When Catholic Exorcism meets Asian Techniques of Divination

When the lay-volunteers of the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism went to Rome in 2013 together with six of its exorcists -- Fr. Jocis Syquia, Msgr. Jay Bandojo, Fr. Bobby Dela Cruz, Fr. Jojo Zerrudo, Fr. Daniel Estaquio, and Fr. Remo Bati, SDB for the VIII Annual Course in Prayer of Liberation and Exorcism at the Regina Apostolorum University, they were joined there by two Filipino Dominican priests -- Fr. Dexter Austria, and myself. At that time, Fr. Dexter and I were not yet part of the AMOE Team.

During the Conference from the various renowned exorcists, it was very clear to us both theologically and dogmatically the principles involved in the Ministry. Questions about voodoo, macumba and other types of black magic as practiced in Africa and Mexico/Latin/South America were brought to the floor for discussion and analysis and how to combat them. This was not surprising because there were many participants coming from those places. European witchcraft and satanism were also discussed because there were plenty of European exorcists in the Conference as well.

What was lacking were questions regarding sorcery, witchcraft, magic, and satanic rituals coming from Asia. I was surprised later that we did not ask it, we from Asia. Surprisingly there were priests from India there, China, Japan, Korea, and from the Philippines. But no one among us thought of asking a question related to our experience. I now wished we had. But perhaps it would not help much. From the discussions coming from the other continents, it was basically the same approach as in the Roman Ritual. If ever we would have asked questions particular to Asia they may not be able to answer it at all. I assumed this because much much later I contacted particular exorcists in the US and Spain inquiring on how they deal with the Occult Third Eye, and basically they did not know what I was talking about. It seems that when it is a question of the demonic, one refers to the Roman Ritual on how to expel them. Although we basically agree but our discoveries in AMOE brought us to certain fields that deepened our understanding of the spirit of divination. In our discovery there were other very potent prayers against these nefarious creature. We discovered the Eastern Christian Prayers Against All Magic, we found the Exorcism Prayers of the Bishop-Marytr Cyprian of Nicomedia Against Curses and Black Magic. We also made ample use of the Exorcism Prayers of St. Gregory the Theologian Against Magic, the Exorcism Prayers of St. John Chrysostom and Basil of Caesarea.

But it was the encounter with various Hindu and Buddhist influenced magic that brought us to work on how to counter-act them. The traditional use of the Roman Ritual for Exorcisms remains very powerful. But the time spent in expelling demons that come and go made us ask the question: "Are there other gateways for the entry of the unclean spirits beyond the third eye found on the forehead?" And our question was answered by an unlikely case of a 12 year old boy whose "chakra" points were all opened. Prior to this encounter our knowledge of the other entry ways were dismal. I will tell the case story of this boy in the next post.

The concept of chakra is basically Hindu in origin and it would be received in Buddhism and naturally in all places in Asia where Buddhism is the prevailing religion. It has become famous in the Western world through various hindu masters and later on in the New Age. AMOE Exorcists would encounter as a maintstay cases of open chakras making  the closing of the Occult Third Eye a bit more challenging.

 

Looking at the table alone which is readily available in the internet, one will immediately see how complicated it is. Put that in the context of the Ministry of Spiritual Liberation and Exorcism and one gets to have an idea how deeply rooted the spirit of divination will go into the life of a person. What makes this so disconcerting is that in many Catholic spirituality centers, convents, formation houses, there are practitioners among priests and religious sisters. And the spiritual liberation of religious men and women who are practitioners of this esoteric art, are one of the most difficult to liberate because without them knowing it they practically gave the demon of divination free access to their soul. And they enjoy the power it gives them by having all their chakras opened and their so-called "spiritual experience" heightened.

CASE STORY: The Demon of Divination and its Counterfeit Charisms

In the cases that AMOE assigned to me to minister to and do a pray-over, I can count of about half of which are intimately related to the Demon of the Divination, specifically the closing of the Occult Third Eye. Now when we in AMOE say "Occult Third Eye", we refer to those who have become psychic or sensitive, those who can see spirits, those who can predict the future or see the past, those who can read auras and "hearts", but the power of which was handed over either by an ancestor, or opened during an occult ritual, for example, after a visit to the local healer or shaman or albularyo. And now after not a few cases, we also saw the instances where unclean spirits took over a person in the charismatic renewal and substituted the real gifts of the Holy Spirit, to counterfeit gifts.

In Sacred Scripture it is very clear that unclean spirits can mimic or imitate what seemed to be divine powers. In the Book of Exodus, the magician's of Pharaoh imitated the prodigies done by Moses and Aaron as in the staff turning into a serpent (Exodus 7:8013). In the New Testament in the Book of Acts, Simon Magus and the Sons of Sceva, tried to counterfeit the wonders done by the Apostles (Acts 8:9-24; 19:13-16). And in the Gospel of Matthew and the Book of Revelations, mention that the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet will create signs and wonders that people will believe to have come from God (Matthew 24:24; Revelations 13:11-14). This is all possible because even the Devil can make himself as an "angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).

I know the biblical accounts but I have never seen counterfeit gifts until this experience.

One day at the Office of AMOE, I was asked to assist Fr. Jocis in ministering to a troubled young lady professional. At that time she was about 22 years old. But Fr. Jocis started ministering to her while she was still in college. Initially, I was told that the case would simply be a closing of the occult third eye. In those early months that I was an exorcist in-training under Fr. Jocis, we have just set-up the rite and proper prayers for the closing of the occult-third eye. We found it very effective. So he told me to use it during our prayer-session.

The young lady was smart and sweet. No one would have ever imagined that behind that sweetness lurks a deceiving spirit. The young lady has been part of a charismatic prayer group. Initially she seemed to have received the gift of prophecy, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. Their community began to depend on her gifts in directing them. The priest-leader also calls her to assist in shepherding. The parents like-wise, who are members of the group, are elated that their daughter is considered an important "gift" to the community. In the process the girl developed a sense of being vital or important that without her the community would be in disarray. She also made use of her job as venue for her apostolate of service. Thus she received the adulation of her colleagues and members of her prayer community for the many things she is able to accomplish.

Then suddenly out of the blue, one night she had horrible nightmares of the devil running after her. And even if she uses the name of Jesus in the dream, the demon seem to catch her and bring her to the darkest dark. The dream would repeat itself night after night. And even if she would pray before sleeping as she used to do, the nightmares continued. Not only that, now even during waking hours she can see spirits. She did not use to but it just happened. And to make matters terrible for her, whenever she sees the spirits and she starts to pray, they come even nearer. She thought that she was praying, in her mind she was praying to God, but some word comes out of her mouth, a different word, a foreign word, an unknown tongue.

And so when Fr. Jocis started ministering to her, nothing much has changed in her situation. She was in the same situation when I met the victim and the mother. Fr. Jocis started with the protection prayer. Afterwards he asked me to guide her to the Rite of Closing the Occult Third Eye of the Spirit of Divination. At the first part of the Rite is the adjuration of Satan by the afflicted. It was simply the renewal of Baptismal Vows which necessarily included the disavowal of the Evil One. Early this part, the young lady was already beginning to react. She was having difficulty pronouncing the words as if somebody was choking her. So the assisting lay volunteer anointed her with exorcised-blessed oil on the parts that are being obstructed or harassed, in this case the throat, and this helped. Then there was repentance prayer and once more the choking was experienced. It was clearly obvious to us that something is preventing her from asking for forgiveness. A drink of holy water helped relieved it. Then the prayer to the Guardian Angel and Patron Saints as well as the Profession of Faith moved on relatively easy. Not much of a reaction except for a few coughing here and there.

 

When it was time for her to renounce her relationship with the spirit of divination in the words:  "I renounce all the spirits of divination and the power of demons that came in me to give me this power and I command you to leave me now in the name of Jesus Christ", she started to shake severely as if somebody was bouncing her like a ball. Then her eyeballs turned all white, and she entered in a state of trance. The shaking stopped and she was silent. Fr. Jocis motioned me to move to the page of the Ritual for the Solemn Exorcism. I started with the Litany of the Saints, and she started to scream continuously from the top of her voice. People waiting outside the room said that they thought they heard a herd of swine as if being butchered.

Then the prayers continued, when I reached the part of Praecipio tibi, quicumque es, spiritus immunde, et omnibus sociis tuis (I command, you, unclean spirit, whoever you are, along with all your minions), the girl became silent but just looked at me with her all-white eyes. I remained undaunted and continued the prayer. She did not react in anyway but remained still and quiet. When I reached Exorcism Prayer III, the prayer against occult spirits, she reacted in a different way. A way I never encountered before. She started speaking in tongues. Yes, tongues! I am familiar with it having attended several charismatic prayer meetings as a seminarian and as a young priest. I know how it sounds. Her tongue was simply moving and saying things which sounded like babbling but at times familiar tongue words, but she is not in control. She was doing this the whole time we were in Exorcism Prayer III.

I returned back to the Praecipio prayer and this time with more authority in my voice. I repeated that whole paragraph at least three times before there was again a new manifestation. This time a lady's voice spoke, it was  young  sweet and gentle voice, but it was not definitely the afflicted's voice. The voice asked: "Why are you are trying to expel me and the gifts I gave the girl? The gifts are from God." But the moment she spoke we knew already that this voice is from the lying serpent. It answered us in the portion of the prayer that in the story of many Catholic Exorcisms, the demons cannot resist for long: "Dicas mihi nomen tuum... (Tell me your name?)". We knew the demon was mimicking someone, it was trying to present itself as the Blessed Virgin Mary. But we could not be fooled. So Fr. Jocis signaled me to continue praying and not to stop, to allow him to be the one to listen, my role is to pray unceasingly using the ritual until he says so. I repeated once more the Praecipio and the gentle, sweet young woman's voice became angry, started to blaspheme, and curse, and change into a husky man's voice. We knew the demon understood that he had been unmasked and was resisting by threatening us. But I continued to pray, Exorcism Prayer I, II, and III. At the third prayer, the screaming started again, and she started to cough first, then, vomit. At the end of the prayer, the young lady opened her eyes. She was out of trance.

We proceeded with the Rite of the Closing of the Third Eye. I asked her to repeat the renouncement of the spirit of divination, and she was able to do that. When it was my turn to break all the seals, unholy consecrations, unholy ties and bondages, she started again to shake. But she was still conscious and could follow the prayers. Fr. Jocis motioned me to repeat those parts again, and she continued shaking. I repeated it a third time, and she remained still. I went to the command for the spirits of darkness and divination to leave: "Spirits of darkness and divination, I command you, in the Name of Jesus, to come out, to leave and never return." I repeated the command three times, only minor shaking on the part of the young woman was the reaction. I told the young lady not to close her eyes and to look at me straight. I told her to surrender everything to Jesus, to surrender the third eye to Him. I proceeded to anoint the center of the forehead, the site commonly identified as where the third eye is located, with exorcised-blessed oil: "Occult Third Eye given by the spirit of divination, I command you, in the Name of Jesus, to be closed and never to be opened again." Upon saying those words at the same time anointing her, she screamed as before continuously. Her eyes were still open and it rolled up to only show the white part of the eyes. I repeated twice the command with the anointing, all that time the young woman was screaming. Fr. Jocis motioned me to repeat the part "Spirits of darkness and divination...". I did and did it thrice. Then I proceeded again with the "Occult Third Eye..." command while anointing the brow of the afflicted. I repeated it a third time. All that time there seems to be no alleviation of her condition.

We shifted gear and went back to the major exorcism texts. I recited the Praecipio and this time placed the pyx with the Blessed Sacrament inside on top of her head. She screamed and screamed and howled and shrieked. This definitely was not that young lady that entered the room an hour or so ago. This was definitely something else. Then the voice spoke again, the one that pretended to be the Virgin Mary, she spoke with an angry voice and asked us to stop praying and they would leave. But one never bargains with evil spirits. God has always the upper control. So we never listened and instead bombarded her with the exorcism prayers all the while with the pyx on the woman's head. In the Exorcism Prayer III she gave a loud scream and vomited lots of white thick frothy saliva. This was then followed by silence and the young woman got out of the trance.

We proceeded to continue where we left-off. Another command of "Spirits of Darkness and Divination..." followed by the "Occult Third Eye given by the spirit of divination..." and the concomitant anointings, went well with no reaction. Finally, the young woman made her Consecration in these words:

O Most Immaculate and Loving Virgin Mary,
Mother of God and my Mother,
Who was present at the crucifixion
And death of your Son Jesus
On the hill of Calvary,
Have mercy on me, your son (your daughter)
Have mercy on this poor
Suffering body of mine
Harassed and oppressed by the Evil One.
Through the merits of your sorrows,
Grant me relief and comfort.
Close now my psychic abilities, which I have
Obtained through the power of demons.
These psychic abilities I renounce
and surrender totally to you
I consecrate myself to you
I dedicate myself to you
I offer myself to you.
Hear my supplication dearest Mother and Queen.
Through the love you have for Your Son Jesus
who has entrusted me to your maternal care.
Amen.

After her heartfelt consecration, I once more anointed her this time with holy chrism; sealing her for the Lord.

After this we closed with a Cleansing Prayer and a Blessing.

Many months have gone and I casually inquired on the status of the young girl. According to her case officer, she was okay for many months but went back again to her community. She resumed in her prophesying, speaking in tongues, etc. upon the instigation of the parents.  Now the nightmares are back. They preferred the adulation of men, the power that divination brings  than to be truly liberated with only God as the real desire of the heart. Now she is worst than before. The Scriptures were right when it aptly recorded what the Lord Jesus said: 

"When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first." (Luke 11:24-25)

Vanity has entered their heart. Pride has entered their soul. Now the Demon has a stronghold, and the next battle would be more difficult because they have not valued the grace given them before.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• The original charisms received from the  so-called Baptism of the Holy Spirit are often received for the edification of the Church. As proof of Jesus' abiding presence in the Church. It is supposed to lead the recipient to a greater relationship with God and the Church and therefore discover holiness and a life of virtue in response.
• The holy charisms can be hijacked by the evil one, once impure and unholy desires come in.
• Since these charisms demand habitual sanctifying grace in the recipient in order to remain holy, they can be taken away when the state of grace is no longer present. Because the charisms are something super-added to the soul by grace, they will necessarily need to inhere in the soul in the state of grace. But in the absence of grace in the soul because of mortal sin, the charisms have no base to cling to and hence they will be taken away. This is how Simon Magus lost the grace when he tried to buy the gifts of the Holy Spirit from the apostles: "You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord in the hope that he may forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin" (Acts 8:20-23).
• It is in that split second opening to sin, habitual sin, vice, that the evil spirit comes in to replace the charism with a counterfeit one.
• So the person is unaware that he is already using a counterfeit gift. Hence, holiness is no longer present but is replaced by pride, vain glory, vice, arrogance, sloth, anger, glutonny, lust, and other sinful acts and desires.
• The more the counterfeit gifts are used by the recipient, the more the bondage to the devil. The deeper the bondage the more difficult the spiritual liberation.
• But God will never deny grace to anyone who comes to Him with a sincere and penitent heart.

 

The Demon of Divination as Gate-keeper to all other occult and unclean spirits

Often when a person asks to be liberated from the demon of divination, the assault has already advanced to a level of either oppression or possession. This is now an advanced stage, and the psychic abilities are well developed and the control of the spirit of divination over this ability is often total and very well pronounced. It has arrived to such a degree because the person has taken advantage of the power being given by the spirit of divination and has enjoyed or benefited from its use for quite some time.

Once the person becomes aware or have been enlightened that the source of the power is evil and desires to be rid of it and the demon, then retaliation sets in. This is manifested by psychic and physical attacks on the afflicted for any intention or act to pray to God and ask for divine help. The difficulty is also exacerbated because the demon now uses other people, usually also those with open occult third eye, to dissuade the afflicted from seeking the help of the Church and her ministers especially exorcists. They would instead, recommend that the afflicted use amulets or talismans for protection, or do some occult ritual, or to consult a local occult healer (shaman or albularyo). This of course would even more fortify the demonic stronghold on the person by inviting other demons, thereby, making spiritual liberation difficult.

The idolatrous practice often invites other demons. They latch on the person both on the level of the soul (for those in a habitually sinful life) and that of the level of emotions and its passions (connected with pride, vainglory, sloth, avarice, lust, anger, resentment, and unforgiveness, etc.) Therefore, in effect we are no longer dealing here with just the spirit of divination but already many spirits. It is for this reason that a series of exorcism prayers will be necessary.

Hence, from the experience of many exorcists regarding the expulsion of the demon of divination and the closing of the occult third eye, proceeding immediately to the rite of closing of the third eye would cause great reactions on the part of the afflicted. Therefore, the use of minor and major exorcisms prior to the expulsion of the demon of divination is done to remove the stronghold. The objective is to weaken the demon of divination by expelling other unclean spirits protecting it. Once this has been successfully done, the expulsion of the spirit of divination and the closing of the third eye would proceed with very little reaction on the part of the afflicted.