Spirits afflict us in many ways and one is by attaching to us. They may affect our impressions of others and their impressions of us. Often, we react to what is around a person, instead of the person himself.

This is especially true by way of antagonism. Few are those who have not had the experience of people who for no reason rankle them. In fact, the person towards whom there is animosity often is a nice person who ostensibly has done nothing wrong. There may be a spirit of antagonism around that person.

So too are there spirits of lust, abuse, distress, discouragement, perversion, greed, egoism, crime, and depression.

Simple encounters with such people incite instant, surprising reactions. A person can go through his entire life afflicted by something that with proper knowledge could have been eliminated!

In Scripture we see that Christ cast out demons that caused specific afflictions, such as deafness.

A darkness can follow us with unpleasant events that seem to defy explanation. These can come from what we have done. When there is sin, or addiction, or hatefulness, a door is open to such attachment by spirits who delight in such transgressions.

Those spirits can then cling to us.

We all know the expression that someone has a "dark cloud" over him. There is "bad luck." Or, spirits of darkness cause the wrong kind of "charisma." There is an unhealthy attraction to certain people who should not really be attractive -- mentally, physically, or spiritually.

Spirits can attach to us from what we do, what we view, where we work, what we read, whom we acquaint ourselves with, and our family lines. A growing number of priests minister in the way of deliverance from spirits that afflict families.

"There has been a growing recognition of inheritance that goes far beyond physical characteristics, to include the psychological makeup as well," writes a well-known international evangelist, Father Robert DeGrandis, in a book called Intergenerational Healing. "How often do we hear about anger or stubbornness running in a family?"

Or depression, or illness, or poverty. They can form a dark prism through which we see in a distorted fashion.

Good people can have bad spirits in the same way that they can have bad genes. There are many dynamics in the spirit world. The negative thoughts of others can also encompass us. Some believe that we are assigned a demon in the same way that we are assigned a guardian angel, and that the two battle over us throughout life (and right to death, which is why we seek the aid of the Blessed Mother).

For the main part, we pick them up through life -- unless we cleanse ourselves on a regular basis through Confession, the Eucharist, fasting, and prayers of deliverance. We can even be harmed by the evil of others. Wrote one woman who works with victims of abuse, those who have suffered such abuse appear to the spiritual eye as if they are wrapped in a cobweb, like a cocoon. This spirit can attract even more abuse (which may be why some suffer baffling recurrences of various evils).

There are dark residues, which can attract other abusers or transgressions. When we cast them away, we feel whole and cleansed. Suddenly, we see more clearly.

"In the spiritual world, the symbol of sexual abuse is a spider," says this woman, who claims to have experienced apparitions of Mary. "A person who has been abused has a cobweb covering them."

We place this for your own judgment. To get rid of such, she notes, requires that we forgive.

Casting away darkness should be as routine as cleaning our homes. Most effective: casting out a spirit by its specific way of manifesting ("spirit of lust," "spirit of anger," etcetera).

Is it all dark fantasy -- paranoiac?

A great saint once said that if we could see all the evil spirits, they would darken the sky. He suggested this prayer: "My past, oh Lord, to Your Mercy; My present, to Your Love; My future, to Your Providence!"

The saint was Padre Pio.

10/6/06