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by Jonathan Petre [hyperlink] Daily Mail, U.K., 24th May 2008http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1021712/Yoga-horoscopes-lead-posession-Devil-claims-Cardinals-exorcist.html The book says reading horoscopes could put people at risk from evil spirits It is a physical workout enjoyed by millions and its devotees include Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sting. But yoga enthusiasts have been warned by a leading Roman Catholic clergyman that they are in danger of being possessed by the Devil.
In a new book, he also argues that people with promiscuous lifestyles could find themselves afflicted by demons. And he says that the occult is closely linked to the scourges of ‘drugs, demonic music and pornography’ which are ‘destroying millions of young people in our time’. The 73-year-old Catholic priest, who was appointed exorcist of the Archdiocese of Westminster in 1986, was a medical doctor before being ordained in 1974. He has carried out thousands of exorcisms in London and in 1993 he set up the International Association of Exorcists with Fr Gabriel Amorth, the Pope’s top exorcist. In Exorcism: Understanding Exorcism In Scripture And Practice, which is published by the Catholic Truth Society, Fr Davies compares militant atheists to rational Satanists, and blames them for a rise in demonic activity. Yoga enthusiasts 'are in danger of being possessed by the devil'He adds that ‘perversions’ such as homosexuality, pornography and promiscuity are contributing to a growing sense of moral unease. He writes: ‘Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits...young people especially are vulnerable and we must do what we can to protect them. ‘The thin end of the wedge (soft drugs, yoga for relaxation, horoscopes just for fun and so on) is more dangerous than the thick end because it is more deceptive – an evil spirit tries to make his entry as unobtrusively as possible. ‘Beware of any claim to mediate beneficial energies (e.g. reiki), any courses that promise the peace that Christ promises (e.g. enneagrams), any alternative therapy with its roots in eastern religion (e.g. acupuncture).’ 74.
Fr Davies argues that occult practices such as magic, fortune-telling and holding séances to contact the spirits of the dead are ‘direct invitations to the Devil which he readily accepts’. But the Oxford-educated priest, who is based in Luton, Bedfordshire, says there are different degrees of demonic influence, and the most extreme forms occur rarely.
by Simon Caldwell, Catholic News Service, May 25, 2008 http://www.baltcatholicreview.org/subpages/storyworldnew-new.aspx?action=3688 LONDON- Atheism is becoming a key cause of demonic influence in the world, a British exorcist has warned. Father Jeremy Davies, exorcist of the Archdiocese of Westminster, which covers most of London, said that the “spirits inspiring atheism” were those who “hate God.” In a new 56-page book called “In Exorcism: Understanding Exorcism in Scripture and Practice,” Father Davies wrote that Satan had blinded secular humanists from seeing the “dehumanizing effects of contraception and abortion and IVF (in vitro fertilization), of homosexual ‘marriages,’ of human cloning and the vivisection of human embryos in scientific research.” The result, he said, was that Europe was drifting into a dangerous state of apostasy whereby “only (through) a genuine personal decision for Christ and the church can someone separate himself from it.” In the book published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society, he said that sin was the primary reason why people lost their freedom to the power of the devil. Father Davies also said atheism was largely to blame for entrapping people in states of “perversion.” The book raised concerns about “some very unpleasant things” that endanger young people especially, and the priest said, “We must do what we can to protect and warn them.” He called occult practices such as magic, fortunetelling and contacting the spirits of the dead “direct invitations to the devil which he readily accepts.” He said such practices involve the abandonment of self-control, making them as corrupting an influence as hard drugs, demonic music and pornography. At the same time, Father Davies said the “thin end of the wedge,” such as soft drugs, yoga for relaxation and horoscopes for fun, were just as dangerous. “Beware of any claim to mediate beneficial energies (e.g. reiki), any courses that promise the peace ... Christ promises (e.g. enneagrams), any alternative therapy with its roots in Eastern religion (e.g. acupuncture),” he added. “They are not harmless,” said Father Davies, a former medical doctor who was ordained in 1974 and has been an exorcist since 1986. “Sanity depends on our relationship to reality.” Father Davies also said it was not uncommon for people who later turned away from sinful lifestyles to undergo periods of supernatural oppression as the devil fought them for their souls. The priest, who is based in the town of Luton, north of London, said that key among the transgressions that have a “special affinity” with Satan was “rebellion against God” – which included the sins of blasphemy, atheism and attacks on Christ and the church – as well as sins against the light, when people resisted God’s grace. He also warned Catholics to be wary of what he called the “idolatrous demonic side” of Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism and the druidism that had its origins in ancient Britain. The exorcist denounced “new revelations” and criticized Mohammed, founder of Islam; Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, now called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. He called them “heretical prophets and false messiahs” who led their followers to a “demonic bondage of conscience.” Father Davies’ strongest condemnation, however, was reserved for the pride of modern atheistic scientists. “Pride is the specific trait of Satan,” he said. “There are two kinds of Satanism: ‘occultic,’ in which Satan is worshiped as a person; and what is said to be even more terrible and certainly is even more deceived, ‘rationalist,’ in which Satan is regarded as an impersonal force or symbol and the glory belongs to the Satanists. “How close to rationalist Satanism, without realizing it, is atheistic scientism – the hubris of science going beyond its proper sphere and moral boundaries – the tree of knowledge presently spreading its branches throughout our Western culture, which is rapidly becoming that of the whole world,” he said. He also said that “a contagious demonic factor” is among the causes of homosexuality. “Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits,” he said. His book also spells out the degrees of demonic influence a person may experience, ranging from temptation and sin to obsession, then possession, with perfect possession being the gravest and rarest form that usually entails a deliberate commitment to evil on the part of the person involved. The book includes sections on the rites and means of exorcism and deliverance, including those of buildings and places as well as people. Father Davies told the reader that if a person is in desperate need of help and feels stranded, he or she should go straight to the local bishop. 75. 15C. Yoga leads to possession by devils? PTI Monday, May 26, 2008 http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1166562 LONDON: It's a spiritual practice that provides all the health benefits of physical exercise. Yet, a British exorcist has claimed that yoga could put people in danger of being possessed by evil spirits. According to Father Jeremy Davies, exorcist for the leader of Catholics in the UK, yoga puts people at risk from devils and the occult is closely associated with the scourges of "drugs, demonic music and pornography" which're "destroying millions of young people in our time". But Madhavi Padhy, one of the foremost yoga exponents based in New Delhi, laughed off the claims of the 73-year-old Catholic priest, saying "they are baseless". "Yoga originated in India thousands of years back. It has no connection with evil spirits. On the contrary, it helps you become more aware of your body, mind and environment. It also plays a key role in relieving stress and bringing inner peace," Padhy said. Father Davies has argued in his new book 'In Exorcism: Understanding Exorcism In Scripture And Practice' published by the Catholic Truth Society, that people who practice yoga may end up afflicting themselves by demons, British newspaper the 'Daily Mail' has reported. "The thin end of the wedge (soft drugs, yoga for relaxation, horoscopes just for fun) is more dangerous than the thick end because it is more deceptive -- an evil spirit tries to make his entry as unobtrusively as possible. Beware of any claim to mediate beneficial energies (e.g. reiki), any courses that promise the peace that Christ promises (e.g. enneagrams), any alternative therapy with its roots in eastern religion (e.g. acupuncture)," he wrote in his newly published book. Father Davies has also said that occult practices such as magic, fortune-telling and holding séances to contact the spirits of the dead are "direct invitations to the Devil which he readily accepts". "Even heterosexual promiscuity is a perversion; and intercourse, which belongs in the sanctuary of married love, can become a pathway not only for disease but also for evil spirits... young people especially are vulnerable and we must do what we can to protect them."
March 25, 2009 http://www.usccb.org/dpp/Evaluation_Guidelines_finaltext_2009-03.pdf; http://www.usccb.org/dpp/doctrine.htm 1. From time to time questions have been raised about various alternative therapies that are often available in the United States. Bishops are sometimes asked, "What is the Church's position on such therapies?" The USCCB Committee on Doctrine has prepared this resource in order to assist bishops in their responses I. HEALING BY DIVINE GRACE AND HEALING BY NATURAL POWERS 2. The Church recognizes two kinds of healing: healing by divine grace and healing that utilizes the powers of nature. As for the first, we can point to the ministry of Christ, who performed many physical healings and who commissioned his disciples to carry on that work. In fidelity to this commission, from the time of the Apostles the Church has interceded on behalf of the sick through the invocation of the name of the Lord Jesus, asking for healing through the power of the Holy Spirit, whether in the form of the sacramental laying on of hands and anointing with oil or of simple prayers for healing, which often include an appeal to the saints for their aid. As for the second, the Church has never considered a plea for divine healing, which comes as a gift from God, to exclude recourse to natural means of healing through the practice of medicine.1 Alongside her sacrament of healing and various prayers for healing, the Church has a long history of caring for the sick through the use of natural means. The most obvious sign of this is the great number of Catholic hospitals that are found throughout our country.
To become a Reiki practitioner, one must receive an "initiation" or "attunement" from a Reiki Master. 76. This ceremony makes one "attuned" to the "universal life energy" and enables one to serve as a conduit for it. There are said to be three different levels of attunement (some teach that there are four). At the higher levels, one can allegedly channel Reiki energy and effect healings at a distance, without physical contact. B) Reiki as a Natural Means of Healing 5. Although Reiki proponents seem to agree that Reiki does not represent a religion of its own, but a technique that may be utilized by people from many religious traditions, it does have several aspects of a religion. Reiki is frequently described as a "spiritual" kind of healing as opposed to the common medical procedures of healing using physical means. Much of the literature on Reiki is filled with references to God, the Goddess, the "divine healing power," and the "divine mind." The life force energy is described as being directed by God, the "Higher Intelligence," or the "divine consciousness." Likewise, the various "attunements" which the Reiki practitioner receives from a Reiki Master are accomplished through "sacred ceremonies" that involve the manifestation and contemplation of certain "sacred symbols" (which have traditionally been kept secret by Reiki Masters). Furthermore, Reiki is frequently described as a "way of living," with a list of five "Reiki Precepts" stipulating proper ethical conduct. 6. Nevertheless, there are some Reiki practitioners, primarily nurses, who attempt to approach Reiki simply as a natural means of healing. Viewed as natural means of healing, however, Reiki becomes subject to the standards of natural science. It is true that there may be means of natural healing that have not yet been understood or recognized by science. The basic criteria for judging whether or not one should entrust oneself to any particular natural means of healing, however, remain those of science. 7. Judged according to these standards, Reiki lacks scientific credibility. It has not been accepted by the scientific and medical communities as an effective therapy. Reputable scientific studies attesting to the efficacy of Reiki are lacking, as is a plausible scientific explanation as to how it could possibly be efficacious. The explanation of the efficacy of Reiki depends entirely on a particular view of the world as permeated by this "universal life energy" (Reiki) that is subject to manipulation by human thought and will. Reiki practitioners claim that their training allows one to channel the "universal life energy" that is present in all things. This "universal life energy," however, is unknown to natural science. As the presence of such energy has not been observed by means of natural science, the justification for these therapies necessarily must come from something other than science. C) Reiki and the Healing Power of Christ 8. Some people have attempted to identify Reiki with the divine healing known to Christians.6 They are mistaken. The radical difference can be immediately seen in the fact that for the Reiki practitioner the healing power is at human disposal. Some teachers want to avoid this implication and argue that it is not the Reiki practitioner personally who effects the healing, but the Reiki energy directed by the divine consciousness. Nevertheless, the fact remains that for Christians the access to divine healing is by prayer to Christ as Lord and Savior, while the essence of Reiki is not a prayer but a technique that is passed down from the "Reiki Master" to the pupil, a technique that once mastered will reliably produce the anticipated results.7 Some practitioners attempt to Christianize Reiki by adding a prayer to Christ, but this does not affect the essential nature of Reiki. For these reasons, Reiki and other similar therapeutic techniques cannot be identified with what Christians call healing by divine grace. 9. The difference between what Christians recognize as healing by divine grace and Reiki therapy is also evident in the basic terms used by Reiki proponents to describe what happens in Reiki therapy, particularly that of "universal life energy." Neither the Scriptures nor the Christian tradition as a whole speak of the natural world as based on "universal life energy" that is subject to manipulation by the natural human power of thought and will. In fact, this worldview has its origins in eastern religions and has a certain monist and pantheistic character, in that distinctions among self, world, and God tend to fall away.8 We have already seen that Reiki practitioners are unable to differentiate clearly between divine healing power and power that is at human disposal. III. CONCLUSION 10. Reiki therapy finds no support either in the findings of natural science or in Christian belief. For a Catholic to believe in Reiki therapy presents insoluble problems. In terms of caring for one's physical health or the physical health of others, to employ a technique that has no scientific support (or even plausibility) is generally not prudent. 11. In terms of caring for one's spiritual health, there are important dangers. To use Reiki one would have to accept at least in an implicit way central elements of the worldview that undergirds Reiki theory, elements that belong neither to Christian faith nor to natural science. Without justification either from Christian faith or natural science, however, a Catholic who puts his or her trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition, the no-man's-land that is neither faith nor science.9 Superstition corrupts one's worship of God by turning one's religious feeling and practice in a false direction.10 While sometimes people fall into superstition through ignorance, it is the responsibility of all who teach in the name of the Church to eliminate such ignorance as much as possible. 12. Since Reiki therapy is not compatible with either Christian teaching or scientific evidence, it would be inappropriate for Catholic institutions, such as Catholic health care facilities and retreat centers, or persons representing the Church, such as Catholic chaplains, to promote or to provide support for Reiki therapy. 77. SIGNED: Most Rev. William E. Lori Bishop of Bridgeport, Chairman Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis Most Rev. Leonard P. Blair Bishop of Toledo Most Rev. Arthur J. Serratelli Bishop of Paterson Most Rev. José H. Gomez Archbishop of San Antonio Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron Bishop of Oakland Most Rev. Robert J. McManus Bishop of Worcester Most Rev. Donald W. Wuerl Archbishop of Washington
"Obviously, recourse to prayer does not exclude, but rather encourages the use of effective natural means for preserving and restoring health, as well as leading the Church's sons and daughters to care for the sick, to assist them in body and spirit, and to seek to cure disease." 2, 3 Catechism, no. 1508. 4 It has also been claimed that he merely rediscovered an ancient Tibetan technique, but evidence for this claim is lacking. 5 As we shall see below, however, distinctions between self, world, and God tend to collapse in Reiki thought. Some Reiki teachers explain that one eventually reaches the realization that the self and the "universal life energy" are one, "that we are universal life force and that everything is energy, including ourselves" (Libby Barnett and Maggie Chambers with Susan Davidson, Reiki Energy Medicine: Bringing Healing Hospice [Rochester, Vt.: Healing Arts Press, 1996], p. 48; see also p. 102). 6 For example, see "Reiki and Christianity" at http://iarp.org/articles/Reiki_and_Christianity.htm and "Christian Reiki" at http://areikihealer.tripod.com/christianreiki.html and the website www.christianreiki.org. 7 Reiki Masters offer courses of training with various levels of advancement, services for which the teachers require significant financial remuneration. The pupil has the expectation and the Reiki Master gives the assurance that one's investment of time and money will allow one to master a technique that will predictably produce results. 8 While this seems implicit in Reiki teaching, some proponents state explicitly that there is ultimately no distinction between the self and Reiki. "Alignment with your Self and being Reiki is an ongoing process. Willingness to continuously engage in this process furthers your evolution and can lead to the sustained recognition and ultimate experience that you are universal life force" (The Reiki Healing Connection [Libby Barnett, M.S.W.], http://reikienergy.com/classes.htm, accessed 2/6/2008 [emphasis in original]). Diane Stein summarizes the meaning of some of the "sacred symbols" used in Reiki attunements as: "The Goddess in me salutes the Goddess in you"; "Man and God becoming one" (Essential Reiki Teaching Manual: A Companion Guide for Reiki Healers [Berkeley, Cal.: Crossing Press, 2007], pp. 129-31). Anne Charlish and Angela Robertshaw explain that the highest Reiki attunement "marks a shift from the ego and self to a feeling of oneness with the universal life-force energy" (Secrets of Reiki [New York, N.Y.: DK Publishing, 2001], p. 84). 9 Some forms of Reiki teach of a need to appeal for the assistance of angelic beings or "Reiki spirit guides." This introduces the further danger of exposure to malevolent forces or powers. 10 See Catechism, no. 2111; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae II-II, q. 92, a. 1. |