The common thread that all this activity has is that just about all of the satanists claim to either be goofing on satanism or else using the prince of darkness as a metaphor for rebellion, freedom and nonconformity, or some such rot. They claim to not really believe in the devil or in God, for that matter. It's a way of thumbing their nose at Christians, so everybody should just chill out with the holy water and deliverance prayers, already.
Here's the deal: I don't buy it. I have no doubt that some, and you might be able to convince me that most, of these occult dabblers are putting it on, but not all. Even if they were faking it at first, strange things do happen to people who fool, even superficially, with the black arts.
I read a book years ago by one of the priests who was an adviser on The Exorcist. He related that when he was a seminarian, back in the '40's or '50's, he asked for special permission to do a term paper on demonology. It was still the days of the Index, and the topic in general couldn't be researched without getting the okay from the superiors. Permission was granted under one condition: if he noticed anything unusual happening he was to report it immediately to the dean. Shortly after he began researching the paper a strange thing did happen. He was across the hall speaking to a class mate when they noticed that the lights in his room were going on and off without any logical explanation: no one was in the room, none of the other rooms on the floor or in the building were being effected. He reported it to the dean, and was told to cease and desist his research immediately.
Another story - hearsay I admit, maybe an urban legend - involves three or four students at an American seminary back in the '70's or '80's. One of them began innocently enough, researching on his own occult practices - the strictures of that earlier generation were by then lifted. His curiosity grew, he began speaking to his friends about what he was reading, and before they knew it they were performing satanic rituals on seminary property. They were found out, and I'm pretty sure kicked out - though I never got that part of the story straight. The seminary spiritual director then celebrated a Mass with the intention of clearing the space any demonic influences that may have been attracted by the rituals.
Even if this particular story isn't true (and I've always hoped that it isn't), a principle behind it is: curiosity in the occult can turn into an obsession, that then may turn into practice. Once the occult is put into practice, all bets are off, and the doorways to a realm better left closed off are open. Most exorcists I've heard will tell you that simply playing with a ouija board, or shuffling a tarot deck isn't going to automatically lead to demonic infestations or possessions. But the evil one works quietly, insidiously, and if one isn't vigilant he or she can end up effected in ways they never imagined. I compare it to a child playing with matches in the kitchen sink: the odds of burning the house down are small, but not zero. So it's better to stay away from what may even seem like innocent or harmless expressions like ouija boards, tarot readings and seances.
I believe the the Salem Witch Hysteria is one such case of curiosity gone wild. The common narrative we are usually taught in school is that there are no such things as witches, and the events of 1692 in Salem were either a case of pre-enlightenment religious fanaticism, people getting revenge of their neighbors by accusing them of sorcery, or some other mass hysteria caused by people unable to properly process social and political changes on both sides of the Atlantic. As for the seemingly supernatural manifestations, it was a case of prepubescent girls' play acting going too far - causing them to fake their outbursts in court, or else they were having seizures cause by hallucinogenic mold in their rye bread. Or there was a combination of these very earthbound, natural causes to explain the horrible events in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1692.
I'm not so sure. I've read secular, scholarly research that states quite plainly that witchcraft was practiced in the Massachusetts Colony at the time. Tituba, a West Indian slave of African descent who was the first accused of occult practice, may have been innocently practicing preventative spells against evil, as she claimed. It's not hard to believe, though, that stories she told the girls of the village about various rituals and rites practiced in her native Barbados spurred their curiosity, and maybe even got them experimenting with witchcraft. Once the door was opened, it really didn't matter whether the participants were sincere or not. The demonic was invited in, and was more than happy to accept.
From there, whether the manifestations were truly preternatural or not really doesn't matter all that much. The demonic is all about division and fear, and Salem was gripped by both things during the hysteria. Apart from the trippy grain theory, the possibility that neighbors were using the crisis to exact revenge on neighbors or that the populous was gripped by some sort of social paranoia that made everyone a suspect plays right into Satan's hands. He doesn't have to go all Linda Blair on people (in fact, he prefers not to): he just has to plant the seeds of discord and division, and our fallen human nature will take care of the rest. And it all begins with idle curiosity.
As for our friends at the CERN particle accelerator in Switzerland, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but the high ups there have a reason to be unhappy with these "scientists'" shenanigans. One of the objectives of the research done there is to find the so called "God Particle." Now, I'm way out of my depth here, so even trying to give a simple explanation to what that means is hard for me, because I really don't understand it myself - so here goes nothing. They are trying to get down, as far as I can tell, to the most basic building block of reality - the "thing" or the molecule or sub molecular structure that serves as the common thread through all physical reality. They also do research into worm holes, black holes and the possibility of inter-dimensionality. Real science fiction type stuff, only it's really happening. They've been accused of trying to play God and maybe even trying to destroy the universe (I'm not saying that I think this, I'm just reporting the news). It doesn't help that they have a statue of the Hindu god Shiva, the Destroyer, doing the Dance of Destruction, in their courtyard (a gift of the Indian government). And this happened to be the very spot where the supposed satanic ritual took place. Not good for PR, to say the least.
Even if this ritual was a fake, and I hope it was because if it's not it means that a murder took place (real satanists don't play act), the pranksters still messed with a reality beyond their understanding or control. What they don't know is that inter-dimensionality does really exist, just that they aren't going to find it shooting subatomic particles at each other. They may learn other things beneficial to humanity, but finding a portal to some alternate universe isn't one of them. What I'm writing of is a dimension of spirit, not matter. It is a heavenly dimension, but there is also a dimension of darkness, and they who dwell there don't care if you're being serious or not, they will accept the invitation if you're insistent enough, and go deep enough to meet them.
So to sum up:
1. We don't need to be overly preoccupied with demonic activity. If you're living a moral life, a prayer life and a Sacramental life the devil is going to be more scared of you than you should be of him.
2. While it's good to have a basic knowledge of how to conduct yourself in the spiritual combat with evil, an unhealthy curiosity with the occult can lead to obsession which then can actually be a doorway for the demonic into your life.
3. While contact with things like tarot cards and ouija boards won't automatically lead to demonic influences entering your life, playing with the occult, even jokingly, can lead to the curiosity and obsession mentioned above, and be a doorway for evil. So better to not touch those things to begin with.
4. The devil really doesn't want to manifest himself in preternatural ways. He much prefers to stay hidden. If he can inspire suspicion, division, hostility, jealousy and hatred, he is very happy to sit back and watch us tear each other apart.
5. I didn't write about this, but keep holy objects like blessed crucifixes and images of the saints in your house. A yard statue of Mary is always good as well. Of course a Bible, and even holy water are good accessories in any home. Sacramentals are so much more powerful than we know. It's something I'll write about more in a later post perhaps, but those visible signs of the presence of the Kingdom are so important. They are a reminder to us and others of God's love for us, and that His Kingdom is already here. As these visible signs are being pushed out of the public square, I don't think that its an accident that they are being replaced in some places by occult symbols.
In the end, I would recommend you read Fr. Dwight Longenecker's piece in Crux. He states very well that modern Satanism is a real problem that needs to be dealt with, but a danger we shouldn't exaggerate either.
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