Posts Tagged ‘Psychics’

News & Submissions 1/27/2011

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Pagan Studies Conference a success
Pagan scholars discussed “Building Community” on Jan. 22 and 23 at the 7th Annual Conference of Current Pagan Studies in Claremont.  More than 70 Pagans gathered to hear the ideas and results of research by the 27 Pagan scholars, researchers and leaders who came from greater LA as well as from other areas of the country.

They gathered to discuss issues that relate to the Pagan community at large. It is important to that community’s health and growth to meet and learn from one another. It’s also important for all Pagans to be involved in the public arena and have their voices heard. With an estimate of over a million Americans now self-identified as Pagan, the Pagan religion is coming of age. And it is feeling, now more than ever, the need for trained leaders and clergy to build stronger Pagan communities that also see themselves as a part of a larger community. Read full story from examiner.com

Rabbis warn Rupert Murdoch: Fox News and Glenn Beck ‘using’ Holocaust
Four hundred rabbis, including the leaders of all the main branches of Judaism in the US, have signed an open letter calling on Rupert Murdoch to sanction the head of Fox News and one of the channel’s most famous hosts for frequent inappropriate references to the Nazis and the Holocaust.

The rabbis chose a poignant place to make their protest: they took out an advert costing at least $100,000 in one of Murdoch’s own newspapers, the Wall Street Journal. The advert was printed today – the UN-designated Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In the letter, the Jewish coalition calls on Murdoch to take action against Roger Ailes, the bombastic president of Fox News, as well as against Glenn Beck, the channel’s most notorious rightwing commentator. “We share a belief that the Holocaust, of course, can and should be discussed appropriately in the media. But that is not what we have seen at Fox News,” the letter says. Read full story from guardian.co.uk

Do You Need an Exorcism? Take the Quiz!
Anthony Hopkins portrays Father Lucas Trevant, a veteran exorcist, in the new film The Rite, which opens Friday. The story follows Trevant as he teaches a younger priest how to tell if a person is possessed by a demon, and what to do if that is indeed the case.

Many religions claim that humans can be possessed by demonic spirits, and offer remedies to address this inconvenience. The Bible recounts six instances of Jesus casting out demons, while voodoo and Catholicism proscribe elaborate rituals and cleansings to remove spiritual stains.

The Vatican (which, as the film accurately notes, offers courses on exorcisms) accepts only a small percentage of demonic possessions as “authentic,” which of course suggests that there are a lot of unauthentic cases of possession out there. The Vatican issued official guidelines on exorcism in 1614, and revised them in 1999. Read full story from discovery.com

Popularity of vampires spawns subculture, scholar says
(Reuters) – They work as doctors and lawyers by day but lurk as vampires by night. While they may not wish to suck your blood, there are plenty of willing victims on tap, according to a top U.S. scholar on a subculture that emulates the undead.

Idaho State University sociologist D.J. Williams, newly hired as a consultant for a proposed television documentary about “self-identified vampires,” said true modern acolytes of Dracula seek consensual blood-sharing relationships.

The popular fascination with vampires dates back to the 1897 publication of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, and later books such as Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles.”

But it exploded in recent years with the best-selling “Twilight” series of novels by Stephenie Meyer and movie adaptations. The seductive vampire character Edward Cullen in the movie, played by actor Robert Pattinson, became a teen idol and made vampires cool. Read full story from reuters.com

Woman claims literal witch hunt in dead cats case
A Jackson County woman charged for keeping more than 100 dead cats in a freezer says she is being persecuted because she practices the Wiccan religion.

Gabriella Bernabei, 46, and her husband, Robert J.A. Grassi, 56, are charged with child neglect, 16 misdemeanor counts of intentional mistreatment of animals and a felony count of animal mistreatment.

Grassi has reached a plea deal with prosecutors that calls for probation. Bernabei has vowed to fight the charges.

“It’s a total all-out assault with everything that’s got to do with my religion, with my cats and how I look,” Bernabei said. “It’s a witch hunt.” Read full story from lacrossetribune.com

New course reconnects students with nature
A new 12-credit learning community will focus on the importance of reconnecting with nature. The series, which is now open to students eligible for advanced registration, will consist of three different courses that meet different requirements for the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer degree in ecology, religion and political science.

Jerry Hall, a retired faculty instructor, spearheaded the program’s creation. Hall, a Native American, offers a cultural perspective central to the themes within the sequence.

Stan Taylor, chairman of the Lane Peace Center, teaches the Environmental Politics course in the module said that students studying in learning communities have a very unique learning experience. “Students in learning communities form lasting relationships. The experience for many is very transformative,” Taylor said.

Clif Trolin, who teaches the Nature, Religion and Ecology class, said the course of study includes a Native American perspective and has both a scientific and cultural view that fits well with his religion class. Read full story from lcctorch.com

Filmmaker Psychs Out Psychics and ET Believers
Many of us have given a few bucks to some alleged psychic to tell us stuff we already know, but what if you spent your entire life savings looking into the future, attempting to contact ghosts and protecting yourself from aliens?

That’s the premise behind filmmaker Blake Freeman’s newest documentary, “Gawd Bless America,” in which he travels across America with a 69-year-old “believer” named LeRoy Tessina who’s gone bankrupt after years of buying into fraudulent fortune-tellers and alien-protection devices.

In hopes of setting Tessina straight, the duo set out on a weird cross-country adventure to debunk self-proclaimed psychics, healers, alien-abduction experts and ghost hunters. Read full story from aolnews.com

“The Rite” stuff: interview with exorcist Fr. Gary Thomas
Since priests and demons frighten me, my colleague Peg Aloi, who in addition to being a fine critic and writer is also a practicing Wiccan, agreed to conduct this interview with the exorcist who inspired the new film “The Rite,” which opens Friday.

Here’s Peg’s story:

Father Gary Thomas is the subject of Matt Baglio’s book “The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist” (Doubleday Religion), which was the inspiration for Mikael Hafstrom’s film “The Rite,” opening in theatres January 28, 2011. I spoke with Father Thomas on the phone last weekend, and excerpts from our conversation appear below. Read full story from thepheonix.com

U.S. missionary in Mexico fatally shot
(CNN) — An American missionary was fatally shot in Mexico on Wednesday, police said.

The preliminary investigation indicated that Nancy Davis, 59, and her husband were traveling on a Mexican highway near the city of San Fernando, Mexico, when they were confronted by gunmen in a black pickup, the Pharr Police Department in Texas said in a statement. San Fernando is south of the border city of Reynosa in Tamaulipas state.

“The gunmen were attempting to stop them and the victims accelerated in efforts of getting away from them,” the police statement said. “At a certain point the gunmen discharged a weapon at the victim’s vehicle and a bullet struck the victim Nancy Shuman Davis on the head.” Read full story from cnn.com

News & Submissions 12/30/2010

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Dark future for wrong psychics
There are many things to dislike about end-of-year celebrations — the pressure to make New Year’s Eve memorable, the shameful amounts of money wasted on fireworks, drunken renditions of Auld Lang Syne. But perhaps the most annoying tradition is the value placed on predictions made by psychics.

According to a 2009 Neilsen poll, 49 per cent of Australians believe in psychic powers, despite — it must be pointed out — a distinct lack of supporting evidence.

However, as 2010 draws to a close, we have a unique chance to put some of these beliefs to the test by reflecting on the accuracy of psychic predictions made at the start of the year. After all, the rest of us face performance reviews at this time of the year, so why not critically appraise clairvoyants as well? Read full story from haroldsun.com

January, New Year and the Compitalia
For many people, after the December festivities January comes as a quite a gloomy anti-climax. However, Classical Pagans (i.e. those following a Roman/Greek pantheon) perceive the world with somewhat different eyes.

Subsequent to the festivities of Yuletide and the Midwinter Solstice, or Christmas – if one subscribes to the more recent Christian ethos, we swiftly arrive at the start of another contemporary year. I accentuate the word ‘contemporary’ because calendars have so frequently changed over the centuries.

The bucolic, pre-Christian, Celtic land dwellers regarded the period we now call Halloween (originally Samhain) as the end of summer and commencement of winter. It marked the start of the New Year.

When we disregard the ‘man-made’ calendar and take a long look at nature’s moods, this old agricultural method of time calculation begins to make a great deal of sense. Read full story from ufodigest

Secular Coalition Calls for Email Campaign to Mayor-Elect Gray
December 29, 2010 (Washington, D.C.) – The Secular Coalition for America (SCA) is calling for an email campaign by all D.C. residents to let Mayor-Elect Vincent Gray know that discrimination in any form, for any reason is unacceptable.

CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO MAYOR-ELECT VINCENT GRAY.

The efforts come one day after SCA went public with the decision from the mayor-elect’s transition team to exclude a secular representative for atheists, agnostics, humanists, and other nontheistic Washington, D.C. residents at his first official inaugural event—an ecumenical service entitled “One City … Praying Together” at 8 a.m. Sunday, January 2, 2011. Read full story from richarddawkins.com

Seven arrested for killing man over witchcraft
Seven people were arrested at Thabine village outside Tzaneen on Thursday after a man accused of practising witchcraft was stoned to death, Limpopo police said. Read full story from thenewaga.co.za

Man banished from Busia village over witchcraft
RESIDENTS of Buwhera village in Buyanga sub-county in Busia district have banished a man from their village for allegedly practicing witchcraft.

Robert Barasa, 24, was banished from the village after a meeting held at Buwhera on Tuesday. Karim Sityabude, who is field operations chief of the Uganda traditional healers Busia Chapter, was present at the meeting. Read full story from newvision.co.ug

Yes, Virginia, Hellenes Have Christmas Traditions
Two decades ago, Ann Landers did a column about how various cultures celebrate Christmas. Halfway down her list was this gem: “If you are Greek Orthodox, your sect celebrates Christmas on January 7.” Several people wrote back that 1) the Orthodox church is not a sect — it is the original church from which the Catholic one split after the Schism of 1054 and 2) only the so-called Old Believers track Christmas by the Julian calendar.

I was reminded of this when I was leaving work a week ago, and a colleague asked, “Should I wish you Merry Christmas? I heard you Greeks don’t celebrate it like we do.” As those who read my posts know, I’m an atheist who misses many of my culture’s old customs, particularly those that thrum with pagan echoes. So I’m going to put my tour guide’s hat briefly on, and tell you what we Hellenes do around the time of the winter solstice. Read full story from huffingtonpost.com

Need a Job? Losing Your House? Who Says Hoodoo Can’t Help?
Jennifer Forness, a 39-year-old in Groton, Conn., felt her life falling apart earlier this year. Her husband announced he wanted a divorce. She lost her job as a store clerk. She developed health problems from the stress.

Then one night she discovered a website selling products for hoodoo—an ancient belief system based on spells, potions, balms and curses that slaves developed long ago in the Deep South. Ms. Forness ordered several items and instructions for performing certain rituals. She also had a telephone session with a hoodoo “doctor” who specializes in employment matters. Read full story from wsj.com

Forecasters keep eye on looming ‘Solar Max’
PARIS, France — The coming year will be an important one for space weather as the Sun pulls out of a trough of low activity and heads into a long-awaited and possibly destructive period of turbulence.

Many people may be surprised to learn that the Sun, rather than burn with faultless consistency, goes through moments of calm and tempest.

But two centuries of observing sunspots — dark, relatively cool marks on the solar face linked to mighty magnetic forces — have revealed that our star follows a roughly 11-year cycle of behaviour.

The latest cycle began in 1996 and for reasons which are unclear has taken longer than expected to end.

Now, though, there are more and more signs that the Sun is shaking off its torpor and building towards “Solar Max,” or the cycle’s climax, say experts. Read full story from google.com

Christ In Woman’s Chest X-ray (source abc news)

News & Submissions 4/15/2010

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Witches to Open New Museum in Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, MA (PRWEB) April 15, 2010 — Witches opening a new museum in Salem, Massachusetts, aka The Witch City, wouldn’t seem to be newsworthy, as there are many quality museums in the city already. What makes The World of Witches Museum different is that its exhibit will be dealing with real world witches and operated by practicing witches. This Museum will be a place of learning for and about the global Witch movement, and will tell their story. With Witchcraft, Witches, and Wiccan cultures on the rise worldwide, the World of Witches Museum tells the story of their struggles, history, and beliefs from a witch’s point of view. The museum, under its curator Rev. Donald Lewis, will tell the story of Witches from the past, present, and those Witches who are walking among us today. Read full story from prweb.com

Witch Magick
Did you know that if a witch sees or spots a black cat or black dog that this is a good omen for a witch to see.

A long time ago, black cats wore destroyed as they wore thought to be devils, and this is why the Christians would kill them. Read full story from modernghana.com

Tomb Of Ken-Amun, Royal Scribe, Unearthed In Egypt
Dating to the 19th Dynasty B.C (1315-1201 BC), the burial is the first ever Ramesside-period tomb uncovered in Lower Egypt, Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said on Wednesday. Read full story from discovery.com

Breaking: Some Psychics May Be Frauds
Last year, psychic to the stars Azra Shafi-Scagliar was convicted of grand larceny. Then a couple of months ago, Sylvia Mitchell of Zena Psychic was accused of tricking her customers into giving her large sums of money by telling them that they needed to cleanse their spirits. Then “psychic investment adviser” Sean Morton was charged by the SEC with fraud. And now, “intuitive” psychic Laura Day is being sued by her ex-boyfriend, Princeton Review founder Adam Robinson, who claims that she manipulated him into writing her best-selling book for her out of “virtually unusable” notes and then used her powers of intuition against him. Read full story from mymag.com

Rosemary For Remembrance
A sprig of Rosemary worn in the lapel on Anzac Day is a form of remembrance to those who have served this country in times of conflict. In fact, the commonly used phrase is ‘Rosemary for Remembrance.’ Read full story from narrowminenewsonline.com

Brunswick commissioners may abandon insistence on prayers
The consideration of changing from an opening invocation to a moment of silence comes after a StarNews report on a late-night board meeting in which commissioners vehemently opposed Commissioner Charles Warren’s request to allow outside clergy to pray before the board meetings. Traditionally the commissioners have given the invocation. Read full story from starnewsonline.com

Massive fireball reported across Midwestern sky
(CNN) — Authorities in several Midwestern states were flooded Wednesday night with reports of a gigantic fireball lighting up the sky, the National Weather Service said. Read full story from cnn.com