NEUOFFENBARUNGAbout superstition – continued (17 April 1847)
1. Another kind of exceedingly ludicrous vision is that almost all people, but especially in the Roman Catholic religion, hold and believe in certain signs of good or bad luck, and one finds such foolishness from the highest circles down to the lowest chaste's hut.
2. Thus, one such sign of good or bad fortune is the first encounter when someone goes out of the house; if the outgoing person encounters a man, this is a good sign, but if the outgoing person encounters a completely innocent female individual, this is an unfavorable sign. The belief in this is so ingrained in some people that they begin to curse a poor woman who has the misfortune to meet such an outgoing person first, if not aloud, then at least in their hearts. How often does it say quite clearly: Oh you cursed old woman, beast, hussy, etc. more praiseworthy expressions; especially the hunters, when they go hunting, consider such an encounter a very bad omen, and if such hunters did not shy away from the secular court, such an innocent female being would certainly be the one who would get something to do with the first powder and lead of the hunter. This foolishness, which has often had the worst consequences, is also a pagan remnant, and is tolerated; only a few somewhat better so-called pastors sometimes, when they are in a particularly good mood, let a few words against such nonsense fall from their pulpits, but this is not nearly enough to eradicate such an old cancer in the root.
3. The cause, however, lies in the fact that such foolishness is not confined at it's root, as it is a sickness of the soul, which is caused by the wicked dregs of those spirits who, coming from paganism, are not completely ready for hell, and therefore still enjoy the free pass on the surface of the earth for the purpose of attaining the right knowledge, in order to become better beings.
4. These spirits join all kinds of people, attach themselves to their flesh, and work with their paganism into the roots of the soul, where it is connected with the body, whereby the soul then comes to such silly assumptions.
5. Many people see quite well that there cannot possibly be anything wrong with it; but when a case occurs to them, they nevertheless believe in it, or at least get into a kind of embarrassment in the opinion that there might be something wrong with it after all.
6. A proper Christian, however, should certainly never encounter such a thing, because it can never lead to anything good, but only to something bad.
7. Another such prophetic sign consists in the fact that some think and sometimes firmly believe that if a cat, a hare, also another quite innocent animal crosses the way in front of them, that they will become unhappy in their enterprise. What influence should these little animals have on the good or bad success of what a human wants to undertake? This is also of the same pagan origin as the former, and has the same reason of origin in the human soul, therefore it is to be avoided most carefully.
8. Another such foolishness is that some silly people want to find out their future from certain so-called riddles; lead is poured into water, also a newly laid egg is beaten into water, then a hidden treasure is searched for by certain divining rods, also gold is hung in glasses, so that it either brings forth the years of a person's life, or yes and no by the stroke or non-stroke on a posed question.
9. Such means, which are supposed to reveal the future, are actually too stupid to lose a word about.
10. Which only half-reasonable thinker will want to do such a dishonor to his own spirit, to assume so very secretly and stupidly that a dead metal has more insight than he himself. Man, after all, never likes
to allow himself to be accompanied by someone more clever than himself, because he thinks that his spirit will be impaired by it; but if a dead metal should have more insight than he, how does it look then with the honor of his spirit. If man, as I said, as a spiritually living being, cannot tickle out of the future how it will be shaped, how should only a dead metal be able to accomplish that?
11. But let us leave this matter alone, for it's worthlessness is too obvious; fortunately, that these lunacies are more a gimmick than a real superstition among the people.
12. But a much worse way to unravel the future is the so-called card-opening. Through this evil game, many people have already become temporally and eternally unhappy. Therefore, everyone should flee such a card-striker like the plague; for in the home of such a one, who practices this as a craft, live as many main devils as she possesses cards. And if such a map-interpreter sometimes divines something, then this really only happens through the help of Beelzebub; therefore, as said, and as it was already said in the old covenant, flee such prophetesses like the plague, otherwise you are prisoners of hell!
13. In addition to this card-opening method of revealing the future and other secret things, in more recent times people have even resorted to somnambulism.
14. In this treatment, when a magnetizer wants to help the somnambulist, he should never ask the latter self-loving questions, but only take note of what the somnambulist speaks voluntarily, and should not force her to speak, which is very detrimental to the somnambulist, but the magnetizer should wait patiently until the somnambulist herself is in the circle of speech; then she will talk as much as necessary, and a question should only be asked if the somnambulist has spoken too vaguely, sometimes too unpleasantly, about an object. In general, this healing method of laying on of hands is to be delivered only by believers to believers; but if some imaginary fool of a doctor without religion and without faith, merely by artificial manipulation, puts some weak female being into a magnetic sleep, in order to learn certain things from her, or to make certain scientific tests on her, or even to have other people look at her and question her for money, such a magnetizer is a devil in human guise, and for the somnambulist it would be just as good, if not better, if she had been possessed by a real devil, than that she had let herself be magnetized by such a godless, religionless, honorless and conscienceless magnetizer.
15. For such people, as for the worst highwaymen and murderers, the heaviest dungeons shall be built; for the most abominable of all abominations, and more abominable than all slave-trading, is that a man should deign to sell not only his brother's or sister's body, but also his soul and spirit, in part to hell, for the vile earthly gain.
16. Such crimes, where they are common and given, shall also find the most righteous punishment here and there through my impulse.
17. I show you this so that you will know how to behave in cases that occur here and there.
18. I want to bless every magnetizer who lays his hands on the sick in My name to bring them healing; but I want to curse a pig-dog in the same way, who only tries to prepare a foppish sleight of hand, in which he does not have and cannot have the slightest faith, in order to draw a vile profit from it. Such miracle-workers and future-deceivers shall stay away from Me for eternal times.
19. In general, everyone should remember this, and you yourselves may instruct everyone not to ever let it happen to him that he wants to reveal the future by whatever extraordinary means as long as man is not yet ripe for it; for it is not only harmful to the highest degree for every soul, but also extremely
nonsensical and stupid, since there is eternally nowhere a definite future. This is always directed only after the free will of the people who therefore live here on earth to order their free will. Only the future will be measured according to the order of the free will of people on earth; how then can a fool, and that without faith on top of that, want to make other weak people believe what will happen?
20. But I have given every man the free spirit anyway, for whose rebirth everyone should take care of; when this will take place, then also for man, the future will be revealed – but as long as this is not the case, there is so quite actually still no future for man. Then what is the use of such a stupid investigation of the future? Seek first of all the kingdom of God; everything else will come by itself!