Facing The Boggarts, Unfacing The Demons

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I first wrote about this on the Chip Coffey discussion board July 30, 2008. My thoughts are expanded, here.

I wanted to post [the wikipedia article on boggarts] because I would like everyone to be aware of something: I firmly believe that if you are troubled by severely negative energy or negative entities, that if you give that energy a name, a face, a form, you help grow the problem.

This is my personal belief: Even if I encounter an entity that identifies itself as a demon, I will never give it any more than my recognition it is dark. No name. No form. Not one ounce of my imagination is going to help it manifest itself.

That's a hard intention to hold to when you walk into a situation when someone has already identified it as a demon. At that point, even if it wasn't intended by the person who named it, the entity has already got someone on its "side." It has been given more power than it already had.

You see, even if someone has come in contact with a negative conscious energy with the intention to fight it, if they firmly believe in evil, they will only make the negative aspect stronger, and increase the chaos around the energy. If they do not believe in the evil but accept the negative problem is there, without fear, they are better able to find solutions for whatever is actually causing the problem - including the possibility that nothing is really going on at all!

The hardest dark energy to fight comes out of us. Our own personal dark energy is something not only attached to our being, we are most attached to it, emotionally and physically. If you want to have less problems with negative energy, it is important to start with the energy you bring to the table, and balance your dark energy with the light energy. More about this is discussed in another of my lenses, The Power of YinYang.

Anthony Schongauer "The Temptation of St. Anthony" c.1480-1490

I once had a roommate I knew was in trouble; he had many problems, some of which could kill him if he didn't change. I knew he had psychic ability, because we were already reading each other's minds before he moved in.

The first night, as soon as he was asleep in his room, the demon appeared in my room. He was magnificent, very tall, red eyes, long horns, hairy, dark, the epitome of the evil demon. I calmly gave him the rules for living in my house and told him if he didn't like them he would go.

The demon stood up straight, and his skin cracked. Green vines appeared in his neck, and half of the face gave way to a greenman, who shed a single crystalline tear, like an orb. Then the image went away.

I was never afraid. I knew I had been seeing a thought projection, in a waking dream.

I knew the projection was coming from my roommate.

For months thereafter, his subconscious mind would try again on occasion. If he had a girl in his room or friends over after I went to bed, a smaller demon would show up in my room sitting menacingly in a corner, to make sure I stayed in my place. I'd just ignore it and go back to sleep. Finally one night one of the projections got too close to the bed, and I leaned over the side, stared it in the eye, and deliberately projected with a "demonic" voice of my own - "don't make me come over there..."

No more demons.

However, at the same time all this was going on, my roommate projected a ghost which followed me around, a gentle and sad presence, coming from the part of him who actually wanted my company and didn't know what to do. This continued until the night my roommate saw his own ghost, and it terrified him. I tried to assure him it was all right, but from that point he was sure I was possessed of the demons he believed in, and nothing would sway him. The belief damaged our ability to relate to one another, permanently. He eventually changed his life, and I hope he stays well and at peace.

If you do not understand how much damage a belief in demons can cause, read history. The destruction and distress caused over the centuries has been enormous. If you don't want that abuse to continue, if you want to do something to make a positive change for yourself and others, let go of any belief you have in demons. Face the negative things as they are, without giving them a power over you they really don't have. It really is your choice.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/azaraskin/ / CC BY 2.0

I never advise calling in exorcists or demonologists. Even if they are great people, and have had effective exorcisms in homes where people believe the same way they do, everything depends on sustaining a belief that the problem is gone, rather than facing the actual problems that exist. The problem is covered up rather than revealed and dealt with. Exorcism is a bandage.