"I lay there on the table with my eyes closed and relaxed. I heard Gary helping Beth to lie on a couch across the room, and heard him inducing her into an altered state. He did that by talking to her, and by playing tapes of oscillating tones. It took a while, he was really getting her deep. Finally I heard his voice very near my ear. "Ready?" "Ready," I said.

By now I was really nervous. Some part of me was saying, This is crazy, an exorcism, you don't know what will happen, you're possessed, a demon, this is crazy. But I was determined to go on. "Okay," Gary said, and he induced me pretty much the way he had induced Beth. Visualizing light, relaxing, visualizing moving my ego away from my center.

Usually this induction took only a few minutes, but this time it seemed to go on a long while: he was getting me to go deep. Finally Gary said, "Okay, now, Michael, I want you to visualize your body as entirely surrounded by light, so much light that anything dark will stand out against all the light." I visualized that. "Okay, now, Michael, do you see anything dark around your body?" I tried to see.

To my surprise, I saw a cartoon demon, a sort of Walt Disney evil spirit with wings that looked like the devil from Fantasia. I saw this devil right in front of me. I also saw a sort of large bug, like an ant, down near my feet. And I saw a little man about two feet high with a hat, behind my left shoulder. "Do you see anything?" Gary asked. I felt ridiculous. The principal image was a cartoon devil, and I wasn't going to open my mouth and report that I saw a Walt Disney devil. "No," I said.

Gary moved across the room. "Beth, do you have any information now?" And I heard Beth's voice, drowsy and trance-like, reply, "There are three entities around him. There is a large creature, an insect, and a little man." " Oh my God. I thought. Because I hadn't said anything. I was lying on a table with my eyes closed.

Beth was lying on a couch across the room with her eyes closed. I had never met her before. There wasn't any way for us to communicate now, yet she was seeing what I was seeing. How was that possible? Gary came back to my ear. "Did you hear what Beth said?" "Yes." "Do you have any reaction?" "Yes," I said. I admitted she was right. I described the three dark entities."

"Talk to the creature in front," she said. "But the creature is a Walt Disney devil," I said. "A cartoon devil." "That's what he wants you to think he is." Gary said, "Can you talk to the creature?" I tried. I saw him as bat-like, with glaring empty eyes. But I could talk to him, yes. "Ask him how long he has been with you." A long time. Years. ""Ask him where he came from." I made him. "When did you make him?" When I was four years old. "Why?" To protect me. "Protect you from what?" My father. "What about your father?" My father wants to kill me."

""Does the creature do anything in your relationship with Anne-Marie?" I realize it does: "It lets me rest." Sometimes when we have disagreements, when I feel falsely accused, when I feel trampled upon, I throw up an angry wall, and withdraw behind it. I can go off and sulk, or I can sit in the living room and be silently furious. But in either case I am safe, I am protected. I can rest from the struggle. Secure in my Knowledge:"

"Gary says, "This creature has been very important in your life for a long time." "Yes." "I want you to thank the creature for all that it has done for you." "Okay." I start to do it inwardly. "Out loud." "Okay." I hesitate. I feel a little stupid to be talking to a Walt Disney cartoon devil when other people can listen. I imagine that I will get formal, and say thank you to this creature. A stiff, correct statement of thanks is what I have in mind. Suddenly my mouth opens and I hear a voice saying warmly, "I really want to thank you for everything you have done, you were loyal through a lot of hard times, and I really appreciate it, I couldn't have done it without you, I never would have made it, I would have died without you, so you have really protected me and done a wonderful thing for me." I am really going to miss you, " I say, "but it's time to move on, time for you to go your way and me to go mine, our paths are diverging, all good things must come to an end, but I want you to know I will never forget you, or what you have done for me." By now I am crying. I really love this old creature, this faithful old servant. I hate to hurt his feelings. He looks lost and forlorn, but I can see he is accepting it. I am surprised at how much I love him, and how sad I feel about his departure. I am taking leave. "Beth?" "I feel he is ready." "I agree." Gary leans closer. "Michael, we are going to remove the entity now." "What do I do?" "Nothing. Beth will do it with me. She will do it on the astral plane." I feel a little left out of this plan,, but I am still in my passive mood. I will do whatever I am told. Gary moves away. He is whispering to Beth. They are moving Beth to the astral plane. I can't really hear what they are saying; their voices are low. Besides, I am wrapped up in my emotions. I am crying. I am sad for this departure. After a while I hear Beth say, "He's not coming yet." I feel immediately that this is true. The entity is still hanging around me. I will have to help. I imagine that I am standing at the door of a farmhouse. The entity is outside the screen door. It is time to say goodbye. I turn my back on it, to make it easier for it to leave. I turn away, knowing I will never see it again. I burst into sobs. But I don't turn back, to see if it is still there. "He's not coming." I still don't turn back. I feel that, if I remain there with my back to him, he will eventually give up and leave. "No. Not yet." I want to be of assistance. There must still be a connection between me and the entity, even though I can't see it. I imagine a big pair of scissors, and I use them to cut the air all around my body, severing any shadowy connections. I cut vigorously. "He's not coming." Perhaps I am trying too hard. Maybe I should leave it alone. Let her do it. I can see her, on the astral plane, in misty yellow light a little above me. It's as if we are standing on an incline, or a slope, and she is a little farther up the incline, in the yellow mist. I can see her standing there, and then suddenly I can clearly see the entity. The entity is tiny; he barely comes to her waist. He is looking up at her in a hopeful way. He is just a little kid. I feel an explosive burst of emotion, of sadness for this tiny thing from in the image of his tiny creator, this frightened, forlorn child that must now leave, and I feel sad for myself, and sad to move on now, and in the instant of that burst of sadness the little kid shoots off, away into the distance. Beth says in a flat voice, "He's gone." Beth comes out. I come out. We sit around, dazed. Gary brings glasses of water. I look at my watch. It has taken three and a half hours. There isn't really much to say. We're all tired. Gary says, "Don't worry, he's gone. He won't be back," and tells me to be careful driving home.? "

"A few months later I was talking with Lu, a psychologist I see sometimes. Rather hesitantly, I mentioned my experience, wondering how she would respond. She said, "That's interesting. A lot of people are having experiences like that." "Really?" I said. "Oh yes. Entities are very big now." I had to laugh."