You'd think that on "All Hallowed Eve" people would have some respect for that which is sacred. Unfortunately, 'tis the season to lock up your pets and have the doggies trained not to take any food from strange hands. Halloween is traditionally the time where the people, who have misguided concepts regarding the getting and keeping of personal power through torturous animal sacrifice, get busy. Lock up your cats, lock up your hounds, and tell the teenagers not to hitchhike. For every 1000 nice sane people there is a cruel wako walking the streets at this time of year.

Psychics do not believe in any way or form that the killing or torturing of animals will enhance personal abilities, they will not create any psychic ability, nor will an entity be convinced to assist in any dastardly deeds.

There was a time in the not so far past when mentally ill, cruel, or just plain stupid people who thought they were psychic spiritualists (Necromancers) would indeed make a pact with a human being who, after death, was expected to become the spiritual slave of the necromancer who indebted them in some way while they were still alive. This indebted issue was very important to all parties involved, as these were the days when a man/woman's word was upheld as a badge of family pride and personal honor. And of course it was a time when the-powers-that-be would wipe out a whole family if the pact wasn't honored. A Necromancer is said to be one who raises the dead or can communicate with the recently deceased through a variety of ritualistic means. Usually a demented control freak with a bit of authority amongst the people. A peasant hoping to end his/her family's starvation would sell themselves for food or money to a devious metaphysical practitioner- usually working for a political, religious or royalty figure. The necromancer would either recruit suitable candidates from the villages or choose from the slave community. Children were not exempt, neither were good sturdy war-horses and large fiercely fanged fighting dogs.

During human history there were also times when people were convinced that giving themselves to ritual sacrifice would result in their being "ambassadors" of their people to the spiritual realms and that their "job" on the other side would be to petition the spirits on behalf of their people for better crops, a war or battle victory, an end to contagion, etc. And there were always nasty people who would take advantage of this spiritual misconception regarding the afterlife, getting their kicks by claiming to be helping the good folks of the community. Granted there were many spiritualists who were very sincere in their beliefs that animal or human sacrifice would indeed provide ambassadors to petition spiritual entities for the benefit of suffering people, and true, they would usually attempt to dispatch the living into the realm of the dead with as little pain as possible. There were others who regarded pain during death to be very important. They believed excruciating pain during death would serve as a reminder to the sacrificial dying that life was full of suffering. They believed that if they could make the dying remember this detail after death that the newly dead would be more sympathetic to the living loved-one's plights and so, more vigorous in their petitions for help from the spiritual realm - which would, in theory, bring faster relief to the living people's ailments. Misguided and untrue - yes, but it made sense to the masses at the time, so, they supported the practice with glee. And some people today still think it makes sense, which of course is a psychological malfunction. How freaky.

While there were many reasons for human and animal sacrifice and many more reasons why it has been banned in our time, one thing holds true, it was a ridiculous practice regardless of any of it's theoretical reasoning. It never proved valuable to the living in its theories or otherwise and was never based on actual psychic philosophy. The only problem human sacrifice solved at any given period of time was that of culling the human heard of a few so the plenty could have more to eat. And lets face it, in times where hard working arms were needed to cultivate the land, even a few who went missing didn't do a whole lot to improve the masses in the growing fields. Couldn't the few have just been sent on their way to start new villages? Well, sure, but political and religious zealots wouldn't have utter control over them then, so that was usually out of the question as it could conceivably create a new society that would compete with the original. On and On the story goes- it's gory, it's even tedious, so I won't bother continuing it.

Today's problem centers on cults that have developed out of ignorance and even Hollywood. That problem is: some people still believe that ritual killings will empower them with supernatural abilities or dominance of spiritual entities and their realms. They run around performing senseless rituals, killing things, despoiling the concept of the value of fleshed life.

It is still believed that demons or other spiritual entities can be called upon and controlled to perform the caller's demands. Many cults still practice the old ritual of drawing chalk (or blood) circles on the ground, uttering a few words, lighting a few candles, throw in a mutilated dead animal and then expect that an entity is going to appear in the circle they drew and that it will have to stay within that circle. Having worked with entities my entire life, I can guarantee to you that the entity is not restricted to the silly circle. Actually, if an entity appears it is usually just having fun with the ritualist, literally making fun of the ritualist and I suggest there is a whole crowd of entities hanging around laughing uproariously at the ritualist. Of course this is supposed to teach the ritualist a lesson, but often ritualists are too dense to "get it".

Other ritualists often believe, if at first you don't succeed - try try again! And they do. Killing kitties, eating human skin, fat, blood or organs that they hope will again provide the desired supernatural control freak results. This doesn't work either. So, what's a ritualist to do? Oh, poor ritualist -- I suggest you just lay down and GET HELP, GET A LIFE, quit sucking for something you can't have, make your own success and try to like yourself after you have been so cruel and made a fool of yourself.

More cruel intentions of the ritualist comes to light when one considers that an entity who believed in this garbage while they were human may indeed get sucked into (for a few moments) the whole concept of being called, being ordered around and feeling trapped and used overall by a ritualist. Sounds like "rape of the soul" to me. The good news is that, the entity realizes it isn't limited to the ritual circles and overflowing glasses of gore. It isn't supernaturally controlled by the ritualist, and there are no repercussions in wandering off to brighter vista's (so to speak). Now, what happens when this entity is feeling a bit vengeful toward the ritualist? Well, actually, not much--that's the big joke. The amount and degree of entity and human interaction is limited and supervised by more experienced entities and so the entity is instructed regarding the lessons it learned during the whole messy experience. Due to this interesting fact the ritualist cannot order the entity around for more than a few moments and the entity knows it, so the entity may start playing with the ritualist in the hopes of sharing it's true nature which can provide a profound spiritual lesson for the ritualist and entity both. After which, the entity moves on to another exciting, richly detailed experience and its education continues. No resentments, no thoughts of vengeance. No blah blahs involved. The ritualist on the other hand must deal with the psychological issues around the experience, and may continue to search for supernatural influences continuing the degrading process throughout his/her life, which also affects the lives of other beings. Or perhaps the ritualist will have learned something of value regarding the true nature of entities and the dimensions in which they live, and hopefully even pass on the word - i.e.: don't mess with what you don't understand and be respectful of all beings as they can indeed provide a mystical experience that one can truly learn from when appropriately handled.

Remember that most ritualists who engage in this type of activity are doing so out of religious concepts of good and evil, heaven and hell, Jesus vs. Satan, etc. Remember too, that the Catholic Church's Pope has announced publicly that the theory of heaven or hell is not based on real places in spiritual realms, rather, that hell and heaven are states of mind while one is still a living being- you are either close to God or not and therefore making your own heaven or hell on earth. Gee that sounds familiar. Oh, Yeah, Psychics have been teaching this concept for centuries before the advent of organized religion. Nice that they have come to see the light in the year of 2000 and finally agree with us. Wait - doesn't this mean they have actually "validated" what we have been teaching- that which they killed us for daring to speak of or practice? Does this mean I won't be burned at the stake or stoned to death in the near future? No, not really. Economically depressed and uneducated countries are still burning "witches" on a fairly regular basis, and of course nobody is really doing anything about it. Village seers are regularly toasted if the cows don't produce milk or the skies don't cry rain. Not only is the village seer - seared - but their family members and students are too, actually herded into their thatched huts and burnt alive while the villagers stand around watching and waiting for a man-made miracle. This is a practice alive and well today, reported through national media. Well, that's another story though, and best left for another article.

Have a Happy Halloween - it is the time to remember your dearly departed and honor them by sharing the family "newsletter" with them in your thoughts-keeping them up on the progress of the descendants so to speak. It is a celebration that remembers and honors the departed, not a time to rip a helpless kitty's tail off or corrupt your very being.