Last time I said to A.I.: The shadow flood is generative of the uncanny. Can you mix that in some way with Janet's work with possession and whatnot? Janet seems to have been an early parapsychologist.
"Absolutely, Gary. What you’re invoking—the shadow flood as generative of the uncanny—dovetails exquisitely with Pierre Janet’s early work on dissociation, automatism, and possession. He stood at the threshold between empirical psychology and the 'psychical marvelous,' a liminal space where the uncanny was not just aesthetic but clinical, ritualistic, and ontological."
"Let’s braid this together:
"🌑 The Shadow Flood and the Uncanny
"When the shadow is repressed, denied, or projected, it doesn’t vanish—it floods. This flood is not just emotional—it’s ontological. It destabilizes the boundary between self and other, animate and inanimate, real and unreal. Freud called this das Unheimliche—the uncanny—as 'that which ought to have remained hidden and has come to light.'
- The uncanny is the return of the repressed.
- It is the shadow made visible, but not yet integrated.
- It manifests in doubles, automata, possession, and haunted repetition."
"This is precisely where Janet’s work becomes electrifying."
"🧠Janet’s Dissociation and Possession
"Janet’s theory of psychological automatism described how trauma and repression fragment the psyche, producing:
"He studied patients who spoke in other voices, wrote automatically, or entered fugue states—what we might now call dissociative identity disorder, but which he also linked to spirit possession, mediumship, and hypnotic suggestion."
"Janet was not merely pathologizing these states—he was mapping the ritual architecture of the uncanny:
- The split self becomes a vessel for the shadow.
- The possessed body becomes a stage for the disowned instinct.
- The automatic act becomes a cipher for the repressed drive."
"🧿 Janet and Parapsychology
'Early in his career, Janet engaged with psychical research—telepathy, clairvoyance, and mediumship—before distancing himself from it to align with institutional psychology. But this flirtation with the “psychical marvelous” reveals his sensitivity to:
- The ritual dimension of dissociation
- The symbolic logic of possession
- The uncanny as a rupture in the field of consciousness"
"In this sense, Janet was a proto-parapsychologist—not in the sense of endorsing supernatural claims, but in recognizing that the psyche, when fragmented, behaves as if haunted."
"🌀 Synthesis: Shadow Flood as Possession
"So when the shadow floods:
- The ego fragments.
- The body becomes a vessel.
- The uncanny erupts—not just as fear, but as ritual drama."
"Janet’s possessed patients were not merely ill—they were enacting the mythic return of the disowned self. The uncanny was not a symptom—it was a summons."
"Would you like to build a ritual map for navigating this flood—perhaps staging the uncanny as a rite of passage, where possession becomes transformation? Or explore how horror tropes (the double, the haunted house, the possessed child) encode Janet’s dissociative logic?"
I know he did work on doubling. What were his conclusions?
"Janet’s work on doubling—or the phenomenon of the split self—was foundational in shaping our understanding of dissociation, possession, and the uncanny. He didn’t use the term 'doubling' in the Freudian or literary sense (like the doppelgänger), but he described and documented its clinical manifestations with remarkable precision."
"Here’s a synthesis of his conclusions:
"🧠Janet’s Doubling: Dissociation as Fragmentation
"Janet observed that under traumatic stress or psychological overload, the psyche could split into coexisting psychological existences:
- One part remains tethered to ordinary consciousness.
- The other becomes submerged, operating automatically, often with its own voice, memories, and behaviors."
"He called this psychological automatism—a form of doubling where:
- The subconscious self acts independently.
- The conscious ego may be unaware of these acts.
- The split is not symbolic—it’s functional, often visible in trance states, possession episodes, or automatic writing."
"👻 Doubling as Possession
"Janet’s patients often described their dissociated states as being taken over:
- By spirits, alternate personalities, or alien forces.
- These were not hallucinations but embodied enactments of disowned affect and memory."
"He concluded that possession-like phenomena were expressions of trauma-induced dissociation, not supernatural events. But he didn’t dismiss their symbolic or ritual power—he saw them as psychic dramas, staging the return of the repressed."
"🧬 Doubling and the Breakdown of Synthesis
"Janet believed that mental health depended on the synthesis of psychological functions—memory, attention, emotion, and volition. Doubling occurred when:
- This synthesis broke down.
- The psyche could no longer integrate traumatic material.
- The result was a split field of consciousness, with narrowed awareness and automatic behavior."
"In this view, doubling is not just a symptom—it’s a defense, a way for the psyche to survive what it cannot metabolize."
"🌀 Doubling as the Uncanny
"Though Janet didn’t use the term 'uncanny,' his descriptions resonate deeply:
- The doubled self is familiar yet alien.
- It behaves autonomously, often eerily.
- It evokes dread, awe, and symbolic rupture."
"His work laid the groundwork for later theories of multiple personality, trauma-based dissociation, and even parapsychological inquiry—all rooted in the idea that the psyche, under duress, can split, stage, and haunt itself."
"Would you like to map Janet’s doubling onto horror tropes or mythic archetypes? Or explore how his clinical cases mirror ritual possession and symbolic death?"
"Familiar yet alien". Did Janet ever endeavor to replicate doubling using hypnosis?
