I decided to make this reply a whole new blog posting because of the length of the reply. To see the post I am responding to see Farmer Jane's comment under my last blog post about Ed Dames.
Jane started off with some comments about Dame's timing protocols. I'm familiar with Dames' timing protocols. That's what he was using to time the "kill shot" event. He said the shuttle event would take place first, then within days the kill shot. How he claims to time events is to veiw prior events. So when you see "Event A" you will know that "Event B" will follow close behind.
I would argue that the protocols were about 80-90% fulfilled a year or two ago. It's just he doesn't accept them because the earth wasn't in fact destroyed. Almost everything else he predicted though *did* indeed happen. But if Dames were to admit that 1) he wouldn't have a nice juicy apocalypse to keep getting back on Coast to hype and 2) he would have to admit he was only partly right.
I don't think it's so bad to admit you got it 80-90% right!
I don't see anything helpful in scaring the crap out of people over events you say they cannot change (which Dames does quite often). He's adamant that he's always right, something that would trouble me even if 1) he was always right, which he hasn't been, 2) he wasn't taking a dime and 3) everything that he said was sunshine and Kumbaya.
If he was truly avoiding the "doom" label he wouldn't go on Coast every six months like clockwork with another horrific prediction then tell people there is no avoiding it, I'm sorry. I don't buy the victim act he puts on when he's pressed about that. He has a choice whether or not to keep pushing this time line back. I can say I avoid chocolate, that don't make it so.
True, fear motivates people ... for good or ill, and overwhelmingly mostly for ill. I don't know what he's supposed to be motivating us to do since he's said the "kill shot" will wipe out 90% of the population and there is nowhere you can go to avoid it. Seems to me he wants to motivate us to buy his CDs. I would have no issue with that if he wasn't using fear to do it. And last I checked. he was still charging $199.00 for his remote viewing CDs: https://www.remoteviewingproducts.com/lrv/order.cfm .
I've edited a book that deals with the human reactions. Fight and Flight are two of four primary human reactions and they mostly get us into trouble, but that's another discussion.
As for Tarot, I am sorry that was your experience, it's not universal.
If you are pulling information directly from Source, then no, you cannot be influenced. But who is to say Dames and his students are doing so? They have a record, no better than any other group of remote viewers. And they see things the other groups do not. The one common factor is these people train with Dames. It seems obvious to me that teacher influence can account for the homogenized results he's claiming, especially with regards to the "kill shot". I have worked in similar groups, and it becomes obvious that the groups are psychically tuning into each other or to the leader of the group. Double-blind isn't applicable to psychics! (laugh) I remember one "informal" survey I did where no less than a dozen psychics told me I would marry the same guy and they were all adamant he was not gay. Darlin' he was as gay as it gets. They were tuning into a zeitgeist of their own making. I'm comfortable assuming that's what's happening with Dames' students.
As for the Bible, Dames himself has a very contradictory view of prophecy in the Bible to the Bible's take on prophecy. The prophets were all quite clear that prophecy could be changed if behavior was altered. If people came back to God, then the disasters could be averted. Dames on the other hand has been adamant that everything he sees *will* come to play no matter what anyone does. In my experience no one can make such guarantees. And in fact Dames has had some spectacular misses along with his hits.
I am not one who believes people must be spiritually pure to be accurate psychically. I have known too many dysfunctional, alcoholic, side-show psychics who could nonetheless blow you away with their accuracy. And like Caroline Myss, I know plenty who don't "OM", eat meat and live very secular lives yet have terrific intuition. Nor does having this ability automatically make one spiritual. It's a normal human talent, like art or music. Some folks are better at it than others, but it's a gift God offers us all, regardless of our spiritual intent. There are lots of people getting away with abusing it, unfortunately. Of course if you are out of harmony with yourself, that may affect your judgment, but that's a psychological process, not necessarily a psychic one, imnsho.
Finally - any public figure is fair game for criticism. The only time I say "If you don't like it hit the end transmission button" is when someone is calling for censorship. I'm not calling for that. What I have been calling for is for people to do their homework and use their common sense before they follow anyone's teaching - and I include my own teaching in that statement.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
How to Drop Anger
In my work in personal growth classes and as an intuitive consultant, I often come across people who ask me how to get rid of anger. What I say is that you will only change when you recognize 1) What anger is costing you and 2) What the "Prize" is for hanging onto it.
What is it costing you? Nelson Mandela once said "Resentment is like taking poison and hoping your enemy will die". But even though we may know our collection of stored resentment may be killing us, we still hang onto our outrage. How can that be?
As my good friend Ross Quinn says, we don't do these things to ourselves because we are stupid. We do them because they make sense to us, at some level. As painful as stored anger can be, there is a reason you are hanging onto it. It may be a big part of your identity. It may bring you attention, it may allow you to control certain conversations (and if that makes anyone here mad and are tempted to say "but you can't understand my pain ..." ... then you are busted, my dear). In your heart somewhere you may have magical thinking happening ("If I stay mad, that will hurt the perpetrator"). You could be stuck on "Why". Caroline Myss says people don't really want to forgive, what they want is the perpetrator to grovel at their feet (preferably in public) begging for forgiveness while they sit back and say "I'll think about it" ... C'mon admit it, we've all wanted that from someone, and in our hearts all know how silly and impossible it is. Any one of these reasons may apply to you, and none may. But somewhere inside the prize is hiding, and you need to recognize and relinquish its hold on you if you don't want to be a victim of it for the rest of your life.
My personal experience ... as a bullied kid, I found it very hard to forgive the teachers and the bullies until I recognized that while they were long gone out of my life, clinging to my resentment was kind of like dragging them along with me everywhere I went! Energetically, that is exactly what we're doing - our solar plexus is plugged back into the past, and into our abusers. It's as though we make a decision to carry on their dirty work for them. We become our own abusers! If you want to stop it ... then let it go. Take your solar plexus back. It's as easy as making the decision. I don't think about or talk about the abuse I went through, except to show how I've overcome it. When it comes up as an issue or reaction for me, I remind myself that's over now. I won't give my abusers one more second of my time or one droplet of energy that they don't deserve! Getting well was the best revenge. I will leave the justice part to God. Karma always takes care of itself in the long run.
Brandi
What is it costing you? Nelson Mandela once said "Resentment is like taking poison and hoping your enemy will die". But even though we may know our collection of stored resentment may be killing us, we still hang onto our outrage. How can that be?
As my good friend Ross Quinn says, we don't do these things to ourselves because we are stupid. We do them because they make sense to us, at some level. As painful as stored anger can be, there is a reason you are hanging onto it. It may be a big part of your identity. It may bring you attention, it may allow you to control certain conversations (and if that makes anyone here mad and are tempted to say "but you can't understand my pain ..." ... then you are busted, my dear). In your heart somewhere you may have magical thinking happening ("If I stay mad, that will hurt the perpetrator"). You could be stuck on "Why". Caroline Myss says people don't really want to forgive, what they want is the perpetrator to grovel at their feet (preferably in public) begging for forgiveness while they sit back and say "I'll think about it" ... C'mon admit it, we've all wanted that from someone, and in our hearts all know how silly and impossible it is. Any one of these reasons may apply to you, and none may. But somewhere inside the prize is hiding, and you need to recognize and relinquish its hold on you if you don't want to be a victim of it for the rest of your life.
My personal experience ... as a bullied kid, I found it very hard to forgive the teachers and the bullies until I recognized that while they were long gone out of my life, clinging to my resentment was kind of like dragging them along with me everywhere I went! Energetically, that is exactly what we're doing - our solar plexus is plugged back into the past, and into our abusers. It's as though we make a decision to carry on their dirty work for them. We become our own abusers! If you want to stop it ... then let it go. Take your solar plexus back. It's as easy as making the decision. I don't think about or talk about the abuse I went through, except to show how I've overcome it. When it comes up as an issue or reaction for me, I remind myself that's over now. I won't give my abusers one more second of my time or one droplet of energy that they don't deserve! Getting well was the best revenge. I will leave the justice part to God. Karma always takes care of itself in the long run.
Brandi
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Ed Dames and Secular Apocalypses
Over on Twitter, @farmerjaneusa and I were having this conversation about Ed Dames, and I couldn't answer her there.
This won’t be an exhaustive list of what concerns me about folks like Ed Dames ... just a couple examples. Anyone who wants detail can Google Dames’ record. Before I get into my examples though, I want to say that I think Ed Dames, and some of the other well-known “modern prophets” actually do have an interesting track record and some pretty amazing “hits”. I believe Dames may have some ability in remote viewing, and I have heard positive feedback from students of his classes. But I’m ambivalent about prediction work in general and Ed Dames has a special place in the “toxic” category of psychics whose work I’ve followed.
I categorize “predictions” into the following categories:
“Horoscopes” are purely for entertainment value, imnsho. Yes, I do write horoscopes for my site Astrology.ca. I wanted to do a site where I taught people astrology, and it was all very serious, and when I finally let my business-savvy boss back at TUCOWS talk me into adding horoscopes, it finally started paying for itself, traffic went up by 5000% (not kidding). I do say though on that site that all horoscopes are purely for entertainment value. I want no one to take them seriously – the only reason I still offer them is it brings in enough traffic to pay for itself, and that gives me the ability to promote real astrology.
“Forecasts” can be visions, dreams, astrological or Tarot interpretations that focus on the future and stick mainly to a description of the vision or the energies involved. Forecasts avoid rigid interpretation. Interpretation is left up to the listener, or it is made clear that there can be alternate possibilities for the way a forecast may manifest (See “Forecasting versus Prediction”). I see forecasts as potentially useful, depending on how they are approached, and I have used them in my psychic work.
“Disaster Predictions” and “Apocalypse Predictions” are the two categories that trouble me the most. They seem similar, but the main difference is that a “disaster” prediction only focuses on a given event: an earthquake, terrorist attack, another peccadillo in the life of a troubled celebrity. The argument for making disaster predictions public is that a disaster could possibly be averted or modified in some way if the affected parties were made aware of it. I personally prefer a forecast mindset to the prediction, but I take no issue with disaster predictions in and of themselves. It’s only when there is an endless stream of them, or they seem to carry an agenda that I begin to question them. Apocalypse predictions however, I look at as toxic. Apocalypse predictions end in global disaster, the “end times” or the destruction of civilization. There are sub-sets within apocalypse predictions, the Christian Biblical Apocalypse being the most popular variant, however the Islamic faith also has a strain of Apocalypse prophecy that few in the West are aware of. What I call “Secular Apocalypse” is the variety favored by Ed Dames. He does not to my knowledge have a Biblical or religious tie-in to his “Kill Shot” Apocalypse.
Dames has been predicting his “Kill Shot” Apocalypse since back in the mid 1990s in appearances with Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM and on his web site. As I recall the course of events, he said that this “Kill Shot” would take the form of a gigantic solar flare aimed directly at the earth that would wipe out most if not all life on the planet. His school of remote viewing has (according to Dames) perfected a method of timing such events by looking at events immediately preceding the “main event” and in the case of the “kill shot”, he foresaw a Space Shuttle being forced down by a meteor storm, followed by the massive solar flare.
I actually give Dames credit for a “hit” on the “Kill Shot”. But I believe the “Kill Shot” has already taken place. I recall an appearance with George Noory during a Shuttle mission where the shuttle was brought back early and immediately afterward one of the largest solar flares in history was indeed recorded. I believe, as is often the case with psychic ability, that Dames and his team were affected by his own interpretation of the events they viewed. They “hit” on the Shuttle issues and the solar flare, but missed on it actually hitting the earth. Dames claims to be so certain of this prediction because many of his team see the same events, but he’s failed to account for the possibility that his students are “following the leader” so to speak. It’s a well-known psychic phenomena that sometimes a group of psychics will all be strongly influenced by their perceived leader. They may all get the same vision because it is the one strongly held by Dames.
Regardless, Dames must now insist that the event which has past is not the “real” “kill shot”, and that it is soon to come in the future. The “Kill Shot” web site continues to say “within ten years”, a very long predictive cycle that keeps getting pushed forward as it fails to materialize. That’s tremendously important for Dames, who makes a good deal of money selling “survival” CDs. In the meantime, the people who take this prediction seriously continue to live in fear of something that has already passed harmlessly.
Why I would call that toxic and irresponsible should be obvious. If you believe in the Law of Attraction, then you know that to focus on a negative, fearful event is to give energy to it and to risk creating it. While I think the momentum of thought is on the side of those of us who trust in the continued health of our solar system, I think it’s unhealthy to promote such an idea. First off, if it were to actually happen, there is absolutely nothing anyone could do to prevent it. It’s healthier to let people live out their lives without that burden of fear. I think it’s also unhealthy on an individual level. What kind of lives do people have when they live in this kind of fear? What kind of lives do they give their children? As a child of a parent steeped in fearful Biblical prophecy I can testify that it can have a profoundly stunting effect on a child’s psyche. Why strive for a better life when you are convinced you are going to die horribly anyway?
Not long ago, Dames predicted that Steven Fossett would be found in a specific location and as I recall that broadcast, he told Noory that if Fossett wasn’t within a certain radius, it wouldn’t be a hit. The searchers were covering a huge area, and (again if I recall correctly) that very evening that he was on Coast, they had found Fossett’s ID card. Dames’ location was considerably outside that radius and he stated quite emphatically that Fossett would not be found near the documents, and that if that did happen, he would count it as a “miss”. The next day though, some bones later confirmed to be Fossett's were indeed found near the documents. That night, Noory had Dames back on ... and while I listened with incredulity Dames claimed it as a “hit” and Noory verbally patted him on the back for his incredible powers. This last visit to Coast (what little of it I could bring myself to listen to), Noory again used this event as one of Ed Dames “major hits”! I’m flabbergasted by this revision of history. It’s almost as bad as what Sylvia Browne pulled on the Coast show, yet Noory is letting Dames get away with it. Then there is the history of his legal and PR problems with PSITech. I love Coast, but Noory is doing a lot of damage to his own credibility when he not only doesn’t question claims like this, he becomes a cheerleader for them.
As an intuitive myself, I believe in the power of what Dames calls “Remote Viewing”. It’s nothing new, it’s been done for centuries, and it can be effective to a certain degree. I also think notoriety for this ability can be abused for profit, political or religious gain. I think the true power lies in the now, not in the future or the past.
I also believe there will be disasters and challenges in our future, that’s part of life. No matter how good their disaster predictions, the big-name famous psychics cannot tell you or me individually who will be effected and who will not. So their predictions are interesting, entertaining and irrelevant. It makes sense to be informed and prepared for disaster no matter where you live (if you only store water you are ahead of 90% of people out there). Before you give any psychic prediction credibility, make sure to look at their overall record. Have a look at the skeptic sites. If our media interviewers won’t challenge the self-proclaimed prophets who appear on their shows, it’s up to you to do your own homework before you decide who and what to believe.
This won’t be an exhaustive list of what concerns me about folks like Ed Dames ... just a couple examples. Anyone who wants detail can Google Dames’ record. Before I get into my examples though, I want to say that I think Ed Dames, and some of the other well-known “modern prophets” actually do have an interesting track record and some pretty amazing “hits”. I believe Dames may have some ability in remote viewing, and I have heard positive feedback from students of his classes. But I’m ambivalent about prediction work in general and Ed Dames has a special place in the “toxic” category of psychics whose work I’ve followed.
I categorize “predictions” into the following categories:
“Horoscopes” are purely for entertainment value, imnsho. Yes, I do write horoscopes for my site Astrology.ca. I wanted to do a site where I taught people astrology, and it was all very serious, and when I finally let my business-savvy boss back at TUCOWS talk me into adding horoscopes, it finally started paying for itself, traffic went up by 5000% (not kidding). I do say though on that site that all horoscopes are purely for entertainment value. I want no one to take them seriously – the only reason I still offer them is it brings in enough traffic to pay for itself, and that gives me the ability to promote real astrology.
“Forecasts” can be visions, dreams, astrological or Tarot interpretations that focus on the future and stick mainly to a description of the vision or the energies involved. Forecasts avoid rigid interpretation. Interpretation is left up to the listener, or it is made clear that there can be alternate possibilities for the way a forecast may manifest (See “Forecasting versus Prediction”). I see forecasts as potentially useful, depending on how they are approached, and I have used them in my psychic work.
“Disaster Predictions” and “Apocalypse Predictions” are the two categories that trouble me the most. They seem similar, but the main difference is that a “disaster” prediction only focuses on a given event: an earthquake, terrorist attack, another peccadillo in the life of a troubled celebrity. The argument for making disaster predictions public is that a disaster could possibly be averted or modified in some way if the affected parties were made aware of it. I personally prefer a forecast mindset to the prediction, but I take no issue with disaster predictions in and of themselves. It’s only when there is an endless stream of them, or they seem to carry an agenda that I begin to question them. Apocalypse predictions however, I look at as toxic. Apocalypse predictions end in global disaster, the “end times” or the destruction of civilization. There are sub-sets within apocalypse predictions, the Christian Biblical Apocalypse being the most popular variant, however the Islamic faith also has a strain of Apocalypse prophecy that few in the West are aware of. What I call “Secular Apocalypse” is the variety favored by Ed Dames. He does not to my knowledge have a Biblical or religious tie-in to his “Kill Shot” Apocalypse.
Dames has been predicting his “Kill Shot” Apocalypse since back in the mid 1990s in appearances with Art Bell on Coast to Coast AM and on his web site. As I recall the course of events, he said that this “Kill Shot” would take the form of a gigantic solar flare aimed directly at the earth that would wipe out most if not all life on the planet. His school of remote viewing has (according to Dames) perfected a method of timing such events by looking at events immediately preceding the “main event” and in the case of the “kill shot”, he foresaw a Space Shuttle being forced down by a meteor storm, followed by the massive solar flare.
I actually give Dames credit for a “hit” on the “Kill Shot”. But I believe the “Kill Shot” has already taken place. I recall an appearance with George Noory during a Shuttle mission where the shuttle was brought back early and immediately afterward one of the largest solar flares in history was indeed recorded. I believe, as is often the case with psychic ability, that Dames and his team were affected by his own interpretation of the events they viewed. They “hit” on the Shuttle issues and the solar flare, but missed on it actually hitting the earth. Dames claims to be so certain of this prediction because many of his team see the same events, but he’s failed to account for the possibility that his students are “following the leader” so to speak. It’s a well-known psychic phenomena that sometimes a group of psychics will all be strongly influenced by their perceived leader. They may all get the same vision because it is the one strongly held by Dames.
Regardless, Dames must now insist that the event which has past is not the “real” “kill shot”, and that it is soon to come in the future. The “Kill Shot” web site continues to say “within ten years”, a very long predictive cycle that keeps getting pushed forward as it fails to materialize. That’s tremendously important for Dames, who makes a good deal of money selling “survival” CDs. In the meantime, the people who take this prediction seriously continue to live in fear of something that has already passed harmlessly.
Why I would call that toxic and irresponsible should be obvious. If you believe in the Law of Attraction, then you know that to focus on a negative, fearful event is to give energy to it and to risk creating it. While I think the momentum of thought is on the side of those of us who trust in the continued health of our solar system, I think it’s unhealthy to promote such an idea. First off, if it were to actually happen, there is absolutely nothing anyone could do to prevent it. It’s healthier to let people live out their lives without that burden of fear. I think it’s also unhealthy on an individual level. What kind of lives do people have when they live in this kind of fear? What kind of lives do they give their children? As a child of a parent steeped in fearful Biblical prophecy I can testify that it can have a profoundly stunting effect on a child’s psyche. Why strive for a better life when you are convinced you are going to die horribly anyway?
Not long ago, Dames predicted that Steven Fossett would be found in a specific location and as I recall that broadcast, he told Noory that if Fossett wasn’t within a certain radius, it wouldn’t be a hit. The searchers were covering a huge area, and (again if I recall correctly) that very evening that he was on Coast, they had found Fossett’s ID card. Dames’ location was considerably outside that radius and he stated quite emphatically that Fossett would not be found near the documents, and that if that did happen, he would count it as a “miss”. The next day though, some bones later confirmed to be Fossett's were indeed found near the documents. That night, Noory had Dames back on ... and while I listened with incredulity Dames claimed it as a “hit” and Noory verbally patted him on the back for his incredible powers. This last visit to Coast (what little of it I could bring myself to listen to), Noory again used this event as one of Ed Dames “major hits”! I’m flabbergasted by this revision of history. It’s almost as bad as what Sylvia Browne pulled on the Coast show, yet Noory is letting Dames get away with it. Then there is the history of his legal and PR problems with PSITech. I love Coast, but Noory is doing a lot of damage to his own credibility when he not only doesn’t question claims like this, he becomes a cheerleader for them.
As an intuitive myself, I believe in the power of what Dames calls “Remote Viewing”. It’s nothing new, it’s been done for centuries, and it can be effective to a certain degree. I also think notoriety for this ability can be abused for profit, political or religious gain. I think the true power lies in the now, not in the future or the past.
I also believe there will be disasters and challenges in our future, that’s part of life. No matter how good their disaster predictions, the big-name famous psychics cannot tell you or me individually who will be effected and who will not. So their predictions are interesting, entertaining and irrelevant. It makes sense to be informed and prepared for disaster no matter where you live (if you only store water you are ahead of 90% of people out there). Before you give any psychic prediction credibility, make sure to look at their overall record. Have a look at the skeptic sites. If our media interviewers won’t challenge the self-proclaimed prophets who appear on their shows, it’s up to you to do your own homework before you decide who and what to believe.
Monday, April 06, 2009
Ghosts and Psychic Ability
lately i've had some problems. See i knew i was psychic since i was 7 yrs old. But i had some issues with it because it goes off and on. I'm really proud of having this gift but i have this problem that i will only see bad things coming in my dreams. Also i saw a spirit once. And i believe my house is haunted even though i would like to know why it's haunted i don't know how to. Anyways i need help from you to tell me how i can expand my visions and see positive things too. Thank you for time, and please answer me soon,
CR
Dear CR,
I wouldn't worry about it going on and off like that, that's common. It happens to all of us. A couple things jumped out at me when I read your post. Did you notice how you don't say "I", you say "i"? It's a way of making yourself small. That is out of harmony or coherence with the pride you take in your psychic gift. Is there a part of you that doesn't feel you deserve to have "good" visions too? Do you spend a lot of your time worrying or fearful in general? The important thing regardless is to stay positive. When I first had my experiences, they were mostly negative too. I was terrified of them, and my fear drew even more negative experiences my way. Doreen Virtue tells people to ask their angels for help and I think that's a terrific idea - ask your angels or pray that you be given only those visions that are in your best and highest good, and when you get the odd negative one, don't dwell on it, just journal it and let it go. Over time you will find the visions change.
As for the haunting, they usually happen when something bad happens in a given place. They are very rarely actual spirits. I've made a video reply for you to explain this in greater detail. In the meantime, the best thing to do is to meditate every day, to regularly ground yourself, and to keep a regular journal of these kinds of experiences so that you can look back on them with more clarity in the future.
Brandi
CR
Dear CR,
I wouldn't worry about it going on and off like that, that's common. It happens to all of us. A couple things jumped out at me when I read your post. Did you notice how you don't say "I", you say "i"? It's a way of making yourself small. That is out of harmony or coherence with the pride you take in your psychic gift. Is there a part of you that doesn't feel you deserve to have "good" visions too? Do you spend a lot of your time worrying or fearful in general? The important thing regardless is to stay positive. When I first had my experiences, they were mostly negative too. I was terrified of them, and my fear drew even more negative experiences my way. Doreen Virtue tells people to ask their angels for help and I think that's a terrific idea - ask your angels or pray that you be given only those visions that are in your best and highest good, and when you get the odd negative one, don't dwell on it, just journal it and let it go. Over time you will find the visions change.
As for the haunting, they usually happen when something bad happens in a given place. They are very rarely actual spirits. I've made a video reply for you to explain this in greater detail. In the meantime, the best thing to do is to meditate every day, to regularly ground yourself, and to keep a regular journal of these kinds of experiences so that you can look back on them with more clarity in the future.
Brandi
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