The catholic church has revealed how growing interest in satanism and the occult has led to a rise in exorcisms across Queensland. One priest, who asked not to be named for fear of "reprisals", said he was carrying out at least one exorcism a fortnight. More requests for exorcisms came from the Gold Coast than anywhere else. An exorcism involves holy water, sacrament and Bible reading and can go on for many hours, the priest said. Linda Blair made the subject famous in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. "Being possessed by a demon is terrifying in one"s mental and emotional life," he said. "Some of these manifestations are extremely powerful, causing people to be plagued bydisturbances.
They hear voices and see hideous creatures in their sleep. "There has been a recruitment of pagan practices, and it"s sheer poison. "The Gold Coast is not good at all. I do far more exorcisms there than Brisbane." The Catholic Church has vowed to "fight the devil head-on" by training hundreds of priests as exorcists. Bishop Brian Finnigan, acting head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, said it was important for the church to carry out exorcisms. "People need to be freed of that burden," he said. Father Gabriele Amorth, 82, the Pope"s Exorcist-in-Chief, announced the initiative recently amid church concerns about an increase in people dabbling in the occult. Under plans being considered, each bishop would have a group of priests in his diocese who werespecially trained in exorcism. Father Amorth said: "Too many bishops are not taking this seriously and are not delegating their priests in the fight against the devil. You have to hunt high and low for a proper, trained exorcist." Queensland Catholic priests can carry out exorcisms only if they have been authorised by an archbishop. The priest source, who is based in Brisbane, is the only one permitted to do exorcisms in the state. He said he had travelled to Rockhampton, Cairns, Townsville and Toowoomba to save people.
Alone in her bedroom, the black-dressed woman thumbed through her binder of spells and contemplated her next victim. The baritone voice of Satan rumbled in her mind, enticing her deeper into the dark side."Satan told me in a deep, demonic voice, 'You belong to me,'" said Samantha Wheeler, who believes she's been possessed since age 12.But recently, Wheeler met a charismatic pastor from Kenya who promised her deliverance."When I first talked with her, I could see the manifestation ofdemons," said Paul Mbugua, a preacher and exorcist at Operation Fresh Start Apostolic Church in Oildale."Every Sunday, we were casting devils out of her," he said of the 18-year-old Bakersfield woman.
"She was very possessed."Belief in demonic possession has been part of the Christian walk since Jesus' exorcisms in the Gospels 2,000 years ago.Once regarded as frightening procedures marked by form and ritual, as described by the Vatican and seen in Hollywood movies like "The Exorcist," many evangelical churches have sanitized and streamlined exorcisms for 21st-century parishes.Thesedays, Lucifer is being cast out somewhat easily during altar calls in the worship center, in group sessions at retreats and during private office visits -- with nary a sign of growling demonic voices, supernatural feats of strength or people freaking out at holy images.Yet modern advances in psychology and medicine continue to scrape against the ancient practice.
Anthony North: A major area of paranormal activity is possession. The phenomenon is said to involve the taking over of the mind by an ‘entity’ from outside the mind. During possession the whole persona of the individual disappears, leaving only the entity.The history of the paranormal is full of such incidences. But what is the reality of the phenomenon? Does a real ‘entity’ invade the mind, or can answers be found in the psychology of the experiencer? Or is the answer somewhere in between? Types of invasion: There are four main areas of possession. First of all we have demonic, where the person is said to be possessed by a supernatural demon. Another popular form of possession is reincarnation, where a‘past life’ is said to take over the host.Spiritualism offers many cases of possession, with mediums contacting, and being taken over by, a spirit of a dead person.
The practice has now advanced to Channelling, where a discarnate being takes over the person to impart spiritual philosophy.We can see that entities can seem to come from many areas of the supernatural, but does the subject suffer from too many ‘tags’? Can we better understand what is going on by ignoring the places entities are said to come from and see if they are ‘internal’ rather than external?Known Mechanisms: There are three areas of mind/brain phenomena that could offer rudimentary answers to possession. In the phenomenon of Multiple Personality, it is believed that the mind can fragment to the point that different aspects of mind appear to be separatepersonalities.Another area is the Split Brain concept, where it is known that the left and right cerebral hemispheres of the brain can operate independently. The left brain is a logician, whilst the right is emotional, or artistic. We normally live through the left brain, but the right can take over, adding fantasy, as if another ‘personality’ is in residence.Finally, knowledge imparted through ‘entities’ can often be accurate and substantial. Here, cryptomnesia – the ability of the mind to remember obscure facts – can offer an answer to this knowledge.
Poland plans to open its first exorcism center, for those who believe they are possessed by the devil, in the town of Poczernin 30 km (18 miles) from the city of Szczeczin, Polish media said Wednesday. Andrzej Trojanowski, a Catholic priest working in the city says the center will be equipped with a chapel and will have a psychiatrist on hand. Trojanowski said there was a demandfor the service as he deals with up to 20 people a week allegedly possessed by the devil.
The center was the idea of the Catholic Church in Poland, which already has around 50 working exorcists, and the project is expected to provide spiritual help and guidance to the needy. According to priests their service is popular with visitors from Germany, which has no working exorcists. Many consider those who claim to be possessed are just mentally ill, whereas others contend that those diagnosedwith psychiatric illnesses are really possessed by the devil. The practice of exorcism by priests and clergy became very popular in the 1970s, which coincided with the 1973 release of the world-wide blockbuster movie The Exorcist.
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The catholic church has revealed how growing interest in satanism and the occult has led to a rise in exorcisms across Queensland. One priest, who asked not to be named for fear of "reprisals", said he was carrying out at least one exorcism a fortnight. More requests for exorcisms came from the Gold Coast than anywhere else. An exorcism involves holy water, sacrament and Bible reading and can go on for many hours, the priest said. Linda Blair made the subject famous in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. "Being possessed by a demon is terrifying in one"s mental and emotional life," he said. "Some of these manifestations are extremely powerful, causing people to be plagued bydisturbances. 
View: Full Article | Source: News.com.au 
Anthony North: A major area of paranormal activity is possession. The phenomenon is said to involve the taking over of the mind by an ‘entity’ from outside the mind. During possession the whole persona of the individual disappears, leaving only the entity.The history of the paranormal is full of such incidences. But what is the reality of the phenomenon? Does a real ‘entity’ invade the mind, or can answers be found in the psychology of the experiencer? Or is the answer somewhere in between? Types of invasion: There are four main areas of possession. First of all we have demonic, where the person is said to be possessed by a supernatural demon. Another popular form of possession is reincarnation, where a‘past life’ is said to take over the host.Spiritualism offers many cases of possession, with mediums contacting, and being taken over by, a spirit of a dead person. 
