Hearing about a seminar that was on the topic of dolls intrigued me. Dolls can scare, comfort and fascinate us. They are seen within horror films and can seem to take on the creepier side of things. So, I wanted to make sure I attended this seminar. The speaker gave a comprehensive history on dolls. Dolls have been around since Ancient Egypt. Egyptian children used to carry around dolls called paddle dolls, and even in Ancient Greece they have found dolls. By 1600, paper mache dolls were starting come around in France and the Brits made wax dolls. In the 1700s and 1800s, porcelain dolls were starting to be created.
The speaker then started to go into why people fear dolls. She stated, “people are trying to figure it out but that it is the uncanny. This is a Freudian term, or he coined the term the uncanny. What it means is something is and feels familiar but is not familiar. In a way, it is of the home, but it is not of the home. It's familiar but yet not familiar, it's uncanny. It feels like me, it feels like us, but it's not us. You can see how that would apply. There was an interesting study where they realized that there is a direct psychological relationship between objects of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response. What that means is the more something looks like us, the greater the emotional response we have. Whether that's fear or love, whatever. The greater something looks like a human, the more we're going to emotionally respond to it. The other piece of this that's interesting is why the fear specifically. And again, it's that kind of breakdown of boundaries that something is us. We know it's us, but it's not us. But then there's another piece of it. So, it's the idea that this doll, Chucky, for example, looks like a doll, but yet all of a sudden it's moving. We know dolls don't move. We know things don't move. It's the versus the breakdown of what the object is and what the subject is. So, to explain it a little better, I'm the subject and the doll is the object. This is a thing. For example, a coffee mug is also an object. Okay, I know that a coffee cup can't move, smile, laugh, or anything. I know the doll can't smile, move. Right. However, when it does, it's breaking those boundaries. What I understand an object to be is now feeling like a subject. What I know that object to be. It's familiar, but yet all of a sudden, it's doing something that sounds, like, supposed to do. Okay, that's the uncanny. Especially when we talk about dolls. But in the US if an object becomes enlivened, if it becomes alive, it's evil. Because only God can give us spirit. Only God can make us alive in the Christian belief system. So, if something comes alive that was not from God, it's evil. That's the difference. You see that? It's super fascinating.”
Then the speaker started to talk about how you would know if a doll was haunted. She stated that “intuition is how I do it. That's how I work with it. I get a sense of intense energy. I can tell from my intuition that there is a deep energy there, and I have not. Start working on your intuition and trusting your intuition. Feel different dolls hold different dolls. Trust what you're feeling. Okay? That's like all magical work, I'm for sure. As you've studied, you've heard that message a million times. Trust your intuition. Trust your intuition. When you're working with spirit, when you're working with deity, when you're working with ancestors. It's all about trusting your intuition. You don't have to be some magical psychic. As you're learning, another thing you can do is if you have a divination modality that you enjoy. You can go to, your local thrift store, pick up the doll, hold it, sit with it, feel it. If you have a power hand, rub it around the doll, feel the energy. Trust your intuition. If you know something's wrong put it away. You don't have to know what's wrong with it. Just put it away. Whether it's bad energy or spirit, if it doesn't feel right to you, do not take it if something's calling you. Once you buy it, sit with it. Use your intuition again to determine whether it's in spirit and soul at that point. If you don't know sit with it, is it the energy you're feeling a spirit? Is the energy feeling your own feeling? Just energy? Is it in spirited or ensouled? And then of course, at that point, you do examination again. If it's a special, if it's ensouled, who are you? And that's where we get to the next question. Identity. You need to identify who the doll, the physical doll is, what year they came, what their name is, what the materials they're made of. And there's a reason you have to know all this stuff. If it's ensouled, you eventually want to know who the spirit actually is. You need to know this information. Spend the time to do it, even if it takes you a week or two or a month, whatever. This is good information for how to work with the doll itself. Next, you're going to care for your doll. You're going to clean the doll. My mom used to say a sick child is one thing, but a sick and dirty child is something altogether different. So, a doll is no different than that. Clean your doll. And this is why you need to know what material the doll is made up. Because it not all dolls can be cleaned the same way. Give a doll some dignity. Be respectful. Show her respect. Especially if she has a spirit, you want that. And if you want to work with the spirit, you want to respect it. Buy her new clothes. Make her new clothes. Be cautious of mold and bugs.”
Then the speaker talked about cleansing a doll stating, “if you want to cleanse all of the energy to give yourself a magical zero starting point to fill it with the energy you want. If you're using it as a magical doll, yes, do it. But if what you love is the history of the spirit that's been building up the energy that's been building up the new spirited doll, you don't cleanse it. Okay, I'm not going to cleanse my mother's doll because her energy is in. Now, if you have a haunted doll or if you have an ensouled doll, cleansing, it could make the spirit go away or it may not. It really depends. These are some of the cleansing options. Smoke cleanse, selenite crystals, moon cleanse, burying, salt is another. So once all of that happens, you've got the doll, it's placed it's stabbed, it's calm, it's clean, it's cleansed. It's all the things. You know its name, it knows your name when you do with it, so you care for it. Treat it almost like it's a pet or a member of your family, especially if it has a spirit in it. You want to talk to them. Hey, how's your day going? Move them around if you want to. I will occasionally move my dolls around my house to give them different perspectives. Check on their well-being. If you have a ensouled doll, make sure everything is okay. Give it what it needs. Treat it like a family member. You can do fun with it, you can do magic with it, you can work with spirit with it. It can help you with divination. Because remember, if it's an ensouled doll, it has a spirit coming through and has a connection to the spirit world, right? You can take it to pagan events if you want. You can carry it around; you can freak out your kids with it. But remember you're also dealing with that spirit, and that's another entity. So, you don't want to take the spirited soul doll to the Guinea Khan without asking you don't want to take Robert the Doll on an airplane without asking if Robert the Doll wants to be on an airplane. You don't want to take a picture of Robert the doll without asking if Robert the Doll is okay with you taking a picture. Do you see the difference? Ask the doll. Ask your haunted doll whether it wants to be anywhere.”
The speaker then began to talk about what to do with an extreme haunted doll, “So if it's a Chucky and Robert the doll extreme, call an expert. Get advice. One of the things you can do immediately, though, is to put salt around the doll or other protection items on the doll immediately. Call somebody. Do not throw the doll away right away because you don't know if the spirit will jump to something else and continue to cause problems throwing the doll away. The spirit could wind up back in the house, attached and obsessed to something else. Especially if the goal of the spirit is to bother you. So that's just a cautionary tale. Continue to offer the doll respect. Talk to the doll and set boundaries. We were talking about that earlier. Tell. Tell the doll. This is what you can do and cannot do. Set boundaries. Speak out loud to it. Speak to it like its child, like it's a doll. Keep the salt circle. Again, personal protective measures. Then you want to do some investigation before you take action. What is the spirit? Is the spirit the same spirit? Make sure you know everything about the doll itself and the spirit. You want to know what it wants, who it is, and then you make the decisions. Then you have to decide whether you're going to remove the spirit or how you're going to deal with that. And again, that's advanced work. Find somebody. You do not know how to do it effectively; you won't be able to do it. And then the spirit could move and obsess on something else. Okay, so find help, at least advice, if not nothing else.”
The speaker then talked about saying goodbye to dolls. She stated, “Saying goodbye is when you're dealing with a doll. Especially if it has a spirit or the spirit's left. If you have a specific ritual in your tradition that is a funerary tradition, you know it just like you would a person. You can do a full-blown ritual, circle all the things of funerary or do a simple thing. I prefer simple, grab and go black candle funerary incense. But I like to use words of goodbye. Read a eulogy, treat it nice, goodbye and tell it this is the end. Even if you're giving it to somebody else. Make sure the doll knows you are now being gifted to such and such just like you would do with a dog or a cat. I tell all of my dolls that I sell and tell them what state they're going to. I've given them that respect because I'm feeding it, nothing more than positive energy to send it on its way. I find places for them to be loved and I want them to know that. Hug it, give it a message of goodbye again. You can gift it. Gift it in a positive way and don't give the ones that are ultimately demon dolls.”
The Truth of the Matter
We hear stories about possessed or even haunted items. Particularly dolls, with one of the most famous ones being Annabelle. Hollywood has also taken this by storm, where in horror films we see inanimate objects coming to life and attacking a human. We also see the TV shows and specials where people have been filming items being moved, as well as thousands of YouTube videos. There is also a belief that these items can become demon possessed. Robert the doll, is a great example of this. For those who don’t know who Robert the doll is, it’s a doll that is in a museum in Florida, believed to have multiple demons within it. The belief also stands that if you go to see Robert and disrespect him in some way, shape or form then he will curse you. Even if you take a photo of him without asking him for permission you will be cursed. Same goes for Annabelle, who is to be believed is demon possessed.
I am going to tell you straight out that there is no story in the Bible or verse that supports the claim a demon can attach itself to an inanimate object. There are stories of demons possessing people (see Mark 5:1-20, Matthew 8:23-34, Matthew 9:32-33, Matthew 17:14-18 and Acts 16:16-18 just to name a few) and even possessing animals (see Mark 5:1-20). But not objects. So, then what really is going on?
There is a belief that everything has a soul or a spirit which is called Animism. Animist believe that there is a soul in rocks, plants, mountains, rivers, animals, idols of any kind and even the stars.1 Each object can have a powerful spirit that can help or hurt, and are to be worshiped, feared or in some way attended to.2 Usually this is seen by people who practice spiritualism, witchcraft, divination, and astrology.3 They use magic, spells, enchantments, superstitions, amulets, talismans, charms, or anything that they believe will help to protect them from the evil spirits and appease the good spirits that are found everywhere in everything.4
Now I want to point something out here within Animism as I said above, “Each object is to be worshiped, feared or in some way attended to.”5 The speaker within this seminar stated, she talks to her dolls, stating where they are going, asking them for permission to be moved, if they like an area or not, and even saying goodbye to the dolls like they are a family member or an actual person. This is animism but also from a biblical stand point making the doll and idol. 1 Corinthians 10:14 states, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” Even though the speaker may not be fully bowing down and worshiping the doll like we think about, but she is suggesting to put the dolls needs before her own needs, asking the doll for permission, and showing it respect. When we should be showing God respect, not an item.
There is a lot going on within this seminar. Stay tuned for Part 2!
1. What is animism? | gotquestions.org. Accessed July 26, 2026. https://www.gotquestions.org/Animism.html.