>> The Switch
>> Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
>> The Other Guys
>> Salt
>> Inception
>> Cyrus
>> The Last Airbender
>> Grown Ups
>> Toy Story 3
>> The Human Centipede

Opening 9.10.10
>> Resident Evil: Afterlife (R) [trailer]
>> Bran Nue Dae (Limited) (Not Rated) [trailer]
>> Heartbreaker (Limited) (Not Rated) [trailer]
>> I'm Still Here (Limited) (Not Rated) [trailer]
>> Legendary (Limited) (PG-13) [trailer]
>> Lovely, Still (Limited) (PG) [trailer]
>> The Romantics (Limited) (PG-13)
>> The Virginity Hit (Limited) (R) [trailer]

Coming To DVD/Blu-Ray 9.7.10
>> Supernatural: The Complete Fifth Season [buy]
>> The Office: Season Six [buy]
>> Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season [buy]
>> Jillian Michaels: Shred-It With Weights [buy]
>> Criminal Minds: Fifth Season [buy]

Las Vegas: Satan Vacations Here
by Victoria Alexander
September 12, 2005

Mayoruna Poison Frog Ceremony, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Psychic Carol Pate, The Black Dahlia, The True Story of Anneliese Michel, and more...

Just A Reminder: According to the Mayan calendar, the world will end on December 21, 2012 (13.0.0.0.0 in the Long Count), at exactly 11:11 a.m. GMT. This date represents an extremely close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator (Equator of the Milky Way) and the Ecliptic (path of the Sun), what the ancient Maya recognized as the Sacred Tree. This is an event that has been coming to resonance very slowly over thousands and thousands of years.

We have 2,657 days or 7 years, 3 months and 9 days (excluding the end date) left. Or, if you are really want to keep count, 13,768 hours or 3,826,080 minutes. (timeanddate.com)

Mayoruna Poison Frog Ceremony. Since 2000 I have been going to the Peruvian Amazon every year to study with ayahuasqueros (a curandero who uses the ayahuasca medicine exclusively). I take Ayahuasca to enter the spirit reality. I have also taken Huachuma several times during a retreat in Machu Picchu. Since I am planning an ayahuasca retreat at Refugio Altiplano, I thought it would be a good opportunity to participate in the Mayoruna Poison Frog Ceremony in the Yavari Valley (which occupies the frontier of Peru with Brazil). However, here is an email I received from a trusted friend, medical doctor, KG.

“Bufotenin and other frog bufotoxins are really well known, and are being researched even now (as in the early 1970's at Harvard) for all kinds of medicinal properties. You probably also know that they are the stuff from which Zombies are believed to have been made! They are being thought to be maybe important in Parkinson's disease because they paralyze some pathways of great suffering in Parkinson's, and in Alzheimer's because they cause folks to pass out and then remember a lot of extraneous old dates and other facts for a short while when they wake up. Not much good for short-term memory, however. If you want, I can send you the molecular structure of the frog poison they are using in Mayoruna ceremonies.

“Don't even THINK of going near the stuff. Many folks die. Others indeed become "zombies" and many get purged so badly they have cardiac failure. The strong young guys and gals in the pictures on the web site also explain other psycho-sexual messages...of some distaste to me, frankly.”

My husband’s childhood friend joined me in Peru one year for a series of ayahuasca ceremonies. He has Parkinson’s and I suggested that this year we participate in the Mayoruna Ceremony. (He married the retreat’s 35-year old cook and now has Peruvian citizenship and a home in Iquitos.) Whether he takes my friend’s warning or not, we will have to see.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I’ve just finished reading “An Exorcist Tells His Story” by renowned chief exorcist of Rome, Gabriele Amorth. Fr. Amorth accounts many experiences in his ministry as an exorcist “doing battle with Satan to relieve the great suffering of many people in the grip of evil.” I believe in demons and the effectiveness of exorcism ever since I read the harrowing “Hostage To The Devil” by Malachi Martin. Martin’s book will make you believe Americans are walking around possessed by real demons.

Jesus was an exorcist (Luke 13:11-12; Mark 9:17-27) who empowered his apostles to cast out demons: “In my name they will cast out demons.” (Mark 16-17). Therefore, the Catholic Church cannot deny that Satan does possess people and priests can cast out demons. The tradition of exorcism goes right back to the Church’s founder.

Fr. Amorth addresses the exorcism of Annelise [sp] Michel* of Klingenberg, Germany. Fr. Amorth mentions a book, “Annelise Michel” by Kasper Bullinger, that exonerates the two exorcists. Fr. Amorth writes: “[The book] demonstrated that both the bishop who had authorized the exorcisms and the two priests had acted with the utmost propriety. The book also indicated the cause of the girl’s death, which was completely independent from the administration and reception of the sacramental. In any case, this event contributed to the reluctance of priests to accept appointments as exorcists.”

The exorcism of Anneliese Michel is the basis for the film, “The Exorcism of Emily Rose.”

In 1990-91 I spent a considerable amount of time with Arkansas psychic Carol Pate, who “depossessed” hundreds of people suffering from demonic possession. I have Carol’s manual “New Revelations: A New Age Christian Depossession Manual” and attended several of her private and public workshops. I recently saw Carol on Courttv’s “Psychic Detectives.” I was never “depossessed” by Carol, choosing instead to keep my demons who like going to movies with me.

In my review of “Emily Rose”, I said I would delve into my vast library of over 20 demonic possession books, for recommendations for those interested in the subject and would give a more thorough account of the various forms of demonic possession from Fr. Amorth’s book in this column.

There are quite a few books I consider textbooks. I have read these books several times: “Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession” by I. M. Lewis; “Demon Possession” by John L. Nevius; and “Possession and Exorcism: Among Primitive Races, In Antiquity, The Middle Ages, and Modern Times” by Traugott K. Oesterreich.

Fr. Amorth classifies two types of possession: “Ordinary Activity” and “Extraordinary Activity.” Ordinary Activity is temptation that is the most common activity of the demons, and it is directed against all men. Extraordinary Activity has six different subdivisions: (1) External physical pain caused by Satan (common among saints and does not require an exorcism); (2) Demonic possession (occurs when Satan takes full possession of the body but not the soul); (3) Diabolical Oppression (causes very serious to mild illness, like Job and St. Paul); (4) Diabolic Obsession (the obsessed person lives in a perpetual state of prostration, desperation, and attempts at suicide; (5) Diabolic Infestation (Infestations affect houses, things, or animals); and (6) Diabolical Subjugation, or Dependence (voluntarily submitting to Satan. The two most common forms of dependence are the blood pact with the devil and the consecration to Satan).

Which one explains your behavior?

The Black Dahlia. I found James Ellroy’s “The Black Dahlia” at the West Sahara Library for one dollar. Don’t tell Ellroy! I met Ellroy at the 2004 CineVegas International Film Festival. “The Black Dahlia” is being made into a movie starring Josh Hartnett as cop Bucky Bleichert, Aaron Eckhart as his partner Lee Blanchard, Hillary Swank as Bucky’s lesbian girlfriend Madeleine, and Scarlett Johannson as Blanchard’s girlfriend. Brian De Palma is directing. I decided it was the perfect time to read the famous crime novel. Here is my account of meeting James Ellroy (The entire article is on FilmsInReview.com).

“Ellroy began his informal lounge talk by saying “Las Vegas: Come on vacation. Go home on probation." I'm a new fan of the man James Ellroy. He doesn't care about fans because he just wants to know how many of his books YOU BOUGHT. He hates talking about L.A. CONFIDENTIAL ("Did you f**king buy the book?," Ellroy proudly recalled telling a sweet old lady at a book signing). The promise to dish about Dana Delaney never came though. Novelist Bruce Wagner (I'm no elitist - you decide - but Wagner did use the phrases "sisyphian act" and "poetic engine" in discussing Ellroy) sat down at The Lounge at The Palms for a "lively discussion" with his friend Ellroy.

“After viewing Showtime's documentary on Ellroy's mother's brutal death and Ellroy's table conversations with detectives, I knew what to expect from him. He didn't disappoint me. Men of a certain age always brag about oral sex. And, with disgust, what Ellroy says is what his readers really want to know: Is Russell Crowe really an asshole? Is Leo gay? His book, “The Black Dahlia,” will be made into an over 100 million dollar budgeted film by director Brian DiPalma. To Ellroy's frustration, cute Josh Hartnett stars.”

“The Black Dahlia” takes place in Los Angeles in the 40s. Ellroy uses a lot of period slang. Ellroy did not write the screenplay and I wonder how much of the book can be translated into a movie. Ellroy is pretty rough on Elizabeth Short. For Elroy, Short was a drifter, part-time prostitute, habitual liar, and made a porn film. She even fooled around with girls. No one has anything nice to say about The Black Dahlia. Here in America, all murder victims are immediately saints. We still believe in the ancient superstition, “Don’t Speak Ill Of The Dead” because we know they are lurking around listening.

Ellroy weaves such a fascinating tale, I couldn’t put the book down even with all the bad 40s cop lingo. He solves the “Who Killed The Black Dahlia” mystery twisting and turning each character so that there aren’t any good people in the story – only cheats, liars, and accomplices. But will the screenplay be true to the book? In 2004, Ellroy was apparently already disgruntled, though I am sure he got a nice paycheck and a few back-end points. Can de Palma get a complex performance out of Hartnett? Up until now Hartnett has only given us dopey-look performances. Because he must be a powerful somebody’s favorite boy, we hope he took some acting lessons and aced the audition.

Similar to Jack The Ripper, the mutilation of Elizabeth Short could only have been the work of a clever, seriously deranged man. And remember, JTR wasn’t caught either! This was not Short’s killer’s first time at the rodeo. How many torturer/extreme mutilators were walking around L.A. in the 40s? (Photo of Elizabeth Short’s crime scene from the fantastic website bethshort.com. Warning: Gruesome photos of the crime scene and horrific close-up autopsy photos are posted on bethshort.com.)

Jennifer Aniston’s Next Embarrassment. First, the wounded wife gets dumped by America’s reigning sex god for America’s reigning sex siren. Rumors were floating around saying the “sex god” wanted to start a family - he’s 41, for God’s sake! – and she didn’t. Instead, 36-year old Aniston wanted to concentrate on a film career. Her first movie, “Rumor Has It,” was supposed to be a spring 2005 release, but is now scheduled for Christmas Day. The Industry believes a delay like this means the film is a bomb. Aniston has 7 films listed on IMDB.com (through 2007): 2 completed, 2 in post-production, and 3 announced. Aniston’s path to movie stardom is off to a rocky start.

*From “The Real Emily Rose” (fotofetch.com). “In 1974 Pastor Ernst Alt requested a permit to perform the exorcism from the Bishop of Wurzburg on Anneliese. The request was rejected, and a recommendation soon followed saying that Anneliese should live even more of a religious lifestyle in order to find peace. The attacks did not diminish, and her behavior become more irratic. At her parents house in Klingenberg, she insulted, beat, and began biting the other members of her family. She refused to eat because the demons would not allow it. Anneliese slept on the stone floor, ate spiders, flies, and coal, and even began drinking her own urine. She could be heard screaming throughout the house for hours while breaking crucifixes, destroying paintings of Jesus, and pulling apart rosaries. Anneliese began committing acts of self-mutilation at this time, and the act of tearing off her clothes and urinating on the floor became commonplace.

“After making an exact verification of the possession in September 1975, the Bishop of Wurzburg, Josef Stangl, assigned Father Arnold Renz and Pastor Ernst Alt with the order to perform "The Great Exorcism" on Anneliese. It was determined that Anneliese must be saved from the possession by several demons, including Lucifer, Judas Iscariot, Nero, Cain, Hitler, and Fleischmann, a disgraced Frankish Priest from the 16th century, and some other damned souls which had manifested through her. From September '75 until July '76, one or two exorcism sessions were held each week. Anneliese's attacks were sometimes so strong that she would have to be held down by 3 men, or even chained up. Returning to school, Anneliese would more often find herself paralyzed and falling unconscious than before. The exorcism continued over many months, always with the same prayers and incantations. For several weeks, Anneliese denied all food. Her knees ruptured due to the 600 genuflections she performed obsessively during the daily exorcism. Over 40 audio tapes recorded the process, in order to preserve the details.

“The last day of the Exorcism Rite was on June 30th, 1976, and Anneliese was suffering at this point from Pneumonia. She was also totally emaciated, and running a high fever. Exhausted and unable to physically perform the genuflections herself, her parents stood in and helped carry her through the motions. "Beg for Absolution" is the last statement Anneliese made to the exorcists. To her mother, she said, "Mother, I'm afraid." bizarre facts. Anneliese's parents and the two exorcists were accused of negligent homocide. The "Klingenberg Case" would be decided upon two questions: What caused the death of Anneliese Michel, and who was responsible?

“According the forensic evidence, "Anneliese starved to death". Specialists claimed that if the accused would have begun with forced feeding one week before her death, Anneliese's life would have been saved. One of her sisters told the court that Anneliese did not want to go to a mental home where she would be sedated and forced to eat. The exorcists tried to prove the presence of the demons, playing taped recordings of strange dialogues like that of two demons arguing about which one of them would have to leave Anneliese's body first. One of the demons called himself Hitler, and spoke with a Frankish accent (Hitler was born in Austria). Not one of those present during the exorcism ever had a doubt about the authenticity of the presence of these demons.

“The psychiatrists, whom had been ordered to testify by the court, spoke about the "Doctrinaire Induction". They said that the priests had provided Anneliese with the contents of her psychotic behavior. Consequentially, they claimed, she later accepted her behavior as a form of demonic possession. They also offered that Anneliese's unsettled sexual development, along with her diagnosed Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, had influenced the psychosis.

“Anneliese's parents, as well as the exorcists, were found guilty of manslaughter resulting from negligence and omitting first aid. They were sentenced to 6 months in jail and probation. A commission of the German Bishop-Conference later declared that Anneliese Michel was not possessed; however, this did not keep believers from supporting her struggles, and it was because so many believed in her that Anneliese's body did not find peace with death. Her corpse was exhumed eleven and a half years after her burial, only to confirm that it had decayed as would have been expected under normal circumstances [The fast track to sainthood is physical incorruptibility]. Today, her grave remains a place of pilgrimage for rosary-praying and for those who believe that Anneliese Michel bravely fought the devil.”

Remember the good old days when political protest used to be self-immolation? Now it’s terrorist suicide bombers.

If you would like to contact me about this column, or be included on my private distribution list for a weekly reminder, just email me at Masauu@aol.com.

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