Britain’s Consumer Protection Regulations is set to pass on May 26, 2008, which will ban 31 types of unfair sales practices which include bogus closing-down sales, prize-draw scams, aggressive sales solicitations. It will also crack down on rogue traders who have used loopholes for unfair trading practices. So, what’s got the psychic community in an uproar?

Promises to raise the dead, secure good fortune or heal through the laying on of hands are all at risk of legal action from disgruntled customers.

The Consumer Protection Regulations will replace the Fraudulent Mediums Act. Once the regulations go into effect, all UK mediums will be required to cite a list of disclaimers before they launch into their regimen. Legitimate mediums have no protection against consumers, who could easily sue them for real or alleged fraud. The medium will have to prove to the court that they did not intentionally mislead, coerce or take advantage of the client’s vulnerability for financial gain.

Carole McEntee-Taylor, a spiritualist healer in Essex, said having to stand up and describe the invoking of spirits as an ‘experiment’ was forcing spiritualists to ‘lie and deny our beliefs’. She added: ‘No other religion has to do that. And how can you tell if someone is vulnerable? You would have to ask them if they felt vulnerable, or had mental health issues, or were of a nervous disposition.’

Her husband, David, says, “It is taking a religion, a way of life, and making it a commercial transaction.”

While Carole makes some good points about determining people’s emotional and psychological dispositions, I find it hard to swallow that spiritual healing or psychic mediumship is a religion. Yes, spiritualism is a way of life and a religion. But when you require people to pay for your services, then your readings are considered a commercial transaction by law. Churches do not require their members to pay a fee at the door before they are allowed to attend Sunday services. Rather, members give donations to support the church and the various charity causes they run. There’s a big difference.

The couple plans to present a petition to 10 Downing Street on April 18th. I think there’s a good chance that the courts will overturn it and pass the law, which is a long time in coming. The psychic business has grown into a multi-million dollar industry both in the UK and the US, rampant with fraudsters who are looking to make themselves wealthy off of people’s miseries. It’s high time that this industry saw some regulation.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

Eccentric tobacco tycoon Rodger Hawthorne III can have anything his heart desires except his dead wife, Sarah. Feeling responsible for the car crash that killed her thirty years ago, he offers one million dollars to anyone who can find her spirit and bring it to him within one week or the money is forfeited. Six spiritually-challenged-but highly intuitive-women find his ad over the Internet and accept his challenge only to embark on a journey they didn’t quite expect that covers astral traveling, past life regressions and spiritual encounters of the unworldly kind. While this book is lightly based on a true story of a real man who is offering one million dollars to anyone who can prove that spirits exist, this story is purely fictional.

This story begins with the appearance of Roger Hawthorne III on a talk show, promising $1M to anyone who can prove to him that ghosts exist. What he doesn’t share with the public is that he is looking for his young wife, Sarah, who died thirty years ago in a car accident. He gets plenty of emails from crazies. However, six women with varying psychic abilities stand out as good candidates.

Shiloh Swallowtail: a psychic who lost her husband and feels lost on her new spiritual path.
Ezra Anne Thornberry: a clairaudient who has visitations from a helpful ghost named Henri.
Brianna Campbell: a curious dabbler, who misses her dead husband Rick.
Fanella: a psychic who feels as if life is moving around her too quickly.
Peggy Maguire: a metaphysical Sunday school teacher.
Brooke Murphy: an herbal practitioner and Wiccan.

Each of these women have their own motivations for finding this ghost and winning the money. As soon as Hawthorne accepts their applications, the story centers on them finding his beloved Sarah while dealing with their own spiritual hurdles. I loved the tight pace in the beginning, when Hawthorne struggled over whether or not he should air his challenge and his opinion of the afterlife and the psychics. Then there was the town’s negative reaction to the women’s presence. Both these elements gave this story a good balance between believers and skeptics.

As for the psychics, I had mixed feelings. A lot of this had to do with the writing, which needed a good editor’s pen. At times, the wording in the dialogue was almost preachy, where spiritual matters were concerned. Then there was a scene in the climax that I felt was too fantastical.

That said, I thought that the ending was great. Despite my issue with the editing, I enjoyed this book because of its original premise. It’s definitely worth the read. To learn more about the book and the authors, visit The Search for the Million $$$ Ghost blog.

Harry Houdini enthralled the world with his feats of magic, most notably his escape acts. Some time in the 1920’s, after his mother died, he gave up his career as a magician and used his talents to expose self-proclaimed psychics and mediums. While his exposes earned him great respect within the academic and scientific communities, he made some powerful enemies with people who believed in spirituality and the paranormal.

His death from peritonitis, stemming from a beating and a subsequent ruptured appendix, was widely accepted. However, some believed that he was poisoned by a group called the “Spiritualists.” Houdini’s great nephew, George Hardeen, wants to have his body exhumed so a forensic team can examine the remains. He and his lawyer were scheduled to appear before a New York judge today.

The New York Times has posted an 11-page article called Darwin’s God, which is based on the research of anthropologist Scott Atran. This is not an anti-religion article, but a study on its evolution. Religion comes in many forms, with many supernatural elements, and has existed long before Christianity. Atran delves into the question of why religion formed.

Which is the better biological explanation for a belief in God — evolutionary adaptation or neurological accident?

This weighty article covers a broad variety of subtopics, including his theory on how humans are “hardwired” to believe in the supernatural as a survival mechanism, especially where the afterlife is concerned. The first and foremost fear that most of us have is death. Neither science nor religion has a definitive answer on what happens to our soul once we die.