What is Magic?

            I, personally, am possessed by a group of deities who belong to the pantheon of the indigenous people where I live (Guatemala).  I was originally working with these deities in a more casual fashion, with regard to agriculture, when my spirit guides suggested that I invite them to possess me, and I did so (spirit guides are just that – guides.  They have neither the power nor inclination to possess humans).  These deities help me in various ways.  They prop me up – help me accomplish things that I could not normally do by myself.  For example, they taught me how to hold my attention fixed on a single feeling moment-to-moment, all day long, every day.  At first they lent me their power, so in the beginning I found the exercise remarkably easy; then little-by-little they withdrew their power, which made the thing progressively harder and harder to do, but still doable, until I was able to do it by myself.  This training was part of their teaching me how to drop the obsession of everyday life by breaking its fixation. 

            Another thing they’ve done on occasion is show me scenes from my past and future in my mind’s eye, but incredibly vivid and emotionally compelling, not unlike what the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future did to Ebenezer Scrooge.  Sometimes they have altered my consciousness - like taking a psychedelic drug - to show me things.

            Also, the frequency and intensity of omens and portents in my life seem to have jumped exponentially ever since these deities took over the controls.  And they talk to me and tell me about all sorts of things, like agriculture, divination, healing, etc.  They also have introduced me to some interesting people.  They come to me in dreams and show me things.  Actually, they’re a trip.  But beyond the weird stuff, they’re also good friends.  I trust them and feel comfortable in their presence; and they’re omnipresent.

            The relationship between humans and spirits is symbiotic.  Possessing humans gives spirits embodied agents in the physical world through whom the spirits can extend the range of their activities.  Spirits cannot act directly upon the physical world;*  all they can do by themselves is wait until a fortuitous juxtaposition of circumstances pops up, and then give things a little tangential shove this way or that.  But they are not capable of acting in the world in a sustained, methodical fashion; for that they need human (or animal, or vegetable, or mineral) agents.

            The dilemma for the aspirant is that the spiritual path requires calmness, gentleness, and humility; and spirit possession militates against the development of these qualities.  On the other hand, the spiritual path also requires fierce determination and an unwavering sense of direction, which are really only available by means of some form of possession.  A human guru tries to prevent his or her disciples from indulging in excesses by constantly kicking the legs out from under their self-importance (which is why e.g. Don Juan, Sri Yukteswar, Gurdjieff, etc. were so harsh and abusive to their disciples); but with spirit possession there are no such restraints.  On the other hand, in this day and age there are very few true gurus out there, so the aspirant on the spiritual path has to make use of what tools are available.

            Being possessed by a spirit is like packing a loaded pistol.  Some people get a real charge out of having a gun in their hands, and it makes them act in all kinds of crazy and stupid ways.  People like that are a real danger to themselves and to others.  But there is such a thing as responsible gun handling; and there is such a thing as responsible spirit possession.

            The widespread fear and condemnation of spirit possession in our society is complete hypocrisy, considering the sizable percentage of the population which is possessed.  Just as up until very recently society made us feel ashamed of our sexuality, so too does society make us fear a perfectly ordinary and commonplace phenomenon such as spirit possession.  It’s about time everyone came out of the closet and copped to what’s really going on.

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* Actually, here and there spirits can act on the so-called physical world; poltergeists are an example.  But for the most part their interventions are hit-or-miss rather than deliberate and methodical.  Spirits need humans to make connections for them in the physical world.  This is the purpose of priesthood in all religions. 

(excerpted from Magical Living, Copyright © 2001 by Bob Makransky.  All rights reserved.) 

More of Bob Makransky’s articles are posted at:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagicalAlmanac/files  

            In contrast to demon possession and societal (thought form) possession, which are usually unconscious, unskillful manifestations of possession,* the spiritual path is the conscious acknowledgment and employment of possession as a tool.  For people on the spiritual path who don’t have human gurus, spirit possession is about the only avenue open to self-transformation.  The spiritual path is sufficiently complex an undertaking – a maze with so many dead-ends, and requiring so much strength of will – that few people could succeed in following it without the guidance and power obtained from a possessing agent, either a human guru, or a spirit.

            Most religions recognize this, and provide a ritual for calling in a possessing spirit.  In Christianity, the aspirant is called to “make the decision for Jesus” or “invite Jesus into one’s life” or “ask Jesus to come live inside one”.  When the aspirant makes such a firm decision of his or her own free will, he or she is at that moment possessed by Jesus (or rather by the Holy Spirit, which is directed by Jesus).  Similarly, the Buddhist aspirant is exhorted to “take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha”.  The act of “taking refuge” is the same thing as inviting the spirits of Buddhism to take possession.

            Two points to remember about spirit possession are 1) spirits, whether good or evil, can only possess a host by invitation; although many people who are possessed by demons invited the demons in dreamless sleep – i.e. the invitation doesn’t have to be conscious; and 2) spirits can be exorcised by the same process of firm decision to cast them out as was used to invite them in.

            Like everything else, spirit possession has its advantages and disadvantages.  For a person on the spiritual path who does not have a human guru, possession by a beneficent spirit such as Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, etc. is de rigueur.   The spiritual path is just too tortuous and tricky to manage without a navigator who is outside of and above us, and who can take a detached and long-term view.  Indeed, the essential thing on the spiritual path is relinquishment of ones’ own will (decision-making).  Ironically, although possession can facilitate the relinquishment of self-will, when abused it has the effect of increasing self-will.

            To be possessed by a spirit is to tap into a source of great power, and few people have the sobriety and calm to withstand enslavement by this power.  Jesus, for example, is most certainly a good spirit; yet it is also true that some people who are possessed by him become intoxicated with power – with the certainty of their own salvation, with the imminent triumph of their dogma, with the compulsion to shove their trip down other people’s throats.  This isn’t Jesus’ fault:  he certainly tries to steer his votaries in the right direction.  Nor can he unilaterally withdraw his power from those who abuse it:  possession is a contract which can only by terminated from the human side.  Neither Jesus, nor Mammon or Bacchus for that matter, call on their votaries to destroy other people; but this has been the not infrequent result of possession by them (only demons call for the out-and-out destruction of others).

            Being possessed by a beneficent spirit is like having a bracing tonic for the heart and nerves available at hand whenever needed, to get through the spiritually dry periods when we feel like throwing up our arms in exasperation and crying, “How long, O Lord, how long?”  At those times it’s helpful to be possessed by a spirit, because there’s comfort in the sense that although everything may be spinning out of control, there’s somebody up there somewhere who understands what’s happening and whispers in our ears, “Leave the driving to us.”

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* The exception is black magic, in which demons are quite consciously called and manipulated.  Black magic requires great self-control and audacity, since demons will readily turn on the practitioner if given the slightest opportunity to do so.  But since black magic is the road to hell, the question of how skillful it is, is debatable. 

            Now, possession can be defined as the delegation of responsibility for making decisions.  Nowadays our tendency is to allow ourselves to be possessed by society – i.e. to let society decide everything for us.  This is so extraordinarily commonplace that we take it for granted, but in fact the overwhelming majority of what we call “our” feelings (like about 99.999%) are just the feelings of other people – parents, spouse, boss, teachers, peers, and the media – which we have accepted as our own.  Practically everything we like, dislike, desire, fear, sympathize with, disdain, etc. is just what we’ve learned to like, dislike, desire, fear, sympathize with, or disdain.  Advertising and politics are the two sciences of societal possession.  Society has us repress our own true feelings and dictates what we “should” feel instead.  About the only feeling it lets us feel for ourselves is pain.  Societal possession is the default option for people not possessed by spirits.

           Actually it is not society which possesses us, since society has no soul, but rather our own thought forms (habits and predilections) which are shaped by society.  Everything we have learned since the moment we were born is a thought form; and these thought forms are beings with volitions all their own.  This is why our habits and thoughts seem so uncontrollable to us – thought forms do indeed have wills of their own which can be at variance with ours.  Thought forms are not evil – without them we’d be as helpless as newborns – and it’s quite possible to utilize thought forms skillfully.  We don’t have to be mindless robots operating on social (thought form) programming.  In other words, we don’t have to delegate unconditional decision-making power to our thought forms.

            As is the case with all forms of possession, thought form (societal) possession is in essence a trade:  we trade power to our thought forms, namely the power to make decisions for us; and they give us power in return, in this case, the power to act in society.  Basically, the power we receive from any form of possession is the suspension of doubt.  E.g. our belief that society works (can be depended on to deliver the goods for us) is the result of our possession by our own thought forms.

            Of course the only reason it works is because of our collective belief that it works.  Society – our possession by our thought forms – depends upon our credulity, our willingness to put all doubts aside and give our hearts and minds to a system of belief without examining it too closely.  The reason we have difficulty making spirituality (trust in the Spirit instead of society) work at first is because of our initial doubt that it works, which is the residual effect of our possession by society.

            The reason we get on the spiritual path in the first place – no matter whether New Age or Christian or Buddhist or whatever – is because of our realization that society doesn’t  work.  Doubt creeps in and undermines our possession by society’s thought forms.  We realize that although our society has a lot of neat tricks up its sleeve, happiness is nowhere among them.  At that point we have to conjure up new thought forms – ideals and beliefs – to possess us; otherwise we’d go stark, raving nuts, as some people do when they realize that society has “failed” them.

            The point is that possession by society, like all forms of possession, gives us a sense of direction and purpose in life – an orientation and a force of will (lack of doubt) to sustain us.  And, like all other forms of possession, it can easily enslave us.

            Some societal possession does have a spiritual basis.  Obsession with money is often the result and cause of possession by Mammon; and many drunks are possessed by Bacchus. This is no metaphor; these sorts of deities indeed exist, in the same sense and to the same degree that Bill Gates, for example, exists; and they do indeed possess their votaries.  Neither Mammon nor Bacchus are intrinsically evil spirits; rather, a stout heart is required to resist enslavement by the power of any spirit, even a good one.

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            Here is a fictional example of demon possession from the children’s book Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh, which shows how people call demons in to possess them at moments of great vulnerability.  In the story Harriet has just been rejected – deservedly –by all of her friends:

            “She sat very stupidly with a blank mind until finally ‘I feel different’ came slowly into her head. … ‘Yes’, she thought, after a long pause.  And then, after more time, ‘Mean, I feel mean.’            

           “She looked around with a mean look for everyone.  Nobody saw her.  She felt her face contorting.  It was an impressive moment that everyone missed.  It was a moment that Harriet would never forget.

            “When the bell rang for lunch, it was as though she didn’t have to think any more.  Everything happened as though she had planned it but she really hadn’t.  For example, when the bell rang Pinky Whitehead jumped up and ran down the aisle.  Harriet put her foot out and he fell flat on his face.

            “A terrific wail went up from his prone body, and when he raised his face his nose was bleeding.  Harriet looked extremely blank.  Inside she felt a sense of very personal satisfaction.”

            Note that calling a demon in unconsciously, in a thoughtless fit of undisciplined anger or self-pity, has all the consequences of conscious demon-possession (the demon won’t leave unless deliberately exorcised).

            In fact, our society is founded upon demonism.  The fundamentalist Christians are quite correct in their appraisal of the extent to which Satan and his minions run our society.  All our closed-heartedness to one another – the hard-edged snarl that underlies most of our interactions with other people – is urged on us by demon “advisors”.  The cartoon stereotype of a little angel and devil perched on the shoulders of a character alternately whispering in his ears, is 100% accurate. 

          Psychopaths are extreme examples of demon possession (not much humanity left there at all), but actually we’re all like that just beneath the surface, which is why we’re so fascinated by gruesome news stories:  that’s us.  We’re all allowing ourselves to be swayed by the blandishments of demons all the time, even if we’re not actually possessed by them, and the psychos we see on the news are just acting it out openly for everyone else. 

For example, when we are driving and another driver cuts in right ahead of us and we beep the horn in anger, that’s in fact an exchange between that guy’s demons and our own.  Our anger is like a little snack to the demons who hover around us constantly like mosquitoes waiting for a little dart of anger, fear, etc. they can suck.

            Only people who are completely at peace in their own hearts are not supplying fodder to the demons who coinhabit our sphere and live off of the seething emotions generated by the frustration and despair which living in an unjust society (such as ours) produces.  In a just society people are happy, and therefore produce little demon-food; and as a result such societies are not run by or bothered by demons.  This whole “problem of evil” jazz can be easily sidestepped just by not harboring evil intentions in our hearts, and by treating other people in the same way that we’d prefer they treated us.

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            The subject of spirit possession is not well understood in our society; moreover, it has a somewhat unsavory connotation and is not mentioned openly, nor considered a serious topic for discussion.  In fact, lots of people are possessed by spirits without knowing it.  In this essay we will take a quick survey of the whole subject of possession.

            The most common form of possession – which is also the most dangerous – is possession by other people.  This is because in the entire universe, including all the hell worlds, there are no demons which are as malignant, tenacious, and gratuitously cruel as our fellow humans.

            Possession by other people occurs whenever we let them impose their feelings upon us.  Any time we allow ourselves to feel another person’s mood, we are temporarily possessed by that person.  When we experience a great work of art, or even a gripping TV show, we are allowing ourselves to be possessed by the artist, and by the spirits who inspired him or her.

            Most children are possessed by their parents unless they’re super-rebellious hellions from the cradle on; and infatuation is a species of mutual possession.  These types of possession are called “being under the shadow” of another person.  This is not necessarily a bad thing; all forms of apprenticeship and learning involve putting oneself under another person’s shadow.  What is being passed from the teacher to the learner is wholly subconscious and emotional; i.e., possession entails a direct transference of knowledge (assurance), no matter what intellectual symbols – beliefs or techniques –  it may be wrapped up in.  To be possessed by another person means to allow oneself to be emotionally directed by that person.

            Being under the shadow of another person only becomes detrimental when the shadow is imposed by coercion, through fear or guilt.  Most parent / child relationships and marriages have at least a tinge of these elements.  Basically the only way of casting off the shadow of another person (once it’s in place) is by diminishing one’s own self-importance, so the other person is left with nothing to manipulate.  It is usually much more difficult, traumatic, time-consuming, and painful to cast off the shadow of another person than it is to exorcise a demon.

            Demon possession is also a common form of possession.  Most of the people who are habitually, obsessively angry, fearful, repressed, depressed, irritable, self-destructive, chronically ill, etc. are demon-possessed.  Mainstream psychotherapy’s rejection of the notion of demon possession is totally absurd:  it’s like trying to formulate a science of physics while rejecting the calculus – you can still do it, but are handicapping yourself unnecessarily.  Practically all mental illnesses are symptoms of demon possession, and while they can be treated without reference to the underlying problem, this is not a very skillful way of doing it.

            People call demons in to possess them when they feel vulnerable and in need of drastic protection and security.  Demons give them strength – rationalizations, shamelessness, hard-heartedness, self-pity – with which to fend off the attacks of other people and the buffeting of circumstances.  An infant may call a demon in at birth to protect him from his parents; a dying person may call one in to dull the emotions in the face of overwhelming fear.  Demons can be called in any time to cover vulnerability with hardness.  Usually the decision to call in a demon is made in dreamless sleep (i.e. unconsciously).

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The following excerpt from Magical Living has implications for a proper understanding of both cognition – the nature of consciousness – and of comparative religion.   From the point of view of comparative religion, the common denominator in most religions is channeling information and guidance from spirits.   The form of this channeling may vary from place to place; and of course the spirits being invoked vary from religion to religion; but the basic technique of spirit communication and interaction is pretty much the same throughout the world.  

For example, the Catholic mass is an invocation of Jesus and the Holy Spirit; and the Jewish Passover Seder includes an invocation of Elijah.  It is because the form of spirit communication is mandated by the spirits involved themselves that religious ceremonies the world over tend to be very similar in their rituals:  darkened rooms, candles and incense, repetitive litanies, etc.  These techniques, which derive from shamanism, put participants in a light trance state to make them more receptive to the spirits’ messages.  Trance channeling can be considered a temporary manifestation of spirit possession.  Priesthood is an example of benign spirit possession:  priests are able to perform magical operations (such as healing and casting out demons) because they can call upon the power of the spirits of their religion (Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, whomever) who possess them to assist them in these tasks.  

            From the point of view of consciousness, spirit possession is a fact which must be reckoned with in our calculations.  Merely because the society we live in pretends that spirit possession doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that spirit possession doesn’t exist.  As the essay Channeling Spirit Guides says, all we really are is a flux of thought forms (images, opinions, beliefs, and expectations learned from our parents and society) which is being urged this way and that by spirit forces.  That is all we are.  The sooner each of us as individuals wakes up to this fact, the sooner we can take command of our lives and destinies.  That’s what the practice of magic is all about.   

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Thought forms are homunculi of awareness:  living beings which are no less real than we, their creators.  However, thought forms are much simpler entities than humans.  They don’t have the rich emotional tonality of humans; in fact, they are limited to one emotion each.  They are not stupid, by any means, and in fact can be extremely perceptive and pithy within the narrow scope of their own prejudices and points of view.  Precisely because they are so simple – being pure concept – they can see things much more clearly than we humans can.  Thought forms don’t have much depth or dimension, but they do have the same passion for life which characterizes all living beings.  In other words, thought forms can be considered to be conditioned patterns of behavior or reaction, positions which are being defended, which have a logic, a rationale, and a will to live all their own. 

 The personalities of individual thought forms – their feelings – mirror different facets of our own personalities (by definition).  If we tend to be sassy and flippant, our thought forms will also tend to be sassy and flippant.  If we tend to be gloomy and morbid, our thought forms will be gloomy and morbid too.  Most of what we mean by, or can point to, or consider “ourselves” is just a random collection of thought forms.

 Observe that thought forms serve needs in our psyche; that’s why we create them in the first place – to respond to some need.  The problem is that our needs change as we go along in life, but our thought forms don’t.  They are capable of modifying themselves to adapt to the vicissitudes of changing circumstances, but they won’t modify their basic purpose, and their basic purpose is to keep themselves alive (important to us).

Banishing thought forms gives us a space, a free moment, in which we can make a sober, reasoned decision about how we’ll react to a given stimulus, instead of being compelled to react out of some stock set of neurotic reactions which may not be appropriate to the present situation.  

You can use any banishing ritual you like to banish a thought form; or just make one up.  The point is that the ritual should be done with true repugnance for the thought form and a complete determination to stamp it out.  You may not feel any immediate difference after banishing a thought form, but within a day or so of you’ll feel more detachment in the area ruled by that thought form.  Banishing thought forms gives us a pause in there instead of a blind, thoughtless, headlong rush to react.  We can watch ourselves as we react; we become consciously aware of what we’re doing as we do it. 

            (excerpted from Thought Forms ©2000 by Bob Makransky)

More of Bob Makransky’s articles are posted at:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagicalAlmanac/file

 The basic unit of mind is termed a thought form.   A thought form can be considered a homunculus of awareness:  an observer / observed duality.  The observer and the thing being observed arise together.  For example, if a tree falls in a forest where no being can hear it, it does not make a sound thought form.  There can only be a sound thought form if some being is hearing it.  Although we believe that we are separated from what we are observing (seeing, hearing, smelling, etc.), the fact is that this is indeed merely a belief.

 This is actually a very difficult point to grasp – that things don’t happen outside of us, as seems to be the case, but rather we and the things that happen to us are but two sides of the same coin.  It’s like that optical illusion which can be viewed as either a vase, or else as two people facing each other.  Which is it:  a vase, or two people?  In the same fashion, there is no world outside of ourselves, but merely a belief we have that there is an outside world there impinging on us.  Things don’t happen to us; rather, the things that happen are us.  The world outside of ourselves is merely our reflection. 

 This is easier to understand with regard to dreaming.  While we are dreaming we believe that what is happening to us is real; but when we wake up, we realize that it was just our projection, no matter how real it appeared to be while we were asleep.  Similarly, the world we experience when we are awake is also just our projection, and it is only our belief that it is real which makes it seem real.

 Whether we are awake or we are dreaming, things seem to happen to us.  The “things” which happen to “us” are thought forms.  In order for mind to operate there has to be both “things” there, and also an “us” to which those things are happening (separation between that which is happening and the being which is experiencing it).  When we are listening to sounds or are otherwise attentive to the now moment, we are aware of the continual changes going on around us.  By contrast when we are thinking we shut out our awareness of the world around us and focus on a self.  Either we are thinking about the past or the future; but in either case we frame our thoughts in terms of a self to whom things happened in the past or to whom they will happen in the future.  This focus upon a continuing, abiding self who has a personal history and will have a personal future is what creates that continuing, abiding self; or better said, creates a sense of a continuing, abiding self, because in fact the continuing, abiding self doesn’t have objective existence.  All that exists is a stream of thought forms. 

Although they arise and fall from moment-to-moment, thought forms create a false sense of continuity because of our inattention to their momentary nature.   In other words, we do not usually notice the fact that we are not the same person from moment-to-moment.  On the contrary, we believe that we are continuing, abiding beings.  Thought forms are our sense of there being a detached, moment-to-moment observer – a self – which abides and which is experiencing the unfolding of an external reality.  In point of fact “we” are a myriad of thought forms which are just passing the baton of attention from one to another.  This passing around of attention is what appears to us to be the unfolding of events in linear time.  It seems to us that there is a sensible progression from moment-to-moment only because we choose to believe that there is a sensible progression from moment-to-moment – just as in dreaming things make sense even if, from the point of view of waking, the unfolding of events is completely bizarre.  It is merely our belief that we are continuing, abiding beings in the midst of unfolding events which makes it so. 

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I once counseled a friend of mine who was in an extremely dysfunctional marriage, “I think you’re demon-possessed.  Even though I know you don’t believe in demons, just for the hell of it why don’t you go to the holy Mayan cave, light a candle, and ask the spirit of the place ‘If, on the off chance, I am indeed possessed by demons, please cast them out.’”  She did this and reported later that the moment she said those words her candle flickered even though there was no wind, and a pain – like an ice pick – shot through her head.  What happened next in her life was that she split up with her husband.  My interpretation of this is that without the demon’s protection she was too vulnerable to handle the Punch and Judy show she was involved in, so she terminated the relationship.  In other words, just casting out demons that may be possessing you doesn’t automatically make you any happier.  It just makes it possible for you to become happier.  But there’s no way to get even to square one until you clear the demons out of the way.   

            Luckily it’s pretty easy to cast demons out of yourself.  All that’s required is the desire to do so, and the firm decision to get rid of them.  If you are suffering from a chronic or incurable disease, or are battling against some form of addiction, then casting out demons is the first step in self-healing.  It’s the first step in self-healing for most of us, since so many of us are demon-possessed.  Until you get rid of any demons that may be possessing you and reassert control over your own intent, you can never get beyond square one.   

            To cast out demons, go to whatever place you are accustomed to pray at.  Power spots or power trees are good places to do this, especially if you have faith in the power of the place or tree to brace your spirit.  Light a candle and ask the deity to whom you usually pray that, if there happens to be a maleficent influence in your life, to please cast it out!   You must make this prayer in a true spirit of decisiveness and determination.  If you pray in a spirit of doubt or hesitation, the demon will use your vacillation to defeat your prayer.   

Demons are always trying to convince you that you are doing everything possible to make yourself happy.  All the while they undermine your efforts.  They keep pulling you back to square one.   A wishy-washy prayer to cast out a demon may make you believe that you’ve accomplished something, but the demon will weasel past it.  Thus demons have to be cast out in a mood of unbending intent and decision.   That’s all that’s required – unbending intent to cast the demon out.  Jumping up and down and shaking your body vigorously is another way to cast them out.  This is a good way to get rid of bad moods or the bad vibes other people lay on you as well. 

            How will you know whether your exorcism worked?  Successful exorcisms are often accompanied by sensations of something that was inside you leaving.  There may be some kind of whoosh of something flying out of you and away.  But this isn’t always true.  One way you’ll know is that in the next few days you’ll feel lighter, more hopeful and optimistic.  Your friends will notice the difference too:  they’ll remark on how much better you look or feel.   

            If there’s any doubt, though, you can always repeat the exorcism.  Just make sure to do it in a mood of decisiveness and determination.  That’s all, it’s not difficult.   

(excerpted from Magical Almanac, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MagicalAlmanacCopyright © 2007 by Bob Makransky.  All rights reserved) 

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            I’ve cast demons out of people and also out of buildings they were inhabiting.  I don’t like doing this, though, because it scares me.  When the demons are cut loose they dive into the nearest host they can grab onto.  The time I cast demons out of a building where black magicians had lived previously, I followed my spirits’ advice and lit a censer with copal incense.  Then I circled the building repeating an appeal to the demons to leave:  “You are not wanted here anymore, you’ll be a lot happier in another place where you are more appreciated.  In the name of the nine Mayan gods (my patron spirits) I cast you out!”  I tried to muster confidence which I didn’t actually feel for the “I cast you out!” part.  Then at each corner of the building I set off a chain of firecrackers, since demons have highly refined sensibilities and dislike clamor.  After the firecrackers went off at the first corner I could sense something coming loose.  By the last corner I sensed they were completely loose.   

I then left, but as I walked away I started talking nervously to my assistant about the ritual we had just performed, “Hey, that really worked, didn’t it?”  At that instant I sensed something diving into me, which really freaked me out.  I started jumping up and down to shake whatever it was out of me, and at the same time I forced myself to think about something else, to blank my mind.   Ever since then I try to avoid casting out demons.  When it is absolutely unavoidable I do it in a place where I am protected, a nearby cave which is a Mayan holy place.  I certainly don’t advise casting demons out of other people unless you’ve got spirit helpers in whom you have the utmost faith, such as Jesus, Krishna, or Buddha, backing you up. 

 I’m of the opinion that people should cast out their own demons.  They called them in, and they should take the responsibility for casting them out themselves.  The exception to this would be in the cases of children or people who are too crazy to do it for themselves.    

Sometimes people ask me, “I think my parent (or spouse or loved one) might be demon-possessed.  Is there anything I can do to cast it out?”  My usual answer is negative.  Demons won’t leave if the host doesn’t want them to leave, or they’ll immediately return if cast out.  In our society most people don’t even believe in the existence of demons, much less seriously entertain the possibility that they themselves could be possessed.  Moreover, most people, especially old people, have become comfortable with their demons.  They’re afraid to have to start living their own lives and making their own decisions again.  It’s easier just to be uptight and miserable and wallow in self-pity.  Bit-by-bit they surrender all their joy to their demons, until in the end the demons are all that’s left.   

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