Even 15 years ago, people would have had a hard time believing Richard Gallagher’s contention that demons, and demonic possession, are real and observable. These days, when literal demons are directly controlling many of the human elite of the West and wealthy men like George Soros and Peter Thiel are aggressively chasing every form of quasi-immortality, it’s not at all difficult to take him seriously.
“In my experience, the idea of demonic possession is so controversial and so often misunderstood that I want at the outset to establish some scholarly plausibility to the notion along with my bona fides,” the board-certified psychiatrist, who serves as professor of psychiatry at New York Medical and a psychoanalyst on the faculty of Columbia University, begins in the introduction of his book.
“Typical reactions to the topic reflect our nation’s polarization. Despite widespread belief in evil spirits in the United States and around the world, some people find the subject farfetched, even moronic. Yet others spot the devil everywhere. And so, here I detail my personal story and highlight the credibility of possessions while simultaneously offering some sober reflections on various exaggerations and abuses.”
The book is an elaboration of the psychiatrist’s 2016 op-ed on the subject published in The Washington Post, titled “As a psychiatrist, I diagnose mental illness. Also, I help spot demonic possession.”
Gallagher, who is Catholic, is the longest-standing American member of the International Association of Exorcists which meet every two years in Italy.
He begins his narrative with the story of a troubled devil-worshiper named Julia who he concluded was possessed after an exorcist in the Catholic Church brought her to him for evaluation before attempting an exorcism.
“Before I encountered Julia, I had already seen about eight or nine cases of what I regarded as full possessions. I define those as cases where the evil spirit completely takes control of someone, such that the victim has periods when he or she has no remembrance of such episodes,” Gallagher writes. “I have since seen scores more such possessions and a much higher number of cases of oppression, which are far more common than possessions. Because of my involvement with the International Association of Exorcists, I have heard reports of hundreds more of each type, but that hardly implies they are anything but rare conditions, as I still know them to be.”
It might be easier to accept the reality of “unclean spirits” and understand its relationship to Clown World if one views it from the transhumanist perspective. Demonism is merely the occult form of transhumanism, utilizing rituals that are spiritual in nature rather than technological to separate the spirit from the body and preserve its existence on the material plane. The means are different, but the objectives are precisely the same.