Religious Cosmology

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For other approaches to the study of the Universe in its totality, see Cosmology. For other approaches to the origin of the Universe, see Cosmogony.

A Religious cosmology (also mythological cosmology) is a way of explaining the origin, the history and the evolution of the cosmos or universe based on the religious mythology of a specific tradition. Religious cosmologies usually include an act or process of creation by a creator deity or a larger pantheon.

Contents [hide] 1 Buddhism 2 Hebrew Bible 3 Christianity 3.1 Mormon 4 Hinduism 5 Islam 6 Jainism 7 Chinese mythology 8 Serer religion 9 See also 10 References

[edit] Buddhism

Main article: Buddhist cosmology

In Buddhism, the universe comes into existence dependent upon the actions (karma) of its inhabitants. Buddhists posit neither an ultimate beginning or final end to the universe, but see the universe as something in flux, passing in and out of existence, parallel to an infinite number of other universes doing the same thing.
The Buddhist universe consists of a large number of worlds which correspond to different mental states, including passive states of trance, passionless states of purity, and lower states of desire, anger, and fear. The beings in these worlds are all coming into existence or being born, and passing out of existence into other states, or dying. A world comes into existence when the first being in it is born, and ceases to exist, as such, when the last being in it dies. The universe of these worlds also is born and dies, with the death of the last being preceding a universal conflagration that destroys the physical structure of the worlds; then, after an interval, beings begin to be born again and the universe is once again built up. Other universes, however, also exist, and there are higher planes of existence which are never destroyed, though beings that live in them also come into and pass out of existence.
As well as a model of universal origins and destruction, Buddhist cosmology also functions as a model of the mind, with its thoughts coming into existence based on preceding thoughts, and being transformed into other thoughts and other states.

[edit] Hebrew Bible

Further information: Biblical cosmology and Genesis creation myth

The main Judeo-Christian religious text, the Bible, opens with a story of creation. The first two chapters of the Book of Genesis describe the creation of heaven and earth by God (called both Elohim and Yhvh) in six successive days.

• First day: God creates light ("Let there be light!")^{[Gen 1:3]}—the first divine command. The light is divided from the darkness, and "day" and "night" are named.
• Second day: God creates a firmament ("Let a firmament be...!")^{[Gen 1:6–7]}—the second command—to divide the waters above from the waters below. The firmament is named "heaven" (shamayim).
• Third day: God commands the waters below to be gathered together in one place, and dry land to appear (the third command).^{[Gen 1:9–10]} "earth" and "sea" are named. God commands the earth to bring forth grass, plants, and fruit-bearing trees (the fourth command).
• Fourth day: God creates lights in the firmament (the fifth command)^{[Gen 1:14–15]} to separate light from darkness and to mark days, seasons and years. Two great lights are made and the stars.
• Fifth day: God commands the sea to "teem with living creatures", and birds to fly across the heavens (sixth command)^{[Gen 1:20–21]} He creates birds and sea creatures, and commands them to be fruitful and multiply.
• Sixth day: God commands the land to bring forth living creatures (seventh command); He makes wild beasts, livestock and "every thing that creepeth upon the earth".^{[Gen 1:24–25]} He then creates humanity in His "image" and "likeness" (eighth command).^{[Gen 1:26–28]} They are told to "be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it." The totality of creation is described by God as "very good."
• Seventh day: God, having completed the heavens and the earth, rests from His work, and blesses and sanctifies the seventh day.^{[Gen 2:2]}

[edit] Christianity

See also: Biblical cosmology, Ex nihilo, and Creationism

It is a tenet of Christian faith (Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant) that God is the creator of all things from nothing, and has made human beings in the Image of God, who by direct inference is also the source of the human soul. In Chalcedonian Christology, Jesus is the Word of God, which was in the beginning and, thus, is uncreated, and hence is God, and consequently identical with the Creator of the world ex nihilo.
The New Testament claims that God created everything by the eternal Word, Jesus Christ his beloved Son. In him:

"all things were created, in heaven and on earth.. . all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.^[1]

[edit] Mormon

Main article: Mormon cosmology

Mormon cosmology draws from Biblical cosmology, but has many unique elements provided by Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr.
According to Mormon cosmology, there was a pre-existence, better described as a pre-mortal life, in which human spirits were literal children of heavenly parents.^[2] Though their spirits were created, the essential "intelligence" of these spirits is considered eternal, and without beginning. During this pre-existence, two plans were said to have been presented, one championed by Lucifer (Satan) that would have involved loss of moral agency, and another championed by God the Father. When his plan was not accepted, Lucifer is said to have rebelled and taken a third of the hosts of heaven with him to the earth to serve as tempters. According to a plan of salvation as described by God the Father, Jesus would create the earth, under the direction of God the Father, as a place where humanity would be tested. After the resurrection all men and women except spirits that followed Lucifer and the sons of perdition would be assigned one of three degrees of glory. Within the highest degree, the Celestial Kingdom, there are three divisions, and those in the highest of these divisions would become gods and goddesses through a process called exaltation or "eternal progression". This would involve having spirit children and populating new worlds.
The Earth's creation, according to Mormon scripture, was not ex nihilo, but organized from existing matter. The faith teaches that this earth is just one of many inhabited worlds, and that there are many governing heavenly bodies, including a planet or star Kolob which is said to be nearest the throne of God. According to some Mormon sources, God the Father himself was once like a human, and lived on a planet with his own higher god.

[edit] Hinduism

Main article: Hindu cosmology

The Hindu cosmology and timeline is the closest to modern scientific timelines and even more which might indicate that the Big Bang is not the beginning of everything but just the start of the present cycle preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of universes. It also includes an infinite number of universes at one given time.
The Rig Veda questions the origin of the cosmos in: "Neither being (sat) nor non-being was as yet. What was concealed? And where? And in whose protection?…Who really knows? Who can declare it? Whence was it born, and whence came this creation? The devas (demigods) were born later than this world's creation, so who knows from where it came into existence? None can know from where creation has arisen, and whether he has or has not produced it. He who surveys it in the highest heavens, he alone knows-or perhaps does not know." (Rig Veda 10. 129)

Large scale structure of the Universe according to one Hindu cosmology.

Map 2: Intermediate neighbourhood of the Earth according to one Hindu cosmology.

Map 3: Local neighbourhood of the Earth according to one Hindu cosmology.

The Rig Veda's view of the cosmos also sees one true divine principle self-projecting as the divine word, Vaak, 'birthing' the cosmos that we know, from the monistic Hiranyagarbha or Golden Womb. The Hiranyagarbha is alternatively viewed as Brahma, the creator who was in turn created by God, or as God (Brahman) himself. The universe is considered to constantly expand since creation and disappear into a thin haze after billions of years.^{[citation needed]} An alternate view is that the universe begins to contract after reaching its maximum expansion limits until it disappears into a fraction of a millimeter.^{[citation needed]} The creation begins anew after billions of years (Solar years) of non-existence.
The puranic view asserts that the universe is created, destroyed, and re-created in an eternally repetitive series of cycles. In Hindu cosmology, a universe endures for about 4,320,000,000 years (one day of Brahma, the creator or kalpa) and is then destroyed by fire or water elements. At this point, Brahma rests for one night, just as long as the day. This process, named pralaya (Cataclysm), repeats for 100 Brahma years (311 Trillion, 40 Billion Human Years) that represents Brahma's lifespan. Similarly at a given time there are an infinite number of Brahma's performing the creation of each of these universes that are infinite in number. Brahma is the creator but not necessarily regarded as God in Hinduism. He is mostly regarded as a creation of God / Brahman.
We are currently^[when?] believed to be in the 51st year of the present Brahma and so about 156 trillion years have elapsed since He was born as Brahma. After Brahma's "death", it is necessary that another 100 Brahma years (311 Trillion, 40 Billion Years) pass until a new Brahma is born and the whole creation begins anew. This process is repeated again and again, forever.
Brahma's day is divided in one thousand cycles (Maha Yuga, or the Great Year). Maha Yuga, during which life, including the human race appears and then disappears, has 71 divisions, each made of 14 Manvantara (1000) years. Each Maha Yuga lasts for 4,320,000 years. Manvantara is Manu's cycle, the one who gives birth and governs the human race.
Each Maha Yuga consists of a series of four shorter yugas, or ages. The yugas get progressively worse from a moral point of view as one proceeds from one yuga to another. As a result, each yuga is of shorter duration than the age that preceded it. The current Kali Yuga (Iron Age) began at midnight 17 February / 18 February in 3102 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar.
Space and time are considered to be maya (illusion). What looks like 100 years in the cosmos of Brahma could be thousands of years in other worlds, millions of years in some other worlds and 311 trillion and 40 billion years for our solar system and earth.

[edit] Islam

Main articles: Islamic cosmology and Sufi Cosmology

Islam preaches that God, or Allah, created the universe, including Earth's physical environment and human beings. The highest goal is to visualize the cosmos as a book of symbols for meditation and contemplation for spiritual upliftment or as a prison from which the human soul must escape to attain true freedom in the spiritual journey to God. Islam elaborates on cosmology in many instances. A modern English translation of the Quran describes the creation of the universe as follows:"We have built the heaven with might, and We are Steadily Expanding it."51:47 ^[3] Earlier English translations like for example Ahmed Ali, The Noble Qur'an, Pickthal, Shakir and Yusuf Ali never specify the expansion as a process that is still going on so it seems to be an addition after the expansion of the universe became a generally accepted scientific fact.
Below here there are some other citations from the Quran on cosmology.
"Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?" 21:30 Yusuf Ali translation
"The Day that We roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books (completed),- even as We produced the first creation, so shall We produce a new one: a promise We have undertaken: truly shall We fulfil it." 21:104 Yusuf Ali translation

[edit] Jainism

Main article: Jain cosmology

Jain cosmology considers the loka, or universe, as an uncreated entity, existing since infinity, having no beginning or an end.^[4] Jain texts describe the shape of the universe as similar to a man standing with legs apart and arm resting on his waist. This Universe, according to Jainism, is narrow at the top, broad at the middle and once again becomes broad at the bottom.^[5]
Mahāpurāṇa of Ācārya Jinasena is famous for this quote: "Some foolish men declare that a creator made the world. The doctrine that the world was created is ill advised and should be rejected. If God created the world, where was he before the creation? If you say he was transcendent then and needed no support, where is he now? How could God have made this world without any raw material? If you say that he made this first, and then the world, you are faced with an endless regression."

[edit] Chinese mythology

Main articles: Chinese creation myth and Tian

There is a "primordial universe" Wuji (philosophy), and Hongjun Laozu, water or qi.^[6][7] It transformed into Taiji and multiplied into everything.^[8][9] The Pangu legend tells a formless chaos coalesced into a cosmic egg. Pangu emerged (or woke up) and separated Yin from Yang with a swing of his giant axe, creating the Earth (murky Yin) and the Sky (clear Yang). To keep them separated, Pangu stood between them and pushed up the Sky. After Pangu died, he became everything.

Yoonir, symbol of the Universe in Serer religion.^[10][11]

[edit] Serer religion

Main articles: Serer religion and Saltigue

Serer religion posits that, Roog, the creator deity, is the point of departure and conclusion.^[11] As farming people, trees play an important role in Serer religious cosmology and creation mythology. The Serer high priests and priestesses (the Saltigues) chart the Star of Sirius known as Yoonir in the Serer language and some of the Cangin languages. This star enables them to give accurate information as to when Serer farmers should start planting seeds among other things relevant to Serer lives and Serer country. The Star of Yoonir is the symbol of the universe in Serer cosmology and creation mythology.^[10][11]

[edit] See also

• Bahá'í cosmology
• Raelian cosmology
• Zoroastrian cosmology

[edit] References

1. ^ CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 291
2. ^ LDS Church (1995) ("Each [human] is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents."); LDS Church (1997, p. 11) ("Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father.").
3. ^ http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e459?_hi=10&_pos=2
4. ^ “This universe is not created nor sustained by anyone; It is self sustaining, without any base or support” “Nishpaadito Na Kenaapi Na Dhritah Kenachichch Sah Swayamsiddho Niradhaaro Gagane Kimtvavasthitah” [Yogaśāstra of Ācārya Hemacandra 4.106] Tr by Dr. A. S. Gopani
5. ^ See Hemacandras description of universe in Yogaśāstra “…Think of this loka as similar to man standing akimbo…”4.103-6
6. ^ 《太一生水》之混沌神話
7. ^ 道教五方三界諸天「氣數」說探源
8. ^ 太一與三一
9. ^ 太極初探
10. ^ ^{a b} Gravrand, Henry, "La civilisation sereer : Pangool", vol. 2, Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Senegal, (1990) pp 20-21, 149-155, ISBN 2-7236-1055-1
11. ^ ^{a b c} Clémentine Faïk-Nzuji Madiya, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, International Centre for African Language, Literature and Tradition (Louvain, Belgium). ISBN 0-660-15965-1. pp 5, 27, 115

The Jesus Mysteries..

The Jesus Mysteries is an excellent scholarly work. It reveals the "hidden" truth behind the real Jesus. I read it when it first. came out. 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Jesus Mysteries
The cover of The Jesus Mysteriesfeatures a gem of Dionysus/Orpheus.[1]
Author(s)	Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Media type	Hardback

The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God? is a 1999 book by British authors Timothy Freke, a philosophy and religions scholar, and Peter Gandy a classics scholar. Although it deals with Jesus, this book is not primarily a work of Biblical scholarship, but a rigorous secular investigation of early Christianity prior to the 4th century CE, when direct political intervention by the Roman Emperor Constantine forced various competing Christian sects to unify under a statement of faith (the Nicene Creed). At this time the writings that are today known as the New Testament canon were deliberately selected, and other texts abandoned, due to a lack of agreement on the parts of the negotiators. This book aims to rediscover Christianity prior to political interference from 4th century Rome.

Freke and Gandy systematically examine every conceivable article of evidence from ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern civilisations, which makes this book especially useful as a bibliographical reference for students of religion, classics and Near Eastern studies. In particular they examine the remarkable similarity of important elements of Jesus' divinity with a number of mystery religions, such as those of the ancient gods Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, andMithras, apparently manifestations of a single cult of a dying and rising "godman" myth, known to classical scholarship as Osiris-Dionysus. The authors propose that Jesus did not literally exist as an historically identifiable individual, but was instead a syncretic re-interpretation of the fundamental pagan "godman" by the Gnostics, who were the original sect of Christianity. Orthodox Christianity, according to them, was not the predecessor to Gnosticism, but a later outgrowth that rewrote history in order to make literal Christianity appear to predate the Gnostics. They describe their theory as the "Jesus Mysteries thesis."

Contents   [hide]  1 Jesus Mysteries thesis 2 Reception 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit]Jesus Mysteries thesis

Freke and Gandy base the Jesus Mysteries thesis partly on a series of parallels between their suggested biography of Osiris-Dionysus and the biography of Jesus drawn from the four canonical gospels. Their suggested reconstruction of the myth of Osiris-Dionysus, compiled from the myths of ancient dying and resurrected "godmen," bears a striking resemblance to the gospel accounts. The authors give a short list of parallels at the beginning of the book:

• Osiris-Dionysus is God made flesh, the savior and "Son of God."
• His father is God and his mother is a mortal virgin, 7 month pregnancy.
• He is born in a cave or humble cowshed on December 25 before three shepherds.
• He offers his followers the chance to be born again through the rites of baptism.
• He miraculously turns water into wine at a marriage ceremony.
• He rides triumphantly into town on a donkey while people wave palm leaves to honor him.
• He dies at Eastertime as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
• After his death he descends to hell, then on the third day he rises from the dead and ascends to heaven in glory.
• His followers await his return as the judge during the Last Days.
• His death and resurrection are celebrated by a ritual meal of bread and wine, which symbolize his body and blood.^[2]

Later chapters add further parallels, including Mary's 7 month pregnancy.

According to The Jesus Mysteries, Christianity originated as a Judaized version of the pagan mystery religions. Hellenized Jews wrote a version of the godman myth incorporating Jewish elements. Initiates learned the myth and its allegorical meanings through the Outer and Inner Mysteries. (A similar pattern of "Lesser" and "Greater" Mysteries was part of the pagan Eleusinian Mysteries. Mithraism was structured around seven serial initiations.) They suggest that, at some point, groups of Christians who had only experienced the Outer Mysteries were split off from the elders of the religion and forgot that there had ever been a second initiation, and that, later, when they encountered groups who had retained the Inner Mysteries, the "Literalist Christians" attacked the "Gnostics" for claiming what the Literalists saw as false knowledge and false initiations. They claim that the Literalists won out when the emperor Constantine saw the political merit of 'one empire, one emperor, one god', nearly exterminating the Gnostics, and became the Roman Catholic Church and its modern descendants.

[edit]Reception

Chris Forbes, an ancient historian and senior lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, has criticised the work noting that Freke and Gandy are "not real scholars, they are popularisers.” He notes that their arguments about Jesus are "grossly misconceived, and their attempt to draw links between Jesus and various pagan god-men is completely muddled. It looks impressive because of the sheer mass of the material, but when you break it down and look at it point by point, it really comes to pieces.”^[3]

Paul Barnett, a New Testament scholar who has authored several books on the historical Jesus, argues that a good proportion of the citations are out of date. "Like the Gnostics, Freke and Gandy have a mystical mindset and therefore oppose Christianity as grounded in history," he wrote. "They hate the idea that the incarnation of the Son of God and his resurrection could have been a matter of actual flesh and blood and time and place."^[4]

When the BBC approached N. T. Wright, asking him to debate Freke and Gandy concerning their thesis in The Jesus Mysteries, Wright replied that "this was like asking a professional astronomer to debate with the authors of a book claiming the moon was made of green cheese."^[5]

Bart Ehrman, in an interview with the Fortean Times, was similarly asked for his views on the work of Freke and Gandy. He responded by saying, "This is an old argument, even though it shows up every 10 years or so. This current craze that Christianity was a mystery religion like these other mystery religions-the people who are saying this are almost always people who know nothing about the mystery religions; they've read a few popular books, but they're not scholars of mystery religions. The reality is, we know very little about mystery religions-the whole point of mystery religions is that they're secret! So I think it's crazy to build on ignorance in order to make a claim like this.^[6]

David Allan Dodson, a reviewer for CNN, found the book to be interesting, he stated that "while the authors discuss many examples of elements of Osiris/Dionysus in the Jesus story, they virtually ignore the more direct ties to Jewish tradition and prophecy. This oversight undermines the credibility of many of their arguments, and could have the tendency to mislead the novice reader in this subject".^[7]However, while Dodson wasn't fully convinced by the authors that Jesus was completely fictional, he did end his review with the following supportive remarks: "The Jesus Mysteries left this reviewer more convinced than ever that the life of Jesus as we know it is filled with mythological, political, and even polemical elements. Freke and Gandy succeed in bringing some important points about Christianity to the public in a readable, compelling book. Perhaps their willingness to state 'the unthinkable thought' will lead to more objective thinking about religion and tolerance. If so, The Jesus Mysteries is a worthy effort indeed".

[edit]See also

• Christ myth theory
• Historicity of Jesus
• Josephus on Jesus

[edit]References

Notes

1. ^ Guthrie, William Keith Chambers (1952). Orpheus and Greek Religion. London: Methuen. p. 278.
2. ^ Freke and Gandy, Jesus Mysteries, p. 5.
3. ^ http://your.sydneyanglicans.net/culture/thinking/387a/ The Jesus Mysteries - a critique]
4. ^ The Jesus Mysteries - a critique
5. ^ N. T. Wright, "Jesus' Self Understanding", in Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall, Gerald O’Collins, The Incarnation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) p. 48
6. ^ Bart Ehrman, interview with David V. Barrett, "The Gospel According to Bart", Fortean Times (221), 2007
7. ^ CNN.com, "Review: Jesus -- man or myth?", September 21, 2000

Books by Freke and Gandy on the Jesus Mysteries theme

• The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God? (1999)
• Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians (2002)
• The Laughing Jesus: Religious Lies and Gnostic Wisdom (2005)
• The Gospel of the Second Coming (2007)

Critique

• Reinventing Jesus, Komoszewski et al., Kregel, ISBN 978-0-8254-2982-8, (2006)

[edit]External links

• The Jesus Mysteries (excerpts)
• Review: Jesus -- man or myth?
• Review: James Hannam
• 2007 In-depth video interview with Timothy Freke on The Alcove with Mark Molaro

Spirit Possession

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It has been suggested that Body hopping be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2011.

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Spirit possession is a paranormal or supernatural event in which it is said that spirits, gods, demons, animas, extraterrestrials, or other disincarnate or other entities take control of a human body, resulting in noticeable changes in health and behaviour. The term can also describe a similar action of taking residence in an inanimate object, possibly giving it animation.
The concept of spiritual possession exists in many religions, including Christianity, Buddhism, Haitian Vodou, Wicca, and Southeast Asian and African traditions.^[1] Depending on the cultural context in which it is found, possession may be considered voluntary or involuntary and may be considered to have beneficial or detrimental effects. Scientific materialists^[who?] also have opinions about the nature of the phenomenon.^[vague]

Contents [hide] 1 Buddhism 2 Taoism and other East-Asian religions 3 African and African diasporic traditions 4 Balinese Sanghyang 5 Wicca 6 Islam 7 Judaism 8 Christianity 9 Spiritism and Spiritualism 10 Scientific materialism 11 Examples 12 See also 13 Notes 14 References

[edit] Buddhism

According to the Indian medical literature and Tantric Buddhist scriptures, most of the "seizers," or those that threaten the lives of young children, appear in animal form: cow, lion, fox, monkey, horse, dog, pig, cat, crow, pheasant, owl, and snake. But apart from these "nightmare shapes," the impersonation or incarnation of animals could in some circumstances also be highly beneficial, according to Michel Strickmann.^[2]
Ch'i Chung-fu, a Chinese gynecologist writing early in the thirteenth century, for example, wrote that in addition to five sorts of falling frenzy classified according to their causative factors, there were also four types of other frenzies distinguished by the sounds and movements given off by the victim during his seizure: cow, horse, pig, and dog frenzies.^[2]

[edit] Taoism and other East-Asian religions

Certain sects of Taoism, Korean Shamanism, Shinto, some Japanese new religious movements, and other East-Asian religions feature spirit-possession. Some sects feature shamans who become possessed, or mediums who channel beings' supernatural power, or enchanters who imbue or foster spirits within objects, like samurai swords.^[3]

[edit] African and African diasporic traditions

In Sudan and certain other East African cultures the Zār Cult conducts ethnomedical healing ceremonies involving possession typically of Muslim women by a Zār spirit.^[4]
In Haitian Vodou and related African diasporic traditions, one way that those who participate or practice can have a spiritual experience is by being possessed by the lwa (or Loa). When the lwa descends upon a practitioner, the practitioner's body is being used by the spirit, according to the tradition. Some spirits are believed to be able to give prophecies of upcoming events or situations pertaining to the possessed one, also called Chwal or the "Horse of the Spirit." Practitioners describe this as a beautiful but very tiring experience. Most people who are possessed by the spirit describe the onset as a feeling of blackness or energy flowing through their body as if they were being electrocuted. According to Vodou believers, when this occurs, it is a sign that a possession is about to take place.
The practitioner has no recollection of the possession and in fact when the possessing spirit leaves the body, the possessed one is tired and wonders what has happened during the possession. Not all practitioners have the ability to become possessed, but practitioners who do generally prefer not to make excessive use of it because it drains immense energy from them. It is said that only the lwa can choose who it wants to possess, for the spirit may have a mission that it can carry out spiritually. It is believed that those possessed by the lwa probably are at a very high spiritual level such that their soul is mature and at an advanced level.^{[citation needed]}
It is also believed that there are those who feign possessions because they want attention or a feeling of importance, because those who are possessed carry a high importance in ceremony. Often, a chwal will undergo some form of trial or testing to make sure that the possession is indeed genuine. As an example, someone possessed by one of the Guédé spirits may be offered piment, a liqueur made by steeping twenty-one chili peppers in kleren, a potent alcoholic beverage. If the chwal consumes the piment without showing any evidence of pain or discomfort, the possession is regarded as genuine.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Balinese Sanghyang

The animist traditions of the island of Bali (Indonesia) include a practice called sanghyang, induction of voluntary possession trance states for specific purposes. Roughly similar to voluntary possession in Vaudon (Voodoo), sanghyang is a sacred state in which hyangs (deities) or helpful spirits temporarily inhabit the bodies of participants. The purpose of sanghyang is to cleanse people and places of evil influences and restore spiritual balance. Thus, it is often referred to as an exorcism ceremony.

[edit] Wicca

Wiccans believe in voluntary possession by the Goddess, connected with the sacred ceremony of Drawing Down the Moon. The high priestess solicits the Goddess to possess her and speak through her.^[5]

[edit] Islam

No verses in the Quran (Islamic Scripture) clearly support stories of demonic possession or ghosts/hauntings. Muslims are told to "seek refuge in Allah from the accursed devil" but the meaning of this prayer relates to the fear Muslims should have of the wrath of God, as the purpose of the devil/satan is to mislead humans and make them disobey God. It is also stated in the Quran that the devil/satan has no power of influence over those who God has guided.

[edit] Judaism

Although forbidden in the Hebrew Bible, magic was widely practiced in the late Second Temple Period and well documented in the period following the destruction of the Temple into the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries C.E.^[6][7] In Jewish folklore, a Dybbuk is a disembodied spirit that wanders restlessly until it inhabits the body of a living person. The Baal Shem could expel the harmful dybbuk through exorcism.^[8] Jewish magical papyri were inscriptions on amulets, ostraca and incantation bowls used in Jewish magical practices against shedim and other unclean spirits.

[edit] Christianity

Roman Catholic doctrine states that angels are non-corporeal, spiritual beings^[9] with intelligence and will.^[10] Fallen angels, or demons, are able to "demonically possess" individuals without the victim's knowledge or consent, leaving them morally blameless.^[11]

[edit] Spiritism and Spiritualism

This section does not cite any references or sources. (May 2011)

In Spiritism and in some schools of Spiritualism, the undue influence exerted by spirits upon new and imperfectly trained mediums is considered a distinct danger to both the mediums themselves and to the communities they serve. Both the Spiritist author Allan Kardec and the Spiritualist author Paschal Beverly Randolph wrote on this topic. In modern Spiritism and Spiritualism, deleterious spirit possession is generally referred to as spirit obsession, to distinguish it from African-influenced traditions of spiritual possession.

[edit] Scientific materialism

Scientific materialists, skeptics, and empiricists have said that those who have experienced demonic possession have sometimes exhibited symptoms similar to those associated with mental illnesses such as psychosis, hysteria, mania, Tourette's syndrome, epilepsy, schizophrenia, or dissociative identity disorder.^[12][13][14] Common features of possession include involuntary, uncensored behavior, and an extra-human, extra-social aspect to the individual's actions.^[15]
However, cultural context is critical for proper diagnosis of spirit, or demonic, possession as psychosis or spiritual. In western industrialized nations such as the United States, spirit possession is not normative, and therefore calls for caution in acceptance of this condition as actually caused by spirits. The DSM-IV-TR, in describing the differences between spirit possession and Dissociative Identity Disorder, identifies only the claim that the extra personality is an external spirit or entity, lacking that, there would be no difference between the two conditions.^[16] Dissociative Identity Disorder in the United States is itself extremely rare. All forms of DID constitute only about 1% of the entire population. Of those, 98-99% are of the type of DID commonly recognized as the traditional form of Multiple Personality Disorder, rather than related to spirits.^[17]
Those most susceptible to being possessed are people with weak boundaries and low self-esteem, pointing to dysfunctional ego involvement in manifestations of this phenomenon rather than actual outside entities.^[18]

[edit] Examples

Incidents

• Aix-en-Provence possessions
• Loudun possessions
• Louviers possessions

Individuals

• Johann Blumhardt
• Clara Germana Cele
• George Lukins
• Robbie Mannheim
• Anneliese Michel
• Michael Taylor
• Watseka Wonder

[edit] See also

Spirituality portal

• Enthusiasm
• Automatic writing
• Baptism with the Holy Spirit
• Demonology
• Necromancy
• Spiritualist Church
• The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Mark 5:9, Luke 8:30
2. ^ ^{a b} Michel Strickmann (2002), Chinese Magical Medicine, edited by Bernard Faure, Stanford University Press, p. 251.
3. ^ Ed. Oxtoby & Amore, "World Religions: Eastern Traditions," 3rd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2010. p. 9, 256-319.
4. ^ Janice Boddy, "Wombs and Alien Spirits: Women, Men and the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan (New Directions in Anthropological Writing) University of Wisconsin Press (30 November 1989)
5. ^ Margo Adler, Drawing Down the Moon. Penguin, 1997.
6. ^ Gideon Bohak Ancient Jewish magic: a history 2008
7. ^ Clinton Wahlen Jesus and the impurity of spirits in the Synoptic Gospels 2004 p19 "The Jewish magical papyri and incantation bowls may also shed light on our investigation.79 However, the fact that all of these sources are generally dated from the third to fifth centuries and beyond requires us to exercise particular ..."
8. ^ "Dybbuk", Encyclopædia Britannica Online, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/174964/dybbuk, retrieved 2009-06-10
9. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 328.
10. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 330.
11. ^ p.33, An Exorcist Tells his Story by Gabriele Amorth translated by Nicoletta V. MacKenzie; Ignatius Press, San Francisco, 1999.
12. ^ How Exorcism Works
13. ^ J. Goodwin, S. Hill, R. Attias "Historical and folk techniques of exorcism: applications to the treatment of dissociative disorders"
14. ^ Journal of Personality Assessment (abstract)
15. ^ Michel Strickmann (2002), Chinese Magical Medicine, edited by Bernard Faure, Stanford University Press. p. 65.
16. ^ DSM-IV-TR p.527
17. ^ http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder?page=3, accessed 06/26/2011.
18. ^ The Call of Spiritual Emergency: From Personal Crisis to Personal Transformation, Bragdon, Emma. Harper & Row Pub. 1990. p.44.

[edit] References

• Clarke, S. (2006): "What is spiritual possession", SSRF
• Heindel, Max, The Web of Destiny (Chapter I - Part III: "The Dweller on the Threshold"--Earth-Bound Spirits, Part IV: The "Sin Body"--Possession by Self-Made Demons—Elementals, Part V: Obsession of Man and of Animals), ISBN 0-911274-17-0, www
• Klimo, John (1987). Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. St. Martins Press. ISBN 0-87477-431-4.
• Lang, Andrew (1900) Demoniacal Possession, The Making of Religion, (Chapter VII), Longmans, Green, and C°, London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 128–146.