Did the Apostle Paul practice ancient spirit summoning before his conversion? Most mainstream theologians brush past this question. But when you study Acts 9 through the lens of original Greek, Phoenician, Canaanite, and Egyptian spiritual traditions, a radically different picture of Saul of Tarsus emerges, one that the early church understood far better than we do today.

This is Part II of our deep dive into Biblical occultism. In Part I, we introduced the concept that Saul was no ordinary religious persecutor. Here, we go deeper, exploring the mechanics of ancient spirit-projection, the lost ritual of soufflation, and the occult technology embedded in the Greek text of Acts 9:1.

The Supernatural Terror Saul Inspired in the Early Church

To understand why the early church viewed Saul of Tarsus as a man to be avoided at all costs, we must look at the sheer terror he inspired, not merely as an arresting officer, but as something far darker.

In Acts 9, Saul has his legendary encounter on the road to Damascus. Blinded by a brilliant manifestation of the spirit of Christ, he is left completely incapacitated, forced to be led by the hand into the city.

While Saul is isolated in prayer, Jesus appears in a vision to a disciple named Ananias, commanding him to find Saul and pray for his healing. Ananias immediately refuses. His response is not the reaction of a man worried about standard legal arrest:

“Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.”

Acts 9:13-14

Ananias was a committed disciple, yet when Jesus Himself gave a direct order, he explicitly protested. Why? Because crossing paths with this high-level sorcerer never ended well.

The phrase “authority to bind” was not a reference to iron handcuffs. In the ancient world, binding was a technical term for occult subjugation, using divine rights, enchantments, and dark spirits to latch onto an individual’s soul.

The Smoking Gun: “Breathing Out” in

The most compelling evidence of Saul’s occult practices is hidden in plain sight in Acts 9:1:

“And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord…”

Acts 9:1 (KJV)

To the modern reader, “breathing out” sounds like aggressive speech. But in a scriptural context, breath is inextricably tied to entity possession. Consider the language itself:

• In Hebrew, the word for breath or wind is ruach, which translates directly to spirit.
• In Greek, the word is pneuma, meaning breath, wind, or a rational spirit capable of making decisions.
• Inspire (In-spire): To inhale spirit.
• Expire (Ex-spire): To release spirit, as in “giving up the ghost.”

When a true prophet operates under divine inspiration, they inhale the Pneuma of the Holy Spirit and speak on behalf of God. Saul was performing a dark, inverted form of this same ancient breath work, using specific breathing techniques to invoke, imbibe, and project malevolent spirits onto his targets.

The Greek word translated as “breathing out” in Acts 9:1 is empneo. It appears only once in the entire Bible, a hapax legomenon, and it signifies exhaling violently, or breathing out with intense, directed force. Saul was literally projecting entity groups out of his lungs.

The Ancient Rite of Soufflation: Insufflation vs. Exsufflation

This spiritual technology was well understood throughout antiquity. The early Church openly acknowledged these mechanics through a practice known as soufflation (or sufflation), a ritual act of blowing or breathing forth that carried tremendous occult significance.

There were two distinct forms:

• Insufflation (Inhale): Partnering with an entity to enter the body. Connected to benevolent spirits or invoking divine power, used in prophetic inspiration and baptismal rites.
• Exsufflation (Exhale): Releasing or projecting a spirit residing within. Used in exorcisms, baptismal initiations, and, in Saul’s case, directed spiritual attacks.

In early church history, insufflation welcomed holy inspiration, while exsufflation (forcible expiration) was performed during exorcisms to blow unclean spirits away from a person. Saul had weaponized the latter. He could not breathe out dark forces unless he was already partnering with them internally.

A striking modern echo of this ancient rite appears in Stephen King’s The Green Mile. The character John Coffey, a high-level empath, extracts terminal illnesses and spirits of infirmity from people by literally sucking the dark presence into his own mouth through inhalation, allowing it to convulse within his body, then exhaling it. There is no exhale of a spirit without first inhaling it.

Where Did Saul Learn Occult Spirit-Projection? The Grimoires of the Pharisees

Where did Saul learn these techniques? The text of Acts tells us he went directly to the high priest for his mandates. Research into the hidden history of the temple leadership reveals that many of the religious elite were not expelling demons from the townspeople, they were practicing spirit incubation.

These trained magicians were nurturing ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek entities within themselves, giving them energy, then sending them out to possess unsuspecting targets. This is the practice sometimes called “spirit cooking” in modern occult circles, and it has ancient roots going back thousands of years.

These practices are cataloged extensively in the Greek Magical Papyri, a vast collection of ancient sorcery manuscripts dating to around 30 BCE that circulated widely during the era of Paul and Jesus. One prominent spell explicitly details welcoming a spirit to enter the body, manipulate the host, and exit under direction:

“Hale Spirit who enters into me, convulses me, and leaves me kindly according to the will of God.”

Greek Magical Papyri

This mirrors Mark 9:26, where Jesus encounters a boy possessed by a spirit that threw him to the ground in violent convulsions, suggesting these were not isolated incidents, but part of a recognized system of spiritual warfare.

The Legacy: From Saul’s Dark Breath Work to the Holy Rollers

The physical manifestation of a spirit entering a body, causing shaking, falling, and rolling, did not vanish in antiquity. While Martin Luther attempted to strip the Protestant Church of what he deemed superstitious practices like soufflation and hissing at demons, the raw experiential phenomenon continued to break through.

In the 1600s, a group of believers in England gained the nickname the Shaking Quakers because they would become so overwhelmed by what they believed to be the Holy Spirit that their bodies would convulse, roll on the floor, and break into ecstatic laughter during worship. This is the direct historical origin of the terms “Holy Rollers” and the modern Charismatic Renewal.

Even today, certain charismatic leaders replicate these exact ancient lines of soufflation, blowing or waving their hands over massive crowds, causing hundreds of people to instantly fall backward and convulse. The physical reaction is simply the biological response to an entity entering the human vessel.

The critical question has always been the same: What spirit are you entertaining?

While the early Church sought the divine Pneuma for ecstasy and healing, Saul of Tarsus was manipulating the same system. He was intentionally invoking the souls of the fallen, holding them in his body, and weaponizing his breath to project ruin upon God’s people.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the Apostle Paul really practice occultism?

Before his conversion, Saul of Tarsus (who became Paul) had authority from the chief priests to “bind” believers, a term rooted in ancient occult subjugation. The Greek text of Acts 9:1 uses the word empneo, suggesting a practice of spirit-projection through directed breath work that aligns with documented ancient magical practices in the Greek Magical Papyri.

What does “breathing out threatenings” mean in ?

“Breathing out” in Acts 9:1 translates the Greek word empneo, which implies violent, directed exhalation. In the Hebrew and Greek traditions, breath is synonymous with spirit (ruach / pneuma). This suggests Saul was using ancient breath-work techniques to project spiritual entities onto his targets, a practice documented in early church history as exsufflation.

What is soufflation and how does it relate to Paul?

Soufflation (sufflation) is an ancient ritual act of blowing or breathing forth spirits. The early Church used two forms: insufflation (inhaling a spirit) and exsufflation (exhaling a spirit). Saul appears to have used a dark form of exsufflation, projecting bound demonic entities through his breath as a form of spiritual attack against early Christians.

What is the connection between the Greek Magical Papyri and the Bible?

The Greek Magical Papyri are a collection of ancient magical manuscripts dating from around 200 BCE to 400 CE, written in Greek, Demotic, and Coptic. They circulated widely throughout the Mediterranean during the time of Jesus and Paul, documenting rituals for spirit possession, invocation, and projection that parallel practices described in the New Testament.

What Comes Next: The Names of the Night Spirits

In Part III, we will strip away the English translations entirely to explore the exact names of the nightmare spirits Saul was working with, and discover the shocking truth of how he continued to use this same spiritual power long after his conversion on the road to Damascus.

If this series has opened new doors for you, explore more on the hidden dimensions of scripture in our related posts below.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [ { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Did the Apostle Paul really practice occultism?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Before his conversion, Saul of Tarsus (who became Paul) had authority from the chief priests to ‘bind’ believers, a term rooted in ancient occult subjugation. The Greek text of Acts 9:1 uses the word empneo, suggesting a practice of spirit-projection through directed breath work that aligns with documented ancient magical practices in the Greek Magical Papyri.” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What does ‘breathing out threatenings’ mean in Acts 9:1?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “‘Breathing out’ in Acts 9:1 translates the Greek word empneo, which implies violent, directed exhalation. In the Hebrew and Greek traditions, breath is synonymous with spirit (ruach / pneuma). This suggests Saul was using ancient breath-work techniques to project spiritual entities onto his targets, a practice documented in early church history as exsufflation.” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is soufflation and how does it relate to Paul?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Soufflation (sufflation) is an ancient ritual act of blowing or breathing forth spirits. The early Church used two forms: insufflation (inhaling a spirit) and exsufflation (exhaling a spirit). Saul appears to have used a dark form of exsufflation, projecting bound demonic entities through his breath as a form of spiritual attack against early Christians.” } }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What is the connection between the Greek Magical Papyri and the Bible?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “The Greek Magical Papyri are a collection of ancient magical manuscripts dating from around 200 BCE to 400 CE, written in Greek, Demotic, and Coptic. They circulated widely throughout the Mediterranean during the time of Jesus and Paul, documenting rituals for spirit possession, invocation, and projection that parallel practices described in the New Testament.” } } ] } { “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “Article”, “headline”: “Did the Apostle Paul Practice Ancient Spirit Summoning? | Biblical Occultism Part II”, “description”: “Before his conversion, Saul of Tarsus may have been a trained practitioner of ancient spirit-projection. Explore the hidden occult language of Acts 9:1, the ancient rite of soufflation, and what the Greek Magical Papyri reveal about Biblical spiritual warfare.”, “image”: “https://www.truthseekah.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Magic-In-The-Bible-Apostle-Paul.png”, “author”: { “@type”: “Person”, “name”: “TruthSeekah” }, “publisher”: { “@type”: “Organization”, “name”: “TruthSeekah”, “logo”: { “@type”: “ImageObject”, “url”: “https://www.truthseekah.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/TruthSeekah-Logo.png” } }, “datePublished”: “2022-12-14”, “dateModified”: “2026-06-18”, “mainEntityOfPage”: { “@type”: “WebPage”, “@id”: “https://www.truthseekah.com/did-apostle-paul-practice-spirit-summoning/” }, “keywords”: [“Apostle Paul occultism”, “Saul of Tarsus spirit summoning”, “Acts 9:1 spirit projection”, “soufflation Bible”, “Biblical occultism”, “Greek Magical Papyri”, “spirit binding New Testament”] }