'The Possessed' and Today's Pop Culture

(Part 3 in a series) 

 

Throughout many centuries some people have believed in an evil principality personified as 'the Devil' or 'Satan,' these beliefs influenced by accounts of incidents interpreted by witnesses as evidence of 'demonic possession.'  Historical accounts chronicle that beyond the evil associations, some cases were considered evidence of divine possession.   

 

The word 'demon' or 'demonic' connoting evil is a superstitious derivative of the Latin/Greek 'daemon'/'daimon,' perhaps reminding one of the account of the 'daemon' of Socrates with Socrates recognizable as being one of the chosen ones (not by men) to expand the spiritual understanding of others throughout the ages.  The documentation of the communicators has been accumulating for decades, for centuries. 

 

The famous trance medium Eileen Garrett stated in The Sense and Nonsense of Prophecy (1950): "Quite recently, and with a good deal of publicity, a small boy who was 'possessed' underwent an official Church exorcism with bell, book and candle.  How valuable he could have been to psychic research! . . . the struggles, sufferings, misunderstandings, failures, and experiences involved in the process of replacing ignorance with knowledge still leave evil abroad in the world, and far too many without a practical and balanced approach to life."
 
Catherine Clément in her book The Call of the Trance (2014) presented her research about such subjects as 'the trance state' and manifestations that have been associated with so-called 'possession' cases.  The previous blog article featuring excerpts from Clément's book mentions her remark about possessed nuns at Loudon, France during the 17th Century: ". . . what remained in the excellent abbé's account that was inexplicable?  Those thick, black, stuck-out tongues among all the possessed." 

 

Clément articulated a thought-provoking statement: "The possessed today are singers of both sexes who offer up their tattooed muscles, their bound, corseted bodies, their boots, sweat and exhaustion for public veneration.  The trances are in the auditorium — and sometimes on the stage."

She wrote further: "The girls you see screaming and waving their arms in the air at the feet of singers are often called 'hysterical.'  Hysterical fans . . . The term 'hysteric'—an offshoot of the sorcerer's trance and the convulsions of Saint-Médard and also the soil from which, around the year 1900, psychoanalysis emerged—is a classic one in psychiatry."

 

The blog article "Metaphysical Aspects of Pop Songs" offers more reflections inspired by The Call of The Trance — The author suggested how people living in developed industrial countries also seek some manner of 'eclipse' or break from their daily routines.  Rock concerts fulfill such a desire and the excitement expressed by 'fans' can be seen in countless YouTube performance videos.

 

Earlier this year, I listened to some high school students talking about an upcoming Billie Eilish concert.  I'd never heard the name before so I asked them about the singer.  I learned that Billie's debut song "Ocean Eyes" became popular via the Internet and now at the age of 17 she has listeners all over the world.  Curious about Billie, I visited her website and was surprised by the image on display.

The album cover reminded me of the famous horror movie "The Exorcist" (1973) — a movie with absolutely nothing authentic to offer about 'metaphysical' aspects of life.
 
"The Exorcist" was released during my own senior year in high school and I was very surprised when an article about the movie written for my school newspaper brought me a prestigious award from the Quill and Scroll International Society for High School Journalists.  I'd taken a news reporter's approach to presenting information about the production.  I remember that some of the music featured in the movie became a hit instrumental single heard on pop music radio stations: "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield.  
 
Upon researching the career of Billie Eilish, I noticed a brief CNN news video about Billie "Tourette syndrome can't stop teen pop star Billie Eilish" and a Yahoo article "17-year-old sensation Billie Eilish smashes, sales, streaming records with debut album".  
 
Billie's hit songs include "Bellyache" and "Bury A Friend."  A sentence of the lyrics in the latter song is the title of Billie's current album: "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"  Consistent readers of this blog know that this question has been addressed by transcendental communicators through their respective channelers.  'Channeling' can be something misunderstood by people who have a superstitious orientation regarding the subject of transcendental communication.  There are obviously also a multitude of people who have no knowledge at all about the documented authenticity of channeling and mediumship cases.  

Artistic and self-expressive people engaged in every manner of activity know something about inspired moments and being "in the groove" or "in the vibe" when the circumstances are right: singing, dancing, painting, sculpting, acting, writing, speaking in tongues . . . there are so many kinds of inspired moments.  Different people have different talents, interests and abilities.  Have you closely watched singers and musicians while performing — their rhythmic and diverse bodily movements and gestures, keen attention to timing, their vocal intonations and intense facial expressions?   

(Click on image to see larger magnification)
Clockwise from top left: Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury, Debbie Harry, Nina Hagen, Katy Perry, Billie Eilish, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, Gene Simmons.
  

The Billie Eilish album cover shows a sensational image that is evidently one deemed as having commercial appeal in 2019.  A contemporary perspective concerning creativity and the renewed spiritual dispensation of 'channeling' are topics of a passage from transcripts of the communication of the 'channeled entity' known as Lazaris (through Jach Pursel) as quoted in Lazaris Interviews Book I (1988):

 

We call them counselors.  Others call them guardian angels or guides.  Various terms have been used.
 

. . . you have a whole panoply of what we call the "Unseen Friends."  You have a Child, first of all, that is not just a circle on a blackboard in a Transactional Analysis model of communication, but it is a very living, breathing aspect of yourself.  You have a Child, and an Adolescent.  You have a grown-up in there that's a parenting part of yourself.  You have counselors, as we say.  Similarly, there is a Future Self whom you are becoming.  There is a Higher Self.  There is a relationship that we encourage people to have with a sense of God/Goddess/All That Is that is very personal.
 

We encourage you to turn inward, to go into meditation, to talk to your counselors, to talk to your Inner Child.  Talk to these parts of yourself.  Ask them questions.  Get their input.  Get information.  This is channeling.  It's internalized, most definitely.
 
Some people find that they can externalize this channeling process.  Within all the creative arts there are those who, while caught in the wonder and the flow of the process of creating, feel like they are channeling.  Outside the creative arts, you may have found yourself thinking or talking spontaneously only to discover beautiful new information that makes you wonder, "Where did that come from?"
 

This is what we call Subjective Channeling . . .
 

Then there is what we'd call the Objective Channeling, which is what the Channel does, which the one who is called Jach does.

 

The following passages from the same book address a familiar concept found in channeling transcripts: 'You create your own reality.'

You as the individual create your whole reality from beginning to end, from morning 'til night, and through the sleep time as well.  In your reality everything is an illusion that you are creating, including all the other people with whom you interact.  Perhaps a better way to understand it is this: You have written a play — a screenplay, a teleplay, a theatrical play — and not only did you write this play, you are also starring in it, directing it, and producing it.  You're going to hire a number of players to act in your particular play.  Now they're going to agree to act in your play because it also benefits them, because they have also written a play, you see?  In their play, there is a character like you, and in your play there's a character like them.
 

Upon occasion your Higher Self will intercede.  Your Higher Self will know, for example, that "if they get that, it's going to set them back in their growth."

The entity 'John' speaking through Kevin Ryerson is quoted in Spirit Communication: The Soul's Path (1989):
 

Fluctuations in your states of spiritual growth determine which entities you attract.
 

Your spirit guides and teachers are usually of a higher vibration or higher consciousness and dispense understanding of both a spiritual and philosophical nature while you are in the earth plane.
 

Spirit guides and teachers are not infallible in the information they give.  Advice from them should be taken as just that — advice or counseling from one who perhaps has a broader spectrum of life experience.