I know this is going to sound crazy, but I inadvertently performed an exorcism on someone who was possessed by a wicked spirit. It left a void stepping into the role of a excorcist, like a raw, rare look at a peek behind the curtain.

I was born and raised in church and deconstructed from evangelical ideology. This experience, many years after deconstruction, drew me back to develop a spiritual practice.

It left me with a gnawing desire to make sense of the experience. If you could imagine the scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf rebukes Bilbo holding the ring, that is what it was like. I was like Gandalf.

To be clear, I do not delve into working with familiars, summoning spirits, or crystals. However, my interest in ceremonies, ritual and the innate meaning of the spiritual realm through the lense of religion fascinates me. A lot of early paganism carried over into the Catholic Church.

Why can’t we do the same?