A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".
|
|
A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".
|
Articles |
Articles PagesAdded Jul 18 2008Added Jul 11 2008Added Jul 10 2008Added Jul 09 2008Added Jul 07 2008Added Jul 02 2008Added Jun 25 2008Added Jun 08 2008Added May 31 2008Added May 26 2008Added May 25 2008Added May 13 2008Added Apr 28 2008Added Apr 21 2008Added Apr 09 2008Added Apr 04 2008Added Apr 02 2008Added Mar 31 2008Added Mar 20 2008Added Mar 19 2008Added Mar 03 2008Added Feb 27 2008Added Jan 31 2008Added Jan 30 2008Added Jan 16 2008Added Jan 07 2008Added Dec 30 2007Added Dec 15 2007Added Dec 13 2007Added Nov 28 2007Added Nov 20 2007Added Nov 08 2007Added Nov 04 2007Added Oct 27 2007Added Oct 19 2007Added Oct 10 2007Added Oct 07 2007Added Oct 05 2007Added Sep 23 2007Added Sep 21 2007Added Sep 10 2007Added Sep 03 2007Added Sep 01 2007Added Aug 22 2007Added Aug 19 2007Added Aug 17 2007Added Aug 15 2007Added Aug 14 2007Added Aug 08 2007Added Jul 12 2007Added Jul 08 2007Added Jun 29 2007Added Jun 11 2007Added May 30 2007Added May 29 2007Added May 26 2007
Added May 09 2007Added May 02 2007Added May 01 2007Added Apr 29 2007Added Apr 21 2007Added Apr 14 2007Added Apr 11 2007Added Apr 02 2007Added Mar 30 2007Added Mar 25 2007Added Mar 14 2007Added Mar 01 2007Added Feb 28 2007Added Feb 27 2007Added Feb 25 2007Added Feb 08 2007Added Feb 06 2007Added Feb 04 2007Added Jan 12 2007Added Jan 10 2007Added Jan 03 2007Added Dec 31 2006Added Dec 29 2006Added Dec 19 2006
Added Dec 14 2006Added Dec 07 2006Added Dec 05 2006Added Dec 03 2006Added Nov 29 2006Added Nov 27 2006
|
Novus Spiritus: An Aramaic Prayer?What exactly does this prayer mean? 
The prayer. Preface (A Note to Those in Novus Spiritus)I have been assured that Browne and her board will do their best to "spin" this article as an attack upon their religion, and upon Gnostic Christianity in general. It is not. It is an attack on Sylvia Browne's credibility. It exposes what I believe to be yet another lie which Sylvia Browne has fed to those who look to her for truth. I would ask that you read the article with an open mind. If it leaves you with some questions, you might want to ask your Study Group Coordinator, your Minister, someone on the Board - even Sylvia Browne herself - for answers. If Browne or anyone else in a position of authority at NS cares to email me with their side of this story, I will place it on this site, and link to it from within this article, so that everyone can see both sides and, as always, decide for themselves. BackgroundIf you attend a service at a Society of Novus Spiritus church (founded by Sylvia Browne), chances are that at a couple of points, you will hear a short prayer, in what sounds like a foreign language:
What does it mean? Exactly what language is it in? This article looks into these and other questions about that prayer. The Prayer
Browne's 2002 book "Prayers" The official Novus site seems to indicate, and one ex-Novus minister confirmed to me, that the phrase is used at the end of at least three prayers said during every Novus service - the Opening, Healing and Closing prayers. So this is not some obscure, seldom-used part of the Novus liturgy. It is used in literally every Novus service, multiple times. The prayer - and a translation - can be found (among other places) on page 23 of Browne's 2002 book Prayers, at the end of the "healing prayer of Novus Spiritus":
The prayer can also be found...
So, Browne has supplied a translation. But from what language? What Language is It?While all of the places where I found the prayer supplied the translation, none of them specified what the original language was. I do not read nor speak any language but English, but some of the words in the prayer ("beth" for example) looked Hebrew to me. But "sacravalian" did not seem Hebrew at all. There also did not seem enough words in the prayer to match the supplied translation. This can be misleading though, since there are single words in some languages which translate to multiple words in English, and vice-versa. Through this web site I have come in contact with many current and former members of Novus Spiritus, including current and former Novus ministers. I asked many of them what the language of this prayer was, and every single one of them had the same answer: Aramaic. Where had they heard that the prayer was in Aramaic? Most could not recall, saying it was pretty much "common knowledge" within Novus. Two, however, said the following:
"Sheila" is Prelate Frances "Sheila" Hallmeyer. There are only three Prelates in Novus, and they are second only to Sylvia Browne in the church's hierarchy. So, both a Prelate and a Cardinal within Novus Spiritus have apparently stated that the prayer is in Aramaic. But is it? Is It Really Aramaic?As little as I know of Hebrew, I know even less about Aramaic. I know it has much in common with Hebrew, and is said to be the language spoken by Jesus of Nazareth and his contemporaries. It is probably best known to modern Americans as the language used in much of Mel Gibson's Movie "The Passion of the Christ." But was "Arem, Shem..." Aramaic? I decided to ask an expert. Robert Hoberman, Ph.D. is a Professor of Linguistics and Judaic and Middle Eastern Studies in the Linguistics department of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. According to his page on the Stony Brook University web site:
The list of accomplishments on his CV page is quite impressive, and shows him to be more than capable of answering my questions regarding this prayer. I sent him the following email:
Note: The "translation" I provided to the professor is from the Novus site. The one within Browne's books does not contain the "us", nor the "AMEN." Here is Professor Hoberman's response (emphasis mine):
A TranslationGiven what Professor Hoberman has supplied, let's translate the prayer. Using Only the Aramaic WordsIf we only use those words which are truly Aramaic, we come up with the following:
Using the non-Aramaic WordsIf we allow for the non-Aramaic and distorted Aramaic translations, we get the following: (Note: only the bolded words are actually translated from Aramaic.)
Another VariationIn Hebrew, "beth" can also mean "house" (for example, "Beth Israel" means "house (of) Israel"). Given that, here is another set of translations:
In Sentence FormHere then are the various translations, in sentence form. Since Beth is the second letter of the Aramaic alphabet, I have replaced "beth (letter)" with "B" to more closely approximate an English sentence:
AnalysisEven if we generously allow the "distorted Aramaic" translation of "Arem," the Hebrew translation of "Ahad" and "Beth," and a quasi-Latin translation of "sacravalian," it still makes little if any sense. Of course, the above translations are literal (word-for-word). But even rearranging the words, it is impossible to come up with anything even remotely resembling the official Novus translation of "Blessed be this Queen on high that is sacred to us all who come to Her." In fact, none of the words from the "official translation" are even in the prayer, unless we (again, generously) assume that the quasi-Latin translation of "sacravalian" (sacred-???) is "blessed." And, as Professor Hoberman pointed out, the Aramaic words for the words in Browne's translation (such as the words for "queen" and "blessed") are nowhere in the prayer. It would appear that this prayer, which I am told is repeated several times during each Novus Spiritus service, is a totally meaningless mish-mash of Hebrew, Aramaic, quasi-Latin and gibberish. I am unable to find anywhere that Browne states where she came up with this prayer. I would imagine that she claims, as she does with most of the theology she promotes, that it came from "Francine", her "spirit guide." Since Browne has repeatedly stated that Aramaic is what everyone speaks "on The Other Side" (in heaven), I would think that Francine would have a better command of the language. While I was researching this, one or two ex-Novus followers expressed the opinion that it did not matter if the words were nonsense, since Om and Azna ("Father God" and "Mother God" in Novus) knew what the person meant in their heart when they said the words, and that was all that mattered. I am agnostic, and so am not the person to judge the accuracy of that statement. But even assuming it is true, that still would not explain why Browne would promote the speaking of such nonsense, nor why she would give an inaccurate translation of it. ConclusionMy conclusion is that Browne simply made up what she thought was an Aramaic-sounding series of words, and then made up a translation for them. Why would she do this, given how easy it is to prove that the words are nonsense? I think there are two reasons. First, back when she started Novus Spiritus, the public did not have easy access to information like we do today via the Internet. And few people know Aramaic, or have access to someone who does. So Browne had little fear of someone finding this out. Second, and I think more importantly, Browne knows that many - if not most - of the people who follow her would never even dream of questioning her, and so would never bother to investigate these words. Browne has relied on "blind acceptance" of her pronouncements for some time now. But both through word-of-mouth and through the Internet (including this web site), more and more of her followers are starting to question what they have accepted as fact for far too long. My thanks to Professor Hoberman for his invaluable help, to current and ex NS followers for their input, and to AS for the tip on this, as well as for putting me in contact with the Professor. EpilogueI sent a draft of the above article to some ex NS ministers, asking for their input. Along with catching some typographical errors, one of them said the following (and gave me permission to add it to the article):
Related LinksClicking on any of these links will load a separate browser window for viewing the linked page. StopSylviaBrowne.com is not responsible for the content of any of these linked pages.
|
top of page