Results of Investigations and Recommendations Regarding How to Reduce Excessive Weight in People

In this paper we describe some important aspects regarding the problem of excessive weight in people and attempts to reduce this. Very often people suffer from this situation and do not use effective methods; for example, they may take inappropriate medical tablets/drugs, turn to a witch-doctor or fortune-teller, try to eat only vegetables and fruit, and so forth. Unfortunately, these approaches do not work well in all cases. Due to age and health condition, not everybody can maintain regular exercise. This motivates the approach described in this paper, where our methods for three persons help both to maintain normal weight over many years and to reduce it incrementally to a comfortable level. Calculations were made using results in MathCad for the investigations and recommendations regarding how to reduce excessive weight in people.

Priest, Shaman, or Witch Doctor?

This article juxtaposes the ministerial experiences of two individuals via short autobiographies around the theme of priesthood today. The authors examine contemporary cultural tropes from a theological and sociological perspective, concluding that there are learning possibilities in the role of shaman, and, very cautiously, in that of witch doctor.

Magical Practices in Russia Today: An Observer’s Report

The article is a record of a story of a visit to a witch-doctor in Modern Russia. The séance included the invocation of spirits of dead and alive persons, and also of Jesus Christ. Hypnosis and medium were used. It is to be noted that both witch-doctor and its client belong in this case to rather prosperous and educated Moscow dwellers. Some parallels from East-Slavic manuscript and folklore traditions and also from Russian classical literature are discussed.