Share the story of the first and last time you spent money on woo

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

At one time or other, I somewhat to firmly believed in mermaids, bigfoot, ghosts, many superstitions, the Bermuda Triangle, fortune telling, astrology and the tenets of Catholicism and if we're talking the whole of my life, well, Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, too.:)

I also remember finding up a section of books about UFOs in the school library when I was about 10 and half-believing in it and being very scared and excited by the possibility of it.

However, there were only two occassions I can think of where I actually plucked down money for it.

Once was when I bought my sister a pack of Tarot cards for her birthday as a teenager because I actually wanted them myself. :)

The other was the first and last time I ever went to a palm reader and the last time I put down money for any kind of woo and ever will.

I had a friend in high school who had recently become a Wiccan, which upset me greatly because it's, to this day, the worst BS crap I've ever heard of.

I was still somewhat religious then, but even then Wicca was just like "Come on!". I never understood how anyone could even take it seriously, let alone subscribe to it. Even at 15, I thought it was the most idle, shallow, idiotic, waste-of-time teenage hobby ever invented and yes, that's accounting for Dungeons and Dragons.

So my friend and I were out at a movie and when it was over, since we were in the general area, I suggested showing her my old middle school.

Now, my old middle school was right around the corner from a psychic and palm reader's shop. We used to see this old, obese, bandana-ed crone scurrying around in what looked like her grandmother's nightgown on lunch break from time to time or talking with I presumme they were clients, usually older woman. She used to scare the crap out of us, beckoning us over through the shop window all the time after school. Looking back on it, maybe she was afraid of soliciting under the nose of the custodians and crossing guards during lunch break.

What I remembered vividly about the shop was that it had a ton of glossy and shiny New Age artifacts on display that I was itching to have. I loved crystals at that age. One day, walking home, I stopped in front of the window to gaze at them and looked up to see the old crone's face next to mine, maniacly waving her hand over at me and jabbering at me, trying to get me to come in. Couldn't get out of there fast enough. Think she even came to the door to yell after me. Again, thinking back on it, I was pretty free to gaze on it during lunch break. Didn't even see her then.

Anyhow, I showed my friend the school building but she's less interested in that than the psychic's shop. And my friend had a radar for this type of stuff- just gravitated to it. And yes, wouldn't you know, that same psychic is still there in that same shop.

As a kid, I wouldn't go anywhere near that woman if I could help it but my friend zeroed in on her and was itching to go in and finally dragged me in. She didn't know about my history with that place, she just saw it and went "Ooohh, let's go in!"

I wasn't a "skeptic" at 15, heck, I didn't even know such a thing existed but I really didn't want to spend the money. Though I always sorta believed in various types of woo as concept I couldn't really believe in it practically and not when you had to pay for it. Just seemed like a waste of money and so fake when it was another person doing it for money.

My friend finally persuaded me to go. The psychic saw we were thinking of coming in and came to the door to beckon at us and talked us in. It felt like I finally had kept that appointment from that day I had run away from her.

She sat us down and told us we could get a standard reading for $5 and a more in depth one for $10. I didn't even want to pay for the $5 one but I looked over at my friend and talked it over and decided on the $5 one while she went for the $10 one.

What disgusted me was that this woman's eyes wouldn't leave my hands as I looked for my wallet and as I took out the money. She practically snatched it from me and then rattled off all my predictions with one quick half-glance at my palm. I thought palmistry was suppossed to work by very careful study of the palm so I was suspicious and disappointed. Now, of course, I know she was cold-reading me.

She was pretty much done with me as soon as she had my money and then turned to my friend. Paid alot more attention to my friend and after the 10 reading, got another 5 from her to find out more about something she had said in the $10 reading. "Would you like to find out more about that?".

My friend was hanging on to her every word. Had the most moronic look on her face. She was taking it so seriously. And the psychic was taking it as seriously as she was. Made me want to burst out laughing. Wanted to puncture that atmosphere with a shovel. I was probably sitting there with the most slack jawed, bemused look on my face, just going like "You can't be serious" :confused:.

Even though I was suspicious at some moments during the reading, I treated it as an exciting adventure and told everyone all about it and spent alot of time mulling over what she said later. You build up the hits and downplay the misses later even if you were suspicious and aware something was a hundred percent false and very transparent at the moment.

Her predictions for me where that I'd never be successful but that I'd live comfortably, that I'd rent a home but own later on, that I would have a job in a uniform and that I'd never get married but that I'd have children. :D

She also predicted that the boy I was in love with would ask me out, that I'd have a boyfriend that year and that I'd take a long and short trip and that I'd live to be 92.

I saw through that immediatly and that was my big tip off it was a sham- she saw a chubby 15-year-old girl and assumed she was dying of love for someone who hardly knew she was alive. And normally she would have been 100% right but at that time, there was no one I was remotely interested in at all.

I even remember telling my sister at that time how funny it was that there was not a boy I could think of in school or elsewhere that I'd say was attractive and I could have any interest in and I was sort of looking for someone to crush on. Hilariously, my friend whirled on me asking me who it was and I honestly tried to think of who it might be who she was talking about. "Maybe Julien? I used to like him for a long time." :D A psychic can even make you second guess your own heart fishing for the connection.

Oddly, I did take a short and long trip. That was a prediction that particularly stunned me at the time. That one really made me feel like this woman had, for a second, looked into my life as I have always travelled very often. And I did have a boyfriend that year- my first one.

But I swear, if I find myself dying before I'm 92, I'm going up there and asking for my money back! :D

[TX50]

Never spent any money on woo (unless you count the "Holy Bible" I was
forced to buy for RE at the posh school I went to).

[jezzedout]

I don't remember the first time (yes, there were several in my teens and early 20s), but I'll never forget the last time. It was about ten years ago I paid for a psychic reading. This gypsy lady tried to tell me I was cursed (I think they all try that) and wanted me to pay her for some rituals she planned to do for me. I went a second time, but told her I didn't have enough money to pay what she was asking. She got huffy and said she couldn't guarantee the results. I just knew in my gut that she was trying to scam me. I think it was after that, that I started researching psychics and came to the conclusion that they were all deceitful people who prey on those they perceive as weak.

Actually, now that I think of it... I did pay for acupuncture about three years ago when my ortho surgeon referred me for pain management. I didn't believe in it, but was willing to give it a try since I was absolutely desperate for anything to relieve my pain, and my surgeon at the time referred me to someone specific who he was acquainted with. I didn't get any pain relief from it, but did find it relaxing (it releases endorphins, yes?). After four visits with no relief, the acupuncture guy was nice enough to say I should not waste any more money. Believe it or not, my insurance company covers acupuncture. They won't cover birth control, but they'll pay for acupuncture. Go figure.

[RSLancastr]

The first time? Well, the first I recall... When I was in junior high, I went through a phase where I was interested in UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, and that sort of thing. I bought several paperback books on those subjects at the local 7-11 on my way home from school.

The last time? Well, I collect playing cards, and as part of that hobby, I have probably purchased a dozen or so decks of tarot and fortune-telling cards of various kinds. Never used them for cartomancy, just put them with all the other decks in my collection.

Oh, come to think of it, I purchased Sylvia Browne's The Mystic Life of Jesus last December. The majority of her books in my possession I have been given, or purchased second-hand on eBay. But that one I actually plunked down full price, as I wanted it for an article I was writing for the site.

[Orphia Nay]

I have a vague recollection that the first time was buying a second-hand copy of Linda Goodman's "Sun Signs" in 1987 as I had a passing interest in woo at the time.

In the meantime, I muddled along, being neither fully skeptic nor fully woo.

The last time was either a pack of tarot cards or a book on Feng Shui, in 1998, almost at the end of a brief but intense spurt of woo, after which I renounced woo for good.

[pspaddict]

I guess I'm fortunate not to have ever spent any money on woo. I was raised Catholic but was never invested emotionally nor ever considered it to be possible; I just went along with it because of my mother's devotion, not questioning, but not believing either. Fortunately my exposure to psychics was all negative because of the good work of Mr. Randi. I've always had an interest in supernatural stuff like UFOs, ghosts and bigfoot, but merely for entertainment value. I never bought into it. I officially became a skeptic at a relatively young age, 15, and I felt that way for years before I actually learned the word, so I managed to miss out on having to consider wheather the supernatural is real.

[tim]

I bought a copy of the Book of Mormon for 50p in charity shop recently. I have a number of woo books (know your enemy) but I buy them second hand, 'cos I don't want the authors or publishers to benefit.......... :D
I don't know if it qualifies, but I bought a copy of the Qur'an - English translation - I'm too old to learn Arabic - the other week. If some people use this book as justification to want to kill me, I figure I ought to understand why.............

[hipparchia]

First time...maybe a bunch of crystals from the Nature museum's shop. Make a nice collection today, sans woo.

Last time? Bought expensive gift as "voluntary" thanks to a faith healer/psychic some two years ago. Was mad because I still need to visit doctors today due to unsolved problem. Die to faith/stupidity I did not monitor the health issue for some time, so now have to deal with it again. Repress urge to dial up healer lady and scream at her. Otherwise, she did not charge for services- I only had to pay an emotional price, since she is a narcissist.

[Ersby]

When I was a believer, I always got my stuff out from the library, apart from the Osbourne book of the supernatural (all gory illustrations and short explanations).

I did, however, buy the magazine The Unexplained for a while. I remember it was trailed heavily on TV and to my nine-year-old mind it was like a giant book of secrets about how the universe worked. The first issue came with a pack of ESP cards, and I remember running to the newsagent to buy it in case I was actually psychic and should find out quickly so I can put my ability to good use as soon as possible.

(I wasn't psychic, if anyone's wondering)

[juryjone]

As with most others, the first time I spent money on woo was on books: Chariots of the Gods? and Psychic Discoveries behind the Iron Curtain. I was looking for them to convince me, but they never did. Probably because I realized in some way that if they had been true, they would change life as we know it - and yet they didn't.

Last time? I guess it would be about ten years ago, when I bought my wife an "ionizing hair brush". What was I thinking?

[JonWhite]

I bought a new Tarot deck only a couple of weeks ago (but it's a marked deck with which to prove a point to a believer).

Otherwise, aside from UFO type books as a kid I guess my biggest woo expense was on learning TM - repackaged mantra meditation - or most recently on taking an "Advanced Past Lives" practitioner course two or three years ago as part of a hypnotherapy study.

And no... I still don't believe in past lives any more than I do the tooth fairy!

[Kilgore Trout]

The first was probably buying The Necronomicon (the 'Simon' version) when I was in high school. I was going through a huge H. P. Lovecraft phase, and while I understood it was a fictional book, and that the paperback I bought was fabricated, I was hanging on to the "there's so much we don't understand" wooish notion. I never tried any of the "spells" inside or even really read it much; I think I was a bit too afraid it might actually work somehow.

I did buy a crystal (necklace) at a Dead show once, though at the time not for any wooish reasons; I just thought it looked cool. But I did end up using it for wooish reasons, and leads up to the last time I spent money on woo. I was going from being a non-practicing Catholic to (sort of) Deism by way of a bunch of stuff. Towards the end it was Wicca and I transferred energy to that crystal. (The last money spent was on incense.)

[Monza]

In 1997, my brother and I attended a seminar in Phoenix hosted by Richard Hoagland (of the "face on Mars" fame). We didn't believe in any of this woo, but thought it would be a fun night. Richard was spewing something about a major world event due to happen in Phoenix within the next few weeks, obviouly capitalizing on the recent Phoenix lights (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights).

It was a very odd mix of people. Fortunately, ,not all were believers. I think many of the people heard about the seminar from a Bill Knell (http://www.ufoguy.com/) interview on a local radio moring show. But there were indeed some nutters.

By the way, my brother and I waited patiently but nothing world-changing happened in Phoenix. And Richard Hoagland never brought it up again on his next visit to Art Bell's show.

[Niobe]

The most money on a session of Floatation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank)REST (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank) for my birthday (6 years ago), but not so much for the health benefits as I thought it would be relaxing, but it wasn't relaxing in the slightest (I don't "do" sensory deprivation)

Most recent (but still at least a year back) is a tube of homeopathic bruise cream (arnica) which "works" in the sense that my daughter stops complaining about the pain. But I won't buy a refill once it's gone.

[ConspiRaider]

Both times, books:

First: I remember buying: "Two Lost Hours Aboard A Flying Saucer: The Story Of Betty and Barney Hill". I was about 12 years old and it had a major influence on me believing in woo for awhile. Really seemed authentic, factual, true.

Last: I bought: "The Amityville Horror". That was billed as authentic and I was plowing through the explosion of woo in the 1970s. Basically nodding my head up and down through the Bermuda Triangle, Armageddon, 666, UFOs, Atlantis, ghosts, telekinesis and so forth. So I eagerly dove into Amityville, to read and accept the fascinating account of the haunting of this family over there in the strange country of New England.

I don't know whether it was my clickety-click logical mind asserting itself (finally) or the style of the writing or what. But Amityville seemed hinky. That began my journey of doubt, back there when I was 21 or 22 years old. Soon I'd get The Truth About Uri Geller, and many more such instructive tomes...

[Brown]

During my "religious" phase, I brought some religious junk. This actually turned out to be quite a good lesson for me: in general, material with a religious theme is used for revenue generation, it is often of shoddy quality and is way overpriced.

In grade school, I bought Chariots of the Gods? I was just a kid, but I recognized B.S. when I heard it. This was one of the first books I ever tossed in the garbage. (The only book I ever burned was the vomit-inducing Looking Out For Number One, which had been given to me as a gift. I wanted to build a fire in my fireplace, but I had no newspaper to get the fire started; so I used Looking Out For Number One instead. I never regretted this action.)

I once spent money for some self-help tapes. The seller of the tapes offered some common sense (nothing I didn't already know), but he flavored it with a heavy dose of pseudo-science. I returned the tapes within thirty days and demanded my money back (as permitted), but his group kept my money anyway. So I contacted my state's attorney general, and after writing a firm letter, got all my money back--including "shipping and handling."

Edited to add: I also bought Mark Lane's book, Rush to Judgment, which although not pseudoscience per se, included damn sloppy history, deliberate falsifications and historical revisionism, and pathetic science.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Now that I think of it, I used to go to Barnes and Noble to read books with titles like The Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural and The Book of Fairies in junior high. Don't remember actually buying one, though.

There was one time I ordered a book that sounded like from the Scholastic catalog and it turned out to be skeptical! I read it with a lot of interest, though.

Oh yes, and last Easter I went to church with my mother (her idea, not mine) and dropped about a dollar into the collection plate even though I had sworn to never do that again.

Imagine that, me going to church on Easter! :p

[strathmeyer]

I once bought shoe insoles that claimed they could make you jump higher. That's it.

[Cactus Wren]

I paid full cover price (in a supermarket) for Budd Hopkins's Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions.

In my own defense I will say only that it looked as though it might be entertaining. And it was. In fact, it was hilarious.

[eir_de_scania]

My husband bought expensive magnetic shoe soles that would be good for about anything. The least they did was keeping your feet warm even if you were standing in a snow drift. Mostly, he bought them -and I didn't put up a fight- because they were sold by a friend of his, who also sold a lot of other magnetic things like bracelets and socks. She of course swore they all worked fabulously, but husband never noticed any difference.

I threw them in the dustbin recently but he hasn't noticed yet.:D I doubt he ever will...

[TobiasTheViking]

16th january 2007... bought King James V3.

[CLD]

First time, in teen years: Lobsang Rampa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobsang_Rampa) books. Highly entertaining, and seemed to be at the time plausible (although his "My Visit To Venus" made me wonder). Last time, a few years ago: "The Day After Roswell", ex-Pentagon staffer Col. Philip J. Corso's (http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc395.htm) tale of UFO technology secrets.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I'm really worried for the future of the world if even the skeptics are spending this much money on woo! :D

[Hindmost]

Chariots of the Gods...when I was in junior high. I believed it all too. Embarrassed to be reminded.

glenn:boxedin:

[fromdownunder]

I also spent quite a bit of money (for the time) on several Von Daniken books, the Bermuda Triangle, Nosti apologists and even a couple of Von Daniken apologists. I never actually believed any of it.

Most recent? I still borrow the odd woo library book, just to see what the other side is saying, but I don't buy them any more.

Does visiting the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland count?

Norm

[Jeff Corey]

Years ago, I bought a copy of "Flim Flam". Boy, was I disappointed. I thought it was a book on how to con people and make tons of money. What a gyp.

[Loss Leader]

This story says more about me than I'd like it to, but:

About five years ago, my girlfriend and I went to the Renaissance Festival (shut up, it's fun). She wanted to have a psychic reading for about twenty-five bucks. I told her I absolutely was not going to pay some lady wearing too much eyeshadow twenty-five dollars for anything. She didn't get the reading. A few months later she broke up with me because, she said, I was an opinionated jerk.

The very next year, I went to the Renaissance Festival (shut up, still fun) again with my new girlfried. As we got near the tent, she asked me for money to get a psychic reading. Like Joshua in Wargames, I had learned from past experience. I gave her the money and she got the reading.

And now that girl is my wife.

She hasn't spent any money or time on anything woo since.

[Gravy]

I bought a book on palmistry about 20 years ago. It was helpful for meeting chicks at parties. Woo has it uses.

[Stellafane]

First time I can remember spending money on woo was probably buying a book on the Bermuda Triangle in college. (Even before I was an out-and-out skeptic, I never really was that big on woo.) Can't remember most recent. A few years ago I almost bought a second-hand copy of Evolution? The Fossils Say No! at (of all places) a Salvation Army thrift shop. Not for edification, but just to see exactly how weak and specious its arguments were. But I couldn't bring myself to pay even a single cent for it.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

At one time or other, I somewhat to firmly believed in mermaids, bigfoot, ghosts, many superstitions, the Bermuda Triangle, fortune telling, astrology and the tenets of Catholicism and if we're talking the whole of my life, well, Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy, too.:)

I also remember finding up a section of books about UFOs in the school library when I was about 10 and half-believing in it and being very scared and excited by the possibility of it.

However, there were only two occassions I can think of where I actually plucked down money for it.

Once was when I bought my sister a pack of Tarot cards for her birthday as a teenager because I actually wanted them myself. :)

The other was the first and last time I ever went to a palm reader and the last time I put down money for any kind of woo and ever will.

I had a friend in high school who had recently become a Wiccan, which upset me greatly because it's, to this day, the worst BS crap I've ever heard of.

I was still somewhat religious then, but even then Wicca was just like "Come on!". I never understood how anyone could even take it seriously, let alone subscribe to it. Even at 15, I thought it was the most idle, shallow, idiotic, waste-of-time teenage hobby ever invented and yes, that's accounting for Dungeons and Dragons.

So my friend and I were out at a movie and when it was over, since we were in the general area, I suggested showing her my old middle school.

Now, my old middle school was right around the corner from a psychic and palm reader's shop. We used to see this old, obese, bandana-ed crone scurrying around in what looked like her grandmother's nightgown on lunch break from time to time or talking with I presumme they were clients, usually older woman. She used to scare the crap out of us, beckoning us over through the shop window all the time after school. Looking back on it, maybe she was afraid of soliciting under the nose of the custodians and crossing guards during lunch break.

What I remembered vividly about the shop was that it had a ton of glossy and shiny New Age artifacts on display that I was itching to have. I loved crystals at that age. One day, walking home, I stopped in front of the window to gaze at them and looked up to see the old crone's face next to mine, maniacly waving her hand over at me and jabbering at me, trying to get me to come in. Couldn't get out of there fast enough. Think she even came to the door to yell after me. Again, thinking back on it, I was pretty free to gaze on it during lunch break. Didn't even see her then.

Anyhow, I showed my friend the school building but she's less interested in that than the psychic's shop. And my friend had a radar for this type of stuff- just gravitated to it. And yes, wouldn't you know, that same psychic is still there in that same shop.

As a kid, I wouldn't go anywhere near that woman if I could help it but my friend zeroed in on her and was itching to go in and finally dragged me in. She didn't know about my history with that place, she just saw it and went "Ooohh, let's go in!"

I wasn't a "skeptic" at 15, heck, I didn't even know such a thing existed but I really didn't want to spend the money. Though I always sorta believed in various types of woo as concept I couldn't really believe in it practically and not when you had to pay for it. Just seemed like a waste of money and so fake when it was another person doing it for money.

My friend finally persuaded me to go. The psychic saw we were thinking of coming in and came to the door to beckon at us and talked us in. It felt like I finally had kept that appointment from that day I had run away from her.

She sat us down and told us we could get a standard reading for $5 and a more in depth one for $10. I didn't even want to pay for the $5 one but I looked over at my friend and talked it over and decided on the $5 one while she went for the $10 one.

What disgusted me was that this woman's eyes wouldn't leave my hands as I looked for my wallet and as I took out the money. She practically snatched it from me and then rattled off all my predictions with one quick half-glance at my palm. I thought palmistry was suppossed to work by very careful study of the palm so I was suspicious and disappointed. Now, of course, I know she was cold-reading me.

She was pretty much done with me as soon as she had my money and then turned to my friend. Paid alot more attention to my friend and after the 10 reading, got another 5 from her to find out more about something she had said in the $10 reading. "Would you like to find out more about that?".

My friend was hanging on to her every word. Had the most moronic look on her face. She was taking it so seriously. And the psychic was taking it as seriously as she was. Made me want to burst out laughing. Wanted to puncture that atmosphere with a shovel. I was probably sitting there with the most slack jawed, bemused look on my face, just going like "You can't be serious" :confused:.

Even though I was suspicious at some moments during the reading, I treated it as an exciting adventure and told everyone all about it and spent alot of time mulling over what she said later. You build up the hits and downplay the misses later even if you were suspicious and aware something was a hundred percent false and very transparent at the moment.

Her predictions for me where that I'd never be successful but that I'd live comfortably, that I'd rent a home but own later on, that I would have a job in a uniform and that I'd never get married but that I'd have children. :D

She also predicted that the boy I was in love with would ask me out, that I'd have a boyfriend that year and that I'd take a long and short trip and that I'd live to be 92.

I saw through that immediatly and that was my big tip off it was a sham- she saw a chubby 15-year-old girl and assumed she was dying of love for someone who hardly knew she was alive. And normally she would have been 100% right but at that time, there was no one I was remotely interested in at all.

I even remember telling my sister at that time how funny it was that there was not a boy I could think of in school or elsewhere that I'd say was attractive and I could have any interest in and I was sort of looking for someone to crush on. Hilariously, my friend whirled on me asking me who it was and I honestly tried to think of who it might be who she was talking about. "Maybe Julien? I used to like him for a long time." :D A psychic can even make you second guess your own heart fishing for the connection.

Oddly, I did take a short and long trip. That was a prediction that particularly stunned me at the time. That one really made me feel like this woman had, for a second, looked into my life as I have always travelled very often. And I did have a boyfriend that year- my first one.

But I swear, if I find myself dying before I'm 92, I'm going up there and asking for my money back! :D

Oh yeah, if anyone's wondering, I wasn't rich by any means then and am not now, I rent an apartment, have never had a job in a uniform, I've never been married and plan on keeping it that way, I've never had children and plan on keeping it that way.

Oh yes, and our mothers were both furious we spent our money on a con artist.

[Geckko]

While embarrassed that I once paid money for woo, at least I am proud that my first time was also my last.

A good many years ago my wife asked me to pick up some medication for a chronic skin condition she had been suffering from. Her GP had run out of options and a friend suggest some homeopathic remedy.

I hadn't even heard of homeopathy, so I just thought it was some non prescriptive treatment, like aspirin, and it was stocked by Boots. I went to the pharmacy and asked some advice - the assistant told me with a straight face that the 30C was more potent than the 15C! Unfortunately it was a long time ago and I can't remember whether the person was a qualified pharmicist. If so shame on them.

Only a little while later did I happen on some information on homeopathy, kicked myself and cursed my wife's friend. Never again.

[Robaato]

The first time I consciously spent money on woo was for one of those "B&N Editions" of a Rider-Waite Tarot deck/book box set. (Barnes & Noble occasionally buys the printing rights to various out-of-print works and produces a "bargain book" print run.) Later, I bought the DC Comics/Vertigo Tarot set, just because it looked cool. I remember the music department manager telling me, "Remember, Rob, never buy Tarot Cards for yourself, always get one from friends." I remember this because I often heard this advice and its exact opposite, from people browsing the newage section. (Rhymes with "sewage") (I worked in the fiction section, which included religion and newage, at this particular B&N.)

I also had the palm-reading at Ren-fest experience, and I also went through with it to try to impress a girl. When the palm reader misinterpreted a surgical scar as part of one of the natural lines, I knew I could have fun with this. For the next half hour, I basically controlled the reading by controlling my reactions to whatever this lady said.

I failed to get the girl, though. The fact that she spent half an hour after her reading trying to write everything down kind of made me re-think some things. (not that it mattered, since she wasn't interested in me as anything but a friend anyhow. And even less than that, not long after.)

The last time -- I occasionally buy good-luck charms at Japanese temples and/or shrines, mainly because they look pretty...

[Humphreys]

I buy tons of woo books. They're entertaining.

[ThatSoundAgain]

I buy tons of woo books. They're entertaining.

Me too, but only second hand.

The only thing I can think of is a couple of years back I bought a ginseng tonic and test-ran it for about a week, as a remedy for being generally tired. It had the usual disclaimer that you should wait 90 days before evaluating if there was any effect, and I'm still not sure if there's any consensus on its (in)effectiveness. I gave it up for another reason - I realized the alcohol content of the tonic made it much like having a spoonful of port with my breakfast.

[ConspiRaider]

I bought a book on palmistry about 20 years ago. It was helpful for meeting chicks at parties. Woo has it uses.
I don't read this as your being facetious because, as other men have indicated, woo rejection carries the risk of rejection by prospective women who might otherwise be a terrific match. Very true.

I'm in the Hollywood community and to speak against astrology in that circle, or palm readings? Especially around women? Hostility abounds. You might as well have announced that doctors discovered you have incurable leprosy. You don't even want to go there. It's not called Hollywood for nothing...

[alfaniner]

I bought the book The Runes several years ago, not because of any belief in it but just because it was on sale and I was curious (and prominently displayed at B&N).

The last time I can remember buying something woo (and thinking I was actually getting something for it) was buying the chance to name a star from the International Star Registry. I had just finished a book I had really loved, and as a thank you to the author(s) I named a star after one of the characters. I got the certificate and sent it to the authors. Never heard anything back from them as they were probably wise to it at that time. Well, it was over 25 years ago...

[Redtail]

I buy tons of woo books. They're entertaining.

Yeah me too. For some reason I get a big kick out of "woo as truth" so to speak. I remember one a while back that put forth the theory that the Great Pyramids are actually 100,000 years old and are not tombs but are in fact "energy focus points that allow one to see any point in history (well since the pyramids were finished) during meditation. Priceless.

[grunion]

In 7th grade my English teacher assigned Chariots Of The Gods and we had to go out and buy it. I lost my copy after the first couple chapters and refused to buy another. But I remember being able to fake my way through the class dicussions so easily without even having read the book, and writing a 30-page report on the Loch Ness Monster after having read a three-paragraph encyclopedia article on it (this was in the primitive pre-Google days) and just making the rest up. And getting an A.

I have a few more recent book purchases expounding some rather, erm, unorthodox theories as true like The Big Book Of The Unexplained and The Big Book Of Conspiracies, mainly because they are graphic novels and I enjoy some of the artists.

But the last actual financial contribution that I have knowingly made to the Dark Side was purchasing two movie tickets to What The Bleep Do We Know because the poster looked interesting. I was so pissed off by that movie that my friend and I had to sneak into the movie playing next door (The Bourne Supremacy as I recall) just to feel that we were getting something for our money.

[TjW]

I bought a book on palmistry about 20 years ago. It was helpful for meeting chicks at parties. Woo has it uses.

So you bought woo to woo. Sounds reasonable.

[CynicalSkeptic]

Does it count if my wife spent the money?

Her mom is visiting from another country, and doesn't have health insurance for American Doctors. She fell and twisted her ankles while chasing our toddler up the jungle gym. My wife heard through a colleague that there are "doctors" in Chinatown that can do X-Rays for $30. Seemed reasonable to rule out anything worse than sprained ankles. Well $250 later she got acupuncture and chiropractic back adjustment that she's happy with. My wife wants to bring her back for another visit. :rolleyes:

The last woo thing I bought personally was a book. I think Intelligent Design by Dembski.

But the last actual financial contribution that I have knowingly made to the Dark Side was purchasing two movie tickets to What The Bleep Do We Know because the poster looked interesting.
Ooh, does it count if I rented that crap? It was through Netflix, so it was part of my $20 monthly plan anyway, it's not like I actually spent extra money to watch it.

[Kilgore Trout]

I got "that crap" from the library. For the first several minutes, I thought, "Wow! This might explain some neat ideas of quantum mechanics." Then I got angry. Very angry.

[grunion]

I got "that crap" from the library. For the first several minutes, I thought, "Wow! This might explain some neat ideas of quantum mechanics." Then I got angry. Very angry.Yes, I was duped into thinking that it was going to be a movie about Physics. How cool that would have been. How uncool it actually was.

Some budding filmmaker on this forum ought to make a real movie about physics.

[Fnord]

Yeah ... cute stories ... but how many of you can brag about having made money by selling woo?

- 10 Psychic Energy Damping Field Generator - $20.00 each.

- 50+ cold readings from the "Deck Of Many Things" (AD&D 2nd Edition) - $20.00 each.

- 70 or so full-body massages (for females only), complete with scented candles, chakra-enhancing oils, Enya music, and "Seven-Planar Amethyst Elixre" - $150.00 each

- A large piece of my personal history that I dare not relate to my wife - Priceless!

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

You got women to pay you to grope them, just because you said "amethyst elixir" ?! Woo does have its uses.

[Fnord]

You got women to pay you to grope them, just because you said "amethyst elixir" ?! Woo does have its uses.

No ... I think it had more to do with my expertise with a Rod Of Healing.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Fnord, since we're talking about first and last times, could you please talk about the first and last time you charged for woo?

What was the precise moment you turned over to the Dark Side? :D And what was the moment you left?

[opqdan]

I think I may have once dropped a dollar into a church collection plate... does that count? Admittedly though, I was so young at the time, the money was probably handed to me by my parents. When I was 11 or so, I think that I may have bought a small packet of novelty 'Farting Powder'. Does that count as woo? I thought that it would really work. Either fortunatly or unfortunatly (depending on how you look at it), I don't think I ever believed in any of it. I can't remember ever believing in God, and my parents tell me I never accepted Santa Claus. By the time I had discovered psychics and homeopathy I had already had a good grounding in the scientific method (I can still remember those lessons from when I was 10!). What a boring childhood I must have led, all facts and no fun... ;)

Other than that, I can't think of anything. Though my wife did purchase some homeopathic cold medecine once (I think Zicam?). They write "homeopathic" so small that you don't even notice it. Now she knows better. A couple weeks ago a nurse told her to pick up some Airborn for her sniffles. Her woo alarm went off, and she went and asked the pharmacist, who told her that it was crap and that there was nothing she could do for her cold other than wait it out and treat the symptoms. I was very proud of her.

[TheGline]

The last time I ever bought anything knowingly woo-ish was when I bought Robert Anton Wilson's Cosmic Trigger. I was around 25 at the time, ate it up, and wrote an enthusiastic review of it on Amazon.

A year went by, during which I was almost conned into believing "the Holocaust never happened". That experience sparked a good deal of self-criticism and rethinking of my worldview. As an end result, I went back and re-read Cosmic Trigger and realized what a bunch of misguided if well-meaning hoohah it was. (I wrote a second review on Amazon which repudiated the first.)

I haven't spent a dime on anything woo-related since.

I have to admit, I had a bad taste in my mouth about a lot of these things since a friend (back in 1989 or so) went to a palmist and paid upwards of $100 for the most inane shotgun-blast cold-reading imaginable. She told him impossibly generic things like "Music is a significant part of your life" -- well, duh, someone with a jacket that has dozens of band pins on it would probably be interested in music! But he completely discounted any possibility that he had been duped.

[Ripley Twenty-Nine]

Probably the last time spending money on woo was the first time that I really starting becoming skeptical. It was the book 'The Celestine Prophecy', recommended by none other than Oprah Winfrey.

I remember wanting to read it because it sounded so interesting... I was interested in New Agey stuff, though I didn't necessarily believe in much of it.

After reading it, I just felt dirty. I realized that this was just a bunch of meaningless mumbo-jumbo, and that there was an awful lot of it out there. Everything just started to fall into place at that point.

In hindsight, I guess it was money well spent!

[Fnord]

Fnord, since we're talking about first and last times, could you please talk about the first and last time you charged for woo?

What was the precise moment you turned over to the Dark Side? :D And what was the moment you left?

Wanna know the rest?

Hey!

Buy the rights!

[-Fran-]

I guess there's two kinds of woo you can pay for; objects and services.

When it comes to buying objects, it is what you make of it. A crystal to a woo is a magic object, to me it's a chunk of pretty mineral that I want for my mineral collection (it's ever growing, not least from me picking pebbles off the ground anywhere I go :o) . A tarot deck of cards is a future telling device to a woo, but a series of artwork to me. I bought Crowley's deck of tarot cards many years ago, really liking the art. A number of woo books might be "bibles" to woos, to me they are interesting ways to learn how people think and what they believe in, and are one subject among a 1000 others that I am interested in and curious about. People are sometimes surprised to see such books on my bookshelves, but they mistake 'interest in' with 'belief in'.

As you can see I have pretty much "woo stuff" :D But I never spend much money on it because I never have a lot of money to spend. I buy stuff in thrift stores and such. I buy stuff that I like to look at, or am interested in, and if it doesn't cost me much. It's only woo if you buy it with a woo intention though, I guess, or believe it can do things it can't. :)

Now, paying anything for any kind of woo services though, to me that's a whole other matter. I have never done that in my life, and I would never do it either.

[Fnord]

Now, paying anything for any kind of woo services though, to me that's a whole other matter. I have never done that in my life, and I would never do it either.

Aww, c'mon ... I'll give you a reading ... the first one is always free...

:D

[-Fran-]

Aww, c'mon ... I'll give you a reading ... the first one is always free...

:D

Hee, I'm all for free stuff :) But don't expect me to come back for more ;)

[Fnord]

Hee, I'm all for free stuff :) But don't expect me to come back for more ;)

All I need to know are your gender (choose one: male or female only), and your birthdate (year, month, and day) so that I can get a better focus on the essential vibrations of your particular akashic aura.

Oh, BTW: this is for "Entertainment Purposes Only"! ;)

[-Fran-]

All I need to know are your gender (choose one: male or female only), and your birthdate (year, month, and day) so that I can get a better focus on the essential vibrations of your particular akashic aura.

Oh, BTW: this is for "Entertainment Purposes Only"! ;)

OK, I'll play :p Female, born August 16 in 1970. Shake my aura! :D

[Fnord]

OK, I'll play :p Female, born August 16 in 1970. Shake my aura! :D

A reading for "Fran," a female, born August 16, 1970:

Ahh ... the impressions are vague ... the energies are interwoven with those of another ... many harmonics ... I'll give it my best effort ...

You are overdue for some excitement in your life. A change of scenery may help. A new friend is about to enter your life and kindle old feelings you once had for someone else.

Fear holds you back. Seeking the easier path take less effort. A passive attitude is to be avoided.

You want to be the reason that other around you live for, yet you doubt your ability to manage such a diverse crowd.

You put on a cheerful aspect around others, yet certain events from your childhood occassionally manifest themselves again in subtle ways. These memories cloud your present-day activities and divert your best efforts from experiencing the fulness of your relationships.

On the bright side, you are an attractive and intelligent young women who is just coming into the full flowering of her feminine maturity. Your talents should receive recognition in the near future, if they haven't already. You are admired by others for your creativity and your industriousness. You are fiercely loyal to those whom you love, even when they seem to take you for granted.

The best is yet to come!

The images are fading ... fading ... gone ... there is no more that I can tell you at this time, even though this is only a small part of what is recorded on the Akashic plane. May the Light and the Love find you and fill you.

(Gach! I was able to type that all, and keep a straight face! Maybe I should hang out a shingle; one of my own, this time!)

[-Fran-]

A reading for "Fran," a female, born August 16, 1970:

Ahh ... the impressions are vague ... the energies are interwoven with those of another ... many harmonics ... I'll give it my best effort ...

You are overdue for some excitement in your life. A change of scenery may help. A new friend is about to enter your life and kindle old feelings you once had for someone else.

Fear holds you back. Seeking the easier path take less effort. A passive attitude is to be avoided.

You want to be the reason that other around you live for, yet you doubt your ability to manage such a diverse crowd.

You put on a cheerful aspect around others, yet certain events from your childhood occassionally manifest themselves again in subtle ways. These memories cloud your present-day activities and divert your best efforts from experiencing the fulness of your relationships.

On the bright side, you are an attractive and intelligent young women who is just coming into the full flowering of her feminine maturity. Your talents should receive recognition in the near future, if they haven't already. You are admired by others for your creativity and your industriousness. You are fiercely loyal to those whom you love, even when they seem to take you for granted.

The best is yet to come!

The images are fading ... fading ... gone ... there is no more that I can tell you at this time, even though this is only a small part of what is recorded on the Akashic plane. May the Light and the Love find you and fill you.

(Gach! I was able to type that all, and keep a straight face! Maybe I should hang out a shingle; one of my own, this time!)

*LOL* Wonderful :D I might have to rethink this whole skeptic thing now ;) I especially loled at this part here "...young women who is just coming into the full flowering of her feminine maturity" I will tell myself this every time I find a new gray hair :D

Hey, you do this for a living? ;)

[Fnord]

*LOL* Wonderful :D I might have to rethink this whole skeptic thing now ;) I especially loled at this part here "...young women who is just coming into the full flowering of her feminine maturity" I will tell myself this every time I find a new gray hair :D

Thank you! It's nice to know that I still "have it," but it's also unsettling, too. I mean, all I did was to rely on three things: Your gender, your age, and your nationality. It also helped that you've posted a lot about yourself here on Randi.org! That's why it took so long to reply; not only did I have to write this stuff out, but I had to correlate it with what is essentially public knowledge about you. Nice pic, by the way ... long, auburn, wavy hair ... womanly figure ...

Hey, you do this for a living? ;)

I used to. People actually pay cash money to hear stuff like that! It took less than a month or so under apprenticeship to my cousin, the witch, to learn how to "cold read" a person. What you received was a "warm reading." That is, the information that I had gleaned from this website was combined with actuarial data about your gender, age, and nationality to come up with a few banalities that stood a high probability of fitting you.

Such as the line about "A new friend is about to enter your life and kindle old feelings you once had for someone else." It not only has a high probability, but it is an expression of most people's innermost desires, no matter how happy they are in their current relationships.

That's the key; be as vague as possible, but not any more than necessary. Had we been face-to-face, I would have watched your reactions and pounced on anything that seemed to provoke a response. Then come the leading statements and open-ended questions. Then I'd let you ramble on and fill in the details, which I'd repeat back to you.

Pretty soon, you'd be paying 25 USD each day for my "guidance" until you could not make any decisions for yourself (well ... maybe not you, specifically, but this is the usual order of events).

I got out of wooism because it became too easy ... I had real influence over some very gullible (and reasonably attractive) women. There was just so much wrong with taking their money day after day and then telling them how to live, dress, and act, and then to see them actually do it!

People are always seeking a means to control their world, and there's a seeker born every minute.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Fnord, I sense in your aura that you want to tell me about the first and last cold-reading you ever did! I sense that there was a woman involved both times and many feelings of guilt and that it money was a big factor.


About my story, there's something else I remembered, now that I thought about it. One of the first things the palm-reader said was that she saw I wasn't doing as well in school as I should be. Then, I assume based on my stunned and embarrassed reaction, she continued "You're smart but you don't work hard enough and you could do a lot better", to which I meekly nodded.

I was amazed at the time that she knew that. As a freshman, I was an A plus student but for reason I won't go into, I dropped to a B- at the end of sophmore year. And the psychic said it with such conviction, like she actually saw that in my hand.

[-Fran-]

Thank you! It's nice to know that I still "have it," but it's also unsettling, too. I mean, all I did was to rely on three things: Your gender, your age, and your nationality. It also helped that you've posted a lot about yourself here on Randi.org! That's why it took so long to reply; not only did I have to write this stuff out, but I had to correlate it with what is essentially public knowledge about you.


Yes, that's how I thought you would go about it. It really isn't hard, though it sure takes some artistic talent to be good at it :) I wish more people understood how it is done.


Nice pic, by the way ... long, auburn, wavy hair ... womanly figure ...


Thanks :blush: I'd call the womanly figure 'big fat ass', but I like your version better :)


I used to. People actually pay cash money to hear stuff like that! It took less than a month or so under apprenticeship to my cousin, the witch, to learn how to "cold read" a person. What you received was a "warm reading." That is, the information that I had gleaned from this website was combined with actuarial data about your gender, age, and nationality to come up with a few banalities that stood a high probability of fitting you.


Yes, and it wasn't surprising that it did. It would, as you said, fit most people in a certain group.


Such as the line about "A new friend is about to enter your life and kindle old feelings you once had for someone else." It not only has a high probability, but it is an expression of most people's innermost desires, no matter how happy they are in their current relationships.

That's the key; be as vague as possible, but not any more than necessary. Had we been face-to-face, I would have watched your reactions and pounced on anything that seemed to provoke a response. Then come the leading statements and open-ended questions. Then I'd let you ramble on and fill in the details, which I'd repeat back to you.

Pretty soon, you'd be paying 25 USD each day for my "guidance" until you could not make any decisions for yourself (well ... maybe not you, specifically, but this is the usual order of events).


Yes, I've read some about cold and warm reading and so on, and realized that I have also practiced it myself without knowing that it was called that. Though I was very well aware of that I was talking out of my ass and manipulated the info I was given simply by talking to people.

I bought a tarot deck of cards many years ago, as I said in a post above, because I liked the art on it. But as I had it, I thought I should learn how to use it as well, so I borrowed a book from the library. However, I had not the patience to learn every meaning of every card, and its variances, that was just boring. So I read about the basics only, brought the cards to a friend, and gave her an experimental reading where I just pretended that what I was saying came from the cards. All the while I was cold reading like nobody's business :) and using everything I knew about her after 15 years of friendship. Soon enough all my friends and their friends, and my relatives wanted readings. And they were all impressed, and more or less convinced that I had some sort of gift. I knew I hadn't.


I got out of wooism because it became too easy ... I had real influence over some very gullible (and reasonably attractive) women. There was just so much wrong with taking their money day after day and then telling them how to live, dress, and act, and then to see them actually do it!


I know what you mean. Many self acclaimed psychics surely enjoy this power.

I stopped doing it too when I realized that people actually took this seriously, that they didn't care/believed me when I told them how I did it, and that people close to me wanted me (the cards) to tell them what to do in some rather serious matters. I didn't want that kind of responsibility. I never took one cent for all this, it was just a sort of game to me, but when I realized people invested their feelings in it, I quit at once!

Besides, it damn well annoyed me that friends and relatives weren't interested in hearing advice from me unless I held the cards in my hands. I said the same things in "normal" conversations and it NEVER held the same weight as when I said it while looking at some pieces of paper with pretty artwork on. They valued the "card's opinions" more than mine, so to speak :rolleyes:


People are always seeking a means to control their world, and there's a seeker born every minute.

So very true!!!

And thanks for the reading :)

[hopfen]

I have a vague recollection that the first time was buying a second-hand copy of Linda Goodman's "Sun Signs" in 1987.

Back in the 70s, I bought a paperback copy of this astrology book as well as one on palmistry. Everyone was talking about these things back then, so I checked them out, and discovered that they were in fact nonsense. Those were my only such expenditures, and I certainly don't regret them, because I learned what I wanted to know.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

You know that tarot deck I bought that I mentioned earlier?

My sister and I thought that it was all real at the time and got a book and tried to do readings based on the meanings of the cards. I think we were wowed by the pretty pictures, too.

Problem is, it was really cumbersome and infinitely annoying because there are, what, more than hundred cards in the deck and they all have a page or so of meaning and the card shuffles are about 20 times more complicated than they need to be. So after a few readings for each other and our other family members, we eventually gave up cause it was impossible. It wasn't for lack of trying cause we really did try to master it for a long time.

I was really disappointed when I later found out that card readers aren't even using the cards but cold-reading their subject and that they might as well be fronting with a tea coaster collection. It's not even the cards.

My sister kept the deck and about a year ago she took it out and tried to read me for fun. I had become a die hard skeptic by that point but I relented and "asked a question for the cards" about my future.

Then a strange thing happened. The cards came up with an answer and for a few moments, I believed it and wanted to hear more of what the cards said.

Those cards make some temporary insanity come over your brain, I swear.

[-Fran-]

Problem is, it was really cumbersome and infinitely annoying because there are, what, more than hundred cards in the deck and they all have a page or so of meaning and the card shuffles are about 20 times more complicated than they need to be. So after a few readings for each other and our other family members, we eventually gave up cause it was impossible. It wasn't for lack of trying cause we really did try to master it for a long time.


Yeah, there are 78 cards, and each card holds at least two different meanings, and the 22 cards in the Major Arcana has a longer and more complex meaning than the rest of the cards, the Minor Arcana. I very soon realized I did not have the patience to learn all that :) And I soon discovered I didn't need to either.


I was really disappointed when I later found out that card readers aren't even using the cards but cold-reading their subject and that they might as well be fronting with a tea coaster collection. It's not even the cards.


Exactly!


Then a strange thing happened. The cards came up with an answer and for a few moments, I believed it and wanted to hear more of what the cards said.

Those cards make some temporary insanity come over your brain, I swear.

I hope you have regained your sanity now? ;)

[Fnord]

Fnord, I sense in your aura that you want to tell me about the first and last cold-reading you ever did! I sense that there was a woman involved both times and many feelings of guilt and that it money was a big factor.

EMM, if only my chakrae were in complete alignment with the stellar convergeance and the trans-phasic aspects of the 23 aethereal tides! Then I would tell you all you want to know. Too bad another such event will not occur until the end of the current shivanic age.

Odd how it seems that most of the clients coming through my cousin's shop were women, and how many of them were otherwise well-educated and rational.

The men that came in were either totally wooish, or were embarrassed to even be seen there.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

What amazes me about the concept of cartomancy is what does a piece of paper that humans have made have to do with the future?! What link is there?! What's the connection?!

There's a name for people who link completely unrelated events that can't physically have any connection together, such as the random outcome of a shuffle of cards and the health of your pet dog, and it's paranoid schizophrenics.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Odd how it seems that most of the clients coming through my cousin's shop were women, and how many of them were otherwise well-educated and rational.

The men that came in were either totally wooish, or were embarrassed to even be seen there.

My Wiccan friend was actually otherwise really smart and rational. About the paranormal, she was a bloody fool.

You know, they say intelligent can people fall for tricks like cold-reading faster than less intelligent people. Cause they make the connections faster and therefore do alot of the con artist's work for them.

At least, that's what I comfort myself with.:o

[-Fran-]

What amazes me about the concept of cartomancy is what does a piece of paper that humans have made have to do with the future?! What link is there?! What's the connection?!

There's a name for people who link completely unrelated events that can't physically have any connection together, such as the random outcome of a shuffle of cards and the health of your pet dog, and it's paranoid schizophrenics.

That's an interesting question EMM! Many divination methods has some sort of random factor to them. Cards are shuffled, sticks thrown... and the random outcome is then to be interpreted... Why is this connected with the future? Yes, I would like to know the connection too :confused:

[Kilgore Trout]

A book I read ages ago on tarot cards suggested that it's the psychic energy from the reader that influences how the cards are arranged when shuffled. You were supposed to concentrate on the person you were reading for as you shuffled. Oh and it helps to put the deck under your pillow while you sleep.

That was about as far as I got. It really was for a lack of trying. I saw all those cards and just knew there was no way I was going to memorize them all so I gave up very early on.

[Fnord]

Y'know ... someone could read all these wooish buzzwords and "theories" we're throwing around, and come to the conclusion that we're actually wooish ourselves!

I wouldn't be surprised to see the phrase "trans-phasic aspects of the 23 aethereal tides" show up somewhere on a wooish website, even tough I made it up as I entered it.

I guess that as long as it sounds convincing, someone will believe it.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

That's an interesting question EMM! Many divination methods has some sort of random factor to them. Cards are shuffled, sticks thrown... and the random outcome is then to be interpreted... Why is this connected with the future? Yes, I would like to know the connection too :confused:

Yes, completely random outsomes that would change every time you threw another stick, or shuffled another card or made another cup of tea. If it were real, the outcome would be the same every time.

Even when it's not random chance, as in astrology, I'm amazed. What does the position of the stars have to do with human lives?! What force is this? How do planetary bodies control the events in all human lives?

[Fnord]

... What does the position of the stars have to do with human lives?! What force is this? How do planetary bodies control the events in all human lives?

"Nothing," "suggestion," and "They don't."

It doesn't matter what cards are dealt, where the sticks are thrown, how the stars are arranged, or in what condition the sheep's intestines are in; as long as the "medium" can "interpret" their meaning to the client's satisfaction, their will be job security on one hand and a steady outlay of cash on the other.

In other words "As long as you tell me what I want to hear, I will pay you to do it." Or maybe "As long as I can apply your wisdom to my peace, prosperity, security, and successful mating habits, you will have a job."

It doesn't take too much imagination to come up with variations on these themes.

Or look at it this way; if you were a reasonably attractive female who is looking for "romance," which would you rather hear:

"Show off your ample bosoms and grab the first guy that remembers the color of your eyes."

... or...

"I see a man ... he's a working man ... the letters "A" "J" and and "M" feature prominantly ... he lives near you ... his favorite colour is blue ... he is kind to children and small, furry animals ... he is a quiet person, and needs just a little coaxing ... likes music ... attracted to round shapes and the color pink ... he's a little rough-mannered, but means well ... truly appreciates domestic goddesses and savvy businesswomen ..."

[Azrael 5]

I have numerous books on Spirtualism(antique books)and the Fox sisters.Although not for any woo reasons,I just like old books about intersting people.

Can I be included though? Thanks. :)

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Fnord...I almost hesitate to ask but could you read me too? :D Just a short one?

I'm female and my birthday is on August 5th 1986.

Thanks. :)

[dissonance]

I was really into Tarot cards as a teenager, although I'm not sure I ever completely believed they could actually tell fortunes; mostly I was really into the symbolism and the artwork. I've got a box with 10 or 11 decks in it around here somewhere - probably in the storage space. And I have a set of 3 framed cards (sun, moon, stars from a particularly interesting black and white deck) framed as wall art in my dining room. Even today, if I were to run across a deck with interesting or unique artwork, I'd probably buy it.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I had an encounter with woo last night :rolleyes:.

My woo friend's equally woo friend visited me and I happened to have come back from a movie at the Moma. I'm a major film buff and I go the the movies at the MOMA all the time because it's free with my student ID.

She started quizzing me on my movie-going habits and then go to the point: she wanted me to watch Conversations with God and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior. I gather from our conversation that that's what she thinks are classics in cinema. She babbled on and on what incredible films they were and how moving and thought provoking and inspiring.

The worst part of it is that she was completely sincere. Really regards that stuff the way most film fans regard Citizen Kane. Or those books the way most bookworms regard the Modern Library's list of greatest books of all time.

I as politely as I could let her know that I think those films are horrible and she looked so hurt and started defending them as cinema.

[RSLancastr]

You know, they say intelligent can people fall for tricks like cold-reading faster than less intelligent people. Cause they make the connections faster and therefore do alot of the con artist's work for them.
That, and they quite often think that they are too smart to be fooled.

For instance, the scientists who believed Uri Geller's nonsense.

[-Fran-]

My Wiccan friend was actually otherwise really smart and rational. About the paranormal, she was a bloody fool.

You know, they say intelligent can people fall for tricks like cold-reading faster than less intelligent people. Cause they make the connections faster and therefore do alot of the con artist's work for them.

At least, that's what I comfort myself with.:o

He he, I am happy I am apparently just the right combination of dumb and smart to not fall for it then :D

[-Fran-]

I was really into Tarot cards as a teenager, although I'm not sure I ever completely believed they could actually tell fortunes; mostly I was really into the symbolism and the artwork. I've got a box with 10 or 11 decks in it around here somewhere - probably in the storage space. And I have a set of 3 framed cards (sun, moon, stars from a particularly interesting black and white deck) framed as wall art in my dining room. Even today, if I were to run across a deck with interesting or unique artwork, I'd probably buy it.

Yes. As an artist myself I find the symbolism and the imagery of tarot cards aestethically (sp?) pleasing and interesting. But to believe in the magic powers of printed pieces of paper... :rolleyes:

[Gargoyle]

I can not remember the first book with "woo" content I bought, but I remember the first I read - a compilation of unexplainable stories with the very unimaginative name "The Unknown" :rolleyes: Quite fashinating for an eight years old who fancied books, though...

I´ve read (and bought) a few books over the years but never really believed in them - astrology, ghost and UFOs and the like. It was more for the "entertainment" value, and I read far more about nature and science than woo stuff. If I ever wanted to read something about the "unexplainable" I prefer to go to the library.

The last book I bought was probably Principia "Discordia" this spring, but, HEY, everybody knows that book tells us everything worth knowing! Really! Really, really! ;)
It is surely more believable that the "Wholly Babble". Hail Eris!

[Gargoyle]

That reminds me of that I actually bought a Tarot deck once!
It was with egyptian symbols and artwork, really beautiful and awfully expensive!

Oh, I´ve never used it by the way... Talk about throwing away money :o

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

That, and they quite often think that they are too smart to be fooled.

For instance, the scientists who believed Uri Geller's nonsense.

Oh, I didn't think of that.

Also, intelligent people are often imaginative, which is a good for alot of things but not for dealing with woo. :(

[blutoski]

I guess there's two kinds of woo you can pay for; objects and services.

When it comes to buying objects, it is what you make of it. A crystal to a woo is a magic object, to me it's a chunk of pretty mineral that I want for my mineral collection (it's ever growing, not least from me picking pebbles off the ground anywhere I go :o) . A tarot deck of cards is a future telling device to a woo, but a series of artwork to me. I bought Crowley's deck of tarot cards many years ago, really liking the art. A number of woo books might be "bibles" to woos, to me they are interesting ways to learn how people think and what they believe in, and are one subject among a 1000 others that I am interested in and curious about. People are sometimes surprised to see such books on my bookshelves, but they mistake 'interest in' with 'belief in'.

As you can see I have pretty much "woo stuff" :D But I never spend much money on it because I never have a lot of money to spend. I buy stuff in thrift stores and such. I buy stuff that I like to look at, or am interested in, and if it doesn't cost me much. It's only woo if you buy it with a woo intention though, I guess, or believe it can do things it can't. :)

Now, paying anything for any kind of woo services though, to me that's a whole other matter. I have never done that in my life, and I would never do it either.

I'm pretty much the same. Most woo purchases are books, especially if they're related to a local paranormal phenomenon. Examples are books on Bigfoot, Ogopogo, and Lower Mainland hauntings.

I use these as references, to maintain a credible level of understanding for outreach to paranormal organizations.

I also have some books on healthfraud topics. For example, I annually update my PDRs for herbal remedies. I also have one of those silicone dolls that show acupuncture needlepoints and chi flow meridians. My wife has an antique porcelain phrenology head.

Like some of the above, I purchased a Tarot deck as a novelty a few years ago, and I bring it to skeptic meetings along with sample healing crystals.

Interesting enough, my wife (who is Christian) will not allow me to purchase a Oija board.

When I was specializing in evolution debates, I purchased Behe, Gish, and other slide decks and multimedia. It was necessary to know what to expect when engaging creationists.

I will certainly continue to expand my library of reference books an multimedia.

[Cainkane1]

For the record some people collect tarot cards for the artwork. Famous artists, cartoonists and illustrators often lend their talents to making those cards. The artwork is often intricate and beautiful and downright interesting.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

For the record some people collect tarot cards for the artwork. Famous artists, cartoonists and illustrators often lend their talents to making those cards. The artwork is often intricate and beautiful and downright interesting.

Yeah, that's what makes it dangerous. I know I bought my deck because I loved the pretty pictures. I wanted to learn tarot because I loved the look of it.

Somehow, no one would think a standard deck of cards was magic in a million years.

[-Fran-]

Somehow, no one would think a standard deck of cards was magic in a million years.

I think they would. Ordinary decks of cards are often used in divination. I remember several of my relatives playing with telling each others future with ordinary playing cards long before I ever heard of tarot cards. It's much easier too, since there's not as many cards to learn the meaning of. :)

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I've taken out my old tarot deck ("Fantastical Tarot" by Nathalie Hertz) and while, as an arts high school graduate, I appreciate some of the illustrations and the look and feel of the cards, I think it's pretty much kitsch as art.

Yes but I know I was drawn to tarot by the beautiful decks and I suspect the majority of those interested in divination are as well.

[Graham Ross]

For the record some people collect tarot cards for the artwork. Famous artists, cartoonists and illustrators often lend their talents to making those cards. The artwork is often intricate and beautiful and downright interesting.

For a while I studied books on tarot cards and their meanings. This was when I was just starting my design/fine art degree and I was looking for inspiration. It's difficult to say whether or not I actually believed they had any prediction power, it was really the symbolism I was looking for to express in my work. I eventualy gave up trying to understand them because they pretty much all had multiple meanings, some of those meanings were contradictory and often there would be multiple cards with the same meaning.

I never quite liked the artwork either. Although I did collect Magic: the Gathering cards for their artwork (hated the actual game).

[ThatSoundAgain]

I never quite liked the artwork either. Although I did collect Magic: the Gathering cards for their artwork (hated the actual game).

Back when I was into that game (almost ten years ago), I quite liked the mechanics. Of course, people then had to go and take it to silly levels, owning 50 of each card and then being able to build any deck they wanted. If you kept it casual, it was quite fun.

The early editions, IMO, had very inconsistent artwork in terms of quality. The scale went from pure **** to pure gold. I haven't really seen much of them since, though, so I don't know how they look now. The budget may have gone up.

[RSLancastr]

Yeah, that's what makes it dangerous. I know I bought my deck because I loved the pretty pictures. I wanted to learn tarot because I loved the look of it.

Somehow, no one would think a standard deck of cards was magic in a million years.Standard? No.

But there are some playing card decks that are quite artistic:

Le Florentin (http://members.aol.com/crlancastr/blgupc/lefloren/deck.htm)
La Traviata (http://members.aol.com/blgupc/blgupc/traviata/deck.htm)
Can-Can (http://members.aol.com/blgupc/blgupc/cancan/deck.htm)
America: Arts of Pre-Columbian America (http://members.aol.com/rslancastr/blgupc/america/deck.htm)
Jeu Louis XV (http://members.aol.com/rslancastr/blgupc/louisxv/deck.htm)
Russian Palekh Deck (http://members.aol.com/rslancastr/blgupc/paleh/deck.htm)

[Brattus]

Somehow, no one would think a standard deck of cards was magic in a million years.

I'll bet there is a hand full of Vegas vistors that would disagree!

[Kahalachan]

Last religious text I bought was a Bible from a dollar store that was going out of buisiness for 77 cents.

I guess for woo I bought the Satanic Bible, since that has spells and stuff. That was like 4 years ago.

Yes I did try out the spells :boxedin: :blush: :boggled:

[Strife]

I bought and believed in Tarot cards when I was younger. I could still consider to buy a deck, because they are really pretty. I also have a couple of feng shui books. I'm pretty fond of them, because I think it's an interesting concept. Tarot, feng shui and such are inspiring for fantasy writing.

[-Fran-]

Standard? No.

But there are some playing card decks that are quite artistic:

Le Florentin (http://members.aol.com/crlancastr/blgupc/lefloren/deck.htm)
La Traviata (http://members.aol.com/blgupc/blgupc/traviata/deck.htm)
Can-Can (http://members.aol.com/blgupc/blgupc/cancan/deck.htm)
America: Arts of Pre-Columbian America (http://members.aol.com/rslancastr/blgupc/america/deck.htm)
Jeu Louis XV (http://members.aol.com/rslancastr/blgupc/louisxv/deck.htm)
Russian Palekh Deck (http://members.aol.com/rslancastr/blgupc/paleh/deck.htm)

Oh, I've been drooling over the cards at that site many times :) I have a small collection of playing cards, some vintage, the base of which was given to me by my stepfather, who collected them in his youth. It's a very tiny collection though, and many times I've wanted to add to it. But finding vintage decks is actually quite hard, and most are too expensive for me anyway. :(

[TheGline]

For the record some people collect tarot cards for the artwork. Famous artists, cartoonists and illustrators often lend their talents to making those cards. The artwork is often intricate and beautiful and downright interesting.

Case in point: H.R. Giger's tarot. I don't believe in any of it, but it's one of the most stupefyingly gorgeous things I've ever seen.

[RSLancastr]

Oh, I've been drooling over the cards at that site many times :)Thanks, glad you enjoy it! I haven't added to the site in years now...

I have a small collection of playing cards, some vintage, the base of which was given to me by my stepfather, who collected them in his youth. It's a very tiny collection though, and many times I've wanted to add to it. But finding vintage decks is actually quite hard, and most are too expensive for me anyway. :(You can actually find some decent ones on eBay.

Case in point: H.R. Giger's tarot. I don't believe in any of it, but it's one of the most stupefyingly gorgeous things I've ever seen.Yup. On the other hand, Salvador Dali's tarot is awful (and I'm an admirer of much of his work).

Love his deck of playing cards though!

[-Fran-]

Thanks, glad you enjoy it! I haven't added to the site in years now...


Oh, that's your site! I never got that. What a coincidence, I've known that site long before I came here :) Well, I'm impressed by your collection!

[RSLancastr]

Thanks!

[Orphia Nay]

...

In grade school, I bought Chariots of the Gods? I was just a kid, but I recognized B.S. when I heard it. This was one of the first books I ever tossed in the garbage. (The only book I ever burned was the vomit-inducing Looking Out For Number One, which had been given to me as a gift. I wanted to build a fire in my fireplace, but I had no newspaper to get the fire started; so I used Looking Out For Number One instead. I never regretted this action.)

...


A creationist, a friend/acquaintance of my husband, gave us a book a while ago called "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists". I glanced through it a couple of times, marvelling at the woo-upon-wooage.

It lay about the kitchen until last week, when I threw it in the bin. That's the first time I've ever destroyed "literature". Not that it was literature, but rather, drivel.

[athon]

I bought a copy of the Book of Mormon for 50p in charity shop recently. I have a number of woo books (know your enemy) but I buy them second hand, 'cos I don't want the authors or publishers to benefit.......... :D

I've got one too, also bought second hand for about a dollar. And a $cientology text book, for about $2. I love that sort of stuff.

I've got tarot cards and runes I've bought and a lot of books on monsters and aliens and ghosts around the place. I've never gone to a psychic or chiromancer or any woo medicine. I guess the last questionable thing I bought with any serious belief in it was some Echinacea I bought from a health shop, because I figured there was something to it based on popular belief.

That was about 10 years ago.

Athon

[athon]

Case in point: H.R. Giger's tarot. I don't believe in any of it, but it's one of the most stupefyingly gorgeous things I've ever seen.

For sure. I've always wanted to design my own tarot cards.

Athon

[Angus McPresley]

We visited the Cook Islands recently, and attended a church service for the cultural aspects of it only. They passed around a collection plate and I put in some coins. Does that count?

[noblecaboose]

I spent a great deal of my adolescence lurking in my town's New Age book store. I started reading my mother's guide to reading tarot and Linda Goodman's Sun Signs pretty early on, so I had a kind of head start, I guess. Let's see, the first thing I bought there would have to be...maybe some crystals and a vial of "Fairy Dust" which I still have. It was the "Love" variety. I think I was about 12.
Over the years, I have bought lots and lots of books on the occult and witchcraft, but the last "woo" I spent money on...hmm. That depends. I guess if you count conspiracy theories, I actually spent money on a copy of Loose Change :o. I know, I know... I didn't know then what I know now.
Other than that, I paid for a bunch of yoga classes, and bought a homeopathic topical gel for muscle aches (which may not have been technically homeopathic, just herbal - still useless though). And while yoga isn't necessarily woo, the instructor was very woo-woo and would talk about various alternative medicine things during class, and would prescribe aromatherapy and stuff.

Boy, what a difference 18 months makes. :)

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

A creationist, a friend/acquaintance of my husband, gave us a book a while ago called "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists". I glanced through it a couple of times, marvelling at the woo-upon-wooage.

It lay about the kitchen until last week, when I threw it in the bin. That's the first time I've ever destroyed "literature". Not that it was literature, but rather, drivel.

I destroyed the Sylvia Browne book my friend got for me. I ripped it apart and recycled the loose pages. I regret it now cause I could have sent it to Robert.

[celia]

Argh, I've spent far too much money on woo. Books, tarot cards, reiki courses, psychic readings. The last money I spent on woo was a psychic reading, and that was the impetus for me for moving away from paganism and associated woo. It was a psychic recommended to me by a friend, and we both went for a reading one after the other. I was first.

The psychic told me I needed to focus, and we sat in silence for some time while she told me with irritation that I was closing off from her and was difficult to read. I tried very hard to relax and "open" myself to her. She looked at me, and said solemnly, "Oh - you are a very sad little girl, aren't you? What happened to you?" I was confused and explained that actually, I had a very happy childhood, and wasn't sure what she was referring to. I said my parents had divorced when I was an adult, and perhaps that's what she was talking about? No, she said, dismissing me, something had happened to me as a child. She kept on this "sad little girl" point for a while, until I felt quite upset, and then asked me how I felt, nodding when I said "sad."

She went on to tell me that my career was wrong for me, that my relationship was wrong for me, and so on and so forth. Oh, and that I was reincarnated from forest fairies.

I came away from this reading feeling very disturbed and depressed, eventually dragging myself out of it by firmly telling myself that this woman didn't even know me and she knew nothing about my life - her "advice" was meaningless. But it was so hard to really, really believe this. She was convincing (except for the forest fairy bit) - lots of gazing into my eyes. I found myself agreeing with things she was saying, and then days afterwards thinking, "Wait, that's not right. I don't actually feel that way." And I found it hard to believe that someone would just make up stuff like that - so it must be true, right?

My friend loved her reading - I told her a little bit about mine, and she said that perhaps the psychic was right, that I needed to change my career, and so on - that the psychic knew better than me how I felt about things. That really pissed me off, I did some reading, and gradually I came to think that no, I don't believe that people are psychic. I don't believe in gods, I don't believe in magic - and my atheist parents threw their arms up into the air, and said, "Thank g... well, thanks."

I now think of that stage in my life as a natural sort of reaction to growing up in an atheist household and so finding those woo ideas about "things beyond what we can sense" very attractive. I think I would have grown out of it eventually, but that psychic certainly pushed me along the path. I can't stand that I paid $60 to her, but that was definitely the last money I spent, and will spend, on woo.

[Tressa]

First time: 1992: I was in store called Ares Arts in Capitola Village, CA and bought Drawing Down The Moon by Margot Adler and Araidne's Thread by Shekinah Mountainwater.

Last time: 2006: I know it was a book but I can't remember which one and it was from amazon.

[mac]

The first woo money went to a psychic card reader. I was very impressed and returned, years later, only to realize that she was so totally off that the first time must have been a really lucky guess. The last time I spent money on woo was to attend a seance (?spelling) - but the purpose was to debunk it. During the show, everything was so incredibly rediculous that the only thing I could do was laugh. After the show I openly stated that this was the most unconvincing pathetic performance I had ever seen, and that I'd seen a 10 year old amature magician do a heck of a lot better. I didn't convince anyone there, but then people who are brought to tears (literally) during such a poor show are, I think, irrational (at that specific time anyway) and not at all able to see anything for what it is. I never tried to do that again.

[Tressa]

It may not have done any good but I applaud your bravery just the same Mac.

[manofthesea]

I bleev the first Woo material that I purchased was a trilogy series from Time Life Books, entiltled Mysteries of the Unknown, Enchanted World, and Library of Curious and Unusual Facts. Interesting and informational (and illustrated, too!) Since then, I've been pretty much woo-free, until I bought Black Dawn Bright Day by Sun Bear with Wabun Wind, interesting again.
But I really have to get up on my soapbox and proclaim this:
The sixteen volume "Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night" by a Richard F. Burton is, to me, the gold atop the pyramid. (his sidenotes are pretty factual, ranging in topic from Arabia in general, to the Crusades, and many others)


(It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise - Preacher)

[saraban]

Around 15 bought Daniken and other books of a similar stripe.

*Though now living on Venus, it's interesting they have similar stories ;-)*

[Big Les]

Argh, I've spent far too much money on woo. Books, tarot cards, reiki courses, psychic readings. The last money I spent on woo was a psychic reading, and that was the impetus for me for moving away from paganism and associated woo. It was a psychic recommended to me by a friend, and we both went for a reading one after the other. I was first.

The psychic told me I needed to focus, and we sat in silence for some time while she told me with irritation that I was closing off from her and was difficult to read. I tried very hard to relax and "open" myself to her. She looked at me, and said solemnly, "Oh - you are a very sad little girl, aren't you? What happened to you?" I was confused and explained that actually, I had a very happy childhood, and wasn't sure what she was referring to. I said my parents had divorced when I was an adult, and perhaps that's what she was talking about? No, she said, dismissing me, something had happened to me as a child. She kept on this "sad little girl" point for a while, until I felt quite upset, and then asked me how I felt, nodding when I said "sad."

She went on to tell me that my career was wrong for me, that my relationship was wrong for me, and so on and so forth. Oh, and that I was reincarnated from forest fairies.

I came away from this reading feeling very disturbed and depressed, eventually dragging myself out of it by firmly telling myself that this woman didn't even know me and she knew nothing about my life - her "advice" was meaningless. But it was so hard to really, really believe this. She was convincing (except for the forest fairy bit) - lots of gazing into my eyes. I found myself agreeing with things she was saying, and then days afterwards thinking, "Wait, that's not right. I don't actually feel that way." And I found it hard to believe that someone would just make up stuff like that - so it must be true, right?

My friend loved her reading - I told her a little bit about mine, and she said that perhaps the psychic was right, that I needed to change my career, and so on - that the psychic knew better than me how I felt about things. That really pissed me off, I did some reading, and gradually I came to think that no, I don't believe that people are psychic. I don't believe in gods, I don't believe in magic - and my atheist parents threw their arms up into the air, and said, "Thank g... well, thanks."

I now think of that stage in my life as a natural sort of reaction to growing up in an atheist household and so finding those woo ideas about "things beyond what we can sense" very attractive. I think I would have grown out of it eventually, but that psychic certainly pushed me along the path. I can't stand that I paid $60 to her, but that was definitely the last money I spent, and will spend, on woo.

Great story Celia, and welcome to the forum. I've been thinking, and although I will happily accept and even seek out woo stuff for free, the only time I've ever paid for it was a few weeks ago, because there was an article in "Atlantis Rising" that I needed for a blog post/article. Otherwise, and even in my own teenage woo phase, I've managed to avoid lining "their" coffers. Even when it comes to presents for my own pagan girlfriend. I will respect, but never reinforce, her beliefs.