In Jewish folklore, a
is a spirit that cannot find rest because of some unfinished business in a former life.
The stories, which concern death, guilt and grief, often involve rabbis and rituals to resolve the spirit's problems.
Here is a short moment from the movie "A Serious Man" (2009).
What is your opinion about these spirits or any other spirits out there?
I personally think that dybbuks are the spiritual representation of a soul which has a lot of ties to the material world and also a lot of negative energy around it. Like how it is said in Neo-Platonism that having way too much worldly attachments and physical passion can hinder one's ascension to the higher spiritual realms.
If one takes a deeper look, there are also other spirits equal to dybbuks, but never less evil like the Preta - spirits in Hindu mythology associated with humans who died while having unfulfilled desires, sudden trauma or improper funeral rites, or Gonryo and Onryo - Japanese Shinto vengeful ghosts of humans who died in anger and betrayal, and although they are known to appear mostly as spectral apparitions, it is important to know that they are notoriously known for possessing living people to inflict sickness, madness or enact revenge on those who wronged them.
Spirits like this are, as it can be seen tied to the infernal and dark currents, as in Jewish mysticism such impurities of the human that became a dybbuk can be attributed to the Shedim and Mazzikin, primordial demons created before the first Sabbath.
Astrologically speaking, these types of spirits are an amalgamation of dark planetary aspects and I will break them down further here:
- Pluto (as archetype of possession) - This energetic aspect is evident as Pluto governs the underworld, decay, obsession, and the process of putrefaction (pretty logical for a planet surrounding all things related to death). The energy of dybbuks is raw-Plutonian as their souls refuse to cross the river Styx and prefer to violently merge their consciousness into a living host to survive.
- Saturn (in its aspect of the Cosmic Binder) - Saturn rules over density, prisons, karma and the concept of time itself (remember Saturn eating his children, the allegory of time consuming everything). This aspect is relevant in the case of the dybbuk as it represents a soul bound to the earthly plane due to sins or unfulfilled destiny. Based on that, Saturnian energy manifests as the cold, heavy and paralyzing physical sensations that is described during possessions.
- Lilith (the Dark Moon against Yesod) - In astrology Lilith represents the repressed, chaotic and vengeful subconscious and ruling over entities that refuse to submit to the cosmic order (she is known as the bride of Samael, a fallen angel who rebelled against God's merciful order and represents the merciless aspect which is unbalanced Gevurah after all). In the context of dybbuks, they thrive and operate on the Black Moon Lilith energy as they are driven by raw and unresolved trauma and spite.
- Rahu (North Node in Vedic Astrology) - Rahu is envisioned as a shadow planet representing all that is excess like insatiable worldly desire, illusion and even phantoms. Since Rahu energy causes souls to obsess over earthly pleasure to the devastating point of such pleasures blinding the soul from its ascension to the higher realms (either alive through meditation or after death), the soul cannot longer experience such excess unless it possesses a living body
It is also important to also know when do those spirits manifest as they draw upon various hidden points in one's chart. Those points are mainly found in the following houses: the 8th house aka "The Veil of Death" and the 12th house aka "The Astral Prison".
Normally, the 8th house can be positive as it rules over the occult and the literal transition of the soul. In a negative context though, it also rules over cries and trauma and this, as in having an afflicted 8th house, it can result in you being susceptible to being chosen by a wandering human spirit. Anneliese Michel, the woman who further became inspiration for the movie "Exorcism of Emily Rose" had Uranus, the planet of sudden changes, in her 8th house, standing for the sudden, violent and shocking disruptions in her psyche. Her Black Moon Lilith was at the exact degree of opposition to Uranus in her 8th house and Neptune, the ruler of her 8th house was in a heavily afflicted aspect on the Ascendant-Descendant axis with a heavy and direct opposition to Venus, leading to a total dissolution of Anneliese's medical psychosis and epilepsy with external spiritual manipulation.
Other notable cases that can be mentioned here are Roland Doe (inspiration for the Exorcist) and Clara Germana Cale.
Other placements that you should watch out for when talking about dybbuks:
- Pluto (depth and intensity) conjunct with Moon (instincts, the psyche) - An instant placement for emotional and psychological vulnerability; the subconscious mind is cracked open in this state
- Saturn Square Neptune: The dissolution of any spiritual boundaries whatsoever (ruled by Neptune) met with the brutal, heavy and terrifying reality of Saturn allow astral parasites to break through.
- The South Node (Ketu) Afflictions: If the South Node (Ketu) is afflicted, signifying a heavy baggage and karmic load related to one's past lives, it will essentially act as a cosmic drain pipe, letting ancestral or wondering dead attach themselves to the living.
Based on this, we can clearly deduce that we need to stay away from excess, both spiritually and physically. The dybbuk are both dangerous but also a spiritually living testament on how obsessions, unresolved trauma, anger and hate can corrupt one's soul painfully deep.
