n
Editor's note: This is the first time Mr. and Mrs. J
have consented to an interview, though they have
been approached by several newspapers and
magazines. The reporter had to submit his photo and
a copy of his handwriting tc the couple before they
would consent to the interview.
By John Kalkowski
"Please. help me."
Scrawled in the hand of a five year old, these
world reflect the pain of a child stricken with grand
ma!s epilepsy.
The child who wrote these words was one of 1,100
"mercy releases" performed by an area couple last
year.
Mr. and Mrs. J, who asked that their names and
location not be released, said mercy release is the
liberating of spirits which inhabit an individual's
body.
According to Mrs. J, they discovered that the
epileptic child's body was infested by the spirit of a
64-year-old woman. Through the help of spirits, they
were able to release the woman's spirit, she said.
After the release of the spirit, the small girl, who
had epileptic seizures since she was five months old,
was cured, Mrs. J said.
The couple, who are in their seventies, were called
to perform their work five years ago. Though they
work on mercy releases fulltirne, they said, they do
not charge for their services.
The mercy release is performed by certain spirits,
Mrs. J said. "We do not do the healing ourselves," she
said, ".We are only the channels through which 'the
Masters' work." Mr. and Mrs. J do not subscribe to
any religious denomination.
They said the work they do is on the "seventh
level" of consciousness and Is done in the ethereal
body, not the physical body. Mrs. J described the
ethereal body as a level of consciousness and a part of
a person's aura.
They distinguish their work from exorcisms,
however.
The spirits that inhabit bodies are not necessarily
evil, Mrs. J said. They are earth-bound spirits unable
to rest.
However, she does not discount the presence of
evil spirits. The exorcisms of demons performed by
priests is on "another level of consciousness," she
said.
She said she does not understand exorcism. She
understands only that which has been revealed to her,
she said. '
The calls for help have come to Mr. and Mrs. J
from around the world, some calls as far away as
England, Austria and Switzerland, she said.
The couple is reluctant to describe the process of
mercy release. "The Masters," the spirit board which
aids them, protects them from being harmed, she
said. -
However, Mrs. J did say they need an example of
the victim's handwriting and a picture of the
individual to complete the release. She added that the
process usually takes about two or three hours.
"We speak only when we have 'the Masters'
permission," she said. According to Mrs. J, they have
been approached often as possible topics for articles,
but had refused any publicity until this interview.
"People do not understand the abstract ideas we
work with," she said. "When people don't
understand, they give negative feelings and hate
thoughts. This is wrong."
She added that even certain members of her own
family do not understand their work.
Persons who receive mercy release are referred by
those who already have come in contact with them,
she said. The couple does not publicize or advertise
their venture.
Mr. J said the referral is an ongoing process and
more requests than can be handled are received. He
said that already this year, they have processed over
100 cases.
Mrs. J said only a "very few" of their cases are
failures. She estimated 3 out of 100 do not work. If
one approach fails, another approach is used, she said.
In one case, a boy with a blood clot was having a
difficult time breathing, even though he was receiving
oxygen. According to Mrs. J, they did not have an
example of his handwriting or his picture, so they
asked "the Masters" if they could use the father's
image instead.
After consulting the spirits, she said, two hours
later the boy was sitting up in bed. The examining
doctor said their was nothing wrong with the boy, she
said.
joU D (lji7(i?G? h H-0 B
Exorcism is no secret
but not emphasized
By Deb Cray
The first battle began over an apple, and the Devil won.
And forever after, Christianity has devoted almost as much time
talking about Satan as about God.
The word exorcism comes from a Greek root meaning "to put
one on oath." No one knows exactly when the rite was first
performed, but it is about as old as the Church itself.
The Catholic Ritual stated the first rites, "consisted mainly of
the sign of the cross invoking the name of Jesus, and renunciations
of Satan and threats uttered against him."
The rite was most widely performed in the Middle Ages. During
that time, the Church commissioned an order of priests who
specialized in administering the exorcism rite.
Criteria defined
Pope Leo XIII authorized prayers for the faithful "whenever
action of the Devil is suspected, causing malice among men." Until
recently, one of these prayers was spoken after Mass.
The church uses several criteria to determine denomic
possession:
-An ability to speak with some coherency in a foreign language
or tongue, unknown to the victim previously.
-The faculty of predicting future events or knowledge of facts
unknown to the victim.
-A display of powers far beyond that person's condition or
strength.
But, even if the conditions are met, there is still doubt.
"Much of what passed for exorcism in the Middle Ages was
really a medical or psychiatric disorder," said Father Nicholas of
Mt. Michael Abbey in Elkhorn. "Even now, that's why all medical
or psychiatric means have to be exhausted before an exorcism is
authorized."
Rite rarely used
All priests arc given the power to exorcise, he said, but the ritual
is used rarely, and only with the authorization from the diocesean
bishop. The presiding priest, he said, must lead an life of exemplary
holiness.
"That was something that was pointed out very well in the
movie," he said. "If there is a chink of weakness in the priest
performing the exorcism, the devil can enter the chink and attack."
The Church has never hidden the existence of demonic
possession, Father Nicholas said, it just hasn't emphasized it.
"If the Church downplays the rite of exorcism, it's not really
secrecy, but recognizing the possibility of inducing hallucinations
and hysteria in other people."
Counterparts exists
The rite cf exorcism is "by no means a strictly Catholic rite'
Father Nicholas said. There are counterparts to the Catholic rite in
the Orthodox Jewish and Anghcian faiths, he said.
The Rev. Raymond Bishop S. J., instructor in the Education
Dept. at Creighton University, was one of several priests assisting in
an exorcism in St. Louis, Mo. in 1949. Blatty based his book on
this incident.
He said he was ordered then not to discuss the case and declined
any further comment.
Ron Bassett, a former monsetgner living in Lincoln, said an
exorcism was performed when he was attending seminary in
Chicago,
He said he saw a young girl, the subject of the exorcism, run
across the sanctuary, leaping over obstructions like a gazelle.
A Franciscan nun, now retired and asking not to be named, was
living in the convent at Earling, la., in 1928 when an exorcism was
performed there (see related story).
Although she did not witness the ceremony, she said she cared
for the victim and knew the priests involved.
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The Roman Ritual
Psychics" affirm exorcism
By Deb Gray
Before Linda Blair's snarling blasphemies,
demon possession was a Gothic fantasy, locked
in Transylvanian mythology and Dark Shadows
reruns.
Then, Warner Brothers unleashed The
Exorcist, and, honest to God, some people were
really afraid. In Chicago, Catholic authorities said
they received dozens of calls from people fearing
demon possession; in New Jersey, teenagers spent
the night at churches praying they would not
become possessed by the devil; even in Lincoln
persons fainted during the movie.
This hysteria explains why believers of
spiritual entities have not discussed openly
exorcism. For as Jennifer, a Lincoln believer,
said, "People were not yet ready for it."
At first, Mr. and Mrs. J (see related article)
were reluctant to discuss their work, for until
people, as they said, reach a certain level of
spiritual understanding, skeptics could send out
intense hate vibrations hampering their work.
"I think the history of this planet has also
been a history of spiritual evolvement," Mrs. J
said. "The earth plane is millions of yeans old.
When it began, it wa rough and hewn and men
lived in caves. Since that time, man has
accumulated knowledge and grown through the
centuries."
Psychic feats performed
Jennifer said "more people around Lincoln
are looking into exorcism all the time." And
Nancy, . a 21 -year-old Lincoln resident, said,
"There are more people having exorcisms around
here than you might think."
Norma M., a Lincoln resident who might be
labeled a psychic or spiritualist by the terrestial
majority, claims to perform feats ranging from
astral projection to exorcism.
Norma said her birth 42 years ago generated
not joy, but fear.
"When I was born, my mother, who also was
psychic, took one look at me and knew I was
different," she said. "She saw that I was going to
have a hard life. Rather than let me suffer
misery, she tried to poison me. But at the last
minute she panicked and called the doctor."
When she was 10, Norma said she recalled the
attempted poisoning during a vision.
"I confronted my mother with the accusation,
and she admitted it was true," she said.
Norma said she first exhibited extrasensory
talent during childhood.
Childhood experiences
"I would call my pets and talk to them
through mental telepathy," she said. "And
sometimes I'd stare into the corner of the living
room. There I'd see another room and hear a
conversation going on.
"Maybe six months later, I'd be visiting
someone, and I'd realize I was in that same ro6m
hearing the same conversation I'd heard months
before."
To Norma, the' relationship between the
occult and religious world is not only natural,
but essential.
Continued on page 10
Wednesday, january 29, 1975
daily nebraskan
page 7