According to the ancient Greeks the word demon (Gk. daimon) originally meant God. Unlike the Christian usage of this term, in Greek mythology the gods can be both good and evil. What they have in common is the ability to influence human consciousness. Driven by principles of good or evil they occupy human counsciousness, thereby forcing their will on their ‘prey’.
Among the Central American Indians today the belief in the existence of demons is still alive. According to them the world as we know it is only an illusion, like a kind of matrix and you can only find the truth if you look behind that matrix. Thus it is possible that in addition to the known world there are many ’other worlds’ which exist parallel to our own, among which are ’gateways’ through which you can travel from one world to another. Certain indigenous beliefs concerning water (rivers or lakes) is one such example of a ’gateway’, where the demons of other dimensions sometimes appear. If you are mentally ill, or if your aura protection is weak the demons in our world can occupy us in no time at all, forcing us to break so-called ”warrior path rules” and commit violent behaviour.
According to Christian beliefs demons were only ever seen as evil. Certain diseases and conditions, such as the spectacular seizures associated with epilepsy, were explained by demons occupying the body. However the role of the exorcists is specifically interpreted. As only they are capable of averting this evil who also know the possessed very well. The title of exorcist at certain times, at least according to the common people, was given a derogatory meaning, and the exorcists themselves sometimes became one with the evil demon they were exorcising.
The ceremony of excorcism is still among the many practices of the Catholic Church. The so-called exorcism ritual became widely known through the American film, ’The Exorcist’ (1973). The film title might even be somewhat misleading because