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Practical Demonology

A Catholic Approach to Spiritual Warfare & Demonic Influence

New Age & Occult Temptation

April 18, 2022

 



Until recently, I thought new age and occult temptation was something I’d left behind completely.

Then there was a night last weekend when I couldn't sleep.  And for some reason, I decided to turn to a guided “brain wave meditation” for comfort. This was a meditation I was very familiar with. One that had lulled me to sleep many times when I was deeply involved in the new age.

The meditation itself was expertly produced and there was a seductiveness to it that I welcomed. I listened to it three times over before I fell asleep.

The next day, however, I didn't really feel rested - instead I felt down and kind of off. So I decided to listen to some other meditations on the same YouTube channel. All of which were produced by the same “brain wave” company). Just to see if there was something I had missed.

As I listened to these meditations, I noticed that many of the vibrations and background tracks were unusually deep in pitch. And, underneath the pleasant voice over, I sensed an underlying darkness. It felt malevolent.

I unsubscribed from the "brain wave meditation" YouTube channel and began to think about what had happened. The more I thought about it the more certain I felt. The meditations were dark and I had embraced it.

The fact that this had happened to someone who was well acquainted with the spiritual dangers of the new age – was sobering. And it gave me a new appreciation of the threat this stuff can pose.

And there is a lot of this kind of content.  On YouTube and elsewhere.

New Age and the Occult in the Mainstream


Sometimes it seems like the new age and occult is everywhere.  Here are a few examples.

  • A professional organization to which I belong, the American Holistic Nurses Association, promotes numerous new age modalities. 
  • The first tier of meditations on my FitBit app are by Deepak Chopra. 
  • Popular health and wellness resources focus on new age, Eastern and even occult practices.  
  • YouTube searches for wellness or relaxation or related topics almost always return a host of new age results. 

So it’s no surprise really that people consume new age and occult content. Unfortunately, for some this content will serve as a gateway to even deeper involvement in the occult.

I know this because I was of those people. And – as it turns out – still have the protentional to repeat the same mistake.

Even though I know that the new age and occult doesn’t actually offer anything. Even though I know that its guidance is circular, its peace is an illusion, and its tenants are false.

The Good News


The good news is that there are Catholic and Catholic friendly alternatives to everything the new age  offers.  And - unlike new age and occult practices -  these alternatives actually work.

Thinking about all of this this week made me realize that it is important to keep posting on this topic here.  I also decided that I want to talk about it on YouTube.  

I will be sharing all of my upcoming videos here (and on my BarbaraGraver.com site) but you can also check them out on my YouTube channel too at YouTube.com/c/BarbaraGraver).

And if you can please subscribe!  

I've been having some studio issues this week but I hope to get my first video up by the weekend!

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A Biblical Look at the Archangel Michael

April 14, 2022

 


 

About The Image

The image above is "Saint Michael" by Italian master Guido Reni (1575–1642).  This image is featured on the St. Michael printable prayer card available in my Etsy shop, Catholic Book And Card.  For the card, I tinted the original paint to the vivid blue associated with Saint Michael.

About Saint Michael

Saint Michael, is one of three archangels the Bible mentions by name (the others being the saints Raphael and  Gabriel). Saint Michael is mentioned four times - twice in the Hebrew Bible, and twice in the New Testament.  

The first reference is in the Book of Daniel. In Chapter 10 St. Michael comes to comfort Daniel after he has had a vision, and promises to be his helper in all things. In Daniel 12, St. Michael is called "the great prince who standeth for the children of Thy people."

In these references St. Michael is shown to support Israel during the seventy years of the Babylonian captivity. In writing about St. Michael Daniel, strove to show his people that God had not forgotten them, and remind them that even in bondage they had a royal champion. In St. Jude 11, we are told that Michael disputed with the devil over the body of Moses - an episode not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible.

In the Revelation (Chapter 12) we find the most dramatic reference to St. Michael. Here St. John recounts the great battle in Heaven, when the wicked angels under Lucifer revolt against God. In this passage, Michael, leading the faithful angels, defeats the hosts of evil and drives them out. 

This scene been painted by many artists, and the poet Milton, in book 6 of Paradise Lost, recounts the famous struggle.  Because of this victory, St. Michael is revered in Catholic tradition and liturgy as the protector of the Church. 

In the Eastern Church, as well as among many theologians in the West, St. Michael is placed over all the angels, as prince of the Seraphim. He is the special patron of the sick, police officers, mariners, and grocers.  In Asia Minor many curative springs were dedicated to him.   Michael's emblems are a banner, a sword, a dragon, and scales. 

St. Michael's name is a variation of Micah, meaning in Hebrew, "Who is like God?" 

The St. Michael Prayer

The Saint Michael Prayer is an amazing prayer for spiritual warfare.  The abridged version (below) is short and easy to memorize and it can be said anytime you are feeling in need of spiritual protection.  The prayer was written in Oct. 1, 1884 by Pope Leo XIII following a disturbing mystical experience at Mass.

The Pope had just finished celebrating Mass when he suddenly stood transfixed in front of the altar as if in a trance, his face drained of color. Once recovered, he went to his office and composed a prayer to St. Michael. He told his staff the prayer should be offered throughout the Church.

Pope Leo told others that he had heard two voices which he believed to voices of Our Lord and of Satan. The Pope heard Satan boast that he could destroy the Church in 75 or 100 years, if given the opportunity. Then he heard Our Lord give Satan permission to make the attempt.

The prayer was recited after Low Mass in the Catholic Church from 1886 until it was discontinued in 1964. Thirty years later, in his Regina Coeli address, Pope John Paul II said, “Although the prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask every one not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of the world.”

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host - by the Divine Power of God - cast into hell, Satan and all the evil spirits, who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen. 

To purchase the St. Michael printable prayer card (75¢ US) please check out my Etsy listing here.

_______

This article references the St. Michael's Catholic Church.

To see all of my printable prayer cards and prayer pamphlets please visit my Etsy shop at CatholicBookAndCard.com

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My Testimony Part 1

April 9, 2022

My Testimony: From New Age To Christian  

This is an audio recording of the first half of my testimony.  It focuses on my experience in the New Age and occult and how and why I became a Christian. This testimony was recorded in 2017. When you're done with this video, please check part two of my testimony which talks about how and why I came back to the Catholic Church (New Age To Catholic).

 
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St. Ignatius and the Discernment of Spirits

April 3, 2022

 



About St. Ignatius's Rules for Discernment


This is my second post on Fr. Timothy Gallagher's book The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignatian Guide for Everyday Living.  The book is an exploration of the first set of rules of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The second set of rules is covered in Fr. Gallagher's book, Spiritual Consolation: An Ignatian Guide for Greater Discernment of Spirits.

St. Ignatius refers to the two sets as being "proper" for the first and second week respectively.  I think he is talking about the first and second weeks of a retreat so I wanted to be sure I began with the first set - which focus on the discernment of spirits.

St. Ignatius's rules are intended to help an individual differentiate between the influence of good and bad spirits. According to Fr. Gallagher, and others, Ignatius understood the good spirit to be the Holy Spirit or created spirits such as angels, while he understood  the bad spirit (which he also called the enemy or evil spirit) to be Satan or demons.

Fr. Gallagher goes on to suggest that the bad spirit can also be understood in a broader or more "global" sense.  This expanded understanding of bad spirit would include human (or fleshly) nature and appetites or worldly pressures.  These influences, per Fr. Gallagher, are exerted in addition to (but not instead of) demonic influences.

While I tend to be, probably unusually, aware of the spirit in spiritual warfare, I like that this updated or more inclusive approach makes the rules accessible to people who may not be comfortable thinking about the influence of personified evil.

I think Fr. Gallagher's book is especially important because it opens up the rules to general (as opposed to scholarly or specialized) readers. It would be easy for most of us (general readers) to skim over the rules of St. Ignatius without realizing their deeper meaning.  Thanks to Fr. Gallagher's insightful word by word analysis, however, the rules really do come alive.

The Process for Working with the Rules

Rules for becoming aware and understanding to some extent the different movements which are caused in the soul, the good, to receive them, and the bad to reject them. And these rules are more proper for the first week. - Title to the Rules of St. Ignatius (Fr. Gallagher's own translation)

According to the title of the rules (and Fr. Gallagher) there is a process that we need to apply as we practice our discernment and work with the rules.  This process asks us to:

  1. Be fully aware of our inner state.
  2. Understand or identify where the influences we observe are coming from.
  3. Take action (by accepting the good spirit or rejecting the bad).

This, of course, is easier said than done which is why the fourteen rules are so important.

The First Rule

The first rule: in persons who are going from mortal sin to moral sin, the enemy is ordinarily accustomed to propose apparent pleasures to them, leading them to imagine sensual delights and pleasures in order to hold them more and make them grow in their vices and sings.  In these persons the good spirit uses a contrary method, stinging and biting their consciences through the rational power of moral judgment.  - First Rule of St. Ignatius (Fr. Gallagher's own translation)

The first rule describes someone who is going from mortal sin to mortal sin.  This is a person, Fr. Gallagher points out, who is moving away from God.  According the the rules the enemy will entice such a person to go further and further in this direction by leading them to imagine pleasure and sensual delights.  

What is key to the first rule, per St. Ignatius's own personal experience, is that there is no lasting satisfaction for a person in this state.  This can be seen in people who are caught in any sort of addiction or insatiable appetite - including the New Age hunger I once felt for the next supernatural experience!

In such a person, the good spirit (such as God or our guardian angel) will work through our conscience in order to wake us up to the reality of what is happening.  As Fr. Gallagher points out, the good spirit may also work through other people who support or encourage us.

While Ignatius is specifically talking about a person who is in mortal sin, to me, this description of going from sin to sin applies to even venial, or lesser, sins.  I can see the same serial pattern when I watch two or three TV shows in a row and end up with no time to pray before bed - or eat four (or six) cookies instead of two.

The enemy must, in my experience, continually offer us something new because what he has just fed us cannot, and will never, fulfill.

The Second Rule

The second: in persons who are going on intensely purifying their sins and rising from good to better in the service of God our Lord, the method is contrary to that in the first rule.  For then it is proper to the evil spirit to bite, sadden and place obstacles, disquieting with false reasons, so that the person may not go forward.  And it is proper to the good spirit to give courage and strength, consolations, tears, inspirations and quiet, easing and taking away all obstacles, so that the person may go forward in doing good. - Second Rule of St. Ignatius (Fr. Gallagher's own translation)

The second rule applies to people who are actively going from "good to better" or are moving, as Fr. Gallagher says, in the direction of God.  Initially I wasn't sure if this was me (even though Fr. Gallagher says that anyone who is working at spiritual discernment is very likely to be in this category).  

As I read Discernment of Spirits, however, I began to appreciate the fine but fundamental difference between the actions of the good and the bad spirit - both in the book and in my own life.  They are, as Ignatius says, contrary.  

The good spirit has the weight of truth on his side.  Because the bad spirit does not, he must confuse and demoralize us.  The good spirit on the other hand meets us with compassion and peace (quiet and easing), granting us the courage of faith.

In the following examples, I want to share how the first and second rules helped me when I was waffling over the new project of changing my blog to a blog that would focus exclusively on the teachings of the saints.


How the Bad Spirit Confused Me

For God is a God not of disorder but of peace.  - 1 Corinthians 14:33 (NRSVCE) 

The day I made the video about renaming the blog and focusing on the teaching of the saints, I felt optimistic and happy.  I felt so good, in fact, that I'd purchased the Chasing the Saints dot com earlier that morning.  When I talked to a trusted and sincere friend about the idea she was very encouraging.  I felt glad to have decided on a topic for the blog that would help keep me focused on my studies and possibly encourage others.

 A day later, however, I started to feel unhappy with the idea.

I began to think about how unqualified I was to write on the topic of the saints when so many more educated people were already doing it.  When I reminded myself that my plan was to talk about what I am learning and how I am applying it to my own life (not a scholarly analysis), I found myself worrying about my readership.

I remembered that my most popular recent posts have been about writing.  I began to worry that no one would read the new posts and that, if they did, they wouldn't like them.  I thought about how the popularity of the blog had just begun to pick up and wondered why I had ever thought it was a good idea to jeopardize that.

I started to feel that I should just do something else entirely.  I began to think about the various book ideas I'd been kicking around and how it was my original idea to use the rules of St. Ignatius to decide which book I should write.  I wondered why I wasting my time by blogging and felt I should be focusing on writing the ebook instead.

At this point I felt unhappy and confused about the whole idea of blogging on the saints.  The next day I canceled the new domain.

The Influence of the Good


But even after I canceled the domain, I kept thinking about the idea.  I decided to pray about it and had what may, or may not, have been a spiritual experience the next day.  Because I don't base decisions on spiritual experiences, perceived or otherwise, I set it aside.  Then I remembered what my trustworthy friend had said about the idea and how right her encouragement and enthusiasm had felt at the time.

I thought about how much my recent study of the saints had meant to me and how attracted I had been to the rules of St. Ignatius when I first hear about them on EWTN.

I remembered how (after I wrote my Creativity and Discernment post) I had realized that using the rules to decide which new ebook I should write was not starting from neutral as Fr. Gallagher had recommended in his EWTN talk.  I remembered having the specific insight that I should not rule out blogging favor of the ebook idea.

I thought about the negative thoughts I had been having about the new blog idea.  And then I thought about the nature of God.  I remembered that God is always true to his divine nature and the he doesn't move us by making us feel insecure or unworthy or by offering us popularity or other worldly gains.

I decided to reject the negative thoughts and accept the influence of the good spirit as he worked through my friend and Fr. Gallagher's book and St. Ignatius.

I felt at peace with the idea.  I had to wait a day for my new domain to become available again and when it did, I bought it a second time.

Upcoming


In my next post in this series I'll talk about the third rule of St. Ignatius as presented by Fr. Gallagher.  I'm also working on a couple of new posts on Lectio Divina as taught by St. John of the Cross and another on the examen prayer.  It's entirealy possible one of those might come next!

____________
Read my previous post on St. Ignatius here: Spiritual Discernment and Writing with St. Ignatius
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