• "Invisible creations" and Graven images infestation
    By The Contemplative Bard
    July 11, 2025

    Let us begin our discussion by citing the first paragraph of the Creed that Christians from almost all tradition believe in:

    "The Nicene Creed

    I believe in one God,
    the Father almighty,
    maker of heaven and earth,
    of all things visible and invisible."


    G-d made invisible creatures as well, not only those we see with our physical eyes. I believe that at this modern age, they don't simply refer to the oxygen (air) we breathe in or the micro-organisms (bacteria & viruses) we can't see with the naked eyes. These can already be seen with the use of powerful electron microscopes in laboratory settings.

    I mean to say other creations or living beings like us that don't have visible physical bodies.

    I will try to enumerate what could be included in "all things invisible" that the Creed maybe alluding to:

    1. G-d himself is unseen or invisible . G-d is a Great Spirit and cannot be seen (John 4:24; John 1:18; 1 John 4:12). He had shown himself to Moses through a Sacred fire (burning bush). And the anthropomorphization of G-d as an old bearded man in literature is just an expression of creative freedom by artists who painted or sculpted G-d that way. But tbh, we don't really know what G-d is. Meister Eckhart said "I am good, but G-d is not good!" He only meant to say, we can't put human attributes to the stature and greatness of G-d. G-d is simply beyond our conception and understanding. Even though he was a Dominican priest, he was accused of heresy - a fate of those who can think independently during the medieval era.

    2. The glorified body of the Master Jesus appears to be invisible too (and can be made visible if he wishes to). The Resurrection narrative told us of the empty tomb after the 3rd day of his crucifixion. There were guards outside and he just disappeared from inside the tomb. And the shroud or linen that covered him remained in the tomb. He also transformed the physical atoms of his body into a glorified or invisible version of it, because no body was ever found inside the tomb.

    3. Another group of invisible beings that G-d created are the Angels or Spiritual Beings that serve G-d and act as his messengers throughout the universe and to humanity. These are mentioned both in the New and Old Testament many times (Hebrews 1:14; Psalm 91:11; Matthew 1:20, 2:13, 2:19, 13:41, 24:31, 25:31, 18:10, 22:30; Luke 1:11-19; Acts 12:7-11; Matthew 22:30; Revelation 5:11-12). The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) also affirms this reality in para.328-336. The 'Angelic Kingdom' is hierarchical in nature, and the Christ being its head or CEO. There are Archangels (supervisors) and rank and file angels, sub-angels (builders of matter), etc. (CCC 342). In Eastern spiritual traditions, they are called the 'Devachanic kingdom".

    4. Fallen Angels are those being who once were Angels who served G-d, but decided to reject him, his Divine Will and his commandments to be of service to others. They loved and served themselves too much. They are called by various names, such as satan, devil, or demons. (CCC 391-395; Genesis 3:14–15; Job 1:12; John 8:44; Matthew 8:28-34; Ephesians 6:10 - 12; Revelation 12:7 - 12)

    5. Invisible dimensions or spiritual realms are probably what the Master Jesus was referring to when he said that in his Father's house there are many mansions. G-d is spirit so definitely it cannot pertain to physical locations, mansions, or rooms (John 14:2).

    6. Humans do have an invisible and immortal soul integrated within the physical body. At the time of death, the soul separates from the body (CCC 362-367). Although I find the Church teachings on this to be vague. If humans are made in the image and likeness of G-d, then it should share its Trinitarian attribute. St. Paul is right that humans are trinitarian too consisting of body, soul, and spirit (Thessalonians 5:23).

    Based on my personal experience, they are not really inseparable as the soul can be separated from the body with full consciousness, especially during near death experiences (NDEs). The soul is said to be following the form of the body (CCC 365), therefore we could infer the accuracy contained in the teachings in Eastern spiritual traditions that there are organs too within the soul body that is the counterpart of the physical body. In the east, the counterpart of the bodily organs in the soul are the chakras, and the nerves and blood vessels are the nadis and meridians.

    The Hebrew mystical tradition also speaks of a complex human being consisting of both physical and invisible parts: the physical body (Guf) and the invisible components are the energy body (Tzelem), emotional body (Nefesh), and the mental body (Ruach). They call the higher soul body as Neshamah. And the human spirit is Chayah.

    7. There is also such thing as the "Communion of Saints" which forms part of the invisible church or body of Christ. The Church Triumphant and Church Penitent are both not in the visible realms (CCC 771, 946-962). Although I believe the invisible church is much bigger and wider than the visible churches. The Lord Christ has saints and disciples that are not limited to the known visible spiritual traditions and churches that we know of. If G-d is the creator of the entire universe, he cannot be petty and be limited to a single spiritual tradition or church.

    8. There is a universal Divine Power or supernatural energy that permeats everything but invisible to the human eyes. The Master Jesus used this to produce his healing miracles, cast out demons, and raise the dead back to life. In New Testament Greek, this is called "Dunamis" . In Eastern traditions, this is called "prana" or "chi". In Star Wars, this is called the "Force"! :-)

    9. Animals have the invisible spirit too since they are given G-d's breath of life (Genesis 1:30); hence, they should be treated ethically. St. Francis was said to talk to wild animals and they understood him. Anybody who has dogs or cats can attest that they have self-awareness; although they can't solve mathematical problems because they don't need yet those knowledge in their life. Their soul is still evolving to reach human levels and not made in the "image and likeness of G-d" at their moment of creation.

    10. There are also spirits in the natural world. They are neither good nor bad but they too praise G-d (Psalm 8, 104, 148). In native American spirituality, they give name to everything because all of nature is alive and filled with G-d's spirit. In a deliverance ministry, we take authority and pray to bind the spirits of air, fire, water, and earth or the ground, and the netherworlds so that they will be free from the influence of the fallen angels.

    11. Alien life or intelligent life in other planets appear to be invisible or non-existent simply because humanity has only travelled to the moon and its satellites observed only the planets in our solar system superficially. There are billions of planets, suns and galaxies out there, and G-d would be too petty to limit his intelligent living creations to one little planet called, "Earth". Extra-terrestrial life could either be visible or invisible, hence we cannot limit G-d's power and revelation. We believe they are not necessarily fallen angels. Not everyone who don't look like us are evil or bad. We could imagine the universe as like the "Cantina" in Star Wars Episode IV. It is vibrant with G-d's creations- intelligent beings in different forms, looks, and sizes, but equally G-d's children. Likewise, there are good and bad ones for sure.

    12. There are also invisible man-made or artificial spirits that are used in sorcery to bring harm to other people (Deuteronomy 18:10-12). In the Hebrew tradition, these artificial spirits are called "golem". Evil spirits or agents of fallen angels inhabit them to animate them and bring them power. Sometimes, sorcerers use nature spirits (dwarfs, gnomes, elves, goblins, etc.) and enslaved them to do their biddings (familiar spirits). In other traditions, they are also called "elementals" or "djinns" (or "genies" in the fairy tale, "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp").



    Prohibition on graven images

    G-d's commandment not to make any graven images or idols in the form that resembles anything on heaven or on earth that we shall bow down to or worship is not a mere suggestion (Exodus 20:1-5). It is a command for us to follow. Even if the materialist-empiricist Bible scholars are correct that the books are not factual or not really coming from a deity, but mere journals that people wrote in the past pertaining to their faith and experience of G-d, it is still significant why they consider creating and bowing down to graven images as displeasing to G-d. It means they had bad experiences or negative outcomes in doing it that's why they allude to it as being displeasing to their deity.

    There are 2 components to this commandment to make it displeasing to G-d: simply making images and idols is not, but making it an object of worship or bowing down to it at the same time is displeasing to G-d I think that aside from the Protestant tradition, the Orthodox tradition also got it right by just creating icons or 2-dimensional paintings of Divine or Biblical images that adorn their place of worship. They did not make them 3-D or sculptured.

    In the Roman Catholic tradition, life is more complicated. Christians were persecuted and the Church in Rome was just a convert after it made Christianity into a state religion. It had to deal with the dominant indigenous religion of their time. The Hellenistic tradition with their whole pantheon of gods, goddesses and demi-gods from Mt Olympus and the beautiful architecture and sculptures that their ancient artists created. And also the Cult of Mithra in Rome, that is the worship of the Solar deity (Sol Invictus). To be acceptable to the Roman masses, they have to inculturate many Christian doctrines and even festivities to that of the Roman culture. That is why many Catholic shrines were erected on ancient pagan sites in Europe and name them similarly. Even dates of festivities were inculturated with pagan holidays. The feast of the Roman solar god (Sol Invictus) became Christmas day (December 25th). Even in the present era it has become a habit. "Manitou-ba" an indigenous spiritual terminology meaning Great Spirit has become inculturized in Christianity as the "land of the Holy Spirit".

    In modern Catholic theology, even though not part of doctrine, the tolerance on the use of graven images in worship is called "popular piety". These are practices by the common people or the local culture that were inculturated into the faith, such as the veneration of relics & images, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the Stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, etc. that nourish the faith and bring people closer to G-d, and as long as it recognize the primacy of the Christian liturgy, scriptures, and sacraments (Congregation for Divine Worship, 2001).

    Although I wonder why a popular indigenous Roman feast, Bacchanalia, was never inculturated into the faith. This is the feast of Bacchus where the people do ecstatic and excessive dancing, drinking, eating (gluttony), and even group copulation. Why? Rightfully, because it goes contrary to scriptures, especially the 10 Commandments of G-d. I hope the same was done to the prohibition on graven images for worship because it is also a scriptural mandate in spite of it not being expedient. And possibly because its effect is very subtle due to the supernatural nature of the phenomenon; as most theologians embraced empiricism in their study of scriptures & doctrines. When I was in South East Asia, I was able to observe the homes of some people who practice sorcery to harm people, and I was amazed to notice that they always have sculptured religious images of the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno, Santo Entierro, or Santo Nino on their home altars where they do their magic.

    Practical Experiment I: Is your sculptured religious image infested by invisible spirits?

           1. If you have a personal shrine, or a personal altar at home where you do your prayers at home and it contains some sculptured religious images that resemble the human form or Biblical characters or saints, then this is the perfect subject to test and experiment on. (Plain crosses are usually clean but crucifixes with sculptured images are sometimes loaded) Do you offer flowers on your altar? Some people even put some food stuff as offering. In some Chinese resto, you can see a corner where they have a religious image, then there are food offerings on that corner. Same principle. Don't do this experiment in a Church, unless you get the approval of the pastor.

           2. Of particular interest are sculptured images made of organic materials, such as wood, raw rock or metal, natural fibers, and semi-precious gems. Ceramic, plastic, resin, or fiber glass or anything melted and manufactured are usually clean but you can try them too.

           3. If you have charisma or the Gift of Discernment of spirits, offer a prayer to invoke the Holy Spirit and tune in within as to what you feel about the sculptured image. The first message that came to your mind is accurate. Sometimes, you can see directly the spirit within the statue. Is it nature spirit, good spirit, a lesser angel, an evil spirit, or man-made spirit? How does it look like? Did it give you goose-pimples or fear? Sometimes the spirit will communicate to you once they notice that you are observing them directly. What does it say? Does it bully you to leave it alone? Does it tell you to offer the image some flowers or food or ask a wish that will be granted?

           4. If you don't have the charisma of Discernment or not sure about it, you can sensitize your palms. It can be made sensitive to feel invisible energies. There is nothing woo- woo or occult about this since if we are a Being consisting of a body and an invisible soul, then we have the capacity within us to feel the soul aspects of things because that is our nature. (Read https://christocentricmeditation.com/eucharistic_experiments.html ) After some practice, feel the sculptured image with your palms if you can feel an energy field around it. It is like when you are holding 2 magnets with your hands. The repulsive magnetic feeling. A feeling of warmth or cold or a 'staticky' feeling. Anything with a magnetic field is alive so you can conclude that it is infested or ensouled with an invisible spirit. I suggest that you pray first, in case the spirit becomes aggressive when it notices you are scanning them with your palms.

    You can also use a control group. Another sculptured image in your house that is not religious and is not placed on your altar, perhaps a figurine or anything. Scan or feel it too if it has a magnetic or energy field around it.

           5. This last experiment is for dummies. In case you don't believe in all the energy crap and charisma, try this instead. If you don't offer food on your home altar, find a friend that do and ask her permission that you taste the food. Or you try offering food on your sculptured image on the altar. Try a fruit or a bar of chocolate. Make sure it is of premium quality and not expired or rotten. Put a control group and put it far away from the altar. Taste it and take note of how it tastes. After about a week, taste the food you offered. Compare the taste between the two. Is the sweetness gone? Does it taste bland and the strong flavour gone? Where did the essence of the food or taste go? I think you know it intuitively deep within you. Something alive and feeding and invisible is inhabiting your sculpture. They feed on the energy of your food, flowers, your own bio-energy and emotion, and sadly, the food or energies of your prayer.

    Practical Experiment II: Experiment on how a sculptured image gets infested by spirits

    I'm a bit hesitant to share this experiment but I firmly believe that mere belief is debunkable, but experience is solid knowledge and can lead to a renewed mind or a new way of seeing the world. Priests and exorcists or anyone from a Deliverance ministry can do this too to turn your belief into solid knowledge. Remember to make this work, we will follow the formula in Exodus 20:1-5: graven or sculptured image in human form + doing some form of veneration or act of worship on it. So lets do this!

           1. Purchase a small doll or any figurine fresh from a store. Preferably, not a religious image but it should have a human form, but if you can't find any, then a religious image can be ok. It should be made of organic materials. When we experimented on this decades ago, my friend used a troll doll which was fashionable in the early 1990s. It has to be brand new from the factory or store and not used.

           2. Put it on a corner in your house where it will not be distracted, like on a table or altar. Not near your TV or Nintendo gaming screens.

           3. Give it a name and everyday, talk to it and offer it fresh flowers and some food. If you are adventurous, you can even try bowing down to it or kneeling in front of it when you give it food or flowers. Make sure to replace the food or flowers with a fresh one every 2 weeks. You can do a control group, like in experiment I above, so you can compare your findings.

           4. After about a month (or 40 days to be exact), do the food taste experiment or the palm scanning test to see if there is already an energetic or magnetic field surrounding the image.

           5. If it developed an energy field or the food you offered becomes tasteless, then you have proven to yourself graven images can be animated and infested by spirits.

    Practical Experiment III: How to remedy the problem of object infestation and how to dispose of your experimental object in Experiment II

    1. If you discovered that your religious relic or image at home is infested with spirits, don't go ballistic and act like a psycho mad-man and jack hammer all your religious images into pieces! :-)

    2. If it is a human being that is obsessed, oppressed, or possessed by a malevolent spirit, I would suggest that you go immediately to a Deliverance Ministry in a Charismatic group in your Church. If there are changes in behavior or voice or appearance, then go into your Diocese and inquire about their Exorcism Ministry. However, we are just dealing here with a sculptured religious image, so don't panic!

    3. Determine the nature of the spirit that is infesting your image by using the rule on Matthew 7:20, "By their fruits, you will know them". If you have the charisma of Discernment, you can know right away. But if you don't have, know the fruit through an honest self-examination.

    Self-examination to know the nature of the spirit in the image

           A. Are there always sicknesses or people who become ill in your household? Are you always besieged by a unexplainable "frequent bad luck", like, accidents, loss of property, unemployment, theft, fire, etc.? Do fights, strife, or hatred among family members always happen in your home? Are your pets avoiding your altar or do they howl facing your image, or do they sometimes become aggressive even if unprovoked (but make sure they didn't miss a rabies shot!)? If these things happen, consider the possibility of a malignant spirit infestation.

           B. If you are too happy and offered extra flowers or food to the sculptured image, it sometimes reciprocate even if you are not praying to the representation of the image (Saint), like giving you winnings in a minor lottery at work (like Bingo game, 50-50, or a raffle). But usually after some time, a bad luck happens to neutralize the windfall given to you. That is the rule of the universe: You don't get something for nothing! Only G-d can give us Grace through His mercy, even if we don't deserve it.

    There are times that we are oppressed by someone and we ill-wished that person, and the infesting spirit will give you your revenge. And of course, after sometime, it will get back to us 10X. Only G-d has the right to punish its creations and dispense justice in the universe.

    If the above things do happen, there is a possibility that a neutral nature spirit infested your sculptured image, that is neither good or bad. This is more common than malignant spirits. They just got attracted to organic materials that was sculpted and resembles a human being. Remember that even the fallen angels are envious of humans, which are created and special to G-d's eyes. Humans also have the Divine perfectability in them that we are capable of becoming Christ-like (Homo Deus); that's why all the spirits are envious of us and want to become like us. They are attracted to graven images that look human or anything divine, so they inhabit them in the hope that they can become humans too someday. And it is the reason why it was prohibited in the 10 Commandments to use such images in worship or in sacred places.

    Nature spirits are more common inhabitants, especially if the image was previously blessed by a priest. But we have to remember that the blessing potency also wanes through time or when there is too much sin or evil wrong doing in a place... it loses its potency and can still overrun by malignant and nature spirits. Even if they are neutral nature spirits, we can't welcome them in our homes because they can easily be overrun and controlled by fallen angels or malignant spirits or sorcerers who wish to attack us.

           C. No. Divine beings, Saints, Good spirits, Departed human souls, Angels and sub-angels will never infest or inhabit a sculptured graven image. Why? Because they are obedient to G-d's will and commandments!

    There are RARE instances that powerful sub-angels who have developed their own personal & independent will-power (the Angelic Kingdom is hierarchical and there are lesser Angels too) would inhabit a relic or religious image in a Church or church grounds. They would create apparent "miracles" like shedding tears or blood or would move or would emit floral scents to the faithful. They are not evil spirits but they think they are serving or pleasing G-d in that way to bring back the faith among the local community. They can pull it off and the faithful thinks they are miracles coming from the Saints, or the BVM, or from the Master Jesus or from G-d himself. I'm not really sure how they can pull it off inside a Church where the Holy Eucharist is regularly celebrated, so my logical conclusion is they are lesser Angels not affected by the power of the Eucharist. I firmly believe that they are just being tolerated by the Divine but G-d is not fully pleased because He won't manifest in such a manner and contradict his own commandments. I have seen one in a Church in Canada; the crucifix moved and it scared the h*ll out of me, but I'm not yet ready to discuss that publicly. I still can't understand until now how it survives the Church altar; my theory is too complicated.

    4. So if you discovered that your sculptured religious image is infested by a malignant spirit, I suggest doing the following things:

           a. Bring it to your Church and let the priest bless it once again. Scan with your palms once again if the energy field is gone, or do the food test.

           b. Let a Benedictine priest bless a St. Benedict medal and hang it around your image to restrain it from doing harm.

           c. If you are really paranoid about it, leave it to the Church and tell the priest that you are not comfortable in keeping it.

           d. If you are not too paranoid and you want to bring it home again, don't put it back on your home altar for religious purposes. Put it some other places or shelf in the house where you don't pray. Consider it as a mere decoration, and not a religious relic. Don't offer it any flowers or food. Their energy or spirit will dissipate or leave eventually when it is not getting religious or worshipful attention. But don't put it in storage or in the toilet or garage or the laundry room; if there is residual energy, it might resent you.

    5. If the figurine or sculptured image you purchased from the store from Experiment no. II has become infested, it has to be destroyed. That is the reason I suggested not to use a religious image so that you will not feel that you are disrespecting the saint or divine image that it represents. It is also not previously blessed so there is no guilt.

           a. Pray the prayer of St. Michael or any prayer of protection. Pray a prayer of protection for your pets too (cat or dog, etc.) and family members in your house.

           b. Ask the spirit politely to depart and thank him for being part of the experiment. Put a jar of water nearby the location of the image. Give him a day to move to the water. (Remember they are G-d's creation too and even if they are invisible, we don't have the right to take their life)

           c. After a day, get back to the jar, seal it with a cap and pray for the cover and the jar that St Michael seals it so no one escapes.

           d. Throw the water into the sea/ ocean or pour it out into soil or sand away from your house.

           e. Bring a box of sea salt or course salt into the Church and let a priest bless it. Include a ground frankincense or sandalwood incense and request the priest to bless it too. If he asks why, explain but be ready to be rebuked or ridiculed as a superstitious person. But pray that he won't ask why to make your life simple! :-) If he refuses, just ask for a small bottle of holy water.

           f. Submerge the image under the blessed salt for a few hours and expose the image to noontime sunlight for a few hours. Then bury the image with the salt. or Alternatively, incense or bathe the image with the smoke from the incense for several minutes, like you are roasting a pig. Then expose it to noontime sunlight, then bury the image and incense to the ground. Or third, cover the image with holy water on a container then expose to sunlight. Then bury to the ground.

    6 The best cure is prevention. Use icon or painting or framed posters for your personal altar at home. If you really have the "inner pagan" or the "inner artist/sculptor" in you and you love sculptures and figurines, get a religious image made of plastic, resin or fiber glass. There are many in religious stores and they are hollow inside. I once attended a Tibetan Buddhist Puja many years ago and I called the attention of the Lama or monk why he has an image of the Buddha in the altar. He explained to me that it is hollow and they put Buddhist prayers on papers inside of the body so they don't get infested by spirits. So he knows!

    If you love wooden sculptures of religious personalities, treat it as a mere decoration/ornament inside your home, and don't put it on your altar nor bow down to it in prayer nor offer it any flowers or food.

    I hope this blog entry brings about a renewed mind free from glamours, and a new way of looking at the world.

    Praise be to the Lord Christ!

    (Feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, 2025. Crux sacra sit mihi lux!)

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    References

    Congregation for Divine Worship & the Discipline of the Sacraments. (2001, December). Directory on popular piety and the liturgy: Principles and guidelines. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20020513_vers-direttorio_en.html

    Contemplative Bard. (2024, August). Energetic Experiments on the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (Part 2). https://christocentricmeditation.com/eucharistic_experiments.html

    Holy See of the Catholic Church. (2016). Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), (2nd ed.). United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Ascension Publishing Group, LLC, PA.









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