What Former Occultists Want Catholic Men to Understand

The occult is alive and well in our world today.

Let that sink in.

We accept that the world bombards us with too much, so we dismiss unpleasant images, languages, music, and art. We accept that we’re exposed to the very things we’d prefer to avoid. We learn to ignore the evil we see.

As a result, we overlook the occult among us. Its presence is simply the status quo. We shrug our shoulders and say, “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Some people are at peace with that. They present it to God for Him to deal with.

Of course, we ultimately let God take care of the salvation of souls. However, we are members of His Church. That means God has, to an extent, entrusted the salvation of souls to us.

In his great encyclical “Mystici Corporis Christi,” Pope Pius XII explained that Christ chose to establish His Church, and arrange our incorporation into it, in such a way that He now depends on us and on our spiritual works in order for souls to obtain the graces necessary to be converted and saved.

The Holy Father explained:

“But when those graces come to be distributed, not only does He share this work of sanctification with His Church, but He wills that in some way it be due to her action. This is a deep mystery, and an inexhaustible subject of meditation, that the salvation of many depends on the prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ offer for this intention and on the cooperation of pastors of souls and of the faithful, especially of fathers and mothers of families, a cooperation which they must offer to our Divine Savior as though they were His associates.” (emphases added)

Thus, we cannot ignore the rise of the occult.

Our Lord has called us to cooperate in His work of salvation. Without the torrential flow of grace from a vibrant, penitential, and devout Church, mankind is returning to paganism. Yet the Church is gravely weak. As the Light of the World, the Church has allowed itself to be hidden like a lamp under a bushel basket (Matt 5:15), and mankind has grown comfortable in the darkness.

Pope Leo XIII said the Incarnation brought a battle into the world between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Satan. When one wins, the other diminishes. Today, the devil believes he’s in the midst of triumph. He parades his minions proudly through the streets.

Former occultists are sounding the alarm.

It was the weak Church, they tell us, which partly led them into the occult. But it was the strong remnant Church, they say, which helped them out of the occult.

Ultimately, the occult includes all efforts to push God away and place ourselves on the throne that He properly occupies, creating our own version of realities like sin, truth, and power. The temptation to pride and glory, power and control, pleasure and riches, which have always been secretly whispered into our minds, are presented now as accessible and attainable through occult rituals, esoteric knowledge, and the sheer power of the human will, with the promise of turning these dark desires into realities.

Former occultists want you to see this. Having been in that dark world as long and as deeply as they were, they can’t unsee its presence in our culture.

Today, the devil offers tangible ways for us to turn ourselves into gods, channel and master hidden forces and energies, and commune with spirits to get fortune and power. “Metaphysical supply stores,” which sell all sorts of occult paraphernalia, are popping up in almost every town in the country. The number of occult books is skyrocketing, and mainstream bookstores put these front and center along with sage bundles and crystals.

The online world is exploding with easy access to occult knowledge and virtual covens. Some of the most popular trends on social media are related to witchcraft. Witches have swarmed YouTube and boast of successful channels with up to two hundred thousand, sometimes four hundred thousand, subscribers.

Nearly three quarters of American citizens (including many who call themselves Christians) hold some sort of New Age belief. Apostatizing Christian groups are producing more unsatisfied wandering souls as the occult gains popularity, drawing in new converts. Some areas of the country have more covens than Catholic schools and parishes.

Satan’s aggressiveness gives exorcists real cause for concern. They’re overwhelmed with the number of people fleeing the occult and seeking their help. To grow up in a world that is actively pagan, with only the remnants of a dying Christianity, all while being inundated by immorality and Satanic views of man and life itself, is more than enough to damage a person early in life and bait them into the devil’s counterfeit religion for an exciting and esoteric cure for despair.

Therefore, we must take up our weapons and armor.

The Holy Spirit, through St. Paul, commanded us to “put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil… that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Taking the shield of faith…the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:11,13,16,17).

The weapons Our Lord places in our hands are many. But they can only be wielded by those in whom He has made His dwelling.

So we must pray more every day. We must spend more time in focused, faithful conversation with God. We must be alert to secret pride within us, and crucify it immediately with penance and acts of humility. We must block out the evil that bombards us by steeping ourselves in sacred wisdom, sacred images, and sacred chant. We must trade our bedroom slippers for the rough boots of spiritual trench warfare.

More and more Christians are seeing how clearly we are in a spiritual war. It manifests itself in our streets, both in occult activity and in the number of souls who have been deceived by occult morality and philosophy. People are being destroyed by the evils we seek to ignore.

We are lambs among wolves, but in our midst is the Lamb of God and the Shepherd of our souls. If we are called upon to shed our blood in our perseverance in the battle, praise God. For our blood will be mingled with that of Christ our Divine Brother, the Lamb once slain who now stands in Victory (Eph. 5:6).

Secure your soul this day. The Lord will give you, His faithful servant, the fortitude to defeat evil.

Charles D. Fraune was the founding Theology teacher of Christ the King Catholic High School in Huntersville, NC and was a Theology teacher there for ten years. He now works full-time with his Slaying Dragons Apostolate, writing and researching on topics related to spiritual warfare. He has a Master of Arts in Theology from the Christendom College Graduate School, as well as an Advanced Apostolic Catechetical Diploma. He is the author of Come Away By Yourselves, a guide to prayer for busy Catholics, Swords and Shadows: Navigating Youth Amidst the Wiles of Satan, and the international best-selling spiritual warfare book Slaying Dragons: What Exorcists See & What We Should Know (also in Spanish). He has also completed a much-requested study guide to Slaying Dragons that serves as a companion book and spiritual warfare manual, called Slaying Dragons – Prepare for Battle: Applying the Wisdom of Exorcists to Your Spiritual Warfare. In March 2023, he completed his first book written after embarking on full-time work with the Slaying Dragons Apostolate, called The Rise of the Occult: What Exorcists & Former Occultists Want You To Know. He lives in the Diocese of Charlotte, NC with his wife and four young children.