Occult Beliefs

As David Hufford said, in Beings Without Bodies, much of folk belief about spirits is found to be reasonable. This account is reported under his experience-centered theory. Hufford said much of the belief of spirits is reasonable as it is established on logical understanding from a person’s own experience. However, Hufford said not all beliefs are backed up by experience or even evidence. Some beliefs are made purely on faith. (Hufford p.11)

Superstition as an ‘excessively credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural’ is often associated with perilous endeavours, and a psychological need to latch on to a mechanism to allow hope for the preservation of the fragile human condition. This systematic and illogical belief in the supernatural is extensively prevalent throughout Faulks’ novel, during the linear storyline of Stephen and other orbital characters it is referenced through not only irrational fears but additionally rituals of extispicy.

That what I believe what superstition is like. If a person believes in seeing a black cat or walking under a ladder will cause bad luck, it will happen we will have bad luck because we started our day thinking in that superstition. It’s almost the same thing as the placebo affect they think it, it happens. “They thought it made them feel better” (49) superstition is the same thing people think carrying a rabbit foot brings good luck and if they forget the rabbit at home they think they will have bad luck for the rest of the day, but the placebo affect place a part in this we think we have good luck but in reality it’s just the mind thinking the person

There are many potential dangers when one disconnects reason and evidence from personal religious beliefs. One such vulnerability is “magical thinking” as asserted by Mark Reinholz in his literary work, Navigating the Grey (2014) in which he states “if we are willing to confidently bypass reason on the crucial, life-altering decision of selecting a religion, we may find that irrationality spilling over into other aspects of our lives.” (p. 6). Magical thinking is the conjecture that if I do this, then that will happen even though it cannot be justified by reason. In religion this equates to the causal relationships between actions and events, such as a prayer correlating to an expected benefit or a sinful act linked to retribution. When this

On a gloomy Tuesday night, a group of teenagers from George Mason University circled around an Ouija board to find out what their final grade from a psychology class, Mystery, Madness, and Murder would be. Soon after, the planchette moved, allowing them to communicate with evil spirits from another dimension. Unfortunately, this communication led them into learning not only their final grade, but also into being haunted by an evil spirit until the end of their lives. This, surprisingly, is a very common practice in the United States. Even the International Exorcists’ Association (AIE) states that the usage of Ouija boards increased the exorcism practices within the U.S. (cite). According to a recent poll on LiveScience, 65% of Americans believe

Over many years, people have been inquisitive about abnormal behaviours within their societies and beyond. A typical question pertaining to these behaviours is, “why is he behaving this way.” According to DSM-IV-TR, abnormal behaviour is defined as a person who experiences behavioural, cognitive or emotional dysfunction, associated with distress and atypical in his cultural context (Barlow, Durand, 2009). However, the quest for answers and remedies has drifted people from scientific models to traditional ones. One of such models is supernatural.

I noticed aversion in the lady's expressions; and decided to take leave from the dinner. Upon reaching home, I began contemplating how people fall prey to superstitious imaginations. How we associate dreadful events with ordinary things. As if natural disasters that we face are not enough. we develop these inconsiderable delusions from commonplace occurrences. With every terrorful thing that we see in our life, we tend to suppose a portent of calamity.

The act of possession was a considered a source of illness that required a ritual type of healing to remove the demons or spirits taking control of that its host. Exorcism was used as this type of healing that occurred all around the world, including the United States. Christianity believed that there were demons that harassed, tormented and possessed humans which came from the New Testament. We learned that Satan was in charge of these acts in which being possessed gave new skills and strength because of the demon inside of them. From the New Testament, Jesus was able to perform exorcisms simply by demanding these demons to leave its host and soon after his disciples used this

Conspiracy theories are labelled by many as crazy. The people who believe them are labelled as even more crazy. What is it about these theories that draw people in and make them believe something that seems so ridiculous? What does believing in these theories do to people? Over the course of this paper, I hope to explain many of the reasons that people believe, and many of the effects of believing at least one branch of these conspiracy theories. The branch in question being the Hollow Moon Theory and theories related to it including the Artificial Moon Theory and the Spaceship Moon Theory.

“But in the history of the United States there are several influential and persisting paranormal mysteries that have formed the haunted landscape of our shared country and cultural experience and have formed the basis of the themes and motifs examined in this work” (Fitch 8). In “Paranormal National” Marc E. Fitch, talks about the history of paranormal activities that occurred in the United States. Since the ancient times, people all around the world has seen ghosts or assumed haunted places dwells with ghosts or spirits. With the help of television shows, horror movies, and stories, people around the world are consumed by the “facts” that made them believe an urban legend about ghosts turning into true stories. “Nobody has been able to prove

What is witchcraft? Witchcraft is the practice of magic, black magic and the use of supernatural beings.Though witchcraft is associated with demons and Satan it’s just misunderstood. And though it has some downsides to it, as a whole, it’s just praising and praying to different gods and most witches use it as a way of work to make money, medicine, and healing. People have wondered about whether witchcraft is a religion and have asked the question “Is witchcraft considered a religion?” Witchcraft is part of the religion “Wicca, which is a modern form of paganism mainly found in the 20th century England.”(Wigington)

The first was a shortened version of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire, which is designed to measure the critical tendency of Sensation Seeking. Participants answer 10 true or false questions to determine their level of sensation-seeking behavior. Those who scored between 0 and 2 were considered low sensation seekers, 4 to 7 were moderate and 8 to 10 were high. The next questionnaire was the Personal Efficacy sub scale of of Delroy Paulhus’ Locus of Control measure, which measures one’s sense of personal control in numerous encounters. Participants indicated the extent to which each statement applied to them by using a rating scale of 1-7. 1 indicated that the participant disagreed strongly with the statement, 4 indicated that they didn’t agree nor disagree with the statement, and 7 indicated a strong agreement. The last questionnaire given was Jerome Tobacyk’s revised Paranormal Belief Scale. The PBS is a 26 item questionnaire that measures the belief in seven different dimensions of paranormality such as traditional religion belief, psi, witchcraft, superstition, spiritualism, extraordinary life forms and precognition. Much like the Locus of Control, participants also used a rating scale of 1 to 7 that indicated the extent to which they believed in each

While perusing through the different pieces of art in the museum, the piece that really struck my eye comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, called a bow harp, produced by the Azande people in the early 20th century. Made from wood, animal hide, and fiber, the bow harp measures about 32 inches in length. As an ethnic group in North America, the Azande people primarily live in the northeastern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as mentioned above. In South Sudan, the Azande prove to be the third largest ethnic group. In their culture, the practice of witchcraft and different superstitions evident. With no real origin of the Azande people, the prevailing myth explains that once these people die, they can recompense as different

In modern culture there is a distinct fascination with exorcisms. It is the focus of many movies and T.V.programs, however exorcism and possession are topics that should not be used for the purpose of entertainment. Exorcism is the healing rite through which a person is released from the clutches of an impure spirit. Through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Church finds the origin of this sacred rite. These three gospels hold a plethora of information about exorcism and possession in both individual accounts and logically stringing together information. For example, different demons have different names. Although this is not specifically stated, one can observe Christ’s accounts with demons, such as Beelzebub, Legion, and Satan,

When it comes to theories and the fundamentals that they depict, we always wonder just how true can theories be. Often, we find ourselves believing the theory because it gives us some type of hope, or it can help to justify certain events. However, to truly understand whether a theory is real or not, we must be able to think critically. When it comes to this process, we must take these steps into consideration such as consistency, evidence, competing alternatives, and adequacy. The theory that the Mansfield State reformatory housed paranormal activity, and how volunteers have experienced this phenomenon. Leads us to question whether this theory is real, or could it be explained due to other causal factors.