by James Randi
Abraham was intolerant of other magi, believing himself — and his hero, Abra-Melin — to be the only performers worth consideration. This is a common delusion among such folks.
Abra-Melin
Teacher of Abraham the Jew, which see.
Abrams, Dr. Albert
(1863-1924) The consummate quack, Abrams was a medical graduate of the University of Heidelberg (in 1893) who moved to the United States to become a professor of pathology at Stanford University, a post he held for five years. Then he developed a diagnostic idea he called “spondylotherapy” which consisted of striking the vertebrae with a hammer. This rather alienated him from his colleagues at Stanford, and perhaps from some of his patients as well.
Dr. Albert Abrams, the “dean of twentieth century charlatans.”
Abrams left Stanford and began teaching spondylotherapy to other physicians for a fee of $200. Next he originated the idea of diagnosing disease by means of a sealed, scientific-looking black box he called the Dynamizer. This device, he said, worked at any distance by analyzing a drop of the patient's blood and, he said, could even determine the religious affiliation of the patient! Many persons, including some doctors, believed him.
Soon, for a healthy fee, Abrams was broadcasting cures to his patients by radio waves through another quack device he called the Omnipotent Oscilloclast. Other varieties of these boxes were named the Biodynamometer and the Reflexophone. His customers actually took all this seriously and paid well for his services.
Abrams's various boxes were available for rental by would-be instant healers, but were thoroughly sealed up. The agreement was that the renter could not examine the innards of the device. When a few skeptics did open the boxes, they found simple wiring, a few resistors, a small motor that only made a humming noise, and nothing that could in any way perform a diagnosis or “broadcast” or even produce radio waves.
Investigators even sent Abrams drops of red ink in place of blood, but he was still able to find human diseases in the samples. A spot of chicken blood brought back a diagnosis of cancer, malaria, diabetes, and two different venereal diseases. The chicken, it appeared, had gone through an unusual existence in its life of just less than one year.
The American Medical Association called Abrams the “dean of twentieth century charlatans.” He died wealthy in 1924, leaving an estate of millions of dollars.
See also George De la Warr and Ruth Drown.
Abraxas
(also, Abracax or Abrasax) The supreme god of the Gnostics, pictured with the head of a king and with serpents for feet. Also, Abraxas is a Gnostic “word of power” and a divine name with magical significance. Vulgar rumor has it that it was once used as a trade name for a household cleaner made by Proctor & Gamble, but was quickly withdrawn from the market after Bible thumpers raised their usual din about Satanism.
Actorius
A stone found in the gizzard of a capon, worn as an amulet, or charm, to bring courage, though due to surgical intervention, capons are not generally known for their courage. This is simply a concretion of various mineral substances, and can be defined as an avian pearl. Not in demand as a gemstone.
Acupressure
See acupuncture.
Acupuncture
The (probably mythical) Chinese ruler known as the Yellow Emperor (Huang-ti, circa 2704 B.C.-?) is said to have brought the bow and arrow, writing, the water well, shoes, and the calendar to his subjects. It is said that he also wrote a medical manuscript, Nei Jing, that is still used by modern healers.
Repeating material that was considerably older, the book postulated a theoretical fluid/gas/plasma labeled qi (pronounced chee). The study of this substance or influence is known as qi gong (pronounced chee gung). The qi is believed to circulate through the body by means of pathways called meridians. There are twelve or fourteen major meridians. (Since dissection of the body was forbidden in the old Chinese culture, it was probably the veins and arteries that they occasionally saw following catastrophic accidents, which they mistook for these conduits for the qi.)
A great number of “acupuncture points” are specified on the body, and very fine needles, traditionally of gold or silver, inserted into these points on a properly oriented (north-south) patient and twiddled about rapidly between the fingers, are said to bring about analgesic, anesthetic, or curative effects.
One form of acupuncture uses only the ear, which is regarded as a homunculus. Needles are inserted into various specific parts of the ear that represent parts of the entire body. Dr. Lester Sacks of California has developed a staple-in-the-ear treatment that he claims will help patients lose weight, stop addictions, and serve in various other helpful ways. Many very fat addicts swear that this system works.
A form of the art in which finger pressure is substituted for the needles is known as acupressure, also called, “shiatsu.” This form is understandably more popular than the needle version.
Adalbert
An eighth-century French mystic who was fond of giving away parings of his nails and locks of his hair to his disciples and admirers. He said an angel had given him various holy relics, but it is not known whether those mementos included nail parings or locks of hair.
Adalbert always carried with him a letter from Jesus Christ that he said had been delivered to him by St. Michael. The church finally lost all patience with him for borrowing their miracles and threw him into prison, where he died.
Adam
In the Bible, the First Man. He was mated to Eve, the First Woman. Their sons were Cain and Abel. In a Talmudic legend, however, Adam's first wife was Lilith and she bore him demons. Parenthood, it seems, is an uncertain art fraught with various problems.
Adamantius
A Jewish physician, circa A.D. 300, who espoused the study of physiognomy (reading character from facial features) and wrote copiously on the subject in Greek. The first translation of his work (in French) was published in Paris in 1556, and then in a 1780 book titled Scriptores Physiognomoniae veteres. Perhaps by design, no portrait of Adamantius survives by which we might determine his own character.
Adamski, George
(1891-1965) A traveling wine salesman of Greek origin who brought the subject of UFOs to world-wide attention with his wild tales of having traveled into outer space with extraterrestrials. Tales of his having oversampled his wares are not substantiated.
The Adamski books Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953), Inside the Space Ships (1955), and Flying Saucers Farewell (1961), which described civilizations on the planets Venus, Mars, and Saturn, are still in print in several languages and are still extolled by believers. This, even though we now know that the physical scenarios described by Adamski are quite impossible.
Facts seldom interfere with belief.
Adept
As a noun, the word refers to a person said to be skilled at using magical or occult powers as a result of studying various practical mystical techniques. Adepts are also known by great names like the Great White Brotherhood, Mahatmas, Rahats and Rishis. A chela is an apprentice to an adept. The profession is not taught at most centers of learning. Not yet, that is.
As an adjective, the word denotes one with the abilities of an adept.
Adoni
(also, Adonai) A title substituted by the Hebrews for “Jehovah” to avoid pronouncing or even writing the latter word, which is supposed to be so holy and powerful that it brings punishment upon the one who utters it. No evidence exists that any such calamity visits a transgressor, and in fact the reader may repeat the word endlessly out loud without fear of penalty. However, people may think you strange, and no guarantees are given.
Aetherius Society
(1919- ) The Reverend Dr. Sir George King (none of the three titles are verified) says he was contacted in 1954 by The Master Aetherius — some sort of adept — from the planet Venus and was told to become the Voice of Interplanetary Parliament.
“Reverend” “Dr.” “Sir” George King.
The result was the
Aetherius Society, which met regularly at one time in Caxton Hall, London. It is now an international movement, holding regular meetings in which an entity known as “Mars, Sector Six” introduces the faithful to the Master Aetherius, who is, we are told, 3,496 years old, more or less. A journal, Cosmic Voice, is published by the society to bring news of the thriving civilization on Venus to the population of Earth.
George King says he has met Jesus Christ, Lord Buddha, and Saint Peter, all of whom now speak to and through him. Another entity named Saint Goo-Ling is also heard from occasionally.
The society teaches that a race of intelligent fish living underwater on the far away planet Garouche are trying to suck the air away from Earth, thus killing all terrestrial life, but not the marine life; the undersea creatures, it is claimed, obtain their oxygen from the water, which is supplied from an unknown source. This naive view of basic biology is embraced by the society.
The fact that Venus cannot sustain a civilization (the surface being at an average temperature of 860°F/460°C, far above the melting point of lead) and the failure of King's confident prediction that mankind would never land on the Moon — among other claims and notions — has brought the wisdom of the Master Aetherius into some doubt, yet the society flourishes, perhaps because of these adversities, not in spite of them.
One of the favorite harmless but useless activities of the society is charging up devices known as “spiritual batteries.” This is accomplished by spending seven hundred “prayer-hours” standing before strange boxes and gesturing at them, being careful not to overcharge them, of course. The belief is that these batteries will hold their charges for ten thousand years.
Aetite
See bezoar.
Afreet
In oriental mythology, the spirit of a dead person, often a demon. To be avoided.
Age of Aquarius
See astrology.
AGLA
An acronym formed from “Aieth Gadol Leolam Adonai” (God is great forever), used by kabalists to invoke demons. Effectiveness not scientifically determined but doubtful.
Agpaoa, Tony
(Antonio C. Agpaoa, 1939 -1982) Agpaoa is the quack who began the still-popular psychic surgery craze in the Philippine Islands, attracting thousands of persons annually to his center in Baguio, the most beautiful area in all the Islands. In some cases, he actually performed simple surgical services, removing cysts and draining infected areas; the rest, mostly very spectacular procedures in which his hands appeared to plunge into the body were the usual conjuring tricks.
On one occasion, Tony was being driven in his gold-plated Mercedes when he fell ill and asked to be rushed via private chartered jet to San Francisco, where his appendix was removed. When his small son also needed medical care, Tony took him to the United States for medical help, but the boy did not survive the hospital stay.
In 1968 Agpaoa visited the United States for the third time, performing his sleight-of-hand act for patients who paid well for the service. Then he was arrested in Detroit and charged with medical fraud. Choosing not to answer the charges, he skipped his $25,000 bail and fled back to the Philippines.
Agpaoa died in 1982 of what the Manila newspapers referred to as “rich living” and was interred in a glass coffin, for some unknown reason.
Agrippa
(Henry Cornelius Agrippa Von Nettesheim, 1486-1535) A noted German intellectual and mystic born in Cologne, Agrippa became a member of the court of Maximilian I, king of Germany, at an early age. Though otherwise an astute student, he became fascinated by an early form of numerology and the kabala, and he subsequently taught this idea at several universities. Strangely enough, he was opposed to astrology.
Cornelius Agrippa, a sixteenth-century mystic who had a great influence on the supernatural beliefs of his day.
At age twenty-four, Agrippa wrote a three-volume book, On Occult Philosophy, which attempted to reconcile natural phenomena and occult lore. His concept of religion seems to have been an amalgam of Christian, Neo-Platonic, and Kabalistic ideas. The book was not published for another two decades, finally seeing print in 1531.
One of Agrippa's genuine contributions to knowledge was the observation that a person's thoughts and attitudes can affect the physical condition of the body, a possible suggestion of what was to become the science of psychology.
Endless claims of valor on the field of battle, intimate acquaintance with royalty, diplomatic appointments, court positions, and heroic military accomplishments were made by Agrippa, and some may even be true.
From The Proportions of Man and their Occult Numbers from 'De Occulta Philosophia' Libri III, by Henricus Cornelius Agrippa (1533)
Tales of sorcery and general occult practices also surround the Agrippa legend. He is said to have used various methods of scrying and divination, to have called up spirits and demons, and to have a great black dog named Monsieur as a familiar. These rumors got him into major trouble with various ecclesiastic powers of his day, and he came into serious conflict with the Holy Inquisition. For this clash and for various debts he was imprisoned several times, but always managed to buy his way out.
He died poverty-stricken at the age of forty-nine in Grenoble, France.
See also Weyer, Johannes.
Akashic records
(also, Akasic records) The word akashic is derived from the Sanskrit expression akasha, meaning a theoretical universal medium of some sort. This can be loosely compared to what science once presumed was the “ether” or medium through which electromagnetic forces operated. These insubstantial substances are unsubstantiated.
The “records” are supposed to contain data on everything that has ever happened, is happening, or ever will happen in the entire universe, much like IRS records. This idea was adopted, preached, and popularized by H. P. Blavatsky as part of the Theosophy religion. Presently, the notion is reflected in the “holistic” view held by the new agers.
Many psychics have said they somehow obtained their information from these records, particularly Edgar Cayce and Rudolf Steiner. The claim is impossible to examine.
Akkadian-Chaldean Inscriptions
From the seventh century B.C. in the reign of Assurbanipal, these documents from the Royal Library of Nineveh are among the oldest purely magical writings known. They consist mostly of exorcisms against all sorts of evil. No more use now than they were then, but fascinating as historical records of Man's eternal fascination with such notions.
Aksakof, Alexandre
(1832-1880?) A very rich Russian spiritualist and statesman who, with nothing better to do, brought mediums Henry Slade and Eusapia Palladino to Russia. At his urging, a Russian Scientific Committee was established to investigate spiritualistic claims, but it failed to produce any valuable work.
Albertus Magnus
(1205-1280?) He was Albert of Cologne, a wellborn Christian philosopher and Dominican who for a short time served as a bishop. He defended the writings of Aristotle in accordance with church doctrine, wrote about and experimented with alchemy, and theorized on magic. It was rumored that he had discovered the philosopher's stone and that he could control the weather. He was a very prolific writer.
It was said that he had spent thirty years to produce what we today would call an android, a figure of brass in the shape of a man, with the power of speech. We are told that it was destroyed by St. Thomas Aquinas because its answers to his questions puzzled him.
Albert's actual and potentially useful work consisted of discussions of herbal remedies, the effect of which, because of the intellectual limitations of his time, he could not differentiate from magic.
Alchabitius
See Abdelazys.
Alchemy & Alchemists
Beginning about the year 100 and reaching its flower in medieval times, alchemy was an art based partly upon experimentation and partly upon magic. Early investigators of natural processes centered their search on a mythical substance they knew as philosopher's stone (the expression stone refers
to any general mineral substance) which was supposed to possess many valuable attributes such as the power to heal, to prolong life, and to change base metals into precious metal — such as gold. This substance was eagerly — and understandably — sought after, and the rich folks of the day sponsored alchemists who promised them the stone in the same way that today's wealthy will court and support inventors of perpetual motion machines and those who claim mystic powers. Expectations of success were then, and are now, equally and perpetually futile.