Are You a Believer?

The kids and I look forward to receiving the Toys R Us Christmas catalog every year. As we were thumbing through oooing and ahhing on Sunday, imagine my delight to stumble upon Hasbro's latest treasure prominently advertised: a Ouija Board. In pink, even.

It's not that I am not a believer in The Dark Arts. I am a believer, which is precisely why I take issue with the presence of a Ouija Board at a toy store. There are many grey areas in this world.

This one is black.

I posted this on our forum yesterday at Mile High Mamas and I was surprised there were many people who did not take issue with it. The Ouija Board is targeted for ages 8-12. So, my question for you is this: would you buy your 8-year-old child a Ouija Board?

At Halloween, there is a lot of talk of spirits and hauntings. I choose to focus on the fun side of it with pumpkins and costume parties, mostly because I really believe there are forces of good and evil that work in this world.

I saw it in full force when my mom owned a popular tea room & gift shop and had a tea leaf/palm reader come in a few times a week. When I was 16, I had my tea leaves read by James, a complete phony whose predictions made me laugh and I wrote off psychics completely.

But we weren't laughing a few years later with Aziza.

Aziza (whose real name was Bernice--BWHAHAAHA) was a popular tea leaf reader and she had a huge following. Wealthy women would spend a lot of money on her counsel and they lied to their husbands they were going for therapy. For them, Aziza was therapeutic.

I liked Aziza. She was the first palmist we'd had who wasn't a complete freak but I did not give credence to what she did until one day, a large sum of money went missing. When my brothers and I were in college, my mom would buy back American money from the shop's American patrons (the exchange rate was a lot higher at the bank). She stashed it in the house and would frequently send us American money.

One day, she went to the hiding place to get some money and it was gone. She and my father were the only people who knew of the secret stash and she was devastated. She went into work that day and Aziza, sensing something was wrong, insisted my mom sit down for a tea leaf reading.

My mom did not tell her anything but Aziza saw something. Two men, one of whom my parents knew. She saw these men come into my parent's home to do some work. She saw their vehicle. She saw the friend leave and the stranger stay. She saw the stranger take something valuable.

My mom was incredulous. She had forgotten that several months prior she had hired a friend to work on our house and he had brought another contractor with him. And Aziza nailed everything--the friend, the vehicle, the location of the theft.

The money was never recovered. I mean really, what kind of evidence did they have in court: "My psychic told me you did it." Maybe on TV but not in real life. :-)

So, my question to you is do you believe in psychics, ghosts or spirits? Or do you think they are just a product of an overactive imagination?