Defence Against the Dark Arts Part I: Vernon Howard’s booklets

Reading the right words in the right way at the right time can have an effect that is almost magical. Something changes permanently for the better on the inside, and this causes a change for the better on the outside. The illumination caused by reading and understanding the words changes our vibrational rate; lumps in our subconscious minds disappear; we move on to a better psychological area; we become different people and thus we attract different types of people and experiences.

This process is not under our conscious control. What works for other people does not always work for us, and vice versa.

I heard very good reports of A Course in Miracles so I got a copy, but I found that I could not get through it. It did not speak my language nor resonate with my thoughts and experiences. I wanted to get something positive from this book but my subconscious mind refused to co-operate. Not only did it not like the book, it disliked it very much! Other people may have transformed their lives thanks to this book, but it did nothing at all for me.

It was very different when I picked up a little booklet in a New Age bookshop. It was 50 Ways To See Thru People by Vernon Howard. Something about it attracted me, so I bought it and three companion booklets. I got a lot out of reading these little publications, which came into my life at just the right time.  They provide a good introduction to the subject of spiritual development.

Witches and fairy godmothers in real life

In traditional stories, fairy godmothers grant wishes and make dreams come true; witches do the opposite. Fairy godmothers bless people; witches curse them.  Fairy godmothers are helpful and look after people’s interests; witches do whatever harm they can and sabotage people’s lives. Fairy godmothers are nurturing and encourage healthy growth; witches blight and poison everything and everyone around them.

I believe that these stories are founded on fact.

My articles about energy vampires, psychic crime, psychological black magic and curses describe people who might well be called modern day witches.

On the other hand, I myself have been called a fairy godmother a few times!

She wished to meet a certain actor

I remember when one of my colleagues was talking about some actor she had seen on TV: she said that she really liked this man and wished she could meet him. I said I wished that she could too. I had no idea who he was and still don’t know. When she returned to work after the weekend, she was very excited. She told us that she had been walking on Hampstead Heath with a few friends and they stopped for a drink in a pub. It was very crowded; someone came up and asked if he could sit with them. It was the actor! She said he was very pleasant and she wasn’t at all disappointed or disillusioned with him. So her wish was granted.

Unseen influences: curses and cursing

I can’t remember when I first made a connection between some disturbing incidents that I had experienced in my life and the idea that some people are able to cause misfortune to others by ill-wishing or cursing them.  It was certainly some years after I first read Colin Wilson’s books Mysteries and The Occult, in which there are many examples of curses and cursing.

I would much rather believe in accidents, mere coincidences and chance than the idea that some people do have and use this power, but personal experience has made me believe that the proposition is correct. 

The incidents I have witnessed all involve perpetrators who were unaware of their powers and the effect that they had on the people around them. 

Unconsciously cursing someone is not the same as deliberately using spoken ritual to bring harm to a chosen victim. It often happens automatically; it usually comes from a very deep level in immediate response to what the perpetrator perceives to be an annoyance, a threat, an attack, an injury, a refusal to obey orders or a disappointing and unacceptable rejection. 

It is unwise to raise this subject with most people: they have no experience of incidents such as these and cannot understand or accept the issues involved. Putting information online in the hope that the right people will be drawn to it and find it useful is a better option.

Energy vampires in books: Terry Pratchett and J.K. Rowling

There are many articles about energy vampires (meaning the human kind, not electrical appliances on standby) to be found online. Some have nothing new or original to add to existing knowledge in either the material itself or the presentation and interpretation: they just repeat the basics. 

Some articles are written by people who are trying to sell something: they consist of snippets surrounded by advertisements. 

Many such articles are superficial, positioned at the level of pop psychology; others are all generalisations with nothing coming from personal experiences. Many books on the subject are not much better.

Some of this information may be suitable for people who want an introduction to the subject, or to learn how to deal with a difficult colleague at the office or a negative, self-pitying mother who won’t get off the phone, but some of us want something deeper and more substantial, something that takes metaphysical factors and the very worst examples into account.

In this connection, I have found two examples of fictional energy vampires that resonate very strongly with me. They come from the works of Terry Pratchett and J. K. Rowling.

Unseen influences:should we forget it to get it?

I still remember how devastated I felt when first I read somewhere that by wanting something very much, we are likely to activate forces that prevent our getting it! People who can take it or leave it are more likely to get it. This rule seems very unfair, but it explains a lot. I just wish that I had learned it much earlier in life.

I noticed a similar rule operating in my life: one way to get something I want is to forget about it!

The shoes
I went on a trip that involved a lot of walking; I was not satisfied with the shoes I had so decided to get some new ones for my next trip. 

I went everywhere in the main shopping street and to a few other places; I spent many hours looking for something suitable, but came away with nothing. There was always a catch: shoes that I really liked were much too expensive; the cheaper ones did not have everything I was looking for in the same model. Where I liked the colour, they would not have my size; where I liked the style, they would not have the colour I liked.

I decided to forget it and wear the old shoes again. A few hours after letting go of the idea of new shoes, I was on my way home when my bus went past a clothes shop with a rack of shoes outside. I went to investigate, and found some perfect shoes on sale! I used to go past that shop most days, and this was the first, last and only time they had a rack outside. I felt that the universe had arranged everything just for my benefit.

I told this story to someone who was present on both trips, and she said that exactly the same thing had happened to her.  She just could not find anything suitable anywhere, so gave up and resigned herself to wearing her old shoes again. Not long after this, she happened to pass a charity shop, saw some shoes in the window, went inside to have a closer look and found that they were exactly what she was looking for. They were very cheap too!

Unseen Influences: gratitude and appreciation attract good experiences

This article was created as a counterpoint to the one about distress signals attracting predators. It could be that these phenomena are two sides of the same coin: perhaps it is only people who draw predators to them when they are feeling terrible who get good experiences after expressing gratitude and appreciation and giving out positive signals.

I still remember a time many years ago when I felt delighted with a children’s book I found in a discount bookstore. It was based on the Pinocchio story; it had lovely coloured pictures and simple text; it was a great bargain. I gave the book to someone as a present for her little boy. 

She told me later that it was ideal because he had not been very interested in learning to read, but he loved Pinocchio and this book had inspired him to want to learn to read so that he could understand the text. I didn’t know he couldn’t read very well nor that he liked Pinocchio, but perhaps the universe did! 

Two exploited women: Maria Callas and the Duchess of Windsor

I remember watching a TV programme about the final years of the Duchess of Windsor in Paris a while back. This reminded me of something I had read about the later life of Maria Callas.

Maria Callas’s 'suspicious death'
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She died at her home in Paris on September 16th 1977, after living in loneliness and isolation for many years.

A heart attack was given as the official cause of her death, but the following disturbing extracts from articles I found online suggest a very different story; a colleague believes that she was poisoned for her money:

“Opera legend Maria Callas was murdered for her $9 million (GBP5 million) fortune, according to film director Franco Zeffirelli.

Zeffirelli, who has made a film of the soprano's last days called Callas Forever, is convinced the singer was poisoned in 1977 at the age of 53 by pianist Vasso Devetzi.

Zeffirelli explains, ‘In her last years, Maria was totally under the control of a woman named Vasso Devetzi. Little by little, she cleared everyone away.

I have been told Maria left a will giving everything to her maid, her driver and a musicians' retirement home. But after she died, there was no sign of this will and Devetzi got most of what Maria had.

Devetzi was giving Maria sleeping pills and amphetamines the whole time. It is legitimate to think that Devetzi killed Maria and then stole everything she had.’

He adds that Devetzi, who is now dead, ordered for Callas's body to be ‘cremated immediately after the funeral service’ and ‘there was never an autopsy’ as it was widely suspected Callas died of a heart attack.”  
Read the full article from 28/11/2004 here.