Exorcism

Exorcism is the religious or other spiritual practice of purportedly evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area that are believed to have possessed. The idea that invading spirits are inherently evil is largely a Judeo Christian concept. The practice is ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions. Spiritualism, a religion that flourished across America in the 1800s and is still practiced in a few places today, teaches that death is an illusion and spirits can possess humans.

The word exorcism derives from the Greek word for oath, “oxousia”. As religious scholar James R. Lewis explains in his book “Satanism Today: an Encyclopaedia of religion, Folklore, and popular culture,” “To exorcise thus means something along the lines of placing the possessing spirit under oath- invoking a higher authority to compel the spirit- rather than an actual ‘casting out.’” This becomes clear when the demonic entity is commanded to leave the person, not by the authority of a priest but instead, for example, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

New Agers have also embraced a form of possession called channeling, in which spirits of the dead are said to inhabit a medium’s body and communicate through them. The Vatican first issued official guidelines on exorcism in 1614, and revised them in 1999. Requested and performed exorcisms had begun to decline in the United States by the 18^th Century and occurred rarely until the latter half of the 20^th Century when the public saw a sharp rise due to the media attention exorcism was getting. 

In Christian practice the person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a member of the Christian Church, or an individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills. The exorcist may use prayers and religious material such as set formulas, gestures, symbols, icons, amulets, etc. the exorcist often invokes God, Jesus and/or several different angels and archangels to intervene with the exorcism.

Beliefs and practices pertaining to the practice of exorcism are prominently connected with Hindus. Of the four Vedas, the Atharva Veda is said to contain the secrets related to exorcism, magic and alchemy. The basic means of exorcism are the mantra and the yajna used in both Vedic and tantric traditions.

In Islam, exorcism is called ruqya. It is used to repair the damage caused by sihr or black magic. Islamic exorcisms consists of the treated person lying down, while a sheikh places a hand on a patient’s head while reciting verses from the Quran, but this is not mandatory. The drinking or sprinkling of holy water may also take place along with applying of clean non-alcohol based perfumes, called as ittar.

In general, people considered to be possessed are not regarded as evil in themselves, nor wholly responsible for the act they perform when possessed. It is because possession is considered to be unwilling manipulation by a demon resulting in harm to self or others. Therefore practitioners regard exorcism as more of a cure than a punishment.

Mansi Dessai

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