Jasmuheen | |
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 Jasmuheen in 2008 | |
| Born | Ellen Greve 1957 (age 66–67) New South Wales, Australia |
Jasmuheen (born Ellen Greve; 1957) is a proponent of "pranic nourishment" or breatharianism, the practice of claiming to live without food or fluid of any sort and regarded by the scientific community as a lethal pseudoscience. [1] She makes appearances at New Age conferences worldwide, has hosted spiritual retreats in Thailand and has released books and audio recordings.
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(May 2019) |
Jasmuheen was born in 1957 in New South Wales, Australia, of post-war Norwegian migrant parents.
Jasmuheen developed financial and business management skills working full-time in the finance industry. In 1992, she began combining her experience in business and finance with meditation, selling access to workshops and seminars on the topic and, by deed poll, changed her name to Jasmuheen. [2]
The Australian television programme 60 Minutes challenged Jasmuheen to demonstrate how she could live without food and water. The supervising medical professional Dr. Beres Wenck found that, after 48 hours, Jasmuheen displayed symptoms of acute dehydration, stress, and high blood pressure. [3] Jasmuheen claimed that this was a result of "polluted air". On the third day, she was moved to a mountainside retreat about 15 miles from the city, where she was filmed enjoying the fresh air, claiming she could now successfully practice inedia. But as filming progressed, Jasmuheen's speech slowed, her pupils dilated, and she lost over a stone (6 kg or 14 lb) in weight. After four days, she acknowledged that she had lost weight, but stated that she felt fine. Dr. Wenck stated: "You are now quite dehydrated, probably over 10%, getting up to 11%." The doctor continued: "Her pulse is about double what it was when she started. The risk if she goes any further is kidney failure." [3] Jasmuheen's condition continued to deteriorate rapidly due to acute dehydration, despite her contrary insistence. Dr. Wenck concluded that continuing the experiment would ultimately prove fatal. The film crew agreed with this assessment and stopped filming.
Regarding her intake of food, Jasmuheen said: [4] "Generally not much at all. Maybe a few cups of tea and a glass of water, but now and then if I feel a bit bored and I want some flavour, then I will have a mouthful of whatever it is I'm wanting the flavour of. So it might be a piece of chocolate or it might be a mouthful of a cheesecake or something like that." In the aftermath of the 60 Minutes broadcast, Kathy Marks noted in The Independent , "Visitors to her large villa in the prosperous Chapel Hill area of Brisbane invariably find her refrigerator generously stocked with food, all of it destined, she insists, for the stomach of her second husband, Jeff Ferguson, a convicted fraudster". [5]
Jasmuheen has stated that she has lived on approximately 300 calories per day for the past fourteen years, maintaining full health through supplementing a fluid intake with "cosmic particles" or "micro-food", which she describes as prana. She has stated that she has not yet mastered the ability to be fluid-free for more than short periods.
Jasmuheen was awarded the Bent Spoon Award by Australian Skeptics in 2000 ("presented to the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle"). [6] She was also awarded the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize for Literature for her book Pranic Nourishment – Living on Light, "which explains that although some people do eat food, they don't ever really need to." [7]
Jasmuheen maintains that some of her beliefs are based on the writings and "more recent channelled material" of the Count of St Germain. [8] She states that her DNA expanded from 2 to 12 strands to take up more hydrogen. [4] The extra strands of DNA have not been scientifically verified. When offered $30,000 to prove her claim with a blood test, Jasmuheen stated "you cannot view spiritual energy under a microscope". She claimed that such a challenge would be a deliberate attack on her beliefs, and that she refuses to act as an example of her alleged paranormal attributes. [4]
In 2005, James Randi offered her the James Randi Educational Foundation US$1 million prize to demonstrate her claims. [9] In 2010, she appeared in the documentaries 3 Magic Words and In the Beginning There Was Light .
As of 2012 [update] , five deaths had been directly linked to breatharianism and Jasmuheen's publications. [10] [11] Jasmuheen has denied any responsibility for the deaths. [12]
Lani Marcia Roslyn Morris, a 53-year-old Melbourne resident, died in 1999 while attempting the breatharian "diet" advocated by Jasmuheen. Jim Vadim Pesnak, 63, and his wife Eugenia, 60, were jailed for six years and two years, respectively, on charges of manslaughter for their involvement in the death of Morris. Pesnak had delayed seeking medical attention. [13] Referring to this case, Jasmuheen commented that Morris's practice of inedia perhaps was "not coming from a place of integrity and did not have the right motivation". [10]
Jasmuheen offered similar defence in response to the death of Verity Linn, who died of hypothermia and dehydration with lack of nutrition while practising inedia in Scotland, her diary mentioning Jasmuheen's teachings. Linn's body was found in a tent. [14] [15] In 2012, it was reported that a Swiss woman died of starvation after having attempted to survive purely on light, as taught in one of Jasmuheen's books. [11] In 2017, a Dutch woman living in a household of four practitioners of breatharianism inspired by Jasmuheen [16] died under mysterious circumstances. The three remaining members of the household are suspected of withholding the malnourished woman adequate medical care. [17]
In 1999, Michelle Shirley, spokeswoman for the Cult Information Centre, told the BBC that the centre had been contacted five times in the previous 12 months by concerned friends and family members of Breatharians and that "although Breatharianism is not strictly a cult, the centre has been monitoring its activities". She added, "We are particularly concerned about any implication that if it doesn't work, it is the person's fault. That implies there is nothing wrong with the Breatharians' teachings." [8]
In the end of 2017, 22-year-old German citizen Finn Bogumil died on the Caribbean island of Dominica, reportedly of fasting. According to witnesses, he was not eating or drinking for several days ahead of his death, and had told friends and family members of his plans to only live off of sunlight. [18] German news station NDR also released a documentary about this case in March 2019. [19]
Jasmuheen has written that "If you haven't found the light that will nourish you, you may have the intention to become a breatharian, but in fact you may be putting yourself through food deprivation. There is one known case where a person died when trying to become a breatharian." [20]
Inedia or breatharianism is the claimed ability for a person to live without consuming food, and in some cases water. It is a pseudoscientific practice, and several adherents of these practices have died from starvation or dehydration.
James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician, author, and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims. Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87.
Uri Geller is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller uses conjuring tricks to simulate the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy. Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. Magicians have called Geller a fraud because of his claims of possessing psychic powers.
Gwendolyn Henley Shamblin Lara was the founder of the Remnant Fellowship Church, founder of the Christian diet program The Weigh Down Workshop, and an American author.
Randi Joyce Robertson, better known by her air name Randi Rhodes, is an American progressive political commentator, activist and talk radio host. The Randi Rhodes Show is live streamed having been previously broadcast nationally on Air America Radio, Nova M Radio, and Premiere Radio Networks.
Lisa McPherson was an American Scientologist who died in the care of the Church of Scientology in Clearwater, Florida. After a minor traffic accident where McPherson seemed unharmed, she removed her clothes in the street and paramedics transported her to a local hospital. In order to avoid psychiatric intervention, local Scientologists convinced her to leave the hospital and seek care at the nearby Church of Scientology Flag Service Organization (FSO). There she was held against her will for 17 days without any medical care, while her physical and mental condition rapidly deteriorated and she died. Following the report by the state medical examiner that indicated that McPherson was a victim of negligent homicide, FSO was indicted on two felony charges, "abuse and/or neglect of a disabled adult" and "practicing medicine without a license." The charges were dropped after the state's medical examiner changed the cause of death from "undetermined" to an "accident" on June 13, 2000. A civil suit brought by McPherson's family was settled on May 28, 2004.
Spoon bending is the deformation of objects, especially metal cutlery, purportedly by paranormal means. It is a common theme for magic tricks, which use a variety of methods to produce the effect. Performers commonly use misdirection to draw their audience's attention away while the spoon is manually bent. Another method uses a metal spoon that has been prepared by repeatedly bending the spoon back and forth, weakening the material. Applying light pressure will then cause it to bend or break.
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award, which was presented by the late James Randi, a skeptic. The purpose of the award was to expose parapsychological, paranormal, and psychic frauds whom Randi had noted over the previous year. Randi usually made his announcements of the awards from the previous year on April 1.
Therese Neumann was a German Catholic mystic and stigmatic. Neumann has been considered Servant of God by the Catholic Church since 2005.
Australian Skeptics is a loose confederation of like-minded organisations across Australia that began in 1980. Australian Skeptics investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methodologies. This page covers all Australian skeptical groups which are of this mindset. The name "Australian Skeptics" can be confused with one of the more prominent groups, "Australian Skeptics Inc", which is based in Sydney and is one of the central organising groups within Australian Skeptics.
Allison DuBois is an American author and purported medium. DuBois claims she used her psychic abilities to assist U.S. law enforcement officials in solving crimes, forming the basis of the TV series Medium.
Prahlad Jani, also known as Mataji or Chunriwala Mataji was an Indian breatharian monk who claimed to have lived without food and water since 1940. He said that the goddess Amba sustained him. However, the findings of the investigations on him have been kept confidential and viewed with skepticism.
A fasting girl was one of a number of young Victorian era girls, usually pre-adolescent, who claimed to be able to survive over indefinitely long periods of time without consuming any food or other nourishment. In addition to refusing food, fasting girls claimed to have special religious or magical powers.
NZ Skeptics is a New Zealand incorporated society created in 1986, with the aim of promoting critical thinking. The main areas of interest to the NZ Skeptics are claims of psychic abilities, alternative medicine, creationism and other pseudoscientific claims. At its founding in 1986, it was known as the New Zealand Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (NZCSICOP). In 2007 the name was formally changed to NZ Skeptics Incorporated.
Anorexia mirabilis, also known as holy anorexia or inedia prodigiosa or colloquially as fasting girls, is an eating disorder, similar to that of anorexia nervosa, that was common in, but not restricted to, the Middle Ages in Europe, largely affecting Catholic nuns and religious women. Self-starvation was common among religious women, as a way to imitate the suffering of Jesus in his torments during the Passion, as women were largely restricted to causing themselves voluntary pain by fasting, whereas holy men experienced suffering through physical punishment.
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In The Beginning There Was Light is a documentary film by Austrian director P. A. Straubinger on the subject of inedia. Straubinger visits several people who supposedly nourish themselves with "light" and tries to find possible explanations on how inedia might work. Straubinger researched inedia for ten years. This led to the film's production, which took five years. The film premiered on May 13, 2010 at the Marché du Film.
Mary MacArthur was a Canadian scientist who performed research on the principles of the successful dehydration and freezing of fresh foods. She performed this research while employed by the federal government of Canada's Department of Agriculture at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1952 she was the first woman to be named as Fellow of the Agricultural Institute of Canada (FAIC) for her contributions to Canadian agriculture.
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Love Has Won is an American new religious movement which was led by Amy Carlson, referred to within the group as "Mother God", who described herself as, among other things, the creator of the universe. The group has been described as a cult by many, including ex-members and media outlets. The group had between twelve and twenty full-time members who lived with Carlson at the time of her death.
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