Psychic Attack Real. Major Newspaper Reports.

The Mind&Body supplement from the West Australian newspaper for Tuesday 11th July 2006 excels itself in copious quantities of oozing wooness.

EoR won't go over "How Old Are You Really?" again, since Medgadget has already done so at length. Nor will he dwell for long on puff pieces advertising visiting "wellness gurus" who claim

In sheer frustration, she cried out for help one day and Ms Kavelin-Popov said she was saved by divine intervention. She said an inner voice gave her 10 rules for health which she wrote down in detail and ever since her 1997 epiphany, she has preached what she was told.

Nor will he dwell on the lunacy of "In Tune With Your Body" where he learns that

Every cell, when broken down to its smallest parts, is actually comprised of energy or frequencies.

So why don't radio transmitters (for example) create cells every time they're operated, since they're pumping out both energy and frequencies?

No, EoR prefers to dwell today on the back page of the supplement which he has, until now, ignored. Devoted to "Dream Reader" Charmaine Saunders, readers write in with their dreams and Ms Saunders provides the appropriate interpretation. Generally confined to the "a blue bunny who explodes in flames signifies relationship difficulties" level of dream interpretation, with the occasional psychic trick of "Are you experiencing any difficulties in relationships?" style of information, it's usually just ignorable fluff.

This issue's selection of dreams is remarkable though for its obsession with death. There's the dream of the dead body and ghost, the dream of hundreds of ghosts that ends in the woman stabbing her children, and the dream of a lot of blood which Joan understandably takes as an omen of Doom to Come (Ms Saunders, in a previous issue, did explain how dreams are often prophetic). Unfortunately, Ms Saunders seems to realise how unsustainable such an assertion is, without actually admitting that such things can be attributed to coincidence, or selective interpretation.

If I truly believed that a person's dream contained a serious warning, I would truthfully explain this but I genuinely believe that most dreams are simply helpful messages from our subconscious.

So how does she tell the real omens from the fake omens? Does it come down to that key word "belief"?

Things get worse with Larry's plea:

Is it possible to receive psychic attacks through dreams? I truly believe that I am being troubled by hostile spirits during my sleep. I wake up exhausted and feel very disturbed just about every night.

EoR can't quite remember when the diagnostic manual was updated with "Psychic Attack in Dreams" as indicated by symptoms of disturbed sleep and exhaustion, but it must be there, since the erudite Ms Saunders advises

I do think this phenomenon is possible. Some people would call it being haunted but basically it just means that you have spirits attached to you that are not friendly. They can manifest in many different forms and coming through dreams is one of their expressions. You need not be afraid of them if you keep your hear pure. If you're religious, pray for protection and if not, say a simple affirmation like, "I am always safe from negative forces" before you go to sleep each night. Visualise yourself surrounded by white light. Speak to your priest about a blessing or hire a ghostbuster who will come and cleanse your living space. The main thing is to remember that thoughts are energy so what you put out comes back. Keep your thoughts and your beliefs positive and gradually the energy around you will clear.

This fantastic (literally) mumbo jumbo is printed in a major city newspaper (indeed, the only daily newspaper in Western Australia). EoR wonders sometimes about this alternative universe that the alties live in which seems to coexist in some way with the mundane (literally) world of reality. Hire a ghostbuster? Is this woman serious? EoR just looked at the telephone directory, and there's no such listing. Maybe it only exists in the Middle Earth dreamworld that these people seem to inhabit.