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TELEPATHY
Telepathy is the psychical influence of thought via experient influence over the biological basis of
consciousness and the mental process by which we perceive, act, learn and remember; Including
mental forms and processes such as the nervous system in which processes and transmits
information by electrochemical signaling. Characteristically, people are dynamic information-
processing systems whose mental operations can limitedly be described in computational terms
as the mind has demonstrated its capacity to store and process visual, auditory, and basic
arbitrary packets of information. Experients of telepathic phenomena express influence in regards
to the creation, transference, modification, and deletion of single and multiple information
packages. (Kelly, 2011)

Additional Definitions
1. (Greek τηλε, tele meaning “distant” and πάθεια, patheia meaning “to be affected by”,[3])
describes the purported transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by
means other than the five classical senses (See Psi). [4][2] The term was coined in 1882 by the
classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research,[2]
specifically to replace the earlier expression thought-transference.[4][2] A person who is able to
make use of telepathy is said to be able to read the minds of others. Telepathy, along with
psychokinesis forms the main branches of parapsychological research, and many studies seeking
to detect and understand telepathy have been done within the field.

2. Within the field of parapsychology, telepathy is considered to be a form of extra-sensory

perception (ESP) or anomalous cognition in which information is transferred through Psi. It is
often categorized similarly to precognition and clairvoyance.[7] Various experiments have been
used to test for telepathic abilities. Among the most well known are the use of Zener cards and
the Ganzfeld experiment.

Zener cards are cards marked with five distinctive symbols. When using them, one individual is
designated the “sender” and another the “receiver”. The sender must select a random card and
visualize the symbol on it, while the receiver must attempt to determine that symbol using Psi.
Statistically, the receiver has a 20% chance of randomly guessing the correct symbol, so in order
to demonstrate telepathy, they must repeatedly score a success rate that is significantly higher
than 20%.[8] If not conducted properly, this method can be vulnerable to sensory leakage and
card counting. [8]

When using the Ganzfeld experiment to test for telepathy, one individual is designated the
receiver and is placed inside a controlled environment where they are deprived of sensory input,
and another is designated the sender and is placed in a separate location. The receiver is then
required to receive information from the sender. The exact nature of the information may vary
between experiments.[9]

Telepathic Association
Early studies of telepathic experiences focused on call cases. Call cases are an instructive form
of hallucinatory extrasensory experience. These cases are characteristic of a distressed
individual “calling” a loved one. When such experiences occur, the sender of the call is rarely
thinking of the receiver. In other words, it is as though the sender is making a generalized call for
aide without specifying the recipiency. Later speculations derived that the sender of the call may
not be sending a message, but rather is speculated to be an “active” member of an association
where the sender is seeking out information on those of whom the sender is emotionally close to.
This is similar to how associative networks work in the brain (a Hebbian process). Some support
for this speculation emerged in later studies, as in many cases involving experients of telepathic
phenomena, the sender had no conceivable reason to communicate to the recipient. Such views
have inspired little attention by the parapsychological community in regards to research to date.
(Kelly, 2011)

Recipiency may still be correlated to strong emotional association, but it is assumed that the
sender is requesting assistance, not information. However, other candidates for correlation may
be physical association (e.g. similar DNA; family), or could be related to the paranormal belief
(receptivity to psi) of the recipient where those who believe in psi are more likely to assimilate the
information into conscious awareness. In any case, telepathic experience is assumed to be
purposefully orientated rather than stochastic (random). This suggests that a call may simply be a
generalize call for assistance at-a-distance to those in which the sender shares a strong
association of some kind. (Kelly, 2011)

Phases of Telepathy
In regards to phases of telepathy, current modeling suggests three phases. (1) The first phase is
characterized by the formation of a quantum entanglement state of one human brain with another
human brain. During this phase, the quantum states of the brains of the subjects are entangled
via either spatial proximity or some form of interaction or association. (Kelly, 2011)
(2) The second phase is characterized by the sustainment of the entangled state of the two
brains. In this phase, it is assumed that the formed entangled state of the two brains may hold for
an extended period of time in a region of the brain under special conditions. (Kelly, 2011)

(3) The third phase is characterized by the collapsing of the entanglement state between the two
brains. It is when the entangled state of the two brains is collapsed by the measurement of one of
the brains that the brain states of both individuals synchronize to be definite states from an
entangled state. (Kelly, 2011)

At this time, the other individual, at-a-distance, will perceive the change. Such modeling continues
by assuming that when information is in an entangled state [superposition] no definite perception
in relation to the state yet exists. However, when the superposition state collapses into a defined
state, a definite perception in relation to the collapse appears. It is at this time that the assumed
telepathic effect becomes perceptible. (Kelly, 2011)

Types of Telepathy
Parapsychology describes several different forms of telepathy, including latent telepathy and
precognitive telepathy.[4]

Short Range Telepathy,(Kelly, 2011)

Long Rang Telepathy, (Kelly, 2011)

Latent Telepathy, formerly known as “deferred telepathy”, [10] is described as being the transfer
of information, through Psi, with an observable time-lag between transmission and receipt.[4]

Precognitive Telepathy is described as being the transfer of information, through Psi, about the
future state of an individual’s mind[4]

Telepathic Cognition
Telepathic cognition is defined as “the phenomenologically direct knowledge of another person’s
thoughts or mental states.” In cases of telepathic cognition, one individual is retrieving information
from another, i.e. one individual is able to “pick up on” the thoughts of another individual. The
person from whom the thoughts originate does not play and intentional part in the information
teleportation processes. Instead, the process is assumed entirely evoked by the receiver. In other
words, in regards to telepathic cognition, the “receiver” is the telepathist (an individual with
telepathic ability capable of evoking telepathic processes). Here, the telepathist will become
aware of the other individuals mental state or states, but should be able to clearly identify that the
thought did not originate in their own mind. (Kelly, 2011)

Here the information is received and perceived by the telepathist, but the thought did not develop
from a chain of prior thoughts belonging to the telepathist. Instead, the thought appears to “pop
up,“ but is immediately associated with a specific individual other than the telepathist, or simply
identified as not originating from the telepathist. The type of telepathist described above could be
defined as an experient of spontaneous telepathic phenomena, in that the information appears to
“pop into mind” rather than being intentionally requested. Experients of intentional telepathic
phenomena are telepathists whom select or specify another individual from whom they wish to
extract information. (Kelly, 2011)

Stages of Telepathic Cognition

In regards to intentional telepathic cognitive techniques, several stages are assumed to exist
through which the telepathist acquires information. During spontaneous (non-intentional)
telepathic cognition, these processes are assumed to run automatically via the subconscious.
However, since the processes are run subconsciously, there is no conscious directive. To obtain
a level of conscious direction, the telepathist is assumed to require achieving each step in order
to perform successfully. Stage 1 of the telepathic cognitive process involves initiation, i.e. the
telepathist recognizes his or her need for information consciously, and therefore subconsciously.
Stage 2 involves selection, i.e. the telepathist begins to decide what topic will be investigated,
and whom the subject will be. Selection techniques vary per the limitation of the telepathist. Stage
3 involves exploration, i.e. the telepathist begins to gather information on the decided topic, and
new knowledge comes into knowing (i.e. conscious awareness). The telepathist then associates
the new information with information previously known in regards to the topic. Stage 4 involves
formulation, i.e. the telepathist begins to evaluate the information that has been gathered. Stage
5 involves collection, i.e. the telepathist now “knows” the information he or she set out to gather.
The final Stage 6 involves search closure, i.e. the telepathist has completed hs or her search for
information, and will continue by summarizing the information that was found via the exploratory
search process, which involves mind mapping. (Kelly, 2011)

Selection techniques include, but are not limited to; eye to eye contact, touch, spatial proximity, or
the use of an electronic medium (e.g. phone or computer; real-time programs such as chat or
internet phone). Telepathic cognitive processes (ESP processes in general) appear limited to
exploratory search parameters. Exploratory search is a specialization of information exploration in
which represents the activities carried out by telepathists. Exploratory search includes a broad
class of activities for the telepathist to implement including investigating, evaluating, comparing,
and synthesizing. (Kelly, 2011)

Telepathic Interaction
Telepathic interaction is “the causal influence of one mind on another without the intervention of
the five senses.” Individuals who engage in telepathic interaction (telepathic impressionists)
appear to do so in regards to commands, based on the telepathists subconscious need to have
the individual (subject) feel a particular way. (Kelly, 2011)

However, it appears that telepathic interaction is involved in a manner causing a mild hypnotic
state in the individual (subject) via a telepathists command to do so, void of the telepathist having
to produce mentally any feelings associated with a hypnotic state within him (the telepathist). It is
this method of telepathic interaction I call “hypnotic telepathic interaction” or “hypnotic telepathy”
that appears to not only evoke strong emotions in the subject, but also typically results in an
action on the subjects behalf more often than the method associated with simply “commanding”
an act. Therefore, hypnotic telepathic interaction appears to be the strongest form of telepathy
and the most dangerous, raising an assortment of moral and ethical questions as to how such an
ability should be utilized in practical applications. (Kelly, 2011)

Further studies on my part have lead to the conclusion that initial telepathic “impressions” (i.e.
commands or evoked feelings) do not always fade away with time, but rather occasionally result
in the same strength of emotion or “need to act” anytime associated images of the telepathist, or
associated feelings pertaining to the feeling evoked by the telepathist, are mentally accessed.
Telepathic interaction appears to work more efficiently if the subjects mind is in a relaxed or
fatigued state. In regards to the mental state of the telepathist, in intentional telepathic interaction,
the telepathist is typically in a relaxed state, while in regards to spontaneous telepathic
interaction, the telepathist is typically in a stressed state. (Kelly, 2011)

Stages of Telepathic Interaction

In regards to intentional telepathic interaction techniques, several stages are assumed to exist
through which the telepathist impresses information. During spontaneous (non-intentional)
telepathic interaction, these processes are assumed to run automatically by the subconscious.
However, since the processes are run subconsciously, there is no conscious directive. To obtain
a level of conscious direction, the telepathist is assumed to require achieving each step in order
to perform successfully. Stage 1 of the telepathic impression process involves initiation, i.e. the
telepathist recognizes his or her need to impress information consciously, and therefore
subconsciously. Stage 2 involves selection, i.e. the telepathist begins to decide what idea or call
to action will be impressed, and whom the subject will be. The telepathist will need to induce the
information transfer process at this time. Selection techniques vary per the limitation of the
telepathist. Stage 3 involves induction, i.e. the telepathist induces the subject into a hypnotic
state. Alternatively, this state is broken down into two sub-stages. In the first sub-stage, if the
subject is uncomfortable, the telepathist will need to focus on reducing discomfort. Sub-stage 2
involves the telepathist defining the role of the subject (i.e. directing the subject’s attention solely
onto the telepathist and the telepathist focusing on what he or she needs the subject to think or
do). Stage 4 involves suggestion, i.e. the telepathist directs the focus of a dominate idea or call to
action by shifting the subjects “focus” on a idea or call to action to a “command” to accept the
idea or to act. Selection techniques include, but are not limited to; eye to eye contact, touch,
spatial proximity, and the use of an electronic medium (e.g. phone or computer; real-time
programs such as chat or internet phone). (Kelly, 2011)

Telepathic Simulation
Ostensible telepathic content-simulation or “telepathic simulation” has been defined as “a case in
which an individual’s mental state appears to produce a similar mental state in someone else.” In
other words, the telepathist’s mental state produces a similar mental state in the subject. Via this
type of telepathy, the subject and telepathist do not “know” the mental state of the other
participant, nor is the mental state “impressed.” In the case of this type of telepathy, the
telepathist does not “know” telepathically what the mental state of the subject is, but rather it
appears that the mental states of the telepathist and subject instantaneously become qualitatively
identical. (Kelly, 2011)

The identicalness of the mental state is debatable, as there is no empirical evidence to support
this at this time. However, reports in regards to this form of telepathy suggest exact, or nearly
exact, mental states rather than more associative states (e.g. a star for a star, rather than a star
for a pinwheel or daisy). This type of telepathy also appears to be more non-invasive as the
subject is typically is unaware that, or does not “know” that, the mental state is “not their own,” as
it appears to be less intrusive than impression. The skilled telepathist would however be able to
identify that the simulated mental state originated from (him) if the telepathist knowingly shared
the idea with a subject. In other words, the telepathist can share (his) own mental state with the
subject, or the telepathist can evoke the sharing process of the subject’s mental state to replace
(his) own mental state. (Kelly, 2011)
In the end, I believe the most efficient way to view telepathic content-simulation is as though the
mental states have be shared via the exact transmission of the state from one participant to the
other. The most common way in which this type of telepathy is utilized is to provide comfort and
or motivation.In regards to comfort, if the telepathist and subject find themselves in a situation in
which only the telepathist feels comfortable or safe, the telepathist can share (his) own behavioral
state, or anxiety-neutral mental condition, with the subject, whereby non-invasively sharing (his)
sense of security and comfort with the subject. A similar instance of this involves the sharing of
the telepathist’s belief that an action is a “good idea.” This sense of security is shared with the
subject leading the subject to bypass their natural inclinations. (Kelly, 2011)

Stages of Telepathic Simulation

In regards to intentional telepathic simulation techniques, several stages are assumed to exist
through which the telepathist shares information. During spontaneous (non-intentional) telepathic
simulation, these processes are assumed to run automatically by the subconscious.However,
since the processes are run subconsciously, there is no conscious directive. To obtain a level of
conscious direction, the telepathist is assumed to require achieving each step in order to perform
successfully. Stage 1 of the telepathic simulative process involves initiation, i.e. the telepathist
recognizes his or her need for sharing information consciously, and therefore subconsciously.
Stage 2 involves physical interaction, i.e. the telepathist must physically interact with the subject
or group of subjects. Interaction is assumed a requirement for any form of telepathy. Interaction’s
role in telepathic simulation involves linking the telepathist’s mental state to the mental state of
the subject(s) in a way that the quantum mental state of each participant cannot be sufficiently
described void of a full consideration of the other participants, even though the participants are
spatially separated (i.e. initiating quantum entanglement). Stage 3 of the telepathic simulative
process involves psychophysical interaction, i.e. the participant’s measure (become aware) of the
shared information. Physical interaction is achievable via any action through which the telepathist
and subject(s) has an effect upon one and other. This two-way effect, or interconnectivity, is
assumed essential for telepathic simulative processes. Examples of types of interaction can
include communication between participants of any kind (e.g. talking), close spatial proximity, or
direct physical touch. (Kelly, 2011)

Telepathic Precognition
Precognitive telepathy has been defined as “the phenomenologically indirect knowledge of
another person’s future thoughts or mental states.” This definition suggests that precognitive
episodes of telepathy are not a result of direct mind-to-mind psi phenomena, but rather indirect
precognitive clairvoyance. (Kelly, 2011)

I have found that in regards to clairvoyant precognition, associated processes are most
comprehensible as the result of information receptivity pertaining to potential trajectories of future
events. I assume Nature is in and of itself a universal information system, i.e. and objective
environment aware of its inner happenings. Therefore, I assume the system (Nature) is aware of
past events and real-time events. I also assume that the possible future paths of objects and
events are anticipated by the system based on past and current happenings. However, the
system does not appear to allow exact measurements of positions and velocities. Because of the
Heisenberg uncertainty principle, certain pairs of physical properties within the system, such as
position and momentum, cannot both be known to arbitrary precision. In other words, the more
one property is known, the less precisely the other can be known. (Kelly, 2011)

This of course raises a particular issue for experients of precognition.Since it is impossible for the
system to determine both the position and velocity of an object, with any degree of accuracy or
certainty, then the nature of the system promotes uncertainty of future events leaving the
experient with more than one potential trajectory per object. The system appears only partly
concerned with analyzing predictable trajectories, while being primarily concerned with the
analysis of random phenomena. The central objects constantly under analysis are random
variables, stochastic processes, and events. These can include mathematical abstractions of
non-deterministic events, measured quantities consisting of single occurrences, or in which
evolve over time in a random fashion. The experiences of non-deterministic events arise from
infinite and unpredictable behavior, as knowledge is never absolute in practice even in regards to
Nature, and especially in regards to the experient. (Kelly, 2011)

Stages of Telepathic Precognition

In regards to intentional precognitive techniques, several stages are assumed to exist through
which the experient acquires information clairvoyantly (not telepathically). Stage 1 of the
precognitive process involves initiation, i.e. the experient recognizes his or her need for
information consciously, and therefore subconsciously. Stage 2 involves selection, i.e. the
experient begins to decide what topic will be investigated (probabilistic information pertaining to
the subject’s future thoughts) and whom the subject will be. Stage 3 involves exploration, i.e. the
experient begins to gather probabilistic information, and new knowledge comes into knowing (i.e.
conscious awareness). Stage 4 involves formulation, i.e. the experient begins to evaluate the
information that has been gathered. Stage 5 involves collection, i.e. the experient now “knows”
the information he or she set out to gather. The final Stage 6 involves search closure, i.e. the
experient has completed his or her search for probabilistic information, and will continue by
summarizing the information that was found via the exploratory search process, which involves
mind mapping. (Kelly, 2011)

As a note, to reduce delays, experients should be encouraged to carefully formulate and clearly
state their query (verbally or mentally), select the proper class (e.g. investigating, evaluating,
comparing, or synthesizing ) of activity for acquisition, evaluate the relevance of the search
results, redefine the query if necessary, and repeat previous steps until they have achieved an
acceptable answer goal. (Kelly, 2011)

Memory Efficiency and Telepathic Reception

Telepathists can train their mind to act efficiently when extrasensory information is being
retrieved. Training can include techniques such as recalling sequences of digits, two-digit
numbers, alphabetic letters, or playing cards. To recall the sequences, the telepathist must
retrace the route, “stop” at each locus (e.g. part of the sequence), and “observe” the factor (e.g.
number). A telepathist can increase difficulty by incorporating images into sequences. Using the
method of loci (a spatial learning strategy), a telepathist with average memorization capabilities,
post-establishment of route stop-points and committing the associated images to long-term
memory with less than an hour of practice, can remember the entire sequence of a deck of cards.
(Kelly, 2011)

Increased efforts have lead to individuals capable of memorizing 1040 random digits in as little as
a half hour. Telepathists should always keep in mind that it is their “mind” that is the tool they are
utilizing to perform. The more efficient the tool, the more the telepathist will achieve. In either
case, spontaneous or intentional telepathy, the memory of the telepathist is vital to performance
Parapsychological research suggests that extrasensory information is received either
unconsciously (e.g. in dreams) or subconsciously to be later consciously “known” or be “known
and later recalled” (e.g. intuition and hallucination). If this is true, then an increase in the
telepathist’s memory should result in the increase of usable information obtained via telepathic
processes, which has continually been in correlation with my research findings. (Kelly, 2011)

The memory of a telepathist can also be improved through simple lifestyle changes such as
incorporating the aforementioned memory technique, healthy eating, physical fitness, and stress
reduction into their daily lives. To insure memory functionality in later years, experients should be
encouraged to stay intellectually active through learning, training, or reading. Experients of all
ages should keep physically active as to promote blood circulation to the brain, socialize, reduce
stress, keep sleep time regular, avoid depression or emotional instability, and to observe healthy
eating habits. (Kelly, 2011)

Therapeutic Applications
Applications in Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis involves a body of ideas and is primarily devoted to the study of human
psychological functioning and behavior. The three main components of psychoanalysis include:

 A method of investigation of the mind and the way in which one thinks.
 A systemized set of theories in regards to human behavior.
 A method of treatment of psychological or emotional illness. (Kelly, 2011)
In regards to the first component, telepathic cognitives and simulators will excel in investigative
efforts due to their innate psychical ability to investigate the minds of other human beings.
Through psychoanalysis, the telepathist can utilize their psychical ability to peer into (cognition),
or personally experience (simulation), the thoughts, free associations, fantasies (either solely or
via the verbal direction of the subject), and in some cases, the dreams of a patient whereby
revealing the unconscious conflicts causing a patient’s symptoms and character problems. (Kelly,
2011)

Investigative psychoanalytic techniques include those correlated with telepathic cognition and
simulation. While telepathic precognition can be utilized in conjunction with telepathic cognitive or
simulation based investigative efforts, it is rarely utilized exclusively. In regards to the second
component, theoretical orientations and interpretations in regards to human mentation and
development vary, as there are several theories associated with psychoanalysis. Major
psychoanalytic theories can be grouped into many theoretical schools (e.g. topographic theory,
structural theory, etc.). (Kelly, 2011)

After the analyst has investigated the mind of the client or patient, the analyst then interprets the
information for the client or patient to create insight for a resolution of the conflict. Such
interpretations typically lead to the patient (with the assistance of the psychoanalyst) confronting
and clarifying the patient’s pathological defenses, wishes, and feelings of guilt. In regards to
telepathic analysts, it is through telepathic skill and the analysis of conflicts that an analyst can
clarify how a patient’s mind is negatively affecting the patient and decide on a form of treatment.
In regards to the third and final component, approaches in treatment vary based on the
phenomenology of telepathy, theoretical orientation, and the problem requiring treatment. (Kelly,
2011)
The most common problems treatable with psychoanalysis include phobias, conversions,
compulsions, obsessions, anxiety attacks, depressions, sexual dysfunctions, a variety of
relationship issues (e.g. dating and marital issues), a variety of character issues (e.g. shyness,
meanness, obnoxiousness, workaholism, hyperdeductiveness, hyperemotionality,
hyperfastidiousness, etc). Overall, telepathic cognitives and simulators will benefit the most from
psychoanalytical applications. (Kelly, 2011)

Applications in Hypnotherapy
While other systems of psychotherapy can be advantages to telepathic impressionists,
hypnotherapy is their ideal system. Hypnotherapy is a form of therapy in which is undertaken with
a subject in hypnosis. Hypnotherapy is typically applied in order to modify a client or patient’s
behavior, emotional content, and attitudes, as well as treat various conditions including
dysfunctional habits, anxiety, stress-related illness, and assist in pain management and or
personal development. (Kelly, 2011)

It is through the therapeutic application of hypnotic telepathy or telepathic interaction that a

telepathist will excel in this system of psychotherapy. Traditional hypnotherapy typically involves
direct suggestion of symptom removal in conjunction with the utilization of therapeutic relaxation,
and occasionally aversions to addictive substances. Hypnoanalysis is a form of hypnotherapy,
which is utilized to regress clients or patients to an earlier age as a means to assist the them in
recalling or acting out repressed traumatic memories. Hypnoanalysis has been more commonly
utilized to treat war related issues such as shellshock and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
(Kelly, 2011)

Cognitive-behavioral hypnotherapy (CBH) is considered and integrated psychological therapy

involving clinical hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy. Techniques still utilized today in
hypnotherapy include age regression, revivification,guided imagery,parts therapy, confusion,
repetition, direct suggestion, indirect suggestion, mental state, hypnoanalysis, post-hypnotic
suggestion, and visualization. Overall, hypnotherapy is ideal for telepathic impressionists as
telepathic hypnotic suggestion typically appears to last longer and appears to be more effective
than non-telepathic hypnotic suggestion. (Kelly, 2011)

Applications in Group Psychotherapy

Group psychotherapy is an ideal therapeutic application for telepathic simulators. Group
psychotherapy involves one or more therapists treating a small group of clients or patients
together as a whole. Basically, group psychotherapy applies to any form of psychotherapy
delivered in a group format including group cognitive-behavioral therapy, though typically it is
applied to psychodynamic group therapy, where the group context and process is explicitly
utilized as a mechanism of change by developing, exploring, and examining interpersonal
relationships within the group. Types of group therapy include any assisting process in which
takes place in a group such as: support groups, skills training groups (e.g. anger management,
mindfulness, relaxation training or social skills training), and psycho-education groups.
Specialized forms of group therapy can include non-verbal therapies such as; expressive
therapies (e.g. dance therapy and music therapy). (Kelly, 2011)

Therapeutic factors associated with group psychotherapy and practice include universality,
altruism, instillation of hope, imparting information, corrective recapitulation of the primary family
experience, development of socializing techniques,imitative behavior, cohesiveness, existential
factors, catharsis, interpersonal learning, and self-understanding. Regardless of the factor, a
skilled telepathic simulator can assist via psychically sharing information to help group members
achieve goals of understanding and being understood, and achieve goals of altering one’s
thoughts, feelings, and behavior for the individuals and or the group’s benefit and well-being.
(Kelly, 2011)

Skepticism and Controversy

The field which studies certain types of paranormal phenomena such as telepathy is called
parapsychology. There is a consensus among the fans of parapsychology that some instances of
telepathy are real.[11][12] Skeptics say that instances of what seem to be telepathy are explained
as the result of fraud or self-delusion and that telepathy does not exist as a paranormal power.
[13]

Parapsychologists and skeptics agree that many of the instances of more popular psychic
phenomena, such as mediumism, can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as cold
reading.[14][15][16] Magicians such as Ian Rowland and Derren Brown have demonstrated
techniques and results similar to those of popular psychics, but they prefer psychological
explanations instead of paranormal ones. They have identified, described, and developed
complex psychological techniques of cold reading and hot reading.

A technique which shows statistically significant evidence of telepathy on every occasion has yet
to be discovered. This lack of reliable reproducibility has led skeptics to argue that there is no
credible scientific evidence for the existence of telepathy at all.[17] Skeptics also point to
historical cases in which were discovered flaws in experimental design and occasional cases of
fraud.[18] Parapsychologists such as Dean Radin, president of the Parapsychological
Association, argues that the statistical significance and consistency of results shown by a meta-
analysis of numerous studies provides evidence for telepathy that is almost impossible to account
for using any other means.[9]

Telepathy in Popular Culture

Literature
Telepathy is commonly used in fiction, with a number of superheroes and supervillains, as well as
figures in many science fiction novels, etc., use telepathy. Notable fictional telepaths include the
Jedi in Star Wars or Jean Grey in X-Men. The mechanics of telepathy in fiction vary widely. Some
fictional telepaths are limited to receiving only thoughts that are deliberately sent by other
telepaths, or even to receiving thoughts from a specific other person. For example, in Robert A.
Heinlein’s 1956 novel Time for the Stars, certain pairs of twins are able to send telepathic
messages to each other. Some telepaths can read the thoughts only of those they touch, such as
Vulcans in the Star Trek media franchise. At the opposite end of the spectrum, some telepathic
characters continuously sense the thoughts of those around them and may control or dampen
this ability only with difficulty, or not at all. In such cases, telepathy is often portrayed as a mixed
blessing or as a curse.

Some fictional telepaths possess mind control abilities, which can include “pushing” thoughts,
feelings, or hallucinatory visions into the mind of another person, causing pain, paralysis, or
unconsciousness, altering or erasing memories, or completely taking over another person’s mind
and body (similar to spiritual possession). Examples of this type of telepath include the
Carpathians from the novels in the Dark Series, the White Queen from Marvel Comics.
Characters with this ability may or may not also have the ability to read thoughts.

Technological Telepathy is also present in science fiction, typically involving the usage of neural
implants of some description. A good example is the Conjoiners in the Revelation Space series
by Alastair Reynolds. Conjoiners rely on their technological telepathy (referred to by them as
“Transenlightenment”) to the extent that they no longer actually speak. Certain Conjoiners are
able to read, attack and control the minds of other Conjoiners and machines (though not standard
humans) using digital attacks, often having similar effects to other telepaths in fiction.

Technologically Enabled Telepathy

Some people, occasionally referred to by themselves or others as “transhumanists”, believe that
technologically enabled telepathy, coined “techlepathy”, will be the inevitable future of humanity.
Kevin Warwick of the University of Reading, England is one of the leading proponents of this view
and has based all of his recent cybernetics research around developing practical, safe for directly
connecting human nervous systems together with computers and with each other. He believes
techno-enabled telepathy will in the future become the primary form of human communication. He
predicts that this will happen by means of the principle of natural selection, through which nearly
everyone will have the need for such technology for economic and social reasons.[5][6]

Scientific Investigation of Telepathy

Numerous scientific experiments seeking evidence of telepathy have been conducted over more
than a century in the field of parapsychology. Telepathy, as with all parapsychological subjects,
remains controversial.

History
Western scientific investigation of telepathy is generally recognized as having begun with the
initial program or research of the Society for Psychical Research. The apex of their early
investigations was the report published in 1886 as the two-volume work Phantasms of the Living.
It was with this work that the term “telepathy” was introduced, replacing the earlier term “thought
transference”. Although much of the initial investigations consisted largely of gathering anecdotal
accounts with follow-up investigations, they also conducted experiments with some of those who
claimed telepathic abilities.[citation needed] However, their experimental protocols were far more
lax than those used today.[citation needed]

In 1917, psychologist John E. Coover from Stanford University conducted a series of telepathy
tests involving transmitting/guessing playing cards. His participants were able to guess the
identity of cards with overall odds against chance of 160 to 1;[citation needed] however, Coover
did not consider the results to be significant enough to report this as a positive result.[citation
needed]

The best-known early telepathy experiments were those of J. B. Rhine and his associates at
Duke University, beginning in the 1927 using the distinctive ESP Cards of Karl Zener (see also
Zener Cards). These involved more rigorous and systematic experimental protocols than those
from the 19th century, used what were assumed to be ‘average’ participants rather than those
who claimed exceptional ability, and used new developments in the field of statistics to evaluate
results. Results of these and other experiments were published by Rhine in his popular book
Extra Sensory Perception, which popularized the term.

Another influential book about telepathy was Mental Radio, published in 1930 by the Pulitzer
prize-winning author Upton Sinclair (with foreword by Albert Einstein). In it Sinclair describes the
apparent ability of his wife at times to reproduce sketches made by himself and others, even
when separated by several miles. They note in their book that the results could also be described
by the more general term clairvoyance, and they did some experiments whose results suggested
that in fact no sender was necessary, and some drawings could be reproduced precognitively.
[citation needed]

By the 1960s, many parapsychologists had become dissatisfied with the forced-choice
experiments of J. B. Rhine, partly because of boredom on the part of test participants after many
repetitions of monotonous card-guessing,[citation needed] and partly because of the observed
“decline effect” where the accuracy of card guessing would decrease over time for a given
participant, which some parapsychologists attributed to this boredom.[citation needed]

Some parapsychologists turned to free response experimental formats where the target was not
limited to a small finite predetermined set of responses (e.g., Zener cards), but rather could be
any sort of picture, drawing, photograph, movie clip, piece of music etc.[citation needed]

Zener Card Experiments

Dates run: 1930’s

Experimental philosophy: A Zener Card deck is created, which consists of five cards each of
five different symbols. The deck is shuffled, and the subject is asked to guess the identity of each
card as it is drawn and viewed by a sender. In this experiment, telepathy is assumed to be weak,
and only expected to give a small deviation towards correct answers.[citation needed]

Experimental design: J. B. Rhine, the experimenter, would sit across a table from the subject.
He would shuffle the Zener Card deck, and draw cards one at a time. For each card, he would
look at it and ask the psychic to guess its identity by reading his mind. A hit rate of significantly
more or less than 20% was considered to be evidence of telepathy. Hit rates significantly below
20% were reguarded psi-missing, the phenomenon in which psi may cause missing due to the
attitude of the experimenter or subject toward the situation or subject matter.[1]

Results: Rhine’s studies produced results which were significantly above or below chance in a
statistical sense.[2] He noted, however, that this experiment couldn’t adequately distinguish
telepathy from clairvoyance.[3]
Dual Visual Testing
There are two main categories of targets for telepathy experiments, these include intuition-based
targets, and hallucination-based targets. Intuition-based targets are more generalized targets
utilized typically for abstract “feelings,” while hallucination-based targets are more “sensory-
based.” For this experiment, the telepathist will be using a visual target and will be required to
collaborate with a close friend or relative. Both the partner and the telepathist should situate
themselves in a meditatively conducive atmosphere and sit back-to-back or face-to-face. Neither
participant should be further than two feet from the other. Experimental evidence is not
supportable in this type of experiment due to the high probability of sensory cues. Because of
this, this type of experiment should be utilized solely for self-evidence of telepathic phenomena.
Firstly, the one participant will view in-mind a visual target and attempt to transfer the description
of the visual target to the other participant by focusing on a need to do so. This experiment can
be modified to include audio or other types of targets. [1]

Participants should limit visual targets to simple designs and replace simple designs with more
challenging designs over time. Simple designs can be those of Zener symbols, or visual images
of single objects to which both participants are familiar. Colors can also be utilized such as
yellow, green, red, blue, orange, and purple. It is advantageous for the experient to utilize the
experimental process as an opportunity to learn about their ability via the provision of immediate
feedback (i.e. notifying the experient of hits and misses per guess). Per my research, the
application of regular telepathy experiments does appear to enhance telepathic performance to a
degree, a degree in which appears to be limited by several normal psychological and
physiological processes (i.e. biologically speaking, telepathic enhancement appears to have its
limits, as does any other human ability). [1]

Ganzfeld Experiments
(Main article: Ganzfeld)

Dates run: 1974 to present

Experimental philosophy: The subject is placed in sensory deprivation, in hopes that this will
make it easier to receive and notice incoming telepathic signals. In this experiment, telepathy is
assumed to be weak, and only expected to give a small deviation towards correct answers.[4]

Experimental design: The receiver (a possible psychic, who is being tested) is placed in a
soundproof room and sits reclining in a comfortable chair. The subject wears headphones which
play continuous white noise or pink noise. Halves of ping pong balls are placed over their eyes,
and a red light is shined onto the subject’s face. These conditions are designed to cause the
receiver to enter a state similar to being in a sensory deprivation chamber.

The sender is seated in another soundproof room, and is assigned one of four potential targets,
randomly selected. Typically, these targets are pictures or video clips. The sender attempts to
telepathically “send” information about the target to the receiver. The receiver is generally asked
to speak throughout the sending process, and their voice is piped to the sender and
experimenter. This is to assist the sender in determining if their method of “sending” information
about the target is working, and adjust it if necessary. Breaks may be taken, and the sending
process may be repeated multiple times.

Once the sending process is complete, the experimenter removes the receiver from isolation. The
receiver is then shown the four potential targets, and asked to choose which one they believe the
sender saw. In order to avoid potential confounding factors, the experimenter must remain
ignorant of which target was chosen until the receiver makes their choice, and multiple sets of the
pictures of videos should be used in order to avoid handling cues (evidence, such smudges on a
picture, that the picture was handled by the sender).[citation needed]

A statistical analysis is performed to find out whether the subject scored significantly above or
below chance.[4]

Results: Many meta-analyses performed on multiple Ganzfeld experiments returned a hit rate of
between 30% and 40%, which is significantly higher than the 25% expected by chance.[4][5]

Ganzfeld Simulation Telepathy Experiment

Sensory deprivation is defined as the deliberate reduction or removal of stimuli from one or more
of the senses. Devices utilized for visual and auditory deprivation include blindfolds, noise-
canceling headphones, headphones through which white or pink noise is played, white noise
machines, fans, etc. Short-terms sessions of sensory deprivation are typically relaxing, psi-
conducive, and conducive to meditation. The fourth level of sensory induced hallucinations
requires a deep state of meditation. At this level, thoughts will visually manifest as objects or
environments. This level is the ideal level to be obtained by participants in a sensory deprivation-
based telepathy experimental setup. When this level is achieved, the prior visual noise will appear
to calm and disperse, whereby leaving behind an intense, flat, ordered, blackness. The visual
field will become an active space, and experients may feel motion when their eyes are
closed. (Kelly, 2011)
The opening of the eyes will return the experients back to the physical world, but the experient
will still see the object field superimposed over their physical vision. In this state, the experient
may appear to see physical objects in which are not actually physically present. It is in this state
that many experients of ESP phenomena find themselves throughout the day to day. The
Ganzfeld experimental setup is based on the Ganzfeld effect and sensory deprivation. The
Ganzfeld effect is a phenomenon of visual perception caused by an experient staring at an
undifferentiated and uniform field of color such as black in a darkened room, red with the eyes
closed in a bright room, or white in an outdoor area complexly blanketed with snow. The effect is
described as the loss of vision as the experients brain cuts off the unchanging signal from the
eyes. The result, “seeing black,” of which the experient may think he or she has gone blind. This
effect is canceled, and vision is returned, when the experient is removed from the darkened room,
opens their eyes, or comes across an object of another color. This effect can result in
hallucinations and altered states of mind, therefore this effect has be utilized in parapsychological
experiments as it has been found for many years to be psi-conducive. (Kelly, 2011)

Controversy
Ganzfeld experiments:

Isolation – Not all of the studies used soundproof rooms, so it is possible that when videos were
playing, the experimenter (or even the receiver) could have heard it, and later given involuntary
cues to the receiver during the selection process.[6] However, ganzfeld studies which did use
soundproof rooms had a number of “hits” similar to those which did not.[2] (Radin 1997: 77-89)

Handling cues – Only 36% of the studies performed used duplicate images or videos, so handling
cues on the images or degradation of the videos may have occurred during the sending process.
[7] However, the results of studies were not found to correspond to this flaw.

Randomization – When subjects are asked to choose from a variety of selections, there is an
inherent bias to not choose the first selection they are shown. If the order in which are shown the
selections is randomized each time, this bias will be averaged out. However, this was often not
done in the Ganzfeld experiments.[8][9]

The psi assumption – The assumption that any statistical deviation from chance is evidence for
telepathy is highly controversial, and often compared to the God of the gaps argument. Strictly
speaking, a deviation from chance is only evidence that either this was a rare, statistically unlikely
occurrence that happened by chance, or something was causing a deviation from chance. Flaws
in the experimental design are a common cause of this, and so the assumption that it must be
telepathy is fallacious. This does not rule out, however, that it could be telepathy.[10]
Parapsychologists respond, however that while there are many potential theoretical explanations
of psi, parapsychology as a science does not claim to understand what psi is, but

Instead, [parapsychologists] design experiments to test experiences that people have reported
throughout history. If rigorous tests for what we have called [say] “telepathy” result in effects that
look like, sound like, and feel like the [often more impressive [11]] experiences reported in real
life, then call it what you will, but the experiments confirm that this common experience is not an
illusion.[2] (Radin 1997: 210)

“Psi” is the name for an unknown factor, not necessarily for a force or factor outside the current
range of scientific knowledge.

The existence of telepathy is still a matter of extreme controversy, with many skeptics stating that
evidence for it does not exist. A scientific methodology which always shows statistically significant
evidence of telepathy has yet to be discovered. Skeptics argue that the lack of a definitive
experiment whose reproducibility is near 100% (e.g. those which exist for magnetism) may
indicate that there is no credible scientific evidence for the existence of telepathy. Skeptics also
point to historical cases in which flaws have been discovered in the experimental design of
parapsychological studies, and the occasional cases of fraud which have marred the field.[12][13]
Those who believe that telepathy may exist say that very few experiments in psychology, biology,
or medicine can be reproduced at will with consistent results. Parapsychologists such as Dean
Radin argue that the extremely positive results from reputable studies, when analyzed using
meta-analysis, provide strong evidence for telepathy that is almost impossible to account for
using any other means[2].

Fraud
There have been instances of fraud in the history of parapsychology research, such as the Soal-
Goldney experiments of 1941-43.

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2011) Telepathy: A Quantum ApproachCharleston, South Carolina
USA. (ISBN 978-1-257-12278-3)
 Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). “The Skeptic’s Dictionary; Telepathy”. SkepDic.com.
Retrieved on 2006-09-13.
 Following the model of sympathy and empathy.
 Glossary of Parapsychological terms – Telepathy — Parapsychological Association,
Retrieved December 19, 2006
 Dvorsky, George (2004). “Evolving Towards Telepathy”. Betterhumans.com. Retrieved
on 2006-10-24.
 TakeAway Media (2000). “”Leviathan: Back to the Future: An interview with Kevin
Warwick””. BBC Two.
 Glossary of Parapsychological terms – ESP, Parapsychological Association, Retrieved
December 19, 2006
 Carroll, Robert (2006-02-17). “Zener ESP Cards”. The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved
on 2006-07-18.
 The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin
Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0
 Rennie, John (1845), “Test for Telepathy”, Scientific American,V3#1 (1847-09-25)
 “What is parapsychology?” From the FAQ of the website of the Parapsychological
Association.
 “What is the state-of-the-evidence for psi?” From the FAQ of the website of the
Parapsychological Association.
 Skepdic.com on ESP, Retrieved February 22, 2007
 Eberhard Bauer: Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology – An Overview.
European Journal of Parapsychology (1984).
 O’,Keeffe, Ciarán and Wiseman Richard: Testing alleged mediumship: Methods and
results. British Journal of Psychology.
 Rowland, Ian: The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading
 Examples, Randi, James. Prometheus Books (June 1982) ISBN-10: 0879751983 or
Charpak, Georges and Henri Broch.

References (Scientific Investigation of Telepathy)

 The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin
Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0
 Randi, James (1995). An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult
and Supernatural. St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0-312-15119-5.
 Bem, Daryl J. and Honorton, Charles (1994). “Does Psi Exist?”. Psychological Bulletin,
Vol. 115, No. 1, 4-18. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
 Hyman, Ray (March/April, 1996). “The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs.
Reality”. Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
 Wiseman, R., Smith, M,. Kornrot, D. (June 1996). “Exploring possible sender-to-
experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld experiments”. Journal of
Parapsychology.
 Carpenter, S. (July 31, 1999). “ESP findings send controversial message”. Science
News. Retrieved on 2006-06-23.
 Hyman, Ray (1985). “The ganzfeld psi experiment: A critical appraisal”. Journal of
Parapsychology (49): 3–49.
 Honorton, C (1985). “Meta-analysis of psi ganzfeld research: A response to Hyman”.
Journal of Parapsychology (49): 51–91.
 Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). “The Skeptic’s Dictionary: Psi Assumption”. Retrieved on
2006-06-23.
 Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). “The Skeptic’s Dictionary; ESP (extrasensory
perception)”. SkepDic.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-13.
 “Most academic psychologists do not yet accept the existence of psi…” Bem, Daryl J.
and Honorton, Charles (1994). “Does Psi Exist?”. Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 115, No.
1, 4-18. Retrieved on 2006-09-13.

Further Reading (Scientific Investigation of Telepathy)

 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2011) Telepathy: A Quantum ApproachCharleston, South Carolina
USA. (ISBN 978-1-257-12278-3)
 Alcock, James (1981), Parapsychology: Science or Magic? A Psychological
Perspective, Pergamon Press, ISBN 0-08-025772-0
 Alcock, James E. (1990), Science and Supernature: A Critical Appraisal of
Parapsychology, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-516-4
 Hansel, C. E. M. (1966), ESP: A Scientific Evaluation, Charles Scribner’s Sons, ISBN
0684310503
 Hansel, C.E.M. (1989), The Search for Psychic Power: ESP & Parapsychology
Revisited, Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-533-4
 Hyman, Ray (1989), The Elusive Quarry: A Scientific Appraisal of Psychical Research,
Prometheus Books, ISBN 0-87975-504-0
 Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) Telepathy: A Quantum ApproachCharleston, South
Carolina USA. (ISBN 978-1-257-12278-3)

External links
 Science Degrees in Telepathic Studies – Telepathic Studies with the University of
Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Telepathology – University of
Alternative Studies.
 Telepathy Course of Instruction – Become a student of Telepathy Studies.
 Telepathy Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 Telepathy Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Army developing ‘synthetic telepathy’ Similar technology marketed as a way to control
video games by thought
 PDF article in Nature Neuroscience on “Spatial selectivity in human ventrolateral
prefrontal cortex”
 Primary Quantum Model of Telepathy (PDF)
 Soal-Goldney Experiment – an evaluation of the Soal-Goldney Experiment, claims to
prove the existence of telepathy
EMPATHY
Empathy (Psychic) is the psychical influence of emotion via experient influence over the
emotional basis of consciousness and the mental and physiological processes associated
with a wide variety of emotional experiences. Emotions are defined as an episode, which
suggests the concept of a dynamic process, of interrelated, synchronized changes in the
states of all or most of the correlated organismic subsystems [e.g. central, neuroendocrine,
and somatic nervous systems] in response to the evaluation of an external or internal
stimulus event as relevant to major concerns of the organism. (Kelly, 2012)

Etymology
The English word empathy is derived from the Greek ἐμπάθεια (empatheia), “physical
affection, passion, partiality” which comes from ἐν (en), “in, at” + πάθος (pathos), “feeling”[2].
The term was adapted by Theodore Lipps to create the German word Einfühlung (“feeling
into”) from which the English term is then more directly derived. [3]

Defining Emotions
The function of emotion is speculated to include the evaluation of objects and events,
system regulation, preparation and direction of action, communication of reaction and
behavioral intention, and the monitoring of internal state and organism-environment
interaction. Current thought leaders in regards to the psychology of emotions support a
component process model of emotion involving cognitive, neurophysiological, motivational,
motor expression, and subjective feeling components. In addition, psychical empathy can
involve the influence of affective phenomena such as moods. However, this appears to apply
only when an element of telepathy or clairvoyance is involved, as affective phenomena such
as moods involve more than just emotional content. It is an experient of empathic
phenomena’s natural endowment in which enables their influence over emotion whether
phenomena is the result of conscious or subconscious performance.(Kelly, 2012)

Emotional Regulation
The first type of regulation strategy is called antecedent-focused, which refers to what an
empathist does prior to experiencing a particular emotion and can influence their
physiological and behavior responses (e.g. viewing a failure as an opportunity to try
something new).

Steps:
(1) Situation selection, which refers to approaching or completely avoiding particular
people, places, or things as a means to regulate emotion. Here the empathist must evaluate
what situations are negative verses positive alternatives, necessary and unnecessary (i.e.
assessing consequences and importance), and short- or long-term emotional benefits (i.e.
short-term emotional benefits with long-term negative consequences, or vice versa). (2)
Situation modification, whichrefers to changing a situation to soften emotional impact
when ones feels or thinks they are on the verge of entering into a situation that will have a
negative emotional affect. An example of this modification would be when a friend prompts
the empathist for emotional support when the empathists is emotionally fatigued and the
empathists prompts themselves to change the subject until the empathist is well rested. (3)
Attentional deployment, which refers to selecting one of numerous aspects of the
situation the empathist will supply their focus. For example, the empathist may chose to
focus on the “the big picture,” on the positive aspects of a distressing conversation or
distract him or herself from a conversation that they find distressing by thinking about
something else (e.g. counting in-mind, thinking of a pleasant memory, checking or
responding to text messages, etc.). This can also include the empathist devising a plan to
leave the situation (e.g. “I have to make a call”). (4) Cognitive change, which refers to
selecting one of numerous meanings he/she will correlate to the aspect they find negative
(e.g. in regards to the distressing conversation, the empathist may remind themselves that it
is “only their opinion, not necessarily the truth”). In other words, cognitive change is utilized
to decrease emotional response. (Kelly, 2012)

Practical Issues
In addition to the above use, the term empathy is also used by some people to signify their
heightened or higher sensitivity to the emotions and state of others. Empathy may be here
conceptualized as the ability to fully “read” another person, completely translating each
movement into understandable conversation. This, reportedly, can lead to both positive
aspects such as a more skilled instinct for what is “behind the scenes” with people, but also
to difficulties such as rapid over-stimulation, or overwhelming stress caused by an inability
to protect oneself from this so-called ‘pick-up’. Such people may for example find crowds
stressful simply due to picking up what is often described as “white noise” or multiple
emotions as they pass through it, a phenomenon not to be confused with agoraphobia and
sometimes informally known as crowd-sickness. A recurrent theme of discussion on such
websites relates to the impact upon individuals, and therefore also methods (including
mental practices, emotional processes and ritual) which anecdotally can help reduce the
intensity of empathic reactions to others’ feelings to a more bearable level (informally called
‘shielding’ or emotional detachment).

Empathy in this sense is ascribed by such people to various mechanisms. These include
simply more sophisticated subconscious processing of sensory cues or stronger emotional
feedback than the norm, (i.e. the normal human experience but more so), and therefore fit
within present models. Some people, perhaps due to synesthesia, believe it instead to be a
direct emotional sense or a feel for others’ “energy”. The New Age religion(s) have
constructed belief systems around anecdotal evidence of persons who claim to be empaths
in this sense. This aspect of empathy is not clinically recognized, and someone calling
themselves an “empath” usually does not intend to imply that they are gifted with any
psychic ability.

In general empathy may be painful to oneself: seeing the pain of others, especially as
broadcasted by mass media, can cause one temporary or permanent clinical depression; a
phenomenon which is sometimes called weltschmerz. However, since a basic emotional
understanding of others is an important pre-requisite of human relationships, subjects face
a dilemma to protect oneself from the pain of empathy or seek to relate to other humans
despite the potential risk of injury. [4]

Phases of Empathy
In regards to phases of empathy, current modeling suggests three phases. (1) The first phase
is characterized by the formation of a quantum entanglement state of one human brain with
another human brain or one human brain and an informational system within Nature.
During this phase, the quantum states of the brains of the subjects, or one brain and the
informational system of Nature, are entangled via either spatial proximity or some form of
interaction or association. (2) The second phase is characterized by the sustainment of the
entangled state of the two brains, or one brain and the informational system. In this phase,
it is assumed that the formed entangled state of the two brains, or one brain and the
informational system, may hold for an extended period of time in a region of the brain
under special conditions. (3) The third phase is characterized by the collapsing of the
entanglement state between the two brains, or a brain and informational system. It is when
the entangled state of the two brains, or brain and information system, is collapsed by the
measurement of one of the brains that the brain states of both individuals synchronize to be
definite states from an entangled state. At this time, in regards to tele-empathy, the other
individual, at-a-distance, will perceive the change. In regards to clair-empathy, the experient,
regardless of space-time variables associated with the informational system or the group or
populous they retrieve emotional experiences regarding, will perceive the change. Such
modeling continues by assuming that when information is in an entangled state
[superposition] no definite perception in relation to the state yet exists. However, when the
superposition state collapses into a defined state, a definite perception in relation to the
collapse appears. It is at this time that the assumed empathic effect becomes perceptible.
(Kelly, 2012)

Types of Empathy
Empathic Simulation
Empathic simulation has been defined as “a case in which an individual’s emotional
experience appears to directly produce a similar emotional experience in someone else
without the intervention of the five senses.” In other words, the empathist’s emotional
experience produces a similar emotional experience in subjects or vice versa. Via this type of
empathy, the subjects and empathist do not “know” the emotional experience of the other
participants, nor is the emotional experience “impressed.” In the case of this type of
empathy, the empathist does not “know” empathically what the emotional experience of the
subjects are, but rather it appears that the emotional experience of the empathist and
subjects instantaneously become qualitatively identical. However, reports in regards to this
form of tele-empathy suggest exact, or nearly exact, emotional experiences. This type of
empathy also appears to be more non-invasive as subjects are typically is unaware that, or
do not “know” that, the emotional experience is “not their own,” as it appears to be less
intrusive than empathic cognition or impression. The skilled empathist would however be
able to identify that the simulated emotional experience originated from him/her if the
empathist knowingly shared the emotion with subjects. In other words, the empathist can
share his/her own emotional experiences with subjects, or the empathist can evoke the
sharing process of the subject’s emotional experience to replace his/her own emotional
experience. In the end, I believe the most efficient way to view empathic simulation is as
though the emotional experiences have be shared via the exact transmission of the
experience from one participant to the other. The most common way in which this type of
empathy is utilized is to provide comfort and or motivation. In regards to comfort, if the
empathist and subjects find themselves in a situation in which only the empathist feels
comfortable or safe [e.g. a lacking of fear], or vice versa, the empathist can share his/her
own emotional experience, or fear-neutral emotional episode, with the subjects, whereby
non-invasively sharing his/her sense of security and comfort with the subjects. A similar
instance of this involves the sharing of the empathists feeling that an action is a “good idea,”
possibly due to neutralizing the emotional experiences of the subjects in regards to fear,
shame, guilt, etc. This sense of security is shared with the subjects leading the subjects to
often bypass their natural tendencies. (Kelly, 2012)

Empathic Interaction
Empathic interaction is the causal influence of one mind on another’s emotional state
without the intervention of the five senses.” Per my own research, individuals who engage in
empathic interaction [i.e. empathic impressionists] appear to do so in an authoritative
manner as a command. These commands can be either suggestive, which is characteristic of
a mild likelihood of influencing the emotions of subjects per the needs of the empathist, or
compulsive, which is characteristic of a very strong likelihood of influencing the emotions of
subjects per the needs of the empathist. The empathic impressionist does this as a means to
instruct subjects to feel a particular way that is accommodating to the empathist. However, it
appears that there may be an associated hypnotic element in regards to empathic
interaction. Hypnogenic empathic interaction is a form of empathic interaction that is
assumed involved in causing a mild hypnotic state in subjects, possibly involving impressed
emotions related to relief, which results in the behaviors of relaxation or decompression, via
an empathists command. This relaxed state allows for a more dominant approach by the
empathist in influencing the emotions of others, and allows subjects to be more susceptible
to impression. Unlike empathic simulation, this impressionistic process is void of the
empathist having a similar emotional experience at the time of impression on subjects. In
other words, the empathist is not simulating their own emotional experience onto subjects,
rather the empathist is “generating” an emotional experience of their choosing in others that
will be accommodating to the empathists needs/intentions. Hypnotic empathic interaction
appears to be the strongest form of empathy and the most dangerous, raising an
assortment of moral and ethical questions as to how such an ability should be utilized in
practical applications. In regards to the emotional state of the empathist, in intentional
empathic interaction, the empathist is typically in a relaxed state, while in regards to
spontaneous empathic interaction, the empathist is typically in a stressed state. (Kelly, 2012)
Empathic Cognition
Empathic cognition is defined as “the phenomenologically indirect knowledge of the
collective emotional experience of a large group or population via Nature.” In cases of
empathic clairvoyant cognition, an experient is retrieving information from Nature, i.e. the
experient is able to “pick up on” a current collective emotional experience recorded in
Nature. (i.e. even if the emotional experience is current, it is assumed that Nature “knows”
about the experience, and therefore has a “record” of the experience). The informational
system from which the collective emotional experience originates does appear to play an
intentional part in the emotional information teleportation processes. In other words, the
process is not assumed entirely evoked by the empathist, whereby possibly suggesting
Natures ever-present contribution to the survival (well-being) of the empathist. Here, the
empathist will become aware of Nature-based information (e.g. collective emotional
experiences), but should be able to clearly identify that the information did not originate in
their own mind. Here the emotional information is received and perceived by the empathist,
but the information did not develop from a chain of prior emotions belonging to the
empathist. Experient of spontaneous empathic clairvoyant cognitive phenomena are those
who’s acquired emotional experience appear to “pop up” rather than being intentionally
requested. Empathists of intentional empathic clairvoyant cognition are experients whom
select or specify a particular group from which they wish to extract collective emotional
information regarding. A single temporal facet of empathic clairvoyant cognition appears to
exist, which is a contemporaneous temporal facet in which seems to involve the “perception
of emotional information about organisms or events involving organisms through psychical
means during the time at which they are occurring.” (Kelly, 2012)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2012) Empathy: A Quantum Approach – The Psychical Influence of
Emotion,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9781105482885).
 Empatheia, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, at Perseus
 Preston, Stephanie D. and Frans B. M. de Waal. 2002. Empathy: its ultimate and
proximate bases.
 Wikipedia – No source cited.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2012) Empathy: A Quantum Approach – The Psychical Influence of
Emotion,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9781105482885).

External links
 Science Degrees in Empathic Studies – Empathic Studies with the University of
Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Empathology – University of Alternative
Studies.
 Empathy Course of Instruction – Become a student of Empathic Studies.
 Empathy Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 Empathy Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
REMOTE VIEWING
Remote Viewing (in regard to clairvoyance) is the psychical influence of a hypothetical
universal information system involved in the interim integration, processing, disposal, and
retrieval of information pertaining to remote objects and events in real-time. This is achieved
through the act of an experient requesting and receiving information pertaining to remote
current events via the systems working memory or short-term information storage. This
system is actively monitoring and manipulating information at a constant with real-time
constraints; operational deadlines between event to system response. The system captures,
retains, and stores this information and can be requested by an experient in which is then
conveyed intuitively or in the form of sensory hallucinations; primarily through the visual
and auditory modalities. These hallucinations can also occur in other sensory modality
including olfaction, gustatory, and somatosensory. (Kelly, 2011)

History
Remote Viewing (RV) refers to the attempt to gather information about a distant or unseen
target using paranormal means or extra-sensory perception. Typically a remote viewer is
expected to give information about an object that is hidden from physical view and
separated at some distance.[2][3][4] The term was introduced by parapsychologists Russell
Targ and Harold Puthoff in 1974.[5]

Remote viewing was popularized in the 1990s, following the declassification of documents
related to the Stargate Project, a 20 million dollar research program sponsored by the U.S.
Federal Government to determine any potential military application of psychic phenomena.
The program was terminated in 1995, citing a lack of documented evidence that the program
had any value to the intelligence community.[6]

One of the early experiments was lauded by proponents as having improved the
methodology of remote viewing testing and as raising future experimental standards, but
also criticized as leaking information to the participants by inadvertently leaving clues. [7]
Some later experiments had negative results when these clues were eliminated. [8]

Remote viewing, like other forms of extra-sensory perception, is generally considered as

pseudoscience [9] due to the need to overcome fundamental ideas about causality, time,
and other principles currently held by the scientific community, and the lack of a positive
theory that explains the outcomes.[10][11][12]
From World War II until the 1970s the US government occasionally funded ESP research.
When the US intelligence community learned that the USSR and China were conducting ESP
research, it became receptive to the idea of having its own competing psi research program.
(Schnabel 1997)

Early Stanford Research Institute Experiments

In 1972 Stanford Research Institute (SRI) laser physicist Hal Puthoff tested remote viewer
Ingo Swann, and the experiment led to a visit from two employees of the CIA’s Directorate of
Science and Technology. The result was a $50,000 CIA-sponsored project. (Schnabel 1997,
Puthoff 1996, Kress 1977/1999, Smith 2005) As research continued, the SRI team published
papers in Nature (Targ & Puthoff, 1974), in Proceedings of the IEEE (Puthoff & Targ, 1976),
and in the proceedings of a symposium on consciousness for the American Association for
the Advancement of Science (Puthoff, et al, 1981).

The initial CIA-funded project was later renewed and expanded. A number of CIA officials
including John McMahon, then the head of the Office of Technical Service and later the
Agency’s deputy director, became strong supporters of the program. By the mid 1970s,
facing the post-Watergate revelations of its “skeletons,” and after internal criticism of the
program, the CIA dropped sponsorship of the SRI research effort.

Sponsorship was picked up by the Air Force, led by analyst Dale E. Graff of the Foreign
Technology Division. In 1979, the Army’s Intelligence and Security Command, which had
been providing some taskings to the SRI investigators, was ordered to develop its own
program by the Army’s chief intelligence officer, Gen. Ed Thompson. CIA operations officers,
working from McMahon’s office and other offices, also continued to provide taskings to SRI’s
subjects. (Schnabel 1997, Smith 2005, Atwater 2001)

The program had three parts (Mumford, et al, 1995). First was the evaluation of psi research
performed by the U.S.S.R. and China, which appears to have been better-funded and better-
supported than the government research in the U.S. (Schnabel 1997)

In the second part of the program, SRI managed its own stable of “natural” psychics both for
research purposes and to make them available for tasking by a variety of US intelligence
agencies. The most famous results from these years were Pat Price’s description of a big
crane at a Soviet nuclear research facility (Kress 1977/199, Targ 1996), a description of a new
class of Soviet strategic submarine by a team of three viewers including Joseph McMoneagle,
(Smith 2005, McMoneagle 2002) and Rosemary Smith’s [13] location of a downed Soviet
bomber in Africa (which former President Carter later referred to in speeches). By the early
1980s numerous offices throughout the intelligence community were providing taskings to
SRI’s psychics. (Schnabel 1997, Smith 2005)

The third branch of the program was a research project intended to find out if ESP – now
called “remote viewing” – could be made accurate and reliable. The intelligence community
offices that tasked the group seemed to believe that the phenomenon was real. But in the
view of these taskers, a remote viewer could be “on” one day and “off” the next, a fact that
made it hard for the technique to be officially accepted. Through SRI, individuals were
studied for years in a search for physical (e.g., brain-wave) correlates that might reveal when
they were “on- or off-target”.

At SRI, Ingo Swann and Hal Puthoff also developed a remote-viewing training program
meant to enable any individual with a suitable background to produce useful data. As part of
this project, a number of military officers and civilians were trained and formed a military
remote viewing unit, based at Fort Meade, Maryland. (Schnabel 1997, Smith 2005,
McMoneagle 2002)

Decline and Termination

A struggle between unbelievers and believers in the sponsor organizations provided much of
the program’s actual drama. Each side seems to have been utterly convinced that the other’s
views were wrong. (Schnabel 1997, Smith 2005)

In the early 1990s the Military Intelligence Board, chaired by DIA chief Soyster, appointed an
Army Colonel, William Johnson, to manage the remote viewing unit and evaluate its objective
usefulness. According to an account by former SRI-trained remote-viewer, Paul Smith (2005),
Johnson spent several months running the remote viewing unit against military and DEA
targets, and ended up a believer, not only in remote viewing’s validity as a phenomenon but
in its usefulness as an intelligence tool.

After the Democrats lost control of the Senate in late 1994, funding declined and the
program went into decline. The project was transferred out of DIA to the CIA in 1995, with
the promise that it would be evaluated there, but most participants in the program believed
that it would be terminated. (Schnabel 1997, Smith 2005, Mumford, et al 1995)

AIR Evaluation of Remote Viewing

In 1995, the CIA hired the American Institutes for Research, a perennial intelligence-industry
contractor, to perform a retrospective evaluation of the results generated by the remote-
viewing program, the Stargate Project. Most of the program’s results were not seen by the
evaluators, with the report focusing on the most recent experiments, and only from
government-sponsored research.[14] One of the reviewers was Ray Hyman, a long-time critic
of psi research, and another was Jessica Utts who, as a supporter of psi, was chosen to put
forward the pro-psi argument. Utts maintained that there had been a statistically significant
positive effect,[15] with some subjects scoring 5%-15% above chance.[16] Hyman argued
that Utts’ conclusion that ESP had been proven to exist, “is premature, to say the least.”[17]
Hyman said the findings had yet to be replicated independently, and that more investigation
would be necessary to “legitimately claim the existence of paranormal functioning.”[17]
Based upon the study, which recommended a higher level of critical research and tighter
controls, the CIA terminated the 20 million dollar project in 1995.[6] Time magazine stated in
1995 three full-time psychics were still working on a $500,000-a-year budget out of Fort
Meade, Maryland, which would soon be shut down.[6]

According to the official AIR report there was insufficient evidence of the utility of the
intelligence data produced. David Goslin, of the American Institute for Research said,
“There’s no documented evidence it had any value to the intelligence community.”[6]

PEAR’s Remote Perception Program

Following Utts’ emphasis on replication and Hyman’s challenge on interlaboratory
consistency in the American Institutes for Research report, the Princeton Engineering
Anomalies Research Lab conducted several hundred trials to see if they could replicate the
SAIC and SRI experiments. They created an analytical judgment methodology to replace the
human judging process that was criticized in past experiments. They felt the results of the
experiments were consistent with the SRI experiments.[18]

Distant Viewing and Stephan Schwartz

Parallel with the work at SRI, Stephan A. Schwartz, who had just left government as Special
Assistant to the US Chief of Naval Operations, developed almost the same protocol which he
called Distant Viewing.[19] To study this, he began a research laboratory known as Mobius. A
central question in the seminal IEEE paper (Puthoff & Targ, 1976) was whether RV was
electromagnetic in nature, or something else. Schwartz had begun to consider how this
might be studied in 1973, after reading the work of Soviet Academician Leonid Vasiliev, the
tutor for Russian psychic Nina Kulagina.[20] This work had eliminated all of the EM spectrum
except for very low frequency ranges, known as ELF.

Testing in the ELF range required a submarine, because the only shield for ELF is hundreds
of feet of seawater. In 1976 Schwartz was offered the use of a small submersible, capable of
the depth required, by University of Southern California Institute for Marine and Coastal
Studies. In 1977, as the experiment was about to go to sea, he invited SRI to assist in the
study. The Project, known as Deep Quest, was carried out with logistical support from the
USC Institute. It took place off of Santa Catalina Island. Two remote viewings, one by Hella
Hammid,[21] and one by Ingo Swann, described where target individuals were hiding in
California. Both sessions were conducted while the submarine was at depth, and both were
considered successful by the researchers. The targets were, respectively, a tree and a
shopping mall. Swann commented his site “could be a shopping center or a city hall. It was,
in fact The Red Mill Shopping Center. [22][23]”[24]

The experiment also tested a protocol Schwartz had devised involving multiple viewers.[25]
[26] Although some in the remote viewing field believe “Both the research and applications
fail to statically support a reality that multiple viewers increase the amount or the degree of
accuracy about a specific target.”[27] Schwartz has always disputed this, and the results of
his research would seem to support his position. In the Deep Quest experiment five remote
viewers were given a standard navigational chart (Chart 5128 Catalina Harbor and Isthmus
Cove 1: 10,000) and asked to locate an unknown wreck on the seafloor. They chose several
sites, but there was a consensus on one and, in accordance with his protocol this is the one
Schwartz chose to pursue. In addition to the location, the remote viewers described the site
wreckage in detail, including unexpected objects such as a large granite block. They also
described how the ship sank and stated the number of years in the past in which it had sunk.
The entire project was filmed, and Dr. Anne Kahle, Supervisor of the Earth Applications and
Climatology Group at the Cal Tech Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Commander Brad Veek,
Associate Director of the USC Institute, as well as the entire crew of the research
submersible Taurus, used in the experiment, witnessed all aspects of the Deep Quest
Project. A radio homing device was dropped into the sea by a surface support boat, so that
only the site sought would be the site located. The sunken vessel was found where it was
supposed to be, and it was subsequently determined by Thomas Cooke of the Bureau of
Land Management Marine Sites Board to be previously unknown. [28] The date range of the
ship’s sinking, the strange stone block, and most of the other statements made by the
remote viewers also were confirmed.[29] [30]
Schwartz has also published papers presented at scholarly meetings describing the
discovery and the first modern mapping of the Eastern Harbor of Alexandria and the
discovery of numerous shipwrecks as well as Mark Anthony’s palace in Alexandria, the
Ptolemaic Palace Complex of Cleopatra, and the remains of the Lighthouse of Pharos. [31] as
well as a buried building in the buried city of Marea in the Egyptian desert, a project
undertaken to meet the demands of skeptics in the Department of Archaeology at the
University of Alexandria. [32] All of this Egyptian research was filmed as it occurred, and
witnessed by representatives of the University of Alexandria, and the University of Warsaw.
Of particular note Schwartz always has chooses search areas that have been previously
searched electronically, or arranges for such surveys before the fieldwork based on remote
viewing is undertaken, so that the results of the two techniques can be compared. In 1984,
Schwartz reported on the reconstruction of an Amerind site along the Pecos River, including
independent analysis as to the accuracy of the material by two archaeologists. [33] Using
these same techniques in 1987 he reported on the location of what may be remnants of one
of Columbus’ caravels from his fourth voyage, although there was not enough material to
make a definitive judgment [34]. [35] In 1989 Schwartz reported on the discovery of an the
American brig, Leander, which electronic survey had failed to locate [36] [37] None of
Schwartz’ work has been refuted, perhaps because Schwartz has all predictions notarized
and turned over for vaulting by otherwise uninvolved third parties, before actual fieldwork
begins, the work is always witnessed by multiple and often skeptical observers, and much of
it is recorded on film or video, as it happens.

Scientific Analysis
According to psychologist David Marks in experiments conducted in the 1970s at the
Stanford Research Institute, the notes given to the judges contained clues as to which order
they were carried out, such as referring to yesterday’s two targets, or they had the date of
the session written at the top of the page. Dr. Marks concluded that these clues were the
reason for the experiment’s high hit rates.[38][39]

Marks has also suggested that the participants of remote viewing experiments are
influenced by subjective validation, a process through which correspondences are perceived
between stimuli that are in fact associated purely randomly.[40] Details and transcripts of
the SRI remote viewing experiments themselves were found to be edited and even
unattainable. [41][42]

Others have said that the information from remote viewing sessions can be vague and
include a lot of erroneous data.[16] A 1995 report for the American Institute for Research
contains a section of anonymous reports describing how remote viewing was tentatively
used in a number of operational situations. The three reports conclude that the data was too
vague to be of any use, and in the report that offers the most positive results the writer
notes that the viewers “had some knowledge of the target organizations and their
operations but not the background of the particular tasking at hand.”[16]

According to James Randi, controlled tests by several other researchers, eliminating several
sources of cuing and extraneous evidence present in the original tests, produced negative
results. Students were also able to solve Puthoff and Targ’s locations from the clues that had
inadvertently been included in the transcripts.[43]

Professor Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire and a fellow of

the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) has said that he agrees remote viewing has been
proven using the normal standards of science, but that the bar of evidence needs to be
much higher for outlandish claims that will revolutionise the world, and thus he remains
unconvinced:[44]

“I agree that by the standards of any other area of science that remote viewing is proven, but
begs the question: do we need higher standards of evidence when we study the
paranormal? I think we do. (…) if I said that a UFO had just landed, you’d probably want a lot
more evidence. Because remote viewing is such an outlandish claim that will revolutionise
the world, we need overwhelming evidence before we draw any conclusions. Right now we
don’t have that evidence.” Richard Wiseman Daily Mail, January 28, 2008, pp 28-29 [44]

Wiseman also pointed at several problems with one of the early experiments at SAIC, like
information leakage. However, he indicated the importance of its process-oriented approach
and of its refining of remote viewing methodology, which meant that researchers replicating
their work could avoid these problems. [12] Wiseman later insisted there were multiple
opportunities for participants on that experiment to be influenced by inadverted cues and
that these cues can influence the results when they appear. [7]

Psychologist Ray Hyman says that, even if the results were reproduced under specified
conditions, they would still not be a conclusive demonstration of the existence of physic
functioning. He blames this on the reliance on a negative outcome — the claims on ESP are
based on the results of experiments not being explained by normal means. He says that the
experiments lack a positive theory that guides as to what to control on them and what to
ignore, and that “Parapsychologists have not come close to (having a positive theory) as yet”.
[45] Ray Himan also says that the amount and quality of the experiments on RV are way too
low to convince the scientific community to “abandon its fundamental ideas about causality,
time, and other principles”, due to its findings still not having been replicated successfully
under careful scrutiny. [11]

Science writer Martin Gardner, and others, describe the topic of remote viewing as
pseudoscience. [9] Gardner says that founding researcher Harold Puthoff was an active
Scientologist prior to his work at Stanford University, and that this influenced his research at
SRI. In 1970, the Church of Scientology published a notarized letter that had been written by
Puthoff while he was conducting research on remote viewing at Stanford. The letter read, in
part: “Although critics viewing the system [Scientology] from the outside may form the
impression that Scientology is just another of many quasi-educational quasi-religious
‘schemes,’ it is in fact a highly sophistical and highly technological system more characteristic
of modern corporate planning and applied technology.”[10] Among some of the ideas that
Puthoff supported regarding remote viewing was the claim that two followers of Madame
Blavatsky, founder of theosophy, were able to remote-view the inner structure of atoms.[10]

Selected Remote Viewing Study participants

 Ingo Swann, one of the founders of remote viewing
 Pat Price, one of the early remote viewers
 Russell Targ, cofounder of the Stanford Research Institute’s investigation into psychic
abilities in the 1970s and 1980s
 Joseph McMoneagle, one of the early remote viewers.[45] See: Stargate Project
 Courtney Brown, founder of the Farsight Institute
 David Marks, the critic of remote viewing, after finding sensory cues and editing in the
original transcripts generated by Russell Targ and Hal Puthoff at Stanford Research
Institute in the 1970s

Real-Time System Model

The method utilized by experients of remote viewing phenomena is comprehensible via the
convergence of the mechanics and laws pertaining to the universal information system and
the experient. Since the system is theoretical, so too is its and the experients natural laws
and mechanics. The system, in respects to real-time monitoring and manipulation, is based
on a subsystem in which stores sound-based information and continuously produces its
contents in a loop as opposed to linearly. It is also based on a visuo-spatial subsystem in
which stores visual and spatial information. The visuo-spatial subsystem can be further
broken down into a visual subsystem in which the subsystem monitors and records the
shape, size, color, and texture of objects and a spatial subsystem in which the subsystem
monitors and records the orientation or location of objects. In addition, an episodic
subsystem may exist in which integrates the aforementioned sound and visuo-spatial
subsystems, and information pertaining to other subsystems. This subsystem, or possibly a
component of a subsystem, is considered episodic in that it is assumed to bind visuo-spatial
and sound based information into a unitary episodic representation. It is assumed that the
systems capability of real-time monitoring is not a separate system from the universal
information systems long-term system storage, but rather its representations are a subset of
the representations in long-term system storage. In regards to real-time subsystem
associations with a probabilistic subsystem, the most crucial requirement of the real-time
subsystem is predictability as a means to eliminate potential temporal failures such as
delays between events and system response, which could otherwise result in reduce
performance or possibly catastrophic failures. (Kelly, 2011)

Neurological Causation & Interpretive Processes

There have been correlates found between remote viewing phenomena and working
memory in experients of remote viewing phenomena. This may suggest a part played by the
parietal lobe and the basal ganglia in which are identified crucial for working memory
function. These areas could be concluded as at least partially responsible for interpreting
signals pertaining to real-time events as psychological and physiological conditions caused
by injury to these regions of the brain are in correlation with several disorders reported by
experients of remote viewing phenomena including reduced learning outcomes in literacy
and numeracy, dyslexia, autism, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and epilepsy.
However, interpretive subsystems are theorized to be external to the experient. Their
objective is to mediate transmissions between the system and the experient by translating
the signal for the receptor. In the case of an experient receiving information from the
system, the information is deemed properly mediated and comprehensible to the experients
mental interpretive processes pending the onset of mental interpretive processes.
Information interpreted is either immediately accessible consciously by the experient, or in
the case of subconscious reception, is delayed and results in spontaneous
experiences. (Kelly, 2011)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.
 Leonard Zusne, Warren H. Jones (1989). Anomalistic psychology: a study of magical
thinking.
 Search for the Soul by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1979
 Kiss the Earth Good-bye: Adventures and Discoveries in the Nonmaterial
 http://parapsych.org/glossary_l_r.html#r Parapsychological Association website
 Time magazine, 11 December 1995, p.45, The Vision Thing by Douglas Waller,
Washington
 Wiseman, R. & Milton, J. (1999). “Experiment one of the SAIC remote viewing
program: A critical re-evaluation. “
 Randi & Clarke, An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and
Supernatural “Remote viewing”
 Bennett, Gary L. (NASA, Washington, DC) (1994). Heretical science – Beyond the
boundaries of pathological science.
 Gardner, Martin, Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking Pseudoscience ISBN
0393322386
 Ray Hyman, The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality Skeptical
Inquirer, March/April 1996
 Wiseman, R. & Milton, J. (1999). “Experiment One of the SAIC Remote Viewing
Program: A critical reevaluation”
 ^ Reading the Enemy’s Mind: Inside Star Gate, America’s Psychic Espionage Program
by Paul H. Smith, Tom Doherty
 May, E.C., “The American Institutes for Research Review of the Department of
Defense’s STAR GATE Program
 An assessment of the evidence for psychic functioning Julia Utts
 “An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications” by Mumford, Rose
and Goslin
 Hyman, Ray. “Evaluation of a Program on Anomalous Mental Phenomena”.
 “Precognitive Remote Perception: Replication of Remote Viewing” (1996). Journal of
Scientific Exploration 10 (1): 109–110.
 Stephan A. Schwartz
 Uri Geller
 Schwartz, S. Deep Quest: An Experiment in Deep Ocean Psychic Archaeology and
Distant Viewing. Invited Paper.
 Opening to the Infinite by Stephan A. Schwartz, Nemoseen Media, 2007
 The Mind Race: Understanding and Using Psychic Abilities by Russell Trag and Keith
Harary, Villard Books, 1984
 Schwartz, S. The Use of Intuitionally Derived Data in Archaeological Fieldwork.
 Opening to the Infinite by Stephan A. Schwartz Nemoseen Media, 2007, pp. 171-201
 The Ultimate Time Machine by Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads Publishing
Co.,Inc.,1998, p.30
 On camera interview with Thomas Cooke, PhD by Glen Winters, 1977
 Schwartz, S. Deep Quest: An Experiment in Deep Ocean Psychic Archaeology and
Distant Viewing. Invited Paper.
 Opening to the Infinite by Stephan A. Schwartz Nemoseen Media, 2007, pp. 180-201
 Schwartz, S. with Side-scan Sonar Survey by Harold E. Edgerton. A Preliminary
Survey of the Eastern Harbour
 Schwartz, S. The Marea Probe: An Experiment in Applied Parapsychology involving
the Location, Reconstruction…
 Schwartz, S. with De Mattei, R., and Schlitz, M. The Pecos Project
 Schwartz, S. and De Mattei, R. The Caravel Project.
 Schwartz, S. and De Mattei, R. with independent archaeological evaluation by Roger
Smith, (Institute for Nautical
Archaeology)
 Schwartz, S. and De Mattei, R. The Discovery of an American Brig: Fieldwork
Involving Applied Archaeological
Remote Viewing
 Schwartz, S. and De Mattei, R. The Discovery of an American Brig: Fieldwork
Involving Applied Archaeological
Remote Viewing.
 Marks, D.F. & Kammann, R. (1978). “Information transmission in remote viewing
experiments”, Nature, 274:680-81.
 “A comprehensive review of major empirical studies in parapsychology involving
random.. by Alcock, J.
 Marks, D.F. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic. Amherst, New York:Prometheus
Books.
 “The Psychology of the Psychic” by David Marks and Richard Kamman, Prometheus
Books. Amherst, New York, 2000
 Flim Flam by James Randi, Prometheus books, New York, 1987, 9th printing
 Remote viewing at the Randi Educational Foundation
 Penman, Danny (January 28, 2008). “Could there be proof to the theory that we’re
ALL psychic?”
 Ray Hyman, The Evidence for Psychic Functioning: Claims vs. Reality Skeptical
Inquirer, March/April 1996 [1]
 Mind Trek: Exploring Consciousness, Time, and Space Through Remote Viewing by
Joseph McMoneagle, Hampton Roads

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.
 David Marks, Ph.D., “The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd edn.)” Prometheus Books,
2000. ISBN 1-57392-798-8
 Courtney Brown, Ph.D., Remote Viewing : The Science and Theory of Nonphysical
Perception. ISBN 0-9766762-1-4
 David Morehouse, Psychic Warrior, St. Martin’s, 1996, ISBN 0-312-96413-7
 Jim Schnabel, Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America’s Psychic Spies, Dell,
1997 , ISBN 0-440-22306-7
 Paul H. Smith, Reading the Enemy’s Mind: Inside Star Gate — America’s Psychic
Espionage Program.
ISBN 0-312-87515-0
 Buchanan, Lyn, The Seventh Sense: The Secrets Of Remote Viewing As Told By A
“Psychic Spy.” ISBN 0-7434-6268-8
 F. Holmes Atwater, Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living with
Guidance. ISBN 1-57174-247-6
 McMoneagle, Joseph, The Stargate Chronicles: Memoirs of a Psychic Spy, Hampton
Roads 2002, ISBN 1-57174-225-5

External links
 Remote Viewing Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and
more.
 Science Degrees in Clairvoyant/Remote Viewing Studies – Clairvoyant Studies with
the University of Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Clairvoyantology/Remote Viewing –
University of Alternative Studies.
 Clairvoyant/Remote Viewing Course of Instruction – Become a student of Clairvoyant
Studies.
 Remote Viewing Course of Instruction – Become a student of Remote Viewing
Studies.
 Remote Viewing Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
 “Seeing is Believing”, Fortean Times visits the Monroe Institute, a remote viewing
laboratory
 “Remote Viewing”, entry on Skeptics Dictionary.
 “Remote Viewing Leads to Global Climate Change Awareness” Interview with remote
viewer and researcher.
MEDIUMSHIP
Mediumship is the anomalous communication with immaterial entities most commonly
referred to as apparitions [ghosts] or spirit guides, which are believed to have a form of
consciousness and element of personality. Assuming thought to be the basis of
consciousness, this form of communication requires specific mental processes by which
experients utilize for thought transference between the experient and immaterial entities.
These thoughts are transferred through intuitive, or emotional, modes or through several
hallucinatory sensory modes including visual, auditory, olfaction, gustatory, and
somatosensory modalities. In addition, I postulate that thought, despite the current
incapability of bringing a thought “to rest,” which is required to submit a single thought to
examination, does have measurable mass as thought is capable of moving in waves in which
implies mass. The motion of implied mass therefore suggests psychokinesis as the
mechanism of anomalous communication. (Kelly, 2011)

Additional Definitions
Mediumship is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo,
Candomblé, Louisiana Voodoo, and Umbanda which is believed by its adherents to be a
form of communication with spirits.[2] While the Western movements of Spiritualism and
Spiritism account for most Western media exposure, most traditional African and African
diasporic traditions include mediumship as a central focus of religious practice.

Concept
The term “mediumship” denotes the ability of a person (the medium) to apparently
experience contact with spirits of the dead, spirits of immaterial entities, angels, or demons.
The medium generally attempts to facilitate communication between non-mediumistic
people and spirits who may have messages to share.

A medium may appear to listen to and relate conversations with spirit voices; go into a
trance and speak without knowledge of what is being said; allow a spirit to enter their body
and speak through it; relay messages from the spirits those who wish to contact them with
the help of a physical tool, such as a writing implement.

Mediumship is also part of the belief system of some New Age groups. In this context, and
under the name channelling, it refers to a medium who receive messages from a “teaching-
spirit”.
In some cultures, mediums (or the spirits working with them) are believed to be able to
produce physical paranormal phenomena such as materialisations of spirits, apports of
objects, or levitation.[3][4]

History
Attempts to communicate with the dead and other spirits have been documented back to
early human history. One of the most well-known is the story Witch of Endor, who was said
to have raised the spirit of the deceased prophet Samuel to allow the Hebrew king Saul to
question his former mentor about an upcoming battle, as related in the First Book of Samuel
in the Jewish Tanakh.

Mediumship became quite popular in the United States after the rise of Spiritualism as a
religious movement. Modern Spiritualism is said to date to the mediumistic activities of the
Fox sisters in New York state 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and
Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the
subject in the mid 1800s. Mediumship was also described by Allan Kardec, who coined the
term Spiritism, around 1860 [5].

After the exposure of the fraudulent use of stage magic tricks by physical mediums such as
the Davenport Brothers, mediumship fell into disrepute, although it never ceased being used
by people who believed that the dead can be contacted.

From the 1930s through the 1990s, as psychical mediumship became less practiced in
Spiritualist churches, the technique of channelling gained in popularity, and books by
channellers who related the wisdom of non-corporeal and non-terrestrial teacher-spirits
became best-sellers amongst believers.

There was once a message given by Jonah, the entity that speaks through a meduim Hossca
Harrison in Colorado, he came through and said that one day their would be somone
claiming to be a medium on every streetcorner. Since that statement somone can sign up for
a corispondance course, to become a channel. Therefore most of the people out their are
fraudulant, however simply because most are fruads does not disprove this phenominon.
The concept of channelling goes back before ancient Greece, the oracles that Socrates talked
to where channels.

Terminology
Spirit Guides
For some mediums, a spirit guide is a highly evolved spirit with the sole purpose of helping
the medium develop and use their skills. They assist mediums in following their spiritual
path. For other mediums, a spirit guide is one who brings other spirits to a medium’s
attention or carries communications between a medium and the spirits of the dead. Many
mediums claim to have specific guides who regularly work with them and “bring in” spirits of
the dead. Some mediums believe that spirits of the dead will communicate with them
directly without the use of a spirit guide. The relationship between the medium and the
guide may be providential, or it may be based on family ties. In 1958, the English-born
Spiritualist C. Dorreen Phillips wrote of her experiences with a medium at Camp
Chesterfield, Indiana: “In Rev. James Laughton’s seances there are many Indians. They are
very noisy and appear to have great power. […] The little guides, or doorkeepers, are usually
Indian boys and girls [who act] as messengers who help to locate the spirit friends who wish
to speak with you.” [6] Then, describing the mediumship of Rev. Lillian Dee Johnson of Saint
Petersburg, Florida, she noted, “Mandy Lou is Rev. Johnson’s guide. [..] She was, on earth, a
slave to Rev. Johnson’s grandmother.” [6]

Many mediums report one spirit guide that exclusively works with them throughout their
lifetime. Whether the guide has more than one charge at a time is debatable, but the
majority of mediums report one single guide from childhood until later years. These guides
not only assist in connecting mediums with other entities, but they are reported to assist the
medium through many levels of spiritual and psychical development. Many mediums
describe a seemingly “telepathic” link between them and their guide, while others seek
divinational methods such as the tarot to communicate. A spirit guide hierarchy is a
theoretical concept in which the organization of branches are unknown. Reports suggest
each branch of guides report to another branch of entities continuously up the latter of
government, whereby the first level of entities [spirit guides] are exclusively employed to
serve the living human populous. Some reports suggest higher-level branches of entities
occasionally interacting with the living human populous. The relationship between a medium
and their guide is assumed either providential, as if connected through divine mediation
with no known correlates, or ancestry. Many mediums report working with guides that were
formally employed to serve a grandparent or other form of ancestor while some report a
grandparent or another form of ancestor as the identity of their guide. (Kelly, 2011)

Spirit Communicator
A spirit who communicates with a medium, either verbally, visually or emotionally.
Spirit Operator
A spirit who uses a medium to manipulate energy or energy systems.

Demonstrations of Mediumship
In old-line Spiritualism, a portion of the services, generally toward the end, is given over to
the pastor, or another medium, who receives messages from the spirit world for the
congregants. This may be referred to as a “demonstration of mediumship.”

A typical example of this older way of describing a mediumistic church service is found in the
1958 autobiography of C. Dorreen Phillips. She writes of the worship services at the
Spiritualist Camp at Chesterfield, Indiana: “Services are held each afternoon, consisting of
hymns, a lecture on philosophy, and demonstrations of mediumship.” [6]

Today “demonstration of mediumship” is part of the church service at all churches affiliated
with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches ‘NSAC’. Demonstration links to
Declaration of Principal #9. ‘We affirm that the precepts of Prophecy and Healing are Divine
attributes proven through Mediumship. ‘

Mental Mediumship
“Mental mediumship” is communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy. The medium
mentally “hears,” “sees,” and/or feels messages from spirits, then, directly or with the help of
a spirit guide, passes the information on to the message’s recipient(s). When a medium is
doing a “reading” for a particular person, that person is known as the “sitter.”

Trance Mediumship
Trance mediumship is often seen as a form of mental mediumship.

Some mediums remain conscious during this communication period, while others go into a
trance, wherein a spirit uses the medium’s body to communicate. Trance mediumship is
defined as a spirit taking over the body of the medium, sometimes to such a degree that the
medium is unconscious. Part trance mediums are aware during the period of
communication, while full trance mediums pass into an unconscious state in which their
physical and mental processes are completely controlled by the spirit communicator.

In the 1860s and 1870s, trance mediums were very popular. Spiritualism had attracted
adherents who had strong interests in social justice, and many trance mediums delivered
passionate speeches on abolitionism, temperance, and women’s suffrage.[7]

Because the typical trance medium has no clear memory of the messages conveyed while in
a trance, a medium of this type generally works with an assistant who writes down or
otherwise records his or her words. A good example of this kind of relationship can be found
in the early 20th century collaboration between the trance medium Mrs. Cecil M. Cook of the
William T. Stead Memorial Center in Chicago (a religious body incorporated under the
statutes of the State of Illinois) and the journalist Lloyd Kenyon Jones, a non-mediumistic
Spiritualist who transcribed Cook’s messages in shorthand and then edited them for
publication in book and pamphlet form.[8]

Physical Mediumship
Physical mediumship is defined as manipulation of energies and energy systems by spirits.

Physical mediumship may involve perceptible manifistations such as loud raps and noises,
voices, materialized objects, apports, materialized spirit bodies, or body parts such as hands,
and levitation. The medium is used as source of power and substance for such spirit
manifestations. This is sometimes said to be accomplished using the energy or ectoplasm
released by a medium. [9][10] The last physical medium to be tested by a committee from
Scientific American was Mina Crandon in 1924.

Most physical mediumship is presented in a darkened or dimly lit room, and most physical
mediums make use of a traditional array of tools and appurtenances, including spirit
trumpets, spirit cabinets, and levitation tables.

Channeling
There are two main techniques mediumship developed in the latter half of the 20th century.
One type involves psychics or sensitives who can speak to spirits and then relay what they
hear to their clients. One of the most noted channels of this type is clairvoyant Danielle
Egnew, known for her communication with angelic entities.
The other incarnation of non-physical mediumship is a form of channeling in which the
channeler goes into a trance, or “leaves their body” and then becomes “possessed” by a
specific spirit, who then talks through them. [11] In the trance, the medium enters a
cataleptic state marked by extreme rigidity. The control spirit then takes over, the voice may
change completely and the spirit answers the questions of those in its presence or giving
spiritual knowledge. [12] The most successful and widely known channeler of this variety is
JZ Knight, who claims to channel the spirit of Ramtha, a 30 thousand year old man. Others
claim to channel spirits from “future dimensional”, ascended masters [13] or in the case of
the trance mediums of the Brahma Kumaris, God himself. [14] Channeling is popularly
parodied in the “Doonesbury” cartoon where a ditzy female character is occasionally taken
over by “Hunk-Ra,” an assertive 21,000-year-old warrior based on Ramtha. Other notable
channels are Jane Roberts for [Seth], Margaret McElroy for [Maitreya] and Serge J. Grandbois
for [Kris].

Hossca Harrison is medium for a non-physical entity named Jonah. There is video of Jonah
taking over Hossca’s body and giving a message on youtube.

Mediumistic Search-Based System Model

The method utilized by experients of mediumistic phenomena to communicate with
immaterial entities is comprehensible via the convergence of the mechanics and laws
pertaining to universal law, a universal information system, and the experient. Since
universal law and the universal information system is theoretical, so too are their and the
experients natural laws and mechanics. Implied in the mechanics of mediumistic
phenomena is the experients ability to “search” or “call” for a specific entity to communicate
with through the initiation of anomalous thought transference. Experients in which
communicate with spirit guides report what appears to them as an open-connection,
whereby eliminating search and call requirements. Other experients have reported a closed-
connection, whereby eliminating the search requirement, but still necessitating the call
requirement. Search and call requirements appear to be subset features within and
maintained by a universal information system capable of spatially locating entities and
remotely connecting experients to the located entity. (Kelly, 2011)

The location of the entity is cross-referenced with the systems real-time visuo-spatial records
and the system may or may not act as the medium, or channel, of communication between
the experient and located entity. In the case of reports made by experients of mediumistic
phenomena in which locate entities, but cannot successfully connect does not seem imply
erroneous behavior on the systems behalf, but rather the experient. Experients require
seemingly absolute focus in the midst of an array of sensory distractions to connect
successfully. Experients also require call acknowledgment and approval on the entities
behalf before a connection is made successfully. (Kelly, 2011)

Psychic Senses
In Spiritualism, psychic senses used by mental mediums are sometimes defined differently
than in other paranormal fields. The term clairvoyance, for instance, may be used by
Spiritualists to include seeing spirits and visions instilled by spirits, whereas the
Parapsychological Association defines “clairvoyance” as information derived directly from an
external physical source.[15]

 Clairvoyance or “Clear Seeing”, is the ability to see anything which is not physically
present, such as objects, animals or people. This sight occurs “in the mind’s eye”, and
some mediums say that this is their normal vision state. Others say that they must
train their minds with such practices as meditation in order to achieve this ability, and
that assistance from spiritual helpers is often necessary. Some clairvoyant mediums
can see a spirit as though the spirit has a physical body. They see the bodily form as if
it were physically present. Other mediums see the spirit in their mind’s eye, or it
appears as a movie or a television programme or a still picture like a photograph in
their mind.
 Clairaudience or “Clear Hearing”, is usually defined as the ability to hear the voices or
thoughts of spirits. Some Mediums hear as though they are listening to a person
talking to them on the outside of their head, as though the Spirit is next to or near to
the medium, and other mediums hear the voices in their minds as a verbal thought.
 Clairsentience or “Clear Sensing”, is the ability to have an impression of what a spirit
wants to communicate, or to feel sensations instilled by a spirit.
 Clairsentinence or “Clear Feeling” is a condition in which the medium takes on the
ailments of a spirit, feeling the same physical problem the spirit person before they
died.
 Clairalience or “Clear Smelling” is the ability to smell a spirit. For example, a medium
may smell the pipe tobacco of a person who smoked during life.
 Clairgustance or “Clear Tasting” is the ability to receive taste impressions from a
spirit.
  Claircognizance or “Clear Knowing”, is the ability to know something without
receiving it through normal or psychic senses. It is a feeling of “just knowing”. Often, a
medium will claim to have the feeling that a message or situation is “right” or “wrong.”

Measurement & Observation

Dual Connection Testing
For this type of exercise, experients should be encouraged to involve as supportive friend or
family member willing to participate in the exercise. The experient and assistant [friend or
family member] should sit within two to five feet from each other. In this exercise, the
experient will be required to do most of the work. The assistant will be the foundation of the
exercise, as the assistant will be requesting the experient to connect with a specific entity
familiar to the assistant, but not familiar to the experient. Listed subsequently are the
questions to be asked by the experient to the spirit. The experient should be encouraged to
utilize whichever searching form works best for them. Since the assistant is familiar with the
spirit attempting to be searched and called by the experient, the assistant will be able to
verify the accuracy of the information received. (Kelly, 2011)

Questions include;  first name or nickname, the month of their birth or death, their hair color, how
they died, or where, about a personal event including the person you are reading for, their former
occupation, the name of the deceased’s closest loved one or pet, and their full name including
their middle name.

The experient and the assistant should both have this list readily available during exercises.
The assistant should keep notes based on the experients answers to the questions to be
disclosed after the exercise. This is done as a means to not hinder the experients confidence,
which can reduce accuracy. At the end of the exercise, the assistant should disclose answer
accuracy to the experient and the experient should tally up answers based on level of
accuracy [correct, somewhat correct, somewhat incorrect, and incorrect]. Experients should
keep this information as a record along with future information obtained through future
exercises as a means to identify weaknesses in specific information comprehension. (Kelly,
2011)

Spirits and Apparitions

Consciousness and ParaEthics
These types of immaterial entities are depicted traditionally as the spirits of the deceased
including human and animal spirits. Several forms of spirits can include the spirits of those
whose physical body has died, yet their essence or consciousness has not crossed-over, or
those who have died and have crossed-over. In the case of spirits in which they have died
and their consciousness has not crossed-over, reasons why the being did not crossover vary
including confusion, duty, revenge, or fear. Whether they may have been “good” or “evil”
human beings during their physical lifetime is irrelevant when involving para-ethics because
they were still Human beings. The simplified modern day definition of consciousness states
that anything capable of thought, sensation, perception, mood, emotion, and an awareness
of self is considered conscious. (Kelly, 2011)

These capabilities do apply to the average spirit based on paranormal experience, evidence,
and research. Consciousness can only be obtained by a living entity; therefore while the
physical body a spirit once inhabited may be deceased, the spirit could logically be placed in
the category of a living being. In our modern day, the majority of organisms, plants, animals,
insects and so forth have rights in some respect because we as human beings have evolved
our perceptions and philosophies to acknowledge the importance of other living entities and
as a result, we now have a profound level of respect for those entities. We have developed
laws and ethics to include those entities to create a better world for them and ourselves.
While paranormal based laws and ethics cannot be upheld with our current limited
understanding and interaction with the spirits of the deceased, educating those who may or
may not ever experience a paranormal event on the laws and ethics that should be upheld,
when dealing with the living spirits of deceased physical beings, can prevent unnecessary
suffering on the spirits behalf. (Kelly, 2011)

Antagonists and Decay

The antagonist that appears to wears down a spirit that has not crossed-over the most, a
spirit comprised of unstable energy, is radiation, and everything emits radiation, even you.
The exposure of radiation, magnitude, and time exposed, determines the level of
deterioration or decay of the spirit. While small amounts of radiation appear to result in little
to no effect in regards to stronger spirits, it does however appear to result in severe effects
for spirits less stable and subject to higher levels of degrading. Some forms of radiation that
can affect weaker spirit include: The human body has a small amount of naturally
radioactive potassium, homes made out of stone, brick, and adobe due to a small amount of
natural radioisotopes, smoking results in a great deal of radiation because the tobacco leaf
collects long-lived isotopes of air-born radon, like lead-210 and plutonium, natural and
artificial light results in a great deal of radiation due to protons and electromagnetic waves
etc., heat, all electronics such as televisions, computers, microwaves, radios, and cell phones.
(Kelly, 2011)

Spirits at risk of advanced decay tend to stay in cool (to avoid heat radiation), dark (to avoid
light radiation) and humid (to avoid static electricity and other potential electrical
antagonists) spaces. This results in basements and under-maintenance or abandoned
buildings to be the ideal place for a decaying spirit retreat. Because advanced decaying
spirits are constantly looking for a safe space, and usually never leave the safe space once
found, a large number of spirits can accumulate in a given space. This can result in
occasional paranormal disturbances or events limited to the combined remaining strength
of the commune of spirits. As spirits decay they become less active and therefore less of an
annoyance or threat. Spirits in a highly advanced state of decay are harmless, but can
inadvertently cause physical effects, such as chills, or emotional effects, such a mood swings,
when in the direct vicinity of this type of spirit, especially walking through them. (Kelly, 2011)

Notable Claimants of Mediumship

Notable mediums have included: Derek Acorah, Rosemary Altea, Sathya Sai Baba, Clifford
Bias, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Emma Hardinge Britten, Sylvia Browne, Edgar Cayce,
Andrew Jackson Davis, Jeane Dixon, Allison DuBois, John Edward, Danielle Egnew, Divaldo
Pereira Franco, Colin Fry, Count Chocula, Elizabeth “Betty” Grant, Dr. Pepper, Esther Hicks,
Daniel Dunglas Home, Indriđi Indriđason, Richard Ireland, JZ Knight, Joseph Kony, Lekhraj
Kripalani, Mr. Pibb, Margaret McElroy, Hirday Mohini, Eusapia Palladino, Paschal Beverly
Randolph, I.P. Freily, Jane Roberts, James Van Praagh, Stanisława Tomczyk, David Wells, Lisa
Williams, Chico Xavier, M. Lamar Keene John Wattam, Serge J. Grandbois and Jorge Olguín.

Research
In Britain, the Society for Psychical Research has investigated some phenomena, mainly in
connection with telepathy and apparitions.[15] According to an article in the Journal of the
Society for Psychical Research, in some cases mediums have produced personal information
which has been well above guessing rates .[17]

The VERITAS Research Program of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness and Health
in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona, run by Gary Schwartz, was
created primarily to test the hypothesis that the consciousness (or identity) of a person
survives physical death.[18] Studies conducted by VERITAS have been approved by the
University of Arizona Human Subjects Protection Program and an academic advisory board.

Skepticism and Controversy

hile advocates of mediumship claim that their experiences are genuine, the Encyclopedia
Britannica article on spiritualism notes that “…one by one, the [Spiritualist] mediums were
discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes employing the techniques of stage magicians
in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers.” The article also notes that
“the exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely damaged its
reputation and pushed it to the fringes of society in the United States.”[19]

Criticism of mediumship also comes from skeptics and atheists, who dispute the existence of
spirits or of genuine mediums. Skeptics say the phenomena of mediumship are the result of
self-delusion, unconscious influence, or of magician’s techniques such as cold reading, hot
reading, and conjuring.[2][20].

References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.
 http://skepdic.com/medium.html Skeptic’s Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll, on
Mediums Retrieved March 23, 2007 “In spiritualism, a medium is one with whom
spirits communicate directly.”
 Parapsychological Association website. Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in
Parapsychology. “Materialization: A phenomenon of physical mediumship in which
living entities or inanimate objects are caused to take form, sometimes from
ectoplasm.” Retrieved January 24, 2006.
 “Medium – Definition”. Dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
 “Spiritism is not a religion but a science”, by the famous French astronomer Camille
Flammarion in Allan Kardec’s Eulogy on April 2, 1869, in “Death and Its Mystery –
After Death. Manifestations and Apparitions of the Dead; The Soul After Death”
Translated by Latrobe Carroll (1923, T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd. London: Adelphi Terrace.),
online version at Allan Kardec eulogy
 The Autobiogaphy of a Fortune Teller by C. Doreen Phillips, Vantage Press, 1958.
 Braude, Anne, Radical Spirits, Spiritualism and Women’s Rights in Nineteenth Century
America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2001.
 God’s World: A Treatise on Spiritualism Founded on Transcripts of Shorthand Notes
Taken Down, Over a Period of Five Years, in the Seance-Room of the William T.
Stead Memorial Center (a Religious Body Incorporated Under the Statutes of the State
of Illinois), Mrs. Cecil M. Cook, Medium and Pastor. Compiled and Written by Lloyd
Kenyon Jones. Chicago, Ill.: The William T. Stead Memorial Center, 1919.
 “Ectoplasm” def. Merriam Webster dictionary, Retrieved 18 January 2007
 Somerlott, Robert, Here, Mr. Splitfoot. Viking, 1971.
 Wood, Matthew (2007). Possession Power and the New Age : Ambiguities of Authority
in Neoliberal Societies. Ashgate Publishing, Limited. ISBN 0-75463-339-X.
 LeCron, Leslie (1970). Hypnotism Today. Wilshire Book Co, 278. ISBN 087980081X.
“’When in a trance . . . the medium seems to come under the control of another
personality, purportedly the spirit of a departed soul, and a genuine medium
undoubtedly believes the ‘control’ to be a spirit entity. “In the trance, the medium often
enters a cataleptic state marked by extreme rigidity. The control then takes over, the
voice may change completely . . . and the supposed spirit answers the questions of
the sitter, telling of things ‘on the other plane’ and giving messages from those who
have ‘passed over.’”
 Brown, Michael F. (1999). The Channeling Zone: American Spirituality in an Anxious
Age. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-67410-883-3.
 Klimo, Jon (1998). Channeling: Investigations on Receiving Information from
Paranormal Sources. North Atlantic Books, 100. ISBN 978-1556432484.
 Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in
Parapsychology, Retrieved January 29, 2007
 The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, “Spiritism”
 Journal of the Society for Psychical Research January, 2001 – Vol. 65.1, Num. 862
 The VERITAS Research Program of the Laboratory for Advances in Consciousness
and Health in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona
 spiritualism (religion) :: History – Britannica Online Encyclopedia
 Review of Psychic Medium Van Praagh on CNN’s Larry King Live by Joe Nickell,
Senior Research Fellow, CSICOP

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Mediumship Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Science Degrees in Clairvoyant/Mediumship Studies – Clairvoyant Studies with the
University of Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Clairvoyantology/Mediumship –
University of Alternative Studies.
 Clairvoyant/Mediumship Course of Instruction – Become a student of Clairvoyant
Studies.
 Mediumship Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 The Channeling Wiki
 The Scientific Proof of Survival After Death
 Article about how mediums work
 An online resource for anyone interested in Spiritualism and Mediumship
PRECOGNITION
Precognition is the psychical influence of a hypothetical universal information system
capable of probabilistically determining the potential trajectory of future events. This is
achieved through the computation of relative causal knowledge encompassing deterministic
and random variables. These variables are then theorized to be stored by the system and
retrievable by the experient. Whether an object has a couple or several potential trajectories,
these future events are to some extent necessitated by past and present events. Trajectories
are quantified by the system and the most likely variables are determined, stored, and are
limitedly accessible to experients of precognitive phenomena. This is theorized via a
compatiblistic viewpoint involving determinism and free will in coherent cooperation;
assuming that not every event has an unbroken chain of prior occurrences. (Kelly, 2011)

Those skeptical of the existence of precognition and other forms of ESP believe it to be the
result of fraud or self-delusion and contend that selection bias is the cause of the belief that
one has precognition where individuals remember the “hits” and forget the “misses”.
Skeptics contend that the human memory naturally has a tendency to remember
coincidences more often than other non-coincidences and thus individuals tend to
remember more frequently when they were correct about a future event and forget the
instances when they were wrong.[3]

Terminology
(from the Latin præ-, “prior to,” + cognitio, “a getting to know”) denotes a form of
extrasensory perception where in a person is said to perceive information about places or
events through paranormal means before they happen.[1][2] A related term, presentiment,
refers to information about future events which is said to be perceived as emotions. These
terms are considered by some to be special cases of the more general term clairvoyance.

History and Research

J. W. Dunne, a British aeronautics engineer, undertook the first systematic study of
precognition in the early twentieth century. In 1927, he published the classic An Experiment
with Time, which contained his findings and theories. Dunne’s study was based on his own
precognitive dreams, which involved both trivial incidents in his own life and major news
events appearing in the press the day after the dream. When first realizing that he was
seeing the future in his dreams, Dunne worried that he was “a freak.” His worries soon eased
when he discovered that precognitive dreams are common; he concluded that many people
have them without realizing it, perhaps because they do not recall the details or fail to
properly interpret the dream symbols.[4] Joseph Banks Rhine and Louisa Rhine began the
next significant systematic research of precognition in the 1930s at the Parapsychology
Laboratory at Duke University. Rhine used card-guessing experiments in which the
participant was asked to record his guess of the order of a card deck before the deck was
shuffled.[5]

London psychiatrist J. A. Barker established the British Premonitions Bureau in 1967, which
collected precognitive data in order to provide an early warning system of impending
disasters. Barker succeeded in finding a number of “human seismographs” who tuned in
regularly to disasters, but were unable to accurately pinpoint the times. The Princeton
Engineering Anomalies Research Lab is one of the more recent examples of attempts to
study precognition, beginning in 1979, with precognitive experiments conducted in a variety
of formats by various parapsychologists. This facility was closed in 2007.[6]

Causality and Paradox

An issue related to precognitive events includes paradoxes due to causality, (which are used
heavily in fiction). One form of paradox includes events that are prevented due to the
actions of those that know of it through precognition. In this case, the event doesn’t happen,
which would prevent the viewer from seeing the event in the first place.

A subtler form of paradox is the circular cause and consequence problem of events that are
actually caused by the foreseeing of the event. Though in and of itself this chain is logically
consistent, it is a chicken or egg problem — if the event did not happen the viewer would not
have seen it, which would have prevented it from happening.

Probabilistic System Model

The method utilized by experients of precognitive phenomena is comprehensible via the
convergence of the mechanics and laws pertaining to the universal information system and
the experient. Since the system is theoretical, so too is its and the experients natural laws
and mechanics. This system does not allow exact measurements of positions and velocities.
This theory is relative to the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle. That is, that certain pairs of
physical properties within the system, such as position and momentum, cannot both be
known to arbitrary precision. In theory, the more one property is known, the less precisely
the other can be known. This of course raises a particular issue for experients. Since it is
impossible for the system to determine both the position and velocity of an object, with any
degree of accuracy or certainty, then the nature of the system promotes uncertainty of
future events leaving the experient with more than one potential trajectory per object. At the
macroscopic scale, the paths of objects can only be predicted in a probabilistic way. The
paths however may not be precisely specified in a complete quantum description of the
objects; as “path” is a classical concept in which quantum objects do not precisely possess. In
regards to the universal information system and the experient, predictability deteriorates in
time creating an effect on the length of time between the precognitive experience and the
actual occurrence of the event to which the experience related. This has showed itself
through analysis to leave the duration between the experience and the occurrence usually
around two days time and rarely within one month’s time or more for non-deterministic
events. (Kelly, 2011)

Skepticism
The existence of precognition is disputed by skeptics such as Robert Todd Carroll, who
believe that there is a lack of scientific evidence supporting the existence of precognition and
who contend that examples of what are commonly thought to be precognition can be
explained naturally without evoking supernatural abilities.[3] Skeptics point to the fact that
the human memory has a tendency to selectively recall coincidences and forget all of the
other examples where, for example, dreams and other thoughts do not come to be.
Examples include thinking of a specific individual right before the individual thought of calls
on the phone. Human memory has a tendency to remember the instances where the
individual thought of calls and forget the instances where the individual calls when not
thought of just prior to calling. This is an example of selection bias and skeptics assert that
examples of precognition are better explained using psychology and natural human
tendencies opposed to supernatural or paranormal powers. (Kelly, 2011)

Neurological Causation & Interpretive Processes

It was once thought that any indeterminism in quantum mechanics occurred at too small a
scale to influence biological or neurological systems. Today there is evidence that nervous
systems are indeed indeterministic.This could lead to discoveries pinpointing the nervous
system as the means of receiving and transmitting precognitive-based signals. This could
also suggest a part played by the parietal cortex, primarily the posterior parietal lobe in
which recent findings have suggested that feelings of “free will” at least partially originate in
this area. This area could be concluded as at least partially responsible for interpreting
signals pertaining to future events as neurological disorders caused by injury to this region
of the brain are in correlation with several disorders reported by experients of precognitive
phenomena including dysgraphia [deficiency in the ability to write], dyscalculis [difficulty in
learning or comprehending mathematics], and left-right disorientation. However,
interpretive subsystems are theorized to be external to the experient. Their objective is to
mediate transmissions between the system and the experient by translating the signal for
the receptor. In the case of an experient receiving information from the system, the
information is deemed properly mediated and comprehensible to the experients mental
interpretive processes pending the onset of mental interpretive processes. Information
interpreted is either immediately accessible consciously by the experient, or in the case of
subconscious reception, is delayed and results in spontaneous experiences. (Kelly, 2011)

References
 Parapsychological Association: Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in
Parapsychology (2006-12-24)
 Randi, James (1995). “An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult
and Supernatural”
 a b Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). “Psychic”. Skepdic.com. The Skeptics Dictionary.
Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
 Dunne, J.W. (1927). An Experiment with Time. Hampton Roads Publishing Co. I. ISBN
978-1571742346.
 Berger, Arthur S.; Berger, Joyce (1991). The Encyclopedia of Parapsychology and
Psychical Research.
 Odling-Smee, Lucy (2007-03-01), “The lab that asked the wrong questions”, Nature
446(446): 10–11, doi:10.1038/446010a
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External Links
 Science Degrees in Clairvoyant/Precognition Studies – Clairvoyant Studies with the
University of Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Clairvoyantology/Precognition –
University of Alternative Studies.
 Clairvoyant/Precognition Course of Instruction – Become a student of Clairvoyant
Studies.
 Precognition Course of Instruction – Become a student of Precognitive Studies.
 Precognition Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 Precognition Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Precognition, Presentiment & Remote Viewing – Dean Radin
POSTCOGNITION
Postcognition is the psychical influence of a hypothetical universal information system
capable of storing, retaining, and recalling information pertaining to the past states of
objects, and events. This is achieved through the act of an experient requesting and
receiving information pertaining to past events via the systems long-term memory or long-
term information storage. The system captures, retains, and stores this information and can
be requested by an experient in which is then conveyed intuitively and in the form of
sensory hallucinations; primarily through the visual and auditory modalities. These
hallucinations can also occur in other sensory modalities including olfaction, gustatory, and
somatosensory. (Kelly, 2011)

Additional Definitions
Retrocognition (also known as postcognition), from the Latin retro meaning “backward,
behind” and cognition meaning “knowing”, is the purported paranormal transfer of
information about an event or object in the past. The term was coined by Frederic Myers.[2]

Recorded System Model

The method utilized by experients of postcognitive phenomena is comprehensible via the
convergence of the mechanics and laws pertaining to the universal information system and
the experient. Since the system is theoretical, so too is its and the experients natural laws
and mechanics. The universal information system provides one of the core functions of
reality, that of information retention and record. This universal information system provides
unification across diverse information types into one system encompassing an array of
information pertaining to visual, auditory, spatial, chronological, and many other types of
information. It also provides a level of abstraction, which is necessary to organize
information into files and directories. The system is dependent upon a declarative
subsystem, which encodes information pertaining to objective fact systematically for storage
in its long-term memory or information storage. The systems information is encoded by one
region of this subsystem, but the information is consolidated and stored elsewhere. This
declarative subsystem consists of two major divisions including episodic, referring to
information for specific events in time, and semantic, referring to information pertaining to
the functions and laws of the system and of reality. (Kelly, 2011)
 Neurological Causation & Interpretive Processes
There have been correlates found between postcognitive phenomena and working memory
and long-term memory in experients. This may suggest a part played by the hippocampus,
the basal ganglia, and possibly the temporal cortex in which play important roles in memory.
These areas could be concluded as at least partially responsible for interpreting signals
pertaining to recorded events as psychological and physiological conditions caused by injury
to these regions of the brain are in correlation with several disorders reported by experients
of postcognitive phenomena including severe depression, dementia, multiple sclerosis,
schizophrenia, and epilepsy. However, interpretive subsystems are theorized to be external
to the experient. Their objective is to mediate transmissions between the system and the
experient by translating the signal for the receptor. In the case of an experient receiving
information from the system, the information is deemed properly mediated and
comprehensible to the experients mental interpretive processes pending the onset of
mental interpretive processes. Information interpreted is either immediately accessible
consciously by the experient, or in the case of subconscious reception, is delayed and results
in spontaneous experiences. (Kelly, 2011)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Postcognition Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Science Degrees in Clairvoyant/Postcognition Studies – Clairvoyant Studies with the
University of Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Clairvoyantology/Postcognition –
University of Alternative Studies.
 Clairvoyant/Postcognition Course of Instruction – Become a student of Clairvoyant
Studies.
 Postcognition Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
CLAIRVOYANCE
Clairvoyance is the psychical influence of an objective environment or universal information
system capable of storing, retaining, and recalling information pertaining to the past and
current states of objects and events, and probabilistically determining the potential
trajectory of future events. It is also involved in the interim integration, processing, shifting,
and retrieval of information pertaining to objects and events in real-time. Clairvoyance is
possible through the act of an experient requesting and receiving information pertaining to
past events via the systems long-term information storage (Retro/Postcognition), or
pertaining to real-time events via the systems working memory or short-term information
storage (Remote Sensing/Remote Viewing). The information pertaining to future events are
the result of Natures computational capabilities of relative causal knowledge encompassing
deterministic and random variables (Precognition/Presentiment), which are assumed stored
by Nature and retrievable by the experient. (Kelly, 2011)

In addition, Clairvoyance includes anomalous communication with immaterial entities

(mediumship) most commonly referred to as apparitions, ghosts, or spirit guides, which are
believed to have a form of consciousness and element of personality. Assuming thought to
be the basis of consciousness, this form of communication requires specific mental
processes by which experients utilize for thought transference between the experient and
immaterial entities. These thoughts are also transferred through intuitive, or emotional,
modes or through several hallucinatory sensory modes including visual, auditory, olfaction,
gustatory, and somatosensory modalities.(Kelly, 2011)

Claims for the existence of paranormal psychic abilities such as clairvoyance are highly
controversial. Parapsychology explores this possibility, but the existence of such paranormal
phenomena is not accepted by the scientific community outside parapsychology.

Terminology
Clairvoyance (from 17th century French with clair meaning “clear” and voyance meaning
“visibility”) is the apparent ability to gain information about an object, location or physical
event through means other than the known human senses,[1][2] a form of extra-sensory
perception. A person said to have the ability of clairvoyance is referred to as a clairvoyant
(“one who sees clear”).

Usage
Within parapsychology, clairvoyance is used exclusively to refer to the transfer of
information that is both contemporary to, and hidden from, the clairvoyant. It is
differentiated from telepathy in that the information is said to be gained directly from an
external physical source, rather than being transferred from the mind of one individual to
another.[3]

Outside of parapsychology, clairvoyance is often used to refer to other forms of Anomalous

cognition, most commonly the perception of events that have occurred in the past, or which
will occur in the future (known as retrocognition and precognition respectively),[4][3] or to
refer to communications with the dead (see Mediumship).

Clairvoyance is related to remote viewing, although the term “remote viewing” itself is not as
widely applicable to clairvoyance because it refers to a specific controlled process.

Status of Clairvoyance
Within the field of parapsychology, there is a consensus that some instances of clairvoyance
are verifiable.[5][6] There is also a measured level of belief from amongst the general public,
with the portion of the US population who believe in clairvoyance varying between 1/4 and
1/3 over the 15 year period from 1990 to 2005. Year Belief 1990 26% 2000 32% 2005 26%[4]

The concept of clairvoyance gained some support from the US and Russian governments
both during and after the Cold War, and both governments made several attempts to
harness it as an intelligence gathering tool.[7]

According to skeptics, clairvoyance is the result of fraud, self-delusion[4], Barnum effects,

confirmatory biases, or failures to appreciate the base rate of chance occurrences. For
example, in a scientific experiment of clairvoyance, a purported clairvoyant participant will
inevitably make correct guesses some of the time (i.e., during some of the trials within the
same experiment), simply because of chance. Furthermore, because of the nature of the
statistical tests used by experimenters, a very small proportion of all experiments conducted
will yield an overall statistically significant result (suggesting that clairvoyance took place at
above-chance levels), again simply because of chance. A proper summary of the
experimental evidence on clairvoyance should include a summary of all experiments that
were conducted, taking into account their probabilities of turning out false positive and false
negative results, and making sure that studies are not included in the review selectively.
Some researchers on clairvoyance have tended to purposefully exclude negative findings
from their reviews [8], thus biasing their own conclusions.
 Clairvoyance and Related Phenomena Throughout History
There have been anecdotal reports of clairvoyance and ‘clear’ abilities throughout history in
most cultures. Often clairvoyance has been associated with religious or shamanic figures,
offices and practices. For example, ancient Hindu religious texts list clairvoyance amongst
other forms of ‘clear’ experiencing, as siddhis, or ‘perfections’, skills that are yielded through
appropriate meditation and personal discipline. But a large number of anecdotal accounts of
clairvoyance are of the spontaneous variety among the general populace. For example,
many people report seeing a loved one who has recently died before they have learned by
other means that their loved one is deceased. While anecdotal accounts do not provide
scientific proof of clairvoyance, such common experiences continue to motivate research
into such phenomena.

The earliest record of somnambulistic clairvoyance is credited to the Marquis de Puységur, a

follower of Mesmer, who in 1784 was treating a local dull-witted peasant named Victor Race.
During treatment, Race reportedly would go into trance and undergo a personality change,
becoming fluent and articulate, and giving diagnosis and prescription for his own disease as
well as those of others. When he came out of the trance state he would be unaware of
anything he had said or done. This behavior is somewhat reminiscent of the reported
behaviors of the 20th century medical clairvoyant and psychic Edgar Cayce. It is reported
that although Puységur used the term ‘clairvoyance’, he did not think of these phenomena as
“paranormal”, since he accepted mesmerism as one of the natural sciences.

Clairvoyance was a reported ability of some mediums during the spiritualist period of the
late 19th and early 20th centuries and was one of the phenomena studied by members of
the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Psychics of many descriptions have claimed
clairvoyant ability up to the present day.

While experimental research into clairvoyance began with SPR researchers, experimental
studies became more systematic with the efforts of J. B. Rhine and his associates at Duke
University, and such research efforts continue to the present day. Perhaps the best-known
study of clairvoyance in recent times was the US government-funded remote viewing project
at SRI/SAIC during the 1970s through the mid-1990s.

Some parapsychologists have proposed that our different functional labels (clairvoyance,
telepathy, precognition, etc.) all refer to one basic underlying mechanism, although there is
not yet any satisfactory theory for what that mechanism may be.
 Parapsychological Research
Parapsychological research studies of remote viewing and clairvoyance have produced
favorable results significantly above chance, and meta-analysis of these studies increases
the significance. For instance, at the Stanford Research Institute, in 1972, Harold Puthoff and
Russell Targ initiated a series of human subject studies to determine whether participants
(the viewers or percipients) could reliably identify and accurately describe salient features of
remote locations or targets. In the early studies, a human sender was typically present at the
remote location, as part of the experiment protocol. A three-step process was used, the first
step being to randomly select the target conditions to be experienced by the senders.
Secondly, in the viewing step, participants were asked to verbally express or sketch their
impressions of the remote scene. Thirdly, in the judging step, these descriptions were
matched by separate judges, as closely as possible, with the intended targets. The term
remote viewing was coined to describe this overall process.

In order to explore the nature of remote viewing channel, the viewer in some experiments
was secured in a double-walled copper-screened Faraday cage. Although this provided
attenuation of radio signals over a broad range of frequencies, the researchers found that it
did not alter the subject’s remote viewing capability. They postulated that extremely low
frequency (ELF) propagation might be involved, since Faraday cage screening is less effective
in the ELF range. Such a hypothesis had previously been put forward by telepathy
researchers in the Soviet Union.[9]

The first paper by Puthoff and Targ on psychic research to appear in a mainstream peer-
reviewed scientific journal was published in Nature in March 1974; in it, the team reported
some degree of remote viewing success.[10] One of the individuals involved in these initial
studies at SRI was Uri Geller, a well-known celebrity psychic at the time. The research team
reported witnessing some of Geller’s trademark metal spoon-bending performances, but
admitted that they were unable to conduct adequately controlled experiments to confirm
any paranormal hypothesis about them.

Electroencephalography (EEG) techniques were also used by team to examine ESP

phenomena. In these investigations, a sender, who was isolated in a visually opaque,
electrically and acoustically shielded chamber, was stimulated at random by bursts of
strobe-light flickers The experimenters reported that, for one receiver, differential alpha
block on control and stimulus trials were observed, which showed that some information
transfer had occurred. In contrast, this person’s expressed statements of when the stimulus
occurred were no different than that which would be expected by chance. The researches
were unable to identify the physical parameters by which the EEG effect was mediated.[11]
After the publication of these findings, various attempts to replicate the remote viewing
findings were quickly carried out. Several of these follow-up studies, which involved viewing
in group settings, reported some limited success. They included the use of face-to-face
groups,[12][13] and remotely-linked groups using computer conferencing.[14]

The various debates in the mainstream scientific literature prompted the editors of
‘Proceedings of the IEEE’ to invite Robert Jahn, then Dean of the School of Engineering at
Princeton University, to write a comprehensive review of psychic phenomena from an
engineering perspective. His paper[15], published in February 1982, includes numerous
references to remote viewing replication studies at the time.

Clairvoyance experiments involving Zener cards currently exist on the internet. One such
online system, the Anima Project[16], gathers user results into a master database which is
then analyzed using a variety of statistical techniques.

Skepticism
Parapsychological research is regarded by critics as a pseudoscience[17] In 1988, the US
National Research Council concluded that it “…finds no scientific justification from research
conducted over a period of 130 years, for the existence of parapsychological
phenomena.”[18]

Skeptics say that if clairvoyance were a reality it would have become abundantly clear. They
also contend that those who believe in paranormal phenomena do so for merely
psychological reasons. According to David G. Myers (Psychology, 8th ed.)

The search for a valid and reliable test of clairvoyance has resulted in thousands of
experiments. One controlled procedure has invited ‘senders’ to telepathically transmit one of
four visual images to ‘receivers’ deprived of sensation in a nearby chamber (Bem &
Honorton, 1994). The result? A reported 32 percent accurate response rate, surpassing the
chance rate of 25 percent. But follow-up studies have (depending on who was summarizing
the results) failed to replicate the phenomenon or produced mixed results (Bem & others,
2001; Milton & Wiseman, 2002; Storm, 2000, 2003).

One skeptic, magician James Randi, has a longstanding offer—now U.S. $1 million—“to
anyone who proves a genuine psychic power under proper observing conditions” (Randi,
1999). French, Australian, and Indian groups have parallel offers of up to 200,000 euros to
anyone with demonstrable paranormal abilities (CFI, 2003). Large as these sums are, the
scientific seal of approval would be worth far more to anyone whose claims could be
authenticated. To refute those who say there is no ESP, one need only produce a single
person who can demonstrate a single, reproducible ESP phenomenon. So far, no such
person has emerged. Randi’s offer has been publicized for three decades and dozens of
people have been tested, sometimes under the scrutiny of an independent panel of judges.
Still, nothing. “People’s desire to believe in the paranormal is stronger than all the evidence
that it does not exist.” Susan Blackmore, “Blackmore’s first law”, 2004.

Phases of Clairvoyance
In regards to phases of clairvoyance, current modeling suggests three phases. (1) The first
phase is characterized by the formation of a quantum entanglement state of one human
brain with an informational system within Nature. During this phase, the quantum states of
the brain and informational system of Nature are entangled via some form of interaction or
association [e.g. psychometric association, or tactile interaction]. (2) The second phase is
characterized by the sustainment of the entangled state of the brain and the informational
system. In this phase, it is assumed that the formed entangled state of the brain and the
informational system may hold for an extended period of time in a region of the brain under
special conditions. (3) The third phase is characterized by the collapsing of the entangled
state between the brain and informational system. It is when the entangled state of the
brain and information system is collapsed by the measurement of either, that the states of
both synchronize to be definite states from an entangled state. At this time, the experient,
regardless of space-time variables associated with the informational system or the event or
object they retrieve information regarding, will perceive the change. Such modeling
continues by assuming that when information is in an entangled state (superposition) no
definite perception in relation to the state yet exists. However, when the superposition state
collapses into a defined state, a definite perception in relation to the collapse appears. It is at
this time that the assumed clairvoyant effect becomes perceptible. (Kelly, 2011)

Types of Clairvoyance
Clairvoyant Cognition
Clairvoyant cognition is the phenomenologically indirect knowledge of an object or event via
Nature. In cases of clairvoyant cognition, and experient is retrieving information from
Nature, i.e. the experient is able to “pick up on” the information recorded in Nature. The
informational system from which the information originates does appear to play an
intentional part in the information teleportation processes. In other words, the process is
not assumed entirely evoked by the receiver, whereby possibly suggesting Natures ever-
present contribution to the survival (well-being) of the experient. Again, in regards to
clairvoyant cognition, the experient is an individual with clairvoyant ability capable of evoking
clairvoyant processes, or allowing the occasion for Nature to evoke such processes. Here,
the experient will become aware of Nature-based information (e.g. states), but should be
able to clearly identify that the information did not originate in their own mind. Here the
information is received and perceived by the experient, but the information did not develop
from a chain of prior thoughts belonging to the experient. Instead, the information appears
to “pop up,“ but is immediately associated with a specific event, object or individual other
than the experient, or simply identified as not originating from the experient. The type of
experient of clairvoyant cognition described above could be defined as an experient of
spontaneous clairvoyant cognitive phenomena, in that the information appears to “pop into
mind” rather than being intentionally requested. Experients of intentional clairvoyant
cognitive phenomena are experients whom select or specify an object, event, or another
individual from which they wish to extract information regarding. Mental mediumship is
defined as the anomalous communication with immaterial entities most commonly referred
to as discarnate spirits (i.e. ghosts) or spirit guides, which are believed to have a form of
consciousness and element of personality, or the anomalous communication with Nature,
which some believe to be an aggregate of consciousness, or “universal consciousness,”
assumed “friendly,” but possessing a neutral personality (i.e. behaviors, temperament,
emotions, etc.). (Kelly, 2011)

Clairvoyant Interaction
Theresa M. Kelly, professor of Psychical Studies at the University of Alternative Studies,
defines clairvoyant interaction as “the causal influence of an entities “mind” onto an
experient without the intervention of the five senses.” This form of clairvoyance is typically
known as trance mediumship or channeling. In either case, two forms are typically assumed
to exist. In addition to the aforementioned forms of clairvoyant interaction, there also
appears to be two more types of interaction including physical mediumship and the abilities
characteristic of psychopomps. (1) The first form has characteristics of mental mediumship,
but with the medium sitting or lying down in a deep meditative state. During these sessions,
the medium may speak as though the information is being conveyed to the medium, but
rather, the information is coming directly from the entity, but being conveyed through the
mediums natural voice and behaviors. (2) The second form is characteristic of the entity
influencing the mediums physical body in addition to speech (i.e. possession). The medium is
often awake and aware of most of the communication period and the thoughts and words
conveyed from entity to medium to sitter. (3) The third form is physical mediumship, which is
defined as the influence of the energies and energy systems of spirits. The term “physical
medium” suggests a medium with or without obvious psychical ability, which can be used as
a source of “power” for spirit manifestations such as loud rapping and other noises, voices,
materialized objects, materialized spirit bodies, or body parts such as hands, or the
occurrence of levitation. (4) The fourth form involves the abilities characteristic of
psychopomps, which not only involves assisting spirits, which have or have not crossed-over,
resolve unfinished issues with the living, but also assisting spirits that have not crossed-over
on their journey to the afterlife. Reports of clairvoyant interaction are not limited to
discarnate spirits (spirits of the deceased), but have also included seemingly “evil spirits” or
demonic entities, angelic entities, spirit guides, and omnipotent spirits described as the Holy
Spirit, God(s), Goddess(es), and Nature itself. (Kelly, 2011)

Clairvoyant Simulation
Theresa M. Kelly, professor of Psychical Studies at the University of Alternative Studies,
defines “clairvoyant content-simulation” or “clairvoyant simulation” as a case in which an
experients mental or physical state appears to produce an accommodating effect in Nature,
or Nature produces an accommodating effect within itself or the experient to satisfy the
needs of the experient. Clairvoyant simulation appears to involve the casual effective
influence of a mind on Nature, or Nature on the mind, without the intervention of the five
senses. Via this type of clairvoyance, the experient does not “know,” the information received
is foreign (i.e. not of their own volition), nor is aware that their need is the source of their
serendipity or luck (i.e. clairvoyant simulators typically believe they are simply “lucky,” rather
than “intuitive or psychic”). The input feature of clairvoyant simulation allows Nature to
“share” information with the experient that is accommodating to their current intentions or
needs (e.g. acquiring information pertaining to how, or, if things work). Information acquired
is typically additive to information already known by the experient. While the
accommodating input information appears to be qualitatively identical to the experients
need for information, the identicalness of the accommodating input information is
debatable, as there is no empirical evidence to support this at this time. The skilled experient
would however be able to identify that the simulated accommodating input information
originated from Nature if the experient is made aware of his/her ability to share information
with Nature, and is consistently “on the lookout” for ideas void of a consecutive chain of
thoughts or memories. The output feature of clairvoyant simulation allows the experient to
negotiate probability shifting with Nature of which is accommodating to their current
intentions/needs (i.e. are more focused on shifting probability than information acquisition).
I define Probability Shifting as the psychical influence on Nature’s stored probabilistic
information (i.e. altering the probabilistic information pertaining to an object or event).
Probabilistic information that can be shifted can include historical (also known as retro-PK),
real-time, or future probabilities. In regards to all of these types of influence, quantum
information is neither created, copied, hidden, nor destroyed, but rather appears to be
negotiated (e.g. an accommodating existing future potential is selected rather than various
existing non-accommodating potentials). In regards to different temporal features (i.e. past,
present, or future), the “change” must have been, or currently is, a probability (i.e. however
low the probability of the event, the event is nevertheless permitted by the Gaussian
probability distributions of physical possibilities). (Kelly, 2011)

Temporal Phenomenology of Clairvoyance

Several temporal facets of clairvoyance exist including:

(1) Postcognition, or Retrocognition, which literally means, “backward knowing,” and is

defined as “the purported paranormal transfer of information about an event or object in
the past.” I define postcognition as the psychical influence of an objective environment I call
the universal information, or Nature, which I assume is capable of storing, retaining, and
recalling information pertaining to the past states of objects, and events. (Kelly, 2011)

(2) Precognition, which literally means, “before or prior to knowing,” and is defined as “a
form of extrasensory perception wherein a person is said to perceive information about
places or events through paranormal means before they happen.” I define Precognition as
the psychical influence of an objective environment I call the universal information system,
or Nature, which I assume is capable of probabilistically determining the potential trajectory
of future events. (Kelly, 2011)

(3) A contemporaneous temporal facet in which appears to involve the perception of

information about places or events through paranormal means during the time at which
they are occurring.” This last facet is also known as Remote Viewing, or more generally as
Remote Sensing. I define remote viewing and sensing in regards to contemporaneous
clairvoyance as the psychical influence of an objective environment termed the universal
information system, or Nature, which is assume is involved in the interim integration,
processing, shifting, and retrieval of information pertaining to remote objects and events in
real-time. (Kelly, 2011)
 Other Related Terms
The words “clairvoyance” and “psychic” are often used to refer to many different kinds of
paranormal sensory experiences, but there are more specific names:

Clairsentience (feeling/touching)
In the field of parapsychology, clairsentience is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a
person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means of feeling.[19] The word is from the
French clair, “clear,” + sentience, “feeling,” and is ultimately derived from the Latin clarus,
“clear,” + sentiens, derived from sentire, “to feel”.

In addition to parapsychology, the term also plays a role in some religions. For example:
clairsentience is one of the six human special functions mentioned or recorded in Buddhism.
It is an ability that can be obtained at advanced meditation level. Generally the term refers to
a person who can feel the vibration of other people. There are many different degrees of
clairsentience ranging from the perception of diseases of other people to the thoughts or
emotions of other people. The ability differs from third eye in that this kind of ability cannot
have a vivid picture in the mind. Instead, a very vivid feeling can form.

Psychometry is related to clairsentience. The word stems from psyche and metric, which
means “to measure with the mind”.

Clairaudience (hearing/listening)
In the field of parapsychology, clairaudience [from late 17th century French clair (clear) &
audience (hearing)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires
information by paranormal auditory means. It is often considered to be a form of
clairvoyance.[20] Clairaudience is essentially the ability to hear in a paranormal manner, as
opposed to paranormal seeing (clairvoyance) and feeling (clairsentience). Clairaudient
people have psi-mediated hearing. Clairaudience may refer not to actual perception of
sound, but may instead indicate impressions of the “inner mental ear” similar to the way
many people think words without having auditory impressions. But it may also refer to
actual perception of sounds such as voices, tones, or noises which are not apparent to other
humans or to recording equipment. For instance, a clairaudient person might claim to hear
the voices or thoughts of the spirits of persons who are deceased. Clairaudience may be
positively distinguished from the voices heard by the mentally ill when it reveals information
unavailable to the clairaudient person by normal means (including cold reading or other
magic tricks), and thus may be termed “psychic” or paranormal.[citation needed]

Clairalience (smelling)
In the field of parapsychology, clairalience [presumably from late 17th century French clair
(clear) & alience (smelling)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires
psychic knowledge primarily by means of smelling.[21]

Claircognizance (knowing)
In the field of parapsychology, claircognizance [presumably from late 17th century French
clair (clear) & cognizance (< ME cognisaunce < OFr conoissance, knowledge)] is a form of
extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires psychic knowledge primarily by means
of intrinsic knowledge. It is the ability to know something without knowing how or why you
know it.

Clairgustance (tasting)
In the field of parapsychology, clairgustance is defined as a form of extra-sensory perception
that allegedly allows one to taste a substance without putting anything in one’s mouth. It is
claimed that those who possess this ability are able to perceive the essence of a substance
from the spiritual or ethereal realms through taste.[citation needed]

Developing Clairvoyant Abilities

Current thinking among proponents of clairvoyance posits that most people are born with
clairvoyant abilities but then start to subliminate them as their childhood training compels
them to adhere to acceptable social norms. Numerous institutes offer training courses that
attempt to revive the clairvoyant abilities present in those early years.[citation needed]

According to many Taoist related practices, abilities such as clairvoyance and many other
‘supernormal’ abilities are by-products of spiritual awakening and the realisation of divine
consciousness. Buddhist teaching says such powers may arise in someone who has
developed high states of mental concentration (dhyana), but such powers are in no way seen
to be a prerequisite to enlightenment. In fact, they can act an obstacle in that they may
divert the practitioner from the goal.

Integral to spiritual and mind expansion is breathwork and meditation. By expanding lung
capacity and learning to use the lungs as a ‘bellows’ to direct qi (Chinese: 氣 qì, meaning “air”)
around the body and open the subtle energy channels we also naturally expand the mind
and refine consciousness. This is how these seemingly miraculous powers develop, though
they are not truly miraculous. They are considered to be latent abilities that everyone
possesses but need ‘waking up.'[citation needed]

The re-discovery of these energetic abilities relies on the activation of the ‘Dan Tian,’
(Chinese: 丹田 dān tián, meaning “energy field”) or, the central energy reservoir located just
below the navel. When the practitioner learns to ‘turn’ it and move it as if it were a fifth limb,
then qi can begin to be pushed around the body. The Dan Tian is strong as a baby, but
quickly slows to a crawl as one ages. A major part of Taoist and Chinese Buddhist practice is
learning to activate the Dan Tian once again. This may also explain why such abilities are
stronger as a child and quickly disappear as one ages, but can be awakened by the proper
practice of arts such as neigong and qigong to expand the mindstream and spirit. There are
many abilities that can be developed in this way — telepathy, prediction, astral travel,
pyrokinesis, telekinesis, levitation and energetic healing.

References
 http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clairvoyance Merriam-Webster Online
dictionary, Retrieved Oct 5, 2007 “1: the power or faculty of discerning objects not
present to the senses 2: ability to perceive matters beyond the range of ordinary
perception: penetration”
 Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Retrieved Oct 7, 2007. The ESP entry includes
clairvoyance
 Glossary of Parapsychological terms – Clairvoyance — Parapsychological Association
(2007-04-27)
 Carrol, Robert (2003), “Clairvoyance” – Skeptics Dictionary, Wiley, ISBN 0471272426
 “What is parapsychology?”, FAQ – Parapsychological Association (2007-02-03)
 “What is the state-of-the-evidence for psi?”, FAQ – Parapsychological Association
(2007-02-03)
 Waller, Douglas (1995-12-11), “The Vision Thing”, Time, p.45
 Tart (1983) Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research
 Kogan I, “Information theory analysis of telepathic communication experiments”, Radio
Engineering, v23, March 1968, p 122.
 Targ R & Puthoff H, “Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding”,
Nature, 251, October 18 1974, pp 602-607.
 Rebert C & Turner A, “EEG spectrum analysis techniques applied to the problem of
psi phenomena”, Behavioral Neuropsychiatry, v6(1-12), Apr 1974 Apr-Mar 1975,
pp18-24
 Hastings A & Hurt D, “A Confirmatory Remote Viewing in a Group Setting”
Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 64, No 10, p 1544-1545, October 1976.
 Whitson T, Bogart D, Palmer J, & Tart C, “Preliminary Experiments in Remote
Viewing”, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 64, No 10, p 1550-1551, October 1976.
 Vallee J, Hastings A, & Askevold G, “Remote Viewing Experiments Through Computer
Conferencing”, Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol 64, No 10, p 1551-1552, October 1976.
 Jahn R, “The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering
Perspective”, Proceedings of the IEEE, 7 2, Feb 1982, pp 136-170
 “The Anima Project”. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
 Marks, D.F. (2000). The Psychology of the Psychic (2nd Ed.) New York: Prometheus
Books. ISBN 1573927988
 An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural
James Randi
 Parapsychological Association historical terms glossary, retrieved December 17, 2006
 Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in
Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
 Supernatural Glossary
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Clairvoyance: A Quantum Approach – A Textbook of the
University of Alternative Studies. Charleston, South Carolina USA.
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability, Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN:
9780557034024).
 External Links
 Clairvoyance Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Science Degrees in Clairvoyant Studies – Clairvoyant Studies with the University of
Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Clairvoyantology – University of
Alternative Studies.
 Clairvoyant Course of Instruction – Become a student of Clairvoyant Studies.
 Clairvoyance Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
TRANSVECTION
Transvection is the supernatural act of levitating, floating or more specifically flying through
the air. While levitation and magical flight can equate to acts of stage magic or astral
projection through the use of psychoactive entheogens, transvection usually refers to the
experience of bodily movement in defiance of gravitational laws. Witches in medieval Europe
were frequently depicted flying up chimneys and in the air by means of broomsticks, various
wild animals, or even during acts of sexual intercourse; however the consensus of modern
Neo-Pagans[citation needed] is that these images remotely alluded to the practice of
entheogen use, either for folk shamanic purposes surviving from the stone age, or perhaps
even as a form of recreational drug use.

There is some pre-Christian evidence of transvection in Norse Shamanism[citation needed]

that correlates with reports of flying and levitation in many early shamanic and mystical
traditions around the globe. Flying saints and Hindu and Buddhist mystical practitioners
known as Siddhis and Iddhis are known for acts of spontaneous levitation, reported during
times of intense or particular religious or meditative devotion. Though this is not to be
confused with Indian street performers, famous for climbing ropes that go nowhere and
other kinds of stage magic adapted to street performance. In the 1986 film The Boy Who
Could Fly, the main character is an orphaned, autistic transvective.

References
 http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-603256/transvection
 Strange Histories by Darren Oldrige (ch. 6, “Werewolves and Flying Witches”)
 The Complete Book of Magic and Witchcraft by Kathering Paulsen
 The Complete Book of Yogic Flying by Craig Pearson
 Long-Range Casimir Forces: Theory and Recent Experiments on Atomic Systems
SECOND SIGHT
Second sight is a form of extra-sensory perception whereby a person perceives information,
in the form of vision, about future events before they happen. Foresight expresses the
meaning of second sight, which perhaps was originally so called because normal vision was
regarded as coming first, while supernormal vision is a secondary thing, confined to certain
individuals.

History of Symbolic Visions

Though we hear most of the second sight among the Celts of the Scottish Highlands (it is
much less familiar to the Celts of Ireland), this species of involuntary prophetic vision,
whether direct or symbolical, is peculiar to no people. Perhaps our earliest notice of
symbolical second sight is found in the Odyssey, where Theoclymenus sees a shroud of mist
about the bodies of the doomed Woors, and drops of blood distilling from the walls of the
hall of Odysseus. The Pythia at Delphi saw the blood on the walls during the Persian War;
and, in the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, blood and fire appear to Circe in her chamber
on the night before the arrival of the fratricidal Jason and Medea. Similar examples of
symbolical visions occur in the Icelandic sagas, especially in Njala, before the burning of Njal
and his family. In the Highlands, and in Wales, the chief symbols beheld are the shroud, and
the corpse candle or other spectral illumination.

Second sight flourished among the Sami and the Native Americans, the Zulus of South Africa
and Māoris of New Zealand, to the surprise of travellers who have recorded puzzling events
that they have witnessed. But in these cases the visions were usually induced, not
spontaneous, and should be considered as precognition.

Ranulf Higdons Polychronicon (14th century) describes Scottish second sight, adding “that
strangers setten their feet upon the feet of the men of that londe for to see such syghtes as
the men of that londe doon”. This method of communicating the vision is still practised with
some success. For the method see “Kirk’s Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies”,
1691, 1815, 1893. It is believed by some that if a person tells what he has seen before the
event occurs he will lose the faculty. When this opinion prevails it is, of course, impossible to
prove that the vision ever occurred. There are many seers, as Lord Tarbat wrote to Robert
Boyle, to whom the faculty is a trouble, and they would be rid of it at any cost if they could.

Second Sight and its Association with Death

Perhaps the visions most frequently reported are those of funerals, which later occur in
accordance with the sight, of corpses, and of arrivals of persons, remote at the moment,
who later do arrive, with some distinctive mark of dress or equipment which the seer could
not normally expect, but observed in the vision. A fair example of second sight is the
following from Ballachulish. An aged man of the last generation was troubled by visions of
armed men in uniform, drilling in a particular field near the sea. The uniform was not
England’s cruel red, and he foresaw an invasion. It must be of Americans, he decided, for the
soldiers do not look like foreigners. The Volunteer movement later came into being, and the
men drilled on the ground where the seer had seen them. Another case was that of a man
who happened to be sitting with a boy on the edge of a path in the quarry. Suddenly he
caught the boy and leaped aside with him. He had seen a runaway trolly, with men in it, dash
down the path; but there were no traces of them below. The spirits of the living are powerful
to-day, said the percipient in Gaelic, and next day the fatal accident occurred at the spot.
These are examples of what is, at present, alleged in the matter of second sight.

Second Sight and Health

Taibhsearachd is the Gaelic name given to “second sight”, the involuntary ability of seeing
the future or distant events. It originated in the Scottish highlands.

The sight may, or may not, be preceded or accompanied by epileptic symptoms, but this
appears now to be unusual.

Second Sight and Extra-Sensory Perception

These phenomena may be classed under clairvoyance, premonition, and telepathy. There is
nothing peculiar to the Celtic people to explain their reputation for having second sight; but
the Gaelic words for it and the widespread opinion of local communities is that telepathy is
the action of the spirits on the living, using the living as agents for their activities.

Study of Second Sight

The literature of second sight is not insignificant. “The Secret Commonwealth” of the Rev. Mr
Kirk (1691), edited by Sir Walter Scott in 1815 (a hundred copies), and by Andrew Lang in
1893, is in line with cases given in “Trials for Witchcraft” (cf. Dalyell’s Darker Superstitions of
Scotland, and Wodrow’s Analecta). Aubrey has several cases in his “Miscellanies”, and the
correspondence of Robert Boyle, Henry More, Glanvil and Pepys, shows an early attempt at
scientific examination of the alleged faculty. The great treatise on Second Sight by
Theophilus Insulanus (a Macleod) may be recommended; with Martin’s Description of the
Western Isles (1703, 1716), and the work of the Rev. Mr Fraser, Dean of the Isles (1707, 1820).
Fraser was familiar with the contemporary scientific theories of hallucination, and justly
remarked that the sight was riot peculiar to the Highlanders; but that, in the south, people
dared not confess their experiences, for fear of ridicule. (A. L.)

References
 This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a
publication now in the public domain.

External links
 Clairvoyance Course of Instruction (Free) – Become a student of Clairvoyant Studies.
TELEKINESIS
Telekinesis is the psychical influence of electromagnetism and electromagnetic fields and
the affected behavior and motion of electrically charged particles (objects) vicinal to
electromagnetic fields under experient influence. Similarly, Electrokinesis is the general
psychical influence of electrons and electrical energy such as fields, charges, currents, and
potentials. Electrokinesis is positioned more as a sub-sub-type of psychokinesis, in that it
appears to be included in most sub-types of psychokinesis. Electromagnetism is the physics
of the electromagnetic field in which exerts force on particles (objects) with the property of
electric charge. Electric and magnetic fields are two interrelated aspects of an
electromagnetic field and under many circumstances, it is impossible to consider the two
separately. (Kelly, 2013)

Etymology
Telekinesis[2] (Greek τῆλε + κίνησις, literally “distant-movement”), sometimes abbreviatedTK.

Modern Usage
As research entered the modern era, it became clear that many different, but related,
abilities could be attributed to the wider description of psychokinesis and telekinesis is now
regarded as one of the subspecialties of PK. In the 2004 U.S. Air Force-sponsored research
report Teleportation Physics Study, the physicist-author Eric Davis, PhD, described the
distinction between PK and TK as “telekinesis is a form of PK.”[3]

Subtypes
In regard to telekinesis, there appears to be two subtypes. The first subtype typically involves
an electromagnetic feature that is limited to (1) electrical generation (e.g. converting
mechanical energy to electrical energy), (2) electromagnetic stimulation (e.g. utilizing
electrical energy to direct a series of magnetic pulses through injured tissue whereby each
magnetic pulse induces a tiny electrical signal that stimulates cellular repair), and (3)
electromagnetic induction (i.e. a change in an electric field generates a magnetic field;
conversely a change in a magnetic field generates an electric field), etc. In other words, this
first subtype typically does not possess an electrostatic feature. (Kelly, 2013)
However, the second subtype does not appear limited by the influence of just the
electromagnetic force, but can also involve the influence of electrostatic phenomena arising
from stationary or slow-moving electric charges and electrostatic force in which electric
charges exert on each other. In other words, this form appears to include an
electromagnetic feature and an electrostatic feature that are all encompassing. The
electromagnetic and electrostatic features includes (1) electrical generation (e.g. converting
mechanical energy to electrical energy), (2) electromagnetic stimulation (e.g. utilizing
electrical energy to direct a series of magnetic pulses through injured tissue whereby each
magnetic pulse induces a tiny electrical signal that stimulates cellular repair), (3)
electromagnetic induction (i.e. a change in an electric field generates a magnetic field;
conversely a change in a magnetic field generates an electric field), and (4) direct current (i.e.
continuous flow of electricity). In addition, (5) electrical conduction (i.e. movement or flow of
electrically charged particles), (6) electric shock (i.e. the physiological reaction of a biological
organism to the passage of electric current through its body), (7) the photo electric effect (i.e.
the emission or absorption of electromagnetic radiation i.e. visible light), and (8) static
electricity (i.e. a class of phenomena involving the imbalanced charge present on an object,
typically referring to charges with voltages of sufficient magnitude to produce visible
attraction, repulsion, and sparks), etc. (Kelly, 2013)

Experimentation
Many of the experiments for other types of psychokinesis may be modified for use in
experimenting with telekinesis and electrokinesis (e.g. lumokinetic experiments by shifting
the focus from photons to electrons, and thermal or biological experiments; as an increase
in voltage results in an increase in heat). (Kelly, 2013)

Battery Charging
In this experiment, experients are encouraged to charge re-chargeable batteries and
monitor their performance with a quality battery charge tester. Once this has been achieved,
experients of stable phenomena are encouraged to work with battery operated electrical
devices with rechargeable batteries. Experients should certify that the batteries they are
attempting to recharge are indeed incapable of allowing the device to operate (dead).
Common device usage includes remote controls and cell phones as they can fulfill a habitual
need to charge. (Kelly, 2013)
Random Event Generators
A REG is briefly defined as a device incorporating an element capable of generating a
random sequence of outputs and is used in automated tests of psi for generating target
sequences. In regard to PK experiments, the REG may itself be the target in which the
subject is required to influence. REG’s or RNG’s (random number generators) can include
high tech devices utilized in research facilities, publically available REG kits (devices and
software) designed for individuals and researchers to conduct their own PK or mind-matter
experiments, and even basic commonly available mp3 players with a shuffle option. REG’s
and RNG’s are also available online as software and freeware applications, and as
applications for smartphones and tablets. In this type of experiment, the experients
intention is to influence the generator beyond the mean chance expectation. (Kelly, 2013)

Electromagnetic and Static Fields

An EMF and ESF meter, or detector, is a scientific instrument designed to measure the
voltage of objects, or in this experiments case, experients without the need of electric charge
transfer. This experiment method is ideal for experients who tend to specialize in static
electrical or electromagnetic field influence rather than electrical current flow. This meter
can accurately measure the surface potential (voltage) of an experient without making
physical contact, whereby eliminating the need for electrostatic charge transfer or loading of
the voltage source. Many voltage measurements cannot be made using conventional
contacting voltmeters because they require charge transfer, whereby causing loading and
modification to the charge of the experient. In other words, any measurement method that
requires charge transfer will modify or destroy the actual data. (Kelly, 2013)

The majority of these meters measure the electromagnetic radiation flux density (DC or
direct current) or the charge in an electromagnetic field over time (AC or alternating current).
For this experiment, an experient will be focusing on direct current. Ideally, the experient will
want to obtain an EMF and ESF meter that can detect changes in extremely weak static (DC)
electric and magnetic fields with a feature that allows simultaneous monitoring of electric
and magnetic fields. Ideally, an experient will want to obtain a meter that is designed to
ignore appliances and other manufactured EMF sources, whereby eliminating nearly all false
positives and negatives otherwise produced by EMF meters. The magnetic range of the
meter should be 0 to 100 Microteslas or 0 to 1,000 mG (milliGauss) – 1 Microtesla = 10
milliGauss – Resolution = 2.5 mG, and the electrical range of the meter should be 0 to 1,000
V / m – Resolution = 3 V / m. (Kelly, 2013)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 (1994) The New Oxford American Dictionary. New York City: Oxford University Press,
p. 1367. ISBN 0-19-517077-6.
 Davis, Eric; physicist, Ph.D, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, 2004. “Teleportation
Physics Study”.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).

External links
 Telekinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Telekinetic Studies.
 Telekinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 Telekinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Mind Over Matter Study An invitation by the Rhine Research Center of Durham, to
submit reports of TK.
UMBRAKINESIS
Umbrakinesis is the psychical influence of the electromagnetic spectrum including visible
light and part of the near-infrared range. Umbrakinesis-based influence includes any form of
electromagnetic radiation capable of causing a direct visual sensation directly within
wavelengths of 380-950 nanometers whether wavelengths are pure or mixed [example:
white, purple, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and near-infrared]. Light exists as tiny
light “packets” called photons. Photons are quantized excitations of electrodynamic modes
that are point-like quanta in which express wave-like and particle-like properties [wave-
particle duality]. Photons move independently of one another, and are localized to light
waves spread continuously over space. Umbrakinesis-based influence includes the creation,
annihilation, and modification of remote photic [light] sources and the influence of natural
ultra-weak biophoton emissions, which can be utilized in light based therapeutic [healing]
techniques. (Kelly, 2011)

Umbrakinesis Limitations
Pair Production vs. Spontaneous Emission
It has been hypothesized that umbrakinesis involves producing or reducing remote light or
light sources whether flash, extended illumination, or darkening of a focus region, they are
influencing excited atoms returning to the ground state or forming a pair production from
two photons. This annihilation is temporary and results in a dark focus region with a halo
brighter than surround light in the environment. This phenomenon is visually similar to that
of an eclipse. Pair production is the formation or materialization of two particles, in this case,
an elementary particle [one negative/electron], and its antiparticle [one positive/positron].
This production is the result of a high-energy photon interacting with another photon. The
momentum of the first photon [Y1] must be absorbed by something to initiate pair
production as is cannot occur in empty space out of a single photon. Therefore, Y1 must be
absorbed by another photon [Y2], which is need to conserve both momentum and energy
for pair production [Y1 + Y2 = e- + e+]. (Kelly, 2011)

Umbrakinesis Measurement and Observation

Wavelength Alteration: Visible Light and Infrared
The wavelength of light is the spatial period of the wave, i.e. the distance over which the
wave’s shape repeats. It is typically determined by considering the distance between
consecutive corresponding points of the same phase [crests, troughs, or zero crossings].
Electromagnetic radiation is classified by wavelength into several types. In regards to
umbrakinesis, light influenceable includes the near infrared and visible light. The behavior of
light depends on its wavelength. The longer a wavelength is, the lower the frequency, so the
shorter a wavelength is, the higher its frequency. It is hypothesized that experients adjust
the wavelength rather than the frequency when altering light. In these types of exercises,
experients alter visible red light by stretching its wavelength, whereby resulting in infrared
light. When this happens, the red light will appear to be destroyed [become black], but in
actuality, the light is simply being modified. Experiments should be held in a small dark room
[e.g. 7”W x 5”L x 8”H] with one LED light source with a wavelength between 620 and 750nm
[red]. (Kelly, 2011)

Infrared Light Therapy

In most cases, infrared wavelengths [650-900nm] are able to penetrate deeper than visible
red [600-649nm]. In this case, visible light is partially absorbed by naturally abundant
fluorochromes, including hemoglobin, while light in the infrared region of the
electromagnetic spectrum are partially absorbed by water, though greater tissue
penetration is found in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum in the
range of 700-800nm. In regards to biophotonic therapies involving the experient influencing
the biophotons of their client, rather than themselves, these penetration laws do not apply
as the influence is targeted within the area requiring healing. Umbrakinesis-based light
therapy is very beneficial because it has the ability to promote and enhance healing, not just
treat symptoms. Infrared light therapy has been shown to trigger the release of nitric oxide,
a small endogenous molecule with multiple effects on body systems including fracture
healing, when applied to body tissues. Nitric oxide effects also include promoting blood flow
to tissues and reducing inflammation and pain. (Kelly, 2011)

Deconstructive Interference
The umbrakinesis-based influence of decreasing the brightness of an electrical light source,
a commonly reported skill of experients of umbrakinetic phenomena, is hypothesized to be
the result of deconstructive interference. To understand how this works, consider two light
waves that are in phase, sharing the same frequency and with amplitudes A1 and A2. Their
troughs and peaks are lined up and the resulting wave will have an amplitude of A = A1 + A2.
This is known as constructive interference. On the other hand, if the two waves are out of
phase, then one wave’s crests will coincide with another wave’s troughs and they will tend to
cancel out. The resultant amplitude is then A = |A1 – A2 |, and if A1 is equal to A2 then the
resultant amplitude will be zero. This is known as destructive interference. In these types of
exercises, experients have been directed to use a small light-emitting-diode [LED]. Experients
may find more influencing success with one wavelength [color] over another. (Kelly, 2011)

Umbrakinesis Symptoms and Side Effects

Photon Absorption and Loss of Consciousness
Experients of umbrakinesis-based phenomena report an unusual side effect produced when
the experient is both frightened and in very low lighting. This effect is described as the
experient “disappearing,” as though they have vanished from visual sight. Ideas surrounding
this effect are highly hypothetical and involve the possibility of the experient absorbing a
high level of photons that would have otherwise been reflected off the experient. Because of
the absorption, the photons [light] are converted into another form of energy [heat].
Increases of temperature have been reported during this effect along with loss of
consciousness, assumed the result of heat exhaustion. Reports suggest at some point, the
subconscious mind ceases the activity [possibly attributed to some form of survival
mechanism], and as body temperature decrease, the experient begins to regain
consciousness. Reports are typically submitted by non-experients in which witness the
effects, as experients typically awaken unbeknownst to the effect that took place. (Kelly,
2011)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Manual of Umbrakinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Manual of Umbrakinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Umbrakinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Introduction Course Become a student of Scientific Umbrakinetics – University of
Alternative Studies.
 Umbrakinesis Free Course of Instruction – Become a student of Umbrakinetic Studies.
 Umbrakinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
ROLE OF PSI
To understand the Role of Psi, it is best to view psi as an ability, or feature, in which is bound
to an individual human being as a function of his or her personality in the broadest sense of
that term. Much effort has be given in regards to speculating on how psi works, which is not
the same as the consideration of what psi is for or why human beings possess such an
ability. Such questions must be addressed to move forward in an understanding of psi, and
this understanding must be applied to move forward in developing a model of psi. [1]

The Need-Serving Quality of Psi

Psi modeling points to characteristics of psi such as psi being need-serving; where psi
functions to serve goals such as survival and deep psychological needs. These types of needs
are not the focus of conscious attention, but rather involve the linking of psi to the serving of
subconscious needs. While this is sufficient for spontaneous cases, which lead us to more
questions pertaining to the elusiveness of psi, slightly different characteristics are apparent,
such as decisions making needs and the need for health and well-being. These types of
needs do appear to be the focus of somewhat conscious attention, linking psi to the serving
of semi-conscious casual needs, allowing the potential for practical applications. While the
practical application of psi may still prove to be somewhat erratic, psi appears to be
somewhat designed to adapt to organizing principles, perhaps as a means to maintain the
order of mechanisms of probability. [1]

Psychokinesis as a Primary Psi Process

In the mid-70’s there was a shift in view surrounding psi phenomena due to the
dismantlement of the classical view (classical physics) of psi because of quantum mechanics
(quantum physics). This new view of psi proposed greater importance to psychokinesis,
suggesting it to be a “fundamental” or “primary” psi process that could subsume
extrasensory perception, rendering extrasensory perception an assumed direct result of
psychokinetic functions (i.e. the “movement” of thoughts). I postulate that thought, despite
the current incapability of brining a thought “to rest,” which is required to submit a single
thought to examination, does have measureable mass as thought is capable of moving in
waves in which implies mass.The motion of implied mass therefore suggests psychokinesis
as a primary psi process. Such a shift in the view of psi also changed the view of
psychokinesis from a psychic mechanism (e.g. a psychic lever) to a force-like function, and
then to a view of psychokinesis as the ability to shift probabilities of events, to bias
probability distributions. [1]

Psi-Mediation Instrumental Response (PMIR)

The basic concept surrounding the PMIR was that human beings utilize psi to accomplish
something (the instrumental response) that fulfils certain needs in which the individual
consciously or subconsciously possesses. Such concepts lead to arguments suggesting that
psi may be far more common in daily life than in immediately apparent, but that psi does
accomplish is goals in a subtle elegant manner void of conscious awareness. Further
arguments then direct us towards the question “if psi is a staple in our subconscious daily
life, can psi be directed to be a staple in our conscious daily life to any extent?

The assumption in which describes how the PMIR should work have been summarized in the
following points:

 Psi (as PMIR) is probably operative in daily life far more than we realize.
 The chief function of PMIR is to accomplish certain goals or to fulfill certain needs of
human beings.
 PMIR operates for the most part unconsciously. Not only is the operation of psi
unnoticed by the individual, but also the need might not even be consciously
recognized. [1]

Psi Education is Critical to Psi Processes

Continued insistences have been made over the years in regards to the role of psi as a
function to serve the needs of the individual. If psi is such a useful psychic device, then it
should have, and therefore has become, the responsibility of relative scholars to consider
more seriously the possible psychological and biological implications of the phenomena
deemed “paranormal” and to consider more seriously possible practical applications. It is
also therefore the responsibility of the individual to consider more seriously the need to
strive for a better understanding of psi functioning in everyday life before they expect to
capture it in a practical sense. The practical use of psi is assumed possible via therapeutic
and experimental applications in which can be utilized on a daily basis. Regular conscious
use of psi, via the subconscious need to perform, appears to be the fundamental key to
regular successful psychical influence. Such and education is accomplishable via formal
educational opportunities such as the University of Alternative Studies, or informal
opportunities such as related journals and mainstream publications. [1]

Psi as a Product of Evolution

Psi ability is viewed as the product of evolution, of the same processes of natural selection
that has yielded human beings all other features and abilities. Darwinian Theory has a base
explanation for any ability: it serves to help human beings survive and pass on their genes to
the next generation. The base explanation here is survival in the biological sense (i.e. the
survival of the gene rather than the being). Psi is assumed to be need-serving, and these
needs are significant as they contribute to the health and well-being of the individual so as to
make the individual better able, and more likely to reproduce to ensure the passing of
genes. One may take the tem “survival” to assume psi is only useful in a critical moment
collective with a critical need, but the term “survival” should be understood to mean more
plainly: the ability to endure on a daily basis, to withstand hardships and stress (i.e. to be
well). Considerations include the implication that the individuals subconscious will know,
typically subconsciously, in what circumstances psi may or may not be needed. Again, this is
not to assume psi can only be used in critical situations or that any event in which can be
attributed to the application of psi must have a need behind it, but this does seem to be the
case. [1]

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Resource LIbrary – The Resource Library includes many forms of informational and
educational resources along with community and support resources.
RETROCOGNITION
Retrocognition (also known as postcognition), from the Latin retro meaning “backward,
behind” and cognition meaning “knowing”, is the purported paranormal transfer of
information about an event or object in the past. The term was coined by Frederic Myers.[1]
[1] Retrocognition, like all forms of psychic functioning, is said by critics such as Robert Todd
Carroll to be, in all probability, illusion or fraud.[2]

References
 Glossary of Parapsychological terms – Retrocognition — Parapsychological
Association (2007-04-28) http://www.skepdic.com/psychic.html
 Entry on “Psychic” in The Skeptic’s Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll, Retrieved July
26, 2007

External Links
 Science Degrees in Clairvoyant/Retrocognition Studies – Clairvoyant Studies with the
University of Alternative Studies.
 Professional Certification Program in Scientific Clairvoyantology/Retrocognition –
University of Alternative Studies.
 Clairvoyant/Retrocognition Course of Instruction – Become a student of Clairvoyant
Studies.
 Postcognition Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
 Postcognition Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Retrocognitions: An investigation into memories of past lives and the periods between
lives by Wagner Alegretti
PSYCHOKINESIS
Psychokinesis (PK) is defined as “the direct influence of mind on a physical system that
cannot be entirely accounted for by the mediation of any known physical energy.” PK
includes any direct mind over matter interaction or mental influence upon the structure of a
physical system. (Kelly, 2013)

Etymology
The term psychokinesis (from the Greek ψυχή, “psyche”, meaning mind, soul, heart, or
breath; and κίνησις, “kinesis”, meaning motion; literally “movement from the mind”),[2][3]

Terminology
The term “Psychokinesis” was coined in 1914[4] by American author-publisher Henry Holt in
his book On the Cosmic Relations[5][6] and adopted by his friend, American
parapsychologist J. B. Rhine in 1934 in connection with experiments to determine if a person
could influence the outcome of falling dice.[7][8]

Limited Case Reports

Unfortunately, the collections of spontaneous PK are limited, with very few large collections
to subject to content analysis, as the occurrence and/or reporting of spontaneous PK is
relatively low. This low occurrence and/or reporting of spontaneous PK is believed to be the
result of the prevalence of unobservable PK effects, and/or a lack of meaningful correlation
of the PK effects and the current state of the experient. In other words, some effects are not
perceivable by the naked eye, are too far to sense (e.g. increases in temperature), or may
occur in a way that is not seen as meaningful to the experient, which is very common in
spontaneous cases since heightened stress is typically the cause of the PK effect, with an
intention to notify the experients surroundings of their stressful state (i.e. express stress),
not actually remedy the stress or the stressful situation. In addition, many PK effects are
believed to be the result of some unknown, observable, or undetectable natural cause.
(Kelly, 2013)
 Measurement and Observation
Parapsychology researchers describe two basic types of measurable and observable
psychokinetic effects in experimental laboratory research and in case reports occurring
outside of the laboratory.[12][10][9] Micro-PK is a very small effect, such as the manipulation
of molecules, atoms,[9] subatomic particles,[9] etc., that can only be observed with scientific
equipment. The words are abbreviations for micro-psychokinesis, micropsychokinesis[11].
Macro-PK is a large-scale effect that can be seen with the unaided eye. The adjective phrases
“microscopic-scale,” “macroscopic- scale,” “small-scale,” and “large-scale” may also be used;
for example, “a small-scale PK effect.”

Some Findings
PK experiences are often experienced by those who are more physically active than ESP
experients, and just as many ESP experiences can become so naturally additive to the
experients naturally acquired knowledge, so to can PK experiences be so subtle that the
effects are presumed entirely natural. It has been suggested that in regard to PK effects
involving hands on therapeutic work, that the circulatory system (i.e. one of the primary
channels for the flow of electrical waves) may play a part in PK processes. In other words, if a
massage therapist has slightly provided more relief than usual, or a basketball player makes
a few more baskets than usual, the results are likely not going to be seen as the result of
mind-matter interaction. (Kelly, 2013)

What Psychokinesis is and is not

To comprehend accurately what psychokinesis is and is not, first one has to define and
analyze objects and systems, motion, states of matter, and forms of energy and forces.
(Kelly, 2013)

Understanding the Physical

A physical object may be a collection of masses or smaller physical bodies, or can be
considered as a whole or single “thing.” For example, a baseball can be considered a physical
object; however, the ball also consists of various particles. A physical system, technically
speaking, is a portion of the physical universe chosen for analysis. In regard to physics,
motion is defined as a “change in position of an object or system with respect to time.” (Kelly,
2013)
Understanding Motion
The motion of an object is typically describe in terms of velocity, which is its speed of a given
direction, acceleration, which is the rate of change of velocity, displacement, which is the
shortest distance from the initial to the final position point, and time, which takes into
account the duration of motions and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of
change. An objects momentum is directly related to the object’s velocity and mass, which is
the property of an object that causes it to have weight in a gravitational field. (Kelly, 2013)

Understanding Matter
Matter is defined as the substance of which all physical objects consist. Typically, this
includes atoms and other particles of which have mass and volume, where the mass is the
amount of matter in the object and volume is the amount of space occupied by an object.
However, definitions of matter vary even within similar disciplines. Matter exists in four
states or phases, which include solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. However, other states have
been realized such as the Bose-Einstein condensate, which consists of a type of diluted gas
cooled to temperatures very near absolute zero (0 K/-273.15 °C/-459.67 °F). (Kelly, 2013)

Understanding Energy
Energy is typically understood as the ability a system has to do work on other systems,
where work is defined as a force acting through a length of space or distance. Energy can be
broken down into two main groups. The first group is termed kinetic energy, which is the
energy an object possesses due to its motion, and is defined as the work needed to
accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. The second group is
termed potential energy, which is the energy of an object or system with respect to the
position of the object or the arrangement of the particles of the system. Several forms of
energy have been defined within these two groups. However, this list continues to grow as
we come to better understand the universe. These forms include (1) thermal energy, which
is defined as the total energy of a thermodynamic system or sample of matter that results in
the system’s temperature, (2) chemical energy, which is defined as the energy due to
associations of atoms in molecules and various kinds of aggregates of matter, (3) electric
energy, which is defined as a potential energy that results from conservative Coulomb
forces, and is the configuration of a particular set of point charges within a defined system,
(4) radiant energy, which is defined as the energy of electromagnetic waves, (5)
electromagnetic radiation is defined as a form of energy emitted and absorbed by charged
particles of which exhibit wave-like behavior as they propagate through space, (6) and
magnetic energy, which is fundamentally no different from electric energy as the two
phenomena are related by Maxwell’s equations. (Kelly, 2013)

In addition, (7) elastic energy, which is defined as the potential mechanical energy stored in
the configuration of a material or system as work is performed to distort its volume or
shape, (8) sound energy, which is defined as the form of energy associated with the vibration
of disturbance of matter, and requires some form of material to travel through; while sound
itself, is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a material,
which is composed of frequencies within the range of hearing, (9) mechanical energy, which
is defined as the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy present in the components of a
mechanical system, and is associated with the motion and position of the object, (10)
Luminous energy, which is defined as the perceived energy of light, which differs from
radiant energy, because luminous energy pertains only to light that is visible to the human
eye, and finally, (11) Mass energy, which in regard to special relativity, rest mass and rest
energy are essentially equivalent via the well-known relationship of E=mc2. (Kelly, 2013)

Understanding Force
A force is defined as any influence that causes an object to undergo a particular change, i.e.
in regard to its movement, direction, or geomagnetic construction. In other words, a force is
something that can cause and object with mass to change its velocity, including being moved
from a state of rest, such as to accelerate, cause a flexible object to deform, etc. In addition,
force can be described via intuitive concepts such as “push or pull.” A force possesses both
magnitude and direction, which makes it a vector quantity, as opposed to a scalar quantity,
which do not have a direction. Associated concepts to force include thrust, which accelerates
an object, drag, which decelerates an object, and torque, which produces changes in the
rotational speed of an object. All forces within our universe are based on four fundamental
forces. The strong and weak nuclear forces act only at very limited distances, and are
responsible for the interactions between subatomic particles (e.g. nucleons and compound
nuclei). The electromagnetic force acts between electric charges, or is a force in which exists
intrinsically between two charges. The gravitational force acts between masses, and on the
surface of Earth, the force of gravity on an object is directly proportional to the mass of the
object. (Kelly, 2013)
 Skepticism and Controversy
The topic of psychokinesis is regarded as pseudoscience by many mainstream scientists. In
the book Parapsychology: The Controversial Science (1991), British parapsychologist Richard
S. Broughton, Ph.D, wrote of the differences of opinion among top scientists encountered by
Robert G. Jahn, director of the (now-closed) PEAR laboratory, regarding the psychokinesis
research that the lab was engaged in at the time. Jahn is quoted as saying that six Nobel
laureates commented on the lab’s work and that two firmly rejected the whole topic, two
encouraged his team to push on, and two were unwilling to commit either way, thus
indicating that negative and positive scientific opinion on the subject, even at the highest
level, is not absolute.[9] Supporters of research in the field point out that many things in
science were once thought impossible and ridiculed, only later to be proven true.[9] Henry
Margenau, David Bohm, and O. Costa de Beauregard have publicly stated that they believe
that nothing in quantum physics forbids the existence of psi phenomena.[9] Nobel laureate
Brian Josephson has stated that the results of experiments in quantum physics that he has
seen have produced more compelling evidence for the hypothetical existence of psi effects
than the results of experiments done in the lab so far by parapsychologists.[9][13]

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 (2001) Random House Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. Boston, Massachusetts
USA: Random House Reference.
 (1994) The New Oxford American Dictionary. New York City: Oxford University Press,
p. 1367. ISBN 0-19-517077-6.
 (2005) Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Springfield,
Massachusetts, USA: Merriam-Webster.
 Parapsychology Foundation “Basic terms in Parapsychology””. Retrieved on
December 22, 2006.
 Holt, Henry [1914]. On the Cosmic Relations (PDF), Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin.
Retrieved on 2007-12-13.
 Spence, Lewis (1920). Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Kessinger
Publishing.
 Parapsychological Association – Glossary: PK/Psychokinesis”. Retrieved on July 19,
2006.
 Broughton, Richard S. (1991). Parapsychology: The Controversial Science. New York:
Ballantine Books.
 Berger, Arthur S.; Berger, Joyce (1991). The Encyclopedia of Parapsychological and
Psychical Research.
 Guiley, Rosemary Ellen (1991). Encyclopedia of the Strange, Mystical & Unexplained.
New York: Gramercy Books.
 Library.ThinkQuest.org – Glossary: Macro PK and Micro PK”. Retrieved on October
14, 2006.
 Nobel laureate Brian Josephson (May 5, 1987). The Unexplained. London: BBC World
Service radio program.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena, Dean Radin,
HarperEdge, 1997.
 Distant Mental Influence, William Braud, Hampton Roads Publishing, Inc. , 2003. ISBN
1-57174-354-5.
 Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality, Dean Radin,
Pocket Books, 2006.
 The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe, Lynne McTaggart,
HarperCollins, 2008.
 Flim Flam!, James Randi, Prometheus Books, 1982. ISBN 0-87975-198-3.
 Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, James Houran and Rense
Lange. ISBN 0786409843.

Published Scientific Papers on Psychokinesis

 The Journal of Non-Locality and Remote Mental Interactions
 Examining Psychokinesis: The Interaction of Human Intention With RNGs.
 Psychokinesis and Its Possible Implication to Warfare Strategy
 External links
 Psychokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
 Psychokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Notes toward a General Theory of Paranormal Phenomena by John Walker.
 Online Telekinesis Test
 The Intention Experiment A series of scientifically controlled, web-based PK
experiments.
 Mind Over Matter Study An invitation by the Rhine Research Center of Durham, North
Carolina USA to submit reports.
PSYCHOMETRY
Psychometry (Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, “spirit, soul”; + μέτρον, metron, “measure”) is a form of
extra-sensory perception in which a psychic is said to be able to obtain information about an
individual through paranormal means by making physical contact with an object that
belongs to them. In recent years, the term has been superseded in favor of “token-object
reading” so as to avoid potential confusion with the psychological term, “psychometry”.

The term psychometry was coined by Joseph Rodes Buchanan in 1842. [2]Buchanan
developed the theory that all things give off an emanation.[3]

“The past is entombed in the present, the world is its own enduring monument; and that
which is true of its physical is likewise true of its mental career. The discoveries of
Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to
explore the history of the earth. There are mental fossils for psychologists as well as mineral
fossils for the geologists; and I believe that hereafter the psychologist and the geologist will
go hand in hand, the one portraying the earth, its animals and its vegetation, while the other
portrays the human beings who have roamed over its surface in the shadows, and the
darkness of primeval barbarism. Aye, the mental telescope is now discovered which may
pierce the depths of the past and bring us in full view of the grand and tragic passages of
ancient history.”[2]”

The concept of psychometry is a popular theme for stage act and Séance; with participants
being asked to provide a personal object to be “read” by a medium or psychic. It was used as
the basis for Johnny Smith’s visions in Stephen King’s 1979 novel The Dead Zone and its
subsequent 2002 television adaption.

References
1. Psychometry – Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Parapsychological
Association (2006-12-17)
2. http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Quad/6460/bio/B/uchananJR.html Retrieved
December 18, 2006 3. Psychometry

External links
  Psychometry Experiment, a paranormal history project that gives Toronto, Hamilton
and Niagara area residents in Ontario, Canada the opportunity to participate in
psychometry reading.

PYROKINESIS
Pyrokinesis is the psychical influence of propelling charged particles to high speeds,
typically electrons because of their light weight, via an experients own electrical fields or
through the remote influence of similar fields. Experients act as low energy particle
accelerators whereby increasing the temperature of systems, or objects, that are not in
thermodynamic equilibrium. Increased temperatures can lead to object phase changes via
the physical processes of melting/fusion or boiling, or result in smoldering or flaming
combustion. Pyrokinesis is also the psychical influence of energy flow in regards to heat. In
the case of heat emission, the raised temperature of the system [heat] spontaneously flows
from the experient, or remote source, in the direction of the system as long as the system is
cooler than the experient as per the second law of thermodynamics. In the case of heat
absorption, heat flows from a system, which has a higher temperature, towards the direction
of an experient of a lower temperature. In either case, when a thermal connection is made,
such as radiation or conduction, the experient and system will exchange internal energy
until their temperatures are equalized; that is, until they reach thermodynamic equilibrium.
(Kelly, 2011)

Terminology
The term pyrokinesis is derived from the Greek words πυρ (pûr, meaning “fire, lightning”)
and κίνησις (kínesis, meaning “motion”). It literally means “to move fire”, but more
commonly denotes the ability to create and/or to control fire using only the mind.

Limitations
Heat Conduction vs. Radiation
Reported limitations include heat conduction verses heat radiation. Heat transfer is due to a
temperature gradient, which directs the flow of heat from regions of higher temperatures to
regions of lower temperatures. In conduction, this flow is possible via the direct touch
between the experient and an object. Conduction takes place in all forms of matter such as
solids, liquids, gases and plasmas, leaving little limitations in regards to the physical
properties of a substance or system. Radiation on the other hand, does not require direct
touch, but rather localization to a substance or system. This range of localization is
debatable, but is most commonly reported to be within 2 feet, and up to 5 feet. (Kelly, 2011)

Vaporization vs. Melting

Another limitation includes increasing the temperatures of substances or systems in regards
to solid verses fluid influence. In other words, experients of pyrokinetic phenomena in which
can influence fluids [liquids and gases] report limitations when attempting the melting or
fusion of solids. This limitation presents itself during the process of phase transition.
Vaporization, or boiling, is a type of phase transition, which typically occurs when a liquid is
heated to its boiling point. Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase
transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This form of phase change is most
commonly reported by experients of pyrokinetic phenomena in regards to electronic circuits
more so than other substances or objects. (Kelly, 2011)

Flame vs. Flameless Combustion

Typically, flame and flameless forms of combustion are equally as common as the other is.
The fundamental difference between a flameless and flaming fire [smoldering and flaming
combustion] that appears to limit an experient is that of temperature. The characteristic
temperature and heat released during smoldering are low compared to flaming combustion
(i.e., 600°C vs. 1500°C). Experients can gauge their temperature range of influence by
attempting to combust several types of materials. Experients should start with controlled
experiments involving crumpled up tissue paper then light [newspaper] to standard weight
paper. Experients can then increase difficulty by attempting to ignite combustion in small
pieces of dry wood. (Kelly, 2011)

Measurement & Observation

Thermo-Therapeutic Heat Transfer
The heat transfer produced when an experient of pyrokinetic phenomena places their hands
on or near an individual is the transition of thermal energy from the experient to the
individual. This heat flow, or heat transfer, will continue to occur until the local of the
individual’s body reaches thermal equilibrium [at the same temperature] with the hands of
the experient, though the thermoregulation of the individual’s body tends to prevent this
from happening to a small degree. This heat transfer, from the experients heated hands to
the individual, warmer to warm, is the result of the second law of thermodynamics or the
Clausius statement. When an experient is able to regulate and control their hand
temperatures, they should be encouraged to engage in thermal therapies, which can treat
many illnesses and ailments including chronic pain, inflammation, and potentially cancer. In
exercises, experients should attempt to increase the temperature in their hands from
average temperature [female hands 90.3°F, male hands is 89.2°F] to no higher than 102°F.
Temperatures higher than 102°F can result in physiological damage such as burns and nerve
impairment in regards to the experient or individuals in direct contact with the experients
hands. For scientific measurement, experients will need to obtain a digital biofeedback
thermometer, which can typically cost around $20 and up. (Kelly, 2011)

Indoor Thermal Influence

Indoor thermal influencing exercises should be held in a small room [e.g. 7”W x 5”L x 8”H] at
room temperature [68°F to 77°F]. To measure progress, the experient should obtain a digital
indoor [room] thermometer with a medium to large LCD display with digits at least 1-inch
high that is capable of measuring temperatures up to 110°F. These thermometers rage in
price, but are typically priced around $10 and up. Experients should record starting
temperatures and end temperatures to measure progress. Experients should avoid
increasing temperatures to above 106°F [41.1°C] as to avoid heat-related illnesses during
prolonged exercises. All doors and windows should be shut during exercises and all fans/air
conditioners should be turned off. Immediately prior to exercises, experients should be
encouraged to drink plenty of fluids if the exercises caused the experient to break a sweat.
For experients in which cannot heat an area as large as a room, containment-based
exercises should replace room-based exercises. For containment-based exercises,
experients should be encouraged to obtain a wireless digital indoor/outdoor thermometer
and place the indoor potion within a container, and the outdoor portion outside of said
container with the container starting at no larger than roughly 1ft sq. (Kelly, 2011)

Symptoms & Side Effects

Spontaneous Combustion
Experients of pyrokinetic phenomena under stress are prone to spontaneous heating and
spontaneous combustion. The most common form of combustion reported amongst
experients is that of fires designated Class A. These fires occur when an organic solid, such
as wood, cloth, rubber or some plastics become heated to their flash point and ignite. At this
point, the solid undergoes combustion. Fortunately, these types of fires are easy to fight and
contain – by removing the heat, oxygen, or fuel, or by suppressing the underlying chemical
reaction. Experients with mild to high stressors should be encouraged to keep a fire
extinguisher readily accessible in their home and office. (Kelly, 2011)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2011) Manual of Pyrokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Manual of Pyrokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External Links
 Pyrokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Introduction Course – Become a student of Scientific Pyrokinesis – University of
Alternative Studies.
 Pyrokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Pyrokinetic Studies.
 Pyrokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
PSI-MEDIATED INSTRUMENTAL
RESPONSE (PMRI)
Psi-Mediation Instrumental Response (PMIR). The basic concept surrounding the PMIR
was that human beings utilize psi to accomplish something (the instrumental response) that
fulfils certain needs in which the individual consciously or subconsciously possesses. Such
concepts lead to arguments suggesting that psi may be far more common in daily life than in
immediately apparent, but that psi does accomplish is goals in a subtle elegant manner void
of conscious awareness. Further arguments then direct us towards the question “if psi is a
staple in our subconscious daily life, can psi be directed to be a staple in our conscious daily
life to any extent?

The assumption in which describes how the PMIR should work have been summarized in the
following points:

 Psi (as PMIR) is probably operative in daily life far more than we realize.
 The chief function of PMIR is to accomplish certain goals or to fulfill certain needs of
human beings.
 PMIR operates for the most part unconsciously. Not only is the operation of psi
unnoticed by the individual, but also the need might not even be consciously
recognized. [1]

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series. Charleston, South
Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series. Charleston, South
Carolina USA.
PSYCHICAL PROFILING
Psychical Profiling consists of analyzing the various mental and physical characteristics
possessed by experients of specific psychical phenomena. This profiling method is utilized to
assess experients of psychical phenomena and propose direction in the way of psychical and
psychophysiological wellbeing and enhancement via their assessment results. [1]

Psychical-Psychological Profiling
Psychological profiling consists of analyzing data collected from experients of specific
psychical phenomena to reveal correlations in personality and in over all psychological
health [e.g. psychological history of the experient and the experients immediate family, and
present and future concerns]. In parapsychology, typical psychological profiling methods are
limited to assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI], and the Defense
Mechanism Test [DMT]. Research involving these tests reveals that extroversive personality
traits appear more psychically conducive than introversive traits, and that neuroticism
negatively correlates with psychical performance. Basically that [a] Relaxation is psi-
conducive, and [b] Positive, care-free moods are more psi-conducive than drifting and
anxious moods.

However, my personality profiling research targets more specific traits and interests [e.g.
mentation, creativity, feelings, values, disposition, and non-psi associated beliefs]. This
perspective has lead me to find that mild introversive traits can improve performance [e.g. in
experients of postcognition and umbrakinesis], but only when tested in an environment the
experient considers “comfortable” and “safe,” and only when one experimenter is involved. I
have also found that if the mild introversive nature of the experient increases from this
point, their performance quality equally decreases. This perspective has also lead me to
correlations between specific psychical phenomena and psychological health conditions.
Both personality traits and psychological conditions have been placed into 8 categories
along with associated psychical phenomena. In other words, an experient can be assessed
based on his/her personality traits and the results will pinpoint what psychical phenomena
and psychological conditions the experient may be prone to. [1]

Targeting Psychological Health for Psychical Enhancement

Experients in which are more likely than the average individual to experience such feelings
as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depressed mood, typically score at chance or below-chance
during psychical testing regardless of the psychical potential. Because they characteristically
respond poorly to environmental stressors, are easily threatened, and fixate on, and
describe, minor frustrations as being hopelessly difficult, they are less likely to score well
because these characteristics are not psychically conducive. However, if an experient with
high levels of anxiety or marked reliance on defense mechanisms scored at chance, and later
address and work through their anxieties [e.g. through behavioral therapy] the experient
may then score at above-chance during psychical testing. This has proven true in my
research; that individuals with acute or chronic mental illness report and exhibit increases in
psychical performance quality after they have been successfully treated for the condition. [1]

Decreased or Ceased Psychical Phenomena Due to Associated

Personality Deviation
My form of psychical profiling consists of analyzing the various characteristics possessed by
experients of specific psychical phenomena. These characteristics have been organized into
8 profiles. Therefore, each profile consists of an array of characteristics and attributes
invariably exhibited by select types of experients. My research has shown that experients in
which match their profiles 100% have high-quality performance values. My research also
shows that a deviation from their profile reduces performance quality in phenomena
associated with that profile. This common deviation appears to be one several reasons for
experient reports involving a “lost gift.” It appears that if an experient of one profile deviates
entirely to another profile, the phenomena that are not common in both profiles will be lost
unless the experient again conforms to the profile associated with those phenomena. [1]

Increased Reactivity to Psychical Stimuli Due to Mental

Illness
A wide array of acute and chronic mental illnesses can result In the non-functionality of
psychical phenomena. Overwhelming psychical phenomena exists in both extrasensory
perception-based phenomena and psychokinetic-based phenomena and effects are typically
described as bothersome, concerning, alarming, or downright terrifying. Psychological
effects vary per profile, but allow an experient a generalized list of what to be on the lookout
for. There are many cross-associated illnesses (apparent in more than one profile) such as
depression and anxiety. Whether the psychological condition is the result of the psychical
instability, or the psychical instability is the result of the psychological condition is unclear,
but treating the psychological condition appears to treat the psychical instability every time.
While it may seem as simple as treating the condition to regain psychical stability, it is never
that simple, because the condition and the instability perpetuate each other leaving the
experient with little hope in improving their mental and psychical well-being. At such a point
the experient may adjust their lives accordingly to the condition and instability [e.g. become
reclusive, work from home]. Even though such changes may appear to be necessary, the
experient will soon find that their choices have exacerbated both the condition and psychical
instability. Ideally, experients should address the condition and instability as soon as they
emerge. This typically involves a psychotherapy based approach, which aims to treat the
condition through techniques designed to reinforce desired behaviors and eliminate
undesired behaviors. This type of psychotherapy is known as Behavior Therapy. [1]

Correlations Between Myers-Briggs Types and Psychical

Types
After years of collecting data, which later enabled me to structure the personality profiles, I
was still unable to correlate them with Myers-Briggs types. Fortunately after several more
years of collecting data and careful analysis of the universals and differences of the
personalities, I was able to achieve this. In other words, when an individual takes my
psychical assessment, not only do they find out in what areas there psychical potential lies,
and what possible psychological and physiological conditions they may be prone to, but
assessment results also reveal their Myers-Briggs type, or vise versa. As similar to Myers-
Briggs personality types, psychical personality types are not “pure” types. This is to say that
many lean towards two to three different types more often then they exactly fit one
particular type. Because an experient leans towards one or more types rather than others
types, the experient will have a higher chance of enhancing and growing a particular form of
phenomena associated with their type(s) more so than others. While adjusting ones
personality can be advantageous, type preferences themselves are the connection between
the conscious and unconscious, leaving some preferences beyond conscious management.
In addition, experients, like all human beings, are born with an innate predisposition to type,
perhaps at the quantum level, and major deviations are unlikely, except in the case of severe
traumas or lifestyle alterations. [1]

Psychical-Physiological Profiling
There have been several studies in regards to correlations between psychical phenomena
and the presence of physiological abnormalities during psychical performance. This includes
abnormalities found in temporal lobe functions and high amounts of densities of alpha wave
activity [8-13 Hz] have been documented, which are associated with a relaxed, passive state
of mind. In single-subject designed experiments, high quality performance values have been
found correlated to increased power in the delta [1-3 Hz] and theta [4-7 Hz] EEG bands,
suggesting a facilitatory effect of low cortical arousal. However, in multi-subject designed
experiments, high quality performance values have been found correlated to alpha and beta
activity [14-30 Hz], and low quality performance values correlated to delta and theta waves.
These results may suggest that certain forms of psychical phenomena utilize different types
of brain waves during performance, as they do appear to utilize different regions of the
brain per form of performance. Associated studies in the field of cardiology have suggested
that alpha rhythms in the brain have correlations with the cardiac cycle during a
psychophysical mode termed physiological coherence. My research has shown that an
intentional increase in heart rate prior to performance produces higher performance values
then in subjects who remained idle prior to performance. This infers that if alpha wave
activity is psi-conducive, then experients that can achieve physiological coherence have a
practical and functional activity by which they can increase the alpha wave activity in their
brain prior to performance as a means to improve performance. [1]

Correlations Between Psychical Phenomena and Presence of

Physiological Illness
While most types of psychical-physiological studies focus on performance variables in
regards to physiological effects, my studies have lead me more in the direction of
physiological effects reported by experients of specific psychical phenomena. These include
effects that exist pre-, during, and post performance. This includes physiological symptoms
and conditions that appear to be correlated to psychical instability. In other words,
experients in which report psychical instability typically report one or several types of
physiological conditions. These physiological effects have been associated with and placed
into 8 psychical profiling categories. Physiological effects very per profile, and there are
some cross-associated conditions. Whether the condition is caused by the psychical
instability, or the instability is caused by the condition is uncertain, but the treatment of the
condition appears to resolve the instability. [1]
Psychical-Cognitive Profiling
Intelligence is loosely defined as a persons capacity to acquire knowledge [i.e. learn and
understand], apply knowledge [solve problems], and engage in abstract reasoning, all of
which appear to be requisites for optimal psychical performance involving conscious intent.
This is not to suggest however that a above average IQ is a requirement for psychical
experiences, but rather that it does appear to be psi-conducive. Many studies have
correlated psychical performance with scores on standard intelligence tests. While these
studies have not yielded significant data ( in part because IQ tests may not address all
cognitive abilities required for psychical performance), they generally indicate positive
correlations with psychical performance values and intelligence quotient [IQ]. However,
while these studies do include experients with learning disorder such as Attention Deficit
Disorder and ADHD, they do not include experients with learning disabilities. My personal
research has yielded the same indication. My research has also shown that experients in
which report spontaneous [subconscious] phenomena typically have an above average IQ
[115-129], while experients who report habitual conscious control over phenomena typically
have an above average to highly above average IQ [130-185]. [1]

It appears that as IQ increases so to does the experients ability to consciously control

psychical phenomena. Based on the age groups of subjects, younger [16-22 years of age] PK
experients scored higher in IQ testing than other age groups, while slightly older [22-35
years of age] experients of ESP scored higher in testing than other age groups. When
analyzing results based on IQ and learning difficulty, experients of ESP typically report
learning difficulties during childhood, while experients of PK typically do not. Experients of
ESP in which score higher in later years have reported that, over time they implemented
methods and techniques to learn more efficiently, whereby increasing IQ scores. In regards
to IQ testing, contextually speaking, experients of PK and ESP take the same IQ test (tests are
not somehow tailored to psychical experiences). However, the experient is predetermined
either more PK or ESP inclined based on reports of past experiences, and tailored testing per
the type of phenomena they report (e.g. Telepathy and Zener Cards). [1]

Colorization
Colorization enhancement is a derivative of a collection of ancient and modern disciplines
designed to explain the correlation between living beings and their immediate environment.
It is a practice that can improve many aspects of an experients life including freeing energy
that is otherwise wasted, improving focus, reducing stress, restoring vitality and confidence,
improving health (when in conjunction with a proper diet, meditation, exercise regimen, and
lifestyle), and improve psychical performance. [1]

Improving Psychical Performance via Influencing

Environmental Effects
To understand psychical enhancement, one needs to recognize that our immediate
environment plays a fundamental role in the maintenance of our health and psychical
experiences. The goal of colorization enhancement is to influence the effect our
environment has on our attitudes, moods, health, and psychical potential. To achieve this
goal, one has to recognize that attitude and intention are more comparable to directions of
propagation (travel) than static states of the mind-body. When an experient begins their day
within a psychically conducive and enhancing environment, they will discover it is easier to
maintain a psychical conducive mindset. This naturally amplified mindset will allow the
experient to increase performance values and performance quality in less time, and with
less effort. Although this practice functions via strictly defined principles, there is clearance
for self-expression and creativity. In situations when principles appear ambiguous, or where
numerous solutions present themselves, some of the best solutions have been found
through intuition alone. Colorization enhancement seeks to re-establish the connection of
the experient to the natural flow of life by implementing into an experients environment
more of the natural energies human beings today lack do to the artificiality of their
environments. [1]

The Complexities of Colorization

Colorization enhancement can be complex and difficult to understand because of its variety
of systems. These can include aesthetic, psychological, physiological, associative, and
symbolic systems. The systems of association, aesthetics, and symbolism, like language, vary
culture to culture, while other systems appear to be cross-cultural (defined effects despite an
experients culture). Colorization enhancement can be a tedious qualitative practice,
requiring alternation and re-alteration of environmental elements every time the
environment (or the experient) changes. Because color exerts its influence upon an
experient through its innate qualities, so to should the experient exert their influence upon
the colors within their environment. This may present a false sense of control, and while to a
degree some control can be had on the classical scale, the quantum scale allows for a certain
degree of freedom that will some days be a benefit and other days act as interference in
regards to the experients goals of enhancement. In other words, by no means does
“enhancement” or “control” signify any relation to “predictability.” [1]

The Psychological System and Colorization

Colorization enhancement involves light and color, and pigment and color. When the colored
light reaches the observers eye and is perceived, it is perceived as a sensation, which is
produced in the brain. When colored light of any visible pure or mixed wavelengths enters
the eye, many other psychological and physiological factors are contributed. These factors,
while open to interpretation, may determine an observer’s final perception of the color. This
results in the unpredictability of individual human perception of a given color and whereby
makes psychological effects variant. In other words, the transmission of the colored light
represents one aspect of color, and the reception of the light by the human eye represents
the other. Because the psychological aspect is entwined with the physiological and psychical
aspects, this unpredictability exists throughout the system. There are psychological and
physiological effect correlations to personality traits. Because color has the intrinsic ability to
alter personality, it therefore has the intrinsic ability to alter psychological, physiological, and
psychical functions and responses. [1]

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Free Online Psychical Profiling Assessment – The following assessment singly
analyzes the behavioral characteristics of psychical experients and will propose the
most likely category/type an experient appertains.
POSTDICTION
According to critics of paranormal beliefs, postdiction (or post-shadowing, retroactive
clairvoyance, or prediction after the fact) is an effect of hindsight bias that explains claimed
predictions of significant events, such as plane crashes and natural disasters. In religious
contexts it is frequently referred to by the Latin term vaticinium ex eventu, or foretelling
after the event. Through this term, critics claim that many biblical prophecies (and similar
prophecies in other religions) that may appear to have come true were in fact written after
the events supposedly predicted, or that their text or interpretation were modified after the
event to fit the facts as they occurred.

Skeptics of premonition use these terms in response to claims made by psychics, astrologers
and other paranormalists to have predicted an event, when the original prediction was
vague, catch-all, or otherwise non-obvious.

Most predictions from such figures as John of Patmos, Nostradamus and James Van Praagh
are deliberately written in a such a vague and ambiguous way as to make interpretation
nearly impossible before the event, rendering them useless as predictive tools. After the
event has occurred, however, details are shoehorned into the prediction by the psychics or
their supporters using selective thinking — emphasize the “hits”, ignore the “misses” — in
order to lend credence to the prophecy and give the impression of an accurate “prediction”.
Inaccurate predictions are simply not mentioned.

Supporters sometimes contend that the problem lies not with the wording of the prediction,
but with the interpretation[citation needed] — an argument sometimes used by supporters
of religious texts. This argument may lead to the question: “What is the point of a prediction
that cannot be interpreted correctly before the event?” However, the argument is not that
the prediction could not have been interpreted correctly prior to the event, but simply that it
was not in the case in question, thus the question is working from a false premise.

Accusations of postdiction might be applicable if the prediction was:

Vague
The prediction makes a non-specific claim. For example, it predicts a “disaster” of some kind
but not what it is. Such a prediction can be massaged to fit any number of events. Likewise, a
prediction that does not state dates or places, or allows itself a large window of possible
dates can be made to fit many possibilities. A prophecy attributed to Saint Malachy (but
widely regarded as a 16th century forgery) claims to predict the succession of Popes by
describing each one briefly. However, each description is sufficiently vague that it can be
massaged to fit after the fact.

Open Ended
The prediction has a very long cut-off date or none at all and therefore runs indefinitely.
Many of Nostradamus’ quatrains are open-ended and have been postdicted over the
centuries to fit various contemporary events.

Recycled
The prediction is reused again and again in order to match the most recent event.
Nostradamus’ quatrains have been recycled numerous times.

Catch-all
The prediction covers more than one possible outcome. For example, the Delphic Oracle’s
answer as to whether Crœsus should attack the Persians: If you attack you will destroy a
mighty empire. Crœsus attacked and thereby destroyed his own empire.

Shotgunning
The prediction is in fact many predictions, designed to cover a range of events and claim
credit even if only one of them happens. For example, claiming that a particular date is
“unlucky” and then citing a dozen or so things that might happen on it. See selective thinking.

Statistically Likely
The prediction makes a claim for something that happens with enough frequency that a high
hit rate is virtually assured. For example, predicting terrorism on any day of the year, or
particularly around national holidays, anniversaries (or similar events), or religious festivals.
Unfalsifiable
The prediction makes a claim that is impossible to verify or falsify. For example, a belief
arose amongst a few in 2003 that a “Planet X” would pass the Earth in May of that year.
When it singularly failed to appear they claimed it was shrouded so that only an “educated
eye” could see it and various other excuses, while discounting the most obvious reason —
that Planet X does not exist at all in the form predicted.

Unavailable Until After the Fact

A prediction cannot be verified if there is no public record of when it was made. A famous
example was the psychic Tamara Rand, who “predicted” that Ronald Reagan was in danger
of someone with the initials “J.H.”. The video interview in which this prediction was made was
shot the day after the assassination attempt.

Counting the Hits and not the Misses

The prediction may be part of a series, but is singled out because it can be favourably
interpreted, even if the series itself follows the laws of probability. For example, the
prediction might correctly state movement on the stock market when previous or
subsequent predictions have been wrong.

Allegory
The postdiction resorts to tenuous allegorical explanations to turn literal misses into hits. For
example the postdiction might explain that a famous person has suffered a “spiritual” death
to explain why they are still walking around despite a prediction that says otherwise.

Moving the Goalposts

The event must be “shoehorned” to fit the prediction because it differs in some significant
way. For example, the prediction predicts an earthquake on one day when in fact it happens
on a different day. Once again, Nostradamus supporters occasionally use this technique, as
Nostradamus supposedly predicted the founding of the Institut Pasteur in 1888[citation
needed] (it was actually a year later) and the September 11 terrorist attacks on the 45th
parallel[1](actually significantly southwards).

These types are not exclusive, so a prediction could be vague, statistically likely and open-
ended at the same time.

References
 Rex Deux
PRECOGNITIVE DREAMS
Precognitive dreams are dreams that have been credited with foresight or precognition. It
is a phenomenon that has fascinated and puzzled mankind for thousands of years.
Precognition is typically defined as knowing or perceiving events before they actually occur.
According to Carl Jung, [1] psychic energy might be operative.

Anecdotal Evidence
The anecdotal evidence for precognitive dreaming has been documented since before
Biblical times. Prior to invading Italy, Hannibal asked for a dream about his future military
activities. He was shown winning decisive victories and decided to persevere in his conquest
of Italy. An Egyptian prince slept one day in front of the mighty Sphinx and wondered if he
would ever become king of Egypt. In his dream, he was told to clear away all of the debris
that had buried most of the Sphinx statue and he would then become king. Upon
awakening, he had his slaves clear away the debris so that the Sphinx would be totally visible
again. The prince later became King Thutmose IV and erected a stone tablet in front of the
Sphinx to document that he and the God figure in his dream had both kept their bargain.[2]

Napoleon won many famous battles but his adventures at Waterloo were doomed and
foretold in a dream. On the eve of that historic event, he dreamed of a large black cat that
moved back and forth between his army and his opposition. Finally this dreaded symbol of
bad luck came back to lie down with his French troops. On the following day, his army was
dealt a stunning defeat by the opposing armies. Elias Howe labored for months working to
invent a practical sewing machine. He was using a needle with a hole in the middle that
made good stitches, but they quickly pulled apart. Then in a dream, he found himself
surrounded by savages brandishing spears at him. All of the spears had a hole in the point.
Upon awakening, he quickly realized that he needed to modify his sewing needle and rapidly
completed his amazing invention.[citation needed]

There are hundreds of other dream examples. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote his famous
poem the Kubla Khan in 1797 following a dream during an afternoon nap. The German
chemist Kekule discovered the highly elusive ring structure of the benzene molecule based
on a dream. Abraham Lincoln dreamed of his own death just days before his assassination.
Pompey dreamed of defeat and Caesar’s death was foretold in a dream. Descartes’ dreams
shaped his outstanding career, and Constantine I dreamed of a flaming cross before
embracing Christianity. The San Francisco earth quake and the Jewish holocaust were both
predicted by dreams. Numerous people dreamed of the sinking of the Titanic.[citation
needed]

Anecdotal documentation for precognitive dreams that did not come true is extremely rare.
No doubt the individuals did not like to report on their failed experiences. In some cases, the
dream may have been incorrectly interpreted.[citation needed]

Clinical Evidence
Dr. Robert Van de Castle summarizes some of the key progress points in the area of psychic
dream research in his book Our Dreaming Mind. In 1819, H. M. Wesserman successfully
projected messages to experimental subjects while they slept and dreamed. While the
general content of the dream was successfully received, some of the characters in the
dreams were changed.[3]

An Italian psychiatrist, Dr. G. C. Ermacora, published a paper in 1895 titled “Telepathic

Dreams Experimentally Induced”. This work documented successful efforts of a medium to
transmit dreams to a young girl. Perhaps the best-known research in this field was
conducted at Maimonides Medical Center, in Brooklyn, New York by Stanley Krippner and
Montigue Ullman in 1964. These trials clearly showed positive correlations for transmitting
information to dreamers who had no prior knowledge of the subject material. Dr. Van de
Castle himself was a subject during these sessions and achieved considerable success in
having dreams that were closely correlated to the target pictures.

Dr. Van de Castle further documents the evidence for psychic dreaming based on a
fascinating questionnaire approach. Survey questions sent to several thousand individuals
listed in Who’s Who In America resulted in 430 replies claiming some kind of ESP experience
and dreams were involved in 25 percent of these cases.[citation needed]

Dr. Louisa Rhine at the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University compiled by far the
best-known and largest body of such dream evidence. Dr. Rhine collected over 7000
accounts of ESP experiences. The majority of these accounts were dream related and were
precognitive in nature. The material for this work was collected by advertisements in various
well-known popular media.[citation needed]

Dr. David Ryback, a psychologist in Atlanta, used a questionnaire survey approach to

investigate precognitive dreaming in college students. His survey of over 433 participants
showed that 290 or 66.9 percent reported some form of paranormal dream. Using very rigid
standards, Dr. Ryback examined those responding to the survey. He rejected many of these
claims and reached a conclusion that 8.8 percent of the population was having actual
precognitive dreams. [4]

Skepticism
An early -and perhaps the first formal- inquiry into this phenomenon was done by Aristotle
in his On Divination in Sleep. His criticism of these claims appeals to the fact that “the sender
of such dreams should be God”, and “the fact that those to whom he sends them are not the
best and wisest, but merely commonplace persons.” Thus “Most [so-called prophetic]
dreams are, however, to be classed as mere coincidences”.[5]

Other researchers in this area are more guarded in their reports on the value or use of
dreams. In his book The Interpretation of Dreams, first published at the end of the 19th
century, Sigmund Freud argued that the foundation of all dream content is the fulfillment of
wishes, conscious or not and devoid of psychic content. In his discussions with Carl Jung, he
referred to parapsychology and precognition as “nonsensical.”

Phillip Goldberg favors the use of intuition but endorses the idea that dreams are
sometimes a doorway to the intuitive manifestation of a prophecy, a solution, and a result.
[6]Yet dreams are riddled with symbolism, and only a good dream psychologist together
with the subject dreamer can fittingly translate the dream into reality. David Meyers [7] was
even more guarded in warning against a reliance on intuition or related psi experiences and
found little of any real value in dreams.

Dream researcher Ernest Hartman comments on current dream theories proposed by

biologists. One such theory suggests that dreams are basically random nonsense and are
the product of a poorly functioning brain during sleep. If there is any meaning to dreams, it
is added on later as our brains try to make the best of a bad job. A second theory suggests
that dreaming is an “unlearning process in” which our brains bring up material to be thrown
out like a computer attempting to clean itself of things we do not need to remember. In
either case, the predictive value of dreams is moot. [8][9]

Michael Shermer, author of the book “Why People Believe Weird Things”, also notes that
dreams and precognitive impressions are of limited value in predicting future events [10]. In
a companion publication, “The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience”, this same author
refers to the images and stories arising within dreams as merely products of a “fertile and
easily overwhelmed imagination.”[11].
Dreams which appear to be precognitive may in fact be the result of the “Law of Large
Numbers”. Robert Todd Carroll, author of “The Skeptic’s Dictionary” put it this way:

“Say the odds are a million to one that when a person has a dream of an airplane crash,
there is an airplane crash the next day. With 6 billion people having an average of 250 dream
themes each per night, there should be about 1.5 million people a day who have dreams
that seem clairvoyant.”[12]

References
 Jung, C.G., “On the Nature of the Psyche” , Princeton University Press, 1960
 Alchin, L.K. King Tut e.g. Retrieved February 16 2007 from www.king-tut.org.uk
 Van de Castle, Robert, PhD. “Our Dreaming Mind”. New York: Ballantine Books, 1994.
 Ryback, David, PhD. “Dreams That Came True”. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell
Publishing Group, 1988.
 Aristotle, On Divination in Sleep
 Goldberg, Phillip, PhD., “The Intuitive Edge” Los Angeles, Jeremecy P. Tarcher, Inc,
1983
 Meyers, David, G. PhD, Yale University Press, 2002
 Hartman, Ernest, MD, “Biology of Dreaming”, Charles C. Thomas Publications Ltd,
1997
 Hartman, Ernest, MD, “Boundaries In The Mind” New York, Basic Books, 2002
 Shermer, M, “Why People Believe Weird Things”, W. H. Freeman & Co., 1997
 Shermer, M, “The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience”, ABC-CLIO, Inc, Santa
Barbara, CA, 2002
 Law of Truly Large Numbers

Further Reading
 Dreams – My Lamp Unto the Darkness
 Barrett, Deirdre, PhD .”The Committee Of Sleep”. New York: Crown Publishers, 2001
 Quinn, Adriene. “Dreams of History That Came True”. Tacoma: Dream Research,
1987.
 Reed, Henry, PhD. “Getting Help From Your Dreams”. Virginia Beach: Inner Vision
Publishing, 1985.
 Thurston, Mark. PhD. “Tonight’s Answers To Tomorrow’s Questions”. San Francisco:
Harper & Row, 1988.

External links
 Clairvoyance Course of Instruction (Free) – Become a student of Clairvoyant Studies.
 International Association for the Study of Dreams Guidance on dreams from a clinical
approach.
 Skeptical Inquirer
 Intuitive Connections
 www.edgarcayce.org
 stockdreams.org
PREMONITION
Premonition refers to a situation when future events are foreknown or forecast or
foretelling. They are attributed by some people to the presence of supernatural or
paranormal abilities (see Cassandra myth). However, the distinction between precognition
and ordinary evidence-based predictions is sometimes not made sharply. “Premonition” may
be defined to include or exclude ordinary predictions, and this means a fallacy of linguistic
ambiguity can lead to an overly supernatural explanation for the accuracy of predictions.

Famous Premonitions
 Otto von Bismarck predicted the beginning of the First World War, by saying (shortly
before he died in 1898) to Mr. Ballen: “If there is ever another war in Europe, it will
come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans” [1]. Note that this is a good
example of a premonition that could easily be due to a good intuitive understanding of
politics, rather than being precognitive.
 The novelist Mark Twain predicted that Halley’s Comet would be seen on the day of
his death, just as it was when he was born. Twain died weeks before Halley’s 1910
appearance on May 18th.[2] [3]
 The French apothecary and seer Nostradamus is also believed to have predicted his
own death and the date in which his tomb would be opened.[4]
 Julius Caesar’s wife Calpurnia had a dream the night before he died that he would get
stabbed by a friend, and she warned him not to go.

External Links
 Clairvoyance Course of Instruction (Free) – Become a student of Clairvoyant Studies.
PSI MEDIATION
Psi mediation modeling involves modeling in regards to how psi mediates between a target
and an individual. There have been many types of models constructed throughout the
history of parapsychology including theoretical and hypothetical models, which provide a
basis for the multitude of theories and hypothesis of paranormal phenomena. [1]

Energy Field Models

A common theory researchers attribute to psi mediation involveds some undiscovered or
unrecognized form of physical energy assumed to radiate from the individual as a field
effect. The energy was assumed to exist as small energy packets or quanta, so small that
they were assumed to not interact with matter, whereby allowing the energy to pass though
solid matter without difficulty. Interests in such a “bio-energy” lead to the type of research
commonly called psychotronics. The momentum of energy raised arguments targeting the
theory, as energy tends to pass through matter unimpeded, therefore how could the energy
be rendered inert as to be detected by the brain in cases of receptive psi? The response to
this argument was based on the supposition that the energy was not rendered inert, but
rather effected via an interaction with neurological processes as the energy passed through
the brain, correspondingly to how magnetic fields can induce electrical flow. Unfortunately,
even after years of psychotronic research, such a form of energy with these characteristics
has not been found to exist. Because the energy field has not been found to exist, it cannot
be subjected to empirical testing. Therefore, this “theory” in terms of legitimacy is better
categorized as a hypothesis. However, future quantum mechanical models of psi may lead
to the discovery of this “bio-energy.” Current candidates include biophotons, which appear
capable of quantum information transference. [1]

Computational Living Systems

Computers at a basic level are defined as any object capable of taking instruction, and
performing computations based on said instruction. Two valid examples of computers by
this definition are living organisms (e.g. human beings) and atomic physical phenomena. Like
computers, the human mind is capable of encoding and decoding information in the brain,
and parpsychologically speaking, is assumed to be able receive and decode information
from the environment, or other individuals, and encode and transmit information to the
environment or other individuals. In regards to encoding information quantum
mechanically, there are many different systems that could be involved in such processes
(e.g. photons). Could it be that a human being is a quantum computer, or perhaps
exclusively the human brain? What if quantum computation is so ever-present that it can be
found in every living cell of our bodies? There is consistence evidence suggesting that natural
processes must be based on quantum principles in order to function in the manner in which
they do. In fact, the possibility that quantum computation can be implemented by living
systems is a growing area of scientific research. [1]

The Macroscopic Challenge for Quantum Computation

The initial challenge for quantum computation was a constant battle with entropy. As with
human beings, the lower the overall entropy of a physical system, the higher the chances
that its constituent atoms may become entangled. Atoms initially utilized for quantum
computation typically needed to be at temperatures close to absolute zero [about -
459.67°F], but today, materials have been found only requiring temperatures as high as
room temperature. Due to this, physicists are now realizing that quantum effects are far
more ever-present in macroscopic systems. This provides physicists with the hope that one
day they may discover that Nature has already supplied us with a computer capable of
quantum computation, and the only thing left for them to do, is program it. The direction of
this discovery is relatively parallel to the direction of parapsychological research. That is, to
seek out the ability to tap Nature in a quantum respect at the macroscopic level as a means
to explain the nature of psi and discover how to make the most of psi through practical
applications. [1]

Psi Phenomena and Quantum Efficiency

If parapsychological processes exist at the quantum level, why do they not exist at the
classical level, or rather why qubits rather than bits? While utilizing a single bit may appear
simpler, Nature somewhere along the way decided to make an extra effort, well, kind of. The
answer here may be in regards to the central function of psi, information processing. While it
may be simpler to utilize single bits, there is a significant quantum advantage in search when
utilizing two quantum bits (qubits). With qubits, Nature can complete computational search-
based processes in one simple step. Therefore, Nature is designed, and therefore quite
possibly human beings are designed, to allow more efficient information processing than if
we were to utilize one classical bit in the same number of steps. [1]
 Psi and Non-local Communication
Non-local influences exist after particles (such as photons) interact and separate. In addition,
when one of the particles post-separation is polarized, the entangled particle
instantaneously possesses the same degree of polarization as the other. No energy or signal
is sent between them; instead, the alteration to one quantum twin resulted in the alteration
of the other due to a non-local transfer of information. Some attempts to explain psi have
been focused on this form of non-local communication. However, current understandings of
precognition tend to hinder this explanation as most parapsychologists believe that
precognition is the result of defying the principle of causality (cause and effect), This is
contrast to assuming precognition to be the result of experient access to Nature’s
probabilistic computations in real-time. If precognition is assumed a result not in
defiance of the principle of causality, then we can begin to apply quantum teleportation as a
function of the two main problems of parapsychology, specifically of the mediation and the
manifestation of psi. [1]

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Resource Library – The Resource Library includes many forms of informational and
educational resources along with community and support resources.
 Introduction to Paraphysics Course Psi Mediation – Classical & Quantum Modeling
Course through the University of Alternative Studies.
PSI MODELING
Psi Modeling or models in regards to psi are separated into two main categories:

 The basic physical mechanism or Psi Mediation.

 The psychological aspects of how and when human beings are able to utilize psi or
the Experiential Phase of Psi.
There have been many types of models constructed throughout the history of
parapsychology including theoretical and hypothetical models. As to the Role of Psi, it is best
to view psi as an ability, or feature, in which is bound to an individual human being as a
function of his or her personality in the broadest sense of that term.

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Psychical Resource Center – The Resource Center includes many forms of
informational and educational resources along with community and support resources.
FORTUNE-TELLING
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting the future, usually of an individual, through
mystical or supernatural means and often for commercial gain. It often conflates with the
religious practice known as divination.

European and Euro-American Fortune Telling

In Europe, the fortune-telling has not been well-respected for the past several centuries.
There have been religious proscriptions against it, as well as civil laws passed that forbid the
practice. For these reasons, many mainstream urban Europeans and Americans are
unaware of how popular fortune-telling remains with the public and are surprised when they
learn of a celebrity or politician who consults a fortune-teller for the purpose of making
decisions.

Methods
Common methods used for fortune telling in Europe and the Americas include astromancy,
horary astrology, pendulum reading, spirit board reading, tasseography (reading tea leaves
in a cup), cartomancy (fortune telling with cards), tarot reading, crystallomancy (reading of a
crystal sphere), and cheiromancy (palmistry, reading of the palms). The latter three have
traditional associations in the popular mind with the Roma and Sinti people (often called
“gypsies”).

Another form of fortune-telling, sometimes called “reading” or “spiritual consultation” does

not rely on the use of specific devices or methods, but consists of the practitioner
transmitting to the client advice and predictions which are said to have come from spirits or
in visions. This form of fortune-telling is particularly popular in the African-American
community.

Typical topics that Western fortune-tellers make predictions on include future romantic,
financial, and childbearing prospects. They may also be called upon to aid in decision-
making regarding job opportunities, the outcome of illnesses, and plans for marriage or
divorce.

In addition to divining the future, many fortune-tellers will also give “character readings.”
These are short analyses of the character of a person and do not necessarily involve specific
preditions about future events. Methods used in character analysis readings include
numerology, graphology, palmistry (if the subject is present), and astrology. The subject of a
character reading may be the client, who seeks self-knowledge, but it is quite common for
the fortune-teller to perform a character reading on the client’s prospective mate. In the
latter case, when a third party is being assessed for marital compatibility with the client, an
element of fore-telling does occur, as the practitioner explores the future of the relationship
based on the characters of the two parties.

Sociology
In contemporary Western culture, it appears that women consult fortune-tellers more than
men: some indication of this comes from the profusion of advertisements for commercial
fortune-telling services in magazines aimed at women, while such advertisements appear
virtually unknown in magazines aimed specifically at men.

It is quite common for young women to seek out fortune tellers as they embark on
adulthood, and many women maintain decades-long relationships with their personal
readers or fortune-tellers. Telephone consultations with psychics (charged to the caller’s
telephone account at very high rates) grew in popularity through the 1990s but they have
not replaced – and may never replace – the traditional card readers, tea leaf readers,
palmists, and spiritual readers who see their clients in small storefronts or occult shops.

Asian Fortune Telling

Chinese Fortune Telling better known as (Chinese: 算 命 , suan ming) has utilized many
varying divination techniques throughout the dynastic periods. There are four major
methods still in practice in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong today, and they remain in use due
to their accuracy and popularity. Over time, some of these concepts have moved into
Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese culture under other names. For example “Saju” in Korea
is the same as the Chinese four pillar method.

Popular Methods
 Face Reading (面相) – This is the interpretation of facial features of the nose, eyes,
mouth and other criteria within one’s face and the conversion of those criteria into
predictions for the future. This usually covers one phase of the client’s life, and reveals
the type of luck associated with a certain age range. A positions map also refers to
 different points on the face. This represents the person’s luck at different ages. The
upper region of the face represents youth, the middle region of the face represents
middle age, and the lower region of the face represents old age.
 Palm reading (手相) – This analyzes the positioning of palm lines for love, personality,
and other traits. It somewhat resembles Western palmistry in technique.
 Kau Cim (求籤) – This requires the shaking of a bamboo cylinder, which results in at
least one modified incense stick leaving the cylinder. The Chinese characters
inscribed on the stick are analyzed by an interpreter. The prediction is short range, as
it covers one Chinese calendar year. In the West, this method has been popularized
under the trade-name “Chi-Chi sticks.”
 Zi wei dou shu (紫微斗數) – This procedure, sometimes loosely called (Chinese: 劈
命 , pik meng), involves the client seeking an advisor with a mastery of the Chinese
calendar. Astrology is used in combination with the Chinese constellation, four pillars
of destiny and the five elements methods of divination. The end result is a translation
of one’s destiny path, an interpretation of a pre-determined fate. The result of the
details vary depending on the accuracy of the original four pillars information the client
provides to the fortune-teller. This method can also verify unique events that have
already happened in one’s life.

Other Methods
 Man Wong Gua (文王卦) – [1][2]
 Mui Fa Yik Sou (梅花易數) – literally “Plum flower calculation”
 Kei Mun Tun Kap (奇門遁甲)
 Five Element Changes (五行易) – based on the five elements
 Yik Lam (易林)
 Yin Kam (演禽)
 Yin and Yang Bowl (陰陽杯) – based on Yin and yang
 Tik Pan San Sou (鐵板神數)
 Wong Kek Yin Sou (皇極易數)
 Seven Major and Four Minor Stars (七政四餘)
 Three Generation Life (三世書)
 Yin Kam Fa (演禽法)
 Chin Ting Sou (前定數)
 Leung Tou Kam (兩頭鉗) – literally “dual headed suppress”
Famous Chinese Quote
Traditional Chinese: 一命二運三風水四積陰德五讀書

Simplified Chinese:一命二运三风水四积阴德五读书

Pinyin: yi1 ming4 er4 yun4 san1 feng1 shui3 si4 ji1 yin1 de2 wu3 du2 shu1

Jyutping: jat1 meng6 ji6 wan6 saam1 fung1 seoi2 sei3 zik1 jam1 dak1 ng5 duk6 syu1

English translation : one fate, two luck, three fengshui, four karma, five education

The above quote is culturally believed to have come from Su Shi of the Song dynasty.[3] As
the quote continue to remain wildly popular in Chinese culture today. The actual
interpretation vary greatly depending on the individual as there is no classical text
mentioning what Su Shi really meant. Some claims that your destiny is really in your control
as the 5 components is mathematically 1 more than the four pillars of destiny. Meaning you
are in control of your future on top of your born-fate.[3] Other interpretations may suggest
the order in which the components are important. For example education is not useful if fate
does not put you in the proper place first. Other interpretations may suggest there is no
order. Just a list of the 5 components.

Sociology
In Chinese society, fortune telling is a respected and important part of social and business
culture. Thus, fortune tellers often take on a role which is equivalent to management
consultants and psychotherapists in Western society. As management consultants, they
advise business people on business and investment decisions. Many major business
decisions involve the input of fortune tellers. Their social role allows decision risks to be
placed outside of the organization and provides a mechanism of quickly randomly deciding
between several equally useful options. As psychotherapists, they help people discuss and
resolve personal issues without the stigma of illness.

African Fortune Telling

Methods
One of the most traditional methods of telling fortunes in Africa is called casting (or
throwing) the bones. Because Africa is a large continent with many tribes and cultures, there
is not one single technique. Not all of the “bones” are actually bones, small objects may
include cowrie shells, stones, strips of leather, or flat pieces of wood. In general, most casting
or throwing methods are performed on the ground (often within a circle) and they fall into
one of two categories:

 Casting marked bones, flat pieces of wood, shells, or leather strips and numerically
counting up how they fall — either according to their markings or whether they do or
do not touch one another — with mathematically-based readings delivered as
memorized results based on the chosen criteria.
 Casting a special set of symbolic bones or an array of selected symbolic articles — as,
for instance, using a bird’s wing bone to symbolize travel, a round stone to symbolize
a pregnant womb, and a bird foot to symbolize feeling.

Sociology
In African society, many people seek out diviners on a regular basis. There are no
prohibitions against the practice. Those who tell fortunes for a living are also sought out for
their wisdom as counselors and for their knowledge of herbal medicine.

Opposing Theories
Those who believe that it is possible for a practitioner to tell fortunes or predict the future
for clients may have religious objections to the practice. For instance, there are Christians
who believe that fortune telling is forbidden in the Bible. [4][5]

Those who do not believe that fortune tellers can actually read the future may believe that
several other factors explain the popularity and anecdotal accuracy of fortune-telling:

 Fortune-telling in the context of an individual’s belief system has a good chance of

being believed.
 A person who performs a divination for himself or herself may be using his or her
reactions to the arbitrary stimuli (such as tarot cards or a pendulum) as a way of
mentally organizing his or her own thoughts.
 The predictions themselves can cause the subject to alter his or her behaviour in a
way that makes the predictions become true, see self-fulfilling prophecy.
 Predictions can be a source of amusement and diversion.
 Predictions can reduce anxiety about the uncertain future.
  When making a decision based on incomplete information, the fortune teller or oracle
can reduce the anxiety associated with guessing.
 The fotune-teller can be an external source of authority to invoke in support of a
decision to be made, or in defense of a decision that was made.
 Fortune-tellers usually exhibit skills at reading people and telling them what they wish
to hear (and they may heighten this effect using the technique of “cold reading”).
 Predictions almost always use vague terms and do not lend themselves to falsification.
Therefore, the prediction is never wrong, but a person’s interpretation of it can always
be wrong.
 Confirmation bias predisposes people to look for cases where predictions can be
interpreted as accurate more than they look to find inaccurate ones.
 Clients of fortune-telling services may fail to realise that statements made about them
might reflect reality, but would equally apply to most other people (for instance, the
statement “you fought with your parents sometimes as a teenager” applies to a large
majority of people). This is the Forer effect.

Legality
In the United States, a variety of local and state laws restrict fortune-telling, require the
licensing or bonding of fortune-tellers, or make necessary the use of terminology that avoids
the term “fortune-teller” in favour of terms such as “spiritual advisor” or “psychic consultant.”
There are also laws that forbid the practice ouright in certain districts.

For instance, fortune telling is a class B misdemeanor in the state of New York. Under New
York State law, S 165.35:

A person is guilty of fortune telling when, for a fee or compensation which he directly or
indirectly solicits or receives, he claims or pretends to tell fortunes, or holds himself out as
being able, by claimed or pretended use of occult powers, to answer questions or give advice
on personal matters or to exorcise, influence or affect evil spirits or curses; except that this
section does not apply to a person who engages in the aforedescribed conduct as part of a
show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or amusement. However one
should use his intelligence and wisdom while visiting fortune tellers.[6]

By mentioning that “one should use his intelligence and wisdom while visiting fortune
tellers,” the law-makers who wrote this statute acknowledged that fortune-tellers do not
restrict themselves to “a show or exhibition solely for the purpose of entertainment or
amusement” and that people will continue to seek out fortune-tellers even though fortune-
tellers operate in violation of the law.

As a Business
Over thousands of years, fortune-telling has transformed from a prestigious position to a
heretical practice to an advertised business. Ronald H. Isaacs, a Jewish rabbi and author,
states “Since time immemorial humans have longed to learn that which the future holds for
them. Thus, in ancient civilization, and even today with fortune telling as a true profession,
humankind continues to be curious about its future, both out of sheer curiosity as well as
out of desire to better prepare for it.” [7] 5000 years ago, soothsayers were prized advisers
to the Assyrians, but they lost respect and reverence during the rise of Reason in the 17th
and 18th centuries.[8] With the rise of commercialism, “the sale of occult practices [adapted
to survive] in the larger society” [9] and fortune-telling became “a private service, a
commodity within the marketplace” [10]. Ken Feingold, writer of “Interactive Art as Divination
as a Vending Machine” states, “as the fundamental economic medium of exchange required
by and used by all, money brought with it the possibility that one could purchase knowledge
of the future” because with money as “an arbitrary symbolic designation of ‘value,’ … one can
buy anything.”[11] Today there are countless print, televised and online advertisements for
fortune-tellers: “whether it’s 3 P.M. or 3 A.M., there’s Dionne Warwick and her psychic friends
selling advice on love, money and success. In a nation where the power of crystals and the
likelihood that angels hover nearby prompt more contemplation than ridicule, it may not be
surprising that one million people a year call Ms. Warwick’s friends.” [12]

Clientele
Psychic Rosanna Rogers of Cleveland explains the variety and the scope of people who visit
fortune tellers: “couch potatoes aren’t the only people seeking the counsel of psychics and
astrologers. Clairvoyants have a booming business advising Philadelphia bankers, Hollywood
lawyers and CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies… If people knew how many people, especially
the very rich and powerful ones, went to psychics, their jaws would drop through the
floor.”[13] Ms. Rogers “claims to have 4,000 names in her rolodex.”[14]

People seek fortune-tellers for a myriad of reasons:

Canadian Clairvoyant Mrs. Jane Welbourn “says [her clients’] need to see her and hear what
the future holds for them is often born out of stress and worry about a problem and the
need for direction in their lives.”[15] Mrs. Welbourn states, “about 90% of the people I see
are experiencing some stress, or something is bothering them. Whether it’s drink, drug,
illness, financial, infidelity or marital problems, there is usually something.”[16]

Ken Feingold explains, “We desire to know other people’s actions and to resolve our own
conflicts regarding decisions to be made and our participation in social groups and
economies. The Other of our day-to-day reality is the chance to gain an advantage, to go
around the fact that the future is unknown, and to influence the outcome of events–and it is
in this interval that divination is active… Divination seems to have emerged from our
knowing the inevitability of death. The idea is clear–we know that our time is limited and that
we want things in our lives to happen in accord with our wishes. Realizing that our wishes
have little power, we have sought technologies for gaining knowledge of the future…gain
power over our own [lives].”[17]

Danny Jorgensen, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Florida explains
that people visit psychics or fortune-tellers to gain self-understanding[18] and knowledge
which will lead to personal power or success in some aspect of life[19].

Services
Fortune-tellers vary in areas of expertise—their methods are discussed above. Here I will
focus on the information they provide to clients.

Peder Zane explains “Psychics… act like human radios, tuning in to the clients’ karmic
wavelengths to divine their lives. They claim to “read” almost anything including financial
markets, corporations and entire nations.”[20] Zane further states, “In these increasingly
complex and economically uncertain times, where bet-hedging and fence-straddling are
considered wisdom, devotees say soothsayers are one of the last groups that provide simple
answers. Call it pragmatic spiritualism. Rather than focus on a client’s soul, these
clairvoyants say point blank whether a business deal is good or bad, or predict precisely
when the market will rise or fall or pinpoint the exact day love will walk through the front
door or sneak out the back.”[21]

Californian Denise Laine, owner of American Transitech, which refills toner cartridges, says,
“My psychic tells me the truth as she sees it, as opposed to what I want to hear…She makes
specific suggestions about what I should do.”[22] Canadian Clairvoyant Mrs. Jane Wellbourn
works along those lines of Laine’s psychic: “I work with their palm, tell them what’s going on
at the time and obviously pick up on the problem and see where that’s leading and what’s
going to happen in the next couple of years.”[23] Others take a more spiritual approach to
fortune-telling. An American clairvoyant by the name of Catherine Adams says, “My
philosophy is to teach and practice spiritual freedom, which means you have your own
spiritual guidance, which I can help you get in touch with. Many people tell me my
predictions come true or that my healings work wonders, but that is only because they
allowed me to fully see their spirits and then followed through with what was true for them
at the time. Any session is better when you feel somewhat balanced and spiritually open. If
you are upset, a healing may help, but it is best to wait until you are calm before you ask for
a reading.”[24] In addition to sharing and explaining their visions, fortune-tellers can also act
like counselors by discussing and offering advice about their clients’ problems. Mrs.
Welbourn explains how she interacts with a client: “I talk through the situation that is the
problem at the time and I tell them what’s going to happen and I will be bluntly honest and
tell them in that reading what I think they should do, to bring them the most happiness.”[25]

Some fortune-tellers encounter difficulty in “getting the client to interpret the information in
the appropriate way”[26] because they are attempting to “describe upon the physical plane
what [they have] seen upon the astral[27]. When they do get their message across,
trustworthy fortune-tellers (and there are crooks and scam-artists out there) let their clients
make their own choices and take the consequences for those choices.[28] They want their
clients to exercise their own willpower.[29]

What Science Says

Scientific minds have many explanations and theories concerning clairvoyance. Generally,
they split concerning the possibility of emotional or psychic knowledge. Dr. Paul Kurtz, a
chairman of the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, in
Buffalo, New York is one of the many who believe it is all a hoax; he refers to predictions as
“cheap carnival tricks.”[30] “His committee, which includes several Nobel laureates, has
investigated hundreds of clairvoyants and has yet to find a system or individual capable of
telling the future. What it has found is that fortune tellers are experts at reading body
language, listening closely and making general statements that seem specific. Many people,
he added, are so suggestible they make their fortunes come true.”[31] Kurtz further explains,
“At heart I think the problem is that Americans are so scientifically illiterate that they do not
understand that these things are impossible…and they want to believe in it, so they will.”[32]
Others share a less dismissive view. Danny Jorgensen in his article in the Sociological
Quarterly believes there are “many possible paths to addressing recurrent problems,
seeking solutions, creating identities, and associating on the basis of common beliefs. While
some people are inclined to do this on a casual basis or as a matter of entertainment, other
people make it a career or a way of life.”[33] He further states, “The paramount sociological
issue is not whether or not beliefs and practices (religious, scientific or occult) are verifiable
scientifically but what it is that members hold to be real and what the social consequences of
these convictions and resulting actions are.”[34]

Full-time Jobs
Fortune-tellers generally cannot support themselves entirely on their fortune-telling
business. “While there is considerable variation among occupations, they are over-
represented in human service fields: counseling, social work, teaching, health care.”[35]
Fortune tellers are normal people–they are involved in other activities, the majority are
married with children, and a few claim graduate degrees.[36] “Differences between occultists
and the larger society have been exaggerated, however. These people generally participate
intensively and extensively in the larger society and its basic institutions: They attend movies,
watch television, work at regular jobs, shop at K-Mart, sometimes eat at McDonald’s, and go
to the hospital when they are seriously ill.”[37]

Some combine their full-time job with these gifts:

Arch Crawford, a New York City financial astrologer who predicted the 1987 stock market
crash in his newsletter, Crawford Perspectives, began using sunspot activity and astrology to
chart the stock and commodities markets while working as an analyst at Merrill Lynch
because he found traditional econometric models frustrating. “While markets have become
extremely complex in recent years, statistical tools for tracking them have not become
equally sophisticated,” Mr. Crawford said. So why not try magic instead? “Astrology, along
with a lot of technical analysis, gives me an edge over those people who simply rely on
numbers.[38]

Others prefer to keep them separate–

Mrs. Welbourn: “It isn’t something spooky or weird, it’s just there. You can’t really say what it
is, it is just something that’s with me and works with the client. I am able to keep my life and
the clairvoyance separate, and I can shut off, or I would never rest.”[39]

Certification
As far as legal certification is concerned, fortune-tellers will, “when it is reasonable, comply
with local laws and purchase a business license.”[40]
Amongst fortune-tellers, certification is determined by ability and experience, rather than
official documentation of training–

Psychic Clairvoyant Medium Rose Schwab believes, “no one person has the authority or the
expertise to give out such certification or degrees. Each individual must master his or her
own gifts and abilities through various exercise, workshops and classes.Each individual has
gifts and abilities that we are all born with. We can choose to develop and use them or not,
but if we choose to develop and use them, to do so with understanding, responsibility and
wisdom.”[41] Similarly, C. W. Leadbeater, author of Clairvoyance, states that an accurate
reading requires “years of ceaseless labor and rigid self-discipline.”[42]

A professional fortune-teller “is determined by formal codes of ethics, lists of approved

practitioners, and a variety of informal norms.”[43] One such code is this “Spiritual code”
found in a participant-observational study done by professors at the University of
Florida[44]:

 I will approach counseling with respect, reverence, and responsibility

 I will seek higher guidance.
 I will keep the welfare of my client uppermost at all times.
 I will respect the trust of my client.
 I will keep all confidences.
 I will strive for greater competence.
 My advertising will reflect my integrity.
 I will strive to give full value.
 I will respect all who adhere to this code.

References
 Misterfengshui. “Misterfengshui.” Chinese metaphysics 網上香港風水學家黃頁.
Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
 Fengshui magazine. “Fengshui-magazine.” Chinese metaphysics 網上香港風水學家黃
頁. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
 Fsrcenter. “Fsrcenter.” Su Dong Po’s misinterpreted saying. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
 A review of Bible verses prohibiting fortune telling and divination
 The above is misstated where it specifies that “there are Christians who believe that
fortune telling is forbidden in the Bible.
 randi law
 Isaacs, Ronald H. Divination, Magic, and Healing the Book of Jewish Folklore.
Northvale N.J.: Jason Aronson, 1998. pg 55
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times.
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 376
 Feingold, Ken. “OU: Interactivity as Divination as Vending Machine.” Leonardo 28.5,
Third Annual New York Digital Salon
 Feingold, Ken. “OU: Interactivity as Divination as Vending Machine.” Leonardo 28.5,
Third Annual New York Digital Salon
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 “Clairvoyant or counsellor? Meet the woman who walks a fine line.” The Northern
Echo.
 “Clairvoyant or counsellor? Meet the woman who walks a fine line.” The Northern
Echo.
 Feingold, Ken. “OU: Interactivity as Divination as Vending Machine.” Leonardo 28.5,
Third Annual New York Digital Salon
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg381
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 375
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 “Clairvoyant or counsellor? Meet the woman who walks a fine line.” The Northern
Echo.
 Adams, Catherine. “What is Clairvoyance and What Can I Expect in a Session With
Catherine?”
 “Clairvoyant or counsellor? Meet the woman who walks a fine line.” The Northern
Echo.
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 384
 Leadbeater, C. W. Clairvoyance. [5th ed.]. ed. Adyar India: Theosophical Pub. House,
[1935 1899]. pg 106
 Leadbeater, C. W. Clairvoyance. [5th ed.]. ed. Adyar India: Theosophical Pub. House,
[1935 1899]. pg 135
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 384
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 387
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 382
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 377
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 337
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 387
 Zane, J. Peder. “Soothsayers as Business Advisers; You Are Going to Go on a Long
Trip…” The New York Times
 “Clairvoyant or counsellor? Meet the woman who walks a fine line.” The Northern
Echo. 27 Oct. 2000. <http://archive.thenorthernecho.co.uk/2000/10/27/188581.html>
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg377
 Schwab, Rose Ann. Psychic Clairvoyant Medium Rose Schwab Syndicated Column
Page 8: “
 Leadbeater, C. W. Clairvoyance. [5th ed.]. ed. Adyar India: Theosophical Pub. House,
[1935 1899]. pg 122
  Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 378
 Jorgensen, Danny L., and Lin Jorgensen. “Social Meanings of the Occult.” The
Sociological Quarterly 23.3 (1982): pg 385

External Links
Clairvoyance Course of Instruction (Free) – Become a student of Clairvoyant Studies.
HYDROKINESIS
Hydrokinesis is the psychical influence of flow in regards to Newtonian liquids such as
water [fresh, sea], oil, milk, vinegar, alcohol, and mercury. It involves the experient influence
of liquids, which shear stress is linearly proportional to the velocity gradient in the direction
perpendicular to the plane of shear. These liquids, regardless of the forces action on a liquid,
continue to flow, such as water, which continues to display liquid properties no matter how
much it is stirred or mixed. Newtonian liquids are opposed to Non-Newtonian liquids in
which have higher levels of viscosity. Thorough this form of psychokinetic phenomenon,
experients can manipulate how liquids flow and behave relative to velocity and rotation
[turbulence, vorticity, etc]. This can be achieved through remote, indirect, and direct contact
with bodies of liquids. Hydrostatic electricity is generated via the agitation of certain liquids.
The rate of generation is influenced by the conductivity of the liquid or the amount of
turbulence in the liquid. Liquids with lower conductivities tend to accumulate more static
charges, which are typically more difficult to influence in regards to flow or behavior. The
most common liquid reported in regards to hydrokinetic phenomena is fresh and seawater.
(Kelly, 2013)

Limitations
Newtonian Fluids
Hydrokinesis is theoretically limited to the influence of Newtonian liquids as opposed to non-
Newtonian liquids. This theory is substantiated by years of research yielding no reports in
regards the influence of non-Newtonian liquids by experients of characteristic hydrokinetic
phenomena. Newtonian liquids are liquids whose shear stress is linearly proportional to the
velocity gradient in the direction perpendicular to the plane of shear. These liquids,
regardless of the forces action on a liquid, continue to flow, such as water, which continues
to display liquid properties no matter how much it is stirred or mixed as opposed to non-
Newtonian liquids with higher levels of viscosity. (Kelly, 2013)

In contrast, stirring a non-Newtonian liquid can leave a “hole” behind in which will gradually
fill up over time. Alternatively, stirring a non-Newtonian liquid can cause viscosity to
decrease, which results in the appearance of a “thinner” liquid. Newtonian types of liquids
include water [fresh, sea], oil, milk, vinegar, alcohol, mercury, etc. Non-Newtonian liquids
types include blood, honey, latex, pudding, starch in water (oobleck), paint, mud, syrup, etc.
(Kelly, 2013)
Water
The most common form of liquid influenced is water. The reason for this could be the direct
result of availability and or certain properties that other liquids do not posses. These unique
and uncommon properties include differences in hydrogen bonding due to either an
inability to donate or accept hydrogen or due to steric effects in bulky residues, which may
affect the molecule’s preferred shape and reactivity. Although hydrogen bonding is a
relatively weak attraction compared to the covalent bonds within the water molecule, it is
responsible for a number of water’s physical properties. In addition, water shows the
anomalous behavior of thermodynamic, kinetic, and structural properties unlike other
molecules. (Kelly, 2013)

Chemically speaking, water is amphoteric allowing it to have the properties of both an acid
and a base. While there are an array of differences in regards to the properties possessed by
water that other forms of liquid do not posses that could be the reason water is a more
commonly influenced liquid than any other, like fluid dynamics, hydrokinesis is an active
field of research with many unsolved or partly solved problems.(Kelly, 2013)

Temperature vs. Density

Many limitations exist in hydrokinetic performance including the temperature and or density
of a liquid attempting to be influenced by and experient. The density of water is dependent
on its temperature, but the relation here is not linear nor monotonic. When water is cooled
from standard room temperature, water becomes increasingly dense, and at 39 °F water
reaches its maximum density. Experients report success in performance favoring either low-
density or high-density liquids, but rarely both. Experients also report success in
performance favoring either high or low temperature, but rarely both. Experients who are
limited to dense water influence should be encouraged to work with water from 77 to 39 °F.
Experients who are limited to the influence lesser dense water should be encouraged to
work with water from 68 °F to just before the boiling point. (Kelly, 2013)

The density of water is also dependent on the dissolved salt content as well as the
temperature of the water. This reflects itself in experient reports denoting difficulty in the
ability to influence either fresh water or seawater, but not both. This could be due to ocean
water being colder, saltier, or both. Experients should test which type of water is easier to
influence by attempting to influence both as to verify if they do or do not have limitations in
this area. (Kelly, 2013)
Motion vs. Inertial Forces
Reports regarding the influence of liquids in a static state are equal to that of reports
regarding the influence of liquids in motion. However, reports suggest experients may be
limited to the influence of one state or the other. Experients in which have a high success
rate of influencing the flow of static liquids, liquids at rest, often report the inability to
influence the direction of flow successfully once the liquid is put into motion. In addition,
experients in which report the ability to influence the direction of flow, tend to report the
inability to influence liquids in which are not already in motion. This suggests that some
experients of hydrokinetic phenomena may be more subject to inertial forces, whereby
limiting some experients to the influence of, or inability to influence, liquids in stable
equilibrium. Experients can identify if they have limitations of this nature by implementing
flow based and static based exercises into their routine. (Kelly, 2013)

Exercises in regards to static influence tend to involve a medium sized, short, round
container with a slightly less than equal volume of liquid, typically water. Exercises pertaining
to the influence of flow however range from large sized, short, rectangular containers with a
device to create continuous turbulence for horizontal flow exercises, and water streams,
typically from a water tap, for vertical flow exercises. Water is the most common liquid used
in either regard. (Kelly, 2013)

Measurement and Observation

Water Stream
Many types of experiments and exercises have been developed for experients of
hydrokinetic phenomena. In this particular exercise, an experient will need to regulate a
water tap to allow a thin stream fall through a distance of at least 6 inches, preferably more.
This can be achieved by adjusting the flow from an ordinary water faucet. Experients may
have better success using a kitchen sink rather than a bathroom sink as kitchen sinks
typically have more depth. (Kelly, 2013)

Experients should adjust the water tap to deliver a stream of water that is as thin as
possible, but they should also make sure the flow is not discontinuous. The experient should
then bring their hand towards the stream. The experient should hold their hand as close as
possible without touching the stream. If enough charge is produced, a reaction will occur.
The experient should notice a repulsive reaction in the water stream in which the stream will
appear to shift away from their hand in the same or similar regard as an electrical
stimulation shifts a stream. Over time, the experient should be encouraged to influence a
stream of increased thickness of flow or an increase in the repulsion of a thinner stream.
(Kelly, 2013)

Immiscible Liquids
Many types of experiments and exercises have been developed for experients of
hydrokinetic phenomena. In this particular exercise, experients must understand that some
liquids display immiscibility. A familiar mixture of two immiscible liquids in everyday life is
vegetable oil and water as they are incapable of being mixed unlike miscible liquids such as
water and alcohol. (Kelly, 2013)

For this exercise, an experient will be required to obtain a basic round container, short in
height, holding two-thirds its size of water, and a medium sized drop of vegetable oil. In this
exercise the experient will have the option to influence the direction of the oil itself, or create
a vortex, or general turbulence, in the water whereby affecting the direction of the drop of
oil. Enhancement is measurable through increased speed and rate of rotation or turbulence.
Experients can also utilize a measuring cup for this exercise and record the height of the
outer layer during rotation or turbulent effect to track progression of influence. (Kelly, 2013)

Symptoms and Side Effects

Perspiration, Thermoregulation, and Water Retention
For these individuals, the most common side effect experienced during the unstable
performance of hydrokinetic phenomena is in regards to water and the body. Water based
abnormalities can present themselves in a variety of ways including excessive perspiration.
Experients may notice excessive sweating during physical activity, or simply during mild daily
activities. The abnormal perspiration is commonly coincided with unpleasant odors not only
on the body, but also on clothing. This phenomenon is theorized to be a built-in mechanism
to prevent difficulties with thermoregulation in experients of unstable hydrokinetic
phenomena. (Kelly, 2013)

Instability can result in electrical buildup causing intense heat in several regions of the body.
Excessive perspiration is the method the body then uses to cool itself down. Needless to say,
this side effect is only prominent in experients in which utilize electric or electromagnetic
fields to induce or influence liquid flow. Another side effect pertaining to hydrokinetic
instability is water retention.Water retention is commonly reported as excessive weight gain,
but is also indicative of a lack of thirst, or lacking of signs of dehydration after not consuming
adequate amounts of water over an extended period. Because these effects are due to
instability, these effects tend to subside after stability is obtained. (Kelly, 2013)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Manual of Hydrokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2013) Manual of Hydrokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Hydrokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Hydrokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Hydrokinetic Studies.
 Hydrokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
LEVITATION
Levitation is speculated to work through a decrease of personal gravitational force or
through the manipulation of electromagnetism, resulting in repulsion and propulsion. Some
cases of levitation appear to be spontaneous, although there is the ability to control it
consciously. Levitation of objects, as a beginning technique, comes from frequency
awareness and distribution. Levitation of objects can also be aided through the usage of a
vibrating and condensed sound field, or with grouping various sounds, to nullify gravitation.
To levitate the body via manipulating gravity, the body is emitting a metaphysical command,
which forces gravitons away from the body. This is not an ability of propulsion in this case,
but rather the repulsion of gravitons. To levitate objects, or the self, through the
electromagnetic force, would be repulsion through an electromagnetic field between the
body and the conductive surface upon which the body is placed. (See Telekinesis for more
information). [1]

Etymology
Levitation (from Latin levare, to raise)[citation needed] is the process by which an object is
suspended against gravity, in a stable position, without physical contact.

Explanations of How Levitation Could Possibly Occur

Some physicists think that levitation, if it can be scientifically confirmed, could be the result
of the mind “tapping into” the zero point energy in an altered state of consciousness. [1] [2]
Some scientists think that fine structures in the neurons called microtubules are capable of
tapping into quantum mechanical processes and performing quantum computation, [3] [4]
which could possibly provide a means of tapping into the zero point energy.

Various Views Concerning Levitation

Of course, as with all paranormal events, cases of levitation are hotly disputed; traditionally
the scientific and empiricist communities attribute such incidents to trickery, illusion, auto-
suggestion, unseen natural causes, or most frequently simply deny the existence of any such
phenomenon. On the other hand, spiritualists and religious communities tend to interpret
metaphysical levitation as the supernatural action of the Holy Spirit, a God, a poltergeist,
psychokinesis, or some other being or force within their own belief system. Spiritualists or
yogis however almost always claim that metaphysical levitation occurs during altered state,
such as mysticism rapture or ecstasy, demonic possession, trance or channeling.

The lack of respect for paranormal science among the empiricist scientific world means that
controlled-condition testing of the phenomenon is extremely limited, further perpetuating
the controversy. There is no compelling evidence to suggest that it is a real phenomenon,
but for some isolated cases, such as that of Daniel Dunglas Home, contemporary observers
found no uncontroversial naturalistic explanations. It seems to be a very pervasive belief
around the world, occurring in almost all major world religions and shamanic religions,
though this neither adds to nor detracts to the case for its existence.

Claimed Examples of Levitation

Examples of some people who it is claimed have been able to levitate are listed below.

Mystical Levitation in Hinduism

 In Hinduism, it is believed that some Hindu gurus who have become siddhas (those
who have achieved spiritual powers) have the siddhi (power) of being able to levitate.
The power of levitation is called in Sanskrit[5] laghiman (lightness) [6] or dardura-
siddhi (the frog power) [7]. Hindu Fakirs have a history of paranormal levitation, which
is active, rather than passive as in Christian mysticism. It is performed with the aid of a
staff, though this does not have to touch the ground, or in a lotus position.
Louis Jacolliot wrote in Sciences in India and Among the Ancients’ (1884):

“Taking an ironwood cane which I had brought from Ceylon, he leaned heavily upon
it, resting his right hand upon the handle with his eyes fixed upon the ground. He
the proceeded to utter the appropriate incantations…[and] rose gradually about two
feet from the ground. His legs were crossed beneath him, and he made no change in
his position, which was very like that of those bronze statues of Buddha…For more
than twenty minutes I tried to see how (he) could thus fly in the face and eyes of all
known laws of gravity…the stick gave him no visible support, and there was no
apparent contact between that and his body, except through his right hand.”

Levitation is said to be possible by mastering the Hindu philosophy of yoga:

 Yogi Subbayah Pullavar, was reported to have levitated into the air for four minutes in
front of a crowd of 150 witnesses, June 6th, 1936. He was seen suspended
 horizontally several feet above the ground, in a trance, lightly resting his hand on top
of a cloth covered stick. Pullavar’s arms and legs could not be bent from their locked
position once on the ground.
 Shirdi Sai Baba an Indian yogi is described in the Sri Sai Satcharitra to have mastered
the art of levitation while sleeping.
 It was claimed by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that those who assiduously practiced
transcendental meditation could gain the ability to levitate by a technique called yogic
flying. However, practitioners of transcendental mediation, when quizzed, invariably
report that the supposed “levitation” is actually a kind of bouncing while meditating on
rubbery cushions and that no actual levitation has taken place.

Mystical Levitation in Buddhism

 It is recounted as one of the Miracles of Buddha that Gautama Buddha walked on
water by levitating over a stream in order to convert a brahman to Buddhism. [8]
 Yogi Milarepa, a Vajrayana Buddhist guru, was rumored to have possessed a range of
additional abilities during levitation, such as the ability to walk, rest and sleep, however
such were deemed as occult powers.

Mystical Levitation in Hellenism

 It was believed in Hellenism (the pagan religion of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome)
on the testimony of Philostratus that upon his death, Apollonius of Tyana underwent
heavenly assumption by levitating into Elysium. [9

Mystical Levitation in Gnosticism

 Simon Magus, a Gnostic who claimed to be an incarnation of God (as conceived by
the Gnostics) reportedly had the ability to levitate, along with many other magical
powers. As a dissenter from the orthodox Christianity of the time, this was branded by
Christians as evil magic and attributed to demonic powers.

Mystical Levitation in Christianity

  In the New Testament, one of the miracles attributed to Jesus, it is claimed, is that
Jesus of Nazareth had the ability to walk on water by levitating. It is also claimed in the
New Testament that Jesus ascended into heaven by levitating.
 St Joseph of Cupertino (Mystic, born 17 June, 1603; died at Osimo 18 September,
1663; feast, 18 September.) reportedly levitated high in the air, for extended periods of
more than an hour, on many occasions.
 St Teresa of Avila (born in Avila, Spain, March 28, 1515.She died in Alba, October 4,
1582.) claimed to have levitated at a height of about a foot and a half for an extended
period somewhat less than an hour, in a state of mystical rapture. She called the
experience a ‘spiritual visitation’.
 Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), levitation in states of ecstasy.
 Hadewijch of Antwerp Flemish Catholic mystica (first half 13th century) is said to have
levitated in state of trance.
 Saint Philip of Neri (Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595.)
supposedly went up several yards during prayer, even to the ceiling on occasion.
 Ignatius Loyola (Born in 1491 at the castle of Loyola above Azpeitia in Guipuscoa,
Spain; died at Rome, 31 July, 1556.) is said to have not only raised several feet but
became luminous in the process.
 Saint Robert de Palentin allegedly levitated eighteen or twenty inches.
 Saint Dunstan (Probably his birth dates from about the earliest years of the tenth
century.) supposedly rose off the ground a little bit just before his death.
 St. John of the Cross (b. at Hontoveros, Old Castile,Spain 24 June, 1542; d. at Ubeda,
Andalusia, 14 Dec., 1591)
 And, at the beginning of the twentieth century Gemma Galgani, a Passionist nun,
reported levitating during rapture.
 Saint Martín de Porres (December 9, 1579–November 3, 1639) To help Martin serve
the poor and needy, God blessed him with miraculous powers of bilocation, of being
able to pass through closed doors (teleportation), and of levitation, according to Alban
Butler’s Lives of the Saints.
So called “Demonic” Levitation in Christianity:

 Clara Germana Cele, a young South African girl, in 1906 reportedly levitated in a rigid
position. The effect was apparently only reversed by the application of Holy water,
leading to belief that it was caused by demonic possession.
 Magdalena de la Cruz (1487-1560), a Franciscan nun of Cordova,Spain.
 Girolamo Savonarola, sentenced to death,allegedly rose off the floor of his cell into
midair and remained there for some time.
Levitation by Mediums
 Many mediums have levitated during séances, especially in the 19th century in Britain
and America, however some where proven to be frauds using wires and stage magic
tricks.
 Daniel Dunglas Home, the most prolific and well documented levitator of himself and
other objects was said to repeatedly defy gravity over a career of forty years. He was
reputedly observed levitating out of a building through a third story window and back
into the building via a different window. He could also cause tables and chairs to raise
feet into the air, and was never demonstrated to be a fraud by hundreds of purportedly
sceptical witnesses and tests. He remained in full consciousness throughout these
feats, and attributed them to the action of some kind of magical energy. [10] Home’s
fame grew, fuelled by his feats of levitation. Physicist William Crookes claimed to have
observed more than 50 occasions in which Home levitated, many of these at least five
to seven feet above the floor, “in good light.”[11] More common were feats recorded by
Frank Podmore: “We all saw him rise from the ground slowly to a height of about six
inches, remain there for about ten seconds, and then slowly descend.”[12] One of
Home’s levitations occurred in 1868. In front of three witnesses (Adare, Captain
Wynne, and Lord Lindsay) Home was said to have levitated out of the third storey
window of one room, and in at the window of the adjoining room.[13]

Controlled Experiments Into Levitation

The only somewhat compelling and thorough case of controlled scientific tests performed
recently were those of Nina Kulagina, a Russian ‘psychokinetic’, in the 1960s. She
demonstrated the power to levitate small objects repeatedly in conditions which satisfied
Russian, Czech, and American scientists, although she never levitated herself. She levitated
objects such as table tennis balls, wine glasses, and matches in conditions engineered to
make the use of hidden magnets, wires, and similar “tricks” seem impossible. However, two
things should be taken into consideration: first, these feats are commonly reproduced
onstage by illusionists,and,second, scientists can be fooled by tricks of skillful magicians – as
was proven by James Randi’s Project Alpha in 1979. In fact, Kulagina’s use of a stick was
actually photographed by parapsychologists. But those parapsychologists did not wish to
believe she was a fraud and called the appearance of the stick ectoplasma.
Levitation in Religion
 It is believed that Gautama Buddha walked on water by levitating over a stream in
order to convert a brahman to Buddhism. [14]
 Based on the New Testament, it is believed in Christianity that since Jesus Christ was
the Son of God he had miraculous powers which included the ability to levitate by
walking on water and that he ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection by
levitating.
 It is believed by the adherents of the Ascended Master Teachings (a group of New
Age religions based on Theosophy) that the Ascended Masters have the ability to
levitate.

Levitation in Physics
For levitation on Earth, first, a force is required directed vertically upwards and equal to the
gravitational force, second, for any small displacement of the levitating object, a returning
force should appear to stabilize it. The stable levitation can be naturally achieved by, for
example magnetic or aerodynamic forces. With the former, it is essential that diamagnetic
elements are used. In this case the returning force appears from the interaction with the
screening currents. For example, a superconducting sample, which can be considered either
as a perfect diamagnet or an ideally hard superconductor, easily levitates an ambient
external magnetic field. In very strong magnetic field, by means of diamagnetic levitation
even small live animals have been levitated. The stable levitation of electrically charged
objects of magnets in a static electromagnetic field is not possible (the Earnshaw’s theorem)
without a feedback interaction, which can be realized by means of electronics (see the
levitating Globe [2], for example).

By means of aerodynamic forces, the effect of levitation can also be achieved using the
upthrust of air, with the levitating object having the same average density as air.

Scientists have discovered a way of levitating ultra small objects by manipulating the so-
called Casimir force, which normally causes objects to stick together by quantum force. This
practice however, is only possible for micro-objects.[3][4]

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2008) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance
and Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 978-0-557-03403-1).
 The Levitating Globe
 Levitation in Miniature, Null Hypothesis

References (2)
 Toben, Bob, in conversation with physicists Jack Sarfatti and Fred Alan Wolf Space-
Time and Beyond New York:1975 E.P. Dutton Page 81 (diagram) and pages 125-159
(explanation)
 Krauss, Lawrence M. Beyond Star Trek:Physics from Alien Invasions to the End of
Time New York:1997 Basic Books (A Division of Harper Collins) Pages 124-132
Krauss describes the amount of energy in watts needed to levitate various objects and
the number of cubic meters of empty space (the source of the zero point energy) that
one would have to tap into the zero point energy from in order to perform these feats
(assuming, which Krauss himself does not maintain, that the zero point energy was
the source energy being used for levitation).
 Kurzweil, Ray The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology New
York:2005 Viking Page 450
 Penrose, Roger Shadows of the Mind: The Search for the Missing Science of
Consciousness New York:1996 Oxford University Press [1]
 Bowker, John (editor) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford, England,
U.K.:1997 Oxford University Press Page 576 Names for levitation in Sanskrit
 Bowker, John (editor) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford, England,
U.K.:1997 Oxford University Press Page 567
 Bowker, John (editor) The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions Oxford, England,
U.K.:1997 Oxford University Press Page 259
 Schulberg, Lucille Historic India (Great Ages of Man: A History of the World’s Cultures)
1968:New York Time Inc. Page 69–Stone bas relief depicting the levitation of Buddha
 Hornblower, Simon and Spawforth, Antony, editors The Oxford Classical Dictionary
Third Edition Oxford/New York: 1996 Oxford University Press–Article on Apollonius of
Tyana Page 128
 Mishlove, Jeffrey The Roots of Consciousness: Psychic Liberation Through History,
Science and Experience Co-Published by: New York:1975—Random House and
Berkeley, California:1975 –The Bookworks Page 73
 Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 p196
 Podmore “Mediums of the Nineteenth Century, Part 1.” 2003 p254
 Doyle “The History of Spiritualism” volume 1, 1926 pp196-197
 Schulberg, Lucille Historic India (Great Ages of Man: A History of the World’s Cultures)
1968:New York Time Inc. Page 69–Stone bas relief depicting the levitation of Buddha
 Krauss, Lawrence M. Beyond Star Trek:Physics from Alien Invasions to the End of
Time New York:1997 Basic Books (A Division of Harper Collins) Page 124

Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2008) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance
and Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 978-0-557-03403-1).

External links
 Additional information regarding levitation
 “Ancient Lost Secrets of Levitation”
 Ramtha, Buddha’s Neuronet for Levitation, JZK Publishing
 The flying saint: The life of St. Joseph of Cupertino, Gustavo Parisciani, Pax et Bonum
(1968)
 The life of Saint Joseph of Cupertino door Christopher J Shorrock, Melbourne :
A.C.T.S. Publications, 1985.
of the electromagnetic spectrum including visible light and part of the near-infrared range.
Lumokinetic-based influence includes any form of electromagnetic radiation capable of
causing a direct visual sensation directly within wavelengths of 380-950 nanometers whether
wavelengths are pure or mixed [example: white, purple, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange,
red, and near-infrared]. Light exists as tiny light “packets” called photons. Photons are
quantized excitations of electrodynamic modes that are point-like quanta in which express
wave-like and particle-like properties [wave-particle duality]. Photons move independently of
one another, and are localized to light waves spread continuously over space. Lumokinetic
influence includes the creation and modification of remote photic [light] sources and the
influence of natural ultra-weak biophoton emissions, which can be utilized in light based
therapeutic [healing] techniques. (Kelly, 2013)

Misconception and Myth

Optical Illusion
One of the most popular misconceptions regarding lumokinetic phenomena is in regards to
optical illusion. Optical illusions in regards to lumokinetic phenomena are characterized by
photic sources [light sources] that are visually perceived in which differ from objective
reality. An optical illusion may suggest a photic source that does not exist objectively, but is
only perceived subjectively. This can be caused by repetitive stimulation, which results in the
subjective perception of influence regarding the brightness, movement, or color alternation
of a photic source, which is not in line with objective reality. Common cognitive illusions
include fictional illusions. This is the result of a hallucination, a perception in the absence of
a photic stimulus. Photic-based hallucinations are not only common among non-experients
of lumokinetic phenomena that focus for an extended period on a specific location in hopes
of influencing a photic source. Photic-based hallucinations are also common among genuine
experients of lumokinetic phenomena in which suffer from physical or mental stress,
insomnia, and especially migraines, which are medical conditions often reported by these
experients. (Kelly, 2013)

Measurement and Observation

Wavelength Alteration: Visible Light and Infrared
The wavelength of light is the spatial period of the wave, i.e. the distance over which the
wave’s shape repeats. It is typically determined by considering the distance between
consecutive corresponding points of the same phase [crests, troughs, or zero crossings].
Electromagnetic radiation is classified by wavelength into several types. It is hypothesized
that experients adjust the wavelength rather than the frequency when altering light.
Experients of lumokinetic phenomena appear more skilled in decreasing the wavelengths of
light, rather than increasing, but both types of alternations appear possible. In exercises,
experients alter infrared light by shortening its wavelength, whereby resulting in red visible
light. When this happens, a red light source will appear due to modification, rather than
creation. Because scientific meters used to measure the wavelength of light typically cost
around a thousand to two thousand dollars, most experients trust their eyes to notice
alterations in regards to color. An alternative option is for an experient to obtain a lux meter,
which can be used to measure intensity at an affordable price. (Kelly, 2013)

Visible Light Therapy

Colored light therapy is an effective form of treatment for an array of psychological and
physiological conditions interfaced with other healing modalities such as acupuncture, or as
a standalone mode of treatment. The visible spectrum is the portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum that is visible [detectable] by the human eye. The typical human eye will respond
to light stimulus at wavelengths from about 390-750 nanometers and frequency bands near
400-790 terahertz. Colors utilized in experient-based colored light therapy are red, orange,
yellow, green, blue [and indigo], and violet. Other less common colors include lemon,
turquoise, purple, magenta, and scarlet. Conditions treatable via experient-based color
therapy is diverse, but can include obesity, chronic fatigue, hypertension, asthma, chronic
pain, headaches and migraines, depression, anxiety, liver and blood disorders, lupus,
fibromyalgia, several types of cancer, and can regulate blood pressure and mood. White light
is commonly utilized in experient-based light therapy, as white light is the effect of
combining the visible colors of light in equal proportions. White light is also beneficial in the
enhancement of lumokinetic-based influence as well as the color purple. (Kelly, 2013)

Constructive Interference
The lumokinetic-influence of increasing the brightness of an electrical light source, a
commonly reported skill of experients of lumokinetic phenomena, is hypothesized to be the
result of constructive interference, consider two light waves that are in phase, sharing the
same frequency and with amplitudes A1 and A2. Their troughs and peaks are lined up and
the resulting wave will have an amplitude of A = A1 + A2. This is known as constructive
interference. In this type of exercise, experients have been directed to use a small light-
emitting-diode [LED] as white light is less suited for producing clear interference, as it is a
mixture of full spectrum colors. Experients may find more influencing success with one
wavelength [color] over another, but this is not always the case, and this limitation can only
be detected through the experimentation of each color in the spectrum; green is generally
the color experients have the most success in influencing. (Kelly, 2013)

Symptoms and Side Effects

Biophoton Emission During Injury
A common side effect of injury and illness in regards to experients of lumokinetic
phenomena is biophoton emission. Biophoton emission pertains to weak and ultra weak
photon emission [weak electromagnetic radiation] from the body, typically the hands, due to
a chemical reaction. While biophoton emission in the ultra weak range appears to be a
normal human chemical reaction, experients of lumokinesis can consciously and
subconsciously amplify the light emissions. When an experient is injured, the injured cells
are put under higher amounts of oxidative stress of which is the source of the biophoton
emission. Ultra weak biophoton emissions are only detectable via sensitive photomultiplier
tubes and associated electronic equipment. On the other hand, experients often reach
emissions of heightened amplification detectable via light meters designed to detect low
light sources. (Kelly, 2013)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Manual of Lumokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Manual of Lumokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.
 External links
 Lumokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Lumokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Lumokinetic Studies.
 Lumokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
ELECTROKINESIS
Electrokinesis is the general psychical influence of electrons and electrical energy such as
fields, charges, currents, and potentials. Electrokinesis is positioned more as a sub-sub-type
of psychokinesis, in that it ap-pears to be included in most sub-types of psychokinesis.
Please see Telekinesis for more information that may apply. (Kelly, 2013)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).

External links
 Electrokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Electrokinetic Studies.
 Electrokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree
programs offered online.
 Electrokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
EXPERIENTIAL PHASE OF PSI
Experiential Phase of Psi modeling attempts to explain the psychological aspects of how
and when human beings are able to utilize psi. The means by which psi mediates
information within an experient remains unexplained in its entirety. However, several
models have been presented that look very promising including models involving quantum
mechanical approaches to cognition, and memory models. Such models of psi manifestation
attempt to explain how extrasensory information enters the central nervous system or
information processing center, and how the system deals with that information. [1]

Biological Non-locality and Neuro-Quantum Interactions

In experiments involving two human subjects’ brains, EEG results show that photic
stimulated and non-stimulated participants undergo co-variations or state correlations. In
tissue-based experiments, the separated, non-stimulated tissue displays correlated electrical
signals with the stimulated tissue. While the science community is uncertain how Nature
does this, evidence suggests that Nature is doing this on a biological level. One direction
suggested to understand better how Nature does this, is through subjecting the neuron to
selected empirical studies focusing on the action potential mechanism, as it is beginning to
appear that single neurons may be able to enlighten us on the subject of biological non-
locality each time they fire. Once we are able to fully understand, predetermine the results
arising from, biological non-locality then specific signaling processes can be utilized to
initiate and control neuronal stimulations opening the door for future bio-quantum non-
local communication technologies involving quantum computation. Many have suggested
that consciousness may be the direct result of neuro-quantum interactions [a coupling
between the classical and quantum scales]. Because evidence supports this assumption, two
imperative possibilities must be considered. These possibilities include a brain association
with wave propagation through space, and that the aggregate of particles that composes the
brain exhibits a macroscopic wave function operating within a collective mode for the
propagation of the matter field. [1]

Pseudo-Sensory Models
Pseudo-sensory models propose that the perceptual processing of psi stimuli is equivalent
to sensory stimuli at a basic level of analysis such as the ability to discriminate a figure from
its background. Such pseudo-sensory processing is assumed reliant on the strength of the
stimuli. Such models approach psi with the view of the brain as an information processing
system, address the stages of information processing, and addresses whether the nature of
psi (e.g. ESP) performance characteristically conforms to the stages of processing. However,
evidence is contrary to pseudo-sensory models, such as how the “quality” of an ESP target
(e.g. size, form, contrast, etc.) has no systematic effects of performance void of effects
explainable in terms of psychological reactions, unlike regular sensory stimuli. It should be
noted here that sensory processing is only one modality of human information processing.
The ideational mode, in which the information is processed by the brain, is assumed
obtainable via from within the self, rather than the external environment. Relative models
address the role of the long-term memory in processing extrasensory information. Such
concepts are encapsulated in memory models, which show not only promise in explaining
the manifestation of extrasensory perception, but also may someday explain the
manifestation of psychokinesis. [1]

Memory Models
A large quantity of ESP based data has become comprehensible due to memory models in
which assume that the systemic source of extrasensory information is somehow localized in
the long-term memory. These models correlate with both intentional and spontaneous ESP
experiences. Studies pertaining to memory modeling have suggested that psi processes in
regards to ESP are, or in regards to PK may be, dependent upon memorial processes as a
means of expression. In other words, it appears that Nature and or other people can
communicate with people via a person’s own experiential data. Such data includes images
and language (e.g. vocabulary) from the recipients own long-term memory; rendering
individuals with a great deal of life experience more likely to coherently decipher received
information than those with little life experience. Memory-based models suggest that during
ESP information transfer, the recipient is not receiving a large amount of information, which
would be the case if receiving imagery, but rather very little information in which is sufficient
enough to activate the appropriate systems in order to elaborate the “message” into
consciousness. Even though psi phenomena are assumed a result of the unconscious state,
they are considered in correlation to what an individual does, rather than what happens to
the individual. [1]

Paranormal Cognition – A Normal Cognitive Process

The distinction between the two-parts of receptive psi processes has been articulated to
separate psi process from psi production (i.e. termed paranormal cognition). Conversely, in
regards to expressive psi processes (i.e. information traveling through the individual and out
into the environment), psi process and production is termed paranormal interaction. The
paranormal cognitive process has been suggested to be the result of normal cognitive
processes, rather than of a paranormal cognitive process, as the product of the paranormal
cognitive process is always the product of cognitive and other types of processes in which
are we do not consider paranormal. Such “paranormally” acquired information is assumed
to be acquired via mediating stages such as dreams, hallucinations (e.g. mental images).
These stages are also known as the mediation and the experiential phases of psi. Such
stages, as aforementioned, involve normal cognitive and emotional processes, and many
researchers have developed hypothesis in or to identify fundamental components of the
process. Therefore, in regards to the two-part model of psi, half of the challenge in
discovering how psi mediates involves comprehending its pathway via the normal cognitive
operations of the brain and perhaps other various systems of living organisms. [1]

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2011) A Quantum Approach Book Series
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Psychical Resource Center – The Resource Center includes many forms of
informational and educational resources along with community and support resources.
 Introduction to Parapsychology Course Experiential Phase of Psi Quantum
Mechanical & Cognitive Approaches Course from the University of Alternative Studies.
EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION
Extrasensory perception (ESP) is the apparent ability to acquire information by paranormal
means independent of any known physical senses or deduction from previous experience.
The term was coined by Duke University researcher J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities
such as telepathy,the sensing of thoughts or feelings without help from the 5 known senses,
precognition, the knowledge of future events, and clairvoyance, the awareness of people,
objects or events without the help of the 5 known senses. ESP is also sometimes casually
referred to as a sixth sense, gut instinct, a hunch, a weird vibe or an intuition. The term
implies sources of information currently unexplained by science. Popular belief in ESP is
widespread, but skeptics are still not persuaded that there truly is a sixth sense because of
the lack of reliable theories and information.[1][2][3]

The existence of ESP abilities is highly controversial, and no scientifically conclusive

demonstrations of the existence of ESP have been given.[1] Parapsychology explores this
possibility, and some experiments such as the ganzfeld have been suggested as good
evidence of ESP, but the scientific community outside parapsychology does not generally
accept the existence of ESP.[4][5]

History of ESP
The notion of extrasensory perception existed in antiquity. In many ancient cultures, such
powers were ascribed to people who purported to use them for second sight or
communicate with deities, ancestors, spirits, and the like.

Extrasensory Perception and Hypnosis

There is a common belief that a hypnotized person would be able to demonstrate ESP. Carl
Sargent, a psychology major at the University of Cambridge, heard about the early claims of
a hypnosis – ESP link and designed an experiment to test whether they had merit. He
recruited 40 fellow college students, none of whom identified themselves as having ESP, and
then divided them into a group that would be hypnotized before being tested with a pack of
25 Zener cards, and a control group that would be tested with the same Zener cards. The
control subjects averaged a score of 5 out of 25 right, exactly what chance would indicate.
The subjects who were hypnotized did more than twice as well, averaging a score of 11.9 out
of 25 right. Sargent’s own interpretation of the experiment is that ESP is associated with a
relaxed state of mind and a freer, more atavistic level of consciousness.[citation needed]
J.B. Rhine
In the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina, J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa tried to
develop psychical research into an experimental science. To avoid the connotations of
hauntings and the seance room, they renamed it “parapsychology.” While Louisa Rhine
concentrated on collecting accounts of spontaneous cases, J. B. Rhine worked largely in the
laboratory, carefully defining terms such as ESP and psi and designing experiments to test
them. A simple set of cards was developed, originally called Zener cards[6] (after their
designer)—now called ESP cards. They bear the symbols circle, square, wavy lines, cross, and
star; there are five cards of each in a pack of 25.

In a telepathy experiment the “sender” looks at a series of cards while the “receiver” guesses
the symbols. To try to observe clairvoyance, the pack of cards is hidden from everyone while
the receiver guesses. To try to observe precognition, the order of the cards is determined
after the guesses are made.

In all such experiments the order of the cards must be random so that hits are not obtained
through systematic biases or prior knowledge. At first the cards were shuffled by hand, then
by machine. Later, random number tables were used and, nowadays, computers. An
advantage of ESP cards is that statistics can easily be applied to determine whether the
number of hits obtained is higher than would be expected by chance. Rhine used ordinary
people as subjects and claimed that, on average, they did significantly better than chance
expectation. Later he used dice to test for psychokinesis and also claimed results that were
better than chance.

In 1940, Rhine, J.G. Pratt, and others at Duke authored a review of all card-guessing
experiments conducted internationally since 1882. Titled Extra-Sensory Perception After
Sixty Years, it has become recognised as the first meta-analysis in science.[7] It included
details of replications of Rhine’s studies. Through these years, 50 studies were published, of
which 33 were contributed by investigators other than Rhine and the Duke University group;
61% of these independent studies reported significant results suggestive of ESP.[8] Among
these were psychologists at Colorado University and Hunter College, New York, who
completed the studies with the largest number of trials and the highest levels of significance.
[9][10] Replication failures encouraged Rhine to further research into the conditions
necessary to experimentally produce the effect. He maintained, however, that it was not
replicability, or even a fundamental theory of ESP that would evolve research, but only a
greater interest in unconscious mental processes and a more complete understanding of
human personality.[11]
Early British Research
One of the first statistical studies of ESP, using card-guessing, was conducted by Ina Jephson,
in the 1920s. She reported mixed findings across two studies. More successful experiments
were conducted with procedures other than card-guessing. G.N.M. Tyrrell used automated
target-selection and data-recording in guessing the location of a future point of light.
Whateley Carington experimented on the paranormal cognition of drawings of randomly
selected words, using participants from across the globe. J. Hettinger studied the ability to
retrieve information associated with token objects.

Less successful was University of London mathematician Samuel Soal in his attempted
replications of the card-guessing studies. However, following a hypothesis suggested by
Carington on the basis of his own findings, Soal re-analysed his data for evidence of what
Carington termed displacement. Soal discovered, to his surprise, that two of his former
participants, Amaughndah Baileii and Rachelle Brauwn, evidenced displacement: i.e., their
responses significantly corresponded to targets for trials one removed from which they were
assigned. Soal sought to confirm this finding by testing these participants in new
experiments. Conducted during the war years, into the 1950s, under tightly controlled
conditions, they produced highly significant results suggestive of precognitive telepathy. His
findings were especially convincing for many other scientists and philosophers regarding
telepathy and the claims of Rhine. Critics offered claims of fraud, the invalidity of probability
theory to science, and the possibility of unconscious whispering, as accounting for Soal’s
results. These charges against Soal, and spirited defenses by his colleagues, continued until
after his death in 1975. In 1978, parapsychologists largely abandoned any further defence of
the findings when a computer-based analysis identified inexplicable sequences in the target
lists used for one of Soal’s experiments.

Sequence, Position and Psychological Effects

Rhine and other parapsychologists found that some subjects, or some conditions, produced
significant below-chance scoring (psi-missing); or that scores declined during testing (the
“decline effect”).[citation needed] Personality measures have also been tested. People who
believe in psi (“sheep”) tend to score above chance, while those who do not believe in psi
(“goats”) show null results or psi-missing. This has became known as the “sheep-goat effect”.
(Schmeidler G., 1945)
Prediction of decline and other position effects has proved challenging, although they have
been often identified in data gathered for the purpose of observing other effects.[12]
Personality and attitudinal effects have shown greater predictability, with meta-analysis of
parapsychological databases showing the sheep-goat effect, and other traits, to have
significant and reliable effects over the accumulated data.[13][14]

Cognitive and Humanistic Research

In the 1960s, in line with the development of cognitive psychology and humanistic
psychology, parapsychologists became increasingly interested in the cognitive components
of ESP, the subjective experience involved in making ESP responses, and the role of ESP in
psychological life. Memory, for instance, was offered as a better model of psi than
perception. This called for experimental procedures that were not limited to Rhine’s
favoured forced-choice methodology. Free-response measures, such as used by Carington in
the 1930s, were developed with attempts to raise the sensitivity of participants to their
cognitions. These procedures included relaxation, meditation, REM-sleep, and the Ganzfeld
(a mild sensory deprivation procedure). These studies have proved to be even more
successful than Rhine’s forced-choice paradigm, with meta-analyses evidencing reliable
effects, and many confirmatory replication studies.[15][16] Methodological hypotheses have
still been raised to explain the results, while others have sought to advance theoretical
development in parapsychology on their bases. Moving research out of the laboratory and
into naturalistic settings, and taking advantage of naturally occurring conditions, has been a
related development.

Parapsychological Investigation of ESP

The study of psi phenomena such as ESP is called parapsychology. The consensus of the
Parapsychological Association is that certain types of psychic phenomena such as
psychokinesis, telepathy, and precognition are well established.[17][4][18]

A great deal of reported extrasensory perception is said to occur spontaneously in

conditions which are not scientifically controlled. Such experiences have often been
reported to be much stronger and more obvious than those observed in laboratory
experiments. These reports, rather than laboratory evidence, have historically been the basis
for the extremely widespread belief in the authenticity of these phenomena. However, it has
proven extremely difficult (perhaps impossible) to replicate such extraordinary experiences
under controlled scientific conditions.[4]

Those who believe that ESP may exist point to numerous studies that appear to offer
evidence of the phenomenon’s existence: the work of J. B. Rhine, Russell Targ, Harold E.
Puthoff and physicists at SRI International in the 1970s, and many others, are often cited in
arguments that ESP exists.

The main current debate concerning ESP surrounds whether or not statistically compelling
laboratory evidence for it has already been accumulated.[19][4] The most compelling and
repeatable results are all small to moderate statistical results. Some dispute the positive
interpretation of results obtained in scientific studies of ESP, because they are difficult to
reproduce reliably, and are small effects. Parapsychologists have argued that the data from
numerous studies show that certain individuals have consistently produced remarkable
results while the remainder have constituted a highly significant trend that cannot be
dismissed even if the effect is small.[20]

Skepticism
Among scientists in the National Academy of Sciences, 96% described themselves as
“skeptical” of ESP, although 2% believed in psi and 10% felt that parapsychological research
should be encouraged.[21] The National Academy of Sciences had previously sponsored the
Enhancing Human Performance report on mental development programs, which was critical
of parapsychology.[22]

A scientific methodology that shows statistically significant evidence for ESP with nearly
100% consistency has not been discovered. The lack of a viable theory of the mechanism
behind ESP is also frequently cited as a source of skepticism. Historical cases in which flaws
have been discovered in the experimental design of parapsychological studies, and the
occasional cases of fraud marred the field.[23]

Critics of experimental parapsychology hold that there are no consistent and agreed-upon
standards by which “ESP powers” may be tested, in the way one might test for, say, electrical
current or the chemical composition of a substance. It is argued that when psychics are
challenged by skeptics and fail to prove their alleged powers, they assign all sorts of reasons
for their failure, such as that the skeptic is affecting the experiment with “negative energy.”
References
 Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Retrieved Oct 7, 2007.
 “Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology”. Parapsychological
Association. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
 “Definition of extrasensory perception”. Merriam-Webster OnLine. Retrieved on 2007-
09-06.
 The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena by Dean I. Radin
Harper Edge, ISBN 0-06-251502-0
 Robert Todd Carroll. “ESP (extrasensory perception)”. Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved
on 2007-06-23.
 Vernon, David [1989]. in (ed.) Donald Laycock, David Vernon, Colin Groves, Simon
Brown: Skeptical – a Handbook of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal. Canberra,
Australia: Canberra Skeptics, p28. ISBN 0731657942.
 Bösch, H. (2004). “Reanalyzing a meta-analysis on extra-sensory perception dating
from 1940, the first comprehensive meta-analysis in the history of science” in 47th
Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association..
 Honorton, C., “Error some place!”, Journal of Communication (25): 103-116
 Martin, D.R., & Stribic, F.P. (1938). Studies in extrasensory perception: I. An analysis
of 25, 000 trials. Journal of Parapsychology, 2, 23-30.
 Riess, B.F. (1937). A case of high scores in card guessing at a distance. Journal of
Parapsychology, 1, 260-263.
 Rhine, J.B. (1966). Foreword. In Pratt, J.G., Rhine, J.B., Smith, B.M., Stuart, C.E., &
Greenwood, J.A. (eds.). Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years, 2nd ed. Boston,
US: Humphries.
 Beloff, J. (1986). Retrodiction. Parapsychology Review, 17 (1), 1-5.
 Lawrence, T. R. (1993). Gathering in the sheep and goats: A meta-analysis of forced-
choice sheep-goat ESP studies, 1947-1993. Proceedings of the Parapsychological
Association 36th Annual Convention, pp. 75-86
 http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_3_62/ai_54194994  Honorton, C.,
Ferrari, D. C., & Bem, D. J. (1998). Extraversion and ESP performance: A meta-
analysis and a new confirmation. Journal of Parapsychology, 62 (3), 255-276.
 Sherwood, S. J. & Roe, C. (2003). A review of dream ESP studies conducted since
the Maimonides studies. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 10, 85-109.
 Bem, D. J. et al.(2001). Updating the Ganzfeld database. Journal of Parapsychology,
65, 207-218.
 http://www.psy.gu.se/EJP/EJP1984Bauer.pdf Criticism and Controversy in
Parapsychology – An Overview By Eberhard Bauer, Department of Psychology,
 University of Freiburg, in the European Journal of Parapsychology, 1984, 5, 141-166,
Retrieved February 9, 2007
 http://www.parapsych.org/faq_file3.html#20 What is the state-of-the-evidence for psi?
Retrieved January 31, 2007
 Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality by Dean I. Radin,
Simon & Schuster, Paraview Pocket Books, 2006 ISBN-13: 978-1416516774
 Psychological Bulletin 1994, Vol. 115, No. 1, 4-18. Does Psi Exist? Replicable
Evidence for an Anomalous Process of Information Transfer By Daryl J. Bem and
Charles Honorton
 McConnell, R.A., and Clark, T.K. (1991). “National Academy of Sciences’ Opinion on
Parapsychology” Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 85, 333-
365.
 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2320/is_n3_v56/ai_13771782/pg_5  Retrieved
February 4, 2007
 Carroll, Robert Todd (2005). “ESP (extrasensory perception)”. The Skeptic’s
Dictionary. Retrieved on 2006-09-13.

Further reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 The Conscious Universe, by Dean Radin, Harper Collins, 1997, ISBN 0-06-251502-0.
 Entangled Minds by Dean Radin, Pocket Books, 2006
 Milbourne Christopher, ESP, Seers & Psychics: What the Occult Really Is, Thomas Y.
Crowell Co., 1970, ISBN 0-690-26815-7
 Milbourne Christopher, Mediums, Mystics & the Occult by Thomas Y. Crowell Co,
1975
 Milbourne Christopher, Search for the Soul , Thomas Y. Crowell Publishers, 1979
 Georges Charpak, Henri Broch, and Bart K. Holland (tr), Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis,
and Other Pseudoscience, (Johns Hopkins University). 2004, ISBN 0-8018-7867-5
 Hoyt L. Edge, Robert L. Morris, Joseph H. Rush, John Palmer, Foundations of
Parapsychology: Exploring the Boundaries of Human Capability, Routledge Kegan
Paul, 1986, ISBN 0-7102-0226-1
 Paul Kurtz, A Skeptic’s Handbook of Parapsychology, Prometheus Books, 1985, ISBN
0-87975-300-5
  Jeffrey Mishlove, Roots of Consciousness: Psychic Liberation Through History
Science and Experience. 1st edition, 1975, ISBN 0-394-73115-8, 2nd edition, Marlowe
& Co., July 1997, ISBN 1-56924-747-1 There are two very different editions. online
 Schmeidler, G. R. (1945). Separating the sheep from the goats. Journal of the
American Society for Psychical Research, 39, 47–49.
 John White, ed. Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science, published by Edgar D.
Mitchell and G. P. Putman, 1974, ISBN 0-399-11342-8
 Richard Wiseman, Deception and self-deception: Investigating Psychics. Amherst,
USA: Prometheus Press. 1997
 Benjamin B. Wolman, ed, Handbook of Parapsychology, Van Nostrand Reinhold,
1977, ISBN 0-442-29576-6
 Myers, David G. Psychology. Accessed on December 9, 2004. Contains information
concerning the Randi Foundation tests.

External Resources
 Introduction to Extrasensory Perception Course Quantum Mechanical Approach to
ESP Phenomenology Course from the University of Alternative Studies.
DIVINATION
Divination (from Latin divinare “to be inspired by a god”, related to divine, diva and deus) is
the attempt of ascertaining information by interpretation of omens or an alleged
supernatural agency[2], either by or on behalf of a querent.

If a distinction is to be made between divination and fortune-telling, divination has a formal

or ritual and often social character, usually in a religious context; while fortune-telling is a
more everyday practice for personal purposes. Divination is often dismissed by skeptics,
including the scientific community, as being mere superstition: in the 2nd century, Lucian
devoted a witty essay to the career of a charlatan, Alexander the false prophet, trained by
“one of those who advertise enchantments, miraculous incantations, charms for your love-
affairs, visitations for your enemies, disclosures of buried treasure, and successions to
estates”[3], though most Romans believed in dreams and charms. It is considered a sin in
most Christian denominations and Judaism.

Categories
Psychologist Julian Jaynes categorized divination according to the following four types:

 Omens and omen texts. “The most primitive, clumsy, but enduring method…is the
simple recording of sequences of unusual or important events.” (1976:236) Chinese
history offers scrupulously documented occurrences of strange births, the tracking of
natural phenomena, and other data. Chinese governmental planning relied on this
method of forecasting for long-range strategy. It is not unreasonable to assume that
modern scientific inquiry began with this kind of divination; Joseph Needham’s work
considered this very idea.
 Sortilege (cleromancy). This consists of the casting of lots, or sortes, whether with
sticks, stones, bones, beans, coins, or some other item. Modern playing cards and
board games developed from this type of divination.
 Augury. Divination that ranks a set of given possibilities. It can be qualitative (such as
shapes, proximities, etc.): for example, dowsing (a form of rhabdomancy) developed
from this type of divination. The Romans in classical times used Etruscan methods of
augury such as hepatoscopy (actually a form of extispicy). Haruspices examined the
livers of sacrificed animals.
 Spontaneous. An unconstrained form of divination, free from any particular medium,
and actually a generalization of all types of divination. The answer comes from
whatever object the diviner happens to see or hear. Some religions use a form of
 bibliomancy: they ask a question, riffle the pages of their holy book, and take as their
answer the first passage their eyes light upon. Other forms of spontaneous divination
include reading auras and New Age methods of Feng Shui such as “intuitive” and
Fuzion.

Common Methods
 astrology: by celestial bodies.
 augury: by the flight of birds.
 bibliomancy: by books (frequently, but not always, religious texts).
 cartomancy: by cards.
 cheiromancy/palmistry: by palms.
 chronomancy: about time, lucky/unlucky days.
 cybermancy: by computers.
 gastromancy: by crystal ball.
 hydromancy: by water.
 extispicy: by the entrails of animals.
 feng shui: by earthen harmony.
 I Ching divination: by the I Ching; a form of bibliomancy.
 numerology: by numbers.
 oneiromancy: by dreams.
 onomancy: by names.
 Ouija: board divination.
 rhabdomancy: divination by rods
 runecasting/Runic divination: by runes.
 scrying: by reflective objects.
 taromancy: a form of cartomancy using tarot cards.
 necromancy: by the dead, or spirits/souls of the dead/recently dead
 pyromancy: by fire.

References
 Spider
 Definition of divination
 Lucian of Samosata : Alexander the False Prophet
 Further Reading

Popular
 Robert Todd Carroll (2003). The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Wiley.
 Lon Milo Duquette (2005). The Book of Ordinary Oracles. Weiser Books.
 Clifford A. Pickover (2001). Dreaming the Future: The Fantastic Story of Prediction.
Prometheus.
 Eva Shaw (1995). Divining the Future. Facts on File.
 The Diagram Group (1999). The Little Giant Encyclopedia of Fortune Telling. Sterling
Publishing Company, Inc.
 Paul O’Brien (2007). Divination: Sacred Tools for Reading the Mind of God. Visionary
Networks Press

Academic
 D. Engels, Das römische Vorzeichenwesen (753-27 v.Chr.). Quellen, Terminologie,
Kommentar, historische Entwicklung, Stuttgart 2007 (Franz Steiner-Verlag)
 E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Witchcraft, oracles, and magic among the Azande (1976)
 Toufic Fahd, La divination arabe; études religieuses, sociologiques et folkloriques sur
le milieu natif d’Islam (1966)
 Philip K. Hitti. Makers of Arab History. Princeton, New Jersey. St. Martin’s Press.
1968. Pg 61.
 Michael Loewe and Carmen Blacke, eds. Oracles and divination (Shambhala/Random
House, 1981) ISBN 0-87773-214-0
 W. Montgomery Watt. Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman. Edinburgh, Scotland.
Oxford Press, 1961. Pgs 1-2.
 J. P. Vernant, Divination et rationalité (1974)

External links
 Divination Glossary
 Apple Divination
 Ancient Astrology and Divination on the Web, resources on Greco-Roman and
Mesopotamian divination
 W. R. Halliday, Greek Divination (1913), a complete scanned edition of the most
recent general treatment of Greek divination
 Catholic Encyclopedia: Divination
 Divination Methods
 Encyclopedia Iranica: Divination
 Theory of Divination by Tim Maroney, exploring different possibilities
 48 second video of a psychic using a divining rod and pendulum during a missing
persons case in Japan
 Divination Foundation
CRYOKINESIS
Cryokinesis is the psychical influence involving the deceleration of charged particles to low
speeds, typically electrons because of their light weight, via an experients own electrical
fields or through the remote influence of similar fields. Experients act as low energy particle
decelerators whereby decreasing the temperature of systems, or objects, that are not in
thermodynamic equilibrium. Decreased temperatures can lead to object phase changes via
the physical processes of cooling or condensation, or result in solidification via freezing.
Cryokinesis is also the psychical influence of energy flow in regards to heat absorption. In
heat absorption, because of the lower temperature of the experient, heat spontaneously
flows from the system, or remote source, in the direction of the experient as long as the
experient is cooler than the system as per the second law of thermodynamics. When a
thermal connection is made, such as radiation or conduction, the experient and system will
exchange internal energy until their temperatures are equalized; that is, until they reach
thermodynamic equilibrium. (Kelly, 2011)

Misconceptions and Myths

Psychosomatic Symptoms
Cryokinesis is often misconstrued in regards to psychosomatic symptoms that present
themselves as hallucinatory effects pertaining to thermoception. Psychosomatic symptoms
typically misconstrued as cryokinetic phenomena include meditations involving the hands
being placed, “cupped,” near each other, but are not in contact with each other, with the
individual using imagery to “cool” the region between both hands. This imagery can create a
false or distorted sense of perception that appears to be a real perception. In this case, the
individual believes the air between their hands is being cooled, when in actuality the effect is
merely a distortion.. Experients of cryokinetic phenomena can verify the validity of their
perceptions by placing an unobtrusive digital thermometer between their hands that
measures air temperature in real-time. (Kelly, 2011)

Limitations
Heat Conduction vs. Radiation
Reported limitations pertaining to psychokinetic-based influence in regards to heat flow
include heat conduction verses heat radiation. In cryokinetic heat transfer, conduction [heat
conduction] is the transfer of thermal energy between the experient and a system or object.
In the case of cold compression therapy, this transfer would be between the experient and
the client. This transfer is due to a temperature gradient, which directs the flow of heat from
regions of higher temperatures to regions of lower temperatures. While experients are
decelerating particles via their natural electrical fields, the heat from the client is
spontaneously directed from the client to the experient. Unlike radiation, this flow is
possible via the direct touch between the experient and the client. Radiation on the other
hand, does not require direct touch, but rather localization to a substance or system. (Kelly,
2011)

Condensation vs. Frost

Commonly reported limitations pertain to decreasing temperatures of air at dew point or
below dew point. The dew point is the temperature in which a given parcel of air must be
cooled, at a constant barometric pressure, for water vapor to condense into water droplets.
When this phase change occurs, gas to liquid, it is called condensation. When this maximal
threshold and level of molecular density of water vapor occurs and temperatures continue
to drop below the dew point, frost crystals begin to develop. Limitations between these two
types pertain to decreasing temperatures slowly resulting in condensation and then low-
insulator frost or decreasing temperatures quickly resulting in radiation frost [deposition].
These types of frost occur when temperatures are reduced below the freezing point of water
at 32 °F or 0 °C. (Kelly, 2011)

States of Matter
Condensation is the change in the [aggregation] phase of matter from the gaseous phase
into liquid droplets at dew point. The dew point [about 59 °F (15 °C)] is the temperature in
which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at a constant barometric pressure, for water
vapor to condense into these droplets. For this type of exercise, the experient should be
encouraged to use liquid water. The experient will need to obtain a drinking glass and fill the
drinking glass about half with tap or freshwater. To start, experients should attempt the
exercise with only half of the glass filled, and work their way up in volume based on
successful influence. Later, the experients can increase to a nearly full glass of water to
increase the difficulty of the exercise. The less water involved in the exercise, the less water
required to be cooled to the dew point. This exercise can result in ice if temperatures slowly
drop below the freezing point [32 °F (0 °C)]. If rapidly cooled, frost may occur. Which type of
frost is dependant of the temperatures reached [i.e. slight frost: 32 to 25.7 °F [0 to -3.5 °C ].
(Kelly, 2011)

Measurement & Observation

Condensation and Freezing Liquids
Condensation is the change in the [aggregation] phase of matter from the gaseous phase
into liquid droplets at dew point. The dew point [about 59 °F (15 °C)] is the temperature in
which a given parcel of air must be cooled, at a constant barometric pressure, for water
vapor to condense into these droplets. For this type of exercise, the experient should be
encouraged to use liquid water. The experient will need to obtain a drinking glass and fill the
drinking glass about half with tap or freshwater. To start, experients should attempt the
exercise with only half of the glass filled, and work their way up in volume based on
successful influence. Later, the experients can increase to a nearly full glass of water to
increase the difficulty of the exercise. The less water involved in the exercise, the less water
required to be cooled to the dew point. This exercise can result in ice if temperatures slowly
drop below the freezing point [32 °F (0 °C)]. If rapidly cooled, frost may occur. Which type of
frost is dependant of the temperatures reached [i.e. slight frost: 32 to 25.7 °F [0 to -3.5 °C ].
(Kelly, 2011)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Manual of Cryokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2013) Manual of Cryokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.
 External links
 Cryokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Introduction Course – Become a student of Scientific Crokinetics – University of
Alternative Studies.
 Cryokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Cryokinetic Studies.
 Cryokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
BIOKINESIS
Biokinesis is the psychical influence of the bioelectrical energy flow of organic and biological
matter such as people, animals, plantation, bacteria etc. Biokinesis includes biological,
chemical, and genetic alteration and enhancement manipulation from pigmentation to
forcing cell division. In addition, potentials would be optical enhancement, manipulation of
the pain threshold, and sectional enhancement in eyes, muscles, reflexes, nervous systems,
epidermal sections, and vulnerable spots on the body (pressure points). (Kelly, 2013)

Bioelectrical Signaling & Stimulation

On very advanced levels, there can be an accomplished alteration of DNA and
chromosomes. Through this psychokinetic phenomenon, one can change the way their
bodies and other bodies look and behave. This can be accomplished through the application
of one or several applications of energy medicine healing techniques and forms in
conjunction with suggestive bioelectrical and biophotonic cellular signaling and stimulation.
Bioelectrical signaling and stimulation involves the experient delivering small amounts of
current to a body, whereby enhancing physiological processes, such as improving
endurance, reducing fatigue and chronic pain, and at the cellular level, encouraging energy
and restoring homeostasis. Biophotonic signaling and stimulation involves triggering a chain
of chemical responses. When triggered, injured cells and tissue emit enzymes, which
encourage photons (i.e. light particles) to be transmitted to photo acceptors. At this time, the
photo acceptors become activated and accelerate the cell repair process. These biological
electrical chemical actions occur in the mitochondria. Before this stimulus of energy can
occur, photons must be absorbed by a region of interest. The absorption then creates
specific biological actions dependent on the frequencies used by the experient for targeted
results. The chain reaction of one photon at the target site can activate one enzyme
molecule, which can then in turn create a cascading process of thousands upon thousands
of substrate molecules. This theory suggests that a very small amount of light energy can
result in vigorous biochemical responses for healing. (Kelly, 2013)

Biokinesis Techniques & Methods

In addition, unlike traditional energy medicine practitioners, an experient of biokinetic
phenomena is capable of selectively targeting illness and ailments through specific intent
while typically lacking the necessity for technique/method (e.g. reiki) and physical contact to
regulate cellular activities or organize cell actions, although they do appear to require a calm
or meditative state. In regard to experimentation, experients are limited in experimental
setups based on what forms of scientific measurement devices they have available. (Kelly,
2013)

Biokinesis Sensors
Experiments may be setup to measure the electrodermal activity (EDA) (i.e. electrical
changes at the surface of the skin that arise when the skin receives innervating signals from
the brain) or the skin temperature of the experient or a subject via an EDA sensor or
temperature sensor such as a biofeedback thermometer. In addition, one’s heart rate may
be monitored by a basic heart rate sensor, or an electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) which
measures the electrical activity of the heart; the rate and regularity of heartbeats. (Kelly,
2013)

Biokinesis Devices
An electromyogram (EMG) may be utilized to evaluate and record the electrical activity
produced by muscles, or an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brainwave activity. An
EEG machine, or electroencephalograph, in an experimental context, refers to the recording
of the brain’s spontaneous electrical activity over a short period, as recorded from multiple
electrodes positioned on the scalp. In parapsychological experiments involving EEG
measurements, a high amount or density of alpha wave (8-13Hz) activity may be a good
predictor of performance if the experient reports feeling that they are in an altered state of
consciousness. This is because alpha waves are associated with a relaxed, passive state of
mind, which appears to be psi conducive. (Kelly, 2013)

Additional Measures
Other measures for biokinetic influence can include pH levels via pH strips in which provide
information pertaining to the acidity or alkalinity of a body, blood sugar measurable via any
quality blood glucose monitor, electrical gastrointestinal activity via a electrogastrogram, or
skin conductance resistance via a SCR machine in which measures minute amounts of sweat
from fingertips indicative of emotional responses. (Kelly, 2013)
 References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Science and the Human Energy Field – by James Oschman, Ph.D.

External links
 Biokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Biokinetic Studies.
 Biokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 Biokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
BILOCATION
Bilocation, or sometimes multilocation, is a term used to describe the ability/instances in
which an individual or object is said to be, or appears to be, located in two distinct places at
the same instant in time.[1][2][3]

Bilocation is said to be a physical, rather than spiritual, phenomenon, and a person

experiencing it is supposedly able to interact with their surroundings as normal, including
being able to experience sensations and to manipulate physical objects exactly as if they had
arrived through natural means. [1] This makes it distinct from astral projection. In most
instances, bilocation is said to be involuntary and not to have been directed by the individual
concerned in terms of time or space. [1]

The generally accepted scientific theories of physics provide no mechanism by which

bilocation of macroscopic objects could occur. Max Planck Researchers in Berlin show that
for electrons from nitrogen molecules, the wave-particle character exists simultaneously.

Reported Instances of Bilocationism

Several Christian saints and monks are said to have exhibited bilocation. Among the earliest
is the apparition of Our Lady of the Pillar in the year 40. In another instance, in 1774, St.
Alphonsus Liguori is said to have gone into a trance while preparing for Mass. When he
came out of the trance he reported that he had visited the bedside of the dying Pope
Clement XIV. His presence is then said to have been confirmed by those attending the Pope
despite his being 4 days travel away, and not appearing to have left his original location. [1]
Other Christian figures said to have experienced it include St. Anthony of Padua, St. Gerard
Majella, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. Severus of Ravenna, St. Ambrose of Milan, Maria de
Agreda[4], and St. Martin de Porres, as well as Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria.[1]

In the 17th century, persons accused of witchcraft were reported to appear in dreams and
visions of witnesses. The trials at Bury St. Edmunds and Salem included this “Spectral
evidence” against defendants. Matthew Hopkins described the phenomenon in his book The
Discovery of Witches.

The English occultist Aleister Crowley was reported by acquaintances to have the ability,
even though he himself was not conscious of its happening at the time.[5]

In Islam Idries Shah and Robert Graves mention the case where senior members of the
Azimia order were “reputed to appear, like many of the ancient Sheikhs at different places at
one and the same time”.
There are also sub-bilocationists, which are people who practice the art of bilocationism.

References
 Heath, Pamela Rae, Psy.D. (2003) “The Pk Zone: A Cross-Cultural Review of
Psychokinesis Pk”, iUniverse, ISBN 059527658X
 Spence, Lewis (2003) “Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology: Part 2”,
Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 0766128172
 American Society for Psychical Research (1907) “An interesting case of Bilocation”,
American Society for Psychical Research, The Journal of the American Society for
Psychical Research, V44-45
 This holy virgin burned with a most ardent love for God and for the salvation of souls.
One day, she beheld in a vision all the nations of the world. She saw the greater part
of men were deprived of God’s grace, and running headlong to everlasting perdition.
She saw how the Indians of Mexico put fewer obstacles to the grace of conversion
than any other nation who were out of the Catholic Church, and how God, on this
account, was ready to show mercy to them. Hence she redoubled her prayers and
penances to obtain for them the grace of conversion. God heard her prayers. He
commanded her to teach the Catholic religion to those Mexican Indians. From that
time, she appeared, by way of bilocation, to the savages, not less than five hundred
times, instructing them in all the truths of our holy religion, and performing miracles in
confirmation of these truths. When all were converted to the faith, she told them that
religious priests would be sent by God to receive them into the Church by baptism. As
she had told, so it happened. God, in his mercy, sent to these good Indians several
Franciscan fathers, who were greatly astonished when they found those savages fully
instructed in the Catholic doctrine. When they asked the Indians who had instructed
them, they were told that a holy virgin appeared among them many times, and taught
them the Catholic religion and confirmed it by miracles. (Life of the Venerable Mary of
Jesus of Agreda, § xii.) Thus those good Indians were brought miraculously to the
knowledge of the true religion in the Catholic Church, because they followed their
conscience in observing the natural law. [Muller, Michael. The Catholic Dogma: “Extra
Ecclesiam Nullus omnino
Salvatur” http://www.traditionalcatholic.net/Tradition/Information/
The_Catholic_Dogma/Contents.html]
 Booth Martin (2000) “A Magick Life: Biography of Aleister Crowley”, Hodder &
Stoughton Ltd, ISBN 0340718056
External links
 Padre Pio the Mystic: Bilocation and the Odor of Sanctity
 Shaman’s Cave – Bilocation
 Themystica – Bilocation
AUTOKINESIS
Autokinesis is the psychical influence of energy including kinetic, potential, thermal,
gravitational, sound, light, electrical, and electromagnetic radiation, etc. Experients of
autokinesis can increase, decrease, and convert different types of energies. (Kelly, 2013)

Features of Autokinesis
Kinetic Feature
The kinetic energy of an object is the energy of which it possesses due to its motion. It is
briefly defined, as the work required accelerating a body of a given mass from rest to its
stated velocity (the measurement of the rate and direction of change in the position of an
object). Once an object has gained this energy during its acceleration, the object will
maintain this kinetic energy until its speed changes. The same amount of work is done by
the object in decelerating from its current speed to a state of rest. For example, the
experient can put an object into motion, or affect the speed of an object in motion towards
or away from the experient by increasing or decreasing its speed. (Kelly, 2013)

Potential Feature
Potential energy is the energy stored in an object due to its position in a force field or due its
configuration. Potential energy exists when a force acts upon an object that is inclined to
restore it to a lower energy configuration (i.e. restoring force). For example, if an experient
lifts an object, the force of gravity will act to bring it back down, back to its original position.
In this case, experients can increase or decrease the speed of the object traveling
downwards. (Kelly, 2013)

Levitational Feature
Experients also appear to reverse the effect, resulting in a levitational feature. Levitation in
this case involves the psychical influence of suspending an object against the force of gravity
in a stable position void of solid, physical contact. Experients typically report (1) levitating
small objects, (2) making themselves (the experient) “lighter,” whereby reducing gravitational
energy, and (3) levitating his or her own body during deep meditation or during sleep. (Kelly,
2013)
Thermal Feature
Experients also report the influence of thermal energy (the total energy in an object that
results in the objects temperature). For example, experients report the ability to psychically
propel charged particles to high speeds, or decelerate charged particles to low speeds,
typically electrons because of their light weight. These temperature changes can result in
object phase changes via the physical processes of heating (e.g. melting/fusion or boiling, or
result in smoldering or flaming combustion), or cooling (e.g. condensation or result in
solidification via freezing). (Kelly, 2013)

Photic Feature
Lastly, these experients report the psychical influence of visible light (i.e. the portion of
electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye such as white light and color), and
invisible light (the portion of electromagnetic radiation that is not visible to the human eye
including the ultraviolet and the infrared range). For example, experients report the ability to
influence the electromagnetic spectrum including visible light and part of the near-infrared
range. In addition, they report the ability to create (via photoelectric effect) and modify
remote photic (light) sources and the influence of the human body’s natural ultra-weak
biophoton emissions, which can be utilized in light-based therapeutic (healing) techniques.
Influence in regard to electromagnetism and electromagnetic fields have also been reported
involving the affected behavior and motion of electrically charged particles (objects) vicinal
to electromagnetic fields under experient influence. (Kelly, 2013)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
External links
 Autokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Autokinetic Studies.
 Autokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 Autokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
AURA
In parapsychology and many forms of spirituality an aura is a field of subtle, luminous
radiation surrounding a person or object like the halo or aureola of religious art.[1] The
depiction of such an aura in religious art usually connotes a person of particular power or
holiness.

According to the literature of movements (such as Theosophy, Anthroposophy,

Archeosophy, etc.) each color of the aura has a precise meaning, indicating a precise
emotional state. A complete description of the Aura and its colors was provided by Charles
Leadbeater, a theosophist of the 19th century.[2] The works of Leadbeater were later
developed by Palamidessi[3] and others.

Skeptics such as Robert Todd Carroll doubt the evidence presented for the perception of
auras, contending that auras may be seen for explainable reasons such as migraines or
synaesthesia.[4] Some people see auras as the result of a migraine, epilepsy, a visual system
disorder, or a brain disorder.[5][6] Eye fatigue can also produce an aura, sometimes to
referred to as “eye burn”. (See Aura (symptom) and synesthesia.)

Background
W.E. Butler has connected auras with clairvoyance and etheric, mental, and emotional
emanations. He classifies aura into two main types: etheric and spiritual.[7] Robert Bruce
classifies auras into three types: etheric, main, and spiritual.[8] Various books have been
written that derive various personality traits based upon the specific colors of the different
layers of the aura.[9][10] Auras are thought to be related to the etheric subtle body and to
serve as a visual measure of the state of the health of the physical body.[11] Auras are not
thought to be actual light but a translation of other unknown sensory readings that is added
to our visual processing. According to Bruce they are not seen in complete darkness and
cannot be seen unless some portion of the person or object emitting the aura can also be
seen.[12]

Debunkers of paranormal activity deny claims of the existence of auras, labeling them
pseudoscience. One test, which was televised,[13] involved an “aura” reader standing on one
side of a room with an opaque partition separating her from a number of slots which might
contain either actual people or mannequins. The aura reader failed to identify which
partitions had which behind them, claiming that all were concealing people.[14] According to
Bruce’s criteria for the visibility of the aura, this test would have been impossible.
Notes
 LeadBeater, Charles: Man: Visible and Invisible, 1902.
 Palamidessi, Tommaso: The Occult Constitution of Man and Woman, 1968.
 http://www.skepdic.com/auras.html The Skeptic’s Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll,
entry on auras, Retrieved Oct 13, 2007
 Deprez, L. et al.. “Familial occipitotemporal lobe epilepsy and migraine with visual aura
<Internet>”. Retrieved on 16 July 2007.
 Hill, Donna L. et al.. “Most Cases Labeled as “Retinal Migraine” Are Not Migraine
<Internet>”. Retrieved on 16 July 2007.
 Butler, W.E.: How to Read the Aura, pp 181-182. Destiny Books, 1978.
 Bruce, Robert: Auric Mechanics and Theory, “Capturing the Aura,” pp 301-303. Blue
Dolphin Publishing, 2000.
 Oslie, Pamala: Life Colors, What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal, New World Library,
2000.
 Bowers, Barbara, Ph.D: What Color Is Your Aura? Personality Spectrums for
Understanding and Growth, Pocket Books, 1989.
 Butler, W.E.: How to Read the Aura, page 183. Destiny Books, 1978.
 Bruce, Robert: Auric Mechanics and Theory, “Capturing the Aura,” pp 293-296. Blue
Dolphin Publishing, 2000.
 “James Randi tests an aura reader”. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
 “auras”. The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved on 2006-12-15.

References
 Alfred, Jay, “Our Invisible Bodies: Scientific Evidence for Subtle Bodies”, Trafford
Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-412-06326-4.
 Baltz, Jennifer and Carl Edwin Lindgren, Eds. (1997). Aura awareness: What your
aura says about you. Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin Publishing. (ISBN 0-9652490-5-
0)
 Brennan, Barbara Ann, Hands of Light : A Guide to Healing Through the Human
Energy Field, Bantam, 1988, ISBN 0-553-34539-7.
 Brennan, Barbara Ann, Light Emerging : The Journey of Personal Healing, Bantam,
1993, ISBN 0-553-35456-6.
 Cayce, Edgar, Auras, ARE Press, 2002, ISBN 0-87604-012-1.
 Kilner, Walter J., The Human Aura, Citadel Press, 1965, ISBN 0-8065-0545-1.
  Krippner, Stanley and Rubin, Daniel, The Kirlian Aura: Photographing the Galaxies of
Life, Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1974, ISBN 0-385-06574-4.
 Larson, Cynthia Sue, Aura Advantage, Adams Media, 2004, ISBN 1-58062-945-8.
 Leadbeater, C.W., The Chakras, Theosophical Publishing House, 1987, ISBN 0-8356-
0422-5.
 Carl Edwin Lindgren, Ed. (1999). Capturing your aura: Integrationg science,
technology, and science. Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin Publishing. (ISBN 0-
9652490-6-9).
 Carl Edwin Lindgren (1995). A review of Aura imaging photography by Johannes
Fisslinger. Journal of Religion and Psychical Research, Volume 18, Number 1:49-50.
 Carl Edwin Lindgren (1995 Jan.). Capturing your aura on film. Fate, 48(1), 32-35.
 Moss, Thelma, The Body Electric: A Personal Journey into the Mysteries of
Parapsychological Research, Bioenergy, and Kirlian Photography, Los Angeles, J.P.
Tarcher, 1979, ISBN 0-87477-109-9.
 Swami Panchadasi, The Human Aura. Astral Colors and Thought Forms, Advanced
Thought Publishing, Chicago, 1916. (PDF)

External links
 Exercises to See Auras for Energy Awareness
 Auras in the “Skeptic’s dictionary”
 Kirlian Photography in the “Skeptic’s Dictionary”
ATMOKINESIS
Atmokinesis is the psychical influence of meteorological phenomena including the states of
the atmosphere as measured on temperature, humidity, clarity, and activity scales. Experient
influenced meteorological phenomena [weather events] are limited to current or predicted
events occurring in the troposphere, which is the lowest portion of Earth’s atmosphere, and
contains approximately 75% of the atmosphere’s mass. Experient influence includes day-to-
day [24 hours], hour-by-hour [60 minutes] or minute-by-minute [60 seconds] temperature
and precipitation modification as opposed to long-term climate-based influence. Influence
can include cloud formation and precipitation such as rainfall and snowfall via induce water
condensation. (Kelly, 2011)

Misconception and Myth

Associated Limits and Dangers
Experient influence appears limited to estimations of the expected value of variables in
which have not yet been observed by the experient, but by which are expected to happen at
a future date. In other words, experient influence does not appear to defy forecasts, which is
a popular misconception. Instead, experients of atmokinetic phenomena appear to excite
already predicted weather conditions. Another popular misconception, and very dangerous
misconception, is in regards to experients in which attempt to direct strong breezes to their
region to alleviate the discomfort of high temperatures. Warm air masses can result in
thunderstorms, which can develop into supercells, a form of thunderstorm that is
characterized by the presence of a mesocyclone, an air vortex. Once a mesocyclone is
present, this vortex can become a violent, rotating column of air otherwise known as a
tornado. Such inadvertent weather modifications may pose serious threats to many aspects
of civilization including ecosystems, natural resources, food and fiber production, economic
development, and human health and wellbeing. Therefore, it is imperative for experients to
understand the laws that govern weather conditions as a means to prevent undesirable, and
in some cases extreme, weather conditions. (Kelly, 2011)

Limitations
Minutes, Hours, Days
A general limitation typically reported by experients of atmokinetic phenomena is in regards
to the time between experient influence and excited weather outcomes. These limitations
are day-by-day [within 24 hours], hour-by-hour, [within 60 minutes], or minute-by-minute
[within 60 seconds]. There have been no reports reasonably linking more than day-by-day
influence and no less than minute-by-minute influence. These reports suggest that
experients are influencing existing weather conditions either currently in effect in their area,
or predicted weather conditions expected to occur in their area within a 24 hour period.
Experient influence also appears to be localized to the experient, whereby not affecting
neighboring regions. (Kelly, 2011)

Chaotic Systems and Prediction Limitation

One limitation that should be mentioned pertains to predicting the outcome of influences.
The atmosphere is a chaotic system and even the slightest of influences to one part of a
weather system can excite to result in larger effects on the system as a whole than initially
expected. This makes weather influencing difficult to predict accurately, especially in regards
to experients influencing day-by-day [within 24 hours, but more than hour-by-hour] weather
conditions even with all known values and variable considered. Chaos theory states that the
slightest variation in the motion of the ground can grow with time. This idea is often referred
to as the butterfly effect suggesting that the minute motions caused by the flapping wings of
a butterfly could eventually result in marked changes in the state of Earth’s atmosphere.
Because of this effect, this sensitivity to minute changes, weather influence will never be
deterministic. This is because atmospheric flow itself is not governed by classical physical
laws alone, but also quantum-like chaos with intrinsic non-local connections. (Kelly, 2011)

Measurement and Observation

Prevailing Winds and Forms of Measurement
Winds are caused by differences in pressure. When a difference in pressure exists, the air is
accelerated from higher to lower pressure. Because of this, experients should be
encouraged to exercise wind-based exercises in the opposing direction of wind origination.
Appropriate directions are typically based on prevailing winds. Typically, experients in the
United States should face southwest, experients in the United Kingdom should face east,
and experients in Canada should face northeast. As these directions are only typical,
experients should base their direction on prevailing winds in the specific location. Wind
gusts created close to the ground [semi-localized or localized] are recommended as wind
gusts in the higher atmosphere can result in destructive atmospheric effects especially
during the warmer seasons. Wind gusts are short bursts of high-speed wind typically from 1
[calm] to 10 [gentle breeze] knots. For measurement, experients should obtain an
anemometer. An anemometer is a device for measuring wind speed and can be divided into
two classes: those that measure wind velocity, and those that measure wind pressure. For
outdoor wind-based exercises, an anemometer that measures wind velocity is required.
Anemometers range in type, size, and price, but can be very affordable. (Kelly, 2011)

Cloud Formation
A cloud is a visible mass of small water droplets or frozen water crystals [0.01 mm ∅]
suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth. Denser clouds appear white
because they exhibit a high reflectance [70% to 95%] throughout the visible wavelengths, at
least from the top. In exercises pertaining to cloud formation, experients direct and
concentrate large masses of humidity [water vapor] into a small area above them and then
cool the area within the concentration just enough to cause cloud formation without
initiating precipitation by avoiding temperatures at or below the dew point. The most
commonly reported clouds formed by experients are Family C clouds [mainly cumulus and
stratus clouds] and when these clouds contact the ground, they are called fog. Cumulus
clouds are often referred to as “puffy” or “cotton-like” in appearance. These clouds may
appear alone, in lines, or in clusters. Stratus clouds are characterized as clouds horizontally
layering the sky with a uniform base, as opposed to convective clouds, which are tall or taller
than they are wide [cumulus]. These clouds can be described as flat, hazy, featureless clouds
of low altitude varying from dark gray to nearly white. (Kelly, 2011)

Symptoms and Side Effects

Spontaneous Heating and Cooling
Experients of atmokinetic phenomena are mild heat exchangers in regards to personal heat
[body], by which they transfer thermal energy from them to a medium or from a medium to
them. During periods of stress, experients report spontaneous effects pertaining to heating
or cooling objects either via direct touch or through the influence of heat flow in regards to
vicinal objects. Common reports involve an array of materials and substance being heated or
cooled including plastics, metals, and liquids. Reported difficulties occasionally pertain to
when electronic devices and circuitry are heated or cooled as devices have a maximum
temperature at which a circuit should function correctly and/or can become damaged when
cooled in humid spaces. In the case of heated devices, if the maximum temperature is
exceeded, the result can be malfunction or premature failure. (Kelly, 2011)
References
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Manual of Atmokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M. (2011) Manual of Atmokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement
Charleston, South Carolina USA.

External links
 Atmokinesis Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
 Introduction Course – Become a student of Scientific Atmokinetics – University of
Alternative Studies.
 Introduction Course – Become a student of Atmokinesis.
 Atmokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
ASTRAL PROJECTION
Astral Projection is the projection or travel of the mind into the astral planes. The astral
planes are slivers located in each dimension. There are thousands of planes that range in
levels, but not all are mental projection sites; no human being has ever even visited many
planes and many cannot be visited by human beings at all. When the mind transcends to the
astral planes the mind does not wander off per say, it is connected to a cord that is fixed to
you mind by that which is best known as the “Silver Cord.” Another form known as astral
projection is the projection of yourself in the physical to a remote or non-remote location,
which can be seen by others or you just peek at what is going on without others being
aware. [1]

Additional Definitions
1. Astral projection (or astral travel) is an esoteric interpretation of a type of out-of-body
experience that assumes the existence of an “astral body” separate from the physical body
and capable of traveling outside it.[2] Astral projection is experienced as being “out of the
body”.[3]

The idea of astral travel is rooted in common worldwide religious accounts of the afterlife [4]
in which the soul’s journey or “ascent” is described in such terms as “an…out-of body
experience, wherein the spiritual traveller leaves the physical body and travels in his/her
subtle body (or dreambody or astral body) into ‘higher’ realms.”[5]

There is little evidence for astral projection, and that which does exist rests mainly in
subjective personal accounts of the experience.[6] Hundreds of personal accounts of astral
projection were published in a number of books through the 1960s and 70s in an effort to
validate religious concepts of the soul and an afterlife. Because of their subjective nature,
however, there are many plausible explanations that can account for these experiences
which do not rely on the existence of paranormal, supernatural, or psychic activity.[3

Beliefs
Astral projection, or astral travel, denotes the astral body or double leaving the physical
body to travel in the astral plane. The astral body, in classical, mediaeval and renaissance
Neoplatonist philosophy as well as that of the later Theosophists and Rosicrucians, is a body
of light intermediate between, and uniting, the rational soul and the physical body, while the
astral plane is a world of light, composed of the spheres of the planets and stars, likewise
intermediate between heaven and the physical world. These astral spheres were held to be
populated by gods, angels, demons and spirits.[7] [8]

The idea of the astral figured prominently in the work of the ninteteenth-century French
occultist Eliphas Levi, whence it was adopted by Theosophy and Golden Dawn magical
society. The Theosophists also took note of similar ideas (Lin’ga S’ari-ra) found in ancient
Hindu scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki.[9]

However the expression came to be used in two different ways. Whereas for the classical
and mediaeval philosophers astral “projection” was a journey to other worlds, such as
heavens, hells, the astrological spheres and other imaginal[10] landscapes – a meaning
which it kept in the Golden Dawn[11] and among some Theosophists[12] – by others it was
taken to mean travelling, in a ghostly form, around the ordinary physical world[13]. It is this
latter meaning, perhaps, though strictly it has nothing to do with the “astral”, that is now
most widely recognised.[improper synthesis?] Later Theosophists such as Leadbetter and
Bailey designate this latter “etheric” travel.[citation needed]

The subtle bodies, and their associated planes of existence, form an essential part of the
esoteric systems that deal with “astral” phemonena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for
example, the individual is a microcosm (“small world”) of the universe (the macrocosm or
“great world”). “The rational soul…is akin to the great Soul of the World” while “the material
universe, like the body, is made as a faded image of the Intelligible”. Each succeeding plane
of manifestation is causal to the next, a world-view called emanationism; “from the One
proceeds Intellect, from Intellect Soul, and from Soul – in its lower phase, or Nature – the
material universe”.[14] Often these bodies and their corresponding planes of existence are
depicted as a series of concentric circles or nested spheres, with a separate body for
traversing each realm.[15]

Concepts of “soul” travel also appear in various other religious traditions, for example
ancient Egyptian teachings where the soul is presented as having the ability to hover outside
the physical body in the ka, or subtle body.[8] A common belief is that the subtle body is
attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord.[16][17]

Belief that one has had an out-of-body experience, whether spoken of as “astral projection”
or otherwise, is common. Surveys have reported percentages among respondents feeling
that they have had such an experience at some time in their lives ranging from 8% to as
much as 50% in certain groups.[18]
Astral Projection
Commonly in the astral projection experience, the experiencer describes themselves as
being in a domain which often has no parallel to any physical setting, although they say they
can visit different times and/or physical settings. Environments may be populated or
unpopulated, artificial, natural or completely abstract and from beatific to horrific. A
common belief is that one may access a compendium of mystical knowledge called the
Akashic records. In many of these accounts, the experiencer correlates the astral world with
the world of dreams. They report seeing dreamers enact dream scenarios on the astral
plane, unaware of the more extensive and varied non-physical environment they feel
surrounds them.[19] Some also state that “falling” dreams are brought about by projection.
[20]

The astral environment is often theoretically divided into levels or planes. There are many
different views concerning the overall structure of the astral planes in various traditions.
These planes may include heavens and hells and other after-death spheres, transcendent
environments or other less-easily characterized states.[21][22][23]

Etheric projection
In contrast to astral projection, in the etheric projection is described as the ability to move
about in the material world in a etheric body which is usually, though not always, invisible to
people who are presently “in their bodies.” Robert Monroe describes this type of projection
as a projection to “Locale I” or the “Here-Now”, and describes it as containing people and
places that he feels actually exist in the material world.[24] Robert Bruce refers to a similar
area as the “Real Time Zone” (RTZ) and describes it as the nonphysical, dimension-level
closest to the physical.[25]

According to Max Heindel, the etheric “double” serves as a medium between the astral and
physical realms. In his system, the ether, also called prana, is the “vital force” that empowers
the physical forms in order for that change to take place. Heindel says this means that when
one views the physical during an OBE, they are not technically “in” the astral realm at all.[26]

The subtle vehicle remains connected to the physical body during the separation by a so-
called “silver cord”, said to be that mentioned in Ecclesiastes 12:6. Stephen LaBerge
suggested in his 1985 book Lucid Dreaming that all such “out-of-body experiences” may
represent partially lucid dreams or “misinterpreted dream experiences”, in which the sleeper
does not fully recognize the situation. “In the dark forest, one may experience a tree as a
tiger, but it is still in fact only a tree.”[27]
Practices
Hugh G. Callaway, under the pseudonym Oliver Fox, published a series of articles in The
Occult Review during the 1920s that later became the basis of a book, Astral Projection
(1939). Hereward Carrington, a psychical researcher, along with Sylvan Muldoon, who
professed ease with astral projection, published The Projection of the Astral Body in 1929.
Both Callaway and Muldoon wrote of techniques they felt facilitated a projection into the
astral. Among these practices included visualizing such mental images as flying or being in
an elevator traveling upward, just before going to sleep. They also recommended trying to
regain waking consciousness while in a dream state (lucid dreaming). This was done, they
wrote, by habitually recognizing apparent incongruities in one’s dream, such as noticing a
different pattern of wallpaper in one’s home. Such recognition, they said, sometimes
resulted in normal consciousness, but with the feeling of being outside the physical body
and able to look down on it.[9]

In occult traditions, practices range from inducing trance states to the mental construction of
a second body, called the Body of Light in Aleister Crowley’s writings, through visualization
and controlled breathing, followed by the transfer of consciousness to the secondary body
by a mental act of will.[28]

References
 Kelly, Dr. Theresa M.(2008) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance
and Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 978-0-557-03403-1).
 astral projection. (n.d.). Webster’s New Millennium™ Dictionary of English, Preview
Edition (v 0.9.7).
 a b Melton, J. G. (1996). Astral Projection. In Encyclopedia of Occultism &
Parapsychology. Thomson Gale.
 Suki Miller, After Death: How People around the World Map the Journey after Death
(1995)
 Dr. Roger J. Woolger, Beyond Death: Transition and the Afterlife, accessed online
June 2008
 http://www.skepdic.com/astralpr.html Skeptic’s Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll,
article on Astral Projection.
 Dodds, E.R. Proclus: The Elements of Theology. 2nd edition 1963, Appendix.
 Pagel, Walter (1967). William Harvey’s Biological Ideas. Karger Publishers, 147-
148. ISBN 3805509626.
 a b c Melton, J. G. (1996). Out-of-the-body Travel. In Encyclopedia of Occultism &
Parapsychology. Thomson Gale.
 Henri Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, tr. Ralph Mannheim,
Bollingen XCI, Princeton U.P., 1969
 Chic Cicero, Chic C, Sandra Tabatha Cicero The Essential Golden Dawn, Llewellyn
Worldwide, 2003.
 Arthur A.Powell, THE ASTRAL BODY AND OTHER ASTRAL PHENOMENA, The
Theosophical Publishing House, London.
 /AstralBodyByPowell-A.htm
 William Judge, The Ocean of Theosophy 2nd Ed. TPH, 1893, Chapter 5, book online
June 2008.
 John Gregory, The Neoplatonists, Kyle Cathie 1991 pp15-16
 Besant, Annie Wood (1897). The Ancient Wisdom: An Outline of Theosophical
Teachings. Theosophical publishing society.
 Projection of the Astral Body by Carrington and Muldoon
 Out of Body Experiences: How to have them and what to expect by Robert Peterson
(chapters 5, 17, 22)
 Blackmore, Susan (1991). “Near-Death Experiences: In or out of the body?”. Skeptical
Inquirer 1991, 16, 34-45.
 Monroe, Robert. Far Journeys. ISBN 0-385-23182-2
 Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce. Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc,
1999 ISBN 1-57174-143-7
 Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce. Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc,
1999 ISBN 1-57174-143-7
 Monroe, Robert. Far Journeys. ISBN 0-385-23182-2
 Journeys Out of the Body by Robert A. Monroe, p 60. Anchor Press, 1977.
 Journeys Out of the Body by Robert A. Monroe, p 60. Anchor Press, 1977.
 Astral Dynamics by Robert Bruce Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc, 1999. p
25-27, 30-31
 Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Mysteries (Chapter IV, The Constitution of Man: Vital
Body – Desire Body – Mind).
 Lucid Dreaming: the power of being awake & aware in your dreams, p 232-346. Quote
on p234.
 Greer, John (1967). Astral Projection. In The New Encyclopedia of the Occult.
Llewellyn Worldwide. ISBN 1567183360.
Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2008) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 978-0-557-03403-1).

Published Scientific Papers on Astral Projection

External links
 Astral Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
 Astral Resource Center – An array of resources, links, publications, and more.
AEROKINESIS
Aerokinesis is the psychical influence of flow in regards to elemental gases such as oxygen,
hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen. It includes the influence of flow in regards to gas mixtures
in which each element of gas retains its own chemical properties and makeup. For instance,
air is a homogeneous mixture of the gaseous substances nitrogen, oxygen, and smaller
amounts of other substances. It also appears to include the influence of greenhouse gasses
such as water vapor. Thorough this form of psychokinetic phenomenon, experients can
manipulate how gases or air flows and behaves relative to velocity and rotation [turbulence,
vorticity, etc]. This can be achieved through remote, indirect, and direct contact with these
gases. The most common gas reported in regards to aerokinetic phenomena is air. (Kelly,
2013)

Limitations
Absolute Pressure – Indoors vs. Outdoors
Air pressure differences move air from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure
through any available openings in building walls, ceilings, floors, doors, windows, and air
circulation systems. Even if the opening is minute, air will move until the pressures inside
and outside are equal. This may cause complications for experients in which are only
capable of influencing flow rather than inert gases, and may cause complications for
experients in which have limitations based on pressure [low, medium, or high]. Reports have
suggested that most experients are more inclined to influence outdoor atmospheric flows
rather than typically inert or flow-based indoor gases. As a reminder from classical
mechanics, momentum is the product of mass and velocity combined. (Kelly, 2013)

Water Vapor – The Most Commonly Influenced Gas

Water vapor, the gas phase of water, is the gas most commonly reported by experients of
aerokinesis in regards to influence of flow. This can be for several reasons including
availability and an array of dynamics making water vapor the simplest form of gas to
influence. In addition, water vapor is lighter than air or less dense than dry air and at
equivalent temperatures, it is buoyant in respects to dry air. This lightness or lack of density
may be another reason water vapor is the most commonly influenced gas. Unfortunately like
fluid dynamics, aerokinesis, is an active field of research with many unsolved or partly solved
problems. We do not currently posses the technology to observe individual gas particles
[atoms or molecules]. Therefore, only theoretical calculations give suggestions as to how
they move and behave. (Kelly, 2013)

Motion vs. Inertial Forces

Reports regarding the influence of gases in a static state are equal to that of reports
regarding the influence of gases in motion. However, reports suggest experients may be
limited to the influence of one state or the other. Experients in which have a high success
rate of influencing the flow of static gases, gases at rest, often report the inability to
influence the direction of flow successfully once the gas is put into motion. In addition,
experients in which report the ability to influence the direction of flow, tend to report the
inability to influence gases in which are not already in motion. This suggests that some
experients of aerokinetic phenomena may be more subject to inertial forces, whereby
limiting some experients to the influence of, or inability to influence, gases in stable
equilibrium. (Kelly, 2013)

Measurement and Observation

Influence of Wind to Direct a Solid – Indoors
Generally speaking, wind is caused by differences of pressure. When a difference in pressure
exists, the air is accelerated from higher to lower pressure. Because of this, in regards to
indoor exercises, performance is optimal in rooms with little to no airflow as this increases
air pressure. For this type of exercise, the experient should be encouraged to setup for the
exercise in a high-pressure room facing the direction of a doorway leading towards a low-
pressure room [airflow]. Reports suggest that this setup alleviates additional difficulties with
opposing pressure. In any flow-based exercise, it is always easiest to influence in the already
designated direction of airflow. The experient will also be required to place a rectangular
surface of low viscosity, typically a glass table, faced in the direction of the doorway leading
to the low-pressure room. The experient will also require a very light, spherical object, such
as a ping-pong ball. The experient should initially be encouraged to set the ball into motion
by any means possible. Over time, the experient can begin to work on precision by directing
the ball in a forward-left direction, forward-right direction, or initiate lift by directing wind
towards the ball followed by underneath the ball. (Kelly, 2013)
Forms of Wind Measurement
Outdoor winds are caused by differences in pressure. When a difference in pressure exists,
the air is accelerated from higher to lower pressure. Because of this, experients should be
encouraged to exercise flow-based exercises, in regards to the outdoors, in the opposing
direction of typical wind gust origination. Appropriate directions are typically based on
prevailing winds. Typically, experients in the United States should face southwest, experients
in the United Kingdom should face east, and experients in Canada should face northeast. As
these directions are only typical, experients should base their direction on prevailing winds
in the specific location. Wind gusts created close to the ground [semi-localized or localized]
are recommended as wind gusts in the higher atmosphere can result in destructive
atmospheric effects especially during the warmer seasons. Wind gusts are short bursts of
high-speed wind typically from 1 [calm] to 10 [gentle breeze] knots. For measurement,
experients should obtain an anemometer. An anemometer is a device for measuring wind
speed and can be divided into two classes: those that measure wind velocity, and those that
measure wind pressure. For outdoor wind-based exercises, an anemometer that measures
wind velocity is required. (Kelly, 2013)

Symptoms and Side Effects

Shortness of Breath
Fifty-percent of experients of aerokinetic phenomena report either conditions involving
airflow obstruction such as asthma or sleep apnea, or unexplained intermittent shortness of
breath. While there is no evidence to suggest these conditions are in any way caused by
aerokinetic phenomena or performance, these conditions are reported to escalate during
periods in which experients describe the phenomena as unbalanced. Reports suggest that
unbalanced phenomena may be resulting in airflow diversion, whereby increasing the
effects of such conditions. As the phenomena become more unbalanced, experients
difficulties tend to escalate from intermittent to mildly persistent. This can gradually increase
over time until the issue is severely persistent if the experient is incapable of balancing the
phenomena. (Kelly, 2013)

References
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Manual of Aerokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement Charleston, South Carolina USA.
Further Reading
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Quantum Psychics – Scientifically Understand, Enhance and
Control Your Psychic Ability,
Charleston, South Carolina USA (ISBN: 9780557034024).
 Kelly, Theresa M.(2013) Manual of Aerokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and
Measurement Charleston, South Carolina USA.

Published Scientific Papers on Aerokinesis

 Manual of Aerokinesis: Applications, Experimentation, and Measurement by Theresa
M. Kelly, MsD.

External links
 Introduction Course – Become a student of Scientific Aerokinetics – University of
Alternative Studies.
 Aerokinesis Course of Instruction – Become a student of Aerokinetic Studies.
 Aerokinesis Courses & Degree Programs – An array of courses and degree programs
offered online.
SUPERNATURAL
The term supernatural or supranatural (Latin: super, supra “above” + natura “nature”)
pertains to entities, events or powers regarded as beyond nature, in that they lack a clear
scientific explanation. Religious miracles are typical of such “supernatural” claims, as are
spells and curses, divination, the belief that there is an afterlife for the dead, and
innumerable others. Supernatural beliefs have existed in virtually all human cultures
throughout recorded human history. Supernatural themes are often associated with
paranormal and occult ideas.

Controversy
Adherents of supernatural beliefs hold that such occurrences exist just as surely as does the
natural world, whereas opponents argue that there are natural, physical explanations for all
such occurrences.

According to the strict materialist view, if something “supernatural” exists, it is by definition

not supernatural. Are there forces beyond the natural forces studied by physics? Are there
ways of sensing that go beyond our biological senses and instruments? Certainly there may
always be things outside of the realm of human understanding, as of yet unconfirmed and
dubious in existence, and some might term these “supernatural”.

Argument and controversy has surrounded the issue on both sides. One complicating factor
is that there is no exact definition of what “natural” is, and what the limits of naturalism
might be. Concepts in the supernatural domain are closely related to concepts in religious
spirituality and occultism or spiritualism. The term “supernatural” is often used
interchangeably with paranormal or preternatural — the latter typically limited to an
adjective for describing abilities which appear to exceed the bounds of possibility. See the
nature of God in Western theology, anthropology of religion, and Biblical cosmology.
Likewise, legendary characters such as vampires, poltergeists and leprechauns would be
considered supernatural.

Views on the Supernatural

Distinct from nature Some events occur according to natural laws, and others occur according to a separate
external to nature. For example God (in most definitions) is considered to be the ultima
universe and the natural laws. Those who believe in Angels and Spirits generally assert tha
 natural entities. Some religious people also believe that all things which humans see as na
same way consistently because God wills it so, and that natural laws are an extension of divi
 

Others assert that God, miracles, or other putative supernatural events are real, verifiable
laws of nature that we do not yet understand.

 
A higher nature
Others believe that all events have natural and only natural causes. They believe that huma
supernatural attributes to purely natural events (eg. Lightning, Rainbows, Floods, the Origin

 
A human coping mechanism
Many people have sought to use both magic and science in hopes of empowerin
improvement and to achieve a clearer picture of humanity’s place in the cosmos. In som
Christian art (from the 3rd century) Jesus Christ is portrayed as a bare-faced youth hold
symbol of power<ref>The Two Faces of Jesus  by Robin M. Jensen, Bible Review,
</ref><ref>Understanding Early Christian Art by Robin M. Jensen, Routledge, 2000 </ref>
Jesus).<ref>(See Lynn Thorndike’s classic study,The History of Magic and Experimental Science
Magic, vol 1– Harlan Tarbell, forward and epilogue to Greater Magic– John Northern Hilliard,
Witchcraft– Reginald Scot and the vanishing works of Henry Ridgely Evans, The Old and New
World Unmasked, and Hours with Ghosts or 19th Century Witchcraft.)</ref> There may be
between supernaturalism, the paranormal, and the desire for immortality.<ref>The Psychol
A Study of Beliefs and Attitudes by Joseph Jastrow, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918 </ref><ref> Sear
Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, Publishers, 1979 </ref>

 
Magic
Before the scientific method was used, everything was believed to have a supernatural caus
Thorndike’s classic study,The History of Magic and Experimental Science</ref> “Supernatura
sense merely used as an inspiration for more scientific knowledge tomorrow, through
analysis.
A word for unexplained
 
events

Another part of a larger This is a view largely held by monists and process theorists. According to this view, the “supernatural” is
nature of nature that modern science and philosophy do not yet properly understand, similar to how sound and l
mysterious forces to science. Materialist monists believe that the “supernatural” consists of things in the p
yet understood by modern science, while idealist monists reject the concept of “supernatural” on the groun
“nature” is the non-material. Neutral monists maintain that “nature” and “supernature” are artificial catego
that the material and non-material are both either equally real and simultaneously existent, or illusions
 human mind’s interpretation of reality.

Arguments in Favor of a Supernatural Reality

Many proponents believe that the past, present and future complexities and mysteries of
the universe cannot be explained by naturalistic explanations alone and argue that it is
reasonable to assume that a nonnatural entity or entities resolve the unexplained. By its
own definition, science today is incapable of examining or testing for the existence of things
which are untestable because concerns itself with what can be measured. Proponents of
supernaturalism claim that their belief system is more flexible, which allows them more
diversity in terms of intuition and epistemology. William Dembski writes: “For the theist
attempting to understand nature, God as creator is fundamental, the creation is derivative,
and nature as the physical part of creation is still further downstream”.[7

Arguments Against a Supernatural Reality

Many thinkers suggest that if a phenomenon is by definition outside of the realm of science,
it therefore cannot be experienced and has by definition no impact on our lives.

 Our knowledge of the world is continuously increasing. Some occurrences, once

assumed supernatural, can today be explained by scientific theories.
 Many suggested supernatural phenomena vanish when they are examined closely.
There have been, for example, various studies on astrology, most of them with
negative results[8][9][10][11][12](a single positive result cannot outweigh many
negative ones, as it can be expected by mere chance).
 Supernaturality may be a remnant of a static world view. It comes from a time when
the growth of human knowledge was appreciably slower than at present. As another
example, the Aristotelian Mechanics were considered valid for more than a thousand
years.
 Some naturalists argue that the process of observing an event contradicts the
definition of “supernatural”, therefore, no event that can be observed can actually be
described as supernatural. This leads to the conclusion that if there were supernatural
events and beings, we would not be able to know about them.
 A majority of supernaturalists of any given supernatural religion only believe in a very
narrow subset of all supernatural explanations of reality when all the supernatural
beliefs of all supernatural religions, past and present, are taken together. The vast
 majority of Christians today do not think that we are reincarnated, nor do the vast
majority of today’s Hindus think that everyone permanently goes to heaven or hell
when they die. This differentiates a Hindu from a Christian. Since for both groups in
this example the reasons for their particular choices do not differ in any discernible
way, to then make claims about the “truth” of their own beliefs and the “untruth” of the
opposing beliefs would not be fair and honest. Thus some[who?] say either accept all
religious claims for the same reasons or reject all religious claims for the same
reasons.
 Humans are capable of having delusions that cannot be recognized.

Naturalization vs. Supernaturalization

Some people believe that supernatural events occur, while others do not.

“Naturalization”
The neologism naturalize, meaning “to make natural”, is sometimes used to describe the
perceived process of denying any supernatural significance to events which another
presumes to be supernatural. This perceived process may also be referred to as
reductionism or deconstructionism. It rests on the believer’s presumption that supernatural
events can and do occur; thus, their description as “natural” by the skeptic is seen as a result
of a process of deliberate or unconscious denial of any supernatural significance, thus,
“naturalization.” (This meaning of the word should not be confused with naturalization, the
process of voluntarily acquiring citizenship at some time after birth. Also, plants, for example
many wildflowers and bulbs including lilies, will “naturalize”; that is spread and develop beds
without extra cultivation.)

“Supernaturalization”
The neologism supernaturalize, meaning “to make supernatural”, is sometimes used to
describe the perceived process of ascribing supernatural causes to events which someone
else presumes to be natural. This perceived process may also be referred to as mythification
or spiritualization. It rests on the presumption of the skeptic that supernatural events cannot
or are unlikely to occur; thus, their description by the believer as supernatural is seen as the
result of a process of deliberate or unconscious mysticism, thus, “supernaturalization”.
Supernaturalization can also mean the process by which stories and historical accounts are
altered to describe supernatural elements.

The Subjective Nature of the Issue=

Two people may come to completely different conclusions based on identical evidence. One
may automatically “screen out” possible explanations simply because they conflict with one’s
paradigm, or world view, and create cognitive dissonance. There can also be many other
motivations, conscious or unconscious, for this selective awareness. For example, to make
oneself “look good” to others and thus avoid isolation, or perhaps the desire to imitate
personal heroes. Generally we criticize and question the picture of reality held by others; it is
rare to question one’s own, rarer still to admit our own is distorted.

Competing Explanations and Criteria of Preference

For some people it is not a matter of supernatural events versus natural events; they are all
events, but there may be many competing explanations. The question then becomes what
criteria shall one use to prefer one explanation over another, and one must be careful not to
confuse the phenomenon with the explanation. We may agree that a bush has burst into
flames; where we may differ is in the explanation for the cause of that event. The
supernaturalist in that instance prefers the supernatural explanation based on one or more
criteria of preference. It could be because the explanation includes constructs such as an
immortal soul and other purported phenomena, such as the soul rising to a place of great
joy upon being released at death, and they find this very attractive. The naturalist may prefer
the natural explanation because such explanations are required to have predictive power,
and being able to predict in a reliable way what will happen when a certain set of
circumstances is present is something they find attractive. There are many people that are
comfortable with accepting both explanations to satisfy several preferences; a supernatural
explanation that provides comfort from the thought of death, and a natural explanation
because of its utility in reliably controlling fire. For example, a Christian may accept the
theories of Evolution and the Big Bang, but still explain reality as a deliberate creation of
their god. One person may be a naturalist because they are driven by a preference for
predictability, rather than comfort; another person may be a supernaturalist because they
prefer an explanation that makes them feel better about their eventual death, rather than
how useful it is in explaining actual reality.[citation needed]
Alleged Instances of Supernaturalization
 The Tunguska Event reported as an instance of supernaturalization through an
examination of the Bible and compared to historical events published in the
contemporary public record.[13]
 English Protestants believed that the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was a sign
of God’s favor for their cause.
 Some fundamentalist American Evangelicals have interpreted the attacks on the
World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001 as a sign of God’s anger at
various and sundry things, including secularism.
 In Japan the scattering of aggressive Mogul-Korean fleets in 1274 and 1281 was
attributed to the kamikaze or “divine wind”.
 Some “fringe” religious groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church routinely
expound supernatural explanations for contemporary events, such as the September
11, 2001 attacks, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and even soldier deaths in the
Iraq war, typically framed as some form of divine punishment.
Believers respond to the many instances of supernaturalization by arguing that the fact that
supernaturalization often occurs does not refute the existence of the supernatural any more
than the fact that scientists often make errors refutes the existence of the natural universe;
and that the supernatural by its very nature cannot be explored through science, and must
therefore be explored through different means, such as spirituality. Nonbelievers counter
that the two forms of explanation cannot be equated, because erroneous naturalistic claims,
such as those made for the existence of phlogiston or N-rays, are routinely and often rapidly
corrected by reference to nature, while erroneous supernaturalistic claims such as the above
are impossible to correct by reference to supernature or by any other widely accepted
objective means.

Notes
 The Two Faces of Jesus by Robin M. Jensen, Bible Review, 17.8, Oct 2002
 Understanding Early Christian Art by Robin M. Jensen, Routledge, 2000
 (See Lynn Thorndike’s classic study,The History of Magic and Experimental Science,
Tarbell Course in Magic, vol 1- Harlan Tarbell, forward and epilogue to Greater Magic-
John Northern Hilliard, The Discoverie of Witchcraft- Reginald Scot and the vanishing
 works of Henry Ridgely Evans, The Old and New Magic, The Spirit World Unmasked,
and Hours with Ghosts or 19th Century Witchcraft.)
 The Psychology of Conviction: A Study of Beliefs and Attitudes by Joseph Jastrow,
Houghton Mifflin Co., 1918
 Search for the Soul by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, Publishers, 1979
 (See Lynn Thorndike’s classic study,The History of Magic and Experimental Science
 [1][dead link]
 Dean and Kelly. “Is Astrology Relevant to Consciousness and Psi?”.
 Shawn Carlson. “A double-blind test of astrology”. Nature, 318, 419 – 425 (05
December 1985).
 Rob Nanninga. “The Astrotest – Correlation”. Northern Winter, 1996/97, 15(2), p. 14-
20..
 Robert Matthews (2003-08-17). “Comprehensive study of ‘time twins’ debunks
astrology”, London Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2007-05-22.
 Dean, Geoffery. “Artifacts in data often wrongly seen as evidence for astrology”.
 http://www.religioustolerance.org/wright01.htm

References
 Wonders of the Invisible World, Cotton Mather, Boston, 1693
 More Wonders of the Invisible World, Robert Calef, 1700
 Secrets of the Occult, documentary
POLTERGEIST
Poltergeist (from German poltern, meaning to rumble or make noise, and Geist, meaning
“ghost”, “spirit”, or “embodiment”) denotes a demonic spirit or ghost that manifests itself by
moving and influencing objects.

Hypotheses
Historically, several different hypotheses have been put forward to explain the poltergeist
phenomenon.

Caused by Physical Forces

Poltergeists are ghosts that make noises or move objects through the air. Some scientists
and skeptics propose that all poltergeist activity that they can’t trace to fraud has a physical
explanation such as static electricity, electromagnetic fields, ultra-, and infrasound and/or
ionized air. In some cases, such as the Rosenheim poltergeist case, the physicist F. Karger
from the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik and G. Zicha from the Technical University of
Munich found none of these effects present and psi proponents claim that no evidence of
fraud was ever found, even after a sustained investigation from the police force and CID,
though criminologist Herbert Schäfer quotes an unnamed detective watching the agent
pushing a lamp when she thought nobody was looking. However, whether this is true or not,
police officers did sign statements that they had witnessed the phenomena. Other aspects
of the case were hard to explain: The time service was rung hundreds of times, with a
frequency impossible with the mechanical dialing phones of 1967. The municipal authority
disconnected the office from the mains supply and hooked it up to a dedicated generator
hoping to stabilize the current. But surges in current and voltage still occurred with no
detectable cause according to Zicha and Karger. Others think poltergeist phenomena could
be caused by more mundane phenomena, such as unusual air currents, air vibrations such
as in acoustic levitation, or tremors caused by underground streams.[Citation Needed]

John Hutchinson has claimed that he has created poltergeist effects in his laboratory. Also
worth noting is that scientist David Turner proposes that poltergeists and ball lightning may
be linked phenomena. [1] Some scientists go as far as calling them pseudo-psychic
phenomena and claim that under some circumstances they are caused by obscure physical
effects.[2] Parapsychologists William G. Roll and Dean Radin, physicist Hal Puthoff and head
of electrical engineering at Duke University who specializes in electromagnetic field
phenomena, claim that poltergeist phenomena [the movement of objects at least] could be
caused by anomalies in the zero-point field, [3] this is outlined in the above article and in
Roll’s book Unleashed and mention is made of it in a chapter of Dean Radin’s book
Entangled Minds. The basic theory is that poltergeist movements are repulsive versions of
the casimir effect that can put pressures on objects. Thus, anomalies in this field could
conceivably move objects. This theory has also been mentioned in the current book on
paranormal phenomena Science by Marie D. Jones.[4]

The theory is not complete, however, because it accounts for the movement of objects but
not for the strange voices, seeming personality, and strange electrical effects displayed in
some cases.

Self-delusion and Hoaxes

Skeptics think that the phenomena are hoaxes perpetrated by the agent. Indeed, some
poltergeist agents have been caught by investigators in the act of throwing objects. A few of
them later confessed to faking.[citation needed]

Skeptics maintain that parapsychologists are especially easy to fool when they think that
many occurrences are real and discount the hoax hypothesis from the outset. Even after
witnessing first hand an agent throwing objects, psi-believing parapsychologists rationalize
the fact away by assuming that the agents are only cheating when caught cheating, and
when you do not catch them, the phenomenon is genuine. One reason given is that the
agents often fake phenomena when the investigation coincides with a period of time where
there appears to be little or no ‘genuine’ phenomena occurring. Another stated reason is
that some of the phenomena witnessed would be hard to fake, even for magicians when
under the watch of many people, let alone untrained children and non-magicians.[citation
needed]

The current most agreed upon hypothesis among most scientists is a mixture of the self-
delusion and hoax hypothesis and a bit of the caused by scientifically explained forces
hypothesis [tremors, abnormal air currents etc ]

Famous Poltergeist Infestations

Although poltergeist stories date back to the first century, most evidence to support the
existence of poltergeists is anecdotal, which is hardly surprising as the nature of the
phenomenon is unpredictable and sporadic. Indeed, many of the stories below have several
versions and/or inconsistencies; however there are a few that do not, for example, the
Miami poltergeist has event records signed by all witnesses as to the way things happened.
These witnesses include police officers, a skeptical magician, and workers at the warehouse.
The Rosenheim case is another, with multiple witnesses and unexplained electric and
telephonic phenomena.

 An “evil spirit” threw stones and made the walls shake in a small farmhouse. This was
the first recorded poltergeist case. (858)
 Drummer of Tedworth (1661).

Lithobolia (1698)
A pamphlet printed in London in 1698 by Mr. Ricard Chamberlain provides an account of a
poltergeist-type haunting that had occurred some years before. Two copies of the pamphlet
exist in the British Museum called: “Lithobolia, or stone throwing Devil. Being an Exact and
True account (by way of Journal) of the various actions of infernal Spirits or (Devils Incarnate)
Witches or both: and the great Disturbance and Amazement they gave to George Walton’s
family at a place called Great Island in the province of New Hampshire in New England,
chiefly in throwing about (by an Invisible hand) Stones, Bricks, and Brick-Bats of all sizes, with
several other things, as Hammers, Mauls, Iron-Crows, Spits, and other Utensils, as came into
their Hellish minds, and this for space of a quarter of a year….”, some cases, these types of
spirits share aspects with elves and goblins.

 The “Wizard”, Livingston, West Virginia (1797).

 The Bell Witch (1817).
 The Haunting of The Fox sisters (1848) – arguably one of the most famous, because it
started the Spiritualism movement.
 Hopfgarten near Weimar (1921).
 Eleonore Zugun – The Romanian ‘Poltergeist Girl’ (1926).
 The Borley Rectory phenomena (1929).

Borley Rectory (1937)

William Roll, Hans Bender, and Harry Price are perhaps three of the most famous poltergeist
investigators in the annals of parapsychology. Harry Price investigated Borley Rectory which
is often called “the most haunted house in England.”
Rosenheim (1967)

Dr. Friedbert Karger was one of two physicists from the Max Planck Institute who helped to
investigate perhaps the most validated poltergeist case in recorded history. Annemarie
Schneider, a 19-year-old secretary in a law firm in Rosenheim (a small town in southern
Germany) was seemingly the unwitting cause of much chaos in the firm, including disruption
of electricity and telephone lines, the rotation of a picture, swinging lamps which were
captured on video (which was one of the first times any poltergeist activity has been
captured on film), and strange sounds that sounded electrical in origin were recorded. Fraud
was not proven despite intensive investigation by the physicists, journalists, and the police.
The effects moved with the young woman when she changed jobs until they finally faded
out.

In the Rosenheim case of 1967 [5], The Rosenheim Poltergeist (1967). [3] (German and most
extensive). [4] [5] Friedbert Karger’s whole perspective on physics changed after
investigating the events. “These experiments were really a challenge to physics,” Karger says
today. “What we saw in the Rosenheim case could be 100 per cent shown not to be
explainable by known physics.” [6]. The phenomena were witnessed by Hans Bender, the
police force, the CID, reporters, and the physicists. The claims were aired in a documentary
in 1975 in a series called “Leap in the Dark.”

 The Black Monk of Pontefract [7]

 The Enfield Poltergeist (1977).
 The Miami Poltergeist, a poltergeist witnessed by police and a skeptical magician who
did not believe it was a ghost, but admitted he witnessed phenomena he could not
explain. Many others witnessed phenomena including reporters, parapsychologists,
and workers at the warehouse.
 The Mackenzie Poltergeist (fairly recent) – Famed for haunting Greyfriars church yard,
Edinburgh, UK.
 The Canneto di Caronia fires poltergeist (fairly recent (2004-2005)) – Famed for
defying all attempts at a scientific explanation, Sicily, Italy [8].
 The Entity Case allegedly involved a single mother of three named Carla Moran who
was being repeatedly raped by an invisible entity and its two helpers over the course
of several years.
 The case of Tina Resch, widely reported in the media in 1984.
 A recent case in Barnsley near Sheffield in England, where poltergeist effects were
witnessed by the police force. [9]
 In Denver, Colorado there have been several reports of unknown forces positioning
toys, furniture, and objects in patterns and strange positions.
  The Thornton Road poltergeist of Birmingham (1981).
 Easington Council in County Durham, UK paid half of a medium’s fee so that she
would exorcise a poltergeist from public housing in Peterlee as it was deemed more
cost effective than relocation of the tenant (2008). [6]

References
 ‘Turner thinks ball lightning might cause the spooky movement of objects blamed on
“poltergeists”.’ in [1]
 “Physicists probe the paranormal”. psychicsworld.com (2000-05-01). Retrieved on
2007-10-30.
 Roll, W. Poltergeists, Electromagnetism and Consciousness PDF at [2],
 Jones, Marie D. PSIence: How New Discoveries in Quantum Physics and New
Science May Explain the Existence of Paranormal Phenomena (New Page Books,
2006)
 Fairley, John; Welfare, Simon (1984). Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers.
London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0002166798. Pages 28-31
 “Council pays psychic for exorcism”. BBC News (2008-02-12). Retrieved on 2008-02-
13.

Further reading
 Some conjectures about the mechanism of poltergeist phenomenon by Pierro Brovetto
and Vera Maxia, NeuroQuantology, Vol 6, No 2 (2008). Technical paper proposing
hypotheses for pyrokinetic and telekinetic events reported in poltergeist cases
involving young girls going through puberty. PDF link to full paper in sidebar, Italian to
English translation.

External links
 Poltergeist caught on video, The Sun UK newspaper, August 9, 2008. Footage of a
water bottle suspended at an angle and wounds appearing on a victim’s back. South
Shields poltergeist case, 2006. Location: Borough of South Tyneside, England.
 Andrew Lang, The Poltergeist and his explainers, The Making of Religion, (Appendix
B), Longmans, Green, and C°, London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 324-339.
 Haunted Ontario – Founded in 1996 by Bob Milne, Haunted Ontario chronicles the
ghosts, spirits, spooks, and poltergeists said to haunt Canada’s most populated
province.
 Poltergeist: The Legacy Website
 Dehaunting Techniques
 International Journal of Parapsychology
 Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research
 Skeptic’s Dictionary
 [1] The Entity Case
SPIRIT GUIDE
“Spirit guide” is a term used by the Western tradition of Spiritualist Churches, mediums, and
psychics to describe an entity that remains a disincarnate spirit in order to act as a spiritual
counselor or protector to a living incarnated human being.

Traditionally, within the spiritualist churches, spirit guides were often stereotyped ethnically,
with Native Americans, Chinese or Egyptians being popular for their perceived ancient
wisdom, saints, or enlightened individuals. Nevertheless, the term can also refer to animals
or totems, controls, angels, or nature spirits.

What Is A Spirit Guide?

According to theosophical doctrine, spirit guides are persons who have lived many former
lifetimes, paid their karmic debts, and advanced beyond a need to reincarnate. Each is
assigned to watch over an incarnate person, not only on this Earth, but on many other
planets throughout the universe. Many psychics believe that spirit guides are chosen on “the
other side” by us and God(s) before we incarnate and that they guide us to follow our life’s
plan because we want them to.

Some people[who?] claim it is possible to meet one’s spirit guide in dreams or on the astral
plane (see Astral Projection). Their guidance is said not to require mediumship. This is the
“Dream Guide.”

Who Is A Spirit Guide?

The Gnostic religious view of a spirit guide is that, on the other side, you and your guide
planned your life on earth before you incarnated. You live the life and your spirit guide helps
you along the way. Thus, if this is the case, everyone has a spirit guide because everyone
planned their life prior to being born. Therefore, the spirit guide couldn’t be a living relative
or an animal, but could present itself as such. Furthermore, a guide is said to have lived at
least one earthly life before becoming a spirit guide so that they can understand the
struggles of human life.

Looks and Appearances

Many well-known psychics have publicly described their guides. Helena Blavatsky talked
about being advised by “Mahatmas”, discarnate personages from India and especially Tibet,
who dressed and behaved according to the dictates of their respective cultures. Alice Bailey
also described having contact with a spirit teacher whom she called “The Tibetan.”

American Spiritualists of the 19th and 20th centuries often described their guides as
resembling Native Americans. One popular spirit guide of this type, encountered by many
Anglo-American Spiritualists, was named White Hawk. Among African-American Spiritualists,
especially those in churches that were founded by or influenced by Mother Leafy Anderson,
the Native American guide was named Black Hawk, and was presumed to be the spirit of the
Fox tribe warrior of the same name.[1]

Others described their guides in terms of what sounds like a mythologized Ancient Chinese
appearance, and Irish guides were also common.

Today, Sylvia Browne still follows the standard of having a guide with a Hindu-like
appearance, with her hair in a long braid and loose-fitting clothing. Browne’s Spirit Guide is
to be named “Francine”. Francine has said she has a close friend on the Other Side named
“Rahim”, who is also another Spirit Guide, who is said to have a middle-eastern appearance,
wearing a turban.

Derek Acorah, a British medium often refers to his spirit guide, Sam, and while
communicating with spirits often calls the spirit by his name. (i.e. “Can you tell me his name,
Sam?”) Sam is an Ethiopian male who Acorah was a friend of in a past life some 2000 years
ago.

Contacting Methods
While several people offer techniques that they claim allowed them to meet their spirit
guides, none of the methods have been scientifically proven to work.

These techniques range from astral projection techniques to simple mind visualization
exercises. It is said that the spirit guide is not on the Earthly plane, but rather is
communicating from “The Other Side.” “The Other Side” has a much less dense atmosphere
than Earth, and therefore it is believed that we must be tuned in to our guides by freeing the
mind or doing one of many meditations. Lucid dreams can also help with contacting a spirit
guide.

Some people who claim to have these abilities and see spirit guides say that their or other
peoples spirit guide look like normal people that have died before, and have decided to help
the people who are still alive and be almost like “guardian angels” to those people. Most
people have them and they always bring good into someones heart, unless the guide is
possessed by a ghost of bad nature. They contact them by concentrating on the planes of
the guides and the humans and then the spirits appear.

References
 “The Spirit of Blackhawk: A Mystery of Africans and Indians” by Jason Berry
RESIDUAL HAUNTING
A Residual haunting, AKA a restligeist (German loan word) from restlich (residual) and Geist
(ghost), is thought by some to be a replayed haunting in which no intelligent ghost, spirit, or
other entity is directly involved. Much like a video tape, residual hauntings are playbacks of
auditory, visual, olfactory, and other sensory phenomenon which are attributed to a
traumatic event, life-altering event, or a common event of a person or place, like an echo of
past events.

Alleged residual hauntings often center on moments of intense emotion: someone’s

beheading, a great battle, a murder, or even a celebration. Paranormal researchers theorize
that residual hauntings are the result of discharged personal energy of a person or group of
people being imprinted on the surrounding environment, most commonly at or just after
death.

One of the first to promulgate the hypothesis of residual haunting was Thomas Charles
Lethbridge in books such as Ghost and Ghoul, written in 1961.[1] The subject was explored
in Peter Sasdy’s 1972 television play The Stone Tape, written by Nigel Kneale. The popularity
of the programme has led to residual haunting becoming known colloquially as the Stone
Tape theory.

Notes
 Green, Nigel Kneale/Peter Sasdy: The Stone Tape.
PSI
Psi is a term from parapsychology derived from the Greek, ψ psi, twenty-third letter of the
Greek alphabet; from the Greek ψυχή psyche, “mind, soul”. [1][2] Traditionally the term has
had two sub-categories:[2]

 Psi-Gamma – Pertaining to paranormal cognition (ESP, remote viewing, etc.)

 Psi-Kappa – Pertaining to paranormal action (psychokinesis, etc.)
The term was coined by biologist Bertold P. Wiesner, and first used by psychologist Robert
Thouless in a 1942 article published in the British Journal of Psychology.[3] Psi was argued by
Thouless and Wiesner to offer a non-theoretical manner of referring to extrasensory
perception and psychokinesis, these terms being unjustifiably loaded with suggestions as to
how the phenomena were caused or experienced.

Although Thouless and Wiesner were careful to offer psi as merely referring to certain
paranormal activity worthy of study, it has come to connote the processes that somehow
cause them, or a certain faculty of human psychology. In a 1994 paper in the Psychological
Bulletin, Daryl J. Bem and Charles Honorton defined psi thus: The term psi denotes
anomalous processes of information or energy transfer, processes such as telepathy or
other forms of extrasensory perception that are currently unexplained in terms of known
physical or biological mechanisms. The term is purely descriptive: It neither implies that such
anomalous phenomena are paranormal nor connotes anything about their underlying
mechanisms.[4]

Similarly, according to the Parapsychological Association, psi can be used either as a noun or
adjective to identify paranormal processes and paranormal causation; the two main
categories of psi are psi-gamma (paranormal cognition; extrasensory perception and psi-
kappa (paranormal action; psychokinesis), although the purpose of the term “psi” is to
suggest that they might simply be different aspects of a single process, rather than distinct
and essentially different processes.[5]

However, it has been pointed out by parapsychologist Carl Williams: Historically, the study of
psi has been viewed as existing far outside the normal boundaries and concerns of 19th –
and 20th – century science. Whether proposing the possibility of contact with the dead or
novel forms of communication, books with titles such as Beyond the Reach of Sense
(Heywood, 1974) and Beyond Reality (Rogo, 1990) establish psi as an object of scrutiny out of
this world; and to many the study of psi and its existence are seen as existing in the Margins
of Reality (Jahn & Dunne, 1987).[6]

In popular culture, “psi” have become synonymous with psychic and “psionic” abilities.
References
 What do parapsychologists study?, Parapsychological Association (2007-02-03)
 Psi – Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Parapsychological
Association (2007-01-29)
 Thouless, R. H. (1942). “Experiments on paranormal guessing”. British Journal of
Psychology, 33, 15-27.
 Bem, D. J., & Honorton, C. (1994). Does psi exist? Replicable evidence for an
anomalous process of information transfer. Psychological Bulletin’, 115, 4-18.
 http://hopelive.hope.ac.uk/psychology/para/METAPH1.pdf
PSYCHIC
The word psychic (pronounced /ˈsaɪkɨk/; from the Greek psychikos—”of the soul, mental”)
refers to the presumed ability to perceive things hidden from the senses through means of
extra-sensory perception. It is also used to refer to theatrical performers who use
techniques such as prestidigitation and cold reading to produce the appearance of such
abilities.

The scientific community outside the small field of parapsychology has not accepted what
that field considers evidence of the existence of psychic abilities,[1][2][3][4] and in 1988 the
U.S. National Academy of Sciences gave a report on the subject that concluded there is “no
scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years for the existence
of parapsychological phenomena.”[5]

Belief in psychic phenomena is widespread in the United States, where a 2005 Gallup poll
revealed that 41 percent of Americans believe in extra-sensory perception.[6] Psychics
appear regularly in fiction and science fiction, such as the The Dead Zone by Stephen King
and Jean Grey from the Marvel comic book universe.

History
Etymology
The word psychic is derived from the Greek word psychikos (of the soul/mental) and refers
in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. “psychic turmoil”). French astronomer and
spiritualist Camille Flammarion is credited as having first used the word psychic, while it was
later introduced to the English language by Edward William Cox in the 1870s.[7]

Early Seers and Prophets

Elaborate systems of divination and fortune-telling date back to ancient times. Perhaps the
most widely-known system of early civilization fortune-telling was astrology, where
practitioners believed the relative positions of celestial bodies could lend insight into
people’s lives and even predict their future circumstances. Some fortune-tellers were said to
be able to make predictions without the use of these elaborate systems (or in conjunction
with them), through some sort of direct apprehension or vision of the future. These people
were known as seers or prophets, and in later times as clairvoyants and psychics.
Seers formed a functionary role in early civilization, often serving as advisors, priests, and
judges.[8] A number of examples are included in biblical accounts. The book of 1 Samuel
(Chapter 9) illustrates one such functionary task when Samuel is asked to locate the donkeys
of the future king Saul.[9] The role of prophet appeared perennially in ancient cultures. In
Egypt, the priests of Ra at Memphis acted as seers. In ancient Assyria seers were referred to
as nabu, meaning “to call” or “announce”.[8]

The Delphic Oracle is one of the earliest stories in classical antiquity of prophetic abilities.
The Pythia, the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi, was believed to be
able to deliver prophecies inspired by Apollo during rituals beginning in the 8th century BC.
[10] It is often said that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors
rising from the ground, and that she spoke gibberish, believed to be the voice of Apollo,
which priests reshaped into the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.[citation
needed] Other scholars believe records from the time indicate that the Pythia spoke
intelligibly, and gave prophecies in her own voice.[11] The Pythia was a position served by a
succession of women probably selected from amongst a guild of priestesses of the temple.
The last recorded response was given in 393 AD, when the emperor Theodosius I ordered
pagan temples to cease operation. Recent geological investigations raise the possibility that
ethylene gas caused the Pythia’s state of inspiration.[12][13]

One of the most enduring historical references to what some consider to be psychic ability is
the prophecies of Michel de Nostredame (1503 – 1566), often Latinized to Nostradamus,
published during the French Renaissance period. Nostradamus, was a French apothecary
and seer who wrote collections of prophecies that have since become famous world-wide
and have rarely been out of print since his death. He is best known for his book Les
Propheties, the first edition of which appeared in 1555. Taken together, his written works are
known to have contained at least 6,338 quatrains or prophecies,[14] as well as at least
eleven annual calendars. Most of the quatrains deal with disasters, such as plagues,
earthquakes, wars, floods, invasions, murders, droughts, and battles — all undated.

Nostradamus is a controversial figure. His many enthusiasts, as well as the popular press,
credit him with predicting numerous major world events. Interest in his work is still
considerable, especially in the media and in popular culture. By contrast, most academic
scholars maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus’
quatrains are largely the result of misinterpretations or mistranslations (sometimes
deliberate) or else are so tenuous as to render them useless as evidence of any genuine
predictive power.[15]
In addition to the belief that some historical figures were endowed with a predisposition to
psychic experiences, some psychic abilities were thought to be available to everyone on
occasion. For example, the belief in prophetic dreams was common and persistent in many
ancient cultures.[16]

Modern Psychics
In the mid-nineteenth century, Modern Spiritualism became prominent in the United States
and the United Kingdom. The movement’s distinguishing feature was the belief that the
spirits of the dead could be contacted by mediums to lend insight to the living.[17][page #
needed] The movement was fueled in part by anecdotes of psychic powers. One such
person believed to have extraordinary abilities was Daniel Dunglas Home, who gained
notoriety during the Victorian period for his reported ability to levitate to a variety of heights
and speak to the dead.[18]

As the Spiritualist movement grew other comparable groups arose, including the
Theosophical Society, which was co-founded in 1875 by Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891).
Theosophy coupled spiritualist elements with Eastern mysticism and was influential in the
early 20th century, later influencing the New Age movement during the 1970s. Blavatsky
herself claimed numerous psychic powers.[19]

Popular Culture
Belief in Psychic Abilities
A survey of the beliefs of the general United States population regarding paranormal topics
was conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2005.[6] The survey found that 41 percent of
those polled believed in extrasensory perception and 26 percent believed in clairvoyance.
Thirty-one percent of those surveyed indicated that they believe in telepathy or psychic
communication.

A poll of 439 college students conducted in 2006 by researchers Bryan Farha of Oklahoma
City University and Gary Steward of University of Central Oklahoma, suggested that college
seniors and graduate students were more likely to believe in psychic phenomena than
college freshmen. Twenty-three percent of college freshmen expressed a belief in
paranormal ideas. The percentage was greater among college seniors (31%) and graduate
students (34%).[20]
Some people also believe that psychic abilities can be activated or enhanced through the
study and practice of various disciplines and techniques such as meditation, with a number
of books and websites being dedicated to instruction in these methods. Another popular
belief is that psychic ability is hereditary, with a psychic parent passing their abilities on to
their children.[21]

Psychic Advice Industry

Many people proclaim to have psychic abilities and some make a living as professional
psychics or earn celebrity hosting their own TV programs. Individuals such as John Edward
and Sylvia Browne either have their own television shows or are frequently featured on talk
shows. (see Paranormal television).

Some psychics are first known by the public as celebrities. Rock singer and actress Danielle
Egnew, whose psychic work with law enforcement and claim to many predictions such as the
2001 New York 9/11 Twin Towers disaster and the Iraq War, have resulted in her frequent
radio and television appearances as a psychic, rather than a singer.

Other celebrity psychics, like Tana Hoy, attempt to help people identify and fine tune their
psychic abilities. They teach classes and liken the instruction to coaching a fine art like
singing, painting or writing.

Research and Criticism

Parapsychological research has attempted to use random number generators to test for
psychokinesis, mild sensory deprivation in the Ganzfeld experiment to test for extra-sensory
perception, and research trials conducted under contract by the U.S. government to
investigate remote viewing. Some of these tests such as the Ganzfeld have been put forward
as good evidence of psychic ability.[who?][citation needed] Critics such as Ed J. Gracely say
that this evidence is not sufficient for acceptance, partly because the intrinsic probability of
psychic phenomena is very small.[22][23]

Parapsychology involves research that does not fit within standard theoretical models.
[citation needed] Methodological flaws in parapsychology have been invoked by critics such
as Ray Hyman to explain apparently successful experimental results, as opposed to the
paranormal explanations offered by many parapsychologists, and the field has been classed
as pseudoscience by many.[24][25][26][27]
The evidence presented for psychic phenomena is not sufficiently verified for scientific
acceptance, and there exist many non-paranormal alternative explanations for claimed
instances of psychic events.[citation needed] Even parapsychologists have agreed that many
if not most of the instances of more popular psychic phenomena such as mediumism and
other psychic feats, can be attributed to non-paranormal techniques such as cold reading
and hot reading, or even self-delusion.[28][29] Magicians such as James Randi, Ian Rowland
and Derren Brown have demonstrated techniques and results similar to those of popular
psychics, but they present psychological explanations as opposed to paranormal ones.[30]

Footnotes
 (1990) Science Framework for California Public Schools. California State Board of
Education.
 *Wheeler, J. A. (1979). “Point of View: Drive the Pseudos Out…”. Skeptical Inquirer 3:
12–13.
 Kurtz, P. (1978). “Is Parapsychology a Science?”. Skeptical Inquirer 3: 14–32.
 Druckman, D. and Swets, J. A. eds. (1988). Enhancing Human Performance: Issues,
Theories and Techniques. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 22. ISBN 0-
309-07465-7.
 Gallup poll shows that Americans’ belief in the paranormal persists, Skeptical Inquirer,
accessed October 28, 2006
 Melton, J. G. (1996). Psychic. In Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology.
Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0810394872.
 Melton, J. G. (1996). Prophecy. In Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology.
Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0810394872.
 1 Samuel Chapter 9/Hebrew – English Bible. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
 Morgan 1990, p. 148.

 Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy, The Delphic Oracle: Its Responses and Operations, 1978.
pp. 196-227
 Maurizio, Lisa, The Voice at the Centre of the World: The Pythia’s Ambiguity and
Authority pp. 46-50 in Andre Lardinois and Laura McClure, eds., Making Silence
Speak: Women’s Voices in Greek Literature and Society, (Princeton University Press
2001). pp. 38-54.
 Spiller, Henry A., John R. Hale, and Jelle Z. de Boer. “The Delphic Oracle: A
Multidisciplinary Defense of the Gaseous Vent Theory.” Clinical Toxicology 40.2
(2000) 189-196.
 de Boer, J.Z., J.R. Hale, and J. Chanton, “New Evidence for the Geological Origins of
the Ancient Delphic Oracle,” Geology 29.8 (2001) 707-711.
 Hale, John R., Jelle Zeilinga de Boer, Jeffrey P. Chandon and Henry A. Spiller,
Questioning the Delphic Oracle, Scientific American August 2003.
 Mason, Betsy. The Prophet of Gases in ScienceNow Daily News 2 October 2006.
Retrieved 11 October 2006.
 Chevignard, Bernard, Présages de Nostradamus 1999
 Lemesurier, Peter, The Unknown Nostradamus, 2003
 Melton, J. G. (1996). Dreams. In Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology.
Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0810394872.
 Carroll, Bret E. (1997). Spiritualism in Antebellum America. Indiana University
Press. ISBN 0-253-33315-6.
 Podmore, Frank (1997). Mediums of the Nineteenth Century. University Books. ISBN
0-253-33315-6.
 Melton, J. G. (1996). Theosophical Society. In Encyclopedia of Occultism &
Parapsychology. Thomson Gale. ISBN 978-0810394872.
 Britt, R.: “Higher Education Fuels Stronger Belief in Ghosts” LiveScience, January
2006, Retrieved September 18, 2007.
 Hargreaves, Julie: Psychics – myths & misconceptions, Nov 2002, Retrieved April 25,
2007. http://www.hark.net.au/articles/psychics_info.htm
 Gracely, Ph.D., Ed J. (1998). “Why Extraordinary Claims Demand Extraordinary
Proof”. PhACT. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
 Myers, David G; Blackmore, Susan. “Putting ESP to the Experimental Test”. Hope
College. Retrieved on 2007-07-31.
 Hyman, Ray (1995). “Evaluation of the program on anomalous mental phenomena”.
The Journal of Parapsychology 59 (1). Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
 Akers, C. (1986). “Methodological Criticisms of Parapsychology, Advances in
Parapsychological Research 4”. PesquisaPSI. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
 Child, I.L. (1987). “Criticism in Experimental Parapsychology, Advances in
Parapsychological Research 5”. PesquisaPSI. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
 Wiseman, Richard; Smith, Matthew, et al. (1996). “Exploring possible sender-to-
experimenter acoustic leakage in the PRL autoganzfeld experiments – Psychophysical
Research Laboratories”. The Journal of Parapsychology. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
  EBauer, berhard (1984) “Criticism and Controversy in Parapsychology – An
Overview”, Department of Psychology, University of Freiburg, European Journal of
Parapsychology, 5, 141-166 (2007-02-09)
 O’,Keeffe, Ciarán and Wiseman Richard (2005) “Testing alleged mediumship:
Methods and results”, British Journal of Psychology, 96, 165–17
 Rowland, Ian (2002) “The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading”, Self-Published, ASIN
B000NDYWDA

External Links
 The Society for Psychical Research — Founded in 1882 to examine psychic
phenomena scientifically.
 Parapsychological Association website — Professional organization of scientists and
scholars engaged in the study of psychic phenomena.
PARAPSYCHOLOGY
Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of
psychic abilities and life after death using the scientific method. Laboratory and field
research is conducted by privately funded laboratories and some universities around the
world,[1] although there are fewer universities actively sponsoring parapsychological
research today than in years past. Such research is usually published in parapsychological
publications, and some articles have appeared in more mainstream journals. Experiments
have included the use of random number generators to test for evidence of precognition
and psychokinesis with both human and animal subjects,[2][3][4] sensory-deprivation and
Ganzfeld experiments to test for extrasensory perception, and research trials conducted
under contract to the United States government to investigate whether remote viewing
would provide useful intelligence information.

The scientific community outside the small field of parapsychology has not accepted what
the field considers evidence of the existence of psychic abilities or life after death,[5][6][7][8]
and in 1988 the U.S. National Academy of Sciences gave a report on the subject that
concluded there is “no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130
years for the existence of parapsychological phenomena.”[9] Some science educators and
scientists have called the subject pseudoscience.[10][11] Psychologists such as Ray Hyman,
Stanley Krippner, and James Alcock have criticized both the methods used and the results
obtained in parapsychology, stating that methodological flaws may explain any apparent
experimental successes.[12]

Terminology
The term parapsychology was coined in or before 1889 by psychologist Max Dessoir. It was
adopted by J.B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research, to
indicate a significant shift toward laboratory methodologies in their work.[13] The term
originates from the Greek: παρά para meaning “alongside”, and psychology.
Parapsychologists call the psychic phenomena that they search for psi, a term intended to
be descriptive without implying a mechanism. [14]

History
Early Psychical Research
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in London in 1882. The formation of
the SPR was the first systematic effort to organize scientists and scholars for a critical and
sustained investigation of paranormal phenomena. The early membership of the SPR
included philosophers, scholars, scientists, educators and politicians, such as Henry
Sidgwick, Arthur Balfour, William Crookes, Rufus Osgood Mason and Charles Richet. [15]

The SPR classified its subjects of study into several areas: telepathy, hypnotism,
Reichenbach’s phenomena, apparitions, haunts, and the physical aspects of Spiritualism
such as table-tilting and the appearance of matter from unknown sources, otherwise known
as materialization. One of the first collaborative efforts of the SPR was its Census of
Hallucinations, which researched apparitional experiences and hallucinations in the sane.
The census was the Society’s first attempt at a statistical evaluation of paranormal
phenomena, and the resulting publication in 1886, Phantasms of the Living is still widely
referenced in parapsychological literature today. The SPR became the model for similar
societies in other European countries and the United States during the late 19th century.
Largely due to the support of psychologist William James, the American Society for Psychical
Research (ASPR) opened its doors in New York City in 1885. [16]

Today, the SPR and ASPR continue the investigation of psi phenomena. The SPR’s purpose is
stated in every issue of its Journal—being “to examine without prejudice or prepossession
and in a scientific spirit those faculties of man, real or supposed, which appear to be
inexplicable on any generally recognized hypothesis.” [17]

Rhine Era
In 1911, Stanford University became the first academic institution in the United States to
study extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK) in a laboratory setting. The effort
was headed by psychologist John Edgar Coover. In 1930, Duke University became the second
major U.S. academic institution to engage in the critical study of ESP and psychokinesis in
the laboratory. Under the guidance of psychologist William McDougall, and with the help of
others in the department—including psychologists Karl Zener, Joseph B. Rhine, and Louisa E.
Rhine—laboratory ESP experiments using volunteer subjects from the undergraduate
student body began. As opposed to the approaches of psychical research, which generally
sought qualitative evidence for paranormal phenomena, the experiments at Duke University
proffered a quantitative, statistical approach using cards and dice. As a consequence of the
ESP experiments at Duke, standard laboratory procedures for the testing of ESP developed
and came to be adopted by interested researchers throughout the world. [16]
The publication of J.B. Rhine’s book, New Frontiers of the Mind (1937) brought the
laboratory’s findings to the general public. In his book, Rhine popularized the word
“parapsychology,” which psychologist Max Dessoir had coined over 40 years earlier, to
describe the research conducted at Duke. Rhine also founded an autonomous
Parapsychology Laboratory within Duke and started the Journal of Parapsychology, which he
co-edited with McDougall. [16]

The parapsychology experiments at Duke evoked much criticism from academic

psychologists who challenged the concepts and evidence of ESP. Rhine and his colleagues
attempted to address these criticisms through new experiments, articles, and books, and
summarized the state of the criticism along with their responses in the book Extra-Sensory
Perception After Sixty Years. [18]

The administration of Duke grew less sympathetic to parapsychology, and after Rhine’s
retirement in 1965 parapsychological links with the university were broken. Rhine later
established the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man (FRNM) and the Institute for
Parapsychology as a successor to the Duke laboratory.[16] In 1995, the centenary of Rhine’s
birth, the FRNM was renamed the Rhine Research Center. Today, the Rhine Research Center
is a parapsychology research unit, stating that it “aims to improve the human condition by
creating a scientific understanding of those abilities and sensitivities that appear to
transcend the ordinary limits of space and time.”[19]

Establishment of the Parapsychological Association

The Parapsychological Association (PA) was created in Durham, North Carolina, on June 19,
1957. Its formation was proposed by J. B. Rhine at a workshop on parapsychology which was
held at the Parapsychology Laboratory of Duke University. Rhine proposed that the group
form itself into the nucleus of an international professional society in parapsychology. The
aim of the organization, as stated in its Constitution, became “to advance parapsychology as
a science, to disseminate knowledge of the field, and to integrate the findings with those of
other branches of science”.[20]

Under the direction of anthropologist Margaret Mead, the Parapsychological Association

took a large step in advancing the field of parapsychology in 1969 when it became affiliated
with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest general
scientific society in the world.[21] In 1979, physicist John A. Wheeler argued that
parapsychology is pseudoscientific, and that the affiliation of the PA to the AAAS needed to
be reconsidered.[22] His challenge to parapsychology’s AAAS affiliation was unsuccessful.
[22] Today, the PA consists of about three hundred full, associate, and affiliated members
worldwide and maintains its affiliation with the AAAS.[23] The annual AAAS convention
provides a forum where parapsychologists can present their research to scientists from
other fields and advance parapsychology in the context of the AAAS’s lobbying on national
science policy.[23]

Decade of Increased Research (1970s)

The affiliation of the Parapsychological Association (PA) with the American Association for
the Advancement of Science, along with a general openness to psychic and occult
phenomena in the 1970s, led to a decade of increased parapsychological research. During
this period, other notable organizations were also formed, including the Academy of
Parapsychology and Medicine (1970), the Institute of Parascience (1971), the Academy of
Religion and Psychical Research, the Institute of Noetic Sciences (1973), the International
Kirlian Research Association (1975), and the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research
Laboratory (1979). Parapsychological work was also conducted at the Stanford Research
Institute (SRI) during this time.[13]

The scope of parapsychology expanded during these years. Psychiatrist Ian Stevenson
conducted much of his controversial research into reincarnation during the 1970s.
Psychologist Thelma Moss devoted time to the study of Kirlian photography at UCLA’s
parapsychology laboratory. The influx of spiritual teachers from Asia, and their claims of
abilities produced by meditation, led to research on altered states of consciousness.
American Society for Psychical Research Director of Research, Karlis Osis, conducted
experiments in out of body, and astral beaconing. Physicist Russell Targ coined the term
remote viewing for use in some of his work at SRI in 1974.[13]

During this period, academics outside parapsychology also appeared to have a general
optimism towards this research. In 1979, a survey of more than 1,100 college professors in
the United States found that only 2% of psychologists expressed the belief that extrasensory
perception was an impossibility. A far greater number, 34%, indicated that they believed ESP
was either an established fact or a likely possibility. The percentage was even higher in other
areas of study: 55% of natural scientists, 66% of social scientists (excluding psychologists),
and 77% of academics in the arts, humanities, and education believed that ESP research was
worthwhile.[24]

The surge in paranormal research continued throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. By
the end of the 1980s, the Parapsychological Association reported members working in more
than 30 countries. Additionally, research not affiliated with the PA was being carried out in
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.[13]

Parapsychology Today
Since the 1970s, contemporary parapsychological research has waned considerably in the
United States.[25] Early research was considered inconclusive, and parapsychologists were
faced with strong opposition from their academic colleagues.[13] Some effects thought to be
paranormal, for example, the effects of Kirlian photography, disappeared under more
stringent controls, leaving those avenues of research at dead-ends.[13] Many university
laboratories in the United States have closed, citing a lack of acceptance by mainstream
science as the reason, leaving the bulk of parapsychology confined to private institutions
funded by private sources.[13] After 28 years of research, Princeton Engineering Anomalies
Research Laboratory (PEAR) retired their laboratory in 2007.[25]

Two universities in the United States still have academic parapsychology laboratories: the
Division of Perceptual Studies, a unit at the University of Virginia’s Department of Psychiatric
Medicine, studies the possibility of survival of consciousness after bodily death; the
University of Arizona’s Veritas Laboratory conducts laboratory investigations of mediums.
Several private institutions, including the Institute of Noetic Sciences, conduct and promote
parapsychological research. Britain leads parapsychological study in Europe, with privately
funded laboratories at the universities of Edinburgh, Northampton, and Liverpool Hope,
among others.[25]

Parapsychological research has also been augmented by other sub-disciplines of psychology.

These related fields include transpersonal psychology, which studies transcendent or
spiritual aspects of the human mind, and anomalistic psychology, which examines
paranormal beliefs and subjective anomalous experiences in traditional psychological terms.
[26][25]

Research
Scope
Parapsychologists study a number of ostensible paranormal phenomena, including but not
limited to:
  Telepathy: Transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by
means other than the five classical senses.
 Precognition: Perception of information about future places or events before they
occur.
 Clairvoyance: Obtaining information about places or events at remote locations, by
means unknown to current science.
 Psychokinesis: The ability of the mind to influence matter, time, space, or energy by
means unknown to current science.
 Reincarnation: The rebirth of a soul or other non-physical aspect of human
consciousness in a new physical body after death.
 Hauntings: Phenomena often attributed to ghosts and encountered in places a
deceased individual is thought to have frequented, or in association with the person’s
former belongings.
The definitions for the terms above may not reflect their mainstream usage, nor the
opinions of all parapsychologists and their critics. Many critics, for example, feel that
parapsychologists are engaged in the study of phenomena that disappear under stringent
experimental conditions and are thus normal processes.

According to the Parapsychological Association, parapsychologists do not study all

paranormal phenomena, nor are they concerned with astrology, UFOs, Bigfoot, paganism,
vampires, alchemy, or witchcraft.[1]

Methodology
Parapsychologists employ a variety of approaches during the study of apparent paranormal
phenomena. These methods include qualitative approaches used in traditional psychology,
but also quantitative empirical methodologies. Their more controversial studies involve the
use of meta-analysis in examining the statistical evidence for psi.[25]

Experimental Research
Ganzfeld

The ganzfeld (German for “whole field”) is a technique used to test individuals for telepathy.
The technique was developed to quickly quiet mental “noise” by providing a mild,
unpatterned sensory field to mask the visual and auditory environment. Isolating the visual
sense is usually achieved by creating a soft red glow which is diffused through half ping-
pong balls placed over the recipient’s eyes. The auditory sense is usually blocked by playing
white noise, static, or similar sounds to the recipient. The subject is also seated in a reclined,
comfortable position to minimize the sense of touch.

In the typical ganzfeld experiment, a “sender” and “receiver” are isolated.[27] The receiver is
put into the ganzfeld state, and the sender is shown a video clip or still picture and asked to
mentally send that image to the receiver. The receiver, while in the ganzfeld, is asked to
continuously speak aloud all mental processes, including images, thoughts, and feelings. At
the end of the sending period, typically about 20 to 40 minutes in length, the receiver is
taken out of the ganzfeld and shown four images or videos, one of which is the true target
and three of which are non-target decoys. The receiver attempts to select the true target,
using perceptions experienced during the ganzfeld state as clues to what the mentally “sent”
image might have been.

According to parapsychologists such as Dean Radin, Charles Honorton, and Daryl Bem, the
results of ganzfeld experiments—collectively gathered from over 3,000 individual sessions
conducted by about two dozen investigators worldwide—indicate that, on average, the
target image is selected by the receiver more often than would be expected by chance alone.
[28] Because these meta analyses of ganzfeld results are said to be statistically significant,
they have sparked debates within mainstream academic psychology journals over how to
properly interpret the data.[29]

Remote Viewing

Remote viewing experiments test the ability to gather information on a remote target
consisting of an object, place, or person that is hidden from the physical perception of the
viewer and typically separated from the viewer at some distance. In one type of remote
viewing experiment, a pool of several hundred photographs are created. One of these is
randomly selected by a third party to be the target. It is then set aside in a remote location.
The remote viewer attempts to sketch or otherwise describe that remote target photo. This
procedure is repeated for a number of different targets. Many ways of analytically evaluating
the results of this sort of experiment have been developed. One common method is to take
the group of seven target photos and responses, randomly shuffle the targets and
responses, and then ask independent judges to rank or match the correct targets with the
participant’s actual responses. This method assumes that if there were an anomalous
transfer of information, the responses should correspond more closely to the correct targets
than to the mismatched targets.[30]

Several hundred such trials have been conducted by investigators over the past 25 years,
including by the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (PEAR) and by
scientists at SRI International and SAIC, under contract by the U.S. government. The
cumulative data was interpreted by Professor of Aerospace Science Robert G. Jahn and
psychologist Brenda Dunne at PEAR as indicating that information about remote photos,
actual scenes, and events can be perceived beyond chance expectation.[30]

Psychokinesis on Random Number Generators

The advent of powerful and inexpensive electronic and computer technologies has allowed
the development of fully automated experiments studying possible interactions between
mind and matter. In the most common experiment of this type, a true random number
generator (RNG), based on electronic or radioactive noise, produces a data stream that is
recorded and analyzed by computer software. A subject attempts to mentally alter the
distribution of the random numbers, usually in an experimental design that is functionally
equivalent to getting more “heads” than “tails” while flipping a coin. In the RNG experiment,
design flexibility can be combined with rigorous controls, while collecting a large amount of
data in very short period of time. This technique has been used both to test individuals for
psychokinesis and to test the possible influence on RNGs of large groups of people.[31]

Major meta-analyses of the RNG database have been published every few years since
appearing in the journal Foundations of Physics in 1986.[31] PEAR founder Robert G. Jahn
and his colleague Brenda Dunne say that the effect size in all cases was found to be very
small, but consistent across time and experimental designs, resulting in an overall statistical
significance. The most recent meta-analysis was published in Psychological Bulletin, along
with several critical commentaries.[32][33] The meta-analysis was composed of 380 studies,
which some researchers say has produced an overall effect size that was very small but
statistically significant.

Direct Mental Interactions with Living Systems

Formerly called bio-PK, “direct mental interactions with living systems” (DMILS) studies the
effects of one person’s intentions on a distant person’s psychophysiological state.[34] One
type of DMILS experiment looks at the commonly reported “feeling of being stared at.” The
“starer” and the “staree” are isolated in different locations, and the starer is periodically
asked to simply gaze at the staree via closed circuit video links. Meanwhile, the staree’s
nervous system activity is automatically and continuously monitored.

Parapsychologists have interpreted the cumulative data on this and similar DMILS
experiments to suggest that one person’s attention directed towards a remote, isolated
person can significantly activate or calm that person’s nervous system. In a meta-analysis of
these experiments published in the British Journal of Psychology in 2004, researchers found
that there was a small but significant overall DMILS effect. However, the study also found
that when a small number of the highest-quality studies from one laboratory were analyzed,
the effect size was not significant. The authors concluded that although the existence of
some anomaly related to distant intentions cannot be ruled out, there was also a shortage of
independent replications and theoretical concepts.[34]

Near Death Experiences

A near-death experience (NDE) is an experience reported by a person who nearly died, or

who experienced clinical death and then revived. NDEs include one or more of the following
experiences: a sense of being dead; an out-of-body experience; a sensation of floating above
one’s body and seeing the surrounding area; a sense of overwhelming love and peace; a
sensation of moving upwards through a tunnel or narrow passageway; meeting deceased
relatives or spiritual figures; encountering a being of light, or a light; experiencing a life
review; reaching a border or boundary; and a feeling of being returned to the body, often
accompanied by reluctance.[35]

Interest in the NDE was originally spurred by the research of psychiatrists Elisabeth Kübler-
Ross, George Ritchie, and Raymond Moody Jr. In 1998, Moody was appointed chair in
“consciousness studies” at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The International Association
for Near-death Studies (IANDS) was founded in 1978 to meet the needs of early researchers
and experiencers within this field of research. Later researchers, such as psychiatrist Bruce
Greyson, psychologist Kenneth Ring, and cardiologist Michael Sabom, introduced the study
of near-death experiences to the academic setting.[35]

Some researchers, including Dr. Rick Strassman, believe that near death experiences may be
related to the chemical DMT’s (Dimethyltryptamine) release from the pineal gland. The
chemical is released naturally during sleep, is thought to have an effect on dream content,
and is used as a recreational drug. Strassman sees the chemical as a mediator for
hyperdimensional experiences, and points out that experiences with the drug are
comparable to NDE’s.[36]

Anomalous Psychology

A number of studies conducted in the American, European, and Australasian continents

have found that a majority of people surveyed report having had experiences that could be
interpreted as telepathy, precognition, and similar phenomena. Variables that have been
associated with reports of psi-phenomena include belief in the reality of psi; the tendency to
have hypnotic, dissociative, and other alterations of consciousness; and, less reliably so,
neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. Although psi-related experiences
can occur in the context of such psychopathologies as schizotypal personality, dissociative,
and other disorders, most individuals who endorse a belief in psi are well-adjusted, lack
serious pathology, and are not intellectually deficient or lacking critical abilities.[26]

Criticism
Scientists who are critical of parapsychology begin with the assertion that extraordinary
claims demand extraordinary evidence. Proponents of hypotheses that contradict centuries
of scientific research must provide extraordinary evidence if their hypotheses are to be
taken seriously.[37] Many analysts of parapsychology hold that the entire body of evidence
to date is of poor quality and not adequately controlled. In their view, the entire field of
parapsychology has produced no conclusive results whatsoever. They cite instances of fraud,
flawed studies, a psychological need for mysticism, and cognitive bias as ways to explain
parapsychological results.[38] Skeptics have also contended that people’s desire to believe in
paranormal phenomena causes them to discount strong evidence that it does not exist.[39]

The reality of parapsychological phenomena and the scientific validity of parapsychological

research is disputed by independent evaluators and researchers. In 1988, the U.S. National
Academy of Sciences gave a report on the subject that concluded that “no scientific
justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years for the existence of
parapsychological phenomena.”[9] In the same report, however, they also recommended
monitoring some parapsychological research, such as psychokinesis on random number
generators and Ganzfeld effects, for possible future studies.[9] The studies at the PEAR lab,
recommended for monitoring by the report, have since concluded. These studies likewise
failed to elicit a positive response by the scientific community despite numerous trials.[25]

Additionally, the methods of parapsychologists are regarded by some critics, including those
who wrote the science standards for the California State Board of Education,[5] to be
pseudoscientific.[40] Some of the more specific criticisms state that parapsychology does
not have a clearly defined subject matter, an easily repeatable experiment that can
demonstrate a psi effect on demand, nor an underlying theory to explain the paranormal
transfer of information.[41] James E. Alcock, Professor of Psychology at York University, said
that few of parapsychology’s experimental results have prompted interdisciplinary research
with more mainstream sciences such as physics or biology. Alcock states that
parapsychology remains an isolated science to such an extent that its very legitimacy is
questionable,[42] and as a whole is not justified in being labeled “scientific”.[43]
Fraud
There have been instances of fraud in the history of parapsychology research. The Soal-
Goldney experiments of 1941–43 (suggesting precognitive ability in subjects) were long
regarded as some of the best in the field because they relied upon independent checking
and witnesses to prevent fraud. However, many years later, suspicions of fraud were
confirmed when statistical evidence, uncovered and published by other parapsychologists in
the field, indicated that Dr. Soal had cheated by altering the raw data.[42][44][45]

Walter J. Levy, director of the Institute for Parapsychology, reported on a series of successful
ESP experiments involving computer-controlled manipulation of non-human subjects,
including eggs and rats. His experiments showed very high positive results. Because the
subjects were non-human, and because the experimental environment was mostly
automated, his successful experiments avoided criticism concerning experimenter effects,
and removed the question of the subject’s belief as an influence on the outcome.[46]
However, Levy’s fellow researchers became suspicious about his methods. They found that
Levy interfered with data-recording equipment, manually creating fraudulent strings of
positive results. Rhine fired Levy and reported the fraud in a number of articles.[47][48]

Many spiritualist mediums used fraud, and some were exposed by early psychical
researchers such as Richard Hodgson[49] and Harry Price.[50] In the 1920s, magician and
escapologist Harry Houdini said that researchers and observers had not created
experimental procedures which absolutely preclude fraud.[51] In 1979, magician and
debunker James Randi perpetrated a hoax, now referred to as Project Alpha. Randi trained
two young magicians and sent them under cover to Washington University’s McDonnell
Laboratory with the specific aim of exposing poor experimental methods and the credulity
thought to be common in parapsychology. Although no formal statements or publications
from the McDonnell laboratory supported the likelihood that the effects demonstrated by
the two magicians were genuine, both of Randi’s trainees reportedly deceived experimenters
over a period of four years with demonstrations of supposedly telekinetic metal bending.[52]
Such methodological failures have been cited as evidence that most, if not all, extraordinary
results in parapsychology derive from error or fraud.

Criticism of Experimental Results

Although some critical analysts feel that parapsychological study is scientific, they are not
satisfied with its experimental results.[53][41] Skeptical reviewers contend that apparently
successful experimental results in psi research are more likely due to sloppy procedures,
poorly trained researchers, or methodological flaws than to genuine psi effects.[54][55][56]
[57] For example, the data from the PEAR laboratory has been criticized by researchers such
as statistics professor Jessica Utts and psychologist Ray Hyman. Utts has stated that these
experiments suffered numerous problems with regard to randomization, statistical
baselines and the application of statistical models, and concluded that the significance
values quoted in the experiments were meaningless due to defects in experimental and
statistical procedures of the studies.[58]

Because psi is a negatively defined concept, a typical measure of the evidence for such
phenomena in parapsychological experiments is statistical deviation from chance
expectation. However, critics point out that statistical deviation from chance is, strictly
speaking, only evidence of a statistical anomaly, or that some unknown variable was causing
the deviation from chance. Hyman contends that even if experiments could be made to
reproduce the findings of certain parapsychological studies under specific conditions, this
would be a far cry from concluding that psychic functioning has been demonstrated.[59] It
has also been stated that assuming psi exists is affirming the consequent or begging the
question. Reasoning that (1) if a person is psychic, then that individual will do better than
chance in experiments, and (2) since that person does better than chance, then, (3) that
person must be psychic, would be considered the fallacy of affirming the consequent.[60]

Selection Bias and Meta-Analysis

Selective reporting has been offered by critics as an explanation for the positive results
reported by parapsychologists. Selective reporting is sometimes referred to as a “file drawer”
problem, which arises when only positive study results are made public, while studies with
negative or null results are not made public.[33] Selective reporting has a compounded
effect on meta-analysis, which is a statistical technique that aggregates the results of many
studies in order to generate sufficient statistical power to demonstrate a result that the
individual studies themselves could not demonstrate at a statistically significant level. For
example, a recent meta-analysis combined 380 studies on psychokinesis,[32] including data
from the PEAR lab. It concluded that, although there is a statistically significant overall effect,
it is not consistent and relatively few negative studies would cancel it out. Consequently,
biased publication of positive results could be the cause.[25]

The popularity of meta-analysis in parapsychology has been criticized by numerous

researchers, and is often seen as troublesome even within parapsychology itself.[61] Critics
have said that parapsychologists misuse meta-analysis to create the incorrect impression
that statistically significant results have been obtained which indicate the existence of psi
phenomena.[62]

Researcher J. E. Kennedy has argued that concerns over the use of meta-analysis in science
and medicine apply as well to problems present in parapsychological meta-analysis. As a
post-hoc analysis, critics emphasize the opportunity the method presents to produce biased
outcomes via the selection of cases chosen for study, methods employed, and other key
criteria. Critics claim analogous problems with meta-analysis have been documented in
medicine, where it has been shown different investigators performing meta-analyses of the
same set of studies have reached contradictory conclusions.[63]

Organizations and Publications

The lack of acceptance by mainstream science has led to a decline in academic ties to
parapsychological research.[25] Still, there are some university laboratories that continue to
conduct parapsychological experiments. Among these are the Koestler Parapsychology Unit
at the University of Edinburgh;[64] the Parapsychology Research Group at Liverpool Hope
University;[65] the VERITAS Research Program at the University of Arizona;[66] the
Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit of Liverpool John Moores
University;[67] the Center for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes at the
University of Northampton;[68] and the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths
University of London.[69] The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research, a well-known
laboratory that conducted psychokinesis experiments, closed in February 2007.[70]

Research organizations include the Parapsychological Association;[71] the Society for

Psychical Research, publisher of the Journal of Society for Psychical Research;[72] the
American Society for Psychical Research, publisher of the Journal of the American Society for
Psychical Research;[73] the Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology,
publisher of the Journal of Parapsychology;[74] the Parapsychology Foundation, publisher of
the International Journal of Parapsychology;[75] and the Australian Institute of
Parapsychological Research, publisher of the Australian Journal of Parapsychology.[76] The
European Journal of Parapsychology is independently published.[77]

Organizations that encourage a critical examination of parapsychology and

parapsychological research include the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, publisher of the
Skeptical Inquirer;[78] and the James Randi Educational Foundation, founded by magician
and skeptic James Randi.[79]
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 Stenger, Victor J. (2002). “Meta-Analysis and the Filedrawer Effect”. Committee for
Skeptical Inquiry. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
 Kennedy, J.E. (2005). “A Proposal and Challenge for Proponents and Skeptics of Psi”.
Journal of Parapsychology 68: 157–167. Retrieved on 2007-07-29.
 “Koestler Parapsychology Unit”. University of Edinburgh. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
 “Parapsychology Research Group”. Liverpool Hope University. Retrieved on 2007-11-
14.
 “The VERITAS Research Program”. University of Arizona. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
  Martin, Lloyd (2007-09-17). “Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology”.
Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “Center for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes”. University of
Northampton. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit”. Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved
on 2007-11-14.
 “Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research”. Princeton University (2007-02-10).
Retrieved on 2007-07-11.
 “Parapsychological Association”. parapsych.org. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “Society for Psychical Research”. spr.ac.uk. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “American Society for Psychical Research”. aspr.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “Rhine Research Center and Institute for Parapsychology”. Rhine.org. Retrieved on
2007-11-14.
 “Parapsychology Foundation”. parapsychology.org. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research”. aiprinc.org. Retrieved on 2007-
11-14.
 Stevens, Paul; Ian Baker (eds). “European Journal of Parapsychology”. Bournemouth
University, BH12 5BB, UK: Poole House ISSN 0168-7263. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “Committee for Skeptical Inquiry”. csicop.org. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
 “James Randi Educational Foundation”. randi.org. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.

Further Reading
 Broughton, Richard S. (1992). Parapsychology. Ballantine Books.
 Holzer, Hans Ph.D. Parapsychologist, Author: The Supernatural: Explaining the
Unexplained Publisher: Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2003.
 Houran, James (2001). Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
McFarland & Company, 330 pages. ISBN 0786409843.
 Irwin, Harvey J.; Watt, Caroline A. (2007). An Introduction to Parapsychology.
McFarland & Company, 320. ISBN 978-0786430598.
 Melton, J. Gordon (1996). Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology. Gale
Group. ISBN 978-0810394872.
 Radin, Dean (2006). Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum
Reality. Paraview Pocket Books, 368. ISBN 978-1416516774.
 Randi, James (June 1982). Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions.
Prometheus Books, 342. ISBN 0345409469.
  Randi, James; Arthur C. Clarke (1997). An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and
Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. St. Martin’s Griffin, 336. ISBN 0312151195.
 Sagan, Carl; Ann Druyan (1997). The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in
the Dark. Ballantine Books, 349. ISBN 0345409469.
 Shepard, Leslie (2000). Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. Thomson
Gale, 1939 pages. ISBN 978-0810385702.
 Wiseman, Richard; Caroline A. Watt (2005). Parapsychology (International Library of
Psychology). Ashgate Publishing, 501 pages. ISBN 978-0754624509.

External links
 FindArticles.com Index Large number of articles about parapsychology, from
publications such as the Journal of Parapsychology and the Skeptical Inquirer.
 Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Organization formed in 1976 to promote scientific
skepticism and encourage the critical investigation of paranormal claims and
parapsychology.
PARAPHYSICS
According to James Edward Beichler [1], editor of YGGDRASIL: The Journal of Paraphysics [1],
what paraphysics is “has never been precisely defined”. The word “paraphysics” itself,
according to Beichler (citing Mitchell [2]), appears to have been coined by German
psychiatrist and psychical researcher Baron Albert F. von Schrenck-Notzing in the late 19th
century. However, unlike the concept of parapsychology, which has been widely
acknowledged (although not necessarily respected) as a field and “can be found in any
standard dictionary or encyclopedia” [3], the concept of paraphysics has not had proponents
of the stature of people such as Joseph B. Rhine to pioneer it and has thus not garnered
similar acknowledgement. The concept of paraphysics has indeed, again according to
Beichler [3], been mis-used by the pop-culture of “occult phenomena”, coöpting the name,
resulting in what paraphysics actually is being ambiguous and not clearly defined, with many
of the physicists who work in the field of paraphysics being widely regarded as working in
the field of parapsychology.

History
Paraphysics is the domain of paraphysicists. Martin Gardner defines a paraphysicist as “a
physicist who investigates the paranormal”. [4] The Society for Psychical Research defines a
paraphysicist as a researcher into paranormal physical phenomena who has “the skills of an
engineer or a physicist” (as opposed to a parapsychologist who researches extra-sensory
perception as a branch of experimental psychology), although it argues that in fact psychical
research involves skills from many disciplines. [5] Beichler derives two summaries of what
the concept of paraphysics is. [3] From the Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of
“paraphysical” and “parascience” he extrapolates the summary that paraphysics is “the study
of physical phenomena which seem to be beyond the scope of ordinary physics, or for which
no apparent physical explanation can be found”. The other he takes from Bletzer: [6]

Paraphysics — the study of PHYSICS in relationship to psychic phenomena;

 Study of: (a) physics of paranormal processes; activity that resembles physical
phenomena but is without recognizable physical cause; (b) (B. Herbert); anomalous
physical effects not explained by current physical theories;
 (Laboratory) an approach to PSYCHIC ENERGY above and beyond the usual study of
physics;
  Investigations made on the borderline of both physics and psychic phenomena. Syn.
PARAPSYCHOLOGY.
Beichler criticizes Bletzer, in that her definition of paraphysics contradicts her definition of
“paraphysical”. Beichler argues that the latter is simply the adjectival form of the former, and
that therefore the two definitions must have “an intimate and total correspondence”.
Beichler also criticizes Bletzer’s definition of paraphysics as being problematic for its
acknowledgement as a legitimate field because of the dedication of Bletzer’s work to “New
Age” religions and philosophies rather than a strict scientific discipline. [3] Beichler states
that renewed interest in paraphysics arose in the 1970s, with the mainstream
acknowledgement of the field of parapsychology engendering renewed interest in
paraphysics. He points to essays on “The Emergence of Paraphysics” by James B. Beal and
Brendan O’Regan, and Mitchell describing the “emergence of paraphysics as a science”.
Mitchell’s own definition of the concept of paraphysics is that it is “a new field within noetics
that is extending the laws and methods of physics in an attempt to explain some paranormal
phenomena”. [2] Beichler also gives a definition of the concept of paraphysics from Musés
[7]:”paraphysics [denotes] the field of phenomena covering interactions of nonphysical
things (such as consciousness) with physical bodies and objects.”

Angoff [8] writing in the 1970s gives a more general definition of paraphysics as being akin to
parapsychology but “with the accent on physics rather than upon psychology”, and thus
being “the study of anomalous physical events”. However, the renewed interest in
paraphysics faded in the 1980s, in part, Beichler states, because of the failure of
parapsychology to produce the hoped-for results. As the Society for Psychical Research puts
it, “the yield in terms of testable scientific hypotheses, or of dependable effects of sufficient
magnitude, consistency, and reproducibility to permit advances in understanding, has been
disappointingly small.” [5]

Bonewits and Emmons [9], writing in the 1980s, define the field of paraphysics as “the study
of (a) the overlaps between parapsychology and physics and (b) the study of the various
forms of psychokinesis”. Beichler, writing in the 1990s about what he expects to be the “birth
of paraphysics as a legitimate science”, presents an argument that there is an expectation by
several physicists of a paradigm shift in physics in the (relatively) near future, and that some
physicists are defining the concept of paraphysics as being what they predict physics will be
like after that shift. Beichler quotes Stenger [10] as writing “If physics is the study of the
nature of matter, then we might term the study of a world beyond matter paraphysics.” and
characterizes this new concept of paraphysics as “the physics of other worlds”.

Stenger himself writes [11] that physics is “misused and misinterpreted in support of a wide
range of paranormal and paranatural claims”, decrying what he states to be the mis-use of
the words “energy” and “quantum” to suggest a scientific basis for “energy therapies” and
mind-over-matter healing, the misinterpretation of quantum mechanics to imply that
psychic phenomena such as extrasensory perception are real, and the employment of the
strong anthropic principle as evidence for intelligent design.

Beichler’s own definition of paraphysics is thus that it is a “branch of physics” that is “the
logical study of paranormal phenomena within the normal context of physics”, or, more
broadly, the “logical study of those phenomena occurring in nature which cannot be
understood within the context of either matter in motion or our normal concepts of space
and time” incorporating the “physics of other worlds.” [12]

References
 James Edward Beichler (May 2000). “The paraphysical principles of natural
philosophy”. DAI-B 60 (11): 5561. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999PhDT……..52B.
 Edgar D. Mitchell (1974). John White. ed. Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for
Science. New York: Putnam’s Sons. pp. 25–26,486. ISBN 978-0399113428.
 James E. Beichler (1996). “THE NEW AND IMPROVED PARAPHYSICS”.
YGGDRASIL: The Journal of
Paraphysics. http://members.aol.com/jebco1st/Paraphysics/pphysics.htm.
 Martin Gardner (May/June 1977). “Geller, Gulls and Nitinol”.
Humanist. http://www.zem.demon.co.uk/gardner.htm.
 “A Career in Parapsychology”. Society for Psychical Research.
http://www.spr.ac.uk/index.php3?page=career.
 June D. Bletzer (1986). The Donning International Encyclopedic Psychic Dictionary.
Norfolk: The Donning Company. ISBN 089865372X.
 Charles Musés (1977). “Paraphysics: A New View of Ourselves and the Cosmos”. in
John White and Stanley Krippner. Future Science: Life Energies and the Physics of
Paranormal Phenomena. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press. pp. 280–288.
 Allan Angoff (1971-06-01). Century of Psychical Research: The Continuing Doubts
and Affirmations. Proceedings of an. Parapsychology Foundation. pp. 145. ISBN
0912328193.
 Isaac Bonewits and Philip Emmons (1989-10-01). Real Magic: An Introductory
Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic. Weiser. pp. 212. ISBN 0877286884.
 Victor J. Stenger (May 1990). Physics and Psychics: The search for a world beyond
the senses. New York: Prometheus Books. pp. 8. ISBN 087975575X.
  Stenger, Victor J. (2000-03-24). “Paraphysics: Physics Misused and Misinterpreted”.
American Physical Society, Annual March Meeting, March 20-24, 2000 Minneapolis,
MN.
 James E. Beichler (1996). “PHYSICS AND PARAPHYSICS”. YGGDRASIL: The
Journal of Paraphysics 1
(1). http://members.aol.com/jebco1st/Paraphysics/issue1.htm.
 Jeffrey Mishlove. “4.1: Theory of Consciousness: The Biological Perspective”. The
Roots of Consciousness.

http://www.williamjames.com/Theory/BIOLOGY.htm.

Notes
 Note 1: Another Journal of Paraphysics was published by Benson Herbert in England
in the 1960s and 1970s.[13]

Further Reading
 Jon. Klimo (1998-04-01). “Biology and Physics”. Channeling: Investigations on
Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources. North Atlantic Books. pp. 306–
364. ISBN 1556432488. — Klimo writes on “physics and paraphysics”
 James E. Beichler (Spring 2001). “To Be or Not to Be! A “Paraphysics” for the New
Millennium” (PDF). Journal of Scientific Exploration (Society for Scientific Exploration)
15 (1). http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/15.1_beichler.pdf.

External Links
 Brian Josephson’s parapsychology page
 An interview with Anthony Leggett discussing the topic a.o.t. (also
at http://www.europhysicsnews.com/full/38/epn37_2.pdf ).
PARANORMAL
Paranormal is an umbrella term used to describe unusual phenomena or experiences that
lack an obvious scientific explanation.[1] In parapsychology, it is used to describe the
potentially psychic phenomena of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, psychokinesis,
ghosts, and hauntings. The term is also applied to UFOs, some creatures that fall under the
scope of cryptozoology, purported phenomena surrounding the Bermuda Triangle, and
other non-psychical subjects.[2] Stories relating to paranormal phenomena are widespread
in popular culture and folklore, but some organisations such as the United States National
Science Foundation have stated that mainstream science does not support paranormal
beliefs.[3]

Paranormal Research
Approaching paranormal phenomena from a research perspective is often difficult because
even when the phenomena are seen as real they may be difficult to explain using existing
rules or theory. By definition, paranormal phenomena exist outside of conventional norms.
Skeptics contend that they don’t exist at all. Despite this challenge, studies on the
paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers from various disciplines. Some
researchers study just the beliefs in paranormal phenomena regardless of whether the
phenomena actually exist.

This section deals with various approaches to the paranormal including those scientific,
pseudoscientific, and unscientific. Skeptics feel that supposed scientific approaches are
actually pseudoscientific for several reasons which are explored below.[4]

Anecdotal Approach
An anecdotal approach to the paranormal involves the collection of anecdotal evidence
consisting of informal accounts. Anecdotal evidence, lacking the rigour of empirical evidence,
is not amenable to scientific investigation. The anecdotal approach is not a scientific
approach to the paranormal because it leaves verification dependent on the credibility of the
party presenting the evidence. It is also subject to such logical fallacies as cognitive bias,
inductive reasoning, lack of falsifiability, and other fallacies that may prevent the anecdote
from having meaningful information to impart. Nevertheless, it is a common approach to
paranormal phenomena.
Charles Fort (1874 – 1932) is perhaps the best known collector of paranormal anecdotes.
Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained phenomena, though
there were no doubt many more than these. These notes came from what he called “the
orthodox conventionality of Science”, which were odd events originally reported in
magazines and newspapers such as The Times and scientific journals such as Scientific
American, Nature and Science. From this research Fort wrote seven books, though only four
survive. These are: The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild
Talents (1932); one book was written between New Lands and Lo! but it was abandoned and
absorbed into Lo!.

Reported events that he collected include teleportation (a term Fort is generally credited
with coining); poltergeist events, falls of frogs, fishes, inorganic materials of an amazing
range; crop circles; unaccountable noises and explosions; spontaneous fires; levitation; ball
lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort); unidentified flying objects; mysterious appearances
and disappearances; giant wheels of light in the oceans; and animals found outside their
normal ranges (see phantom cat). He offered many reports of OOPArts, abbreviation for “out
of place” artifacts: strange items found in unlikely locations. He also is perhaps the first
person to explain strange human appearances and disappearances by the hypothesis of
alien abduction, and was an early proponent of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

Fort is considered by many as the father of modern paranormalism, which is the study of
paranormal phenomena.

The magazine Fortean Times continues Charles Forte’s approach, regularly reporting
anecdotal accounts of anomalous phenomena.

Experimental Approach
Experimental investigation of the paranormal is largely conducted in the multidisciplinary
field of parapsychology. Although parapsychology has its roots in earlier research, it began
using the experimental approach in the 1930s under the direction of J. B. Rhine (1895 –
1980).[5] Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-
rolling experiments in a laboratory in the hopes of finding a statistical validation of extra-
sensory perception.[5]

In 1957, the Parapsychological Association was formed as the preeminent society for
parapsychologists. In 1969, they became affiliated with the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. That affiliation, along with a general openness to psychic and
occult phenomena in the 1970s, led to a decade of increased parapsychological research.[5]
During this time, other notable organizations were also formed, including the Academy of
Parapsychology and Medicine (1970), the Institute of Parascience (1971), the Academy of
Religion and Psychical Research, the Institute for Noetic Sciences (1973), and the
International Kirlian Research Association (1975). Each of these groups performed
experiments on paranormal subjects to varying degrees. Parapsychological work was also
conducted at the Stanford Research Institute during this time.[5]

With the increase in parapsychological investigation, there came an increase in opposition to

both the findings of parapsychologists and the granting of any formal recognition of the
field. Criticisms of the field were focused in the founding of the Committee for the Scientific
Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (1976), now called the Committee for Skeptical
Inquiry, and its periodical, Skeptical Inquirer.[5]

Experimental research into the paranormal continues today, though it has waned
considerably since the 1970s.[6] One such experiment is called the Ganzfeld Experiment. The
purpose of the Ganzfeld Experiment, like other parapsychological experiments, is to test for
statistical anomalies that might suggest the existence of psi, a process indicating psychic
phenomena.[7] In the Ganzfeld Experiment, a subject (receiver) is asked to access through
psychic means some target. The target is typically a picture or video clip selected randomly
from a large pool, which is then viewed in a remote location by another subject (sender).
Ganzfeld experiments use audio and visual sensory deprivation to remove any kind of
external stimulus that may interfere with the testing or corrupt the test by providing cues to
correct targets. A ‘hit’ refers to a correctly identified target. The expected hit ratio of such a
trial is 1 in 4, or 25%.[7] Deviations from this expected ratio might be seen as evidence for
psi, although such conclusions are often disputed.[8] To date there have been no
experimental results that have gained wide acceptance in the scientific community as valid
evidence of paranormal phenomena. [6]

Participant-Observer Approach
While parapsychologists look for quantitative evidence of the paranormal in laboratories, a
great number of people immerse themselves in qualitative research through participant-
observer approaches to the paranormal. Participant-observer methodologies have overlaps
with other essentially qualitative approaches as well, including phenomenological research
that seeks largely to describe subjects as they are experienced, rather than to explain them.
[9]
Participant-observation suggests that by immersing oneself in the subject being studied, a
researcher is presumed to gain understanding of the subject. In paranormal research, a
participant-observer study might consist of a researcher visiting a place where alleged
paranormal activity is said to occur and recording observations while there. Participation
levels may vary. In studying a supposedly haunted location, for example, the researcher may
conduct a séance or participate in other activities said to cause paranormal activity.

Criticisms of participant-observation as a data-gathering technique are similar to criticisms

of other approaches to the paranormal, but also include an increased threat to the
objectivity of the researcher, unsystematic gathering of data, reliance on subjective
measurement, and possible observer effects (observation may distort the observed
behavior).[10] Specific data gathering methods, such as recording EMF readings at haunted
locations have their own criticisms beyond those attributed to the participant-observation
approach itself.

The participant-observer approach to the paranormal has gained increased visibility and
popularity through reality-based television shows like Ghost Hunters, and the formation of
independent ghost hunting groups which advocate immersive research at alleged
paranormal locations. One popular website for ghost hunting enthusiasts lists over 300 of
these organizations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom.[11]

Debunking Approach
The debunking approach is a response to claims of paranormal phenomena, and consists of
finding a “normal” explanation instead of a paranormal one to account for the claims. The
basis for this approach is Occam’s razor, which suggests that the simplest solution is the best
one.[12] Since standard scientific models generally predict what can be expected in the
natural world, the debunking approach presumes that what appears to be paranormal is
necessarily a misinterpretation of natural phenomena, rather than an actual anomalous
phenomenon. In contrast to the skeptical position, which requires claims to be proven, the
debunking approach actively seeks to disprove the claims.[13]

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, formerly the Committee for the Scientific Investigation
of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is an organisation that aims to publicise the skeptical
approach. It carries out investigations aimed at debunking paranormal reports, and
publishes its results in its journal the Skeptical Inquirer.

Former stage magician, James Randi, is a well-known debunker of paranormal claims[14]

and a prominent member of CSICOP. As a skeptic with a background in illusion, Randi feels
that the simplest explanation for those claiming paranormal abilities is trickery, illustrated by
demonstrating that the spoon bending abilities of psychic Uri Geller can easily be duplicated
by trained magicians.[15] He is also the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation
and its famous million dollar challenge offering a prize of US $1,000,000 to anyone who can
demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test
conditions agreed to by both parties.[16]

An alternative to debunking is found in the field of anomalistics. Anomalistics differs from

debunking in that debunking works on the premise that something is either a misidentified
instance of something known to science, or that it is a hoax, while anomalistics works on the
premise that something may be either of the above, or something that can be rationalized
using an as yet unexplored avenue of science. [17][18] [19]

Survey Approach
While the validity of the existence of paranormal phenomena is controversial and debated
passionately by both proponents of the paranormal and by skeptics, surveys are useful in
determining the beliefs of people in regards to paranormal phenomena. These opinions,
while not constituting scientific evidence for or against, may give an indication of the
mindset of a certain portion of the population (at least among those who answered the
polls).

Belief Polls
One such survey of the beliefs of the general United States population regarding paranormal
topics was conducted by the Gallup Organization in 2005.[20] The survey found that 73
percent of those polled believed in at least one of the ten paranormal items presented in the
survey.

Items included in the survey were as follows (the percentage of respondents who indicated
that they believed in the phenomenon is in parenthesis): Extrasensory perception (41%),
haunted houses (37%), ghosts (32%), telepathy (31%), clairvoyance (26%), astrology (25%),
communication with the dead (21%), witches (21%), reincarnation (20%), and channeling
spiritual entities (9%).

Only one percent of those surveyed believed in all ten items.

The items selected for the survey were chosen because they “require the belief that humans
have more than the ‘normal’ five senses.”

Another survey conducted in 2006 by researchers from Australia’s Monash University[21]

sought to determine what types of phenomena people claim to have experienced and the
effects these experiences have had on their lives. The study was conducted as an online
survey with over 2,000 respondents from around the world participating. The results
revealed that around 70% of the respondents believe to have had an unexplained
paranormal event that changed their life, mostly in a positive way. About 70% also claimed
to have seen, heard, or been touched by an animal or person that they knew was not there;
80% have reported having a premonition, and almost 50% stated they recalled a previous
life.[21]

Polls were conducted by Bryan Farha at Oklahoma City University and Gary Steward of the
University of Central Oklahoma in 2006, and compared to the results of a Gallup poll in 2001.
[22] They found fairly consistent results.

Other surveys by different organizations at different times have found very similar results. A
2001 Gallup Poll found that the general public embraced the following: 54% of people
believed in psychic/spiritual healing, 42% believed in haunted houses, 41% believed in
satanic possession, 36% in telepathy, 25% in reincarnation, and 15% in channeling.[23] A
survey by Jeffrey S. Levin, associate professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk
found that over 2/3 of the U.S. population reported having at least one mystical experience.
[24][22]

A 1996 Gallup poll estimated that 71% of the people in the United States believed that the
government was covering up information about UFOs. A 2002 Roper poll conducted for the
Sci Fi channel reported that 56% thought UFOs were real craft and 48% that aliens had
visited the Earth.[22]

A 2001 National Science Foundation survey found that 9 percent of people polled thought
astrology was very scientific, and 31 percent thought it was somewhat scientific. About 32%
of Americans surveyed stated that some numbers were lucky, while 46% of Europeans
agreed with that claim. About 60% of all people polled believed in some form of Extra-
sensory perception and 30% thought that “some of the unidentified flying objects that have
been reported are really space vehicles from other civilizations.”[25]

Paranormal Subjects
This section explores the notable paranormal beliefs that appear in popular culture.

Ghosts
For believers, ghosts are generally seen to be the spirit or soul of a deceased person.[26]
Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased
animals. Sometimes the term “ghost” is used synonymously with any spirit or demon[27],
however in popular usage the term typically refers to a deceased person.

The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism, an
ancient belief which attributed souls to everything in nature.[5] As the nineteenth-century
anthropologist James Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough, souls were
seen as the creature within that animated the body.[28] Although the human soul was
sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it
was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even
down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures,
including such works as the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which shows deceased people in the
afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress.

A widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they are composed of a misty, airy, or subtle
material. Anthropologists speculate that this may also stem from early beliefs that ghosts
were the person within the person, most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person’s breath,
which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.[5] This belief may
have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of “breath” in certain languages, such as the
Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which by analogy became extended to mean the soul.
In the Bible, God is depicted as animating Adam with a breath.

Numerous theories have been proposed by skeptics to provide non-paranormal

explanations for ghosts sightings.[5] Although the evidence for ghosts is largely anecdotal,
the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread and persistent.

UFOs
The possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, by itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists
are actively engaged in the search for unicellular life within the solar system, carrying out
studies on the surface of Mars and examining meteors that have fallen to Earth.[29] Projects
such as SETI are conducting an astronomical search for radio activity that would show
evidence of intelligent life outside the solar system.[30] Scientific theories of how life
developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life developed on other planets as well. The
paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around the belief in unidentified
flying objects and the phenomena said to be associated with them.

Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps. The first
held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting it as unexplained
occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves “ufologists” in the
1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate the notion of
extraterrestrial visitation.[5]

The second camp consisted of individuals who coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation
with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. These individuals typically were
enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal. Many had backgrounds as active
Theosophists, Spiritualists, or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary
times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements.[5]

Both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what is
considered possible according to aerodynamics and physical laws. The transitory events
surrounding many UFO sightings also limits the opportunity for repeat testing required by
the scientific method. Acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is
further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture.

Paranormal Challenges
In 1922, Scientific American offered two US $2,500 offers: (1) for the first authentic spirit
photograph made under test conditions, and (2) for the first psychic to produce a “visible
psychic manifestation.” Harry Houdini was a member of the investigating committee. The
first medium to be tested was George Valiantine, who claimed that in his presence spirits
would speak through a trumpet that floated around a darkened room. For the test,
Valiantine was placed in a room, the lights were extinguished, but unbeknownst to him his
chair had been rigged to light a signal in an adjoining room if he ever left his seat. Because
the light signals were tripped during his performance, Valiantine did not collect the award.
[31] The last to be examined by Scientific American was Mina Crandon in 1924.

Since then, many individuals and groups have offered similar monetary awards for proof of
the paranormal in an observed setting. These prizes have a combined value of over $2.4
million dollars.[32]
Etymology
The word “paranormal” has been in the English since at least 1920.[33][34] It consists of two
parts: para and normal. In most definitions of the word paranormal, it is described as
anything that is beyond or contrary to what is deemed scientifically possible.[35] The
definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is the ‘normal’ part of
the word and ‘para’ makes up the above, beyond, beside, contrary, or against part of the
meaning.

Para has a Greek and Latin origin. Its most common meaning (the Greek usage) is ‘similar to’
or ‘near to’, as in paragraph. In Latin, para means ‘above,’ against,’ ‘counter,’ ‘outside,’ or
‘beyond’. For example, parapluie in French means ‘counter-rain’ – an umbrella. It can be
construed, then, that the term paranormal is derived from the Latin use of the prefix ‘para’,
meaning ‘against, counter, outside or beyond the norm.’

References
 Paranormal in TheFreeDictionary, Accessed February 3, 2008
 What is PSI? What Isn’t?, Parapsychological Association, accessed August 01, 2006
 Belief in the Paranormal or Pseudoscience
 Beyerstein, B. L. (1996). Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience.
 Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology edited by J. Gordon Melton Gale
Research, ISBN 0-8103-5487-X
 Odling-Smee, L. (2007). The Lab That Asked The Wrong Questions. Nature, February
2007.
 Psychological Bulletin 1994, Vol. 115, No. 1, 4-18. Does Psi Exist?
 The Skeptic’s Dictionary: Psi Assumption, Robert Todd Carroll, accessed January 3,
2006
 Logical Investigations Husserl, E. 1970 Humanities Press
 Problem of inference and proof in participant observation : Problem of inference and
proof in participant-observation.
 Paranormal Groups, GhostVillage.com, accessed December 14, 2006
 Three skeptics’ debate tools examined, accessed July 1, 2007
 TheFreeDictionary.com Debunking, accessed July 1, 2007
 JREF Commentary, February 18, 2005, accessed July 1, 2007
 Interview with James Randi in NOVA episode, “Secrets of the Psychics”.
 Million Dollar Challenge, accessed July 1, 2007
 Hess David J. (1997) “Science Studies: an advanced introduction” New York
University Press, ISBN 0814735649
 R. Westrum, Truzzi Marcello (1978) “Anomalies: A Bibliographic Introduction with
Some Cautionary Remarks.”
 Wescott, Robert W. (1973) “Anomalistics: The Outline of an Emerging Field of
Investigation” Research Division.
 Gallup poll shows that Americans’ belief in the paranormal persists, Skeptical Inquirer,
accessed October 28, 2006
 ‘Spooky survey’ gets big response, ABC Science Online, 17 November 2006
 Smart People See Ghosts, Brad Steiger, Fate Magazine, April 2006 Issue, p. 52-56;
 Skeptical Inquirer, 30, 1; 37-40
 USA Today, January 12, 1994
 Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding-Public Knowledge About
S&T.
 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ghost Retrieved December 13 2006
 The Golden Bough at Project Gutenberg
 NASA Scientists To Discuss Search For Extraterrestrial Life, Space Daily, Dec 11,
2003
 How SETI Works, HowStuffWorks.com, Accessed July 4, 2007
 “Randi $1,000,000 paranormal challenge”. The Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved on
2008-02-03.
 Larsen, Claus (September, 2003). “Get Rich Quick or Save the World”, Skeptic
Report. Retrieved on 2007-03-07.
 “Paranormal” in Merriam-
Webster http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paranormal
 “Paranormal” in Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/paranormal
 Glossary, The Journal of Parapsychology, Parapsychological Association, accessed
August 05, 2006
OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE
An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE), is an experience that typically
involves a sensation of floating outside of one’s body and, in some cases, perceiving one’s
physical body from a place outside one’s body (autoscopy). About one in ten people has an
out-of-body experience at some time in their lives.[1] Scientists know little about the
phenomenon.[2] OBEs are often part of the near-death experience, and reportedly may also
lead to astral projection. It is claimed that those experiencing an OBE sometimes observe
details which were unknown to them beforehand.[3][dubious – discuss]

In some cases the phenomenon appears to occur spontaneously; in others it is associated

with a physical or mental trauma, use of psychedelic drugs, dissociative drugs, or a dream-
like state. Many techniques aiming to induce the experience deliberately have been
developed[4], for example visualization while in a relaxed, meditative state. Recent (2007)
studies have shown that experiences somewhat similar to OBEs can be induced by direct
brain stimulation. Relatively little is known for sure about OBEs.[2] Some of those who
experience OBEs claimed to have willed themselves out of their bodies, while others report
having found themselves being pulled from their bodies (usually preceded by a feeling of
paralysis). In other accounts, the feeling of being outside the body was suddenly realized
after the fact, and the experiencers saw their own bodies almost by accident.[5] OBEs often
occur during the borderline stage between REM sleep and arousal when sleep paralysis may
persist and dream imagery may mingle with sensory input.

Some neurologists have suspected that the event is triggered by a mismatch between visual
and tactile signals. They used a virtual reality setup to recreate an OBE. The subject looked
through goggles and saw his own body as it would appear to an outside observer standing
behind him. The experimenter then touched the subject at the same time as a rod appeared
to touch the virtual image. The experiment created an illusion of being behind and outside
one’s body.[6]

Types of OBE
Spontaneous

During/Near Sleep
OBEs are sometimes reported to be preceded by and initiated from a lucid dream state,
though other types of immediate and spontaneous experience are also reported. In many
cases, people who claimed to have had an OBE reported being asleep, on the verge of sleep,
or already asleep shortly before the experience. A large percentage of these cases referred
to situations where the sleep was not particularly deep (due to illness, noises in other rooms,
emotional stress, exhaustion from overworking, frequent re-awakening, etc.). In most of
these cases, the subjects then felt themselves awake; about half of them noted a feeling of
sleep paralysis.[5]

Near-Death Experiences
Another form of spontaneous OBE is the near death experience (INDEE or NDE). Some
subjects report having had an OBE at times of severe physical trauma such as car crashes,
near-drownings or major surgery.

People often report having these experiences after suffering from traumatic experiences
such as motor vehicle accidents. They are able to recall the accident as if observing it from a
location outside the vehicle.

Other
Along the same lines as an NDE, in some cases, extreme physical effort can induce an OBE.
For example, one running in a marathon could overwork themselves and feel
“extraordinarily weightless” and actually see themselves from above. Many times this is
related to dehydration.[citation needed]

Induced
Consciously controlled and pre-meditated OBE methods (examples of which are widely
available in all the most popular books on the subject)—are also reported. Some people
have attempted to develop techniques to induce OBEs.

Mental Induction
  Falling asleep physically without losing wakefulness. The “Mind Awake, Body Asleep”
state is widely suggested as a cause of OBEs, voluntary and otherwise. Thomas
Edison used this state to tackle problems while working on his inventions. He would
rest a silver dollar on his head while sitting with a metal bucket in a chair. As he drifted
off, the coin would noisily fall into the bucket, restoring some of his alertness.[7] OBE
pioneer Sylvan Muldoon more simply used a forearm held perpendicular in bed as the
falling object.[8] Salvador Dali was said to use a similar “paranoiac-critical” method to
gain odd visions which inspired his paintings. Deliberately teetering between awake
and asleep states is known to cause spontaneous trance episodes at the onset of
sleep which are ultimately helpful when attempting to induce an OBE, as reported by
Robert Monroe and Robert Peterson.[citation needed] By moving deeper and deeper
into relaxation, one eventually encounters a ‘slipping’ feeling if the mind is still alert.
This slipping is the act of leaving the physical body. Some consider progressive
relaxation a passive form of sensory deprivation.
 Waking up mentally but not physically. This related technique is typically achieved
through the practice of lucid dreaming. Once inside a lucid dream, the dreamer either
shifts the subject matter of the dream in an OBE direction or banishes the dream
imagery completely, in doing so gaining access to the underlying state of sleep
paralysis ideal for visualisation of separation from the body.
 Deep trance and visualization. The types of visualizations vary; some common
imageries used include climbing a rope to “pull out” of one’s body, floating out of one’s
body, getting shot out of a cannon, and other similar approaches. This technique is
considered hard to use for people who cannot properly relax. A good example of such
a technique consists of the popular “Golden Dawn Body of Light Technique”.[citation
needed]

Mechanical Induction
 Brainwave synchronization via audio/visual stimulation. Binaural beats can be used to
induce specific brain wave frequencies[9], notably those predominant in various mind
awake/body asleep states. Binaural induction of the “body asleep” theta brain wave
frequencies characteristic of dreaming REM sleep was observed as effective by the
Monroe Institute (and corroborated by others). Simultaneous introduction of “mind
awake” beta frequencies (detectable in the brains of normal, relaxed awakened
individuals) was also observed as constructive. Another popular technology uses
sinusoidal wave pulses to achieve similar results, and the drumming accompanying
 native American religious ceremonies is also believed to have heightened receptivity
to “other worlds” through brainwave entrainment mechanisms.
 Magnetic stimulation of the brain, as with the helmet developed by Michael Persinger.
[citation needed]
 Electrical stimulation of the brain, particularly the temporoparietal junction (See below).
 Sensory deprivation. This approach aims to cause intense disorientation by removal of
space and time references, hoping the brain will fill in the gaps in sensory input.
[citation needed] Flotation tanks or pink noise played through headphones are often
employed for this purpose. OBEs have been by reported those practicing sense-
depriving forms of BDSM such as extreme bondage (mummification).[citation needed]
 Sensory overload, the opposite of Sensory deprivation. The subject can for instance
be rocked for a long time in a specially designed cradle, or submitted to light forms of
torture, to cause the brain to shut itself off from all sensory input. Both conditions tend
to cause confusion and this disorientation often permits the subject to experience
vivid, ethereal out-of-body experiences. This tends to happen when the subject
believes he or she is in a particular position, whereas his or her actual body is either
rocking in a cradle actively, or still lying down. Consciousness suddenly transfers to
the mental body.

Chemical Induction
 OBEs induced with drugs are sometimes considered to be hallucinations (i.e., purely
subjective), even by those who believe the phenomenon to be objective in general.
There are several types of drugs that can initiate an OBE, primarily the dissociative
hallucinogens such as ketamine, dextromethorphan (DM or DXM), and phencyclidine
(PCP). It has also been reported under the influence of tryptamine psychedelics
including dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and ayahuasca. Being under the influence of
hallucinogenic drugs are commonly referred to as being in a psychedelic state. Salvia
divinorum has been known to produce symptoms in which the user is said to be able
to leave their bodies and travel to many places at once. Many users also claim that
they feel as if their “soul” falls out of their body.
 Methamphetamine has also been known to cause OBEs, not in itself but through lack
of sleep. It has been reported that it felt like the person was talking above and behind
them and, being under the influence of the drug, had no idea what was happening.
 Galantamine is a Nootropic that can increase the odds of success when using along
with Out-of-body experience or Lucid dream induction technique.[10][11][12]
Phenomenology
Perceptions Of Environment
OBEs tend to fall into two types, categorized by Robert Monroe as Locale 1 and Locale 2
experiences.

In Locale 1 experiences the environment is largely consistent with reality; other common
labels for this form are etheric, ethereal or RTZ (Real Time Zone) projections. The onset of
this type can be frightening as intense physiological sensations may be perceived, such as
electrical tingling, full body vibrations and racing heartbeat. Confusion is common in
spontaneous Locale 1 experiences; the person can believe he has awakened (or died)
physically and panic can be caused by the realization that limbs appear to be penetrating
objects.

Locale 2 experiences are less overtly physical in nature and have much subjective overlap
with lucid dreaming. The subject is immersed in unrealistic worlds, modified forms of reality
exhibiting physically impossible or inconsistent features. Bright and vivid colours are a
common feature of this form. Robert Bruce (author) considers this type of OBE to be an
Astral Projection.

End-Of-OBE Perceptions
The OBE may or may not be followed by other experiences which are self-reported as being
“as real” as the OBE feeling; alternatively, the subject may fade into a state self-reported as
dreaming, or they may awake completely. The OBE is sometimes ended due to a fearful
feeling of getting “too far away” from the body. Many end with a feeling of suddenly
“popping” or “snapping” and sometimes a “pulling” back into their bodies; some even report
being “sucked back” into physical form. A majority describe the end of the experience by
saying “then I woke up”. However it’s worth noting that even those who describe the
experience as something fantastic that occurs during sleep, and who describe the end of the
experience by saying “and then I woke up”, are very specific in describing the experience as
one which was clearly not a dream; many described their sense of feeling more awake than
they felt when they were normally awake. One compared the experience to that of lucid
dreaming, but said that it was “more real”.
NDE Phenomenology
The phenomenology of an NDE usually includes additional physiological, psychological and
transcendental factors beyond those of typical OBEs (Parnia, Waller, Yeates & Fenwick, 2001),
such as visions of deceased relatives and religious figures, transcendence of ego and
spatiotemporal boundaries and other transcendental experiences (Lukoff, Lu & Turner,
1998; Greyson, 2003). Typically the experience follows a distinct progression, starting with
the sensation of floating above one’s body and seeing the surrounding area, followed by the
sensation of passing through a tunnel, meeting deceased relatives, and concluding with
encountering a being of light (Morse, Conner & Tyler, 1985).

Studies of OBEs
The first extensive scientific study of OBEs was made by Celia Green (1968).[13] She collected
written, first-hand accounts from a total of 400 subjects, recruited by means of appeals in
the mainstream media, and followed up by questionnaire. Her purpose was to provide a
taxonomy of the different types of OBE, viewed simply as an anomalous perceptual
experience or hallucination, while leaving open the question of whether some of the cases
might incorporate information derived by extrasensory perception.

Previous collections of cases had been made by Dr Robert Crookall; however, he had
approached the subject from a spiritualistic position, and collected his cases predominantly
from spiritualist newspapers such as the Psychic News, which appears to have biased his
results in various ways. For example, the majority of his subjects reported seeing a cord
connecting the physical body and its observing counterpart; whereas Green found that less
than 4% of her subjects noticed anything of this sort, and some 80% reported feeling they
were a “disembodied consciousness”, with no external body at all.

Neurology and OBE-like Experiences

There are several possible physiological explanations for parts of the OBE. OBE-like
experiences have been induced by stimulation of the brain and by using cameras to fool the
mind into thinking that the body is somewhere it is not. The OBE has been reproduced
through stimulation of the posterior part of the right superior temporal gyrus in a
patient[14]. Positron-emission tomography was also used in this study to identify brain
regions affected by this stimulation.
English psychologist Susan Blackmore suggests that an OBE begins when a person loses
contact with sensory input from the body while remaining conscious.[citation needed] The
person retains the illusion of having a body, but that perception is no longer derived from
the senses. The perceived world may resemble the world he or she generally inhabits while
awake, but this perception does not come from the senses either. The vivid body and world
is made by our brain’s ability to create fully convincing realms, even in the absence of
sensory information. This process is witnessed by each of us every night in our dreams,
though OBEs are claimed to be far more vivid than even a lucid dream.

Irwin[15] pointed out that OBEs appear to occur under conditions of either very high or very
low arousal. For example, Green[16] found that three quarters of a group of 176 subjects
reporting a single OBE were lying down at the time of the experience, and of these 12%
considered they had been asleep when it started. By contrast, a substantial minority of her
cases occurred under conditions of maximum arousal, such as a rock-climbing fall, a traffic
accident, or childbirth. McCreery[17][18] has suggested that this paradox may be explained
by reference to the fact that sleep can supervene as a reaction to extreme stress or hyper-
arousal.[19] He proposes that OBEs under both conditions, relaxation and hyper-arousal,
represent a form of ‘waking dream’, or the intrusion of Stage 1 sleep processes into waking
consciousness.

Olaf Blanke Studies

Research by Olaf Blanke in Switzerland found that it is possible to reliably elicit experiences
somewhat similar to the OBE by stimulating regions of the brain called the right temporal-
parietal junction (TPJ; a region where the temporal lobe and parietal lobe of the brain come
together). Blanke and his collaborators in Switzerland have explored the neural basis of
OBEs by showing that they are reliably associated with lesions in the right TPJ region[20] and
that they can be reliably elicited with electrical stimulation of this region in a patient with
epilepsy.[21] These elicited experiences may include perceptions of transformations of the
patient’s arm and legs (complex somatosensory responses) and whole-body displacements
(vestibular responses).[22][23]

In neurologically normal subjects, Blanke and colleagues then showed that the conscious
experience of the self and body being in the same location depends on multisensory
integration in the TPJ. Using event-related potentials, Blanke and colleagues showed the
selective activation of the TPJ 330-400 ms after stimulus onset when healthy volunteers
imagined themselves in the position and visual perspective that generally are reported by
people experiencing spontaneous OBEs. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the same
subjects impaired mental transformation of the participant’s own body. No such effects were
found with stimulation of another site or for imagined spatial transformations of external
objects, suggesting the selective implication of the TPJ in mental imagery of one’s own body.
[24] In a follow up study, Arzy et al. showed that the location and timing of brain activation
depended on whether mental imagery is performed with mentally embodied or
disembodied self location. When subjects performed mental imagery with an embodied
location, there was increased activation of a region called the “extrastriate body area” (EBA),
but when subjects performed mental imagery with a disembodied location, as reported in
OBEs, there was increased activation in the region of the TPJ. This leads Arzy et al. to argue
that “these data show that distributed brain activity at the EBA and TPJ as well as their timing
are crucial for the coding of the self as embodied and as spatially situated within the human
body.”[25]

Blanke and colleagues thus propose that the right temporal-parietal junction is important for
the sense of spatial location of the self, and that when these normal processes go awry, an
OBE arises.[26]

In August 2007 Blanke’s lab published research in Science demonstrating that conflicting
visual-somatosensory input in virtual reality could disrupt the spatial unity between the self
and the body. During multisensory conflict, participants felt as if a virtual body seen in front
of them was their own body and mislocalized themselves toward the virtual body, to a
position outside their bodily borders. This indicates that spatial unity and bodily self-
consciousness can be studied experimentally and is based on multisensory and cognitive
processing of bodily information.[27]

Michael Persinger Studies

Michael Persinger has undertaken similar research to Olaf Blanke using magnetic
stimulation applied to the right temporal lobe of the brain, which is known to be involved in
visuo-spatial functions, multi-sensory integration and the construction of the sense of the
body in space.[28] Persinger’s research also found evidence for objective neural difference
between periods of remote viewing in two individuals thought to have psychic abilities.
Persinger undertook his research on Sean Harribance and Ingo Swann, a renowned remote
viewer who has taken part in numerous studies.[29] Examination of Harribance showed
enhanced EEG activity within the alpha band (8 – 12 Hz) over Harribance’s right parieto-
occipital region, consistent with neuropsychological evidence of early brain trauma in these
regions. In a second study, Ingo Swann was asked to draw images of pictures hidden in
envelopes in another room. Individuals with no knowledge of the nature of the study rated
Swann’s comments and drawings as congruent with the remotely viewed stimulus at better
than chance levels. Additionally, on trials in which Swann was correct, the duration of 7 Hz
(alpha band) paroxysmal discharges over the right occipital lobe was longer. Subsequent
anatomical MRI examination showed anomalous subcortical white matter signals focused in
the perieto-occipital interface of the right hemisphere that were not expected for his age or
history.

Ehrsson Study
In August 2007 Henrik Ehrsson, then at the Institute of Neurology at University College of
London (now at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden) published research in Science
demonstrating the first experimental method that, according to the scientist’s claims in the
publication, induced an out-of-body experience in healthy participants.[30] The experiment
was conducted in the following way:

The study participant sits in a chair wearing a pair of head-mounted video displays. These
have two small screens over each eye, which show a live film recorded by two video cameras
placed beside each other two metres behind the participant’s head. The image from the left
video camera is presented on the left-eye display and the image from the right camera on
the right-eye display. The participant sees these as one ‘stereoscopic’ (3D) image, so they see
their own back displayed from the perspective of someone sitting behind them. The
researcher then stands just beside the participant (in their view) and uses two plastic rods to
simultaneously touch the participant’s actual chest out-of-view and the chest of the illusory
body, moving this second rod towards where the illusory chest would be located, just below
the camera’s view. The participants confirmed that they had experienced sitting behind their
physical body and looking at it from that location.[31]

The experiment fits a three-point definition of the out-of-body experience (OBE). The OBE as
reported in spontaneous cases can be phenomenologically more complex as commented in
Slate[32] and elsewhere.[33]

Dr. Sam Parnia — University of Southampton Study

Starting in the fall of 2008, 25 UK and US hospitals will participate in a 3 year study, co-
ordinated by Dr. Sam Parnia and Southampton University. They will examine near-death
experiences in 1,500 cardiac arrest survivors. The study aims to determine if people without
a heartbeat or brain activity can have documentable out-of-body experiences.[34]

Astral Projection
Astral Projection is a paranormal interpretation of an out-of-body experience achieved either
awake or via lucid dreaming or deep meditation. The concept of astral projection assumes
the existence of another body, separate from the physical body and capable of traveling to
non-physical planes of existence. Commonly such planes are called astral, etheric, or
spiritual. Astral projection is often experienced as the spirit or astral body leaving the
physical body to travel in the spirit world or astral plane.[35]
Evidence for objective reality of astral projection is sometimes suggested when people, such
as patients during surgery, describe OBEs in which they see or hear events or objects
outside their sensory range (for instance, Pam Reynolds reported experiencing an OBE
during brain surgery and described a surgical instrument she had not seen previously, as
well as conversation that occurred while she was under anethesia).[citation needed][36]

Skeptics such as Susan Blackmore have disputed whether anything leaves the body during
an OBE.[37]

Notes
 ^ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070823141057.htm ScienceDaily
(Aug. 24, 2007)First Out-of-body Experience Induced In Laboratory Setting
 ^ a b BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Out-of-body or all in the mind?
 ^ http://www.near-death.com/experiences/evidence01.html People Have NDEs While
Brain Dead Retrieved Sept 21, 2007
 ^ Bruce, Robert (1999) Astral Dynamics: A NEW Approach to Out-of-Body
Experiences ISBN 1-57174-143-7, Chapters 15-22
 ^ a b SOBEs
 ^ BBC NEWS | Health | Out-of-body experience recreated
 ^ Pre-Grams of Tomorrow dreams as pathway to a New World Perspective : Forrer,
Kurt
 ^ The Projection Of The Astral Body, Sylvan Muldoon and Hereward Carrington, ISBN-
13: 978-0877280699
 ^ , “[1]”. The Effects of Hemi-Sync® on Electrocortical Activity, Sadigh and Kozicky
 ^ Thomas Yuschak (2006). Advanced Lucid Dreaming, 1st ed., Lulu Enterprises. ISBN
978-1-4303-0542-2.
 ^ Thomas Yuschak (2007). Pharmacological Induction of Lucid dreams.
 ^ “Substances that enhance recall and lucidity during dreaming”. Stephen LaBerge –
US Patent. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
 ^ Green, C.E. (1968). Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton.
 ^ De Ridder D, Van Laere K, Dupont P, Menovsky T, Van de Heyning P. Visualizing
out-of-body experience in the brain. N Engl J Med. 2007 Nov 1;357(18):1829-33.
 ^ Irwin, H.J. (1985). Flight of Mind: a psychological study of the out-of-body
experience. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press.
 ^ Green C.E. (1968). Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton.
 ^ McCreery, C. (1997). Hallucinations and arousability: pointers to a theory of
psychosis. In Claridge, G. (ed.): Schizotypy, Implications for Illness and Health.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 ^ McCreery, C. (2008). Dreams and psychosis: a new look at an old hypothesis.
Psychological Paper No. 2008-1. Oxford: Oxford Forum. Online PDF
 ^ Oswald, I. (1962). Sleeping and Waking: Physiology and Psychology. Amsterdam:
Elsevier.
 ^ Blanke, O., Landis, T., Spinelli, L., & Seeck, M. (2004). Out-of-body experience and
autoscopy of neurological origin. Brain, 127(Pt 2), 243-258.
 ^ Blanke, O., Ortigue, S., Landis, T., & Seeck, M. (2002). Stimulating illusory own-body
perceptions. Nature, 419(6904), 269-270.
 ^ Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience at Ecole Polytechnique Federeale de
Lausanne: http://lnco.epfl.ch/
 ^ Out-of-Body Experiences: All in the Brain? By Jan Holden, EdD, Jeff Long, MD, and
Jason MacLurg, MD Vital Signs Volume 21, Number 3
 ^ Blanke, O., Mohr, C., Michel, C. M., Pascual-Leone, A., Brugger, P., Seeck, M., et al.
(2005). Linking out-of-body experience and self processing to mental own-body
imagery at the temporoparietal junction. Journal of Neuroscience, 25(3);
doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2612-04.2005.[2]
 ^ Arzy, S., Thut, G., Mohr, C., Michel, C. M., & Blanke, O. (2006). Neural basis of
embodiment: Distinct contributions of temporoparietal junction and extrastriate body
area. Journal of Neuroscience, 26(31), 8074-8081.
 ^ Blanke, O., & Arzy, S. (2005). The out-of-body experience: Disturbed self-processing
at the temporo-parietal junction. Neuroscientist, 11(1), 16-24
 ^ Lenggenhager et al. 2007. Video Ergo Sum: Manipulating Bodily Self-
Consciousness. Science 317:1096 – 1099 DOI: 10.1126/science.1143439
  ^ Michael Persinger’s research on YouTube presented by Michael Shermer
 ^ Persinger, Michael M. (2001). The neuropsychiatry of paranormal experiences
Neuropsychiatric Practice and Opinion, 13(4), 521-522.
 ^ Ehrsson, H.H. 2007. The Experimental Induction of Out-of-Body Experiences.
Science 317:1048 DOI: 10.1126/science.1142175
 ^ First out-of-body experience induced in laboratory setting, August 23 2007,
EurekAlert!
 ^ The Out-of-Body Electric, August 23 2007, Daniel Engber, Slate
 ^ First OBE Experiment Was In 1966, September 21 2007, Nelson Abreu, Medical
News Today
 ^ news.bbc.co.uk, Study into near-death experiences
 ^ http://parapsych.org/historical_terms.html entry on Astral body in the Historical
Terms Glossary from the website of the Parapsychological Association, retrieved
August 26, 2007
 ^ Michael B. Sabom. Light & death: one doctor’s fascinating account of near-death
experiences, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1998. ISBN 0310219922. This account is
summarized in People Have NDEs While Brain Dead. Accessed 2008-06-03.
 ^ Blackmore, Susan (1993). Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences. Prometheus
Books.

References
 Buhlman, William. Adventures Beyond the Body: Astral Projection. ISBN 0062513710
 Robert Peterson Book on OBEs (available online)
 Out-of-body Experiences and the Brain
 Pritchard, Mark H (2004) “A Course in Astral Travel and Dreams”. ISBN 0-9740560-1-
4
 Review of the tome “Projectiology: A Panorama of Experiences Outside the Human
Body” by Waldo Vieira, MD Journal of Parapsychology
 Goa Herald; Goan links science, spirituality by Out-of-Body experience
 Body part

External Links
 http://rainbowlight.proboards102.com  – a set of forums for OBEs/astral projection and
other topics
 Explorations in Consciousness A website about out-of-body experiences, lucid
dreams, and other altered states of consciousness, free from any one specific
doctrine.
 Out of body experiences, casebooks and true stories.
 OBE in the science mainstream news
 Out-of-body and Near-death experiences Articles, videos and discussions on out-of-
body and near-death experiences.
 U Kentucky study find correlation between OBE and sleep paralysis: Article and
debate on PhysOrg
 InvisibleLight The purpose of this web site is for research, scientific study, religion, and
spirituality of the Out of Body Experience. Hours of audio, video, statistics,
experiments, interviews based on David A. Warner experiences.
 An in-depth psychological and philosophical analysis of OBEs and self-perception
 “Out-of-Body Experience (OBE)” – from the Skeptic’s Dictionary
 Skeptic World – Out of Body Experiences
 A comprehensive bibliography of OBE
 Brief OBE research review and analysis (non-local consciousness point of view)
NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE
A near-death experience (NDE) refers to a broad range of personal experiences associated
with impending death, encompassing multiple possible sensations ranging from detachment
from the body, feelings of levitation, extreme fear, total serenity, security, or warmth, the
experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of a light, which some people interpret
as a deity[1] or spiritual presence.[citation needed] Some cultures and individuals[specify]
revere NDEs as a paranormal and spiritual glimpse into the afterlife.

Such cases are usually reported after an individual has been pronounced clinically dead, or
otherwise very close to death, hence the entitlement near-death experience. Many NDE
reports, however, originate from events that are not life threatening. With recent
developments in cardiac resuscitation techniques, the number of NDEs reported is
continually increasing.[citation needed] Most of the scientific community regards such
experiences as hallucinatory,[2][3][4] while paranormal specialists and some mainstream
scientists claim them to be evidence of an afterlife.[5][6][7]

Popular interest in near-death experiences was initially sparked by Raymond Moody, Jr’s
1975 book “Life After Life” and the founding of the International Association for Near-Death
Studies (IANDS) in 1978. According to a Gallup poll, approximately eight million Americans
claim to have had a near-death experience.[8] NDEs are among the phenomena studied in
the fields of parapsychology, psychology, psychiatry,[9] and hospital medicine.[10][11]

Characteristics
In some cases, a NDE any particular person experiences varies depending on the beliefs that
the person held[citation needed]. Children, who typically do not have enough time to
develop strongly towards one faith, had very limited NDEs. Examples of this include a boy
simply having talked to his brother in his NDE and a daughter having a conversation with her
mother.[12][13] The phenomenology of an NDE usually includes physiological, psychological
and alleged transcendental aspects.[14] Typically, the experience follows a distinct
progression:[15][16][17]

1. A very unpleasant sound/noise is the first sensory impression to be noticed (R. Moody:
Life after Life); 2. A sense of being dead; 3. Pleasant emotions; calmness and serenity; 4. An
out-of-body experience; a sensation of floating above one’s own body and seeing the
surrounding area; 5. Floating up a blue tunnel with a strong, bright light or garden at the
end; 6. Meeting deceased relatives or spiritual figures; 7. Encountering a being of light, or a
light (often interpreted as being the deity or deities they personally believe in); 8. Being given
a life review (the “life-flashing-before-your-eyes” phenomenon); 9. Reaching a border or
boundary; 10. A feeling of being returned to the body, often accompanied by a reluctance.
11. Feeling of warmth even though naked.

Some people have also experienced extremely distressing NDEs, which can manifest in
forewarning of emptiness or a sense of dread towards the cessation of their life.

According to the Rasch model-validated NDE scale, a “core” near-death experience

encompasses peace, joy, and harmony, followed by insight and mystical or religious
experiences.[18] The most intense NDEs are reported to have an awareness of things
occurring in a different place or time, and some of these observations are said to have been
evidential.

Clinical circumstances that are thought to lead to an NDE include conditions such as: cardiac
arrest, shock in postpartum loss of blood or in perioperative complications, septic or
anaphylactic shock, electrocution, coma, intracerebral haemorrhage or cerebral infarction,
attempted suicide, near-drowning or asphyxia, apnoea, and serious depression.[17] Many
NDEs occur after a crucial experience (e.g. when a patient can hear that he or she is declared
to be dead by a doctor or nurse), or when a person has the subjective impression to be in a
fatal situation (e.g. during a close call automobile accident). In contrast to common belief,
attempted suicides do not lead more often to unpleasant NDEs than unintended near-death
situations.[19]

Research
Interest in the NDE was originally spurred by the research of such pioneers as Elisabeth
Kübler-Ross, George Ritchie, P.M.H. Atwater, and Raymond Moody Jr. Moody’s book Life
After Life, which was released in 1975, and brought a great deal of attention to the topic of
NDEs.[20] This was soon followed by the establishment of the International Association for
Near-death Studies (IANDS), founded in 1978, in order to meet the needs of early
researchers and those with NDE experiences within this field of research. Today the
association includes researchers, health care professionals, NDE-experiencers and people
close to experiencers, as well as other interested people. One of its main goals is to promote
responsible and multi-disciplinary investigation of near-death and similar experiences.

Later researchers, such as Bruce Greyson, Kenneth Ring, and Michael Sabom, introduced the
study of near-death experiences to the academic setting. The medical community has been
somewhat reluctant to address the phenomenon of NDEs, and money granted for research
has been relatively scarce.[20] However, although the research was not always welcomed by
the general academic community, both Greyson and Ring made significant contributions in
order to increase the respectability of near-death research.[21] Major contributions to the
field include the construction of a Weighted Core Experience Index[22] in order to measure
the depth of the near-death experience, and the construction of the Greyson near-death
experience scale,[23] in order to differentiate between subjects that are more or less likely to
have experienced a classical NDE. The NDE-scale also aims to differentiate between what the
field claims are “true” NDEs and syndromes or stress responses that are not related to an
NDE, such as the similar incidents experienced by sufferers of epilepsy. Greyson’s NDE-scale
was later validated using Rasch model scaling.[18]

Other contributors to the research on near-death experiences come from the disciplines of
medicine, psychology and psychiatry. Greyson (1997) has also brought attention to the near-
death experience as a focus of clinical attention, while Morse et al. (1985; 1986) have
investigated near-death experiences in a pediatric population.

Neuro-biological factors in the experience have been investigated by researchers within the
field of medical science and psychiatry (Mayank and Mukesh, 2004; Jansen, 1995; Thomas,
2004). Among the researchers and commentators who tend to emphasize a naturalistic and
neurological base, for the experience, are the British psychologist Susan Blackmore (1993)
and the founding publisher of Skeptic, Michael Shermer (1998).

Among the scientific and academic journals that have published, or are regularly publishing
new research on the subject of NDEs, are: Journal of Near-Death Studies, Journal of Nervous
and Mental Disease, British Journal of Psychology, American Journal of Disease of Children,
Resuscitation, The Lancet, Death Studies, and the Journal of Advanced Nursing.

In September 2008, it was announced that 25 UK and US hospitals will examine near-death
studies in 1,500 heart attack patients-survivors. The 3 years study, co-ordinated by
Southampton University, hopes to determine if people without heartbeat or brain activity
can have an out-of-body experience with veridical visual perceptions.[24] This study follows
on from an earlier 18-month pilot project.[25]

Variance in NDE Studies

The prevalence of NDEs has been variable in the studies that have been performed.
According to the Gallup and Proctor survey in 1980-1981, of a representative sample of the
American population, data showed that 15% had an NDE.[26] Though, Knoblauch in 2001
performed a more selective study in Germany and found that 4% of the sample population
had experienced an NDE.[27] However, the information gathered from these studies may be
subjected to the broad timeframe and location of the investigation.

Perera et al in 2005 conducted a telephone survey of a representative sample of the

Australian population, as part of the Roy Morgan Catibus Survey, and concluded that 8.9% of
the population had experienced an NDE.[28] In a more clinical setting, van Lommel et al
(2001), a cardiologist from Netherlands, studied a group of patients who had suffered
cardiac arrests and who were successfully revived. They found that 18% of these patients
had an NDE, with 12% of those being core experiences.

According to Martens (1994), the only satisfying method to address the NDE-issue would be
an international multicentric data collection within the framework for standardized reporting
of cardiac arrest events. The use of cardiac-arrest criteria as a basis for NDE research has
been a common approach among the European branch of the research field.[29]

Biological Analysis and Theories

In the 1990s, Dr. Rick Strassman conducted research on the psychedelic drug
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) at the University of New Mexico. Strassman advanced the theory
that a massive release of DMT from the pineal gland prior to death or near-death was the
cause of the near-death experience phenomenon. Only two of his test subjects reported
NDE-like aural or visual hallucinations, although many reported feeling as though they had
entered a state similar to the classical NDE. His explanation for this was the possible lack of
panic involved in the clinical setting and possible dosage differences between those
administered and those encountered in actual NDE cases. All subjects in the study were also
very experienced users of DMT and/or other psychedelic/entheogenic agents. Some
speculators consider that if subjects without prior knowledge on the effects of DMT had
been used during the experiment, it is possible more volunteers would have reported feeling
as though they had experienced an NDE.

Critics have argued that neurobiological models often fail to explain NDEs that result from
close brushes with death, where the brain does not actually suffer physical trauma, such as a
near-miss automobile accident. Such events may however have neurobiological effects
caused by stress.

In a new theory devised by Kinseher in 2006, the knowledge of the Sensory Autonomic
System is applied in the NDE phenomenon. His theory states that the experience of looming
death is an extremely strange paradox to a living organism – and therefore it will start the
NDE: during the NDE, the individual becomes capable of “seeing” the brain performing a
scan of the whole episodic memory (even prenatal experiences), in order to find a stored
experience which is comparable to the input information of death. All these scanned and
retrieved bits of information are permanently evaluated by the actual mind, as it is searching
for a coping mechanism out of the potentially fatal situation. Kinseher feels this is the reason
why a near-death experience is so unusual.

The theory also states that out-of-body experiences, accompanied with NDEs, are an
attempt by the brain to create a mental overview of the situation and the surrounding world.
The brain then transforms the input from sense organs and stored experience (knowledge)
into a dream-like idea about oneself and the surrounding area.

Whether or not these experiences are hallucinatory, they do have a profound impact on the
observer. Many psychologists not necessarily pursuing the paranormal, such as Susan
Blackmore, have recognized this. These scientists are not trying to debunk the experience,
but are instead searching for biological causes of NDEs.[30]

Effects
Near-death experiences can have tremendous effects on the people who have them, their
families, and medical workers. Changes in values and beliefs often occur in the experiencer
after a near-death experience, including changes in personality and outlook on life, such as a
greater appreciation for life, higher self-esteem, greater compassion for others, a
heightened sense of purpose and self-understanding, and a desire to learn. The changes
may also include an increased physical sensitivity to and diminished tolerance of light,
alcohol and drugs.

Matthew Dovel, author of “My Last Breath”, having had two near-death experiences,
discusses the side effects associated with having had a NDE (Empathic, telepathy,
clairaudience, clairvoyance, precognition, remote viewing, animals, children, and timepieces).
[31]

Spiritual Viewpoints
Some view the NDE as the precursor to an afterlife experience, claiming that the NDE cannot
be completely explained by physiological or psychological causes, and that consciousness
can function independently of brain activity.[32] Many NDE-accounts seem to include
elements which, according to several theorists, can only be explained by an out-of-body
consciousness. For example, in one account, a woman accurately described a surgical
instrument she had not seen previously, as well as a conversation that occurred while she
was under general anesthesia.[33] In another account, from a prospective Dutch NDE study
[2], a nurse removed the dentures of an unconscious heart attack victim, and was asked by
him after his recovery to return them. It might be difficult to explain in conventional terms
how an unconscious patient could later have recognized the nurse.[34]

Dr. Michael Sabom reports a case about a woman who underwent surgery for an aneurysm.
The woman reported an out-of-body experience that she claimed continued through a brief
period of the absence of any EEG activity. If true, this would seem to challenge the belief by
many that consciousness is situated entirely within the brain.[33]

A majority of individuals who experience an NDE see it as a verification of the existence of an

afterlife.[35] This includes those with agnostic/atheist inclinations before the experience.
Many former atheists, such as the Reverend Howard Storm[36][37] have adopted a more
spiritual viewpoint after their NDEs. Howard Storm’s NDE might also be characterized as a
distressing near-death experience. The distressing aspects of some NDE’s are discussed
more closely by Greyson & Bush (1992).

Greyson claims that “No one physiological or psychological model by itself explains all the
common features of NDE. The paradoxical occurrence of heightened, lucid awareness and
logical thought processes during a period of impaired cerebral perfusion raises particular
perplexing questions for our current understanding of consciousness and its relation to
brain function. A clear sensorium and complex perceptual processes during a period of
apparent clinical death challenge the concept that consciousness is localized exclusively in
the brain.”[38]

A few people feel that research on NDEs occurring in the blind can be interpreted to support
an argument that consciousness survives bodily death. Dr. Kenneth Ring claims in the book
“Mindsight: Near-Death and Out-of-Body Experiences in the Blind” that up to 80% of his
sample studied reported some visual awareness during their NDE or out of body experience.
[39] Skeptics however question the accuracy of their visual awareness.[40]

Some research has suggested that unconscious patients can overhear conversations even if
the hospital machines aren’t registering any brain activity. It is suggested that adrenaline
may cause this.[41] Recent findings have also shown that persons diagnosed in a “persistent
vegetative state” can communicate through their thoughts.[42]
Religious and Physiological Views
There are many religious and physiological views about NDEs. The NDE is often cited as
evidence for the existence of the human soul, the afterlife, heaven and hell, ideas that
appear in many religious traditions. On the other hand, skeptical commentators view NDEs
as purely neurological and chemical phenomena occurring in the brain. From this
perspective NDEs are the result of purely physiological and neurobiological mechanisms.
The imagery in the experiences also varies within cultures.[43][44][45]

Interviews
 abc’s “20/20” interview with Matthew Dovel, (July 13, 2007), Touching Heaven and
Hell

References
 “Dayspring” Wilson, Kimberli, New Age Journal, (Gainesville, Florida) September
1983, p. 25, retrieved online 1/29/2008 “[1]”
 Buzzi, Giorgio. “Correspondence: Near-Death Experiences.” Lancet. Vol. 359, Issue
9323 (June 15, 2002): 2116-2117.
 Britton, Willoughby B. and Richard R. Bootzin. “Near-Death Experiences and the
Temporal Lobe.” Psychological Science. Vol. 15, No. 4 (April 2004): 254-258.
 Blackmore, Susan:Dying to Live: Near-Death Experiences (1993). London, Grafton.
 Grossman, Neil (Indiana University and University of Illinois), Who’s Afraid of Life After
Death? Why NDE Evidence is Ignored, Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), 2002
 Fontana, David (Cardiff University and Liverpool John Moores University), Does Mind
Survive Physical Death?, 2003
 London Telegraph, 10/22/2000 article: Soul-searching doctors find life after death,
about Drs. Peter Fenwick and Sam Parnia studies of heart attack survivors
 Mauro, James (1992) Bright lights, big mystery. Psychology Today, July 1992.
 Greyson, Bruce (2003), “Near-Death Experiences in a Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic
Population”, Psychiatric Services, Dec., Vol. 54 No. 12. The American Psychiatric
Association.
 van Lommel, Pim (Hospital Rijnstate), “Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac
arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands” in The Lancet, 2001.
 van Lommel, Pim (Hospital Rijnstate),”A Reply to Shermer: Medical Evidence for
NDEs” in Skeptical Investigations, 2003.
 The Natural Death Handbook – Varieties of NDE
 Eleven Thai Near-Death Experiences
 Parnia, Waller, Yeates & Fenwick, 2001.
 Mauro, James (1992). “Bright lights, big mystery”, Psychology Today, July 1992.
 Morse, Conner & Tyler, 1985; Morse & Perry, 1992.
 van Lommel P, van Wees R, Meyers V, Elfferich I. (2001) “Near-Death Experience in
Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A prospective Study in the Netherlands”, Lancet,
December 15; 358(9298):2039-45.
 Lange, Greyson & Houran, 2004.
 Ring, Kenneth: “Heading toward Omega. In search of the Meaning of Near-Death
Experience”, 1984.
 Mauro, James. “Bright lights, big mystery”, Psychology Today, July 1992.
 IANDS, printable brochure.
 Ring, K. “Life at death. A scientific investigation of the near-death experience.” 1980,
New York: Coward McCann and Geoghenan.
 Greyson, 1983.
 Jane Dreaper, Study into near-death experiences, BBC News, 18 September 2008.
Accessed 2008-09-20.
 Anthony Carroll, Hospital in near death experience study, EDP24, 19 September
2008. Accessed 2008-09-20.
 Gallup, G., and Proctor, W. (1982). Adventures in immortality: a look beyond the
threshold of death. New York, McGraw Hill.
 Knoblauch, H., Schmied, I. and Schnettler, B. (2001). “Different kinds of Near-Death
Experience: a report on a survey of near-death experiences in Germany”, Journal of
Near-Death Studies, 20, 15-29.
 Perera, M., Padmasekara, G. and Belanti, J. (2005), “Prevalence of Near Death
Experiences in Australia”, Journal of Near-Death Studies, 24(2), 109-116.
 Parnia, Waller, Yeates & Fenwick, 2001; van Lommel, van Wees, Meyers & Elfferich,
2001.
 Bruce Greyson, Kevin Nelson, Susan Blackmore, webpage: News-wdeath11-2006-04.
 Website of author Matthew Dovel, side effects of having a NDE
 Rivas, 2003
 Sabom, Michael. Light & Death: One Doctor’s Fascinating Account of Near-Death
Experiences. 1998. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House
 van Lommel P, van Wees R, Meyers V, Elfferich I. (2001) Near-Death Experience in
Survivors of Cardiac Arrest: A prospective Study in the Netherlands. Lancet,
December 15;358(9298):2039-45.
  Kelly, 2001
 Rodrigues, 2004
 www.southcoasttoday.com
 Greyson, B. (2001). Posttraumatic stress symptoms following near-death experiences.
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 71, 368-373.
 Ring, Cooper, 1999
 Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences (2003) (Revised 2006)
 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/specials/sheffield_99/448489.stm Patients could
suffer from careless whispers
 Woman In Vegetative State Communicated Through Her Thoughts
 http://anthropology.uwaterloo.ca/WNB/NearDeath.html
 http://www.globalideasbank.org/natdeath/ndh3.html#SECTION72
 http://altered-states.net/barry/newsletter224/ndethai1.htm

Further Reading
 American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, fourth edition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association (Code
V62.89, Religious or Spiritual Problem).
 Atwater, P.M.H. (2007) “The Big Book of Near-Death Experiences: The Ultimate Guide
to What Happens When We Die”. Hampton Roads Publishing. ISBN 978-1571745477
 Blackmore, Susan (1993) Dying to live: Science and Near-Death Experiences.
London: Harper Collins. ISBN 978-0879758707
 Blanke, Olaf; Ortigue, Stéphanie; Landis, Theodor; Seeck, Margitta (2002) Stimulating
illusory own-body perceptions. The part of the brain that can induce out-of-body
experiences has been located. Nature, Vol. 419, 19 September 2002
 Britton WB & Bootzin RR. (2004) Near-death experiences and the temporal lobe.
Psychol Sci. Apr;15(4):254-8. PubMed abstract PMID 15043643
 Carey, Stephen S. (2004) A Beginner’s Guide to Scientific Method. Third Edition.
Toronto: Thomson Wadsworth
 Cook, Emily Williams; Greyson, Bruce; Stevenson, Ian (1998) Do Any Near-Death
Experiences Provide Evidence for the Survival of Human Personality after Death?
Relevant Features and Illustrative Case Reports
 Cowan, J. D. (1982) Spontaneous symmetry breaking in large-scale nervous activity.
International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, 22, 1059-1082.
 Delog Dawa Drolma: Delog – Journey to realms beyond death, Publisher: Padma
Publishing (March 1, 1995), ISBN 1881847055 (10), ISBN 978-1881847052 (13)
 Dovel, Matthew: – My Last Breath, two near-death experiences by one man, a
heavenly experience and a hellish experience comparison, Publisher: PublishAmerica
(November, 2003), ISBN 1413701949 (10), ISBN 978-1413701944 (13)
 Father Rose, Seraphim (1980) The Soul after Death. Saint Herman Press, ISBN 0-
938635-14-X
 Greyson, Bruce (1983) The Near-Death Experience Scale: Construction, reliability,
and validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 369-375.
 Greyson, B. (1983) The near-death experience scale. Construction, reliability, and
validity. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Jun;171(6):369-75.
 Greyson B. (1997) The near-death experience as a focus of clinical attention. Journal
of Nervous and Mental Disease. May;185(5):327-34. PubMed abstract PMID 9171810
 Greyson, B. (2000) Some neuropsychological correlates of the physio-kundalini
syndrome. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 32, 123-134.
 Greyson, Bruce (2003) Near-Death Experiences in a Psychiatric Outpatient Clinic
Population. Psychiatric Services, December, Vol. 54 No. 12. The American Psychiatric
Association
 Greyson, Bruce & Bush, Nancy E. (1992) Distressing near-death experiences.
Psychiatry, Feb;55(1):95-110.
 IANDS. IANDS: The International Association for Near-Death Studies. Printable
Brochure. Available at www.iands.org
 Jansen, Karl L. R. (1995) Using ketamine to induce the near-death experience:
mechanism of action and therapeutic potential. Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and the
Study of Consciousness (Jahrbuch furr Ethnomedizin und Bewubtseinsforschung)
Issue 4 pp55-81.
 Jansen, Karl L. R. (1997) The Ketamine Model of the Near Death Experience: A
central role for the NMDA Receptor. Journal of Near-Death Studies Vol. 16, No.1
 Kelly EW. (2001) Near-death experiences with reports of meeting deceased people.
Death Stud. Apr-May;25(3):229-49
 Lange R, Greyson B, Houran J. (2004) A Rasch scaling validation of a ‘core’ near-
death experience. British Journal of Psychology, Volume: 95 Part: 2 Page: 161-177
 Lukoff, David, Lu, Francis G. & Turner, Robert P. (1998) From Spiritual Emergency to
Spiritual Problem – The Transpersonal Roots of the New DSM-IV Category. Journal of
Humanistic Psychology, 38(2), 21-50
 Martens PR. (1994) Near-death-experiences in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survivors.
Meaningful phenomena or just fantasy of death? Resuscitation. Mar;27(2):171-5.
PubMed abstract PMID 8029538
 Morse M, Castillo P, Venecia D, Milstein J, Tyler DC. (1986) Childhood near-death
experiences. American Journal of Diseases of Children, Nov;140(11):1110-4.
 Morse M., Conner D. and Tyler D. (1985) Near-Death Experiences in a pediatric
population. A preliminary report, American Journal of Disease of Children, n. 139
PubMed abstract PMID 4003364
 Morse, Melvin (1990) Closer to the Light: Learning From the Near-Death Experiences
of Children. New York: Villard books
 Morse, Melvin & Perry, Paul (1992) Transformed by the Light. New York: Villard books
 Moody, R. (1975) Life After Life: The Investigation of a Phenomenon – Survival of
Bodily Death. New York: Bantam
 Moody, R. (1977) Reflections on Life After Life: More Important Discoveries In The
Ongoing Investigation Of Survival Of Life After Bodily Death. New York: Bantam
 Moody, R. (1999) The Last Laugh: A New Philosophy of Near-Death Experiences,
Apparitions, and the Paranormal. Hampton Roads Publishing Company
 Mullens, K. (1992) Returned From The Other Side. Publ. Kenneth G. Mullens
 Mullens, K. (1995) Visions From The Other Side. Publ. Kenneth G. Mullens
 Orne RM. (1995) The meaning of survival: the early aftermath of a near-death
experience. Research in Nursing & Health. 1995 Jun;18(3):239-47. PubMed
abstract PMID 7754094
 Parnia S, Waller DG, Yeates R, Fenwick P (2001) A qualitative and quantitative study
of the incidence, features and aetiology of near death experiences in cardiac arrest
survivors. Resuscitation. Feb;48(2):149-56. PubMed abstract PMID 11426476
 Peake, Anthony (2006) “Is There Life After Death?” (Chartwell Books in USA &
Arcturus in UK)
 Pinchbeck, Daniel (2002) Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the
Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. Broadway Books, trade paperback, 322 pages
 Pravda (2004) Reanimators try to grasp the afterlife mystery. Pravda article
21.12.2004. (Article translated by: Maria Gousseva)
 Raaby et al. (2005) Beyond the Deathbed.
 Rapini, Mary Jo with Harper, Mary (2006) “Is God Pink? Dying to Heal”.
Baltimore:Publish America. www.maryjorapini.com
 Rivas T. (2003). The Survivalist Interpretation of Recent Studies into the Near-Death
Experience. Journal of Religion and Psychical Research, 26, 1, 27-31.
  Rodrigues, Linda Andrade (2004) Ex-atheist describes near-death experience.
Standard Times, Page C4, January 31, 2004
 Sabom, Michael (1998) Light & Death: One Doctor’s Fascinating Account of Near-
Death Experiences. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House
 Simpson SM. (2001) Near death experience: a concept analysis as applied to nursing.
Journal of Advanced Nursing. Nov;36(4):520-6. PubMed abstract PMID 11703546
 Rick Strassman, DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor’s Revolutionary Research into
the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences, 320 pages, Park Street Press,
2001, ISBN 0-89281-927-8
 Thomas, Shawn (2004) Agmatine and Near-Death Experiences. Article published at
www.neurotransmitter.net
 Kinseher Richard (2008), “Verborgene Wurzeln des Glücks – selbstbeobachtbare
Gehirnfunktion.” BoD, ISBN 978-3-8334-7378-4, German Language, (A new theory:
During a Near-Death-Experience, a person can observe the scan of the own episodic
memory. These stored experiences are then judged by the topical intellect.)
 Tulku Thondup: Peaceful Death, Joyful Rebirth: A Tibetan Buddhist Guidebook with a
CD of Guided Meditations”,Publisher: Shambhala; Pap/Com edition (December 12,
2006), ISBN 1590303857 (10), ISBN 978-1590303856 (13)

Personal Experiences
 Return from Tomorrow by George G. Ritchie, M.D. with Elizabeth Sherrill (1978).
George G. Ritchie, M.D. held positions as president of the Richmond Academy of
General Practice; chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of Towers Hospital; and
founder and president of the Universal Youth Corps, Inc. He lived in Virginia. At the
age of twenty, George Ritchie died in an army hospital. Nine minutes later he returned
to life. What happened to him during those minutes was so compelling, it changed his
life forever. In Return from Tomorrow, he tells of his out-of-the-body encounter with
other beings, his travel through different dimensions of time and space, and ultimately,
his transforming meeting with the Light of the world, the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Ritchie’s extraordinary experience not only altered his view of eternity, it directed and
governed his entire life, and provided a startling and hopeful description of the realm
beyond. Ritchie’s story was the first contact Dr. Raymond Moody, PhD (who was
studying at the University of Virginia, as an undergraduate in Philosophy, at the time)
had with NDEs. It inspired Moody to investigate over 150 cases of near-death
experiences, in his book Life After Life, and two other books that followed.
 Embraced by the Light by Betty Eadie (1992). One of the most detailed near-death
experiences on record.
 Saved by the Light by Dannion Brinkley. Brinkley’s experience documents one of the
most complete near death experiences, in terms of core experience and additional
phenomena from the NDE scale. Brinkley was clinically dead for 28 minutes and taken
to a hospital morgue.
 Placebo by Howard Pittman (1980). A detailed record of Mr. Pittman’s near-death
experience.
 The Darkness of God by John Wren-Lewis (1985), Bulletin of the Australian Institute
for Psychical Research No 5. An account of the far-reaching effects of his NDE after
going through the death process several times in one night.
 Bahá’í Reinee Pasarow has presented her experiences and an extended talk which
was filmed Part 1,Part2, with a partial transcript, and analyzed from a religious point of
view in a Commentary and analyzed as part of the paper The Exploration of Life After
Death. Pasarow was interviewed by Dr. Kenneth Ring.[1]
 Anita Moorjani, an ethnic Indian woman from Hong Kong experienced a truly
remarkable NDE which has been documented on the Near Death Experience
Research Foundation (NDERF) website as one of the most exceptional accounts on
their archives. She had end-stage cancer and on February 2, 2006, doctors told her
family that she only had a few hours to live. Following her NDE, Anita experienced a
remarkable total recovery of her health. Her full story can be read at www.nderf.org
titled “Anita M’s NDE”.
 Goldie Hawn, while giving a speech at the Buell Theater in Denver, Colorado,
reflected upon her near-death experience. When she was younger, and starting out as
an actress, she and a group of friends were in a severe car crash together. While she
was unconscious, she remembers looking over herself while the paramedics were
trying to revive her. She also mentioned seeing a bright light and being told it was not
her time soon before she awoke.
 Kiki Carter, a.k.a. Kimberli Wilson, an environmental activist and singer/songwriter,
reported a near-death experience in 1983. The day after the experience, her mother,
Priscilla Greenwood, encouraged her to write it down. Priscilla Greenwood published
the story in September 1983 in a local metaphysical journal. For 24 hours after the
experience, Kimberli had an aftervision which was a catalyst for her interest in
quantum physics and holograms. The article was scanned and can be retrieved online
at [3].
External Links
As an afterlife experience
 International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS)
 Near-Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF)
 Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife Near-Death.com
 SpiritualTravel.org – Explaining Neath-death Experiences, Objections to current
scientific arguments
 Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the
Netherlands Lommel, Hospital Rijnstate
 Does Mind Survive Physical Death? Fontana, Cardiff University and Liverpool John
Moores University
 How Stuff Works – Near Death Experience
 News for the Soul, Archived Webradio Interview with P.M.H. Atwater and Dannion
Brinkley on NDE research (mp3 realplayer set at 20, 32, 42 min.)
 Thoughtful Living, a study of near death experiences
 A TED talk given by Jill Bolte Taylor
 “My Last Breath”, by Matthew Dovel

Neutral
 Using Ketamine to Induce the Near-Death Experience:Mechanism of Action and
Therapeutic Potential – Dr. Karl L. R. Jansen MD, PhD, MRCPsych
 University of Virginia Health System – Division of Personality Studies

As a physiological and psychological experience

 Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences by Keith Augustine, published on the Secular
Web
 A Special Report: What Is Betty Eadie Hiding? Christian Research Institute Journal
 Skepdic Article
 Near-Death Experiences: In or out of the body? – Susan Blackmore, Published in
Skeptical Inquirer 1991, 16, 34-45
 The Ketamine Model of the Near Death Experience:A Central Role for the NMDA
Receptor – Dr. Karl L. R. Jansen MD, PhD, MRCPsych
LUCID DREAM
A lucid dream is a dream in which the person is aware that he or she is dreaming while the
dream is in progress, also known as a conscious dream. When the dreamer is lucid, he or
she can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream
environment. Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person’s level of
self-awareness during the lucid dream.[1]

A lucid dream can begin in one of two ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD) starts as a
normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that he or she is dreaming, while a
wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking
state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness. Lucid dreaming
has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established.[2][3] Scientists such
as Allan Hobson, with his neurophysiological approach to dream research, have helped to
push the understanding of lucid dreaming into a less speculative realm.

Scientific History
The first book on lucid dreams to recognize their scientific potential was Celia Green’s 1968
study Lucid Dreams.[4] Reviewing the past literature, as well as new data from subjects of
her own, Green analyzed the main characteristics of such dreams and concluded that they
were a category of experience quite distinct from ordinary dreams. She predicted that they
would turn out to be associated with rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep). Green was also
the first to link lucid dreams to the phenomenon of false awakenings.

Philosopher Norman Malcolm’s 1959 text Dreaming[5] had argued against the possibility of
checking the accuracy of dream reports. However, the realization that eye movements
performed in dreams affected the dreamer’s physical eyes provided a way to prove that
actions agreed upon during waking life could be recalled and performed once lucid in a
dream. The first evidence of this type was produced in the late 1970s by British
parapsychologist Keith Hearne. A volunteer named Alan Worsley used eye movement to
signal the onset of lucidity, which were recorded by a polysomnograph machine.

Hearne’s results were not widely distributed. The first peer-reviewed article was published
some years later by Stephen LaBerge at Stanford University, who had independently
developed a similar technique as part of his doctoral dissertation.[6] During the 1980s,
further scientific evidence to confirm the existence of lucid dreaming was produced as lucid
dreamers were able to demonstrate to researchers that they were consciously aware of
being in a dream state (again, primarily using eye movement signals).[7] Additionally,
techniques were developed which have been experimentally proven to enhance the
likelihood of achieving this state.[8] Research on techniques and effects of lucid dreaming
continues at a number of universities and other centers, including LaBerge’s Lucidity
Institute.

Research and Clinical Applications

Neurobiological Model
Neuroscientist J. Allan Hobson has hypothesized as to what might be occurring in the brain
while lucid. The first step to lucid dreaming is recognizing that one is dreaming. This
recognition might occur in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which is one of the few areas
deactivated during REM sleep and where working memory occurs. Once this area is
activated and the recognition of dreaming occurs, the dreamer must be cautious to let the
dream delusions continue but be conscious enough to recognize them. This process might
be seen as the balance between reason and emotion. While maintaining this balance, the
amygdala and parahippocampal cortex might be less intensely activated.[9] To continue the
intensity of the dream hallucinations, it is expected the pons and the parieto-occipital
junction stay active.[10] The act of lucid dreaming has a very large impact on the conscious
and subconscious mind. Since dreaming is a subconscious act and thinking is a conscious
act, thinking while dreaming merges the two, allowing one more control over their
subconscious mind. This can then lead to many benefits like being able to think while
sleeping, therefore giving you more time to act while being awake.

Treatment for Nightmares

People who suffer from nightmares would benefit from the ability to be aware they are
dreaming. A pilot study was performed in 2006 that showed that lucid dreaming treatment
was successful in reducing nightmare frequency. This treatment consisted of exposure to
the idea, mastery of the technique, and lucidity exercises. It was not clear what aspects of
the treatment were responsible for the success of overcoming nightmares, though the
treatment as a whole was successful.[11] The act of lucid dreaming has a very large impact
on the conscious and subconscious mind. Since dreaming is a subconscious act and thinking
is a conscious act, thinking while dreaming merges the two, allowing one more control over
their subconscious mind. This can then lead to many benefits like being able to think while
sleeping, therefore giving you more time to act while being awake. Australian psychologist,
Milan Colic, has explored the application of principles from narrative therapy with clients’
lucid dreams to reduce the impact not only of nightmares during sleep, but also depression,
self-mutilation, and other problems in waking life. Colic found that clients’ preferred
direction for their lives, as identified during therapeutic conversations, could lessen the
distressing content of dreams, while understandings about life – and even characters – from
lucid dreams could be invoked in ‘real’ life with marked therapeutic benefits.[12]

Perception of Time
The rate that time passes while lucid dreaming has been shown to be about the same as
while waking. However, a 1995 study in Germany indicated lucid dreaming can also have
varied time spans, in which the dreamer can control the length. The study took place during
sleep and upon awakening, and required the participants to record their dreams in a log and
how long the dreams lasted. In 1985, LaBerge performed a pilot study where lucid dreamers
counted out ten seconds while dreaming, signaling the end of counting with a pre-arranged
eye signal measured with electrooculogram recording.[13] LaBerge’s results were confirmed
by German researchers in 2004. The German study, by D. Erlacher and M. Schredl, also
studied motor activity and found that deep knee bends took 44% longer to perform while
lucid dreaming.[14]

Near-death and Out-of-Body Experiences

In a study of fourteen lucid dreamers performed in 1991, people who perform wake-initiated
lucid dreams (WILD) reported experiences consistent with aspects of out-of-body
experiences such as floating above their beds and the feeling of leaving their bodies.[15]
Due to the phenomenological overlap between lucid dreams, near death experiences, and
out-of-body experiences, researchers say they believe a protocol could be developed to
induce a lucid dream similar to a near-death experience in the laboratory.[16]

Cultural History
Even though it has only come to the attention of the general public in the last few decades,
lucid dreaming is not a modern discovery. A letter written by St. Augustine of Hippo in 415
AD refers to lucid dreaming.[17] In the eighth century, Tibetan Buddhists were practicing a
form of yoga supposed to maintain full waking consciousness while in the dream state.[18]
This system is extensively discussed and explained in the book Dream Yoga and the Practice
of Natural Light.[19] One of the important messages of the book is the distinction between
the Dzogchen meditation of Awareness and Dream Yoga. The Dzogchen Awareness
meditation has also been referred to by the terms Rigpa Awareness, Contemplation, and
Presence. Awareness during the sleep and dream states is associated with the Dzogchen
practice of natural light. This practice only achieves lucid dreams as a secondary effect—in
contrast to Dream yoga which is aimed primarily at lucid dreaming. According to Buddhist
teachers, the experience of lucidity helps us to understand the unreality of phenomena,
which would otherwise be overwhelming during dream or the death experience.

An early recorded lucid dreamer was the philosopher and physician Sir Thomas Browne
(1605–1682). Browne was fascinated by the world of dreams and stated of his own ability to
lucid dream in his Religio Medici: “… yet in one dream I can compose a whole Comedy,
behold the action, apprehend the jests and laugh my self awake at the conceits
thereof;”[20]Marquis d’Hervey de Saint-Denys was probably the first person to argue that it
is possible for anyone to learn to dream consciously. In 1867, he published his book Les
Reves et les Moyens de Les Diriger; Observations Pratiques (Dreams and How to Guide
them; Practical Observations), in which he documented more than twenty years of his own
research into dreams.

The term lucid dreaming was coined by Dutch author and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in
his 1913 article “A Study of Dreams”.[21] This paper was highly anecdotal and not embraced
by the scientific community. Some consider this a misnomer because it means much more
than just “clear or vivid” dreaming.[22] The alternative term conscious dreaming avoids this
confusion. However, the term lucid was used by van Eeden in its sense of “having insight”, as
in the phrase a lucid interval applied to someone in temporary remission from a psychosis,
rather than as a reference to the perceptual quality of the experience which may or may not
be clear and vivid. In the 1950s, the Senoi hunter-gatherers of Malaysia were reported to
make extensive use of lucid dreaming to ensure mental health, although later studies
refuted these claims.[23]

Induction Methods
Many people report having experienced a lucid dream during their lives, often in childhood.
Children seem to have lucid dreams more easily than adults. Although lucid dreaming is a
conditioned skill,[24] achieving lucid dreams on a regular basis can be difficult, even with
training. Over time, several techniques have been developed to achieve a lucid dreaming
state intentionally. The following are common factors that influence lucid dreaming and
techniques that people use to help achieve a lucid dream:
Dream Recall
Dream recall is simply the ability to remember dreams. Good dream recall is often described
as the first step towards lucid dreaming. Better recall increases awareness of dreams in
general; with limited dream recall, any lucid dreams one has can be forgotten entirely. To
improve dream recall, some people keep a dream journal, writing down any dreams
remembered the moment one awakes. An audio recorder can also be very helpful.[25] It is
important to record the dreams as quickly as possible as there is a strong tendency to forget
what one has dreamt.[26] It is suggested that for best recall, the waking dreamer should
keep eyes closed while trying to remember the dream, and that one’s dream journal be
recorded in the present tense.[25] Describing an experience as if presently in it can help the
writer to recall more accurately the events of their dream.[citation needed] Dream recall can
also be improved by staying still after waking up.[26] This may have something to do with
REM atonia (the condition of REM sleep in which the motor neurons are not stimulated and
thus the body’s muscles do not move). If one purposely prevents motor neurons from firing
immediately after waking from a dream, recalling said dream becomes easier. Similarly, if
the dreamer changes positions in the night, they may be able to recall certain events of their
dream by testing different sleeping positions.[citation needed

Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams (MILD)

The MILD technique is a common technique developed by Dr. Stephen LaBerge used to
induce a lucid dream at will by setting an intention, while falling asleep, to remember to
recognize that one is dreaming or to remember to look for dream signs when one is in a
dream.

Wake-back-to-bed (WBTB)
The wake-back-to-bed technique is often the easiest way to encourage a lucid dream. The
method involves going to sleep tired and waking up five to six hours later. Then, focusing all
thoughts on lucid dreaming, staying awake for an hour and going back to sleep while
practicing the MILD method. A 60% success rate has been shown in research using this
technique.[27] This is because the REM cycles get longer as the night goes on, and this
technique takes advantage of the best REM cycle of the night. Because this REM cycle is
longer and deeper, gaining lucidity during this time may result in a lengthier lucid dream.[27]
Cycle Adjustment Technique (CAT)
The cycle adjustment technique, developed by Daniel Love, is an effective way to induce
lucid dreaming. It involves adjusting one’s sleep cycle to encourage awareness during the
latter part of the sleep. First, the person spends one week waking up 90 minutes before
normal wake time until their sleep cycle begins to adjust. After this cycle adjustment phase,
the normal wake times and early wake times alternate daily. On the days with the normal
wake times, the body is ready to wake up, and this increases alertness, making lucidity more
likely.

A variation on this method, also developed by Daniel Love is WILD-CAT. Identical in virtually
all respects to the original Cycle Adjustment Technique, differing only in such that on the
days in which one is allowed to sleep-in (normal wake times), the subject wakes breifly at the
earlier wake time then returns immediately to sleep until the normal wake time. This allows
the subject to return to sleep in the hope of inducing a Wake Initiated Lucid Dream. One
advantage that WILD-CAT is that it can be combined with other WILD induction methods.

Wake-Initiation of Lucid Dreams (WILD)

The wake-initiated lucid dream “occurs when the sleeper enters REM sleep with unbroken
self-awareness directly from the waking state”.[28] There are many techniques aimed at
entering a WILD. The key to these techniques is recognizing the hypnagogic stage, which is
within the border of being awake and being asleep. If a person is successful in staying aware
while this stage occurs, he or she will eventually enter the dream state while being fully
aware that it is a dream.

There are key times at which this state is best entered; while success at normal bedtime
after having been awake all day is very difficult, it is relatively easy after sleeping for 3–7
hours or in the afternoon during a nap. Techniques for inducing WILDs abound. Dreamers
may count, envision themselves climbing or descending stairs, chant to themselves, control
their breathing, count their breaths to keep their thoughts from drifting, concentrate on
relaxing their body from their toes to their head, or allow images to flow through their
“mind’s eye” and envision themselves jumping into the image to maintain concentration and
keep their mind awake, while still being calm enough to let their body sleep.

During the actual transition into the dream state, one is likely to experience sleep paralysis,
including rapid vibrations,[15] a sequence of loud sounds and a feeling of twirling into
another state of body awareness, “to drift off into another dimension”, or the feeling like
passing the interface between water into air face-front body first, or images or sceneries
they are thinking of and trying to visualize gradually sharpen and become “real”, which they
can actually “see”, instead of the fuzzy indefinable sensations one feels when trying to
imagine something when wide awake.

Lucid Dream Supplements (LDS)

The Lucid Dream Supplement (LDS) technique was co-founded by Scot Stride and Thomas
Yuschak[29][30] in October, 2005. This technique received its motivation from seminal
research initially carried out by LaBerge in 2004.[31] The LDS method uses primarily non-
prescription supplements that are ingested to produce favorable conditions for the brains
neurotransmitters and receptor sites during REM sleep. By increasing or balancing the levels
of Acetylcholine, Serotonin, Dopamine and Norepinephrine the person can significantly
influence dream vividness, memory, clarity, awareness and mood. Enhancing these mental
states during REM sleep significantly increases the odds of becoming lucid. The LDS
technique can be combined with other techniques (like WBTB or WILD) to complement or
amplify them to produce even better results. Yuschak describes the details of the technique
in his book.[29] Based on anecdotal accounts from various website forums, many people
who have experienced difficulties with the other techniques, for whatever reason, are using
LDS as an aid in overcoming their obstacles. Some people use LDS to jump start their LD
practice and then move on to one of the other traditional methods. Other people use it
recreationally to experience more memorable and vivid dreams than they normally would.
Most, if not all, of the LDS research occurring today is by private study groups not affiliated
with any university, corporate or government agency.

Lucid Dream Induction Devices (LDID)

Lucid dream induction is possible by the use of a physical device. The general principle
works by taking advantage of the natural phenomenon of incorporating external stimuli into
one’s dreams. Usually a device is worn while sleeping that can detect when the sleeper
enters a REM phase and triggers a noise and/or flashing lights with the goal of these stimuli
being incorporated into the dreamer’s dream. For example flashing lights might be
translated to a car’s headlights in a dream.
Another induction stimulus is vibration. A small vibrator placed on the hand, arm or ankle
and triggered by REM activity, or a timer, can also serve as a cue to trigger a lucid dream.[32]
Additional techniques include reality tests (as below) practiced in waking life can lead to a
test taking place within a dream, leading to the realization that one is dreaming or
meditation.[citation needed] hypnotic suggestion may help a person to achieve lucidity.[33]
Michael Katz referenced using simple hypnotic induction for the purpose of initiating lucid
dreams in his introduction to the first edition of the book Dream Yoga and the Practice of
Natural Light. From the early 1980s, he went on to use this “guided nap” technique during
dream yoga and lucid dream training. He conducts training internationally and maintains an
archive of examples.[34]

Reality Testing
Reality testing (or reality checking) is a common method used by people to determine
whether or not they are dreaming. It involves performing an action with results that will be
different if the tester is dreaming. By practicing these tests during waking life, one may
eventually decide to perform such a test while dreaming, which may fail and let the dreamer
realize that they are dreaming.

Common reality tests include:

 The nose reality check: Pinch your nose and if you are able to breathe without using
your mouth, it is a dream.[35]
 Try to stick your finger through the palm of your hand.[36]
 Looking at one’s digital watch (remembering the time), looking away, and looking
back. As with text, the time will probably have changed randomly and radically at the
second glance or contain strange letters and characters. (Analog watches do not
usually change in dreams, while digital watches have great tendency to do so.)[37]
 Flipping a light switch. Light levels rarely change as a result of the switch flipping in
dreams.[38]
 Looking into a mirror; in dreams, reflections from a mirror often appear to be blurred,
distorted, incorrect or frightening.[38]
 Looking at the ground beneath one’s feet or at one’s hands. If one does this within a
dream the difference in appearance of the ground or one’s hands from the normal
waking state is often enough to alert the conscious to the dream state.[39]
Dream Signs
Another form of reality testing involves identifying one’s dream signs, clues that one is
dreaming. An individual may record their dreams in a Dream Journal and analyse the
common themes to determine one’s own Dream Signs. Dream signs are often categorized as
follows:

 Action — The dreamer, another dream character, or a thing does something unusual
or impossible in waking life, such as being able to fly, being able to walk through walls,
being able to change the setting illogically, or noticing photographs in a magazine or
newspaper becoming three-dimensional with full movement.
 Powerlessness — There may typically be a sensational loss of bodily strength.
 Context — The place or situation in the dream is strange and includes fictional
characters or places.
 Form — The dreamer, another character, or an object changes shape, is oddly
formed, or transforms. This may include the presence of unusual clothing or hair, or a
third person view of the dreamer.
 Awareness — A peculiar thought, a strong emotion, an unusual sensation, a loss of
normal logic, or an altered perception. In some cases when moving one’s head from
side to side, one may notice a strange stuttering or ‘strobing’ of the image.
 Cohesion — Sometimes the dreamer may seem to teleport to another location in a
dream, without a noticeable transition.

Prolongation
One problem faced by people wishing to lucid dream is awakening prematurely. This
premature awakening can be frustrating after investing considerable time into achieving
lucidity in the first place. Stephen LaBerge proposed two ways to prolong a lucid dream. The
first technique involves spinning one’s dream body. He proposed that when spinning, the
dreamer is engaging parts of the brain that may also be involved in REM activity, helping to
prolong REM sleep. The second technique is rubbing one’s hands. This technique is intended
to engage the dreamer’s brain in producing the sensation of rubbing hands, preventing the
sensation of lying in bed from creeping into awareness. LaBerge tested his hypothesis by
asking 34 volunteers to either spin, rub their hands, or do nothing. Results showed 90% of
dreams were prolonged by hand rubbing and 96% prolonged by spinning. Only 33% of lucid
dreams were prolonged with taking no action.[40]
Once the initial barrier of lucidity is broken, the dreamer’s next obstacle is the excitement of
being conscious within a dream. It is key that the dreamer immediately relaxes upon
becoming lucid. There are many methods that work, but in general saturating any of the
senses with stimuli from the dream is important. Vision is usually the first sense to fade
away, with touch commonly being the last. If the dream starts to fade, you can grab a hold of
anything close by, making sure to feel the tactile sensation. Other techniques include
shouting in a loud and clear voice, “INCREASE LUCIDITY!” inside the dream. People are often
reluctant to do this, but it significantly stabilizes the dream and increases its vividness. The
well-known author, Carlos Castaneda, suggests that the dreamer touch their tongue to the
roof of their mouth, an action that greatly increases the realness of the dream.[41]

Other Associated Phenomena

Rapid Eye Movement (REM)

When a person is dreaming, the eyes move rapidly. Scientific research has found that these
eye movements correspond to the direction in which the dreamer is “looking” in his/her
dreamscape; this has enabled trained lucid dreamers to communicate whilst dreaming to
researchers by using eye movement signals.[13]

False Awakening
In a false awakening, one suddenly dreams of having been awakened. Commonly in a false
awakening, the room is similar to the room in which the person fell asleep. If the person was
lucid, they often believe that they are no longer dreaming and may start exiting the room
and so forth. This can be a nemesis in the art of lucid dreaming, because it usually causes
people to give up their awareness of being in a dream, but it can also cause someone to
become lucid if the person does a reality check whenever he/she awakens. People who keep
a dream journal and write down their dreams upon awakening sometimes report having to
write down the same dream multiple times because of this phenomenon. It has also been
known to cause bed wetting as one may dream that they have awoken to go to the
restroom, but in reality are still dreaming. The makers of induction devices such as the
NovaDreamer and the REM Dreamer recommend doing a reality check every time you
awake so that when a false awakening occurs you will become lucid. People using these
devices have most of their lucid dreams triggered through reality checks upon awakening.
[42]

Sleep Paralysis
During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain in order to prevent the
movements, which occur in the dream, from causing the physical body to move. However, it
is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep while the
brain awakens. This can lead to a state where a person is lying in his or her bed and he or
she feels paralyzed. Hypnagogic hallucination may occur in this state, especially auditory
ones. Effects of sleep paralysis include heaviness or inability to move the muscles, rushing or
pulsating noises, and brief hypnogogic imagery. Experiencing sleep paralysis is a necessary
part of WILD, in which the dreamer essentially detaches his “dream” body from the
paralyzed one.

Out-of-Body Experience
An out-of-body experience (OBE or sometimes OOBE) is an experience that typically involves
a sensation of floating outside of one’s body and, in some cases, perceiving one’s physical
body from a place outside one’s body (autoscopy). About one in ten people has had an out-
of-body experience at some time in their lives.[43] Scientists know little about the
phenomenon.[44]

Rarity
Given the frequent bizarreness, illogic and dislocation of dreams, some researchers have
questioned why dreamers are not lucid all of the time. How can our dreaming selves accept
as real so many settings, images and events that in waking life, we assume, would
immediately jolt us into disbelief? The answer to this has been approached in three
categories of investigation. Depth psychology suggests that the unconscious “dream-work” is
repressing or inhibiting critical evaluation of the dream in order to perform its salutary
function. “Belief” in the dream symbols and experience is required for healing, personality
integration or catharsis to take place. Lucidity can only arise if a person is relatively free of
un-reconciled conflicts which form barriers.[45]
Physiology suggests that “seeing is believing” to the brain during any mental state. Even
waking consciousness is liable to accept discontinuous or illogical experience as real if
presented as such to the brain.[46] Dream consciousness is similar to that of a hallucinating
awake subject. Dream or hallucinatory images triggered by the brain stem are considered to
be real, even if fantastic.[47] The impulse to accept the evident is so strong the dreamer will
often invent a memory or story to cover up an incongruous or unrealistic event in the
dream. “That man has two heads!” is usually followed not with “I must be dreaming!” but
with “Yes, I read in the paper about these famous Siamese twins.”[48]

Developmental psychology suggests that the dream world is not bizarre at all when viewed
developmentally, since we were dreaming as children before we learned all of the physical
and social laws that train the mind to a “reality.” Fluid imaginative constructions may have
preceded the more rigid, logical waking rules and continue on as a normative lifeworld
alongside the acquired, waking life world. Dreaming and waking consciousness differ only in
their respective level of expectations, the waking “I” expecting a stricter set of “reality rules”
as the child matures. The experience of “waking up” normally establishes the boundary
between the two lifeworlds and cues the consciousness to adapt to waking “I” expectations.
At times, however, this cue is false—a false awakening. Here the waking “I” (with its level of
expectations) is activated even though the experience is still hallucinatory. Incongruous
images or illogical events during this type of dream can result in lucidity as the dream is
being judged by waking “standards.”[49]

Notes
 Lucid Dreaming FAQ LaBerge, S. & Levitan, L. (2004). Version 2.3
 Watanabe Tsuneo (March 2003). “Lucid Dreaming: Its Experimental Proof and
Psychological Conditions”. Journal of International Society of Life Information Science
21 (1): 159–162.
 LaBerge, Stephen (1990). in Bootzen, R. R., Kihlstrom, J.F. & Schacter, D.L., (Eds.):
Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep
Sleep and Cognition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, pp. 109
– 126.
 Green, C., Lucid Dreams, London: Hamish Hamilton, 1968.
 Malcolm, N., Dreaming, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1959.
 Laberge, S. (1980). Lucid dreaming: An exploratory study of consciousness during
sleep. (Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University, 1980), (University Microfilms No. 80-24, 691)
 LaBerge, Stephen (1990). in Bootzen, R. R., Kihlstrom, J.F. & Schacter, D.L., (Eds.):
Lucid Dreaming: Psychophysiological Studies of Consciousness during REM Sleep
Sleep and Cognition. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association, pp. 109
– 126.
 LaBerge, Stephen; Levitan, Lynne (1995). “Validity Established of DreamLight Cues
for Eliciting Lucid Dreaming”. Dreaming 5 (3). International Association for the Study of
Dreams.
 Muzur A, Pace-Schott EF; Allan Hobson (November 2002). “The prefrontal cortex in
sleep” (PDF). Trends Cogn Sci 1;2(11): 475–481.
 Hobson, J. Allan (2001). The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of
Consciousness. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 96-98. ISBN 978-
0262582209.
 Spoormaker,-Victor-I; van-den-Bout,-Jan (October 2006). “Lucid Dreaming Treatment
for Nightmares: A Pilot Study”. Psychotherapy-and-Psychosomatics. 75 (6): 389–394.
doi:10.1159/000095446.
 Colic, M. (2007). ‘Kanna’s lucid dreams and the use of narrative practices to explore
their meaning.’ The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work
(4): 19-26.
 LaBerge, S. (2000). “Lucid dreaming: Evidence and methodology”. Behavioral and
Brain Sciences 23 (6): 962–3. doi:10.1017/S0140525X00574020.
 Erlacher, D.; Schredl, M. (2004). “Required time for motor activities in lucid dreams”.
Perceptual and Motor Skills 99: 1239–1242. doi:10.2466/PMS.99.7.1239-1242.
 Lynne Levitan; Stephen LaBerge (1991). “Other Worlds: Out-of-Body Experiences and
Lucid Dreams”. Nightlight 3 (2-3). The Lucidity Institute.
 Green, J. Timothy (1995). “Lucid dreams as one method of replicating components of
the near-death experience in a laboratory setting.”. Journal-of-Near-Death-Studies 14:
49-.
 Letter from St. Augustine of Hippo
 (March 2005). The Best Sleep Posture for Lucid Dreaming: A Revised Experiment
Testing a Method of Tibetan Dream Yoga. The Lucidity Institute.
 Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light, 2nd edition, Snowlion Publications;
authored by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, an eminent Tibetan Lama, and his student
Michael Katz, a Psychologist and lucid dream trainer.
 Religio Medici, part 2:11. Text available
at http://penelope.uchicago.edu/relmed/relmed.html
 Frederik van Eeden (1913). “A study of Dreams”. Proceedings of the Society for
Psychical Research 26.
 Blackmore, Susan (1991). “Lucid Dreaming: Awake in Your Sleep?”. Skeptical Inquirer
15: pp 362 – 370.
 G. William Domhoff (2003). Senoi Dream Theory: Myth, Scientific Method, and the
Dreamwork Movement. Retrieved July 10, 2006.
 LaBerge, Stephen (1980). “Lucid dreaming as a learnable skill: A case study”.
Perceptual and Motor Skills 51: 1039–1042.
 Webb, Craig (1995). “Dream Recall Techniques: Remember more Dreams” (html).
The DREAMS Foundation.
 Stephen LaBerge (1989). “How to Remember Your Dreams”. Nightlight 1 (1). The
Lucidity Institute.
 Stephen LaBerge; Leslie Phillips, Lynne Levitan (1994). “An Hour of Wakefulness
Before Morning Naps Makes Lucidity More Likely”. NightLight 6 (3). The Lucidity
Institute.
 Stephen LaBerge; Lynne Levitan (1995). “Validity Established of Dreamlight Cues for
Eliciting Lucid Dreaming”. Dreaming 5 (3): 159–168. The Lucidity Institute.
 Thomas Yuschak (2006). Advanced Lucid Dreaming, 1st ed., Lulu Enterprises. ISBN
978-1-4303-0542-2.
 Thomas Yuschak (2007). Pharmacological Induction of Lucid dreams.
 “Substances that enhance recall and lucidity during dreaming”. Stephen LaBerge – US
Patent. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
 [1]The Problem of Induction: A Panel Discussion
 Oldis, Daniel (1974). The Lucid Dream Manifesto, pages 52-53. ISBN 0-595-39539-2.
 Dzogchen Community Of New York: Lucid Dreams of Community Members[dead link]
KUNDROLLING,
 [2] Reality Check
 [3] Reality Check
 Reality testing, Lucid Dreaming FAQ at The Lucidity Institute. (October 2006)
 Lynne Levitan, Stephen LaBerge (Summer 1993). “The Light and Mirror Experiment” .
Nightlight 5 (10). The Lucidity Institute.
 H. von Moers-Messmer, “Traume mit der gleichzeitigen Erkenntnis des
Traumzustandes,” Archiv Fuer Psychologie 102 (1938): 291-318.
 Stephen LaBerge (1995). “Prolonging Lucid Dreams”. NightLight 7 (3-4). The Lucidity
Institute.
 Carlos Castaneda, “The Art of Dreaming”
 [4] NovaDreamer Operation Manual
 First Out-of-body Experience Induced In Laboratory Setting. ScienceDaily (August 24,
2007)
  Out-of-body or all in the mind? BBC news (2005).
 Sparrow, Gregory Scott (1976). Lucid Dreaming: Dawning of the Clear Light. A.R.E
Press, pages 52-53. ISBN 87604-086-5.
 LaBerge, Stephen (2004). Lucid Dreaming: A Concise Guide to awakening in Your
Dreams and in Your Life. Sounds True, page 15. ISBN 1-59179-150-2.
 Jouvet, Michel (1999). The Paradox of Sleep: The Story of Dreaming. MIT, page
75. ISBN 0-262-10080-0.
 McLeester, #### Ed. (1976). Welcome to the Magic Theater: A Handbook for
Exploring Dreams. Food for Thought, page 99. OCLC 76-29541.
 Oldis, Daniel (1974). Lucid Dreams, Dreams and Sleep. USD Press, pages 173-178,
191. ISBN 978-1-60303-496-8.

Further Reading
 Robert Waggoner (2008) Lucid Dreaming Gateway to the Inner Self. ISBN 978-1-
930491-14-4.
 Brooks, Janice; Vogelsong, Jay (2000). The Conscious Exploration of Dreaming. ISBN
1-58500-539-8.
 Castaneda, Carlos. The Art of Dreaming. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
 Conesa-Sevilla, Jorge (2004). [5]Wrestling With Ghosts: A Personal and Scientific
Account of Sleep Paralysis–and Lucid Dreaming. ISBN 978-1413446685.
 Conesa-Sevilla, Jorge (2003). Sleep Paralysis Signaling (SPS) As A Natural Cueing
Method for the Generation and Maintenance of Lucid Dreaming. Presented at The
83rd Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, May 1-4, 2003, in
Vancouver, BC, Canada..
 Conesa-Sevilla, Jorge (2002). [6]Isolated Sleep Paralysis and Lucid Dreaming: Ten-
year longitudinal case study and related dream frequencies, types, and categories.
Sleep and Hypnosis, 4, (4), 132-143..
 de Saint-Denys, Hervey (1982). Dreams and How to Guide Them. ISBN 0-7156-1584-
X.
 Gackenbach, Jayne; Laberge, Stephen (1988). Conscious Mind, Sleeping Brain. ISBN
0-306-42849-0.
 Garfield, Patricia L. (1974). Creative Dreaming. ISBN 0-671-21903-0.
 Godwin, Malcom (1994). The Lucid Dreamer. ISBN 0-671-87248-6.
 Green, Celia (1968). Lucid Dreams. ISBN 0-900076-00-3.
 Green, Celia; McCreery, Charles (1994). Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of
Consciousness During Sleep. ISBN 0-415-11239-7.
 LaBerge, Stephen (1985). Lucid Dreaming. ISBN 0-87477-342-3.
 LaBerge, Stephen (1991). Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. ISBN 0-345-37410-
X.
 McElroy, Mark (2007). Lucid Dreaming for Beginners: Simple Techniques for Creating
Interactive Dreams. ISBN 978-0-7387-0887-4.
 Wangyal Rinpoche, Tenzin (1998). Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep. ISBN 1-
55939-101-4.
 Warren, Jeff (2007). “The Lucid Dream”, The Head Trip: Adventures on the Wheel of
Consciousness. ISBN 978-0679314080.
 Yuschak, Thomas (2006). Advanced Lucid Dreaming – The Power of
Supplements. ISBN 978-1-4303-0542-2.
GHOST HUNTING
Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations said to be haunted.

Typically, a ghost “hunting party” will involve 4-8 individuals who work as a team to collect
evidence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters often employ electronic equipment of
various types, such as; EMF Meters, digital thermometers, infrared, thermographic, and night
vision cameras, handheld video cameras, digital audio recorders, and computers. Organized
teams of ghost hunters are also called paranormal investigation teams.

Critics of ghost hunting say there is a total lack of scientifically testable and verifiable
evidence in favor of the existence of ghosts, despite centuries of interest in the subject.[1]

History
Pliny the Younger recorded what has been regarded as the first story of a ghost hunt in 100
AD.[2] The story was already a century old when Pliny told it, and concerns a haunted house
in ancient Athens being investigated by a philosopher named Athenodoros Cananites.

The Ghost Club, founded in London in 1862, is believed to be the oldest paranormal
research organization in the world. Famous members of the club have included Charles
Dickens, Sir William Crookes, Sir William Fletcher Barrett and Harry Price.

In the mid 1880’s, William James, philosopher and founder of the American Psychological
Association and brother of Henry James suggested applying scientific method to paranormal
questions such as the existence of ghosts or spirits. He found allies in England such as Alfred
Russel Wallace, Cambridge philosopher Henry Sidgwick and his wife, Eleanor, Edmund
Gurney, and others to form the core of the Society for Psychical Research to collect evidence
concerning apparitions, haunted houses, and similar phenomena. The investigators
gathered case studies, attended séances, designed tests of claimants’ veracity, and ran what
came to be known as the Census of Hallucinations, which counted apparitions of persons
who were said to have made spectral appearances on the day they died.[3]

Similar investigation into hauntings was undertaken by Harry Price through London’s
National Laboratory of Psychical Research during the 1920s, and later in the 1950s and 60s
by German and American independent researchers such as Hans Holzer and Ed and
Lorraine Warren. Other paranormal and parapsychological investigators like Loyd Auerbach,
Christopher Chacon and William Roll were each independently conducting field and
laboratory investigations in the 1970s and 80s, long before reality TV cast a spotlight onto
this subject matter.
Ghost hunting among part-time hobbyists began to be popular in the late 1970s with the
founding of the Chicago area Ghost Tracker’s Club, which became the Ghost Research
Society (GRS) in 1981.

In the last decade, the term “paranormal investigation” has increasingly been adopted by
hobbyist and professional groups who do not investigate any other aspects of the
paranormal such as Extra-sensory perception and Psychokinesis, but whose sole purpose is
ghost hunting.

Growth
Easy access to information on the world wide web, movies such as Ghost Busters, and TV
shows, particularly Ghost Hunters, are thought to be partly responsible for the current boom
in ghost hunting. One popular website for ghost hunting enthusiasts lists over 300 of these
organizations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom.[4] There are now
hundreds of Internet message boards and web sites dedicated to the pursuit. Many of the
sites declare themselves free of Ouija boards, which are frowned upon as unscientific among
some paranormal enthusiasts. Along with ghost tracking tips, the sites discuss everything
from high-tech equipment to analysis of investigations. Many feature ghost photos and
videos, often appearing as blurry mist or blobs of light, called “orbs” by insiders. Similarly,
audio recordings are referred to as “EVPs,” or electronic voice phenomena, sometimes
sounding like garbles and warbles amid background noise.[5]

Scores of small businesses selling ghost-hunting equipment, ghost investigation services,

and even ghost counseling, are booming outside of their prime season, Halloween. Several
companies recently introduced new devices billed as ghost detectors, along with the
traditional electromagnetic field detectors, white noise generators, and infrared motion
sensors. The paranormal boom is such that some small ghost-hunting related businesses
are enjoying increased profits through podcast and web site advertising, books, DVDs,
videos, and other commercial enterprises.[6]

In the U.S., the popularity of ghost hunting has led to some property damage and injuries,
according to news sources. Unaware that a “spooky home” in Worthington, Ohio was
occupied, a group of teenagers went to check it out. The homeowner fired shots to scare off
the trespassers, shooting a girl in the head.[7] Another group of teenagers in Peru, Maine
admitted to accidentally starting a fire while hunting for ghosts inside of a former wood mill.
Trespassing or vandalizing ghost hunters have also been arrested in cemeteries in Illinois,
Connecticut, and other states.[8]
Among ghost hunters, some are also devotees of urban exploration, a growing hobby where
enthusiasts venture into abandoned structures such as hospitals, asylums, and sanatoriums.

While interest in the paranormal heats up, so does the competition between ghost hunting
organizations. As many groups scramble for publicity, rivalry and feuds are common.
Commercially-active groups such as TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) and IGHS
(International Ghost Hunters Society) often attempt to discredit the other’s legitimacy.[9]

Ghost Hunting Equipment and Methods

Ghost hunters use a variety of tools and techniques to investigate alleged paranormal
activity. While there is no universal acceptance among ghost hunters of the following
methodologies, a number of these are commonly utilized by ghost hunting groups.[10][11]

 Still and video photography – using infrared, digital, night vision, and even disposable
film cameras to capture evidence of possible visual manifestations, such as orbs, mist,
apparitions, and ectoplasm.
 EMF measurement – using electromagnetic field meters to detect possible
unexplained magnetic fields which some attribute to the presence of ghosts and
spirits, and at times used to spirit communication.
 Temperature measurement – using infrared, and thermal cameras, imaging video
cameras, and/or hand-held infrared surface and ambient temperature sensors to
detect changes in the environment, such as “cold spots”, which some believe
accompany paranormal activity.
 Digital and analog audio recording – to capture anomalous audio, including voices and
sounds that may be interpreted as electronic voice phenomena, which some theorize
are attempts at communication by paranormal entities.
 Geiger counter – to measure fluctuations in radiation which some believe will point to a
disturbance in spirit energy.
 Ion Meters – to detect an excess of negative ions which some feel are associated with
paranormal activity.
 Infrared and/or ultrasonic motion sensors – to detect possible anomalous movement
within a given area, or to assist in creating a controlled environment where any human
movement is detected.
 Air quality monitoring equipment – to assess the levels of gases such a carbon
monoxide which are thought contribute to reports of paranormal activity. (Also see
carbon monoxide poisoning).[12]
  Infrasound monitoring equipment – to assess the level of sound vibrations below 20Hz
which is thought to contribute to reports of paranormal activity.[12]

Non-objective “Equipment”
 Dowsing rods – usually constructed of brass and bent into an L-shape, dowsing rods
may be used by those who feel they help indicate the presence of ghosts and spirits.
 Psychics – trance mediums or “sensitive” individuals thought to have the ability to
identify and make contact with spiritual entities. (This practice is considered
controversial among groups that prefer a scientific approach)
 Demonologists, or Clergy Members – individuals who may say prayers, give blessings,
or perform rituals for the purpose of cleansing a location of alleged ghosts, demons,
poltergeists, or “negative energy”. (Also considered controversial among groups that
prefer a scientific approach)

Methods
 Lights-Out – Many ghost hunters prefer to conduct their investigations during “peak”
evening hours (midnight to 4 a.m.) when most paranormal activity is said to occur.
This time period seems to have been put forth in the 1970s and was supported by
Lorraine Warren. Most paranormal groups favor the ‘lights out’ or black-out conditions,
theorizing that it’s easier to see a possible apparition in the dark since it requires less
energy to manifest. According to the theory, spirits/ghosts that attempt to manifest
themselves (become corporeal or material-visible) do so by drawing energy from all
surrounding sources of both electric and magnetic waves/frequencies. This is one of
the reasons why paranormal groups utilize the Gauss (or Electromagnetic Frequency
(EMF)) meter. By drawing these energies from surrounding sources, they are enabling
themselves to be seen in this plane of existence. A popular thought among ghost
hunters is that any equipment that behaves erratically (temporary and inexplicable
battery drains, electronic units that shut down, flickering lights or other unexplainable
anomalies) point to the presence of a spirit/ghost that is attempting to materialize.
Some have even explained that people who experience nausea or dizziness are being
subsequently affected by these manifesting spirits/ghosts due to the fact that our
brain’s synapses (all electrically based) are misfiring and causing an equilibrium
change that affects the individual’s perception. Additionally, some paranormal
 investigators point to a disturbance of their equipment by the presence of fluorescent
or other types of lighting. Critics of the lights-out method of investigation point to the
lack of evidence regarding the apparition-occurrence-to-darkness ratio, indicating that,
historically, 80% of full-body apparitions have been witnessed during daylight hours.
Daytime investigations, they claim, will produce markedly better results since the video
and photographic evidence will be much clearer and more concise for others who
scrutinize such evidence. Some also experiment in wavelengths on the fringe of
human vision including red and ultraviolet light[12].
 Interviews – to collect testimony and stories from witnesses, often compiled into a
computer database for further study. Some groups also research the history of a
location in hopes of learning more about past events and individuals associated with
the site.

Types of Investigators and Groups

Individuals engaged in ghost hunting and paranormal investigation have varying motives for
their activities.

 Some ghost hunters consider themselves hobbyists whose primary motivation is the
excitement of the hunt and the thrill of possibly experiencing something supernatural.
Many of these individuals enjoy spending significant time pursuing their hobby.
 Others consider themselves serious researchers who follow a number of scientific
protocols and share documentation of their research with other groups in an effort to
discover proof that ghosts exist. They often go about their pursuit in a prescribed
manner in order to gather evidence of paranormal activity at a given location, or
debunk “false positive” reports of hauntings. Many established groups fall into this
category.
 Still others consider themselves to be providing a service, and focus their investigation
on offering comfort and assistance to individuals who feel they are experiencing
unexplained or paranormal activity at a home or other location. These investigators
approach a location with the goal of alleviating the fear and discomfort of the
occupants by listening to their experiences and providing advice and reassurance.
 Some so-called paranormal groups mimics the methodology of a traditional
ghost/demon hunting team; however, their primary goal is to frighten the
homeowner/client into a belief that they are in danger and that immediate action to
“cleanse” the home is imperative. These groups will act quickly to confuse the
homeowner/client by pointing to certain items in the home as being “possessed” and
 will then offer to remove said items to make the home safe. Typically, these items are
antiques, relics, or family heirlooms that will later be put on display in a paranormal
museum hosted by said group where a charge is incurred for admission to view such
articles.
Typically, ghost hunting groups are a mix of several differing outlooks.[13] Most advertise
their services online, but the majority do not charge for investigations in hopes of finding
new and interesting places to explore.

Summarized by other groups, there are four basic classifications of ghost hunters, though
many groups can fall into one or more categories.

1- Scientific, generally out to either prove or disprove paranormal phenomena such as

ghosts through the use of scientific protocols.

2- Interactive, using both science and practiced beliefs to form an answer about phenomena.
This group can include students of cryptozoology, UFO’s, conspiracies, etc.

3- Chasers/Busters, avid believers out to prove by any means that a phenomenon does exist,
even regardless of evidence.

4- Religious/Spiritual, believers who specialize in religious beliefs or occult beliefs and who
fight against the practices of negative forces, such as demons and evil presences.

[14] PGR-IN handbook

Criticism
Ghost hunting is practiced by many paranormal investigation groups whose members
sometimes promote their findings on the web as proof of hauntings. These findings are
generally challenged by skeptics as wishful thinking, pareidolia or the product of scientifically
unsound practices and beliefs. Critics question ghost-hunting’s methodology, particularly its
use of instrumentation, as there is no scientifically-proven link between the existence of
ghosts and cold spots or electromagnetic fields.[1] According to skeptical investigator Joe
Nickell, “…the approach of the typical ghost hunter—a nonscientist using equipment for a
purpose for which it was not made and has not been shown to be effective—is sheer
pseudoscience.” [2] There is also concern that members of ghost-hunting groups may inflate
their qualifications.[15]

An offshoot of ghost hunting is the commercial ghost tour conducted by a local guide or tour
operator who is often a member of a local ghost hunting or paranormal investigation group.
Since both tour operator and ‘haunted’ site owners share profits of such enterprises
(admissions typically range between $50 and $100 per person), some believe the ‘haunted’
claims are exaggerated or fabricated in order to increase attendance.[16] The city of
Savannah, GA is thought to be the #1 US city for “ghost tours” having more than three dozen
at last count.[citation needed]

Notes
 Reality Check: Ghost Hunters and ‘Ghost Detectors’
 Investigative Files: Ghost Hunters (Skeptical Inquirer September/October 2006)
 http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Hunters-William-Search-Scientific/dp/1594200904|
Washington Post Book World Review of Ghost Hunters
 “” Paranormal Groups, GhostVillage.com, accessed December 14, 2006
 Ghost hunters in search of the paranormal — JSCMS
 Scaring Up Paranormal Profits
 Smyth, Julie C (2007-08-21). “‘Spooky House’ case splits Ohio suburb”, USA Today.
Retrieved on 2008-08-24.
 FOXNews.com – Teen Shot While Ghost-Hunting Was Having Harmless Fun, Father
Says – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News
 GhosthuntingTools
 Ghost hunters utilize latest in technology / Paranormal research has become a popular
pursuit
 Ghost Research International
 Hobby, Research or Assistance ?
 Paranormal Ghost Research Indiana
 Instant Credentials?
 Confessions of a Ghost Tour Guide and Skeptic

External links
 Ghost Hunting 101
 Paranormal Broadcast
 What You Don’t Know About Ghosts – The Need for Para Ethics Among Paranormal
Investigators and “Ghost Busters” by Dr. Theresa M. Kelly.
GHOST
A ghost is said to be the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance
to that person, and usually encountered in places she or he frequented, the place of his or
her death, or in association with the person’s former belongings. The word “ghost” may also
refer to the spirit or soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or demon.[1][2][3] A place in
which ghosts are supposed to appear is described as haunted. A related phenomenon is the
poltergeist, literally a ‘noisy spirit’ that manifests itself by moving and influencing objects,
though a widespread view today is that these occurences are either fraudulent or
manifestations of the psychic energy of, particularly, adolescent girls.[4] Phantom armies,
animals, trains and ships have also been reported.[5][6]

The reality of ghosts is a vexed subject which divides believers and skeptics.[7] The study of
ghosts is both the subject of folklore and also, since the nineteenth century, of the
investigations of parapsychologists, who have attempted to refine the vocabulary used in
describing ghostly phenomena. Summoning or exorcising the shades of the departed is an
item of belief and religious practice for spiritualists and practitioners of ritual magic. Though
some claims of ghostly phenomena are proven frauds others remain unexplained or are
subject to conflicting explanations. So far no one explanation has gained universal
acceptance.[8] According to a poll conducted in 2005 by the Gallup Organization about 32%
of Americans believe in the existence of ghosts.[9]

Historical Background
According to some, the belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely related to the
ancient concept of animism, which attributed souls to everything in nature, including human
beings, animals, plants, rocks, etc. [10] Nineteenth-century anthropologist James Frazer
stated in his classic work, The Golden Bough, that souls were seen as the creature within
that animated the body:

“If a man lives and moves, it can only be because he has a little man or animal inside, who
moves him. The animal inside the animal, the man inside the man, is the soul. And as the
activity of an animal or man is explained by the presence of the soul, so the repose of sleep
or death is explained by its absence; sleep or trance being the temporary, death being the
permanent absence of the soul… “[11]

Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient
cultures as a bird or other animal, it was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction
of the body in every feature, even down to clothing the person wore. This is depicted in
artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the Egyptian Book of the
Dead, which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before
death, including the style of dress.

Another widespread belief concerning ghosts is that they were composed of a misty, airy, or
subtle material. Anthropologists speculate that this may also stem from early beliefs that
ghosts were the person within the person, most noticeable in ancient cultures as a person’s
breath, which upon exhaling in colder climates appears visibly as a white mist.[10] This belief
may have also fostered the metaphorical meaning of “breath” in certain languages, such as
the Latin spiritus and the Greek pneuma, which by analogy became extended to mean the
soul. In the Bible, God is depicted as animating Adam with a breath.

In many cultures malignant, restless, ghosts are distinguished from the more benign spirits
which are the subject of Ancestor worship.[12] Although the evidence for ghosts is largely
anecdotal, the belief in ghosts throughout history has remained widespread and persistent.

Ghost stories date back to ancient times, and can be found in many different cultures. The
Chinese philosopher, Mo Tzu (470-391 BC), is quoted as having said:

“The way to find out whether anything exists or not is to depend on the testimony of the
ears and eyes of the multitude. If some have heard it or some have seen it then we have to
say it exists. If no one has heard it and no one has seen it then we have to say it does not
exist. So, then, why not go to some village or some district and inquire? If from antiquity to
the present, and since the beginning of man, there are men who have seen the bodies of
ghosts and spirits and heard their voices, how can we say that they do not exist? If none
have heard them and none have seen them, then how can we say they do? But those who
deny the existence of the spirits say: “Many in the world have heard and seen something of
ghosts and spirits. Since they vary in testimony, who are to be accepted as really having
heard and seen them?” Mo Tzu said: As we are to rely on what many have jointly seen and
what many have jointly heard, the case of Tu Po is to be accepted.”[13] (note: King Hsuan
(827-783 BC) executed his minister, Tu Po, on false charges even after being warned that Tu
Po’s ghost would seek revenge. Three years later, according to historical chronicles, Tu Po’s
ghost shot and killed Hsuan with a bow and arrow before an assembly of feudal lords.)

Many other Eastern religious traditions also subscribe to the concept of ghosts. The Hindu
Garuda Purana has detailed information about ghosts.[14]

The Hebrew Torah and the Bible contain few references to ghosts, associating spiritism with
forbidden occult activities cf. Deuteronomy 18:11. The most notable reference is in the First
Book of Samuel (I Samuel 28:7-19 KJV), in which a disguised King Saul has the Witch of Endor
summon the spirit of Samuel. In the New Testament, Jesus has to persuade the Disciples
that he is not a ghost following the resurrection, Matthew 24. In a similar vein, Jesus’
followers at first believe him to be a ghost when they see him walking on water.

A celebrated account of a haunted house, from the ancient classical world, is given by Pliny
the Younger (c. (50 AD).[15] Pliny describes, in a letter to a friend, how Athenodoros
Cananites (c. 74 BC – 7 AD), a Stoic philosopher, decided to rent a large house in Athens, to
investigate widespread rumors that it was haunted. Athenodoros staked out at the house
that night, and, sure enough, a disheveled, aged spectre, bound at feet and hands with
rattling chains, eventually appeared. The spirit then beckoned for Athenodoros to follow
him; Athenodoros complied, but the ghost soon vanished. The philosopher marked the spot
where the old man had disappeared, and, on the next day, advised the magistrates to dig
there. The man’s shackled bones were reportedly uncovered three years later. After a proper
burial, the hauntings ceased.[16]

From the medieval period an apparition of a ghost is recorded from 1211, at the time of the
Albigensian Crusade[17]. Gervase of Tilbury, Marshal of Arles, wrote that the image of
Guilhem, a boy recently murdered in the forest, appeared in his cousin’s home in Beaucaire,
near Avignon, France. This series of “visits” lasted all of the summer. Through his cousin, who
spoke for him, the boy allegedly held conversations with anyone who wished, until the local
priest requested to speak to the boy directly, leading to an extended disquisition on
theology. The boy narrated the trauma of death and the unhappiness of his fellow souls in
Purgatory, and reported that God was most pleased with the ongoing Crusade against the
Cathar heretics, launched three years earlier. The time of the Albigensian Crusade in
southern France was marked by intense and prolonged warfare, this constant bloodshed
and dislocation of populations being the context for these reported vists by the murdered
boy.

Many other stories from the Middle Ages and the Romantic era rely on the macabre and the
fantastic, and ghosts are a major theme in literature from those eras. The Child ballad Sweet
William’s Ghost recounts the story of a ghost returning to beg a woman to free him from his
promise to marry her, as he obviously cannot being dead; her refusal would mean his
damnation. This reflects a popular British belief that the dead would haunt their lovers if
they took up with a new love without some formal release.[18] The Unquiet Grave expresses
a belief even more widespread, found in various location over Europe: ghosts can stem from
the excessive grief of the living, whose mourning interferes with the dead’s peaceful rest.[19]
In many folktales from around the world, the hero arranges for the burial of a dead man.
Soon after, he gains a companion who aids him and, in the end, the hero’s companion
reveals that he is in fact the dead man.[20] Instances of this include the Italian fairy tale Fair
Brow and the Swedish The Bird ‘Grip’.

In many traditional accounts, ghosts were often thought to be deceased people looking for
vengeance, or imprisoned on earth for bad things they did during life. The appearance of a
ghost has often been regarded as an omen or portent of death. Seeing one’s own ghostly
double or “fetch” is a related omen of death.[21]

In 1848 the Fox sisters of Hydesfield in New York State claimed to have communication with
the disembodied spirits of the dead and launched the Spiritualist movement, which claimed
many adherents in the nineteenth century.[22] The claims of spiritualists and others as to
the reality of ghosts were investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, founded in
London in 1882. The Society set up a Committee on Haunted Houses and a Literary
Committee which looked at the literature on the subject.[23] Apparitions of the recently
deceased, at the moment of their death, to their friends and relations, were very commonly
reported.[24][25] One celebrated example was the strange appearance of Vice-Admiral Sir
George Tryon, walking through the drawing room, of his family home in Eaton Square,
London, looking straight ahead, without exchanging a word to anyone, in front of several
guests at a party being given by his wife on 22 June 1893 whilst he was supposed to be in a
ship of the Mediterranean Squadron, manoeuvering of the coast of Syria. Subsequently it
was reported that he had gone down with his ship, the HMS Victoria, that very same night,
after it had collided with the HMS Camperdown following an unexplained and bizarre order
to turn the ship in the direction of the other vessel.[26] Such crisis apparitions have received
serious study by parapsychologists with various explanations given to account for them,
including telepathy, as well as the traditional view that they represent disembodied spirits.
[27][28]

Skeptical Analysis
Critics of “eyewitness ghost sightings” suggest that limitations of human perception and
ordinary physical explanations can account for such sightings; for example, air pressure
changes in a home causing doors to slam, or lights from a passing car reflected through a
window at night.[29] Pareidolia, an innate tendency to recognize patterns in random
perceptions, is what some skeptics believe causes people to believe that they have seen
ghosts.[30] Reports of ghosts “seen out of the corner of the eye” may be accounted for by
the sensitivity of human peripheral vision. According to skeptical investigator Joe Nickell:
…peripheral vision is very sensitive and can easily mislead, especially late at night, when the
brain is tired and more likely to misinterpret sights and sounds.[29]

Nickell also states that a person’s belief that a location is haunted may cause them to
interpret mundane events as confirmations of a haunting:

Once the idea of a ghost appears in a household . . . no longer is an object merely

mislaid. . . . There gets to be a dynamic in a place where the idea that it’s haunted takes on a
life of its own. One-of-a-kind quirks that could never be repeated all become further
evidence of the haunting.[29]

Sound is thought to be another cause of supposed sightings. Frequencies lower than 20

hertz are called infrasound and are normally inaudible, but scientists Richard Lord and
Richard Wiseman have concluded that infrasound can cause humans to experience bizarre
feelings in a room, such as anxiety, extreme sorrow or even the chills.[31]

Carbon monoxide poisoning, which can cause changes in perception of the visual and
auditory systems,[32] was recognized as a possible explanation for haunted houses as early
as 1921.

Another potential explanation of apparitions is that they are hypnagogic hallucinations.

The traditional perception of ghosts wearing clothing is considered illogical by some

researchers, given the supposed spiritual nature of ghosts, suggesting that the basis of what
a ghost is said to look like and consist of is quite dependent on preconceptions made by
society.[33] Unclothed ghosts have, however, been reported. For instance in The World’s
Strangest Ghost Stories (1958) R. Thurston Hopkins gives a chilling account of the “Naked
Ghost of Rattlesden” (Suffolk).[34] Skeptics also say that, to date, there is no credible
scientific evidence that any location is inhabited by spirits of the dead.[35]

Some researchers, such as Professor Michael Persinger (Laurentian University, Canada),

have speculated that changes in geomagnetic fields (created, e.g., by tectonic stresses in the
Earth’s crust or solar activity) could stimulate the brain’s temporal lobes and produce many
of the experiences associated with hauntings. This theory has been tested in various ways.
Some scientists have examined the relationship between the time of onset of unusual
phenomena in allegedly haunted locations and any sudden increases in global geomagnetic
activity. Others have investigated whether the location of alleged hauntings is associated
with certain types of magnetic activity. Finally, a third strand of work has involved laboratory
studies in which stimulation of the temporal lobe with transcerebral[clarify] magnetic fields
has elicited subjective experiences that strongly parallel phenomena associated with
hauntings. All of this work is controversial; it has attracted a large amount of debate and
disagreement.[36]

Popular Culture
Ghosts are prominent in the popular cultures of various nations. The ghost story is
ubiquitous across all cultures from oral folktales to works of literature.

Perhaps the most recognizable ghost in English literature is the shade of Hamlet’s father in
the play The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In Hamlet, it is the ghost that
encourages the title character to investigate his “murder most foul” and seek revenge upon
King Claudius, the suspected murderer of Hamlet’s father.

Possibly the next most famous apparitions are the ghosts of A Christmas Carol, where the
ghost of Jacob Marley, The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present and The
Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come help Ebenezer Scrooge see the error of his ways.

Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost has been adapted for film and television on several
occasions. Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw has also appeared in a number of
adaptations, notably the film The Innocents and Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of the
Screw. Noel Coward’s play Blithe Spirit, later made into a film, places a more humorous slant
on the phenomenon of haunting of individuals and specific locations.

Films including or centering on ghosts are common, and span a variety of genres. Ghosts can
also be found in various television programs.

The ghost hunting theme has also become prevalent in reality television series particularly
Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International, but also Most Haunted, and A Haunting. It is
also represented in children’s television by such programmes as The Ghost Hunter.

The Grateful Dead adopted their name and iconography from a series of traditional ghost
stories known as Grateful Dead.

References
 http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/ghost Merriam Webster dictionary,
retrieved December 24, 2007 “a disembodied soul”
 http://www.parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html#g Parapsychological Association,
glossary of key words frequently used in parapsychology, Retrieved December 13
2006
 http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ghost Retrieved December 13 2006 “The spirit of a
dead person, especially one believed to appear in bodily likeness to living persons or
to haunt former habitats.”
 Daniel Cohen (1994) Encyclopedia of Ghosts. London, Michael O’ Mara Books: 137-
56
 Christina Hole (1950) Haunted England. London, Batsford: 150-163
 Daniel Cohen (1994) Encyclopedia of Ghosts. London, Michael O’ Mara Books: 8
 The Oxford Book of the Supernatural (1995) edited by D.J. Enright: 503-542
 Daniel Cohen (1994) Encyclopedia of Ghosts. London, Michael O’ Mara Books
 Musella, David park (Sept-October 2005). “Gallup poll shows that Americans’ belief in
the paranormal persists”. Skeptical Inquirer. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 Some people believe the ghost or spirit never leaves Earth until there is no-one left to
remember the one who died. Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology edited by
J. Gordon Melton Gale Research, ISBN 0-8103-5487-X
 The Golden Bough, Project Gutenberg, accessed January 16, 2007
 Richard Cavendish (1994) The World of Ghosts and the Supernatural. Waymark
Publications, Basingstoke: 5
 http://www.cic.sfu.ca/nacc/articles/legalmohist/mozi_mei/wadegiles/
momei_31wg1.html The Ethical and Political Works of Motse [Mo-tzu] Book VIII,
Chapter XXXI “On Ghosts (III) Electronic republication of the translation by W. P. Mei
(London: Probsthain, 1929) Retrieved Dec 19, 2006
 Vedic cosmology, accessed February 27, 2007
 Jaehnig, K.C. (1999-03-11). “Classical ghost stories”. Southern Illinois University.
Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 “LXXXIII. To Sura”. bartleby.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 Mark Gregory Pegg (2008) A Most Holy War. Oxford University Press, New York: 3-5,
116-117. ISBN 978-0-19-517131-0
 Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 227, Dover
Publications, New York 1965
 Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 2, p 234, Dover
Publications, New York 1965
 “Grateful dead”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online (2007).
Retrieved on 2007-12-14.
 Christina Hole (1950) Haunted England: 13-27
  John Fairley and Simon Welfare (1985) Arthur C Clarke’s World of Strange Powers:
251
 John Fairley and Simon Welfare (1985) Arthur C Clarke’s World of Strange Powers:
251
 John Fairley and Simon Welfare (1985) Arthur C Clarke’s World of Strange Powers:
132-5
 Christina Hole (1950) Haunted England: 13-27
 Christina Hole (1950) Haunted England: 21-22
 Richard Cavendish (1994) The World of Ghosts and the Supernatural. Waymark
Publications, Basingstoke: 35
 Fontana, David (2005). Is There an Afterlife: A Comprehensive Review of the
Evidence. Hants, UK: O Books. ISBN 1903816904.
 Weinstein, Larry (June 2001). “The Visit”. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved
on 2007-09-19.
 Carroll, Robert Todd (June 2001). “pareidolia”. skepdic.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 “Sounds like terror in the air”. Reuters. smh.com.au (2003-09-09). Retrieved on 2007-
09-19.
 Choi IS (2001), “Carbon monoxide poisoning: systemic manifestations and
complications”, J. Korean Med. Sci. 16(3): 253–61, PMID 11410684
 Nickell, Joe (December 2006). “Headless Ghosts I Have Known”. Committee for
Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 R. Thurston Hopkins (1958) The World’s Strangest Ghost Stories. Kingswood, World’s
Work: 173-83
 Nickell, Joe (Sept-October 2000). “Haunted Inns Tales of Spectral Guests”. Committee
for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 Wiseman, Richard (0). “Research of Professor Richard Wiseman”. Society for
Psychical Research. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.

External links
 Ghost Hunters Investigations by the Sci-Fi Channel
 How Stuff Works – Ghosts
 What You Don’t Know About Ghosts – The Need for Para Ethics Among Paranormal
Investigators and “Ghost Busters” by Dr. Theresa M. Kelly.
ELECTRONIC VOICE PHENOMENON
Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sections of static noise on the radio or electronic
recording that some listeners believe sound like voices speaking words; paranormal
investigators sometimes interpret these noises as the voices of ghosts or spirits.[1]
Recording EVP has become a technique of those who attempt to contact the souls of dead
loved ones or during ghost hunting activities. According to parapsychologist Konstantin
Raudive, who popularized the idea,[2] EVP are typically brief, usually the length of a word or
short phrase.[3]

Skeptics of the paranormal attribute the voice-like aspect of the sounds to apophenia
(finding of significance or connections between insignificant or unrelated phenomena),
auditory pareidolia (interpreting random sounds into voices in their own language which
might otherwise sound like random noise to a foreign speaker), artifacts due to low-quality
equipment, and simple hoaxes. Likewise some reported EVP can be attributed to radio
interference or other well-documented phenomena.

References to EVP have appeared in the reality television shows Paranormal State, Most
Haunted, Celebrity Paranormal Project, and Ghost Hunters, the fictional television series
Supernatural, Medium and Ghost Whisperer and Hollywood films such as White Noise and
The Sixth Sense.

History
As the Spiritualism religious movement became prominent in the 1840s–1920s with a
distinguishing belief that the spirits of the dead can be contacted by mediums, new
technologies of the era including photography were employed by spiritualists in an effort to
demonstrate contact with a spirit world. So popular were such ideas that Thomas Edison
was asked in an interview with Scientific American to comment on the possibility of using his
inventions to communicate with spirits. He replied that if the spirits were only capable of
subtle influences, a sensitive recording device would provide a better chance of spirit
communication than the table tipping and ouija boards mediums employed at the time.
However, there is no indication that Edison ever designed or constructed a device for such a
purpose.[4] As sound recording became widespread, mediums explored using this
technology to demonstrate communication with the dead as well. Spiritualism declined in
the latter part of the 20th century, but attempts to use portable recording devices and
modern digital technologies to communicate with spirits continued.[5]
Early Interest
American photographer and medium Attila von Szalay was among the first to try recording
what he believed to be voices of the dead as a way to augment his investigations in
photographing ghosts. He began his attempts in 1941 using a 78 rpm record, but it wasn’t
until 1956, after switching to a reel-to-reel tape recorder, that he believed he was successful.
[6] Working with Raymond Bayless, von Szalay conducted a number of recording sessions
with a custom-made apparatus, consisting of a microphone in an insulated cabinet
connected to an external recording device and speaker. Szalay reported finding many
sounds on the tape that could not be heard on the speaker at the time of recording, some of
which were recorded when there was no one in the cabinet. He believed these sounds to be
the voices of discarnate spirits. Among the first recordings believed to be spirit voices were
such messages as “This is G!”, “Hot dog, Art!”, and “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to
you all”.[6] Von Szalay and Bayless’ work was published by the Journal of the American
Society for Psychical Research in 1959.[7] Bayless later went on to co-author the 1979 book,
Phone Calls From the Dead.

In 1959, Swedish painter and film producer Friedrich Jürgenson was recording bird songs.
Upon playing the tape later, he heard what he interpreted to be his dead father’s voice and
then the spirit of his deceased wife calling his name.[6] He went on to make several more
recordings, including one that he said contained a message from his late mother.[8]

Raudive Voices
Konstantin Raudive, a Latvian psychologist who had taught at the University of Uppsala,
Sweden and who had worked in conjunction with Jürgenson, made over 100,000 recordings
which he described as being communications with discarnate people. Some of these
recordings were conducted in an RF-screened laboratory and contained words Raudive said
were identifiable.[5][3] In an attempt to confirm the content of his collection of recordings,
Raudive invited listeners to hear and interpret them.[5][9][10][11][12] He believed that the
clarity of the voices heard in his recordings implied that they could not be readily explained
by normal means.[5] Raudive published his first book, Breakthrough – An Amazing
Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead in 1968 and it was translated into
English in 1971.[13]
Spiricom
In 1980, William O’Neil constructed an electronic audio device called “The Spiricom”. O’Neil
claimed the device was built to specifications which he received psychically from George
Mueller, a scientist who had died six years previously.[14][5] At a Washington, DC, press
conference on April 6, 1982, O’Neil stated that he was able to hold two-way conversations
with spirits through the Spiricom device, and provided the design specifications to
researchers for free. However, nobody is known to have replicated O’Neil’s results using
their own Spiricom devices.[15][16] O’Neil’s partner, retired industrialist George Meek,
attributed O’Neil’s success, and the inability of others to replicate it, to O’Neil’s mediumistic
abilities forming part of the loop that made the system work.[14][17]

Modern Era (1980s-Present)

In 1982, Sarah Estep founded the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-
EVP) in Severna Park, Maryland, a nonprofit organization with the purpose of increasing
awareness of EVP, and of teaching standardized methods for capturing it. Estep began her
exploration of EVP in 1976, and says she has made hundreds of recordings of messages
from deceased friends, relatives, and other individuals, including Konstantin Raudive,
Beethoven, a lamplighter from 18th century Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and extraterrestrials
whom she speculated originated from other planets or dimensions.

A few German enthusiasts coined the term Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) to refer
more generally to communication through any sort of electronic device such as tape
recorders, fax machines, television sets or computers between spirits or other discarnate
entities and the living.[14] [18] One particularly famous claimed incidence of ITC occurred
when the image of EVP enthusiast Friedrich Jürgenson (whose funeral was held that day) was
said to have appeared on a television in the home of a colleague, which had been
purposefully tuned to a vacant channel.[14] ITC enthusiastists also look at TV and video
camera feedback loop of the Droste effect.[19][20]

In 1997, Imants Barušs, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Western

Ontario, conducted a series of experiments using the methods of EVP investigator
Konstantin Raudive, and the work of “instrumental transcommunication researcher” Mark
Macy, as a guide. A radio was tuned to an empty frequency, and over 81 sessions a total of
60 hours and 11 minutes of recordings were collected. During recordings, a person either sat
in silence or attempted to make verbal contact with potential sources of EVP.[14] Barušs
stated that he did record several events that sounded like voices, but they were too few and
too random to represent viable data and too open to interpretation to be described
definitively as EVP. He concluded: “While we did replicate EVP in the weak sense of finding
voices on audio tapes, none of the phenomena found in our study was clearly anomalous,
let alone attributable to discarnate beings. Hence we have failed to replicate EVP in the
strong sense.” The findings were published in the Journal of Scientific Exploration in 2001,
and include a literature review.[14]

In 2005 the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research published a report by paranormal
investigator Alexander MacRae. MacRae conducted recording sessions using a device of his
own design that generated EVP.[21] In an attempt to demonstrate that different individuals
would interpret EVP in the recordings the same way, MacRae asked seven people to
compare some selections to a list of five phrases he provided, and to choose the best match.
MacRae said the results of the listening panels indicated that the selections were of
paranormal origin.[22][9][23]

Portable digital voice recorders are currently the technology of choice for EVP investigators.
Since these devices are very susceptible to Radio Frequency (RF) contamination, EVP
enthusiasts sometimes try to record EVP in RF- and sound-screened rooms.[24][25]
Nevertheless, in order to record EVP there has to be noise in the audio circuits of the device
used to produce the EVP.[26] For this reason, those who attempt to record EVP often use
two recorders that have differing quality audio circuitry and rely on noise heard from the
poorer quality instrument to generate EVP.[27]

Some EVP enthusiasts describe hearing the words in EVP as an ability, much like learning a
new language.[28] Skeptics say that the claimed instances are all either hoaxes or
misinterpretations of natural phenomena. EVP and ITC are seldom researched within the
scientific community and, as ideas, are generally derided by scientists when asked.[14]

Explanations and Origins

Those who think that EVP are paranormal manifestations have a number of speculations as
to what EVP may possibly be.[29][22] Common explanations include living humans
imprinting thoughts directly on an electronic medium through psychokinesis[30] and
communication by discarnate entities such as spirits,[31][32] nature energies, beings from
other dimensions, or extraterrestrials.[33]

Since EVP has been ignored and derided as fiction by the scientific community[citation
needed] and is not generally studied by academic researchers, there is no singular
consensus on what all EVP are. However, there are a number of straightforward scientific
explanations that can account for why some listeners to the static on audio devices may
believe they hear voices, including radio interference and the tendency of the human brain
to recognize patterns in random stimuli.[34] A percentage of recordings may be hoaxes
created by frauds or pranksters.[34]

The very first EVP recordings may have originated from the use of tape recording equipment
with poorly aligned erasure and recording heads, resulting in previous audio recordings not
being completely erased. This could allow a small percentage of previous content to be
superimposed or mixed into a new ‘silent’ recording.[35][citation needed]

Explanations Based on Psychology and Perception

Auditory pareidolia is a situation created when the brain incorrectly interprets random
patterns as being familiar patterns.[36] In the case of EVP it could result in an observer
interpreting random noise on an audio recording as being the familiar sound of a human
voice.[34][37] The propensity for an apparent voice heard in white noise recordings to be in
a language understood well by those researching it, rather than in an unfamiliar language,
has been cited as evidence of this,[34] and a broad class of phenomena referred to by
author Joe Banks as Rorschach Audio has been described as a global explanation for all
manifestations of EVP.[38] [39] [40] [41]

Skeptics such as David Federlein, Chris French, Terrence Hines and Michael Shermer say that
EVP are usually recorded by raising the “noise floor” – the electrical noise created by all
electrical devices – in order to create white noise. When this noise is filtered, it can be made
to produce noises which sound like speech. Federlein says that this is no different from
using a wah pedal on a guitar, which is a focused sweep filter which moves around the
spectrum and creates open vowel sounds. This, according to Federlein, sounds exactly like
some EVP. This, in combination with such things as cross modulation of radio stations or
faulty ground loops can cause the impression of paranormal voices.[4] The human brain
evolved to recognize patterns, and if a person listens to enough noise the brain will detect
words, even when there is no intelligent source for them.[42][43] Expectation also plays an
important part in making people believe they are hearing voices in random noise.[44]

Apophenia is related to, but distinct from pareidolia.[45] Apophenia is defined as “the
spontaneous finding of connections or meaning in things which are random, unconnected or
meaningless”, and has been put forward as a possible explanation.[46]
Physical Explanations
Interference, for example, is seen in certain EVP recordings, especially those recorded on
devices which contain RLC circuitry. These cases represent radio signals of voices or other
sounds from broadcast sources.[47] Interference from CB Radio transmissions and wireless
baby monitors, or anomalies generated though cross modulation from other electronic
devices, are all documented phenomena.[34] It is even possible for circuits to resonate
without any internal power source by means of radio reception.[47]

Capture errors are anomalies created by the method used to capture audio signals, such as
noise generated through the over-amplification of a signal at the point of recording.[34][48]

Artifacts created during attempts to boost the clarity of an existing recording might explain
some EVP. Methods include re-sampling, frequency isolation, and noise reduction or
enhancement, which can cause recordings to take on qualities significantly different from
those that were present in the original recording.[49][34]

Organizations
There are a number of organizations dedicated to studying EVP and instrumental
transcommunication. Individuals within these organizations may participate in
investigations, author books or journal articles, deliver presentations, and hold conferences
where they share experiences.[50] In addition organizations exist which dispute the validity
of the phenomena on scientific grounds.

The American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP)[51] averages around 500
members in 47 USA states and 22 countries including the USA (current: 2007).”[52] and the
International Ghost Hunters Society, conduct ongoing investigations of EVP and ITC including
collecting examples of purported EVP available over the internet.[53]. The Rorschach Audio
Project, initiated by sound artist Joe Banks, [38][39][54][55] which presents EVP as a product
of radio interference combined with auditory pareidolia and the Interdisciplinary Laboratory
for Biopsychocybernetics Research, a non-profit organization dedicated studying anomalous
psi phenomena related to neurophysiological conditions.[56] According to the AA-EVP, it is
“the only organized group of researchers we know of specializing in the study of ITC.”[57].

Spiritualists, as well as others who believe in Survivalism, have an ongoing interest in EVP.
[58] Many Spiritualists believe that communication with the dead is a scientifically proven
fact, and experiment with a variety of techniques for spirit communication which they
believe provide evidence of the continuation of life.[59] According to the National Spiritualist
Association of Churches, “An important modern day development in mediumship is spirit
communications via an electronic device. This is most commonly known as Electronic Voice
Phenomena (EVP)”.[60] An informal survey by the organization’s Department Of Phenomenal
Evidence cites that 1/3 of churches conduct sessions in which participants seek to
communicate with spirit entities using EVP.[61]

The James Randi Educational Foundation offers a million dollars for proof that any
phenomena, including EVP, are caused paranormally. The prize remains uncollected.

Cultural Impact
The concept of EVP has had an impact on popular culture. It is popular as an entertaining
pursuit, as in ghost hunting, and as a means of dealing with grief. It has influenced literature,
radio, film and television.

Paranormal Groups and Ghost Hunting

Investigation of EVP is the subject of hundreds of Internet message boards, regional, and
national groups.[62][63] According to paranormal investigator John Zaffis, “There’s been a
boom in ghost hunting ever since the Internet took off.” Investigators, equipped with
electronic gear such as EMF meters, video cameras and audio recorders, scour reportedly
haunted venues, trying to uncover visual and audio evidence of hauntings. Many use
portable recording devices in an attempt to capture EVP.[62]

References
 http://www.scientificexploration.org/jse/articles/pdf/15.3_baruss.pdf  Baruss, Imants.
Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 355–367, 2001, “Failure to
Replicate Electronic Voice Phenomena”
 “Glossary of Psi”. Retrieved on 2007-11-09.
 Raudive, Konstantin (1971). Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment in Electronic
Communication With the Dead (Original title: The Inaudible Becomes Audible).
Taplinger Publishing Co.. ISBN 0800809653.
 Carroll, Robert Todd, The Skeptic’s Dictionary 2003, Wiley Publishing Company,
ISBN-10: 0471272426
 Fontana, David (2005). Is There an Afterlife: A Comprehensive Review of the
Evidence. Hants, UK: O Books, 352-381. ISBN 1903816904.
 Sconce, Jeffrey (2000). Haunted Media. Duke University Press, 84. ISBN
0822325721.
 Bayless, R (1959), Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 53#1, 35
– 38
 ^ Bjorling, Joel (1998). Consulting Spirits: A Bibliography. Westport, Connecticut:
Greenwood Press, 68. ISBN 0313302847.
 Senkowski, Ernst (1995). “Analysis of Anomalous Audio and Video Recordings,
presented before the “Society For Scientific Exploration” USA – June 1995″. Retrieved
on 2007-09-18.
 Brune, Francois (1988). The Dead Speak To Us. Philippe Lebaud. ISBN ISBN
2253051233.
 Cardoso, Anabela (2003). ITC Voices: Contact with Another Reality?. ParaDocs.
 Bander, Peter (1973). Voices from the tapes: Recordings from the other world. Drake
Publishers. ISBN ASIN: B0006CCBAE.
 http://worlditc.org/ Under researchers results – Konstantin Raudive.
 Baruss, Imants (2001), Failure to Replicate Electronic Voice Phenomenon, Journal of
Scientific Exploration, V15#3, 0892-3310/01
 “Electronic Voice Phenomena”. Winter Steel. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
 Meek, George W. “An electromagnetic-etheric systems approach to communications
with other levels of human consciousness”. Retrieved on 2007-09-20.
 “Meek, George W (1988). “Report from Europe: Earthside instrumental
communications with higher planes of existence via telephone and computer are now
a reality”. Unlimited Horizons, Metascience Foundation Inc 6 (1): 1–11. Retrieved on
2007-09-20.
 Dr. Cardoso, Anabela (2003) “ITC Voices: Contact with Another Reality?”
 “Claus Schreiber, Germany”. World ITC. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
 Carroll, Robert Todd. “Skeptic’s Dictionary on instrumental transcommunication (ITC)”.
Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 MacRae, Alexander. “A Bio-electromagnetic Device of Unusual Properties”.
www.skyelab.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-03-27.
 MacRae, Alexander (October 2005). “Report of an Electronic Voice Phenomenon
Experiment inside a Double-Screened Room”. Journal of the Society for Psychical
Research. Society for Psychical Research.
 Feola, José (2000-07-01). “The Alpha Mystery”. FATE Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-
09-22.
 Chisholm, Judith (2000). “A Short History of EVP”. Psychic World. Retrieved on 2006-
12-03.
 Weisensale, Bill. “Eliminating Radio Frequency Contamination for EVP”. Website of
the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
 Presi, Paolo, “The Work at Il Laboratorio”, The Work at Il Laboratorio
 Butler, Tom. “Example Proposed Best Practice Using a Second or Control Audio
Recorder as a Means of Identifying Mundane Sounds”. Website of the American
Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
 Konstantinos (2001-02-01). “You can Hear Dead People”. Fate. Retrieved on 2007-09-
21.
 Butler, Tom. “A Brief Discussion on the Origin of EVP Messages”. Retrieved on 2007-
09-21.Website of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena
 Jahn, Robert G.; Dunne, Brenda J. (1987). Margins of Reality: The Role of
Consciousness in the Physical World. San Diego, California: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich. ISBN 0151571481.
 EVPs – Questions & Answers
 Josh Bosack, Josh (October 26, 2004). “Group analyzes paranormal activity”. The
Collegian. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
 Estep, Sarah, “Voices Of Eternity,” page 144, [1]
 “EVP”. Skeptic’s Dictionary. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
 Analysing Analogue
 Wiggins Arthur W. Wynn Charles M. (2001), “Quantum Leaps in the Wrong Direction:
Where Real Science Ends and Pseudoscience Begins”, National Academies
Press, ISBN 0-309-07309-X
 Zusne, Leonard; Warren H. Jones (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical
Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 78. ISBN 0805805087. Retrieved on 2007-
04-06.
 Joe Banks “Rorschach Audio”, the “Ghost Orchid” CD sleevenotes, PARC / Ash
International, 1999
 Joe Banks “Rorschach Audio: A Lecture at The Royal Society of British Sculptors”,
Diffusion 8, pp. 2-6, Sonic Arts Network, 2000
 Joe Banks “Rorschach Audio: Ghost Voices and Perceptual Creativity”, Leonardo
Music Journal 11, pp. 77-83, The MIT Press, 2001
 Joe Banks “Rorschach Audio: Art and Illusion for Sound”, Strange Attractor Journal 1,
pp. 124-159, Strange Attractor Press, 2004
 Shermer, Michael. “Turn Me On, Dead Man”, Scientific American. Retrieved on 2007-
02-28.
 Williams, Huw (2005-01-06). “‘Ghostly’ chatter – fact or fiction?”, BBC News.com.
Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
 Hines, Terrence, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the
Evidence, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1988. ISBN 0-87975-419-2. Thagard
(1978) op cit 223 ff
 “Definition of Apophenia”. MedicineNet.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
 Phaedra (2006). “Believing is seeing”. The Skeptic Express. Retrieved on 2007-03-08.
 Paul Tipler (2004). Physics for Scientists and Engineers: Electricity, Magnetism, Light,
and Elementary Modern Physics (5th ed.). W. H. Freeman. ISBN 0-7167-0810-8.
 Smith, Steven W. (2002) Digital Signal Processing – A Practical Guide for Engineers
and Scientists, Newnes, ISBN 0-7506-7444-X
 Randi, James (2006-06-09), Just Where is Lou Gentile?,
 “Report on the 2006 AA-EVP Conference”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “AA-EVP:Electronic Voice Phenomena and Instrumental TransCommunication”.
Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “More About AA-EVP”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “International Ghost Hunters Society”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 Banks, Joe (2001). “Rorschach Audio: Ghost Voices and Perceptual Creativity”.
Leonardo Music Journal 11: 77–83. doi:10.1162/09611210152780728. Retrieved on
2007-09-22.
 Banks, Joe (2004). “Rorschach Audio: Art and Illusion for Sound”. Strange Attractor
Journal 1: 124–159. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “INTERDISCIPLINARY LABORATORY FOR BIOPSYCHOCYBERNETICS
RESEARCH Who we are”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “EVP/ITC Organizations & Websites Around the World”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “About The Campaign for Philosophical Freedom”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “NSAC – Spiritualism”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “Phenomenal Evidence Department of the National Spiritualist Association of
Churches Concepts Involved in Spiritualism”. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
 “About the NSAC Churches”. National Spiritualist Association of Churches (2005-11-
29). Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
 Schlesinger, Victoria (2005-03-10). “Ghost hunters in search of the paranormal”.
AZCentral.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
 ” Appleton, Roy (2006-10-28). “Paranormal investigators not afraid to scare up some
ghosts”. The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved on 2007-09-21.
 ” “Long awaited movie White Noise – A major disappointment”. Lone Star Spirits.com
(Spring 2005). Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 Noory, George (2006-04-02). “Demonology & EVPs”, Coast to Coast AM. Retrieved
on 2007-09-19.
 Bell, Art (2006-04-15). “Recorded Spirit Communications”, Coast to Coast AM.
Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 “Ghost Hunters Episodes”, SciFi.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-19.
 “TV psychics claim Lennon contact”, BBC News (2006-04-25). Retrieved on 2007-09-
19.
DOPPELGANGER
A doppelgänger or fetch is the ghostly double of a living person, a sinister form of
bilocation.

In the vernacular, “Doppelgänger” has come to refer (as in German) to any double or look-
alike of a person. The word is also used to describe the sensation of having glimpsed oneself
in peripheral vision, in a position where there is no chance that it could have been a
reflection. They are generally regarded as harbingers of bad luck. In some traditions, a
doppelgänger seen by a person’s friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing
one’s own doppelgänger is an omen of death. In Norse mythology, a vardøger is a ghostly
double who precedes a living person and is seen performing their actions in advance.

Spelling
The word “doppelgänger” is a German loanword. It derives from Doppel (double) and Gänger
(goer),[1] although the German part word -gänger only occurs in compound nouns. As is true
for all other common nouns in German, the word is written with an initial capital letter;
English usage varies.

In English, the word is conventionally uncapitalized (doppelgänger). It is also common to

drop the diacritic umlaut, writing “doppelganger.” The correct alternative German spelling is
“Doppelgaenger.”

Famous Reports
John Donne
Izaak Walton claimed that John Donne, the English metaphysical poet, saw his wife’s
doppelgänger in 1612 in Paris, on the same night as the stillbirth of their daughter.

Two days after their arrival there, Mr. Donne was left alone, in that room in which Sir Robert,
and he, and some other friends had dined together. To this place Sir Robert return’d within
half an hour; and, as he left, so he found Mr. Donne alone; but, in such Extasie, and so alter’d
as to his looks, as amaz’d Sir Robert to behold him: insomuch that he earnestly desired Mr.
Donne to declare befaln him in the short time of his absence? to which, Mr. Donne was not
able to make a present answer: but, after a long and perplext pause, did at last say, I have
seen a dreadful Vision since I saw you: I have seen my dear wife pass twice by me through
this room, with her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead child in her arms: this, I
have seen since I saw you. To which, Sir Robert reply’d; Sure Sir, you have slept since I saw
you; and, this is the result of some melancholy dream, which I desire you to forget, for you
are now awake. To which Mr. Donnes reply was: I cannot be surer that I now live, then that I
have not slept since I saw you: and am, as sure, that at her second appearing, she stopt, and
look’d me in the face, and vanisht.[2]

This account first appears in the edition of Life of Dr John Donne published in 1675, and is
attributed to “a Person of Honour… told with such circumstances, and such asseveration,
that… I verily believe he that told it me, did himself believe it to be true.” At the time Donne
was indeed extremely worried about his pregnant wife, and was going through severe illness
himself. However, R. C. Bald points out that Walton’s account “is riddled with inaccuracies.
He says that Donne crossed from London to Paris with the Drurys in twelve days, and that
the vision occurred two days later; the servant sent to London to make inquiries found Mrs
Donne still confined to her bed in Drury House. Actually, of course, Donne did not arrive in
Paris until more than three months after he left England, and his wife was not in London but
in the Isle of Wight. The still-born child was buried on 24 January…. Yet as late as 14 April
Donne in Paris was still ignorant of his wife’s ordeal.”[3] In January, Donne was still at
Amiens. His letters do not support the story as given.[4]

Abraham Lincoln
Carl Sandburg’s biography contains the following:

A dream or illusion had haunted Lincoln at times through the winter. On the evening of his
election he had thrown himself on one of the haircloth sofas at home, just after the first
telegrams of November 6 had told him he was elected President, and looking into a bureau
mirror across the room he saw himself full length, but with two faces. It bothered him; he
got up; the illusion vanished; but when he lay down again there in the glass again were two
faces, one paler than the other. He got up again, mixed in the election excitement, forgot
about it; but it came back, and haunted him. He told his wife about it; she worried too. A few
days later he tried it once more and the illusion of the two faces again registered to his eyes.
But that was the last; the ghost since then wouldn’t come back, he told his wife, who said it
was a sign he would be elected to a second term, and the death pallor of one face meant he
wouldn’t live through his second term.[5]

This is adapted from Washington in Lincoln’s Time (1895) by Noah Brooks, who claimed that
he had heard it from Lincoln himself on 9 November 1864, at the time of his re-election, and
that he had printed an account “directly after.” He also claimed that the story was confirmed
by Mary Todd Lincoln, and partially confirmed by Private Secretary John Hay (who thought it
dated from Lincoln’s nomination, not his election). Brooks’s version is as follows (in Lincoln’s
own words):

It was just after my election in 1860, when the news had been coming in thick and fast all
day and there had been a great “hurrah, boys,” so that I was well tired out, and went home
to rest, throwing myself down on a lounge in my chamber. Opposite where I lay was a
bureau with a swinging glass upon it (and here he got up and placed furniture to illustrate
the position), and looking in that glass I saw myself reflected nearly at full length; but my
face, I noticed had two separate and distinct images, the tip of the nose of one being about
three inches from the tip of the other. I was a little bothered, perhaps startled, and got up
and looked in the glass, but the illusion vanished. On lying down again, I saw it a second
time, plainer, if possible, than before; and then I noticed that one of the faces was a little
paler — say five shades — than the other. I got up, and the thing melted away, and I went
off, and in the excitement of the hour forgot all about it — nearly, but not quite, for the thing
would once in a while come up, and give me a little pang as if something uncomfortable had
happened. When I went home again that night I told my wife about it, and a few days
afterward I made the experiment again, when (with a laugh), sure enough! the thing came
back again; but I never succeeded in bringing the ghost back after that, though I once tried
very industriously to show it to my wife, who was somewhat worried about it. She thought it
was a “sign” that I was to be elected to a second term of office, and that the paleness of one
of the faces was an omen that I should not see life through the last term.[6]

Lincoln was known to be superstitious,[7] and old mirrors will occasionally produce double
images; whether this Janus illusion can be counted as a doppelgänger is perhaps debatable,
though probably no more than other such claims of doppelgängers. An alternate
consideration, however, suggests that Lincoln suffered vertical strabismus in his left eye[8], a
disorder which could induce visions of a vertically-displaced image.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Near the end of Book XI of his autobiography, Dichtung und Wahrheit (“Truth and Fiction”),
Goethe wrote, almost in passing:

Amid all this pressure and confusion I could not forego seeing Frederica once more. Those
were painful days, the memory of which has not remained with me. When I reached her my
hand from my horse, the tears stood in her eyes; and I felt very uneasy. I now rode along the
foot-path toward Drusenheim, and here one of the most singular forebodings took
possession of me. I saw, not with the eyes of the body, but with those of the mind, my own
figure coming toward me, on horseback, and on the same road, attired in a dress which I
had never worn, — it was pike-gray [hecht-grau], with somewhat of gold. As soon as I shook
myself out of this dream, the figure had entirely disappeared. It is strange, however, that,
eight years afterward, I found myself on the very road, to pay one more visit to Frederica, in
the dress of which I had dreamed, and which I wore, not from choice, but by accident.
However it may be with matters of this kind generally, this strange illusion in some measure
calmed me at the moment of parting. The pain of quitting for ever noble Alsace, with all I had
gained in it, was softened; and, having at last escaped the excitement of a farewell, I, on a
peaceful and quiet journey, pretty well regained my self-possession.[9]

This is a rare example of a doppelgänger which is both benign and reassuring.

Emilie Sagée
Robert Dale Owen was responsible for writing down the singular case of Emilie Sagée. He
was told this anecdote by Julie von Güldenstubbe, a Latvian aristocrat. Von Güldenstubbe
reported that in the year 1845–46, at the age of 13, she witnessed, along with audiences of
between 13 and 42 children, her 32-year-old French teacher Sagée bilocate, in broad
daylight, inside her school, Pensionat von Neuwelcke. The actions of Sagée’s doppelgänger
included:

 Mimicking writing and eating, but with nothing in its hands.

 Moving independently of Sagée, and remaining motionless while she moved.
 Appearing to be in full health at a time when Sagée was badly ill.
Apparently, the doppelgänger also exerted resistance to the touch, but was non-physical
(one girl passed through the doppelgänger’s body).[10]

Scientific, Psychological, and Philosophical Investigations

Left Temporoparietal Junction
In September 2006 it was reported in Nature[11] that Shahar Arzy and colleagues of the
University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland, had unexpectedly reproduced an effect strongly
reminiscent of the doppelgänger phenomenon via the electromagnetic stimulation of a
patient’s brain. They applied focal electrical stimulation to a patient’s left temporoparietal
junction while she lay flat on a bed. The patient immediately felt the presence of another
person in her “extrapersonal space.” Other than epilepsy, for which the patient was being
treated, she was psychologically fit.

The other person was described as young, of indeterminate sex, silent, motionless, and with
a body posture identical to her own. The other person was located exactly behind her,
almost touching and therefore within the bed that the patient was lying on.

A second electrical stimulation was applied with slightly more intensity, while the patient was
sitting up with her arms folded. This time the patient felt the presence of a “man” who had
his arms wrapped around her. She described the sensation as highly unpleasant and
electrical stimulation was stopped.

Finally, when the patient was seated, electrical stimulation was applied while the patient was
asked to perform language test with a set of flash cards. On this occasion the patient
reported the presence of a sitting person, displaced behind her and to the right. She said
that the presence was attempting to interfere with the test: “He wants to take the card; he
doesn’t want me to read.” Again, the effect was disturbing and electrical stimulation was
ceased.

Similar effects were found for different positions and postures when electrical stimulation
exceeded 10 mA, at the left temporoparietal junction.

Arzy and his colleagues suggest that the left temporoparietal junction of the brain evokes
the sensation of self image—body location, position, posture etc. When the left
temporoparietal junction is disturbed, the sensation of self-attribution is broken and may be
replaced by the sensation of a foreign presence or copy of oneself displaced nearby. This
copy mirrors the real person’s body posture, location and position. Arzy and his colleagues
suggest that the phenomenon they created is seen in certain mental illnesses, such as
schizophrenia, particularly when accompanied by paranoia, delusions of persecution and of
alien control. Nevertheless, the effects reported are highly reminiscent of the doppelgänger
phenomenon.[12] Accordingly, some reports of doppelgängers may well be due to failure of
the left temporoparietal junction.

See monothematic delusion for a detailed description of various psychological problems

including the syndrome of subjective doubles, which may be related to the doppelgänger.
[13] See also out-of-body experience.

References
 New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd Edition, 2005.
 Walton, Izaak. Life of Dr. John Donne. Fourth edition, 1675.
 Bald, R.C. John Donne: a Life. Oxford University Press, 1970.
 Bennett, R.E. “Donne’s Letters from the Continent in 1611-12.” Philological Quarterly
xix (1940), 66-78.
 Sandburg, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. Harcourt, Brace and Co., New
York, 1926. Volume 2, Chapter 165, pp.423-4
 Brooks, Noah. Washington in Lincoln’s Time. Century, New York, 1895. Reprinted as
Washington, D.C., in Lincoln’s Time. Edited by Herbert Mitgang. Quadrangle Books,
Chicago, 1971. University of Georgia Press, Athens, 1989. First ed., pages 220-221.
Mitgang’s ed., pages 198-200.
 Luthin, Reinhard H. The Real Abraham Lincoln. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey, 1960.
Page 116.
 Goldstein, JH (1997), “Lincoln’s vertical strabismus.”, J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus
34(2): 118–20, PMID 9083959
 The Autobiography of Wolfgang von Goethe. Translated by John Oxenford. Horizon
Press, 1969.
 Doppelganger!
 Access : Brain electrodes conjure up ghostly visions : Nature News
 The Psychology of Anomalous Experience: A Cognitive Approach by Graham F.
Reed, Prometheus Books, Rev Sub edition September 1988
 The Psychology of Anomalous Experience: A Cognitive Approach by Graham F.
Reed,Prometheus Books, Rev Sub edition September 1988
 For example, the television series Twin Peaks.
DEMON
In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon (or daemon, dæmon, daimon from Greek:
δαίμων [ðaïmon]) is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit.
In Christian terms demons are generally understood as fallen angels, formerly of God. A
demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled. The
“good” demon in recent use is largely a literary device (e.g., Maxwell’s demon), though
references to good demons can be found in Hesiod and Shakespeare.[1] In common
language, to “demonize” a person means to characterize or portray them as evil, or as the
source of evil.

History
The Greek conception of a daemon (< δαίμων daimōn) appears in the works of Plato and
many other ancient authors, but without the evil connotations which are apparent in the
Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible and in the Greek originals of the New Testament.
The medieval and neo-medieval conception of a “demon” in Western civilization (see the
Medieval grimoire called the Ars Goetia) derives seamlessly[citation needed] from the
ambient popular culture of Late (Roman) Antiquity. Greco-Roman concepts of daemons that
passed into Christian culture are discussed in the entry daemon, though it should be duly
noted that the term referred only to a spiritual force, not a malevolent supernatural being.
[citation needed] The Hellenistic “daemon” eventually came to include many Semitic and
Near Eastern gods as evaluated by Christianity.[citation needed]

The supposed existence of demons is an important concept in many modern religions and
occultist traditions. In some present-day cultures, demons are still feared in popular
superstition, largely due to their alleged power to possess living creatures.

In the contemporary Western occultist tradition (perhaps epitomized by the work of Aleister
Crowley), a demon, such as Choronzon, the “Demon of the Abyss”, is a useful metaphor for
certain inner psychological processes, though some may also regard it as an objectively real
phenomenon.

Some scholars[2] believe that large portions of the demonology (see Asmodai) of Judaism, a
key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated in Zoroastrianism, and were transferred
to Judaism during the Persian era.
Etymology
The idea of demons is as old as religion itself, and the word demon seems to have ancient
origins. The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the etymology of the word as Greek daimon,
probably from the verb daiesthai meaning “to divide, distribute.” The Proto-Indo-European
root *deiwos for god, originally an adjective meaning “celestial” or “bright, shining” has
retained this meaning in many related Indo-European languages and cultures (Sanskrit deva,
Latin deus, German Tiw, Welsh [Duw],]), but also provided another other common word for
demon in Avestan daeva.

In modern Greek, the word daimon(Greek: δαίμων) has the same meaning as the modern
English demon. But in Ancient Greek, δαίμων meant “spirit” or “higher self”, much like the
Latin genius. This should not, however, be confused with the word genie, which is a false
friend or false cognate of genius.

Psychical History
Psychologist Wilhelm Wundt remarks that “among the activities attributed by myths all over
the world to demons, the harmful predominate, so that in popular belief bad demons are
clearly older than good ones.”[3] Sigmund Freud develops on this idea and claims that the
concept of demons was derived from the important relation of the living to the dead: “The
fact that demons are always regarded as the spirits of those who have died recently shows
better than anything the influence of mourning on the origin of the belief in demons.”

Hebrew Bible
Demons as described in the Tanakh are the same as “demons” commonly known in popular
or Christian culture.

Those in the Hebrew Bible are of two classes, the se’irim and the shedim. The se’irim (“hairy
beings”), to which some Israelites offered sacrifices in the open fields, are satyr-like
creatures, described as dancing in the wilderness (Isaiah 13:21, 34:14), and which are
identical with the jinn, such as Dantalion, the 71st spirit of Solomon. (But compare the
completely European woodwose.) Possibly to the same class belongs Azazel, the goat-like
demons of the wilderness (Leviticus 16:10ff), probably the chief of the se’irim, and Lilith
(Isaiah 34:14 – where the KJV Bible translates the Hebrew word ‘lilith’ as “screech owl”).
Possibly “the roes and hinds of the field”, by which Shulamit conjures the daughters of
Jerusalem to bring her back to her lover (Canticles 2:7, 3:5), are faunlike spirits similar to the
se’irim, though of a harmless nature.

The evil spirit that troubled Saul (I Samuel 16:14 et seq.) may have been a demon, though
the Masoretic text suggests the spirit was sent by God.

Some benevolent shedim were used in kabbalistic ceremonies (as with the golem of Rabbi
Yehuda Loevy), and malevolent shedim (mazikin, from the root meaning to damage) are
often responsible in instances of possession. Instances of idol worship were often the result
of a shed inhabiting an otherwise worthless statue;[citation needed] the shed would pretend
to be a God with the power to send pestilence, although such events were not actually under
his control.

Influences from Chaldean Mythology

In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as shedu, meaning storm-demons.
They were represented in winged bull form, derived from the colossal bulls used as
protective genii of royal palaces, the name “shed” assumed also the meaning of a propitious
genius in Babylonian magic literature.[4]

It was from Chaldea that the name “shedu” came to the Israelites, and so the writers of the
Tanach applied the word as a dylogism to the Canaanite deities in the two passages quoted.
But they also spoke of “the destroyer” (Exodus xii. 23) as a demon whose malignant effect
upon the houses of the Israelites was to be warded off by the blood of the paschal sacrifice
sprinkled upon the lintel and the door-post (a corresponding pagan talisman is mentioned in
Isaiah lvii. 8). In II Samuel xxiv; 16 and II Chronicles xxi. 15 the pestilence-dealing demon is
called “the destroying angel” (compare “the angel of the Lord” in II Kings xix. 35; Isaiah xxxvii.
36), because, although they are demons, these “evil messengers” (Psalms lxxviii. 49; A. V. “evil
angels”) do only the bidding of God; they are the agents of His divine wrath.

There are indications that popular Hebrew mythology ascribed to the demons a certain
independence, a malevolent character of their own, because they are believed to come
forth, not from the heavenly abode of God, but from the nether world (compare Isaiah
xxxviii. 11 with Job xiv. 13; Psalms xvi. 10, xlix. 16, cxxxix. 8).

Hebrew demons were workers of harm. To them were ascribed the various diseases,
particularly such as affect the brain and the inner parts. Hence there was a fear of “Shabriri”
(lit. “dazzling glare”), the demon of blindness, who rests on uncovered water at night and
strikes those with blindness who drink of it;[5] also mentioned were the spirit of catalepsy
and the spirit of headache, the demon of epilepsy, and the spirit of nightmare.

These demons were supposed to enter the body and cause the disease while overwhelming
or “seizing” the victim (hence “seizure”). To cure such diseases it was necessary to draw out
the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, in which the Essenes
excelled. Josephus, who speaks of demons as “spirits of the wicked which enter into men
that are alive and kill them”, but which can be driven out by a certain root,[6] witnessed such
a performance in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian,[7] and ascribed its origin to King
Solomon.

King and Queen

In some rabbinic sources, the demons were believed to be under the dominion of a king or
chief, either Asmodai (Targ. to Eccl. i. 13; Pes. 110a; Yer. Shek. 49b) or, in the older Haggadah,
Samael (“the angel of death”), who kills by his deadly poison, and is called “chief of the
devils”. Occasionally a demon is called “satan”: “Stand not in the way of an ox when coming
from the pasture, for Satan dances between his horns” (Pes. 112b; compare B. Ḳ. 21a).

According to some texts, the queen of demons is Lilith, pictured with wings and long flowing
hair, and called the “mother of Ahriman” (B. B. 73b; ‘Er. 100b; Nid. 24b). “When Adam, doing
penance for his sin, separated from Eve for 130 years, he, by impure desire, caused the earth
to be filled with demons, or shedim, lilin, and evil spirits” (Gen. R. xx.; ‘Er. 18b.)

Demonology never became an essential feature of Jewish theology. The reality of demons
was never questioned by the Talmudists and late rabbis; most accepted their existence as a
fact. Nor did most of the medieval thinkers question their reality. Only rationalists like
Maimonides and Abraham ibn Ezra, clearly denied their existence. Their point of view
eventually became the mainstream Jewish understanding.

Jewish Rabbinic Literature

Rabbinical demonology has three classes of, demons, though they are scarcely separable
one from another. There were the shedim, the mazziḳim (“harmers”), and the ruḥin (“spirits”).
Besides these there were lilin (“night spirits”), ṭelane (“shade”, or “evening spirits”), ṭiharire
(“midday spirits”), and ẓafrire (“morning spirits”), as well as the “demons that bring famine”
and “such as cause storm and earthquake” (Targ. Yer. to Deuteronomy xxxii. 24 and
Numbers vi. 24; Targ. to Cant. iii. 8, iv. 6; Eccl. ii. 5; Ps. xci. 5, 6.)[8]

New Testament and Christianity

“Demon” has a number of meanings, all related to the idea of a spirit that inhabited a place,
or that accompanied a person. Whether such a daemon was benevolent or malevolent, the
Greek word meant something different from the later medieval notions of ‘demon’, and
scholars debate the time in which first century usage by Jews and Christians in its original
Greek sense became transformed to the later medieval sense. It should be noted that some
denominations asserting Christian faith also include, exclusively or otherwise, fallen angels
as de facto demons; this definition also covers the “sons of God” described in Genesis who
abandoned their posts in heaven to mate with human women on Earth before the Deluge
(Genesis 6:2, 4, also see Nephilim).

In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus casts out many demons, or evil spirits, from those who are
afflicted with various ailments. Jesus is far superior to the power of demons over the beings
that they inhabit, and he is able to free these victims by commanding and casting out the
demons, by binding them, and forbidding them to return. Jesus also apparently lends this
power to some of his disciples, who rejoice at their new found ability to cast out all demons.
[9]

By way of contrast, in the book of Acts a group of Judaistic exorcists known as the sons of
Sceva try to cast out a very powerful spirit without believing in or knowing Jesus, but fail with
disastrous consequences. However Jesus himself never fails to vanquish a demon, no matter
how powerful (see the account of the demon-possessed man at Gerasim), and even defeats
Satan in the wilderness (see Gospel of Matthew).

There is a description in the Book of Revelation 12:7-17 of a battle between God’s army and
Satan’s followers, and their subsequent expulsion from Heaven to earth to persecute
humans — although this event is related as being foretold and taking place in the future. In
Luke 10:18 it is mentioned that a power granted by Jesus to control demons made Satan “fall
like lightning from heaven.”

Augustine of Hippo’s reading of Plotinus, in The City of God (ch.11) is ambiguous as to

whether daemons had become ‘demonized’ by the early 5th century:
“He [Plotinus] also states that the blessed are called in Greek eudaimones, because they are
good souls, that is to say, good demons, confirming his opinion that the souls of men are
demons.[10]

The contemporary Roman Catholic Church unequivocally teaches that angels and demons
are real personal beings, not just symbolic devices. The Catholic Church has a cadre of
officially sanctioned exorcists which perform many exorcisms each year. The exorcists of the
Catholic Church teach that demons attack humans continually but that afflicted persons can
be effectively healed and protected either by the formal rite of exorcism, authorized to be
performed only by bishops and those they designate, or by prayers of deliverance which any
Christian can offer for themselves or others.[11]

Christianity
Building upon the few references to daemons in the New Testament, especially the visionary
poetry of the Apocalypse of John, Christian writers of apocrypha from the 2nd century
onwards created a more complicated tapestry of beliefs about “demons” that was largely
independent of Christian scripture.

Origin
According to the Bible, the fall of the Adversary is portrayed in Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel
28:12-19. However, the connection between Isaiah 14:12-14 and the fall is mostly based on
mistranslation and tradition. The King James Version (KJV), popular among most Christian
sects, reads:

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to
the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of
the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will
be like the most High” (Isaiah 14:12:-14).

The word “Lucifer” was inspired by the Latin Vulgate, a translation that the authors of the KJV
adhered to in several occasions to elucidate Christian traditions (see KJV, “The Project”).
Lucifer is a Latin word meaning “light-bearer” (from lux, lucis, “light”, and ferre, “to bear,
bring”), a Roman astrological term for the “Morning Star”, the planet Venus. The word Lucifer
was the direct translation of the Septuagint Greek heosphoros, (“dawn-bearer”); (cf. Greek
phosphoros, “light-bearer”) and the Hebrew Helel, (“Bright one”). The word does not
specifically refer to Satan. To the contrary, in context, Isaiah 14:12-14 actually refers to one
of the popular honorific titles of a Babylonian king (see Isaiah 14:4 for context); however,
later interpretations of the text, and the influence of embellishments in works such as
Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Milton’s Paradise Lost, led to the common idea in Christian
mythology and folklore that Lucifer was a poetic appellation of Satan (see Lucifer for more
information).

Ezekiel 28:12-19, in context, refers to the King of Tyrus (see Ezekiel 28:2 for context). The
passage, however, is popularly attributed as a reference to, or allegory of, Satan, and even by
some commentators, an allegory of the fall of Adam.

The Christian teachings of [source missing] built upon later Jewish traditions that the
Adversary and the Adversary’s host declared war with God, but that God’s army,
commanded by the archangel Michael, defeated the rebels. Their defeat was never in
question, since God is by nature omnipotent, but Michael was given the honour of victory in
the natural order; thus the rise of Christian veneration of the archangel Michael, beginning
at Monte Gargano in 493, reflects the full incorporation of demons into Christianity.

According to tradition, God then cast God’s enemies from Heaven to the abyss, into a newly
created prison called Hell, where all God’s enemies should be sentenced to an eternal
existence of pain and misery. This pain is not all physical; for their crimes, these angels, now
called demons, would be deprived of the sight of God, this being the worst possible
punishment.

An indefinite time later (some biblical scholars believe that the angels fell sometime after the
creation of living things), when God created the earth and life, the Adversary and the other
demons were allowed to tempt humans or induce them to sin by other means. The first time
the Adversary did this was as a serpent in the earthly paradise called the “Garden of Eden” to
tempt Eve, who became deceived by Satan’s evil trickery. Eve then gave Adam some of the
forbidden fruit and both of their eyes were opened to the knowledge of good and evil.

Demonologies
At various times in Christian history, attempts have been made to classify these beings
according to various proposed demonic hierarchies.

According to most Christian Demonology demons will be eternally punished and never
reconciled with God. Other theories postulate a Universal reconciliation, in which Satan, the
fallen angels, and the souls of the dead that were condemned to Hell are reconciled with
God. This doctrine is today often associated with the Unification Church. Origen, Jerome and
Gregory of Nyssa also mentioned this possibility.

In contemporary Christianity, demons are generally considered to be angels who fell from
grace by rebelling against God. Some contest that this view, championed by Origen,
Augustine and John Chrysostom, arose during the 6th century. Another theory that may
have preceded or co-existed with the hypothesis of fallen angels was that demons were
ostracized from Heaven for the primary sin of mating with mortal women, giving rise to a
race of half-human giants known as the Nephilim. That theory is accepted by some
contemporary Christian sects.

There are still others who say that the sin of the angels was pride and disobedience. It seems
quite certain that these were the sins that caused Satan’s downfall (Ezek. 28). If this be the
true view then we are to understand the words, “estate” or “principality” in Deuteronomy
32:8 and Jude 6 (“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own
habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the
great day.”) as indicating that instead of being satisfied with the dignity once for all assigned
to them under the Son of God, they aspired higher.

Hinduism
Hindu mythology include numerous varieties of anthropomorphic beings that might be
classified as demons, including Rakshasas (belligerent, shapechanging terrestrial demons),
Asuras (demigods), Vetalas (bat-like spirits), and Pishachas (cannibalistic demons).

Asuras
Originally, Asura, in the earliest hymns of the Rig Veda, meant any supernatural spirit—good
or bad. Hence even some of the devas (demigods), especially Varuna, have the epithet of
Asura. In fact, since the /s/ of the Indic linguistic branch is cognate with the /h/ of the Early
Iranian languages, the word Asura, representing a category of celestial beings, became the
word Ahura (Mazda), the Supreme God of the monotheistic Zoroastrians. But very soon,
among the Indo-Aryans, Asura came to exclusively mean any of a race of anthropomorphic
but hideous demons. All words such as Asura, Daitya (lit., sons of the demon-mother “Diti”),
Rakshasa (lit. from “harm to be guarded against”) are translated into English as demon.
These demons are inherently evil and are in a constant battle against the demigods. Hence
in Hindu iconography, the gods and demigods are shown to carry weapons to kill the asuras.
Unlike Christianity, the demons are not the cause of the evil and unhappiness in present
mankind (which occurs on the account of ignorance from recognizing one’s true self). In later
Puranic mythology, exceptions do occur in the demonic race to produce god-fearing Asuras
like Prahalada. Also, many Asuras are said to have been granted boons from one of the
members of the Hindu trinity, viz., Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva when the latter had been
appeased from penances. All Asuras, unlike the devas, are said to be mortals (though they
vehemently wish to become immortal). Many people metaphorically interpret these demons
as manifestations of the ignoble passions in human mind.

Evil Spirits
On the account of the Hindu theory of reincarnation and transmigration of souls according
to one’s Karma, other kinds of demons can also be enlisted. If a human does extremely
horrible and sinful karmas in his life, his soul (Atman) will, upon his death, directly turn into
an evil ghostly spirit, many kinds of which are recognized in the later Hindu texts. These
demons could be Grimnex Vetalas, Pishachas, Bhūtas etc.[12]

Pre-Islamic Arab Culture

Pre-Islamic mythology does not discriminate between gods and demons. The jinn are
considered as divinities of inferior rank, having many human attributes: they eat, drink, and
procreate their kind, sometimes in conjunction with human beings. The jinn smell and lick
things, and have a liking for remnants of food. In eating they use the left hand. Usually they
haunt waste and deserted places, especially the thickets where wild beasts gather.
Cemeteries and dirty places are also favorite abodes. When appearing to man, jinn
sometimes assume the forms of beasts and sometimes those of men.

Generally, jinn are peaceable and well disposed toward men. Many a pre-Islamic poet was
believed to have been inspired by good jinn, but there are also evil jinn, who contrive to
injure men.

Islam
Islam recognizes the existence of the jinn. Jinns are not the “genies” of modern lore, and they
are not all evil, as demons are described in Christianity, but as creatures that co-exist with
humans.

In Islam the evil jinns are referred to as the shayātīn, or devils, and Iblis (Satan) is their chief.
Iblis was the first Jinn who disobeyed Allah. According to Islam, the jinn are made from the
light of flame of fire (‫[ ناَر‬nɛ:r] deviation of ‫[ نور‬nu:r] “light”) (and mankind is made of clay).

According to the Qur’an, Iblis was once a pious servant of Allah, but when Allah created
Adam from clay, Iblis became very jealous, and arrogant and disobeyed Allah.

Adam was the first man, and man was the greatest creation of Allah. Iblis could not stand
this, and refused to acknowledge a creature made of “dirt” (man). Allah condemned Iblis to
be punished after death eternally in the hellfire. Allah had created hell.

Iblis asked Allah if he may live to the last day and have the ability to mislead mankind and
jinns, Allah said that Iblis may only mislead those whom have forsaken Allah. Allah then
turned Iblis’s countenance into horridness and condemned him to only have powers of
trickery.

Adam and Eve (Hawwa in Arabic) were both together misled by Iblis into eating the
forbidden fruit, and consequently fell from the garden of Eden to Earth.

The word “genie” comes from the Arabic jinn. This is not surprising considering the story of
`Alā’ ad-Dīn, (anglicized as Aladdin), passed through Arabian merchants en route to Europe.

New Age / Shamanism

Carlos Castaneda referred to demonic predators called “flyers” which have the appearance
of frightening dark shadows and which vampirize human energy. According to this view
ancient humans were complete, with much greater energetic resources than effete,
decadent, modern humans possess. At the time when agriculture was invented the flyers
gave human beings their mind (constant internal dialogue of beliefs, ideas, social mores,
expectations, and dreams of success or failure). By playing on this self-reflection, sucking the
angry and worried energy it generates, the flyers began to farm human beings for energy,
just as humans began farming animals. Modern humans are the hypnotized slaves of these
flyers; and the pseudoconcerns of modern society are a flyer mechanism of mind control.
Science
In thought experiments scientists occasionally imagine entities with special abilities in order
to pose tough intellectual challenges or to highlight apparent paradoxes. Examples include:

 Descartes’ malicious demon – Cartesian skepticism (also called methodological

skepticism) advocates the doubting of all things which cannot be justified through
logic. Descartes uses three arguments to cast doubt on our ability to objectively know:
The dream argument, the deceiving God argument, and the malicious demon
argument. [13] Since our senses cannot put us in contact with external objects
themselves, but only with our mental images of such objects, we can have no absolute
certainty that anything exists in the external world. In the evil demon argument
Descartes proposes an entity who is capable of deceiving us to such a degree that we
have reason to doubt the totality of what our senses tell us.
 Laplace’s demon – A hypothetical all-knowing entity (later called “Laplace’s Demon”)
who knows the precise location and momentum of every atom in the universe, and
therefore could use Newton’s laws to reveal the entire course of cosmic events, past
and future. Based upon the philosophical proposition of causal determinism. (See also
causality).
 Maxwell’s demon – A demon able to distinguish between fast and slow moving
molecules. If this demon only let fast moving molecules through a trapdoor to a
container, the temperature inside the container would increase without any work being
applied. Such a scenario would violate the second law of thermodynamics.

Psychiatry
M. Scott Peck, an American psychiatrist, wrote two books on the subject. [14] [15].

Peck describes in some detail several cases involving his patients. In People of the Lie: The
Hope For Healing Human Evil he gives some identifying characteristics for evil persons
whom he classifies as having a character disorder. In Glimpses of the Devil, A Psychiatrist’s
Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism, and Redemption Peck goes into significant detail
describing how he became interested in exorcism in order to debunk the “myth” of
possession by evil spirits – only to be convinced otherwise after encountering two cases
which did not fit into any category known to psychology or psychiatry. Peck came to the
conclusion that possession was a rare phenomenon related to evil. Possessed people are
not actually evil; they are doing battle with the forces of evil. [16] His observations on these
cases are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (IV) of the
American Psychiatric Association.[17]

Although Peck’s earlier work was met with widespread popular acceptance, his work on the
topics of evil and possession has generated significant debate and derision. Much was made
of his association with (and admiration for) the controversial Malachi Martin, a Roman
Catholic priest and a former Jesuit, despite the fact that Peck consistently called Martin a liar
and manipulator. [17] [18] Other criticisms leveled against Peck include misdiagnoses based
upon a lack of knowledge regarding dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as
multiple personality disorder), and a claim that he had transgressed the boundaries of
professional ethics by attempting to persuade his patients into accepting Christianity. [17]

Notes
 Antony and Cleopatra Act II, Scene 3
 Boyce, 1987; Black and Rowley, 1987; Duchesne-Guillemin, 1988.
 Freud (1950, 65), quoting Wundt (1906, 129).
 See Delitzsch, Assyrisches Handwörterbuch. pp. 60, 253, 261, 646; Jensen, Assyr.-
Babyl. Mythen und Epen, 1900, p. 453; Archibald Sayce, l.c. pp. 441, 450, 463;
Lenormant, l.c. pp. 48-51.
 Pesachim 112a; Avodah Zarah 12b
 Bellum Judaeorum vii. 6, § 3
 “Antiquities” viii. 2, § 5
 “Jewish Encyclopedia Demonology”. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
 Luke 10:17
 Augustine of Hippo, City of God, ch. 11: Of the Opinion of the Platonists, that the
Souls of Men Become Demons When Disembodied.
 [1][dead link]
 VEDA – Vedas and Vedic Knowledge Online – Vedic Encyclopedia, Bhakti-yoga in
vedas, Library
 Important Arguments from Descartes’ Meditations by David Banach Department of
Philosophy, St. Anselm College (retrieved 8-24-2007)
 People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil by M. Scott Peck (Simon &
Schuster, 1983)
 Glimpses of the Devil: A Psychiatrist’s Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism,
and Redemption by M. Scott Peck (Free Press, January 19, 2005)
 The exorcist, an interview with M. Scott Peck by Rebecca Traister published in Salon
  The devil you know, a commentary on Glimpses of the Devil by Richard Woods
 The Patient Is the Exorcist, an interview with M. Scott Peck by Laura Sheahen

References
 Freud, Sigmund (1950). Totem and Taboo:Some Points of Agreement between the
Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics, trans. Strachey, New York: W. W. Norton &
Company. ISBN 0-393-00143-1.
 Wundt, W. (1906). Mythus und Religion, Teil II (Völkerpsychologie, Band II). Leipzig.
 Castaneda, Carlos (1998). The Active Side of Infinity. HarperCollins NY ISBN 0-06-
019220-8

Further Reading
 Oppenheimer, Paul (1996). Evil and the Demonic: A New Theory of Monstrous
Behavior. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0814761933.

External links
 Demons in the Catechism of the Catholic Church : Hyperlinked references to demons
in the online Catechism of the Catholic Church
 Profile of William Bradshaw, American demonologist Riverfront Times, St. Louis,
Missouri, USA. August 2008.
 Religious Demonology: Demonology from a Roman Catholic perspective, written by a
member of the International Association of Exorcists.
 Demonology Full View Google Books often with PDF downloads
 Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Demonology
 Demonology Listing:
COLD SPOT
Cold spot is a term used to describe an unexplained area of localized coldness, or sudden
drops in temperature, that are said to be the result of paranormal activity.

Paranormal Indicator
The temperature variances observed in cold spots is said to be the result of ghost or other
spirit-like entity using up local energy (including heat) in the process of manifestation, or in
order to fuel some other form of activity.

Ghost hunters often carry infrared thermometers (which can only detect surface
temperatures, rather than ambient air temperatures), to detect and document the presence
of cold spots in the ambient air of locations that are reputed to be haunted. [1] Ghost
hunting organizations advise that they be checked from several different angles in order to
confirm their existence and features. [1]

Natural Variance
Some ghost hunters warn against using cold spots as a paranormal indicator because cold
spots can often be explained by natural temperature variances. [2]. Skeptics also commonly
dismiss them, saying that it is normal for buildings to experience temperature variations. [3]

References
 Danelek, Jeffry Allan “Tools of the ghost hunting trade”, Our Curious World (2007-04-
13)
 Warren, Joshua P. (2003) “How to Hunt Ghosts: A Practical Guide” Fireside, ISBN
0743234936
 Nickell, Joe (September 2006), “Investigative Files: Ghost Hunters”, Skeptical Inquirer
V30#5 (2007-04-13
APPARITIONAL EXPERIENCE
In psychology and parapsychology, an apparitional experience is an anomalous, quasi-
perceptual experience.

In scientific or academic discussion the term “apparitional experience” is to be preferred to

the term “ghost” in respect of the following points:

 The term “ghost” implies that some element of the human being survives death and, at
least under certain circumstances, can make itself perceptible to living human beings.
There are other, competing explanations of apparitional experiences.
 Firsthand accounts of apparitional experiences differ in many respects from their
fictional counterparts in literary or traditional ghost stories (see below).
 The content of apparitional experiences includes living beings, both human and
animal, and even inanimate objects.[1]

History of the Concept

Attempts to apply modern scientific or investigative standards to the study of apparitional
experiences began with the work of Edmund Gurney, Frederick William Henry Myers and
Frank Podmore [2], who were leading figures in the early years of the Society for Psychical
Research. Their motive, as with most of the early work of the Society,[3] was to provide
evidence for human survival after death. For this reason they had a particular interest in
what are known as ‘crisis cases’. These are cases in which a person has a quasi-perceptual
experience of someone at a distance at the time of that person’s death or other crisis. If the
temporal coincidence of the crisis and the distant apparitional experience cannot be
explained by any conventional means, then the presumption is made that some as yet
unknown form of communication, such as telepathy (a term coined by Myers[4]) has taken
place.

While the extent to which the work of Gurney and his colleagues succeeded in providing
evidence for either telepathy or survival of death is still controversial, the large collection of
firsthand written accounts which resulted from their painstaking methods still constitutes a
body of valuable data concerning the phenomenology of hallucinations in the sane.

A notable later discussion of apparitional experiences was that of G.N.M. Tyrrell[5], also a
leading member of the Society for Psychical Research of his day. Tyrrell accepted the
hallucinatory character of the experience, pointing out that it is virtually unknown for
firsthand accounts to claim that apparitional figures leave any of the normal physical effects,
such as footprints in snow, that one would expect of a real person.[6] However, Tyrrell
develops the idea that the apparition may be a way for the unconscious part of the mind to
bring to consciousness information that has been paranormally acquired – in crisis cases, for
example. He introduces an evocative metaphor of a mental ‘stage-carpenter’,[7] behind the
scenes in the unconscious part of the mind, and constructing the quasi-perceptual
experience that eventually appears on the stage of consciousness, so that it embodies
paranormal information in a symbolic way, a person drowning at a distance appearing
soaked in water, for example.

The study and discussion of apparitions took a different turn in the 1970s, with the work of
Celia Green and Charles McCreery.[8] They were not primarily interested in the question of
whether apparitions could shed any light on the existence or otherwise of telepathy, or in
the survival question; instead they were concerned to analyse a large number of cases with a
view to providing a taxonomy of the different types of experience, viewed simply as a type of
anomalous perceptual experience or hallucination.

One of the points that was highlighted by their work was point (2) listed above, namely that
‘real-life’ accounts of apparitional experiences differ markedly from the traditional or literary
ghost story. These are some of the more notable differences, at least as indicated by their
own collection of 1800 firsthand accounts:

 Subjects of apparitional experiences are by no means always frightened by the

experience; indeed they may find them soothing or reassuring at times of crisis or
ongoing stress in their lives.[9]
 Spontaneous apparitional experiences tend to happen in humdrum or everyday
surroundings, and under conditions of low central nervous system arousal, most often
in the subject’s own home – while doing housework, for example. By contrast, subjects
who visit reputedly haunted locations in hopes of ‘seeing a ghost’ are more often than
not disappointed.[10]
 Apparitions tend to be reported as appearing solid and not transparent; indeed they
may be so realistic in a variety of ways as to deceive the percipient as to their
hallucinatory nature; in some cases the subject only achieves insight after the
experience has ended.[11]
 It is unusual for an apparitional figure to engage in any verbal interaction with the
percipient; this is consistent with the finding that the majority of such experiences only
involve one sense (most commonly the visual).[12]
Psychological Implications
Psychological Theories of Perception
Apparitional experiences have relevance to psychological theories of perception, and in
particular to the distinction between top-down and bottom-up approaches (cf. article on
Top-down and bottom-up design). Top-down theories, such as that of Richard Langton
Gregory, who conceives of perception as a process whereby the brain makes a series of
hypotheses about the external world,[13] stress the importance of central factors such as
memory and expectation in determining the phenomenological content of perception; while
the bottom-up approach, exemplified by the work of J.J. Gibson, emphasises the role of the
external sensory stimulus.[14]

Apparitional experiences would seem to lend support to the importance of central factors,
since they represent a form of quasi-perceptual experience in which the role of external
stimuli is minimal or possibly non-existent, while the experience nevertheless continues to
be phenomenologically indistinguishable from normal perception, at least in some cases.
[15]

The Concept of Schizotypy

The interest of apparitional experiences to psychology has acquired an added dimension in
recent years with the development of the concept of schizotypy or psychosis-proneness.[16]
This is conceived of as a dimension of personality,[17] continuously distributed throughout
the normal population, and analogous to the dimensions of extraversion or neuroticism. As
long as mental illness is regarded under the disease model, according to which a person
either does or does not ‘have’ schizophrenia or manic depression, just as a person either
does or does not have syphilis or tuberculosis, then to talk of the occurrence of an
apparitional or hallucinatory experience in a normal person is either an oxymoron, or to be
taken as an indication of latent or incipient psychosis. If, on the contrary, a dimensional view
of the matter is taken, it becomes easier to conceive of how normal people, more or less
high on the putative schizotypy dimension, might be more or less prone to anomalous
perceptual experiences, without their ever tipping over into psychosis.[18]

Green and McCreery’s identification of a class of what they called ‘reassuring apparitions’[19]
is of particular interest in this regard, as it suggests that the experiencing of hallucinations
may even have an adaptive effect in certain subjects, making them better able to cope with
adverse life events. This would fit with the model of schizotypy as essentially a normal
dimension of personality, and might help to explain why the proneness to anomalous
perceptual experiences has apparently not been ‘weeded out’ by the process of natural
selection.

Philosophical Implications
Direct Realism
Apparitional experiences also have implications for the philosophy of perception. The
occurrence of hallucinations, that is, perceptual experiences ‘having the character of sense
perception, but without relevant or adequate sensory stimulation […]’ [20] , have long been
one of the standard objections to the philosophical theory of direct realism. According to this
theory we are in some sense in direct contact with the external world when we seem to be
perceiving it, and not merely in direct contact with some mediating representation in our
mind, such as a sense-datum or an image, which may or may not correspond to external
reality. The psychologist J.J. Gibson, referred to above, became an advocate of the
philosophical theory of direct realism.[21]

Hallucinatory experiences reported by sane people do not pose any new problem in
principle for the theory of direct realism, other than that posed already by the more widely
discussed hallucinations reported by people in a state of psychosis or under other abnormal
conditions such as sensory deprivation. However, they do pose the problem in a particularly
stark way, for the following reasons:

 Scepticism about the status of verbal reports:

In the case of hallucinations reported to have occurred in pathological or abnormal states
there is some scope for uncertainty about the accuracy, or even the meaning, of the
percipient’s verbal report. Horowitz[22], for example, summarising his experience of
questioning chronic schizophrenic patients about their visual experiences during painting
sessions, wrote:

‘It was necessary to persist beyond initial verbal descriptions of their hallucinations, and
insist that the patient describe and draw what he had seen. Initial descriptions of “vicious
snakes” might then be drawn and redescribed as wavy lines. “Two armies struggling over my
soul” arose from the subjective experience of seeing moving sets of dots. “Spiders” might be
reduced, when the patient stated and drew what he actually saw, to a few radiating lines. In
drawings of their hallucinations patients could often distinguish between those forms which
duplicated what they saw with their eyes from those forms which were what they “made out
of it”.'[23]
Such difficulties of interpretation are much less obvious in the case of written reports by
ostensibly normal subjects, in good health and not medicated at the time of the experience.

 Extreme realism of the experience:

As mentioned above, at least some of the apparitional experiences reported by normal
subjects appear to mimic normal perception to such a degree that the subject is deceived
into thinking that what they are experiencing actually is normal perception. Similar close
mimicking of normal perception is reported by the subjects of some lucid dreams[24] and
out-of-body experiences,[25] which therefore pose similar problems for the theory of direct
realism.

Representationalism
Apparitional experiences appear prima facie more compatible with the philosophical theory
of representationalism. According to this theory, the immediate objects of experience when
we are perceiving the world normally are representations of the world, rather than the world
itself. These representations have been variously called sense-data or images. In the case of
an apparitional experience one might say that the subject is aware of sense-data or images
which happen not to correspond to, or represent, the external world in the normal way.

The philosophical implications of hallucinatory experiences in the sane are discussed by

McCreery.[26] He argues that they provide empirical support for the theory of
representationalism rather than direct realism.

References
 See, for example, Sir Ernest Bennett’s Apparitions and Haunted Houses (London:
Faber and Faber, 1939).
 Gurney, E., Myers, F.W.H. and Podmore, F. (1886). Phantasms of the Living, Vols. I
and II. London: Trubner and Co.
 Sidgwick, Eleanor; Johnson, Alice; and others (1894). Report on the Census of
Hallucinations, London: Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, Vol. X.
 Myers, F.W.H. (1903). Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. London:
Longmans Green. Reissued: Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads, 2002
 Tyrrell, G. N. M. (1943), Apparitions. London: Gerald Duckworth.
 Tyrrell, op. cit., pp.53-60.
 Ibid., pp.101-103.
 Green, C., and McCreery, C. (1975). Apparitions. London: Hamish Hamilton.
 Green and McCreery, op.cit., pp. 200-203.
 Ibid., p. 123.
 Ibid., pp. 150-155.
 Ibid., pp. 95-101.
 Gregory R. L. (1980). Perceptions as hypotheses. Philosophical Transactions of the
Royal Society of London – Series B: Biological Sciences, 290(1038), 181-97.
 Gibson, J.J. (1950). The Perception of the Visual World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
 See, for example, Sir Ernest Bennett, op.cit., pp. 173-177.
 Eysenck, H.J. (1992). ‘The definition and measurement of psychoticism.’ Personality
and individual differences. 13, pp.757-785.
 See, for example, Claridge, G. and Beech, T. (1995). ‘Fully and quasi-dimensional
constructions of schizotypy.’ In Raine, A., Lencz, T., and Mednick, S.A., Schizotypal
Personality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Cf. McCreery, C. and Claridge, G. (2002). Healthy schizotypy: the case of out-of-the-
body experiences. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 141-154.
 Green and McCreery, op.cit., pp. 200-203.
 Drever, (1952). A Dictionary of Psychology. London: Penguin.
 Gibson, J.J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception.. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin.
 Horowitz, M.J. (1964). The imagery of visual hallucinations. Journal of Nervous and
Mental Disease, 138, 513-523.
 Horowitz, op.cit., p. 513.
 Cf. Green, C.E. (1968). Lucid Dreams. London: Hamish Hamilton, pp. 70-78.
 Cf. Green, C.E. (1968). Out-of-the-Body Experiences. London: Hamish Hamilton, pp.
71-80.
 McCreery, C. (2006). “Perception and Hallucination: the Case for Continuity.”
Philosophical Paper No. 2006-1. Oxford: Oxford Forum.Online PDF
ANGEL
An angel is a spiritual supernatural being found in many religions. Although the nature of
angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition, in Christianity, Judaism
and Islam, they often act as messengers from God. Other roles in religious traditions include
acting as warrior or guard; the concept of a “guardian angel” is popular in modern Western
culture.

Angels are usually viewed as emanations of a supreme divine being, sent to do the tasks of
that being. Traditions vary as to whether angels have free will or are merely extensions of
the supreme being’s will. While the appearance of angels also varies, many views of angels
give them a human shape.

Etymology
The word “angel” in English (from Old English and German Engel), French (from Old French
angele), Spanish, and many other Romance languages are derived from the Latin angelus,
itself derived from Koine Greek: άγγελος, angelos, “messenger” (pl. άγγελοι).[1] The ultimate
etymology of that word in Greek is uncertain.[2]

In Hebrew & Arabic the primary term for “angel” is “malakh” (‫)מַ לְאָ ְך‬, “malaika”, or “malak” (
‫ )مالك‬derived from the Semitic consonantal root l-‘-k ( ‫ך‬-‫א‬-‫)ל‬, meaning “to send.” This root is
also found in the noun “Melakha” (‫)מְ לָאכָה‬, meaning “work”, and the noun “Mal’achut” (‫)מלאכות‬,
meaning “message”. Other words referring to angels include ‫ כרוב‬kruv[3] describing young
children, from which the English word “cherub” is derived. Another Hebrew term is Gil-Gulim,
meaning “revolving,” and angels are sometimes depicted as wheels with wings. Derived from
this is the Hebrew term “Gal-Gal,” “the rotation of fortune, change.”[4]

Judaic Beliefs
The Bible, Oral Law, Midrash and various mystical texts present angels as heavenly beings
created by God who are not endowed with free will.[need quote] They occasionally appear
on earth in furtherance of God’s will, often as messengers. They are frequently encountered
in mystical texts, particularly those of the Merkabah tradition. Jewish angelology is far from
systematic, and the purpose, nature and personalities of individual angels and the heavenly
host as a whole varies greatly across historical eras, texts, genres and traditions.[improper
synthesis?][5]
The Bible uses the terms ‫( מלאך אלהים‬melakh Elohim; messenger of God), ‫( מלאך יהוה‬melakh
Adonai; messenger of the Lord), ‫( בני אלוהים‬b’nai Elohim; sons of God) and ‫( הקודשים‬ha-
qodeshim; the holy ones) to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels. Other terms
are used in later texts, such as ‫( העוליונים‬the upper ones). Daniel is the first biblical figure to
refer to individual angels by name.[5]

In post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels came to take on a particular significance and

developed unique personalities and roles. Though these archangels were believed to have
rank amongst the heavenly host, no systematic hierarchy ever developed. Metatron is
considered one of the highest of the angels in Merkabah and Kabbalist mysticism and often
serves as a scribe. He is briefly mentioned in the Talmud,[6] and figures prominently in
Merkabah mystical texts. Michael, who serves as a warrior and advocate for Israel (Daniel
10:13)is looked upon particularly fondly. Gabriel is mentioned in the Book of Daniel (Daniel
8:15-17) and briefly in the Talmud,[7] as well as many Merkabah mystical texts.

Maimonides and Rationalism

In the Middle Ages, some Jews presented a rationalist view of angels that is accepted by
many Jews.[citation needed]

The rationalist view of angels, as held by Maimonides, Gersonides, Samuel Ibn Tibbon, etc.,
states that God’s actions are never mediated by a violation of the laws of nature.[citation
needed] Rather, all such interactions are by way of angels. Even this can be highly
misleading: Maimonides harshly states that the average person’s understanding of the term
“angel” is ignorant in the extreme.[citation needed]

Rather, according to Maimonides, the wise man understands that what the Bible and Talmud
refer to as “angels” are actually metaphors for laws of nature, or the principles by which the
universe operates. This is explained in his Guide of the Perplexed II:4 and II:6, and differs
from the more widespread perception of angels in the Torah.[improper synthesis?]

…This leads Aristotle in turn to the demonstrated fact that God, glory and majesty to Him,
does not do things by direct contact. God burns things by means of fire; fire is moved by the
motion of the sphere; the sphere is moved by means of a disembodied intellect, these
intellects being the ‘angels which are near to Him’, through whose mediation the spheres
[planets] move….thus totally disembodied minds exist which emanate from God and are the
intermediaries between God and all the bodies [objects] here in this world. – Guide of the
Perplexed II:4, Maimonides
Christianity
Early Christians took over Jewish ideas of angels, which had passed from an early stage,
where the idea of angels oscillated between that of a messenger of God and God himself to
an identification with specific individual messengers (Raphael, Gabriel, Michael, and Uriel).
Then, in the space of little more than two centuries (from the third to the fifth) the image of
angels took on definite characteristics both in theology and in art.[8]

By the late fourth century there is a consistent teaching among the Church Fathers on the
existence of different categories of angels in line with the missions and activities assigned to
them. Development of the doctrine of the angels was related to the settlement of the
Trinitarian disputes in which some proposed that Jesus was not divine but on the level of
immaterial beings subordinate to the Trinity.[9]

Iconography
Accounts of angels in the Bible say nothing of wings, except for the Seraphim, which have six
or three pair, and the earliest known Christian image of an angel, that in the Cubicolo
dell’Annunziazione in the Catacomb of Priscilla, which is dated to the middle of the third
century, is without wings. Representations of angels on sarcophagi and on objects such as
lamps and reliquaries of that period also show them without wings.[10]

The earliest known representation of angels with wings is on what is called the Prince’s
Sarcophagus, discovered at Sarigüzel, near Istanbul, in the 1930s and attributed to the time
of Theodosius I (379-395).[11]

From the same period is a statement by Saint John Chrysostom explaining the significance of
the wings: “They manifest a nature’s sublimity. That is why Gabriel is represented with wings.
Not that angels have wings, but that you may know that they leave the heights and the most
elevated dwelling to approach human nature. Accordingly, the wings attributed to these
powers have no other meaning than to indicate the sublimity of their nature.”[12]

From then on, though of course with some exceptions, Christian art represented angels with
wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (432-440).[13]

Latter-day Saint Beliefs

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (generally called “Mormons”) views angels as
the messengers of God sent to mankind to deliver messages, minister to humanity, teach
doctrines of salvation, call mankind to repentance, give priesthood keys, save individuals in
perilous times, and guide mankind.[14]

Joseph Smith, Jr. described his first angelic encounter thus:[15]

“While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room,
which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a
personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
“He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything
earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so
exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the
wrist; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and
neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was
open, so that I could see into his bosom. “Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his
whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The
room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I
first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me.”

People who claimed to have received a visit by an angel include Joseph Smith, Jr., and the
Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon: Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris.
Although Cowdery, Whitmer, and Harris all eventually became disaffected with Smith and
left the church, none of them retracted their statement that they had seen and conversed
with an angel of the Lord, and indeed, even defended their claim of angelic visitation to their
deaths. Countless other Latter-day Saints, both in the early movement and modern church,
claimed or have claimed to have seen angels, though Joseph Smith posited that, except in
extenuating circumstances such as the restoration, mortals teach mortals, spirits teach
spirits and resurrected beings teach other resurrected beings. [16]

The majority of the angelic visitations in the early Latter Day Saint movement were
witnessed by Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, who, prior to the establishment of the
Church, both claimed to have been ministered to by the prophet-historian Moroni, the Book
of Mormon prophet Nephi, John the Baptist, and the Apostles Peter, James, and John. Later,
at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery claimed to have
been visited by Jesus, and subsequently by Moses, Elias, and Elijah.[17] Joseph Smith taught
that “there are no angels who minister to this earth but those that do belong or have
belonged to it”[18] and, accordingly, Latter-day Saints believe that Michael the Archangel was
Adam (the first man) when he was mortal, and that Gabriel lived on the earth as Noah.[19]
Islam
Islam is clear on the nature of angels in that they are messengers of God (Allah in Arabic).
They have no free will, and can only do that which God orders them to do. Angels mentioned
in the Quran include Gabriel, Michael, Israfil, Harun, Maroot and the Angel of Death.

Angels can take on different forms. Prophet Muhammad, the last Prophet of Islam, speaking
of the magnitude of Angel Gabriel has said that his wings spanned from the Eastern to the
Western horizon. At the same time, it is well known in Islamic tradition that angels used to
take on human form.

Following is a Quranic verse that mentions the meeting of an angel with Mary, mother of
Jesus: Surah Ali ‘Imran Chapter 3 verse 45

Behold! The angels said: O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name
will be Christ Jesus. The son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the Hereafter and of
(the company of) those Nearest to Allah. [Al-Qur’an 3:45]

Zoroastrianism
In Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like animals. For example, each person has one
guardian angel, called Fravashi. They patronize human beings and other creatures, and also
manifest God’s energy. The Amesha Spentas have often been regarded as angels, although
they don’t convey messages,[20] but are rather emanations of Ahura Mazda (“Wise Lord”,
God); they initially appear in an abstract fashion and then later became personalized,
associated with diverse aspects of the divine creation.[21]

Bahá’í
Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, referred to angels as people who through the
love of God have consumed all human limitations and have been endowned with spiritual
attributes.[22]

`Abdu’l-Bahá, Bahá’u’lláh’s son, defined angels as “those holy souls who have severed
attachment to the earthly world, who are free from the fetters of self and passion and who
have attached their hearts to the divine realm and the merciful kingdom”.[23]

Furthermore, he said that people can be angels in this world:

“Ye are the angels, if your feet be firm, your spirits rejoiced, your secret thoughts pure, your
eyes consoled, your ears opened, your breasts dilated with joy, and your souls gladdened,
and if you arise to assist the Covenant, to resist dissension and to be attracted to the
Effulgence!”[24]

Occultism
Aleister Crowley tried to teach people to attain what he called “the Knowledge and
Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel”. Within the system of Thelema, the Holy Guardian
Angel is representative of one’s truest divine nature. Citing Crowley, people have linked the
term with the Genius of the Golden Dawn, the Augoeides of Iamblichus, the Atman of
Hinduism, and the Daemon of the gnostics.

According to most Thelemites, the single most important goal is to consciously connect with
one’s HGA, a process termed “Knowledge and Conversation.” By doing so, the magician
becomes fully aware of his own True Will. For Crowley, this event was the single most
important goal of any adept:

It should never be forgotten for a single moment that the central and essential work of the
Magician is the attainment of the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.
Once he has achieved this he must of course be left entirely in the hands of that Angel, who
can be invariably and inevitably relied upon to lead him to the further great step—crossing
of the Abyss and the attainment of the grade of Master of the Temple. (Magick Without
Tears, Ch.83)

Crowley felt that attaining Knowledge and Conversation was so important, that he staked the
claim that any other magical operation was, in a sense, evil.

Mysticism
Some mystics[citation needed] believe that a soul grows in steps from a mineral, to a plant,
then an animal, and then to a human. When the human resolves to die, a soul could become
an angel.[improper synthesis?] The Persian Sufi mystic poet Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi
wrote in his poem Masnavi:

I died as inanimate matter and arose a plant, I died as a plant and rose again an animal. I
died as an animal and arose a man. Why then should I fear to become less by dying? I shall
die once again as a man To rise an angel perfect from head to foot! Again when I suffer
dissolution as an angel, I shall become what passes the conception of man! Let me then
become non-existent, for non-existence Sings to me in organ tones, ‘To him shall we return.’
(Translation from Wikisource, Masnavi I Ma’navi, Book III, Story XVII)[broken citation]

The Christian (Swedish) writer Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) wrote in his book Conjugial
Love that a soul of a man and a soul of a woman who are (happily) united by marriage enter
heaven and become an angel. This could be a married couple on earth or a couple that met
after their earthly deaths.

Occult author Samael Aun Weor argues that a soul cannot evolve to become an angel
through mechanical evolution—the Buddhist Wheel of Life has involution of nature as well
as evolution—as such the steps would be mineral, plant, animal, human, animal, plant,
mineral.[citation needed] To evolve to become an angel involves conscious work and
voluntary suffering: marriage is treated as a sacrament, and is the means which Swedenborg
was referring to.[improper synthesis?] The mystics were not referring to the death of the
human body, but to the “dissolution of the ego”; the psychological death; the Buddhistic
annihilation; the death of “myself”; the method of the removal of all our sins which Jesus
Christ so wisely pointed out, and which was emulated by innumerable Saints.[improper
synthesis?]

Notes
 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=angel&searchmode=none  angel in
Online Etymological Dictionary
 Frisk, Griechisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch “Da das ganz unsicher ist, bleibt
diese Etymologie sehr fraglich.” [1]
 p.664, Jastrow
 Bava Batra 16b
 Jewish Encyclopedia, accessed Feb. 15, 2008
 Sanhedrin 38b and Avodah Zerah 3b.
 cf. Sanhedrin 95b
 Proverbio(2007), pp. 25-38; cf. summary in Libreria Hoepli
 Proverbio(2007), pp. 29-38; cf. summary in Libreria Hoepli and review in La Civiltà
Cattolica, 3795-3796 (2-16 August 2008), pp. 327-328.
 Proverbio(2007), pp. 81-89; cf. review in La Civiltà Cattolica, 3795-3796 (2-16 August
2008), pp. 327-328.
 Proverbio(2007) p. 66
 Proverbio(2007) p. 34
  Proverbio(2007), pp. 90-95; cf. review in La Civiltà Cattolica, 3795-3796 (2-16 August
2008), pp. 327-328.
 page 36. , Deseret (1966) God’s messengers, those individuals whom he sends (often
from his personal presence in the eternal worlds), to deliver his messages (Luke 1:11-
38); to minister to his children (Acts 10:1-8, 30-32); to teach them the doctrines of
salvation (Mosiah 3); to call them to repentance (Moro. 7:31); to give them priesthood
and keys (D. & C. 13; 128:20-21); to save them in perilous circumstances (1 Ne. 3:29-
31; Dan. 6:22); to guide them in the performance of his work (Gen. 24: 7); to gather his
elect in the last days (Matt. 24:31); to perform all needful things relative to his work
(Moro. 7:29-33) — such messengers are called angels.
 Joseph Smith History 1:30-33
 The Fulness of Times
 D&C 110
 D&C 130:5
 LDS Bible Dictionary-Angels
 Lewis, James R., Oliver, Evelyn Dorothy, Sisung Kelle S. (Editor) (1996), Angels A to
Z, Entry: Zoroastrianism, pp. 425-427, Visible Ink Press, ISBN 0-7876-0652-9
 Darmesteter, James (1880)(translator), The Zend Avesta, Part I: Sacred Books of the
East, Vol. 4, pp. lx-lxxii, Oxford University Press, 1880, at sacred-texts.com
 Smith, Peter (2000). “angels”. A concise encyclopedia of the Bahá’í Faith. Oxford:
Oneworld Publications. p. 38-39. ISBN 1-85168-184-1.
 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1976). “THE SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY”. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust.
Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. “Ye Are The Angels”. bcca.org. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.

Further Reading
 Angels and Devils, The Christian Faith: An Introduction to Dogmatic Theology], Claude
Beufort Moss

Bibliography
 Cheyne, James Kelly (ed.) (1899). Angel. Encyclopædia Biblica. New York, Macmillan.
 Driver, Samuel Rolles (Ed.) (1901) The book of Daniel. Cambridge UP.
 Hastings, James (ed.) (1898). Angel. A dictionary of the Bible. New York: C. Scribner’s
sons.
 Oosterzee, Johannes Jacobus van. Christian dogmatics: a text-book for academical
instruction and private study. Trans. John Watson Watson and Maurice J. Evans.
(1874) New York, Scribner, Armstrong.
 Smith, George Adam (1898) The book of the twelve prophets, commonly called the
minor. London, Hodder and Stoughton.
 Bamberger, Bernard Jacob, (March 15, 2006). Fallen Angels: Soldiers of Satan’s
Realm. Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0797-0
 This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article
“Angel”, a publication now in the public domain.
 Briggs, Constance Victoria, 1997. The Encyclopedia of Angels : An A-to-Z Guide with
Nearly 4,000 Entries. Plume. ISBN 0-452-27921-6.
 Bunson, Matthew, (1996). Angels A to Z : A Who’s Who of the Heavenly Host. Three
Rivers Press. ISBN 0-517-88537-9.
 Cruz, Joan Carroll, OCDS, 1999. Angels and Devils. TAN Books and Publishers,
Inc. ISBN 0-89555-638-3
 Davidson, Gustav. A Dictionary of Angels: Including the Fallen Angels. Free
Press. ISBN 0-02-907052-X
 Graham, Billy, 1994. Angels: God’s Secret Agents. W Pub Group; Minibook
edition. ISBN 0-8499-5074-0
 Guiley, Rosemary, 1996. Encyclopedia of Angels. ISBN 0-8160-2988-1
 Jastrow, Marcus, 1996, A dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Bavli and
Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic literature compiled by Marcus Jastrow, PhD., Litt.D.
with and index of Scriptural quotatons, Vol 1 & 2, The Judaica Press, New York
 Kainz, Howard P., “Active and Passive Potency” in Thomistic Angelology Martinus
Nijhoff. ISBN 90-247-1295-5
 Kreeft, Peter J. 1995. Angels and Demons: What Do We Really Know About Them?
Ignatius Press. ISBN 0-89870-550-9
 Lewis, James R. (1995). Angels A to Z. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 0-7876-0652-9
 Melville, Francis, 2001. The Book of Angels: Turn to Your Angels for Guidance,
Comfort, and Inspiration. Barron’s Educational Series; 1st edition. ISBN 0-7641-5403-
6
 Ronner, John, 1993. Know Your Angels: The Angel Almanac With Biographies of 100
Prominent Angels in Legend & Folklore-And Much More! Mamre Press. ISBN 0-
932945-40-6.
 Swedenborg, Emanuel (1979). Conjugal Love. Swedenborg Foundation. ISBN 0-
87785-054-2
  This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a
publication now in the public domain.

Documentaries
 “Angels: Good or Evil”, The History Channel, TV documentary, originally aired May 10,
2003

External links
 Catholic Encyclopedia entry on angels
 PersianDNA Zoroastrian angels
 Jewish Encyclopedia entry on angels
 Angels in Islam
 Christian/occult-oriented A-Z guide to names of individual angels, angelic hierarchies
and other reference materials
 Entheomedia.org
 Nine Orders of Angels
 Angelology forum
 Angels images and pictures