Josephine McCarthy, The Exorcist’s Handbook 248 pages

Golem Media Berkeley CA (1 Mar 2010), 978-1933993911 (review & author interview
by Charlotte Rogers)
Like most magickal practitioners I am a voracious, almost greedy reader of esote
ric tomes. However I’ve noticed a recent lack of inspiring and interesting books i
n that field, and have turned to fiction and art for spiritual impetus and inspi
ration. Reading The Exorcists Handbook has revitalised my jaded sensibilities an
d renewed my faith in occult inclined reading material. I was initially unenthus
iastic at the thought of a manual on exorcism due to an innate suspicion of the
too easily handed out label of demonic possession, but once I started reading I
discovered a balanced, well written, and practical book.
Josephine McCarthy has been a magickal practitioner and exorcist for over 20 yea
rs. She has worked in a wide range of cultural and spiritual environments and Th
e Exorcists Handbook reflects this. The Handbook is respectful of all belief sys
tems but is not shy about slamming the foibles that manifest in the spiritual pr
actitioners themselves. It adheres to morals of a deeper plane orientated around
balance rather than the human construct of ‘good and evil’ and chronicles a widely
studied, multi cultural and experiential practice. Different types of possession
states are examined, how they come about and how they can be dealt with.
As McCarthy points out accessibility of global travel and a dissemination of var
ious spiritual traditions has exponentially increased the frequency of encounter
ing worlds and beings that our genealogy would not have previously exposed us to
and which we are not fully equipped to deal with. Angels, demons, prarasites, f
aeries and curses; they are all mentioned along with health warnings, experience
s and practical exorcism techniques and much wry humour.
Usually I shudder at suggested visualisation exercises, but McCarthy’s are very, v
ery good and will, I suspect, create effect simply in the reading let alone the
actual doing. Mention is made of magickal groups and individuals with dodgy agen
das and power orientated focus, and there is also an examination of physical eff
ects of magickal practice (there is one of the best explanations for large weigh
t gain that occurs in some occultists, such as Dion Fortune, that I’ve ever come a
cross).
Whilst my own practice isn’t as learned in Ritual and Qabalistic lore I relate ver
y much to the way she sees and what she sees and the handbook did give me some i
nsight into some of the consequences of my more chaotic magickal experiments!
I believe this book is an essential for every serious magickal practitioner’s book
case. This is not because we should, gods forbid, all become exorcists. Rather i
t is so we can recognise and deal with, in educated and compassionate terms, man
ifestations that modern spirituality and society has forgotten how to cope with.
I was so enthusiastic about The Exorcists Handbook that I contacted the author,
Josephine McCarthy to talk further.
Charlotte: I suspect the obvious first question is how and why did you become an
exorcist? >>>>>>
Josephine: I was sort of backed into it without realising. It’s not my whole magic
al identity, I spent many years teaching intensively, training priests/priestess
es, writing and doing various inner service jobs as well as being an exorcist.
So the work of an exorcist, for me, is only a part of who I am and what I do (o
r did). I began learning the basics of that line of work as a teenager. It was o
ne of the first paths I walked magically. I learned how to dismantle Ugandan and
Kenyan curses, and deal with straight forward hauntings. I made a lot of mistak
es and got slapped down a lot. I came up against my first biggy in my late twe
nties which scared the shit out of me. It was a ‘demonic type being that had been
 sent to attack someone and I got in the crossfire. Learned a lot from that one!
! I focused more on this line of work in my late thirties and early to mid forti
es.

Charlotte: Is having a calling for this sort of spiritual work similar to say Sh
amanism or Voudon where if you don’t follow said calling things ‘go wrong’>>>>>>>
Josephine: Nope, you always have a choice, always. Its dangerous stuff and not t
o be taken lightly and it is a very difficult path to walk down, and a path that
will rip you up one way or another. No one ever comes away from this line of wo
rk without scars. That is why it is a limited call of service.
Charlotte: What inspired you to write a book about your experiences? >>>>
Josephine: I wrote the book because I had quit working as an exorcist (my time w
as up) and I was sick to death of mopping up people who made silly mistakes. I w
as also appalled at the level of ignorance out there.
Charlotte: You did mention in the handbook an inevitable burn out. How does this
manifest? >>>>
Josephine: As burnout....... :) You accumulate too many injuries, both outer and
inner; your energy gets stretched like chewing gum and doesn t go back into pla
ce properly anymore. It’s time to pull out from active duty once the energy stores
are not renewing themselves and old injuries flare every time you work. I have
recently quit, fully burned out. I did a long stint but now my body says no more
.
Charlotte: Did your attitude towards your spirituality and its practical applica
tions change as/when your children grew up. >>>>>
Josephine: Yeah, I didn t feel so guilty about duct taping them to the wall as t
hey grew older. Attitudes and understandings should be constantly changing and e
volving, and having kids does have a tendency to speed that all up. Once the nes
t was empty (phew) it was a lot easier to take on the really big jobs.
Charlotte: I’m not sure about your age but I’m going to make a guess and ask anyway;
did menopause affect your spiritual work? >>>>
Josephine: Lol, I’m not there yet! I’m 48 this year and still bleeding like a pig. I
have noticed major drops in my oestrogen, although it hasn t affected my cycle
yet. The drop has chilled me out a lot more and I tend not to be so Kali these
days (my fellow magical workers breathe a huge sigh of relief).I would pause th
ese days before ripping someone’s throat out (metaphorically, of course), but just
pause mind you.
Charlotte: Regarding this Kali aspect of yourself. Do you think this um...feisty
...side to your persona stood you in good stead during your work as an exorcist?
>>>>
Josephine: In one way, yes. Beings sometimes thinks twice when faced by a raging
hormonal very pissed off red-headed Yorkshire woman who has just about had ENOU
GH for one day. The down side was in a Kali temper, I have often gotten very pis
sed off with beings and fronted them up, which resulted in me being squashed ver
y quickly and painfully. Temper and exorcism do not mix, it’s too easy to make mis
takes, misjudge a situation and your own ability and the power of the being you
are dealing with.
Mixing a Kali personality with straight talking is also not always good. It ofte
n leads to arrogance which is a painful fall to take. but the fighting personali
ty, when tempered by common sense can be very useful. If you are easily intimida
ted, then exorcism is the wrong line to be in. I think my various ex husbands (a
littered path of broken bodies) have considered forming a surviving Kali suppor
t group.
Charlotte: Some would consider that mankind has degenerated and is going through
Kali Yug, or an approach to the ‘end of days’ or perhaps humanity has always been l
ike this but only recently has it been highlighted by media coverage. Do you bel
ieve the otherworlds reflect the earthly world, and if so have they changed in t
he last decades? >>>>>>>
Josephine: Mankind has been degenerating, right from day one. We are a stupid de
generate species in general. End of days??? Ha! Oh please, if only....... what a
load of bollocks! Yes there are major changes going on. Yes it is all speeding
up. We are going through the natural cycle of humanity, boom and bust, civilisat
ion and primitive, but it always happens slowly, like a slow boil. I have seen a
great deal of degeneration in my time, but then, most observant people througho
ut time have had that feeling too. Those who think that it is all going down the
toilet in 2012 are complete idiots; too many films and not enough education.
Charlotte: In your book you do mention ancient demonic beings that express thro
ugh society, government landmass or large groups of people and can manoeuvre l
arge amounts of people to behave in extreme ways’. Has this demonic expression rem
ained consistent over time or is it in a constant flux, and if that is the case
does it synchronise with humanity s changes? >>>>>>
Josephine: Jeez, this could be a book all on itself. The beings we are talking a
bout are a part of nature, a part of the whole balancing act. We began to look a
t them as named personalities when we stopped fully understanding their power an
d begin wanting to control them. These beings facilitate degeneration and destru
ction. We need that; we need the breaking down, but we do not do it consciously
or willingly as a culture, which creates imbalance. Such imbalance creates an in
ner fragmentation or weakness in the collective inner immune system of a culture
for want of a better description and when things go out of
balance and get weak, then the invaders roll in. It is what we depict in the Tar
ot as The Tower. The demonic being itself is usually a hive consciousness and it
spreads itself out through the population, filling up the cracks and fuelling t
he fires. Certain astrological patterns are more favourable for their action, so
an exorcist can sometimes get fair warning of what is coming by looking at the
larger transits. Yes they do tie in with humanity s changes, but whether or not
they cause it or are simply attracted by it I do not know. There does seem to be
tides and personally I think as a culture degenerates, the doors are easier pus
h open and then beings cascade into our lives and worlds.
Charlotte: You mentioned in The Exorcists Handbook that you found disappointing
changes within the magickal community when you returned to England after living
in the USA. Could you elaborate on this? >>>>>>
Josephine: Well, let’s see how many people I can piss off in a paragraph. What I f
ound when I came back was groups still doing the same work they were doing when
I left 11 years earlier. Groups who were supposed to be fully contacted service
lodges had become trite non contacted clubs and publishing machines. There were
loads of experts who had popped up who were so young they stilled smelled of p
ee, and then there is the academic lot....ahahahahaaaaa....omg... yes, very narr
ow, all theory, very little true practical experience, fragile egos and of cours
e the long leather coats.... within 3 months of getting back I had eyeball strai
n from them rolling so much. The academic lot are the ones that seem to be the b
iggest joke; what is the point of bringing magic into academia if those doing it
haven t a bloody clue what it truly is that they are actually reading?? It just
 becomes a rehash of the fake history of... don t get me started..... Some of th
e lecturers are very interesting, but in general, well, blind leading the blind?
?There are of course, groups doing some bloody brilliant work, keeping a low pro
file and getting on with. Thank God. However they are fewer than they used to be
. I think the rise in popular occultism has really done the damage.
Charlotte: I have not asked many of the more obvious questions regarding The Exo
rcists Handbook as I want to encourage people to read it themselves, however bef
ore we finish our chat, what would you say to anyone contemplating becoming an E
xorcist?>>>>
Josephine: Jeez, you would have to be NUTS to become an exorcist. In reality, it
is not a long term prospect or occult career. It is more like a tour of duty th
at an adept is called to do for a period of time in their magickal life. Some do
5 yrs, others do 20, but it has to be balanced by other things. If you just do
exorcism, then you burn out real fast. Usually, people who are into demons/magic
really want to do that line of work but when they actually do the real work, th
ey find out that all those glam demons they read about, invoked etc while wearin
g their long black leather clothes, are not real. It doesn t work that way; the
real beings are far more complex, powerful and subtle. Most people cannot take t
hat reality, they would prefer to live in fantasy that derived from 17th century
drama queen writers; it is easier and makes them feel more powerful. Thanks so
much for this Josephine that was as interesting refreshing and honest as I expec
ted. If there was more upfront dialogue like this in the magickal community I be
lieve things would definitely become more interesting and progressive!