The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-05-17

marks affect you, and by shreWd guess
ing tries to create the impression that
he sees into your past. 1t is a sort of
mental conjuring in which he con-
ceals his art, and leaves you wonder
ing how it is done. Especially he has
the art Of concealing his mistakes, just
as the conjurer does, by diverting
your attention from them as soon as
he finds them out.
Where the divination is carried on
by letter these particular forms of art
cannot, of course, be practiced. The
only means in that case must be pure
guesswork, ambiguous suggestion
and calculation of probabilities. !, In
some cases his guesses may be rather
striking, in others disappointing; but
no matter which happens, the man
has got his money. Those who are
disappointed will not patronize him
again; while those who are satisfied
are likely to do So They are more
over in the best disposition for a IA
vorable Interpretation. For instance,
suppose you are told that in early
youth you fell in love but failed to Sc
cure the first object of your affection.
This is quite likely to be true of
nearly everybody. Also that at the
age of seven you escaped great dan
ger. You say at once: "Quite likely,
although / was too young to know
anything about it." At about your
twentieth year grave calamity fell
upon the family. quite likely that
one Of my aunts died just about that
time" You were harassed by the ma
chinations of an enemy. Eyes,
course, there was So-and-So, who dis
liked me and tried to do me harm. .
But he will never tell you that in
your twenty-frst year you came in
for fortune of thousand pounds ;
or that your marriage took place on
April 25, 1879, or that your first child
died at the age of two years, or that
| five years ago you lost a thousand
rupees in a bankruptcy. Definite dates
and specified facts like these would
soon reveal the fraud, which is not sc
easily detachable in vague general
izing.
AS to whether Catholics are for
hidden to believe in it," that requires
distinction. It is not forbidden fol
Catholics to believe that there is such
thing as divination or occult quest
for knowledge from evil spirits. Or
the contrary, we clearly believe thai
such a thing exists. Instances of il
are given in the Bible, for example
the Witch of Endor, and Elymas the
Sorcerer. But it is at the same time
forbidden for Catholics to make use
Of it, because this should be a form
of dealing with the devil. But prac
teal question occurs: as it forbid
den for me to consult fortune-teller
believing that he is merely charla
tan, and that there is no devil in it
and merely going for fun just to SCI
what it is like?"
Answer: Before doing this yol
must be sure ~ that there is reall!
no devil in it; and (2) that the magi
clan himself also knows that there il
no devil in it. But these two point
are not easy to ascertain. There ma.
be some devil in it after all, or a
least the magician may think that h,
is in communication with the devil
or has tried to become so. In tina
case you must not cooperate in hi
evil intention, but must leave hin
alone. If these two points are secured
there still remains the fact that tn
magician is practicing fraud on tn
public; and you must not therefor
lend yourself to cooperate in his dis
honest intention. So practically speak
ing, on one ground or other, yo1
should never have anything to d
with such people. 1t would be differ
ent if there were some useful purpos
in view. For instance, suppose yo
were a detective trying to catch a.
imposter; or professor of scienc
or theology wishing to prove by ez
pertinent that astrology was FRAUD
, etc. In that case the conducting O
experiments under the guise of
credulous client might be justified, bu
not otherwise.