EXORCISM
This blog post is largely inspired by the fear of demons and Satan I was made to have growing up. Fear is an integral part of many Christian upbringings, and my house was no exception to it. My mother told me, in no uncertain terms, that witches always sold their souls to the devil (we don’t) and that she herself knew a witch growing up who decided to renounce her witchy ways.
“The devil didn’t want to let her go,” My mom said.
As a kid who was scarred by one of those insane Bible cartoons at age two on Christmas (thanks mom and dad) I was already terrified of the devil, and demons, and Hell. When I was little and prayed the sinners prayer in Sunday school, I felt certain deep down that for some reason God wouldn’t hear me. I’d end up in Hell any way, though I’d never done anything to warrant such a punishment - other than being born which is, of course, being “born into sin”.
You can probably tell that now, as an apostate, having deconstructed and examined my belief systems with a much more critical eye, I have serious issues with these practices. But, that’s not really what this post is about. Nope, this post is about something I was terrified of as a child. Something that seemed to me like an ever-present possibility: demonic possession.
DISCLAIMER: I do not believe that every person who is a Christian is a bad person. Not at all. I do believe there are very large, systemic problems in and related to Christian churches and their followers. Exorcism, to be honest, is a big one.
Demonic Possession, Hell, and The Church
Let’s be absolutely clear: Satan is the church’s best friend for life. You read that right; Satan is what drives people to go to church. In the earliest days of Christian prostelitizing, the idea of eternal torment, Hell, Satan, and demons, were problems that, according to them, only Jesus Christ could solve. They created the problem, and introduced the only solution: their savior, Jesus Christ. Fear has thusly remained a cornerstone of Christian beliefs, whether protestant or Catholic. Show up to Sunday service and you’re getting your afterlife fire insurance. You can even commit sins, and then just ask your sky daddy for forgiveness and BOOM! You’re good to get into heaven again.
But, what if someone has a sudden mood shift? What if a woman just isn’t wanting to take care of the house like she used to? What if someone is speaking in tongues? Welp, you might have a demon on your hands (according to the church for many centuries now). During the church’s history, people have had to go the exceptionally traumatic exorcism rite for everything from what we now know are mental health issues (anxiety, depression, etc), chemical and hormonal imbalances, epilepsy, and quite likely episodes of dissociation and subsequent related disorders.
It’s easy to dismiss this as an antiquated practice. Honestly, it should be a practice left to history and no longer something offered by anyone. But alas, that is not the case.
Modern Exorcisms
Modern exorcisms are generally performed by Catholic clergy, or Christian pastors who get their knowledge (there isn’t, that I can find, a proper acredidation) of exorcisms from specific programs offered in the United States. The ritual generally (according to exorcists) follows this sort of pattern:
A prayer or rite of some kind - each exorcist has their own preference, whether it’s the Lord’s prayer, the prayer of deliverance, a prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, or, to Jesus directly. According to the Catholec Exchange, it’s expected that the victim (and believe me, they are, in fact, victims) is typically nervous and uncomfortable.
Yeah. I’d be nervous and uncomfortable if someone told me I was demonically possessed and they were going to exorcise me. The anxiety ratchets up a few notches when you realize that most exorcisms are performed in very intimate settings with very few people. In my opinion, this is so there are fewer witnesses.
The exorcist will typically begin the official prayer of exorcism - which largely depends on the exorcist’s denomination. During this, the exorcist expects that demon will manifest and fight. Sometimes this fight is the victim refusing to stand, sometimes thrashing, and this is where they will usually begin restraining the victim.
I want to make something EXTREMELY clear: no one in this exorcisms is medically trained. No one. And they believe that they can safely restrain someone. Let me tell you something: I have trauma from being held down by someone against my will. Even though I wasn’t physcially injured, it’s still something that I deal with as an adult many years removed from the incidents in my childhood. The very least that someone will have while being held down against their will is trauma. But then add in the fact that these are people who are not medically trained to safely restrain someone. Add in that they could be restricting breath, they’re typically (I’ve watched multiple videos at this point of this) yelling at the victim. Some are throwing water, but, there have been cases of physical violence inflicted on someone who is vulnerable and being held against their will. This is where exorcisms have turned tragic. There have been multiple cases of people attempting exorcism that has resulted in death (see below if you want to know, but, trigger warning for all the things).
The exorcism goes on - prayers, spraying with holy water, yelling, laying hands and pressing down on the victim. The exorcist will generally demand to know the demon’s name at this point. They believe that the name gives them greater power over the entity to exorcise it. Again, this is where exorcists will do what they deem necessary to get rid of the demon, which is a very dangerous amount of power to give to anyone.
Exorcism might seem complete after hours. They will put people through this for hours. Sometimes, the exorcism will seem successful int he eyes of the exorcist, and then the person may need another one. More trauma. More and more and more.
Now, it’s probably completely crystal clear how I feel about exorcism; I don’t like it. I watched a show called I Was Possessed to see if I was missing something. Is there a perspective on Exorcism that I don’t have. I’m going to be as fair as I can possibly manage when I say what I have to say about what I saw on that show.
Firstly - I do believe there were people who genuinely wanted to help others who were believed to be possessed. Genuinely, I saw people reaching out to others and attempting to help in any way that they could. Although some of the actions were misguided, I do believe tyhat many of the people involved have good intentions.
Secondly - There is a stark need for mental health evaluations by people with the proper education and licensing to do so. There are stories I watched and heard that echo my own mental health journey. There were people struggling with extremely dark childhood traumas who deserved for someone to come in and help them in a safe environment, who were - instead - met with the Church. In every story, there was trauma, upheavel, even moving living spaces, in which maybe there was something paranormal, but I think largely needed proper therapy and support for the individuals.
Thirdly - should you seek out footage of exorcism, please consider your own mental health. There were times I had to take breaks, and when I watched, I had to turn it off for a while and watch something relaxing (Bob’s Burgers, for example) as a break. Please take care of you.
Fourthly - I saw only one example of exorcism that I thought was a good way to do it. The victim was a teenage girl. Her parents were present during the exorcism, and, the exorcism was performed by several women. The women formed a circle (a practice that can be a powerful place for ceremony regardless of religion or spiritual affiliation) around the teen. They did not touch her or hold her down. Each woman in the circle said her own individual prayer for the teen and then they encouraged the teen to take back her own power by telling the entity to leave her. Once she was able to do that, and tension began to subside, the women softly rubbed the teen’s back in a subtle way of letting her know that she’d done it - it was gone, and she would be okay. She’d taken her power back. No one was hurt, no one was yelled at, no one was held down.
If Exorcism is So Bad, Why does it Seem to Work?
Well, it doesn’t one hundred percent of the time. Sometimes people literally die, other times people need multiple exorcisms. One such unfortunate case is that of Anneliese Michel, who was a teenage girl in Germany. She died in the nineteen-seventies as a result of over sixty exorcisms. There are tapes of these sessions and I do not recommend anyone listen to them, they are incredibly sad and anxiety inducing. The case of Anneliese makes me so incredibly sad because I do believe she was suffering with an undiagnosed mental illness that was unknown at the time. I believe it manifested as demonic infestation largely due to her strict Catholic upbringing, though I have no proof to back any of that up - it’s just my own belief about her. Whatever the case, I sincerely hope that Anneliese did find some kind of peace in the afterlife and she does need to be remembered.
I mentioned above too that exorcisms will sometimes have to be repeated. This was the case in an episode in which a girl (a teenager in the eighties) had experienced multiple deaths during her childhood, a tumultuous homelife, and no doubt wanted and needed love and stability in her life that she just didn’t have. For her exorcism she met two male pastors at a hotel where they performed an exorcism for hours. She seemed fine and one of the pastors took her into his home, then she needed a second exorcism a short while later. While I’m glad that as of the filming of the show in 2015 the victim was doing well, I can’t help but feel that she deserved so much better.
But, there are cases where people report that exorcism saved them. According to Good Therapy: “Mental issues can cause strange behavior, and people tend to conform to expectations. This means a person experiencing an exorcism is more likely to act in ways he or she has heard of others behaving during exorcisms. Exorcisms sometimes also involve the use of potions, drugs, or fasting, each of which can induce violent illness and strange behavior. Starvation can affect brain function, and the stress of an exorcism may radically alter behavior.
“Some exorcism advocates insist that exorcism works. And it very well may. People undergoing exorcisms may enter hypnotic trances, during which time they may be much more suggestible, which means their behavior may later change. The dramatic ritual of an exorcism can also be cathartic for some deeply religious people, and may inspire a change in behavior or personality.” (Villines, 2013)
What’s in it for the Church?
The church, protestant or catholic, doesn’t pay taxes. The edict their own messiah gave them was to take care of people. The individuals are told that when they take care of the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, the incarcerated, they are taking care of Jesus himself. Yet the church will often advocate against proper medical care. Churches have more than enough money to pay for properly licensed mental health professionals to assess the situation and make sure that the person they’re working with gets the proper care and (if needed) medication. Yet, they don’t. Why?
I can’t prove it, but I believe it goes back to what I said in the beginning: the infernal is the church’s cornerstone. In the show, each person who underwent exorcism began to go to church, with the exception of the group of women who exorcised a teen non-violently. Every. Single. One.
Another person tithing.
Another person paying the church for their spiritual offerings every Sunday, holiday, etc.
Another person voting for the best interests of the church.
Exorcism is just one of the multiple abusive practices of the church, and we need to take a look at it with a critical eye. Even if you truly believe that exorcism is the only way, it’s clear that it should be done in a setting with medical personnel present. With a licensed medical health expert weighing in. With advocates for the afflicted person present and ready to step in to stop the exorcism if it gets out of hand.
Maybe stepping out of the realm of fear created by a domineering religion, and exploring more mental health resources could have saved Anneliese Michel. Maybe critical thinking rather than a ritual steeped in violence could have prevented the deaths of two year old Jocelyn Guzman-Rodriguez in 2011 and Arely Doe in 2022.
I realioze this is a dark post, and wrapping it up is a difficult task. I believe in the spiritual world, and the potential impact it has on the material world. I also believe in science, and rational, mundane explanations first and foremost. It’s a strange tight rope I walk to be sure, but it’s what allows me to be open to possibilities while remaining grounded in reality. That is what we need when we’re addressing potentially paranormal matters. Open mindedness combined with grounded calm allows for us to see past our fear to discern whether it’s really something infernal, external, or an inner demon we must address via therapy and/or other medical intervention.
Sources:
https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychology-exorcism-demonic-possession-0308137
https://catholicexchange.com/an-exorcist-on-what-happens-during-an-exorcism/
Trigger warning for child abuse, and child death:
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna52135225
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/18/us/exorcism-church-san-jose.html
