#on possession

[terrorignitis]

Discerning spirits: divine and demonic possession in the middle ages | Nancy Caciola

[virgovirgo]

[terrorignitis]

Discerning spirits: divine and demonic possession in the middle ages | Nancy Caciola

[terrorignitis]

Abstraction could be and was applied to a host of other ambiguous “bodily signs” or possessed behaviors. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to state that there were two kinds of spirit possession in the Middle Ages, one malign and one benign, that were outwardly indistinguishable from one another. Both were attended by spectacular abilities: “Though miraculous abilities can be gifts that God bestows upon the faithful for the confirmation of the faith the revelation of the future, or gift of prophecy; the understanding of supernatural things, or gift of wisdom; and the understanding of human things, or gift of knowledge—nevertheless, similar things also can be, and are, accomplished by evil spirits.” This juxtaposition led to an epistemological conundrum for the medieval Church on both the local community level and the translocal, institutional level. How could one tell the difference between divine and demonic possession? The Adversary could so easily deceive the unwary. The demonic character delighted in deception: leading human beings into falsehood was understood to be a basic goal of the demonic hosts. Thus fears about hypocrisy and false sanctity were important currents in later medieval thought, and the ecclesiastical leadership of the time sought to disseminate these concerns among the broader population. One should not reflexively venerate anyone who appears to be saintly, but exercise caution.

Discerning spirits: divine and demonic possession in the middle ages | Nancy Caciola

[unspokenmantra]

[amonsternamed]

to clarify a point on the previous post, i think part of the necessity of the consent is that the soul is the only thing that really belongs to a person and so the angel needs permission to anchor to that. not so with bodies. or demons.

this discussion of consent and possession has not even touched on the incredible horror narrative that spn was building!! they didn't lean into it hard enough!!! fuck them for that!

[amonsternamed]

sometimes i do be thinking about the whole sam and dean as lucifer and michael's perfect vessels thang. like an angel could take possession of anyone with consent and the physical form binds their energy in such a way that leaves them vulnerable to injury, which i suppose is part of the reason lucifer/michael require vessels so as one can actually destroy the other, hence dean being called a "sword". but you could do that with any body i don't think their power would be limited by the vessel's human strength because like... the weakest angel is probably many times stronger than the strongest man.

so if isn't about their bodies, it has to be about their souls, right? this does track with canon in the sense that sam and dean are fated souls/soulmates and fated births to john and mary specifically. and i think this also ties into the possession's requirement of consent and the idea that comes up later in the show of the soul being a very specific and powerful energy that many supernatural beings including angels desire. i think that in the case of demons it's more about the body--it's what allows them to properly manipulate the world around them and although they have some extra strength and telekinesis and such they are further limited by the body than angels are. they can take over a body without consent since they have corrupted souls already. they push aside the soul and do whatever they wish.

something similar happens with angels in the sense of they can also control the body (in general) without the soul's consent when they have received consent once. but i also think that the soul is the main thing that fuels them. why do you need consent to possess the body as an angel? they are far more powerful than demons and demons can do it at will. part of this is ofc the fact that the writers needed to cast the angels in a bit of a better light, but i think that it's mainly about the power of the soul. i think that angels need human soul power to tether themselves properly to earth. i think that the soul is this bit of divine energy they need to anchor themselves into to be able to be tied into a human vessel without incinerating it. i think that the stronger the soul, the stronger the angel can be. this is part of why these angels are obsessed with consent and making sure sam and dean remain in their bodies, alive. because it's not about the body, it's about the soul.

this is why they choose people who are devout and committed and more likely to believe in them, because their souls are more open to being anchored into. they often don't have to worry after the initial link because they're more powerful once they have an opening into the soul (but if they ever leave they need consent again).

this brings in a particularly interesting point about sam and dean. i think that they were fated and their lineage controlled and traced directly back to cain and abel and adam and eve for the power of their souls--what could be more powerful than the first souls, right? and so interestingly within the canon sam is able to gain control over lucifer (another conversation for how incredible it is that he does this because of his love for dean). he's the only being that would able to do this--his soul was made to contain lucifer's power and so he's also the only one who can sever that link. sam is also able to cast gadreel out and i think this is fascinating because they very specifically made sam forget that he had an angel in him, and when he remembered he was able to get him out, revoking consent while an angel was in possession of his soul. this is something that a human can rarely do, and i think sam's soul is so strong that gadreel knew that he needed to keep sam forgetting to avoid being ejected.

similar thing applies to dean! although michael is more powerful, so dean can't really get him out, but we do see several times in the canon when dean is able to momentarily break through. i think this was more difficult for him because 1) michael is more powerful and 2) dean's soul has been corrupted a great deal at this point, what with spending time in hell and becoming a Knight--bringing is human soul closer to a demon. also sam and dean are very beat down at this point lol.

anyway i can say more on this but tl;dr: angels possess souls, not bodies, as a way to interact with the mortal plane.