Performing an Exorcism at Home
It was last December 25, 2020 at 3:00pm when my grandmother died in my room. She was 99, ten days short of celebrating her 100th birthday. That day devastated a lot of people, but it was those who lost their mother that were hurting the most. She had thirteen kids, two of whom left before her. My aunt (my mom's younger sister) was the one who spent the most time with my grandmother the last couple of years of her life. In the few months that my grandmother got sick and was bedridden I noticed my aunt deteriorating as well. The lack of sleep, stress, and anxiety of knowing that it was a only a matter of time before she'd lose her mother took a toll on her. She lost a lot of weight, her eyes deepened with eye bags, her hair unkept, her skin aged, but worst of all her mental health went into shambles. Immediately I noticed this the first time I saw her after almost a year of not being home due to the pandemic. She gave out a blank stare, her voice inaudible, and her thoughts clearly out of the norm. My first thought on our first conversation was that, what happened to the aunt I knew? So was her case. At first we thought that it was because of the situation of having to deal with a dying mother that messed up her head, plus the severe lack of sleep. We expected that she'd be able to recover after my grandmother had passed. Unfortunately it didn't happen, in fact, it turned into something...paranormal.
Weeks after the passing of my grandmother she never got to sleep nor feel better, and we assumed this was due to her grieving. Then February 8 of 2021 she got into a heated argument with her sisters and that spiraled her down deeper into the rabbit hole. That night, after they had the argument, at around 1am I heard her waking up and making all sort of ruckus. Since I had an ongoing renovation on my room, the smell of the paints reached her room, so we both were temporarily sleeping at my brothers' adjacent rooms for at least a week. Right before shut my eyes I saw her pointing the flashlight at the window screen scouring for something on the other side. I decided to ignore it, but it kept on for a long time until she moved to the room where I was lying. The lights were off by then and the only source of light were the street light over twenty meters away, but she had her dimly lit flashlight with her. At first I pretended to sleep, observing her through my partially opened lids. She kept on peering through the window screen, her body swaying from left to right to match the movement of her head as she nervously seemed flabbergasted over something outside our garden. I held myself at first, but then it dragged on long enough that I finally broke my silence, "What are you doing?" My aunt mumbled something inaudible then briskly moved her face at an uncomfortable distance from mine then said, "There are people outside the window." I could see her deep setted eyes with dark winkles around them, her thin disposition, and protruding cheekbones, I got scared of her because I felt like she was a whole different person. Her aura felt dark, and I swear I felt like she was possessed at that moment because there was nothing normal in both her actions and her physical appearance then. It unnerved me, but then I blurted, "There's no one there, go back to sleep." I didn't bother to check and see, I was awake just a few minutes ago and was certain that nothing felt out of the ordinary. I heard her moving restlessly on the other room, but then fell asleep shortly after.
The next day I moved back to my room, and so she also went back to her room. Both our rooms are connected with a common bathroom, and so she freely goes in and out in between rooms for reasons I don't know. I was doing something on my laptop when she barged in and asked, "You didn't see them last night?" I replied with a cautioned look, "I saw you going around with your flashlight, but there was nobody out there last night."
She gave me a surprised expression, "You didn't see them?"
"Why, what did you see?" I finally asked so she could say whatever was bothering her.
"There were two old men outside the window last night, staring at me from the outside-in. They were smudging some sort of oil on the frame of the window. It didn't smell good, like lana...I could smell it from my bed. It might be poison that will cause us to faint or harm us because I felt dizzy after inhaling it." She slowly said in a voice that was almost a whisper. Her eyes wide-open but tired from the lack of sleep.
That night as I went back to sleep in my newly painted room, at about 1am she barged in my room with a frantic look, an uneasiness in her expression that is a mix of anxiety and fright. My aunt and I always had a rocky relationship eversince she decided to live with us ages ago. There was an apparent sense of paranoia and confusion with what was happening. She peeked inside my room and asked me if I'd sleep beside her in her room, but I refused the request because I'd rather just not.
Then she said, "There are people in my room."
I went in her room and saw nothing but her stuff. "There's no one here. I can't see anything."
She the gave me a blank stare and persisted, "They're outside the window."
I quickly glanced at the window, reinforcing my annoyance to emit a strong energy as defense, but at the same time a little frightful at the possibility that I might see something staring back. Thankfully all I saw was a pitch black garden. "Seriously, I can't see anything. Go back to sleep."
I went back to my room but she followed me in, then cautiously peered out my window and spoke in a half-pleading voice, "Please don't come inside, just stay there please. Don't bother us anymore. Don't come in please, okay? Thank you."
There was absolutely nothing there because I was looking directly at the very spot she was conversing with. I was afraid with how my aunt was acting though...it wasn't normal, and absolutely creepy.
The next day she asked me, her eyes circled with deep dark rings from an obvious lack of sleep, "You didn't see them in my room last night?"
"No, what are you talking about? There was no one there. Why, what did you see?"
"There were four of them; two ladies, a man and a small child. They were wearing old style clothing. The women were mestizas, and one was carrying the child in her arms, while the man had a top hat on. They stood right beside my bed and were watching me as I was lying in bed." The way she described them made me uncomfortable...considering that if she was telling the truth and not making stories up, that's a total of four resident ghosts beside my room. Urgh! Her tone was melancholic, like her life was sucked out of her since I noticed that it's been weeks that she hasn't been sleeping properly.
For this reason, I believe that the immense amount of grief has opened a doorway for her in the lower realms that caused for her third eye to open.
This conversation went on for days as I'd notice my aunt waking up in the middle of night and come peek at my room to watch me sleep. At first I'd ask her if what was wrong, but then she'd tell me about those same figures masquerading around her room and I didn't want to hear about it on repeat. I eventually decided to lock the door that was connecting our rooms to get better sleep because the whole thing was causing me to be anxious every night, especially whenever I could feel my aunt peek at my door at the wee hours of the night.
It eventually reached a point that we had to open up to other relatives for help. My cousin then suggested to report the incident to the diocese in order to schedule and perform a house cleansing to help control the situation. By that she meant performing an exorcism under the Catholic faith. She asked for help from Fr. Brethen Rye Gamala, a priest under the diocese who was trained and officially became an exorcist. Apparently priests who are allowed to perform exorcisms must undergo a special training that will test their faith and endurance as Fr. Rye explained that demons would bother him at night. Whenever he'd return to his room after performing an exorcism he'd be attacked by unseen forces, sometimes physically he revealed.
We had to prepare a couple of things for the rites. This included a whole lot of purified water, salt, olive oil, candles, incense, the medal of St. Benedict, crucifixes, and other religious articles. The rites started calmly with the priest doing a brief interview of the family. It was important that he had to speak to my aunt especially to know what was going on. With him was a young girl with a third eye.
The young girl said that a demon used to posses her, many times. She was of a different faith, but she was saved by the a series of prayers and rituals under the church that she managed to be free of the possessions. She claimed that before they would attack her often, but after successfully closing her third eye she was called into the service of the diocese to help in situations such as these. It was a cross examination to know if the subject was in line with her stories and what the girl with the third eye was actually seeing. The priest would ask questions relating to what my aunt was seeing versus what the medium observed. She'd give signals to the priest as to confirm or disregard a statement. This went on for a bit, casually over a meal. As we were eating the girl with the third eye asked if we had a cat in the house because apparently something scratched her leg from under the table. She said it was painful. This would go on throughout the exorcism ritual where she'd be attacked by the said entities in our house. For some reason it was just her and the priest who felt horrible after the cleansing. My family and I were unharmed nor bothered one bit.
Right after the meal the priest made his rounds around the house with the medium and the family to ask about the history about a given room. It was just a brief tour while the medium assessed the situation. The priest explained that there are certain things that spirits are attached to, particularly in antique furniture or figurines whose maker had an ill intention while making the piece.
It turns out that our house has a spirit portal right in our backyard, and we have several elemental residents freely roaming in our premises. They're a mix of black and white duwende (dwarves) that were toying with my aunt, as well as those who were causing the occasional paranormal activities around the house. There have been several unexplainable incidences that left us wondering whether logic was applicable or simply something that's out of the ordinary. The day before the priest was scheduled to come to our house I saw two figures walk on our front yard who I mistook as my mom and aunt wearing their usual clothing; my mother in an orange duster and my aunt in a yellow green batik terno. I was sitting in our dining room staring out at the front yard when two figures briskly walking from the same spot came out of our garage then disappeared behind the bedsheet being hung out to dry. I saw the figure of my mom but it did not walk past the column where three rows of jalousie windows were attached, while my aunt vanished when she reached the bedsheet. I didn't see their faces as it seemed all a blur, but I knew it was them based on their stature. It took a few seconds for me to stand up and check outside what just happened, only to realize there was no one outside and when I went back inside I saw my mom in the living room wearing a different duster while my aunt was quietly sitting in her room with a different set of clothing as well. When the medium came the next day she told me about the dwarves nature of copying people's faces to trick them...and I didn't even tell her about the incident that happened the day prior. She said that the two entities were sitting on the old acacia bench right by our main entrance to greet them.
She spoke with the priest about my brother's room where she saw three entities residing there. Two white dwarves and one black. And it's no coincidence that's where we've gotten a lot of activities. Where my brother would be woken up in the middle of the night by an old lady. Where my other brother would be pinched by another old lady. Where my aunt saw figures peeking at her while she was sleeping. Where I was also woken up one night when something shoved my feet off the bed. It was the room I felt most uncomfortable being in that day. That room used to be our dirty kitchen, and our maids would also tell us stories where they experienced a lot of paranormal activities. It was eventually turned into my older brothers' room, where he recently revealed why he had to play loud metallic music years back...because apparently it was to alleviate his fears because he was being bothered by random entities before. Fortunately, she said that my room was clear of any bad spirits, which made sense because my room don't feel as heavy as compared to the other rooms...even if two of my grandmothers died in the room.
After they had their tour, the priest then preceded with the actual house cleansing ritual. This part was what freaked me out a bit because this involved a different set of prayers, a bit of Latin and a whole lot of mention of the word demon, devil, evil, Satan and Lucifer. I felt the power the prayers held as I felt the hairs on my back rise. It was a long litany that declared the power of God and Jesus over anything. The omnipotent Being that had the power to drive all things evil. It was a plea to protect the home and the family. As he said the prayers he blessed the items being laid on the table starting with the salt, turning it to holy salt then mixing the salt in the water to turn it to holy water as well as the oil.
When all of the items were blessed, the priest instructed us that two per holy item will be assigned for the job. My parents had to put the newly blessed holy oil onto all mirrors, entry points, and corners around the house, applying oil using the tip of their thumb to form the sign of the cross on all necessary surface. My aunt and I were assigned to sprinkle salt on all corners, doors, and windows of the house. We started the ritual from our gate, making our way around the garden and into the rooms, marking all corners with the the priest splashing holy water then following it with the holy oil and salt as we prayed The Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and Glory Be simultaneously. This went on for quite some time as we had a lot of corners to cover. The final spot where we had to focus our attention on was the said portal on our backyard. It was located beside our dirty kitchen, where three red palms stood. There, he recited a prayer to seal the portal then took a photo as documentation for the church to file as one of the official cases they took on.
The priest said that portals cannot be completely closed forever. All he could do was minimize the activities of the entities roaming in our house. Every now and then they would still be here since this is their territory after all. We'll just have to coexist with them without disrupting each others realms.
As an added story, when my grandmother was alive there were instances when she'd describe as seeing entities musing her that looked like large monkeys. Oddly enough, how my grandmother described them were also how my friend in Bali tried to explain the entities looked like back in Ubud. It's amazing how two countries that's a thousand kilometers away with two people who never met would tell me something like that.
Right after the we closed the portal, we requested the priest to pray over our aunt, to say a prayer of deliverance from any sort of possible possession. What the priest did was say a prayer to close her third eye and expel any evil entities looming around her. She was made to read a couple of lines from the book of exorcism, then the priest also said his prayers. This was probably the only Catholic prayer that scared me to the bones. Just like the first prayer at the beginning of the exorcism the words involved a lot of mention of the words Satan, demon, devil, evil, and commands of casting out. This was the first time I heard that prayer of casting out the devil and I could feel the intensity of the moment as the priest were saying the lines from a different Bible-like book. The only comedic moment of this day was when I asked my aunt if she was listening to what the priest was instructing her to do in order to stop the spirits from disturbing her, she gave a confused expression and chuckled, "I wasn't listening. I don't know what happened." Oh my God, it was a more frustrating than funny. I can't say if this we just her or something else talking.
At the end of the ritual, as we were on our way out to say our goodbyes to the priest and the young girl they each made a report on how they felt. The priest said he felt so tired, like every ounce of strength was drained out of his body. His head was hurting and both shoulders that he wouldn't be surprised if he would fall ill that night like most of every exorcism he performed. He said that he would be disturbed in his sleep, and that most of his nights are not peaceful. Such is the life of those who choose such path. The young girl on the other hand was limping her way out of the house, claiming that a very strong energy kicked her on the shin...it was one of the dwarves who did it she said.
This incident made the energy of the house feel lighter. My aunt however could still see the entities even after the whole cleansing. I wouldn't be surprised based on how she blocked off the prayers by choosing to be oblivious with the whole ritual. As a solution she moved out of the house to live with one of her sisters since it seemed like staying in the house would continue her torment if it's the entities in our house that's toying with her. Unfortunately her psychological torture followed her as she continued to see apparitions in the other house. At least there, the house has a lot more people coming in and out to make for a busier atmosphere to distract her from her thoughts. In the end, it was her departure from our house that changed the energy of the entire property. And although there are days when the house is eerily quiet, ultimately we felt like the shadows were following her all along. This is said to be true as I was able to ask the priest who did the exorcism months after why she continues to see the same entities in her new house. He said that that some spirits do use other humans as hosts and have the tendency to follow them around everywhere.
The whole experience opened my eyes to how the church deals with the reality of what they also teach their disciples to dismiss, the existence of the paranormal world. One that is a little more closer to earth than the heavens. The priest who performed the exorcism admitted that the church is careful about disseminating information about anything that may cause fear. Wrongfully teaching a subject that can be especially dangerous when passed to those with ill intention or ignorant with it repercussions.
* * * * *
A YouTube video interview titled Fr. Vince Lampert by Capturing Christianity caught my attention as what he said was in line with what Fr. Rye said:
A demon is a creature created by God, and therefore a demon can never have an equal footing with God.
4 Signs of a Demonic Possession
1. The ability to speak and understand a foreign language/s, otherwise unknown to the individual
2. Superhuman strength beyond the capacity of a normal individual
3. Having an elevated perception, having knowledge about things the person should otherwise know
4. Aversion to anything sacred in nature
Notes:
One must create an entry point for evil to move into their lives like engaging in practices that can open a doorway into evil or indirectly participating in an activity that they might see as fun or entertaining but in reality could be opening up an entry point.
Exorcism might not happen once and done, it might need to be done over and over again. It's not magical in nature.
Demonic possession is physical in nature. As it is a spirit, a body can only be possessed if it creates an entry point in his/her physical self by pushing away God out of his/her system, that's when the demon can enter and take control of a person.
No comments:
Post a Comment