Mind-Mingle or Mind-Fuck?
Readers Respond to ”Confessions
of a Psychic Predator”
In the Yule issue of Widdershins,
we printed a candid, provocative article from a psychic vampire. If you haven’t
read the article yet, you can read it online at
www.widdershins.org/vol11iss6/04.htm. We asked readers to respond to the
following questions: Is this practice wrong? What parts? Why? Have you ever
done anything similar? How do you feel about it now? Thanks to the readers who
took the time to write these letters. They are as interesting as the article
they’re about. Enjoy!
Don’t Enter My House... Uninvited
If I came home and found my house had
been cleaned, and I had no idea how it happened, I would be creeped-out. This
person is basically talking about sneaking into my house, sitting in my chair,
going through my drawers, straightening things, cleaning things, and without my
knowledge, leaving behind a ‘good feeling’ piece of themselves. If I lived in a
magickal world and knew brownies and people like this were wont to visit, I
‘might’ eventually get used to it. But I don’t; and the thought of it makes my
skin crawl.
Being an ‘old soul,’ I would also be
intensely indignant to have anyone cleaning my space. Those feelings and
stresses are mine. They are there for a reason: for me to deal with and
learn from. I earned them and I would deeply resent anyone treating me like an
invalid and taking my lessons and experiences away from me. (One experiences
most things through one’s feelings.)
But the bottom line is that while this
person is [doing something] unethical, they are not bound by the laws of any
belief system. What ever balancing the universe and the gods demand will be
achieved. I hope the person who wrote this reads what I have said and realizes
that in the end, they are not doing good, but evil, on all sides. Once they can
see that they can start to rebuild their ethics.
Lee Richards
Vampire Gives Pagans a Bad Rep
Dear Widdershins,
I read with horror the article you’ve
asked for responses to. … It’s people with just that kind of completely
self-centered energy that I am constantly shielding myself from, yet most of
those I have met like that call themselves members of some form of more
orthodox religion. This person is a spiritual vampire.
I am shocked and saddened that someone
with that much potential to help others would do such things, when their energy
could be spent doing that same thing in a better, more consensual way. Thank
you for publishing that article. The community needs to be aware of this type
of thing, as obviously it is just this kind of thing that has given us the
darker part of our reputation.
Danielle Di Lucca
Anonymous Commits
Acquaintance Rape
I applaud the bravery of “Anonymous” in revealing
her psychic predation, because it is important to bring such practices into the
light. There are others who engage in this practice but will never admit it.
The situation presents an ethical dilemma: On the one hand, the author intends
no harm and is careful to retreat where she senses resistance. She “mingles”
with her friends and tries to make them feel better. On the other hand, she
does not obtain full and fair consent before exploring their psyches and takes
advantage of them in a weakened state, often when they are asleep and perhaps
less able to resist her advances.
It is important to note here, however,
that it is not the goodwill of the author that matters to the analysis, but the
effect her advances have on the recipient. What she has described is no less
than a form of rape—in this case, more akin to an acquaintance rape, since she
seems to do this only with friends. That is a strong and shocking allegation,
but let’s look at the dynamics: The legal definition of rape is nonconsensual sex,
and at its core is an abuse of power. The person in power uses that power to
overcome the other for self-gratification. Make no mistake; it is a selfish
act. In acquaintance rape situations, the lines are even blurrier than with
forcible rape by a stranger: The victim feels less powerful to resist the
predator’s advances because of the preexisting friendly relationship. The
victim often will not stop the advances for a number of reasons: she does not
trust her own instincts, doesn’t believe the predator could have ill will in
mind, fears retaliation, or blames herself for getting into the situation in
the first place.
What the author describes is more
intimate than sex. She does not obtain consent before entering and, ultimately,
permanently alters the landscape of her friends’ minds. As in the acquaintance
rape situation, lack of resistance does not equal consent. Many victims in the
acquaintance rape situation put up little resistance, yet they are not
consenting either, and the experience permanently and irrevocably harms them.
The victim has been deprived of the right to choose what to share with and
reveal to the author, and the right to control and organize her own thoughts
and feelings in the way she chooses. Our minds are the most private part of ourselves
and the part over which we least like to lose control.
The author is fooling herself into
believing that what she is doing is beneficial. However good her intentions and
however careful her actions once she has penetrated, however many psychic
kisses and hugs she gives her unwitting victims, she is abusing her power to
inhibit another’s freedom in a situation where the other is in a weakened state
and is not able to consensually participate. She clearly derives satisfaction
from this abuse of power, from the sheer ability to peek into and manipulate a
place where her friends might not otherwise let her.
Hopefully, she will reconsider her
practice and recognize that the most satisfying mind-meld occurs when the
participants fully consent.
EarthMommy
Is It Wrong If It Heals?
Wow … well written and thought-provoking.
It makes me wonder about the ramifications when I send Reiki, magick or healing
to someone without their consent. I practice nursing in an acute care setting
and often work with really sick people. Some days the energy runs through me
from the moment I hit the door to the moment I go home. Likewise If I stand
next to someone who is ill or needs their aura buffed, the Reiki just activates
… I don’t need to call it. I look at the healing energy like this: I can send
it; if the recipient’s higher self accepts the healing, then so be it. If not,
then it is dissipated into the universe.
LG
“Love” Like This Usually
Carries a Prison Term
It doesn’t take much introspection to
realize that the anonymous psychic predator who wrote last month’s article is
trying hard to justify the equivalent of rape. It wouldn’t be so bad if her
true intent was to heal people, but her true intent is not to heal people. She
gets a kick out of invading other people’s privacy, of tinkering with their
emotions, and of the knowledge that she can do it again whenever she wants.
Anonymous doesn’t need to be convinced
that what she’s doing is wrong. She admits it. She’s addicted to this behavior,
and won’t give it up because of the thrill it gives her to be intimate with
helpless people. She calls it love, but it sounds more like a peeping tom, or
worse, someone who breaks into her friends’ houses while they’re asleep,
touches their bodies, sniffs their underwear, and then justifies her behavior
because she washes the dishes before she leaves. Love? Is this love? There’s a
name for “love” that’s inflicted upon a hapless person, and that kind of “love”
usually carries a prison term.
I interviewed Joy*, a long-time student
of the energy arts. She’s a journeyman in Qigong, the Oriental Healing Arts.
She’s also an apprentice to a Toltec master (Central American healing and
spiritual arts). Both Toltec and Qigong practices include distance healing. Joy
spoke of one instance when she was having a problem with blocked energy, and
e-mailed her master about the problem. He said he’d work on it. About an hour
later, Joy felt waves of energy course up and down her body, as her master
cleansed her of the blockage. She e-mailed him thanks. This, Joy explains, is
what distance healing is about. She asked for help, and got it. She knew who
was manipulating her energy, and she was expecting it. No problem.
Joy says that the existence of such
psychic predators is not news to those who work with energy. Her master’s own
master, a very wise woman who has practiced Qigong for most of her 108 years,
has a method to protect herself from energy thieves, or those who would intend
her harm. Whenever she poses for a picture, she holds her hands in such a way
that both her thumbs are completely covered. The thumbs are the outlets of the
lung meridian, which in turn is associated with the skin — the natural defense
of the body. By hiding her thumbs, anyone viewing the picture is not able to
use it as a focus object to steal her energy or intend her harm.
Most people who begin to study the
healing arts, whether it’s Reiki, Qigong, or some other path, are instructed
from the beginning that they must never use their skills to harm people. Joy
spoke of one Qigong master in
I asked Joy how the Toltecs would protect
themselves. She said that for a Toltec master, the will alone is enough. Those
who are beginning students, or unsure of themselves, can use a focus object.
Feng-shui mirrors are meant to reflect negative energy, and if a psychic attack
isn’t negative energy, nothing is. Joy uses a special piece of petrified wood.
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a statue or an object of art. It can be any
item that has meaning to the person using it. Joy says that the Toltecs suggest
prayer as a powerful tool.
“Like, ‘Now I lay me down to sleep/I pray
the Lord my soul to keep?’” I asked.
Joy smiled. The prayer can either be to a
deity or to no one. The important thing is the intent. Here’s one suggestion:
My home is my sanctuary.
No can touch me.
No one can harm me.
My sleep is safe.
“If you say it with pure intent,” Joy
says, “it is done. So the best way to protect yourself from any negative
assault might be to formulate a prayer and say this prayer as a ritual, as part
of your daily routine.”
As long as you perform it with your own
words and know that it is true, say it out loud and believe it, it will
be so. Or, as witches say, “So mote it be.”
An experienced witch might not need
candles or icons, but for those who would rather have something concrete, you
can make a small amulet. Place a small piece of turquoise and a sprig of rue
inside a leather circle. Close it, with the stone and rue inside and the openings
at the top. Tie a thong around the top, wrapping it three times to keep it
tight. Wear this on nights when your intuition tells you you’re vulnerable, or
when you want a little extra security.
“Anything that makes a person more
comfortable, whether it be a prayer, a ritual, an item, or any of those things,
as long as they believe that what they’re doing is manifesting the intent they
want, it will work.” Joy says, “Many people, especially those who are less
experienced in energy work, will feel more empowered and therefore more
protected by using a focus.”
Sadly, Joy admits, psychic predators are
not uncommon. She recounted one incident when “Barbara,” a friend of hers, had
been assisting “Dr. Young” while he was in town working with her Qigong master
on a research study. Before he left, Dr. Young gave her a hug. Barbara thought
it was a friendly gesture at first, but immediately afterwards felt exhausted.
Fortunately her Qigong teacher knew what was happening and was able to help
Barbara recharge. Apparently Dr. Young had a reputation for being a “taker” and
stole energy from people on more than one occasion.
I can only hope that the anonymous
psychic predator’s friends find out what she’s doing and stop her before she
does irrevocable harm to herself or others. It’s not just the Threefold Law she
has to worry about. Traveling too far from your body is always dangerous, and
mental hospitals are full of people who went out one night and never found
their way back. Not only that, but she says she leaves pieces of herself every
time she visits. How long is it going to be before there’s nothing left? I
wouldn’t want to be friends with a person like that. It’s bad enough to be
violated by a stranger, but to have someone who supposedly cares about you do
that is a fierce betrayal. There are always going to be selfish and evil people
in the world, and some of them have magickal skills. All you can do is be
aware, and take steps to protect yourself.
* “Joy” asked me to change her name to
protect the identity of her teachers.
C. Cheek
Maturity, Understanding
May Help Anonymous
First, I want to thank the author of the
piece for being candid. I have talents similar to those described by Anonymous.
Although I did what Anonymous does when I was learning about my gifts, today I
do not unless I feel threatened or I am asked for help.
What she is doing (and what I once did)
strikes me as inappropriate on at least two levels. Simply put, it’s an
invasion of another’s privacy, a kind of voyeurism. In my own case, I came to
understand that although the target may be unaware of my presence, that makes
it no more OK than if I had peeked through someone’s window without their
knowing it.
Also, she has a sense this is wrong and
yet continues to do it. When we violate our own inner code, our own sense of
right and wrong, it has karmic significance, whether he/she accepts the Rede or
not. Also, it makes us co-creators of a world we don’t want to live in.
Finally, I would ask how Anonymous would
feel if someone did this to him/her? Or looked through her windows? Or went
through her diary? Or went through her underwear drawer? I wouldn’t like it,
but it’s all the same.
Enough said.
Brother Witch,
Visalia, Calif.
Some of Us Haven’t Yet the Courage to See Who, What We Are
Like the editors, I too appreciate the
candor with which the author describes her lifestyle. She attempts to explain
her behaviors with as much openness as she enjoys when viewing an unsuspecting
victim.
However, while I appreciate her
justifications of no malicious intent, and her recognition of the inherent harm
of her choices, I still feel that her actions are wrong, and that she is not
being honest with herself if she truly believes that she does more good than
harm.
Three-fold law and Wiccan Rede aside, the
reasons I see these actions as wrong is from what I know about my own life experiences.
I have been the victim of such invasions, and I was not left with a pleasant
feeling. It’s more like a lasting void. I don’t want someone creeping in and
“cleaning up my messes.” Those are my challenges, my lessons to be learned, my
bits of flotsam, which make me who I am — imperfect, ever-learning me.
In my experience, we cannot help those
who do not wish to help themselves, regardless of the circumstances. We cannot
do things for someone that they are capable of doing themselves, without taking
something away from that person. Each of us, as individuals, must be free to
make our own choices about what we share with those around us and when. For
some of us, we are still waiting to be brave enough to truly see ourselves for
who and what we are, as may be the case with this author.
Individuality is a slippery fish. I
recognize the interconnectedness of all things in the universe. Regardless,
humans are firmly rooted in their individuality, at least for the time being.
This is the means by which we learn of ourselves, and consequently the cosmos.
When another presumes to have the right to invade on the privacy of another
unannounced and without permission, they are inherently hurting both themselves
and the other person, regardless of their original intentions.
I try hard not to be judgmental of
others. None of us is perfect, and we must all do with our lives as we see
fit. I can only assume that this
individual’s choice to make a life style out of violation must be leading them
on their path of learning as only they know how.
Anonymous Reader