Eastern Exorcism

[Alexander_Roman]

He was just kidding, hence the " " that he put at the end of his message.

OK, I missed that. But I’ve been asked the same question by my students in religion class and I guess I am more sensitive to that given what I’ve experienced.

Alex

 

[Alexander_Roman]

I’ve never used a Ouija board, but Wikipedia describes its in this way: “It uses a planchette (small heart-shaped piece of wood) or movable indicator to indicate the spirit’s message by spelling it out on the board during a séance.” Is a seance a normal part of Ouija board use? How do most people use it?

Yes, the use of a Ouija board is a form of seance. There are other practices such as table-tipping and the practice of placing one’s fingers on an upside down glass on a table where the perimeter is outlined with letters and numbers. The glass is then said to move to letters to create words.

When my father used a Ouija board, he actually picked up a malevolent spirit that cursed him in . . . Polish.

In Ontario, the government actually has a Wiccan chaplaincy which is signified on their annual report with the pentagram symbol. Wiccans, I’ve learned, are deathly afraid of the ouija board because it picks up all kinds of bad spirits.

Even the Canadian TV show “Rescue Mediums” always warn people who experience hauntings and who use ouija boards (or else a neighbour might be using one) to drop that practice immediately as, according to them, it serves to literally “open a hole” in the next “world” (we know what kind of world they are referring to) and leads the bad spirits into ours.

The Church condemns the use of such and with very good reason.

Alex

 

[dcointin]

I found an interesting article on Wicca and Ouija boards that I’d like to share:

"Question: Are Ouija boards harmless children’s toys, or tools of the devil?

Answer: The use of a Ouija board is a form of voluntary possession. In order to get the spirit to contact you through the planchette, you basically have to give up your will – it’s the only way for them to work through you. The spirit isn’t moving the planchette, but it’s causing you to move it with your hands by way of possession. Once you’ve opened up the Ouija board, it’s a crapshoot as to what’s going to try to make contact – you don’t know who or what is moving that planchette around, or what its purpose is.

The bottom line – if you’re unsure about what you’re doing, or inexperienced with dealing with spirits, you may want to find some other method of divination that doesn’t involve voluntary possession. If you’d like to know more about dealing with spirits, be sure to read What is a Spirit Guide?"

paganwiccan.about.com/od/divination/f/Ouija_Boards.htm

I think this explains very where the problems with Ouija boards come from, and why they’re an especially dangerous thing to play around with.

 

[Shin]

I found an interesting article on Wicca and Ouija boards that I’d like to share:

"Question: Are Ouija boards harmless children’s toys, or tools of the devil?

Answer: The use of a Ouija board is a form of voluntary possession. In order to get the spirit to contact you through the planchette, you basically have to give up your will – it’s the only way for them to work through you. The spirit isn’t moving the planchette, but it’s causing you to move it with your hands by way of possession. Once you’ve opened up the Ouija board, it’s a crapshoot as to what’s going to try to make contact – you don’t know who or what is moving that planchette around, or what its purpose is.

The bottom line – if you’re unsure about what you’re doing, or inexperienced with dealing with spirits, you may want to find some other method of divination that doesn’t involve voluntary possession. If you’d like to know more about dealing with spirits, be sure to read What is a Spirit Guide?"

paganwiccan.about.com/od/divination/f/Ouija_Boards.htm

I think this explains very where the problems with Ouija boards come from, and why they’re an especially dangerous thing to play around with.

You know this is a very helpful excerpt. Because I don’t think people are familiar with the idea of a partial or invited possession like this. We can think of Voodoo in Africa where the people invite themselves to be ‘ridden’ by the ‘gods’ (demons)…

But how often in more normal lives do people do things that invite demons into their bodies as well as their interior lives?

I’ve heard of actors saying they were ‘channeling’ certain personalities for example. But even beyond such direct examples…

This reminds me of what St. John the Dwarf said upon encountering Saint Taisia.

 

[Alexander_Roman]

This is more than correct. The most important point is that people themselves become channels for evil and this point cannot be overstated.

Serious sin can also open the door for “mild possession” and habitual serious sin can really do a number on people in so many ways.

Prayer, the Sign of the Cross, and the use of sacramentals such as Holy Water are important from the POV that they are all forms of “self-exorcism” whereby we expunge the influence of evil from our lives and also our surroundings.

Alex

 

[dcointin]

This reminds me of what St. John the Dwarf said upon encountering Saint Taisia.

I’m not familiar with this story, could you describe it? Thanks!

 

[Shin]

I’m not familiar with this story, could you describe it? Thanks!

Over here, post #3.

 

[pablope]

That’s absolutely fascinating! I have the opportunity to visit the house here in St. Louis where boy lived that the movie “The Exorcist” was based on this Halloween. My girlfriend and I politely declined, though I admit part of me was initially interested.

The closest experience I’ve had to anything paranormal also involved a Ouija board. My brother was hanging out with some friends when they decided to play with one. He thought it was nonsense, so he asked his friends the name of his “familiar”, which he understood to be a demon that tempts each person individually. They gave him a name that he had never heard before. When he told me the story afterward, he couldn’t remember the name they had given, but said it rhymed with something, and a name came into my mind that I suggested. He said that was the name (again not a name like “William” or something common, it was a name I had never heard before), and was frightened. To this day I remember the name, and don’t like to repeat it, or think about how that name came into my mind.

If you want a good book to read about this subject, I suggest “The Rite-the making of an Exorcist” by Matt Baglio.

It follows the experiences of an American priest sent to Rome to train as an exorcist. It will give you a lot of insights regarding the our world. I learned a lot from it too.

The books starts with an actual account of an exorcism, where in 3 saints come down to assist-St Gemma Galgani (who i researched to be a Stigmatic), Mother Teresa of Calcutta and John Paul II. Very chilling account. Finally, the BVM appears too.

There is also a very interesting revelation about the BVM that a demon revealed…and that is they fear her the most. Why? I would say read the book.

 

[StevenDunn]

This is more than correct. The most important point is that people themselves become channels for evil and this point cannot be overstated.

Serious sin can also open the door for “mild possession” and habitual serious sin can really do a number on people in so many ways.

Alex

I’m glad I read this today! I agree completely. This isn’t a topic I talk about to anyone in person(besides my priest), but I suffer from habitual serious sin arising from addictive and self-destructive behavior(pray for me). I’ve never doubted the spirit world(at least since becoming a Christian), but I never really believed it had any involvement with this world unless you were a saint or satan worshiper. But I’ve found that, each time I fall again into sin, I feel strange presences around me, or see things in the corner of my eye(glimmers of light or dark moving shapes) or feel a deep sense of…misalignment?..with the world. I don’t drink or do drugs, and have no history of psychosis, so this isn’t some drug-fueled paranoia or madness. I’m pretty convinced it’s demonic forces coming for me. Just thinking about it disturbs me…

 

[GaryTaylor]

That is a good question.

If we ever have an opportunity to admonish children about these things - we should never miss an opportunity.

I do so regularly in my religion class. What I always find interesting is that the students share what we talk about in class with their parents and parents invariably approach me later to ask about the ouija board and the “occurrences” happening in their homes as a result.

Alex

I hear that,

also

I’m pretty sure the Jesuit Priests use the same rite of exorcism as the Catholics. Same thing no? I have heard Malichi Martin talk on this who was a Jesuit Priest and worked at the Vatican for decades.

 

[GaryTaylor]

I don’t know about ECers, but if you want to know about Eastern Orthodox Exorcisms, there are a wonderful set of videos on YouTube featuring Coptic Priest Makary Yunan doing Mass exorcisms for Copts and Muslims alike in Egypt. Just type “Coptic Orthodox Priest” or “Copt Priest Exorcism” or something to that effect and you will find what you are looking for. Something to see, definitely.
And Yunan does it even to Muslims who have been refused help by their own religion. A very Holy, Powerfully Spiritual Man.

I have to go see this.

Local Opera House here has been all over the news today with Paranormal Investigations, Electronic Voices of a child screaming for Help etc.

I find it amazing it was put up for sale two months ago and now its “Officially Haunted”? I wouldn’t think it would help sales, you?

 

[Shin]

I’m glad I read this today! I agree completely. This isn’t a topic I talk about to anyone in person(besides my priest), but I suffer from habitual serious sin arising from addictive and self-destructive behavior(pray for me). I’ve never doubted the spirit world(at least since becoming a Christian), but I never really believed it had any involvement with this world unless you were a saint or satan worshiper. But I’ve found that, each time I fall again into sin, I feel strange presences around me, or see things in the corner of my eye(glimmers of light or dark moving shapes) or feel a deep sense of…misalignment?..with the world. I don’t drink or do drugs, and have no history of psychosis, so this isn’t some drug-fueled paranoia or madness. I’m pretty convinced it’s demonic forces coming for me. Just thinking about it disturbs me…

Yes, the corners of the eye thing can be demons, they like to do that. Visual illusions that are not quite all there. Don’t let it get to you however. Misalignment – well if you’re in a hmm, what is the word for it… a state that is more trancelike, removed, or hypnotized… that suggestive state is more open to spiritual inteference. Too much TV, computer, etc. for example (any at all is too much these days, near occasion of sin, and objectively offensive).

For what it is worth, a single quote I don’t know all the permutations to:

'He hath a demon within him who persists in any grave sin.

And because of this the Apostle admonishes us, where he says: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body (Rom. 8:12). For as long as sin remains in a man, for so long is he bound and captive and possessed by the devil. Such a man, blind and dumb, if he be offered to the Lord, if he be converted to penance, the Lord shall straightaway heal him; so that the evil spirit being driven out of him he may speak and see.’

St. Bruno

 

[Alexander_Roman]

With respect to eyesight, that is all well and good, but it is entirely true that when we are tempted to sin and give in, the devil does “celebrate” his victory over us and we do indeed feel the presence of evil around us.

To our friend here, the point is that the fact that you do feel that evil presence means that your soul is not happy with giving in to occasions as you describe - and that is a very good and important thing since many of us sinners just rationalize giving into temptation so easily and go on to fall again and again without taking precautions via God’s Grace.

At such times, we must give ourselves to prolonged prayer, especially frequent invocation of the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

We should go to confession frequently and to Communion, talk to our priest and even get a blessing to protect us from the wiles of the evil one and to overcome our passions.

It’s a struggle, but the Light at the end of the tunnel is a great one!

Cheers,

Alex

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

Anglicans also have their own exorcists, one per diocese

 

[angelic06]

I will also add that in “The Rite”, the book mentioned above (which I just purchased on Saturday), a Charismatic (Catholic ?) group tried to exorcise a demon, and the demon responded by saying, “Who are you ?”, and he threw the attempted exorcists into a wall, such that they had to go to the emergency room. Now, I don’t know about Italy, but in America, if you told an emergency (in America, 911) operator that you need medical help due to such an occurrence, the operator might think you are nuts, and you might not get help (I’m still wondering what these Charismatics told the physicians about how they were injured). In conclusion, then, I think a layperson should never attempt to exorcise, that is, engage a demon on their own authority, but notify a priest if they think there is some kind of demonic influence going on.

And never attempt to engage a demon “just because”, as explained below.

While I acknowledge that an Eastern Catholic might not give the Catechism the same degree of attention as us Latins, no Catholic, I think, will object to the following from the CCC regarding dealing with demonic powers:

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. 48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

 

[angelic06]

This is more than correct. The most important point is that people themselves become channels for evil and this point cannot be overstated.

Serious sin can also open the door for “mild possession” and habitual serious sin can really do a number on people in so many ways.

Prayer, the Sign of the Cross, and the use of sacramentals such as Holy Water are important ***from the POV ***that they are all forms of “self-exorcism” whereby we expunge the influence of evil from our lives and also our surroundings.

Alex

Silly question, but what is the POV? Thanks!

 

[CHRISTINE77]

I will also add that in “The Rite”, the book mentioned above (which I just purchased on Saturday), a Charismatic (Catholic ?) group tried to exorcise a demon, and the demon responded by saying, “Who are you ?”, and he threw the attempted exorcists into a wall, such that they had to go to the emergency room. Now, I don’t know about Italy, but in America, if you told an emergency (in America, 911) operator that you need medical help due to such an occurrence, the operator might think you are nuts, and you might not get help (I’m still wondering what these Charismatics told the physicians about how they were injured). In conclusion, then, I think a layperson should never attempt to exorcise, that is, engage a demon on their own authority, but notify a priest if they think there is some kind of demonic influence going on.

And never attempt to engage a demon “just because”, as explained below.

While I acknowledge that an Eastern Catholic might not give the Catechism the same degree of attention as us Latins, no Catholic, I think, will object to the following from the CCC regarding dealing with demonic powers:

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. 48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

I read that book. It is very illuminating, and the protagonist, the priest from Los Altos, CA was a skeptic at first, but gradually became more and more convinced of the truth about demonic possession. The book has excellent research in to exorcism practices in the Roman Catholic church. Also, it is a good read!