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Author: |
Roy Stemman |
Created: |
9/5/2006 9:15 AM |
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A very personal view of the latest paranormal news |
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Radovan Karadzic: a lesson for us all |
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By Roy Stemman on
7/23/2008 5:50 PM
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Healing seems to be getting a bad name. Mervyn Johnson’s deplorable behaviour when treating young women in Sweden, whilst holding the position of president of the International Spiritualist Federation, has already been well documented on this site.
Now comes news of another “healer” who wasn’t what he seemed. This time, it has made world headlines. I am referring, of course, to Europe’s most wanted crime suspect, Radovan Karadzic, who has been masquerading as alternative healer Dragan Dabic.
Hiding behind a huge white beard and professorial spectacles, with his thick hair tied in a ponytail by hippy-style bindings, he apparently impressed everyone as a New Age guru.
None of those who read his articles in Healthy Life, consulted him about their problems or bought the “bioenergy” devices he peddled, suspected that they were dealing with a man who stands accused of multiple counts of genocide following the breakup of Yugoslavi ...
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Where now for the ISF? |
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By Roy Stemman on
7/8/2008 9:57 AM
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The International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) seems, at last, to be making the right decisions about Mervyn Johnson (Wright), its disgraced former president who is currently in a Swedish prison, having been found guilty of serious sexual acts against young women.
It is doing so, however, not because it wants to, but because it really has no alternative but to respond to the outcry that has greeted its Executive Committee’s cavalier attitude to the feelings of many of its members.
The latest to show its displeasure is the Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU) whose reasons for breaking its long association with the ISF are given on this website. I invited the ISF to comment on the SNU decision but its general secretary, Sue Willison, declined “as the Executive Committee are at present looking at the possibility of taking this matter to our legal department, ...
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Time for change at ISF |
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By Roy Stemman on
6/7/2008 4:31 AM
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The International Spiritualist Federation (ISF) has a make-or-break opportunity this week to put right some of the wrong decisions it has made in the past year or two, when its Executive Committee holds its Biennial General Meetings (10-11 June) during its week-long Congress in Eastbourne, UK.
If it is to regain the confidence of many of its members and reassure the rest of the Spiritualist movement that it has the collective wisdom to continue running an organisation that has flourished for over 60 years, the Executive Committee must:
Take away the life membership of its disgraced former president, Mervyn Johnson, who is currently serving a prison sentence in Sweden for child rape and other offences
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Change the venue for its 2009 Convention Week from Sweden to another country
If it chooses not to do so, then it must:
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ISF has head in the sand |
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By Roy Stemman on
2/24/2008 5:39 PM
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Whatever the views of the ISF Executive Committee on Garth Willey’s resignation (see our News story), the Spiritualist movement as a whole surely takes a very dim view of the fact that they have not removed Mervyn Johnson from membership of the federation.
That was the main concern raised by Garth Willey and it seems to be a reasonable one. How does the ISF expect to achieve “strength through unity” (see story) when it offers no justification for allowing a convicted rapist to remain an ISF member?
Let us not forget that the dreadful crime of which he has been convicted was committed in the name of Spiritualism, while he was giving healing and apparently entranced by a spirit doctor.
Declaring that it “does not wish to ... have printed under the name of th ...
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Celebrity absurdities |
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By Roy Stemman on
9/4/2007 5:59 PM
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If spirit communication were as easy as some psychics claim, life after death would be proved beyond doubt.
I’m always amused with the way in which dead celebrities or famous historical people seem to be able to send spirit messages, and how totally lacking is the evidence they offer.
A British medium, Dilys Gater, has written a “psychic biography” of screen legend Vivien Leigh, who starred in Gone With The Wind as well as other cinematic epics. Having not read her book, I’m in no position to judge its merits, but I’m not encouraged by one report which says the actress is not happy with her after-life. Why?
“There aren’t ...
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Beijing deserves Olympic boycott |
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By Roy Stemman on
8/7/2007 4:32 AM
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What would happen if the Italian government informed the Vatican that, in future, all Popes would have to be born in its country and no one resident in any other nation could have a say in the Papal Fathers’ selection?
There would be an almighty outcry from Roman Catholics around the world, and rightly so. As well as other Christian leaders, Amnesty, the European Union and human rights activists from around the globe would protest vehemently about such unwarranted interference.
St Peter, himself, might even put in an appearance to lend weight to the argument!
Sadly, I suspect that the news from China (see Death of reincarnation for Buddhist lamas?), which imposes similar restrictions on Tibetan Buddhism, will not receive the same prominence in world headlines, though some national new ...
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Missing Madeleine: a Nigerian perspective |
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By Roy Stemman on
6/11/2007 10:18 AM
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 It was probably of little consolation to the parents of Madeleine McCann to learn that Nigerian spiritualists, healers and herbalists – known as marabouts – had joined the paranormal hunt for their four-year-old daughter, who was snatched from her bed in Portugal.
The announcement of their involvement came from Malam Shehu Sani, the Civil Rights Congress (CRC) president and co-chairman of the Hand in Hand Africa organisation.
Unimpressed that “Western technology” had been unable to trace the missing toddler, the healers had decided to make their own response to the McCanns’ world-wide appeal for information, even though they point out that “millions of childre ...
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Missing Madeleine: a psychic perspective |
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By Roy Stemman on
6/1/2007 4:20 PM
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Nothing generates more controversy and emotion than the use of psychics in solving crimes as the tragic case of Madeleine McCann, snatched from her bed in a Portuguese holiday complex, reminds us (see also my Blog, Rights and wrongs of psychic detection, 1/15/2007).
On the one hand, those who accept the existence of paranormal powers argue strongly that it would be a crime not to make use of such abilities, particularly as in this case where child abduction is involved.
On the other, the sceptics ridicule the psychic clues provided by clairvoyants and mediums, dismissing their involvement as nothing more than cynical, self-serving promotion to attract more clients.
And somewhere in the middle are the police, under pressure to produce results despite the absence of much in the way of incriminating evidence, and needing to follow up every clue, whether from this or the next world.
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Rights and wrongs of psychic detection |
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By Roy Stemman on
1/15/2007 11:07 PM
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Let me be the first to confess that there’s nothing I enjoy more than a good television documentary about psychic detection.
By “good” I mean one in which an unsolved case, or one that is proving almost impossible to crack, unravels before our eyes as one psychic clue after another is proved correct, the culprit is apprehended, and the detective in charge shakes his head in disbelief as he confesses that individuals with paranormal g ...
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Was Geller the mystery psychic? |
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By Roy Stemman on
10/11/2006 10:35 AM
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Hardly a day goes by without my receiving a report of a psychic being consulted to solve a crime or mystery. Television production companies, in particular, have discovered that the combination of alleged paranormal powers and unsolved crimes makes for compelling viewing.
The fact that few of them result in an arrest or conviction is largely immaterial. The psychic usually achieves enough “hits” to be impressive and it is left to us to wonder how many “misses” were edited out.
But this week’s reports of the Israeli Army using psychics to try to locate three missing men – kidnapped in two different incidents – certainly comes as a surprise.
One of the psychics is named as Orit Tomer Ish-Yemini, who is better known in Israel as a healer and psychic diagnostician than a paranormal detective. Described by the Jerusalem Post (in 2002) as articulate, slim, beautiful and a heavy smoker, Ish-Yemini is said to ...
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