Re: Do you believe in magic?

eddie on Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:06 pm

I think I'm in love with a work colleague who is a proven witch.

blue moon on Tue Jul 19, 2011 1:58 pm

...and the proof????

eddie on Tue Jul 19, 2011 2:15 pm

blue moon wrote:
...and the proof????

The ATUI "Sinister tale of occult vegetarianism" thread has been lost in cyber-space, but when I get the time I'll recap on a few details.

Doc Watson on Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:34 am

eddie wrote:I think I'm in love with a work colleague who is a proven witch.

Be careful you do not end up as a toad.

blue moon on Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:42 am

eddie wrote:I think I'm in love with a work colleague who is a proven witch.

...she's an occult vegetarian?

blue moon on Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:50 am

Doc Watson wrote:
eddie wrote:I think I'm in love with a work colleague who is a proven witch.

Be careful you do not end up as a toad.

...albeit a learned and literate toad affraid

blue moon on Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:16 am

silviando wrote:
...and I was thinking, do we need proofs to believe in whatever?

...I don't, Silviando. Some people believe there must be a logical explanation for everything and some don't, in the same way that some people believe in divine power and others don't. 'Magic' as a word is so loaded with connotations of charlatanism...I guess what I believe is that there is a mystery that exists beyond human comprehension.

...I really hope this conversation (where are you?) doesn't bring out the beast in some of the posters

eddie on Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:28 pm

blue moon wrote:

...she's an occult vegetarian?

The nose a little more retrousee and a pageboy hair cut, and you've more or less got it.

Guest on Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:42 pm

But magic is very dangerous. You have to master magic tricks because there's something called "the trick into eternity". That's when you perform a magic trick and it gets stuck... the effects repeat over and over again forever. There's no way out.

blue moon on Mon Sep 26, 2011 3:51 pm

...groundhog day

Guest on Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:00 pm

I keep seeing those connections and I think I can try to explain what I mean now.

I was staring through the window in the afternoon and through that moment I acceded another place and time (the moment belonged to another moment and vice versa)... and I knew I know that place and time but I can't tell from where or when.

The following is not an example of connection, I'm just going to use it to show the behaviour of connections.
Not very long ago I had an hallucination (I don't have hallucinations but I had it). I was in my room and when I looked at the wall where there's a table next to it, the table was not there and instead there was a door, a metallic old "medieval" door. I had never seen that door before but I knew beyond the door there was a prison, and I knew what the corridor and stairs looked like although I could not see them through the door, as if I had walked there before... but I hadn't. I wasn't lost. I didn't even had to ask why I was there, as if I knew it... but I couldn't tell why.

Guest on Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:16 pm

It's like having memories from something you've never met.

You can think the experience is blurred. But it's not. There's no difference with the usual reality, it is vivid... even more than the usual reality.

eddie on Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:32 pm

^ You might like to check out the review of the Rupert Sheldrake book in this section. Not sure whether it's entirely apposite, but it's food for thought.

user on Wed Apr 04, 2012 1:40 am

In 1882, in Paw Paw, Michigan, a remarkable human enigma was brought to the attention of Dr L. C. Woodman. The 24 year-old man, named A.W. Underwood, had to take great care whenever he breathed, apparently to avoid causing fires. At first the doctor thought the stories were mere exaggerations, but one day there was a knock on his door, and in walked A.W. Underwood himself, looking for help.

Dr. Woodman was persuaded to make tests in the presence of himself and some of his colleagues, and to their amazement Underwood performed incredible feats which they could not explain. Doctor Woodman told the Michigan Medical News (n.17; September 11, 1882):

'He will take anybody's handkerchief and hold it to his mouth rub it vigorously with his hands while breathing on it and immediately it bursts into flames and burns until consumed. He will strip and rinse out his mouth thoroughly, wash his hands and submit to the most rigid examination to preclude the possibility of any humbug, and then by his breath blown upon any paper or cloth envelop it in flame. He will, while out gunning and without matches desirous of a fire lie down after collecting dry leaves and by breathing on them start the fire...'

Dr. Woodman stated publicly that he was sure that Underwood's phenomena were authentic.

The doctor also noticed that Underwood would hold the cloth or other material against his mouth so that he could force his breath through it, thus condensing whatever strange process it was. The doctors washed Underwood's mouth out with various mixtures, and obliged him to wear surgeon's rubber gloves - but it made no difference - the phenomenon carried on as normal.

This is an exceptional case, especially as the subject allowed himself to be tested and investigated for months, and, although the report was published in the Michigan Medical News and other similar journals, no one ever came forward with an explanation for Underwood's bizarre fire-breathing talents.

A similar case was reported In 1927, when Vice President of the U.S., Charles Dawes, personally investigated the case of a car mechanic in Memphis, Tennessee, who supposedly had the mysterious ability to set inflammable material alight merely by breathing on it. The man took General Dawes' handkerchief, breathed on it, and it caught fire. Dawes and his colleagues decided that it was no trick, and since no reasonable explanation could be found, it was left unexplained.