Only 15...
Intel's spectre count is rapidly catching up....
(at least I tried to make it IT related)
If, on the eve of Halloween, your mind has turned to Amethyst Realm, the woman who dated more than 15 ghosts, let us get you up to speed. She has settled down. With another spook. The 30-year-old "spiritual guidance counsellor" from Bristol plans to have a baby with her spectral fiancé, Cornwall Live reported, though how that …
As I understand Catholic doctrine, there are no such things as ghosts. Once you're dead you are in Heaven, Hell or Purgatory (if that's still a thing) and not around to go woo-woo on Earth.
Therefore, if you come into contact with something which represents itself as a spirit of the dead, it's actually a demon sent to tempt you, so you make the sign of the cross and it evaporates.
Not that I believe a word of it but at least it's a consistent belief system, so this is not a bug report you can file with the Catholic God.
Abusive nuns and priests, however, different kettle of theological fish. You can report them.
You're thinking about it bassakwards. You don't pick one now, you wait.
Consider that thanks to the many gods and goddesses that Man has invented^Wdiscovered^Wcome in contact with^W^W^W^Wwhatever, the chances of you actually worshiping THE Gawd/ess that created this dampish rock we live on are slim-to-nil ... I suspect that the god of the OT would be really, really pissed if you are worshiping the God of the NT, if they are, in fact, different $ENTITIES ... and if you do chose one or both of those two, what Kali might have to say when you slip your mortal coil doesn't bear thinking about. Probably better to say "I dunno" now, in life, and beg forgiveness when/if you get to the other side, no?
...or Purgatory (if that's still a thing)
Yes it is a thing, and very real for that matter. I used to live there. It is otherwise known as Belgium*.
* Of course, Belgium isn't that bad at all. In fact, it can be a rather nice and pleasant place. That it turned out to be my personal purgatory has mainly to do with the fact that it is the origin of ex-Ms Evil Auditor.
the default alignment is Belgium is chaotic neutral.
Unless you are on a motorbike. In which case, it turns into chaotic evil.
Unlike their neighbours on either side (Germany and France) which are both quite careful and respectful of bikes - particularly foreign ones. Switzerland however, is very definately lawful evil towards foreign bikes - particularly ones with UK plates.
Was she more evil or less evil than you like?
I suspect the answer would be "differently evil".
Bit like the differences between senior and junior black cats[1] current resident at my house.
[1] Unlike senoir male cat - the one that woke us up at 2am by enthusiastically chomping his take-home meal[2] by our bed..
[2] By the scant remains - a mouse.
Goodness, I met my ex in Belgium too: a left-pondian whom gave me mental scars for years afterwards.
What is it with that place? Is the lashings of free flowing De Koninck which addled our senses?
Nonetheless, I would love to return there and see out my days in that wonderful, but utterly bonkers, country.
This is where purgatory is
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Purgatory/@51.9087192,-1.35518,13.5z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4876da73c403d64d:0x261dec584da99635!8m2!3d51.9037532!4d-1.3425153
World's End is nearby too, down the road a bit
https://www.google.com/maps/place/World's+End,+Newbury+RG20+8SB/@51.4895563,-1.32346,13.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4876a53d96aa0e05:0x260eae2ecb827301!8m2!3d51.485418!4d-1.301698
You can also report demons and the like to an exorcist - if you believe in that, that's your bug hunted and pest control... still, I guess it would disapprove hooking up a ghost, especially since "succubi" and "incubi" are demons looking for sex... so, it looks it's an old story. Just, this woman a few century ago would have been burn as a witch. Just those poor women didn't make the money of actual ones...
"Once you're dead you are in Heaven, Hell or Purgatory (if that's still a thing).... Not that I believe a word of it but at least it's a consistent belief system "
Of course there is also the "Mary ascended to heaven with her human body" thing, and if you keep the consistency of belief system, implies that heaven is a physical location somewhere in the Universe.
As I understand Catholic doctrine, there are no such things as ghosts. Once you're dead you are in Heaven, Hell or Purgatory (if that's still a thing) and not around to go woo-woo on Earth.
Still been known to have done exorcisms though....
Therefore, if you come into contact with something which represents itself as a spirit of the dead, it's actually a demon sent to tempt you, so you make the sign of the cross and it evaporates.
Now I think you're getting confused with the more puritan variations of protestantism (apart from the crossing yourself thing - I think they advise waving a bible at it).
Not that I believe a word of it but at least it's a consistent belief system, so this is not a bug report you can file with the Catholic God.
Consistent? I think you've had too much pumpkin punch...whole thing devised by a committee in Nicea (we all know how things put together by committee end up) then left to stew in political expediency and corruption for a thousand or so years.
Abusive nuns and priests, however, different kettle of theological fish. You can report them.
That's only been effective in the last thirty or so years. Think what it was like centuries ago when the Church was a gateway for the really ambitious and power hungry.
As I understand Catholic doctrine, there are no such things as ghosts.
In the original Christian theology[1] there are no ghosts either. Largely (or entirely) because the idea of an immortal soul was something that the later Church added on from pagan theology (along with a literal devil, the trinity and quite a few other things..)
[1] As in the 1st Century, before people started changing the theology for fun and profit..
but part of me thinks it is impolite to laugh at crazy (not a clinical diagnosis) people.
Even if they do push themselves into the public eye.
Actually, regarding the public eye thing, how are the programme makers/newspaper editors in any way different from the warders in bedlam?
Yep.
And, on This Morning next Monday, we'll be talking to an Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who will be telling us of his plans to invade Russia. On Tuesday we'll be interviewing Mr Elwood P Dowd and his six-foot tall pet rabbit, Harvey. Then on Wednesday we will be speaking to the widow of an African dictator who has $62 million (SIXTY TWO MILLION US DOLARS) that she is trying to find a safe home for, and on Thursday our guest explains how he can cure cancer over the Internet on receipt of £1000.
At what point does it become your duty to refer the mental health services to a person like this?
Only at the point where other peoples well being is threatened. I refer you to a wiser mind than mine :
"The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant..."
John Stuart Mill
- now I appreciate that's not how it is in the UK, and we have this nobly corrosive idea that we should somehow save people "from themselves". But to my mind that requires that everybody thinks the same as everybody else. Which is a dangerous path to tread.
- now I appreciate that's not how it is in the UK, and we have this nobly corrosive idea that we should somehow save people "from themselves". But to my mind that requires that everybody thinks the same as everybody else. Which is a dangerous path to tread.
There's a difficult line. But if somebody is suffering from a temporary psychosis due to drugs or an infection, then maybe stopping them stabbing themselves or jumping off a building while under a delusion is not quite the state oppression you're suggesting.
now I appreciate that's not how it is in the UK
I really don't think it's that way in most places. I can name at least a dozen laws here that only protect people from themselves. Drug laws, seat belt and helmet laws, curfew laws (usually anyway - I could see them in places that have had problems with juvenile delinquents), the inability of grocery stores to get liquor licenses and the ban on alcohol sales on Sunday (those two are local to this hyper-religious area and annoying)...The list goes on and on.
"Drug laws, seat belt and helmet laws" are designed to stop you becoming a drain on our socialised health services, as much as protect yourself.
"curfew laws" most def protect me from you, if you are a noisy vomiting delinquent.
"the inability of grocery stores to get liquor licenses" is about the protection racket for existing suppliers.
"the ban on alcohol sales on Sunday" doesn't protect anyone, but does leave those in favour of the ban with a warm feeling inside and a sense of power over others.
"Drug laws, seat belt and helmet laws" are designed to stop you becoming a drain on our socialised health services, as much as protect yourself.
If that's the intent then drug laws, at least, fail miserably. The amount of money that gets funneled into fighting the drug war when it might actually accomplish some good going into treatment programs for addicts instead is absolutely staggering.
As for seat belt and helmet laws, I think it's mostly a wash, at least here in the US. We don't have socialized medicine (though, in my personal opinion, it would be a vast improvement on our incredibly broken health care system even if I were prepared to accept the "socialist=bad always" narrative that's common here, which I'm not). Even if we did paramedics usually respond to traffic accidents whether there's an actual need for them or not on the grounds that figuring out whether they're needed would take minutes that can be the difference between life and death in such situations.
"curfew laws" most def protect me from you, if you are a noisy vomiting delinquent.
Which is why I can understand them in places that have significant problems with juvenile delinquents. But the simple fact of the matter is that most juveniles aren't delinquents, and treating them as though they are is a good way to breed teenage rebellion. For the most part in most places the only valid justification for curfew laws on teens is to make sure they get enough sleep for school because some of them (I was one of these back in the 90s) would otherwise be out all night but not necessarily causing problems.
"the ban on alcohol sales on Sunday" doesn't protect anyone, but does leave those in favour of the ban with a warm feeling inside and a sense of power over others.
I think those in favor of such bans frame it in their own minds as protecting the souls of us poor sinners who want to drink on the Sabbath. Which is ridiculous both in terms of their own religion (Christ's first miracle was to create wine so that a party could continue after all, and wine is called for in Communion even if most denominations use grape juice instead these days, and even barring that....well, go ask a clergyman what day of the week is the Biblical Sabbath and I think you'll be surprised by the answer) and and on the grounds that not everyone shares it.
No, often they also protect others from you. Driving under alcohol or drugs means you have more chances to hurt or kill others (and even when not driving - a lot of violence happens under altered conditions).
Without seat belts, you become an issue for those sitting in front of you. And if unluckily you don't die, and become just a disabled, other people will need to pay for your therapies and sustenance. I think people who want just want to take full risks to damage themselves, should sign a document asserting they agree no one would ever be compelled to take care of them.
I don't think you're allowed to refer them to mental health professionals as that would be oppressing their human rights and stuff etc etc...
At least this nut-job seems mainly harmless, and there's little chance she will be passing on whatever freaky gene she got dealt to another generation.
Just sit back, watch, and laugh like the rest of us (in the privacy of your own home of course, you don't want any witnesses to report you).
"At what point does it become your duty to refer people like this to mental health services?"
When they are a danger to themselves or others, plus whatever your duty of care for the person is. Other than that, people can have whatever fantasies they like.
If they are a nuisance, then the cops/social services/city guard will deal with them, which might well involving the mental health services.
It's also entirely possible this is (shock!) a deliberate act, designed to garner some juicy inches and eyeballs, and persuade people to patronise her business. Since I'm not a mental health professional, I can't formally judge, but I'd suspect that she's pretty sane when it comes to all the important things in her life, like money, property, PR etc.
Now, should the free press be encouraging this? Be it exploiting a delusional woman, or helping her exploit other people's grief by sprinkling some veracity dust on her? "It was in the paper, it must be real"
I've had to call the authorities enough in my work life. It's a lot less fun than it sounds. In my private life, I'd suggest live and let live.
I don't like what this woman (probably) is doing, but I don't think she should be sectioned or locked up.
Given she described herself as something alone the lines of "spiritual guidance counsellor" (there's a profession that sounds like scammer central if anything like the old fake seance merchants..) I assume it is just to generate publicity / business (& cash, obv) . Doubt its genuine mental health issues (but could be wrong - just v. cynical as "speaking to spirits" practitioners long been a scam to rip off those who have lost loved ones)
... the mentally ill. They already have enough on their plate.
cf. Formosa's Law.
"It is the inalienable right of each and every human to make a fool of themselves in public"
True words.
Will she be applying for child support for her spectral child? Doesn't really matter, I suppose, we can afford to spend a lot of invisible spectral banknotes
"Strange that Diamond doesn't seem to get used as a name."
I dated a girl named Diamond when I was in the Lower Sixth in Yorkshire, and I know two more Diamonds here in Sonoma, California (one is 10 years old, the other is in her 60s). To add to your list, I know a Carnelian, a Turquoise and a Sapphire, several Opals, a Jasper, a Flint and four Crystals. And not to forget, Spinel the English Cocker (all her littermates were named after gemstones).
I'd like to claim child support for my brood of spirit-children. Yes, they're right in front of you. No, you might not be able to see them, but they're totally there and need money for shoes and lunches.
We'll not be buying the school photo this year. They always turn out crap.
(No, I don't know if it's the DHSS any more - I tend to deal with the rather more expensive (to me) end of the Treasury...)
Amithyst sounds as though she has a classic incubus syndrome, where she can't separate the hypnogogic semi- waking dreams from reality so she is attributing sleep arousal to spirits'.
I dislike the way newspapers and morning TV type shows encourage people with these problems to profit from increased views while laughing at them behind their backs, they should at least encourage help for them.
'hypnogogic semi' if she's preggers sounds like the spirit had more than a semi : -)
Meanwhile, I've suffered from hypnopompic (sleep to wakefulness) paralysis and the associated dreams a few times. The first time, I just had the paralysis, I was awake, but frozen, immobile, then since I've been strangled by a strange dark haired lady, been lacerated by a paper witch, and had an alien abduction experience. What I never had, was the urge to persuade anyone that any of this was real.
My partner is a doctor and she is seething internally whenever a patient comes in and says that they "know their body". It's not unusual for a patient that claims to "know their body" to be three months pregnant or have months of untreated chlamydia and all that time they didn't notice a thing.
You may live in your body but unless you've studied medicine you know f*ck all about it. I've learned the hard way by discovering that there are a lot of things she *does* know better...
They keep up the charade, trying to one-up each other with faux sincerity
In my experience, whackaloons with a shared interest will happily regale each other with their latest interpretations and newest ideas even when they are mutually contradictory. I think the ones who've gone off the deep end (or are happily teetering on the cliff edge)* don't question anything which sounds even vaguely supportive in case they might be obliged in turn to question their own beliefs.
*Pardon the mixed metaphors. It seemed appropriate in the circumstances.
"Orgasms I have with my spirit lovers have been way more satisfying than any I've had with ordinary men."
I'm sorry girl, but clearly you've been with the wrong sort of men...and obviously they really were "ordinary" which is why you've had such a poor experience.
I would offer myself to you, but seeing as you believe in all this ghost stuff, I don't really think I can be bothered to meet physically...plus the wife would complain.
So, let's meet on the celestial plain somewhere in the next 2 minutes and I can ensure 100% satisfaction....
.
.
.
.
.
There...now, do you want another one...?
'The 30-year-old "spiritual guidance counsellor" from Bristol plans to have a baby with her spectral fiancé, Cornwall Live reported, though how that will work is anyone's guess.'
If it's not IVF on the taxpayer then sadly it will probably be some unsuspecting Saturday night 'sperm donor', then child support on the taxpayer and housing on the taxpayer. It's not as if the chosen career is likely to wholly support one person let alone a single parent family.
Who's the idiot?
Is one with my power supply. Have never worked out what causes this issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCwPEmu-nsU
Turn the PC off and a few seconds later it turns itself back on. Automatic restart when power lose is disabled in the bios. If you flick the switch on the back of the PSU off, you still hear it attempt at least once to turn back on, but of course can't.
Odd.
Theres an old Cornish joke about Jethro, which to cut a long story short a group of people are asked if they'd seen a ghost, hands go up, have they talked to a ghost? a few hands go down, the questions continue until Has anyone made love to a ghost? Only Jethro's hand stays up. The interviewer asks what it was like to make love to a ghost? To which Jethro replies "Ghost? I thought you said goat!"
You lot are all going to be laughing on the other side of your faces if any of the religions are right, you do realise that don't you?
Or better yet (or worse, depending on your point of view) - what if that "quantum theory" thing that allows every possible universe to exist in parallel is true? That would mean that not only do some gods exist, but ALL OF THEM do!
Blasphemy is so much more fun when you have an infinite number of deities to annoy...