Does this healer actually believe in his product?

[JPK]

Good morning.

Last night I was reading through the forum when I came across a thread in Religion and Philosophy. Can anything be done to stop Peter Popoff and "Miracle Water"?
While reading that thread, a friend of mine pointed out an item on Ebay, Miracle Waters of Life. The description of the water is truly amazing and very long. Here are a few highlights...

Thokoza,
This listing is for an extremely powerful item and elixir.
NOTE: The pictures provided are of waters I made for the residing chief and Zulu Elders in Swaziland with supplies I brought to teach them another Muthi.

Recently I have been adding ALL of the World's known Holy Scriptures and Sacred texts to its structure and information which really gives an added boost!

Instructions for use –
Do not drink the whole bottle at once!!! It is a high vibration substance and we want to introduce is slowly at first for many reasons. You do not want to release too much, too soon. While this product is perfectly safe, there are spiritual complexities regarding its ingestion.

When I view this water metaphysically, it appears as a perfect structure, 12 stranded braid of light and divine information.

When I first saw this I thought it was pretty entertaining but also pretty sad. Sad that someone might think that they can be cured of anything but thirst, by purchasing and using this water and sad that the seller might actually believe that they are selling something that will help cure people. Then I looked a little deeper. I started to look at some of the other items this seller had purchased on Ebay. Lots of crystals and stone skulls. An African rattle, some Roman Catholic cards of various saints, a wooden crystal skull necklace and bunch of stuff that looks like the type of stuff a spiritual healer might need for the decor of their waiting room.
I wrote this guy a e-mail pointing him to the JREF Challenge page. After all, if he can tell the difference between his miracle water and non miracle water by “viewing it metaphysically”, he could be $1 million dollars richer.
I didn’t receive a response
But then I saw these other items this person has purchased.
Psychic Mentalism Cold Reading Mind Control Secrets,
FATE? - Mentalism from Rick Maue, Deceptions Unlimited,
BODY MAGIC! First Edition from England! Mint!!,
Tony Doc Shiels JABBERWOCKY Mentalism & Bizarre Magick
So what do we have here? To me, this does not look like a person who is a believer. It looks like a person who just might be knowingly using magic tricks to deceive people out of their money while pretending to have superpowers. Can there be another explanation for the water that he is selling? Perhaps, but I can’t think of it. This just might be what Randi means when he refers to magicians who prostitute the noble profession of conjuring.
I will be e-mailing this person again asking then about their true intentions. I do not expect a response to that e-mail either.
JPK

 

[JPK]

Good evening.
Other services for sale from this guy:
Traditional Shamanic Healing session.
$120.00
and
Psychic Reading and Spiritual Counsel
$75.00

There are several pictures of this guy at this site as well. He certainly dresses the part. Wonder why he needs to purchase magic tricks when he already has such awesome powers?
No response to my e-mail to him.

JPK

 

[Goshawk]

Wonder why he needs to purchase magic tricks when he already has such awesome powers?

Because many woos have an eclectic approach to woowoo stuff: if some is good, then more is better, and they basically "collect" woo artifacts, because you never know which one will work, and it never hurts to hedge your bets. Thus they tend to have the crystals, AND the tarot cards, AND the aromatherapy, AND the magical tuning forks, etc.

My experience of snake oil salesmen is that they tend to have an excellent command of the English language, the better to fleece the flock with, so I generally assume that incoherent, rambling sales pitches such as you linked to are the work of the genuinely deluded.

 

[Goshawk]

Curious about his 100% Positive feedback rating, I looked them up: they're all from other sellers. He hasn't sold anything yet on eBay, so no way to tell whether, for example, his Shamanic Healing Ritual would actually appear, either via telephone or email, as promised.