| (no subject) |
[Jul. 15th, 2006|05:16 pm] |
All throughout your life youve been taught from day one that there are many different sciences but that there are two primaries to those areas which are; the physical and the metaphysical. Early in life, I found myself unconfident with that conclusion and began my quest to find the truth of existence. I knew that all in all there was a universal answer to the riddles of life, What made us and why?
I was completely unsatisfied with what religions taught me and found myself dabbling more towards the sciences and logistics of math. Often I lost myself in the chaosmathmatics behind things that seemed correct.
My studies brought me beyond the normal thought of mankind as a whole, into a world fantasy and back out into reality.
My first task was to find the answer to how we exist and where we do. GOD was the link that religion gave me to follow. The puzzle to life was the perception of good and evil. The beliefs of man came to the conclusion of which theres negative and positive. The problem with that notion is the fact that one must know the difference to know which path that they wish to follow in life. Two major questions fell upon me.
Life needs a direction? Interesting... Why would something so perfect need a reason or path to blindly take if all things are eternal?
Perhaps the answer lies in the depth of which mortal thinking man perceives the universe.
As you begin to read this book, I want you to open your mind and think on a level that is inhuman as I had to in order to understand what I was acknowledging as fact. There are a few things that may or may not defer you from seeing the same conclusion as I have; first of all, I am not a doctor, I am not an alien from some other planet or am I? Im not GOD. Im not even a close to being a computer, although the human mind is a very powerful biological machine, and lastly Ive been diagnosed with the mental illnesses schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder, which in turn may make all of this which I call fact simple illusion. Ill let you decide the truth from the fiction.
The human brain
Research tells you that the case studies have determined that the sciences of the human brain are not perfect. Medications are used to create some sort of opposing chemical which is supposed to stabilize the chemicals which already exist within the brain and throughout the rest of the central nervous system. Some of these man-made chemicals used in treatment of mental illnesses cause patients to suffer from major side effects. I was one of the thousands of victims who got worse while many of doctors used trial and error to try and find the right prescription to control my thoughts and cloud my vision of what they deemed delusions.
The major event which changed my life forever was the viewing of a Ron Howard film A beautiful Mind, inspired by the book written by Sylvia Nasar about the late Dr. John Nash the winner of the distinguished Noble Peace Prize for his work in General Dynamics. How did this movie have an affect upon my personal life? you might ask yourself.
The movie didnt it was the idea that a person diagnosed with the same illnesses that I have, had been given the chance to find the differences between a world of fantasy and reality. You see Dr. Nash had been diagnosed with both Severe-Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder, just as I was by the doctors at Mental Health Services.
Shortly after watching the movie; I heard rumors of Sylvias book, so I rushed to the library to check it out. I really didnt think much of Dr. Nash until after I started to read the biography. Once the book was opened I found it hard to put it down. The context that I was reading began to catch my attention because words were very closely related to my own life.
There are many different mental illnesses and disabilities. Psychiatrist, Psychologists and other neuro related scholars have gone through many years of education to acquire degrees as well as certifications for prescribing the right medications to patients with researched symptoms.
From my early childhood memories; I was prescribed drugs that were used in treatment for what we all know today as A.D.H.D. (Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder), a few years later I was put on other meds which were given to patients suffering from Manic-Depression aka bipolar, then by the time I had reached my adolescence I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia and later also found as a rare case of which Nash was both Schizophrenia and D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder) formerly known as MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder).
My symptoms grew more advanced with each change in treatment that the doctors put me under. It wasnt until I had been placed on a common anti-psychotic that I decided to stop taking my medications all together. I threw away all of the bottles and told my doctor that Id taken myself completely off of them entirely. At first my psychiatrist asked me if I understood what could happen to me if this decision backfired on me.
I simply explained to her that I was sort of using myself as an experiment for my beliefs that my delusions were controllable and that the sexual side-effects were destroying my chance for a real relationship with a female companion. She listened to my logic and allowed me my chance to prove my theory. As time went on the sexual desires came back and I found myself in and out of short-term relationships. The only problems that raised from my decision to not take the medications were sleeplessness and the strength of my visual and audio hallucinations. The most testing part of me not taking the drugs was the anxiety and panic attacks.
My doctor was only worried about the common occurrences of me not taking the drugs; suicidal tendencies, homicidal tendencies and delusional influences clouding my better judgment. Her last words to me were, Shawn, Im standing by you in this decision to stop taking the medications. All that I ask of you is if you feel yourself getting worse than better please come back to me and well get you back into treatment.
On my search for a better reality began...
At first the delusions were very overwhelming; I became fearful of the world and my surroundings. The prime-factor which I needed to find realism was to separate the fact from the fiction. I often found myself crying out of control while I was searching through the experiences which I believed to be true events in my past, which I was extremely impressed on how much I actually did truly accomplish throughout my life. To quote myself a few years ago; I feel as if I am a sixty-year old man stuck inside of a twenty-some year old body.
People out in public became nothing more than mere pawns on a chessboard which I was in control of; every move they made, every reaction to another person they were communicating, every look they got from others in the surrounding area and how they reacted to my presence. Each and every individual was a suspect in my mind as being a character in my fantasy world of schizophrenic delusions. What do I mean by suspects? you might wonder.
You see a schizophrenics mind doesnt react to new things the same way that a normal persons does. An illusion can not interact with others in reality or else theyre real, which in turn is the major advantage which I saw useful to me. I would ignore the new people until after theyd interacted with someone else that Id been keeping an eye on.
I needed some way to refer myself back to each witnessed event so I began to keep a poetic journal of each person which I seen interesting to me. I continued to see my visual delusions as well as hear things that were not there but I chose to ignore them as Nash did in the movie.
Prior to the viewing of that film I was lost, confused by a world of mass delusions and imprisoned by homelessness and hopelessness. Memories of my family-life and all of the abuse filled my thoughts with depression. I was extremely suicidal and even made several attempts to end my life. It wasnt until after my forty-fourth attempt that I began to see a reason to survive the life that Id been facing. After hearing so many peoples ideas about life and religion I decided that I was going to find my true reason to live on.
Stricken by the cold and the depression of winter, I found myself sitting down in a restaurant located somewhere in Detroit, Michigan drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. I pulled out a set of dice and started to write down each calculation which they fell into as I rolled them countless amounts of times. Suddenly the waitress came over to refill my coffee and accidentally spilled the steamy pot over the table and dripping on my leg. The very sensation of the wetness made me drop the dice and one fell to the ground. She bent over to pick it up for me as she apologized for her clumsiness. As she placed the die back onto the table, something hit me and sparked within my mind. Suddenly the need to write came over me and I pulled out my journal looked at the die and began to draw a cube. I glanced back to the die after the cube was drawn deep into the grain of the unlined paper and the dots became my focal point. I noticed that each side of the die was not only numbered but there was also a reason for their alignment on the sides. Each opposing side of die together equals the number 7; I then asked myself quietly Whats so important about this number in life? Then I think to myself, seven is a very emphasized number in the bible, seven is seen as a lucky number, seven is a prime number, seven is the number which some religions use to acknowledge good or GOD...but why? I stare at the die again. It hits me like a rock. Seven is the perception of the obvious side and the opposing side of the die, not only that but its the number which I have to see, meaning that I must exist in order for the 7 to exist. The idea that I am the perceiver of that knowledge came to me and I began to see this on an even larger scale. Mankind is the cube and whatever might be out there is the perceiver of that, which in turn means that something must be perceiving mankind in order for existence to be. As I came to that conclusion about the number seven, other numbers mentioned throughout the bible hit me then other numbers from other religions were drilled into my mind. I continued drawing all of the polygons which described each of those significant numbers.
Upon completion of the two page diagram a feeling of accomplishment came over me, I quickly gathered all of my belongings, called for my waitress to come over to the table, minus the spill, she was a sweetheart and very pleasant person to talk with about useless information. I wish I had more money I would gladly give you a nice tip but at this point in time I am homeless and need every bit of spare change that lies in the bottom of my pants pocket. Thank you for being such great company even if it were for a short point in time. I owe you; not just for a tip but something more than you will probably be able to comprehend, I quickly wrote upon a sheet of paper, folded it, placed it in the center of the table and proceeded walk out to the snow filled streets. As I walked down Michigan Avenue I noticed a large Jewish temple; suddenly, the only thought that flooded my mind was the symbol used in mathematics, pi. Then the memory which I had of the pendant that my Jewish ex-stepfather wore on his necklace and how closely the two related in appearance. Walking up the steep steps I noticed that services were proceeding so when I entered the buildings main hall I sat in the back and waited for them to end. After their discussion; the rabbi passed by my seat I saw his eyes glance down to my pages of Hebrew translations and pleasantly smiled at me.
,Obviously I wasnt a Jew so this was very awkward for me. I didnt understand a word that he said to the rest of the attendees so I just stayed in back observing and waiting patiently, for what I did not know. He reentered the room, took a seat next to me and asked me what questions I had for him. Im Confused. I replied. About what? he asked me in a sort of broken version of the English language, as he reached for the two page diagram that I slid between the pages of the book. It was as if he knew that I was going to be there and now he was just confirming his knowledge about the reason why I came that day of all days. He pointed directly at pi and explained to me that the symbol is the equivalent to the Jewish symbol pronounced as Chai meaning living g-d which in turn is also the same deity which Christians believe reins over the place known as Heaven. I asked if there was a number that was represented by this sigil, yes, 18 he replied. Actually it turns out that the acronym WWW for World Wide Web is also equivalent to the number 18 as well. What sparked my interest even further was the fact of how WWW was equal to eighteen. You see the Hebrew alphabet is formulated in a numerological chart and (W =6) which means that (WWW = 6 6 6). The translation from number to alphabet really interested me, especially the meaning to why and how the Jewish word Chai was the same as saying the mathematic equation (6 6 6) which may be the link between Christianity and Judaism entirely.
On the opposite side of the religious spectrum the perception of the myth behind the existence of an ultimate evil opposing mans idea of good is presented through the number (666) which is the exact alternative to the belief that (777) presents ultimate good or at least what is perceived as, by human organized religious followers. If these are the numbers that explain the existence of good and evil, what are the in-betweens?
Previous recorded science; provides explanation to the theory behind my question, for every equal instance/reaction, theres a equal and opposite instance/reaction which if good and evil exist there must be a neutrality; for instance chemistry clarifies the residing factor an atom relies upon three parts; the nuclei, the proton and the electron. Thus creating a new need that theologizes fail to accept as a fact.
In 1999; the Wackowski brothers wrote/directed the movie The Matrix . In the movie Keanu Reeves plays a modern day hacker, which somehow finds his self waking up in an alternate-reality created by mans machines. I remember taking my friends to see the movie, over and over during the theater viewing times. It was interesting to find them all saying the same thing as I did about the film, Its a modern movie about high-tech Paganism and a realists view about man having to come together to save the world from its own creations..
Within The Matrix; Andy and Larry describe the matrix as a hard-coded program intergraded with the human race, designed to sustain life in a coma-like state to preserve the body energy as living battery cells. Neo; the character played my Reeves learns the existence of the programs code, later can see it and manipulate it to create changes throughout the program. Doesnt that seem to take the term hacker to another level?
Mathematically speaking; the universe is nothing more than energy, so, What does that translate down to for mathematicians? In 1938; Konrad Zuse produced the first computer that used the binary code; which was the official day of when the human-race was not only able to see that code but also able to translate the conglomeration of ones and zeros into a language that the computer compiled into tasks. As many other inventors in the past, I dont believe that he wouldve known or even thought of the magnitude of changes his product would go through so well to take us beyond his imagination to where we are and where we will be in the future of technology.
Over hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, many philosophers have made us come to the understanding; that all creation consists of is energy when it all boils down passed the flesh, bone, blood and other chemicals which reside throughout our human bodies. Simply put our bodies as with all existence; breaks down to pure energy in essence on and offs, which can be ultimately translated to the same binary code that was used by Konrads machine.
Once I was a person,
Unique with my own thoughts,
Once I felt pain,
Nothing was trivial,
Nothing was I,
Always wanting more than I had,
Awakened by the mysteries this clouded my minds eye,
Truth is all that this being I am can become,
There is and always will be a link between all of mankind, I'll refer to this link as the "collective" and call those whom have access to the knowledge the "awakened."
Religions (Paganism, Christian, Judaism, Hindu, Buddhism, Taoism and so on) all have one major belief which follows a sorted structure all starting from creation stemming from "nothing" which in turn also means that nothing is the equivalent to the whole, but yet their priests and "holy men" all preach the fascination that there's one super-being (God, Goddess, Devil, etc...). I know now that this method of mass-mind control is a way to deal with the weaker-minded of society, a way to keep the population "in line" and when all else fails put a prize to be won at the end (Heaven, Hell, Paradise, etc...). People fear that which they do not know, most of society believes that if they do well and act as a productive citizen in the world, there's a special place for their souls ascend and objection to this behavior will send the "bad" souls to a less accommodating residence after life. On the other end of the spectrum there are people who choose not to believe in a "higher-being" than them and prefer to be called "atheists."
atheism (.. one part of the experience as a whole from an ID standpoint, you have your own choices, decisions and consequences. It's not until the perception of a one conscienceness is made together as the whole that those experiences of which we do in the present become one and we become one.
"As I have become the We, We have become the I and I shall become the "I" or in one word the "It". |
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| (no subject) |
[May. 10th, 2006|09:46 pm] |
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I edited my profile with Thomas Myspace Editor V3.6!
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| You scored as Egyptian Pantheonic Pagan. You scored as an Egyptian Pagan. With equal draw to both men and women, the Egyptian pantheon is a wealth of ancient stories and forgotten customs. Very seductive to the more cerebral Pagans, devoting oneself to this faith often means being willing to really work on finding out who your Gods were. Never an easy undertaking. Dedicated and insightful, you know you're among good company with those who also understand your Gods.
Egyptian Pantheonic Pagan | | 70% | Shamanic Pagan | | 60% | Eastern Pagan | | 55% | Zoroastrian Pagan | | 50% | Sumerian, Babylonian, and Mesopotamian Pagans | | 40% | Ecclectic Pagan | | 40% | Kabbalistic Pagan | | 35% | Celtic Pantheonic Pagan | | 30% | Roman Pantheonic Pagan | | 25% | Norse Pantheonic Pagan (Asatru) | | 25% | Greek Pantheonic Pagan | | 20% | Catholic (Pagan?) | | 10% | </td>
What kind of Pagan are you?
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| .. | You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already.
In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth.
Buddhism | | 88% | Paganism | | 67% | Hinduism | | 67% | agnosticism | | 67% | Islam | | 58% | Satanism | | 54% | Christianity | | 50% | Judaism | | 46% | atheism | | 17% | </td>
Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
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| .. | You scored as Biting. When it comes to being kinky, your biggest turn on is biting. You love the ectasy of teeth sinking into your flesh, and are probably willing to return the favor. Sex just isn't sex without using your teeth.
Biting | | 100% | Blood | | 92% | Whips | | 83% | Bondage | | 67% | Chains/Handcuffs | | 58% | Blind Folds | | 50% | </td>
What..s Your Kinky Turn On?
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 11th, 2006|12:12 am] |
Demonic possession is a form of spiritual possession; specifically, one or more demons are said to enter a living or dead human or animal body or an object with the intention of using it for a purpose, normally evil but sometimes instead as a punishment or test. This term is more commonly applied to possession of living persons. It is said by several spiritual belief systems that a demonic possession can be "cured" by an exorcism that enables the exorcist to expel the demon or demons from the possessed subject or object.
Many religions contain some concept of demons and demon possession, but the details vary considerably. Many mainstream Christian churches, particularly in western society, either reject the concept entirely or strongly de-emphasise it, instead supporting the mainstream scientific position that supposed demon possessions are in fact a symptom of mental illness.
Demon possession in history
As far back as we know, according to ancient inscriptions, Sumerians, Akkadians and Chaldeans, who shared some religious beliefs, described several procedures to protect people against demonic possession. There are also written cuneiform tablets about exorcisms to expel demons from humans once they had invaded their bodies. The priests who practised exorcisms in these nations were called Ashipy and Mashmashu. Nevertheless there are no descriptions of specific punishments against possessed persons as it happened later many times in Christian societies. Shamanic cultures also believe in demon possession and shamans (witch doctors) perform exorcisms too; in these cultures often diseases are attributed to the presence of an evil spirit or demon in the body of the patient. In the Bible, the Old Testament mentions the Devil, but no allusion to demonic possession is made. The New Testament mentions several opportunities in which Jesus drove out demons from diseased persons, believed to be these entities responsible for those illnesses. Since that moment on, demon possession became a plague among Christians; exorcisms and executions were performed on persons allegedly possessed; many mentally ill people were accused of being demon-possessed and killed. The Malleus Maleficarum speaks about some exorcisms that can be done in different cases. In Christianity, animals were also believed to be able of being possessed; during the Middle Ages, hundreds of cats, goats, and other animals were slain because of the idea that they were either an incarnation of a demon or possessed by one.
Demon possession in Christianity
"Oppression" is a more accurate translation of the term used in Christian scripture. Possession, like other mistranslations, has gained a life of its own. This is possibly due to the nature of the word as well as the many movies depicting weird and lengthly deliverance rituals. Biblical deliverance takes place in seconds or perhaps a minute at most. This is the type one will find throughout the world in churches and ministries of nearly every denomination today.
The concept of demon possession in Christianity was similar to that of Jewish belief. In the New Testament Jesus is reported to have encountered people who were possessed and to have driven the "evil spirits" out of these demoniacs. In the 4th century, St. Hillary asserted that demons entered the bodies of humans to use them as if they were theirs, and also proposed that the same could happen with animals, expelling a demon from his camel to prove his theory. In the 5th century, Gregory the Great (later Pope Gregory I) wrote about a nun that was possessed by a demon that penetrated her body via a lettuce she had eaten.
Later, in the Middle Ages, a list of symptoms required to confirm demonic possession was carefully prepared:
The ability to speak and/or understand one or more unknown languages (also known as Speaking in Tongues).
The ability to find secret things, read the mind, and divine future happenings.
The ability to make physical efforts abnormal for that person.
The act of spitting or vomiting every object the demons would have made the person swallow.
Other symptoms occasionally listed include:
Fear and/or hatred of holy objects.
The inability to say the word "Christ".
Normally, only one of these symptoms was enough to determine possession. It was said by people of that time that possessed persons had an ugly and terrible aspect, wrathful eyes, bluish lips, foam coming off their mouth; their body was almost permanently shaking, when they spoke their tongue came abnormally out, their speech consisted mainly in curses and blasphemies, and they were able to imitate animal sounds as well as to speak with human-like voices with a strange sound and a different pitch of theirs. According to Catholic theologians demon possession is involuntary and allowed by God to test a person (for more details about God's tests on persons see Job). Involuntary possession, according to these theologians, cannot be negated because this would imply the negation of the cases mentioned in the New Testament (12, some of them repeated in more than one Gospel) and, by extension, the veracity of it. Voluntary possession can be also mentioned, favored by drugs, alcohol and/or frantic dances, like those of certain ancient cults (i.e. the Bacchanals), still practiced in some Shamanic societies, and alleged to be also practiced by witches during their Sabbaths. Another form of voluntary possession is that in which a person offers his/her body to be possessed by a demon to serve as a medium among him/her and the other attendants to the reunion.
Cases of demon possession in the Bible
The following is a list of all cases of demon possession and Jesus' ability to expel demons mentioned in the New Testament:
Matthew 4:23-25: Demon-possessed persons are healed by Jesus (also Luke 6:17-19[1]).
Matthew 8:16-17[2]: Jesus heals many demon-possessed ones (also Mark 1:32-34[3] and Luke 4:40-41[4]).
Matthew 8:28-34[5]: Jesus sends a herd of demons from two men into a herd of pigs (also Mark 5:1-20[6] and Luke 8:26-39[7], both referring to only one man).
Matthew 9:32-34[8]: Jesus makes a dumb man speak (also Mark 3:20-22[9]).
Matthew 12:22-28[10]: Jesus heals a possessed blind and dumb man (also Luke 6:17-19[11] and Luke 11:14[12]).
Matthew 12:43-45[13]: Jesus tells an allegory of nasty spirits coming back home, that is the human body where have lived before (also Luke 11:24-26[14]).
Matthew 15:21-28[15]: Jesus expels a demon from the body of the daughter of a Canaanite woman (also Mark 7:24-30[16]).
Matthew 17:14-21[17]: Jesus heals a lunatic by driving out a demon from him (also Mark 9:13-29[18] and Luke 9:37-43[19]).
Mark 1:21-28[20]: Jesus expels a nasty spirit from a man (also Luke 4:31-37[21]).
Mark 1:32-34[22]: Jesus heals many demon-possessed people.
Luke 7:21[23]: Many people are cleansed from evil spirits by Jesus.
Luke 13:10-17[24]: Jesus expels Satan in the form of a spirit of disease from the body of a woman.
Acts 8:7[25]: Apostles drive demons out of many.
Acts 16:16-18[26]: Paul and Barnabas drive a future-telling demon out of a man.
Demon possession in medicine
Demonic possession is not a valid psychiatric or medical diagnosis recognized by either the DSM-IV or the ICD-10, and indeed, there is no scientific basis for such a belief. Those who profess a belief in demonic possession have sometimes ascribed the symptoms associated with mental illnesses such as hysteria, mania, psychosis, or dissociative identity disorder to possession. There is, however, a mental disease called demonomania or demonopathy. This is a monomania in which the patient believes that he or she is possessed by one or more demons.
From another point of view, those who accuse others of being demon-possessed have to be mentioned too. In cases like those of the witches of Salem, Massachusetts or the nuns who accused father Urbain Grandier, we are facing a collective hysteria, involving more than one person "contagiously" convinced of that "truth". In particular cases (sometimes a small number of persons, i.e. some members of a family or a small group of friends, but generally one person) the accusation of demon possession is caused because of the diseases above-mentioned or the phenomenon of collective hysteria. Another case that is necessary to mention is that of simulation; simulation is generally considered a psychological alteration of the human behaviour rather than a psychiatric disease, but there are in Medicine cases of simulators mentally ill that act by compulsion. It was common the case of children and teenagers accusing people of having bewitched them and feigning to be demon-possessed, and later apologising for that; unfortunately, due to the processes carried out by the religious tribunals, generally those innocents had already lost their lives, and that was the cause of many of those apologies: the feeling of being guilty, or remorse. There were several cases of simulation in England, most of them between 1533 and 1697, until accusations made by children were prohibited in 1718; there were cases of simulation in France and America too; it is thought that the collective hysteria that generated the accusation against Urbain Grandier was started by a case of simulation. It rests to say that a person easy to influence can be convinced by third parts of being demon-possessed. Hysteria is the first step to all other diseases previously mentioned, and it is more common in women than in men, thus the number of "demon-possessed" people and accusers was higher in women than in men; so it was the number of people killed by those accusations too.
Medicine can explain some aspects of the "symptoms" shown by those persons allegedly possessed; it is known that "supernatural strength" is common in some cases of insanity (maniacs, energumens, etc.).
The theme of demon possession has been by far better exploited by cinema than literature. Maybe the most known work on the subject is the 1973 film The Exorcist, based on the book of the same name, which portrays a typical mediaeval case of demonic possession in which the victim shows all required characteristics to confirm the status of possessed. This was later satirised in 1990 by Repossessed. End of Days (1999) shows another form of demonic possession suggested by Hilarius.
A person thought to be demonically possessed is said to suffer from a complete behavior takeover by a demonic entity. The entity may dominate the victim so the person becomes the demonic entity.
Christian theology, in the Middle Ages, deemed the concept of demonic possession heretical, so anyone displaying unusual behavior or a strange personality was automatically suspect of being possessed by the Devil. (The Devil or his demons who did the possessing were called the 'energumenus,' and the possessed person was the 'energumen'). In this era people were closer to Christ and God, and therefore more fearful of the Devil. Also, they were more attuned to the belief that there was a constant war being waged between God and the Devil for their souls.
It was thought that there were two ways of becoming possessed by the Devil. Either, the Devil passes directly into the person, or someone, in collaboration with the Devil -- ususally said to be a witch or wizard -- sends a demon into the victim through bewilderment. In this way many medieval unfortunates found themselves in peril because they were old, ugly, or poor. This could very well work the other way too. Many widows lost their homes and property by being declared witches.
In medieval times people generally believed God allowed the Devil to test people with hardships. One basis of this belief is derived from the Biblical story of Job. The Devil or one of his demons with the assistance of a witch were said to lay such difficulities as childhood sickness or seizures -- which presently would be medically diagnoised as epilepsy -- or dead livestock or crop failures on people. Each time such events occurred the general population looked for a witch. Frequently if a witch was not found, an unfortunate person was declared a witch.
Often unfortunate persons having terrible bodily deformities especially of the face, such as the evil eye, were thought by the general population to suffer from the Devil's mark. Such prejudice was similar to the fear and mocking of the Elephant Man in nineteenth-century London.
Here it might be added that a carry over of medieval thought still persists among many Christians, especially the fundamentalists. Although they are firm in their belief of man's sinful nature, they hold God still permits the Devil to try man. Such trials are tests of man's faithfulness to God.
The Catholic Church still defines true signs of possession as displaying superhuman strength, often accompanied by fits and convulsions; changes in personality; having knowledge of the future or other secret information; and being able to understand and converse in languages not previously known to the victim, such as the phenomenon glossolalia.
Early Puritan ministers and later Protestant clergy agreed on the same symptoms for declaring a person demonically possessed. In many incidences there was a complete ignorance of the person's medical condition and behavior.
Included in the list of other signs or symptoms for declaring demonic possession are: the practice of lewd and obscene acts, or even sexual thoughts; horrible smells of bodily ordors or of sulphur, associated with hell; distended stomachs; rapid weight loss where death seems inevitable; changes in the voice to a deep, rasping, menacing, guttural croak. Occasionally there may be signs of automatic writing or levitation.
Many of these signs or symptoms can be explained away by modern medical science. Seizures and convulsions are symptoms of epilepsy. Personality changes can indicate hysteria, or schizophrenia, or other psychological malfunctions. Lewd and obscene acts can indicate mental disorders. Having sexual thoughts, if taken seriously as a sign of demonic possession, would indicate nearly all of the modern population is possessed, especially the men. Distended stomachs can indicate malnutrition and other medical disorders. Also, having knowledge of future events or information is known as clairvoyance by many occultists and Neo-pagan witches which they consider a special spiritual gift. In light of such evidence it seems the term demonic possession is hardly functional anymore.
Such advanced knowledge is the reason why the Catholic Church has cautioned their priests to investigate the medical and psychological aspects of the person before performing the rite of exorcism. At present, the one main basis for declaring a person possessed seems to be a violent revulsion toward sacred objects and texts.
Neo-pagan witches strongly deny any association with the Devil. While some do not believe in the essence of evil and hold that the belief in the Devil is a Christian creation; almost all hold a deep and abiding respect for the free will of all living creatures, and do not believe they should interfer with this freedom of will. This theory of thought is embodied in the Wiccan Rede, which simply states, do what you will, but harm no one.
Although some modern occultists do think some people can become possessed by toying with the supernatural by such devices as the ouija board, few are certain of it. However, many occultists, especially witches, think they have been unjustly blamed throughout history for causing demonic possession. A.G.H.
This is a priest's service manual containing the only formal exorcism rite sanctioned the Roman Catholic Church. It was first written in 1614 under Pope Paul V, and was left untouched until 1952 when two minor revisions were included in the language of the ritual.
When first published in the 17th. Century the Rituale cautioned priests against performing exorcism upon persons in whom no true possession existed. And, with the increased advancement of medical science which more proficiently defined illnesses, true possession, both demonic and spiritual, became more difficult to determine. Some of the previously thought demonic interferences are now being diagnosed as hysteria, multiple personality, schizophrenia, paranoia, sexual malfunction and other neuroses brought on by childhood terrors and obsessions. Such diagnoses are making true demonic more difficult to determine.
"The 1952 revisions changed the wording that symptoms of possession 'are signs of the presence of a demon' to 'might be.' States other than possession, originally described as 'those who suffer from melancholia or any other illness' became 'those who suffer from illness, particularly mental illness.'"
These changes reflect the thinking of many modern, devout Christians who no longer believe in demonic possession. If such change of thinking is currently reflected, then one cannot but asked how many hundreds or thousands mentally ill persons have undergone the ritual of exorcism unnecessarily?
Still others do believe in demonic possession and enumerate signs that may show its presence. If the person, they say, exhibits paranormal capacities, shows superhuman strength, and above all, manifest knowledge of previously unknown languages, then he or she may be a candidate for demonic exorcism. The church may deem the person possessed when the above signs are accompanied by extreme revulsions for sacred texts and objects. Then the exorcist, with the permission of a bishop, performs the ancient ritual. Exorcism is not a sacrament of the Church, but a rite. The Rituale, though a guideline, does not give the exorcist a definite procedure by which to perform the ritual. He can vary according to his own discretion. After being as certain as humanly possible the victim is truly possessed he proceeds with the ritual.
The exorcist rarely works by himself. He is usually assisted by at least three other people. The first is generally a younger priest who is being trained or is trained in the performance of exorcism. His main duty is to maintain the continuance of the exorcism, and can take over if the exorcist dies.
The second person is usually a medical physician. He helps the exorcist with the victim. The exorcist is to continue to question the victim during which he attempts to discover the name and nature of the demon or spirit within. Under no circumstance is the exorcist to give the victim any medications. If this is required, this is the duty of the physician.
This person is usually physically strong and a member of the victim's family. If the victim is a female, then this third person should be a woman to avoid scandal.
Before performing the exorcism the priest should make a good confession and be absolved of all sins which the demon may try to use against him during the ritual. Then donning in a surplice and a purple stole (required dress for exorcist priests) begins the rite. During the exorcism certain prescribed prayers to be said such as the Litanies of the Saints, the Pater Noster (the Lord's Prayer), and the 54th. Psalm. These recitations are said before the victim. The priest may recite them in his mother tongue, but it is said to have been experienced that the recitations said in Latin seem to be more effective.
Each recitation is accompanied by more prayers including the Ave Marie (Hail Mary), the Gloria Patri (Glory be to the Father), the Anima Christi (Body of Christ), and the Salve Ragina (Save us, merciful Mary). Throughout these recitations the sign of the cross is made, scriptures are read, and hands may be laid on the victim.
The exorcist calls upon the demon or spirit to make itself known, and to succumb to Jesus Christ and depart the victim and leave the person in peace. When the spirit does so, the priest prays for Christ to help and protect the person. If the spirit does not depart the victim then the ritual is repeated again until the demon leaves. The Rituale also offers instructions to priests for the exorcism of homes and other places believed to be infested by demons and spirits. A.G.H.
Demonic Possession
Melissa A. Bromwell
Belief in the possibility of demonic possession has waned since the advent of sophisticated medical knowledge. What had previously been considered to be examples of control of an individual by a spirit or devil are now commonly accepted as numerous forms of mental illness, easily explained by nervous system activity. If all types of behavior (including emotional states and cognitive states) are produced and mediated solely by the brain, there leaves no potential for such a phenomenon as demonic possession to exist and such cases would clearly be instances of various illnesses. However, neuroscience has not yet been able to explain all of the characteristics common to purported cases of demonic possession ((1).
A possessed individual is typically characterized by having strange physical ailments or disfigurements; verbal outbursts, mostly obscene or sacrilegious in nature; violent behavior and vulgar behavior; bodily spasms and contortions; ability to speak languages never before studied; self-mutilation; "superhuman" abilities such as psychic abilities, abnormal strength, or an ability to perform behaviors out of the realm of human possibility such as levitation; cessation of normal bodily functions for periods of time, including breathing and heart beat; and a pronounced revulsion to symbols, places, people, objects, and ceremonies having any religious context. Other phenomena associated with the presence of a demon include an acrid stench; marked decrease in the temperature of the room which a possessed individual occupies; writing appearing out of nowhere; sounds and voices arising from nowhere; and objects moving on their own and destruction of objects in the room, without anyone having laid a hand upon them ((2), (3).
Despite the striking quality of this description, the expansion of the fields of medicine and psychology has led to diagnoses other than demonic possession for individuals who present circumstances similar to those mentioned above. These sorts of cases are now readily explained in terms of abnormal functioning in the brain and nervous system. There are various disorders which may mimic demonic possession; these include schizophrenia (and other periods of psychosis), dissociative identity disorder, and Tourette syndrome ((4).
Schizophrenia is characterized by the presence of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic behavior, affective flattening or inappropriate emotional responses, avolition, and alogia. General psychotic episodes, such as might accompany mood disorders, can also closely simulate a state of demonic possession by hallucinations or delusions. The delusions can be ones of thought insertion, thought broadcasting, delusions of guilt, delusions of grandeur, such as being God (or a demon), or delusions that God (or a demon) is speaking to the person and giving commands for a special mission (5).
The resemblance between several of these criteria and demonic possession is rather striking. The inappropriate emotional displays seen in psychoses correspond to those frequently documented in cases of demonic possession where the possessed individual expresses either flattened affect or outbursts of extreme affects; a possessed individual will often laugh at situations which are morbid, such as injury to another individual, or crying and screaming when there appears to be no appropriate stimulus for such a response, such as being presented with a crucifix or holy water (6).
Psychosis is generally thought of as a break with reality; society will frequently consider individuals who believe themselves to be possessed as delusional and not "in touch with reality." An individual who appears to be possessed and claims to be a demon may be viewed as suffering from a delusion of grandeur. Family members and friends caring for possessed individuals can become extremely disturbed by the state in which the individuals present themselves and often request an exorcism as a last resort. One might think of this as an example of Folie à Deux, in which one individual develops a delusion while in a close relationship with another person who already has an established delusion; the delusion is of the same content for each individual (5). It is possible that the possessed individual initially suffers from a delusion and eventually convinces loved ones that the possession is real.
The paranoid thinking present in many instances of psychosis is similar to that of an individual who is possessed and fears all items, people, and situations that contain religious themes. An individual who is possessed will react violently to the presentation of anything with a religious context, out of fear that harm will come to them; the reaction is elicited merely from being exposed to something such as a Bible or a priest. The disorganized thinking and speech that often occurs during periods of psychosis may also resemble the seemingly nonsensical speech a possessed individual may show (6).
Individuals who suffer from schizophrenia predominantly marked by catatonic behavior often arrange their bodies in bizarre or inappropriate postures for long periods of time; they frequently engage in stereotypic motor activity or have very prominent mannerisms and facial expressions. Conversely, these individuals might refrain from any movement whatsoever for prolonged periods of time, as if in a trance. This might be similar to the bodily contortions and exaggerated expressions of emotion noted in cases of demonic possession, as well as to the hypnotic-like state observed in possessed individuals (1).
The superhuman strength often exhibited by individuals who are possessed might be explained by the presence of a bipolar disorder; bipolar disorders are frequently accompanied by psychosis, particularly during the manic episodes. Manic individuals exhibit abundant amounts of energy and often have abnormal strength, similar to what can be seen in an individual who is possessed.
Schizophrenia, or any form of psychosis, is currently thought to be the result of a malfunctioning dopaminergic system, either a system which is too active or a system which is too sensitive. The dopamine system has been implicated in movement and coordination, emotional response, and the ability to experience pleasure and pain (7). It would then seem quite likely that many purported cases of demonic possession are merely instances of dopamine systems failing to work properly, given the aforementioned abnormal motor and affect behavior. It also seems quite plausible that individuals who believe themselves to be possessed are in a state of severe ahedonia.
Another disorder which has frequently been misdiagnosed as demonic possession is dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as multiple personality disorder. The criteria for this disorder is the presence of two or more distinct identities or personality states, each with its own way of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and the self; at least two of these personalities or identities recurrently take control of the individual's behavior; and an inability to recall important personal information that is too extensive to be dismissed as ordinary forgetfulness (8). The separate identities involved in this disorder and the physical changes that denote dissociation could certainly reflect the abrupt change in personality manifested by those who appear to be victims of demonic possession (9).
A demon in someone who is possessed has its own purpose, own beliefs, morals, and attitudes, mannerisms, even its own style of speech, including a different voice. Each of these is distinct from those of the individual prior to possession and to an observer, it is clear that a change has occurred in the individual. In addition, an individual who suffers from demonic possession may not be able to recall the periods of time in which the demon manifests itself, resulting in blackouts and time loss (6). This is quite comparable to the manifestation of multiple personalities, each unique from the other, in an individual with dissociative identity disorder. The different personalities also have different motivations, ways of behaving, types of knowledge, and types of speech. The differing speech patterns between identities might partially explain the phenomenon of "speaking in tongues" often witnessed in victims of demonic possession. Time loss and blackouts are also extremely common to individuals with dissociative identity disorder; the unrecalled periods of time occur when another personality is in control (10).
Extreme suggestibility and hypnotizability are prevalent among individuals with dissociative identity disorder, which may be important if someone has suggested to an individual with the disorder that they are not mentally ill, but are in fact possessed by a demon. An individual with dissociative identity disorder who has had this suggested to them might come to believe they are inhabited by a demon (11).
Motor activities common to those with dissociative identity disorder include anesthesia, eye rolling (especially during switching to another personality), and pseudoseizures (11). These are behaviors that are commonly observed in individuals who are reported to be possessed by a demon; individuals who are possessed may be unable to feel pain in certain areas of their body and some of the distortions involved in possession include eyes rolling back and seizures (6).
The commonly accepted etiology of dissociative identity disorder is an early history of repeated trauma and abuse, often to horrific degrees (12). There is currently no biological theory concerning the origin of dissociative identity disorder; this creates both a direction for future investigations into the disorder and a possibility that demonic possession is an occurrence that cannot be explained in terms of the brain.
Another disorder that has probably been mistaken for demonic possession throughout time is Tourette syndrome, characterized by multiple motor and vocal tics (13). Motor tics can range in complexity from eye blinking to sticking out the tongue to rapid jerking of the body and writhing. The vocal tics can be sounds such as coughing, barking, growling or repeating words and phrases over and over again. Perhaps the most well-known symptom of Tourette syndrome is coprolalia, the screaming of obscene and foul language (14).
It is obvious how these behaviors can be misinterpreted as demonic possession; possessed individuals are often described as flailing and thrashing about and shouting obscenities, sexually aggressive phrases, violent threats, and sacrilegious statements.
There is also a high rate of comorbidity with obsessive-compulsive disorder in individuals who have Tourette syndrome (14). It seems likely that there would be a high frequency rate of obsessions with religion in individuals who claim to be possessed by a demon.
The origins of Tourette syndrome are thought to lie in either the dopaminergic system or the noradrenergic system. It is believed that the disorder results from either supersensitivity in the dopamine receptors or hyperactivity in the functioning of the norepinephrine system (14).
The concordance of the putative biological causes of schizophrenia and Tourette syndrome seem to imply some type of connection between the two disorders, and the phenomenon which they both imitate, i.e., demonic possession. It also lends credence to the belief that the brain is responsible for types of behavior which may initially seem remarkably beyond the realm of normal human behavior.
However, there is quite a bit about supposed demonic possession which cannot yet be explained by biology. This category includes such phenomenon as levitation, wounds appearing upon the victim that have not been inflicted by the self or another concrete source, knowledge of languages never before studied, sometimes never even heard, and psychic abilities such as knowing facts about other individuals that have never been met. In addition, the accompanying situations related to the area around possessed individuals do not seem to be explainable in terms of the brain or any aspect of biology; science cannot yet explain the distinct decrease in temperature of the room the individual occupies, the appearance of writing and sounds from an unseen force, and the movement of objects on their own (2).
One can come to two conclusions when faced with this evidence. The first is that the cause of such circumstances will eventually be determined by further study of the brains of reportedly possessed individuals. This might reveal that there is something biologically (and entirely secularly) unique about such individuals which allows them to be capable of creating such phenomena by themselves; in this case it could be determined that demonic possession is nothing but a myth perpetuated for centuries. On the other hand, the possibility that demonic possession is a real occurrence cannot yet be rejected; no thoroughly decisive evidence exists to the contrary. What is currently known about science cannot fully explain every situation reported to be a case of demonic possession, at least not by the methods which science currently employs. Until science can explain each detail, if indeed it ever can, one cannot dismiss the possibility that demonic possession is a real and true phenomenon. |
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[Mar. 21st, 2006|08:21 pm] |
We were sitting in a boat in the middle of the Lochs. It was a dead calm. There was so much mist that you could not see the water, let alone the trees. The forest looked dead. Almost like it was the end of autumn when all the leaves fell from the trees. It was a cloudy night. Just before the sun fell. It had a beautifulo pruple reddish hue to the sky. We were simply floating. The oars were gone.
I could see the mist, just hovering above the water like a blanket. It was so calm, so seriene. I could see him sitting in the front of our small boat. He was wearing a long leather coat. His hair longer then it is now. He wore black pants and shitkickers. He was looking for something. but what, I could not tell.
I was in the rear of the boat wearing a long white gown, I had very long black hair. And I sat and watched him. He was so peaceful and quiet. You could tell he loved being there. As we floated, time stopped and I felt the wings pick up. It got stronger the more we floated. The sea began to shimmer under the holes the fog had created. Suddenly there was a beam of moonlight and it feel directly on him. He turned his head suddenly and reached out his hand for mine...
He pulled me close to him and said " Dont be scared, Its what I have been waiting for. " He held me close to him and I felt it. His massive black wings unfolded from somewhere beneath his jacket. He shook momentarly and we left the ground. he held me tight to his chest..... and we faded into the night..
I woke up from this dream crying. He had finally been able to free himself from his mortal body, and become what he so desperatly needed to be. And I cried for him.
I had this dream again last night, It had a few more pieces to it. But i cannot tell it here. But it bothers me. And I dont know why. It makes me sad. but it feels like a happy kind of sadness. Not one in which I am hurting for myself, But more hurting for him.
We had the same dream, same day, and same time. |
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[Feb. 20th, 2006|04:32 pm] |
Who is Bloody Mary? Many people know of Bloody Mary by the Childrens game most of us played when we were younger. Most of us knew one single version. Stand in a dark bathroom in front of the mirror, and chant three times " Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary " And she was to come out and scrath out your eyes. The research into Bloody Mary goes back to 1978, when folklorist Janet Langlois published her essay on the legend. Belief in summoning the mirror-witch was even at that time widespread throughout the U.S. Mary is summoned whenever squealing girls get together for a sleepover, but boys have been known to call on her too. There are many legands to whom Mary was. But there is no conclusive proof either way. Just alot of Specultaion. Mary is said to be a witch who was executed a hundred years ago for playing the black arts, or a woman of more modern times who died in a local car accident in which her face was hideously mutilated. In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a mother who murdered her children, or a woman who was murdered shortly before or after her wedding. The game is often a test of courage, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would murder the summoner, often in a quite violent way, such as gourging out their eyes. Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderess who lived in the locality where the legend has taken root about a century ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend. On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I. The queen's life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Had Mary I successfully borne a child, this would have established a Roman Catholic succession and threatened the continuance of her religious persecutions after her death. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children.
But Why would otherwise rational youngsters want to risk setting a murderous spirit on the rampage? Gail de Vos offers the following explanation: So why do children continue to summon Bloody Mary, flirting with danger and possible tragedy? The ages between 9 and 12 are labeled "the Robinson age" by psychologists. This is the period when children need to satisfy their craving for excitement by participating in ritual games and playing in the dark. They are constantly looking for a safe way to extract pleasure and release anxiety and fears.
It's possible these "mirror witch" games have their roots in oldtime divining rituals involving unmarried girls and future husbands. There are a number of variations of these divinations, some involving chanting a rhyme in a darkened room on a special night and then quickly looking in the mirror to catch a glimpse of the bridegroom-to-be. The concept of mirrors as portals between this world and the realm of spirits shows up in other beliefs, namely those surrounding funerals. It was common practice to cover mirrors in a house where a death had occurred until the body was taken for burial. (Back in the days before funeral homes, corpses were washed by the deceased's relatives, dressed in their funeral finery, and laid out in coffins in the front parlor. Consequently, the dead would be in the house for days.) It was believed if the dear departed caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, his ghost would remain in the house because the mirror would trap his spirit. Mirrors and reflections in general have always been held in fear and awe, and consequently been linked to the supernatural. Mirrors, like small bowls of water or crystal balls, were thought to be able to reveal the future or give a vision of distant locations, including at times the land of the dead, if used with the proper rituals.
More recently, young females (typically, although occasionally a male would perform a similar incantation) would attempt certain spells that were intended to reveal the identity of the person they would marry. Sometimes the girl would eat a red apple and brush her hair at midnight in front of a mirror and be rewarded with the image of her future husband. Other ritual actions include brushing one's hair, looking back over one's shoulder, spinning in circles, using a knife to cut an apple or many others.
While most of these spells are either forgotten or not practiced, you will run into them occasionally in popular culture. The flower petals superstition is still practiced but not usually taken seriously. Both the mirror and the apple, although modified in use, can be seen in many versions of the Snow White fairy tales, including Disney's animated movie. Some people believe the Bloody Mary legend and all of its offshoots are mutated versions of these mirror rituals. Some of the modern stories even include aspects of the earlier traditions. A number of tales said you could use a small bowl of water instead of a mirror. Some versions claimed that you could call up the ghosts of any dead person by reciting their name the required number of times in the mirror. One person even mentioned that the reason for summoning Bloody Mary was so she could answer questions with her vast otherworldly knowledge, and that the most popular question was who you were going to marry. Another said calling Mary Worth in a mirror for some reason would show you an image of your future husband, though she could not explain why this might be other than Mary Worth was supposed to have been a witch who could cast spells for you of this kind.
Through the ages, The avenging spirit goes by many names: Bloody Mary, Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Whales, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Sally, Kathy, Agnes, Black Agnes, Aggie, Svarte Madame. What the mirror-witch does upon arrival varies too. She may strike her summoner dead, drive her mad, or fiercely scratch her face. She may merely peer malevolently out through the mirror, or she may drag one of the girls back through it to live with her. The name Bloody Mary was linked to a number of different real life people, including a historical Bloody Mary (Queen Mary Tudor of England), Mary Queen of Scots (probably mostly due to confusion with the other queen), the Virgin Mary (in these cases she generally does not display any menacing qualities), Mary Magdalene, a witch burned at the stake, an axe murderer, a child killer and "the crazy woman who lived down the street," among others. Bloody Mary doesn't always have the same name - it seems that earlier on she had the more common name of Mary Worth and Mary Willard, other names include Bloody Ted (who will hand out candy - go figure?), Mary Margaruite. There's a veronica who used the Ouija Board, she used a pair of scissors as the planchette, She was driven mad by the spirits and ended up commiting suicide by stabbing herself in the throat with her scissors. If you say her name three times in front of a mirror at midnight you will see her image in the mirror with the scissors still in her neck. If you play the Ouija and invoke her without taking the necessary precautions, she will come for you and kill you with her scissors.
The Ritual
The two most common elements in the ritual are the mirror in a darkened room and repeating a chant a certain number of times. In about a third of the cases the words only needed to be spoken three times, although five, ten, 13 and 100 times were also popular. The amount of Chants always changes - it can be repeated anywhere from one time to 100 times. Personally, chant anything more then 5 times, and I would start to see them as well. Normally Bloody Mary is chanted in the bathroom lit by candles. stand in front of the mirror and chat " Bloody Mary " 13 times. Another Version, You could also use a mirror in a darkened room with candles but the bathroom always works best - Chant "Bloody Mary" while spinning around - your voice should start off quietly and gain voice as you spin round, catch a glimpse of the mirror each time you pass it - on the thirteenth chant the spirit will (supposedly) be summoned.
Saying the words only three times doesn't at first glance seem like it would lend itself to much suspense, if scaring each other were one of the motivations involved. But once you've seen a group of boys throw a helpless younger child into a darkened bathroom and scream "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary!" before the kid could escape, you realize that having to repeat the words any more times than that would take some of the fun out of it. Even the strongest and meanest kids can only hold the door shut for so long before the pure panic of the trapped child would be too much to handle.
On the other end of the scale, chanting anything 100 times in a darkened room seems only like a sure way to put people to sleep. At least you could be certain that anyone who finished the whole thing was very determined to have something, anything, happen for their trouble, even if they had to fib a little about what they experienced.
The words that must be recited vary quite a bit. In many cases you just use the spirit's name. In others you would say, "I believe in Mary Worth," "I don't believe in Mary Worth," "I hate Mary Worth," "Bloody Mary, come to me," or even "Bloody Mary, I got your baby" in those versions where the legend mentioned someone either killing or running away with her child. You might also be able to use the words "Bloody Mirror" or "Hell Mary." Hell Mary is more associated with invoking Satan or a Demon. Three "Hell Marys" and the mirror will turn red, Five "Hell Marys" and the Demon or Satans image will appear in the mirror or the walls or even the floor. Sometimes the invocation was reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards
Other aspects that can be involved include lighting candles, spinning around in circles or holding hands. The candles are probably more of a necessity for seeing in a darkened room than part of the ritual, although candles have been associated with magic for many years. Spinning around in circles seems like both an aspect of certain old witchcraft spells and also a way to make you disoriented. Holding hands is common to seances and similar ghostly events.
Some minor things mentioned among the components of the ritual in certain variations include splashing water on the mirror, rubbing your eyes or holding a knife. (Incidentally, if anyone is reading this trying to plan their next slumber party, I very highly recommend that you don't have a knife anywhere near you. Usually there is a scared panic with everyone trying to escape the bathroom, and a knife could very easily lead to a tragic accident.)
What Happens
The most common end result in the stories is that you'll see Bloody Mary's face in the mirror, and she'll try to hurt you somehow.
The attack could be scratching you with her fingernails or claws, tearing your face off with her teeth (some tales say she was a cannibal), attacking you with a knife, chopping off your head (this element appears when Bloody Mary is linked to British royalty), pulling you into the mirror so you'll never escape, cutting out your eyeballs and stealing them (in these versions she no longer has any eyes herself), forcing you to cut your own throat, scaring you so badly that you die of fear or relentlessly haunting you in any reflected surface from that point on.
Sometimes the end result is supposed to be much less threatening. Maybe you'll just see what she looks like in the mirror. Once in a while you can ask her questions that she will be compelled to answer for you. Sometimes nobody shows up and the water in the bathtub will turn into blood, or you'll see scars on your body that aren't there, or you can see into the future, or sometimes you'll even get toys or candy
Different Faces
While some think the story may have originally been inspired by a person who actually existed at some point, it just doesn't seem likely. For one thing, the vast majority of legends with a reputed historical basis have fewer and fewer facts behind them the closer you look, even in cases where the different versions of the tales agree with each other to a large degree on many key points. Then compare that to the Bloody Mary figure.There isn't much even a majority of people can agree on -- not her name, not how she died, not how she became associated with mirrors, and not even if she is covered in blood or not. Without finding some new evidence we will have to give up the idea of locating a true-life Bloody Mary.
Here are some of the most interesting tales...
Deer Woman, judging by the name at least, could have been from the same branch of stories. In this case, you would summon up the spirit of Deer Woman by shouting her name three times near a particular bridge. She supposedly appears as a ball of blinding light (a feature of Native American shapeshifting legends) and then attacks all who dared to call her.
The Green Man exists farthest along this path away from the core story. By name alone it seems like it could be some offshoot of European fairies and pagan gods with the same name. It was probably only meant to refer to the fact that he was green colored. Supposedly the Green Man--in this story a wild hermit, ghost or strange unidentified creature--glowed in the dark like phosphorescence and would appear at night to curious teenagers who parked along a certain lonely stretch of road. But the fact that it was an entity that young people would go looking for even though they were warned against it as well as the ties to the Deer Woman story seem to suggest some sort of (admittedly tenuous) relationship.
Each of these variants are, in my opinion, clearly away from the central identity of Bloody Mary. I don't think that animal forms, nature or strange hermits had much to do with the legend's origin.
A few versions of the story talk about a figure known only as Maria, who differs from the more typical figure in a couple of ways. You would say "I hate Maria" three times in the mirror and she would come to kill you that midnight if you were asleep or sometimes the next night. Her face was half that of a beautiful woman and half bare skull. It may just be a coincidence, but death deities in Mexico and Central America sometimes had the half skull appearance. If these tales came from near that region it could indicate a mixing of two traditions. On the other hand, those sorts of details are not all that complex and could have been created spontaneously as well.
Some Bloody Mary versions, specifically the ones in which she kills her children and comes hunting for them, bear a striking resemblance to the Weeping Woman legend of Mexico and the surrounding area. Tales of female spirits who come to harm other people's babies and children because they no longer have their own can be traced back to the Aztecs and appeared in many other cultures as well. The Greek Lamia and Jewish Lilith figures are just two of the more widely known examples. None of these stories seem to have too much to do with mirrors or summoning someone's image, so appear to be another case of two separate folklore branches influencing each other.
Some of those who use Ouija boards to try to contact spirits of the dead talk about a girl named Veronica, who went mad from the process and killed herself with a pair of scissors. It is said that she sometimes comes to kill those who don't take the board seriously, or perhaps sometimes if you use it the wrong way. As a kind of an afterthought some also say that if you call for Veronica three times while in front of a mirror at midnight, you will see her there, with the scissors still sticking into her neck.
The story of Veronica, even without the mirror aspect, is obviously very similar to Bloody Mary. In both stories a female spirit appears and usually attempts to harm those foolish enough to try magic spells or summonings of some sort. Assuming that Bloody Mary is intended to scare children away from some occult practice, our culture has mostly forgotten what it was we were supposed to be afraid of in the first place.
Now there is a real Bloody Mary. Some confuse the mirror witch with Mary I of England, whom history remembers as "Bloody Mary." An expanded version of that confusion has it that this murdering British queen killed young girls so she could bathe in their blood to preserve her youthful appearance. Mary I of England (1553-1558) was anything but a famed beauty terrified of losing her looks -- she was a matronly, fortyish woman who had about as much sense of style as a dust mop. The idea of her bathing in the blood of slaughtered virgins to preserve her loveliness is ludicrous. She came by the moniker "Bloody Mary" because she had a number of Protestants put to death during her reign, as she tried to re-establish Catholicism as the religion of the land after the reigns of her father (Henry VIII, he who married six wives over the course of his lifetime and established himself as the head of a new religion rather than tolerate the Pope's saying he couldn't divorce wife #1 to marry wife #2) and her brother (Edward VI, who ruled after Henry died but passed away himself at the age of 16). Mary was a devoutly religious woman who saw what she was doing as the saving of her subjects' souls from eternal damnation, and in those times — as crazy as this sounds now — the eternal wellbeing of a soul was deemed far more important than the comparatively fleeting life of a person. That bringing the country back to Catholicism would also safeguard her throne was also a major consideration.
Mary I was the half sister of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Both were daughters of Henry VIII, but Mary's mother was Katherine of Aragon and Elizabeth's mother was Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth I became Queen when Mary died, and she reigned for many years, coming to be called "The Virgin Queen" because she never married.
Some muddlings of this "murdering queen" variant claim that Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1567) is the "bloody Mary" of mirror summonings. Though this Mary was indeed a vain and foolish woman, history does not know her as a murderous one. (Well, okay, she did have a hand in doing away with a husband. But she didn't go after her subjects en masse, as did Mary I of England.) So, although there was a British queen known as "Bloody Mary," no connection between her and the mirror witch has surfaced, save for their both having the same name. Likewise, the "Mary Worth" appellation of the malevolent apparition doesn't appear to be drawn from the lead character of a popular comic strip of the same name. In lore, as elsewhere, coincidences occur. (The "bathing in blood" detail is traditionally attributed to Elizabeth Bathory, but of course her name was not "Mary.") It is likely, however, that Queen Mary I provided only her nickname to the Bloody Mary of folklore. She is also confused in some tellings of the story with Mary Queen of Scots. Bloody Mary is sometimes said to have bathed in the blood of her child victims in order to retain a youthful complexion; this would appear to confound her with Elizabeth Báthory.
WARNING: One of the most common results of this game is a deep psychological fear of mirrors that can start at an early age if a young person gets dragged into the game when they are not ready to deal with these sorts of things - I have received quite a few emails from adults who still to this day have an intense fear of mirrors and suffered severe anxiety when having to use the bathroom as a young child or teenager. I caution anyone not to simply pick on a friend and shove them in the bathroom, refusing to let them out until they have done the chant - you may be causing harm to this person that is extremely difficult to undo and it may plague that person for the rest of their life. I do not in any way condone or encourage anyone to participate in this game - the information is merely put up here for those who wish to know - if they don't find this information on my page there are plenty of other sites on the Internet where you can find out about the game of BLOODY MARY.
And there is also the fact, of course, that if you are silly enough to believe any of the evil spirits will get you from doing this rather silly game then you deserve what you imagine you might get. lol |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 20th, 2006|09:14 am] |
Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand, best known for popularizing the term "urban legend," titled this story "I Believe in Mary Worth" and included it in his 1986 book The Mexican Pet. Folklorist Janet Langlois interviewied Catholic school students about the spirit they called Mary Whales for an essay first published in the journal Indiana Folklore in 1978 and reprinted in the 1980 collection Indiana Folklore: A Reader.
The name Bloody Mary was linked to a number of different people, including a historical Bloody Mary (Queen Mary Tudor of England), Mary Queen of Scots (probably mostly due to confusion with the other queen), the Virgin Mary (in these cases she generally does not display any menacing qualities), Mary Magdalene, a witch burned at the stake, an axe murderer, a child killer and "the crazy woman who lived down the street," among others.
Of the 100 versions I collected, the name Bloody Mary was by far the most prevalent, appearing about 50 percent of the time (47 of the accounts). Of course, "Bloody Mary" is more of a description than a name, so it's possible that the term could have been chanted in the ritual to summon the ghost while believing her real name to be something else.
Mary Worth was the name mentioned 13 percent of the time. That is almost 75 percent less frequently than Bloody Mary, which makes it a distant second place. It is significantly more common than any other reference, however. I don't know if that is due to actually being a common version told from person to person or if Brunvand's books artificially increased the popularity of the name in peoples' recollections. It may also be related to the comic strip character who had the same name but a completely different temperament.
The third most common entity mentioned as being summoned in a mirror by a ritual was the Devil himself, in five of the stories. Interestingly, in three of the stories in which the spirit's name was Bloody Mary she was specifically described as being a close relative of Satan (wife, sister or daughter), which might indicate an overlapping of the two different traditions.
In fourth place with only three instances were confused references to the Bell Witch of Tennessee, which belongs to an entirely different legend.
In another 25 of the accounts -- an amazing one out of every four of all the stories -- a name was given that either appeared in only one other story or just that once. Clearly this is a legend with a large number of variations.
Mary Whales, the name mentioned by Langlois, must have been a strictly local version. It did not show up at all in the accounts I collected.
The remaining seven stories either did not give a name for the spirit or did not even have a ghost or entity mentioned. In these cases it was some part of the ritual that seemed genuinely close enough to the typical Bloody Mary account to be included for comparison purposes
The Ritual
The two most common elements in the ritual are the mirror in a darkened room and repeating a chant a certain number of times. In about a third of the cases the words only needed to be spoken three times, although five, ten, 13 and 100 times were also popular.
Saying the words only three times doesn't at first glance seem like it would lend itself to much suspense, if scaring each other were one of the motivations involved. But once you've seen a group of boys throw a helpless younger child into a darkened bathroom and scream "Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary!" before the kid could escape, you realize that having to repeat the words any more times than that would take some of the fun out of it. Even the strongest and meanest kids can only hold the door shut for so long before the pure panic of the trapped child would be too much to handle.
On the other end of the scale, chanting anything 100 times in a darkened room seems only like a sure way to put people to sleep. At least you could be certain that anyone who finished the whole thing was very determined to have something, anything, happen for their trouble, even if they had to fib a little about what they experienced.
The words that must be recited vary quite a bit. In many cases you just use the spirit's name. In others you would say, "I believe in Mary Worth," "I don't believe in Mary Worth," "I hate Mary Worth," "Bloody Mary, come to me," or even "Bloody Mary, I got your baby" in those versions where the legend mentioned someone either killing or running away with her child. You might also be able to use the words "Bloody Mirror" or "Hell Mary." Sometimes the invocation was reciting the Lord's Prayer backwards
Other aspects that can be involved include lighting candles, spinning around in circles or holding hands. The candles are probably more of a necessity for seeing in a darkened room than part of the ritual, although candles have been associated with magic for many years. Spinning around in circles seems like both an aspect of certain old witchcraft spells and also a way to make you disoriented. Holding hands is common to seances and similar ghostly events.
Some minor things mentioned among the components of the ritual in certain variations include splashing water on the mirror, rubbing your eyes or holding a knife. (Incidentally, if anyone is reading this trying to plan their next slumber party, I very highly recommend that you don't have a knife anywhere near you. Usually there is a scared panic with everyone trying to escape the bathroom, and a knife could very easily lead to a tragic accident.)
What Happens
The most common end result in the stories is that you'll see Bloody Mary's face in the mirror, and she'll try to hurt you somehow.
The attack could be scratching you with her fingernails or claws, tearing your face off with her teeth (some tales say she was a cannibal), attacking you with a knife, chopping off your head (this element appears when Bloody Mary is linked to British royalty), pulling you into the mirror so you'll never escape, cutting out your eyeballs and stealing them (in these versions she no longer has any eyes herself), forcing you to cut your own throat, scaring you so badly that you die of fear or relentlessly haunting you in any reflected surface from that point on.
Sometimes the end result is supposed to be much less threatening. Maybe you'll just see what she looks like in the mirror. Once in a while you can ask her questions that she will be compelled to answer for you. Sometimes nobody shows up and the water in the bathtub will turn into blood, or you'll see scars on your body that aren't there, or you can see into the future, or sometimes you'll even get toys or candy
Different Faces
While some think the story may have originally been inspired by a person who actually existed at some point, it just doesn't seem likely. For one thing, the vast majority of legends with a reputed historical basis have fewer and fewer facts behind them the closer you look, even in cases where the different versions of the tales agree with each other to a large degree on many key points. Then compare that to the Bloody Mary figure.There isn't much even a majority of people can agree on -- not her name, not how she died, not how she became associated with mirrors, and not even if she is covered in blood or not. Without finding some new evidence we will have to give up the idea of locating a true-life Bloody Mary.
Here are some of the most interesting tales...
Deer Woman, judging by the name at least, could have been from the same branch of stories. In this case, you would summon up the spirit of Deer Woman by shouting her name three times near a particular bridge. She supposedly appears as a ball of blinding light (a feature of Native American shapeshifting legends) and then attacks all who dared to call her.
The Green Man exists farthest along this path away from the core story. By name alone it seems like it could be some offshoot of European fairies and pagan gods with the same name. It was probably only meant to refer to the fact that he was green colored. Supposedly the Green Man--in this story a wild hermit, ghost or strange unidentified creature--glowed in the dark like phosphorescence and would appear at night to curious teenagers who parked along a certain lonely stretch of road. But the fact that it was an entity that young people would go looking for even though they were warned against it as well as the ties to the Deer Woman story seem to suggest some sort of (admittedly tenuous) relationship.
Each of these variants are, in my opinion, clearly away from the central identity of Bloody Mary. I don't think that animal forms, nature or strange hermits had much to do with the legend's origin.
A few versions of the story talk about a figure known only as Maria, who differs from the more typical figure in a couple of ways. You would say "I hate Maria" three times in the mirror and she would come to kill you that midnight if you were asleep or sometimes the next night. Her face was half that of a beautiful woman and half bare skull. It may just be a coincidence, but death deities in Mexico and Central America sometimes had the half skull appearance. If these tales came from near that region it could indicate a mixing of two traditions. On the other hand, those sorts of details are not all that complex and could have been created spontaneously as well.
Some Bloody Mary versions, specifically the ones in which she kills her children and comes hunting for them, bear a striking resemblance to the Weeping Woman legend of Mexico and the surrounding area. Tales of female spirits who come to harm other people's babies and children because they no longer have their own can be traced back to the Aztecs and appeared in many other cultures as well. The Greek Lamia and Jewish Lilith figures are just two of the more widely known examples. None of these stories seem to have too much to do with mirrors or summoning someone's image, so appear to be another case of two separate folklore branches influencing each other.
Some of those who use Ouija boards to try to contact spirits of the dead talk about a girl named Veronica, who went mad from the process and killed herself with a pair of scissors. It is said that she sometimes comes to kill those who don't take the board seriously, or perhaps sometimes if you use it the wrong way. As a kind of an afterthought some also say that if you call for Veronica three times while in front of a mirror at midnight, you will see her there, with the scissors still sticking into her neck.
The story of Veronica, even without the mirror aspect, is obviously very similar to Bloody Mary. In both stories a female spirit appears and usually attempts to harm those foolish enough to try magic spells or summonings of some sort. Assuming that Bloody Mary is intended to scare children away from some occult practice, our culture has mostly forgotten what it was we were supposed to be afraid of in the first place.
Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall
Mirrors and reflections in general have always been held in fear and awe, and consequently been linked to the supernatural. Mirrors, like small bowls of water or crystal balls, were thought to be able to reveal the future or give a vision of distant locations, including at times the land of the dead, if used with the proper rituals.
More recently, young females (typically, although occasionally a male would perform a similar incantation) would attempt certain spells that were intended to reveal the identity of the person they would marry. Sometimes the girl would eat a red apple and brush her hair at midnight in front of a mirror and be rewarded with the image of her future husband. Other ritual actions include brushing one's hair, looking back over one's shoulder, spinning in circles, using a knife to cut an apple or many others.
While most of these spells are either forgotten or not practiced, you will run into them occasionally in popular culture. The flower petals superstition is still practiced but not usually taken seriously. Both the mirror and the apple, although modified in use, can be seen in many versions of the Snow White fairy tales, including Disney's animated movie.
Some people believe the Bloody Mary legend and all of its offshoots are mutated versions of these mirror rituals. Some of the modern stories even include aspects of the earlier traditions. A number of tales said you could use a small bowl of water instead of a mirror. Some versions claimed that you could call up the ghosts of any dead person by reciting their name the required number of times in the mirror. One person even mentioned that the reason for summoning Bloody Mary was so she could answer questions with her vast otherworldly knowledge, and that the most popular question was who you were going to marry. Another said calling Mary Worth in a mirror for some reason would show you an image of your future husband, though she could not explain why this might be other than Mary Worth was supposed to have been a witch who could cast spells for you of this kind. |
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| Bloody Mary |
[Feb. 7th, 2006|02:11 pm] |
Who is Bloody Mary? Many people know of Bloody Mary by the Childrens game most of us played when we were younger. Most of us knew one single version. Stand in a dark bathroom in front of the mirror, and chant three times " Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary " And she was to come out and scrath out your eyes. The research into Bloody Mary goes back to 1978, when folklorist Janet Langlois published her essay on the legend. Belief in summoning the mirror-witch was even at that time widespread throughout the U.S. Mary is summoned whenever squealing girls get together for a sleepover, but boys have been known to call on her too. There are many legands to whom Mary was. But there is no conclusive proof either way. Just alot of Specultaion. Mary is said to be a witch who was executed a hundred years ago for palying the black arts, or a woman of more modern times who died in a local car accident in which her face was hideously mutilated. Why would otherwise rational youngsters want to risk setting a murderous spirit on the rampage?
Gail de Vos offers the following explanation:
So why do children continue to summon Bloody Mary, flirting with danger and possible tragedy? The ages between 9 and 12 are labeled "the Robinson age" by psychologists. This is the period when children need to satisfy their craving for excitement by participating in ritual games and playing in the dark. They are constantly looking for a safe way to extract pleasure and release anxiety and fears.
It's possible these "mirror witch" games have their roots in oldtime divining rituals involving unmarried girls and future husbands. There are a number of variations of these divinations, some involving chanting a rhyme in a darkened room on a special night and then quickly looking in the mirror to catch a glimpse of the bridegroom-to-be.
The concept of mirrors as portals between this world and the realm of spirits shows up in other beliefs, namely those surrounding funerals. It was common practice to cover mirrors in a house where a death had occurred until the body was taken for burial. (Back in the days before funeral homes, corpses were washed by the deceased's relatives, dressed in their funeral finery, and laid out in coffins in the front parlor. Consequently, the dead would be in the house for days.) It was believed if the dear departed caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, his ghost would remain in the house because the mirror would trap his spirit.
Through the ages, The avenging spirit goes by many names: Bloody Mary, Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Whales, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Sally, Kathy, Agnes, Black Agnes, Aggie, Svarte Madame. What the mirror-witch does upon arrival varies too. She may strike her summoner dead, drive her mad, or fiercely scratch her face. She may merely peer malevolently out through the mirror, or she may drag one of the girls back through it to live with her.
The amount of Chants always changes - it can be repeated anywhere from one time to 100 times. Personally, chant anything more then 5 times, and I would start to see them as well. Normally Bloody Mary is chanted in the bathroom lit by candles. stand in front of the mirror and chat " Bloody Mary " 13 times. Another Version, You could also use a mirror in a darkened room with candles but the bathroom always works best - Chant "Bloody Mary" while spinning around - your voice should start off quietly and gain voice as you spin round, catch a glimpse of the mirror each time you pass it - on the thirteenth chant the spirit will (supposedly) be summoned.
There is also the term "Hell Mary" instead of "Bloody Mary". Hell Mary is more associated with invoking Satan or a Demon. Three "Hell Marys" and the mirror will turn red, Five "Hell Marys" and the Demon or Satans image will appear in the mirror or the walls or even the floor.
In the bathroom (again) chant "I don't believe in Mary Worth" 35 times, then say "I do believe in Mary Worth" - Mary Worth might come out and scratch your eyes out if your lucky.
Bloody Mary doesn't always have the same name - it seems that earlier on she had the more common name of Mary Worth and Mary Willard, other names include Bloody Ted (who will hand out candy - go figure?), Mary Margaruite.
There's a veronica who used the Ouija Board, she used a pair of scissors as the planchette, She was driven mad by the spirits and ended up commiting suicide by stabbing herself in the throat with her scissors. If you say her name three times in front of a mirror at midnight you will see her image in the mirror with the scissors still in her neck. If you play the Ouija and invoke her without taking the necessary precautions, she will come for you and kill you with her scissors.
WARNING: One of the most common results of this game is a deep psychological fear of mirrors that can start at an early age if a young person gets dragged into the game when they are not ready to deal with these sorts of things. I caution anyone not to simply pick on a friend and shove them in the bathroom, refusing to let them out until they have done the chant - you may be causing harm to this person that is extremely difficult to undo and it may plague that person for the rest of their life. I do not in any way condone or encourage anyone to participate in this game - the information is merely put up here for those who wish to know.
In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a mother who murdered her children, or a woman who was murdered shortly before or after her wedding. The game is often a test of courage, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would murder the summoner, often in a quite violent way, such as gouging out their eyes. Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderess who lived in the locality where the legend has taken root about a century ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend. On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I. The queen's life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. Had Mary I successfully borne a child, this would have established a Roman Catholic succession and threatened the continuance of her religious persecutions after her death. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children.
Now there is a real Bloody Mary. Some confuse the mirror witch with Mary I of England, whom history remembers as "Bloody Mary." An expanded version of that confusion has it that this murdering British queen killed young girls so she could bathe in their blood to preserve her youthful appearance. Mary I of England (1553-1558) was anything but a famed beauty terrified of losing her looks -- she was a matronly, fortyish woman who had about as much sense of style as a dust mop. The idea of her bathing in the blood of slaughtered virgins to preserve her loveliness is ludicrous. She came by the moniker "Bloody Mary" because she had a number of Protestants put to death during her reign, as she tried to re-establish Catholicism as the religion of the land after the reigns of her father (Henry VIII, he who married six wives over the course of his lifetime and established himself as the head of a new religion rather than tolerate the Pope's saying he couldn't divorce wife #1 to marry wife #2) and her brother (Edward VI, who ruled after Henry died but passed away himself at the age of 16). Mary was a devoutly religious woman who saw what she was doing as the saving of her subjects' souls from eternal damnation, and in those times — as crazy as this sounds now — the eternal wellbeing of a soul was deemed far more important than the comparatively fleeting life of a person. That bringing the country back to Catholicism would also safeguard her throne was also a major consideration.
Mary I was the half sister of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Both were daughters of Henry VIII, but Mary's mother was Katherine of Aragon and Elizabeth's mother was Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth I became Queen when Mary died, and she reigned for many years, coming to be called "The Virgin Queen" because she never married.
Some muddlings of this "murdering queen" variant claim that Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1567) is the "bloody Mary" of mirror summonings. Though this Mary was indeed a vain and foolish woman, history does not know her as a murderous one. (Well, okay, she did have a hand in doing away with a husband. But she didn't go after her subjects en masse, as did Mary I of England.) So, although there was a British queen known as "Bloody Mary," no connection between her and the mirror witch has surfaced, save for their both having the same name. Likewise, the "Mary Worth" appellation of the malevolent apparition doesn't appear to be drawn from the lead character of a popular comic strip of the same name. In lore, as elsewhere, coincidences occur. (The "bathing in blood" detail is traditionally attributed to Elizabeth Bathory, but of course her name was not "Mary.") It is likely, however, that Queen Mary I provided only her nickname to the Bloody Mary of folklore. She is also confused in some tellings of the story with Mary Queen of Scots. Bloody Mary is sometimes said to have bathed in the blood of her child victims in order to retain a youthful complexion; this would appear to confound her with Elizabeth Báthory. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 1st, 2006|10:25 pm] |
Origins: The research into Bloody Mary goes back to 1978, when folklorist Janet Langlois published her essay on the legend. Belief in summoning the mirror-witch was even at that time widespread throughout the U.S. Mary is summoned whenever squealing girls get together for a sleepover, but boys have been known to call on her too. (The 'Bloody Mary' legend was common when I was a kid in the early 1970s. We typically performed the "ritual" in bathrooms, because the bathrooms of our suburban homes had large mirrors and were easily darkened even during the day since they had no windows. A familiar 'Bloody Mary' story was one about a girl who supposedly ended her incantation with a spiteful "I don't believe in Mary Worth," then tripped over the doorjamb while exiting the bathroom and broke her
hip.) Mary is said to be a witch who was executed a hundred years ago for plying the black arts, or a woman of more modern times who died in a local car accident in which her face was hideously mutilated.
Some confuse the mirror witch with Mary I of England, whom history remembers as "Bloody Mary." An expanded version of that confusion has it that this murdering British queen killed young girls so she could bathe in their blood to preserve her youthful appearance.
Mary I of England (1553-1558) was anything but a famed beauty terrified of losing her looks -- she was a matronly, fortyish woman who had about as much sense of style as a dust mop. The idea of her bathing in the blood of slaughtered virgins to preserve her loveliness is ludicrous. She came by the moniker "Bloody Mary" because she had a number of Protestants put to death during her reign, as she tried to re-establish Catholicism as the religion of the land after the reigns of her father (Henry VIII, he who married six wives over the course of his lifetime and established himself as the head of a new religion rather than tolerate the Pope's saying he couldn't divorce wife #1 to marry wife #2) and her brother (Edward VI, who ruled after Henry died but passed away himself at the age of 16). Mary was a devoutly religious woman who saw what she was doing as the saving of her subjects' souls from eternal damnation, and in those times — as crazy as this sounds now — the eternal wellbeing of a soul was deemed far more important than the comparatively fleeting life of a person. That bringing the country back to Catholicism would also safeguard her throne was also a major consideration.
Mary I was the half sister of Elizabeth I (1558-1603). Both were daughters of Henry VIII, but Mary's mother was Katherine of Aragon and Elizabeth's mother was Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth I became Queen when Mary died, and she reigned for many years, coming to be called "The Virgin Queen" because she never married.
Some muddlings of this "murdering queen" variant claim that Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1567) is the "bloody Mary" of mirror summonings. Though this Mary was indeed a vain and foolish woman, history does not know her as a murderous one. (Well, okay, she did have a hand in doing away with a husband. But she didn't go after her subjects en masse, as did Mary I of England.)
So, although there was a British queen known as "Bloody Mary," no connection between her and the mirror witch has surfaced, save for their both having the same name. Likewise, the "Mary Worth" appellation of the malevolent apparition doesn't appear to be drawn from the lead character of a popular comic strip of the same name. In lore, as elsewhere, coincidences occur. (The "bathing in blood" detail is traditionally attributed to Elizabeth Bathory, but of course her name was not "Mary.")
Why would otherwise rational youngsters want to risk setting a murderous spirit on the rampage? Gail de Vos offers the following explanation:
So why do children continue to summon Bloody Mary, flirting with danger and possible tragedy? The ages between 9 and 12 are labeled "the Robinson age" by psychologists. This is the period when children need to satisfy their craving for excitement by participating in ritual games and playing in the dark. They are constantly looking for a safe way to extract pleasure and release anxiety and fears.
It's possible these "mirror witch" games have their roots in oldtime divining rituals involving unmarried girls and future husbands. There are a number of variations of these divinations, some involving chanting a rhyme in a darkened room on a special night and then quickly looking in the mirror to catch a glimpse of the bridegroom-to-be.
The concept of mirrors as portals between this world and the realm of spirits shows up in other beliefs, namely those surrounding funerals. It was common practice to cover mirrors in a house where a death had occurred until the body was taken for burial. (Back in the days before funeral homes, corpses were washed by the deceased's relatives, dressed in their funeral finery, and laid out in coffins in the front parlor. Consequently, the dead would be in the house for days.) It was believed if the dear departed caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror, his ghost would remain in the house because the mirror would trap his spirit.
Barbara "be Canadian — summon a Bloody Mary every time you're in a bar" Mikkelson
The avenging spirit goes by many names: Bloody Mary, Bloody Bones, Hell Mary, Mary Worth, Mary Worthington, Mary Whales, Mary Johnson, Mary Lou, Mary Jane, Sally, Kathy, Agnes, Black Agnes, Aggie, Svarte Madame
What the mirror-witch does upon arrival varies too. She may strike her summoner dead, drive her mad, or fiercely scratch her face. She may merely peer malevolently out through the mirror, or she may drag one of the girls back through it to live with her
OTHER VERSIONS
The amount of Chants always changes - it can be repeated anywhere from one time to 100 times (I think if you had to chant anything more than 5 times you'd start seeing stuff - especially if you spin round at the same time).
Do the bathroom/candle thing - Chant "Bloody Mary" thirteen times in front of the mirror.
You could also use a mirror in a darkened room with candles but the bathroom always works best - Chant "Bloody Mary" whilst spinning around - your voice should start off quietly and gain voice as you spin round, catch a glimpse of the mirror each time you pass it - on the thirteenth chant the spirit will (supposedly) be summoned.
There is also the term "Hell Mary" instead of "Bloody Mary". Hell Mary is more associated with invoking Satan or a Demon. Three "Hell Marys" and the mirror will turn red, Five "Hell Marys" and the Demon or Satans image will appear in the mirror or the walls or even the floor.
In the bathroom (again) chant "I don't believe in Mary Worth" 35 times, then say "I do believe in Mary Worth" - Mary Worth might come out and scratch your eyes out if your lucky.
Bloody Mary doesn't always have the same name - it seems that earlier on she had the more common name of Mary Worth and Mary Willard, other names include Bloody Ted (who will hand out candy - go figure?), Mary Margaruite.
There's a veronica who used the Ouija Board she used a pair of scissors as the planchette and got driven mad by the spirits and ended up killing herself by stabbing herself in the throat with her scissors. If you say her name three times in front of a mirror at midnight you will see her image in the mirror with the scissors still in her neck. If you play the Ouija and invoke her without taking the necessary precautions, she will come for you and kill you with her scissors
WARNING: One of the most common results of this game is a deep psychological fear of mirrors that can start at an early age if a young person gets dragged into the game when they are not ready to deal with these sorts of things - I have received quite a few emails from adults who still to this day have an intense fear of mirrors and suffered severe anxiety when having to use the bathroom as a young child or teenager. I caution anyone not to simply pick on a friend and shove them in the bathroom, refusing to let them out until they have done the chant - you may be causing harm to this person that is extremely difficult to undo and it may plague that person for the rest of their life. I do not in any way condone or encourage anyone to participate in this game - the information is merely put up here for those who wish to know - if they don't find this information on my page there are plenty of other sites on the Internet where you can find out about the game of BLOODY MARY.
And there is also the fact, of course, that if you are silly enough to believe any of the evil spirits will get you from doing this rather silly game then you deserve what you imagine you might get. :0) |
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| * le Sigh * |
[Jan. 26th, 2006|03:41 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
Ok, so I have finally come to a conclusion about an important issue in my life. I have found an amswome friend, who I can be myslf with and completly honest with. He is an awsome person, and I find him to be the closet person like myself that I have found in a while. So, we have talked for several daya, and we know alot about each other. And now, althought he dosent wanna hear this, I feel completly undateable. I feel odd. We have decided to be just friends, and have benifits. I am gonna teach him the art of BDSM, and we are gonna learn togther. And I am gonna help him in the metaphysical aspect of life. I am looking forward to it. I wanna be able to teach him what I know, And possibly get him to travel with me. I would love that. But I am still incerdably sad. My emotions will not get in the way of anything, I know he does not like me. But still, I think of the small things that I want in life. That now, right now, I will not get. I wanna be held, and I wanna cuddle. But you know, I will take what I can get from this all. And in time, it will all go away, and I will be fine. I just dont knwo what I do wrong. I am me, and I cant be anything else. I just want a chance. And it kinda sucks, because as much as I didnt wanna hear it, I did not want him to say were only friends with no possibility. I want there to always be the possibility. but noe that this has all been brought up, and talked about and decided, I hope that it does not change how we are now, anything. I want him to become, like he said earlier, best friends. I need that more then anything. And he asked me a question earlier, will i care if he dates. No, as long as what we have as friends does not. As long as it stays strong life will be good. |
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| Im a fuck....lol |
[Jan. 24th, 2006|12:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
OK, so here is what has gone on recently. I have met a cool friend. Name is Ryan, and he makes me laugh like you would not imagine. lol. We met online. And when started talking and we hit it off perfectly. We talked for like 6 hours a day. I loved it. It made me happy like you would not believe. So I finally decided to meet him. I drove to where he was staying with some friends. And we did nothing, but I had more fun then I had in a very, very long time. And all we did was talk and play around...in a good way. And I must say. I sure hope it all stays that way. I love all of it. and I sooo want to be happy. And you know, I think I could hanging out with him and his friends.
Off to do more studies |
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onyxcaruso's journal