Magi and devils

"The clairvoyant brothers with a gift that is passed down from generation to generation," the advertisement states, "through cups and pictures will penetrate all spheres of your life, help you to better see your problems and offer possible solutions." They will answer and " by letter" on the condition that you enclose one hundred dinars with the letter. The modest amount is also the lowest price for such services on a market already filled with offers. Until about fifteen years ago, this type of activity inevitably ended with digging corn or weeding onions in a nearby closed correctional institution. How many such ads are there today, for this year's harvest, as far as the workforce is concerned, we should not worry.

The existence of seers, prophets, healers and fools of every kind corresponded to the selfish and corrupt government to which we are almost accustomed. "Prophesy out loud that I am a God-given leader, condemn and curse my opponents at every opportunity, pay a little racket and it will be good for you and me." for a candle. The symbiosis of the government and the people's prophets lasted until the beginning of October last year, when the prophecies of the leader of the charity, despite the great efforts of the psychics, did not come true.

Someone malicious would have noticed that in the pre-revolutionary campaign, contrary to the patriotic "Zamilošević" prophecies a la grandfather Miloje, one Tarabić bravely stood up and "announced" that the election "will be won by the one whose name/surname bears the name of the village he comes from". Although the Kreman Prophecy is a form of an authentic Serbian special war, patented in the inter-dynastic struggles of the nineteenth century and supplemented as needed, judging by the federal elections it turned out to be correct.

"Please don't mention that," cried the author of this "rewriting" of the Creman prophecy. "We just wanted to promote the campaign, for the common good." Original, nothing. Knowing the effect of the Prophecy on this suffering people, an inspired speaker at who-knows-who's pre-election meeting, for the sake of authenticity, even cited the page on which it is written. Proof that the Serbs, no matter how much they believe in that prophecy, have never read it. Neither does the Holy Scriptures.

OD CUPS DO BALLS: Reaching for the other world can be a simple diversion or a form of companionship, but it can also be a serious offense in social relations: from fraudulently obtaining some kind of material benefit to serious criminal acts with sometimes, as it turns out, a tragic ending. Occultism as a widespread phenomenon, as in our country, indicates the disease of the entire society.

"Looking into the cup" is the most common form of looking into the future. Ever since coffee in Serbia, "tell-don't-lie" has been a favorite female pastime. Experiments have repeatedly proven that at the very mention in society that someone "knows how to look", at least one pair of eyes lights up and at least one hand turns the cup. "It doesn't matter that it's stupid, you just watch and talk," she says without blinking. He expects to find out if he will be traveling somewhere soon, who is gossiping about him and why, what will happen at work/school and a bunch of other important little things that will "happen" until the next coffee. With his reactions, he indicates to the narrator what corresponds to the truth and what he wants to hear. As a rule, the "patient" is a woman. This is not about gender discrimination, but the fact that men very rarely "turn the cup", although there are plenty of those who provide such a service.

Anyone who knows how to lie at all can practice this "trade". If it's not for nothing, the fee per "view" is usually a few hundred dinars. "Watching is still only three hundred dinars!" announces the prophetess (aunt) Nada.

Fate, experts say, can be "read" from the palm of your hand, by looking at the stars, ashes, beans, cards... The length of life, success in life, the number of children and everything else that the customer wants to find out ahead of time is predicted so that according to that flat in the future. It belongs to the basic "knowledge" and every prophet who keeps to himself has all these methods in his repertoire. The creation of various horoscopes is also mandatory, and it is being expanded every day: the only thing missing is the Svetosava horoscope. This kind of treatment presupposes, in addition to clairvoyance, some greater "knowledge" and is therefore more expensive, the price is subject to free negotiation without witnesses and directly depends on the size of the sheep and the amount of fleece. Given that fate is one and psychics are many, it is easy to prove that someone is lying, and therefore a fraud. However, no one remembered that and the business is booming.

"Free country, free people." I don't beat anyone on the ears to come to me. My customers are adults, and they come of their own free will," says one of the lesser-known "clairvoyants" expressing an extraordinarily sound fraudulent logic. "People want to hear something from me, I tell them, and they reward me for it." I cheer up the worried, I encourage the scared. I'm careful what I say, I don't promise anything and I charge moderately. My conscience is clear, and you have to live on something."

PERSUADING STUPID: A higher degree of immersion is expressed by those who would like to "rule the secret forces". The supernatural powers he ascribes to himself and the bizarre methods he applies add to the psychic "weight". The dumber the more believable.

"I tell fortunes by means of astral drifting without any aids. Astral hovering is sometimes something I can control, but often happens beyond my control. With the help of astral floating, I pass through the world of the living and the world of the dead, where I get all the important information related to my predictions. In this way, I get information about your past, what problems are bothering you at the moment and what awaits you in the future", are the abilities of the prophetess Minja, while Scheherazade, an oriental white magician, "tells fate, spits lead with Arabic prayers, removes black magic... helps with marriage and solves love problems."

Black magic, spells and curses are the most favorite opponents of all prophets, shamans, psychics, and white magicians. They "recognize" them very easily, they have a sure "counter-magic". It is done quickly and costs a lot. It is interesting, however, that everyone "takes off" some evil while no one advertises to cast spells or bring back. This disproportion indicates that it is easily possible that "black magic" is an extra offering of "white magicians" or their work is "under the counter". Considering the times we live in, the education and life élan of the population, the demand for such services is virtually unlimited. The damage that this activity causes to individuals directly and society indirectly, regardless of the size of the financial transfer, can only be assumed. The income is certainly not small. It is on hand, therefore untaxed.

As what is vitally important is usually the most expensive, and psychics, seeing how much someone cares about what, accordingly love to spoil it, the psychic Vesna from Šabac says that, unlike others, she has a soul. "I use my gift for the benefit of people, and that's why I can't allow myself to rip the skin off my back for my services to the people." I repeat - my primary task is to help, not to discourage people by offering false hope." Nice and humane.

Making amulets is an additional activity of every psychic. Some make them individually and emphasize their special purpose for the person and occasion as a quality, while others produce them serially insisting on their proven universality. The beneficial effect of both is proven by numerous letters from grateful consumers of magic, sometimes the miracle work is confirmed by a public figure with a photo. It is paid by cash on delivery or in person. It can also be ordered by phone.

"MAGICAL" HANDS: A special social danger is represented by quacks who engage in "healing", all relying on their internal energy fields, knowledge of magic or "something". Since health is the most precious thing and is certainly at risk in difficult times, it becomes a suitable field for fraudsters of all colors. In their paid ads, they exhaustively list the diseases and disorders they are guaranteed to cure and which, of course, are confirmed by the happily cured. Thus, the prophetess Minja "had very noticeable results with all nervous diseases, with problems with the sinuses, spine, with migraine, bronchitis, asthma (...), pressure, alcoholism and nocturnal urination".

This story takes a really serious turn when the self-proclaimed prophets, in their arrogance, attribute healing powers to themselves in addition to their "fortune-reading" abilities. They premeditatedly turn the misfortune of the seriously ill into money by offering a miraculous cure.

Having lost faith in official medicine and in a desperate desire for their seriously ill daughter to recover, even by a miracle, the parents "treated" her with water instead of medical therapy, which they bought from a certain Desa Vojvodić, for a poor person, for a huge amount of money, as a medicine that leads to a guaranteed recovery. After this treatment, the girl fell into a coma and expired, and the father finally remembered to report the whole matter to the police. Vidovita Desa, as she called herself in publicly broadcast and printed advertisements, was arrested and handed over to the investigating judge. It is assumed that the number of cheated people is large, and the police are asking all gullible and robbed people to help the investigation, to confess their stupidity and stupidity for the sake of teaching others and to join the charges.

It is devastating that until this tragic event, no one thought to ask, if nothing else, what goods and services the various psychics are advertising, how their "shops" are registered and whether the goods they sell have a certificate or at least the origin of the goods. quality and whether all tax obligations have been met, and compliance, whether the "service providers" are professionally qualified for the activity they are engaged in, etc., etc.

Alternative methods of treatment have their place in medical practice, but those who apply the practice are obliged to obtain the appropriate permission from the Ministry of Health for such activity and to have a valid training certificate.

THE MARKET FOGS: The literally understood principle of democracy that everything that is not forbidden is allowed has led to absolute market and legal uncertainty. Fraudsters freely rob the faithful people by poisoning them body and soul without fear of sanctions, whether they are savings banks, insurance companies, prophets or politicians. Since the law does not in any way incriminate anything from this supernatural assortment, this activity, one would say, is not in conflict with the law. The Criminal Code, however, punishes "fog selling" as an offense of fraud. There is also a paragraph on quackery (see box).

The clairvoyant Desa, who was not clairvoyant enough to see herself arrested in time, charged sixty thousand dinars for this therapy. A thirteen-year-old girl had to pay with her life for the gullibility of her parents and the tolerance of the state towards fraudsters, so that fraud out of self-interest would be called by its name and prosecuted according to the law and official duty.

The only possible, but not solid, defense of the above-mentioned could be the denial of the intent to defraud, that is, proving the perpetrator's firm belief in the correctness of his action. It is quite possible that something really "appears" to some of them, that they are really convinced of their supernatural powers.

For such, there is a branch of medicine that specifically studies such phenomena and that specifically deals with cases of "appearance" and "presentation", and there are several specialized institutions for such that are financed from the impoverished state budget.

For hochstaplers and swindlers, deceivers and profters on other people's misfortune, there are also institutions financed from the budget whose specialty is precisely that and with experts specially trained to protect society from deviant phenomena and perpetrators: the police, the prosecutor's office and the court.