Exorcism is of two types, the exorcism of places or objects, and the
exorcism of persons. A possible third type, the exorcism of an-
imals, is rarely encounted and seldom worth attempting, it being
extraordinarily difficult anyway. The exorcism of persons does not
invariably presuppose that some external entity has taken over the
candidate’s mind. We are quite capable of manufacturing our own
demons through bad mental habits, or in response to peculiar
forms of stress. It is only worth attempting exorcism as a cure for
madness if the patient specifically complains of some sort of
infestation by a seemingly independent entity. Additionally, it is
only likely to succeed if the possession began comparatively re-
cently. As the witch doctors say, a man with a bad soul, a long
term mad case, cannot usually be helped.
The conventional religious form of exorcism seeks to replace
one obsession with a larger and more powerful one. This involves
invoking a god to cast out the demon. This can only work if the
candidate has been brought up to fear or revere a god. The exorcist
must invoke, and to some extent, actually personify the candi-
date’s god using all the symbolic words, actions, and paraphernalia
that go with it. Then he must command the candidate to abandon
his obsession if necessary by quite forceful behavior. It may be
useful if the exorcist makes a show of actually removing the
demon. Some form of symbolic trickery is often used at this point.
Psychiatric methods of head doctoring are still incredibly
primitive. Most depend on carrot or stick techniques. Carrot
therapy depends on being as nice and reasonable as possible to the
patient and is sometimes effective over a long period. Stick ther-
apy derives from the medieval practice of flogging demons out of
people. In these civilized days, it is usually administered with
electricity, the scalpel, or the hypodermic. Its effectiveness is
questionable.
The techniques of freestyle shamanism offer an alternative to
the religious and psychiatric methods. Instead of invoking the
candidate’s god, the exorcist invokes and personifies the candi-
date’s demon. This approach may be particularly useful with a
non—religious candidate. After observing the candidate for some
time, the exorcist will take him to some secure place and ensure
that he is at his complete mercy. Then the exorcist takes the
candidate through a tour of his private hell. Foul and acrid
incenses may be burned; weird flashing illumination and smoke
can be employed. The exorcist behaves in a weird and threatening
manner, throwing back at the candidate all the peculiarities he
has exhibited himself. Effectively, the exorcist terrorizes the
candidate back to normality by showing him how far down the
slope he has slipped and how much further he might eventully go.
Gnostic techniques, that is, the generation of intense mental
excitatory ecstasy or alternatively extreme meditative quiescence,
are effective in the exorcism of persons. In either of these two
conditions the mind becomes hypersuggestible, which explains
their use in brainwashing. Now, many forms of possession have a
sexual or traumatic component. The mental energy associated
with sexual arousal or traumatic experiences can often become
diverted to feed an obsession until it grows into an independent
entity or attracts an independent entity. Indeed, this is one of the
easiest methods by which the magician can breed his own famil-
iars, elementals, and demons. It is only by returning to a similar
level of mental exultation by various physiological means that
such forms of possession and obsession can be challenged and
banished. The rite then consists of bringing the candidate through
a great catharsis, during which his consciousness can be repro-
grammed to reject the offending entity which has been built up.
The exorcism of places and objects is of two types. The first is
a sham performed in the presence of persons who require exorcism
themselves, but who are unable to come to terms with this fact.
The exorcist is likely to be summoned to situations where it is
obvious that the problem lies in the inhabitants of the place and
not the place itself as they protest. In this case, the exorcism is
performed in their presence with them as the actual target. The
exorcist will have to make some pretense of dealing with the place
itself, and in this he should ask the affected persons to assist him.
As they have already exteriorized the obsessing or possessing force
imaginatively, or sometimes objectively (as with poltergeists,
etc.), the next logical step is for them to take control of it.
If there are objective psychic phenomena, such as materi-
alizations, noises, sudden temperature falls, or objects hurled
about, the exorcist should not immediately conclude the presenceof totally extra-human entities. Humans are quite capable of
effecting such manifestations while being unaware that they are so
doing.
If, however, the magician can satisfy himself that some place
or object is infested with some psychic energy or entity, then a
great opportunity presents itself. Instead of banishing, entrapment
can be considered. In general, spirits can be coerced by anything
with highly ordered, low entropy structure — the focused human
will, magnetized iron, crystals, and to some extent, very pure
water being the most commonly employed agents.
The magician will usually begin stalking the entity by provid-
ing it with some basis of manifestation. Depending on his clair-
voyant abilities, he may employ darkness, incense smoke, or
hallucinogens to catch some impression of what he is dealing with.
A subsequent rite of entrapment centers around the use of a spirit
trap of which by far the most effective are crystals. Salt crystals are
often used more or less unknowingly in religious rites, but shamans
the world over prefer larger more stable crystals, particularily
quartz. Incidentally, ordinary salt is so good at picking up various
bits of random low level psychic debris that many witches and
mystics refuse to eat it. Consuming raw salt is somewhat injurious
to physical health anyway.
Entities may be coerced into crystals by plunging them into
the space occupied by a spirit if this can be determined. Coercion
by a strongly focused human will, assisted by prods and passes with
sharp magnetized iron instruments, can be effective —
particularily if the whole operation is concentrated by a ritual.
Banishment may be accomplished by simply forcing the
entity to leave, or it may be performed subsequent to entrapment.
Although it is very common, water is a very anomalous substance.
On the molecular level it is not entirely homogenous or random,
but possessed of a certain delicate structure which is very sensitive
to heat, radiation, and psychic ambience. It will receive a psychic
charge readily but will dissipate it equally readily. Hence in rites of
banishing, infested salt crystals are usually dissolved in water for a
few days. Another variation on direct banishing is to sample of water and simply splash it around in the vicinity of the
entity for its disintegrating effect.
The magician may encounter entities which are the psychic
remains of human dead. If these still possess any degree of coher-
ence, he may have recourse to various forms of unction as given in