A police chief's guidance to the grieving: Go see a medium

A police chief in Rhode Island gives out some unorthodox advice for those who have lost a loved one: Seek a connection to the afterlife by meeting with a medium.

John LaCross, the police chief in the Providence suburb of Barrington, lost his 21-year-old brother Joey to suicide nearly 40 years ago. Seeking comfort, he began meeting with people calling themselves mediums, but it wasn't until 2000 that he met someone he says gave him evidence of an afterlife.

Years later, he met with another medium who he says correctly described his brother's timing and cause of death, down to the manner: hanging. "But can you give me his name?" LaCross said he asked.

"It's a J name; Joseph," LaCross said the medium responded.

After that, he started keeping his brother's picture in his patrol car, talking to him and asking him for signs. Later, a different medium, he said, confirmed his brother was sending him messages.

LaCross said that medium called him out of the blue after a year of no contact — just after LaCross had asked his brother whether he was on the right spiritual path — with a message from his brother that yes, he was.

A police chief's guidance to the grieving: Go see a medium

‘Spiritual virus’ behind Malaysia’s paranormal obsession, ex-Shariah judge says | Malaysia | Malay Mail Online

So we have a "so-called  'Islamic' medical expert” claiming bad juju. Then a former "Shariah" judge said that such a pronouncement, regarding “paranormal beings” causing such events, was false and indicative of a “spiritual virus” infecting the “medical expert” and members of the public, and that this was a straying from Islam.  A wholly made up religion based on an all powerful sky daddy.  Makes sens to me, how 'bout you?

Terengganu’s former chief Shariah judge today panned a so-called “Islamic” medical expert’s claim that paranormal beings was a possible cause for Malaysia’s humiliating 10-0 loss to UAE in the World Cup qualifier.

Datuk Ismail Yahya said the penchant for these Malaysians to fall back on such claims could be because they were infected with a “spiritual virus” inside them that made them resort to practices that were not consistent with the teachings of Islam.

“My view about the supernatural which Malaysians always make a connection [with], between a disaster or loss means spiritual virus (sic),” Ismail told Malay Mail Online by email when contacted.

“Spiritual virus can come through magic, the environment such as their homes, the attitude of someone obsessed with things or the practice of the teaching of ‘unreligious’ mysticism,” he added.

Ismail had been asked to comment on a report earlier today by Malay tabloid Kosmo, which cited a purported “Islamic” medical expert Datuk Shamsuri Shafie as claiming that “makhluk halus” or paranormal beings may be to blame for Malaysia’s loss in the qualifying match on Wednesday.

‘Spiritual virus’ behind Malaysia’s paranormal obsession, ex-Shariah judge says | Malaysia | Malay Mail Online

The emotional roots of conspiratorial perceptions, system justification, and belief in the paranormal

As some of you may have gathered, I have some unusual interests.  In regards to people, on one end of the spectrum, there are individuals like Alex Jone; as a contrast, Steven L.Anderson comes too mind.  In the "events" or "things happening in the world  category", the so-called Truthers come to mind.  But yet the Sovereign Citizen Movement fascinates me.  For beliefs we have anything with a cultic group think, like Patriarchy and Quiverfull; but yet, at the other end are people who seem to think the Genesis 6 giants are real and still among us.

In essence, I am fascinated by what motivates people to buy into crazy worldviews. Is it a means of compensation for feeling powerless?  Is it a measure of self-worth, a meaning or purpose for life?  And one I didn't consider prior to reading the attached study, the need for order, or "structure".

So the Whitson et al. study shows,

This research has several important implications. First and foremost, our studies establish that external or world uncertainty can have the same effects as lacking control. This is critical to test and establish because uncertainty and lacking control are conceptually distinct and may, as a result, produce different effects. This research establishes that uncertainty and lacking control represent one broad construct that incites the need for structure. Furthermore, by using emotions which differ on uncertainty and valence, we are able to provide the first evidence that uncertainty alone is enough to drive compensatory control strategies, regardless of valence. Lastly, these experiments extend the literature on appraisal tendencies of emotions by establishing that emotions characterized by uncertainty appraisals don't simply lead to systematic processing. Rather, they lead to structure seeking.

What Whitson et al are saying, emotional uncertainty creates a need to compensate. Uncertainty in an emotional state – regardless of whether it is positive or negative – leads to a desire for structure and a sense of control.  So, in our attempt to achieve a sense of certainty, to make sense of things, a conspiratorial mind think or a harsh, punitive religions (like Patriarchy and Quiverfull) can become attached.

In other words, there is comfort in the conspiracy theory.  Seeing real or illusory patterns, provides an explanation for why things are the way they are. There is comfort in overbearing religious dogma or a tyrannical government, as both purport how things ought to be.  Mapping out our fates and providing predictable structure in our ever changing world.  As the authors put it,

“Whether one finds comfort in a strong government, astrological predictions, or vast conspiracies , all are responses potentially driven by the uncertain.”

Even without evidence, people faced with uncertainty or fear will gravitate move toward something that makes sense of things -- even if that something is harmful or makes no rational sense

The emotional roots of conspiratorial perceptions, system justification, and belief in the paranormal

Famed Russian mystic Dzhuna dies at 65 | News | DW.DE | 08.06.2015

I find this interesting in light of this article I posted last month, Black magic on Red Square:

Welcome, then, to the strange and unsettling world that lies behind the façade of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. A country where faith healers and psychics enjoy as much, if not more, respect and trust as doctors and psychoanalysts. A country where a high-profile, Kremlin-linked ideologue is as well-versed in the writings of early 20th century British occultists as he is in modern political theory. A country where belief in magic is still very much alive.

Although she called herself the “Assyrian Princess” and was said to have predicted "the Chernobyl disaster and the end of the Soviet era,"  her popularity did not rise until "the breakup of the Soviet Union."Able to "help" others, in the end she could not help herself.

The self-proclaimed psychic healer, whose real name was Yevgenia Davitashvili, died in Moscow on Monday morning, after slipping into a coma caused by circulation problems.

According to several Russian news outlets, Dzhuna had treated top Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who died in 1992, as well as the famous directors Andrei Tarkovsky and Federico Fellini. Hollywood star Robert de Niro is also reported to be among her clients, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

She also gave consultations to Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, her ex-husband Igor Matviyenko told the AFP news agency. Matviyenko called Davitashvili "the secret healer of the Kremlin," likening her to a "female version of Rasputin in the 1980s."

"Almost all the Politburo came to our wedding in central Moscow," Matviyenko said.

Russian lawmaker Oleg Finko called the astrologist "extraordinary," saying that he, too, used her services,,,

Famed Russian mystic Dzhuna dies at 65 | News | DW.DE | 08.06.2015

Black magic on Red Square | New Humanist

A fascinating read,,,

The sorceress’s name was Valeriya Karat, and her slick, professional-looking website claimed she possessed hereditary magical powers. Among the rites she offered to carry out were spells to bring back wayward husbands, remove curses and attract money for her customers. “I can also heal illnesses,” she told me. “But I can’t use my magic to benefit myself.” I’d interviewed many of Russia’s self-proclaimed sorcerers, wizards and psychics as part of my ongoing research into the country’s enthusiasm for the occult and the paranormal, but this was the first time I’d met someone who appeared to practise voodoo. “There is no such thing as black magic,” Karat told me, perhaps sensing my discomfort. “Magic is colourless.” A scrabbling sound came from behind me. In a murky corner of the room, a black rabbit sat in a small cage. “This is part of a magical rite to get a husband to return to his wife,” Karat said, matter-of-factly. “The husband was born in the Chinese year of the rabbit. When he returns, I’ll free the rabbit.”

Karat is far from Russia’s only internet-savvy sorceress. From St Petersburg to Vladivostok, there are thousands of online advertisements for “magical services.” Not all of Russia’s occultists are to be found online, however. In 2010, a psychologist with the Russian Academy of Sciences cited World Health Organisation data that indicated there were more occult/faith healers (800,000) in Russia than professional doctors (640,000). And Russians are putting their money where their faith is. In 2013, the country’s leading cardiologist complained that his fellow citizens spend almost £20 billion every year on magical and paranormal services. This, the astonished surgeon pointed out, is almost twice the amount Russians spend on foreign medical care. Another statistic is perhaps even more revealing: Russia’s Academy of Sciences estimates that 67 per cent of all Russian women have at some time sought help from a “psychic or sorcerer”. The figure for Russian men is one in four.

Welcome, then, to the strange and unsettling world that lies behind the façade of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. A country where faith healers and psychics enjoy as much, if not more, respect and trust as doctors and psychoanalysts. A country where a high-profile, Kremlin-linked ideologue is as well-versed in the writings of early 20th century British occultists as he is in modern political theory. A country where belief in magic is still very much alive.

[,,,]
Russia’s obsession with the occult has deeper historical roots, too. In his seminal study of Russian folk culture, Ivan the Fool, Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sinyavsky detailed a pervasive Tsarist-era belief in superstition, magic and pagan gods, as well as the widespread popularity of sorcerers and faith healers. “In Old Russia, almost everyone resorted to elementary magic help,” wrote Sinyavsky. “Magic was used on a daily basis.”

[,,,]
But it wasn’t only the Kremlin’s enemies who attempted to use occult powers in the early years of Soviet rule. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Bolsheviks skilfully adapted the rural occult practices and symbols familiar to newly urbanised peasants. Propaganda posters and slogans referred to “unclean forces” and “purging” ceremonies. Lenin was even more direct, denouncing his adversaries as “vampires”. As author Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal has noted in her pioneering book The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture, the Bolsheviks may not have believed in the world of magic – indeed, they frequently denounced it – but they “incorporated occult and quasi-occult ideas” into the mythologies they constructed around Lenin and Stalin. Superhuman powers of wisdom were attributed to both men, often taking on – particularly in Stalin’s case – a near-mystical quality. Although there is no concrete evidence that Stalin himself believed in the occult, there have been rumours for years that the Soviet dictator employed the services of one Natalya Lvova, “a third-generation witch”. Shake-ups in the Communist Party, which usually meant a trip to the Gulag for the unfortunate official, were whispered to be the result of Stalin and Lvova’s black magic Kremlin sessions.

Black magic on Red Square | New Humanist

My refuge so to speak

Welcome to The Para X Network

I would like to introduce y'all to my refuge so to speak. If you are interested in anything dealing with the paranormal this is the place to go. Now some of you may be scratching your head with wonder--yes I am a atheistic/agnostic that is a skeptical believer in paranormal phenomenon. It is a complicated story which some day I hope to share,,,but for the moment I will say that my thinking has undergone a major paradigm shift in the course of the past 2 yrs. And yes I am approaching this shift from a rational standpoint, well as rational as I can be, that's why the confusion.

But anywhooo,,,here's a bit about Para X:

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