Someone called from New York asking if I would help a friend who is having a problem with kishuf (magical, sorcery power). I told him to have his friend call me. Early this morning the friend called.

     "I am having a problem with kishuf."

     "Did you go out looking to deal with kishuf?"

     "No, never, and I feel it on me."

     "Do you have any books about kishuf in your possession?

     "No."

     "Do you want to have any of this power?"

     "No. I got it from somebody and it was very strong and I went to a mekubal (Jewish mystic) and he told me stories about a woman who had such a problem for thirty years and that I should pray certain prayers to get rid of it and it has gotten better, but it won't go away, and I want to get rid of it."

     "When did it start?

     "I was working on someone who had it and I got it from him."

     "What do you mean you were working on someone?"

     "I was helping to heal him."

     "How were you helping to heal him?"

     "With energy."

     "That's it! There is the source of the problem. I've seen it time and time again. In the beginning you work to develop the feeling of that energy, and then in the end you can't get rid of it."

     "No, it's not the energy that I used. It is not from that. I got it from this guy I was working with who has kishuf."

     "It's not kishuf. It's your own imagination that is feeding the feeling until it has become so palpable that it feels real to you, and as if it is coming from somewhere else. If you really want to get rid of it you have to ignore it. If it becomes too strong, imagine the feeling to spread wider and wider so it will get thinner and thinner until it dissipates. You cannot do so called energy healings and expect the feeling to go away."

     "It is kishuf! I got it from this other guy who has it."

     "It's not kishuf. It's your own natural feelings that you have focused on so strongly that you feel like it is some "other" power. If you want to get rid of it you have to refuse it. You must not fight with it or it will get stronger. Whenever you are bothered by it put a coin in a charity box or put on your tefillin. Do a mitzvah."

     Will he listen? He better or he is going to drive himself totally insane until he ends up in a mental hospital.

     "Energy healing" is poison. The energy they play with is their own natural feelings that they focus on so strongly that the feeling becomes stronger and stronger, even palpable…. In the beginning they have the power… in the end the power has them!