Divination

Our trip to the Parowan Prophet began with a letter to the St. George Spectrum. It was set among missives proposing that oil companies bail out Detroit automakers, that county inmates be forced to winter in tents, that lawyers be barred from public office. A rough crowd.This particular letter to the editor in the St. George, Utah, newspaper carried the headline " 'Prophet' shares grim forecast," and it was signed by one Leland Freeborn of Parowan, who wrote that he was known to many as the ParowanProphet.After establishing his bona fides as an international talk radio guest and proprietor of a survivalist website that has "passed more than 100,000 hits," Freeborn wrote... "I think that you should hear what my opinion about the Obama election is: that he will not be the next president.

I said on my home page in August that if he lost to expect to see the 'riots' that 2 Peter 2:13 tells us about. He didn't lose. But the story is not finished yet. I still think they may begin the riots before Christmas 2008, as I said." These riots, according to his prophecy, will encourage the "old, hard-line Soviet guard" to seize the moment and rain down nukes on the United States, killing at least 100 million of us. "Prepare now," Freeborn's letterconcluded. "We are downwind from Las Vegas. I hope you can survive." It took an hour to reach the prophet, a high-country drive through stunning red-rock formations, the color of which matches the politics in this corner of southern Utah. A freeway billboard, depicting a nuclear mushroom cloud, provided directions to the prophet's two-story house. The frontyard seemed a staging ground for rapid flight -- two or three motor boats, a raft, a canoe, a recreational vehicle and an old sedan, parked with its engine running. The man who answered our unexpected knock wore a cowboy hat with a big feather stuck in the band, and a beard suggestive of St. Nick. We asked to see the prophet. He said we had the right guy. Freeborn hobbled out the door on crutches and eased into a wheelchair on the porch. As itturned out, he wa......

Have you ever wondered what's in the cards for you? Ever thought about consulting a diviner or tarot reader, but think it might be hocus-pocus? Well, we checked it out. To understand tarot you have to take a step back from science as you know it, or better yet, relieve yourself of rational thinking for a while. Tarot has to do with the spirit, and universal and personal energy - abstract concepts, for which there really aren't any scientific explanation.Last week I went to see Cape Town tarot reader Lana Miller. The way she explained it to me is that the reading is based on universal energy as well as the spiritual energy of the person whosereading is being done.Here's an everyday example of spiritual energy: is there a person who automatically puts you in a bad mood? Maybe someone else who always lifts your spirits? Or what about the tension in the air when a certain person enters a room? That is the kind of "energy" I'm talking about. Now apparently it's the interaction between this energy, with the universal energy, that helps you pick the card with your message from the universe. Tarot cards have archetypal symbols which represent an outcome, situation or event. Cards are packed to a certain format, and the sequence in which they are drawn is interpreted to make the reading.

The combination of cards you draw is also meaningful. The reader then interprets the cards' meaning and helps you apply it to your ownsituation. An example from my reading would be the Death card (which I drew not once, but twice). Luckily for me this card doesn't represent the actual act of dying, but rather some kind of transformation – the end of one thing represents the start of another. A tarot reader doesn't have to be a diviner or have any psychic abilities whatsoever, they just need to understand the technique and how to interpret the meaning of the cards. "But being intuitive is the difference between a tarot reader and a good tarot reader," says Lana. So you can see why it's better to go to a professional rather than trying to interpret your own cards.

A brief background Tarot is believed to have been practiced as far back as ancient Egypt, though thefirst c......

Astrologer Joyce Levin is fond of quoting financier J.P. Morgan, who has often been attributed as saying, "Millionaires don't consult astrologers, billionaires do." Levin, a Cambridge-based modern stargazer, doesn't promise to make you rich, but she does tell the story of a couple who asked for some fortuitous gambling dates and then won thousands of dollars at the slot machines.She says her clients come from all walks of life, from high-octane venture capitalists, renowned physicians, and attorneys takinglawsuits to trials, to expectant mothers, lovesick suitors, and pet owners.As a practitioner in the "science and art of astrology," Levin says she combines "planetary influences with a keen intuitive sense," helping to heal relationships, encourage career changes, and even understand a child's behavior. In an age of rational scientific thinking, it may seem odd that belief in studies such as astrology still exists. But historically, it is during times of economic uncertainty and social anxiety that faith in the supernatural surges, with increased interest in practices such as astrology, ESP, and reincarnation. With the popularity of TV shows such as "Lost," "Medium," and the latest network additions, "Eleventh Hour" and "Fringe," Levin says the newsophisticated audience of astrology seekers is no longer just the "ditsy female wanting to know about her love life." She gets phone calls about the stock market, housing slump, and unemployment trends. Levin says she has accurately predicted past political events, such as the demise of Hillary Clinton's campaign and Barack Obama's victory.

She admits these happenings were forecast by pundits and pollsters as well, but says her insight came from astrological readings. And, she also offers up a reading from the stars for 2009, which she also acknowledges isn't revolutionary but insists is tied to Mercury retrograde cycles and other orbits. "There is no quick fix for the economy, but the cycles right now are more like the 1930s than they have ever been. In the next 15 years, we will see a taxpayer revolution, not led by the rich butfrom......

Lord drayson, the government minister in charge of science, believes he has an uncanny ability "like a sixth sense" to know and predict some events instinctively. The multi-millionaire businessman and Labour donor says he believes humans have strange abilities that are not widely understood. "In my life there have been some things I have known, and I don"t know why," he said in an interview with The Sunday Times. "I think there is a lot we don"t understand about human capability." Drayson, who returned to government last month to become the first science minister with a seat in cabinet, also said he believed in God and saw no conflict between faith and science. "I think faith is a verystrange thing," he said.

"You don"t necessarily believe in something just because you have the evidence to prove it." The scientific view is that theories and beliefs should be based on evidence and proven by experiment. Drayson, who is not claiming paranormal powers for himself, cites Blink, the bestselling American book about human instinct, by Malcolm Gladwell. The book identifies cases of individuals with the apparent power to foretell events, an ability Drayson believes he may share. He said: "It"s a really fascinating book. He gives lots of examples of people who have demonstrated very clearly that they have good instinct in their lives. One particular fireman in America had this amazing instinct . . . This guy [knew] when something bad was going to happen, when you need to leave the building."Gladwell"s book is about the ability of the human being to know something, but not to know why they know it. This struck a chord with me, because in my life there have been some things that I"ve known and I don"t know why." Drayson described the ability as "like a sixth sense" and said it could be linked to the way humans have evolved. Critics once accused him of almost supernatural timing when he made a donation to Labour: the pharmaceutical company he ran at the time subsequently won a £32m government contract with seemingly uncanny ease.

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