Alice's Demoniacal Adventures

Possession and You:

A Guide to Identify and Expell Your Demoniacal Possession

Written by David Van Dewater

-- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Illustration from John Tenniel. published in 1865.—

At the time this novel was writing there was an emerging study coming forth based on the validity of spiritual possession as a valid type of mental ailment; now separate from hysteria. Although it might not have been Carrol’s intent when writing this novel about a child’s adventure through their subconscious. Carrol was able to recreate what went through a possessed person’s mind when they were taken by the spirit. The reader goes on an adventure through this young girl’s mind plagued by hallucinations, immediate gratification, and twisting trails leading deep into her subconscious. Lewis Carrol brings to light the process in which one goes through when they are possessed. Exemplifying the trials of faith that one might go through while being possessed by a spirit or deity. Carrol wrote in agreement with James' study into a fourth mental state. Carrol's character Alice is not hysterical but is possessed by a spirit or deity.  

Is Your Child Possessed

    To better understand if there even is a possession in the novel there needs to be a basic understanding of spiritual possession from the perspective of a nineteenth-century professional. William James, who studied the subject religiously, was one of the first to categorize spiritual possession separate from hysteria. Professionals began to dissect what made constituted a person as mentally ill and what category they would have been placed into for treatment. For a long time, spiritual possession was regarded not as its own section but as a part of hysteria, that is until William James wrote on it in the late eighteen hundred’s. He proposed that there was a fourth type of mental state, adding onto the accepted and understood original three, spiritual or demoniacal possession. James provided the guidelines that Carrol uses to design Alice’s possession in the novel.

   Possession traditionally has a type of trigger within a religious or nonreligious ritual that signifies that there is a possession taking place and has started. This can be incense, a wand, a discussion between two people, or another catalyst (James). This catalyst is different case by case and regionally but there is always a signifier that before a possession happens, a start to the ritual. In Alice’s case, there is an animal that takes her to the start of her possession.    

    As the white rabbit ran by Alice that could be considered the moment the ritual began, and Alice started to become possessed. After she followed the rabbit Carrol wrote, “In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again” (Carrol, chapter 1). This would be considered the moment that the spirit possessed her corporal form and began to use her subconscious to communicate with Alice. The moment she took the leap of faith into the hole was the moment that she allowed the spirit to possess her body.

Two Signs That Your Child Might be Possessed

    Now that the possession of Alice has begun the rest of the ritual can begin. There are two signs that Alice displayed that are symptoms of a possession; praying, and eyes that were rolled back into her skull. The first of which appears once she falls down into the room with the small door. The other can be seen at the end of the novel when Alice presents the evidence to the court.

    Those that would become possessed by these spirits would attract a crowd of those that looked for answers to their questions and needs. Believers would flock to those that we're able to be possessed in an effort to have prayers answered by the spirit or deity (James, 96). These believers would come to those that were spiritually adept enough to connect themselves to a higher power. They would allow themselves to be a conduit of communication between the mortal and spiritual realms.

-- James, William. Exceptional Mental States. "Demoniacal Possession". --

    In Alice’s case this happened internally, inside of her conscious. When there was a problem that needed to be solved, she simply had to ask for the solution, then it would solve itself as long as she had faith in the solution that appeared in front of her. At one-point, Carrol presents Alice with a door that is too small for her to enter leading her to proclaim, “Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope!” (Carrol, chapter 1). She wished to be able to shrink in size so that she can continue forward through the door, she calls out to the world, to the spirit to give her what she needed to proceed on the path ahead of her. This is the first true obstacle that Alice faces on her journey.

    Alice believes so deeply that there will be a solution that she simply called out for what she needed in that moment. The spirit that possessed Alice answered, although it was not without another test of faith in Alice. Carrol writes, “this time she found a little bottle on it (‘which certainly was not here before’, said Alice), and tied around the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words ‘DRINK ME’ beautifully printed on it in large letters” (Carrol, chapter 1). The bottle was not there previously when Alice entered the room, it only appeared to her once she spoke aloud to the room around her.

    The second sign that this was possession and not hysteria was in her eyes. This sign is physical in nature and visible to onlookers when the person in question is possessed by a spirit. James wrote, “The eyes of the possessed had already opened to the glassy stare typical of trances, the eyeballs so rolled back that the pupils were nearly out of sight” (James, 96). The physical rolling back of the eyes can be a sign that a person is indeed possessed by a form of spirit at that moment. The eyes rolling into the back of the person’s head was considered to be a concrete signifier that the person is possessed.  

-- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Illustration from John Tenniel. published in 1865.—

    The above picture depicts a single moment when the main character Alice leaves Wonderland. Her eyes are without a pupil and staring blankly into the distance. The expression on her face is one of contempt, there is little emotion coming from her lips or eyes. There is nothing. The face that is presented by Alice in this moment of high stakes and emotion is stoic and seems to be missing a key component of her eyes, her pupils. When this picture happens she has been possessed by the spirit for the entire length of the novel, and this is the end result, the spirit at the height of possession and control of Alice. There are other pictures representing Alice but for the large majority of the time, there are pupils in her eyes and makes this picture the outlier.

How to Get Rid of Your Pesky Spirit Possession

    The spoken word is powerful. Words that are spoken between two people care a lot of weight between them, these are words that cannot be unsaid or undone. Communication is more powerful than humanity gives credit. Just by speaking there can be damage that cannot be undone. James noticed an instance where through the spoken word a spirit was transferred to another person. He wrote, “while the girl was on the ward, she overheard a conversation between two women. One thought she was possessed by a fox and wished to pass it on to someone else in order to be rid of it” (James, 98). By speaking of the possession, the woman described by James was able to pass on the spirit of the fox to another woman in the hospital ward. This lends extra weight to the words spoken by those that have been possessed by a spirit, a heavy responsibility.  

--James, William. Exceptional Mental States. "Demoniacal Possession".--

    Then there is the final paragraph of the novel. Alice wishes to be released from this spirit that lives within her. There is an easy way to release a spirit into the world, to relinquish it from the bonds of one’s body and onto another. Carrol wrote, “and how she would gather about other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with mand a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago” (Carrol, chapter 11). Alice, an innocent child, turns around and tells of her tales in Wonderland to all of the local children, thus spreading the spirit that possessed her in the first place. This act of discussing the possession with the other children will only perpetuate the cycle, more possession to come in the future and more children lured by the white rabbit.

    Alice, a misunderstood child, fell trap in the spirit of Wonderland and became mesmerized by its spell. This was not a case of hysteria or madness, although there was plenty of madness to go around in Wonderland. This adventure was a case of spiritual possession. Alice showed all of the signs of possession through her journey ending with her eyes in the back of her head. Then like the epidemic that possession can occasionally be Alice spreads the spirit. Through gossip and storytelling, Alice continues the cycle of the spirit that possessed her and sent her on that trip. Remember this if a child tells a story of a far-off land or of white rabbits and never-ending holes; be careful not to listen, this might be an attempt to pass the spirit on.

About the Author:

    David Van Dewater is a senior at Holy Family University, study Secondary Education with a focus in English studies. While studying at Holy Family University he learned that he fell in love with literary criticism of all sorts. He runs his own podcast with Alumni from the university where they discuss literature and other topics. He enjoys long walks on the beach and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but not at the same time.