Satanism and Wicca: the Same?

         Years ago, when I first started exploring the paranormal, I promised myself I’d never have anything to do with negative magic; I believe very firmly that those of us who know how to use the power of the mind have a responsibility to use it in a positive way, never for harming or manipulating anyone. So I never wanted to know about, hear about, or read about any philosophy that favored negative magic.

         But a funny thing happened to me recently; I found myself wanting to learn more about Satanism. Not because I wanted to do what Satanists do—but because I wanted to help clear up a common misconception: the idea that Satanism and Wicca are the same. The only thing I knew about Satanism was the negative magic part—and I realized that, to do a good job of comparing, I needed to know more. So I did a little research.

         I discovered, first of all, that Satanism isn’t populated only by psychopaths and angry teenagers; there are some intelligent, serious adults who are Satanists. It's a philosophy that embraces stern justice and "an-eye-for-an-eye", also emphasizing self-responsibility, knowledge, and self-reliance—for some, an appealing combination.

         Satanism also appears to have a moral compass regarding the treatment of children and animals; the tales of ritual murder don’t seem to be true. And Satanism does have at least a few things in common with Wicca. Both are alternative religions, outside the mainstream; both involve the use of magic; and neither have a single, central authority to establish doctrine or “make the rules”. There are different “denominations”, so to speak, in both Wicca and Satanism, and many lone practitioners as well—meaning that beliefs and practices in each philosophy can vary. Still, when I looked at the most basic characteristics of each, I discovered that, in most ways, Satanism and Wicca really are virtually opposite philosophies.

         Satanism seems to have evolved as a rebellion against what was perceived as the dogma, hypocrisy, and false values of Christianity; Satanism’s focus, readily admitted to, is on personal gain, ego, and the pursuit of lust and other “sinful” pleasures. Wicca, on the other hand, is a recreation of ancient ways of aligning with deity and the rhythms of nature; the Wiccan focus is on alignment, balance, and reverence for nature. One system seems to have originated as an opposition to something, the other as a return to something nature-centered and metaphysical. Very different.

         Another difference: Satanism’s concept of deity ranges from atheism to a belief in a dark force, or a dark lord such as Christianity’s Satan, the Egyptian God Set, or others. Wiccans believe in a God and Goddess that are part of a larger Power that unites all things, and also resides within us. As for the use of magic: Satanists use it to help themselves and their friends, but also to harm their enemies—something I still disagree with entirely. Wiccans use magic for problem-solving and healing, and their magical work is carefully crafted to bring about change that harms or manipulates no one. To me, that’s one of the truly beautiful things about Wicca.

         What we have here, quite obviously, is one religion that focuses primarily on the dark, and one that embraces the opposite. I believe that Satanists, and everyone else, have the right to worship as they choose—as long as they don’t try to impose their beliefs on me, and their practices don’t bring me any harm. But Wicca is still the philosophy I really resonate with. To me, our world has such a need for healers, and for people who are working on alignment and balance, which benefits us all. This isn’t to deny the darker side of our nature or the dark side of our world—it’s about choosing to focus our energy on the positive, for our individual good and for the good of all. That’s the thing I want to be working on and striving for.

         Thanks to http://www.spiralnature.com/, http://www.religioustolerance.org/, www.detoxorcist.com, and www.angelfire.com/alt2/darkmatter/ for the information about Satanism.

"Fact or Faked" Takes On The Ice Man

         “Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files” is a TV show I really enjoy; I’m always interested to see how the team goes about testing the authenticity of various paranormal claims. In the recent season premiere entitled “The Grim Sleeper/The Real Mr. Freeze”, the team went to extraordinary lengths to test the claims surrounding Wim Hof, the “Ice Man”. And their tests did seem to substantiate his amazing abilities.

         Wim Hof earned his nickname by performing such incredible feats as running a half-marathon in the snow (in shorts and bare feet!), and holding the world record for longest ice bath—challenges that would prove fatal for most people. The “Fact or Faked” team first tried a couple of preliminary experiments, to see if Hof’s accomplishments could be faked or duplicated; then they tried the ultimate test.
         A member of their team, along with Hof, were each immersed in an ice bath, while their heart rate and body temperature were monitored to see how long each man could last without serious harm. After about 20 minutes, the team member was showing dangerous signs of hypothermia—while Wim Hof’s heart rate was normal and unchanged, and his body temperature was still holding at 98.6!

         This man has certainly accomplished something remarkable: direct, focused command over the functions of his body, to the extent that he is able to survive in situations where most of us wouldn’t. This, to me, points out once again the incredible power of the human mind—a power which, I believe, lies in all of us. We are capable of so much more than most of us realize; the key, I think, is in recognizing our power and being motivated to use it. Wim Hof certainly seems to have those qualities.
         When interviewed, Hof revealed that, for him, normal was boring—so he set out to train himself to do something different! He didn't seem to question his power to rise above the ordinary, and he had the motivation and persistence to reach his goal. Talk about utilizing potential ...
         What would happen if more of us began to claim at least a small piece of our own potential? Our world could change in such exciting ways. And that’s something I’d love to see.   

           

A Haunting at The Lake Club

Enjoy the Paranormal Day Party!

May 3, 2016

http://www.hauntjaunts.net/paranormal-day-party-invite/        

         One of my guilty pleasures, I’ll admit, is watching “Ghost TV”. I’m always on the hunt for credible accounts of hauntings and other phenomena, and I occasionally find a story that really grabs my attention. The tale of The Lake Club is one of them.

         The first time I ever heard about The Lake Club was in an episode of “A Haunting” that aired recently on Planet Green. Several of the people involved in the story were interviewed during the show; it was their credible, coherent manner, along with the incredible details of the story, that captured my interest. So I did a bit of research.

         The Lake Club, in Springfield, Illinois first opened as a nightclub in 1940, gaining a reputation for big-name entertainment—and an illegal gambling operation as well. The club was raided in 1958, and the gambling was shut down, bringing a decline in business. The club finally closed in the 60’s. But: during the 1970s, with Bill Carmean and Tom Blasko at the helm, The Lake Club experienced a revival as a popular nightspot. The paranormal events that occurred during that time would also earn the club a reputation as one of the most haunted sites in the state. So: what exactly did happen at The Lake Club?

         The haunting began in 1974, with Bill Carmean being the first to notice strange happenings—such as a piano playing in another room when he was alone in the club; a door near the office opening, followed by footsteps, even though no one was there; and a glass flying off a table and hitting a wall during a visit by an unfortunate salesman. Over the next couple of years, the disturbances intensified, with employees and musicians reporting unusual occurrences—such as feelings of being “poked and prodded” by invisible hands, a drink lifting off a table and pouring into a customer’s lap, office equipment operating on its own, and more. Bill Carmean’s partner Tom also had some strange experiences, which he initially kept to himself. And then employee Barbara Lard had the most intense encounter of all.

         She saw an apparition—just the head of a man with snow-white hair—and he spoke to her, warning her that one of the club owners was going to die. Accounts differ as to whether or not she shared this warning with Carmean and Blasko—and there’s disagreement over the name of the owner who did die of a heart attack a couple of weeks later. But one of the owners of the property apparently did die. And, with the help of The Lake Club’s longtime caretaker Rusty, the identity of the spirit who gave the warning was determined.

         He was Rudy Cranor, a bartender during The Lake Club’s heyday as a nightclub and illegal gambling spot. Barbara Lard identified him, from an old photo, as the spirit who had spoken to her. It turns out that, in June 1968, after the club had fallen on hard times, Rudy Cranor had committed suicide there, shooting himself with a high-powered rifle in one of the back rooms. Rudy was now assumed to be the source of all of the disturbances at the club.

         After all that, Tom Blasko felt that something had to be done about Rudy, for the safety of everyone working at the club. Ultimately, Gary Dilley, a priest who was an old friend of his, came to The Lake Club with two other priests to bless the site and send Rudy’s spirit on its way. Did the blessing work? Apparently so. The paranormal occurrences stopped. But the club’s business declined as well. Within 6 months, The Lake Club closed. From 1980 to 1988, it was operated under a different name by a new lessee, before finally closing for the last time. And then, in a strange ending to a strange story, the building burned to the ground in August 1992. Investigators believed the fire had been deliberately set.

         What do I think about all this? As I said, the accounts of the people involved did seem very credible. And, from my own experience, I know that the kind of phenomena reported at The Lake Club really can happen. I’ve seen it myself. I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that a site for illicit gambling was later the location of a suicide, a long string of paranormal disturbances, and a destructive fire. Energy, I believe, attracts like energy; dark activities lead to more of the same. So it’s not surprising how The Lake Club’s history turned out. The one good thing is that the spirit causing the disturbances does seem to have been released. A very good thing.

         Thanks to “A Haunting” on Planet Green, and to www.prairieghosts.com/lakeclub.html for their information on The Lake Club.

A Spiritualist Church: Messages from the Dead?

         As an explorer of the paranormal, I’ve done some unusual things—everything from visiting haunted buildings to attending trance mediumship sessions and ritual magic circles. In November 1998, I had the opportunity to attend a service at a Spiritualist church, and the experience did make an impression.

         Spiritualists believe that a part of the human personality survives after death and is able to communicate with the living. Spiritualist churches can differ greatly in their practices, but they are all founded on this belief in spirit communication. I had a friend who was a member of a Spiritualist church, and she invited me to attend a service where she would be speaking. Of course I accepted.

         The service took place in an old, musty church that would have seemed haunted to me even if it hadn’t been Spiritualist. I just had a sense of old energies lingering in the dimness, like faint after-images imposed one on top of the other. It wasn’t the most unnerving place I’d ever been, but I definitely sensed something. The service, to my surprise, ended up containing some familiar elements: Christian hymns, Bible readings, and a belief in Jesus. This, it turns out, was a Christian Spiritualist Church. But the rest of the service was very unlike anything in a Christian church.

         My friend’s talk focused more on the metaphysical aspects of God—such as the idea of God’s presence in all things, everywhere. I enjoyed the talk, and it did give me some food for thought. But the “reading” I received from one of the ministers was the thing that really floored me. Everyone at the service got a reading, a message from the “spirit world”, and mine was so accurate that it really shook me up. Back then I was going through a difficult time, and was just beginning to climb out of some anxiety and loneliness. The minister, who had never met me before, looked me straight in the eye and told me exactly how I was feeling, and what I needed to do to feel better. One might argue that she had probably just observed all that in my demeanor; but she verbalized my feelings so precisely that I don’t think she could have done it just by looking at me. She told me that I felt like I “was dragging an enormous weight uphill,” and that I was having trouble trusting anyone to help me with it. Which was dead-on correct.

         Was this amazingly accurate message really a communication from the other side? It’s certainly possible. I know that spirits can communicate with us, and I believe there really are some who want to help us. And, fact is, I was helped by that reading. It helped motivate me to make some much-needed changes—resulting in a life that is so much fuller and happier now than it was then. So—if this really was a message from the spirit realm—thank you!

Taunting the Unknown

         As someone who’s experienced a haunting first-hand, I shudder when I see ghost hunters on TV taunting the unseen energies they’re trying to document. Even though, in my opinion, most of these shows are fabricated and staged, that doesn’t mean there aren’t invisible forces present. The locations ghost hunters visit are, for the most part, places with a history of strange occurrences. And it seems like such risky business to antagonize the unknown.

          I’ll never forget the time, years ago, when a friend and I were brazen enough to taunt the presence that had been causing disturbances in our other friend’s house. One night in late December, while we were on Christmas break from college, the three of us slept in the bedroom where the disruptions had been occurring: rapping, apparitions, objects moving by themselves, and more. A lot of thumping and banging would come from the closet in that room, and a tall bureau had been wedged in front of the closet door--to help our friend who lived there feel a little safer.
         On the night when the three of us stayed there, we spent a long time just lying in our places on the bed and floor, waiting nervously to see what would happen. Things didn’t get interesting until we finally turned out the lights and tried to go to sleep.

         We began to hear noises around us, as if something was moving around the room, disturbing things. One of the noises was near the vanity where my friend would put on her makeup, and I quipped, “Hey, it sounds like he’s putting on his makeup!” My other friend responded with a gibe about our unseen visitor’s sexual orientation--tasteless and insulting, to be sure. Immediately we heard a loud bang, and we screamed. When we finally had the courage to turn on the lights, we saw that a can had fallen--or been thrown--from the top of the bureau, which was about 6 feet tall. The can had landed a few feet out from the bureau, close to the place where two of us were lying on the floor.

         Just a few minutes later there was another loud bang, and another scream from one of my friends. She was sitting by the wall with her elbow touching it, and something had thumped soundly on the wall, close to her elbow. Needless to say, we ended up spending the rest of the night with the black light on. In retrospect, that seems like a strange choice of lighting--everything looks eerie under black light. But it seemed like a good idea at the time!

         I guess my point is that unseen, unexplained energies do exist--and they are sometimes able to respond to what we say and do. Since we truly don’t understand what we’re dealing with, why not approach with caution--and a degree of respect? At this point in my life, I would never treat any area of the mysterious in a flippant way. The paranormal is not a game. One might argue that I wasn’t really harmed as a result of my brash behavior--but who's to say that I wasn't just lucky? Who really knows the extent of what the invisible can do? And--how do I know that I didn't cause distress to an already disturbed spirit? I'd much prefer, at this point, to approach with respect.
         I’m not saying that we humans shouldn’t remain curious about the unseen, or continue to explore it; I’m just saying we should do it with caution and respect. What do you think?

Paranormal Romance, For Real

         Sometimes truth really is more extraordinary than fiction. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m going to share the story of a true-life romance where intuition and psychic connection played a major role. I know the story is true, because I was in it—along with my husband.

         The tale actually begins 6 years before the two of us met—when his name turned up in a journal of mine. As an avid explorer of the paranormal, I kept a record of unusual experiences, dreams, and psychic impressions. One day I jotted down his name, and the words “He’s coming! Yes!” In all honesty, I didn’t think much about it after that. But that entry did turn out to be precognitive. And it was just the first of many uncanny occurrences involving him and me.

         Six years after that journal entry, I was living in the Northeast, single and disenchanted; he was stationed on a military base over 900 miles away. Amazingly, even though each of us almost didn’t make it, we both ended up on Paradise Island, Bahamas at the same time—in the same disco, on the same night. I sat down at a table behind him. And, he says, he got a sudden, overwhelming feeling that he had to turn around and talk to the person behind him; he knew that if it was a man, he would become his best friend—and if it was a woman, she would be the love of his life.

         So he turned around and asked me to dance. I said “yes”, and that’s how it began. As I said in a previous entry, I was amazed at the immediate, potent mental connection we made. He already seemed so familiar on the first night we met. And by the next night, I knew I was falling in love with him.

         In the following months, as we dated mostly by phone and letter, intuition continued to play a huge role between us. Even though we hadn’t known each other for very long, I had a deep sense that he was the right one for me; that was the major factor in my decision to marry him. I’ll never forget the night when we shared the same reincarnational memories of each other, with him describing the same details I was seeing in my mind (See my blog entry “Other Lives”, June 21, 2011). And on the day of our wedding, I had a profound feeling of being in exactly the right place, for the first time in my life.

         Now, nearly 26 years later, my husband and I still have a beautiful romance. We have our challenges, of course. But in the end, we always come through them better off than we were. Intuition and psychic connection have continued to operate in our relationship. And marrying him has turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

         Having been a very real part of this amazing story, I’ve come to believe that my husband and I certainly didn’t meet by accident; I also believe that we were connected, on a psychic and spiritual level, long before we met. I think our story also demonstrates the potency of intuition. We humans really are so much more than we appear to be on the surface—and the connections between us run far deeper than we usually know. The Universe truly is an amazing place.

Vast Potential

         

         In my novel Between the Sun and the Moon, I explore some of the “what-ifs” about the power of the mind—for telepathic communication, self-protection, and influencing weather, plant growth and other events. Do I believe we humans are actually capable of all this, and so much more? Absolutely. Why? Because there is, in us, this amazing interface between brain and mind. I believe that these two parts of us are much more powerful than we realize, and that they create in us a vast potential for amazing things.

         Medical science acknowledges that the full power and capability of our brains isn’t fully understood; this less tangible thing called “mind” seems even harder to delineate. But I believe that the power of each is considerable. And, working with and through each other as they do, they give us the capacity to accomplish remarkable things, including the heightened mental powers I described above. The vast majority of us aren’t using our minds in this expanded way because we truly don’t realize it’s possible. But, in American culture, at least, there seems to be another factor, too.

         We Americans seem to have a great deal of skepticism and fear holding us back. Most of us don’t seem to believe that we could have these incredible capabilities—or we’re terrified at the idea that we just might. Over the years, I’ve seen and experienced enough to know that the power of the mind does extend beyond the limits we’ve created for it. I’d love to see more of us recognizing our potential and using it in a constructive way. We could make some truly amazing changes in our world. Wouldn’t that be an awesome thing?