Newsfront

RIVAL FLAG DESIGN IS BAD FENG SHUI

Stuff, 14 Mar 2015

The alternative to the New Zealand flag is “bad feng shui” and could bring bad luck, instability and even a stock market crash, a New Zealand feng shui consultant says.

The Kyle Lockwood black, white and blue silver fern design was chosen as the preferred alternative to the current flag, and voters will this month be voting for the one they want to represent the nation.

Auckland-based feng shui master Francis Lui said the new flag had a “yin” design, which wasn't good, and black on top was a bad omen.

“Black represents mourning, loss and implied loss, and it also resembles evil and sadness,” Mr Lui, 45, said. “In feng shui, black also represents water and water makes stock markets go down.”

Mr Lui, originally from Malaysia, said he supported a flag change but would not vote for the Lockwood alternative.

“Unlike Canada's maple leaf, which is steady and balanced on both, our silver fern cutting across the new design is indecisive,” he said. “Even the blue is a lighter blue to the current flag, a mark that the country could get weaker.”

Feng shui is a Chinese philosophical system of harmonising people with the surrounding environment.

According to Mr Lockwood, the bright blue represents the nation's clear atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean which all New Zealanders or their ancestors crossed to get here.

The silver fern was a New Zealand icon for over 160 years, he said, and had been worn by many generations.

Mr Lui also said overall, the new flag had “yin” characteristics and lacking in “yang” elements.

“Flags need more yang elements, like having more red and more solid emblems, that would energise and bring strong growth to a country,” he said. “What we have here is a yin flag with a fluttering silver fern that marks instability and no growth.”

SHANE WARNE BELIEVES ALIEN EXPERIMENTS TURNED MONKEYS INTO HUMANS

Stuff, 16 Feb 2016

Cricketing great Shane Warne has turned his attention to the greatest question of all - where did we we come from? Warne's unorthodox views on evolution came up during his entertaining spell on reality show I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!

“If we've evolved from monkeys why haven't those ones evolved,” Warne said, pointing to monkeys loitering in the jungle. “Cos I'm saying, aliens. We started from aliens. Look at those pyramids, you couldn't do them. You couldn't pull them with a rope, those huge bits of brick, they make it perfectly symmetrical. It has to be (aliens).

Whatever planet or planets they are on out there, they decided they were going to start more life on earth and study us. Maybe they turned a few monkeys into humans and said yeah it works.”

NEW PLYMOUTH MAN GIVES UP RETAIL MANAGEMENT TO BE A GHOST-BUSTER

Stuff, 22 Dec 2015

Herman Petrick's first experience with banishing what he calls demonic energy came out of the blue in a home in Wellington in May, 2012. He says he was staying the night at a friend's house when she sat up in bed at 2am and started screaming.

“The next day she told me all of these things that happened in her house and she's had family and friends stay over and they'd had issues with this house too,” Petrick says. “She was being terrified every night. Just like demonic type stuff. She was going to church and the church came and blessed the house to get rid of these things and they couldn't do anything.

I remember just the next day walking through her house with my arms spread and I was speaking out loud and I said ‘Whatever this thing is in the house you need to F-off. This is my space, you need to leave'.

Then about a week later I called her and I asked how her house was and she said it was the weirdest thing, because whatever it was, it was gone.”

Petrick, who has worked in retail for most of his life and is the manager of New Plymouth's Farmers store, didn't really understand what had happened. To this day he describes the event as bizarre and yet claims he has gone on to research, study and, in his words, clear negative, dark or demonic energy from houses, humans and even household pets.

Now he runs a business called Global Energy Clearing that has become so successful that he and his wife Rebecca have quit their high paying jobs and are leaving New Zealand in early 2016 to travel the world as energy clearers.

“People contact me when they feel like they have ghosts or something in their house, or if they feel like there is something attached to them,” Petrick says. “What I do is I connect to the person and I find out what energies they are carrying around and remove that energy and in most cases that really changes the person. Sometimes people say they feel lighter, in most cases everyone sleeps a lot better and sleeps a couple of hours longer.”

The other side of his claims come from the countless people who are skeptics of his work, the fact Petrick has no scientifically tested evidence to back up his claims of healing, and the open admission that he is not a medical doctor.

Despite this the 45-year-old, who is originally from Portland, Oregon, claims that about 85 per cent of the population carries what he calls “negative energies”. He says he can clear that energy from people or from their home remotely, while he is sitting in his house in New Plymouth.

Exactly how he does that is quite boring, he says. It happens in his mind. There's no chanting, no sage burning and definitely no crucifix waving.

“What I do is I connect with the person, in my mind. It could be your brother's girlfriend's sister, you can tell me that and I can connect with that person just through the intent and find out what they have and do the clearing with them. It's not like I have this super duper ability where I can see negative energies on people. It's more of just like a feeling I suppose.”

He describes people's auras as an invisible force field and says they protect the person from outside energies. However, the invisible force fields can get damaged. Traumatic events can lead to gaps, holes or creases, meaning the “the little energies that float around” can get in and attach themselves to people.

Petrick, who grew up in a highly religious Christian family, claims these negatives energies show their presence in various different ways, including mental illnesses, chronic headaches, sleeping issues and bad dreams.

Petrick, who charges between $50 and $250 for each individual job he does, says not everyone believes him, not even his family in Portland, Oregon. But it's more than just his family who refute his claims.

The chairman of the New Zealand Skeptics Mark Honeychurch says there is no evidence that the type of negative spiritual energy Petrick talks about exists, and no scientific basis for the concept of these energies.

“Although it can never be positively proven that this kind of energy doesn't exist, every attempt so far to prove that it does exist has failed and this lack of evidence suggests that it's unlikely there is any such thing as spiritual energy,” Honeychurch says.

He goes on to say that there are many potential risks when dealing with people who claim to have a connection to, or understanding of, other-worldly powers or energies.

“The most immediate concern is that people are often asked to pay money to the practitioner, and it's generally not a good idea to pay for any service that doesn't have a good evidence base,” he says. “Beyond monetary issues, belief in pseudo-scientific ideas such as those of spirit energies, ghosts and other supernatural entities and powers can cause people to make bad life decisions. People have been known to refuse proper medical care, make harmful financial choices and act on bad work or relationship advice.”

Petrick doesn't see it that way. He believes he is helping people and he has a collection of stories and testimonies that seem to back up his claims. Among them is the story of a 5-year-old Taranaki boy.

“Since he was two years old he was too afraid to even walk down the hall by himself and he couldn't sleep in his own room,” Petrick said. “So I did the energy clearing for this boy, and he'd been dealing with this for three years and then the next night he sleeps by himself, he finds himself walking down the hall by himself. He just completely changes who he was. That was over a year ago so it's really cool to see things. One of the really exciting things is working with kids who have issues, like sleeping issues or being afraid.”

Honeychurch says recounts and testimonies should not be sufficient evidence to convince a potential client.

“If you're considering employing the services of someone who claims to have supernatural abilities, ask for evidence that the claims they make about their abilities are true.

The level of evidence should be proportional to the strength of the claims being made. If someone is claiming something that sounds unlikely to be true or doesn't line up with what science has taught us about the world we live in, make sure you set a very high bar for the quality of evidence you are willing to accept from them as proof of their claims.”

Honeychurch also recommends taking a trusted friend along to any meeting with someone who claims to have special powers. “Especially if the issue you are seeking help with is a very emotional one for you, it's a good idea to have someone there who will help to ensure you don't make any rash decisions,” he says.

Petrick also claims to do removal of curses or hexes, soul retrieval, the cutting of soul ties, chakra balancing and the closure of dark portals.

Honeychurch said if Petrick was serious about his claims, the NZ Skeptics would be keen to help him to test his abilities under controlled conditions.

“It is important that he takes the time to back up the claims that he is making.”

GHOST DRIVES STUDENTS OUT OF PRIVATE GIRLS' SCHOOL

Stuff, 8 Nov 2015

Two boarders at the troubled Turakina Maori Girls' College have left the school saying they have been threatened by a resident ghost.

Parents of the girls are angry that the Rangitikei school - which faces closure by Education Minister Hekia Parata - has accused them of exaggerating or fabricating the ghost story. The ghost, or kehua, is said to take the shape of a man in a black cape and hat and has been seen in the boarders' hostel.

Kamaka Manuel, who is the head of the Maori department at Cullinane College in Whanganui, said he picked up his year 11 daughter from the hostel late at night last week and she would not return until the family was assured it was a safe environment.

“The site needs to be blessed and it also needs consistent follow-up to ensure the girls are kept spiritually safe.”

Sightings of ghosts at the hostel date back at least 20 years. Former student Kelly Sliepen, 38, said she and her friends once saw a cup move across a table by itself and smash on the floor. After that incident a minister blessed the building, but later she saw an apparition on the stairs.

“I literally saw this lady walking down the stairs, a white ghost, I remember it clearly. I wasn't scared, it was more like, what the f...?”

But the male ghost is said to be threatening and violent and one of the girls who left the school last week claimed she woke up with a fat lip.

Manuel said he was concerned by the way Turakina had handled the incident.

“We feel they are genuine and the girls are not exaggerating. We are disappointed that's the view of [the school].”

He said his family were strong followers of the Ratana Church and after he picked up his daughter she was taken to the church temple to be prayed over.

“I think it would be a frightening experience for anybody. It was enough to scare her and put the chills down her spine.”

Former Turakina boarder Kelly Sliepen says she saw a ghost on this stairway. Manuel said the kehua had caused girls in the hostel to wake up frightened and hyperventilating. Some had reported feeling heavy pressure applied on them and hearing the spirit speak.

“He's spoken about wanting to get them.”

He realised some people would find the claims ridiculous, but he was firm in his beliefs.

“I believe that Satan, kehua, omens are about and attack vulnerable people, usually young people. As a parent you support your children. I believe my daughter is not making anything up. I strongly believe she's been through an experience.”

He said his daughter and her friends should be concentrating on NCEA exams. “This is an added burden.” He wanted the school to create an “open forum” for families to voice their concerns.

Another parent, Manawai Martin, said the school was “in denial” about the kehua. When some of the girls called their parents two years ago to report seeing the spirit, the school confiscated their cellphones as punishment, she said.

Parents are upset that the Reverend Wayne Te Kaawa, moderator of the Presbyterian Church and chair of Turakina's board of proprietors, has suggested that any kehua were created by the girls themselves.

Te Kaawa went to the school on Friday to discuss the kehua with staff, students and parents. He said the school land was purchased in 1927 and was blessed by Presbyterian and Ratana ministers. “All said there were no kehua on the site. There was no pa site there, there were no burial grounds.”

In recent years ministers had blessed the hostel. “We don't do exorcisms because there are no bad spirits there as far as we are concerned. We have blessings, we bless the whenua, we bless the buildings and even the girls themselves.”

None of the ministers who had visited the site had reported the presence of kehua, he said. “Where it's coming from, we don't know. One of our ministers said a rumour was started a few years ago by one of the girls that there was a ghost there. It could be that sort of thing happening again.”

But Te Kaawa said he was concerned about reports of a girl being assaulted.

“We're talking physical now, not the spiritual realm.” Turakina's roll has fallen from 152 in 2003 to about 54 this year and it's trust board is in serious financial difficulty. Submissions over its future closed on Friday.

Asked about the kehua, Parata said: “Students' cultural values are important. How schools acknowledge them is a matter for schools and parents.”