"Exorcism" (part II)

Part II of “Exorcism”…excerpts (pp. 188-193) from the book, “Exorcism and the Church Militant” by Fr. Thomas Euteneuer:



History and Symptoms

Angie (not her real name) was a native of another country and had been suffering demonic problems since she was a teenager, due to the wickedness of certain family members who were steeped in the occult. According to her testimony, her aunt dedicated her to Satan at an early age, and her uncle promised the devil that he would deliver the soul of his niece if only Satan would make him rich. When she was a teenager, she unsuspectingly gave them a series of personal items and pictures, which they used in satanic rituals to curse her and send demons into her. She was vulnerable to them because they were family members who, at that time, apparently she still had affection for. She did not know they were taking advantage of her innocence and performing satanic rituals to destroy her life.

When I met her, eighteen years later, she was in a constant state of internal suffering. She daily experienced visions of snakes, owls and wild animals, paranormal experiences of dead relatives and other creatures speaking to her and appearing to her, dreams of being buried alive, physical attacks and blockages, assaults by terrible lascivious images and sensations, evil presences punishing her for various things…Her real suffering can be seen in this paragraph that she wrote at the time of the initial evaluation:

Around July the “devil” came again, stronger this time. This situation is unbelievable. The devil (men and women) are visiting me almost every night, they buried me alive twice, dogs and other monsters are chasing me and arresting me. I lost my job and many more, and everybody walked away from my life again. I cannot describe what is going on right now with words. This may what hell and death feel like. It is like they are reading me. They know my intentions, where I will go and what I will do the next day and they have the ability to stop it. The more I pray the stronger and horrifying their ‘replt’ is. I am even hearing voices at this moment…

Exorcism process

The process of Angie’s exorcism lasted one full year and spanned seven sessions. Due to its convenience, the sessions were conducted in the Protestant church where she was attending the prayer group. Each session included anywhere from two to six helpers, with a mixed team of Protestants and Catholics, but the rite was authorized by the local Catholic bishop, and I was the authorized exorcist. It was a full, solemn Catholic exorcism. During all seven sessions, Angie remembers nothing at all of the many hours spent on the exorcisms. Her only lucid moments were when we took breaks as well as one final experience of enlightenment in the seventh session described below.

Session one (February)

This session lasted nine hours, but this was because I was not experienced at that time and did not understand the need to restrict the length of sessions due to people’s natural limitations. It was apparent from the beginning that there was some kind of serpent demon because, when I first placed the crucifix on her head, Angie slid out of the chair onto the floor like a snake. This demon was cast out. A second demon emerged calling himself “Legion” and said that he was 15 demons strong. This “coalition” of demons was not cast out in this session; but at the end of the whole exorcism process, we could account for all 15 demonic entities. In this coalition there were several of the other demons in her who called themselves with the names of the family members who were the victimizers. These were likely the possessing spirits of those family members that they sent into Angie by their curses and satanic acts.

Session Two (mid-March)

…The exorcism prayers and a specific prayer of breaking undid the effects of all the satanic actions, and the exorcism cast out the possessing spirits of the group of magicians (what the demons described the evil spirits of the men who had participated in rituals with the uncle). The possessing spirit of the uncle was stronger, and it did not leave. Nonetheless, Angie felt immense relief after the session…

Session three (late March)

This session lasted three hours and identified two other possessing spirits with family names – i.e., apparently two other family members had also victimized her by occult acts, but up to that point she was unaware that they were involved. These left after some prayer and commanding with the ritual…

…Interlude and Crisis Period

After the third session, Angie seemed exhausted by all the spiritual warfare for so many years and the stress of the sessions, and regretfully, she decided to short-circuit the process. It was obvious to the team that the remaining demons were attacking her faith and, despite the overwhelming ‘success’ of the expulsions thus far, she was not convinced this process was really helping her. She wrote:

I am writing to inform you that I do not believe that the Lord really wants to heal or free me. For a reason unknown to me, he is letting me burn in hell…Fr. Tom, please annul any plan for exorcism and/or any other type of deliverance. You cannot pray for someone who does not believe in prayers anymore…I AM GIVING UP. I AM DONE. THAT’S IT FOR ME. IT’S MORE THAN I CAN HANDLE. I tried for almost 20 years. You can’t say that I didn’t try.

…Since no one can be forced to undergo an exorcism, we reluctantly suspended the process and just continued to intercede for her and maintain contact with her…

TO BE CONTINUED…