Protection Prayers
to ward off evil or demonic forces or entities, protection prayers are recited. These prayers are not necessarily considered to remove demons that are already present. Instead, they are meant to prevent demonic entities from entering into or otherwise influencing a person, home, property, or object.
Paranormal investigators and professional exorcists often use the repetitive recitation of protection prayers as a chant to shield themselves from harm or fear whenever engaging malevolent spirits or demons. Since demons cannot really be destroyed, so to speak, but only banished from one individual or space to another, these prayers also prevent demons from “jumping.”
When demons jump, they shift from a currently possessed individual or space to a new one. Demons have been known to do this in order to temporarily fool exorcists into believing they have successfully cast them out, when in fact the targeted demons have only moved to a new space. In extreme cases, when serious mistakes are made by an exorcist, demons have even been known to attempt jumping from the possessed person or space to the body of the acting exorcist. Reciting prayers of protection can offer a protective shield against the demon being engaged.
The Circle of Light
The “Circle of Light” prayer is a very good, spiritually universal, nondenominational protection prayer. Sometimes, this prayer is recited after lighting a blessed (or just a normal) candle. The individual, before reciting the prayer, first envisions that he or she is completely surrounded by a strong circle of protective light.
Some alternate versions of the prayer are available (some only recite the first four or five lines), but the majority of them are similar to the following:
The light of God surrounds us (me).
The love of God enfolds us (me).
The power of God protects us (me).
The presence of God watches over us (me).
Wherever we are (I am), God is.
And all is well.
The Prayer to the Archangel Michael
One of the most powerful prayers of protection against demonic forces is the “Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel” (for more on Michael and other archangels, see our Quick Guide Angels 101: The Seven Archangels of the Throne). There are several known alternate versions of this prayer. The longest version is also the original, which Pope Leo XIII issued and ordered to be used as a protective exorcism prayer against Satan and other demonic forces.
Three primary versions are most commonly used by today’s exorcists, mediums, and paranormal investigators. Those who regularly deal with demons and malevolent spirits usually memorize the shortest version and believe they gain strength when a group recites the prayer in unison. This short version is as follows:
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.
And do thou, Oh Prince of the Heavenly Host, by God’s power, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
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