Relationships With Spirits: A Depth Psychological Inquiry Into Mediumship and Spirit Possession

Abstract

This hermeneutic study examines the phenomena of mediumship and spirit possession in relation to key concepts in Jungian and archetypal psychology. Providing first a comprehensive phenomenological description of a wide range of the phenomena, these descriptions are then compared to and contrasted with C. G. Jung’s theory of spirits as complexes; Henri Corbin’s concepts of the mundus imaginalis and imaginative cognition; and the philosophies and beliefs of anthropologists, parapsychologists, religious studies scholars, and spiritual practitioners who work directly with mediumship and spirit possession. Types of experiences included are trance mediumship, ritual possession, demonic possession, and spiritual sickness across traditions such as Catholicism, Judaism, Anderson Feri, Wicca, Spiritualism, Santeria, Afro-Brazilian, and Vietnamese Mother Goddess. The study finds that when the definition of “spirits” is expanded to include other beings commonly involved in mediumship and spirit possession—such as deities, nature spirits, and demons and angels—it can be seen that spirits function more like archetypal images than complexes. The study also finds that the term channeling can be regularly employed to describe these experiences, which seem to conform to a common set of archetypal patterns. It reveals, too, the role of “spiritual training” in developing the ability to bring consciousness into the experience and facilitate a more controlled and often beneficial outcome. It concludes that Jungian psychology is uniquely positioned to assist people with processing and understanding relationships with unseen spirits, even as some aspects of the phenomena remain accessible only through direct experience.