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Can you Be in a Mainstream Religion and Still Seek the Paranormal?
There are a lot of popular reality shows on TV that explore the existence of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. You may have seen shows like Ghost Hunters, etc. The stars, who look like ordinary Americans, use all sorts of high tech tools to try to find out if places are haunted.
The Pew Forumpubished a recent survey which may surprise you. Even though most Americans claim to be Christians, many of them also believe in concepts that we might classify as Eastern, or even Pagan.
Here are some very interesting answers that Americans gave to this survey:
- 29% of the US public, and 29% of Christians, believe they have been in touch with the dead.
- A quarter of the public, and 23% of Christians, believe in astrology.
- Almost half say they have had a religious or mystical experience.
- Almost a quarter of the public, and 22% of Christians believe in reincarnation. This is not resurrection, but reincarnation where people are reborn into another life.
It is also interesting to note that the concept of reincarnation is mentioned multiple times in Jewish mysticism.
As long as a person is unsuccessful in his purpose in this world, the Holy One, blessed be He, uproots him and replants him over and over again. (Zohar I 186b)
Since Christians believe that Jewish thought forms the foundation of the religion, it may not be that unusal. However, these thoughts are more rooted in tradition and mystical scholars than in mainstream Judiasm.
Or it just may be universal consciousness.
Is it Science or Magic?
Why has witchcraft always been shunned while scientist has been help in high esteem? By this point in history we understand that some every day science we experience all the time would seem like magic to our ancestors. Perhaps it is because magic was practiced under cover while science was being published and practiced in the open. Perhaps it is simply because witchcraft is associated with women while science is associated with men.
Biblical Witches
Even though we can argue that the biblical injunction against witches, really meant bad witches, and not good ones like Glenda, the term raises eyebrows in any organized, conservative religion. Famous biblical figures did consult with witches, though it was obvious they really were not supposed to be the prohibitions of their time. But the actual women who practiced these arts, like the Witch of Endor, are presented in a sympathetic light.
Modern Witches
Consider The Secret book and video. It has become a media sensation with famous people endorsing it on TV. This concept, creative visualization, is not new though. It is probably the basis of ancient rituals and incantations.
Modern witches will admit that their arts are mental, and the better they become at flexing their mental muscles, the more powerful their spells become. Think about gurus who teach positive thinking and scientists who study the effect of placebos.
Think about common herbs. Some have evolved into the basis of modern medicine. If a witch brewed a tea that contained a natural painkiller, how different is that from taking a couple of aspirin? Well, willow bark contains salicylic acid, what we know as aspirin. Is making this into a tea really a dark art or is it science?
Fragrant oil are also used in spells. Aromatherapy has been studied, and even scientists agree there is substance to this use. While rosemary may make us more lively, mint may tend to relax us. Is this witchcraft? Maybe, but it is also using natural plants to affect our moods and bodies. This is hardly different than drinking a cup of coffee to wake up or a warm glass of milk to fall asleep.
Scientists are just barely beginning to study the power of our minds. We can barely understand how our own grey matter works! But it is hard to dispute the power of thought and outlook in our lives.
The ancients may have called it magic, but tomorrow we may take it for granted as common science.
The Orange Spell for Empowerment and Energy
What you need is simply an orange candle, and orange, a cup of tea, a slip of paper, and a pen.
Write down what you’d like to get accomplished in the short term. Prioritize your list, and make sure it is reasonable. It should fit on a small slip of paper.
Light the candle and concentrate on your list for a few minutes. while you focus on the candle flame. After you have studied your list, fold it up and lay it aside.
Then peel the orange. Smell it. Squeeze a little juice on your wrist, and raise your wrist to your nose.
Say: Empower Me/So Mote it Be.
Go ahead and eat the orage. Add some orange juice or orange peel to a cup of hot tea. Enjoy your brew while basking i the candle flame. When your tea is done, you should arise refreshed. You should be able to focus on your tasks, concentrate on getting the important things done in order of priority. If you run out of steam later, go ahead and take another spell/tea break.
Why It May Help: Beyond magic, you have relaxed and put yourself into a calm and meditative state for a few minutes. You have made yourself write a list of the most important tasks you need to accomplish, and hopefully put them in order of priority. Oranges are energizing, both from an aromatherapy standpoint, and from an nutritional one. And last, you’ve allowed yourself a cup of tea, which is relaxing and stimulating at the same time.
Though Shalt Not Suffer A Witch to Live….
A lot of potential spell casters have been scared off by this so-called biblical injuction in Exodus 22:18. However, most modern people who practice The Art were raised in a Judeo-Christian environment. So how can we reconcile this terrible warning with spell casting?
Mistranslations
The original Old Testament or Torah was written in Hebrew, and was written in the context of language use a few thousand years old. This article – Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live – is quite complete on this subject.
In its original Hebrew text the verse reads: M’khashephah lo tichayyah. Literally this means: “May a m’khashephah not live” or “You will not keep a m’khashephah in life.” M’khashephah is the feminine form (although it also has a collective meaning) of a term which can also be used in the masculine m’khasheph). It means someone who practices k’shaphim, a magic characterized by spell-working that aggressively makes changes in the environment.
Evil vs. Good Use of Magic
In other words, we believe the injuction applies to agressive and destructive use of spells. The spellcaster is condemned because she uses her powers to cause destruction, and not because of those powers. In fact, in I Samuel 28:7-25, King Saul consults with the “Witch of Endor.” In that story, she is portrayed as a virtous and helpful woman who goes out of her way to help.
The important thing to note here is that the ancient biblical Israelites did believe in the power of magic. They may have felt that this practice did cut into the identity of their religion though. Other translations may have been less severe than the first, in that a person should not give witches a livlihood (i.e. give them business), but not take their lives.
Either way, many modern bible translations have replaced witch with soceress, implying the injuction was against the use of evil powers, but not benign ones. Besides, in this modern world, it is easy to see how some very common practices could have been mistaken for witchcraft. Is the bark of a willow tree which contains the same indgredients as aspirin magic when brewed into a tea that could reduce fever and pain?
This line of thought just raises more questions. In the end, where is the line between magic and science? Maybe a modern scientist or doctor would have been considered a witch by ancient people.
Are You The Candle or The Flame?
Aleister Crowley, one parent of modern witchcraft, called magic “the art or science of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will.” Modern ocultists really believe that the metal energy of the preformer produces magic. Spells focus that energy.
Magic is Mental
We have certainly noticed that creative visualization has draw a lot of media attention these days. I believe Oprah even raved about The Secret. This is nothing more than the act of focusing psychic energy to bring about positive changes. And here, we only deal with magic as a source of positive changes.
When performing a ritual or spell, your imagination and focus are required. This is not different than creative visualization. Stronger power come from stronger mental muscles, but like any other muscle, this can be developed. Practice makes perfect.
On PsychicQuestionWeb, we use ordinary objects in our spells. You will not have to round up any eyes of newts of frog’s warts here. That is because they objects are effective in evoking the right mental frame, and because we want everybody to be able to access their powers.
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