The Kali Death cult Returns, Killing Children for goddess

A painted image of the Hindu goddess Kali is propped up against a stone in the dirt, her long red tongue goading terrified worshippers into submission. From one of her eight flailing arms a severed head dangles, her neck is adorned by a necklace of bleached human skulls.
There are bloodstains on the cracked wall behind the terrible postcard-size image and, around the dark room, splattered gore on the heavy wooden furniture. These dark marks bear witness to a child sacrificed in the name of the abominable goddess.
Through the doorway, in the distance, colourfully dressed women are bent double, toiling in the fields, their faces worn and wrinkled from the sun, their hands cracked from digging at the dry earth from dawn until dusk.
It's an intolerable life in the remote village of Barha, a squalid collection of mud-bricked farmers' dwellings in the heart of the impoverished province of Khurja, Uttar Pradesh. This corner of rural India is a lawless place of superstitions and deep prejudice. The region, known for its sugarcane, is a tortuous eight-hour drive from Delhi and a lifetime away from the 21st century.
In Bulandshahr, the nearest town of any description, locals whispered darkly of happenings in Barha. Their advice was unanimous: 'Don't go. It is an evil place. The people there are cursed.'
Sumitra Bushan, 43, who lived in Barha for most of her life, certainly thought she was cursed. Her husband had long abandoned her, leaving her with debts and a life of servitude in the sugarcane fields. Her sons, Satbir, 27, and Sanjay, 23, were regarded as layabouts. Life was bad but then the nightmares and terrifying visions of Kali allegedly began, not just for Sumitra but her entire family.
She consulted a tantrik, a travelling 'holy man' who came to the village occasionally, dispensing advice and putrid medicines from the rusty amulets around his neck.
His guidance to Sumitra was to slaughter a chicken at the entrance to her home and offer the blood and remains to the goddess. She did so but the nightmares continued and she began waking up screaming in the heat of the night and returned to the priest. 'For the sake of your family,' he told her, 'you must sacrifice another, a boy from your village.'
Ten days ago Sumitra and her two sons crept to their neighbour's home and abducted three-year-old Aakash Singh as he slept. They dragged him into their home and the eldest son performed a puja ceremony, reciting a mantra and waving incense. Sumitra smeared sandalwood paste and globules of ghee over the terrified child's body. The two men then used a knife to slice off the child's nose, ears and hands before laying him, bleeding, in front of Kali's image.
In the morning Sumitra told villagers she had found Aakash's body outside her house. But they attacked and beat her sons who allegedly confessed. 'I killed the boy so my mother could be safe,' Sanjay screamed. All three are now in prison, having escaped lynch mob justice. The tantrik has yet to be found.
Police in Khurja say dozens of sacrifices have been made over the past six months. Last month, in a village near Barha, a woman hacked her neighbour's three-year-old to death after a tantrik promised unlimited riches. In another case, a couple desperate for a son had a six-year-old kidnapped and then, as the tantrik chanted mantras, mutilated the child. The woman completed the ritual by washing in the child's blood.

Thorpe Park 'may be exorcised' after Ouija board seance

Thorpe Park bosses have suspended six members of staff and have called in a paranormal expert after a late-night Ouija board seance at the theme park was blamed for a series of spooky incidents.
The workers are said to have carried out a Ouija board session in the horror-themed rollercoaster SAW - The Ride, at Thorpe Park, following their shift on the opening night of the Park's Halloween-themed 'Fright Nights.'
It is thought the group chose the park's newest ride, which boasts gruesome features mimicking the sinister torture scenarios from the film SAW, thinking it was the perfect setting for their antics.

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But bosses at the Park in Chertsey, Surrey, apparently failed to see the funny side and are now holding the seance responsible for a series of eerie goings on.
Several bemused visitors have complained about an extreme drop in temperature inside the ride building.
And spooked workers have reported lights flickering and special effects starting up sporadically after being switched off.
Unable to find any technical reason for the malfunctions, bemused park bosses have now called in a paranormal expert.

Music Break: Strawberry Swing -ColdPlay

India’s Infamous Thuggee Cult

They were evil incarnate in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – which was briefly banned in India for alleged racism. Their name is the root of the modern English word ‘thug’. And a few centuries ago these bad boys were responsible for the mass murder of tens of thousands of travelers. Here’s a look behind the myth at India’s mystery-shrouded Thuggee cult: bands of roving stranglers who robbed and killed many folks making their way unwittingly across the sub-continent.

History is quick to point out what nasty pieces of work these Thuggee types were; they’re even in the Guinness Book of Records, with over two million kills attributed to their deadly hands. There have been stacks of Western attempts to make sense of the phenomenon: pirates of the plains, brigands of Bengal – but buccaneer and bandit likenesses like these don’t do justice to the singularly sinister way in which the original Thugs went about their business.

Preying in pilgrims’ routes: many an unwary traveler got waylaid or worse ganges Ganges River at Haridwar landscape etching, 1858. Image via: ebay antiques

By appearing to be friendly fellow travelers, these deviously depicted devils would join and infiltrate the caravans people traveled in for safety. They often did so gradually over the course of long journeys, the less to arouse suspicion. Then, when they held a numerical or strategic advantage over their quarry, and were sure there was no escape, they would ruthlessly attack at a prearranged signal.

Equally crafty with their killing techniques, the Thugs garrotted their victims with a cloth handkerchief known as a rumal. This was so as not to shed blood – which would have been not only conspicuous but sacrilegious. They also killed under the cover of darkness and a sonic screen such as noise or music, before systematically disposing of the bodies in concealed burial sites.

Did Black Magic Play a Role in Suu Kyi Trial Verdict?

Reporters and some diplomats who followed the Aung San Suu Kyi trial and attended the final session are asking—and not only in jest— whether the ruling generals used voodoo or black magic to influence the verdict.

The trial was repeatedly adjourned until it was suddenly wrapped up in one morning session on August 11.

Burmese are asking themselves whether the superstitious Burmese military leaders chose to end the trial on August 11 on the advice of astrologers. And reporters and some diplomats who attended the final session appear to be considering the possibility, too.

The court proceedings had been scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. but got underway at 10:45 a.m., when John W Yettaw, who has been receiving medical treatment recently for a stroke, was led into the court wearing a blue and white long-sleeved shirt and off-white trousers.

Aung San Suu Kyi entered the court at 10:50 a.m.

Exactly at 11 a.m., the judges began reading out the case history of John W Yettaw and later turned to address the case of Suu Kyi. A local reporter who attended the session said some foreign diplomats with knowledge of the regime’s superstitious ways smiled at the timing and asked why the judgment appeared to have been delayed until 11 a.m.

Yadaya, Burma’s form of voodoo, is said to rule the lives of junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe and his family and to influence his policy decisions. He and other top generals, together with members of their families, are known to regularly consult astrologers.

In Burmese Buddhist tradition, there are “eleven fires”— greed, hatred, delusion, birth, aging, death, grief, lamentation, pain, sorrow and despair—which, in a spiritual context, are fueled by sentient attachment.


Some astrologers within Burma ask whether the generals are trying to prevent the “eleven fires” from befalling them by turning to yadaya.

Many observers inside and outside the country are amused to discern what appears to be the appearance of a new number—11—in the code of superstitions adopted by the generals.

In September 2008, the regime released 9,002 prisoners. Add the numerals together and what do you get? Eleven!

During the dictatorship of Gen Ne Win, the number 9 became the satanic mark of the regime. Even the national currency was altered to denominations of nine, with 45-kyat and 90-kyat notes, which suddenly and without warning replaced the existing currency.

When he was in power, one of his aides, Sein Lwin, who was president of Burma for two weeks during the turbulent summer of 1988, regularly consulted astrologers in an attempt to foresee the future.

Worrying Form of Black Magic Captivates Chinese Youth

Following on the heels of China's ban on Thai "voodoo dolls" last May, a new kind of "black magic" is proving popular among young people. Called the Death Note, the offending object is a notebook said to bring misfortune and curses upon someone should their name be written inside it. Based on a Japanese anime show, Chinese authorities have moved to confiscate the book nationwide in the last two months after receiving a deluge of complaints from concerned parents and teachers.

The Death Note, its price ranging from 15 to 50 yuan, was first marketed in China as a kind of stationery with Beijing Daily reporting its popularity among primary and high school students.

In reality, the Death Note is a brazen counterfeit of a key element in the popular Japanese comic of the same name. In this story, the Death Note will cause the death of anyone who has his or her name written inside it. Thus, the main character Light Yagami, also known as "Kira", takes revenge on criminals who escape the hand of the law, but failing to realize that in so doing he has become a serial killer.

After proving a smash-hit when published in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from December 2003 to May 2006, the series was adapted into live-action films and an anime series in 2006.

The curse plot-line has seemingly struck a chord with some venal Chinese businessmen who jumped at an original method to reap profits from the comic's underground popularity in China.

So far, reports of the notebook have come from the cities of Beijing, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Shaoxing, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Nanning among others. Law-enforcement authorities in the affected areas have declared a concerted and nationwide campaign against this illegal publication after the high volume of complaints.

However, students dismiss the notebook as not being a big deal. "We are under huge pressure to study. This is just a fun way to blow off steam. We don't take it seriously," a high school student told Beijing Daily.

High school students in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province also attributed the notebook's popularity to peer pressure and saw it as a fad, reported China News Service. "If anybody makes you angry, you can write his name on the notebook and cast deadly curse," said one student, adding the notebook would not really cause any deaths.

"We don't care that the deaths will not come true. It's just a game, we do not want our friends, parents and teachers to die. We write their names in the book as a joke."

However, this easy dismissal has no hold with irate parents and teachers, who are understandably distraught at finding their names included in the notebook. They have lambasted the very idea as potentially deforming children's morals with psychologists and sociologists alike saying any children enjoying the game must suffer from some mental problem brought on by an overly strenuous school environment.

"First we witnessed the popularity of voodoo dolls, now the Death Note, which combine to show that children today lack normal channels through which to convey their negative emotions and alleviate their feelings of pressure," said Dr. Tian Yuanxiu, an education psychological expert with Capital Normal University. She continued to say that any approach sought to relieve depression should not involve or embrace destructive tendencies, thus rendering the notebook utterly evil.

She called for more after-school activities to be offered to students, enabling them to let go of their stress and to enjoy the company of their peers.

Back in April, the State General Administration of Press and Publication's Department of Anti-Pornography and Illegal Publications issued a notice ordering the confiscation of Death Note and seven other illegal horror-story publications. To date, tens of hundreds of copies of Death Notes have been seized, according to various Chinese media.

Alien Cloud Hovers Above Moscow

Eyewitnesses made a curious video of a very strange cloud hovering above Moscow. The video, which was posted on the Mobile Reporter website, shows a cloud which looks like a huge white-rimmed whirlpool.

The video was made on October 7, on the Moscow Ring Road.

The phenomenon, which many Muscovites could observe in the western part of the city, is an optical effect, meteorologists said.

“This is purely an optical effect, although it does look impressive. If you look closer, you can see sun rays coming through that cloud. Most likely, the sun was setting when the video was being made. If you observe clouds regularly, you may see many other astonishing things. Clouds of the same class may look absolutely different in different areas. Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west – this is how the effect was produced,” a meteorologist said.

Another meteorologist said that there was a twister forming above Moscow because of several weather fronts in the area. However, the twister did not appear.

“The phenomenon has nothing to do with industrial emissions. They could not produce such an effect against the background of the current weather conditions. If something happens, there is the smog effect, but it appears only when the weather is quiet for a long time. The wind in Moscow has been quite strong recently,” a weather forecaster said.

Russian Sects and Fringe Beliefs - Part Four: Magical Services

RIA Novosti continues its six-part investigation into Russian sects and fringe beliefs with a look at the popularity of so-called magical services.MOSCOW, July 13 (Marc Bennetts for RIA Novosti) - The popular image of the Soviet Union is of a grey, monolithic state where belief in anything that failed to correspond to the teachings of Marx and Lenin was stamped out by brutal KGB agents.

However, beneath the secular surface, thousands of healers and sorcerers went about their age-old professions, practising ancient traditions that date back to pre-Christian Rus. The collapse of the Soviet Union saw these widespread beliefs in the magical and the paranormal rise rapidly to the surface.

From their humble beginnings of whispered recommendations, “magical services” have made the crossover into the mainstream. Estimates suggest there are over 100,000 occult practitioners in Russia, with the business worth some $10 million in Moscow alone.

The Tainaya Vlast (The Secret Power) semimonthly, with a print run of 250,000, is Russia’s most popular paper devoted to all things supernatural. However, if in the West, a similar newspaper would most likely be filled with adverts for New Age self-development courses and the like, Tainaya Vlast’s classifieds are of a much more down-to-earth nature, featuring ads offering to, among other things, “magically cure alcoholism and resolve family problems.”

“Ancient magical and mystical traditions of the Russian north. Business problems resolved!” reads another ad, in a breathtaking mixture of the magical and the mundane. 

In a nod to the realities of 21st-century urban life, the vast majority of Russia’s professional occultists have their own Internet sites. The simply-named Magicheskie Uslugi (Magical Services) website is just one of them. “Curses - 100 euros, success in court - 20 euros,” offers the oddly flesh-coloured site, its pricelist stating that “all services will be fulfilled only after 100% pre-payment.”

The economic downturn that hit Russia hard towards the end of 2008 has also had an effect on the marketing techniques of modern occult gurus, with many proudly advertising “new anti-financial crisis magic!” Apart from the usual curses and love spells, many witches and wizards claim to be able to magically protect their clients against getting the sack by using their powers on unpleasant bosses, maintain pre-crisis salaries by bewitching the entire bookkeeping department, and even make sure that loan applications are approved. 

“Casting spells on banks is more expensive, however,” I was told by the owner of one such business when I called to enquire further.

Why?

“It involves black magic.”

*

 “We don’t have the right, legally, to use the word magic in our adverts,” Mikhail, owner of an occult centre in the centre of Moscow told me. “I took the word magic off our advert and got a license.”

But why did the word “magic” cause so much offence when, say, the word “clairvoyant”, was fine?

“Ah, you know,” Mikhail went on. “Those officials. Around five years ago, there was a weird period, let’s call it a witch-hunt, when the authorities started cracking down on the whole occult thing. We came to a compromise, and the word magic got banned. They had to ban something,” he shrugged.

Mikhail is an ex-Soviet air force pilot who, like many people in Russia around the time of the breakup of the Soviet Union, got interested in the occult. However, he differed from most in that he set up his own business, hiring “people with special gifts” to work for him.

He was obviously doing well. His premises were plush, in one of Moscow’s most exclusive areas, and he seemed to have no shortage of clients.

“People in Russia are far more drawn to magical services than to psychiatrists or psychoanalysts,” Mikhail said. “They believe more in miracles than people in the West. And they really love a show.”

Mikhail introduced me to new employee, psychic healer Olga who had applied for a position after seeing the center’s program on a satellite TV channel.

“I came in for an interview, had a test, and they took me on,” she told me.

What exactly was a psychic healer, I asked. What did her powers consist of?

“I can see people’s illness, diagnose them, and cure them. It usually takes about five sessions.”

I had no interest in exposing Olga as a fraud, and, to be honest, I was not even sure that she was. She certainly seemed to believe in her abilities.

“My powers were discovered when I went on holiday with my school, back in the Soviet era,” Olga told me. “This was the era of Anatoliy Kashpirovsky, and that lot, and every sanitarium had its very own bio-energy therapist.”

As the Soviet Union entered its death throes, Kashpirovsky and his great rival, Alan Chumak, were state-approved psychics who appeared on national television, curing the nation of various illnesses through the power of the mind. Able at their height of their fame to fill stadiums all over the country, their individual weekly TV shows had the entire country captivated.

Kashpirovsky, clad all in black, his piercing eyes staring into flats across the USSR, “healed” millions, his sonorous voice both reassuring and oddly threatening.

“For those of you with high blood pressure, your blood pressure will lower…whoever has hip injuries, they will heal…” he droned.

Chumak, a white-haired figure for whom the word eccentric could have been invented, was entirely the opposite. After a brief matter-of-fact introduction, he would silently and slowly, like some Soviet Zen master, move his hands for half-an-hour or so, “charging” with healing energy the jars and saucepans full of water that his millions of viewers had placed around their flats.

“Anyway,” Olga continued, “I started to feel ill when I went to one of the bio-energy sessions, and afterwards the psychic told me that I should never attend again as I had my own powers.”

Had she been frightened, I wondered, by this sudden discovery of her gift?

“I remember feeling extremely interested,” she smiled. “My friends didn’t know that much about it, but my parents did. I used to take my mother’s headaches away.”

Olga also had her own theory as to the popularity of magical services in Russia.

“It’s much more interesting,” she said. “When you go to a psychoanalyst, you have to tell him your problems. Here, psychics and clairvoyants tell you your problems. That’s far, far better.”

M.bennetts@rian.ru

Chelyabinsk Eparchy against Arkaim as Occult Tourism Centre

http://www.interfax-russia.ru/r/B/eventday/289.html?menu=6&id_issue=12199984

The Eparchy of Chelyabinsk City is worried about the fact that Arkaim, the mysterious archeological monument of the Bronze Age is turning into a centre of occult tourism.

"Recently Arkaim has become a subject for some para-scientific speculations rather than serious historical research. As a matter of fact, the archeological monument of the Southern Ural is turning into a centre of occult tourism" - the press-service of Chelyabinsk Eparchy reports.

According to its data expeditions to Arkaim that presently gather in Chelyabinsk and other cities have many spiritually disoriented people. Deliberately or not knowing, they disseminate neo-pagan practices and propagate unhealthy interest for "the mysterious".

In order to guide people interested in Arkaim, the missionary department of the eparchy has prepared a range of materials on this archeological monument.

(SOURCE)