Exorcism

[kenobi]

I will probably seek to follow the methods of Jerry Alan Johnson, who appears to be a practicing exorcist with wide experience. Traveling to where he lives is too expensive for me, and I don't think there is anyone qualified near to where I live. I realize I may have been too hostile towards the entity, in reality it's just a slave/tool for the sorcerous/demonic influence and I need to co-operate more with it and seek to release it into the light (after all it's now a sentient being of some kind, so I might not have any right to destroy it).

[Sifu Eric Randolph]

8 hours ago, kenobi said:

I will probably seek to follow the methods of Jerry Alan Johnson, who appears to be a practicing exorcist with wide experience. Traveling to where he lives is too expensive for me, and I don't think there is anyone qualified near to where I live. I realize I may have been too hostile towards the entity, in reality it's just a slave/tool for the sorcerous/demonic influence and I need to co-operate more with it and seek to release it into the light (after all it's now a sentient being of some kind, so I might not have any right to destroy it).

Good Idea

[Zhongyongdaoist]

9 hours ago, kenobi said:

I will probably seek to follow the methods of Jerry Alan Johnson, who appears to be a practicing exorcist with wide experience. Traveling to where he lives is too expensive for me, and I don't think there is anyone qualified near to where I live. I realize I may have been too hostile towards the entity, in reality it's just a slave/tool for the sorcerous/demonic influence and I need to co-operate more with it and seek to release it into the light (after all it's now a sentient being of some kind, so I might not have any right to destroy it).

 

Well you are making progress already, you have managed to turn this affliction into a possible learning experience.  This is very good progress indeed.

 

I am not ready to post more yet, but I am working on it, but as a starting point you may want to visit this part of my PPD:

 

The Heavenly Lord Taiyi; Daoist God of Mercy and Salvation

 

In such situation as you have described the Heavenly Lord Taiyi is one of the best friends anyone could ask for, and much more friendly and a lot less potentially dangerous than most of the Daoist Deities that deal with exorcism.

 

 

 

Edit: Adjusted spacing between paragraphs

[qicat]

13 hours ago, kenobi said:

I will probably seek to follow the methods of Jerry Alan Johnson, who appears to be a practicing exorcist with wide experience. Traveling to where he lives is too expensive for me, and I don't think there is anyone qualified near to where I live. I realize I may have been too hostile towards the entity, in reality it's just a slave/tool for the sorcerous/demonic influence and I need to co-operate more with it and seek to release it into the light (after all it's now a sentient being of some kind, so I might not have any right to destroy it).

 

those things have no time and space

why don't you send an email?

if your concern is legit, I am sure you will get help

 

 

[Zhongyongdaoist]

I want to talk a little about “First Aid” and for that purpose I am going to recommend two practices which will complement and reinforce each other, the first of these focuses on the Heavenly Lord Taiyi and the second is a very powerful tradition Daoist invocation best known in English as “the Golden Light Invocation”.

 

Now why do we start with the Heavenly Lord Taiyi? Well for the sake of guests as well as continuity I am going to bring his picture from my PPD and some of the things that I said there here:

 

 

 

 

Quote

I first read about him in histories of the Han Dynasty as the patron God of the Han. Later I learned that he survived as a Chinese God of Mercy and was a recognized part of the Daoist Pantheon. In Daoism he is the most "Christlike" figure and the ruler of the Eastern Paradise of Eternal Happiness, as well as the great savior from earthy problems and bad after death neighborhoods, like hell.

 

 

There is a good discussion of him here:

 

The Heavenly Lord of Supreme Oneness and Salvation from Misery

 

 

for those not familiar with the site if is a great online reference which, while it doesn't seem to be active anymore is maintaining an excellent reference for all things related to what I prefer to call Ritual Daoism.

 

There are several reasons for starting with the Heavenly Lord Taiyi, first of all he can and will be helpful in himself, secondly you can use him to help you connect with other aspects of the Daoist Pantheon in a safe manner. I don't want to take up to much time here posting warnings, qicat has already done a lot of this, but if someone is in trouble and does not have access to good guidance you can't at least through them a life jacket.

 

So, the beginning practice is to print out the picture of the Heavenly Lord Taiyi and to frame or mount it in a suitable way. You need some nice sandalwood incense, Nippon Kodo's Morning Star brand being a good one and generally readily locally and definitely online. Sandalwood is used because of its good clean “energy signature”, and I will explain more about that type of thing as we go along.

 

The first practice involves a simple mantra which I created as a simple means of connecting with the Heavenly Lord Taiyi. It goes like this:

 

Heavenly Lord Taiyi who rescues from distress,

Bless, Heal and Protect me,

Help me to realize my Heavenly Nature,

To transform my Earthly Existence.

 

Now to explain this, why do I call him the refer to him as rescuing from distress, rather than saving from misery? That is because in John Lagerwey's excellent book, Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History, which I read, and deeply studied about thirty year's ago, describes him as “saving from distress” and I in time in my own usage became "rescues from distress", and so it remains my usage. If you want to use “who saves from misery” that is up to you. The original Chinese will support either translation.

 

The request to “Bless, Heal and Protect” is to be as helpful as possible. Blessing in this case should be taken to mean, expand my possibilities and potential and open new way to advance. Heal intended as physical and emotional and also to maintain health by healing imbalances that may not even have manifested as symptoms yet, and protect is pretty obvious from the context of this post, but means protect in every way, physical, emotional, spiritually and from spirits.

 

The request for help to “Realize my Heavenly Nature”, is a kind of poetic, but traditional way of saying realize the reciters full human potential. In writing this I particularly had in mind one of the most important concept in Chinese philosophy, that of 仁 rén, which is usually translated as benevolent or humane, and while these are satisfactory in a worldly sense, it leaves out the notion of “Human Potential”, which is to rise above the animal levels from which we start and become a Zhenren, an authentic person. These ideas are inherent in one very important interpretation of the character rén, which I will enlarge to show detail:

 

仁

 

the left side is considered to be derived from the ordinary character for person 人 rén and two horizontal lines, the top one is associated with Heaven and the Bottom one Earth and and is taken to be a symbol for the Human Potential to form a trinity with Heaven and Earth in which one ultimately becomes a Sage on Earth and a Shen in Heaven. Thus the request for help to realize one's Heavenly Nature to transform ones Earthly existence.

 

Look as the Heavenly Lord Taiyi's picture, burn incense and repeat the Mantra for Ten to Twenty minutes and then clear the mind as much as possible and focus on your breath. This should be at least as long as the incense is burning and longer if you it feels appropriate.

 

ZYD

 

 

 

Edit: For reasons not at all clear to me it was impossible to make the text before the enlarged Ren character the same as that which followed it.  I tried before posting and I tried by this edit, but nothing worked.  Now I have another reason not to like editing features of the recent upgrade.

[Taomeow]

On 8/21/2017 at 7:08 PM, qicat said:

 

 There is a reason for world religions and priests.

 

There sure is.  It is called money and power. 

 

Shamans were the original exorcists, but they were not ordained.  They were either chosen or accepted by the spirit world as suitable for the task.  A priest may or may not be suitable for the task.  A taoist exorcist may or may not be a priest.  

 

Self-help exorcism is not a blanket "don't do it" territory, although superficial dabblers are usually in danger in any territory, be it exorcism or stock market investments.  The reasons behind the admonition can be numerous.  "Don't DIY or the priest will go hungry."  Or "don't DIY if you don't know how and no one who does know how ever taught you."  Or "don't DIY if you are up against something way more powerful than what you know how to handle." (Then again, in this situation, most priests will also be useless).  

 

Avoidance works well if no one is bothering you.  Once bothered, you may find all bets are off.  You do what you have to do. 

[Bubbles]

I know next to nothing about exorcism but I have read somewhere that proper Taijiquan was considered by Taoists as a legit ritual of exorcism. It is probably not helping at all, but I thought, that as far as energetics are involved, it was worth mentioning.

You have in it the self-help part, the energetics part but to do it properly you still need a lot of the background part.

[qicat]

8 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

There sure is.  It is called money and power. 

 

 

 

I understand your point of view. 

 

Legit priest is hooked up to a lineage which had been fighting for eons with dark stuff. Without a lineage I have heard it is very very TUFFF to do DYI. 

 

On a "power" note... Sifu told me "Cat, you don't understand that ENERGY PATH AND SPIRITUAL PATH are two different things. Some people just want power. They walk through these doors saying how they want to save the world, but all they really want is POWER."

 

...

it's complicated...

...

Edited August 24, 2017 by qicat

[qicat]

4 hours ago, bubbles said:

 proper Taijiquan was considered by Taoists as a legit ritual of exorcism

 

just think exactly what and which energy are you engaging with...

i was musing about it myself the other day...

especially in pair practice...

perhaps you exorcise demons of other one and he/she does it with yours?...

...

it's complicated...

...

[Taomeow]

6 minutes ago, qicat said:

 

I understand your point of view. 

 

Legit priest is hooked up to a lineage which had been fighting for eons with dark stuff. Without a lineage I have heard it is very very TUFFF to do DYI. 

 

On a "power" note... Sifu told me "Cat, you are an idiot, you don't understand that ENERGY PATH AND SPIRITUAL PATH are two different things. Some people just want power. They walk through these doors saying how they want to save the world, but all they really want is POWER."

 

...

it's complicated...

...

 

Well, yes, some battles in the spirit world are aeons old.  Too bad too many priests have been on the wrong side for quite a while.

 

Lineage is of course necessary, but not everyone has every lineage for every purpose.  I got three lineage arts, of which I consistently practice two.  This is enough for me to branch out into some (many) "sister arts" for which I don't have lineage but which cross-pollinate with mine.  Occasionally they are not even "sister" but "mother" arts -- e.g., the I Ching, which predates everybody's lineages by thousands of years.  So I might ask the I Ching if I dare undertake a task before undertaking it).  Others may have their own methods of figuring stuff out. 

 

"Power" is not a bad thing.  Abuse of power is the bad thing.  Most people who want to save the world wind up abusing power as soon as they get any.  More people have no power at all and exacerbate the abuse by giving theirs away to those who would abuse it.  The non-use of power that is rightfully yours is a form of abuse of power.  Power comes with responsibility to use it -- wisely. 

 

I have the power to feed my cat, who's meowing for his dinner right now.  If I refuse to use it, it will constitute power abuse -- and possibly cat abuse if he's really, really hungry.  (He's not.  He's abusing his power to get me to drop everything in response to a particular meowing pitch that pulls on my heart's strings, and feed him right meow.  I let him, so he's taken my  power to decide when to feed my cat away from me.)

[Hancock]

19 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

There sure is.  It is called money and power. 

 

Shamans were the original exorcists, but they were not ordained.  They were either chosen or accepted by the spirit world as suitable for the task.  A priest may or may not be suitable for the task.  A taoist exorcist may or may not be a priest.  

 

Self-help exorcism is not a blanket "don't do it" territory, although superficial dabblers are usually in danger in any territory, be it exorcism or stock market investments.  The reasons behind the admonition can be numerous.  "Don't DIY or the priest will go hungry."  Or "don't DIY if you don't know how and no one who does know how ever taught you."  Or "don't DIY if you are up against something way more powerful than what you know how to handle." (Then again, in this situation, most priests will also be useless).  

 

Avoidance works well if no one is bothering you.  Once bothered, you may find all bets are off.  You do what you have to do. 

Boom, I don't know you but I like your view on things.

It makes sense entirely that priesthood and pastors, etc are a system of societal control over the spirituality of humanity. 

It's strange, heck I've been called a natural shaman by some people though I don't practice much animism or whatever it's called. 

I tend to do things and later find out there's a practice or technique or name for it, but they come and go naturally. I often do things but then get laughed at or told I'm not supposed to because I wasn't connected to a lineage or a school or taught by someone how to properly do them.

An even worse it seems like people who have trained years and obtain rank get uppity with me when I discuss my person practice with them saying I don't have the qualifications to do things or they try to tell me to wait til I obtain rank in their system after a few years. 

It sounds like I'm pumping up my ego but the truth is I'm pointing out what happens to natural shamans over professional priests and pastors.

Though some are genuine just saying with my experiences, the fakes or professional practitioner tend to scorn and ridicule the natural, as a way to satisfy their ego for their years of dedication while the natural is made out to be a joke.

 

 

Im interested in more of your view on natural shamans, maybe im not one but something else either way I condisider myself just a human being who does what human beings are capable of doing, some have talent with piano, some have talent with athletics,etc it's how we're made.  Anyhowplease pm me if you don't mind sharing it possibly discussing it with me.

 

14 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

Well, yes, some battles in the spirit world are aeons old.  Too bad too many priests have been on the wrong side for quite a while.

 

Lineage is of course necessary, but not everyone has every lineage for every purpose.  I got three lineage arts, of which I consistently practice two.  This is enough for me to branch out into some (many) "sister arts" for which I don't have lineage but which cross-pollinate with mine.  Occasionally they are not even "sister" but "mother" arts -- e.g., the I Ching, which predates everybody's lineages by thousands of years.  So I might ask the I Ching if I dare undertake a task before undertaking it).  Others may have their own methods of figuring stuff out. 

 

"Power" is not a bad thing.  Abuse of power is the bad thing.  Most people who want to save the world wind up abusing power as soon as they get any.  More people have no power at all and exacerbate the abuse by giving theirs away to those who would abuse it.  The non-use of power that is rightfully yours is a form of abuse of power.  Power comes with responsibility to use it -- wisely. 

 

I have the power to feed my cat, who's meowing for his dinner right now.  If I refuse to use it, it will constitute power abuse -- and possibly cat abuse if he's really, really hungry.  (He's not.  He's abusing his power to get me to drop everything in response to a particular meowing pitch that pulls on my heart's strings, and feed him right meow.  I let him, so he's taken my  power to decide when to feed my cat away from me.)

I agree that power isn't wrong, but the societal taboo again tends to state that unless you've obtain social positioning that your power is wrong or evil. We humans are weird creatures. Like chimpanzees in social hierarchies, deciding who can do what.

Strange.

 

Also good  metaphor on power with your cat. Real power does require dedication and self sacrifice for more than social pleasantries.

 

 

 

To ZYD, thank you very much that is very helpful.

14 hours ago, qicat said:

 

 

 

Quote

 

People wanting to develop power is not bad.

Everyone wants power, subconsciously or consciously. The issue is there's different types of power. Some might say, Evil power amplifies the self. while others say, good power amplifies the spirit. Personally I say power is neutral and bends whichever way it's directed but only after you bend.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[qicat]

2 hours ago, Hancock said:

 

People wanting to develop power is not bad. Your Sifu, calling you an idiot is bad. It's a way to hold you lesser than her/him, to have power over your attention and focus to prove you are incorrect and he is correct with his half truth.

Everyone wants power, subconsciously or consciously. The issue is there's different types of power. Some might say, Evil power amplifies the self. while others say, good power amplifies the spirit. Personally I say power is neutral and bends whichever way it's directed but only after you bend. 

 

Anyhow seriously if your sifu talks to you disrespectfully, then that means they're dominating you and some teachers dominate students so as to teach them. But I've learned the best teachers show you, teach you, guide you to the choice And let you decide your path. Though they might trick you into doing things that are for your best interest,they will always without fail respect your spirit.

 

Sifu does not call me an idiot. I call myself idiot. The more I sit with Sifu,the more I know that I know nothing. NADA. NULL. NILCH. I am surprised he is patient enough to explain things to me. He tells me it is a language barrier and tries to explain it differently. Sometimes he just sits and waits for Divine to tell him right things. I like my Sifu. And I've seen him doing serious stuff. And he forbad me to deal with spirits until proper training. I think I wrote about it already. 

Edited August 24, 2017 by qicat

[Hancock]

11 hours ago, qicat said:

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[qicat]

11 minutes ago, Hancock said:

 

I was referring to a quote you said your teacher called you an idiot. It is your mistake for misrepresenting your teacher. I suggest you apologize to your Situ and amend your post. 

 true. I did change my post. 

 

p.s. I am still an idiot though. 

[Hancock]

10 hours ago, qicat said:

 

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[qicat]

10 minutes ago, Hancock said:

Unwarranted focus on your Self is what your teacher is trying to help you with. If you say you're a said t or a villain, a genius or idiot, both are forms of egoic involvement.

 

Maybe that'll help you understand what's important in reference to dealing with the self.

dude...

 

there are things I have seen ( and I know many people on this forum had seen) that does not fit neatly into "modern human definition of the world". It gives me EVERY RIGHT TO CALL MYSELF AN IDIOT, because sometimes I do feel like Neo in a Matrix movie. Imagine you had been sent to Mars or Jupiter and they have completely different rules, ethics and gravity... That's how it feels when I say I know NOTHING. Ego/self/whatever new age crap you buy into is not even in the picture at this point.

 

 

p.s. perhaps you are mirroring your own stuff into this? I wanted to ask you to ask admins to delete this post, as you are right, I did not properly quoted Sifu and made it look strange. I also see my language is not good enough to explain that I did not say the things you are inferring. However, as you said, it is a good lesson and I won't repeat it again. 

 

p.p.s How are your personal demons doing? Epson salt bath helped? 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by qicat

[Hancock]

10 hours ago, qicat said:

 

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[qicat]

3 minutes ago, Hancock said:

I deal with those things too. I don't know proper daoist practices but I did brujeria til recently. I'm learning a new way.

 

What I say is literal, not idealism. Self involvement give especially those things ways to feed an doors into you because self involvement blinds us to what's really going on. Your idea of being the chosen one who sees behind the curtain is a phase, it'll pass as you progress.

 

No perhaps of mirroring anything, I see things for what they are. It's a skill one can develop. 

 

Right now you embarrassed yourself an your teacher, an are trying to save face by coming crazy at me because I pointed it out an gave advice to be helpful. Is that representative of your Sifu, because if not you're just disrespecting him or her further. I'm just making an effort to be helpful, but your self involvement makes it an attack. See the benefit of not living from a self involved viewpoint?

huh?

 

( I would reply something to you, but I dunno what to tell you. So I just say nothing)

[Hancock]

10 hours ago, qicat said:

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[qicat]

attacking you?

 

 in my version of this universe you asked for help, I suggested some, I did not word few things properly, you went into tirades, I tried to explain, you went even further, I figured out it's better to finish it, yet you write again. I am really clueless what to tell you. Why do you think I call myself an IDIOT? Spirits? Yes, they are as real as you an me. If you are into buddhist stuff, you would know the proportions of humans to spirits. Lineages and teachers? Yes.  Ego and Self? Sure, open another topic and chat about it. I see you have a need to teach me something. Okay, I am listening. Internet ink is cheap...

[qicat]

calm down now? sorry had to energy work on you. But I feel it was beneficial for you.

 

p.s. you have no spirit possession, but lots of thought forms. No need to reply back energetically. You welcome. 

[Hancock]

9 hours ago, qicat said:

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[Hancock]

9 hours ago, qicat said:

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[Hancock]

.

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by Hancock

[Zhongyongdaoist]

About Twenty years ago I bought a book by Hua-Ching Ni, the Workbook for Spiritual Development of all People, and found this on p. 109, and after reading it I thought “I like this!” and proceeded to recite it as part of my own practice.

 

The Golden Light Invocation

 

The mysterious origin of Heaven and Earth

is the source of pure energy.

With this energy I can rectify the imbalances

and communicate with the entirety.

Within and without the three spheres of the universe,

only the Tao is most revered

From the Tao I receive the subtle Golden Light

to envelop and protect my body and soul

It is so subtle that it cannot be seen or heard.

The subtle Golden Light permeates Heaven, earth and me.

It nourishes and educates all life.

I touch this Heavenly invocation with deepest sincerity.

All spiritual beings gladly guard me.

All high deities of the five Directions

come to assist me.

All the Divine Immortals kindly accept me.

The Golden Light enables me to transcend

all worldly troubles.

I am given power over all evil forces

The enlightenment comes from the Divine immortals

like thunder breaking the dark clouds.

They inspire my clear wisdom to see through all things

that are obstacles in my way.

My upright chi is shining and active. -

May the Jade Marrow of Heaven fill my bones.

May the holy medicine of immortality grow within me.

May the spiritual resources always reach me.

I truly know the holy medicine of immortality

is colorless and flavorless.

After 10,000 repetitions of this invocation,

the wonderful secrets of all supernatural Beings

become self evident to me.

From the Jade Emperor, the Everlasting One of

the Universe. may his Golden Light descend

and guide me.

 

The only thing I didn't like about it was the line beginning “I touch this . . . “, which didn't seem like good Engish, whereas everything else in it was beautiful, rich and evocative English, so I replaced touch with feel to read the line as “I feel this . . .”, and after that I could recite happily, and did so quit a bit.

 

At the about the same time I got Stephen Bokenkamp's Early Daoist Scriptures, and became fascinated by the final section on a Daoist scripture he called The Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation. As I recited the above “invocation” I would have insights into it and some of them echoed ideas that I read about in Bokenkamp's book, also it started to sound eeirily familiar, and I finally realized that it reminded me of something that I had read years earlier in John Lagerway's Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History and after a little digging I found it on p. 86:

 

The Golden Light Hymn

 

Mysterious ancestor of heaven and earth,

Root of the myriad energies.

Widely practiced for eons:

Guarantor of my spirit-communication.

Within the Three Realms and without,

I alone am the honored one:

Its body gives off a golden light

Which envelops and illumines my person.

Neither visible to the eyes

Nor audible to the ears,

It contains heaven and earth

And nourishes all life.

Having sung this ten thousand times

My body becomes luminous,

The Three Realms wait upon me,

The Five Emperors welcome me.

The myriad gods pay homage before me;

I put the thunder and lightning to work:

Demons and fiends lose courage,

Imps and sprites disappear.

In it dwells the thunder,

The thunder god who appears and disappears.

Universal wisdom interpenetrating,

The five energies soar on high.

Golden light, appear quickly:

Cover and protect the Perfect Man.

 

Yes I thought the similarities are definitely there, but what differences, Hymn, ha, this is pretty obviously a thunder magic incantation! I wondered, are these translations of the same text, or are they translations of different, but related texts? Time provided the answer to this and other questions and shortly so will I.

 

With all this some people are probably wondering what all this has to do with the “secret sauce” that Kenobi was wondering about. Well . . .  everything, I am trying to explain the ingredients and that takes a little time and background, someone who really pays attention to what I am saying will discover that I am not only tossing him a life jacket, but an inflatable raft. Whether he or anyone else is able to figure out how to inflate that raft is another question, but like a good story teller I know how to keep my audience interested, well, at least I hope I know how to keep my audience interested.

 

ZYD

 

 

P.S.  This, with the exception of italicized text, is all the same font and size in OpenOffice, the word processor that I use to prepare longer posts, but paste it in here and its all different.  Growwwl.