What are obsessing spirits?

Obsessing spirits who influence the mind of a living soul are souls, which have been incarnated in earthly bodies, and have so indulged their lower passions in that state that they are unable to free themselves from the fetters of their astral envelopes.

These lower spirits haunt the earth and incite those yet in the flesh to indulge in drink and similar vices. They can control the individual in many ways—either partially or completely—and the most common way is for the spirit to partly envelop the individual he controls with his spirit body until a link has been formed between them—somewhat after the nature of some twin children who possess distinct bodies but are so joined to each other and interblended that all which one feels is felt by the other.

In this fashion, what is swallowed by the individual is enjoyed by the spirit who controls the unfortunate individual and who urges him to drink as much as possible.

When he can no longer do so, the spirit will then try to free himself and go elsewhere in search of some other weak-willed man or woman of depraved tastes. Not always, however, can either the spirit or the individual free themselves from the strange link woven between them by the indulgence of their joint desires. After a long-continued connection of this sort, it becomes very difficult for them to separate, and the spirit and the individual may go on for years sick of each other yet unable to break the tie without help from the higher powers who are always ready to assist those who call on their aid.

Should a spirit continue to control men for the purpose of self-gratification, he sinks lower and lower and drags his victims down with him into the depths of hell itself.

They will both have a bitter and weary task to climb when the desire for better things awakens, for only a soul has the power to think and to will.