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Necronomicon

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How Lovecraft conceived the name Necronomicon is not clear—Lovecraft said that the title came to him in a dream. Although some have suggested that Lovecraft was influenced primarily by Robert W. Chambers ' collection of short stories The King in Yellow , which centers on a mysterious and disturbing play in book form, Lovecraft is not believed to have read that work until 1927. Donald R. Burleson has argued that the idea for the book was derived from Nathaniel Hawthorne , though Lovecraft himself noted that "mouldy hidden manuscripts" were one of the stock features of Gothic literature . Lovecraft wrote that the title, as translated from the Greek language , meant "an image of the law of the dead", compounded respectively from νεκρός nekros "dead", νόμος nomos "law", and εἰκών eikon "image". Robert M. Price notes that the title has been variously translated by others as "Book of the names of the dead", &

The Evil Eye: A closer look

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The evil eye is a specific type of magical curse. It is believed to cause harm, illness and even death. Everyone gets a dirty look now and then, and we usually think little of it (especially if we deserved it). For most of us it is soon shrugged off, but in many places belief in "the evil eye" is taken very seriously, and requires immediate action to avoid harm.  The evil eye is a human look believed to cause harm to someone or something. The supernatural harm may come in the form of a minor misfortune, or more serious disease, injury — even death. Folklorist Alan Dundes, in his edited volume "The Evil Eye: A Casebook" notes that "the victim's good fortune, good health, or good looks — or unguarded comments about them — invite or provoke an attack by someone with the evil eye ... Symptoms of illness caused by the evil eye include loss of appetite, excessive yawning, hiccups, vomiting and fever. If the object attacked is a cow, its milk may dry up; i

The Demonic Oppression

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                                              THE DEMONIC OPPRESSION   The Bible affirms the existence of demons numerous times in both the Old and New Testaments (e.g., 1 Samuel 16:13-15 , 1 Kings 22:19-23 , Luke 8:30-33 , Acts 16:16-18 , etc.). In addition, the Bible speaks about the influence that demons can have in the lives of human beings. Some have tried to confine the work of demons in the lives of humanity to that of "demon possession," with this thought being further propagated by poor English translations of the Greek New Testament that use the word "possession" in various verses that describe demon activity. However, the fact is that the actual Greek term used to describe a demonic presence in the life of a person is daimonizo , which is correctly translated "demonized." In other words, Scripture in no way limits the work of demonic powers to only that portrayed in movies such as The Exorcist , where a person is completely held h

Demonic Integration/Possession

Demonic possession is the belief that a person's actions are controlled by an alien spirit, demon, or entity.Symptoms of demonic possession commonly claimed by victims include missing memories, perceptual distortions, loss of a sense of control, and  lhyper-suggestibility.  Erika Bourguignon found in a study of 488 societies worldwide, seventy-four percent believe in possession by spirits, with the highest numbers of beliefs in Pacific cultures and the lowest incidence among Native Americans of both North and South America Man is in various ways subject to the influence of evil spirits. By original sin he brought himself into "captivity under the power of him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the Devil" , and was through the fear of death all his lifetime subject to servitude. Even though redeemed by Christ, he is subject to violent temptation: "for our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers o

Pareidolia

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PAREIDOLIA Pareidolia is the tendency for incorrect perception of a stimulus as an object, pattern or meaning known to the observer, such as seeing shapes in clouds, seeing faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns, or hearing hidden messages in music. Pareidolia can be considered a subcategory of apophenia. Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the Man in the Moon, the Moon rabbit, and other lunar pareidolia. The concept of pareidolia may extend to include hidden messages in recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds, and hearing indistinct voices in random noise such as that produced by air conditioners or fans. Pareidolia was at one time considered a symptom of human psychosis, but it is now seen as a normal human tendency. Pareidolia is not confined to humans. Scientists have for years taught computers to use visual clues to "see" faces and other images. Pa

Introduction To Ghouls

Ghoul (Arabic: غول‎, ghūl) is a demon-like being or monsterous humanoid originating in pre-Islamic Arabian religion associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh. In modern fiction, the term has often been used for a certain kind of undead monster. By extension, the word ghoul is also used in a derogatory sense to refer to a person who delights in the macabre, or whose profession is linked directly to death, such as a gravedigger or graverobber. the ghul is said to dwell in cemeteries and other uninhabited places. A male ghoul is referred to as ghul while the female is called ghulah. A source identified the Arabic ghoul as a female creature who is sometimes called Mother Ghoul (ʾUmm Ghulah) or a relational term such as Aunt Ghoul. She is portrayed in many tales luring hapless characters, who are usually men, into her home where she can eat them. Some state that a ghoul is a desert-dwelling, shapeshifting demon that can assume the guise of an animal, espe

Glossary of Paranormal Terms

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1. Agent – A living person who is the focus of poltergeist activity. 2. Amulet - An object that is thought to bring good luck or have the power to protect from ghosts or spirits and ward off evil. 3. Apparition - a spectral image of a person that materializes even though a physical body is not present. 4. Apport – A physical object that can materialize and appear at will in the presence of a medium. 5. Asport – A physical object that a spirit teleports to another location or makes disappear. 6. Astral Body – The body that a person occupies during an out-of-body experience. 7. Astral Plane – A world that is believed to exist above our physical world. 8. Astral Projection – The intentional act of having the spirit leave the body, whereas an out-of-body experience will happen involuntarily. 9. Astrology - The theory and practice of the positions and aspects of celestial bodies in the belief that they have an influence on the course of natural earthly occurrences and hu