“Sarah’s” mother was a high-ranking satanic priestess who introduced her daughter to the practice of witchcraft when she was very young. Sarah said each week six witches gathered to curse priests and the bishops by name. They sat around an effigy of the priest and ritually cursed him. She added that there were many covens in her area and all were weekly cursing different priests.

In her 20s, Sarah had been practicing witchcraft for twenty years and it was taking its toll. She couldn’t sleep. She had horrible dreams. She had no energy. She was mentally and emotionally a wreck. She wanted out and sought help from a priest exorcist. He welcomed her and prayed over her weekly for a year. It turns out she had been fully possessed but, finally, she was freed.

While practicing witchcraft, Sarah did not realize that the person who was first and foremost cursed by her rituals was herself. She did not know that their “powers” really came the actions of demons. She unwittingly had been a servant of Satan. Upon liberation, she was very grateful to God for freeing her.

The Exorcist shared that one of the most powerful interventions during the sessions was the rosary. He said, “It was like throwing petrol on a fire”– the demons howled in agony. Likely the Virgin Mother’s holiness, as the perfect woman and mother, was particularly odious to those demons who promoted a distorted and evil image of both.

Priests (or anyone) living a solid Christian life of sacraments and virtue are largely protected from the curse of a witch, although some harassment is possible. We exorcists just assume we are being regularly cursed. If one steps out from under the Church’s protection and/or strays into sin, the curses can more easily take root and cause havoc.

The number of people practicing witchcraft in our country is rising exponentially. The number of priests is dropping. There are spiritually difficult times ahead. But, in the final analysis, all the witches in the world are powerless in the presence of Christ.