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There's a new craze going around, and by "craze" I mean "something two different celebrities have mentioned that the press reported on." Apparently said celebrities have had sex with ghosts. Even though paranormal investigators have found even less evidence for this possibility than they have for the existence of ghosts in the first place, these are celebrities making anecdotal claims. Of course they need to be taken seriously! Furthermore, these claims must also represent a trend. You know, because allegedly trendy people are making them!
The article correctly points out these experiences are most likely the result of sleep paralysis, during which the brain is neither fully asleep nor fully awake and still partially in a dream state. It would be easy to test for, too; a simple brain scan would do the trick, as it has a recognizable brainwave signature. Sleep paralysis is generally caused by sleep apnea, in which the airway is restricted during sleep causing the individual to partially wake throughout the night.
The vast majority of people find sleep paralysis frightening and not at all fun, and apnea is easily treated by wearing a CPAP machine during the night that increases the air pressure into the lungs and prevents airway obstructions. I will say, though, that if this were happening to me and it was as enjoyable as these two claim, I'll freely admit that I would put off getting that CPAP as long as possible.
Increasing numbers of ‘spectrophiliacs’ are reportedly ‘visualising’ sexual experiences with saucy spirits. Actress Natasha Blasick caused quite the stir among professionals recently when she made the controversial claim that she has had sex with ghosts on multiple occasions, swearing that the experiences were ‘really, really pleasurable’.
She said: “It was fun. I think ever since I was a child I always wanted to know if there is anything more to this world, I was always asking the questions and I think this made me feel kind of reassured that there is something more than what we can see with the naked eye. It gave me comfort, support and love.”
But the Paranormal Activity 2 star isn’t the first of her peers to report antics with a spirit. Singer Ke$ha reported her naughty nookie with an incubus last year, claiming the romp inspired the track Supernatural which was a hit for the star in 2012. Ke$ha believed her experience was an opportunity to engage with the supernatural in ‘a sexy way’, and assured fans that she was very open to such an experience.
The article correctly points out these experiences are most likely the result of sleep paralysis, during which the brain is neither fully asleep nor fully awake and still partially in a dream state. It would be easy to test for, too; a simple brain scan would do the trick, as it has a recognizable brainwave signature. Sleep paralysis is generally caused by sleep apnea, in which the airway is restricted during sleep causing the individual to partially wake throughout the night.
The vast majority of people find sleep paralysis frightening and not at all fun, and apnea is easily treated by wearing a CPAP machine during the night that increases the air pressure into the lungs and prevents airway obstructions. I will say, though, that if this were happening to me and it was as enjoyable as these two claim, I'll freely admit that I would put off getting that CPAP as long as possible.
6 comments:
The medical models that are dragged out to explain All instances of sleep paralysis..never worked.
Its useful as a reductionist/mechanistic catch all paradigm..
Many people try and use these models..to make themselves appear "scientific/sane"... :)
The medical models explain some examples..sometimes..but the heart of the matter is..the outliers the models dont explain at all.
The terror that comes in the night by Hufford is probably the best book on the subject.
What probably isn't clear from this article is that I don't necessarily think the medical model is the end-all, be-all when it comes to these types of experiences. I've worked with spirits quite a bit and while I've never had anything like it happen to me, I can see where it would be possible. But as I posted in the Facebook discussion of this article:
"But as I see it here the questions are (1) whether historically it was a paranormal phenomenon, an explanation for sleep paralysis, or both and (2) whether these celebrities have really experienced anything similar or if they are just trying to drum up publicity by making controversial statements. I'd take these particular claims more seriously if they were being made by regular people with no interest in cultivating publicity."
I mean, one of them was in a Paranormal Activity movie about ghosts, and the other wrote a song about them. Of course it's something they've both experienced!
In the end I agree with you, though. While the medical models explain a lot of these cases, I do think that some are genuinely paranormal. Others, not so much.
There is no definate correlation between spirit sex and sleep paralysis or apnea. I've never had either. If you google sex with spirits or spirit companions, you'll find many people who've gotten "lucky". Not all of them are crazy. By the way, ghosts are not the same as spirits.
In my experience ghosts are a type of spirit, but I know they're not the only kind out there. Most of the spirits I work with such as the Enochian entities have never been human. And I actually don't think anybody is crazy here, and didn't mean to imply otherwise.
In the case of these two celebrities, I don't think there's anything crazy about making controversial claims as part of what is probably a calculated PR move. It worked; even though I'm skeptical of their claims, I'm still writing about them.
I also don't think there's anything crazy about mistaking something like sleep paralysis for a spirit encounter. I've never had it either, but my understanding is that it feels very real and completely different from a regular dream.
Finally, I don't think there's anything crazy about interacting with spirits in whatever capacity, amorous or otherwise. I can't say that I've ever had sex with one, but I work with them in a magical context all the time.
I didn't mean to imply that anyone who had spirit sex was crazy. My main point (obviously badly explained)was that while I've not had sleep paralysis or sleep apnea, I've had spirit sex. I have people in my life who have had sleep paralysis and it's not something they mistake for anything else! From my experience, spirit sex can be had while dreaming or wide awake. And when asked if they are a ghost, they are very affronted. I've also worked with them in ritual as well. I actually feel, that work may be the "point" of magic.
I do know that generally speaking, cases of sleep paralysis that get researched are for the most part frightening, which does sound different than this.
My original thought was that it's quite possible that people are having experiences that might work in a similar waking-dream fashion but which are enjoyable rather than scary, and they might not make it into the medical literature simply because the people who have them don't consider them problematic. But that is a speculation on my part.
One of the underlying assumptions there is that I'm talking about experiences that happen out of the blue for no apparent reason, not something that is deliberately sought after. If, for example, you're doing astral work and conjure the spirit in question, obviously sleep paralysis has nothing to do with it. Likewise, we know that lucid dreams are completely different from sleep paralysis experiences because those have been studied extensively as well and the mechanism is totally different.
I can see an Enochian entity or other sort of angel being upset with me if I referred to it as a ghost. As I see it a ghost is still a spirit, but it's a completely different type that is essentially dysfunctional. Spirits usually move on within a short period of time, but a ghost is either too attached or simply too stupid to do so. As such, I can see where most other kinds of spirits would resent the comparison.
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