In Chapter 3 I spoke of my psychic nature; it is a universal property of all living beings, but in the human it is given the capacity to become articulate, subject to analysis by the intellect and given to others as a part of social intercourse. We communicate physically by means of the five senses, intellectually through the mind and the reasoning faculty, and directly in a way that transcends both physical sensation and reason through the medium of the soul. In this mode of communication the term "psychic" finds its logical, practical and most accurate usage. Like physical and intellectual communication, it may be used selfishly or beneficially for society as a whole; communication in itself is morally neutral, its use being completely subject to the person themself. But whereas physical and intellectual communication is at least partly under the control of the will, the psychic dimension is essentially a function of the unconscious aspect of the mind, and is very much linked to the intuition. It is like the workings of the Holy Spirit described by Jesus to Nicodemus in John 3.8, "The wind blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born from the spirit." It is not surprising that psychic communication lies beyond scientific measurement, so that many investigators refuse to acknowledge its existence. And yet its products impinge sufficiently on the lives of many normal people to make its existence a reality, sometimes beneficial and on other occasions a great nuisance and even extremely frightening. If like me one is very attuned psychically, a range of experience is one's gift (and also sometimes one's lot), a gift which may completely separate oneself from many other people who appear to be deliberately obtuse to modalities of existence other than the crudely material. It was this sensitivity that so separated me even from my parents, especially my father, for I believe my mother had this sensitivity in her but was afraid to face its consequences in the midst of the very comfortable life she was able to lead.
Some psychic experiences are emotionally neutral, like those in which the future is suddenly revealed (precognition) or a past event sensed in a particular locality (retrocognition). There may be an unaccountable transference of information from one mind to another (telepathy) or a sudden vision of an event occurring elsewhere (clairvoyance). The first two experiences are of a time shift, whereas the second two involve the present transmission of information in a non-rational manner. If there is an emotional response, this is due to the information received, sometimes pleasant, sometimes unpleasant, and often merely of general interest. Many psychic experiences are frightening inasmuch as they bring an atmosphere of gloom or vicious destruction with them. Sometimes there are bizarre physical phenomena such as the sound of moving furniture, footsteps or heavy breathing together with the unaccountable disappearance of objects from their usual sites, and faults in the electrical system. All these constitute the familiar poltergeist (which means a noisy mischievous spirit), which is typically seen in connection with adolescents whose sexual energy is not properly channelled and then expresses itself in the form of psychical phenomena. In my experience a similar type of effect can also be produced by the unquiet spirits of the dead, which still remain earth-bound instead of moving to the vaster realms of the after-life where God will receive them for further training. Often they want to proceed, but are stopped by a sense of guilt for unsavoury actions in their past earth life. The phenomena they produce, whether physical or emotional, are SOS signals, and once they are absolved, they move on quite rapidly. The unquiet dead often produce feelings of dread or evil, and are usually, in my experience, dealt with quite easily by direct conversation and explanation of their situation. Sometimes a young child or an aborted foetus may remain earth-bound, and will cause trouble to their family through ignorance and possibly resentment also. Again I have found that they are easily sent on their way; some ministers of deliverance use a Requiem Mass instead, but I have not found it necessary except in a few cases. I prefer the concept of deliverance to exorcism, since I deliver the entity or spirit to God's care and do not merely expel it from its present abode.
I have included this consideration of psychic phenomena and the ministry of deliverance as an introduction to something much more pertinent to the subject of mood paintings: demonic activities. At present my work in delivering demonic spirits from the world of living forms, in other words our own domain, to God's care is paramount in my ministry. I have both witnessed the effects such infestations can have in the environment of the demonic activity and also known only too well at first hand the influence it can have on me. It is necessary first to define the nature of the demonic, and this requires an understanding of the angelic hierarchy. Angels are essentially messengers of God; they bring the divine assistance down to humans and other living forms on our earth, and no doubt elsewhere too in our enormous cosmos, the combined universe and the forms outside the Godhead itself (which include the Communion of Saints and the ministry of angels). I believe we each have our own guardian angel who protects us by warning us of incipient trouble or imminent danger; usually we are far too preoccupied with our own affairs to take notice of a warning that comes from the intuition (the way by which the psychic field is mediated), but sometimes we may be aware and co-operate accordingly.
Angelic activity as such is always beneficial, but there is also a race of fallen angels, who are under the control of their master, whom we call Satan, Lucifer or the devil - whether these three are identical or closely related members of the highest echelon of darkness is debatable, but the distinction is not important from our point of view. Legend speaks of the fall of Lucifer, God's favourite angel who took power on itself without the prior sanction of God. The angel fell, precipitating a pre-mundane Fall which prefigured the Fall of humanity as described in Genesis 3. All this, including Genesis 3, is mythological (spiritual truth described symbolically), but a wise person does not summarily dismiss it as nonsense.
The work of the devil is the destruction of all that exists; it is the enemy of the Creator whom we call God. Like Iago in Shakespeare's Othello, it starts by putting destructive emotions like fear and suspicion into the human mind, so that in the end the most abominable crimes are committed for the most plausible reasons. The servants of the devil, the demonic spirits, carry forward its destructive potential. But it must always be emphasized that no psychic incursion can affect an immaculate human mind; there is always a serious flaw in the person that permits demonic invasion and perversion. This is most important, otherwise all manner of atrocities, like the Nazi Holocaust, could simply be ascribed to demonic activity in wholly innocent humans. In the above-mentioned example Hitler was a willing medium, full of hatred, for the dark forces of the devil to possess him, and through him to attack and captivate the German people. It is appalling to think of possibly the most civilized nation in the world following so effortlessly the call of demonic fury, until one remembers the pride of a people, aware of their brilliance, brought low by their defeat in the First World War and the terrible consequences that later followed as part of the Great Depression of the later twenties and early thirties of our century. They turned to Hitler as a last resort, and were captivated by his message of racial purity with the consequent elimination of alien groups that polluted the blood-stream of the great Germanic people. How easy it was for the demonic spirits to move in and work in collaboration with the aroused populace intent on revenge and utter destruction of all it had learned to hate! If one ponders on this terrible tragedy it is evident that the German people bore the principal responsibility for the Holocaust, but that they were admirably assisted by the devil's messengers.
This being the case, it could be reasonably argued, "Why bring in the devil at all?" This important objection introduces the pertinence of Occam's Razor, which argues in effect that circumstances should be pruned of unnecessary additions. If a person's destructive actions can be attributed to their moral deficiency or mental ill-health, there is no need to bring in demons from outer space. Speaking from my own experience, the two qualities that would arouse my suspicion would be the intensity of the destructiveness and the aura of evil around the individual. These two are best assessed by one with strong psychic sensitivity; women are often more aware that something is amiss on a demonic level than men, who tend to be limited by their intellectual judgement. In other words the case is one of intuition versus reason. In everyday life both have to be satisfied, for intuition, if unchecked, can acquire an emotional strangle-hold and precipitate superstition on the one hand and fanaticism on the other. This is where born-again believers, whom we considered in the last chapter, can come seriously amiss. It has been my saving grace to be both intellectually gifted and psychically sensitive; my medical training was clearly no error on the part of the One who has guided my life. I only wish that I could collaborate with a sympathetic psychiatrist in some of my work; both of us would benefit by the exchange of understanding. I have little doubt that mentally disturbed people are more open to demonic attack just as, on another level, are those who dabble in the occult and those involved in satanism.
In my experience, when an individual is demonically infested, by which I mean that the evil spirit is close to the personality but does not possess it, there is a terrible depression together with suicidal thoughts and suspicion levelled at those people close in family relationship or friendship. Psychiatrically this mimics a depression with paranoid features, but the person was previously well and the attack is sudden and associated with an awareness of great evil. This terrifies the victim and their associates. While there may indeed be a frankly psychological component to such a case, I can sense the demonic element. This I command to leave the person and proceed to that place in the life beyond death which God has prepared for its reception and healing. I believe that the authority of my priesthood and the spiritual power that accompanies it is vital in this work, but it would not ring true if I were merely to repeat words like a formula while having no real contact with the demonic spirit. I am able to tell inwardly whether my work has succeeded or not, but I confirm this by the tossing of a coin that I have blessed. When I ask the question I arrange that heads are positive and tails negative. This test should show a minimal influence from my own thoughts or prejudices, and indeed the answer given is often disappointing inasmuch as my work has been fruitless and I have to start again. I never initiate this coin test except after saying the Lord's Prayer and then the well-known Anglican Collect, "Almighty God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." In other words, the whole process of deliverance is conducted in a spirit of rapt prayer, so that one's own consciousness is illuminated by the prayer from on high. An individual not adept at prayer should never approach this dangerous ministry, for one is indeed in danger of demonic attack oneself. It is imperative to work with another person who is equally attuned psychically and has a living Christian faith. I have little doubt that the name of Jesus has a specially powerful effect in protecting us from evil. Jesus himself was an expert at deliverance work. Unfortunately this combination of psychic sensitivity and Christian commitment is not very common, as I learned when the person with whom I had worked for over twelve years died in 1993. She was ninety-three years old, and was active until the time of a massive stroke that killed her after ten days' gallant fight. So far I have found no replacement, and a very wise friend has told me that I never shall; God alone will be my protector now. I also believe that my friend is helping me from the realms far beyond our knowledge.
When a locality is demonically infested there is a general atmosphere of gloom. Many disasters befall the place with accidents and tragedies of various types. When deliverance is performed there is often a speedy return to more pleasant conditions. I am, as one schooled in scientific research, well aware that a favourable outcome is not a proof that a particular hypothesis is correct; it might have been a coincidence, the improvement occurring in any event. When a number of similar cases show the same pattern, one is on stronger ground, but the sceptic will think of any alternative to the demonic one, so ingrained are many people's prejudices against psychical phenomena. In any case my work is not so much to convert people to my beliefs as to bring relief to those who are oppressed. I believe that in due course the type of sensitivity that I know will be widely disseminated.
When I am attacked demonically I usually awake from a peculiar type of dream that I alluded to in Chapter 11. I am carried back over many years and remember old friends and colleagues. As I slowly come out of the memory I find that they are probably dead, while I am much older than I was in the dream. A sense of agitation comes over me with undertones of mounting fear. This fear is one of total extinction, and if I do nothing about it, I am insidiously carried forward into the beginning of a severe depression. I have learned to stem the process at once by getting out of bed, praying, and then carrying out the deliverance sequence similar to what I have already described. I always bring my dead friend into the work, believing that she too is under some attack. The main fact is that the attack is rapidly curbed, and I can return relieved to my bed. If the experience has occurred in the early hours, I will remain awake for some time, my mind being understandably active but fortunately in a positive mood. After about an hour or so I will fall asleep, and wake up fresh later on. Sometimes I have a rather similar attack only a short time before I usually rise, in which case I rest after the deliverance, but do not fall asleep again. What I have described differs from the common nightmare, of which it is clearly a species, in that it can progress to a clinical depression if not checked at once. I can see now that one aspect of my depressive tendency has been related to demonic attacks that I have suffered for a long time. Until I became actively involved in the deliverance ministry, I was powerless to check these depressions at their earliest stage by removing the offending agents. Now at least I am able to cope with one cause of my depressive tendency. Psychically sensitive people are very open to demonic attack, but at least they can repel it if they understand what is happening to them.
Vulnerability is the price we pay for participating in relationships. Harking back to Martin Buber's dictum that all real living is meeting, we cannot live properly in complete seclusion even if the pain inherent in communion is avoided. When we relate to our fellows there is sorrow as well as joy; inasmuch as death is our common end, the grief of bereavement must terminate even the closest of earthly ties. What makes a relationship beautiful or detestable is the psychic rapport or repulsion that exists between the two (or more) parties. A person with strong psychic sensitivity can relate especially well to other people; they are natural counsellors. But if their character is evil, they can emanate destructive emotions to others, and cause much trouble. Sometimes such a person is unaware of the harm they are causing, but on other occasions they are acting quite deliberately. This is an aspect of "black magic". In my view it is wrong to attempt influencing others by psychic means, even if one really does have the faculty to do so and one's objectives are completely honourable. There is One alone who may do this; we aid God by our intercessions, not by assuming his powers. When one intercedes properly one simply allows the love of God to flow to the person for whom one is praying. The two great commandments are to love God and to love our neighbour as ourself (Mark 12.29-31). Love entails giving our very life to God's command and our neighbour's service; it does not mean dominating anyone. Therefore I am unsympathetic to all magic, "white" (allegedly beneficial) as well as "black".
When there are malign psychic links between one person and another, it is my work to break them in the power of God. This is not difficult provided the victim really wants to break connection with the person causing the trouble. As in everything else, free will is not to be bypassed or disregarded, for little real healing will occur until all give their unqualified support. When there is communication between the dead and the living, once again it is the psychic function of the soul that is involved. While I, following the deuteronomic prohibition against trying to contact the dead (Deuteronomy 18.11, also Leviticus 19.31), discountenance the work of mediums in striving to effect communication between the living and the dead (I make an exception in the case of genuine psychical research involving qualified parapsychologists), I know from my own experience that the dead can quite spontaneously communicate with the living. This communication is not by any means fatuous, but is effected for a definite purpose; quite often in my experience to give useful advice. Sometimes the message is simply one of continued life and caring after death has closed one chapter of a relationship. To me the resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciples (but never his antagonists during the forty days up to the Ascension) were primarily to assure them of his love and forgiveness despite their despicable behaviour during his passion. They were then renewed in their faith - in fact resurrected - and ready for the immense work ahead of them. It is this matter of communication with the dead that has given the word "psychic" such a bad reputation among many believers, but it should be recognized that the psychic dimension is much vaster than this one murky area. Indeed without it we could hardly communicate as feeling, creative people. We would be more like highly evolved computers than human beings!
Although the unquiet dead usually pose no problems of frightening evil, I have to describe one case where the reverse was true. It involved a young woman who disappeared in mysterious circumstances and was never seen alive again. I was called to a maximum security prison to interview a long-term prisoner who had been playing with a ouija-board in his cell. He was obviously psychically sensitive, for he had picked up a communicator who claimed to be this woman in person. I tried to separate her from the medium, but in vain. I also tried to break the psychic links between the two, but again fruitlessly. All this happened towards the end of 1990, when the Gulf crisis was culminating in war. Soon after 1991 began I developed a familiar depressive episode, heralded by the usual insomnia; I have little doubt that the general atmosphere of gloom at least helped to precipitate this severe attack. It was only moderately responsive to antidepressants, not so satisfactorily as in the earlier attack I described in Chapter 1. Then one morning in mid-Lent I was awakened at about 6.30 a.m. by an encounter I shall never forget. It was as if a being from outer space had landed on my soul, for a time obfuscating my general consciousness so that I was not in full control of my feelings. But this soon calmed down, the depression unfortunately being conspicuously worse and having a component of anger that was unlike the previous episode or my general demeanour. The one symptom that was paramount was an absolute insomnia, even going to sleep was difficult, and once awake there was no chance of returning to sleep. Even very high doses of the antidepressant had absolutely no effect on the insomnia. Fortunately it responded well to a powerful hypnotic (sleeping drug), the effect lasting two or even three days. My mood was most unpleasant, an amalgam of despondency, anger, and hopelessness, and I looked ill and older than my years. Nevertheless I continued my church duties without demur, and my counselling work did not appear to suffer, if the response of my clients was anything to trust. It was especially of interest that I preached the "Seven Last Words on the Cross" on Good Friday from noon to 3 p.m. (as I do each year) with a brilliance that startled me. I have no reason to doubt that this preaching marathon impressed the congregation also.
After Easter Day I took a break in the country for a week, but there was no change in my depression. On the Friday of the following week a small charismatic prayer group met in my flat - we alternated between a monastery and my flat on a monthly basis - and this time there were only three of us: a police officer who is as psychic as I, an elderly lady who is rather deaf and myself. Much of the time was involved in petitions to God, and I prayed fervently that my depression might lift (as I had done repeatedly in my own private prayer time). At the end of the hour the meeting broke up with the Lord's Prayer, and then the police officer, a great friend of mine, asked me if I had done a recent exorcism in my flat because he sensed a dead person around. At the time I could not recall such an exorcism, but one thing was certain: the depression was lifting fast and my absolute insomnia had broken. Nevertheless it did not completely disappear, for I still needed a small dose of antidepressant each night before retiring, if I was to have a good sleep.
For the next year I had to continue taking the small dose of antidepressant, but I knew that this was not simply a matter of dependence, or addiction, since these drugs do not create this problem. At that time a parishioner of mine, a lady psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, invited me to dinner. Afterwards I recounted this intriguing story to her, but very soon her two cats leapt out of the room and ran away as far as they could in the closed house, for the weather was still cold. At last I was able to put two and two together. The cats had sensed the presence of an unquiet spirit, which I had brought into close contact with me by discussing its case in the way I did. When I arrived in my flat I telephoned my "deliverance partner", the aged lady whom I have already mentioned, and we "looked in" together - we did all our work over the telephone since she lived in Wells, which is about 150 miles from London. Sure enough the unquiet spirit was still there. I commanded it to proceed to God's healing and care in the usual way. The next day I said a Requiem Mass for it. At the end of the Mass I was sure that the spirit of this unfortunate woman was at last at peace, and I very soon was able to dispense with the antidepressant altogether.
This remarkable case had a further flare-up a few months ago (in 1994), when I recounted its details to another highly psychic woman doctor working with Jungian therapy. At once she was aware of a hostile presence in the sitting-room of her house with something grabbing her right wrist. I assured her that all was well, and then proceeded to dispel this powerful thought form. I suspect that the murdered woman (I have little doubt that this is how she met her end) was grabbed in this way prior to being killed by her assailant. Interestingly, the two doctors and the murdered woman lived in the same area of London. It is evident to me that the events leading up to her death were unsavoury, and this is why her spirit remained unquiet. The mediumistic prisoner was able to locate and befriend her, as I was then to do. She required my body so much that she actually possessed it during the period of my blackest depression. I often think of Sydney Carter's well-known hymn "Lord of the Dance". In the fourth verse runs the line, "It's hard to dance with the devil on your back". Only Jesus could do this, but I at least know what it feels like to have an unquiet spirit on my back and still continue my dance of counselling and preaching even in a Good Friday setting. It was the prayer in the intimate charismatic circle that released her (and me also), but she was still close to me. Only later did I understand the full nature of the case, and then could easily deliver her to God's care. I suspect guilt played a part in holding her back to this earth and away from God's unconditional love. The police officer assures me that the likelihood of finding her remains after a period of nearly ten years is remote in the extreme. However I am content with St Paul's reminder in Romans 12.19, "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay".
I hope that this rather lurid drama may remind therapists of the future that we are all parts of the one body of humanity, and that the psychic interdependence that this entails can easily be reflected in severe mood changes that one person can implant on another. When we can fully grasp this, it could be that psychology, to say nothing of psychiatry, may make a quantum leap into a new century.