However, one Inverness man believes we all have a vital weapon with which to defend ourselves against such threats. Our intuition.

Martial artist, professional trainer and professional psychic Jock Brocas has drawn together elements from his background in the martial arts, the armed forces and security industry along with what he regards as his own psychic abilities to create a defence mechanism based on awareness which forms the basis of his first book, "Powers of the Sixth Sense".

The book appears to have struck a chord with the American public and went into a second printing in its first week of publication and has also been praised by readers such as former Ministry of Defence UFO specialist Nick Pope, martial arts practitioners and is endorsed by a scientist involved in the CIA's experiments in ESP, Project Stargate.

Other countries have also expressed interest in publishing the book and a major US television network — which Jock says he cannot reveal at the moment — has also been in talks about using the book as the basis of a series.

However, Jock, who lives in Inverness with his wife Joanne, insists financial success was not his main motivation in writing it.

"If people get in touch with their feelings it can keep them safe from violence," Jock said.

"The book's out there to help people and if it changes one person's life, it's done its job. Our world is a hostile place."

"You just have to look at the local and national news. Recently in Inverness we've had a violent death, we've had the London terror attacks and the attack at Glasgow airport. But we have got to realise we have an original weapon within us and that's intuition."

It is a weapon those in the frontline of the "War on Terror" seem to be already utilising, Jock believes.

"I did a radio show for the armed forces and had contact from soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq," he said.

"One guy had this intuition about going into a particular building. He changed his route and discovered that if he had gone into that building, he would have been taken out, along with the rest of his patrol because an ambush had been set up."

This was only one of the many radio and television stations which have shown an interest in the book and Jock and Joanne have found themselves giving interviews at 3am or 4am to stations across North America or elsewhere in the world.

One of the examples Jock cites in his book is of a British doctor who felt something wrong about his forthcoming holiday to Asia, cancelled at the last minute and so avoided becoming a victim of the 2003 tsunami, but use of self-protective intuition need not involve such dramatic circumstances.

"It can be something as simple as the hairs sticking up on the back of your neck when you go into a club," he added.

"It's a natural inbuilt ability that we all have."

The book also brings together various aspects of his own life including his long-standing interest in martial arts, his career in the army and security industry and what he maintains are his own and his wife's psychic abilities.

"I've always been a spiritual person," said Jock. "I was brought up a Roman Catholic and I wanted to be a priest when I was younger. My uncle was a monk and I used to go to the monastery all the time. In the monastery I saw a priest and tried to shout to him, but he ignored me and when I complained the next day, the monks told me he had died years before."

Alongside this experiences ran Jock's fascination with martial arts. He studied judo, Taekwon-Do and Shotokan karate, but his main interest was in Ninjutsu, the martial art of feudal Japan's own equivalent of the special forces, the Ninjas.

However, he kept his involvement secret, telling his family that he was going to mass on Sunday when he was actually going to martial arts training.

Psychic authors Jo and Jock Brocas.

"In fact, it was only two years ago at our wedding that my mother found out I was a black belt," Jock claimed.

At the age of 16, Jock joined the army as a boy soldier and went on to become a combat medic and served with various units, including the Gurkhas and Paras, before an injury sustained on a march through the Brecon Beacons in Wales led to Jock receiving a medical discharge. However, he was able to call on his military background for a career as a bodyguard in the security industry, thanks in the main to a posting to a royal residence.

"I worked with the Queen Mother's Special Branch protection team and that fed what I wanted to do," he explained.

After training with former members of the SAS, he became involved in personal protection work, specialising in surveillance and counter-surveillance, and working internationally, mainly in the oil industry.

"One moment I could be working for a synagogue in Glasgow, the next month I could be working for Middle Eastern clients — though I never told one lot I was working for the other one," he laughed.

Jock also says that his security work led to frightening undercover encounters with paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland when his intuition saved his life and that he was part of a team which went to Los Angeles to train police there in firearms and close combat techniques.

It was when he returned to Scotland to live in Aberdeenshire, that Jock met wife Joanne on a psychic development course. "Of course, I was her best student," Jock added, claiming the course has helped him make sense of his psychic abilities and he and Joanne now work together as mediums. This has included being called in as consultants in poltergiest cases, though Joanne has also used the controversial complementary therapy Reiki to treat depression and other conditions.

Jock knows there are many who would scoff at the couple's psychic claims, but he is not the sort of person to back away from confrontation.

"I have taken on sceptics on air. I've got a bit of a reputation as being the Gordon Ramsay of mediumship," he laughed.

Nor is he worried about subjecting his claimed powers to scientific examination.

"I believe what we do has a basis in science and we should be able to prove it," he said.

"I don't mind taking sceptics on. It's a challenge and I enjoy a challenge. I also take on other psychics. There are a lot of cowboys out there who are just out to rip people off. When we are called to hauntings, we never charge a penny."

Since Jock wrote his book, while recovering from the effects of a serious car accident, the couple have both become authors. Joanne has her own book, "Feel the Vibes", scheduled for publication in September. Focusing on psychic and spiritual development, it includes a number of stories and Joanne's own experiences from the Highlands.

The couple have plans to co-author a book, but before that happens both have their second books to produce and in Jock's case, that involves engaging in some "DaVinci Code" like contentious religious territory.

"My next book is called 'Powers of the Soul'," Jock said. "It's about Jesus and challenging the Church's view that Jesus was the saviour and devine. I believe he was probably the most powerful medium and healer and I've gone through the books of the Bible to prove mediumship existed in that day. I believe it's going to be very controversial — and so do my publishers."

* "Powers of the Sixth Sense: How to Keep Safe in a Hostile World" by Jock Brocas is published by O Books in the US and UK. His website is: http://www.jockbrocas.com

c.macleod@inverness-courier.co.uk 

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---