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birthday party, bore, boring, Filipino magician, IMC, Inner Magic Club, Leodini, Manila, Philippines, Pinoy, rose petal images
Articles on the blog about Filipino visionary Bro. Carmelo Cortez are getting so much traffic I decide today to open a category dedicated to Rose Petal Images. That will make it easier for believers, skeptics and seekers-of-truth to read articles about Bro. Carmelo and his works.
Please remember that this is a blog on magic entertainment that I, Leodini, a Filipino magician, maintain to feed magicians’ hunger for information, particularly as regards Philippine magic and techniques on entertaining Pinoy audiences.
Though this site does not cater mainly to believers or skeptics and everything in between, I will be publishing articles relevant to Bro. Carmelo’s so-called miracles. (Please pardon the term. I have to use “so-called” until I’m convinced the petal images are not produced by trickery. How to convince me is a subject of future articles). Readers from both sides of the fence of skepticism and faith, and even those who straddle the middle, can send me relevant articles. I will publish them subject to my editorial discretion. I will edit some for clarity or for style, but never for content.
You can also leave comments, if you wish, or email me relevant articles and reactions. Let’s see how this new tack develops.
Allow me to publish a “bueno mano” article, as we Pinoys usually say, submitted by an engineer who has recently attended one of Bro. Carmelo’s missionary works. Actually he composed a message testifying to the miracles he witnessed performed by Bro. Carmelo.
Thank you for your skepticism. As an engineer I am also a skeptic. My family and I were lucky to have attended one of his services in Salinas, CA. We were not planning to go there on October 4 because my eldest and I were running the half-marathon in San Jose the next day. We went to Salinas to visit my brother, who was leaving for PI on October 7.
During the service, Brother Cortez dispelled any doubts by having volunteer attendees prepare the mineral water and rose petals into a bowl. During the healing a different volunteer was holding the bowl while Bro. Cortez moved from one person to another. There were five of us in my family. All of us received different images—two different images of Mother Theresa, two different images of the Divine Mercy, and one of San Rafael the Angel.
For me that wasn’t the miracle. The true miracle was that I was able to finish the half-marathon pain free. As a background, I could not even train for the race, because I thought my right leg had a stress fracture. I had a doctor’s appointment this Friday to have it x-rayed. During the race the leg was pain free.
Below are the links to the race and the miracle petals.
Half-marathon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaurente/sets/72157607772616072/Petals
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allaurente/sets/72157607748466761/In closing, Leodini, I really wanted to prove the petals were fake. I just could not find anything wrong with them. The petals were blank in the beginning. Brother Cortez’ had nothing in his hands or fingers during the service, and he had the backing of the Archbishop in the Philippines, Parish Priest in Salinas, and the Archbishop on Monterey County.
I will not be surprised if years from now, Brother Cortez could lose his healing gift. God could take it away. Then at that time, he could be boneheaded and try to do magical tricks to make it look real just to continue the service. Because people do donate generously in the service and the sin of greed could take over. At that point, any miracle that he may have done in the past, even if they were genuine miracles, would be considered fake. As far as my limited scientific, technical engineering mind is, the petals he gave us on October 4 were true miracles.
This is not the first miracle I have seen, so it would not break my faith if it were fake. I had seen the incorruptible dead bodies of saints inside the Vatican. The Buddhists claim that they also have the same phenomenon. But if you looked closely, the Buddhist incorruptibles have signs of decay similar to those preserved in ice. The Catholic incorruptibles are preserved as if they just died today.
Of course, I have no comments as to what the letter writer really witnessed. I was not there when he experienced the “miracle”.
I hope one of the attendees can send me some video footage of the miracles at work, so we can evaluate it intelligently.
On a related note, I noticed a spike in the traffic of this post, but the original posts about Carmelo Cortez did not get as many views.
For those who have not yet read them, here are the posts that started this topic on this blog:
Rose Petal Images: Miracle or Not?
Bro. Carmelo Cortez and Rose Petal Images
Stay magical,
Leodini
Leodini's Inner Magic 
I’d like Leodini to check this out himself – sounds like a bit more of true skeptic. The blog he posted wasn’t real convincing. The guy had seen 3 other “miracles” and this was “the best one”. Hmmmm. Let’s send the Amazing Randy there, ot even the Vactican – they check on miracles….
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view CARMELO CORTEZ in you tube
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I am at a Marian conference today and have seen the rose petals. I am shocked because they look to me like obvious frauds. They seem to be images of statues and artwork. The same images appear in many different petals (is God so short on originality?) with only slight changes in angle or arrangement of statues. Having volunteers prepare the water is meaningless; the images are no doubt pre-printed and the treatment only serves to make them develop so they become visible.
It is distressing to see how many good and devout people ignore Jesus command to be “wise as serpents” as well as “meek as doves.” Gullibility does not give glory to God and makes people more skeptical about the genuine miracles among us.
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Hi Mary,
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts.
Writing about your experience gives me and the rest of the readers another view of the images on rose petals. There is always a flip side for everything, whether it is phonograph record, coin or rose petals. I’m glad to hear about your account.
Best,
Leodini
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you are very arrogant and self rightest to say the least, i will pray for you. carmello cortez works with christ, the blessed mother, holy spirit and God the father. The part can never be separated from the whole. you have missed the meaning of the roses by your short sighted witt. the blesed mother, is the immaculate conception before,during and after. she is both queen of heaven and earth. give her the respect as you would your own mother, for she is that too. God Bless and walk in peace with many blessings..sister.lauretta….
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Wow! After admonishing Mary as ‘arrogant’ and ‘self-righteous,’ you will pray and seek blessings for her. Some Catholic love…. Sharing an honest opinion is not arrogance. It hurt your feelings because what she said ran contrary to your Catholic beliefs, specifically on Carmelo’s claims. If your faith is that strong, you should not worry about doubters.
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I am the most skeptical and if this was some hoax or trickery I would pay to see it again. Our feeble mind wants us to make sense to of things we cannot explain. It is as simple as the statement Christ said after he asked Thomas to touch and feel “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We can use scripture to prove or disprove anything. What I witness was truly a miracle and without going any further into details. It happened to me and I even brought the roses and I know there was nothing on them.
People can believe whatever they wish but what I witnessed, smelled and taste. This was truly a gift and nothing evil about it. I believe we know the difference between false and truth. Would you know Jesus if he knocked on your front door? I don’t think I would, unless he revealed himself like he did at the resurrection.
I do not understand Mary’s comment. What was she doing at a Marin conference in the first place. People come to these conference because of a certain amount of faith in Jesus and our blessed Mother. If this is divine or trickery, people have a right to choose to believe or not. Because it did not happen to you why discount it has a hoax, it was not meant for you, and you one day maybe.
People who think this is hoax, keep believing we all have a bit of Thomas in each of us…..
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This is a very simple trick. Catholic medallions are inside the pages of the Bible. When the petals are placed between the pages, some of the petals fall right above or under the medallion. When the Bible is closed, the stamped medallions leave their imprint on the petals. Come on, guys. This is a very lame sleight-of-hand trick.
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I am a Catholic but I do try to be logical about things. I witnessed the rose petal phenomenon first hand at an aunt’s house. It was seriously mind blowing. There was a very small group of people so I had my eye on him the entire time. The roses were brought from my aunt’s friends who did not know Carmelo. He then pulls the petals off of the roses and places them in a bowl. When he places the petals on our body, the petals are curved still so the stamping idea is ruled out in my head. The rose oil that he used during the service was created from an ordinary bottle of water. My dad opened it and even drank some before he changed it by placing a rosary in the bottle. I’m still trying to think of a chemical that would change water into rose oil. If you know of any such chemical I would love to be enlightened. I know in order to believe it, you would have to witness it first hand. My mom was telling me the story when she first met Carmelo and I didn’t believe her… now my story has changed.
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Stephanie, you can believe whatever you want, but you’ve been had. It is a trick! Magicians and illusionists do even more unbelievable sleight-of-hand routines. Is it any coincidence that majority of people who fall into this trickery are Catholics? Have you ever wondered why the images on petals are always familiar images like the holy family, Fatima or Jesus on the cross? Have you ever heard of ‘palming’ done by magicians? ‘Stamping’ on the pages of a Bible is just one way of putting the image in the petal.
Filipino ‘faith’ healers, like Tony Agpaoa and Alex Orbito, have been debunked so many times, and yet a lot of gullible people still believe in their ‘surgeries.’ Magicians Penn & Teller, and Criss Angel, have shown even more impressive demonstrations of their scams.
As for the water into oil trick, how did you know that it is ‘rose’ oil? Can you tell a rose oil from olive oil or sunflower oil? Is it called ‘rose’ oil to be consistent with the rose petal ‘miracle?’ Or is it because Carmelo just called it ‘rose’ oil? I don’t know how the trick is done but give me sometime and I’ll find out for you.
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“I know in order to believe it, you would have to witness it first hand.”
Stephanie: Magicians and illusionists always make people, cars, animals and even a giant airplane disappear. They change animals into people and vice versa. They change water into wine, like Jesus! They make people float on air and catch bullets fired from a gun! These are examples of ‘seeing is believing’, but you and I know that they are not real, they are simply magic and illusions. What you witnessed is no different. Seeing is not necessarily ‘believing.’
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No, it’s not fake, not when I brought my own rose, from my garden and didn’t leave my hand at any point other than when he plucked it, dipped it then put to my chest. What are your thoughts behind that? This isn’t some magic trick with with cameras and staged set ups. I BROUGHT MY OWN ROSE FROM MY HOUSE.
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P.S. there was no bible transition at all… rose petal went from the rose it self, to the oil, to my chest.
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P.P.S. They are not pre-printed. For that to happen this man would have had to go to my house which he has never been and imprint these images on all 150 rose bushes that we have??? What else you got….? He has some laser on his finger tip that etches images within seconds? Or maybe he knocks us all out briefly, then runs around and takes a stamp and does it???? Get those scientists involved I want to see what else you guys got. Maybe whip some tarot cards in there? or some coins out of your ear?
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Hi John,
I admire your belief and the strength of your faith.
However, this faith makes you reject the very real possibility of trickery in producing those petal images.
You brought the roses yourself? Bro. Carmelo has not gone to your house to prepare the roses?
Considering those stringent requirements, one might discount the possibility of a trickery. However, let me assure you that trickery is still possible, even if you bring your own roses. This is not to say that Bro. Carmelo is using trickery to produce those petal images, but that it is possible to produce them (and duplicate the seemingly miraculous effect) by employing some sneaky techniques.
If you read my article titled Rose Petal Images: Miracle or Not?, you will find 69 comments under it. Please read comments number 57 through 61. Reader Dawn provides a link to a video of a Bro. Carmelo Cortez service. The exchange of comments between Dawn and me discusses one possible method to make those rose petal images appear, regardless of who brought the roses.
Stay magical,
Leodini
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John, if this is an authentic miracle, the Vatican should take a serious look at it and if found to be so, should give their ‘blessing,’ instead of just being shown to a small audience at a time like a magic trick. I still have to hear of any Catholic bishop or cardinal endorsing this rose petal miracle. I haven’t heard anything from FoxNews, CNN or 60 Minutes either. If this is really authentic, maybe it’s about time that they subject it to scientific scrutiny, like the Shroud of Turin. What have they got to lose? It will surely increase their faithful. Leodini, I know where you stand, you’re just being modest about it.
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More than being modest about it, I’m careful not to hurt my readers’ feelings with what I write. I’ve found through experience that some people can’t handle contrary opinions, let alone the truth if it does not conform with their version of it.
Best,
Leodini
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Hello,
I have experienced the rose petal miracles a few times myself. When Carmello gives you a rose petal he MUST put it on your skin. Once I touched it before he put it on my skin and there was no picture. He has been given a gift and I respect it and believe in it. He seems to take this gift very seriously. I have seen other miracles when I was around Carmello. He is a very humble and thoughtful person trying to do what Our Good Lord wants him to do. It really doesn’t matter to me what you believe because you haven’t seen, however I have and do believe.
Patty
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Patty,
Thanks for dropping by and sharing your testimonial to Bro. Carmello’s rose petal images.
Best,
Leodini
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to norm,
ill tell you who you remind me of and i say this non – offensively, doubting thomas the apostale. you are a non beleiver. jesus has given this man a gift for a reason and you should respect that. let me ask you norm, if jesus chose you to recieve a gift and share it amongst the world to help people convert would you want it to be disrespected ? if you dont have something good to say than keep your opinion to your self because u have no right to criticize someone when you can’t prove otherwords. Can’t you see it jesus is trying to show himself and the miracles that can come through him because once he shows himself for the world to see it is going to be too late for many, jesus is coming so the message here is to convert while u can and not to wait till u can see it to believe it because it may be too late put faith in jesus and trust it.
sincerely johnny
Norm i can make someone such as you believe and see jesus is the reason behind this and not some magic trick . if you would like my email just let me know and i will help you believe that jesus is behind this miracle along with many others
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To Johnny: It is an open forum where everybody can express his opinion on a topic whether you like it or not. What I said may not be ‘something good’ for you, but sometimes pointing out this something that is against what you believe is not easy to take. Having a different opinion is not disrespect. Of course we can always criticize anybody, but proving a claim is not on me, it is on the one making the claim. Proving that ___ (fill in with any of the thousands of gods that humans have invented) exists is for those making these claims – the believers, and not on the non-believers. Jesus, and all these gods have one thing in common – there is no evidence for any of them. Let me share you the following written by somebody named ‘Colin,’ in response to a recent article on CNN on where god was during the shooting at a ‘Batman’ movie in Aurora, Colorado:
Dear Christians:
God here.
The reason I was absent in Aurora, as well as World War I, World War II, the Holocaust and every single man made or natural disaster in human history is very simple. I do not exist.
The concept of a 13,700,00,000 year old being, capable of creating the entire Universe and its billions of galaxies, monitoring simultaneously the thoughts and actions of the 7 billion human beings on this planet is ludicrous.
Second, if I did, I would have left you a book a little more consistent, timeless and independently verifiable than the collection of Iron Age Middle Eastern mythology you call the Bible. Hell, I bet you cannot tell me one thing about any of its authors or how and why it was edited over the centuries, yet you cite them for the most extraordinary of claims.
Thirdly, when I sent my “son” (whatever that means, given that I am god and do not mate) to Earth, he would have visited the Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, Russians, sub-Saharan Africans, Australian Aboriginals, Mongolians, Polynesians, Micronesians, Indonesians and native Americans, not just a few Jews. He would also have exhibited a knowledge of something outside of the Iron Age Middle East.
Fourthly, I would not spend my time hiding, refusing to give any tangible evidence of my existence, and then punish those who are smart enough to draw the natural conclusion that I do not exist by burning them forever. That would make no sense to me, given that I am the one who elected to withhold all evidence of my existence in the first place.
Fifthly, in the same vein, I would not make about 5% of the human population gay, then punish them for being that way. In fact, I wouldn’t care about how humans have sex at all, given that I created all of the millions of millions of species on the planet, all of whom are furiously reproducing all the time. Human $ex would be of no interest to me, given that I can create Universes. Has it ever occurred to you that your obsession with making rules around human sex is an entirely human affair?
Sixth, I would have smite all evangelicals and fundamentalists long before this. You people drive me nuts. You are so small minded and yet you speak with such false authority. Many of you still believe in the talking snake nonsense from Genesis. I would kill all of you for that alone and burn you for an afternoon (burning forever is way too barbaric for me to even contemplate).
Seventh, the whole idea of members of one species on one planet surviving their own physical deaths to “be with me” is utter, mind-numbing nonsense. Grow up. You will die. Get over it. I did. Hell, at least you had a life. I never even existed in the first place.
Eighth, I do not read your minds, or “hear your prayers” as you euphemistically call it. There are 7 billion of you. Even if only 10% prayed once a day, that is 700,000,000 prayers. This works out at 8,000 prayers a second – every second of every day. Meanwhile I have to process the 100,000 of you who die every day between heaven and hell. Dwell on the sheer absurdity of that for a moment.
Finally, the only reason you even consider believing in me is because of where you were born. Had you been born in India, you would likely believe in the Hindu gods, if born in Tibet, you would be a Buddhist. Every culture that has ever existed has had its own god(s) and they always seem to favor that particular culture, its hopes, dreams and prejudices. What, do you think we all exist? If not, why only yours?
Look, let’s be honest with ourselves. There is no god. Believing in me was fine when you thought the World was young, flat and simple. Now we know how enormous, old and complex the Universe is.
Move on – get over me. I did.
God
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To norm,
you know wat norm i take it back i culdnt make you believe. To be honest im going to pray for you. with you not believing in god you are poor, and that i dont mean financially i mean without jesus. who do u think made this universe norm, a guy named BOB ! this universe didnt just magically appear. god made this, God is the creator of all, and he gave is only son to save us and you dont have enough appreciation to speak a good word. i dont know how anyone could go through life not knowing jesus or loving jesus. This is the last message im going to leave because im not going to keep saying the same thing over and over again. listen friend good luck and i will pray for you. my advice for you is expierience jesus and expierience the change in your life. goodbye
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You don’t have to pray for me. Be practical. If you are so religious, there are more people deserving of a prayer. Save them for those affected by floods in the Philippines, innocent victims of war, a starving kid in Africa, a Filipino maid being raped by her employer in the Middle East or a boy being molested by a priest. I do not know who made the universe but unlike you I will not claim that a ‘god’ did it even though you don’t have an iota of evidence. If you insist that it is ‘god,’ which one then – Zeus, Odin, Thor, Osiris, Allah, Ashera, Yahweh, Jesus, Brahma or any of the thousands invented by man? There are 6 billion people in the world, and 4 billion of them go through life without Jesus – and they are not ‘poor.’ Some of them haven’t even heard of him? Have you thought about that? Have you been so obsessed with Jesus that it is only now that you realize that? You don’t need a Jesus, or any god, to be good and moral. Some people experience change through Allah, Buddah, Ganesh or even the birth of a child. Jesus doesn’t have a monopoly in changing people’s lives.
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Before I comment, I would like to ask a sincere apology of my English grammar because I’m not so good in English. I’m just so eager to tell everyone about my true story of miracles which I have experienced during my childhood in our province of Banton Romblon.
When I was 10 years old, a certain miracle took place in a nearby Barangay or district of in our province of Banton Romblon. The place was called “Barangay Banesi”.
According to the recent stories, a young Lady named Remedios was favored by the Virgin Mary with a gift of healing for the poor people of Banton. The healing starts in the catholic church of Barangay Banesi and by doing this, she became very popular in the whole municipality of Banton.
She has never taken or asked any amount because Virgin Mary had told her not to receive any amount from the people. When the crowd of believers had been already huge, the Blessed Virgin Mary begins to give her messages to Remedious. I could not remember anymore those messages but I can still remember some brief details of those messages. One of those messages that she give was to become docile to Gods Commandments and be firm on the catholic faith. She has also told all pilgrims to love Jesus and always pray the holy rosary in order to prevent a massive apostasy that is going to happen very soon in the Philippines.
The pilgrims are increasing everyday but the assigned priest in Banton was very worried because he thinks the miracles of healing and the messages was a hoax. Everytime Remedious start her healing, they pray the holy rosary and while praying the believers smell a rose. Some either did not experience and that they became very disappointed.
After a few months, the priest in Banton asks help of the Bishop of Romblon in order to stop the huge pilgrims in believing the hoax. To make the story short, a priest from Romblon arrived in Barangay Banesi. He said to all pilgrims that he was sent by the bishop of Romblon to investigate and to declare the authentication of the miracle.
After two days the priest feels a stomach illness but remedies could not heal him. After that the priest declares that the miracle was a hoax and he acclaimed that he saw a demon beside Remedious.
The healing was suddenly stopped and remedies suddenly lost her power to heal. Pilgrimages go home and never come back to that place again. Until now very few remember the good thing that Remedious had done when she still has the power to heal.
In my own opinion, Satan will not ask anyone to pray the holy rosary or cure any disease or warn about the danger of apostasy. In Mattew 12:26 Jesus said; If Satan cast out Satan, then he is divided against himself. How then his kingdom stand? Deceived happens everywhere and anywhere and if Brother Carmelo is a tool of Satan, then Satan is dividing himself.
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Thank you for sharing your story and expressing your opinion.
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Fabiobernard:
“…true story of miracles.” – How do you know it is true? Who authenticated these ‘miracles?’
“…Remedios was favored by the Virgin Mary…” – How do you know this? If she has truly the gift of healing, could this have been directly from Jesus? Or a favorite saint? Or the Holy Spirit? Or maybe from Allah?
“…. The Blessed Virgin Mary begins to give her messages to Remedios.” – Once again, how did you know this. A claim from Remedios? What made you believe this?
You did not mention what kind of ‘healing’ Remedios did to the people of Banesi. Is it possible that Remedios is so delusional that she thinks she can heal, and the gullible believers think that they are cured of illnesses that they don’t have in the first place?
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