Stunning. This is not a newsletter. This is a white paper. Probably the most interesting white paper I have ever read, because those things can be dead boring, and this was ... grand. The care you folks take in producing this shows. I loved the detailing. Loved the language. Loved how after I had finished reading this, I felt like I a PhD in possessions and faith healing. Wishing all of you a great 2020. May your tribe grow. Thanks for doing what you do.
PS: On the subject of possessions, allow me to shamelessly plug a story about my grand aunt, which was part of my mission statement at The Correspondent:
"I was 18 when I started to lose my mind.
Some days it felt as though a giant wrench was clasped around my neck, slowly strangling me, until I was ready to squirt all the air, water, and blood inside. Other days, I bloated and bloated like an overblown balloon, ready to burst.
The sensation in the end was always the same: empty.
I am told I had a grandaunt, Mejo Thakuma, who was possessed by a spirit when she was pregnant with one of her three children (each one named after a Hindu god to ward off the evil eye). She’d eat chunks of dirt and speak in an unearthly voice. Her family chained her up, scared she would wring someone’s neck. One day they called an ojha, who beat her with a broomstick and drove the spirit away.
After hearing the story of what happened to Mejo Thakuma, I became terrified of being possessed. And now, I was."
Stunning. This is not a newsletter. This is a white paper. Probably the most interesting white paper I have ever read, because those things can be dead boring, and this was ... grand. The care you folks take in producing this shows. I loved the detailing. Loved the language. Loved how after I had finished reading this, I felt like I a PhD in possessions and faith healing. Wishing all of you a great 2020. May your tribe grow. Thanks for doing what you do.
PS: On the subject of possessions, allow me to shamelessly plug a story about my grand aunt, which was part of my mission statement at The Correspondent:
"I was 18 when I started to lose my mind.
Some days it felt as though a giant wrench was clasped around my neck, slowly strangling me, until I was ready to squirt all the air, water, and blood inside. Other days, I bloated and bloated like an overblown balloon, ready to burst.
The sensation in the end was always the same: empty.
I am told I had a grandaunt, Mejo Thakuma, who was possessed by a spirit when she was pregnant with one of her three children (each one named after a Hindu god to ward off the evil eye). She’d eat chunks of dirt and speak in an unearthly voice. Her family chained her up, scared she would wring someone’s neck. One day they called an ojha, who beat her with a broomstick and drove the spirit away.
After hearing the story of what happened to Mejo Thakuma, I became terrified of being possessed. And now, I was."