All around us are Spirits of varying levels of evolution and moral and intellectual development, who regularly influence us through their suggestions and intuitions, both positive or negative (depending on the nature of the Spirit). This is because the material world in which we live operates in continuous interaction with the Spiritual realm that coexists alongside our own, whereby the beings of both worlds are able to influence and effect one one another.

The vehicle by which Spirits influence one another is thought- first, in it's role as the mechanism behind Spirit communication, and second, because the innermost (even subconscious) thoughts of any Spirit determine the nature and quality of its own vibrations (energies) which ultimately effect those around it and likewise attract others of similar character, similar ideas, related emotions, etc. This influence can be positive or negative (depending on the nature of the Spirit who is exercising the influence) and when a negative influence becomes persistent and directed, it takes on the form of what is referred to by Spiritists, as obsession.

 DEFINITION 

Within the context of Spiritism, we use the term obsession, as Suely Caldas Schubert writes, to identify the situation in which "someone, discarnate or incarnate, exercises a negative mental constriction over someone else - for whatever reason- by means of subtle suggestion, inducement, or coercion, with the objective of dominion, a process which is continuously repeated on Earth as well as in the inferior Spiritual planes."

The presence of a spiritual obsession always indicates a moral deficiency, in both the obsessed and the obsessor. Likewise, Spirits who obsess others are always of an inferior nature, as elevated/ superior Spirits are always noble in their sentiments and behaviors. They to try to advise us in our thoughts and actions, but such an influence is always positive, and they never seek to impose their will over our own.

The obsession can be directed from discarnate to discarnate, discarnate to incarnate, incarnate to discarnate, or incarnate to incarnate. When we use or see/hear the term obsession in Spiritist context, however, it most often refers to the case of a discarnate Spirit's harmful influence over an incarnate person. After all, this is probably the easiest and most frequent to occur- due to the advantage that the discarnate Spirit has when he is able to act, invisible to his victim. It is this type of obsession that we will focus our discussion on here.

 MODE OF ACTION AND PROGRESSION 

As you have read in a previous web section (see "We're All Mediums" on menu at left), we are all, whether ostensive mediums or not, open to the influence of the inhabitants of the Spiritual plane, though we vary in our degree of sensitivity. As was also stated previously, the nature of such influence that acts upon us relates directly to our own vibrational qualities, in other worlds the moral nature of our own thoughts, intentions, and actions; this is because of the law of affinity, by which we attract to our side, those who think like - and about- the same things we do, and whose desires and behaviors are similar to our own. The key point here is that, regardless of the cause for the obsessive action of the Spirit upon his victim, it is the vibrational affinity between the two that allows for the Spirit to exercise any degree of thought control and/or vibrational alteration upon the individual.

As mentioned above, the key characteristic of an obsession, as opposed to a passing negative spiritual influence, is the regularity and consistency of the Spirit's maleficent influence over the individual. Obsessing Spirits who act intentionally are extremely persistent and believe, even when encountering an initial or eventual resistance in their victim, that through perseverance, they will eventually achieve and sustain the domination that they desire. Even when unconscious of their negative influence, the affinity and tuning that is established between the obsessed and the obsessor, keep them both bound to one another and subject to the consequences of such.

An obsession can be found in varying degrees of advancement, thereby presenting characteristics that also vary in nature and severity. The "lightest" degree of influence is called a simple obsession, in which the Spirit begins to persuade the thoughts and ideas of his subject through repetitive suggestions that the individual eventually captures and most often confuses as his own. Likewise, through the effect of these altered thoughts and/or through the transfer of fluids (or energies) that the obsessing Spirit impresses upon his subject-via the involvement of his own perispirit with that of the subject- the obsessed individual will experience alterations in his emotional state and/or an aggravation of an already unhealthy emotional imbalance.

If the obsessed person does not recognize and take effective action to change his unhealthy thought patterns and any resulting behaviors, the door that he has opened to the Spirit that targets him will only widen whereby he will further concede to the increasing mental constriction and fluidic involvement exercised by the Spirit. An additional consequence is that the spiritual imbalance and emotional disturbance can reflect in the physical condition of the individual, resulting in some kind of physical illness or disturbance. With time (and with no action taken to stop it) the obsession will naturally progress, allowing the Spirit, at each step, a greater degree of control. Eventually, the process can reach the more severe stages of subjugation (sometimes referred to by others as possession)- a constriction of great intensity that blocks the will of the victim who then acts in function of the will of his oppressor - and culminate in an absolute dependence of the victim on the Spirit(s) that subjugate him, and in which the obsessor dominates even the physical body of his subject (without the incarnate spirit of the person actually completely ever leaving the body, as the latter only occurs with death).

Kardec, Allan. "Obsession." The Mediums' Book. 2nd ed (1st edition FEB). Trans. Anna Blackwell (translated 1876). Ed. Livraria Espírita Allan Kardec. Brasilia-DF, Brazil:  Federação Espírita Brasileira [Brazilian Spiritist Federation}. 1986. 277-281.

Kardec, Allan.  The Gospel  Explained By The Spiritist Doctrine.  Trans. Allan Kardec Educational Society (translated from 3rd edition in French). Philadelphia, PA. Allan Kardec Educational Society. 2000. 302-303.

Schubert, Suely Caldas.  Obsessão e Desobsessão [Obsession and Disobsession]. 14 ed. Rio de Janeiro- RJ, Brazil. 2000. 31-63, 67-77.

De Miranda, Manoel Philomeno [Spirit Author], Franco, Divaldo P. [Medium]. Obsession. (translation of "Grilhoes Partidos). Trans. Donato Ely J. and Miranda, Herminio C. Salvador, Ba, Brazil. Centro Espirita "Caminho da Redenção". 1980. 13-21.

Peralva, Martins. "Obsessoes" (Obsessions). Estudando A Mediunidade [Studying Mediumship]. Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil: Federação Espírita Brasileira [Brazilian Spiritist Federation]. 1998 (20th ed). 65-71.

Systematized Study published by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation. Program V, Unit 8, Subunit 1 Concept, Causes and Degrees of Obsession. Published 1996, Brasilia (DF).