Self Conscious Mystic

Self Conscious Mystic

Madness and mysticism. Articulating lunacy and other mysterious things. I have a psychotic disorder and experience this as a spiritual phenomenon as well as a medical condition. I am training with Shamanism Ireland to be a transpersonal therapist. Here I discuss non-ordinary reality, mysticism, psychosis, spirits and dreams. The point really is to talk about things I don’t know how to talk about. Non ordinary states are things that are hard to explain and almost impossible to describe. This is a personal challenge for myself, a project which came to me in a series of dreams about making videos. I’m currently writing a book about Lí Ban, a mermaid in Irish myth. You can follow me here and / or add your email on my website to find out when the book is released: www.catherinehatt.com New episodes every month, follow to join my journey. Also available as a video on Substack, YouTube and Spotify

Episodes

  1. 11/28/2025

    Spirit Possession: My Exorcism Journey (part one)

    Hello, here I describe the first half of my journey exorcising troublesome spirits.  Please see my previous episode where I describe the spirit possession itself. My approach to exorcism was to try different available things and follow where they led me, trusting in God to speak to me through dreams, the body and everyday reality. I will expand on this in part two.  In this video I discuss shamanic healing, a distant energy treatment, dreams and plant medicines. My own unconscious attachment to these entities I learned was a very profound connection, and this step in my exorcism journey opened a doorway of understanding to the ancestral realm, which I will explain in the next video. So this is one of three episodes in total, which describe my unique experience of spirit possession and my journey of exorcising these spirits from my body and my life. The possession states happened after years of trances and states of surrender in my spiritual life, which is how things eventually got so out of control. as I had relinquished control to the Others, naively thinking anything spiritual moving through me was positive or special. My next video will dive into the 'problem' of troublesome entities and 'demons' and how for me this was a whole heart journey (thank you mushroom) which makes my exorcism path different to other exorcism processes.  I would advise others dealing with this to follow their own process and see it as a journey into other realms rather than one dramatic extraction ceremony, though that can also be effective.  But is it healing on multiple levels?  Journey deeper by following your dreams and the divination of everyday reality, though the trickster may appear you have celestial family to lean on.  Trust dreams, trust reality, trust yourself.

    23 min
  2. 10/28/2025

    My Experience of Spirit Possession.

    Happy Hallowe'en, All Souls, Samhain, Day of the Dead. Today I'm describing several personal experiences, to give real life examples of spirit possession, which I have experienced and had to find ways to deal with by myself. I give several examples leading up to the 'big one' which felt the most extraordinary to me, as someone who was actually getting used to this happening all the time. I can never forget these happenings, though they were years ago and I have worked hard to remove these spirit attachments and intrusions, which I will explain in my next video. There are records and accounts of spirit possession from all over the world and it is recognised in world religions and spiritual traditions, but the event/ experience is medicalised in secular society as a psychiatric event. I believe troublesome spiritual activity can cause mental disturbance and upset the balance of the mind, so spirit possession can be happening when there is psychosis; the two states overlap in a way, as they are altered states of being where the psyche could be ruptured in some way by the spirits coming in, weakening the boundaries of the mind which makes you vulnerable to reality distortions. But what is important is to explain that the possession is not the psychosis. For me as someone who has had many psychotic episodes and also many experiences of spirit possession they are totally distinct and feel completely different. 'Losing control' can be part of a psychotic breakdown, but when you are 'possessed by a spirit' they take over all control of you, completely out of the blue and you are not hysterical you can be completely calm going about your business and then you are just suddenly taken over/ possessed. You become an incredulous witness to what your body is doing and what is coming out of your mouth. You are not feeling in crisis but in amazement at what is happening to you, and fear. You no longer have control of your own body, but you can feel how it is moving because you are still in it, you have just lost the controls. You are doing things you could never imagine doing and doing movements that are physically not possible when you are in control. You feel completely powerless to stop it, though I feel I must have had some power to fight it and should have tried harder to stop all this when these things started to happen, before it escalated and became more extreme and powerful and a big problem. I want to say more about the spirits themselves, the characters/ persons, but I will do this in the next video. As I explain towards the end, it is rare to find people in authority who will believe you when you have had these experiences. I wonder if you believe me or not watching this? Perhaps I should have not drawn whiskers on my face if I wanted to be taken seriously. Perhaps you have been possessed yourself or know someone that has / is, and understand what I'm describing, or your experiences are very different to mine. The world is so unfathomable. This awe inspiring attitude to the spirit realm in many ways injured my personal boundary/ protection from troubled ones and old forces/ ancient entities, but I also found my way back to peace and right relationship with the Others, which I will explain in the next video so please follow me here, or on your preferred podcast platform, 'Self Conscious Mystic'. Thank you and blessings

    27 min

About

Madness and mysticism. Articulating lunacy and other mysterious things. I have a psychotic disorder and experience this as a spiritual phenomenon as well as a medical condition. I am training with Shamanism Ireland to be a transpersonal therapist. Here I discuss non-ordinary reality, mysticism, psychosis, spirits and dreams. The point really is to talk about things I don’t know how to talk about. Non ordinary states are things that are hard to explain and almost impossible to describe. This is a personal challenge for myself, a project which came to me in a series of dreams about making videos. I’m currently writing a book about Lí Ban, a mermaid in Irish myth. You can follow me here and / or add your email on my website to find out when the book is released: www.catherinehatt.com New episodes every month, follow to join my journey. Also available as a video on Substack, YouTube and Spotify