Glossolalia--Speaking In Tongues

[Cassie]

Speaking In Tongues is a common phenomenon in some charismatic evangelical Christians churches. I have witnessed it myself several times. It always seems a bit odd to me that in a religion which seems to spurn anything 'supernatural' some Christians will willingly submit to some sort of supernatural force and utter things which they themselves do not understand. I have even known some to rejoice when they hear their children doing it too.

As a Witch I am aware of supernatural entities and forces that could manifest in people in a similar way, but my instincts and my training lead me to be wary of trying to invoke such phenomenon without first having the knowledge of how to control it.

From a Pagan point of view, what do you think is happening when Christians speak in tongues? Is it a purely psychological phenomenon? Is it a kind of ecstatic trance? Are they evoking or invoking something they themselves don't understand? What do you think is going on?

ETA Obviously I'd be interested to hear the views of our Christian members too!

[aranarose]

I think that in many cases, it's simply the person faking it to try and fit in. Everyone around them is doing it, and in many of the deeply charismatic churches, you're not considered 'saved' until you do it too. There's a LOT of pressure to fit in there.

I personally think it's a misinterpretation and misapplication of Biblical texts. The instances of speaking in tongues seen in the Bible were when someone was preachign to a large crowd of people who spoke a different language. Suddenly, the preacher was able to speak in their language to them, without having been able to previously do so. It wasn't a language completely unknown to all of mankind, but a language unknown to the speaker. Which means the people in churches should be speaking in Spanish and Italian and French, not the gibberish that gets spouted now.

In other cases, I have to wonder if it is some darker entity. I hesitate to say evil, because it may or may not be, but certainly not human, or at least not corporeal. In which case, what is it? And is it something we really want in us? Not me, uh-uh. I have a hard enough time controlling my impulses, don't need to throw some random being into the mix.

[synopa]

I grew up in a charismatic group who practised this. I have to agree with the OP, it's not likely advisable to practise this when you cannot control it, and dont even know what it is. I also think it is a mis interpretation of scriptural passages. The scriptures speak of this, and strongly advise against speaking in unknown tongues. However the miracle on pentacost was when they spoke in OTHER tongues. As in if I am talking with you, and speak your native language which I do not know. That would definately be a miracle.

[Caitlin.ann]

I witnessed my late grandmother speak in tongues after her hysterectomy to combat the cancer that killed her. She was in recovery and she requested we all get in a circle and pray, so we did and I was holding her hand when she started speaking in tongues. It was broken with english then tongues, english, then tongues. In the broken english parts she prayed for my soul. After the prayer she had no memory of speaking in tongues whatsoever. She had always believed in it and supported it. According to her she had done it many times earlier in her life.

I still don't know what to make of it. I wasn't scared or shocked, I was just like "wow so this is what they always talked about". She was raised in the assemblies of god churches if that helps to understand her mindset throughout her life.

[Mesektet]

I'm of the opinion that though on a case by case basis, I feel that the phenomena itself is a genuine manifestation of SOMETHING. I've watched Sufis whirl, I've heard monks drone on an on, even been apart of entheogenic rituals and watched individuals regress in seconds to their mental state at 5 yrs old and back again with no memory. So glossolalia? Sure, why not?

[Æthelflæd]

I had what my Christian friends would call a "born again" experience, and during that experience, I remember saying that I felt like I was speaking in tongues. I wasn't babbling words in another language or anything, but my friends and I felt "high on the spirit," if that makes any sense. We were talking about why there could be a higher power, and for the first time, I started seeing how there could be one, and the idea of there being one made sense to me. Then my friends and I started laughing, and we couldn't stop, and we felt like something was -- I wouldn't say possessing us, but we definitely felt like we were being touched by something. I'd never felt anything like it. I don't know if that would be considered speaking in tongues or not, but it definitely felt supernatural and ecstatic.

[Kailen]

I believe it's a connection with an older part of the self. Language changes over time, souls are reincarnated. The first language the soul knew will not be the language we speak today.

[Cassie]

I believe it's a connection with an older part of the self. Language changes over time, souls are reincarnated. The first language the soul knew will not be the language we speak today.
That's an interesting idea. (I wonder if that is what Enochian really is? Shame I have to dash off now...)

[cheddarsox]

I was raised in a Christian church, but in my Catholic upbringing I was never around anyone speaking in tongues, though I'd heard about the phenomenon. There are Catholic Charismatics, but they were considered suspect in my parish, and "dramatic", it was implied that they were either hysterical or faking it.

Once I attended a prayer service in an Assemblies of God church, and at one point during prayer many people around me quietly prayed in tongues. That was the only time I was ever around any one doing this.

After years of being a practicing pagan pantheist...I began to occasionally pray in tongues, not speak or prophesy, not something for someone else to interpret, but to pray.

It happens spontaneously, in that I don't plan it or make it happen, but it is usually in response to some stimulus. Like I am having prayer time, and after really getting into focus, it will start. Or I am under a lot of stress and all of a sudden I see a gorgeous moon and I begin to pray/praise in tongues.

When it happens, I know what I am praying or praising about. I couldn't give you a word for word translation, but I know the gist of it. It is as if I am praying/praising beyond words, deeply from my spirit, saying things I don't have words for, and perhaps couldn't even really access through thought, because I don't know how to put them into a coherent thougt either.

It feels good, freeing, very authentic.

It really surprised me at first because it was totally unexpected. I had never heard of other pagans every doing it, but over the years I found out that some others do.

Sometimes I find myself repeating a phrase over again, or coming back to a phrase, almost like the refrain of a song, with verses in between. It doesn't sound like any particular language to me, that I've ever heard.

I have a friend who was raised Pentecostal Christian who says people in her church learn how to do it, and they have certain sounds they babble over and over to get started...but then once they start the spirit takes over and it sounds very much like what I feel when it gets going.

I've never tried to "start" it on my own.

Other friends from pentecostal backrounds tell me that some people fake it because it is expected, or they fake it sometimes because they can't "get" the spirit.

cheddar

[Kailen]

I couldn't give you a word for word translation, but I know the gist of it.

That sounds like me when I do it. I know what I'm saying, I know basically what I mean, but I couldn't give a word for word translation. I can do it intentionally, it's like I feel the words shape in my head and can either write them down or say them.

I did at one point wonder if it was all just nonsense, but a friend of mine who I have worked with for the last year also speaks in tongues and understands the meaning of what I am saying.

Myself and my friend have always referred to it as simply, "The old tongue."

[cheddarsox]

That sounds like me when I do it. I know what I'm saying, I know basically what I mean, but I couldn't give a word for word translation. I can do it intentionally, it's like I feel the words shape in my head and can either write them down or say them.

I did at one point wonder if it was all just nonsense, but a friend of mine who I have worked with for the last year also speaks in tongues and understands the meaning of what I am saying.

Myself and my friend have always referred to it as simply, "The old tongue."

I've never done it around anyone, so I don't know if they could translate or not. I know it doesn't sound as random as gibberish, or meaningless sounds, I mean it sounds as it if could be a language.

It would be neat sometime to see if someone understood it!