Synchronicity is the Key to Destiny

By Frank Joseph / Source: New Dawn Magazine

Synchronicity is the most mysterious thing in the world. Synchronicity is the term parapsychologists use for "meaningful coincidence." It happens to everyone, more often than we realise. But synchronicities are not "mere" coincidences, random accidents without significance.

Going through a half-forgotten collection of old photographs, you're surprised to find the snap-shot of a friend you lost contact with years ago. Just then the telephone rings and the voice on the other end of the line belongs to the same person in the photo.

You're desperate to find a parking place because you've got to be on time for a crucial appointment. There's not an open spot as far as the eye can see. Suddenly, a car pulls out in front of you, leaving you a space right in front of the address where you're expected.

You've just finished reading a book about rare birds, when the first humming-bird you've ever seen in your back yard is drinking nectar from a nearby flower.

These are typical incidents of synchronicity. And while most people brush them aside as insignificant happenstance, some of the greatest minds in history have grappled with this universal enigma. "Synchronicity" was coined by last century's leading psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung. Fascinated as he was by it, even Albert Einstein could not understand how it worked.

A synchronous event of my own in 1991 prompted me to interview, over the next six years, eventually 100 persons about their feelings on this elusive enigma. The meaningful coincides they shared with me proved more illuminating than anything I ever read on the subject.

Collecting them into a loose order, I was somewhat astounded to see that these synchronous events experienced by my friends and acquaintances arranged themselves into repeating categories. Although many of the persons interviewed differed widely in age, spiritual beliefs or education, the meaningful coincidences they recounted all belonged to specific groups of common experience.

17 Categories of Synchronicity

Widening my research, I found that persons belonging to other cultures, sometimes long dead – often many hundreds of years ago – fell into the same seventeen categories which emerged from the men and women who told me of their own fortuitous occurrences. Their often dramatic, occasionally funny, always numinous testimony formed the basis for a book I wrote, Synchronicity & You, Understanding the Role of Meaningful Coincidence in your Life. Synchronicity is fundamentally a form of guidance that enters into the personal lives of every human being. Even if we knowingly discard it, at least part of its influence enters our subconscious.

Some guiding synchronicities form a category best described as "Warnings." A representative incidence of admonitory synchronicity not included in my book was recounted by the California poet, Miriam Hohf:

"Many years ago, when I was a small child living in the Pennsylvania countryside, I took long walks by myself across the fields and into the forest, listening to the birds and talking to the rabbits and squirrels. I never felt afraid and deeply loved all the trees and animals. But on one otherwise beautiful, sunny day, my surroundings felt different somehow.

"Everything was absolutely calm and motionless. Just when I approached the edge of the forest, however, a gust of wind suddenly arose, loudly rustling the leaves. I stopped and listened to them, because I felt they were speaking to me. They seemed to be saying, 'Go away! Do not come into the woods today! There is danger here! Danger! Not safe to play here today! Go away!' For the first time, a chill of fear ran through me and I fled, almost in tears. I did not visit the forest again, too afraid to return.

"About a week after my experience, mother told me about a terrible story just published in the local paper. It seems that on the same day the leaves spoke to me the body of another little girl was found by the police. She had been brutally raped before being murdered. Did the spirits of the forest warn me in the rustle of their leaves?"

Synchronistic Numbers

Another prominent category of synchronicity falls under the heading of Numbers, which thread together mystical human experience, often with surprising results. The number 57, for example, is an intimate characteristic of the American Revolution, as investigator Arthur Finnessey abundantly demonstrates in his well-researched book, History Computed.

Among the outstanding examples he cites is the last time the Liberty Bell rang, in tribute to George Washington, before it cracked on February 22, 1846 – 57 years after his 57th birthday. Together with his titles and signature, the closing paragraph of the US Constitution, following its original seven articles, makes up 57 words. It was ratified by 57 yes-votes from New Hampshire, and all Constitutional law begins with the Constitution's 57th word – that word being, "All." On February 6, 1777, 57 weeks to the day after the pivotal Battle of Princeton, another turning-point took place when the French joined the American cause. They fought off 19 British warships, making it possible for Washington to defeat Cornwallis on October 19, 1781, in a war which began on the 19th of April, 1775 – 57 is the sum of these three significant 19s.

Washington's only two victories over British Commander Cornwallis were 57 days apart. So too, 57 days separated the other decisive battles of the war, at Cowpens and the Guilford Courthouse. The final anniversary of Lexington and Concord celebrated during the Revolutionary War was precisely 57 months, 57 weeks and 57 days after they were fought. In South Carolina's most famous assault at "Fort Ninety Six", 57 Americans were killed. Interestingly, "96" is the sum total of the number of men who signed the Declaration of Independence (57) and the Constitution (39). The American Revolution's 57th month concluded on 19 January, 1780; the Redcoats took Charleston exactly twice times 57 (114) days later. Twelve times 57 (684) days before, the decisive Battle of Monmouth was fought.

In numerical symbolism, 57 is the combination of two numerals, 5 and 7. Five is associated with male energy (i.e., war), while seven signifies the completion of cycles. Together they form a symbolic concept perfectly reflecting the completion of major military cycles running like inter-linking themes throughout the history of the Revolutionary War. Isodore Kozminsky refers to any number from 55 to 64 as "the Sword," associated with military victory (Numbers, Their Meaning & Magic, NY: Samuel Weiser, 1977, page 51).

These ancient interpretations of 57 make its frequent recurrence throughout the War of Independence very appropriate. Yet, we stand in awe of its historical significance: Was it somehow an out-growth or expression of America's violent struggle for freedom, or did it from the beginning (from before the beginning) determine historical events?

The outstanding feature of 57, around which acausal incidents revolved, was a major rift in the fabric of history – the American Revolution. All other, similarly powerful historical events likewise produce extraordinary high levels of meaningful coincidence. In fact, the more dramatic, even traumatic, the event, the greater the intensity and sheer number that appear.

Synchronistic Warnings of the Titanic Disaster

An outstanding example was the Titanic disaster. Hardly any other single occurrence in the 20th century generated such a large collection of impressive examples. So many, in fact, they embraced all 17 categories of synchronicity. The meaningful significance of particular numerals played its part in the Titanic disaster, too – in that classic bad-luck symbol, Number 13.

That this traditionally unfortunate number was factually associated with the most infamous of unlucky ocean liners should come as no surprise. Two, separate examples serve to illustrate. A British journalist, W.T. Stead, demonstrated his contempt for superstition by deliberately concluding a story on the 13th of April, 1912. Further tempting fate, his narration described the discovery of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus and the curse of violent death alleged to overtake anyone who verbally translated its inscription. The next day, R.M.S. Titanic met the disaster in which Stead perished.

A fellow passenger who lightheartedly challenged the deadly number was from Youngstown, Ohio. George Wick had been traveling with his family through Europe for several months and booked homeward voyage on Titanic. While in transit to Cherbourg, where the doomed ship would make final docking before attempting her transatlantic crossing, he stopped at Paris. There he purchased a Grand Prix sweepstakes ticket, choosing Number 13 on purpose, just to prove to everyone that he was not superstitious. "Watch and see what it does for me!," he exclaimed. Several days later, Wick went down with the vessel.

The "Warnings" cited in Miriam Hohf's childhood experience proliferated around the Titanic before she sailed. A White Star insignia crumbled to pieces in the hands of Mrs. Arthur Lewis while she was pinning it to her husband's cap. He was just about to board R.M.S. Titanic, where he was a steward. At the time, she regarded the incident as a bad "omen," although he dismissed her expressed anxiety as foolishness, until the ship foundered a few days later. Fortunately, Mr. Lewis survived.

In another Titanic-related warning, Colonel John Weir, a mining engineer with a worldwide reputation, almost canceled his first class ticket because of distressful feelings about the voyage. Staying at London's prestigious Waldorf Astoria, he awoke on the morning of April 10th to find that the water pitcher atop his dresser had unaccountably shattered, soaking his clothes. He seriously expressed his premonitory feelings to the hotel manager, who allayed the Colonel's "superstitions" enough for him to reluctantly board the great ocean liner. While at sea, Weir told his secretary about the burst water pitcher, could not shake his sense of foreboding, and said he must get off Titanic at the next opportunity, when it docked in Queenstown, Ireland. Again dissuaded, he remained aboard, only to go down with the ship he intuited was doomed.

As some measure of the magnitude of synchronous phenomena associated with the disaster, no less than 899 persons who initially booked passage for Titanic's maiden voyage eventually refused to board her because of warnings they experienced in the forms of various omens, premonitions, dreams and precognitive events. An additional 4,066 would-be passengers either missed the boat or canceled their reservations, usually under apparently normal circumstances, but sometimes through unusual coincidences that prevented them from sailing.

Blanche Marshall suffered a hysterical outbreak on April 10th, 1912, as she and her family watched the Titanic steam past the Isle of Wight from the roof of their home overlooking the River Solent. In a virtual panic, she said the liner would sink before it reached New York and railed against her husband, daughters and servants for being blind to her vision of masses of people drowning in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic.

While neither Mrs. Marshall nor anyone she knew sailed aboard the Titanic, she was prevented from boarding another doomed liner just three years later by similar precognition. In 1915, her husband had booked tickets for their return trip to England from America aboard the Lusitania. She thought nothing of it until she saw the May 1st date of the tickets. Convinced the ship would be torpedoed and sunk on that passage, Blanche convinced him to change their booking. Interestingly, she felt safe traveling on Lusitania at any other time. It was only the prospect of the May 1st crossing that alarmed her. True to her sense of foreboding, the vessel was torpedoed and sunk with heavy loss of life on the same voyage she refused to take.

Premonitions in Literature

A sub-category of "Premonitions" is synchronous literature. Published in 1892, From the Old World to the New described the sinking of an ocean liner after colliding with an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The "fictional" name of its captain, E.J. Smith, likewise belonged to the man who commanded R.M.S. Titanic, twenty years later. Interestingly, the author of From the Old World to the New, W.T. Stead, lost his own life on board the same ship.

While Titanic was being readied for her maiden voyage, the May issue of Popular Magazine was coming off the presses with the story of Admiral, an 800 foot-long ocean liner crossing the North Atlantic through calm seas at 22 1/2 knots. She strikes an iceberg and sinks, leaving the survivors among her thousand passengers to be rescued by a steamer. Similarities to the real-life tragedy convinced readers the story was based on Titanic's particulars. But author Mayn Clew Garnett was said to have received the details for his novelette in a dream he had while sailing on the Titanic's sister ship, Olympic. While he may have been influenced by physical parallels noticed during his passage aboard the virtually look-a-like vessel, Garnett's selection of 43 north latitude for Admiral's collision with the iceberg was virtually the same position at which Titanic met her identical fate.

Literature is not alone among the arts which figure into synchronous events. More in black humour than conscious precognition, a crewman and his wife made recordings for each other, the husband singing "Only To See Her Face Again" to her "True Til Death," on April 7, 1912, prior to his service about the world's greatest ocean liner. Three days later, he sailed on the Titanic, never to return.

Animal interaction in human experience forms its own, distinct category of synchronicity, and was not missing in the fate of R.M.S. Titanic. The age-old sailor's belief that rats leave ships long before any apparent danger of sinking was exemplified aboard R.M.S. Titanic, when two crewmen in a forward boiler room saw panic-stricken rodents scampering aft, away from the starboard bow. Next day, an iceberg struck that very spot. Both men escaped the disaster with their lives, because the rats' sudden appearance had made them uneasy enough to station themselves, as often as possible, in the immediate vicinity of the lifeboats.

Another incident of animal synchronicity associated with Titanic concerns Bess, a thorough-bred horse belonging to Isadore Straus, the co-founder of Macy's Department Store. The same night he and his wife were killed in the sinking, six-year-old Bess suddenly died of causes the veterinarian was unable to determine.

Tactile sensations comprise a sub-heading of "Death" in synchronicity. The unaccountable perfume of flowers associated with someone close and recently deceased is not uncommon. Another example belongs to May de Witt Hopkins, who experienced the fragrance of roses in her London home one day after R.M.S. Titanic sank. Although word of the disaster had spread by that time, names of those on board were not yet published. But with the flowery scent filling her room from no apparent source, Hopkins suddenly felt that someone she knew was trying to make her aware of his or her death. She later learned that a friend, who was, unbeknownst to her, a passenger on the ship, had indeed perished when it went down. Interestingly, her own mother, during the late 19th century, had been similarly alerted to the death of a loved one by a mysterious, flowery odour.

"Inanimate Objects," like the White Star insignia that fatefully disintegrated in the hands of Mrs. Lewis, comprise a wide-ranging group of synchronous experiences. The Managing Director of the White Star Line, Joseph Bruce Ismay, survived the Titanic, but thereafter resigned his post, because he was publicly, although unfairly, blamed for the tragedy. He spent the next 25 years of his life in virtual seclusion, dying on October 17, 1937. That same Sunday afternoon, a framed, oval mirror that hung in Ismay's office during his tenure at the White Star Line suddenly crashed from its hook, scattering broken pieces across the floor.

Two weeks after Titanic was lost, a large wooden crate left unclaimed at Pier 61, in New York harbour, was opened by port authorities. They were surprised to see that it contained a meticulously detailed model of the sunken vessel. It had originally been sent to the US for promotional purposes on behalf of the White Star Line and was supposed to be returned to the London offices on the doomed ship's return voyage. But the 30 foot-long representation was accurate in more particulars than anyone could explain. Although it presented a full compliment of 20 davits, there were only a dozen miniature lifeboats. Moreover, the bow was partially ruined and a long crack appeared from the keel toward the upper deck, mimicking the actual damage sustained by Titanic.

Dream Synchronicity and Parallel Lives

As might be expected, "Dreams" are an important category of synchronicity. While traveling in Europe during the spring of 1912, a New York lawyer, Isaac C. Frauenthal, dreamt of being aboard a large ship which collided with some floating object and began to sink. His was a long, vivid nightmare, in which he clearly recalled the sights and sounds of calamity. Several nights later, the identical psycho-drama repeated itself, and he told his brother and sister-in-law that it must be a warning against their up-coming voyage on R.M.S. Titanic.

But they laughed at his dream and convinced him to go through with their return trip to America aboard the doomed White Star liner. All three survived the sinking foretold in Isaac's recurring nightmare.

Perhaps the most inexplicable aspects of synchronicity are those more infrequent instances of "Parallel Lives." When Lucien P. Smith narrowly escaped death during the terrible fire on Viking Princess, in 1966, it was his second, major disaster at sea. A survivor of the Titanic, he was in his mother's womb when that ship sank, just as Mrs. Astor, also aboard, was pregnant with her son, John Jacob. Both children were born eight months after the sinking, in which their fathers perished. Their mothers died in the same year, 1940.

Individual lives and major conflicts are events sometimes so powerful they echo beyond their own time and appear to replay themselves in the future. Such an extraordinary case of parallel history began to unfold when William C. Reeves went aboard the tramp steamer, Titanian, as an ordinary seaman, departing Scotland for New York on April 13, 1935. Ten days later, at 2300 hours, he was ordered into the foc's'le head to stand watch.

Although the sea was calm, the darkness was moonless and impenetrable. Reeves began to feel increasingly uneasy, not only because of the very poor visibility conditions he now faced as ship's look-out. He thought, too, of the premonitory novel he had been reading in his cabin, Morgan Robertson's Futility. Reeves was unable to keep his mind from drifting back to a dramatic moment in the book when Titan's look-out missed seeing an iceberg in time to avoid disaster. Also, he could not help but notice the ironic similarity of his ship's name, Titanian, and Robertson's Titan with Titanic.

As his sense of irony deepened into anxiety, he realised that the time was now 23:35, just five minutes before the hour Titanic struck the iceberg. Reeves knew that penalties were severe for raising a false alarm, the darkness ahead showed no sign of danger, and for some moments he hesitated to act. But at last his feelings of imminent collision overwhelmed him and he ordered the bridge to stop engines, "Iceberg ahead!"

No sooner had the ship's speed dropped off, than she smashed into several large fragments of ice, which twisted her bow and disabled her propeller. Slowing to full stop, Titanian's crew were astonished to behold an enormous iceberg looming directly ahead out of the darkness. The floating mountain appeared at 23:40, the same hour of Titanic's collision.

Doubtless, had the Titanian not stopped in time, she would have followed her predecessor to the bottom. An SOS sent to Cape Race, Newfoundland, brought rescue to the stranded crew.

The multiple synchronicities of this parallel event – the similar ships' names, Reeves' powerful premonition, his reading of Robertson's book, precisely the same hour for meeting with a deadly iceberg – far out-strip all considerations on behalf of mere chance. Instead, they clearly define the operative principle of meaningful coincidence as a legitimate phenomenon.

Frank Joseph is the editor-in-chief of Ancient American and the author of Atlantis and 2012: The Science of the Lost Civilization and the Prophecies of the Maya.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

Schoolgirl Exorcist Sisters: 'We're Not Like Normal Teenagers'

By Jeff Maysh / Source: Daily Mail UK

The five teenage girls might look like they're in a normal class, eagerly reading their textbooks and answering their teacher's questions diligently.

But the textbooks are Bibles and the girls all have crosses instead of protractors, as they train to become exorcists - real exorcists who fight demons, curses and evil spells.

'People do look a bit surprised when I arrive,' admits graduate exorcist Brynne Larson. 'When people call for an exorcist, they don't picture a 16-year-old high school girl.'

But Brynne, from Phoenix, Arizona, is one of a new breed of qualified teenage demon slayers, who answered a call when the Church made the admission of there being a worldwide exorcist shortage.

But despite drastic efforts, supply has still not met demand for the controversial ceremony. 

The Vatican's chief exorcist Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, has revealed that he alone has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession.

A School for Exorcists?

So if the forces of darkness start getting the upper hand, who should you call? Evangelist Reverend Bob Larson of Spiritual Freedom Churches International - and his remarkable school for exorcists.

'Think of it more of an exorcist franchise,' Rev Larson tells MailOnline exclusively.

'The Church just can't keep up with demand. But I have 100 teams of trained exorcists working all over the world, and outbreaks of demonic possession are getting out of control.

'Our phone lines are ringing constantly - we receive up to 1,000 individual requests monthly, and we travel to countries like Africa, Ukraine, England and even Australia.'

But while his teams include exorcists aged up to 70, one group of his protegees are causing waves in the religious community. They are teenage girls.

Savannah Scherkenback, 19, and her sister Tess, 16, are Rev Larson's latest graduates from his school for exorcists.

'We have found that our female, teenage exorcists are particularly effective at curing the possessed,' says Rev Larson, whose daughter Brynne is a supernaturally talented exorcist.

Highly experienced in casting out demons, saving souls, and banishing evil spirits to hell, she is also a student who enjoys styling her hair, shopping and meeting her friends at Starbucks.

Those friends include trainee undergraduate exorcists, Melanie Massih, 16, her sister Christina, 15, also students at Rev Larson's exorcist school.

They may love hanging out like normal teenagers, but they don't watch TV like the rest of us.

'I think Harry Potter and Twilight are instigators of evil,' Savannah says. 'They nullify morality and just serve to hook people in with evil.

'I don't watch any television at all. I'm much too busy praying and fighting the devil.'

And so on a hot Sunday afternoon, inside a modest three-star hotel in the middle of arid Scottsdale, Arizona, the blinds are mysteriously drawn around a small conference hall, and Rev Larson begins today's class.

Our trainee exorcists may look to casual observers more like X Factor contestants than exorcists, but this is a serious matter.

The topic is exorcism - the use of prayer to remove the devil or demonic spirits – which has its roots in early Christianity, and is described by the church as 'the act of driving out, or warding off, demons who infest a person or place'.

Rev Larson is quick to remind his pupils of the tell-tale signs of demonic possession.
'Speaking a language that the person has never learned,' he preaches, 'having a supernatural strength, having a violent aversion to God, the cross and a hatred of holy water.' 

While exorcisms have been taught and carried out since the start of the Catholic Church, there has never been a greater demand than today, and for the teenage trainees of the Exorcist school, today's class is a matter of life and death.

This afternoon, a handwritten sign outside the conference hall reads: 'Pre-Deliverance Class 4:00pm. Personal ministry by appointment.'

The Pre-deliverance classes are a beginner's lesson, promising everything you need to know about demons and exorcism.

The words 'Satan,' 'Beelzebub', and 'Lucifer' hang in the electrically conditioned air, while the temperature is set to 'spine-chilling'.

The Two-Part Exorcism

'There are two parts to an exorcism,' explains graduate Tess, who clutches an attractive, red leather-bound Bible.

'Firstly, you must deal with inner healing, to get rid of traumatic experiences from your childhood and beyond, and secondly, deliverance from demons.'

To do this, the girls are taught 'curse-breaking': The more experienced exorcists Savannah and Brynne will teach Christina and Melanie how to read from a list of demons, designed to provoke the 'demon within', when chanted aloud to possessed folk.

Tess practices reading from the list of curses. 'Death,' she says, ominously, raising an eyebrow to the room. 'Cancer.' She pauses, dramatically. 'Murder.'

It is normally after she says 'murder', that all hell breaks loose, she says. 'Many belch on hearing the words, or start weeping,' she whispers.

'One woman collapsed and started convulsing, while another man started choking once. I remember I felt excited the first time. "This is it," I thought to myself.' 
She regains her composure, tosses her beautiful bangs from her face and finishes the reading: 'I break off that curse of murder. Be gone.'

While there is no set protocol for each exorcism, the girls carry with them a basic exorcism tool kit: a Bible, holy water and a cross.

Once they reach their possessed person, they will sit them down in a chair, while two strong males hold them down. 'It can be dangerous,' admits Brynne.

'I have performed exorcisms on 300lbs, 6'5" men - and they can get violent,' she says.

Next the girl will begin reading from the Bible. Once they have raised the devil, they will instruct it to leave, and often the spirit won't go quietly.

The eyes bulge, the voice becomes a monstrous growl, and then the snarling begins. 'It's not unusual to be sworn at, spat at, I've even seen projectile vomit,' says Savannah, firmly.

Rev Larson has had his fair share of evil demons, he says.

'Last week, I worked with a Uruguayan man, who had grown up being abused by his evil mother. He had the word "cerdo" tattooed on his forearm, meaning "swine", and he was possessed by a violent demon of murder.'

'The man's mother begged Rev Larson for help. She said: "Please help him, before he kills someone". It was a dramatic battle, but we got rid of the pig demon within him.'

In the last month Rev Larson and his team has rid a wife of an evil curse, after she was cursed by a Nigerian witchdoctor over the Internet that 'dark demons would attack her in sleep'.

They also cured a young woman who had been raised in a satanic cult, freeing her of demons who instructed her to commit suicide.

And it's no surprise Rev Larson's daughter Brynne got into the business. 'Every day I'd come home from work and she'd ask: "What demons did you find today, Daddy?"'

Brynne began to travel the world with her exorcist father when she just a child, but after years of watching dad performing exorcisms to large crowds at seminars around the world, it wouldn't be long before it was her turn.

'I performed my first exorcism aged 13, in Africa, on a man possessed by terrible demons,' she tells MailOnline.

Watch a brief interview with the teenage exorcists on the Anderson Cooper show here...

Rev Bob Larson had arrived in deepest Africa to perform an exorcism seminar to a small town rocked with demonic possessions and witchcraft.

In a hot, squalid community hall, with a standing room only crowd of 3,000 locals, a volunteer from the village who claimed he was possessed came to the stage.

'He was possessed with the demon of murder,' says Rev Larson. 'He screamed the house down when we touched the Bible on his head.'

It was then that Rev Larson called forward his petite, red-headed daughter from the back of the hall. There was an audible gasp. The man lurched back in his seat at the very sight of Brynne.

She took out her Bible, and he screamed and convulsed in agony, like a scene from a horror movie.

'I shouted: "Go to the pits of hell!" and the man screamed even louder,' she recalls. 'Then I said: "Out! In the name of God!" and I cast the demon asunder.'

As the demon left him, the man burst into grateful tears, and the crowd erupted into cheers. Brynne had finally become an exorcist - and she remembers how she felt: 'Exhilarated!'

Since then, the schoolgirl has performed many more successful exorcisms, but today admits the most important exorcism she ever performed was on her best friend, when they were both 15.

'She was complaining of terrible headaches, and had all the symptoms of having demons.'

Like Megan Fox in Jennifer's Body, Brynne's friend was putting up with high school while possessed by evil demons.

'So Tess and I took her privately, and performed an exorcism. We confronted her demons, and chanted: "She is a child of God", before instructing her demons, "go to the pit of hell".'

But there's no script, insists Tess. 'With my friend, she was getting a reaction from the curse-breaking. "You have to leave," I said to the demon, and weirdly, she nodded. It was the demon moving her body.'

Afterwards, Brynne's friend started crying, claiming she had been relieved of her evil problem.  Savannah herself had been exorcised before joining the school.
'When I was about 18, I was incredibly troubled,' says the perfect student, who says she suffered from extreme depression, sickness, and was crippled by bad knees.

'There was something moving around inside of me - I had an awful headache and I felt feel sick to my stomach,' she says.

But after baffling doctors who could find nothing medically wrong with her, Savannah's Christian parents took her to the local ministry.

There, home-schooled Savannah was given a deliverance session, where she claims an evil spirit was cast from her. 'I was relieved I knew the answer,' she says, with certainty. 'I was possessed.'

'My exorcist called out the names of various curses, and whenever certain curses were mentioned, I felt a tingling around my ankles, and a pain in my head. Suddenly I got pains in my eyes, then boom! My demon was gone.'

Savannah claims she was so grateful and amazed at the process that she signed up to become a trainee exorcist herself, along with her sister, Tess. 

Together, they are home- schooled, and live far removed from the corrupt teenage scene of downtown Phoenix, Arizona.

'A lot of girls my age are into drinking and other pursuits,' she admits. 'That's just not my path.'

During a classroom break, Tess reveals, 'My proudest moment was when I was 14, and I led my own curse-breaking seminar.

'As I walked around the room with a Bible and oil to anoint the sufferers, I was really nervous as I was only 14, and because this is a really important rite of passage for an exorcist.'

But not everyone is suitable to become an exorcist. Rev Larson says that to join the class, 'you must have had a calling from God.

'It doesn't matter if you're male or female, but we do find that young women are incredibly good at exorcisms.'

Once you have proved that becoming an exorcist is your God-given path, intensive training can take weeks and possibly months, says Rev Larson.

'There is a graduation ceremony, when you pass,' he explains. 'Graduating exorcists get a special cross, which is specially engraved with words from the Bible we use in the exorcism. 

'They also get a good Bible, then they are officially what we call "in commission".'
Due to the worldwide shortage, Brynne and her young colleagues have become part of a network of full-time, professional exorcists who assist Rev Larson on private and public assignments worldwide.

But the girls aren't just sent out on their own, knocking on the doors of the possessed. They are, after all, teenage girls. 'I don't do house calls yet,' says Savannah.

'I have a lot to learn, and it's very dangerous performing exorcisms. The Bible says that a person who is possessed by the devil can have strength seven times more powerful than one man.'

The girls, however sweet looking, have witnessed more horrors than should ever be asked of teenage girls. 'I've seen people ripping up chairs before,' says Savannah.
Her sister joins in, wide-eyed. 'I've seen people crawl like snakes on the floor, I've seen people hover off the ground.' 

Rev Larson explains it's a team of people who attend private exorcisms.

'My parents don't worry,' says Savannah. 'They're Christians and members of the ministry themselves. They are very proud of us.'

However, the girls all agree real exorcisms are nothing like what you've seen in movies like The Exorcist, or The Real Exorcism of Emily Rose. 'Hollywood sensationalises things,' says Savannah.

'But the scenes where the people convulse - that's real. When you have demonic possession, the demon has what we call a legal right to possess your body. You must break the curse.

'When we read aloud the words "murder" or "death", they will yawn. Or maybe belch disgustingly. The demon shows itself.
 
'It's quite easy to tell the difference between genuine cases of possession, and simple cases of schizophrenia or learning difficulties,' she explains. 

'Although the devil can work in mysterious ways to disguise itself,' she adds, ominously.

Before Rev Larson and his team can go to work, a 12-page psychological profile must be completed, just to make sure the subject is not 'just mental'.

'The answers vary but common responses to questions are "I see dark shadows" or "I have scratches all over my body",' says Rev Larson. 'Exorcism is not easy and only the trained can do it properly.'

He also explains there is no charge for the service, but says that people do bring 'an offering' to seminars held by his exorcists. 

'If it's an emergency and my team has to travel across the country, or even across the world, we can run up expenses of perhaps $3,000 or $4,000. And we always require an advance appointment.'

But for his team of teenage exorcists, dedication to the job is paramount. 'We have about 100 teams, working in teams of five to ten people,' Rev Larson explains.
'Sometimes we will have someone complain that their home is haunted, or worse, that there is a demonic possession in the family.

'But most often we take appointments at churches, apartments or even offices. We do private exorcisms or we do seminars where we can work en masse.
'Last month I did nine in total, casting out demons,' says Brynne. 'I'm not like normal teenagers.'

But for Brynne, who like all of the Reverend's young exorcists, is a home-schooled, teetotal teenager, her life, she insists is nothing but exciting.

'We have travelled all over the world performing exorcisms. I have been to Africa, Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan, Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and even the Bahamas, saving souls along the way.'

And Brynne is defiantly single, admitting: 'I have never had a boyfriend, but I consider myself lucky - I don't have many of the demons that can be associated with obsession, or desire.'

'I want to one day get married and have children, for God says in the Bible that we should marry. But while there are people that need exorcisms, people who need help - that is all I'm interested in.'

Brought to you by: Lawyer Asad

Intelligence Is Overrated: What You Really Need To Succeed

Albert Einstein's was estimated at 160, Madonna's is 140, and John F. Kennedy's was only 119, but as it turns out, your IQ score pales in comparison with your EQ, MQ, and BQ scores when it comes to predicting your success and professional achievement.

IQ tests are used as an indicator of logical reasoning ability and technical intelligence. A high IQ is often a prerequisite for rising to the top ranks of business today. It is necessary, but it is not adequate to predict executive competence and corporate success. By itself, a high IQ does not guarantee that you will stand out and rise above everyone else.

Research carried out by the Carnegie Institute of Technology shows that 85 percent of your financial success is due to skills in "human engineering," your personality and ability to communicate, negotiate, and lead. Shockingly, only 15 percent is due to technical knowledge. Additionally, Nobel Prize winning Israeli-American psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, found that people would rather do business with a person they like and trust rather than someone they don't, even if the likeable person is offering a lower quality product or service at a higher price.

With this in mind, instead of exclusively focusing on your conventional intelligence quotient, you should make an investment in strengthening your EQ (Emotional Intelligence), MQ (Moral Intelligence), and BQ (Body Intelligence). These concepts may be elusive and difficult to measure, but their significance is far greater than IQ.

Emotional Intelligence

EQ is the most well known of the three, and in brief it is about: being aware of your own feelings and those of others, regulating these feelings in yourself and others, using emotions that are appropriate to the situation, self-motivation,  and building relationships.

Top Tip for Improvement: First, become aware of your inner dialogue. It helps to keep a journal of what thoughts fill your mind during the day. Stress can be a huge killer of emotional intelligence, so you also need to develop healthy coping techniques that can effectively and quickly reduce stress in a volatile situation.

Moral Intelligence

MQ directly follows EQ as it deals with your integrity, responsibility, sympathy, and forgiveness. The way you treat yourself is the way other people will treat you. Keeping commitments, maintaining your integrity, and being honest are crucial to moral intelligence.

Top Tip for Improvement: Make fewer excuses and take responsibility for your actions. Avoid little white lies. Show sympathy and communicate respect to others. Practice acceptance and show tolerance of other people's shortcomings. Forgiveness is not just about how we relate to others; it's also how you relate to and feel about yourself.

Body Intelligence

Lastly, there is your BQ, or body intelligence, which reflects what you know about your body, how you feel about it, and take care of it. Your body is constantly telling you things; are you listening to the signals or ignoring them? Are you eating energy-giving or energy-draining foods on a daily basis? Are you getting enough rest? Do you exercise and take care of your body? It may seem like these matters are unrelated to business performance, but your body intelligence absolutely affects your work because it largely determines your feelings, thoughts, self-confidence, state of mind, and energy level.

Top Tip For Improvement: At least once a day, listen to the messages your body is sending you about your health. Actively monitor these signals instead of going on autopilot. Good nutrition, regular exercise, and adequate rest are all key aspects of having a high BQ. Monitoring your weight, practicing moderation with alcohol, and making sure you have down time can dramatically benefit the functioning of your brain and the way you perform at work.

What You Really Need To Succeed

It doesn't matter if you did not receive the best academic training from a top university. A person with less education who has fully developed their EQ, MQ, and BQ can be far more successful than a person with an impressive education who falls short in these other categories.

Yes, it is certainly good to be an intelligent, rational thinker and have a high IQ; this is an important asset. But you must realize that it is not enough. Your IQ will help you personally, but EQ, MQ, and BQ will benefit everyone around you as well. If you can master the complexities of these unique and often under-rated forms of intelligence, research tells us you will achieve greater success and be regarded as more professionally competent and capable.

Keld Jensen is an expert on trust, negotiation, leadership, and communication. To learn more, visit www.KeldJensen.com and sign up for his "Power Bargaining" newsletter.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

You're Wrong If You Think You Can Take It Easy And Still Make Big Money

By: Dan Waldschmidt / Source: Business Insider

One of the recently trendy business strategies over the last decade is the idea of creating "recurring revenue."

The basic concept is that you can create content and marketing that together drive sustainable revenue long after the content is first created.  In other words, you spend a lot of time creating something (an e-book, for example) or reselling someone else's services (like Amway) and over time the business automatically drives large amount of revenue back to you without much ongoing effort.

Which sounds exciting.

Especially if you're an entrepreneur who is getting older in age or someone interested in pursuing personal hobbies while making enough money to support your lifestyle. It's exciting to imagine that you could plug an idea into a proven process, automate your marketing, and then watch as revenue piles in the front door.

The reality is that that strategy doesn't work. It's not just a financial scam (where only the top 1.5% actually make any revenue at all), it is an emotional scam.

Let's be as clear as possible.  It is a bold-face lie that flies in the face of research from thousands of years of what drives successful business.

And yet you want to believe it.

Psychologically you get sucked into the trap of believing that "pre-packaged recurring business" is a viable strategy for long-term success. That you can sit in your home office and create e-books and videos and make enough money to live happily.  That you can recycle someone else's automated emails and turn it into success.

It just doesn't work.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. It takes tremendous effort to build a successful business.  Autopilot strategies just aren't focused enough to drive successful results.
2. Buying behaviors change too often to be manipulated.  A one-size-fits-all marketing system is too vague (and annoying) to capture buyers who actually have money and motivation.
3. Consumers are quick to pick up on manipulation and emotional redundancy.  Since these systems make it easy to copy the exact same e-mails and selling phrases that everyone else is using, buyers notice the lack of real empathy and choose to do business elsewhere.
4. The pursuit of making money is too unrewarding to keep you motivated for too long. Just making money, as a goal by itself, is not a large enough inspiration to do the hard, gritty tasks that ultimately determines success.
5. To inspire others you must first be inspired. The idea that you can manufacturer motivation while sitting in a back office churning out content is just not realistic.

The uncomfortable truth is that success isn't as easy as plugging your name and phone number into an automated "make tons of money" business system.  Making money is not as easy as renting a "platform" that you can use to generate little bits of revenue from people all over the world.

Success demands more.

It demands an unrelenting focus on excellence.  On the greatness inside you.

Running after neuvo-business trends so that you can make money while living an easy life is just heartbreakingly implausible.

You are defrauding yourself the opportunity to realize the goodness you are capable of.  You are cheating yourself the opportunity to make a difference in the world.  You're choosing fear over power.

Look within yourself.

Edited by: Lawyer Asad

The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven

By Mark Furler / Source: Daily Mercury

"Many people all over the world would love for this to be their worst day."

It's tough advice from your dad to contemplate when your six-year-old has been left paralysed and fighting for life after a car crash you caused.

Incredibly, father of four Kevin Malarkey has not only seen more good come out of the horrific accident that almost cost his son's life -- but if he had his time again, he would not change a thing.

The story of Alex Malarkey, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven, has not only made the New York Times' best seller list, but has attracted interest from people around the world, particularly in Australia.

After hearing of his plight on the internet, people as far away as Afghanistan began praying for the little boy who suffered the most severe spinal injury, a broken pelvis and traumatic brain injury.

In layman's terms, Alex suffered an internal decapitation -- his skull became detached from his spinal cord. In medical terms, he should have died.

"The vertebrae were completely detached," Alex's doctor, Dr Raymond Onders, writes in the book.

"The tendon sheath around the spinal column was severed near the base of his brain. The injury was so severe and so high on the spinal column, it is simply incredible Alex survived."

Alex not only survived but became the first child in the world to receive the "Christopher Reeve" surgery, allowing him to breathe without a ventilator.

But the story goes much beyond that.

In the book, Alex, who was in a coma for two months, tells of going to heaven, seeing angels carry his father out of the car wreck, meeting and talking with Jesus, and hearing the most incredible music.

"When I arrived in heaven, I was inside the gate. The gate was really tall, and it was white," Alex says in his account in the book.

"It was very shiny, and it looked like it had scales like a fish. I was in the inner heaven and everything was brighter and more intense on the inside of the gate. It was perfect.

"Perfect is my favourite word for describing heaven."

It's an account which even his father, a well educated man and the son of a clinical research director, struggled to believe at first.

"When he first started talking about it, I thought he had brain damage," Kevin told the Daily from his Ohio home.

While Kevin has no memory of the accident itself, his son tells of talking to Jesus from above as he watched firemen take his young body out of the car and put him on a flat board.

He describes his dad screaming, "Alex, Alex, Alex," and then later making a phone call and going over to the helicopter to talk to the man in a blue suit.

In the book, his mother corrects him, saying it was probably an orange suit. But checks later with the helicopter crew reveal the guy was wearing a blue suit.

Alex's story makes for compelling reading, but the book may never have been written were it not for an Associated Press reporter who urged Kevin to put pen to paper after covering Alex's surgery story.

Kevin says his son was at first reluctant to be involved in the book because he did not want to be the centre of attention.

And Alex says much of what he saw in heaven, he had been told he could not even tell his father about.

"We probably only know about 10% of what he knows. I think he is very protective about it."

Of course, there have been plenty who have canned the book, with some accusing Kevin of 'being a nut job' or, worse, trying to cash in on his son's incredible story.
But the book is far from "up in the clouds".

In it, Kevin, a trained counsellor, details how his own marriage took a hammering through the crisis, how his personal faith was continually tested, and details one incident where he completely lost it with a doctor.

In the years since the 2004 accident, Alex has made remarkable progress. He can now stand in a supportive frame and with the help of a special harness can walk on a treadmill while helpers move his legs.

Alex loves watching sports and cheering for his favourite teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Asked whether he believes his son will ever walk again, Kevin replies, "Absolutely. Why not?"

He says his son's journey has already been a series of miracles.

Even if never walks again, he says, "I know one thing about Alex. Alex will impact the world for good."

"Of all of my four kids, I worry the least about Alex." 

Brought to by: Lawyer Asad

Study: Sleep Gets Better With Age

By: Alexandra Sifferlin / Source: Health Land

Sleep deprived? Just wait 'til you're 80. A new study finds that elderly folks sleep better than anyone.

Good news for seniors. Contrary to common wisdom, sleep doesn't get more difficult with age. In fact, according to a new study, sleep quality tends to improve the older we get, with adults in their 80s getting better sleep than any other age group surveyed.

More than a person's biological age, the study suggests, it's factors like stress and underlying depression or illness that tend to affect quality of rest. When such influences are taken out of the equation, elderly adults aren't any more likely to report sleep problems than younger adults in their 20s and 30s.

The results were a surprise to the researchers, who initially undertook the study to show that sleep problems are associated with aging. "This flies in the face of popular belief," said lead author, Michael Grandner, a research associate at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania,in a statement. "These results force us to rethink what we know about sleep in older people — men and women."

MORE: Can't Sleep? It May Be Affecting Your Memory

For the study, researchers analyzed data from 155,877 adults who took part in a 2006 phone survey about sleep quality by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To gauge rates of sleep disturbance and daytime tiredness, researchers asked questions such as "Over the last two weeks, how many days have you had trouble falling asleep or staying asleep or sleeping too much?" and "Over the last two weeks, how many days have you felt tired or had little energy?"

The participants were also asked about race, income, education, depressed mood, general health and time of last medical check up.

On average, elderly adults reported sleeping better than younger adults. When they did complain about sleep issues, it was usually a sign of other health problems at play. "Once you factor out things like illness and depression, older people should be reporting better sleep. If they're not, they need to talk to their doctor. They shouldn't just ignore it," Grandner said in a statement.

In general, health problems and depression were associated with worse sleep across age groups, and women reported more sleep issues than men.

MORE: Restless Sleeper? You May Be Feeling Lonely

The survey found that sleep quality consistently improved with age, except for a brief spike in complaints among middle-aged adults between 40 to 59 years old. Among women in this age group, Grander ascribed sleep difficulties to menopause as well as the stress of work and raising children. For men, workplace stress and increases in rates of heart disease and high blood pressure could be the culprits, he said. After this mid-life spike, sleep complaints continue to decrease.

Does this mean sleep actually gets better with age? Well, not necessarily. It's possible that sleep disturbances just don't bother old people as much as they do younger folks. "Even if sleep is actually worse in the elderly than young people, their perceptions of it might be different," says Grandner. "As you get older, you may have other things going on, other health problems, and you may not consider a little sleep disruption to be something that really bothers you."

Edited by: Lawyer Asad