Blood Letting was a Real Thing
Discover the murky past of sleep paralysis, the terrifying disorder once associated with demonic possession
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Sleep paralysis was once known by the term ‘night-mare’ and associated with demonic possession. Historic treatments included bloodletting and shaving the head. Science now attempts to explain the disorder, but it is still a frightening experience.
Today we use the term ‘nightmare’ to explain a generally frightening dream or unpleasant experience, but until the late 19th century the term night-mare (hyphen included) was exclusively descriptive of sleep paralysis, a sleep disorder in which the body is temporarily immobilised during the sleep state. It is a common body/mind condition that upwards of 50% of the population claims to have experienced at least once in their lifetime.
Regular bouts of sleep paralysis can be a symptom of conditions like narcolepsy or PTSD, but sometimes these conditions do not provoke sleep paralysis at all. The unpredictability of this parasomnia makes it all the more frightening when it happens and it has been linked to paranormal forces, from demons to aliens..
Riding with the demons
The Western concept of the nightmare is weighted with an accumulation of historical interpretations that emerged from the myth of the incubus. From ancient Mesopotamia (c. 2000 BCE) to the Roman Empire, a demon known as the incubus was responsible for your bad dreams. Originating from the Latin ‘to sit on’, the incubus sat on top of your chest inducing horrifying dreams and physical immobility, making it the first documented explanation of sleep paralysis.
We get our term ‘mare’ from the Old Norse version of the incubus: the mara, which comes from the verb merran or ‘crusher’. Not precisely a demon, the mara is a person with magical attributes who ‘rides’ their victim for the pleasure of pure wickedness. Grendel, the fearsome villain of the Anglo-Saxon tale ‘Beowulf’, is a perfect example of the mara crushing and devouring his prey in the dead of night. In subsequent centuries, the mara is shape-shifted into the Old Hag myth, which Shakespeare appropriates for his epic Queen Mab soliloquy from 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Today, the demon of sleep paralysis has morphed again, taking the form of the alien abduction, playing upon our fear of the unknown universe that surrounds us.
Nightmarish treatment
There is currently no prescribed treatment for sleep paralysis, but doctors suggest that making your sleep schedule regular can decrease these incidents of parasomnia. However, the earliest treatments for incubus and nightmares were sometimes as frightening as the experience itself. The first mention of a treatment for sleep paralysis was noted by Byzantine physician Paulus Aegineta in the 7th century. In one of his seven books on the history of medicine, Paulus explains the most common way to treat the complaint was through “bleeding, drastic purgatives and friction of the extremities.” Paulus placed focus on the head as the source of the problem, suggesting that if the above treatment did not work, the cupping and scarification of the throat, a restricted diet and shaving of the head would.
Tenth-century Persian polymath Akhawayni Bokhari was the first to completely disassociate the night-mare from demonic possession in his ‘Learner’s Guide to Medicine’ (Hidayat al-Muta`allemin fi al-Tibb), making it a solely physical problem. A subscriber to the ancient theory of humorism, Akhawayni believed night-mare was caused by vapours of phlegm ascending from the stomach to suffocate the brain during sleep. Although his theory was different, his treatment was no different from his predecessors: bloodletting.
In the Christian era, sleep paralysis was akin to demonic possession and those afflicted were treated with prayers and exorcism. But as the Age of Enlightenment took hold, demons diminished and medical care moved towards our modern understandings of empirical observation, changing the treatment of sleep paralysis.
Creative potential
We know what sleep paralysis is and we know how to treat it, but it still scares us.
Sleep paralysis is the immediate experience of the depths of uncontrolled consciousness. It allows the mind to stretch beyond the logical frames of existence, blurring the boundaries of waking and dreaming life, making it a valuable tool for artists throughout the centuries.
This is the very reason that the study of sleep paralysis is also the study of cultural storytelling. From the novel to visual art, from theatre to music, sleep paralysis has been used to evoke the drama of an unfettered imagination and the dark recesses of the mind.
The experience of sleep paralysis not only alters the consciousness of an individual at the moment of waking or descending into sleep, but it has made a lasting impression on our perception of reality in Western culture
For our continued journey, I send you Love and Light.
Sheila.
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