Sign of Spiritual Attack
Nightmares and sleep paralysis
One of the eight signs the Malleus catalogued in 1487. Modern readers recognise it immediately.
Nightmares and sleep paralysis is recorded as one of the eight signs of spiritual attack in the Malleus Maleficarum (1487). The medieval source describes it; the modern reader will likely recognise it from their own life.
What the Malleus records
Part II, Ch 2Malleus Maleficarum, Part II
The modern context
Recurring nightmares, feeling pinned down during sleep, shadow figures
If you recognise this sign in your life
The tradition's counter-measure: Psalm 91, iron nails in corners, hag stone over bed
What to do, in order
- Name what you noticed. Write down, specifically, the pattern that fits this sign in your own life. Date the entry. Vagueness gives the influence cover.
- Apply the counter: Psalm 91, iron nails in corners, hag stone over bed.
- Carry a protective stone from the Crystal Directory. For attack signs, the medieval tradition prescribes the carbuncle, the sapphire, or the diamond, depending on the kind of operation suspected.
- Call on Archangel Michael — the Watcher whose office is protection against operations that refuse to leave. The Leonine prayer is the standing tradition.
- Bless the threshold of your home. Salt and iron at the door; holy water if available.
- Repeat for forty days. The medieval and Catholic protective traditions are consistent on this duration.