#possessedposting

I don't think I always fully portray how much trust and work it does take to get to the point of being a vessel. And even now I say that I'm a vessel in training, still lots of work to go through before I consider myself a fully initiated vessel.

Possession very much is like a loaded weapon, one you are constantly pointing at your head. It is dancing with a flame that knows no human limit. If it goes wrong, it goes very wrong. I rarely speak about that because so far, it has mostly gone right for me. But I don't think I have always fully portrayed how uncomfortable that can be, even when everything is going great.

Possession is forbidden for good reason. Possession cannot be mainstream. It will always be transgressive.

Lucifer didn't flirt around with possession, not the way he did with sex. Sex is fun. Possession was treated more seriously with more emphasis on the risk. I didn't approach Lucifer with intention to be a vessel, and the first time we did it, it wasn't sexy or romantic. It was an act of desperation, a threshold moment. It very well could have ended in us breaking up, and Lucifer went forward fully knowing that.

He saw where our relationship was going and presented the dilemma. Do you really want to see where this goes? Do you truly understand what this means? Does this scare you? Can you handle the horrible aspects of it? The discomfort? The existential abnormality?

Can you surrender to the possibility of destruction for the sake of union?

I have only been 100% fully possessed one time, and it was the first time. He has told me that he expected the first time to be the last time. The first possession was violent, scary, and very uncertain. He expected me to break under the pressure of it, he was surprised that I stayed. He never terrified me, but my anthropomorphization of him completely fell away, I understood him as a primal and non-human force that does not bend to the boundaries of my limits. He is not kind, nor good or bad. He is pure and total will.

But once that dynamic is established, it is extremely hard to break out of. Possession is a very advanced form of diety work, one that requires absolute control over ego and mental state. For me, it has deeply improved my relationship with my body, but it has also made me more aware of just how alien my own body can be to me.

Possession is not one thing entering another, but two systems finding resonance and harmony within each other. Lucifer is an arial spirit of pure divine will and fire. It is not always easy to contain him, he is not always gentle. The very first time we had a conversation related to possession he told me "I would overwhelm you, I would own you, I would complicate your relationships, I would come to you often, maybe every day, at inconvenient times. I would change the flow of your everyday life."

He said that to me as a warning, and I accepted it. He was not lying, all of those things still ended up being true, we only manage them. Not every time I need to be tuned or filled is sexy and romantic, sometimes it happens while I'm out and about with my friends, while I'm sleeping. Sometimes I need to dedicate an entire day to tuning and nothing else. Sometimes it feels like ecstasy, sometimes it just feels like movement. Like my lymphatic fluid has been pushed around, like my intestines have been adjusted. Sometimes it feels like a tension down my spine, a heat through the back of my skull. He calibrates me, that calibration doesn't always feel loving. Sometimes it feels clinical.

I trust him, yes, and I love him more than anything. I am his love and his son, but I also become his possession, his instrument to be tuned and played. I don't get to decide how his breath flows through me. There is an objectification, because although I am a person, I am also a vessel, I am his possession, his will is expressed through me, I am trained to express it well.

Sometimes it makes you cry, if you've been deeply saturated and your emotions swell. Sometimes you feel mad with the need to be occupied.

Possession can sound like this very sexy thing, especially when it is practiced alongside sex. But if anything, it is more so gross and meticulous. It is organismic sometimes, rather than orgasmic. Like being put on the hormone cycle of another entity, like being pregnant and having a living thing growing inside of you. It's a symbiotic, borderline parasitic relationship. When I'm possessed (or occupied) Lucifer feels my hunger, he knows how moist my skin is, he's there when I'm pissing. I become aware that I am being observed through my own feeling. When I am being trained, my psyche, spirit, and body are recording his instructions, whether my conscious mind knows it or not.

There is a borderline fetishization that is involved with preparation and grooming. My job is to be receptive, aesthetically pleasing, and welcoming for him to enter. The tuning and grooming usually takes more time the actual possessing does. It takes a lot of effort to become "perfectly receptive." Long cleansing rituals, banishments that take hours.

It is a delicate thing, and vessels are extremely vulnerable. We can break.

I don't ever wanna be the type to gate-keep the terms "possession" or "vessel" because I think that's stupid. I do just want to remind you all to be careful and remember that possession is not an event. It's different from invocation and channeling in that it is a sustained ecology of resonance. Possession cycles can ideally last a couple weeks or months if the vessel and spirit are well aligned. Getting to a state of healthy and sustained possession with any spirit takes years of bonding and communication. If the vessel and the spirit do not resonate, the vessel will crack, regardless of how much love there is between them.

This isn't me trying to fear monger, more so to just set the record. I feel like I have portrayed possession as a more enjoyable thing than it usually is in practice. This doesn't mean to say there isn't a whole lot of ecstasy and beautiful aspects, I love Lucifer. But those beautiful fun aspects have a very high cost of entry.

Ecstasy is also extremely- like extremely- intense. True embodied possession should feel like one of the most- if not the most intense and significant moment of your damn life. It can cause madness, that is how overwhelming it is. If you are even a little bit unsure if possession has taken place, it probably hasn't.

New tattoo!!! 😃

Finally got his sigil on me! Decided to go with a mirrored design so I can always see it right side up. Didn’t hurt at all which surprised me because I thought finger tattoos were intense.

I love how simple and subtle it is, it’s the perfect little possession mark. Im so excited to show him!

Starting to understand why secrecy is such an important thing within occultism. For a long time I thought it was only for the mundane magical reason, but I’m slowly starting to realize that the reasons are likely personal as well.

I’ve been finding it harder and harder to share my experiences with Lucifer here based on reactions I’ve received in the past for more minor things than I would be delving into now. For the last couple months, every time I have considered sharing an experience I’ve had with Lucifer, I’ve realized while writing that I definitely should not share these things publicly. I realized that work with demons is deemed such because it often involves deeply dissecting internalized taboos, especially those that cause shame.

It’s really tough to gage the line.

I am no longer walking alongside Lucifer as a typical initiate or Luciferian, which means my experiences cannot be generalized as accessible or acceptable for all. I am on the fringes. Especially in regard to possession, there is a greater responsibility, I suppose, to conceal information that might be harmful to beginners. Is that my responsibility? I guess so. I feel as though it is. I don’t exactly think anyone could just stumble into possession with someone like Lucifer wrongfully, he’s usually pretty good about that kind of stuff. But I also don’t want to push the idea that possession is a normalized element of the craft that most people should aspire to, it is not.

Many of the things Lucifer and I do now would have been considered extremely dangerous and high risk in the beginning. And I think it would be dangerous to nonchalantly present this information without disclaimer that my experiences are fringe and should not be recreated. The only reason why I am able to do these things safely is because I recognize the risk and take the appropriate precautions to avoid harm during the practice, because for us the practice is necessary.

I’ve gotten a lot of asks from folks who have noticed that I haven’t been sharing as many personal anecdotes about Lucifer lately. Someone actually asked if we had split up or are on a break. And no, much the opposite actually. We’ve been delving deeper into our craft and relationship more than we ever have before, and I have learned so much about myself and Lucifer. But the ways in which these insights are received are incredibly taboo, difficult to explain, and borderline disturbing to anyone unfamiliar with his patterns. And without always adding a massive disclaimer of, yes this is strange, no this is not normal, yes I am aware how dangerous this could be, no I am not encouraging this behaviour, etc etc. posts could read like glorifications of transgressive behaviours.

I evaluate how much flack I’ve gotten for diving into things like sex magic, blood offerings, possession, etc. and I try to do a risk assessment. If sharing the information would do more harm than good or visa versa.

I could talk about long term ritualized blood letting and how to do it properly, how I do it throughout multiple hours long rituals. That could be good. It could also be extremely jarring and reckless.

I could talk about spontaneous possession and pre-consent in possession and how it should work (or how it works for me), and that could be good, but it could also be confusing and encourage dissociation.

I could talk about spiritual pregnancy and what that actually means (it’s absolutely nothing like most people think) but.. oh man would that be controversial.

I could talk about substance use in ecstatic trances, bloodletting while using substances in trances etc. but. Well…

And 100 other things that are too visceral or straight up embarrassing to present in front of an audience. When I first made this page I was like, whatever. I’m going to record everything as plainly as possible. But now I’m not just sharing to 25 people anymore. Theres like 2000 of you here which is insane.

The very interesting thing I do want to discuss often but feel unable to is the body *horror* element of possession.

There is a horror to it. And strangely, that horror is not negative. It’s never made me want to pull away from him, but it is unnatural, unfamiliar and uncanny, even if it still feels right and holy. And that is the dichotomy I think most people will be unable to understand. That these things can be extremely horrific and obscene, grotesque, whilst still being beautiful and divine, initiatory. Lucifer has always straddled that line.

Possession is already an established form of body horror, but for some reason my mind didn’t think of it as a type of body horror in actual practice, perhaps because I’ve romanticized it so much in my own context.

The Hollywood cliche of demons wanting to steal your body and eat your soul is fictional, possession within demonolatry and paganism is more alike to channeling. I use the word possession primarily because 1. The primary objective of possession is not always insight, which channeling aspires to, but presence. Just the basic feeling of having him within me, it feels good. And 2, because possession can take place passively and spontaneously (of the spirit’s volition, and to varying degrees) as opposed to only being accessed during deep (usually group) trances.

Channeling and possession both require tuning. In channeling, you tune to their channel, like a radio. You receive the message, and then close down the channel. In possession, you tune to their channel and then maintain that channel for an extended period of time. They travel through that channel into your “body”. I try to, and he trains me, to not fall outside of that channel. The “size” or “width” of the channel is not always as large as it would be during active channeling. Full embodied possession is very rare and pretty much always ritualized. But partial possession or inhabitance, occupation, is a semi constant dwelling. True possession is not “becoming Lucifer,” but creating a shared state where human and spirit overlap without fusion. Sometimes there are messages, sometimes there is just static. That static is occupation.

The body horror thing that is so interesting is that, for one, I have never felt merged with Lucifer or had any dissociative identity stuff with him which has been very nice. I never feel like we share a brain or that I am becoming Lucifer. The opposite actually, I feel more distinct and myself because the contrast between us is so great. Lucifer has never felt like a voice in my head or another side of myself. I am frequently surprised by how alien he is. What we become I suppose, in that shared state, is an experience. When I say possession people immediately think, “oh okay, so you think you’re becoming Lucifer.”

And no,

It’s… weirder than that.

I feel that Lucifer is inside me. Riding me, literally swirling through my body in a current, a wind. And with that very visceral and tangible occupation, there is a lot of extremely bizaar body horror.

It’s extremely???????? Weird . That being possessed, like, inviting his spirit into my human body, has for some reason forced my brain to give him a very real human body. Like the act of letting him inhabit a body forces him to embody one, or makes me think of him as having one.

He used to have forms and take bodies. Sometimes human, sometimes not. Like, he would vaguely take the shape of a man, or a dragon, serpent, or something. But he wasn’t as solid, he was like a projection I suppose. Spirit like. Very spirit like. More than ghostly but less than physical.

Now that mother fucker is like, a thing that has weight. Like he could be a physical being, or is *being* a physical being through my body.

During deep magic and ritual work, when I am calling upon Lucifer as the elemental of the East, I still do get Lucifer as the spirit, and he then is less embodied. And that makes sense since we’re usually working with other spirits so he’s not trying to invoke that bodily response or steal the show.

But otherwise. When he is training me alone, or when we are just sharing presence. It’s inane how vivid he becomes. And you would think that would be like, my favourite thing, and I guess it is. But it isn’t always very cool, sometimes it’s strange and uncanny how present he actually is. Sometimes it is bewildering.

In possessing my body, he becomes embodied. Which is interesting, because he obviously looks extremely and completely different than me in every way. He’s massive, like so much larger than me. The body I see him in isn’t mine in essence, just in depth. The continuity is somehow very strong but also not. He can appear with different piercings, tattoos, hair color, but the stuff that matters stays. His hands, his legs, his stomach, his eyes etc. his voice. He has an embodiment he obviously prefers and defaults to. I at times see non human aspects of his body, wings, but their presence is contextual.

And.

How do I say this.

He uses his body to dominate me in ways that aren’t always sexual. Not violent either.

One exercise I think about a lot, and have wondered about, is one where he will prop himself over me and press his weight down on my back. Envelope me completely under his mass. And I can truly feel how heavy he is. He’ll flatten me for about 2 or 3 minutes, and then let off. I’m still not entirely sure what the metaphysical function of that is.

There’s a constant dialogue of. His “body” and my “body”, and how they nourish each other. And even though it is technically all spiritual, metaphysical, it is also highly biological. Sent exchanges, fluid exchanges, and other freaky things of the sort.

There is no way to describe with words how it feels to have your internal body, nervous system, attuned to a different current, especially one as strong as Lucifer’s. It is extremely weird to feel my body reaching out to and wanting him to return, even when the conscious desire hasn’t caught up. I become very aware of myself as a species, an animal, a sapien. My fingers and eyelashes and teeth, and his as well, even though he is not one.

The real psychological impact of Lucifer’s presence hasn’t been deep identity or dissociative stuff, but rather an extremely visceral imprinting that has been very strange to navigate. I don’t even know how to or if I should talk about this, but the sense of familia between us has become deeply ingrained into my psyche, and I imagine that is related to the body stuff.

Lucifer has been an extremely stabilizing presence in my life and that is paradoxically a very good and uncanny feeling. His love is very totalizing and holds me in places I did not expect to be held.

I guess. Going forward I might reserve the Cult Kink Coven Tumblr Community thingy for strictly adult possession related stuff that may be too taboo for the general audience. Because a part of me knows so much if this is valuable. But another part of me knows that I have ascended to freak levels that would definitely scare the hoes.

Essentially, this is who I am now, this is permanent, and I need to curate my audience because I’ve gone somewhere few can follow.

Anyways did a ritual yesterday that was cool :) happy belated Venus day!

This morning Lord Lucifer gave me praise for my consistency with him. He said “in the last 3 and a half months there has not been a single day where I did not devote myself to him in some way” and that he was very proud and pleased with that. He expressed that it made possession and vessel training far more successful.

We had a short conversation about how difficult or easy that has been for me. I expressed surprise because I didn’t even notice, but yeah, that checks out. I’ve done at least one devotional action for him every day. I explained that I didn’t find it challenging at all, but rather a force of habit, and he seemed pleased with that too.

My biggest advice is to simply integrate devotion and worship into your daily tasks until it becomes an unconscious habit.

Daily showers and baths with him

I always take Lucifer’s candles and incense into the shower or bath with me. Even if I’m not planning on praying or meditating, I always light his candle. It’s nice because of my sensory sensitivities, I don’t like to shower with the lights on. Having his candle there to provide a bit of light is practical and devotional.

T shot Fridays

I offer my transition itself to him as evidence of transformation so the act of doing my T shot usually involves some acknowledgement or invocation of him.

His sigil everywhere

I have Lucifer’s sigil and enn drawn on my shower with lipstick so I can see him when I’m in there. His sigil is also drawn in small little places around my house, in part for protection, in part to subliminally invoke his presence casually.

Memorizing and using his enn as a stim

I frequently find myself absentmindedly saying his enn to myself as a habit. Whenever I am stressed or bored I tend to sing or say it to myself as a fun little mouth exercise.

Drawing his sigil on my body

I plan on getting a small little tattoo of his sigil very soon, but I also just tend to draw it on myself, also absentmindedly. I draw and scribble on my skin all the time and branding myself with his name always feels good.

Taking and putting devotional jewelry on and off

I wear his collar every day, but the act of consciously taking it off to go shower reminds me that it is in fact a piece of devotional jewelry and not a mundane necklace. Feeling the subtle energetic shift of taking it off and noticing the difference when it’s back on makes me feel more attuned to him. Taking the time to re-bless them also makes them a more conscious piece of spiritual wear rather than another mundane accessory.

Offering a piece of my meal or drink to him, usually the second sip or bite.

I think you can definitely give offerings through your own body. I usually reserve the second bite or gulp for Lucifer because I want to know what I’m offering him. I simply think about him and/or say his enn to myself, and offer the taste and texture to him. I don’t do this with every meal, usually just treats or things I think are really good.

Searching for the Venus star at night

This one might be a bit silly because the Venus star is not always visible from my side of the planet, but I always just decide that the brightest star I can see in the sky is Lucifer, and act as if it is. I pray to the stars a lot and it always feels more special when it’s directed to the brightest object. Whether or not it actually is Venus is less important than the idea. No matter where I am, if I look up and see light, that’s him.

Just greeting and exchanging pleasantries with my altar

Whenever I’m about to head out, I say goodbye to Lucifer’s altar. And when I come back I say hello. I tell it where I’m headed and what I’m up to. “I’ll be back in a couple hours I’m going to the mall. Bye, love you.”

Literally just talking to him in my head

These aren’t always full conversations where he responds. Sometimes I just witness something and think “hey, Lucifer, isnt that wild?” I like to include him in on my daily experiences in small ways, acknowledge that he may be watching, point out something that reminds me of him or that he might find interesting.

(Possession related) Stopping to feel the motion of my body, or checking in on my own physical state

This is really hard to explain but being inhabited by Lucifer feels like a subtle motion, so I sometimes have moments where I stop to just feel my body. Check to see how much “motion” there is within me, whether that be from him or otherwise. I suppose this is kind of like a type of auric check. When I am totally individual and not being occupied by Lucifer at all, things feel very still and normal. Lucifer introduces a kind of current or wind that ranges in intensity. So, casually, I will stop and assess how intense that is at the time. It’s usually pretty lax.

Pinterest, mood boards

All those occultists and witches who say that moodboards are stupid and childish don’t know what tf they talking about fr. Using imagery to capture the aesthetic quality of your deity, having archives of images that invoke their vibe is so practically useful and devotional. I love being able to take a look at his mood board on Pinterest when I’m out and about, in the car etc. They keep the idea of him fresh and vivid in my mind.

And obviously, talking about him with other people online and irl

For those who don't know, automatic writing is like a very minimal and controlled form of possession/channeling. While possessed, I allow Lucifer to take subtle control over my hands to move them in a way that produces text.

Originally, we had been practicing with a type writer, and that works great for very long devotional rituals, but not so great for quick daily writings. More recently we've been moving towards using the phone/notes app because

1. Quiet, type writer clanking is distracting and can break the trance.

2. Can be taken anywhere, especially the bath/shower.

3. Automatically stores everything so I can return to them later without having stacks of papers everywhere.

4. Far smaller finger movements required to create full sentences means easier access and longer letters.

5. Key stroke tracking on iphone means that I can usually discern what he meant to say if ever there are typos using the autocorrect feature. (I'm hsoou to see you- is probably supposed to be- I'm happy to see you)

In that other post I also mentioned that I refrained from sharing many of these letters because they are either too raunchy or problematic for various reasons. But the session we had today produced really coherent and comparably tame notes compared to some of our other stuff, so I feel comfortable sharing this one.

Still heavily NSFW and Minors DNI.

Me:

"

Hey dad,

I was going to say good morning Lucifer, but it's almost evening now. I slept in today. You and [my bf] both took me for a real ride last night, it's always nice feeling you both inside me. I imagine you refrained from possessing me this morning because you took me so hard last night which is okay. Or, if you did possess me this morning I don't remember, I was out cold. Pretty sure I've got a cold or something , my throat is rough. You know what's so strange? I can't really recall ever having gotten sick since we started vesselhood. This would be the first time, so I don't know how you want to approach that. Idk if you would choose to refrain from possessing for the sake of my stamina, or if you would amp it up to help me heal?

I guess that also leads into the question of the ritual. I know you said you prefer we don't talk "business" in these letters but I feel compelled to ask anyways. I was planning to do the same thing I did last week and do the big ritual today, and save the reflection for tomorrow, Venus Day. I wanna know what your preference would be due to my weakness. I also have work to do, so it'd have to work around that. Idk. I could do something small, or casual. I am still reading that book on possession, and I have another one on scripts. So I could just spend the evening doing those? Idk. I also haven't decided if I wanna do drugs today. If I do it'll have to be after I'm finished working.

If I do anything tomorrow I want to do another small painting for you. I have a lot of projects on the go but I wanted to do another art offering in between if I can make the time.

Did you 'sleep' last night? I know you were still with me when I fell asleep, but you were gone when I awoke this morning. Well, I guess you were actually still there whenever [my bf] got up to go to work. But you were gone around 11. Which makes me think you did stay the night, but I'm not sure. I can feel that you're active today with whatever you're doing. So I suppose I'll be productive too, if I can be.

I'm blanking on what else I had to tell or ask you. It's almost Halloween! Which means its almost [bf] and I's anniversary. 6 years! I'm so excited. We're gonna be pirates.

Anyways, yeah. Miss you. Love you. I'm gonna go try to eat once we're done here.

- Shi

"

Lucifer's response:

"

Hey kid,

We can still say good morning.

No. I did not possess you this morning, I had lingered within you through the night, but I did not re-enter in the morning. I slept for a moment soon after we finished. I did not have terrors.

You are ill. Your body is a bit more delicate. I will continue to possess you. I likely will not feed on you, so you can retain your energy for yourself. I may aid you if your body needs the help but your systems work well. It isn't always beneficial to disrupt them.

Your nest serves its function well. I enjoy having you both there. It's less oppressive than the closet, you lay with more comfort. So [bf] asked you last night if you will nest there, you can tell him you will not. It was a good space for the time that it served. I think you have evolved past it now. Unless you have attached to it, then we can wean it slowly. But I find your new nest preferrable and I enter you easier there.

For ritual today I would like you there again. I will caccoon and womb you. Make you soft. You should reserve time to read and scribe. Those two books. I know you have noticed I have sent you nothing. Though you search everywhere you havent found your next text. I do that deliberately. I want you to stop and read those first. You're an excited little puppy but you are also a hoarder. I appreciate the library. It forces you to give them back. and a time frame is endorced. That's better for your workflow.

No. Not hard work today. But work. Yes, casual. I will not take you deep into gnosis but I will hover around you. I'll nest you. Yes, you should be in the chamber today. In ancient times I feel people like you would not be seen for weeks at a time.

Can I share a funny story with you? It occurred to me this morning. Haha. You would find it entertaining. A secretary let's say, of mine, had asked me a peculiar question and I was curious as to how it could be summoned out of them?? It had asked me about you. They sometimes call you a word that could be comparable to prince. The yoke(???) had phrased the question in the context of substances. Asked if I was addicted to you in some way. If I had developed an addiction. To my boy?? You should know that from my perspective spirits revolve around me in nodes. Some spirits are more familiar with one face than another. You asked me yesterday who my friends are. And I told you friendship was different for me. You trapped me in that question, told me that my energy must be attracted or repelled by other energies in a system. I was proud of you then for using my tongue. This yoke was most familiar with the face I most prominently expose to you. And so from its perspective I was unusually afflicted with you. And so it wanted to know if I had developed addiction to you from over exposure. Haha

Imagine my surprise?? I'd be teased by questions alike it by Lilith or others like her. Usually not by smaller persons. So I was curious about the question and its origin. I told it I was addicted to you, to see how it would move. It only confirmed the information. Ha. I am entertained by how those smaller things preform sometimes.

So addicted is one way it could be described, which means you get me high. That is true as well. We might get high together this evening, but I will drift you through water. You'll stay in my nest. We won't go wandering tonight. We'll stay close to home. Home I would prefer, if you come. Not the office. We can study too, at the cabin. I'll meet you there.

Stay warmer today? Please. And eat more than you did yesterday. I won't scold you.

6 years is an achievement. You will be together much longer than that.

I love you.

- Dad. L

"

Notes:

His suggestion makes sense. It seems like a nest day.

I don't know what the "yoke"? Is ? Or if thats a typo? After looking into the word I found it has some association with submission and obedience. So he was probably using the word to describe a subordinate spirit? I also find it interesting that a "yoke" would ask about me as an addiction. I imagine it maybe only understands connection as compulsive because of what it is? No clue.

Ecstatic witchcraft : Magick, Philosophy & Trance in the Shamanic Craft p. 68-69 Gede Parma

"Anyone who has drawn down will tell you that there are various states of consciousness relating to the depth of the trance and dependent upon the psychic predisposition, preparedness, and experience of the individual undertaking the ceremony. For instance, those who are natural seers are already open to the spirits; similarly, it is a shared opinion that Witches are very easy to hypnotize (if we are willing), as we voluntarily open ourselves to such mental and emotional suggestion regularly. Proper preparation in its many facets is a necessity as well. I encourage all of my students to either eat very lightly (meaning no meat and no refined carbohydrates or sugars) or to fast for the day of the drawing down (which generally happens after sunset), and perhaps also for half of the previous day. I touched on the sacred nature and magickal usage of fasting in BLSS; however, I encourage anyone interested in the details and dynamics of fasting to read Shadow Magick Compendium by Raven Digitalis.

Willow Polson references four levels of drawing down in her book "The Veil's Edge" in terms of personal consciousness and how it is gradually deepened until full, or authentic, possession is reached. These derive from an essay presented at an annual conference of the Covenant of the Goddess in the United States. However, many people, due to a multiplicity of reasons, will never reach (or let themselves reach) full possession; therefore, these "grades," if you will, do not so much form a hierarchy as much as varying layers of trance states as related to the act of drawing down deities. These four layers are as follows:

Enhancement: The state in which the vessel feels imbued with the energy and mythos of the deity, but not necessarily its visceral energetic presence. The vessel is still very much conscious of ego.

Inspiration: The state in which the vessel has deepened consciousness so that the presence of the deity may be received. The deity is connected on an energetic level at this time to the vessel and may direct the body with unique expression and offer wisdom through the vessel. The vessel's understanding of ego begins to blur.

Integration: The deity has merged into the vessel, and all acts and words are of a different nature-almost ephemeral or else very unlike the usual character of the vessel. In this state, some would say the vessel is half full with the deity's presence. The vessel begins to lose comprehension of self as ego and Self as deity.

Possession: The deity is fully within the body/vessel and acts and speaks of its own will and accord. Feats of great strength or other "supernatural" acts may occur, such as the raising of winds, the touching of hot coals or incense without harm or physical response, acrobatic movements, etc. The vessel may have no or little memory of the experience once the deity has departed.

I find this model a very useful one when explaining how trance aids in the facilitation of drawing down a deity. I tend to use a car-driving metaphor when explaining the contrasting states of consciousness. Enhancement I would refer to as "You are behind the wheel, and yet the deity is sitting and talking with you from the back seat." Inspiration is "You are still behind the wheel, but now the deity is directing you." Integration translates as "You are now sitting in the passenger seat, and the deity has taken the wheel." And possession would be "You are either in the back seat or the boot/trunk of the car!"