Exorcist Fr. Dan Reehil
DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) – A priest is sending a public warning this Halloween season that Ouija boards and other attempts to contact the spirit world can be spiritually dangerous and should not be taken lightly.
Exorcist Fr. Dan Reehil of the diocese of Nashville sounded the alarm that acts of divination should not be viewed as innocent fun or harmless games.
“We too often forget that there is much more to this world than meets the eye,” he said. “Angels, demons, spirits and souls do exist, and they can have an impact on our life.”
He emphasized:
Demons lie and impersonate dead people,”. “When asking a board for information about a deceased person or a life decision, they are all too happy to embed themselves into your life. Using an Ouija board is inviting a demon into your life, whether the person has that intention or not.
Reehil is not the only exorcist-priest to warn that Ouija boards are not all fun and games.
Father Vincent Lampert, a prominent U.S. exorcist from the archdiocese of Indianapolis, sees using Ouija boards — and the rise in the popularity of other pagan activities — as among the factors contributing to the huge increase in the demand for exorcisms.
In a lecture about exorcism at St. Catharine Church in Columbus, Ohio, in 2017, he said,
So why are the Devil and demons getting so much attention today? The answer is that as people are turning away from God, and they’re turning towards those things associated with spiritism, satanism and magic practices. People today, especially young people, are intrigued by such things as divinations, fortune-telling, witchcraft, black magic, curses, spells, playing the Ouija board and so on.
“They may think that it’s all just fun and games and entertainment,” he added, “but in reality, they are dabbling with evil.”
Indeed Hasbro, an American company once famous for selling kid-friendly toys and games, sells a Ouija board game geared for children as young as 8 years old.
More recently, a new board game marketed as a “Christian” version of the Ouija board has been marketed under the name “The Holy Spirit Board.” It has been advertised as a way to help people talk directly to “our lord and savior Jesus Christ!”
In a recent interview, Fr. Ernesto Caro of the diocese of Monterey, Mexico, also an exorcist, criticized the Holy Spirit Board game as a “trap from the devil.”
A priest who has been preaching against practices of divination for years told Church Militant,
It’s just best practices to steer clear from all things related to the occult. All forms of divination, even the most seemingly benign forms like the Ouija Board game, are better left in the box. There are many written accounts of evil spirits reeking [sic] havoc in a family after the kids invite evil spirits into their home.
“Demons will masquerade as departed loved ones as a means of gaining possession of the séance participants,” he warned, echoing Reehil.
Using the Ouji board and resorting to other forms of divination is also a sin and against the teaching of the Church. The catechism clearly states,
All forms of divination are to be rejected … . Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
“Stay away from all forms of occult practices — and stay close to God,” Reehil urges.