Exorcism Defined
What is an exorcist?
An exorcist is a person that removes spirits from both places and people. An exorcist also deals with other forms of negative energy that can effect a person's life, such as curses or psychic attack. Exorcists can deal with ancestral issues, karma and also correcting illness within the body.
What does an exorcist do day-in day-out?
An exorcist, day-in and day-out, would carry out a variety of work. Personally, I work one day at a clinic where I see clients face to face with a variety of different problems, and I also then spend the rest of my time working remotely, which is either over the phone or via email, carrying out requests for people when they're not actually present.
What happens during an exorcism?
During an exorcism, I take a full background history from the client of the problem. I then seat the client in a chair, and I use what's known as hands-on healing. I place my hands on the shoulders of the client and I channel energy. I act as a channel for taking energy from outside through the client to dislodge the negative energy that's there. That whole process can take maybe 10 to 15 minutes, during which the client - he just remains ... his eyes are closed and he remains relaxed in the chair. Once I've finished, I then discuss the findings with the client. Where I go to a house to look at a problem there, again I would discuss the problem with the client. And then I would go through the house. Basically, the same process, channelling energy and raising the vibration of the house. Everything has a vibration - a chair, a pet, a tree - in psychic terms. Spirits tend to have a low vibration, so I channel energy with a high vibration, which dislodges them and moves them on to an appropriate place.
What are your hours like?
My hours are fixed from 9 to 5. I do set hours for practice in the clinic and 10 to 6 on a Saturday. From Monday to Friday, my hours are based on how many clients I have a day, depending on the problems. I tend to see four clients or cases a day.
How much does an exorcist earn?
How much an exorcist can earn varies depending on the case. For example, if I was to see a client in a clinic for an hour session then I might charge £60. However, if I got a request to spend all day at a house then I might charge £360, depending on the location. Also, earnings vary between people who do this type of work based on their skill level, their experience or how popular they are - whether they do TV programs, for instance. You can really earn as little as £5000 a year, or you can earn as much £100,000 a year if you're doing TV shows.
What does it feel like to perform an exorcism?
To perform an exorcism can sometimes be uncomfortable. If, for example, the spirit that you're removing is angry or afraid, then I feel those feelings. Sometimes, exorcism can be a joyous process. It's straightforward, and I know that I'm helping the person.
Do you have to be a priest to be an exorcist?
To be an exorcist, you don't have to be a priest. People from all walks of life can do exorcisms. Traditionally, psychics with an ability to be able move spirits do it. Shamans all over the world do it. In secular terms, people like hypnotherapists and psychologists are starting to do exorcisms, and instead of calling spirit removal 'exorcism', they call it spirit release therapy, which differentiates between the term that the church use and the term that would be used by a priest not performing the same task.
Do you have to be Catholic to be an exorcist?
Lots of different types of therapists do exorcisms. They just do it in different ways. Exorcism is specifically a term used by the Catholic Church to perform spirit removal using a certain ritual and the force of prayer, whereas other spirit release therapists, such as shamans, psychics and psychologists, or even hypnotherapists, would do the same process but in a different way.
What's the best part of the job?
The best part of my job as an exorcist is helping people move forward in their life, and helping them with problems that they've perhaps had for a very long time and haven't been able to resolve. I also find the work really, really interesting, because Spirit Release Therapy doesn't just involve releasing spirits attached to people. It involves a wide variety of things, like ancestral issues, energetic relationships between people, psychic attack and different forms of negative energy. There's always something new to learn as an exorcist.
What's the worst part of the job?
The worst part of my job is trying to sometimes persuade clients to make a change within themselves. Exorcism is often a two-way process. Often I see people who have had conditions for a very long time, and sometimes the clients attract spirits for all kinds of reasons. Just removing the spirit is simply not enough in some cases. Something about the client has to change in order to make sure the situation doesn't occur in future. Unfortunately, clients sometimes just want quick fixes to remove and deal with the problem, but they won't accept or deal with it if the part of the problem is themselves. I find that quite difficult.
Is an exorcism scary?
Exorcism can be scary because if you've not come across something before, that can be a little unnerving. It is very important to be very confident and have a strong resolve, because spirits do draw upon any fears that you might have.
Does performing an exorcism put the exorcist in danger?
Performing an exorcism can put the exorcist in danger, in that the spirit attached to the client can attempt to transfer to the exorcist if it does not want to move on. Although the client has come to seek help, the spirit may try to influence the client to become resistant to the process and aggressive, or may use its own psychic abilities to levitate objects, although I've never had that happen to me during exorcism.
What are spirits' and demons'?
Spirits can be human spirits. These are souls, which for whatever reason, haven't moved on and are stuck here. Demons and angels are just dark and light spirits. You also get other types of spirits like elementals which varies. You get varying degrees of dark and light spirits. For example, a spirit guide that helps in this kind of work to move other spirits on, would be a different form of light spirit to an angel. A parasitic spirit, just causing a disease in somebody, would be a lesser form of a dark spirit, like a demon.
Can I learn exorcism myself?
You can learn exorcism yourself, but I would strongly suggest that you don't venture into it unless you have a psychic ability to sense spirits, feel them, communicate with them and, above all, remove them.
Is exorcism dangerous if I don't know what I'm doing?
Exorcism can be very dangerous for the untrained. It can also be dangerous for a person who is trained. I certainly wouldn't recommend it if you've never had any training in exorcism.
What's the worst that can happen?
The worst that can happen during an exorcism is that the spirit can attach to you. You can't get rid of it, and you can't let anybody get rid of it, so the client's problem then becomes your problem.
What does spirit attachment' mean?
Having a spirit attached is dependent upon the degree of control that the spirit has upon the person or the host. Commonly, most people think of a possession as it is in the film “The Exorcist”, where someone is completely taken over and they have very little free will. Spirit attachment can change their appearance and character. A lot of possessed people, because of the nature of spirit attachment, end up in mental institutions. The most common form of spirit attachment I come across is what I term partial possession, where there are one or more spirits attached to the person which have some influence or control over the person's life. For example, it may predispose the person to like certain things or it may make the person very uncomfortable. Spirit attachment will make them very ill by draining their energy. Sometimes the person will not know they have a spirit attachment; sometimes they will. For example, they may get sensations of ghosts in the house, like vibrations of tables, or they may feel scared or uncomfortable. Other people just simply may get ill from it. They may actually, for example, come to see me for healing for a digestive complaint. In fact, it is a spirit attachment that's draining the energy and causing this complaint. In my line of work, I would remove the attachment and then work on healing the digestive system.
