Great topic Celivia and some great posts all round no matter what we believe or have dabbled in.

I have stayed away from most things new age or old age really. Other than meditation - which I found I was too impatient to wait around for results (which might suggest I really needed to stick with it).

Polycarp I have to agree with you (just for a change) about the importance of our surrounds whether one wants to call it Feng Shui or not. A light room with lots of windows and a lovely 'green' view bringing the outside inside can make a huge difference for peace of mind.

Wise words from Yabby. Very true that most belief systems come about to make people feel better and sometimes this need drives us to search for happiness or meaning in very different directions.

As long as these things do no harm or set up false hope and disappointment I guess it is each to his own.

I am not sure I would include chiropractic in new age anymore Foxy - they do wonders for a sore back. I am with your hubby on that one. :)

One thing which I want to try just from a scientific point of view is planting by the moon. There is some scientific basis to this philosophy in regard to when to plant seeds or seedlings. The lunar cycle affects the tides so maybe it might be worth further investigation. If I get the time to experiment I will let you know.

Celvia,
I thunk it up all by my self probably as I verbally paddled to impress some young temptress. Later polished and extended in a magazine article. (the most overpriced bovine excreta ever)
If you stand and watch at a club it is truly amazing how accurate you can be later when giving a 'reading'. After a while you can predict relatively which guys will approach which girls and how successful they will be etc. interesting.

I recall spending several nights in that piano bar on free drinks by pointing guys in the direction of 'their star compatible' female in the room.
I had a very high success rate simply watching for the come hither signs (body language) that guys were too self obsessed to see.
If I got the girls birth sign wrong I simple attributed that to the most influential rising sign at the time of the birth (which is true the influence of the sun sign= 12-20% rising sign up to 40%)...therefore my reputation was still in tact."

I was a man of mystery to some girls and amazing to the guys.

I should (in the interest of total disclosure)mention If I got their earlier enough SOMETIMES I would get divine help... some divine girls would add to my drinks quantum for delayed pointing services . Like I said I was a baaaaaad boy. I was often suitably inebriated but always a scallywag. This routine lasted for about 2 years before I moved on to another interest. I made enough readies from ‘commissions’ and the odd article to go back to school to get my Adult HSC.
Now you can see why I say been there done that and the tee shirt hides the scars.

Ok...I'm getting into hobbyhorse mode here :)

COPPER.. I mention this only because I heard a report about it on the news since my last post.

They have found in some UK public health research...that copper is blasphemy to superbugs.. (have to keep the image going :)

i.e.. some of the most difficult bacteria which are resistant to anti biotics.. are not resistant to contact with copper.

So..now the hospitals are making copper door handles and many other things out of copper where human-thing contact can occur.

I think we go off the rails when people see that a material is good for one thing..and they extrapolate that to EVery thing..

Pelican.. we agree? good grief.. that's about as much of a shock as the thumping right cross I experienced this morning from a sparring partner :) My posts might not make much sense for the next week *grin*

"Now? I am a sinner I haunt weekend markets but rush past new age stuff as fast as religions get the boot at my door."

LOL, Belly. Yes, I too give all new age mumbo jumbo and religion a very wide berth and always have, though I did try hard to become a believer in Christianity for one short impressionable period in my life, when some of the people I knew and admired at the time were Christians.

Having said that, I do feel, Celivia, that there are a few items on your list that do have very specific and verifiable health benefits, in particular, chiropractic, homeopathy, cleansing of the digestive system and eating in accordance with blood type, which I personally wouldn't group alongside things like astrology, tarot cards and crystals.

My goodness, Examinator, to think, in my nightclub days, I used to be quite drawn to guys with intense eyes and black duds and polo necks! Yep, I would have been putty to your manipulative ways!

The only mumbo-jumbo I've thoroughly fallen for was christianity. It to is curable.

I have people very close to me who believe very strongly in the ideas in "The Secret". I think that there is some truth in it in a similar way to David's comments about the impacts of our suroundings on us.

Those who focus on an idea may be more likely to do the things that are needed to achieve that idea. I also suspect that there are some things about the way our minds interact with our bodies that we don't yet understand. A number of our christian posters have reported experiencing "miraculous" healings, I've had friends report similar and believers in some other faith systems also claim to have experienced healings. It's possible that all such experiences are imagined but I doubt it. If they do occur and were attributable to just one idea of God then the experiences should be confined to just one faith (except for those who's devil is in the business of healing).

I suspect that what we believe can help our chances of better health.

R0bert

Yabby,
I second what Pelican said to you. Great post.

Pelican,
I’m very curious about your experiment, that’s so interesting. Experiments like this will eventually sort out the mumbo-jumbo from the evidence. Have you done other things for the purpose of experiment/investigation? I’ve done several things for the sole purpose of experimenting as well, remaining neutral or sceptical about them.
It’s lots of fun and so educational.

Polycarp,
Hehehe, perhaps now you know why Pericles finds you so predictable!

Re copper,
I agree with you, perhaps you should thank your sparring partner. Awwww.
You’re correct that copper has antimicrobial properties and can inactivate some microbes faster than other metals can.
It would be a good metal to use in public spaces as a surface material, too. But I don’t believe for a second that copper bracelets would cure some types of infections.

Fractelle,
I have a collection of crystals which I display in a bowl, but I didn’t obtain them for any mumbo-jumbo reasons, just find them very beautiful to look at. If they protect me against demons or something, that’s a bonus :)
Seriously, I know someone who covers herself in crystal bracelets and necklaces to attract luck, shield evil spirits… I hope they attract sanity, too.

Acupuncture and chiro: anything that relaxes the muscles can have beneficial effects. Medicare (in NSW) covers acupuncture when performed by a MD. I think that there is some research about acupuncture being done as we speak, very interesting. Last I heard was that it appears that it doesn’t matter WHERE they stick the needles: along the meridians or in the ‘wrong spots’; the healing effect is the same, so it suggests placebo effect might come into the picture. More studies need to be done on this.
Sorry I have no link, must've read it in a magazine.

Stress can really harm the body, so it makes sense that things (esp therapies that involve touch such as massage, chiro, reflexology) that relax people would get rid of some stress and therefore aid healing.

Continued...