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My only caution here is to always go to accupuncturists whoi are otherwise medically qualified as well, in case an error is made you still have the usual malpractice suit option (though I'm told errors with this skill are rare). ASTROLOGY: One of the oldest concepts in Esoterica is the design of a personal horoscope based on your birth information and the location of the planets and stars at it. I believe that the basics of astrology work, the determining of personality traits according to birth time and period are fairly accurate, but very general. On the other hand I would not put any scope into truly predicting the future via this becuase the whole theory behind it doesn't work any longer if they are using the present day calendar and symbols. The original basis of astrology was not 12 but 13 Astrological constellations, which were the predominant sign for each Lunar month (13 signs, 13 moon cycles to a year). The missing sign is the Snake or serpent (dependant on where in the world you were born) and it was the 13th house of the system, fitting, if I remember correctly, on one side of Scorpio. If anyone is claiming true accuracey and results using Astrology they must be ignoring the current calendar and co nverting back to the classical one. I don't doubt there are some who do just this, but they are not the majority. Never believe Mass-marketed horoscopes in books, magazines or newspapers...they pay no attention to the time you were born or actual day and thus lack the information on your ascendency sign. Again don't put all your faith into this nor your hard earned dollars that you can't afford to lose. Remember Hitler had an astrologer he followed dilligently, and so did Napoleon, neither got the result they wanted or expected accordingly. BIO-RHYTHMS: this one pretends to be on the verge of science, and has fooled the scientific elites several times. In actuality bio-rhythm's are a diffrent for of Numerology linked with erroneous Astrology theories and anatomical information. Quite frankly I don't know anyone who's managed to have a completely accurate result from this, except a hypocondriac who got sick whenever it said their health was going to be at a low level. Not worth spending money on in any event unless you've come into a winfall inheritance (and if you have I'll take it off your hands and put it to better use willingly!). CHANNELING: this I've looked at in depth and believe it is probably the worst thing to arrise in our New Age Movement. Channeling, for those of you who have no idea what it is, is the trading of your body temporarily so a dead being of some sort (or enlightened being from another plane of existance) can express its opinions to the world thru you. I have problems with this subject because it reminds me far too much of the false mediums and spiritualists of the 1920's who hoaxed so many people out of so much money by promising to contact dead relatives for bereaving widows and widowers. Modern day channelers instead promise contact with people you've never heard of for the most part, who claim to be from Atlantis, or Moo, or various other pre-Christian era locales and times that have advanced in their stage upon the road of enlightment to the point where the want to help others by presenting a theory of Love and sharing...including usually sharing your funds with the person doing the cha nneling in amounts ranging from $100 to $1500 for an hour or so of this conversation. Quite frankly I haven't seen much from any of the channelers in any way of true enlightment being given or even accurate prophecies about anything except their own popularity and growth as a new-wave religion. I truly believe that it is possible that there are honest, for-real people who can channel the spirits of the dead and other-world beings, but like I believe in most things in this field, if their asking more than a simple re-imbursment for their time and possibly travel time (say $25-50 for an hour) I would stay clear of them and keep the cash. I also believe that there are a heck of a lot less real channelers then there are money-grabbing fakes (sort of looking at the New Age euivilant to Evangelical preachers here as far as I can tell). CRYSTALS & THEIR USES : I've been looking at what a lot of people are claiming you can do with crystals and what I know can actually been done with them and there is a H U G E diffrence between the two, with good reason. Again the money-making scheemers have entered this field and are making a bundle on what they can sell off quartz and other stones for, to the point where there is becoming a shortage of quartz available in nature in the US (many are importing the stones from other countries and or strip-mining for them in little-known spots in the poorer states of this country). I've used crystals, in the right hands they are a wonderful way of focusing energy from yourself and others to produce a result or to store them in a battery. . I firmly believe that no one needs thousands of crystals to improve their existance...else wouldn't the Goddess have placed them in easier locales for everyone to get at? Never pay more than $25 for a piece of rock, unless its pure gold or truly the most beautiful stone you've ever seen that you want as a conversation piece in your home. The most I've paid myself was $12 for the one crystal I wear, and I buy on the average maybe one new stone every six months or so because an old one becomes lost, misplaced or given away to a friend who truly admired it (I won't part with the Amethyst but I will part with other stones). It is not only crytals that have uses, one of my favorite stones is Hematite, a polished stone resembling a dull silver-color that acts as a great grounding stone as it tends to absorb and disipate energy as fast as you can concentrate it - and that if you actually buy it costs between 10 cents and a dollar, based on size, and is now often made by craftsmen into hand-made jewelry (a set of earrings costs about $7 from an honest dealer). For those who are interested I'm go ing to throw together and E-mail dump a file list of what I utilize particular stones for - but don't go out and spend lots of cash on them, its not worth blowing your paycheck over, something I've seen some gullible New-Agers do. Pick up a stone here and there, not just for what I say it can be used for, but for their beauty to your eye as well...in fact the more that you have set in jewelry instead of ugly paperweights or dust collectors the better you'll be doing. Remember whenever you buy any crystal or stone that it is just a piece of rock that takes on properties that you mentally associate with it, thus a nice piece of jewelry is a good way of ensuring it has at least some value even if you drop out of the Esoteric scene. HERBOLOGY: the practice of utilizing natural herbs and plants goes back as far as history itself, and herbology was the basic study from which science has built botany, agriculture, pharmacology, medicine and such. I have a strong belief that the study of this is one of the most inspiring things a person can do, for it shows how little modern science has really learned about the properties of nature and our relationship with all life in the universe. There are so many medicinal herbs that have been ignored or left unknown by modern medicine. For example, in NH and northern MASS grows Feverfew, a leafy green plant, the leaves of which when chewed or brewed into a tea, act as remedy for many forms of migranes (especially those caused by severe eyestrain - like sitting in front of a terminal for 20 hours or more). Learning, using and cultivating these various plants is a worthwhile endeavor, and anyone spending money and effort in this field of Esoterica is doing so with my applause (we d o some of this here at Shadow Weaver Grove, but even with three of us working at it its a huge project!). HYPNOSIS : the great wonder field developed by Sigmund Freud and his contemporaries, I have found this field to be both a wonderful tool and a dangerous weapon. Never let yourself be put under trance state by anyone you do not trust totally as they might take advantage of your state for manipulating your subconscious in the wrong way (EX at least one case I've heard of of a hypnotist doing weight-loss and stop-smoking work who was including in the hypnotic suggestions a catalyst so that the patients would then make sure to brag about who they went to and urge friends and relatives to try out his service - thus a pre-programmed advertising addition!) or actually, if you're female, take physical advantage of you while you're in the suggestable relaxed state (there have been at least 2 cases of lawsuits against hypnotists in MASS for this practice). Avoid Hypnotic learning tapes and videos, most of them include subtle suggestions to buy all the tapes they produce, and some include other c onsciousness manipulating messages. I had one friend who was using such and became an insomniac due to suggestions on the tape, just so the producer could sell them a relaxation and sleep-inducing tape. In other words, my advice dealing with the subject is to be real careful about who you work with, and never let someone experiment with your subconsciousness for 'the fun of it'. NUMEROLOGY: This is a complex field that very few people truly understand. Like Astrology it takes into account personality traits and potentials in a persons life, but don't expect it to work miracles like predicting the lottery or any such thing. There are very few people who claim this skill that have actually studied its sources and uses properly, so I'd avoid it until you can take the time to sit down to a few years study in the Quballa, the tree of life and its related sources. Don't waste big bucks on this, especially on people who do it mail order, all you'll get is garbage in=garbage out. PALMISTRY : one of the older forms of divination, it works on the belief that you can perceive something about a person through the wrinkles and natural muscle structure of their hand. Quite frankly this section of the field is full of frauds and fakes out to make big bigs...If you pay ridiculous sums for this you get the rip-off you deserve. There are a few people who doi this accurately and are not fakes, but like channelling, it is a very limited few. Anyone who offers to do this thru the mail or from a distance is almost 99 and 95/100% a Fraud, as a true reader has to not only see your hand but be able to touch it to get some psychometry off of you and to carry on dial.ogue to better define what they are perceiving. If you find them at a carnival or side show don't even begin to believe you're getting the reality. SUBLIMINAL RECORDINGS: Very similar to Hypnotisim, these tapes utilize the fact that you can mereg words on one track of a tape and mix it with music on other tracks to induce you to perform certain things (Quit smoking, etc.). Avoid these, they are just as bad as the Hypnosis tapes and far more efficient in the long run because they've had 35 years to experiment and get the process right! TAROT CARDS : My first introduction into the world of the Esoteric was through this, the oldest surviving means of applying you sub-conscious in evry day activities. I have a firm belief in the benefits of a deck, as it takes the mind of the user, applies the sleeping parts of their instinct and insight (as Jungian psychiatrists will tell you) and produces answers to pressing questions in their lives and the lives of others. Most people place a huge amount of ancient hocus-pocus and fear into the cards and thats what they get back from them. I look for viable paths open to take dealing with the subject question at hand and follow them thru almost as you would flow chart a computer program, but without knowing where the chart is going until its complete. Some of the best decks on the market include the Brabra Walker Deck (a bit harsh on its imagery but efficient!), The Hanson-Roberts (AKA Fairytale deck, its imagery taken from classic fairytales of the medieval and renesance eras), The Morgan's Deck (created in the 1960's style with simple line drawings and no suits or trumps and a really good sense of humor on its making by the author) and the Mythic Deck (Designed on the images of Greek Myths and the classic ideas behind them, very good for someone who knows mythology and well-packaged with a very informative guidebook). When buying a deck always choose one that has images on it you like and can deal spending many hours looking at, as you will in order to learn its value as a tool. A really nice varient on the market just recently is the 'Stargate' deck, unique in that the cards are written on on both sides, but useable by beginers with a few weeks of practice (Its almost totaly Jungian, but with no Archetype beings, only dream-work forms). You can spend quite a bit or very little for a deck, though again I keep myself to my $25 rule, and once you become real proficient with one deck then branch out into others (and not before or you'll simply become a collector of an odd form of artwork and not a Tarot reader). Always avoid taking a reading you do just for yourself as being pure fact, there are 1) always variables that might not be shown and 2) your emotional state can influence the cards, if you're depressed the reading will usually only make you more so. Avoid any deck that claims to be the ultimate or end-all be-all deck, there is no such thing for you unless you become advanced and skilled enough to design your own working deck (it took me 4 years before I was ready to start one, and its not yet ready for public consumption). Each person lives a diffrent life, thus experiences a diffrent reality, and though two may be similar they cannot be identical in all the details and the philosophies that arise from them. Think before you put your total faith in one reading...often getting a good second opinion is an excellant option. When it comes to finding someone else read for you, the best choice is someone who you can trust to keep the informati on confidential, either someone in your life you do trust who reads or a 'stranger/acquaintenc' who is far enough away as to not be influenced by the problem or your life-choices. Remember Tarot is a tool to make decisions with, not simply the fortune-telling toy it is presented as by many. It can help you follow trains of thought and where a situation/focus , might lead but it can't make random prophecies about the futuire or help you to win the lottery. If anyone is interested in entering into the occult/esoteric world, the Tarot is my advice as a starting point of learning. Once you've got a deck and begin to understand it then you should seek out someone who is experienced to help you refine yourself in their useage (and Tarot is one of the few accepted forms of Esoterica,to the point that many community colleges and adult education programs include a study of them as a psychological tool). Anyone who'd like a reading should contact me thru this bbs's mail, and if you live nearby (within MA/NH/RI and sometimes CONN) and could make the trip or arrange transport for me and maybe buy me dinner or something I'll sit down with you for a prolonged session of workings and discussion