Open To The Divine:
The Path of the Horse

The night wind is cool on his face as he sits there, emptied of himself. Hours ago, he was bathed and purified, and runes were drawn on his flesh. Now he has sat and communed, opened up the back of his head as wide as possible for the Presence to enter. In a trance, he rises and dons the clothing that is only worn occasionally: the tunic of blue and grey with the Futhark-embroidered trim, the belt with the sword, the cloak of grey with ravens embroidered on the shoulders and wolves at the hem. The spear is there too, leaning up against the tree. When this is done for the whole community, he has people to attend him, to drum the God into him, and whisper their chants, to dress him so that his hands may hang limply until the God chooses to move them. Tonight, though, it will only be a short ride, because it is just a client who wishes to speak to her Patron.

The eyepatch slips on over his head, blotting out half his sight, and the connection is made. The Presence moves into him, fills him, pushes him gently out of the way. The hands that don the wide-brimmed hat and carefully adjust it to dip low over the eyepatch are his, but it is not he who moves them.

As if from far away, he sees her approach. She bears a cup in one hand and a bottle in the other, and he senses pleasure from the Being who has borrowed his flesh. The voice that speaks through his throat is not his; it's deeper and more mellifluous, and one hand beckons the woman closer. He can't make out what the voice is saying, but that's all right; it's not his business. He's only the vehicle. As unconsciousness closes over him, he relaxes into the hands of the Divine Will, and knows that his submission here brings the Gods closer to the human beings who reach their hands out to the Powers That Be.

First, let me disclaimer right off that the word "horse" is borrowed from the Afro-Caribbean religious traditions. In those religions (Voudoun, Santeria, Candomble, Umbanda, Palo Mayombe), the person whose body is borrowed by a God or a spirit is referred to as a "horse", and the act of being spirit-possessed is referred to as being "ridden". While we who do these things in a modern northern-tradition context do unashamedly borrow this term, it seems oddly appropriate in spite of its origins. One is reminded of the runes Ehwaz and Raido, the Horse and the Ride, which are also Movement and the Path.

In northern-tradition terms, the word which comes closest to this state is possibly wod, which is cognate to the god Woden. It suggests becoming one with the Divine Force, although wod is really less about giving one's body to be borrowed by that force, and more about partaking of its energy to whatever extent we incarnate humans can manage. We don't have a surviving word for horsing, or even any clear lore on the subject. It's likely that the Christian writers who took down notes about their defeated pagan brethren were not interested in discussing the enemy Gods coming down to Earth to be among their people.

But the main reason that we spirit-workers in the Northern Tradition are horsing deities has nothing at all to do with any lore-based justification. It is the simplest reason of all: The Gods are coming back, and They want to be able to use human bodies in order to get things done. According to Them, this is the way that it was once done, regardless of what was written down (or omitted) by the enemies of their faith. We're doing it because They want us to, and that's more than enough reason for us.

In the current climate of both the overarching Neo-Pagan demographic and the smaller subset of Asatru/Heathen folk, god-possession is looked upon with suspicion and disbelief. I remember being told flatly by one rather well-known Pagan author that our group shouldn't be doing it because it was self-indulgent and dangerous. (As if those of us who had been chosen to be horses could just stop! It seemed like the most self-indulgent and dangerous thing to do in those circumstances would be to tell the Gods to go hang, and then wait for the ass-kicking that would come afterwards.) Many Neo-Pagans don't actually believe in god-possession, or are willing to believe it of Afro-Caribbean people but not rational, modern Americans, which is a subtly racist attitude that no one has yet confronted, along with a bucketload of fear.

The main objection is that since one can't tell whether or not someone is actually horsing the deity, or just pretending to, someone manipulative could exploit the situation and take advantage of a gullible group of Pagans. My answer to this has always been that adequately trained people with the Sight can easily tell whether or not that's a God in that there body, and if there's a team of such people available to help with the horsing, not only it is a smoother experience for the horse, but any faking or delusional behavior is nipped in the bud. Ideally, there ought to be training in how to spot a real possession and a faked one, and what to do in both cases.

Certainly a spirit-worker who isn't a horse can be invaluable in this way. I am reminded of the story of an anthropology student in Taiwan who reported about a local woman who began to act erratically and claim that the spirits were bothering her. As this was often the beginning sign of oncoming shaman sickness, a group of shamans came in from various places to meet and take a look at her. After an examination, they reported that there were no actual spirits in evidence as far as they could tell, and told the woman that she needed help. The anthropology student (who obviously didn't believe in the actual existence of spirits) was confused about why they wouldn't accept her as "obviously" following the cultural pattern of someone who would later become a shaman, but to me it was a good example of experienced spirit-workers banding together to discern what was real and what was someone's bad brain soup.

After a time, skilled spirit-workers (or even skilled psychics or witches) learn what to look for in a possession. In many indigenous shamanic practices, the beginning shamanic practitioner who claims to be able to carry spirits is tested by their peers who watch the possession and decide if it's real. This sort of peer-testing is invaluable, in my estimation, although it will only really be useful when we as spirit-workers band together and form peer-support organizations of our own.

In the meantime, we can learn the hallmarks of real possession, rather than fakery or self-delusion. They are generally agreed to be:

1) The deity does not advocate for the horse. God X doesn't start telling the folks listening how great Joe (whose body they are borrowing) is, or why they should listen to Joe. The deity usually treats the body as if it is their own, and doesn't refer to the horse much at all. They may have an inner dialogue going with the horse, but that's between them, and onlookers never see or hear it. In general, an over-emphasis on issues pertinent to the horse, vendettas, etc. is a huge warning sign. If the "deity" starts lashing out over an issue personal to the horse, it’s worth taking a second look.

2) If the deity does refer to the horse, they will very rarely refer to them by name; more likely they'll say "this one" or something like that. This is because being called by name can actually shake many horses out of the possession and call them back to themselves (a useful trick for helping someone ground afterwards if they’re having difficulties coming all the way back). In some Afro-Caribbean religions, the Orisha or Lwa may not recognize themselves as being in a horse though we’ve never had this happen with Northern-Tradition Deities.

3) Beware overstressing of the archetype of the deity: most possessions are unique. If it’s nothing but a carbon copy of lore or what you’d read in a book but never gets “high”, never gets personal or beyond the assumed archetype, it’s worth questioning. In most possessions, the deity gets personal. It goes beyond and doesn’t feel distant. They are right there with you.

4) Don't be bothered by a lack of supernatural manifestations; that doesn't mean that it's not a true possession. Not all possessions are going to involve healing or divination. Some of the most powerful do not. The Gods, after all are not there to do parlor tricks.

5) The support staff will get better understanding with repeated possessions. If the same God or Goddess goes into the same person on more than one occasion, it becomes easier to see the pattern. Sometimes, a deity will refer to something they’ve said in a previous possession, even if that possession occurred in another horse.

Galina Krasskova writes: "A Lukumi friend of mine offered this advice: Take the first possession at face value…there’s just not empirical evidence beyond that. Note, however, that in subsequent ones, the crisis situation of possession (by the same Deity) tends to produce the same symptoms in the horse. This is a tell. The way that the individual horse reacts to that specific crisis, that particular Deity will be through certain signals, movements and gestures, which indicate that the horse is about to be possessed. The horse him or herself may not be aware of this. When I was possessed by a goddess at a public gathering recently, one of my handlers, also a horse, noted that as She was settling Herself in me, She kept making a specific hand gesture –I’ve no idea what it was—and he noted it’s exactly the same gesture that his patron Goddess and God will make when one of Them is trying to ride him and he’s resisting...But most importantly, as a person witnessing, trust what it is you see and feel more than anything else. How do you feel about what it is you’re witnessing? It should have emotional impact; you should feel something."

The Path of the Horse is the rarest of the Paths, because it isn't one that you can just set out to master via willpower. It is entirely dependent on the Gods and wights, and if They don't want to go along with the idea of you using this path, then it simply won't happen. That's another reason for the greater community to dislike it; it is (like becoming a shaman) rather an elitist situation. The Gods and wights decide who gets to do it, and we have no say over that. We can't even really understand their choices and reasoning; being nabbed as a horse doesn't seem to be contingent on any standard of intelligence, sanity, morals, or even devoutness. In the egalitarian views of the modern alternative spirituality movement(s), any spiritual experience ought to be available to anyone who works hard enough at it, and the unfairness of being chosen (or not) as the Gods' own limo driver can rankle terribly.

In ancient times, this was less of a problem because people didn't expect spiritual things to be egalitarian. They also didn't expect them to be kind, or loving, or in the immediate best interests of the humans whom they might grab. In fact, the average person in a traditional tribal society today will generally avoid "spirit-ridden" sacred places as taboo; they don't want to be noticed by the spirits. They know what happens to the people who get noticed, and they'd prefer to keep living their lives with a full set of choices. This contrasts wildly to modern Pagans who desperately want to "bring more magic into their lives", without knowing what that meant to our ancestors. The Gods and wights, however, still work along the paths noted by those ancestors. They are untouched by, and immune to, our exhortations that spiritual attention be distributed fairly, by our own standards, and they will continue to work in ways that bewilder and confuse us, and are mysterious to our limited understandings.

That said, one person who is grabbed as a horse may be offered a different deal from someone else. Some spirit-workers are required to horse when the Gods tell them, and their only bargaining point may be time and place. Others have greater leeway and can refuse, although if they refuse too often the gift may be withdrawn entirely. Some offer and are accepted; some offer and are refused; some refuse and are taken anyway. Some may only horse their patron deity; others might be "lent out" by their patron to horse other Gods (we call this being a rent-a-horse), and yet others may have no patron and no restrictions except for which Gods are willing to show up and use them. (This is a dangerous situation, because it's really useful to have a patron deity who will protect you, keep you from being damaged, and screen out harmful spirits. Without that, a very Open horse-type may end up becoming the equivalent of a gang-bang whore for any spirits who come along.

There are generally five main reasons why a spirit-worker would channel a wight of whatever size and intensity. There might also be a couple of smaller reasons, but these are the main ones:

1. Training purposes. Sometimes there are skills that can't be taught to you through words, but require a wight to enter your body at least partially and "motor you through" the skill. (For example, Loki taught me pathwalking in this way.) This could also include being horsed in order to train someone else, when the wight in question needs a willing body to be their sparring partner, or to show them how a type of energy is moved, or a type of magic done.

2. Information purposes. If a client comes to you with a question and one of the Gods wants to answer that question themself, you could just take verbal dictation and relate the words, but it's useful to be able to temporarily horse them if need be. That way they can speak to the client face to face, as it were, and you're less likely to muck things up with an unclear signal.

3. Public devotional purposes. For some people, a spirit-worker horsing a deity at a public ceremony is the only chance that they'll have to see and speak with a divine force. This is very important, both to the Gods and to the worshipers. This was driven home to me after a Lammas gathering where I horsed Frey, and another spirit-worker horsed his wife Gerda. Both of us remembered little about what happened during the horsing, but afterwards people were coming up to us and thanking us for allowing them to speak to the Gods directly for the first time. The number of people who were genuinely moved made it clear to both of us that this was not just done because our Gods had demanded it of us. It was a real public service, and a valuable one.

4. Errands for the deity. Sometimes a God or wight will want to do something in our world that requires a cooperative human body. Most often it seems to be a one-on-one meeting with one of their dedicants. This could be just an important conversation, or something as formal and intense as a wedding with a mortal god-spouse. Occasionally it will involve an interaction with another deity which needs to happen in mortal form for some reason (usually unknown to us, as They don't necessarily give us the whole story), or even no one else at all (such as the time that a wight wanted to use me to taste meat, or gather seawater).

5. Doing work on someone that requires you as a channel. This is rather more of the "classic" shamanic work where the shaman asks his spirit-helpers to come through him and aid an individual who needs help. Most often this is simply the energy of the spirit in question coming through, which is beginning to be commonly referred to as "aspecting" (see below), but on occasion it requires full-on spirit-possession.

Some time ago, a list started circulating around the Neo-Pagan community, attributed to Willow Polson, with regard to levels of deity presence. While we found it to be useful, we also expanded it a bit to include levels-between-levels that only people who've had a lot of experience horsing deities could know. Therefore, we present the expanded list, with apologies to Ms. Polson.

1. Enhancement

This is speaking about a deity; for example, giving an invocation in the third person, or telling a story. Doing this enhances people’s understanding of that deity, their immediate connection with them, and the feeling of their presence at the event. Enhancement requires only knowing about the deity, rather than having an intimate connection with them.

2. Inspiration

This is similar to enhancement, in the sense that you are giving an invocation or telling a story, but the difference is that with inspiration you speak from the perceived viewpoint of the deity. In this case, you speak for rather than speak about them. Instead of “Aphrodite did this,”, it’s “Aphrodite wants this.” Inspiration is done by connecting on some level with the deity, picking up messages about what they want, and then relaying those messages.

3. Shadowing

This is where the deity "rides along in your head", as many folks have put it. There's a feeling of them being just behind your shoulder, and able to speak clearly to you (and some may keep up a running commentary during a shadowing experience), but they are not using your body, and you are in full control of your reactions. You may "take dictation" and relay their words, or rephrase them, or keep silent as the situation requires.

4. Integration

Integration goes one step further; here you speak as the deity in the first person. This is generally done only as the highlight of a ritual; one example of this is the classic Wiccan “drawing down the Moon”, in which the high priestess steps forth and speaks as if she were the Goddess herself. “I am the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mystery of the waters....” Integration is done by connecting with the deity and relaying their words immediately, in the first person, as if one was an interpreter. It requires a more intimate and clear connection if it is to be done properly, rather than merely narrating the words of the Athena puppet in the priestess’s head, for example.

5. Aspecting

The line between Integration and Aspecting is subtle, but basically here one is a full channel for the energy of the deity, and often their words, but the deity has not fully taken over the flesh body in order to walk around in it and treat it as their own. Some refer to this as "co-consciousness", meaning that the deity's mind and energy and their own are equally present and share command of what will be said. Aspecting is often mistaken for fully being ridden by people who have never dealt with full-on possession. Classic New Age "channeling" is one form of Aspecting, usually with dead souls or minor spirits. Many people can aspect a deity that they cannot necessarily fully horse, and Aspecting is less exhausting and much easier on the body and the soul. Galina Krasskova comments about it: "Often at this stage, I find that I am sometimes able to (or allowed to) explain sensations, thoughts, or emotions that I pick up from the Deity to whomever the Deity is speaking to for greater clarification. There are those possessions where I am sure it’s co-consciousness and later find out that while I may have thought so, large portions of time are simply blanked from my mind so that what I think is a full memory of the experience is in reality piecemeal."

6. Possession

In this situation, the strongest connection of all, the deity comes into the person’s body, displacing their own personality/soul for a time, and speaks directly to the audience or client. Depending on the god and the situation, the deity may commandeer the body for other things as well. Generally the horse's consciousness at this point is either extremely distanced (horses have reported seeing and hearing things as if underwater or from a long way away, in a very dissociative manner, or the sound might be turned off entirely) or they are completely unconscious and have no memory of the experience. My Pagan group, with its wry sense of humor, often refers to the former as being "in the back seat behind the safety glass" (while the deity is "driving"), and the latter as "locked in the trunk".

Whether the horse is relegated to the back seat or the trunk will vary widely. Some deities prefer to have the body to themselves; some are fine with the horse being somewhat conscious so long as they don't interfere; some will even talk to the horse in the back seat while "driving" their body, although this is more rare. Some horses prefer to be unconscious and ask the deity to make them so, while others prefer to be at least partly present at all times, usually for reasons of assuaging personal feelings of control. We've noticed that it's common for a deity to block out the hearing of a horse while the god in question is speaking one-on-one to someone else, because it is private and not for the horse's ears. Certainly for weddings of deities with their mortal spouses, the horse is as a matter of course stuck into the trunk.

While there is no one way to "induce" a possession - it seems that the best and fullest possessions come when the spirit in question informs one ahead of time, whether a moment or days ahead, that they are coming and then just pops in - there are techniques that can help, especially when there is a public devotional possession scheduled for a particular ceremony. First, the horse should do a good deal of devotional work and develop some kind of relationship with the god or wight in question. If the horse can't carry on a meaningful conversation with them, it's unlikely that they will have enough connection to be ridden by them, and even if the wight does manage it (because many of them are bigger and more powerful than us and can push their way in, if you have the right wiring) it's better to have it be an act of devotion than violation.

Second, we've found that what we call "haunted costumes", or ceremonial clothing that belongs only to that deity, and is donned only to horse them, helps a good deal. It can be as simple as a piece of jewelry or as elaborate as a full-scale costume. Anyone who has seen the initiatory rites of Korean shamans will be impressed by the ceremonies utilizing dozens of ceremonial costumes, donned one after the other by the spirit-worker, to see which spirits enter into them and become their helpers. After a while - sometimes even after the first time - the costume gets enough magic on it to be used as a gateway for that deity to enter, which helps all but the most recalcitrant, headblind, or blocked-up horses. It should go without saying, of course, that the ceremonial costume should not be used for any other purpose, including non-possessory ceremonial use by unwitting volunteers.

Most deities like to have some sort of attendant present to get them more food, drink, or anything else that they might want brought to them. We also find it useful, at least when it comes to full group rituals, to have at least one personal attendant for each embodied Deity, whom we refer to as a "page", and also a "steward" who handles people who want to approach the Gods, making sure that they understand the proper behavior and don't approach all at once. Then we have at least one drummer, at least one staff person (in charge of general physical objects and organization), the actual Priest/ess whose job it is to read invocations and run the rest of the ritual, and of course the prep/recovery team, who are sometimes also the pages.

Something that groups who have started to publicly horse European deities are discovering, sometimes to their dismay, is that our Gods occasionally want sex as an offering. This is in contrast to the Afro-Caribbean deities, who have been covered under a blanket of Catholicism for so long that they no longer have any kind of sex with the congregation, but our deities are still used to the ancient rites, and sometimes expect it. Before this raises hackles, I should say straight out that nearly all deities will refrain from approaching anyone in that way who isn't already interested and open to the idea. In fact, they seem to have an eye for figuring out who would be into that, and homing in on them. If there is no one present who wouldn't object, then the subject won't come up. (The sole exception to this is Loki, and other Trickster Gods; see the notes about how to handle Loki in the next chapter.) But if there are people present who are into the idea, perhaps you might want to set them up as pages, and have a private space ready in case that is wanted. This is especially important for fertility deities like Frey and Freya. I can say from experience that although the Gods are not thrilled with safe sex and fluid boundaries, they will put up with it if those boundaries are set beforehand.

As to helping the actual psychic mechanics of the horsing, being in a state of quiet, meditative Openness, however one wishes to achieve that (perhaps using one of the other seven paths) is a good way to start. Cleansing the body/vessel is important as well. For group ritual horsing, our group has a "prep team" that treats the horse as a votive object - cleansing them, dressing them, singing to them, preparing them for the spirit to enter. It also encourages an objectified feeling which helps with egotism - it reinforces to the horse that it's not about them. Afterwards, the prep team becomes the aftercare team, making sure that the horse has water, food if they want it, a warm blanket, the chance to get out of and away from ritual garb, and however much space that they need to recover from the event.

As the Afro-Caribbean folk discovered long ago, having someone drumming during the rite helps a great deal. In their case (as discussed in the Path of Rhythm section), there are special (secret and oathbound) drumbeats for each Orisha or Loa which help to call them and keep them present. I've been told that there are such drumbeats for every deity, but that the ones of the northern-tradition Gods are lost. I've recovered one of them, and I intend to discover more. However, even just a simple steady drumbeat can help the God to stay present and the horse to stay relaxed and in trance.

Some Neo-Pagan groups are starting to work with various levels of spirit-possession, but there is a disturbing trend of the occasional training group insisting that anyone can horse regardless of innate wiring (and in some cases, that anyone can horse any deity with no ill effects). In order to make this happen, some are utilizing the process of the group psychically "condensing" the individual's soul and stuffing it into a corner of their being, and then reaching through them and pulling the deity through into their body. We find this trick to be rather concerning for a variety of reasons, assuming that it even works for full possession and not merely aspecting. First, it is our experience that horsing can be a psychically strenuous activity. The individual's psychic "sphincter", for lack of a better word, is stretched wide open. Just as with physical sphincters, they best way to receive something large is to be in a state of relaxed, accepting openness. Someone else forcing the issue may or may not get the horse open enough, but even if it works, it may cause lasting damage, which can manifest as mental illness. We would rather go with the idea that if the horse can't seem to open up enough, they either don't have enough of the inborn psychic wiring for it (which is no one's fault) or they aren't ready for some internal reason of their own, which must be dealt with in its own time and way. Horsing is shock enough to the soul; having a bunch of people shoving it around is more trauma to the soul complex than is good for anyone.

We have also found that no one can be ridden by just any spirit. There has to be an element of "like calls to like", or at least some sort of compatibility. Sometimes that compatibility is subtle and not something that the horse can know until they try and succeed or fail. As the northern-tradition equivalent of a "black shaman" (that's in the Siberian sense, not the western black = evil nonsense), who is owned by Lady Death, I never thought that I would be able to horse Frey, the Golden One of the Vanir...but he has a standing date to take me around Lammas, and it works well...even leaving a residue of light and health in my dark insides. On the other hand, Baphomet fits well as a ride, as he is also third-gendered and is associated with the rotting-down part of the cycle, as is my Lady Hela. The old primal Hunter also rides me on the yearly basis, and my predator nature works well as a fit. But when a bride of Anubis asked for someone to horse her husband for a ceremony, I asked to see if I would be an acceptable fit and the cosmic answer came back No, even though he is associated with Death.

Sometimes the problem isn't mental fit but physical fit. Before I transitioned to a more male physiology, I had horsed Lilith. She is a fairly masculine and hairy goddess, but she is still female of center, and when I crossed the middle line she would no longer use my body. Some deities will horse bodies of a different gender, or very different physique or state of (dis)ability, than their own with no problem. Others are extremely picky - all the Love Goddesses, for instance, and many of the more "macho" and physically-oriented war gods. No horse should take it personally if they aren't a good fit for a particular God or wight. (For that matter, since most people aren't wired to horse at all, they shouldn't take that personally either. I'll never be a pro basketball player or a genius mathematician. So what?) The Gods have their own preferences, and we just have to go with them. Some modern Pagans do hold that any trained horse ought to be able to carry any deity, but we haven't found that to be true, or at least not in this particular tradition. And, frankly, if you are horsing any deity with no ill effects - or little in the way of serious aftereffects at all - we seriously doubt that you are doing full possession. It's not something that is ever done easily or lightly. On the other hand, even if it's only Aspecting, that's a good thing in and of itself...and much easier on one's astral body.

This is probably the point where the discussion of gender comes in. When dealing with spirit-workers as a demographic, it is wise to expect that a not insignificant percentage of them will be third-gendered in some way - perhaps fully transsexual, perhaps merely very feminine men or very masculine women, perhaps anywhere on that wide and varied spectrum in between. The reasons why that happens all over the world are covered in the chapter on Ergi, but suffice it to say that if you are somewhere in between, it is both easier and harder to horse deities of either gender. Mostly easier, especially if you are flexible enough in your astral gender and your comfort with different gender presentations, because many Gods ask that the horse be only masculine or feminine to a certain extent (and that extent will vary from deity to deity), and do not require a factory-equipped male or female body. Occasionally it will be harder, because the minority of deities who absolutely require a factory-equipped male or female body will not take a third-gendered horse. Then again, men and women are barred from horsing at least half of that latter category anyway, so on balance it is definitely a gain.

As someone who has been both male and female, and still lives somewhere in the middle, I am more able to comfortably horse Gods of various genders, assuming that they are appropriate to the inside of my head and to my patron Goddess. Generally, they require that I be astrally shifted to their gender first, before they enter; for example, even though my body is currently "male of center", Hela can ride me with no problem if I shapeshift astrally to a female form first. If you are a single-gendered spirit-worker and you want to horse Gods and Goddesses of the opposite gender, you might want to work with a third-gender spirit-worker on the technique of astral shifting, and then shifting back afterwards so as not to walk around with vague uncomfortable feelings. If necessary, a deity of the opposite sex can come in anyway, but they may temporarily reshape things in ways that don't clear up for some time after the ride, unless you're aware and able to put them back. Considering that an unconscious wrong-fitted astral gender can affect one's sexual functioning, it's a technique worth learning.

Another reason that someone might not be able to horse a certain deity, or a type or pantheon of deities, is because their energy clashes with that of the spirit-worker's patron deity. Within the northern-tradition pantheons, this could be an issue of two deities who are enemies, or just don't get along. A Lokisman wouldn't likely be able to horse Heimdall, for instance, nor a Farbautisman horse Odin. The splits are not drawn directly across pantheon lines - I can horse a Vanir or two, and I know some Aesir-owned spirit-workers who can horse Jotnar - but in general, if one has a patron deity to watch one's back (which we recommend), that deity will have a list of who can and cannot use you, drawn up for their own reasons, and you will be expected to go along with it. That's a matter of courtesy and respect.

And as with all things spirit-related, plan for what will happen if it doesn't work, or they don't show up. We strongly discourage horses from going out and pretending that they are possessed, even if they think that the congregation won't know. Some of them will, and anyway it's disrespectful to the wight in question, and might even make them angry with you. Better to have an alternate ritual planned, or perhaps the horse can go out and tell the congregation that they are speaking as a symbol of Deity X, and what is said to them will be heard by Deity X. (Which can reasonably be said to be true, considering that it's likely that Deity X will hear them if they were to address a wooden statue of same; it's the horse becoming a votive object rather than a container.) Honesty is more important than pleasing the masses, especially when it's an issue that can come back to bite you in the ass.

Becoming a Horse
by Lydia Helasdottir

For me it started doing priestess work. One night, after a ceremony at a Gnostic church, while celebrating a Gnostic Mass there, I was laying in bed masturbating, and this identity with a huge starry span became present. I wasn't doing anything other than that; I wasn't tripping or anything, but I was taken up into this experience of existing as this starry void, which is the Egyptian goddess of the stars. So having had that experience, I spoke to my teacher, and she said that perhaps I should try being the ceremonial divine channel. It turned out that I had a natural affinity for that; it was very easy for me. With the Gnostic ceremony, as soon as you get onto the altar, one or another of the goddesses comes and possesses you, to a greater or lesser extent depending on how good you are at it. So I would have a whole variety of different goddesses looking out through my eyes at the congregation, and I would be there but not there, and my eyes would always feel funny, as if I was looking out at them secondhand. And that's how god-possession started.

Then, next, I learned how to channel, and let entities use my mouth to speak with. Then I would go into it more fully and pretty much my whole body would be beyond my control while they were there. I would hold a particular posture, something that I wouldn't usually do, like my hand would go out and just stay there in a way that would be hard to do with just muscle. Eventually Hela started to possess me pretty fully, and do things with my body.

But most of the time I'm pretty aware of what's going on, even when I'm stuck "behind the safety glass"...although more recently less so. I don't have the luxury of amnesia, as many do. She'll possess me fully while I'm doing an ordeal ritual, or talking to someone, or if she needs to be there for any reason. I'm just her vehicle. A body is a vehicle for a disincarnate spirit which happens to be human; it can also (with a bit of difficulty) be a vehicle for a disincarnate spirit which happens to be a deity.

In terms of negotiating, Hela does whatever she wants with my body. Other deities, if they want to speak through me, have to clear it through her, and they can never go as far into possession as she does. The negotiations with me are usually about not doing anything that could send me to prison, or that would damage me. Sometimes astral spirits, lineage spirits for example, tag along to go for a ride. I don't consider that to be full-on possession; they'll just come along and sit in the body and experience what it's like to be incarnate. We'll go to the movies together, or drive a car. They'll get the sensation of being in the body, but they're not in control.

I've horsed Hela, the Enochian entity called Ebifahe, another Enochian called Narwaj, Hecate to an extent, Green Tara - she's very gentle to the body and always lets me take back control. The ones that I have horsed have been very good about my body, but I know that there are those who are not so careful. I don't mind exhaustion - I think it's part of the deal. Baphomet doesn't horse me, he just tells me what to do, but I don't know what would happen if I refused his orders, because I've never tried. Maybe I'd find out that I had much less control than I thought. Baphomet's been in the background giving direction on doing ordeal rituals sometimes, intimating movements, motoring me through them. That's how I've learned certain skills - a deity motoring me through the activity. I've learned from Arachne for certain complex bondage things. Sometimes I ask for help in doing something, sometimes they just show up and say "This needs doing, and we're doing it now. Yeah, I talked to your Boss, it's OK."

Hela's not as gentle on my body, but she sees it as a valuable possession that needs to not get broken too much. In the Gnostic priestess situation, it was such a ritually controlled space that although it is full-on horsing, the body is limited in what it's allowed to do. Their official deal is, "You get to come horse every other week when we do these Masses, but you don't get to move the body around, you have to line up and see who's going to come out, and you get to beam out energy and be present, but that's it. These are the rules." So any deity who can't live with that, doesn't come. But the variety was amazing. Some of them would leave me and I'd feel really buzzed and happy; some would leave and as soon as the veil would close I'm slump over in a fit of complete exhaustion; some would leave me nauseated and I'd have to sleep for three days; sometimes I could hardly walk to get off the altar and sometimes I was fleet of foot, nimble and happy walking around. Sometimes they wouldn't even identify themselves, but because it was in such a controlled ritual context it didn't really matter. Anything that could come and be in that space had to abide by those rules; they had a pass.

Afterwards, I'd often feel run over; my back would be sore. At first I'd think that it was just from sitting in that position for a long time, and then I'd try to just do that, and it doesn't hurt a bit. It's like a massive vibration has gone through you and rattled you at a cellular level...or like someone has ripped your spine out and put it back in again with two channels instead of one, and then afterwards they yanked the second channel out and loosely stitched it back together. It's sore. But that's also a "throughput" issue, because if you're only used to 110 volts running through your spine, and now you've got deity energy running through you - ten thousand volts and several more million amperes than you're used to - it can fry your circuits. Doing it a lot, you grow fatter wires, fatter pipes, until you can manage the deity energy easier. But then it starts to seep into everyday life; you can be in a constant state of being shadowed, a walking pair of eyes for your deity to ride along with.

I think that anyone can learn to channel, or to let something ride along with them to shadow, but not everyone can horse. Some people just can't let go of control, some people just aren't wired for it, and some spirits just won't horse a particular person. They're picky; they like a particular body type or brain type or personality. There's no judgment there; it's just not a fit with them. I think that anyone can be taught to be an energy channel, but we would never accept anyone as a divine energy channel who hasn't had some kind of experience with being touched by Deity. And just being a divine energy channel is the lowest, simplest level of horsing. I think there are cultural factors as well, so I'm undecided on the issue. I don't think everybody can naturally do it. In fact, I think some people are forbidden and precluded from doing it by their patrons. I think that you can teach people to have the channel open, but you can't force the deity through. You can teach them relaxation, mental preparation, awe, and such, and you can practice that, but that's not the same as deity coming through.

Walking the Path of the Horse
by Galina Krasskova

I consider myself extremely fortunate in how I came to first learn about and experience divine possession. My first experience with a God choosing to temporarily inhabit my skin occurred in the early nineties when I was still working with Fellowship of Isis. At the time, I was serving as psychopomp for someone’s initiation ritual. The woman in question was dedicating to the Kemetic Goddess Neith, and as I was guiding her through the various challenges and keeping her as grounded as possible considering the circumstances, I felt a quiet, reserved presence touching my consciousness. I had honored Anubis many times before, and I recognized the feel of that presence, so I didn’t panic. He slid gently into my consciousness, and I allowed Him to take over my mental and physical reins. The possession wasn’t very deep—a light shadowing, really—but it started me down the road of a horse, one who’s primary spiritual “job” is allowing the Gods to speak and act directly through the medium of one’s human flesh.

While possessory work is neither common nor encouraged in Fellowship of Isis, my priestess had some experience with the Afro-Caribbean religious traditions, enough to understand what was going on. She neither encouraged nor discouraged the practice. If it occurred, that was good and if it did not, that was good too. Thanks to her practicality in the matter, I was able to view possessory work as simply one more manifestation of my spiritual evolution. It had no particular weight attached for good or for ill. This has served me extremely well over the years. It allowed me to approach it as an act of service from the very beginning without becoming attached to either the practice or the outcome. I never sought out possession, but when it occurred, I was able to step back and allow the God or Goddess in question to come in without too much difficulty. Some people experience possession as violating in the extreme, but I was fortunate that for myself, this was never the case.

With one exception (which I shall discuss below), the first few years involved light shadowing. It wasn’t until I converted to Heathenry and got snapped up by Loki and Odin that things began to get really interesting. Even then, it wasn’t always complete possession. I learned very early on that there are numerous variations, shades and depth of penetration possible by the Gods.

Once I was taken in hand by Loki and Odin, possessory work became one of the training methods that They commonly used with me. In teaching me journey work, or certain aspects of magic, galdr, and seidhr, Loki would often ride me lightly, enough to overlay his consciousness with mine and to guide my hands in the techniques he was attempting to teach me. Eventually, Odin gave me a spirit song and over time, used this to pattern my head and mind to Him specifically. I didn’t realize precisely what He was doing at the time though, not until much later. Using the receptive state the song put me in, He would modify me slowly over a period of about a year until He could slip into me deeply and without difficulty. For that year of training, Odin became the only Deity other than Loki that I was allowed to horse, but eventually He permitted me to do so for other Gods and Goddesses.

There are certain Deities that are incompatible with me (I have been told flat out that certain Loa and Orisha will never be able to ride me, for instance) for reasons of my own emotional patterning and utter lack of compatibility, or because to horse certain Deities would inadvertently destroy too much of the patterning Odin put in place. Over the years it seems that more and more I horse primarily, if not only, the Northern pantheon. I am also not permitted to horse lesser spirits, but only certain Deities on what I like to call Odin’s “approved list”.

In retrospect, the manner in which Odin trained me as a horse leads me to conceive of the whole process as one of learning to welcome deeply internalized crisis. Essentially, possession is a crisis situation. One’s entire ego is put aside or pushed aside so Someone/Something else can enter and take control. That is a difficult thing for many people to deal with, and the reason that some horses find the whole process very violating. I do not find it so, but I suspect my erotic/romantic attachment to Odin as well as the very organic way in which I was first introduced to the whole thing has helped me immensely there. This is also the reason why I believe a certain degree of self-knowledge and psychological stability should be a prerequisite for a horse. Of course, sometimes the Gods just don’t give a damn and will utilize a person anyway, but in the ideal situation, a firm, solid sense of self is foundational toward ensuring the continued psychological health of the horse. Personally, I would not train someone as a horse unless it was patently clear from the get-go that the Gods were hellbent in using them in that capacity.

This is the reason that not only can not everyone do possessory work, but not every one should. It’s not just a matter of having the right brain chemistry/psychic patterning for it, though that is the most important thing, but the secondary crux of the issue is the ability to get beyond that initial trauma of having one’s consciousness moved aside. It’s apparent from all outward appearances of the horse that the beginning manifestations of possession reveal themselves to be a crisis situation, and this is perhaps the primary reason that horses need skilled, experienced and knowledgeable attendants to minimize difficulties. Possessory work can be grueling, not just mentally, emotionally and psychologically but physically as well. Good attendants make the process before, during and after go far more smoothly than it otherwise might and can contribute greatly toward the comfort and well being of the horse, especially in the exhausting aftermath.

For many of us, coming to possessory work in traditions that lack a cohesive framework for such things, having a skilled team of handlers is a luxury. I’ve only had the advantage of working with an experienced team once in all the years I’ve been doing this work, but that experience both before and after the possession itself was markedly easier than any other. I recovered faster and had fewer aftereffects. Furthermore, good handlers are calm during the onset of the possession and know what to do to help coax and entice the Deity in, which makes the whole process far more comfortable. Having knowledgeable people in attendance helps the horse relax which goes a long way to quickly facilitating the entire process.

I’ve been asked many times what might be the best way to prepare a horse for possession, and I honestly think it’s a very personal thing. Especially during the aftermath, when the Deity has gone, people may experience a plethora of reactions from tears to giggling laughter. Some people want to be left completely alone, whereas others may need human contact. It varies, as does what each horse will require in preparation, though the one common factor is that the experience tends to unlock emotional fetters to some degree. On a psychic level, some Deities will leave a person wide open, while Others may leave a certain muting in Their wake. I have a fairly strong gift of empathy, but after I horse Odin, that gift is blessedly muted in me for awhile. This was disturbing at first until I realized that He uses every part of my mental wiring when He’s in me, and the contrast when He’s gone makes the gift seem far more muted.

There are some commonsense preparations that one can take (and it goes without saying that these guidelines are only workable when you have been informed in advance that a Deity will be popping in, which for me until recently was rarely the case):

1) Get a good night’s sleep for at least a few days prior to the possession, especially the night immediately preceding the rite.

2) Eat lots of protein the night before—I find it helps minimize energy burn out and exhaustion after, but your mileage may vary.

3) Vitamins are a good thing. Having a Deity inhabit one’s flesh eats up energy reserves and can have a dramatic effect on one’s health. It plays havoc with the immune system, and there can be other temporary side effects as well, depending on the level of compatibility with the Deity in question, the length of the possession, the depth of the possession. I’ve had emotional issues come up, my back go into spasms, migraines, dizziness and involuntary tics. Good preventive care where one’s health is concerned is beneficial, not only here but in any type of spirit work.

4) Study qi gong, tai chi or a related martial art. It aids in learning to remain centered, regaining one’s center and most importantly in learning to maintain and balance one’s internal energies.

5) Be aware that there may be vestiges of both the Deity’s energy and occasionally personality traits, likes, dislikes and even emotions that linger in the horse for some time after the possession. Be sure to eat (preferably protein, something substantial, not junk food) afterwards and to do whatever is necessary to ground and bring yourself back to yourself and to mundane time/space. It’s also helpful to take cleansing baths beforehand, but most especially after. Being opened in the way that possession does can leave one in a fairly vulnerable emotional state for some time.

6) Develop a practice of daily grounding and centering. It’s boring but necessary.

7) As much as possible, take good care of yourself and your physical body and health. Horsing is grueling work in which your body and soul are used hard as a tool for the Gods. Therefore, it’s advisable to keep that tool in the best condition possible (which, given how spiritwork affects the physical body, can be hard; do your best within whatever limitations you have). There are also times where horsing can help one physically. I’ve had Deities (particular healing Goddesses) clear away energy blockages, heal pain, etc. as They left, leaving me in better condition than before the possession. It’s not all difficulties and stress.

The most important thing for any horse is to develop, nurture and maintain a strong relationship with a Goddess or God. I hate to use the dreaded word Patron but in this case, it does seem appropriate. Many horses are also god-slaves or otherwise god-owned, so a relationship of this sort goes with the territory. I imagine it would far more difficult for a horse who lacked such a relationship to counterbalance what some find to be invasive trauma. Spiritually and emotionally, even psychologically, it helps to deeply trust the Gods and to have a strong relationship with at least one. It can mitigate many of the difficulties. In fact, I believe serving the Gods is fundamental.

So, one might ask, what makes a person a good horse? The answer is fairly simple: you’re either wired that way or not. Being utilized as a horse is not a matter of being special. It’s a matter of being suited by chance and genetics and a plethora of other things far out of one’s own control for a job. There are other jobs just as important.

Some people have romantic notions about possessory work, or seek it out from a desire to increase their self importance. Some want to do it because they want to be the ones in this ostensibly exalted role, dispensing wise advice and performing miraculous healings, etc. This is absolutely the worst and most damaging attitude to have. Possessory work is an intensely sacred and an immensely humbling experience. To approach as anything other than service is to abuse both one’s spiritual community and one’s relationship with the Gods. Being suited to serve as a horse in and of itself is nothing special. It’s a matter of having the right brain chemistry/patterning for the job. It has nothing to do with personal worth. Nothing. Those of us who horse do this work do so because we have no choice. We do it because it is of value to the Gods and to the community. It is what the Gods have asked, and at times demanded, of us as part of our service. There are those who have never and will never horse who are doing work just as sacred and just as important. I never, ever allow myself to forget that for a moment.

The horse aside, there are a few things for folks witnessing a possession to keep in mind. The most important thing to note are the wants, likes and dislikes of the Deity in question. This is especially important for those of us in traditions that lack a long-standing practice and structure for ritual possession. It’s best if handlers or attendants can record what a given Deity likes for the future. Most Deities like to have some sense of continuity and continuation. Write it down. You’ll get some leeway the first and second time a God or Goddess shows up, but by the fourth and fifth time, you may get a pissed-off Deity. I for one, would not want to be there when Odin shows up, asks for a drink and there’s no alcohol, for instance!

I think it’s also important to remember that there are reasons the Gods choose to do this. This was driven home to me very recently at one of my first public possessions. Those of us who are taken up as god-slaves or who are otherwise owned by their Gods sometimes forget that this is not the case for the average Joe. I’m certainly guilty of this myself. I recently had the opportunity to horse Gerda at a Lammas celebration while another individual horsed Frey. This was one of the few times where I was completely ‘in the trunk’, so to speak, but afterwards, people contacted me and shared how deeply that face-to-face interaction with a God and Goddess had impacted them. I got to see first hand how deeply moving for all concerned this contact was and it really struck me: for most people, this is the only time they will ever have face-to-face, in-the-flesh communication with their Gods. It’s the only time they experience a Deity in the here and now, shining and speaking and moving in bodies so very much like their own. It’s the only time that gap between Midgard and the worlds of the Gods is effectively (and safely) bridged for however short a time. That is why this is important. That is why it is so very sacred.

I also realized in retrospect how much the willing horse allows the Gods to experience life and flesh and each other in new ways as well. It’s not just a one-sided process. It opens doors between the worlds, windows for the Gods to work. It is such an incredibly humbling experience. Until that Lammas, I had never considered the impact horsing had on the human contingent. I did it because it was what the Gods asked of me and doing so pleased Them. But in the aftermath of horsing Gerda, I saw firsthand what it means to the community. It’s allowed me to find a measure of commitment and peace with the whole process that I never expected.

Reconstructionist religions—in my case Heathenry—don’t have a long-standing framework for possessions, and for those of us being called to do this work, this can be rather problematic. In fact, the hostility a horse may encounter in some communities can be more traumatic and difficult than the possessory experience itself! One of the immediate issues, of course, is that we have few if any references in lore to possessory work being part of elder heathen (pre-Christian) consciousness. Whether it was or wasn’t, however, the fact is that the Gods are doing it now and eventually, the community is going to have to come to terms with that.

Another problematic issue is that Heathenry in particular does not seem to readily have a ritual structure—or what I like to call a ‘cease and desist mechanism’—which might otherwise facilitate possession. The ritual structure overall would have to evolve, deepen and change, becoming far more fluid than it is now, and in a religion terrified of anything smacking of “neo-paganism,” this is an uphill battle. When most Heathens do rituals, they follow clear-cut guidelines and a script, and they like to stick to that. Of course, if and when a God arrives, for things to go well, there has to be a cease-and-desist, and a ritual staff that is flexible and experienced enough to take appropriate action, and model that action for the community. In other words, the ritual has to stop and change to accommodate and attend the arriving God or Goddess.

Heathenry hasn’t yet come to this point. As a religion, it’s still occasionally debating on whether or not one needs clergy! The average Heathen ritual worker (and the average Heathen in general) doesn’t want their religious experience to be expanded into unknown qualities or territory. Plus, there’s a certain ergi quality that smacks too much of submission for the typical Heathen with their swashbuckling, macho Viking psychology to accept. “Our Gods would never do that,” They say. Unfortunately for them, our Gods seem to have other ideas.

Some Heathen spirit workers who are already experiencing possession eventually seek out the Afro-Caribbean diaspora religions, such as Umbanda, Lucumi, Santeria and Voudoun to learn how to safely cope with this. While this is helpful, I personally balk at transplanting African-style rituals into a Northern-Tradition context and feel that our ritual consciousness should evolve organically to accommodate possession. Of course, in the midst of a hostile community, horses will fumble around in the dark seeking out whatever lifelines they can find so that they can better serve the Gods they love and respect.

It isn’t just the limitations of Heathen ritual consciousness that cause problems. Most Heathens that I myself have encountered in over ten years in the community have very set ideas of what the Gods are like. This is mostly drawn from the Eddas and surviving lore. The idea that the Gods might have Their differing moods or choose not to limit Themselves to the scribblings of a Christian poet and politician from 13^th century Iceland seems to be a leap of faith few can manage in a religion desperate to keep its spirituality neatly and predictably contained. One can hardly blame them, though; it’s not as though divine possession is a common occurrence in the average Christian church, and the majority of Heathens are (I believe) converts from Protestant faiths. And then, of course, Gods aren’t safe. Nothing truly sacred or holy can ever be made completely safe. There’s always the chance They might be angry.

Yes, Gods can come angry. A Lukumi friend of mine once attended a ritual where the patron Spirit of the house showed up and angrily called for his machete, chastised a follower who had been disobeying certain spiritual taboos and behaving in general like an ass, and whipped him with said machete. My first experience with a totally amnesiac possession occurred with a very angry Goddess—in my case, the Morrigan. While it hasn’t happened often—in fact, only three times have I horsed a truly enraged Goddess—it can and does occur. (Usually, when I horse, the God or Goddess in question will dispense counsel, settle disputes, teach, simply give blessings, etc. ).

While experiences such as this can test the mettle of anyone involved, and while it’s very difficult not to become emotionally invested as no one wants to see the Gods they serve angry (or be the one who’s used to speak harsh words), it’s still important to maintain the thread of trust and respect. I have never once experienced or witnessed a position that did not have beneficial results, including the experience with the Morrigan. Even for those horses who experience possession as a violation, while they may not like the way it feels, seeing the impact it has on others makes it worthwhile and I think may help the horse find a measure of acceptance. As to why some people find it violating and others don’t, I don’t know. I suspect it has to do with personality quirks and where one falls on the dominance/submission spectrum within relationships.

In terms of etiquette for witnessing: do try not to interrupt a possession. It can cause damage to the horse to have the process broken off abruptly before the Deity is fully seated. This is another area where a competent team of trained handlers is incredibly helpful. It might also be useful to have a long discussion with your patron Goddess or God to negotiate what is and is not acceptable use of your body. This doesn’t of course, mean that the Gods will necessarily adhere to it, but it can help to have such a “contract” in place and if the God that owns the horse agrees, terms of the contract will generally be honored. This can be important, because unlike the Afro-Caribbean religions, where the Orisha and Loa have had structure and boundaries negotiated for generations, the Gods of the North don’t have a similar set of rules worked out with Their followers. For instance, in Afro-Caribbean religions the orisha will not have sex while in the horses’ bodies. This doesn’t necessarily hold true for the Northern Gods, who may wish to do just that. Gods may also imbibe substances that the horse is terribly allergic to, or large quantities of alcohol. It’s best to negotiate that They take the effects of such substances with them when They leave! This latter point is something that most Deities will comply with. The horse is, after all, providing a necessary service. I do not believe that the Gods willingly injure Their horses. Problems arise because the act of having the tiniest drop of divine consciousness contained in human flesh is incredibly stressful simply by its very nature.

Most Deities, when They come down, like to do work. If a horse is seemingly wandering around aimlessly for too long, handlers should be cautious. Some people have a hard time getting out of possession, not just getting into it. There are techniques to help bring a person back, and it’s best if the horse, early on in this work, can condition him- or herself to respond to specific stimuli. For me, calling my name, touching me while calling my name (just touching or eating won’t always do it because some Deities will put me extremely far under so They can eat and drink and touch while in my body), and removing ritual regalia often helps.

Once the Deity has departed, then it’s best to eat—and a good handler will make sure the horse eats at this point if necessary and ground. One horse recently told me that she smokes (something she’s only permitted to do on occasion) to ground herself and bring herself back to Midgard. Find out what works (unfortunately this is usually done via trial and error) and make preparations in advance. Conversely, if a horse prepares for a possession and the Deity is unable to seat Him or Herself, the only course of action is to admit this up-front. Never try to force a possession. There are a number of factors that can contribute to such difficulties and there’s no shame in not being able to horse at any given time. It happens. Besides, the Gods are not toys to shove around or programs to load. They'll do what they want, and change Their minds as They like.

Those present during the possession should not be frustrated by horses’ lack of ability for elaboration. After the Deity departs, many horses will have no memory of what happened, or at best only the vaguest of memories. Ask the average horse “What did Deity X mean when She said this?” and you’ll likely get the answer: “Beats the hell out of me, She said it, I didn’t!”

Sometimes those witnessing a possession may project certain feelings onto the horse after the possession is over. This is quite common, for it can be difficult to separate the physical person’s image from the Deity that temporarily inhabited it. The horse should be aware of this possibility and make sure to be up-front about it. Attachment, romantic feelings, etc. can all be evoked by the presence of a God or Goddess. It’s important to be aware of this fact because those feelings really have nothing to do with the horse him- or herself, and if someone expresses such feelings to the horse after a possession, the horse should be direct and point out that it’s likely transference. This is a time to set and maintain gentle but firm boundaries. I prefer not to interact with those present during a possession too much immediately after in order to counteract such perfectly natural effects.

Serving as a horse is an act of immense vulnerability and submission - you are giving over your flesh to a greater power to use as They will. It can be painful, terrifying, exhilarating, but always immensely fulfilling. It is a joy to be of use to one’s Gods and for those of us who find ourselves useful in this particular capacity, it provides a unique opportunity to serve both Gods and community in an amazingly intimate way.

Negotiating with the Gods is a hard thing. As we've mentioned elsewhere in this book and in others, our Gods may be bigger, wiser, and more knowledgeable than we are, but they are not omniscient or omnipotent. They may not know, for example, that right now is not a good time for a possession, because you're sick or in charge of small children, you’re having sex with a partner, you’re in line at the deli, etc. You need to be able to say No, politely but firmly, and not let it overrun you. Deities in general are not particularly concerned with your daily routine, although some are better about it than others. Usually, when this happens, the normal thing to do is to mentally say This is not a good time; I will take you on later in the direction of the Power that wants to move in.

Of course, that means that you had better make an appointment and fulfill it, or you may get in trouble. I had a longstanding habit of putting off possessions and not coming through on them, largely for reasons of fear, and one night during a gathering I went to sleep, and woke up four hours later by the fire wearing strange clothing, with people standing over me and saying, "Are you back?" It was an object lesson: if you want to be able to negotiate time and place, don't give us short shrift.

If you feel a god-possession coming on and just saying No isn’t working, there are things you can do to snap yourself out of that early trance state that opens you for being ridden. The idea is to change your consciousness so that it is firmly grounded in your body and the real world, and not doing anything repetitive or hypnotic. These techniques can also be used for anyone who feels that something is trying to “move in on” their consciousness, whether it is positive or negative.

1. Cold water, a lot of it, especially on the back of your neck. Step into a cold shower, as cold as you can stand it. This one has never failed me. Follow it up by eating and drinking something, which will ground you back into your body.

2. Drink a glass of cold salt water. You may not be able to get it all down; swallow as much as you can stand. You may vomit. That’s all right; vomiting will bring you quickly back into your body and close off the channel. The salt is grounding, and salt water is the best way to get a lot of it down your gullet at once. Follow it up with clear cold water, and food if you haven’t vomited and can stomach it.

3. Eat something extremely hot and spicy, like a swig of tabasco sauce or a spoonful of black pepper. Please have lots of water on hand to wash it down or rinse your mouth.

4. Worst case, if nothing else is working: Tell a friend to cause you abrupt physical pain - slap you, pull your hair, whack you on the rear end with a wooden spoon, whatever you think you can take. Avoid injurious things, please (see the safety issues around pain and injury in the Ordeal Path chapter). The pain should be fast, sharp, and you shouldn’t see it coming. Doing it yourself is not recommended; self-inflicted pain can actually have a hypnotic effect on some people.

5. After you’ve successfully slammed the door shut, do some mundane activity that requires all your concentration yet is not monotonous or repetitive. An example might be doing your taxes, or baking something from scratch with a difficult recipe. It should be complex enough to require your full attention, with many changes of activity. Don’t play music or sing while you’re doing it; have a friend talk to you instead, or put on talk radio. Don’t do anything rhythmic, like pace or drum or tap your fingers or jog; move around randomly. One particularly effective thing is to have someone talk to you about something that makes you angry, or at least something you feel very strongly about. The subject should have nothing to do with spirituality, god-possession, or anything ruled by that deity.

1. People with trust issues. If you find it difficult to trust even people who love you and are reliable, you will not have the ability to hold yourself open for the god to enter. You may react instinctively, slamming the door shut instead of being responsive. Work on your trust issues, including any anger you may have towards the Powers That Be. If you are blaming the Divine Will for your problems, you won’t be comfortable with letting any aspect of it run your body even more closely.

You can work on trust issues with the aid of other human beings. Ask the people who you trust the most to blindfold you and take you somewhere unknown, perhaps to do something that you have never done and have no knowledge of. If the idea makes you recoil, you’re not ready to work with god-possession.

2. People with poor boundaries. You need to be able to set boundaries, or you’ll just become a powerless vessel, living your life around the visitations of your patron deity. It’s hard to do things like hold down a job or have relationships or care for children when you’re constantly being used as a horse. If you want to take this path, you will need to work on the firm mental negative. It’s difficult, because it can be an amazing feeling to share your vessel with a Power, and it’s hard to turn down, but if it’s getting in the way of your daily activities, it can damage your life and health and make you a less worthy vessel. This is in addition to the fact that a deity can better be served and honored if the right situation is prepared for it in advance - which is something that most Gods can understand when you use it as a reason - "If you wait until next week, I will have a ritual set up, with your favorite foods and people to interact with! Please allow me to honor you properly!" But don’t let it take over your life. If you’re the ultra-sensitive type who is easily swayed by the strong emotions of others, do work on keeping your boundaries clear before opening yourself to an even stronger and more intense experience.

3. People with small children, or other full-time responsibilities that cannot be shirked. Being a horse can take up a sizeable chunk of your life. If you are needed on a moment’s notice by dependents whose care hangs on you and you aren’t home in your own body, it can cause problems. You might want to wait until some future date when you are no longer responsible for them and your time is your own. If the Gods are not going to let you off, you can pray to the Mother - that's the Big Mother whom all mother goddesses draw their sacredness from - and ask Her to intervene and give you space in which to raise your child. I did that, and it worked, although I paid for it later.

4. People with issues of mental illness that make their grip on reality tenuous at best and easily thrown off. This includes those with multiple personality disorder, where all of the individual may not be able to consent to the horsing, and where there is a higher likelihood of one "personality" taking on the archetype of the deity that sat next to it for a time, and believing that it is indeed that deity.

5. People who are desperate for importance in their spiritual community, and think that this is a way to achieve attention and prestige. It's more like being the divine limo driver, actually. It's grunt work, and if you go into it with ego issues, the Gods who use you may find ways to slap you down....perhaps leaving you to clean up their divine messes. If you can't be humble about it, don't do it...and don't let your community give you lots of special head-pats for being the suit that the God wears, either. It encourages the wrong mindset.

Dangers of Horsing
by Lydia Helasdottir

As to the dangers of horsing...well, I don't think that people should do it at all, not unless they're forced to. In Western magical tradition you've got this concept of "assuming a god-form", which is a mild type of horsing, where you identify with a god-form and invoke that particular kind of energy into yourself, and embody that energy. It's not the same, but the danger even from doing that is that people forget to divest themselves of the god-form, and they get stuck in that space being that entity - first of all, to the exclusion of all else, and secondly usually to the great annoyance of the people around them who are tired of them being Ra all day long. It's just not good.

The halfway stuff is actually the most dangerous, where they are only there about 40% and you attune the other 60%, and the attunement stays even when the deity leaves - as opposed to a fuller possession where the deity often takes everything with them. The obvious dangers are that they'll do something with your body that damages someone or is illegal. "Oh, cool, it's a car? Is this like chariots used to be? Yes?" and they smack you into a tree, or run a red light, or have unsafe sex, or make you ingest things you're allergic to and don't take them with them, or beat someone into a bloody hospital-ready pulp. I think there's also a psychological danger from sharing mind-space with a deity. They're so huge and you're so big. If they come forcefully, and you're not ready for them, you can tear. It can rip your soul.

It definitely causes problems with the relationships of people around you because when the God speaks through you, they may or may not accept that it's the God, because it's your mouth that is saying hurtful things to them, things that are arriving with such force that they can't defend against them. They're either going to say, "Well, this god stuff wasn't real anyway, you just made that up so that you can say these nasty things to me," or "You colluded with that nasty god, and that nasty god said these nasty things to me, and you're an asshole for letting it happen. Why didn't you stop it?" And then, there are certain truths that as a human being you don't necessarily want to know, and the god will come out and tell them to someone who needs to hear them and you'll say, "Oh, no, I didn't want to hear that!" It can be emotionally quite painful, as well as physically quite wearing.

You can get addicted to it, as well; you see that in the neo-Voudoun crowd sometimes - you get a rush when the deity comes, and you want that rush all the time, because it makes you feel important or because you love the clean, heavy deity throughput energy. It's sluicing out your whole system, and it's great, but you have to have some method for doing that yourself, not just horsing deities all the time.

Another danger is how do you know which bloody god it is? And how do you know it's even a god at all, and not some other bottom-feeding entity that can dress up as a god? That's a problem for people who just openly horse whatever comes. A patron deity can screen them out, and if you don't have one to look after you, perhaps you shouldn't be horsing. That's an unpopular, elitist view, and perhaps an overly paranoid view, but for me it's a very realistic view. Most of the horses that I know started out as divine energy channels, where they were used to it being a controlled circumstance, under certain conditions and for a particular reason - and then they go away again and give me my fucking body back. So we are used to setting boundaries. What worries me more is the kind of "Let's open up and see what wants to come in and jiggle with me" sort of people. Because that's a way into it, for sure - you can get possessed by trance-dancing, or any other kind of trancework.

Regarding the controversy of whether to put limits on the Gods: When you do public ritual, and you set rules as the price of entry for a deity, with the implication that if they don't like the rules, they shouldn't come, you aren't really setting limits on them. If they want to come and possess a person, they're going to do it anyway whether you like it or not, because human beings in general are not powerful enough to stop that from happening. But the effort involved for a deity to come and possess someone who isn't open and actively seeking it is huge, and not worth it. It's painful for them to manifest down here; that we know. It's not a walk in the park. They have to make quite an effort to get this dense.

And anyway, most Gods want to come down where they are wanted and honored, or at least where they have jobs to do. They don't come down without a purpose for all that effort, and if you can set things up so that they get the honor and ability to work that they desire, it will be worth it to them to come by appointment rather than randomly. The one exception might be trickster gods like Loki, where all bets are off, but they're a separate problem. Most Gods would rather be welcomed than fought off. Wouldn't most people, as well?

Raven Kaldera
cauldronfarm@hotmail.com

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