This guy believes a human being can cast a spell on another human? Like in witchcraft? Um, okay.
You don’t believe in the “evil eye”? OK. You are undoubtedly more highly evolved than other more simple folk. Here’s a snip from the web site of the GOA concerning how The Church deals with the “mati”.
“The exorcism of satanic powers is also performed by the Orthodox Church in other rites, such as that of the evil eye (vaskania).
Vaskania is simply a phenomenon that was accepted by primitive people as fact. They believed that certain people have such powerful feelings of jealousy and envy, that when they looked on some beautiful object or individual it brought destruction. Vaskania is recognized by the Church as the jealousy and envy of some people for things they do not possess, such as beauty, youth, courage or any other blessing. The Church essentially rejected Vaskania as contradicting the concept of divine providence. The prayers of the Church to avert the evil eye are, however, a silent recognition of this phenomenon as a morbid feeling of envy. The Church forbids people to go to “readers” or other individuals for use of magical rituals to overcome the evil eye. These readers take advantage of the weakness of superstitious people and destroy them spiritually and financially by playing upon their imagination.”
THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS: In Obeah related to Orisha worship you can become an Obeahman or a Obi-man. This signifies that your pathway is particularly dark and evil. Usually the Obeahmen sooner or later will move to secluded places and perform dark forms of magick mainly connected to the Dead. http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/awakening101/obeah.html
To the educated, like you, me and many others, such a notion must seem preposterous. I used to laugh at such a suggestion .... until I witnessed it personally. Even now, whenever I read something like that, I begin to laugh then stop as I recall what happened to a co-worker many years ago. Preposterous? Absolutely not!
It is called "sortilege" (spelling??), and yes the Catholic Church believes it is possible. People can and do make deals with the devil, according to many sources.
Malachi Martin left the priesthood, in the 1970's I believe. I have read his book that he wrote back in the 70's, "Hostage to the Devil". An interesting read. It is written in more of a narrative/story format, and tells the story of 5 or 6 cases of possession (supposedly true, but with the events and people "fictionalized" so that no one will know who he is talking about). He also publishes the entire Catholic Rite of Exorcism in the back of this book. Also very interesting reading (he stresses that only ordained Priests are allowed to perform exorcisms, and then only with the permission of their Bishops).
However, since Martin left the priesthood, some question whether he is a good source to go to on such topics. He also started behaving in a more "eccentric" fashion in his later years, from what I have heard.
One such friend who questioned Martin's orthodoxy suggested that I instead read a French Monsignor who wrote upon the same topic back in the 1950's. His name is Msgr. Leon Cristiani, and my friends maintained that since he remained faithful to his priestly vows, they thought he would be a better source to read. I purchased and read a 1977 translation of one of his 1950's books called "Evidence of Satan in the Modern World" (available on Amazon). Also a very interesting read. This book is shorter than Martin's book, and is not written in as much of a story/drama format.
Msgr. Cristiani is also the one who discusses "sortilege".
I am not sure what to make of Malachi Martin. Some have nothing but praise for him, and others don't think very highly of him.
All of this from the "for what it is worth" department. I am not an expert, but I have read these few books (I have never seen the movie "The Exorcist" - even at my age, the thought of doing so still scares the hoo-hoo out of me!!
: )