Is the consent of the victim required for demonic possession to take place?
It has been said that possession cannot take place without the direct consent of the victim.
I disagree with this view because the accounts of many exorcists and others who have dealt with or investigated demonic possession indicate that it takes place without the victim’s direct consent. The exception is if the victim invites the demon to possess them.
All that is necessary for demonic possession to take place is indirect or implicit consent.
How do we distinguish between direct consent and indirect or implicit consent?
We base our understanding on the legal definitions in the following source:
https://www.privacysense.net/different-types-consent/
—“Different Types of Consent,” PrivacySense.net, January 30, 2016
Explicit consent—also known as direct consent—means that when an individual is clearly presented with an option to agree or disagree, they give their consent (verbally or in writing).
Opt-out consent is a special type of consent. It means that when an individual is given the option to decline consent and they do not clearly decline consent, it is assumed that consent has been granted.
However, in the case of opt-out consent, I am not persuaded that consent should be construed as having been given necessarily. When an individual refuses to engage a choice that has been presented, then the absence of a decision may amount to the absence of consent.
Implicit consent—also known as indirect consent—is consent that is inferred or derived from an individual’s actions and their current circumstances.
Possession or demonic possession also has to be defined. We define it as a type of demonic activity—which is necessarily harmful—directed at the soul or body or both of an individual.
Possession is distinguished from temptation, the usual mode of demonic attack, and from infestation, oppression, and obsession. The latter two are also together classified as vexation.
The following video explains the differences between infestation, oppression, obsession, and possession.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuCfbM2E3jM
—ABS-CBN News, “Understanding demonic possession,” YouTube video, 4:21 minutes, September 2, 2017
The above differences are expounded somewhat more precisely in this article.
https://www.newportri.com/story/entertainment/2016/10/25/4-degrees-demonic-possession/985256007/
—Kathleen Troost-Cramer, “4 degrees of demonic possession,” The Newport Daily News (October 25, 2016)
Oppression is principally physical affliction, while obsession is psychological. The two aren’t always entirely separable.
Vexation is defined in the following article as “true and actual aggression, physical or psychological attacks that the demon works against a person,” that is, vexation includes both oppression and obsession. See:
https://spiritualdirection.com/2018/10/24/an-exorcist-explains-demonic-possession-and-vexation
—Charles McKinney, “An Exorcist Explains Demonic Possession and Vexation,” SpiritualDirection.com, October 24, 2018
This video defines temptation as “when the devil subtly invites a soul to sin.” Father Mark-Mary says that it is the most dangerous type of demonic attack because it is the avenue by which many are led to commit a mortal sin (8:54):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mHDKux38tQ
—Ascension Presents, “How Demons Actually Work,” YouTube video, 10:18 minutes, September 5, 2020
How do we distinguish temptation from our consent to it? The following phenomenological description is helpful in addressing this issue.
“We have not a complete command over our mind and our heart. We cannot wholly prevent the intrusions of certain thoughts and feelings. Sometimes indeed they take such forcible possession of us that without perceiving it, we are led to pursue in spirit the thought or design that thus presents itself. Our preoccupation is so great that we hear and see nothing of what is passing around; we do not even remember how or when these thoughts or feelings commenced. Thus, we often suddenly find ourselves, to our surprise, engaged in thoughts and feelings that are opposed to charity or to other virtues, or in projects of vanity, pride, or self-love.
“This state continues a longer or a shorter time according to the strength of the imagination or the sensible impression that occasioned it, or until some circumstance arises to awaken our soul from this apparent enchantment. We then perceive, by reflection, the nature of our thoughts.
“If in this moment of self-consciousness, we condemn the thought or feeling, if we disavow it and strive to reject it, we may safely say that in all that went before we were not to blame. The satisfaction that we experience in being freed from it is a fresh proof that our will had no part in our reverie. In this preoccupation there was no deliberation, no choice on the part of the will.”
https://spiritualdirection.com/2018/03/14/how-to-prevent-a-temptation-from-becoming-a-sin
—Charles McKinney, “How to Prevent a Temptation from Becoming a Sin,” SpiritualDirection.com, March 14, 2018
This video featuring Father Joseph Mary says that the usual mode of demonic affliction is temptation (1:27):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzk1LSuXyTM
—Capuchin Franciscans, “How does someone get possessed? (Ask a Capuchin)” YouTube video, 5:12 minutes, August 8, 2019
In contrast to the other types of demonic affliction—infestation, oppression, obsession, or possession, which tend to attract sensationalist coverage by the mass media—temptation, the most common type of demonic attack, gets much less attention.
Returning to our original question—is the consent of the victim required for demonic possession to take place?
The following exposition (1:01) offers a useful general framework originating in Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who in the Spiritual Exercises describes the soul as a “kingdom surrounded by a protective wall. …the demons move around the exterior wall, like an attacking army looking for a weak spot, a place of attack.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zzk1LSuXyTM
—Ibid.
The “weak spot” is the point of entry for the demon to take control of the body of the person in possession.
Father Vincent Lampert, an exorcist familiar and known in social media, lists eight possible points of entry whereby the devil may enter and possess a person.
—St. Paul Center, “8 Ways People Give the Devil a Foothold,” YouTube video, 21:34 minutes, October 7, 2021
I would underscore that only No. 7, “Inviting a demon into your life” (14:13), involves direct consent.
Other entry points for demonic possession, for example, No. 1, “Ties to the Occult” (0:46) and No. 6, “Habitual Sin” (13:30), require indirect consent only.
Notably, a curse, especially the curse of a parent on their child, is an entry point for possession. See Nos. 3, “A Curse” (6:17) and 4, “Being Dedicated to a Demon” (7:30).
Many accounts of possession relate that the victim does not recall the exact moment wherein the demon took control over their body, which indicates that no direct consent was given because the victim cannot remember consciously allowing the possession to happen.
“How does one discover that he is possessed? There are persons who discover they are possessed when frequenting a sacred place, perhaps a Marian sanctuary, or when they participate in retreats, processions, prayer encounters, or Eucharistic adoration. They may have had some disturbance in the past to which they didn’t pay much attention, but then on those occasions it manifested itself in a clearer and more obvious way.
“It is the sign that the devil has remained hidden as long as he was able (he can hide himself for long periods, dissimulating his presence), but when confronting the power of God he must manifest himself.”
https://spiritualdirection.com/2018/10/24/an-exorcist-explains-demonic-possession-and-vexation
—Charles McKinney, “An Exorcist Explains Demonic Possession and Vexation,” SpiritualDirection.com, October 24, 2018
In the following case of Louisa, although she does not remember giving direct consent to possession, she does recall indulging in the occult. Her possession is ostensibly the result of indirect consent.
“On the Sunday after her third incident, in the grips of these new fears, Louisa attended Mass in Orlando, at Saint James Cathedral. After the service, she recounted all three of her experiences to the priest, who immediately asked whether she’d ever dabbled in the occult. When she told him that she had used a Ouija board after her grandfather had passed away a couple of years earlier, he told her to get rid of it, along with anything else that could be construed as occult: tarot cards, amulets, pagan symbols, even healing crystals and birthstones. Any of these things, he told her, could serve as a doorway for a demon.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/12/catholic-exorcisms-on-the-rise/573943/
—Mike Mariani, “American Exorcism,” The Atlantic (December 2018)
Answering our original question—is the consent of the victim required for demonic possession to take place?
The answer is No.
Only indirect consent is required, some spiritual “weak spot.”
Most cases of possession, at least in the U.S., appear to be have been caused by sexual abuse.
“Nearly every Catholic exorcist I spoke with cited a history of abuse—in particular, sexual abuse—as a major doorway for demons. Thomas said that as many as 80 percent of the people who come to him seeking an exorcism are sexual-abuse survivors. According to these priests, sexual abuse is so traumatic that it creates a kind of ‘soul wound,’ as Thomas put it, that makes a person more vulnerable to demons.
“…the exorcists contend that abuse fosters the conditions for actual demonic possession to take hold.”
—Ibid.
A second major doorway to possession is dabbling in the occult. The same article relates:
“Most of the exorcists I interviewed said they believed that demonic possession was becoming more common—and they cited a resurgence in magic, divination, witchcraft, and attempts to communicate with the dead as a primary cause. According to Catholic teaching, engaging with the occult involves accessing parts of the spiritual realm that may be inhabited by demonic forces. ‘Those practices become the engine that allows the demon to come in,’ Thomas said.”
Photo courtesy of Ivan Radic
ReplyDeletePhoto link:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cat_possessed_by_the_devil_-_Flickr_-_Ivan_Radic.jpg
Gonzalinho
POSSESSION, DEMONIC
ReplyDeleteThe inner control by the devil of the actions of the body in a human being. The victim’s liberty of soul always remains intact. Possession can be continual or intermittent, and the victim need not have culpably brought on the devil’s control. There is an official exorcism provided by the Church for possessed persons. Public exorcisms must be authorized by ecclesiastical authority.
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35665&randomterm=false
—“POSSESSION, DEMONIC,” Catholic Dictionary, 2023
The above definition of “possession” is from a reputable source.
It indicates that possession does not have to be caused by the victim—in other words, they are not necessarily culpable. This understanding means that implicit or indirect consent is not required for possession to occur.
It should not be surprising that theologians differ on the necessity of direct consent for possession to take place because, after all, theology is not an empirical science. Theology draws on sundry qualitative methods of investigation together with logical arguments deriving from theological premises, which aren’t identical for everyone. Not surprisingly, theologians will come to different conclusions when they travel different dialectical paths.
Notable points:
Possession can be intermittent. It does not have to be continuous. We can imagine therefore just a single instance of possession that is not repeated.
What are some of the defining features? The will of the victim is not involved. The devil controls the body of the victim.
Gonzalinho
INDUCTIVE THEOLOGY
ReplyDeleteIf you watch YouTube videos wherein Roman Catholic priests expound their knowledge of the spiritual world based on their personal experiences in exorcism, it should become apparent that it’s a mixture of deductive and inductive theology but primarily the latter. It’s a theology based on personal experience and while it is valid and has merit, it’s finally untenable to go from the particular to the universal. Induction cannot establish universal truths. So we get a variety of useful insights and practices from exorcists, but they aren’t entirely consistent, and they are sometimes disputable.
Gonzalinho
WHY DO DEMONS EXPERIENCE RELIEF WHEN THEY HAUNT THE EARTH?
ReplyDeleteExorcists have said that demons experience relief whenever they haunt the earth instead of being confined to hell, without explaining why.
One possible reason for the relief they experience is that in haunting the earth the demons are able to find opportunities to do evil and thereby discharge their compulsion to will evil. Since the will of the demon is eternally fixed in evil—they are unable to will any moral good—they are continually afflicted by the compulsion to do evil. Curiously enough, in doing evil, they actually worsen their already irrevocable condition.
An analogy, however imperfect, might help to explain this point. An alcoholic is driven by compulsion, so that whenever they are able to indulge it, they feel relief. Yet in every instance, their addictive condition worsens.
Still another possible reason for the relief they experience is that whenever they inhabit the earth—they do so through bilocation or multilocation, as the case may be, because they are never able to leave the hell of their condemnation—they somehow experience the mollifying existential conditions of the earth, which in a transcendent manner is of a different order from the wholly immaterial chastisements of hell.
Gonzalinho
Exorcists have said that demons experience relief whenever they haunt the earth instead of being confined to hell, without explaining why.
DeleteSee Father Carlos Martins (3:31), for example:
“So a demon will never leave on his own. Because possession grants him a certain measure of relief from the pain that he is constantly under.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGKDh3H0yx0
—Armor of God: Spiritual Warfare, “The Exorcist Fr. Carlos Martins: ‘No one has more faith in God than the Devil himself,’” YouTube video, 15:13 minutes, September 4, 2023
And (2:18):
“Demons are in a state of constant pain. They’re under a constant, excruciating pain. And what gives them a certain measure of relief is to inhabit a person or a thing. And given a choice, they’re always going to choose a person over a thing. A thing could be an animal, it could be a room, a house. It could be an object, an inanimate object. But there’s a certain kind of relief that they’re experiencing when they do inhabit. And for this reason, they don’t want to leave. And you are cornering, so to speak, a caged animal, or the equivalent of a caged animal, when you confront a demon in order to cast him out.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJ6XpwwT3pw
—Armor of God: Spiritual Warfare, “14 Things the Exorcists Want You To Know,” YouTube video, 34:37 minutes, January 28, 2024
Gonzalinho
CONSENT NOT REQUIRED WHEN GENERATIONAL SIN IS CAUSE OF POSSESSION
ReplyDelete56:30
When I began this ministry…I had the hardest time wrapping my mind around, the hardest time believing…the reality of curses and the idea that the decisions of our ancestors can have profound spiritual implications for their descendants. But in my own experience I came to realize and understand that this is true…it really does happen and in the case of people who are leading a generally virtuous and prayerful life who do end up having a severe demonic affliction of some kind, it is almost always…a result of something that their ancestors had done, especially people who have spiritual authority, so a godparent or a parent something like that…that authority could be horribly perverted if someone wanted to do that…and use that kind of authority for nefarious [purposes]. One of the most severe cases that I had, the exorcism took...four years, which is highly unusual, but her grandfather had been a military dictator in South America and had entered into a cult contract along with some other of his associates, and he essentially said as part of this demonic contract…that if you give me victory or whatever…it was they were looking for, I’ll let you have one of my grandchildren, and so that is how this young woman ended up being afflicted.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qjcFRI0bv0
—Father Carlos Martins, “The Discernment of Spirits with Fr. Barton Geger,” YouTube video, 1:11:42 hours, October 12, 2024
Annaliese Michel is an instance of possession resulting from a curse cast by the grandmother while Annaliese was still in her mother’s womb. Her possession is the subject of the horror movie, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.”
Gonzalinho