Why do cleansing rituals work?

Man, this is really the $100,000,000 question....
My answer to that really depends greatly on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. In any case none of the answers are really 100% satisfactory to me and raise more questions than they answer, hence the rabbit hole.

There are two major schools of thought here:

1) We have been given ultimate spiritual dominion over this realm - (this "realm" meaning reality as we understand it) There are a few bible verses that I can't think of off the top of my head, but they basically state that Christ gave us dominion over the spirit in this world and while they are here interacting with us they are completely subject to our wills. If we order them out they have no choice to comply.

While I suspect there may be a large amount of truth to this, I also suspect that it is not necessarily limited to christians. There are many religions and spiritual practices around the world that involve binding, manipulating and coercing spirits by prayer or ritual means. No matter who gave us the authority or whether the authority is just some sort of natural law we don't understand yet, these spiritual practices have been using this principle for thousands of years with relatively good success. This is whole concept is the whole logic behind why the catholic exorcism ritual works.

2) It really has nothing to do with being forceful. It has more to do with being able to motivate / manipulate your own spirit (put it into motion) in order to impose your will over the spirit's and thereby push them out. The ACT of being forceful or performing some sort of ritual gives you the focus necessary and bolsters your belief to the point that you are able to push the spirit out. The ritual itself is meaningless without your focus and spirit / will behind it, but without the (or any) ritual to GIVE you focus or belief it wouldn't work.

A good illustration that backs up this theory would be that we have on occasion seen a client completely and utterly fail the process of us coaching them through a house cleansing to the point that the spirits laugh at them. The spirits are often annoyed / weakened by some of the materials we use in the rituals, but are otherwise unharmed and still present. In these cases we've found that if we question the client and do some digging into how they really feel about what's going on they often have some serious doubts about what they're doing and what's going on. Ultimately they have yet to fully buy into what's going on which has in turn caused them to fail to utilize their faith / motivate their spirit to get behind the ritual. Their words are hollow and have no real meaning.

In those same situations if myself or one of our team who is a "believer" were to resume the ritual the spirit is quickly and effectively dealt with / pushed out. However, this effect on a client's home is usually only temporary. At best it lasts only a few days and sometimes only a few hours before the spirit returns. In these cases we refer to this as the client failing to declare their authority / dominion over their space / home. There is something powerful about motivating your spirit / faith and declaring a space as "yours".

As a further complication, people have the ability to channel light / energy and project it  with the proper coaching and / or training. People who are spiritually awake / aware are especially adept at this. One of the first things we teach a new group member to do is to connect to that light, channel it through them and form it either into a protective shell OR use it as an offensive "weapon" to push a hostile spirit away. There are two keys we've found to this that are the major gauges of success. 1) the person seems to have to have faith in some kind of higher power or at least believe that there IS some sacred place for the light to be channeled from. 2) the person has to focus and clearly visualize. Visualization is especially key. The more you can focus / visualize the more effective it is. Tony is especially adept at this technique and I've met a few clients who when worked up can almost blind a medium standing in the room next to them when they channel the light. (yes.... I'm fully aware of hose hokey and full of crap this all sounds to some people, I struggle with that myself at times, but if it's stupid and it works.... it's not stupid, and trust me... it works. I've seen it work time and time again.)

Over the years it's become clear that for WHATEVER reason, spirits are subject to our wills. Some spirits are easier to deal with, others are more difficult, but I have yet to encounter one that is immune and I've run into some pretty nasty spooks over the years. Whether you believe it's because God has given us this authority / ability, because it's a natural law because this realm "belongs" to us or just because you are declaring space as yours and infusing it with your energy / will, the reason is almost irrelevant to the fact that the process works. I have spent a LOT of time myself wondering why and how the process works too.

Merddyn - And I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference

The Impeccable Formless Warrior

This is a concept I've long since held as truth close to my center, but I just recently found out there's a term for it. The term is a Impeccable Formless Warrior and it comes from the writings of Carlos Castaneda. 

Impeccable is generally defined as "Perfect, having no faults, flaws or errors; Incapable of wrongdoing or sin; immaculate." That is a lofty goal, indeed, but we are all have our flaws and faults. We can, however, strive to be better than we are. We can be more impeccable today than we were yesterday. We can turn the other cheek when we know that is the right thing to do. We can let that criticism of our fellow man fade into the static of our minds when we know it will not be well received and would be an injurious truth. 

That is the concept we should strive for. While I'm the first to say that I have not and likely will not always take the high road in all the decisions in life, I do make an effort to strive to be Impeccable. It's important to be trustworthy both to yourself, your fellow man and your higher power so that when you're called to stand tall before "The Man" you can meet him eye to eye and know that you've done your best. 

Formless, now that's an alien concept to most of us. Of course it means "without form" but in this context we're talking about the human form, not in a physical sense, but in an emotional sense. We should all strive to be detached from the drama, cares and concerns around us as much as we are able so that in moments of crisis or stress we don't get swept away in the current of the moment. We are anchored from that stress and free to take a step back in the middle of the storm and re-assess the situation. What is really happening? What are my real choices here? What would happen if I simply walked away or took no action?

So many times in life we look back in the rear view mirror and say to ourselves, "I wish I would have reacted this way or that" and had we not been caught up in the emotion of a decision we could have. Practicing a loving and compassionate sense of formlessness allows you to do that and keeps you out of those situations where you tell yourself you wish you would have had the clarity to react a certain way in a given situation. 

You have to be careful though to not confuse being detached (formless) with being disassociated. To be disassociated means there is no connection. It's imperative to see the line that connects all of us to everything. They key is in the values we place in those connections. 

For example: Lets say I have a horrible IRS Debt. I choose this because I have had one and I know first hand how stressful it can be. I can allow myself to get caught up in the drama of how I'm going to pay off the debt and what's going to happen if I don't do it or can't do it and I can put myself through the emotional wringer. Or, I can take a deep breath, step back and realize that while I do have to make a decision and ultimately will have to pay this I also recognize that on my deathbed this issue will make very little difference to me so it doesn't place very high in my value system. That allows me to allow a certain degree of emotional distance so that I can calm down and think rationally. 

James S.
- And I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference