In Jacquelyn Frank’s novel Forever, police officer Jackson Waverly is brought back from death only to discover that his body has become host to a Bodywalker, the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Menes. Waverly has to share his form with Menes, who is intent on reuniting with his eternal love Hatshepsut. While Forever is clearly a work of fiction, and a romantic one at that, there are many who believe that they have involuntarily shared their bodies with spirits. Many may imagine demonic possession to be a relic of the Middle Ages that has long since been consigned to horror movies and comic books. Not so: Exorcisms continue to this very day, both within Catholic and Protestant churches. Desperate men and women blame demons for a variety of ills, both emotional and physical. Some of them exhibit frightening and unpredictable changes in behavior, leading their loved ones to occasionally seek the service of a clergyman, if not a physician. How an exorcism is performed depends on the religious tradition of the possessed. Rites can be relatively unstructured or highly formal affairs with prescribed recitations of liturgical material and the use of various sacred items. What unifies all exorcisms is the high emotional tenor. The possessed and clergy may appear to be engaged in a battle of wills, with the afflicted’s soul in the balance. Not all exorcisms are deemed a success. Some of those seeking the rite will return for services again and again. Are the demons real or is the possessed just suffering from some kind of psychological complaint? It depends on who you ask. There are those who believe that the rite is a form of psychodrama: Treatment for emotional pain personified as demons. Others will tell you that both the possessed and clergy are deranged or con artists. Then there are those who say the spiritual world is very real, and that demons are a mortal threat. Who the hell knows?
