A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".
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A look at the claims, predictions and behavior of a media "psychic".
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Novus Spiritus: Follow-up to "An Aramaic Prayer?"Sylvia Browne's Office Responds 
The prayer. BackgroundAfter publishing the article "An Aramaic Prayer?", I have sent and received some emails pertinent to the discussion of the "Arem, Shem..." prayer. This article looks into that correspondence. Note: If you have not read the article mentioned above, I suggest you do so before reading this one.) Correspondence With Offices of Novus SpiritusBefore publishing the previous article, I attempted to contact both the Campbell, California and Renton, Washington offices of Novus Spiritus for comment, but was unable to reach anything but voice mail (which I declined to use). I have been told that people at Novus keep a close watch on this site, and I had included an invitation in the previous article for Novus to provide an explanation of the prayer, but I decided to make sure they knew about it, via email. I Write to NovusOn August 24 2007, I sent the following email to Reverend Michael McClellan and Ms. Linda Rossi, at Novus Spiritus headquarters
Linda Rossi of Novus RepliesOn August 29 2007, I received a reply from Linda Rossi. Ms. Rossi is the Business Operations Manager for Sylvia Browne Corp., and has worked for and with Sylvia Browne for more than 35 years. The email in its entirety may be read in this article. Below, I excerpt the portion which pertains to the "Arem, Shem..." discussion (all emphasis mine).
So, "Francine" states that the phrase is from "ancient Aramaic text." Rossi mentions the possibility that it was in one of various Aramaic languages or a derivation thereof. After receiving this email, I replied, asking for explicit permission to quote it on the site. Correspondence With Professor HobermanThe previous article about the prayer showed that none of the words in the phrase translated to any of the words in the purported translation provided by Browne. Was it possible for there to a be a language derived from ancient Aramaic, in which none of the words in this sentence were the same as those words in known ancient Aramaic? I turned to Professor Hoberman - the linguist quoted in the previous article - for a professional opinion. I Write to Professor Hoberman
Professor Hoberman RepliesHere is the professor's reply (emphasis mine):
Professor Hoberman is quite adamant: this prayer cannot be any form of Aramaic. Further Correspondence With Offices of Novus SpiritusI Write to Ms. Rossi
Linda Rossi Replies With Additional InformationOn August 30 2007, I received the following email from Ms. Rossi (emphasis mine):
So now, the official word is that the prayer is not Aramaic, but is a quote of ancient Aramaics "speaking in tongues," which means they were supposedly speaking in a language unknown to us. Speaking in TonguesFor those not familiar with the term, "speaking in tongues" - or "glossolalia," the more formal term for it - is a practice where an individual, purportedly in a fit of religious ecstasy, cries out in what sounds like gibberish, but is claimed by some to be an unknown language. It is a highly controversial practice, frowned upon in most Christian denominations, and those skeptical of it think that it is nothing more than what it sounds like - gibberish. I will not debate the existence or validity of speaking in tongues, I just wanted to explain the term for those unfamiliar with it. There are links at the end of this article for those interested in learning more about it. What Unknown Language?Ms. Rossi and I exchanged a few more emails, as we made sure I was understanding the implications of "Francine's" latest revelation. Ms. Rossi had problems with my referring to speaking in tongues as purportedly speaking an unknown language. To back up my statement, I cited one of Browne's books, Phenomenon: Everything You Need to Know About the Paranormal. On page 127 of the hardback edition of the book, in the entry for "glossolalia" (the technical term for "speaking in tongues"), Browne says the following (emphasis mine):
Ms. Rossi replied that perhaps it was just a matter of semantics, and cited the very next page of Phenomenon. Browne is discussing an experiment she had tried involving ten people speaking in tongues, and says the following (emphasis mine):
Ms. Rossi had underlined "and one reserved for prayer," possibly to indicate that this was why "Arem, Shem...", being a prayer, was in a special language. Regardless of that, it seems we now know the official answer to what language the prayer is in. It is not Aramaic. It is, for want of a better word, "Atlantean." AnalysisThis prayer has been spoken at every Novus Spiritus ceremony for many years, and during that time, the parishioners have been told that the language was Aramaic. And now, after it was very publicly exposed on this site as not being Aramaic at all, Sylvia (or "Francine") is saying that it is not Aramaic, but was originally spoken by people who usually spoke Aramaic, but for this phrase, were speaking in tongues, in a long-lost language from Atlantis. If this is so, then why didn't they say from the start that it was an Atlantean prayer? ConclusionSo: a "spirit guide" who we can't see or hear, has told us that this is an unknown language which nobody can understand, and which originated on a continent which nobody can prove ever existed. I find it hard to come to any other conclusion but one: Browne made the prayer up years ago, when there were very few people in her congregation, and she had little fear of anyone looking into it. Now that someone has, and the phrase exposed for the nonsense that it is, she decides to have "Francine" state that it isn't Aramaic at all, but Atlantean, for which there can be no pesky linguistics expert to debunk. Seems a bit... convenient. My thanks to Ms. Rossi and Professor Hoberman for their correspondence. 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.
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