A Ritual To Rid A Person Of Toxic Thought Forms

Thought forms are an issue in experiential religious practice.

Plenty of people will tell you that the gods aren’t, and don’t have to be, nice. At some point, however, even these people run up against the report of deities engaging in behaviors which just seem too extreme. Whether this behavior is racist, sexist, sexually violent or evidence of what that person perceives as ignorance, we all hit a point where our ability to believe in the maliciousness of deities is pushed to the limit.

At that point, people begin to ask, “Is it really that deity, or perhaps something wearing the deity’s face?”

Yes. For me, the limits are smaller, and that questioning starts much sooner. I have an idea of what I expect from human spiritual authorities, and I am going to tell you that I expect a hell of a lot more out of deities than humans.

Toxic thought forms are probably very common, when you think about it. If all creating a thought form requires is a person imagining a deity and being really worked up about it, either because of devotion, or because of hate, then there’s all kinds of stuff floating around.

Plenty of Monotheists, especially those with Pagan family members, probably spend time imagining demonic versions of the same gods, and expecting something horrible to happen.

Plenty of Pagans have an impulse to imagine malicious versions of their own gods, too. There are a variety of reasons for this, but I’ve been thinking of it like a dirty tea-cup. Honestly, the fact that a tea cup is dirty doesn’t matter until you try to pour some hot water into it. When you do, however, all the stuff that is caked onto the bottom of the cup gives the water a putrid flavor and nasty color. The energy of our gods can be like that hot water. Blaming the gods is like blaming the tea kettle.

What do we do, though, when nasty thought forms are polluting our connection and hampering our ability to connect to our gods in a positive way?

I had a really, really crazy idea: why not take a look at how other traditions get rid of thought forms that they do not want. We can use the same formula, and use the power of the deity whom the negative thought form is misrepresenting to remove the thought form and the negative energies in question.

In other words, use the hot water to clean out the cup.

The Ritual of Exorcism, broken down and adapted.

Take a look at this ritual of exorcism. This is a bit extreme for most normal purposes, but I think that if a person is really suffering with a manifestation of deity which is intractable by any other means, it’s worth a shot.

The first thing I notice is that, despite the fact that we usually think of exorcism as being done by a lone priest armed with holy water and a big wooden cross, this ritual is very much a community effort. A group of people, sometimes a group of clergy, are getting together to help the sufferer.

For each general section of the ritual, I will include an example of how we might use the same principles to correct the relationship between a human and a Greek deity. I’ll be using Hera as my example.

On-Boarding — The Priest initiates a call and response. This gets the everyone involved and on the same page. This is more that just good procedure for banishing or exorcism. It’s good for any ritual.

Leader: Hera, hear us

All: Hera, hear us

Leader: Hera, be gracious to us

All: Hera, be gracious to us

Leader: Great Queen of the Sky

All: Hera, be gracious to us

Leader: Mother of Fire’s Might

All: Hera, be gracious to us

Leader: Goddess of Faithfulness

All: Hera, be gracious to us

Leader: Hera, be gracious to us

All: Hera, be gracious to us

Leader: Hera, hear us

All: Hera, hear us

The Retinue — Next, we have what is called the “litany of saints.” I notice that the first seven lines allude to divine retinue: the Blessed Virgin and Arch Angels. The entire rest of the litany is a list of humans who have had positive relationships with the deity.

Relating a list of people who have previously experienced the deity in a more positive light forges a connection that routes around the negativity.

More than that, no deity, or person, is an island. In many senses, a person is the sum total of their relationships. Calling the most important connections to a deity is a great way to call out their true essence. The litany is arranged in linear order, the oldest associate of the deity to the newest. The idea being that we might be the new link in that chain, enjoying the same sort of positive relationship.

That is a bit much to ask for this goddess, in particular, and it’s best to avoid mention of stories that had iffy or negative outcomes, for these purposes. If your deity had lots of human friends in their mythology, do be sure to include them.

Rhea, Mother of Titans (All: Bring Hera to us)
Zeus, great King of Olympos (All: Bring Hera to us)
Ares, friend of the soldier (All: Bring Hera to us)
Hephaestus, ingenious god of fire (All: Bring Hera to us)
Hebe, splendid goddess of youth (All: Bring Hera to us)
Eileithuia, loosener of labor pains (All: Bring Hera to us)
Eris, goddess of competition (All: Bring Hera to us)
All the gods and goddesses who call Hera friend (All: Bring Hera to us)

Prayers for Intercession — The various friends of the deity are asked to assuage the wrath of the god, bring out his best aspects.

All the priestesses of Hera who know her kindness (All: bring Hera to us)
All the hallowed men who respected Hera and know her faithfulness (All: Bring Hera to us)
All mortals who serve her and honor her wisdom (All: Bring Hera to us)

Save Us From Yourself — This always sounded very peculiar to me. Why would we pray to God to stop God from being unreasonable? Why can’t an all-knowing, omni-benevolent deity just simply recognize that he’s being unreasonable, and, you know, quit that?

In a situation where we have a toxic thought form between us and the true essence of a deity, asking the deity that the false image be removed is not a bad plan. We are not asking, for example, Hera to save us from Herself. We are asking Hera to save us from the negative manifestation of Hera that we probably foisted on her. Honestly, our neurotic hang-ups aren’t her responsibility, but she’s far more capable of fixing the problem than we are. 

The actual lines should be tailored to whatever the thought form’s nature might be, but here, let us assume that the Hera-related thought form is angry, jealous and vengeful. We spend some time meditating on removing the negative qualities in question, and invoking their opposite.

Referring to the earlier “dirty tea cup” metaphor,  you can think of this portion as cleaning the cup, and filling it with clean water.

Protect us, Hera:

From infidelity (All: Protect us)

From indignation (All: Protect us)

From anger, hatred, and all ill will (All: Protect us)

From lightning and tempest (All: Protect us)

From jealousy (All: Protect us)

From vengeance (All: Protect us)

Protect us, Hera.

Hera, Bless us:

With everlasting love (All: Bless us)

With grace and tolerance (All: Bless us)

With acceptance and peace (All: Bless us)

With your magnanimity (All: Bless us)

With the quality of forgiveness (All: Bless us)

Bless us, great Goddess, Hera, and Protect Us.

Some traditional prayers and mythology — Traditional prayers and allusions to traditional stories establish what aspect of the deity we want to be dealing with, here.

For Christians, who get all worked up by reading scripture, this is a great thing to continue the momentum and clarify the intent. For our purposes, it’s better to simply continue to do this by alluding to the mythology, rather than directly quoting it. Traditional sources for Hera’s blessings are scant. We will tell what the goddess does which is positive, and cheer her for it.

She is the goddess of marriage (All: Io Hera!)

She is the goddess who defends the bride (All: Io Hera!)

She is the the goddess who blessed Jason (All: Io Hera!)

She, the one who avenged Medea (All: Io Hera!)

She is the goddess who aided the Argonauts (All: Io Hera!)

Her blessings secured the fleece (All: Io Hera!)

Beauty is hers (All: Io Hera!)

Poise is hers (All: Io Hera!)

Cunning is hers (All: Io Hera!)

Among the goddesses, who can question her supremacy? (All: Io Hera!)

Among gods, who does not hear her voice? (All: Io Hera!)

King of the Highest Heights Escapes Not Her Scrutiny (All: Io Hera!)

Yet she is gracious to us (All: Io Hera!)

She is gracious to us (All: Io Hera!)

Of Lifelong love she is the champion (All: Io Hera!)

Sanctity of household  (All: Io Hera!)

Vanguard of womankind (All: Io Hera!)

Commanding the Demon — Even as a person might give instructions to an intentionally constructed thought form, here, the Catholic priests are issuing orders to the unintentional thought form, namely, the demon. After commanding the demon out, the priest lays hands on the person, and re-establishes their connection with the deity.

Even if we do not believe that the thought form is an actual entity, it is helpful, from a symbolic standpoint, to deal with it as thought it is. As Polytheists, we personify the forces of the universe. Naming the energies can give us power over them.

Leader: I command you, unclean image, shadow of divinity. I command you in the name of Hera, whose face you wear. I command you in the name of the Holy Queen of the Sky, to whose name you have been answering. In the name of Hera, I call you forth, and name you (choose a name that suits the nature of the manifestation). (Name), I command you to gather all your minions and all influences that are yours, you shall depart from (name), and moreover, obey all of my words to the letter. Now divest yourself of the image and name of the goddess let the image and name of Hera return to Hera, and belong to Hera alone.

*The leader lays hands on the sufferer.*

Leader: The light of the lady dwell upon you. The light of the highest heavens light your path and guard you safe. Peace be between you and Hera, and may she answer you on the day that you call.

All: Io Hera!

Aftercare and Clean Up — The thought form, by this point, has been dealt with, but the energies released from it still linger.

At this point, the Christian liturgy has us reading gospels and saying traditional prayers.

The demon, itself, has been removed from the person, but now the roads that the energies might use to get back into the body must be sealed. The energies must also be driven from the space. Several exorcisms are read.

For our purposes, I’ve scaled it back.

Leader: (Anointing the left eye with khernips): Hekas esti O bebeloi

All: Apotrepete Kakon!

Leader:(Anointing the right eye with khernips) Hekas esti O bebeloi

All: Apotrepete Kakon!

Leader:(Anointing the left ear with khernips) Hekas esti O bebeloi

All: Apotrepete Kakon!

Leader:(Anointing the right ear with khernips) Hekas esti O bebeloi

All: Apotrepete Kakon!

Leader:(Anointing the lips with khernips) Hekas esti O bebeloi

All: Apotrepete Kakon!

Leader:(Anointing the heart with khernips) Hekas esti O bebeloi

All: Apotrepete Kakon!

Leader: (sprinkling around the person) I cast out the spirits of anger, confusion, jealousy and hatred in the name of Hera. Depart from this person (mortal), and this house, upon which her names are called.

Leader: In the name of Hera Basileia (sprinkles)

All: Depart

Leader: In the name of Hera Akraia (sprinkles)

All: Depart

Leader: In the name of Hera Hyperkheiria (sprinkles)

All: Depart

Leader: In the name of Hera Kourotrophos (sprinkles)

All: Depart

Leader: In the name of Hera Teleia (sprinkles)

All: Depart

Leader: Depart, spirits of anger, confusion, jealousy and hatred and may the Grace of the Goddess shine in the place of your darkness.

Obviously, this is just a starting place. I think this should probably occur within the framework of a libation ceremony, or in the case of a more esoteric group of people, the standard circle-casting, or lodge opening that the group is accustomed to using for intensive magical work.