I have just received the following email. I find it bizarre and concerning, and I believe there is sufficent public interest in me posting it in full, regardless of any copyright or confidentiality points. It appears to me that there are perhaps serious issues here about unqualified persons holding themselves out on matters of mental health. What do you think?
EXORCISM
by a leading expert, David Goddard
Exclusive 1-day event at The Atlantis Bookshop
Saturday, 29th January 2011
What is Exorcism? What is possession? How does it happen? What can be done for a victim of possession?
David Goddard - an authorized exorcist for over 20 years, and an expert on the subject - explores the answers to these, and to many more questions.
At this intensive one-day event, you will discover:
· How to distinguish between possession and mental ill-health
· How to cleanse people and places
· What are the stages of Possession the symptoms and problems you should look out for
· Who are the Demons and the Fallen behind possessions?
· Who is an Exorcist, and what is Exorcism really
· How to avoid the Pitfalls and Traps of Exorcism, and
· Spiritual warfare in 2011 and beyond
Contact atlantis@theatlantisbookshop.com or telephone 020 7405 2120 to book your place.
Place: The Atlantis Bookshop, 49a Museum Street, London, WC1A 1LY.
Time - 11:00 to 17:30. Doors open at 10:30 for registration and refreshments.
Fee - £59 - Book before 25 January and your seat is only £50 (you save £9)
About David Goddard
He is an esteemed Lineage Holder of the Western Esoteric Tradition and a teacher of the Western mystical sciences for over 3 decades. (He has 4 internationally published books and numerous training programs and has appeared as a guest on BCC TV & radio).
As an initiate and recognised teacher, David has committed his life to sharing the ancient technology of transformation, helping sincere seekers discover sacred knowledge, wisdom, happiness and joy. And what's more, David has personally performed more than 290 exorcisms. But that's not all - David has also taught occultists and clergy the effective methods of Exorcism and is considered an expert on the subject of possessions and exorcism.
The Atlantis Bookshop
49a Museum Street
London
WC1A 1LY
+44 (0)20 7405 2120
www.theatlantisbookshop.com
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Sunday, 9 January 2011
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22 comment(s):
Exorcism does have a legal basis though: § 1172 Codex Iuris Canonici.
My Latin is not good enough however to determine if you need to be Catholic in order to fully profit from this option.
Is this the same David Goddard?
http://www.coloronics.co.uk/home/
He seems to be dabbling in some mental health issues including depression and Attention Deficit Disorder.
Thank goodness you let us know in plenty of time so we can all get £9 off the full ticket price.
I'm not sure, however, that a day course would leave me at all prepared or qualified to recognise or deal with mental ill-health. Or the Devil, for that matter...
· How to distinguish between possession and mental ill-health
Easy, if they say some one is posessed they are mentally ill
· How to cleanse people and places
Use Soap and water.. it works wonders
· What are the stages of Possession the symptoms and problems you should look out for
Step 1: If you believe someone is suffering the symptoms of posession, confront your problem and seek psychiatric help immediately. Step 2: Refer to step 1
· Who are the Demons and the Fallen behind possessions?
The only entities behind possession are those who use fear as a means of control
· Who is an Exorcist, and what is Exorcism really
Any idiot can be an Exorcist and most do
· How to avoid the Pitfalls and Traps of Exorcism, and
Do Not believe or even contemplate the merest notion of Exorcism and you will not fall into the trap
· Spiritual warfare in 2011 and beyond
Cool, they can bombard me with psychic weapons.. me I'll use the good old boomstick.. Lets see who wins first
Enuff said
I think it's your duty to go the event and report back to us. I'm particularly keen to know the stages of possession.
I am happy to let him air his views and speak in public. It is your right not to attend.
You seem unclear about what it is exactly you find disturbing about his course. Unqualified, is he? Hmm. assuming he is truthful about having many years as a practising exorcist behind him, what "qualifications" do you think he needs in order to satisfy you of his ability?
Are you trashing all spiritual matters and championing atheist materialism? If you are, say so.
Considering scientific materialism of an atheist kind is the new boy in worls history, hasn't been around very long at all and is still largely untested and its methods are crude, I would contend that atheist materialism is the bizarre thing, compared to millions of years of spiritual practise and belief by every culture the world over.
"How to distinguish between possession and mental ill-health"?
An unrelated issue which interests me is how to distinguish between charlatanry and mental ill-health.
Quite what qualified or authoised might mean in this particular case is unclear.
For information about (or possibly by) David Goddard might I suggest this blog:
http://davidgoddard.com/
And the link to the Rising Phoenix Foundation is:
http://www.rpxf.org/index.shtml
The strapline reads: 'The Rising Pheonix Foundation with David Goddard'
Here will find a link to: http://www.rpxf.org/site/index.shtml#davidgoddard
information about David Goddard himself.
At the bottom of this page you will find the following disclaimer:
Disclaimer for Letters to Your Spirit and All Published Information:
All material herein is provided for information only and may not be construed as personal medical advice. No action should be taken based solely on the contents of this information; instead, readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being. The publisher is not a licensed medical care provider. The information is provided with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in the practice of medicine or any other health-care profession and does not enter into a health-care practitioner/patient relationship with its readers. We are not responsible for the accuracy, reliability, effectiveness or correct use of information you receive through our product or for any health problems that may result from training programs, products, or events you learn about through the site. The publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions. The FDA has not evaluated these statements. None of the information or products discussed on this site are intended to diagnose, treat, mitigate or cure any disease.
Looks like another 'woo' merchant to me!!!!!
If qualifications are needed, what qualifies one to "distinguish between possession and mental ill-health
"? Psychologists or psychiatrists should be able to talk about mental ill-health, but what is their expertise in possession?
The provenance of the piece suggest that it is intended for those of a more widely open mind. Attempting to regulate who may address such an audience is likely to be counter-productive. Who would have given much credence to Dr. Wakefield's MMR claims if the Blair administration had not opposed him by putting its credibility on the line?
The blurb sets out the speaker's qualifications and nothing there would suggest that he has any conventional formal qualifications in the field of mental health. It would be outrageous if one could not express a view about health unless one held a conventional formal qualification in that field - provided, of course, that one does not pretend, or lead the audience to believe, that one does hold those qualifications.
The flyer is bizzare, but not concerning.
As a young student, I met a real, authentic, and authorised Exorcist. He was licenced by the Bishop of Southwark, and his name was Canon John Pierce-Higgins. Some thirty years on, I can still remember one of the most quietly charismatic people I have ever met in my life. He did a lot of seminal work on multiple personality disorder and "possession". He was of the opinion that the overwhelming majority of cases of "possession" were merely symptoms of an underlying psychosis. IMHO this is not an area for amateurs, and cannot be "learnt" in a one-day crash course
G Thompson- I'm glad that you've cleared that: you've saved me £50!
On the wider point, it's never good to see people promoting treatment that has no basis in science for problems that clearly do.
If the answer is more exorcisms you're clearly asking the wrong questions.
@John Masters
The doubt is clearly over whether David Goddard is medically qualified to diagnose a mental illness. Those with undiagnosed mental illnesses can often be danger to themselves, or less frequently, others.
I would quite accept that medicine has a lot to learn about mental illness. However, incomplete as it may be, there are medical treatments which can deal with some of the worst symptoms of such things as schizophrenia and we incerate far fewer people in institutions than used to be the case before psychiatry developed. The history of religious institutions in these matters is not a happy one often ascribing supernatural causes to behaviour they could not explain. As for millions of years of experience, this is clearly nonsense as that would go back to before modern humans evolved, and whilst there were earlier forms of hominids, claiming some form of spiritual continuity over that period, let alone applying it to mental health issues is, to put it mildly, wildly speculative.
This is dangerous nonsense, typical of the extent to which the religious will go to cow persons.
Why not take child along to sacrifice, just to be sure?
Is this much different from the nonsense available all day every day in Glastonbury, etc?
My understanding is that even the C of E still offers exorcism, albeit rarely, and it is only recently that it ceased to have a chief exorcist as a formal post. Done in the same kind of low-key manner as the rest of the nonsense the C of E gets up to, is it so very different?
The kind of dangerous and disreputable incident Jeanette Winterson describes in her semi-autobiographical Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, where the local evangelical church tried to exorcise her lesbianism and nearly killed her, I would tend to see as rare as and unusual. Except in the kind of country where they still murder "witches".
"Indian shaman 'poisons women in witchcraft test'"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12149785
As an atheist, I can see very little difference between an exorcist and a witch doctor.
For anyone looking for an up-to-date survey of scientific work on possession trance, I'd recommend Emma Cohen's The Mind Possessed, published by Oxford University Press in 2010.
It is now possible to monitor what is taking place in the brain during possession trance - the results are described in an article in Clinical Neuropsychology, 113 (2002). The researchers noted that the EEG "...lacked apparent pathological findings and showed an enhancement of EEG power in the theta and alpha frequency ranges." The EEG is similar to that of a Zen monk meditating, and very different from that of someone undergoing an epileptic fit. This is based on just a single case study - plenty of room for further research. An article by Stephen and Suryani, in the Journal of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 2000, notes significant differences between possession trance and mental illnesses, including schizophrenia. Suryani is a Professor of Psychiatry.
Readers of this blog will be aware that citing a couple of peer-reviewed articles does not amount to proof. It does suggest that some scientists who have studied the issue consider that possession trance is a sui generis altered state of consciousness, distinct from mental illness.
A Zen Buddhist monk may be ignorant of what is happening in the brain during meditation, just as a musician may be unable to offer a comprehensive scientific explanation of how music is produced. However, a practicing musician is the best person to explain how to get a good sound out of an instrument. A monk who meditates regularly can probably help you make good use of your brain. In the same way, it is entirely possible that someone with the right practical experience might be able to help you control possession trance, and perhaps even learn to use this experience to enhance your life, even if the practitioner's theoretical explanation is entirely incorrect.
While this might be an extreme example, there is an altogether worrying trend in society to demand qualifications for this, that and the other - when the value of the qualifications themselves may be dubious or even negative.
Was Albert Einstein the patent clerk qualified to write groundbreaking physics papers? Probably not. I rest my case.
So on the whole, while I find this mildly worrying, it is not the lack of qualifications that makes it so.
phisheep:
Ghosts don't make you crazy. These people need medical help and they're not getting it from that guy.
I'm afraid to say that when it comes to Transsexuals, Exorcism is considered a reasonable treatment by some psychiatrists. It has no greater a failure rate than other, more conventional psychiatric therapies (ie 100%).
See
"Gender identity change in a transsexual: an exorcism" by Barlow et al, .Arch Sex Behav. 1977 Sep;6(5):387-95
Spirit Release Foundation Case Study
The Treatment of Gender Dysphoria Sex Change or Spirit Change? by Edith Fiore Ph.D
‘Spirit release therapy: what is it and what can it achieve?
A clinical presentation of therapist and patient perspectives’ Dr. Alan Sanderson
That one's on the Royal College of Psychiatrists website.
Then there's this, put out by an extremely influential panel of fundamentalist religious psychologists in the USA:
23. Angels and Demons
We affirm that creatures who have only a spiritual dimension exist, that some serve God faithfully (angels) and others are in active rebellion against God (demons), and that the latter may possess unregenerate persons and oppress or influence regenerate persons. We deny that the Christian counselor may neglect the reality of demons, and that personal problems, organic or non-organic, are never the result of the influence of or possession by demons.
-- The Christian World View of Psychology and Counseling.
(Mr. George C. Scipione, Th.M., M.A., Chairman • Dr. Lawrence Crabb, Ph.D., Co-Chairman • Dr. Ed Payne, M.D., Co-Chairman • With contributions by members of the Psychology and Counseling Committee of The Coalition on Revival • Dr. Jay Grimstead, D.Min., General Editor • Mr. E. Calvin Beisner, M.A., Assistant to the General Editor)
Surely, belief in exorcism is no more offensive, unusual or surprising than belief in heaven/hell; fairies; the virgin birth or the Flying Spaghetti Monster? Why single out this nutcase? Just because his religious views are a llttle less mainstream?
Plenty of religious people profess to understand mental health and how god has inflicted it on people (or their parents). I would leave him to it, but leave a wide berth. It's not healthly, but there is rather a lot of it about.
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