Psychics

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According to Catholic teaching, Catholics are discouraged from consulting psychics and other forms of divination.

I have a friend who considers her “psychic” powers a gift from God. She does indeed seem to have clairvoyance. Why is it wrong to consult with her? Weren’t there holy men and women in scripture, such as Anna in the temple during our Lord’s baptism, who were given special gifts of extra-sensory perception and the ability to interpret dreams and such?

thank you
 
How do you know that your friend’s psychic powers come from God? Frequently these things have a demonic origin. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble by consorting with evil spirits. You would be well advised to listen to the Church and steer clear of her.
 
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arnulf:
How do you know that your friend’s psychic powers come from God? Frequently these things have a demonic origin. You can get yourself in a lot of trouble by consorting with evil spirits. You would be well advised to listen to the Church and steer clear of her.
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Well, clearly one can not identify the source of her “power” or talent, but this could be said of any gift humans receive. What if someone has a photographic memory? Should she not use this gift lest it be given to her from the devil?

I think that we are in danger of putting our gifts under a bushel if we have to fear demonic influences at every turn!

monina
 
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monina:
I think that we are in danger of putting our gifts under a bushel if we have to fear demonic influences at every turn! monina
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This is why we need the Church’s guidance! The Church tells us to avoid psychics, but does not tell us to stay away from people with a photographic memory.
 
Arnulf is right about it most likely being of demonic origin, yet the only way to tell where this “gift” comes from is through discrenment. You need to ask yourself questions like…Is she humble about this gift? or does she flaunt it and draw attention to it? Does she glorify herself with it, or does she glorify God? Scripture tells us to judge a tree by its fruits. What has she done with this “gift”?

Read about the saints that truly had gifts from God and see how they lived their lives and what they did with their gifts. Until then avoid her “gifts”.
 
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monina:
According to Catholic teaching, Catholics are discouraged from consulting psychics and other forms of divination.
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It is far more than “discouraged”. It is to be “rejected”. From the Catechism of the Catholic Church 2116:
All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.
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Divination, defined in Father Hardon’s Pocket Catholic Dictionary, is:
DIVINATION. The art of knowing and declaring future events or hidden things by means of communication with occult forces. It is always an act of a religious nature. There is no divination if the religious element is missing, as in any scientific investigation. The occult forces in divination are always created rational powers that the Church identifies as diabolical. Implicit in this judgment is the belief that neither God nor the spiritual powers friendly to God would lend themselves to frivolous practices or subject them selves to any evoking human force. Hence, evoking these powers, whether explicitly or even implicitly, is considered an appeal to Satan’s aid. It is therefore a grave offense against God to attribute to the devil a sure knowledge of the contingent future, which, as depending on free will, is known to God alone.
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You should also read: saint-mike.org/apologetics/qa/Answers/Spiritual_Warfare/s0211050019.html

If you google the keywords “Catholic Spiritual Warfare”, you’ll find enough stuff to turn you away from any attraction to this.
 
Wow, that link was really helpful, thanks!

So it seems, in a nutshell, that any gift from God would not be sought by man and used to make a living off of…rather, if it truly was a gift - a special connection with God - you’d fully expect the recipient to be most humble and very, very quiet about said gift - solely out of respect for the gift, it’s source and it’s content - unless of course God’s direction called them to be conspicuous about it.

I keep thinking of the little children of Fatima and Bernadette and even Sister Faustina, as well as the others who have indeed been selected as messengers. I don’t suppose they fall under this category literally, but didn’t they all get warned about being under the spell of Satan during their times? None of them tried to make a living out of their connection…none of them actively sought such a revelation. They tried to NOT have the visions, but to no avail.

I guess “God’s Will be done” seems the best motto here…if it happens to you, God bless you - go find a Catholic spiritual advisor to share your experiences. And if someone truly believed their talent was a gift from God then they would not be seeking to use the gift on demand for any reason by any person except by His will…

Perhaps your friend needs to re-examine her gift and whether or not she’s using it in the manner God intended. If she’s Catholic then she should seek a spiritual advisor to guide her further.

I have been a believer of ESP and all that other stuff forever. I don’t have the ‘gift’ myself, I suppose, because I credit whatever ‘sixth sense’ I experience over time to the work of the Holy Spirit and just consider the foreshadowings a blessing. So I’m not suggesting these things don’t exist, I just think they’re interpretted by their receivers and others in different ways.

Just my 2 cents.

yym
 
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monina:
According to Catholic teaching, Catholics are discouraged from consulting psychics and other forms of divination.

I have a friend who considers her “psychic” powers a gift from God. She does indeed seem to have clairvoyance. Why is it wrong to consult with her? Weren’t there holy men and women in scripture, such as Anna in the temple during our Lord’s baptism, who were given special gifts of extra-sensory perception and the ability to interpret dreams and such?

thank you
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Living here in Ireland I have met the seer Christina Gallagher many times, likewise she is still being investigated by the Church, the Church always takes a long time in accepting these private revelations.
Anyway as long as you remember that I’ll continue, In one of Christina’s books, she tells of a woman that her son of 15 comitted suicide, and the poor woman was out of her mind as to where his souls was.
Well the woman went to a psychic, and she was told no need to worry about the boy that he was very happy.
This still didnt convince the woman, so she wen’t to see Christina Gallagher at Achill Co, Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.
Christina said that the child was very close to Hell, but God saved him because his parents hadn’t gave him his proper religious instruction, and that the demons through the psychic were making
the boy say that he was ok.
Christina said that he wasn’t ok and needed MASS said for his deliverence into Heaven.

Christina’s official website- http:www.christinagallagher.org/en/
 
Another thing that may help. Read An Exorcist Tells His Story by Fr. Gabriele. He has some great insights into the spiritual warfare and the tools used by satan from working as an exorcist.
 
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arnulf:
This is why we need the Church’s guidance! The Church tells us to avoid psychics, but does not tell us to stay away from people with a photographic memory.
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On one level, I can accept that. If my Mother tells me to steer away from something, I do. I implicity trust our Church’s guidance.

However, I would like to be able to understand *why *the Church teaches to avoid divination. Why do psychic abilities “contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone”? Why does the Church feel occult forces could be involved in extra-sensory perception, but not in, say, the ability to be ambidextrous? Couldn’t we also infer that Leonardo Da Vinci’s ability to write upside down and backwards could have been demonic in origin?

I am not trying to be argumentative and silly. I just want ammunition when I am confronted by friends who think I’m being narrow-minded for not attending a party with a psychic.

Thank you,
monina
 
The answer to your question as to why the Church condemns divination is because divination, clairvoyance, and other psychic abilities come from the devil. Being ambidextrous or writing oddly doesn’t cause someone to put their trust in something other than God. These psychic abilities do. God wants us to live our lives with our faith in him. He chooses not to reveal the future to us because then that would remove our freewill. These “talents” remove that faith, trust, and freewill inherent in our lives.

Judge a tree by its fruits. These people that claim to have these abilities appear on TV, on street corners, casinos and other places of ill reput and try to use these “talents” or use other people to their advantage or to make themselves look great. They take advantage of people in their most desperate moments.

Please read An Exorcist Tells His Story. There is a reason why satan is called the prince of lies. C.S. Lewis writes that “the greatest thing satan has done is to convince us that he doesn’t exist.” It may look all shiny on the outside and she may even be right in what she predicts. But ask yourself the questions in my first post and any others that come to your mind. Read about the saints and their lives and see if hers matches. Look at people that the Church says truly have gifts of the spirit and see the lives that they lived and ask yourself does your friend act like that.
 
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Hawkeye:
Living here in Ireland I have met the seer Christina Gallagher many times, likewise she is still being investigated by the Church, the Church always takes a long time in accepting these private revelations.
Anyway as long as you remember that I’ll continue, In one of Christina’s books, she tells of a woman that her son of 15 comitted suicide, and the poor woman was out of her mind as to where his souls was.
Well the woman went to a psychic, and she was told no need to worry about the boy that he was very happy.
This still didnt convince the woman, so she wen’t to see Christina Gallagher at Achill Co, Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.
Christina said that the child was very close to Hell, but God saved him because his parents hadn’t gave him his proper religious instruction, and that the demons through the psychic were making
the boy say that he was ok.
Christina said that he wasn’t ok and needed MASS said for his deliverence into Heaven.

Christina’s official website- http:www.christinagallagher.org/en/
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It should be noted that Christina Gallagher is under spiritual direction, Rev. Dr. Gerard McGinnity. Discernment of our gifts isn’t a casual affair, simply based on our intentions being good. Discernment requires knowledge of scripture and the teaching of the Church. In this area of spiritual phenomenology, St.Teresa of Avila, now, a Doctor of the Church, preferred a man with knowledge to a man who was known for holiness if there was such a choice to be made in seeking a discerner.

Christina also is obedient to her bishop in areas in which he has legitimate authority. Even people who are genuine mystics need to submit to legitimate Church authority and have their gifts and experiences discerned. Christina has also had experience of the Evil One. He can lie to us and give us false messages and experiences. Satan counterfeits the true gifts of God and is " a liar and the father of lies" (John 9:44.) He seeks to lead astray even those with good intentions and especially those with true gifts. True seers have need to lead holy lives.

Note, also, Acts 16: 16-24, in which Paul tolerates a girl with a clairvoyant spirit for a number of days. The spirits caused her to call out, “These men are servants of the Most High God; they will makie known to you a way of salvation.” ( “a way of salvation”, not the way of salvation). When he had enough, Paul casts out the spirit of clairvoyance. Verse 19 tells of her masters vehemently objecting and having him Paul arrested and flogged, because the girl had been useful to them and a source of income.

Jesus did not tolerate even truth coming from an unclean spirit. (The unclean spirit called out through the man "I know who you are- the Holy One os God!)

Lastly, Christina says Our Lady warns of false seers and advises us to invoke the Holy Spirit for guidance, regarding the authority of those who make such claims. She says, “The way to recognise this is when we see those who want and seek popularity or money, they are not true instuments of God. Also, anything that is in contradiction to Holy Scripture.”

As you rightly stated, the Church has not as yet approved Christina Gallegher as a true seer speaking for God. Again the need for thorough discernment and time to note the fruits.

Safest to follow the direction of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and err on the side of caution. Pride, they say, goeth before a fall.
 
[Please read *An Exorcist Tells His Story. There is a reason why satan is called the prince of lies. C.S. Lewis writes that “the greatest thing satan has done is to convince us that he doesn’t exist.” It may look all shiny on the outside and she may even be right in what she predicts. But ask yourself the questions in my first post and any others that come to your mind. Read about the saints and their lives and see if hers matches. Look at people that the Church says truly have gifts of the spirit and see the lives that they lived and ask yourself does your friend act like that.
Thanks to everyone for your (name removed by moderator)ut. You have given me much ammunition, and I do plan to read An Exorcist Tells His Story.

I guess the bottom line is I don’t want to be accused of midieval thinking and seeing Satan in everything that’s unusual. (Didn’t midievals used to think being left handed was evil?)

monina
 
It is true that left handedness was viewed as an evil thing. The Latin, Spanish, and Italian words for ‘left’ all have the same root as our word ‘sinister’. But look at the story of Ehud in the Old Testament (Judges 3:15) which I believe is the only reference in the Bible to someones left or right handedness. You can judge for yourself the story of Ehud, who did the will of God, yet used tricky means of doing something, and this is probably the origin of the our word for ‘left’ and ‘sinister’. Medival people on a whole were very superstious people because there was a lot in the world that they didn’t understand, yet science has revealed as harmless. Today we run the opposite problem. The materialistic schools of philosophy and science try to tell us that everything has a natural/material source, ultimately denying the existance of God. Yet science cannot give an answer to psychic “gifts” which is ultimately why we have to rely on the Church and Christ for their wisdom and guidence. The Church may have been wrong in the past about left handedness, but Christ’s warnings about diviners and sorcerers has withstood the test of the time, and unlike the superstistions about left-handed people, the warning against diviners comes from the mouth of Christ himself.
 
. Yet science cannot give an answer to psychic “gifts” which is ultimately why we have to rely on the Church and Christ for their wisdom and guidence.>>

True. But what do you say to critics who counter that perhaps one day science will be able to provide a source for psychic “gifts”?

<< The Church may have been wrong in the past about left handedness, but Christ’s warnings about diviners and sorcerers has withstood the test of the time, and unlike the superstistions about left-handed people, the warning against diviners comes from the mouth of Christ himself.>>

What verses support this? I know of the verses mentioned above in Acts with St. Paul, but can’t think of any words from Christ which condemn diviners.

Thank you.
 
Webster’s dictionary defines psychic as

1 : of or relating to the psyche
2 : lying outside the sphere of physical science or knowledge : immaterial, moral, or spiritual in origin or force
3 : sensitive to nonphysical or supernatural forces and influences : marked by extraordinary or mysterious sensitivity, perception, or understanding

Therefore science will never have an answer for psychic “powers”.

As for Christ saying something Revelations 21:8
I can’t find the Gospel passage but I know Mark has something condemning it.
 
Because of The Fall, our intellect (and it’s powers) was corupted, but not destroyed. Therfore the Church still claims that some people may have preternatural gifts. The teaching, however, is that those gifts must not be used without the proper direction of Church authorities, or more usually, not at all.

A good doctrinally orthodox spiritual director can help someone with preternatural gifts control them or for use for the Church.

The ability to go wrong and misuse these gifts for selfish reasons is so great i would advise having a competant Church authority review the case in detail before consenting to any use on your own.

Dan
 
Hello Friends,
Code: 
  I am a convert to the Faith and an EX psychic. I was internationally known for about 10 years and did extensive readings.   I also thought it was a gift from God.  I prayed in His Name but nonetheless, the gift if not used in a humble and quiet way, it is from the evil one.  I did psychic work for almost 30 years and when I tried to get out of it after my conversion, I was struck deaf for 4 months - totally stone deaf.
Sadly in my years of psychic work, many many Catholics came to me for “readings”. Our Lord and His Mother rescued me from the pit of hell pulling me away from psychic stuff. I would even discourage people from reading any horoscopes and astrology stuff. New Age has infiltrated our society and sadly our Church in a big way. Many are so very unaware of whats going on.
Code: 
  I was in a diocese that was quite liberal for 8 years.  The nuns taught enneagrams, etc.  When I pointed out that enneagrams were new age I was told I was wrong and got a reputation as a trouble maker.  There is so much being practiced by our religious that they need prayer very badly.  It seems like the nuns are really into new age big time.  

 I don't know if this guy is still on tv or not (I don't watch anything but EWTN) but his name is John Edwards.  He says he is Catholic.  Well he may be but what he is doing is all wrong.  Please don't be suckered in by people like this. 
 Someone on this thread suggested reading Fr. Gabriel Amoths'books.  This person is right.  I have read the first one and what a shock it was.  
 Those of us who have dabbled in this new age stuff need to have healing and it could also involve intergenerational healing.
   Blessings
   lynnmarie
 
I did psychic work for almost 30 years and when I tried to get out of it after my conversion, I was struck deaf for 4 months - totally stone deaf.
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Wow, so that stuff can actually affect a person physically? All the more reason to avoid and reject it all! But, jeez, 4 months deaf…what was it like when you gained your hearing back, and did it happen at any particularly memorable moment?
 
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