[lbo-talk] Russian law conjures with magic

[John Norem]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4727929.stm

Russian law conjures with magic

	
	By Steve Rosenberg
BBC correspondent in Moscow


* Entering Yuri Longo's apartment in Moscow is like walking into another 
world. *

Cosmic music wafts from an old tape player. The smell of scented candles 
fills your lungs.

But that is nothing compared to what is going on in a room at the end of 
the corridor.

There, a magician in a white robe is brandishing burning twigs, 
breathing heavily and circling a female student sitting on a chair. Then 
he places an ancient bible on her head in an attempt to save her from 
the evil eye.

It all looks a bit too much like hocus-pocus. But Wizard Longo maintains 
his conjuring can cure - by reaching parts ordinary medicine can only 
dream of.

* Spirit healers *

"Wizards like me, we're a bit like doctors, really," the sorcerer told 
me. "Except we're not treating the physical, but the spiritual. I make 
people's souls better - I make people happy."

Mr Longo is just one of thousands of witches, wizards and faith healers 
in Russia. Every day the newspapers here are full of their adverts 
offering all kinds of remedies.

But Moscow MP Ludmila Stebenkova does not believe in magic. She 
considers Longo and the like are a danger to society and she has 
proposed legislation to limit their activities.

"A faith healer who doesn't have proper medical education or who uses 
religious symbols in their treatment should be stopped from practising," 
the politician told me.

"We also want to restrict their advertisements in magazines and 
newspapers. It's very dangerous because a lot of people after this 
treatment have psychiatric problems."

* Forbidden fruit *

One such person is Sergei. I found him slumped on a bench in the chapel 
of a Moscow monastery.

Sergei had fallen into a deep depression and had begun hallucinating 
after visiting a series of faith healers.

The priest he had come to see, Father Anatoly, has treated more than 
20,000 victims of witches and wizards, by encouraging patients to 
confess and repent in church.

"Banning sorcerers won't solve the problem," Father Anatoly told me. 
"After all, forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter. What we need to do is 
explain to people that magic, sorcery and faith healing are the work of 
the devil."

* Paranormal pensioner *

There did not seem to be anything satanic about Babushka Katya - another 
Russian faith healer I found, this time out in the Moscow countryside.

Mind you, there was something a little odd about this paranormal pensioner.

She had two giant puffer fish hanging up on her washing line; an 
enormous lobster clung to the wall. And sprawled on her living room 
floor was a half-naked man, waiting patiently for some magical therapy. 
Babushka Katya has queues of patients: that is why she is not worried by 
the threat of a ban.

"I've got politicians coming here for treatment," she boasted to me, 
"policemen, criminals, all sorts. You'll never be able to get rid of the 
faith healers - we'll always have customers."

So even if parliament tries to magic away the wizards, Russian sorcerers 
are confident it will not have the power to make them disappear.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4727929.stm