Resurrection or Epilepsy?

Faith healer Robby Dawkins has raised the dead. At least, that's what he says. Dawkins claims that at a church service last month in northern England, parishioner Matt Catlow collapsed and died. Dawkins diligently prayed to remove the "demonic spirit of death," and the man recovered. It's a miracle! Except that according to Catlow's sister, no such thing occurred. She explained that her brother collapsed because he is epileptic, and that his "death" was actually a seizure.

“I began to bind the spirit of death and say, ‘You can’t have him!’” Dawkins recalled. “I began to declare the resurrection life of Jesus Christ over him. People were beginning to get a bit restless but then I could hear his breathing start to recover and his color started to return.”

Dawkins, who has previously complained that United Airlines would not allow him to resurrect another passenger who died on a flight, said Catlow’s condition has improved dramatically.

The man’s sister, however, said those claims are nonsense. The woman set up a Facebook page to refute Dawkins, who she described as a charlatan using her brother’s medical condition to promote his books and ministry.

“What Robby is telling everyone is not true,” she said. “It has since been MEDICALLY proven that Matthew had suffered an epileptic seizure which often can display similar signs of someone dying. TWO nurse family friends of ours both had their hands on Matthew throughout and not once lost his pulse. So no, Matthew did not die.”

That's one way to resurrect someone - pray over a person having an epileptic seizure, knowing that most of the time people recover from those with or without any spiritual intervention. So it doesn't make any difference whether or not your prayers do anything, but when the person recovers you can proclaim that you've accomplished a miracle. Nice.

I suppose it's possible that Dawkins was unfamiliar with epileptics and really believed that Matthew was dying, but if so his first course of action should have been to call an ambulance, not start praying. As I've mentioned a number of times before, I have no problem with magical healing of whatever sort, be it prayer or energy work, but only if it does not interfere with or take the place of conventional medical care.

In this case, though, I think it's more likely that Dawkins knew the seizure wasn't fatal and took full advantage of the situation. The church where the "resurrection" occurred seems to agree, as its preacher has apologized for the incident.

Debunking Charlie

So a couple days ago I posted an article on the "Charlie Challenge," a method for allegedly summoning a spirit using two pencils that went viral. In my article, I noted that if it worked, it might be usable as system for spirit communication that did not involve the ideomotor response, which is what makes pendulums and planchettes seem to move on their own. Last night I did some experiments with the two-pencil method, and concluded that it doesn't work. At least, not in the way that I posited.

First off, I determined that the pencil generally won't spin in response to vibrations in the room. That was one of my initial thoughts about how and why the pencil might be moving. One of the videos, for example, shows a couple of kids sitting in a kitchen bouncing a basketball on the floor. But when I set the pencils up on my desk I found that I was able to hit the surface quite hard without making the pencil on top spin at all. The best I could do was a slight wobble without sliding the desk.

My next thought was to apply Qigong methods and see if I could make the pencils spin that way. I previously have had some success with an Egeley Wheel along those lines, which was designed based on the observation that Qigong masters seem to be able to affect the rotation of leaves suspended in water. I should note here that this isn't necessarily a supernatural effect, as Chinese researchers have measured infrasonic waves being emitted from the hands of Qigong practitioners. But like my vibration tests this was a bust as well, with no noticeable effect.

I finally happened upon what I believe to be the mechanism. Moving air at just the right angle will make the pencil spin dramatically. It's not obvious, though. If the angle is off you can blow as hard as you want and it won't move. Likewise, if the angle is right even a slight breeze will work, whereas if it's wrong even a strong breeze won't do anything. Air movement is obviously going to be a factor outdoors, but forced-air furnaces also produce moving air. In a home with such a system, if the pencils are placed in the right spot they will move when the fan comes on.

Otherwise, breathing at the right angle will do the trick as well. I can imagine a bunch of teenagers calling out to "Charlie" and scrutinizing the pencils closely. As soon as somebody gets excited enough to start breathing hard, sure enough, the pencil on top will spin. I will add, though, that as with a breeze the angle seems to be very important. Just blowing on the pencil doesn't do it unless your breath hits it just right. Furthermore, the angle at which it needs to strike is not what you would expect, and at that angle it can work from further away than you would normally think.

The difference between how you would expect moving air to effect the pencil and how it really takes place probably explains the "supernatural" appearance of the method. The teenagers involved in this likely don't necessarily notice that they're breathing hard, and don't realize it when their breath hits the proper angle. So what this implies is that method probably won't work as a system for spirit communication - which is too bad, but at the same time I imagine that if it was usable some magician would have talked about it before now.

The apparent nature of this practice does highlight one of my problems with capital-S skeptics. Whenever they are confronted with something that looks paranormal, their first response is to accuse whoever is reporting it of lying or perpetrating an outright fraud. But, in fact, most experiences that people identify as paranormal are normal experiences that they misinterpret for various reasons. It's easy to dismiss accounts outright, but much more revealing to investigate them in a sincere manner.

I may still see about trying the pencil method in a formal ritual, but given the shifts I see on my EMF meter when spirits show up, my suspicion is that they won't be able to generate enough physical energy to produce noticeable movement. That's still just a working hypothesis, though, and if my tests turn out differently I'll be sure to keep you all posted.

Against Pregnant Hands

Until now I had no idea that the Islamic concept of the afterlife was so weird. Recently Turkish Islamic preacher Mucahid Cihad Han warned on a live television broadcast that in the afterlife, men who masturbate would find themselves with "pregnant hands." Most conservative strands of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions consider masturbation a sin, but this is the first time I've ever come across such a bizarre explanation. How does a hand get pregnant, anyway? I realize that it's the afterlife so this could be a "spiritual pregnancy." But what does that even mean?

According to Hurriyet Daily News, Han was appearing on the TV station 2000 TV when a man rang the station to confess that despite being married, he kept masturbating - even during the holy pilgrimage to Mecca known as Umrah.

Forced to repeat the question several times to the confused preacher, he was eventually advised that the act was forbidden. 'Moreover,' Han said, 'One [saying] states that those who have sexual intercourse with their hands will find their hands pregnant in the afterlife, complaining against them to God over its rights.

'If our viewer was single, I could recommend he marry, but what can I say now?' He later posted on Twitter an interpretation of Islam which he said proved masturbation was forbidden, adding: 'Lets keep ourselves out of trouble.'

While I realize that in the afterlife basic biological constraints don't necessarily exist, this still strikes me as a strange interpretation that just brings up more questions. How many eggs does a hand produce? It's the afterlife, so I suppose that number could be huge. If it's one for every sperm, that means most men will find themselves with a massive infernal legion of the night in the next world. But what if that's the idea? Could someone deliberately generate more "offspring" so as to enter the afterlife with the largest possible army? Because that would be badass.

It's more likely that this is just a bunch of nonsense, even to those who believe that the afterlife is real. In fact, the Christian Bible contains nothing prohibiting masturbation. The story of Onan, which is usually cited, is more about disobeying God and refusing to honor community traditions in favor of self-interest - which many sins have in common. It also sounds like it's not a settled issue in Islam, pregnant hands notwithstanding.

"High Elf" Sentenced

Remember Konrad Bass, elvish warrior of Portland and bane of German luxury sedans? He was sentenced last week for attacking a BMW with a sword about a year ago, damaging but failing to slay the vehicle before being taken into custody by police. Bass' case highlights the dangers of allowing elves to run rampant in our modern-day cities. The age of dragons and heroes passed away long ago, but elves never forget - especially those who are both mentally ill and high on hallucinogenic drugs.

In closing arguments, Marrero, the prosecutor, said Bass was trying to blame his mental illness for his behavior. Marrero told jurors that if they believed that Bass' actions were caused by a combination of drugs and mental illness, they must find him guilty.

"It was his decision to ingest all of these drugs for his own enjoyment," Marrero said. "He's hoping you'll just let him off the hook, that you'll find him 'not guilty' or 'guilty except for insanity.'"

When the attorneys finished presenting their cases, Bass' fate rested in the jury's hands. Jurors had to consider various arguments, such as whether Bass voluntarily took the party drugs knowing they could lead to trouble, and whether the drugs were largely responsible for his sword-wielding attack.

Jurors deliberated for about an hour before finding Bass guilty of first-degree criminal mischief, a felony, and second-degree disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. The verdict was unanimous.

Bass was sentenced to a year and a half of probation, along with mental illness and chemical dependency treatment. He was also banned from possessing weapons, including swords, spears, and magical staves that call fire from the sky. That should put a dent in his BMW-slaying activities for the duration of his sentence. After that, who knows? Perhaps he will decide his quest is complete and pass on to the realms of the west.

Summon a Mexican Demon!

Recently videos have been going around the Internet depicting the "Charlie Challenge," a practice that allegedly summons a spirit named Charlie. It should be noted that "Charlie" probably isn't a demon in the traditional Christian sense, but it's possible that he might be a real entity of some sort. The "challenge" is based on a game that is apparently common in Mexico involving the use of two pencils as a sort of pendulum-like divination tool that can answer yes/no questions.

The challenge is a cross between "Bloody Mary" and Ouija, and as the name suggests, involves summoning an entity named Charlie.

Here's how it works: Take a piece of paper and draw a single horizontal line and a single vertical line that meet in the center. Put a "YES" in two opposing sections and a "NO" in the other two. Place two pencils across the middle of the drawing in a plus-sign formation, with one balanced atop the other so that it can spin.

Ask aloud, "Charlie, Charlie, are you there?" or "Charlie, Charlie, can we play?" and the top pencil will likely move at some point because of how it's balanced. However, some players believe it's a sign that "Charlie" is in the room and ready to take questions.

What's interesting to me about this is that if this indeed works, it could be used as a pendulum-type divination tool that relies on something other than the ideomotor response. From a scientific standpoint that's potentially huge - if it works. It takes the human variable out of the equation in a way that Ouija boards and pendulums don't. I think it's unlikely that this method only works with "Charlie" unless he's the patron spirit of pencils or something. If it works for one, it should work for others.

I'm familiar with devices like the Egeley Wheel, which appears to spin on its own in response to qigong and other energy work practices, but that device is not really a practical divination method. This pencil method or something derived from it might be. However, before we can go that far with it we need to somehow verify that the "answers" it gives are anything other than random.

While I think the hype around this game is kind of silly, whoever came up with it might be onto something worth investigating. Many of the videos look like the pencils are just moving in response to environmental vibrations, so that would have to be controlled for in some fashion. Also, most just show the pencil moving once and stopping. For this to work in any practical way, it will need to be tested with multiple questions to verify that it can spin both ways in response to them.

It's Demons, All The Way Down!

It's been a little while since we heard from Pat Robertson, now well on his way to getting his own tag here on Augoeides. This week, though, another of his bizarre claims surfaced. During a recent installment of his 700 Club television program, the evangelist seemed to claim that eating disorders were a form of demonic possession. I'm sure that will come as a big surprise to all those who were successfully treated for such disorders without even once resorting to exorcisms.

Today, “The 700 Club” aired a report on a rehab facility for people with eating disorders, which got Pat Robertson to thinking about someone he knew who had had an eating disorder as well as Karen Carpenter, the singer who died after suffering from anorexia.

Robertson agreed that those with eating disorders need “a whole rehab program,” but added that such disorders could also “be treated as a demonic possession thing. This can be treated as a demonic possession thing,” he said, “it is like a demon and it needs to be rebuked and cast out.”

To be fair to Robertson, the argument could be made that he was saying an eating disorder was "like a demon" rather than an actual demon. The thing is, though, Robertson seems to believe that all sorts of things are caused by literal demons. For example, if he's really talking about something psychological, why would he contend that demons can be attached to thrift store clothes? That doesn't sound very psychological.

He does correctly point out that regular rehab programs are needed in addition to spiritual help, but I still think it's pretty ridiculous to support the mindset that literal demons cause or exacerbate all of our problems. And understand, I'm a magician, I work with spirits, and I'm convinced that they can cause problems for people under some circumstances.

But far more often than not, normal causes are at fault - which is precisely why spiritual influences are called "paranormal." If they were ubiquitous or commonplace, they would just be considered part of normal life.

Misunderstanding Mystery Traditions

Apparently the debate over "astral initiations" is back on. This is largely an issue within the Golden Dawn tradition, and it's mostly due to the actions of one person, Robert Zink, who heads up the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn. This group pioneered the concept of astral or long-distance initiation years ago amidst a lot of criticism, and I personally count myself among the skeptics. The tradition in which I am a chartered initiator, Ordo Templi Orientis, does no such thing. Our initiations must be conducted in person, and there's a good reason for that. As descendents of Masonry, both Ordo Templi Orientis and the Golden Dawn are fundamentally mystery traditions in addition to being magical orders.

Peregrin Wildoak has written up a critique of astral initiation, based on the idea that an initiation should be done in person because it grounds the result of the operation in Malkuth, the physical plane. Magical orders are generally small, and for many people travel can be difficult, so if a system by which candidates could be initiated at a distance could be developed it would be quite convenient for many people who don't live near a chartered body. But even though healing rituals can be conducted at a distance, they don't work as well as when the patient is physically present - and besides, an initiation is a fundamentally different type of operation.

There is an argument that if absent healing works, so should astral initiation. However, absent healing works by the healer changing the higher subtle selves of the patient. These changes then hopefully manifest down into the physical. Sort of a trickle-down approach to healing, and we all know how well that has worked in the economic sphere, eh? :)

Anyway, even if absent healing works better than trickle-down economics and actually does cause physical health benefits, we simply cannot apply the same logic to the traditional Golden Dawn initiations, which were designed to be conducted simultaneously on all planes: physical, etheric, astral, mental and (hopefully) spiritual. We can look at this from two angles. Firstly, the Golden Dawn initiations stem from the broader lodge tradition which has always required physical initiations. The structure of the initiations themselves work with the physical in many ways, from blindfolding, binding, moving, touching, placing etc the candidate. Secondly, the initiative process takes into account the divinity of the initiate on all planes, recognising the body as sacred, whole and inviolable.

It's Just Stretching, Dumbasses!

The Christian hatred of non-sectarian yoga continues to baffle me. Raw Story has an article up today that tells the story of Mike Persi, a man who was wheelchair-bound for many years as the result of an accident.

A member of Mikes congregation, John Taylor, heard about a case where a man regained his ability to walk after intense yoga therapy. John connected Mike with Mitch Menik, a Christian yoga instructor, and after a similar course of treatment Mike was in fact able to walk. However, his church found itself divided over whether his recovery was a miracle or whether it actually came from the devil.

No, really! These folks are trying to figure out whether or not physical therapy is evil. Back in the real world, Mike's recovery was neither a miracle nor dark sorcery; it was his body's natural response to exercises designed to strengthen muscles and improve joint flexibility. The fact that those exercises happened to employ a particular set of poses should be a non-issue, at least to anyone with a modicum of critical thinking skills.

Mike had been wheelchair bound for over three decades, ever since an accident at age 27 left him unable to walk or to speak without stuttering. The odds were long against Mike getting back on his feet. But one week later, an acquaintance who didn’t know about the prayer sent John’s wife a video in which a man with similar injuries regained his ability to walk through intensive yoga therapy. John took it as a sign. So did Mike. So did born-again Christian yoga instructor, Mitch Menik, who even offered to take Mike into his own home during a course of intensive treatment.

When Mike took his first wobbly but unassisted steps, all involved were thrilled and thanked God for a miracle that to their minds was modeled on the ministry of Jesus. But not everyone in Mike and John’s Abundant Living Las Vegas congregation felt the same. When friends set up a GoFundMe page to help Mitch cover income lost during the time he was working with Mike, most parishioners refused to contribute. And when Abundant Living’s pastor blessed the therapy, members (and money) poured out of the church. Many biblical literalists, and charismatic or Pentecostal Christians in particular, are deeply suspicious of yoga, which they see less as a healing or wellness practice and more as a seductive point of entry into the Hindu religion.