Spirit Box

I first gave this lecture at Treadwells Occult bookshop in London. It documents my experiences photographing the Aghori while working as a photographer travelling around India. The Aghori are a Shaivite sect who practice cannibalism and commit profane acts living in and around the spiritual capital of India - the ancient northern Indian city of Varanasi where I spent two weeks tracking them down to shoot the work referenced in this podcast. The Aghori believe that nothing is blasphemous or independent from God. The Aghoris are distinct from other Hindu sects and Sadu’s (priests) by their alcoholic and cannibalistic ceremonies. Skulls and other human bones are obtained from the cremation grounds and used due to having life-force which they believe can be harnessed for ritual purposes. They are also alleged to pull bodies from the river Ganges, which are then eaten.  They do things which a common man finds to be terrifying, so they overcome fears by facing them and acting out horrors, since they do it regularly it is a common thing for them. They have been known to consume human flesh and human waste and use alcohol and drugs as part of their religious practice. It is said that they are crazy or ‘God-possessed’. They call this transcending of boundaries; ‘Non-discrimination’. It’s worth orientating westerner occultists. These Sadhu’s are Left hand path in their ritual practices but the outcome of these rituals is not necessarily designed to attain a dark outcome. "Ordinary morality is only for ordinary people." — Aleister Crowley The YouTube video  - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_y2aC2Fqis To see the photographic essay - https://www.darraghmasonfield.com/index/G0000qURq7lptH_8 Music by Obliqka - https://soundcloud.com/obliqka The Mirror -  https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pictured-aghori-cannibals-who-drink-3223085

In 2002, an article appeared on an Arabic Internet web site that purported to be an interview with a female jinn who had possessed a human being. The article was written by a 'Mr. Abdalrazzak'. The interview is set in Damascus, Syria, and includes discussion of jinn kingdoms and the phenomenon of jinn possession. The article consists of various conversations between the author and his paternal grandmother, Husna Khanum, which took place, as he put it, 'when I was quite young'. The dialogues were not literally with his grandmother, he says, but rather with the jinn that had possessed her. The spirit had taken possession of her many years before, during the French occupation of Syria in 1920, when the constantly exploding shells had caused her psychological trauma’s and opened her to jinn possession. The manifestations of the female jinn would come and go, depending on circumstances, over the years. At times, Husna Khanum would seem totally normal; at others, the personality of the jinn would take over. The writer's discussions with his possessed grandmother are recounted in this episode. Music by Obliqka - https://soundcloud.com/obliqka https://paranormalis.com/threads/interview-with-a-syrian-jinn-legends-of-the-fire-spirits.7961/ 

Welcome to the Spirit Box podcast, a podcast exploring folklore, magick and the spirit world. Originally a video of a lecture I did at the world famous Treadwell's bookshop in London, covering my photo documentary work on belief in the Jinn or Djinn in Delhi India. This show explains the origin of the Jinn, their history and who the major figures are in Jinn mythos.   Sources and further reading: 'Legends of the fire spirits' by Robert Lebling. 'One thousand and one nights' by Robert Irwin. For the full video visit this link https://youtu.be/RUv6Mo3jqFI. To see the photographic essay https://www.darraghmasonfield.com/index/G0000VFRBfQCfShI Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka