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| Articles: are they real? |
Posted by
jadedraven on Friday, March 08, 2002 - 04:02 AM PST
I had my first experience with a medium/psychic today, and I wanted to share it with everyone, just because I am now kind of torn.
Even though I am Wiccan, I have always been quite skeptical when it comes to psychics, or anything you see on late night TV. C'mon with all the Miss Cleos out there, you really have to wonder how much of it is bullshit.
Plus, in my travels, since I meet a lot of witches, or people who think they are, I have seen a lot of people who are obviously fakes.
My main clue has always been the money.
See, the witches I know have this thing about charging money for their services, most of them don't, or if they do, it is in order for them to not be forced to deal with morons who really don't want to know anything, some do accept donations. As far as those who aren't witches or pagans, it follows along the same lines (from what I have seen).
OK, so anyway, I went to a psychic/medium for the first time, actually he came to me. This was a free reading, it was something that was done to build awareness in my area. As I said, it was my first time (minus my own tarot readings at home) and I was skeptical, expecting maybe a few laughs, nothing dramatic... and I was amazed, this guy knew descriptions, sun signs, relationships, it really was amazing, I don't want to go into all the juicy details, but he told me things about myself as well that blew me back, he even mentioned that i smoked!!!
Now, before you all start picking that apart, I did go prepared. First off, as far as the smoking thing, as i am trying to quit, I haden't had a smoke in over 24 hours, hadn't been around anyone who smoked, was weairng freahly washed clothes, and so on. I went by myself. The only thing I said to him the whole time was my name, and I mentioned something about my mom after he distinctly mentioned her sun sign, other than that, I was silent. So when he started, the only thing he knew about me was my first name, and that i might be a Wiccan (I had a pentacle on my neck and my finger, but I could have been wearing it for decoration)
When I got back home, I told my friend about it, and he knows how skeptical I am. Anyway, he was terrible, he shot down everything I said, and made me feel like shit, he said I was being naive and stupid to even think that it could have been real.
So now I am torn between my inborn skepticism which tells me I am to gullible, and the evidence I heard with my ears, which is that it was a real thing.
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| are they real? | Login/Create an account | 15 Comments |
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Re: are they real?
by Ironboots on Mar 08, 2002 - 04:29 AM
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Boy... Agnosticism gets better every day... You don't need to decide little things like that... *stretches back in throne* yeah...
Anyway, I'm not sure if it's genuine or not. I think there might be, its a possibility, but I haven't seen anything to change my fence-straddling mind. I got a tarot reading once, and it kinda creeped me out how closely it described me... but yeah.
Do whatever you want, as long as its fun. That's an order... ;)
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Faith & Magic
by Arthegarn on Mar 08, 2002 - 10:45 AM
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"Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the next, seen lots of strange stuff. But never anything to make me believe that there is one, all powerful Force that rules everything. No mystic energy field controls MY destiny"
- Parphrased from the Spanish translation of A New Hope
I have been practising magic ever since I was 15, first as a child, then as a grownup, now as a scholar. Everyone knows me in Madrid as "el Brujo" (the warlock) instead of by my real name because I always carry my major arcanes with me, always have a moment to read tarot to anyone, never once fail in my readings, and have quite a knowledge of magics. I have made astral travel, regressive hypnosis (I am a certified hypnotist, actually), shukenja practices, and made cabalistic rituals that have taken me to the doors of Hell (that's how I met Asmodeus... I was not kidding at that one). I brew serious Queimada every solstice and equinox.
And yes, I am still a Catholic.
But in all that time I have never once found a proof. A real proof. I never succeeded with my telekinesis or pyrokinesis attempts, and never tried to invoke extraplanar creatures into physical form (I am not such a fool, I am preparing for such for more than a year now). I have had lots of strange experiences, recieved lots of information, but never seen or felt anything that could not be explained by chance, hypnosis, or plain superchery.
But the fact is that it works. I see the horizon and the earth looks plain, but I know that it is actually not. Know? Wouldn't that be believe? What's my proof at that? I see the sun move and the earth stand still, but anyway I believe, beyond what my senses tell me, that it's the Earth moving because the universe is explained easier that way. I have never seen an atom, but the world works just as if there were.
And though all the startling results that I have achieved through magic can be explained in many other ways, Ockham's razor says magic exists even though I have no proof of it, just clues, intuitions and circumstancial evidence.
But I have seen and studied with enough charlatans as to know that most everything in the magic world is mere prestidigitation. I can play some amazing tricks, myself, know in advance which card will you choose and show it to you turned in a sealed deck, or place it previously somewhere and then tell you to look at it without me moving. I can hypnotize you and help you quit smoking, or help ypu get the most intense sexual experiences possible (I only do this with my long-standing couples, sorry, not just for one-night affairs, and anyway this is sheer science). I can bend spoons just as Uri Geller did.
Do they exist? Well, all I can say is I have no evidence they don't, and some evidence that they do. Was yours one of them? That's another issue which I just can't answer
And yes, I am still a Catholic, damnit.
Arthegarn
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- Funny tale by Arthegarn on Mar 08, 2002 - 10:49 AM
Re: are they real?
by Sardonic-Pain (Lilgothicchicka@yahoo.com)
on Mar 08, 2002 - 11:03 AM
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lets put it this way I am a Wiccan. My Mother is really big on herbal remedies and herbal healing so on and so forth and i am highly skilled in the way of the tarot
I have never ever been wrong on any of my readings. I have people who can vouch for that. I never take money and I never do readings for myself. Believe it or not most people actually know what they are doing. And sometimes its easy to pick of things off of people. Like you mentioned the smoking thing it was good of you to not smoke that day and to wear clean clothes ect. Cause i mean some people can just pick up on that immediately. I can usually describe a person down to a T and that without the tarot cards
Every time thus far that I've predicted some event happening in the future its ended up happening. Most people don't take heed and Alls I gotta say is I told you so.
It is hard to tell the fake ones from the real ones and I can't tell you how to tell them apart. And it pisses me off how people who actually have a gift and we get labeled as be fake. But i guess I just roll with the punches.
Good for you though for going it expands your horizons and its fun i guess!hehe.
note:oh don't ask me to do a reading for you online your chances are slim to none to get one....if you want me to explain why i will.....if you butter me up i might but ii more than likely won't
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Re: are they real?
by Shade (Shade@Gothcult.com)
on Mar 08, 2002 - 01:34 PM
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Like most of the responses you've already gotten, I've done more than a few readings in my life, I was trained to read Tarot by the guy who designed the Vyager deck, and worked at his publishing house for six months. I've had a few failed readings, maybe...I've seen the gates to -somewhere- and nearly lost my childhood imaginary friend when he held them closed with his body(?) I've seen and experienced things that would scare the crap out of the less than open-minded. And I've questioned it all.
I tend toward a sort of skeptical open-mindedness so I wonder if my readings are a just good old observation, am I more in touch with my subconscious so I notice things about the person that I'm not telling myself about? Have I had some serious hallucinations (Drug free) and they were personally tailored to myself and transmitted to my friends through the scientific medium of speech and body language? Maybe, does it matter? Not really. The people for whom I have dealt the cards left with a greater insight into themselves and their decisions, the things I have seen have changed me in ways I would not take back for anything. Perhaps he sa the yellow stains on your fingernails, and made an educated guess on your mothers sign based on your reaction when he said the sign before the persons name to whom it was connected, but all in all did you go to him for insight? then it sounds like you gained it. If you went in for a laugh, same thing. Personally I do believe there are more abilities out there than the standard set allows for, but I can't say who gets them or how the cards are dealt.
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Re: are they real?
by jadedraven (smithsm@alfredstate.edu)
on Mar 08, 2002 - 03:48 PM
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Thanks for your responses. I doubt he saw any yellow, since I was wearing fake nails painted blood red...as far as my moms sign, I tried keeping a poker face the whole time, but I can't say that I didn't react somehow. I agree with what you said about reading people, but maybe that is magick in and of itself.
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Re: are they real?
by Schizo on Mar 08, 2002 - 10:49 PM
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Unlike many people here, I am not very experienced in tarot. In fact, I've been practicing less than a month. Bought myself a pack of cards and a book of the basics, and made myself flashcards to teach myself the meanings of the different cards. I'm kind of approaching this lightly (not disrespectfully, please understand, but more as a child approaches something it has not mastered, in play, to accustom itself to the concepts.)
I've made one reading for a real live person, and it was almost alarmingly on the mark. Of course, I know the person, so that makes it somewhat easier, but it surprised me because I don't think of myself as overwhelmingly psychic.
I have a certain theory about the cards. Not that I think this is all there is to them, but I think it's why almost anyone can do a successful reading.
I think the tarot cards can be as much a psychological tool as a divinatory one. I think almost any combination of cards can be truthfully read for any person in any situation of their life. For example, suppose the Death card comes up in the 4th position (Celtic cross) which roughly corresponds to the past. Now, who on earth can't think of something in the past they've lost or had to set aside that has to do with the subject of their query? And if you know the person you're doing the reading for, it can be fairly easy to pinpoint what that Death element of the past might be.
The psychological benefit of having the cards read for you is that it helps to reaffirm in your mind the things you know about yourself and your situation, but that perhaps you hate to admit, have stuffed into your subconscious, or perhaps have a surface uncertainty about.
I don't think this is necessarily all there is to the tarot cards. I think there very well may be those who are practicing true psychic arts with these tools. I am woefully inexperienced in these things, having been taught all my life that such things were evil.
I would say that, if the tarot reading helped you sort out your mind about whatever situation was at hand, then it was a perfectly valid reading. No matter how the interpretations were come by.
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Re: are they real?
by pAris (dparis@columbus.rr.com)
on Mar 09, 2002 - 03:30 PM
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Okay. First of all. I believe that there is much that we simply do not understand in this and every universe. Does this make it magic? Of course it does, yet also anything not understood by someone could be termed magic. This website would be magic to a 16th century monk. The ideas of particle physics and quantum theory would be magic (or religeous belief) to almost anyone before this century.
I have had many experiences in my life which lead me to believe that there is more to the world than meets the eye. I had a premonition of my mother's death about 6 months before it happened. I have had sudden thoughts about people who I have not heard from or thought of in a long time, then seen or heard from them within a day. I have called people on the phone and been told they had been thinking of me. I have had far too many experiences of sending and receiving thoughts/feelings to brush them off as coincidence. And, yes, I have had extraordinary experiences with Tarot and other forms of readings that were right on the mark.
On the other hand, our brains are very good at creating and perceiving patterns that may not really be there. My rationalist friends tell me I am full of shit, even though I try to approach life with a skeptical yet open mind.
I see magic as thus - it is related to the vibrations of life. Everything resonates at certain frequencies, from energy waves (such as light, microwaves, radio, and sound) to matter. Therefore, everything is vibrating energy, just at different frequencies. Even if something appears to be material, it is still energy. Our brains and bodies use electricity to work, and most things electrical have fields around them which affect and are affected by other fields around them.
Those of us who consider magic a reality are simply more open to the vibrations/frequencies of the universe, and some can control these abilities, through much practice and/or a natural aptitude. My own "paranormal" activities are fairly unlearned and relatively hard for me to control, and the more I try to control them, the more they seem to backfire. I see that as an aspect of chaos theory, where an action can have unexpected consequences which at first seem unrelated.
Is this too heavy or rationalist? I do believe in spirituality and things which exist beyond our dimension of perception, but I am not sure they are truly magic, ie: without any basis in "reality." We simply do not understand what it is we are tapping into. What's funny is that there are scientific studies of things which simply do not "make sense" such as the abilities of Tibetan monks to withstand freezing cold, or some people's abilities to control their autonomic functions (heartbeat, blood pressure, etc) with their minds.
Finally, someone who refuses to believe in something just because (s)he does not understand it, is a fool. Just ask the pope who excommunicated Galileo for his theories which are now quite accepted. Of course, it will require being able to speak with someone who is dead....
"If 'everybody knows' such-and-such, then it ain't so, by at least ten thousand to one."
"One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word."
- Robert Heinlein
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Hoohah...
by Dolorosa on Mar 12, 2002 - 06:24 PM
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Alrighty...this is something I've not to long ago dunked my head into. Is it real...yes and no, is it all real? Fuck no.
My best advice is to be innately skeptical of things and people you see on TV and the radio proclaiming the solicitation of their Psychic Prowess...if it looks, sounds and tastes like bullshit...well.
But it is out there, seers, the vision and sighted, all of them exist, along with the myriad spirits, ghosts and darker things...Faerie and all that even. They just don't scream out there presence of TV. You have to go and find them in the quiet places of the world. They're there.
The palm readers and deckers out there, I've always had mixed opinions about them...everyone has gifts, and anyone with those gifts can peel open a person and read them like a book. Thats great for entertainment...
Agh...lost my train of thought, as I often do. well, the skinny is.
A bit of skepticism is a good thing, but always, always keep that small core of wonder in your heart that makes you who you are. If you find something awesome hidden amidst the chaff of the neon-lights and hoodoo bs, fricking awesome...grab it, keep it and don't let go.
And yes...my train of thought has finally missed the station and careened off the bridge.
Wheee...
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Re: are they real?
by nocta on Mar 15, 2002 - 09:02 PM
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I would like to give a pointer on how to tell if a 'psychic' is real or not. This was given to me by a four-year-old: if someone was really psychic, they wouldn't have to have open/closed hours because they would just know when you were coming. What a perceptive kid, huh? :)
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Re: are they real?
by DarkTigress (Ask...)
on Mar 16, 2002 - 01:38 PM
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Hello,
I just wanted to say that after I read it I thought it sounded kind of faked. Since people am mentioning religion, I am Christian, but I do believe in magic and some of the Wiccan theories.
I don't think you should just conclude all as fakes though. The reason they get payed is because they need to make a living. Just because many are fakes, it doesn't mean all are. You should be sceptical both ways, not only that they couldn't be, but that they could. If people just went by in life assuming things couldn't be, we would be very boring and miss out on alot.
Just wanted to say that :)
Take care and be safe! Ta ta,
-Nadia-
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