Re: "weird sciences"?

Kennita Watson (kwatson@netcom.com)
Thu, 30 Oct 1997 02:54:58 +0000


> I was wondering if anybody on this lists knows about *scientific*
> approaches to some of the phenomena most people consider mystical.
> Things like out-of-body-experiences, spontanuous recovery from
> sicknesses, witchcraft and so on. I'm quite sure that some of these
> things are relatively easy to explain while others haven't even been
> touched by science, yet.

Isaac Bonewits (the first, and the only that I know of, person to
get a degree in Magic from an accredited university) wrote a book
called Real Magic that did a fair job on some of this stuff. I'm
fairly sure it's out of print, though.

I think filtering, guided imagery, coincidence, the placebo
effect, and peer pressure account for a lot. Not being
particularly concerned with Occam's Razor or the scientific
method also helps.

Kennita