501
THE PRIESTHOOD (continued)
And so it is that they who lose or give away their following,
Or they who through inactivity have lost their power,
Or they who are not in harmony and love with their Spiritual Father;
Shall be retired from a rank to which entitled
Other than by leadership of men.
But this can only be done by he who ordained them,
For only those who give can take away,
Yet each High Priest is responsible that this is done.
Should any Fellow fain the Priesthood, and use it wisely and well,
The Gods have decreed that those who serve them
Shall prosper and grow in this life,
And shall gain eternal perfection
To be freed from the Wheel of Life,
And to become like unto the angels
In that they should be perfect.
For perfection is to be gained by love,
And there is no greater love than to
Lay down one's life for his brethren
In their service and for their sake,
And the Father will reward them for
Their labor of love, because
He is not unjust.
FINIS
502
THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC:
Getting Specific about Magical Ethics
Sometimes a clichejust wearsout. It losesmeaning or, worse,begins
to say things we never meant. I think it's time to retire the phrase "black
magic."
Saying"black" when we mean "evil" is nasty nonsense. In the first
place, it reinforces the racist stereotypes that corrupt our society. And
that's not all. Whenever we say "black" instead of "bad," we repeat again
the big lie that darkness is wrong. It isn't, as people who profess to love
Nature should know.
Darkness canmean the inside of the womb, and the seed germinating
within the Earth, and the chaos that gives rise to all truly new
beginnings. In our myths, the one who goes down to the underworld returns
with the treasure. Even death, to the Wiccan understanding, is well-earned
rest and comfort, and a preparation for new birth. Using "black" to mean
"bad" is a blasphemy against the Crone.
But even if we no longer speak of magic as "black" or "white," we
still need to think and speak about the ethics of magic. Although black is
not evil, some actions are evil. It simply is not true that anything a
person is strong enough or skilled enough to do is OK, nor should doing
what we will ever be the whole of the law for us. We need a clear and
specific vocabulary that enables us to choose wisely what we will do.
We need to replace the word "black," not simply to drop it. Some
Pagans have tried using "negative" as their substitute, but that turned out
to be confusing. For some people, "negative" means any spell to diminish or
banish anything. Some things - tumors, depression, bigotry - are harmful.
There's nothing wrong with a working to get rid of bad stuff. "Left-handed"
is another common term for wrongful practice, very traditional, but just as
ignorant, superstitious and potentially harmful as the phrase "black magic"
itself. So in Proteus we tried using the word "unethical." That's a lot
better - free of extraneous and false implications - but still too vague.
Gradually, I began to wonder whether using any one word, "black" or
"unethical" or whatever, might just be too general and too subjective.
Perhaps all I really tell a student that way is "Judy doesn't like that."
I won't settle for blind obedience. If ethical principles are going to
survive the twin tests of time and temptation, people need to understand
just what to avoid, and why. Even more important, they need a basis for
figuring out what to do instead. Especially when it comes to projective
magic.
Projectivemagic means active workings,the kind inwhich we project
our will out into the world to make some kind of change. This is what most
people think of when they use the word magic at all. Quite clearly, magic
that may affect other people is magic that can harm. This is the basis of
the proverb "a Witch who can't hex can't heal." Either you can raise and
direct power, or you can't. Your strength and skill can be used for
blessing or for bane. The choice - and the karma - are yours.
503
Just as some people feel that strength and skill are their own
justification, others feel that any projective magic is always wrong - that
it is a distraction from our one true goal of union with the Divine or a
willful avoidance of the judgments of Karma. I think these attitudes are
equally inconsistent with basic Wiccan philosophy.
Weare taught that we will find theLady within ourselves or not at
all, that the Mother of All has been with us from the beginning. We can't
now establish a union that was always there. All we can do, all we need to
do, is become aware. Knowing what it feels like to heal and empower, again
and again till you can't dismiss it as coincidence, is one of the most
powerful methods for awakening that awareness. It makes no sense to say
that the direct experience and exercise of our indwelling divinity
distracts from the Great Work.
Indeed, it is this intimate connection between our magic and our
self-realization that our ethics protect. Wrongful use of magic will choke
the channel. No short term gain could ever compensate for that.
The karmic argument againstpractical workings seems to meto arise
from a paranoid and defeatist world view. Even if we assume that the
hardships in this life were put there by the Gods for a reason, how can we
be so sure that the reason was punishment? Perhaps instead of penance to be
endured, our difficulties are challenges to be met. Coping and dealing with
our problems, learning magical and mundane skills, changing ourselves and
our world for the better - in short, growing up - is that not what the Gods
of joy and freedom want from us?
One of the most radically different things about a polytheistic belief
system is that each one of us has the right, and the need, to choose which
God/desses will be the focus of our worship. We make these choices knowing
that whatever energies we invoke most often in ritual will shape our own
further growth. Spiritual practices are a means of self-programming. So we
are responsible for what we worship in a way that people who take their One
God as a given are not.
Think about this: what kind of Power actively wants us to submit and
suffer, and objects when we develop skills to improve our own lives? Not a
Being I'd want to invite around too often!
So it will not workfor us to rule out projectivemagic completely;
nor should we. Total prohibitions are as thoughtless as total
permissiveness or blind obedience. Ethical and spiritual adults ought to be
able to make distinctions and well-reasoned choices. I offer here a start
toward analyzing what kinds of magic are not ethical for us.
Baneful magicis magic done forthe explicit purposeof causing harm
to another person. Usually the reason for it is revenge, and the
rationalization is justice. People who defend the practice of baneful magic
often ask "but wouldn't you join in cursing another Hitler?"
For adults there is no rule without exceptions. If you think you would
never torture somebody, consider this scenario: in just half an hour the
bomb will go off, killing everybody in the city, and this terrorist knows
where it is hidden....
504
It's a bad mistake to base your ethics on wildly unlikely cases, since
none of us honestly knows how we would react in that kind of extreme.
Reasonable ethical statements are statements about the behaviors we expect
of ourselves under normally predictable circumstances.
We all getreally angry on occasion, and sometimeswith good cause.
Then revenge can seem like no more than simple justice. The anger is a
normal, healthy human reaction, and should not be repressed. But there's no
more need to act it out in magic than in physical violence. Instead of
going for revenge - and invoking the karmic consequences of baneful magic -
identify what you really need. For example, if your anger comes from a
feeling that you have been attacked or violated, what you need is
protection and safe space. Work for the positive goal, it's both more
effective and safer.
The consequences of baneful magic are simply the logical, natural and
inevitable psychological effects. Even in that rare and extreme situation
when you may decide you really do have to use magic to give Hitler a heart
attack, it means you are choosing by the same choice to accept the act's
karma. Magical attack hurts the attacker first.
The only way I know how to do magic is by use of my imagination, by
visualizing or otherwise actively imagining the end I want, and then
projecting that goal with the energy of emotional/physiological arousal.
All the techniques I know either help me to imagine more specifically or to
project more strongly. So the only way I can send out harm is by first
experiencing that harm within my own imagination. Instant and absolute
karma - the natural, logical and inevitable outcomes of our own choices.
I would think, also, that somebody dumb enough to dosuch workings
often would soon lose the ability to imagine specifically, as their
sensitivity dulled in sheer self-defense. That callusing effect is the
reality behind the pious proverb that says "if you abuse it, She'll take it
away."
But not every othermagician is ethical. Psychic attacksdo happen.
Should we not defend ourselves? Of course we should. Leaving ourselves open
to psychic attack is no good example of the autonomy and assertiveness our
chosen Gods expect. But first, how can we be sure what we are experiencing
really is psychic attack?
Thefantasy ofpsychic attackis often aconvenient excusethat allows
us to avoid looking at our own shortcomings. When lack of rest or improper
nutrition is the cause of illness, or a project isn't completed on time
because of distraction, it's a real temptation to put the blame outside
ourselves. Doing this too easily betrays our autonomy just as badly as
meek submission to attack does. Then, to compound matters, projected blame
becomes an excuse for unjust revenge -- and that is baneful magic without
excuse.
Once in a rare while, some fool really does tryto throw a whammy.
It's hard to predict when you might be targeted. Passive shields are always
a good idea. Like a mirror, these are totally inactive until somebody sends
unwelcome energy. Then a shield will protect you completely and bounce back
whatever is being thrown. You may not even know consciously when your
shield is working, but the result is perfect justice.
505
Perfect justice; elegant and efficient. You won't hurt anybody out of
paranoia or by mistake. And perfect protection, even though we do not have
perfect knowledge.
Bindings, according to some, arecompletely defensive. They do not
harm, only restrain. But imagine yourself being bound - perhaps by someone
who believes themselves justified - and notice the feeling of impotence and
frustration. Binding is bane from the viewpoint of the bound.
Even if restraint were truly not harm, bindings are just plain poor
protection. They target a particular person or group. What if you suspect
the wrong person? Somebody harmless is bound and your actual attacker is
not bound. Shields, which cover you, not your supposed enemy, will cover
you against any enemy, known or unknown.
So, baneful magic, besides being painful in the short run and
crippling in the long run, is never necessary. There are better ways of
self protection, and retribution is the business of the Gods.
Coercive magicis magicthat targets anotherperson to makethem give
us something we want or need. When most people think of the "Magic Power of
Witchcraft," this is what they have in mind.
The spell to make the teacher give you a good grade, or the supervisor
give you a good evaluation, the spell to make the personnel officer or
renting agent choose you, the spell to attract that cute guy, all are
examples of coercive magic.
So, what's wrong with high grades, a good job, a raise, a nice
apartment and a sexy lover? There's nothing at all wrong with those goals.
An it harm none, do what ye will. As long as nobody is hurt, go for it! But
don't strive toward good ends by coercive means.
Although there is no deliberate intent to do harm or cause pain in
coercive workings, other people are treated as pawns. Their autonomy and
their interests are ignored.
For Pagans, to do this is total hypocrisy. We profess to follow a
religion of immanence, one that places ultimate meaning and value in this
life on this Earth, here and now. We claim to see every living thing,
humans included, as a sacred manifestation. To do honor to this indwelling
divinity, we place great value on our own personal autonomy. How can we
then justify treating other people as objects for our use?
Nor is it harmless. Forcing the will, controlling the independent
judgement of another human being, is harm. Once again, empathy leads to
understanding. Just imagine you are the person whose will and judgement is
being externally controlled. How does puppethood feel? From the viewpoint
of the target, the harm is palpable.
506
The Pagan and Wiccan community asa whole is also hurt by coercive
magic. One of the main reasons people fear and hate Witches is our
reputation for controlling others. This is an old, dirty lie, created by
the invading religion in an attempt to discredit the indigenous
competition. Today, that reputation is mostly perpetuated by people who
claim to be "our own," who teach unethical coercive magic by mail order to
strangers whose ethical sensitivity cannot be evaluated long distance. May
the Gods preserve the Craft!
People who are connected to thesituation, but invisible to us,may
also be seriously hurt: the cute guy's fiancee, the other applicant for
that job. What you think of as a working designed only to bring good to
yourself can bring serious harm to innocent third parties, and the karma of
their pain will be on you.
That isn't the only way an incomplete view of the situation can
backfire. There's a traditional saying that goes, "be careful about what
you ask for, because that's exactly what you will get." What if he is
gorgeous, but abusive? What if the apartment house is structurally
unsound? Better to state your legitimate needs (love in my life, a nice
place to live) and let the Gods deal with the details.
Finally,remember this: asking specificallylimits us towhat we now
know or what we can now imagine. But I remember a time when I could not
have imagined being a priestess. What if the cute guy in the office is
perfectly OK, but your absolutely perfect soul-mate will be in the A+P next
Wednesday? The more specifically targeted your magic is, the more you limit
yourself to a life of tautology and missed chances.
And beyond all the scenario spinning lies the instant karma, the
natural, logical and inevitable consequence of the act. It's more subtle
than in the case of baneful magic, since you are not trying to imagine and
project pain, but the damage is still real.
Every time you treat another human being as a thing to be pushed and
pulled around for your convenience and pleasure, you are reinforcing your
own alienation. The attitude of being removed from and superior to other
people takes you out of community. As the attitude strengthens, so will the
behavior it engenders. The long term result of coercive magic, as with
mundane forms of coercion, is isolation and loneliness.
Are youbeginning to think thatmagic is useless?Did I justrule out
all the good stuff: love charms, job magic, spells for good grades? Not at
all. It is not only ethical but good for you to do lots of magic to improve
your own life. Whenever it works you will get more than you asked for -
because along with whatever you asked for comes one more experience of your
own effectiveness, your power-from-within.
Work on yourself and your own needs and desires without targeting
other people. Then feel free! Ask for what you want. Visualize it and raise
power for it and act in accordance on the material plane. "I need a caring
and horny lover with a good sense of humor." "I want an affordable
apartment near where my coven meets with a tree outside my window." "I need
to be at my best when I take that exam next week." Fulfill your dreams, and
sometimes let the Gods surprise you with gifts beyond your dreams.
507
Manipulative magic is magicthat targets another person forwhat we
think is "their own good," without regard for their opinions in the matter.
In the general culture around us, this is normal. As you read this, you may
have some friend or relative praying for you to be "saved" from your evil
Pagan ways and returned to the fold of their preference. These people mean
you well. By their own lights, they are attempting to heal you. We work
from a very different thealogical base.
Aspolytheists, weaffirm thediversity of thedivine andthe divinity
of diversity. If there is no one, true, right and only way in general, do
we dare to assume that there is one obvious right choice for a person in
any given situation? If more than one choice may be "right," how can one
person presume they know what another person would want without asking them
first?
No life situation ever looks the same from outside as it does to the
person who is experiencing it. Are you sure you even have all the facts?
Are you fully aware of all the emotional entanglements involved? Perhaps
that illness is the only way they have of getting rest or getting
attention. Perhaps they stay in that dead end job because it leaves them
more energy to concentrate on their music. How do you know till you ask?
And,to furthercomplicate theanalysis, it'spossible thatthe person
you are trying to help would agree with you about the most desirable
outcome, but fears and hates the very idea of magic. They have as much of a
right to keep magic out of their own life, as you have to make it part of
yours!
Ourreligion teaches thatthe sacredlives withineach person,that we
can hear the Lady's voice for ourselves if we only learn to listen. "... If
that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it
without." In behavioral terms, when you take another person's opinion
about their own life seriously, you are reinforcing them in thinking and
choosing for themselves. The more you do this, the more you encourage them
to listen for the sacred inner voice.
Conversely, whenever you ignore or override a person's feelings about
their own life, you are discounting those feelings and discouraging the
kind of internal attention that can keep the channels to wisdom open.
Although well-intentioned meddling may actually help somebody in the short
run, in the longer run it trains them to dependency and indecision. Few
intentional banes damage as severely. This is especially true because even
the untrained and unaware will instinctively resist overt ill-will, but in
our culture we are trained to receive "expert" interference with gratitude.
Check byasking yourself, "who'sin charge here?" Theanswer to that
will tell you whether you are basically empowering or undermining the
person you intend to help.
And, as usual, the effects go both ways. The same uninvited
intervention
that fosters passivity in the recipient will foster arrogance in the
"rescuer." It's control and ego-inflation masked as generosity. It's very
seductive.
508
If you makethis a habit, youwill come to believethat other people
are incompetent and powerless. Then what happens when you need help? Your
contempt will make it impossible for you to see what resources surround
you. Manipulative magic is ultimately just as alienating as coercive magic
- and it's a much prettier trap!
The way to avoid the trap is to do no working affecting another person
without that person's explicit permission. Proteans are pledged to this,
and I think it's a good idea for anybody.
You don'tneed to waitpassively forthe person toask. It'sperfectly
all right to offer, as long as you are willing to sometimes accept "no" for
your answer. For the person who believes s/he is unworthy or who is simply
too shy, offering help is itself a gift. Taking their opinion seriously is
an even greater gift: respect.
Therule is thatwhenever itis in anyway physically possibleto ask,
you must ask. If it's not important enough to pay long distance charges, it
certainly isn't important enough to violate a friend's autonomy. If asking
is literally not possible, then and only then, here are a few exceptions:
Sometimesan illness or injuryhappens very suddenly,and the person
is unconscious or in a coma before you could possibly ask them. If you know
that this person is generally comfortable with magic, you may do workings
to keep their basic body systems working and allow the normal healing
process the time it needs. If they are opposed to magic, for whatever
reason, back off!
Traditionally, anunconscious personis understood tobe temporarily
out of their body. Maintaining their body in habitable condition is
preserving their option, not choosing for them. Doing maintenance magic
requires a lot of sensitivity. At some point, the time may come when you
should stop and let the person go on. Be sure to use some kind of
divination to help you stay aware.
This is a hard road. It may be your lover, your child, lying there
helpless. Any normal human being would be tempted to drag them back, to
force them to stay regardless of what is truly best for them, regardless of
what they want. Don't repress these feelings, they do no harm, even though
your actions might. It takes great strength and non-possessive love to
recognize that your loved one knows their own need. You may be calling them
back to a crippled body, to a life of pain. You may be calling them back
from the ecstasy of the Goddess. And this is no more your right than it
would be to murder them.
If a person is temporarily not reachable, you may charge up a physical
object, such as an appropriate talisman or some incense. When you present
it to them, give them a full explanation. It is their choice whether to
keep or use your gift. By interposing an object between the magic and the
target in this way, you can work the magic in Circle, with the coven's
power to draw on, and still get the person's permission before the magic is
triggered.
509
With all these rulesabout permission, perhaps it would besafer to
work only on ourselves? Safer, yes, but not nearly as good. If you have
permission, you may do any working for another person that you might do for
yourself. Coercive magic is just as unacceptable when somebody else asks
for it, and you may not do manipulative magic on your friend's mother, even
at your friend's request. The permission must come from the magic's
intended target and from nobody else. With proper permission, working magic
for others is good for all concerned.
Every act of magic has two effects. One is the direct effect, the
healing or prosperity working or whatever was intended. The other is a
minute change in the mind and the heart of the person who does the working.
Everything we experience, and especially everything that we do in a
wholehearted and focused way - the only way effective magic can be done -
changes us. Each experience leaves its tiny trace, but the traces are
cumulative. They mold the person we will become. Our karma is our choice.
Instant karma can also be good karma. Logical, natural and inevitable
outcomes can be desirable. When you send out good, what you send it with is
love. Love is the driving force. When you let love flow freely, the channel
down to love's wellspring stays clear and open. When you send out good, you
direct it along the web of person-to-person connection, and awareness of
that web is reinforced. The totality of that web is the basis of community.
When you send out good it feels good. In the same way that sending out
bane requires imagining pain, sending out blessing requires imagining
pleasure, strongly and specifically. And, when you send out good, just the
same as when you call it to yourself, you reinforce your sense of
effectiveness in the world. Blessings grow in the fertile ground of
mutuality, to the benefit of all.
A pattern isbecoming visible.In baneful magic,the magicianintends
to harm the target. In coercive magic, the intent toward the target is
neutral. In manipulative magic, the magician actually means the target
well. But no matter how different the intent may be, in all three cases
magic is done to affect another person without that person's permission. In
all three cases, the target, the practitioner and ultimately the community
are all hurt. And in all three cases, there are safer and more effective
ways to reach the valid goals that we mean to aim for.
So, perhaps there is a descriptive word that covers all wrongful
magical workings after all. How about "non-consensual" or "invasive"
magic?
There's one thing left to examine: the paradox of making rules to
protect personal autonomy.
If we make some of our choices as a community, by discussing things
together and arriving at a common understanding about what magical
behaviors are acceptable among us, then we choose and shape the kind of
community we become.
Or wecould give up ourright to choose,because we feelwe shouldn't
tell each other what to do. Some people believe that a refusal to set
community standards promotes personal autonomy. It never has before.
Appeals toindividual rights can bereal seductive. Noneof us wants
Big Brother looking over our shoulders, telling us what to do "for our own
510
good." For Witches in particular - members of a religious minority with
bad image problems - this is a very legitimate fear. But make sure when
somebody talks about "rights" without specifying something like "religious
practice rights" or "the right to consensual sex," that you find out just
what "rights" they mean.
Rhetoric about"rugged individualism" hasbeen usedin recenthistory
to fast talk us into letting the rich or strong dominate all our lives.
Without anything to stop them, they can destroy the forestland, or deny
jobs or apartments to "cultists." Personal autonomy for most of us is
diminished when we allow that.
Magic can be used for dominance,just the same as muscle or money.
There is no difference, ethically, between the magical and the mundane. We
are not obligated to tolerate power trippers among us. We are not obligated
to run our own community by the slogans and ground rules of the dominator
culture.
Thinking about "rights," or about "laws" for that matter, in the
abstract leads to "all or nothing" thinking - immature and slogan driven. I
don't think we should ever "just say" anything. We need a deeper and more
mature analysis. We need to ask questions like "right to do what?" and
"law against what?" We need to get away from absolutes and to look in
practical terms at the advantages or disadvantages of our choices.
Once more,our religion itself showsus the way tosteer between the
false choices. "An it harm none, do what you will." What a person does
that affects only herself - magical or mundane - is truly nobody's business
but her own. For example, consensual sexual behavior affects only the
participants. But toxic waste dumping affects everybody in the watershed.
As long as we look at behavior in terms of private choices or
individual will, we obscure the distinction that really makes a difference.
If we're serious about wanting to give each of us the most possible control
over our own lives, then decisions should be made by all the people
affected by the behavior - not just by the people acting.
As soon as another person is magically targeted, that other person is
affected. If we allow such targeting without consent, we are not supporting
personal autonomy, we are subverting it!
When the behavior begins to affect us all - for example when real
estate development threatens the salt marshes, and ultimately the air
supply - or, very specifically, when invasive magic erodes the trust we
need to work together - then we have a right to protect ourselves as a
community. No ideology should turn us into passive victims when something
we hold precious stands to be destroyed.
Invasive magichurts the targetfirst, and soonthe actor, butin the
long run it hurts all of us. It's been so long since we've been able to
meet together, share our knowledge, help one another in need. Pagan
community is very new, and still very fragile. It can only grow in safe
space.
511
The People of this Land forbade skirmishes around the pipestone
quarries, keeping that sacred source open to all. Otherwise, no sane person
would go there, and the Old Ways would wither. For much the same reason, we
cannot tolerate poppets in our council meetings.
An atmosphere of coercion and manipulation and magical duels does not
nurture community. Eventually, for self protection, the gentle will either
change or go away. We could lose what we have misguidedly refused to
protect.
As within, so without: our karma is our choice.
Judy Harrow
512
THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND
by Dick Sutphen
Persuasion & Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today
SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
The Birth of Conversion/Brainwashing in Christian Revivalism in 1735. The
Pavlovian explanation of the three brain phases. Born-again preachers:
Step-by-Step, how they conduct a revival and the expected physiological
results. The "voice roll" technique used by preachers, lawyers and
hypnotists. New trance-inducing churches. The 6 steps to conversion. The
decognition process. Thought-stopping techniques. The "sell it by zealot"
technique. True believers and mass movements. Persuasion techniques: "Yes
set," "Imbedded Commands," "Shock and Confusion," and the "Interspersal
Technique." Subliminals. Vibrato and ELF waves. Inducing trance with
vibrational sound. Even professional observers will be "possessed" at
charismatic gatherings. The "only hope" technique to attend and not be
converted. Non-detectable Neurophone programming through the skin. The
medium for mass take-over.
I'm Dick Sutphen andthis tape is a studio-recorded,expanded version
of a talk I delivered at the World Congress of Professional Hypnotists
Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the tape carries a copyright to
protect it from unlawful duplication for sale by other companies, in this
case, I invite individuals to make copies and give them to friends or
anyone in a position to communicate this information.
Although I've been interviewed about the subject on many local and
regional radio and TV talk shows, large-scale mass communication appears to
be blocked, since it could result in suspicion or investigation of the very
media presenting it or the sponsors that support the media. Some government
agencies do not want this information generally known. Nor do the
Born-Again Christian movement, cults, and many human-potential trainings.
Everything I will relate only exposes the surface of the problem. I
don't know how the misuse of these techniques can be stopped. I don't think
it is possible to legislate against that which often cannot be detected;
and if those who legislate are using these techniques, there is little hope
of affecting laws to govern usage. I do know that the first step to
initiate change is to generate interest. In this case, that will probably
only result from an underground effort.
In talkingabout this subject, I am talking about my own business. I
know it, and I know how effective it can be. I produce hypnosis and
subliminal tapes and, in some of my seminars, I use conversion tactics to
assist participants to become independent and self-sufficient. But, anytime
I use these techniques, I point out that I am using them, and those
attending have a choice to participate or not. They also know what the
desired result of participation will be.
513
So, to begin, I want to state the most basic of all facts about
brainwashing: IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF MAN, NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN
BRAINWASHED AND REALIZED, OR BELIEVED, THAT HE HAD BEEN BRAINWASHED. Those
who have been brainwashed will usually passionately defend their
manipulators, claiming they have simply been "shown the light" . . . or
have been transformed in miraculous ways.
The Birth of Conversion
CONVERSION is a "nice" word for BRAINWASHING . . . and any study of
brainwashing has to begin with a study of Christian revivalism in
eighteenth century America. Apparently, Jonathan Edwards accidentally
discovered the techniques during a religious crusade in 1735 in
Northampton, Massachusetts. By inducing guilt and acute apprehension and
by increasing the tension, the "sinners" attending his revival meetings
would break down and completely submit. Technically, what Edwards was doing
was creating conditions that wipe the brain slate clean so that the mind
accepts new programming. The problem was that the new input was negative.
He would tell them, "You're a sinner! You're destined for hell!"
As a result, one person committed suicide and another attempted
suicide. And the neighbors of the suicidal converts related that they,
too, were affected so deeply that, although they had found "eternal
salvation," they were obsessed with a diabolical temptation to end their
own lives.
Oncea preacher, cult leader,manipulator or authority figure creates
the brain phase to wipe the brain-slate clean, his subjects are wide open.
New input, in the form of suggestion, can be substituted for their previous
ideas. Because Edwards didn't turn his message positive until the end of
the revival, many accepted the negative suggestions and acted, or desired
to act, upon them.
Charles J. Finney was another Christian revivalist who used the same
techniques four years later in mass religious conversions in New York. The
techniques are still being used today by Christian revivalists, cults,
human-potential trainings, some business rallies, and the United States
Armed Services . . . to name just a few.
Let me point out here that I don't think most revivalist preachers
realize or know they are using brainwashing techniques. Edwards simply
stumbled upon a technique that really worked, and others copied it and have
continued to copy it for over two hundred years. And the more sophisticated
our knowledge and technology become, the more effective the conversion. I
feel strongly that this is one of the major reasons for the increasing rise
in Christian fundamentalism, especially the televised variety, while most
of the orthodox religions are declining.
The Three Brain Phases
The Christians may have been the first to successfully formulate
brainwashing, but we have to look to Pavlov, the Russian scientist, for a
technical explanation. In the early 1900s, his work with animals opened the
door to further investigations with humans. After the revolution in Russia,
Lenin was quick to see the potential of applying Pavlov's research to his
own ends.
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Three distinct and progressive states of transmarginal inhibition were
identified by Pavlov. The first is the EQUIVALENT phase, in which the brain
gives the same response to both strong and weak stimuli. The second is the
PARADOXICAL phase, in which the brain responds more actively to weak
stimuli than to strong. And the third is the ULTRA-PARADOXICAL phase, in
which conditioned responses and behavior patterns turn from positive to
negative or from negative to positive.
With the progression through each phase, the degree of conversion
becomes more effective and complete. The way to achieve conversion are many
and varied, but the usual first step in religious or political brainwashing
is to work on the emotions of an individual or group until they reach an
abnormal level of anger, fear, excitement, or nervous tension.
Theprogressive result of thismental condition isto impair judgement
and increase suggestibility. The more this condition can be maintained or
intensified, the more it compounds. Once catharsis, or the first brain
phase, is reached, the complete mental takeover becomes easier. Existing
mental programming can be replaced with new patterns of thinking and
behavior.
Other often-used physiological weapons to modify normal brain functions
are fasting, radical or high sugar diets, physical discomforts, regulation
of breathing, mantra chanting in meditation, the disclosure of awesome
mysteries, special lighting and sound effects, programmed response to
incense, or intoxicating drugs.
The sameresults can beobtained in contemporarypsychiatric treatment
by electric shock treatments and even by purposely lowering a person's
blood sugar level with insulin injections.
Before I talk about exactlyhow some of the techniques areapplied, I
want to point out that hypnosis and conversion tactics are two distinctly
different things--and that conversion techniques are far more powerful.
However, the two are often mixed . . . with powerful results.
How Revivalist Preachers Work
If you'd like to see a revivalist preacher at work, there are probably
several in your city. Go to the church or tent early and sit in the rear,
about three-quarters of the way back. Most likely repetitive music will be
played while the people come in for the service. A repetitive beat, ideally
ranging from 45 to 72 beats per minute (a rhythm close to the beat of the
human heart), is very hypnotic and can generate an eyes-open altered state
of consciousness in a very high percentage of people. And, once you are in
an alpha state, you are at least 25 times as suggestible as you would be in
full beta consciousness. The music is probably the same for every service,
or incorporates the same beat, and many of the people will go into an
altered state almost immediately upon entering the sanctuary.
Subconsciously, they recall their state of mind from previous services and
respond according to the post-hypnotic programming.
Watch the people waiting for the service to begin. Many will exhibit
external signs of trance--body relaxation and slightly dilated eyes. Often,
they begin swaying back and forth with their hands in the air while sitting
in their chairs. Next, the assistant pastor will probably come out. He
usually speaks with a pretty good "voice roll."
Voice Roll Technique
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A "voice roll" is a patterned, paced style used by hypnotists when
inducing a trance. It is also used by many lawyers, several of whom are
highly trained hypnotists, when they desire to entrench a point firmly in
the minds of the jurors. A voice roll can sound as if the speaker were
talking to the beat of a metronome or it may sound as though he were
emphasizing every word in a monotonous, patterned style. The words will
usually be delivered at the rate of 45 to 60 beats per minute, maximizing
the hypnotic effect.
Now the assistant pastor begins the "build-up" process. He induces an
altered state of consciousness and/or begins to generate the excitement and
the expectations of the audience. Next, a group of young women in "sweet
and pure" chiffon dresses might come out to sing a song. Gospel songs are
great for building excitement and INVOLVEMENT. In the middle of the song,
one of the girls might be "smitten by the spirit" and fall down or react as
if possessed by the Holy Spirit. This very effectively increases the
intensity in the room. At this point, hypnosis and conversion tactics are
being mixed. And the result is the audience's attention span is now totally
focused upon the communication while the environment becomes more exciting
or tense.
Right about this time, when an eyes-open mass-induced alpha mental
state has been achieved, they will usually pass the collection plate or
basket. In the background, a 45-beat-per-minute voice roll from the
assistant preacher might exhort, "Give to God . . . Give to God . . . Give
to God . . ." And the audience does give. God may not get the money, but
his already wealthy representative will.
Next, the fire-and-brimstone preacher will come out.He induces fear
and increases the tension by talking about "the devil," "going to hell," or
the forthcoming Armageddon.
In the last such rally I attended, the preacher talked about the blood
that would soon be running out of every faucet in the land. He was also
obsessed with a "bloody axe of God," which everyone had seen hanging above
the pulpit the previous week. I have no doubt that everyone saw it--the
power of suggestion given to hundreds of people in hypnosis assures that at
least 10 to 25 percent would see whatever he suggested they see.
In most revivalist gatherings, "testifying" or "witnessing" usually
follows the fear-based sermon. People from the audience come up on stage
and relate their stories. "I was crippled and now I can walk!" "I had
arthritis and now it's gone!" It is a psychological manipulation that
works. After listening to numerous case histories of miraculous healings,
the average guy in the audience with a minor problem is sure he can be
healed. The room is charged with fear, guilt, intense excitement, and
expectations.
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Now thosewho want tobe healed are frequentlylined up aroundthe edge
of the room, or they are told to come down to the front. The preacher might
touch them on the head firmly and scream, "Be healed!" This releases the
psychic energy and, for many, catharsis results. Catharsis is a purging of
repressed emotions. Individuals might cry, fall down or even go into
spasms. And if catharsis is effected, they stand a chance of being healed.
In catharsis (one of the three brain phases mentioned earlier), the
brain-slate is temporarily wiped clean and the new suggestion is accepted.
For some, the healing may be permanent. For many, it will last four
days to a week, which is, incidentally, how long a hypnotic suggestion
given to a somnambulistic subject will usually last. Even if the healing
doesn't last, if they come back every week, the power of suggestion may
continually override the problem . . . or sometimes, sadly, it can mask a
physical problem which could prove to be very detrimental to the individual
in the long run.
I'm not saying that legitimate healings do not take place. They do.
Maybe the individual was ready to let go of the negativity that caused the
problem in the first place; maybe it was the work of God. Yet I contend
that it can be explained with existing knowledge of brain/mind function.
The techniques and staging will vary from church to church. Many use
"speaking in tongues" to generate catharsis in some while the spectacle
creates intense excitement in the observers.
The use of hypnotic techniques by religions is sophisticated, and
professionals are assuring that they become even more effective. A man in
Los Angeles is designing, building, and reworking a lot of churches around
the country. He tells ministers what they need and how to use it. This
man's track record indicates that the congregation and the monetary income
will double if the minister follows his instructions. He admits that about
80 percent of his efforts are in the sound system and lighting.
Powerful soundand the properuse of lightingare ofprimary importance
in inducing an altered state of consciousness--I've been using them for
years in my own seminars. However, my participants are fully aware of the
process and what they can expect as a result of their participation.
Six Conversion Techniques
Cults and human-potential organizations are always looking for new
converts. To attain them, they must also create a brain-phase. And they
often need to do it within a short space of time--a weekend, or maybe even
a day. The following are the six primary techniques used to generate the
conversion.
The meeting or training takesplace in an area whereparticipants are
cut off from the outside world. This may be any place: a private home, a
remote or rural setting, or even a hotel ballroom where the participants
are allowed only limited bathroom usage. In human-potential trainings, the
controllers will give a lengthy talk about the importance of "keeping
agreements" in life. The participants are told that if they don't keep
agreements, their life will never work. It's a good idea to keep
agreements, but the controllers are subverting a positive human value for
selfish purposes. The participants vow to themselves and their trainer that
they will keep their agreements. Anyone who does not will be intimidated
into agreement or forced to leave. The next step is to agree to complete
training, thus assuring a high percentage of conversions for the
organizations. They will USUALLY have to agree not to take drugs, smoke,
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and sometimes not to eat . . . or they are given such short meal breaks
that it creates tension. The real reason for the agreements is to alter
internal chemistry, which generates anxiety and hopefully causes at least a
slight malfunction of the nervous system, which in turn increases the
conversion potential.
Before the gathering is complete, the agreements will be used to ensure
that the new converts go out and find new participants. They are
intimidated into agreeing to do so before they leave. Since the importance
of keeping agreements is so high on their priority list, the converts will
twist the arms of everyone they know, attempting to talk them into
attending a free introductory session offered at a future date by the
organization. The new converts are zealots. In fact, the inside term for
merchandising the largest and most successful human-potential training is,
"sell it by zealot!"
At least a million people are graduates and a good percentage have been
left with a mental activation button that assures their future loyalty and
assistance if the guru figure or organization calls. Think about the
potential political implications of hundreds of thousands of zealots
programmed to campaign for their guru.
Be wary of an organization of this type that offers follow-up sessions
after the seminar. Follow-up sessions might be weekly meetings or
inexpensive seminars given on a regular basis which the organization will
attempt to talk you into taking--or any regularly scheduled event used to
maintain control. As the early Christian revivalists found, long-term
control is dependent upon a good follow-up system.
Alright. Now, let's look at the second tip-off that indicates
conversion tactics are being used. A schedule is maintained that causes
physical and mental fatigue. This is primarily accomplished by long hours
in which the participants are given no opportunity for relaxation or
reflection.
The third tip-off: techniquesused to increasethe tension in theroom
or environment.
Number four: Uncertainty. I could spend hours relating various
techniques to increase tension and generate uncertainty. Basically, the
participants are concerned about being "put on the spot" or encountered by
the trainers, guilt feelings are played upon, participants are tempted to
verbally relate their innermost secrets to the other participants or forced
to take part in activities that emphasize removing their masks. One of the
most successful human-potential seminars forces the participants to stand
on a stage in front of the entire audience while being verbally attacked by
the trainers. A public opinion poll, conducted a few years ago, showed that
the number one most-fearful situation an individual could encounter is to
speak to an audience. It ranked above window washing outside the 85th floor
of an office building. So you can imagine the fear and tension this
situation generates within the participants. Many faint, but most cope with
the stress by mentally going away. They literally go into an alpha state,
which automatically makes them many times as suggestible as they normally
are. And another loop of the downward spiral into conversion is
successfully effected.
The fifth clue that conversion tactics are being used is the
introduction of jargon--new terms that have meaning only to the "insiders"
who participate. Vicious language is also frequently used, purposely, to
make participants uncomfortable.
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The final tip-off isthat there isno humor in thecommunications . ..
at least until the participants are converted. Then, merry-making and humor
are highly desirable as symbols of the new joy the participants have
supposedly "found."
I'm not saying that good does not result from participation in such
gatherings. It can and does. But I contend it is important for people to
know what has happened and to be aware that continual involvement may not
be in their best interest.
Over the years,I've conductedprofessional seminars toteach peopleto
be hypnotists, trainers, and counselors. I've had many of those who conduct
trainings and rallies come to me and say, "I'm here because I know that
what I'm doing works, but I don't know why." After showing them how and
why, many have gotten out of the business or have decided to approach it
differently or in a much more loving and supportive manner.
Many of these trainers havebecome personal friends, and it scaresus
all to have experienced the power of one person with a microphone and a
room full of people. Add a little charisma and you can count on a high
percentage of conversions. The sad truth is that a high percentage of
people want to give away their power--they are true "believers"!
Cult gatheringsor human-potential trainings arean ideal environment
to observe first-hand what is technically called the "Stockholm Syndrome."
This is a situation in which those who are intimidated, controlled, or made
to suffer, begin to love, admire, and even sometimes sexually desire their
controllers or captors.
But let me inject a wordof warning here: If you think youcan attend
such gatherings and not be affected, you are probably wrong. A perfect
example is the case of a woman who went to Haiti on a Guggenheim Fellowship
to study Haitian Voodoo. In her report, she related how the music
eventually induced uncontrollable bodily movement and an altered state of
consciousness. Although she understood the process and thought herself
above it, when she began to feel herself become vulnerable to the music,
she attempted to fight it and turned away. Anger or resistance almost
always assures conversion. A few moments later she was possessed by the
music and began dancing in a trance around the Voodoo meeting house. A
brain phase had been induced by the music and excitement, and she awoke
feeling reborn. The only hope of attending such gatherings without being
affected is to be a Buddha and allow no positive or negative emotions to
surface. Few people are capable of such detachment.
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Before I go on,let's go backto the six tip-offsto conversion. Iwant
to mention the United States Government and military boot camp. The Marine
Corps talks about breaking men down before "rebuilding" them as new men--as
marines! Well, that is exactly what they do, the same way a cult breaks
its people down and rebuilds them as happy flower sellers on your local
street corner. Every one of the six conversion techniques are used in boot
camp. Considering the needs of the military, I'm not making a judgement as
to whether that is good or bad. IT IS A FACT that the men are effectively
brainwashed. Those who won't submit must be discharged or spend much of
their time in the brig.
Decognition Process
Once the initial conversion is effected, cults, armed services, and
similar groups cannot have cynicism among their members. Members must
respond to commands and do as they are told, otherwise they are dangerous
to the organizational control. This is normally accomplished as a
three-step Decognition Process.
Step One is ALERTNESS REDUCTION: The controllers cause the nervous
system to malfunction, making it difficult to distinguish between fantasy
and reality. This can be accomplished in several ways. POOR DIET is one;
watch out for Brownies and Koolaid. The sugar throws the nervous system
off. More subtle is the "SPIRITUAL DIET" used by many cults. They eat only
vegetables and fruits; without the grounding of grains, nuts, seeds, dairy
products, fish or meat, an individual becomes mentally "spacey." INADEQUATE
SLEEP is another primary way to reduce alertness, especially when combined
with long hours of work or intense physical activity. Also, being bombarded
with intense and unique experiences achieves the same result.
Step Two is PROGRAMMED CONFUSION: You are mentally assaulted while your
alertness is being reduced as in Step One. This is accomplished with a
deluge of new information, lectures, discussion groups, encounters or
one-to-one processing, which usually amounts to the controller bombarding
the individual with questions. During this phase of decognition, reality
and illusion often merge and perverted logic is likely to be accepted.
StepThree is THOUGHT STOPPING: Techniques areused to cause the mind
to go "flat." These are altered-state-of-consciousness techniques that
initially induce calmness by giving the mind something simple to deal with
and focusing awareness. The continued use brings on a feeling of elation
and eventually hallucination. The result is the reduction of thought and
eventually, if used long enough, the cessation of all thought and
withdrawal from everyone and everything except that which the controllers
direct. The takeover is then complete. It is important to be aware that
when members or participants are instructed to use "thought-stopping"
techniques, they are told that they will benefit by so doing: they will
become "better soldiers" or "find enlightenment."
There are threeprimary techniquesused for thoughtstopping. Thefirst
is MARCHING: the thump, thump, thump beat literally generates self-hypnosis
and thus great susceptibility to suggestion.
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Thesecond thought stopping technique is MEDITATION. If you spend an
hour to an hour and a half a day in meditation, after a few weeks, there is
a great probability that you will not return to full beta consciousness.
You will remain in a fixed state of alpha for as long as you continue to
meditate. I'm not saying this is bad--if you do it yourself. It may be very
beneficial. But it is a fact that you are causing your mind to go flat.
I've worked with meditators on an EEG machine and the results are
conclusive: the more you meditate, the flatter your mind becomes until,
eventually and especially if used to excess or in combination with
decognition, all thought ceases. Some spiritual groups see this as
nirvana--which is bullshit. It is simply a predictable physiological
result. And if heaven on earth is non-thinking and non-involvement, I
really question why we are here.
The third thought-stopping technique is CHANTING, and often chanting in
meditation. "Speaking in tongues" could also be included in this category.
All three-stopping techniques produce an altered state of
consciousness. This may be very good if YOU are controlling the process,
for you also control the input. I personally use at least one self-hypnosis
programming session every day and I know how beneficial it is for me. But
you need to know if you use these techniques to the degree of remaining
continually in alpha that, although you'll be very mellow, you'll also be
more suggestible.
True Believers & Mass Movements
Before ending this section on conversion, I want to talk about the
people who are most susceptible to it and about Mass Movements. I am
convinced that at least a third of the population is what Eric Hoffer calls
"true believers." They are joiners and followers . . . people who want to
give away their power. They look for answers, meaning, and enlightenment
outside themselves.
Hoffer, who wrote THE TRUE BELIEVER, a classic on mass movements, says,
"true believers are not intent on bolstering and advancing a cherished
self, but are those craving to be rid of unwanted self. They are followers,
not because of a desire for self-advancement, but because it can satisfy
their passion for self-renunciation!" Hoffer also says that true believers
"are eternally incomplete and eternally insecure"!
I know this from my own experience. In my years of communicating
concepts and conducting trainings, I have run into them again and again.
All I can do is attempt to show them that the only thing to seek is the
True Self within. Their personal answers are to be found there and there
alone. I communicate that the basics of spirituality are
self-responsibility and self-actualization. But most of the true
believers just tell me that I'm not spiritual and go looking for someone
who will give them the dogma and structure they desire.
Never underestimate the potential danger of these people. They can
easily be molded into fanatics who will gladly work and die for their holy
cause. It is a substitute for their lost faith in themselves and offers
them as a substitute for individual hope. The Moral Majority is made up of
true believers. All cults are composed of true believers. You'll find them
in politics, churches, businesses, and social cause groups. They are the
fanatics in these organizations.
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Mass Movements will usually havea charismatic leader. The followers
want to convert others to their way of living or impose a new way of
life--if necessary, by legislating laws forcing others to their view, as
evidenced by the activities of the Moral Majority. This means enforcement
by guns or punishment, for that is the bottomline in law enforcement.
A common hatred, enemy, or devil is essential to the success of a mass
movement. The Born-Again Christians have Satan himself, but that isn't
enough--they've added the occult, the New Age thinkers and, lately, all
those who oppose their integration of church and politics, as evidenced in
their political reelection campaigns against those who oppose their views.
In revolutions, the devil is usually the ruling power or aristocracy. Some
human-potential movements are far too clever to ask their graduates to join
anything, thus labeling themselves as a cult--but, if you look closely,
you'll find that their devil is anyone and everyone who hasn't taken their
training.
There are mass movements without devils but they seldom attain major
status. The True Believers are mentally unbalanced or insecure people, or
those without hope or friends. People don't look for allies when they love,
but they do when they hate or become obsessed with a cause. And those who
desire a new life and a new order feel the old ways must be eliminated
before the new order can be built.
Persuasion Techniques
Persuasion isn't technically brainwashing but it is the manipulation of
the human mind by another individual, without the manipulated party being
aware what caused his opinion shift. I only have time to very basically
introduce you to a few of the thousands of techniques in use today, but the
basis of persuasion is always to access your RIGHT BRAIN. The left half of
your brain is analytical and rational. The right side is creative and
imaginative. That is overly simplified but it makes my point. So, the idea
is to distract the left brain and keep it busy. Ideally, the persuader
generates an eyes-open altered state of consciousness, causing you to shift
from beta awareness into alpha; this can be measured on an EEG machine.
First, let me give you an example of distracting the left brain.
Politicians use these powerful techniques all the time; lawyers use many
variations which, I've been told, they call "tightening the noose."
Assume for a moment that you are watching a politician give a speech.
First, he might generate what is called a "YES SET." These are statements
that will cause listeners to agree; they might even unknowingly nod their
heads in agreement. Next come the TRUISMS. These are usually facts that
could be debated but, once the politician has his audience agreeing, the
odds are in the politician's favor that the audience won't stop to think
for themselves, thus continuing to agree. Last comes the SUGGESTION. This
is what the politician wants you to do and, since you have been agreeing
all along, you could be persuaded to accept the suggestion. Now, if you'll
listen closely to my political speech, you'll find that the first three are
the "yes set," the next three are truisms and the last is the suggestion.
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"Ladies and gentlemen: are you angry abouthigh food prices? Are you
tired of astronomical gas prices? Are you sick of out-of-control inflation?
Well, you know the Other Party allowed 18 percent inflation last year; you
know crime has increased 50 percent nationwide in the last 12 months, and
you know your paycheck hardly covers your expenses any more. Well, the
answer to resolving these problems is to elect me, John Jones, to the U.S.
Senate."
And I think you've heard all that before. But you might also watch for
what are called Imbedded Commands. As an example: On key words, the speaker
would make a gesture with his left hand, which research has shown is more
apt to access your right brain. Today's media-oriented politicians and
spellbinders are often carefully trained by a whole new breed of specialist
who are using every trick in the book--both old and new--to manipulate you
into accepting their candidate.
The concepts and techniques of Neuro-Linguistics are so heavily
protected that I found out the hard way that to even talk about them
publicly or in print results in threatened legal action. Yet
Neuro-Linguistic training is readily available to anyone willing to devote
the time and pay the price. It is some of the most subtle and powerful
manipulation I have yet been exposed to. A good friend who recently
attended a two-week seminar on Neuro-Linguistics found that many of those
she talked to during the breaks were government people.
Another technique that I'm just learning about is unbelievably
slippery; it is called an INTERSPERSAL TECHNIQUE and the idea is to say one
thing with words but plant a subconscious impression of something else in
the minds of the listeners and/or watchers.
Let me give you an example: Assume you are watching a television
commentator make the following statement: SENATOR JOHNSON is assisting
local authorities to clear up the stupid mistakes of companies contributing
to the nuclear waste problems." It sounds like a statement of fact, but, if
the speaker emphasizes the right word, and especially if he makes the
proper hand gestures on the key words, you could be left with the
subconscious impression that Senator Johnson is stupid. That was the
subliminal goal of the statement and the speaker cannot be called to
account for anything.
Persuasion techniques are also frequently used on a much smaller scale
with just as much effectiveness. The insurance salesman knows his pitch is
likely to be much more effective if he can get you to visualize something
in your mind. This is right-brain communication. For instance, he might
pause in his conversation, look slowly around your living room and say,
"Can you just imagine this beautiful home burning to the ground?" Of course
you can! It is one of your unconscious fears and, when he forces you to
visualize it, you are more likely to be manipulated into signing his
insurance policy.
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The Hare Krishnas, operating in every airport,use what I call SHOCK
AND CONFUSION techniques to distract the left brain and communicate
directly with the right brain. While waiting for a plane, I once watched
one operate for over an hour. He had a technique of almost jumping in front
of someone. Initially, his voice was loud then dropped as he made his
pitch to take a book and contribute money to the cause. Usually, when
people are shocked, they immediately withdraw. In this case they were
shocked by the strange appearance, sudden materialization and loud voice of
the Hare Krishna devotee. In other words, the people went into an alpha
state for security because they didn't want to confront the reality before
them. In alpha, they were highly suggestible so they responded to the
suggestion of taking the book; the moment they took the book, they felt
guilty and responded to the second suggestion: give money. We are all
conditioned that if someone gives us something, we have to give them
something in return--in that case, it was money. While watching this
hustler, I was close enough to notice that many of the people he stopped
exhibited an outward sign of alpha--their eyes were actually dilated.
Subliminal Programming
Subliminals are hidden suggestions that only your subconscious
perceives. They can be audio, hidden behind music, or visual, airbrushed
into a picture, flashed on a screen so fast that you don't consciously see
them, or cleverly incorporated into a picture or design.
Most audio subliminal reprogramming tapes offer verbal suggestions
recorded at a low volume. I question the efficacy of this technique--if
subliminals are not perceptible, they cannot be effective, and subliminals
recorded below the audible threshold are therefore useless. The oldest
audio subliminal technique uses a voice that follows the volume of the
music so subliminals are impossible to detect without a parametric
equalizer. But this technique is patented and, when I wanted to develop my
own line of subliminal audio cassettes, negotiations with the patent holder
proved to be unsatisfactory. My attorney obtained copies of the patents
which I gave to some talented Hollywood sound engineers, asking them to
create a new technique. They found a way to psycho-acoustically modify and
synthesize the suggestions so that they are projected in the same chord and
frequency as the music, thus giving them the effect of being part of the
music. But we found that in using this technique, there is no way to reduce
various frequencies to detect the subliminals. In other words, although the
suggestions are being heard by the subconscious mind, they cannot be
monitored with even the most sophisticated equipment.
If we were able to come up withthis technique as easily as we did,I
can only imagine how sophisticated the technology has become, with
unlimited government or advertising funding. And I shudder to think about
the propaganda and commercial manipulation that we are exposed to on a
daily basis. There is simply no way to know what is behind the music you
hear. It may even be possible to hide a second voice behind the voice to
which you are listening.
Theseries by Wilson Bryan Key, Ph.D., on subliminals in advertising
and political campaigns well documents the misuse in many areas, especially
printed advertising in newspapers, magazines, and posters.
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The big question about subliminals is: dothey work? And I guarantee
you they do. Not only from the response of those who have used my tapes,
but from the results of such programs as the subliminals behind the music
in department stores. Supposedly, the only message is instructions to not
steal: one East Coast department store chain reported a 37 percent
reduction in thefts in the first nine months of testing.
A 1984 article in the technical newsletter, "Brain-Mind Bulletin,"
states that as much as 99 percent of our cognitive activity may be
"non-conscious," according to the director of the Laboratory for Cognitive
Psychophysiology at the University of Illinois. The lengthy report ends
with the statement, "these findings support the use of subliminal
approaches such as taped suggestions for weight loss and the therapeutic
use of hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming."
Mass Misuse
I could relatemany stories that support subliminal programming, but
I'd rather use my time to make you aware of even more subtle uses of such
programming.
I have personally experienced sitting in a Los Angeles auditorium with
over ten thousand people who were gathered to listen to a current
charismatic figure. Twenty minutes after entering the auditorium, I became
aware that I was going in and out of an altered state. Those accompanying
me experienced the same thing. Since it is our business, we were aware of
what was happening, but those around us were not. By careful observation,
what appeared to be spontaneous demonstrations were, in fact, artful
manipulations. The only way I could figure that the eyes-open trance had
been induced was that a 6- to 7-cycle-per-second vibration was being piped
into the room behind the air conditioner sound. That particular vibration
generates alpha, which would render the audience highly susceptible. Ten to
25 percent of the population is capable of a somnambulistic level of
altered states of consciousness; for these people, the suggestions of the
speaker, if non-threatening, could potentially be accepted as "commands."
Vibrato
This leads to the mention of VIBRATO. Vibrato is the tremulous effect
imparted in some vocal or instrumental music, and the cycle-per-second
range
causes people to go into an altered state of consciousness. At one period
of English history, singers whose voices contained pronounced vibrato were
not allowed to perform publicly because listeners would go into an altered
state and have fantasies, often sexual in nature.
People who attend operaor enjoy listeningto singers like MarioLanza
are familiar with this altered state induced by the performers.
ELFs
Now, let's carry this awareness a little farther. There are also
inaudible ELFs (extra-low frequency waves). These are electromagnetic in
nature. One of the primary uses of ELFs is to communicate with our
submarines. Dr. Andrija Puharich, a highly respected researcher, in an
attempt to warn U.S. officials about Russian use of ELFs, set up an
experiment. Volunteers were wired so their brain waves could be measured on
an EEG. They were sealed in a metal room that could not be penetrated by a
normal signal.
Puharich then beamed ELF waves at the volunteers. ELFs go right through
525
the earth and, of course, right through metal walls. Those inside couldn't
know if the signal was or was not being sent. And Puharich watched the
reactions on the technical equipment: 30 percent of those inside the room
were taken over by the ELF signal in six to ten seconds.
When I say "taken over," I mean that their behavior followed the
changes anticipated at very precise frequencies. Waves below 6 cycles per
second caused the subjects to become very emotionally upset, and even
disrupted bodily functions. At 8.2 cycles, they felt very high . . . an
elevated feeling, as though they had been in masterful meditation, learned
over a period of years. Eleven to 11.3 cycles induced waves of depressed
agitation leading to riotous behavior.
The Neurophone
Dr. PatrickFlanagan is a personalfriend of mine. Inthe early 1960s,
as a teenager, Pat was listed as one of the top scientists in the world by
"Life" magazine. Among his many inventions was a device he called the
Neurophone--an electronic instrument that can successfully program
suggestions directly through contact with the skin. When he attempted to
patent the device, the government demanded that he prove it worked. When he
did, the National Security Agency confiscated the neurophone. It took Pat
two years of legal battle to get his invention back.
In using thedevice, you don't hear or see a thing; it is applied to
the skin, which Pat claims is the source of special senses. The skin
contains more sensors for heat, touch, pain, vibration, and electrical
fields than any other part of the human anatomy.
In one of his recent tests, Pat conducted two identical seminars for a
military audience--one seminar one night and one the next night, because
the size of the room was not large enough to accommodate all of them at one
time. When the first group proved to be very cool and unwilling to
respond, Patrick spent the next day making a special tape to play at the
second seminar. The tape instructed the audience to be extremely warm and
responsive and for their hands to become "tingly." The tape was played
through the neurophone, which was connected to a wire he placed along the
ceiling of the room. There were no speakers, so no sound could be heard,
yet the message was successfully transmitted from that wire directly into
the brains of the audience. They were warm and receptive, their hands
tingled and they responded, according to programming, in other ways that I
cannot mention here.
The more we find out about how human beings work through today's highly
advanced technological research, the more we learn to control human beings.
And what probably scares me the most is that the medium for takeover is
already in place! The television set in your living room and bedroom is
doing a lot more than just entertaining you.
Before I continue, let me point out something else about an altered
state of consciousness. When you go into an altered state, you transfer
into right brain, which results in the internal release of the body's own
opiates: enkephalins and Beta-endorphins, chemically almost identical to
opium. In other words, it feels good . . . and you want to come back for
more.
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Recent tests byresearcher Herbert Krugman showedthat, while viewers
were watching TV, right-brain activity outnumbered left-brain activity by a
ratio of two to one. Put more simply, the viewers were in an altered state
. . . in trance more often than not. They were getting their Beta-endorphin
"fix."
To measure attention spans, psychophysiologist Thomas Mulholland of the
Veterans Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, attached young viewers to an
EEG machine that was wired to shut the TV set off whenever the children's
brains produced a majority of alpha waves. Although the children were told
to concentrate, only a few could keep the set on for more than 30 seconds!
Most viewers are already hypnotized. To deepen the trance is easy. One
simple way is to place a blank, black frame every 32 frames in the film
that is being projected. This creates a 45-beat-per-minute pulsation
perceived only by the subconscious mind--the ideal pace to generate deep
hypnosis.
The commercials or suggestions presented following this alpha-inducing
broadcast are much more likely to be accepted by the viewer. The high
percentage of the viewing audience that has somnambulistic-depth ability
could very well accept the suggestions as commands--as long as those
commands did not ask the viewer to do something contrary to his morals,
religion, or self-preservation.
The medium for takeover is here. By the age of 16, children have spent
10,000 to 15,000 hours watching television--that is more time than they
spend n school! In the average home, the TV set is on for six hours and 44
minutes per day--an increase of nine minutes from last year and three times
the average rate of increase during the 1970s.
It obviously isn't getting better . . . we are rapidly moving into an
alpha-level world--very possibly the Orwellian world of "1984"--placid,
glassy-eyed, and responding obediently to instructions.
A research project by Jacob Jacoby, a Purdue University psychologist,
found that of 2,700 people tested, 90 percent misunderstood even such
simple viewing fare as commercials and "Barnaby Jones." Only minutes after
watching, the typical viewer missed 23 to 36 percent of the questions about
what he or she had seen. Of course they did--they were going in and out of
trance! If you go into a deep trance, you must be instructed to
remember--otherwise you automatically forget.
I have just touched the tip of the iceberg. When you start to combine
subliminal messages behind the music, subliminal visuals projected on the
screen, hypnotically produced visual effects, sustained musical beats at a
trance-inducing pace . . . you have extremely effective brainwashing. Every
hour that you spend watching the TV set you become more conditioned. And,
in case you thought there was a law against any of these things, guess
again. There isn't! There are a lot of powerful people who obviously
prefer things exactly the way they are. Maybe they have plans for?
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A NEO-PAGAN FILMOGRAPHY
An Annotated List
of Recommended Viewing
=======================
(compiled 3/89)
by Mike Nichols
Although this list is a long one, it could easily have been much
longer. In fact, the hard part was deciding which of many good movies had
to be left out, due to limitations of space. So I used a few rules to
guide me. First, I gave preference to movies that had a strong Pagan
message, as opposed to films that are 'merely' entertaining. Thus, a film
like 'Never Cry Wolf', though it has no supernatural elements, made the
list; whereas superbly crafted atmospheric entertainments like 'Gothic' and
'Eyes of Fire' didn't. Second, in dealing with the supernatural, I
concentrated on films that informed, or at least stayed within the realms
of possibility. Hence, I include 'The Haunting', but not 'Poltergeist'.
Inevitably, I will have left out some of your favorites, for which I
apologize in advance. But I had to stop somewhere.
APPRENTICE TO MURDER, 1988, C-94m
D: R.L. Thomas. Donald Sutherland, Chad Lowe, Mia Sara, Knut Husebo,
Rutanya Alsa.
Intriguing fact-based story of a man who was a 'hex-meister' in the
Pennsylvania Dutch tradition. His practice of folk medicine lands him in
trouble with the law, and a final confrontation with a rival sorcerer leads
to a charge of murder. Sutherland is appealing in the lead role, and the
story unfolds mainly through his eyes. Mia Sara does a nice job in a
supporting role. There's a lot of authentic folk magic to lend atmosphere.
THE BELIEVERS, 1987, C-114m
D: John Schlesinger. Martin Sheen, Helen Shaver, Harley Cross, Robert
Loggia, Elizabeth Wilson, Lee Richardson, Harris Yulin, Richard Masur,
Carla Pinza, Jimmy Smits.
Afterthe death ofhis wife, Sheen andhis son moveto New York City,
where they become involved in a grisly series of cultish human sacrifices.
Although the religion of Santeria is unfortunately shown in a negative
light, there is enough authenticity to lend lots of interest. A gripping
thriller.
BELL, BOOK, AND CANDLE, 1958, C-103m
D: Richard Quine. James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovaks,
Hermione Gingold.
Yes, I'm well aware that this movie, based on the John Van Druten
play, is responsible for more misinformation about Witchcraft than anything
outside the 'Bewitched' TV series. Still, I hardly know a Pagan who
doesn't love it. For many of us, it was the first time we'd encountered
the idea of Witchcraft alive and well in a modern metropolis. And Kim
Novak is STILL my idea of what a Witch OUGHT to look like. And none of us
will ever forget Kovak's reading of the line 'Witches, boy! Witches!' Or
Stewart's offhand comment that it feels more like Halloween than Christmas.
Lots of fun.
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BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON, 1973-Italian-British, C-121m
D: Franco Zeffirelli. Graham Faulkner, Judi Bowker, Leigh Lawson, Alec
Guinness, Valentina Cortese, Kenneth Cranham
For most Pagans, St. Francis of Assisi is usually considered an
honorary Pagan, at the very least. His insistence on finding divinity in
nature is exactly what Paganism is all about. This film biography portrays
his extreme love of and sensitivity to nature with poignant beauty. And
the musical score by Donovan is such a perfect choice that, having heard
it, nothing else would ever do. This is also a visually stunning film, as
those who remember Zefferelli's 'Romeo and Juliet' might expect. If ever
Christianity could be made palatable to the sensibilities of Neo-Pagans, it
would have to be through the eyes of a nature mystic like Francis. The
Catholic Church came close to naming him a heretic but, at the last minute,
the Pope (played by Alec Guinness) sanctioned him. (Old Obi Wan comes
through again!)
BURN, WITCH, BURN!, 1962-British, 90m
D: Sidney Hayers. Janey Blair, Peter Wyngarde, Margaret Johnston, Anthony
Nicholls.
Based on the Fritz Leiber classic 'Conjure Wife' and scripted by
Richard Matheson, this is an interesting view of Witchcraft. Granted, this
has as many misconceptions as 'Bell, Book, and Candle', yet the premise is
intriguing: that ALL women are secretly Witches, and ALL men don't know
about it. This is mainly about one woman's use of magic to advance the
career of her schoolteacher husband.
DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE, 1959, C-93m
D: Robert Stevenson. Albert Sharpe, Janet Munro, Sean Connery, Jimmy
O'Dea, Kieron Moore, Estelle Winwood.
Simply the best fantasy ever filmed. No kidding. This is a PERFECT
little movie, and (along with 'The Quiet Man') the ultimate St. Patrick's
Day film. Sharpe is sensational as Darby O'Gill, who likes to sit in the
pub telling stories about his adventures with the King of the Leprechauns.
Unbeknownst to everyone, they are TRUE stories! Every tidbit of Irish
folklore, from banshees to the crock of gold to the costa bower (the death
coach) is worked into the plot. The music and songs are great. So is the
cast, many of whom were brought over from the Abbey Theater in Dublin!
Sean Connery makes his screen debut, in a SINGING role! The subsequent
untimely death of Janet Munro robbed the screen of one of its brightest
actresses. (Her character's combination of willfulness and femininity is a
textbook study. Compared to her, Princess Leia's character is not
'strong-willed' -- it's just snotty!) The special effects are miraculous
for 1959! When Darby walks into King Brian's throne room, we walks THROUGH
a crowd of Leprechauns, and I defy anyone to find a matte line! In fact,
the special effects are so good throughout, that you FORGET that they're
special effects, and end up deciding that they must have rounded up some
real Leprechauns from somewhere.
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THE DARK CRYSTAL, 1983-British, C-94m
D: Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Performed by Jim Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Frank
Oz, Dave Goelz, Brian Muehl, Jean Pierre Amiel, Kiran Shaw.
The creators of the Muppets come up with an entire fantasy world,
where even the flora and fauna are original. And this world is in grave
peril unless the missing shard of the Dark Crystal can be found and
restored to it. This is a hero-quest in the classic mold, with art
stylings by Brian Froud. Although wonderfully imaginative and
entertaining, it has a very strong message of mysticism, all about
universal balance and the synthesis of opposites. (One wonders if the
entire quartz crystal fad of the late 1980's had its origins here!)
DON'T LOOK NOW, 1973-British, C-110m
D: Nicolas Roeg. Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia
Matania, Massimo Serato.
Based ona so-so occultthriller by Daphnedu Maurier, thisbecomes a
brilliant film in the hands of Italian director Nicolas Roeg (famed for
'The Man Who Fell to Earth). Shortly after their daughter has drowned,
Sutherland (who restores mosaics in old churches) and his wife go to Venice
where they meet two sisters who are spiritualists. They begin to receive
messages from the daughter, who keeps warning Sutherland to leave Venice
because he is in mortal danger. If ever a film captured the real feeling
of how psychic ability operates, this is it. The use of subjective
editing, and the symbolic use (and total control of!) color throughout the
film is masterful. (This film also contains one of the most stylish love
scenes ever filmed.) Squeamish people need to be warned about the violent
ending, however.
THE DUNWICH HORROR, 1970, C-90m
D: Daniel Haller. Sandra Dee, Dean Stockwell, Ed Begley, Sam Jaffe, Lloyd
Bochner, Joanna Moore, Talia Coppolia (Shire).
Nice adaptation of an H. P.Lovecraft story, with a wonderfulcast.
Dean
Stockwell is the quintessential ritual magician, both mysterious and
compelling. He steals the original 'Necronomicon' from a library in order
to 'bring back the Old Ones', a race of powerful but dark beings that
inhabited the earth before humans. Sam Jaffe is wonderful as his crazed
grandfather. (What happened to the father is part of the mystery!) And
Sandra Dee is perfect as the innocent virgin chosen to be the unwilling
host mother for the rebirth of these demons. (Some versions of the film
cut the last scene short, which shows a developing fetus superimposed over
Dee's abdomen. 'Nuff said.) By the way, no film has ever shown the raw
power of otherworldly beings as well as this. No 'latex lovelies' here.
Just pure, unadulterated elemental force. Nice job!
THE EMERALD FOREST, 1985, C-113m
D: John Boorman. Powers Boothe, Meg Foster, Charley Boorman, Dira Pass.
A look atour ownculture through theeyes of theaboriginal tribesof
the Amazon. (They call us the 'termite people', because of the
deforestation and industrial development we have brought to their
homeland.) The director's son, Charley, is totally convincing as a young
boy raised by aborigines. Great music by Junior Homrich.
530
THE ENTITY, 1983, C-115m
D: Sidney J. Furie. Barbara Hershey, Ron Silver, Jacqueline Brooks, David
Lablosa, George Coe, Margaret Blye.
The trulyfrightening thing about thismovie is that it'sbased on a
true story, about a woman who is repeatedly violently raped by an invisible
presence. Initially, she seeks the help of a psychologist, who is a strict
behaviorist and thinks that it is all 'in her mind'. It is not until a
chance encounter with a team of parapsychologist from the local university
that she finally finds people who understand her problem. One of the
film's great strengths is its portrayal of the professional rivalry that
develops between the psychologist (who has begun taking a personal
interest) and the parapsychologists, who are interested in investigating
the phenomena. The final scene in the gymnasium is the only part of the
film based on speculation only. At last report, the case was still active.
EXCALIBUR, 1981-British, C-140m
D: John Boorman. Nicol Williamson, Nigel Terry, Helen Mirren, Nicholas
Clay, Cherie Lunghi, Corin Redgrave, Paul Geoffrey.
A stylish adaptationof ThomasMalory's 'Le MorteD'Arthur'. Boorman
knew exactly what he was doing in combining certain key characters and
keeping the spirit of the legends. The Grail Quest is especially well
handled. Williamson's Merlin and Mirren's Morgana are both brilliant
performances. Great music. Try to see this one on the big screen.
HARVEY, 1950, 104m
D: Henry Koster. James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow, Charles Drake,
Cecil Kellaway, Victoria Horne, Jesse White, Wallace Ford, Ida Moore.
Imagine a movie that chooses as its main theme a Welsh animal spirit
called a pooka (or 'pwcca' in Welsh)! That would be improbable enough by
today's standards. But the fact that it happened in a 1940's Pulitzer
Prize-winning play and subsequent movie boggles the mind! The pooka in
question is a 6-foot invisible rabbit named Harvey, who manifests himself
only to a gentle tippler named Elwood P. Dowd, played to perfection by
Stewart. Jesse White (the lonely Maytag repairman) made his film debut
here. Few movies are as much fun as this.
THE HAUNTING, 1963, 112m
D: Robert Wise. Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson, Russ Tamblyn,
Lois Maxwell, Fay Compton
Based on ShirleyJackson's masterpiece 'TheHaunting of HillHouse',
this is probably the ultimate ghost movie. A parapsychologist and a team
of student assistants investigate a haunted house. Based on the premise
that no ghost ever hurts anyone physically; the damage is always done by
the victim to himself, psychologically. Julie Harris is marvelous.
INHERIT THE WIND, 1960, 127m
D: Stanley Kramer. Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Florence
Eldridge, Dick York, Harry Morgan, Donna Anderson, Elliot Reid, Claude
Akins, Noah Beery, Jr., Norman Fell.
This should be required viewing for every Pagan. For many of us,
there came a time when our own ideologies simply collided head-on with
fundamental Christian faith, and we knew we could no longer accept it.
Never has a movie embodied this theme so well. Based on the play by Jerome
Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, it deals with the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925
in Tennessee, where a high school teacher was arrested for teaching
Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The debate that ensued was between two of
the most brilliant minds of their day, the great trial lawyer Clarence
Darrow for the defense, and two-time Presidential candidate William
Jennings Bryan for the prosecution. Kelly's character is based on
acid-tongued columnist H. L. Mencken. This is riveting, from first to
last.
531
JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL, 1973, C-120m
D: Hal Bartlett. Many seagulls.
Although the film is flawed and drags a little toward the end, it is
nevertheless well worth seeing. The photography is beautiful, and Neil
Diamond's score (including 'Skybird') is marvelous. It is, of course,
based on Richard Bach's marvelous tale of a little seagull that refuses to
fit in with his flock, preferring to follow a higher, more mystical,
calling. This is yet another one you should try to see on the big screen.
LADYHAWKE, 1985, C-124m
D: Richard Donner. Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leo
McKern, John Wood, Ken Hutchison, Alfred Molina.
Whoever decidedon themusic for thisfilm should beshot! Think what
a nice soundtrack by Clannad would have been like. That reservation aside,
this is a great medieval fantasy concerning two lovers who have been
separated by a curse, and a young thief who becomes their ally, an unusual
but charming role for Matthew Broderick. (If anyone ever gets around to
filming Katherine Kurtz's 'Deryni' books, this is the team that ought to do
it.)
THE LAST UNICORN, 1982, C-84m
D: Rankin & Bass. Voices of Mia Farrow, Alan Arkin, Jeff Bridges, Tammy
Grimes, Robert Klein, Angela Lansbury, Christopher Lee.
Based on theincomparable fantasy novel by PeterS. Beagle, this is
very adult animation. And because Beagle himself wrote the screenplay,
this film contains spiritual one-liners that hit you right in the gut.
Example: 'Never run from anything immortal. It attracts their attention.'
Though this is NOT classic Disney animation (in fact, it looks like limited
animation), the voice-work, screenplay, and art stylings are all so good,
you're inclined to overlook it. Angela Lansbury's character voice for
Mommy Fortuna is marvelous. And there's a lovely lyrical score by the
group America.
THE LAST WAVE, 1977-Australian, C-106m
D: Peter Weir. Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, (David) Gulpilil,
Frederick Parslow, Vivean Gray, Nanjiwarra Amagula.
Chamberlainplays anAustralian lawyerdefending anaborigine accused
of a murder that was actually done by magic. This is a rare and wonderful
glimpse into the tribal religion of the native Australians, their myths,
and their belief in the Dream Time. Peter Weir (famed for 'Picnic at
Hanging Rock') directs this atmospheric thriller.
LEGEND, 1985-British, C-89m
D: Ridley Scott. Tom Cruise, Mia Sara, Tim Curry, David Bennent, Alice
Playten, Billy Barty.
Oneof the mostvisually luscious filmsever created. Every frame is
gorgeous. The plot is nearly archetypal, with evil (Curry) attempting to
seduce innocence (Sara). Though it's hard to accept Cruise as the hero of
this Grimm's-like fairy tale, Curry and Sara turn in good performances.
The European version runs 20 minutes longer and retains the original (and,
in my opinion, superior) musical score by Jerry Goldsmith. The American
score is by Tangerine Dream.
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THE LORD OF THE RINGS, 1978, C-133m
D: Ralph Bakshi. Voices of Christopher Guard, William Squire, John Hurt,
Michael Sholes, Dominic Guard.
This ambitious but flawed animated feature covers half of J.R.R.
Tolkien's fantasy trilogy, ending much too abruptly. But for all the
criticism usually heaped upon this film, there ARE moments of absolute
genius. Such as the Dark Riders attempting to kill Frodo and friends in
their beds at the Prancing Pony Inn. Or Gandalf and Frodo's moonlit walk
through the Shire. Or the first time Frodo puts on the ring. These
moments alone make the movie well worth seeing.
NEVER CRY WOLF, 1983, C-105m
D: Carroll Ballard. Charles Martin Smith, Brian Dennehy, Zachary
Ittimangnaq, Samson Jorah.
A brilliant performance by Smith (based on author Farley Mowat) as a
young man sent to study wolves in the Arctic. Again, we are treated to the
insights of the native culture (the Innuit), and are shown how it has been
debased through contact with our own greedy culture. This film contains
some of the most spectacular nature photography ever put on film. Ballard
was chief nature photographer for Disney Studios for years. Try to see
this one on the big screen.
NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE, 1979-West German, C-107m
D: Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski, Isabelle Adjani, Bruno Ganz, Roland Topor.
Forvampire lovers, this film isthe creme de lacreme. Werner Herzog
is a leader of modern German Expressionist cinema, and here he is operating
at the top of his form. The spooky atmosphere is so thick you could peel
it off the screen in layers. (Try to see this one in the theater.) The
creepiness of Kinski's Dracula is equaled only by the classic beauty of
Adjani's Lucy. This is the perfect film for Halloween night. The German
language version with English subtitles is far superior to the English
version, and slightly longer. (The SOUND of the German dialogue actually
fits the mood of the film better.)
ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER, 1970, C-129m
D: Vincente Minnelli. Barbra Streisand, Yves Montand, Bob Newhart, Larry
Blyden, Simon Oakland, Jack Nicholson. Alan Lerner & Burton Lane score.
Probablyinspired by the case of BrideyMurphy, this musical is all
about hypnosis, past life regression, ESP, reincarnation, and other 'New
Age' topics (though 20 years too early). (One wonders how Shirley MacLaine
missed starring in this. Yet, one is thankful for small favors.)
Streisand is wonderful, especially in the lavish flashback sequences.
Montand should have been replaced. Still, the plot's surprising turns are
well within the realm of supernatural possibility.
533
THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, 1988, C-98m
D: Wes Craven. Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield,
Brent Jennings, Theresa Merritt, Michael Gough.
Directed by Wes Craven (famed for his 'Nightmare on Elm Street'
series), this is the true story of Wade Davis, an ethnobotanist who is sent
to Haiti to bring back the secret of the so-called Zombie drug,
tetrodotoxin. But the local practitioners of 'Voodoo' don't yield their
secrets too easily and, before it's all over, Davis finds himself a victim
of the drug -- which gives Craven carte blanche for the wonderful special
effects he's famous for. Like 'The Believers', this film unfortunately
shows the native religion (Voudoun) primarily in a negative light. Still,
at times it manages to capture its beauty, mystery and innocence,
especially in the festival scenes when the entire village spends the night
asleep in a candle-lighted forest.
7 FACES OF DR. LAO, 1964, C-100m
D: George Pal. Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, Arthur O'Connell, John Ericson,
Kevin Tate, Argentina Brunetti, Noah Beery, Jr., Minerva Urecal, John
Qualen, Lee Patrick, Royal Dano.
For people who think that decent fantasy films are a recent
development, this movie is going to come as a delightful surprise. The
special effects and gentle magic of director George Pal was the perfect
means of bringing the Charles Finney classic 'The Circus of Dr. Lao' to the
screen. Randall, in a tour de force performance of six roles, is the
mysterious Chinese guru, Dr. Lao, whose travelling circus changes the
course of history for a small Western town. For the better. A lovely and
funny film with a spiritual dimension that would appeal to every Pagan.
Nice musical score by Leigh Harline combines Western and Oriental music.
SILENT RUNNING, 1971, C-89m
D: Douglas Trumbull. Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint.
Should be subtitled 'Druidsin Spaaaaace!!!' Aboard thedeep space
ship Valley Forge, the very talented Bruce Dern (in his most likable film
role ever) battles to save the last vestiges of the Earth's forests.
Special effects by the team that created '2001'. And a brilliant musical
score by Peter Schickele (whose better-known comic persona is P.D.Q. Bach),
sung by Joan Baez.
SLEEPING BEAUTY, 1959, C-75m
D: Clyde Geronimi. Voices of Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Elinor Audley,
Verna Felton, Barbara Jo Allen, Barbara Luddy.
The all-time masterpiece of the animator's art, this is the most
lavish and most expensive (by contemporary standards) animated feature ever
done by Disney studios. The uninitiated may babble about 'Fantasia', but
the true cognoscente of animation know that THIS is the apogee of the art
form. From the lush color stylings (heavy use of greens and purples), to
the elegantly stylized backgrounds, to the figure of Maleficent (designed
by Marc Davis), to a fire-breathing dragon that wasn't equaled until
'Dragonslayer', this film is superb. Voice work by Audley and Felton is
outstanding. The film should also serve as a textbook example of how to
adapt a classical score (Tchaikovsky's 'Sleeping Beauty Ballet') to a movie
soundtrack. Never has it been done better. See it. One last
consideration: this was filmed in the extra-wide-screen Technerama process,
and naturally loses a lot when transferred to video. Try to see this in a
theater. One with a BIG screen and a state-of-the-art sound system. You
will be amazed.
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SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, 1983, C-94m
D: Jack Clayton. Jason Robards, Jonathan Pryce, Diane Ladd, Pam Grier,
Royal Dano, Shawn Carson, Vidal Peterson, Mary Grace Canfield, James Stacy,
narrated by Arthur Hill.
RayBradbury's fantasy novel is brought tothe screen by a director
who understands it. This is a mood piece, and it's done to perfection. It
all takes place in that strange twilight halfway between children's
make-believe and the world of the supernatural. You're never quite sure
which it is. Jonathan Pryce is utterly mesmerizing as the sinister Mr.
Dark, leader of a mysterious travelling carnival. He has so much screen
presence you can barely take your eyes off him. I haven't seen an actor in
such total control of a role since Gene Wilder did 'Willy Wonka'. An added
bonus is that Bradbury himself wrote the screenplay, and it shows. It's a
real cut above the insipid screenplays we're all used to.
STAR WARS, 1977, C-121m
D: George Lucas. Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing,
Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, voice of James Earl Jones (as
Darth Vader)
Despite the spaceships and high-tech doodads, this is really more
fantasy than science fiction. And the reliance which director George Lucas
placed in the theories of Joseph Campbell help shape a story that is very
near to myth. The other two movies in the trilogy, 'The Empire Strikes
Back' and 'Return of the Jedi' are also important. The main interest to
most Pagans lies in the mystical sub-motif of 'the Force', a kind a 'mana'
that is ethically neutral, but may be used in magic for either good (as
evidenced by Obi Wan Kenobe) or evil (as evidenced by Darth Vader). In the
second film, it is the great Jedi Master, Yoda (created by Muppet masters,
Jim Henson and Frank Oz), who teaches us most about the Force. This is
pure magic.
THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS, 1980, C-84
D: John Hough. Bette Davis, Carroll Baker, David McCallum, Lynn-Holly
Johnson, Kyle Richards, Ian Bannen, Richard Pasco.
What I wouldn't giveto have seen thisas a teenager! Johnson stars
as a girl whose family has just rented an old English country house, where
she is haunted by the image of a young girl who disappeared years ago.
During a strange seance-type initiation ritual. In the ruins of an old
chapel. During a freak lightning storm. During an eclipse. The subtext
is so thick you could cut it with a knife. Even though such elements
remain unstated, for those of us interested in power points, ley lines, and
astronomical alignments, this movie is a real treat. Someone Knew
Something! Sadly, the end is badly flawed. But no matter, because the fun
is in the getting there. A delightful cast, and great atmosphere
throughout, make this film special.
THE WICKER MAN, 1973-British, C-95m
D: Robin Hardy. Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Diane
Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, Lindsay Kemp.
Based on the Anthony Shaffer thriller,this movie is a favorite of
most Pagans. The plot concerns a police sergeant (Woodward) sent to
investigate the disappearance of a young girl, on a small island off the
coast of Scotland. There he finds a completely Pagan society. Local color
and beautiful folk music enhance the most loving portrayal of a Pagan
society ever committed to film. Unfortunately, in the end, the Pagans are
'revealed' to be the requisite bad guys. If you can overlook the ending,
however, this is fine movie. Every Pagan I know who's seen it wants to
move to Summer Isle immediately.
WILLOW, 1988, C-125m
D: Ron Howard. Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, Jean Marsh,
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Patricia Hayes, Billy Barty, Pat Roach, Gavan O'Herlihy.
Despitethe story byGeorge Lucas, thisis NOT the'Star Wars' of the
fantasy genre. Too derivative (especially Mad Martigan, who is a Han Solo
clone). Still, the film has a lot to say about magic, and Davis gives a
delightful performance. Jean Marsh is terrific as the evil Queen Bavmorda
(in a role that almost parallels her role as Queen Mombi in 'Return to
Oz'). And the scene in which Chirlindrea appears to Willow in the forest
is as close to an epiphany of the Goddess as I've ever seen on film. That
scene alone is worth the admission price.
WINDWALKER, 1980, C-108m
D: Keith Merrill. Trevor Howard, Nick Ramus, James Remar, Serene Hedin,
Dusty Iron Wing McCrea.
This is the best cowboy-and-Indian movie I've ever seen. Mainly
because there are no cowboys in it. It is pure Native American. Trevor
Howard is incredible as the old Indian chief who returns from the dead in
order to protect his family, and restore to it a lost son, a twin who was
stolen at birth by an enemy tribe. This film FEELS more like genuine
Native American than any other I can think of. The Utah mountain scenery
is breath-taking. Costuming (mostly furs) is authentic. And dialogue is
actually in the Cheyenne and Crow languages, with English subtitles. And
there's enough mysticism (especially in the old Indian's relationship with
his horse) to please any Pagan audience.
WIZARDS, 1977, C-80m
D: Ralph Bakshi. Voices of Bob Holt, Jesse Wells, Richard Romanus, David
Proval, Mark Hamill.
Post-holocaust scenario withthe forcesof evil technologyled bythe
wizard Blackwolf arrayed against the forces of benevolent magic led by the
wizard Avatar. With background stylings a la Roger Dean, and character
design that borrows from Vaughn Bode, this is tongue-in-cheek wizardry at
its finest. The character of Elinor, a faery nymph, is a complete success
-- a milestone in adult animation. Great voice work and nice music. And
who is that wonderful (uncredited) narrator???
XANADU, 1980, C-88m
D: Robert Greenwald. Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck, Gene Kelly, James
Sloyan, Dimitra Arliss, Katie Hanley.
Yeah, yeah, I know. On one level, it's just Olivia Newton-John on
roller-skates. But on another level, it is the story of how one of the
nine muses of classical mythology (Terpsichore) comes down from Olympus to
inspire a young artist. On yet a third level, it is the biggest Hollywood
musical produced since the golden years of MGM. And it works well on all
counts. The brilliant musical score (including several chart-toppers) is
provided by the Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne, and Olivia does them
up proper. Gene Kelly might not dance as well as he once did, but he can
still charm as well. And did anyone notice that's Sandahl Bergman leading
the muses in dance? As if that weren't enough, the film includes a
delightful animated segment that marked the debut for Don Bluth studios,
which later gave us 'The Secret of NIHM' and 'An American Tail'.
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C A N D L E M A S
by Gwydion Cinhil Kirontin
It seems quite impossible that the holiday of Candlemas
should be considered the beginning of Spring. Here in the
heartland, February 2nd may see a blanket of snow mantling the
Mother. Or, if the snows have gone, you may be sure the days are
filled with drizzle, slush, and steel-grey skies -- the dreariest
weather of the year. In short, the perfect time for a Pagan
Festival of Lights. And as for Spring, although this may seem a
tenuous beginning, all the little buds, flowers and leaves will
have arrived on schedule before Spring runs its course to Beltane.
"Candlemas" is the Christianized name for the holiday, of
course. The older Pagan names were Imbolc and Oimelc. "Imbolc"
means, literally, "in the belly" (of the Mother). For in the
womb of Mother Earth, hidden from our mundane sight but sensed by
a keener vision, there are stirrings. The seed that was planted
in her womb at the solstice is quickening and the new year grows.
"Oimelc" means "milk of ewes", for it is also lambing season.
The holiday is also called "Brigit's Day", in honor of the
great Irish Goddess Brigit. At her shrine, the ancient Irish
capital of Kildare, a group of 19 priestesses (no men allowed)
kept a perpetual flame burning in her honor. She was considered
a goddess of fire, patroness of smithcraft, poetry and healing
(especially the healing touch of midwifery). This tripartite
symbolism was occasionally expressed by saying that Brigit had
two sisters, also named Brigit. (Incidentally, another form of
the name Brigit is Bride, and it is thus She bestows her special
patronage on any woman about to be married or handfasted, the
woman being called "bride" in her honor.)
The Roman Catholic Church could not very easily call the
Great Goddess of Ireland a demon, so they canonized her instead.
Henceforth, she would be "Saint" Brigit, patron saint of
smithcraft, poetry, and healing. They "explained" this by
telling the Irish peasants that Brigit was "really" an early
Christian missionary sent to the Emerald Isle, and that the
miracles she performed there "misled" the common people into
believing that she was a goddess. For some reason, the Irish
swallowed this. (There is no limit to what the Irish imagination
can convince itself of. For example, they also came to believe
that Brigit was the "foster-mother" of Jesus, giving no thought
to the implausibility of Jesus having spent his boyhood in Ireland!)
Brigit's holiday was chiefly marked by the kindling of sacred
fires, since she symbolized the fire of birth and healing, the
fire of the forge, and the fire of poetic inspiration. Bonfires
were lighted on the beacon tors, and chandlers celebrated their
special holiday. The Roman Church was quick to confiscate this
symbolism as well, using "Candlemas" as the day to bless all the
church candles that would be used for the coming liturgical year.
(Catholics will be reminded that the following day, St. Blaise's
Day, is remembered for using the newly-blessed candles to bless
the throats of parishioners, keeping them from colds, flu, sore
throats, etc.)
The Catholic Church, never one to refrain from piling holiday
upon holiday, also called it the Feast of the Purification of the
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Blessed Virgin Mary. (It is surprising how many of the old Pagan
holidays were converted to Maryan Feasts.) The symbol of the
Purification may seem a little obscure to modern readers, but it
has to do with the old custom of "churching women". It was
believed that women were impure for six weeks after giving birth.
And since Mary gave birth at the winter solstice, she wouldn't be
purified until February 2nd. In Pagan symbolism, this might be
re-translated as when the Great Mother once again becomes the
Young Maiden Goddess.
Today, this holiday is chiefly connected to weather lore.
Even our American folk-calendar keeps the tradition of
"Groundhog's Day", a day to predict the coming weather, telling
us that if the Groundhog sees his shadow, there will be "six more
weeks" of bad weather (i.e., until the next old holiday, Lady
Day). This custom is ancient. An old British rhyme tells us
that "If Candlemas Day be bright and clear, there'll be two
winters in the year." Actually, all of the cross-quarter days
can be used as "inverse" weather predictors, whereas the quarter-
days are used as "direct" weather predictors.
Like the other High Holidays or Great Sabbats of the Witches'
year, Candlemas is sometimes celebrated on it's alternate date,
astrologically determined by the sun's reaching 15-degrees
Aquarius, or Candlemas Old Style (this year, February 6th).
Another holiday that gets mixed up in this is Valentine's Day.
Ozark folklorist Vance Randolf makes this quite clear by noting
that the old-timers used to celebrate Groundhog's Day on February
14th. Once again, this shows the resultant confusion of calendar
changes and "lost days" that have accumulated down the centuries.
For modern Witches, Candlemas O.S. may be seen as the Pagan
version of Valentine's Day, with a de-emphasis of "hearts and
flowers" and an appropriate re-emphasis of Pagan carnal
frivolity. This also re-aligns the holiday with the ancient
Roman Lupercalia, a fertility festival held at this time, in
which the priests of Pan ran through the streets of Rome whacking
young women with goatskin thongs to make them fertile. The women
seemed to enjoy the attention and often stripped in order to
afford better targets.
One of the nicest folk-customs still practiced in many
countries, and especially by Witches in the British Isles and
parts of the U.S., is to place a lighted candle in each and every
window of the house, beginning at sundown on Candlemas Eve
(February 1), allowing them to continue burning until sunrise.
Make sure that such candles are well seated against tipping and
guarded from nearby curtains, etc. What a cheery sight it is on
this cold, bleak and dreary night to see house after house with
candle-lit windows! And, of course, if you are your Coven's
chandler, or if you just happen to like making candles, Candlemas
Day is the day for doing it. Some Covens hold candle-making
parties and try to make and bless all the candles they'll be
using for the whole year on this day.
538
Other customs of the holiday include weaving "Brigit's
crosses" from straw or wheat to hang around the house for
protection, performing rites of spiritual cleansing and
purification, making "Brigit's beds" to ensure fertility of mind
and spirit (and body, if desired), and making Crowns of Light
(i.e. of candles) for the High Priestess to wear for the
Candlemas Circle, similar to those worn on St. Lucy's Day in
Scandinavian countries. All and all, this is certainly one of the
prettiest holidays celebrated in the Pagan seasonal calendar.
539
OPENING THE CIRCLE
The High Priestess goes to each of the four directions in turn,
and draws a Banishing Pentacle, saying,
Guardians of the East (South, West, North), Powers of Air
(Fire, Water, Earth), we thank you
For joining in our circle
And we ask for your blessing
As you depart
May there be peace between us
Now and forever. Blessed be.
She raises her athame to the sky and touches it to the earth, then
opens her arms and says,
The circle is open, but unbroken,
May the peace of the Goddess
Go in your hearts,
Merry meet, and merry part.
And merry meet again. Blessed be.
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Ritual of Casting Sacred Circle
Many times we are asked "how do you cast a circle ?" There are so many
different was that this can be done. Differs from each Tradition to the
next. Even within our own Avaloian Tradition we make improvisions on this.
The main factor is to cast a sacred space. A space that separates this
world from the other. A space that we ourselves make holy. And that is
what is important. A space that you set aside from all else, to glorify
and exalt. For you are the one casting, cleansing, purifying, and setting
it aside from all else.
Before you cast, one should make sure of the intent of casting. Ask
yourself why you are doing it. Once you have this the gathering is made
easier. If you are doing this with a group of people One must be chosen to
be the Lord or Lady. The Lord or Lady usually has one person who waits
them. This is not to say the Lord or Lady is higher than they, but the
fact that they shall be the God/dess incarnate. You may also do this
solitary. Depending on the amount tending.
The Lord/Lady has the sword brought to them. All else are standing outside
where the circle is to be cast. The Lord/Lady takes the sword and walk
deosil (clockwise) around the space to be cast. The wait has a small bell
with them. Beginning at the East, the sword, in a non-threatening manner,
is raised. The wait rings the bell. All fill fall silent. Moving
clockwise the Lord/Lady salute each direction. If there are four novices
present each will stand to the directions as the Lord/Lady passes.
Lord/Lady: Let all those that wish to partake enter ye now ! (the bell is
rung)
Everyone enters by stepping forward (no actual circle has been cast yet)
Wait: My Lord/Lady all those that wish to partake in this Magickal Rite
are now present. I pray you, cast the Sacred Circle.
Lord/Lady: What thou doth sees makes here this night, shall be forever
within this circle. So Mote It Be !
(When anyone speaks the So Mote It Be or Blessed Be, all shall repeat it)
Again at the East, the Lord/Lady takes the sword and draws within the
ground or upon the floor the circle saying as the pass...
"I draw this magick circle let no evil or ill will cross its mark."
Once the Lord/Lady has reached the East again, They take the sword and
place it upon the shoulders of the novice, and says...
"be thou the guardian of this gate... I call I summon I stir oh ye
spirits of Air, come forth now I pray thee and witness our Rite. So Mote
It Be !"
The Guardian answers: I am he/she the guardian, no evil or ill will shall
pass by me, My Lord/Lady.
the Wait rings the bell
The Lord/Lady goes to each quarter and perform the same, on each guardian.
The Wait will ring the bell as each guardian answers.
Once the quarters are called the Lord/Lady goes to the center of the circle
as the Wait preforms the cleansing of the circle with salt and water.
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Incense can be used instead of salt and water mixture. The Lord/Lady
summons the spirit of the Great Lady and the Great Lord by saying....
Great Lady witness now your children who stand before you in Perfect Love
and Perfect Trust.
Standing East, with the censer the Lord/Lady says....
Great Maiden Come To Us.....
All repeat....
Standing South, with the torch or candle the Lord/Lady says....
Great Mother Come To Us....
All repeat...
Standing West, with chalice of wine or water, the Lord/Lady says...
Ancient Queen of Wisdom Come To Us....
All repeat...
Standing North, with the salt, the Lord/Lady says....
Brother Come To Us...
All Repeat...
Drumming, rattles, any form of music making can be added to this. As you
can take note there really isn't any particular God or Goddess called, this
is the Avaloian Tradition. All Gods are one God, all Goddesses are one
Goddess.
So there is the very basic beginnings of Magical Workings... you can take
it from here..... Do What Thou Wilt, Save Harm None, Shall Be the Whole.
Bright Blessing...
Lord OberRon
Knight of the Sacred Light
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LOOKING AT YOURSELF
before you go a step further, take a good long look at your
desires, motivation and skills. What role do you see yourself
playing in this new group? "Ordinary" member? Democratic
facilitator? High Priestess? And if the last -- why do you want
the job?
The title of High Priestess and Priestess are seductive,
conjuring up exotic images of yourself in embroidered robes, a
silver crescent (or horned helm) on your brow, adoring celebrants
hanging on every word which drops from your lips...
Reality check. The robes will be stained with wine and candle
wax soon enough, and not every word you speak is worth
remembering. A coven leader's job is mostly hard work between
rituals and behind the scene. It is not always a good place to
act out your fantasies, because the lives and well-being of
others are involved, and what is flattering or enjoyable to you
man not be in their best interest. So consider carefully.
If your prime motive is establishing a coven is to gain status
and ego gratification, other people will quickly sense that. If
they are intelligent, independent individuals, they will refuse
to play Adoring Disciple to your Witch Queen impressions. They
will disappear, and that vanishing act will be the last magick
they do with you.
And if you do attract a group ready to be subservient Spear
Carriers in your fantasy drama -- well, do you really want to
associate with that kind of personality? What are you going to
do when you want someone strong around to help you or teach you,
and next New Moon you look out upon a handful of Henry
Milquetoasts and Frieda Handmaidens? If a person is willing to
serve you, the they will also become dependent on you, drain your
energy, and become disillusioned if you ever let down the
Infallible Witch Queen mask for even a moment.
Some other not-so-great reasons for starting a coven: a) because
it seems glamorous, exotic, and a little wicked; b) because it
will shock your mother, or c) because you can endure your boring,
flunky job more easily if you get to go home and play Witch at
night.
Some better reasons for setting up a coven, and even nomination
yourself as High Priest/ess, include: a) you feel that you will
be performing a useful job for yourself and others; b) you have
enjoyed leadership roles in the past, and proven yourself
capable; or c) you look forward to learning and growing in the
role.
Even with the best motives in the world, you will still need to
have -- or quickly develop -- a whole range of skills in order to
handle a leadership role. If you are to be a facillitator of a
study group, group process insights and skills are important.
These include:
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1) Gatekeeping, or guiding discussion in such a way that
everyone has an opportunity to express ideas and
opinions;
2) Summarizing and clarifying;
3) Conflict resolution, or helping participants understand
points of disagreement and find potential solutions which
respect everyone's interests;
4) Moving the discussion toward consensus, or at any rate
decision, by identifying diversions and refocussing
attention on goals and priorities; and
5) Achieving closure smoothly when the essential work is
complected, or an appropriate stopping place is reached.
In addition to group process skills, four other competencies
necessary to the functioning of a coven are: ritual leadership,
administration, teaching, and counseling. In a study group the
last one may not be considered a necessary function, and the
other three may be shared among all participants. But in a coven
the leaders are expected to be fairly capable in all these areas,
even if responsibilities are frequently shared or delegated. Let
us look briefly at each.
Ritual leadership involves much more that reading invocations by
candlelight. Leaders must understand the powers they intend to
manipulate: how they are raised, channeled and grounded. They
must be adept at designing rituals which involve all the sensory
modes. They should have a repertoire of songs and chants, dances
and gestures or mudras, incense and oils, invocations and spells,
visual effects and symbols, meditations and postures; and the
skill to combine these in a powerful, focused pattern. They must
have clarity of purpose and firm ethics. And they must
understand timing: both where a given ritual fits in the cycles
of the Moon, the Wheel of the Year, and the dance of the spheres,
and how to pace the ritual once started, so that energy peaks and
is channeled at the perfect moment. And they must understand the
Laws of Magick, and the correspondences, and when ritual is
appropriate and when it is not.
By administration, we refer to basic management practices
necessary to any organization. These include apportioning work
fairly, and following up on its progress; locating resources and
obtaining them (information, money, supplies); fostering
communications (by telephone, printed schedules, newsletters
etc.); and keeping records (minutes, accounts, Witch Book
entries, or ritual logbook). Someone or several someone's has to
collect the dues if any, buy the candles, chill the wine, and so
forth.
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Teaching is crucial to both covens and study groups. If only one
person has any formal training or experience in magick, s/he
should transmit that knowledge in a way which respects the
intuitions, re-emerging past life skills, and creativity of the
others. If several participants have some knowledge in differing
areas, they can all share the teaching role. If no one in the
group has training and you are uncertain where to begin, they you
may need to call on outside resources: informed and ethical
priest/esses who can act as visiting faculty, or who are willing
to offer guidance by telephone or correspondence. Much can be
gleaned from books, or course -- assuming you know which books
are trustworthy and at the appropriate level -- but there is no
substitute for personal instruction for some things. Magick can
be harmful if misused, and an experienced practitioner can help
you avoid pitfalls as well as offering hints and techniques not
found in the literature.
Counseling is a special role of the High Priest/ess. It is
assumed that all members of a coven share concern for each
other's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare, and
are willing to help each other out in practical ways. However,
coven leaders are expected to have a special ability to help
coveners explore the roots of their personal problems and choose
strategies and tactics to overcome them. This is not to suggest
that one must be a trained psychoanalyst; but at the least, good
listening skills, clear thinking and some insight into human
nature are helpful. Often, magickal skills such as guided
visualization, Tarot counseling and radiasthesia (pendulum work)
are valuable tools as well.
Think carefully about your skills in these areas, as you have
demonstrated them in other organizations. Ask acquaintances or
co-workers, who can be trusted to give you a candid opinion, how
they see you in some of these roles. Meditate, and decide what
you really want for yourself in organizing the new group. Will
you be content with being a catalyst and contact person -- simply
bringing people with a common interest together, then letting the
group guide its destiny from that point on? Would you rather be
a facillitator, either for the first months or permanently: a low-
key discussion leader who enables the group to move forward with
a minimum of misunderstanding and wasted energy? Or do you
really want to be High Priestess -- whatever that means to you --
and serve as the guiding spirit and acknowledged leader of a
coven? And if you do want that job, exactly how much authority
and work do you envision as part of it? Some coven leaders want
a great deal of power and control; others simply take an extra
share of responsibility for setting up the rituals (whether or
not they actually conduct the rites), and act as "magickal
advisor" to less experienced members. Thus the High Priest/ess
can be the center around which the life of the coven revolves, or
primarily an honorary title, or anything in between.
545
That is one area which you will need to have crystal-clear in
your own mind before the first meeting (of if you are flexible,
at least be very clear that you are). You must also be clear as
to your personal needs on other points: program emphasis, size,
meeting schedule, finances, degree of secrecy, and affiliation
with a tradition or network. You owe it to prospective members
and to yourself to make your minimum requirements known from the
outset: it can be disastrous to a group to discover that members
have major disagreements on these points after you have been
meeting for six months.
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BLOOD SACRIFICE
by Althea Whitebirch
We have all moved through periods of crisis in our lives; things
ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the death of someone
close to us to final exams. Events which are extremely stressful--which
threaten our lives, home, future or security--would seem t call for
strong measures of assistance. There have been many times that I have
felt that the course of events required swift and strong intervention of
a deity. Blood sacrifice is, to my mind, one of the more powerful magics
one could perform, and so seemed particularly suitable for this. But
it's rather ethically sticky.
I may feel that the kind of energy contained in the outpouring of
blood would be most efficacious in a serious situation, but I'm dead-set
against the use of an unwilling victim for the purpose. So, in the past
I've spilled my own blood with an athame, at the same time offering up
prayers; it just didn't seem to work as well as I thought it would.
Perhaps, I thought, one needs lots of blood to generate any appreciable
amount of energy.
Then a friend suggested what seemed the perfect solution--blood
donation! I'd been giving blood for several years and the thought just
never had occurred to me before. So the next time I went in to donate, I
approached it as ritual sacrifice for a particular purpose, and both the
process and results seemed to be much improved. Since then I've gone to
donate blood many times, each time with a prayer for healing for the
recipient of my blood, and a request for aid from the deity that seemed
most appropriate.
For those of you who've never donated blood before, I can provide a
few details of the process. It's not very frightening, and it can be a
very spiritually moving experience, I'll tell you! As well, remember
that you don't sell blood (at least not in Puget Sound), you donates it.
You can sell plasma--the straw-colored fluid that makes up the bulk of
your blood--but not blood itself.
The first time you go in you'll fill out a medical questionnaire:
the Puget Sound Blood Bank doesn't want your blood if you're ill right
then (or just getting over something), taking certain medications, ever
had hepatitis or malaria, or are in a high-risk category for contracting
AIDS (Haitian, homosexual, needle-using drug user or prostitute). If
you have any questions, they'll be happy to answer them.
After you fill out the questionnaire, they'll take your blood
pressure and a blood sample (like sticking your finger with a pin) to
test your hemocrit (% of hemoglobin) as well as determining what type
your blood is. If your hemocrit count isn't high enough they'll send
you home. Nowadays, all blood is sent to a lab to be tested for
presence of AIDS anti-bodies as well; if you test positive they'll
notify you by mail. You'll be asked if you've eaten in the last four
hours, and if not, sent to the canteen for cookies and juice.
547
Then comes the fun part--you go lie down on a table where a phlebo-
tomist (who draws the blood) asks you some questions, verifies your
name, and then sets you up to donate. They tie a rubber hose around your
arm, so the vein will stand out and be easy to find. They use cold
liquid ethyl chloride on your arm, to numb it where the needle goes in.
I won't say that it doesn't hurt when the needle is inserted--it does
but it's tolerable--when it's in place though, you'll hardly know it's
there. (You may get the idea from all this that I'm a stoic--hardly!
I'm a wimp when it comes to pain, but this I can handle.) At this time
they'll leave you there for up to five minutes while you clench and
relax your hand (to keep the blood from clotting) and the blood flows
into a little plastic bag. It's warm and red, and rather reassuring,
really. At this time you can get into some really serious prayer, or
hum a little healing chant for the person your blood's going to. (I
once was doing this and got a flash image of a little boy, a burn
victim. I always wondered who got my blood that day.) I wouldn't
recommend getting too spaced-out though; remember you've got to be able
to return to yourself when you want to, and the physical effects of
giving blood can make some people light-headed or slightly woozie. When
they ask you how you're feeling, be honest, not macho. You don't want
to embarrass yourself by fainting.
Afterwards they'll ask you to have some juice and cookies. By all
means, do! For one thing, you've earned them; for another it's impor-
tant to replace the fluid and blood sugar you just gave up. Working
magic really takes it out of you, too (at least it does me).
In my experience, there are several good reasons to use this parti-
cular method of blood sacrifice: a) It doesn't require the death of one
of the Gods' children. b) It is giving of yourself--for the good of
others as well as your own. c) It is safe--the Blood Bank uses sterile
instruments and never re-uses needles, so you can't catch anything. d)
You have the added benefit of being able to see the blood as it's being
given (somehow that adds to my experience), and a pint is a lot more
than I've ever been able to get with a knife! Next time you want to get
the Gods' attention, try it!
548
The Grove of Phoenix Rising
*
FOUR WEEK FAST
*
FIRST WEEK
*
If you normally eat meat, begin to eliminate it from your diet
during this first week. If you feel you must eat it, eat a small
amount and no more than 3 times during the week.
*
Eliminate all alcoholic beverages, carbonated beverages (except for
bottled waters such as Artesia, etc.), and diet drinks. Substitute
fruit juices or fruit drinks.
*
Refrain from smoking (anything), or using any other intoxicants.
*
Cut way back on any other stimulants, such as coffee or tea or
cocoa. No more than three cups a day if you are a heavy coffee or
tea drinker.
*
Use as little salt as possible and no other spices.
*
Refrain from sweets - cakes, pies, candy.
*
Drink large amounts of fluids, especially water.
*
*
SECOND WEEK
*
Eliminate meat entirely. Substitute dairy products - IN MODERATION.
*
Continue to limit intake of stimulants (coffee, tea, cocoa),
cutting back to no more than two cups a day.
*
Continue to avoid tobacco, alcohol, other intoxicants, spices,
and soft drinks, and use as little salt as possible.
*
Continue to drink large amounts of water.
*
Your diet should consist largely of vegetables and grains, with
large amounts of liquids.
*
*
THIRD WEEK
*
Limit intake of stimulants (coffee, tea, cocoa) to one cup a day.
*
Continue to avoid tobacco, alcohol, other intoxicants, meat,
spices, and soft drinks, and use as little salt as possible.
*
Do not use meat in seasoning vegetables.
*
Your diet should consist of vegetables and fruits only. Raw
vegetables and fruits are best (nuts can be included). Drink large
amounts of water and substitute fruit or vegetable juices for meals
as often as possible.
*
FOURTH WEEK (first four days)
*
549
Fluids only. Fruit and vegetable juices in desired quantity,
cutting back each day. Drink large amounts of water. If you feel
you must have coffee, limit it to a cup a day (a half cup if
possible).
*
If you feel you must have something the first day or so of this
week, a small handful of raisins or other dried fruit may be taken.
Nibble slowly. As the week progresses, continue to cut back on
nibbles and the amount of juice taken. A spoonful of honey added
to hot water helps satisfy the craving for hot beverages and gives
you an energy boost.
*
*
THE FAST
*
The fast should last for three days. It is best to do this on a
weekend and if possible, alone and in the woods. (Go camping!)
*
Drink lots of water and if you feel the need for an energy
stimulant, a small amount of honey may be added to hot water.
*
Spend as much time as possible in meditation. This period should
sooth your spirit as well as cleanse your body. RELAX!
*
You will probably want to sleep a lot. Do so. Allow yourself to
drift with your thoughts. Do not attempt to solve your problems
during this time. They will solve themselves later, for your mind
will be clearer after the fast is over.
*
Most people feel great the first day, a little weakness the second
day, and great again on the third day.
*
*
AFTER THE FAST
*
Eat lightly for your first meal after the fast. It is best to begin
by returning to fruit and vegetable juices and working your slowly
into solid foods over a few days.
*
*
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO REMEMBER IS TO DRINK LARGE AMOUNTS OF
WATER ALL THE WAY THROUGH! This flushes out toxins the body is
releasing.
550
THE ANCIENT ART
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there were people who believed
in laughter, joy and love. They believed in many deities, but
the most important to them was their Great Mother Goddess. They
believed in and lived with the powers of Nature. They reveled in
the Wind, the Rain, the Snow and the Sunlight. They marveled at
and revered the changing of the seasons and saw therein great
excitement and wisdom to be gained. They knew that if they
tended, cared for and loved the Earth, in return She would
provide for, care for and love them. They saw that all around
them the world was filled with Life, much as their own but in
many different and wonderful forms. They felt the life of the
flowers, plants and trees and respected them for that life
essence. They looked about and observed all the many types of
animals and saw that they were kindred to them and loved them.
They felt and observed the great Love of the Goddess all about
them and knew kinship with the Moon. They were practioners of
The Old Religion, worshipers of The Great Mother.
Witch! The very word instantly invokes visions for each of us,
visions which vary greatly from individual to individual. Many
of these visions, however, are quite false, brought about by many
centuries of severe persecutions, misrepresentations, prejudice
and, in recent years, lack of knowledge. Witchcraft! What is it
really?
Witchcraft is the oldest, most irrepressible religion in the
world because it stimulates the intellect, promotes a simple,
practical way of life and, most importantly, is emotionally
satisfying. Its roots lie in the ancient Matriarchal systems of
Goddess worship. A religion of Nature in which the primary
deity is female (The Essence of Femininity, The Earth Mother,
The Great Mother, etc.).
It was easy for the Wise Ones to look at the world around them
and see the great importance of Feminine Principle. The female
was, indeed, the one who bore the young, perhaps the most
magickal of all events to ancient man. Then, she played by far
the most important role in rearing the young, being totally
responsible for feeding, for without her milk there was no life
past birth. She was responsible for the teaching and early care
of the young. In all youths the greatest comfort and nurturing
love were connected with the mother. These revelations and
experiences could hardly lead to any other choice than the total
reverence and deification of the female.
Although The Great Mother is the most important deity, Witches
do, generally, recognize many Goddesses and/or Gods and are,
therefore, polytheistic. The tenets of Witchcraft are few but
all-encompassing, for with three simple Universal Observations
all of life can be explained and understood:
1) Reincarnation - Mortality
2) Cause & Effect - Magick
3) Retribution - Morality
Reincarnation enlightens the Witch to the fact that, as we come
551
to this material world over and over in a series of learning
periods, or lifetimes, we will eventually have to experience all
things, be all things, understand all things. This creates a
great tolerance for other viewpoints in the Witch.
Cause & Effect, and an understanding of it, allows the Witch to
see what makes the world work and how to live most efficiently.
It gives them a great advantage in that it explains the working
of Magick.
Retribution shows the Witch, in graphic terms, that every thought
one might have, every action one may take, is returned in like
kind. This realization forms the basis of the Moral Code of the
Witch.
The Patriarchal Societies which evolved in later times had no
tolerance for the Goddess religions and systematically set out to
destroy the material vestiges, kill or convert the adherents and
wipe out all knowledge of them. They destroyed the temples and
other places of worship, desecrated the sacred groves and
magickal places, attempted to pervert the old deities, mutilated
and totally suppressed sacred art, tore down libraries and burned
books, tortured and killed the practitioners of the Old
Religions, demeaned, persecuted and oppressed women in general
and passed strictly enforced laws which made theirs the State
Religion and forbade all other viewpoints.
Despite the centuries of insidious persecution, deliberate
destruction and perversions at the hands of the Christian
Conspirators, Witchcraft has survived.
COMMON INQUIRIES
I've heard the terms 'White Witch' and 'Black Witch'. Can you
explain?
In this connotation, white is referring to Positive, Black is
referring to Negative. A White Witch then is someone who tries
to do Positive or Good things. Black Witch could be a term used
to describe someone who deliberately does Negative or Bad things.
A True Witch believes in the Law of Retribution and would never
deliberately harm anyone or anything or participate in Negative
or Destructive acts.
552
Is it possible for me to practice Witchcraft and remain a
Christian?
No. The Christian Doctrine states, unequivocally, that
Christians shall have no other Gods before the Christian God.
Christian Doctrine says to believe in any other deities or to
practice any other religion is not only evil but should be
punished by death, specifically naming Witchcraft. The Christian
Doctrine also denies Reincarnation and prescribes punishment for
those who practice Magick.
Devil worship?
Witches do not worship the Devil. Witchcraft predates
Christianity and does not incorporate a belief in the Christian
Devil.
The Wise Ones did deify the Masculine Principle and quite often
He was depicted as The Great Horned God; Pan, Cernunnos, the
Great Stag, The Green Man. To the Traditional Witch, the
Masculine Deity (the Goddess' Consort) is very important, revered
and loved. He is the perfect Father, the Lord Protector. The
Horned God of the Witches is loving, kind and good.
Don't men have difficulty with a supreme female deity? There are
some groups which give equal status to the female and male
deities.
Neo-Pagans are, by definition, people who attempt to live with
the Old Country Ways in a new, modern day manner. And while, in
this modern era, equal status for the deities may be popular, as
it relates to Witchcraft it is historically incorrect.
Therefore, a group which does not recognize the Goddess as
primary deity is not practicing The Ancient Art. Indeed, they,
generally, know very little about Witchcraft, despite their
claims. Traditional Dualistic Witches do most emphatically
believe that women and men are equal, but have no trouble
relating to the Goddess. The Male Witch finds great comfort and
solace in his Great Mother.
Do I have to join a Coven?
No. It is not necessary nor is it desirable for a great many
people. Some people enjoy the support and companionship a Coven
provides, others enjoy solitary worship. The Coven, which is an
extremely close knit worship group, may not be possible for some
because of location, family climate, availability, etc.
553
Why is Witchcraft secretive?
The horror of the 'Burning Time' is still very real to the Witch.
The past persecutions were severe. Even so, in today's more
enlightened society the need for complete secrecy has lessened
and many are able to share their beliefs openly. Very few,
however, are willing to expose their very personal and private
religious expressions to others who may not understand.
What do I have to do to become a Witch?
The answer to this question is very simple. To become a Witch
one must follow the religion of Witchcraft. To do this one must
believe in the Goddess as primary deity and follow the three
basic tenets. How simple! How uncomplicated! How Pagan!
Everything else concerning witchcraft is simply minor details.
Details that vary from Aspect to Aspect, Coven to Coven and
individual to individual. The details are relatively personal.
They should not become more important than the basic tenets. If
you do not understand, believe and practice Witchcraft, you are
not a Witch. No one can make you a Witch. Reading about it can
not make you a Witch. An Initiation can not make you a Witch.
Saying you are a Witch, one thousand and fifty two times, can not
make you a Witch.
In the search for your individual path beware of those who would
take advantage of you. Do not fall prey to the unscrupulous
charlatans who would swindle you in a monetary sense (mail-order
courses, charges for teaching or initiations, vows of poverty,
etc.), exploit you sexually or manipulate you for their own
personal ego-trips.
554
'Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true
happiness.' -- Bertrand Russell
CHARMED, I'M SURE
The Ethics of Love Spells
=========================
by Mike Nichols
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To gain the love of someone: On a night of the full moon, walk to a spot
beneath your beloved's bedroom window, and whisper his/her name three times
to the nightwind.
--Ozark love spell
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It seems tobe an immutable law ofnature. You are interviewedby a
local radio or TV station, or in some local newspaper. The topic of the
interview is Witchcraft or Paganism, and you spend the better part of an
hour brilliantly articulating your beliefs, your devotion to Goddess and
nature, the difference between Witchcraft and Satanism, and generally
enlightening the public at large. The next day, you are flooded with
calls. Is it people complimenting you on such a splendid interview? No.
People wanting to find out more about the religion of Wicca? Huh-uh.
People who are even vaguely interested in what you had to say??? Nope.
Who is it? It's people asking you to do a love spell for them! This used
to drive me nuts. I'd take a deep breath and patiently explain (for the
thousandth time) why I won't even do love spells for myself, let alone
anyone else. This generally resulted in my caller becoming either angry or
defensive, but seldom more enlightened. 'But don't you DO magic?', they
ask. 'Only occasionally,' I answer. 'And aren't most magic spells love
spells?', they persist. That was the line I really hated, because I knew
they were right! At least, if you look at the table of contents of most
books on magic, you'll find more love spells than any other kind. This
seems as true for the medieval grimoire as for the modern drugstore
paperback.
Why? Why so many books containing so many love spells? Why such an
emphasis on a kind of magic that I, personally, have always considered very
negative? And to make matters even more confusing, the books that do take
the trouble of dividing spells between 'positive' and 'negative' magic
invariably list love spells under the first heading. After all, they would
argue, love is a good thing. There can never be too much of it.
Therefore, any spell that brings about love must be a GOOD spell. Never
mind that the spell puts a straightjacket on another's free will, and then
drops it in cement for good measure.
555
And thatis whyI hadalways assumedlove magicto benegative magic.
Years ago, one of the first things I learned as a novice Witch was
something called the Witch's Rede, a kind of 'golden rule' in traditional
Witchcraft. It states, 'An it harm none, do what thou will.' One uses
this rede as a kind of ethical litmus test for a spell. If the spell
brings harm to someone -- anyone (including yourself!) -- then don't do it!
Unfortunately, this rule contains a loophole big enough to fly a broom
through. It's commonly expressed, 'Oh, this won't HARM them; it's really
for their own good.' When you hear someone say that, take cover, because
something especially nasty is about to happen.
That's why I had to develop my own version of the Witch's Rede. Mine
says that if a spell harms anyone, OR LIMITS THEIR FREEDOM OF THOUGHT OR
ACTION IN ANY WAY, then consider it negative, and don't do it. Pretty
strict, you say? Perhaps. But there's another law in Witchcraft called
the Law of Threefold Return. This says that whatever power you send out,
eventually comes back to you three times more powerful. So I take no
chances. And love spells, of the typical make-Bobby-love-me type,
definitely have an impact on another's free will.
Sowhy are they so common? It's taken me yearsto make peace with
this, but I think I finally understand. The plain truth is that most of us
NEED love. Without it, our lives are empty and miserable. After our basic
survival needs have been met, we must have affection and companionship for
a full life. And if it will not come of its own accord, some of us may be
tempted to FORCE it to come. And nothing can be as painful as loving
someone who doesn't love you back. Consequently, the most common,
garden-variety spell in the world is the love spell.
Is there ever a way to do a love spell and yet stay within the
parameters of the Witch's Rede? Possibly. Some teachers have argued that
if a spell doesn't attempt to attract a SPECIFIC person into your life, but
rather attempts to attract the RIGHT person, whomever that may be, then it
is not negative magic. Even so, one should make sure that the spell finds
people who are 'right' for each other -- so that neither is harmed, and
both are made happy.
Is there ever an excuse for the make-Bobby-love-me type of spell?
Without endorsing this viewpoint, I must admit that the most cogent
argument in its favor is the following: Whenever you fall in love with
someone, you do everything in your power to impress them. You dress nicer,
are more attentive, witty, and charming. And at the same time, you
unconsciously set in motion some very powerful psychic forces. If you've
ever walked into a room where someone has a crush on you, you know what I
mean. You can FEEL it. Proponents of this school say that a love spell
only takes the forces that are ALREADY there -- MUST be there if you're in
love -- and channels them more efficiently. But the energy would be there
just the same, whether or not you use a spell to focus it.
Iwon't attempt to decidethis one for you. People must arrive at
their own set of ethics through their own considerations. However, I would
call to your attention all the cautionary tales in folk magic about love
spells gone awry. Also, if a love spell has been employed to join two
people who are not naturally compatible, then one must keep pumping energy
into the spell. And when one finally tires of this (and one will, because
it is hard work!) then the spell will unravel amidst an emotional and
psychic hurricane that will make the stormiest divorces seem calm by
comparison. Not a pretty picture.
It should be noted that many spells that pass themselves off as love
spells are, in reality, sex spells. Not that there's anything surprising
556
in that, since our most basic needs usually include sex. But I think we
should be clear from the outset what kind of spell it is. And the same
ethical standards used for love spells can often be applied to sex spells.
Last year, the very quotable Isaac Bonewits, author of 'Real Magic', taught
a sex magic class here at the Magick Lantern, and he tossed out the
following rule of thumb: Decide what the mundane equivalent of your spell
would be, and ask yourself if you could be arrested for it. For example,
some spells are like sending a letter to your beloved in the mail, whereas
other spells are tantamount to abduction. The former is perfectly legal
and normal, whereas the latter is felonious.
One mitigating factor in your decisions may be the particular
tradition
of magic you follow. For example, I've often noticed that practitioners of
Voudoun (Voodoo) and Santeria seem much more focused on the wants and needs
of day-to-day living than on the abstruse ethical considerations we've been
examining here. That's not a value judgement -- just an observation. For
example, most followers of Wicca STILL don't know how to react when a
Santerian priest spills the blood of a chicken during a ritual -- other
than to feel pretty queasy. The ethics of one culture is not always the
same as another.
And speaking of cultural traditions, another consideration is how a
culture views love and sex. It has often been pointed out that in our
predominant culture, love and sex are seen in very possessive terms, where
the beloved is regarded as one's personal property. If the spell uses this
approach, treating a person as an object, jealously attempting to cut off
all other relationships, then the ethics are seriously in doubt. However,
if the spell takes a more open approach to love and sex, not attempting to
limit a person's other relationships in any way, then perhaps it is more
defensible. Perhaps. Still, it might be wise to ask, Is this the kind of
spell I'd want someone to cast on me?
Love spells. Whether to dothem or not. If you area practitioner
of magic, I dare say you will one day be faced with the choice. If you
haven't yet, it is only a matter of time. And if the answer is yes, then
which spells are ethical and which aren't? Then you, and only you, will
have to decide whether 'All's fair in love and war', or whether there are
other, higher, metaphysical considerations.
557
DRAWING DOWN THE MOON
In this ritual the Goddess becomes incarnate in the High Priestess. The
High Priestess stands in front of the altar with her back to it. She holds
the wand in her right hand and the scrounge in her left. She crosses her
wrists and crosses the wand and scrounge above them while holding them
close to her breast. The High Priest stands in front of her and says:
"Diana, queen of night
In all your beauty bright,
Shine on us here,
And with your silver beam
Unlock the gates of dream;
Rise bright and clear.
On Earth and sky and sea,
Your magic mystery
Its spell shall cast,
Wherever leaf may grow,
Wherever tide may flow,
Till all be past.
O secret queen of power,
At this enchanted hour
We ask your boon.
May fortune's favor fall
Upon true witches all,
O Lady Moon!"
The High Priest kneels before the High Priestess and gives her the Five
Fold Kiss; that is, he kisses her on both feet, both knees, womb, both
breasts, and the lips, starting with the right of each pair. He says, as he
does this:
"Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways.
Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar.
Blessed be thy womb, without which we would not be.
Blessed be thy breasts, formed in beauty.
Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names."
For the kiss on the lips, they embrace, length to length, with their feet
touching each others. When he reaches the womb, she spreads her arms wide,
and the same after the kiss on the lips.The High Priest kneels again and
invokes:
"I invoke thee and call upon thee, Mighty Mother of us all,
bringer of all fruitfulness; by seed and root,
by bud and stem, by leaf and flower and fruit,
bylife and love doI invoke theeto descend uponthe body of
this,
thy servant and priestess."
558
During this invocation he touches her with his right forefinger on her
right breast, left breast, and womb, repeats the set and finally the right
breast. Still kneeling, he spreads his arms out and down, with the palms
forward and says:
"Hail Aradia! From the Amalthean Horn
Pour forth thy store of love; I lowly bend
Before thee, I adore thee to the end,
With loving sacrifice thy shrine adore.
Thy foot is to my lip
(he kisses her right foot)
my prayer up borne
Upon the rising incense smoke; then spend
Thine ancient love, O Mighty One, descend
To aid me, who without thee am forlorn."
The High Priest stands up and steps backwards. The High Priestess draws the
Invoking Pentagram of Earth in the air with the wand and says:
"Of the Mother darksome and divine
Mine the scrounge, and mine the kiss;
The five point star of love and bliss
Here I charge you in this sign."
The High Priestess should be in a trance now. This is a good time to do the
Charge or the Witches' Creed.
When the Charge or Creed is finished, the Goddess must be dismissed. It is
bad magical practice not to do so.
The High Priest faces the Priestess and says:
"We thank you Our Lady for attending our rites. We bid you farewell
till
next we call you. Blessed Be."
Farrar, Janet and Stewart; "Eight Sabbats For Witches"; Robert Hale 1983
and dismissal added by Seastrider. Distributed over various BBS systems via
Ravensong.
559
CALLING ALL CRONES
by Grey Cat
Into the dark, the pale light of the waning moon brings forth
shapeless shadows; bushes, a wandering stone fieldwall, nameless
areas of blackness. Some still, some moving; no night for good
folk to stray from cot or castle. Black hares amove across the
moors, black cattle idly gossip together, one old woman dressed
in black searches the grass for secret herbs. And there amongst
the standing stones, age heavy upon their backs, three hags dare
all the mercy of God's Holy Mother Church to make the magic of an
older race.
``Call old Mother Piggot, she knows the proper words for
warts.''... ``Tis Goody Nurse you'll need if it's a son ye
want.''... ``Tis naught but an Old Wives Tale.''... ``Don't
mind Mother, she hasn't been herself since she went through the
Change of Life.''
Looming high over the imagination of humankind, the shadow of the
Crone casts a miasma of fear and uselessness, power and casting--
out, across the myths of our race and society.
I have talked and talked to women who either have arrived at
crone time or who are preparing themselves for this transition
and we have found much to talk about. And I think that it is
important that we keep right on talking after the season of
Gatherings has passed for the year. I have absolutely no
interest in trying to start a newsletter for Crones, nor really
of founding OWL (Old Woman's League), SOW (Salty Old Women),
CRONE (Clearly Rational Older Natural Energy), nor HAG (Honorable
Aged Geniuses).
However, I, no more than many of you, want to have to wait until
next year to get a chance to discuss all these fascinating
topics. So how about some suggestions, and perhaps some offers
of help. Would we like to cooperate in an APAZine* which
dispenses with an editing and layout burden, leaving some low--
level bookkeeping which I don't mind doing. Does someone feel
like working on a Newsletter? Do we want to form a loose
organization as part of or instead of the above? Or are most of
us too busy to do anything about this between gatherings?
I'll be sending this letter to people I know personally and to
many Pagan publications; you'll probably see it often enough to
be sick of the whole idea. But there is a lot of magick
available in the Time of the Crone. There is a lot of
sociological pressure to understand, combat or accept. And there
is a whole lot of our lives left for us to function as Crones.
If we don't figure out what it is and what to do with it, nobody
else will.
So write me at the address below (SASE appreciated) and let me
know what you think about the whole idea, what you might be
willing to do, what insights you may have about Crone Time --
let's figure out what has been left out of all the books. We're
already ``Uppity Women'' and we've nothing to lose but a bad rap.
(Crones are assumed to be women more or less at the age of
menopause or past it. Baby Crones are any who realize that this
time is not far away.)
Grey Cat P.O. Box 181 Crossville, TN 38555
560
THE ELEMENTS
Air Fire Water Earth Akasha
Characteristics Transparent, light Force of motion Clear, Heavy Massive Essence
Reflective Animator Reflective, Insula. Insulator Multi dimensional
Insulator Weightless Absorptive Resists motion Transformative
Compressible & Radiative Non-compressible non compress/Expand Compr/Expandable
Expandable Compr/Expandable Expandable Endurance Endurance, mobile
Moveable, Mutable Non-mutable Smooth flowing Stable, solid Highly mutable
Malleable Storable Malleable/mutable Non-mutable malleable, balanced,
Male, Penetrating Male,Penetrating Female,Receptive Receptive-to water Transcends E,A,F,W
Mediator Evaporates water Mediator Female yet immanent
Reacts to Energy for movement by Carries Fire Renews and
Carries Fire air Air & Earth nourishes
Non-local Essence Logos, switching Power, force Act of choosing Underlying Underlying,
mechanism prime mover Intuitive Stability connecting all
Energy Flow Crown down Spine behind Front to heart Base of spine up Non local
heart to hands with love energy
Feeling Free Enthusiastic, Love Centeredness Ecstasy & Bliss
energized
Correspondences
Direction East South West North Center
Direction of view Outward Forward/Future Inward To past Holistic
Part of Person Mind Will, lifeforce Emotions,intuition Body Spirit
(spirit)
Consciousness Intelligence Will Wisdom Memory Enlightenment
Physical action Thinking Asserting will Making love Sleep, experiencing
Breaking barriers Partying, unity
Spiritual aspect Enlightenment Life-force Compassion Serenity/beingness Om tat sat
Colors Clear/White/Blue Red/Yellow Silver/blue/purple Green/gold/brown Ultraviolet
Time Dawn Noon Sunset Night Now and all time
Season Spring Summer Fall Winter Kalpas
Astrological Libra, Aq., Gemini Ares,Leo,Sagitar. Cancer,Scorp,Pices Capr.,Taurus, Virgo
3,7,11 House
Mercury
Tarot Swords (esp. Queen) Rods Cups Disks
Physical state Gas Plasma/Energy Liquid Solid Singularity
Spirits Sylph Salamander Undine Gnome Demigods,God(ess)s
Deities Zeus, Urania, Ares, Hestia, Poseidon, Aphrodite Gaia, Pan, Hera Isis, Buddha, Ahura
Athena, Aradia Brigid, Hermes Tiamat,Isis Demeter, Rhiannon Mazda, Quan Yin, True
Thoth, Pele, Vulcan,Agni Adonis, Dionysus will, Zeus, Hera
Power Animals Eagle/hawk Dragon, lion Fish, seal Buffalo, stag Any
Otter
Symbol Circle Triangle Crescent Square Infinity Sign, white
egg, equal arm cross
Tools Incense Red Candle Chalice Pentagram Wand, Athame, Crystal
561
cauldron,
ankh
Incense/Odor Sandlewood/mellow Frankincense/spicy Rose/flowery Musk/Goaty/earthy Combination incense
Feeling cool & fresh Warm Tingles like spray Rigidity, Centered
Taste Salty Bitter
Image Billowing clouds Erupt. Volcano Waterfall Mountain/landscape Blue-white light
plants & animals
Word of Power YOD-EH-VAV-HE ADNI(add dough nay) AHIA (Aiy Hey Yeh) AGLA (ah gal lah) OM
Kabbalistic action Movement Expansion Contraction Stability Underlying essence
562
Wind Spirit Eurus Notus Zephyrus Borus Tornado of power
manifesting deities
Bija Yam (Yaungg) Ram (Raumgg) VAM (Vaungg) Lam (Laung) Hum (Haumgg)/Om
Affirmation I am intelligent I am powerful I am creative I am strong, I am balanced
& intuitive centered & know I am all
Posture Arms raised Arms above head Arms extended Arms extended back straight
Parallel forming triangle palms up palms down arms sweep then
at side
Virtues Intelligence, Courage, Love, compassion Centeredness Beyond
practical, joy enthusiasm, receptivity,flexib. Patience, truth
willpower forgiveness thorough, dependable
Vices Impulsive,frivolous Anger, jealousy Indifference, Dullness, laziness Beyond
boasting, hatred, bullying depression inconsiderateness
easily fooled unstable hang-ups
Chakra Heart behind waste Behind sex organ Base Crown/third eye
Other Quick response Brigid
Networking
communicative
linking people
into social
unit
active
Dawn, day, drive
heat, yellow
plants expression
of DNA
Benevolent
dictator
Purple
Billowing clouds
563
THE AUTARCHIC CREED
We of the Old Religion have our own particular compact with our
deities that charges simply, "An it harm none, do as ye will."
And our gods do not despise us for being human but delight in our
celebrations of life and love. We are ageless souls, only for a
while within bodies - merely visitors upon this plane. We are
brothers to the gods and only temporarily cousins to the ape,
and our lives belong to us, not to this world nor to its earthly
governors. We are not doomed to shame and decay; not lost; not
indentured to perish with earthly manifestations; not disposed
to eternal misery for any past or present lapses of courage or
wisdom. We are as children in the school of life who must learn
our lessons, on life at a time, before we graduate. Our lives
span the march of time, striving upward, subordinate only to our
individual probity and growth.
But in this mortal life, greedy, trivial hierophants and mundane
rulers have perpetrated a fraud upon humanity. They have purloined
for profit and temporal power, our legitimate heritage, and that of
all society, and have substituted for it shame, despair, and fear,
inventing evil deities to terrify and to constrain mankind from the
exercise of his own native conscience.
Still we take our uncertain portion time and again, joining with the
species on this plane, only to meet with earthly disunity and distress;
only to be told by bogus, uncelestial shepherds that we are deficient
and fundamentally iniquitous; constantly rebuked that our natural
birthright is insubstantial or even sinful, and that we must cleave
to the pious injunctions of reigning mortals, no matter how oppressive,
or suffer beyond measurable time, yearning for some mythical golden
glory just out of reach, but somehow never quite worthy of it.
That is the apocryphal hell and the fabled satan; they are of mortal
creation; they are now, not in some remote bye-and-bye; and those who
choose to believe in them perpetuate them in this earth. But nevertheless,
by sublime design, despite narrowness, folly or fear, we all, each
and every one, possess this wondrous legacy:
that each of us sustains a singular covenant with the cosmic, in that
the soul is and ever was, one with the universe, conducting itself in
concordance with the absolute. And whatever paths it may walk, or
whichever faith it may follow, on sojourn at a time, each shall as a
consequence of that oneness, and attuning with its destiny, eventually
return on its own to its source to again be part of that totality,
atoned, aware and unshackled.
"JUSTIFICUS"
564
Dealing with psychic attack
Zhahai Stewart
What to do if you think you are being attacked.
1 - Question if it is really either imagination, or coming from within
yourself. Something may be trying to get your attention, but it may not be
external, and by focussing on an external "enemy" you may be missing the
point.
2 - Check to see if you are yourself inadvertently sending something out;
maybe someone is just reflecting some energy back! Nothing is gained if you
get into adversarial mode in that case. Many people have been taught that
reflecting is the proper response.
3 - Put up a grounding shield. Ground it out, send it to the Mother who
can recycle the energy. Grounding is usually taught to every student. If you
don't feel you can be a "conduit" safely, ground it by reflecting it
downward to the Earth; that is a big target and easy to hit. By grounding
it out, you are protecting yourself, yet not being caught up in it.
What not to do.
1 - Figure out who is sending it and counter attack. You might be wrong,
and may be starting a feud. You might be right, but they may not realize
that they are "sending" so you may start a feud or cause unnecessary harm.
Even if you are right, you are escalating a feud, of which we have too many.
This is commonly discussed as a bad idea.
2 - Put up a reflective shield which will return the energy to the sender.
This is commonly discussed as a good idea, but we disagree. We think this is
unwise.
For one thing, it is not necessary; if you can make an accurate return
reflection, you can certainly reflect it to Earth instead (where it can be
recycled). There is no reason you should not be able to ground out more
energy than you can accurately reflect to the sender, if viewed properly.
For another, your accuracy in returning it may be less than perfect. You
might hit close but not close enough; if you can't reflect it to earth, you
are going to have trouble reflecting it to an unknown person.
Sometimes this is discussed as if once you return it, the sender will just
stop; because they will awaken to what they are doing, or because the
returning energy will be too much to handle. The thing which is seldom
mentioned is that if the sender (assuming there is one) was consciously
attacking, they will likely already be prepared with their own mirrors, etc.
Great, if we put near perfect mirrors at each end and pump in energy, maybe
we can get a psychic laser effect; guess who is just on the other side of the
mirrors to catch the intensified leakthru?
565
If they weren't aware of sending, they will probably just assume they are
being attacked and take countermeasures. If they follow the 3 steps above,
fine, nothing is damaged. But many of them will immediately think they have
to put up a defensive mirror, or maybe worse (see below; they may decide to
teach you a lesson for attacking them). Few people naturally respond to
perceived attacks positively (especially if they are in such a bad mood
already as to be sending without even realizing it).
Another serious concern is getting drawn into a unacknowledged feud by your
own weaknesses. It is often agreed that one should reflect back exactly
what is received, without adding anything of one's own. But the same people
who advocate that may use terms implying "returning it with enthusiasm".
There appears to be an easily tapped source of self-righteousness in most
people feeling attacked, and it is _very hard_ not to get drawn into
imagining, at some level, the satisfying effects of the energy going back to
the attacker; that draws one into a "counter-attack" even without realizing
it. Grounding it does not.
Watch for yourself when people are discussing "returning to sender"; see if
there isn't very often a hidden desire for revenge or retribution lurking
there grasping for their "control panel" - and deflecting their normal
attempts at staying centered by claiming to do no more than is "justified".
Justified is not the question; self knowledge and balance are.
There is another thread which shows up often in discussions like these; the
need to "teach the sender a lesson". In some cases, I have even heard this
justified as "protecting the community". This way lies many��� ����PRINT D did
the goddess give you an "agent of threefold return" marshall's badge, that
exempts you from any consequences "because you are just an agent"? That
hubris is gonna teach some hard lessons, but the self appointed marshall may
be the major recipient. It would be a little bit healthier to just shed the
self-righteousness and call it an ego driven feud. "Teaching them a lesson"
gets filed under the pitfalls of righteousness, the ways that one's own
weaknesses seduce one.
Also consider, what if despite your initial impression, the negative energy
is really coming from inside, from part of you? Are you going to be better
off "reflecting it back" (maybe with additional conscious or unconscious
oomph) or grounding it? "Gee, I returned it but good, and now they have
stepped it up; the sender really needs a lesson!". That may be more true
than you know, bucko.
Notice that nowhere do we say that one has no "right" to put up a
reflective shield; of course one does, and is fully justified. Also,
possibly, unwise. There is a distinction between what one has a "right" to do
in "self defense", and what is wise to get drawn into. Reflecting it is
neither necessary, nor likely to produce positive results, but if _that
itself_ is the lesson to be learned, what can I say? Each chooses their own
path, and that is as it should be. At least if one has considered the above,
one should know what they are stepping into.
566
ETHICS OR ETIQUETTE
by Ellen
Recently in conversation with friends in a small intimate
gathering, I mentioned outer-court names and passed on gossip.
Later I was told that I had "violated etiquette." Had I?
Etiquette is socially accepted forms of behavior, agreed
upon by the members of a community. Ethics involves morality,
the nature of right as determined by a group or an individual.I
believe there is a great deal of confusion of these terms in the
"Pagan Community."
Going by fairly traditional rules there are the "Laws of
Wicca." Among these there is a very firm one saying one should
never reveal another person as a Witch without their permission.
However a person who has revealed themselves publicly as a
witch shouldn't complain. And is it a violation of ethics to
tell of a person by their outer-court name? Only insiders could
know the legal name of the person, so what is the danger?
Ethics can be fairly easily agreed upon in the general pagan
community. Anything that puts someone else in an embarrassing or
dangerous position is unethical. We all make mistakes at times,
but we try to act in a manner consistent with our ethical code.
Etiquette, on the other hand, is very deceiving. We assume,
since we are all members of the "Neo-Pagan Community" that we
have the same etiquette. But the only etiquette I have ever been
explicitly told about involves greetings to be exchanged between
members of a group and their high priestess or between two high
priestess of different groups. What about a more common meeting?
Say a friend of mine is tired of being a solitary and wishes
to come to a group celebration. What etiquette should I follow
to bring this person to such a circle? I could either contact
the group beforehand and ask permission, or tell them I will be
bringing a guest, or I could simply bring a guest - with no
warning at all. In the first situation, the responsibility and
decision is theirs; in the second I am responsible for my guest's
behavior; in the third I am a boor and will never be invited to
their circles again.
No one has covered all the possible conflict situations in
the Pagan Community. So there is no way I could agree to follow
an "etiquette." My general code is simply to use common sense,
and give the other person an easy out. For example, if you think
someone else is a Witch and wish to find out, you might tell them
that you are one. To receive trust you have to give it first.
567
A secondary problem in this situation is how does one keep a
secret? Should one only speak in whispers, or when no one is
within 100 paces? I think that looks furtive and produces suspi-
cion in the mind of outsiders. Or do we follow Poe's lead and put
the secret out in the open and disarm the opposition?
I know several people who studiously "maintain secrecy" but
everyone knows that they are "witches." Worse, because of their
secrecy, their colleagues don't know what a witch is except it
must be nasty since they won't speak of it. I do not proclaim my
religion, nor do I hide it, and I have never had any problems. I
hear 3rd hand horror stories but would like to hear first hand
experiences, good or bad. Please write me c/o Panegyria.
568
Dream News
----------
NUCLEAR NIGHTMARES: With the threat of nuclear war hanging overhead, it is not
surprising that our dreams might reflect this source of anxiety. In fact,
reports peace psychologist Randy Morris, PhD, many children in our country, not
to mention in other nations, have had nuclear imagery in their dreams. Are
such dreams simply another example of how daily anxieties are reflected in our
nighttime ruminations? Possibly, but Dr. Morris offers another explanation.
"Could it be some kind of collective survival mechanism to come as close as
possible to experiencing, in order to reject, our self-destruction?"
. "I believe," he states, in answer to his question, "that nuclear
nightmares represent an impulse on the part of this collective psyche to
confront directly the horror of nuclear war, literally, to 'imagine the
unimaginable,' and by so doing to take the first step toward healing this
festering rupture in the family of man. These dreams, as expressions of pure
emotion, have the power to motivate people to work in new ways for peace
movement." Dr. Morris notes that the threat of nuclear war is increased by the
number of people who simply cannot imagine that it would ever happen. Nuclear
nightmares tend to be very "real" in their feeling, and thus may be a natural
counterbalance to the ostrich syndrome.
. Anyone who has had a nuclear nightmare, or any kind of dream involving
nuclear imagery, is invited to write a letter to Randy Morris, PhD, Hiroshima
International School, 2-2-6 Ushita-naka, Higashi-ku, Hiroshima 730, Japan,
leave a message in ANECDOTAL PSI or PREMONITIONS REGISTRY.
SUDDEN DEATH SYNDROME: SUICIDE BY NIGHTMARE: A healthy adult goes to sleep at
night but then never wakes up. The medical examiners can find no cause of
death? What happened. No one knows, but it happens enough to have earned a
name, "sudden death syndrome," and to warrant having the Atlanta Center for
Disease Control monitor the incidence of such cases. One population group,
Laotian refugees, has a higher than average mortality from sudden death
syndrome. Dr. Joseph Jay Tobin, reporting in the American Journal of
Orthopsychiatry (July, 1983), presents a case study that leads him to suggest
that this phenomenon may be suicide by nightmare.
. The patient was a male refugee from war-torn Laos, who had been recently
relocated with his family to their own apartment in an American city. Shortly
thereafter, the man complained of difficulty sleeping. He reported nightmares
in which something (once a cat, once a dog and once a woman) came to him in his
bedroom, sat on his chest and tried to prevent his breathing. Dr. Tobin
arranged for a Laotian healer to perform a "spirit cure," which was consistent
with the patient's world view. Afterwards, Dr. Tobin investigated further into
the patient's background.
569
. Examination of the patient's history revealed that he was suffering from
"survivor's guilt." This post-traumatic malady, first identified in survivors
of the Holocaust, combines depression and paranoia with the nagging feeling,
"why was I saved when so many others died?" Dr. Tobin also discovered that
among South Asian persons there is the belief in something akin to "voodoo
death," called banqunqut, or "Oriental nightmare death," in which a person is
believed to be killed during sleep by a spirit which squeezes out the breath.
Apparently a similar belief was held in Europe during the Middle Ages. At that
time, the name, "incubi" was given to the presumed spirit, from the Latin word
for nightmare, incubus.
. Previous medical research has indicated that heart attacks can be
precipitated in dreams and that certain psychosomatic disorders can be
dangerously aggravated during the sleep state. Other research focussing on the
healing potential of dreams, nevertheless receives indirect support for the
physical potency of dreams by the suggestion that they might also be a vehicle
of death.
DREAM AFTER SURGERY RESTORES INTEGRITY OF PERSONALITY: Major surgery is a
harrowing experience, a trauma to the personality, for the person submits their
life, while unconscious under anesthesia, to the operation of other people's
hands upon their vital organs. The most critical aspect of the surgery
experience--the operation itself--seems beyond the reach of the patient's
personality to integrate, as would be needed following any traumatic
experience, because of the anesthesia. Patient's occasional reports of
"witnessing" their operation, and statements, by psychics such as Edgar Cayce
or philosophers such as Alfred North Whitehead, that the mind never sleeps,
that it registers everything, would suggest that despite the anesthesia, it
should be theoretically possible for the post-operative patient to regain
access to the surgery experience so that it could be digested and the recovery
made more complete. Dr. Paul W. Pruyser, of the Menninger Foundation,
reporting in the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic (June, 1983) suggests that
such an integration of the surgery experience may occur through a dream!
. Dr. Pruyser writes about his experience undergoing emergency, triple
coronary bypass surgery and how his recuperation was helped by a dream he had
five days after the operation. In his dream, he visits a little-known,
secluded part of the hospital grounds, a ruins site from the 19th century,
where he encounters a heavy metal door. The door opens with eerie creak and he
enters a dimly lit cave. He finds three strange, two-story, cubical habitats,
each with leaky and rusty pipes meant to furnish heat to the inside from a
centrally located, old-fashioned wood-burning cook stove that was very
dilapidated.
570
. When he awoke from this dream, he reports that he felt elated and
immensely satisfied, because, in his own words, "my mind had found access to an
experience I was not supposed to have undergone at all because of the total
anesthesia." He believes, for example, that the creaking of the door was
actually the sound of his rib cage when it was opened by the surgeon. He
provides background information to develop an interpretation of the details of
the dream, which in essence refers to his confrontation with his heart and its
clogged arteries and with his ancestral history of coronary deficiency. More
generally, he ascribes to his dream an act of restoration of the integrity of
his personality--"a guarantee of the continuity of selfhood"--after being the
threatened by his near brush with death. The ability of dreams to spontaneously
provide this otherwise missing ingredient to total recovery deserves further
investigation. (Author's address: Menninger Foundation, P.O. Box 829, Topeka,
KS 66601).
GROUP DREAMING: What happens when a group of people attempt to dream about the
same thing? The December, 1983 issue of Omni Magazine reports the work of
Henry Reed (DreamNet Sysop) on an intriguing approach to studying the psychic
potential of dreams. A group of dreamers would be gathered together, he would
introduce them to a stranger said to be suffering from an undisclosed problem,
and ask the group to dream for this person, to see if they could dream up a
solution to the person's problem. In the morning the dreams were analyzed, the
person's problem was revealed, and the pieces of information from the several
dreams were pieced together to develop a solution. Most of the dreams
evidenced psychic information in the dreams. Pooling the dreams enhanced the
visibility of the psychic effect. Having a good reason for dreaming
telepathically seems to increase the probability of psychic material in the
dreams. For further reading: "Dreaming for Mary, "Sundance Community Dream
Journal, #3 (See Mail Order Services).
EXPLORING YOUR DREAMS: For a "hands-on" guide to the "New Dreamwork" see the
October, 1983 issue of New Age Journal. It has a comprehensive special section
on what's happening in the world of the new dreamworker. It gives several
different approaches to dreamwork, has articles on some of the prominent
dreamworkers, as well as general discussion of current developments and
controversies.
571
NEW LUCID DREAM INDUCTION TECHNIQUE: Robert Price and David Cohen, of the
University of Texas at Austin, report that they have accidentally discovered a
method for inducing lucid dreams. It happened while they were researching the
ability of a subject to control, while asleep in the dream state, the sounding
of a tone being played in the dream laboratory. A biofeedback setup was used,
such that whenever the sleeping subject entered the dream state, with rapid eye
movements (REM), a loud tone would be played. This tone would interrupt sleep,
but if the subject could increase the amount of rapid eye movements, he could
terminate the tone, and sleep in peace. They found that their research subject
could learn this task. Then the subject began to report lucid dreaming, that
is being aware in the dream state that he was dreaming, and reported that he
tried to move his eyes as a means of signalling to the experimenter. A
"communication" system was thus set up between the experimenter and the
dreaming subject. The researchers suggest that such a biofeedback situation
may be an effective way to learn lucid dreaming. Reported in Lucidity Letter,
November, 1983 (See Mail Order Services).
TELEPATHIC DREAMS IN COUNSELING: A counselor whose dreams provide psychic
information about clients has a powerful addition to his kit of clinical tools.
Kenneth Orkin, Ph.D., has written an article entitled, "Telepathic Dreams:
Their Application During the Counseling Process," describing his experiences
with psychic dreaming about clients. He is in private practice in Miami,
Florida. He recounts several types of psychic dreams, including precognitive
dreaming about the problems of a client who would be coming for a consultation
in the future, with the dream providing information about the source of that
person's problem. He also recounts a story about a dream that provided
past-life information about a client. His article appeared in the November,
1983 issue of A.R.E. Journal. You may write to the author c/o A.R.E., P.O. Box
595, Virginia Beach, VA 23451.
572
Dream Life & Waking Life: Both are Creations of the Person
There is a growing appreciation for the variety of dream phenomena, such as
the creativity in dreams and their sometimes transpersonal aspects. Older
theories that generally ignored such facts are being replaced by newer ones
that attempt to account for such phenomena. Most recently, Gordon Globus,
M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Philosophy at the University of
California, Irvine, has taken a stab at integrating such perspectives as
psychoanalysis, transpersonal psychology, cognitive science, and
phenomenological philosophy in a pleasantly person- able statement of a
view of dreams that readers of Perspective can live with.
That dreams are a creative experience is one of the main factors that he
wishes to explain. The author rejects the notion, in existence before
Freud made it law, that dreams are merely rearrangements of past memory
experiences. Instead, the author claims that dreams are created "de novo,"
meaning from scratch. In defending this position, he finds himself arguing
that our waking life is also an experience that we create, thus placing his
work close at hand to the metaphysical perspective that claims that we
"create our own reality." Both realms are created "in the image" (meaning
"in the imagination") of the person, in the same way God has been said to
create the world. The symmetry between the creative aspect of both dream
existence and waking existence, and the "divine" role given to the person,
is pleasing both to the ancient Buddhist and modern spiritual
metaphysician.
The question is, how does this modern, scientifically grounded theoretician
justify such a metaphysical basis to dreams and waking life? He does so by
reference to both the leading edge theories of perceptual psychology and
certain philosophical traditions. Perceptual psychology has long abandoned
the camera analogy to explain how we see things. Plato's concept of the
archetype, the transpersonal, non-material "ideas" that govern the actual
ideas and things that we experience, has gained new favor in modern
thinking about the perceptual process. Instead of theorizing that our
perceptual mechanisms "photograph" what is out there, modern work has
forced the theory that we already "know" or "suppose" what it is that we
are trying to perceive, and then we search and analyze data bits according
to their significance and fit to what we are attempting to "perceive."
Meaning and intention are more significant to perception, in modern theory,
than light waves and photo-sensitivity. In other words, the creative and
subjective processes in perception are given more central prominence, and
the physics of perception are accorded more the status of tools than
primary determinants. Similarly, the philosophy of science has been
arguing that facts, as such, do not exist; rather theories--in other words,
intentional approaches to creating meaning--are what determine which data
bits constitute facts, and determines whether or not the data bits will
even be noticed.
573
Perhaps such philosophical abstractions seem cloudy or irrelevant, but the
mechanistic, sensory-based, objective approach to perception (whether in
visual perception or scientific knowing) has been
undergoing radical changes. Fans of the transpersonal dimension of life
who assume that the eye sees like a camera have an unnecessarily tough time
trying to justify as scientific their views on ESP. Realizing how
scientific and philosophical views on perception have evolved makes ESP
seem more natural than supernatural. Thus the author's work does us a
great service. It provides a readable treatise on how one can argue, on
the basis of both scientific and philosophical grounds, that dreams, not to
mention our lives, are pregnant with meaning (sometimes transpersonal
meaning), and deserve our attention.
Source: Dream life, waking life: The human condition through dreams.
Published by the State University of New York Press, 1987.
574
Taken from AMERICAN HEALTH July/August 1987.
How to problem-solve in your dreams
-----------------------------------
Your dreams are "written" in your own private vocabulary; that's why
their meaning is often unclear (and why dream books you buy at the corner
newsstand won't explain your own visions). Moreover, the language of dreams
is sensory and visual, whereas the language of daily life is verbal. You
need to translate a dream much as you would a foreign language.
Unfortunately, the same force s that make us disguise problems in our
dreams are likely to hinder our recognizing them when we're awake. Even
Freud had trouble with self-analysis. So an impartial listener - attained
therapist - can help. "It's a collaborative process," says New York
psychoanalyst Walter Bonime, author of the classic text, THE CLINICAL USE
OF DREAMS (Da Capo Press, $29.50)
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't explore your dreams alone or with a
partner. People who keep dream journals say that over time, patterns often
emerge.
To put your dreams to work solving problems, try this routine:
o Program yourself to wake up after every REM period. I did it while
writing this article simply by telling myselfI wanted to at bedtime.
But don't make it a regular habit. "The ability to maintain
consciousness during sleep can backfire," says Dr. Neil Kavey, director
of the Columbia-Presbyterian sleep lab. "If you can't shut it off, you
may have trouble remaining asleep, or you may sleep so poorly that you
feel you didn't sleep at all."
o Put a notebook and pen or tape recorder at your bedside.
o At bedtime, select a problem and sum it up with a question, such as
"Should I take this new job?" Write it down and list possible solutions.
o Turn off the lights and reflect on these solutions. Stick with it until
you drift off to sleep.
o When you wake up - during the night or in the morning - lie still. To
jog your memory, pretend you're a detective interviewing an eyewitness.
What's the last thing you remember? Before that? Going backward can help
you more easily reconstruct a dream.
o Write down or tape record all that you remember. Do it before you shower
and have breakfast.
o If you have trouble catching dreams, try sleeping late on weekends
The longest dreams occur in the last part of sleep and many of us cut
sleep short on week nights.
575
Once you've recorded your dream, how do you decode it? Tell it to yourself
in the third person, suggest psychologist Lillie Weiss in DREAM ANALYSIS IN
PSYCHOTHERAPY (Pergamon Press, $11.95). This may give you some distance
from the dream and help you see the actions more clearly. Then look at the
part of the dream that is the most mysterious. "Frequently the most
incongruous part provides the dream message," Weiss says.
In her dream-therapy study, Cartwright asks participants to examine and
try to change repetitive, troublesome dreams along seven dimensions:
o Time orientation. Do all your dreams take place in the past? Try
positioning them in the present or future.
o Competence to affect the outcome. Tryfinding a positive way to resolve
a dream.
o Self-blame. In your dreams, do you hold yourself responsible when
things
go wrong? Must you?
o Relation to former role: If your divorced, do you still dream of
yourself as married? If you have lost your job, do you still see
yourself at work? Consider alternatives.
o Motivation. Do you dream of being nurtured? Can you think of a way to
take care of yourself?
o Mood. What would make a dream more pleasant?
o Dream roles: Do you like the part you play in your dreams? What role
would you prefer?
576
. This following is an excerpt from "Psi Notes", prepared by William
Braud, Ph.D., of the Mind Science Foundation in San Antonio, Texas.
Question: What percentage of a person's dreams are precognitive (foretell
the future) and how can we recognize the difference between a precognitive
dream and an ordinary dream?
Answer: A large proportion of precognitive experiences occur during
dreams. One survey indicates that as many as 65 percent of precognitive
experiences occurred during sleep. Precognitive dreams also seem to
provide more complete and more accurate information than do waking psychic
experiences.
. There's no way to know with certainty what percentage of our dreams are
precognitive. The content of the majority of our dreams is probably quite
mundane, involving replays of experiences of the day, perhaps some wish
fulfillment, and maybe even "random" content. But now and then, dreamers
do have accurate glimpses of the future as they sleep.
. The only way to know with certainty which dreams are precognitive and
which are not is to keep a dream diary of all dreams and check to see which
come true and which don't. Some persons are able to associate certain
feelings of confidence in connection with psychic dreams - but these are
very subtle feelings which are difficult to put into words and which may
differ from person to person.
. Let me describe a program of research in which we are more certain
about what's going on. This research program was initiated by a New York
psychiatrist, Dr. Montague Ullman, as a result of his observation that he
and his patients were sharing telepathic dreams in the context of
psychotherapy. A dream laboratory was set up at Maimonides Medical Center
in Brooklyn. Ullman, along with his associates Stanley Krippner and
Charles Honorton, designed experiments in which persons spent the night in
the dream lab. They were monitored electro-physiologically in order to
detect physiological indications of dreaming - these indications include:
an activated EEG, rapid eye movements, and reduced muscle tension. When
these indications of dreaming occurred, the sleeper was awakened and asked
to describe his dream. These descriptions were tape-recorded and later
transcribed. The next day, a target experience was randomly selected and
the subject then went through some waking sensory experience. What was
discovered was that the sleeper was able to have accurate dreams about
events of which no one was as yet aware at the time of the dream, but which
were randomly selected the next day.
577
DREAM BIBLIOGRAPHY
==================
Appreciation is extended to Kathy Seward of the University of New England,
in Biddefored, Maine for providing this information.
2 ALLEN-R-MICHAEL/ATTENUATION OF DRUG-INDUCED ANXIETY DREAMS AND PAVOR
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4 ARENA-R. MURRI-L. PICCINI-P. MURATORIO-A/DREAM RECALL AND MEMORY IN
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BEHAVIOR.1984 VOL 9(1) 31-42.
5 ATWAN-ROBERT/IVORY AND HORN: DREAMS AND BILATERALITY IN THE ANCIENT
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VOL 9(1) 177-189.
6 BADALAMENTI-ANTHONY-F/TIME IN THE DREAM/JOURNAL OF RELIGION & HEALTH.
1983 WIN VOL 22(4) 334-339.
7 BELOFF-JOHN/A NOTE ON AN OSTENSIBLY PRECOGNITIVE DREAM/ JOURNAL OF THE
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8 BENDER-HANS/THE GOTENHAFEN CASE OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN DREAMS AND
FUTURE EVENTS: A STUDY OF MOTIVATION/ INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF
NEUROPSYCHIATRY. 398-407.
9 BERTINI-M. VIOLANI-CRISTIANO/CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES, REM SLEEP, AND DREAM
RECALL/RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGY, PSYCHIATRY & BEHAVIOR.
1984 VOL 9(1) 3-14.
10 BLACKMORE-SUSAN-J/OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES, LUCID DREAMS, AND IMAGERY:
TWO SURVEYS/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1982
OCT VOL 76(4) 301-317.
11 BLACKMORE-SUSAN-J/HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN OBE? THE WORDING OF THE
QUESTION/JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1982 JUN VOL
51(791) 292-302.
12 BLECHNER-MARK-J/CHANGES IN THE DREAMS OF BORDERLINE
PATIENTS/CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOANALYSIS. 1983 JUL VOL 19(3) 485-498.
13 BLICK-KENNETH-A. HOWE-JOAN-B/COMPARISON OF THE EMOTIONAL CONTENT OF
DREAMS RECALLED BY YOUNG AND ELDERLY WOMEN/JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY. 1984
JAN VOL 116(1) 143-146.
14 BRAKEL-LINDA-W/THE FATE OF THE DREAM AFTER AWAKENING: STAGES TOWARD
ANALYTIC UNDERSTANDING/JOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY. 1984 MAR VOL
5(1-2) 97-108.
578
15 BUCK-LUCIAN-A. GEERS-MARGARET-B/VARIETIES OF CONSCIOUSNESS: I.
INTERCORRELATIONS/JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 1967, 23(2), 151-152.
16 CARPINTER-PAUL-J. CRATTY-BRYANT-J/MENTAL ACTIVITY, DREAMS AND
PERFORMANCE IN TEAM SPORT ATHLETES/ INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORT
PSYCHOLOGY. 1983 VOL 14(3) 186-197.
17 CARTWRIGHT-ROSALIND-D. LLOYD-STEPHEN. KNIGHT-SARA/ BROKEN DREAMS: A
STUDY OF THE EFFECTS OF DIVORCE AND DEPRESSION ON DREAM
CONTENT/PSYCHIATRY. 1984 AUG VOL 47(3) 251-259.
18 CAVALLERO-CORRADO. CICOGNA-PIERCARLA/COMPARING REPORTS OF THE SAME
DREAM: PROPOSALS FOR A STRUCTURAL/PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SKILLS. 1983 OCT
VOL 57(2) 339-356.
19 CERNOVSKY-ZACK-Z/DREAM RECALL AND ATTITUDE TOWARD DREAMS/PERCEPTUAL &
MOTOR SKILLS. 1984 JUN VOL 58(3) 911-914.
20 CICOGNA-PIERCARLA/RESTRUCTURING DREAM-RECALL/PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SKILLS.
1983 OCT VOL 57(2) 629-630.
21 CLYNE-JACKSON-SHEILA-A/DEFENSIVENESS IN DREAM RECALL IN RESPONSE TO A
PROVOCATIVE DAY RESIDUE/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1983 SEP
VOL 44(3-B) 906.
22 COMARR-A-ESTIN. CRESSY-JEFFREY-M. LETCH-MICHAEL/ SLEEP DREAMS OF SEX
AMONG TRAUMATIC PARAPLEGICS AND QUADRIPLEGICS/SEXUALITY & DISABILITY. 1983
SPR VOL 6(1) 25-29.
23 COOLIDGE-FREDERICK-L. BRACKEN-DUANE-D/THE LOSS OF TEETH IN DREAMS: AN
EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION/PSYCHOLOGICAL REPORTS. 1984 JUN VOL 54(3)
931-935.
24 COOLIDGE-FREDERICK-L. FISH-CYNTHIA-E/DREAMS OF THE DYING/OMEGA: JOURNAL
OF DEATH & DYING. 1983-84 VOL 14(1) 1-8.
25 COVELLO-EDWARD/LUCID DREAMING: A REVIEW AND EXPERIENTIAL STUDY OF WAKING
INTRUSIONS DURING STAGE REM SLEEP/JOURNAL OF MIND & BEHAVIOR. 1984 WIN
VOL 5(1) 81-98.
26 CRICK-FRANCIS. MITCHISON-GRAEME/THE FUNCTION OF DREAM SLEEP/NATURE.
1983 JUL VOL 304(5922) 111-114.
27 DEVEREUX-GEORGE/PATHOGENIC DREAMS IN NON-WESTERN SOCIETIES/IN G. E. VON
GRUNEBAUM AND R. CAILLOIS (EDS.), THE DREAM AND HUMAN SOCIETY. 213-228.
28 DIMIDJIAN-VICTORIA-J/SEEING ME, BEING ME, BECOMING THE ME I WANT TO BE:
THE IMPORT OF THE DREAM IN IDENTITY FORMATION DURING WOMEN'S EARLY ADULT
YEARS/WOMEN & THERAPY. 1983 WIN VOL 2(4) 33-48.
29 DOMINO-GEORGE/ATTITUDES TOWARDS DREAMS, SEX DIFFERENCES AND
CREATIVITY/JOURNAL OF CREATIVE BEHAVIOR. 1982 VOL 16(2) 112-122.
30 DOYLE-MARIE-C/ENHANCING DREAM PLEASURE WITH SENOI STRATEGY/JOURNAL OF
CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 1984 MAR VOL 40(2) 467-474.
31 EBON-MARTIN/PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL DREAM STUDIES/IN G. E. VON GRUNEBAUM AND
R.CAILLOIS (EDS.), THE DREAM AND HUMAN SOCIETY. (SEE 43:10), 163-177.
32 EICHELMAN-BURR/HYPNOTIC CHANGE IN COMBAT DREAMS OF TWO VETERANS WITH
579
POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER/1985 JAN VOL 142(1) 112-114.
33 EIGEN-MICHAEL/ ON TIME AND DREAMS/PSYCHOANALYTIC REVIEW. 1983 SUM VOL
70(2) 211-220.
34 EISENBUD-JULE/CHRONOLOGICALLY EXTRAORDINARY PSI CORRESPONDENCES IN THE
PSYCHOANALYTIC SETTING/ PSYCHOANALYTIC REVIEW. 1969, 56(1), 9-27.
35 EISER-ALAN-S/A LABORATORY STUDY OF DREAMING IN ENDOGENOUS
DEPRESSION/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1983 DEC VOL 44(6-B) 1957.
36 EPSTEIN-ARTHUR-W/ SIMMONS-NINA-N/APHASIA WITH REPORTED LOSS OF
DREAMING/AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY. 1983 JAN VOL 140(1) 108-109.
37 EPSTEIN-ARTHUR-W/THE CONTRIBUTION OF CEREBRAL HEMISPHERIC DISEASE TO THE
UNDERSTANDING OF DREAM TYPE AND CONTENT/RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS IN
PSYCHOLOGY, PSYCHIATRY & BEHAVIOR. 1984 VOL 9(1) 15-30.
38 EPSTEIN-ARTHUR-W/THE WAKING EVENT-DREAM INTERVAL/ AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
PSYCHIATRY. 1985 JAN VOL 142(1) 123-124.
39 FABER-P-A. SAAYMAN-G-S. PAPADOPOULOS-R-K/FANTASY, ITS EFFECTS UPON THE
ARCHETYPAL CONTENT OF NOCTURNAL DREAMS/ JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
1983 APR VOL 28(2) 141-164.
40 FARRELL-RONALD-A/SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DREAM
CONTENT OF HOMOSEXUALS/INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHIATRY. 1983
FAL VOL 29(3) 183-189.
41 FENWICK-PETER ET AL/LUCID DREAMING: CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN DREAMED AND
ACTUAL EVENTS IN ONE SUBJECT DURING REM SLEEP/BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY.
1984 JUN VOL 18(4) 243-267.
42 FIERZ-H-K/ANALYTICAL PSYCHOTHERAPY AND DREAM, RESISTANCE AND
WHOLENESS/ANALYTISCHE PSYCHOLOGIE. 1976 VOL 7(4) 275-285.
43 FISCHMAN-LAWRENCE-G/DREAMS, HALLUCINOGENIC DRUG STATES, AND
SCHIZOPHRENIA: A PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL COMPARISON/SCHIZOPHRENIA
BULLETIN. 1983 VOL 9(1) 73-94.
44 FISS-HARRY/TOWARD A CLINICALLY RELEVANT EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY OF
DREAMING/HILLSIDE JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHIATRY. 1983 VOL 5(2) 147-159.
45 FOSSHAGE-JAMES-L/THE PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTION OF DREAMS: A REVISED
PSYCHOANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE/PSYCHOANALYSIS & CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT. 1983
VOL 6(4) 641-669.
46 FOULKES-DAVID ET AL/LONG-DISTANCE, 'SENSORY-BOMBARDMENT' ESP IN DREAMS:
A FAILURE TO REPLICATE/PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SKILLS. 1972 DEC VOL. 35(3)
731-734.
47 FOULKES-DAVID. SCHMIDT-MARCELLA/TEMPORAL SEQUENCE AND UNIT COMPOSITION
IN DREAM REPORTS FROM DIFFERENT STAGES OF SLEEP/SLEEP. 1983 SEP VOL 6(3)
265-280.
580
48 FURST-KATHRYN-A/ORIGINS AND EVOLUTION OF WOMEN'S DREAMS IN EARLY
ADULTHOOD/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1984 JAN VOL 44(7-B)
2242-2243.
49 GACKENBACH-JAYNE. SCHILLIG-BARBARA/LUCID DREAMS: THE CONTENT OF
CONSCIOUS AWARENESS OF DREAMING DURING THE DREAM/JOURNAL OF MENTAL IMAGERY.
1983 FAL VOL 7(2) 1-13.
50 GERSHAM-HARRY/CURRENT APPLICATION OF HORNEY THEORY TO DREAM
INTERPRETATION/AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS/ 1983 FAL VOL 43(3)
219-229.
51 GLOBUS-G. KNAPP-P. SKINNER-J/AN APPRAISAL OF TELEPATHIC COMMUNICATION IN
DREAMS/PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY. 1968, 4(3), 365.
52 GOLLUB-DAN/DREAM INTERPRETATION/PSYCHOLOGY: A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF HUMAN
BEHAVIOR. 1983 VOL 20(2) 30-33.
53 GUNTER-P-RICHARD/RELIGIOUS DREAMING: A VIEWPOINT/ AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
PSYCHOTHERAPY. 1983 JUL VOL 37(3) 411-427.
54 HALL-CALVIN-S/""A UBIQUITOUS SEX DIFFERENCE IN DREAMS''
REVISITED/JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY & SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY/ 1984 MAY VOL 46(5)
1109-1117.
55 HALL-JAMES-A/TOWARD A PSYCHO-STRUCTURAL THEORY: HYPNOSIS AND THE
STRUCTURE OF DREAMS/AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CLINICAL HYPNOSIS. 1984 JAN VOL
26(3) 159-165.
56 HALL-JAMES-A/DREAMS AND TRANSFERENCE/ COUNTERTRANSFERENCE: THE
TRANSFORMATIVE FIELD/CHIRON. 1984 31-51.
57 HARALDSSON-ERLENDUR/SOME DETERMINANTS OF BELIEF IN PSYCHICAL
PHENOMENA/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1981
OCT VOL 75(4) 297-309.
58 HARTMAN-FRANK-R/A REAPPRAISAL OF THE EMMA EPISODE AND THE SPECIMEN
DREAM/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION. 1983 VOL 31(3)
555-585.
59 HASTINGS-ARTHUR-C/DREAMS OF FUTURE EVENTS: PRECOGNITIONS AND
PERSPECTIVES/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF PSYCHOSOMATIC DENTISTRY &
MEDICINE. 1977 VOL 24(2) 51-60.
60 HEARNE-KEITH-M/THREE CASES OF OSTENSIBLE PRECOGNITION FROM A SINGLE
PERCIPIENT: 1. SADAT ASSASSINATION; 2. REAGAN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT; 3.
S.S. ACHILLE LAURO INCIDENT/ JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH.
1982 JUN VOL 51(791) 288-291.
61 HEARNE-KEITH-M/AN AUTOMATED TECHNIQUE FOR STUDYING PSI IN HOME ""LUCID''
DREAMS/JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1982 JUN VOL
51(791) 303-304.
62 HEARNE-KEITH-M/AN OSTENSIBLE PRECOGNITION OF THE ACCIDENTAL SINKING OF
H.M/JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1982 JUN VOL 51(791)
283-287.
581
63 HEARNE-KEITH-M/""LUCID'' DREAMS AND ESP: AN INITIAL EXPERIMENT USING ONE
SUBJECT/JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1981 FEB VOL
51(787)
7-11.
64 HEARNE-KEITH-M/LUCID DREAM INDUCTION/JOURNAL OF MENTAL IMAGERY. 1983
SPR VOL 7(1) 19-23.
65 HERMAN-JOHN-H ET AL/EVIDENCE FOR A DIRECTIONAL CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN
EYE MOVEMENTS AND DREAM IMAGERY IN REM SLEEP/SLEEP. 1984 MAR VOL 7(1)
52-63.
66 HIMELSTEIN-PHILIP/DREAM SYMBOL OR DREAM PROCESS?/ PSYCHOLOGY: A
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR. 1984 VOL 21(1) 9-11.
67 HONE-VALERIE/DREAMS AS PREPARATION FOR DEATH: A STUDY OF THE MANIFEST
AND LATENT DYING CANCER PATIENTS/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL.
1984 MAY VOL 44(11-B) 3528.
68 HONORTON-CHARLES/SIGNIFICANT FACTORS IN HYPNOTICALLY-INDUCED CLAIRVOYANT
DREAMS/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1972 JAN
VOL. 66(1) 86-102.
69 HONORTON-CHARLES. STUMP-JOHN-P/A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF
HYPNOTICALLY-INDUCED CLAIRVOYANT DREAMS/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1969, 63(2), 175-184.
70 HONORTON-CHARLES/REPORTED FREQUENCY OF DREAM RECALL AND ESP/JOURNAL OF
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1972 OCT VOL. 66(4) 369-374.
71 HOWE-JOAN-B. BLICK-KENNETH-A/EMOTIONAL CONTENT OF DREAMS RECALLED BY
ELDERLY WOMEN/SO PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SKILLS. 1983 FEB VOL 56(1) 31-34.
72 INGMUNDSON-PAUL-T/DREAMING, REM SLEEP, AND MEMORY/ DISSERTATION
ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1985 JAN VOL 45(7-B) 2342.
73 JACKSON-M-P/SUGGESTIONS FOR A CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT TO TEST PRECOGNITION
IN DREAMS/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1967,
61(4), 346-353.
74 JOHNSON-MARCIA-K. KAHAN-TRACEY-L. RAYE-CAROL-L/DREAMS AND REALITY
MONITORING/JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: GENERAL. 1984 SEP VOL
113(3) 329-344.
75 KAUVAR-ELAINE-M/BLAKE'S INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS: ""MENTAL FORMS
CREATING.''/AMERICAN IMAGO. 1984 SPR VOL 41(1) 19-45.
76 KIRTLEY-DONALD-D. SABO-KENNETH-T/AGGRESSION IN THE DREAMS OF BLIND
WOMEN/JOURNAL OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT & BLINDNESS. 1983 JUN VOL 77(6)
269-270, 295.
77 KOH-JUSUCK/DESIGN FOR FANTASY AND FANTASY FOR DESIGN: USING FANTASY AND
DREAM FOR CREATIVITY AND SYMBOLISM IN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN/EDRA:
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION. 1983 NO 14 36-47.
78 KOLB-GISELA-E/THE DREAM IN PSYCHOANALYTIC GROUP THERAPY/ INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL OF GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY. 1983 JAN VOL 33(1) 41-52.
79 AU KOUKKOU-M. LEHMANN-D/DREAMING: THE FUNCTIONAL STATE-SHIFT
HYPOTHESIS: A NEUROPSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MODEL/ BRITISH JOURNAL OF
582
PSYCHIATRY. 1983 MAR VOL 142 221-231.
80 KRAMER-MILTON. KINNEY-LOIS. SCHARF-MARTIN/EXPERIENCES IN
DREAMS/PSYCHIATRIC JOURNAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA. 1983 MAR VOL 8(1)
1-4.
81 KRIPPNER-S ET AL/A LONG-DISTANCE ''SENSORY BOMBARDMENT'' STUDY OF
EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION IN DREAMS/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1971, OCT, VOL. 65(4), 468-475.
82 KRIPPNER-S/INVESTIGATIONS OF ''EXTRASENSORY'' PHENOMENA IN DREAMS AND
OTHER ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS/ JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF
PSYCHOSOMATIC DENTISTRY & MEDICINE. 1969, 16(1), 7-14.
83 KRIPPNER-S. ULLMAN-M. HONORTON-C/A PRECOGNITIVE DREAM STUDY WITH A
SINGLE SUBJECT/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1971
APR VOL. 65(2) 192-203.
84 KRIPPNER-STANLEY. ULLMAN-MONTAGUE/TELEPATHY AND DREAMS: A CONTROLLED
EXPERIMENT WITH ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM-ELECTRO-OCULOGRAM MONITORING/JOURNAL
OF NERVOUS & MENTAL DISEASE. 1970, DEC, VOL. 151(6), 394-403.
85 KRIPPNER-STANLEY/NORMAL DREAM AND MAN'S PLIABLE FUTURE/ PSYCHOANALYTIC
REVIEW. 1969, 56(1), 28-43.
86 KRIPPNER-STANLEY/ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL STUDIES OF ESP IN DREAMS: SEX
DIFFERENCES IN SEVENTY-FOUR TELEPATHY SESSIONS/ JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1970, JUL, VOL. 64(3), 277-285.
87 KRIPPNER-STANLEY. HONORTON-CHARLES. ULLMAN-MONTAGUE/A SECOND
PRECOGNITIVE DREAM STUDY WITH MALCOLM BESSENT/ JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1972 JUL VOL. 66(3) 269-279.
88 KRIPPNER-STANLEY. ULLMAN-MONTAGUE/TELEPATHIC PERCEPTION IN THE DREAM
STATE: CONFIRMATORY STUDY USING EEG-EOG MONITORING TECHNIQUES/PERCEPTUAL &
MOTOR SKILLS. 1969, DEC, VOL. 29(3), 915-918.
89 KRIPPNER-STANLEY/DREAMS AND OTHER ALTERED CONSCIOUS STATES/JOURNAL OF
COMMUNICATION. 1975 WIN VOL 25(1) 173-182.
90 KRIPPNER-STANLEY/DREAMS AND OTHER ALTERED CONSCIOUS
STATES/PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF SOUTH AFRICA. 1981 DEC VOL 2(2)
18-34.
91 KRISHNAN-RANGA-R. VOLOW-MICHAEL-R. CAVENAR-JESSE-O.
MILLER-PATRICIA-P/DREAMS OF FLYING IN NARCOLEPTIC PATIENTS. SO
PSYCHOSOMATICS. 1984 MAY VOL 25(5) 423-425.
92 KUPER-ADAM/THE STRUCTURE OF DREAM SEQUENCES/CULTURE, MEDICINE &
PSYCHIATRY. 1983 JUN VOL 7(2) 153-175.
93 LAMBERT-KENNETH/REFLECTIONS ON A CRITIQUE OF HILLMAN'S APPROACH TO THE
DREAM BY WA. SHELBURNE/JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 1984 JAN VOL
29(1) 57-66.
583
94 LANG-RUDIE-J. OCONNOR-KIERON-P/PERSONALITY, DREAM CONTENT AND DREAM
COPING STYLE/PERSONALITY & INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES. 1984 VOL 5(2)
211-219.
95 LEBOEUF-ALAN. MCKAY-PATRICIA. CLARKE-KEITH/LATERAL EYE MOVEMENTS AND
DREAM RECALL IN MALES: A RE-APPRAISAL/ COGNITION & PERSONALITY. 1983-84
VOL 3(1) 61-68.
96 LEHMANN-HERBERT/FREUD'S DREAM OF FEBRUARY 1918/ INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF
PSYCHO-ANALYSIS. 1983 VOL 10(1) 87-93.
97 LEVITAN-HAROLD/DREAMS WHICH CULMINATE IN MIGRAINE
HEADACHES/PSYCHOTHERAPY & PSYCHOSOMATICS. 1984 JUL VOL 41(4) 161-166.
98 LEWIN-ISAAC/THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF DREAMS IN THE BIBLE/JOURNAL OF
PSYCHOLOGY & JUDAISM. 1983 SPR-SUM VOL 7(2) 73-88.
99 LOTHANE-ZVI/REALITY, DREAM, AND TRAUMA/CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOANALYSIS.
1983 JUL VOL 19(3) 423-443.
100 LYNCH-VINCENT-J/WORKING WITH DREAMS: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THERAPIST
AND PATIENT/PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHIATRIC CARE. 1983 JAN-MAR VOL 21(1)
21-25.
101 MALAKOFF-CHERYL-A/DREAM RECALL AS A FUNCTION OF SELF CONCEPT AND
PERSONAL VALUES/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1984 SEP VOL
45(3-B) 1021.
102 MANLEY-FRANCIS-J/THE EFFECT OF INTENTIONAL DREAMING ON
DEPRESSION/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1983 JUN VOL 43(12-B)
4154.
103 MARTIN-JAY/THREE STAGES OF DREAMING: A CLINICAL STUDY OF HENRY MILLER'S
DREAM BOOK/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS. 1984 APR
VOL 12(2) 233-251.
104 MARTINETTI-RAYMOND-F/DREAM RECALL, IMAGINAL PROCESSES AND SHORT-TERM
MEMORY: A PILOT STUDY/PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SKILLS. 1983 DEC VOL 57(3, PT
1) 718.
105 MAYKUTH-PATRICIA-L/INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT IN DREAMS: A LONGITUDINAL
STUDY OF 3- TO 8-YEAR OLDS/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1984
DEC VOL 45(6-B) 1941-1942.
106 MELSTROM-MARGARET-A. CARTWRIGHT-ROSALIND-D/EFFECTS OF SUCCESSFUL VS.
UNSUCCESSFUL PSYCHOTHERAPY OUTCOME ON SOME DREAM DIMENSIONS/PSYCHIATRY.
1983 FEB VOL 46(1) 51-65.
107 MEZENTSEV-V-A/ARE THERE MIRACLES IN NATURE?/MOSCOW, USSR: MOSKOVSKII2
RABOCHII2, 1967. 240 P.
108 MONTRELAY-MICHELE/ON FOLDING AND UNFOLDING: AN EXAMPLE OF DREAM
INTERPRETATION IN ANALYSIS/PSYCHOANALYTIC INQUIRY. 1984 VOL 4(2) 193-219.
109 MURRI-LUIGI ET AL/DREAM RECALL IN PATIENTS WITH FOCAL CEREBRAL
LESIONS/ARCHIVES OF NEUROLOGY. 1984 FEB VOL 41(2) 183-185.
584
110 MYERS-ROBERT-K/THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DREAMS AND DREAMERS IN MODERN
PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1985 JAN
VOL 45(7-B) 2316.
111 MYERS-WAYNE-A/AN ATHLETIC EXAMPLE OF THE TYPICAL EXAMINATION
DREAM/PSYCHOANALYTIC QUARTERLY. 1983 OCT VOL 52(4) 594-598.
112 NAROTRA-R-S/A STUDY OF DREAM ANALYSIS/ASIAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY &
EDUCATION. 1983 VOL 11(2) 14-18.
113 PALESKI-ZBIGNIEW/PSYCHOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF BELIEF IN ''PROPHETIC''
DREAMS/PSYCHOLOGIA WYCHOWAWCZA. 1970, SEP, VOL. 13(4), 523-527.
114 PALOMBO-STANLEY-R/THE GENIUS OF THE DREAM/AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
PSYCHOANALYSIS. 1983 WIN VOL 43(4) 301-313.
115 PALOMBO-STANLEY-R/THE POET AS DREAMER/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY
OF PSYCHOANALYSIS. 1984 JAN VOL 12(1) 59-73.
116 PALOMBO-STANLEY-R/RECOVERY OF EARLY MEMORIES ASSOCIATED WITH REPORTED
DREAM IMAGERY/AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY. 1984 DEC VOL 141(12)
1508-1511.
117 PALOMBO-STANLEY-R/DECONSTRUCTING THE MANIFEST DREAM/ JOURNAL OF THE
AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION. 1984 VOL 32(2) 405-420.
118 PARKER-A. BELOFF-J/HYPNOTICALLY-INDUCED CLAIRVOYANT DREAMS: A
PARTIAL REPLICATION AND ATTEMPTED CONFIRMATION/ JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1970, OCT, VOL. 64(4), 432-442.
119 PATALANO-FRANK/COLOR IN DREAMS AND THE PSYCHOANALYTIC
SITUATION/AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS. 1984 SUM VOL 44(2) 183-190.
120 PERLMUTTER-RICHARD-A. BABINEAU-RAYMOND/THE USE OF DREAMS IN COUPLES
THERAPY/PSYCHIATRY. 1983 FEB VOL 46(1) 66-72.
121 PEROLD-ETIENNE-A/ON EXPLANATION IN PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE
DREAM/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1983 NOV VOL 44(5-B) 1603-1604.
122 PETERS-LARRY-G/THE ROLE OF DREAMS IN THE LIFE OF A MENTALLY RETARDED
INDIVIDUAL/ETHOS.
123 POTTINGER-JOSEPHINE-S/THE EFFECT OF POSTHYPNOTIC SUGGESTION ON DREAM
RECALL/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1984 JAN VOL 44(7-B) 2257.
124 RANDALL-JOHN-L/CARD-GUESSING EXPERIMENTS WITH SCHOOLBOYS/JOURNAL OF THE
SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH. 1974 SEP VOL 47(761) 421-432.
125 RENIK-OWEN/THE CLINICAL USE OF THE MANIFEST DREAM/ JOURNAL OF THE
AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION. 1984 VOL 32(1) 157-162.
126 ROBBINS-PAUL-R. HOUSHI-FARZANEH/SOME OBSERVATIONS ON RECURRENT
DREAMS/BULLETIN OF THE MENNINGER CLINIC. 1983 MAY VOL 47(3) 262-265.
127 RUIZ-KAY-N/AN EXPERIMENT USING AN IMAGING METHOD BASED ON
SENOI-DREAMWORK WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITICS/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS
INTERNATIONAL. 1983 JUL VOL 44(1-B) 324.
128 SABO-KENNETH-T/EMOTIONS IN THE DREAMLIFE OF PARAPLEGICS: A QUANTITATIVE
APPROACH/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1983 APR VOL 43(10-B)
585
3374-3375.
129 SALTZMAN-NOLAN/ELICITING EMOTIONS OF DREAMS AND MEMORY FRAGMENTS IN BIO
PSYCHOTHERAPY/INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ECLECTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY. 1984 SEP
VOL 3(1) 1-6.
130 SARGENT-CARL-L. HARLEY-TREVOR-A/THREE STUDIES USING A PSI-PREDICTIVE
TRAIT VARIABLE QUESTIONNAIRE/JOURNAL OF PARAPSYCHOLOGY. 1981 SEP VOL 45(3)
199-214.
131 SARGENT-LARRY/DREAMS IN THE NUCLEAR AGE/JOURNAL OF HUMANISTIC
PSYCHOLOGY. 1984 SUM VOL 24(3) 142-156.
132 SARLIN-M-BRUCE/THE USE OF DREAMS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH DEAF
PATIENTS/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS. 1984 JAN VOL
12(1) 75-88.
133 SCHAPIRO-S-A/A CLASSIFICATION SCHEME FOR OUT-OF-BODY PHENOMENA/JOURNAL
OF ALTERED STATES OF CONCIOUSNESS. 975-76 VOL 2(3) 259-265.
134 SCHROER-THOMAS/ARCHETYPAL DREAMS DURING THE FIRST
PREGNANCY/PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES. 1984 SPR VOL 15(1) 71-80.
135 SCHUHL/SOCIETE MOREAU DE TOURS: IS THE PROBLEM OF SORCERERS ONE THAT IS
PURELY PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL?/ANNALES MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGIQUES. 1968, 2(4), 592.
136 SECHZER-PHILIP-H/DREAMS WITH LOW-DOSE KETAMINE IN OBSTETRICAL
PATIENTS/CURRENT THERAPEUTIC RESEARCH. 1984 MAR VOL 35(3) 396-404.
137 SHELBURNE-W-A/A CRITIQUE OF JAMES HILLMAN'S APPROACH TO THE
DREAM/JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY. 1984 JAN VOL 29(1) 35-56.
138 SHEPARD-ROGER-N/ECOLOGICAL CONSTRAINTS ON INTERNAL REPRESENTATION:
RESONANT KINEMATICS OF PERCEIVING, IMAGINING, THINKING, AND
DREAMING/PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW. 1984 OCT VOL 91(4) 417-447.
139 SIEGEL-RONALD-D/A COMPARISON OF FREUD'S AND JUNG'S APPROACHES TO DREAM
INTERPRETATION/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1984 JUL VOL 45(1-B)
366.
140 SILBER-AUSTIN/A SIGNIFICANT ""DREAM WITHIN A DREAM.''/ JOURNAL OF THE
AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION. 1983 VOL 31(4) 899-915.
141 SLOCHOWER-HARRY/FREUD'S DEJA VU ON THE ACROPOLIS: A SYMBOLIC RELIC OF
''MATER NUDA.''/PSYCHOANALYTIC QUARTERLY. 1970, 39(1), 90-102.
142 SMITH-ROBERT-C/A POSSIBLE BIOLOGIC ROLE OF DREAMING. PSYCHOTHERAPY &
PSYCHOSOMATICS. 1984 JUL VOL 41(4) 167-176.
143 SPARROW-GREGORY-S./AN EXPLORATION INTO THE INDUCTION OF GREATER
REFLECTIVENESS AND ""LUCIDITY'' IN NOCTURNAL DREAM REPORTS. DISSERTATION
ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1984 SEP VOL 45(3-B) 1050.
144 SPERO-MOSHE-H./A PSYCHOTHERAPIST'S REFLECTIONS ON A COUNTERTRANSFERENCE
DREAM./AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS. 1984 SUM VOL 44(2) 191-196.
145 STEIN-MARTIN-H./RATIONAL VERSUS ANAGOGIC INTERPRETATION: XENOPHON'S
DREAM AND OTHERS/JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION. 1984
VOL 32(3) 529-556.
586
146 STERN-DEREK-A. SAAYMAN-GRAHAM-S. TOUYZ-STEPHEN-W./ THE EFFECT OF AN
EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED DEMAND ON NOCTURNAL DREAM CONTENT./JOURNAL OF MENTAL
IMAGERY. 1983 FAL VOL 7(2) 15-31.
147 TART-CHARLES-T. FADIMAN-JAMES./THE CASE OF THE YELLOW WHEAT FIELD: A
DREAM-STATE EXPLANATION OF A BROADCAST TELEPATHIC DREAM./PSYCHOANALYTIC
REVIEW. 1974-1975 WIN VOL 61(4) 607-618.
148 TART-CHARLES-T./THE CONTROL OF NOCTURNAL DREAMING BY MEANS OF
POSTHYPNOTIC SUGGESTION./INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PARAPSYCHOLOGY. 1967,
9(3), 184-189.
149 THACKREY-SUSAN-E./THE TROPICS OF THE DREAM: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF
CLASSICAL DREAM THEORY IN THE LIGHT OF THE STRUCTURALIST
APPROACH/DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS INTERNATIONAL. 1984 MAY VOL 44(11-B)
3512.
150 THALBOURNE-MICHAEL-A./SOME CORRELATES OF BELIEF IN PSYCHICAL PHENOMENA:
A PARTIAL REPLICATION OF THE HARALDSSON FINDINGS./PARAPSYCHOLOGY REVIEW.
1984 MAR-APR VOL 15(2) 13-15.
151 THOLEY-PAUL./RELATION BETWEEN DREAM CONTENT AND EYE MOVEMENTS TESTED BY
LUCID DREAMS./PERCEPTUAL & MOTOR SKILLS. 1983 JUN VOL 56(3) 875-878.
152 THOLEY-PAUL./TECHNIQUES FOR INDUCING AND MANIPULATING LUCID
DREAMS./1983 AUG VOL 57(1) 79-90.
153 TOLAAS-JON./DREAMING: A PSI MODALITY?./ PSYCHOENERGETIC SYSTEMS. 1976
JUL VOL 1(4) 185-195.
154 TRENHOLME-IRENE. CARTWRIGHT-ROSALIND. GREENBERG-GLEN./ DREAM DIMENSION
DIFFERENCES DURING A LIFE CHANGE./ PSYCHIATRY RESEARCH. 1984 MAY VOL 12(1)
35-45.
587
155 TYSON-PAUL-D. OGILVIE-ROBERT-D. HUNT-HARRY-T./ LUCID, PRELUCID, AND
NONLUCID DREAMS RELATED TO THE AMOUNT OF EEG ALPHA ACTIVITY DURING REM
SLEEP. PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY. 1984 JUL VOL 21(4) 442-451.
156 ULLMAN-M. KRIPPNER-S. HONORTON-C./A CONFIRMATORY STUDY OF THE
TELEPATHIC
DREAM WITH EEG-REM MONITORING/ PSYCHOPHYSICS. 1968, 5(2), 218.
157 ULLMAN-MONTAGUE./KRIPPNER-STANLEY. FELDSTEIN-SOL.
EXPERIMENTALLY-INDUCED TELEPATHIC DREAMS: TWO STUDIES USING EEG-REM
MONITORING
TECHNIQUE. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NEUROPSYCHIATRY. 1966, 2(5), 420-437.
158 ULLMAN-MONTAGUE/TI RAPID EYE MOVEMENT DREAM-MONITORING TECHNIQUES IN
CURRENT ESP RESEARCH./TRANSACTIONS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.
1967, 30(2), 265-270.
159 ULLMAN-MONTAGUE/PSI COMMUNICATION THROUGH DREAM SHARING.
PARAPSYCHOLOGY REVIEW. 1981 MAR-APR VOL 12(2) 1-8.
160 ULLMAN-MONTAGUE & KRIPPNER-STANLEY/ESP IN THE NIGHT. PSY 1970, JUN,
VOL. 4(1), 46-50, 72.
161 ULLMAN-MONTAGUE & KRIPPNER-STANLEY/AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO DREAMS
AND TELEPATHY: II. REPORT OF THREE STUDIES./AMERICAN JOURNAL OF
PSYCHIATRY. 1970,
126(9), 1282-1289.
162 ULLMAN-MONTAGUE/TELEPATHY AND DREAMS./EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE & SURGERY.
1969, VOL. 27(1-2), 19-38.
163 ULLMAN-MONTAGUE. KRIPPNER-STANLEY/A LABORATORY APPROACH TO THE
NOCTURNAL DIMENSION OF PARANORMAL EXPERIENCE: REPORT OF A CONFIRMATORY
STUDY USING THE REM MONITORING TECHNIQUE/BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. 1969, JUL,
VOL. 1(3), 259-270.
588
FESTIVALS
---------
Within the Pagan community there are many holidays and Sabbats
celebrated for various means, and not all celebrate each holiday/Sabbat in
the same exact way or for the same reasons. The following is a general list
of the Holidays most common between all the Sects within Neo-Paganisim.
YULE (Winter Solstice, December 20-23 (varies according to the particular
date on the standard calendar according to when the Solstice will
occurastronomically)).Longest nightof theyear, theturning
point whenthe days shall afterwardsgrow longer as winterbegins
its passageinto thecoming spring.It is,inthe Goddessworship,
the time when she gives forth again to the birth of the Divine Sun
child who shall be both child and eventually lover and father of
the next child in the cycle. Winter Solstice for pagans is a time
of feasting and the exchanging of gifts and is the original Holiday
that the Christian religions modified into their own Christmas,
even upto the birth of the child (Most theologians who have spent
time studying the birth of Jesus admit he was born in either March
or April, not the celebrated Christmas date we all know from the
standard calendar - it was moved to this date to help induce Pagans to
give up their old ways yet allow them their holidays during the spread
of Christianity thru Europe and the British Isles).
Traditional adornments are a Yule Log, usually of oak, and a
combination of mistletoe and holly (also all later plagiarized into
Christian ways).
CANDLEMAS (Brigid's Day, February 2nd) Not common to all pagans, this is
very popular with Wiccans and various Celtic sects. Brigid is the
Celtic goddess of fire and inspiration (Poetry, smithcraft and healing)
as well as yet another representation of the Fertility of Femininity and
Love. Brigid had such a strong following among the Celtics that the
Christian church decided it was easier to assimilate her into their own
system, and so there came about the making of Saint Brigit and all the
stories they created about her so that her followers would leave their
old beliefs enough so they would not side with the Druids, who were
known at that time as 'the snakes' because of their tendency to have
tamed snakes that were used to help produce various healing mixtures via
their venom, and who were violently opposing the Catholic church. In
History, of
course, the druids lost against the overwhelming odds presented by the
church, led by a man who would then be himself sainted by the church,
their Saint Patrick (who was no clergyman but a warrior). Thus
Christian rule of various sorts came into Ireland. Handcrafts are often
sacrificed to Brigid or dedicated to her as they are started on this day.
Its celebration is done with many candles and as usual much feasting.
The Christians also took, moved slightly and used this d a t e b y
creating St. Valentine and using the day for one of chaste l o v e
reflections.
589
Eostar Ritual (Spring Equinox, March 20-23 dependant on actual astronomical
event) This is the start in the pagan year of spring, at least among
Wiccans and Celtics. The first flowers are praised and the Gods and
Goddesses thanked for the true return to happier times for all. Eostar
is oneof the more colorful holidays, not one of the somber colors
found in Yule and Candlemas. Feasting and socializing are the important
factors in this holiday as well as the celebration of the return of color
to the natural world. In the Christian calendar, again to draw early
worshipers, they marked this as the final days and rebirth of Jesus
(when according to history he died in June!)
Beltane (May Eve, April 30th-May 1st) Most important to pagans, save f o r
Samhain, I don't know of any Pagan group that doesn't celebrate t h i s
holiday in some way. Beltane is the great Fertility rite of life,
starting at dusk on the 30th and continuing until the dawn of the 1st.
The union of the God and Goddess to conceive the sun-child to be takes
place upon this holiday, no matter which tradition of paganisim is
involved. Beltane is the one holiday most discouraged by the
Christians, who didn't even use it as a point for a holiday of their o w n
because the power and nature of the day involved. Still, even in
Christianized Ireland the May day dance of the Maypole remained, as d i d
the giving of flowers to those you loved or cared for as friends. T h e
Maypole is a symbol of the union of the God and Goddess to create life,
the pole itself a phallic symbol while the dancers and their streamers
or vines of flowers represent the fertile womb of the goddess a s i t
takes in the Phallus of the god and takes in his seed. Besides t h e
Maypole often a bonfire is present, and members of the group are
encouraged to jump the flames for luck and their own fertility. Food, drink
and love are the order of the evening. In most sects the celebration of
Beltane will become one large orgy as the participants are encouraged
to enact their own unions of love. Beltane is the time o f m a n y
marriages/handfastings in the pagan community (in some it is the point
where one chooses to begin and end relationships of a physical nature).
Clothing is very optional in most get togethers on this holiday, and
mostly it is sensual and colorful. Even those sects that are prudish
about things tend to accept the rules of the holiday, as it is the holiday
of free love. It is said that a child conceived on this day will grow up
to wield great power and knowledge and to be healthier than upon any
other.
Litha (Summer Solstice, June 20-23, dependant on actual astronomical event)
Held on the longest day of the year, the Solstice is the celebration
of lights triumph over darkness and that of the bountiful beauty that
light brings into life. Flowers are common in the circle, roses and
brightcheerful wildflowers are upon the altar and usually worn by
all. It is the changing point of the year, and the celebration of the
spiral dance of the year is common among Wiccans. It a celebration with
much joy, and much feasting. Many wiccans will attire themselves i n
bright colors and equally bright adornments of flowers. Litha' usual food
fare may include honeycakes or cornbread. Litha is not celebrated by
all sects nor in the same way.
590
Lughnasad (August 1st) The great corn ritual of Wiccan belief (in Celtic
realms this is the celebration of the wheat god, corn is an
Americanization and it is possible there is an American Indian
traditional holiday near this date that was borrowed by the American
Neopagans). THis is the big celebration of the harvest (Sort of a Pagan
Thanksgiving, but the time clock is different as is that of the Celtics).
Much feasting and dancing occur, thou it is a bit more somber than
many of the other holidays. Some Pagans celebrate this day as merely
the day to bake their bread and cakes for the coming winter and do no
actual rituals save that of blessing the foods prepared.
Mabon (Fall Equinox, Sept. 20-23, dependant on actual astronomical event)
A lesser holiday, this is not widely celebrated and is most come with
Pure wiccan groups, especially those who are based in the works of
Starhawk and other Dianic sects. This is the weavers festival, and a
braiding of cords are done in the process of casting a spell to
add to ones life from what it is, each person weaving unto themselves
what they wish and the coven as a whole weaving all the cords together
to unite the power and efforts symbolically.
SAMHAIN (Halloween Oct 31st) THe year ends traditionally in Wiccan beliefs
with this holiday. Samhain is said to be the period of time when the
gates between the worlds are least guarded and the veils their thinnest.
It is a time for dimensional openings and workings, and a l s o t h e
celebration of the death of the year king. It is a somber holiday, one of
dark clothes and thoughts for the dead, it is said to be the time when
those of necromantic talents can speak with the dead and it is certainly
a time to remember ones dead. It is a time of endings of relationships
and bad situations and it is the time when one can see the glimmer of
hope in the future. THere are as many concepts attached to this holiday
as any other.
591
THE HOLY FOOL:
The Third member of the Triad
-some musings by: the Bard
*
"Remember, the Moon is only half as big as the Earth, but it's twice as
far away."
-Anonymous
*
After some time musing on the concept of Goddess/God that is
common in Wiccan (and most Neo-Pagan groups) and seeing the common theme
of "things come in threes" in these belief systems, I fell to wondering
"Why only the God and Goddess? If all things come in threes, where is
the Third Aspect that should be there?"
So what is this Third Aspect? I feel it is the Holy Fool; the
Prometheus who is the Trickster, the God (neuter) that rolls the dice.
This also fills in certain holes in neo-Pagan Theology that have bothered
me for some time, too.
First, we need to have a quick look at the Holy Fool in religious
and/or cultural beliefs, both primitive and modern:
American Indian:
Aztec: Ueuecoyotl
Caddo: Coyote
Chinook: Coyote
Coos: Coyote
Haida: Raven
Hopi: Mudhead Kachina, Clown Kachina
Kiowa: Coyote
Navaho: Coyote
Nez Perce: Coyote
Omaha: Coyote, Rabbit, Iktinike, Orphan
Pueblo: Koshare
Sioux: Spider
Tillamook: Coyote
Tinglit: Raven
Winnebago: Rabbit
Zuni: Coyote
African: Spider, Tortoise, Rabbit, Jackal
Graeco/Roman: Pan, Dionysis
Celtic: Phooka and the like (see Irish: Fear Dearg, and a host of
others. The Fool must love Ireland very much...He made so
many of Itself there!)
Norse: Loki...-and- Balder
Banks Island: Clat
Micronesia: Nareau
England: Puck, Black Jack Davy
Christianity: "Doubting" Thomas, and The Christ Himself, in many
ways....and Judas, too.
20th Cent. North American: Bugs Bunny, The Joker, Mr. Mxyzpltk,
Murphy, ("And Pooh is a -good- example,
too!" said Eeyore)
592
Neo-Paganism: Discordians
18th thru 20th Cent. Appalachian: Jack (from British Isles)
18th and 19th Cent. N.A. Black: Br'er Rabbit, Long John, &c.
German: Tyl Eulenspiegel
Italy: Harlequin (check out Agatha Christie's stories about
"Harley Quinn." VERY interesting!)
Islamic: Juha, Abu Nawwas, Mullah Nasruddin, Nasreddin Khoja,
Nasreddin Hodja
Japanese: Fox, Hotei, and the whole concept of Zen......
And the many, many instances of the Hero figure and his Friend in
most people's mythology....Gilgamesh and Enkidu, Robin Hood and Little
John, the Mythic Hollywood Western Hero and his ridiculous sidekick, Don
Quixote and Sancho Panza.....and many times you see the recurrent theme of
the Great Betrayal of the Hero, which leads to His death...and to His
Resurrection!
One immediately sees that the Fool is a universal constant in
folk belief, just as the Goddess and God are!
(NB: I have not gotten more specific for two reasons: one, for
limitations of space, and two, to encourage others to do a little reading
on their own!)
As most things, the Fool is Personified in three basic Aspects
that (of course) overlap with each other and with the God and Goddess.
The first is that of the Saviour God, the Prometheus, the Culture Hero, who
brings Knowledge (and -occasionally- Wisdom) to Mankind. This Aspect loves
Mankind with all His Being, and only wishes Good. His Good Intentions
sometimes fall short of His (or Mankind's) expectations, however.
Thesecond isthat ofthe Clown,the Nerd,the Jerk,that teaches
by his own mistakes (and who usually comes out ahead because of His own
Innocence.) This Aspect is mostly neutral, and is how He seems to mostly
manifest Himself.
Butletus notforget thethird,and darker,side oftheFool, best
exemplified by Jack Nicholson's portrayal of The Joker in the film version
of "Batman." Just as the Goddess has Her Dark side (the Crone, the
Morrigan, &c) and the God has His (Odin as Death-God) so does the Fool
have a terrifying Aspect (at least, from the human point of view): Chaos
Personified.
This is not an Aspect to invoke, as It does not care. Period. It
is the ultimate psychopath, the ultimate Spoiled Brat, the quintessence
of Ego-centric self-love. In some circles, it could be quite nicely named
Ahriman, or Shaitan, or Satan, because it fits all concepts of that
Middle-Eastern deity....except one: It does not care if Man worships It or
not. It is not in -conflict- with the God and/or Goddess, It is -not- on
the kind of power-trip that the Judeo-Christian Satan is represented as
having, it just -is-. It should be considered as neither "good" nor
"evil," though it can personify both or either....or neither! This is
confusing, but with a little thought the concept will (hopefully) come
clear.
593
(And, just in passing, the film version of "Batman" is perhaps a very
good metaphor for the eternal struggle between the Fool-as-Prometheus
(Batman) and the Fool-as-Chaos (the Joker).
Areyou confused? If youare, GOOD! If you arenot, keep thinking by
not-thinking. (wha-a-a-a-a-t?)
Some of thebest examples ofthe three Personifications arefound in
the Navaho and Zuni tales of Coyote, or the Br'er Rabbit tales, or the
older Bugs Bunny cartoons, or even Walt Disney's Goofy. And, while speaking
of classic animation, if you can see any of the cartoons of the Cannibal
Boy and the Mynah Bird, do so! It shows not one, but TWO Aspects in
action!
For a look at His more serious (?) side, try J.R.R. Tolkien's
wonderful evocation of Tom Bombadil.....who is described as "the oldest."
Prof. Tolkien came very close to the core of the truth with that one!
The Fool is your slightly daffy Uncle, that comes to visit at
Christmas and is such fun to be with, but who seems to have a sadness
about him too, that you found out later, when you were all grown up, was
his slide into alcoholism. The Fool is the American sit-com "Daddy" who
never seems to get anything right, but wins out in the end anyway. The
Fool is the classic scene of Bugs Bunny, floating in a washtub in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean, happily singing "As Time Goes By," blissfully
uncaring about his obvious predicament...one which would send a human into
sheer despair....knowing that something will turn up, some scam that he
can pull that will get him out of the washtub and into clover again. The
Fool is the Tarot's Fool, of course....but He is also the Hanged Man.
Do -not- invoke the Fool unless you are ready for literally ANYTHING
to happen! He just might turn you into a Large Green Frog just to observe
what happens......He is capricious. He is unpredictable. He is what He is,
and nothing you can do will turn Him from His Purpose, whatever that may
be at any given moment. He is "Murphy," and whatever can go wrong, WILL
go wrong...or right. Unless you have an uncommonly flexible mind, you
-might- not be able to handle it!
He has no Festival, unless it is the Lupercal, or perhaps April Fool's
Day, or even New Year's Eve, for every day is His, as He chooses. Some
have inquired about the seeming overlap of functions in the
Goddess/God/Fool triad, and this should be addressed here. The modern
Western mind tends to "pigeonhole" things, and rigidly excludes other
things
from these pigeonholes. This, I feel, is in some ways an error in thinking,
especially about the Triad.
594
One cannot and should not "compartmentalize" the God/Fool/Goddess
into three rigidly separate Beings, but rather think of them as three
separate sources of ripples in the same Pond: the ripples interact and
intersect, and act on each other, but move within the same Source,
whatever
That may be.
-the Bard
at Samhain, 1990 CE
I wish I could list all of my sources, but if I did, it would add several
pages to this text, and I am trying to keep it short. I -will- recommend
reading one book, however, that will give a great insight into the Holy
Fool:
CONTRARIWISE
Zohra Greenhalgh, Ace (paperback) April 1989
0-441-117112-2
(it has a sequel, but I can't remember the title offhand....)
*
"Rimble, Rimble!"
*
Permission is granted to reprint this article, both in electronic and in
print. Any copy of this article must include the WHOLE article, and any
comments should be sent net-mail to "the Bard" at FIDOnet 1:114/29 (602)
439-7080. Copies of any printed reproduction of this article should be
forwarded to "the Bard" c/o DEUS EX MACHINA BBS, PO Box 35190, PHOENIX, AZ
85069. Thanks!
595
PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENSE by =Carlin=
One of the problems which faces the aspiring witch or magician is
an increased sensitivity to and awareness of the "unseen" forces of the
world. Usually this sensitivity is a delight, but occasionally it
becomes a nightmare -- in the most literal sense of the word. In
particular, this article deals with what spiritualists and shamans
would refer to as spirit obsession -- a cluster of "symptoms" that
differ from possession, but that still can destroy the integrity of the
victims <AND ALSO> gives some background information on obsession, and
then outlines a few "generic" techniques that will benefit those
subject to this form of "psychic harassment."
DEFINING OBSESSION
Obsession occurs in every nation and subculture,and as a result
every magical subculture has had it's own way of defining and dealing
with the phenomena involved. Modern medicine, with the exception of
Jungian and "New Age" psychiatry/psychology, tends to dismiss obsession
as either hysteria or budding schizophrenia. The major religions, for
the most part, now agree with this evaluation. Of course, the "New
Right" fundamentalists are likely to see a demon in every corner....
Either of these approaches tends to disempower the afflicted person by
destroying her/his trust in his own inner processes and making him
dependent on the "expert" who will control the attempt to cure him/her.
Spiritualists will warn you against psychic attack or unprotected
dealings with the Dead. Work <?> will tell you that the problem is
either openness to astral influences or rebellion within the psyche <OR
"ALL OF THE ABOVE">. There is more to being human than the conscious
mind, and unintegrated and unrecognized "complexes" within the psyche
will sometimes have separate agendas that can lead to "attack from
within" if those needs are continually ignored. My own tendency
<PERHAPS "BIAS" OR "APPROACH" IS A BETTER WORD> is philosophically
Jungian-to-agnostic,but practically Shamanic. I tend to view
such"entities" as psychological. However, the techniques I use are
more effective if the problem is "projected" outward and treated as if
it were the result of attack by a sentient being. Even if obsessions
are caused by "complexes", a truly well established complex takes on
enough "life" to be regarded as a "secondary personality" demanding of
respect. If someone is having to live with obsession, chances are that
the person is more interested in resolving the problem than debating
metaphysics. The methodology outlined below is designed to work,
whether you agree with the philosophy behind it or not. These
techniques are "homeopathic" in nature, contrived with the idea of
strengthening the victIm's "psychic immune system" to the point where
s/he no longer can be victimized. Without this increase in inner power,
the person can be temporarily freed from the obsession, but remains
vulnerable to "evil influence" in the future.
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THE BEGINNINGS OF OBSESSION
Checking a person's personal history, one will usually find that
obsessions begin during periods where stress,negative emotions, or
injury have impaired that person's natural self-protective abilities.
Or where the person has been unprepared or confused and has
intentionally or unintentionally "dropped his/her guard" around someone
already disturbed. Or where the person has been abused and degraded
since early childhood and is consequently continually open to negative
influences<LAST THREE SENTENCES NEED TO BE "SMOOTHER">. In
psychological terminology, old "complexes" are cathected during periods
when the ego is foundered in depression, weakening the "auric shield"
that normally will protect against "outside influences," as well as the
physical body. This auric shield can also be "pierced" during "psychic
attacks," leaving a "hole" through which invading astral-organisms can
pass freely. In the same way, "evil spirits" are contagious. Emotional,
sexual, or magical intimacy with someone already obsessed can allow the
entity to pass over to oneself. And an extreme period of rage or
vengefulness can attract like to like, bringing one to the attention of
"vengeful creatures" in the "lower astral."
SYMPTOMS OF OBSESSION
Among the most common symptoms of obsession is a brooding fixation
upon some negative thought or act. The obsessed person being unable to
"turn off" the voice that urges her/him on to self-destructive or
vindictive acts. The idea that one is the Messiah or the rightful ruler
of the universe, or too low to continue to live may repeatedly intrude
upon consciousness. To consider much addictive behavior to be the
result of obsession by "earth-bound spirits" or elementals<???>. No
longer having physical bodies, the "astral low-lifes" push susceptible
living humans into overindulging in whatever the discarnate entity
still craves. In other cases, the symptoms take other forms. Sleep
can be disrupted by repeated nightmares or night terrors. The
individual may awaken with no memory of the contents of the dream, but
over time will develop insomnia or a fear of sleep. Especially in
children,the shadows of night can resolve themselves into terrifying
images, and there can be an overwhelming sense of being constantly
watched. Visual "hallucinations" may force themselves onto the
physical plane or may manifest themselves solely upon the "mind's eye."
At times the obsession can be relatively benign. Budding magicians can
"pick up hitchhikers" during their initial workings, and these
"creatures" may well content themselves with acting as Guardians of its
cases the "entities" will only "act out"when the magician re-enters
trance or attempts to work on the astral levels<PATCH IT UP>. People
who work with divinatory techniques without proper training and
grounding are especially vulnerable, with the Ouija board being the
worst offender. This is one reason that the traditional religions,
which do not want the general populace trained in magical
techniques,urge people away from divinatory practices. Obsessions that
strike those not trained to magick are usually not so courteous. In
the more entrenched cases,physical symptoms other than insomnia can
manifest. Especially when one is very tired or ill, the obsession
attempt can escalate and begin to unbalance the homeostatic mechanisms
of the body. Constipation,sinusitis and migraine headaches are the
more usual manifestations, along with extreme pallor, edema, and mental
confusion and memory loss. Poltergeist activity is also sometimes
reported.The obsessing entity can also color the impressions of others.
597
One can suddenly find oneself being accused of unsavory attitudes or
persistently misunderstood. At the same time, truly unsavory
characters will be attracted to the new image and will begin to pop up
out of the woodwork.
THE MAGICAL APPROACH
There are many things that one can do if one suspects that
obsession has occurred. One can treat it as a demon and turn to
spiritual authority for help. One can treat it as mental illness and
turn to psychiatric explanations. One can ignore it as much as
possible, or begin to avoid the activities that call it forth. One can
also "raise one's energies" using self-help techniques such as those
outlined in following paragraphs.Any one of the above reactions
cripples one as a magician, however. From a ceremonial viewpoint, one
must pass the "Guardian on the Threshold" before one can pass on to the
next level of development.From a Jungian standpoint, one must develop
rapport with and "reintegrate" the rejected portion; from a Shamanic
standpoint, one must "turn" the entity and either dismiss it or convert
it into a spirit helper<?>.
THE INNER DIALOGUE
Step one, using the magical approach, is to become acquainted with
the "entity" and engage it in dialogue.In some instances the entity
will turn out to be malevolent, in other's only "immature" or confused
and angry at being ignored. Before engaging in this activity, one is
advised to ground and center, and to shield in whatever manner one's
tradition suggests. One is also advised to begin/continue in whatever
other spiritually protective exercises one has faith in.If there is
someone available to work with the afflicted person, have that helper
prepare a list of non-leading(Not "are you a demon?," but "what are
you?") questions. Then drop into light trance and Then let the other
person ask the questions while the victim answers with the first thing
that pops into his/her head. In effect, s/he will be voluntarily
"channelling" for the entity's unconscious and perhaps "denied"
(officially) circumstances.If there is no other person, then the victim
must do whatever form of divination or trance work he/she have
developed to contact his/her subconscious. Those with vivid
imaginations can simply find a quiet moment and ask "are you there?,"
personifying the "entity" in the same way that children create
imaginary friends. Afterwards, no matter what the technique used, the
obsessed person is to be certain that his/her aura is closed and that
s/he is grounded and centered. AFTER "CONTACT" At this point s/he may
have failed to make contact.In which case there is nothing to him/her
to do but repeat the exercise until either it works or s/he is sure it
isn't going to work. If real contact does not occur, then s/he might
attempt to simply banish "it". It is possible that the entity will not
answer directly, but will begin to up<INCREASE> its activity level or
bring a string of unusual circumstances into the obsessed person's
life.
598
It is more likely, however, the<Y> have begun a dialogue.
Sometimes "complexes"are immature parts of our own personalities that
will calm down and begin to behave themselves once "they" no longer
feel that they are being ignored.If the obsessing image is that of an
animal, or even an ugly humanoid being, then it may simply be time to
intensify one's spiritual quest and face down one's power animal or
dark side. Frequently, these allies will attempt to come to the aid of
someone undergoing psychic attack, and because of the general
atmosphere of fear,will be perceived as threats and turned away
themselves.Eventually, in either case the "entity" can either
be"reintegrated" into the personality, or "kept" as a spirit-helper by
those with shamanic leanings. If one is ALSO under psychic attack, the
ally will probably help in the defense once asked and properly
recognized.
"LOST SOULS" AND WORSE
On the other hand, "it" may claim to be a spirit or other entity
that requires help. If the request is not ridiculous <d>o consider
honoring it. The author has personally dealt with a "poltergeist" who
claimed to be a woman who had died of yellow fever over a century ago.
When questioned, the "spirit" was confused at first, then admitted that
she had died in delirium and had not realized that she was dead until
"awakened" out of her stupor by some young people using a Ouija board.
When asked what she wanted, the reply was "Pray for me." The
poltergeist activity ended as soon as prayers were begun, and the last
message received from the spirit was "Thank God, I'm free." Not being
able to make herself understood on the material plane by any other
means, the "spirit" had resorted to knocking physical objects around to
attract attention. If someone of "mediumistic" nature had been about,
she might have obsessed that person instead in her bid to gain
attention. The obsession would have become malevolent only if the
obsessed person repeatedly blocked her out or otherwise caused her to
<?>become cases of obsession in relatively "normal"persons will fall
into one of the first few categories.In rare cases, the obsessed may
have had his/her attempt at contact met with a voice screaming "DIE,
DIE, DIE." Or something similar and profane. This is where the
spiritual practices suggested in the following paragraphs will be of
greatest benefit, followed by professional help or even exorcism, if
necessary. (Even where an entity seems totally hostile, it is
sometimes possible to "turn" it through raising "light"as described
below.)
599
SELF-HELP WITH OBSESSION
Not everyone is a magician and not everyone wishes to open the
"can of worms" of the subconscious.The following activities are very
useful in "uprooting"spiritual obsession by increasing "light". In
cases of "mild" obsession only a few of these measures,or a simple
ritual of dismissal, will be sufficient to be rid of the problem.In
more entrenched cases, these techniques should be continued for the
healing period, accompanied by Inner Work, depth psychology, or other
techniques that promote self-understanding. Those suffering from
physical symptoms should also work to strengthen their immune system
and improve their diet and lifestyle. If possible, the severely
afflicted individual should have a counselor, teacher, or trusted
friend monitor his/her progress "just in case."
EXAMPLE TECHNIQUES FOR "RAISING THE LIGHT"
For a period of three months, the obsessed should "cleanse"
him/herself daily in whatever manner her/his spiritual tradition
decrees. Grounding and centering are excellent techniques, as is
renewing oneself through visualizing the aura as strong and untainted.
One can draw pictures of oneself expelling all darkness or meditate on
the same image.Prayer is useful, as is catching oneself thinking the
old negative thoughts and declaring that one has "taken that out of the
Law" or "averted" the consequences. If the afflicted has friends who
engage in spiritual pursuits, send him/her mental support and positive
energy. The individual is also advised to spend time in sacred places
where evil is barred from entering, and to refrain from the company of
persons s/he knows are bad for her/him.If already attuned to ritual
work, the victim can"cleanse" his/her home or have it cleansed by
someone trusted. Those who have faith in Holy Water should sprinkle
and apply it liberally. Afterwards, if the obsessed is truly serious
about being rid of a persistent fixation, s/he can burn white candles
constantly while awake and at home. This will act as a symbol of
the"light" one wishes to draw into one's life. The most seriously
affected are advised to surround their beds with a protective circle
and never to sleep in a darkened room. Other religious/protective
symbols can be placed in sight and called upon, and protective incenses
such as sandalwood may be burned. The important thing is to keep one's
spiritual goal constantly in mind and the"entity<?> one's determination
to improve. This may seem like a great deal of effort, but the effect
will be to "open" the individual to positive influences, even if s/he
doesn't believe in "demons".The individual will be "raising his/her
energy" level to the point where something "dark" cannot even bear to
approach her/him, and keeping the energy "high"for a long enough period
that "it" will become "discouraged" and fade from sight.At the end of
the three months, the "entity" should either be weakened severely from
being "starved" or should be gone. If it is gone, then a ritually
adept person can do a rededication wherein the formerly obsessed is
declared sealed against recurrences. If the problem still exists, then
the cause may actually be mental illness brought on by a brain
imbalance or early trauma. In any case, entrenchment of that degree of
severity is beyond the scope of any self-help article to deal with. In
every case the author has seen or dealt with however, vast improvement
over the three month period<?>.
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DIANISM IN A NUIT-SHELL
Recently, I got back in touch with my teacherafter nearly two
years and dropped a couple of bombshells on her: I had changed gender
identity and had come together with two other women to form a Dianic
coven. When the initial shock wore off, Rita sent me a complete run of
Protean Synthesis and a solicitation for this article.
Several yearsago I subscribed toseveral stereotypes regarding
"those peculiar Dianics". They were thealogically unbalanced, they
hated men, they denied that men had souls, they were all lesbians, they
couldn't spell (in the orthographic sense; no one has yet accused
Dianics of inability to work magick), etc. etc. When I came together
with my covensisters, I realized that these notions were at most
partially true and some cases were patently false.
Ibelieve there are onlythree valid generalizationsthat can be
made about Dianics: 1) We are all feminists. 2) We all look to the
Goddess(es) far more than to the God(s). 3) We are all eclectics.
Note well that there are plenty of non-Dianic feminist Witches,
non-Dianic eclectics, and non-Dianics who are primarily
Goddess-oriented. There are also doubtless a good many feminist,
Goddess-oriented eclectics who do not choose to call themselves
Dianic. In my own case I use the "If it quacks like a duck, it
probably is a duck" argument, as well as the fact that my HPS learned
the Craft as a Dianic and runs Dianic rituals.
Some of thestereotypical generalizations I can dismiss out of
hand. I don't know of a single Dianic who denies that men have souls.
Even Z Budapest doesn't believe that piece of tripe anymore! It is
true that Dianism is particularly attractive to separatists, and many
separatists actually hate men. Many Dianics are lesbians. Some
misspell words like "woman", women", "egalitarian", and "holistic" on
purpose. Not all fit these, however, and I think that Z Budapest in
her younger, or spiritual bomb-throwing, days represents an extreme and
a small minority. There are a number of males involved in Dianism, and
some of those are men [NB: I use the terms "man" and
"woman" to indicate gender identity, that is, how one's heart, mind,
and/or soul are configured. I use "male" and "female" to indicate
physical sex, that is, how one's plumbing is configured. I hope this
dispels confusion.].
Thealogical and magickalimbalance isnot soeasily dismissedand
needs to be addressed further, as that is the most valid objection that
thoughtful Witches have to Dianism. The apparent imbalance comes from
the Dianic emphasis on Goddess-worship, often to the complete exclusion
of God-worship. This upsets many Witches' sense of polarity balance.
The resolution of this apparent imbalance lies in the consideration of
other polarities than sexual and/or gender as the primary polarity.
There are indeed many other polarities to consider: true-false,
life-death, dark-light, rational-mystical, creation-destruction,
order-chaos, and good-evil, to name but a few.
One problem with the masculine-feminine polarity is that there is a
strong tendency to express all other polarities in terms of it. The
Chinese were particularly fond of this, and mapped everything they
liked into the yang side, and everything they disliked or feared into
the yin side, the patriarchal no-accounts!