Exorcism

What is Exorcism ?

Exorcism is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person, or an area, they are believed to have possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be done by causing the entity to swear an oath, performing an elaborate ritual, or simply by commanding it to depart in the name of a higher power. The practice is ancient and part of the belief system of many cultures and religions.

The person performing the exorcism, known as an exorcist, is often a priest, shaman, or an individual thought to be graced with special powers or skills. In general, possessed persons are not regarded as evil in themselves, nor wholly responsible for their actions.

Shamanism: The concept of possession by evil spirits and the practice of exorcism are very ancient and widespread. In shamanic healing, exorcism is needed when a negative entity, called a demon in Western society, takes hold of a person's soul. When a shaman performs an exorcism, the demon may try to engage the shaman in conversation, reveal secrets that the shaman may be ashamed of, or use physical, energetic, and telekinetic attacks against the shaman. The only thing that will protect the shaman is her firm connection to, and faith in the power of her divinity or spiritual gift.

Taoism: which emphasizes the maintenance of harmony in the world, has blended with shamanistic beliefs and practices among the Chinese peoples. Thus, the shaman may enter into a spiritual trance as a way of establishing the connection between the forces of light and darkness—yang and yin—that are necessary to promote healing and wholeness. Historically, one way that people in China dealt with demons was through ritual performances that summoned martial deities from a celestial bureau called the Thunder Department (lei bu). These performances have been used to exorcise demons blamed for causing individual illnesses, epidemic outbreaks, irregular patterns of rainfall, and other disorders in the world. By marshaling the powers of thunder in these Thunder Ritual systems (lei fa), ritual practitioners (shamans) turned to celestially sanctioned forms of violence to rid the world of disruptions of order and set the world aright.

Native American shamans use purifying rituals to cleanse the body. The healer focuses on using spiritual healing powers to treat people with illness based on the idea that spirits have caused the illness.

Exorcism exists all over the world in all religions - Hinduism, Ismal, Chiristianity, Taoism, Buddhism, Jainism, Judaism etc.