[ SECRET POST #4040 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4040 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 13 secrets from Secret Submission Post #578.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

03. https://i.imgur.com/D5Pxrcc.jpg

[feotakahari]

I often see it framed as a matter of personal faith, e.g. Kitty Pryde warding off a vampire with a Star of David, or a capitalist in some movie I forget warding one off with a dollar bill.

[were_lemur]

In one episode of Doctor Who, a Russian soldier warded off a vampire with a communist symbol (iirc), and Harry Dresden uses a pentagram.

[(Anonymous)]

There were anti-demon rituals long before Christianity and I'm pretty sure I've seen Jewish ones referenced. Perhaps look into those?

[(Anonymous)]

Eh. To be honest, most of the people who find themselves in such situations aren't particularly Christian, either...like the majority of people in the US, they identify as Christians but don't actually practice or attend church or know much about the religion at all. So if you believe in that stu, then it's clear that staunch belief is not required.

And Judaism also has demons, so I assume there's some means of dealing with them somehow.

So don't

[(Anonymous)]

Throw salt in the corners of the room
Pierce a lemon with iron nails
Spit three times onto your fingers

If it works for the Evil Eye, I don't see why it can't also work for evil spirits or demons.

[(Anonymous)]

Love this secret!

[(Anonymous)]

But... well, for one thing, if there were demons that were only affected by specifically Christian ritual, that would be a strong argument for the correctness of the Christian faith. So first of all, respect for being willing to stick to your guns even in the presence of hypothetical concrete evidence against it.

Second, demons and hauntings aren't a particularly Christian thing, they're just depicted in that way in those specific movies. What rituals would work would depend on what the demons or ghosts were actually like. There's every chance they would be Jewish demons, or demons not associated with any religion, or whatever.

Third - and I hesitate to say it - but demons and ghosts aren't real.

[(Anonymous)]

your first argument made me laugh. And I like it. Good way to be supremely rational in a unique direction. It's a very good point if that was the case and only one religion seemed to have any power over dark wigglies.

[(Anonymous)]

It's the belief that works not any special faith. You believe in Jewish tradition, right? So you would follow what your faith says to get rid of a demon. The cross stuff works for Christians because they believe in it. Your faith is what's important. Atheists are screwed hehehe. j/k

[(Anonymous)]

Nah, atheists believe in rational thought and never deal with supernatural forces in the first place.

[(Anonymous)]

I would think that dealing with an actual demon might lead atheists to consider rethinking a few things

[(Anonymous)]

Don't worry, we just scream and brandish a copy of Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion"!






I'm kidding. I can't stand Dawkins, what an asshole.

[nightscale]

Every religion has malignant spirits or creatures of some kind so you'd just need to follow the rules for your own, or whatever you believe in, I think it's the faith and belief that does it not the actual religions themselves.

But then I'm also not someone who'd really do this because I don't believe in demons or evil spirits.

[(Anonymous)]

This was exactly what I was going to say. EVERY tradition has a practice for banishing and purification.

[junee]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, the Warrens are well known frauds who use their "research" to push Catholicism as the "One True Faith".

[rosehiptea]

Came here to say that.

[hamimi_fk]

I wasn't aware of this. But I still believe some of the things they found/claimed were legit (not the Catholicism thing) - well, at least what Lorraine found/claimed. Her husband always rubbed me the wrong way for some reason.

[cakemage]

Yeah, that's gotta be super annoying, to say the least. That's why, in the redneck exorcist book I'm writing, the characters just use whatever religious symbol is at hand to ward off hostile supernatural beings. A Star of David works just as well as a cross or an eight-spoked Dharma wheel or any other religious symbol. The only belief required is that it will work.

[(Anonymous)]

I think the fact that those stories rely on Christian faith as a means of warding off the spooky is a strike against their credibility. At the very least, I don't find that more credible, logically, than using Buddhist texts to ward off haunts. A culture tends to make would-be magical talismans from its existing mythology.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, man, a story about people using Buddhist texts to ward off haunts would be fantastic

[(Anonymous)]

Every culture has its own version of these, you're just getting exposed to particularly Christian media. I had a Jewish housemate whose mother was very worried about demons and used to come over and cleanse and protect the house (she would also cook for us, which was awesome), so there's definitely some Jewish versions of this!

[(Anonymous)]

No idea if it has any basis in reality (I seem to recall it being marketed as "based on a true story" or something but I never looked into it), but there's the movie "The Possession" which features a Jewish exorcism.

[hamimi_fk]

I noticed that in all these comments to this secret, no one has pointed out the film The Possession (EDIT: whoops, the comment before this one does, my bad). That film deals with a dybbuk and is also based on a true story. The way they get rid of it is with the help of a rabbi. I always felt like it was an important film because it's one of the few in American media I've seen that shows that Christianity is NOT the only way to help deal with paranormal activity. It's about BELIEF.

I've watched all the same things as OP (including Sylvia Browne on Montel - used to love her!) and I've watched countless other films and tv shows dealing with the paranormal. I do believe in spirits and demons and have had experiences of my own (with spirits). The one constant thing in all of it is not Christianity, it's belief. No matter what your religion is, if you find strength in your religion then your faith will protect you. One of the best examples of this is, surprisingly and oddly, seen in IT - for example, the kids believe that an asthma pump can harm a monster and it does. They get older, lose their childhood beliefs and so it no longer works. The same, imo, happens with religion. You have faith, it protects you - no matter what idol(s) you believe in.

So OP, don't worry about being jewish - you're safe as long as you keep the faith. =)

[(Anonymous)]

Ither commenters have already beought up that 1. The Warrens were frauds, 2. Christianity is depicted most often because western Christian values are the dominant culture in America.

So I won't repeat those points and will instead emphasize that the movies you are watching are fictionalised versions of the original stories edited for entertainment valie, and that also if you were really possessed by a demon you would probably have bigger things to worry about. Not to mention the Jewish God and Christian God (and Muslim God) would all be the same entity in such an event.

Also, TV psychics are basically con artists. Google 'Sylvia Brown fraud' for more info. And this is coming from someone who is similarly interested in the paranormal/ 'wants to believe'.

I think if you apply a more liberal helping of healthy cynicim to your interest in the paranormal (and do research on the skeptic side as well as the pro side) you will find yourself feeling a lot less anxious about the possibility of being possessed. For instance, there are a lot of interesting articles and write ups about what was the most likely cause behind famous historical possessions - including the one that nspired The Exorcist - that show that misunderstood mental/physical issues on the part of the child and fearful religious zealousness on the part of the family explain a lot of what happened. Mostly tragically.