I think he had ot have been pilloried. Or atleast disgraced. Sometimes those old laws are enforced, which is part of the problem. They've been enforced in some communities an din New York State lately. Usually not. My interest in them is actually that they provide someone who DOES have psychic powers with a legitimate way out of needing to let the world in on it, which I htink is sometimes a good thing. Sometimes people with psychic powers really don't want the world in on it, and it's amazing how many other people want to decide their business for them. The issue actually came to my mind in regard to the plight of the Roswell youngsters of the TV series. Mom and Dad thought they were absolutely entitled to know and decide who else should know. The entire community would have been thrown into convulsions. The series itself explored reasons why it is often a good thing not to have such powers well known about; people are too tempted to use them in inappropriate ways. A wealthy man kidnapped Max and forces him to restore him to youth. One reason why the military wanted the kids was to use their potential. Tolkien takes up this theme too in his novels. Magic and technology are akin in their potential to be used inappropriately and to distort the natural order. This was the main concern of ancient Israelite laws against witchcraft. A number of these laws do outlaw any display of or claim to have psychic powers, and originally all such laws did. New York State sets the condition of for financial gain. One particularly silly law makes the only exception in a school or church. But a number of state and local laws that I found are all encompassing and have no exceptions. In fact the original such law in England was called an anti-witchcraft law. Dora --- [email protected] wrote: > In a message dated 8/28/02 4:50:06 PM Pacific > Daylight Time, > [email protected] writes: > > > > > > I know there are laws against Divining, or > Dowsing. > > > > Jeff > > > > > > > > Jeffery G. Scism, IBSSG, (<A > HREF="http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com/">http://blacksheep.rootsweb.com</A>) > > > > Heh! That makes my grandpa a lawbreaker and > another black sheep in my > line! =) He was always able to tell you how far > down to dig and how much > water you'd get. His accuracy was uncanny! > > Calvin B. Littlefield, IBSSG > > Why is the dowsing rod pointing at my head...? > > > ==== BLACKSHEEP-CHAT Mailing List ==== > Creative use of your delete key is encouraged. If > you disagree with the subject, CHANGE the subject. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion > online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com