Symbols and objects would trigger certain behaviors in these patients. We had to do frequent room searches, and often patients created symbols in hidden places. I found one on the bottom of a toilet tank lid. We also had to do body searches for evidence of self mutilation. On one particular patient, there was a symbol on her leg that would actually appear and disappear. I witnessed this myself. We never did find a physiological reason for this. One night as I giving report to the night nurse, she said, “These people don’t need a doctor, they need an exorcist.” I remember the chill of that statement on that night. As nurses, we were educated in the sciences, but nothing could quite prepare us for what we witnessed there. I saw things that still haunt me to this day.
I suggest you study the model of Ferdinand Saussure. It’s a model used both in modern linguistics and semiotics. To give a rough explanation, symbols are really two things: meaning and form. A symbol may stand for something but at the same time, it
isn’t that something. They are two different things.
For example, let us start first with words: The letters G, O, and D invoke in our minds the meaning, the concept, of our Almighty Creator. At the same time though, stop and think. Does this make the letters G.D.O. possess some magical holy property? Of course not. In the same manner, the letters C, A, and T have nothing to do with any part or parcel of the feline species. The connection between the two is purely artificial. We
made that association. That’s how language works.
Moving on to symbols: I’m sure you are aware that the six-pointed star is both used in Judaism and at the same time, is a popular occult symbol? However, they both mean two different things (and then some, as I’ve used they symbol myself to imagine the magic circles invoked by fantasy spell casters). There’s also St. Peter’s cross. In Catholicism, we consider it a symbol of our 1st Pope’s martyrdom. Popular culture on the other hand portrays the inverted cross as a symbol of Satanism. Finally, there’s the swastika. Are you aware that Eastern Religions used that symbol centuries before the Nazis?
See it isn’t so much to do with the symbol itself and more to do with the association one has forged with it. As I’ve said before, I’ve seen and used many symbols deemed “occult” when writing and doodling in my spare time. I’m certainly not in any need of an exorcism because my associations to such symbols hardly invoke anything.
Here is an interesting article on the use of talismans. Catholics are never use them:
unhealthydevotions.com/new-age/invoking-saints-with-talismans-amulets.htm
They make for cool accessories though. I’d certainly love to craft my own “talisman” though I lack the skills (not to mention I’m torn between a pentagram with a rune or some dragon head symbol).
One of the problems with objects is that you never really know what has been spiritually attached to the object before it comes into your possession. Spirit masks are an example of this. Many people collect these kinds of things from other cultures and have no idea what has been infused into these masks.
One of my friends told me about a collection of masks from different countries displayed around the walls of her boss’s office. She said every time she had to go into that office, she would hear voices, whisperings, and other sounds, but nothing to account for this. Then one of her co-workers asked her one day if she ever heard anything strange in the boss’s office. They both realized they were hearing things with no logical explanation. Both thought it was the mask collection. I’d say that is very likely.
As with Talismans and Amulets, as described in the article you linked; other objects may be connected to evil spirits. So, we have to be very careful what we bring into our homes.
Aaaaaand here we have an example of people confusing psychological aversion with actual spiritual experiences.
I’ve had episodes of fearing the dark at times (though I’ve long managed to suppress my cowardly impulses with relative ease). However that doesn’t initially stop the creepy tingling sensation I get whenever I’m alone in the dark. Does that mean I’m not alone? Nonsense. It’s all in my head and most likely, the creepy looks of spirit masks have inserted funny thoughts in your friends’ heads.
Hearing voices isn’t always a verifiable phenomenon. It is faaar different from actually seeing something move by itself and moreso, cause a little girl to walk all the way to a bridge at the edge of the neighborhood.
