Defense Against Malicious Magic - Monday Period 1 - It's 9/10's of the law
Once the students settle down the lights dim until they were nearly out.
It is dark, you're likely to be eaten by a grue if it gets darker...
Then, the sound of a bell is heard.
And Orpheus' voice rings out,
"O ye who go about saying unto each, 'Hello Sailor':
Dost thou know the magnitude of thy sin before the gods?
Yea, verily, thou shalt be ground between two stones.
Shall the angry gods cast thy body into the whirlpool?
Surely, thy eye shall be put out with a sharp stick!
Even unto the ends of the earth shalt thou wander and
Unto the land of the dead shalt thou be sent at last.
Surely thou shalt repent of thy cunning."
There's a flair of light and a candle is lit.
"By this flickering candle light, please consult the material you will find upon your desk.
Exorcism is not exclusive to the Jesuits and tent-revival Christians. Nor are demons the only entities that can posses the living. The spirits of the dead, creatures known as Jinn or 'Genies' as we Westerners are fond of calling them, even the consciousness of a living being capable of astral projection.
Different types of possessions are exorcised by different means. If you find a ritual that you are particularly comfortable with, do keep it. But you may be required to call upon different names, use different symbols, etcetera. There is, sadly, no one method that works for all cases.
For instance, I have in my possession an item known as The Tongs of Destiny. It's power is nothing to be sneezed at. Nine times out of ten, they can be used to dislodge the silver thread that attaches an Oni spirit to the unfortunate person it torments... That tenth time however... Is something of a doozy.
I would like you to turn in that handout to the section on exorcism in Judaism. Now some of you may be Jewish, and some not, but what I'd like you to take away from this is that you should always approach an exorcism with the intention to heal both parties. Compassion is your greatest tool in this case. It is very often that the possessing entity believes it has something it needs to do, or it might even be trapped.
In the case of hostile entities, your continued compassion in the face of their insults and projectile vomit is doubly important. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, 'Be kind to your enemies, for nothing annoys them so much'.
If you review the most prevalent exorcism practices throughout history, the general tac is to annoy the entity out of the host, by repeated applications of god's names and symbols and sensations that the possessing entity hates.
Sometimes, a spirit must be made to leave 'the hard way'. Various methods include physical abuse of the hosts body with certain sacred items such as a switch from a particular tree, just as an example. These must only be employed as a last resort. Not only are they painful to the host as well and long after the offending entity is gone, but they are extremely difficult to explain to hospital staff and the authorities."
Byron looked around the room.
"And of course, it goes without saying that after an exorcism everybody should have some chocolate. So, any thoughts, experiences or questions anybody would like to share?"
[[ooc: please wait for OCD
It is dark, you're likely to be eaten by a grue if it gets darker...
Then, the sound of a bell is heard.
And Orpheus' voice rings out,
"O ye who go about saying unto each, 'Hello Sailor':
Dost thou know the magnitude of thy sin before the gods?
Yea, verily, thou shalt be ground between two stones.
Shall the angry gods cast thy body into the whirlpool?
Surely, thy eye shall be put out with a sharp stick!
Even unto the ends of the earth shalt thou wander and
Unto the land of the dead shalt thou be sent at last.
Surely thou shalt repent of thy cunning."
There's a flair of light and a candle is lit.
"By this flickering candle light, please consult the material you will find upon your desk.
Exorcism is not exclusive to the Jesuits and tent-revival Christians. Nor are demons the only entities that can posses the living. The spirits of the dead, creatures known as Jinn or 'Genies' as we Westerners are fond of calling them, even the consciousness of a living being capable of astral projection.
Different types of possessions are exorcised by different means. If you find a ritual that you are particularly comfortable with, do keep it. But you may be required to call upon different names, use different symbols, etcetera. There is, sadly, no one method that works for all cases.
For instance, I have in my possession an item known as The Tongs of Destiny. It's power is nothing to be sneezed at. Nine times out of ten, they can be used to dislodge the silver thread that attaches an Oni spirit to the unfortunate person it torments... That tenth time however... Is something of a doozy.
I would like you to turn in that handout to the section on exorcism in Judaism. Now some of you may be Jewish, and some not, but what I'd like you to take away from this is that you should always approach an exorcism with the intention to heal both parties. Compassion is your greatest tool in this case. It is very often that the possessing entity believes it has something it needs to do, or it might even be trapped.
In the case of hostile entities, your continued compassion in the face of their insults and projectile vomit is doubly important. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, 'Be kind to your enemies, for nothing annoys them so much'.
If you review the most prevalent exorcism practices throughout history, the general tac is to annoy the entity out of the host, by repeated applications of god's names and symbols and sensations that the possessing entity hates.
Sometimes, a spirit must be made to leave 'the hard way'. Various methods include physical abuse of the hosts body with certain sacred items such as a switch from a particular tree, just as an example. These must only be employed as a last resort. Not only are they painful to the host as well and long after the offending entity is gone, but they are extremely difficult to explain to hospital staff and the authorities."
Byron looked around the room.
"And of course, it goes without saying that after an exorcism everybody should have some chocolate. So, any thoughts, experiences or questions anybody would like to share?"
[[ooc: please wait for OCD