Ask A Catholic

[.Shane.]

Moderator Action: Stay on topic, kids.

 

[Perfection]

because ouija boards can lead to demonic possession

What about other Parker Brother games like Monopoly or Risk?

 

[civ_king]

What about other Parker Brother games like Monopoly or Risk?

You aren't trying to channel spirits with Monopoly or Risk, with Ouija boards you are trying to get a spirit to possess you

 

[Ajidica]

Monopoly is good or bad depending on who you ask. Some would say it is bad because it encourages avarice while others say it is good because God wants you to be rich.

Same vein with Risk.

 

[Smellincoffee]

You aren't trying to channel spirits with Monopoly or Risk, with Ouija boards you are trying to get a spirit to possess you

Ideomotor effect. I don't think saying "Bloody Mary" to a mirror 3 times in the dark will get me posessed by the spirit of Mary Tudor.

How often do you personally go to Confession?

 

[civ_king]

Ideomotor effect. I don't think saying "Bloody Mary" to a mirror 3 times in the dark will get me posessed by the spirit of Mary Tudor.

How often do you personally go to Confession?

Where does that superstition come from?

every couple of months, it has steadily decreased in frequency as I learn from my mistakes and commit fewer sins.

 

[Smellincoffee]

According to Wikipedia it's not actually about Mary Tudor.

Spoiler :

Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, making her mad in grief, eventually committing suicide. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of the Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. The game is often a test of courage and bravery, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping their face off, scratching their eyes out, cutting their head off, driving them insane, bringing them into the mirror with her or scratching their neck, causing serious injury or death. Some think if she doesn't kill the one who had summoned her then she will haunt them for the rest of their life. Other versions tell that if one chants her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and the summoner can talk to a deceased person until 12:08a.m., when Bloody Mary and the dead person asked to speak to will vanish. Still other variations say that the querent must not look directly at Bloody Mary, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children.[1]


Divination rituals such as the one depicted on this early 20th century Halloween greeting card, where a woman stares into a mirror in a darkened room to catch a glimpse of the face of her future husband, while a witch lurks in the shadows, may be one origin of the Bloody Mary legend.
Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderer who lived in the local city where the legend has taken root years ago. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend and a destination for legend trips.
On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I, also known as "Bloody Mary", whose life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies.[2][3] Speculation exists that the miscarriages were deliberately induced. As a result, some retellings of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children.[4] The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant that they were destined to die before they married.[1][5]

As to where it COMES from....I think the human brain just finds mirrors a bit unsettling at some level. "It's like they have people in them..."

 

[ParkCungHee]

Dunno


Enslaver of his people and enslaver of others?

Both, Ethiopia was both a prime source, and major trade route, for the export of slaves from Africa to the Middle East.

 

[NBAfan]

How often do you personally go to Confession?

I try to go every 3 weeks or so.

 

[kochman]

You aren't trying to channel spirits with Monopoly or Risk, with Ouija boards you are trying to get a spirit to possess you

The goal is not to get possessed... it is to get answers.

 

[NBAfan]

You aren't trying to channel spirits with Monopoly or Risk, with Ouija boards you are trying to get a spirit to possess you

Actually, with Ouija boards, you are trying to communicate with the dead which we really aren't supposed to.

 

[PeteAtoms]

But don't people usually accept praying to dead people? Aren't prophets doing exactly that when they speak with saints and such?

 

[civ_king]

The goal is not to get possessed... it is to get answers.

And you get the answers by being possessed and the spirit moves the planchett

Actually, with Ouija boards, you are trying to communicate with the dead which we really aren't supposed to.

It isn't the dead, but rather otherworldly spirits

But don't people usually accept praying to dead people? Aren't prophets doing exactly that when they speak with saints and such?

In the case of praying to saints one tries to get a saint to plead your case. What do you mean prophets?

 

[El_Machinae]

It isn't the dead, but rather otherworldly spirits

I think you're making an extrapolation for which you have no information. You don't know if it's otherworldly spirits instead of the dead ...

 

[kochman]

And you get the answers by being possessed and the spirit moves the planchett

Some would argue that it is simply one's own subconscious moving it...

 

[_random_]

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Ajidica]

Its good. People should chose the religion that best fits them. Othewise, they will go over the top in an attempt to demonstrate their allegance to the faith. Nothing good comes from fanatics.

 

[NBAfan]

Its good. People should chose the religion that best fits them. Othewise, they will go over the top in an attempt to demonstrate their allegance to the faith. Nothing good comes from fanatics.

That sounds strange. Do you call devout people fanatics?

 

[Ajidica]

That sounds strange. Do you call devout people fanatics?

No. When people feel they should be part of a group but don't feel that they are part of a group, they will go to extraordinary lengths to try and convince themselves (and in their view, others) that they really are part of the group.

That, or they just collapse into cynicsm and become lolathiests.

I personaly would draw a distinction between devout people and fundies.

 

[civ_king]

I think you're making an extrapolation for which you have no information. You don't know if it's otherworldly spirits instead of the dead ...

mea culpa
I must have been confusing it with other forms of divination

Some would argue that it is simply one's own subconscious moving it...

It is

What are your thoughts on this?

their appear to be two types, a) those who don't understand the Church's teachings, I feel we (Catholics) have failed them, b) those who leave because they disagree with the Catholic Church, to Hell with them

Its good. People should chose the religion that best fits them. Otherwise, they will go over the top in an attempt to demonstrate their allegiance to the faith. Nothing good comes from fanatics.

Usually with Catholics they stop going to Mass except Christmas and Easter not fanaticism