The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations

Journal of Parapsychology, The, Spring-Fall, 2008 by Graham Watkins

In the final pages of this very thought-provoking chapter, Braude considers the idea that the agent creates the event cluster through multiple and very complex applications of ESP and PK. He then basically rejects that concept in favor of what he calls a "magic wand"--a simple intent for a certain outcome that brings about this outcome through a variety of means, not all of which are ever known. Braude does not mention it, but this concept would be familiar to practitioners of various systems of what those individuals would refer to as "real magic" (now commonly spelled "magick" to distinguish it from stage magic and illusion). Whether there is any reality to "magick" not only remains to be demonstrated but has yet to attract much attention from serious parapsychologists. Braude's ideas about synchronicity suggest that this might be an oversight. On the other hand, no particular evidence is offered for this viewpoint other than the fact that the alternatives seem too complex to be tenable.

The final chapter in the book, referred to as a "postscript," deals with astrology, a subject mostly ignored and often denigrated by serious parapsychologists. Here, he does mention the interesting work done by French statistician Michel Gauquelin which apparently shows that champion athletes are likely to have Mars in certain positions in their horoscopes and the effort by Paul Kurtz and other members of CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) to refute this research, in the process of which they ended up confirming it--and then, through outright falsification of data, tried to conceal the confirmation, an episode which speaks volumes about modern skeptics and their motivations.

But the vast majority of the chapter concerns astrology as practiced by Braude's wife, Gina, who, he says, has been an astrological consultant to the Serbian mafia and for several major soccer teams worldwide. He recites a number of incidents and describes the general methods used by professional astrologers. In one section, he rather strongly states that, in his opinion, the methods his wife is using to make her forecasts are mathematical, not intuitive, that is, she is not doing this by any kind of ESP but rather strictly "by the numbers."

However, nowhere does he offer any sort of detail. Numbers and analyses such as those concerning the Gold Leaf Lady are entirely lacking in this chapter. Braude states that he obviously cannot go into detail about his wife's dealings with the Serbian mafia ("I value my knees," he says), and he is not specific about which teams she consults for or about any particular games. He does mention that they used Gina's predictions to make bets in Las Vegas on American NFL football games and notes that they "did very well," but he admits that he did not keep any detailed records. Reading this, I was reminded of an acquaintance of mine who frequently plays dice in Las Vegas and insists that he "has a system" and thus "always wins." However, talking to friends of his who commonly accompany him on these excursions reveals that his "system" is that he forgets about losing episodes and remembers only the wins.