The Occult and The Present

[CapitalistCatholic]

When I was younger, I used to study Spells, Incantations, and the sort. One incident is causing me worry. I engaged in a ritual that would supposedly give me Ice Like touch. For weeks after that my hands were always painfully icy and cold. I assumed it backfired and stopped trying. Now I’m worried that all those spells and incantations are going to one day catch up with me and cause me trouble.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Go to confession and you will be fine.

That said, you should not ignore neurological symptoms even if they were coincidental. You could have something as chronic but liveable as Reynauds or something much more serious.

 

[CapitalistCatholic]

Thanks for the reassurance.

 

[pianistclare]

AS Xanthippe says…go to confession and be healed.

 

[In_Nomine_Domini]

Now I’m worried that all those spells and incantations are going to one day catch up with me and cause me trouble.

Of course, it’s difficult to analyze this for you. The full effect of any doors you might have opened in the past cannot simply be speculated about, as even you will not know until after you meet God.

I’m a former occultist, and I would like to take some advice you’ve been given a step further. When you go to Confession, regardless of whether or not you’ve confessed this before, ask Father to pray something over you that would be a sort of blessing that shuts any still-opened doors. And in private, you can even do something like renew your Baptismal promises beginning with do you reject satan? These two things will do a lot for you.

But when you’re being tempted with anxiety, you should be aware of whether or not you are being presented with the fear of a consequence … while also being given a shortcut around it. Perhaps not now, but in the future, this sort of anxiety might well simply be a prelude to once again being asked to open certain doors.

… and what on earth is ice-like touch and why did you want it? Is this a D&D thing, or were you an actual occultist?

 

[CapitalistCatholic]

The Ice Like Touch thing was sort of something I was obsessed with. Its actually really embarrassing.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

The Ice Like Touch thing was sort of something I was obsessed with. Its actually really embarrassing.

Again, confession.

And if your hands are still cold, see a legit medical doctor. Many times we do stupid things as a way of coping with psychologically dealing with things we can’t handle. It could very well be that the first pangs of cold in your hands made you seek out an explanation and a way to “empower” and control something you have no control over.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

To be fair, it’s very unlikely somebody randomly decided to try incantations and spells because they secretly noticed their hands were chilly and thus developed some kind of unconscious fear they were unable to otherwise deal with.

No, in this case, the chicken came first.

It can be colinear. It doesn’t have to be someone searching out weird stuff to cope, but something happening whilst learning about something else that causes a result. It’s not like one has cold hands and types “How do I Elsa this shizzle” into Google.

Our brains have the endless need to correlate to things we already know or are willing to seek out. That is why we can see the picture of a smiling face in that image of 3 seagulls. Yes, it’s no doubt that the OP had some knowledge of the occult first.

What I’m saying is that, should it still bother the OP after his confession it would be wise for him to see a doctor as a neurological cause is very likely behind the discomfort if it isn’t entirely psychological.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Xanthippe_Voorhees:

Our brains have the endless need to correlate to things we already know or are willing to seek out.

Are you a professional psychologist?

My turn to LOL. One doesn’t need to be a professional psychologist to know that.

Here’s a well-regarded one on faces.

Neuroscience: why do we see faces in everyday objects?

From Virgin Mary in a slice of toast to the appearance of a screaming face in a man’s testicles, David Robson explains why the brain constructs these illusions

www.bbc.com

Basically, humans are wired for pareidolia and other phenomena since the beginning of time–probably to help us on our hunting instinct. It can very much extend to physical sensations being wrongly correlated to actions rather than a physical illness–where they belong.

And let’s be real.

There are only 3 situations here.

1. He did practice occult enough to have a demon give him power (unlikely)
2. He freaked himself out and it’s purely psychological (most likely)
3. He has a physical illness (2nd most likely)

Going to confession WILL eliminate possibility 1 and should eliminate possibility 2. Given the number of diseases in which extremities (such as the hands) experience “cold” feeling it would be prudent to go to a doctor if any symptoms remain.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Xanthippe_Voorhees:

One doesn’t need to be a professional psychologist to know that.

Since you admit you’re not a professional psychologist, care to explain why you’re attempting to give psychological evaluations of individuals whom you’ve not only never met, but that you lack the credentials to evaluate?

I’m giving advice based on a logic tree.

If the OP doesn’t get relief after confession it’s most likely a physical illness.

It is not at all uncommon to errantly assign fault to illness. A teacher who takes on a physical summer job began to attribute his back pain to the bending and crouching he did. But it had NOTHING to do with is pain. He had a cancerous tumor. Ask any medical professional (I’m close to one and he has warned many people of the dangers of such thinking) many, many people attribute fault to what turns out to be a neurological or physiological condition. This is especially true in endocrinology and other metabolic arenas.

 

[Raxus]

There can be such things, but God’s power is greater than they are. There’s a reason we’re warned not to indulge in them.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Xanthippe_Voorhees:

I’m giving advice based on a logic tree.

I am a professional psychologist. I find your comments ridiculous.

LOL. You’re an professional occultist psycologist? OOOOKKKKK. You’re credential flashing (for the second time on this thread) because you don’t like my opinion. You can just as well be a garbage man. All you’ve done is argue that I don’t have a right to make the conclusions I do. I’ve cited my claims.

Again, do you see more than my 3 possibilities for this man?

1. Actual occult (fixed by confession)
2. psychological hysteria (likely fixed by confession)
3. physical illness (not fixed by confession)

It would be patently neglectful to ignore the very real physical pain that the OP stated he was in.

All I have stated is that it would not be uncommon–at all–for someone to begin to associate something and assign it incorrectly at the beginning of a physical illness. One does not need to be a psychologist to suss that out.

 

[pianistclare]

This really hits close to home. Our parish secretary suffered form all kinds of rashes and back pain. She went to a specialist of some sort of another for months.
She never ever told any of her physicians that she was a longtime smoker.
Turns out she had horrible hip and back pain because she had stage 4 lung cancer that traveled to her hip. A grapefruit-sized tumor on her hip, she passed a few months later. Was all avoidable. She figured it was due to the rashes. Spent a fortune on goat milk soap when all she had to do was be truthful with the Doctor and see the proper Doctor. She might not have ever been cured, but she could have lived a good bit longer.
Sometimes a good physical workup can ELIMINATE other possibilities.
Or verify that the problem has other origins.

 

[AveOTheotokos]

Confession and speaking with a priest should be able to put your mind at ease. If there ever was any kind of demonic effect or influence that was enabled by these events in your past or concerning evidence of it manifests, then a priest should be able to help you discern this and take appropriate actions to remedy it.

Trust in the Lord and the Church He left to take care of us.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Xanthippe_Voorhees:

All you’ve done is argue that I don’t have a right to make the conclusions I do.

Not at all. Rights are a philosophical and moral question and I’m neither a philosopher nor an ethicist. I simply asserted you were a non-professional who was making ridiculous claims. I meant to do so playfully, but maybe that was lost in translation.

… or maybe I just touched a nerve. Hm. THAT’S interesting.

Yes, I find it a bit ridiculous the only position you’ve taken is to try and discredit me. I’m against unsubstantiated claims and cred flashing. That’s all.

I think that it’s unwise to let physical pain linger without a substantiated cause. Once confession happens, the pain becomes completely unexplainable and therefore worthy of a trip to the doctor.

 

[pianistclare]

One of the women that sings in one of our 5 Spanish choirs has this thing where her fingertips turn yellow and painful in colder temps.
It’s some kind of syndrome, I forget the name, very painful. She went to a specialist who basically said she really needed to not go outside in the cold Ever. So we switched her to a midday Mass instead of an evening Mass.
But it’s a real thing, he could be physically ill.
OR, his guilt from getting himself tangled in the occult could be weighing on him. He’s got to talk to a priest about this at any rate.

 

[pianistclare]

oh come on now…you pursued it too.
If you want to drop it, we’d all be pleased.

 

[pianistclare]

Nice to see you as well.

Xanthippe is a good poster, as is our old friend Xantippe, not to be confuzzed.
I think we’ve about beat this thing to death.

 

[pianistclare]

True, it could be trollish, but he has other threads that are not, I think.

I’m waiting for him to come back and say “Stop talking about me like I’m not here!”

Like the girl in Steel Magnolias

 

[pianistclare]

Aw, go ahead and jump. That’s the only reason people read CAF, frankly.

HA!

just kiddin