Description
Field Guide to the Spirit World: The Science of Angel Power, Discarnate Entities, and Demonic Possession by Susan B. Martinez, Ph.D., is a comprehensive examination of how the spirit world influences our minds and the material plane. Published by Bear & Company, this 304-page book delves into the interactions between the living and the unseen entities that coexist with us.
Dr. Susan B. Martinez, an anthropologist with a doctorate from Columbia University, is a writer, linguist, teacher, and paranormal researcher. She is also a recognised authority on the Oahspe Bible. Her previous works include Delusions in Science and Spirituality and The Lost History of the Little People.
In this book, Martinez explores the concept that individuals are spirits housed in a body, and just as houses can be haunted, so can people. She suggests that when individuals enter dissociative states of consciousness, they become susceptible to wandering spirits—referred to as jinn, dybbuk, daemon, wuqabi, or simply the undead—that hover unseen on the earth plane, ready to inhabit suitable hosts.
Martinez presents a radical departure from standard psychological explanations for various pathological behaviours, including multiple personality disorder, autism, epilepsy, migraines, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, PTSD, self-destructive urges, and strange outbursts. She posits that hallucinations are often true impressions of spirit input and that mental health hinges on the balance between self-control and spirit-control. Trauma, she explains, can trigger an escape response, leaving the mind susceptible to possession by discarnate entities. Conversely, the spirit world can bestow gifts upon those open to it, such as mediums, shamans, individuals who communicate with angels, and many creative geniuses.
The book provides a detailed guide to the afterlife and its inhabitants, offering checklists of symptoms of spirit “overshadowing,” methods from the world’s top exorcists, and instructions on how to free unwanted spirits from the material plane. Martinez presents “overshadowing” by spirits as a universal, cross-cultural phenomenon, documenting modern and traditional accounts and corroborating indigenous beliefs. She examines soul decay, soul travel both before and after death, and how knowledge of the spirit world can offer positive treatments for disorders like schizophrenia and autism.
Field Guide to the Spirit World offers readers an in-depth exploration of the unseen forces that influence our lives, challenging conventional understandings of mental health and providing insights into the profound connections between the material and spiritual realms.
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