HEALING THROUGH SPIRITS: AN EXPERIENTIAL ACCOUNT OF DISOBSESSION IN THE BRAZILIAN SPIRITIST TRADITION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00792R000700340001-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 4, 2000
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: RP

Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-007922R000~7~00j 901-3
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(3) there are other writings by the conscious "imitators" to
make variability estimates for whatever dependent vari-
ables are ultimately used in this study.
It would be marvelous to discover writings that were pro-
duced by the "channel" in his "normal" waking state but even
without them, we are presented with a unique historical opportun-
ity for exploring channeling phenomena from a new and exciting
perspective. While it is unlikely that such a study will provide us
with ironclad proof that the deceased Dickens was the real author
of the channeled version of the novel, there is far more to be
gained by this study. Whatever the results show, it is certain
that this study will pioneer a new methodology which may prove
useful for contemporary studies of channeling and, perhaps, for
scholars and scientists in other fields as well.
HEALING THROUGH SPIRITS: AN EXPERIENTIAL ACCOUNT
OF DISOBSESSION IN THE SPIRITIST TRADITION
Matthew C. Bronson (Babel Inverted Group, 31318 Carroll Are.,
Hayward, CA 94544)
Central to the spiritist tradition of Brazil is the idea that
many physical and mental disorders are the result of the inter-
vention of a spirit entity or entities no longer focused in the
physical plane. The person who is negatively affected by this
fixation on him or her is said to be "obsessed" by the offending
spirits and the recommended treatment is "disobsession" therapy.
The basic set-up for a disobsession proceeding is to convene
several mediums, one or two directors, cleaners, and other assis-
tants. The patients need not be present. A guiding spirit is of-
ten consulted through one of the mediums to determine the protocol
and order of treatment. The name of the patient and other vital
information is read, and the director invites any spirit associated
with the patient to incorporate into one of the mediums.
Once the director establishes verbal contact with the spirit,
the process of "orientation" or "indoctrination" begins, wherein the
director, with the possible assistance of "guiding spirits" who in-
corporate into other mediums, gets it to recognize its discarnate
state, release the patient, and take its "proper place in progres-
sion." A single disobsession case usually spans several sessions.
I was serving as a translator last winter for Edson Queiroz,
a well-known spiritist healer who had come to the U.S. to teach
mediumship and spiritist healing techniques. One evening, he
asked me if I would serve as an "intermediary," which I agreed to
do. He had been to a counseling session for cancer patients that
day and had noticed with his clairvoyant vision that there was a
vampiric, skeletal entity obsessing one of the patients with a large,
cancerous face tumor.
He proposed that I would act as a medium for this entity.
The patient was not present at this session. After I released my
fear and my usual awareness stepped into the background, I be-
came aware of a terrible hunger and heard myself wailing pitifully.
Eventually, under the guidance of a director, the spirit's story
came out in a creaky, whiny voice definitely not my own. It seems
that she had left her daughter (the same spirit as the patient) in a
hut during a severe storm which had cut off her village from food
supplies. She went looking for food but came back to find her
daughter dead of exposure and hunger and vowed never to leave
her again--hence the obsession. She responded to the director's
instructions and allowed herself to be led into the light.
The next day, everyone noted an improvement in the demeanor
and appearance of the patient. A psychodrama session built around
the spirit's story was pursued with some intensity by the patient
and a great emotional catharsis resulted. This was a case, in spir-
itist terms, of using the physical (the medium's body--mine) to heal
the spiritual (the obsessing spirit) which, in turn, heals the physi-
cal (the patient's body and psyche).
EARLY FINDINGS ON THE NATURE OF CHANNELED DISCOURSE
Dan Hawkmoon Alford (Babel Inverted Group, 31318 Carroll Ave.,
Hayward, CA 94544, and California Institute of Integral
Studies)
In our preliminary investigations into about eight Bay Area
channels (or mediums), we find the following modes of communica-
tion active to a greater or lesser degree in each individual, such
that the proposed structure accounts for most phenomena observed
to date in all individuals. The first three modes are seen as pat-
tern interruptions in the normal speaker /listener model.
(1) Activation of Trance-Talk Mode: Most channeled informa-
tion is couched in what can only be called trance-talk, its object
being motivation (looking at old information from a new perspective)
rather than new information. Many phenomena of the powerful
speaking called clairparlance (such as power metaphors, repetition,
etc.) are present in channeled discourse. A question to be asked
here is: How effective and coherent is the stream of trance-talk
coming from the channel?
Approved For Release 2000/08/11 : CIA-RDP96-P0792R000700340001-3