How about demons? : possession and exorcism in the modern world

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How About Demons? Possession and Exorcism in the Modern World By Felicitas D. Goodman Tales about possession by evil spirits have captivated people throughout the ages. Such experiences, however, are only a small part of a much larger picture. Most of the time the spirit beings are friendly and even helpful, and they do not come uninvited. In Spiritualist services, for instance, the mediums are possessed by the spirit of some dear departed relative, a mother or a child perhaps. It is only when the spirits come uninvited that problems ensue and people may even become ill. Among Christians, demons how, it is said, dislike living in hell may enter some victims, causing them to become sick. To clarify what is happening on the physical level, Goodman summarizes the results of fascinating new research into such topics as the nature of altered states of consciousness, and new insights gained from a psychiatric condition termed the multiple personality disturbance. Rich in detail derived from the author's fieldwork and the antropological literature, this work paints a picture of possession as one of the usually positive and most widespread of human religious experiences. It also details the ritual of exorcism, which is applied when things go wrong. FELICITAS D. GOODMAN, Director of the Cuyamungue Institute, formerly was Associate Professor of Anthropology at Denison University. She has done extensive fieldwork in Apostolic congregations and is the author of several books, among them "Speaking in Tongues" and "The Exorcism of Anneliese Michel". Folklore Today INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington and Indianapolis Contents FOREWORD BY Linda Dégh ix PREFACE xv Chapter 1 Possession's Many Faces 1 Chapter 2 Spiritualism 25 Chapter 3 Healing in Umbanda 42 Chapter 4 Pentecostalism: A New Force in Christendom 52 Chapter 5 The Dangerous Spirits of Japan 64 Chapter 6 The Multiple Personality Experience and Demonic Possession 79 Chapter 7 The Ghosts That Kill 87 Chapter 8 A Legion of Demons 95 Chapter 9 Two Recent Cases of Demonic Possession 107 Conclusion How About Demons--and Other Spirits? 123 NOTES 127 BIBLIOGRAPHY 133 INDEX 137