Messiahs And Witchcraft

On March 30, the Belgrade daily Politika brought a long article "Association against abuse of religion to be founded." A sigh of relief was the first reaction of atheists (if there are any left), and religiously disinterested persons, including those believers who are not finding it easy to understand the various nuances in the appearances of Patriarch Pavle on the one hand and his episcopes (metropolitans) on the other. Some thought that this was another article aimed at exposing the villainy and crimes of Islam and Catholicism.

There was no reason for atheist hopes, nor for a long look at the famous religious triangle in the central areas of the former Yugoslavia. It was simply that a group of Belgrade doctors, priests, lawyers and "parents whose children had been 'abducted' by sects," had decided to start the "Yugoslav Anti-Cult Institution (JAKI). Psychiatrist Vukadin Cvetanovic says that among his patients there are many who have managed to tear themselves away from sects, and adds that faith is just a screen, while "economic, political and military power are the real aims of the sects." In order to persuade intelligent young people that the salvation of the world lies in their hands, sect followers resort to false promises, tricks, hypnosis and threats, said Cvetanovic, adding that the Bible says that a time of false prophets will come.

It remains to be seen if JAKI will try to prove their point with Adventists and other small Christian communities (small, that is, in Yugoslavia). It is still not clear what comes under "destructive organizations which have been imported from the West and Far East."

Of the former three sisters of magic---alchemy, parapsychology and astrology, a race is being run between the last two in Europe today.

While astrologers and similar experts in the West deal in individual fates, they are increasingly dealing with the fate of groups and communities here, because of the decreasing importance of individuals. Ahead of the 1993 New Year, a Belgrade daily said that "a new order would be introduced in late May and early June, and that it would result in the normalization of all vital functions, including the economy." All we have to do is wait and see.

Milja Vujanovic, former actress and model turned astrologer, has a program on TV Serbia Third Channel every Tuesday. Her column in "Radio TV Revija" shows how a horoscope can be turned into a horrorscope. "Resolution 777, the Big Five have vacated our 'honorary chair' which we had paid for in hard currency for decades. We recently stopped being dependent on the Deutsche Mark, the currency of our proven ideological and genetic enemies, and at the height of the world's greatest black magic mass media campaign have become slaves of the dollar," says Milja.

"A careful analyst will not miss the unusual coincidence that all resolutions (read: punitive measures) of the five-member Security Council against Yugoslavia all start with the number 7, an ancient and magic number (according to cabalists). It is no accident that the number 7 appears 77 times in the Old Testament. (...) This is Satan's number, and Satan tries to imitate the Lord himself (6+1). That is why he is so evil," says Milja.

However, an even closer analysis shows that the resolutions are numbered from one onwards, starting with the founding of the United Nations some 40 odd years ago. What magic is hidden in the last number, Resolution 820? Has the West surpassed Satan with it?

Prominent members of the "patriotic" establishment (nomenclature) are seriously encroaching the field of professional practitioners of black magic. "My curse on America, has been effective. A curse has special meaning, and when it is made, then it must have a counter effect. I deeply believe that Mr. Panic is some kind of compensation for this curse," said painter Milic Stankovic (known as Milic of Machva), after the installing of Milan Panic as Yugoslav Prime Minister. (In the meantime, Milic has changed his views with regard to Panic, and no longer has a positive opinion about the former Prime Minister.)

Even if magic is accorded the right to interpreting life, the "celestial nation's" (as the Serbian people are called by such 'prophets') lack of rational interpretations (without even mentioning acts) in official politics, remains an unanswered question.

It can be said that there is a deep psychological reason for belief in the supernatural. Without doubt, social circumstances sometimes strongly influence a revival of belief in the occult. Our environment is a typical example. Papers and TV programs are aggressively promoting a rarer type of prophet, those we can conditionally call political intriguers," said Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy lecturer Zarko Korac. "While their colleagues in the West are less ambitious and are satisfied in dealing with individual fates, the Balkan variant is obviously not very interested in that line of work. They now give us grandiose visions of our future, which to make matters even more interesting, are absolutely in accordance with official political estimates! The issue at stake is manipulation. It is not so much a matter of dreamers yearning for popularity and money, even though this must not be overlooked, inasmuch as a conscious debilitating of the people who do not know what to believe in anymore," said Korac.

How is this insanity achieved? "When two Dominican priests published "Witches' Mallet" in 1486, one of the most painful chapters of European history was opened. The book contained "precise" instructions on how to expose sorcerers and witches, and in consequence the Inquisition burned thousands and thousands of people. Without urging for the Inquisition and stakes, we must ask who will write an entirely different "Witches' Mallet" today. Who will help people at the end of the 20. century to recognize evil and intolerance, and who will direct them to accepting responsibility for their acts. The powers of evil are not responsible for our fate. We ourselves are. But, since this is not the situation, the only successful way of battling superstition is by understanding the complexity of life and accepting a moral responsibility for its course," said Korac.

Tolerance? A comprehension of life's complexity? Moral responsibility? This is too difficult and too complicated---and may the forces of magic help us!..

Manipulation of Manipulators

"Even though the Nazi authorities in Germany did not allow astrological columns in the papers until 1945, they did believe in them. Swiss astrologer Karl Kraft was entrusted with the task of analyzing the horoscopes of German and Allied commanders and leaders. He concluded carelessly, that Marshal Montgomery's horoscope was stronger than Marshal Erwin Rommel's, and ended up in a concentration camp. Before that he had rewritten hundreds of Nostradamus's prophesies, forecasting the inevitable victory of the Third Reich," said Korac.

The main "clerk of evil," the monstrous Heinrich Himmler sincerely believed in clairvoyants and kept astrologer Wilhem Wolf close at hand to guide him. Himmler kept a horoscope in his safe with the exact date of Germany's military victory. This shows that the main manipulators were themselves subject to manipulation as a result of their totally irrational natures.

Belief in magic is the logical result of a way of thinking which ranges from partially psychotic to a weak perception of reality. As soon as political language starts using phrases such: a historical mission, the world conspiracy is against us, a historical vow, special divine intentions, etc, then magic is not far off. That is when reason and arguments lose all value. The whole of society starts resembling a community steeped in magic, with imposters making prophecies, fulfilled by sadists and psychopaths," said Korac.