Demonic possession

tiré de Satan's Fake Apocalypse website:
"If, as the result of certain teachings having been imparted to him without the requisite caution [preparation] a man comes into contact with certain destructive beings behind the veil of nature [i.e. the "veil" is what we consider to be the material world], he will become one who VALUES NOTHING IN THE WORLD, and it will soon be apparent that he TAKES ACTUAL PLEASURE IN DESTRUCTION - which need not necessarily be destruction of external things. Many men to whom this has happened have shown that they TAKE PLEASURE IN TORMENTING AND OPPRESSING OTHER SOULS. These are the characteristics which come into evidence. But it can never be said that men who have such traits owing to their alliance with Ahrimanc [Satanic] elementary beings, are invariably egotistic. They need not, and usually are not, egotists. They act out of an urge quite different from that of egotism. THEY ACT OUT OF A LUST FOR DESTRUCTION, and they destroy without the slightest benefit accruing to themselves. The beings into whose sphere a man enters are essentially beings of destruction, and the tempt him, lure him, to destroy." [1]

The region of destructive spirits into which a man may come is disclosed most clearly of all if a soul is observed at the moment of passing through the gate of death. Then these spiritual beings swirl forward in their hosts; nor is this surprising, for they are the spirits of destruction. To work at the destruction of the physical organism is their regular function. [2]

The region of Scylla is that of the spirits who serve Ahriman. WE COME INTO THEIR SPHERE IF WE CULTIVATE, NOT EGOTISM, BUT THE WILL FOR DESTRUCTION. [3]

For example, there actually exists in the world an [occult] Order which leads men to knowledge of hese mysterious beings without any preparation. In all such men, instincts of destruction are aroused, so that this order is actually responsible for sending human beings with destructive instincts out into the world. [4]


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"Jupiter-Man" Satanic Possession

In An Outline of Esoteric Science, Steiner describes a class of Satanic beings which he calls "Jupiter man," which will not reach their "human" stage of evolution until the next, or "Jupiter" incarnation of our solar system. These beings fell behind evolutionarily and had to dwell "on" Jupiter for a while until the Moon was withdrawn from Earth. Now, these beings dwell in Earth's subphysical realm and are controlled by Satan, they intermingle with the will-forces of our etheric body [the lowest level of our nonphysical being], and they watch for weak spots through which to penetrate into and seize control over our minds.
The following excerpts which characterize this class of beings are from a November, 1919 lecture by Steiner, which can be found in The Archangel Michael: His Mission and Ours [available through various on-line bookstores]. The passage from which these excerpts were drawn begins on page 167.
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Something different is happening now. The subhuman beings WHOSE CHIEF CHARACTEISTIC IS AN IMPULSE SIMILAR TO OUR HUMAN WILL [an aspect of our etheric body] are now emerging from below as it were.... These are beings from the realm of Ahriman. p 169

It is a significant finding of spiritual-scientific research, one that needs to be taken very, very seriously, that we have entered the phase of Earth's evolution when those beings will assert themselves who, in the subsequent Jupiter phase of Earth's evolution, will have advanced to human form. p 167
These beings find vulnerable areas to attack in human beings WHEN THE LATTER YIELD TO UNBRIDLED INSTINCTS AND IMPULSES AND FAIL TO STRIVE TO UNDERSTAND THEM CLEARLY. p 174 (emphasis added)

These actually subhuman beings are powerful far beyond their own nature [due to Ahriman's influence].... Their effect is so compelling that those whom they ENSLAVE are unable, in their human weakness, to resist unless they strengthen themselves spiritually. p 170

People DO NOT NOTICE THESE BEINGS ENTERING THEIR SOULS, and even their bodily natures. Once within us, these beings attract to themselves all that has remained Luciferic [i.e. egotistical in the lower sense, and deceitful] and unpermeated by Christ in us. They can successfully seize hold of those elements. p 170 [emphasis added]
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The preceding excerpt differentiates this mode of possession from the mode by which nature-spirits of destruction, or demons, take possession of a soul. Demons seize control by stimulating "sensuous urges," whereas these "Jupiter men," based on my understanding of Steiner's descriptions, seize control over the person's will and thinking more directly, and have a more purely Satanic influence without the intense demonic drive to torment, torture, injure or kill humans or animals directly, although the influence they have on society can be more devastating.
Once a person becomes possessed, they become excellent liars, because the beings which take possession act as conduits for Ahriman, who imparts extreme cleverness (not always apparent), lies and materialistic ideas. (Lucifer warps perception, allowing us to perceive falsely, but Ahriman feeds lies and materialistic ideas to us.) This much is shared with demonic possession.
Not everybody is at risk of being possessed by this class of beings. The following excerpts, which are also from The Archangel Michael, describe the mentality of those who are at risk. There is additional detail in the book.

"The whole way these men [German Generals Tirpitz and Ludendorff] think is exactly the same as the way Caesar thought." [p171] "What matters is that neither carries the true Christian impulse in his heart and soul." [p172 - the Christ impulse is independent of a person's outward religion]

"It is a particularly frightening problem. Spiritual-scientific research reveals that the darkened consciousness of these individuals was like an open door: the will-beings ["Jupiter men"] TOOK POSSESSION OF THE CONSCIOUSNESS of these individuals by means of their dimmed awareness ..., ACTING THROUGH IT out of their own consciousness." p 169 [emphasis added]

By "darkened consciousness," I assume that Steiner was referring to a state of consciousness produced by putting someone who had not absorbed much of the Christ Impulse into a position of making decisions which affect many people. He cited the example of General Ludendorff making a decision, after his troops had taken the town of Liege during WWI, which caused his state of mind to change to that of Caesar, "a darkened consciousness that opens the door for the Ahrimanic world to enter [p 172]." I surmise that Ludendorff yielded to the luciferic influence which contributes to egotism, since that was Caesar's most prominent characteristic.
One reason why those who have absorbed a significant amount of the Christ Impulse are protected from this form of possession is that the Christ Impulse occupies the central region of the soul, corresponding to the heart, and it shields the upper, conscious region of the soul from the influence of the Jupiter beings which approach from below:

"[W]hen the Christ-Impulse takes hold of the middle level of consciousness ... the Ahrimanic forces cannot get through this middle stratum, cannot ... drag down the powers of the intellect. Everything depends on this." Rudolf Steiner, The Archangel Michael, p 173

In order to shed more light on the process of becoming possessed, and on how Lucifer and Ahriman work together, I include a few quotations from Evil, a collection of lectures by Steiner [available through various on-line bookstores]:
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"Ever since the Lemurian epoch ... [luciferic] forces made our inner life the focal point of their attack, by infiltrating our desires, impulses, and passions. There were two consequences of this: we were able to become free ... [from] the sway of divine, spiritual beings.... But ... we also had to accept our potential for evil arising through our passions, emotions and desires." p 100

Lucifer's influence was primarily one towards freedom, enabling [mankind] to overcome a passive submission to random external powers, allowing them ... a capacity for acting independently. p 103

But ... [Lucifer's] influence ... dragged them down ... [and] made their desires and actions, their whole being in fact of a lower nature than it would have been [otherwise]." p103

"How, then, does the luciferic influence act? It penetrates into the astral body and is thus able to work upon all three 'bodies' of the human being - astral, etheric and physical.... In the etheric it brings about IMPULSES OF FALSEHOOD AND LYING." P103, emphasis added

"[T]hrough Lucifer there arises selfishness in the astral body, lying and falsehood in the etheric body, and sickness and death in the physical body." p 104

"The ahrimanic influence is therefore a result of the luciferic: Lucifer takes possession of [i.e. penetrates and influences] us from within, and we are as a result susceptible to attack from without [by beings from Ahriman's subphysical realm]. p 100
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To summarize: it is possible for those who have not absorbed the Christ-Impulse (one aspect of which is agapic love, and which is not exclusive to those who call themselves Christian) to become possessed without striving to do so. All that seems to be required to begin the process in such people is to yield to "unbridled instincts and impulses," by which I assume he was referring to the animal passions and the Luciferic impulses of egotism and falsehood.

"[A] person possessed by Ahriman ... wishes to have as many people under his thumb, and to rule over them - if he is clever enough - by using and manipulating their weaknesses." Rudolf Steiner, Evil, p 84