sick person.

We are particularly well informed as to the states of
possession observable amongst the Ba-Ronga (near Dclagoa
Bay) in South-East Africa, who are amongst the most
carefully studied of the African tribes. We arc indebted to
the missionary Henri A. Junod 2 for a thorough general
investigation of their manners and customs.

Amongst the Ba-Ronga possessing spirits are never those
of the tribal ancestors, but of those of the Zulus or the
Ba-Ndjao.

It seems that states of possession first appeared amongst the
Zulus; perhaps they coincided with the always sensational de-
parture of the young men who went to work in the diamond mines

1 A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, vol. ii, p. 559. Fla-
court's work, Histoire de la grande tie de Madagascar, has not been
accessible to me.

2 Junod first published the result of his enquiries in book x (1808)
of the Bulletin de la Societt Neuchdteloise de Geographic, then in a book
published in 1898 at Neufchatel under the title: Les Ba-Ronga, Mude
ethnographique ttur les indigenes de la baie de Delagoa. An augmented
edition of this work appeared in English : The Life of a South African
Tribe, 2 vols., Neufchatel, 1913. To this we must add the memoir
on a case of possession of great importance to us, Galagala, which
appeared in the Swiss periodical Bibliothcque universelle, in June, 1896.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 189

of Kimberley or the gold mines of Johannesburg or Natal, and
who travelled through the regions inhabited by the Zulus. 1

It seems that these Ba-Honga travellers were quite often pos-
sessed by Zulu spirits. 2

Possession by the Ndjao seems to be more malignant than by
the Zulus. The possessed may be recognized by a string of beads
which they wear on the head or around it. 3

This disease has spread enormously amongst the Thonga (the
group of peoples in South-East Africa to which the Ba-Ronga
belong) in the last thirty years. It is said to have been very rare,
even unknown, previously; since then it has become quite an
epidemic, although it is actually rather on the decrease. Possession
is more frequent amongst the Ba-Ronga than in the Northern clans. 4

Junod describes possession as falling like a bolt from the
blue on to the victims :

I have carefully studied the history of many cases of possession
amongst the Ba-Ronga (see Bulletin dc la 'SociM Neuchdteloise
dc Geographie, tome x, p. :i88). Most of them have begun by a
distinct crisis, in which the patient was unconscious, but which
docs not seem to have been brought about by any previous nervous
trouble. 6

I will now give full details of the case of Mboza, who was himself
possessed at one time, and later on became a regular exorcist.
After having worked in Kimberley for some time, he returned home
in good health. But soon afterwards, he was lame for six months,
lie attributed his difficulty in walking to rheumatism (shifambo).
There was some improvement in his condition, but he began to feel
other symptoms: he lost his appetite and almost completely
censed to eat. Here is his testimony: "One day, having gone
with another young man to gather juncus, in order to manufacture
a mat, the psikwemlm started at once in me " (ndji sunguleka hi
psikwembu psikaiiwe). I came back home, trembling in all my
limbs. I entered the hut; but suddenly I arose to my feet and
began to attack the people of the village; then I ran away, followed
by my friends, who seized me and at once the spirits were scattered
(hangalaka). When conscious again, I was told I had hurt a
Khchla (a man with the wax crown, i, p. 129), and had struck other
people on the back: "He!" said they, "he has the gods" (or
he is sick from the gods, a ni psikwembu). 8

The decision as to whether possession really exists in so
doubtful a case depends in the last resort not at all upon the
symptoms presented by the suspected person but upon a
kind of game of dice. Suspicious symptoms are specially
persistent pain in the side and particularly loud and irre-
pressible hiccupings. The diagnosis is almost sure as soon
as an apparently groundless aversion is manifested. But
when the various bones which are thrown into the air as dice

1 Junod, Les Ba-Ronga, p. 440. 2 Ibid., p. 440.

8 Ibid., p. 441. * Junod, TheLife . . ., vol. ii, p. 436.

* Ibid., pp. 437 sq. 6 Ibid., p. 438.

140 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

arrange themselves in a certain way, the suspicions are
considered as verified or else as unfounded. In the first case
the name of the exorcist is chosen from those available (they
are called gobeld) by means of the dice. These arc even used
to fix the order of the exorcist's operations and the remedy to
be applied. 1

" In former times, the only remedy was waving a large
palmleaf (milala) in front of the patient. This was deemed
sufficient to ' scatter the spirits.' Now the treatment is
much more complicated." 2 In the first place a medicine, the
composition of which does not here concern us, is adminis-
tered to the patient. After he has taken it, he must spit to
the four quarters of the wind, pronouncing the sacred syllable
tson, which has the power of moving spirits and begging life
from them. Then a prayer is addressed to the gods.

To this very peaceful first part of the exorcism is added
a veritable witches' sabbath with tambourines, conducted
according to the results of a new casting of the dice.

In the hut, right in the centre, sits the patient. Melancholy,
with downcast eyes and fixed glance ; he is waiting. . . . Kvcryonc
in the district knows that to-day, this evening, when the new
moon appears, the strange and terrible conjuration will take place.
All who have ever been possessed are present. The master of the
proceedings, the "' gobela," whom the hones have designated,
holds in his hands his tambourine, the skin of one of the great
monitor lizards common among the hills, stretched on a circular
wooden framework. In the beautifully calm evening air and as if
to contrast hideously with the sun sinking in purple glory, the
first tap resounds. It radiates, stretches on every side, travels
through the thickets to the surrounding villages, and then there
is sensation, an outburst of joy, made up of curiosity, malice, I
know not what unconscious satisfaction. E\cryone hastens up at
this well-known sound, all hurry towards the hut of the possessed,
and all desire to take part in this struggle, this struggle against the
invisible world. Several persons are gathered there, some with
their tambourines, some with great zinc drums picked up in the
vicinity of the town . . . others with calabashes filled with small
objects which are shaken and make a noise like rattles . . . and
now, crowding round the patient, they begin to beat, brandish,
and shake as violently as possible these various instruments of
torture. Some graze the head and ears of the unhappy man.
There is a frightful din which lasts through the night, with short
interruptions, and until the performers in this fantastic concert are
overcome by fatigue.

But this is only the orchestra, the accompaniment to which
must be added, and it is of the greatest importance, singing, the

1 Junod, Les lia-Ronga, pp. 441 sq.

2 Junod, Ttie Life, etc., vol. ii, p. 439.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 141

human voice, the chorus of exorcists, a short refrain following a
yet shorter solo, but which is repeated a hundred, nay a thousand
times, always to the same end for which all work seriously and
doggedly: that of forcing this spiritual being, this mysterious spirit
which is present, to reveal himself, to make known his name . . .
after which his evil influence will be exorcised. These chants are
at once naif and poetic. They are addressed to the spirit, extolling
him, seeking to flatter him, to win him over, in order to gain from
him the signal favour of giving himself up. Here is the first of
those which 1 heard . . . one day when I was travelling and when,
hearing a tremendous din behind the bushes, I jumped out of my
waggon and fell into the very midst of a scene of exorcism :

Chibeiidjana ! u vukcla bantu !
(Rhinoceros, thou attackest men !)

vociferated the singers around a poor woman who seemed lost
in I know not what unconscious dream. My arrival hardly abated
this infernal racket, notwithstanding llie fact that the appearance
of a white is generally an event in the villages of this district.

When hours pass by without any visible effect being produced
on the patient, the refrain is changed. The night is perhaps far
spent, the dawn is approaching.

Come forth, spirit, or weep for thyself until the dawning.

Why then arc we evilly intreated ?

Or else by way of further emphasis, they go so far as to threaten
the spirit that they will go away for good if he does not deign to
accede to the objurgations of these delirious drummers:

Let us go away, bird of the chiefs ! Let us go away.
(Since you frown upon us).

The melodies of these exorcists' incantations arc of a particularly
urgent, incisive, mid penetrating character.

This insistence is rewarded, the patient begins to give signs of
assent. This menus that the ifc Chikoiicmbo " is preparing to
" come out." The onlookers encourage him:

Greeting, spirit ! Come forth gently by very straight ways. . . .

That is to say : do not hurt the possessed, spare him ! Overcome
at length by this noisy concert the possessed is worked up into
a state of nervous tension. As a result of this prolonged suggestion,
a lit, the hypnotic* character of which is very evident, commences.
He rises, and begins to dance frantically in the hut. The din
redoubles. The spirit is begged to consent at last to speak his
name. He cries a name, a Zulu name, that of a dead former chief
such as Maiioukoci or Mozila, the ancestors of Gouiigouiiyane ;
sometimes, strangely enough, he utters the name of Goungounyunc
himself, although he is still alive . . no doubt because the great
Zulu chief is regarded as invested with divine power. A woman
formerly possessed told me that she enunciated the word Pitlikezit,
and it transpires that this Pithkeza was a sort of Zulu bard who
had wandered about the Delagoa country when she was still a girl.
She was convinced that the soul of this individual had embodied
itself in her, several decades after his passage through the district. 1

In the case of Mboza the patient was covered with a large piece
of calico during all the drum performance. A first medicinal

1 Junod, Les Ba-Ronga 9 pp. 448-447.

142 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

pellet was burnt under the calico, in a broken pot full of embers,
a male pellet (made with the fat of an ox or a he-goat) ; no result
having been obtained, a second pellet, a female one made from fat
of a she-goat, was introduced. Nwatshulu prayed the gods. . . .
When the second pellet was nearly all burnt, Mboza began
to tremble; the women sang with louder voices. The gobela
shouted amidst the uproar : " Come out, Ngoni 1" Then he
ordered the singers to keep quiet, entered under the veil and said :
" You who dance there, who are you ? A Zulu ? A Ndjao ?
Are you a hyena ?" The patient nodded his head and answered :
tk No I" " Then you are a Zulu ?" " Yes, I am. . . ." And,
during a pause, he said: " I am Mboza." Mboza was a Konga
who died in Kimberley many years ago. The uproar was resumed
and the third pellet was introduced. This is the "pellet par
excellence" neither male nor female, the one which is expected to
have the strongest effect. Mboza suddenly rose, threw himself
on the assistants, beat them on the head, scattered them all right
and left, and ran out of the hut feeling as if the spirits were beating
him ! " Everyone saw that day that I had terrible spirits in
me." In the crisis of madness the patient sometimes throws
himself into the lire and feels no hurt, or falls in catalepsy (a womile,
lit., becomes dry), and strikes his head against wood, or the ground,
without feeling pain. 1

But let us finish the description of the possessed man's fit. He
dances, leaps wildly. Sometimes lie flings himself into the fire
and feels nothing, or else ends by falling rigid as if in catalepsy . . .
his head striking against a block of wood or the earth, but he
appears to feel no pain.

The concerted drumming may last for four days, a week, two
weeks. I know a woman (who lias now become a Christian under
the name of Monika) who had to endure it for seven days. Every-
thing depends on the nervous condition of the patient and the
exhaustion produced in him by fast and suffering.

When the spirit has declared his name and title he is henceforth
known and they may begin to question him. Spoon, the diviucr,
whose wife has been twice possessed, by the Zulus and the Ba-
Ndjao, told me about one of these confabulations. He was in a
neighbouring village when suddenly messengers came to fetch him
urgently saying: " Your wife, who was present at a witch-dance
in such a place has been seized with the madness of the gods."
He went to the place in all haste and saw that she was in fact
out of her senses and was dancing like one possessed. He had
never previously had any idea that she was possessed by a spirit.
This spirit began to speak when she grew a little calmer, and replied
to questions put to him: " 1 have entered into this ttgodo, that
is this body, this vessel, in such and such a way."

" The husband had gone to work in the gold mines. I attached
myself to him in a certain place when he was seated on a stone, and
when he had returned to the house I forsook him to enter into his
wife." " Arc you alone, spirit V" is often asked. ** No, I am there
with my son and grandson," he will perhaps reply, or else if it is
suspected that there are indeed several spirits with him those
present continue to beat the drum to drive out the whole host.
Sometimes the possessed pronounces as many as ten names.

During this confabulation the spirit, speaking by the mouth of the

1 Junod, The Life of a South African Tribe, vol. ii, p. 448.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 148

sick man but remaining perfectly distinct from him, sometimes
demands presents and there is one in particular which must be
offered in order to satisfy and dismiss him. . . . Blood, blood in
abundance is in fact necessary to effect the cure of the sick man
and induce the noxious indweller to cease from harm.

Generally a she-goat is fetched if the sick person is a man, a
he-goat if it is a woman. The exorcist who has presided over
the whole cure returns and causes the onlookers to repeat the song
which brought on the first fit. The possessed begins to grow
excited and present the symptoms of raving madness which we
have already described. Then the animal is stabbed in the side
and he flings himself upon the wound, sucks, greedily swallows
the flowing blood, and frantically fills his stomach with it. When
he has drunk his fill the beast must be taken away by force.
He must be given certain medicines (amongst others one called
ntchatche which seems to be an emetic) and goes away behind the
hut to vomit up all the blood which he has drunk. By this means,
no doubt, the spirit or spirits have been satisfied and duly expelled. 1

The patient is then smeared with ochre. The animal's biliary
duet is fastened into his hair, and he is bedecked with thongs
made from the skin of the goat which has been cut up. These
various ceremonies must symbolize the happiness and good fortune
which the bloody sacrifice has scoured for the sick man. All the
drum-beaters, who arc persons formerly possessed, arm themselves
with these thongs also, crossing them over the chest in the ordinary
way. 2

Does this mean that everything is now over ? So violent a
nervous attack, so complicated a scries of disturbing ceremonies
leave behind them a state of commotion and shock from which
the possessed docs not immediately recover. It appears that
from time to time, in the evening, the bangoma, those who have
passed through this initiation, are again seized with the charac-
teristic madness and even sometimes strike their neighbours with
the little axe which the Ba-Ronga use in their dances. By day
they are in their right senses. This is not all; the fact that they
have been in a special relationship with the spirits, the gods, confers
upon them prestige and particular duties. They have themselves
become gobela and may henceforth take part in the exorcism of the
sick. They will perhaps earn money with their famous drums:
this is why these ceremonies are in some sort an initiation; this
is also why certain individuals are not sorry to be possessed and
readily submit to the torture of the witches' sabbath. . . 3

This narrative is confirmed in an interesting manner by
the communications of the missionary A. Le Roy. This
distinguished investigator has given an excellent general
account of the religions of the Bantu races which people the
greater part of South Africa, the Kameroons, the Congo, and
from Lake Victoria Nyanza to the Cape. Le Roy is led by his
subject to mention the important part played by possession,
although he resigns himself to admitting in conclusion that a
thorough study has not yet been possible and will be no more

1 Junod, Les Ba-Ronga, pp. 446 sq.

2 Ibid., p. 448. 3 Ibid., p. 448.

144 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

so in the future. What he is able to report agrees fully with
the observations of Junod.

Another very frequent manifestation of the spirit world is
possession. Sometimes the possessing spirit is of human origin,
but more often is one of those perverse and malign beings whose
origin is little known and who feel for man nothing but jealousy,
rancour and rage. The first thing to do in such a case is to call
in a specialist who will make the spirit speak and will know what
exorcist should be asked to deliver the sick man. The expert
arrives, he in turn asks the spirit who he is, why he has entered
there, what he wants, etc., then after these preliminaries have
been accomplished, steps are taken to satisfy him. Sometimes
he will say nothing, and the wizard must make up for this dumb-
ness; but more often he speaks and is obeyed. Finally afler tom-
toms, ritual dances and very long? and complicated ceremonies
they may last several days and nights a sacrifice, whatever one
is desired, is offered, the possessed drinks the blood of the victim,
the onlookers take part in the " Communion " and the spirit
departs . . . sometimes. If he remains, everything must begin
again, but I hen another wizard is called in.

What are we to think of these possessions ?

A number of them are easily explicable : they are cases which can
be cured by ordinary medicines, and the best of exorcisms, also
the least costly, is then a strong purge. . . .

But there are others where the most sceptical mind must admit
to being puzzled when, for example, the possessed woman
for they arc very often women disappears by night from the
dwelling and is found on the following morning at the top of a high
tree, tied to a branch by line lianas. After a sacrifice has been
offered and the lianas which held her have become loosened she
glides like a snake down the trunk, hangs for several moments
suspended above the ground; when she speaks ilueiitly a language
of which she previously knew not a single word, etc.

And the natives report many other marvels, which they profess
to have witnessed.

It would be very interesting to verify, with all possible strictness,
these facts and many others; unhappily all this is hidden with the
greatest care from the eves of the European and even if the latter
can penetrate to a ceremony of this kind the natives will either
tear him in pieces rather than allow him to look on or will break
it off and disperse. 1

Animal possession also exists iu Africa. Bastian relates,
quoting 1). and Cli. Livingstone, that in South Africa it is
believed that many men can transform themselves temporarily
into lions. These men from time to time leave their homes
and wander about filled with the delusion that they are
changed into lions. 2

1 A. Le Roy, La Religion des primitijs, 2nd ed., Paris, 1911,
p. 347.

2 Otto Stoll, Suggestion und Ilypnotismus in der Vvlkerpsychologie,
2nd ed., Leipzig, 1904, p. 282 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 145

A. Werner also cites a case of animal possession from
Central Africa:

A number of murders had taken place near Chiromo in 1801
or 1892, and were ultimately traced to an old man who had been
in the habit of lurking in the long grass beside the path to the river,
till some person passed by alone, when he would leap out and stab
him, afterwards mutilating the body. lie admitted these crimes
himself.

lie could not help it (he said), as he had a strong feeling at times
that he was changed into a lion and was impelled as a lion to kill
and to mutilate. As according to our view of the law he was not
a sane person, he was sentenced to be detained " during the chief's
pleasure," and this " were-lion " has been most usefully employed
for years in perfect contentment keeping the roads of Chiromo
in good repair. 1

Such are the most important documents that I can furnish
at present on possession in Africa.

As regards the continent of Asia, the majority of the
available accounts relate to India, China and Japan. They
will be found below in the section relating to possession in the
higher civilizations. Nevertheless we shall also refer to them
here, for the psychic state of the lower strata of the population
amongst which possession generally manifests itself is not
essentially higher than that of the primitive world and scarcely
higher than that of the most backward European peoples
in the Middle Ages.

From the primitive zone proper we have information
from the Malay Archipelago in particular, especially con-
cerning the Bataks. In these islands transitory states of
possession are an everyday phenomenon from which the
Christian Bataks arc not immune.

The missionary Metzler reports from Silindung, at a time
when Christianity had already triumphed:

The heathen were celebrating a sacrifice on behalf of a young
man sick of a spirit. A Christian came forward as a medium and
confessed later to the missionary. lie had prayed with his wife
that God might protect him from the evil spirit; nevertheless he
had come into this village against his will and without his knowledge,
he had been possessed and was filled with the deepest shame when
he later came to himself. A Christian woman confessed that the

ing. The elder of the village and several notables were watching
her when the music began in a neighbouring village. The elder
said to her : " You are a Christian, the evil spirit no longer has any-
thing to do with you." When he had prayed the woman became

1 A. Werner, British Central Africa, London, 1906, pp. 87 and 171.

10

146 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

quiet, but after a while she fell back into the same state. Although
the men held her with all their might they could not in the end
resist her ; she escaped from them and dashed towards the heathen
village. Later she came to see the missionary, confessed her sins
with tears and was ashamed to be seen in public. " How could
I have abandoned my little children all alone in the middle of the
night if I had been in my senses ? I have also two brothers who
died a fortnight ago; I should not therefore have gone to such a
place if I had known in the least what I was doing." Another
woman declared in the same circumstances that she did not know
how she had come into the village and that she was terribly
ashamed afterwards. The two women are, moreover, zealous
in the practice of religion. 1

A recipient of baptism at Si Morangkir (Silindung) had previ-
ously been a medium and the spirits wished to reclaim her. During
a sickness she sprang suddenly from her couch, began to dance in
the house like one possessed, and said to her relations that they
must bring him (that is, the spirit) yet another victim formerly
promised, failing which she would give them no peace. When she
had come to herself she asserted and strenuously maintained that
she did not know what had occurred. 2

Owing to the facility with which possession occurs amongst
the Bataks they show still less clear difference between
spontaneous and provoked states than is seen amongst other
primitive peoples. In the narratives which we owe to bap-
tized natives the fact is so obvious that they would have to be
completely dismembered by anyone desiring to separate the
two kinds of origin. For this reason I prefer to return to
these documents again later.

1 Proceedings of the llheinische Mission, 1886, pp. 80 sq.

2 Ibid., p. 78.

CHAPTER VI

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION IN THE HIGHER
CIVILIZATIONS

(i.) IN THE PAST

FROM primitive peoples we shall now pass to civilized ones
in order to make a rapid survey of the extent to which
possession is prevalent amongst them.

In the civilizations of antiquity, the country best known
for faith in spirits and demons is the region of the Euphrates
and Tigris- Delitzsch even asserts that " the Catholic
doctrines founded on the New Testament belief in demons
and devils, concerning bewitched, obsessed and possessed persons
whom the priest alone can cure because he has the devil in
his power (whence so many ecclesiastical customs, such as the
nailing of written exorcisms over the doors and windows of
houses, etc.), have their complete parallel in Babylonian
magic." 1

To the Babylonians and Assyrians alike the real world
appeared filled with demons. Anyone reading or even merely
glancing through the thick volumes published up to the present
containing texts of conjurations of all sorts which have come
down to us, written for the most part in cuneiform characters
on clay tablets, gathers a depressing and even terrible impres-
sion of the world in which according to their own belief these
peoples lived. At every corner evil spirits were on the
watch, and in addition to this menace there was danger from
the spells of numerous witches, in whom everyone believed
implicitly. To these men the world must have appeared
gloomy, full of calamities, as strange as the reconstructions
of their curious buildings appear to us. The exorcisms are
so numerous that they constitute the major part of cuneiform
religious inscriptions; and they must certainly date back

J . Delitzsch, Mehr Licht, Leipzig, 1907, p. 61, note 23.
147

148 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

beyond the purely Babylonian tradition to the Sumerians.
At the time of the Babylonian captivity these demonological
beliefs passed into Judaism and thence to Christianity, where
they had a fresh and terrible blossoming in the European
Middle Ages.

Delitzsch is therefore not wide of the mark in describing
Mesopotamia as the cradle of the sinister belief in demons.
It is true in so far as European belief is concerned and may
be considered as demonstrated by literary remains and
written documents, the same holding good of the Christian
belief in angels. It must be recognized that already
before the introduction of Christianity demonological ideas
existed in Europe, but their formidable development in
the Middle Ages is due to the influence of the primitive
East. 1

In Mesopotamia as in primitive societies, all forms of
sickness including psychic ones were considered as the work of
evil spirits, a sort of possession. To combat them innumer-
able formulae of conjuration were used and have come down
to us. Unfortunately to the best of my knowledge no texts
containing information as to possession in Babylon have yet
come to light. Up to the present they have all been con-
cerned with the exorcism of sickness and not of possession in
our sense of the word.

It therefore seems to me that Delitzsch, in the italicized
words of the above quotation, goes a little too far. In the
sources which he kindly indicated to me on a personal
request, I have been unable to discover documents adequate
to support him. 2 The collected works of Jastrow and
Jeremias on Babylonian religion and civilization 3 contain
just as little. At the utmost it may be possible to read
as a state of possession the following passage, which

1 Ibid., p. 40.

2 R. Campbell Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia,
2 yols., London, 1903-1904 (Luzac's Semitic Text and Translation,
series xiv and xv). H. Zimmern, Beitrage zur Kentniss der babylon-
ischen Religion, Leipzig, 1901 (Assyriologischc Bibliothek, edited by
F. Delitzsch and P. Haupt, xii). Knut L. Tallqvist, Die assyrische
Beschworungsserie Maqlu, from the originals in the British Museum.
In Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fenniccc, xx, Helsingfors, 1895.

3 Morris Jastrow, Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, 4 vols.,
Giessen, 1905-12. Alfred Jeremias, Handbuch der orientalischen Geistes-
kultur, Leipzig, 1913.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 149

is Thompson's English version of a Babylonian cuneiform
inscription:

... in the desert . . . they spare not,

. . . the ghoul after the man hath sprinkled

Spreading heart disease, heartache,

Sickness (and) disease over the city of the man

Scorching the wanderer like the day,

And filling him with bitterness;

Like a flood they are gathered together

(Until) this man revolteth against himself

No food ran lie eat, no water can he drink,

But with woe each day is he sated. 1

The interpretation of this picture as a state analogous to
possession is evidently very hazardous; and it would certainly
be no more than analogous. For the present, therefore, I can
give no document of any value on possession in the region of
the Euphrates and Tigris. On the other hand an Egyptian
inscription gives us indirect proof, at least so far as Syria is
concerned, that possession existed there.

In a temple at Thebes in Egypt has been found an inscrip-
tion in the form of a short story in which a Syrian princess is
represented as possessed by an evil soul. 2 It runs thus :

His Majesty (the King of Kgypt) was in Mesopotamia engaged
in receiving the year's tributes ; the princes of the whole earth came
to prostrate themselves in his presence and implore his favour.
The people began to present their tributes : their backs were loaded
with gold, silver, lapis-lazuli, copper, tamiter wood. Each in turn
(offered his dues). When the chief of Bach tan caused his presents
to be brought he placed his eldest daughter in the forefront so as
to implore His Majesty and beg from him the favour (of life ?).
This woman was beautiful, she pleased the King above all things;
he gave her, as first royal wife, the name of Neferou Ra (beauty of
the sun), and on his return to Egypt he caused her to accomplish
all the rites of the queens.

In the year 15, on the 22nd day of the month of Epiphi, while
His Majesty was in the building of Tama, the queen of temples,
engaged in chanting the praises of his father Ammon-Ra, master
of the thrones of the earth, in his noonday panegyris of the Ab, the
seat of his heart, it happened that for the lirst time they came to
tell the King that a messenger from the prince of Bachtan was
bringing rich presents to the royal spouse.

Led into the King's presence with his offerings he said, invoking
His Majesty: " Glory to thee, sun of all peoples ! Grant us life
in thy presence." Having thus pronounced his adoration before
His Majesty he went on to speak thus: "I have come to thee,
supreme King, oh my lord, for Bint-Reschid, the young sister of

1 Thompson, loc. dt. 9 vol. i, p. 117.

2 E. de Rouge, fitude (fane stile egyptienne in "Journal asiatique,"
5th series, vol. xii, 1858, pp. 258 sq.; and also (Euvrcs, tome xxiii, of
the Bibliotheque egyptologique, Paris, 1010, p. 2K2.

150 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

the queen Neferou-Ha ; an evil has entered into her substance ; let
Thy Majesty be pleased to send a man learned in science to examine
her."

The King then said : "Let the college of Hierogrammatists
be brought hither, the doctors of mysteries (of the interior of our
palace ?)." When they had come instantly, His Majesty said to
them: " I have had you summoned to hear what is asked of
me, choose me amongst you a man of wise heart (a master with
nimble lingers ?)." The basilicogrammatist Thothem-IIesi having
presented himself before the King received the order to set out
for Bachtan with the prince's emissary.

When the man knowing all things had arrived in the land of
Bachtan he found Bint-Reschid obsessed by a spirit ; but he recog-
nized himself (powerless to drive it out ?).

The prince of Bachtan sent a second time to the King to say to
him: "Supreme sovereign, oh my lord! If Thy Majesty would
order that a god should be brought (to the country of Bachtan to
combat this spirit ?)."

This new request came to the King in the year 20, in the lirst
of the month of i'achons, during the panegyris of Aintnon; His
Majesty was then in. the Tlicbaid. The King came back into the
presence of Chons, the god tranquil in his perfection, to say to him:
" My good lord, 1 return to implore thee on behalf of the daughter
of the prince of Bachtan." Then he caused Chons, the god tranquil
in his perfection, to be taken towards Chons, the counsellor of
Thebes, a great god driving out rebels.

His Majesty said to Chons, the god tranquil in his perfection:
" My good lord, if thou would'st turn thy face towards Chons, the
counsellor of Thebes, the great god driving out rebels, and send him
to the country of Bachtan by a signal favour."

Then His Majesty said: " Give him thy divine virtue, I will then
send this god that he may cure the daughter of the prince of
Bachtan."

By his most signal favour, Chons of Thebaid, the god tranquil
in his perfection, gave four times his divine virtue to Chons,
counsellor of Thebes. The King commanded that Chons, counsellor
of Thebes, should be sent in his great naos with five little baris
and a small chariot; numerous horsemen walked on his left and
on his right.

The god arrived in the country of Bachtan after a journey of a
year and five months. The prince of Bachtan came with his
soldiers and his chiefs to meet Chons the counsellor; having pros-
trated himself with his face to the ground, he said to him: " Thou
comest then to us, thou descendest amongst us by the orders of the
King of Egypt, the sun, the lord of justice, approved by the god
Ra."

Then came the god to the abode of Bint-Reschid ; having com-
municated his virtue to her, she was instantly relieved. The spirit
which dwelt within her said in the presence of Chons, the counsellor
of Thebes : " Be thou welcome, great god who drivest out rebels ;
the town of Bachtan is thine, the peoples are thy slaves, I myself
am thy slave. I will return to the gods from whence I came to
content thy heart on the matter of thy journey. Let Thy Majesty
be pleased to order that a feast be celebrated in my honour by the
prince of Bachtan."

The god deigned to say to his prophet: " The prince of Bachtan
must bring a rich offering to this spirit."

While these things were taking place and while Chons the coun-

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 151

seller of Thebes was conversing with the spirit, the prince of Bach-
tan remained with his army, seized with deep fear. He caused
rich presents to be offered to Chons, counsellor of Thebes, and also
to the spirit, and celebrated a feast in their honour; after which the
spirit departed peacefully where he would, at the order of Chons,
the counsellor 01 Thebes.

The prince was transported with joy, as were all the people of
Bach tan.

Then follows the description of the return of Chons to
Egypt.

The contents of this inscription show that possession
was a phenomenon well known in Syria as well as in Egypt.
Erman attributes the inscription to the fourth century B.C.
The legend itself is older. 1

According to Harnack the priests of Egypt were, more-
over, " celebrated exorcists from very remote times." 2

It is possible that several Egyptian papyri in which xdroxoi
are mentioned also offer proof of the existence of states
analogous to possession. The hypothesis formulated by
K. Sethe 3 that the word ica-ro^oi should not be taken to mean
" possessed " but that it was used purely and simply to denote
men who had not the right to leave the sanctuary of Serapis,
has been rejected by the other investigators. It even appears
to be demonstrated that the expressions Karons, ev Karoxf)
elvaij etc., denote a subjection to the temple and not a state
absolutely identical with possession in the usual sense of the
word. But on the other hand it does not indicate imprison-
ment properly so-called. This theory of Sethc is in conflict
with the sayings of the fcdroxot themselves, from which it
emerges that they were not kept in the sanctuary by any
external constraint. They might leave it at any moment;

1 Cf. also Ad. Erman, Die BctrescJistele, in Zschft. fur agyptische
Sprache und Altertumskundc, xxi (1888), pp. 54-00.

2 A. v. Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christenlums
in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, 3rd ed., Leipzig, 1915, vol. i, p. 138.

3 Kurt Sethe, Sarapis und die sogenannten Karoxoi des Sarupis :
Zwei Probleme der griechisch-agyptischen Heligionsgeschichte, in
Abhandlungen der Kgl. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen,
Phil.-histor. Klasse, Neue Folge, vol. xiv, 1913, No. 5. Sethe's work
has been answered by Wilcken in '" Archiv fur Papyrusforschung,"
vol. vi (1920), pp. 184-212: Zu den /faro^ot des Serapeunis (cf. partic.,

eber die Goiter, vol. i, Abhandlungen d'er Kgl. Preuss. Akad. der Wiss.,
1915, Phil.-hist. Kl., No. 7, p. 78, note 1.

152 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

what held them there was solely an inner compulsion from
the god who had taken possession of them. A psychic affection
due to the god must have arisen. 1 Unfortunately the evidence
as yet available does not permit a thorough study of its exact
nature. It has been thought that the /cdroxot were dis-
tinguished only by special dreams like those desired and
obtained by persons frequenting certain secret and con-
secrated parts of the temple. Wileken had already advanced
this explanation at an earlier date.

Abandoning the idea of imprisonment of the fcaroxpt, I see in
the /CUTOUT) an entirely inner relationship of a mystie kind between
Serapis and his worshipper. The god holds him, takes possession
of him (KaTt'^ei) so that he is a possessed of god. We cannot, however,
conceive of a lasting ecstasy, for the state often continued for several
years, but of a lasting subjection during which he was in close com-
munion with the divinity, receiving his commands, etc. Only the
god could liberate him (Aifeti/) after which he generally returned
to his own country, whereas formerly in the state of subjection
he had had no right to leave the precincts of the temple. The
means by which the god enters into communion with the /caro^os,
particularly in the act of taking possession (KOTO^I)), and that of
liberation (\vais) is manifested in a dream. 2

If this interpretation is correct, we find here a new con-
ception of possession: he who received dreams from a divinity
would be possessed. It nevertheless appears to me that the
cause of the compulsion which is implied in tcdroxos has not
as yet been considered. The above theory would entail
the supposition that the god had given in these dreams the
command to remain in the sanctuary.

There is also in Sethe a piece of evidence which may be
considered as a proof that states analogous to possession
existed in Egypt. He declares that certain constellations
give rise to disturbances in hearing and speech amongst men
born under their sign and that these men become possessed
in the temple, so that they prophesy and fall sick in mind. 3

In view of the passage from Vettius Valcns, also quoted
by Kroll, 4 it may be admitted as certain that with the ttr

1 This is, as I have lately observed, the opinion of W. Schubarth:
Kin Jahrtauscnd am Nil. Briefe aus dem Alter turn verdeutscht und
erkliirt, Berlin, 1912, p. 21.

2 L. Mitteis and Wileken, Grundzuge und Chrcstomathie der Papy-
ruskundc, Leipzig, 1912, vol. i, 2, p. 130 sq. Cf. Erwin Preuschcn,
Monchtum und Sarapiskult, 2nd edit., Gicssen, 1903.

3 Sethe, toe. cit., xiv (1913), pp. 09 sq.

4 Catalogus codicum astrologorum grwcorum, Brussels, 1904, vol. v,
2, p. 14C.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 153

there was question not merely of dreams, but seemingly of
possession in the true sense of the present work: eV tepok
KCLTO^OL ylyvowrai, aTrotfrOeyofjievoi, TJ Kal ry tiiavoia Tra/oaTrtTTTo^re?. 1

But what leads the fcdroxoi to the sanctuary ? On this
point Kroll gives a reply once more taken from Vcttius Valens :
eytcuToxpi ev ikpol? yiyvovrcu iradiov fj rjovv&v evttca.' 2 Misfortune
also brought men to the sanctuary (fjSovwv does not give the
exact sense. Kroll proposes au>wv instead. Might not the
correct reading perhaps be o&w>v ?).

As regards the further question of how the spiritual
subjection to the temple was effected, no sufficient explana-
tion has yet been offered. Nothing can be gathered from the
accounts of eye-witnesses except that the KUTOXOI felt them-
selves bound to the sanctuary until liberated by the god.
Concerning the nature of the bond and the way in which
liberation followed we are for the present reduced to con-
jecture.

That psychic fcarex^crffat, were often desired emerges from
a fragment of Philodemos to which Dicls has drawn attention
in his edition of the remains of that author's writings on the
gods. It is there stated in an Epicurean-rationalistic style:

Everything is lull to weariness of people who try to fall into ii
god-inspired fcfc temple sleep,"' lo rcreive the ecstasy of the holy
spirit, to dedicate their thankoffcriugs to I he nude statues, and lo
hold tambourines raised on high in their hands while visiting all the
available gods. 3

This passage also shows that the KaToyoi were not put
under restraint against their will. But on the other hand a
contradiction appears in the fact that they at least, some of
them longed for deliverance after having become /cdroxoi.
It must often enough have happened that they attained the
psychic state of fcaro^j more easily than the subsequent
deliverance therefrom. The thing obtained was a " deep
sleep " (teapoy) as well as a true state of possession.

Sudhoff interprets the documents in question thus:

To be possessed by the god, that is the Karo^i}. When he
experiences this feeling of possession the Kdroxos goes to the temple
to be delivered from his malady or from some other affliction.

1 Vettius Valens, Anthologiarum libri, ed. G. Kroll, Berlin, 1008,
lib. ii, cap. xvi, p. 73 and also pp. 21 sq.

2 Ibid., lib. ii, cap. vii, pp. 03 and 29 sq. Catalogus, v, 2, p. 146.

3 II. Diels, Zu Philodemos . . ., loc. cit., p. 78. The Greek as restored
by Diels is doubtful in places.

154 . THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

lie sleeps in the temple and either is directly delivered from the
demon of sickness or else receives in sleep the indication of what
he must do in order to be cured. 1

Thus according to Sudhoff the KCLTO^} already existed
before entry into the temple and was not produced afterwards.

It is to be hoped that future discoveries of papyri will
shed that elear light which is still wanting, as much through
lack of documents as through the ambiguity of the word
KdTt'xeaGai which is discussed by Sethe. He also gives a
number of documents which may allude to similar KaToyoi in
other temples.

A deeper insight into the psychological states of many of
these " temple-dreamers " is moreover given by the tepol
\6yot of -Sllius Aristides. 2 Nothing is to be found on the
word /fttTo%o? there is,moreover, an interval of three centuries
between them and this author; the papyri in question belong
to the middle of the second century B.C., while Aristides lived
in the second century A.D.

The theologian Sender has already collected from classical
antiquity a very large number of testimonies concerning
possession, for the purpose of showing its diffusion amongst
Christians and non-Christians. 3 More recently Julius Tam-
borino has again collected systematically the documents of
Christian and non-Christian antiquity. 4 His collection is in
many ways much wider in scope than that of Semler, but
nevertheless fails to contain all the passages which the latter
has gathered together.

1 Mitteis and Wilcken, loc. /., p. 222.

2 It is regrettable that this author has not yet been translated
into German (nor English TRANS.), as he is considered the most difficult
of the Greek writers. In the Upol Aoyot his language is sometimes so
difficult that it would remain incomprehensible in places except to

Shilologists, were it not for the existence of an old Latin translation
y G. Cantor. It appeared at Bale in 1500 without the Greek text and
has been re-edited with the Greek by Jebb at Oxford in 1722-30. The
whole of this author's writings are of such importance to the history
of religion in his time that a translation should be made with all speed.
For Aristides, cf. F. G. Welcker, Kleine Schriften, 3rd part, Bonn, 1850,
pp. 89-150; G. Misch, Geschichte der Autobiographic, vol. i, Leipzig,
1907, pp. 302 sq. Herm. Baumgart, Aelius Aristides, Leipzig, 1874.

3 Cominentatio de dwmoniacis quorum in novo testamento fit rncntio,
editio quarto multo iam auctior, liaise, 1777. This is supplemented
by his: Umstandliche Untersuchung der damonischen Leute oder sogen-
annten Bescssenen, nebst Bcanlwortung cinigcr AngrilTc, Halle, 1702,
pp. 41 sq.

4 J)e antiquorum dcemonismo, Gicsscn, 1909, lleligionsgeschichtliche
Versuche und Vorarbeiten, vol. vii, 3.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 155

The contrast between the pre-Christian and Christian
eras is striking enough, according to the documents adduced
by Tamborino. Judging by the number of pages, the differ-
ence is not great; the whole bulk of documents relating to
the non-Christian epoch occupies twenty-four pages, while
those of the Christian period occupy twenty-eight. But on
closer inspection it appears that for the first part all the
possible quotations relating in a general way to states of
enthusiasm have been collected, even the briefest references
in detached phrases, while the second admits only real states
of possession and veritable descriptions. In addition the
Christian testimonies are not even complete, as may be
convincingly shown by a simple comparison with the index-
volume of the Bibliothek der Kirchenv&ter, and in order to
make the second part correspond to the first its scope would
have to be extended, and all evidence relating to states con-
sidered as inspired by the Holy Ghost included. The space
occupied by the testimonies of the Christian era would then
be infinitely the greater. This contrast between the two
groups of evidence can scarcely be explained, except by
admitting that possession has played a much more important
part during the Christian era than in earlier times.

As regards Greek civilization, the Homeric period as well
as the classical period proper are strikingly empty of these
demoniacal manifestations. This is in keeping with their
conception of life, so lacking in mists and half-lights that
even now in moments of depression we go to the Homeric
poems for brightness and joy of living.

Neither the possessed person nor the idea of possession
plays any part in Homer. Nevertheless, Finsler thinks he
sees a glimmering of this idea in many places :

The true sense of the word (8u/*a>i>) has persisted unchanged in
the adjective Saipovtos. It designates someone of whom a
demon has taken possession, a possessed person. This meaning
is everywhere evident, whether Zeus, in his terrible speech, calls
Hera '* mad- woman " or whether Hector consoling the weeping
Andromache calls her " little fool." 1

Even granted that this be so, the belief in possession rings
no truer than when we say that someone is " possessed by

1 Georg Finsler, Homer, 1st part: Der Dichter und seine Welt, '2nd
edit., Leipzig, 1 01 4, p. 270. The passages referred to are from the Iliad,
iv, 31 and vi, 486.

156 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

the gambling fiend." Under Homer's sun the daylight is too
splendidly bright for a serious belief of this nature.

In the same way the seers of Homer, whether men or
women, are not possessed; they know the future, they have
visions, they may fall into great agitation of mind, but their
ego always remains human; no divine person speaks by their
mouth. The oracle of Delphi is only mentioned once. The
idea of possession is really demonstrable in the poet himself:
it is not he who sings, but the muse within him: Mfjnv ae/Se,
ffed "AvSpa fjiot evveire, fMova-a. Frankly speaking, this idea
seems more conventional than real.

In later times a great change appears to have taken place
in the Greek conception of the world. The historically obscure
centuries between the Homeric and classical periods seern
to have been filled to an extraordinary degree with belief in
the invasion of the real, and even of the human soul, by the
transcendental. But then, no more than later, did it tend
to weigh heavily on life. Belief in the immanence of the
divine occupied a far more prominent place than the corre-
sponding belief in the diabolic. In the mysteries, oracles, and
also the Dionysiac cult it was everywhere the divine, and not
the diabolic which broke through the outer husk of this world
and streamed into the soul of man. Any attempt to charac-
terize the religious spirit of Hellenism must needs represent
this divine inspiration as one of its lofty and specific
aspects.

Those centuries, so poor in tradition, which lie between
the Homeric period and the sixth century B.C. witnessed
the first blossoming of divine enthusiasm. 1 Presumably the
phenomena of possession in the sense in which we use the
words here were not infrequent during this period, but
no evidence appears to have been handed down, so that
we are reduced to draw psychological inferences by
analogy.

In the fifth century B.C. the intensification of man's inner
life in relation to divine passions seems to have been reduced

1 " The appearance of prophets inspired by the Divinity (Sibyls,
Bacchids, etc.) in sundry regions of Greek Asia Minor and ancient
Hellas is one of the phenomena characteristic of the religious life of a
well-defined period, thai fateful time which immediately preceded the
philosophic age of the Greeks " (Erwin Rohde, Psyche, 2nd edit.,
vol. ii, p. 65).

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 157

to normal proportions. 1 (Moreover, divine inspiration when
it is complete exceeds the bounds of the " purely human.")
In this respect Plato's attitude towards ecstasy is charac-
teristic: he knows it, even recognizes it, but has never himself
been in that state. The evdowiaapos which he experienced
and which is imparted and preached in his writings never
exceeds reasonable limits. This is consistent with the fact
that Plato was in perfect health, 2 while Plotinus, the true
ecstatic, had a completely pathological temperament. 3

As states of divine possession are generally of a
voluntary nature, or at least desired, we shall deal with
them first.

The nearer antiquity draws to its close the more the
picture alters. A completely different conception of life
replaces the classical one. The spiritual element, still con-
ceived as acting in the world externally to man, loses its
divine character more and more, or else this latter ceases to
remain predominant. In the Hellenic period spirits begin
to come forth from every corner and the clearness of the sky
is darkened by their swarming. The air is filled with a horde
of demons ; they besiege man and take possession of his inner
life. Anguish, fear and horror now lay hold on the soul which
was formerly drunk with the divine Eros; it was as if the
Olympians forsook the earth for the second time. For the
educated of early Christian times to fall gradually and in-
creasingly under the power of these dark ideas they must
already have been widely spread among the lower classes.
Nevertheless faith in divine possession did not disappear, as
we shall see later; but belief in a world swarming with evil
spirits stands out in strong relief as the chief characteristic
of the period. It finally made its way into philosophy, even
although on this pinnacle of life the conception of the reality
of the gods and the possibility of their filling the human soul
kept its predominance until the end.

1 A detailed account of divine passions will be found in vol. ii of
my Phdnomenologie des Ich.

2 Moreover, the Plato of the last years shows in some respects,
such as his moral rigorism, tendencies closely related to those of Kant
and which overstep the classical domain.

3 Cf. in the first place Porphyry's Life of Plotinus. A meagre
collection of documents on Plotinus by Francois da Costa Guimarais:
Contribution d la pathologic des mystiques, anamnese de quatre cos.
Paris, 1908, pp. 7-13.

158 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Harnack 1 characterizes as follows the situation in the
second century A.D.:

The distinguishing trait of belief in demons in the second century
consists first of all in the fact that it spreads from the obscure and
lower strata of society to the upper ones, and even finds its way
into literature, becoming far more important than before ; secondly
in that it no longer has beside it a strong, simple, and open religion
to keep it under; furthermore in that the power of the demon,
hitherto considered as morally indifferent, is now conceived as
evil ; finally in the individual application of the new religion which
at that time numbered the mental affections also among its conse-
quences. If all these causes are taken into consideration, the
extraordinary spread of belief in demons and the numerous out-
bursts of demoniacal affections must be attributed to the combined
effects of the well-known facts that in imperial times faith in the
ancient religions was disappearing, the individual began to feel
himself free and independent, and to realise his own essential
being and responsibility. Being no longer held and bound by any
tradition, he wandered amongst the heaped-up ruins of the tradi-
tions, now reduced to lifeless fragments, of a fast disappearing
world, seeking out first one, then another, only in many cases to
end, driven by fear and hope, in finding a deceitful support in the
most ridiculous of them or else falling ill over it.

May we not also see in the close contact established from
the time of Alexander the Great onwards with the civilization
of the Euphrates and Tigris, the very home of dcmonology,
another essential cause of the spread of belief in demons ?

Jacob Burckhardt expresses himself thus on the subject
of further development in the third and fourth centuries,
during which belief in demons gradually and completely
destroyed the monotheism built up by the influence of
philosophy :

It is a humiliating testimony to the slavishness of the human
spirit where the great forces of history are concerned that I he
philosophy of the period, professed in part by persons of real worth
and armed with all the learning of the old world, here (as regards
monotheism) wandered into the most obscure byways. Although
it marks an advance in the moral domain we have no choice, so
far as the early fourth century is concerned, but to rank it among
the superstitions. 2

There were still, of course, pure hearts and clear intellects who
held fast to the unity of God in the spirit of earlier, better times ;
but in most cases this conviction was beclouded by demoniacal
elements. 8

1 Medizinisches aus tier altesten Kirchengeschichte in: Texte und
Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristliohen Literatur, vol. viii,
p. 108.

2 J. Burckhardt, Die Zeit Konsiantins des Grossen, 2nd edit., Leipzig,
1880, p. 215.

8 Ibid., p. 230.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 159

Pagans, Jews, and Christians were alike convinced that spirits
and the dead could be conjured. We are not dealing, moreover,
with a forcibly imposed belief like that in the existence of witches
in the last centuries, but with a hundred unequivocal declarations,
spontaneous and consequently very various, made by writers, some
of whom are circumspect and generally of high moral tone. 1

Two particularly good descriptions of possessed persons
taken from pagan Greek literature (Lucian and Philostratus)
have already been reproduced above (p. 6).

A very interesting light is thrown on the theoretical
consequences of possession by a passage from the Christian
author Clement of Alexandria. Referring to Plato he writes
(erroneously) that the latter deduced from the observation
of cases of possession certain theories as to the language of
the gods which seems to be spoken by the mouths of the
possessed :

Plato attributes a dialect also to the gods, forming this conjecture
mainly from dreams and oracles, and especially from demoniacs,
who do not speak their own language of dialect but that of the
demons who have taken possession of them. He thinks also that
the irrational creatures have dialects, which those that belong to
the same genus understand. . . . But the first and generic bar-
barous dialects have terms by nature, since also men confess that
prayers uttered in a barbarian tongue arc more powerful. 2

Nevertheless, pagan antiquity is not the main source
to which we owe our knowledge of possession in the ancient
world, It is rather derived from Christian literature, the
New Testament and Patristic writings, from which it
appears that possession has been of very frequent occur-
rence in the Mediterranean basin since the time of Christ.

It would be entirely false to believe that possession was
confined to the Jews ; it was common throughout the world of
late antiquity, and the cure of demoniacal affections was a
distinguishing characteristic of all the religious and magic-
working prophets of the time. If the most important in-
formation comes from Christian literature, this is certainly
because it has survived in relatively much greater quantities
than non-Christian writings. How few fragments of the
copious Hellenic literature have come down to us ! With
what difficulty do we reconstruct the richly developed religious
life of Hellas 1 and how often we have nothing but the in-

1 Ibid., p. 243.

a Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, i, 21, 142 (Ante-Nicene Christian
Library, vol. i, p. 443. Edinburgh, 1867).

160 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

formation involuntarily preserved in the polemical works
of the Christians to serve as basis for conclusions a posteriori
on lost writings ! The invasion of the barbarians who con-
quered the Roman Empire has destroyed infinitely less than
did the Christian hatred and persecution of the heathen.
Never in the world's history has so vast a literature been so
radically given over to destruction. Nor is its historical
value the only thing involved : the influence of antiquity on
the present would have been still greater had more of the
literature of its later times been preserved.

From whence comes the greatly increased importance
which belief in demons assumed at that time amongst the
Greeks and Romans ? " This has not yet been explained,"
says Harnack. 1 But at least he feels safe in saying that
there is " a strong presumption that very widespread ideas
may have represented the course and events of the world as
subject to the influence of demons who ruled the air. Astro-
logy also came into play." It cannot be admitted that Jewish
and Christian influences were solely responsible for the spread
of belief in demons, as it had permeated the whole Empire
before the second century; but these two, like other eastern
religions, especially that of Egypt, may have contributed to it.

The extent to which possession must have spread is
attested by the fact that there was a whole body of exorcists,
as to-day " bone-setters " practise side by side with learned
physicians. 2 Possession existed not only in the provinces,
but, according to the evidence of Justin Martyr, in the Roman
metropolis also. That the number of energumens became
very great is evidenced by the frequency with which pos-
session is mentioned by the Fathers of the Church, but above
all by the existence of general rules for its treatment. We
find, for instance, in Dionysius the Areopagite that possessed
persons should be excluded from the holy sacraments and
ordinations, but admitted to interments. 3

The description of Sulpicius Severus also shows (assuming

1 Harnack, Die Mission imd Ausbreitwng des Chrisicnlwns in den
ersten drei Jahrhunderlen, 3rd ed., revised and augmented, Leipzig,
1U15, vol. i,p. 138.

2 Ibid.

3 Justin Martyr, ApoL, ii, 6. It would be interesting to know
whether possession also existed in Athens, the centre of learning, and if
so in what circles and from what date.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 161

it not to be exaggerated) that the number of possessed persons
had become very considerable. Of a monk particularly suc-
cessful in exorcism he says :

He, therefore, was to a wonderful degree visited by people who
came to him from every part of the world. 1 say nothing about
those of humbler rank ; but prefects, courtiers and judges of various
ranks often lay at his doors. Most holy bishops also, laying aside
their priestly dignity, and humbly imploring him to touch and
bless them, believed with good reason that they were sanctified,
and illumined with a divine gift, as often as they touched his hand
and garment. 1

This last sentence, however, throws doubt on whether
the persons referred to were always possessed in the true
sense of the word.

No information concerning epidemics of possession appears
to be available.

The identity of the states of that period with better-known
modern ones is evident, not merely from the general descrip-
tion of single cases, but also from numerous details.

Thus we already find related by Gregory the Great a
multiple possession of one and the same individual:

. . . And forasmuch as she was by the enemy continually and
cruelly tormented, her kinsfolk that carnally loved her, and with
their love did persecute her, caused her to be carried for help to
certain witches; so utterly to cast away her soul, whose body they
went about by sorcery to relieve. Coming into their hands she
was by them brought to a river and there washed in the water,
the sorcerers labouring a long time by their enchantments to cast
out the devil that had possessed her body: but by the wonderful
judgment of Almighty God, it fell out that while one by unlawful
act was expelled, suddenly a whole legion did enter in. And from
that time forward she began to be tossed with so many varieties
of motions, to shriek out in so many sundry tunes, as there were
devils in her body. Then her parents, consulting together, and
confessing their own wickedness, carried her to the venerable
Bishop Fortuiiatus, and with him they left her: who, having taken
her to his charge, fell to his prayers many days and nights, iiiid he
prayed so much the more earnestly, because he had against him,
in one body, an whole army of devils; and many days passed not,
before he made her so safe and sound, as though the devil had never
had any power or interest in her body. a

1 Sulpicius Severus, Dialogues, i, 20. ("A Select Library of Niccne
and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church," second scries,
Oxford, 1894, vol. xi, p. 33.)

2 Gregory the Great, Dialogues, i, c. 10. (" The Dialogues of Saint
Gregory, surnamed the Great . . . translated into our English tongue,"
Paris, MDCVIII, re-edited E. G. Gardner, London, 1911, p. 39.)

11

162 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Apparent possession by animal demons seems also to have
occurred. Jerome reports in his biography of St. Paula that
she met in the neighbourhood of Samaria possessed persons
whose behaviour was in some respects that of animals :

She heard how men howled like wolves, barked like dogs, roared
like lions, hissed like serpents, bellowed like bulls. 1

An example of the infection of a priest by a demoniac
is found in Gregory the Great:

And behold, straight upon the bringing of the relics of St. Sebas-
tian the martyr into the oratory, a wicked spirit possessed the
aforesaid matron's daughter-in-law, and pitifully tormented her
before all the people. The priest of the oratory, beholding her
so terribly vexed and lifted up, took a white linen cloth and cast
upon her ; and forthwith the devil also entered into him, and because
he presumed above his strength, enforced also he was by his own
vexation, to know what himself was. 2

The autosuggestive genesis of possession is also very
evident in certain cases. Thus the extreme fear of demons
led to the onset of possession as a consequence of past sins.
Amongst numerous examples we will again quote a case
related by Gregory the Great :

... To relate only a small part of what the abbot and prior
of this convent told me. One day two brethren were sent to buy
something for the needs of the convent. One was younger and
seemed cleverer; the other was older and should have supervised
the first. As they went on their way he who should have looked
after Ihe younger man committed a larceny, unwittingly, with the
money which had been given to them. As soon as they had re-
turned to the convent and on the very threshold of the house of
Siety, he who had committed the theft fell to the earth, seized
y the evil spirit, and suffered great torments. When the evil
spirit had left him he was questioned by all the monks who had
hastened to the spot; he was asked if he had not misappropriated
the money received. He denied it and was tormented a second
time. When the evil spirit had again left him he was again ques-
tioned but again denied and was once more given over to torment.
He denied eight times and eight times was tormented. At the
eighth falsehood he confessed the sum of money which he had
stolen. He did penance, prostrated himself, admitted his sin and
the evil spirit returned no more as soon as he had accomplished the
expiation. 3

1 Saint Jerome, Epistula, c. viii, 13, ed. Migne, i, p. 889. Jacob
Burckhardt, foe. cit., p. 447.

2 Gregory the Great, foe. cit., i, c. 10. Dialogues, etc., pp. 38-39.

8 Gregory the Great, To Rusticiana, Patrician (Epistles, book xi,
no. xliv).

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 163

Another case is handed down by Sulpicius Severus. A
monk renowned as an exorcist became himself possessed.

But in the meantime, just as honour accrued to the holy man
from his excellence, so vanity began to steal upon him from the
honour which was paid him. When first he perceived that this
evil was growing upon him, he struggled long and earnestly to
shake it off, but it could not be thoroughly got rid of by all his
efforts. . . . Betaking himself, therefore, with fervent supplica-
tion to God, he is said to have prayed that, power being given
to the devil over him for five months, he might become like to those
whom he himself had cured. . . . That most powerful man he,
renowned for his miracles and virtues through all the East, he,
to whose threshold multitudes had gathered, and at whose door the
highest dignitaries of that age hud prostrated themselves- laid
hold of by a demon, was kept last in chains. It was only after
having suffered all these things which the possessed are wont to
endure, that at length in the fifth month he was delivered, not only
from the demon, but (what was to him more useful and desirable)
from the vanity which had dwelt within him. 1

Early Christian testimonies must, as always, be accepted
with a certain reserve. It certainly does not appear that all
maladies were considered as forms of demoniacal possession,
but the conception of possession was nevertheless much wider
than our own.

Whereas Plato considered sin to be a sickness of the soul,
Christianity regarded it as possession and of a nature even
graver than the usual form, inasmuch as in the latter the
possessed realizes his state, while in sin the contrary obtains.
Cassian remarks :

Although it is a fact that those men are more grievously and
severely troubled, who, while they seem to be very little aiiected
by them in the body, are yet possessed in spirit in a far worse way,
as they are entangled in their sins and lusts. For as the Apostle
says: " Of whom a man is overcome, of him he is also the servant."
Only that in this respect they are more dangerously ill, because
though they are their slaves, yet they do not know that they arc
assaulted by them, and under their dominion. 2

There is an irreconcilable contradiction in Cassian's
express and emphatic statement that the possessed may be
neither execrated nor despised, 3 when he cannot be said to
adopt this point of view as regards the immoral, although

1 Sulpicius Severus, loc. cit., i, c. 20 (p. 34).

2 Cassianjs Conferences, vii, ch. xxv. (" A Se'ect Library of Nicene
and Post -Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church," second series,
Oxford, 1894, vol. xi, p. 371.)

8 Ibid., p. 500.

164 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

he conceives that they should be given credit for the fact
that they are unaware of their possession.

As for the moral judgement to be passed on the possessed,
there seems to have been no unanimity whatever. A Father
of the Church, the Syrian llabbulas, writes that "priests
should not give the Host to possessed persons lest the Most
Holy Thing be profaned by contact with demons." 1 Cassion,
on the contrary, was of the opinion that they should receive
communion every day if possible as a spiritual remedy. 2
It would be unjust to withhold it from them on the strength
of the saying that pearls should not be cast before swine,
that the communion should not become the devil's food.
There does not appear to have been any general relationship
between the morality of the individual and the genesis of
possession; it came on as an autosuggestive consequence of
sin, but occurred also amongst the saints. Cassian says:

Hut we know that even saintly men have been given over in the
llesh to Satan and to great afflictions for some very slight faults,
since the divine mercy will not suffer the very least spot or stain
to be found in them on the day of judgment, and purges away in
this world every spot of their filth, as the prophet, or rather God
himself says, in order that he may commit them to eternity as
gold or silver refined and needing no final purification. 3

Christianity had the greatest share in the use of exorcism
as a means of cure :

The Christians made their appearance throughout the whole
world as exorcists of demons, and exorcism was a very powerful
missionary and propagandist weapon. They were concerned
not merely with exorcising the demons which inhabit man, but
also with purging them from the atmosphere and the whole of
public life. For the century (the second) was under the dominion
of the spirit of darkness and his legions. . . . The whole world
and the atmosphere surrounding it was peopled with devils; all
the formalities of life not only the worship of idols were governed
by them. They sat upon thrones and surrounded the infant's
cradle. The earth, God's creation though it is now and for ever,
became in very truth a hell. 4

It is very interesting that Christianity, engaged in combat
with possession, should have professed to have a greater power
of overcoming it than exorcists of any other persuasion.

1 Rabbuke Edesseni Canones, Migne, P.G., vol. Ixxvii.

2 Cassian, Ipc. cit. 9 v, ch. xxv. ( kfc A Select Library," etc.)

3 Cassian, ibid., p. 496.

4 Harnack, Die Mission, vol. i, p. 141. Cf. also H. Achelis, Das
Christentum in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten, Leipzig, 1912, vol. i,
pp. 132-147.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 165

For numberless demoniacs throughout the whole world, and in
your city (Rome) many of our Christian men exorcising them in the
name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
have healed and do heal, rendering helpless and driving the pos-
sessing devils out of the men, though they could not be cured by
all the other exorcists and those who used incantiUions and drugs. 1

It seems, indeed, that this was not a matter of mere personal
conviction, but was really the case; the Christian exorcists
were able to record the greatest successes, because they
answered best to those requirements which we have learnt
to recognize as necessary to the success of exorcism. The
Christians possessed absolute certainty of victory, founded
on their faith in Christ. To this was added the high moral
value of their doctrine, which opened to them the hearts of
the sick and the oppressed. That deliverance from all the
burdens of the soul which the modern man experiences when
he enters a circle of true believers in Jesus must have occurred
in a far higher degree amongst the Christians of the two first
generations to whom the memory of Christ was still a living
thing. Men were alive who had known Him, or their sayings
had been heard by the ears of those present, and to this must
be added the belief in His imminent second coming. It is
difficult for us to conceive any idea of the conviction and
exaltation of these early Christians. How strong their in-
fluence must have been, when their religion was still young,
their faith still fresh and vivid, not yet overlaid with the grey
dust of two hundred years of dogmatics ! The great success
of the Christian exorcists is therefore readily understood,
and its reality is attested by the fact that other exorcists
who were not true Christians, and even certain Jews,
likewise uttered conjurations in the name of Jesus 2
(as already happened in Palestine in Jesus' lifetime:
Mark ix 38).

Origen declares that the Christian exorcists were generally
uneducated people. 3 Were the possessed also ?

Whereas in Justin's day (100-150) there was no distinct
body of exorcists, one already existed in the time of Origen
(182-252). Exorcisms took place free of charge, and nothing
was used except prayer and cc forms of conjuration so simple

1 Justin, Apol.,i[ 9 6. (Antc-Nicene Christian Library, vol. ii. Justin
Martyr, pp. 76-77, Edinburgh, 1868.)

8 For further details, cf. Harnack, loc. tit., p. 142.
8 Quoted by Harnack, loc. tit., p. 153.

166 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

that the simplest man was able to apply them " (Origen).
The demon was also threatened with punishments. 1 It
therefore appears that exorcisms were conducted in a manner
essentially the same as was later prescribed in the Rituale
Romanum, only the formulae were obviously much simpler
and very flexible; no rigid schemati/ation had as yet taken
place, nor must it be forgotten that the exorcists were simple
and uncultured people. The beginning was devoted to the
recitation of the liturgy, then followed prayers, and the
exorcism proper came last. It was accompanied by the
laying on of hands, the breath of the Spirit was breathed on
the possessed, and signs of the cross made. There were also
written formularies of exorcism. Probst even declares that
in the Rituale Romamun one such has been preserved to us
as the essential basis. 2

Cures from a distance are also found, although exception-
ally. Sulpicius Severus relates of a monk : " He not only cured
the possessed when he was present or by his word, but also
when he was absent by the fringes of his hair-shirt or by
letter." 3

Exorcism seems in many cases to have been accompanied
by certain requirements as to the conduct of the possessed.
A true belief in God is indicated by Origen as the surest remedy
against demons; then followed fasting and prayer all stipula-
tions which increased the sick man's faith in the termination
of his sufferings.

According to Origen, it was a rule never to question the
demons nor to speak to thorn, for God did not desire that
Christians should become the listeners and disciples of
demons. 4 The claims of certain Christians (e.g. 9 Justin
Martyr) to command unconditional success in their exorcisms
and their categorical denial of it to other persons are naturally
quite false and in contradiction to evidence from other
sources. Tertulliaii even goes so far as this monstrous
exaggeration: " The wicked spirit, bidden speak by a follower
of Christ, will as readily make the truthful confession that he

1 Some details concerning these exorcisms have been collected
by Fred. Probst; Sukramentc und Sakramentalien in den drei ersten
christlichcn Jahrhimdcrten, Tubingen, 1872, pp. 46 sq.

2 lbid. 9 pp. 52 sq.

3 Sulpicius Severus, loc. tit., p. 115.

4 Origen, In num. horn. 16 n. i, p. <

418, quoted by Probst, loc. dt. 9
p. 41.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 107

is a demon, as elsewhere he has falsely asserted that he is
a god." 1

Not all had the same success, and this depended on their
possession or lack of the xa/uoyia. Unfailing success would
be contrary to the theory. " The force of the exorcism,"
says Origen expressly, " lies in the name of Jesus which is
spoken and in which his Gospels arc proclaimed." There is
involved, moreover, a very primitive magic spell, the " name-
spell." All the attempts of Christian theologians to endow
Christianity with a sublimity beyond the accumulated primi-
tive beliefs of the period are useless. Let us listen to Origen
explaining the magic charm of the name of Jesus :

Then we say that the name Sabaoth, and Adonai and the other
names treated with so much reverence among the Hebrews, are not
applicable to any ordinary created thing, but belong to a secret
theology which refers to the Framer of all things. These names
accordingly when pronounced with that attendant train of circum-
stances which is appropriate to their nature, are possessed of great
power; and other names, again, current in the Egyptian tongue,
are efficacious against certain demons who can only do certain
things ; and other names in the Persian language have corresponding
power over certain spirits; and so on in every individual nation,
for different purposes. And thus it will be found that, if the various
demons upon the earth, to whom different localities have been
assigned, each one bears a name appropriate to the several dialects
of place arid country. He, therefore, who has a nobler idea, however
small, of these matters, will be careful not to apply differing names
to different things. . . , 2

And T do not dwell on this, that when the name of Zeus is uttered
there is heard at the same time that of the son of Kronos and Rhea,
and the husband of Hera and brother of Poseidon, and father of
Athene and Artemis. . . . And when one is able to philosophize
about the mystery of names, he will find much to say respecting
the titles of the angels of God, of whom one is called Michael and
another Gabriel, and another Raphael, appropriately to the duties
which they discharge in the world, according to the will of the
God of all things. And a similar philosophy of names applies
also to our Jesus, whose name has already been seen, in an un-
mistakable manner, to have expelled myriads of evil spirits from
the souls and bodies (of men), so great was the power which it
exerted upon those from whom the spirits were driven out. And
while still upon the subject of names, we have to mention that
those who are skilled in the use of incantations, relate that the
utterance of the same incantation in its proper language can
accomplish what the spell professes to do ; but when translated into
any other tongue it is observed to become inefficacious and feeble.

1 Tertullian, ApoL, c. 23. The Writings of Tertullian (Ante-Nicene
Christian Library, vol. xi, Edinburgh, 1809).

2 Origen, Against Celsus, i, 24. (Ante-Nicene Christian Library,
vol. x, Writings of Origcn, pp. 421-22, Edinburgh, 1860.)

168 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

And thus it is not the things signified, but the qualities and peculi-
arities of words, \\hich possess a certain power for this or that
purpose. And so on such grounds as these we defend the conduct
of ihe Christians, when they struggle even to death to avoid
calling God by the name of Zeus, or to give him a name from any
other language. 1

According to the belief of these first Christians the effica-
ciousness of the exorcism pronounced in the name of Jesus
had nothing to do with Jesus himself; it was from the five
letters J-E-S-U-S arranged in that particular order that the
curat ive action proceeded ! The reproaches levelled by
Harnack against llcitzenstein and modern classical philology
in general, of having represented Christianity in its early days
as too near to primitive conceptions and misconstrued figura-
tive expressions literally, proves unfounded on this point.
Naturally this does not in any way detract from the lofty
character of Christianity's world-wide message.

The most detailed exposition of possession and its treat-
ment in the Church of the past centuries, as well as of
exorcism, is to be found in the Memoirs of Anton Josef
B interim, 2 which also contain an unequalled collection of
descriptions from that period.

As regards the diffusion of possession in ancient Jewry,
only one case is to be found in the Old Testament: it is the
history of the evil spirit which at times descended upon
Saul.

Now the spirit of the Eternal departed from Saul, and an evil
spirit from the Kternal scared him. So Saul's courtiers said to
him: " Here is an evil spirit from Cod scaring you! Let your
servants now before you offer a suggestion ; let them discover some
skilful player on the 'lyre; then whenever the evil spirit overpowers
you, he shall play music, and you will get better." Saul answered
his courtiers: " Look me out a man who plays well, and bring him
to me."

(David was then brought). And whenever the evil spirit from
God overpowered Saul, David would take the lyre and play music,
till Saul breathed freely ; then all would be well and the evil spirit
would depart from him. 3

. . . Next day an evil spirit from God overpowered Saul, and he
raved within his house. David was playing music for him as
usual, and Saul had a spear in his hand; he* raised the spear, saying

1 Origen, Against Cr/miff, i, 25. Ibid., pp. 421-23.

2 A. J. Binterim, Die vorzuglichsten Denkivurdigkeiten der c/irfrf-
katholischen Kirche aw den ersten, mittleren und letzten Zciten, vol. viii,
part i, chap. 5, Mainz, 1831.

3 1 Sam. xvi, 14 sq. (Moffat's edit.).

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 169

to himself: " I will pin David to the wall." But David evaded
him twice over. 1

... an evil spirit from the Eternal overpowered Saul as he sat
in his house, spear in hand. David was playing music, and Saul
tried to pin David to the wall with his spear. But David slipped
aside from Saul, and he drove the spear into the wall. 2

It follows with certitude from this narrative that Saul
suffered from extremely painful psychic compulsions. His
case was therefore one of lucid possession.

As mentioned above, this is the sole case of possession
recorded in the Old Testament we shall deal in the next
chapter with possession amongst the prophets and pseudo-
prophets. According to H. Duhm 3 the importance of belief
in evil spirits amongst the Jews in Old Testament times was
very slight. Their national separatism from the outer world
was in this respect very advantageous, keeping them free from
the more serious forms of infection by Babylonian and
Egyptian demonology.

Many an obscure form, amorphous survival and usage trans-
formed in meaning, clearly shows that the Israelites had also had
their early demonic period and had several times come under the
influence of their neighbours ; but these traces demonstrate equally
that belief in demons had no longer any individual and independent
life, and that its effects lingered with the same tenacity that we
observe amongst our own Protestants. 4

On the other hand, since the destruction of the Israelitish and
then the Jewish state, the number of demons grew incessantly
and continued to augment right on into New Testament times
(under the influence of the Babylonian conception of the world). 6

According to H. Loewc, belief in possession reigned
particularly in Galilee, whereas Palestine was immune from it. 6

In the New Testament accounts of possession, the conse-
quences of the influx of Babylonian demonology are extremely
obvious. Parallel with them are certain passages from
Flavius Josephus which also throw light on Jewish thera-
peutics. Of Solomon he relates:

God also enabled him io learn the art which expels demons,
which is useful and works cures for men. He composed charms
also by which diseases are alleviated. And he left behind him
forms of exorcisms, by which people drive away demons so that
they never return ; and this method of cure is of very great value
unto this day : for I have seen a certain man of my own country,

1 1 Sam. xviii, 10 sq. (ibid.). 2 1 Sam. xix, 9 sq. (ibid.).

3 Hans Duhm, Die bosen Geister im alten Testament, Tubingen, 1904.

4 Ibid., p. 31. 5 Ibid., p. 63.

6 Herbert Loewe, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iv, p. 613.

170 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

whose name was Eleazar, curing people possessed by demons in the
presence of Vespasian and his sons and captains and the whole of
his soldiers. The manner of the cure was as follows: he put a
ring that had under its seal one of those sorts of roots mentioned
by Solomon, to the nostrils of the demoniac, and then drew the
demon out through his nostrils as he smelt it : and when the man
fell down immediately, he adjured the demon to return into him
no more, still making mention of Solomon, and reciting the incanta-
tions which he had composed. And Eleazar, wishing to persuade
and show to the spectators that he had such a power, used to set
a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the
demon, as "he went out of the man, to overturn it, and so let the
spectators know that he had left the man. 1

In his Jewish War Flavins Josephus speaks of a certain
root (bara) which was sought after as a remedy against
possession.

For the so-called demons in other words, the spirits of wicked
men which enter the living and kill them unless aid is forthcoming
are promptly expelled by this root, if merely applied to the
patients. 2

It seems that in ancient times, in the Semitic cilivizations
of Palestine, possession as a whole had reached its most
complete development. Boussct finds that " at all events
belief in the devil together with an awakening dualism per-
meates late Jewish religion to a very high degree." 3 He sees
in the possession-beliefs of that time the result of a general
established religious life namely, that in all periods of
transition when a people's highest faith weakens and is
threatened with destruction, and before the somewhat higher
new forms have as yet definitely developed, the more primitive
old beliefs emerge from the lower depths of the popular mind.

Everywhere at the time of I lellcnism and of the Roman Empire
national religions were going bankrupt, and everywhere with a
disquieting strength superstition, belief in spirits and ghosts, in
the conjuration of spirits and in magic practices, in the power of
names, the formulae of sorcery, incantatory prayers, binding and
loosing and other charms flourished luxuriantly. 4

The particularly strong influence exercised on Judaism
by belief in demons seems related to the deeply religious

1 Antiquities of the Jews, book viii, chap. ii. (The Works of Flavius
Josephus, Whiston's translation revised, A. R. Shilleto, London, 1900,
vol. ii, pp. 79-80.)

2 Josephus, Jewish War, vii, 186. (Loeb Classical Library, Josephus,
vol. iii, p. 559.)

3 Bousset, Die Religion des Judentums in Neuteslamentlichen Zeit-
alter, 2nd edit., Berlin, 1900, p. 388.

4 Ibid., p. 387.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 171

temperament of this people: almost the whole of its intel-
lectual creativeness is concentrated on religion. By its
religion alone it has become a world-power; in other forms
of culture, science, art, philosophy, it is not to be compared
with Graeco-Latin antiquity. Even its poetry, in spite of
certain great creative works, is poor regarded as a whole,
and has never broken away from religion. Judaism has, of
course, an essential importance from the point of view of
social civilization, but this no longer belongs to the domain
of the highest culture. 1

To the religious impetus must be added the pathological
tendencies of the Jewish people. These have long been
recognized as indubitable in contemporary Judaism, a fact
the more important to our subject as possession must be
regarded as more nearly related to hysteria than to anything
else, and hysteria is numbered amongst the affections to
which the Jewish nation is predisposed. 2

Let us pause to consider whether this disposition originates
from social relations or from still deeper causes.

It is certain that life during the dispersion, the national
conservatism of the Jews, the jealousy and ill-will called forth
by the oppression of neighbouring peoples and the feelings of
permanent aversion resulting therefrom, contributed in many
cases to produce and develop neuroses and thus often to
transmit an heredity of corresponding tendencies. 3 But it
still appears questionable whether these environmental
causes suffice to explain pathological tendencies. Quite as
unconvincing are the suggestions of repeated degeneracy
due to long-continued in-breeding and often betraying itself
by external blemishes. All these reasons, not in themselves
improbable, nevertheless lose some of their cogency when
we consider the long series of Jewish monuments and observe
the marked constancy of the racial type. 4 Those signs of
degeneracy which are supposedly due to the age and in-
breeding of the race exist already in the monuments of ancient
Egypt, and to this physical constancy corresponds a moral

1 Cf. Jos. Kohler, Deutsche Literaturzeitung, 1907, 3259.

2 II. Oppcnheim, Lehrbuch der Nervenkrankheiten, 6th edit., Berlin,
1913, vol. ii, p. 1393. . .

3 Oppenheim adds to these reasons the growth of the spirit of in-
dustry fostered by unfavourable conditions of life.

Cf. J. M. Judt, Die Juden als Rasse, Cologne, 1903.

172 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

one. All things considered, we are irresistibly driven to the
conclusion that this is a people which unites in a quite
peculiar manner and from the most remote times, an astonish-
ing will to live with pathological tendencies, strong, as com-
pared with those of other peoples, towards degeneracy.

These tendencies furnish a complete explanation of how
it was possible for belief in demons to lead in Judaism to so
many sicknesses as appears to have been the case. The
history of possession amongst the Jews does not come to an
end at the time of Christ, but is prolonged up to the present
day.

In the third century A.D. we find evidence of Jewish
possession and Jewish exorcisms in the great magic papyrus
of Paris, the redaction of which goes back to about the year
300. The text 1 is the more interesting since its conclusion
shows that it contains an exorcism applied to cases of genuine
possession, whereas it is impossible to decide whether the
majority of exorcisms handed down to us deal with real
possession or a physical malady considered as such.

So far as the civilizations of the Far East in ancient times
are concerned, I have so far only been able to obtain access
to very scanty documents.

Some few particulars relating to ancient India may be
found in a work of Jolly on old Hindu medicine, which can,
however, barely be pressed into service. It appears from
Jolly's information that in India also spirits have been
imagined as able to enter into the human body, but for the
most part we are again confronted by the interpretation of
maladies of all sorts as possession.

Children's ailments in particular were attributed to demoniacal
influences, perhaps because this defenceless age was held to be
particularly accessible to such influences and because the sudden-
ness with which in children grave sickness succeeds perfect health
could not be otherwise explained. . . . The general signs of a
demoniacal attack are also enumerated. The child starts
suddenly, he is frightened, he cries, bites himself and his nurse,
his eyes are turned backwards, his teeth chatter, he groans, whines,
yawns, knits his brows, clenches his teeth, twists his lips, frequently
spits foam, grows thin, does not sleep at night, has swollen eyes,
suffers from diarrhoea and hoarseness, smells of meat and blood,
does not eat as before, does not take the breast ; preliminary symp-
toms (prodromi) are fever and incessant tears. 2

1 Reproduced above, p. 101.

2 Julius Jolly, Grundriss der indo-arischen Theologie und Alter-
tumskunde, vol. iv, no. 10, Strasburg, 1901, p. 69.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 178

There are also prevailing psychic symptoms by which
possession is recognized. We have in India a degree of civiliza-
tion where often the purely physical maladies are no longer
considered as demoniacal in nature, but psychic disturbances,
or at least many of them, are still so regarded. So far as the
maladies of adults are concerned Jolly has established the
following facts:

The worst forms of dementia are attributed to a demoniac
influence and consequently classed as possession (bhutonmada).
Eight, ten, twenty, or " innumerable " demons and gods of mad-
ness are distinguished, who seize upon man when he transgresses
the laws of religion, when he remains alone in an empty house or
stops by night at a burial-place, etc. What spirit has entered into
him may be discerned by his mode of behaviour. Thus the man
possessed by a Daily a is spiteful, hot-tempered, proud; he calls
himself a god, likes spirituous liquors and meat. He who is pos-
sessed by a Gandharva sings and dances, bedecks, bathes, and
anoints himself. He who is possessed by u demon snake has red
eyes, a fixed stare, his walk is tortuous and unsteady, he puts out
his tongue, licks the corners of his lips, likes milk, honey and sweet
things. He who is possessed by a Yaksa is voluptuous, lascivious,
prodigal, talkative, and staggers like a drunkard in his walk. He
who is possessed by a Plsaka is uneasy, gluttonous and dirty; he
has no memory, runs hither and thither, tears his flesh with his
nails and walks naked. 1

At most only the last state described in this quotation
may be considered as possession within the meaning of this
work, but Jolly's scanty documentation is not adequate to
a sure identification, and the sources on which he draws
are Sanskrit works of which no translation is available.
Further investigation from these works of the diffusion of
possession in ancient India must therefore be left to orienta-
lists.

The Atharva-Veda contains a mass of exorcisms of all
kinds; in fact, so great a wealth that it recalls in the most
striking manner the cuneiform Babylonian tablets referred to
above, of which it is also reminiscent from another point of
view. Just as we fail to find in the Babylonian tablets a
completely satisfying attestation of the reality of possession
in ancient Mesopotamia, so the Atharva-Veda has a similar
disappointment in store for us. Amongst the multitude of
exorcisms which it contains there is not one which might be
cited with complete certainty as applying to true possession.
It is possible that this is due to inadequate translation, for

1 IMd., p. 122.

174 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

that of medical terms could not well be fully clear, but in the
extensive extracts before me, published in The Sacred Books
of the East, I have sought in vain for any evidence which
might be regarded as satisfactory. 1 Rather than any other,
reference might be made to the exorcism-hymn (VI, iii) which
is entitled by the translator: Charm against mania. It runs
thus :

1. Release for me, O Agni, this person here, who, bound and
well-secured, loudly jabbers ! Then shall he have due regard
for thy share (of the offering), when he shall be free from mad-
ness !

2. Agni shall quiet down thy mind, if it has been disturbed !
Cunningly do I prepare a remedy, that thou shalt be freed from
madness.

3. (Whose mind) has been maddened by the sin of the gods,
or been robbed of sense by the Rakshas, (for him) do I cunningly
prepare a remedy, that he shall be free from madness.

In the translator's commentary it is said that the early
Hindu scholiast here remarks that the rite in question is used
for those possessed by demons. 2 Interpretation as true pos-
session is, however, not free from doubt, for the reference may
be to simple madness. The problem is to know whether the
malady called " mania " by the translator is really mania or
rather disturbances due to possession, but this too can only be
resolved by orientalists, if indeed it be capable of real solution.

In the old legends of the life of Buddha, on the other hand,
we find surer evidence of possession. Marvellous healing
powers are attributed to his mother while she was pregnant
of him, and possessed persons figure amongst those who were
cured by her.

In the Lalita-Vistara, in the Gathas, it is said :

Women and maidens, who happened to be afflicted by being
possessed by demons, or by insanity, running about naked and
covered with dust, regained their senses by the sight of Maya, and,
being endowed with memory, understanding, and correct notions,
returned to their homes. 3

1 Hymns of the Atharva-Vcda together with extracts from the Ritual
Books and the Commentaries, translated by Maurice Bloomfield,
Oxford, 1897 (The Sacred Books of the East, vol. xlii), p. 32.

2 Ibid., p. 519.

n The Lalita-Vistara or Memoirs of the Early Life of S'tfkya Sinha.
Translated from the original Sanskrit by Ra'jendra'la la Mitra, Calcutta,
1881, pp. 110 sq. (chap. vi). Unfortunately, a note concerning the idea
of possession which the translator had announced (as appears from the
asterisk in the text) has been forgotten in the supplement. It might
have thrown light on the idea of possession in the Hindu legend of
Buddha.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 175

Possessed persons also figure in the Hindu legends; the
following narrative occurs in the forty-fifth and forty-sixth
nights of the Cukasaptati:

There is a town of the name of Vatsaman, where lived a Brahman
called Kecava who was wise, but poor. His wife, who was called
Karagara (i.e., poison-giver), behaved so ill towards everyone that
even a demon, who lived on a tree in the house, fled into the desert
for fear of her. Meanwhile the Brahman was no longer able to
bear the wickedness of his wife and went away also. On the way
to the desert the demon saw him and said to him : " I wish to-day
to offer thee hospitality." When the Brahman heard this he was
afraid. " Fear not," said the demon, " for I used to live upon a
tree in thy house, but I fled to this spot for fear of Karagara, and
since thou hast long had to do with me as my landlord I will do
good to thee. Go thy way to the village of Mrigavati (that is
to say, rich in gazelles) ; I will take possession of the daughter of
the city, Mrigalotschana (signifying gazelle-eyed) and will not let
myself be driven out by any exorcist; thou alone, when thou
comest, shalt drive me out with a look." Having spoken thus the
demon entered into the royal virgin. Meanwhile the Brahman
went to the royal city Mrigavati and having heard the herald he
went to the royal palace, but in vain he did all that magicians arc
accustomed to do and uttered his conjurations, the demon did not
leave the maiden. When the Brahman saw that in no other way
would the demon come out, he cried : " In the name of Karagara,
come forth !" The demon replied : " See, I am coming forthwith I"
and he immediately came out . Then the King gave to the Brahman
the half of his kingdom and his daughter in marriage.

When the demon had come forth he went into the town of
Karnavati (that is to say, the town with ears) and took possession
of the queen, who was the half-sister on the father's side of the
above-mentioned Madana and who was called Sulolschana, signi-
fying lovely-eyed. Greatly tormented by the demon, ihe queen
became like a skeleton. Then the King, whose name was Satrughna
(slayer of enemies), sent to the King Madana and begged him to send
the'magiciaii Kecava. At the request of Madana and of his own
wife the latter came to Karnavati to the possessed queen. But
when the demon perceived him he insulted and threatened him:
" It is enough that I have done thy bidding once; now take care
and look to thyself I" When the Brahman heard this he recognized
that it was the same demon ; then he approached and whispered in
the queen's ear : " Karagara is following me here ; I have only come
to tell thee this !" When the demon learnt that Karagara was
coming he was seized with fright and immediately left the queen.
The Brahman, covered with honours by the King, made his way
back to Mrigavati. 1

In the Dhaca-kumara-Caritam, a princess, according to
Bastian, simulated possession by a spirit which her lover
subsequently expelled. 2

1 Pantschatantra-Caritam, Fiinf Bucher indischer Fabeln, Marchen
und Erziihlungen, Aus dem Sanskrit iibersetzt mit Einleitung und
Anmerkungen von Theodor Benfey, part i, Leipzig, 1859, pp. 519-521.

2 A. Bastian, Der Memch in der Geschichte, vol. ii, Leipzig, 1800,
p. 557.

176 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

We shall now leave antiquity and pass to mediaeval and
modern times. In the foreground naturally stands Europe,
concerning which information is most abundant, with ex-
tremely numerous and easily accessible literary sources.

As to the history and diffusion of possession in the Middle
Ages, we arc still ill-informed; all the spade-work is still to do. 1
But without further ado we may say that the Christian Middle
Ages were filled with the phenomena of possession. It is not
rare for religious biographies to contain descriptions of them,
as is amply demonstrated by a glance through the Acta
Sanctorum. I have consulted a large number of the sixty-one
volumes as yet available; there is not one in which under
the articles energumeni and dcemones cases of possession are
not recorded. In passing, the reader should also see the
volumes of Gorres' Mystik which treats of possession and is
largely based on the Acta Sanctorum. 2

No one has made yet a complete collection of possession-
episodes, and, moreover, it would hardly be worth while to
search through literature for this purpose alone. Such a
collection should be made incidentally by those studying the
history of churches and religions, which involves acquaintance
with great masses of literature.

We find the same stories of cures, which are already known
to us from the New Testament and patristic literature, con-
stantly repeated in the biographies and legends of the saints
with a wearisome sameness.

H. Giinter believes that there is a connection between
certain legends of possession and the Talmud, in which he
indicates analogous features. 3

No useful purpose is served by confronting the reader
with a multitude of cases; it is sufficient merely to adduce a
few examples in chronological order. Owing to the complete
similarity of the episodes it docs not greatly matter whether
some of them are or are not pure legend, for legend depicts
in this connection nothing beyond what really occurred;
the religious life of the Middle Ages models not only its bright

1 The medical works on the epidemics of the Middle Ages (e.g.,
Hecker, Die grossen Volkskrankheiten des Mittclalters, Berlin, 1865)
also contain nothing, and the same is true of the social histories of that
period.

2 J. von Gorres, Mystik, Rcgensburg, 1842, vol. iv, part i.

8 H. Gtinter, Die Christliche Lcgcnde clcs Abendlandes (Rcligions-
wissenschaftlic'he Bibliothek, vol. ii), p. 112.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 177

but also its dark side on the time of Christ. Naturally this
does not mean that the possessed voluntarily imitated the
possession of the Gospels.

In the first place we will give a few cases of possession
from the beginning of the Middle Ages, then three cases from
the twelfth, thirteenth and fifteen th centuries. They belong
to the lives of eminent personages: St. Augustine, Bernard
of Clairvaux, Francis of Assisi and Norbert of Magdeburg.
I have purposely chosen a few detailed cases; others are, as
we have already said, easy to find by the hundred. In view
of the great similarity of such stories, these examples must
suffice, nor will the reader be long in crying " Enough !" I do
not, nevertheless, desire to content myself with the mere
affirmation that cases are very frequent in the Middle Ages,
and that their type is not distinguished from that of the
New Testament. Their somewhat wearisome monotony offers
striking proof of the stability of these phenomena in the
Christian era.

The possession-cure traditionally attributed to St. Augus-
tine takes us to the southern frontier of the Roman Empire,
to Hippo, on the coast of what is now Algeria. Of the last
days of Augustine when the Vandals were already besieging
his bishopric (Augustine died during this siege) the following
is related :

I know also that this same priest and bishop was asked to offer
prayers for these energumeiis, these sick persons, that he implored
God with tears and that the demons came out of the men's bodies.
In the same way also when he was ill and kept his bed they brought
to him a sick man and begged him to lay on his hands that lie
might be cured. lie replied that if it was in his power to do any-
thing for him he would do it at once without fail. And the other
said that he had been visited and that it had been said to him in a
dream: " Go and see the bishop Augustine, so that he may lay on
his hands and you will be saved." When he learnt this he made
no delay in doing it and God immediately made of this sick man a
healthy one. 1

Now here are some cases from the life of Bernard of
Clairvaux:

The nameless Gatil, in book vii, chap, ix of his Acts, relates
that when the holy man had been in charge of Olairvaux for several
years, women obsessed by the demon were brought to him so that
he might cure them. The day before the arrival of the saint the
demon had taken to flight of his own accord saying that he could

1 Ada Sanctorum, Augusti, vol. vi, p. 439 (August 28).

12

178 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

not resist Bernard, for the latter having up to that time remained
in the world and been sorely tempted by him against chastity but
without being in any way overcome, he who must obey in all things
would be delivered up to him. This trophy and other like ones
being won from the common enemy by the grace of God, the saint
had the honours of the triumph. 1

... At Bar-sur-Aube there were two women whom the demons
tormented. Then their parents brought them to the man of God
that he might cure them. And as they were approaching the
gates of Clairvaux one of the devils said to the other by the mouth
of the woman that he must come out of that woman. " And
why, then ?" replied the o!her demon. To which the first
replied: " I can neither see Bernard nor hear his voice." And on
the instant he left the woman who was immediately restored to
health. 2

Without stopping they therefore led to him (at Milan) a woman
known to all, who had been tormented for seven years by an
unclean spirit, and they begged him in the name of God to order
the demon to depart and lo restore the woman to health. . . .

Thereupon he was greatly disturbed and said that signs should be
given not to the faithful but to the heathen; having entrusted his
enterprise to the Holy Spirit and being imbued through prayer
with celestial strength, he overthrew Satan in the pride of his
strength, put him to flight and restored the woman to health and
quietude. 3

On the third day the servant of God went to the Church of St.
Ambrose at Milan to celebrate the divine mysteries : an innumer-
able multitude awaited him there. Between the ceremonies of
the masses, while the clerks were singing and he was seated near
to the altar, they pointed out to him a little girl who was greatly
tormented by the devil, begging him to come to I he help of the
poor little thing and drive out from her this frenzied devil. Having
heard the entreaties of those present, and seen the young person
grind her teeth and cry out in such a way that she was an object
of horror to all those who saw her, he had pity on her tender age
and suffered from the anguish of her suffering. He therefore took
the paten of the chalice in which he >yas to celebrate the divine
mysteries, spilt the wine therein upon his fingers, praying inwardly
and trusting in the strength of God, and applied the saving liquid
to the child's lips, letting fall healing drops upon her body. Imme-
diately Satan, scalded, could not endure the virtue of this infusion.
Thanks to this urgent remedy from the Cross he came forth hastily,
all trembling, in a stinking vomit. Then the girl being purged,
the devil in flight and discomfited, the church chanted to God the
praises due and after joyful acclamations the rejoicing people
remained still until the divine mysteries had been achieved. Before
the eyes of all, the girl who had been saved was led home by her
people, and the man of God, jostled in the crowd, regained his
abode with difficulty. 4

Ernaldus, one of the oldest biographers of St. Bernard,
further relates of his visit to Milan :

Amongst those . . . who were tormented an old woman, a
citizen of Milan and formerly a respected matron, was propelled

1 Avln Sanctorum* August!, vol. iv, pp. 100 sq. (August 20).

1 Ibid., pp. 2-18 sq. Ibid., p. 230. * Ibid., p. 281.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 179

by the crowd as far as the Church of St. Ambrose behind the holy
man; the devil had been within her for several years and was
already strangling her in such a way, as might be seen and heard,
that she was deprived of speech, ground her leeth and put out her
tongue like an elephant's trunk; she seemed not a woman, but a
monster. Her repulsive exterior, horrible face and fetid breath
attested the filtliiness of Satan who inhabited her. When the man
of God saw her he knew that the devil was lodged and firmly fixed
in her, and that it would not be easy to expel him from a habitation
which he had possessed for so long a time. Turning towards the
people who were present in multitudes, he asked them to pray with
more fervour, and standing with the clerks and monks near to the
altar he commanded the woman to stay in the same place and remain
there. The latter, indeed, offered resistance, moved more by a
diabolic force than by her natural strength, and not without hurt
to others she kicked even the Abbot himself. The latter was full
of indulgence for these diabolic attacks; preparatory to the ex-
pulsion, lie invoked with supplication the help of 'God, not in
indignation and wrath, but with n. humble and quiet heart, then
proceeded to the sacrifice of the redeeming Host. Each time
that he made the sign of the cross with the sacred Host, turning
towards the woman, it was as if a strong athlete attacked the evil
spirit. For the wicked spirit as often as the sign of the cross was
directed against him testified by blows his access of rage, and
showed all his spleen in rebellious protest against the excitement
which he was made to endure.

Having completed the fiord's prayer the saint attacked the
enemy more vigorously. Placing the sacred body of Jesus on the
paten of the chalice and holding it above the woman's head, he
pronounced these words: 4fc He is there, wicked spirit, thy judge,
the Almighty. Now resist if thou canst ! He is there, who must
suffer for our salvation. Now," said he, " let the Prince of this
world be cast out ! Here is the body which wus taken from the
Virgin's body, stretched upon the cross, placed in the tomb, which
rose again from the dead and ascended to heaven in the presence
of the disciples. By the terrible power of His majesty I command
thee, evil spirit, to come out of His servant and dare to touch her
no more thereafter." More terribly despairing because he must
leave perforce and stay no longer, the demon's anger was the
stronger because of the few minutes which remained to him. Then
the holy father returned to the altar, completed the division of the
Host according to the rite, gave to his assistant the benediction
which is pronounced over the people, and immediately perfect
peace and health were restored to the woman. Thus the divine
mysteries are of such strength and virtue that the Evil One finds
himself constrained not to avowals but to flight. When the devil
had departed the woman whom the evil torturer had kept for so
long on a grid of torments, became once more mistress of her mind
and recovered her sense arid reason; as her tongue had entered
again into her mouth she uttered thanksgivings, and having recog-
nized her saviour fell prostrate at his feet. An immense clamour
arose in the church, everyone uttered loud cries to the honour of God ,
the bells rang out, God was everywhere blessed, the homage passed
all bounds, and, melted with love, the nation venerated the servant
of God, whom it placed, if one may say so, above all men.

That which had happened among the Milanese was bruited
abroad, throughout Italy men spoke of the man of God, and it
was everywhere told that a great prophet had arisen, strong in

180 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

word and works, who in the name of Christ should cure the sick
and deliver those possessed of the devil. His cures of sickness
already won for him deep gratitude, but occasion more often
arose to drive out demons, for there were more of the tormented
who had recourse to his skilful aid and the operation of the greater
powers obscured the lesser works. 1

Ernaldus also hands down to us a conversation of Bernard
with a demon :

He had already arrived at Pavia where the report of his virtues
had preceded him. With very fitting pomp and rejoicing the
happy town welcomed the man of such great fame ; no delay would
long have held in leash the anxiety of the people who, having
heard tell of the miracles at Milan, desired to sec a sign from
him. Immediately behind him walked a peasant who had followed
him from Milan leading a demoniac woman ; he laid her at his feet
relating in a tearful voice the torments which she endured. With-
out delay the devil betook himself to insulting the Abbot by the
mouth of the wretched woman, and mocking the servant of God:
" No," said he, " this eater of leeks, this devourer of cabbages shall
not drive me away from my little bitch." Insults of this kind were
thus hurled at the man of God so that, provoked by blasphemies,
he might lose patience to endure the outrages and be put to con-
fusion before all men at hearing himself harassed with vile words.
But the man of God, understanding his wiles, mocked at the mocker
and without himself punishing him but leaving it to God, ordered
the demoniac to be led to the Church of St. Syrus. For he intended
to give honour to the martyr for the cure which he was about to
accomplish and to attribute to his virtue the first-fruits of the
operations. But St. Syrus sent the affair back to his house ; wishing
to take nothing for himself in his Church, he desired that the whole
work should be attributed to the Abbot. The woman was therefore
led back to the Abbot's dwelling, while the demon said by her
mouth : " Little Syrus will not drive me out, any more than little
Bernard." Meanwhile the Abbot, having betaken himself to prayer,
was beseeching God to save the woman. Then the Evil One,
as if his wickedness had changed : " How gladly," said he, " would
I come forth from this bitch ! I am so greatly tormented in her !
How gladly would I come forth ! But I cannot. . . ." Having
been asked the cause : " Because the great Lord does not yet will
it." "And who is the great Lord?" "Jesus of Nazareth."
To which the Man of God replied: " Where liast them then known
Jesus? Hast thou seen Him?" " I have seen Him," replied he.
"Where hast thou seen Him?" "In His glory." "And hast
thou been in glory?" "Yes, truly!" "And how hast thou
departed therefrom?" "Many of us fell with Lucifer. . . ."
All these words were said in a lugubrious voice by the mouth of
the old woman and were heard by all those present. Then the holy
Abbot replied: " Wouldst thou not return to glory and be restored
to thy first joy ?" In a changed voice and bursting into laughter
in an extraordinary way the devil replied: "This is very late !"
And he did not say another word. Then the man of God spoke

1 Ernaldus, Vita Bernardi Abbatis Claravallensis, cap. iii, 13-15
in Migne, Patrofogice Cursus completus, vol. elxxxv, pp. 270 sq. Also
Acla Sanctorum, August!, vol. iv, p. 282.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 181

more earnestly, the Evil One withdrew vanquished, and the woman,
restored to herself, uttered thanksgivings to the utmost of her
power.

The man therefore departed with the woman, and rejoicing all the
way over her salvation, returned to his house where friends awaited
him. All those who heard the details of this exploit were filled
with satisfaction, but soon the joy changed to tears because as soon
as the woman reached the threshold of her house the devil entered
into her afresh and with more hostility than usual began to rend
the wretched creature frightfully. The unfortunate husband
did not know which way to turn : what was he to do ? It seemed
to him very dangerous to live with a demoniac and impious to
abandon her. lie therefore arose and taking his wife with him
returned to Pa via. There as he did not meet the man of God he
pushed on as far as Cremona, where he told him what had occurred
and implored him with tears to lend his aid. The clemency of
the Abbot did not repulse the pious request, but he commanded
them to go into the church of his town (and before the body of
confessors), to engage in prayer until he himself should come.
Remembering then his promise, he went to the church with a single
companion at the hour of twilight when others were going to bed,
and passing the whole night in prayers he obtained from God that
which he asked ; and health having been restored to the woman he
commanded her to return without anxiety to her house. But as
he feared what had already occurred, the re-entry of the devil into
her, he commanded that there should be fastened round her neck
a notice bearing these words: " In the name of Our Lord Jesus
Christ I command thee, demon, to dare to touch this woman no
more." This command frightened the devil who was never after-
wards minded to approach the woman after her return home. 1

In Thomas of Celano's biography of St. Francis we read:

There was a brother who often suffered from a grievous infirmity
that was horrible to see; and I know not what name to give it;
though some think it was caused by a malignant devil. For often-
times he was dashed down and with a terrible look in his eyes he
wallowed foaming ; sometimes his limbs were contracted, sometimes
extended, sometimes they were folded and twisted together, and
sometimes they became hard and rigid. Sometimes, tense and
rigid all over, with his feet touching his head, he would be lifted
up in the air to the height of a man's stature and would then
suddenly spring back to the earth. The holy Father Francis
pitying his grievous sickness went to him and after offering up
prayer signed him with the cross and blessed him. And suddenly
he was made whole, and never afterwards suffered from this
distressing infirmity. 2

At Citta di Castello also there was a woman possessed by a devil ;
and when the most blessed Father Francis was there she was brought
to the house in which he was staying. But she remained outside
and began to gnash with her teeth, to make faces and to utter
lamentable roarings, after the manner of unclean spirits; and many

1 Ernaldus, ibid., cap. iv, . 21 sq.; Migne, ibid., pp. 279 sq.;
Acta Sanctorum, ibid. 9 pp. 283 sq.

2 First Life, part i, chap, xxv (The Lives of St. Francis of Amisi,
by Thomas of Celano, trans, by A. G. Ferrers llowell, London, 1908,
p. 66).

182 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

of the people in that city of both sexes came up and besought
St Francis for the woman; for thai evil spirit had long vexed her
by his torments and had troubled them by his roarings. Then the
holy father sent to her a brother \\lio was with him, with the
intention of linding out whether it really was a devil, or only a
woman's deception. \Vhen the woman saw the brother she began
to mock him, knovmig lie was not St. Francis. The holy father
was praying within, and when he had finished his prayer he came
out ; and then the woman began to tremble and to roll on the ground,
unable to stand his power. St. Franc-is called her to him and
said: " In virtue of obedience I bid thec go out of her, thou unclean
spirit," and it straightway left her, doing her no hurt, and departed
very full of wrath. 1

Naturally episodes of possession also appear in the later
legend of St. Francis of Assisi. Thus we read in the Fiorcttii

liow the demons could not endure I he purity of the innocence
and deep humility of Brother Juniper, doth clearly appear, herein,
that on a time a certain man possessed with a devil, contrary to all
his wont and with antics most strange, sprang out of the way he
was going in, and of a sudden set off running and fled by divers
crobsways for seven miles. And being asked by his kinsfolk, that
with gieut anguish of spirit followed after him, wherefore he had
fled away with such strange antics, he answered them: " The reason
is this: because that mud fellow Juniper was passing by that way:
not being able to endure his presence nor to look on* him, I fled
away into these woods." And certifying themselves of the truth
thereof, they found that Brother Juniper had come along that way
even as the devil had said. Wherefore St. Francis, when they
brought to him those that ^ere possessed to be healed, if the devils
departed not straightway at his command, would say: " If thou
come not out of this creature of God straightway, I will send for
Brother Juniper to deal with thce " ; and thereat the demon, fearing
the presence of Brother Juniper, and not being able to endure the
virtue and humility of St. Francis, would depart straightway. 2

The case of a possessed woman who was exorcised by
St. Norbert of Magdeburg (d. 1134) was very stubborn:

At first the devil mocked at him. Nevertheless the man of God
did not permit himself in any way to give up and continued to
command the unclean spirit to depart from God's creature. Thus
driven to extremities, the devil cried out : " If thou wouldst that I
come forth from hence, permit that- I may enter into that monk
in the corner o\er there," and he named him by his name. But
Norbert said to the people : " Hear what he says and observe his
wickedness : to outrage the servant of God this demon demands to
possess him as a sinner worthy of this torment. But do not be
indignant. It is just his cunning to vex the good and seek to
outrage them as best he may." Thereupon he flung himself with
the more earnestness upon the wicked enemy, who asked: fct What
wouldst thou then ? For thee nor for any other will I come

1 Ibid., pp. 68-69.

a The Little Flowers of 67. Francis of Assist, trans, by T. W. Arnold,
London, 1899, pp. 284-35.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 183

forth to-day. Behold ! If only I call, the dark legions come to
my aid. Kia, up, to the fight ! These arches and vaults are about
to fall upon you !" At these words the people took to flight, but
the priest remained bravely and fearlessly in his place. Then
the hand of the possessed seized his stole to strangle him with it.
As those standing by rushed to frustrate her, he said : " Leave her !
If God has given her strength she may do according to her will."
At these words, all astonished, she of her own will withdrew her
hands. Nevertheless the greater part of the day being spent, it was
Norbcrt's counsel that she should be plunged into exorcised water
and this was done. As she; was fair-haired, the priest feared that
this might permit her devil to retain his hold over her, and therefore
had her hair cut. Thereupon the demon llcw into a rage and cried
out: "Stranger from France, stranger from France, what have I
done to thee that Hum shouldst not leave me in peace ? All
evil and misfortune be on thy head for tormenting me thus !"

Meanwhile night had fallen and when Norbert saw that the demon
had not yet departed he commanded somewhat sadly that she
should be led back to her father. On the following morning she
was again brought to the mass. When he took oil' his alb and
other vestments, the demon seeing this clapped his hands and
cried out : *' Ah, ah, ah ! Now thou doest well ! All day thou
hast done nothing that has so pleased me. The day has passed
undisturbed, and thou hast accomplished nothing." Dissatisfied,
Norbert returned to his house and resolved to take no food
until the sick woman should be cured. In fact, he passed the
rest of the day and the night in fasting. As soon as day dawned
he prepared to say mass. The girl was once more brought and the
people hastened up to witness the combat between the priest and
the demon. Forthwith Norbert ordered two brethren to hold
the possessed fast not far from the altar; and when he came to the
Gospel she was led to the altar itself and several passages from the
Gospels were read over her head. The demon again roared with
laughter at this and when the priest afterwards elevated the Host he
cried out: "See how he holds his little god in his hands!" This
made the priest of God shudder, and strong in the might of the
Spirit he applied himself to attack the demon by prayer and torment
him. Then the latter, full of anguish, cried out by the mouth of
the girl: " I burn ! I burn !" Again the voice howled: "" I am
dying ! I am dying !" For the third time it uttered loud cries
and repeated many times over : " I will go forth ! I will go forth !
Let me go !" The two brethren held her strongly, but the evil
spirit would not let himself be bridled. Leaving behind him a
trail of unspeakably slinking urine he escaped, abandoning the
vessel which he possessed. She collapsed, was taken back to her
father's house, took food and was soon entirely restored to health. 1

Just as the saints cured the possessed during their lifetime,
these powers were continued after death. Amongst the
Miracula of the Emperor Henry the Saint (d. 1024.) are found
cures of possessed persons attributed to his body :

Three demoniacs, a man and two women . . . were cured,
who did not cease to blaspheme the name of Henry, and at length

1 Gorres, Die christliche Mystik, Rcgcnsburg, 1842, vol. iv, part i,
p. 332, from the Ada Sanctorum, June 0, c. viii, p. 83-1.

184 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

with horrible cries left the seats which they occupied. One of
them, more obstinate than the others, long resisted the invocation
of the holy name, when he knew that the remains were to be brought
near him. Then as if Henry was coming in person, he said that he
could not icmain. Immediately with a great clamour he left the
man \\hoiu he possessed. These things happened after mass on
the very day when the remains arrived. 1

. . . The demoniac woman had her hands tied with cords to the
place previously indicated and was prevented from moving although
she offered much resistance. The demon roared and writhed,
shouting, away from Henry ; then she was suddenly released from
her torment. It seemed to her, as she related to those present, that
she saw coming out of that place a white-haired personage with a
long beard dressed in royal garments who by threats and blows
drove away the evil spirit. 2

Finally one more example from the thirteenth century.
It is taken from the life of the Spanish saint Petrus Gonzalez
(1190-1246).

Pedro Perez de Villela . . . had a son obsessed by a demon
who for eleven consecutive days neither ate, drank nor slept.
Adjured by exorcisms, the demon replied that no one would cause
him to depart except Brother Pedro Gonzalez. The adolescent
was led to the sepulchre of the holy Father with bound hands
(rage would otherwise have prevented it). Prayers having been
said by those who stood round him, the demon there and then
withdrew. Maria Gonzalez of Valladercz was exceedingly tor-
mented by a demon. For four days she remained without eating,
drinking or speaking. When she was carried to the tomb of the
saint the demon was expelled and she was restored to complete
health. The daughter of Juan Pahiez of Tobcllum was possessed
for two years by a demon and tortured almost every day. Having
made a vow to the man of God she was at once delivered. The
wife of Pedro Juan of Paramos was demoniac for two years
and was cruelly toimented two, three, or even as many as five
times a day. The family having made a vow to St. Pedro, the demon
immediately left her. 3

The following case belongs to the fifteenth century. It
relates of St. Franfois de Paule (1416-1508):

Antonius Mirenus says that when he arrived a woman of Anzitola
was tormented by the evil spirit. She was surrounded, as is
customary, by a crowd of men. Then the demoniac began to
say: " Here is my enemy." The witness and many others turned
and saw coming Brother Francis who entered the sacristy
without paying any heed. And the following day when the
demoniac was in the church certain of the brethren of St. Francis
took upon themselves to conjure the evil spirit, who replied: " I
care for none of you, save for St. Francis." In the last resort she
was led into the sacristy where St. Francis was with certain noble-
men, namely this same witness and others. He began to adjure

1 Miracula S. Henrici Imperatoris (suppl. to the Life), Ada Sanc-
torum, July 3, vol. iii, p. 767.

2 Ibid., pp. 768 sq. 3 Ada Sanctorum, Aprilis, vol. ii, p. 390.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 185

the spirit and command him to leave the body of the poor creature,
which spirit answered St. Francis with many words, and was
obstinate, lie said that lie was the spirit of a woman who had
died in the time of the wars of Duke Jean, that is to say twenty
years before, and that in the beginning she had been a procuress
and woman of evil life. Francis replied: "Why did you not
confess ? You would not now be damned." At length after
numerous discussions this same witness saw the woman go out to
the sacristy delivered. She then returned home. 1

These examples from the Christian Middle Ages will
suffice. They should be taken in conjunction with the cases
already mentioned on p. 8. It is evident that they are
completely similar from whatever century they may come,
and one might readily be substituted for another. The
darker side of mediaeval religious life bears the impress of
the stability which characterized that period.

This is not merely true of Christian civilization; the
mediaeval Kabbala is also acquainted with possession. Bischoff
speaks as follows in his Einfiihrung in die judische Mystik: 2

Very interesting is the exorcism, according to Lurja, 3 of a spirit
by which a woman was possessed. The spirit was the soul of a
drunken Jew, who died without prayer and impenitent. Having
wandered for a long time it was permitted to him to enter into a
woman as she was in the act of blaspheming, and since that moment
the woman (an epileptic-hysteric) sufiered terribly. Lurja speaks
to the tormenting spirit and treats him as Christian exorcists
treat the devil ; he reprimands him, makes him tell his story, etc.
By means of the " Name " he at length obliges him to come forth
by the little toe of the possessed, which the spirit thus handled
does with his habitual vehemence. 4

I have gathered much less information about non-
European countries than about the European Middle Ages.
This results not only from my slight personal knowledge of
their literature but also from the comparative inaccessibility
of the non-European literature of that period, as well as its
lesser total extent. A story from Syria (ninth century) relates :

A certain man was walking in the street at night past one of the
tire- temples of the magi, which had some time previously fallen
into ruins, when devils in the form of black ravens leapt upon him,
entered into him, and brought on convulsions. 5

1 Acta Sanctorum, Aprilis, vol. i, p. 144.

2 Erich Bischoff, Die Kabbalah, Einjuhrung in die judische Mystik
und Geheimwissenschaft, Leipzig, 1903, pp. 87 sq.

3 The main representative of the ethical-ascetic tendency of the
Kabbala (1534-72).

4 Loc. cit., pp. 87 sq.

6 E. A. Wallis Budge, Thomas ofMarga, vol. ii, quoted by R. Camp-
bell Thompson: The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, London,
1903, vol. i, p. 41 (Luzac's Semitic Text and Translation Series, vol. xiv).

186 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

On possession in Northern Africa, Leo Africanus, who
towards 1492 visited the towns of that country, largely
Mohammedan, writes as follows:

There are in that country soothsayers of a kind called exorcists.
It is believed that they have in the highest degree the power of
curing the possessed, because now and then they succeed in doing so.
If they do not succeed, however, they get out of the dilliculty by
saying that the spirit is unbelieving (disobedient) or that it is" one
of the heavenly spirits. . . . They describe certain characters
and circles on the hand or on the forehead of the possessed and
perfume him with many odours. Then they conjure the spirit
and ask him how and through what part of the body he came, who
he is, and what is his name, after which they command him to come
forth. 1

It is very noteworthy that in the Christian Middle Ages
the spirit which speaks by the mouth of a possessed person
should always be a demon, a devil. In modern times this is
not so; possession still remains fairly frequent, but more and
more it is the spirits of the dead who speak in the possessed.
This clearly testifies to a certain weakening in demono-
logieal beliefs; men still believe in the existence of the devil
who in the interval has shrunk from a plurality of demons
to a single one but general opinion no longer takes sufficient
account of him to allow him to play an appreciable part in the
empirical life. It is only in spiritual establishments, especially
convents of nuns as well as in the epidemics of which we
shall speak shortly that the spirits which speak by the
mouth of the possessed arc still in the majority of cases
demons.

The earliest works on the diffusion of possession date
only from the time of the Renaissance.

Luther's influence does not seem to have been at all help-
ful; according to Kirchoff 3 his inflexible ideas long rendered
difficult the right knowledge and treatment of maladies of the
mind. lie regarded all mental affections as possession, 3 and
suicide as one of their consequences. In these circumstances
he cannot, of course, have rejected the interpretation of true
states of possession as such ; 4 he rather personally undertook

1 Leo Africanus, Delle Navigazioni, Raccolte de Ramuzio, vol. i>
Venice, 1613, quoted by B. Heyne, Ueber Beaessenfieitswahn, p. 80.

2 Kirchoff, Beziehungen des Damonen- und Hexenwesens zur deutschen
Irrenpflege, tk Allgemeine Zeitschrif t fiir Psychiatric," vol. xliv, pp. 829 sq.

3 Grisar, Luther, Freiburg, 1912, vol. ii, pp. 285 sq.

4 Luthers Tischredcn. Krlan^cr edition of the works of Luther
vol. lix, p. 289 and vol. Ix, pp. 1-60, 75-80, 80-176, 285.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 187

exorcisms of the possessed (1545). Here, as elsewhere, his
position is opposed to that of the detested Catholic Church,
and even runs counter to the doctrine of the apostles. Ec-
clesiastical exorcism appears to him a " display " of which
the devil is unworthy. He himself does not set to work with
exorcism, but with " prayer and contempt." Formerly, when
exorcisms were first introduced, wonders were necessary to
confirm the Christian doctrine; to-day this is no longer so.
God himself knows when the devil is to depart, and man
should not tempt God with these commands, but rather pray
without ceasing until the prayer is heard. 1

Amongst modern accounts, the epidemics of possession
are of particular interest. Hitherto we have only dealt with
isolated cases, but possession is not always manifested in
this manner. Just as other psychic epidemics have occurred
such as St. Vitus' dance (chorcornania) and the Children's
Crusade, possession has also manifested itself in epidemic
form, without, however, assuming the same dimensions; in
no case has it attacked more than some few dozen persons.
Almost all epidemics have, moreover, broken out in convents
of nuns or similar establishments where by reason of the close
and perpetual contact the danger of psychic infection is
particularly great. The ground was everywhere prepared by
the fear of the possessing spirit passing from the possessed
into the soul and body of the onlookers, and an idea of the
risk run by these latter may be gathered from the fact that
few exorcising priests remained entirely immune.

The available information on epidemics of possession
which have occurred since the Renaissance in civilized
Europe is collected in the work of L. F. Calmeil, 2 where early
sources have been thoroughly utilized and quoted at length,
and which is still authoritative on the subject. The work of
K. W. Ideler, 3 Leubuscher, 4 and P. Richer 6 is in turn based
on CalmeiPs researches. It contains, partly in abridged form,

1 Grisar, Luther, vol. iii, pp. 029 sq.

2 L. F. Calmeil, De lafolie consideree sous le point de vue pathologique,
philosophique et judiciaire, 2. vols., Paris, 1845.

3 K. W. Ideler, Versuch einer Theorie der religiosen Wahnsinns,
Halle, 1848, vol. i, chap. viii.

4 R. Leubuscher, Der Wahnsinn in den vier letzten Jahrhunderten,
Halle, 1848, pp. 80 sq.

5 P. Richer, iStudes cliniques sur la grande hysteric, Paris, 1885,
Supplement.

188 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

good accounts of several of these epidemics, and as the
documents are easily accessible I have for my own part decided
to give no descriptions.

So far as I am aware there are as yet no corresponding
researches dealing with the Middle Ages, owing no doubt to
the fact that the materials, where they exist, must lie buried
in manuscript form in the archives. Perhaps, moreover,
documents are generally more plentiful in the subsequent
centuries, thanks to the growth of interest in psychology since
the Renaissance of Learning and the continuous influence
of printing in facilitating and stimulating research. But
naturally it may also be that veritable epidemics were lacking
and only occurred after belief in the devil had reached its
height in Europe that is to say, in the time of the witch-
craft trials extending from the thirteenth to the eighteenth
century.

All the epidemics referred to in the following pages are
taken from Calmeil except those for which I have indicated
other sources. Those mentioned by him relate almost entirely
to convents of nuns and detailed accounts are available in
some instances. They took place at the following periods:

1491-1494, in a convent of nuns at Cambrai (county of
la Marche, near Hammone).

1551, at Uvertet (Grafschaft of Hoorn).

1550-1556, in the cloister of Saiiite Brigittc, near Xanten.

1552, at Kintorp, near Strassburg. The epidemic spread
like a patch of oil, and seized several inhabitants of the town
of Hammone.

1554, at Rome; an epidemic which affected eighty-four
persons, amongst whom were twenty-four baptized Jewesses. 1

1555, at Rome; eighty little girls in an orphanage.
1560-1564, at the Nazareth convent in Cologne. 2

1566, at the Foundling Hospital in Amsterdam: thirty
children (seventy according to another version) were attacked,
the majority being boys.

1590, thirty nuns were possessed near Milan.

1593, a small epidemic at Friedeberg, in Neumark. 3

1 Esquirol, Pathologic generate et sped ale et th&rapeutique des maladies
de resprit.

2 R. Leubuscher, loc. cit., pp. 80 sq.

3 A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, vol. ii, Leipzig, 1860,
p. 565.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 189

1594, eighty cases of possession at Friedeberg, Spandau
and other places in the Mark of Brandenburg.

1609-1611, at Aix, in the convent of Ursulines.

1613, at Lille, in the convent of Sainte Brigitte. The
possession of Aix had been heard of there, and several nuns
had on the occasion of a visit, seen cases in that town, by
reason of which one of them already began to feel herself
possessed.

1628, at Madrid in a convent of nuns.

1632-1638, in the convent of the Little Ursulines at
Loudun, whence the epidemic spread to several women of
the town and also to Chinon, Nimes and Avignon. In the
last-named town Cardinal Mazarin cleverly arrested the
progress of the epidemic by giving orders as soon as the first
case occurred that no publicity should be given to the pos-
sessed persons.

1642, in a convent at Louvicrs (eighteen sisters).

1652-1662, in a convent at Auxonne. 1

1670, at and around Mora (Sweden) amongst children.

1670, at Hoorn (Holland) in an orphanage, amongst
children of both sexes under twelve years old.

1681, around Toulouse; this budding epidemic came to
nothing owing to skilful measures taken by the authorities.

1687-1690, around Lyon (fifty sisters).

1732, in the district of Landes near Bayeux.

1740-1750 (it lasted ten years), in a convent at Unterzell,
in Lower Franconia: only ten nuns indubitably attacked. 2

In the nineteenth century several epidemics of possession
are also known:

1857-1862, at Morzines, a little village in a region of
Haute-Savoie remote from civilization: at least 120 people
were attacked.

1878, at Verzegnis, in Friuli.

1881, at Pledran, in the neighbourhood of St. Brieuc.

1881, at Jaca, in Spain. 3

The most famous of all these epidemics was that of Loudun.
The documents concerning it are exceedingly abundant, the

1 Horst, Zauberbibliothek, i, pp. 212 sq.; (A. Stoll, Suggestion, etc.,
2nd edit., p. 425).

2 Ibid., iii, p. 165, y, p. 203, etc.

8 For further details taken from the original documents, cf. Richer,
loc. cit., pp. 851-865.

190 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

most important being the Ilistoire des Diables de Loudun,
already mentioned more than once. 1

I have earlier called attention to the analogy between the
general run of cases of possession, at least when isolated, and
attacks of hysteria. Can this observation, about which doubt
is no longer possible, be acceptably generalized ? Have all
the possessed, even those affected in consequence of epidemics,
been hysterical ? Naturally an affirmative reply has often
been given, but we must approach the subject with scep-
ticism; there is very little evidence to substantiate such a
statement. At all events, the patients were not in all cases
hysterical before in the same way as they appear to have
been after the onset of possession. This state certainly gives
most people occasion to regard it as hysteria, but such a
diagnosis would only be justified if previous hysterical
symptoms had existed; the mere fact that a person is attacked
by a spiritual epidemic does not show that he is mentally
unsound. It should rather be recognized as evident that
psychically normal subjects may, when placed in a sufficiently
favourable environment, succumb to psychic infection. The
excitement and tension produced by the continual sight of
the possessed arid the fear of being oneself seized by the devil
may produce an autosuggestive state such that similar psychic
experiences begin to be manifested. No detailed researches
into the genesis of such a state of autosuggestion yet exist,
the conditions and chances of exact observation being as
unfavourable as well may be, but its reality cannot be doubted.
This acute suggestibility due to abnormal conditions is
therefore the soil on which possession springs up, for it would
be difficult to maintain that the possessed become hysterical
at the moment when they are psychically contaminated and
remain so until exorcism has been successfully accomplished,
a theory which we should only be driven to adopt if it could
be demonstrated that those who were attacked by the epidemic
really presented all the symptoms of hysteria and were not
simply and solely victims of certain epidemic phenomena of
imitation.

1 Cf. above, pp. 14, 51, etc. For a more complete study of the futile
nature of magic and the iniquitous witchcraft-trials, cf. the Acta Magica,
published by Johann Reichen, Halle, 1704. Finally, we should add
the already oft-quoted autobiography of the heroine and originator of
this epidemic: SORUT Jeanne dcs Anges, Superieure dcs Ursulines de
Loudun, Paris. 1887.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 191

It is evident that this subject bristles with problems
of mass-psychology which have not yet been subjected to
really adequate study.

According to Esquirol, the famous French psychiatrist
of the early nineteenth century, possession was often the
subject of legal proceedings at the time of the Reformation.
The devil was summoned " before a court of law, and the
possessed were condemned to be burnt upon a pile. Doubly
victims of the prevailing error, demonomaniacs were burned
both as bewitched and as possessed, after a confession had
been wrung from them that they had made a pact with the
devil." 1

This quotation is surprising. In the history of witch-
craft, so far as I have studied it, I have met with no case of
possession. Can it be that the explanation lies in a mere
confusion between witches and possessed persons, permis-
sible in the lay writer, but which we should not be asked
to tolerate in a scholar sucli as Esquirol ? His remarks
on witchcraft trials and the battle waged against them
transform this presumption into certainty. Moreover the
cases of " demonornania " which he has reported are not all
cases of possession in our sense of the world, but often mere
hallucination and delusion. The only connection between
witchcraft and possession lies in the fact that persons believing
themselves bewitched often seem forthwith to have pre-
sented symptoms analogous to those of possession.

The not infrequent cases of zooanthropy found in the early
Middle Ages show no slight resemblance to possession. The
persons affected believed themselves to be wild animals,
generally wolves (werewolves, lycanthropy), and behaved as
such. They took refuge in the forests, let their hair and
nails grow long, sometimes fell upon children whom they rent
and devoured, in short behaved like savage beasts. There
was also transformation into dogs (cynanthropy). But zoo-
anthropy differed from true possession in that it produced, so
far as we know, permanent states, whereas possession was
never manifested except in fits.

It is true that we occasionally meet transitory zooanthropic
states in epidemics of possession. Thus a writer, Dom Calmet,

1 Esquirol, DCS maladies mentalcs considerees sous le rapport medical*
hygttnique et medico-legal, Paris, 1838.

192 TIIE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

relates of an epidemic which had attacked a German convent
that the nuns believed themselves changed into cats, and at a
certain time of day mewed and behaved as such. 1
Another case is found in Luys :

It had sufficed for a hysterical girl to pass a few days in the
country for her to imitate in her fits the bark of big watchdogs
and smaller dogs which she had seen there. When she was seized
with a fit there was a curious succession of all sorts of barkings,
which she uttered involuntarily. 2

Ill Germany the influence, so noxious to civilization,
of belief in the devil, owes its defeat principally to Christian
Tomasius, who waged especial war against belief in witch-
craft.

Belief in possession found its chief critic in Johann
Salomon Semler, 3 the founder of the new Protestant theology.

Semler, who was the first seriously to tackle a survey of
the Bible from the historical point of view, sees in the state-
ments of the New Testament author relating to Jesus and
the possessed no doctrine of healing, but ideas which, like
many others, form part of the stock-in-trade of the time. He
also finds a metaphysical difficulty: the alleged substantial
indwelling of the devil appears to him impossible.

As early as 1767 Semler gauged the temper of his time
to be such that a complete exposition of the history of pos-
session would go far towards the general abolition of this
belief, in so far as it still existed :

If I desired to collect the thousands and thousands of stories
of possessed persons and their cure, it would be a vast labour and
would constitute a history of the devil in the Middle Ages. It
would be of relatively large proportions, but would infallibly pro-
duce a happy, profound and lasting impression on all readers,
inasmuch as they themselves, however simple-minded and credu-
lous, would judge that it must be far from the truth. The frightful
superstition which still brings forth many dark fruits would be very
rapidly and generally weakened thereby. 4

1 Esquirol, ibid. ; cf. also Calmeil, toe. cit.

2 Luys, fitudes de physiologic et de pathologic cerebrates, Paris, 1874,
p. 75. Taken from Briquet, Traitt clinique et therapeutique de rhysterie,
Paris, 1859, p. 322.

8 J. S. Semler, Commentatio de dwmoniacis quorum in Novo Testa"
mentofit mentio, 4th edit., Halae, 1779. By the same author: Umstand-
liche Untersuchung der ddmonischen Leute odcr sogenannte Besessenen
nebst Beantwortung einiger Angriffe, Halle, 1702.

4 J. S. Semler, Versuch einiger moralischer Betrachtungen iiber die
vielen Wunderkuren und Mirdkel in den alteren Zeiten zur Beforderung
des immer besseren Gebrauc/is der Kirchenhistorie, Halle, 1762, p. 25.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 193

Nicolai participated in the struggle against belief in
possession by his Allgemeine Deutsche Bibliothek, which
published many accounts of research on the subject of the
possessed and the miracles of the New Testament.

These two were naturally not alone, but found many
coadjutors.

The sceptical attitude of the enlightened and its social
repercussion seem to have resulted in a marked falling-off
in cases, readily explained by the auto-suggestive character
of these states.

The conquests of enlightenment were not lost again.
Schleiermacher, who was also profoundly hostile to demon-
ology, considers possession as a sickness. Like Semlcr he takes
liberties with any texts of the Gospels not in accordance with
this theory, explaining that Christ would not in a general way
have established the doctrine of the devil, but had merely made
use of prevailing ideas to exorcise demons, " for he was always
immediately intelligible and restricted himself to the use of
ideas of the accepted type." Demonology, by admitting the
existence of a great power of evil, must either imply a limita-
tion of the divine omnipotence or else make Satan and evil a
deliberate work of God, which is irreconcilable with the divine
essence. 1

The theologian Paulus, generally known as the adversary
of Schelling, conceived at least Jesus' apostrophe to the
demons at the moment of expulsion as a concession to the
morbid ideas of the possessed themselves, a concession to
which the doctor should lend himself for psycho-therapeutic
reasons; but in other cases Paulus could not avoid the con-
viction that Jesus Himself had shared these ideas. 2 In
Strauss we meet a completely critical impartiality and the
abandonment of all striving after novelty of interpretation.
He naturally rejects the theory of possession, and apart from
his general scruples about admitting the existence of devils
and demons, sees a further difficulty in the psycho-physical
relation of the soul and body. However it may be con-

1 Schleiermacher, Das Lcben Jesu, complete works, vol. vi., Berlin,
1864, pp. 342 sq. Also in: Der Christliche Glaube nnch den Grundsdtzen
der evaugelischen Kircheim Zusammenhang dargestellt, 44 and 55, ibid.,
vol. iii, Berlin, 1835, pp. 209-222.

2 Statement by Strauss in : Das Lcbcn Jesu, 3rd edit., vol. ii, Tubingen,
1839, pp. 12 sq.

13

194 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

ceived, " no one could ever imagine how the bond which
unites them can be loose enough for a strange consciousness
to push its way in, and, dislodging that which belongs to the
organism, take possession of the latter." 1 On the other hand,
of course, the orthodox opinion continued to prevail amongst
other theologians.

Strauss already and very rightly recognizes the curative
virtue of exorcism as autosuggestive, except that the word
autosuggestion is naturally not found in his works :

As the cause of such maladies was often really psychic or resident
in the nervous system which may be wrought upon to an incalculable
degree by the spiritual side, this psychological proceeding was
not completely fraudulent, but thanks to the conviction induced
in the patient that the demon possessing her would be unable for
long to hold out against a magic formula, release from the malady
was really effected. 2

In another place Strauss further admits a certain tele-
pathic action in Jesus' will:

If the sick person conceived Jesus as the Messiah, and if his con-
ception was acquired not merely according to rationalistic theory
by communication from without, but by a personal magnetic
sympathy, the words and will of Jesus to put the demons to High I
also passed into him with immediate force and efficacy. 3

Thanks to Semler, Schleiermacher and David Friedrich
Strauss, belief in possession has in the Protestant world
received its death-blow even if it is not completely dead.

Thus the general reaction of the romantics against the Age
of Enlightenment was partially effective as regards belief in
possession. In other words, Swabian romanticism of the
school of Schelling reverted to belief in spirits, a reaction
evidenced by the writings of Kerner and Eschenmaycr which
we have so often utilized (see above, pp. 9, 13, etc.). Its
principal representative in the camp of the Catholic Church is
Gorres. But these authors cannot have exercised a very
profound influence on the scientific views of the period : the
latter maintained the conviction that possession is an abnormal
psychic state and not the visitation of an individual by
spirits of any description. Truth to tell, this conviction did
not succeed in gaining a decisive victory; it rather seems
that the number of cases of possession rose again in regions
where they were once more taken seriously by persons in

1 Ibid., pp. 20 sq. 2 Ibid.* vol. ii, pp. 20 sq. 3 Ibid., p. 31.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 195

authority, showing particular increase in the very remote
province of Swabia which inclines to a transcendental faith.
I refer the reader to the publication issued by Kerner in the
years 1831-38: Blatter aus Prevorst.

From Bavaria comes Baader's case. 1

J. von Gorres in his My stile reports a case dating from 1830
in the diocese of Liittich. 2

In the forties of the nineteenth century occurs the case of
possession described by Pastor Blumhardt. This also comes
from Wiirtemberg. 3

In France the eminent psychiatrist Esquirol (1772-1840)
himself saw possessed persons and professes often to have
observed a strong smell which they exhaled. 4

Other examples of true possession in France are given in
the biography of a modern Catholic saint who died in 1859,
the cur6 of Ars, Jean-Baptistc-Maric Vianney. In his
biography published by Alfred Monnin, we read :

At different times and from various quarters there came to Ars
persons who, in a more or less evident fashion, were possessed.
Two of these unfortunates, a man and woman, arc known to every-
one in Ars ; they often came and almost always found at the feet of
Vianney relief and consolation in one of the most extraordinary
and frightful of states. 6

Colloquies between the cure and the possessing spirits
are reproduced in detail.

The Westminster Review reported in 1860 the case of a
nun in Paris who was possessed and had to be exorcised. 6

That possession is a perfectly well-known phenomenon in
England appears from the observations of Giraldus Cambrensis
who saw analogous states in Wales.

... A race of prophets who, when consulted, were agitated
and tortured like men possessed. Their first answers were in-
coherent, but the true revelations generally came to them in dreams
in which, they said, they had received in their mouths milk and
honey. 7

1 Cf. above, p. 14, 20 sq.

8 J. von Gorres, Die christliche Mystik, vol. iv, Regensburg, 1842,
p. 287 sq.

3 Cf. above, p. 15.

4 According to Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, vol. ii, Leipzig,
I860, p. 561.

5 A. Monnin, Vie du Curt d'Ars J. B. M. Vianney, Paris, vol. ii,
chap. iii.

6 According to A. Bastian, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 370.

7 Quoted by A. Bastian, Die Volker des ostlichen Asiens, vol. iii,
p. 295.

196 TIIE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Let us add to this a quotation taken by Bastian from
another English author:

The voice was often heard (1840). On one occasion it told them
that Mary's (Jobson of Sunderland) own spirit had left her body
and a new one had taken possession, making her frame a mere
instrument or as it were a speaking-trumpet. 1

The poet Walter Scott has written a little-known historical
survey of demonology in England, under the title, Letters
on Demonology and Witchcraft? but it really deals throughout
with magic and scarcely touches on possession.

An ecclesiastic on the Volga published in 1838 in the
Blatter aus Prevorst an account of cases of possession in the
interior of Slavonic Russia.

Amongst the Russians, and especially the peasantry, there are
astonishing psychological manifestations which may with good
reason be called demoniac. . . . The upshot of conversations
which I have had with an enlightened German who, knowing
Russian perfectly, carries on a great trade with the Russians is as
follows :

These demoniacs fall with or without warning into a fit, have
violent convulsions and generally break out into blasphemy.
They cannot go into the churches without falling into this unhappy
state immediately after the reading of the Gospel, and each divine
word, each spiritual exhortation, every prayer throws them into a
furious rage which is expressed by outrages and maledictions on
God and Christ. When the fit has passed they are conscious of
their deadly sin, are afflicted thereby and willingly castigate
themselves. These unfortunate people number quite fifty, both of
the male and female sex. They have a sickly look. The Russians
call them the "tainted" (Verdorbcne). At the consecration of a
new Russian Church, when the bell is rung outside amongst
the crowd to announce that the Gospel is being read, more than
fifty men and women, old and young, will drop down and fall into
this terrible state. . . .

A father whose daughter, aged thirteen years, had fallen into
this state spoke thus to the evil spirit during the fit: " What evil
has my daughter done that you should seize her thus ? She is a
young and tender child." As if an evil demon made use of her
mouth she replied : " Yes, but the young creature pleases me and
I will not let her go." 3

An author quoted by Bastian in 1875 relates the following
of Greece :

A very common complaint amongst these people (of Ithaca in
the Ionian Isles) is hysterics, which appear in an infinite variety
of shapes, often producing such extravagant gestures as to make

1 Ibid., p. 301, from the account of Dr. Reid Clanny.

2 Sir Walter Scott, Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, Murray's
Family Library, 1830.

3 Blatter aus Prevorst, ed. by Justinus Kerncr, coll. 20, Stuttgart,
1838, pp. 173 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 107

the ignorant believe the patient possessed of the devil. In these
cases the priest is called to frighten the demons and to send them
to their lurking-places. 1

From the American continent information concerning
possession has only reached me in extremely slight quantity.
For the time being it is only possible to wonder whether this
is mere chance or whether possession in its usual forms has
really been rare in America. The substantial mass of docu-
ments on states analogous to possession in that country does
not lead us to suppose that conditions have become so
unfavourable to the genesis of true possession. The strongly
positive trend of American Christianity must also be con-
sidered, and I should be inclined for this reason to think that
possession was not rare in the early days of the settlers, and that
if the sources of North American social history were carefully
explored they would afford divers proofs of this. Such re-
search would, however, only be fruitful if carried out on the
spot, for early American literature is well known to be only
very sporadically represented in the libraries of Europe. This
is particularly true of anything bearing on the religious life,
and Eduard Meyer, for example, could not have written in
Europe his History of the Mormons? For the moment there
is therefore a lacuna here.

A piece of evidence concerning early America which is
not without interest is found in Scott's above-mentioned
Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft; it enables us to obtain
a glimpse of a prevailing mental constitution favourable to
possession.

The first case which I obsene, was that of four children of a
person called John Goodwin, a mason. The eldest, a girl, had
quarrelled with the laundress of the family about sonic linen
which was missing. The mother of the laundress, an ignorant,
testy, and choleric old Irishwoman, scolded the accuser; and
shortly after, the elder Goodwin, her sister, and two brothers
were seized with such strange diseases, that all their neighbours
concluded they were bewitched. They conducted themselves
as those supposed to suffer under maladies created by such in-
fluence were accustomed to do. They stiffened their necks so
hard at one time that the joints could not be moved, at another
time their necks were so flexible and supple, that it seemed the
bone was dissolved. They had violent convulsions, in which
their jaws snapped with the force of a spring-trap set for vermin.

1 Quoted by A. Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an der Loanga
Kiiste, vol. ii, Jena, 1875, p. 204 note.

8 Ed. Meyer, Ursprung und Geschichte der Mormonen, Halle, 1912.

198 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Their limbs were curiously contorted, and to those who had a taste
for the marvellous, seemed entirely dislocated and displaced.
Amid these distortions, they cried out against the poor old woman,
whose name was Glover, alleging that she was in presence with
them, adding to their torments. The miserable Irishwoman, who
hardly could speak the English language, repeated her Pater Noster
and Ave Maria like a good Catholic; but there were some words
which she had forgotten. She was therefore supposed to be unable
to pronounce the whole consistently and correctly and condemned
and executed accordingly.

But the children of Goodwin found the trade they were engaged
in to be too profitable to be laid aside, and the eldest, in particular,
continued all the external signs of witchcraft and possession. Some
of these were excellently calculated to flatter the self-opinion and
prejudices of the Calvinist ministers, by whom she was attended,
and accordingly bear in their very front the character of studied
and voluntary imposture. The young woman, acting, as was
supposed, under th< influence of the Devil, read a Quaker treatise
with ease and apparent satisfaction; but a book written against
the poor inoffensive Friends, the Devil would not allow his victim
to touch. She could look on a Church of England Prayer-Book
and read the portions of Scripture which it contains, without
difficulty or impediment ; but the spirit which possessed her threw
her into fits if she at tempted to read the same Scriptures from the
Bible, as if the awe which it is supposed the fiends entertain for
Holy Writ, depended, not on the meaning of the words, but the
arrangement of the page, and the type in which they were printed.
This singular species of flattery was designed to captivate the
clergyman through his professional opinions. 1

It is clear that this story corresponds completely to
European stories of possession. Whether Scott has any
reason to recognize wilful fraud is the more difficult to dis-
cover as he does not give the source of this episode. But even
if such were the case, there would obviously not be spon-
taneous invention on the part of the girl, but imitation of the
phenomena of possession, well known even at that time, as
the story shows, in America. Another story related by Scott 2
demonstrates that similar phenomena also appeared there in
epidemic form.

Yet one more note on an American case in the nineteenth
century. It is taken from Bastian:

Dr. Gray (a homoeopathic doctor in New York) relates in the
New York Journal (1852) that a spirit which tormented a black-
smith had told him " that until three weeks previously it had lived
in the body of a naughty boy, and that while awaiting its return
to hell it desired to amuse itself with this young man. 19 But it
promised not to molest him further and he thenceforward refused
any further conversation. 8

1 W. Scott, he. a'/., pp. 421 sq. 2 Ibid., pp. 422 sq.

8 A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, vol. ii, pp. 558 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 199

These are the only cases of typical possession which I
have as yet encountered in American literature. It is the
more probable that their real number is not negligible, since
modern American spiritualist literature contains extremely
numerous accounts of similar states.

(ii.) IN THE PRESENT

Let us now deal with the more recent past. 1

In the modern civilization of Central Europe there are
three spheres in which belief in spirits still survives, as founded
on possession.

The first is the strict Catholicism which takes its stand
chiefly upon the past but also admits modern cases.
" Why," asks Taczak, " must the Catholic firmly believe that
possession is still possible to-day?" And he replies: "Be-
cause the New Testament accounts of the words and acts of
Jesus and His disciples establish as an indubitable fact that
possession has existed in a numerous succession of cases and
because that is the Church's conviction." 2

Current Catholic views on possession have recently been
the subject of a systematic general review in a large volume
by Johann Smit : De dcemoniacis in historia evangelical

At bottom the dernonological theory of primitive Christian
times is immutably perpetuated by the Catholic Church.
The change is only in the effective influence exercised by this
conception, which has diminished. Affections which would
formerly have been considered as demoniacal are now re-
garded as " natural," and there is a general weakening in the
conviction that there exist demons and spirits of the dead
who may be a source of danger to the living. Writings on
practical theology show a unanimous tendency to warn the
reader that possession should not be too readily admitted.

A case of possession is always a matter for the higher
ecclesiastical authorities; it is, in a word, an event which
has become very rare.

" When a state of possession declares itself as probable," says
a modern Catholic pastoral theology, "the whole case should be

1 Naturally all conclusions refer to the pre-war period.

2 Th. Taczak, Ddmonische Besessenheit, Dissertation, Minister,
1903, pp. 10 sq.

8 Joh. Smit, Disertatio exegetico-apologetica, Romae, 1913 (in Scripta
Pontificii Iiistituti Biblici).

200 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

reported 1o the bishop and it should be left to his judgment whether
the grand exorcism should be applied. Every priest has the right
to use the simple exorcisms ordained in baptism and the other
ecclesiastical benedictions without authorization by his superiors.
But for major exorcism when it is to be accomplished publicly
and solemnly, as well as for Eawrcittnius in satanam ct angclos apos-
taticos, recommended by Pope Leo XIII (d.d. 18 Maii, 1890) episcopal
authorization is always indispensable." 1

" It is not," says Krieg, " unbelieving doctors who put us on our
guard against credulity, but grave and pious men. And in recom-
mending extreme prudence they do no more than repeat what
theologians and eminent Churchmen like Bona have said. The
prescriptions of the Church recommend it no less." 2

And the Austrian Schubert expresses himself similarly :

It cannot be contested that possession was often admitted when
the state in question had an entirely natural cause. 3

The best general survey from the modern Catholic point of
view in all its aspects is found in the widely used Ilandbuch
der Pastor almedizin of Stohr, in which we read :

The possibility of maladies caused by demoniacal influences
must be accept ed by every Catholic believer as a fact beyond
doubt. At the time of Christ it was a revealed truth: later the
greatest doctors of the Church and her legitimate organs unani-
mously declared that this conception must be considered as an
article of faith. So far as the present is concerned I believe, with-
out being a professional dogmatist, that from the point of view of
Catholic orthodoxy no one can advocate the contrary view. There
are also demoniacal maladies radically different in their etiology
from the pathological manifestations due to natural influences,
and these human maladies arc due, under God's will, to super-
natural forces and the might of evil spirits. If we add yet a second
thesis to this definition, namely, that the remedies of the Catholic
church, sacraments arid particularly exorcism, should be regarded
as the most fruitful and the best authorized (although not in-
fallible), we shall have exhausted in this difficult question the
strict truths of the established faith, that is to say, what are for
us the indubitable facts. As for the solution of many enigmas
which the subject still presents, those curious for knowledge will
have to seek it in the vast field of conjecture. Are demoniacal
maladies frequent in our own time ? In the first centuries when
the etiological knowledge of doctors was even slighter, if possible,
than their therapeutic science, whole categories of slightly obscure
maladies of a strange and at that time surprising character were
summarily attributed to the influence of a supersensual power. 4

These lines give an excellent, r6sum6 of the whole modern
Catholic doctrine. No essential point is lacking. The reality

1 J. E. Pruner, Lehrbuch der Pastoraltheologie, Paderborn, 1900,
vol. i, p. 267.

2 Aug. Stohr, Ilandbuch der Pastoralmedizin, 4th edit., revised and
dited by Ludwig Kannainuller, Freiburg, 1900, p. 425.

8 The two cases observed by Stohr himself are found i6i</.,pp.326sq.
4 Ibid., pp. 426 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 201

of possession is not brought into doubt, at least as regards the
past when it seems, given the inspired character of the
Gospels, to be established by the cases related therein. So
far as the present and even the more recent past are con-
cerned, an effort is made to approximate to the non-Catholic
point of view while still recognizing for dogmatic reasons
the possibility of possession by evil spirits; belief therein is
even required, but concrete individual cases are generally
regarded with scepticism. It is obvious that such an attitude
is one of compromise.

Stohr himself has, as he relates, during twenty years of
practice in hospitals and amongst private patients, had only
two opportunities of forming an opinion at the request of
a director of conscience on supposed possession. In both
instances he reached in his medical capacity the conviction
that there was no possession but a nervous condition. One
of the two cases it is related by him in fairly full detail
is so closely analogous to the ancient cases of possession that
it may safely be said that in earlier times it would immediately
have been taken for one. 1

On what authority does Stohr arrive at a different
judgement ? Simply the fact that the possessed, on approach-
ing any object which he considers as sacred, reacts by an
access of rage, whereas according to the doctrine of the
Church he ought only so to react to a genuinely consecrated
object. In the truly demoniacal state the possessed, or
rather the demon who is within him, ought to be capable of
distinguishing hidden or completely invisible objects. It is
only to authentic sacred things that the real demon responds
by an outburst of fury. Now it may be said that if this
criterion had been applied with full rigour in earlier times the
Church would never have established a case of true pos-
session.

It is the more surprising that Stohr for his own part
emphasizes that a devil may be capable of imitating all sorts
of maladies; there would therefore, in a general way, be no
medical criterion to distinguish natural maladies from those
attributable to the demon. If, however, when it comes to
the point he refuses in spite of this to recognize concrete

1 Cornelius Kricg, Wissenschaft der Seclenleitung. Eine Pastoral-
thcologie in 4 Biichern, vol. i, Freiburg, 1904, p. 180.

202 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

suspected cases, such an attitude evidently arises from his
sceptical turn of mind and would not have been condoned in
him by any previous ecclesiastical writer. 1

But the survival, at least in principle, of belief in
possession means that the ground remains to some extent
always prepared for the manifestation of such states. As
a matter of fact they have become very rare in the Catholic
world, for demonological ideas are no longer in the forefront
of consciousness there and even retain no more than a
theoretical value, having lost any particular importance
in concrete.

The second spiritual territory where belief in possession is
cherished is the right wing of Protestantism. As Schlcier-
macher was not successful in winning a sweeping victory,
the same was true as regards negation of belief in the devil
and consequently in possession. Even in 1894 a conference
on the treatment of the insane gave rise to a lively debate
between several ecclesiastics and psychiatrists on non-organic
diseases of the mind in general and their interpretation in
the sense of demonological ideas, and this was subsequently
followed up in writing. 2 We might pursue the study of
conservative Protestantism further, but should always meet
with the same conceptions.

Finally the third domain where, at least in certain
instances, this belief is maintained, is spiritualism, consti-
tuting as it does in the great civilized countries the sphere
in which states of possession are still freely manifested.
These states are frankly cultivated by spiritualism. As they
are chiefly provoked and voluntary we shall study them in
the following chapter.

Cases of possession of recent date are reported in France
by Poulain who asseverates that he has personally assisted in
the exorcism of the possessed. 3 The reader is moreover re-
ferred to several cases related above. 4

As regards Germany I know no recent cases except in the
south, in Wiirtemberg, well known in the romantic period

1 Franz Schubert, Grundzuge der Pastoraltheologie, Gratz, 1913,
p. 468.

* Georg Hafner, Die Damonischen des neuen Testaments, Frankfurt
a.M., 1894, Hans Laehr, Die Damonischen des neuen Testaments (a reply
to Pastor Hafner), Leipzig, 1894.

8 A. Poulain, La Plenitude des Graces. * Pp. 107 sq., 109 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 208

for prevalence of possession, and in Catholic Bavaria. In
1911 two fresh cases were notified to me from Wiirtemberg
by a student, but unhappily it was not possible to go and study
them.

To^Bavaria, at the^endjof the nineteenth century, belongs
a case already cited more than once (pp. 15 and 23 sq.), the
M. case.

Schilder has described in some detail a case of possession
observed in 1911 at a neurological clinic in Halle 1 in which the
patient conversed in a striking manner with the spirit pos-
sessing her. The case had no religious character. Schilder
quite rightly does not consider it as hysteria, but as " ap-
proximating to schizophrenia. " 2 Treatment by hypnotism
in Janet's manner was clearly not tried, neither was exorcism.
Nevertheless it is impossible to relinquish the attempt to
cure such patients by suggestion, however practised. What
would have become of Janet's patients if he had not treated
them by modernized exorcism ?

From Italy we have already cited a case.

In Europe possession is still encountered to-day in Russia,
that is to say in the country where enlightened ideas have
penetrated less than anywhere else into the lower strata of
society. States of civilization are found there which in
western Europe have long since receded into the
past.

First, here is an account of possession from the north of
Russia, amongst the Samoyedes. It comes from a learned
Italian of the name of Cerletti. Unhappily I have not been
able to lay hands on the original, but a detailed report exists
in the Journal de psychologic normalc ct pathologiquc,
from which I have borrowed the following particulars:

In the most northerly part of European Russia, particularly in
the government of Archangel on the banks of the Lower Pechora,
live Samoyedes ; the men are almost entirely engaged in reindeer-
breeding, hunting and fishing ; the women perform the agricultural
work neglected by the men. Education, very limited and derived
entirely from pictures in the holy books, favours the development

1 Paul Schilder, Selbstbewusstsein und Persdnlichkeitsbewusstsein.
Mpnographien aus dem Gesamtgcbiete der Neurologic und Psychia-
tric, ed. by A. Alzheimer and M. Lewandowsky, No. 9, Berlin, 1014,
pp. 247 sq.

Ibid., p. 249.

204 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

of somewhat singular superstitious beliefs. Nevertheless the men
are intelligent and active, showing, as do also their wives, a vivacious
and expansive character in contrast to the brooding and fatalistic
melancholy of the rest of the Russian population. The sanitary
conditions are satisfactory, but for a long time past there has been
observed in this population a special form of morbidity, particularly
characterized by polymorphous convulsive fits, and known by the
name of Ik6ta or Wistian i.e., sobbing.

Ikdta attacks, almost exclusively, the majority of married women ;
it is only found very exceptionally amongst men, children, old
men and girls. As a general rule the girl of the Lower Pechora
has shown no neuropathic disturbance up to the time of her
marriage, when shortly afterwards, or usually on her wedding day,
she is seized with a violent attack of convulsions.

The determining causes of these fits are very various. The
spectacle of another woman in the throes of convulsions, the mere
sight of a person or a given thing, the sound of a certain word, the
inhaling of the smoke of a cigarette. Generally the fit is preceded
by various symptoms : a feeling of giddiness, a feeling of constric-
tion in the throat, oppression in the upper part of the chest or in
the diaphragm, torpor in all the limbs. Some subjects declare
that they have the sensation of a rat running all over the body and
inflicting on the limbs innumerable and very painful bites.

Then comes the fit: a shrill cry, u fail, general convulsions,
violent contortions of the limbs and trunk; the eyes roll in all
directions, the teeth arc ground, the hands are spasmodically
contorted, tear the hair arid rend the clothing. In other cases
the subject flings herself upon the bystanders as if to attack them,
upsets everything she can lay hands on, breaks the furniture
and utters devilish cries. Sometimes during the fit she cannot
speak a word; she emits a low, inarticulate bellow or a strident
cry; in other eases she utters the most atroeious abuse, making use
of obscene expressions. In less grave forms the patient can speak
but docs not answer questions, or else weeps and gives vent to
frenzied laughter. In certain eases the fit is reduced to the
emission of violent and entirely characteristic sobs. Sometimes
the woman falls into an eestasy or begins to predict the future,
speaking in the name of the demon who has taken possession of her.

After the fit, which is of variable duration, there is a return to
the normal state; nothing survives except at most a slight heavi-
ness of the head, and no memory remains of what has occurred
during the attack.

These morbid manifestations are connected with the prevailing
superstitions of the country : the supernatural affection is a conse-
quence of witchcraft; the demon enters into the body of his victim
where he works a spell and brings on the various symptoms of the
Ikdta. Wizards can produce all sorts of maladies notably mad-
ness, but the Ikota is particularly communicated to married women
and the most propitious day is the bridal day. In order to effect a cure
the offices of another wizard arc necessary, together with pilgrimages
and prayers. But usually the possessed continues to suffer from
the same fits until an advanced age.

In the majority of cases the somatic stigmata of hysteria are
not found, nor is the so-called hysterical character. A very close
pathogenic connection exists between the form of the morbid
condition and the superstitious idea ; all the other etiological factors
(natural conditions of nourishment, mode of life, etc.) may be

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 205

This malady clearly consists in epidemic hysterical attacks with
the extremely complex somatic symptomatology proper to the
hysterical form of demoniacal possession, or hystero-demonopathyi

I have it from a reliable Russian source that there is known
throughout the rest of Russia a malady of the name of ikdta
or klikuschestvo. It generally consists in a peculiar pro-
longed and obviously obsessive hiccupping (ikota means
nothing more than hiccupping), but may, in more serious
cases, come to neighings, blcatings or other animal cries.
The victims are also constrained to shout insults and use
filthy words, and are subject to twitchings and contrac-
tions, wild writhings upon the ground, etc. In short, the
picture is exactly the same as that offered by the possessed
of western Europe. The malady affects only or almost
exclusively women and is very common. It is considered
as a form of possession. Naturally it only attacks the un-
educated lower classes and is even characteristic of the
particularly ignorant peasantry; it is a peasant woman's and
not a townswoman's complaint. In other words, possession
which is already almost considered as extinct in central and
western Europe, is still very prevalent in Russia where it may
readily be observed in vivo. We may confidently prophesy
that its days there are also numbered; as the ideas more
prevalent in the towns spread to the steppes it will rapidly
retreat in a few decades, provided obviously that the general
ideas of to-day concerning the life of the mind continue in
the future to follow the same paths as heretofore and that a
wave of spiritualism does not spread over the earth inclining
it once more to belief in the existence of true possession. In
such a case the remains of the old European demonology could
hardly maintain their present rate of retreat.

The autosuggestive character of the ikota is clearly attested
by the manner in which this state is cured: by holy
pictures, the exercises of the Church, the putting on of harness,
or finally by immersion in holy-water on the day of the
Epiphany. 2

1 Ugo Cerletti, Sulle recenti concezioni delV isteria e della suggestions
a proposito di una endemia diposessione demoniaca, in " Aimali de 1* Insti-
tute psichiatrico della Universita di Roma," vol. iii, no. 1, 1004. De-
tailed summary in " Journal de psychologic normale et pathologique,"
vol. ii, 1905.

2 V. I. Mansikka, in the article " Demons and Spirits " of the Encyclo-
paedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iv, p. 626.

206 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The German newspapers report the following recent case
of possession from Russia.

Batjushka Joann Kronstadtski is an illustrious Russian priest
whom the orthodox population regard as a saint. Belief in the
miraculous power of his prayers is so widespread that there is a
constant stream of men moving towards Kronstadt to seek in
prayer with the holy priest the cure of infirmities and help in need.
His self-abnegation and the force of his personality, radiating
confidence and hope, make this priest a phenomenon far beyond
the ordinary. According to the St. Petersburg Gazette the metro-
politan police headquarters have had intelligence of the following
case. A short time ago a sick woman arrived in Petersburg. Her
malady manifested itself in the fact, for example, that on hearing
the church bells wherever she might be she at once fell down, began
to cry out in a wild and terrible voice and was bathed in sweat.
The same befell her every time a church procession took place,
and from these signs her sickness was judged to be possession.
She suffered from it for three years, all the while losing strength,
to such an extent that her relations decided to have recourse to the
last hope: to solicit the prayers of Father Joann of Kronstadt
for the sufferer. To this end she was brought to St. Petersburg
where on the 14th of March Father Joann celebrated the liturgy.
During the administration of the Lord's Supper to the congregation
she was led up to communicate also. She was immediately over-
come by a fit, uttered cries, tore her face, and three strong
men had to hold her. The priest Joann placed his hand on the
sick woman, fixed on her a steadfast look and said in a loud and
firm voice: " In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ I command
thee, Satan, to come forth 1" The priest repeated these words
several times. In the church, filled with devout worshippers,
fell a deep silence. Nothing was heard except the words of power
of the revered father: " Come forth, and come quickly 1" Then
the possessed uttered inarticulate cries and called out: " I am
coming forth immediately I" This lasted for about three minutes.
Then the cries ceased and the sick woman, shut-eyed and gasping,
fell into the arms of those accompanying her. Father Joann turned
towards her and said three times: " Open your eyes !" The sick
woman executed the command slowly and with great effort. The
father furthermore commanded her several times to cross herself.
The first time she did it with a struggle, but afterwards more easily.
After putting several questions to the woman the father gave
orders to release her, saying: "Leave her, she is now completely
cured I" and offered her the holy communion which she piously
accepted. Later he caused her to be led forward once more and
told her that she might thank God and remain in good health.
This marvellous cure made the most profound impression on those
present. 1

From Slavonic Russia we shall now pass to eastern
European Judaism. There too possession does not seem
rare even to-day. Given the insistence on orthodox outlook
which still persists in Russian Jewry together with marked

1 Quoted by B. Heyne, Ueber Besessenheitswahn, Padcrborn, 1004*
p. 186.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 207

exclusiveness towards the outside world, it is really not
surprising that amongst these people, who represent as it
were a survival of bygone antiquity within the modern world,
possession should be far more prevalent than in western
Europe.

We possess an interesting narrative from a former member
of the Russian ghetto, Jacob Fromer, 1 a Russo-Polish Jew,
who was granted German nationality at the special request
of the last German Emperor. In his autobiography, extremely
interesting in other respects also, he gives us a sort of com-
panion-picture to that of Solomon Maimon who shared his
fate, a remarkable description of possession in the Polish
ghetto :

... A crowd assembled. " The dibbuk (possessed) is coming."
A big, strong girl with disordered hair and an agitated face was
rather dragged than led in by men and women. She begged to be
taken back to the house and reiterated incessantly " I feel better
already."

Sights like this were not new to me. I had already often seen
possessed persons at home and knew their fate. . . .

The present case interested me very particularly. I had, as a
matter of fact, learnt that the spirit inhabiting this girl was a
bachour of great Talmudic learning. Having become an Epicurean
through reading heretical works he had lied secretly from Betham-
idrasch and succeeded in reaching Germany. There his co-religion-
ists cared for him and enabled him to study. But in the course
of time he revealed himself as so profound a heretic that it became
too much for the German Jews and his protectors withdrew from
liim. He struggled for some time in the bitterest distress and was
iinally obliged to give up his studies. He took to drink, frequented
dubious society, and was finally imprisoned. After that he was
packed off to his own home. His parents would have nothing to
do with a son who spoke German und dressed in European style.
His co-religionists insulted, despised, and stoned him. In despair
he went to the local clergyman and was baptized. But neither
could or would the Christians do anything for him. Sunk in
depravity and a physical and moral wreck through alcohol, suffering
and privations, he was incapable of sustained work. The only
help given to him took the form of permission to sit before the
church amongst the beggars and eke out his miserable existence
with alms. In the end he was unable to endure this life of shame :
he drowned himself.

When I heard the story of this unfortunate man related I was
seized with a painful feeling which lirst became clear to me much
later through the knowledge of the Buddhist saying: " Tat twam
asi " (so art thou thyself). I knew that this girl was sick, deranged
in mind, and that she had nothing to do with the dead man's
destiny. Nevertheless mass-suggestion had so wrought upon me

1 Jacob Fromer, Ghetto- Ddmmcrung. Eine Lebensgesehichte, 3rd
edit., Leipzig, 1812, pp. 64 sq.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

that I was anxious to learn by her mouth something about the
poor wretch's fate.

The wide and spacious room where the girl had been brought
and seated on a chair in the middle was filled with the serried
ranks of the crowd. I had a good place, from which I could see
and hear everything. She sat down, languid and exhausted, with
haggard, fearful eyes, and from time to time lamented, begging
to be taken back to the house because she was afraid of the wonder-
rabbi. Her voice, weak and beseeching, inspired sympathy and
compassion. Suddenly she sprang up and made efforts to remain
standing.

" Silentium strictissinntm !"

I could not believe my ears. It was a real man's voice, harsh
and rough, and the onlookers affirmed that it was exactly the voice
of the mcshmimmed (baptized man). Not one of us knew the mean-
ing of these words. We only knew that it was a strange language
which the sick woman understood as little as ourselves. " Ladies
and Gentlemen," continued she. . . . Then she pronounced a
long, confused discourse with High- German turns of phrase, of
which I understood only that it greeted a festive gathering and
wished to draw attention to the meaning of the feast.

She broke off in the midst of the speech and burst into a frightful
laugh which made us shudder to the marrow. ... I was as if
thunderstruck.

A murmur arose: " The rabbi is coming !"

The crowd drew aside respectfully to make room for the new
arrival. A short, rotund little man came in sight, dressed from
head to foot in white. Around the long white silk talar which fell
to his feet was swathed a wide white sash, and his head was covered
with a white silk strcimcl (fur-trimmed hat). The full cheeks hung
like peaches in his face with its complexion of mingled blood and
milk, while long and bushy eyebrows overhung his eyes. In one
hand he held a shofar (horn) and in the other a loulaf (frond of
palm). He entered at a run, chanting Hebrew verses, and followed
by a secretary and servants, until, arrived in front of the girl, he
handed the loulaf and shofar to the secretary and lifted up his
eyebrows with his hands. From his coal-black eyes shone a light
like the sparkle of a diamond; the girl was unable to sustain his
look, and lowered her eyes in confusion. Two lighted tapers were
brought and the rabbi began his address. " In the name of the
42 letters of the God with long sight, which has indeed 110 end;
in the name of the lesser and greater celestial families; in the
name of the chiefs of the bodyguard: Sandalfon, Uriel, Akatriel
and Usiel, in the name of the potent Metateron surrounded with
strength, awe-inspiring, vouchsafing salvation or damnation, I
adjure thee, abject spirit, outcast from hell, to reply to my words
and obey all my commands !"

Stifling heat prevailed in the room. Through the wide, high
windows fell the rays of a burning August sun which flooded the
rapt faces of the crowd.

" What is thy name ?" the rabbi asked the sick woman in a loud,
harsh voice. " Esther," replied the girl softly and faintly, trem-
bling all over. "Silence, thou Chazufe" (impudent woman), cried
the rabbi. " I asked not thee but the dibbuk."

There was a long silence.

" W T ilt thou, or wilt thou not, reply ?" resumed the rabbi,
making as if to strike the girl with the loulaf. " Do not strike
me 1" implored the man's voice. fct I will reply." " What is thy

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 209

name?" "Christian Davidoviteh." " Jemach shemo" (may his
name be blotted out), spat the rabbi stopping his ears. " I would
know thy Jewish name." " Chaim." ' ' And what was thy mot her's
name ?" " Sarah." " Chaim ben Sarah," commanded the rabbi,
" relate what occurred after thy death."

The dibbuk told a long story. After death he had been cast
out of hell with insults and opprobrium. He wandered for a long
time, but could no longer remain without habitation and finally
entered into a pig.

" How like a meshoummed !" murmured the entranced on-
lookers.

That was not too bad. When the pig was slaughtered he passed
into a horse, where he had a very poor time. It was a draught-
horse, which had to work hard, receive many blows, and never eat
his fill. At length he decided to try man. The occasion was
propitious. He knew that Ksthcr had' illicit relations with a young
man, and watched the moment, when she abandoned herself to his
embraces; at that instant he was permitted to enter into her. He
ended his narrative by begging not to be driven out; in life and
after death he had suffered so greatly that they should have pity
on him and grant him a little rest.

This prayer appeared to make no impression on the rabbi. With
an air of asperity he took the shofar from the hand of his secretary
and put it to his mouth. But what is this ? In spite of all his
efforts he was unable to make any sound. Some minutes passed
in anxious waiting. The rabbi put forth all his strength, sweat
poured from his brow, and still 110 sound was heard. He gave up
the attempt and remained for some instants plunged in deep
meditation. Suddenly his face cleared; an inspiration of genius
appeared to flash across his brow; he whispered something in his
secretary's car, and the hitter went away quietly and returned
with a piece of wax. The rabbi snatched it from his hands and
stopped the two openings of the refractory instrument. He tested
carefully whether the closure was complete, then burst into a
triumphant laugh, saying: "Now see, accursed Satan, how thou
canst get out !"

He raised the other shofar to his mouth. Now everything
went smoothly.

Tekio ! and a clear, forthright blast rang out.
Teruo I A resounding noise rent the air.
Shevorim ! The notes gushed forth in rapid succession.
Tekio gedolo ! This time it was a long and piercing sound.
Abbelu Srallok! burst forth the man's voice suddenly with the
same strident laughter as before.

Abbela was the rabbi's name; Srallok is a course insult. The
rabbi changed colour and shook with rage and excitement ; he had
never yet encountered such impudence. But he recovered his self-
control rapidly, seized the loulaf and struck the girl violently in
the face with it. Then an incredible thing happened: the girl had
freed her hands with lightning speed and before anyone could
prevent her she dealt the rabbi two resounding boxes on the ears.

A panic followed. The frightened crowd uttered cries and oaths,
storming and weeping with excitement. Never had the like been
seen. Nevertheless strong arms had seized the sick girl, the rabbi
struck her so furiously with the loulaf that her face streamed with
blood; she collapsed with a terrible cry and became unconscious.
At this moment a noise was heard at the window as if it had been
struck by a small stone. Everyone rushed towards it and dis-

14

210 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

covered in one pane a hole of the size of a pea through which aper-
ture the spirit had fled. The girl was earried out.

After this scene I was as if transformed. I had come there as
an unbeliever, an atheist, ostensibly to study on the spot super-
stition, religious dementia. The experiences of an hour had
sufficed to overthrow like a house of cards the independent ideas
which I had acquired by years of study, trials and struggles. In
vain I told myself a thousand times that the girl was ill, that she
had been in touch with the dead man in his lifetime and might
have imitated his voice and manner of speech. In vain I asserted
that the rabbi had executed an illusion with involuntary comic
effect. Before me were thousands of men, older, more experienced,
wiser than I. They all believed in the existence of the dibbuk,
they had seen the spirit conic out, they had heard the impact on
the window and seen the hole in the pane. They all attested that
the rabbi had times without number cured incurable sicknesses,
recalled the dead to life, and brought to light inscrutable mysteries.

Now that I am committing these thoughts to writing 1 can, if I
wish, call these men fools. AVhat is there to prevent me ? I am
sitting alone in my room, I have paper and pen and can think and
write what I please. But at that moment I found myself like a
single and tiny intelligence amongst thousands of stronger ones
which weighed me down, absorbed me and carried me away. My
brain had almost ceased to work, I gave myself up entirely to the
sensations and emotions which assailed me so powerfully.

This narrative, which offers in other respects no peculiar
psychological features, leaves the noise and the hole in the
window unexplained. It is naturally insufficient to make
us admit a parapsychophysical phenomenon, for it is not
established that no hole existed previously and a pre-arranged
revolver-shot is not, moreover, beyond the bounds of possi-
bility.

As mentioned above, American spiritualistic literature
furnishes a great abundance of recent cases of possession, but
as they are generally of a nature to imply voluntary and
partly induced phenomena I shall discuss these accounts in
the next Par!. I except one case where the spontaneous
nature of the state is abundantly evident: the so-called
Watseka Wonder. It has had an enormous publicity in
America, since to all appearance the spirit of a dead child
had passed into the organism of a girl friend. I give the case
as W. James has produced it in his Psychology. I have un-
fortunately not yet been able to obtain access to the original.

Lurancy was a young girl of fourteen, living with her parents at
Watseka, 111., who (after various distressing hysterical disorders
and spontaneous trances, during which she was possessed by
departed spirits of a more or less grotesque sort) finally declared
herself to be animated by the spirit of Mary lloff (a neighbour's
daughter, who had died in an insane asylum twelve^ years before)

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 211

and insisted on being sent " home " to Mr. RofF s house. After
a week of " home sickness " and importunity on her part, her
parents agreed, and the Roffs, who pitied her, and who were spirit-
ualists into the bargain, took her in. Once there, she seems to have
convinced the family that their dead Mary had exchanged habita-
tions with Luraricy. Lurancy was said to be temporarily in
heaven, and Mary's spirit now controlled her organism, and lived
again in her former earthly home.

The girl, now in her new home, seemed perfectly happy and
content, knowing every person and every thing that Mary knew
when in her original body, twelve to twenty-five years ago, recog-
nizing and calling by name those who were friends and neighbours
of the family from 1852 to 1856, when Mary died, calling attention
to scores, yes, hundreds of incidents that transpired during her
natural life. During all the period of her sojourn at Mr. Roff's
she had no knowledge of, and did not recognize, any of Mr. Vennum's
family, their friends or neighbours, yet Mr. and Mrs. Vennum
and their children visited her and Mr. lloff s people, she being
introduced to them as to any strangers. After frequent visits,
and hearing them often and favourably spoken of, she learned to love
them as acquaintances, and visited them with Mrs. Roff three
times. From day to day she appeared natural, easy, affable, and
industrious, attending diligently and faithfully to her household
duties, assisting in the general work of the family as a faithful,
prudent daughter might be supposed to do, singing, reading, or
conversing as opportunity offered, upon all matters of private or
general interest to the family.

The so-called Mary whilst at the Roffs would sometimes " go
back to heaven" and leave the body in a "quiet trance" i.e.,
without the original personality of Lurancy returning. After
eight or nine weeks, however, the memory and manner of Lurancy
would sometimes partially, but not entirely, return for a few
minutes. Once Lurancy seems to have taken full possession for a
short time. At last, after some fourteen weeks, conformably to
the prophecy which " Mary " had made when she first assumed
4k control," she departed definitely and the Lurancy-consciousness
came back for good. Mr. Roff writes :

t4 She wanted me to take her home, which I did. She called
me Mr. Roff, and talked with me as a young girl would, not being
acquainted. I asked her how things appeared to her if they
seemed natural. She said it seemed like a dream to her. She
met her parents and brothers in a very affectionate manner,
hugging and kissing each one in tears of gladness. She clasped
her arms around her father's neck a long time, fairly smothering
him with kisses. I saw her father just now (eleven o'clock). He
says she has been perfectly natural, and seems entirely well."

James adds :

My friend Mr. R. Hodgson informs me that he visited Watseka
in April, 1889, and cross-examined the principal witnesses of this
case. His confidence in the original narrative was strengthened
by what he learned ; and various unpublished facts were ascertained,
which increased the plausibility of the spiritualistic interpretation
of the phenomenon. 1

1 William James, The Principles of Psychology, London, 1891,
vol. i, pp. 397 sq. The source is E. \V. Steffens' book: The Watseka
Wonder, Chicago, 1897. Steffens had followed the whole case as a

212 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

In the other continents conditions are quite different from
those prevailing in the principal countries of Europe and
America, and possession is manifestly still an extremely
frequent phenomenon, even in the lands of ancient civilization.
This naturally results from the fact that such civilization is
less highly developed than in the majority of European
countries or those formed on the European model (America,
and the civilized parts of Australia and Africa). In particular
the education of the masses is much more restricted, and the
old religious ideas exercise a power which, generally speaking,
they have long since lost in Europe.

But possession is not confined to these lands; it is also
encountered in other regions, although information about
such cases is scanty. The majority of documents dealing
with them come from countries where civilization is suffi-
ciently advanced to permit the existence of an extensive
literature, but, on the other hand, has not penetrated the
lower strata of society to a degree where rational criticism
destroys primitive ideas.

From the Near East comes an account by Curtiss concern-
ing some cases of possession at Nebk, in Syria:

Suleiman, a Protestant teacher of Nebk, had from his wife the
following account of the expulsion of an evil spirit which inhabited
a young girl of her acquaintance. " The holy man commanded
the spirit to come out of her. lie replied: 'I will depart by
her head.' 'If you do so/ replied the holy man, 'you will kill
her.' ' Good, then I will depart by her eye !' ' No, you would
kill her !' At length the spirit declared himself willing to depart
by her toe, which was accepted." A child was subject to epileptic-
fit s. lie fell the spirit come upon him. The sheik struck the child
a blow on the shoulder so violent that it made a wound through
which the spirit came forth.

Curtiss adds the following remark:

Balden sprenger mentions a similar case in Palestine: 1 "On
December 31st, 1891, our nearest neighbour was possessed by
a shape dressed in white. . . . Dumb with fright, she ran into
the house but could make known only by signs that something
extraordinary had occurred. Immediately a sheik (priest) was
fetched from the neighbouring sakmet, Abu Derwish, who brought

doctor. More extensive extracts from the original will be found in
Myers' work : The Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death,
London, 1907, vol. ii, pp. .300-68. Steffens' account had been published
in the Heligio-philosophical Journal (1878). Hodgson's account also
appeared in that journal (December '20th, 1890).
1 Quarterly Statement, London, 1893, pp. 214 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 213

his holy books magic books and who, by way of beginning the
care, gave the patient a violent cut with a whip. Having lit a lire
which was to burn all the time, he began to question her: Who
art them? The spirit replied by the mouth of the woman: A
Jew. How hast thou come hither ? I was killed on this spot.
From whence art thou ? From Nablus. When wast thou
murdered ? Twelve years ago. Come forth from the body of this
woman ! I will not ! Very well. I have iire here and shall burn
thee. How must I come forth, by the eye, the nose, or where V
After long preambles the spirit, in a horrible convulsion of the
whole body and of the legs came out by the great toe. The woman
fainted from exhaustion and subsequently recovered her speech.

Cases of possession seem to have oecurred very frequently
amongst the primitive lower elasses of India. The documents
here are far more plentiful than anywhere else, so that I shall
only quote a very small number, which can readily be sup-
plemented from literature.

The missionary R. Frohlieh, whom I had asked for fuller
particulars, writes:

The external character of possession which 1 have studied amongst
Christian women (and which I have heard described in connection
with heathen ones) is a circular movement of the whole trunk upon
the hips, at lirst slow, then quicker, and finally so furious that the
hair is loosed from its knot and lashes like a whip. The person
then sits down on the ground with legs folded under her. In the
case of which I was an eye-witness the circular movement lasted
for hours. At times she wished to get up and leave the house;
it was not without diiliculty that three men were able to hold her.
This circular movement, called the swumi dance, that is the dance
of God, was accompanied by an incessant half-singing stream of
speech, corresponding to the rhythm of 3/4 time. She spoke of
herself in the third person as " my child," " my pearl," " my
treasure," fck my tiower," and never wearied of reiterating the
assurance that " he " would not give up nor let go k% his pearl."
She often repeated also: fct It burns ... it burns . . . the name
of Jesus burns me . . . but 1 have permission . . . for live days
more. . . . Until then 1 will not leave my pearl. ... I will
not leave her. ... I will not leave her. . . !"

After the specified number of days (each day she accurately
reduced it by one) the phenomena ceased. Until then they were
reproduced every evening at six or nine o'clock and lasted until
midnight or three a.m. To the question addressed to her by an
onlooker: "Who are you, then, you who are speaking?" The
woman replied: " I am Murugen" Once when she wished to rush
out she cried: " Let me go out. ... I must go out. . . . Kali
is waiting for me ... over there in the corner." (Kali is a village
divinity like Murugen.) In childhood the woman had been vowed
by her father to Murugen. Later the father had become a Christian
with all his family, and the woman was married to a Christian but
had become inwardly estranged from Christianity. After such

1 Curtiss, Ursemitische Religion im Volksleben des hculigen Orients,
Leipzig, 1903, pp. 172 sq.

214 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

nocturnal manifestations she declared when questioned that she
remembered nothing, and behaved quite normally until towards
six o'clock or later the fit came upon her again.

The case of the other Christian woman which I was able to witness
personally was ephemeral. It was on the occasion of a visit to the
village parishes. The woman had been baptized long before, but
had relapsed into paganism, then had recently to all appearances
returned to the Christian congregation. She was before her hut.
The native clergyman was speaking lo her, but she was distracted,
made no reply, and suddenl}- falling on her knees, squatted with an
absent air. " Say the Creed, 1 will show you how !" cried the black
pastor. She recited the first article after him word for word,
always in the squatting position. But when he came to the words
" and in Jesus Christ " she became completely mute and began
slowly to execute a circular movement with the trunk. Then the
pastor had a vessel of water brought and vigorously sprinkled
her head and face with it; he iltmg the cold waiter in her face and
over her head by handfuls so that it resounded like slaps. The
success of this remedy was to arrest the circular movement. The
woman remained sitting and we were obliged to go. The pastor
had often seen similar things : " They can no longer pronounce the
name of Jesus when the influence is upon them,'' said he. He
was of opinion that if they could be brought to force themselves
to do it the state would cease. When that was not possible he
used the successful cold water cure just described. . . .

These are all the observations which I have had the opportunity
of making.

To this document may be added another taken from the
annals of an English mission :

In ... the ceded districts of South India there is an important
village, that we shall call Verapalli, attached to which is a large
pariah-Christian community. To this place there came, com-
paratively recently, a severe epidemic of cholera.

What can the foreigners know of the ways of Maremma, the
awful ? Cattle innumerable are slaughtered in sacrifice. Some
poor ignorant person, usually a woman, becomes, as it is called, a
" Shivashakti," that is, becomes possessed, to the complete altera-
tion of her character, by, as the people believe, some demon-
goddess. She rises, rushes suddenly for the nearest mangora-tree,
and crams her mouth with its lea\es. These she che\\s and spits
out as she runs shrieking frightfully up and down the village street,
predicting the death of its inhabitants.

This extraordinary phenomenon, explain it how you may, is
known in every village in the ceded districts, and probably also
over all India. It would be impossible to conceive anything
better calculated to foster the spirit of hopeless terror that con-
tributes so greatly to the fatality of the disease.

The epidemic in Verapalli was unusually severe and lasted long.
As the days passed a striking circumstance became daily more
marked. Though in the caste and chucklers' (a pariah caste)
houses the disease claimed its victims, the Christians though the
buildings all closely adjoined remained unaffected. This, too,
again, explain it as you may, is quite a usual circumstance, so
common, indeed, that it is remarked upon by the other castes.

Now, in the village there lived a person of much wealth and evil
influence, called Veiikatarcddy. . . . To this man it seemed a

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 215

matter of grave injustice that the Christians should escape the
fate that was afflicting so heavily all the others. . . .

He called the " Shivashakli " of the place, in this instance a
poor shepherd woman, and induced her to exert her supposed
malignant powers against the Christians, to pass on to them the
dread disease that the other castes might go free.

On the dreaded evening the Christian community divided into
four bands, and under trees in the four corners of their hamlets,
all night prayer meetings were held, not prayer meetings for quiet
devotion by any means: for hours they made their part of the
village resound with loud singing and strong praying.

All heathen rites, like that about to be performed, are recognized
as works of darkness, and it is not till the moon liides its kindly face
that they may begin, so it was long after midnight before the pro-
cession started.

The Shivashakti went first, closely followed by Venkatareddy and
his friends. Close behind them crowded half the village. Torches
were carried, whose flickering, smoky flame made the strange scene
yet more fearsome.

The woman, an. awful figure, staggered ahead, as one possessed.
Her black hair tumbled loose over her starting eyes, her face
horribly contorted, her lingers clutching like claws. Her blood-
curdling yells were clearly heard above the din of the drums.

Slowly the procession* pursued its way towards the boundary.
Within,* the Christians redoubled the vigour of their hymns and
prayers. All at once the wretched woman stops, rigid with sudden
terror. "See," screams the Shivashakti: kfc There He stands,
God Jesus, with hands outstretched, protecting His people, as a
shepherd does his lambs. Back, back; He is a great God, I dare
go no farther. If I do, I die."

But Venkatareddy is in no mood to accept defeat. Far too
drunk, probably, to understand, he blocks the way, roughly catching
hold of her. Then he pushes her, and eventually, in tipsy despera-
tion, beats her with his fists.

With the fury of a tiger the woman turns upon him, shrieking
madly. fc ' The curse of Mysooramma be upon you. It is not me
you struck but her. By to-morrow evening may Maremma grip
you."

When the words of the curse reached the stupefied brain, the
great brutal fellow collapsed. He had to be helped to his home,
spent the night in deadly fear, and by sundown of the next day
the curse had come true. The cholera goddess had claimed another
victim.

The tale passed over the countryside, and on its way made an
impression greater than many sermons. 1

liastiaii also gives particulars of exorcism in India and
Ceylon which seem to come from a foreign source:

The temple of Hur-hureshvuru at Conkan, whose healing current
of air (waren) is attributed to the Bhuiroba, is particularly visited
by pilgrims suffering from the nervous affection called pishachu-
copudruvu, or devil's ill (unfortunately this affection is not further
described). After a few days the patients are subjected to a course
of ceremonies which begins with all sorts of exercises and salt

1 Chronicles of the London Missionary Society, March, 1911.

216 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

baths (in the pool at high tide) and ends by the application of the
usual stimulants to excite the imagination and overstimulate the
nerves: the dazzling glare of camphor flames, the scent of repulsiye-
snielling flowers, clouds of smoking incense, and a deafening
janizary-music of bells, cymbals, gongs, drums, sirens mingling
their violent discords, tinkling, rattling, clapping and howling
without interruption. The patients, epileptics or hysterics, arc
subjected to this treatment and an artificial state of epilepsy and
hysteria is created in which the presence of the tormenting demon
is recognized. This latter is evoked by the power of the priest
and is only exorcised by him, by means of the power conferred
over them (the patients) at his approach by order of lihuirohu.
The priest questions the evil spirit and demands his expulsion.
The latter trembles at the imperious words and angry look. He
replies to questions according to impressions received from liis
tender infancy and perhaps asks as sole favour that he nuiy be
allowed to leave his citadel with all the honours of war and may be
promised the observance of the usual ritual. (This is so arranged
in order to fill the purse or stomach of the priest.) At length the
demon amiounces his retreat, the patient falls senseless, and when
he recovers consciousness finds himself in most cases completely
cured. 1

Another of Bastiau's narratives it cannot unfortunately
be ascertained with certainty whether it originates from him
or from another traveller makes it perfectly clear that the
state of possession is first revealed by the procedure of exor-
cism or by approach to the temple where it is practised. It
is evident that the maladies which the patients bring there
are chielly nervous phenomena of another kind. The reader
will remember Kerner's doctrine of the " hidden demon "
who must first be brought to light.

Pilgrims from all parts of Ceylon visit the temple of the demon
Vakula Bandara Devi jo at Alutnuvcra at all seasons to be cured
of demoniacal possession when it resists other means. It is princi-
pally women who believe themselves to be under this influence. To
dance, sing or cry out without cause, to tremble and jerk the limbs
or be subject to frequent and prolonged fainting fits, are considered
as the symptoms of a case of possession. From time to time women
who think they find themselves under this imaginary influence
try to run away from their homes, pouring forth insults and abuse
or biting and tearing their flesh and hair. Sometimes the fits last
only an hour, sometimes lit alter lit occurs in rapid succession,
sometimes they only overtake the women on Sunday nights and
AVednesdays, or once in three or four months, but always at the
time when a demoniacal ceremony tuk^s place. On such occasions
the conjurations of the cattadiya bring a passing relief, but it seems
that no conjuration is capable of ensuring a permanent cure; no
resource therefore remains except the temple, Gala kap-pu dewale.

1 Ad. Bastian, Ueber psychische Ileobachtitngcn bei Naturvolkern.
Schriften der Gesellschaft fur Experimental- Psychologic zu Berlin,
ii, Leipzig, 1890, pp. 20 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 217

If the woman is two or three miles from the temple it is believed
that she is overcome by the demoniacal influence and she approaches
the temple in a wild and excited condition; no one can then stop
her and she would rather tear anyone opposing her to pieces than
stay her progress. She walks faster and faster as she nears the
sacred place. Once arrived, she takes refuge in a corner and bits
trembling and whimpering, or else entirely speechless and blank,
as if overcome witli fear, until the capna begins his exorcisms.
Sometimes she goes quietly to the temple without showing any
demoniac signs and the influence begins with the exorcism. The
principal room of the temple is divided into three parts by curtains;
in the middle is the sanctuary of the god. The capua stands before
the ouler curtain with the woman confronting him. After the
sacrificial offerings have been brought the priest turns towards the
god behind the curtain, enumerates the gifts and tells him that
such a woman of such and such a village has come to seek for aid
against a demon. During this time the woman trembles and
shudders, with intermittent outcries. The capua then puts
questions in the following way: " Wilt thou, O devil, leave this
woman instantly or must 1 punish thee for thine impudence Y"
Thereupon it may happen that the patient replies, shaking with
fear: " Yes, 1 will go at once !" lint generally the request is at
first met by a refusal. Then the capua takes a bamboo in his right
hand and administers to the woman a smart shower of blows,
repeating his questions and threats. When a good number of
blows has been me led out she generally replies: " Yes, I will go
away at once !" She then ee.ises to tremble and shake and resumes
possession of her reason in cases where she had lost it, while her
friends cougrat ulatc themselves on the happy issue of the cure.
(Cf. Dandris de Silva.) 1

Examples of possession in Siam are also found in Bastian,
according to whom purely physical maladies often give rise
to this diagnosis and psychic possession of the true kind
follows in consequence of the exorcisms performed to expel
the demon.

Bastian raises the question of whether the Siamese
doctors are capable of driving out the demons which have
entered into a possessed person and how they set about it.
lie writes :

To this question we must reply that the doctors (Mo) believe
themselves perfectly capable of driving out demons. So far as
exorcisms are concerned, I have seen possessed persons behave in
a very singular manner. Some laugh, others weep, some become
mute, others act like madmen. All this is unconscious, for the
possessed know nothing of themselves. When a doctor is called
in to treat them he begins by blessing a piece of areca nut and
giving it to them to eat. This should serve as a preliminary test
to see whether there is really demoniacal possession or some other
malady. In cases of possession the patients experience giddiness
or begin to vomit, cry out loudly, groan, or close their eyes and
remain mute. By these signs it is easily and surely recognized that

1 Ibid., pp. 21 sq.

218 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

a demon has entered. Then the doctor takes a thread of cotton
which he has blessed and tics it round the neck of the possessed.
This is designed to make sure of the demon and bind him. Then
potent charms arc pronounced to menace the demon which has
taken possession of the person. Sometimes the demon grows
uneasy. He foments, cries out and asks pardon, saying : "I will
come out without doing her any harm." The doctor then subjects
him to an examination in order that he may make himself known :
"Whence comest thou, companion (mung)1 What wouldst
thou here ? Dost thou need anything ?" As a rule the demon
who has taken possession of the patient's body now gives his name
and replies that he desires this or thai. But the doctor then
generally takes rods and deals him a rain of blows, after having
bound him by charms so that he cannot escape. This puts the
demon in a fright and he cries out: " I am going ! I am going I 1 '
The doctor then bids him farewell and at the instant when the
demon comes forth the possessed falls to the earth and remains
there about three hours without saying a word. When she begins
to come to her senses the bystanders ask her : " Did you know
anything when just now you were in a state of possession ?" She
replies that she was not possessed, but only felt slightly indisposed
and disturbed in mind. For that reason the Siamese firmly believe
that the doctors are capable of driving out the phi irisal from the
human body. Whether this exorcism of the phi pisat is founded
to any extent on fact I cannot state with certainty ; I can only speak
from hearsay. 1

Finally a case from Burmah.

Dr. Mason mentions a prophet who was converted to
Christianity.

He could say nothing of his first impressions, but said that it
had seemed to him as if a spirit spoke and he had to give an account
of what it had said.

Dr. Mason then relates the following anecdote :

Another individual had a familiar spirit that he consulted and
with which he conversed; but, on hearing the Gospel, he professed
to become converted, and had no more communication with his
spirit. It had left him, he said; it spoke to him no more.
After a protracted trial I baptized him. I watched his case with
interest, and for several years he led an unimpeachable Christian
life ; but, on losing his religious zeal, and disagreeing with some of
the Church members, he removed to a distant village, where he
could not attend the services of the Sabbath, and it was soon after
reported that he had communications with his familiar spirit
again. I sent a native preacher to visit him. The man said he
heard the voice which had conversed with him formerly, but it
spoke very differently. Its language was exceedingly pleasant
to hear, and produced great brokenness of heart. It said, " Love
each other; act righteously act uprightly." with other exhorta-
tions such as he had heard from the teachers. An assistant was
placed in the village near him, when the spirit left him again ; and
ever since he has maintained the character of a consistent Christian. 2

1 Ad. Bastian, Die Volker des ostlichen Asiens, vol. iii, pp. 300 sq.

2 Mason, Burmah, p. 107, quoted by A. Lang, The Making of Re-
ligion, 2nd edit., London, 1900, p. 130.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 219

Whereas there is generally a lack of detailed accounts of
possession from foreign countries those coming from Mongol
civilization are very abundant and in some cases especially
circumstantial. Here also it is particularly the lower and
uneducated classes which arc attacked by possession.

In China possession finds a quite peculiar support in the
general belief, strongly impressed on the consciousness of the
Chinese people, in the survival of man after death. This
forms the basis both of ancestor-worship and of the convic-
tion that it is possible, thanks to specially gifted persons called
mediums, to enter into immediate communication with the
souls of the dead and also with the gods. The Chinese people
in general profess spiritualistic belief, as we shall see still more
clearly below. A missionary writes:

Possession is here in the country a daily occurrence which
attracts no attention. . . . Ordinary neo- Christians often
demonstrate with complete success the power of belief and the
efficacy of holy water, with which they drive out the wicked enemy, j.

A number of accounts of possession in China are to be
found, particularly in the writings of the Christian mission-
aries. There is, moreover, a special book on the subject
apparently not without interest and often quoted in English
and American literature. This too is the work of a missionary
named John L. Nevius. 2 Unfortunately I have not, owing
to the war, been able to obtain a copy of this book, but have
had to content myself with the information contained in a
review in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Re-
search 3 and in Andrew Lang. 4 It appears from Nevius'
observations that Chinese possession to some extent resembles
the European variety more closely than does that of Japan,
for it is not, like the latter, often attributable to the spirits
of animals. Nevius, who counted forty years of active
missionary work in China, found diabolic possession an every-
day phenomenon amongst the Chinese, and although he did
not himself observe a single case, succeeded in collecting vast

1 Herz-Jesu Bote, hg. vom Stevler Missionshaus, July, 1801, quoted
by Stiitzle, Das griechische Orakelwesen, part ii, Progr. des Gymn. zu
Ellwangen, 1890-91, p. 66.

2 John L. Nevius, Demon Possession and Allied Themes, 2nd edit.,
London, 1896.

* Proc. S.P.R., xiii, 1897-98, pp. 602 sq.

4 Andrew Lang, The Making of Religion, 2nd edit., London, 1900,
chap.vii : Demoniacal Possession.

220 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

stores of information concerning these states and their inter-
pretation by the natives. Those attacked by possession
showed themselves as a rule extremely reserved towards him,
as a s i ranger.

A Chinese mountaineer of the name of Know related to
Nevius that he had himself experienced a state of posses-
sion. He was actually busied in preparing for a service
to the domestic god Wang Muniang when one night the
divinity appeared to him in a dream and announced that she
had taken up her abode in his house. After a few days he
was seized with inner disquiet to which was added a crazy
impulse to play. He then had a sort of epileptic attack
followed by a state of mania with homicidal impulses. The
" demon " announced his presence and demanded to be
adored like a god. As soon as his wishes had been deferred
to, he once more disappeared. During several months the
demon reappeared from time to time and promised to cure
the mental affections. Know remarks that " over many mala-
dies he was not master and only appeared able to cure those
which were caused by spirits." When the sick man was
converted to Christianity the demon vanished, saying, " That
is no place for me."

In several of the cases of possession described the spirit
claims to be identical with that of a dead man. In other
cases, however, as in Japan, he gives himself out as one of
the lower animals, such as a fox.

According to Nevius, Chinese states of possession fall into
three groups according to symptoms: (1) The automatic,
continuous and consistent action of a new personality which
calls itself shieng (spirit) and designates the sick man as hiang
to (incense-burner, medium); (2) the possession of know-
ledge and intellectual capacities which the sick man does not
command in his normal state and which cannot be explained
by pathological hypotheses; (3) a complete change in the
moral character of the sick man.

As with one single exception Nevius is obliged to rely on
outside evidence, his statements taken singly are naturally
not of great weight, but in any case he makes it quite plain
that the states known as trance are very frequent in the part
of China where he worked, far more so than in present-day
European civilization.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 221

Nevius' work is supplemented in a remarkable manner by
an older narrative. In 1862 a French missionary, Mon-
seigneur Anouilh, wrote in a letter:

Would you believe it ? The villages have been converted !
The devil is furious and is playing all sorts of tricks. During the
fortnight's preaching which I have just completed there have been
five or six cases of possession. Our catechumens with holy water
drive out the devils and cure the sick. I have seen some mar-
vellous things. The devil is a great help to me in converting the
heathen; as in the time of Our Lord, although the Father of Lies
he cannot help speaking the truth. For instance, one poor pos-
sessed man executed innumerable contortions and shrieked aloud :
" Why dost thou preach the true religion ? I cannot bear to have
my disciples taken away by thee." " What is thy name ?" asked
the catechist. After some refusals, " I am the envoy of Lucifer."
" How many arc you ?" " We are twenty-two." Holy water and
the sign of the cross delivered this demoniac. 1

This passage reflects a feeling of triumph such as is only
paralleled by the early Christian exorcists still struggling
with pagan antiquity.

The same may be said of an eminent English woman
missionary in China, Mrs. Howard Taylor, n6c Geraldine
Guiness, whose book In the Far East had already enthralled
me when I was at school and which I unexpectedly found
many years afterwards in the literature of this subject. In
the biography of a follower of Confucius converted to Chris-
tianity, Pastor Hsi, she gives an account of several cases of
possession. It is evident from her statements that, at least
in the parts of China known to her, it must be very frequent.

The most important of her accounts are the following:

Always receptive and intelligent, she (Pastor llsi's wife) had
grasped the truth with clearness. Her life had brightened and
her heart enlarged, until it seemed as though she would become
her husband's real fellow-worker and friend.

Then suddenly all was changed; and her very nature seemed
changed too. At iirst only moody and restless, she rapidly fell
a prey to deep depression, alternating with painful excitement.
Soon she could scarcely eat or sleep, and household duties were
neglected. In spite of herself, and against her own will, she was
tormented by constant suggestions of evil, while a horror as of some
dread nightmare seemed to possess her. She was not ill in body,
and certainly not deranged in mind. But try as she might to
control her thoughts and actions, she seemed under the sway of
some evil power against which resistance was of no avail.

Especially when the time came for daily worship, she was thrown
into paroxysms of ungovernable rage. This distressed and amazed

Gaume, Veau bfaite au XlXme sitcle, 3rd edit., Paris, 1866.

222 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

her as much as her husband, and at first she sought to restrain the
violent antipathy she did not wish to feel. But little by little
her will ceased to exert any power. She seemed carried quite out
of herself, and in the seizures, which became frequent, would use
language more terrible than anything she could ever have heard
in her life. Sometimes she would rush into the room, like one
insane, and violently break up the proceedings, or would fall in-
sensible on the floor, writhing in convulsions that resembled
epilepsy.

Recognizing these and other symptoms only too well, the excited
neighbours gathered round, crying :

" Did not we say so from the beginning ! It is a doctrine of
devils, and now the evil spirits have come upon her. Certainly
he is reaping his reward."

The swing of the pendulum was complete, and in his trouble
Hsi found no sympathy. There was not a man or woman in the
village but believed that his wife was possessed by evil spirits,
as a judgement upon his sin against the gods.

44 A famous 4 Conqueror of Demons,' " they cried. " Let us
see what his faith can do now/'

And for a time it seemed as though that faith could do nothing.
This was the bitterest surprise of all. Local doctors were power-
less, and all the treatment he could think of unavailing. But
prayer; surely prayer would bring relief? Yet pray as he might
the poor sufferer only grew worse. Exhausted by the violence of
more frequent paroxysms, the strain began to tell seriously, and
all her strength seemed ebbing away.

Then Hsi cast himself afresh on God. This trouble, whatever
it was, came from the great enemy of souls, and must yield to the
power of Jesus. He called for a fast of three days and nights in
his household, and gave himself to prayer. Weak in body, but
strong in faith, he laid hold on the promises of Cod, and claimed
complete deliverance. Then without hesitation he went to his
distressed wife, and laying his hands upon her, in the name of Jesus,
commanded the evil spirits to depart and torment her no more.

Then and there the change was wrought. To the astonishment
of all except her husband, Mrs. Hsi was immediately delivered.
Weak as she was, she realized that the trouble was conquered.
And very soon the neighbourhood realized it too.

For the completeness of the cure was proved by after events.
Mrs. Hsi never again suffered in this way. And so profoundly
was she impressed, that she forthwith declared herself a Christian
and one with her husband in his life-work.

The effect upon the villagers was startling. Familiar as they
were with cases of alleged demon-possession more or less terrible
in character, the people had never seen or heard of a cure, and
never expected to. What could one do against malicious spirits ?
Yet here, before their eyes, was proof of a power mightier than the
strong man armed. It seemed little less than a miracle. 1

Another case reported by Mrs. Taylor is one of the rare
ones which ended in death:

To the head doctor (in the hospital of the provincial capital
T'ai-yiian where Hsi sometimes found himself) was brought one

1 Mrs. Howard Taylor, One of China's Christians, London, 1903,
pp. 14-16.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 223

day a young woman . . . suffering from what her husband de-
scribed as " an evil spirit." The doctor went into the matter care-
fully, but could find no physical explanation of the distressing
symptoms. She seemed wholly given up to evil; and the violence
of the paroxysms into which she was thrown was so great that life
itself was imperilled.

After prescribing what he hoped might help her, the doctor . . .
suggested that Hsi . . . should be invited to visit their home.
*****

There was no mistaking the excitement and confusion that pre-
vailed on their arrival. The girl was in one of her terrible seizures,
and had to be held down by half a dozen neighbours to prevent
injury to herself and those around her. Calling the family together,
Hsi briefly explained that he, like themselves, could do nothing,
but that the God he worshipped was the living God, who could
perfectly heal and deliver.

*****

After public prayer for God's blessing, Hsi was taken to the room
from which the cries and confusion proceeded. Immediately he
entered, there was a lull. The girl saw him, ceased struggling, and
in a quiet, respectful way asked him to take a scat.

Astonished, the onlookers cried at once that the spirits had left
her.

" No," answered Hsi, who could tell from her eyes that some-
thing was wrong, " she is as yet no better. The devil is merely
trying to deceive us."

The girl was still friendly, and tried to make the polite remarks
usually addressed to strangers; but Hsi went over, and laying his
hands on her head, simply and earnestly prayed in the name of
Jesus, and commanded the evil spirits at once to come out of her.

Suddenly, while he was slill praying, she sprang to her feet with
a terrible cry, rushed out into the courtyard, and fell to the ground
unconscious and to all appearances dying.

" Alas ! she is dead. You have killed her now I" cried the
startled friends.

But Hsi quietly raised her. " Do not be alarmed," he said.
" The spirits are gone. She will soon be all right."

Recovering in a little while from what seemed a heavy swoon,
the young woman cp,me to herself, and was soon restored to a
perfectly normal condition.

For some time the husband, full of gratitude, attended the
services at the mission chapel and made a half-hearted profession
of Christianity; but sad to say it was not the real thing with him
or any of the family. As long us Hsi remained he went now and
again to see him, carrying some little present to express indebted-
ness and thanks.

At last one morning he returned from such a visit bringing with
him a packet of confectionery that was meant for Hsi.

" Why have you brought back the present ?" cried his wife as he
entered the courtyard.

" The scholar has left the city," he replied, " and is on his way
home to the south of the province."

Scarcely were the words spoken when the poor girl relapsed into
the old condition. In the midst of most terrible convulsions, foul
language and blasphemies streamed from her lips. She seemed
possessed by a more fearful power of evil than before.

" He is gone ; he is gone !" she cried. " Now I fear no one. Let

224 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

them bring their Jesus. I defy them all. They will never drive
us out again, never."

Tliis continued for a few terrible days, until exhausted by the
strain, she died. 1

Animal possession occurs quite frequently in China. Von
der Goltz relates :

In the organ of the Protestant missionaries in China, the Chinese
Recorder, the Rev. G. Owen published in 1887 several interesting
articles on the " five great families " from which the following
summary is taken. In the North of China it is generally believed
that many animals possess the secret of immortality. In order to
attain immortality they must acquire experience for eighty years,
and if they continue still further they may enter into men and
render them possessed. The persons in question, mostly women,
completely lose their individuality and become the mere tools of
the possessing animals. If, for example, it is a fox, the possessed
woman gives up her own name to take that of the fox-spirits, 2 and
also adopts the habits of foxes. Possession by monkeys is also
known; the persons so bewitched have a predilection for liquor.
Mr. Owen knew a young person of good family who was possessed
by a monkey. She called herself Housan, Monkey III, and was
able during her possession to drink endless quantities of liquor
without showing the least sign of drunkenness. The possessed
remain either for a short time, one or two years, or else their whole
lifetime in that state. For the most part they have no bodily
derangements, but if the possession is an act of vengeance on the
part of the animal the victim feels terrible pains against which all
remedies are powerless. They have acquired the gift of second
sight and often do a good business with soothsaying. Others have
power to cure the sick and in many cases carry on a lucrative
medical practice. It is not generally necessary for them to see
their patients or to be told their sickness; they fall into a half-
sleep or arc seized by an ecstasy in which I hey see everything
and prescribe the necessary remedies. There arc also a number of
professional mediums who can be possessed at will. 3

From China let us pass to Japan.

In Japan belief in spirits is also extraordinarily widespread,
but it seems that, contrary to what might at first sight be
supposed, the influence has come rather from the Malays
than the Chinese. The belief in spirits and the literature
which it has produced is so great that research suffers rather
from superabundance than from lack of materials. A
Japanese writer remarks that " the difficulty of collecting

1 Ibid., pp. 94-07.

2 The Fox family consists of three divisions, at the head of which
stand three brothers: Fox I, Fox II and Fox 111.

3 V. d. Goltz, Zauberei- und Hexenkunste in China (Mitteilungen
der deutschen Gesellschaft fiir Natur- und Volkerkunde Ostasiens.
vol. vii (1893-97), p. 22.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 225

materials for an article about ghosts is that there are so
many of them." 1

Possession by a large number of animals is known. That
produced by foxes is the most frequent, but there is also
possession by cats, badgers, dogs, monkeys, and snakes, as
well, of course, as by non-animal spirits. The various kinds
of possession are not equally frequent in different parts of
Japan; sometimes one, sometimes another predominates. 2

Possession is so widespread in Japan that there is a
religious sect, the Nichiren, which has made exorcism its
particular task. Near Tokyo in the village of Nalayama is
a famous temple of this sect where possessed persons of
all kinds assemble in periodical retreats for the purpose of
exorcism. 3

We owe some detailed accounts of Japanese possession to
an ex-professor of medicine at the University of Tokio who
died some years ago, E. Balz, who during a residence of many
years in that country had opportunity for personal observation
of a number of cases. 4 He declares them to be " of exactly
the same character as those described in the Bible." 5
Although this phenomenon may be known throughout eastern
Asia, it apparently does not arise in epidemic form. " In
those parts possession is very widely disseminated in China,
Japan and Korea. There are only isolated cases, mfcetious-
ness is slight, and the hysterical and erotic factor is in complete
regression." This absence of epidemics of possession would
be, if generally confirmed, very interesting from the point of
view of racial psychology; it would reveal a profound dis-
parity between the suggestibility of various races, since
extraordinarily dense populations like that of China, very
conservative in intellectual matters, present all the conditions
likely to foster psychic epidemics.

This low degree of suggestibility would be closely and very
comprehensibly bound up with the further fact, of such great
psychological importance, that in Mongol civilization ecstasy
is practically non-existent and has never played an important
part in the history of religion. In the language of Paulhan's

1 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iv, p. 608.
a Ibid., p. 610. Ibid., p. 612.

4 E. Balz, Ueber Besesscnheit (Verhandl. d. Ges. dcuts. Naturforscher
und Aerzte, Conf., 78 [1906]), Leipzig, 1907.

* Ibid., p. 120. Ibid., p. 129.

15

226 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

characterology, these people belong to the " types produced
by the predominance of systematic inhibition (masters of
themselves, reflectives)." 1

According to Balz, Japanese possession is characterized
by the fact that it is not produced by a human or demonic
spirit but by an animal one. In eastern Asia various animals
are accused of entering into man : the tiger, the cat, the dog,
but especially the fox. This last was originally the symbol
of a divinity, but supplanted it long since and became itself
an object of veneration. 2

From the psychological point of view this phenomenon,
as we have already said, presents no fresh difficulty for our
solution. The state is one of automatic and obsessive
imaginary identification (Einfilhlung) with animal person-
alities, a very naif affair, for the animals are credited with
intelligence and even with human speech.

The duration of the malady differs widely from one case to
another.

Many foxes remain only for a day, play all sorts of malicious
tricks, frighten their hosts and those around by their speech and
actions, and then disappear. Others take up their abode and stay
for years, making themselves felt from time to time and braving
all the exorcisms and expulsions of priests or any other persons. 3

In Indo-China it is the ox which, according to Marie, 4
takes the place of the fox; in Niam-Niam the boa-constrictor.

We reproduce below two cases observed by Balz. In
both the patient remains as a rule fully conscious, but in the
first case this consciousness disappears during the more violent
fits, so that it may serve at the same time as a good example
of this phenomenon.

I have several times had the opportunity of observing personally
these cases of possession by foxes. I once had a possessed
woman in my university clinic at Tokio for four weeks.

She was forty-seven years old, strong, sad-looking, born of a
well-to-do peasant family; she was in good physical health, had
scarcely an hereditary blemish, and was not very intelligent. Eight
years previously she had been with friends when someone related
that a fox had been driven out of a woman in a village and was
now seeking a new abode. People must be careful I This un-
fortunately stuck in the peasant- woman's mind and the same
evening when the door was opened unexpectedly she felt a prick

1 F. Paulhan, Les caraetires, 2nd edit., Paris, 1902, pp. 23-31.
a Balz, loc. tit., p. 129. 3 Ibid.

* Marie, Bulletin de VInstitut general psychologique, vol. vi (1906),
, 73.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 227

in the left side of the chest. It was the fox. From that moment
onwards she was possessed. In the beginning the sinister guest
contented himself with occasional stirrings in her bosom, and
mounting into her head criticized by her mouth her own thoughts
and made mock of them. Little by little he grew bolder, mingled
in all conversations, and abused those present. By night he led
the poor woman a hellish life. She went to all the exorcists, for
instance to the hoiriy, that is to say wandering mendicant monks
from the mountains (corresponding exactly to the orpheotelestes)
who went about the country and specialized in the cure of pos-
session. All in vain ! The priests of other sects and pilgrims of
all sorts of temples were equally impotent. While she told us,
with tears in her eyes, about her sufferings, the fox announced
himself. At first there appeared slight twitch ings of the mouth
and arm on the left side. As these became stronger she violently
struck with her fist her left side which was already all swollen
and red with similar blows, and said to me: " Ah, sir, here he is
stirring again in my breast." Then a strange and incisive voice
issued from her mouth : " Yes, it is true, I am there. Did you
think, stupid goose, that you could stop me ?" Thereupon the
woman addressed herself to us : " Oh dear, gentlemen, forgive me,
I cannot help it !"

Continuing to strike her breast and contract the left side of her
face, she said to the fox: " Be quiet, brute ! Are you not ashamed
before these gentlemen?" The fox replied: " Ha, ha, ha! I
ashamed And why ? I am as clever as these doctors. If I
were ashamed it would be for having taken up my abode in such a
stupid woman 1" The woman threatened him, adjured him to be
quiet, but after a short time he interrupted her and it was he alone
who thought and spoke. The woman was now passive like an
automaton, obviously no longer understanding what was said to
her; it was the fox which answered maliciously instead. At the
end of ten minutes the fox spoke in a more confused manner, the
woman gradually came to herself and was soon back in her normal
state. She remembered the first part of the fit and begged us
with tears to forgive her for the outrageous conduct of the fox.

Similar fits came on from six to ten times a day or even more.
They did not occur in sleep or else she awoke when one was immi-
nent. I had her carried into a room with a glass wall so that I
could observe her at any moment without her knowledge. Things
always took the same course, only varying in degree of violence
and in duration. When she was alone the fit still began with
convulsions, the blows on the left breast and the colloquy between
the mistress of the house and her guest. Any psychic excitement,
such as the doctor's visit or a remonstrance from the clinic,
paved the way for a tit.

In view of the woman's poor level of intelligence and the rest
of her character, it was astonishing to see the cleverness of speech,
the witty and ironic language, so unlike the patient's own, which
the fox displayed. (He never tried to speak in foreign tongues.)
Once when I entered the room with some students and was putting
various questions to the fox, the latter suddenly cried out in his
mocking way: " Look here, Professor. You might do something
more intelligent than trying to entice me by your questions.
Don't you know that I am really a gay young girl, although I
live in this old frump You should rather pay court to me
(die Kur machen) properly. These young gentlemen over there
(pointing to the students) don't seem to want anything of me, and

228 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

moreover I am pleased with you. But I have had enough for
to-day. Good-bye 1" And he departed, while the room resounded
with the laughter of the bystanders.

Once I gave a narcotic to the patient, and as might have been
anticipated, the first unpleasant whiffs of chloroform sufficed to
bring on a fit. The struggle of the two egos lasted until loss of
consciousness supervened. But the fox had the last word, and
when the patient came round it was he who spoke first complaining
that he had been ill-treated. 1

My efforts to effect a cure by verbal and other suggestion, by
hypnosis, electric treatment, etc., were fruitless. The sick woman
had passed through the hands of so many famous suggestion ists,
priests and exorcists of all kinds, that I in turn could do nothing
in this direction. Her malady had taken the form of a regular
periodic delusion 2 to which she sought gradually to accommodate
herself. Between the fits she was in fuil possession of her senses,
although timid. Her memory had not suffered essentially, and
there were in general no signs of degcnercsccncc.

It should be observed that the fox does not openly refuse to
go, but attaches conditions to his departure. He desires, for
instance, that certain food should be placed for him in such a place,
and if this is promised leaves the body exactly at the stated time. 3

We shall recall Balz' case already cited (pp. 106 sq.)
The facts related about possession by the iengu spirit are
remarkable. In contrast to possession by other spirits,
possession by him appears to have no trace of maleficient or
diabolic character.

When a man is obsessed by a tcngn, he merely becomes preter-
naturally learned or solemn, reading, writing, or fencing with a
skill that would not be expected from him. Exorcism is of little
importance. For possession by e\il spirits, foxes, badgers, and
the like, there are many forms of exorcism in vogue, the sect of
Nichirin being especially noted for its labours in this kind of
healing. 4

It is evident from the general character and mutual con-
sistency of these statements that we cannot explain them
away as representing no more than that particular aptitude
for harbouring a spirit by which the Greeks explained the
gift of poetry as the inspiration of Apollo or a Muse. There
must clearly be in the case under discussion a sudden and

1 Same story in Wiener klinifsche Wochensclirift, 1907, pp. 982 sq.

2 This expression does not seem to me happy. The phenomenon is
not regular nor can we designate by the name of 'delusions t he transition
of these compulsions from semi- into complete somnambulism. This is
contrary to the whole of current terminology and would also be in-
appropriate. The woman's belief in the possibility of possession and
in her own affection by a demoniacal being is by no means a delusion.
She only shares the ideas of her environment.

3 Balz in Verhandlungen dcr Geseltechaft dcuischer Naturforscher
und Aerzte, 78, Versammlung (1907), pp. 129 sq.

4 A. Lloyd, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. iv, p. 612.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 229

abnormal increase in certain capacities. Unfortunately the
accounts arc so laconic that it is impossible to gather a more
precise idea of the real facts. I must, however, at least
mention these peculiar statements so that someone else may
perhaps elucidate the matter by local investigation.

Possession is no more a new phenomenon in Japan than
elsewhere; it is rather very old. The earliest case known to
me dates back to the year 1565. It is to be found in Gorrcs,
who has taken it from a book by Delrio, Disquisitiones Magicce,
from whence it may in turn be traced to the stories of the
missionaries.

At Bungo, in Japan, so the missionaries relate, a certain family
had in 15(55 already been possessed for a hundred years; the malady
was handed down as hereditary from generation to generation. The
father had spent all his fortune in attempts to placate the gods,
but instead of ceasing the evil had rather increased. A son, aged
thirty years, was possessed to such a point that he recognized
neither father nor mother and took no food for fifteen days. At
the end of this time a Father of the Society of Jesus came to see
him and commanded him to say the name of the Archangel Michael.
When this name was pronounced he was seized with a great
trembling and his limbs were convulsed in a manner which alarmed
the bystanders. But after he had invoked the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit he was suddenly delivered from the demon.

A few days later his sister was seized by the demon who spoke
by her mouth. At certain moments whetTshe had heard a sermon
in the abbey, she wished lo be converted to the Catholic faith;
but if she drew near the font and made the sign of the cross, she
fell to trembling and had violent convulsions. Joining her, the
Father prayed earnestly ; she herself strove to pronounce the name
of Jesus and the Archangel; but her mouth only shut the more
obstinately. At length she suddenly began to sing: tfc If we reject
Xaca and Amida, no one is left to adore; there is nothing blame-
worthy in serving them nor others like them."

One day the Father was assisting in divine service in the presence
of many Christians and of the possessed woman. At the end of the
service he asked her how she was. " Never better I" replied she.
But when he commanded her to say the name of St Michael she
recommenced to tremble and grind her teeth. Thereupon the
demon declared that he wished to come forth, but since he had now
possessed the family for so many years he would leave it with
regret. Once more commanded to pronounce the name, she replied
that it was extremely dilhcult, then bursting into tears and bitter
complaints she cried : "I do not know where to begin nor which
way to turn !" The Christians then all fell to prayer and when
that had lasted for some time the demon at length gave up his prey.
Then she asked for a drink. When she was reminded to invoke
Jesus and Mary, she pronounced the two names with such sweet-
ness that those present thought they heard the voice of an angel. 1

1 J. v. Gurres, Die christliche Mystik, Regcnsburg, 1812, vol. iv,
part i, pp. 86 sq. from Delrio, Disquisitiones magicw, i, vi, c. ii, p. 980.

280 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The phenomena of possession are also very prevalent in
present-day Egypt. They are met with in all classes of
society except the intellectual middle classes; in so-called
high society exorcisms and their variants count amongst
the day's diversions. It is a very remarkable fact that
possession in Egypt is not a survival of the old manifesta-
tions, but appears to have been introduced from Abyssinia
a few decades ago; at least Lane, who in the nineteenth
century studied conditions in Egypt very closely and described
them with equal thoroughness, says nothing on this subject.
According to Macdonald the Zar was still unknown there
even in 1880. 1

The general phenomena of possession in Egypt reveal no
special peculiarity, and in fact bear a strong resemblance to
those of the European Middle Ages. This is not true of the
formulae of exorcism known up to the present, which as
compared with Christian exorcisms clearly attest a lower level
of religious development. Like all the other procedure of
Egyptian exorcism, they strongly recall the primitive rites of
the same nature.

The most detailed description of the Egyptian Zar is
found, according to Macdonald, in a book on harem life
written by a lady (an Oriental ?) whom he styles Mme. Ruchdi
Pacha. 2 This name is not to be found in bibliography.
Probably the reference must be (although the name is spelt
several times in the same way by Macdonald) to Rachid Pacha,
a lady who, under the pseudonym of Richa Salina, published
Harems et musulmanes, Lettres d'Egypte (Paris, 1902).
Unfortunately I have not been able to procure this book, and
it is for this reason that I give extracts from other accounts.

The orientalist Kahle was present in person at an exor-
cism about which he has really very little to tell, but he
succeeded in taking a photograph. He met whole carriage-
loads of sick persons returning from the ceremony the best
proof of the prevalence of the malady. There are in Cairo a
series of sanctuaries where regular exorcism of the Zar is
practised, and the well-to-do have it done at home. Exactly
as in Christianity there are different forms of exorcism,

1 E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Egyptians of To-day,
London, 1836. Dr. B. Macdonald, Aspects of Islam, New York, 1011,
p. 832.

8 Ibid., pp. 330 sq.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 281

complete and abbreviated, only in Egypt their length is a
matter of money.

The duration of the exercises varies. Where there are ample
means the ceremony is apt to be prolonged, and not infrequently
lasts three and even seven nights. On the Jast night the principal
ceremony takes place. The shtcha (exorcist) and other onlookers
pass the whole of this night in the patient's house and on the
following morning accomplish the solemn sacrifice in which the
exorcism reaches its crux. But as a general rule one night or at
most two are considered sufficient; the ceremony begins in the
evening and lasts until the following day. . . . The regular
exorcisms of the Xar which take place in the sanctuaries are much
simpler and last only a few hours.*

The Zar is not confined to Egypt, but is apparently to
be found in the Near East. A more exact description of the
Zar in Arabia, especially at Mecca, was given by Snouck
Hurgronje thirty years ago, and in view of the stability of
these states in the East his account might still apply. It
appears from this document that the Zar at Mecca is frankly
epidemic. Almost all the women are affected, but with a
fairly mild form; for according to Snouck Hurgronje possession
at Mecca has degenerated in an astonishing fashion and become
a kind of pastime for the women. As the customary local
exorcism conduces to satisfy woman's love of dress it is quite
comprehensible that the desire to be stricken by the Zar should
have become very general. But it is perhaps doubtful whether
all that occurs can be considered as mere play-acting on the
part of the women. Snouck Hurgronje seriously underrates
the importance of autosuggcstibility and does not observe
that there are many cases where these phenomena arc called
forth by the will and then follow their course passively. He
nevertheless conveys the definite impression that Zar-pos-
session at Mecca involves no serious psychic suffering. Ac-
cording to Snouck Hurgronje men are " generally not
troubled " by the Zar. 2

Here is this author's account:

Another genus of spirits which afford the women plenty of
occupation are the Zar. The fight with the Zar displays at once
the darkest and the happiest side of the Meccanjwomen's life. . . .
From infancy they hear so much talk of the Zar that any specific
maladies which overtake them generally appear as the domination

1 P. Kahle, Zar Beschwdrungen in Aegypten, in the review Der.
Islam, vol. 11, 1912, pp. 9 sq.

8 Snouck Hurgronje, Mekka, The Hague, 1889, vol. ii, p. 125, note

282 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

of a Zar over the patient's will. Sometimes this domination
declares itself in the fact that the woman is thrown to the ground at
certain moments and remains there for hours with her whole
body in convulsions. Sometimes she seems to suffer from a
definite malady which now and then disappears suddenly leaving
nothing but pallor and widely open eyes; sometimes the patient
is wild and raging in her fits. Scientists, doctors and men in
general, are always inclined to resort cither to the pharmacopoeia
or to religious exorcism against diabolic power ; the female relatives
and friends, on the contrary, will hear of nothing but calling in an
old woman accustomed to dealing with the Zar, a shechah-ez-Zar,
and in the end they get the better of all resistance. . . .

The shcchah docs not question the patient herself, but the Zar
who inhabits her body; it sometimes happens that the conversa-
tion takes place in the ordinary manner and is thus understood
by everyone present; but frequently the questioners use the Zar
language which no man can penetrate without the shechah's inter-
pretation. At bottom the results of such conversations present
little variety. On the reiterated injunction of the shechah the
Zar declares himself ready to depart on a certain day with the
usual ceremonies, if in the interim certain stipulations have been
fulfilled. He demands a new and beautiful garment, gold or silver
trinkets, etc. As he himself is hidden from all human perception,
nothing can be done except carry out his wish and make gifts of
the specified objects to the sick body which he inhabits; it is
touching to see how these evil spirits 'take into account the age,
tastes and needs of the possessed. On the day when the depar-
ture is to take place the patient's women friends, invited for the
purpose, come in the afternoon or evening and are offered coffee
or sometimes a concert of flutes. The shechah and the slaves who
are to accompany her in her operations with the drum and a sort
of chant, are entertained with them and prepare for the work in
hand. . . .

The patient puts on the clothing demanded by the Zar; the
slaves of the sheehah drum a particular magic march which
anyone with a little experience can immediately distinguish from
other music. The shechah handles the body of the possessed
according to the rules of her art, and all sorts of strange usages are
added which render this pagan game still more shocking to pious
men of learning ; for example, a lamb is sacrificed and the forehead
and other parts of the body of the. possessed arc smeared with
its blood. Each method of treatment has its prescribed external
signs by which the breaking of the charm is evidenced : the pos-
sessed must dance, sway her body, or else faint and this is the
moment when the muttering shechah declares that the Zar has
departed. This sometimes happens only on the second or third
night. . . - 1

Particularly interesting is Snouck Hurgronje's declaration
that the Zar appears not only amongst the Arabs of Mecca
but also amongst persons of all nationalities residing in
that city. That town contains subjects and even whole
colonies of a very large number of Mohammedan peoples, the
majority of whom have been induced to settle there for

1 Ibid., pp. ] 24-128.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 288

religious reasons, particularly the desire to live in the imme-
diate vicinity of the holy places; but also by such material
considerations as the hope of a lucrative existence. Amongst
all of these peoples manifestations of the Zar occur, indeed
they bring them in with them, so that the appearance of
these phenomena amongst numerous peoples through occur-
rence amongst their representatives at Mecca seems assured
at one blow.

Zar appear amongst all the nations represented at Mecca, for
although in their own countries they may bear other names, they
soon adopt the one customary here. Nevertheless there subsist
national differences which must also be taken into account in
treatment. There are, for example, exorcisms of the Zar in the
Maghrib, 1 Soudanese, Abyssinian, and Turkish manner which can
only be employed in specific cases; but it cannot be gainsaid that
verification of the Zar's nationality almost always leads the she-
chah who has been called in to the conclusion that her method
has been the right one. 2

According to Klunzinger also possession is not rare in any
part of the Mohammedan world. States of rapture or ecstasy
" arc also attributed to the djinns, who suddenly make them-
selves master of a person, change his clothes or ride him and
speak and act through him." Klunzinger mentions later
certain dances or zikr which are continued to the point of
frenzy, but there is nothing in his description authorizing us
to regard them as possession. It must therefore remain
indeterminate whether these dances are really phenomena of
possession, whereas this can be positively affirmed of the Zar
which he also describes.

Here is the description of the Zar, or as he calls it, the Sar.
It is evident from his narrative that exorcism is rather the
cause of possession than a weapon used to combat it, and his
account vividly recalls certain cases of the Romantic period
which we have already met and where possession is first in-
duced in the patient by the doctor's treatment.

The " Sar," a certain djinn, is the potent genius of sickness
and principally attacks women. Where a woman shows symptoms
of any malady the causes of which are not as clear as daylight, it is
the Sar who is to blame. ... It is at once made known that to-

1 Under the name of Maghrib countries the historians of Arabia
include the western parts of the Mohammedan world, that is to say
Northern Africa (with the exception of Egypt) and Spain. Maghrib
means west in Arabia.

8 Snouck Hurgronje, Mckka, vol. ii, p. 125.

284. THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

day the Sar is with such and such a one; but this must be on a
Saturday, Tuesday or Thursday. A crowd of women and girls
stream into the house of the patient and are offered busa, the half-
fermented Arab beer, the favourite drink of the Abyssinians
together with sheep's tripe. Then they sing, beat cymbals and
dance the Sar-dance. The women in a squatting position or with
legs bent under them sway their trunk and head backwards and
forwards as in the zikr. Soon some of them become possessed
and leap around dancing madly. All this is under the direction of
the shechah of the Sar, who is a person known for her tendency
to dance ecstatic dances; in most cases it is a female slave who
earns large sums in this way. As soon as she and the others are
in ecstasy, the somnambulist is questioned as to the means of
curing the sickness. The remedy always consists in a plain silver
finger-ring, thick, without stones, or more rarely in bracelets or
anklets, and as soon as the greedy Sar is satisfied with this gift
the malady disappears. Faith in success is so great that many
sacrifice their last penny to obtain the silver ornament and meet
the very considerable cost of entertaining the multitude of female
guests.

Like the tarantella of the Middle Ages the Sar is infectious;
one woman after another rises up in the Sar-gathcring and is in-
voluntarily gripped by the dance, boys and even men who arc here
and there admitted to these orgies being no exception. In many
cases the features are altered, they strike their faces, bang
their heads against the walls, weep, howl, try to strangle themselves
and are restrained only with difficulty. They give themselves out
as other persons, saints, and particularly the Sar itself. They are
asked what they want, are shown a silver ring, henna-paste or
busa. They cast a furious glance upon these objects, seize them
suddenly with a wild grip, put on the ring, grasp the henna-paste
in the fist, or drink the busa. This suffices as a rule to satisfy
and quiet the Sar; the possessed wipes the sweat from her and now
talks composedly and reasonably as before. On a day fixed by
the Sar the fit is often renewed and ends like the first with the
satisfaction of an often strange wish.

These states are not mere simulation, as may be clearly seen;
for otherwise why should the possessed wound themselves, often
dangerously? It is acute delirium or ecstasy. The spiritualist
calls these persons " mediums," the believer in animal magnetism
calls them " magnetized." 1

The Zar derives, as we have already observed, from
Abyssinia. As early as 1868 the English traveller Plowden
speaks as follows of those possessed by the Zar.

These Zars are spirits or devils of a somewhat humorous turn,
who, taking possession of their victim, cause him to perform the
most curious antics, and sometimes become visible to him while
they are so to no one else somewhat I fancy after the fashion
of the " Erl King." The favourite remedies are amulets and severe
tom-toming, and screeching without cessation, till the possessed,

1 B. Khmzinger, Bilder aus Oberdgypten, der Wuste und dem roten
Meere, Stuttgart, 1877, pp. 388 sq. An excellent work of great literary
charm giving a clear idea of these countries and their natural features.

SPONTANEOUS POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 285

doubtless distracted with the noise, rushes violently out of the
house, pelted and beaten, and driven to the nearest brook, where
the Zar quits him, and he becomes well. 1

To rationalist objections that there are no Zar spirits
the Abyssinian Christians reply, exactly like the orthodox
European Christians, that there were possessed persons in the
time of Jesus and that they still exist in their country, even
if these supernatural phenomena no longer occur in Europe.

M. J. dc Goeje refers to the narrative of a French traveller,
J. Borelli, who writes:

To all their superstitions the Abyssinians add a particular fear
of evil spirits, especially " Bouddha " and " Zarr."

The person who proclaims himself possessed rises in the middle
of the night, rolls upon the ground and utters inarticulate cries.
After one or two hours of contortions he is exhausted and remains
lying as if inanimate. The most efficacious remedy then consists
in taking a hen and swinging it round the head of the possessed,
subsequently throwing it upon the ground. If the hen dies at
once or soon afterwards it is a good omen; the Zarr or Bouddha
has passed into the body of the fowl and caused it to perish. If the
hen survives this ill-treatment it is clear that the demon has resisted
and has remained in the patient's body; another attempt must be
made.

The Zarr has numerous followers, and in certain localities is the
object of a sort of worship. 1 le has incarnations, and various forms
and names. In the neighbourhood of Ankoboer the evil spirit,
for reasons quite unknown to me, is designated by the name of
"Waizero Encolal/' that is to say literally "Miss Egg." At
certain periods of the year the initiates of the Zarr unite and shut
themselves up for three days and nights, indulging in practices as
mysterious as they are grotesque. In these assemblies the Zarr
docs not fail to appear to his pious votaries. 2

It is regrettable that the accounts in my possession do not
permit of an assured judgement as to the relationship of
this Zar-possession to the facts reported by Tremearne. Are
they essentially the same phenomena, or else manifestations
of possession which, as such, show some natural psychological
resemblance, but without genetic or ethnological connection ?

1 W. C. Plowden, Travels in Abessinia and the Galla Country, with
an account of a mission to liess Ali in 1848, London, 1868, p. 259. Cf.
also pp. 264 sq.

2 J. Borelli, Ethiopie meridionale, Paris, 1890, p. 133.

CHAPTER VII

ARTIFICIAL AND VOLUNTARY POSSESSION

AMONGST PRIMITIVE PEOPLES. SO-CALLED

SHAMANISM

A general survey of the whole body of known cases of pos-
session shows that, in addition to the two principal forms, som-
nambulistic and lucid, it falls into other important divisions,
since, while many cases are characterized by extraordinary
excitement and even fury, others are comparatively quiet.
The first have made by far the more stir, and we too have
given them our principal attention. But they are not the only
ones; there are also more tranquil states, several of which
we have learnt to know, and which are also rightly styled
" possession," inasmuch as to the casual and unscientific
observer they seem to consist in the domination of the
individual by a strange, intruding soul. This soul is cither
that of a demon, of a dead (or quite exceptionally a living)
man, or in some cases of a beast.

From the standpoint of the history of religion the some-
what calmer cases of possession are of much greater import-
ance than the violent ones. That is to say, they arc often
not simply endured, however and wherever they may
chance to occur, but are or were systematically provoked
over wide stretches of the habitable globe. Such deliberately
produced states of possession are now designated as Sham-
anism we shall sec with what degree of justification.

To primitive people the possessed stand as intermediaries
between the world of men and the spirit- world ; the spirits
speak through their mouths. It is therefore no wonder
that as soon as men realized that states of this kind could
be voluntarily induced, free use was made of the fact.

The accounts of ethnologists show beyond d doubt that
the psyche of primitive peoples is much less firmly seated than
that of civilized ones. In my Einfuhrung in die Religions-

236

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 237

psychologic, 1 1 have already mentioned in this connection a
narrative by Thurnwald. 2 I shall again reproduce it here
because of its importance in the present connection :

As an example (of the ease with which autosuggestion can change
the personal consciousness amongst primitive people) I might
relate how one young man mocks another by saying " I am so-
and-so," not kt 1 am like so-and-so." An incident which occurred
showed me how far such an identification may go. At Buin my
landlord Ungi lay stretched out one day looking deeply agitated
on a great wooden cask in the chiefs' room which I had rented.
When I asked what was the matter, he told me that he was ill.
Questioning him further I learnt that often, without more precise
localization, he was " ill all over." I gave, as usual when I could
not gather anything specific, aloe pills. On the following day he
still lay there. Then my servants told me that Ungi was ill
because his wife was ill. % By further questioning I learnt that she
had a bad wound ; so I now gave Ungi bandages and sent the man
home to his wife with them. After a few days he was well, for
his wife had recovered. This is a case of identification with the
sufferings of another person, of physiological sympathy.

This narrative shows how unstable is primitive personality,
how easily it succumbs to autosuggestion, which never exer-
cises the same kind of influence on civilized man.

The following episode may also serve as an example of
primitive autosuggestibility. Bastian relates of Siam:

When the growers sieve the rice (Kadong fat) they like to amuse
themselves by letting a young person who docs not yet understand
the cleansing of the rice through the hand-sieve (Kadong) take
part. Before they give the hand-sieve over to the boy or girl they
secretly call the female demon (Phi) of the sieve to enter into it,
and she then works upon it so powerfully that the holder of the
sieve twists his body into the most strange and wonderful positions,
always swaying in measure with the others the while, which causes
the greatest amusement sind merriment. Those who have often
taken part in the rice-sieving cannot be infected by the demon, for
they keep their movements too much under voluntary control
for this influence to act upon them. 3

It must, moreover, be admitted that civilized people show
a high degree of autosuggestibility in certain circumstances.
By way of example we may quote the peculiar psychic in-
toxication to which in certain places (e.g., Munich and Cologne)
a large part of the population falls victim on a given day of
the year (Carnival).

1 Berlin, 1917.

2 11. Thurnwald, Kthnologische Studien an Sudseevolkern, Leipzig,
1913, p. 103.

n A. Bastian, Die Vblker des dstlichen Asien, vol. iii, Berlin, 1867,
p. 28.

288 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Abnormal suggestibility characterizes the following cases
cited by Bastian as examples of the imitative instinct:

In Tunis a maidservant was present when someone clapped.
Actuated by the spirit of imitation, she threw away the carafe
she was carrying in order to do the same. When she saw dancers
she joined in with them. 1

In an hysterical affection (in Siam) which is also known in Burmah
and is there called yaun, the sufferers involuntarily imitate all the
movements which they see made by other people. If anyone
raises an arm or scratches himself they do the same. An old
woman carrying a jar of oil passed behind an ox; as the latter
began to urinate the old woman took the jar and poured the oil out
in a similar stream. 2

There are even examples of the most extreme degree of
autosuggestion, autosuggestive suicide. The English observer
Mariner, who gives an impression of particular trustworthi-
ness, has already communicated a case of this kind from the
Tonga Islands:

These imaginations, however, have sometimes produced very
serious consequences ; to give an instance : on one occasion a certain
chief, a very handsome young man, became inspired but did not
yet know by whom; on a sudden he felt himself very low-spirited,
and shortly afterwards swooned away; when recovered from this,
still finding himself very ill, he was taken to the house of a priest,
who told the sick chief that it was a woman, mentioning her name,
who had died two years before, and was now in Bolotpo (paradise)
that had inspired him; that she was deeply in love with him, and
wished him to die (which event was to happen in a tew days) that
she might have him near her: the chief replied that he had seen
the figure of a female two or three successive nights in his sleep,
and had begun to suspect that he was inspired by her, though he
could not tell who she was. He died two days afterwards.
Mr. Mariner visited the sick chief three or four times, at the house
of the priest, and heard the latter foretell his death and the occasion

We should certainly consider this story incredible were
there not other similar accounts of death by autosuggestion. 4

In this connection our first thought is of the old stories
such as that of Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts. A case
has also come down to us from the fifteenth century. These
would in themselves hardly furnish sufficient basis for a
considered judgement, but there are more recent accounts
of the same kind which put the matter beyond all doubt.
We are indebted to Klaatsch for bringing them to light.

1 Ibid., p. 288. a Ibid., p. 295.

3 W. Mariner, An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, ed.
J. Martin, London, 1817.

4 Unhappily, I have not been able to obtain access to the whole
of this literature.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 239

This is what he says concerning the belief of the
Australian aborigines that both the living and the dead can
effect this strange form of death from a distance:

Ability to exercise influence at a distance naturally varies, like
the exhibition of strength in hand-to-hand fighting. There are
men who are particularly feared by reason of their dangerous
powers. These are wizards. . . .

The strength of the belief in long-distance influence is attested
by the " death-madness," " thanatomania," as Roth aptly calls it,
found amongst the Australians. If a savage believes himself
struck from afar, he lies down and slowly dies in consequence of the
psychic affection. There is only one remedy, that is the counter-
acting of the influence by another wizard of the same kind. 1

In another place Klaatsch continues :

This singular phenomenon (thanatomania) has been unani-
mously established by observers studying the life and customs of
the aborigines in the most various regions of Australia. As regards
the South where the race is already partly extinct and partly
degenerate, we have the accounts of missionaries and of the oldest
colonists.

For the Adelaide district we have the careful observations of the
Rev. G. Taplin, a missionary of Point McLeay. 2 For Southern
Queensland the excellent memoirs of Tom Petrie furnish a rich
fund of information. This latter arrived in 1837 as a child at the
place where Brisbane stands to-day, and established very friendly
relations with the aborigines who luwe now completely disappeared. 3
These old accounts confirm the new. . . .

Not only the living but also the spirits of the dead may exert
influence to cause death from a distance. 4

Unfortunately, I have not so far been able to procure the
original narratives to which Klaatsch refers.

These accounts arc also entirely confirmed by Eylmann,
who has made a prolonged sojourn in South Australia and
lived with the people as one of themselves. 5

Analogous cases are also known in northern Asia. A
modern Russian investigator relates of the people of the
Orotcha:

Once upon a time a man of Orotcha was returning home at night
by moonlight and the country was everywhere covered with a thick

1 H. Klaatsch, DicAnfdngc von Kunst und Religion in der Urmemch-
lieit, Leipzig, 1913, p. 45.

2 G. Taplin, The Narrinyeri, an Account of the Tribes of South
Australian Aborigines, Adelaide, 1878.

3 T. Petrie, Reminiscences of Early Queensland, recorded by his
Daughter (dating from 1837), Brisbane, 1904.

4 H. Klaatsch, Die Todes-Psychotogie der Uraustralier in ihrer volks-
und religionsgeschichtlichen Bedeutung, in Festschrift zur Jahrhundert-
feier der Universitat Breslau, Brcslau, 1911, pp. 405 sq.

* E. Eylmann, Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie Sudaustralien, Berlin,
1908.

240 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

mantle of snow. Suddenly he saw one of his souls jump aside
and run off (it is generally believed in Siberia that man has several
souls and these are conceived as very material). It had gone.
Seized with mortal fear he hurried home as fast as possible, and
once arrived took to his bed with high fever and remained there
for two days and nights until the shaman was fetched. This latter
shamunizcd, caught the fugitive soul and reinstated it in the man's
body at the end of operations lasting for almost six hours, where-
upon the patient arose on the following morning completely
cured.

Other cases might also be cited. 1

Given their high degree of autosuggestibility, it is not
surprising that primitive races are very prone to mental
derangements of an autosuggestive character. The number
of mental troubles cured by all sorts of magic procedure
is quite astonishing, and all these must, of course, be
purely autosuggestive. Unhappily we are not yet in a
position to say whether they arc simply hysterical; this
can only be suggested when the complaint is not merely
a psychic malady of autosuggestive origin, but shows the
typical complex of symptoms. Autosuggestive derange-
ment alone would not seem to me adequate to justify the
diagnosis of hysteria, which would only be legitimate in
the presence of other symptoms. We are faced with exactly
the same problem as arose earlier in respect of epidemics of
possession.

Judging by the available information, it is by 110 means
certain that hysteria is always present. It rather appears
that the matter is often simply one of a higher general and
" normal " degree of suggestibility on the part of primitive
peoples, or at least many of their number. Their general
psychological resemblance to the child-mind is here mani-
fested, and just as no class of schoolchildren attacked by an
epidemic of trembling should without further ado be roundly
designated as hysterical, the same holds good of primitive
people. Both children and savages show a greater degree
of suggestibility than do normal adults without this con-
stituting hysteria properly so called.

It is high time that suggestibility and autosuggestibility
amongst primitive races were studied more narrowly. The

1 Detailed information as to sources will be found in G. Tschubinow,
Beitrdge zum psychologischen Verstandnis des sibirischen Zaubercrs,
Dissertation, Halle, 1914, p. 17.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 241

question is of general importance from the standpoint of
racial psychology and ethnology.

As regards possession, the autosuggestibility of primitive
races makes itself felt in the marked frequency with which
states of this nature are deliberately provoked. As soon as
they are expected by the person concerned they obviously
come on with great readiness.

This artificially provoked possession amongst primitive
peoples raises a number of psychological problems, combining
as it does in a remarkable way deliberate play-acting with
spontaneous psychic development. It should certainly not
be supposed that the " artificially " possessed behave in all
respects like persons under the influence of spontaneous pos-
session. The close, or even the merely superficial observer,
provided he troubles to think for a moment, at once perceives
that they generally carry out a definite " programme." The
details of what they do are fixed by custom. They first
accomplish a certain sacrifice after certain ceremonies, then
they turn to certain persons and speak to them likewise in a
sense which is in the main predictable. All this shows that
their conduct is largely " studied "; projects conceived in the
normal waking state produce their effect in trance. A casual
observer might perhaps immediately conclude that we are
not dealing with cases of possession at all, but merely with
fraud. Such a conception cannot, however, be defended,
the very numerous accounts placing beyond dubiety that the
states of the shamans are generally not fraudulent but entirely
abnormal in character, a fact often confirmed by the abnormal
physiological state. We have therefore no option but to
admit the existence of an abnormal state, the phenomena
of which are nevertheless often determined by the anterior
waking consciousness. Moreover in somnambulistic states
the ordinary psychic life is by no means entirely blotted out,
speech and its comprehension, as well as a number of cogni-
tions and memories from the waking state, being as a rule
perfectly preserved. If the normal psychic life had com-
pletely disappeared, a man on falling into a somnambulistic
state would be like a new-born child.

The second surprising phenomenon is that with many
races possession is preluded by sudden collapse. It is certain

that this is intimately associated with the profound inodi-

16

242 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

fication occurring in the psychic structure, but unfortunately
we are not for the moment in a position to say more on the
subject; far too little is known of psycho-physical relations.

Artificial possession by animals is also known, the masked
dances of primitive peoples often furnishing occasion for it.
The participants generally represent various animals, from
which they are not as a rule clearly distinguished by the
spectators, but are rather regarded as identical with them.
In the eyes of the onlookers they do not represent the animals,
they are the animals. But the dancers arc, at least for a
time, not only one with the animals in the eyes of the by-
standers, but also in their own, they identify themselves with
them. The question before us is to know the nature of this
change of personal consciousness. Ts it purely intellectual
that is to say, does the dancer merely think himself identical
with the particular animal, or docs his personality really
suffer a profound change ? Only in the second case could
we speak of possession.

What are the real facts of the matter ?

Unfortunately no fully satisfactory answer can be given,
as information is deficient on a number of points. There arc
innumerable accounts of the manner in which the dances are
executed, in what order, with what figures, how many dancers,
etc., and much has also been written concerning the masks
worn by the dancers, with which moreover the ethnological
museums are filled. On the other hand, ethnologists have
almost always neglected to obtain information about the
psychological state of the dancers during the performance.
It is only from meagre and casual remarks that the student
can occasionally draw inferences on this subject, and even
then without any conviction of standing on firm ground,
since the ethnologists themselves have paid no attention
to the points under discussion. In this connection we
must once more deprecate the fact that ethnology confines
itself to somewhat superficial aspects and lacks the deeper
questioning spirit of psychology.

For my own part I presume that the original state of

things is possession, but that later the dances have in many

cases been transformed into simple representations. Frazer 1

is obviously right, moreover, in seeking in these ritual dances

1 J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. vi, London, 1913.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 243

the origins of the drama. Between true possession and
mere studied participation in rehearsed performances of
a stereotyped nature there are of course innumerable stages,
just as amongst modern actors the psychic state differs
widely in individual cases; in many it approaches possession,
in others performance is completely detached and apparently
the outcome of intellectual calculation.

There can be no question of an exhaustive treatment of
voluntary possession in the following pages. I shall give
and elucidate material accumulated with the passing years,
and even quote documents in extenso, as no one can be ex-
pected to investigate the widely scattered evidence on the
spot, and such a collection is as yet nowhere available. This
evidence, in spite of its fragmentary nature, will permit us
to form a clear conception of the part which may be played
by the phenomena of possession. The nature of the states
themselves is not everywhere alike, depending as it does
entirely on the autosuggestive expectation of the possessed.

I shall begin with the primitive peoples, the pigmies,
amongst whom a kind of Shamanism is found concerning
which the available information is unfortunately still scanty
in the extreme.

Martin has collected the accounts of Shamanism amongst
the pigmy races of the interior of the Malay Peninsula. 1 The
shamans are there designated by the name of poyangs.

" The dignity of poyang is generally hereditary, that
is to say that supernatural gifts are transmitted from
father to son." 2 But this is not a simple, I might say
legal, transmission of office; inspiration is necessary before
any man can become a poyang. In other words, only an
outstandingly autosuggestible individual can become a
shaman; those not possessed of this quality to a sufficient
degree are excluded from the beginning.

An investigator of the first half of the nineteenth century,
T. J. Newbold, describes the consecration in detail as follows.
Underlying the proceedings is the idea that the soul of the
dead shaman has passed into a tiger and that this latter
appears to his descendants.

1 R. Martin, Die Inlamhtumme dcr malauischen Halbinsel, Jena,
1905.

2 Ibid., p. 959.

241 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The corpse of the Poyang is placed erect against the projection
near the root of a large'tree in the depth of a forest, and carefully
watched and supplied with rice and water for seven days and nights
by the friends and relatives. During this period the transmigra-
tion (believed to be the result of an ancient compact made in olden
times by the Poyang' s ancestors with a tiger) is imagined to be in
active operation. On the seventh day, it is incumbent on the
deceased Poyang's son, should he be desirous of exercising similar
supernatural powers, to take a censer and incense of Kamuuian
wood, and to watch near the corpse alone; when the deceased will
shortly appear in the form of a tiger on the point of making the
fatal spring upon him. At this crisis it is necessary not to betray
the slightest symptom of alarm, but to cast with a bold hciirt and
lirm hand the incense on the fire ; the seeming tiger will then dis-
appear. The spectres of two beautiful women will next present
themselves, and the novice will be cast into a deep trance, during
which the initiation is presumed to be perfected. These aerial
ladies thenceforward become his familiar spirits," the slaves of the
ring," by whose invisible agency the secrets of nature, the hidden
treasures of the earth arc unfolded to him. Should the heir of the
Poyang omit to observe this ceremonial, the spirit of the deceased,
it is believed, will re-enter for ever the body of the tiger, and the
mantle of enchantment be irrevocably lost to the tribe. 1

The soul of the dead man is only provisionally incarnated
in the tiger, and when the inspiration has been successfully
accomplished it passes from thence into the new shaman.

In other cases an innate and unusual gift may confer the right
and possibility of rising to be poyang of a community, or else
instruction by a known and tried poyang confers a title to the
exercise of the office. 2

For the purpose of exorcising the sick, the poyang enters
voluntarily into an abnormal condition.

The exorcisms take place at night: fire, incense, and various
herbs and roots possessed of marvellous properties are used. The
besawyc or ceremony of exorcism consists in the burning of incense
and muttering at midnight of magie formula* over the herbs, the
most important of these being Palas, Subong, Krong, Lebbar, and
Bertram, and finally in conjuring the spirit of the mountains. If
the operation is successful the spirit descends, plunges the exorcist
into a state of unconsciousness (possession), in which he imparts to
him what the latter desires to know. 3

This ceremony resembles in many respects the one in use amongst
the Malays, and the methods adopted, the burning of incense,
dancing, music and noise are the same us we encounter everywhere
in Shamanism. The essence of the whole procedure is that through
the incense, dancing, etc., and through autosuggestion the pa wang
falls into an unconscious slate in which he is able not only to drive
out spirits but reply to any questions put to him. The loss oi

1 T. J. Newbold, Political and Statistical Account of the British
Settlements in the Straits of Malacca, London, 1839, vol. ii, p. 388.

2 According to Martin himself, p. 960. 3 Ibid., p. 961.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 245

consciousness is considered as possession and consequently the
replies are not those of the pawang but of the spirit who has entered
into him and now speaks by his mouth. 1

These descriptions arc naturally very far from elear and
show how necessary it is for ethnologists to possess a more
thorough knowledge of psychology. There can be no question
of loss of consciousness. From the iirst description one would
be inclined to postulate a sort of state in which the shamans
lose all contact with the outer world; according to the second,
on the other hand, there appears to be a certain mutual
intercourse with the bystanders, since questions are put to
the shaman and he replies. A further contradiction is that
in the first description we are apparently dealing with audi-
tions on the part of the shaman, the spirit imparting com-
munications to him, whereas according to the second there is
veritable possession. Naturally the two cannot co-exist, but
the shaman might sometimes have mere visions and auditions
and sometimes fall into a state of possession. The expression
" loss of consciousness " must simply mean that the individual
concerned is not " known to himself " but that he has become
somnambulistic, and that the normal individuality is appar-
ently replaced by that of the invading spirit.

As we have already remarked, voluntary possession in-
cludes many cases of the animal variety. Martin relates of
the pigmies of the Malay Peninsula:

. . . Hound up with these ideas is also another that wizards are
able to change themselves into various animals and in this new
form to harm their fellow-men, even devouring their flesh. The
most celebrated and also the most frequent is self-metamorphosis
into a raging tiger; this has numerous analogies in different parts
of the world and beyond all doubt rests on autosuggestion. Skeat
and Laidlaw obtained from a Bliaii at Ulu Aririg the following
description of the procedure requisite to the achievement of this
metamorphosis :

'" You go," he said, " a long way into the jungle " (usually, he
added, into the next valley), " and there, when you are quite alone,
you squat down upon your haunches, burn incense, and making
a trumpet of your hand blow some of the smoke of the incense
through it, at the level of your face, in three directions. You then
repeat this process, holding your hand close to the ground ; all you
now have to say is, * Ye chop ' (" I am going abroad '), and presently
your skin will change, the stripes will appear, your tail will fall
down, and you will become a tiger. When you wish to return say,
* Y6 wet ' (' I am going home '), and you will presently return to
your natural form." 2

~~ i Ibid., p. 963.' "

2 W. W. Skeat, The Wild Tribes of the Malay Peninsula ("Journal
of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland"),
London, vol. xxxii, p. 137.

246 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

In a rather more detailed description which Skcat has recently
given 1 it is also slated that in squatting the H'lian leans forward,
rests upon his hands and rapidly moves his head from right to
left. This exercise combined with the inhalation of the smoke is
certainly not without influence on the production of autosuggestive
ecstasy.* Moreover, the whole of this procedure recalls that often
used in exorcism of the sick, when the Malay pawang by the force
of autosuggestion flings himself about and covers the body of the
sick person in the manner of a tigress. 2 Here it is, of course, the
tigcr-hantu (bantu spirit) which has passed into the pawang,
not the wizard who changes himself into a tiger. 3

Amongst rnanj r dwarf races possession seems to be
generally non-existent. Thus 1 find in Ed. II. Man's ac-
count 4 of the pigmies of the Andamans, in other respects so
interesting, no mention of analogous states, lie merely
remarks that in dreams certain individuals enter into
relation with the spirit-world, but nothing indicates that
spirits may speak by the mouth of a living man. We also
read in M. V. Portman:

They have much faith in dreams, and in the utterances of certain
" wise men " who, they think, arc able to foretell the future and
know what arc the intentions of the Deity, and what is passing at a
distance. Like all such " priesthoods " this superstition is used
by the " wise men " to enhance their powers and comforts, and to
obtain articles they wish for from others without any real com-
pensation. 5

This observation is too summary to warrant any con-
clusions as to the existence of possession.

The information concerning Shamanism amongst the
pigmies as, indeed, all other aspects of their life, is extremely
scanty. I must associate myself with the urgent request
made from the standpoint of religious psychology by P. W.
Schmidt that a rapid and thorough study of these small and
fast-disappearing peoples should be undertaken before it be
too late. Given their general position in the history of human
evolution it is of the highest importance to acquire a more
precise knowledge of their extraordinary states of religious
excitement.

Closely allied to the pigmies are the Veddas of Ceylon,

1 Same title, London, 1905, vol. ii, p. 228.

2 Cf. Maxwell, Shamanism, 1883, p. 226, and Skcat, Malay Magic,
1900, p. 443.

3 Martin, loc. cit., p. 961.

4 E. II. Man, On the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands,
London (1884 ?)

6 M. V. Portman, A History of our Relation with the Andamanese,
2 vols., Calcutta, 1899.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 247

concerning whose states of possession some very interesting
information is available. The groat work of the cousins
Sarasin 1 which focussed upon them the attention of the German
scientific world, contains nothing on this subject, but we are
indebted to two English researchers named Seligmann for
some very valuable accounts. 2 It emerges from these that
the Veddas are very familiar with ritual possession, in which
every one of their communities has a man trained to be
a professional expert. This shaman falls into possession
at the time of their ceremonial dances, thus making it
possible to communicate with spirits, particularly the
souls of the dead. But there is not only the professional
shaman ; other Veddas, especially the kinsfolk of those most
recently dead, may become possessed, showing that the re-
quired autosuggcstibility is not confined to certain individuals.
Nevertheless, as we shall see, there are persons who are not
susceptible to possession.

In each community there is one man called kapurale or dugga-
nawu, who has the power and knowledge requisite to call the yuku,
and in the ceremony of presenting the offering called A T e Yaku
Natanmva (literally the dancing of the A r </e YA*n),this man calls
upon the yaka of the recently dead man to come and take the
oifering. . . . The dugganawa becomes possessed by the yaka
of the dead man who speaks through the mouth of the shaman in
hoarse, guttural accents, declaring that he approves the offering,
that he will assist his kinsfolk in hunting, and often stating the
direction in which the next party should go .

Each shaman trains his successor, usually taking as his pupil
his own son or his sister's son (i.e., his actual or potential son-in-
law). Handuna of Sitala Wamiiya learnt from his father. At
Henebedda we were told that a special hut was built in which the
shaman and his pupil slept, and from which women were excluded.
It seems probable that this is only done among Veddas who ha\ e
come under Sinhalese influence, as among them, but not among
the wilder Veddas, women are considered unclean, and there was
no isolation of the shaman and his pupil at Sitala Wanniya.

Sclla Wanniya of Unawatura tiubula was instructed by his
father, and during his apprenticeship he resided with him in a hut
into which his mother was not allowed to come.

The pupil learns to repeat the invocations used at the various
ceremonies, but no food is offered to the yaku. At Sitala \Vanniya
we were told that the shaman recited the following formula, explain-
ing to the yaku that he is teaching his pupil : *" May (your) life be
long ! From to-day 1 am rearing a scholar of the mind. Do not
take any offence at it. I am explaining to my pupil how to give
this offering to you/'

1 P. and F. Sarasin, Die Veddas, in Krgebnisse naturw. Forschungen
auf Ceylon in den Jahren, 1881-86, vol. iii, Wiesbaden, 1893.

2 C. G. Seligmann and Brenda Seligmann, The Veddas, Cambridge,
1911.

248 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The yaku understand that although the formulae invoking them
arc recited they arc not really being called, and so the pupil does
riot become possessed while learning, nor do the yaku hurt him.
The pupil avoids eating or touching pig or eating fowl in the same
way as the shaman, and Sella of Unawatura Uubula slated that
while learning he avoided rice, coconuts and kurakan, eating
especially the llesh of the sanibar and monitor lizard. 1

The shaman exercises complete control over his pupil and, we
believe, does not usually train more than one disciple. We heard
of one instance in which a shaman, considering his pupil unlit,
advised him to give up all idea of becoming a shaman. This
happened among the Mudigala Veddas, apparently between twenty
or thirty years ago. No man, however highly trained, is accounted,
the official shaman of a community during his teacher's life,
although with his teacher's permission he will, when he is proficient,
perform ceremonies and become possessed by the yaku. . . .

Besides the shaman one or more of the near relatives of the dead
man may become possessed, but this though common is not in-
variable. The yaka leaves the shaman soon after he has promised
his favour and success in hunting, the shaman often collapsing as
the spirit departs and in any case appearing in an exceedingly
exhausted state for a few minutes. However, lie soon comes round,
when he and all present, constituting the men, women and children
of the group, eat the offering, usually on the spot on which the
invocation took place, though this is not absolutely necessary, for
on one occasion at Sitala \Vanniya a rain squall threatened, the
food was quickly carried to the cave a few hundred yards distant
from the dancing ground. 2

It must be emphasized that according to the Seligmanns
the possession of the shamans is not of a somnambulistic
character :

The method of invocation of the yaku is essentially the same in
all Vedda ceremonies; an invocation is sung by the shaman and
often by the onlookers, while the shaman slowly dances, usually
round the offering that has been prepared for the yaku. Sometimes
the invocations are quite appropriate and either consist of straight-
forward appeals to the yaka invoked for help, or recite the deeds
and prowess of the yaka when he too was a man, as when Kande
Yaka is addressed as " continuing to go from hill to hill (who)
follows up the traces from footprint to footprint of excellent sambar
deer." But at other times the charms seen singularly inappro-
priate ; probably in many of these instances they arc the remains of
old Sinhalese charms that have not only been displaced from their
proper position and function, but have been mangled in the pro-
cess, and have in the course of time become incomprehensible.
As the charm is recited over and over again the shaman dances
more and more quickly, his voice becomes hoarse ami he soon
becomes possessed by the yaka, and although he does not lose
consciousness and can co-ordinate his movements, he nevertheless
does not retain any clear recollection of what he says, and only a
general idea of the movements he has performed. Although there
is doubtless a certain element of humbug about some of the per-
formances, we believe that this is only intentional among the tamer
Veddas accustomed to show off before visitors, and that among the

1 Ibid., pp. 128 sq. Ibid., pp. 129 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 249

less sophisticated Vcddas the singing and movements of the dance
soon produce a more or less automatic condition, in which the mind
of the shaman, being dominated by his belief in the reality of the
yaku, and of his coining possession, which acts without being in
a condition of complete volitional consciousness. Most sincere
practitioners whom we interrogated in different localities agreed
that although they never entirely lost consciousness, they nearly
did so at times, and that they never fully appreciated what they
said when possessed, while at both the beginning and end of pos-
session they experienced a sensation of nausea and vertigo and the
ground seemed to rock and sway beneath their feet.

Some men, including Handuna of Sitala Wanniya, whom we
consider one of the most trustworthy of our informants, said that
they were aware that they shivered and trembled when they became
possessed, and I land i ma heard booming noises in his ears as the
spirit left him and full consciousness returned. lie said this usually
happened after he had ceased to dance. We could not hear of any
shaman who saw visions while possessed or experienced any ol-
factory or visual hallucinations before, during, or after possession.
The Veddas recognize that women may become possessed, but we
only saw one instance of (alleged) possession in a woman, which
occurred at a rehearsal of a dance got up for our benefit on our
first visit to Beiidiyagalge, during which we are confident that none
of the dancers were really possessed. Although we did not see the
beginning of this woman's sei/Aire we have little doubt that there
was a large element of conscious deception in her actions, for when
we became aware of her she was sitting bolt upright with her eyes
shut and the lids quivering, apparently from the muscular effort
of keeping them tightly closed, while opposite her was Tissahami
the Vedda Arachi muttering spells over a coconut shell half full
of water with which he dabbed her eyes and face. 1

It is particularly interesting from the point of view of
psychology to know up to what point the Veddas participate
voluntarily and of set purpose in the genesis of possession.
The Seligmanns are of opinion that the states are inter-
mediate, neither quite passive nor entirely voluntary, and
unquestionably not purely assumed. They have probably
hit the mark. The more exact analysis of this remarkable
blending remains a task for the future demanding a deeper
insight than we now possess into the relationship between
active and passive psychic phenomena, especially as con-
ditioned by the mentality of primitive peoples, so essentially
different from that of the civilized. 2

1 Ibid., pp. 133 sq.

2 It is interesting to note that the Seligmanns wondered whether
hysteria were not present amongst the Vcddas. They reached the
following conclusion : " There was nothing about the general behaviour
of all the Veddas with whom we came into contact that suggested a
neurotic or hysterical tendency. The graver stigmata of hysteria,
which would warrant a diagnosis of functional disease, were also absent,
and the Veddas, even when ill, were in no sense fuss-makers or inclined
to magnify their ailments in the way so many Melanesians do " (The
Veddas, p. 135, note).

250 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

It is not suggested that the conscious clement is entirely absent
from the Vedda possession-dances, it is impossible to believe that
such a sudden collapse as that occurring in the Hcncbedda Kiri-
koraka ceremony (when Kande Yaka in the person of the shaman
shoots the sainbar deer), followed by an almost instantaneous
recovery, is entirely non- volitional, and the same holds good for
the pig-spearing in* the Bambura Yaka ceremony at Sitala Wan-
niya. We believe that these facts can be fully accounted for by
a partial abolition of the will, that is to say, by a dulling of volition
far short of complete unconsciousness. The shaman in fact
surrenders himself to the dance in the fullest sense, and it is this,
combined to a high degree with subconscious expectancy, which
leads him to enact almost automatically and certainly without
careful forethought the traditional parts of the dance in their con-
ventionally correct order. Further, the assistant, who follows
every movement of the dancer, prepared to catch him when he falls,
may also greatly assist by conscious or unconscious suggestion in
the correct performance of these complicated possession-dances.
Again, we do not think there can be any doubt as to the non-
volitional nature of the possession, by the yaka, of the bystanders,
near relatives of the dead man, which may take place during the
Nae Yaku ceremony.

One remarkable fact may be chronicled here viz., that we have
never met a Vedda who has seen the spirit of a dead man, that is to
say, no Vcdda ever saw a ghost, at least in his waking hours. 1

Nor did the Nae Yaku regularly make their presence known in
any other way than by possession, though some Veddas translated
the minor noises of the jungle into signs of the presence of the
yaku. These facts also seemed to militate against the idea that
any considerable part of Vedda possession is a fraud, deliberately
conceived and perpetrated, for knowing, as many Veddas do, of the
frequency with which the Sinhalese see " devils " and " spirits "
of all softs, nothing would appear easier, if fraud were intended,
than for a shaman to assert that he could sec the spirits which every
Vedda believes are constantly near him. 2

The facility with which the Veddas become possessed is
quite astonishing, the accounts recalling those given by
Mariner of the natives of the Tonga Islands. There is no need
for preparatory autosuggestion; suddenly, as if at a given
signal, the change in the state of consciousness takes place:

When the Maha Yakiiio are invoked to cure sickness a basket
is used in which are put a bead necklace and bangles and the leaves
of a /la tree. The Shaman becomes possessed and raises the basket
above the patient's head and prophesies recovery. 3

The Nae Yaku are the spirits of the dead, they must report
themselves to Kande Yaka as the chief of all the yaku and from
him obtain permission to help the living and accept their offerings.
Kande Yaka comes to the Nae Yaku ceremonies since the spirits
of the dead could not be present without him. It was definitely
stated that the spirits of the dead did not become yaku until
the fifth day after death, but my informant knew nothing of the
state of the spirits during this period though it was surmised that

i Ibid., p. 135. 2 Ibid., p. 130. Ibid., p. 166.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 251

at least part of the time would be passed in seeking Kande Yaka
or in his company, though there was no idea as to where Kande
Yaka had his being. It was, however, stated that the spirits of
the dead were in the hills, eaves and rocks. The Nae Yaku in-
cluding the spirit of the dead man are invoked on the fifth day after
death. An offering is made of coconut milk and rice, if these are
obtainable, but if not one consisting of yams and water is substi-
tuted. The shaman dances, holding in his hand a big ceremonial
arrow for which 110 special name could be elicited, while the re-
mainder of the community gather round. The shaman invokes
the Nae Yaku and also Kande Yaka and Bilindi Yaka. The
shaman becomes possessed and is supported lest he fall while
the spirit of the deceased promises that yarns, honey, and game
shall be plentiful. lie then sprinkles coconut milk or water from
the offering on the relatives of the deceased, as a sign of the spirit's
favour. One or more of the relatives of the dead man may also be-
come possessed. The shaman gives the relatives water and yams,
putting their food into their mouths himself while he is possessed,
and it appeared that this might cause the relatives to become
possessed. At the end of the ceremony he asks the Nae Yaku
to depart to where they came from and the spirits leave the offering. 1

We consider that the beliefs so far described represent the first
stratum or basis of the Vedda religion and to be of its original
substance. 2

With a single possible exception the dances of the Veddas are
ceremonial and arc performed with the object of becoming possessed
by a yaka. . . . The majority of the ceremonial dances described
in this chapter are pantomimic, and so well illustrate the objective
manifestations of the condition of possession that little need be said
on this subject, though it may be well to repeat our conviction
that there is no considerable element of pretence in the performance
of the shaman. The sudden collapse which accompanies the per-
formance of some given act of the pantomime, usually an important
event towards uhirh the action has been leading up*, is the feature
that is most dithcult to explain. According to the Veddas them-
selves it occurs when a yaka suddenly leaves the individual pos-
sessed, but it does not invariably accompany the cessation of
possession, and it may equally occur when the individual becomes
possessed. . . . This can be explained as the result of expectancy,
they expected to be overcome by the spirit of the deceased, and in
fact this happened. In this connection \vc may refer to a Sinhalese
" devil ceremony " which we witnessed in the remote jungle
village of Gonagolla in the Eastern Province. One of us has
described this ceremonv elsewhere, but v>e would here specially
refer to the condition of the Katandirale or '" devil dancer *' when
dealing with the dangerous demon Riri Yaka. Although he took
special precautions to prevent the demon entering him, that is to
say to avoid possession by the demon, he almost collapsed, requiring
to be supported in the arms of an assistant, as under the assaults
of the yaka he tottered with drawn features and half open quivering
lips and almost closed eyes. Yet avowedly he was not possessed
by the demon, but on the contrary was successful in warding off
possession. His whole appearance was that of a person suffering
from some amount of shock and in a condition of partial collapse,
while the rapidity with which he passed into sleep immediately
Riri Yaka, and his almost equally dreaded consort Riri Yakini

i Ibid., p. 151. 2 Ibid., p. 153.

252 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

had left him, also favour the genuine character of his sufferings,
concerning which he said that although he had never completely
lost consciousness he had been near doing so and had felt giddy
and nauseated. During the condition of partial collapse the
dancer's face was covered with sweat and so felt clammy, but this
may only have been the result of his previous exertions ; his pulse
was small and rapid and was certainly over 120, though the con-
ditions prevented it being accurately counted. Here we have a
condition only a degree short of possession, occurring in an indi-
vidual who not only hoped and expected to avoid being possessed
by the spirit whom he invoked to come to the offering, but took
elaborate precautions to prevent it. Had he become possessed it
would have been a disaster which would have led to his illness and
perhaps death, and would certainly have frustrated the object
of the ceremony. Here there can have been no desire to lose con-
sciousness, yet as the result of anticipation of the attack of the
yaka the kat and i rale came near collapse.

This in our opinion throws a Hood of light on Vedda possession
and the collapse which may take place at its beginning, but it does
not exactly explain the collapse often experienced when a yaka
leaves a person. But here we may seek assistance in the idea of
anology; when a spirit leaves the body, collapse and unconscious-
ness, permanent (death) or temporary (swoon, fainting fits or sleep),
ensue. When the yaka leaves the body \\hich for the time it has
entirely dominated, what more natural than that collapse should
occur or be feigned by the less honest or susceptible practitioners ?
There is no doubt that the Vedda ceremonies make considerable
demand on the bodily powers of the dancers, but this is not so great
as in the case of the Sinhalese devil ceremony of Gonagolla, since
the Vedda ceremonies are of shorter duration none we saw lasted
over two hours and the majority certainly did not take so k>ng.
In spite of this we noted, after more than one ceremony, that the
shaman was genuinely tired, and this was the case at Sitala Wan-
niya, where Kaira appeared actually exhausted at the end of the
Pata Yaka ceremony. 1

When the yaka enters the person of a shaman it is customary
for him to inspect the offerings, and if he is pleased which is
almost invariably the case he will show his pleasure. This is
usually done by bending the head low over the offering, then
springing away and shouting * fc All ! Ah !"' while taking short deep
breaths. The natural outcome of the yaka's gratitude is a promise
of favours to the community. When prophesying good luck, the
shaman places one or both hands on the participant's shoulders,
or if he carries an audc or other sacred object, the shaman holds
this against the lattcr's chest, or more rarely, presses it on the top
of his head. His whole manner is agitated and he usually shuffles
his feet, speaks in a hoarse somewhat guttural voice, taking short
deep breaths, and punctuates his remarks with a deep " Ah !
Ah !"

A whole series of ceremonial dances executed by the
Veddas is very exactly described in the Seligmanns' book,
and what is more interesting, it also contains a number of
photographs of these dances in which shaman becomes pos-
sessed or falls on his back. 3

1 Ibid., pp. 209 sq. Ibid., pp. 21 1 sq. 3 Ibid., chap. ix.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 253

Far more copious than our information about the pigmies
is that relating to the shamanistic states of primitive peoples
of normal stature, with which we shall now deal.

Let us first say a few words on African shamanism which
the ethnologist Frobenius has studied at first-hand in Central
Africa. 1 But his description is not at all clear, so that we
have merely a rough sketch. Here, too, the distinguishing
feature is belief in spirits which take possession of men and
speak by their mouth. From Frobenius' accounts it is
necessary to distinguish clearly, as already remarked, two
sorts of possession, voluntary and involuntary. The first
has already been discussed and we shall now pass to the
second. Possession appears as a rule to consist in visionary
apparitions. The chief means of provoking it is music.

Sometimes possession is desired and the demon is conjured and
asked to grant it, but sometimes the latter invades the man's
body of his own initiative and free will. Then the priest can speak
to the demon by the mouth of the possessed, communicate with
him and hold consultations. This requires music before all things,
generally the simple guitar, sometimes the Soudanese violin, the
" goyc." Rarely, and then only in the Sahara, have I heard it
said that the drum was used. 3

Owing to the fact that the demons exercise a free and premedi-
tated choice of their preferred ones, the shaman is elected and must
carry out his mission often against his will. He is seized by the
spirit and suffers possession by him. 3

The elders of the Bori have strange sacred instruments, namely,
the woman a sacred calabash ; a korria -^mborri ; a little bow with
arrows. When an old woman (especially the Magadja) wishes to
speak with one of the spirits of the Bori who are always in the bush,
the following people form the circle: (1) the old woman i.e.,
the Magadja who sings and strikes the calabash ; (2) the young
Adjingi wlio usuully makes the offering; (3) the old Adjingi . . .,
who before the ceremony has bathed his eyes with a magani (a
magic drug) because he "would otherwise be unable to recognize
and above all to see the Bori which inspires or enters the circle;
( I) and lastly, the guitar-player; for in order to obtain inspiration,
the possession which is sought and petitioned, it is necessary that
a Maimolii or guitarist should play the airs prescribed by Bori
custom. This group of four is gathered in a room, and performs
the musical rite. Meanwhile the Bori people are seated outside the
door awaiting what will take place, that is to say what Alledjenu
(summoned by the magic circle of the four persons forming the
ring) will seize one of their number and cast him to the ground.
For one of those who are seated waiting without will be thrown
down by an iska (i.e., wind, spirit), coming from the place where
the four are sitting. The man overthrown will then be able to

. . ., vol. ii, Berlin, 1912, chap. xi.

2 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 219.

3 Ibid., p. 249.

254 TIIE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

say what will happen (i.e., he will prophesy). The course of events
is as follows :

The four persons are gathered in the room. No one dances.
The Maimolu repeats to the guitar the names of all the Alledjenu
and converses for a few minutes with each of them. Meanwhile
the Magadja is seated on the ground and beats the calabash. She
pronounces the names of the Alledjenu with her lips at the same time
as they are sounded on the guitar. The Adjingi sits in the place
of honour on a fine skin and has a large quantity of kola-nuts before
him.

When in the enumeration of the Alledjenus the name of the
Salala (Djengere) who is their chief is pronounced, the Adjingi,
because the Salala is his personal Alledjenu (it is clear that Adjingi
=Djengere) distributes the kola-nuts 'amongst those present (and
apparently those outside also), after which the Alledjenu who has
been evoked enters the circle.

According to the account in my possession, the Alledjenu docs
not possess any of the four members of the circle, but no doubt
comes into the room after the summons of the Djengcre and the
sacrificial sharing-out of the kola-nuts, " through the Magadja."
No one can sec or recognize him except the old man whose eyes
have been previously bathed with the magic brew of magani.
He sees the Alledjenu come forth from the circle (if I have under-
stood rightly, from the Magadja) and pass through the room and
the people outside.

As soon as the old man has seen the Alledjenu appear to go out
he tells the young Adjingi that the Alledjenu has come, and names
him by his name. For his part the Alledjenu, before going out,
pays all honour to the elder, presenting him with kola and saying :
** Now let me know everything that happens." This occurs in
the room.

When the Alledjenu, invisible to other eyes, has crossed the room
of the four and gone outside where the whole Bori community is
gathered beneath the open sky, he takes a man or a woman, accord-
ing as he likes them personally or favours them on this day, and
possesses him. The Alledjenu will only descend upon whom he
pleases. He fells this man or woman to the earth. When the
person is so strongly affected that he becomes as if insane, the
people insult the Alledjenu. (The insults in question are not,
however, very serious. They shout: " You arc behaving badly !"
** Do not think that you are amongst animals 1" " We will give
you nothing to eat, so that you may die." " You do not behave
like a friend," etc.) When, however, the Alledjenu goes gently
to work and leaves the possessed merely stupid and dazed, the
members of the tribe praise him and say : " You arc our friend I
We thank you ! We thank you ! We thank you I"

The possessed is then led into the house in which the four form
a circle. The rhythmic music is continued. When the somnolence
of the possessed has lasted for an hour, he begins to speak to the
Adjingi. ^ But it is not the man who speaks, it is merely his voice,
and this is changed, for it is the Alledjenu who speaks by his mouth.
He speaks about all public concerns, and particularly things which
will come to pass (thus prophesying the future). He often tells
of a great misfortune which is to occur in the future, but adds by
what sacrifice the calamity may be averted and to which Alledjenu
the sacrifice should be offered. The Adjingi hears all this from the
mouth of the possessed.

When he has heard everything he goes out to the assembled

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 255

people of Bori and repeats what the Ailed jenu has said through the
possessed. The people of Bori shout: " The King must be told !
The King must be told !" Then the Adjingi places himself at
the head of the procession while all the people follow after. They
proceed towards the King's dwelling, where the Bori shout that
the King must hear them. The King's pages go in and tell him
that the Bori people with the Adjingi are without. The King
comes out.

The people salute the King. Then, in the olden times, the latter
flung himself at the feet of the Adjingi, the elder of the tribe, and
did him honour. The Adjingi commanded the King to arise and
asked him: " Shall I tell you what the Alledjenu has said to us ?"
The King replied : " Can I act against the will of the Alledjenu ?
Must I not hear from the Alledjenu all that they say to you ?
Why will you not repeat what he has said to you ?" Thereupon
the Adjingi relates everything which the Alledjenu has said in the
circle. The King must then collect from the people all that is
necessary to cover the cost of the sacrifice and levies a Toussa (tax)
on everyone. . . .*

In this account, to which many others might be added,
we see clearly how the possessed incarnates the spirit: the
latter enters into him and speaks by his mouth. He possesses
plenary authority, so that the King himself bows before him.
Possession here constitutes an essential, even the principal
part of the religion, and Frobenius aptly speaks of a " religion
of possession." This is, in fact, no rare phenomenon, but the
religion of the Bori, according to Frobenius' information, is
disseminated over a very great part of Central Africa. He
believes it to come from the East and even from Persia whence
it travelled by way of Palestine to the countries of the East
African coast. " It passes across the Middle Nile through
the Sudan to the Niger, acquires there in the Hausa triangle
a particularly marked, localized and self-referent development
of strength, and then dies away towards the east coast." 2

Besides Frobenius we owe detailed information on the
Bori religion to the English investigator Tremearne, already
mentioned above, although he writes as an ethnologist and
there is reason to regret that he has not envisaged matters
from the psychological standpoint proper. This is the more
to be deplored as his numerous photographs show that he
acquired a comprehensive knowledge of these strange customs
and would have had unique opportunities for obtaining
psychological data of a remarkable nature. The information
which Tremearne has collected on possession-dances among
the Hausa peoples is extensive, but on the genesis, course,
1 Ibid., pp. 258-200. 2 Ibid., p. 270.

256 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

and extinction of possession he vouchsafes practically nothing.
It is always the same with ethnologists; they seek rather to
accumulate facts and describe customs than to offer psycho-
logical explanations.

According to Tremearne the Bori is older than Islam
amongst the Ilausa races. He considers these dances as
pre-Islamic, 1 and immediately related to the Semitic cults
of ancient Carthage and Babylon. 2 Amongst the Hausas
dances were originally a method of treatment for mental
diseases and each of them represents a kind of sickness. In
later times this form of treatment was practised by a special
class composed of men and women of bad reputation known
as Kama. Still later young people, particularly girls, who
had not turned out well or who had criminal or morbid
tendencies, came under the influence of the Bori. It was
admitted that they were under the control of evil spirits
which must be driven out. To be accused of Bori is therefore
not necessarily a disgrace although many men regard it as a
reproach against their wives if the latter have been concerned
in it.

According to the explorer Richardson, Bori must have
degenerated long ago, for one evening in the year 1850 he
writes :

" I found that one of our ncgrcsses, a wife of one of the servants,
was performing Boree, the 4 Devil,' and working herself up into the
belief that his Satanic Majesty had possession of her. She threw
herself upon the ground in all directions, and imitated the cries of
various animals. Her actions were, however, somewhat regulated
by a man tapping upon a kettle with a pieee of wood, beating time
to her wild mancruvrc's. After some delay, believing herself now
possessed, and capable of performing her work, she went forward
to half a dozen of our servants who were squatting on their hams
ready to receive her. She then took each by the head and neck,
and pressed their heads between her legs they sitting, she standing
not in the most decent way, and made over them, with her whole
body, certain inelegant motions not to be mentioned. She then
put their hands and arms behind their backs, and after several
other wild cries and jumps, and having for a moment thrown herself
Hat upon the ground, she declared to each and all their future
their fortune, good or bad." 3

After the conquest of the Ilausa states by Islam at the
beginning of the nineteenth century, Bori was, according to

1 Tremearne, Hausa Superstitions and Customs, London, 1913, p. 146.

2 Ibid., The Ban of the Bori, London, 1919.

3 Tremearne, Ilausa Superstitions . . ., p. 146; from Benton, Notes
on Some Languages of the Western Sudan, p. 15.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 257

Trcmearne, forbidden in the largo towns but continued to
flourish in the small ones and villages. Later, by a kind of
bribery of the native authorities, it found its way back into
the large centres. In the regions under British government
the bribe then became a legal tribute to the Bori practitioner,
but in the latter years of the war serious steps were taken
towards the complete suppression of these strange ceremonies
and it was explained to Tremearne that they no longer oc-
curred. For this reason he found it impossible to take further
photographs of Bori, at least in northern Nigeria, where
repression seems to have been completely successful. Even
in 1913, however, he produced two sketches. It is true that
they are of no great significance. 1

In Italian Tripolitania Tremearne later succeeded in
obtaining from the authorities, who showed a sympathetic
understanding, permission for th:.* celebration of the
Bori rites which otherwise no longer occur, and was able
to study them very carefully. We are, however, entitled
to believe that the natives no longer regard them with
their former seriousness, as they would hardly otherwise have
lent themselves to such a performance in the presence of a
European. In consequence Tremearne was able to take a
number of photographs which he published in 1914 in his
new book. The photographs which we possess of primitive
states of possession are unfortunately all too few in number.

Let us hear how he describes the whole spectacle:

The master of ceremonies is culled the Uban Mufuue; he takes
charge of the offerings of the spectators, but they arc afterwards
divided amongst the musicians (a violinist, and a man who drums
011 an overturned calabash), and the dancers. A mat is usually
spread in front of him, so that those onlookers who wish lo give
money will know where to throw it though it is not refused should
it fall'clscwhere. a

After all sorts of other ceremonies have been accomplished
a goat is slaughtered. Similarly a red cock is sacrificed.
Then:

Immediately some of the dowaki began yelling, and certain
ones of them flung themselves upon the ground and began drinking
the blood, these being Mai-Ja-Chikki, Kuri, Sarikin Fawa, Jigo,
and Jam Maraki. Others smeared their faces and clothes and
their instruments also, in the case of the musicians with the blood,

1 tbid., p. 1 18. The pictures are near the title-page.

2 Ibid., p. 5;*0.

17

258 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

and the Arifa, having scooped some of it up, sprinkled those near
her. The first of the Bori had now mounted, and the persons
possessed were forcibly conducted into the dancing-space.

The first to appear 'were Kuri (Haj AH), Jam Maraki (Khameis),
and Mai-Ja-Chikki (Khadeza). 1 A few other dowaki became
possessed as fresh bori arrived upon the scene or got their turn,
as the case might be. . . . 2

Often a particular dancer will have kola-nuts poured into his
or her mouth. . . . Soon after the musicians have commenced,
some of the dancers begin to go round and round in a circle with
shuffling steps, the hips swaying from side to side, and in a few
minutes the strains of the violin and the scents used by the dancers
take effect. The eyes become fixed and staring, the dancer becomes
hysterical, grunts or squeals, makes convulsive movements and
sudden rushes, crawls about, or mimics the actions of the person
or animal whose part he is playing, atid then jumps into the air,
and comes down ilat on the buttocks, with the legs stretched out
in front horizontally, or with one crossed over the other. The
dancer may remain rigid in that position for some time, often until
each arm has been lifted up, and pressed back three times by one
of the other performers.

This may be the end of that particular dancer's part, but often
he will continue to act up to his name, his words and actions being
supposed to be clue to the spirit by which he is possessed, and if it
is not clear which spirit it is, the chief mai-bori present will explain,
or the performer himself may do so. Finally, in most cases, the
dancer will sneeze, this evidently being for the purpose of expelling
the spirit. Sometimes, not content with the dashing on the
ground, the dancers will claw their chests, tear their hair, or beat
various parts of their bodies, and even climb trees and throw
themselves down, but all deny that they feel any pain while pos-
sessed, whatever they do. Sneezing expels the spirit, as has been
said, but it is some days before the effect of the seizure wears off,
even if no serious injury has been done, the appropriate diet mean-
time being kola-nuts and water. 3

The spirits are all summoned by the incense, and expelled by the
sneezing, and if any character becomes offensive to the spectators
(as did Jato at Tripoli) the Arifa will touch the mount on the back
of the neck and under the chin, so as to make him or her sneeze
and so get rid of the spirit. The performers, as has been said, are
supposed to act involuntarily and unconsciously, in fact, to be
" possessed " in every sense of the word. 4

The performances went on until six a.m. next morning, though
from six p.m. until midnight only the ordinary dancing was
indulged in. Again next day, about two-thirty p.m., it recom-
menced, and a similar programme was performed, though there
were no sacrifices. A third day completed the rites. 5

The number of spirits which cause possession is very
great Tremcarne counts several dozen and the dancers'
gestures are completely different according to the spirit which

1 The names in brackets are those of the dancers representing the
spirits.

2 Tremearne, The Ban of the Bori, p. 287.

3 Tremeame, Hausa Superstitions, pp. 530 and 532.

* Tremearne, The Ban of the Bori, p. 288. B Ibid., p. 287.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 259

they represent. These spirits are of very various origin;
some come from Islam, others are peculiar to the negro world.
In the performances they are incarnated by the participants
and the latter act as if they were the spirits in question.
Unfortunately it is not clearly apparent from Tremearne's
numerous accounts at what stage possession proper comes on.
It is evident that for some time the participants voluntarily
play the part of the spirits and subsequently fall into posses-
sion, so that this latter stage is only an intensification of the
voluntary ones.

A few examples will serve to illustrate the actual conduct
of the actors. The best idea is really conveyed by the numer-
ous photographs published by Tremearnc.

There is, for example, the Bori Malam Alhaji. lie is a
scholar and a pilgrim. He pretends to be old and trembling,
as if counting little pellets with his right hand, holding
meanwhile in the left a book which he reads. He walks bent
double, with a crutch, and is all the time tired out and cough-
ing. He is present at all the marriages of the Bori sect.
He is always clothed in white. 1

Another spirit is Dan Galladima. He is the son of a
prince. There is also Janjarc.

The dancer puts on a large clolh, which comes over his head.
He walks along slowly, head bent, and then crossing his feet,
he sits down, lie is then approached and saluted by everyone.
He is the highest judge of the sect, appeals being brought to him
from the court of the Wan'/anic. If he agrees with the decision
of the latter, he remains seated, if not, he jumps up and falls down
three times, and then he gives his decision. The tscre consists of
the full attire of a prince viz., a blue robe and trousers, white
turban, shoes, and scent. 2

Janjarc or Jarmrri ? from Khanziri, a hog. The same as
Nakada. Sometimes, if not forcibly prevented, the person pos-
sessed, naked, except for a monkey-skin, will rush about devouring
or rubbing his body with all kinds of filth, and pushing an onion or
tomato into the mouth is the only cure. On other occasions he
hops round a few times, then puts a stick between his legs for a
hobby-horse, and prances. Finally, he simulates copulation,
falls to the ground, and pretends to sneeze. 3

Another spirit is called Be-Msigujc:

The dancer wears a loin-cloth, a quiver, and a bag in which are
tobacco and a flint and steel. He carries an axe on his shoulder,
a bow in his hand, and smokes a long pipe. He walks along,

1 Tremearne, Hausa Superstitions, p. 534.

2 Ibid., p. 536. 3 Ibid., p. 537.

260 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

mimicking a pagan (the performance takes place in a Mohammedan
district), and presently lights his pipe with a spark from his flint
(the Kansas now use imported matches). He then calls out
'" Chewaki Tororo (two common pagan names) bring beer," and
on a person bringing him some, he drinks greedily, letting the beer
run down his chin. He then gives back the calabash of beer,
relights his pipe, and moves off. 1

A spirit of sickness, still clearly recognizable as such, is
Nairn Ayesha Karama:

Nana Ayesha Karama is said to be a grandchild of Yerima.
She has a farm of her own. She gives sore eyes and smallpox, the
proper sacrifice being speckled fowls. Although young, she is by
no meaas innocent, as her song shows. At the dance, she wears
white, red, and pink cloths on her body, and two head-cloths, one
tied on each side. She rushes about, claps her hands, waves a
cloth in the air, and then sits down and scratches herself, and lets
her head fall first on one side and then on the other, afterwards
resting it upon one hand. If not given sugar then sin* cries, but if
she receives enough she becomes lively again, and dances around
once more, until she sneezes and goes. 2

The most interesting part of Tremearne's narrative con-
sists in the statement of one Ilaj Ali, a follower of the Hori
cult, the principal passages of which 1 shall quote. It shows
that we are here confronted to some extent by non-som-
nambulistic possession.

ITaj Ali was taken as a slave to Egypt, and one day while with
his master Ibrahim at Sarowi, Nakada (also called Jato and Jan/irri)
took possession of him, and he foretold that on the third day his
master would be summoned before the chief of the district, Tanta.
On the departure of the bori, the listeners told Haj Ali what he
had said, and asked him what he had meant, but he then re-
membered nothing of it, and simply told them that Nakada had
mounted him, and that it must have been Unit spirit speaking
through his mouth. A female Hausa slave who knew the wisdom
of the bori, corroborated, and the people then became anxious,
for clairvoyance is well known to the Arabs, and when on the third
day the district head's messengers arrived, they were terriiicd.
However, the master, instead of being disgraced as he had feared,
was given a post under the Government, and so Ilaj Ali had great
honour, was taken to Mecca, and later on received his freedom. 3

Haj Ali told me that when the bori first takes possession of him,
he feels cold all over, and his limbs become so rigid that the other
Masu-Bori have to cense them forcibly before he can move I
did not see them do this, however, it was not done on the first day,
so far as I could see, though as each mount possessed was seized ami
forcibly pushed by several Masu-Bori through the crowd into the
ring, it may have escaped my notice. He is not sure how or
where the spirit enters; he says that it sits on his neck with its legs
on his shoulders, and yet it is inside his head. But sneezing brings

1 Ibi d., p. 538. s Tremcarne, The ISan of (he Mori, p. 377.

3 Ibid., p. 257.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 261

it out, though whether by the mouth, nose, or eyes he is not certain,
because all parts may be affected. " A bori is like the wind, it is
everywhere, so who can tell just where it goes in or out ? One
knows that it is there, and that is all." The dancer nearly always
has to wait some time for the spirit to get properly up, to settle
down in the saddle, as it were, and he often glides around the ring
or to and fro in it this being supposed to be the bori floating in the
air or rather making his mount do so. At other times the mount
became rigid, as has been stated.

Sometimes, he says, the women do not become possessed, and
then it is evident I hat some enemy has put a hairpin or something
made of iron into their hair, or in their head-coverings, for the bori
do not like iron. When this is supposed 1o be the case, a boka
will commence to dance, and will jump and fall three times, on the
last occasion managing to seat himself just in front of the women.
lie then abuses them, and, having ordered them to put their heads
forward, he feels about to find the neutralizing influence, and upon
its removal they immediately become possessed.

According to Abd Allah, *at midnight on the last night of the
rites, before the spirits have come again, the Saraimiya sits down
almost opposite the mai-giinhiri (the player on the guitar), and
sets lire to a pot of incense in front of her, \vhile a candle is lighted
in front and on each side of him. . . . And then, the bori spirits
having reappeared, the dancing begins again, and lasts until dawn.
Most of the people then go home for good, but the most influential
of the Masu-Bori will sleep in I he dakin tsafi that night, and sacrifice
a white hen at midnight. That ends the rilos, and the dancers
recover as best they can, the effect lasting for several days in many
cases, a diet of kola-nut being the best pick-me-up, which, on
account of its stimulating properties, is regarded as being almost
magical. 1

The following accounts also show the astonishing sug-
gestibility of the Tripolitan natives, in spite of the fact that
they live on the outskirts of civilization :

I am told that Kuri's moiinl must bent himself the proper number
of times with the pestle or stick, otherwise he will suffer afterwards.
One night, some years ago, not loner after his arrival in Tunis, Ifaj
Ali was taken by a friend to one of the other bori houses, and after
a time Kuri mounted him. and he began to dance. The people
there, not knowing him, gave him a big losj to dance with, and he
began to knock himself about so badly that they became afraid
that he would kill himself, and stopped him. The friend argued
with them, saying that he would answer for llaj Ali's safety, but
all in vain, and the drummers changed their call. The friend then
look llaj Ali home, and he was so ill for four days that he could not
rise. On learning what was the matter, the then Arifii ordered her
own drummers to go to the house, taking a pestle with them, and
on their arrival llaj Ali arose, got through the remainder of his
performance, made up the required number of thuds upon his body
and was quite well immediately.

No mount must be given a drink during seizure, else he will vomit
afterwards, and perhaps be so bad that he will die, so they say; but
directly after the bori has gone, the mount may have a few sips of

1 Ibid., pp. 1288 sq.

262 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

water. The vessel is not entrusted to him, however, a special
person (Faggc or Mai-Ruwa) brings it and holds it to his lips.
Kola-nuts are the proper stimulant to be taken afterwards, but,
as there arc so few in North Africa, coffee is drunk instead.

During seizure a mount may have his arms stretched backwards
three times; this is in order to render them supple and so avoid
any injury to them ! If a bori is treating his mount too severely,
the other Masu-Bori clasp the mount in their arms (if it be a woman),
or put his head under the arm of one of them (if a man), and hold
him while begging the bori to be more gentle, especially in the
presence of his tfc children " the other Masu-Bori. If the spirit
still persists, the mount's neck and chin are touched, and the spirit
" is sneezed away/' 1

Pel-sons also fall voluntarily into a state of possession in
order to heal the sick. Tremcarne begged further details
from Haj Ali:

Asked to describe an actual case, he said that he went with
another man, his assistant, at the beginning of the year to see a
child thus afflicted, and tixcd a day when they would return and
divine. At the appointed hour they came, and Ilaj Ali, having
wrapped a cloth tightly round his waist, and squatted down by the
incense, began to rub his right hand round and round on the
ground, fingers bent slightly downwards, and then to turn it over
" so as to call the spirits out of the earth " and, apparently, to
mesmerize himself. Soon he began to breathe heavily, and
suddenly he grunted and yelled, and it was evident the bori had
entered his head. Then the other man asked the bori who he was
and he replied 4fc I am Kuri." Then the assistant said, " () Father
Kuri, So and So is ill, will you tell me in what he has offended ?"
Kuri replied: " He threw hot water upon the Yayan Jiddcri, and
they have made his eyes sore." Then the other said : " O Father
Kuri, will you not cure him." And Kuri asked: " Wlipt will you
give me if I cure thee ?" The assistant (having consulted the
father) said: "We will sacrifice a he-goat to you." Then Kuri
touched his left shoulder (i.e., that of his horse, Ilaj Ali), 2 his right
shoulder, and then his forehead, and replied: "Very well, he will
recover." Apparently, Kuri then summoned the guilty bori (who
had not responded to the summons of the incense), and arranged
with him to forgive the child. Kuri then left Haj Ali, and he and
the assistant went home neither going near the patient until
several days afterwards, when they were sent for. On arriving
at the house they found the child much better, and then they said :
" You must now offer up the sacrifice which you promised."
This was done, and the cure was complete.

1 Jbid., pp. 292 sq.

2 Possession is imagined as a ride on horseback. The Bori rides
the possessed, " he mounts him." This imago has already been used.
We read in Fritz Langer, Jntellcktualmythotogie, Berlin, 1916, p. 252:
" Amongst popular beliefs we meet the image of the horseman. . . .
It is connected with the idea of possession, 4 The devil rides so-and-so '
is a well-known metaphor still encountered to-day. (Cf. Grimm,
Mythologie^ i, p. 384: * The devil has listened to you and ridden you;
as Satan, so the nightmare: nightmare- or hobgoblin-ridden.') A
man who is ridden by the devil is, in fact, possessed by the devil, and
in the same way he may be ridden by a demon, a witch, etc., whither
the malignant power wills."

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 263

Before the Mai-Bori summons Kuri he is paid between two and
five francs. On the child's recovery he gets more money, and
perhaps cloths for Kuri, or whichever bori has responded, as well,
lie gets the liver of the animal sacrificed and also a share in the
flesh. Each Mai-Bori specializes in certain spirits, and Haj Ali
would always be ridden by Kuri or Ma-Dambache. . . - 1

Bastian gives the following accounts from an unknown
source:

At the festival of the Aissaoiw, in memory of the miracle of their
establishment at Algiers (under the standard of the marabout
Mohammed Ben-Ais-Sa) the Mokadanni, or chief of the Sect, utters
prayers for the fulfilment of which each of the Aissaouas prays
according to his desires (health, fecundity, etc.), while the choir
accompanies him as do the women in the gallery. To the rhythm
of the tambourines, in which snakes are imprisoned, the Zikr
dancers whirl with violent movements, placing pieces of hot iron
on their hands, arms and tongue, and when they fall exhausted
to the earth they are reanimated by persons treading on their
stomachs. . . . They imitate the voices of lions and camels into
which they believe themselves transformed, and tear thorny cacti
with their teeth. 2

It is not without interest to compare with these modern
accounts an earlier one from Africa. The geographer
O. Dapper has given a detailed and circumstantial description
of Africa in the second half of the seventeenth century. He
relates the following of lower Ethiopia, or South Africa as it
is called to-day:

. . . These images of devils or idols are made by various masters
who are called Knganga Mokisic. Their chief instrument is a
tree-trunk and they make the images when they have reached
a suitable age and are atllictcd with disabilities or maladies, which
takes place in the following manner.

In the first place the said Engango Mpkihie or rather devil -
exorcist persuades someone to it; and this man then summons
together his whole family, which is in some cases very numerous,
and all his neighbours. Then they erect for him who desires to
make his devil-image a hut of palm-leaves which must serve him
as dwelling for the whole duration of the work. But it lasts for
fifteen days during which he must have nothing to do with anyone
and in the first nine days must not even speak.

On cither side of his mouth he has a parrot-feather and when
someone greets him by clapping the hands he may not reply in the
same way, but holds in his hands a small log, oblique, very deeply
hollowed out in the middle, having a small hole on the'top and
with a handle behind. It has also at the end a carved man's head;
he strikes it with a wand in token of respect. The exorcist habitu-
ally has three of these wands, one large, one small, and one of
intermediate size.

When all is finished a tree-trunk is brought on to a level clearing

1 Tremearnc, The Ban of the Bori, pp. 250-00.

2 A. Bastian, Der Mensch in der Geschichte, vol. ii, Leipzig, 1860,
p. 151.

264 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

where there is no tree or other growth. The relations and neigh-
bours form a circle here ; the tambourine-player who is in the middle
begins to play, the exorcist to chant , and everyone accompanies him
at the top ot his voice. This chant is designed to praise the idols,
solicit their aid, celebrate their divinity, etc. The initiator of the
work, if he be not infirm, himself dances round the trunk. And this
lasts for two or three days; during which time nothing is heard of
the devil.

The exorcist now brings himself to the attention of the initiator,
which is done by means of a hideous voice while he is as yet in-
visible. Then the drumming, which began with the singing and
dancing towards evening at about four o'clock and ends in the
morning, leaves off for a white, and the exorcist taps on the afore-
mentioned small log, mumbles a few words and makes at the same
time some red and white spots 011 his own body and that of the
initiator, namely on the temples, around the eyes, on the pit of the
stomach as well as on all the limbs according as he (the initiator)
is handled harshly or gently by the Kvil One.

When he is possessed he looks terrible, he leaps and behaves in a
terrifying manner, cries out in an unearthly voice, takes glowing
coals in his hands and bites them without taking harm. Sometimes
he is taken unseen from the midst of all the spectators, led away
by the devil into the wilderness to a solitary place where he bedecks
himself round the body with a girdle of green herbs and remains
two or three hours or even sometimes two or three days. During
this time his friends seek him most diligently, but cannot find him,
this search being assisted by the incessant beating of drums. As
soon as the possessed hears the drums he returns towards them and
is led to their accompaniment back to his house. Leaping and
dancing goes on until everything is accomplished .

At length the exorcist asks the devil within the possessed, who
is stretched out as if dead, what shall be offered to him. The devil
replies by the mouth of the possessed and makes known what
should be done. Then the man begins once more to sing and dance
until the devil comes forth, after which he is often sick unto death.
Something is afterwards done to his arm so that he may always
remember what has been laid upon him.

When these men swear, they swear by the ring; namely, that
the devil who allows them to wear many 'rings may strangle them
inasmuch as what should be believed is' not true. Therefore they
do not swear lightly, or else it must be true: and although a few
light-minded persons do not pay much heed, they nevertheless hold
strictly to what they have promised, even though they should
perish on the spot, as has often occurred. When the devil speaks
by the mouth of the possessed, as is frequent, the latter is greatly
tormented, is thrown from side to side and foams at tbe mouth. . . .
In various other ways all the other devil-images or Mokisien arc
made, with which the King surrounds himself in great quantities,
but for the sake of brevity we will not go further into the matter.

When someone amongst them falls ill they often employ these
methods for several days and invoke the devil while dancing until
he enters into the sick man. Then they ask him why this man is
sick, if he has infringed his commands, and more questions of the
same kind. The devil replies by the patient's mouth and advises
that certain gifts be offered so that he may recover his health. 1

1 O. Dapper, Umstandliche und eigcutliche lieschreibung von Africa
und denen dazn gehdrigen Konigreichcn und Lundschaftcn, etc., Amster-
dam, Anno MDCLXX, pp. 530 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 265

As may be seen, states of possession amongst primitive
races have also shown no change during the passage of cen-
turies. These people are not, however, always disposed to
show unquestioning belief in all the phenomena; amongst
them are sceptics who in some cases, where the state of a
possessed person is not entirely sincere, obviously give him
an embarrassing time. Andrew Lang relates:

The Zulus admit " possession " awl divination, but are not the
most credulous of mankind. The ordinary possessed person is
usually consulted as to the disease of an absent patient. The
enquirers do not assist the diviner by holding his hand, but are
expected to smite the ground violently if the guess made by the
diviner is right; gently if it is wrong! A sceptical Zulu, named
John, having a shilling to spend on psychical research, smote vio-
lently at every guess. The diviner was hopelessly puzzled; John
kcpt'his shilling. 1

Information concerning the possession -religions of Africa
is far less complete than that relating to the Malay Archipelago.
The religion of this latter region is purely spiritualist. In
the eyes of its inhabitants the world is peopled by spirits
able to enter directly into men, and this belief is not even
in the background of consciousness it is dominant. Posses-
sion, thanks to which the living establish contact with the
spirit-world, is not in any way rare it is an everyday
manifestation. The belief in particular gods is of entirely
secondary importance as compared with the belief in spirits.

The worship of spirits and the fear which underlies it,
fills the religious life of the Bataks and all the animist peoples.
It pervades daily life down to its minutest details: at birth,
baptism, betrothals, marriage, the building of houses, seed-
time and harvest the spirits play their part; in the felling of
trees, the foundation of a village, in war, trade, smithery,
agriculture, it is necessary before all else to satisfy them.
With them are shared lodging and board, they have their
part in all the possessions of the living, they arc omnipresent
and everywhere demand consideration. 2

We arc indebted to the missionary, J. Warneck, for very
adequate information concerning this religion. His re-
searches owe their great value to the fact that he has elicited
detailed accounts from the native converts themselves, and

1 A. Lang, The Making of Religion, 2nd edit., London, 1000, p. 141.
a J. Warneck, Die Religion dcr llutak, Gottingcn, 1909, p. 08.

266 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

published their stories in a form which preserves the im-
pression of spontaneity. 1

Warneck's works are particularly concerned with the
Bataks of Sumatra, but the observations on their religion
hold good for all the islands of the Indian Ocean.

It appears from the statements of the natives that beside
regular mediums other persons may also be possessed on
occasion. As regards the facility with which possession may
be induced in the mediums the accounts are not in entire
agreement; according to one, they prepare themselves by
fasting and by abstinence from all irrelevant thoughts, that
is by a sort of concentration and expectation; according to
another, the mere beating of the drum appears sufficient to
bring on possession . In reality the procedure differs according
to the individual concerned. Men and women are alike
possessed, and there are also fraudulent imitations of posses-
sion for reasons of self-seeking. The possessing spirit is not a
demon presumed to inhabit the human sphere, but always the
spirit of a dead person who has sometimes reached a high de-
gree in the world beyond ; the possessed imitates the gestures
of the defunct in a manner so striking that oftentimes the
relations burst into tears. In certain cases possession is also
multiple : several spirits speak by the mouth of the possessed
and carry on a conversation, now friendly, now hostile,
according to the relationships which existed in their lifetime.

This is the only ease known to me of plural possession
amongst primitive peoples. During possession the mediums
are inaccessible to the strongest sensations of heat and taste
(e.g., live coals, pepper). Their social function consists in
providing a means of questioning the spirits as to the future,
asking their advice and imploring their protection direct.
Moreover, the whole Batak repertory of ideas concerning the
divine world of the hereafter and the destiny of men after
death is bound to repose on the communications which the
spirits make by the mouths of the mediums. The many
narratives of the natives are interesting, inasmuch as they
show how strongly the mediums arc gripped by their state
and also the fact that they die early, particularly when chosen

1 In conjunction with Warneck's work see Die Lebenskrdftc des
Evangeliums. Missionserfahrungen innerhalb dcs animistischen Ilei-
dentums, 3rd edit., Berlin, 1908, and the study Der batdksche Ahnen-
und Geisterkult, 4t AUgemeine Misskms-Zeilschrift," 1901.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 267

by spirits who hold high rank in the Beyond. Possession is
preceded by a vision of the spirit which is about to enter into
the medium.

Accounts of the parapsychic performances of the mediums
are not susceptible of subsequent proof. In certain cases
mediums must copy the dead very exactly in all their gestures
without having known them, and must in addition possess
intimate knowledge of them which could not have been
acquired in a normal manner. Finally, they must give proof
of capacities which they do not possess in the waking state,
such as ability to read.

The statements of the natives are naturally insufficient
to demonstrate the actual occurrence of parapsychic pheno-
mena. In certain cases their non-existence is practically
certain, as, for instance, when a native writes that the medium
reads, although he has never learnt to read, a magic book just
as the possessing spirit had been accustomed to do in his life-
time. This must naturally refer to somnambulistic hyper-
mncsia of things which the possessed has often heard read.
A native also states that the words of the possessed are
sometimes true and sometimes false. It cannot for the
moment be said whether there is a residuum of objective
parapsychic phenomena, but given the frequency with which
they are mentioned an examination on the spot is much to
be desired.

Finally, it is also interesting to know that autosuggestive
measures are used against possession when it comes on
undesired.

In order to afford the reader a first-hand glimpse into
this curious world I shall now give a series of quotations from
Warneck. 1 It is first necessary to explain the meaning of
certain words used in them. Bcgu means spirits in general,
sumangot the spirit of an ancestor who has attained high rank
in the spirit world through the worship rendered to him by
his descendants. If he mounts a degree higher he is called a

1 I refer mainly to documents communicated by Warncck, because
they are essentially composed of accounts gleaned from the natives.
These are not by any means the only ones we possess, many others
being fully utilized in a great work by G. A. Wilken, Hct Shamanisme
bij de Volkcn van den Jndischen Archipel, which appeared in '" Bijdrageii
tot de Taal Land en Volken Kunde van Nederlandsch Indie," Vidfje
Volgrecks, Tweode Deel, 1887, pp. 427-497. The reader is referred to
this work for supplementary information.

268 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

sombaon. The possessed are called hasandaran; not everyone
can attain this condition. The daiu are wizards.

By way of introduction, here are some observations by
Warneck:

The begii invoked (that of a person reeenlly dead) often descends
upon a medium and says: " Oh, poor mot he., I have received your
offering and heard your wish. But what k to be done ? Men are
wholly dependent on him who has sent them. But only take
good eare of this our child and all will be well with him."

The begii . . . have a need to cc/mnumicale with Ihe world of
men. With this object they choose a man or woman as medium.
In the ancestral ceremonies or family festivals the ancestor descends
on the medium whom lie hi,, chosen. This is called siarsiaraii or
hasandaran. Shamanism .s an essential part of the Batak spirit-
ualist civilization. Generally, but nol always, the music of the
five Batak drums, wi 1 ' *loir live different tones, must resound,
whereby the transfr i ion 'will be ~ VPn ' T ' 1 kcd not by particular
melodies bwt by d j ffCT rhythms . 'rf^ the spirit suddenly seizes
lus mediui^ w tf osc personal conseiousnes'* disappears, as the IJalaks
say, and . rcp i a( . e S by that of the dr.**. 1 .: J 'V'f P?t S 4 cck

... 4

to assure i.., ms( .] V es that, they are n '* dcalmp with an raapoMor,
and he is thei , i ere tross-cxanunation. When

, TC sn ])i PO ted (J, a
he has establislu '*,: J ,ti, m ,ii c ,.i<w> the deceased says what is in

- . . _ nm tii 1 1 nielli IL 1 1 v i* i i i i i ii

his mind or ans^v -, t j lc q 1UJS tJ f *ns of his descendants. In all
circumstances tlie m..... n Vi^^ded by the begu through his
medium must be brought. 'Ice person \*ho serves as medium is
much fatigued by the paroxysm, and not seldom falls ill after the
performance; it is said thatVuch people do not make old bones.
They arc, however, held in high esteem. It is not possible to
become a hasandaran of one's own initiative nor through study, as
the datu can, but the spirit himself seeks out his medium and his
choice is unpredictable. \Vhereas the datu (wizard) charges dearly
for his skill, the medium receives not hing. In so far as this puzzling
manifestation can be explained it is certain that apart from an
element of trickery the possessed man finds himself in a slate of
insensibility and eclipse of personal consciousness. The Batak
Christians "who were formerly mediums return to this stale in
certain cases against their ioi7/, which renders them profoundly
unhappy afterwards. The inner life of the possessed is invaded
by forces which he cannot control, which suspend both will and
thought and replace them by an extraneous power. This state in
a person otherwise completely sane has nothing to do with epilepsy
or other nervous affections, for those who suffer from mental
troubles arc well known and clearly distinguished from the sha-
mans; 110 one of the diseases of the, mind found amongst the Balaks
presents the same symptoms. The incarnated spirit uses a peculiar
language the vocabulary of which is partly periphrastic and partly
archaic. Sometimes the state of ecstasy takes possession of a man
when no one has given it a thought, not even himself.

It is generally ancestors who thus enter into communication
with their descendants. Nevertheless, the begu of a ...
murdered man sometimes sets forth, much against the will of his
assassins, to seek a medium and t hen to make himself exceedingly
unpleasant. Here at least the wish is not father to the thought. 1

1 Ibid., pp. 8 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 269

The following testimonies are of particular value as
having been written down at Warneck's instigation not by
foreign observers but by the christianized natives:

The begu of a dead person cannot converse directly with the
living because he has no body. This is why he must borrow the
body of a living person when lie desires to converse with his descen-
dants. He therefore chooses for the purpose someone according to
his liking. The begu who is incarnated borrows, as it were, the
body and voice of the human medium. In this medium he repro-
duces exactly his own manner while living, as well as his mode of
dress and deportment. This is why the relations are often unable
to restrain their tears when the deceased is recalled so vividly to
their memory, when they hear his voice without, nevertheless,
seeing his face. The medium excites belief by reason of the like-
ness in behaviour.

The medium sees the face of the begu when the latter descends
upon him. The begu mentions his name, all his family relationships
and the occupation followed in his lifetime. He makes known
hidden details of his past life, and when these show verisimilitude
the relations believe that they are really dealing with the begu of
the deceased. He elucidates secret family affairs. When someone
is ill the possessing bcgu is asked whether he will live or die. In
times of epidemic, when death is all around, the begu is invoked and
offerings brought to him so that he may afford protection. In
cases of childlessness, the bcgu is questioned through his medium
to know whether this will be a permanent condition, and is also
consulted as to where lost or stolen things may be found. When
anyone is lost the bcgu is asked in what direction search should be
made.

The begu's words are sometimes true, sometimes false, " like
stones thrown at night " (i.e., they sometimes hit and sometimes
miss). True, the heathen say that the mediums are not always
genuinely possessed ; there are some who simulate possession because
they see that mediums arc held in esteem and receive offerings.

When a medium is asked how a bcgu enters into him, he gives
the following account: he sees the begu approach, it feels to him
as if his body were dragged away, his feet grow light and begin to
jump. He sees men very small and reddish, the houses appear to
whirl round. During the trance the bcgu does not remain con-
tinuously in the medium; he sometimes leaves him in order to take
a turn. It often happens that after the ending of possession the
medium is ill, and sometimes he dies. It is then said that " the
begu comes to fetch him."

When a medium's begu is a person of consequence, his fate is a
painful one; the mediums and the great datu (wizards) seldom
reach old age.

Many Bataks converted to Christianity say that it is wrong to
regard possession as mere trickery, for if it were how could the
possessed know the secret affairs of the deceased, matters often
going back three generations ? It is true that now when many
nave become Christians, the begu arc afraid to come because of the
true word of God which is amongst the Bataks.

When a begu desires to take possession of someone who is un-
willing, the latter seeks to prevent him in the following manner:
he burns dung in his vicinity, and when the begu arrives this puts
him to ilight. When a begu has taken possession of a man but

270 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

has not yet spoken he is begged with fair words to express himself
distinctly. The begu of outcasts or suicides cannot choose a
medium, for they are an abomination to men and begu alike.
When two or three begu take possession of their mediums at the
same time they often quarrel if they were already enemies in their
lifetimes. But if they were friends they treat one another amiably
and with courtesy.

A medium is one thing, a person once accidentally possessed by a
begu quite another. . . . This latter may be no matter whom;
the former when he has been chosen by a begu, becomes a regular
medium as soon as the customary drumming has been executed.
When the heathen desire to make a sacrifice to the snmangot of
their ancestor because the datu has declared it necessary, the
medium first puts his tondi (his soul) into the log, which means
that the chosen man avoids all thought of other tilings ; he fasts
for some days, he wastes away, for the begu already has him on
the hook. Then he grows sick, for the begu is now upon him.
Often when the medium is ill this furnishes the occasion for drum-
beating owing to the belief that the begu is preparing to come to
him: when the drumming has begun the people dance and the
medium jumps about. His steps resound, he takes burning coals
from the hearth and puts them in his mouth. When he is offered
palm wine, ginger or other delicacies, he gulps them down, cries
aloud or sings in a nasal voice. But he is not yet trusted ; to know
whether he is really the grandfather's sumangot he is asked:
" Who are you, grandfather ?" Then the medium announces the
grandfather's relationships and his private affairs, and demands the
dishes which he preferred in his lifetime. When these things are
recognized as true he inspires confidence and is then asked for
advice. He announces what people should do in order to win
good luck or to get rid of an illness ; he also foretells misfortune.
So far as the medium's utterances are concerned, there are some
who merely confine themselves to chatter about things which they
know; some have a slightly studied language; and yet others really
receive their words from the begu. It is through mediums that
the Bataks have learnt the manners and customs of the begu; they
know that the begu have houses, hold markets, need food and
sacrifices, etc.

Sometimes a man takes a wife from a far country. Then the
grandfather of the man who went to seek her takes possession of her
without ever having known her. When she has called him by his
name she is asked to give proofs. " Who are your relations ?"
She is also asked to tell things which are only known to the family.
The medium makes correct replies, although the woman cannot
have known anything about these matters. Sometimes the begu
of a datu takes possession of a woman. The latter has never learnt
Batak writing, but if she is given a magic book she reads it fluently
in a singing voice, exactly as the datu did in his lifetime.

There was formerly in Silindung a famous datu named Ompu
Djarung. After his death none of his descendants were datu for
four generations. But someone of his line having learnt magic,
the defunct took possession of an ignorant and taciturn woman.
When she had become a medium she called the man who had
learnt magic and taught him the magic charms, the choice of days
and other magic arts. The disciple gave her a book of sorcery in
old Batak script, and she was at once able to read and interpret
it although she had never been to school and did not know the
magic books. Everyone marvelled at this. . . .

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 271

There are many of them (sombaon- i.e., ancestors who have
reached the summit of the hierarchy in the spirit- world) ; for all
the woods and great trees arc peopled with sombaon. Every time
when another sombaon is invoked he descends upon his own
medium. It then sometimes lasts for a month. 1

The begu of a man who lias been done to death in a horrible
fashion for the purpose of working a certain magic spell some-
times takes possession of a man, but never of a woman. When he
descends upon him it is a terrible spectacle. lie strips himself of
all clothing down to the loin-cloth passing between his legs ; crams
his mouth with live coals, drinks great quantities of dirty water in
which washing has been done, picks up the remains of rice which
lie about on the mats and devours them like an animal. As offering
he demands dressed meat, palm wine and suited meat. When
he has received all this he begins to speak. On entering into the
medium he generally cries: " I say it, I say it, I say it!" He
announces his name, the way in which he has been killed, together
with the name of his murderer. The frightened people reply:
" Not that, grandfather ! You ought not to suy it !" For if he
proclaims it his late master or relatives may come to know of the
fact that he has been killed with molten lead, and this would arouse
strife. Sacrifices are offered to the pangulubang (the murdered
man) every year. Tf this is not regularly done he brings misfortune
on those responsible for the arrangements ; often the whole family
is exterminated or the children born without bones. This begu
is a terrible one. 2

When the cult of the sumangot is celebrated there is a
feast with music, sacrifice, dances, etc. Warneck says:

. . . Thereupon the master of ceremonies begins to dance, then
the nearest relatives, then the mediums, male or female. These
latter are purified by the usual methods and the people cry : " Visit
your host, oh grandfather, so that he may announce prosperity
to us, to us your descendants." Then the sumangot takes pos-
session of his medium. He is given piri (?) to unseal his lips, lie
gives his name, and asks why the whole orchestra is playing. The
master of ceremonies then tells him about the sick man's malady
and the datu's verdict. The sumangot replies by the medium:
" If this is so you have recognized your fault (in having remained
for a long time without sacrificing) ; the sickness of my grandchild
will be healed, but you must still do this and that." Everyone is
joyous and relieved because the medium has spoken thus and feels
complete faith in his utterances. 3

We will supplement with this passage from another of
Warneck's works :

This is what happens on the arrival of the spirits. The whole
family assembles to honour a great ancestor and question him on a
matter of importance. First, music is made for a long time on four
different instruments. The monotonous rhythm, the melody based
essentially on measure, have a certain fascination. Suddenly a
medium dashes forward and becomes another man. He sees the
soul of the ancestor coming towards him in its erstwhile form.

Ibid., pp. 89 sq. 2 Ibid., pp. 93 sq. Ibid., p. 104.

272 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

He no longer has any consciousness of his own body, he feels that
he is the deceased whose inner life dominates his own. Those
present appear to him small and reddish. He begins to leap and
dance convulsively when the rhythm carries him away, always
sustained by that mufllcd music until everything whirls around him
and he stops exhausted and flecked with foam. He is given palm
wine and betel and interrogated. First of all he asks for a certain
kind of drum music which is an indispensable condition to the
manifestation of the spirit. ... It is characteristic that the
medium is terribly exhausted by this agitation. He not seldom
falls ill and dies in consequence, and it is said that such people
never grow old. 1

It is also significant that tho invading spirit uses a particular
language which strikingly recalls ancient Batak. The words of
this special language are . . . in part cautious circumlocutions . . .
and in part quite strange words. That a medium should previously
have practised this language is generally out of the question.
As a rule the drum must be beaten in order that the soul of the
deceased may come, but in certain cases it comes spontaneously
upon a man at a moment when no one was giving it a thought.
While the spirit is in him the possessed loses personal consciousness
and behaves exactly like the deceased. Cases exist in which the
medium has had no knowledge of the man whose soul entered
into him. 2

Mediums have often announced things and names which they
could not possibly have known of themselves. A short time before
the first Europeans arrived in the country various mediums foretold
in a circumstantial manner that a new era was opening for the
country of the Bataks and what it would mean to them. 3

It is certain that conversion to Christianity cures a number of
possessed persons by the feeling which it confers of greater security
against the attacks of demoniac powers.

At Sumatra and Nias the Christians have dared when confronted
with the possessed to command 1hc evil spirit to come forth quietly
in the name of Jesus, and it was thereupon clear to them Unit the
demon left the unfortunate man. 4

Warncck is of the opinion that this state of possession
defies explanation. It must, however, be added that, in so
far as there is no question of secondary parapsychic mani-
festations, these phenomena present 110 dilliculty to the
psychologist. They are, as we have seen, completely and
even easily explicable.

From the forrgoing accounts it is obvious that possession
amongst the Bataks is perfectly consistent with the general
picture of the less violent forms. The only thing which is
not absolutely clear is whether the possessed really fall into

1 J. Warneck, Der batttksche Ahnen- und Geisterkull, "Allgem.
Missions-Zeitschr.," 1U04, vol. xxxi, p. 74.

2 Ibid., p. 76.

3 Warneck, Die Lcbenskrdfte des Evangeliums, Berlin, 1908, 3rd edit.,
p. 63.

* Ibid., p. 229.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 273

complete somnambulism. It is surprising they that retain
a certain memory of their state.

Of considerable importance are the states of possession
artificially induced amongst the inhabitants of the Malay
Peninsula (the Bataks of the Island of Sumatra are also
Malays).

Most of the information relevant to our subject is given
by Skeat, the most detailed of whose accounts I reproduce
below. It very obviously, as Martin has already remarked, 1
shows a strong resemblance to matter relating to the pigmy
races of the Malay Peninsula cited earlier in this work. The
analogy extends even to the wizard's name; amongst the
pigmies he is called the poyang, amongst the Malays pawang.
The ceremonial of the incense-burning is also reminiscent,
but most important of all, the soul which forcibly enters into
the possessed is amongst the Malays as amongst the pigmies
that of a tiger. It is impossible without further research to
say anything more about the genealogical relationship exist-
ing between the two. In all likelihood priority rests with
the Malays, the pigmy races being so barren from the psychic
point of view that they are probably the imitators.

While in the Malay Peninsula, Skeat had the rare oppor-
tunity consequent on the sickness of his Malay collector's
brother, of being present at the exorcism of a sick man. This
was carried out, in accordance with stereotyped traditional
forms, in the immediate vicinity of the patient who was lying
on a mat. The invocation of the spirit, which in this case
was that of a tiger, was not conducted by the shaman but by
his wife. I shall pass over all non-essentials and confine
myself to the principal points in Skeat's narrative which alone
concern us here.

Meanwhile the medicine-man was not backward in his prepara-
tions for the proper reception of the spirit. First he scattered
incense on the embers and fumigated himself therewith, " sham-
pooing " himself, so to speak, with his hands, and literally bathing
in the cloud of incense which volumcd up from the newly re-
plenished censer and hung like a dense gray mist over his head.
Next he inhaled the incense through his nostrils, and announced
in the accents of what is called the spirit -language (bhasa hantn)
that he was going to " lie down." This he accordingly did, reclin-
ing upon his back, and drawing the upper end of his long plaid
sarong over his head to completely conceal his features. The in-
vocation was not yet ended, and for some time we sat in the silence

1 Cf. above, p. 244.

18

274 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

of expectation. At length, however, the moment of possession
arrived, and with a violent convulsive movement, which was
startling in its suddenness, the " Pawang " rolled over on to his
face. Again a brief interval ensued, and a second but somewhat
less violent spasm shook his frame, Ihe spasm being strangely
followed by a dry and ghostly cough. A moment later and the
Pawang, still with shrouded head, was seated bolt upright facing
the tambourine player. Then he fronted round, still in a sitting
posture, until he faced the jars, and removed the yam-leaf covering
from the mouth of each jar in turn.

Next he kindled a wax taper at the flame of a lamp placed for the
purpose just behind the jars, and planted it firmly on the brim
of the first jar by spilling a little wax upon the spot where it was
to stand. Two similar tapers having been kindled and planted
upon the brims of the second and third jars, he then partook of a
" chew " of bet el -leaf (which was presented to him by one of the
women present), crooning the while to himself.

This refreshment concluded, he drew from his girdle a bezoor
or talisinaiiic stone ( batu ptnmv(ir)iiii\<\ proceeded to rub it all over
the patient's neck and shoulders. Then, facing about, he put on
a new white jacket and head-cloth which had been placed beside
him for use, and girding his plaid (sarong) about his waist, drew
from its sheath a richly wrought dagger (7cY/,<?) which he fumigated
in the smoke of the censer and returned to its scabbard.

He next took three silver 20-cent pieces of " Strails" coinage,
to serve as batu bin/wig, or " jar-stones," and after " charming "
them dropped each of the throe in turn into one of the water-jars,
and " inspected " them intently as they lay at the bottom of the
water, shading, at the same time, his eyes with his hand from the
light of the tapers. He now charmed several handfuls of rice
("parched," "washed," and "saffron " rice), and after a further
inspection declared, in shrill, unearthly accents, that each of the
coins was lying exactly under its own respective taper, and that
therefore his "child" (the sick man) was very danjjerously ill,
though he might yet possibly recover with the aid of the spirit.
Next , scattering the rice round the row of jars (the track of the rice
thus forming an ellipse), he broke off several small blossom-stalks
from a sheaf of areca-palm blossom, and making them up with
sprays of champaka into three separate bouquets, placed one of
these improvised nosegays in each of the three jars of water. On
the door at the back of the row of jars he next deposited a piece of
white cloth, five cubits in length, which he had just previously
fumigated. Again drawing the dagger already referred to, the
Pawang now successively plunged it up to the hilt into each of
the three bouquets (in which hostile spirits might, I was told,
possibly be lurking). Then seizing an unopened blossom-spathe
of the areca-palm, he anointed the latter all over with " oil of
Celebes," extracted the sheaf of palm-blossom from its casing,
fumigated it, and laid it gently across the patient's breast. Rapidly
working himself up into a state of intense excitement, and with
gestures of the utmost vehemence, he now proceeded to " stroke "
the patient with the sheaf of blossom rapidly downwards, in the
direction of the feet, on reaching which he beat out the blossom
against the floor. Then turning the patient over on to his face,
and repeating the stroking process, he again beat out the blossom,
and then sank back exhausted upon the floor, where he lay face
downwards, with his head once more enveloped in the folds of the
sarong.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 275

A long interval now ensued, but at length, after many convulsive
twitchings, the shrouded figure arose, amid the intense excitement
of the entire company, and went upon its hands and feet. The
Tiger Spirit had taken possession of the Pawang's body, and presently
a low, but startlingly life-like growl the unmistakable growl of the
dreaded " Lord of the Forest," seemed to issue . . . This part of the
performance lasted, however, but a few minutes, and then the
evident excitement of the onlookers was raised to fever pitch, as
the bizarre, and, as it seemed to our fascinated senses, strangely
brutelikc form stooped suddenly forward, and slowly licked over,
as a tigress would lick its cub, the all but naked body of the patient
a performance (to a European) of so powerfully nauseating a
character that it can hardly be conceived that any human being
could persist in it unless he was more or loss unconscious of his
actions. At all events, after his complete return to consciousness
at the conclusion of the ceremony, even the Pawang experienced
a severe attack of nausea, such as might well be supposed to be
the result of his performance. Meanwhile, however, the ceremony
continued. Reverting to a sitting posture (though still with
shrouded head), the Pawang now leaned forward over the patient,
and with the point of his dagger drew blood from his own arm;
then rising to his feet he engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat
with his invisible foe (the spirit whom he had been summoned to
exorcise). At first his weapon was the dagger, but before long he
discarded this, and l.'iid about him stoutly enough with the sheaf
of areca-palm blossom.

A pause of about ten minutes' duration now followed, and then
with sundry convulsive twitchings the Pawang returned to con-
sciousness and sat up, and the ceremony was over. 1

A sudden collapse with loss of consciousness such as
occurs amongst the pigmies is also observed amongst the
Besisi of the Malay Peninsula who are of full stature. These
have a special ceremony designed to summon the spirits.
The most profound darkness together with smoke, music and
muffled sing'ng, are the means used to induce an abnormal
state.

As the incantation (which consisted of an invocation to the
spirits) proceeded, one of Ihe spirits commenced to give evidence
of his descent, by taking possession of one of the company, who
presently fell down apparently unconscious. While he was in this
state (of possession) questions are put to him, apparently by anyone
desiring to do so. The required information having been given,
the possessed person was restored to consciousness by the inhaled
smoke of the burning incense, which, I was assured by one of the
company, will always " restore him immediately." 3

1 W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, being an introduction to the folklore
and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula, London, 1900, pp. 440-
444.

2 W. W. Skcat and C. O. Blagdcn, Pagan Races of the Malay Penin-
sula, London, 1906, vol. ii, p. 307.

276 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Possession by the spirits of animals is also found amongst
the Malays, for example a monkey dance.

The " Monkey Dance " is achieved by causing the " Monkey
spirit " to enter into a girl of some ten years of age. She is first
rocked to and fro in a Malay infant's swinging cot (buayan), and
fed with arcca-nut and salt (pinang garam). When she is suffi-
ciently dizzy or " dazed " (mabok), an invocation addressed to the
" Monkey spirit " is chanted (to tambourine accompaniments),
and at its close the child commences to perform a dance, in the
course of which she is said sometimes to achieve some extra-
ordinary climbing feats which she could never have achieved unless
" possessed." When it is time for her to recover her senses she is
called upon by name, and if that fails to recall her, is bathed all
over with cocoa-nut milk. 1

On the subject of autosuggestive animal possession Selenka
also relates the following of the Dyaks of Borneo :

Much was also told us of hypnotic stales. These appear spon-
taneously or may be artificially provoked by such means as pulling
a man's head hither and thither for a quarter of an hour by the
corner of a handkerchief bound round it, a treatment designed to
produce in the medium the illusion of being a monkey. The
hypnotized person then behaves like a quadrumane, until the
manang (medicine-man) delivers him from the charm. The name
of this violent game is " calling down the monkey." According
to the Resident Tromp, illusions are also produced in which the
hypnotized person believes himself to be a bird and behaves
accordingly. 2

Let us now leave Asia and pass to the shores of the Pacific
Ocean.

From the South Seas we have a relatively very accurate
description of shamanistic states in the Tonga Islands of
Polynesia by the English observer Mariner. It is found
amongst the extremely interesting and informative travel
books previously mentioned. 3

Mariner remarked that the interrogation of the gods by
priests under the influence of possession is of frequent occur-
rence in the Tonga Islands. It is noteworthy that the
concomitant noisy drumming which generally serves to
provoke inspiration is completely absent. The priests fall
through the mere autosuggestion of a waiting period into
divine possession which seems as a rule to last for some con-

1 Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 465.

2 Emil and Lenore Selenka, Sonnige Welten, Ostasiatischc Reise-
Stizzen; Wiesbaden, 1896, p. 78.

3 W. Mariner, An Accmmt of the Natives of the Tonga Islands in the
South Pacific Ocedn, ed. by John Martin, 2 vols., London, 1817.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 277

siderable time. The status which they enjoy is regulated
according to the divinity speaking through them; they are
even identified with him during the period of inspiration, and
the King as well as the people treat them with submission.
The Tonga islanders have already attained a height of religious
development where human distinctions of rank are as nothing
in presence of the divinity.

As soon as they arc all seated, the priest is considered as inspired,
the god being supposed to exist within him from that moment.
He sits for a considerable time in silence, with his hands clasped
before him; his eyes are cast down, and he remains perfectly still.
During the tune that the victuals are being shared out, and the
cava being prepared, the mntuboolcs sometimes begin to consult
him; sometimes he answers them, at other times not; in either case
he remains with his eyes cast down. Frequently he will not answer
a word till the repast is finished, and the cava too. When he
speaks, he generally begins in a low and very altered tone of voice,
which generally rises to nearly its natural pitch, though sometimes
a little above it. All that he says is supposed to be the declaration
of the god, and he accordingly speaks in the first person as if he
were the god. All this is done generally without any apparent
inward emotion or outward agitation; but sometimes his coun-
tenance becomes fierce, and, as it were, inflamed, and his whole
frame agitated with inward feeling; he is seized with an universal
trembling; the perspiration breaks out on his forehead, and his
lips, turning black, are convulsed; at length tears start in floods
from his eyes, his breast heaves with great emotion, and his utter-
ance is choked. These symptoms gradually subside. Before this
paroxysm comes on, and after it is over, he often eats as much as
four hungry men, under other circumstances, could devour. The
fit being now gone off, he remains for some time calm, and then
takes up a club that is placed by him for the purpose, turns it over
and regards it attentively; he then looks up earnestly, now to the
right, now to the left, and now again at the club; aflerwards he
looks up again, and about him in like manner, and then again fixes
his eyes upon his c*ub, and so on for several times: at length he
suddenly raises the club, and, after a moment's pause, strikes the
ground, or the adjacent part of the house, with considerable force:
immediately the god leaves him. . . - 1

Some of the natives are such adepts at this sort of mysterious
conversation with the divinities, that they can bring on a fit of
inspiration whenever they feel their mind at all so disposed. a

How strong the tendency towards states of possession
finally becomes is evidenced by this observation of Mariner's :

It is customary to take a sick person to the house of a priest,
that the will of the gods may be known. The priest becomes
immediately inspired, and remains almost constantly in that state
while the sick person is with him. If he docs not get better in
two or three days he is taken to another priest. 3

1 W. Mariner, An Account, etc., pp. 106-108.
a Ibid., p. 112. 8 Ibid., pp. 112 sq.

278 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Unlike 1 the generality of shamanizing peoples, the
Tonga possessed have acquired, as we observe, a certain
consciousness of their state, so that we have in them a rare
case of lucid possession amongst primitive races. Mariner
has obtained interesting information directly from a possessed
man, and his account, although brief, is searching. It is the
only document which I can quote adducing personal evidence
on a state of lucid possession, and from the point of view of
interest ranks witli Surin's testimony, with which we have
already dealt.

Now we arc upon this subject it may not be amiss to mention
that Finow's son, who at this period of our history was at the
Navigator's Islands, used to be inspired by the spirit 1 of Toogoo
Ahoo, the late King of Tonga, who it may be reeolleeled was
assassinated by Finow and Toabo Neuha. When this young
chief returned to Ilapai, Mr. Mariner, who was upon a footing of
great friendship with him, one day asked him how he felt himself,
when the spirit of Toogoo Ahoo visited him; he replied lhal he
could not well describe his feelings, but the best he could say of
it was, that he felt himself all over in a glow of heat and quite
restless and uncomfortable, and did not feel his own personal
identity as it were, but felt as if he had a mind different from his
own natural mind, his thoughts wandering upon strange and
unusual subjects, although perfectly sensible of surrounding objects.
He next asked him how he knew it was the spirit of Toogoo Ahoo ?
His answer was "There's a fool ! How can I tell you how 1 knew
it ? I fel t and knew it was so by a kind of consciousness ; my mind
told me that it was Toogoo Ahoo." 2

This passage clearly shows the inner transformation of
the personal consciousness and also the lucidity of states of
possession amongst the Tonga natives. They feel themselves
transformed into the divinity which speaks by their mouth,
they are no longer masters of themselves, their thoughts
" wander." The passive nature of the states is also mani-
fested. The cause of the compulsion does not emerge as
clearly as in Surin's case, because the natives do not resist
divine possession as did the Christian energumens the demon-
iacal variety. Nevertheless, the abnormal and passive nature
of the psychic phenomena is evident; the divine presence
invades the man, it is not created by him.

Possession is not always confined to the priests; other
persons, even the King, have similar states. " King Finow "
used occasionally to be " inspired by the ghost of Mooimooi,

1 The souls of deceased nobles become gods of the second rank in
Bolotoo (Mariner).

2 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 111-112.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 279

a former King of Tonga," 1 but " he was not strictly considered
a priest on that account." Mariner recollects no chief who
was a priest; for although Tali y Tooboo inspired him the
King was not on that account regarded as a priest, *' those
only, in general, being considered priests who are in the
frequent habit of being inspired by some particular god." 2

The lack of any exciting music might lead us to doubt the
genuineness of the whole performance, but such a thought
is negatived by the description. Mariner himself raised the
question of authenticity and replied without hesitation in
the affirmative. What is still more important, it sometimes
happens that the divine consultation must be interrupted
because the priest cannot attain to a state of possession.
Admissions of this nature were made to Mariner and he has
preserved them to us as a testimony of an entirely unique
nature to which I know no parallel in literature.

Mr. Mariner frequently associated with them, watehcd their
general eomluel, and enquired the opinion of all classes of the
natives respecting them; and after all, has no reason to think that
they combine together for the purpose of deceiving peopled

It might be supposed that this violent agitation on the part of
the priest is merely an assumed appearance for the purpose of
popular deception; but Mr. Mariner has no reason at all to think
so. There can be little doubt, however, but I hat the priest, oil
such occasions, often summons into action the deepest feelings of
devotion of which he is susceptible, and by a voluntary act disposes
his mind, as much as possible, to be powerfully affected: till at
length, what began by volition proceeds by involuntary effort,
and the whole mind and body becomes subjected to the over-
ruling emotion. 4

Mr. Mariner, indeed, did once witness a rare instance of a man
who was disappointed in this particular: finding himself, as he
thought, about to be inspired, some cava was brought to him (as
is usual on such occasions), but, in a little while he was obliged
to acknowledge that the god would not visii ; at which all present
were greatly surprised, and so the cava was taken away again. 6

False prophecies by possessed persons are also accepted
without any particular scandal:

When a priest is inspired, he is thought capable of prophesying,
or, rather, the god within him is said sometimes to prophesy; those
prophecies generally come true, for they are mostly made on the
probable side of a question, and when they do not come to pass
as expected, the priest is not blamed, but it is supposed the gods
for some wise purpose have deceived them; or that the gods, for

1 W. Mariner, An Account . . ., vol. i, p. 112.

2 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 145. 3 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 146.
4 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 110 sq. 6 Ibid., vol. i, p. 112.

280 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

aught they know, have since changed their mind, and ordered
matters otherwise; or that the god who inspired the priest spoke
prematurely without consulting the other gods. 1

Unlike those of the Sandwich Islands, the priests
of the Tonga Islands do not form a special body. Only so
long as the god is within them are they raised above the
people. On the other hand, there is a certain degree of
heredity in the priesthood, probably for the simple reason
that the priest's son is exposed in a high degree to the influence
of suggestion ; it is possession which first makes him a priest
and not the converse. At bottom there is therefore a specific
and lasting priesthood.

In regard to the priests, their habits are precisely the same as those
persons of the same rank; and when they are not inspired, all the
respect that is paid to them is that only which is due to their private
rank. ... It most frequently happens that the eldest son of a
priest, after his father's death, becomes a priest of the same god
who inspired his father. 2

There appears to be no profound general psychic difference
between the priests and the other men of the same race.
Mariner has observed that:

... If there was any difference between them and the rest of
the natives, it was that they were rather more given to retlection,
and somewhat more taciturn, and probably greater observers of
what was going forward. 3

A second detailed account of possession in the South Sea
Islands dates from the end of the last century. This, too,
comes from the pen of an English investigator and is found in
his book on the Melanesians. 4 Whereas Mariner's informa-
tion related to a group of Polynesian islands, Codrington has
studied the Melanesians. The states of possession arc not of
the same nature ; in Melanesia it is visibly the somnambulistic
form which predominates. The methods by which they are
provoked are also more complicated than the simple auto-
suggestion of the Tonga islanders. A particularly interesting
fact is that the Melanesians distinguish clearly between
diseases of the mind and possession, just as do the Ba-Ronga
in Africa. Possession may be desired or else undesircd and
morbid; the former variety may be spontaneous or artificially
provoked. A further remarkable fact is the conscious

i Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 145-46. 2 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 145.

3 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 146.

4 Codrington, The Melanesians 9 Oxford, 1891.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 281

identification of the possessed with the spirit who fills him,
a phenomenon which clearly indicates that the possession
is at least partly lucid in form.

Codrington remarks concerning certain Melanesiaii spirits:

There is often dilliculty in understanding what is told about
them, because the name Nopitu is given both to the spirit and to
the person possessed by the spirit, who performs wonders by the
power and in the name of the Nopitu who possesses him. Such a
one would call himself Nopitu; rather speaking of himself, will
say not " I," but " we two," meaning the Nopitu in him and
himself, or " we " when he is possessed by many. lie would dance
at a festival, such as a kolekolc, as no man not possessed by a
Nopitu could dance. He would scratch himself, his arms or his
head, and new money not yet strung would fall from his fingers;
Vctpepewu told me that he had seen money fall from a Nopitu
at a kolekole bags full. One would shake himself on a mat and
unstrung money would pour down into it. 1

Of spontaneous possession we learn the following: 2

The knowledge of future events is believed to be conveyed to
the people by a spirit or a ghost speaking with a voice of a man,
one of the wizards, who is himself unconscious while he speaks.
In Florida the men of a village would be sitting in their kiala,
canoe-house, and discussing some undertaking, an expedition
probably to attack some unsuspecting village. One among them,
known to have his own tindalo ghost of prophecy, would sneeze
and begin to shake, a sign that the tindalo had entered into him;
his eyes would glare, his limbs twist, his whole body be convulsed,
foam would burst from his lips; then a voice, not his own, would
be heard in his throat, allowing or disapproving of what was
proposed. Such a man used no means of bringing on the ghost;
it came upon him, as he believed himself, at its own will, its mana
overpowered him, and when it departed it left him quite exhausted. 3

A party would be sitting round an evening fire, and one of them
would hear a voice as if proceeding from his thigh, saying: " Here
am I, give me some food, I am hungry." He would roast a little
red yam, and when it was done fold it in the corner of the mat on
which he was sitting. In a little while it would be gone, and then
the Nopitu would begin to talk and sing in a voice so small and
clear and sweet, that once heard it never could be forgotten; but
it sang the ordinary Mota songs, while the men drummed an accom-
paniment for it. Then it would say: "I am going"; they would
call it, and it was gone. Then a woman would feel it come to her,
and sit upon her knee ; she would hear it cry " Mother I Mother I"
She would know it, and carry it in a mat upon her back like an
infant. Sometimes a woman would hear a Nopitu say " Mother,
I am coming to you," and she would feel the spirit entering
into her, and it would be born afterwards as an ordinary child.
Such a one, named Rongolpa, was not long ago still living at Motlav.
The Nopitu, like other spirits, were the familiars only of those who

1 Ibid., p. 153.

a These accounts of spontaneous cases belong logifcally to Chap. V.

3 Ibid., pp. 200 sq.

282 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

knew thorn, and these were often women. If a man wished to
know and become known to a Nopitu, he gave money to some
woman who knew those spirits, and then one would eomc to him. 1
It is difficult to separate the practice of magic arts from the
manifestation of a ghost's or spirit's power in possession; because a
man may use some magic means to bring the possession upon
himself, as in the case of prophecy, and also because the connection
between the unseen powerful being and the man, in whatever
way the connection is made and works, is that which makes the
wizard. Yet there is a distinction between the witchcraft and
sorcery in which by magic charms the wizard brings the unseen
power into action, and the spontaneous manifestation of such
power by the unseen being ; even though there may be only a few
who can interpret, or to whom the manifestations are made. In a
case of madness the native belief is that the madman is possessed.
There is at the same time a clear distinction drawn by the natives
between the acts and words of the delirium of sickness in which as
they say they wander, and those which are owing to possession.
They are sorry for lunatics and are kind to them, though their
remedies are rough. At Florida, for example, one Kandagaru of
Boli went out of his mind, chased people, stole things and hid them.
No one blamed him, because they knew that he was possessed by a
tindalo ghost. His friends hired a wizard who removed the
tindalo, and he recovered. In the same way not long ago in
Lepers' Island there was a man who lost his senses. The people
conjectured that he had unwittingly trodden on a sacred place
belonging to Tagaro, and that the ghost of the man who lately
sacrificed there was angry with him. The doctors were called in ;
they found out whose ghost it was by calling on the names of dead
men likely to have been offended, they washed him with water
made powerful with charms, and then burned the vessel in which
the magic water had been under his nose ; he got well. In a similar
case they will put bits of the fringe of a mat, which had belonged
to the deceased, into a cocoa-nut shell, and burn it under the nose
of the possessed. There was another man who threw off his malo
and went naked at a feast, a sure sign of being out of his mind;
he drew his bow at people, and carried things off. The people
pitied him, and tried to cure him. When a man in such condition
in that island spoke, it was not with his own voice, but with that
of the dead man who possessed him; and such a man would know
where things were hidden; when he was seen coming men would
hide a bow or a club to try him, and he would always know where
to find it. Thus the possession which causes madness cannot be
quite distinguished from that which prophesies, and a man may
pretend to be mad that he may get the reputation of being a
prophet. At Saa a man will speak with the voice of a powerful
man deceased, with contortions of the body which come upon him
when he is possessed; he calls himself, and is spoken to by others,
by the name of the dead man who speaks through him ; he will eat
fire, lift enormous weights, and foretell things to come. In the
Banks' Islands the people make a distinction between possession
by a ghost that enters a man for some particular purpose, and that
by a ghost which comes for no other apparent cause than that
being without a home in the abode of the dead he wanders mis-
chievously about, a tamat lelcra^ a wandering ghost. Wonderful
feats of strength and agility used to be performed under the in-

1 Ibid., p. 154.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 288

flucncc of one of these " wandering ghosts " ; a man would move
with supernatural quickness from place to place, he would be heard
shouting at one moment in a lofty tree on one side of a village,
and in another moment in a tree on the opposite side, he would
utter sounds such as no man could make, his strength was such
that many men could hardly master him. Such a man was seized
by his friends and held struggling in the smoke of strong-smelling
leaves, while they called one after another the names of the dead
men whose ghosts were likely to be abroad ; when the right name
was called the ghost departed, but sometimes this treatment
failed. 1

This is the manner in which the Mclancsians set about
invoking the spirits, that is to say for the purpose of inducing
possession artificially:

This has been described by a native under the name of A T a tamet
lingalinga, by which name, those who are subjected to the ghostly
influence are called. It is done, he writes, on the iifth day after
a death. There was a certain man at Lo who took the lead, and
without whom nothing could be done; he gave out that he would
descend into Panoi, the abode of the dead, and he had with him
certain others, assistants. lie and his party were called simply
" ghosts " when engaged in the aliuir. The first thing was to
assemble those who were willing to be treated in a gmnal, a public
hall, perhaps twenty young men or boys, to make them lie down
on the two sides, and to shake over them leaves and tip&> of the
twigs of plants powerful and magical with charms. Then the
leader and his assistants went into all the sacred places which
ghosts haunt, such as where men wash off the black of mourning,
collecting as they wen I the ghosts and becoming themselves so
much possessed that they appeared to have lost their senses,
though they acted in a certain method. In the meanwhile the
subjects lying in the gamal begin to be moved; those who bring
as they say the ghosts to them go quietly along both sides of
the house without, and all at once strike the house along its whole
length with the slicks they carry in their hands. This startles
those inside, and they roll about on the ground distracted. Then
the " ghosts " enter in with their sticks, and in this performance each
is believed to be some one deceased, one Tagilrow, another Qata-
wala; they leap from side to side, turning their sticks over to be
beaten by the subjects on one side and the other. The subjects
are given sticks for this purpose, and as they strike the stick the
ghost " strikes," possesses, them one after another. In this
state the sticks draw them out into the open place of the village,
where they are seen. They appear not to recognize or hear any
one but the " ghosts " who have brought this upon them, and who
alone can control them and prevent them from pulling down the
houses; for they have a rage for seizing and striking with anything
bows, clubs, bamboo water- vessels, or the ratters of the houses- -
and their strength is such that a full-grown man cannot hold a
boy in this state. After a time the " ghosts " tt ke them back into
the gamal, and there they lie exhausted; the " ghosts " go to drink
kava, and as each drinks he pours away the dregs calling the name
of one of the possessed, and the senses of each i eturn as his name

1 Ibid., pp. 218 sq.

284 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

is called. It is five days, however, before they can go about again.
This was done once after a Christian teacher had come to Lo, and
two of his scholars whom he let go to prove that it was a deception
were possessed. 1

In New Guinea possession has a bearing on all important
circumstances affecting either the individual or the family.
Ancestor-worship is practised there, and the natives have
the portraits of their ancestors carved in wood in their houses.
These are made the object of a certain cult with sacrifices,
but this is not all; natives endowed with a particular aptitude
plunge themselves when occasion arises into a state of
possession before these ancestors in order to ask their advice
on important questions. The ancestor-gods are induced to
speak not by efforts to obtain from the wooden images some
utterance which is afterwards interpreted, but by persuading
the ancestor dwelling in the image to enter into the body of
a living man and thus pronounce real words. The head of
the household or else a professional sorcerer acts as medium.

A Dutch writer describes as follows the manner in which
these images of ancestors are questioned through the agency
of possessed persons.

When anyone is sick and wishes to know the means of cure,
or when anyone desires to avert misfortune or to discover some-
thing unknown, then in presence of the whole family one of the
members is stupefied by the fumes of incense or by other means of
producing a state of trance. The image of the deceased person
whose advice is sought is then placed on the lap or shoulder of the
medium in order to cause the soul to pass out of the image into
his body. At the moment when that happens, he begins to shiver ;
and encouraged by the bystanders, the soul speaks through the
mouth of the medium and names the means of cure or of averting
the calamity. When he comes to himself, the medium knows
nothing of what he has been saying. This I hey call kor karwar,
that is, " invoking the soul " ; and they say karwar iwas, " the
soul speaks." The writer adds: " It is sometimes reported that
the souls go to the underworld, but that is not true. The Papuans
think that after death the soul abides by the corpse and is buried
with it in the grave ; hence before an image is made, if it is necessary
to consult the soul, the enquirer must betake himself to the grave
in order to do so. But when the image is made, the soul enters
into it and is supposed to remain in it so long as satisfactory answers
are obtained from it in consultation. But should the answers
prove disappointing, the people think that the soul has deserted
the image, on which they throw the image away as useless.
Where the soul has gone, nobody knows, and they do not trouble
their heads about it, since it has lost its power. 2

1 Ibid., pp. 224 sq.

2 F. S. A. de Clerq, De-West en Noordk-iist ran Nederlandtich Nieu-
Guinea, in " Tijdschrift van net Kon. Nedcrlandsch Aardrijskundig

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 285

Amongst the Vindessi of New Guinea the idea of possession
is particularly connected with the conception, so frequent
amongst other primitive races as well as this one, of a double
soul existing in man. According to their belief, every human
being has two souls. When a woman dies they believe that
two souls pass into the other world, but when it is a man only
one does so; the other may enter into a living person, gener-
ally a man but occasionally a woman. A man who has thus
become possessed is considered as a medicine-man or a
woman as a medicine-woman.

When a person wishes to become a medicine-man or medicine-
woman, he or she acts as follows. If a man has died, and his
friends are sitting about the corpse lamenting, the would-be
medicine-man suddenly begins to shiver and to rub his knee with
his folded hands, while he utters a monotonous sound. Gradually
he falls into an ecstasy, and if his whole body shakes convulsively,
the spirit of the dead man is supposed to have entered into him,
and he becomes a medicine-man. Next day or the day after he
is taken into the forest; some hocus-pocus is performed over him,
and the spirits of lunatics, who dwell in certain thick trees, are
invoked to take possession of him. He is now himself called a
lunatic, and on returning home behaves as if he were half crazed.
This completes his training as a medicine-man, and he is now fully
qualified to kill or cure the sick. 1

The great work on New Guinea edited by Neuhauss is
remarkable for a complete absence of reference to possession
as well as to Shamanism. The only thing possibly relating
to these subjects concerns certain " fits of madness." There
are cases in which single individuals are out of their mind
for hours, or more rarely days at a time, and inclined to
commit grave acts of violence. The missionary Ch. Keysscr
says: " This state is considered to result from a mysterious
influence exercised by spirits." 2 This remark is unhappily
too vague for us to deduce from it with safety that the natives
regard these states as true possession. In the Fiji Islands
each tribe contains a family on whom alone it is incumbent
to become inspired or possessed from time to time by a holy
spirit.

Their qualification is hereditary, and any one of the ancestral
gods may choose his vehicle from among them. I have seen this
possession, and a horrible sight it is. In one case, after the fit

Genootschap," Tweede Serie, x (1893), quoted by J. G. Frazer, The
Belief in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead, vol. i, London, 1913,
p. 309 (Gifford Lectures, St. Andrews, 1911-12).

1 J. G. Frazer, ibid., p. 322.

2 11. Neuhauss, Deutsch Neu-Guinea, vol. iii, Berlin, 1911, p. 79.

286 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

was over, for some time the man's muscles and nerves twitched
and quivered in an extraordinary way. lie was naked except
for his breech-clout, and on his naked breast snakes seemed to be
wriggling for a moment or two beneath his skin, disappearing and
then suddenly reappearing in another part of his chest. When
the mbctc (which we may translate " priest " for want of a better
word) is seized by the possession, the god within him calls out
his own name in a stridulous tone : " It is 1 ! Katouivcrc !" or
some other name. At the next possession some other ancestor
may declare himself. 1

Of the Southern Islands of the Pacific Ocean Ellis writes:

Appearing to the priest in a dream of the night, though a frequent,
was neither the only nor the principal mode by which the god inti-
mated his will. He frequently entered the priest, who, inflated
as it were with the divinity, ceased to act or speak us a voluntary
agent, but moved and spoke as entirely under su pernat ural P;
fluence. In this respect there was a striking resemblance between
the rude oracles of the Polynesians and those of the celebrated
nations of ancient Greece.

As soon as the god was supposed to have entered the priest , t he
latter became violently agitated, and worked himself up to the
highest pitch of apparent frenzy, the muscles of the limbs seemed
convulsed, the body swelled, the countenance became terrific,
the features distorted, and the eyes wild and strained. Tn this
state he often rolled on the earth, foaming at the mouth, as if
labouring under the influence of the divinity by whom he ^as
possessed, and in shrill cries, and violent and often indistinct
sounds, revealed the will of the god. The priests, who were at tend-
ing, and versed in the mysteries, received, and reported to the people,
the declarations which 'had been thus received.

When the priest had uttered the response of the oracle, the violent
paroxysm gradually subsided, and comparative composure ensued.
The god did not, however, always leave him as soon as the com-
munication had been made. Sometimes the same laimi, or priest,
continued for two or three days possessed by the spirit or deity;
a piece of native cloth, of a peculiar kind, worn round one arm,
was an indication of inspiration, or of the indwelling of the god with
the individual who wore it. The acts of the man during this period
were considered as those of the god, and hence the greatest atten-
tion was paid to his expressions, and the whole of his deportment .'-

America has a surprise in store for us. Up to the present
not one single account of spontaneous possession amongst the
American aborigines has reached me ! Even the great travel-
books of such distinguished explorers as K. von den Steinen, 3
Preuss, 4 and Koch-Griinberg 5 are completely empty of them.

1 Private letter of the Rev. Lorimcr Fison to J. G. Frazer, The
Magic Art, London, 1911, vol. i, p. 378.

2 W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, 2nd edit., London, 1832-36,
i, p. 372.

3 K. von der Steinen, Durch Zentral Brasilien, Leipzig, 1884. Vnter
den Naturvdlkern Zentral-Brasiliens, 2nd edit., Leipzig, 1897.

4 K. Th. Preuss, Nay aril-Expedition, Leipzig, 1912.

6 Theodor Koeh-Griinberg, Kwei Jahre unler den. Jndianern. Reisen
in Nordwest Brasilien, 1903-05, 2 vols., Stuttgart, 1910.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 287

Accounts of shamanistic possession are also more rare in
the ethnological literature of America than elsewhere. The
literature on the dances of the American natives is to-day far
richer than that concerning the other races of the globe, but
it is only accidentally that we meet a remark from which some
information may be gleaned as to the subjective state of the
dancers.

We find, for example, in Koch-Griinberg's work a few short
observations on the masked dances of the South American
Indians, in which animals are often represented.

At the root of all these mimetic performances lies the idea of a
magic influence. They are designed to secure for the village and
its inhabitants, the plantations and all the country round, blessings
and fertility, and also to serve as indemnity to the dead in whose
honour the feast is given. Inasmuch as the dancer seeks by gesture
and action to imitate as faithfully as possible the being whom he
desires to impersonate, he identifies himself with the latter. The
mysterious force residing in the mask passes into the dancer,
makes him himself a potent demon and renders him capable of
driving out demons or rendering them favourable. In particular
the demons of growth, the spirits of animals which play a part in it
and the animal-spirits of hunting and fishing must by mimetic
gestures be conjured up within the reach of human power. 1

All the masks represent demons. The Indian's imagination
peoples the whole of nature with good and evil spirits which hold
potent sway over life and death. . . . This search for a personified
cause of all joys and sorrows finds its expression in the masked
dances. In these are shown, speaking and acting, all the spirits
with their following of animals from earth, air, and water which,
however, again represent demons and typify various classes of
animals, sometimes with appropriate mimicry.

The demon is in the mask, he is incorporated in it. To the
Indians the mask //* the demon. When I questioned the Kobeua
as to the meaning of this or that mask they always said: " This one
is the butterfly, the aracu fish, the makuko," etc., and never,
"This is the mask of the butterfly," etc. The demon of the mask
passes for the time being into tlie dancer who wears it. On the
morrow of the feast of the dead when the masks are consumed by
fire, the demons leave their transitory abode and betake themselves
to Taku, the paradise of masks, or to their dwelling-place situated
on some other mountain or in a torrent. . . .

The demons are invisible to ordinary mortals. Only the
medicine-man can see them and speak to them by virtue of
his magic powers.

As for this invisible part of the mask, the Kobc'ua called it the
" maskara-anga " (soul of the mask), in order to make its essential
nature as clear as possible to me. Just as the human soul is
invisible in the body, animates it and departs after death to Mukc'i-

1 Ibid., vol. ii p. 190.

288 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

lami, the Beyond of all Kobeua souls, so with the " death M i.e.,
the incineration of the mask the invisible power which dwelt in it
during the feast, leaves the visible husk and retires to its own
dwelling-place. This unseen force is the demon. " All the masks
are abochoko (demons); all abochokoare lords of the masks, 11 says
the Kobeua.

The conception of Taku as the paradise of masks may
have arisen from analogy with the human Beyond.

The incineration of the mask is founded on the same belief as
the cremation of the mortal remains of the dead, on the fear of an
unwelcome return of the demon with whom it is not desired to have
further dealings after the feast of the dead. When certain masks
are preserved or made over into bags this must be regarded as a
sign of decadence. 1

These are the principal passages in which Koch-Griinbcrg
refers to the psychology of masked dances. It results
categorically that the natives' conception of these dances is
entirely along the lines of possession. But that is all; to
assume that the dancers really fall into abnormal states
seems to me definitely hazardous, and in my opinion Koch-
Griinberg's further general description tends to the opposite
conclusion. The details of sudden collapse, sudden onset and
cessation of possession which have already become familiar
to us in the Indian and Malay Peninsulas are completely
lacking; we rather gain the impression that the dances run
their course in a certain psychic equilibrium and are not
distinguished totogenere from the " performances " of civilized
peoples. This at least appears to be the position to-day.
Whether it has always been so is another question, to which
no reply can be given without a systematic examination of
the accounts of the early travellers for data concerning the
masked dances of the American natives. It is conceivable
that abnormal psychic phenomena have ceased under the
influence of civilization, since even the Indian and Malay
natives are now no longer untouched by it.

At the time of the colonization of America we have, in
fact, a description by a Spanish priest (Las Casas) of epidemic
possession amongst the Indians of Brazil. He writes :

(To the Indians in the neighbourhood of Cape San Augustin)
came from time to time, at intervals of several years, wizards
from a great distance who pretended to bring the divinity with
them. When the time for their return arrived the roads were

1 Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 173 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 289

carefully cleansed and the people welcomed them with feasts and
dances. Before they entered the village the women went in pairs
from house to house and confessed aloud the sins of which they
had been guilty towards their husbands or mutually with them,
and entreated pardon as if they were at death's door. When the
wizard in holiday attire arrived at the village he entered a darkened
hut and erected in a suitable spot a calabash shaped like a man.
lie then stood by the calabash and announced in a changed voice,
assuming that of a child, that they need 110 longer trouble to work
and go to the fields, for the food-plants would prosper of themselves
and they would never lack nourishment. Bread would come into
the huts of its own accord, the ploughs would cultivate the fields
of themselves, the bow and arrows would hunt game in the forests
for their masters unaided. They would, moreover, slay many
enemies. The old women would grow young again and marry
their daughters well. By these and other similar falsehoods the
wizard deceived the people, making them believe that there was
in the calabash something divine which told him these things.
As soon as he had come to the end oChis predictions everyone began
to tremble, particularly the women who were seized with violent
shudderings of the whole body so that they seemed possessed by the
devil. They threw themselves to the ground foaming at the mouth
arid the wizard thereupon induced them to believe that the happi-
ness they desired was coming upon them and that they shared
in the goodwill of the pretended gods. 1

It is very surprising that the literature on the North
American Indians should contain nothing relating to posses-
sion. I have most carefully perused numerous volumes of
the Bureau of American Ethnology's Annual Report without
finding anything of importance. It is certainly not to be
believed that the investigators would have given no account
of true states of possession had they met phenomena of this
kind. Even in the thick in-quarto volume of James Mooney 2
on the frankly epidemic politico-religious movement, ac-
companied by visions and dances, of the Sioux Indians in the
nineties of the last century, there is nothing whatever about
states of possession. Could a wave of excitement of this
intensity have come and gone without any such phenomena
if the memory of them had existed in the popular mind ?
The matter which has hitherto come my way is insufficient
to convert me to the view that the phenomena of possession
have played no part in the religious life of the American
aborigines.

It is only on the north-west coast of America that pos-

1 Otto Stoll, Suggestion und Hypnotismus in der Volkerpsucholoeie t
2nd edit., Leipzig, 1904, p. 131 .

2 James Mooney, The (Most-Dance Religion, Kthnol. Report,
Washington, vol. xiv, 181)6.

19

290 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

session is known to me with certainty. The ethnologist
Adrian Jacobsen in the course of a work on the secret societies
of the Indians of this region in which masked dances play an
essential part, relates the following:

In each tribe intelligent and, as they pretend, inspired men take
upon themselves the representation of the gods. They form
secret assoeiations so that their hidden arts and doctrines, their
masquerades and mimicries may not be betrayed by the profane
to the general public. . . .

There were and still arc hundreds of masks in use each of which
represents a spirit from the legends. In the performances they
enter separately or in groups, as is indicated by the legend to be
enacted, and those wearing masks are no longer regarded by the
awe-struck crowd as actors and persons representing the gods but
as the gods themselves descending from heaven to earth. Each
actor must therefore execute exactly what legend relates of the
spirit. If the actor wears no mask, as often happens amongst the
Hametz (devourcrs or biters) or the I'akwalla (medicine-men) the
spirit whom he represents has entered into his body and the man
possessed by the spirit is on that account not responsible for his
actions while in that state. 1

Amongst the secret societies mentioned the Hametz arc the
most highly regarded and the most renowned. . . .

Under the name of Hametz the Quakjult and neighbouring races
designate in each village certain men (and also sometimes women)
who practise a sort of cannibalism. The right to become a Hametz
can apparently only be acquired by high birth or marriage into
families possessed of this privilege. The Hametz must, moreover,
be inspired by the spirit whom he represents in the dance. This
inspiration occurs only in winter. For several days previously the
Hametz, stark naked, is led by his companions from door to door
in the village, as I have myself seen at Fort Rupert in 1881. There
is reason to believe that the preparation of at least some of the
Hametz demands four years during which they must wear under
the left arm and on the right shoulder a specially prepared red-dyed
ring of cedar-bark. During the last four months they must live
alone in the forest. 2

My brother writes me the following on the subject of a Hametz
feast. . . .

The Bella-Coola Indians call the Hametz Alla-Kotla after the
spirit by whom they generally profess to be inspired. When the
novice is inspired by the spirit Alla-Kotla he thinks he hears a
roaring like that of a storm: the earth is shaken by the potent
voice of Alla-Kotla. The postulant is seized by the spirit and
carried into the air or the bowels of the earth where he is almost
stifled by the lack of air and where there are deep precipices. No
one knows whither Alla-Kotla goes in these journeys and no one
may track him.

On his return to the surface of the earth the spirit commands
the novice to bite those present in the dance-house, otherwise he
will be devoured by the spirit.

1 J. Adrian Jacobsen, Geheimbiinde der KiistenbewoJiner Nordwest-
Amerikas. In: Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft fiir Anthropo-
logie, Ethnologic und Urgeschichte, 1891, p. 384.

2 Ibid., pp. 380 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 291

Another spirit, Sck-scik Kallai, who is present at these feasts,
inspires men to dance. Nus-Alpsta is the third spirit present on
these occasions. He seems to be an envoy of Bek-bek Kwallanit,
but he wishes nothing but evil to men and seeks to trip the dancers
up. The novice recognizes him easily by his growling which re-
sembles that of a bear. All this is taught to the postulant by
his master the old Hametz months before the performance. The
exhortations as to the rules to be observed are made with a degree
of zeal and earnestness such as is hardly equalled in our religious
instruction. 1

The novice's first appearance is generally without a mask. The
Hametz wears round his neck several rings of cedar-bark and often
around his head a narrow circle, from the front of which hang strips
of cedar-bark half covering his face, which is painted black. The
head is thickly bestrewn with eagle's down, and the wrists and
ankles also adorned with rings of eedar-bark. Some renowned
Hametz in whose honour slaves were formerly slain or who to-day,
when men may no longer be put to death, have at least bitten a
large number of persons, wear either a ring round their neck with
carved wooden death's-heads or else a covering adorned with them
and worn over the shoulder during the danee. The Hametz dances
in a half- squat ting position. His arms are turned outwards with
hands upwards and he stretches them out to right and left, impart-
ing to the hands and fingers a constant quivering movement. The
dance is mainly composed of leaps to right and left. The eyes are
turned upwards so that little more than the white is visible, the
mouth half open, the lips drawn backwards, and the Hametz utters
inarticulate sounds like a prolonged ah ! The dance consists of
four parts with appropriate and different chants.

During the last chant the four Hametz who always accompany
him, and who dance with him, hand him two dance-rattles of a
particular shape, with handles differing from those of the ordinary
ones used in dancing. As a rule they represent death's heads or
human faces, but are sometimes also curved in the shape of man-
headed frogs. Especially in a Quakjult village I found human
faces cut into rattles, the tongues hanging out, to signify, as an
Indian explained to me, the thirst for blood. His companions
also have each a rattle. At the end of the fourth dance the Hametz
casts off the coverings from his body, ilings himself upon the chosen
victim and bites off from his chest and arms small pieces of ilesh.
Not infrequently dangerous wounds result from the proceeding;
I have, for example, seen a man with deep scars who had been on
his back for six months as a result of the bites he had received.
Another died because an over-zealous Hametz had bitten him
right through the throat.

My brother who was present at a Hametz feast in 1887 writes
me as follows: " At the first feast the Hi&mctz and his companions
danced four different dances to an uninterrupted tune. At the
end of the fourth dance the spirit took possession of him and he
became as if mad, tore off his dancing-dress and howled like an
animal as he flung himself on an Indian near by. The latter de-
fended himself with all his strength, but the Hametz seemed to
possess supernatural power. He threw him to the ground and bit
a piece of flesh out of his arm. Meanwhile the four companions
formed around the victim a circle so close that he could hardly be
seen. The Hametz behaved in the same w#v with four other

Ibid., p. 388.

292 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

spectators, whereupon almost all the others fled. The Hametz
accompanying him tried to quiet him but without success for he
had fallen into a veritable frenzy. In the end the shaman or
medicine-man was fetched who managed to calm him after a
quarter of an hour.

My brother describes the scene as the most shocking imaginable.
The frenzied man's eyes were bloodshot and his glance demo-
niacal. 1

The savage charaeter of this form of possession recalls the
demoniacal fits of the Middle Ages. It is, however, almost
the only case I know.

There appear to be 110 accounts whatever concerning
the half-civilized peoples of ancient America. H. Beuchat's
comprehensive and masterly work on the civilizations existing
at the time of the European invasion contains no information
of importance about religious states resembling possession.
We find only the following which relates to the priests of
Peru:

The priests who uttered the oracles . . . performed shamanistic
ceremonies. They drank ohicha, inhaled the smoke of narcotic
plants, danced and leapt until they fell down in a trance. On
recovering from their ecstasy they gave fortli the oracles in a
language incomprehensible to the uninitiated. 2

In Eduard Seler's study of sorcerers and sorcery in
ancient Mexico also it is merely stated that there were sor-
cerers who provoked visions and ecstatic states by means of
certain narcotics, amongst which tobacco played the leading
part. 3 But there is no proof that possession arose in these
states. The only thing which might suggest it is the fact
that " at least in certain ceremonies " the priest of a god
appeared in the latter's vestments. It should, however, be
observed that the same applied to the god's consecrated
victim. 4

No other evidence concerning primitive and half-civilized
America has reached me. The cause of this paucity of
documentation is not altogether clear; does it in fact result
merely from one of the hazards of research into sources, or
is possession really less frequent amongst the American
peoples than in other parts of the world ? I cannot for the

1 Ibid., pp. 390-92.

2 H. Beuchat, Manuel cTarchtologie am&ricaine (Ameriquc pre-
historique Civilisations disparues), Paris, 1912, p. 419.

3 Ed. Seler, Altmexikanische Studien, Museum fur Volkerkunde, vi,
parts 2-4, Berlin, 1899, pp. 42 sq.

* Ibid., p. 45.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: PRIMITIVES 203

moment help feeling that this latter supposition is the correct
one; the lack of relevant documents in American ethnological
literature is altogether too surprising.

If this impression were confirmed by further and more
thorough research, we should naturally be faced with the
problem of explaining this differentiation between the primi-
tive peoples of the Old and New Worlds. Is it possible that
the structure of the personality is more solid amongst the
American primitives, i.e., the Red Indians ? The general
impression which they produce is not out of keeping with
such an idea, but no definite reply can be given except as the
result of exact psychological research, a thing still in its
infancy as relating to primitive races.

CHAPTER Vlll

THE SHAMANISM OF THE NORTH ASIATIC
PEOPLES IN ITS RELATIONSHIP TO POSSESSION

WE shall now pass to the countries from which the word
" Shamanism " originates, as it was first generally used in
connection with their sorcerers.

We should expect to find the phenomena of possession
at their height, both as regards intensity and general preva-
lence, in these lands. Whether this expectation is justified
and in what measure remains to be seen. We must first pass
in review the relevant literature.

V. M. Mikhailowsky published in 1892 in the Transactions
of the Russian Royal Society of Natural History, Anthropology
and Ethnography a large number of accounts of Shamanism
amongst the peoples of Asiatic Russia: Tunguses, Yakuts,
Samoyedes, Ostiaks, Tshuktsh, Koriaks, Kamchadals, Giliaks,
Mongols, Buriats, Altaians, Kirghiz, Telcutcs, etc. 1 He has
come to the following conclusions:

Throughout the vast extent of the Russian Empire, from Beh-
ring's Strait to the borders of the Scandinavian Peninsula, among
the multitudinous tribes preserving remains of their former heathen
beliefs, we find in a greater or less degree Shamonist phenomena.
Despite the variety of races and the enormous distances that
separate them, the phenomena which we class under the general
name of Shamonism are found repeated with marvellous regularity. 2

I shall now give some descriptions, both ancient and
modern, taken from German literature, which I have found
more accurate than any other. It is noteworthy that the
data furnished by the more recent travellers are much superior

1 Engl. trans, in The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of
Great Britain and Ireland, vol. xxiv (1895), pp. 02-100 and 126-158.
Shamanism in Siberia and European Russia, being the Second Part of
" Shamanstvo " (from the 12th vol. of the Proceedings of the Ethno-
logical Section of the Royal Russian Society, etc., 1892, in Russian).
Unfortunately most of the sources to which it refers are likewise in
Russian.

9 Ibid., p. 158.

294

SHAMANISM OF NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 205

to those of the earlier ones, but as a matter of fact, accounts
satisfying all the requirements of the psychologist are still
to seek.

The travellers of the eighteenth century, the " Age of
Enlightenment," could not do enough to show the shamans
as mere charlatans or impostors. Their accounts arc therefore
devoid of information. 1

With the romantic period the corresponding deepening in
the scientific spirit resulted in the abandonment of the ration-
alistic view of Shamanism as mere trickery, in fact the change
of attitude even went too far in the opposite direction.
To-day the bona fides and psychological genuineness of a
considerable proportion of shamanistic states is generally
recognized, but on the other hand it is universally held that
not all manifestations of the shamans are authentic and that
imposture goes hand in hand with abnormal phenomena. It
is reserved for future investigators to indicate the exact
division between the two and above all to determine by close
study up to what point both genuine phenomena and trickeries
are common properly, or differ from one shaman to another.
Given the continual meriting away of primitive conditions
before the " sun " of civilization, it is much to be desired
that such researches should be carried out very urgently and
under the auspices of the state. Amongst the numerous
scientific tasks which it will be easier to execute in the Russia
of the future than in that of the past is the investigation of the
religious life of its highly diversified populations.

Wrangel, a late eighteenth-century traveller remarkable
for his scrupulous accuracy, was the first, or one of the first,
to declare the shamans to be more than impostors and
play-actors. In certain circumstances they would endure
ill-treatment rather than go back in any way on their words.

It is not infrequent for the shaman to be severely beaten in
order to induce him to change an unwelcome pronouncement ;
sometimes this little domestic remedy helps, but the shaman often
has firmness enough to stand by his opinion, a fact which infallibly
raises him in the public esteem to a marked degree. 2

1 By way of example the author here gives a quotation from the
works of J. G. Gmelin, Heise durch Sibirien (Gottingen, 1752) which is,
as he states, entirely lacking in precision and psychological interest
(R. Sudre).

2 F. von Wrangel, Reise Idngs der Nordkiiste von Sibirien und auf
dem Eismeere in den Jahren 1820-1824, ed. with a foreword by C. Hitter

296 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Almost all those who up to the present have expressed an opinion
on the shamans have represented them as unqualified impostors
of a crude and vulgar kind, whose ecstasies are nothing more than
an illusion created for base purposes of gain. From all that I
have been able to observe in the course of my jouriieyings in
Siberia, both here and in various olher places, this judgement
appears to me harsh and unjust. At least it is entirely partial
and only applicable to charlatans who travel about under the name
of shamans and excite the people's wonderment by all sorts of
apparently supernatural tricks, such as grasping a red-hot iron,
walking to and fro on it, running long needles through their skin,
etc., in order to extract money from them.

Anyone who has observed a true shaman at the height of ecstasy
will certainly . . . admit thai he is neither able to practise decep-
tion, at least at that moment, nor desirous of doing so, but that
what is occurring to him is a consequence of the involuntary and
irresistible influence of his intensely stimulated imagination. A
true shaman is certainly a very remarkable psychological pheno-
menon. Every time that here or elsewhere I have seen shamans
operate they have left on me a dark impression which was long in
fading. The wild glance, blood-shot eyes, raucous voice which
seemed to coinc forth with extreme effort from a chest racked by
spasmodic movements, the unnatural convulsive distortion of the
face and body, the bristling hair, and even the hollow sound of the
magic drum all this gives to the scene a horrible and mysterious
character which has gripped me strangely every time, and I under-
stand very readily how uneducated and crude children of nature
see in it the sinister work of evil spirits. 1

Wrangcl also disputes the existence of any scholastic
association amongst the shamans. He believes in the absolute
independence of each individual, and explains what they have
in common by the impression of external nature which is
common to all the dwellers in one region.

The true shamans belong to no particular caste, they form no
corporation for the accomplishment of a common aim, but arise
as it were singly and remain isolated. Amongst the people men
are born endowed with an ardent imagination and excitable nerves.
They grow up surrounded by the belief in spirits and shamans.
The apparently supernatural ecstasy of these latter, the mystic
nature of their whole being, makes a profound impression on the
young man. He also desires to attain to this communion with the
extraordinary, the supramundane, but there is no one to show him
the way, for the oldest shaman does not know how he himself found
it. It is from his own inner depths that by contact with the great
and sombre nature surrounding him he must derive knowledge of
the incomprehensible. Solitude, reclusion from human society,
vigil and fasting, stimulants and narcotics excite his imagination
to the highest pitch; now he sees the apparitions and spirits of
which he has heard tell in his early youth ; he regards them with

(38th and 39th vols., Magazin von merkwiirdigen ncuen Reisebe-
schreibungen =14th vol. of the new Magazine), Berlin, 1839, vol. i,
p. 285.

1 Ibid., pp. 286 sq.

SHAMANISM OF NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 297

firm and unshakable belief. At length he is consecrated shaman
i.e., proclaimed in the stillness of the night with certain solemni-
ties, the traditional practices, the magic drum, etc. This brings
him no increase of knowledge, no change in his spiritual, his inmost
being, it is a mere ceremony touching the outer man. What he
henceforward feels, does and says, is and always remains the result
of his own inner mood he is no cool and deliberate impostor,
no vulgar charlatan. 1

Castren relates of the Ostiaks :

Anyone can accomplish such ordinary sacrificial ceremonies,
but when general sacrifices must be offered to the gods and their
counsel asked on behalf of the race or a single individual, the priest
or shaman is indispensable, for he alone can open the hearts of the
gods and converse with them. But to the shaman the magic drum
is an indispensable instrument. Ordinary sounds cannot penetrate
to the ears of the gods; the shaman must conduct the conversation
by means of song and drumming. Then the image of the god
placed before him begins to speak, his words being nevertheless
understood by the shaman only. 2

The description of the Samoycde sorcerers is still more
sharply characterized :

When a tadibe (as the shaman is called amongst the Samoyedes)
is properly initiated into his calling, he provides himself with a
drum and a special costume. . . . Thus attired the sorcerer sits
upon the ground to ask the counsel and help of the tadebstios
(spirits). In this he is assisted by a tadibe less deeply initiated
than himself in his art. At the beginning of the ceremony the
more experienced tadibe beats the drum and sings a mystic and
terrible melody accompanied by words. The other tadibe forth-
with joins in and both sing the same air, like our Finnish rune-
singers. Each word and each syllable are indefinitely prolonged.
When after a short prologue the conversation with the spirit begins,
the superior tadibe becomes mute and strikes only lightly on his
drum. Presumably he is listening for the reply of the tadebstios.
Meanwhile the assistant continues to sing the last words uttered
by the Master. As soon as the latter has finished his mute con-
versation the two tadibes break into a wild howl, the drumming
grows in strength and the words of the oracle are announced. . . .

When, for example, a reindeer has strayed the melody is very
simple. The tadibe first invokes the spirit, and one of their
number said that ho used the following words :

Come, come,
Spirits of sorcery !
If you come not
I shall come to you.
Waken, waken,
Spirits of sorcery !
I have come to you,
Waken from sleep.

1 Ibid.

2 M. Alexander Castren, Nordische Reisen und Forschungen, vol. i.,
Reiseerhmerungen aus den Jahren 1838-1848. St. Petersburg, 1853,
p. 291.

208 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The tadebstio replies:

Say with what
You arc concerned.
Why do you come
To disturb our rest ?

(These words are also sung aloud.)
The tadibe continues:

Came to me

Lately a Nienets (Samoycde),

This man who

Earnest entreats me.

Away has his reindeer gone

Therefore have I

Now come unto you.

According to my Samoycde only one tadcbstio cuMoiuanlv
replies to this invitation. When they come in numbers one sin s
one thing and another another, so that the ladibe does not know
which to listen to.

The tadibe then asks his attendant spirit to seek for the reindeer.
" Seek it, seek it well, so that the reindeer may not be lost." Tlu*
tadebstio naturally obeys the command. Meanwhile the tadibe
exhorts him to search very thoroughly and not to cease until the
reindeer has been found. When the tadebstio returns the tadibe
adjures him again to speak the truth. "Do not He: iT you lie
things will not go well. My comrades will despise me. Say only
what you have seen. Speak both good and ill. Speak one word
only. If you say much without clearness or precision it will do
me harm," etc.

Then the spirit names the place where he has seen the rein-
deer. . . . We should not forget to say that before the conjuration
the tadibe enquires all the circumstances of the loss of the reindeer,
when and where it happened, >vhether the Samoyede supposes that
it has been stolen, who are his neighbours and whether there is
not an enemy amongst them, etc. If the person concerned cannot
give all the necessary information the tadibe takes his drum and
questions the spirits, then interrogates the Samoyede again, and
continues thus until he has convinced himself as to the facts by
means of the Samoyede's own declarations. Perhaps this con-
viction now and then takes form during the state of exaltation as a
dream or magnetic vision ; so much is certain, that the tadibe believes
he has received the pronouncement of the oracle from the mouth of
the tadebstio appearing to his imagination.

In addition to the collected, devout, and mutually consistent
accounts given by the tadibes of these circumstances one thing
fills me with particular conviction, that is the fact that the sorcerer
often admits either that he cannot call up the tadebstio or cannot
constrain him to give a reasonable reply, and this even in cases
where he might with ease have fabricated some acceptable augury.
It gave me pleasure to put the honesty of the tadibes to the proof
in this way. 1

1 Ibid., vol. i, pp. 102 sq.

SHAMANISM OF NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 299

Unfortunately Bastian's information concerning the
Buriat shamans is entirely lacking in precision, which is the
more regrettable since as one of the few ethnologists possessed
of a deep interest in and knowledge of psychology he was
highly qualified to furnish detailed psychological observations.
He relates :

. . . During the sacrificial ceremonies there is an outburst of
ecstasy. The shaman's soul fares forth to unite with the spirits
of the dead and receive from them in the kingdom of shadows the
desired instruction. The body which all this time lies on the
ground as if deprived of soul, is insensible to pain and performs
during the absence of consciousness all those singular tricks which
serve in the people's eyes as attestations of a true prophet: the
shaman leaps into the lire with impunity, grasps a red-hot iron in
his hands . . . and draws hot knives over his tongue until the hut
is filled with the smell of burnt ilesh, etc. 1

From this description it results at least that the shamans
fall into " esctasy," into a " second " or somnambulistic
state. Bastian's expression concerning the " absence of
consciousness " is naturally false.

It may be assumed that the shamans, owing to the dangers
to health consequent on their manner of life, must become
nervously deranged. The majority of investigators have so
completely taken for granted the essential nature oC Shaman-
ism as to pay no attention to the general psychic state of
the shamans. It is therefore of the utmost value that the
traveller Pallas has given on this point information showing
that the shamans are often sensitive to an extreme degree.

It should be noted as highly remarkable that many Samoyedcs,
particularly the sorcerers, show a peculiar form of timidity which
seems to be caused in part by the excessive tension and excitability
of fever, the action of the northerly climate, their mode of life,
and an imagination warped by superstition. I know from reliable
accounts that similarly excitable people arc found amongst the
Tunguscs and inhabitants of Kamchatka. Major Islenief has
assured me that it was the same amongst the Yakuts and I have
observed it myself, although to a lesser degree, amongst the Buriats
and the Tatars of the lenissei. An unexpected touch on the side,
for instance, or any other sensitive spot, a call, an unforeseen
whistle or any other sudden manifestation of a startling nature puts
these people beside themselves and almost into a frenzy. Amongst
the Samoyedes and Yakuts who seem to manifest this excitability
in the highest degree (since the whole of the former people will
show in emergencies a pusillanimity quite beyond the normal) this
frenzy goes so far that without knowing what they are doing they
seize the first axe, knife or weapon which comes to hand and seek,

1 A. Bastian, Ein Besuch bei den buratischen Schamanen, in " Geo-
graphische und cthnologische Bildcr," Jena, 1873, p. 400.

800 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

if they are not restrained by force and all lethal weapons removed
from their reach, to wound or kill whoever is the cause of their
fright or happens to be near. When they cannot work olT their
rage in this way they gesticulate, shout, roll upon the ground and
behave absolutely like raving madmen. In such cases the Samo-
ycdcs have an infallible means of bringing people to themselves:
they set fire to a piece of reindeer skin or a tuft of its hair and make
I he patient inhale the smoke; the latter immediately falls into a sort
of languor and sleep which often lasts for twenty-four hours,
after which he recovers the full use of his senses. This is a remedy
which reveals still more clearly the source of the ill. 1

In considering this timidity due regard must be had for
the more acute affectivity of primitive peoples. Pallas'
description recalls that which the cousins Sarasin give of the
Veddas, both peoples showing a similar character -I im id
and easily provoked. Tt must, however, be remembered
that the Veddas are isolated pigmy primitives of the lowest
degree of civilization, whereas the peoples explored by Pallas
are on an essentially higher plane. In any case one thing
is clear that the shamans are much more excitable than the
rest of the population. In an episode cited by Pallas in the
same place a young Samoycde sorcerer went almost raving
mad because a black glove had been put on his hand, a case
which gives a glimpse of mental states so morbid, so acutely
susceptible to illusion, that they can only with difficulty be
paralleled. Observe, moreover, the particularly unreasoning
character of the terror. The sight of the gloved hand arouses
in the shaman the fear that it is a bear's paw, without it
occurring to him in the least that this hand is at the disposal
of his will and that moreover, a single paw not connected with
a whole bear can offer no danger. The general state of the
shaman is so precarious and emotionally excitable that he
almost loses sight of reality.

Bastian's account of the Buriat shamans is also perfectly
consistent with the idea that it is highly nervous individuals
men or women who are automatically regarded as called
to the profession of shaman, and that the whole training
which they have thereupon to undergo it lasts for nine
years leads to the enhancement of their neurotic condition.

In order to attain to the condition of shaman it is necessary to
have the right disposition of mind which is called Vg garbul. The

1 P. S. Pallas, Reise durch verschiedcne Provinzen des russischen
Reichs in einem ausfuhrlichen Auszuge, part iii, Frankfurt, 1778, pp.
84-86.

SHAMANISM OF NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 301

signs of such candidature are considered to be : frequent fainting-
fits, excitable and sensitive disposition, taciturnity, moroseness,
love of solitude and other symptoms of a susceptible nervous system.
When these signs appear in a child the parents apply to the chief
shamans, men or women (Buge-Udagan), who forthwith seek to
propitiate the spirits by sacrifices and prayer. 1

As a rule the ability to become a shaman is hereditary in certain
families, and this must be so since magic practices can only achieve
success by the help of deceased ancestors.' 2

Mikhailowsky adds the following to the accounts of other
travellers :

It is not everyone who can become a shaman. Individuals are
designated for it either, as amongst the peoples of Siberia, by
heredity, or else by reason of a particular disposition which
manifests itself in a child or young man chosen by the gods for their
service. Amongst the Transbaiknliuii Tunguses the man who
wishes to become a shaman explains that such and such a deceased
shaman has come to him in a dream and commanded him to be his
successor. Before becoming a shaman, moreover, the candidate
shows himself fc * weakly, as if dazed, and nervous." According to
the accounts of the Tunguses of Turukhansk the man destined to
become a sorcerer sees in a dream the devil '' Kftargi " executing
shamanistic practices. . . . The Yakut shamans and shamankas
(a degenerate form of shaman) do not hold their magic gifts by
heredity although it is the tradition that when a conjuror of spirits
appears the honour remains in the family. They are predestined
to serve the spirits whether they will or no. " Emekhet," the
guardian spirit of the dead shaman, sticks to enter into one of the
deceased's relations. He who is to become a shaman begins to
rage like a raving mud man. lie suddenly utters incoherent words,
falls unconscious, runs through the forests, lives on the bark of trees,
throws himself into lire and water, lays hold on weapons and
wounds himself, in such \yise that his family is obliged to keep
watch oil him. By these signs it is recognized that he will become
a shaman. An old shaman is then summoned to whom has been
entrusted knowledge of the dwelling-places of such spirits as live
in the air and under the earth. He teaches his pupil the various
kinds of spirits and how they are invoked. Amongst the Yakuts
the consecration of a shaman is accompanied by certain ceremonies :
the old shaman leads his pupil up a high mountain or into the open
fields, clothes him in shaman's robes, provides him with the tam-
bourine and drumstick, places on his right nine pure youths, on his
left nine pure maidens, then gives him his own robe and placing
himself behind the new shaman makes him repeat certain words.
Before all else he commands that the candidate abjure God and all
that is dear to him inasmuch as he promises to devote his whole life
to the (lemon who will fulfil his requests. Then the old shaman
tells where the various demons live, which sicknesses they cause
and how they may be propitiated. Finally, the new shaman slays
the animal destined for sacrifice, his clothing is sprinkled with the
blood and the flesh is eaten by the spectators. 3

It is even said that amongst the Tunguses the future
shamans are chosen before they are two years old. The

1 Bastian, loc. eft., p. 402.

2 lbid. 9 p. 400. 3 Mikhailowsky, loc. cit., pp. 85 sq.

302 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

criterion is inter alia convulsions. 1 At the beginning of its
third year the child is taken by an old shaman.

According to the accounts of the natives to which Radloff
refers in his description of Shamanism in the Altai', men
become shamans purely and simply by a sort of inspiration,
without receiving any kind of instruction.

The aptitude for Shamanism and its lore is hereditary and
handed down from father to son, also in special but rare cases from
father to daughter. The future shaman receives no preliminary
instruction or teaching from his father, and does not prepare himself
for the profession ; the shamanistic power falls upon him suddenly,
as a sickness grips the whole man. The individual destined by the
power of the ancestors to become a shaman suddenly feels in his
limbs a languor and lassitude which manifest themselves in violent
trembling. He is seized with violent and unnatural yawning,
feels a heavy weight upon his chest, is suddenly moved to utter
inarticulate cries, is shaken by feverish shivcrings, his eyes roll
rapidly, he dashes forward and whirls round like one possessed
until he collapses covered in sweat and rolls on the ground a prey
to epileptic convulsions. His limbs are numbed, he seizes every-
thing he can lay hands on to swallow it involuntarily. . . . After
a little while what he has swallowed comes out again dry and
unchanged. . . . All these sufferings grow continuously worse
until the individual thus tormented at length seizes the drum and
begins to shamanize. Then and then only is nature appeased,
the power of the ancestors has passed into him and he can now
do no other, he must shamanize. If the man designed to be a
shaman opposes the will of the predecessors and refuses to sham-
anize, he exposes himself to terrible afflictions which either end in
the victim losing all his mental powers and becoming imbecile and
dull or else going raving mad and generally after a short time doing
himself an injury or dying in a lit. 2

If it is true that the shamans, when they have become so
by inspiration, receive no other instruction, this arises simply
from the fact that as descendants of shamans they are fully
instructed from youth up. It would otherwise be impossible
for them duly to accomplish the shamanistic functions.

According to Mikhailowsky also it is neuropathic persons,
pathological from infancy, who become shamans, undergoing
a preparation of several years which constitutes a regular
neuropathic training. Here are some details concerning
the Buriat shamans :

The dead ancestors who were shamans customarily choose
amongst their living descendants a boy who shall inherit their

1 Gustav Klemm, Allgemeinc Kulturgeschichte. der Mcnschhrit,
vol. iii, Leipzig, 1844, p. 105. Also Gcorgi, Hemerkungen auf einer
Reise im russischen Reiche, vol. i, pp. 275 sq.

2 W. Radloff, Am Sitririen, Lose Blatter aus dein Tagebuchc eines
reisenden Linguisten, vol. ii, Leipzig, 188 1, pp. 10 sq.

SHAMANISM OF NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 303

power. This child is recognized by several signs: he is often
pensive, a lover of solitude, he has prophetic visions and is occa-
sionally subject to fits during which he remains conscious. The
Burials believe that the child's soul is then amongst the spirits who
teach him. ... If he is to become a white shaman he goes to the
abode of the spirits of the west, a black shaman to the spirits of the
east. In the palaces of the gods the soul learns under the guidance
of the dead shamans all the secrets of the shamanistic art; it
impresses upon its memory the names of the gods, their abode,
the forms with which they should be worshipped and the names
of the spirits subject to the great gods. After undergoing trials
the spirit returns to the body. Every year the mental tendencies
arc accentuated; the young man begins to have fits of ecstasy,
dreams and swoons become more frequent. He sees spirits, leads
a restless life, goes from village to village and tries to shamanize.
In solitude he gives himself up whole-heartedly to shamanistic
practices in 110 matter what place, forest or hillside, beside a blazing
fire. He invokes the gods in a strange voice, shamanizes, and often
falls senseless. His friends follow him at a certain distance and
watch him to see that he takes no harm.

So long as the future mediator between gods and men is fitting
himself for his impending duties, his parents or relatives apply to an
experienced shaman to ask help for him, they call upon the gods
and bring them offerings, imploring that their son or kinsman may
pass safely through the trials. If the future shaman belongs to a
poor family the community contributes towards supplying animals
for the sacrifice and the objects necessary for the riles. The
preparation lasts for several years, its length depending on the
young man's aptitudes. As a general rule no one becomes a
shaman before the age of twenty years. 1

Wrangel, otherwise so reliable, surprises us by advancing
an entirely individualistic conception of the shamans.

What the shamans and their partisans believe and practise is
not something invented by a man and handed on to other men ; it
springs up in the breast of each individual through the impression
of the surrounding objects. As these surroundings are alike all
over the Siberian deserts, as their half- wild dwellers stand only
on the threshold of enlightenment, so also are these impressions
more or less general and the same for everyone. Each man sees
and feels for himself; but without any communication there pre-
vails a certain resemblance amongst the fruits of the imagination,
and the personal belief of each becomes the common belief of the
people. It is, in my opinion, just because such a belief is, so to speak,
the creation of every individual and therefore particular and dear
to him that they have endured up to the present and will continue
to endure so long as these children of nature rule over the tundras,
forests and gulfs, so long as the same setting continues to produce
upon them the same impressions. 2

It must be said that this theory is completely untenable.
The uniformity of shamanistic states cannot in any way be
explained by the homogeneous character of nature in Siberia;

1 Mikhailowsky, toe. cit. 9 p. 87.

2 Wrangel, lo<\ n/., vol. i, pp. 285 sq.

304 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

it arises from the impression which the shamans make on their
fellows. Even if the young shaman-to-be received no in-
struction of any kind from an old shaman and neglected all
special education he nevertheless knows the nature of the
shamanistic states, he sees shamans before him and hears
them speak. Wrangcl has not had sufficient regard for these
facts, which arc nevertheless in themselves entirely sufficient
to explain the typical resemblance amongst the shamans.
The impression of nature matters little if at all. It may be
true that the consecration of the shamans brings no new
metaphysical knowledge to the initiates, but it would certainly
not be possible if there were not some connection between
the shamans, and according to Wrangel's own statement the
novices learn the exorcism of spirits from the older shamans !
The disciples learn from thorn how to fall into the " ecstatic "
state, and that is certainly something more than " a mere
ceremony touching the outer man."

The social importance of the shamans is extremely great.
They combine in their person the priest, the sorcerer, and the
physician, and are everywhere summoned when a misfortune
is to be averted, cither from an individual or from the whole
population.

The shamans are and this is consistent with their mysterious
powers intimately connected with the life and customs of the
Siberian natives which arc concerned witli the most important in-
terests of a race on a low level of development. In the simple life
of the peoples of Northern Asia the shaman plays a prominent part ;
with few exceptions he occupies amongst his compatriots a situation
of exceptional importance. Only amongst the Tshuktsh the
shamans, according to Litkc, are not honoured, and their function
is restricted to curing the sick and performing conjuring-tricks.
The Yakuts have absolute faith in their sorcerers, whose mysterious
operations performed in circumstances of a highly exciting nature
throw the half-savage people into a state of terror. It is not sur-
prising that they should be afraid of the shamans. But fear
outweighs respect, and the Yakuts are persuaded that their shamans,
possessed by spirits, do not die by the will of the gods and are
unworthy of the angel of death which is sent to them. They slay
one another mutually by the sending of their demons.

The Tunguses whose country adjoins that of the Yakuts have
still, as in Wrangel's time and in spite of the growing influence of
Christianity, great confidence in their shamans and these latter
assist at the burial of Christian Tunguses. The Ostiaks show great
respect towards their doctors and diviners. In Southern Siberia
the Buriats honour their shamans ; the white shamans in particular
are generally respected and beloved, the black shamans and
shamankas are unloved, but greatly feared. Nevertheless, accord-
ing to certain authors, a doctor loses the regard in which he is held
if the patient whom he is attending happens to die*

SHAMANISM OF NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 305

The respect and fear felt towards the shamans must also neces-
sarily be manifested by outward signs: gifts of honour fall to their
lot, they perform the most important functions and receive from
their fearful compatriots handsome material rewards for the benefits
which they arc supposed to confer. In the feasts of the Yakuts
the shamans take the highest rank, even a prince kneeling before
an Oyun on such occasions and receiving from his hands a cup of
kumiss. Nevertheless the Yakut shamans have no particular
privileges in everyday life and are in no way distinguished from
their compatriots. 1

Such is apparently the general picture of north Asiatic
Shamanism from the psychological point of view. Is it, or is
it not, a state of possession ?

Strangely enough, we must unhesitatingly answer in the
negative. The original Shamanism does not in any way
consist, at least generally speaking, in possession, but rather
in mere visual phenomena. The shamans of northern Asia
and also of northern Russia-in-Europe in so far as shamans
have been known to exist there do not aspire to states
analogous to possession, but to visions: in the so-called
ecstasy they desire to see the spirits and hear them speak.
Contact with the spirit-world is not achieved by these peoples
as amongst the Bataks, where the spirits descend on chosen
persons and speak to the assembled hearers by their mouths,
but by " states of trance " in which they appear to the
shamans and impart to them communications which these
latter announce to their compatriots on their return from the
dream-like state to the waking one.

This theory is also confirmed by Radloff's description, 2
the most detailed account given by a German investigator
of the shamanistic ceremonies, but unfortunately much too
long to be reproduced here.

The ceremony begins with an appeal and invocation to the
spirits. Then the shaman appears to set off on a journey
through the various regions of the heavens according to the
belief of these peoples the heavens arc composed of various
regions. The shaman seeks as best he may to give a vivid
picture of this journey, and also makes the spirits talk, that
is to say he speaks in their stead. It is as if an actor played
several scenes single-handed and impersonated various
characters in turn. Up to this point Shamanism recalls
true possession, but when we realize that everything takes

1 Mikhaflowsky, toe. cit., pp. 131 sq. 2 \y. Radloff, op. cit.

20

806 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

place in a pre-determined order, that the words of the spirits
are fixed in advance, we shall be reluctant to admit true
possession, and shall rather believe that these are stereotyped
ceremonies. Nevertheless there is no doubt that such set
performances arc the echo of earlier true phenomena of
possession. What to-day is stereotyped was once spontane-
ous and involuntary.

It is surprising that in spite of this the shamans even
now fall into quite abnormal states of excitement, the wild-
ness of which recalls those of the encrgumcns.

From the highest god the shaman learns " whether the
sacrifice is favourably received or not; he also receives from
him the best predictions as to whether the weather is set or
what its changes will be, bad harvest, failure of crops, whether
Uelgucn (the god in question) expects still further offerings
and of what kind." 1 Unfortunately Radloff does not ex-
pressly say in what manner the shaman obtains this informa-
tion, whether by acoustic or visual hallucinations or else
whether he himself speaks in place of the god. Radloff
speaks of a " conversation " with Uelgucn without it being
possible for us to know whether the shaman hears the god
speak in his own imagination or whether there is a dialogue in
which he speaks alternately in his OAVII name and in the god's.
If this latter hypothesis were true, which I do not believe to
be the case, the reality of true possession in shamanistic
conjurations would be demonstrated.

That there is nothing more than a mere audition of words
is almost established by what Radloff relates of shamanistic
practices amongst the Kirghiz converts to Mohammedanism.
He remarks that " after the meal it is the custom for the
baksa (shaman) to make known what he has learnt . . . from
the spirit." 2

All that has hitherto been said of Siberian Shamanism
is based on the German literature concerning Siberia. The
Russian literature is far more extensive but remains inac-
cessible to me, although it may to some extent be replaced by
a dissertation of the University of Halle published shortly
before the war by a young Russian ethnologist called
Tschubinow. It was to have appeared in extended form in
Kriigcr's Arbeiten zur Entwicldungspsychologie, and contains
1 Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 49 sq. 2 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 62.

SHAMANISM OF NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 307

a review of the Russian literature of the subject. Up to the
present this is the most thorough work which has appeared in
German on Siberian Shamanism, but unfortunately it does
not pursue in further detail the question, all-important so far
as we are concerned, of the extent to which states of posses-
sion occur. Broadly speaking, Tschubinow's text and argu-
ments produce the same impression as the writings of German
travellers.

Tschubinow also gives a description of a typical shaman-
istic performance, 1 from which the reader is at first inclined
to believe that the shamans are possessed and that spirits do
indeed speak by their mouths. This would nevertheless be
a fallacy, for scrutiny of the other evidence reveals that there
is no spirit-speech of the kind so abundantly known to us
from primitive regions; the shaman practices something much
more like ventriloquism. Thus the spirits do not speak
through him as through the possessed, but he imitates them
voluntarily.

" The shamans of the Tshnkshs and Koriaks utilize ventrilo-
quism in such a way that the demons utter articulate sounds,
incomprehensible to the spectators, the sense of which the shaman
sums up from time to time. The shamans in their way achieve
especially amongst the Tshukshs the most impressive effects."
" The sounds make themselves heard somewhere very high up,
approach little by little, seem to pass like a hurricane through the
walls, and finally vanish into the bowels of the earth." 2

There can naturally be no question of true possession in
these performances; ventriloquism is clearly the artificial
substitute for true possession which is wanting. The Siberian
shaman appears to be a relatively late religious phenomenon.

The following description shows very plainly the extent
to which the whole performance is pre-arranged.

Amongst the more highly developed peoples he (the shaman) is
the only actor the centre of general attention and of dramatico-
religious interest. He arranges the dialogue so as to appeal to the
audience on their sentimental side, and combines the various poetic
measures and other modes of expression in such a manner as to
render the finest shades of meaning while at the same time produc-
ing a general impression of unity. The prosody and music of the
songs arc very strictly prescribed, even when the lext is improvised
and variable. 3

1 G. Tschubinow, Beitrdgc zum psi/chologischen Verstdndnis dcs
sibirischen Zatiberers, Diss., Halle, 1914, pp. 34-38.

2 Ibid., pp. 55 sq. 3 Ibid., p. 57.

308 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

This recalls the accounts of the Vedda shamans.

It is obvious that the manifestations of the Siberian
shamans are not all identical in character, the excitement to
which the shaman works himself up making it inevitable that
individuals who lack stability should fall into abnormal states.
Even if to all appearance it is visionary states which pre-
ponderate, there is naturally no reason why the phenomena
of possession should not also be produced on occasion. But
as Siberian Shamanism is now no longer anything more than
a sort of play-acting, this occurs much more rarely than
amongst the primitive peoples, with whom everything is still
genuine and where visions and possession have not yet given
rise to theatrical performances. In Siberian Shamanism we
have a very interesting primitive form of dramatic spectacle,
more primitive than history enables us to discover in the
Greece-Roman world, and yet more recent and highly de-
veloped than that of the Shamanism intimately connected
with true possession of most other primitive peoples.

Tschubinow repeatedly speaks of " states of trance,"
without defining more clearly the meaning of this expression.
We must understand it as denoting somnambulistic or at
least pseudo-somnambulistic states in which the shaman is
insensible to the ordinary stimuli of the outer world
words addressed to him, etc.

The sorcerer loses all sense of reality when by inhaling smoke
or smoking tobacco, as well as fixing his gaze upon the hearth-fire,
he has reached a state bordering on intoxication, lie begins to
get into touch with the invisible powers and sometimes falls into
a trance. . . .* In this state the shaman sees and hears the spirits
and converses with them. 2

Nevertheless many of Tschubinow's data seem to leave
open the possibility that possession occurs in many cases
amongst the Siberian shamans. Thus a sudden collapse of
the shaman is not unknown. " Sometimes on the appearance
of the spirit the shaman falls to the earth as if struck by
lightning." 3

The exact manner in which the shaman gets into touch
with the spirits is said by Tschubinow to be unexplained :

When the sorcerer has changed the drumming to a new measure
he begins to sing a conjuration; then the spirits of the ancestors

1 Ibid., p. 48. 2 lbid ty p. 51. 3 Ibid., p. 57.

SHAMANISM oft NORTH ASIATIC PEOPLES 309

approach. Our knowledge of these operations is unfortunately
very imperfect and existing literature still fails to explain them in
any way. 1

It is of the highest interest that in the neurological clinic
of Tomsk in 1009 Doctor W. W. Karelin observed in a shaman
of the Altai' the following physiological changes when he was
shamanizing :

The shaman's pulse increased from 80 to 100 before the magic
action, to 200 afterwards, the respiration from 20-24 to 36, the
temperature from 30-5 to 38*7. 2 The muscular strength showed
a marked augmentation in the right hand and a slight one in the
left. The rellexes of the legs, which were generally very weak,
disappeared completely after the magic action. 3

The word shaman is, moreover, often understood, even
by Ehrcnrcich, in a sense so wide as to embrace persons who
induce in themselves sleep and dreams by artificial means. 4

If in spite of their wide divergence the genuine states of
possession of other peoples are generally included under the
name of Shamanism, this is at bottom a misuse of words, an
application of the term to states which arc entirely distinct
from true Shamanism. Perhaps nothing is more significant
of how little psychology has hitherto come into its own in
ethnological works ; it has not been observed that completely
different things have been falsely identified. Once the word
Shamanism has been adopted into the language as embracing
possession and this has become quite usual not only in
German but also in English literature it is very difficult to
divorce it from this association again. In future it will be
necessary to bear clearly in mind that true Shamanism is
something quite distinct from possession-Shamanism.

So far as north Asiatic Shamanism is concerned the most
important problem arising and the investigation of which
I should like to commend to Russian researchers as the
persons most nearly interested, is a close psychological study
of the shamans, not only during shamanistic phenomena, but
also at other times. The thorough individual observation of
a single shaman might readily be worth more than the whole

1 Ibid., p. 49.

2 I.e., a rise in temperature of more than 2 degrees due to essentially
psychic causes (30-5 is a surprisingly low temperature).

3 Ibid., pp. 66 sq.

4 P. Ehreiireich, Beitrage zur Volkerkunde llrasiltenfi in Veroffent-
lichungcn aus dem Konigl. Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin, 1891,
vol. ii, part i, p. 33.

310 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

mass of "casual" travellers' tales. The neuropsychic con-
stitution of the shaman requires elucidation, as well as the
manner in which the shamanistic states come on. How far
does his will intervene in their production and cessation ?
Are the phenomena which occur akin to somnambulism or is
memory complete ? What is the history of the shaman's
youthful development ?

As Shamanism is dying out it is high time that such
investigations were undertaken. If there is much delay the
opportunity will have vanished for ever.

CHAPTER IX

ARTIFICIAL AND VOLUNTARY POSSESSION
AMONGST THE HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS

(i.) IN THE PAST (THE GRJECO-ROMAN WORLD)

IN the Gracco-Roman world religious possession did not, so
far as we are aware, constitute one of the primordial elements
of life. It was still unknown to Homer, and in more recent
times was brought into Greece from Asia and Thrace, pro-
ducing phenomena analogous to possession which persisted in
a greater or less degree down to the Christian era. Even in
the cult of Apollo which had in turn replaced an older worship
at Delphi, inspiration was introduced at a late date, and even
then from Dionysiac worship.

The vehicles of manifestations resembling possession in
the ancient world arc almost exclusively women. We must
consider on the one hand the " seeresses " and on the other
the participants in the cult of Dionysos.

The foremost of the prophetesses of Greek antiquity is
Cassandra; yet it is remarkable that in Homer she as yet
possesses no gift of vision, or at least there is no mention of
it, either in the Iliad or Odyssey.

She first appears as a seeress in JBschylus' Orcstcia, but
is in no way possessed; she beholds the future in visions.
Thus Lykophron does not show her as possessed in his poem
Alexandra. When she says " I " it is of herself that she
speaks, it is not Apollo speaking through her mouth. He
has conferred on her the gift of reading the future, but it is
always she who prophesies and speaks, distinguished from
others only by the gift of foreseeing future events. 1 Cassandra
cannot therefore be regarded as the poetic prototype of Greek
religious possession.

Amongst the possessed prophetesses of historic times the
most eminent is the Pythoness. 2 The seeress of Delphi is

1 Lykophron' s Alexandra.

2 Amongst the books which I have handled the richest in docu-
mentation is the very profound work of von Stiit/lo: Das gricchisclic

an

312 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

mentioned innumerable times, but we can form no clear and
certain picture of her inspirations; everything is wrapped in
obscurity and contradiction. Unfortunately little is known
about her; there exists no eye- witness's description designed
to hand down to posterity a detailed knowledge of the Delphic
priestess. Much of the information given by existing docu-
ments is, moreover, disputed.

The priestess was originally a maiden from the surround-
ing countryside who must keep her virginity. Later, after a
priestess had fallen victim to a sexual assault, a fifty-year-old
woman was chosen. She was at least in Plutarch's time
(second century A.D.) required to undergo no training.

In early times the Pythoness only gave replies 011 one
iixcd day in each year; later, when the influx of visitors in-
creased, it was one day a month. The replies were given
at once and uninterruptedly, and at its zenith the oracle
was even in constant activity, two Pythonesses alternating
regularly while a third was in readiness to assist them. 3 In
Plutarch's time it was once more sufficient, owing principally
to the terrible depopulation of Greece, for the Pythoness to
give her utterances once a month, for now as formerly pilgrims
came but seldom to consult the oracle. According to Plutarch
a preliminary sacrifice was, moreover, necessary, and only
when the sacrificial animal at once trembled and whined did
the priests lead in the Pythoness. 2

It is generally thought 3 that the Pythoness, when an oracle
was demanded, made lustral ablutions, and then wearing a
golden headdress, clad in long robes and her head encircled
with laurel-leaves, went into the Adylon, drank from the
spring Kassotis and chewed laurel-leaves. She seated herself
upon a tripod above a cleft in the rock from whence arose in-

OraJcelwcsen und besonders die Orakclstutlen Dodona und Delphi, in
Progranim des Kon. Gymnasiums zu Ellwuiigcii, 1886-87 and 1890-01,
also the article on Delphi in the Realenzyklopadie der Klassischcn Alter-
tumswissenschaft of Pauly, new edit, by Wissowa, vol. iv, Stuttgart,
31)01. Cf. also for later times, particularly since the imperial period,
G. Wolff, De norissima oraculorum estate, Berolini, 1854.

1 Paul Stengel, Die griechischcn KuUuscdtertumer, 2nd edit., Munich,
1808, p. 65.

2 Plutarch, De orac. (Plutarch's Morals, trans, by Several Hands,
W. Taylor, London, 1718, vol. iv, Why the Oracles cease to give Answers).

3 Cf. Stengel, loc. cit., pp. 65 sq., and C. W. Gocttling, Gesammelte
Abhandlungen aus dem klassischen Altcrtum, vol. ii, Munich, 1883, pp.
50 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 313

spiring vapours, then fell into a state of enthusiasm in which,
apparently under the influence of Apollo, she foretold the
future and gave counsel either in plain words or more often by
dark sayings. Near her stood a TT/OO^T^ to whom those
consulting the oracle imparted their questions either verbally
or in writing.

The state of inspiration into which she fell was one of
great excitement. Unhappily we know very little about it,
as is clearly demonstrated by the summary statements of
philologists.

P. Stengel comes to the following conclusion:

Owing to the gaseous emanations arising from the gulf, the
Pythoness was thrown into an ecstasy. She tlien pronounced more
or less consecutive words which were rendered by the priests into
often very bad hexameters or later into other poetic metres also,
and imparted to the questioners. Sometimes the replies were given
in prose. The Pythoness must often have found herself in a state
which rendered her incapable of reasoning, and it was then the
duty of the priests to sec what they could make of her words and
outcries. But deliberate fraud was certainly rare. It may have
occurred in isolated cases and a Pythoness is even reported to have
been deprived of her olftce because she was alleged, on receipt
of a bribe, to have given a false oracle. But in the hey-day of
the oracle** the Pythoness and the priests themselves believed, as a
general rule, that the god spoke in her ; and even if these men, wily,
and for the most part well-informed as to the circumstances of the
questioners, showed moreover all possible circumspection and
were content to speak darkly and ambiguously where not sure of
their ground, it would be impossible to explain the extraordinary
regard which the oracle enjoyed for centuries by an attempt to
posit repeated fraud. Lysandros made attempts at corruption at
Delphi, -at Dodona, and "in the seat of the Ammonian oracle, but
was everywhere frustrated and finally betrayed. 1

Bcrgk also can say no more than this :

The questioner received immediately by the mouth of the
inspired seercss a sentence in verse which fitted only the case in
question and which the prophets subsequently interpreted. . . .
What part was played by real inspiration in these utterances no
one can say, but naturally as time went on the advice of the priests
together with pre-arranged plan must have loomed larger and larger,
and it seems probable that in later times real poets in the service
of the sanctuary lent their aid to put the replies into metrical form. 2

Erwin Rohde thus describes the Pythoness:

. . . There (at Delphi) the Pythoness, a virgin priestess, prophe-
sied under the intoxicating excitement of the vapours issuing from
a cleft in the rocks above which she sat on a tripod ; she was filled

1 P. Stengel, loc. cit., p. 05.

3 Bcrgk, Uriechische Literaturgeschichte, vol. i, Berlin, 1872, p. 335.

314 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

with the god himself and his spirit. The god, as was believed,
entered into the earthly body, or else the priestess' soul, " loosed "
from her body, apprehended the divine revelations with the spiritual
mind. What she then " with frenzied mouth " foretold, was
spoken through her by Ihe god. When she said " I " it was Apollo
who spoke to whomsoever it concerned. That which lived, thought,
and spoke in her so long as she was in frenzy, was the god himself. 1

It will immediately be observed, however, that it is strain-
ing all these descriptions to construe the " perception " of
revelations as signifying acoustic visionary states, while the
speech in the first person in the name of Apollo indicates
possession.

The inadequacy of modern philologists' descriptions of
the Pythoness arises unhappily from the poverty of ancient
documentary sources. These nevertheless stretch over a long
period of time and continue far into the Christian era, but
contain very little definite information. A few examples
will demonstrate this. Amongst the most ancient is a
remark of Heraelitus (born c. 500 B.C.) found in Plutarch:

Now the Sibyl " from her frenzied mouth," to use the expression
of Heraelitus, lets fall words which are anything but merry, ornate
and painted ; and yet for a thousand years, thanks to the gods, her
voice has resounded through the centuries. 2

According to Bergk 3 these words indubitably apply to
the Pythoness, of whom Plutarch also remarks " that she
does not perfume herself with scented oils, nor does she
descend into the sanctuary draped in a crimson mantle." 4

Strabo relates :

It is said that the oracle is a spacious grotto in the depths of the
earth with a narrow opening. From it arises an inspiring vapour.
Over the mouth of the grotto stands a tripod on which the Py-
thoness mounts, and breathing in the vapour gives forth prophecies
either in verse or otherwise ; but the latter also arc put into measure
by poets in the service of the temple. 6

But no author is more disappointing than Plutarch (born
A.D. 46), in spite of the fact that during the years 95-125 he
was one of the priests of the oracle. Three of his writings

1 E. Rohde, Psyche, vol. ii, 2nd edit., Freiburg, 1808, pp. GO sq.

2 Plutarch, De Pyth. or., c. 6 (a translation will be found in Plutarch's
Morals, trans, by Several Hands, London, 3718, Why the Pythian
Priestess ceases to deliver her Oracles in Verse, p. 10 A).

3 Bergk, op. cit., vol. i, Berlin, 1872, p. 313.

4 Plutarch, De Pyltt. or., c. 6.

5 Strabo, Geography, ix, 419. (There is a translation with notes by
II. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer, 3 vols., 1854-57.)

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 315

relate to it: On the Cessation of Oracles, On the El at Delphi,
On the Pythian Responses, ivhy no longer given in Verse. We
expcet to gather from him a mass of details, but this hope
is completely frustrated; he says so little on the subject that
it has been possible to argue that he never had access to
the sanctuary where the Pythoness gave forth her oracles.
However that may be, his three writings on the Delphic
oracle are surprisingly empty of positive information.

The early conceptions of the effect of the vapour and the
fct entry " of Apollo into the scercss were often of a very
primitive nature, resembling some of the ideas on demoniacal
possession which we have already encountered. They have
persisted up to the latest times, and some of them emerge
with particular distinctness.

The Christian author Chrysostom (d. 407) writes:

Of this priestess, the Pythoness, it is now said that she sat with
parted thighs on the tripod of Apollo and the evil spirit entered
her from below passing through her geiiilal organs and plunged
her into a state of frenzy, so that she began with loosened hair to
foam and rage like one drunken. 1

Similarly we read in Origen :

Jt is said of the Pythian priestess, whose oracle seems to have
been the most celebrated, that when she sat down at the mouth of
the Castaliaii cave, the prophetic spirit of Apollo entered her private
parts, and when she was tilled with it, she gave utterance to re-
sponses which are regarded as divine truths. 2

Apart from the fact of the spirit of Apollo being alleged
to enter the Pythoness' womb, Origen is particularly shocked
at her state of excitement.

It is not the part of a divine spirit to drive the prophetess into
such a state of ecstasy and madness that she Joses control of herself. 3

The Hellenism of the later period had already found the
idea that Apollo introduced herself into the Pythoness'
organism and really spoke by her mouth unacceptable. Many
sought to give a materialistic explanation to the whole thing
by means of winds and emanations from the earth, as we see
from Plutarch.

Others took a middle course, admitting the operation of

1 Chrysostom, Homilies on the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
XXIX, chap, xii, 1.

2 Origen, Against Celsus, vii, 3 (Ante-Nicenc Library, " Writings of
Origen," trans. Crombic, vol. ii).

* Ibid.

316 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

the vapours on the mind, but seeing the directing hand of the
gods in this phenomenon.

Of the above-mentioned conception, already traditional
in antiquity, an important feature is to-day disputed: the
vapour which is alleged to have emanated from the rocky cleft.
Oppe has sought in a searching criticism of these ancient
accounts to demonstrate 1 that at Delphi there was never any
cleft in the earth over which the Pythoness' tripod was set
and from whence arose an intoxicating exhalation. No inform-
ation concerning it is to be found amongst ancient writers, and
Oppe believes it to be a legend of late origin, which, however,
was so universally believed that even Plutarch, who as a
Delphic priest was fully acquainted with the true facts, said
nothing in his writings directly to contradict it, but never-
theless expressed himself in such a fashion as conveyed beyond
doubt to the initiated that he knew nothing of the existence
of this fissure.

Oppe's hypothesis is consistent with the fact that the
French excavations at Delphi have revealed no trace of the
existence of any cleft in the earth in the temple of Apollo,
although they have been very thorough and pursued to a
great depth. Perdrizct, a collaborator of Homolle, the
director of excavations, speaks as follows of the results
obtained :

Amongst the monuments of the Pythian enclosure the temple
of Apollo had, as may readily be understood, aroused the greatest
expectations. How was the Adyton placed ? What ought we
to think of the prophetie fissure the emanations from which intoxi-
cated the Pythoness V It is established that it never existed
except in the imagination of the devout and of poets. No cleft
yawned in the rocks beneath the Ad y ton, no vapour ever arose in
that spot from the bowels of the earth, the foundations of the
temple hid nothing mysterious; the subterranean chambers upon
which it was built were hollowed out at the time of its foundation
with the sole object of economizing materials. 2

As, however, is so often the case in philological questions,
Oppe's arguments have not proved conclusive. The ex-
tremely judicious English scholar Farnell 3 judges, and it

1 A. P. Oppe, The Ctiastn at Delphi, in the "Journal of Hellenic
Studies," vol. xxiy, 1904, pp. 214-40.

2 Perdrizet, Die Hauptergebnisse der Ausgmbungen in Delphi, in
"Neue Jahrbiicher fur das klassischc Altertum," vol. xxi, pp. 29 sq.

3 L. 11. Farnell, The Culls of tfte Greek Slates, vol. iv, Oxford, 1907,
p. 181. The author is dealing particularly with Plutarch's third work:
Of the Cessation of Oracles.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 317

seems to me with justification, that Plutarch's data are
entirely compatible with the existence of a fissure. In any
case he (Plutarch) believed, as emerges clearly from 5, in
the existence of an exhalation which caused the Pythoness
to be inspired, even all hough he does not directly say
that it arose from a fissure. Nor can it, moreover, be
demonstrated that Plutarch ever gained admittance to
the room in which the Pythoness gave forth her oracles.
Similar fissures are still to-day found in the neighbourhood
of Delphi.

A traveller named Pomtow believes that he has discovered
" at certain spots on the new carriage-road, particularly in
places where, when it was driven last autumn, changes in
the configuration of the ground resulted, ice-cold draughts
of air accompanied by vinegary smells arising from
rocky fissures or hollows in the ground." He adds that
"the clefts in the limestone mountains which were known
in antiquity still exist to-day." Curt his has also come
upon sultry air and rapidly changing warm and cold
currents. 1

A fresh difficulty is introduced into the whole question by
the statement of Dion Cassius (third century) 2 that Nero
caused several men to be thrown into the cleft, a story which
has not yet been taken into account in the discussions on the
subject and which would have necessitated a relatively wide
fissure. Diodorus of Sicily (first century B.C.), moreover,
relating the well-known legend of the origin of the fissure
according to which a troop of goats having come into the
vicinity of this cleft in the earth became so excited
that the goatherd ran up and, under the influence of the
vapours, fell into a state of enthusiastic excitement
represents it as so great that men might have been
engulfed in it. Diodorus states that the tripod was a
protecting erection to prevent the Pythoness from falling
into the gulf. 3

The statements of Dion Cassius and Diodorus evidently
complicate the issue still further, and even throw it into
confusion. As to the reality of the tripod there appears to

1 See Stul'/le, loc. cit., ii, p. 14, for further do tails on the statements
of Pomtow and Curtius.

2 Dion Cassius, Histon/ of Rome, Ixxviii, 14.

3 Diodorus, Bibliotheca Ilistorica, xvi, 4-5.

318 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

be no doubt. According to Zozimus (fifth century) it was
carried off from Delphi with other objects in the reign of
Constantine and brought to Constantinople where it was to
be seen. 1 Moreover a tripod is found sculptured on the
frieze of the ancient Treasury of Delphi which the French
excavators have brought to light. Judging by a plaster
reproduction in the Archaeological Institute of Tubingen it is
very high, but not very wide.

The question arises as to whether more precise information
on the size of the tripod can be gathered from literary or
archaeological sources. If Diodorus' statements are accurate
it must have been of considerable size and strongly built.
Fr. Liibkcr's Ecallexikon des Klassixchcn Altcrlums 2 states
without any indication of source: "Over the cleft (in the
ground) stood a colossal wooden tripod cased in gold, on
which rested a fitting designated Ae/3?;s% (j>ia\rj 9 KVK\OS, or
oX//,o?, Latin cortina. It was a perforated platform, horizontal
or slightly hollowed, on which the prophesying priestess
seated herself in a sort of armchair." Thus the Pythoness
would have sat not immediately but indirectly on the tripod.
The artist who sculptured the frieze mentioned above can
hardly have had such a conception, as the tripod he depicts
is not large enough.

Having regard to the geological conditions of the country
where earthquakes have not infrequently occurred, it is con-
ceivable that a once-existent fissure should have closed up
again with the lapse of time, so that from the geological
point of view the question is undecided. We should, how-
ever, ask ourselves whether the late occlusion of a crevasse
could not be detected from its effects 011 the building; this
should have been the ease with a cleft of any size at least, in
so far as the occlusion extended to the surface of the earth.
Homolle, the director of the Freneli excavations at Delphi,
speaks expressly in a memoir of dislocations suffered by the
foundations of the temple and which indicate a very violent
earthquake. 3

The enigma becomes complete with Ponten's declaration in

1 See Stiitzle, loc. cit., part ii, p. 49 (cf. p. J

2 Seventh edit., Leipzig, 1890, p. 304.

311, note 2).

3 Homolle, Le Temple de Delphes, son histoire, m mine, in " Bulletins
de correspondance hellciiique," vol. xx, 1890, p. 731.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 319

1914, affirming the existence of a fissure. He writes of the
temple of Apollo :

Only the foundation-walls subsist, and in the midst yawns a dark
crevasse over which sat the Pythoness when she gave forth the
oracles. 1

Has a fissure once more opened on the spot ? Unfortun-
ately the official French excavations at Delphi arc not yet
complete. The geological aspect of the problem should also
most certainly be followed up; Philippson's opinion given
from this standpoint is completely negative, 2 but it would be
of the first importance to subject the question of the true
nature of earth-vapours causing psychic excitement to a
thorough and final investigation. Do gases of this nature
really exist and might they emanate at Delphi ?

Of the effect produced by the mastication of laurel-leaves
there is nothing circumstantial to be said. Tt was a customary
practice on the part of all seers. 3 The water of the Delphic
springs also possesses to-day, at least no intoxicating
properties. Gocttling writes:

I have tasted the five poetic springs of Greece: the charming
fountain of Pirene at Acrocorinth where according to the legend
Pegasus was caught, the two springs sacred to the Muses of Helicon,
Hippocrene and Aganippe, the spring Kassotis and the Castalian
spring at Delphi. Each time I hoped, having drunk of so poetic

1 J. Ponten, Grlechische Landschaften. Eln Versuch kiintslerischer
Erdbeschreibiing, Stuttgart, 1914, p. 159.

1 have written to J. Ponten to ask him if he could fathom this strange
contradiction. He replied that he was a poet and not a scholar,
although a lover of knowledge. " The crevasse in that place (it stands
out clearly in the picture) is so much a part of the landscape, and par-
ticularly of that of Delphi, that error would be justified, at least from
the artistic standpoint. I clearly remember having studied the matter
from the geological point of view also, and as I did not find on the spot
in the homogeneous mass of limestone rocks any natural cause for the
production of vapours, I had at the time doubts about the author of the
statement. I also remember that he did not admit the existence of
any kind of volcanic or plutonic vapours because local observation was
too completely irreconcilable with these, but believed in the existence
of another noxious vapour, perhaps sulphuretted hydrogen. I con-
tented myself with this explanation, for it is dangerous to try to probe
the depths of mythology in too rationalistic a spirit. ..." The con-
tradiction which we have pointed out therefore remains unsolved.

2 Philippson, Article on the geology of Delphi in Pauly-Wissowa's
Realenzyklopiidie, see also Oppe's Milteilnugcn am cinrm Priratbrief
Philippsons, he. cit., pp. 233 sq.

3 I made at Locarno experiments in chewing fresh laurel-leaves,
but without results of any interest.

320 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

a stream, to have fair dreams at least by night. But not at all ;
I always slept merely the sleep of the just. I cannot bring myself
to think that the " Nordic curse " as Schiller called it in an excess
of poetic superstition, can have paralyzed the operation of these
springs on the constitution of a barbarian whereas on the Greeks it
was quite otherwise. Hut all these poetic mountain springs of
Greece are really nothing more than the purest, most limpid and
virgin water of the Nymphs. 1

Let us now consider the nature of the psychic state of the
priestess during inspiration. Is such inspiration founded on
fact or not ? While it would be difficult to demonstrate in
particular cases, it seems indubitable that inspired states
did exist in a general way, as without them the important
historical role played by Delphi would be quite inexplicable.

The reality of a state of possession in the priestess is
principally indicated by the fact that the word " 1 " in her
utterances always designated Apollo.

The Pythoness speaks in the name of the god himself,
this is why she greets Lycurgus with the words epov Kara
jrLova vv}Qv. In the same way we read in an oracle in Pausanius,
ii, 26, 7, considered, however, to be spurious : ^\ejvrjl'<f eri/crev
fcyuoi (j)i\6T7)TL fiiyeio-a. 2 In the oracle dating from the time
of the first holy war in Pausanius, x, 37, 6, we read: e/zw
re/tern 3 and in JEschines' Ctesiphon Oeov re/Mcvei. 4 ^Eschines
is thinking, moreover, of a quite different oracle, which is why
this sentence which later scholiasts have inserted in that place
may well be genuine. 5

Also in the reply given to Croesus we read :

Sec, I count the sand, I know the distances of the sea,

I hear even the dumb and understand those who are silent. 8

Similarly in the late Greek novel ^Kthiopica the author
Ileliodorus (third century) makes Apollo speak through the
mouth of the priestess in the first person of " my temple "
(wrjbv e/ioj>). 7

This first person supposes that the Pythoness was, at
least originally, in a state of inspiration, later traditional
abuse of this form of speech by the priests being only com-
prehensible as a secondary occurrence. Natiirally it is false

1 C. W. Goettling, toe. tit., p. 60.

2 Pausanuv Descriptio Graecice, ii, 20, 7.

8 Ibid., x, 37, 6. 4 yTCschines, Against Ctesiphon, 112.

6 Bergk, /or. eft., p. 335. 6 Herodotus, Histories, i, 47.

7 Heliodorus, ^tltiopicn, ii, 35.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 321

to say with Bergk that the Pythoness when uttering the
oracle spoke in the name of the god; it was rather the god
himself who spoke through her.

Perhaps the above-mentioned quotation from Origen,
according to which the Pythoness when giving the oracle
was in a state where she was no longer mistress of herself:
o>9 fjiijSa/jiws avrrjv eavrfi 7rapa/co\ovOw, may be regarded as
evidence for the existence of somnambulistic possession.

As proof that the priestesses underwent states of the most
acute excitement we may adduce Plutarch's statement that
these affected them so greatly that they died young. We
have already found the same allegations concerning inspired
persons among the Bataks.

From all that has hitherto been said we are driven to
conclude that the states under discussion are autosuggestivc.
It is regrettable that we do not know more of the manner
in which a new Pythoness was chosen by the priests from the
environs of Delphi. It was apparently by no means the first
comer who was chosen. Always supposing, therefore, that
the Pythoness did not play a merely fictitious part, should
we not suppose that persons with psychic gifts were passed in
review ? It must have been the same as amongst primitive
peoples where not everyone can become a shaman and where
Mariner's data clearly demonstrate the existence of states of
possession purely autosuggestive in character. To all appear-
ances drinking at the Castalian spring, chewing laurel-leaves,
sitting upon the tripod, and finally being exposed to the
hypothetical current of air, are compatible with such inter-
pretation along the lines of suggestion.

An event of which Plutarch had personal experience, or
at least authentic information, confirms the extreme auto-
suggestibility of the Pythoness. He relates that a Pythoness
who had sinned against the law of chastity and who in spite
of certain unfavourable preliminary omens insisted on officiat-
ing as seercss, fell into a state of abnormal excitement and
died after a few days.

She went down into the Hole against Her will, but at the first
Words which she uttered she plainly shewed by the Hoarseness
of her Voice that she was not able to bear up against so strong an
Inspiration (like a Ship under Sail, opprcst with too much Wind)
but was possess t with a dumb and evil Spirit; and finally, being
horribly disordered, and running with dreadful screeches towards

322 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

the Door to get out, she threw herself violently on the Ground,
so that not only the Pilgrims fled for fear but also the High Priest
Nicander, and the other Priests and Religious which were there
present; who entering within a while, took her up, being out of her
Senses ; and indeed she lived but few days after. For these Reasons
it is, that Pythia is obliged to keep her body pure and clean from
the Company of Men, there being no Stranger permitted to converse
with her. 1

This story recalls that of Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts
of the Apostles.

Such a death by autosuggestion cannot be regarded as
impossible; there arc in existence, as already mentioned,
several similar narratives. 2

The most serious difficulties arise from what is known of
collaboration by the priests in the giving of oracles. They
received the pilgrim's request and officially formulated the
oracle in its final shape, serving also as intermediaries between
the consultants and the Pythoness. It must often have
happened that the latter' s words were difficult to understand
or even incomprehensible, so that the priests had iirst to
elucidate them. To what extent they had any personal share
in the utterance of the oracles we shall never know, however
much we would give to do so.

It should be emphasized that the idea of the Pythoness
speaking incomprehensible words is not general, at least in
later times. In the above-quoted JEthiopica of Heliodorus
we read :

As we were by the altars and the young man was beginning the
sacrifice while the priest read prayers, the Pythoness uttered the
following words from the interior of the sanctuary . . . (whereupon
follow six perfectly intelligible verses). 3

A close perusal of the texts will not reveal much more
than this. The result is unsatisfactory enough in all con-
science, for to put it plainly we are confronted, if the priests
did not really intervene, with a woman in an acute state of
excitement yet simultaneously filled with intuition of the
highest order, to whom the whole of Greece lent car. In the
other event we should have to posit a college of priests pos-
sessed of very profound insight into the political and cultural

1 Plutarch's Morals, trans, by Several Hands, pub. W. Taylor,
London, 1718, vol. iv, Why the Oracles cease to give Answers, p. 59.

2 Cf. Stadclmann, Tod durch Vorstellung (Suggestion) in " /eitschrift
fur Hypnotismus," vol. iii, 1894-95, pp. 81 sq.

Heliodorus, /Ethiopica, i, 35.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 323

relations of Greece, but which had for centuries practised
what was in essence the fraud of inspiration. If the oracles
were founded on no inspired utterances of the Pythoness,
this deception of the whole of Greece must be regarded as a
feat of supreme cunning.

Amongst nineteenth-century investigators Goettling argues
not, however, without self-contradiction the point of view
that the college of priests, to which every request had to be
submitted a considerable time in advance, carefully supplied
the reply and merely had it enunciated by the Pythoness.
" What the Pythoness said was the outcome of mature con-
sideration." 1 Why then did she often speak words hard to
understand ?

Goettling tries, it is true, to clear her of the imputation of
fraud :

Even if, therefore, these Delphic oracles were attributed to a
god, Apollo, as his revelations, this was a profound and beautiful
thought the complete truth of which is inherent in man's nature;
for our own moral will, as it emerges after earnest, conscientious
reflection, is also God's will. It is his revelation. 2

In spite of all the fair words in which Goettling clothes
these facts they nevertheless remain a deception if the
Pythoness uttered in a well-simulated slate of inspiration
oracles previously dictated to her by the priests. It is
difficult to reconcile such trickery with the high moral regard
in which the oracle was generally held.

The sentences attributed by literature to the Delphic
oracle have to the best of my knowledge been merely collected 3
and not subjected to any critical study, so that the genuine
ones really emanating from Delphi have not been distinguished
from the false.

Wilamowitz attributes a high value to some of these
utterances. Of the Delphic ones, " of which we possess not a
few genuine examples from the sixth century onwards," he
remarks :

This poetry, the foundation of which is and remains Homeric,
but which declines into patchwork imitation from imperial times
onwards, is in part of high merit, and the periphrasis and typical

1 C. W. Goettling, toe. cit., vol. ii, p. 59. Cf. p. 62.

2 Ibid., p. 62.

3 Epigrammatum Anthologia palatina, vol. iii (2nd edit.), ed. Cougny,
Paris, 1890, pp. 464-533. A new collection will appear in the Poetarum
grcecorum fragmenta of Wilamowitz.

324 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

turns of speech or metaphors (such as the introduction of animals,
wolf, bull, dragon) have exercised a marked influence on lyric
poetry and tragedy. In this domain also the Greeks, starting with
Homer, invented a fixed style and maintained it for a thousand
years. 1

Amongst the oracles of later times is found one of no less
standing than the poem on Plotinus (A.D. 204-270) which
Porphyry gives in the twenty-second chapter of his biography.
According to him the poem was uttered in reply to the question
put by Amclius as to where the soul of Plotinus had gone
since his death. Such a work cannot naturally be the inter-
pretation of senseless words uttered by the Pythoness; it
presupposes, moreover, a real knowledge of the works of
Plotinus and their meaning. If authentic, it shows to what
heights, both ethical and spiritual, the Delphic priesthood had
attained at this epoch (third century A.D.). It must, how-
ever, be added that this authenticity is contested on the
grounds of the length of the poem.

The importance of Delphic possession from the point of
view of politics and civilization has often been proclaimed.

The foundation of colonies, one of the most magnificent achieve-
ments of the Greek nation, was especially directed by the Delphic
priesthood. The institutions and laws of the states were under the
protection of the oracle. Generally speaking, nothing of importance
was undertaken without consulting the gods; thus before the be-
ginning of a war counsel was sought almost regularly. But the
influence of this oracle on worship and the religious life was no less
felt; Delphi was at all times the highest authority in these matters.
Art and poetry also, and generally speaking all the higher aspects
of civilization, owed to the oracle progress in manifold directions. 2

Curtius goes even further.

All that European Hellas became from the ninth century (B.C.)
onwards, and all that happened there, the stamp of national
character imprinted on every manifestation of intellectual life,
on religious and moral outlook, the constitution of states, archi-
tecture and sculpture, music and poetry, was essentially the outcome
of the influence of Delphi as was also the deliberate opposition to
the barbarians. 3

For the most part the authority of Delphi was undisputed.
It is highly remarkable that Plato himself recognizes this

1 U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorf , Die griechische Literatur, 9th edit.,
Berlin, 1907, p. 42.

2 Bergk, toe. tit., vol. i, p. 333. Cf. Stengel, toe. cit. 9 p. 67.

3 E. Curtius, Griechische Geschichtc, Oth edit., Berlin, 1887, vol. i,
p. 549.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 825

oracle and considers it as invested with the highest authority.
He believes in its divine nature as in that of the other
oracles.

. . . We owe our greatest blessings to madness (Sia
if only it be granted by Heaven's bounty (0ew 86oei). For the
prophetess at Delphi, you are well aware, and the priestess of
Dodpna, have in their moments of madness done great and glorious
service to the men and the eities of Greece, but little or none in
their sober mood. 1

Other thinkers, particularly the Stoics and Nco-Platonists,
have adopted the same point of view. Chrysippus even
gathered together a vast collection of Delphic oracles. 2

At the time when the Roman Republic came to an end
the oracle was no longer accredited. 3 As regards the past,
however, the genuineness of Delphic prophecy appeared in-
dubitable.

This, therefore, remains and cannot be denied unless we falsify
the whole of history, that during many centuries this oracle was
genuine. 4

In his De divinatione Cicero makes his brother Quintus
say that unlike what happened in the olden days the oracles
uttered at Delphi no longer prove true:

Never would this temple of Delphi have been so celebrated, so
illustrious, and so loaded with gifts by all peoples and kings, if the
whole world had not proved the truth of its oracles. For a long
time past all this has changed and its glory has diminished because
the truth of the oracles has grown less, whereas without their great
truth it would never have enjoyed such fame. 5

In another place where he himself, who docs not believe
in the oracle but holds it to be a deception of the priests, is
speaking, we read:

. . . for . . . the oracles of Delphi have ceased to be given, not
only in our day but for a long time past, since nothing could be
more despised. 5

1 Plato, Phcedrus (trans. Everyman Series, " Five Dialogues of Plato,"
p. 228).

2 Cicero, De divinatione, i, 19.

3 Cf. Lucan, Pharsalia, v, pp. Ill sq. Some details concerning the
decadence and rehabilitation of the oracle of Delphi will be found in
L. Friedlandcr, Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte lloms, 8th edit.,
vol. iv, Leipzig, 1910, pp. 176 sq.

4 Cicero, loc. cit., i, 19, p. 38.
Jftirf., i, 19, pp. 87 sq.

., ii, 57, p. 117.

826 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

In imperial times the lame of Delphi flourished once more.
How general the recognition of the oracle had become in
later times is shown by the fact that Celsus (c. A,D. 178) was
in a position to reproach the Christians with the lack of
belief in it as a grave shortcoming.

They set no value on the oracles of the Pythian priestess, of the
priests of Dodona, of Clarus, of Branchidae, of Jupiter Ammon, and
of a multitude of others : although under their guidance we may say
that colonies were sent forth and the whole world peopled." 1

The oracle seems to have fallen into desuetude at the
time of Constantine and was officially closed by Thcodosius
in A.D. 390. Under Nero, who, it is said, had men slain
over the sacred gulf, it had already discontinued its activity
for some time. 2

It seems as if at a later date the Adyton, the prrscrvul i<n
of which would have been of supreme interest to us, fell
victim to the dcs true live fury of the Christians

... thoroughly and apparently deliberately destroyed, so that
in spite of unusually deep excavations nothing has been established
as to the actual seat of the oracle. The statement of Pausanius,
however, that the prophetic spring in the Adyton was fed from the
spring Kassotis seems to be corroborated ; the channels visible to the
south of the temple served to regulate the discharge of the water. 3

It would nevertheless be completely erroneous to believe
that the Christians regarded the oracles as priestly trickery
or morbid psychic exaltation; there can be no question of this.
Like the non-Christians they believed them to be inspired,
but held that the spirit who produced inspiration was not
divine but a demon. With these reservations belief in oracles
had sprung up once more amongst them with the rehabilitation
of the oracle's reputation in imperial times. Since Christianity
conceived the spiritual powers behind the oracle as of a
demoniacal and fiendish nature, it consequently identified
them with the demons of the 8ai/jLovt%6/jLevoi and the insane,
with the result that all mental afflictions once more appeared
as provoked by demons.

Friedlander 4 makes the following general statement :

The Christian writers also, who asserted that with the advent of
the Saviour into the world the might of the false gods had been

1 Ante-Nicenc Library, Writings of Origen, Against Celsus, vol. ii,
bk. vii, chap. iii.

2 Cf. P. Stengel, loc. cit., p. 67.

8 Baedeker, Greece, 4th edit., London, 1909, p. 149.
Fricdlander, loc. dt. 9 p. 177.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 827

destroyed, that sorcery, by means of which they had so long lent
speech to images of wood and stone, had lost its power and its
oracles were silenced: 1 even they were obliged to recognize that the
demons in the temples of -the oracles once more uttered true prophe-
cies and wholesome warnings and also worked cures; but truth to
tell, only in order by these apparent benefits to do the greater
injury to those whom they turned aside from seeking the true God
by the insinuation of false ones. 2

They explained the fact of demons knowing the future by stating
that as former servants of God they were acquainted with his
desijms. 3

Again it was in possession that the ancient religious
beliefs found such strong support that the Christians could
not get away from it except by refusing to recognize these
gods as such and designating them as evil demons. Thus
Minucius Felix makes Octavius say:

Saturn, Serapis, Jupiter, and whatsoever demons you worship,
when overcome by pain confess what they arc; they certainly
would not lie and bring disgrace upon themselves, especially when
any of you were present. You may believe their own testimony
that they are demons, when they confess the truth about themselves ;
for when adjured by the only true God, against their will, poor
wretches, they quake with fear in men's bodies, and either come
forth at once or gradually disappear, according as the faith of the
sufferer assists or the grace of the healer inspires. 4

Apollo and the Muses also seem to have spoken occasion-
ally by the mouth of the possessed and confessed themselves
as demons, which was rejoicingly hailed by the Christians as
confirmation of their non-divine character. 6

There exist certain wandering unclean spirits who have lost their
heavenly activities from being weighed down by earthly passions
and disorders. So then these spirits, burdened with sin and steeped
in vice, who have sacrificed their original simplicity, being them-
selves lost, unceasingly strive to destroy others, as a consolation
for their own misfortune; depraved themselves, they strive to com-
municate error and depravity to others; estranged from God, they
strive to alienate others by the introduction of vicious forms of
religion. Poets know these spirits as " demons " . . . 6

Now these unclean spirits, the demons, as the magi and philo-
sophers have shown, conceal themselves in statues and consecrated
images, and by their spiritual influence acquire the authority of a
present divinity. At one time they inspire the soothsayers, at
another take up their abode in the temples, sometimes animate

1 Arnobius, Adv. Gentes, i, 1; Eusebius, Pmp. Evang., v, 1; Pru-
dentius, Apotheosis, pp. 435 sq.

2 Tcrtiillian, De Anirna, c. 40. 3 Lactantius, Inst. div., ii, 16.

4 Minucius Felix, Octavius, cap. 27, C.S.P.C.K., Translations of
Christian Literature, scries ii.

5 Theophilus, Ad Autolyc., ii, 8, quoted by Ilarnuck, loc. cit.,
p. 151.

6 Minucius Felix, loc. cit., cap. 26.

828 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

the fibres of the victims' entrails, direct the flight of birds, control
the lots, compose oracles, enveloped in a mist of untruth. For
they both deceive and are deceived ; being ignorant of the pure
truth, to their own destruction they arc afraid to confess that
which they do know. Thus they weigh down men's minds and
draw them from heaven, call them away from the true god to
material things, disturb their lives and trouble their sleep ; stealthily
creeping into men's bodies, thanks to their rarefied and subtle
nature, they counterfeit diseases, terrify the imagination, rack the
limbs, to compel men to worship them; then, sated with the fumes
from the altars and the slaughter of beasts, they undo what they
have tied themselves, so as to appear to have effected a cure.
They are also responsible for the madmen, whom you see running
out into the streets, themselves soothsayers of a kind but without
a temple, raging, ranting, whirling round in the dance ; there is the
same demoniacal possession, but the object of the frenzy is different. 1

Tatian (second century) also has not the slightest doubt
as to the genuineness of the Pythoness' inspiration. In his
eyes, however, Apollo is no " god " but a " demon," and thus
a creature of evil. 2

The Christian writer Theophilus even shares the belief
in possession amongst the poets and holds it to be not divine
but demoniacal. Homer, Hesiod, and the other Greek
poets

. . . spoke according to imagination and delusion, inspired not
by a pure but by a deceitful spirit. This was clearly demonstrated
by the fact that other persons controlled by a demon often and
up to the present time are exorcised in the name of the true God,
and that then the deceitful spirits themselves confess that they are
demons who were once active in those poets. 3

Thus Origcn (b. 185) holds the Greek oracles even in
contradistinction to certain other pagan conceptions to be
not fraud but purely and simply the work of evil spirits.
There are certain aspects of the slate of possession which he
refuses to recognize as divine and to which he attributes a
demoniacal character. The believer in oracles bases his
belief on the supernormal and prophetic nature of the utter-
ances, as well as on the involuntary manner in which they are
made by the prophetess. Origen, on the contrary, cannot
get beyond the alleged manner, incompatible with Christian
modesty, in which Apollo enters into the Pythoness and
her general derangement of mind. The facility with which
the demons can be expelled from the possessed also seems to

1 Minucius Felix, loc. cit. 9 cap. 27.

2 Tatian, Oralw ad Grcecos, 18.

8 Theophilus, Ad Autoli/c., ii, 9.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 329

him evidence of the demoniacal character of the oracles,

an argument in which the identity of the states of the
Zopevoi with those of the Pythoness is assumed, whereas it
should certainly be subject to prior demonstration. The
exorcisms, however, applied only to the possessed and not
to the inspired givers of oracles, and it should also be noted
that inspired Christians likewise suffered from grave mental
troubles. Origen here shows a surprising ignorance of the
psychological character of these states ; is it possible that he
never saw anyone under the influence of inspiration ? His
arguments run :

... it would be possible for us to gather from the writings of
Aristotle and the Peripatetic school not a few things to overthrow
the authority of the Pythian and the other oracles. From Epicurus
also, and his followers, we could quote passages to show that even
among the Greeks themselves there were some who utterly dis-
credited the oracles which were recognized and admired throughout
the whole of Greece. But let it be granted that the responses
delivered by the Pythian and the other oracles were not utterances
of false men who pretended to a divine inspiration ; and let us see if,
after all, we cannot convince any sincere inquirers that there is
no need to attribute these oracular responses to any divinities,
but that, on the other hand, they may be traced to wicked demons
to spirits which are at enmity with the human race, and which
in this way wish to hinder the soul from rising upwards, from
following the path of virtue, and from returning to God in sincere
piety. It is said of the Pythian priestess, whose oracle seems to
have been the most celebrated, that when she sat down at the mouth
of the Castalian cave, the prophetic spirit of Apollo entered her
private parts ; and when she was filled with it, she gave utterance
to responses which are regarded as divine truths. Judge by this
whether the spirit does not show its profane and impure nature,
by choosing to enter the soul of the prophetess not through the
more becoming medium of the bodily pores which are both open
and invisible, but by means of what no modest man would ever see
or speak of. And this occurs not once or twice, which would be
more permissible, but as often as she was believed to receive in-
spiration from Apollo. Moreover, it is not the part of a divine
spirit to drive the prophetess into such a state of ecstasy and
madness that she loses control of herself. For he who is under the
influence of the Divine Spirit ought to be the first to receive the
beneficial effects; and these ought not to be first enjoyed by the
persons who consult the oracle about the concerns of natural
or civil life, or for purposes of temporal gain or interest; and,
moreover, that should be the time of clearest perception, when a
person is in close intercourse with the Deity.

Accordingly we can show from an examination of the sacred
Scriptures, that the Jewish prophets, who were enlightened as far
as was necessary for their prophetic work by the spirit of God,
were the first to enjoy the benefit of the inspiration; and by the
contact if I may say so of the Holy Spirit they became clearer
in mind, and their souls were filled with a brighter light, and the
body no longer served as a hindrance to a virtuous life; for to

830 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

that which we call * k the lust of the flesh " it was deadened. For
we are persuaded that the Divine Spirit " mortifies the deeds of the
body," and destroys that enmity against God which the carnal
passions serve to excite. If, then, the Pythian priestess is beside
herself when she prophesies, what spirit must that be which fills
her mind and clouds her judgment with darkness, unless it be of
the same order with those demons which many Christians cast out
of persons possessed with them ? And this, we may observe, they
do without the use of any curious acts of magic, or incantations,
but merely by prayer and simple adjurations which the plainest
person caii use. Because for the most part it is unlettered persons
who perform this work ; thus making manifest the grace which is
in the word of Christ, and the despicable weakness of demons, which,
in order to be overcome and driven out of the bodies and souls of
men, do not require the power and wisdom of those who are mighty
in argument, and most learned in matters of faith. 1

As regards the classification of Apollo amongst the demons,
the Christians as a rule no longer made any distinction
between the states of inspiration of the Pythoness and those
of the possessed in the New Testament sense. Justin Martyr
classes both together amongst the evidence for the survival
of individual consciousness after death:

... Let these persuade you that even after death souls are
in a state of sensation; and those who are seized and cast about
by the spirits of the dead, whom all call demoniacs or madmen;
and what you repute as oracles, both of Amphilochus, Dodona,
Pytlio, and as many other such as exist. 2

It is not surprising that St. Augustine shared the general
Christian conception.^

The attitude of the Pythian oracle towards Christianity
and Christ himself is not uninteresting. In Augustine's work,
De Civitate Dei, we find on the occasion of a polemic by the
author against Porphyry the text of an oracle which had been
vouchsafed to a man in answer to the question of how he
might recall his wife from Christianity.

You will probably find it easier to write lasting characters on
the water, or lightly fly like a bird through the air, than to restore
right feeling in your impious wife once she has polluted herself.
Let her remain as she pleases in her foolish deception, and sing
false laments to her dead God, who was condemned by right-
minded judges and punished ignominiously by a violent death. 4

1 Origen, Contra Celsum, bk. vii, chaps, iii-iv (Ante-Nicene Christian
Library, Writings of Origen, trans. Crombie, vol. ii.).

2 Justin Martyr, Apologia, cap. xviii (Ante-Nicene Christian Library,
The Writings of Justin Martyr and Athenagoras, trans. M. Dods,
London, 1857.

3 St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, xix, 23, 2 sq. (Works of Aurelius
Augustine, ed. Dods, Edinburgh, 1888, p. 334).

4 Ibid., xix, 23 (p. 335).

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 881

But Porphyry says with reference to other oracles:

For the gods have declared that Christ was very pious, and has
become immortal, and that they cherish his memory: that the
Christians, however, arc polluted, contaminated, and involved.
And many other such things ... do the gods say against the
Christians. . . . But to some who asked Hecate whether Christ
were a God, she replied. . . . The soul you refer to is that of a
man foremost in piety: they worship it because they mistake the
truth."i

Belief in the demoniacal character of the Pythoness' in-
spirations has also found defenders in later centuries, amongst
the number being Petrarch. 2 We even find similar ideas in
recent Catholic literature, for example in F. X. Knabenhauer 3
and Stiitzlc, 4 whom we have often quoted. These authors
cannot escape the impression that true prophecies were given
at Delphi, and profess themselves unable to explain it other-
wise than by the influence of diabolic powers.

In this connection it should be noted that we have a very
detailed poetic description of the Pythoness dating from the
early days of the Roman Empire. It is to be found in Lucan's
Pharsalia? where lie relates how the seeress was forced
against her will by the General Appius to give an oracle. The
text of this description, which is naturally of no historic value,
shows obvious traces of the fact that the author had in mind
a similar description by another poet, that which Virgil in
the fourth book of the JEneid gives of the Sibyl of Cumae
and with which we shall become acquainted later. Lucan's
picture is yet rougher. True it admits that abnormal pheno-
mena accompanied the enthusiasm of the seeress, but the
" mighty hole " in the Adyton of the temple of which the poet
speaks is pure imagination. There is, moreover, a grave con-
tradiction: the oracles of the Pythoness are at first represented
according to tradition as confused words, whereas the one
which occurs later in the poem is in perfectly consecutive
speech.

Beside the Pythoness there are other secresscs of whom

1 Ibid., xix, 23 (p. 335).

3 Korting, Pctrarcas Lcben und Wcrkc, Leipzig, 1878, p. 613, quoted
by Kriedliinder, loc. cit.

3 F. X. Knabenhauer, Orake I und Prophetic, Passau, 1881.

4 Stutzle, loc. cit. (of. p. 311, note 2).

5 Lucan, Pharsalia, v, 85-213.

6 Of. the eminent commentary Adnotationes super Lucanum, ed.
Joannes Kndt, Lipsise (Teubner), 1901), pp. 102 sq.

832 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

we unfortunately know still less. These are the Sibyls.
What remains of the sibylline oracles is really mere literary
fabrication in which several authors have had a share. The
Greek forgeries passed through Jewish hands and suffered
yet further modification in the process. A great number of
Sibyls are mentioned, first one, then more and more up to a
dozen. To what extent the beliefs surrounding them are
merely imaginary is indicated by the fact that their alleged
age is reckoned by centuries.

Did Sibyls ever really exist ? We must admit that they
did. Such figures are not created by the imagination;
wherever they appear they have a foundation in reality,
even when it can no longer be associated with individual
cases.

The literature concerning the Sibyls is very rich, 1 but
unfortunately the psychological content of these works is
slight and has not repaid the time and labour which I have
expended in perusing them. Similarly there is not much to be
gleaned from the descriptions of antiquity, which arc, more-
over, all of a poetic nature and thus of merely secondary value.

The close relationship existing between the Sibyls and
the Pythoness is already attested by the title of " Sibyl "
which Heraclitus confers on the socrcss of Delphi. According
to Bergk the word StySuXXa derives from cro<f>6$ in -SSolian
dialect <rv<j>os, in old Latin sibus, pcrsibus. The Sibyl of
Samos is called Oojroi, which Bergk regards as a noun signify-
ing a raving or inspired woman. 2

The later conception of these Sibyls is again reflected in
Virgil's description of the Sibyl of Cumse who was questioned
by jEncas, 3 and side by side with this poetic narrative stand
the Oracula sibyllina themselves. From them we gather the
surprising fact that it is not as a rule the god who speaks by
the mouth of the sceress. Already in Virgil the Sibyl says
quite simply what will happen in the future. In the Oracula
also no divine " ego " speaks through her mouth; she proclaims
herself inspired but without losing her own identity.

1 For guidance see J. Geffeken, Am der Werdezcit dcs Christentums
(Natur urid Geisteswelt, vol. liv), Leipzig, 1904, ii, 2. E. Maas, De
Sibyllarum indicibus, Dissertation, Greifenwald, 1879. C. Alexandra,
Excursus ad Sibyllina, Paris, 1857.

8 Bergk, toe. cit. t i, pp. 342 sq.

* Virgil, JEneid, vi.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 383
Here is the opening of the first book of the Oracula:

Beginning with the earliest race of men
Even to the latest, I will prophesy
Of all things past, and present, and to come
In the world through the wickedness of men.
And first, God bids me utter how the world
Came into being. 1

It appears from several other passages that the form in
which the Sibyl, when not possessed, professes to have re-
ceived her inspiration should be regarded as at least partly
auditive.

The second book begins:

Now when my song of wisdom God restrained
Much I implored , and in my heart again
He put the charming voice of words divine.
Trembling at every form I follow these,
For what I speak I do not comprehend,
But God commands each thing to be declared. 2

Also in the third book:

And then a message from the mighty God
Pressed on my heart, and bade me prophesy
On all the earth, and in the minds of kings
These things deposit which are yet to be. 3

The following words show how inspiration was felt as a
constraint :

Now, when my soul had ceased from hallowed song,

And 1 prayed the great Sire to be released,

Again a message of Almighty God

Rose in my heart, and he commanded me

To prophesy o'er all the earth and place

In royal minds the things which arc to be. 4

Similarly in another passage of the same book :

Now when my soul had ceased from hallowed song,
Again a message of Almighty God
Rose in my heart, and He commanded me
To utter prophecies upon the earth. 5

In another place she says that she will be called mad:
/Ae/Lcai/?/<m ffvfjuy and the true seeress of the oracle:
<f>r)fiil;ov(ri pavTiv ^pTya/i^So/^. 6

* The Sibylline Oracles, trans. M. S. Terry, New York, 1890, book i,
11. 1-6, cf. iii, 808-828.

2 Ibid., bk. ii, 11. 1-5. 3 Ibid., bk. iii, 11. 190-193.

4 Ibid., bk. iii, 11. 346-50. fi Ibid., bk. iii, 11. 580-584.

6 Ibid., bk. ix (xi), 11. 396-399.

884 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

More than once she complains of the heavy burden which
inspiration lays upon her.
The third book begins :

Thou blessed One, loud Thunderer of the heavens,

Who holdest in their place the c hern bins,

I pray thee give me now a little rest,

Since 1 have uttered what is all so true.

For weary has my heart within me grown.

Why should my heart be quivering now again,

And my soul, lashed as with a whip, be forced

To utter forth its oracle to all ?

Yet once more I will speak aloud all things

Which God impels me to proclaim to men. 1

Also the tenth (twelfth) book ends:

And now, King of the world, of every realm
The monarch, pure, immortal, for thou hast
Into my heart set the ambrosial strain,
Cease thou the word, for I am not aware
Of what I say ; for all things thou to me
Dost ever speak. But give me a brief rest,
And place thou in my heart a charming song.
For weary has my heart within me grown
Of words divine, foretelling royal power. 2

It is obvious that these expressions reJleet genuine ex-
periences of inspiration, if not on the part of the author him-
self, on that of some other person. From the psychological
standpoint it is comprehensible that in a civilization like that
of antiquity where poetic creation was held, at least in part,
to be veritably inspired by the divine powers, such experiences
of involuntary inspiration must have been much more frequent
than to-day, simply by reason of the autosuggestive influence
of the belief.

The states described in the Oracula Sibyllina cannot, on
the other hand, be regarded as true possession. We have
never admitted this except when a second personal conscious-
ness has manifested itself either in place of or side by side
with the first. A case where the " 1 " who speaks professes to
be a god would be slightly indicative of this, as shown by the
glossolalia; 3 but it is not necessarily so, for the glossolalia
may appear in simple inspiration. In the absence of any
more detailed description we cannot form an opinion; the two
introductory verses are inadequate for the purpose.

i Ibid., bk. iii, 11. 1-10. 2 Ibid., bk. x, 11. 362-370.

Cf. my Einfuhrung in die Rettgionspsychologie, Berlin, 1917, ch. v.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 335

Only once, so far as I know, does the god apparently
speak directly through the Sibyl in the Oracula Sibyllina, and
this one case concerns a copy of the above-quoted Delphic
oracle vouchsafed to Croesus.

In the eighth book there is brusquely interpolated a
passage in the " I " style:

All these things to my mind did God reveal,

And all that has been spoken by my mouth

Will He fulfil. The number of the sands,

And measured spaces of the sea I know :

1 know the secret places of the earth

And Gloomy Tartarus, and men who are

And who shall be hereafter, and the dead.

I know the numbers of the stars and trees

And all the species of the quadrupeds,

And swimming things, and birds that fly aloft

For I myself the forms and minds of men

Have fashioned, and right reason have bestowed,

And taught them knowledge. I who see and hear

Formed eyes and ears ; . . .

* * * * *

For I alone am God, and other God
There is not. 1

The fact that with the exception of this passage the god
never speaks directly by the mouth of the Sibyl in the Oracula
Slbyllina seems to me to indicate with irresistible cogency that
in the later days of antiquity it was no longer known by
experience how these seercsses had really spoken in former
times, for the substitution of the personal ego by that of a
god was surely its most characteristic feature. The pheno-
mena described in the Oracula arc states of inspiration of a
milder nature similar to those manifested in highly civilized
times ; unlike true possession they do not show any transform-
ation of the personality. Under the influence of general
progress this latter must have disappeared gradually; Virgil
himself clearly never saw an authentic Sibyl.

It should be noted that Cicero classes two seers, the
Boeotian Bakis and Epimenides of Crete, with the Sibyl. 2

The third phenomenon which claims our attention is the
cult of Dionysos. Here too the information is scanty, although
slightly more abundant than in the subject already dealt
with.

1 Sibylline Oracles (Terry), viii, 11. 448 sq.

2 Cicero, De divinutione, i, 18.

886 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

The following passage from Erwin Rohde may serve to
describe the Thracian cult:

The ceremony took place on mountain heights at dead of night,
by the flickering light of torches. Loud music resounded; the
dashing of brazen cymbals, the deep thunder of great hand-tympani
and in the intervals the " sounds luring to madness " of the deep-
toned flutes whose soul was first awakened by the Phrygian Auletes.
Excited by this wild music the crowd of revellers dances with
piercing cries. We hear nothing of any song ; the fury of the dance
leaves no breath for it. For this is not the measured dance-step
with which Homer's Greeks swung rhythmically forward in the
Paean, but in a frenzied, whirling, and violent round the ecstatic
crowd hastens upwards over the mountain-sides. It is mostly
women who turn to the point of exhaustion in this giddy dance.
Strangely clothed: they wear " basscren," long flowing garments
made, it seems, from fox-skins sewn together; over these roebuck
skins, and horns upon their heads. Their hair flies wild, their
hands grasp snakes, sacred to Sabazios, they brandish daggers or
thyrsi with hidden lance-heads under the ivy. So they rage until
every emotion is excited to the highest pitch and in the " holy
madness " they fling themselves upon the animals destined for
sacrifice, seize and dismember the assembled booty and with their
teeth tear the bloody flesh which they swallow raw. 1

Unhappily we have no first-hand evidence concerning the
cult. It is not surprising that the participants were almost
exclusively women; nevertheless there has come down to us at
least one poem in which there appear male as well as female
participants in the Dionysiac cult : it is the Bacchce of Euripides.
Having passed the latter years of his life in Thrace the poet
had the opportunity of observing the Thracian cult very
closely. The meaning of the play is much debated, as it is not
free from difficulties and these persist even in the most recent
interpretation by Norwood.

We are inclined to imagine the Dionysiac cult as a kind
of Cologne or Munich carnival, a wild abandonment to the
senses. It is indubitable that such an effect was not seldom
produced, the excesses committed at Rome, and against
which the Senate was obliged to take strong action in 186 B.C., 2
being of this kind. But on the other hand it would be entirely
erroneous to regard the cult of Dionysos as a whole in this
light; this is specifically contradicted by Euripides' play, in
which we find 110 indication of any tendency to excess. It
is true that one of the characters in the play, Pentheus,
king of Thebes, believes in something of the kind; he fears

i E. Rohde, Psyche, 2nd edit., vol. ii, Tubingen, 1898, pp. 9 sq.
a Livy, xxxix, 8 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 337

sexual excesses. But the partisans of the cult, as well as
a disinterested eye-witness, formally deny the accusation and
are to all appearances profoundly convinced to the contrary.
A shepherd relates to the king:

Thine herds of pasturing kino were even now
Scaling the steep hillside, what time the sun
First darted forth his rays to warm the earth,
When lo, I see three Bacchant women-hands. . . .
All sleeping lay, with bodies restful -strown ;
Some backward leaned on leafy sprays of pine,
Some, with oak-leaves for pillows, on the ground
Flung careless; modestly, not, as thou say'st,
Drunken with wine, and the sighing of flutes
Hunting desire through woodland shades alone. 1

And also the son of Tiresias, himself seized by the intoxi-
cation of the dance, explains to the king:

Dionysus upon women will not thrust
Chastity: in true womanhood inborn
Dwells temperance touching all things evermore.
This must thou heed : for in his Bacchic rites
The virtuous-hearted shall not be undone. 3

Since Euripides the sceptic would not have depicted the
Dionysiac cult which he had learned to know in Thrace as
moral had he found it grossly licentious, we arc also obliged
to admit that the frenzied movements of the Maenads and the
few male participants were really filled with earnest religious
feeling. This assumption is supported by numerous other
passages iu the Bacc]ia\

The question which principally concerns us is to know
whether the Dionysiac intoxication should be considered as a
form of possession. The word possession, /caro^o?, eV0eo<?,
etc., served to designate it and moreover Erwin Rohde speaks
of " a transient derangement of the psychic balance, a state
in which the conscious mind is dominated, of ' possession ' by
outside forces (as it is described to us)." 3

But the problem is not solved by the mere use of the word
"possession "; we should like more substantial proofs in order
to decide up to what point the states arc identical with those
described in the first part of this work. A presumption in
favour of identity is the fact, apparent from the statements

i Arthur S. Way, Euripides in English Verse, vol. iii, p. 400, 11. 677-
689.

a Ibid., vol. iii, p. 381, 11. 313-318.

8 Rohde, loc. cit., p. 4. For the words Karo^os, cvOcos, etc., see p. 11,
note 1, and pp. 18 sq. notes, of this work.

22

338 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

collected by Rohde, that the consciousness was filled with the
presence of the god ; it was therefore as a direct result of the
whole excitement into which the worshippers worked them-
selves up that contact with the god was established.

The sense of this violently provoked intensification of feeling
was religious. It was only by such tension and extension of his
being that man sceined able to enter into relation and contact with
creatures of a higher order, with the god and his spirit-legions.
The god was present but unseen amidst his inspired worshippers
or else was very near and the din of the festival served to bring the
hoverer right to the spot. 1

But the main question is not yet answered. Was there
simply a " consciousness of presence " of Dionysos, or was he
felt within the worshippers, as vividly real as was the demon
to the possessed ?

From Euripides we gather only the former, probably
enhanced by hallucinatory phenomena.

O trance of rapture, when, reeling aside

From the Bacchanal rout o'er the mountains flying
One sinks to the earth, and the fawn's flecked hide

Covers him lying.

With its sacred vesture, wherein he hath chased
The goat to' the death for its blood for the taste

Of the feast raw-reeking, when over the hills
Of Phrygia, of Lydia, the wild feet haste

And the Clamour-king leads, and our hearts he thrills
" Evot- 1" crying !

Flowing with milk is the ground, and with wine is it flowing, and flowing

Nectar of bees ; and a smoke as of incense of Araby soars ;
And the Bacchanal, lifting the flame of the brand of the fire, ruddy-
glowing,
Waveth it wide, and with shouts, from the point of the wand as it

pours

Challengeth revellers straying, on-racing, on-chasing, and throwing
Loose to the breezes his curls, while clear through the chorus that
roars

Cleaveth his shout, " On, Bacchanal-rout,

On, Bacchanal maidens, ye glory of Tniolus the hill gold-welling,
Blend the acclaim of your chant with the timbrels thunder-knelling,

Glad-pealing the glad God's praises out
With Phrygian cries and the voice of singing. . . ." 2

These verses clearly show that the god was regarded as
present, or was even felt and his voice heard. How is this
to be explained ?

There remain only two possibilities: either the excitement

1 Rohde, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 11 sq. Cf. also p. 14, in the notes on
original documents.

2 S. Way, loc. cit., p. 374, 11. 136-158.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 339

of those taking part in the worship was so great that it ended
in illusion and hallucination, even perhaps of a collective
nature; or else, and this is a hypothesis which does not appear
hitherto to have been considered, the god was personified
by someone. Any participant, no matter who, played his
part, somewhat as King Carnival is represented by a living
man. In that case the personage styled " Dionysos " in
Euripides would not be the god himself in the strict sense but
the god-actor (who when intoxicated identified himself more
or less with the god). That would probably resolve many
difficulties in the play and foremost amongst these the fact
that this personage alternately docs and docs not seem to be
Dionysos himself and to proclaim himself as such. The
probable historical connection of Carnival with the Dionysiac
cult (in a debased form) and the historical identity of Prince
Carnival with Dionysos render the truth of the conjecture
extremely probable. Its proof in particular cases must be
left to Philology.

Let us now consider whether the god also entered into
the souls of the Maenads and their possible male companions.
The most important circumstance in favour of such a theory
is the name of the participants: they are called edpoi, adfiai
(rafid&oi, ftd/cxoi, f3d/cxai 9 that is to say they bear, as, more-
over, in the cult of Cybele also, the name of the god Sabazios
or Bacchus. 1

Such identification always indicates a psychic trans-
formation. If the worshippers had not been changed into
Dionysos the transference to them of the god's name would
be inexplicable.

This identification at least proves that transformation of
the personality originally existed, although it may have
disappeared at a higher stage of civilization. In support of
this hypothesis we must moreover quote the similarity of
conduct between Dionysos and his worshippers. " Like the
wild god himself they fell upon the sacrificial beast to devour
it raw." " The horns which they wore recall the horned bull-
god himself." 2

Sometimes even the crude idea that the torn and devoured
beast was the god peeped through, 3 a conception in which

1 Cf. Rohde, tor. rt/., p. 14, note 4.

2 Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 14 sq. 8 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 15, note 1.

840 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

union with the god is realized in the most nai'f manner and
one which might also give rise to the genesis of possession.
In other cases the Maenads play the part of nymphs, Pans,
Silenus and Satyrs or other beings accompanying the god
such as the ftawdSes originally were themselves. 1

To these must be added other data of a positive nature,
although partially derived from somewhat later times.
Tiresias also speaks in the Bacchce of a visitation of the god :

... in his fulness when he floods our frame
He makes his maddened votaries tell the future. 2

In the scholia of Euripides' Hippolytus, 144, we read:

Those men are called " filled with god " whose reason has been
taken away by an apparition and who are possessed by the god
who gave the vision and behave according to his will. 3

Neither does Rohde doubt that the Bacchantes themselves
were under the illusion of living in a strange personality. 4
In support of this opinion he adds :

The terrors of the night, the music, especially of those Phrygian
flutes to whose sounds the Greeks attributed the power of rendering
the hearer " full of the god," the whirling dance : all these could
really create in certain predisposed natures a state of visionary
excitement in which the inspired saw as existing independently of
themselves all that they thought and imagined. 5

In this connection we should observe that visions and
possession are not in any way identical. These two pheno-
mena may co-exist, but they are quite distinct and it is not
permissible to argue the presence of the one from a demon-
stration of the other.

Visions are always easier to prove. No doubt is possible
as to their reality amongst the Bacchantes.

" It is only during possession that the Bacchantes draw milk and
honey from the streams," says Plato, "and not when they are
themselves." 8

** Flowing with milk is the ground, and with wine it is flowing, and

flowing
Nectar of bees; and a smoke as of incense of Araby^soars,"

says Euripides. 7

1 IMd. 9 vol. ii, p. 14, note 3.

2 Euripides, toe. eft., p. 380, 11. 300-301.

8 Quoted by Rohde, tor. eft., vol. ii, p. 20, note 1.

4 Ibid., vol. ii, p. 16. 6 Ilrid., vol. ii, p. 16.

6 Plato, Ion, 634 A. 7 Euripides, toe. eft., p. 90.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 341

And later:

One (Bacchante) grasped her thyrsus-staff, and smote the rock,
And forth upleapt a fountain's showering spray :
One in earth's bosom planted her reed-wand,
And up therethrough the god a wine-fount sent;
And whoso fain would drink white-foaming draughts
Scarred with their finger-tips the breast of earth,
And milk gushed forth unstinted: dripped the while
Sweet streams of honey from their ivy-staves. 1

Lucian relates also:

The Bacchic dance to which they are addicted in Ionia and
Poiitus, has, although satyric in nature, gained such a hold upon
the people of those countries that at the appointed time they forget
everything else and for days together behold Titans, Corybantes,
Satyrs and herdsmen. 2

The sources are unhappily too scanty to afford us exact
knowledge of whether the phenomena of possession and the
visions appeared in the same persons, or the first more
particularly in some and the second in others. Co-existence
of the two kinds of phenomena would have its parallel, for
example, in the case of Soeur Jeanne des Anges and Eschen-
mayer's C. St. case. As already stated, I have not lingered
over the phenomena of vision amongst possessed persons
because they arc of no importance to the analysis of true
possession and I shall here confine myself to remarking that
in the cases quoted (which are only a few amongst many),
visions were very frequent.

The most recent English commentary on the Bacchce (by
G. Norwood) advocates the theory that the personage appear-
ing under the name of Dionysos is not at all the god himself
(which interpretation entails certain difficulties although the
new theory immediately gives rise to further ones). If this
is so the identification of god and man would be accomplished
in the play itself. 3

It cannot be exactly determined up to what point these
states were somnambulistic or lucid. According to Rohde we
should believe that they were generally somnambulistic in
character. " The eVtfeos," says he, " is entirely in the god's
power. The god speaks and acts in him. His own conscious-

1 Ibid., p. 401, 11. 705-710.

2 Lucian, De Saltat, 79, quoted by Farnell, loc. cit., vol. v, p. 25)7.

8 G. Norwood, The Riddle of the Bacchce, the Last Stage of Euripides'
Religious Views, Manchester, 1908.

342 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

ness has entirely left the eV0eo9 ' 5l Rohde bases his theory
on one single passage of Plato and Philo. 2 In Plato's Meno
we read: ovroi evdovaiuvres (meaning ol ^prja-fjbcoBoi re Kal
deofjidvTets) Xeyovoiv fiev d\tj0tj Kal 7ro\\d, la-acri 8e ovBev &v
\eyov<riv 9 i.e., " the god-possessed men speak much truth,
but know nothing of what they say."

The interpretation of these last words in the sense of a
loss of personal consciousness is, however, untenable. It is
clear from the comparison which Plato makes in this place
between the god-posscsscd and creative politicians that he is
not thinking of a loss of personal consciousness; he simply
means that what they say under inspiration exceeds their
normal spiritual capacity.

The second quotation to which Kolidc refers is from Philo.
The latter says, speaking of divinely inspired prophets :

For in general the prophet announces nothing personal, rather
he merely lends his voice to him who prompts him with all that he
says ; when he is inspired he becomes unconscious ; thought vanishes
away and leaves the fortress of the soul; but the divine spirit has
entered there and taken up its abode ; and this latter makes all the
vocal organs resound, so that the man gives clear expression to
what the spirit gives him to say. 3

For the sake of completeness, let us give another quota-
tion from the same source, to which Rohde makes no reference
and which runs :

Moses has said : . . . Hut there shall suddenly appear a prophet
sent from God and he shall prophesy without saying anything of
himself for he who is really inspired and filled with God cannot
comprehend with his intelligence what he says; he only repeats
what is suggested to him, as if another prompted him; for the
prophets are those who speak on God's behalf, who use their organs
to reveal his will. 4

These two messages arc designed to testify to a
suspension of consciousness and consequently to the som-
nambulistic nature of the possession. Unfortunately, how-
ever, they offer no immediate demonstration of the
somnambulistic character of Dionysiac intoxication, relating
as they do to prophets and diviners. Nothing but the fact
that the ancients were generally accustomed to associate these

1 E. Rohde, Psyche, 2nd edit., Tubingen, 1898, vol. ii, p. 20, note 1.

2 Plato, The Meno, 99c.

3 Philo, De special, legibus, iv, 313 AL, ed. Colin and Wendland, vol. v,
p. 219.

4 Philo, toe. cit., p. 222 M., ed. Conn and Wendland, vol. v, p. 10.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 343

states authorizes us to generalize from the one to the other,
and even this does not fully compensate for the lack of direct
evidence.

In the first place, it cannot be said how great a number
of those participating in the Dionysiac intoxication-cult fell
into a state of true possession; but neither do we know how
numerous these participants were. The only thing ascer-
tainablc is that the number of adherents was greater than that
of the possessed. Kiel yap 8tj, &$ fyacnv ol Trepl ras reXertfc,
vapdij/cocfropoi pet' 7ro\\oi, ptitc-xpt, 8e re Travpoi. 1

We will supplement by a quotation from Janiblich's work
on the Mysteries.

There arc, therefore, many species of divine possession, and divine
inspiration is multifariously excited ; thence, also, the signs of it
are many and different. For either the gods are different, by
whom we are inspired, and thus produce a different inspiration,
or the mode of enthusiasms being various, produces a different
afflatus. For cither divinity possesses us or we give ourselves up
wholly to divinity, or we have a common energy with him. And
sometimes, indeed, we participate of the last power of divinity,
sometimes of his middle, and sometimes of his first power. Some-
times, also, there is a participation only, at other times, communion
likewise, and sometimes a union of these divine inspirations.
Again, either the soul alone enjoys the inspiration, or the soul
receives it in conjunction with the body, or it is also participated
by the common animal.

From these things, therefore, the signs of those that arc inspired
are multiform. For the inspiration is indicated by the motions
of the [whole] body, and of certain parts of it, by the perfect rest
of the body, by harmonious orders and dances, and by elegant
sounds, or the contraries of these. Kither the body, likewise, is
seen to be elevated, or increased in bulk, or to be borne along
sublimely in the air, or the contraries of these arc seen to take place
about it. An equability also, of voice, according to magnitude,
or a great variety of voice after intervals of silence, may be ob-
served. And again, sometimes the sounds have a musical in-
tension and remission, and sometimes they are strained and relaxed
after a different manner. 2

But it is necessary to investigate the causes of divine mania.
And these are the illuminations proceeding from the gods, the
spirits imparted by them, and the all-perfect domination of divinity,
which comprehends indeed everything in us, but exterminates
entirely our own proper consciousness and motion . This divine pos-
session, also, emits words which are not understood by those that
utter them; for they pronounce them, as it is said, with an insane
mouth, and are wholly subservient, and entirely yield themselves
to the energy of the predominating God. 8

1 Plato, Phcedo, 69 c.

2 Jamblichus, J)c Alysteriis, Sect, iii, ch. v, pp. 12tf-2 1. English
trans, by Th. Taylor, London, 1895.

a Ibid., iii, 8, pp. 128-29.

344 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Unfortunately this description is so meagre as to be in
itself incapable of detailed interpretation. It will be one
of the future tabks of a deeper research into Neo-Platonism
to arrive at a complete understanding of the passage.

Jamblich, moreover, considers it the general view of his
contemporaries that " many, through enthusiasm and divine
inspiration, predict future events, and that they are then in
so wakeful a state, as even to energize according to sense, and
yet they are not conscious of the state they are in, or at least,
not so much as they were before." 1

These words, like the preceding ones, arc not sufficiently
clear to permit of a considered judgement as to whether a
true somnambulistic state is meant or merely a marked
distraction of the attention.

Very closely related to Dionysiac possession is the so-
called Corybantism 2 manifested at the festivals of the Phrygian
divinities. But the possessing spirits in this case were not
Dionysos or his companions, nymphs, satyrs, etc., but Rhea
Cybele or her companions, the so-called Corybantes.

" They rage possessed by Rhea and the Corybantes, that is to
say, they rage like the Corybantes possessed by the demon. As
soon as the divine attribute has taken possession of them they rush
in, cry aloud, dance and foretell the future, raging and god-driven,'*
relates the Phrygian Arrian. 3

Graillot's new work on the worship of Cybele gives no
psychological explanation of any importance. 4 The pheno-
mena reported are those best known as characteristic of
possession in Greece. They arc not the only ones; it has
also been possible to establish a series of less important cases.

There are few places but have oracles set up, where priests and
priestesses, in a mad ravishment, announce what Apollo inspires
them to say. The prototype of these oracles is that of Delphi. 6

The prophetess of Apollo Deiradiotcs at Argos is alleged
to have become possessed by drinking the blood of the sacri-

1 Ibid., Hi, 4, p. 121.

2 Rohde, loc. cit., pp. 47 sq.

8 Arrian in Eustathius, ad Dionysium Periegetem, 809, quoted
by Rohdc, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 48. Cf. the Dionysius Pcricgetcs of G. Bern-
hardy, Leipzig, 1828.

4 G. Graillot, Le Culte de Cybele, Paris, 1J)12.

6 Rohde, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. GO; G. F. Scliocmann, Griechische Alter-
turner, 4th edit. rev. Lipsius, Berlin, 1902, vol. ii, p. &10.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 345

flees: MTOXOS ex rov Oeov yiyveTcu, as was the priestess of
the Earth at ^Egira in Achaia. 1

Pausanius, moreover, says of the priest of the oracle at
Amphikleia in Phocis : %/> etc rov ffeov tcdroxo?. 2

At the oracle of Claros, near Colophon in Asia Minor, the
priest, descended from a certain local family, went to a cavern,
drank of a running stream and gave in verse his reply to the
question put, although he was often an uneducated man. 3
Similarly it is said of the priestess of the Uidymaic oracle near
Miletus, that she had drunk of an ecstasy-inducing spring;
there is also mention of inhaling vapour arising from the
spring. 4

In the cases of blood-drinking the autosuggestive nature
of the ecstasy is indubitable. Where the water of certain
springs is drunk doubt might exist, particularly when the
inhalation of vapour is mentioned, but it is nevertheless very
noteworthy that springs producing this effect are no longer
known to-day.

E. von Lasaulx has collected in a special work 5 all the
documents on the oracle of Dodona, where exactly as at
Delphi priests prophesied in a state of psychic excitement.
These include a very important piece of information, nowhere
to be found in the literature concerning the Pythoness, namely
that those states were somnambulistic in character, the
priestesses preserving no memory of them. The rhetor
Aristides, who lived under Hadrian, attests that the priestesses
" do not know, before being seized by the spirits, what
they are going to say, any more than after having
recovered their natural senses they remember what they
have said, so that everyone knows what they say except
themselves." 6

1 On the priestess of Apollo at Argos, cf. Pausanius, ii, 24, 1,
quoted by Rohde, loc. cit., p. 58, note 1. On the prophetess of Achaia
cf. Pliny, Natural History, xxyiii, 147, quoted by J. G. Frazer, The
Magic Art, London, 1911, vol. i, p. 383. Frazer also gives other cases
from various civilizations of prophetic possession induced by drinking
blood.

2 Pausanius, loc. cit., x, 33, 11; quoted by Rohde, loc. cit., vol. ii,
p. 59, note 2.

8 Rohde, loc. cit., p. 331.
* Ibid., p. 328.

5 E. von Lasaulx, Das pclasgischc Orakel dcs Zeus sw Dodona, Wurz-
burg, 1840, p. 14.

Aristides, Opera, ii, 13, quoted by Lasaulx, loc. cit., p. 14.

346 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Jamblich says almost the same thing of the priestess of
Apollo at the Oracle of Colophon:

But this divine illumination is constantly present, and uses the
prophetess as an instrument ; she neither being any longer mistress
of herself, nor eapable of attending to what she says, nor perceiving
where she is. Hence, after prediction, she is scarcely able to re-
cover herself. 1

It has been possible to establish identification between
priests and divinities in a few eases, always in connection
with phenomena of possession. Thus Farnell remarks:

The priestess of Artemis Laphria at Patrai appears to have
embodied the goddess on a solemn occasion; the priestesses of the
brides of the Dioscuri are called Leukippides, the youthful minis-
trants of the bull-god Poseidon are themselves ** bulls " at Ephcsos,
the girls who dance in honour of the bear-goddess at Brauron are
themselves " bears." But these examples are rare exceptions. 2

It should also be noted that the Greeks themselves gave
a wider extension to the term " possession." They under-
stood by it all the phenomena of inspiration, particularly of
the poetic kind. In the beginning it must surely have been
understood in the literal sense when the poet invoked the Muse
at the opening of his work: uvSpa JULOL evveire p.uvaa p.t]viv
aaSe, 0a Musa, mihi causas mcnwra. Perhaps already the
words may have been used from tradition, and therefore sym-
bolically, by Homer as they certainly were by Virgil; they were
nevertheless originally meant in good earnest. What meaning
had they when literally used ? Were they simple prayers to
a divinity as a Christian poet prays God to grant him grace ?
The text itself contradicts this view, since it says that it is
the Muse and not the poet who must sing, an expression only
explicable if the poet was convinced that he did not create,
but that another, the Muse, did so in his plaee. It is very
remarkable that the epies of other peoples contain nothing
analogous. Sueh a conception, existent to an enhanced
degree amongst the Greeks and entirely peculiar to that
nation, can only be explained by admitting that the voluntary
activity of the creative artist was unconnected with his work
and that his most perfect productions were obtained as a gift.
This manner of envisaging himself in his work shows once
more the enormous creative force of the Greek.

1 Jamblichus, loc. cit., Hi, eh. 11, p. 112.

2 1,. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, vol. v, Oxford, 1909,
p. 150.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 347
Plato makes Socrates say to Ion :

. . . the Muse communicates through those whom she lias first
inspired. . . .

. . . For the authors of those great poems which we admire, do
not attain to excellence through the rules of any art, but they utter
their beautiful melodies of verse in a state of inspiration, and, as it
were, possessed by a spirit not their own. Thus the composers of
lyrical poetry create those admired songs of theirs in a state of
divine insanity, like the Corybantes, who lose all control over their
reason in the enthusiasm of the sacred dance; and, during this
supernatural possession, arc excited to the rhythm and harmony
which they communicate to men. Like the Bacchantes, who, when
possessed by the god, draw honey and milk from the rivers, in
which, when they come to their senses, they lind nothing but simple
water. For the souls of t he poets, as poets tell us, have this peculiar
ministration in the world. They tell us that their souls, Hying
like bees from ilower to ilower, and wandering over the gardens and
the meadows, and the lioiicy-llowing fountains of the Muses, return
to us laden with the sweetness of melody; and arrayed as they are
in the plumes of rapid imagination, they speak truth. For a poet
is indeed a thing ethereally light, winged and sacred, nor can he
compose anything worth culling poetry until he becomes inspired,
and, as it were, mud, or whilst any reason remains to him. For
whilst a man retains any portion of the thing called reason, he is
utterly incompetent to 'produce poetry or to vaticinate. Thus,
those who declaim various and beautiful poetry upon any subject,
as for instance upon Homer, arc not enabled to do so by art or
study, but every rhapsodist or poet, whether dithyrambic, encom-
astic, choral, epic, or iambic, is excellent in proportion to the extent
of his participation in the divine influence, and the degree in which
the Muse itself has descended on him. In. other respects, poets
may be sufficiently ignorant and incapable. For they do not
compose according to any art which they have acquired, but from
the impulse of the divinity within them; for did they know any
rules of criticism, according to which they could compose beautiful
verses upon one subject, they would be able to exert the same
faculty with respect to all or any other. The God seems purposely
to have deprived all poets, prophets and soothsayers of every
particle of reason and understanding, the better to adapt them to
their employment as his ministers and interpreters; and that we,
their auditors, may acknowledge that those who write so beauti-
fully are possessed, and address us, inspired by the God. . . ."' 1

This theory of Plato's once more attains full literal
acceptation in the philosophy of the Restoration, at the end
of classical antiquity. The Emperor Julian 2 is imbued with
the idea that the poet is lilled with the godhead, and he
discriminates, as did Plato, between mental derangement

1 Plato, Ion, trans. Shelley (Everyman edit., Five Dialogues of
Plato, pp. 6-7).

8 Julian the Apostate, Oral., iv, Loeb Library. This quotation
as well as the following are taken from Georg Man, Die JReligiotis-
philosophic Kaiser Julians, Leipzig, 11)07, p. 55.

848 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

and inspiration. He calls the seers
a\i]0iav l and similarly Homer 0o\rj7rTo<t. 2

It is very interesting to note that the word
in itself already means possession, not merely enthusiasm in
our sense of the word a mere state of psychic excitement
without further significance. In this connection the particulars
given in Guida's Lexicon are very instructive. It reads:
vOov<ria = VTTO evdeov /care^rai Trvev/maTos (not a completely
clear definition we should expect to find eV0eo? as designat-
ing one possessed by a god, but as corollary to irvsvpa it
seems strange).

7; ^v)(i] o\rj eXXa/^TTiyrat VTTO TOV 0eov.
The existence of prophets who vaticinated in an abnormal
state of excitement can also be demonstrated in Egypt. A
case is even known in which a prophet fell dead in the midst
of an access of prophetic frenzy. 3 But so far as I am aware it
cannot be shown that real states of possession occurred; the ex-
pression TO 0lov (0elov) Tcaa^iv is inadequate for this purpose.

(ii.) IN THE PRKSKNT

We still encounter artificial possession amongst the higher
civilizations of to-day, principally in Asia, and more especially
in India and China.

In India it is not really found amongst the educated
classes, but is by no means unknown amongst followers of
the Hindu religion. In this connection 1 may quote from a
document which the missionary, Herr Frohlich, has been kind
enough to send me at my request as supplementing his work
on the popular religion of the Tamils : 4

I have not myself observed any cases of possession amongst
the Hindus, but have heard of them times without number. They
always concerned women or priests of the " village gods."

The manifestations in question amongst Hindu women of every
caste are, according to all that I remember to have heard of them,
entirely similar (except for the discourses) to those of Christian
women (already described on p. 218). The priests, on the other hand,

i Ibid., 136 b. 2 Ibid., Oral., iv, 149 c.

3 R. Rcitzenstcin, Ein Stuck hellenistischer Kleinliteratur (Ges. der
Wissensch.), Gottingen, 1904, pp. 314 sq.

4 II. Frohlich, Tamulisclte Volksreligion, Leipzig, 1915.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 349

are as it were the official mediums through whom the village gods
speak, make known their will, and reply to questions. One of
these priests, who later became a Christian, related when questioned
that he had always felt that " something came over him," and
after his conversion was still persuaded that in the states referred
to " a devil " had taken possession of him. The worshippers
of the village gods (particularly Kali, Mari, and Murugen) believe
that through their priests they are in direct communication with
their gods through these very utterances of the priest when in a
state of possession. They sometimes point a frank contrast with
the Christians : " Your God never talks to you, but we have a god
who converses with us."

As regards manifestations by the priests or others of the god's
adorers during these states I have only observed a staggering and
reeling gait like that of a drunken man when they went towards the
temple of their god or goddess. What then occurred in the temple
itself and how they comported themselves outwardly when deliver-
ing the oracle, I have not been able to observe. The tenor of the
" divine sayings " may be typified by the following examples :
" Last year you brought us no offerings, theiefore I have made your
child sick; vow to offer me a hen and the child shall grow well "
(reply to a question in a case of sickness). " I shall take many more
from this village " (oracle of Kali on the outbreak of a cholera
epidemic). " I am Mari ; here will I live, build me a temple here."
" Have we no music, no flowers, no lemons ?" (oracle on the occasion
of a festival when nothing in the way of music, etc., had been
provided). " Bring the child to my temple, then it will be cured."

This account depicts for us the primitive form of the
oracle, such as may once have formed the basis of the Hellenic
one. The most characteristic feature is the complete lack of
moral superiority on the part of the divinity; it is only the
egotism of the Hindu peasant which speaks through the visit-
ing gods, who generally demand offerings before they will give
their help. It should be observed that even at this early
stage the impression is produced of a strange objectivity
intruding upon the consciousness, and those who believe that
this takes place in the higher stages of inspiration will hardly
be able to deny it here. It is naturally an assumption extra-
ordinarily fertile in consequences to admit that there is not
only a divine and transcendental power able to enter the
human consciousness, but also lesser powers it brings us
perilously near to belief in the devil. It is also noteworthy
that according to these declarations of the priests there is, at
least in general, no somnambulistic possession, otherwise they
would not remember these states at all.

In Southern India and Ceylon possession is found particu-
larly in the so-called devil-dances. These are religious dances
which by their whole character recall the dervish-dances

350 THE DISTRIBUTION OP POSSESSION

of Islam. Emil Schmidt writes in the account of his
travels :

If the altars of the higher demons are poor enough, those of the
inferior spirits, the Bey-kovils or temples of the devil, are still more
so. They often consist of a roof of leaves resting on four bamboo-
stems, or are even uncovered ; a red painted stone or a tree-stump,
a pyramid of earth flattened at the top and painted with red and
white bands, then constitutes the whole place of worship. There
are no special priests ; the chief of the village or family or any other
person who fills the vocation, be he man or woman, accomplishes
the sacrifices and ceremonies pleasing to the spirits. These cere-
monies are of the same kind as for the superior demons ; it is rare
that the blood of a cock is not shed. But there are certain parti-
cularly efficacious ecstatic states, the devil-dances, which bear the
strongest resemblance to the shamanistic dances of Northern Asia.
Bishop Caldwell has given a suggestive description of them.

Fantastically dressed, amidst the din of rattles, drums and flutes,
the conjuror of spirits begins his dance. ". . . the music is at first
comparatively slow, and the dancer seems impassive and sullen ;
and either he stands still or moves about in gloomy silence. Gradu-
ally, as the music becomes quicker and louder, his excitement
begins to rise. Sometimes to help him to work himself up into a
frenzy he uses medicated draughts ; cuts and lacerates his flesh till
the blood flows ; lashes himself with a huge whip ; presses a burning
torch to his breast; drinks the blood which flows from his own
wounds ; or drinks the blood of the sacrifice, putting the throat of
the decapitated goat to his mouth. Then, as if lie had acquired
new life, he begins to brandish his staff of bells, and dance with a
quick, but wild, unsteady step. Suddenly the afflatus descends.
There is no mistaking that glare, or those frantic leaps. He snorts,
he stares, he gyrates. The demon has now taken bodily possession
of him ; and though he retains the power of utterance and of motion,
both are under the demon's control, and his separate consciousness
is in abeyance. The bystanders signalize the event by raising a
long shout attended wilh a peculiar vibratory noise.

"The devil-dancer is now worshipped as a present deity; and
every bystander consults him respecting his disease, his wants, the
welfare of his absent relations, and the offerings which are to be
made for the accomplishment of his wishes.

" As the devil-dancer acts to admiration the part of a maniac, it
requires some experience to enable a person to interpret his dubious
or unmeaning replies, his muttered voices and uncouth gestures;
but the wishes of the parties who consult him, help them greatly
to interpret his meaning." 1

As regards Eastern Asia we are indebted to Bastian for
several accounts. This indefatigable researcher whose im-

1 E. Schmidt, Ceylon, Berlin, p. 296, from K. Caldwell, A Com-
parative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Latiguages,
London, 1856, p. 522. Another work by Caldwell, On Demonolatry,
published in the " Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay,"
vol. i, has remained inaccessible to me, but a quotation, perfectly com-
patible with the above, is given by J. G. Frazcr, The Magic Art, London,
1911, vol. i, p. 382. Numerous photographs of devil-dancers and their
appurtenances in W. L. Ifildburgh, Notes on Sinhalese Magic in the
Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxxviii, 1908.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 351

portance to scholarship is still underrated owing to the
mediocre and confused literary style of his publications, (he is
not merely important as collector and organizer of the Berlin
Ethnographical Museum), recognized the great importance of
states of possession and understood their psychological nature.
His accounts, which relate to Siam, Burmah and China, are
for the most part all too short. 1

Declarations made by Indian spirit-dancers themselves to
the missionaries are not without interest, showing as they do
the violently compulsive character of these states and how
even converted natives are once more suddenly seized by
them against their will.

The spirit-dancer (amongst the Araycr) is gripped not so much by
the arak which he has drunk during the dance as by an external
influence (on the entry into him of the Pisachi) or so the converts
explained their state and the pricks which arc felt by those passing
the holy places, and also afterwards, in hands and feet. A native
leaning towards conversion gave to Mr. Painter the missionary
the figures which are worn, the dress hung with bells, the belt
adorned with pictures, etc. (without consenting to take any money
for them), but nevertheless as on his return he passed the shrine
which he had theretofore regarded as sacred he was seized with a
sudden fit which caused him to leap high into the air and then
drove him to flee into the jungle (in order to be reconciled with the
offended Pisachi).

A converted Hhuta-dancer admitted, moreover, to the missionary
Herr Gcitzc (in Mangalora) that the Brahman communicated in
advance what was to be said, so that at the instant when the
Bhuta seized him all these things might come vividly into his
memory (and control him). 2

In a Burmese town a native spoke to Bastian of the
" witches (Dzon) who wandered about at night spitting fire
from their mouths, and put something into people's food so
that they fell ill. In a town where a witch dwelt her example
was often epidemic; in his quarter almost every week women
or girls danced in the street. A Mo-Zea (doctor or medicine-
man) was then sent for who caused her head to be hidden in
a tamein (woman's robe) and beat her soundly with a stick.
The patient, however, felt nothing of the trouncing but only
the demon (Nat) within her." 3

1 Bastian, Die Volker den ostlichcn Asiens, vol. iii, Jena, 1867,
pp. 274 sq. Short description of choreographic possession, amongst
the Molukka, vol. i, pp. 2 sq. Further details on possession, ibid.,
pp. 11 sq. Case of a Burman Pythoness diagnosing maladies, vol. ii,
p. 110.

2 A. Bastian, Ideate Weltcn, vol. i, Reisen auf der Vorder-Indischen
Halbinsel im Jahre 1890, Berlin, 1892, p. 81.

8 Bastian, Die Volker des ostlichen Asiens, i, p. 103.

862 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

Another Burman related that the exorcist showed the
possessed a stick and threatened her with it.

The witch who is within her then grows anxious and adores her
master with joined hands. She must tell everything exactly and
in minute detail : what she is called, where she lives, who are her
relations or friends, etc. On further examination she generally
admits that she has caused this misfortune through hatred or
vengeance. The exoreist eould then slay the witch by his magic
mantras, but the patients' families generally beg him not to do so,
for they dread the sinful consequences which might drag them
down into hell. When gifts are added to these prayers the doctor
allows himself to be moved and merely administers to the witch
as a reminder a sound correction with his stick for so long as
she remains in the patient's body. Then he commands her to go
and return no more. Generally the witchmaster (from considera-
tions of good-fellowship) persuades the relatives not to molest
the witch further when she has had her punishment.

These narratives are the more interesting since we find in
them a possessing spirit of the feminine, not masculine, sex.
Such cases are extremely rare. It seems, moreover, that
at least in the case referred to in one of these accounts, the
possessing spirit is regarded as that of a living person, since
it is stated that in the street where a witch lives choreographic
possession not seldom occurs. In this connection the case
related on p. 27 where a girl was possessed by the spirit of a
hunter's boy should be borne in mind.

Bastian's work also gives cases of possession in Siam. 1
It may be multiple in character. There are cases in which the
possessing spirits are demons, 2 in some they are the souls of
ancestors, 3 in yet others certain crocodile spirits 4 which make
their way into men. The criterion of the last-named form of
possession is insensibility to pain and alleged invulnerability. 5
It must, however, be remarked that in Siam, just as in the
Germany of Kerner's time, possession is first " diagnosed "
from purely physical signs and true psychic possession sub-
sequently brought on by exorcism. 7

Possession takes the following course:

When the Chao or demon lord is invited to enter into the pos-
sessed (Xon Chao) the chorus of bystanders sings: " King and god
(Phra Ongk) we invoke thec. We adjure thee to descend, dweller
in heaven (Thevada), and to reveal thyself in all thy might. Come
down into his body, come to abide in the Klion Song (the person of

1 Ibid., vol. iii, pp. 274 sq. 2 Ibid., p. 280.

8 Ibid., p. 280. 4 Ibid., p. 263.

6 Ibid., p. 263. 6 Cf. mpra, p. 96.

7 Ibid., p. 300.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 353

majesty). 1 Richly adorned, in pomp and splendour stands the
vessel waiting to be taken by thee. The Khon Song makes for
thee a worthy dwelling, gleaming in beauty like the angels. Look
within thyself, thou royally endowed, enter into him and abide
there. We adore thee, we pray to thee from the dust. We desire
to receive from thee thy revelation, the unveiling of thy celestial
home. Have pity on us

When the Chao is obliged by Ihe conjurations to descend into the
body of the Khon Song 2 the latter remains invulnerable so long as
he is there and cannot be touched by any kind of weapon. Through
this evidence is manifested the marvellous power (Sakrith) of the
demon. Chinese familiar with these arts give displays in which
they seat themselves with impunity on lances and swords.

It is rather by way of diversion that possession by Men Suh (the
Mother of Colours) is sought and the people amuse themselves in this
way on festival nights by moonlight, especially at the new year. The
company places someone blindfolded and with stopped ears in the
middle and intones incantations. This does not generally last long
before the Mother of Colours manifests her presence by twitching
in one or other of the person's limbs. Soon the possessed moans
with increasing agitation, and dances more and more furiously
until at length he rolls on the ground, exhausted and out of breath.
It is then possible to question the spirit and know whence he comes.
The various demon-temples are enunciated until the possessed
makes an affirmative sign, when the right name has been found.
A hymn is sung to the tw Lady radiant with Colours " inviting her
to descend. 3

When the Chao enters into a person (Chao Khao) the latter
flings himself to the ground in the most violent convulsions and
foaming at the mouth, because he must struggle with a great lord
of potent strength. Nevertheless it is possible in such an event to
snatch hints, precious because emanating from the Beyond, as to
suitable medicines. 1

There is also possession by other male spirits similarly
evoked by the artitice of drums and noise in order to obtain
information about an illness or ascertain the whereabouts of a
wandering son. 5

In Siam possession is frankly provoked as a dramatic
spectacle, or at least was so in the middle of the nineteenth
century when Bastian travelled in that country.

At the Lakhon Phi (theatre of the demons) a person, man or
woman, is requisitioned, who becomes possessed by the Chiion Phi
(chief of the demons) mid by the Thepharak (the guardian angel)

1 Bastian adds the following note: The Khon Song puts on the
god's clothing, as the Californian Indians dressed as Tobet when they
danced for Tshinigtshinish.

* When no suitable mediator can be found, the divine force is
conjured to descend into the sanctuary which only the priests (Karen)
dare approach.

Ibid., pp. 282 sq. 4 Ibid., pp. 294 sq. 5 Ibid., pp. 28< sq.

23

854 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

who, when invoked, enters into him. The other onlookers beat
the drum or clap the hands. 1

This possession by a phi (another sort of spirit) is rather a jovial
farce to entertain the onlookers by the marvellous leaps of the
dancer. A poor devil of this kind lias hardly the strength to bring
his opponent to his knees, unless the latter is paralyzed by disloca-
tion of the hips. 2

Here is a long extract from a native Siamese work published
in English, Siamese Customs, which Bastian, as unhappily so
often occurs with him, has reproduced without particulars jis
to place and year of publication :

The Siamese, the inhabitants of towns as well as the dwellers
in mountains and forests, hold the opinion that there exist mule
and female Chao (a Lao word, meaning a noble lord and entering
as Phra-Chao in the name of God; with a slight modification it is
used for the pronoun of the second person in the familiar style).
Phi, the word for demon, means also a corpse; the Siamese of Ligor
call them shuet (ancestors or ancestral spirits). During life they
have been great men and lords, and after death they are deified .
There arc some persons who understand the art of possession, and
they suppose that they may invite them to enter their bodies if
they observe certain rules. * Those who hold to this opinion are of
the low classes of people, ignorant and stupid, and therefore not
able to distinguish between false and t rue. If one of their relatives
has fallen sick, if property lias been lost, or if some other misfortune
has come upon them, they go to an old witch, well versed in sorcery,
and beg from her to invite the deified lord or a demon to take up
his temporary abode in her body, so that they may be able to put
questions to him. Then the necessary preparations are made to
celebrate the spirit dance. They build a shed of wood, and put a
round roof, like a haystack, on it, which is sometimes overlaid with
straw, sometimes with reed grass, sometimes with cloth. In this
shed are placed the different articles for offerings, as eatables of all
kinds, arrack, rice, ducks, fowls, curried fish, and chiefly a pig's
head, which is never wanting. Fruits arc added, as soft cocoanuts,
bananas, sugar-cane, ripe oranges, and whatever other kind they
can get, according to the season. If the preparations are finished,
they beat the drum and play the flute, to invite the demon to come
down to the dance. The sorceress then takes a bath, and having
rubbed herself with scented curcuma-flour, dresses out in a red
waistcloth, and a silken jacket, of the dark shining colour of the
xomphu fruit (sambossa). Then the music increases; they blow
the flute, they strike the drum, they beat the clappers and sing
the verses of incantation for the demon to keep himself in readiness.
When the deified lord or the demon has entered the body of the
magician, the person possessed begins to tremble, and her body
shakes all over, she shuts her eyes and laughs out loud; she yawns
and belches ; she has her clothes (which were tied up after the manner
of working people) float down (as worn by nobles), and puts flowers
behind the ears. At that time the old woman assumes the manners
and behaviour of a great personage conducting herself us far
superior to all the rest of the people around her. 3

i Ibid., p. 286. 2 Ibid, p. 295.

* A. Bastian, Zur Kenntniu Hawaii's, Berlin, 1883, pp. 58 sq., note.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 855

The relatives and bystanders do homage, and sometimes
she threatens to take vengeance on their children for the
slight respect they have paid to the noble lord who is in her,
etc. As may be seen, there is nothing new in principle in the
Siamese narrative.

t Possession is of more importance in the Chinese world
than in India. The spiritualist doctrine which in Europe and
North America exercises no influence outside a very restricted
sphere, there reigns supreme; amongst civilized countries
China is that par excellence of belief in spirits. Of J. J. M.
de Groot's great work 1 in six volumes on Chinese religion,
exactly half is devoted to belief in spirits and ghosts, and this
book creates a really alarming impression of the point to
which a country of sueh high achievement in the realm of art
and perhaps in that of politico-economies is dominated
in the religious domain by ideas identical with those of
primitive peoples. 2

This reign of spiritualism in China is very ancient. It
does not arise from subsequent reaction against the negations
of a period of enlightenment, as at the end of classical antiquity
and again in present-day Europe. Given the excessively con-
servative character of Chinese civilization we are much more
likely to discover it in an immediate genetic connection with
general Asiatic Shamanism. The priesthood of the Wu, which
is still to-day the repository of possession, is originally no
other than the Chinese branch of Asiatic Shamanism, a fact
still clearly recognizable at the present time. 3

The old primitive religio-metaphysical conceptions, as
also the autosuggestive states of consciousness, have
remained quite unchanged for thousands of years, not as
cultural foundations as such they have lived on throughout
the ages in all countries including Europe up to the present
day but as the general outlook, widely disseminated and
essentially undisputed. It is noteworthy that in some quarters
there has been a well-defined tendency towards Confucianism
which professes an enlightened and sceptical rationalism as

1 De Groot, The Religious Systems of China, its Ancient Forms,
etc., 6 vols., Leyden, 1892-1910.

2 De Groot designates them under the name of " animism." This
word should be taken in the sense of belief in spirits, not, as is usual in
Germany, in the sense of the attribution of a soul to everylhing.

3 Jlrid., vol. vi, p. 1190.

856 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

regards the Wu-priesthood, so that it has been subject to
severe persecutions.

From the year 118 B.C. we have an account by a Chinese
princess of the possession of a Wu-pricst, 1 from the year
A.D. 25, another of the entry of a prince into a Wu-pricst; 2
and so the attestations continue throughout the various
periods.

Amongst these old stories there is one which is of particular
interest to us Europeans. It comes from the celebrated
Italian Marco Polo, who visited China at the end of the
thirteenth century. His testimony runs:

And let me tell you that in all those three provinces that I have
been speaking of, to wit Carajan, Vochan, and Vachi, there is never
a leech. But when any one is ill they send for the Devil-conjurors
who are the keepers of their idols. When these are conic the sick
man tells what ails him, and then the conjurors incontinently begin
playing on their instruments and singing and dancing; and the
conjurors dance to such a pitch that at last one of them will fall
to the ground lifeless, like a dead man. And then the devil entereth
into his body. And when his comrades see him in this plight they
begin to put questions to him about the sick man's ailment. And
he will reply: " Such and such a spirit hath been meddling with
the man, for that he hath angered the spirit and done it some
despite." Then they say : wt We pray thce to pardon him, and to
take of his blood or of his goods what thou wilt in consideration of
thus restoring him to health." And when they have so prayed, the
malignant spirit that is in the body of the prostrate man will
(mayhap) answer: " The sick man hath also done great despite to
such another spirit, and that one is so ill-disposed that it will not
pardon him on any account;" this at least is the answer they get
if the patient be like to die. But if he is to get better the answer
will be that they are to bring two sheep, or may be three; and to
brew ten or twelve jars of drink, very costly and abundantly spiced.
Moreover it will be announced that the sheep must be all black-
faced or of some other particular colour as it may happen ; and then
all those things arc to be offered in sacrilicc to such and such a spirit
whose name is given. And they are to bring so many conjurors
and so many ladies, and the business is to be done with a great
singing of lauds, and with many lights and store of good perfumes.
That is the sort of answer they get if the patient is to get well.
And then the kinsfolk of the sick man go and procure all that has
been commanded, and do as has been bidden, and the conjuror
who has uttered all that gets on his legs again.

So they fetch the sheep of the colour prescribed, and slaughter
them, and sprinkle the blood over such places as have been en-
joined, in honour and propitiation of the spirit. And the conjurors
come, and the ladies, in the number that was ordered, and when all
are assembled and everything is ready, they begin to dance and
sing and play in honour of the spirit. And they take flesh-broth,
and drink, and lign-aloes, and a great number of lights, and go

1 Ibid., pp. 1201 sq. a Md. 9 p. 1209.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 857

about liither and thitlicr, scattering the broth and the drink and
the meat also. And when they have done this for a while, again
shall one of the conjurors fall flat and wallow there foaming at the
mouth, and then the others will ask if he has yet pardoned the sick
man ? And sometimes he shall answer yes ! and sometimes he
shall answer no ! And if the answer be MO, they shall be told that
something or other has to be done all over again, and then he shall
be pardoned; so this they do. And when all that the spirit has
commanded lias been done with greut ceremony, then it will be
announced that the man is pardoned and shnll be speedily cured.
So when they at length receive such a reply, they announce that
it is all made up with the spirit, and that he is propitiated, and
they fall to eating with great joy mid mirth, and he who has been
lying lifeless on the ground gels up and takes his share. So when
they have all eaten and drunken, every man departs home. And
presently the sick man gets sound and well. 1

We see that the connection with primitive Shamanism is
here established in the clearest possible manner. The case
is not even one of relationship, but of veritable identity;
it is " Chinese Shamandom," as may still be recognized
to-day from the manner in which possession is provoked by
music. In times of epidemic there are also processions with
frenzied dances in which the priests wound themselves in the
Turkish manner with sabres and balls stuck with points.

A Chinese author writes :

" Among men the dead speak " through living persons whom they
throw into LI trance and the fc * wu, thrumming their black chords,
call down souls of the dead,"' which then speak through the mouths
of the wu. 3

In consequence of their accesses of possession in which
the spirits even of princely personages entered into them, the
influence of the Wu-priests was very considerable; from the
pttvely* Apolitical point of view it extended to the emperor.
Once more we are involuntarily reminded of the position of
the shamans amongst primitive peoples.

The capacity of the wu-ist priesthood to sec spirits, and to have
intercourse with them and understand them, naturally raised its
members to the rank of soothsayers through whom gods and
ancestors manifested their will and desires, and their decisions
about human fate. 3

As always, the documents are for the most part so laconic
that in spite of their fairly large number it is not possible to

1 J. Witle, Das Huch dcs Marco Polo als Quelle fur die Religions-
geschichte, Berlin, 1910. Quotation from Marco Polo is from Yule's
trans., London, 1871, vol. ii, pp. 53 sq.

2 De Groot, he. a'/., p. 1211. 3 Ibid., p. 1217.

858 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

form the desired exact idea of the states of the Wu-priests.
They are, moreover, in China often mingled with accounts of
parapsychic phenomena as to the credibility of which no well-
founded judgement can yet be given.

Possession by spirits is demonstrable in the ease of men as
well as women in the period round about 500 B.C. 1

Exactly as in the Shamanism of the Asiatic primitives
we find in Chinese Wu-Shamanism an inadequate distinction
between states of possession and visions, as well as alleged
prophecies, second sight, etc. From the material collected
by de Groot we may conclude in favour of the reality of pos-
session, but the discrimination of these other states, so
important from the psychological point of view, is not
achieved, so that we have no general survey. I do not know
whether the sources permitted of such discrimination.

A specially interesting feature is that certain aspects of
Wu-possession recall what we know of the Greek oracles,
particularly the Pythoness, in many ways.

Amongst the Wu-priests there is a certain body of elect
on whom devolves the duty of procuring ecstasy by macera-
tions, these priests being susceptible in the highest degree to
abnormal states.

They are called sin long i.e., " godly youths," or " youths who
have shen or divinity in themselves," or " youths who*be1ong to a
god." More popularly they are known as ki long, " divining
youth," or tang ki, " youthful diviners," even simply tdng /, or
" youths." They are, in fact, in the main young persons, and I have
never seen one of advanced age. My Chinese informants probably
spoke the truth when they asserted, that the eight characters which
constitute their horoscope or fate, are light, so that their constitu-
tion is so frail that they are bound to die young. We may then
admit that they must be a nervous, impressionable, hysterical
kind of people, physically and mentally weak, and therefore easily
stirred to ecstasy by their self-conviction that gods descend into
them; but such strain on their nerves cannot be borne for many
years, the less so because such possession requires self-mutilation
entailing considerable loss of blood.

Most of these dancing dervishes come from the lower class.
People of good standing seldom debase themselves to things which
were spoken of in terms of contempt by the holy I-yin thirty-five
centuries ago, however frequently they may have recourse to them
for revelation of unknown things. It is generally asserted, that the
capacity to be an animated medium for gods and spirits is no
acquisition, but a gift which manifests itself spontaneously. It
happens, indeed, especially at religious festivals, celebrated in
temples with great concourse of people, that a young man suddenly

1 Ibid., pp. 1190 sq.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 359

begins to hop, dance and waddle with wild or drowsy looks, and
nervous gestures of arms and hands. Bystanders grasp his arms
to sustain him, knowing that, while in this condition, his fail to the
ground may cause sudden death. All onlookers at once realize the
fact that one of the gods whose images stand in the temple or some
other spirit, has " seized the youth," lidh tdng, and the parish thus
will henceforth rejoice in the possession of one more medium for its
intercourse with the divine world. Some make obeisance to him,
or even prostrate themselves in worship, and in a few moments the
officiating sai kong is at hand, to devote all his attention to the
interesting case. Uttering efficacious spells, and blowing his
buffalo-horn with energy, he dispels all spectres which thwart the
divine spirit maliciously, and stiffen the tongue of the youth in
ecstasy. The latter now begins to moan; some incoherent talk
follows, mingled with cries ; but all this is oracular language which
reveals unknown things, for in the meantime one or two bystanders
have in reality brought the spirit into him, and thus made a seer
of him, by busily burning small paper sheets, denoted by the
significant name of khai gdn tsod, " paper for unsealing the eyes "
or " eye-opening papers." These sheets arc a very inferior kind of
paper, yellow coloured, and arc not even so large as a hand. By
means of a matrix of wood, some ten or twelve men are printed on
each in very slovenly fashion; sonic of these men have memorial
tablets in their hands, and are deemed to be messengers in official
costume; and the others are servants attending on them with
banners and canopies, and wild horses and carriages which complete
their equipment. The papers being burned, these men, horses
and things are set free, and straightway depart to fetch the spirit,
who but for such escort, suitable to its taste and dignity, would
refuse to come.

An association of men, as a rule bearing his own tribe-name, is
now quickly formed, anxious to attach themselves to the new found
" godly youth," and attract to their pockets a part of the profits
which his work, as prophet, seer, and exorcist will yield. Henceforth
they are frequently seen in this temple to conjure the spirit into
him and interpret the strange sounds he utters; and in the end it is
they alone who, by dint of experience and exercise, can understand
those inspired sounds and translate them into human language.
First of all they try to discover in this way the name of the spirit;
mdeed, they want it for their spells whenever they have to call him
'uufoiVSnto the medium, and, moreover, they want to know before
which image they have to do this. In this way it is almost
always discovered that the spirit is that of an idol of inferior rank,
seated or standing somewhere in a temple; for indeed, gods of a
notable rank in the divine world and therefore, least of all those
who occupy a place in the State Religion, will seldom deign to
descend into a material, impure human body, save under excep-
tional circumstances. . . .

Many ki tdng gods reside in images which stand on altars in
dwelling houses, enjoying a good reputation among the people
around for the many oracular hints which they give by the mouths
of their mediums, hints whereby the sick are cured, and blessings
of various kind obtained. . . .

When a consultation about a patient is to take place, one or more
of his relatives repair to the altar of the ki tong god, light candles
on it, and place on it a few dishes of food; and one of them having
taken burning incense-sticks in his clasped hands, whispers to the
idol the motives of their visit. The medium docs not show as yet

860 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

the slightest symptoms of possession, but is sitting at the altar-
table on a stool or form, quietly chatting with his club-brethren, 1
while two of these on either side repeatedly utter an incantation in
a chanting voice, in order to " invite or bid the spirit," meanwhile
they burn incense and " eye-opening papers," dropping the ashes
of the latter into a pot of water. The invocation is a formula
which professedly was uttered once upon a time by the god himself
by the mouth of his ki tong, with an additional promise to come
whenever he might hear it.

The symptoms of the descent of the spirit into the medium
shortly appear, that is to say, it effects the koan tang or " com-
munication with the medium." Drowsily staring, he shivers and
yawns, resting his arms on the table, and his head on his arms, as if
falling asleep; but as the incantation proceeds with increasing
velocity and loudness with the accompaniment of one or more
drums, and as the " eye-opening papers " are being burned in a
quicker succession, he suddenly jumps up to frisk and skip about.
Thus the spirit " sets the medium to hopping or dancing." Two
club-brethren grasp him, and force him back upon the form; which
is not always easy, and may require the full exertion of their
muscles. His limbs shake vehemently ; his arms knock on the table ;
his head arid shoulders jerk nervously from side to side, and his
staring eyes, half elosed, seem to gaze straight into a hidden world.
This is the proper moment for the consultant or the interpreter
to put his questions. Ineoherent shrill sounds arc the answer; but
the interpreter translates this divine language with the greatest
fluency into the intelligible human tongue, while another brother
writes these revelations down on paper. But the moment comes
for the spirit to announce in the same way its intention to depart.
This is a sign for a brother to beat a drum loudly ; and for another
to spurt over the medium a draught of the water in which the ashes
of the '* eye-opening papers " were dropped ; and for a third to burn
some gold paper money for the spirit, in order to reward it for its
revelations, and to buy its forgiveness, should it have been in-
voluntarily displeased or impolitely treated. And the medium
jumps up, sinks into the arms of "his brethren, or even to the
ground, as if in a swoon ; but he revives, rubs his eyes, gazes around,
and behaves like a normal man. This moment marks the t& tdng
of the spirit, its " retreat from the medium." It is asserted that
the man thereupon has not the slightest notion or recollection of
what has occurred to him, 2

This information from the celebrated sinologist de Groot
is particularly precious. It gives us a glimpse of the genesis
of a civilization of oracular divinities, and this with such
exactitude that no analogous evidence can be compared to it.
The parallel with Delphi forces itself upon us, and we might
even speak of identity; here as there we find a possessed
medium through whom a god speaks incomprehensible words
which are rendered into human speech by functionaries. If
it is decided to regard as mere priestly trickery the person and

1 Such a medium often becomes the centre of a kind of club.

2 De Groot, loc. cit. 9 pp. 1208-75.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 361

collaboration of the Pythoness, nevertheless genuinely pos-
sessed, the analogy is complete. It is probable that neither
at Delphi nor in China was the performance purely fraudulent.
Possession as described by de Groot naturally belongs to the
somnambulistic type.

Just as the oracles of Delphi had an extraordinary influence
on the political life of Greece, the declarations of the possessed
in China have had the same effect, as is evidenced in the
following account by von der Goltz :

When the Taoist and Buddhist priests act as mediums, it is
assumed that their soul leaves the body in order to give place to a
certain divinity. The medium sits down, his assistants arrange
the altar, burn incense and invoke the desired deity. After some
time one of them goes towards the medium and performs on him
various movements which produce a kind of unconsciousness.
This is the signal that the medium's soul has left his body and that
the divinity has taken possession of the momentarily empty vessel.
All that the medium says from this moment onwards is considered
as coming directly from the divinity. Exhibitions are given in
Canton (according to Dennys, Folklore, etc.), with hypnotized
persons. The performer reads to the subject certain magic spells
after which the state of somnambulism is produced. In this state
the subject performs the most marvellous gymnastic feats, although
he has not learnt them. According to the Chinese the body, which
the soul has abandoned during the hypnotic sleep, is taken by
the soul of a dead fencing-master. But this superstition is not
confined to deceased heads of families, feiieiiig-niasters and divini-
ties of the Taoist and Buddhist Pantheon. In the religious sect
of the Slmng-ti-hui, an association of worshippers of gods whose
leaders became later the " kings "" of the Taiping rebellion, it
happened that when the sect had assembled for divine service
one or other of the members had a fit, so that he fell down and his
body was bathed in sweat. In this state of ecstasy he then uttered
exhortations, reproaches and predictions. The phrases were often
unintelligible, but generally rhythmical in arrangement. Yang-
.hsjiireii'ing, later M King of the East," claimed that " Tien-fu,"
he heavenly father, used to descend from heaven to take possession
of his body and speak by his mouth. Hsiao-chao-kuei, the u King
of the West," proclaimed himself possessed by Jesus Christ. . . - 1

Beside the above-mentioned form of possession there is
another similar one designated by the name of " Spirit-
hopping."

Hardly to be distinguished from the performances of the Shamans
is also the Tiao-shan, literally spirit-hopping, as it is described
by Liao-chai-chi-i. Here is a translation of the relevant descrip-
tion. In the Tsi country (i.e., Shantung) it is customary for the
women of a family when someone is ill to call in an old witch who
acts as medium. She beats a tambourine stretched upon an iron

1 Von der Goltz, Zauberei und Ilcxenkiinste in China ("Ges. fur
Natur- und Volkerkunde Ostasiens," vol. vi, 1893-97, p. 21).

362 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

frame and executes dances which arc called " Tiao-shan," spirit-
jumps. At Pckin this pernicious custom is far more freely observed ,
and young women of good family often meet together to execute
these dances. On a table in the reception-room of the house
offerings of wine and meat arc laid out, and the room is brightly
lighted with large tapers. The medium who executes the dance
tucks up her clothes, bends one log and with the other executes the
shan-yang dance. Two of the assembled women and girls support
her, one on either side. The dancer mutters without intermission
unintelligible words which seem to be now song and now rhythm.
The words are not consecutive, but arc subject to a certain rhythm.
Meanwhile drums resound with a deafening din which contributes
still further to make the dancer's words incomprehensible. Finally
the latter's head droops and she begins to squint. She can no
longer stand upright and would fall were it not for the help of her
supporters. Suddenly she stretches her neck and leaps a foot into
the air with joy. At this signal all the women present cry: '* The
ancestors have come to eat the offerings." Then the lights are
put out and complete darkness reigns. The company hold their
breath and dare not speak, and would not, moreover, be heard
because of the noise of drumming. Suddenly the dancer calls by
name the father, mother, husband or wife (i.e., one of the deceased
heads of the family). As it is customary to refrain out of respect
from naming any of the elders, this is the sign that the spirit of one
of them has entered into the medium. The tapers are relighted
and the curious begin to put their questions concerning the future
or other matters which arc of interest to them. They sec as soon
as the lights are put on again that the food and drink have dis-
appeared from the table (whether these have been eaten by the
medium or her assistants or someone else is not stated in the text).
It is seen from the dancer's face whether the spirit which has just
manifested itself is well or badly disposed. To each question an
answer is given. . . .*

The Manchu women believe firmly in these spirit-apparitions and
seek as soon as they arc in any doubt to procure a decision in this
way.

Often mediums armed with a long lance seem to be riding a horse
or tiger and execute wild dances on the wooden plank which repre-
sents the sofa in Chinese houses. This is called the t'iao-hu-shen
(tiger- spirit-hopping). During the dance the tiger or horse utters
terrifying cries. ...

Should a man dare to look on secretly during the seance, the
lance pierces the window, snatches his headgear from him and
carries it off into the room where all the assembled women members
of the family jerk round one after another in an apparently inde-
fatigable goose-step.

According to some Chinese to whom Liao-chai's text was sub-
mitted and who were consulted in the matter, spirit-hopping
is still performed in the same way in modern Pekin. This dance
enjoys great favour amongst the women of the imperial palace
and must be executed at least once a year in the dwellings of
the princes and notables of the imperial court. 2

Mrs. Howard Taylor, with whose accounts of spontaneous
possession in China we have already dealt, also had experi-
ence of possession in mediums from which it emerges that, as
1 Sec Appendix. 2 Jbid., pp. 17-10.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 863

in India, the possession of Chinese mediums has a strongly
marked character of compulsion, and is, moreover, extremely
exhausting to them. Just as it is said that the Batak mediums
of Sumatra when affected by particularly violent states die
young, we find in Mrs. Howard Taylor a case of death attri-
butable to possession. European doctors residing in China
would earn our gratitude by investigating more narrowly such
cases where the organism breaks down under the influence of
compulsive states. Nor must we forget Father Tranquille of
Loudon who also died under possession. 1 Mrs. Taylor writes
of the cultivation of possession :

Specially in North China is this (the practice of spiritualism)
common, where Taoist and Buddhist priests alike obtain great
influence and financial profit from communications, real or pre-
tended, with the unseen world. . . . Men and women who in
western lands would be described as spirit-mediums abound.
There is scarcely a village in the Shan-si plain without one. Some
calamity befalls a family illness or disaster. Send for the medium
at once. She comes, and is respectfully welcomed. Incense is
offered before the idols, for the medium always plays into the hands
of the priests. She sits down, usually in the seat of honour in the
guest-house, and soon relapses into a curious trance. This is done
by yielding the whole being, absolutely, to the familiar spirit.
The medium just waits, like an empty vessel, for the advent of the
influence desired. Suddenly:

" Shen-lai-liao, shen-lai-liao !" The spirit has come !

The medium is now possessed, filled, transported. She speaks
in a new voice, with great authority, and declares what the trouble
is and how it may be remedied. More paper money and incense are
burned, and more prostrations made before the idols; while gradu-
ally, with horrible contortions, she comes out of the trance again. 2

A striking feature in these cases is the apparent inability of the
mediums to shake off the control of the terrible power to which
they have yielded. Unsought, and contrary to their own desire,
.^V^t irmastering influence comes back, no matter how they may
struggle against it. One case of the kind occurred near Ping Yang
about this time, and is recorded by the missionary who witnessed it.

A well-known medium, who for many years had made his living
by the practice, finding his health and nervous system greatly
impaired, decided to give it up. Though only sixty years of age,
he was so worn and haggard that he looked at least twenty years
older. The struggle was long and terrible. In spite of all his
efforts, the old tyranny reasserted itself again and again, until
deliverance seemed impossible. He was about to give up in
despair, when providentially he came into contact with some
P'ing Yang Christians. Just how much he understood and received
of the Gospel is not known, but through prayer and a measure of
faith in Christ he obtained considerable relief.

1 Vide supra, pp. 117 sq.

8 The above is an exact description of one scene of this sort witnessed
by the writer in the women's apartments of a house in North China.

864 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

But a night came when he was returning from the city by himself,
and had to pass a sacred tree in a lonely spot, believed to be the
dwelling-place of demons. As he drew near, an overwhelming
impulse came upon him to fall down and worship as in former
times. Desperately he resisted, but the inward urging was too
strong. He stopped, fell on his knees, and bowed his forehead
repeatedly to the ground. Immediately the old possession came
back in redoubled force, and the misery he suffered was appalling.

Those about him sent for the Christians, and later on for the
missionary, from whose memory the despairing look in those poor,
hunted eyes will never be effaced. lie was nearing the cud then,
for the physical and the mental anguish of his condition were more
than the shattered powers could withstand. But prdyer again pre-
vailed. The distressed soul turned to Christ for deliverance, and
shortly afterwards, in peace that was not of this world, he died. 1

According to Bastian there is a verbal distinction between
possession by evil spirits and possession by the nymphs
(soothsaying), both in Chinese and Japanese. 2

In many cases the possessing spirits amongst the Chinese
are animal in character. This is what von dcr Goltz says:

In Tientsin there exisls a popular belief in the superhuman
qualities of the live families of animals. The professional mediums
(k'an-hsiang, incense-burners) make their living by them. In
Suchuang near Tientsin lives an old woman named Cheng. At
the beginning of this month she suddenly fell ill and asserted that
she was possessed by a member of the live animal families. The
spirit of the possessed begun to speak and said that his name was
Lin (Lin is the word for a willow-tree, but in I his case means
serpent) a native of the lower Yangtse valley. The son of the
possessed woman then in \ited an "incense-seer" named Yen to
come into the house. When Yen came the snake cried out:
" It is very good that Master Yen is here, I have been waiting for
him for a long time. We are five in all of the Lin family, come from
the valley of the Yarigtse, five have for the moment gone elsewhere
and will return at the end of four or five days, then we will go
southwards together." Thereupon Yen replied: "But this is a
woman and the mother of a family; how can you dare to enter into
her ?" The snake replied : " Can you then find me anot/ierTnjuTIe *'"
" We have here a very fine temple to the god of war, you can live
there for the time being until you leave witli your relatives."
" The god of war is a true god, how should I dare to dp that ?"
" That does not matter, I will give you an incense-taper with which
you can enter the temple in all security." Then the snake left
the woman Cheng who immediately became well again.

Through the building of the imperial pleasure-palaces near
Wan-shou-shan (west of Pekin) a great number of snakes have,
according to the inhabitants of the capital, been deprived of their
dwelling-places ; nothing remains for these animals except to seek
a new habitation in man, and the inhabitants drive a roaring trade
in consequence. 3

1 Mrs. Howard Taylor, Pastor Hsi, pp. 160-162.

2 A. Bastian, Die Volker dc$ bsttichen Asien, vol. iii, p. 287, note.

8 Von dcr Goltz, toe. cit., p. 24. Extract from an article published
in a Chinese newspaper at Pekin.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 365

From eastern Asia we now turn to European civilization
together with its derivative in North America. Here too
we still find " artificial possession " at the present day, or,
more exactly, we rediscover it, for in the period of " Enlighten-
ment " it had all but disappeared. But since the middle
nineteenth century it has once more attained to a much
enhanced measure of consideration and practice; it finds no
place in orthodox culture, but under the surface there is a
pretty strong current which results in the rendering of a
sort of cult to these states. This is spiritualism. Unlike
belief in the devil and in possession as professed by the
Catholic Church, this is not a belief founded on centuries of
authority, but on relatively new convictions. Spiritualism
originated towards the middle of the nineteenth century in
America and from thence passed to Europe where it has
become more or less widely disseminated in all countries.

There is a remarkable contrast between the various
civilized nations. The classical conception of the universe
which does not recognize free spirits in the world, has won its
most comprehensive victory in Germany, where in consequence
of the riot of speculation in the Romantic period the condi-
tions were most favourable to victory. This has not, however,
been complete.

Du Prel has become the most scientific thinker of the
proclaimed spiritualists. Amongst others we should mention
C. Z. Zoellner, the founder of astrophysics, as well as the
philosopher Fechncr, who was manifestly and completely con-
vinced of the possibility of intercourse with the spirits of the
d< ad, although he considered it a derangement of the normal
relations between the present and the Beyond. Amongst
psychologists Messer now seems desirous of leaving open the
possibility of such communication, 1 which would entail the
concession of a partial return to the earlier doctrine of
possession.

Anglo-Saxon civilization has shown itself much more in-
clined to the revival of the mediaeval conception of life.
William James, the most important psychologist and philo-
sopher that America lias yet produced, may be considered as
a partisan of spiritualism, although as might be expected from
a person of his scientific eminence he gave a wide berth to
1 A. Messer, Psychologie, Stuttgart, 1914, p. 367.

368 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

dogmatism. 1 In England physicists of the importance of
Crookes and Lodge have adhered to spiritualism entirely on
the ground of the peculiar states of possession seen in certain
mediums, but yet more characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon
countries than these single names is the vast spread of the
spiritualist movement. It is still more surprising that the
land which gave birth to the new physiological materialism
and indeed to the European movement of enlightenment,
France herself, should have proved increasingly accessible
to these ideas. 2

A whole complex of abnormal phenomena, some authentic,
some contested, some counterfeit, forms the basis on which the
new belief in spirits is built. The works of its partisans deal
with a varied collection of manifestations such as telepathy,
spirit-rapping, luminous apparitions, trances, automatic
writing, inspiration, mcdiumistic drawings, telckinesia,
materialization and yet others. In various periods and circles
now one and now another phenomenon prevails and is, so to
speak, in fashion. Only one group interests us here: certain
states of trance which are nearly related to possession. It is
difficult to say how frequent in point of numbers these states
may be; this depends, as we have said, on fashion, for pos-
session is susceptible in a high degree of psychological culti-
vation.

The mediumistic trances which we are about to study are
nothing more nor less than the substitution of another person-
ality for the normal. These are not states of tumultuous
excitement such as were presented by the energumens, but the
essential factor, the transformation of the personality, ,,is
reproduced in them. By these states of trance the modern
world joins hands with that of primitive religion; spiritualism
and the Bataks alike believe in the possibility of intercourse
with deified ancestors. It is a definitely religious movement,
its followers receiving the mediums' manifestations with
astonished awe and admiration; they are filled with intense

1 William James never professed the spiritualist faith. He did not
go beyond recognizing the parapsychic faets and rather pronounced in
favour of a " cosmic consciousness " as the source of supernormal
knowledge. Cf . my edition of the works of W. James, jStudes et reflexions
(Tun psychiste, Paris, 1925 (R. Sudre).

2 Amongst the lower and uneducated classes, but spiritualism has
not penetrated amongst the aristocracy of intellect and no eminent
scientist has made overt profession of it (R. Sudrc).

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 367

fervour and deep inward conviction, on account of their
belief in a future life and the possibility of intercourse with
those who have " passed over." 1 For this reason the move-
ment renders it possible for investigators to study on living
subjects manifestations of the religious life which would other-
wise belong to the past, or rather it might so permit if spirit-
ualist circles were less prejudiced against scientific research
and conversely if psychologists showed a greater interest in
this mine of remarkable psychological phenomena.

A few examples will serve to evidence the nature of spirit-
ualist possession. The cases which have been thoroughly
studied are much richer in psychic material than the mass of
those which occur daily in spiritualistic stances when someone
present more often than not a woman falls into a som-
nambulistic state and " a spirit " then speaks through her.

A particularly well observed and highly complex case is
that of Hdlene Smith, pseudonym of a Genevese medium whom
Flournoy subjected to a thorough study. She manifested a
whole series of states of spiritualistic possession i.e., states
in which the organism was alleged to be occupied by strange
spirits. Spiritualists often speak of " incarnations." Now
it was the spirit of Marie Antoinette, now that of a celebrated
eighteenth-century magician Cagliostro, now those of alleged
Martians. We have already reproduced the account which
Flournoy gives of the incarnation of Cagliostro (p. 18).

Jung has described another case, not, however, of the same
rich complexity, concerning a girl:

In her somnambulistic conversations she copied with extreme
skill deceased relations and friends with all their peculiarities, so
* that she made a lasting impression on impartial observers. She
also, for instance, copied persons known to her by description only,
and this in so striking a manner that those who witnessed it could
not deny her at the least a very remarkable dramatic talent.
Gradually to mere words were added gestures which finally led to
" attitudes passionnelles " and even dramatic scenes. She assumed
attitudes of prayer and ecstasy in which she spoke with shining
eyes and a really seductive diction, ardent and passionate. She
then used only literary German which, in marked contrast to her
uncertain and confused bearing in the waking state, she spoke with
the utmost confidence and mastery. Her movements were quite
free, full of gracious dignity and reflected her changing moods in
the most admirable way. 2

1 The works of Hans Freimark contain a good critical survey of the
spiritualist world.

2 C. G. Jung, Zur Psychologic und Pathologic sogcnannter okkulter
Phdnomcnc, Leipzig, 1902, p. 24.

368 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

No fundamentally new phenomenon appears in these
descriptions, they are somnambulistic imitations either of
historical personages or else of pure phantasies. In my
Phanomenologie des Ich I have already examined in detail
the psychological genesis of these states, and shall therefore
not return to them here. I can only give in a general way
examples of the form assumed by possession in modern
spiritualism.

In some although rare cases, there occur states of
possession in which the individual preserves his understanding
and docs not fall into somnambulism.

Helene Smith also had such states. Here is a particularly
well described example in which we sec the recrudescence of
the primitive idea that possession is caused by a strange spirit
possessed of a sort of ctheric body penetrating spatially into
the body of the possessed.

. . . There arc also cases of conscious fusion, in which Helene
undergoes and experiences a coalescence between her coenesthesia
and that of Leopold (Cagliostro). It is a state of consciousness
sui generis, of which no adequate description is possible, and which
can only be imagined by analogy with those curious states, excep-
tional in the normal waking life but less rare in dreams, when we
feel ourselves change and become another person.

Helene has more than once told me that she has had the im-
pression of becoming and of momentarily being Leopold. This
happens to her during the night or particularly on waking in the
morning ; she first has a fugitive vision of her cavalier, and then he
seems to pass gradually into her, she feels him as it were invade
and penetrate her whole organic substance as if he became herself
or she him. It is, in short, a spontaneous incarnation without
loss of consciousness or memory, and she would certainly give no
other description of her ccencsthesic impressions if at the end of the
seances where she has personified Cagliostro with tajat muscles,
thickened neck, bust drawn up, etc., she preserved the memory
of what she had felt during that metamorphosis. These hybrid
states in which the consciousness and powers of reflection of
the normal self persist while the second personality takes possession
of the organism are of extreme interest to the psychologist. Un-
fortunately, either because they arc generally blotted out or because
the mediums who remember them cannot or will not give an account
of them, we rarely obtain detailed descriptions apart from analo-
gous observations gleaned from the insane. 1

In the case described by Jung these semi-somnambulistic
and lucid states of possession show the following traits: the
girl begins by assuming a character totally different from her

1 Th. Flournoy, Des Indes a la planete Mars, Paris-Geneva, 1900,
p. 117.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 369

ordinary one, and which is then fully developed in somnam-
bulism. She

. . . finds herself for some time before and after the fits of som-
nambulism proper in a state predominantly characterized by what
must be described as "absent-mindedness." The patient only
shares in the conversation with half an ear, replies in a preoccupied
manner, and is often subject to all sorts of hallucinations: her
bearing is dignified, her glance ecstatic and extremely brilliant.
Closer observation shows a profound change in her whole character;
she is grave, reserved; when she speaks it is always of serious
matters ; in this slate she can express herself forcefully and with
penetration, so that one is almost reduced to wondering if this
is really a little girl of fifteen and a half years; one has the im-
pression of dealing with a mature woman possessed at the least
of outstanding dramatic talent. The patient's gravity and earnest-
ness are entirely due to the fact that she is, according to her own
statement, on the borders of this world and Ihe next and is as
closely in touch with the spirits of the dead as with living men. In
effect her conversation is divided between replies to objectively
real questions and to hallucinations. 1

The semi-somnambulistic possession in a case related by
Frcimark is both striking and instructive. It concerns a
young sculptor who for a long period served as a medium for
incarnations. In this state he was subject to semi-somnam-
bulism in which visiting spirits seemed to take possession of
his body. One of these spirits, an alleged Circassian named
Tia, so charmed a friend of the sculptor that he fell in love
with her in him, and the sculptor remained in a state of trance
for half a day at a time in order to please his friend. Amongst
the spirits which seemed to manifest themselves were others
whose characters were a source of unpleasantness. The case
was obviously one of semi-somnambulism or, as we have said
ajbovc, of ! >icid possession.

The drawback wsis that amongst the growing number of spirits
who communicated through me there were* some definitely anti-
pathetic. These brought on all sorts of terrible fits; I abused and
struck my friend and threatened him with a knife, all against my
will. Tears came to my eyes when I had to behave in this way,
but nevertheless an extraneous force compelled me.

The unhappy state of these relations led the sculptor's
friend one day to ask him whether he would change person-
alities with Tia. Obviously a most remarkable request ! But
not so much more remarkable than when Felida, Azam's cele-
brated patient who suffered from alternation of personality, felt
at times when something caused her unhappiness in her normal

1 Jung, loc. cit. t p. 63.

24

870 THE DISTRIBUTION OP POSSESSION

state, a longing for her second personality, in which, as she
was aware, she forgot all that she had lived and suffered in
the first. It must be added that Tia herself, that is, the
sculptor in his somnambulistic Tia-states, had expressed this
desire. We are familiar with this kind of psychic " osmosis "
between somnambulistic and normal states of personality
from other cases such as that related by Lemaitre. 1 But
let us allow the sculptor to speak for himself:

Thanks to all these episodes the nervous irritation of both my
friend and myself was steadily intensified. Thus I was not sur-
prised when one day he asked me to exchange with Tia. She had,
it was said, made this proposal (the sculptor was evidently in a
complete state of somnambulism when he inearnated Tia, so that he
remembered nothing of these occasions). She wanted to enter into
me, and during that time my soul and spirit would take up their
abode in an intermediate sphere. Absurd as this proposal seems
to me after a lapse of years, although I have become a spiritualist,
I found it at that time and under th* pressure of these strange
experiences, perfectly natural. Nevertheless for a long time I
refused. The growing tension between my friend and myself
finally induced me, for love of him I loved him dearly to fall in
with this proposal . The exchange of souls, if it may be so expressed ,
took place. I fell into a deep sleep, and when 1 awoke I was Tia :
or else Tia was myself; I do not know how to explain the thing.
I was completely different in every way. All my thoughts and
sensations were transformed. I only lived, or properly speaking,
Tia only lived, in my friend. My name must no longer be pro-
nounced in his presence, and Tia executed this faithfully. Was I
therefore Tia ? For I could hardly have been capable of such
a self-repudiation. Externally I of course remained the same
person and passed as such; only the expression of my face must
have changed.

Extraneous events, the fact that he was summoned to P. whither
Tia or I, I or Tin, could not accompany him, put an end to this
affair. He left for 1*. ; Tia was still within me. A fortnight after
his departure she went to the heath at D., where sjje sat down
upon the grass; she or I had a feeling that everything was whirling
round, it seemed to her I hat part of herself was being torn a\yay.
Then she lost consciousness, and when I came to myself again I
found that I was once more myself. The .spiritualist haunting
for so at that moment the years through which I had lived appeared
to me ceased from that time onwards. Tia (that is, the sculptor
in somnambulistic or intermediate, semi-somnambulistic states
such as often occurred in Hclcne Smith's case) did no more than
write from time to time through me a letter to my friend, who
had an intense longing for her. To write these letters I always fell
into a trance, as formerly when I wrote during the stances. 2

This confession is like the narrative, done into present-
day speech, of the ecclesiastic Surin which we studied in

1 Cf. pp. 70 sq.

2 II. Freimark, Okkultismus und Sesewdilat, Leip'/ig (110 date), p. 376.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 371

detail. 1 The essential expressions are repeated almost word
for word. Neither person rightly knows whether he should use
" I " or the name of the spirit which seems to have taken
possession of him. The reader will also recall the words of
the Tonga Islander to Mariner. 2

Accounts cited up to the present contain nothing beyond
the ordinary run of well-known psychological phenomena.
But these are not all; the most important mediums present,
simultaneously with states of possession, extremely singular
parapsychic phenomena. They can, for example, in this
state read the minds of those around them and penetrate not
only their actual state of consciousness but also and especially
their most recent memories. They are able to give an account
of past experiences on the part of persons whom they have
never known. What is more, they can often reveal particulars
concerning absent persons and their past when given objects
which have belonged to them. It is as if they read in these
objects the history of their owners, or as if the objects were
surrounded by an " aura " of past which they arc able to
decipher. We cannot, of course, enter here into the psycho-
logy of mediums and of parapsychic phenomena in general;
a single example will serve to elucidate the preceding state-
ments. It is borrowed from the most famous, the most
minutely and lengthily studied of the mediums of this kind,
Mrs. Piper, an American.

In her earlier period she was possessed in her trances by
an alleged spirit of the name of Phinuit. Possession was
somnambulistic. Richet thus describes it according to Sage:

In oifler to fall into a trance she must hold someone's hand.
She holds it silently for some minutes in semi-obscurity. After a
certain time from live lo fifteen minutes she is subject to slight
convulsive movements which augment in intensity and finally
result in a slight epilcptoid lit. On coming out of this fit she falls,
with a sort of rattling in the throat, into a state of torpor which does
not last more than one or two minutes ; then she suddenly comes
out of the torpor with a cry. The voice has changed ; it is no longer
Mrs. Piper but another personality, Doctor Phinuit, who has a
strong masculine voice and speaks a mixture of French, American,
and negro dialect. 3

In this state Mrs. Piper makes the most remarkable revela-
tions concerning the name, personal relationships and past

1 Cf. pp. 50 sq. 2 cf. pp. 278 sq.

8 M. Sage, Mine. Piper et la Societt anglo-amtricaine pour les re-
cherchespsychiques, Paris, 1922.

372 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

of the entirely unknown persons who are brought to her.
W. James, who also studied her, was convinced from the time
of the first stance that the medium had supernormal faculties,
a conviction which was only strengthened by the subsequent
investigations. From that time onwards it may be said that
Mrs. Piper has remained constantly under scientific control
and has always given the same results. The alleged spirits
change and are innumerable, but the abnormal knowledge
manifested in the trances remains constant. On awakening
from the trance Mrs. Piper knows nothing of what has taken
place in that state. She learns it from the reports when she
looks through them.

By way of illustration, here is an extract from the report
of a stance which Oliver Lodge held with Mrs. Piper and in
which she had two different incarnations (Phinuit, Mr. E.).
Notes were taken by his brother, Albert Lodge.

Sitting No. 47. Evening of Christmas Day, 1889, 6.20 p.m.
Present O. J. L. and A. L. (taking notes).

" Captain, do you know that as I came I met the medium going
out, and she's crying. What is that ?"

O. L. : " Well, the fact is she's separated from her ehildren for a
few days, and she is feeling rather low about it."

" How are you, Alfred ? I've your Mother's influence strong.
(Pause.) By George ! that's your Aunt Anne's ring (feeling ring I
had put on my hand just before sitting), given over to you. And
Oily dear, that's one of the last things I ever gave you. It was
one of the last things I said to you in the body, when I gave it you
for Mary. I said : ' For her, through you/ " (This is precisely
accurate. The ring was her most valuable trinket, and it was given
in the way here stated long before her death.)

O. L. : " Yes, I remember perfectly."

"I tell you I know it. I shall never forget it. ^ Keep it in
memory of me, for I am not dead. Each spirit is not so dim (V)
that it cannot recollect its belongings in the body. They attract
us if there has been anything special about them. I tell you, my
boy, I can see it just as plain as if I were in the body. It was the
last thing I gave you, for her, through you, always in remembrance
of ine. (Further conversation and advice, ending.) Convince
yourself, and let others do the same. We are all liable to make
mistakes; but you can see for yourself. Here's a gentleman wants
to speak to you."

** Lodge, how are you ? I tell you I'm living, not dead. That's
me. You know me, don't you ?"

O. L. : " Yes. Delighted to see you again."

" Don't give it up, Lodge. Cling to it. It's the best thing you
have. It's coarse in the beginning, but it can be ground down
fine. You'll know best and correct (?). It can only come through
a trance. You have to put her in a trance. You've got to do it
that way to make yourself known."

O. L. : " Is it bad for the medium ?"

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 373

" It's the only way, Lodge. In one sense it's bad, but in another
it's good. It is her work. If I take possession of the medium's
body and she goes out, then 1 can use her organism to tell the world
important truths. There is an infinite power above us. Lodge,
believe it fully. Infinite over all; most marvellous. One can tell
a medium, she's like a ball of light. You look as dark and material
as possible, but we find two or three ligh ts shining. It's like a series
of rooms with candles at one end. Must use analogy to express it.
When you need a light you use it, when you have finished you put
it out. They arc like transparent windows to see through. Lodge,
it's a puzzle. It's a puzzle to us here in a way, though we under-
stand it better than you. I work at it hard, 1 do. I'd give any-
thing I possess to find out. I don't care for material things now,
our interest is much greater. I'm studying hard how to communi-
cate; it's not easy. Hut it is only a matter of short time before
1 shall be able to tell the world all sorts of things through one
medium or another. (And so on for some time.) Lodge, keep
up your courage, there is a quantity to hope for yet. Hold it up
for a time. Don't be in a hurry. Get facts; no matter what they
call you, go on investigating. Test to fullest. Assure yourself,
then publish. It will be all right in the end no question about it.
It's true."

O. L. : " You have seen my Uncle Jerry, haven't you ?"

" Yes, I met him a little while ago a very clever man had an
interesting talk with him."

O. L. : '" What sort of person is this Dr. Phinuit ?"

" Dr. Phinuit is a peculiar type of man. He goes about con-
tinually, and is thrown in with everybody. He is eccentric and
quaint, but good-hearted. I wouldn't do the things he does for
anything, lie lowers himself sometimes* it's a great pity. He
has very curious ideas about things and people ; he receives a great
deal about people from themselves (?). And he gets expressions
and phrases that one doesn't care for, vulgar phrases he picks up
by meeting uncanny people through the medium. These things
tickle him, and he goes about repeating them. He has to interview
a great number of people, and has no easy berth of it. A high type
of man couldn't do the work he docs. But he is a good-hearted
old fellow. Good-bye, Lodge. Here's the Doctor coming."

O. L.: "Good-bye, K. Glad to have had a chat with you."
(Doctors voice reappears.) " This (ring) belongs to your Aunt.
Your Uncle Jerry tells me to ask. ... By the way, do you know
Mr. E's been here did you hear him V"

O. L. : " Yes, I've had a long talk with him."

" Wants you to ask Uncle Bob about his cane. He whittled it
out himself. It has a crooked handle with ivory on the top.
Bob has it, and has initials cut in it. (There is a stick, but descrip-
tion inaccurate.). . ." 1

This report gives a clear idea of the nature of the Piper
case, the stance-records of which fill whole volumes. In
essentials it recalls numerous others which we have already
met; the somnambulistic personalities pretend to be spirits
who have entered into the medium and who have intercourse

1 Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, \ol. vi, p. 5 15.

3r4 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

with other spirits. There is nevertheless this difference,
that Mrs. Piper in a state of trance possesses knowledge
which she could not normally have acquired (with which are
mingled errors, as the report shows). An enquiry lasting
over several years, during which time her whole life was under
unremitting observation by detectives, puts this matter
beyond doubt, without, however, rendering possible any firm
decision as to the nature of her parapsychic functions. 1
Naturally these supernormal phenomena have largely con-
tributed to make the Piper case serve as a basis for the
development of spiritualist doctrine in Anglo-American
literature.

These examples may suffice to illustrate the forms of
possession which appear in modern spiritualism. Exhaustive
treatment is here absolutely out of the question and just as
impossible as a complete survey of all the cases of demoniacal
possession in Christian civilization. Modern spiritualist
literature gives them in very large numbers. 2

There are, moreover, other and more frequent phenomena
often designated in spiritualist circles by the name of " pos-
session " or " invasion by a strange spirit." Amongst these
is automatic writing, in which the medium's hand seems to
write in an entirely mechanical manner, without his partici-
pation or previous knowledge, communications apparently
corresponding to an individuality other than his own.

In the realm of speech there is an analogous phenomenon:
automatic speech or glossolalia, in which the mouth speaks
without the subject willing or even knowing what it says; he
learns it only while speaking, from the sound of his own wordsY
This state is also sometimes designated as possession, as, for
example, by W. James. 3

Even visions, real or alleged, and prophecies made in a kind
of autohypnotic state have been subject to this description.
We cannot here deal with these subjects, but let us at least

1 In my works Grundbcgriffe der Parapsychologie, Pfullingen, 1921,
and Der Okkultismus im modernen Weltbild, Dresden, 1021, 1 have tried
to explain these phenomena, without recourse to spiritualist
doctrine. Cf . also Rene Sudre, Introduction a la Metapsychique humainc,
Paris, 1926.

2 The starting-point of this literature is the complete works of Allan
Kardcc, particularly the Livre des mediums, which has in a certain sense
become classic.

3 W. James, Psychology, London, 1892, p. 212.

VOLUNTARY POSSESSION: HIGHER CIVILIZATIONS 375

observe that such an extension of terminology has occurred
more particularly in English literature. A case in point of an
author stretching the term " possession " to cover one pro-
vince after another is furnished by Andrew Lang, owing to
the fact that he starts from a definition of possession which,
together with changes of personality, embraces also para-
psychic phenomena.

They (the possessed) speak in voices not their own, they act in a
manner alien to their natural character, they are said to utter
prophecies, and to display knowledge which they could not have
normally acquired, and, in fact, do not consciously possess, in their
normal condition. 1

Such summary definitions arc rarely to the purpose.
They make things accidentally juxtaposed (whose inner con-
nection meanwhile escapes us) into an entity and then ticket
this with a specific name. If phenomena forming only a part
of this whole are subsequently encountered in real life, the
authors generally apply to the part the name appropriate
only to the whole, a proceeding which gives rise to intolerable
confusion, since the same designation is used alternately for
the whole complex and for mere partial conditions.

It is otherwise with the admission of automatic writing
and glossolalia into the realm of phenomena described as
possession, inasmuch as here the lay observer will doubtless
gain the impression that a second soul has entered into the
subject. These states have not been dealt with in the present
work, in spite of the fact that they centre round demoniacal
possession as known to us from the New Testament. But
their rebvtionship to it is only limited, and an examination of
states in which the " existing " second personality appears
to be entirely unknown, would have grossly exceeded the
compass of this work. They must therefore be held over for
separate treatment. 2

1 Andrew Lang, The Making of Religion, 2nd edit., London, 1900,
ch. vii, p. 129.

2 Those interested in such questions may consult the works of
Pierre Janet, Bmet, and Morton Prince.

CONCLUSION

THE foregoing documents have placed beyond doubt the wide
distribution of the phenomena of possession over the habitable
globe. However much they may differ in detail, at bottom
they are all identical. Their importance from the point of view
of the history of religion is profound but rigidly circumscribed :
they are mainly responsible for inspiring and maintaining
belief in the existence of demons and the survival of the souls
of the dead, as well as a certain intercourse between these
latter and the living world. They are not alone in this in
primitive states of civilization dreams must be added but
they arc the most important and active factor.

The dominant conception of the present time is that no
psychic life supervenes except in the presence of a material
vehicle and that no spirit, either pure or possessed only of*
an etheric body, exists in this world. Now this idea, which
has become one of the most firmly established constituents of
our present-day outlook on life, is completely new as measured
by the standard of history. It is another of the fruits of the
" Age of Enlightenment," the importance of which has been
so profoundly underestimated and which contains the roots
of nearly every fundamental conception of our scientific
thought. It may be said without exaggeration that the
whole of the preceding centuries theoretically regarded the
air as filled with demons, peopled with spirits of all sorts.
The extent to which possession contributed to produce that
belief is abundantly demonstrated by the fact that at the
present time belief in a spirit-world resuscitates wherever
kindred states are manifested; observers without a thorough
preliminary knowledge of psychology are absolutely convinced
that they arc in the presence of a " spirit." Once produced,
this belief must in turn have reacted very strongly on
possession and produced it with great frequency.

It is not easy to exaggerate the importance of this belief
in spirits.

Side by side with its function of exciting and maintaining

376

CONCLUSION 877

amongst mankind a belief in the existence of spirits and
demons, possession has yet another significance, religious in
character and intimately bound up with the first. Together
with o"" "piousness of the presence of spirits it produces an
impression of horror, of something sinister, and in general all
the sentiments of tremendum of which Rudolf Otto has given
an excellent analysis, demonstrating also their importance
in primitive religion. 1

By the artificial provocation of possession primitive man
has, moreover, to a certain degree had it in his power to pro-
cure voluntarily at a set time the conscious presence of the
metaphysical, and the desire to enjoy that consciousness of
the divine presence offers a strong incentive to cultivate states
of possession, quite apart from the need to ask advice and
guidance from the spirits. 2

The French missionary Junod has particularly stressed
this effect of possession in the book mentioned earlier in
this work.

I will even go further and say that at the present time the
practice of exorcism amongst the Ba-Honga is of all their customs
the act imbued with the highest religious significance. By devoting
themselves with such intensity of passion to these dark ceremonies
they arc surely seeking to procure that vague emotion awakened
in the human soul by contact with the supernatural. They strive
to establish intercourse with the Beyond in which they firmly be-
lieve. They are not concerned with driving out spirits as were
those who expelled demons in the middle ages and in apostolic
times, but with getting into touch with them, knowing their name,
their history, and ensuring by expiation, by blood, that these
mysterious beings will no longer torture the sick by bodily afflic-
tions, but will speak them gently and rather become their pro-
tectors.* The man on whose behalf the gobeUfs practices have been
successful will become the friend of the gods. He will acquire a
special influence over them and will practise daily intercourse with
the spirits. 3

Unfortunately the information given in this quotation
from Junod, an author generally both detailed and accurate,

1 Rudolf Otto, Das Heilige, Breslau, 1917.

2 In many cases it is probable that, exactly as in modern spirit-
ualism, the imperious desire for direct communication with departed
ancestors and other relatives also plays a part, particularly if we re-
member the extraordinary extent to which memory of the dead is
cultivated in ancestor-worship amongst many peoples with whom the
deceased arc not excluded by death from the general communion of the
living.

3 Junod, Les Bd-Ilonga, Neuchatel, 1898, p. 450.

878 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

is so meagre that nothing much can be deduced from it with
any degree of certainty. Nevertheless we must be meant to
conclude from the expression " speak him gently " that there
is no question of true possession by the " protecting spirits,"
but of acoustic or " psychic " hallucinations. They would
be analogous to the often-quoted cases of C. St. and the Maid
of Orlach, who as well as being demoniacally possessed were
also attended by beneficent and protecting spirits. These
facts are of precisely the same order as true Shamanism.

The spirits alleged to speak by the mouth of the possessed
often afford to primitive peoples the means of obtaining
revelations concerning the Beyond, as is particularly evidenced
by the statements of the Batak natives. At bottom the whole
mythology of these peoples seems traceable to this source,
a fact of which too little has hitherto been made, but which
is nevertheless worthy of closer study in view of its real general
importance. It would, perhaps, have facilitated the solution
of certain riddles still to-day unanswered; for it is indubitable
that Wundt's theory of the origin of myths offers an explanation
only so far as the mythological significance of soothsaying is
concerned, and affords no enlightenment on the subject of
primitive conceptions of those further worlds beyond mortal
ken. Such myths can only grow up in psychic states differing
from waking consciousness. It is not, of course, necessary
that these should be states of possession; the dreams of normal
sleep are sufficient, as are also visions sucli as those of the
shamans. But possession must also be taken into account,
at least amongst many peoples.

The extraordinary importance accruing to the phenomena
of possession amongst primitive races has hitherto been in-
sufficiently appreciated by ethnology. One single ethnologist,
Adolf Bastian, whose numerous works have not attracted the
attention they deserved owing to their abstruse literary form,
was fully alive to it. In his works we meet possession at
every turn, and their unsupported testimony would be
adequate to demonstrate its significance in the savage world.

Possession begins to disappear amongst civilized races as
soon as belief in spirits loses its power. From the moment
they cease to entertain seriously the possibility of being
possessed, the necessary autosuggestion is lacking.

In modern Europe this point of time was marked by the

CONCLUSION 879

advent of the Age of Enlightenment. Not all its rationalistic
exaggerations can prevent the unprejudiced from seeing in
that drastic intellectual criticism, to-day somewhat dull and
prosaic in its narrowness, a great turning-point in the con-
ception of the world, inasmuch as at this stage European
thought achieved complete liberation from the older theo-
logical system or at least made definite and final preparations
to do so.

Catholic polemics against the modern scientific system
show by giving it the name of " rationalism m a truer sense of
the relationship between modern cosmologies and the Age of
Enlightenment than is often found amongst the advocates of
these systems themselves.

Since the Age of Enlightenment the conception of a
spiritual life bound up with the organism, or eventually, if
the animation of all matter is accepted, with matter in general,
has acquired a more real authority.

As regards the extra-European world, manifestations of
possession are everywhere in regression amongst primitive
peoples in places where the Christian missions have struck
deep root. Not because these missions operate in the direction
of rationalism and combat the possibility of possession
although the Protestant missionaries are for the most part
Christian positivists but they inspire the natives with trust
in God and free them from the fear of demons and their attacks
on the souls of the living. It would, however, be going too
far to say that conversion to Christianity causes the complete
disappearance of possession. It must also be admitted that
the phenomena of possession amongst primitive races arc not
in all cases 011 the decline. Junod reports the exact contrary
of the Ba-Ronga; under the influence of the Portuguese
Colonial authorities the inhuman excesses of primitive sorcery
and magic have died down, but in their place " another super-
stition was growing up and acquiring an extraordinary
spread and potency; that is, the belief that the spirits of the
dead can enter into a living man and cause sickness or even
death." 2

In the civilization of Eastern Asia, on the other hand, the
philosophy of enlightenment, modern European monism, is

1 Cf., for example, O. Willmann, Gcschichte des Idcalismus.
8 Junod, loc. cit., p. 440.

380 TIIE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

engendering a fever of proselytism which, in the opinion of
the missionaries, is compromising their work and gravely
endangering it. I have no doubt that as a result the pheno-
mena of possession are there regressive, although I can offer
no evidence in support of such a statement.

APPENDIX ON PARAPSYCHOLOGY

THE Piper case, through which the existence of parapsychic
phenomena is established with complete certainty, permits
us to affirm that these phenomena are not infrequent in
possession. Accounts even exist of parapyschic physical
facts. We have hitherto encountered such facts several
times, although I have had doubts of their possibility.

It is particularly common to find gifts of prophecy and
clairvoyance or telepathy attributed to the possessed. They
are alleged to see the future or, for example, to reveal where
hidden objects are placed.

Codrington gives several examples of this. 1 But he has
not verified the cases, so that nothing more can be said about
them. In no single case is it indicated whether the possessed
disclose the hiding-place at the first question or whether they
go around seeking it for a time with those who have hidden
the object, which naturally could and would be of material
(unconscious) assistance to them.

The most noteworthy source of further information is the
documents concerning the Bataks collected by Warneck.

Livingstone has given a fairly detailed description of a
case of possession amongst the Zulus. 2

Similar gifts are also attributed to the Asiatic Shamans.
Fraud ha often been discovered amongst them, but in one
case a traveller has declared that the shaman was able to give
concerning the plans for his journey and other matters in-
formation which could only come from supernormal faculties. 3

As amongst primitive peoples, these facts have also been
observed amongst civilized ones, and even the existence of
supernormal physical phenomena is alleged.

In this connection we should refer to the aforementioned
narrative by Flavius Josephus of a successful exorcism, in the

1 Cf. above, pp. 281 sq.

2 Livingstone, Missionary Travels, p. 86, quoted by Andrew Lang,
The Making of Religion, 2nd edit., London, 1900, p. 135.

3 Unfortunately I forgot to note this ease at the time and cannot now
trace it.

381

382 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

course of which a vessel of water was telekinetically over-
thrown (p. 170).

In an analogous case in present-day Polish Jewry (pp.
207 sq.), it is reported that during an exorcism a hole was
made in a window to the accompaniment of a loud report.

How widespread was belief in the reality of supernormal
intellectual phenomena accompanying possession in the early
centuries, is clearly demonstrated by the fact that even to-day
Catholic dogma docs not recognize possession (in the true
sense of domination by a strange spirit), except where a priest
establishes such supernormal phenomena with a view to
exorcism. 1

Quite recently a doctor has reported cases of clairvoyant
faculties amongst the possessed in Russia.

Numerous physical and mental 2 parapsychic phenomena
are also reported from China. For example, in the quotation
from von der Goltz, p. 362, the following passage occurs where
an omission is indicated by dots:

If a question is put in a sceptical tone the spirit notices it at once ;
then the medium leaps upon the doubter crying: " Impudent
mocker, I will pull your trousers off !" If the person spoken to then
looks down at her feet she sees that she is naked and that her
trousers are on a tree in the courtyard." 3

It is evident that accounts of parapsychic phenomena in
possession are quite common. What are we to think of them ?
The number of parapsychic phenomena scientifically estab-
lished up to the present time is extraordinarily restricted.
Is possession really a state in which such manifestations
are often produced, or arc we simply dealing with inaccurate
accounts due to excitement or to the lack of critical sense in
those participating ? In default of the necessary groundwork,
no well-founded and convincing answer can be given in either
sense. Nothing is easier than to produce arguments in
support of one or the other hypothesis, but we cannot be
satisfied with mere assumptions. The whole question is, in
fact, obscured by a cloud of assumptions which are continually

1 The Rituale Romanum of to-day still gives as criterion of possession
(x, 1): Ignpta (antca) lingua loqui pluribus verbis yel loquentem in-
telligere; distantia et occult a patefacere. Cf. Cornelius Krieg, Wissen-
schaft der Seelenleitung, vol. i, Freiburg, 1904, p. 180.

2 Naum Kotik, Die Emanation der psychischen Energie, Wiesbaden,
1918, p. 13.

8 Von der Goltz, loc. cit., p. 18.

APPENDIX: PARAPSYCHOLOGY 383

adduced, instead of facts which might serve as a hand-hold.
We have therefore no choice except provisionally to suspend
judgement.

In the first place, we shall show great reserve as regards
information emanating from primitive societies. The majority
of the reports come immediately from the natives, and
while this does not necessarily mean that they are fallacious,
the lack of critical faculty of the narrators is greater than
in the case of Europeans, and we should be very sceptical even
when these latter affirm the existence of the supernormal.
We cannot, however, but be struck by the fact that it is
always these same states which give rise to stories of analogous
parapsychic phenomena, and the task of studying such
problems in primitive societies is therefore ineluctable. Given
the freedom with which states analogous to possession occur
amongst many primitive peoples and the alleged frequency
of accompanying parapsychic phenomena, it is possible that
they offer to students of parapsychology a rich field of investi-
gation. If it be true that these phenomena are intimately
bound up with disturbances of the personality and manifested
chiefly by unstable and easily dissociable persons, they must
necessarily be of very frequent occurrence amongst primitives.
In .any case the problem is of an importance to warrant
serious handling.

From the historical point of view the question of the reality
of parapsychic phenomena in possession is one most urgently
requiring solution, in the first place as regards the Pythoness.
I have already referred to the awkward predicament in which
we find ourselves on the subject of the Delphic oracle; either
the whole of Greeee allowed itself to be fooled for centuries
by a crowd of priests, even if well-intentioned, or else there
was an uneducated local peasant-woman, chosen in accord-
ance with no one knows what principles by the priests of
Delphi, who fell in the Adytoii of the temple into a quite
peculiar parapsychic state, and gave, with a regularity even
more singular, counsel and information of a supernormal
character.

Du Prel has collected and studied in a not uninteresting
work the early evidence concerning the psychic manifestations
of the Pythoness. According to him these remarkable
women not only foretold the future many times but also on

884 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

occasion gave the reply before the visitant had formulated
his question, which means that they also read the minds of
others. (This is, however, in contradiction to the other
tradition according to which the Pythoness did not give her
replies direct but communicated through the priests attached
to the temple.) Knowledge of events occurring in distant
places has also been attributed to the Pythoness. 1

Belief in these statements has been subject to extra-
ordinary fluctuations. The oracle of Delphi has had the same
fate as many others; in the rationalistic period everything
was held to be trickery on the part of the priests, whereas
previously there had been general belief in malign and demoni-
acal spirits. In the romantic period there was a reaction; for
many philologists of the German romantic movement the Greek
world was transfigured, not only from the aesthetic and political
point of view, but from the parapsychic also. It was then
believed that Hellenism had possessed peculiar spiritual gifts
to a higher degree than the other epochs of human history.
Niebuhr questioned whether men were not nearer to nature in
these primitive times, a very clumsy way of formulating the
question. Wachsmuth considered the ecstatic states as
beyond dubiety, at least in the early period of the Delphic
oracle. K. Fr. Hermann was unwilling to admit either fraud
or demoniacal influences. 2

Lasaulx similarly believes in the reality of prophecy,
and this not only in connection with the oracle of Delphi but
also the other Greek oracles. According to him we must
admit "ecstatic states analogous to magnetism "; 3 he alleges
that the human soul has an " innate power " of knowing the
future which sometimes bursts forth. 4

Strauss' works show a partial recognition of parapsychic
manifestations in possession, which may safely be regarded as
a result of the impression made upon him by Justinus Kerner
and the " clairvoyante " of Prevorst. But we have already
seen that he was not influenced by demonology. This is
how Strauss construes the story of how the demons

1 Cf. du Prel, Die Myslik der alien Griechen, Leipzig, 1888.

2 For quotations from these authors cf. Stiitzle, Daft griechische
Orakelwesen . . ., Ellwangen, 1891.

3 E. von Lasaulx, Das pelasgischc Orakel des Zeus zu Dodana, Wiirz-
burg, 1840, p. 14.

* Ibid., p. 4.

APPENDIX: PARAPSYCHOLOGY 385

recognized Jesus as the Messiah, which he regards as a
true one:

That demoniacs like somnambulists establish during their
attacks contact with those present and are thus capable of entering
into their inner life ami sharing in their sensations, feelings and
thoughts, has been not infrequently observed, and it might well be,
after Jesus had spoken from the full consciousness of his Messianic
character, that the demoniac perceived it through magnetic
rapport.*

Philologists and historians have not, moreover, been
alone in this opinion; it was fully shared by philosophers such
as Fichte, Schclling, Baader, Hegel and the other romantics.

In the following generation we meet it again in specula-
tive theism, that strong and still underestimated current
in the German philosophy of about the middle nineteenth
century.

Whereas this period is remembered as the epoch of
materialism although the word is used to describe only the
popular philosophy which invaded certain regions of the
natural sciences technical philosophy followed a different
course. It was theistic and spiritualist, showing, moreover,
great interest in the facts which through an all-too-hasty
interpretation were made the foundation of the spiritualist
movement.

Fichtc's son, Immanucl Hermann, was particularly promi-
nent in this respect; he illustrates a return to the conviction
that the Delphic oracle was no fraud but veritable divination.
When Cicero states that in his day the oracle and all things
of a like nature had lost their power and gift of prophecy,
Fichte does not conclude that the men of that period had
become educated to a degree where they could no longer be so
lightly deceived as before; he believes, on the contrary, that it
was rationalism and the domination of the intelligence which
caused the powers of divination to decline. " Before the
more conscious reflection which characterized later antiquity
the inner power of spiritual divination declined in a like
measure to men's belief in it." 2

1 D. E. Strauss, Das Leben Jcsu, 3rd edit., Tubingen, 1839, vol. ii,
p. 30.

2 I. II. Fichte, Zur Seelenfrage, eine 2>hUvsophischc Konfession,
Leipzig, 1859, p. 280. For the author's general outlook, his work
Der never c Spiritualismus, sein Wcrt und seine Tauschungcn, Leipzig,
1878

25

886 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

A work fully accepting the veracity of the Delphic oracle
and which, once widely read, has fallen into unmerited
oblivion, is Chr. C. J. Bunsen's treatise on religious philosophy,
Gott in der Geschichte, etc. 1 In connection with the Pythoness
and the other Sibyls he speaks of a " state of clairvoyance "
which has often been proved. By this unusual expression he
means the vision of the future (vol. ii, pp. 276 sq.).

It is hardly necessary to emphasize that the spiritualism
of the period, whose principal exponent in Germany was
M. Perty, pronounced in favour of the reality of Delphic
prophecy. 2

Professor Friedrich Fischer of Bale arrived at a theory
of possession very closely resembling my own. 3

The generation of speculative theism is for the time being
completely forgotten. This was already so when about 1880
similar parapsychic views were once more advanced and a
rather more favourable attitude towards the Greek oracles
manifested itself in literature, although still outside the con-
fines of the narrow technical branch.

Du Prel was the first, in his Die Mystik der alien Griechen
(Leipzig, 1888), to try to interpret certain obscure aspects
of the life of antiquity: the temple-sleep, the oracles and
mysteries and the dcnnon of Socrates, by saying that they
were the early counterparts of modern spiritualism, all the
essential root-phenomena of which he found, as he believed,
in antiquity. There follows naturally a return to belief in
the divinations of the Pythoness.

It would be unscientific to deny the gift of divination to the
oracles, simply because it is contrary to the current hauit of thought,
while to admit that a people which had reached a level of civilization
since unequalled allowed itself to be duped by its priests during a
period of three thousand years, would be not only historically but
also psychologically false. 1

Although a spiritualist, du Prel does not, as might have
been expected, reach conclusions in accordance with the
traditional doctrine of possession, but sees in the Pythoness a

1 Chr. C. J. Bunsen, Gott in der Geschichte oder der Fortschritt des
Glaubens an eine sittliche Weltordnung, Leipzig, 1857-58.

2 Max. Perty, Die sichtbare und die unsichtbare Welt, Leipzig, 1880,
p. 124.

3 Fr. Fischer, Der somnambulismus, vol. iii, Bale, 1839, pp. 307-412.

4 C. du Prel, Loc. cit., p. 37.

APPENDIX: PARAPSYCHOLOGY 887

somnambulist who in the dream-state transcended by her
knowledge the limits of time and space. He therefore agrees
with Plutarch who already repudiated the theory of possession
and believed that there were awakened in the Pythoness
special faculties peculiar to the human soul. 1 It would be
ridiculous to admit that " Apollo enters into the body of the
soothsayers, speaks through them, and uses as instruments
their mouths and voices." He nevertheless concedes that
Apollo imparted to their souls the impulse necessary to the
exercise of their supernormal faculties.

Later philologists and historians such as Jakob Burckhardt
assume towards accounts of prophecy a positivist and com-
pletely sceptical attitude. 2

Beloch finds a simple solution of the problem by assever-
ating that the alleged supernormal oracles were never uttered.
According to him there was no question whatever

... of revealing the future to the questioner, a thing which
would very soon have discredited the oracles, but rather of formulat-
ing prescriptions for practical use, particularly directions for the
conduct of religious ceremonials designed to win divine favour or
expiate past guilt. 3

By way of refutation Niigelsbach showed as early as 1837
that there still remained a substantial number of cases in
which the oracles contained no instructions but either a
divination of the future such as could not be foreseen by the
persons concerned, or else information about past facts which
they were not in a position to know. This does not prevent
him from explaining these facts in a normal psychic manner,
although op. the other hand he feels obliged to recognize the
existence of the Trvevpa evOovo-taa-Tircov of the Pythoness and
its influence on the rendering of oracles. 4

The philologist Bergk is the most important exception to
the scepticism of contemporary historians.

Many a prophetic utterance has been fulfilled in a surprising
manner, not only the predictions which were restricted to general
terms, as for example the Delphic oracle foretelling that Sparta
would perish by her love of lucre, 5 but also where the eventuality

1 For fuller details cf. ibid., pp. 41 and 64.

2 J. Burckhardt, Griechische Kulturgeschichtc, 3rd edit., vol. ii,
chap. iv.

3 J. Beloch, Griechische Gcschichtc, vol. i, Leipzig, 1893, p. 213.

"" T/icc"

4 K. F. Niigclsbach, Die nachhomerischc Thcologic des griechischen
rollcsglaubens, Nuremberg, 1857, p. 180.
* Thucydides, v, 26.

388 THE DISTRIBUTION OF POSSESSION

was specifically fore-ordained. Thucydides relates 1 that at the
beginning of the Peloponnesian war the duration of hostilities
was predicted by the oraeles as three times nine years. It does not
matter that these were not Delphic oracles. Delphi similarly pre-
dicted to the Spartans from the beginning of the war its happy issue
if vigorously pursued and promised them divine assistance. The
credibility of all the early oracles which arc of the greatest interest
to us has been subjected to a general attack without adequate
reasons. 2

Dochler in his monograph on the Greek oracles also
arrives at this conclusion :

With the exception of a small number of cases in which the
Pythoness seems to have been ill-inspired, the oracles which have
come down to us justify the reputation for wisdom of the prophetic
sanctuaries and particularly that of Delphi. 3

The author of the most recent research into the nature of
the oracles, A. W. Persson, is of the same opinion:

However sceptical one may be on the subject of the oracles,
it must be admitted that the priests of Delphi too often had ex-
tremely good information at their command." 4

The question of the reality of parapsychic phenomena in
the Pythoness is complicated by the fact that we are not deal-
ing with one person but that, as is alleged, several women
produced these phenomena at the same time. This is, in its
assumption, a completely unique situation. We cannot help
wondering supposing that the information is true how
women possessing the gift could always be found in the
neighbourhood of Delphi and how the priests set about dis-
covering them. Are we to suppose that the Greeks were not
only, from the standpoint of general civilization, the most
richly endowed people known to us, but that they also possessed
special parapsychic faculties ? Even so we should be obliged
to grant that predisposed persons were so plentiful in ancient
Greece as to render it always possible for the priests of
Delphi to find one or several Pythonesses with a capacity for
supernormal practices amongst the women of the countryside.
If the probability of such a wealth of supernormal tempera-
ments in Greece could be established from documentary

1 Ibid., i, 118 and ii, 54; cf. Plutarch, de Pyth. or., 19.

2 Bergk, Griechische Literaturgeschichte, i, Berlin, 1872, p. 331.
E. Doehlcr, Die Orakel, Berlin, 1872, p. 15.

4 A. W. Persson, Vorstudien zu einer Gcschichte der attischcn Sak-
ralgesetzgebung, i, en Lunds Universitet, N.F. avd., i, vol. xiv, No. 22,
p. 72.

APPENDIX: PARAPSYCHOLOGY 389

evidence, the spiritual picture of the Hellenes would be en-
riched by a new and most interesting trait. For it does not
seem plausible that there existed at Delphi an emanation from
the earth which released parapsychic faculties in everyone,
but rather that the priests must have had to seek out gifted
persons.

The acceptance as real of parapsychic phenomena does not,
of course, signify any return to the old doctrine of possession.

There is a sort of intermediate position between belief in
real possession by spirits and the complete rejection of early
accounts of the inspiration of the Pythoness. It is possible
to hold the latter as genuine without attributing it to the
entrance of a strange soul into her soul or body.

Unhappily our knowledge of parapsychic states is up to
the present so restricted that W T C are quite unable to con-
template bringing psychologico-historical criticism to bear on
these documents with a view to discriminating between the
false and the true. We must defer an answer to these
questions until we know more of parapsychic phenomena,
their frequency and conditions of origin. The purely negative
reply which so greatly facilitated for rationalism the historical
criticism of all these accounts is frankly no longer possible
to-day.

INDEX

ABYSSINIA, possession in, 136-7;
Zar-possession in, 234-5

Acceptance of functions by the will,
67; of compulsive ideas, 77,
82 aq.] of the idea of possession
(J. des Anges), 49, 88 sq.

Achille, case of, 95, 109-17

Acoustic phenomena in possession,
Staudenmaier, 57; the Bataks,
268-72; the Sibyls, 333

Acta Sanctorum, passages from, 5, 176

jElius Aristides on the Karo^ot, 154

Africa, distribution of possession in,
132 ; in Kabylia, 132 ; in Central - ,
133; in Abyssinia, 136-7; in East
, 137 ; in Madagascar, 138 ; among
the Ba-Ronga, 138-43; in South

(the Bantu races), 143; animal
possession in , 144-5; possession
in the Middle Ages in , 186;
voluntary possession in , 253-65;
0. Dapper on possession in ,
263-4; the Zulus, 265

Age of Enlightenment in Germany,
and possession, 192-4; and
Shamanism, 295; and voluntary
possession, 365; and belief in
spirits, 376, 378-9

Age when spontaneous possession
occurs, 12J

Aissaoua, possession amongst the,
263

Altaians, Shamanism amongst the,
294, 302, 309

America, possession in, 197-9; spiri-
tualistic literature, 210; voluntary
possession amongst aborigines, 286-
93; spiritualism in, 365; the
Piper case, 371-4

Amnesia, after possession, 13, 32-3;
after somnambulism, 39 ; narratives
illustrating, 146, 218, 345, 360, etc,

Anaesthesia, cases illustrating sensory

during possession, 266, 270, 272,
299, 352, etc.

Ananias and Sapphira, 238, 323
Ancestor-worship and poscsssion, in
China, 219; amongst the Bataks
265-76; in New Guinea, 284-6
Angels, source of belief in, 148

Animal possession, 28; involuntary
in Japan, 95, 106-7, 225-8; in
Africa, 144-5; in antiquity, 162; in
China, 220, 224; in Indo-China,
228; in Niam-Niam, 228; volun-
tary in masked dances, 242,
amongst the Malay pigmies, 245,
the Aissaoua, 263, the Malays, 276,
the Dyaks, 276; in Siam, 252; in
China, 364

Animals, possession amongst, 96,
124 note

Anouilh, Mgr., on possession in
China, 221

Anthony, St. , temptation of, 83

ApolJonius of Tyana, story from life
of Flavius Philostratus, 6

Arabia, Zar-possession in, 231

Arrian on the Corybantes, 344

Art, the possessed in, 25

Artificial extinction of possession,
100

Artificial possession, primitives, 236
sq.\ higher civili/ations, past, 311-
48, present, 348-75

Artificial production of psychic divi-
sion, possibility of, 98

Ascetic mortifications and posses-
sion, 117. See also Suso, Surin,
Tranquille

Asia, possession in, spontaneous,
145 sq. ; voluntary, 348 $q.

Assyrians, demonology of, 147-8

Atharva-Veda, story from, 173

Augustine, St., story of a cure by,
177; attitude towards the oracles,
330

Australian aborigines, thanatomania
amongst, 239

Autobiography of possessing demons,
31,63

Autodescriptions of possession, 12-3;
Jeanne des Anges, 49 sg.; Surin,
50 sq.; a Burman, 218; a Batak
medium, 269; a Tonga Islander,
278; a Hausa, 260-1; Freimark's
case (a young sculptor), 369-70

Automatic speech (glossolalia), 28;
Staudenmaier, 57, 60; Jeanne des
Anges, 87, 334, 374, 375

391

392

INDEX

Automatic writing, Staudenmaier, 57 ;
case of Achille, 100-17; in spiri-
tualism, 866, 374, 375

Autosuggestion and the genesis of
possession, 91-2, 95, 193, 378;

consequent on sin, 162; cure
of possession by , 108-9, 267;

and emotional excitement, 117;

and possession amongst primi-
tives, 134 ; and ikota, 205 ; and
change of personality amongst
savages, 237; amongst civilized
peoples, Carnival, 237; and
suicide, 238; and psychic
troubles, 240; and genesis of
voluntary animal possession, 270.
See also Suggestion

Babylonia, dcmonology in, 147-8;
influence on the Jews, 169; Baby-
lonian tablets and the Atharva-
Veda, 173
Balz, on possession in Japan, 95,

106-7

Bantu races, possession amongst,
143 sq.

Ba - Ronga, exorcism of sickness
amongst, 120; possession amongst,
138-43; effects of possession
amongst, 377; possession a grow-
ing phenomenon, amongst, 379

Bastian, A., personal experience of
exorcism in Guiana, 120; on animal
possession in Africa, 144; American
case reported by, 198; recognized
the importance of possession
amongst primitives, 378

Bataks of Sumatra, spontaneous
possession amongst, 145-6; volun-
tary possession amongst, 265-74,
compared with Siberian shamans,
305, with the Pythoness, 321, with
the Chinese, 363, with spiritualists,
366; possession the source of
mythology amongst, 378; posses-
sion and prophecy, 381

Beer, possession amongst Bori and
Asama from drinking forbidden,
135-6

Beloch on the oracles, 387

Benediction an echo of possession, 119

Bcrgk on the oracles, 314, 320, 324,
331, 332, 387-8

Bernard of Clairvaux, St., cures of
possession by, 177-81

Besisi, possession amongst the, 275

Besson, H., on possession in Kabylia,
132-3

Bhuta-dancers, 351

Biblical accounts of possession, New
Testament, 3-5, 12, 28; Old Testa-
ment, 168-9; higher criticism of,
193-4

BiblioUieque diabolique, 14, 48, 49-50,

86 note
Binterim, A. J., history of Christian

exorcism, 101, 168
Blasphemy in demoniacal possession,

21, 33-4, 35, 87-8; in obsession,

79
Blood, possession from drinking,

344-5 and note
Bodimis, Dcemonomania, 14; case

from, 30; exorcism of animals and

houses, 96

Bori , exorcism amongst, 134-5 ; volun-
tary possession amongst, 253-63
Boudah, possession by the, 136, 235
Brahman Kecava, story of the, 175
Buddha, evidence of possession in

the life of, 174
Buddhist priests and possession, 361,

363
Buildings, blessing and exorcism of,

96, 119, 147

Burckhard, on fourth-century dc-
monology, 158
Burials, Shamanism amongst, 294,

299, 300, 302-3, 304
Burmah, possession in, 218, 351 and

note, 352

Calmeil, L. F., case of a Spanish nun,
41; on the Corybantes, 93

Carnival, psychic intoxication of,
237; historical connection with
Dionysiac cult, 339

Cassandra, 311

Cassian, John, distinguishes between
somnambulistic and lucid posses-
sion, 40; on sin and possession,
163-4

Catholicism, Roman, a modern
stronghold of possession, 199-202;
and rationalism, 379; criteria
of possession in, 382 %

Ceylon, possession in, 215-7; the
Veddas, 246-52; voluntary pos-
session, devil-dances, 349-50 and
note

Charcot on relationship between
possession and hysteria, 126

Child personification by Stauden-
maier, 59

Children, compulsive states in, 82,
84-5; superior suggestibility of,
240; Children's Crusade, 187

China, possession in, 95, 219 sq.i
spiritualism in, 219; voluntary
possession in, 348, 355; para-
psychic phenomena in, 382

Cholera and possession in South
India, 214-5

Christian Church, early, and pos-
session, 160 sq.; use of exorcism
by, 164

INDEX

398

Christian era, importance of posses-
sion in the, 155

Christian natives, not subject to
possession, 137; not immune from
possession, 145-6, 284; perform
exorcism, 219; possession dis-
appears on conversion, 220, 272;
relapse into possession, 218, 2G8,
363-4; outlook on possession, 269

Christianity and possession, 379

Chrysostom on the Pythoness, 315

Cicero on the oracles, 325, 385; on
the Sibyls, 335

Civilizations, possession in the
higher, 147 sq.

Clement of Alexandria on the dialect
of the gods, 159

Codringlon on the Melanesians, 280-4

Collapse preceding possession, 211-2,
250; accompanying possession,
251-2, 275

Compulsive states, 54, 65, 77; litera-
ture of, 78; kinds of, 78-9; emo-
tional , 85 ; possession constituted
by, 120-1

Conduct of the "demon," 65 sq.;
of the ordinary man , 66

Confessions of possessing spirits,
31-2. See also Autobiography

Consciousness of original personality
disappears when resistance to
compulsions ceases, 82

Constellations a cause of possession,
152

Conversations between the possessed
and his compulsion, 60 sq. ; theory
of, 65 ; between compulsions, 68

Conversion of the " demon," attempts
at, 62, 104

Corybantism, 93, 344

C. St. case, 20, 21, 43, 41, 63-4, 69,
84; genesis of possession in, 94-5;
efforts to convert the "demon,"
104; analogy with Bori possession,
136, with possession in ancient
Greece, 341, with possession
amongst the Ba-Ronga, 378

Cukasaptati, story from, 175

Cynanthropy, 191

Dances, possession amongst the
Bori, 135; in Madagascar, 138, the
Ba-Honga, 141, the Bataks, 146,
270, 272; the zikr dance, 233;
masked , 242-3, 287; ritual
the origin of drama, 243; cere-
monial amongst the Veddas,
247, 250-2; possession amongst
the Hausa, 255, the Melanesians,
281, the Hamctz Indians, 291;
devil in India and Ceylon,
349-51

Dancing monk, case of the, 44

Dapper, O., on possession in Africa
in the seventeenth century,
263-4

Dead, possession by the, 26-7, 34-5,
68-9; amongst the Wasu, 137; in
the Kabbala, 185; in modern
times, 186; the Watseka Wonder,
210-1; the Piper case, 371-4;
possession by in China, 220;
thanatomania attributed to, 239;
communication with the in
China, 219; the Wu priesthood,
357, 361; amongst the Veddas,
247, 250-2, the Bataks, 266, the
Tonga Islanders, 278-9; in Kuro-
pcan spiritualism, 366; belief in
survival of the fostered by
possession, 376

Death resulting from possession,
117 sq., 222-4; from autosugges-
tion, 238-40; Plutarch's story of
the Pythoness, 321-2; early of
mediums, amongst the Bataks,
269, 272, in China, 363-4

Delphic oracle, 156, 311 ; the Python-
ess, 311-31; analogy with Wu-
posscssion, 376

Delusion, cases of, 121

Demoniacal somnambulism, 39

Demons, belief in, traceable to
Mesopotamia, 148, fostered by
possession, 376

Devil, belief in the, a cause of pos-
session, 69, 80, 96, 99; always
accompanies gravest forms of pos-
session, 121; absence of is a
deterrent to possession, 124; in
modern times, 106, 378

Dhaca - kumara - Caritam, story of
simulated possession from, 175

Dibbuk, exorcism of the, 207-10

Diodonis Siculus, origin of the
Delphic chasm, 317, 318

Dion Cassius on the Delphic chasm,
317

Dionysiac cult, 156, 311, 335-43

Dionysius the Areopagite, rules for
treatment of the possessed, 160

Divine possession, 156 sq.; generally
voluntary, 157; amongst the Tonga
Islanders, 276 sq.; in Polynesia,
286; true Shamanism not a form
of, 294-310; in Ancient Greece,
311 sq.; Jamblich on, 343

Djinns, the, 233

Distribution of spontaneous posses-
sion, 131 sq.

Division of the subject, whether
entailed by possession, 32, 47, 54,
59

Doehler on the oracles, 388

Dreams, artificial inducement of,
309 ; importance of, in history of

394

INDEX

religion, 376; as origin of
myths, 878

Dual nature, sentiments of a, 53

Dual personality, 19; in somnam-
bulism, 39

Dual possession, G9

Du Prel and spiritualism, 3G5; on
parapsychic phenomena, 386

Ecstasy, states of, 12. See also
Divine possession

Education and possession, 99, 121 , 165
.Eginhard, case of possession de-
scribed by, 66-7

Ego a synthesis of psychic processes,
123. See also Subject

Egypt, exorcism against children's
maladies in, 120; sickness con-
sidered a sign of possession in, 124 ;
inscription from a stela at Thebes,
149-51; priests as exorcists, 151;
possession in modern , 230 sq.;
vaticination in ancient , 348

Emotional compulsions tend to be-
come true nature, 85

England, possession in, 195-6; spiri-
tualism in, 364

Enlightenment, the Age of, in Ger-
many. See Age

Epidemics of possession at Kintorp,40
and 92 note; at Madrid, 41; cause
of, 92; in Africa, 137-8; amongst
the Ba-Honga, 139; in antiquity,
161; in modern times, 187 sq. ;
list of, 188-90; and hysteria,
190; the Zar, 231

Epidemics, psychic, other than pos-
session, 187; Carnival, 237; trem-
bling amongst children, 240

Epileptic fits, 135; model for auto-
suggestive states of possession, 136

Esquirol and witchcraft trials, 191;
saw possessed persons, 195

Euphrates and Tigris region. See
Mesopotamia

Euripides, The Bacchac, 336-41

European civilization, voluntary pos-
session in modern, 365 sq.

Excitement, emotional, a cause of
possession, 117

Exorcism, a cause of possession, 97,
109, 215-7, 233; a cure for ,
100 sq.; examples of, 100 % sq.;
Christian, 101 sq.; Janet's modern
, 109 sq.; early Christian ,
165-6; use against sickness, 24;
description of in Central Africa,
134; from a distance, 166; of
the Zar, 231 sq. ; of the sick by
the pigmies of the Malay Penin-
sula, 244-5; by the Malays, 273-5

Exorcist addresses himself to the
44 demon," 104; success dependent

on character, 105 ; success of early
Christian exorcists, 165; exorcists
mainly uneducated, 165; exorcists
victims of possession, 80, 92, 163

Expressive stereotypes, 19

Extraneous power, idea of constraint
by, 125

Farnell, L. R., on the Delphic chasm,

316-7; identification of priests with

divinities, 346
Feeble-minded and compulsive ideas,

87

Felicia, case of , 369
Fichte, J. II., on the oracles, 385
Fiji Islands, possession in, 285-6
" Five great families " of anima

spirits in China, 224
Flavins Philostratus, story from the

biography of Apollonius of Tyana,

6-7
Foxes, possession by, 95, 106-7,

224-8. See also Animal possession
France, possession in modern, 202;

spiritualism in, 366 and note
Francis of Assisi, cure of possession

by, 8-9, 181-2
Franco - Anglo - Saxon psychology,

122-3

Francois dc Paule, St., cure of pos-
session by, 184-5

Fraser, J. G., on ritual dances, 242-3
Fraud in possession, 266, 279
Freimark, case of a young sculptor,

369-70
French psychology, hysteria and

possession in, 126-7
Fritz-Algar case, 70-5
Frobenius, on possession in Central

Africa, 133-6
Frohlieh, R. , on possession in modern

India, 213-4
Fromer, J. , story of exorcism of the

dibbuk, 207 %

Gall, St., story of possession from
the life of, 8

Genesis of possession, 91 sq. ; of volun-
tary possession, 249, 266, 269, 276,
283,284,291,292

Germany, possession in, 202-3;
spiritualism in, 365

Giliaks, Shamanism amongst, 294

Giraldus Cambrensis on possession in
Wales, 195

Glossolalia, 28, 60, 87, 374, 375

Goodwin case, 197-8

Gnrco-Roman world, voluntary pos-
session in, 31 1 sq.

Greece, cases of possession from
pagan literature of , 61 ; possession
in ancient , 155-7; possession
in modern , 196-7; voluntary
possession in ancient , 31 1 sq.

INDEX

395

Gregory of Tours on possession and
its treatment, 8

Gregory the Great, case of multiple
possession from, 161; infection of
a priest, 102; possession as a con-
sequence of sin, 102

Gudem, F., possession of a child of
ten related by, 33

Guiana, primitive cure for headache
in, 120

Hallucination the beginning of pos-
session, 94; and the delusion of
possession, 121, in the spectators,
108, in the exorcist, 109, induced
by the exorcist, 110; hallucinatory
ideas, 121 ; systems of psychoses,
128; amongst savages, 134, the
Vcddas, 249, the Ba-Ronga, 378

Ilametz, the, 290-2

Harnack, A., on the nature of posses-
sion, 11; inner division in pos-
session, 32; on exorcism, 105; the
Egyptian priests, 1 51 ; dcmonology
in the second century, 158; Chris*-
tian use of exorcism, 101

Hausa, the, possession - dances
amongst, 255-63

Helfcne Smith, case of, 19, 31, 367,
368

Heliodorus on the Pythoness, 320, 322

Hellenic period, belief in demons in,
157; destruction of literature of,
159-60; superstition in, 170; pos-
sible peculiar psychic gifts in, 384,
388-9

Henry the Saint, cure of possession
by the body of, 183-4

Heraclitus on the Pythoness, 314

Heredity, in so-called Shamanism,
244, 270, 280, 285 ; in true Sham-
anism, 302-3; in the priesthood
of Apollo at Claros, 315

Hiccupping & prelude to possession,
139

Higher criticism and possession,
192-4

Hilarion, St., cure of possession by,
106; cure of a possessed camel by,

124 note

Homer, possession in, 155-6

Hsi, Pastor, cures of possession by,

221-4
Hypermnesia in possession, 73, 74;

somnambulistic , 267
Hypnotic suggestion and possession,

73 note, 107; in the case of Achillc,

113-4
Hysteria and possession, 85 and

note; relationship to possession,

125 sq.* in epidemics, 190;
influence of general outlook on,
126; history of, 128 note;

among the Jews, 171 ; in modern
Greece, 196-7; amongst savages,
240; the Vcddas, 249 note

Iconography of the Saltpetriere, 25,

99

Ikota in Russia, 203-5
Imitative instinct amongst primi-
tives, 238
Impersonations of historical, etc.,

personages, 18-9, 58
Impressions of others experienced

indirectly, 54
India, possession in ancient, 172;

in modern, 213, 215; voluntary

possession in, 348-9, 351
Indians, possession amongst South

American, 287; Brazilian, 288-9;

North American, 289-92; of Peru

and Mexico, 292 ; psychic structure

of, 292-3
Infectious nature of possession, 92,

93,135,138,162
Inhibitions in acute psychasthenia,

125

Intellectual form of possession, 121
Intorpenetration of subjects, 47, 54
Isolation a cure for possession, 109
Italy, modern, possession in, 203

Jamblich on the mysteries, 343-4
James, W., arount of the Watscka
Wonder, 210-1 ; and spiritual-
ism, 365-6, 374

Japan, animal possession in, 95,
106-7, 225; belief in spirits in,
224; exorcists, the Nichiren, 225;
possession in, 225-9
j Josephus, Flavius, exorcism in the
i name of Solomon, 169-70; by bara
I root, 170 : tclekinesia in, 382
Jung, C. G., case of somnambulism

quoted from, 367, 368-9
Justin Martyr on the oracles, 830

Kabbala, exorcism in, 185
I Kabyles, possession amongst, 132-3

KnmYhadals, Shamanism amongst,
| 294, 299

1 KaToyoi, theories of the, 151-4;
I Dioiiysiac intoxication designated
as Kdrovos, 337; the temple-sleep,
I 386

Kerner, J., constant references to,
i 9-36; the maid of Orlach, 21;
, lucid possession, 40, 42; doctor's
i task to make the " demon "
j speak, 96-7, 105
I Kintorp, epidemic of possession at, 40
j Kirghiz, Shamanism amongst, 294,
! 306

I Knowledge of normal personality by
I possessing one, 35-6

896

INDEX

Koriaks, Shamanism amongst, 204,

307
Kroll on Vettius Valcns, 152-3

Lactance, Father, case of, 92-3,
death of, 117

Lalita-Vistara, possession cured by
the Maya, 174

Lang, A., possession in China, 219;
amongst the Zulus, 365; definition
of possession, 375

Languages, unknown, spoken by pos-
sessed, 137, 144; of the gods
spoken by possessed, 159; archaic
and periphrastic spoken by
possessed, 268, 270, 272; special
used for oracles in Peru, 292

Lavater on expressive stereotypes,
19 note

Lemaltre, A., Frit/.-Algar case, 70-5

Leo Africanus, on possession in North
Africa, 186

Le Roy, on possession amongst the
Bantu races, 143-4

Lions, possession by, 144-5

Living, possession *by the, 27-8, 58;
by wizards (Australian aborigines),
239; by witches (Burmah), 352

Lodge, Sir O.,3G6; seance with Mrs.
Piper, 372-3

Loss of consciousness in possession,
32-3

Loudun, epidemic of, 50

Lucan, description Of the Pythoness,
331

Lucas, Father, case of, 92-3

Lucian, account of a Syrian exorcist,

Lucid possession, 44 sq. ; and
divided personality, 45; case of
Father Surin, 14, 50-7, 77 ; amongst
Tonga Islanders, 278, the Melanc-
sians, 280-1, the Sibyls, 332 sq.

Lurancy Vennum, case of, 210-1

Luther and possession, 186-7

Lycanthropy, 191

Madagascar, possession in, 138
Malay Archipelago, the Bataks, 265-

75; the Besisi, 275; animal pos-
session, 276
Malay Peninsula, the pigmies, 243-6;

the Malays, 273-6

Manuale Exorcismorum , 102, 119-20
Mariner, W. , possession in the Tonga

Islands, 238, 276-80, 371
Mary Jobson of Sunderland, 196
Masked dances, amongst the South

American Indians, 287-8; the

Hametz, 291

Maya, the, possession-cures by, 174
Mayor, M., possession in Kabylia,

132-3
Maximilla, 7G

Mecca, Zar-possession in, 231 sq.

Medical treatment a cause of posses-
sion, 48, 96-8 ; a cure for possession,
144

Mediums, in China, 219; the Malay
pigmies, 244-6 ; the Veddas, 246-52 ;
the Bataks, 266 sq. ; in New Guinea,
284-6; suggestible nature of, 243;
early death of, 266, 268, 269, 272,
363-4 ; mcdiumistic trances, 366

Mclancsians, possession amongst,
280-1, 381

Mcnschwerdung, M. von dcr, tempta-
tions of, 82

Mesopotamia, cradle of belief in
demons, 147-8; psychic affections
and sickness in, 148

Metaphysical, the, voluntary posses-
sion a means of contact with, 377

Mcthylenc blue, cure of possession
by, 108

Meynard, on possession amongst
mystics, 80

Middle Ages, possession in, 176 sqq.;
in Africa, 2(>3-4

Mikhaiiovsky on Shamanism in
Hussia, 294

Minucius Felix, on the oracles, 327-8

Miss A. B., case of, 27-8

Missions, Christian, and possession,
106, 379-80

Mohammedan world, possession in,
233

Mongols, Shamanism amongst, 294

Montan , 75-6

Moral inferiority and acceptance of
compulsions, 85-7

Moral judgment of the possessed in
the early Church, 164

Motor phenomena in possession,
22-5, 33-4, 35, 64; without corre-
sponding affective state, 90; not a
necessary concomitant of posses-
sion, 121 ; in hysteria, 126-7

Mullcr case, 23-5

Muse, possession by the, 156, 228,
346-8

Music, use of, in exorcism, 134-5, 137,
110-1; in Ceylon, 216, 234-5; a
means of provoking possession,
2o3, 266, 268, 271 ; absent amongst
Tonga Islanders, 276, 279;
amongst the Hametz, 291 ; in true
Shamanism, 296; in the Oionysiac
cult, 336, 340

Mystics and possession. See Surin,
Suso, also p. 80 sq., 86

Myths, possession the origin of, 378

Name-spell in early Christian exor-
cism, 167-8

Ncvius, J. L., accounts of possession
in China, 219

INDEX

397

Ncwbold, T. J., on the pigmies of the
Malay Peninsula, 243-5 !

New Testament, cases of possession ,
in, 3-5, 12, 28; a source of know-
ledge of possession in the ancient ;
world, 159

Norbert of Magdeburg, St., cure of ,
possession by, 182-3

Norwood, G., on the lfacc?up,, 341

Nymplis, possession by the, 364.

Obsession, definition of, 77; not !

always a state of division, 78; ;
forms of, 78-9; in saints and
mysties, 80; tendency to become

true nature, 85 >

Obsessive intuition and imagination, j

Old Testament, possession in, 108-9 !

Oppenhcim, 11., on obsessions, 79 '

Oracle, of Delphi, 311-31; of Argos, ,
344 ; of Jigira, a 15 ; of Amphiklcia, \
345; of Claros, 345; Didymak; , j
345 ; of Dodona, 34-5 ; of Colophon, '
340; basis of Hellenic oracles, 349; !
analogy with Wu-possession, 358; i
oracles in China, 358-01; para- |
psychic phenomena in oracles. '
383-4,388 ' ;

Origen on exorcists, 105-8; on the '
oracles, 320, 328-30

Ostiaks, Shamanism amongst, 294, '
297, 304

Owen, Kcv. G., on animal spirits in
China, 221

Palestine, ]K)sscssion in, 212-3
Papuans, the, beliefs concerning the

soul, 284

Paralytics and the delusion of pos-
session, 121

Paranoia and the delusions of pos- ,
session, 121 ; bears the *" stamp
of the timas," 128

Parapsychic phenomena, in Africa,
144; in a Jewish exorcism, 210; ,
amongst the Bataks, 207 sqq.;
amongst the Melanesians, 281-3; '
in spiritualism, 300, 371-5; appen-
dix on, 381-9

Parasites, delusions concerning, 122
Pare, Ambroise, case of a young
gentleman, 48-9, 03; description of
the possessed, 123 note
Paris, magic papyrus of, 100-1, 172
Pastime, possession as a, 231, 237
Pathological temperament and en-
thusiasm, 157; symptoms ac-
companying possession (cases illus-
trating), 84, 40, 90, 97-8, 178, 183,
195, etc.

Pathology, psychic, historical survey
of, 128 ,

Patristic writings and possession,
159; outlook on possession in,
103-4

Personality, transformation of, in
possession, 21, 20 sq. 9 34; and
the expressive stereotypes, 19;
unstable nature of amongst
primitives, 134, 138, 238, 201;
stable nature of amongst the
Hed Indians, 293

Persson on the oracles, 388

Pctrus Gonzalez, St., cure of posses-
sion by, 184

Philo on the prophets, 342

Philodcinos on the ' temple sleep,"
153

Physical maladies, attributed to
demoniacal influence, 90, 119, 120;
in Mesopotamia, 148 ; identification
of \\ith possession favours
growth of hitter, 121; confused
with possession, 131, 217; and
possession in ancient India, 172;
sympathetic , 257; in Ilausa
possession-dances, 250; cured by
mediums, amongst the Veddas,
250, the Hausa, 202, the Bataks,
209, the Tonga Islanders, 277

Physiognomy, change of, in posses-
sion, 17-9, 59-00

Pigmies, possession amongst, in the
Malay Peninsula, 243-0; in the
Andaman Islands, 240; psychic
poverty of, 278. See also Veddas

Piper case, the, 371-4

Plato, attitude towards ecstasy, 15? ;
and Kant, 157 note; referred to
by Clement of Alexandria, 159;
theory of sm, 103; on the oracles,
325; on poetic inspiration, 347

Play-acting, in voluntary possession,
2*41; amongst shamans of North-
ern Asia, 308; in Slum, 353

riotimis the true ecstatic, 157 and
note; poem on uttered by the
oracle, 321

Plural possession, 20, 27; Gregory the
Great's case, 101; amongst primi-
tives, 200

Plutarch, on the oracles, 312, 314,
315, 321-2, 387

Podmore, F., case of Aliss A. B
(possession by the living), 27

Poetic inspiration, 150, 228, 327-8,
340-8

Poetic springs of Greece, 319-20

Polynesia. See Tonga Islands

Porphyry, on Plotinus, 157 note; the
poem given by the oracle, 324;
polemic against, by St. Augustine,
330; on the oracles, 331

Possessed become exorcists, 143;
doctors and soothsayers, 224

398

INDEX

Possession, theory of, 38-9; dis-
tinguished from somnambulism,
39, from obsession, 77; most
prevalent among the uneducated,
99

Possession-religions, the Bori, 255;
the Malays, 265-70; the Wu-
priesthood, 355-60; spiritualism,
3 >0-75,

Poulain, on possession and obsession,
77; possession and the saints and
mystics, 80, 82 (Ste. Jeanne de
Quintal), 86

Present day, possession in, 124 ,?</.;
difference between and antiq-
uity, 127; voluntary possession
(spiritualism) in the* higher civi-
lizations, 348 sg.

Prevorst, Clairvoyantc of, 76-7 ?to/e,
384

Primitive races, spontaneous pos-
session amongst, 131 sq.: sug-
gestibility of, 134, 138; instability
of personality amongst, 236 sq.

Prophecy, in Greek antiquity, 156
note, 342, 384; in the Dionysiae
cult, 340; amongst the Ttatuks,
272, the Tonga Islanders, 279;
in spiritualism, 374; possession
and , 381

Protestantism and possession, 192-1,
202, 379

Psy elms then ia, compared with pos-
session, 47; - ami exorcism, 307;
inhibitions in acute , 125;
history of , 128

Psychic disturbances, in ancient
India, 173; autosuggcstivc
amongst savages, 240; in Hausa
possession-dances, 256; distin-
guished from possession by the
Bataks, 268, by the Mclanesians,
280, 282; - in New Guinea, 285

Psychic epidemics. See Epidemics

Psychoanalysis and possession, 1 17

Psychology, \iilhout a subject, 38,
64; theological , 77; French
on hysteria and possession, 126-7;
Franco- Anglo-Saxon and pos-
session, 122-3 ; racial and posses-
sion, 131 sq.

Psychopathic literature, 78
Pythoness of Delphi, history of, 312;
nature of inspiration, 313-5 ; reality
of the Chasm, 316-20; psychic
state during inspiration, 320; early
death of, 321; death by auto-
suggestion of, 321-2; collaboration
of the priests, 322-3; social in-
fluence of, 324; decline of the
oracle, 326; Christianity and the
oracle, 326-31; the problem of
parapsychic phenomena, 383-8

Questions, attitude of possessing
" demons " towards, 63, 65

Habbulas, attitude of, towards the
possessed, 164

Racial and religious psychology and
possession, 131 sq.

Rationalism and possession, 379, 389

Relations between the possessed and
his " demon," 60 sq., 69

Religion, history of, and possession,
276

Remorse the origin of possession,
109-17, 162

Resistance to compulsions, 82, 83 .w/. ;
proportionate to strength of char-
acter, 85-6

Ribct, M. J., on possession and
obsession, 83

Rice-sieving, possession during, 237

Richer, P., on hysteria, 126-7

Ritualc Roma i turn on exorcism, 101-4,
166

Rohde, E., on prophets in ancient
Greece, 156 note; description of the
Dionysiac cult, 336

K oman' Empire, dcmonology in, 170

Romantic movement in Germany, in
relation to possession, 194-5; revolt
against Age of Enlightenment,
194-5; attitude towards Shaman-
ism, 295; and spiritualism, 365

Rouge, lj. dc, story from an Egyptian
stela, 148

Russia, possession in, 196, 203; the
Samoycdes, 203-5; cure by Jo harm
Kronstadtski, 206; exorcism of the
dibbuk, 207-10; thanatomania in,
239-40 ; true Shamanism in , 294 ftq. ;
parapsychic phenomena in, 382

Sacnlice in exorcism, 135, 137, 143,
144, 116, 231, etc.

St. Vitus' dance, 187 *

Samoycdes, ikoUi amongst the, 204;
Shamanism amongst the, 294,
297-8, 299, 300

Saul, possession of, 168-9

Scaramelli on the mystic life, 82

Schizophrenia, 203

Scott, Sir W., on witchcraft, 196;
the Goodwin case, 197-8

Sculptor, case of a young, 369-70

Secondary personality, never devel-
oped in hysteria, 129

Seglas on parasites and possession,
122

Self-criticism in lucid possession, 45

Scligmann, C. G., and B. on the
Veddas, 246-52

Scmlcr, J. S., on diffusion of posses-
sion, 154; on belief in possession,
192

INDEX

390

Scthe, K., on the K-aro^ot, 151-2

Sexual feelings in possession, 80, 90

Shamanism, true, 294 sqq.; genuine-
ness of, 295-6; anaesthesia in, 299;
somnambulism in, 299; psychic
state of shamans, 299-300; choice
of shamans, 300-2; social import-
ance of shamans, 304; not a
state of possession , 305; shamanistic
ceremonies, 305-7; Russian litera-
ture of , 306 sq. ; a primitive
form of dramatic spectacle, 308;
physiological effects of shamaniz-
ing, 309; true and possession-
Shamanism, 309; need for investi-
gation, 309-10; analogy with devil-
dances of Ceylon, 350; Wu-priest-
hood a branch of , 355-8 ; analogy
with possession amongst the Bn-
Honga, 378; parapsychic pheno-
mena and ,381

Shamanism, so-called, 236 sq.;
amongst the pigmies, 243-6, the
Veddas, 246-52; in Africa, 253-65,
the liataks, 265-76, the Dyaks,
276, the Tonga Islanders, 276-80,
the Mclanesiaiis, 280-4; in New
Guinea, 284-6; in Polynesia, 286;
in America, 286-93

Sharp weapons, cure of possession by
threat of, 107

Shivashakti, story of the, 214-5

Shop-girls, case of impersonation of,
45

Siam, possession in modern, 217;
autosuggestibility in, 237; volun-
tary possession in, 352-5

Sibyls, the, 156 note, 332-5

Sickness. See Physical maladies

Sight of possessed persons a cause of
possession, 92

Sin, regarded as possession by Early
Church, 163 ; remorse for a cause
of possession, 109-17, 162

Skeat, W. W., on the pigmies of the
Malay Peninsula, 245-6; on the
Malays, 273-6

Snouck, Ilurgronje, on Zar-posscssion
231-2

Socrates, the dccmon of, 386

Sollier, on self-criticism in lucid
possession, 45

Somnambuliform possession, 26 sq.,
39; the Fritz- Algar case, 70-5

Somnambulism denned, 39; distin-
guished from possession, 39; sug-
gestibility in, 104-5; somnam-
bulistic suggestion, 110 sq.; and
voluntary possession, 341

Souls of the dead, possession by.
See Dead

Spanish abbess, lucid possession of
a, 41

Spirit-hopping in China, 361-3
Spirits, belief in, in the modern world,
376-9. See also Demons and
\ Angels

I Spiritualism, the modern stronghold
i of voluntary possession, 202; in
j China, 219; in the Malay Archi-
i pelago, 265-76; in modern Europe
I and North America, 365-75
I Staudenmaier, L. , ease of , 1 5, 57-60
i Stigmata, bleeding, produced by
j faith, 100

Stohr, modern Catholic view of pos-
| session, 200-1
i Strabo, on the Adyton, 314
Strauss, D. F., on possession, 193-4;
on parapsychic phenomena, 384-5
Subject registers only its own states,
36, 54; incapable of division, 37;
identification of, with secondary
personality, 66

Suggestibility, psychic state during
enhanced, 100; greater in som-
nambulistic than waking state,
105; greater in primitive races,
134, 138; abnormal amongst
savages, 238, amongst the Tripo-
litamaiis, 261; low degree of ---
amongst lied Indians, 293
Suggestion and autosuggestion, phy-
siological effects of, 100; - and
artificial extinction of possession,
96-9, 100 ; analysis of, by Lipps and
Vogt, 100 note"
Suicide, obsessions of, 81, 82; auto-

suggcstivc f 238-9
Sulpicius Sever us, description of an
exorcist, 160-1; on cures from a
distance, 166
Sumcrians, the, 148
Surin, Father, case of, 14, 50-7, 77;
mentioned by J. des Anges, 90;
example of psychic infection, 92;
compared with Finow's son, 278,
with Freimark's case, 370-1
Suso, H. , case of, 80, 8 1
Swabiun romantics, Soliciting, Ker-

ncr, Eschenmayer, 194-5
Swine, the Gadarene, 3, 124 note
Sympathetic sickness, 237
Symptoms of possession, 139, in

Siam, 217-8

Syria, possession of a Syrian princess,
149-51; possession in , 151; in
the Middle Ages, 185; a modern
case from Nebk, 212

Talmud, possession in the, 176
Taoist priests as mediums, 361 , 363
Tatars, Shamanism amongst the, 299
Taylor, Mrs. 11., on possession in

China, 221-4, 363-4
Telckiuesia, in possession, 366, 381-2

400

INDEX

Teleutes, Shamanism amongst the,
294

Temptations and obsessions amongst
the religious, 80-2

Tertulliaii on early Christian exor-
cism, 106-7

Theological view of possession, 32-77,
80, 83 ; of obsession, 83

Theophilus on poetical possession,
328

Thompson, II. C., version of a Baby-
lonian inscription, 148-9

Threshold of acceptance, the, 68

Tiger-spirit amongst the pigmies,
244-5; the Malays, 273-5

Tonga Islanders, voluntary possession
amongst, 238, 270-80, 371

Tranquille, Father, case of, 92;
death of, 117-8

Transformation of the slate of com-
pulsion, 83 sq.

Tremearne, possession - dances

amongst the llausa, 255-63

Tremendum, sentiment of, produced
by possession , 377

Tshuktsh, Shamanism amongst the,
294, 304, 307

Tungiiscs, Shamanism amongst the,
294, 299, 301, 304

Unconscious processes of the possess-
ing spirit, 122-3; problem of the
, 123

Veddas of Ceylon, voluntary posses-
sion amongst, 246-52; compared
with Siberian shamans, 300, 308

Vettius Valens, on the KOLTOXOI, 152-3

Vianney, J. B. M. St., cure of Ars,
and the possessed, 195

Vindcssi, the, 285

Virgil on the Sibyls, 331, 335

Visions, 83, 94, 267, 269, 271;
amongst the Bacchantes, 340

Voice, change of, in possession, 19-21,
33-4, 67

Voluntary possession, 236 sq.; dis-
tinguished from spontaneous pos-
session, 241; somnambulism and
, 241 ; preceded by collapse, 241 ;
by animals, 242 ; nature dependent
on autosuggcstivc expectation, 243 ;
in higher civilizations to-day,
348 sq.

Waldmcier, T., possession in Abys-
sinia, 136-7

Wales, possession in, 195
Warneck on the Bataks, 267-72
Watseka Wonder, the, 210-1
Were-wolves, 191; -lions, 145
Westphalus, J. C., case of hystcro-

cpilcpsy, 34

Will, the, in possession, 67 sq.
Wind, onset of possession in, 94, 136
Witchcraft, 190 note, 191, 192
Women more liable to possession

than men, 144, 231
Wu-priesthood in China, 355-60

Yakuts, Shamanism amongst the,
294,299,301,304-5

Zar, the, possession by, in Kgypt,

230-5
Zciio of Verona, on possession and

exorcism, 7-8
ZiAr-dance, 233
Zooanthropy, 191-2
Zulus, possession amongst, 138-9,

265, 381; possession by spirits of,

141-2