Dear Tradition in Action,

Thank you for the talks in CD, which I received during the week. I had them on cassette long ago, but I am glad they are available in CD so I can listen to them in the car.

My question is: How easily can people get possessed through many different things and how does one know if one is possessed?

I have read your response to a reader under the title “Satanist Junk” and didn’t know that even by visiting cheap shops, etc. one could possibly get possessed. We in Louisiana, as you know, have the city of New Orleans with its many gift shops and voodoo everywhere. The people of N.O. are back to their “old ways,” not taking the warnings of two hurricanes which God sent to change them from these evil practices.

We sometimes get visitors from other countries and we take them to visit New Orleans because of the architect influence of French and Spanish, which it is known for. We stay away from Bourbon Street and try to stay away from any shop advertising voodoo, yet many shops still have them, and the fortune tellers have their tables set up right in front of Saint Louis Cathedral, so one can’t avoid seeing them. We never stay there after dark, just for the fact of being robbed or stabbed. Yet, many people do this, stay there to get drunk, etc. Would their chances of getting possessed increase? I would think so, non?

The catalog which was mentioned, Design Toscano, comes to my house also. I have ordered some statue holders and a large desk from them years ago, but I threw the catalog away after I ordered, because of the ugliness of the rest of the stuff. My question is, do you think it was not good for me to even order from them? Is there a risk of getting possessed from the good items that may have been stored around the evil ones or that they may have been shipped directly from the manufacturer? What should we do with the nice things that were ordered? Maybe get them blessed or sprinkle them often with holy water? I definitely will not order from them in the future.

Now, about jewelry, I have received as a gift a pendulum crystal-looking necklace and matching earrings. The person makes it herself as a side business. Is it just certain types of crystals we should stay away from or all? Is it the type of cut we should avoid or is it because it hangs as a pendulum? What about diamonds, are they considered a crystal of some sort?

I don’t mean to sound over the top with paranoia, but we are not being told of this type of things from the priest. And since this is so plentiful in Louisiana, it concerns me and my family.

     Thank you for your time.

     S.C.



TIA responds:

Dear S.C.,

Thank you for your amiable initial words about our CDs and for your serious questions. Let us try to help you.

Some time ago, we at TIA received the sound track and the transcript of an exorcism made by a serious Brazilian Traditionalist priest, whom we know, of a Devil who had taken possession of a young man. The Devil was quite violent to the point of breaking to pieces the heavy stone Communion rail of the church where the exorcism took place. In the back and forth polemic during the exorcism, the priest ordered the Devil to tell him how he got the young man in his possession.

He answered that it was when the youth was surfing on the Internet and, out of curiosity, went to a Satanist website. While the youth was there, the Devil found his way through to the youth’s soul and took possession of it. He stayed there for about two years, until the youth's family brought him to be exorcized.

This episode shows us how small concessions to the Devil may be sufficient for a possession to occur.

When is the Devil able to take over a soul? Let us bring to the table another example that will take us to the central point.

In the cheap ceremonies of voodoo, which invoke the Devil to come and possess the medium of the group or one of those present, a primitive “music” with a rhythmic drum beat is played. It precedes his “coming” and prepares for it. To the sound of that beat, the persons present shout and dance together as if a kind of collective energy were pervading them. Insofar as the persons lose control of their individual souls and deliver themselves to that rhythm-energy, they prepare themselves to receive the Devil.

When the frenetic agitation reaches an hypnotic apex, often one of those present becomes possessed. Then, he falls to the floor in contortions, foaming at the mouth, often speaking an Indian or African language. The voodoo people explain this by saying that “the holy one has come down;” then they worship him and ask him questions to orient their private lives or beg to be cured of some disease.

Independent of this disgusting scene, the point to remember is that at the moment when someone loses control over his own soul and allows a rhythm or some sort of energy to enter his soul, he becomes vulnerable to a possession of the Devil.

So, prudence tells us not to play with any occasion of possession in places such as websites of Satanism or shops and bookstores of voodoo, witchcraft, spiritism, magic, etc. Prudence also tells us not to open our souls for any psychological intrusion, be it directly to Satan or indirectly to some sort of rhythm or energy.

Now then, today most of the rock concerts are conceived to produce a sort of paroxysm over their audiences where the group enters a state of trance in synchrony with that rhythm, quite similar to what happens during the voodoo sessions. That is to say, to fit in, youth open their souls to “feel” that rock beat together with the entire audience. This loss of control over one’s individuality is, in essence, what is required to become possessed either by the Devil or by something else that takes his place.

So, the three basic Catholic positions are: Be in the state of grace. Do not go to places where the Devil habitually is. Do not open your soul to strange intrusions.

Quickly answering your other questions we would say that:

• You may keep the nice things you bought without any scruples. It is a good suggestion to sprinkle them with holy water. This is a practice that a vigilant Catholic always does: to sprinkle any item he buys from unknown sources with holy water. It is not necessary to keep sprinkling the object, but just once when it is brought into his home before it is put into common use. Follow the sprinkling by praying a Hail Mary, asking that the item may be used for her glory.
  
  
• Crystals are distinguished objects of art that are used everywhere in Catholic ambiences. There is nothing wrong with them in themselves. There are some specialized persons who use crystals for pendulums in order to hypnotize others. They use crystals today because they cannot afford a large precious stone. In the 19th century such persons would use a large amethyst or topaz to produce the same hypnotic effect. If you are not planning to hypnotize others with your pendulum, you may tranquilly wear it with its matching earrings as a feminine adornment, following the good rules of modesty.
  
  
• Likewise, there is nothing wrong with diamonds.

We hope these answers will help you in some way.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

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