Spirit Keeping & Paranormal Collecting Forum

:rant:
After spending a few hours in Helpdesk with some of the Magnolia & Ash-specific tickets, I can tell you that there is a piece of gritty sand irritating me, and the sand is the plethora of "demon" issues.

I've had 10 tickets in the last week with people saying "I need you to confirm what so-and-so told me about (insert name of whoever is in trouble) being attacked by demons". 10 tickets, one week, 7 days, 240 hours, 14,400 minutes... and the first one I opened I knew what it was, I forwarded it to Ash, he said exactly what I thought it was, and I linked them to a thread here where someone else had a similar situation and it was not a demon. An hour later they wrote back and they said the person's situation on the thread was exactly what they were going through.

The answer to everyone's problems cannot always be "demons". Did I miss a time warp where we have gone back to the Catholic doctrine of the Middle Ages by labeling everything that is "evil" or causes someone a problem as "demon"? Has the paranormal community actually reverted from being able to correctly identify individual beings to simply just "demonizing" everything? For what, to make it simpler? Sure, it would be easy to just tell anyone with a problem, "it's a demon"... but shouldn't the pursuit of the paranormal community to CORRECTLY identify individual species & beings, rather than just slapping the "demon" label on everything?

And, when did single demon attacks become faux pas? Now every "demonic" attack is multiple demons? Tens? Hundreds? Did I miss the memo that said now single demons are no longer capable of attacking people, they now have to travel around like a caravan?

Perhaps it is my years of study, my education, or my vast experience, but the trend for the past few years to just shove everything in the "demon" category is really unnerving. The answer, by sheer statistics, cannot always be "demon"!!!

There thousands of other entities in the world, millions between all the Realms, dimensions, and Universe that are capable of causing someone trouble. You would be SHOCKED what an errant, belligerent, human spirit can do to torture a living human. Incubi/Succubi, Vampires, Gargoyles, Cambions, Manananggals, just to name a few that are regularly kept by Spirit Keepers were classified "DEMONS" by the church. Are they demons? NO.

Demon is a word that is so grossly overused I would love to make it illegal for someone to call something a demon without them providing the TRUE classification of a demon. "Demon" is NOT a classification in itself. When someone tells you that you have a "Demon" you should IMMEDIATELY say "Okay, what classification of demon is it?". And I am not going to write a cheat sheet here for anyone to copy. Anyone who truly deals with demons should know the classifications and once they give you the actual classification & name of the demonic being then you can verify it from there.

Are demon attacks possible? Yes. However, they don't usually attack in DROVES, there is usually a singular demon who attacks a person. Multi demon attacks are far more rare and certain criteria happens that would tell a professional that they are, indeed, dealing with a multi demon attack, and I assure you those criteria are NOT what you see in the Hollywood exorcism films.

Through the years, Ash & I have assisted in LITERALLY thousands of human issues with troublesome entities, and I can tell you that "demon" wasn't the answer to them all. We've assisted in minor disturbances to major, serious issues. And we follow a very strict, professional protocol when dealing with people with real problems. There is a code by which those who help truly plagued individuals follow because it works, because it's tried & true, and because it takes knowledge & experience to execute. And, again, "demon" isn't the answer to every situation.

Misdiagnosis is a problem, slight for some, serious for others, and if you are having a problem, I PROMISE you that getting a crowd of people involved in the diagnosis & recovery of your issue is NOT the way to go. The "too many cooks in the kitchen" syndrome is a syndrome for a reason. You need to work with one person, MAYBE two, at a time, and if you're going to work with two people they should be in communication with each other to ensure they aren't each doing something that will hinder the other's work, or hurt you. And, as much as you don't want to hear it, real diagnosis & recovery takes TIME, it isn't overnight, it isn't immediate, and while there are some things that can be done to relieve some of the pressure, real diagnosis requires establishing patterns, examining all possible sources & aggravations, and reviewing any personal problems or mental deficiencies that could contribute or effect the situation. And if a person DOES have a minor or major imbalance (clinical depression, addiction, stroke victim, etc) then there are DIFFERENT protocols to be followed to provide them help!!!!

It's insane to see the amount of internet diagnosis that fly through email, Facebook, and chat rooms, & it's absolutely stunning how the professional protocol for providing people help that will be lasting & in their best interest goes out the window for the quick McService, fast food approach.

Sigh.

So sorry, Magnolia, that you are dealing with these issues over and over. I recently had a talk with one of my sisters after my Dad died. I had decided to be honest with them about some things. I just said I was a collector of paranormal artifacts. NOT ABOUT SPIRIT KEEPING! My lands, that would have been a mistake. My sister said she saw that as being from the devil. Let me join you with a sigh. Both my sisters are very attached to their churches. At least my older sister was a little more open minded ... let me repeat that ... a little. She believes dad is dead and he won't be "saved" until the resurrection. And the memorial for my Dad. I had to firmly clamp my mouth shut to keep from screaming at the words that were coming out of the mouth of the person they chose to eulogize Dad. I was so offended. I believe they have the right to their beliefs but sometimes it still feels like the Middle Ages or even earlier.

Hang in there.

Magnolia, I am so so sorry to hear you guys are going through this.

I'm sorry

I blame it on organized religion and the seeds of fear planted for many from infancy thanks to the Church. I was told that anything that wasn't an angel or God had to be a demon which made my paranormal experiences as a child terrifying.

Magnolia, I am so sorry to hear this!!! I just talked about this in one of my posts, yesterday actually!!!!

I believe that because people have been told for so long that anything from the paranormal is from the devil, or just plain wrong to get involved with, it just kinda sits there in the back of a person's mind and when something doesn't feel right, or things go wrong all at once.

Then they have terrible nightmares, then they fear that it could be a demon, because that has been so ingrained into their minds in the first place, and the fact that they may feel guilty anyway for getting involved in the paranormal in the first place!!!!

You know, doing something forbidden in the first place, then feeling that they did something wrong and now being punished for it!!!

So then you get, everything is a demon!!!! When in fact it isn't!!!! So sorry you guys are being over whelmed with all of this!!!!

starfire :dragons:: :kistune:

I am glad that you brought this up.

Sometimes it makes you wonder if some of the things people are calling "demon" are actually physical things like thyroid or kidney infections. These can make you feel horrible.

Perhaps some of this could be alleviated just by going for a physical and checking for other things like thyroid and infections before jumping on the demon bandwagon. Sometimes feeling drained can be caused by physical things like under or overactive thyroids or diabetes, among a plethora of other things.

Not to hijack this thread, but to put other possible explanations out there.

creepyhollows wrote: It's insane to see the amount of internet diagnosis that fly through email, Facebook, and chat rooms, & it's absolutely stunning how the professional protocol for providing people help that will be lasting & in their best interest goes out the window for the quick McService, fast food approach.

Sigh.

sorry that you and ash are going through this. i remember starting on here and being attacked by that energy feeder. i didn't think at all that it was a demon, but at the same time didn't know that one entity could cause this much chaos or even about feeders and other types of trickster spirits. maybe having a list of entities/trickster spirits that do cause troubles like imps, gremlins, malicious feeders would be helpful. i know you don't want to give a "cheat sheet" for people to say "oh yeah that's what happening to me." but at the same time it might be helpful to them to realize that not everything is demonic (i feel there needs to be dramatic music played every time that word is used). that when they do go to these alternative chat/forum sites and are told that its demonic they can make an educated decision and say "no, it sounds more like an gremlin messing with my computer because of the facts that it fits characteristics A,B, and C." maybe the BIGGEST disclaimer should be if you are having ANY physical symptoms to SEE A DOCTOR FIRST. just because i hate how every thing is supposedly spirit/demon attack related.

btw it sounds like the same argument with my friend who became a self proclaimed "demonologist" every thing to him (even incs) are demonic. pfffttt what ever. :problem:

This is something that annoy me too, it does seen that people jump to a conclusion. I agree people should look a doctor for any physical condition first. I also agree the chances of being another spirit is much bigger and human spirits can be very cruel, so I would look other possibilities first. I do think religion has a big part on it since people will carry with them things they were teached when younger or believe before.