Spirit Box

Episode 8. For the title of this lecture I’ve used the Islamic term ‘Waswas’ in place of Christian term ‘Obsession’ to describe the experience itself but used the Christian / Western term ‘Demons’ in place of Djinns to illustrate the universal aspect of this experience. Please note this is not to diminish either faith it’s simply that the parallels offer a good reference point for my listeners.  I would ask for the duration of this podcast to park your assumptions and keep an open mind as we explore this subject.   There are some very obvious parallels between Waswas and mental health problems. I'm not suggesting that mental health problems are all Waswas, that is clearly not the case.  I do suggest the sources may not all be internal. Either way if you are experiencing some of the symptoms described in this podcast go and see both a mental health professional and seek spiritual guidance.    Sources: Original video: https://youtu.be/U79YMKWu_3w 'Miracles and the Miraculous in Medieval Germanic and Latin Literature' edited by K.E. Olsen, A. Harbus and T. Hofstra 'Il combattimento spirituale’ Lorenzo Scupoli   'Spiritual Experiences', 'Secrets of Heaven', both by Emanuel Swedenborg, 'The Mirror Of Perfection' by Brother Leo of Assisi.   Links: https://www.islamicboard.com/manners-and-purification-of-the-soul/134304731-overcome-waswas-shaythans-whispers-worship.html https://thejosephplan.org/symptoms-of-demonic-influence-or-attack/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Swedenborg http://www.keyholejourney.com Jerry Marzinsky http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/St.%20Francis%20of%20Assisi%20and%20the%20Devil.html    Music by Obliqka - https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

Episode 7. This podcast is made up of two recordings, the Dark horseman and the Fairy wind.  The Dark horseman covers two stories from Lady Wilde's book 'Ancient legends of Ireland'. These stories feature the common themes of the 'Dark horseman' trickster that leads the protagonist awry and is quite unnecessarily cruel and spiteful on travellers he meets along the road. The stories include the visit to the fairy palace and all its beauty and joy and then things take a darker turn and the human visitor gets an unpleasant supernatural brush with death.  The stories propose that the reason for this unnecessary cruelty is a grudge the fairy folk have against humanity, much like the Djinn. I then breifly discuss the startlingly similar origin myths of the Fairies and Djinn. The Fairy wind refers to a method of travel employed by the fairies and how if one is stuck by the wind, you are not long for this world. The interesting point here is the Jinn are famously associated with wind, being born of the scoring wind of the desert and travelling via it across great distances. Another remarkable similarity between  jinn and fairies. The interviews with Marco Visconti are coming soon to the podcast but are already available on my YouTube channel: Marco's first appearance https://youtu.be/zL5m1txHAAI Marco's second appearance  https://youtu.be/aRUWszmh_GM  Music by Obliqka - https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

Episode 6. The idea that there must be a large mountain of lodestone called Rupes Nigra at the North Pole to account for the earth's magnetism goes back to at least the 13th century, not long after the invention of the compass.  It was held to be surrounded by four islands with inward- flowing rivers, great mountains and inhabited by Pygmies. The source of this mythical polar geography is a lost work by an unknown author of the 14th century. The book was called the 'Inventio fortunata'.  The book is said to be a travelogue written by a 14th century Franciscan friar from England who travelled the North Atlantic region in the early 1360s,  conducting business on behalf of the King Edward III. He described what he found on his first journey to the islands beyond 54 degrees north in a book, "Inventio Fortunata", which he presented to the King. The geography attributed to it described bear remarkable resemblances to Hindu, Islamic and Buddhist cosmologies. The description dominated the depiction of the Polar regions on European maps with up to the 1700s, yet we know almost nothing about the contents of the book save a summary in a second text, the "Itinerarium," written by a Dutch traveller named Jacobus Cnoyen. By the late 16th century, even Cnoyen's text was missing, so most of what we know of the contents of the "Inventio Fortunata", other than its use on maps, is found in a letter from the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to the Anglo-Welsh astrologer and occultist John Dee dated April 20, 1577. Dr John Sources:   Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupes_N..., http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/...   Chet Van Duzer - https://stanford.academia.edu/ChetVan...  'The Mythic Geography of the Northern Polar Regions: Inventio fortunata and Buddhist Cosmology' Music by Obliqka - https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

Episode #5 is A reading from the book 'Living with Djinns - Understanding and Dealing with the Invisible in Cairo' by anthropologist Barbara Drieskens.  This book explores the importance of storytelling in Egyptian society and recounts first-hand experiences of djinns.    A unique ethnographic study, it investigates possession, manifestations, and concepts of person and space.  The djinn is an invisible spirit with a will of its own that may lurk at the bottom of your teacup or seep through your pores to possess you; they  have long been an explanation for illness and misfortune or an excuse for unconventional behavior.   Barbara Drieskens is an urban anthropologist and an assistant visiting professor at the American University of Beirut. https://saqibooks.com/author/drieskens-barbara/ Music by Obliqka - https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

Dr Robert Alcorn  is an Author, a Psychiatrist, a shamanic practitioner and energy healer.  Over this hour we spoke about his journey Psychiatrist Toward Spiritual Healer and Shamanism. The personal experiences that drove this development and the healing techniques from Shamanism that exposed Dr Alcorn to how the spirit world is interacting with the human world on an industrial level.   We discussed the nature of schizophrenia, waswas and the energy drain associated with spirit attachment.   This of course brings us to the Djinn and in Dr Alcorn’s own words the ‘woowoo’ experiences he had with the Jinn during shamanic journeying. But also his clinical experiences of working with clients under attack from the Djinn.  We spoke about what they are? And interestingly how they are ‘not’ demons but in fact elemental beings.   The previously mentioned show on the Catholic view on Spiritual Warfare and degrees of Demonic possession got bumped for this show but will be up soon. Dr Alcorn’s work can be found at his website http://www.dralcorn.us Music by Obliqka - https://soundcloud.com/obliqka 

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