Ecstatic Worship and Possession States in Neopaganism?

Question

This question is for Pagans, Wiccans, Druids, Asatru, etc.

Have you ever experienced religious ecstasy or possession during a ritual? Have you ever seen a priestess "Draw Down the Moon," and actually become the Goddess -- her voice and mannerisms change, she speaks with a wisdom and knowledge that she would otherwise not possess, and she has little or no memory of the experience afterward? Have you ever danced around a bonfire until you lost all sense of self? Have you ever enflamed your heart with prayer, and invoked so passionately that you and your God became One? Ever experience spontaneous chanting, or what Pentecostal Christians might call "Speaking in Tongues?"

What was the experience like? Was it a positive experience? Was it something that just happened, or something you set out to achieve? Was it embraced and celebrated by the other participants, or was it something that some of them didn't get? How central to your practice and spirituality are these experiences?

I guess a better analogy than Pentecostal Christianity would be the ecstatic worship of Voodoo and Santeria.

Answer 1

Yes, I definitely have "lost myself" around a Drum Circle. The beauty of the entire event can be overwhelming. I love the sight of toddlers, children and adults coming together after the ritual to dance freely around the bonfire at drum circles.

The Samhain ritual this year also overtook me, as well as many others. There was not a dry eye in the circle of 300.

As far as invocation and evocation, I have definitely invoked the Goddess on at least one occasion. My husband said my facial expressions changed to ones that were not mine and my personality was like meeting a new person. I have very sketchy memories of this. Truly becoming one with your religion can indeed bring new experiences you never thought possible.

Answer 2

Yes I have, to the becomming a god.
The first time was kinda by accident. I was consecrating a Cernunnos pendant/necklace, drawing in the energys and putting it into the pendant while chanting the song of Amergin. Then I put it on the pendant and the room around me dropped away. There I was standing bare chested on top of a cliff over looking a vast area of natual bushland, Athame in hand. I went running naked with this energy and Im not sure if it was part of the vision or if I actually ran naked up the street (LOL) ! I started to come back and was once more aware of the room I was in (perhaps I didnt run up the street... phew!). I closed the ritual and went out to where my girlfriend was still very much in Cernunnos mode. She could see I wasnt me. It stuck with me until we ate. I felt like I could take on anything.

Ive always been able to reinvoke this energy since then with ease. Ive also seen Cernunnos invoked into the High Priest I became good friends with a few years later. I looked him in the eye and recognised him, and he recognised me. Yep, it was definately the Horned one in there!

I have also had good experiances with invokations of the Morrigan. She took me as well and I wandered off through the forrest I was working in. I never actually released the energy properly, it felt right to keep some of her in me and she has been very helpful in giving me the strength I have needed to get through some rough battles.

I have also seen my Priestess in full flight with either the Morrigan or a Dark Crone aspect. She becomes someone else entirely. Beautiful to see.

I wouldnt call it possession though.
Its not so much Invoking but rather Evoking from within. The names are, to me, lables given to aspects of the individuals personality that is normally repressed.

I quite often lose myself when raising energy in a frenzy and the chant becomes a garbled mess, which is all "speaking in toungues" is.


Additional:
I was invited to a "Happy Clappers" (LOL) church one sunday, so I went just for the experiance. The energy raised in there felt almost exactly the same as the energy raised in a pagan ritual. I felt it buzzing in my heart chakra, as I usually do.

Answer 3

Ecstasy, yes. Possession, not personally, though I have witnessed it.

My (former) partner and I were being handfasted at the same time as my best friend and her boyfriend in a dual ceremony. They had made the arrangements with the priest and priestess who were performing the ceremony and she wasn't someone I particularly cared for as a person though I had no issue with her as priestess. It was an incredible ritual from the beginning, but when she did the Drawing Down the Moon, her whole stance and voice changed and when she turned around the circle to me I instinctively, and automatically curtsied! That was *not* merely the woman I had met several times previously but Someone worthy of every ounce of respect I had in me. And you can ask Labgrrrl about how butch I am - I don't think I had ever curtsied before in my life!

That was17 years ago and remains one of the most powerful ritual experiences I've ever had.

Answer 4

Frater, I actually conducted a Calling Down the Sun ritual on the SAME day and at the SAME time as the Big Tsunami. God, Lugh actualy came into me and imparted some words of wisdom and guidance. Then for a reason that I hadn't known about then, told me "I am going to have to be very busy and must depart". A few hours later I heard the news about the Tsunami and that it had occured at precisely the moment that Lugh took his leave of me. I am convinced that I should have asked to accompany him on his Rade and been able to witness the enormous loss of life and gathering of spirits on that day. Oh well, hindsight is always perfect. LOL

When Lugh was IN me I felt the presence of an enormous source of power and energy. I wouldn't say it was along the lines of a "Pentacostal Ecstacy" but it WAS a very unique feeling and experience and one that touched my spirit very deeply. I'll NEVER forget it and cherish it for the rest of my existence. As for the other stuff, It was doen as a solitary experience so I have NO idea what MY behavior was while Lugh was in me so, I can't answer that part at all.

Brightest Blessings,
Raji the Green Witch

Answer 5

It was amazing! I was a little shell-shocked for a while--though in a good way--and I told a lot of people afterwards, "If you get a chance to channel a benevolent deity, do it!"

I can lose myself in motion in my own living room, no bonfire required, and I've experienced the same sacred transformation once or twice during the Great Rite, an event that left us both weeping tears of joy.

Sometimes, as when the Goddess speaks through me, everyone seems to 'get it." And sometimes, it's just me. Or just someone else--I'm not the only one in our circle to have experienced it. But it's never something we treat lightly or greet with disbelief. And I wouldn't call it "central"--more like "laignappe"--the unexpected benefit, something you appreciate but never expect.

Answer 6

I came very close to absolute "ecstasy" once when I was dancing during a solitary ritual a few sabbats ago... I stopped because I felt a little light-headed (probably from the multiple head-rushes...).

I've never had the fortune of practicing in a coven, so I've never witnessed any channeling rites.

Answer 7

Heck, that basically sums up my entire personal spiritual practice there. Ecstatic dance and trances are a big part of my repertoire, and yes I have been "possessed". Each time has been a pretty postive experience and I've learned a lot, which is lucky for me since some of it was done unintentionally.

Answer 8

This is a bit controversial in heathenry, because it's definitely NOT a reconstructionist or historically authentic practice. Some neoheathens, Paxson's Hrafnar group in particular, have been using core shamanism and voudoun techniques to practice what they *think* seidhr (our oracular sorcery) was . . . and the rest of us think they're "well poisoners" for doing it.

I *have* experienced things during blot, though. And as a Freyrsgothi, there was one particular blot where I probably *could* have "become Freyr" . . . at least that's what it felt like.

Answer 9

No. I am skeptial about it, but that is because I have yet to see it. Or maybe it just creeps me out....I'm not sure.

I have no desire to "become" a god or a goddess. Have I totally zoned out and had a "conversations" with the gods? Sure. Freyja and I had a nice long talk over a martini the other night (no we don't drink mead ALL the time). While I believe in trances persay, "possesion" by a god or goddess strikes me as....I don't know, just not right. I feel INSPIRED by them at times, that they are close by and cheering me on. But not possesion. Why on earth would the gods NEED to be in me? But that's just me and my opinion doesn't count for much. :)

Answer 10

Have you ever danced around a bonfire until you lost all sense of self?

YES!

it's not something that i set out to do, and it doesn't happen every time, but i always hope that it will. it's like suddenly you're not yourself anymore, you're completely in tune with nature - you're a part of every single thing.

it's really amazing (and done without the use of drugs)