To kick off 2024, I could write about the Kuwaiti woman who, a few months, publicly proclaimed herself the Mahdi. I could write about that. But instead, I’m going to cover something more personal. I’ve been fascinated, both positively and negatively, by demonic possession and exorcism since I saw The Exorcist in the 1970s. Yes, I know C.S. Lewis’ warning about demons: disbelieving in them, but also being too interested in them. Nonetheless, I’ve read a lot on the topic and even wrote a paper on it in seminary, years ago.

Thus, it was a bit strange that, in 2023, two contexts in which I found myself both, totally unexpectedly, referenced exorcism. First, in June I played several roles in the Rome (Georgia) Shakespeare Festival’s production of Julius Caesar. One was as Caius Ligarius, one of the plotters against Caesar. As that character, I told Brutus (chief plotter, and protagonist of the play) “Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjured up my mortified spirit.”

Then, in September, I took a stage acting class and was assigned the part of George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Act 3 thereof is titled “The Exorcism,” wherein George finally (attempts to) break he and Martha’s marriage free of the devilish lies they’ve been living by for years.

When I auditioned for Julius Caesar, and signed up for that acting class, I had no idea exorcism was mentioned so prominently in both.

These events probably mean nothing.

Probably.