'Viva Christo Rey!'
As Catholics we believe we can experience portals into the supernatural. We have a sense that the objects, events, and persons of daily life are revelations of grace. Statues, rosary beads, candles, holy bibles, relics, holy water, icons, holy cards and the sacraments themselves act as portals through which we encounter holiness and grace. When we utilize sacramentals, relics or sacred art and architecture, we are orienting ourselves to the holy, to the sacred. When we make the sign of the cross slowly and deliberately, and when we pray we are actually opening doors. We are inviting heaven, angels, saints and God himself to enter into our spiritual space.
We have the eyes of faith and the Catholic imagination to see ourselves surrounded by loved ones who watch over us from heaven, holy saints, angelic forces, and God’s constant spiritual presence. We believe we are making regular contact with the supernatural.
However, we also acknowledge portals to the dark side where conctact may be made made with fallen angelic forces, demons. Demons may harrass us from a distance through temptation and influence our thoughts in ways that lead to depression. They may manifest in a visible way or bring about physical harm. In extreme cases, they may take possession of one's body. In order for that to occur, there must be an invitation or an open door. Even evil spirits must respect free will. These forbidden doors are opened knowingly or unknowingly through contact with the occult or by engaging in occult practices (For examples of the occult, see doors to the demonic below).
When it comes to the supernatural world, there are good doors and bad doors.
The sacraments are the most certain guarantee of an encounter with Christ. They are based on the rock and foundation of His word and promises. They are sure portals, a tried and true threshold into an encounter with Christ and an experience of the timeless Paschal Mystery. Baptism is the first door to the supernatural through which we pass. We become adopted children of God and new creatures of grace disposed to the other sacraments and to the grace that they each offer. Jesus Himself, as the incarnate Son of God and our Lord is a type of door, said, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (Jn 10:9).
As baptized Catholics who have been incorporated into his body, the church, we operate in Christ. To say we are 'in Christ' means that we have access to a supernatuarl flow of sanctifying grace which is itself a type of life different from biological life.
The source of divine life given to us in Baptism and other sacarments is through the cross. Jesus’ sacred heart, as it hung on the cross, is torn open by the soldier's lance releasing a flood of His divine life. In the blood and water that poured out we have the primordial signs of two life-giving sacraments, Baptism and Eucharist. This is why the temple veil is simultaneously torn open as Jesus "...cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split." A door to a new world is now open to the righteous souls trapped in death, waiting for the Messiah."The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised…”
We think of church doors as a type of portal from the profane into the holy. “When you step through the doorway of a church you are leaving the outer-world behind and entering an inner world. The outside world is a fair place abounding in life and activity, but also a place with a mingling of the base and ugly...Between the outer and the inner world are the doors. They are the barriers between the marketplace and the sanctuary, between what belongs to the world at large and what has become consecrated to God. And the door warns the man who opens it to go inside that he must now leave behind the thoughts, wishes and cares which here are out of place, his curiosity, his vanity, his worldly interests, his secular self. 'Make yourself clean. The ground you tread is holy ground' " (Sacred Signs, R. Guardini).
The architecture of an Eastern rite Catholic church still has the pattern of the Old Testament temple. Indide the church there is a clear separation between the sanctuary signifying the temple's holy of holies and the rest of the church signifying the temple's holy room.
In the temple these two rooms were separated by a linen veil. This panel with all the icons (iconostatsis) acts like the veil of the Old Testament temple separating the presence of God from the people gathered. It has doors which are also covered with icons. Passing through the Royal Doors is thought of as passing through the biblical veil into the presence of God.
No lay people are allowed into this holy precinct. When the time for Holy Communion comes they line up before the iconostasis as the priest comes to them. In the Roman Catholic churches, we used to have altar rails or rood screens to mark the sanctuary being separate from the rest of the church. Now we usually have three steps up to a raised platform where the altar, ambo and tabernacle are situated but it is more open. Unlike, the Eastern rites, Roman Catholic lay people now (post-Vatican II) enter into the sanctuary (readers and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, EM's).
What about dreams? You may have had a very vivid dream where you felt as though you passed beyond the ordinary into the supernaturall. Some people dream of loved ones that have passed. Others describe dreams where they experience a sleep paralysis. Some have reported that when this happens, it feels like their body is locked as they encoiunter a dark, shadowy, evil being.
In the Bible we have many examples of sleep acting as a portal into the supernatural where God or his angels communicate important information. In the Old Testment Jacob has a dream of a ladder to heaven and Jospeph has many extraordinary dreams revealing the future. In the New testament, Joseph, the husband of Mary, encounters the Angel Gabriel who tells him about the identity of Jesus and later tells him to take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt.
"Christian interpretation of dreams conforms to the following principles: (1) The dreams may be a legitimate vehicle of divine revelation, in which case God himself provides proofs attesting the divine origin of dreams. He also provides interpretation of the dream. (2) The majority of dreams are natural phenomena lacking in any special religious meaning. (3) Superstitious divination through dreams is severely forbidden by God as an immoral practice" (Fr. Augustine Mary).
There are other doors, forbidden doors to darkness and emptiness. The catechism gives us this warning, “All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. 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. All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity (CCC 2116-2117).
The Latin word, occultus simply means hidden. An example of how this word could be used in a non-supernatural context would be for magnets. Magnets have ‘occult’ power or hidden power. When modern people hear the word occult we mean supernatural, mystical, or magical beliefs, practices, or phenomena.
Hollywood celebrities have led the way through these dark and dangerous doors. People such as Ariana Grande, Madonna, Jay Zee, Beyonce, and Katy Perry are well known new age pagans. Singer and songwriter Adele credits spiritual crystal healing for calming her pre-show nerves holistically. Spencer Pratt runs his own online crystal shop, Pratt Daddy Crystals, and told Entertainment Weekly that he has “spent thousands of dollars" on a wizard coach. “I sage everything, all the time. Constantly sageing,” Mary-Kate Olsen told Vogue in 2017. "I don’t want bad energy," she added. Tom Brady said his wife Gisele “always makes a little altar for me at the game because she just wills it so much,” complete with pictures of his children. “And I have these little special stones and healing stones and protection stones and she has me wear a necklace and take these drops she makes, I say all these mantras,” Brady said. “And I stopped questioning her a long time ago. I just shut up and listen.” Brady said at first he thought “this is kind of crazy,” but it worked.
Perhaps this fascination with magic, the occult and fantasy, in part, grows from an intense dissatisfaction with ordinary life. We are created with a body and soul. Therefore we are natural and supernatural beings. We were made to have God in our life. Sacraments fill a deep and intense longing that we each have to be in touch with God. Without God and without religion we have no way to fill this hole within and we are left hanging and restless with an intense innate desire for communion with God. Why would anyone gravitate to crystals rather than the Real Presence? This is an epic spiritual battle.
CAUTION: Any and all occult practices may be used as a door, portal or way in for fallen angels aka demons. If in doubt whether you or someone you know is flirting with the occult by engaging in these activities or similar activities you ought to end the activity, and throw away any objects or books, media etc.. associated with the occult. In a previous article on the Indiana Demon House, I explained the events leading up to this problem involved doors opened to demons through the consultation of psychics and soothsayers.