Witchcraft and possession

For thousands of year, all forms of madness, of grossly abnormal behavior and sometimes, of physical disease have been explained in terms of spirit possession. The spirit might be a good, a neutral or an evil one.

The numbers of gods, spirits or devils, which have been believed to seize control of human personalities, were legion. What is particularly interesting about so many accounts of possession and exorcism is their marked similarity to modern psychiatric cases.

The term ”possessed” is double-edged in his definition and illustrates the confusion that exists on the whole subject. Literally, the root of the word “possessed” implies that person is actually being inhabited by an alien spirit “sitting within” it, as distinct from “obsessed” which linguistic roots means “sitting by”.

As witches were commonly being considered by the devil in the sense of owned by him and also has sexual intercourses either with him or “possessing” demons, the assertion that one was “possessed” applies to both witches and their victims.

 However, St Thomas Aquinas argued that possession when it occurs must be due to a willing surrender on the part of the man or the woman because of the opacity of the human soul to devilish scrutiny. 

Such views excluded that men could be bewitched against their will and identify them during the witch-craze as guilty, not victims.