How to Protect Yourself Against Demonic Spirits

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.