11.11.

2019 Demon c possess on and the anc ent pract ce of exorc sm | Anc ent Or g ns

10 January, 2014 - 23:31 apr lholloway

Demon c possess on and the anc ent pract ce of exorc sm

Last year, the Roman Cathol c Church announced that they were tra n ng up a new army of exorc sts to meet
the grow ng demand for experts to r d people of ev l sp r ts. The Church cla ms that the “unprecedented
r se” n requests for exorc sm comes from more people dabbl ng n the ‘dark arts’ w th the help of
nformat on found on the nternet.

“D abol cal possess ons are on the ncrease as a result of people subscr b ng to occult sm,” sa d Fr Francesco
Bamonte, the pres dent of the Italy-based Internat onal Assoc at on for Exorc sts. “The few exorc sts that we
have n the d oceses are often not able to handle the enormous number of requests for help,” he told La
Repubbl ca.

“Demon c” possess on s sa d to man fest tself n people babbl ng n languages fore gn to them, shak ng
uncontrollably and vom t ng na ls, p eces of metal and shards of glass, accord ng to those who bel eve n the
phenomenon. They must undergo the off c al Cathol c r te of exorc sm, wh ch nvolves a consecrated pr est
nvok ng the name of God, as well as var ous sa nts and the Archangel M chael, to cast out the r demons.

However, the Cathol c Church s not the only rel g ous organ sat on to conduct r tes to r d a person of
demon c possess on. V rtually every rel g ous and cultural trad t on worldw de has espoused the dea of sp r t
possess on and the need for some form of exorc sm, and th s custom dates back thousands of years.

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11.11.2019 Demon c possess on and the anc ent pract ce of exorc sm | Anc ent Or g ns

Panel pa nt ng by unknown art st (1512), on an altar n the shr ne at Zell n the Duchy of Styr a. Image
source .

In anc ent Mesopotam a, t was bel eved that all forms of s ckness came from powerful sp r ts enter ng a
person’s body and attach ng to a person. Assyr an tablets make reference to the use of ncantat ons and
prayers to the gods, as well as d rect challenges to demons, wh ch were bel eved to nfl ct every type of
d sease, both phys cal and psycholog cal. Anc ent Babylon an pr ests performed r tuals by destroy ng a clay
or wax mage of a demon.

In the H ndu rel g on, the anc ent texts known as the Vedas, wh ch were composed around 1000 BC, refer to
ev l be ngs that nterfere n the work of H ndu gods and harm the l v ng.

Accounts from anc ent Pers a, dat ng back to around 600 BC, offer ev dence of exorc sm us ng prayer, r tual,
and holy water by the rel g ous leader Zoroaster, who was cons dered the f rst mag c an, and who founded
the rel g on Zoroastr an sm.

In Chr st an ty, there are many references to Jesus perform ng exorc sms, and the ab l ty to cast our ev l
sp r ts was a s gn of a true d sc ple. In one well known story, Jesus encountered a madman and commanded
that the foul sp r ts leave h m; the sp r ts then entered nto a herd of p gs, wh ch ran over a cl ff and drowned
n the waters below.

The M ddle Ages (500-1500AD) saw a rev val of anc ent superst t on and demonology and mental llness
was seen to be the result of ev l possess on. The barbar c treatment of mental llnesses was pr mar ly left to
the clergy who exorc sed pat ents through a var ety of techn ques wh ch caused phys cal pa n, such as
scourg ng.

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11.11.2019 Demon c possess on and the anc ent pract ce of exorc sm | Anc ent Or g ns

Mental llness was seen to be the result of demon c possess on and pat ents suffered brutal treatments n the
M ddle Ages.

Over the centur es, the r tes of exorc sm have ncluded the use of prayers, commands, fum gat ons, holy
water, hellebore, rue, salt, and roses. However, exorc sms have also attracted the r fa r share of scept c sm.
Many sc ent sts bel eve that so-called demon c possess on s s mply a form of mental llness, such as
hyster a, man a, psychos s, Tourette’s syndrome, sch zophren a or personal ty d sorder. Scept cs cla m that
the llus on that exorc sm works on people exper enc ng symptoms of possess on s attr buted to the power of
suggest on, or the placebo effect, wh ch has also been used to expla n phenomena such as fa th heal ng.

Bel efs n sp r t possess on have rema ned v rtually unchanged s nce the beg nn ng of c v l zat on and st ll
ex st to th s day. But whether possess on by demon c forces s real or s mply the result of a med cal or
psycholog cal mbalance s st ll hotly debated.

By Apr l Holloway

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