Yes, dear readers, I’ve been gone a while. Life has had lots of changes. Not going into details here, because for once, this is not a post about myself, it’s about something I believe in. I’m talking about possession.

Now, I’ve detailed my experiences with the supernatural, but this post isn’t about that, mostly. Honestly, not sure what it’ll end up being about. But let me explain a couple things first.

I believe in possession, but not so much as the movies would have you see it. I don’t believe in a literal Devil. I’ve seen too much horror perpetrated by humans to think there needs to be a force of evil. Lack of empathy, a need to belong and base cruelty are enough to explain most of the evil in this world.

I believe there are forces beyond this world, but to assign them human values is like an ant trying to understand my PTSD. And I’ve encountered these forces. And the encounters have been a mixed bag, some good, and some bad. But the one that I was thinking of tonight happened at a concert, Bug shock to those who know me.

I was covering a band from Haiti named Boukman Eksperyans. And I can’t recommend them enough if you like world or music from the Carribean. It wasa fun show, lots of dancing and crowd getting into it, when I noticed something strange.

In the middle of the crowd, a space had cleared out for people dancing, ANd someone was waving their hands and doing strange gestures. And another few were standing in place but shaking. One woman took a glass from a nearby table and started chewing on it . I was shocked, her eyes were wide open, but blank.

Talking to fnas of the band after the show, the Haitian fans seemed calm about it. Appatrently the band mixed rhythms and lyrics from traditional Vodou and was known to have people go into trances at their show.

So does that mean I believe in the spirits of Vodou? I don’t think so, but after that, I’m willing to keep an open mind. And I have my own theory.

I think there’s a collective energy in the world. Call it the force, auras, whatever. I think it manifests in different ways depending on how you acces it. I think people used to have a better handle on it, and that it’s something we’ve lost contact with, at least a lot of us.

The scientist Rupert Sheldrake talks about morphic fields, holographic energy that when a life is created, it’s accessed to create that life. If you make a hologram, and cut off a piece of it, it makes a smaller version of the hologram. It’s certainly a more interesting idea than DNA, which would reduce us all to a bunch of code imprinted onto carbon.

No, I know there’s stuff out there science can’t explain. That woman on the dance floor chewing glass is one of them. Science will make noise about adrenaline and hormones, while that won’t explain her lack of damage to her mouth. I think ideas like collective energy scares the crap out of those interested in controlling other humans. Becuase it disabuses their idea that they’re in control.

I’ve come close to what I think is possession,. Many nights out dancing, lost in the music, I’ve lost myself to the music and lights entirely. And if that’s not possession, I don’t know what is. People report about being lost to themselves in music, dance, books,, sex, BDSM, all sorts of things. Why are we not doing things to improve those experiences and talk about them, instead of dismissing them into the realm of logic and numbers.

I don’t have the answers. All I know is there are moments when I’m into things so much, it’s like I’m just a passenger in my own body. And yeah, that cna be scary, but lots of times, it’s exhilarating, and feels great. So let the music and spirits take control. It could be fun. Good night.