How
to Protect Yourself Against Demonic Spirits
Where
there is light, there is also darkness. In the realm of the spiritual
and paranormal, agents of darkness and evil are referred to as
demons. These wicked spirits seek the ruination of all humankind.
They thrive on fear and chaos, and exist to spread both across
creation. In this guide, we will look at prayers and other ways to
protect yourself from these evil beings.
Protection
Prayers to
ward off evil or demonic forces or entities, protection prayers are
recited. These prayers are not necessarily considered to remove
demons that are already present. Instead, they are meant to prevent
demonic entities from entering into or otherwise influencing a
person, home, property, or object.
Paranormal
investigators and professional exorcists often use the repetitive
recitation of protection prayers as a chant to shield themselves from
harm or fear whenever engaging malevolent spirits or demons. Since
demons cannot really be destroyed, so to speak, but only banished
from one individual or space to another, these prayers also prevent
demons from “jumping.”
When
demons jump, they shift from a currently possessed individual or
space to a new one. Demons have been known to do this in order to
temporarily fool exorcists into believing they have successfully cast
them out, when in fact the targeted demons have only moved to a new
space. In extreme cases, when serious mistakes are made by an
exorcist, demons have even been known to attempt jumping from the
possessed person or space to the body of the acting exorcist.
Reciting prayers of protection can offer a protective shield against
the demon being engaged.
The
Circle of Light
The
“Circle of Light” prayer is a very good, spiritually universal,
non denominational protection prayer. Sometimes, this prayer is
recited after lighting a blessed (or just a normal) candle. The
individual, before reciting the prayer, first envisions that he or
she is completely surrounded by a strong circle of protective light.
Some
alternate versions of the prayer are available (some only recite the
first four or five lines), but the majority of them are similar to
the following:
The
light of God surrounds us (me).
The
love of God enfolds us (me).
The
power of God protects us (me).
The
presence of God watches over us (me).
Wherever
we are (I am), God is.
And
all is well.
The
Prayer to the Archangel Michael
One
of the most powerful prayers of protection against demonic forces is
the “Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel”. There are several
known alternate versions of this prayer. The longest version is also
the original, which Pope Leo XIII issued and ordered to be used as a
protective exorcism prayer against Satan and other demonic forces.
Three
primary versions are most commonly used by today’s exorcists,
mediums, and paranormal investigators. Those who regularly deal with
demons and malevolent spirits usually memorize the shortest version
and believe they gain strength when a group recites the prayer in
unison. This short version is as follows:
Saint
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be
our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May
God rebuke him, we humbly pray.
And
do thou, Oh Prince of the Heavenly Host, by God’s power, thrust
into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander the world seeking
the ruin of souls.
Amen.
The
second known version, only slightly longer, integrates the short
version with certain important passages from the original Roman
Catholic version. This second, middle-length version is as follows:
Glorious
Prince of Heaven’s armies, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us
in battle against the principalities and powers, against the rulers
of darkness, against the wicked spirits in the high places.
Be
our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May
God rebuke him, we humbly pray.
And
do thou, Oh Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust
into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander throughout the world
seeking the ruin of souls.
In
the name of the Father,
And
of the Son,
And
of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The
original, Catholic version of this prayer is rather lengthy and
integrates long citations of biblical passages from Ephesians
and
Revelations.
Because
of its length, memorization of this version can be slightly more
difficult, and so it sometimes must be recited by reading from a
written piece. This original version is as follows:
In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Oh
Glorious Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in “our battle against the principalities and powers,
against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of
wickedness in the high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Come
to the assistance of those God has created to His likeness, and whom
He has redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.
The
Holy Church venerates you as her guardian and protector; to you, the
Lord has entrusted the souls of the redeemed to be led into heaven.
Pray, therefore, to the God of Peace to crush Satan beneath our feet,
that he may no longer retain men captive and do injury to the Church.
Offer
our prayers to the Most High, that without delay they may draw His
mercy down upon us; take hold of “the dragon, the serpent of old,
which is the devil and Satan,” bind him and cast him into the
bottomless pit “that he may no longer seduce the nations”
(Revelations 20:2–3).
In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
The
Twenty-Third Psalm
The
Twenty-Third Psalm, from the Old Testament Book
of Psalms, can
be recited for a variety of purposes. Therefore, some consider it a
multi-purpose prayer. As a prayer for those in mourning, it is often
recited at funerals of both the Judaic and Christian faiths. It also
gives courage to the fearful and hope to those who suffer from
despair. Additionally, it is considered a prayer of protection
against evil or demonic forces.
There
are various English translations of the Twenty-Third Psalm, but
almost all of them basically contain the following:
The
Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green
pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake, and
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear
no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; you
anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy
will follow me all of the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.
Amen.
Jabez’s
Prayer
In
1 Chronicles 4:10 in the Christian Bible, we find the “Prayer of
Jabez.” Jabez was one of Israel’s most righteous and faithful men
during a rather unremarkable time in its history. However, Jabez is
known for offering one simple prayer to the god of the Israelites,
YHVH … and for his piety and faith, his prayer was granted. Again,
many translations are available. One translation is as follows:
Oh,
Lord that you would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, and
that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from evil
so that it may not grieve me.
St.
Benedict Medals and Sacred Objects
The
practice of wearing or using protective charms, amulets, or objects
in order to ward off evil has been around since ancient times.
Sometimes the wearing of blessed medals or the use of certain sacred
objects, a practice that still remains very common in Catholicism, is
believed to offer protection against evil spirits and demonic
entities.
Many
believe special medals referred to as the “Medals of St. Benedict”
are the most potent objects in the barring of malevolent or demonic
entities. St. Benedict was the founder of the Benedictine monastic
order, and many stories involving the barring or thwarting of evil or
demonic forces are credited to him.
The
front of a St. Benedict medal portrays him holding a cross in his
right hand and an unfurled scroll on which he wrote the rules of
behavior for the Benedictine monks in his left. Behind him is a cup
of poison, which symbolizes a specific story regarding one of his
miracles. According to the story, when a servant of evil offered St.
Benedict a poisoned goblet, the man of God made the sign of the
cross, and the goblet immediately shattered. A loaf of poisoned bread
that the man had also offered to Benedict was then set upon by a
raven that flew away with it, thwarting the man’s plan to kill the
monk.
The
back of a St. Benedict medal shows a cross along with a specific
series of letters, VRS-NSMV-SMQL-IVB. These letters were first
discovered written on crosses hung throughout the interior of the
Benedictine Abbey of Metten. The discovery was made after several
women who were being tried for witchcraft claimed to have been quite
unable to work their spells near that building.
For
some time, the meaning of the letters remained a mystery until a
manuscript from 1417 was discovered. These letters, which stand for
the words Benedict supposedly spoke when the agent of the devil
attempted to poison him, were later used to form the following prayer
of protection and exorcism:
Vade
retro Satana (Step
back Satan)
Numquam
suade mihi vana (Tempt
me not with vain things)
Sunt
mala quae libas (What
you offer is evil)
Ipse
venena bibas (Drink
the poison yourself)
Many
other objects are considered effective in protecting oneself against
malevolent spiritual influences. For the most part, any sacred
religious object in which the wearer/holder has faith can offer
protection against demonic forces.
Some
of the most commonly used objects for protection against evil or
demonic forces are as follows:
Holy
water
Blessed
salts
Anointment
oils
Crosses,
crucifixes, or rosaries
A
pentagram, pointing upward (for Wiccans)
While
they can be powerful, demons are in no way all-powerful. As long as
humans have been aware of the demonic, they’ve also been aware of
the means to battle them.
