An Exorcist Explains the Demonic

by Gabriele Amorth

  There are cases, as in the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus was found with the demoniac possessed by a legion of devils (see Mark 5:1–20). This term, typical of the Roman military organization, suggests a reality that we exorcists often confront. When the possession is multiple, it has to do with spirits that are organized hierarchically, precisely like a military body: there are chiefs, deputy chiefs, and simple soldiers. Each one is provided with a different authority. Little by little, as the exorcism proceeds, the spirits with the least authority, the weaker spirits, abandon the field. The victory, the complete liberation, is accomplished after the defeat of the supreme head of the legion, the most powerful and overbearing, the last to leave the ship, the one of whom the other demons have a true and proper terror.

  How does one discover that he is possessed? There are persons who discover they are possessed when frequenting a sacred place, perhaps a Marian sanctuary, or when they participate in retreats, processions, prayer encounters, or Eucharistic adoration. They may have had some disturbance in the past to which they didn’t pay much attention, but then on those occasions it manifested itself in a clearer and more obvious way. It is the sign that the devil has remained hidden as long as he was able (he can hide himself for long periods, dissimulating his presence), but when confronting the power of God [during the exorcism] he must manifest himself. This fact, contrary to what one may think, must be accepted as a grace, because only in knowing the illness can one intervene.

  This is also true for the other disturbances that we shall speak of shortly. At times, as mentioned in the case of Joanne, there are physical problems that medical doctors cannot explain, and then a bell goes off. It was like this for Marcella, a girl of nineteen who suffered from a stomach ailment and could not sleep, and who would give sharp answers at home and at work. As soon as I touched her, lifting her eyelids, her eyes were entirely white and the pupils reverted toward the back.17 I did not even have time to think when an evil sneer said to me: “I am Satan.” We were able to liberate her in two years, but she is still much engaged in prayer.

  I wish to stress that neither possessions nor evil spells are contagious. In other words, there is no risk of being struck by coming in visual, auditory, or tactical contact with demoniac persons. A demoniac can also marry and have children without danger of infecting her family. I say this, above all, to benefit the relatives and friends who may be asked to involve themselves in these difficulties and to stay close to these suffering persons with a prayerful and understanding attitude. At times, living with such people is very difficult and truly tests a person. This is even truer for the priest. We have already revealed that the more we fear the devil, the more he attacks us. Therefore, if we leave him alone he will become aware of our weakness and will never leave us in peace.

  It is therefore true that persons who have had an experience with possession and then resolved it acquire a great sensibility toward situations in which a satanic presence is evident.

  Diabolical vexation. Diabolical vexations are the second type of the demon’s extraordinary spiritual aggression and are far and away the most numerous. They are caused by a person’s cultivation of imprudent habits; by frequenting wizards or séances, through repeated and persistent serious sins, or by submitting to spells. Here the devil acts without any dominant and prevailing influence over the body and the mind of the victim, as happens in the case of possession. Vexations are true and actual aggressions, physical or psychological attacks that the demon works against a person. At times they result in scratches, burns, bruises, or, in the most serious cases, broken bones. At times the victim is the target of stones or other objects. Typical cases of vexation are illnesses without any apparent cause that affect the internal organs or the limbs or pathologies that provoke pain in a part of the body without visible signs. Vexations can involve health, affections, or work.Often the vexation is associated with an extraordinary evil spell, in the sense that the person possessed or obsessed can also exhibit physical and psychic disturbances. It happened to me that in liberating a demoniac, the woman was contemporaneously cured of a terrible tumor. Evidently in this case the spell submitted to by the demon had a duplicate effect, spiritual and physical. On the other hand, the Gospel also attests to cases of physical healing that are tied to a spiritual healing from an evil spell. For example, Jesus heals a mute demoniac (see Matt. 9:32–34) and a blind and mute demoniac (Matt. 12:22–24).

  Vexations can also involve an oneiric dimension: while sleeping, a person may have terrible nightmares, in which he dreams of cursing, of damning God, or of becoming perverse and wicked. In this case, we are at the borders of diabolical obsession.

  We can give some examples from the lives of the saints: St. Pio, for example, was whipped by a demon. The Curé of Ars was often thrown out of his bed by Satan. I would say that these cases concerned diabolical vexations, not possessions.

  As I have said, vexations are not always manifested on a physical level. Sometimes they can strike affections: it can happen, for example, that a couple who are married or are engaged to be married can separate, or, to the contrary, two persons can become engaged, even though they are incompatible. Other vexations are manifested in work: the person in search of it does not find it; or the person who finds work loses it; or a person may have gross difficulties with colleagues and bosses at work. Other times, [vexations] can break up friendships and isolate a person. It is impossible to enumerate all the cases.

  How does one distinguish between a physical illness and a diabolical vexation? It is necessary, as always, to be very prudent in evaluating symptoms. People who are easily impressionable can become upset without foundation. Often, in fact, an illness or psychological discomfort is natural and can be easily diagnosed by a medical or psychiatric specialist. But anyone who notices the presence of tormenting phenomena tied to an inexplicable aversion to the sacred, to God, or to prayer should seek spiritual discernment. Likewise, having frequented occult practices in the past or contacted wizards, mediums, or fortune-tellers, even in good faith, or having been subjected to spells can be valid indications for the need for good discernment.

  Diabolical obsession. Diabolical obsessions are disturbances or extremely strong hallucinations that the demon imposes, often invincibly, on the mind of the victim. In these cases the person is no longer master of his own thoughts. Rather, he is subjected to a powerful force that creates mental activity in him that is repetitive, obsessive, and irresistible. Such representations of reality, even if foreign to his manner of thinking, become profoundly fixed in his psyche. The objects of these hallucinations can be manifested as visions, as voices, or as rustlings; they can also appear as monstrous figures, horrifying animals, or devils. In other cases it can be an impulse to commit suicide or to do evil to others; and, particularly in the young, it can lead to confusion about one’s gender. The history of cases is so vast that it is impossible to enumerate all the forms of diabolical obsession.This usually does not completely deactivate the mind and the will of a person, who remains conscious and alert. It does, however, heavily condition him in his relationship with the world. This phenomenon can occur indifferently at night or during the day, and experiencing it can make one’s life impossible, even to the point of suicide. For obvious reasons this situation provokes sadness and desperation in the victim.

  Even the saints are not exempt from diabolical obsessions: when the demon appeared to St. Pio of Pietrelcina, he assailed St. Pio like a ferocious dog or disguised himself as his spiritual director with special instructions. In order to avoid every misunderstanding, it is necessary to state precisely that these obsessive disturbances are very similar to mental pathologies; and for this reason, it is always necessary to seek the help of a psychiatrist in order to determine if it is a natural illness. Given the difficulty of judging this classification of cases, a conversation with a priest, in his capacity as a spiritual adviser, can also be very helpful. In fact, it often happens that the clinical results of a demoniac pathol
ogy have psychiatric counterparts. In this case, it is necessary to proceed at the same rate with both, joining the medical treatment with the spiritual. We shall speak of this in more depth.

  Diabolical infestation. We come to the last type of spiritual disturbances — diabolical infestations: disturbances that act on houses, objects, and animals, rather than on people.18 It does not mean that they produce less suffering in the individuals who are associated with this satanic action. Indeed, the infestation of the house, in particular, provokes great sufferings and, at times, enormous economic damage to the property and to the one subjected to it. In these cases, the demons can damage electrical appliances, automobiles, and home-heating systems. There are other examples of infestations: doors and windows that open and slam shut, day and night, without any apparent causes; lights, lamps, televisions, or computers that turn on and shut off without any human intervention; detonators that go off; the sound of footsteps; violent vibrations, mysterious voices or cries; and powerful blows to the walls, all of which can make life difficult for the inhabitants. In some of my cases, the police were called in order to verify the presence of strong blows, but always without finding the culprit. Still more: there can be stones tossed against windows, but without the glass breaking; intense unpleasant odors; or the invasions of insects, such as cockroaches or ants, that can be so aggressive that they erode windows frames in just a few days. Here also the case history is vast.

  In such cases, it is necessary to determine whether the phenomenon is concretely attributable to natural and certifiable causes. If not, it is useful to know — although it is often difficult to verify — if in the past séances or magic rituals were held in the house, or gatherings of Masonic or satanic sects, or anything similar. Also in these cases, it is useful to have the house and its contents blessed and to have local exorcisms (on the property), which in these circumstances can be very long and complicated. In the worst cases, I have had to advise the occupants to change houses. At times, in the new home there are no more strange occurrences. At other times, the disturbances continue.

  For example, I recall the case of a person whose bed would move, often violently, when she was lying down. I asked her whether the same disturbance presented itself when she was sleeping away from the house. She responded that wherever she went, the phenomenon manifested itself. Evidently, here, it involved a personal vexation. In other situations, the disturbances go away.

  Therefore, it is important to verify if, in changing the bed or the house, the disturbance passes. If so, this means that the spell is tied to the bed, the house, the room, or the wall. But when a person always experiences the same disturbances, then the problem resides in the person, and it is he who needs to act: with an exorcism, prayer, and a sacramental life.

  The Risk of Liberty

  We have spoken of evil spells: possession, vexation, obsession, and infestation. Now the question arises: Why does God permit evil?

  First, it is necessary to make clear that God, being infinite love, does not wish evil. He simply permits it, because He created men and angels as free creatures. Simply put, men are free to choose whether they wish to live for God or against Him and therefore to opt for heaven or for hell. We must recognize that God has made everything to make man happy, and in accordance with this plan, God asks man to obey the laws that He has established; but God has also given man the ability to refuse this truth. This is the situation in which all of us are placed.

  The first who had to choose, as we have already said,19 were the angels, who, in the case of the demons, chose to tempt men in order to attract men to themselves. The second, in the dimension of time, is man; and so it falls to each of us individually to make a choice. John’s Gospel says of Christ: “[A]ll things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). Could God have given to creation a greater goal than Himself, than the possibility of enjoying the vision of Him, the cause of eternal joy? We, in fact, live for Him, and there could not be a more marvelous goal. Therefore, the rebellion of the angels and the successive disobedience of men tells us that evil is a concrete possibility and that God has permitted it in order to make us free.

  And here we are before a great mystery: that creatures freely choose evil rather than good. It was the case of Joseph, a youth of twenty-eight, who emanated a strong odor of smoke and who used and sold drugs and cursed. I could see immediately that he came to me solely to please his mother and his sister, who accompanied him. I had just begun to pray when the demon manifested itself immediately and violently, and I had to stop. When [Joseph] recovered, after the exorcism, I told him that he was possessed. He told me that he already knew that he was demoniac and that he was fine with it. I never saw him again.

  This is the greatest risk that God has taken with His creatures, angels and men. And He has taken it for a simple reason: because without free will, that is, without the possibility of choosing between good and bad, we would be robots and not totally free creatures. Liberty — infinite in God — is a sign of our greatness and of our sonship in Jesus Christ. Without it, we could not call ourselves sons, but only slaves. God has given us everything; we must recognize only Him, adore only Him, and be guided only by Him, because inevitably, if we do not give to God, we necessarily give to idols. “He who is not with me is against me,” Jesus says (Matt. 12:30). Half measures do not exist. Either we are of Christ, or we are of Satan. At times we would like to go halfway: serving Christ partway. Well, this is not possible. The devious method that the devil used with Adam and Eve works also with us: it leads us to think that evil and sin do not exist, that to sin, distancing ourselves from God, trying each thing for the pleasure of having experiences, is a gain. “So, in the end, what evil is there?”

  At times, in order to console my clients who have been tried by long years of possession, I remind them that if they have found the faith to begin a true Christian life, it is because they had to begin a hard struggle against the evil that they were suffering. As a result, the devil was already defeated at the start.

  It is true that God permits evil, but there is another truth that accompanies it: without our knowing, God also puts a limit on evil, limiting the action of Satan against man. We have an example of it in the book of Job; Satan obtains permission to vex Job, but God forbids him to touch Job: “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand” (Job 1:12). God always has the last word.

  Permit me a last word of encouragement to those who suffer from evil spells, in particular to those who have contracted them through no fault of their own. My founder, Blessed Don Giacomo Alberione, always insisted on making reparation for sins through one’s own suffering and the offering of one’s suffering for the salvation of sinners and for peace in the world. Rather than nurturing a profound sense of pain and stirring up possible retaliatory thoughts, one can offer up to God a great and meritorious work.

  How Are Spiritual Evils Contracted?

  How does one contract the spiritual evils that we have just briefly described? In two ways: through sin and without sin.

  Let us confront the first, which I call culpable because it results from a person’s fault or sin. For example, many cases of possession are manifested — often after much time — when a person tries to resolve a personal problem, often work related or emotional, and turns to a wizard or, when practical, to forms of occultism in all its multiple styles; or when, often at a young age, and only as a joke, he may have played around with spiritism. As I have explained, when we speak of magic, we mean the use of negative spiritual forces in order to dominate the physical and psychological. It involves the manipulation of some preternatural powers for one’s own ends; actions and attitudes that are harshly condemned in the Bible, for example: spells (see Exod. 7:11; Ps. 58:5); divination (see Gen. 30:27; Isa. 8:19); necromancy or spiritism (see Lev. 19:31; 1 Sam. 28:3ff.); witchcraft (see 2 Chron. 33:6; Jer. 27:9; Gal. 5:20); false prophets (see Ezek. 13:17–23); and sorcery
(see Micah 5:12).

  Another culpable means of contracting spiritual evils that in some cases can be particularly weighty is perseverance in sin and vice; that is, living a life — stubbornly and with conviction — that is contrary to love.

  Are those who give themselves over to occultism or who live in serious sin always attacked by evil spells? Evidently not. We are not in the field of the medical sciences in which everything, or at least much, is measurable. There are no automatic mechanisms in either case. What I intend to say is that an evil spell does not necessarily attack a person who has taken up a vice or who turns to magic or occultism or to necromancy. Let us say, however, that whoever practices these vices places himself in great danger.

  Are some vices more dangerous than others? I would not exclude any of them; in my experience, however, the most diffuse are the spiritual ills that are tied to an unrestrained use of sex. I recall, for example, a youth who was given over to much perverse sex, and because of this he was struck by a possession. I engaged many years and many exorcisms to liberate him. Other vices exist that have become ever more common today; those that I would call vicious and which at one time were favored solely by horror films and are now tranquilly presented on television or at the cinema. This promotion of evil has normalized the most inhuman cruelty, and many, unfortunately, aspire to it, if not always in behavior, at least in thought. But I repeat: I would not limit myself to these vices. I think of the unrestrained use of alcohol and drugs that is so diffuse among young people.

  There are also blameless causes, which are decidedly the majority of the cases. In fact, I think that at least 90 percent of the cases of possessions and of other evil spells are directly attributable not to their victims but to those persons who have turned their particular attentions on them, practicing some spells or evil eye against them for various motives, such as resentment, hatred, or vendetta.