Reply #27: hint = suggests

[simonm]

The results are still inconclusive since there is more than one possible explanation.

We paired two known psychics with demonstrable talent and introduced the idea of conducting a magical ritual. The ritual consisted of deceiving spirits (that is what they believed in) for accomplishing a desired action. After their agreement, both psychics had trouble with their intuition and other "abilities". They could no longer receive "information" and took a few weeks to recover.

Possible explanations:

1. Internal influence (subconscious)
2. External unknown influence

How both were affected at the same time is interesting especially when you consider their belief structure. Both believed in having authority over the "spirit realm" and never thought of losing anything. One was a practitioner of Spanish Voodoo and the other was into Kabala. They followed different paths yet yielded the same result.