The subject of these pages is something most people find very interesting. But more than merely "interesting," it involves things Catholics must come to understand. There is a war going on for souls, and the preternatural world is where much of the battle is taking place.

First, a definition:  what does "preternatural" mean? It refers not to the natural world that we can explain with scientific methodologies and easily perceive with our senses. Nor does it refer to the supernatural world -- the realm of God. It's the world "in-between" -- a world that is created, but a world that is outside of the normal order of nature that we can readily perceive, measure, and subject to scientific methods. It's the world of spirit -- angels, demons, and ghosts and such.

The lower, created natural world (what we normally see around us) is subject to time and space.

The higher, created preternatural world (the world of created spirit) is subject to time, but not to space.

The highest, uncreated supernatural world (the world of uncreated Spirit -- that is, God -- and His Kingdom) is subject neither to time nor space.

Sadly, the word "supernatural" has come to commonly be used in place of "preternatural" whenever phenomena arise that can't be explained by science (e.g., ghostly apparitions, poltergeist activity, extrasensory perception, etc.), whether nor not those phenomena spring from God or not.  Miracles are supernatural, but an apparent ghost, or a poltergeist throwing plates in your house, is preternatural. I pray folks out there reading this differentiate between "supernatural" and "preternatural." It's an important distinction!

This little section will be broken down into the following pages, some with links of their own to more information: