possession The altered state of consciousness known as ‘possession’ has been, and remains, extraordinarily widespread in societies and cultures across the globe. Typically it involves the occupation of human beings (although animals, too, can be possessed) by spirits who act and speak ‘through’ their hosts' minds and bodies. Instances abound of powers, deities, devils, or ancestors possessing the living in this way, and of ritual and ceremonial procedures for identifying them, communicating with them, interpreting their pronouncements and demands, and getting them to depart. In many cases, possession is associated with cults and occupies a highly significant place in the life of a culture or community — as it does, for example, in the Haitian folk religion of vodou. Hosts come to have a privileged social position as spirit mediums and often acquire therapeutic and other thaumaturgical powers. In these circumstances, spirit possession may be a highly desirable and voluntary experience and bring all sorts of communal benefits.

In the past, anthropologists have viewed such benefits in social–functionalist terms, interpreting possession as a form of conflict resolution, as a means for absorbing innovative forces or deviant persons into familiar frameworks, and as a way of enhancing the status of deprived or marginal groups and individuals. A much-discussed suggestion is that possession is a strategy for redressing the frustrated ambitions of female hosts, who otherwise experience only subservience and affliction. Alternatively, possession has been seen in terms of the psychodynamics of intrapsychic tensions and multiple personality disorders, as well as the physiology and epidemiology of trance states. More recently, the tendency has been to read possession for its symbolic meanings and its importance as a cultural resource and as learned behaviour. Here the stress is on the beliefs and values that support it, the codes and conventions in terms of which it is structured and modelled, and the opportunities it provides for communication between the spirit and human worlds and for negotiating questions of identity and selfhood.

In Christianity, possession has usually meant involuntary occupation of the body by the forces of evil. Possessing devils and other ‘unclean spirits’ were frequently the subject of Christ's own miracles, and the power to cast them out was devolved on his disciplies and their followers (Matthew 10: 1; Mark 16: 17). This made exorcism simultaneously a much sought-after therapy and a powerful means of religious propaganda, since the true Church was defined and marked out by its successful use of the exorcistic powers proffered in the gospels as legitimating signs. It has been said that exorcism lay at the heart of the early Christian communities, and it featured prominently in medieval hagiography as the occasion for victories over devils by saints, either personally or at their shrines. Thereafter, formal rituals of exorcism were adopted by the Church throughout the medieval centuries.

When, on the other hand, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations brought deep religious division to Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, exorcism naturally became contested. At the same time, demonic possession increased dramatically, probably because demonism in general and witchcraft in particular were preoccupations of the age. Northern Germany was particularly affected, with possessions becoming almost epidemic after about 1560, but cases are recorded from all over Europe, with female ‘demoniacs’ predominant. France in particular became notorious for the collective possession and exorcism of entire communities of nuns — notably at Loudun in 1634 and at Louviers in 1643–7. There was even a ministry of exorcists in Rome, and most Catholic clergymen were expected to free demoniacs of their devils by performing either the official Roman ritual or one of the many unofficial exorcisms that circulated in Catholic Europe. In this respect the Protestant clergy were at a disadvantage; they attacked Catholic possessions as fakes and the Catholic ritual of exorcism as a form of magic, but their own parishioners were just as likely to demand help for the same affliction. Eventually, possession again became a powerful propaganda weapon, with Catholic priests urging devils to make anti-Protestant statements and driving them out of their hosts by using Catholic sacraments — above all, the Mass. This often happened in front of substantial crowds and with a good deal of ecclesiastical drama, as in the cases of Nicole Obry at Laon in Picardy in 1565–6 and of Laurent Boissonet and others at Soissons in 1582. In effect, the early modern possessed became sites of confrontation, ostensibly between devils and exorcists but also between different churches.

In addition to these high-profile occasions, ordinary men and women would often become possessed and be diagnosed as demoniacs by their own families or by local village healers. Countryside exorcists were much in demand throughout Europe. The case-notes of the seventeenth-century English astrological physician Richard Napier mention patients of his who attributed ‘troubles of mind’, temptations, suicidal thoughts, religious anxieties, and hallucinations all to possession. The more spectacular symptoms of the condition, as established by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century physicians and theologians, included wild physical contortions, superhuman strength, speaking in unknown languages, and reacting adversely to holy words and objects. Possessed individuals often took advantage of their situation to blaspheme or behave in shockingly immoral fashion. Generally, they were not regarded as guilty of any sin or crime but as innocent victims of demonic attack; however, in several cases demoniacs did claim that they had been possessed as the result of witchcraft. This happened notably in 1692 at Salem, where the famous witchcraft trials and executions originated in the possession of a group of young and adolescent girls.

The principle that devils might inhabit humans was not abandoned by a substantial portion of the literate classes of Europe, including the medical profession, until the eighteenth century and beyond. In 1737 Isaac Newton's successor at Cambridge, William Whiston, was still saying that possession was as reliable a phenomenon in nature as gravity. But the seventeenth century was marked by considerable controversy surrounding the subject, with some physicians already arguing for a purely pathological, non-demonic explanation of the symptons and others suggesting that many cases were fraudulent — as indeed they were. Thus, Sir Thomas Browne, writing in 1646, allowed that ‘the devil doth really possess some men; the spirit of melancholy others; the spirit of delusion other.’ In modern times, disease and deception have naturally become the preferred categories for possession in the West, although exorcism is still available as part of the Catholic Church's rituals. During the nineteenth century a favoured approach — adopted particularly by the pioneers of French psychiatry, Louis Calmeil and Jean-Martin Charcot — was to assimilate possession naturalistically to hysteria, and this too has become a common theme in the recent historiography of the subject. Meanwhile, speaking in tongues and other more positive aspects of possession have become features of Pentecostalism and other forms of charismatic religion, notably in America.

Stuart Clark

Bibliography

Bourguignon, E. (1976). Possession. Chandler and Sharp Publishers, San Francisco.
Walker, D. P. (1981). Unclean spirits: possession and exorcism in France and England in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Scolar Press, London.

POSSESSION

The ownership, control, or occupancy of a thing, most frequently land orpersonal property, by a person.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said that "there is no word more ambiguous in its meaning than possession" (National Safe Deposit Co. v. Stead, 232 U.S. 58, 34 S. Ct. 209, 58 L. Ed. 504 [1914]). Depending on how and when it is used, the term possession has a variety of possible meanings. As a result, possession, or lack of possession, is often the subject of controversy in civil cases involving real and personal property and criminal cases involving drugs and weapons—for example, whether a renter is entitled to possession of an apartment or whether a criminal suspect is in possession of stolen property.

The idea of possession is as old as the related concepts of private property and ownership. Our modern possession laws originated in the ancient Roman doctrines of possessio. English natural law inherited most of the Roman possession ideas, and later the British brought their law of possession to the American colonies. Following the war of independence, state and federal courts continued to use and expand upon the historical notions of possession.

Possession versus Ownership

Although the two terms are often confused, possession is not the same as ownership. No legal rule states that "possession is nine-tenths of the law," but this phrase is often used to suggest that someone who possesses an object is most likely its owner. Likewise, people often speak of the things they own, such as clothes and dishes, as their possessions. However, the owner of an object may not always possess the object. For example, an owner of a car could lend it to someone else to drive. That driver would then possess the car. However, the owner does not give up ownership simply by lending the car to someone else.

The myriad distinctions between possession and ownership, and the many nuances of possession, are complicated even for attorneys and judges. To avoid confusion over exactly what is meant by possession, the word is frequently modified by adding a term describing the type of possession. For example, possession may be actual, adverse, conscious, constructive, exclusive, illegal, joint, legal, physical, sole, superficial, or any one of several other types. Many times these modifiers are combined, as in "joint constructive possession." All these different kinds of possession, however, originate from what the law calls "actual possession."

Actual Possession

"Actual possession is what most of us think of as possession—that is, having physical custody or control of an object" (United States v. Nenadich, 689 F.Supp. 285 [S.D. N.Y. 1988]). Actual possession, also sometimes called possession in fact, is used to describe immediate physical contact. For example, a person wearing a watch has actual possession of the watch. Likewise, if you have your wallet in your jacket pocket, you have actual possession of your wallet. This type of possession, however, is by necessity very limited. Frequently, a set of facts clearly indicate that an individual has possession of an object but that he or she has no physical contact with it. To properly deal with these situations, courts have broadened the scope of possession beyond actual possession.

Constructive Possession

Constructive possession is a legal theory used to extend possession to situations where a person has no hands-on custody of an object. Most courts say that constructive possession, also sometimes called "possession in law," exists where a person has knowledge of an object plus the ability to control the object, even if the person has no physical contact with it (United States

v. Derose, 74 F.3d 1177 [11th Cir. 1996]). For example, people often keep important papers and other valuable items in a bank safety deposit box. Although they do not have actual physical custody of these items, they do have knowledge of the items and the ability to exercise control over them. Thus, under the doctrine of constructive possession, they are still considered in possession of the contents of their safety deposit box. Constructive possession is frequently used in cases involving criminal possession.

Criminal Possession

Both federal and state statutes make possession of many dangerous or undesirable items criminal. For example, the federal statute 26 U.S.C.A. § 5861 (1996) prohibits possession of certain firearms and other weapons. Likewise, the possession of other items considered harmful to the public, such as narcotics, burglary tools, and stolen property, is also made criminal under various laws. Criminal possession, especially of drugs, has been a major source of controversy. Making possession a crime allows for arrests and convictions without proving the use or sale of a prohibited item.

Historically, actual possession was required for a criminal possession conviction. Beginning in the 1920s, however, courts began expanding criminal possession to include constructive possession. The federal prohibition of intoxicating liquors spawned several cases involving criminal possession. In one of the first criminal cases to use constructive possession, the court found a defendant guilty of possessing illegal liquor in trunks in the actual possession of another person (People v. Vander Heide, 211 Mich. 1, 178 N.W. 78 [1920]). Subsequent cases, especially narcotics cases, have continued to expand the law of criminal possession.

Possession and Intent

In civil cases intent is rarely a part of possession. However, in criminal cases possession usually requires conscious possession. In other words, the person must be conscious of the fact that the item is illegal and that he or she possesses it. A person with possession of illegal drugs may avoid conviction if he or she believed the drugs were legal. Generally, to be guilty of criminal possession, a person must either know the item is illegal when it is received or must keep possession of the object after learning it is illegal.

further readings

Lafave, Wayne R., and Austin W. Scott, Jr. 1995. Substantive Criminal Law. St. Paul, Minn.: West.

Singer, George H. 1992. "Constructive Possession of Controlled Substances: A North Dakota Look at a Nationwide Problem." North Dakota Law Review 68.

Snyder, David V. 1992. "Symposium: Relationships Among Roman Law, Common Law, and Modern Civil Law." Tulane Law Review 66.

cross-references

Adverse Possession; Drugs and Narcotics.

Possession

An altered state of consciousness in which the conscious personality of the individual is replaced with that of another personality, commonly thought of as a possessing spirit entity. Possession is a phenomenon common to all religious traditions but some traditions have a greater focus upon it. For example, many of the Afro-Cuban religions (Voudou, Santeria, Macumba) can be described as possession religions, and the being possessed by the deity is central to worship in these groups.

In the Christian West, possession, with rare exceptions, has been viewed as a negative phenomena. Taking the lead from New Testament examples in which several people are described as possessed by demons and are healed by Jesus, Christian leaders have largely equated possession with possession by a demonic force, or even the devil himself.

The negative evaluation of possession in the West has been reinforced by the development of secular worldviews that champion the autonomous individual, the maker of choices. Such worldviews emerged in the nineteenth century from European encounters with what were deemed "primitive" cultures with possession-oriented beliefs and practices, and by the spread of the practice of hypnotism, in which people could seemingly be made to do things that they would not or could not do if conscious. More recently, in this century, negative views of possession have been reinforced as a by-product of contemporary psychological exploration of the phenomena of multiple personalities, in which a secondary personality of the individual comes forward, usually as a result of extreme trauma.

Spiritualism

Spiritualism emerged as a possession-oriented religion in the mid-nineteenth century. In Spiritualist mediumship, and its contemporary derivations such as New Age channeling, possession is a developed form of motor automatism in which the personality of the automatist is substituted by another, usually by as a discarnate spirit. The possessing personality aims to establish communication with this world through the organism of the entranced medium, by writing or speech.

The incipient stage of possession is personation, during which the medium's own personality is still in the body but is assuming the characteristics of someone departed. The next stage is partial possession, the excitation of the medium's motor or sensory centers by a discarnate agent either through the subconscious self or in some direct way. F. W. H. Myers suggested the word "telergic" as a correlative to telepathic for such action.

Full possession postulates the vacation of the organism by the medium to allow the entrance of another spirit. Alternating personalities offer the first suggestion of the possibility of possession. An arbitrary personality may possess the organism of the hypnotic subject at the hypnotizer's suggestion. Secondary personalities are often hostile and antagonistic to the primary one.

Traveling clairvoyance in dream states points to the wandering of the spirit while the body is asleep. Cases of religious ecstasy in which an excursion is made into the spiritual world furnish another instance of the temporary separation of body and soul. Once we admit the possibility of the soul leaving the body, we have to admit the possibility of another spirit entering it.

Whether possession actually takes place or whether a secondary personality speaks through the organism is a question of evidence. Such evidence has to be furnished by the nature and content of the communications. The testimony of the medium is usually not available, as she or he often does not remember what happened.

Swedish seer Emanuel Swedenborg remembered his excursions into the spiritual world, but in his case there was no possession. The subjects of Alphonse Cahagnet described heavenly visions in trance, but there was not enough evidence to rule out the possibility that even when evidential communications from discarnate spirits were produced, they did not come from the subconscious self alone. If no new knowledge is shown in the trance state, there is no reason to ascribe the communication to an external intelligence. The character of the communicator alone does not furnish convincing proof.

The medium Leonora Piper never remembered her visions of the spiritual world and, the fragmentary utterances during her passing from trance to waking life aside, she was the tool for the writing and utterances of "alien entities".

Paranormal knowledge the medium could not have acquired is an indispensable condition for proving the presence of an external spirit. It is believed incoherence in the communicator does not militate against possession. It is rather in favor of it. If the spirit of the medium vacates the body, his or her brain will be left behind in a dreamlike state. To control such a brain and to make it obey the will of the communicator may not only be an enervating process, but full of pitfalls and possibilities of confusion.

Possession and Psychical Research

Taken as a phenomenon, possession presents one of the central mysteries of human life. It involves a mind using a brain. Possession is always temporary and implies a surrender of the body on the part of the medium. If possession takes place against the will of the medium and endures in the waking state, the phenomenon is called obsession.

The possibility of an instrumental test of possession was first suggested by W. Whateley Carrington. He advised the use of a galvanometer, which measured the emotional reactions of the medium to a certain set of questions. The different controls, if they are different personalities, should exhibit different emotional reactions to the same questions. It was by such tests that the independence of the controls of the medium Eileen Garrett was established at Johns Hopkins University and the New York Psychical Institute in 1933.

pos·ses·sion / pəˈzeshən/ • n. 1. the state of having, owning, or controlling something: are you in possession of any items over $500 in value? he had taken possession of one of the sofas the book came into my possession. ∎  Law visible power or control over something, as distinct from lawful ownership; holding or occupancy: both teams attempting to gain possession of the ball they were imprisoned for possession of explosives. ∎  inf. the state of possessing an illegal drug: they're charged with possession. ∎  (in football, basketball, and other ball games) temporary control of the ball by a particular player or team: the ball hit a defender and Brown's quick reaction put him in possession. 2. (usu. possessions) an item of property; something belonging to one: I was alone with no money or possessions that photograph was Bert's most precious possession. ∎  a territory or country controlled or governed by another: France's former colonial possessions. 3. the state of being controlled by a demon or spirit: they prayed for protection against demonic possession. ∎  the state of being completely under the influence of an idea or emotion: fear took possession of my soul. DERIVATIVES: pos·ses·sion·less adj.

POSSESSION. The grammatical concept of one person or thing belonging to another, shown in English in four ways: (1) By verbs such as have, own, belong to. (2) By possessive pronouns that function as determiners: my house. (3) By the genitive or possessive case of nouns marked in writing by the possessive APOSTROPHE: John's book; the Smiths' farm. (4) By the of-construction: the end of the road. These cover a wide range of meaning from practical ownership (my clothes; I have a dog) through kinds of association (their parents; our country; Shakespeare's birthplace), to more general and often figurative and idiomatic relationships (have an appointment; a day's journey; a lover's quarrel; the story of his life). The genitive is also used to introduce the subject of a gerund, as in It's funny your saying that. In some instances, a genitive and an of-construction are both possible, though not interchangeable in all contexts. The genitive construction is likeliest when the possessor is personal or at any rate animate, or is in some way perceived as having personal aspects: Dr Johnson's house; a dog's breakfast; God's love; Scotland's national poet; the world's pressing needs. The of-construction is preferred with things not considered capable of possessing anything: the lid of a box rather than a box's lid. See GENITIVE CASE, GERUND, SAXON GENITIVE.

516. Possession (See also Enchantment.)

1. Gadarene swine Jesus sends demons from man to pigs. [N.T.: Matthew 8:28–32; Mark 5:1–13; Luke 8:26–33]
2. Legion man controlled by devils; exorcised by Jesus. [N.T.: Mark 5:9; Luke 8:30]
3. Regan young girl gruesomely infested with the devil. [Am. Lit.: The Exorcist ]