BOOK REVIEW: The Strong Witch Society: A strong message for us all

by Anita Brown


The Strong Witch Society: Volume One of The Diary of Mary Bliss Parsons by D.H. Parsons is on the surface an amazing tale of one man's experiences with the paranormal, but as the pages turn, it also turns out that it goes well beyond that.

Mary Bliss Parsons was tried for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials in 1675.  With her freedom purchased by her husband Joseph, she was aquitted but lived the life of an outcast, many having believed the accusations against her.  Nine generations later, her descendant D.H. Parsons begins receiving communication from Mary, and what she has to tell him is beyond anything you could ever imagine.

As the book progresses, Mary is going into much detail with D.H. regarding not only her true history and story, but about what lies on the other side and what it means to us as people and as a planet.  With many details about our creator, how we are doing versus how we are expected to do, where true evil comes from, and where we are headed, this book goes well beyond a ghost story into a guide on how we as humans should treat each other and even how we should view religion itself.  Regardless of what one's beliefs are, this is a must read on how we humans as a whole have used and abused not only each other, but the world in which we were given to occupy during our time that we live in this form.  It describes not only a much bigger picture than our day to day lives to consider, but a way to apply our lives here to something greater.

As for the other message that lies within the books pages, it seems that Mary is not alone in what she really is, and that there are others like herself and the author that are meant to step forward and begin taking necessary steps to save our world, our vital place to come for an existance or ten to learn lessons that are invaluable to our soul, before it is too late.

One note to the readers: This book has never been marketed as fiction, and I personally do not believe that it could be.  I do believe that while D.H. is the catalyst here that puts pen to paper, the true words spoken in this book and the knowledge within them are received from Mary Bliss Parsons herself, and no amount of creativity could possibly have made them otherwise.  But that is really not the point.  Whether you are able to view this man's story as fact, or wish to deem it as fiction, the underlying message in it cannot be missed.  Regardless of whether you choose to call it a message from the divine or the moral of the story, either way, it is something we should all hear.  And, as the author points out, those that read her words and know them as truth that need to find this book, will in fact know...

The Strong Witch Society can be ordered at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984629734 . Be sure to tune in Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 8 pm EST and catch D.H. Parsons, following another very special guest, Geoffrey Faulkner!!  Just go to http://parachallengedradio.com and be sure to bring your questions to the chat!

Paranormal, Supernatural, or Perfectly Natural?

by Anita Brown

Paranormal and supernatural are two very common terms that are quite often both used to describe the same things.  But how many of us know what these terms really mean, and how are they different?  My title at Examiner.com is the Paranormal Examiner, and today, that is literally what I am going to do.

Paranormal is generally defined by most sources as phenomena that is "beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation".

Supernatural is defined as anything above or beyond what one holds to be natural and exists outside natural law and the observable universe.

On the surface these two definitions seem to be very similar, but they aren't.  One states that it is only outside of scientific explanation (and I would take this to mean current scientific explanation), while the other states that it is above and beyond what is natural, period.

Science tends to naturalize things, using a process known as methodological naturalism, and categorizes all that cannot be investigated empirically as nonexistent.  When looking at mainstream science and the methods used, it would seem that to ever prove that either the paranormal or the supernatural are real is a waste of time and effort.  I believe this to be true regarding the supernatural.  It's definition alone should tell us all that it is a term we should refrain from using at all.  But is using the word paranormal doing us any favors?

There is another, lesser used form of naturalism called metaphysical naturalism, and I believe that proving the existence of the paranormal is not only a valid use of our time in attempting to do so, but also quite possible.

"Metaphysical naturalism, or ontological naturalism, is a world view and belief system that holds that there is nothing but natural things, forces, and causes of the kind studied by the natural sciences, i.e. those required to understand our physical environment and having mechanical properties amenable to mathematical modeling. Metaphysical naturalism holds that all concepts related to consciousness or to the mind refer to entities which are reducible to or supervene on natural things, forces and causes. More specifically, it rejects the objective existence of any supernatural thing, force or cause, such as occur in humanity’s various religions, as well as any form of teleology. It sees all 'supernatural' things as explainable in purely natural terms. It is not merely a view about what science currently studies, but also about what science might discover in the future."

Note that metaphysical naturalism rejects the existence of the supernatural, but not the paranormal.  Remember, the supernatural is the one that is above and beyond what is natural, period.  The definition also states that this is a view of not only what we currently know, but what we have yet to discover.  I believe that this would include the paranormal.

If we were to apply metaphysical naturalism to our investigation and research, if we look within the natural for explanations of everything, not just everything that we can explain at this moment, I believe we will find the answers and the proof that we are looking for.

What if everything we find on an investigation has a natural explanation?  The thump in the wall caused by a loose pipe has a natural explanation that we already know, we don't need to find and prove it.  But what if the EVP clip has a natural explanation as well?  What if the phantom touch on the arm has a perfectly natural explanation?  What if that which we call ghost, spirit, intelligent being, inhuman being, soul, all have natural explanations that we just have to find?

If we were to all let go of the idea of the "supernatural" and "paranormal" for a moment, and look at all that is natural before us, it is possible to find exactly how these unknown entities work and exist.  There was a time when magnets were thought of to be magic.  We all know now that magnetism is a perfectly natural occurrence.  But someone had to take those natural things around us and unlock the combination of that which is natural of this earth and universe to find out what made those magnets work.

I believe that everything we learn within science should be a building block for what we do not yet know.  We all spend so much of our time trying to document apparitions, capture EVP clips, have realtime communication...we think we are gathering proof, but the bottom line is that all we are proving is that there is something out there that we have no proof of, and we accomplish nothing but offering up yet another video/photo/audio clip for the hardcore skeptics to have a field day with.  Without knowing what these things really are and what they are really caused by, we know absolutely nothing other than we have a bunch of interesting pictures and other data to argue over.

What if instead, we were to look more at what it is that already exists on this earth that these beings are made of?  What if we were to look at what we experience as the natural, and not the supernatural, as the normal, and not the paranormal, and focus on deciphering what causes the appearance of a ghost the same way that men once deciphered what caused the stars to move in the sky each night?

Humans have DNA, atoms and molecules, water and matter, all within us.  So does every other living creature on the planet, but it is the combination of those things that make each creature unique.  These are all physical things that we know to exist, as well.  But there are plenty of unseen things that we know to exist on this planet as well.  There is gravity, electromagnetic energy, the atmosphere, the heliosphere, even the air..they are all unseen and accepted by science.

So what combination of these and/or other unseen forces that we already know exist are causing what we have come to call paranormal activity?  And if we find this combination, does that negate that what we are experiencing is caused by something outside of what we previously knew, that is an intelligent and separate being?  Not necessarily.  All that it negates is that it is unknown or not normal.