Dybbuk and Maggid: Two Cultural Patterns of Altered Consciousness in Judaism Author(s): Yoram Bilu Source: AJS Review,

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DYBBUKAND MAGGID: TWOCULTURAL PATTERNED OF ALTERED CONSCIOUSNESS IN JUDAISM

by
YORAM BILU Introduction werereluctant to employthe analytic Formanyyearsscholarsof Judaism for studying Jewishculture. Onereasonforthis tools distilledin anthropology of a small-scale was thatthe classicalethnographic reluctance field,consisting did not appear to the study tribalsociety with no writtentradition, pertinent of Judaism.In addition,the notion of the text-informed"greattradition" studies appeared researchimplicit in most anthropological of comparative dubiousto many scholarsof Judaism,who were alarmedby the sweeping, evidentin the treatment unfounded of biblical comparisons methodologically such of as material modem Robertson Smithand precursors by anthropology This methodological consideration was augmented Frazer.' by an emotional to equatethe"primitive" societies religioussystemsof "savage" unwillingness to the oldestmonotheistic with conceptsandritualspertaining religion.2
1. J. G. Frazer,Folklore in the Old Testament (London:Macmillan, 1919); William RobertsonSmith, Lectureson the Religion of the Semites (1889; reprinted., New York: Meridian Books, 1927). 2. HowardEilberg-Schwartz, The Savage in Judaism(Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press, 1990); Harvey E. Goldberg,ed., Judaism Viewed from Withinand from Without: Perspectives(Albany:State Universityof New York Press), 1987); idem, Anthropological andthe Studyof Traditional JewishSociety," AJSReview15 (1990)): 1-22. "Anthropology

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Over the years a more benign ambiancefor cooperationand mutual enrichment has been createdby significant in bothdisciplines. developments In anthropology, the comparative of evolutionists melange nineteenth-century in boundedculturalsettings.Sorting was refinedby in-depthinvestigations out the similaritiesand differencesbetween"others" and "us"remained the tacitagendaof most (thoughdefinitely not all) anthropological even research, when it focused, as it usually did, on one particular culturalenvironment. venture has becomemorecontextualized But this comparative anddefensible In addition,the settings studied,which in the formative methodologically. fieldworkwere limitedto remote,preliterate societies, yearsof ethnographic to includecivilizations were gradually broadened traditions," boasting"great like BuddhismandIslam. The "text-context" division that separated from most huanthropology manisticdisciplines,includingJudaicstudies,came to be blurred as leading andguiding anthropologists beganto turnto these disciplinesfor inspiration models. While the emphasison contextremainedthe trademark of modem of as the culture text ethnography, metaphor gained prominencein the of the The of 1970s. practice subsumingthe ethnographic anthropology like titles under and "in"translating," enterprise "reading," "deciphering," and cultural "dramas" "scripts,""narratives," terpreting" lucidly conveys this textual-hermeneutic turn.3The new paradigmcontestedthe formerly in anthropology mechanisticand organismic and made dominant metaphors its discoursemorecongenialto scholarsof Judaicstudies. thresholdshas been noted in Judaic A similarloweringof disciplinary studies in the growingreadinessof scholarsto move from text to context. One recent example is the attemptby scholars of Jewish mysticism to research the dominant paradigm philological-historical by analyzing augment The and the phenomenological behaviorallayers of mysticalphenomena.4 to this line of researchby examiningthe presentessay seeks to contribute andmaggidthrough of dybbuk(dibbuq) analyticlenses mysticalphenomena in psychologicalanthropology. cultivated
3. The most well known exponent of the culture-as-text paradigm is Clifford Geertz. See his now classic collection of essays, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973); see also Goldberg, "Anthropology and the Study of Traditional Jewish Society," p. 5. 4. Moshe Idel, Kabbalah: New Perspectives (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988); Yehuda Liebes, "New Directions in the Study of Kabbalah," Pe'amim 50 (1992): 150-170 (Heb.).

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As an interdisciplinary is realm,the goal of psychologicalanthropology to explorethe relationship betweenindividualand sociocultural phenomena by makingsystematicuse of psychologicalconceptsandmethods.5 Thus,the interface betweencollectiverepresentations and (e.g., ideologies,discourses, and mental and schemas, symbols) representations (e.g., personal dispositions, is a concern to On the individual desires) major psychological anthropology.6 seek to elucidatethe processesthrough level, psychologicalanthropologists whichcultural evaluated anddifferentially encoded. messagesaresubjectively On the collective level, they seek to discernconsistent and groupdifferences to account for their origins, but at the same time they are also interested in delineatingthe psychologicaland culturaluniversalsthat underliethese differences. This dual perspective,seeking to illuminategroup differencesagainst the backdropof human universals,is characteristic of the present study. the Jewish-specificcontents of the dybbukand Withoutunderestimating maggid phenomena,my aim is to ponderthem in the wider comparative context of alteredconsciousness,as representing the two majorcategories to articulate trance employedcross-culturally experiences. Cultural PatternsofAlteredConsciousness Alteredstatesof consciousness area natural fieldof studyforpsychological anthropologists. froma panhuman matrix, Emerging psychophysiological in manifest themselves a multitude of cultural forms and contexts. they In contrastwith the aura of psychopathology associatedwith them in the in most societies altered states of consciousness appearas socially West,7
5. Philip K. Bock, Continuities in Psychological Anthropology (San Francisco: Freeman,

& Winston, 1980);ErikaBourguignon, Holt,Rinehart Psychological (New York: Anthropology 1979).

6. Roy D'Andrade and Claudia Strauss, eds., Human Motives and Cultural Models (Cam-

Medusas Hair (Chicago: bridge:Cambridge UniversityPress, 1992);Gananath Obeyesekere, and Mental Universityof ChicagoPress, 1980); MelfordE. Spiro,CollectiveRepresentation in Religious MeaningSystems,"in Cultureand HumanNature,ed. L. L. Representations Kilborne LangnessandBenjamin (Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress,1985),pp. 161-184. 7. John Leavitt,"Are Tranceand PossessionDisorders?" Transcultural PsychiatricResearchReview30 (1993):51-57; ColleanA. Ward, "TheCross-Cultural Studyof AlteredStates
of Consciousness and Mental Health," in Altered States of Consciousness and Mental Health,

ed. ColleanA. Ward (London:Sage Publications, 1989),pp. 15-35.

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endorsedand rituallyelaborate phenomenaservingimportant religiousand two principal types Accordingto ErikaBourguignon, therapeutic functions.8 models for trance of indigenous categories are employed as explanatory acrossthe globe.' One explanatory "possession type, designated phenomena altered states of consciousnessto possession by spirit attributes trance," trance,"views them as resulting entities, while the other, "nonpossession with the This encounter froman encounter may occurby sendingone's spirit. It is againstthis soul on a spiritvoyage orby havingthe spiritscometo visit.10 that of alteredstatesof consciousnessproposedby Bourguignon bifurcation of dybbukand maggid.But before I would like to evaluatethe phenomena detailingthe featuresof these Jewish variantsof alteredconsciousness,a tranceis in order. closer look at possessiontranceandnonpossession It would be erroneousto view the two forms of trancemerely as explanatorymodels imposing divergenttheories of causationon a common idioms through core of experiencesand behaviors.Rather, they are cultural so as to form areconstructed andbehaviors arearticulated whichexperiences the terms In this sense, "possession configurations." divergent culturally are somewhat as they imply trance" and"nonpossession trance" unfortunate, and behavior("trance"). between native theory("possession") a separation to subsume the In addition,a critiquemay be launched against very attempt two under of consciousness of altered states the dazzlingdiversity general categories.While possession tranceand nonpossessiontrancetake note of intracultural interpretivesystems of altered states of consciousness,they endeavorto distill regulariare also the end-productof a cross-cultural ties and uniformitiesfrom highly contextualized, culturallyheterogeneous
phenomena.12

and Social Change 8. ErikaBourguignon, ed., Religion,AlteredStatesof Consciousness, (Columbus:Ohio State University Press, 1973); idem, Possession (CortaMadera,Calif.: & Sharp,1976). Chandler 9. Bourguignon, ed., Psychological p. 243. Anthropology, See Luc De Heusch, 10. This division is roughlyparallelto possessionand shamanism. Structures Her?SocietyandSymbolic Press,1981), University (London: Cambridge Marry Why pp. 151-164. to Case Studiesin SpiritPossession, ed. Vincent introduction 11. VincentCrapanzano, York: JohnWiley, 1977),pp. 1-40. Vivian Garrison and (New Crapanzano of on the Conceptualization 12. MichaelLambek,"FromDisease to Discourse:Remarks AlteredStatesof Consciousness, in Ward, and SpiritPossession," Trance pp. 36-61.

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or generalizations, the Indeed,as broadapproximations lumpingtogether richarray of trance andnonpossesenormously phenomena, possessiontrance sion trancecannotserve as preciseconceptual tools. Followingthe two-path entails schemesuggestedby Bourguignon someoversimplification, inevitably of trance and the the of hybrid forms. phenomena given malleability possibility in to the Jewish variants Therefore, applyingBourguignon's categorization of alteredconsciousness,I would like to use it as a heuristicdevice in the Even if tranceexperiencesare not so context of a preliminary exploration. nature of theJewishphenomena I believethatthe divergent under categorical, the understood the of can better model. be prism through two-path study andnonpossession to notethatbothpossessiontrance It is important trance in with the or accord moral be qualities may positively negativelydefined, ascribed to the spirit." "Positive"cases, steeped in ritual and religious with the spiritis believed symbolism,are willfully sought,as the encounter to the well-being of the tranceror of othersin his environs. to contribute emergingformsof alteredstatesof consciousness spontaneously "Negative," are often evaluatedas an affliction,and in consequencestrictmeasuresare trancerfromthe spirit(e.g., exorcism).In takento disengagethe tormented fordomesticating avenuesareavailable some societies,wherespecialcultural states be into the engaging spirit, involuntarydisruptive may transformed behavior. It should or otherreligiouslybaseddissociative ecstatic,divinatory, underdiscussion be notedalso thatthetwo cultural categories maynotinvolve alteredconsciousnessat all. Possession,for example,may be used to explain a plethoraof humanconditions,from chronicillness to artisticinspiration, shift in consciousness. which do not necessarilyentaila discernible While possession tranceand nonpossessiontrancecan be found in the same society, as the case underdiscussionwill show, they seem to be in a of structural betweenpossesinversion.'4 Indeed,the contrasts relationship sion tranceand nonpossessiontrancein termsof geographical distribution, in societal and ecological variables,morphology(continuity/discontinuity modesof interaction, consciousness), gender,andsymbolismseemto fashion theminto sharplydistincttypes of experiences. in North nonpossessiontrance has been predominant Geographically, with and South America,while possession trance is positively correlated
13. I. M. Lewis, EcstaticReligion:Anthropological Studyof Spiritand Shamanism (Baltimore:Penguin,1971). 14. See De Heusch,Why MarryHer,p. 152.

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basin.Thisdifferential Africaandthe Mediterranean distribution sub-Saharan withtwo otherrelated variables. Possession trance is moretypical is associated for example, of societieswith higherlevels of societalcomplexity(indicated, and subsistence and class stratification jurisdictional hierarchy) economy by and animalhusbandry), while nonposthroughagriculture (food production in simplerandmoreegalitarian societiesof sessiontranceis overrepresented How should these correlations be accounted for?The and gatherers. hunters andsocietalcomplexity betweenpossessiontrance seems positiveassociation stratified to be mediatedby social rigidity.In hierarchical, societies,where are rigidlydelineated, social boundaries possessiontranceprovidessocially a golden opportunity to assume with women, individuals, mostly deprived under the the spirit'sidentityand temporarily escape, spirit'sauspices,the confines of their social roles.'"Following various cross-cultural studies,16 Bourguignon suggests that the associationbetween huntingand gathering trancemay be mediated toward andnonpossession by socialization pressures and individual achievement self-reliance,independence, typicalof societies ways in which the relying on this mode of subsistence.The particular encounterwith the spirit is pursuedand realized,especially in the Native Americanguardianspiritcomplex, seem to directlyreflectthese culturally of a lifelong traits.At the sametime, the acquisition commended personality in these the stress societies from for arising spiritualally may compensate in unsatisfieddependencylongings in childhood.Men's predominance the with the factthatmost tranceis congruent of nonpossession cultural patterns areexertedon them.In the towardself-reliance of the socialization pressures for theirsubsistence samevein, it was foundthatsocietiesheavilydependent are on hunting,gathering,and fishing, where pressuresfor independence to and control dreams seek to use more are supernatural likely powers."7 great, trancestates,as dreamsarequiteakinto nonpossession Phenomenologically, with a stronghallucinatory bothareprivate,internal component. experiences
of PossessionTrancein Sub-Saharan "SocietalCorrelates 15. LeoraGreenbaum, Africa," andSocial Change, Statesof Consciousness, in Bourguignon, pp. 39-57. Also Religion,Altered see Lewis, EcstaticReligion. K. Bacon,"Religion of ChildTraining 16. Herbert BarryIII,IrvineL. Child,andMargaret 61 (1959):51-63; GuyE. Swanson,"The to Subsistence Anthropologist Economy,"American in SimplerSocieties," Enthnology Searchfor a Guardian Spirit:A Processof Empowerment 12 (1973):359-378. in PsychologicalAnthroStudiesof Dreams," 17. Roy G. D'Andrade, "Anthropological Ill.: K. Hsu L. Francis ed. 296-332. Dorsey, 1961), pp. (Homewood, pology,

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andgathering in to hunting Incontrast societies,thesocialization pressures on agriculture and food production) societies (dependent high-accumulation andnurturance. Thesepersonalaretoward obedience,reliability, compliance, in the socialization of girls.It is not more are attributes emphasized strongly ity in are that women then, overrepresented possessiontrance,where surprising, to be betweenthe invadingspiritand the possessedappears the relationship In addition, the penetration of the spirit by these attributes. stronglyinformed residencethere,stronglyresonant with into the host'sbody andits temporary female-specificmodes of experience(female sexuality,pregnancy),make of female conducive to the articulation the possession idiom particularly As a form of encounterwith the spirit, nonpossessiontrance concerns.'" essentially is an interactionbased on visual and auditoryexperiences.In in whichthe trancer becomesthe contrast, possessiontranceis a performance andin orderto tranceis a privateexperience, nonpossession spirit.Typically, it hasto be remembered. Possession resource cultural becomea communicable carried out in frontof an audience,can be culturally trance,as a performance registeredand socially employedwithoutthe recollectionof the individual trancer.Accordingly,episodes of possession tranceare typically followed by amnesia.Nonpossessiontranceis likely to be inducedby fasting(which sensory hypoglycemiaand dehydration), producesdissociation-facilitating while and mortification, possessiontranceis generallyinduced deprivation, singing,dancing,and crowdcontagion.In termsof Ludwig's by drumming, it seemsthatnonpossession tranceis typologyof meansof tranceinduction,19 while andmotoractivity, of sensorystimulation with the reduction associated of involves the increase trance stimulation, sensory generally possession motoractivity,and emotionalarousal. Since nonpossessiontranceis basicallyan intrapsychic experience,the with Yet his interaction the spiritis often appears trancer physicallypassive. with that he the fact achievesmastery repletewith active imagerycongruent Incontrast, thephysicallyactive withoutloosinghis identityandindividuality. possessiontrancerremainspsychologicallypassive, since, in the processof obtainingthe gift of the spirit(in positive possessiontrance),her own self
18. YoramBilu, "The Tamingof the Deviantsand Beyond:A Psychocultural Analysis of DybbukPossessionand Exorcismin Judaism," Psychoanalytic Studyof Society 11(1985): 1-32. in Altered Statesof Consciousness," Statesof Conscious19. ArnoldM. Ludwig,"Altered ness, ed. CharlesT. Tart(New York:AnchorBooks, 1972),pp. 11-24.

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eradicated. andidentityare temporarily Theseoppositepatterns to be appear of possessiontranceandnonpossession linkedwith the sex-typeddistribution trance. Having discussedthe majordifferencesbetweenpossessiontranceand nonpossessiontrance,20we turn now to the Jewish variantsof the altered statesof consciousnessunderdiscussion.

Dybbukand Maggidin Judaism Thetermdybbuk was usedin Jewishmysticalcirclesto designate (dibbuq) a spiritof a deadperson,a notorious sinnerin his lifetime,thattooktemporary herbody.21The possessionof a humanbeing,usuallya female,by inhabiting his presenceinsidethe victimin variousways.Afterstriking spiritannounced her down and committingher to violent convulsions,the spirit's strange voice couldbe heardfromthe mouthof the possessed.His lewd andimmoral was indicatedby the forbiddenacts of libidinal,aggressive,and character behaviorthatthe possessedwas compelledto commit. religiouslysubversive thatdybbuk Giventhis repugnant possessionwas display,it is not surprising always conceived as an afflictionor an illness and the possessingagent as intruder thathad to be expelled.The uniquelyJewish, a foreign,dangerous natureof the dybbukwas prominently culture-bound expressedin the public exorcisticritual.The exorcist was always a reveredrabbiwho confronted used in a fixed, graded measures the spiritwith variousreligiouslyinformed in the synagogueand involvedthe order.Oftenthe exorcismwas performed of Jewishsacredparaphernalia activeemployment by the congregants. sequenceof steps of the ritual,the spirit Duringthe highly structured was compelledto identifyhimself, to confess his transgressions duringhis lifetime and disclose the heavenly penaltyinflictedon him in retribution, to give his consentto leave through to specify his conditionsfor departure, a minororgan (usuallyone of the big toes), and then to departfor good.22
20. See Bourguignon,Psychological pp. 233-269. Anthropology, the spiritsbelongedto malesinners,I use masculine 21. Sincewith only a few exceptions, areusedto describe the possessed,given the in discussingthem.Feminine pronouns pronouns of femalesin this group. predominance 22. See Bilu, "Tamingof the Deviants,"pp. 16-20; GedalyahNigal, DybbukTales in RubinMass, 1983)(Heb.). JewishLiterature (Jerusalem:

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Judgingfrom the reportedcases, successfulexpulsionof the spiritwas the outcomeof most exorcisticrituals. Documentedcases of dybbukpossessionappearin Jewishsourcesfrom the mid-sixteenth centuryto the firstdecadesof the twentiethcentury. Only firstSephardic oriented communities, (in the Mediterranean basin) mystically and then also Ashkenazi(in HasidicEasternEurope),were exposed to the atteststo the strong mystical phenomenon,and this selective distribution The majorkabbalistic doctrineunderlying basis of the dybbukphenomenon. of souls, which dybbukpossessionwas that of gilgul, or the transmigration centurythe doctrineof emergedin the twelfthcentury.In the late thirteenth was expandedto include the entry of a spirit into a living transmigration he ibbur("impregnation"), after was born.This addition,designated person of the for the appearance dybbukpossession. Specifically,it way paved for were spiritsof the wicked who, in retribution contendedthat dybbukim their mortal sins, were doomed to remain in limbo, exposed to ruthless withouteven being allowedto enterhell, wheretheirsins could persecution, of humansgave these tormented be eventuallyrepented.The inhabitation an shelter as well as a (realizedthroughthe opportunity spirits temporary of the exorcist)to gain access to the worldof the dead.23 intercession of the dybbukin the firsthalf of the twentieth The disappearance century of the Jewishtraditional centersin relatedto the disintegration was apparently and physical emigration, Europeand the MiddleEast due to modernization, extermination. In Jewish mysticism the term maggid was used to indicatea celestial entity, usually an angel, who delivered mystical secrets to a kabbalist. Unlike the relativeuniformityof dybbukpossession episodes,the ways in which maggidimrevealedthemselvesto mystics were quitevaried.Dreams butno less commonwere a fertilegroundformaggidicvisitations, constituted in which the kabbalistsaw the heavenlymessengeror wakeful apparitions heardhis voice, or both.Automatic speechand,to a lesserdegree,automatic writingwere also meansof maggidicrevelation. The maggidphenomenon could be seen as one chapterin a long-lasting chain of propheticrevelationsin Judaismwhich were relatedto diverse celestialpowers,fromRu'ahHa-Qodeshandthe heavenlyvoice (bat-qol)to revelationsof Metatron.24 Elijahthe Prophetand the archangel Historically,
23. Gershom Judaica(1971),vol. 7, cols. 573-577. Scholem,s.v. "Gilgul,"Encyclopaedia 24. JosephDan, s.v. "Maggid," Judaica(1971), vol. 11, cols. 699-701. Encyclopaedia

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maggidimin mysticalcircles spanneda two-hundred-year period,fromthe to sixteenth the eighteenthcentury.Subsequently, the termcame to be used or preachers, in Hasidic mainly as a designationfor sermonists particularly communities,a meaning of maggid that also dated back to the sixteenth In this essay,however,the nonrevelatory of maggidwill century. designation not be discussed,even thoughit is unlikelythatthe two meaningsof the term were entirelyunrelated. The figureof the maggidas an angelicmessengerwas apparently crystallizedin the firstdecadesof the sixteenthcenturyin the circleof kabbalists in Salonica.25Fromhim maggidicrevelations aroundRabbiJosephTaytazak spreadto Safed in the Galilee,which at thattime was emergingas a world centerof Jewishmysticism.Some of the most renowned mysticsof the era, Rabbi Solomon Alkabets,Rabbi Moses Cordovero,and even Rabbi Isaac LuriaAshkenazi,the prominent founderof the Lurianic school of Kabbalah, areknownto have hadmaggidim,butthe nature of theirrevelations remains unknown. virtually The most famous maggid of sixteenth-century Safed, and perhapsof all times, was that of Rabbi Joseph Karo, one of the greatestfigures of rabbinicJudaismand the authorof ShulhanArukh.26A talmudistby day and a kabbalist the by night,Karoleft a diary,MaggidMesharim, recording from his who was none other than the Shekhina heavenlymentor, messages embodied in the anthropomorphized figure of the Mishnah.Aside from of the Torahand mystical secrets,these messages included interpretations which moved from agonizing chastisementand personalcommunications harshdemands for self-mortification to aggrandizing praisesandpromisesof the greatestachievements. Throughoutthe first half of the seventeenthcentury,maggidim kept to mysticallyorientedrabbisin Italy and Poland,but the number appearing with the rise of the messianic movementof SabbataiSevi around grew thathe stirred.Manyof and the exuberant 1665--66, hopes for redemption of Nathan Gaza,the primemoverof the the Sabbatean including "prophets,"
25. Accordingto various sources from the seventeenth century,Sefer ha-Meshiv("The of maggidicrevelations a famousmysticalcompilation Book of the Responding[Entity]"), in See Moshe Idel, "Inquiries and the techniquesto obtainthem, was writtenby Taytazak. the Doctrineof Sefer ha-Meshiv," Sefunot 17 (1983): 185-266 (Heb.); GershomScholem, Kabbalah(Jerusalem: Keter,1974),p. 67. JewishPubli26. R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, JosephKaro:Lawyerand Mystic(Philadelphia: cationSociety,1977).

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movement,claimedto have had maggidicrevelations.Maggidimplayed an role in Sabbatean Sevi. Among groupsafterthe deathof Sabbatai important otherthings,they servedto reconcilethe shockedbelieversto theirMessiah's andexile, andthento his conversionto Islamfollowedby his imprisonment A death. of in particularly busy period maggidicactivityoccurred premature in Another the religiousacademyof RabbiAvraham Sabbatean Revigo Italy. circle where maggidic revelationswere prominentwas that of Avraham Kardozoin Turkey.27 The maggidicepochwas sealedin the firsthalf of the eighteenth century with the mystical revelationsof Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzattoin Padua, Italy.The secretMessianicgroupthatformedaroundthis brilliantkabbalist fromthe revelations of Luzzatto's andwriterreceivedits inspiration maggid. climate in the the social and era was However, religious post-Sabbatean for maggidim.Luzzatto's messianicfervorwas viewed by very inauspicious as nurtured sources.He by hereticalSabbatean many of his contemporaries authorities was persecutedand excommunicated and was by the rabbinical forcedto forsakehis mysticalstudies,not to mentionhis involvementwith his maggid.28 Since Luzzatto's revelations time, the steadyflow of prophetic and other oriented from Hasidic circles not has included mystically reported of apparitions maggidim.

Patterned andMaggidas Culturally AlteredStatesof Consciousness Dybbuk betweendybbukandmaggidonly seem to accenThe obvious contrasts tuatetheiraffinityandcommontemplate.They emerged---or moreprecisely, appearedin written sources--at the same time and in the same area: in the first half of the sixteenthcenturyin the Sephardic communitiesof the Mediterranean basin.Moreover, the two phenomena peculiarly convergedin the life historiesof some prominent of that era. Rabbi Thus, mystics Joseph Karo, whose heavenly mentorwas the most well known in the history of maggidim,was recently identifiedas the exorcist in the first documented
27. GershomScholem,SabbataiSevi (Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress, 1973), pp. 645-647. 28. Meir Benayahu,"The Maggid of R. Moses Hayyim Luzzatto," Sefunot5 (1961); 297-336 (Heb.).

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case of dybbukexpulsion,which took place in Safed in 1545.29In the same vein, RabbiShlomoAlkabets,Karo'sclose friend,who in a detailedepistle of the latter'smaggid,andwho was the impressivemanifestations described knownto have a maggidof his own,30was also the firstwitnessto sign one It is interesting to of the earliestreportsof dybbukexorcism,dated 1571.31 first of note that the term dybbukwas employedin the context a specific It was RabbiJacob revelations. case of controversial maggid-likeprophetic movement,who Emden, one of the fiercest opponentsof the Sabbatean Zaddokof Grodno, as "anignorant rudeman a Sabbatean described prophet, from the was some in all who dybbuk probability possessedby foreign .. Another Sabbatean friends."32 prophet, beings,like all his deranged [demonic] Sevi andRabbi who claimedto have enlistedSabbatai RabbiLeib Prossnitz, after to was his as Isaac Luria compelled admit, having been maggidim, thatthe sourceof his prophecies authorities, by the rabbinical interrogated was none other than a dybbukin the guise of dog.33 Thus, it appearsthat at a time of dispute, the boundariesbetween these seemingly contrasting phenomenacould become blurred.Maggidicrevelationsand prophecies,a source of highly cherishedmystical secrets and spiritualinsights for the believer,could easily be defamedby opponentsand relabeledas negative possessionby a demonor a dybbuk. Scholarsof Jewish mysticism could not fail to notice the parallelism betweendybbukand maggid. Scholem,who was not fond of psychological statedthat: nevertheless analysisof mysticalphenomena, of the wereproducts Froma psychological pointof view,thesemaggidim level of the on the conscious level of the psyche,crystallizing unconscious orthesoulsof entities. intopsychic minds kabbalists' holyangels Maggidim, hismouth ... often orthrough either to thekabbalist saints, speaking departed orevilsouls in thedibbuks, demons side" on the"other hadtheir counterparts
in Periodto EarlyHasidism," 29. MosheIdel, "JewishMagicfromthe EarlyRenaissance and Paul V. M. Flesher Religion,Science, and Magic, ed. JacobNeusner,ErnestS. Frerichs, OxfordUniversity Press, 1989),p. 108. (New York: 30. Werblowsky, JosephKaro,pp. 19-21. 31. Nigal, DybbukTales,p. 65. 32. GershomScholem,Researchesin Sabbateanism (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 1991), p. 575 (Heb.). Yesod of theBook Tsaddik Olam-The Sabbatean 33. Yehuda Prophet Liebes,"TheAuthor RabbiLeibProssnitz,"Da 'at2-3 (1978-79): 159-174 (Heb.)

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thatpossessed some unhappyor mentallysick creature.... Psychologically, the twophenomenahave commonroots.34

Idel has emphasizedthe historicalconcurrence of dybbukand maggid as well as the "invertedaffinity"between them."3 Some of the contrasts he highlightedwill be discussed below. As statedbefore, I would like to make this invertedaffinitymeaningful by anchoring dybbukand maggidin of worldwide alteredstates typification culturally patterned Bourguignon's that The textual evidence of consciousness. indicating these two phenomena on dybbuk indeedinvolveddissociationis ample.The reports possessionand exorcism leave little doubt as to the profoundshifts in consciousnessthat the possessed underwentonce the spirit invadedher body. No less abrupt and dramaticwas the returnto normalconsciousnessupon the exit of the and exist, behavioral spirit.Wheredetailedreportsof maggidicapparitions or manifestations of trance dissociation can be easily recognized phenomenal duringthe revelatoryperiod. Yet there is room to assume that not all the underdybbukandmaggidcan be definedas alteredstatesof cases subsumed consciousness. In linking the two phenomenato Bourguignon's the assobifurcation, ciation of the dybbukwith possession trance appearsself-evidenton all relevant dimensions. The very essence of the dybbukphenomenonwas groundedin the idiom of possession, with the mysticaldoctrinesof gilgul models"for shapingthe behaviorof the possessed in and ibburas "natural manner.As a negativepossession forcedon the victim a taken-for-granted and deemed an afflictionor an illness, it did not include religious rituals for summoningthe spirits,so centralin positive possession. Ritualscame to the fore in the exorcisticphase, which was designedto put an end to the possession episode. As in otherculturalformsof possessiontrance,the her spirit took absolute control of the victim by temporarily obliterating In most of the the cases individual dissociative was followed identity. episode on the caseswereneverprovided by amnesia,andas a resultthe reports by the victims themselves.The public character of dybbukpossession,particularly salient in the dramaticexorcistic ritual, providedmany eye-witnesses to document the cases.
34. Scholem,SabbataiSevi,p. 82. The italicizedfinalsentenceof the quotedpassagedoes not appearin the English version of Scholem'sbook and was translated from the Hebrew original. 35. Idel,"JewishMagic,"pp. 107-108.

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The near-universal of females in possession trance is preponderance echoed in the case of the dybbuk,as the ratio of females to males among 2:1. One of the distinctivefeaturesof the possessed was approximately the male possessed was their significantlyyounger age. In fact, most of the possessed males were childrenand adolescents.Like otherpossession an inherent tensionbetweenactive trancecases, dybbuk possessionexhibited andaggressivebehaviors, andpassive repletewith hypermotor performance, and controlvisimageryemergingfrom the absoluteloss of individuality A-visthe spirit. Since dybbukpossession has never been transformed into a positive, willfully sought state, it altogetherlacked inductionrituals.Yet the spontaneously emergingfactorsunderlyingthe possession attackscan or arousal.In terms of Ludwig's be identifiedas emotionalintensification these factorsclearly belong to the classificationof inductiontechniques,36 increase,so typicalof possessiontrancestates. categoryof stimulation Whereasdybbukpossession appearsas a clear-cutcase of possession trance,the position of the maggid as an alteredstate of consciousnessis Scholarsof Jewish more complicatedand requiresa thoroughexamination. the while aforementioned inverted emphasizing affinitybetween mysticism, the tended to contrasts between them withinthe and place maggid, dybbuk the as of domain possessionby designating maggid positivepossession."In of this view by evaluating varwhatfollows, I proposea criticalexamination of maggidicrevelation ious characteristics againstBourguignon's dichotomy alteredstatesof consciousness. of sociallypatterned as positivepossession for viewingmaggidicrevelations A strongsupport A pertinent comes from the main mystical accountsof these phenomena. of revelation Rabbi Moses the doctrine is developedby prophetic example luminaries of Safed. of the one Cordovero, sixteenth-century mystical canrestupon man... andthiswasthecasewithallprophets Fortheholyspirit "anevil spirit troubled him." is thecaseof Saul,where ... andtheopposite or an evil be another soul-a man entered can one-and holy by Similarly them. menandtroubling orevilspirits we haveseendemons entering similarly called andthisis whatis generally maggid.38
... Similarlyan angelmay entermanandspeakwithinhim wordsof wisdom,

Statesof Consciousness," 36. Ludwig,"Altered pp. 12-14. 37. Idel,"Jewish Magic,"p. 107. 38. Quotedin Werblowsky, JosephKaro,p. 80.

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of mysticalassociations The classification with positiveandnegativebeings restssolely on thenotionofpossession.Itis interesting proposed by Cordovero that even when he deals with the mysticalrevelationsof Elijahthe Prophet (gilluy Eliahu), which he describedas an internallygeneratedinsight or version of illumination,Cordoverostill sticks to an intellectual-abstract without trance at all: the intellect of possession,apparently "Elijahentering It seems thatCordovero man and teachinghim hiddenthings.""39 was totally engulfedin the possessionidiom, which he employedto accountfor a wide revelations. of prophetic spectrum It shouldbe emphasized, a theory,or however,thatCordovero presented that to was account for facts scheme, empirical designed conceptual (prophetic but was not identicalwith them.True,the articulatory revelations) powerof have models like Cordovero's a may significant bearingon the explanatory behaviorallevel. But in this case it is not at all clear whetherCordovero's esoteric doctrinestemmedfrom a widespreadfolk-modelof maggidismor accountsof maggidim becomeone. At any rate,otherdoctrinal subsequently held by noted kabbalistswere not necessarilylinked to possession as the guiding idiom. Thus the maggidic theory of Rabbi Hayyim Vital, Luria's of his teachings,assertsthat the study great disciple and the promulgator of the commandments of the Law and dutiful performance by the mystic of who himself to his an reveals creatorand angel bringaboutthe creation leaves it entirelyopen discloses mysticalsecretsto him. Vital's formulation whetherwe are dealinghere with a nonpossessiontranceexperience(i.e., a with the angel)or with a possessiontrance.40 If we move boundedencounter level to the phenomenological-behavioral fromthe doctrinal-theoretical one, for definingthe maggidas a case of positivepossession the strongestsupport is automatic speech, one of the most commonpathsof maggidicrevelation. in MaggidMesharim, Karo'smysticaldiary, references attestto the fact Many himself automatic thathis maggidrevealed through speech(e.g., "Beholdthe voice of my belovedknockethin my mouthandthe lyre soundedof itself').41 Alkabets,in his famousepistle,testifiedthat"we heardthe voice speakingin Automatic the mouthof the virtuous."42 speechwas quitecommonamongthe of Ben-Surof Meknesin Morocco, One Sabbatean them, Joseph prophets.
39. 40. 41. 42. Ibid.,p. 81. Ibid.,p. 79. Ibid.,p. 260. Ibid.,p. 21.

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in amazement that"Ido not knowwho speakswithme, andI neither reported see nor speak but my lips are speakingand I hearthe voice that proceeds fromthem."43 The importanceand central place of automaticspeech in prophetic was manifested in variousreligiouscommentaries revelations in whichit was arguedthatMoses and the otherprophetsused this methodto communicate with heavenly forces.44 Some kabbalistsleft us vivid descriptionsof the of automatic experience speech. Consider,for example,the excitementof the authorof Sha'areySedeq("TheGatesof Justice"), a mysticaltext of the after thirteenth he had century, experiencedautomaticspeech: "And then, some utterances came out frommy heartand reachedmy lips, forcingthem to move. And I was worriedlest this was a senselessspirit,but then I found out thatthe talk was sagacious.And I cameto the conclusionthatthis was a wise-hearted spirit."45 constitutesstrongevidence for the Again, this self-testimonyapparently within of the force the speaking bodyof the mystic.It seemsthatthe presence notion of automatic author'spersonal speechis consistentwith Cordovero's theory.A similar notion appearsin the doctrineof maggid-as-possession of Nathanof Gaza,theprominent and revelation Sabbatean prophet prophetic "Andthenhe [theprophet] sees the speech[sic] of Sevi's harbinger: Sabbatai in frontof him. ... afterthat, the prophecyin the formof lettersprotruding the body of the manwho an angel is created[fromthese letters]andinhabits his [theprophet's] mouththe sees this vision. And [the angel]uttersthrough him."46 that he had seen above letters of prophecyand its interNote that in this passage the phenomenology pretationare confounded.The propheticsequence,accordingto Nathanof Gaza, begins with a visual message, more typical of nonpossessiontrance than of possession trance,and ends with automaticspeech. The mediating link between these two sets of experience is a theory of possession. I believe that this separationbetween theory and subjectivereality reflects the natureof the an epistemologicalgap which is crucialfor understanding Before on this of consciousness. further as an altered state elaborating maggid
43. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 897. 44. Idel,"Inquiries," pp. 220-221. 45. Ibid.,p. 221. 46. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 206. Seeingthe speechis not a case of synesthesia (fusion formthe letters of sense modalities).The prophetis imaginedto see in a three-dimensional arecomposed. fromwhichthe wordsof the prophecy

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thatunfoldspresently),it shouldbe noted gap (but in line with the argument that RabbiHayyimVital contendsin his Sha'ar ha-Gilgulim ("TheGate of that the spiritualvoice of the Divine cannotbe heardby Transmigrations") dimensions. the prophet becauseit lacksmaterial Hence,to be communicated voice of the prophet.47 it mustbe embodiedin the corporeal Does the embodimentof the spiritualvoice in the humanvoice of the of automatic prophetimply a possession trancestate?The phenomenology in the above-citedpassage from Sha'arey speech, so lucidly demonstrated Thereflexiveawareness here expressed Sedeq,leadsme to a negativeanswer. was far fromabolished indicatesthatthe individualidentityof the kabbalist the trancer's in the courseof automatic speech.In manyof the reports, ability that his own lips generatedand to process to be attentiveto the utterances them correctlywas taken for granted.Furthermore, the state of automatism did not involve dissociationstrongenough to obliteratethe recollectionof the messages thus delivered,as many mystics were able to remember them the messages that the maggid Karo's ability to remember long afterwards. deliveredto him on Fridaynight, the preferredtime for revelations,was impressive,since he could write them down only many hours particularly had ended. later,afterthe holy Sabbath Thus, although maggidic revelations often involved automatic speech-after all, this was the only way to hear the spiritualmessage of the Divine accordingto influentialkabbalistslike Vital-and althoughthe of automatic speechwas oftenexplainedin termsof possession, phenomenon andhis divinementorwerenot dissolved. betweenthe trancer the boundaries The associationwith the maggid generallytook the form of an encounter as distinctentities. in which the humanand spiritualparticipants appeared this point by stating,"I am talkingto you as Karo'smaggid demonstrated If we add to this dimensionof clearly a man (would talk) to his friend."48 the persistenceof the cognitive interaction revelation demarcated during it seemsthatwe cannotescape of reflexivity, andmemory, attributes attention, themaggidis closerto nonpossession the conclusionthatphenomenologically trancethanto possessiontrance. The associationof the maggid with nonpossessiontrancegains further supportwhen we examine other forms of maggidic revelation.Dreaming, a state of alteredconsciousnesssharingmany affinitieswith nonpossession
47. Werblowsky, JosephKaro,pp. 78-79. 48. Ibid.,p. 258.

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trance,constituteda fertile matrix for germinating maggidim.In fact, the context in which the termmaggidfirst emergedwas that of she 'elat halom forinducing dream revelations.49 Thewide (dream query),a magicaltechnique to arguethat"allknownforms varietyof dreamrevelationsled Werblowsky and kinds of mystical experiencecould be doubledon the dreamlevel."50 or awake"appearsin many descriptionsof Indeed, the phrase "dreaming revelation. That the dream precedesthe wakingstatein this phrase maggidic is indicativeof its perceptionas the "natural" In the settingfor apparitions. mentioned is stated above,the dream's mysticaltextSeferha-Meshiv primacy quiteexplicitly:"[onecan ask questions] first manytimes in the dream,then It is possiblethatmaggidicapparitions in dreamsare laterin wakingstate."5' in the texts because the and dreaming wakingstatesare so underrepresented in mysticalexperiences, if the dream oftenconfounded particularly apparition massiverevisionafterthe dreamer awakened. The fact thatmany underwent maggidic visitationsoccurredat night lends supportto this conjecture.In addition,many revelationstook place in twilight states,just before falling afterwakingup immediately asleep (hypnagogicstates)or, more frequently, (hypnopompicstates). The first visitation of the maggid of Rabbi Moses HayyimLuzzattobelongedto the second type: "Andas I woke up, I heard a voice speaking."In anotherpassage he statedthat "I do all these things the maggid)whenI fall downandI see all of the for summoning (incantations if I The Sabbatean as am was souls dreaming."52 prophet JosephBen-Sur holy in a when he was "neither by his maggid twilightstate, dreaming frequented He reporteda clear-cutdissociativestate ("all my senses are nor awake."53 of a in abeyance,and I do not know whetherI am in Heavenor on earth") he to his and he if nature wants as cannot, ("and open eyes hypnopompic with covered are lead").54 they the dreamis akinto nonpossession As a privatehallucinatory experience, trance.Indeed,the two tracksof visual and auditorysense modalitiesthat in wakingrevelations as well. in visitational dreams weredominant prevailed in to the visual mode the inferior is that difference The only mode, auditory of track in wakefulness. The double dominant dreamrevelations,was more
49. Idel,"Inquiries," p. 222.
50. Werblowsky, Joseph Karo, p. 41.

51. Idel, "Inquiries," p. 204. of Luzzatto." 52. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 897; Benayahu, "Maggid
53. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, 897. 54. Ibid.

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is evidentin Seferha-Meshiv, revelations sensemodalitiesin nondream which was designatedby Cordovero"a book speakingaccordingto a maggid,"55 while anothermystic, RabbiOvadiahHamon,called it "thebook of visions vocal Againstphrasesin this text emphasizing accordingto the maggid."56 discourse(e.g., "Youwill come at once to have a face-to-facedialoguewith me"),57otherexpressionsstressthe visual mode (e.g., "Youwill see in your andvisual Needlessto say,theauditory eye thefigureof the angelhimself')."5 into one coherent tracksdid not exclude each otherand could be integrated system.59 techniquefor summoning Sefer ha-Meshivspecifies an interesting magand tracks were separated. in which the Therevelation visual auditory gidim here entailed a conjurerwho was able to see the summonedangel, and a naive scribe who was called upon to write down the maggid's spoken but could not see him.60Whetheror not the voice that the communication scribe was supposed to hear was in fact the conjurer's(in the form of automatic speech) is left an open question. The auditorysense modalitywas salient in the maggidicrevelationsof Luzzatto,who, like Karo, could not see his heavenly mentor.However, was not automaticspeech, even Luzzatto'smystical experienceapparently "I that could hear his voice speaking in my he stated explicitly though one of on the of Luzzatto's students("This angel Based mouth."''61 report speaks out of his mouth,thoughwe, his disciples, do not hear anything"), Werblowskycogently concludes that his was a case of endophasia(inner A strongemphasison the visual mode was typical of Kardozo's speech).62 To a modemreader, his techniques revelations. to havebeen appear maggidic tantamount to basedon massivehypnoticsuggestions (almost guidedimagery) designed to bring his disciples to see the maggidim.But in his mystical
55. Idel,"Inquiries," p. 189.
56. Ibid.

57. Ibid.,p. 190.

58. Ibid.

59. Some mysticaltechniquesfor inducingprophecyincludedan elaborate multisensory sensations.See Moshe visual, auditory, tactile,and gustatory olfactory, systemencompassing
Idel, The Mystical Experience in Abraham Abulafia (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1988), pp. 33-34

(Heb.). 60. Idel,"Inquiries," p. 219. 61. Benayahu, "Maggidof Luzzatto." 62. Werblowsky, JosephKaro,p. 23.

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circle the latter could also be heard. To conclude, the sensory-perceptual dimension,so prominentin maggidic revelationboth in ("hallucinatory") dreamsandin wakefulness, once againsituatesthe maggidin the categoryof trance. nonpossession A differentkind of revelation,regarded by most mystics as superiorto was the revelation of maggidism, before, Elijah(gilluyEliahu).As mentioned some mystics believed thatElijahcould impingehimself on the intellectual faculties of a sage and create an experiencefelt as an abruptinsight or But the typical way in which he disclosed himself was in his inspiration. in a dreamsor in a wakingstate.The idealrevelation either of Elijah, figure, as depictedin Karo'sMaggidMesharim andin Seferha-Meshiv, was a private based on a clearlydemarcated in which Elijahwould encounter, interaction, reveal himself to the mystic and talk to him "mouthto mouth."Cordovero in his material arguedthat before his earthlyvisitationsElijah incarnated to his mortalcompanion"in his body and soul."63This body and appeared notion,which highlightsthe natureof Elijahas a distinct"embodied" entity in makes of him, fact, duringapparitions, incapable taking possession of humans.Like maggidicrevelations, then,gilluy Eliahuappearsto be firmly trance. linkedwith nonpossession Let us explorenow the inductiontechniquesfor summoning maggidim. While these techniqueswere less rich and elaboratethan those employed like the thirteenth-century by mysticsinvolvedin ecstaticKabbalah, Spanish kabbalistRabbi AvrahamAbulafia and his circle,64 they were based on methodswhich had to be meticulouslyfollowed. These methods structured of appropriate includedthe ceremonialrecitation verses, passages scriptural fromthe Mishnah,or Divine Names (yihudim). Sometimesspecificincantations were employedto summonthe angel duringsleep ("dream query")or for conjuring in wakefulness.65The seriouspreparations the maggid required are evidentin the case of Luzzatto,who "wascompelledto prepare himself for threedays ... by takingritualbathsandotherthingsdesignedto appease the maggidicangel who was speakingto him."66 Beyond these techniques,seclusion,penance,and abstinencewere also for summoning used to establishan auspiciousbackground maggidim.The
63. 64. 65. 66. Ibid., p. 270. Idel, Abraham Abulafia, pp. 15-42. Idel, "Inquiries,"pp. 201-218. Benayahu, "Maggid of Luzzatto," p. 307.

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includedsleepdeprivation, asceticpreparations fasting,andself-mortification. From Alkabets'sepistle, it comes out that the dramaticrevelationsof the maggid of Karo during the vigil of Shavuot occurredin the context of two sleepless nights. Karo's maggid pursuedthe notion of asceticism to the extreme.He pushedKaroto ever-increasing self-inflictedsufferingand him for the tiniest deviation from his Spartan demands. The castigated harshly reward he Karo for this ultimate promised maintaining penitential discipline on the stake("Ishallmaketheeworthyto be publiclyburned was martyrdom in Palestine,to sanctifymy namein public"), model followingthe exemplary of the messianic martyrSolomon Molkho, who was burnedin Mantuain of 1532.67Againstthisasceticlifestyle,Werblowsky's psychodynamic reading of Karo'sdemanding themaggidas theproduct well-taken.68 superego appears for summoning The ascetic preparations maggidimmay be psychologithen, as stemmingfrom the unconsciousneed to appease cally interpreted, objects crystallizedin a harshsuperego.From the tormentinginternalized native mystical perspective,these activitieswere consideredto be suitable the soulbeforemeetingwithdivineforces.Theperspective meansof purifying this in on yet another level of analysis, essay putsthe mainemphasis espoused and the the the inpsychocultural: preparatory spanning psychophysiological ductionsmay have createdphysicalandpsychologicalconditionsconducive to enteringa culturallyfashionedstate of alteredconsciousness.It should of Elijah,which according to Werblowsky be notedthateven the apparition to anymystico-magical was in factfacilitated "wasnot amenable coercion,"''69 by lengthyfasts. Karo'sasceticallyorientedmaggid,who urgedhim to fast seven times for three consecutive days each, in orderto see Elijah, only echoed an old tradition going backto the talmudicera.70 While the techniquesfor summoningmaggidimwere varied, most of them belong to the cluster of inductionmeans based on the reduction of stimulationand motor activity. The abstinenceand seclusion, together with the engrossmentin nightly prayersand incantations, were likely to In addition, increasesensorydeprivation. the lengthyfastsmayhaveproduced anddehydration conduciveto analtered stateof consciousness. hypoglycemia
67. Werblowsky, JosephKaro,p. 98. 68. Ibid.,p. 285. 69. Ibid.,p. 50. 70. Louis Ginzberg,TheLegendsof the Jews (Philadelphia: JewishPublication Society, 1913),vol. 4, p. 215.

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All of theseinductions aretypicalof nonpossession trance. Possessiontrance, as mentionedabove, is more likely to be inducedby stimulation increase, eitherexternalor internal.
Positive Possession Trance in Judaism

If maggidicrevelations arenot instancesof positivepossessiontrance,as has been commonlyassumed,where in Jewishmysticalcircles can we find manifestations of thistypeof dissociation? Afterreviewpositivelyevaluated of historical cases revelation in Judaism,I would like ing many prophetic that the to suggest revelationsof entranced Sabbatean groupand individual to the behavioralmanifestations of prophetsbore significantresemblances possessiontrance. The messianic fervor of 1666, the year of redemptionaccordingto Sabbatai thatencompassed Sevi, gave birthto a mass movementof prophets men and women, childrenand adults.The ecstatictranceinto which these prophetsenteredstartedwith a comatosestate and continuedwith violent of mysticalformulae. It convulsions,excessive foaming,andloudutterances to note thatthese stateswere followedby amnesia:"Thereafter is important whattheyhaddoneor said."7' Thistype theywouldrisewithoutremembering akinto dybbuk of collectiveprophecy appears possessionin termsof boththe involved(whichincludedwomen,children, andthe ignorant) and population exhibited thebehaviors As in the case (coma,convulsions, foaming,amnesia). here too epilepsy ("fallingsickness")was used as a common of dybbukim, frameof reference.It is hardto determine the extentof femaleparticipation but in any case the stronglyfelt presenceof women in Sabbatean prophecy, to the near-absence of femaleswith maggidim.72 stood in sharpcontrast of Sabbatean The individualpropheticperformances mystics were also to trance. In similar the of possession prophecies Nathanof Gaza, quite excitationwas partof the inductionto the trance for example,hypermotor state. In one of the reportshe is describedas wobblingand dancingwildly
71. Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, p. 420.

72. I have been able to locate only one case of a womanwho had maggidicrevelations. This woman, La Francesa,lived in Safed at the beginningof the seventeenthcentury,and "TheAuthor amazedthe town's sages by her abilityto foretellthe future.H. Z. Hirschberg, the Duty of Settlingin EretzIsrael," in SeferShazar and His AttitudeToward of Divrey Yosef IsraelExploration Society,1971),pp. 132-137 (Heb.). (Jerusalem:

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in the room while taking his clothes off. Following a particularly frenetic movement,he collapsedinto a comatosestate so deep thata physicianwas of all attendant, his death.Onlythen,to the surprise calledfor andannounced the sheet that coveredhim, uttering was his voice heard from underneath AnotherSabbatean prophet,RabbiMoses Suriel, praisesof SabbataiSevi.73 entereda trancein a stimulus-loaded setting. of the Sabbatean Andthey[adherents weresitting withhimand movement] Sabbatai and of for were theharp and Sevi, songs praises singing they playing Andin the midstof all that,Rabbi instruments. othermusical Moseswould likea youngman,andin themiddle of thedance start he wouldfall dancing heaven thefalling downas if he hadcontracted, sickness. Aftersome forbid, Andtheyputa handkerchief he would commence onhisface talking. agitation disclose secrets. ... Andtwoscribes ... andhe would weresitting athis side, he made.74 utterance downevery writing quickly behavior to thebehavioral corresponds Again,RabbiMosesSuriel'sprophetic of thetwo scribesto writedown of possession.Themobilization configuration at the momenttheywereuttered his revelations maybe takenas an indication thatSurielwas unableto recallthem. Even thoughthe associationof Sabbatean ecstaticprophecy with possession trancestrikesme as quite sound,two reservations are appropriate here. this association is on based behavioral and First, solely phenomenological criteria.We do not know whether Sabbateandoctrinehad any notion of In any case, note thatmy analysisof maggidimas prophecy-as-possession. nonpossessiontranceis based in parton the existenceof some discrepancy betweennativetheoryandbehavior. or incongruence some of the literatureon Sabbateanism was writtenby antiSecond, rabbis after the fall of the false Messiah. In these sources the Sabbatean for the salvo of propheciesin 1666 is often presentedin terms explanation of possessionby evil spiritsor demons.Interestingly one of theseopponents, RabbiJacobSasportas, for these suggestedthreepossibleways of accounting prophecies-psychological ("theirlust and desirearousedtheirimagination
73. Scholem,SabbataiSevi, p. 423. 74. Leib Ben Ozer,TheStoryof SabbataiSevi (Jerusalem: ZalmanShazarCenter,1978), pp. 59-60 (Heb.).

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until they beheld visions"), medical ("fallingsickness"),and demonological ("possiblythe spirit also rested upon them accidentally, speakingand various as does one who is a announcing things, possessedby demon").7 and Conclusions Summary two contrasting Dybbuk and maggid were portrayedas representing paths of culturallyshaped altered states of consciousnesssimilar to the universaldivision of possessiontranceand nonpossession trancesuggested Even though some mystical accountsof maggidimwere by Bourguignon. basedon thepossessionidiom,andeventhoughthephenomenon of automatic lends to this most of the association, speechapparently support experiential of maggidismwere akin to nonpossessiontrance.If one looks attributes for positive possession trancein Jewish mysticism,the ecstatic individual and collective propheciesprevalentin the Sabbatean movementoffer an the differences betweendybbukand appropriate example.Let us summarize was a negativeandinvoluntary maggid.The dybbuk possessionphenomenon in which an evil spiritimposedhimself on the victim, usuallya womanor a child, and was eventuallyexpelled aftera public and dramatic exorcistic ritual.Duringthe possessionepisode,the alteredconsciousnesswas clearly manifestedin the realizationof the identity of the invadingspirit to the exclusionof thevictim'sself-identity. Theepisodewas apparently precipitated by a strongemotionalarousalandwas followedby totalor partialamnesia. Themaggidwas a positiveandwillfullysoughtencounter withanangelor aide experienced anotherspiritual male The mostlyby mystics. maggidwas summoned various ritual inductions characterized by by sensorydeprivation and self-mortification, and his presencewas experiencedas an interaction based on visual or auditorysense modalitiesor both. The experiencewas and therefore had to be remembered. Since typicallyprivateand "internal," with the maggidwas desirable, the association unlikethe compelled presence of the dybbuk,we find summoning ritualsin the instanceof the former,as opposedto exorcisticritualsfor the latter. The contrastsbetweenthe two Jewishvariantsof alteredstatesof consciousnesshighlightthe differentsocial positionsandcultural evaluations of in the two pathsof alteredconsciousness-a mystically the typicaltrancers
75. Quoted in Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi, p. 423.

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womanor a young lad on rabbior sage on the one hand,an ignorant oriented cultural the other.The fact thatthe principal optionopento womenin trance, unequivocallynegative, was conceived as an illness is a gloomy reminder of female inferiorityin Jewish traditionalsociety. Note that in Judaism into the ceremonial negative possession did not undergoa transformation context of a possession cult, wherein possession is not stigmatizedbut the dybbuk spirits were amoral, In Lewis's terms,77 socially approved.76 of their carrierswas objectifiedby the possession and the peripherality idiom. Moreover,dybbukpossession left the victim as a passive object, and withoutself-controlvis-a-vis two bereft of self-awareness temporarily the possessingspiritwho deprivedthe possessedof her externalauthorities: who compelledthe spiritto leave. individual identityandthe rabbi-exorcist his identity, the trancer maintained In the maggidicexperience reflexivity, Evenif we espousethe possessiontheoryof Cordovero and andindividuality. his mouth, the mysticwhenhe spokethrough acceptthatthe angel inhabited we mustconcedethathe did not eliminatehis soul as in the dybbuk. From a psychologicalviewpoint, it might be arguedthat the extreme caseswas nothingbuta convenient guise passivityof the possessedin dybbuk for rebelliousacting out, amply manifestedin the aggressive,sexual, and grotesquebehaviorof the spirits.But this subversiveaspectwas confronted and effectively eliminatedby the exorcisticritual.In a dramaticseries of movements,the spiritswere overpowered by the exorcists,confessed their the persecutions thatwere theirlot in the afterlife. sins, andvividly reported into conservative In doing all this, the rebelliousspiritswere transformed of the social and order, conformity promoting religiousobservance. agents it the was evaluated that hadthe potentialto Paradoxically positively maggid become trulysubversive,as the revelationsinitiatedby him could facilitate and stirmessianicexpectations. The recognition of this mysticalinnovations to stigmatizesuch subversivepotentialsometimesled rabbinicauthorities the mystics who were involvedwith them, revelationsand excommunicate in the post-Sabbatean era (e.g., Luzzatto). particularly Finally, after discussing the points of similaritybetween maggid and tranceandbetweendybbuk andpossessiontrance, I wouldlike nonpossession the variable that to risk a speculation differentiated the regarding ecological
Demonin Israel:The Caseof Evil SpiritDisease,"Ethos 76. YoramBilu, "TheMoroccan 8 (1980):24-39. 77. Lewis,EcstaticReligion,p. 127.

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societies two types of alteredstatesof consciousness-huntingandgathering with and societies trance) (associated agricultural (associated nonpossession with possession trance).Needless to say, this distinctiondoes not apply to traditional Jewish society. Yet it is worth asking whetherthe socialization pressurestowardcompliance,obedience,and conformitythatwere evident societies were not also the fate of the Jewishfemale victims in agricultural And in this vein, is it not possible to metaphorically of dybbukim? ponder drive the Jewishmysticsas hunters, relentlessly propelled by the adventurous to find their own path to the Divine and to stalk mystical secrets?In this pursuitof esotericknowledge,the maggidservedas a kind of independent a guardianspiritor a spiritualally, a chaperonand guide in the dangerous orchardof mystical enigmas, who helped to dispel doubt and insecurity in theircalling. and suffusedthemwith assurance amongthe kabbalists Hebrew University Israel Jerusalem,

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