Prophetic Witchcraft Attack Signs: 23 Tell-Tale Symptoms

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines witchcraft as an irresistible influence or fascination—and the Bible warns us not to be bewitched:

“You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a spell on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives” (Galatians 3:1 MSG).

Obviously, there is a spiritual force that the Bible is warning us about. It causes us to take leave of our senses. Witchcraft releases strong confusion against our minds so that Jesus is not the clear focus of our lives. Once that happens, we are more vulnerable to the vain imaginations the enemy whispers to our souls. We have a responsibility to know about this spiritual wickedness and guard ourselves against it.

When you are aware of how prophetic witchcraft attacks, you can expose it with the light of God’s Word and break its powers. Principalities release the power of witchcraft. Just as the power of God—the Holy Spirit—heals and delivers, the power of the enemy—witchcraft—brings on sickness and otherwise oppresses.

Let’s look at some of the symptoms of a prophetic witchcraft attack. Keep in mind, all of these symptoms may not apply, and some of these symptoms could be due to other issues in your life. The key is to gain awareness of how prophetic witchcraft attacks so you can more easily discern it and break it.

1. You feel like you are being watched.

When you are under a prophetic witchcraft attack, you may feel like you are being watched. I’ve experienced this many times and it’s an eerie, uncomfortable feeling. I later learned it was because monitoring spirits had been assigned to me. The girl with the spirit of divination in Acts 16 was clearly watching—and following—Paul and Silas. As its name suggests, a monitoring spirit is a spirit that monitors you.

Monitoring spirits work in the realm of witchcraft. They are spiritual peeping toms and evil eavesdroppers. They are satanic watchdogs. They are illegal informants. They are part of a demonic network that watches and reports information back to higher ranking demonic powers so they can devise plans to steal, kill, and destroy you.

Monitoring spirits are like the devil’s private investigators. You can’t see them, but they can see and hear you. The devil is not omnipresent or omniscient, so he depends on monitoring spirits to gather information. Other names for monitoring spirits are familiar spirits, masquerading spirits, ancestral spirits, fowlers, besiegers, spirit spies, demonic messengers, and watchers. I teach more about this in my School of the Seers.

2. You start dropping things or get clumsy.

If you find you suddenly have butterfingers, it could be witchcraft is attacking you. If you are not usually clumsy, but suddenly start dropping your phone, tripping over things, or generally have poor motor skills it could be the sign of prophetic witchcraft or even a prophetic curse. It may seem almost like the object leaped out of your hand while you’re fumbling to grasp it.

3. You lose your motivation.

I’m an extremely motivated person, so I know when I lose all motivation and just want to blow everything off, it’s likely witchcraft. Loss of motivation is a sure sign of prophetic witchcraft because witchcraft demotivates and demoralizes you. If you are usually a responsible person who stays on top of your tasks, but find that you are suddenly putting things off until tomorrow that should be done today because you just don’t feel like doing it, you could be under a prophetic witchcraft spell that’s trying to bring you into poverty. Proverbs 10:4 assures, “Lazy people are soon poor; hard workers get rich” (NLT).

4. You can’t hear from God.

When prophetic witchcraft attacks, you may feel like your mind is a scrambled egg. You can’t concentrate on the Word and you are having a hard time hearing the voice of God, if you can hear Him at all. Prophetic witchcraft makes it harder to hear God because your mind is cloudy and your brain is foggy. You become dull of hearing.

5. You are hearing voices.

Prophetic witchcraft is intent on you not hearing from the Lord yourself so you will be dependent on false prophetic voices instead. Demons don’t have bodies, but they have voices. Perhaps the enemy is threatening you, or perhaps it’s a voice discouraging you. Prophetic witchcraft has a voice that seeks to derail God’s plan for your life and leave you desperate enough to turn to outside sources for clarity.

6. You have evil forebodings.

Perhaps you are suddenly fearful or even paranoid. This is the realm of evil forebodings. Proverbs 15:15 says, “All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made evil [by anxious thoughts and forebodings], but he who has a glad heart has a continual feast [regardless of circumstances]” (AMPC).

These evil forebodings then bring a ripple effect of behaviors. You may feel like everyone is out to get you and you can’t trust anyone around you. You may tap into conspiracy-like theories about what people around you are doing or hiding from you. You may start abruptly withdrawing from people to protect yourself.

7. You have a death wish.

When Jezebel’s witchcraft-laced curse hit Elijah, he ran for his life and wished he was dead.

This type of sudden death wish is associated with prophetic witchcraft and curses. If you are on the mountaintop one day and feel like you are in the Valley of the Shadow of Death the next day, it’s likely prophetic witchcraft has attacked your mind.

8. Your emotions are out of whack.

Perhaps you are generally an agreeable person, but you find yourself irritable, angry, and frustrated. You may feel depressed or anxious. You are on an emotional rollercoaster out of the blue. You may feel like people and things are standing in your way. You may get mad at yourself, mad at the devil, or even mad at God. You may feel oppressed, like you are carrying a heavy emotional burden.

9. You are making mountains out of molehills.

Prophetic witchcraft turns little things into massive issues. You get anxious and start catastrophizing events in your life. You’re sick and tired of your circumstances, but what you don’t realize is that the enemy is magnifying your circumstances with distorted mirrors and smoke that clouds reality.

10. You feel confused.

Prophetic witchcraft makes you question yourself, question your friends—question God. When witchcraft attacks, it’s difficult to make sound decisions. When strong confusion hits your mind, you can be sure it’s not coming from God. God is not the author of confusion but of peace (see 1 Corinthians 14:33).

Prophetic witchcraft can make you confused about your life. You don’t know why you got so many prophecies that haven’t come to pass. You make decisions based on what you think God’s will is but you have a wrong understanding of God’s will because you bought into the lies of prophetic witchcraft.

Remember, confusion is part of the curse of the law: “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me” (Deuteronomy 28:20). God isn’t sending confusion on you, but your disobedience to put your trust in the words of a diviner can allow the enemy to release confusion on your life.

11. You are forgetful.

I once entirely forgot about a meeting in New York City. I was ready to go the night before, but by the next morning I went about my usual business. Finally, I remembered I was supposed to be in New York because a flight alert popped up on my email, but it was too late to get to the airport.

Prophetic witchcraft can make you forgetful. You may forget your keys—I’ve done this many times—forget birthdays, or even forget what the Word says. You may forget what you are saying mid-sentence and not be able to get your train of thought back. You may overlook obvious mistakes in your work or forget a key instruction or deadline.

12. You make poor financial decisions.

Prophetic witchcraft causes you to make poor financial decisions. Prophetic witchcraft can work in the realm of hype. What is hype? Hype puts on a show to stir your emotions so they rise above the spiritual senses of your spiritual discernment.

Haggai 1:6 reads: “You have sown much, but you have reaped little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages has earned them to put them in a bag with holes in it” (AMPC). When you sow into prophetic witchcraft, you are not going to see a return on that investment.

13. You may feel stuck or like you are wandering.

Prophetic witchcraft will leave you feeling stuck and wandering. It may seem as if you are going around the same mountain over and over again, making no progress in your natural life or your spiritual life. Wandering is directly associated with prophetic witchcraft in Zechariah 10:2: “For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd” (ESV).

You may feel like you are in a perpetual wilderness, never able to enter your proverbial Promised Land. This is a result of coming into agreement with prophetic witchcraft. Jeremiah 23:32 tells us:

“Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” declares the Lord. “They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,” declares the Lord (NIV).

14. You have abnormal loyalty to a prophet, church, or network.

Prophetic witchcraft will drive you to abnormal loyalty. I stayed in a Jezebelic church for two years after the Holy Spirit told me to leave because I was so loyal to the vision, had poured so much of my life into the congregation, and had so many friends there.

Prophetic witchcraft may drive you to toxic loyalty because people who tap into prophetic witchcraft seek to form soul ties with you through information seeking. You may idolize the prophet and make great sacrifices, both personally and financially, for them. It could also be that you feel intimidated to break away from the person or organization that’s moving in prophetic witchcraft. Make no mistake, prophetic witchcraft will divide you from friends and family.

15. You forget who you really are.

You are a child of the King. You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world. You are blessed coming in and blessed going out. Everything you put your hand to prospers. That’s your legal position. But when prophetic witchcraft attacks, you feel like a worthless worm. You forget who you are in Christ and have little to no interest in the Word, church, praise, worship, or the like. You may feel guilt, condemnation, or self-pity. Witchcraft attacks your identity and position with God. If the devil can get you to question your own authority, you won’t exercise authority over him.

16. Just plain worn out.

If you’ve slept eight hours, had a tall cup of coffee, and you still feel like you’ve been run over by a truck, prophetic witchcraft could be attacking you. I’ve learned not to give in by lying down for a nap that turns into four or five hours of witchcraft-induced sleep. If you are eating well, sleeping well, exercising well, and living well—and if you are generally healthy—you shouldn’t feel like you’re walking through quicksand. This could be a witchcraft attack.

17. People are attacking you in spurts.

When people start attacking you and making false accusations against you in droves, it’s a sign the enemy is inspiring them to word-curse you and, in doing so, release witchcraft. This is not a random ill-mannered person or a single obnoxious e-mail. This is a flood of attacks, and you may begin to feel everything has turned on you.

Prophetic Witchcraft’s Nocturnal Attacks

We’re going to spend a lot of time on this one because it’s a common area of attack for witchcraft. Think about it for a minute. The devil loves to work in darkness. When you are asleep, your defenses are down. You are not binding and loosing while you are tossing and turning. We’re going to look at nocturnal attacks.

According to The Seer’s Dictionary, nocturnal attacks are spiritual attacks that often come through nightmares, night visions, or sleep disturbances. We are going to look at prophetic witchcraft manifesting through insomnia, nightmares, night terrors, witchcraft-laced dreams, sleep paralysis, and lacerations on the body.

18. When Insomnia Strikes

Insomnia is the inability to get enough sleep or trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. Technically, one night of lost sleep doesn’t equal insomnia. When prophetic witchcraft attacks, though, it can lead you into a season of insomnia if you don’t break it quickly. You may fall asleep easily because you are exhausted but find yourself waking up between twelve and three in the morning unable to go back to sleep. These are the witching hours when demonic activity is at its peak.

One of the ways witchcraft keeps you up at night is through worry. The enemy brings thoughts to your mind about the problems and challenges of the season and you ruminate. That leads to anxiety and dread, which can make you too nervous to settle down. Psalm 127:2 calls this the bread of anxious toil. And Ecclesiastes 2:23 tells us the anxious have no rest for their minds at night.

19. Nasty Nightmares

One year, witchcraft couldn’t get me by day. I was ready for the onslaught. So instead, witchcraft attacked me at night—in my sleep. I have had some of the worst nightmares in the last two weeks that I’ve ever had in my entire life. Things I won’t even speak out loud because the power of death and life is in the tongue. Indeed, the enemy wants me to speak out the disturbing pictures he offered to give them life.

Proverbs 3:24 promises us when we lay down we will not be afraid and our sleep will be sweet. That is God’s will for our lives, but prophetic witchcraft brings nightmares. Interestingly, The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines nightmare as “an evil spirit formerly thought to oppress people during sleep.” Other definitions include “a frightening dream that usually awakens the sleeper.”

The Seer’s Dictionary defines nightmare as “a dream of dark or scary nature inspired by the soul or by demonic powers; a method by which the enemy tempts seers to shut down their dream life.”

20. Nefarious Night Terrors

A night terror is a step up from nightmares. Merriam-Webster defines night terror as “a sudden awakening in dazed terror that occurs in children during slow-wave sleep, is often preceded by a sudden shrill cry uttered in sleep, and is not remembered when the child awakes.” As I share in my book Decoding Your Dreams, “Night terrors can bring an all-out panic on the dreamer. Scientists say you may not remember a night terror but when the enemy of your soul is behind the attack you may remember it vividly.”

Psalms 91:5 tells us when we fear the Lord, we will not be afraid of the terror at night. And we know God didn’t give us a spirit of fear (see 2 Timothy 1:7). But the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy through terrors.

21. Witchcraft Dreams

Witchcraft dreams carry witchcraft symbols, like black cats. Cats are associated with evil and witchcraft in most cultures, so it’s no wonder a superstition formed about bad luck occurring if a black cat crosses your path. You may dream of other witchcraft symbols or even witches. This could be the Holy Spirit showing you the prophetic witchcraft attack, or it could be because prophetic witchcraft is attacking you while you sleep.

22. Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis is “a complete temporary paralysis occurring in connection with sleep and especially upon waking,” according to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The medical world acknowledges natural and spiritual implications of sleep paralysis. In fact, WebMD.com writes, “Sleep paralysis is a feeling of being conscious but unable to move. It occurs when a person passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. During these transitions, you may be unable to move or speak for a few seconds up to a few minutes. Some people may also feel pressure or a sense of choking.”

This could happen for natural reasons, but it could also be prophetic witchcraft. This can be beyond scary and defies the Word of God in your life, which promises you can dwell in safety even while you sleep (see Psalm 4:8). Despite all the persecution he endured, the prophet Jeremiah said his sleep was pleasant to him (see Jeremiah 31:26). So should yours be.

23. Lacerations on the Body

If you’ve ever woken up with little scratches all over your body in places your fingernails can’t reach, you may be dealing with a unique manifestation of prophetic witchcraft—lacerations on the body. These usually manifest as tiny scratches in batches that are still raw in the morning, or may be scabbed over.

I’ve had this happen to me more than once. I remember a severe attack like this when I was in Kansas City. A woman who was operating in a Jezebel spirit was on the trip with us. She was dominating all my spare time under the guise of being emotionally disturbed by old traumatic memories. It became frustrating and I finally cut it off. The next morning, I woke up with painful scratches in various parts of my body.

This is usually a sign of someone astral projecting into your room. Unlike God transporting a person in the spirit like He did Philip the evangelist (see Acts 8:26-40), astral projection is the domain of the supernatural realm’s dark side, according to The Seer’s Dictionary. Unlike Philip’s experience, astral projection is an at-will, out-of-body experience.

Breaking Prophetic Witchcraft Attacks

If you are experiencing prophetic witchcraft attacks, you may be sure you know who or where it’s coming from. But remember this: you aren’t wrestling against flesh and blood, even though the enemy is using flesh and blood against you. You are wrestling against a power.

You need to put on the whole armor of God and engage in the battle.

The armor of God is described in Ephesians 6:14-17:

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

When it comes to witchcraft, we have to withstand it. The Amplified Bible says to “be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined]” (1 Pet. 5:9 AMPC). It’s easy enough to give in to witchcraft, especially if you don’t know what is attacking you. So again, when you feel like giving up, when you feel tired for no reason, when you have strong confusion, when you are fighting an intense battle in your mind, and when infirmities are manifesting, it could be witchcraft. Resist it at its onset. Cast it off. Submit yourself to God. “Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you” (James 4:7 AMP).

Again, submit yourself to the lordship of Christ. Exalt His name. Thank Him for His blood. Rejoice in the Lord. Praise and worship carry breakthrough. That’s often all it takes to change the spiritual climate in your home. And worship is where we should start because He is worthy of our adoration.

If worship doesn’t break the witchcraft, take authority over it in the name above all names. Witchcraft has to bow at the name of Jesus. But make sure you don’t have any common ground with the enemy. Repent for any rebellion in your heart, and surrender your will anew to God. Remember, we are more than conquerors in Christ, and no weapon formed against us can prosper—not even witchcraft. Our job is to be spiritually discerning enough to catch the devil at his onset, resist him, rebuke him, and praise God for the victory. Amen.

Remember what Paul said in Second Corinthians 10:3-6:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

For more information on prophetic witchcraft and discerning it in your life, check out my book, Discerning Prophetic Witchcraft.