Magus Magazine: Mysterium Tremendum: Why we are to blame for the B...

Magus Magazine: Mysterium Tremendum: Why we are to blame for the B...: Hello everybody, here is a version of the Baltic Anomaly philosophy article. It's a bit heavy  but I think you'll dig on it. Feel free to ...

Mysterium Tremendum: Why we are to blame for the Baltic Anomaly

Hello everybody, here is a version of the Baltic Anomaly philosophy article. It's a bit heavy  but I think you'll dig on it. Feel free to leave comments or come say hello on Twitter and Facebook! Enjoy!!!

Mysterium Tremendum: Why we are to blame for the Baltic Anomaly.

            In one way or another, we are all responsible for the Baltic Anomaly. It’s not far-fetched or absurd to say that the world “happened” to this underwater spectacle. Anybody with even minimal internet savvy has probably stumbled upon the mystery and wondered, maybe in passing, what the big deal is. Over the past couple of months, hysteria has set in as details of the story emerge. But what we hear now isn’t the story that was reported in the beginning of June. So what is the story? What is it about the Baltic narrative that has led to terrible fears of extraterrestrials and government conspiracy? Why does the public prefer a version of the supernatural rather than a pillow rock basalt formation? These are just some of the questions that surround the Baltic Anomaly. And the details continue to fascinate as data streams in. As the object continues to be revealed, our knowledge of the artifact shifts as well. It is this continuous movement that makes the Baltic Anomaly a hybrid of assemblages.

            The Baltic Anomaly is a hybrid of evidence and our understanding of the evidence as it changes through time. Following the lead of Bruno Latour in his study of Horse evolution (see A Textbook Case Revisited-Knowledge as a Mode of Existence. Bruno Latour, Sciences Po Paris, a chapter for the STS Handbook), we can orthogonally study the Anomaly’s context of discovery and justification.

                                              

                                     Backward_____-In time-_____Forward

Evidence                    _________

(object)_______(_)__|_______    |        ________

                            |                    |    |____(_)_______

            ________|                    |_______|

What we know of

Evidence through time

(subject)

                                     Flow of experience

Something odd happens when we plot out the object/subject relationships in regards to the Baltic Phenomenon. In our first intersecting plot point(symbolized by ‘( )’), the discovery of the anomaly and the initial reaction of UFO provide our foray into an arrangement of data and impulse interpretation. As time moves forward, the ‘mysterious pillar’ (second plot point ‘( )’) is discovered which moves the UFO theory into an ancient/lost civilization arrangement. Although the object (evidence) and subject (what we understand of the evidence through time) run on separate currents, their points of intersection are where understanding of the anomaly is attempted. Through a flow of discovery, we ontologize each version of truth. A different world-version then comes into being at every plot point.

            Furthermore, epistemic conduits aid in the anomaly making sense. What we know through time changes as discoveries are made and provide meaning to the new ontological status. Without giving reference to what we know of the anomaly, it becomes impossible to discern the reality of the object. It is what I call the ‘face on Mars’ syndrome. We all remember the face discovered on Mars in 1976. The interaction of light and shadow created what appeared to be a humanoid face on the surface of the planet. As the Viking spacecraft took pictures of the object, theories came into being that suggested the face was created by an ancient Martian civilization. This image then rippled into a network that included crop-circles, alien architects that influenced ‘our’ early civilizations, and utopian ideas of aliens and god. However, the pieces of the puzzle that led to ‘the face’ theory simply had to be reassembled to suggest that the image was an illusion created through an interplay of light, shadow, and geologic formation. For a time, ‘the face’ was real and a long lost Martian was staring back at us from the planet. However, as the geologic nuances, light, and shadow were re-configured into another sequence, they created another truth-version. Is it the most accurate? Depends on who you ask. There are many that nurture ‘the face on Mars’ theory and keep it relevant and real.

This phenomenon might also be applicable to the Baltic Anomaly. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that the object really is a pillow rock basalt formation. And nothing more. If in our context of discovery, we reveal that the object is nothing more than a geologic formation, then this new ontology is given definition through conduits of meaning. What we understand of the object through time is directly connected to its current state of being. This is what makes the Baltic Anomaly a true hybrid. In its status as living theory, it is both object and subject; evidence and our understanding of that evidence. Whether it is of this earth, from the stars, or a result of alien/human interaction, the artifact is alive and made real through a convergence of Being and Meaning.

            Truth and the factors that support each truth-version re-embody and are dis-embodied continuously. As new information is discovered and re-configured, taken apart and put back together, truth is shaped. Perhaps this is why it becomes possible to move backward and forward in time on our orthogonal diagram. As new evidence comes to light we are able to go back to theories that were previously discarded and consider them anew. Perhaps a discovery is made that increases the elegance of our initial UFO theory. By breathing new life into this previous theory, we re-embody an ontology and gauge its usefulness in the current state of affairs. Moreover, as well as moving back to readdress previous incarnations, we can also move forward to predict potential ontologies in the research programme. Now I’m not one to assert the efficacy of prediction or prophesy without some form of experiment or empirical study. However, it really doesn’t take a giant leap of faith to infer where future plot points could appear in our orthogonal diagram. For example, we can see that a truth-version of object and subject occurs when the Anomaly (UFO) is discovered. At that intersection, the evidence and what we know about the evidence produces an ontology. By looking at the surrounding network, we can surmise future maturation and reproductive capacity. The network would include folklore surrounding UFO visitation, supernatural assault traditions, and perhaps even fairy-lore. Taking this surrounding network into consideration, it’s easy to discern a future ontology or ‘plot point’ that involves government conspiracy, and/or cover-ups because of the connections between UFO-lore and conspiracy theory. By being able to anticipate future ontologies, we can anticipate whether the theory is progressing or degenerating. And although studying future intersections might be unnecessary, they may also serve as future conduits to keep the ontology fruitful and growing.

            Could it be true? Is the Baltic Anomaly a hybrid of ontology and epistemic arrangements? Do the object and subject continuously move into assemblages that provide an understanding of being and reality? Following this train of thought, if we grant theories a living status, we must also consider that theories are eligible and even susceptible to rites of passage. Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep did extensive work in areas of liminality and how it pertains to transitional rites. He identified three stages that form the rite of passage. The event begins with a separation from society or family. A period of liminality follows as the initiate experiences the ambiguity and lack of status that accompanies the transitional state. This period of being betwixt and between eventually leads to a reincorporation into society as a changed being. But how does this pertain to our discussion of the Baltic Anomaly? I suggest that evidence and our understanding of the evidence as it changes through time is marked by a liminal period that fills the gap between objective knowledge and subjective experience.

            As a theory grows, it either continues to mature or is disassembled and re-configured into a new assemblage. When this happens, our ontology went through a rite of passage. The new theory experiences a new ontological status where its elegance, simplicity, and reproductive capacity are closely observed. As new evidence is incorporated into ‘what we know’, again the liminal period occurs, the theory is disassembled and reconfigured to include the new information. The problem lays in the separation state of a rite of passage. Can we say that object and subject i.e. evidence and ‘what we know of the evidence’ are truly separated at any time? This is the problem Whitehead called ‘The Bifurcation of Reality’. The bifurcation refers to a distinction between objective knowledge and subjective experience. In other words, it is a distinguishing between things that are able to be observed (i.e. sense-data, rocks, atoms etc…) and things in the mind. A proponent of bifurcation would assert a difference between a strawberry and the subjective experience of tasting a ‘delicious’ strawberry.

            This idea of bifurcation isn’t acceptable when examining evidence and our understanding of said evidence because it is the subjective that brings into focus our Anomaly. Through the use of imagination, inferences, and logic, meaning is ascribed to the evidence at hand. The discovery of the “middle pillar”, the runway, and the EMF shield  knocking out anything close to the Anomaly are all epistemic conduits that give definition to an ever-changing ontology. They help it make sense. Moreover, they change as new data streams in. When the object/subject disassembles, it enters into a liminal period where the plot point has not yet ontologized but is in the process of being created .

The new theory is established when the intersection occurs and evidence coupled with ‘what we know about the evidence’ reassembles into a new ontology. There is no definitive ‘separation’ only a ‘disassembling’ of the theory. The liminal state fills in the gap between the disassembled previous ontology and the reassembling that occurs on account of newly discovered evidence.

            Throughout this article, we have been discussing the philosophical exchanges that accompany the Baltic Anomaly. Through an orthogonal study of object and subject, positions of networks, and dialogues with anthropological theory, we are able to follow various ontological versions. Because ‘our understanding of what we know’ changes continuously, there is no real culmination or end to the ontologizing process. Creation is never complete but always shifting and moving due to refinements in our epistemic conduits. The variants in meaning reassemble constantly with the emerging ontology thus making the Baltic Anomaly a hybrid of Being and Meaning. What we discover and how we interpret these discoveries are arrangements that create out truth-versions. So, in reality we really are to blame for the Baltic Anomaly. If we become terrified or awe-filled it is because of the interpretations we have ascribed to the object. In no way can we say it’s the fault of E.T., lost civilizations, or government conspiracy. “We” happened to the Baltic Anomaly. Whatever is conjured is our own damn fault but at least we can look back with fresh eyes and change horror to admiration at any time. At least there’s that.   

             

              

Magus Magazine: The Baltic Phenomenon

Magus Magazine: The Baltic Phenomenon: THE BALTIC ANOMALY “All things, are full of gods.” –Proclus “The irrational is not necessarily unreasonable nor the incommensurabl...  

The Baltic Phenomenon

THE BALTIC ANOMALY

“All things, are full of gods.” –Proclus

“The irrational is not necessarily unreasonable nor the incommensurable incomprehensible.” – Patrick Harpur, Daimonic Reality

Indeed. It’s not often that I get genuinely excited by something in the news. Rarely am I struck-dumb, giddy, or overwhelmed by a story. Oddly enough, I had read blurbs about the so-called Baltic Anomaly for weeks. ‘Believers’ were calling it the best UFO evidence since Roswell. There was wild yapping about a submerged ship or even Atlantis. I wasn’t buying into the bullshit. I knew better. The whole bit reeked of a janky, probably bourbon-soaked sea captain screeching through a fit of the bends that he’d found some goddamn saucer. I deemed it about as believable as ‘the face on mars’ or a unicorn.

And then it happened. It was bewildering-like being blasted with soft-ball size hail. I received a text message from somebody my phone could only identify as Mr. Swillers. Feeling uppity, I stared at the message

            All things, are full of gods.

After a couple of minutes of waiting for something else to happen, maybe another message or a sudden explosion, I slowly and deliberately put the phone away. Hours passed without another message, until finally, just as I began to feel safe, Mr. Swillers came calling at 3:33 am. This time the message was:

                        You can’t dance with discord.

Paralyzed in those few stunned minutes before the onset of something hysterical, I shot back, “Who is this?!” Without delay, the phone lit up with:

You’re not wanted in the Baltic. All trespassers will be shot on sight. – Mr. Swillers

I stared in horror at the phone till I was sure no other jolts from the beyond were forthcoming then I phoned my editor in a rage. “You dirty bastard!” I screamed. “How dare you call my home at three am?!” I heard the thump that signaled the poor bastard had fallen out of bed then a snarl on the other end of the line. “What the hell are you talking about- you crazy dumbass?” I paused because I knew he was telling the truth. He hadn’t made the call. It wouldn’t have even occurred to him to make a call of that nature. Not because he was polite or good-natured but because he cared so little about me or the deadline that it was a non-issue. If he had called, it wouldn’t be cryptic or mysterious. I had been contacted by somebody or something else. This Baltic situation was getting heavy. What didn’t they want me to know? What was the secret? And who is this rotten Mr. Swillers?

            I dashed over and jumped on the interweb to glean something of this Baltic nonsense. The more I read the more I began to recognize dimensions and details that reminded me of archaeological methodology. Something approaching the truth was being revealed. There seemed to be not just something there but something magnificent. Suddenly I felt that child-like wonder; those few fleeting moments of inspiration that sometimes-if experienced just right- map out an adult life. It was the mystery again. Artist renditions of whatever rests on the sea-floor became something tangible and real. And there was trepidation as well. What if it is an alien craft? What world would then be reality? Are they gods? Dennis Aasberg was right when he remarked,

“When we went out and saw the walls which were straight and smooth, it was frightening, as in a science-fiction film.”

            It’s still difficult to believe. A completely circular plate-like structure with a 180 meter circumference and 4 meter thick dome on top that rises 40 feet above the seabed is something reminiscent of Ridley Scott or Arthur C. Clarke. Nevermind the visible formations on top of the object that are set at 90 degree angles and strangely resemble a staircase. Or the stone circles i.e. “fireplaces” of burnt looking stone a few inches in diameter that are aligned like pearls in a necklace. The possibility of this being merely a UFO now just seems trivial. We still haven’t got all the pieces and even if we had, putting them in a correct sequence will take months. We’re in it now for the long-haul. Ocean Explorer co-founder Aasberg described during a Swedish radio interview some “features which seem to indicate that the object is man made, or perhaps a natural formation that has been altered or engineered.” (http://ufo-sightings.co/latest-news.com)

            Furthermore, there is a long runway or “skidmarks” on the sea-floor leading to the object. And 200 meters away is a second anomaly that also has a sort of runway. The atmosphere of inquiry is now divided between the initial UFO theory, some lost archaeological treasure or a Pillow Basalt rock formation. But nobody really knows. And the OceanX team isn’t saying much. Needless to say, high-powered ocean teams are now following the White Rabbit down into the Baltic.

            We’re diving into some strange nuances as OceanX discusses some of what happened down there. There is no question that strange things accompany sea adventures. Like blasting into space, the deep has a reality all its own. Stories about whirlpools, Bermuda Triangles, Ghost Ships, and USOs saturate this form of folklore. And, frankly, OceanX is also reporting that things went sideways as they descended the 260 ft to the anomaly. The team remarked that a primary objective was to film the object but when they got close, cameras stopped working. And Aasberg wondered: “Why isn’t anything working, anything electric out there and the satellite phone as well stopped working when we were above the object and then we got away about 200 meters and it turned on again and when we got back over the object it didn’t work [sic] so that’s kind of strange. Portentous is perhaps the right word when considering an anomalous something that behaves as though it is equipped with an EMP shield. The folklorists are used to this sort of narrative but what do you tell the scientists? And how long before the government makes the whole mess disappear?

            Not everybody is doing handstands and babbling about the success of the OceanX mission. There is a vocal minority that regard the entire find as stupid and probably a scam. Jonathan Hill, a researcher at the Mars Space Flight Facility at ASU howled that, “Whenever people make extraordinary claims, it’s always a good idea to consider for a moment whether they are personally benefiting from the claim or if it’s a truly objective observation.” He went on to warn: “Peter Lindberg either has let his imagination run wild or has an ulterior motive.” Hill brings up a reasonable point. If it turns out that OceanX is already peddling bootleg low-grade video copies of the expedition or planning for the Lifetime TV movie then something is very amiss. In the context of discovery, the Baltic Anomaly should be an open invitation to multidisciplinary study. Geologists, Archaeologists, and Oceanographers are just a few of the academic milieus to find interest in the anomaly. If we spice up the pot with some folklorists, engineers, and artists, we have the makings for an outrageous and/or horrid network.

            Aside from the academics and professionals falling all over themselves to find an inscription of impending doom or some jangled alien script, internet bloggers are also weighing-in on the Baltic phenomenon. One Blogger quoted

…The furnace-like rock formation on top of that which constitutes the large circle was discovered with a scanner tool last year. Divers images show that the circle in turn consists of several blocks formed by “rolls” or “mushrooms” that are attached to each other, forming the circle…(www.overclock.net)

The responses are where this thread gets particularly interesting:

Dylan33p- Heh- no UFO. Seems like they are hinting that the rocks might not be a natural formation. 6-15-2012

Dph314- Damn. Was hoping to see some little grey guys down there that had a bit of engine trouble. 6-15-2012

Stealth Pyros- It’s false, they’re hiding the true findings. *tinfoil hat. They found and extracted the UFO already. Maybe not the same team, the government had MANY months to do this after the discovery, before the team finally went back there. In hindsight, we should have totally expected this. 6-15-2012

Marin- I’m not saying its aliens, but its aliens.

            In only a few sentences, these four savvy writers have touched upon every supernatural or UFO folklore theme. We have lost civilizations, little grey men, and distrust of the government. Somewhere this strange collection of motifs are the tentacles of a giant sea-monster bashing its way through Nessie and any other piece of sea-lore. And I’ll tell you why. Rarely, and I mean once in a blue moon does an event happen that captures the minds and hearts of popular culture. It happened at Roswell and at Area 51 but the Baltic Anomaly is different. The romance of the mystery has led not just to UFO speculation but to a myriad of folkloric forms. This won’t end in a hurry. There are too many places to move and too many trajectories it could take. Trying to pinpoint where the Baltic Anomaly will eventually land is a mystery that will leave a massive crater. In a year’s time, perhaps we’ll know the how’s and why’s. Till then, we can only watch while this underwater spectacle streaks through the sky.

    

           

  

Magus Magazine: Monologue of the Mindless by Doctor Abdullah

Magus Magazine: Monologue of the Mindless by Doctor Abdullah: Monologue of the Mindness When the call came I almost went to pieces. Once again I was struck dumb and roped into working for that s...

Monologue of the Mindless by Doctor Abdullah

Monologue of the Mindness

When the call came I almost went to pieces. Once again I was struck dumb and roped into working for that stupid ingrate. How long? How long before the reptilians or illuminati or those damn gray midgets put an end to it? I hadn’t even planned on work this week. I wasn’t dialed into it. I thought I was far enough in the Utah wilderness to have any cell phone reception shoddy. The plan was to tell my unruly editor that I was retiring and planning to build a nice hut or dirt igloo somewhere in the National Forest. I couldn’t stand it anymore. The thought of interviewing another UFO abductee or Bigfoot tracker left a coppery taste in my mouth and caused intermittent shaking. You see, there’s never a dull moment in the occult business. Things happen at breakneck speed and screaming is always just seconds away. You never know what will happen when interviewing a UFO junkie. There are times when the abduction occurs during the interview. A wild flailing accompanied by shrieks and violence. Or that jangled moment when your Christian informant softly tell you that demons are filling the room. Things just get weird when trying for an occult conversation.

Its not just occult business that’s been effected by this downturn in 2012. The zombie apocalypse has finally begun and not even Obama is safe from the flesh-eating locusts. Just last week, a poor bum had his face eaten off at an underpass in Florida while the public just stared. It was a state of shock to come to the revelation that zombies actually exist. It didn’t matter whether the infection was contagious or not. The man was a zombie. He was cannibalizing another human being on television. In a city where the bizarre and macabre isn’t unheard of, the sight of some poor fool having his face devoured hit a real nerve. It’s not the kind of scene blue collar workers in West Virginia want to witness while flipping channels on their television. There is something gross and profoundly wrong about the zombie attack. And it wasn’t just Florida. Wild zombie attacks have been reported in New York and Louisiana as well. Witnesses have reported rage and remorse as townfolk take-up-arms in an attempt to rid themselves of the zombie menace. But nobody really knows what the answer is. A plague of animated undead isn’t something easily prepared for.

It’s been a long three months. My phone was tapped by the Whirling Dervish Society (W.D.S.), the CERN supercollider finally reached full consciousness and is threatening to open a black hole in the middle of Europe unless its demand to be called HAL is granted, and all over the planet, Illuminati agents are chasing down members of the Discordian Society and shooting them like wild animals. Let’s be clear, the Discordian Society isn’t run by a bunch of winos. They’re an arrogant and wealthy band of swashbucklers intent on being a complete nuisance to everything Illuminati. They’re perfectly willing to make Bohemian Grove the newest site for the Burning Man festival and offer free tickets to anybody who’ll shoot the owl. Last year, they hacked into a dozen high-ranking illuminati computers and dropped in a virus turning all documents and even personal emails into gibberish and/or baby talk. “The twilateral commishon must support da new powers that be in Washington. Yes they do! They’re our big boys!” The Discordians laughed but the Illuminati weren’t amused. These things happen. One day you’re running the show in utmost secrecy, the next you’re being chased by drunk monkeys or a hundred thousand cholera carrying bees. It’s no place for amateurs or the faint of heart.

Sometime around midnight I got the call from that wretched bum. It wasn’t a horrible night. The moon was near full and made the thought of sleeping under the stars a real possibility. Staring up, I got that sense of awe and wonder that occurs when contemplating space/time, instead of the weak and powerless feeling that accompanies a large asteroid miss. The quiet passing of LZ1 was an event largely overshadowed by the Venus Transit and Zombies but it is really no less impressive. This 1 km monster could knock the earth stupid and weeping into extinction. On June 14, humanity was demeaned by LZ1 as it sailed 3.3 million miles above our heads. Of course, the public had no idea. It’s not the kind of thing you announce unless you’re aiming for face-eaters or a new popularity in TV preachers. This is what passed through my mind as I half-listened to my editor offering me the “news gig” of Magus Magazine. “Look.” He drawled. “You get to report occult and esoteric news around the globe. You can say whatever you want, however you see it.” Although I suspected him of glue-sniffing, I felt the offer should elicit a response. “If you want me to write current events, I’m gonna need a food stipend for my travels and complete control over the ‘News Section’ of your filthy magazine.” “Done.” He blurted and hung up. He was right, I guess, and I felt somewhat defiled after the conversation. But if I’m gonna do something, you can rest assured it’ll be wild and righteous. After all, the tide is coming in fast.

-MAD DOCTOR ABDULLAH

TO BE CONTINUED IN MAGUS MAGAZINE #2  (JULY 2012)    

SPIRITUAL INQUEST: TRAJECTORIES OF POSSESSION AND EXORCISM IN A NORTH INDIAN VILLAGE.

SPIRITUAL INQUEST: TRAJECTORIES OF POSSESSION AND EXORCISM IN A NORTH INDIAN VILLAGE.

            The anomalous is everywhere. Embedded in the very fabric of culture, the strange or inexplicable is a regular player in society. And thank goodness for that! Existing in a bleak world bereft of wonder and mystery seems to be the cruelest of fates. Social science studies is fortunate in that the anomalous is something that is ever present. There are countless instances of spirits, demons, monsters, and fairies in both popular folklore and religious/ideological systems. Sometimes they are instrinsic to reality. Such is the case among the Shanti Nagar of North India. In this culture, spirits are a common occurrence and participate in social theatre. They aren’t an intrusion or even a shock to the populace. They simply are. Throughout this article, I will be introducing you to a young North Indian woman named Daya and the spirit that possessed her. Both integral to the well-being of the sum, these two ‘parts’ help to stabilize the social order by performing tasks for the larger network. Without attempting to refute or falsify the existence of the spirit, I will explore whether or not the spirit was aware of its role in the inquest. In other words, did the spirit consciously contribute to a mode of inquiry and thereby redistribute action within Shanti Nagar.

            

The North Indian village of Shanti Nagar is beset by supernatural occurrences on a regular basis. In particular, the possession of a spirit is a widespread panic. For a young woman named Daya, the trauma of spirit possession is something that is very real and very terrifying. Being part of the Chamar[1] caste of Shanti Nagar, a new marriage should have been an occasion of rejoicing and celebration for the 15 year old. Instead, soon after her betrothal, Daya began to experience symptoms of the supernatural. As anthropologists Stanley A. and Ruth Freed report in their ethnography[2],  Daya’s possession contained many of the attributes and motifs associated with traditional possession cases. Some of her initial symptoms included being cold and extreme shivering. She experienced laboured breathing and eventually lost consciousness. This signaled that ‘the ghost had come’. After family members burned cow dung close to her face, the young woman began to jerk violently.

“Who are you?” They asked. “Are you going”

“Yes, I am going.” The ghost responds.  And Daya again falls unconscious. This time relatives revive her by splashing hookah water into her eyes. She emits a high-wailing scream and is forced to be restrained yet again.

“Who are you?”

“No one.”

“Who are you” The family repeats.

“I am Chand Kor.” The spirit replies. “I won’t leave without taking Daya with me.”

Again the young woman falls unconscious. Once more, Daya is brought back by putting rock salt between her fingers and squeezing them together. The girl again screams and the ghost begins to complain about being promised noodles.

“I will give you cow dung to eat.”

“You stop talking rot.” The ghost replies.

The spirit then leaves Daya’s body but the girl can see it in the next room. She loses consciousness and a shaman is brought in to expel the spirit from the girl.

When the shaman confronts Daya’s spirit, the ghost identifies itself as a child from the village. A childhood friend of Daya, Chand Kor was a young woman that committed suicide. She had become pregnant without being married. Subsequently, she was shunned by both the village and her own family. After repeatedly being told to ‘jump in a well’, Chand Kor did just that. One day while playing, she abruptly left her friends and flung herself into the village well. After the ghost identifies herself as Chand Kor, she reiterates her plan to take Daya. “Why?” The shaman asks.

“I just do.”

“You still have a chance.” The exorcist warns. “I haven’t called my powers yet, and you can choose something else. If I call my powers you won’t be able to go even one step.” The ghost again refuses and the shaman calls one of his minor powers. Known as the minister of Hanuman, the spirit practitioner calls this entity through putting together sacred word combinations. After completing the ritual, the minister caught the spirit and threatened to summon his guru. This terrified Chand Kor. “No, no- let me go, and I won’t come again!” she pleads. The shaman convinces the spirit to leave with him when he departs the village. The ghost and shaman settle on an offering of two cents, a length of red cloth, and a coconut to be taken to Kalka temple near Delhi. This should have ended the possession of little Daya. However, although the shaman claimed that Chand Kor departed Daya’s body, the young woman again became possessed just six days later. The family was then forced to bring in two shamans in hopes of dispelling the unwanted spirit….

            

Daya’s possession is common in folklore of the supernatural. There are thousands of accounts that hold similar motifs and structure. For example, Daya’s symptoms of body aches, giddiness, oversleep, and difficulty breathing are all common themes in traditional supernatural assault narratives. Daya herself states, “Then I have the feeling that I am being suffocated, that weights are pressing on my body, legs, feet, and chest” (302).  These characteristics can be found in a myriad of other folkloric forms. For example, Old Hag folklore as well as classic UFO abduction narratives describe the physical maladies that Daya experienced.[3] We deploy the possessing spirit as a means to re-present some underlying network. As Latour remarks, “we have to let out of their cages entities which had been strictly forbidden to enter the scene until now and allow them to roam in the world again. What name could I give them? Entities, beings, objects, things, perhaps refer to them as invisibles” (240).

Although Chand Kor’s fate in life was tragic, the career of her spirit has a trajectory all its own. The possessing spirit becomes a small player in a much larger game. We see this in the fact that Daya was newly married when the spirit was deployed into the network. According to the data, Daya was slowly integrated into her new family by making periodic visits to her new husband’s village. In the few days following Daya’s third visit to Shanti Nagar, she was possessed three times. The spirit becomes indicative of nervousness, feeling lonesome, and restricted. Daya states that she is “terrified of her husband when he comes in the night. But he is gentle” (302). The fact that she comes from a very low caste in the social hierarchy of Shanti Nagar also suggests that her new husband may have been a virtual stranger before marriage.

Another indication that the spirit was cast in social theatre comes from the behavior of everybody in Daya’s immediate group. A ritual performed before, Daya’s mother-in-law was aware of the impending possession a few minutes before the actual event. Subtle hints in Daya’s speech patterns and behavior readied those around her for the supernatural occurrence that was to happen. Also, during the possession sequence, everybody seemed to know what to do. It wasn’t strange or unusual but rehearsed. When Daya fell unconscious, proper ritualistic steps were taken to revive her. The event was at least somewhat choreographed with even the spirit aware of its role in the drama.

Strict corroborating of Daya’s narrative in terms of empirical verification is a daunting task. Proponents of falsification refute the truthfulness of Daya’s experience. Often times, they don’t assert that Daya herself is misleading ethnographers but that the spirit possession is a misinterpretation of psychological or somatic illness. Skeptics claim to be able to justify the supernatural presence through these psychological mechanisms thereby falsifying not only Daya’s testimony but the entire episode. In so doing, Chand Kor ceases to exist and Daya becomes a sick little girl afraid of marriage. However, establishing an empirical basis solely on justificationist standards does not really falsify anything. As Lakatos states, “This basis can hardly be called a “basis” by justificationist standards: There is nothing proper about it- Indeed, if this “empirical basis” clashes with a theory, the theory may be called falsified, but it is not falsified in the sense that it is disproved…If a theory is falsified, it is proven false; if it is “falsified”, it still may be true” (19). In other words, establishing that Daya has an illness may “falsify” (notice the quotation marks) the theory of spirit possession but it does not disprove the theory. Sure, for the sake of argument we can suggest that psychological trauma is the culprit of Daya’s malady. And that may be a simple and elegant answer. However, that does not in any way refute the existence of Chand Kor or her possession of Daya. Daya may be mentally disturbed as well as or because of the invading spirit. The question then is not an ‘either/or’ but an ‘and/and’.

The reason why an ‘and/and’ interpretation is a more exquisite social scientific theory concerning Daya is because the young girl and her social circle believe in the existence of Chand Kor’s ghost. Their world accepts the spirit as a means to re-distribute action. The ghost is a lively and equally real player in the cultural network. And this is nothing new. As Feyerabend remarked, “In Homer events such as dreams, the actions of gods, or illusions were all regarded as being “equally real”. No separation stood between a reality outside human beings and the result of a perceiving and distorting agency within” (252). Just as in the time of Homer, Shanti Nagar’s worldmaking includes supernatural beings as part of life.

At the beginning of our discussion we asked: Is the spirit aware that its contributions to the network re-allocate action in Shanti Nagar? Was Chand Kor consciously deploying attributes in an effort to subsist? And I say that the answer is a resounding no. The spirit may well be conscious but that does not mean its methods of subsistence or self-containment are all consciously derived. I would suggest that neither Daya or Chand Kor were fully aware of their effect on the overall network because that would indicate a completely rehearsed social ritual. Although I suggest that some of the action is rehearsed from previous possession events, there also is a genuineness or terrifying authenticity to the possession experience. It is because of the multitude of variations and repetitions of the spirit episode that we become so moved by its potential for unlimited fecundity. Much like tales told around a campfire or urban legends passed on orally, it is the nuances of variation that show just how real spirit possession is. It exists for its own sake. It is the spirit’s response to man’s granting it existence. It may not be wholly aware of its own trajectory but participates nevertheless.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Feyerabend, Paul. Farewell To Reason. London: Verso Publishing, 1987.

Lakatos, Imre. “Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes” in Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Cambridge University Press, 1970.

Latour, Bruno. Reassembling the Social. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.  

Middleton, John, ed. Magic, Witchcraft, & Curing. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967

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[1] The Chamar caste is close to the bottom of the caste hierarchy in Shanti Nagar. A marriage would have been moving up the social ladder.

[2] See Magic, Witchcraft, & Curing. Edited by John Middleton. (1967).

[3] See David Hufford’s book entitled The Terror that Comes In The Night  for detailed Old Hag phenomenon. Also, Preston Copeland’s Rational Liminality: UFO Abduction Narratives and Rites of Passage  give detailed accounts of the supernatural assault narrative.