Exorcisms: Science or Fiction

There is a large history associated with helping profession. It was once believed that mental illness was caused by evil spirits. In early forms of treatment the focus was on eliminations of the demons within the person. One procedure used was called trephining the skull, which removed a disk of bone in the head to let the evil spirit escape. Another common treatment

Historically, the predominant concept of witchcraft in the Western world derives from Old Testament laws against witchcraft, and entered the mainstream when belief in witchcraft gained Church approval in the Early Modern Period. It posits a theosophical conflict between good and evil, where witchcraft was generally evil and often associated with the Devil and Devil worship. This culminated in

On a gloomy Tuesday night, a group of teenagers from George Mason University circled around an Ouija board to find out what their final grade from a psychology class, Mystery, Madness, and Murder would be. Soon after, the planchette moved, allowing them to communicate with evil spirits from another dimension. Unfortunately, this communication led them into learning not only their final grade, but also into being haunted by an evil spirit until the end of their lives. This, surprisingly, is a very common practice in the United States. Even the International Exorcists’ Association (AIE) states that the usage of Ouija boards increased the exorcism practices within the U.S. (cite). According to a recent poll on LiveScience, 65% of Americans believe

As early as 5000 B.C. there would be attempts to cure the mentally ill. It was believed that an evil spirit would possess the body of an individual by drilling

In his essay “Shakespeare and the Exorcists,” Stephen Greenblatt argues that the exorcisms that happened during the fifteen hundreds and early sixteen hundreds were nothing more than a performance used by different religions to exercise power over the population. Greenblatt says that: Exorcism has been a process of reintegration as well as a manifestation of authority; as the ethnographer Shirokogorov observed of the shamans of Siberia, exorcists could “master” harmful spirits and restore “psychic equilibrium” to whole communities as well as to individuals. (Greenblatt, 595) In this sense, the power used by religion is the power of rhetoric. Pastors, priests, and so on, would convince the population into not sinning by performing an exorcism.

Lim’s treatment did not consist of exorcism but of other means. The first was ritualistic massage. He would use an idol of Siamese sex god called "Phragann" and rub it all over the women’s bodies. After that, he would proceed to fornicate with them. He claimed that this treatment was effective in curing emotional problems. The second method was electro-shock therapy. He would attach electric wires on the women’s temples and requested them to soak their feet into a basin of water. Then, he administered electric shocks to them. He claimed those shocks would drive any evil spirits that was causing problems and adversities to them (Rajendran, 1997).

When Schizophrenia was first discovered it was looked at as dementia praecox, a term introduced by Dr. Kraepelin. The term generally refers to any type of psychotic disorder characterized by the distortion of reality. When Kraepelin introduced the term the mentally ill were looked down on in the religious world. Patients were seen as being corrupted by the devil and one form of a treatment for these patients was an exorcism, in an attempt to rid the body and soul of the demons. In turn, people were finding that the exorcisms had no effect on the patients and they took treatments a step further by submerging the patient in ice baths until they lost consciousness. When the treatment failed yet again, doctors would drill a hole into the skull of the patient.

The treatment of mental illness dates back to 500BC. It was believed at that time that the mentally ill were possessed by demonic spirits. In some instances patients were also believed to be witches. “In ancient Mesopotamia, priest-doctors

The act of possession was a considered a source of illness that required a ritual type of healing to remove the demons or spirits taking control of that its host. Exorcism was used as this type of healing that occurred all around the world, including the United States. Christianity believed that there were demons that harassed, tormented and possessed humans which came from the New Testament. We learned that Satan was in charge of these acts in which being possessed gave new skills and strength because of the demon inside of them. From the New Testament, Jesus was able to perform exorcisms simply by demanding these demons to leave its host and soon after his disciples used this

Sorcerer – a male who has made a pact with the devil in exchange for magical powers (or Sorceress – female).

Inheriting the Demon Haunted World Science and religion are very similar, so much so in fact that without religion would science not exist. In the excerpt from Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, Sagan describes a feeling of a greater force even with science. In comparison, the excerpt from Inherit the Wind displays in the final scenes of the play, that Drummond concludes both science and religion can coexist by placing the Bible and Darwin's Origin of the Species side by side in his bag. Although these two excerpts show the relation of science and religion in two completely different ways, they both show how important it is that there is a common ground between religion and science. Throughout this essay, both excerpts will be analyzed to show Sagan’s stance on religion and science and the commentary that the final scene provides and how that based off of them, religion and science can definitely exist together.

And while it is possible to summon evil spirits, it is the summoning of benign spirits, elements, entities and deities that form the basis for invoking within the Wiccan faith. It is calling them within yourself to work with the combined energy. In the Wiccan practice, the process of invocation is a powerful tool and is a form of voluntary possession. You are temporarily replacing

People at the Medieval time believed curing the soul is more vital than curing the physical pain of the body. Hence, the patients would die without effective therapy or just wait until death, and this could cause the high mortality rate during the Middle Ages. Exorcism, the attempted expulsion of an evil spirit from a person, may be the main practice that a doctor would do in order to treat the person from the soul. Referred to Women Healers of the Middle Ages, the treatments of curing the soul would be“feeding, bathing, using herbals in a variety of vehicles, purging, and the ever available bloodletting by leech or phlebotomy” (289). Without using the correct medicine, patients died frequently.

If so, there is no evidence of it in the professional literature... It never occurred to the authors that some of those patients might really be possessed” (Betty, 27). Betty raises important questions and insights within the medical sphere regarding the treatment of possession that deserve more attention. Instead of wondering if possessions are real or not, or whether spirits or gods even exist, perhaps we should shift to focusing on what such rituals do for people in the end. If these rituals are able to heal people dealing with a mental illness, daily effects of oppression, or the torments of gods and spirits and familial ghosts, then what does it matter if we think they are real or not? If gods, spirits, familial ghosts, and the devil are real to these people, then such entities are real, and it does little good to think less of these people or tell them they can only be treated with science and medicine. Research has shown in both the Catholic and Harijan spheres that exorcisms and possession rituals often work, and if these groups of people are able to heal, then people should respect those practices and remain open to the possibilities that they can

When the term exorcism is mentioned, many people think of the devil-possessed head spinning, lead character in the 1973 movie The Exorcist. What is the actual definition of exorcism that Hollywood does not share with us? Exorcism as defined by the Catholic Encyclopedia is (1) the act of driving out, or warding off, demons, or evil spirits, from persons, places, or things, which are believed to be possessed or infested by them, or are liable to become victims or instruments of their malice; (2) the means employed for this purpose, especially the solemn and authoritative adjuration of the demon, in the name of God, or any of the higher power in which he is subject (Toner). However, man people are far less versed in the Roman Catholic form