The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal

The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World: The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal Theresa Cheung This is the definitive A-Z reference book on all things psychic, mysterious and paranormal – the marvels, secrets and mysteries of the visible and the invisible world. This wonderful guide covers everything you could want to know including ghosts, strange phenomena, people, places, events, and ideas.Featuring over 800 A-to-Z entries, this Psychic Encyclopedia is a fascinating compendium of worldwide paranormal activity. With explanations of strange phenomena from both folklore and modern scientific research.Factual information on and explanations of: mediums and spiritualists to near-death experience, ghosts, levitation, telepathy, astral travel, precognition, all forms of divination (tarot, runes, crystal balls, tea leaves, etc.), evidence for the afterlife, contacting spirit guides, haunted sites, famous historical figures, haunted places and documented experiments, and much more.A complete reference of paranormal myth and folklore – and the myths and legends surrounding ghosts and spirits in different cultures throughout the world, from famous ghost stories to various beliefs and superstitions that have taken root in different countries. Theresa Cheung THE ELEMENT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE PSYCHIC WORLD the ultimate a-z of spirits, mysteries and the paranormal Contents Cover (#u30c8c440-b906-5663-89bf-60e92830ea70) Title Page (#u4d1afb85-5867-55a5-bcb8-39df563ac194) Introduction (#u49e1cb47-3a30-5773-945b-c2039579b52c) A (#ubb3999d9-db8f-5e4f-8cf9-1a4e90f61442) B (#ud619c98d-c764-5009-b505-c0c6173e96de) C (#u775625a4-f23a-5849-bd6f-0679b3573646) D (#ud0c37e00-d08a-5ac5-902d-762acb28699c) E (#ufe3242fb-ae4a-5eed-9490-086f869ea251) F (#litres_trial_promo) G (#litres_trial_promo) H (#litres_trial_promo) I (#litres_trial_promo) J (#litres_trial_promo) K (#litres_trial_promo) L (#litres_trial_promo) M (#litres_trial_promo) N (#litres_trial_promo) O (#litres_trial_promo) P (#litres_trial_promo) Q (#litres_trial_promo) R (#litres_trial_promo) S (#litres_trial_promo) T (#litres_trial_promo) U (#litres_trial_promo) V (#litres_trial_promo) W (#litres_trial_promo) X (#litres_trial_promo) Y (#litres_trial_promo) Z (#litres_trial_promo) Resources (#litres_trial_promo) Index (#litres_trial_promo) Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo) Copyright (#litres_trial_promo) About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo) Introduction (#ulink_3933e269-4dca-5aa0-a8e2-37fd809ba87a) A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. (Oliver Wendell Holmes) In the last few decades interest in the psychic world has escalated. Beyond the basic Steven King novel, the idea of being psychic or having psychic abilities has penetrated deeply into mainstream culture. The movie Ghost (1990), with Whoopie Goldberg as reluctant medium Oda May Brown, was the first blockbuster film to portray psychic phenomena in a positive light. Since then a steady stream of books, films and documentaries has followed. Organizations, seminars, workshops, websites, study programmes, chat rooms and courses in parapsychology (the study of the paranormal or unexplained) and psychic development have sprung up over night. Doctors and researchers in holistic health are assembling a startling body of evidence for the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit. We can now speak ‘openly’ about alternative healings, meditative and psychic experiences without fear of ridicule. Yet despite all the attention currently being given to psychic phenomena, their true nature still lies deeply shrouded in mystery. One of our favourite ways for dealing with the unknown is through language. We assign a word to an experience, to something we want to describe, and then we feel we have a handle on it. So let’s try to get a grasp on this great unknown, the universe of psychic phenomena, by assigning words to it. To begin with, what do we mean by ‘psychic? The word psychic describes anything in connection with the psyche. ‘Psyche’ dates back to ancient times when a goddess by the name of Psyche was thought to be in charge of the invisible but essential part of human existence. Over time the word and its meaning evolved, and today a Thesaurus offers the following synonyms: mind, soul, self, subconscious, spirit, subliminal self, inner self, awareness, ego and individuality. Today we use the word psyche to refer generically to all kinds of phenomena, experiences or events that seem to be related to the invisible mind, internal body sensations and altered states of consciousness, which cannot be explained by established physical principles. To qualify as psychic, an experience must therefore involve interactions that are qualitatively different from our normal, physical ways of exchanging with the world (e.g. verbal and nonverbal communication, sensations and bodily movements). A genuine psychic experience cannot be based even upon the most subtle, subliminal forms of perception or action. As the experience is different for every person it is impossible to explain exactly what the psychic state is, but a large number of experiences are considered psychic. These include telepathy (mind reading), clairvoyance (psychic ability to see objects and visions), psychokinesis (mind-over-matter), psychic healing, out-of-body experiences, poltergeists, spirits and hauntings. Within the pages of this Encyclopedia you’ll find a veritable compendium of all aspects of psychic phenomena - what they are, the evidence for them, the theories which have been proposed, the dynamics which favour or suppress them, and the techniques for discovering them in yourself. You will also find biographies of famous mediums and key figures in the psychic world as well as information about divination methods, well-known hauntings and paranormal beliefs from all over the world. The aim isn’t to explain the unexplainable - as that is impossible - but to lift the veil and make the groping for words easier when it comes to researching, questioning and understanding the mysteries of the psychic world. Introducing the psychic world [a very brief history] Psychic traditions have existed since the beginning of recorded history and have been present in one way or another in ancient cultures all over the world. It seems that a belief in ghosts and communication with spirits of the dead has also always been with us from our earliest beginnings. In the ancient Middle East, psychic powers were practised by prophets and are described in the Bible’s Old Testament. The royalty of many ancient cultures used divination to seek guidance in times of war and to predict natural disasters such as drought. The Egyptians believed they could communicate with the dead and forecast future events using palmistry and dream divination. In Africa the ancient peoples used trance states to contact the spirits of their dead ancestors. The Greeks used oracles at sacred locations to give prophecies of the future and the Romans looked to the stars for messages from the invisible realm. Early American psychic practices have also been documented. The Aztecs in Mexico used astrology and oracles and Native Americans relied on advice given to them by shamans who entered deep trance-like states to contact spirits. Although belief in ghosts was present from the very beginning of human history, the first extant report of a haunted house comes from a letter written by a Roman orator called Pliny the Younger (AD 61-112). He wrote to his patron, Lucias Sura, about a villa in Athens that nobody would rent because of a resident ghost. The best-known psychic of the Middle Ages was a French physician called Nostradamus (1503-1566). He wrote about a thousand prophetic verses, which are still analysed today by scholars looking for references to the world’s future. After the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, during the Age of Reason, belief in psychic powers and the paranormal waned, but it was reborn again with the help of the Spiritualist movement. The foundations of spiritualism were laid by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who allegedly went into trances and communicated with the dead. However, it was the Fox sisters, Kate (1841-1892) and Margaretta (1838-1893), who really brought psychic phenomena to the forefront. The sisters claimed they were able to manifest spirit communication through the rappings of a peddler who had been murdered and found in the Fox home. The public were fascinated as the sisters gave public demonstrations of this psychic manifestation throughout the United States. Even though the sisters later confessed to fraud, the Spiritualist movement was by then well underway both in the United States and in Europe. Spirit rapping gave way to s?ances, table-tilting, trance writing and spirit communication through a medium. Many of these techniques are still practised today by Spiritualist churches. Perhaps the biggest influence on the advancement of psychic knowledge was that of a man called Edgar Cayce (1877-1945), who is now considered the founder of the so-called New Age movement. Cayce had remarkable psychic powers. Allegedly he could see into the future and give predictions. He could look through objects and inside the human body. He was also able to enter another person’s mind and know what that person was thinking, and sleep on a book and remember its contents. The phenomena produced by mediums and psychics like Cayce during the height of spiritualism in the latter part of the nineteenth century quickly attracted the attention of eminent scientists and intellectuals, and the scientific investigation of alleged psychic powers, ghosts, apparitions, poltergeists and paranormal phenomena began in earnest. In 1882 the Society for Psychical Research was formed in London, and in 1885 the American Society for Psychical Research was founded in Boston. Clubs, organizations and societies dedicated to the paranormal sprung up all over the world, and as the twentieth century drew to a close the psychic world had successfully filtered into mainstream culture. It looks set to stay there. Today we have televised s?ances and ghost investigations, celebrity mediums and psychics and bookshops, websites and university courses devoted to the paranormal. Over the years investigation of the paranormal has become increasingly sophisticated and precise. It isn’t about superstition and eye-witness accounts any more, but about laboratory experiments, data, theories, statistical evaluation and high technology. There are those who are keen to offer theories to prove we live in a psychic world and those who are convinced it doesn’t exist. There is a huge desire to unravel the mystery. The hotly debated question at the beginning of the twenty-first century is, are psychic phenomena real? Fact or fiction? Is the psychic world real? I’ll give you the answer straight out: No one knows for certain. There are, however, many theories to explain the thousands upon thousands of documented experiences that people around the world have had since the beginning of recorded history. Some believe psychic phenomena are real, whether or not science, fraud, misinterpretation, hallucination or natural phenomena can explain them. Others argue that if something is unexplainable by science, it cannot be real. These two sides - believers and sceptics - engage in heated debates over whether reports of paranormal experiences are misinterpretations, coincidences, the product of hallucinations or something more substantial. Meanwhile, researchers into paranormal phenomena continue to seek explanations. It seems that the three hardest words for human beings to utter are ‘I don’t know’. We demand an accounting for every claim or experience, even if that experience seems unexplainable. Consequently, scientists, parapsychologists and psychologists have come up with a variety of theories for why paranormal phenomena exist, if they exist. For example: Sceptic: ‘Anecdotal evidence, characteristic of most psychic phenomena, is basically unreliable. Anecdotes may have natural, not mysterious explanations, such as random coincidence, fraud, imagination, or auto-suggestion.’ A believer responds: ‘The hard evidence for psychic phenomena today is founded on repeat-able experiments and not anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal evidence is considered valid in law and many other fields. The validity of anecdotal evidence does not depend upon the opinion of those listening to it.’ Sceptic: ‘If an experiment is not controlled to prevent fraud, then the results may not be trusted. This is especially so given the fact that many people who claimed to possess psychic abilities were later proven to be frauds. Parapsychology experiments are usually poorly designed. They often lack proper controls, allowing paths of intentional or unintentional information leakage through normal means.’ A believer responds: ‘There is no such thing as a completely foolproof experiment in any field of science, and it is unreasonable to hold parapsychology to a higher standard than the other sciences. Fraud and incompetence in parapsychology is addressed in the same way it is addressed in any other field of science: repeating experiments at multiple independent laboratories, and publishing methods and results in order to receive critical feedback and design better protocols, etc’ Sceptic: ‘Parapsychology experiments are rarely replicated with positive results at independent laboratories.’ A believer responds: ‘The existence of certain psychic phenomena has been reasonably well established in recent times through repeatable experiments that have been replicated dozens of times at labs around the world.’ Sceptic: ‘Positive results in psychic experiments are so statistically insignificant as to be negligible, i.e. indistinguishable from chance. For example, parapsychology may have a “file drawer” problem where a large percentage of negative results are never published, making positive results appear more significant than they actually are.’ A believer responds: ‘Experimental protocols have been continually improved over time, sometimes with the direct assistance of noted sceptics. Meta-analyses show that the significance of the positive results has not declined over time, but instead has remained fairly constant. There are certain phenomena that have been replicated with odds against chance far beyond that required for acceptance in any other science.’ Sceptic: ‘Currently unexplainable positive results of apparently sound experiments do not prove the existence of psychic phenomena, i.e. normal explanations may yet be found. In other words, psychic phenomena cannot be accepted as explanation of positive results until there is a widely acceptable theory of how they operate.’ A believer responds: ‘Anomalous phenomena do not disappear for lack of a theory. There have been many instances in the history of science where the observation of an anomalous phenomenon came before an explanatory theory, and some commonly accepted non-psychic phenomena today still lack a perfectly satisfactory, undisputed theory. For instance, in the past, those who sighted meteors falling to the earth were dismissed as madmen or false prophets.’ The dialogue between sceptic and believer continues endlessly. It’s a fascinating debate but as you can see from the brief snapshot above, each theory presented only fuels the arguments. While sceptics, scientists, parapsychologists, researchers and psychics debate the case for and/or against psychic phenomenon all we can do is decide on which side of the fence we wish to sit; and if we can’t decide we just have to sit on the fence instead. Perhaps some of the arguments and theories for and against will convince you; perhaps they won’t. For the majority, though, the decision isn’t going to be based on evidence or data or what the scientists say but on individual experience and belief. Do you believe in the psychic world, or don’t you? Your psychic world Those who believe in the psychic world suspect that most, if not all people have psychic ability to varying degrees. The ability is often likened to that of musical talent. Some people are naturally gifted with the ability to play and compose music, and practice makes them virtuosos. Others must learn and work and practise to be able to play an instrument even adequately or in the simplest way. But nearly everyone can learn to play to some degree. The same may hold true for psychic abilities. This Encyclopedia is an intriguing reference tool but it has another use. If you’re interested it can also be used to help develop your own psychic potential. The information boxes and advice sections within certain entries contain practical advice and exercises designed to help you access and make use of your psychic potential. Using them will make your psychic development interesting, easy and safe. If you do decide to work through some of the psychic development exercises here, it’s advisable to prepare yourself with the following three steps. 1. SELF-TALK The first step is to believe that psychic potential exists and that it is present within you to develop. Although this might sound silly or trite, begin by telling yourself that you are psychic. Make it a mantra that you repeat to yourself daily and often. This kind of self-talk has a scientific basis. It is now known that when a person learns something, whether it is a physical skill like wood carving or a mental exercise like memorizing poetry, through repetition, his or her brain physically changes - ‘rewires’ itself, if you will - to accommodate that task. This process of rewiring your brain for psychic ability begins with your belief in it. It takes time for the subconscious to be able to communicate with the conscious mind, and the best way to do this is to simply start thinking about the psychic world. All these thoughts have a positive effect on developing your gift. Knowledge will help, as you need some understanding of how things work. Adopt the policy you would take with a new hobby. Get involved in it, buy books and magazines, read at least three or four entries from this Encyclopedia every day and look for more information on the Internet or, better still, from clubs, societies and organizations devoted to the study of the paranormal. 2. PRACTICE The second step is to set aside a time every day for your psychic development. Find a place where you won’t be disturbed and where you can read, study, calm your mind and have a go at the exercises. Like a difficult sport or musical instrument, psychic ability requires diligent practice. Unlike sports or music, however, your progress can be hard to measure because of the elusive nature of psychic phenomena (it’s difficult to know how or when it’s going to work). So the frustration level can be high, but the key to success is to not give up. 3. PATIENCE Finally, don’t let frustration or failures make you stop. Be realistic. You can’t expect to practise for a few days and then be able to see a ghost, predict when Uncle Joe is going to call or who is going to win the lottery. Psychic abilities, even for those who have developed them to a high degree, can be unpredictable and erratic. The trick is to learn to recognize when or if they are working - and that comes with time, practice and experience. The mystery surrounds you There are things that occur in the world -and which have occurred since the beginning of recorded time - for which there are no lasting explanations, and clearly psychic phenomena fall into this category of unexplained mysteries. Sceptics may argue their case, and theories may come and go, but all the while the psychic phenomena that these arguments and theories are supposed to debunk or explain carry on as mysteriously as ever. Mysteries have always happened and will continue to happen. Belief in psychic phenomena has always been widespread all over the world and these beliefs have always had a very real influence on people’s lives. Whether you believe in the psychic world, would like to believe in it but aren’t sure, or think it’s a lot of fascinating but ultimately unscientific nonsense, there is one thing that has to be accepted: we live in a mysterious world. The universe is a puzzle, our consciousness is an enigma and even our existence in the world is an unexplained mystery. Mysteries are things we live with every day and simply have to accept, regardless of how irrational and incomprehensible they are. If you are willing to accept that mysteries surround you, if you are willing to open your mind to new possibilities, the psychic world is out there waiting for you to discover it. The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. (Albert Einstein) A (#ulink_7ee02b88-6463-5026-b9e0-aff3ecb94288) A COURSE in MIRACLES A complete self-study spiritual thought system that was channelled through Helen Schucman between 1965 and 1972. It consists of a Text, Manual for Teachers and Workbook for Students and teaches that all humans share a capacity for love, forgiveness, compassion and peace. Rather than trying to change the world, it teaches, you must change yourself and your view of the world. Miracles are defined as a shift in perception from fear to love. It also emphasizes that it is but one version of the universal curriculum, of which there are ‘many thousands’. Consequently, even though its language is that of traditional Christianity, the course expresses a non-sectarian, non-denominational spirituality. A Course in Miracles was dictated by a clear inner voice to Helen Schucman, a psychologist at Presbyterian Hospital in New York and an assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. Schucman was born to a Jewish family in the early 1900s and was an atheist. For years she experienced mental images that came to her like photographs, and in the 1960s the images became so intense and meaningful that Schucman feared she was going mad. In September 1965 a voice began dictating the course to Schucman with the opening words, ‘This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.’ Schucman was frightened and reluctant but felt compelled to write. She shared her experiences with her supervisor at work, William Thetford, who thought she might be having psychic visions. In the days, weeks, months and years that followed, the voice, which never identified itself, dictated the course to Schucman, and by September 1972 the entire work was completed and arranged into chapters by Schucman and Thetford. The voice predicted that a woman would come along who would know what to do with it, and that woman turned out to be Judith Skutch, president of the Foundation for ParaSensory Investigation. Skutch and her husband, Robert, changed the name of their foundation to the Foundation of Inner Peace and dedicated it to publishing and distributing the course. Information about the course spread quickly via word of mouth, and study groups independent of the foundation formed around the world and continue to flourish today. Schucman and Thetford chose to remain anonymous advisors to the foundation. The voice continued to speak to Schucman, who wrote down a collection of poems published by the foundation as The Gifts of God. As Schucman had wished, her identity was not revealed until after her death in 1981. A Course in Miracles was first published in 1975. There are currently over one and a half million copies of the course in circulation worldwide. ABACOMANCY The art of foretelling the future by observing patterns of dust. The way the dust is blown, distributed or disturbed is read very much like tea leaves. The origins and precise method of this ancient type of divination are unknown. Sometimes the diviner uses the ashes of the recently deceased. ABSENT HEALING Healing that results from the sending of healing thoughts, visualization, prayers or energy towards some distant person or persons. It is based on the belief that all beings are interconnected by a universal life force or energy and that healing thoughts send out subtle energetic charges into this web of interconnection and out to the person being thought about. Many psychics, spiritual healers, reiki practitioners and medical intuitives claim to be able to direct energy and perform absent healing. Typically healers will speak the name of the sick person or they will focus on a photograph of the person, or a candle or doll that represents the person. The healing energies are then directed to where they are needed. How absent healing is accomplished, if it can be accomplished, remains an unproven mystery but there is compelling evidence to suggest that emotional and sometimes physical healing can take place from a distance. Aside from countless personal accounts from those who have benefited from absent healing, American doctor Larry Dossey conducted several double blind trials to test the effectiveness of absent healing in the early 1990s. At the end of the trials the groups that had been the object of prayer showed greater improvement in health than the control groups. ACHERI In Native American folklore Acheri is thought to be the ghost of a little girl who died of disease. Legend has it that Acheri is a frail and pale looking female spirit who lives on mountaintops and hills. At night she travels into the valleys to spread infection, disease and pain, usually to children, by casting her invisible shadow over innocent sleeping victims. It is thought that the colour red affords protection against this entity and amulets of red thread worn as necklaces will protect children from the disease Acheri brings. Similarly, in European folklore, red charms are used to protect against harm from evil spirits. ACUPRESSURE An ancient Chinese healing method that involves applying pressure to selected points on the body to relieve pain and tension. It is based on the belief that the body has 14 ‘meridians’ that flow through the major organs and carry energy, called chi, throughout the body. Acupressure is an alternative medicine technique that deals with all the aspects of a person - body, emotions, mind and spirit - as one whole rather than as separate parts. Practitioners believe that acupressure can help relieve stress and tension, relax mind and body, increase blood circulation, aid in the removal of toxic wastes from the body, provide relief from head, neck and shoulder aches, promote the healing of injuries, increase energy levels and increase overall feelings of well-being. In a typical session the client lies fully clothed on a soft massage table while the practitioner presses gently on points on various parts of the client’s body. The session is non-invasive and gentle and generally lasts for about one hour. However, most clients normally require a number of sessions to complete a treatment. ACUPUNCTURE An ancient Chinese healing system and alternative medicine technique that involves inserting and stimulating particular points on the body with fine needles. Acupuncture, like acupressure, is built on the theory that there are special ‘meridian’ points on the body connected to the body’s internal organs and that ‘vital life energy’ (chi) flows along these meridian lines. According to this theory, disease is caused by interrupted energy flow; inserting the needles restores normal flow Acupuncture needles may be twirled, heated or stimulated with a weak electric current, with ultrasound and sometimes even with wavelengths of light. Acupuncture is used to treat pain, depression, allergies, asthma, arthritis, bladder problems, digestive upsets, colds, flu, smoking, fatigue, gynaecologic disorders, headaches, migraines, high blood pressure, low libido, stress, stroke, drug addiction, vision problems and even AIDS. ADELPHI THEATRE, GHOST OF The Adelphi Theatre in London is thought to be haunted by the ghost of a celebrated Victorian actor called William Terriss. Terriss was a stylish and popular actor highly regarded in his day and seldom seen without his trademark pale gloves. On the night of 16 December 1897, during a run of Secret Service, a thriller staring Terriss and leading lady Jessie Mil-ward, Terriss was murdered by an out-of-work actor, Richard Prince, who had been fired due to alcoholism and ever after bore a grudge against the profession. Prince especially resented the success and charisma of Terriss. As night fell Prince ambushed Terriss as he unlocked the stage door in Maiden Lane and stabbed him. Terriss died in Jessie Milward’s arms, whispering ‘I’ll be back’. Prince was tried and convicted of murder but declared insane. He spent the rest of his days at Broadmoor prison, where he passed the time writing his own plays and, of course, playing the heroic lead. The first sighting of Terriss’s ghost was in 1928. A stranger in London, who did not know about the murder, saw a male figure dressed in grey Victorian clothes suddenly vanish in Maiden Lane. Later he identified the figure as Terriss from a photograph. Again in 1928 an actress who was using Jessie Milward’s old dressing room, felt light blows on her arms, a sensation of being grabbed and the inexplicable shaking of her chaise longue. She also saw a green light above her mirror and heard tapping on the door. Later she discovered that Terriss used to tap Milward’s door with his cane when he passed it. In 1962 there was another sighting: a greenish light that took the shape of a man was seen by a frightened workman. The light opened the stage curtains and then proceeded to the stalls and tipped down the seats. Members of the station staff at Covent Garden tube station, which now occupies the site of a bakery where Terriss stopped daily, have several times reported hearing disembodied gasps and sighs after hours. One young porter, Victor Locker, immediately requested a transfer after encountering the phantom, an experience he described as being immobilized with an oppressive weight pushing down on him. In 1955 ticket collector Jack Hayden reported seeing on numerous occasions an elegant phantom with ‘a very, very sad face and sunken cheeks’, attired with opera cloak, cane and pale gloves walking the platform or ascending the spiral staircase. Hayden left Covent Garden in 1964 and the sightings have been less frequent, but Terriss still puts in the occasional cameo appearance, especially in the train tunnels between Covent Garden and Holborn. ADEPT One who has achieved the highest mastery of mystical and/or occult powers. An adept is particularly proficient or knowledgeable about the nature and laws of the universe. Those who wish to become adepts may become apprentices, or ‘chelas’, to adepts, in which case the latter are known as masters. The activities of adepts are diverse. They can control forces both in the spiritual and physical worlds and prolong their lives for centuries. Adepts can use their wisdom both for good or for evil purposes. The term ‘adept’ was also employed by medieval alchemists to denote a master of their sciences. AEROMANCY One of the oldest forms of divination, practised by the priests of Babylonia, aeromancy is a method of divination by observing atmospheric - air or sky - phenomena, such as wind currents, cloud shapes and formations, comets and falling stars. Examples include the Bethlehem star heralding the birth of Christ and the appearance of Halley’s comet around the time of the battle of Hastings, supposedly foretelling the victory of William the Conqueror. There are several different forms of aeromancy, including austromancy (wind divination); ceraunoscopy (observing thunder and lightning); chaomancy (aerial visions); and meteormancy (meteors, especially shooting stars). AFFIRMATION A positive phrase or sentence that through frequent repetition uses the power of your mind to create a truth or reality. Even though you may not be consciously aware that you are doing it, everyone uses affirmations (i.e., positive self-talk) to boost confidence and motivation at some time or other. Affirmations are powerful verbal messages repeated over and over again, so that they become embedded in your brain and create new pathways of thought and action. In other words they provide your intuition with new avenues for insight and opportunity and prepare your mind for change. Once the mind is prepared for change and new opportunities it is thought to be far easier to create those opportunities. Using your will power Affirmations are easy to do and can be beneficial if used correctly. It takes three to four weeks for the mind to absorb new information, so you need to be patient and persistent. Think about what you want to improve in your life. Are you happy with your job? Do you want to stop smoking? Would you like to lose some weight? Choose your goal, but make sure it is achievable. Let’s say you want to lose weight. You now work out a statement suggesting that you are reaching your goal. Be careful how you word it though, because if you say something like ‘I don’t want to be fat anymore’, your mind will focus on being fat, not on your goal, which is weight loss. But if you say something like ‘I want to be thin’, this is too vague for your mind to assess. However, something like ‘I am going to lose six pounds this month’ gets you in touch with the end result and is specific at the same time. It gives your mind something constructive to work with. Now write this affirmation down, and repeat it to yourself several times a day for at least three to four weeks. Of course, besides affirming the statement, you also need to use your common sense and take the necessary steps to help you towards your goal, such as regular exercise and healthy eating if weight loss is your goal. Remember, the mind is a powerful tool, and affirmations can be a key factor in success because they help replace sabotaging negative self-talk with optimism, goal-setting and positive resolve. Affirmations are typically used by men and women in sport and business but they can be useful for any career or life skill where goal setting and mental strength is crucial. Psychotherapists, motivational speakers and life coaches tend to use them as tools to help empower their clients and build self-esteem, and alternative medicine therapists tend to suggest the use of affirmations to encourage the body’s self-healing process. AFRIT The Afrit comes from Arabian and Muslim folklore and is alleged to be a spirit demon who rises up like smoke from the spilt blood of murder victims. They are said to inspire unspeakable terror and, because of the unjust, brutal nature of their demise, they are ruthless towards their victims. Sometimes they are said to appear in the form of desert whirlwinds, and it has also been said that they can take on a form similar to the Christian Devil, with hooves for feet and horns on their head. Driving a new nail into the bloodstained ground is thought to prevent their formation. AFTERLIFE Afterlife (also known as life after death) is the continuation of existence beyond this world or after death. There are various sources for this belief, but the one most relied upon is the testimony of individuals who claim to have knowledge of the afterlife because they have: Died and been sent back to life(near-death experience). Visited the afterlife when they were unconscious(out-of-body experience). Seen the afterlife in avision.Remembered the afterlife from a previous existence(reincarnation). Been visited by a representative of the afterlife such asangels or spirits. Believe the testimonal ofshamansor intermediaries between the living and the dead. Almost every society known has some belief in survival after death, although these conceptions vary enormously. Some common ones are: a continuation of life with little change in the nature of existence; spiritual improvement through a series of stages, planes or levels; a series of lives and deaths before ultimate extinction; or the afterlife as a place of reward or punishment based on faith or good deeds on earth and bodily resurrection at some future date. Christian folk traditions suggest that the souls of good people are converted into angels upon death. However, a more orthodox reading of scripture suggests that the dead are not transformed until the Last Judgement, which is followed by a resurrection of the faithful. Christian ideas heavily influenced nineteenth-century spiritualist authors like Andrew Jackson Davis, who dictated his lectures in a trance. Davis suggested that after their death, humans continue their spiritual progress through a series of spiritual spheres until they reach the seventh sphere and become one with the infinite vortex of love and wisdom. Other cultures believe in a land of the dead and locate it in various places: for the Zulus, for example, it is under the earth, an underworld mirror of this world. For the ancient Egyptians, the afterlife was very important. The believer had to act well during his or her lifetime and know the rituals in the Egyptian Book of the Dead to gain entry into the underworld. If the corpse of the pharoah was properly embalmed and entombed, the deceased would accompany the sun god on his daily ride. Other societies believe in universal-ism, which holds that all will be rewarded regardless of what they have done or believed, while still others consider the afterlife less important compared to the here and now. Another afterlife concept, found among Hindus and Buddhists, is reincarnation, either as animals or as humans. Followers of both traditions interpret events in our current life as consequences of actions taken in previous lives. Some traditions believe in personal reincarnation, whereas others believe that the energy of one’s soul is recycled into other living things as they are born. Those who practice spiritualism believe in the possibility of communication between the living and the dead. Some societies distinguish between the ghost, which travels to the land of the dead, and a different part of the spirit, which reincarnates. The ghost part of spirit is thought to be strong three or four days after death, and therefore various rituals are performed to discourage the ghost from returning to haunt the living. AGE OF AQUARIUS Term used to describe a new age of thinking in Western culture based on the astrological calculation of the Precession of the Equinoxes. According to Western astrologers, the Age of Aquarius is one of the 12 great ages, corresponding to the 12 signs of the zodiac, each lasting approximately 2,000 years. Each of the 12 ages is thought to be characterized by particular cultural moves in society, thought and religion. Astrologers believe that for the past 2,000 years or so our world has been in the Age of Pisces, characterized by disillusionment and sceptisicm, and that we are now experiencing the dawn of a new age: the Age of Aquarius. The shift to Aquarius is believed to herald revolutionary change, because Aquarius is the sign of knowledge, scientific breakthroughs and discoveries, but many think that there could be a price to pay for this overemphasis on intellect and science - the breakdown of old domestic structures. Although Aquarius can be tolerant and humanitarian, suggesting the possibility of a golden age, the Aquarian need for total freedom without interference may be uncompromising and dangerous. No astrological organization or official body has agreed upon a specific date to begin the Aquarian Age: some say that it began as early as 1904, others that it begins around the year 2000, and still others say that it will not start until as late as 2160. The 2160 date was calculated by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and coincides with various predictions of cataclysms which are to be followed by 2,000 years of peace. The disagreement in dates is due to the backward movement of the vernal equniox through the zodiac. The vernal equniox takes around 26,000 years to make a complete cycle in the zodiac, but a gradual slipage creates a retrograde of one zodiac sign every 2,160 years - some astrologers take this into account, others do not. Edgar Cayce, called by some the father of New-Age thinking, believed that the transition between the ages of Pisces and Aquarius overlap and the implications of this wouldn’t be fully understood until the twenty-first century. Theories about the Age of Aquarius vary as much as the date. Some believe it is a time of new beginnings while others associate it with times of ending such as Armageddon or Judgement Day. This disparity may be because Aquarius is ruled by two planets: Saturn, the symbol of time and endurance, and Uranus, the symbol of revolution. Generally, though, the Age of Aquarius is thought to be an era of enlightenment, joy, accomplishment, peace and spiritual empowerment. The term Age of Aquarius’ was popular in the 1960s, a period of great upheaval, social change and interest in spritual development and alternative lifestyles. The great conjunction of Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter and Saturn on 5 February 1962 was said to be a sign of the dawning of a new age, and Age of Aquarius’ has since been supplanted by the term New Age. AGENT A ghost or spirit that is seen by someone. It can also be used to describe the energy that is causing a haunting. For example, in a poltergeist situation it is often thought that a child at the age of puberty is somehow causing the disturbances through some form of telekinetic projection. In this case, the child is considered the agent. ALLUROMANCY A form of zoomancy also known as ‘feliomancy’. It is the art of predicting the future by observing the movements of cats, especially the way they jump and where they land. For example, a cat washing its face and ears could indicate rain; a cat washing one ear three times might suggest visitors from the direction in which the cat is looking; a cat following you could mean you will come into money, etc. Since ancient times cats have been associated with mystery and the occult, so it is hardly surprising that diviners used them to search for clues to the future. AIR One of the four natural elements harnessed in magical rites and associated with the Zodiac signs of Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Air symbolizes communication and intellectual pursuits as well as new beginnings. In magical use, the element of air corresponds to the East and the colour yellow. It is one of the two elements that are associated with the masculine (the other being fire). Its ritual tool is the athame and/or sword, although in some traditions it is the wand. Its symbol is an equilateral triangle, with its point pointing upwards and a horizontal line passing through the centre. In Wicca an air elemental is one of the four spirits that energize a spell and help bring the spell-caster’s wishes into being. AKASHA In Buddhism and Hinduism, akasha is the all-pervasive life force, a universal medium. It fits all space and penetrates all matter. It is everything, and everything is in it. Hindu philosophy interprets the akasha as the ether, the fifth element that permeates the universe, acting as an agent through which electromagnetic forces operate. In the practice of Yoga, the akasha is one of the three universal principles, along with prana (breath of life) and creative mind; the three are all sources of psychic power. From akasha comes will, which makes anything possible. In Buddhism the akasha is space, both space that is bound to the material world and space that is infinite. Madame Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, introduced this notion to the West and compared the akasha to other forms of the universal life force, such as the sidereal light of the Rosicrucians, the Hebrew ruah or moving spirit and the quin-tessance or luminous fifth element, invisible to humans, which binds the other four elements. Blavatsky suggested that the akasha forms the world soul, or anima mundi, and produces mesmeric operations of nature. AKASHIC RECORDS Akashic is a Sanskrit word meaning the fundamental etheric substance of the universe. According to Theosophy, the Akashic Records, or Book of Life, is extrasensory information that exists in another dimension, like the ultimate cosmic library. The records contain information on all world events and all thoughts and deeds that have taken place or will take place on earth. They may be read only by adepts. Rudolf Steiner, for example, claimed to have consulted the Akashic Records for his descriptions of Atlantis. Edgar Cayce also claimed to have seen the Book of Life. Some psychics say they consult the Akashic Records through clairvoyance or during out-of-body experiences. The Akashic Records are also called the Universal Memory of Nature, and it is thought that everyone has an inherent ability to see his or her own book and all the things they have done or felt in life. It is simply a matter of developing the psychic ability. The process of consulting the Records is described by psychics as like visiting an enormous library and looking up information in books. Some say they are greeted by doorkeepers or spirit guides who assist them in finding the correct information. The books are kept in rows, line upon line, stack upon stack, corridor upon corridor. Some books are charred, turned up at the edges and blackened, as if they have been pulled out of a fire, some are beautifully illuminated scrolls, and others are embossed in gold leaf with pages in rainbow colours. Yet others are bound in red leather with special emblems. ALAMO The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a landmark that is believed to be truly haunted. Originally a chapel built in 1718 by monks, the Alamo was later expanded into a fortress for Texans to use as a stronghold against the Mexicans in the battle over land rights. In March 1836 the President of Mexico, General Antonio L?pez de Santa Anna, and 4,000 troops laid siege to the Alamo. The 11-day battle led to the deaths of almost all the 188 defenders of the Alamo and 1,600 Mexicans. The victorious General L?pez ordered the bodies of the dead Texans to be dumped in a large grave and the Alamo to be torn to the ground. Legend has it that when the Mexicans tried to tear down the walls, ghostly hands extended to stop them and they fled in terror. Today the suffering of those who died has not been forgotten. There have been several sightings of grotesque apparitions coming from the walls of the Alamo, and screaming and yelling at night as if the terrible events of 1836 are replayed over and over again. There are other reports of a ghost on top of the Alamo, walking back and forth as if trying to escape. See Residual haunting. ALCATRAZ Alcatraz, the harshest, loneliest and most haunted of America’s federal prisons, is located on a dark and damp rock in San Francisco Bay. The story of Alcatraz does not begin or end with the use of the rock as a prison - the island was known to Native Americans as a place that contained evil spirits. Many believe that an evil energy still remains to this day. As parapsycholo-gists suggest, where so much trauma and negative emotion has occurred there is bound to be residual energy, and Alcatraz has the feel of an immense haunted house, complete with fog and restless spirits, despite the fact that Alcatraz was closed as a prison in 1963, and today is maintained by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area as a tourist attraction. Alcatraz, originally named La Isla de Los Altraces (The Island of the Pelicans), was first an army fort and prison. In 1934 it was turned into a maximum-security federal penitentiary where convicts were sent solely for punishment, not rehabilitation. Conditions were terrible and escape impossible. Many inmates were driven insane; others preferred to kill themselves rather than endure the brutal conditions. Since the prison’s closing no visual apparitions have been seen, but guards and tour guides have reported feelings of sudden intensity pervading the cells and corridors, the sound of men’s voices, whistling, clanging metal doors, screams, the running of feet down corridors and anxious feelings of being watched. Some of the more haunted locations on Alcatraz appear to be the warden’s house, the hospital, the laundry room, and Cell Block C utility door, where three convicts and three guards died in an attempted escape in 1946. The most haunted area, however, is the punishment block - D Block, or solitary, as it was called. Some guides refuse to go there alone. The cells reportedly remain intensely cold, even if it is a hot day. To this day visitors continue to report feeling strange on their visit to Alcatraz, although some acknowledge their reaction might be influenced by their knowledge of the misery and suffering that went on there. ALCHEMY The term alchemy, commonly believed to refer to attempts to change base metals into gold, covers a wide range of topics -from the discovery of a single cure for all diseases to the quest for immortality, from the creation of artificial life to straightforward descriptions of scientific techniques. Broadly, one could describe alchemy as the art of converting that which is base, both in the material and spiritual world, into something more perfect. Symbolically, alchemy is the mystical art for human spiritual transformation into a higher form of being. The spiritual teachings of alchemy were based on the idea that humans have a spirit or soul as well as a physical body, and it was thought that if the spirit could be compressed or concentrated, the secret of changing one aspect of nature into another could be discovered. The elusive catalyst that allowed this change to take place is known as the philosopher’s stone, which is not a stone but a powder or liquid that turned base metal into gold and, when swallowed, gave everlasting life. Alchemists are often pictured as stirring a bubbling concoction of base metal on a fire, hoping it will turn to gold. However, not all alchemists were like this, and some of the best minds of the last twenty or so centuries have studied alchemy as a way to unlock the secrets of nature. Alchemy probably first emerged in ancient Egypt and China. In China it was purported to transmute base metals into gold, and the gold so produced was thought to have the ability to cure disease and prolong life. In Egypt the methods of transmutation were kept secret by temple priests. Western alchemy has its basis in the skills of those Egyptian priests, Eastern mysticism and the Aristotelian theory of the composition of matter. Aristotle, following the theory of Empedocles, taught that all matter was composed of four elements: water, fire, earth and air. Different materials found in nature contained different ratios of these four elements, and so by proper treatment a base metal could be turned to gold. In the eighth and ninth centuries, Chinese, Greek, and Alexandrian alchemical lore entered the Arab world. Arabian alchemists postulated that all metals were composed not of four elements but of two: sulphur and mercury. They also adopted the Chinese alchemists’ concept of a philosopher’s stone - a medicine that could turn a sick (base) metal into gold and act as the El or elixir of life - and so begun a never-ending quest for this elusive catalyst. Arab alchemical treatises were popular in the Middle Ages. Indirectly, through Arabic, Greek manuscripts were translated into Latin, and alchemical explanations of the nature of matter can be found in the treatises of such scholars as Albertus Magnus (c.1200-1280) and Roger Bacon (c.1214-1292). Before the scientific revolution, alchemists were respected figures on the European scene, and kings and nobles often supported them in the hope of increasing their revenue. But among the sincere were charlatans and swindlers, and their fraudulent activities led to alchemy getting a bad name. Even as late as 1783 a chemist called John Price claimed he had turned mercury into gold. When he was asked by the Royal Society to perform the experiment in public, he reluctantly agreed. On the appointed day, however, he drank some poison and died in front of the invited audience. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many practical alchemists, like Paracelsus, the first in Europe to mention zinc and use the word ‘alcohol’, turned from trying to make gold towards preparing medicine. The story is told of a seventeenth-century chemist who claimed he had found the elixir of life in the waters of a mineral spring. This substance has since been identified as the laxative sodium sulphate. After the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century, alchemy became marginalized, and interest in transmutation became limited to astrologers and numerologists. Nevertheless, the scientific facts that had been accumulated by alchemists in their search for gold became the basis for modern chemistry. In the West, interest in the spiritual dimension of alchemy was rekindled in the mid-twentieth century through the work of psychiatrist Carl Jung on alchemical spirituality. Today there are few practising alchemists. The fact is, scientists have discovered how to change base metals into gold, but the process is uneconomical and so alchemy today is a spiritual rather than a practical quest. Sincere seekers are people of great wisdom and morality. For them the search for spiritual perfection takes precedence over the quest for easy riches. Genuine alchemists see the universe as a unity and believe that by exploring the infinite workings of its parts they can better understand the whole. The symbolism of turning base metal into gold represents exactly what they are trying to do within themselves - refine themselves spiritually - and it could be said that alchemists are simply taking a more scientific approach to the age-old quest to ‘know thyself. ALECTROMANCY An ancient Roman method of divination using a cock or a hen placed in a circle of grain, round which are written the letters of the alphabet. The letters close to where the bird pecks are gathered and assembled to answer specific questions. If a simple yes or no is required, then only two piles of grain are used, and the most pecked grain pile provides the answer. Alectromancy was also practised by listening to the crows of a cock and the periods at which they were heard. Another method was to recite the letters of the alphabet, noting those at which the cock crowed. A well-known story involving alectromancy is that of the Roman emperor Valens, who used alectromancy to divine the name of his successor. He always got the name ‘Theod’, and so Valens ordered all those with the name Theodorus to be killed. Had he done his research properly, however, he might have been more successful: it was a man called Theodosius who actually succeeded him. ALEUROMANCY Divination through sortilege of fortunes written on slips of paper inserted into balls of dough and baked, mixed and distributed randomly. Used mainly by the ancient Greeks it is seldom practised today, although it is the origin of modern-day fortune cookies. ALLHALLOWS EVE See Halloween. ALOMANCY A method of divination that interprets random patterns of salt. Little is known of this ancient art of divination, but it accounts for some of the modern salt-related superstitions, including the saying that bad luck is likely when the salt cellar is overturned and the practice of throwing a pinch of salt over the shoulder for good fortune. ALTERED STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS [ASC] The term ‘altered state of consciousness’ was coined by parapsychologist Charles Tart (b.1937), and it refers to a shift in the pattern of consciousness or normal waking state, for example during hypnosis, trance or dream state, when the conscious mind is subdued and the unconscious takes over. The operation of some psychic phenomena depends on being in an altered state of consciousness, but ASCs are difficult to study because of their subjective and internal nature, and because there is no universal state of consciousness from which to begin such a study. States of consciousness take place in four levels of brain-wave activity: beta, alpha, theta and delta. Beta level is complete waking consciousness. Alpha level is where material from the subconscious is available to the mind, as in meditation or daydreaming. The theta level is equivalent to light sleep, a state of unconsciousness in which one is vaguely aware of what is going on around one. The delta level is deep sleep. Many ASCs can be differentiated, ranging from dreaming to trance to mystical states of consciousness, such as that experienced during a shamanic state. ASCs can occur spontaneously or can be induced through disciplines such as Yoga, Zen and other forms of meditation, prayer and magical techniques. They can also be induced through chanting, dancing, fasting, sex, hypnosis, trauma and sleep deprivation. Orthodox science largely rejects the experiences and knowledge gained from ASCs, many of which are intensely spiritual in nature, but scientific research has been effective in the areas of dreams, meditation, biofeedback and drug-induced states. Laboratory tests since the early 1950s on ASC-induced techniques such as relaxation, hypnosis and meditation have also been shown to enhance psi function, especially extrasensory perception (or ESP). ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE Medical or health practices based on unconventional principles, methods, theory, practice, treatments and knowledge -unconventional in that they are not in line with standard, traditional or orthodox medical practice and scientific beliefs. If the alternative therapy is offered alongside orthodox medicine it is called complementary medicine. Alternative medicine is often (but not always) based upon metaphysical belief. Some of the most popular alternative techniques that incorporate metaphysical beliefs include acupressure, acupuncture, aromatherapy, Ayurvedic medicine, body cleansing, bodywork, chelation therapy, chiropractic, craniosacral therapy, energy medicine, electrodiagnosis, herbalism, holistic medicine, homeopathy, iridology, macrobiotics, naturopathy, osteopathy, polarity therapy, psychic healing, reflexology, Reiki, Rolfing, subliminal tapes, therapeutic touch and traditional Chinese medicine. AMERICAN GHOST SOCIETY [AGS] A society of ghost investigators with members throughout the United States and Canada. The society was formed in 1995 by Troy and Amy Taylor, as the Ghost Society of Central Illinois. It expanded quickly and became the American Ghost Society in 1996. Within a few years it had nearly 500 members, including many prominent authors, law enforcement personnel and paranormal investigators. The AGS maintains a network of area representatives and local research groups, and the Taylors organize annual conferences and meetings. The AGS publishes a magazine dedicated to ghosts and hauntings, the quarterly Ghosts of the Prairie, and also operates a website (www.prairieghosts.com), which includes the largest Internet bookstore dedicated to the subject. Membership of the AGS is open to all, and the emphasis is on a high standard of investigation of hauntings using detective work - visiting and inspecting sites, interviewing witnesses and using high-tech ghost detection equipment. Psychics and mediums are not used because they are considered too subjective. All data, once analysed, is presented to the public. The following is an extract from the AGS mission statement: The American Ghost Society is a national network of ghost hunters and researchers who conduct investigations into the paranormal in a non-metaphysical manner. One of our main goals is to seek out allegedly haunted locations and to assist those who are experiencing problems with the paranormal. The group members then look for authentic evidence of the paranormal and try to determine if the location is haunted. We are seeking genuine evidence and are careful about the presentation of this evidence … insuring that it is legitimate, researched, and analyzed before being presented to the general public … The credibility of the group is maintained above all else as we do not work with psychics or conduct investigations using metaphysical methods. We are not ‘Ghost Busters,’ but when a case does prove to be genuine, assistance through other channels may be provided at the location owner’s request … In addition, we do not claim to be experts in the paranormal, as no experts exist when it comes to the supernatural, no matter what anyone may claim or who may claim to be one. We are instead working to present an image of competent researchers who are collecting the most authentic evidence possible. Investigations conducted under the auspices of the American Ghost Society are always held to the standards of the group and are conducted with integrity, honesty, and with discretion. The Taylors opened the Haunted Museum in 2000 in Alton, Illinois. The museum houses a collection of books, articles, photographs and materials concerned with ghost research. Prior to the museum’s opening, when the displays were being prepared, several strange phenomena were reported at night. Lights that were switched off were mysteriously turned on by the morning, books fell from shelves, items would vanish one night and reappear the next and displays were rearranged. Curiously, the building’s alarm system was never activated to indicate the presence of human intruders. AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH [ASPR] Founded in 1885, the American Society for Psychical Research is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States. It investigates psychic or paranormal phenomena through scientific means. Among its founders was the Harvard psychologist and professor of philosophy William James while among its benefactors was the inventor of the Xerox machine, physicist Chester Carlson. Its library and archive contain rare books, case reports, letters and manuscripts, which date back to the 1700s. The ASPR serves as a global information network, providing publications and educational services which offer ‘responsible information about relevant contemporary and historical research’. It has an exhaustive library of information on almost every experiment conducted on just about every type of paranormal phenomena. You can visit the society in New York City or look it up on the Internet: www.aspr.com. See also Society for Psychical Research. AMHERST HAUNTING The Amherst Haunting is a tale of poltergeist activity that took place in Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1878 and centred on a 19-year-old woman, Esther Cox, recently threatened with rape. One night, soon after the traumatic event, Esther started to feel ill and went to bed early. Later she woke up screaming that she was dying. It is said that ‘Her eyes went bloodshot, her hair stood on end, and her body puffed up to twice its normal size.’ Strange, violent movements filled the small, two-room cottage where Esther lived with her extended family. Thunderous bangs erupted from under the bed. Sheets were ripped off her and tossed into a corner. A doctor who came to examine her watched a bolster move of its own accord. Along the wall he watched words a foot high being scratched into the plaster: ‘Esther Cox you are mine to kill!’ The disturbances in the house continued, including terrifying claps of sound and unexplained fires - lit matches materializing out of nowhere and dropping on to beds. After some time, the longsuffering landlord decided he’d had enough of his property being damaged and asked Esther’s family to leave. She alone left instead, finding work at a nearby farm, but her job was cut short when the barn erupted into fire and the farmer had Esther charged with arson. She was sentenced to four months in jail, of which she served one month before being released. The story ended happily, for the disturbances subsided after Esther was freed from jail and eventually ended completely. Later she married, twice, and finally died in 1912 at the age of 53. The case was never solved. Some at the time put forward the theory that electricity was responsible. Electricity was a new notion at the time, the latest wonder of the age, and people did not yet understand how it behaved. Some theorized that the unexplained fires were bolts of lightning and the noises were thunder. In light of modern theories of the origin and nature of poltergeists, it is likely that Esther was the focus of psy-chokinetic energy, in which repressed emotions and sexuality burst forth, causing the phenomena. The case remains unusual in that Esther was beyond the age when poltergeist problems tend to occur, and that the disturbances also occurred in her absence. AMITY VILLE HORROR The Amityville Horror, although now considered a hoax, remains one of the most sensational and controversial cases of alleged haunting of all time. A small house in Amityville, New York, had been on the market for a year at a bargain price because it was the scene of a mass murder, by 23-year-old Ronnie DeFeo of his father, mother and younger siblings in November 1974. George and Kathleen Lutz bought the house a year later, in December 1975, and moved in with their three children. A month later the Lutzes fled the house, never to return. They told the media of bizarre happenings - mysterious odours, doors slamming shut, gelatinous substances oozing out of nowhere. In 1977 The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson was published by Prentice-Hall as a non-fiction book. It sold six million copies and led to a top-grossing movie in 1979 and a host of other books and films. The haunting was quickly dismissed as a hoax, and while it is possible haunting may have occurred, sceptics argue that there are too many discrepancies. The American Society for Psychical Research found the whole matter questionable and did not investigate, believing that the incidents were not paranormal. Also, when the Lutzes moved out the house became quiet. The next owners, Jim and Barbara Cromarty, said they experienced no unusual phenomena. However, they grew so annoyed by the tourists flocking to see their house that they sued the Lutzes, Anson and Prentice-Hall for $1.1 million. They won a settlement for an unspecified lesser amount, with the judge ruling that ‘the evidence shows fairly clearly that the Lutzes during this entire period were considering and acting with the thought of getting a book published’. AMNIOMANCY From the Latin amnion, meaning membrane, amniomancy is an ancient method of divination by means of the membrane that sometimes envelops the head of a baby at birth. From inspecting the membrane, called a caul, the diviner predicted what sort of life the newborn would have. AMULET An object, drawing, inscription or symbol believed to have supernatural or magic power to ward off evil, the evil eye, disease, poor health and other misfortunes. Amulets are also worn to bring good luck as a kind of mascot or lucky charm. Amulets are typically worn around the neck in the form of jewellery or a charm - a magical phrase, rhyme or prayer inscribed on paper. Amulets are also worn as rings. Some amulets are found as designs, symbols or inscriptions engraved on doors or posts. Simple amulets have a colour or shape that catches the eye, but almost anything can become an amulet depending on a person’s beliefs and resources. Among the most common are gems and precious stones fashioned into jewellery or statues of animals. Representations of eyes are also common and one of the best-known amulets is the ancient Egyptian Eye of Horus, which guarded health and protected against evil spirits. Organic amulets such as fruit, vegetables, berries, nuts and plants are common in some parts of the world. For example, the use of garlic as an amulet against evil may be traced back to the ancient Romans, while peach wood and stones are considered strong amulets against evil spirits in China. Certain metals are believed to have protective properties. Iron, for example, is universally thought to keep away demons and witches. Written amulets such as formulas, spells, words of power, secret symbols, religious phrases or signs have also been common since ancient times. See Talisman. ANCESTOR WORSHIP Ancestor worship involves paying respects to the spirits of dead relatives or ancestors in the hope this will ward off evil and bring good fortune to the community. As the ancestors are not really thought of as gods, ‘worship’ may not be entirely the right term to use. Typically, offerings of food or drink or gifts for the spirits of the dead are made in the hope this will please the ancestors and make sure that they continue to look out for the community. In West Africa each family has its own ancestral shrine, inhabited, it is thought, by the founder of the lineage. These shrines are often carved in the likeness of the founder and must be tended and cared for. See also Day of the Dead. ANGEL An immortal supernatural being which mediates between God and humanity. Angels are specific to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but they occur as helping spirits in other traditions. The word ‘angel’ comes from the Greek angelos, ‘messenger’, and the name refers to one of the angel’s most important duties, which is to travel back and forth between the celestial and earthly realms, bringing human prayers to heaven and God’s answers to earth. Angels are representatives of God on earth, delivering divine messages or helping humans according to God’s will. Angels exist in a celestial realm but have the ability to assume a physical form and pass as human beings. They may bring fire or bright light; sometimes they are pictured with wings and sometimes without. Where appropriate, they appear to humans in visionary experiences or dreams. Prior to the Western Enlightenment, angels were believed by many to play a magical role in daily life. However, after the scientific revolution angels were no longer taken seriously except by poets and the romantically inclined. The mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, among other occult figures, claimed to commune with angels. Swedenborg called the souls of the dead ‘angels’ and said he visited them in the afterlife during his trances. Today angels have made a comeback in popularity, due in part to a widespread spiritual hunger for supernatural assurance and guidance. Some people consider the appearance of a spirit of the dead, such as a family member, to be an angel that comes to warn or comfort them. In deathbed visions the souls of dead friends and family members who come to help the dying person are often believed to be angels. Many people still claim to experience angelic visions, especially those who have gone through near-death experiences, and in many such accounts an angel greets them at the threshold of death. Angels are most often sensed through clairaudience. They sometimes manifest as balls of brilliant white light or appear as real persons in a mysterious encounter with a stranger. These encounters often occur when a person is in crisis and needs decisive action. A mysterious, calm but firm stranger who is knowledgeable about the crisis appears out of nowhere and offers a solution. Once the problem has been solved the person vanishes. It is the abrupt and strange disappearance that makes people wonder whether they have been helped by a human or an angel. Famous examples of reported angel encounters include those of George Washington, who suggested that angels helped him during the Delaware crossing of 1776, and the composer Handel, who believed angels helped him to compose the famous Hallelujah Chorus. ANGELS of MONS See Battlefield ghosts. ANIMAL PSI Animal psi is the ability of animals to experience clairvoyance, precognition, telepathy and psychokinesis. Are animals clairvoyant, and can they communicate telepathically? Do they possess special powers that enable them to sense danger? Although it is not known conclusively if this is the case, scientific evidence suggests that, if psi exists, it probably does so in both humans and animals. Sceptics argue that animals thought to possess psi are simply responding to subtle changes in body language and physical cues from their owners, but many animal lovers are certain that psi exists in animals and that psi-gifted pets are those that are the most loved, as love nourishes psi. Many psychics like to have animals accompany them when they are investigating haunt-ings because animals are thought to be more sensitive to ghosts and spirits, and many cats and dogs have been known to react visibly in fear in places of suspected paranormal activity. Evidence for animal psi is largely anecdotal, as animals do not respond well to scientific testing for psi. However, American parapsychologist J B Rhine at Duke University investigated around 500 reported cases of animal psi. Rhine concluded that there were five basic types of animal psi: the ability to sense death or injury to a loved one; the ability to sense the impending return of an owner; the ability to sense impending danger; the ability to find the way home; and the ability to psi trail’ or to find an owner when separated by long distances. There are also numerous reports of animal hauntings, in particular stories of much-loved pets who have appeared to their owners to offer comfort and love. The stories remain anecdotal, but animals have and always will be associated with the supernatural and paranormal. Strange and mysterious stories of dragons, snakes, cats, dogs, serpents and unicorns linger among superstitions and fairy tales today. Religion, folklore and witchcraft have borrowed heavily from the animal world, for they know that the qualities and energies of animals represent strength, power, devotion, intuition, intelligence and wisdom. ANIMISM Animism is rare today, but this very ancient way of perceiving the world may once have been universal. At the root of magic beliefs and practice, animism is the belief that every natural object, both living and non-living, has a spirit or life force and is endowed with reason and intelligence. The animist sees movement in trees, rocks, streams, wind and other objects and believes that everything is inhabited by its own spirit. Animism is found among many tribal societies throughout the Americas, Asia, Australia and Africa. Having observed that during sleep and dreaming, visions and trances - what today we call out-of-body experiences - the spiritual part of a body could detach from the physical, animists deduced that it could also survive death. Instead of going to the land of the dead, the soul might take control of another person (possession) or send messages to the living through mediums or shamans. It might lodge in various features of the natural world such as trees or rocks, or in human objects such as spears or statues. Beliefs that a person may have more than a single soul are not unusual. For instance, among many Eskimo groups, a name is one type of soul. In societies that lived close to nature not only people but also animals and plants were thought to have souls, and human spirits might be reborn in animals (reincarnation). In some cases people may have a special affinity with certain species of animal, and the animistic beliefs concerning this human relationship to animals are known as totemism. For the animist, the world abounds with spirit entities. Water spirits and forest spirits are especially common, but animism is more than just a belief in soul and spirits; it has its own logic and consistency and in many respects can be called a religion. ANKOU Ankou is part of the fairy lore of the Celtic countries. He is thought to be the personification of death, who comes to collect the souls of humans when they die. Largely forgotten in Cornwall, Wales and Ireland, Ankou remains a part of the living folklore in Brittany. Every parish in Brittany has its own ankou. An old Irish proverb says, When Ankou comes, he will not go away empty’ He is depicted as a tall, dark, haggard figure, wearing a black-robed costume pulled up high about his head and with a large hat that conceals his face. Legend has it that he is always preceded by a gust of wind and you cannot see his face, for if you do it means you have died. He is said to drive a small black coach drawn by four black horses and accompanied by two ghostly figures on foot. Many believe it is not really a coach at all but a hearse and that the job of the ghostly figures is to collect corpses and place them in the hearse. One legend says that Ankou was once a cruel prince who met up with Death in the forest and challenged him to a contest. The prince loved to hunt and kill, and on this particular night he was chasing a white stag (a magical animal in Celtic stories). The prince set out a challenge before the enormous, black-robed rider: whoever could kill the stag would not only keep the meat but also determine the fate of the loser. The stranger readily agreed, and it is said that his voice was raspy, like leaves scraping castle walls. They set off at a gallop, and the prince realized immediately that he was bested. No matter how hard he rode, the stranger rode faster. And when the prince was still stringing his bow, the stranger had already set loose his arrow and felled the stag. As the winded prince approached the stranger said, ‘You can have the stag - and all the dead of the world.’ The stranger sentenced him to an eternity of hunting the souls of all who died around the world. ANTIETAM The American Civil War battle of Antietam took place near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on 17 September 1862. Twenty-three thousand men were killed or wounded -the bloodiest single day of battle in American history - and ghosts and strange phenomena still greet visitors to the site today. George B McClellan, commander of the Federal Army of the Potomac, had not yet been victorious for the Union because of his cautious tactics. Robert E Lee of the Confederate army therefore determined to occupy Northern territory and marched his men into Maryland. But Lee’s luck was about to run out. A copy of Lee’s field orders had been lost, just about the time Union soldiers spotted a small packet lying on the ground. Opening it, they found three cigars wrapped in paper. The cigars themselves were rare and valuable, but only later did they truly realize what they had: the paper wrapped around the cigars contained Lee’s field orders. McClellan went on the march. When the two sides came face to face at 5 am on the 17th, both generals were determined to make a stand and change the course of the war. The battle was fierce and frenzied. By late afternoon, thousands had died and, although both sides claimed a victory, in actuality it was a draw. It did change the course of the war, however, for Lee’s failure to successfully invade the North led to Britain postponing its recognition of the Confederate state. Today the battlefield looks much as it did all those years ago. Some woods have been cleared away and monuments erected, but you can stand on the site and perhaps experience what other visitors have reported - hearing the sound of gunfire and smelling the scent of gunpowder. One visitor to the park saw what he thought was a group of Confederate re-enactors, but realized his mistake when the company suddenly vanished from his sight. A school field trip became quite an experience for some of the children one spring day. After the guided tour, they were invited to wander the area of the bloody battle for a short time before their departure. Later they reported to their teacher that they had heard what sounded like chanting - like fa-la-la-la-la of ‘Deck the Halls’. The teacher, who was a Civil War buff, knew -but the children could not possibly have -that the war cry of the Irish Sixty-Ninth New York militia, which fought among the Union troops, was Faugh A Ballach, which in English is ‘Clear the Way!’ but in Gaelic is pronounced ‘Fah-ah-bah-lah’. The nearby Burnside Bridge, named after Major General Ambrose E Burnside, who held the bridge for the Union, also is said to be haunted, as is a local bed-and-breakfast. APANTOMANCY A method of divination by taking cues from chance meetings with animals, birds and other creatures. The superstition associated with a black cat crossing one’s path is apantomancy. APPARITION The supernatural appearance of a person, animal or object too far away to be seen, felt or heard by normal senses. Contrary to popular belief, most apparitions are of the living not the dead, but apparitions of the dead are also called ghosts. Only a small number of apparitions are visual; most apparition experiences feature noises, unusual smells, extreme cold or heat and the displacement of objects. Every civilization throughout history and around the world has held beliefs about apparitions. Among Asian peoples belief in ancestral ghosts is strong, and rituals exist to honour and placate them, as the spirits of the dead are thought to interfere regularly in the affairs of the living and are credited for both good and bad fortune. The ancient Hebrews, Greeks and Romans believed that spirits of the dead could return to haunt the living. During the Dark Ages people believed in all manner of apparitions: demons, vampires and devil dogs. Around this time the Christian Church taught that ghosts were souls trapped in purgatory until they expiated their sins. The only apparitions that were holy and permitted by God were apparitions of religious figures, such as angels, saints and Jesus. All other apparitions, including spirits of the dead, were delusions created by Satan to confuse the living. In seventeenth-century Europe apparitions of the dead played an important role as advisors to the living. Belief in ghosts fell out of favour in the eighteenth century, returning in the nineteenth with spiritualism, which espouses survival after death and mediumistic contact with the dead. Many motifs of apparitions appear in the folklore of different cultures, such as the Flying Dutchman or the ankou. According to a study of apparitions by American psychical researcher Hornell Hart, published in 1956, there is no significant difference between apparitions of the living and of the dead. Apparitions can move through solid matter and appear and disappear abruptly. They can cast shadows. Some are corporeal and lifelike in their movement and speech while others are luminous or limited in movement and speech. Apparitions are typically dressed in clothing of their time. The majority of apparitions are thought to manifest for a reason, for instance, to communicate a crisis or death, give a warning, offer comfort or convey important information. Some haunting apparitions appear in places where emotional traumas have taken place, such as murders or battles, but other hauntings seem to be aimless. Systematic studies of apparitions began with the Society for Psychical Research, London, in the late nineteenth century. By the 1980s polls in the Unites States conducted by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Council showed a dramatic increase - around 78 per cent - in reported apparitions, perhaps due in part to changing public attitudes towards acknowledging paranormal experiences. Although many ghost investigators have their own categories, the following are the most typical types: Crisis apparitions: usually images that appear in moments of crisis to communicate death or danger. They typically appear to a person who has close emotional ties to theagent(the person who is the source of the apparition). Apparitions of the dead: manifestations of someone who has died, usually within a short time after death, to comfort a loved one or communicate important information. Collective apparitions: manifestations of the living or dead that occur to multiple witnesses. Approximately one-third of reported apparitions are witnessed collectively. Reciprocal apparitions: apparitions of the living in which both agent and thepercipient(the person who experiences the apparition), separated by a distance, experience apparitions of each other simultaneously. Deathbed apparitions: visual images of divine beings, religious figures and dead loved ones that are reported by the dying in the last moments of life. Apparitions in cases suggestive of reincarnation:cases when the deceased appears in adreamto a member of the family into which it will be reborn. Such dreams occur frequently among Native American tribes of the Northwest and in Turkey, Burma and Thailand. A large number of theories have been put forward to explain apparitions, but none explain all the different types. Society for Psychical Research founders Edmund Gurney and Frederick Myers at first believed apparitions were mental hallucinations that had no physical reality either produced by telepathy from the dead to the living or projected out of the percipient’s mind in the form of an image. Gurney also believed that collective apparitions were a product of telepathy among the living, projected by the primary percipient to others around him or her. However, telepathy among the living does not explain why witnesses in collective sightings notice different details. Myers, who believed strongly in survival after death, began to doubt the telepathic theory as early as 1885. In his landmark book Human Personality and Its Survival after Death (1903), he suggested that the apparitions consisted of a ‘phan-tasmogenic centre’, a locus of energies that could be perceived by the most psychically sensitive people. He conceived of a ‘subliminal consciousness‘ as the basis from which the consciousness springs and which survives the body after death. He theorized that the subliminal consciousness was receptive to extrasensory input and that apparitions appeared to psychically receptive people. Other theories that have been advanced subsequently about apparitions suggest they are: Idea patterns or etheric images produced by the subconscious mind of the living. Astral or etheric bodies of the agents. An amalgam of personality patterns, which in the case ofhauntings are trapped on a psychic orpsifield. Projections of the humanunconscious,a manifestation of an unacknowledged need or guilt. Vehicles through which the T, the thinking consciousness, takes on a personality as well as a visible form. Projections of will and concentration; seeThoughtform. True spirits of the dead. Localized physical phenomena directed by an intelligence or personality. Recordings or imprints of vibrations impressed upon some sort of psychic ether. In Eastern mystical philosophy, the cosmos is permeated by a substance called theAkasha.Oxford philosopher HH Price called this substance psychic ether’, a term adopted by some psychical researchers to suggest that if all events are recorded on some invisiblesubstance, then perhaps psychically tuned people can get glimpses of these records and get a playback. SeeAkashic Records. It is unlikely that any one theory can explain all apparitions, and it is conceivable that some apparitions are created by the living, that some have their own reality, that some are hallucinations and that some are psychic recordings. Twentieth-century psychical researcher Andrew Mackenzie suggested that the ability to have hallucinations could be a function of personality. In his studies he found that one-third of cases occurred just before or after sleep, or when the percipient was woken in the night. Other experiences took place when the witness was in a state of relaxation or doing routine work such as housework, or concentrating on some activity such as reading a book. Only when the external world was shut out was the unconscious able to release impressions, which sometimes took the form of an apparition. English psychical researcher G Tyrrell also made this link between dreamlike states and sightings of apparitions. Tyrrell theorized that there were two stages in an hallucinatory experience. In stage one the witness unconsciously experiences the apparition, and in stage two the information from stage one is processed from the unconscious in dreams or hallucinations with the required details added, such as clothing and objects. APPLIED PSI Also known as applied parapsychology and psionics, applied psi is a branch of parapsychology that assumes psychic ability exists and seeks ways to apply it in everyday life. Applied psi is used today when anyone acts on his or her intuition to make a decision. Experimental studies of applied psi date back to the eighteenth century, but it wasn’t until the twentieth century that the discipline was seriously explored. In 1963 the Newark College of Engineering in New Jersey became one of the first engineering centres in the US to explore psi ability in people. Researchers found that successful people use psi and precognition daily in their jobs in the form of intuition, hunches and gut feelings. In the early 1980s, American parapsychologist Jeffrey Mishlove urged parapsychologists to assume that psi existed and to focus on ways to use it in everyday life. By 1984 applied psi did become an informal part of a number of fields, including archaeology, agriculture, executive decision-making, scientific discovery, military intelligence, criminal investigations and weather prediction. However, over subsequent years the erratic nature of psi made it an unreliable tool. Some experiments raised interesting questions as to how effective applied psi can be when it comes to making financial investments. It is not uncommon for people to place a bet or buy and sell stock on gut instinct. Experiments, such as one conducted by the St Louis Business Journal in 1982, compared the results of a group of experienced brokers with a psychic. The stocks picked by the brokers fell in value, but the ones picked by the psychic rose. Despite such successes, however, widespread use of applied psi in the stock market has never materialized - if it did it would probably spell the end of the stock market, thriving as it does on unpredictability and chance. APPORT In his Encyclopedia of Psychic Science (1933), Hungarian psychical researcher Nandor Fodor defined apports as the ‘arrival of various objects through an apparent penetration of matter’, one of the most baffling phenomena of spiritualism, he thought. Apports are objects that mediums claim to be able to produce from thin air or transport through solid matter, and to this day they remain as mysterious as ever. The majority of apports are everyday small objects such as rings, sweets and pebbles, although some can be large and unusual such as books, garden tools, live animals and birds. When spiritualism was at its most popular apports were commonplace at s?ances. Sufis, mystical adepts of Islam, and Hindu swamis are also renowned for the apports they produce. Some mediums have been exposed as frauds, producing apports that were hidden under the table or on their person prior to the s?ance, which is held in the dark, making trickery easier. Some adepts also have been exposed as frauds, but there are adepts and mediums whose reputations hold. Sai Baba of India, for example, seems to be able to produce apports, such as sweets, banquets of hot food, statues and many other objects, from his closed fist, while others are pulled from the sand. Theories to explain apports that appear to be genuine include apports as gifts from the spirits, the pulling of objects from another dimension through some sort of psychic magnetism or the medium somehow taking objects from another location, making them disintegrate and then transporting and reassembling them. ARCHANGELS The name given to incorporeal beings that are said to guide the spiritual destiny of groups of people rather than of individuals, which is the role of angels. This explains why archangels are often pictured as carrying formalized models of cities in their hands. In Judaism and Christianity, the most important are the seven archangels, each of whom is assigned one of the seven spheres of heaven: Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Uriel, Joophiel, Zadkiel and the fallen archangel, Samuel (Satan). ARCHETYPES Psychiatrist Carl Jung first used this term in 1919 to refer to apparently universal images that are inherited from our ancestors. Archetypes are unconscious instinctual patterns or mental images that are passed down to us all but are modified according to individual experience. Interpretations of archetype images have been applied to many fields, such as past-life therapy, psychotherapy, Tarot, women’s studies, mythology, astrology, the healing professions and even sales and marketing. According to Jung, archetypes are unlimited in number and created by the repetition of experiences that are imprinted on the psychic mind. When a situation occurs that corresponds to an archetype, the archetype is triggered and instinct takes over. God, death, birth, power, magic, the sun, the moon, the wind, animals and the elements are all archetypes, as are the figures of the hero, the lover, the judge, the child, the mother and the father. Archetypes develop and change as an individual grows and encounters new situations. Archetypes communicate with the conscious mind, and it is possible to gain insight into oneself by paying attention to the archetypal forces in one’s life. Jung believed that archetypes were psychic forces that demand to be taken seriously: if neglected they could lead to compulsion, neurosis and illness. Jung thought that the existence of archetypes could be proved through dreams and through imagination, and by understanding your dreams you learn what you need to move forward with your life. ARITHMANCY An ancient method of divination using numbers, arithmancy is an early form of numerology. The father of arithmancy was Pythagoras, who believed there were connections between gods, man and numbers that could be decoded and used to foretell the future of an individual and the outcome of certain events. Ancient Greeks would examine the numbers and values of letters between two combatants to predict who would be victorious. In the story of the Trojan wars, the victory of Achilles over Hector was predicted in this way. AROMATHERAPY Holistic caring for the body through the use of scents, usually pleasant-smelling botanical oils such as rose, lemon, lavender and peppermint. The essential oils of these botanicals are added to a bath or massaged into the skin, inhaled directly or diffused to scent an entire room. The oils are administered in small quantities to improve mood or promote health, and they are thought to contain hormones, antibiotics and antiseptics and to represent the life force’, ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’ of the plant. Some proponents claim that aromatherapy is a complete medical system that can strengthen immune systems and cure disease, and studies have shown aromatherapy is effective in relieving pain and in alleviating fatigue, reducing anxiety and promoting relaxation. When inhaled, scents work on the brain and nervous system by stimulating the olfactory nerves. Botanical essential oils are aromatic essences extracted from plants, flowers, trees, fruits, bark, grasses and seeds which have distinctive therapeutic, psychological and physiological properties to improve and prevent illness. There are about 150 essential oils. Most of these oils have antiseptic properties; some are antiviral, antiinflammatory pain-relieving, antidepressant and expectorant. To get the maximum benefit from an essential oil, it should be made from natural, pure raw materials. Synthetically made oils do not work. Aromatherapy is one of the fastest growing fields in alternative medicine. It is widely used at home, in clinics and in hospitals for a variety of applications such as pain relief for women in labour, relieving pain caused by the side effects of chemotherapy undergone by cancer patients, and rehabilitating cardiac patients. In Japan, engineers are incorporating aroma systems into new buildings. In one bank, the scent of lavender and rosemary is pumped into the customer area to calm the waiting customers, while the perfumes from lemon and eucalyptus are used in the bank teller counters to keep the staff alert. ARRIVAL CASES The appearance of a person before their actual arrival. Frequently the arriving phantom appears in the same clothing the individual is wearing at the same time. The individual is usually not aware of appearing in a distant location until told about it. Arrival cases were collected and studied by the founders of the Society for Psychical Research in the early twentieth century. They collected their evidence in their exhaustive survey Phantasms of the Living (1918). Arrivals have been claimed to eat, sleep and seem so real that anyone could believe it was a double (doppelg?nger) of the real person. The most likely explanation of arrival cases is that the individual somehow projects a double, which is perceived as real, perhaps as an out-of-body projection (bilocation) or as a psychic projection of intent or desire to be in that different place. Others think that arrival cases are a quirk of time duplicating itself. In the Highlands of Scotland, the term for arrival cases is ‘spirits of the living’. In Norway, the arrival case phenomenon is called vard?ger, which means ‘forerunner’. One unusual vard?ger case occurred in Oslo and concerned Erikson Gorique, an American importer. For years, Gorique had wanted to go to Norway but was forced to keep postponing the trip. In July 1955 he was finally able to go. On his arrival in Oslo, Gorique asked where he might stay. Much to his astonishment, when he arrived at the recommended hotel he was greeted by name by the hotel clerk. The clerk told him it was nice to see him again. When Gorique protested that he had never before travelled to Norway or been at the hotel, the puzzled clerk insisted that he could not mistake Gorique’s unusual name and American appearance. He said Gorique stayed at the hotel several months earlier and had made reservations to return that month. Gorique was even more surprised when he visited a wholesale dealer, who also greeted him like an old friend, saying it was terrific to have him back to conclude previous business. Gorique told the dealer that he hadn’t been there before, whereupon the dealer nodded knowingly and explained the vard?ger phenomenon: ‘It is not uncommon in Norway’, he said. ART, PSYCHIC Also known as automatic painting, psychic art occurs when individuals who often have little or no artistic training suddenly feel overcome by a desire to draw or paint in distinctive, professional styles. They feel guided by a spirit and may actually feel an invisible hand pushing theirs. A psychic artist can produce amazing likenesses of deceased relatives of an enquirer, people unknown to the artist. Such an artist may also draw or paint spirit guides, angels, animals or figures who are subsequently discovered to be connected to the enquirer in some way. In addition to artists who create images of guides and people in spirit, there are others who unconsciously collaborate on pieces of original artwork. Some psychic artists claim contact with great masters who have taught them a special skill or who use them as a vehicle to add new collections to works they produced while still alive. Some psychic art is also sacred art. Many shamanic or healing traditions from around the world have used sacred art in ceremonies of healing and as a bridge between the physical and non-physical worlds. The Navajo people, who reside in the Southwestern region of the USA, have passed down the practices of hand painting from generation to generation. Tibetan monks, too, conduct healing ceremonies that involve the creation and destruction of detailed sand paintings. One of the most famous psychic art cases is the Thompson-Gifford case, which occurred early in the twentieth century. In 1905 an engraver from New York, Frederic Thompson, was seized with the urge to draw and paint in the style of the recently dead artist Robert Gifford. Thompson had met Gifford when he was alive but was not well acquainted with him. When Thompson painted he felt he was Gifford, and he often heard Gifford’s voice urging him to sketch. Thompson produced many works that reminded buyers of Gifford’s style and sold at good prices. See also Automatic writing; Automatism. ARUNDEL CASTLE This magnificent castle in the heart of West Sussex has been the home of the Dukes of Norfolk since 1580. It was severely damaged by fire in the seventeenth century but has now been restored to its former glory. Not only is Arundel Castle the home of countless priceless works of art, but it also is thought to house several ghosts. The ghost of a young woman dressed in white has been seen wandering round Hiorne’s Tower, particularly on moonlit nights. According to legend, she threw herself off the tower because of a tragic love affair. A ghost has also been encountered in the library and has become known as the ‘Blue Man’. He has been seen on several occasions searching through books, and is thought to date back to the time of King Charles II (1660-1685). A kitchen boy of 200 years ago or so is said to have been so badly treated that he died young. His ghost has been seen furiously polishing pots and pans. Another ghost is that of a small white bird, which reputedly flutters around the windows of the castle. It is said to signify the imminent death of someone connected to the castle and was reported to have appeared just before the death of the Duke of Norfolk in 1917. ASH MANOR GHOST Psychical researcher Nandor Fodor solved the mystery of the Ash Manor ghost in 1930s England. The case was one of his most famous and helped to establish his theory of the psychological underpinning of some hauntings. He recorded the case in detail in his book The Haunted Mind (1959). Mr and Mrs Keel (a pseudonym assigned by Fodor) moved into Ash Manor House in Sussex, England, with their 16-year-old daughter and servants on 24 June 1934. They were aware that parts of the house dated back to the thirteenth century and that it had a reputation for being haunted. It wasn’t long before the daughter and servants reported strange noises coming from the attic, and Mr and Mrs Keel heard strange bangs on their bedroom doors. The Keels suspected something supernatural was afoot, and on 23 November Mr Keel woke to see ‘a little oldish man, dressed in a green smock, very muddy breeches and gaiters, a slouch hat on his head and a handkerchief around his neck’. Keel tried to grab the man, thinking him a servant, but was astonished to see his hand go right through him. Keel ran to his wife, who also saw the man and tried to strike him, but her fist went through him too. The strange noises continued, and the green man, as the Keels called him, continued to appear. Once the phantom raised his head, and Mrs Keel could see that his neck had been cut all the way around. She concluded that he must have been murdered and that perhaps his skeleton was hidden in the house. The manifestations were so frightening that the servants quit their jobs. The Keels were advised to get help in exorcizing the ghost by advertising in a newspaper. Several individuals tried to do the job but did not succeed. In July 1936 Fodor was invited to investigate the case by a writer who was including the Ash Manor ghost in his book about hauntings. Fodor arrived and saw that the Keels were fearful of any harm being done to their reputations by the publicity. He stayed in the house for several nights, but no manifestations occurred. At that time the medium Eileen Garrett was living in England, and Fodor asked her to visit Ash Manor. Garrett arrived on 25 July and immediately received the clairvoyant impression of a man who had been half brother to Edward IV or V and had started a rebellion. He had been tortured and left crippled as a result. That evening Garrett entered the haunted house and went into a trance, and her control, Uvani, spoke. Uvani explained that ghosts often manifest when an atmosphere of unhappiness enables a spirit to draw energy and revive its suffering. ‘Haven’t you discovered that these things only happen to you when you are in a bad emotional state, physically or mentally disturbed?’ Uvani asked. The control went on to say that in the fifteenth century a jail had existed near the house, where many unhappy souls had lost their lives. Anyone living in the house who was ‘nervously depleted’ would give out energy that would attract a ghost, who would use that energy to build himself up, like a ‘picture on the stage’. Uvani permitted the ghost to possess Garrett, and the Keels said that her features looked like those of the green man. Speaking through Garrett, the ghost announced, in a medieval English accent, that he was called Charles Edward. He claimed to have been robbed of his lands by the Earl of Huntingdon and betrayed by a friend called Buckingham. He asked the witnesses to help him wreak revenge upon his enemies. Fodor informed the ghost that he was dead and begged him to give up his quest and join the spirits of his loved ones. The ghost reluctantly agreed to do so, and Garrett returned to normal consciousness. The hauntings, however, did not stop, and Fodor conducted another session with Garrett, this time without the Keels present. The ghost once again appeared and pleaded for help in getting vengeance. Uvani announced that the Keels had used this ‘poor, unhappy creature’ in order to embarrass each other and that they did not want the ghost to leave. The control also said that if the unhappiness in the house persisted, it would become truly haunted. Fodor at last felt that he was close to solving the case. Mrs Keel confessed to him that her husband was homosexual and that a great deal of tension existed between them. Fodor suggested that the ghost provided a distraction that prevented that tension from breaking out into the open. When the Keels admitted they were hanging on to the ghost, the ghost departed. A scholarly investigation of the statements made by Charles Edward deemed they were not authentic, and Fodor, in analysing the case, considered the ghost to be an invention of Mr Keel’s subconscious mind, which Garrett had tapped into. However, some of the haunting phenomena at Ash Manor could not be explained, for example, the independent sightings by servants and other witnesses. Fodor concluded that ‘it may be that those who put themselves in an unguarded psychological position, in a place filled with historical memories and traditions, do, on rare occasions, come into contact with a force or an intelligence other than their own.’ ASPORT The opposite of apport, asport refers to psychic phenomena involving the disappearance or transportation of objects, supposedly accomplished with the help of the spirits of the dead. During the height of spiritualism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, apports produced at s?ances would often become asports and mysteriously vanish from one room to be found in another room. Sometimes, though, asported valuables would vanish altogether and remain forever with the spirits, causing sceptics to question the integrity of the mediums. Although trickery is undeniable, there are also reported cases of asports that appear genuine. Sai Baba of India, famous for his apports of holy ash, food, precious jewels and other items, has also been said to dematerialize apports if the recipients do not like them and change them into something else. ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH AND ENLIGHTENMENT See Cayce, Edgar. ASTRAL BODY Various esoteric traditions talk about the many bodies - the different levels of consciousness and existence - that each person has. Some people think of these different aspects as ‘subtle bodies’ or selves that exist in a parallel plane but are all part of a larger consciousness. This theory suggests that the body itself does not contain these aspects. Rather, this larger consciousness contains the body, as well as other levels of existence, and you can learn to create a closer connection to any of these aspects within yourself. A commonly recognized ‘extra’ self is the astral body, also known as an energy body. The word ‘astral’ is derived from the Greek for ‘star’. The astral body can also be called a double or doppelg?nger, because it is a duplicate of the physical body. Theosophists refer to it as the ‘etheric’ or ‘spiritual double’ containing the soul and made from the vibrations that make up the physical body. The astral body exists on the astral plane, also known as the astral realm, astral world or astral sphere, and in metaphysical terminology the astral plane is contiguous in space, if not in time, with the material world. The astral realm is the one that the spiritual part or astral body enters during periods of sleep, under the action of anaesthetics or drugs, by accident when a person is unconscious, or immediately after death. The astral realm is not normally visible to ordinary sight, yet it is regarded as the proper dwelling of people’s higher spiritual bodies. According to shamans and Theosophists the astral body or second self resembles the physical body but is made up of a subtle field of shining and flexible light that encases the body visible only by a psychically sensitive person. It is thought that when you are sleeping the astral body can separate from the physical body which results in flying dreams and the experience of disorientation experienced if you wake suddenly and the astral body hasn’t had time to line up with the physical one. Driven by emotions, passions and desires, the astral body is believed to be a bridge between the physical brain and a higher level of mind. ASTRAL DOORWAYS Symbols and pictures that are used to help individuals in astral projection reach the astral plane. Tarot cards can be used as astral doorways but the definitive doorways, used by psychics and magicians for hundreds of years, are the Tattwas of the Eastern esoteric tradition. The five primary tattwa symbols are simple coloured shapes - a yellow square (earth), blue circle (air), red triangle (fire), silver crescent (moon) and black oblong (ether) - and each one can be used as a focal point to trigger astral projection and give access to a specific part of the astral plane. ASTRAL PLANE Using tattwas to trigger astral projection Tattwa cards are easy to make. All you need is some white cardboard, a pair of scissors and some colouring pens or paint with strong brilliant shades of yellow, blue, red, silver and black. When you have cut out your shapes you only need to colour or paint one side; leave the back of the card plain and white. Once you have made your cards, find a quiet place, get comfortable and relax. Choose a symbol and gaze intently at it for a minute, then turn it over and gaze at the blank side. As you do an optical reflex will cause the symbol to appear on the back of the card. Now close your eyes and visualize what you have seen, mentally enlarging the image until it is big enough for you to pass through. Imagine yourself steeping through this mass of colour as if it were an actual door to the astral plane. According to occultists the astral plane is an alternate and non-physical dimension of reality that can be visited during astral projection or out-of-body experiences. The word ‘astral’, from the Greek word meaning ‘star’, originally described the heavens of the Greek gods, but as time passed the concept expanded to refer to a spirit world inhabited by etheric entities, disembodied spirits and higher beings. The astral world is believed to be invisible to the ordinary eye because it vibrates at a higher rate than the energy that comprises the material world. However, occultists believe that it can be perceived through astral projection and clairvoyance and it is a world just as real as ours. It has scenery, inhabitants, countries and seas and is subject to the laws of nature and constant change just as the physical world is. Modern psychologists argue that accounts of trips to a strange and alien dimension spring from the imagination, but according to occult theory the astral plane is undeniably real. It is an intermediate and invisible level of reality between the physical plane and the divine realms where communication with higher beings can be established and where the individuals thought forms take on a reality. ASTRAL PROJECTION/ASTRAL TRAVEL The astral body is believed to be capable of a very special type of travel. While leaving the physical body at rest, it can get up, walk around and look at its physical body, explore its surroundings and journey to new places. What makes this experience unique is that you are fully conscious and in control throughout the experience. This process of consciously leaving the body and travelling free of physical constraints is often referred to as astral projection or astral travel. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, experts define astral projection as becoming aware that your consciousness is separate from your physical body. For instance, people describe floating above themselves and viewing their bodies during astral projection. With astral travel an individual uses this conscious awareness to experience a sense of flying to new, non-physical or physical realms. How the mind disconnects from its everyday type of consciousness and separates from the body remains a mystery. Experts agree that having a relaxed focus, such as in meditation or when you are just about to fall asleep, helps you to reach that state, as concentrating too hard on achieving the experience may interfere with the process. See also aura, bilocation, out-of-body experiences, lucid dreaming and near-death experiences. ASTROLOGY An ancient system of divination that uses the positions of the moon, stars and planets to interpret how their movements in relation to each other affect our lives. According to astrologers, celestial bodies exert forces and exhibit personalities that influence people and events on earth. These influences may be determined by mapping their positions in the sky at various points in time. Getting started on the astral traveller’s path Like any skill, astral travel takes time and practise, and it is difficult to prove what actually happens, but those experienced in astral travel tell fascinating stories of their experiences. Some travel to secret realms where they meet spirit guides and spend hours researching ancient texts. When they wake up, their clocks show that only a few minutes have passed. In all likelihood most of us won’t be able to accomplish these feats. But here is an exercise that can help you get started on the astral traveller’s path: While relaxing, imagine your astral body positioned just in front or above you in the exact position of your physical body. Take note of how your astral body looks. Check out the back of your head and bodyand parts of your body you can’t normally see. Allow your consciousness to move into your astral body and look at your surroundings from this new perspective. Ponder what you would like to do next and where you would like to go. You may want to visit a place or person who is normally far away, through a process called targeting. This can be done by focusing on the image of the location or the person’s face, then seeing it at the end of a tunnel. Move forward through the tunnel until you arrive at the desired place or the intended person. When you are ready to return, think yourself back into your physical body, and move your body until you feel comfortable back in it. Astrology appears to be one of the most ancient of the surviving occult sciences, and evidence of highly sophisticated systems in Babylonian, Egyptian and Aztec cultures has survived. For centuries in the West, astrology was a revered method of divination supported by royal courts. Nostradamus used astrology to make predictions in the sixteenth century that are still being studied today. With the development of science in the seventeenth century, astrology was relegated to the realm of superstition, but it never fell completely out of favour. Today it is followed by celebrities and the rich and powerful as well as the general public. Popular astrology is concerned with the reading of a horoscope, a chart of the positions of the planets, moon and stars at the moment of one’s birth and interpreting the influence of the planets on human affairs. It is based on the belief that the movements of the celestial bodies affect human potential and other events on earth, such as the moon’s influence on the oceans. From your horoscope your zodiac sign can be determined, and this allows an interpretation of what sort of person you are (or will be) as well as what is likely to happen in your future. True to your sign? Aries: March 21—April 19 The symbol for this first sign of the Zodiac in Western astrology is the ram; the ruling planet is Mars. Aries is influenced by the fire element and assertive is a good way to describe people born under this sign. They tend to be enterprising, impulsive, warm hearted and confident free spirits who say what they mean and mean what they say, but they can also be impatient, rash, tactless, excitable and bossy. Taurus: April 20—May 20 The symbol of Taurus is the bull and the ruling planet is Venus. Taureans are influenced by the earth element and a good word to describe them would be determined. Those born under the sign of Taurus are persistent, reliable, loyal and patient individuals with a discriminating taste for quality and the good things in life. The downside is that they can at times be lazy, materialistic and moody. Gemini: May 21—June 20 The symbol for Gemini is the twins and the ruling planet is Mercury. Geminis are influenced by the air element with inquisitive being a good description of them. Those born under Gemini are intellectual and natural communicators but at times they can also be inconsistent and flighty. Their endearing zest for ideas and something new sometimes makes committing to anyone and anything problematic. Cancer: June 21—July 22 The symbol for Cancer is the crab and the ruling planet is the moon. Cancerians are influenced by the water element, and sensitive would be a good word to describe their nature. Those born under Cancer tend to be emotional and empathetic with a good sense of humour, but they can at times be oversensitive and insecure. Leo: July 23—August 22 The symbol for Leo is the lion and the ruling planet is the sun. Leo is influenced by the fire element and charismatic would be a good description of Leos. Those born under Leo tend to be courageous, vivacious, energetic and natural leaders but they can also be prone to arrogance and attention seeking. Virgo: August 23—September 22 The symbol of Virgo is the virgin and the sign’s ruling planet is Mercury. Virgos are influenced by the earth element, and a good word to describe them would be methodical. Those born under Virgo tend to be meticulous, disciplined and analytical. They can appear cool and reserved but great sensitivity tends to lie behind the detached exterior. Libra: September 23–October 22 The symbol of Libra is the scales and the ruling planet is Venus. Libras are influenced by the air element with balance being a good word to describe them. Those born under Libra tend to be peace-loving, agreeable, harmonious people, but their natural ability to understand the viewpoint of everyone and fit in everywhere can be interpreted as insecurity and indecisiveness. Scorpio: October 23–November 21 The symbol of Scorpio is the scorpion and the sign’s ruling planets are Mars and Pluto. Scorpios are influenced by the water element and intense is a good word to describe them. Those born under Scorpio tend to be passionate, focused, sensitive and sensual, but they can also be secretive and destructive. Sagittarius: November 22– December 21 The symbol for Sagittarius is the archer and Jupiter is the ruling planet. Sagittarians are influence by the fire element and open minded is a good description of them. Those born under Sagittarius tend to be unconventional, idealistic and visionary, with a need to seek spiritual enlightenment. They can also be reckless and ruthless. Capricorn: December 22–January 19 The symbol of Capricorn is the goat and the ruling planet is Saturn. Capricorns are influenced by the earth element and steady is a good word to describe them. Those born under the sign of Capricorn are persistent, cautious, self-disciplined, warm-hearted and stable but they can also be mean and inflexible at times. Aquarius: January 20–February 18 The symbol of Aquarius is the water carrier and the sign’s ruling planets are Saturn and Uranus. Aquarius is influenced by the air element and a good word to define them would be independent. Those born under the sign of Aquarius tend to be idealistic, intellectual, generous, altruistic and unconventional, but they can also be unpredictable and emotionally detached. Pisces: February 19–March 20 The symbol of Pisces is two fish and the ruling planets are Jupiter and Neptune. Pisceans are influenced by the water element, with imaginative being a good word to define them. Those born under Pisces tend to be intuitive, sensitive and spiritual, but they can also be dreamy, impractical and impressionable at times. Over the years many elaborate systems have been developed to enable astrologers to predict the future through the movement of the planes. More than one system of astrology has developed. For example, Chinese astrology is based on signs, named after animals, which last a year rather than a month, as in Western astrology. In popular Western astrology - the sort that appears in magazines and newspapers - the term ‘horoscope’ is based on the position of an individual’s sun sign, or the portion of the zodiac that the sun was passing through when that individual was born. The sun travels through the 12 houses of the zodiac through the course of a year, and so when someone is said to have been born under Aries, he or she was born when the sun was passing through that portion of the zodiac named after the constellation Aries. Each of the 12 signs has its own personality traits (see box), and the daily positions of the planets affect each sun sign. However, since this method of divination divides the population into 12 different categories many find it difficult to take astrology seriously for character analysis or predictions. That’s why serious astrologers use more detailed horoscopes that chart the position of all the heavenly bodies, not just the sun, at the moment of birth. Along with the signs and planets, planetary houses are the basic components of a birth chart. As previously mentioned the planets each have a meaning, as does the sign the sun was in at the time of your birth. The twelve divisions of the birth chart are called the astrological or planetary houses and indicate areas of life where the planetary energies become manifest. The houses carry a theme based on the signs that are part of the natural order of the Zodiac, i.e. Aries equates with the first house, Taurus with the second, Gemini the third, Cancer the fourth, and so on. The planetary effects are interpreted not only in terms of the planets’ positions in the zodiac (for instance, the moon in the sign of Cancer means something different from the moon in Aries) but also in terms of the angles that the planets describe in relation to one another. This branch of astrology is the study of planetary aspects. When carried out using accurate birth information this planetary aspects approach creates an analysis unique to the individual concerned. For this reason it is taken more seriously by some academics and scientists, who believe that it can be useful for counselling and therapy. Psychiatrist Carl Jung began this process when he began to consult the horoscopes of his patients to search for insight. He believed that astrology sprang from the collective unconscious and that it was a symbolic language of inner psychological processes. Sceptics argue that astrology’s suggested link between planetary position and human destiny is unproven and perhaps even absurd. Several large-scale studies have shown no correlation whatsoever between personality characteristics and planetary positions. Despite this many people still believe that astrology can and does work, leading to the suggestion that it only works when there is an intuitive or psychic aspect involved in its interpretation. The astrologer uses the planetary positions as a rough starting point for the interpretation and thereafter intuition takes over. Then, in the early 1970s, Professor Alan Smithers of Manchester University compiled data from the British population census showing clearly that architects tended to be born in the spring, secretaries in the summer, miners in the autumn and electricians in the winter. He also asked members of the British Astrological Association to indicate which signs were associated with the professions of nurse and trade union official. Without knowing what the BAA had predicted, Smithers conducted a massive survey of nurses and trade unionists and discovered that, just as the astrologers had indicated, there was a statistical bias of nurses being born under the signs of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio and Pisces, while trade union officials were born under one or other of the other six signs. Athenodorus, THE HAUNTING OF The story of Athenodorus may be the first written record of a haunting, and it dates back at least 2,000 years. The story was related by several ancient authors, the historian Tacitus among them, but the version below is by the Roman letter writer Pliny the Younger (AD 61-115). In it we see the classic chain-clanking ghost, the restless corpse and even the beckoning finger. The translation is that of William Melmoth (1746), slightly revised. There was in Athens a house, spacious and open, but with an infamous reputation, as if filled with pestilence. For in the dead of night, a noise like the clashing of iron could be heard. And if one listened carefully, it sounded like the rattling of chains. At first the noise seemed to be at a distance, but then it would approach, nearer, nearer, nearer. Suddenly a phantom would appear, an old man, pale and emaciated, with a long beard, and hair that appeared driven by the wind. The fetters on his feet and hands rattled as he moved them. Any dwellers in the house passed sleepless nights under the most dismal terrors imaginable. The nights without rest led them to a kind of madness, and as the horrors in their minds increased, onto a path toward death. Even in the daytime - when the phantom did not appear - the memory of the nightmare was so strong that it still passed before their eyes. The terror remained when the cause of it was gone. Damned as uninhabitable, the house was at last deserted, left to the spectral monster. But in hope that some tenant might be found who was unaware of the malevolence within it, the house was posted for rent or sale. It happened that a philosopher named Athenodorus came to Athens at that time. Reading the posted bill, he discovered the dwelling’s price. The extraordinary cheapness raised his suspicion, yet when he heard the whole story, he was not in the least put off. Indeed, he was eager to take the place. And did so immediately. As evening drew near, Athenodorus had a couch prepared for him in the front section of the house. He asked for a light and his writing materials, then dismissed his retainers. To keep his mind from being distracted by vain terrors of imaginary noises and apparitions, he directed all his energy toward his writing. For a time the night was silent. Then came the rattling of chains. Athenodorus neither lifted up his eyes nor laid down his pen. Instead he closed his ears by concentrating on his work. But the noise increased and advanced closer till it seemed to be at the door, and at last in the very chamber. Athenodorus looked round and saw the apparition exactly as it had been described to him. It stood before him, beckoning with one finger. Athenodorus made a sign with his hand that the visitor should wait a little, and bent over his work. The ghost, however, shook the chains over the philosopher’s head, beckoning as before. Athenodorus now took up his lamp and followed. The ghost moved slowly, as if held back by his chains. Once it reached the courtyard, it suddenly vanished. Athenodorus, now deserted, carefully marked the spot with a handful of grass and leaves. The next day he asked the magistrate to have the spot dug up. There they found - intertwined with chains - the bones that were all that remained of a body that had long lain in the ground. Carefully, the skeletal relics were collected and given proper burial, at public expense. The tortured ancient was at rest. And the house in Athens was haunted no more. ATLANTIS The name of a vast island continent and the many civilizations that flourished upon it that sank under the sea in a cataclysm. At least fifty locations around the globe have been proposed as sites of the lost continent, but no proof has ever been found of its existence. There are numerous legends about the Atlanteans and how their highly advanced civilization was destroyed by their misuse of power, but the story was first recorded by Plato in around 350 BC. Plato described the Atlanteans as a wealthy, successful, politically advanced and militarily powerful society that overran Europe with its armies before being defeated by the Greeks. Shortly afterwards an earthquake caused Atlantis to sink beneath the ocean. The modern myth of Atlantis began in 1882 with the publication of Atlantis: The Antediluvian World by former American congressman Ignatius Donnelly Donnelly proposed that Atlantis might be located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, to serve as a bridge and source of culture to other areas around the globe. Numerous other theories have been put forth. The Atlanteans have been linked to the Titans of Greek mythology, the first race of beings on earth who came from the sea and possessed the power to create thunderbolts, earthquakes and terrestrial disturbances. Madame Blavatsky, mystic and co-founder of the Theosophical Society, believed that Atlantis was located in the North Atlantic Ocean and that the Atlanteans were psychically developed descendants from another legendary lost continent, Lemuria. The Lemurians migrated to Atlantis when their own continent was destroyed. In The History of Atlantis (1926), Lewis Spencer, who founded and edited The Atlantis Quarterly, a journal reporting on Atlantean and occult studies, concluded that Atlantis existed on both sides of the Atlantic and was the means of dissemination of culture from East to West. American medium Edgar Cayce believed Atlantis was located at Bimini, one of the Bahama Islands off the coast of Florida. Cayce said that the Atlanteans had misused the forces of nature and destroyed their own continent and that in subsequent reincarnations Atlanteans exhibited the same potentially destructive traits. Of all the world’s unsolved mysteries, that of the lost continent of Atlantis is probably the biggest, exerting an influence over humankind for thousands of years. Even though centuries have passed, and scientists and scholars seem intent on banishing it to obscurity, interest in the fabled continent has not diminished and probably never will. ATMOSPHERE A term used by psychics to describe a feeling for the environment they are in or the people they meet. Walking into a house with an unhappy atmosphere may leave them with an unsettled feeling, whereas meeting someone who is genuinely kind and honest and friendly creates a positive feeling or atmosphere. We all pick up information from the environment we are in and from any person we meet for the first time. On a visual level we are influenced by the way a person looks and dresses and by the colours, shapes and styles around us. Sounds and smells influence us too, even before we consciously decide if we like what we see. Operating alongside our other senses is a kinaesthetic awareness, which registers an emotional reaction to the atmosphere that exists in an environment or in a person. In some people this awareness is more developed than others, and for clairsentients, who can sense and respond to the atmospheres created by places and people, it is highly attuned, giving detailed information about the physical, emotional and energetic nature of people and places. Few of us have not felt at some time that a place is spooky or unfriendly or that we feel irritable or afraid for no reason. When this happens we are psychically tuning in to an atmosphere, and a person who readily senses an atmosphere in a place usually has that same knack when summing up people. Clairsentients who work with environmental energy believe that everything that happens within an environment affects the way it feels. For example, there is a dis-cernable difference between the feeling of a room used by people who respect and love each other and the feeling of a room in which people have been in bitter competition. Practitioners of the art of feng shui know a great deal about the need to balance environmental energy, and in feng shui the placing of objects such as mirrors and ornaments can help to regulate energy that is out of balance and create a healthier, more harmonious atmosphere in which to live and work. Some clairsentients may be able to channel a form of healing energy, which can harmonize the feeling of a room, or they may, like feng shui experts, suggest colours, shapes, objects or spiritual practices to help transform the feeling or atmosphere of an environment. AUBREY, JOHN [1626—1697] One of the first known collectors of ghost stories, antiquarian and biographer John Aubrey’s compilation, Miscellanies, was published in 1696 and is packed with eye-witness accounts of ghostly sightings gathered from all points of Great Britain. Aubrey’s interest in the supernatural was reinforced by his own personal experiences. In Miscellanies, Aubrey writes about strange knocking sounds on the walls of his house a few days before his father died. ‘Three or four days before my father died’, he wrote, ‘as I was in my bed about nine o’clock in the morning, perfectly awake, I did hear three distinct knocks over the bed’s head, as if it had been with a ruler or ferula.’ This mysterious incident, when combined with his interviews of others who had encountered ghosts, utterly convinced Aubrey that the spirit world existed. AUGURY A form of divination using the flight or song of birds. This was common practice in ancient Rome, where augurs foretold the future by observing and interpreting bird omens, which included noticing the type of bird seen as well as the direction of its flight and its singing. The Romans also used the term ‘augur‘ to refer to divination by thunder and lightning, which was believed to be communication from the god Jupiter. The term ‘augury‘ also refers to the general art of divination, especially the interpretation of the future based on divinations and omens, mostly related to the appearance and behaviour of animals. These practices include: Ailuromancy(cats). Alectromancy(chickens). Arachnomancy(spiders). Batrachomancy:(frogs). Entomancy(insects). Hippomancy(horses). Ichthyomancy(fish). Myomancy(mice). Ophiomancy(snakes). Zoomancy(any animal). A related practice was Haruspicy, or interpreting animal entrails. AUMAKUA A family of guardian spirits from Hawaiian mythology, the aumakua are worshipped to ensure the wellbeing of the family. The aumakua are thought to have laws that must be followed, and transgressions are sometimes punished for decades. Many believe it is of vital importance to be on good terms with your family’s aumakua, or a soul may be abandoned before it reaches the land of the dead. Such abandoned souls haunt the living and remain in limbo until another aumakua takes pity on them and leads them to their new home. Offspring of the aumakua can be born into families, and various legends tell of people born with supernatural powers, such as the ability to transform into animals. According to lore the aumakua escort the souls of the dead to the afterlife in a ghostly procession, and if you have not rectified your sins against the aumakua before death, you have one chance to beg for pardon when the procession reaches its first stopping place. It is believed that the aumakua take the entire body to the next world, but if for any reason the body is not taken, the family must prepare the corpse for burial and its transformation into the aumakua form, which is that of a snake or shark. AURA The name given to a subtle envelope of vital energy that is thought to radiate round natural objects, including human beings, animals and plants. The colours and forms of each aura are believed to be characteristic of the person, animal or thing it surrounds and to fluctuate and shift according to mood and state of health. The aura is normally invisible, but it can be seen by clairvoyants as a halo of light and colour. Two clairvoyants viewing the same aura might see different colours or interpret it in different ways. State of health and a person’s emotions show up as differences in colours and energy patterns or breaks in an aura. Physical illness seems related to the part of the aura that is closest to the body, often called the etheric body. Some psychics see the aura as a psychic screen for the projection of information, past, present and future. Although the body does have a magnetic field - a biofield - there is no scientific evidence that auras exist. However, the belief that the human body emits radiations of a kind that in certain circumstances becomes visible has been encountered for centuries, and was present in ancient Egypt, India, Greece and Rome. In the sixteenth century, discourses on the astral body and its ‘fiery aura’ abound, and in the eighteenth century the theory of animal magnetism was developed by Anton Mesmer, who promoted a variety of scientific experiments to try to identify the phenomenon. Just before World War I, Dr Walter Kilner from St Thomas’s Hospital in London developed a method to view auras, which he claimed appeared as a faint haze around the body, using an apparatus that rendered ultraviolet light visible. His theory of auric diagnosis of illness linked the appearance of an aura to a patient’s health. Kilner’s work was greeted with scepticism and interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities. In 1939, Semyon Davidovich Kirlian, a Russian electrician, developed a technique that he claimed recorded auras on film, but this technique remains to be verified. See Kirlian photography. Auras, like parking places, are easy to find when you aren’t looking for them. So if you want to see an aura, you need to feel as relaxed and calm as possible. Breathe slowly and deeply for a few minutes. Then, instead of looking directly at someone, look straight past them and casually glance in their direction, allowing your eyes to lose focus. The idea is to trick your rational brain by deliberately putting a lot of your concentration on something else, but to keep a vague focus on the person whose aura you want to read. With practise you may see a dim haze of energy around someone. Keep breathing deeply, and the aura may brighten to a colour. Don’t expect people to light up like Christmas trees and stay that way. Visions of auras tend to be lightning quick, but the more you practise the more natural it will feel and the more likely it is for colour to become noticeable. To find out what different auric colours could mean, see Colour divination. AUTOMATIC WRITING The most common form of automatism, automatic writing is writing that does not come from the conscious mind and is done in an altered state of consciousness. Some attribute it to spiritual beings who are somehow able to manipulate a writing utensil in order to communicate. Psychical researchers believe automatic writing emanates from material in the person’s subconscious mind or is obtained through ESP. Many people try automatic writing in an effort to make contact with spirits or to communicate with the dead. Typically the writer is unaware of what is being written and the writing is much faster, larger and expansive than their normal handwriting. Some people experience tingling in the arms or hands. Pens are a common tool, but slates and typewriters may also be used. Automatic writers have been known to produce mirror scripts, starting at the bottom right of the page and finishing at the top left. At the height of spiritualism, automatic writing was common in s?ances, and it replaced the much slower methods of spelling out messages from spirits with table rappings or pointers. In some cases automatic writing occurs involuntarily, as in the case of Anna Windsor. In 1860 Windsor began automatic writing with her right hand, which she called Stump. Stump had a personality of its own, writing out verses and prose while the left hand did something else. Through automatic writing, mediums have claimed to produce messages not just from deceased relatives or loved ones but from famous persons in history, such as Francis Bacon, Emanuel Swedenborg and even Jesus Christ. Frederick Myers, one of the founders of the Society for PsychicalResearch, found little evidence that spirits communicated through automatic writing but, curiously, after his death several mediums claimed to receive automatic writing messages from him. Exercise to practise automatic writing Make sure you are in a calm and relaxed mood. If you feel stressed or anxious, leave it and try another day. Find a good pen or pencil and a quiet place at a table. Sit there and let your hand move as it will. You may like to ask your hand if it has any messages for you. Hold your pen loosely in whichever hand you normally write with and let your mind roam freely. Write down whatever comes into your head for about five to ten minutes at the most. If nothing happens, visualize a column of light made up of golden letters, forming and reforming words. Focus on one letter, and let the light flow down into your fingers and the pen. Wait until you feel your pen tremble, and let it move. At first it may scribble and make patterns, but words may follow. Don’t try to read or make sense of them or you will lose the spontaneity. When you feel you are losing concentration, stop. Lay your pen down and see the column of light fading. Read what you have written. It may seem to relate to you or to another person in your life, perhaps a persona that is deep within you. Don’t be concerned if your first attempts appear nothing more than random scribbles or a jumble of disconnected words. It takes practise to establish a clear delivery of information. Do something mundane or physical to bring you back to earth. While psychical researchers continue to investigate automatic writing as evidence for the existence of the spirit world, the field of psychology has adopted automatic writing. Psychologists use it as a way for the unconscious mind to express thoughts and feelings that cannot be verbalized. Automatic writing continues to be used as a therapeutic tool to this day. Some critics warn of dangers in automatic writing -they claim that the writer is vulnerable to harassment from the evil-minded dead. However, psychologists maintain that the real danger is in exposing material from the unconscious that has been repressed. AUTOMATISM Automatism is divided into two categories: motor automatism and sensory automatism. Motor automatisms are unconscious movements of the muscles, which seem to be directed by supernatural guidance. The most common forms of motor automatism are automatic writing and automatic painting or psychic art, and other creative pursuits such as speaking, singing, composing and dancing. Dowsing is a type of motor automatism, an extrasensory guidance influenced by the movements of the rod held by a dowser. Other types of motor automatisms include impulsive behaviour, such as deciding to do or not do something at the last minute without knowing why, sudden inhibitions and sudden physical incapacities. Sensory automatisms are thought to be produced by an inner voice or vision and can include apparitions of the living, inspirations, hallucinations and dreams. Hallucinations were once assumed to be caused by physical disorders, but Edmund Gurney, an early psychical researcher and a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, established that paranormal visions and sounds can occur without the presence of physical disorders. After automatic writing and drawing, automatic music composition is perhaps the most common form of automatism. An unusual case was that of a London woman called Rosemary Brown, who, although she had limited musical ability, began in 1970 to compose music that she said was channelled to her from dead composers such as Chopin, Liszt and Beethoven. Recordings were made, and the works did indeed resemble the various styles of the composers, but critics declared them not as good as definitive compositions by these musical geniuses. Problems associated with automatisms include compulsion, obsession and a feeling of possession. The practice may grow until a person feels taken over by it. Some people talk of possession by demons, but psychologists say that the effects are created by paranoia, not demons. Since ancient times, inspired activity has always been attributed to the divine, the supernatural or the spirits, but today’s view is that automatisms are products of ESP or secondary personalities who produce knowledge or information that has been repressed or forgotten. AVALON According to Celtic legend, a mystical land of immortal heroes where the enchanted sword Excalibur was forged and where a mortally wounded King Arthur was taken after a bloody battle. The story of King Arthur may be based on a historical figure of a Celtic king of the sixth century, who defended his kingdom against Saxon invaders, but it is the legends of King Arthur that have had a timeless, mystical hold over people’s imagination for centuries. According to legend Arthur came to power when he pulled a magical sword from a stone with the help of the wizard Merlin, an act that proclaimed his royal heritage. He started the Order of the Round Table, peopled by noble and virtuous knights, and married the beautiful but adulterous Guinevere who betrayed him for his best friend Lancelot. Arthur was mortally wounded by his treacherous nephew, Mordred, and is said to be buried on the mythical Isle of Avalon, from where he will rise again in Britain’s hour of need. There is a tradition that Glastonbury was the Isle of Avalon. In 1191 the monks of Glastonbury unearthed, from 16 feet under the ground, an oak coffin that they said was Arthur’s. They showed an inscription: ‘Here lies beneath the renowned King Arthur with his beloved Queen Guinevere his second wife in the Isle of Avalon’ on a lead cross, which they said had been found in the coffin. With its miraculous weapon of destiny, its goddess-like Lady of the Lake appearing by moonlight from the water and, most of all, the mysterious realm of Avalon, where Arthur journeys by water to be healed from death, the Arthurian world shimmers with a Celtic supernatural glow. Like a faraway, half-heard song, Avalon conveys a sense of something lost forever, never to be found - the mystical quest for the lost land, the lost world, the lost self and lost psychic powers. AVATAR Derived from the Sanskrit word avatora, which means ‘descent’, avatar is used in Hinduism to denote a god who has descended, by way of incarnation, to either human or animal form, coming into this world for the duration of one lifespan. An avatar is believed to be a mediator between people and the divine. An avatar is similar to the Christian figure of an incarnated being but is different in two ways. First, a Hindu god can become incarnate in many places at the same time through partial avatars (amshas); second, the avatars do not fully participate in human activity or lose the knowledge and power of their divinity. Exceptional holy men and women in India are called avatars. Hindus accept Gautama, Buddha, as an avatar. Vishnu, sky god and protector of the universe, is most famous for his numerous avatars, which include Krishna and Rama, but other gods, such as Shiva, also have avatars. Many charismatic leaders, such as the Indian mystic Chaitanya (c.1486-1533), have been regarded as avatars. In our own time, Ammachi - Mata Amritanandamayi -the South Indian woman who was given the Gandhi-King award at the United Nations in Geneva in 2002 for her promotion of non-violence, and who greets her long lines of followers by giving each person a warm hug, is considered an avatar of the Great Mother. The bhakti (devotional) movements of Hinduism have often centred round avatars who are supposed to possess psychic abilities and paranormal powers, such as the ability to levitate or bilocate. AVEBURY A village in Wiltshire, England, eighty miles west of London, and site of the Avebury stone circle, one of the oldest prehistoric monuments in Britain. More extensive than Stonehenge, Avebury is large enough that it is said more than a quarter of a million people could stand within the boundaries of its circle. The circle was in active use in later Neolithic/early Bronze Age times, between 2600 BC and 1600 BC, so it pre-dates the Druids. The Avebury circle was probably constructed by people from the Beaker culture. It is the largest stone circle in Europe; its 100 standing stones, reaching up to 14 feet high, mark a circle that is 1,100 feet in diameter. Another nearby landmark, Windmill Hill, bears an earthwork on top and may pre-date Avebury as a cattle market or ritual site. The purpose of Silbury Hill, yet another nearby landmark and Europe’s tallest man-made mound, remains unknown. No records survive attesting to the original purpose and uses of the Avebury stone circle, and excavations have yielded few insights. According to theories Avebury may have been used for religious festivals to honour the Goddess, or it may have had astronomical purposes, as the stones align to the May Day sunrise. It is believed by some that the Avebury stones are repositories of Earth and psychic energy, which can be detected by clairvoyance and dowsing and that tapping the stones can enable communication with other megalithic sites. Such psychic energy may be responsible for paranormal phenomena that have long been reported at this site, including strange lights drifting on the ground and eerie small figures and apparitions flitting around the stones. In the 1980s Avebury became a major site of mysterious crop circles, geometric patterns made in arable fields that defy explanation. AXINOMANCY A term derived from the Greek axine (axe) and manteia (divination) and applied to the art and practice of divination by an axe, hatchet or saw. An obscure form of axinomancy recorded among ancient Greeks is that of placing an agate stone on a red-hot axe. Its motion is taken to indicate the identity of someone guilty of a crime. Another method is of reading the direction an axe, saw or hatchet handle quivers or points when driven into a tree or post. Yet another method involves observing the way an axe falls to the ground. This method is usually used by diviners to determine the direction a thief has taken, or the location of buried treasure. AYURVEDIC MEDICINE A traditional Indian approach to healing that includes meditation, purification procedures, rejuvenation therapies, herbal and mineral preparations, exercises and dietary advice. Ayurveda is a holistic medical system that claims wellbeing is only possible through a balance in the flow of life energy (prana) between body, mind and soul. Ayurvedic medicine is the national health system of India and has been found to be extremely beneficial for many medical conditions, in particular chronic ailments and conditions associated with unhealthy lifestyles. To qualify as an ayurvedic physician candidates must complete a five-year training course and are strictly regulated by professional and governmental bodies. Ayurveda’s basic theory states that the body’s functions are regulated by three physiological principles’ called doshas, whose Sanskrit names are vata, pitta and kapha. Like astrological signs, these terms are used to designate individuals as well as traits and body types that typify them, and imbalances of the doshas are said to be the underlying cause of all disease. Ayurvedic treatment with diet, meditation and other therapies supposedly corrects these imbalances. Leading promoters claim that positive thoughts lead to healing but sad, angry and hostile thoughts depress the immune system and increase the risk of poor health. The aim is to harness consciousness as a healing force. See Behavioural medicine. B (#ulink_134cc316-f593-5268-b2ee-2893e51a6f14) BA In ancient Egyptian mythology the Ba is what we would call ‘soul’, but there are differences. According to the Book of the Dead, after death the Ba rises up out of the body in the shape of a falcon, with a human head, that can fly between the tomb and the underworld. It was also believed that the Ba could take on any form it chose but that it had to reunite itself with the deceased every night in order for the deceased person to live forever. So the Ba remains very much attached to the physical body, contrary to the concept of the soul or spirit separating from the body at death. It was thought that the Ba had the same physical needs as the person, like food and water, so offerings of cake and water were left at tombs for the Ba. BACHELOR’s GROVE CEMETERY A small, abandoned cemetery that is overgrown, unkempt and subject to vandalism, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery is one of Chicago’s most haunted sites. It is located on the edge of the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, near the suburb of Midlothian, Illinois. There have been over a hundred paranormal incidents reported here, including inexplicable lights and voices, apparitions, strange photos, anomalous recordings and even sightings of magical creatures. The first burial took place in 1844, but it wasn’t until 1864 that the cemetery became known as Bachelor’s Grove. This may have been because around this time a group of German immigrants, hired to help build the Illinois-Michigan Canal, settled on small farms nearby, and most of these settlers were unmarried men. Burials became less frequent in the 1960s, and the last recorded burial was in 1989. It was in the 1960s that stories of hauntings began. Unfortunately, this was also when the vandalism and desecration began, and today the cemetery is in a terrible condition. Vandals have left few of the graves still standing, and many tombstones have been stolen or dumped elsewhere, giving rise to legends that the gravestones sometimes move by themselves. The reporting of strange phenomena peaked in the 1970s and 1980s, but hauntings continue to be reported to this day, including flashing lights and phantom vehicles. The strange lights are said to be red or blue in colour, dancing just out of reach of those who chase them, as if the lights had an intelligence of their own. Phantom cars appear and disappear on the cemetery path. One couple even had a car crash with a vehicle that vanished before their eyes, leaving their own untouched despite the sounds of bending metal and breaking glass. The most-often reported apparition at Bachelor’s Grove is a vanishing house or floating house. Access to the cemetery is gained by way of a narrow gravel trail that was once a main road through the area. Along this trail, many visitors have reported seeing a phantom farmhouse that seems to appear and disappear at random. The house is always seen from a distance and described in the same way, as a white house with porch pillars, a swing and a soft light burning in the window, but it is never reported in the same place. As witnesses approach the house, it shrinks and disappears. According to legend, anyone who succeeds in entering the house will never return. Just past the fence surrounding the cemetery is a small lagoon that borders the nearby turnpike road. This pond was a favourite corpse dumping ground for Chicago gangsters during the years of Prohibition, so it isn’t surprising that the pond is thought to be haunted. One ghost linked to the lagoon is said to be a two-headed man, reported on many occasions. Others report seeing a ghostly farmer who was pulled into the water by his plough and horse in the 1870s. The horse was drowned by the weight of the plough, taking the farmer with it. Still others report seeing people dressed in monks’ robes, and in 1984 the vision of a glowing yellow man was reported. In the 1990s several people reported seeing a large black dog near the entrance, which would vanish as people appeared, perhaps as a warning to go no further. The most famous ghost is the ‘White Lady’ or the ‘Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove’, who has been seen on nights of the full moon, wandering the cemetery with a baby in her arms. She is said to be the ghost of a woman buried there, next to her young son. Paranormal investigators have reported electronic voice phenomena at Bachelor’s Grove, with the names of those buried there being called out repeatedly. There have been many attempts to capture Bachelor’s Grove phenomena on film, and plenty of photographs exist with images resembling ectoplasm. Perhaps the most famous photograph of Bachelor’s Grove was taken in 1991 by Mari Huff, a member of the Ghost Research Society. It shows a waiflike transparent young woman dressed in old-fashioned clothes sitting on a crumbling tombstone. According to Huff, this woman was not visible when the picture was taken. Sceptics argue that the photo is a double exposure, but a number of professional photographers do believe it to be genuine. BAKECHOCHIN Translated as ‘haunted lantern’, in Japanese folklore a bakechochin is a lantern inhabited by ghosts. According to lore the lantern has a long tongue and wild eyes and is home for the ghosts of people who died with hate in their hearts; for this reason, they are doomed to haunt the earth for all time. If someone should light one of these haunted lanterns, it is thought that a hateful ghost may leap out of it and attack. BALANCE Achieving the harmonious interaction of light and dark, masculine and feminine, Yin and Yang, and creative and receptive energies in mind, body and emotions is an integral part of meditation, dreamwork, psychic development or any creative work on personal growth. Many situations in life can prevent balance in mind, body and emotions. You may be thrown off balance by the people around you, by your environment, by feelings of fear or anger or by psychic information you receive. It is easy to be overwhelmed by these stimuli, both external and internal, and psychics believe that one of the most important aspects of psychic growth is the ability to keep oneself balanced, to stay rooted within yourself whatever is going on around or inside you. Visualizing a golden light or bubble around you to protect yourself from distraction, self-doubt or misfortune is a technique often used by psychics to encourage inner balance, as is reconnecting with the earth after psychic work by going for a walk or taking a drink of water to ground yourself again in everyday reality. BALLECHIN HOUSE Hauntings at Ballechin House in Tayside, Scotland, came to public attention in the late 1890s, but they had been reported there for several decades before. In 1806 Ballechin House was built by the Stuart family, and in 1834 Robert Stuart inherited the house from his father and rented it out to tenants while he was posted to India with the army. He returned in 1850 after achieving the rank of Major. From his years in India, the Major had come to believe in reincarnation and transmigration, the ability of the soul to inhabit a non-human body. He vowed that when he died he would return to Ballechin in the body of his favourite black spaniel -he preferred the company of dogs to humans. Although he never married, he did enjoy the company of a young housekeeper called Sarah, who died mysteriously - it was said in his bed - at the age of 27, in 1873. Major Stuart died a few years later and was buried beside her at Logierait churchyard. In his 1853 will the Major left Ballechin House to his nephew, John Stuart, who, fearful that the Major might be reincarnated as one of his dogs, cruelly shot all the Major’s hounds, starting with the black spaniel. This later would lead to the theory that the Major was forced to remain a disembodied spirit, haunting the house in protest. John Stuart was a devout Roman Catholic; his aunt, the Major’s sister Isabella, had become a nun and, after her death in 1880, was said to make ghostly appearances to visitors. Almost immediately after the Major’s death in 1876 strange happenings were reported. One day in the Major’s study, Mrs Stuart noticed a strong smell of dogs in the room. She opened the window to let some air in and felt a nudge on her leg, as if an invisible dog had rubbed itself against her. This was followed a few days later by knocking sounds and the sound of gunfire and voices quarrelling. There were also sounds of someone limping around the master bedroom. Soon Ballechin House got a reputation for being haunted, and governesses and servants would flee the house in fear. The Stuarts managed to live in the house for more than twenty years, but the children were so frightened that John Stuart was forced to build a new wing for the children to live in outside the haunted area. A Jesuit priest and family friend, Father Hayden, who often stayed at Ballechin, heard the haunted sounds, including screams, on many occasions. In January 1895, John Stuart was in the Major’s old study talking to his agent when three loud knocks were heard. This may have been an omen because a few hours later John Stuart died in London after being run over by a cab. After John’s death the house was rented to a family for a year, but they left after a few weeks complaining of being terrorized by poltergeist activity, such as thumps and bumps, strange noises, apparitions and unseen hands moving objects. In 1896 the Marquis of Bute, an avid ghost researcher, rented Ballechin House and asked two psychic researchers to help him carry out investigations. Almost immediately after moving in the researchers reported hearing loud clanging noises, muffled voices and gunfire. Other guests invited to stay at the house reported supernatural activity. Several of the group conducted sessions with a Ouija board. During one session a person with the name of Ishbel came through and asked the investigators to go to a nearby pond. On doing so, the investigators clearly saw the figure of a nun, thought to be the Major’s sister, Isabella, wearing a black habit and walking through a snowy wood before suddenly vanishing. From 1932 the house remained empty, and it was demolished in the 1960s. An account of the investigations that took place there at the turn of the century was published in 1899 with the title The Alleged Haunting ofB House. The Stuart family disliked publicity so much that they asked for all names to be changed or excluded from the story. As a result the hauntings had to be reported as alleged and could never be credited as genuine. BALTIMORE POLTERGEIST Between 14 January and 8 February 1960, alleged poltergeist activity caused havoc in the Baltimore household of a couple called Jones, their daughter and son-in-law, and their 17-year-old grandson, Ted Pauls. The first incident occurred on 14 January when the family sat down for dinner. A miniature pottery pitcher, one of Mrs Jones’s favourite pieces in her china collection, inexplicably exploded, showering Mr Jones with tiny pieces of china. Upset by the loss, Mrs Jones immediately went into the kitchen for a dustpan and brush, but before she reached the kitchen another pitcher shattered, followed by another and another and another, until fifteen of her precious ornaments had been shattered. The Jones family jumped away from the table in fear and panic. In the month of misery that followed, objects flew off shelves and crashed through windows, pictures fell from the wall, plants leapt out of their holders, a sugar bowl floated up to the overhead ceiling light and dumped its contents all over the table, chairs and tables moved about and overturned, soda bottles exploded, books tumbled over and a brass incense holder was seen flying across a room. When the dining room light began to swing about violently during mealtimes the Joneses took to eating in their bedrooms, but this did not stop knives and forks vanishing from beside their plates. Surprisingly, the only injury to occur was on the night of 17 January, when Mr Jones tried to pick up a can of corn that had fallen off a shelf and a tin of sauerkraut smacked him on the back of the head. There was an occasional day of respite, but more often than not the family spent their time running from room to room to tidy up and repair the damage. Then suddenly, on 9 February the incidents stopped as mysteriously as they had begun. Not surprisingly, word spread during the month of terror, and reporters and investigators were regular visitors to the house. Several theories were put forward. Some thought Ted was playing tricks on his family, but this was denied by his parents. Others suggested radio signals, sound waves and earth tremors, but no proof was found. The police could find no evidence of explosives. A local plumber suggested that the hot air furnace might be the culprit. He urged the family to equalize pressure by opening the dining room windows. The Joneses followed his instructions, and the incidents stopped, causing the family to credit the plumber with solving the mystery. Before the phenomena ceased, however, the respected psychoanalyst and researcher of paranormal phenomena Nandor Fodor suggested that poltergeists were not ‘ghosts’ but were bundles of ‘projected repressions’ that quickly wore themselves out. Fodor theorized that so-called poltergeist activity was usually associated with a teenaged member of the family. When he investigated the case, he concentrated on Ted Pauls, the 17-year-old grandson. According to Fodor, Ted was a shy but talented and intelligent boy who was unconsciously using his mental power to create the disturbances. Fodor believed that the human body and mind could release energy ‘similar to atomic bombardments’, and could project this force into objects such as soda bottles, which would then burst from within. Fodor thought that Ted felt misunderstood and longed to be esteemed for his writing talent. He theorized that Ted was unconsciously venting his frustrations by projecting them into aggressive poltergeist activity. Fodor explained this to Ted and suggested that if a way could be found to help him feel appreciated and valued as a person, he would have no need to express himself in such a destructive way. Fodor then took a risk by announcing that Ted was a gifted writer and that if his talent could be recognized the poltergeist activity would stop. He suggested that Ted should write his own account of what had happened, and, as expected, this had a therapeutic effect on Ted. His family gave Ted a newfound respect, and his self-esteem was boosted. Although a few more incidents happened (the psychological working-out process, as Fodor explained), they gradually stopped. The Joneses, however, remained convinced that the plumber had solved the mystery. BANSHEE In the words of the Irish playwright and poet, and expert in Irish folklore, William Butler Yeats: The banshee (from ban [bean], a woman, and shee [sidhe, a fairie]) is an attendant fairy that follows the old families, and none but them, and wails before a death. Many have seen her as she goes wailing and clapping her hands. The keen (caoine), the funeral cry of the peasantry, is said to be an imitation of her cry. When more than one banshee is present, and they wail and sing in chorus, it is for the death of some holy or great one. An omen that sometimes accompanies the banshee is the coach-a-bower (c?iste-bodhar) - an immense black coach, mounted by a coffin, and drawn by headless horses driven by a Dullahan. It will go rumbling to your door, and if you open it … a basin of blood will be thrown in your face. These headless phantoms are found elsewhere than in Ireland. In 1807 two of the sentries stationed outside St. James’s Park died of fright. A headless woman, the upper part of her body naked, used to pass at midnight and scale the railings. After a time the sentries were stationed no longer at the haunted spot. In Norway the heads of corpses were cut off to make their ghosts feeble. Thus came into existence the Dullahans, perhaps; unless, indeed, they are descended from that Irish giant who swam across the Channel with his head in his teeth. (From A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore, ed. W B Yeats.) In Irish and Scottish folklore the banshee is believed to be a death omen who attaches herself to families, usually those whose surnames begin with Mac. Thought to be the spirit of a young woman who died in childbirth, she strikes terror into the hearts of those who encounter her as she only manifests when there is to be a death in the family. There are variations in the way she appears. According to Irish lore the banshee is known as Bean Si and is a beautiful young woman with long, flowing hair, wearing a grey cloak over a white, red or green dress. Her eyes are always red and sore from crying. In both Scottish and Irish lore she is also known as Bean Nighe or little washer by the ford’. The Bean Nighe is thought to signal an imminent death by washing bloodstained clothes in a stream but, unlike the Bean Si, who is beautiful, the Bean Nighe is evil and ugly, with just one nostril, buck teeth, pendulous breasts and red webbed feet. A few banshee stories entered into American folklore with the arrival of immigrants. One of them comes from the American South, where a crying banshee with long flowing yellow hair is thought to haunt the Tar River in Edgecomb County, North Carolina. BARRETT, SIR WILLIAM FLETCHER [1844–1925] A professor of physics at the Royal College of Science in Dublin, Sir William Barrett was one of the founders of both the Society for Psychical Research and the American Society for Psychical Research. His published works included On the Threshold of the Unseen (1917) and Psychical Research (1920). Barrett was fascinated by all things paranormal, and along with investigating ghosts and hauntings and ESP he also explored subjects such as altered states of consciousness induced through hypnotism and hallucination phenomena. Barrett’s study on apparitions remains a classic read for students of the paranormal. BATTLE ABBEY Battle Abbey was constructed by William the Conqueror on the site of his triumph over King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Legend has it that a mysterious fountain of blood appears after rain on the ground, representing the Christian blood that was spilled there, although sceptics argue that the presence of iron in the soil accounts for reddish puddles of water. A phantom is also thought to haunt Battle Abbey. Some believe it to be the Duchess of Cleveland, who lived at the abbey for a time. Others believe it to be the ghost of a monk who cursed Sir Anthony Brown for taking church property, after Sir Anthony was given Battle Abbey by Henry VIII in 1538. In 1932, two men holding a vigil in the crypt reported hearing strange noises in the room above, even though it was paved with asphalt, and a man’s voice singing ‘Gloria in excelsis’. BATTLEFIELD HAUNTINGS Places identified with violence, trauma and intense emotion are typically thought to be subject to hauntings. There are few places more violent and traumatic than battlefields, and it isn’t surprising that many battlefield locations have hauntings associated with them. It is thought that most battlefield hauntings are residual hauntings, in which fragments of the battle are imprinted upon the psychic space of a place and picked up by sensitive individuals. Other hauntings are from spirits who can’t find peace due to the violent and abrupt nature of their deaths. Those who specialize in spirit releasement try to find ways to help these confused and traumatized souls move on. Some believe retrocognition is also an element in battlefield hauntings. Re-enactors, people who recreate battle scenes in history, often report hauntings during their recreations. In the USA there are numerous haunted battlefields from the American Civil War (1861-1865) and other violent struggles in American history. For example, Antietam and the Old Baylor’s Massacre site in River Vale, New Jersey, where members of the local militia (known as Baylor’s Dragoons) were brutally slaughtered by German Hessians in 1778, abound with reports of hauntings and strange happenings. In the UK both medieval warrior phantoms and ghostly soldiers from the English Civil War have been reported, and numerous battlefields from the world wars have ghost stories linked to them. One of the most well-known cases in World War I actually occurred in the midst of the conflict itself. The so-called Angels of Mons were thought to have saved retreating French and British soldiers during the battle of Mons, Belgium. According to reports of survivors, the retreating soldiers saw phantom figures on horseback preventing the Germans from slaughtering them all, but sceptics argue that they may have had visions due to intense stress, fear and pain. In World War II, one-seventh of Britain’s casualties came from losses due to bombing raids, and not surprisingly countless hauntings and phantom sounds of aeroplanes and sirens have been reported where bomber pilots made their runs. Paranormal investigators who believe that hauntings can be caused by the consciousness of the living often use battlefield hauntings to support their case. They argue that the anguish war causes imprints itself on a nation’s collective memory, and that phantoms are a way of keeping the memory of such a tragic and vast loss of life alive. BEALINGS HOUSE BELL RINGER Between February and March 1834, Bealings House, a Georgian house at Great Bealings, Suffolk was the scene of mysterious bell ringing, where the pulley bells in various rooms used to summon servants began to jingle without anyone pulling them. Major Edward Moore, a retired officer from the Indian Army, the owner of the house at the time, was fascinated and recorded the phenomena later; thanks to him we have a day-by-day record of what happened. On Sunday, 2 February 1834, Major Moore came home from church and was told that between 2 and 5 pm the dining room bell had been rung. The following day the same bell rang three times, the last time being just before five o’clock in the evening, and was heard for the first time by Major Moore personally. The next day the Major was out, and when he returned he was told the same thing had happened. There were a total of nine bells in the kitchen, and the Major discovered that the right-hand five bells, connected with the dining room, drawing room, a first-floor bedroom and two rooms in the attic, were the ones doing most of the ringing. On 5 February at 11 am the bells were heard ringing again while the Major was in the breakfast room with his son and grandson. Immediately he went to the kitchen and saw the same five bells ringing. A few minutes later they started to ring again; one of the bells rang so violently that it almost touched the ceiling. From that time onwards the bells rang many times, and the Major and his servants became convinced that no living person was responsible, as they always seemed to ring when there was no one in the rooms concerned. During the time that the bells were ringing, Major Moore was careful to ensure that this wasn’t the work of a prankster. On numerous occasions the bells rang when all the members of the household were in the kitchen and the rest of the house was empty. The phenomena lasted until 27 March when the ringing stopped as mysteriously as it had started. Then, in July 1836, the bells started ringing again. This time a bell-hanger was sent for. He examined all the wires but could not find any rational explanation. After about an hour the ringing stopped and was never heard again, except when the bells were being used by a member of the family. The mystery was never solved, and Moore and his family concluded that paranormal activity must have occurred. Despite the most vigorous investigation, there has never been any explanation for the mysterious bell ringing at Bealings House. BEANS Beans have a long tradition of association with ghosts and the dead. American Indian traditions include elaborate rituals and dances involving beans. Ancient Greeks believed beans were associated with the souls of the dead, and the ancient Romans considered beans to be sacred and used them in rituals connected with the dead. They threw beans behind their backs as food offerings for ghosts, and they also spat beans at ghosts as a protection against them. The connection of the bean to the realm of ghosts seems to be that it grows in a spiral and that its white flowers are symbolic of the purity of the bleached bones of death. Because breath is the evidence of life, as bizarre as it may seem to us today, the eating of beans and the flatulence it causes were thought by ancient Romans to be proof that the living souls of the dead resided inside the lowly bean. BEHAVIOURAL MEDICINE Behavioural medicine is an approach to healing that acknowledges the effects of behaviour on health, and takes into account not just the interaction between a human and the environment but the interaction between body, mind and spirit. Non-Western healing systems, such as traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurvedic medicine, for centuries have based their approach on the interaction between mind and body but it wasn’t until the 1960s that Western medicine began to acknowledge that mind and body may not be as separate as it had previously been thought. Psychiatrist George Solomon observed that feeling unhappy and depressed increased arthritis symptoms, and in his experiments he found that rats put under stress died more quickly than those who were not. But the real breakthrough came in the 1970s with psychoanalyst Robert Ader, who suspected from experiments with rats that the nervous system played a part in a body’s immune system. He coined the term psychoneu-roimmunology’ (PNI). Later research confirmed that the nervous system does indeed produce reactions that influence brain function and that there is a collaboration between the mind, the brain and the immune system. PNI suggests that emotions have a part to play in physical health, and over the years research has shown that relaxation and positive thinking techniques can produce changes in wellbeing and can be used in the treatment of illness. Relaxation, visualization and imagery have been used with success to treat a whole range of conditions, from headaches and indigestion to serious conditions such as depression, heart disease and cancer. Studies also show that unhappy feelings, in particular suppressed anger, fear and guilt, low self-esteem and a lack of loving relationships, can also increase a person’s chances of developing heart disease, cancer and infertility. Many medical experts now acknowledge the important role relaxation, loving relationships and positive outlook play in mental and physical health and wellbeing. Psychic healers have always used the power of the mind to heal physical and emotional problems, believing that if people feel better mentally and emotionally they will improve physically. BELL WITCH The Bell Witch is one of the most unsavoury poltergeist cases on record, even though it has since been described as perhaps the ‘greatest American ghost story’. According to legend, it caused the death of a man. The haunting took place in Robertson, Tennessee, in 1817 and intrigued many people, including future US President General Andrew Jackson. There are several versions of the story so it is hard to know what is fact and what is fiction, but the version generally relied upon is that based on the diary of Richard William Bell, one of the Bells’ sons. John and Lucy Bell lived with their nine children on a farm. The phenomena started with noises and scraping and progressed to clothes being pulled off and furniture and stones being thrown about. Two of the children, Elizabeth and Richard, had their hair pulled one night, and Elizabeth was slapped and punched and pinched. Under investigation by the family and a neighbour, James Johnson, the poltergeist stepped up its activity, tormenting the family, especially Elizabeth, even more. Elizabeth was sent to stay with a neighbour, and the disturbances went with her, indicating that she was the focus of the activity. The strange events continued over the next few years. Later activity included strange lights outside the house, stones thrown at Elizabeth’s brothers and sisters and visitors receiving slaps similar to Elizabeth’s. The entity also began to speak using foul language. According to reports a voice would appear from nowhere and with no identifiable source. The voice claimed to be various different people but eventually settled on the name of Kate Bates, a woman who had been dissatisfied with business dealings with the Bells. From then on the voice was called Kate. Johnson advised forming a committee to investigate, and with that the Bell family became the object of much curiosity: General Jackson even paid a visit with a ‘witch layer’, a professional exorcist. According to legend, just outside Bell Lane their carriage got stuck. Kate’s voice could be heard promising to appear that night, and the carriage became unstuck. Later in the evening the witch layer tried to shoot Kate with a silver bullet but was slapped and chased out of the house. On one occasion it was said Elizabeth was given an emetic to make her sick, and she threw up brass pins and needles. The poltergeist, who had a sick sense of humour, suggested that if she did it again Elizabeth would have enough to set up a shop. Elizabeth’s father, John Bell, began to suffer from repeated bouts of illness, and Kate claimed she was the cause. He couldn’t eat, his tongue was swollen and Kate declared that she would torment him for the rest of his life. Unfortunately, this is exactly what she did. Finally the ordeals and cursing wore John down, and on the morning of 19 December 1820, he fell into a stupor, dying a day later. A bottle was found in the medicine cabinet, and when the contents were given to an animal the animal died. Kate declared with delight in her voice that she had poisoned John with the liquid while he was asleep. After John Bell’s death the poltergeist activity diminished. Some time later Elizabeth got engaged to a Joshua Gardener, who apparently did not meet the poltergeist’s approval. The entity told Elizabeth not to marry Joshua and the couple could not go anywhere without the entity following them and persistently taunting them. In 1821 their patience finally snapped and they broke off their engagement. Elizabeth eventually married a man called Dick Powell, and Kate finally disappeared with the words ‘I will be gone for seven years’. John’s widow, Lucy Bell, and two of her sons who stayed at the farmhouse, did hear manifestations seven years later, but they kept quiet about it this time and the torment stopped after two weeks. Apparently the poltergeist promised to return in 1935 but failed to do so, or wasn’t noticed by anybody. The Bells never understood why they were ‘attacked’ in this way, and Kate Bates never made any statements. The most commonly accepted theory is that the poltergeist activity focused on Elizabeth, who was the right age, around puberty, for sexual guilt and tension. It has been suggested that there was some kind of incestuous relationship between Elizabeth and her father, which would have distressed the young girl. This theory, however, does not account for poltergeist activity that took place when she was not around, such as that with General Jackson. The legend of the Bell Witch continues to haunt the Bell farm to this day. Thankfully, the violent and terrible manifestations are a thing of the past, but she is believed to haunt a cave, called the Bell Witch Cave, where unearthly screams, knocks and noises have been reported. BENTHAM, JEREMY [1748–1832] The bizarre sight of the body of Jeremy Bentham, law reformer, scientist and philosopher, can be seen to this day mounted on display in University College London. Bentham was fascinated by mummification and believed that corpses, put on permanent display as memorials to the dead, or ‘auto icons’ as he called them, would become commonplace items in the houses of family and friends. Prior to his death Bentham gave detailed instructions in his will about how his body should be preserved. He requested that his body be dissected, his bones be wired in a sitting position and his mummified corpse be dressed in his favourite black suit and straw hat, with his hand on his favourite walking stick, ‘Dapple’. Bentham’s preserved form is on display today in a case with glass sides. Apparently the mummification of his head was not successful, so it was removed and replaced by a wax head modelled in his likeness. Over the years there have been various sightings of Bentham’s ghost walking the university corridors, tapping the floor with his cane or cradling his head in his arms. BERMUDA TRIANGLE Reports indicate that dozens of ships, twenty or so aeroplanes and a thousand people have mysteriously vanished in this restricted wedge of the ocean just east of Florida in the United States. The ocean region was named the Bermuda Triangle in 1945, after six airforce planes and their crews disappeared on a calm day in good flying conditions. Although accidents and mysterious disappearances are to be expected at sea, the ones in this area are unusual because they often occur in good weather and no traces of wreckage or survivors are found. Just before disappearing, crews often report that nothing is amiss, and in rare instances ships have been found days later with their entire crews missing. The area is policed by the US government, but despite this the number of disappearances far exceeds the law of chance for such a relatively small area. This had led many investigators to believe that the ‘vanishments’ in this area are caused by some sort of paranormal force. The mysterious history of the Bermuda Triangle reaches as far back as its first recorded traveller, Christopher Columbus. While sailing into the area, Columbus and his men were unnerved by bolts of lightning, strange lights and the erratic action of the compass spinning wildly. Over the years the area became notorious for strange occurrences. Until World War II only ships were thought to be affected, but since then aeroplanes have also disappeared. All the most obvious causes - human error, weather and so forth - have been investigated, and by the mid-1970s logical explanations for virtually all the reported mysterious incidents had been uncovered. Despite this, the Bermuda Triangle - also known as the Devil’s Triangle and the Limbo of the Lost - continues to intrigue and defy rational explanation. Various incredible theories have been put forward to explain the disappearances, such as time warps, black holes, atmospheric aberrations, magnetic anomalies, alignments of the planets, tidal waves, earthquakes, hidden sea beings, death rays from outer space, forces emanating from Atlantis and alien abduction. BERRY POMEROY CASTLE This ruined castle, located at Berry Pomeroy, Devon has been the scene of ghostly sightings and strange phenomena for hundreds of years. Even today, visitors to the castle remark upon its strange atmosphere and the feelings of foreboding and terror it inspires. The great majority of the hauntings can be traced to the castle’s original owners, the Pomeroy family, who occupied it from about 1086 to 1550. The most terrifying apparitions are those of a white and a blue lady. The White Lady is believed to haunt the dark dungeons. According to the legend, she is the spirit of Margaret Pomeroy, who was imprisoned in the dungeons by her sister Eleanor. Eleanor was jealous of both Margaret’s beauty and her success with men, and Margaret slowly starved in the dungeons, a long drawn-out and painful death. Perhaps Margaret’s agony is the source of the feeling of unease and horror some people experience at the castle. The Blue Lady roams around the castle as she pleases and has been seen trying to lure people into parts of the ruin. According to some stories she is the ghost of the daughter of one of the Norman lords of the castle. She was raped by her father, who then strangled the resulting baby in one of the upper rooms. In other tales it is she who smothers the child, haunting the castle in anguish. When she is seen, her face is said to portray this suffering. She is regarded as a death portent to those who see her. The well-known nineteenth-century physician Sir Walter Farquar is said to have seen the spirit while he was attending to the wife of one of the castle stewards. The wife died soon afterwards, although she seemed to be making a full recovery. Other apparitions reported include a woman in a grey dress, the ubiquitous cavalier and strange shadows that appear to have no earthly presence to cast them. BHUT In Hindu mythology a bhut is believed to be the restless ghost of someone who has died a violent death or committed suicide. According to legend, the bhut has no shadow and can be detected by the smell of burning turmeric. It is thought that lying on the ground offers protection against it, as the bhut never rests on the earth. BIBLIOMANCY A method of divination still popular today. Originally bibliomancy was used to discover if a person was innocent or guilty of a crime. The suspect was weighted against the great Bible in the local church. If the suspect weighed less, he or she was declared innocent. Later bibliomancy came to mean any divinatory use of the Bible, from resting it on a child’s head to calm him or her down to picking a verse at random to offer comfort and support. Finally, the term was used for divination from books in general, not just the Bible. Today we understand it as a method of divination that involves taking any book, usually a collection of prose or poetry or wise thoughts, closing one’s eyes, thinking about a particular problem or question, opening the book at random and interpreting the first words or sentences read in a prophetic or advisory way. BLLOCATION The appearance of a person or animal in two places at the same time. What exactly occurs in the phenomenon of bilocation is uncertain, but one theory is that a person’s double or doppelg?nger is somehow projected elsewhere and becomes visible to others either in solid physical form or ghostly form. Generally the double remains silent or acts strangely. In folklore, bilocation sometimes presages or heralds the death of the individual seen. Bilocation allegedly has been experienced and practised at will by mystics, ecstatics, saints, monks, holy persons and magical adepts. Several Christian saints and monks were skilled at bilocation, including St Antony of Padua, St Ambrose of Milan, St Severus of Ravenna, and Padre Pio of Italy. In 1774, St Alphonsus Liguori was seen at the bedside of the dying Pope Clement XIV, when in fact the saint was confined to his monastic cell in a location that was a four-day journey away. Reports of bilocation were collected in the nineteenth century by pioneering psychical researcher Frederick Myers, one of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research in England. Myers published his reports in 1903 in Human Personality and Its Survival after Bodily Death, but the phenomenon has received little interest in modern times. Among the most remarkable of the documented cases of bilocation was the appearance of Friar Padre Pio in the air over San Giovanni Rotondo during World War II. While southern Italy remained in Nazi hands, American bombers were given the job of attacking the city of San Giovanni Rotondo. However, when they appeared over the city and prepared to unload their munitions, a brown-robed friar appeared before their aircraft. All attempts to release the bombs failed. In this way Padre Pio kept his earlier promise to the citizens that their town would be spared. Later on, when an American airbase was established at Foggia, a few miles away, one of the pilots of this incident visited the friary and found, to his great surprise, the little friar he had seen in the air that day over San Giovanni. As to how Padre Pio accomplished such a feat, the closest he ever came to an explanation of bilocation was to say that it occurred ‘by an extension of his personality’. BINDELOF SOCIETY In spring of 1932 a group of American teenage boys began to experiment with table tilting. One of the boys had been associated with poltergeist activity a few years previously, and both he and his mother were fascinated by psychic phenomena. To their delight, the boys were able to get the table to tilt, then to lift off the floor and then to rise high into the air. New York psychiatrist and dream researcher Montague Ullman visited the group in September 1932, and a regular schedule of meetings was drawn up. All regular sitters were aged between 15 and 17 years old. The teenagers would sit around a table in a dark room, their hands resting on the table and their feet underneath, for a period of 15 to 20 minutes, then there would be a break followed by another 15 to 20 minutes. After several sessions the group began to produce table tiltings and raps on a regular basis, and they decided to attempt psychic photography. When this became routine they turned their hand to another way to induce psychic phenomena. A pen and pencil were simply placed on a table and communication invited. It wasn’t long before writing could be heard and lengthy written messages appeared. The communicator identified himself as the deceased Dr Bindelof, who found himself able to use the psychic force the teenagers were generating to communicate with them. From that point on a dialogue was set up, and Dr Bindelof answered questions about the psychic world and the nature of the soul. By 1933 the Bindelof Society was formed. Not all the boys were convinced that Dr Bindelof was who or what he said he was, and some thought they themselves were creating this entity through thought alone. None, however, doubted that the experience was real, and it was one they would never forget. The group split up around 1934, but in 1949 the core members met again to recreate the phenomena, this time without success. Attention now turned to making a permanent record of what had occurred, and the eventual product of this was a series of articles published by Montague Ullman in Exceptional Human Experience in 1993 and 1994. BIOENERGETICS Bioenergetics, like acupuncture and acupressure, assumes the existence of a universal life force that affects health and wellbeing, and a capacity for self-healing within everyone. It is a form of psychotherapy that involves a high degree of intuitive awareness on the part of the therapist, and patients have been known to report psychic experiences, such as episodes of clairvoyance, as a result. Bioenergetics works with the physical, emotional and mental patterns of men and women to reduce emotional stress and help with the challenges of living. It is a way of understanding personality in terms of the body and its energetic processes. According to bioenergetic theory, repressed emotions and desires affect the body by creating chronic muscle tension and a loss of wellbeing and energy. The theory is based on the premise that there is no fundamental separation between the mind and the body: that psychological stress reflects and creates what is happening physically, and physical or somatic events both reflect and create mental and emotional states. Emotional stress from many areas - relationships, family crises, jobs, health - produce tension in the body. Contractions in the muscular system are often the result of carrying unresolved emotional tension. These contractions can have a direct effect on the energy level of the individual, on the capacity for spontaneous and creative self-expression, and on feelings of wellbeing. Bioenergetic analysis seeks to bring about the conscious integration of mind and body. Therefore, the focus is on both the psychological issues presented and the manifestation of these issues as shown in the individual’s body, energy and movement. Bodywork is combined with psychoanalysis of dreams and childhood experiences. BIOFEEDBACK Biofeedback is the measuring of vital bodily functions that are normally unconscious, such as breathing, brain-wave rhythms, heart rate and blood pressure, through information provided by electronic devices. This information is then used to help control these processes. Biofeedback is a relatively new field, emerging only during the 1960s. Since that time biofeedback has been used in parapsychology for psi testing. Originally biofeedback was applied to brain waves. Brain waves were first discovered in 1924 by Hans Berger, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that it was thought possible to control them at will - in 1958, researcher Joe Kamilya was able to help college students control their alpha brain waves. By the early 1970s the attention of researchers turned to how biofeedback could help one achieve altered states of consciousness, such as those achieved in meditation, and how in meditation bodily processes could be changed. Other experiments concentrated on training subjects to alter involuntary processes, such as blood pressure. To monitor physiological processes, biofeedback electrodes, which look like stickers with wires attached to them, are placed on the client’s skin. The client is then instructed to use relaxation, meditation or visualization to bring about the desired response, whether it is muscle relaxation, a lowered heart rate or lower skin temperature. The biofeedback device reports progress by a change in the speed of beeps or flashes, or pitch or quality of the tone. The results of biofeedback are measured in the following ways: Skin temperature. Electrical conductivity of the skin, called the glavanic skin response. Muscle tension, with an electromyograph (EMG). Heart rate, with an electrocardiograph (ECG). Brain-wave activity, with an electroencephalograph (EEG). Biofeedback demonstrates the connection between mind and body by teaching subjects to use thoughts and relaxation to control bodily process, and as a result it is typically used as an alternative medicine technique to treat health problems ranging from stress-related disorders to raised blood pressure, chronic pain, addiction and asthma. Biofeedback can also teach people how to increase their alpha brain waves. The alpha state is not necessary for psychic experience, but studies have shown it is conducive to it, since subjects who can slip easily into alpha states tend to score high in psi testing. BIRDS Birds appearing in dreams are thought to represent spirits, angels, transcendence and the supernatural. In mythology birds are messengers from the spirit world, souls of the dead or carriers of souls of the dead. In European folklore black birds, such as crows and ravens, that cross your path or gather near your house are thought to be death omens. BLACK ELK, NICHOLAS [1863—195-0] Black Elk was an Oglala Sioux mystic born in December 1863 on the Little Powder River, South Dakota. He was the son of the elder Black Elk and White Cow Sees Woman, and he devoted his life to helping his people find unity and strength. From an early age Black Elk knew he was destined for great things. Around the age of four he began to hear voices, and a year later he had his first psychic vision. Aged nine he had his great vision, in which he was empowered by the Grandfathers, who represented the powers of the world. For two days he fell ill, and during this time he went in an out-of-body experience to the clouds, where he was greeted by the Grandfathers. They took him to the centre of the universe and gave him supernatural power to heal. The Grandfathers showed him the sacred hoop of his people, which represented their soul, and in the centre was a crossroads: one path, the red one, was sacred, while the other, black path was the path of materialism. A voice told Black Elk that he had been given his nation’s hoop and it was up to him to set them on the right path. From the day of his vision Black Elk changed. He found he had prophetic visions and he could understand the songs of birds and animals. He used his great powers of healing and wisdom to help his people rediscover their traditions. During Black Elk’s young adulthood, missionaries tried to convert the Oglala Sioux to Christianity, often by force. Black Elk himself was baptized Nicholas Black Elk on 6 December 1904, near present-day Pine Ridge, South Dakota, but his Lakota spirituality remained strong throughout his life. He took part in the underground movement supporting traditional religion, which became necessary after the US government outlawed native rituals. Throughout his life, he took part in both secret traditional practices and public Catholic rites. Black Elk feared that US policies would destroy the Lakota Nation’s identity, so during the summer of 1930 he dictated his life story to John Neihardt. The resulting book, Black Elk Speaks, was published in 1932 and has been reprinted many times. In it Black Elk described the history of the Lakota Nation and provided a sense of hope for the future. His vision eventually became a message to the Lakota people - a warning not to assimilate completely and thereby lose their unique heritage. Although Black Elk died in 1950, long before the passage of the Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978, his teachings, combined with this legislation, created a new respect for and interest in Lakota spirituality. BLACK MAGIC The use of supernatural and psychic power for evil ends, the opposite of white magic, which is concerned with healing and promoting what is good. The term ‘black magic’ has been used with a wide variety of meanings and evokes such a variety of reactions that it has become vague and almost meaningless. It is often synonymous with three other multivocal terms: witchcraft, the occult and sorcery. The only similarity among its various uses is that it refers to human efforts to manipulate the supernatural with negative intent and the selfish use of psychic power for personal gain. Workers of black magic are thought to have but one goal: to satisfy their own desires at whatever cost to others. Magic, good or evil, is universal, with no ethnic or racial association, and it is unfortunate that not just in Western civilization but many cultures around the world, good and evil have for centuries been denoted as white and black. White often designates healing, truth, purity, light and positive energy, while black is darkness, falsehood, evil and negative energy. In modern times probably the most popular synonym for black magic is the occult. Originally the term meant hidden, hence mysterious, and was routinely used by classical and medieval scholars to refer to ‘sciences’ such as astrology, alchemy and kabbalah, but from the late nineteenth century, when magical sects such as the Order of the Golden Dawn emerged, the term began to take on the meaning of evil or satanic. Perhaps the best-known occultist and black magic practitioner was Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), who dubbed himself the Antichrist. More than any other person Crowley gave the occult an evil connotation. See also Magic, Occult, Witchcraft, Satanism, Sorcery. BLACK SHUCK Spectral dogs in general play a role in many haunting legends and it is reported that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle based his story The Hound of the Baskervilles on accounts of the Black Shuck legends. Black Shuck is alleged to be a phantom dog in British folklore that has frequently been sighted in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Devon. The common name of this ghostly animal varies according to locality: ‘Old Shuck’ (Norfolk), ‘Old Shock’ (Suffolk), ‘Yeth’ (Devon), ‘Pooka’ (Ireland), ‘Barguest’ (Yorkshire), to name but a few. His appearance is often considered a death omen. The origins of Black Shuck remain shrouded in mystery, but the stories probably originated from the hound of the Viking raiders’ god Odin and from the Celtic legends of Arawn, whose hounds of hell searched for human souls. The name Black Shuck may have originated from a local word, shucky, meaning ‘shaggy’, or an Anglo-Saxon term scucca, meaning ‘satan’ or ‘demon’. Other local names have been ‘Galley Trot’, ‘Old Snarleyow’ and ‘Old Scarfe’. Black Shuck is described as being black, and the size of a very large dog or even a small calf. It is reported to have large, saucer-shaped eyes of red or yellow. In some instances it has been reported as being headless or having just one large Cyclops-type eye and to wear a collar or chain, which rattles as it moves. The hound is said to roam graveyards and lonely country roads, and on stormy nights its howling can be heard. It is believed to leave no footprints, but its icy breath can be felt. To see or even hear the phantom animal is thought to be a foreboding of misfortune, madness or death. In parts of Devon even speaking its name is thought to bring misfortune. In Suffolk, though, it is thought that Black Shuck is harmless as long as it is not bothered. In Cambridgeshire, Black Shuck is said to have favourite haunts along the banks of the river Ouse and in the flat landscape of the fens. There is little evidence of Black Shuck causing anyone any harm on contact, but there is a curious account of an attack back in 1577 in the parish of Bungay, Suffolk. The parishioners were at church when the church darkened and a violent storm broke out. Black Shuck appeared from nowhere in the middle of the congregation. It charged through the church, causing mass panic, and killing two men who were kneeling in prayer. A third man is thought to have died from severe burns. At the same time, a few miles away in Blythburgh, another black dog reputedly appeared out of nowhere in the local church, killed three men and left burn marks on the church door. BLAKE, WILLIAM [175-7–1827] William Blake was a mystic, poet, artist and engraver whose visionary art was much misunderstood by his contemporaries. He published his first set of poems when he was 26, and six years later, in 1789, he printed the Songs of Innocence, which he also engraved and illustrated. In his forties he wrote his more symbolic epic poems, Milton and Jerusalem, and his best-known illustrations of the Book of Job and Dante’s Divine Comedy were created in the last few years of his life. Blake lived and died in relative poverty. He received little formal schooling, which makes his visionary interpretations of the Bible and the classics all the more remarkable. From a young age he experienced visions; when he was ten he told his father he had seen hosts of angels in a tree, and when his brother, Robert, died at the age of 20, he saw his soul ‘ascend heavenward clapping its hands for joy’. Throughout his life Blake drew his strength from the spirit world. He believed deeply in the human imagination - indeed, that it was the only reality - and he often spoke with the apparitions, angels, devils and spirits that he drew and engraved in his work. His interest in the spirit world brought him into contact with many of the visionaries and writers of his time, such as Emanuel Swedenborg. BLAVATSKY, MADAME [1831–1891] Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, daughter of Russian aristocrats, was a key figure in the nineteenth-century revival of occult and esoteric knowledge. A highly intelligent and energetic woman, she helped to spread Eastern philosophies and mystical ideas to the West and tried to give the study of the occult a scientific and public face. Blavatsky became aware of her psychic abilities at an early age. She travelled through the Middle East and Asia learning psychic and spiritual techniques from various teachers, and she said that it was in Tibet that she met the secret masters or adepts who sent her to carry their message to the world. In 1873 Helena immigrated to New York, where she impressed everyone with her psychic feats of astral projection, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairsentience and clairaudience. Her powers were never tested scientifically, but her interests were always more in the laws and principles of the psychic world than psychic power itself. In 1874 Helena met and began a lifelong friendship with Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a lawyer and journalist who covered spiritual phenomena, and a year later they founded a society ‘to collect and diffuse a knowledge of the laws which govern the Universe’. They called this society the Theosophical Society, from theosophy, a Greek term meaning ‘divine wisdom’ or ‘wisdom of the gods’. Travelling to India, Blavatsky and Olcott established themselves at Adyar, near Madras, and a property they bought there eventually became the world headquarters of the society. They established the nucleus of the movement in Britain and founded no fewer than three Theosophical Societies in Paris. Throughout her life Blavatsky’s powers were dismissed as fraud and trickery, but this did not stop the Theosophical Society from finding a home among intellectuals and progressive thinkers of her day. The society was born at a time when spiritualism was popular and Darwin’s theory of evolution was undermining the Church’s teachings, so the Society’s new thinking flourished. Many people appreciated the alternative it provided both to church dogma and to a materialistic view of the world. Blavatsky’s two most important books are Isis Unveiled and her magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine, published in 1888. She drew her teachings from many religious traditions: Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Platonic thought, Jewish Kabbalah and the occult and scientific knowledge of her time. Although they influenced many people, her books are extremely difficult to read. Nevertheless, her teachings were absorbed by many people and then simplified into a worldview that was taken up by many later New Age groups. This worldview includes a belief in seven planes of existence; the gradual evolution and perfecting of spiritual principles; the existence of nature spirits (‘devas’); and belief in secret spiritual masters or adepts from the Himalayas, or from the spiritual planes, who guide the evolution of humanity. All of these beliefs are derived from Blavatsky’s Theosophy. BLOCKED ENERGY Energy is believed to be the basis of all matter, and psychics and alternative medicine practitioners believe that a field of energy, called an aura, surrounds your body and a flow of energy (‘chi’) exists within it. If these energy forces are interrupted for some reason the energy becomes blocked and will not flow freely. Chakras are an essential part of this energy flow. If one or more of them is closed, then the energy is blocked at these points. It is thought that blocked energy which is not cleared can lead to serious consequences, affecting your mental, physical and spiritual health, and impeding your spiritual and psychic development. See Energy balancing. BODHISATTVA In Buddhism, the bodhisattva is an enlightened being who instead of going straight to nirvana - and not being reborn -decides to delay eternal bliss in order to help others on the path. The concept of a bodhisattva can be used to describe anyone who is dedicated to compassion and the greater good. In many ways it could be said there is a bodhisattva nature in every one of us. BODY SCANNING The ability to look psychically into and around a human body in order to determine the person’s heath and state of mind. Body scanning can be experienced through any of the five senses. A medical intuitive can psychically read a body and come up with a diagnosis in actual medical terms. Each intuitive works differently, for example, some read auras while others read energetically the insides (organs, blood, glands) of our insides. Intuited information can then be provided to the client’s medical doctor and/or health care professional for further evaluation and discussion of possible treatments. Many medical intuitives work with, or are, medical doctors themselves. BODYWORK Alternative medicine therapies that take into account the role of the mind and emotions in physical health and look especially at how the body interacts with the environment and universal life energies. There are many types of bodywork therapies, involving manipulation, massage, movement, breathing, energy balancing and energy transfer. All these therapies assume the existence of a universal life force and the ability of the body to self-heal when therapy stimulates that life force. See: Acupuncture, Acupressure, Bioener-getics, Energy balancing, Massage, Reflexology, Reiki, Shiatsu, Therapeutic touch. BOGEY Also referred to as the bogeyman in British folklore, this is said to be an evil spirit who loves to cause trouble. The bogey is believed to travel alone or in groups, and in some instances they are synonymous with the devil. Usually the bogey is described as big and nasty and for years the threat of calling upon the bogeyman was used by parents to frighten children into good behaviour. The precise origins of the bogeyman legend are unknown but it is possible that it came from the old Central European gods. The Slavic for god is ‘bog’ and after Christianity came to Central Europe and made its way to the British Isles, many of the deities in the old religions became transformed into evil spirits. It is possible that the gods of pre-Christian Britain became known as these horrible, frightening beings - bogs, bogeys, boggles or boggarts. The boggart is a type of bogey hobgoblin in British folklore with poltergeist characteristics. A boggart is said to be helpful, but most of the time it is devious and frightening, never appearing but playing tricks on people, such as knocking books off shelves or tripping people up. It is also thought to punch, scratch and kick. In parts of Yorkshire the threat of being thrown into the ‘baggart hole’ is still used today by parents if their children aren’t behaving. BOLEYN, ANNE [1501–1536] Anne Boleyn was the second wife of Henry VIII, and their marriage changed the course of English history. Her larger-than-life story is matched by the many sightings of her ghost since her death. Besotted with the beautiful Anne, Henry asked the Catholic Church for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon. The Church refused, so in order to marry Anne, Henry created a reformed version of the church, making himself the head - a direct challenge to the authority of the Pope. Having obtained his divorce and married Anne, Henry was determined to have a son, but Anne gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth, in 1533, and from then on the relationship between Anne and Henry deteriorated. Henry found a new love interest in Jane Seymour. Anne became pregnant again, but the child was stillborn. Henry, determined to rid himself of Anne, fabricated a charge of treason and confined her to the Tower of London. Her execution took place on 19 May 1536. Anne Boleyn is reputed to haunt Hampton Court - along with many of Henry’s other five wives - and the Tower of London where she was executed. Predictably, she has been seen there as a headless female figure near the Queen’s House, where she was confined prior to her execution. At Blickling Hall in Norfolk, Anne’s family home, there have been sightings of a headless young woman riding a horse and carrying a severed head on her lap, typically on the anniversary of her death. Anne has also been sighted in the Hall’s corridors. An administrator reported seeing a woman walking down towards the lake wearing an old grey gown with a white lace collar and cap. He thought she was either lost or trespassing and went out to ask if she was looking for someone. The woman replied, ‘That for which I seek has long since gone.’ Then, in a moment, she disappeared. BOND, FREDERICK BLIGH [1864-1945] Born in Wiltshire, England, in 1864, Frederick Bligh Bond became a well-known author, editor, architect and archaeologist. Considered to be the pioneer of ‘psychic questing’, he was regarded as exceptionally talented but ‘irascible, eccentric, difficult to work with, moody and confrontational’ by his colleagues. He had a deep interest in all things psychic, occult and esoteric, and his work involved analysing medieval woodwork and construction techniques. In 1908 Bond was commissioned to excavate the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, burial place of three kings of England and reputed to have connections to the legendary King Arthur and the Holy Grail. It was while working on this project that Bond claimed to have been in communication with spirit monks, called the Watchers, who once had lived at Glastonbury. The Watchers established regular communications with Bond and allegedly penned messages to Bond in a curious mixture of Old English and rudimentary Latin, giving clues to the hidden history of Glastonbury Abbey and insights into the building’s original design and architecture. In all, these communications gave a startling insight into everyday life within the abbey and a glimpse back into the medieval world. Bond’s claim to have psychic guidance from spirits drew sharp criticism from his conventional colleagues in both the fields of archaeology and architecture. But his communications with the ghostly monks won him the support of members of the British Society for Psychical Research. In 1918 he published The Gate of Remembrance, a collection of transcripts and reports from his automatic writing sessions, and it sealed his fate by firmly undermining his reputation as a professional once and for all. However, Bond’s enthusiasm for his interaction with the ghosts of Glastonbury Abbey prompted him to follow up his book with The Hill of Vision, in which he revealed allegedly prophetic warnings given to him by the spectral monks, including a prediction of World War I. Despite great success in locating unknown and little-known structures, Bond was gradually pushed out of his work at Glastonbury. It would be easy to say that this was due to his psychic work, but it may simply have had to do with the fact that he was vain and arrogant and made a lot of enemies along the way. He was an amateur archaeologist at a time when the field was professionalized, and his refusal to follow a systematic plan of excavations laid down by professionals was bound to create tension. By 1921 he was reduced to cleaning the artefacts he had found, and by 1922 he was asked to leave Glastonbury. In 1926 Bond took up an offer from a wealthy American to pay for his passage to the US. He found work as an architect and began a successful lecture tour organized by the American Society for Psychical Research. In 1935, again at his patron’s expense, he returned to England jobless, penniless and homeless. He died in a cottage in Wales in 1945 at the age of 82. Throughout his life Bond never lost his love for Glastonbury or his fascination for the paranormal, but many of the suggestions given by the Watchers have never been followed up, and to this day his books are banned from the Glastonbury Abbey bookstore. BONES, READING An ancient Chinese method of divination that used bones from the shoulders of oxen, sheep, deer or pigs, or the shells of turtles, to predict the future. A petitioner would approach a diviner with a question that could usually be answered by yes or no. The diviner would write the petitioner’s question on a bone or a turtle shell from a sacrifice, and would then heat the bone by inserting into it a hot bronze poker. The heat would cause the bone to crack. The patterns of the resulting cracks were then interpreted according to mystical techniques, providing an answer to the petitioner’s question. Answers and results were recorded after the divination had been completed. Rulers seem to have consulted the oracle bone diviners on even the most trivial aspects of life. Questions were asked about auspicious days for sacrifice and ancestor worship, births, illness, marriage, weather, agriculture, hunting, court appointments, government policy and warfare. A sample divination record reads: On day 49 the king, making cracks, divined: ‘Hunting at Chi, going and coming will there be disaster?’ The king, reading the cracks, said, ‘Extremely auspicious.’ At this point we drove off in our chariots. We caught 41 foxes and 8 hornless deer. The first oracle bones known to modern researchers were discovered by late-nineteenth-century Chinese peasants digging in their fields, and since then nearly 155,000 oracular inscriptions have been recovered. Most date to the period of the Shang Dynasty in the twelfth and eleventh centuries BC, or, in other words, to shortly after the time of Moses, and they are an invaluable source of historical insight. Although the use of oracle bones eventually died out, divination continued to play an important role in Chinese life. By the ninth century BC, bones were replaced by divination through the oracular book known as the I Ching, which continues to be used in China today, and around the world. BOOK of CHANGES See I Ching. BOOK OF THE DEAD The Book of the Dead refers to the funeral literature of ancient Egypt. The texts consist of charms, hymns, spells and formulas designed to help the soul pass through the dangerous parts of the underworld. By knowing these formulas, it was thought that the soul could ward off evil spirits and pass safely into the realm of Osiris, god of the underworld. At first carved on to stone sarcophagi, the texts were later written on papyrus and placed inside the mummy case, and therefore came to be known as Coffin Texts. BOOK OF SHADOWS A book that contains rituals, laws, healing lore, chants, spells, divinatory methods and other topics to guide witches in practising their craft. There is no single definitive Book of Shadows for witchcraft; each tradition may have its own book, and local covens and individual witches can adapt books for their own use. In past centuries Books of Shadows were held secret; however, some witches in recent years have made their books public. Traditionally a coven kept only one Book of Shadows, kept safe by the high priestess or priest. But today individual witches have their personal Books of Shadows in the form of diaries or notebooks, often now on hard drive and disk. See also Spells, Witchcraft. BOOK TEST The book test is a way for the deceased to communicate with the living and provide evidence of their survival after death. It was developed in the early twentieth century by English medium Gladys Osborne Leonard and her spirit control, Freda. In the book test the deceased communicates through a medium and provides the title of a book not known to the medium. The deceased gives the book’s exact location and then specifies a page number, which is supposed to contain a message from the deceased. Leonard’s book tests were very successful, and almost always the passage selected contained personal messages. Book tests were very popular around the time of World War I, when interest in communicating with the dead was strong, but not all book tests were as successful as Leonard’s. A study published in 1921 suggested that only around 17 per cent were successful. Paranormal factors may well figure in some book tests, but this does not necessarily imply that there is life after death, as book tests can be easily explained by the idea that the medium him or herself is picking up psychic information. Another problem with book tests as proof of life after death is that on almost any page of a given book some passage may be interpreted as a message. BORLEY RECTORY Borley Rectory has been called ‘the most haunted house in England’. It was investigated between 1929 and 1938 by Harry Price, founder of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research in London. Price, a celebrated ghost hunter, claimed the house to be ‘the best authenticated case in the annals of psychical research’. The rectory, a gloomy and unattractive red building located in the county of Essex, was built in 1863 by the Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull. He later expanded the original building to accommodate his large family of 14 children. The first reported ghostly incident occurred in the afternoon of 28 July 1900, when one of the Reverend’s daughters, Ethel, thought she saw a ghost that looked like a nun dressed in dark clothes. Local legend had it that the rectory was built on the site of a thirteenth-century monastery, where a monk and a nun had fallen in love but had been killed before eloping. Sightings of the nun’s ghost, and the ghost of a dark man wearing a tall hat, were reported frequently by Ethel Bull and her sisters. Ethel lived a long life, dying at the age of 93 in 1963. She maintained her story until the end, saying, What would be the use of an old lady like me waiting to meet her Maker, telling a lot of fairy stories?’ In 1929 Harry Price invited himself to the rectory to investigate. According to his book, The Most Haunted House in England, published in 1940, the occupants at the time, the Reverend G E Smith and his wife, both professed sceptics of the paranormal, told him that strange occurrences began almost immediately after they moved in. They heard strange whispers, saw odd black shapes and magic lights, heard phantom footsteps, smelled strange odours and, in general, witnessed odd occurrences such as objects smashed, doors banged, spontaneous combustions of portions of the house, wall writings, paranormal bell ringing, the sounds of galloping horses, mysterious smoke in the garden, rapping in response to questions and appearances by the phantom nun. Price said he investigated the matter thoroughly and actually witnessed the phenomena for himself while he was there. He held a s?ance, and he and others present heard a faint tapping in response to questions. The spirit claimed to be the Reverend Bull. In 1929 the Smiths moved out and the Reverend Lionel Algeron Foyster and his wife, Marianne, moved in. The poltergeist activity increased, and Price returned to continue his investigations. He found the phenomena to be much more violent than before, terrifying Marianne and their three-year-old daughter in particular. In 1935 the Foysters moved out, and in 1937 Price leased the property himself for a year. During his stay he witnessed many paranormal incidents and compiled a book of procedures using camera equipment and other methods of documenting spirit activity. He enrolled 40 assistants to help him. Many of his assistants were mediums, and they produced some fabulous theories, suggesting that the monk and nun were strangled and buried in the garden and that they longed for mass and a proper burial. Other assistants began the project with great enthusiasm but dropped out after getting no results. Price left the rectory in 1938, convinced that paranormal activity was taking place and that there was a medieval monastery on the site, even though it had already been proved that the only building ever to have existed on that site was a twelfth-century church, not a monastery. His book publishing his findings was well received for its meticulous psychical research but also criticized for being sensational. After Price’s death in 1948 his allegations were reexamined by psychical researchers Trevor Hall, Kathleen Goldney and Eric Dingwell. Charles Sutton, a Daily Mail reporter, suspected Price of faking phenomena. During a visit to the rectory with Price he had been hit on the head by a pebble - and subsequently found Price’s pockets to be full of pebbles. Perhaps the most damming condemnation, however, came from a previous inhabitant of the rectory, Mrs Smith, who in 1949 signed a statement saying that nothing unusual had happened in the house until Price arrived. The Smiths suspected him of being the perpetrator. Hall, Dingwell and Goldney, in their book The Haunting of Borley Rectory, concluded that nothing out of the ordinary had happened there during Price’s stay and that everything could be explained rationally. They accused Price of concocting hocus-pocus to serve his own need for publicity. They suggested that Borley Rectory lent itself well to the influence of suggestion, since ‘In every ordinary house sounds are heard and trivial incidents occur which are unexplained or treated as of no importance. But once the suggestion of the abnormal is put forward - and tentatively accepted - then these incidents become imbued with sinister significance: in fact they become part of the haunt.’ Borley Rectory is an old, gloomy-looking building, and a psychological explanation is plausible. However, it may not explain everything, and the possibility that something paranormal did occur or that certain individuals who lived there, including Price himself, were sympathetic and sensitive enough to become a focus of psychic attack cannot be dismissed totally. BOSTON SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH A psychical research organization that was well regarded in its day, publishing a series of books and pamphlets between 1925 and 1941. The society was created as a result of internal strife within the American Society for Psychical Research. When spiritualist Frederick Edwards became president in 1923 and introduced more popularist policies, Walter Franklin Prince, the ASPR’s well-respected research officer, left to start a rival society in Boston with an academic focus. The Boston Society was officially set up in 1925 ‘in order to conduct psychic research according to strictly scientific principles.’ Prince was the backbone of the society, and it faded away after his death in 1934. During its brief existence the society did not actively seek members and always favoured quality over quantity in research and publication. Among its most important bulletins was a report in the 1920s on ESP experiments conducted at Harvard University, and a paper entitled ‘Toward a Method of Evaluating Mediumistic Material’, published in 1936. The society also published a number of groundbreaking books on mediumship, including Beyond Normal Cognition by John Thomas (1937). The Boston Society also published J B Rhine’s work Extra Sensory Perception (1934), which described laboratory experiments carried out at Duke University. BOTANOMANCY An ancient practice that can be traced all the way back to the Druidic tree worship, botanomancy is a method of divination by burning branches of trees, typically vervain and briar, upon which questions have been carved. The fire and smoke indicate the course of future action to be pursued. BRAIN/BRAIN WAVES Although it’s possible that psychic power is a bridge that connects your brain to a higher mind or spiritual force, some experts believe that psychic ability should be treated as another aspect of brain function. They regard psi as an additional sense that is somehow located in our brains, and believe that understanding psi can help explain how we perceive and process information. One of the most amazing discoveries in medicine was made by Roger Sperry in the 1960s, when he revealed that the right hemisphere of the brain, responsible for intuition and creativity, makes an equally valuable contribution as the left hemisphere of the brain, responsible for reason and logic and previously thought to reign supreme. Opinions differ on what part of the brain psi function exists in, but many believe that the ability to connect to intuitive information is housed in the right side of the brain and that for optimal brain function both the right and left sides of the brain need to work together. Some scientists suggest as well that brain waves need to work together. Brain waves are electrical impulses our brains constantly release, and they are measured in hertz, or cycles per second. There are four major stages of brain-wave activity, beginning with beta, the shortest and fastest waves, and moving through to delta, the strongest and slowest. When the brain is emitting beta waves, the individual is active, awake and conscious, with his or her eyes open. Alpha brain waves operate just below waking consciousness, a state that is attained in meditation and relaxation. The average person can maintain awareness in this state. Typically, eyes are closed and the body is relaxed, but alpha waves are also produced during daydreaming with eyes open. The alpha state is not essential to achieve success in psi testing results, but studies show that it is conducive to psi. Theta brain waves are achieved during deep relaxation. The average person cannot maintain awareness in this state, but some meditators claim that they can. The final state, delta, is one of sleep or unconsciousness. Some scientists maintain that the blending of all four brain waves creates a brand-new brain wave. Some followers of Eastern philosophy propose that the awakened mind, which occurs when a person is more aware of their spiritual existence, is a state that combines all four brain waves at once. BREATH The first and last thing you do in life is to breathe. Breathing is the essence of life. And so it is not surprising that breathing and breath are often identified with the soul. In Roman times a close relative would inhale the last breath of someone who was dying, because it was thought that the soul had to enter into another body or it would be lost. In Hinduism the breath or life energy is seen as the force that controls the mind; healthy breathing is healthy thinking and healthy being, which is why yoga always teaches breathing exercises. In the past half century or so many Westerners have tried to learn the techniques for breathing, meditation and mind control that Eastern yogis have studied for millennia. In recent years psychiatrist Stanislav Grof developed a method that combines breathing and meditation and called it Holotropic Breathwork; it helps individuals enter an unordinary state of consciousness for psychic healing by using evocative music, accelerated breathing, energy work and mantra drawing. Aspects of this meditation involve exploration of the inner self and spiritual opening. Breathing exercises Simple breathing exercises are thought to help give you quick access to psychic states of mind. One Eastern technique is to visualize, with each in-breath, drawing in coloured light - pink light for harmony and quiet contemplation and white or gold light for spiritual energy - and slowly breathing out black mist or smoke as all the negative energies leave the body. A yoga breathing exercise that is thought to be wonderfully effective for saturating your aura and your body with energy is alternate nostril breathing. Using your right thumb, close your right nostril and inhale slowly through your left nostril for a count of four. Then keeping the right nostril closed, use your fingers to close the left nostril, so both nostrils are closed for a count of eight. Then, keeping your left nostril closed, remove your thumb from your right nostril and exhale for a slow count of four. Switch nostrils, closing the left nostril and inhaling through the right nostril for a count of four. Close both nostrils again for a count of eight, and exhale slowly for a count of four through the left nostril. Repeat the whole exercise four or five times. BRIDGE OF SOULS The Bridge of Souls in mythology and folklore is the heavenly road souls of the dead must travel in order to get to the afterlife. The most common motif used for the Bridge of Souls is that of the rainbow. In Hawaii, Polynesia, Austria, Japan and among some Native American tribes, the rainbow is thought to be the path souls take on their way to heaven, and has been called a bridge or ladder to higher or other worlds. The Russians call the rainbow the ‘Gate to Heaven’. In New Zealand dead Maori chiefs are believed to travel up the rainbow to their new home. In parts of Germany and Austria, folklore suggests that children’s souls are led up the rainbow to heaven, and in some parts of England it is considered unlucky to point at a rainbow. People all over the world have different ways of looking at and understanding rainbows. For some they suggest magical possibilities, for others a rainbow indicates that a project is going to fail - ‘building rainbows in the sky’ - but whenever a rainbow appears, and however rationally it can be explained as a natural phenomenon, even the most hardened sceptic cannot help but be struck by its magic and its beauty. BROOM The broom is intimately connected with witches and witchcraft. It was commonly believed that witches anointed their bodies with a salve given to them by the devil that enabled them to fly through the air upon a variety of sticks or stems, including broomsticks. The choice of the broom or besom as a likely means of transport is probably due to the association between brooms and female domesticity, though male witches were thought to ride in this way as well as women. In Eastern European folklore a broom may be used in exorcism ceremonies to sweep evil spirits out the door. It is also thought that stepping over a broomstick, placing it under your pillow or putting a broom across a threshold will offer protection against evil spirits and ghosts at night. BROWN LADY An English manor house in Norfolk has been haunted for nearly 300 years by the so-called ‘Brown Lady’, who is believed to have been captured once on film in one of the most famous spirit photographs ever taken. Raynham Hall is the seat of the Marquesses of Townshend. The Brown Lady is believed to be the ghost of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of the second Marquess of Townshend and sister to Sir Robert Walpole, the first prime minister of England. At the age of 26 Dorothy married Lord Charles Townshend. According to lore when Townshend discovered that Dorothy had been the mistress of Lord Wharton he locked her in her apartment until her death from either a broken heart or chicken pox or a fall down the stairs. Until 1904 a portrait identified as Lady Dorothy hung in the hall. In the portrait the woman is dressed in brown and has large shining eyes. It was said that the portrait looked normal by day but at night the face became evil looking. Over the centuries there have been a number of reports of encounters with the Brown Lady at Raynham Hall. In the early nineteenth century George IV allegedly woke in the middle of the night to see a woman dressed in brown. He was said to be so terrified that he refused to stay another hour in the house. In 1835 she was witnessed several times by a Colonel Loftus, a guest staying in the castle. Not long after, novelist Captain Frederick Mar-ryat was invited to a ball at the house. He allegedly encountered the ghost in the corridor and when it grinned diabolically at him he shot at it. The bullet was said to have gone right through the ghost and was later discovered lodged in a door behind where the ghost appeared. In 1926 the ghost was seen again by the young Lord Townshend. In 1936 Lady Townshend hired a photographer called Indra Shira to take photographs of the house. While taking the photographs Shira noticed what looked like a shadowy figure dressed in white moving down the stairs. He asked his assistant to take a photograph and although the assistant could not see anything he aimed his camera in the direction indicated by Shira. When the photograph was developed the Brown Lady appeared as an outline wearing what looked like a wedding gown and veil. The photograph was published in Country Life magazine on 1 December 1936 and became an overnight sensation. Experts past and present have examined it and no evidence of fraud has ever been found. BROWNIE In Scottish folklore brownies are kindly spirits, also known as the bwca in Wales and the pixies in Cornwall. When they appear they are believed to look like small men - about three feet high - and are unkempt and wild in appearance. They are said to become attached to particular families and are happy to do chores for the family at night. According to lore brownies don’t like to be offered payment for their work, either because they are too proud or because they are compassionate by nature, but they do enjoy and expect gifts of cream and good food. If gifts aren’t left out, or their work is criticized, brownies are said to become mischievous and cause trouble. There are different stories about the origin of the name. One of the most plausible is that in the early seventeenth century, when the Covenanters in Scotland were being persecuted for their beliefs, many of them were forced to hides in caves and secret places, and food was carried to them by friends. They dressed themselves in a fantastic manner, and if seen in the night they would be taken for fairies. One band of Covenanters was led by a hunchback named Brown who, being small and active would slip out at night with some of the others and bring back the provisions left by their friends. Those who knew the truth named Brown and his band the ‘Brownies’. BROWNING CIRCLE The Browning circle was organized by nineteenth-century medium D D Home for poets Robert and Elizabeth Browning. The activities of the circle converted Elizabeth to spiritualism, but her husband condemned and ridiculed Home, calling him a toady, a fraud and a leech in a poem entitled ‘Mr Sludge, the Medium’ (1864). The Brownings met Home in 1855 when they attended a s?ance he held for a wealthy couple who wanted to establish contact with their son, who had died three years previously. At the s?ance they witnessed table tilting, ghostly hands and rapping. Elizabeth was amazed, but Robert was unimpressed and expressed publicly his loathing for Home, suggesting that the whole thing could easily have been faked, as Home always wore loose clothing that could conceal tubes and strings to produce the phenomena. No one knows what caused Robert’s hatred, although some believe it may have been his low opinion of what he called Home’s ‘effeminacy’. Homosexuality was illegal in 1855, and there were many rumours of Home’s affairs with young men. The Brownings’ disagreement over spiritualism was the only public quarrel the couple had; Robert loathed Home so much that Elizabeth stopped talking about it. Punch magazine took Robert’s side, using rich imagery to suggest Elizabeth’s gullibility. BUGUET, EDOUARD [1841–1901] Edouard Buguet was a famous spirit photographer during the 1860s and 1870s until he was exposed as a fraud in 1875. Buguet’s photographs were remarkably clear, unlike the misty pictures from other contemporary spirit photos of the era. The French photographer went to extraordinary lengths to impose ghostly images upon his photos, using live models at first but later switching to sculpted heads when he began to fear being exposed. In 1875 Buguet’s studio was raided after a tip-off from a dissatisfied customer. His tricks were exposed, and he was convicted of fraud and sent to prison for a year. Buguet never again worked as a photographer, but his photographs have become collectors’ items, with some believing that he did actually succeed in photographing ghosts. BULL, TITUS [1871–1946] Titus Bull was an American physician and neurologist who believed that spirit possession was at the root of many illnesses. In the 1920s and 1930s he worked in New York City and treated many of his patients with spiritualist therapy. With the help of medium Carolyn Duke, he claimed to treat and cure manic depressives, schizophrenics and alcoholics. Bull believed that possessing spirits entered their victims through the base of the brain, the solar plexus or the reproductive organs. He thought that these spirits were not evil, just confused, and that they needed help to pass to their proper plane and leave the victim in peace. In 1932 he published a pamphlet entitled Analysis of Unusual Experiences in Healing Relative to Deceased Minds and Results of Materialism Foreshadowed. In it he suggests that spirit possession, although not a cause of mental illness, is a complicating factor and that trauma and stress can attract spirits to a person. Bull practised general medicine in a time when little attention was paid to the mind-body connection in health, but as he was not systematic in his explanations, his work is often ignored by medical and psychical research societies. BURIAL RITES The idea of a journey to the afterlife is evident in every culture and every age, and it has always been considered a duty of the living to set the dead on their path to the other world. In primitive times symbols were carved on rocks and implements and weapons buried with the dead to help them in the next life. In Greece a gold coin was buried with the dead to pay the ferryman to take them across the River of Death. The Egyptians had the most elaborate burial rituals, which lasted for days. Today the idea of a journey can still be said to exist when we lay flowers on graves to provide beauty and peace in the hope the spirit will find it on the other side. As well as preparations for the journey to the afterlife, the other important part of ancient burial rites was to make sure the spirit found peace and did not return to haunt the living. Some ancient cultures maintained contact with the dead, keeping artefacts of the deceased so that communication could take place with the help of a go-between. In many places in the world ancestral spirits and ancestor worship still play an important role, and burial rites create a doorway from this world to the next. Gradually burial rites in the West have taken on the idea of paying respect to the person and his or her family, and the ritual has become a way to say goodbye. It is an important time because, according to psychics, the bereaved need to let go of the spirit so it can go on its way, and the spirit needs to let go of the bereaved. Burial rites therefore still represent a bridge between physical life and spiritual life. BURUBURU Buruburu, meaning the sound of shivering, is a terrible ghost from Japanese folklore that for reasons unknown is said to lurk in forests and graveyards in the form on an old person, who is sometimes one-eyed. According to legend it attaches itself to its victim’s spine and causes a chill to run down them, or in the worst case causes them to die of fright. BYRD, EVELYN [1707–1737] The ghost of Evelyn Byrd, daughter of William Byrd II, an early American colonial settler and founder of the city of Richmond, Virginia, is reputed to haunt the grounds of her childhood home, Westover, on the James River. Born in 1707, Evelyn was sent to England at the age of 10 to be educated, and at the age of 16 she fell in love with a man her family considered unsuitable, possibly because they thought him too old for her. At 19 Evelyn returned to Westover depressed and heartbroken. She withdrew from all company except for that of her friend and neighbour, Anne Harrison, whom she met almost daily in a grove in the plantations. For ten years Evelyn wasted away, until her death in 1737. Before her death Evelyn made a pact with Anne that if one of them was to die the other would return as a friendly ghost, and, true to her promise, Evelyn’s ghost is alleged to have been seen by Anne smiling in the grove where they used to meet. Over the years Evelyn’s ghost has been seen dressed in white or green lace many times at Westover. She is never frightening, and when she appears she always smiles. BYRON, LORD GEORGE GORDON [1788–1824] One of the greatest poets of English literature, Lord Byron was deeply fascinated by the supernatural and would investigate tales of hauntings himself. As a young man Byron reported seeing a phantom monk in the family home of Newstead Abbey, who may or may not have died at the hands of one of Byron’s ancestors. The phantom’s appearance was thought to herald misfortune for the family, and Byron claimed to see the ‘goblin friar’ again shortly before his ill-fated marriage to heiress Anne Milbanke in 1815. He described it as: … monk arrayed In cowl, and beads, and dusky garb appeared Now in the moonlight, and now lapsed in shade, With steps that trod as heavy, yet unheard. C (#ulink_9ce1c38b-0021-5b1c-aedd-5262fab8aade) CABINET A box or confined space thought to attract, store and release spiritual forces, enabling a medium to produce phenomena. The use of cabinets to manifest paranormal activity began in the mid-1800s with the Davenport brothers. The brothers had themselves bound and locked in a wooden cabinet, where they were supposedly incapable of moving, but somehow musical instruments would play as if guided by spirit hands. Their act was a huge success, and until the early twentieth century cabinets or black curtains for the medium to retire behind were all the rage. Cabinets are rarely used by modern mediums. CAGLIOSTRO, COUNT ALESSANDRO [1743–1795] A charismatic figure in the courts of eighteenth-century Europe, Cagliostro was a magician, alchemist and psychic healer. Born in 1743 in Palermo, Sicily, to a poor family, Cagliostro turned his natural psychic talent into a lucrative fortune-telling business. He travelled to Malta at the age of 23 to study the occult and later in London joined the Freemasons. Using the name ‘The Divine Cagliostro’, he spent most of his adult life among the royal courts of Europe, performing various occult arts, such as healing by the laying on of hands, conjuring spirits and producing an ‘elixir of immortal life’ with the aid of his beautiful wife, Lorenza. Cagliostro’s success created resentment, and in 1785 in France he and his wife fell out of favour with the Queen over the Affair of the Diamond Necklace’. The Comtesse de La Motte set him up by swindling 1.6 million francs for a diamond necklace and then accused Cagliostro of stealing it. Alessandro and Lorenza were sent to the Bastille and tried for fraud. Following his release, Cagliostro travelled to Rome, where he tried to set up an ‘Egyptian Freemasonry’ order. He was questioned by the Inquisition and sentenced to death in 1791. His sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment by Pope Pius VI. Cagliostro died of apoplexy on 6 March 1795, but for years after there were rumours that he was alive and had miraculously escaped. CALVADOS CASTLE From October 1875 to October 1876 Calvados Castle - more a chateau than a castle - was the focus of poltergeist activity that forced the owners to leave. In the written accounts of the haunting, the people involved are identified only by their initials. The case has never been explained and remains a mystery to this day. Calvados Castle was built on top of the foundations of an earlier Norman castle that had fallen into disrepair and apparently had been haunted ever since. In 1875 the castle was occupied by M. and Mme X, their son and his tutor, Abbe Y Almost immediately they began hearing noises, thumps and sighs and other unusual occurrences. M. X began to keep a journal of the strange phenomena. The following are excerpts: This is October 1875. I propose to note down and record every day what happened during the night before. I must point out that the noises occurred while the ground was covered with snow, there was no trace of footsteps around the chateau. I drew threads across all the openings, secretly. They were never broken … A very disturbed night … It sounded as if someone went up the stairs from the ground floor at superhuman speed, stamping his feet. Arriving at the landing he gave five heavy blows to the walls, so strong that the objects suspended on the walls rattled in their places … Some being rushed at top speed up the stairs from the entrance hall to the first floor … with a noise of tread that had nothing human about it. Everybody heard it … It was like two legs deprived of their feet and walking on their stumps. The family also heard what sounded like a body rolling down the stairs and saw chairs move around the room with no human hands to guide them. Everybody heard a long shriek, and then another, as if a woman outside were calling for help. At 1.40 [am] we suddenly heard four cries in the hall, and then on the staircase … It is no longer the cry of a weeping woman, but shrill, furious despairing cries, the cries of demons or the damned. In addition to the shrieks and the moving objects, doors and windows flew open, the Bible was desecrated and the house itself was ‘shaken twenty times’. The person who was affected the most seems to have been the Abbe, who had ice-cold water thrown over him from nowhere on a sunny day and his locked room ransacked. At first M. and Mme X believed humans to be responsible, and they bought two guard dogs, but when something invisible terrified the dogs as well they were forced to conclude that supernatural activity must be at work. Believing the house to be haunted, perhaps by its previous owner (a woman who had died unrepentant), M. X had an exorcism performed by church officials, who believed the house to be ‘diabolically supernatural’. The exorcism didn’t solve the problem, and M. and Mme X finally decided to sell the castle and leave. There have been no reports of hauntings at Calvados Castle since. CAMPBELL, DONALD [1921–1967] Donald Campbell was one of the more colourful ghost hunters in recent times. In the 1960s he became the only person ever to hold both the world land speed record (403.1 mph, Lake Eyre, Australia) and the world water speed record (276.33 mph, Lake Dumbleyung, Australia). Campbell had grown up with stories of Scottish ghosts that allegedly haunted his family line, and he developed a deep interest in the psychic world, becoming an active member of the Ghost Club in London and taking part in many investigations. On the evening of 3 January 1967, Campbell was playing cards when he pulled what was known as a ‘bad luck hand’. If the hand was meant as a warning, Campbell chose to ignore it. The next day, while trying to break his water speed record on Lake Coniston in England, he lost control of his boat at speeds in excess of 300 mph. His body was finally located and recovered in May 2001. CANDLES Candles have cast a light on human progress for centuries, but little is known about their origin. We do know that they were used as early as 3000 BC in Egypt, but it is the Romans who are credited with developing the wick candle to light homes and places of worship at night. For thousands of years candles have been used in burial ceremonies to dispel evil spirits, and superstitions about candles abound - from ancient Egyptians using candles to interpret dreams to all of us asking for a wish to be granted when we blow out our birthday cake candles. Candle magic Candle magic is the use of candles in performing spells and rituals for granting wishes and desires. Different types and colours of candles are thought to have different magical meanings. For example, for new beginnings and energy it is suggested that white should be used; for change and courage use red; for happiness and health use orange; for communication and travel use yellow; for love and healing use green; for power and work use blue; for psychic development use blue or indigo; for love use pink; for house and home use brown; for secret desires use silver; for wealth use gold; and for banishing guilt use black. To activate the magic of candles you should write your wish on a piece of paper and burn it in the candle, or engrave your wishes on the candle with a pin. You can also light the candle and focus your intention on your wish as you gaze into the flame. It is said that the seventeenth-century treasure hunter Captain Kidd believed that carrying lanterns containing consecrated candles would conjure up the ghosts of the dead to help him in his quests. In American folklore, a candle left burning in an empty room will bring death to a family. In British folklore candle wax that drips around and not down the candle is a death omen, while in Germany a candle wick that splits in two spells misfortune. Typically the death omen is allegedly minimized by extinguishing the candle under running water or by blowing it out. Lastly, a candle that burns blue or dimly is thought to suggest a ghost is nearby. CAPNOMANCY An ancient method of divination believed to have originated in Babylon but also used by the Druids. In capnomancy, people interpreted the movements of smoke rising from a fire, especially from sacrificial offerings. If the smoke rose straight to the clouds it was a good sign, but if the smoke hung about and did not disperse it was an unfavourable sign. CARD GUESSING A psi clinical testing procedure for ESP in which the test subject guesses the identity of cards randomly selected from a pack of playing cards. Typically the subject is blindfolded so that it is impossible to see the pack of cards. CARROLL, LEWIS [1832–1898] Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Dodgson), best remembered as the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, was a celebrated poet, mathematician, logician, photographer and paranormal investigator. As one of the original members of the Society for Psychical Research, Carroll was interested in ghostly phenomenon. He was also fascinated by psi abilities such as telepathy and convinced that they would one day become accepted and valued by the scientific community. In a letter dated 4 December 1882, Carroll wrote on this subject to his friend James Langton Clark: I have just read a small pamphlet, the first report of the Psychical Society on ‘thought reading’. The evidence, which seems to have been most carefully taken, excludes the possibility that unconscious guidance by pressure will account for all the phenomena. All seems to point to the existence of a natural force, allied to electricity and nerve-force, by which brain can act on brain. I think we are close on the day when this shall be classed among the known natural forces, and its laws tabulated, and when the scientific sceptics, who always shut their eyes till the last moment to any evidence that seems to point beyond materialism, will have to accept it as a proved fact in nature. CARTOMANCY A form of divination using cards. The practice of cartomancy is ancient and is often associated with gypsies. It is used to predict the future and interpret the past and present. Tarot cards are the most popular form of cartomancy, but a set of ordinary playing cards can be used in much the same way: they are in fact said to be derived from the Tarot, and indeed there is a great deal of similarity between them. Both have four suits: the swords of the Tarot are the clubs of an ordinary playing pack, the pentacles diamonds, the cups hearts and the wands spades. If you have a reading with cards, you will be asked to shuffle the pack, cut it and think of a question as the cards are dealt out. Common methods of laying out the cards are the star formation, the wheel of fortune or the quick seven. Each card has a meaning and a significance, and having laid out the cards the reader will use intuition to answer the question. There is an overall pattern for each of the suits, typically interpreted as follows: a dominance of hearts shows happiness and strong relationships. Hearts can suggest sensitivity (both sorrow and joy) and also strong emotions and ambitions realized. Spades are the cards of obstacles and challenges and can show where you might need to be creative in your approach to life. Diamonds are more concerned with everyday matters, particularly finances and hard work. Clubs are the cards of loyal and trustworthy friends or people, but can also mean disappointment and betrayal depending on where they are placed. CATTABOMANCY A practice of divination using bowls of brass - a metal thought to protect against evil spirits - which were filled with water or ink and used as focal points in scrying or capturing glimpses of the future in scenes and images appearing in the bowl. The diviner would stare at the liquid without blinking until a trancelike state was entered and visions experienced. Said to have been the practice by which Nostradamus came about his knowledge of the future. CAUL A thin membrane of amniotic fluid that sometimes covers the head of a baby at birth. Since the time of the ancient Romans those born with a caul are considered to be blessed with good luck and supernatural powers, such as the ability to see into the future and to communicate with ghosts and spirits. See also Amniomancy. CAULD LAD OF HILTON In English folklore the Cauld Lad of Hilton is a spirit who is half brownie and half ghost and who is alleged to have haunted Hilton Castle in Northumbria. Hilton Castle is now in ruins. According to legend the spirit was supposed to have been that of a stable boy killed by a past Lord of Hilton in a rage because the boy didn’t immediately obey his order to fetch a horse. The boy was killed with a hayfork and his body was tossed into the pond. The spirit, a young naked boy, was supposedly heard working about the kitchen at nights. Usually he would tidy up and do chores, but sometimes he would toss things about and disarrange whatever had been left tidy. He was an unhappy spirit who could be heard singing sadly. The servants eventually banished the spirit one night by laying out a green cloak and hood for him. At midnight he put them on and frisked about ’til cock-crow singing, Here’s a cloak and here’s a hood, The Cauld Lad of Hilton will do nae mair good! And with the coming of the dawn it is said he vanished forever. CAUSINOMANCY A form of divination that involved placing objects on a fire. If the object burned slowly or failed to ignite, it was taken to be a bad omen. If the object ignited and burned quickly, it was considered a good omen. CAYCE, EDGAR [1877–1945] A psychic reader and ESP researcher who arguably did the most in the twentieth century to advance psychic knowledge. Born in rural Kentucky, Cayce was close to his grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Cayce, who was said to be psychic. One day tragedy struck; Cayce witnessed the horrific death of his grandfather in an accident with a horse. After this incident, and encouraged by his mother and grandmother, the young Cayce claimed to visit his grandfather’s spirit in the barns. Cayce experienced other traumas in his youth. At 15 he was hit from behind by a baseball and began to feel dizzy. His father sent him to bed, and he entered into a hypnotic trance, telling his father exactly what needed to be done to make him better. His father followed these instructions, and Cayce recovered within a day. When he was in his early twenties he lost his voice. Helped by a travelling hypnotist, Cayce again entered into a trance. While in the trance he was once again able to diagnose a cure. He coughed up some blood, and his voice returned. In 1901, Cayce started to give psychic readings to clients, and over the next 40 years he gave and recorded in writing over 12,000 readings on health, past lives, ancient mysteries and predictions of the future. These readings are still being studied today. In 1933 Cayce and his supporters formed in Virginia Beach (where it still remains today) the Association for Research and Enlightenment for the purpose of studying, researching and providing information about ESP, as well as life after death, dreams and holistic health. Three other programmes or organizations were also established around Cayce’s work: a master’s degree in transpersonal studies at Atlantic University, Virginia Beach, was set up in 1930; the Edgar Cayce Foundation, also at Virginia Beach, was set up in 1948 to provide custodial ownership of the Cayce readings and documents; and a diploma in preventive health care based on Cayce’s readings was set up in 1986 at the Harold Reilly School of Massotherapy Cayce was a remarkably gifted psychic with an incredible intellect. It is said that he could sleep on any book, paper or document and remember its contents when he awoke. He was able to use his psychic abilities in four ways: precognition, retrocog-nition, clairvoyance and telepathy. That is, he could see into the future and predict events to come; he could look into a person’s past to find the origins of an existing health problem; he could see inside the human body and see through objects; and he was able to enter another person’s mind to discover what they were thinking. Called the ‘Sleeping Prophet’, Cayce practised absent healing for several years, helping to cure people all over the world, even though he had no formal education and never went to medical school. Receiving a name and address, Cayce would enter a trance state and then read the person’s condition and prescribe cures and treatments, which were, reportedly, 90 per cent accurate. His success was so great that thousands sought his help. Cayce’s ability to diagnose accurately and name body parts astonished some medical experts, although others dismissed his readings on account of his lack of formal training. In August 1944, with three to four years’ backlog of mail, Cayce collapsed with exhaustion. He was aware that doing more than two readings a day was too much for his body and mind, but over the years he had been so moved by the suffering of others that he was doing far in excess of this number. He retired to the mountains to recuperate, returning home in November 1944. On 1 January he told his friends he would find healing on the 5th, and they prepared for the worst. On 5 January, Cayce died peacefully at the age of 67. Cayce spent much of his life trying to understand what he did when he entered a trance. He spoke about unknown civilizations where the soul could travel without the restriction of gravity and communicate through thought. He attributed poor health to harmful deeds in a past life, and many of his readings concerned karma and reincarnation. The chief difference between Cayce’s suggested treatments and conventional medicine was that Cayce sought to heal the whole body by treating the causes rather than the symptoms of a patient’s problem. The patient, however, needed to have faith and hope in the reading for it to work. Mind is the builder, Cayce would always say, and he firmly believed that the body responded to commands from the mind. Cayce maintained that we all have psychic ability and that experiences such as dreams and intuition are proof of that. He also believed that if a person had good intentions and love in their heart they would always have a steady supply of psychic power to tap into. CELESTIAL LIGHT Known within the New Age movement as ‘the pure white light of the universe’, the celestial light is believed to be energy transmitted from a more spiritually advanced realm to protect and heal those who invoke it. CELLULAR MEMORY The concept that every single cell in our body contains a blueprint of our personalities and every experience we have had in our lives because all matter, including cellular, is held together by energy. Whatever is stored in one cell - love, hate, happiness, unhappiness - is passed on by psychic osmosis to the next cell. The concept of cellular memory has gained popularity from accounts of organ donor recipients who take on the persona of the original donor. It can also explain why universal shared archetypes of the collective unconscious pass down through the generations. CEREBRAL ANOXIA The medical term for a lack of oxygen flowing to the brain, which sometimes triggers sensory distortions and hallucinations. Some believe it to be the physical means by which phenomena such as near-death experiences and out-of-body episodes might be rationally explained. CEROMANCY A form of divination in which wax is heated in a brass bowl until it is liquid. The melted wax is then slowly poured into a container of cold water in order to read the discs or patterns and shapes of wax that form. CHAFFIN WILL CASE An unusual case in which a father who had died appeared to one of his sons to tell him about an unknown will. Many believe that this case provides proof of survival after death, but others believe it can be explained by clairvoyance. James L Chaffin was a farmer from Davie County, North Carolina, who had four sons. In 1905 he made a will, formally witnessed and signed, in which he left his farm to his third son, Marshall. No provision was made for the other members of his family. In 1921 he suffered a fatal fall. In June 1925 Chaffin’s second son, James P Chaffin, started to have vivid dreams. In these he saw his father standing at his bedside. What he saw is best described in his own words, as given in a sworn statement that was taken down by a Mr Johnson, a lawyer and a member of the American Society for Psychical Research, who visited the family in 1927 to interview them about their unusual experience. In all my life I never heard my father mention having made a later will than the one dated in 1905. I think it was in June of 1925 that I began to have very vivid dreams that my father appeared to me at my bedside but made no verbal communication. Some time later, I think it was the latter part of June 1925, he appeared at my bedside again, dressed as I had often seen him dressed in life, wearing a black overcoat which I knew to be his own coat. This time my father’s spirit spoke to me, he took hold of his overcoat this way and pulled it back and said, ‘You will find my will in my overcoat pocket’, and then disappeared. The next morning I arose fully convinced that my father’s spirit had visited me for the purpose of explaining some mistake. I went to mother’s and sought for the overcoat but found that it was gone. Mother stated that she had given the overcoat to my brother John who lives in Yadkin County about twenty miles northwest of my home. I think it was on the 6th of July, which was on Monday following the events stated in the last paragraph, I went to my brother’s home in Yadkin County and found the coat. On examination of the inside pocket I found that the lining had been sewed together. I immediately cut the stitches and found a little roll of paper tied with a string which was in my father’s handwriting and contained only the following words: ‘Read the 27th chapter of Genesis in my daddie’s old Bible.’ At this point I was so convinced that the mystery was to be cleared up I was unwilling to go to mother’s home to examine the old Bible without the presence of a witness and I induced a neighbor, Mr Thos. Blackwelder, to accompany me, also my daughter and Mr Black-welder’s daughter were present. Arriving at mother’s home we had a considerable search before we found the old Bible. At last we did find it in the top drawer in an upstairs room. The book was so dilapidated that when we took it out it fell into three pieces. Mr Black-welder picked up the portion containing the Book of Genesis and turned the leaves until he came to the 27th chapter of Genesis and there we found two leaves folded together, the left hand page folded to the right and the right hand page folded to the left forming a pocket and in this pocket Mr Blackwelder found the will. The 27th chapter of Genesis tells how Jacob, the younger brother, supplanted Esau in winning his birthright. The paper that they found was in the father’s handwriting and it read as follows: After reading the 27th chapter of Genesis, I, James L Chaffin, do make my last will and testament, and here it is. I want, after giving my body a decent burial, my little property to be equally divided between my four children, if they are living at my death, both personal and real estate divided equal if not living, give share to their children. And if she is living, you all must take care of your mammy. Now this is my last will and testament. Witness my hand and seal. James L Chaffin, This January 16, 1919. The will, although unwitnessed, was legally valid under the laws of the state of North Carolina, but by the time the second will was discovered the son who had inherited the farm had died and the property had passed to his widow and son. In December 1925 the three remaining sons brought a suit against them to recover their share of the estate. On the day of the trial, after the selection and swearing in of the jury, the widow and her son were shown the second will for the first time. They immediately admitted that the document was genuine, and withdrew their objections to having it certified by the court as his valid will. There have been many explanations for this extraordinary case. Some think that James, upset at being excluded, forged a will and concocted a ghost story to back it up, but this does not explain why he waited four years, why so many people believed the second will to be genuine or why he created a ghost story. He could simply have said that he had found the will and this would have been just as plausible. Other explanations put forward include the suggestion that James did know about the will but forgot about it until the memory was dramatized in dream form and brought back into his consciousness. It is also possible that this is an excellent example of ESP on the part of James. Finally it must be considered that a genuine apparition of the dead did appear to James and deliver information to him telepathically As none of these explanations can be proved, the case remains inconclusive. CHAKRAS Chakra is Sanskrit for ‘wheel’, and in Hindu and Buddhist yogic literature the chakras are thought to be energy vortices, shaped like petals or spoked wheels, that whirl at various speeds. They penetrate the body and the body’s aura, and it is thought that through them various energies, including the universal life force, are received and distributed throughout the person. You cannot see chakras physically, only psychically. There are seven major charkas, which are most directly concerned with physical health, and hundreds of minor ones. The universal life force is thought to enter the aura through the chakra at the top of the head and filter down along the spinal column to the other chakras. The higher the position on the spinal column the more complex the chakra. Each chakra has its own colour and speed of rotation, and each is associated with a major endocrine gland, a major nerve system, a major physiological function and a psychic function. The chakras are connected to each other through thousands of channels of energy called nadis. Three of the most important nadis include the sushuma, which processes energy coming in, and the ida and pingala, which are concerned with the outflow of energy. There isn’t any accepted scientific and medical evidence that chakras exist, but recently they have begun to be acknowledged in the West in alternative medicine. Clairvoyants say that they can diagnose the health of chakras by energy scans with the hands and that health problems often show up in chakras months or even years before they manifest in the body. When the chakras are balanced and healthy, their colours are clear and their rotation smooth, but in poor health they become cloudy and irregular in rotation. Blocked chakras are thought to cause health problems, and in alternative healing therapies there are various techniques for clearing chakra blockages, including visualization, colour therapy, acupuncture and energy healing. The seven major chakras Each chakra involves a different part of the body and also different concerns, so you can focus directly on one specific chakra. The seven chakra centres are the following: 1 The base or root chakra (muladara). The lowest of the seven chakras, the root chakra is located at the base of the spine and is the simplest of the seven. Orange-red in colour, it relates to physical strength as well as the senses of taste and smell. You can summon this chakra when you need courage and physical strength. It is in the base chakra that kundalini energy is stored in a coiled state of readiness. 2 The sacral or belly chakra (svadishana) is red or pink in colour and is located just below the navel. It controls sexual energy and reproduction. It influences the release of adrenaline in your body and can keep it on a high state of alert. You can summon this chakra not only when you need to invoke fertility but also when you need projects and relationships to be successful. In some psychic systems the sacral chakra is overseen by the spleen chakra, which governs digestion. 3 The solar plexus chakra (manipura). Located below the breastbone and above the navel, the solar plexus chakra is where mediums get their psychic information. Green or light red in colour, it controls the adrenal glands, and when it is out of balance it can affect the stomach, liver and pancreas. You can use this chakra when you want to achieve an ambition or when you are planning a career move. 4 The heart chakra (anahata). Located in the centre of the chest and in the middle of your shoulder blades, the heart chakra is golden in colour and relates to emotions such as love and compassion. If it becomes blocked it can affect the lungs, the heart and breathing and immunity in general. You can use this chakra for matters of love and friendship and for understanding others. 5 The throat chakra (visudda). Located at the top of the throat, the throat chakra is silvery blue in colour and relates to creativity and self-expression. It is prominent in musicians, singers and public speakers. When it becomes blocked, your throat, ears, eyes, nose and mouth may be affected. You can use this chakra when truth and principles are at stake. 6 The forehead or third eye chakra (ajna). Located between your eyebrows in the centre of your forehead, the third eye chakra is blue and purple in colour and relates to your pituitary gland. It influences intelligence, intuition and psychic ability. When it becomes blocked it can affect your head, eyes and brain. You can use this chakra for psychic awareness and harmony. 7 The crown chakra (sahasrara). Located at the top of your head, the crown chakra is a glowing purple colour and will not open until all other chakras are balanced. When it is open you experience the highest connection to the universal mind by your mental, physical and spiritual self. You can use this chakra when striving for wisdom and perfection. CHANNELLING The process through which a medium communicates information from spirits and other non-physical beings, such as angels, deities or guardian spirits, by entering into a trance or some other altered state of consciousness. The urge to communicate with the spirit world is as old as humankind itself. In primitive cultures certain individuals - priests, shamans or medicine people -would seek out the wisdom of the spirit world. The ancient Egyptians and Romans, as well as the early Chinese, Babylonians, Tibetans, Assyrians and Celts, all channelled spirits and entities, and holy men and women of Judaism, Christianity and Islam received divine guidance. Divination and healing are forms of channelling, as is possession, when an entity seizes control of an individual. In the Middle Ages possession was seen as demonic rather than divine. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when spiritualism was at its height, channelling grew in popularity. The Fox sisters, three young women from New York, first brought public attention to channelling in 1848 when they announced the arrival of spirits in their s?ances. One famous medium of the mid-nineteenth century was Nettie Colburn, a trance channeller whose spirit guides advised President Lincoln. Between 1861 and 1863 Mrs Lincoln called her to the White House to use her skills to advise the President on a wide variety of subjects -advice he was known to have followed. For example, Colburn channelled advice about how Lincoln could raise morale among the Yankee troops, and her advice worked. After spiritualism declined in the early twentieth century, channelling did not receive widespread attention again until the early 1970s, when Jane Roberts published the Seth books, which were allegedly channelled to her by a non-physical entity called Seth. Channelling is no longer a hot topic, but popular interest remains to this day. Different mediums have different ways of channelling. Sometimes it happens when the channeller falls into a sudden trancelike state, or it can be induced. Methods to induce channelling include meditation, prayer, hypnosis, fasting, chanting, dancing, breath exercises, sleep deprivation and taking hallucinogenic drugs. Direct voice channelling occurs when another entity or personality takes temporary possession of the channeller’s body, often using voices and mannerisms different from those of the channeller. The channeller may be unaware of what is being said or done and may not recall anything afterwards. Mental channelling, the mediation of thoughts, words, images and feelings, is also done in a state of light trance, but this time the channeller is aware of the process. The channeller’s voice may or may not change, and he or she may communicate through automatic writing, a Ouija board or similar device, or even sleep or dreams. Physical channelling involves physical effects such as psychic healing, apports and levitation. In the wider sense of the term, channelling could also include intuition, inspiration and imagination, and as such it becomes a way for everyone to connect to a higher source of wisdom. A number of theories have been put forward to explain channelling. The simplest is that channellers do actually get in touch with the spirit world. Others believe that channellers engage in deliberate fraud or that it is symptomatic of multiple personality disorder. The trouble with the latter argument is that mentally ill people do not tend to have control over their communicators, but channellers typically do. The view advanced by some psychologists is that channelled entities are not separate entities but part of the channeller’s subconscious that takes on the personality of an entity in order to express itself. Many psychics believe that channelling is a skill anyone can learn and that it shouldn’t just be the preserve of professional mediums. It’s important to remember that everyone will have a different experience of channelling, and the insights received may come in any number of different forms. It is up to the individual to translate and interpret. CHANTING The frequent repetition of a word, phrase, or mantra as part of meditation or a religious or magical rite. Some believe that chanting is a way to achieve an altered state of consciousness so that psychic power or energy can be raised for the purposes of healing or magic. Others believe that chanting helps them commune with the divine. Chanting can be done alone or in a group. It can be accompanied by hand clapping, drumbeats, musical instruments or dancing. Sometimes chanting is melodious; sometimes it is monotone. In all major religions the most powerful chants are the names of God. In Vedic scriptures the name of God awakens spiritual consciousness. The Hare Krishnas incorporate the name of God in their group chanting believing it can help liberate them from reincarnation. Various Hindu and Buddhist chants use the word Om, a sound that is believed to encompass the whole universe. Followers of Islam chant the 99 names of Allah, called the beautiful names, and the name of Jesus figures strongly in Christian chants. In primitive tribal societies chanting was used to raise psychic energy, appease supernatural powers and bring blessings. The practice occurred in ancient Greece, where female sorcerers would howl their chants, believing that strong vibrations enhanced the power of their words. Medieval sorcerers and magicians also sang their chants in very forceful voices, and the practice was continued into the twentieth century by men like Aleister Crowley, who believed that the sound of chanting could profoundly affect both humankind and the universe. Native Americans also observe chanting in preparation for activities and ceremonies such as healing, hunting, fighting, rites of initiation and funerals. In magic, the belief that the success of a spell can depend on the sound vibrations created by chanting dates back thousands of years. It is thought that rhythmic chanting sends out waves of energy that help the magician or witch summon their inner power. Modern pagans and witches still combine chanting and circle dancing to raise a group psychic energy field called a cone of power. When the energy peaks, the group releases it towards their goal, such as a spell or healing. CHAOS THEORY A principle from quantam physics that suggests that chaos or lack of order does in fact obey particular laws or rules and only appears to be random. The theory was first brought to public attention with the butterfly effect discovered by Edward Lorenz in 1961 (a theory whereby the flapping of a butterfly’s wings might, through a series of events involving climate and location, cause a storm on the other side of the globe). The idea contradicts the traditional Newtonian principles of physics, which states that unseen effects can be predicted through precise measurements, as according to chaos theory even tiny errors can result in enormous unpredictability, far out of proportion to what would be expected mathematically. In a nutshell, what chaos theory means is that anything is capable of affecting anything else - a principle belief of New Age and holistic thinking. CHARISMATIC Coming from the Greek charisma meaning a gift of grace, charismatic is a term often used to describe someone with psychic and/or spiritual gifts, which can include channelling, healing and the ability to perform miracles. CHARLTON HOUSE Now a municipal building but formerly a stately home, Charlton House in Greenwich, London, has been the focus of many paranormal investigations by ghost researchers. Charlton House was built in the early seventeenth century and sold in 1680 to William Langhorne, a wealthy East India merchant, who, desperate for an heir to his wealth, married for the second time, at 85, to a woman of 17. He died two months later, in 1715, before his new wife conceived. His restless ghost is said to haunt the house to this day, still looking for a woman who will bear him a child. There have also been sightings of a servant girl from the Jacobean period carrying a dead baby in her arms, and of phantom rabbits. During World War I the house was turned into a hospital, and in World War II it suffered much damage from bombing raids. Workers found the body of a child walled up in one of the house’s chimneys. Today Charlton House is a public library, and employees and visitors have reported hauntings, especially in two rooms on the third floor: the Grand Salon and the Long Gallery, where a rabbit hutch used to be kept. The house has been investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena and the Ghost Club. Some unusual phenomena have been recorded, including cold spots, unexplained sounds of explosions, objects moving and mysterious voices. In late 1995 an apport is thought to have manifested during a taping for a BBC show on the paranormal. Prior to the vigil, when the lights were turned off, the room was searched. Around 11 pm an explosion was heard in the room. The lights were turned on, and in the centre of the floor was a blue and white teacup, broken neatly and arranged into a circle of seven pieces, as though laid out by someone rather than having fallen to the floor. No one could identify the cup as belonging to Charlton House. The BBC team investigated, and no evidence of a hoax was found. Vigils continue to be held to this day, with some investigators saying they make contact with spirits. One of the most dramatic contacts took place on 30 July 1999, with members of the Ghost Club. A loud noise was heard and a test object placed in the room by the investigators, a carved wooden mushroom, flew about ten feet into the air. Again, no evidence of a hoax was found. CHARMS The word charm comes from a Latin word for a song or chant, but today it is associated with magic and can mean much the same thing as a spell. It is sometimes said that someone leads a charmed life, meaning a lucky or happy one. Many people also wear what they call good luck charms -talismans and amulets. Most people think particular objects are lucky, such as a four-leafed clover, a rabbit’s foot or horseshoe. Whether or not these can bring luck is controversial, but one thing is sure: if the belief is there, the chances for good luck are increased, for the power of the mind actually does the work. In folklore the world over there are also various charms against ghosts and spirits. Crossing oneself is a simple charm to ward off evil. Various gems, stones and metals like iron are thought to possess special powers to protect against ghosts. Salt scattered across the threshold or carried in a pocket and silver amulets, jewellery and crucifixes are also considered to be protective charms. When a person dies various rituals are thought to act as charms against ghosts. For example, some say that all doors and windows should be left open so that the soul doesn’t feel trapped. The corpse should be carried out of the house feet first, otherwise the dead person may return; and during the funeral, furniture in the house should be rearranged so that if the ghost tries to come back it will not recognize anything. Finally, it is regarded as unwise to speak ill of the dead, in case they return to haunt the living. CHASE VAULT On the island of Barbados there is a burial vault in Christ Church cemetery known simply as the Chase Vault. In 1807 a Mrs Goddard was buried there, followed in 1812 by Dorcas Chase, a possible suicide. When the vault was opened a month or so later to bury Dorcas’s father, Thomas Chase, all the coffins had been moved from their original places. At first it was thought that the only explanation was grave robbers, but curiously, the seal of the tomb had not been tampered with. In 1816 there were two more burials, and in both cases, when the vault was opened, the coffins already there had been moved into different places. Most peculiar of all was the fact that the casket of Thomas Chase, made of lead, weighing 240 pounds, and virtually impossible to move by a single individual, had also been relocated. Each time the coffins were put back in their proper places and the vault sealed with cement, but again in 1819 the vault was opened and the coffins had been rearranged. This time the governor sprinkled sand on the floor to see if any footprints would be left and pressed his personal seal into the fresh cement. In 1820 when the vault was opened again, the coffins had been rearranged; some were even flipped upside down, even though the concrete seal was undisturbed and no footprints showed. The governor eventually ordered the coffins to be removed and buried elsewhere and for the vault to be left open. On investigation no water was discovered in the vault that could have shifted the coffins, and the possibility of earthquake movement was also ruled out. The mystery of the Chase Vault has never been solved. CHELTENHAM HAUNTING See Morton case. CHI See Universal life force. CHIANG-SHIH In Chinese folklore Chiang-shih, or ‘hopping ghost’, is a combination of spirit monster and unburied corpse, which vaguely resembles a Western vampire; it comes to life and wreaks death and misfortune. The Chinese believed that an unburied corpse was a great danger because it could easily be inhabited by evil spirits. Traditionally the Chinese would bury their dead in garments that bound their legs together, so the spirit was thought to hop instead of walk. The Chiang-shih are blind but intensely powerful, with great supernatural powers, including gale-force breath, swordlike fingernails, incredibly long eyebrows that can be used to lasso or bind an enemy, shape-shifting powers and the ability to fly. The Chiang-shih is created when a person dies a violent or painful death or when the soul has been angered because of an improper burial or improper preparation for burial, or when improper respects are paid to the dead. Something even being buried in the wrong location can cause a person to become a Chiang-shih. Traditionally the Chiang-shih were believed to suck the breath out of their victims. The main items used in defence against Chiang-shih are death blessings, written on yellow paper and stuck to the forehead of the deceased, garlic, mirrors, straw and chicken blood. CHICKAMAUGA One of the bloodiest battles of the American Civil War was fought in Tennessee on the morning of 19 September 1863. Nearly 125,000 men fought at Chickamauga, and the combined casualties numbered 37,129. They compare with the 23,582 suffered at Antietam, known as the ‘bloodiest day of American history’. The name Chickamauga is derived from an ancient Cherokee word meaning ‘River of Death’. Not surprisingly, there are several legends about hauntings there, but one of most bizarre concerns Old Green Eyes, a soldier who died in the battle. According to legend he is the ghost of a Confederate soldier whose head was severed from his body by a cannonball. Only his head was found, and his ghost is thought to roam the battlefield, moaning mournfully, searching for his body. There have been many sightings, some as recent as the 1970s, of two big, glowing eyes moving in the dark and reports of groaning sounds that send shivers up and down the spine. CHILDREN It is generally thought that psychic ability, often referred to as intuition or gut feeling, is natural in childhood, but as children get older they tend to lose that instinct and are taught to regard psychic experiences as imagination and superstition. Children’s minds can easily accept the existence of the non-physical, but don’t yet have boundaries of space and time and other models of perception that develop when they become adults. Their imagination is a reality to them, and they can see and comprehend things that adults no longer can do. They can cross the line into a fantasy world that adults have long since forgotten and exist in an altered state of reality that Edgar Cayce called unmanifest reality. Anyone wanting to develop their psychic ability must start by returning to that childlike, dreamy state of mind where imaginary friends, gut instinct, make-believe, fantasy, awe of the amazing world we live in and the endless possibilities of our inner world are natural and real to us. There are those who believe children are our real teachers and that their first task on earth is to teach adults about aspects of life they are neglecting. It may be something as simple as unconditional love or as complicated as resolving complex situations from the past. Unfortunately, many adults ignore the demands and idle chatter of children and don’t grasp this opportunity to get back in tune with themselves, missing a fabulous opportunity to learn and grow up again. See Indigo children. CHINESE HERBAL MEDICINE See Traditional Chinese medicine. CHUREL In India, the ghost of a low-caste woman who cannot find peace as she died in childbirth or during ritual impurity, i.e. during menstruation. Churels are thought to haunt graveyards or squalid places and take the form of a young woman with reversed feet and no mouth. They entice young men to them and hold them captive until they are old. Burying the corpse of a potential churel is said to prevent the ghost from escaping. If this fails, the area needs to be exorcised. CIA, STAR GATE PROGRAMME In 1972 the CIA, concerned by reports that the Soviet Union was dedicating substantial resources to what it called psychotronics - research into potential military applications of psychic and fringe science phenomena - began Project STAR GATE, a programme of psychic spying, or remote viewing. The project cost $20 million (,?12 million) and lasted 23 years until the US military shut it down in September 1995. The aim of the programme was to close the Cold War ‘psychic warfare gap’ and discover how serious a threat there was from Soviet psychotronics. Parapsychologists Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ of the Stanford Research Institute were asked to look for repeatable psychic phenomena that might be useful to military intelligence. Working with psychic Ingo Swann, the duo developed what they called ‘a perceptual channel across kilometer distances’, in other words, the ability to witness objects, people and events at a distance: remote viewing. Initially called SCANATE, meaning ‘scan by co-ordinate’, the project required the viewer to describe what they could see at map grid references provided by the CIA. Early signs were encouraging, and the programme expanded. Also known as SUN STREAK, GRILL FLAME and, finally, STAR GATE, the programme was used to help many US military and intelligence-gathering operations over its 23 years. There were a few successes, but more than a few failures. The team is said to have located Soviet weapons and technologies, such as a nuclear submarine in 1979, identified spies, helped find lost SCUD missiles in the first Gulf War and located plutonium in North Korea in 1994. All in all, more than 20 psychics were employed. With lives at stake, many of them found the work traumatic, some ending up in psychiatric hospitals. The project was closed down in 1995, probably because the Defense Department lost confidence in it, but even today some psychics continue with police and government work; one assisted the FBI - clearly unsuccessfully - during the hunt for Osama bin Laden in late 2001. CIPHER TEST See Survival tests. CIRCLE A symbol of oneness, completion and protection, the circle is believed to represent a sphere of personal power or psychic energy. It is often used for s?ances, where participants hold hands around a circular table. Ceremonial magic rites are also often performed within the sphere of a magic circle, which functions to concentrate the user’s power and protect against psychic entities. In ritual, a circle represents a holy space that protects from negative forces on the outside and facilitates communication with spirits and deities on the inside. CLAIRAUDIENCE The word clairaudience comes from the French and means ‘clear hearing’; it is the ability to receive psychic impressions of sounds, music and voices that are not audible to normal hearing. Humans have been guided by their inner voices since the beginning of time. The Bible refers to the Voice of God speaking to the prophets and kings. The ancient Greeks received guidance through daimons or divine spirits that offered guidance by whispering it into the ears of men and women. The shamans of many cultures use the voices in their heads for divine guidance. In Yoga the energy centre for clairaudience is the throat area, and it is thought that when it is clear you can open yourself up to inner hearing. Great men and women in history have experienced clairaudience. For example, Joan of Arc claimed to hear the voices of her angel spirit guides St Catherine, St Margaret and St Michael. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries messages from the spirits received clairaudiently were an established part of many s?ances. Today clairaudience often occurs in psychic readings. Tuning in: an exercise to help develop clairaudient ability If you’re a good listener, if you find certain sounds and noises unbearable and if you are good at noticing changes in tone, pitch and frequency of noise, chances are you’re more likely to receive psychic information through clairaudience. We all have some degree of clairaudient ability; we all experience those words or thoughts or ideas that seem to come from nowhere, but we tend not to recognize them or we take them for granted. You may wonder how you can tell if the voices you hear are psychic information or your own daily thoughts. One way to figure this out is to listen carefully. Your intuition tends to speak to you in a kind, loving and positive \ way. Self-talk tends to be harsher. Find a place where you feel comfortable and won’t be disturbed. Sit down, relax and breathe deeply. Imagine a shield of golden light around your ears for hearing and protection. Next, imagine a tuning knob such as on a radio in front of you. With this knob you can tune your hearing to a new frequency - that of your higher awareness - where you can receive clairaudient guidance. Sense a subtle sound change as you adjust the frequency. Note whatever information you receive. You may receive very little at first, but keep trying, and after a while you may find that your ears automatically tune to receive clairaudient information whenever you focus. Clairaudience differs from the disembodied voices heard at s?ances and poltergeist cases, which are considered to be collective apparitional phenomena. It also differs from telepathy, which is the ability to read the thoughts of another person. Clairaudience can be identified in many different ways. You may hear sounds or voices that you know aren’t happening in the real world and that you know aren’t the same as your own inner voice. These voices may come when you are awake or in your dreams. They may be the voices of dead relatives or the voices of spirit guides. Besides voices, certain sounds may provide you with psychic insight. Some people hear ringing in one or both of their ears and believe this to be a message from the universe. Others hear music, whispers, laughter, crying, bells ringing or other sounds. CLAIRFRAGRANCE Often considered a form of clairsentience, clairfragrance occurs when a person smells the fragrances of those who are no longer alive, for example, the perfume of a deceased loved one when no one close to them is wearing or using that perfume, or from which the source is unidentifiable, for example whiffs of flowers or plants when none are around. CLAIRGUSTUS Experiencing sweet or sour tastes in the mouth that are not associated with eating or belching. Often classed as a form of clairsentience. CLAIRSENTIENCE The word clairsentience comes from the French and means ‘clear feeling or sensing’. It involves the ability to pick up information through smell, taste, touch, gut feeling or intuition. One of the most important experiments to test clairsentience took place in 1922 at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, where a psychic by the name of van Dam was tested in psi guessing games. The experimenters tried to transmit telepathi-cally colours, tastes, feelings and moods, and the results were impressive. Feeling what is around you is the most common way to receive psychic information. All people experience clairsentience through fleeting impressions but just aren’t aware of it. For example, we all feel drawn to some people more than others for no apparent reason. But if a person is emotional, empathetic and compassionate by nature, and often affected by the moods of those around them, then chances are that psychic impressions typically come to them through clairsentience rather than through clairvoyance or clairaudience. Investigate your clairsentience Are you an emotional person? If so, what moods do you feel? Can you feel the moods of other people and animals? Can you feel the moods of specific locations or from objects? Can you feel the moods of spirits who have died with unresolved issues? Do you feel emotions about certain events in history and don’t know why? Do you feel the emotions of friends or family or people close to you? Do you ever get a gut feeling that you should contact someone immediately? When you touch something or someone, do you get a rush of feelings? Do you sometimes experience physical sensations such as warmth or cold for which there is no external cause? Do you often have gut instincts about people or places you know nothing about? The following exercise is a fantasy meditation that is designed to stimulate clairsentience - your awareness to sense, read and respond to the feelings and atmospheres around you. Find a quiet place and sit down in a comfortable position. Breathe deeply, and imagine you are a beautiful fish in the ocean. Enjoy the feeling of freedom as you glide through the water. Now imagine yourself to be one fish in a school of brightly coloured fish. You swim in rhythm with your group, sense its mood and shift your direction in perfect time and rhythm with the others. Now take this one step further and imagine yourself to be able to feel the mood of an entire oceanic world. You automatically sense and locate where to feed, play and swim and where you will be safe. You feel in total harmony with your ocean world. CLAIRVOYANCE Parapsychologists consider clairvoyance to be one of the three classes of psychic perception or extrasensory perception (ESP), along with telepathy and precognition, although there is overlap among the three. The word clairvoyance comes from the French, meaning ‘clear seeing’, and refers to the power to see an event or an image in the past, present or future. This type of sight does not happen with your physical eyes, but with your inner eyes. A person with clairvoyant ability can receive information in the form of visual symbols or images. Some clairvoyants describe it as a bit like having a movie screen in your head with images moving across it. Other clairvoyants may see symbols that they learn to interpret, or perhaps people and animals in their spirit form. Psychic visions typically appear internally, through the mind’s eye, and this is called subjective clairvoyance, but in rare cases they can also appear externally, in the environment around them as if they were real, and this is called objective clairvoyance. Many people think of the term ‘inner eye’ as a figure of speech, but the yogic tradition also uses the term. According to Eastern tradition, the third eye or sixth chakra is the seat of clairvoyance. Located in the centre of the forehead, it is the screen that receives clairvoyance, whether in the form of visions or imagery. In me-diumship, clairvoyance may account for the ability of mediums to provide unknown information at s?ances. There are several different types of clairvoyance, including the ability to see auras (auric sight), to see into the past (retrocognition) or into the future (pre-cognition). Different states of clairvoyance also include the ability to see through objects (X-ray vision), the ability to see health conditions in other people or animals (body scanning), the ability to see things from far away (travelling clairvoyance), the ability to experience visions in dreams (dream clairvoyance), the ability to see things that transcend time and space (spatial clairvoyance), and the ability to see astral, etheric and spiritual or divine planes (astral and spiritual clairvoyance). Under your eyelids People who have strong visual skills tend to be particularly attuned to clairvoyance. If you think in pictures and notice how things look or appear first, rather than how they sound, feel, taste or smell, you may have clairvoyant abilities just waiting to be developed. Perhaps images that you can’t relate to anything currently taking place just pop into your head. The following exercise will help you identify and work with your clairvoyant ability. Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed, and sit comfortably. Take a deep breath, and feel a protective bubble of light surround you. Let your eyes go out of focus as you concentrate on your third eye chakra. When you are ready, focus your mind’s eye on the images that are behind your eyelids. What do you see? It’s possible you will not see anything at all, and if so, that’s OK. Clairvoyance may not be your strength or you may need to practise some creative visualization exercises. If you do see images, can their meanings be understood? When you are ready, take a deep breath, exhale and return to consciousness in a positive, relaxed mood. Throughout history clairvoyance has been used and cultivated by prophets, fortune-tellers, witches, and seers of all kinds. Some were gifted naturally with clairvoyance while others learned how to develop it through training. In the 1830s the first scientific experiment to study clairvoyance was conducted on psychic Adele Maginot, and impressive results were achieved. Tests for clairvoyance of concealed cards began in the 1870s with French physiologist Charles Richet, and Richet’s work was taken further in the 1930s by American parapsychologist J B Rhine. Rhine developed a special deck of symbol cards to conduct tests (see ESP cards). In the years since considerable evidence has been accumulated to suggest that clairvoyance exists in both humans and animals, although sceptics disagree. CLEDONOMANCY A method of divination in which significance is ascribed to chance remarks. It dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, where omens of good and evil were established from chance remarks spoken without premeditation. CLOUD BUSTING Also known as cloud dissolving, this is the psychokinetic ability to make clouds disappear by thought or will. Sceptics argue that clouds naturally appear and disappear every 15 to 20 minutes on their own, and tests on cloud busting have never been conclusive. However, various cultures around the world perform weather control ceremonies in the firm belief that humans, being connected to all things living, can influence the weather. Whether or not this is possible remains unknown. CLOUD READING Cloud reading is one of the oldest forms of divination and was commonly practised by the Druids and the Celts. By looking at cloud formations and how the clouds moved, fortunes could be determined. Odd-looking clouds, and clouds that take on the distinct shape of something or someone, have intrigued and fascinated people through the ages. Clouds, mist and vapour are basic elements in human mystery, and many reports of apparitions begin and end with curiously shaped clouds. COCK LANE GHOST From 1762 to 1764 in Cock Lane, London, so-called poltergeist activity both terrified and fascinated onlookers. The story was written down by Andrew Lang and published in 1894 with the title Cock Lane and Common Sense. It all began in 1760 when a stockbroker, Mr Kent, rented a house in Cock Lane from Mr Parsons, a parish clerk. At the time, a Miss Fanny was Kent’s housekeeper; the two fell in love and decided to make wills naming each other as beneficiaries. Not long after, Kent and Parsons had a disagreement over money. Mr Kent moved out of the house and began legal proceedings against Parsons. In the meantime, Fanny died of smallpox, and Parsons seized upon the chance to get his revenge on Kent. He concocted a story whereby Mr Kent had murdered Fanny for the inheritance, and in 1762 Parsons began to claim that Fanny was haunting the house. He alleged that Fanny had told his 12-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, that she had been poisoned by Kent. Parsons invited a committee of 20 or more men to his house to witness Fanny’s ghost possessing his young daughter. Elizabeth, apparently under the influence of Fanny, declared once again that she had been poisoned and that the only way she could rest would be if Kent were hanged. Before long Cock Lane was full of the curious - Parsons even took to charging a fee for people to enter the house and listen to the ghost knocking. There were, however, many who were suspicious of the ghost tale, and their suspicions were confirmed when the ghost failed to appear as promised when Kent was brought to Fanny’s vault. Parsons tried to argue that the ghost did not appear because Kent had moved Fanny’s coffin, but Mr Kent countered this by taking several witnesses to the coffin, which he had opened to reveal Fanny’s body. Afterwards, Kent indicted Parsons and his daughter for fraud. Parsons was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison. COINCIDENCE See Synchronicity. COLD READING A cold reading is a psychic reading made for someone the psychic has never met. This type of reading is different from one in which there may have been previous contact or one in which the psychic has a certain amount of information already about the person being read. Typically, people visit their favourite psychics on a regular basis, and when this happens the readings are no longer cold, as the psychic becomes familiar with aspects of a client’s personality and life. COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS The collective or universal unconscious was a concept developed by psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) and later supported by Joseph Campbell in his study of world mythology. It refers to the part of the mind that is ‘inborn’ or determined by heredity and that shares memories, mental patterns and images with all humans. Prior to Jung, the prevailing view of the unconscious had been that of Sigmund Freud, who believed that it was the product of repressed childhood traumas. Jung affirmed that a personal unconscious of repressed or forgotten material existed but that the collective unconscious consisted of patterns of instinctual behaviour, called archetypes. The word archetype comes from the Greek arche, meaning ‘first’, and type, meaning ‘imprint’ or ‘pattern’. Psychological archetypes are thus patterns that form the basic blueprint for human personality. For Jung archetypes pre-exist in the collective unconscious of humanity and determine how we both perceive and behave. These patterns are inborn - part of our inheritance and psychological life as human beings. They are both inside us and outside us. We can meet them by turning inwards to our dreams or imagination, and by turning outwards to our myths, legends, literature and religions. Psychic or fraud? A cold reading can be a good way to see if a psychic really can pick up relevant information that can help you. Be aware, though, that some psychics are very skilled at getting information about you without you even knowing it. They may be experts in observation, using every movement of your body and every expression on your face to verify information they give you; even a slight hesitation on your part can speak volumes. They may repeat information that you unconsciously already gave. Another technique is to make general statements or questions that could apply to anyone and to watch your reaction to pick up clues about what you are looking for in the reading. Be sure to recognize this approach - it is not how genuine psychics work. COLLEGE of PSYCHIC STUDIES Founded in 1884 as the London Spiritualist Alliance, the college changed its name in 1955 to the College of Psychic Science, and in 1970 it became the College of Psychic Studies. The college is now a non-profit organization, based in South Kensington, London, which explores psychic phenomena and other spiritual matters such as healing. The college seeks ‘to promote spiritual values and a greater understanding of the wider areas of human consciousness, welcoming the truths of all spiritual traditions and, equally, each and every individual.’ An extensive library, materials and courses in psychic development, spiritual healing and mediumship are offered to the general public and to psychical researchers. The college also has a website where useful information can be accessed: www.college-ofpsychicstudies.co.uk. COLOUR DIVINATION Because colours are a dynamic part of our lives, affecting us in many ways (see Colours), some believe that colour can be used as a tool for divination and guidance. All about colours The following provides some typically accepted attributes of colour that can help us gain insight into people no matter how they present themselves. Red:Colour of strength and power, linked to sexual energy; can indicate an active person with lots of energy; darker shades can reflect strong emotions, even anger; can also indicate a creative person. Orange:The colour of fun, creativity and generosity (they may be too generous); a bright and optimistic person. Yellow:Intelligence, happiness, curious by nature; a person who prefers to take the lead. Green:Colour of healing; peaceful, emotional balance and compassion; a person who is honest and helpful. Blue:Spiritual understanding; a person who is usually perceptive, has a need for calm and is deeply involved in their work, sometimes to the point of neglecting other things; someone who is dedicated and talented and can be critical of others. Indigo:Vision, intuition, psychic ability. Purple and Violet:Seekers, impatient with others, including themselves; have high ideals but can become depressed if ideals not met; someone who needs and seeks spiritual experiences. Black:Colour of protection and groundedness, psychic ability; when worn with another colour strengthens that colour; secretive, a quiet strength. White:Colour of spirit and of balance, could also indicate detachment; a person who is hopeful and spiritual; when worn with other colours amplifies those colours. Brown:Strength and nobility; someone who is down to earth, practical and helpful; someone who has strong friendships, is a devoted worker but can be overly critical. Pink:Love warmth tenderness innocence, the impulse to nurture. Each colour has its own unique qualities. Some are uplifting and exciting, and some are soothing. Some stimulate healing, and some are depressing. We all have colours we like and dislike. Many believe we subconsciously pick colours we know will help us through the day and that it is possible to divine the mood of others by the colours they choose to wear or the colours they are most drawn to. Energy healers who read auras believe that auras are made up of colours and that the colour of a person’s aura can tell an enormous amount about a person and how she or he is feeling at that moment. For example, a person with a happy disposition might have a bright yellow aura, but it could change to red if they are angry. Someone else might have a red aura, suggesting they are often angry. If someone’s aura has dark spots it could suggest ill health or disturbing emotions. COLOURS Every colour is believed to vibrate with its own energy and to have specific effects on individuals. Seven colours in particular -red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, the colours of the rainbow - have carried religious, occult, mystical and healing meanings since ancient times. Red, which has the longest wavelength, typically represents the physical and material, while violet, the shortest wavelength, represents spirituality and enlightenment. White, the combination of all colours, is usually associated with divinity and purity, while black, the absence of all colour, is associated by some people with evil but by others with protection and comfort, like the warm darkness of a summer night. Traditionally, the body is associated with red, the mind with yellow and the spirit with blue. Healing with colour has a long tradition dating back to ancient times. The Pythagoreans believed that white light, the Godhead, contains all sound and colour and that the seven colours of the spectrum correspond to the seven planets and the eight notes of the musical scale (both the first and the eighth notes are red). Despite the fact that colour healing has been in use for centuries, it wasn’t until the late nineteenth century that it began to receive attention in the West. In 1878 Edwin Babbitt published The Principles of Light and Colour, reaffirming the Pythagorean correspondences of music, colour and sound, and by so doing drew attention to the potential of colour healing. In the 1930s Dinshah Ghadiali proposed that imbalances are created by too much or too little of particular colours, and that balance can be restored with the use of coloured lights. Today modern colour therapy or healing is a controversial but popular alternative medicine technique involving the use of coloured lamps as well as coloured foods and drinks in coloured containers. Modern science is able to provide evidence for some of the ancient claims about colour. In the 1970s and 1980s it was shown that coloured light triggers biochemical reactions in the body. Later research confirmed that blues and greens have a soothing effect and help lower stress, brain-wave activity and blood pressure. Warm colours such as orange and red have been shown to have a stimulating effect. Pink has been shown to have a relaxing effect in the short term, although in the longer term it can trigger irritability. Each colour is associated with a specific vibrational frequency, so when there is a predominance of one or two colours in the environment that vibrational frequency -and the characteristics or qualities associated with that frequency - will tend to influence the activities conducted in that environment and the attitude of those in it. It is small wonder, then, that many psychologists use colour to produce beneficial effects in the home, workplace and in hospitals, and in visualization techniques patients are asked to imagine themselves bathed in a particular colour to encourage healing in mind, body and spirit. COMMITTEE FOR THE SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION OF CLAIMS OF THE PARANORMAL A non-profit scientific and educational organization, started in 1976 and based in Buffalo, New York, to ‘encourage the critical investigation of paranormal and fringe-science claims from a responsible, scientific point of view and disseminate factual information about the results of such inquiries to the scientific community and the public’. It also aims to promote science and scientific enquiry, critical thinking, science education and the use of reason in examining important issues. The organization maintains a network of people who critically examine paranormal claims and sponsors research into such claims. The group originated as an offshoot of the American Humanist Association following a disagreement over the claims made by astrologers. It soon gathered a following of committed sceptics, including scientists, academics and science writers such as Isaac Asimov, Philip Klass, Ray Hyman, Sidney Hook, and others. The Skeptical Inquirer is the society’s official journal, and its aim is to explore and expose public gullibility about the paranormal. Many local branches of the group are scattered across the US. Members include academics and scientists as well as magicians, many holding religious views, such as atheism, that are not in accord with belief in the paranormal. Although the group has debunked many claims of the paranormal, from hauntings to ESP to faith healing, there are some who believe it goes too far in its attempt to debunk from a scientific point of view. Nonetheless, it does provide a valuable counterbalance to paranormal claims. CONE OF POWER See Circle. CONSCIOUSNESS A funtion of the mind, generally thought to incorporate qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and one’s environment. In popular language the term ‘consciousness’ denotes being awake and responsive to one’s environment; this contrasts with being asleep or being in a coma. The term level of consciousness’ denotes how consciousness seems to vary during anaesthesia and during various states of mind such as daydreaming, lucid dreaming, imagining, etc. Esoteric techniques such as meditation and pathworking and shamanic techniques such as chanting, rhythmic drumming or dancing, as well as experimental techniques such as sensory deprivation and narcotics to induce hallucination all involve altered states of con-ciousness. Non-consciousness exists when consciousness is not present. There is speculation, especially among religious groups as well as occultists, psychics and spiritualists, that consciousness may exist after death or before birth. Consciousness is notoriously difficult to define or locate. Many cultures and religious traditions place the seat of consciousness in a soul, separate from the body. Conversely, many scientists and philosophers consider consciousness to be intimately linked to the neural functioning of the brain. CONSTELLATION, USS The USS Constellation, floating in the harbour of Baltimore, is perhaps one of the most haunted ships in America. The ship was commissioned by the US navy and first launched as a 36-gun frigate in 1797. Commodore Thomas Truxton was the first captain, and he set a bloody precedent. In 1799, after the Americans had won a battle against the French, the captain learned that seaman Neil Harvey had fallen asleep while on watch. The captain ordered another sailor to run a sword through the sleeping man and then had Harvey’s body tied to a cannon and blown to pieces in order to warn the other sailors. Many visitors to the ship report seeing Neil Harvey’s ghost wandering on deck, and it is said that some people even mistake him for a costumed tour guide. During the nineteenth century the warship was damaged in battles, and the original ship was broken up in 1853. The Constellation reborn in 1855 as a sloop, and served the US navy until 1933, when it was decommissioned and sat quietly in harbour. In 1955 it was brought home to Baltimore to await repairs, and this is when stories of ghosts began to be told. Sailors standing night watch on nearby ships said they heard odd noises and reported seeing ghosts walking on its deck. To this day reports of sightings of spirits continue to occur. Captain Truxton has been seen, and cries and moans have been heard in the hold. An anonymous seaman has been spotted sadly wandering around the gun deck. He is believed to be a sailor who became overwhelmed by the harsh life at sea and hung himself. The USS Constellation is docked at Pier 1 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and is open to the public for tours. CONTROL A discarnate entity or spirit of the dead that is thought to communicate through a trance medium. The term is derived from the notion that a control is the entity that generally controls the trance state and decides which spirits will communicate and how they will communicate to the living through the medium. The term control would have been a familiar one during the height of spiritualism, but today it isn’t widely used and mediums prefer to use terms such as spirit helpers, gatekeepers or friends instead. A control manifests during a trance state and generally takes over a medium’s body and consciousness, communicating through the medium. According to various controls that have been questioned, controls are separate entities from the medium, and during trance, when the control takes over, the medium’s consciousness is displaced out of body or transported to the spirit world. In some case a medium may not be aware of the control until told by others who have witnessed the manifestation. A medium typically has one control, as was the case with Mina Crandon and her spirit control, Walter, but some may have more than one. There are many who believe that controls are secondary personalities of the medium rather than spirits of the dead. Even prominent mediums like Eileen Garrett concluded that her control might have been a construct drawn from her own unconscious. Most controls do reflect aspects of the medium’s personality, and it is logical to conclude that they are secondary personalities of the medium. However, if controls are secondary personalities, they are unusual in that they do not interrupt and intrude during waking life, as secondary personalities do in multiple personality disorders. COOK, FLORENCE [1856–1904] Florence Cook is best remembered as the medium who was able to produce the full spirit materialization of her controls. She said she first noticed her psychic powers as a child when she heard angel voices and experienced her first trance state at the age of 14. At the age of 15 she lost her job as a teacher due to poltergeist phenomena and from then on devoted herself to her development as a medium. Cook’s most prominent control spirit was called Katie King. Cook would retire into a cabinet and be tied to a chair with rope, the knots sealed with wax. After a few minutes King, who could not speak but only nod and smile, would emerge in front of the cabinet. After the spirit disappeared, the sitters waited for Cook’s instructions to release her, and they always found her in the cabinet still clothed and tied and exhausted from the experience. Cook was not reluctant to allow the press in, and a reporter from the Daily Telegraph attended several of her s?ances. On the first occasion, he saw faces, and the following year he witnessed the materialization of Katie King and took photographs of her. In view of the precautions taken, such as Cook being bound with seals, ‘he was baffled’. Cook’s abilities led to various prominent persons attending her s?ances, and in 1872 she begun to receive financial support from the businessman and spiritualist Charles Blackburn. She also attracted the attention of spiritualist investigators, including the British scientist Sir William Crookes. The appearances of Katie King were investigated many times, with sitters regularly reporting that they were able to see Katie and Cook at the same time, for the cabinet would be opened and Cook would be visible in the back while Katie appeared out front. Many sitters also reported that Katie King and Florence Cook were very similar in appearance, and some charged that Cook and Katie were, in fact, the same person. Cook was caught at least twice in fraud. On one occasion a sitter grabbed a spirit hand and found he had grabbed Cook. On another occasion in 1880, Sir George Sitwell noticed that King was wearing corsets. He seized her and pulled aside the curtain to reveal an empty chair and the ropes untied. Sir William Crookes vigorously investigated the case, taking photographs, witnessing both Cook and Katie at the same time and even attaching Cook to a galvanometer to record Cook’s movements while Katie appeared. Despite allegations of fraud, Sir William and other supporters remained convinced that Florence Cook was a genuine medium. In 1874 Katie King departed. Afterwards first Leila, and then a French girl calling herself Marie became Cook’s controls. Marie remained her control until shortly before Florence Cook’s death in 1904. A photograph was taken of her at a s?ance in about 1902, which later appeared in Psychic Science (January 1927); one of the sitters made the important observation that those present ‘saw the form of the tall slim young woman that appears in the picture; Mrs Corner [Florence Cook] being short, rather stout, and of darker complexion’. COOKE, GRACE [1892–1979] Grace Cooke, born in London in 1892, became a spiritualist medium in 1913. Unlike most mediums of the day, intent on communicating with the dead, Cooke focused on spiritual development, which she felt the world badly needed. From an early age Cooke experienced psychic visions of a Native American spirit guide called White Eagle, who told her they would accomplish great spiritual work together. In 1936 White Eagle instructed Cooke to form a church for people ready to be light bearers and to practise brotherhood and sisterhood. After several false starts, the White Eagle Lodge was established in Hampshire in 1945. It soon grew into an international organization publishing tracts and books. Until her death in 1979 Cooke emphasized living by the light of love and healing. In her later years she experienced vivid memories of previous lives, and the stories of these past lives are recorded in her book The Illuminated Ones. CORPSE CANDLES According to British folklore, corpse candles are mysterious candles that float through the air by night and hover near locations where death is imminent. They are said to vanish when approached and warn of death to those who see them or of the death of a loved one. In Welsh folklore a pale bluish corpse candle is said to presage the death of a child, a bigger candle the death of an adult and multiple candles a multiple loss. Although corpse candles have been witnessed all over the British Isles, their origin is supposed to date back to fifth-century Wales. Legend says that St David, the patron saint of Wales, was concerned that the people he served were always unprepared for death, so he prayed that they might have some kind of warning. He received a vision in which he was told that the Welsh people would always be forewarned of a death by the dim light of mysterious candles. CORPSE LIGHTS Corpse lights are similar to corpse candles in that they are seen at night and are believed to be death omens. They are believed to be phosphorescent lights in white, red, or blue that can appear almost anywhere, inside or outside a house, on the ground, on the roof or over a person’s chest. They are also known as jack-o’-lanterns, ignis fatuus, corposant, fetch-candles and fetch lights. It is possible they are produced by atmospheric gas, but in folklore there are many reports of their seemingly mysterious and supernatural appearance. COTTAGE CITY POLTERGEIST A fascinating and curious case that was the inspiration behind the 1971 best-selling book by William Peter Blatty The Exorcist. In the book, later made into a film, a young girl is possessed by the devil and subject to exorcism by a Roman Catholic priest, but in the original 1949 case that inspired the book, the subject was a 13-year-old boy. The case began in Cottage City, Maryland. The family of a young boy, called in some newspaper reports ‘Roland Doe’, began to experience poltergeist activity. It started with scratching noises from the house walls, and then the boy’s bed began shaking and moving on its own, with similar events occurring at school. A psychiatrist was called in to examine the boy but could find nothing wrong with him. The family called in a minister who believed that a ghost, perhaps the spirit of the dead aunt, might be involved. Some reports say that a Lutheran minister performed an exorcism or a series of exorcisms, while other reports say exorcisms were performed by a pair of Jesuit priests. After the movie appeared, new reports surfaced of a detailed diary kept by one of the Jesuit priests of the entire exorcism process. The diary says that the exorcism took place in a hospital, the boy’s reactions to the exorcism were violent and that it took four months for the ‘demon’ to be expelled. Afterwards the boy remembered nothing and the case was quietly buried. The room at the hospital where the exorcism took place was rumoured to be haunted in the years following. Many people who worked near the room continued to report cold waves of air and unusual noises coming from inside the room. What truly happened in the case remains a mystery. Were there natural or psychological explanations for what occurred in the case? Or was this simply the story of an attention-starved boy tricking the adults around him into believing he was possessed by the devil? COTTINGLEY FAIRIES In July 1917, 16-year-old Elsie Wright and her 10-year-old cousin Frances Griffiths claimed they could see fairies in the small wooded creek behind Elsie’s house in Cot-tingley, West Yorkshire. Elsie’s father dismissed their claims, and so one day the girls borrowed his camera to take a picture of them. The picture, when developed, showed Elsie with a group of fairies dancing in front of her. A month later the girls took a picture of Elsie with a gnome. Elsie’s parents were startled by the photographs, but her father remained unconvinced. Her mother, however, took the pictures to a Theosophist meeting one evening, and soon the photos were published. The girls’ most famous supporter became Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle printed the first two pictures in Strand Magazine in 1920 and three more photos a couple of years later. He then expanded his articles into a book, The Coming of the Fairies. Shortly after, Frances’s family moved away from Elsie’s, and the girls stopped seeing fairies. In the decades that followed, the photographs were widely circulated and deemed false, and even Conan Doyle himself finally admitted that he may have been the victim of a hoax. It wasn’t until the 1980s, though, that Frances and Elsie admitted that they had faked the photographs to get back at the adults who had told them off for believing in fairies. They said that when Conan Doyle had got involved they didn’t want to embarrass him by admitting that the photos were faked. They also said that as young girls they had actually seen fairies, but that the fairies didn’t like to be photographed. CRANDON, Mina STINSON [1888–194,1] This Boston medium, also known as Margery, left a controversial legacy behind her. Opinion is divided as to whether she was one of the greatest mediums of her day or a complete fraud. Unusually for mediums, Crandon’s early life did not offer any hints of her future psychic power. It wasn’t until her divorce in 1918 and second marriage to prominent surgeon Le Roi Goddard Crandon, who had an interest in the paranormal and set up a psychic home circle, that her abilities began to surface. Soon she was demonstrating remarkable abilities as a medium managed by her control, Walter. Walter was in fact Mina’s brother who had died five years earlier, with whom she had been very close. Several investigations of Crandon’s power were put together by prominent academics and psychical investigators, including Harry Houdini the magician, who was utterly convinced that she was a fraud. Despite causing bitter controversy, Crandon had many supporters at the American Society for Psychical Research, and a book published in 1925, Margery the Medium by Malcolm Bird, editor of the Scientific American, was very favourable to her. Mina Crandon appeared to enjoy all the attention she received from press and public alike. By all accounts it wasn’t just her psychic powers that her supporters admired. She was a vivacious and charismatic person who was not adverse to holding s?ances in the nude and to having extramarital affairs with more than one of her investigators. When asked on her deathbed if fraud had taken place, she refused to set the record straight. With the hint of a smile and a twinkle in her eye, she is said to have replied, Why don’t you guess? You’ll all be guessing for the rest of your lives.’ CREATIVE VISUALIZATION Creative visualization is the process by which the creation of a visual image is believed to promote the desired outcome. Creative visualization is built on the ancient belief in the power of the mind to create what you want in your life. If you think about what you’d like to achieve in your life, you can do just that, as positive images and thoughts attract positive energy. Creative visualization is widely used in business, sport, art, psychotherapy, psychic development, mystical and occult arts and personal self-development. Imagination has a powerful influence on self-image, and a poor self-image can often mean the difference between success and failure in life. Creative visualization, which seems to be most effective when practised in a relaxed state, can be used to feed your mind positive images to create a better self-image and improve your personal experiences. For example, if you want to develop your psychic awareness, you need to imagine being psychic. If you want to pass an exam, you imagine yourself passing it. Those who practise visualization say it’s important to fill in all the details of your experience so that the image is as real to the mind as possible. CREWE CIRCLE The Crewe Circle was a group of spirit photographers based in Crewe, England, in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Led by William Hope, the circle claimed to be able to photograph the souls of the dead. Many psychical research organizations investigated the claims, but the most documented are those sponsored by the Royal Photographic Society and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Conan Doyle was so intrigued by the Crewe Circle that he wrote a book about it entitled The Case for Spirit Photography (1922). Over the years the spirit photographs taken by the members of the Crewe Circle have come under detailed examination, and have been dismissed as fraudulent by many, but so far none has been proven conclusively to be a hoax. It is possible that the photos could be spontaneous images of spirits captured on the film plates. CROISET, Gerard [1909–1980] Born in the Netherlands, Croiset grew up to become an internationally renowned clairvoyant, highly regarded as a police psychic for his ability to find missing people, animals and objects. Croiset was raised in foster homes and orphanages and began to experience clairvoyance at the age of six. He dropped out of school at 13 and drifted into unskilled work. The turning point in his life came in 1935 when he was introduced to a group of local spiritualists, and over the next few years his reputation as a psychic and healer grew. In 1945 Croiset volunteered to be a test subject for the parapsychologist Willem Tenhaef from the University of Utrecht. Tenhaef was so impressed by Croiset’s ability that he began to mentor him, and introduced him to police work. In the years that followed Croiset became famous for his help in solving crimes all over the world. His passion was finding missing children. Croiset never accepted payment for his psychic readings, but he did accept donations for his healing clinic where he treated thousands of clients. He was able to diagnose a person instantly on seeing them. Perhaps his most famous contribution to the field of parapsychology was to popularize the chair test. In this test, chairs in a room would be numbered, and Croiset was able to predict successfully who would sit in a selected chair a month or so before a meeting took place. CROOKES, SIR WILLIAM [1832–1919] Sir William Crookes is perhaps best known as a ground-breaking chemist and physicist who discovered X rays and explored the existence of subatomic particles such as the electron. For much of his life he was also deeply committed to spiritualism. He served as president of the Ghost Club of London for a while and took a great interest in the cases investigated by this organization. During his own investigations Crookes believed that many times he did in fact witness the materialization of human forms, and he also studied and photographed teleplasm and ectoplasm. Published posthumously in 1926, Crookes’s work, Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism, is still considered required reading for any serious student of the subject. CROP CIRCLES Patterns, typically circle shaped, that appear mysteriously in the middle of grain fields in the middle of the night. The grain inside the circles is usually crushed as if knocked down by force. No tracks have been found leading to these circles, resulting in the belief that some paranormal force must have been involved in their creation. Some crop circles have been exposed as hoaxes, but others remain unexplained. Crop circles have been reported all over the world, including in the USA, but they began appearing in southern England in the 1970s. They vary in size from about 10 feet to 200 or even 300 feet in diameter. They aren’t always circles but can also appear in elaborate formations and patterns. They are always immaculate and cleanly made. Natural forces, such as violent or freak weather patterns, stationary whirlwinds or the effects of irrigation have been put forward as theories, but all these fail to explain the more complex patterns, which often resemble pictograms. There are those who believe some intelligent life force is trying to communicate with humankind, while others believe extraterrestrial forces must be at work. The mystery remains unsolved. CROSS CORRESPONDENCES A method used extensively in the early twentieth century to test the powers of mediums. The correspondences were made up of the same or similar information allegedly from discarnate entities delivered to mediums while they were in a trance or through automatic writing. It is difficult to explain how these messages occur, and many psychical researchers believe they provide good evidence to support the case for life after death. Others believe that the mediums draw the information from their own unconscious or from others using telepathy or clairvoyance. Between 1900 and 1932, cross correspondences were studied intensively by the Society for Psychical Research, in particular, by Frederick Myers. Myers believed that human life might continue after death and that finding evidence for it required the help of the dead - in fact, the dead would have the best idea for how the living could discover this evidence. He stated that producing this evidence would require a group effort on the part of several spirits rather than just contact with one spirit. Cross correspondences were produced during Myers’ lifetime by several mediums. Words spoken under trance and written during automatic writing sessions by mediums sitting at the same time but in different locations showed similarities to one another. But it was after Myers’ death in 1901 that cross correspondences became more frequent; a message delivered to one medium would be undecipherable until combined with a message from another. By 1918 the Society for Psychical Research concluded that cross correspondences did form large, interlinked groups and were evidence for survival after death. However others, such as another of the Society’s founding members, Frank Pod-more, believed they were the result of telepathic communication among the living. Interest in cross correspondences faded in the 1930s, and although they do appear now and again in psychical research, today they are not studied with great interest. CROSSROAD GHOSTS Crossroads - the meeting and parting of ways - have long been regarded as likely places for ghosts or other spirit activity to take place. Crossroad superstitions can be found in Europe, India, Japan and among Native Americans, perhaps because in some parts of the world murderers, sorcerers and suicides were buried at crossroads with a stake or nail driven through the corpse, an act known as ‘nailing down the ghost’ to prevent the ghost’s return. Or perhaps the cross shape of the intersection mimicked the consecrated ground of a churchyard, a burial place denied to murderers and suicides. Or perhaps crossroads were places where territories, routes or villages collided, and they therefore became regarded as meeting places between the spirit realm and earth. Crossroads are believed to be haunted by spirits who take delight in leading travellers astray. In German folklore a ghostly rider is believed to haunt a crossroads in Schleswig; the neck of his horse stretches across the path and prevents people passing. In European lore the dead are said to appear at crossroads, and in Welsh legend every crossroad is thought to be inhabited by spirits of the dead on Allhallows Eve. In modern evolutions of the tradition, crossroads in the rural Mississippi Delta area are reportedly frequented by either Lucifer or his minions; wandering musicians and minstrels seeking to bargain their immortal souls for success in their musical endeavours know to go to crossroads to meet with the Devil. The cross shape of crossroads is in some traditions protection against the spirits that are said to haunt it. For example, in Irish folklore humans who have been kidnapped by fairies are thought to be able to gain their freedom at crossroads. One German superstition holds that if you are chased by a ghost or demon, you should head to a crossroads for protection. On reaching the crossroads the spirits will vanish with an unearthly shriek. CROWE, CATHERINE [C.I1800–1870] The author of The Night Side of Nature, which is one of the earliest and most important studies of apparitions, Catherine Crowe used a scientific approach to study ghosts. Some contend that her fascination with apparitions may have been brought about by a brief period of insanity, but this does not take away from the fact that her work has often been cited as the model for subsequent investigations of the paranormal. CROWLEY, ALEISTER [1875–1947] Called by the media ‘the wickedest man in the world’, Aleister Crowley courted controversy all his life with his fascination for sex, magic and blood. Despite his excesses, there are some who think this English occultist was a truly great magician. Born Edward Alexander Crowley on 12 October 1875, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Crowley was raised by parents who were members of a fundamentalist Christian sect called the Plymouth Brethren. Crowley was drawn to blood and torture from a young age and was branded ‘the beast’ or Antichrist by his mother when he rebelled against the Brethren. After leaving Trinity College, Cambridge without a degree but fluent in occultism, Crowley joined the London Chapter of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and quickly advanced up the ranks. He renamed himself Count Vladimir and began to pursue his occult activities full-time in London. Stories began to circulate about his alleged supernatural powers, including psychic attacks on his enemies with demons and vampires. Whether this is true or not is uncertain, but one thing is clear: he had incredible charisma and presence. A disagreement with another Golden Dawn member forced him to leave London and live in Scotland for a time. Crowley’s sexual appetite was huge. He married twice but had a number of mistresses, and a seemingly unending stream of willing women were attracted to him. He also had a homosexual relationship with the poet Victor Neuburg, who became his assistant in magic. In 1912 Crowley became involved in the Oro Templi Orientis occult order, becoming its leader in 1922. From 1915 to 1919 Crowley lived in the US before visiting Italy, where he set up his hillside villa called the Sacred Abbey of the Thelemic Mysteries. The villa became the site for his sexual orgies and magical rites, and the behaviour led him to be expelled from Italy in 1923 by Benito Mussolini. In his later years Crowley was a victim of poor health, drug addiction and financial trouble. He earned a meagre living from his writing, since much of it is incoherent and rambling, but many continue to read his work today. His most important work, The Book of Law, was allegedly communicated from the Egyptian god Horus’s spirit messenger Aiwass. Central to this book is the Law of Thelma: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law’, which Crowley maintained meant doing what you must do and nothing else. His other important work is Magick in Theory and Practise (1929), which many practitioners consider to be a fine work on ceremonial magic. (He spelled ‘magic’ as ‘magick’ to distinguish it from stage magic.) Crowley’s other published works include The Diary of a Drug Fiend (1922), TheEquinox of the Gods (1937), and the Book of Thoth (1944), which is his interpretation of the Tarot. Two volumes of his autobiography were also published. In 1934 he tried to sue Nina Hammett for her biography of him, Laughing Torso, in which she stated that he practised black magic and human sacrifice, but the jury found in favour of Hammett. Crowley died on 1 December 1947, in a boarding house in Hastings. His final years were spent practising ritual magic with Gerald B Gardner, whom some call the father of modern Wicca. Even though Crowley has been dead for decades, his influence is still very much felt today. One of the many attractions of Crowley’s type of magic was his advice to follow your own way, become your own self and create your own lifestyle - you don’t need a priest or a judge to tell you how to act; you work it out for yourself. It is easy to see how, in the hands of the young, impressionable or immature, this advice can be misinterpreted and become not only misguided but dangerous. CRYPTOMNESIA Information that is forgotten or repressed but which comes to the surface in medi-umship or contact with spirits of the dead. Forgetting information and storing it in the subconscious mind are essential if the conscious mind is to function efficiently and stay uncluttered. However, during trance or altered states of conscious-ness, forgotten or repressed information may break free from the subconscious and surface again, where it appears as new information to the medium. Psychical researchers always consider the possibility of cryptomnesia when investigating mediums and cases of past-life recall. The earliest recorded case of cryptomnesia was in 1874 when English medium William Moses was said to have contacted the spirits of two young brothers who had died in India. The deaths were verified; however, six days before the s?ance it was discovered that an obituary to the brothers had appeared in the newspaper. Moses’s information about the brothers was similar to that in the obituary, and psychical researchers concluded that Moses must have read the obituary and had forgotten that he had done so. It is not known how long the brain can store information and how much information it can store without taking conscious note of it, so it is difficult to rule out cryptomnesia in cases of memories of afterlife and reincarnation. In one famous cryptomnesia case, a woman identified as Ms C communicated under hypnosis with a woman called Blanche from the court of Richard II. The period details were uncannily accurate, but when asked under trance what books she had read about Richard II, Ms C acknowledged that when she was 12 she had read an Emily Holt novel, Countess Maud, which contained the same material as Blanche had given. The only time cyrptomnesia may possibly be ruled out is when the information received by the medium goes beyond accessible records to facts that can only be verified by other persons or in personal accounts. However, even then other explanations such as ESP and telepathy can’t be entirely ruled out. CRYSTAL BALL A tool used to help diviners go into a psychic trance, the crystal ball is perhaps the classic and best-known method of divination. Most people assume it is the ball that has the power, but it is not. The secret is not the ball but the technique of scrying, which involves keeping your eyes open while staring into a shiny, reflective surface to induce a form of meditation or self-hypnosis - the prime state for opening awareness to clairvoyance and psychic insight. Scrying and crystal gazing practitioners were found in ancient times throughout Mesopotamia, among the Druids and other peoples of Europe and in China. Modern scryers most commonly use crystal balls that are usually three to six inches in diameter. The ideal crystal ball is made of quartz, not glass, because quartz crystal is thought to increase psychic energy. Crystal gazing exercise Find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed and, holding your crystal in your hand, begin slow rhythmic breathing. Focus on what the problem is or on what you want to know about. As you hold the crystal, feel it coming to life. Imagine the electrical energy within it growing stronger, helping to stimulate your psychic vision. Hold the crystal so you can look into it easily. Don’t stare intently into it, just look at it with a soft gaze - the kind of stare you have when daydreaming. Stay relaxed, and as you look into the crystal pay attention to its formation. Turn your crystal slowly in your hand so you can see how the light plays through it in different ways. As images begin to form, ask yourself what they mean to you. Pay attention to the emotions you feel, and trust them. When you are ready, close your eyes, take some deep breaths and come back to the here and now. Crystal gazing takes time and practice, but in time you will probably see clouds appearing and disappearing and images becoming clearer. Eventually detailed scenarios may even start to appear in your crystal, leading to great psychic vision. CRYSTALS Crystals have been used for centuries for their alleged protective and healing powers. Ancient peoples typically wore crystals as amulets in jewellery and on their clothing, and the practice continued through the Middle Ages, when they were worn to guard against the plague. Today crystals continue to be worn in pendants and rings and other jewellery, or carried around in small pouches, or placed about workplaces and houses. Because of the ability crystals have to retain and focus electromagnetic energy they are believed to be ideal tools for repelling bad energies or for attracting good ones, and for stimulating and balancing the body’s energy flow, also known as its life force or chi. They are used in meditation, divination and alternative healing techniques and are thought to help alleviate stress, stimulate creativity, enhance dreams, energize, promote healing, enhance luck and happiness and awaken psychic powers. In some healing techniques they are laid upon the body’s chakra points and energy meridians to enhance the energies of the ailing chakra. There is no scientific evidence that crystals have magical or paranormal powers, but crystal enthusiasts are convinced that the stones emit silent and unseen vibrations. Some even believe that crystals can be programmed for certain functions using techniques such as exposure to sunlight and moonlight or through meditation. Crystal healing in some form has been practised by almost every society on earth, many of which held deeply rooted holistic beliefs. However, without this cultural foundation, crystal healing has largely become a matter of faith. You either believe or not, as there is little or no rational explanations of how it might work, if it does. Crystals are often fashioned as wands or magical tools, but they come in all shapes and sizes. It is claimed that an odd number of facets on the stone aid in healing, while an even number of facets create the best energizers. Red, yellow and orange stones are said to produce energy; clear and aquamarine stones are healers; and lavender and blue-violet stones create calming effects. Crystal power Below is a list of commonly known crystals and their reputed benefits. Please note that this information is not intended to replace any licensed medical or psychological treatment, and no guarantee is made towards their validity. Amethyst:This purple and white stone is the most valuable form of quartz crystal and it is thought to have wonderful healing and cleansing abilities. It is used to reduce anger and impatience and to ease insomnia and headaches. It is also used to cleanse other crystals before their use in healing and divination, and is sometimes called the psychic crystal for use in enhancing intuition and ESP. In magic, wearing an amethyst or using one in a spell will ward off evil. Aquamarine:Known as the ‘water stone’, it is thought to prevent seasickness, ease water retention and help purify drinking water. Aquamarine is also used for its calming, uplifting properties and its ability to help release anxiety, fear and restlessness. Bloodstone:As the name suggests, this crystal is thought to cleanse the blood. It is also believed to promote courage and help people face difficulties calmly. Carnelian:Thought to be good for the circulatory, reproductive and digestive systems and to help stimulate libido, energy and fertility, as well as to boost confidence and drive. Coral:Thought to be a good aid to digestion and to encourage self-esteem and positive thinking. Diamond:Believed to stimulate a powerful sense of direction in life and help strengthen one’s courage. Emerald:The stone of true love, emerald is thought to generate insight into a relationship - which may or may not be welcome. It is also thought to bestow psychic ability, heal inflammation and promote a feeling of inner peace and relaxation. Garnet:This stone is said to be good for balancing out sexual problems. Both overactive sexuality and repressed urges are thought to benefit from the power of garnet. It is also thought to encourage assertiveness and to help regularize blood pressure. Jade:Said to be good for the heart, thymus, immune system and kidneys and for cleansing the blood and the nervous system. Jade is thought to help promote courage, knowledge, justice, compassion, emotional balance, humility, generosity, harmony, wealth and longevity. It remains the crystal most revered by the Chinese, where it is believed by some to be of divine origin. In magic, jade is used to help remember dreams and to use them to solve problems. Kunzite:Discovered in 1902, this stunning pink stone is thought to be superb for women with gynaecological problems, and for women seeking to come to terms with all aspects of their sexuality. It is believed to be a reassuring, healing, calming stone. Lapis lazuli:Honoured as a royal stone by the ancients, this blue and gold stone has always been used to help create a link between reality and the realm of intuition. Egyptian high priests used to wear it ground up as eye makeup and in jewellery during rituals. It is thought to be good for anyone undergoing spiritual awakening or instruction in a particular religion. Malachite:Said to be good for the stomach, liver, kidney stones, respiratory system, immune system, vision and the circulatory system. It is often used to help ease pain, inflammation, depression and anger, and to stimulate psychic vision and concentration. Opal:The common misconception that opal is unlucky is due to Sir Walter Scott’s fictional story Anne of Gererstein, but opal is in fact considered to have profound magical, spiritual and healing powers. Opals are said to enhance intuition and positive beliefs as well as bring luck and money to business leaders. They are also thought to reveal the state of your physical and emotional energy, being dull when energy is low and brilliant when it is high. Pearl:Thought to be a gem of hope and inner strength. If a pearl loses its lustre, it is unlikely to regain it or attract good energy; crystal enthusiasts believe when it has lost its life force a pearl becomes dull. Quartz:Generally a term for a number of crystals, including amethyst and topaz, but clear quartz is the substance used to make crystal balls. Rose quartz is thought to have special powers to attract affection and is used in love spells or at times of high emotion, like the break-up of a relationship or a bereavement. Along with amethyst, no person serious about crystals would be without this versatile, powerful stone, believed to emit a form of electrical energy that helps to stimulate psychic powers. Many people believe that wearing quartz crystals benefits a person’s health and spiritual wellbeing. Quartz is typically used to rid an environment of unhealthy vibrations and electromagnetic toxins. In magic quartz is used as a protective amulet against evil and for spells, and for centuries quartz has been used to enhance a person’s ability to foretell the future. Ruby:Thought to boost blood circulation and to attract love, courage, confidence, vitality, stamina and strength, and to help one triumph over adversity. Sapphire:Thought to be a stone of control that can help you overcome temptation and guide your thoughts to higher things. Also thought to be good for reducing fever. Tourmaline:Thought to be a stone of transition, both physical and emotional, and to help people through the processes of birth, menopause and death, as well as other rites of passage. It is believed to be good for people who feel the world is against them and for those who have a great need to forgive - especially themselves. Turquoise:An ancient symbol of the sky, this stone is thought to benefit lungs and throat, and because it contains a good deal of copper it is believed to be a superb conductor for the healing force. It is also good for those terrified of speaking in public or of appearing physically or emotionally weak. Practitioners of modern-day crystal therapy believe that the stones’ ability to work as conductors allow them to focus energy by way of a person’s thoughts to stimulate healing - both physical and non-physical - and thousands of people worldwide swear by the use of crystals to help a variety of mental, emotional and physical problems. Many people who work with crystals believe that the stones choose whom to work with, not the other way round. But whatever you believe you need to be selective with the stones you use. Once selected it is suggested that you should never let anyone touch your crystals, and should programme’ it to attune to your particular energy. Each crystal should be cleansed before use to clear any stored energy, by either soaking it in salted water or by wrapping it in silk and burying it in the ground for 24 hours. CURSES Associated with black magic and intended to cause someone harm, curses are deliberately malevolent or vengeful oaths, spells or invocations of spirits directed against another person by psychic means. See also Psychic attack. D (#ulink_5a1e01fa-f4a1-5fc6-adbf-349520dff717) DACTYLOMANCY An ancient form of divination involving rings. A ring was tied to a string, or dropped into a bowl of water, with the position of the ring at the end of the string, or at the bottom of the bowl, determining the answer or response to the question asked. Dactylomancy is thought to be one of the earliest forms of divination involving the use of pendulums. DAGG POLTERGEIST Poltergeist activity that eventually manifested itself as a speaking entity in 1889 on a farm in Quebec owned by George Dagg. According to records the activity began with streaks of animal faeces or manure appearing on the floor of the house. A young boy, Dean, was blamed; however, when the boy was out of the house the stains continued to appear, proving that he was not the cause. Soon the activity increased: windows were smashed, objects were thrown and fires broke out. This time the focus was identified as 11-year-old Dinah McLean, an adopted child of the family. In November 1889 an investigator named Percy Woodstock asked Dinah to take him to the woodshed where she had reported seeing a strange man. To Woodstock’s amazement, from the middle of the empty shed a few feet away came the clearly audible voice of an old man. It cursed them both in a deep, gruff voice, using language Woodstock would not record. It said, ‘I am the devil, I’ll have you in my clutches, I’ll break your neck.’ Woodstock talked to the voice for several hours, during which it admitted causing the fires, spreading the manure, smashing the windows and moving objects. Eventually it calmed down and admitted it was only doing the haunt-ings for fun. A crowd soon heard about the phenomena and gathered around the house and woodshed, where the entity allegedly performed incredible feats for the audience. Woodstock organized a statement signed by 17 witnesses acknowledging that they had seen the phenomena of flying stones and a mouth organ playing by itself: To whom it may concern: We, the undersigned, solemnly declare that the following curious proceedings, which began on the 15th day of September, 1889, and are still going on, on the 17th day of November, 1889, in the home of Mr George Dagg, a farmer living seven miles from Shawville, Clarendon Township, Pontiac County, Province of Quebec, actually occurred as below described. 1st, That fires have broken out spontaneously through the house, as many as eight occurring on one day, six being in the house and two outside; that the window curtains were burned whilst on the windows, this happening in broad daylight whilst the family and neighbors were in the house. 2nd, That stones were thrown by invisible hands through the windows, as many as eight panes of glass being broken; that articles such as waterjug, milk pitcher, a wash basin, cream jug, butter tub and other articles were thrown about the house by the same invisible agency; a jar of water being thrown in the face of Mrs John Dagg, also in the face of Mrs George Dagg, whilst they were busy about their household duties, Mrs George Dagg being alone in the house at the time it was thrown in her face; that a large shelf [mouth organ] was heard distinctly to be played and was seen to move across the room on to the floor; immediately after, a rocking chair began rocking furiously. That a washboard was sent flying down the stairs from the garret, no one being in the garret at the time. That when the child Dinah is present, a deep gruff voice like that of an aged man has been heard at various times, both in the house and outdoors, and when asked questions answered so as to be distinctly heard, showing that he is cognizant of all that has taken place, not only in Mr Dagg’s family but also in the families of the surrounding neighborhood. That he claims to be a discarnated being who died twenty years ago, aged eighty years; that he gave his name to Mr George Dagg and to Mr Willie Dagg, forbidding them to tell it. That this intelligence is able to make himself visible to Dinah, little Mary and Johnnie, who have seen him under different forms at different times, at one time as a tall thin man with a cow’s head, horns and cloven foot, at another time as a big black dog, and finally as a man with a beautiful face and long white hair, dressed in white, wearing a crown with stars in it. What is of particular interest is that the entity made itself visible in a variety of guises to Dinah and the two younger children of the house - as a devil, a black dog and a man in white robes. Finally, when the entity had got the attention it craved, it was said to have departed from the farm singing beautiful music in the sky. Sceptics argue that Dinah and the children may have been responsible for the whole phenomena, tricking their parents into believing an entity existed, but this does not explain how they could convince a whole crowd of adults. The case has never been resolved but some experts believe that the poltergeist, having finally got some attention, calmed down and went away. According to this theory, poltergeists can act like humans at times, perhaps behaving badly out of boredom or a need to attract attention. Once they get the attention they want their disruptive behaviour ceases. DAPHNOMANCY A form of divination that predicted the future through burning a branch of laurel in an open fire. If the laurel burned with a good crackling sound this was a good omen, but if the laurel burned slowly and quietly this was a bad sign. The practice dates back to ancient Rome where a sacred grove of laurel trees was planted by each emperor when they ascended to the throne. In the year AD 68 the laurel grove withered and died. This was the same year Emperor Nero died and the long line of Caesars came to an end. DAVENPORT BROTHERS The Davenport brothers conducted one of the most popular and successful s?ance acts of the nineteenth century. Ira Erastas and William Henry Davenport added the spirit cabinet to the medium’s repertoire and their sophisticated performances amazed and mystified audiences all over America and Europe. Ira Davenport was born in Buffalo, New York on 17 September 1839, and his brother William two years later, on 1 February 1841. Their father, a New York policeman, was interested in stories of rappings reported in nearby Rochester and decided to try a sitting at home with his family. Almost immediately they got results and Mr Davenport would later tell friends that the boys and their younger sister Elizabeth levitated about the room. The family began to hold regular s?ances and at one in 1850 the family made contact with their spirit guide, an entity named John King. It was King who allegedly told the family to rent a hall and give public performances, and in 1855, the boys went on stage for the first time, aged 16 and 14. At first their act consisted of table tilting and rapping but soon the Davenport brothers began to introduce new phenomena, such as floating musical instruments playing under their own power and playful spirit hands that touched and pulled at audience members. By the end of the year the brothers had introduced escapes from complicated rope bindings and knots into their s?ances and, what would eventually become the signature for their act, the spirit cabinet. The cabinet was a box, similar to a closet, which would be erected on stage. A sceptical member of the audience would be asked to bind and tie the brothers inside the cabinet, making it seemingly impossible for them to escape. However, as soon as the cabinet doors were closed, and the lights turned off, spirit music would play and disembodied hands would appear through apertures that had been left open on the exterior walls. On occasion, a volunteer from the audience would be placed between the brothers in the cabinet. A few moments after the doors were closed the volunteer would be tossed out of the box with a tambourine on his head. When the doors were opened the Davenports would be found tied up, in exactly the same way they were before. The act was billed as a s?ance and created a sensation. Although the brothers never admitted to being mediums - leaving that to the audience to decide - and critics labelled them mere stage magicians, spiritualists hailed their act as genuine proof of spirit phenomena. In 1864 Southern preacher Jesse Bab-cock Ferguson joined the brothers to act as master of ceremonies. He travelled with them on their controversial but successful four-year tour of Europe, and claimed to know of no occasion when their phenomena were not genuinely paranormal. William died suddenly in July 1877 on a trip to Australia and Ira, lost without his brother, retired from performing. During his retirement he was interviewed and befriended by the magician and anti-spiritualist Harry Houdini. According to Houdini, Ira confessed that the brothers were expert conjurers, not spiritualists, but had got carried away with the public’s enthusiasm for all things supernatural. Ira explained many of the brothers’ escape tricks, such as rubbing their hands with oil so that they could slip out of the ropes more easily, and employing as many as ten hidden accomplices at a time. The most important part of their escapes took place during the binding, when they managed to get plenty of slack into the ropes by twisting, flexing and contorting their limbs. Once they relaxed, the ropes could be easily slipped off. Despite their natural ability many people remained convinced that they were spirit mediums and that Houdini’s testimony contradicted the signed statements of distinguished believers and reporters. Newspaper accounts, such as the one below, which appeared in the conservative London Post, gave them credit for producing miracles. The musical instruments, bells, etc., were placed on the table; the Davenport Brothers were then manacled, hands and feet, and securely bound to the chairs by ropes. A chain of communication (though not a circular one) was formed, and the instant the lights were extinguished the musical instruments appeared to be carried about the room. The current of air, which they occasioned in their rapid transit, was felt upon the faces of all present. The bells were loudly rung; the trumpets made knocks upon the floor, and the tambourine appeared running around the room, jingling with all its might. At the same time sparks were observed as if passing from south to west. Several persons exclaimed that they were touched by the instruments, which on occasion became so demonstrative that one gentleman received a knock on the nasal organ which broke the skin and caused a few drops of blood to flow. With the media in awe of the brothers and convinced of their powers, it is hardly surprising that spectators were equally amazed and that the Davenports - who were never caught cheating once in their performing career - created a sensation. DAVIS, Andrew JACKSON [1826–1910] A nineteenth-century medium who was able to detail the creation and spiritual evolution of the world through trance revelations, Andrew Jackson Davis was born in Blooming Grove, Orange County, New York on 11 August 1826. Davis’s family was poor and he had little formal schooling, drifting from job to job. In 1843 he began work as a clairvoyant after discovering that under trance he could see through the body as if it were transparent and make astonishing medical diagnosis. In March 1844 Davis went into a trance and wandered about 40 miles from his home into the Catskill Mountains, where he had a series of mystical visions of Galen, the Greek physician, and Emanuel Swe-denborg. Repeated visions convinced Davis that he was to serve as an oracle of divine truth, and he moved to New York City with S Silas Lyon, a botanic doctor who was to act as his mesmerist. Within a few months Davis selected Rev William Fishbough, a Universalist minister, to be his scribe and in November 1845 the three men began their work. In their New York apartment Lyon would hypnotize Davis. After a few minutes Davis would go into shock and become rigid and cold, hardly breathing. Then Davis would begin talking and Fish-bough would write everything down. Typically there would be three witnesses watching the dictation. Edgar Allan Poe was frequently present. The most influential visitor was a professor of Hebrew at New York University, George Bush, and he endorsed the accuracy of Davis’s trance pronouncements, calling Davis the greatest prodigy since Swedenborg. It took around 157 sessions for The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind, By and Through Andrew Jackson Davis, the Poughkeepsie Seer and Clairvoyant to be written down and published in 1847. It was an overnight success and the 21-year-old Davis became an instant celebrity. He did not get instantly wealthy though, as he assigned all copyright of the book in trance to Lyon and Fishbough. The book seems rambling and dense to the modern reader but in the mid-nineteenth century people were fascinated by complicated creation, philosophy and religious theories. Covering a huge range of topics, from the evolution of the solar system and the biological history of earth to the life of Jesus and the precepts of Swedenborg, Davis defined God as the great positive mind that is by its nature progressive. According to Davis, after death man progresses through the celestial spheres to the seventh sphere, where he becomes one with God’s infinite mind, wisdom and love; throughout the book he gives hope to readers for future regeneration, both in the secular and the spiritual world: It is a truth that spirits commune with one another while one is in the body, and the other in the higher spheres, and this, to when the person in the body is unconscious of the influx, and hence cannot be convinced of the fact: and this truth will ere long present itself in the form of a living demonstration. And the world will hail with delight the ushering in of that era when the interiors of men will be opened, and the spiritual communion will be established. Davis claimed to have had little or no formal schooling and critics, recognizing creation theories and spiritual concepts of the likes of Robert Chambers and Swedenborg, accused him of fraud. It is unlikely that Davis could have recited from all these texts under trance but some believe that Davis simply had a remarkable memory. On 31 March 1848, Davis predicted the birth of spiritualism when he wrote in his diary that he felt a warm breath on his face and a voice telling him that the good work had been done and a living demonstration was born. It was on that day - 31 March 1848 - that the Fox sisters allegedly first made contact with a spirit from the afterlife. Davis continued to lecture and write about divine philosophy and healing for the next 30 years, until he became a legitimate physician at the age of 60 with a medical degree. In addition to healing, another subject that interested him was the discovery of electrical vibrations, as early evidence of psi. Despite being hailed by the spiritualist movement as their John the Baptist, Davis faded into obscurity in his later years. He ran a bookshop in Boston until his death in 1910, where he sold occult literature and prescribed herbal cures to patients. DAY OF THE DEAD A festival held every year that brings the living and the dead together for a great feast and celebration, to remember the dead and placate them for another year. It often involves parties, songs, parades and special foods. Ceremonies for the dead are part of Chinese and Japanese culture but perhaps the most elaborate ceremonies occur in Mexico on 2 November, All Souls’ Day. A few days before, offerings of food and toys for children who have died are placed on clay altars. Around midnight the spirits of the dead children are thought to come and enjoy their presents. On All Souls’ Day itself children enjoy special food and adults prepare an even bigger feast; altars are decorated with skulls and bones made from bread for the spirits. Later in the day neighbours go from house to house sharing memories of the deceased, who are thought to gather to listen to what is said about them. No dead soul is neglected for fear it may become sad or angry. These visitations last all night and are followed by a mass early the next morning, at which time the dead return to their graves. After a day of rest everyone goes to the cemetery to enjoy a picnic with the departed so that they can rest happily until they rise again to mingle with the living next year. DEATH The opposite of life, ceasing to exist. Also a personification of the destroyer of life, typically represented as a skeleton holding a scythe. Dying, when all bodily functions cease, is the great unknown that neither religion nor science has been able to fully explain or understand. Because it is unknown and inevitable, death has always both fascinated and terrified the living. Some cultures, such as the Egyptians and the Christians of the Dark Age, have been absolutely obsessed by it. All cultures have had their own myths about it. Most people see death as a time of sorrow and regret but some religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, see it as a blessed release for the soul that has gone. Funerals are a time for great rejoicing as to cry and mourn will literally hold the soul to the earth. For psychics and mediums, who say they can communicate with the dead, and those who have had near-death experiences (i.e. they have technically died and have been revived to tell their story), death is almost always described as a beautiful process. However much pain the physical body is experiencing the moment the soul gets into the astral body this disappears and there is a feeling of lightness and peace. Typically a loving soul appears to tell them that their work on earth has not been completed and they need to go back. That marvellous feeling of peace and oneness, however, stays with them and the person is left with an understanding that death is not the end but simply the end of a cycle, for the soul goes on eternally learning lessons and seeking perfection. DEATHBED VISIONS Visions experienced by the dying. Most are visions of the afterlife, glowing entities of light and apparitions of the dead known to the person dying, or great religious or mythical figures such as the Virgin Mary. Deathbed visions are extremely significant because they provide evidence in support of life after death. Although most religions and cultures believe in an afterlife, Western science believes that consciousness cannot exist separately from the body and death is the destruction of the personality. Deathbed visions have been recorded in the literature of all ages and have been researched scientifically since the late nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century Sir William Barrett, professor of physics and a psychical researcher, conducted the first systematic study of such visions. Barrett’s interest in the subject was fuelled by his wife, an obstetric physician, who told him about a woman who spoke of seeing a vision of great beauty and seeing her dead father and sister before she died. What impressed Barrett was the fact that although the woman’s sister had died a few weeks earlier there was no way she could have known that. The next systematic study of deathbed visions took place in 1960, when American Society for Psychical Research investigator Karlis Osis collected information from doctors and nurses on thousands of deathbed visions in the US and India. Other studies followed, including an Indian survey in 1972. The findings and observations found in these studies confirmed those made by Barrett. Typically deathbed visions occur to those who die gradually from a terminal illness or injury rather than those who die suddenly. Many of the visions are of apparitions of dead loved ones or family members known to the dying person, such as parents, siblings and spouses, or beings of light perceived as mythical or religious figures. The purpose of these apparitions - called take away apparitions - appears to be to command the dying to come with them and thus assist them in the transition to death. The response of most of the people dying to these visions is one of happiness, peace and a willingness to go. Their mood changes from one of suffering to one of radiance and joy. Approximately a third of deathbed visions involve a vision of the afterlife, which is typically described as a beautiful garden. Some see apparitions there, others see streams, bridges and boats and other symbols of transition. Again the emotional response is one of great happiness and peace. The great majority of visions appear just before death with the patient dying shortly afterwards. There are various natural explanations given for deathbed visions. Drugs, fever, disease, the brain suffering oxygen deprivation, hallucinations and wish fulfilment have all been given as possible causes. Although they are plausible explanations, Osis’s research showed clearly that deathbed visions are most likely to occur in the fully conscious and that medical factors do not trigger visions. Wish fulfilment is not a likely explanation either because visions appear both to those who believe and to those who do not believe in an afterlife, and also appear to those who want to recover and live. Finally there have also been reports by the living who are in attendance to the dying of clouds of silvery energy floating over the body, as well as take away apparitions and angels. Deathbed visions are significant not just because they suggest the possibility of survival after death, but because they also demonstrate that the moment of transition to death should not be feared. If reports of deathbed visions are to be believed, for the person who is dying death can be a wonderful and beautiful experience. DEATH CHART Used with the birth chart of astrology this is a means of forecasting the date or time of death. DEATH OMENS In folklore a death omen is a sign of an impending death. Every culture has its own unique death omens. Death is frequently foretold by the appearance or behaviour of certain animals, insects or birds associated with the afterlife. Black birds - crows, owls, ravens, rooks - are often though to be death omens when they appear in a village or cluster around a house. The howling of a dog or a black cat crossing the path are also thought to be signs that portend the death of someone nearby. Spiders are often associated with death, and according to American, British and European lore the deathwatch beetle, which makes a ticking or tapping sound during the summer months as it bores into wood, is considered the harbinger of a death in the family. Death omens can be natural occurrences, for example the way wax drips from a candle, or accidents, such as a chair falling over backwards as a person gets up, or signs of nature, such as cloud shapes or star formations. They can also be supernatural occurrences, such as candles and lights that flicker in the night - see corpse candles and corpse lights - or the appearance of an apparition, such as the banshee, or a phantom coach with a headless coachman, or spectral black dogs, or other animals. DECATUR HOUSE The haunted house of one of America’s most celebrated naval captains in the war of 1812, Stephen Decatur. Located in Lafayette Square, Washington, DC Decatur House is said to be haunted by the ghosts of both Stephen and his wife, Susan. Stephen Decatur moved to Washington with his wife in 1818 after the war ended. He was admired and even considered a presidential hopeful, but unfortunately for him, in 1807 he had served on the court-martial board of his friend, Commodore James Barron. Decatur had agreed with the rest of the board that Barron should be court-martialled, starting a feud that ended in Decatur’s death at Barron’s hands during a duel 13 years later in Bladens-burg, Maryland (duelling being illegal in Washington). On 14 March 1820, the morning of the duel, Decatur was mortally wounded and taken home to die. His wife was so broken-hearted she could not bring herself to look at him or to live in the house after he had died. A year after his death his apparition was allegedly seen looking sadly from the window where he had stood on the eve of his death. The window was walled up but this did not stop the ghost returning. Later sounds of a woman weeping - said to be Susan Decatur - were also heard. Residents of Washington still report seeing Decatur’s spirit peering out of the second-storey window or slipping out the back door of his house with a black box under his arm, just as he had done on that fateful day of the duel. DECLINE/INCLINE EFFECTS Terms used to describe phenomena witnessed in psi testing. The decline effect is a term used to describe the diminishing of psychic ability when tested. The incline effect refers to an increase in ability. Experiments to test psychic ability tend to show that the decline effect occurs more often than the incline effect. Some gifted individuals score highly consistently but many gifted test subjects, who have scored highly in the initial tests, report a loss of spontaneity and enthusiasm during a run of tests. This may be due to the fact that the perception of psi is a very subtle process and without feedback a subject has no way of judging his or her success. Another major factor is boredom as many tests involve repetitive tasks such as guessing numbers or cards. DEDUCTIVE PSYCHIC INTUITION Psychic images that come from the unconscious mind’s ability to take in external sensory stimuli. The unconscious mind is a kind of storage facility, absorbing and storing all the stimuli, such as pictures, sounds, noises and so on, we are constantly being bombarded with but can’t process all at once, as this would lead to information overload. When the conscious mind - the part of the mind that is objective and in charge of reasoning and making decisions - has a question about something that it just cannot answer, the question will go to the unconscious mind, which will mull over the problem and rely on its stored data to come up with a response. In the meantime the conscious mind goes on to another subject and forgets what it was looking for, but the unconscious keeps hard at work until, out of nowhere, an insight appears. This is deductive psychic intuition at work. See also Random psychic intuition, Goal-focused intuition. DEE, JOHN [1527–1608] Official court astrologer to Queen Elizabeth I, admiralty spy - with the code name 007 - and transcriber of the angelic Enochain alphabet of alchemy and magic, John Dee was one of the most learned and remarkable occultists of his day. It is thought that Shakespeare used him for his model of the magician Prospero in The Tempest. Dee was responsible for setting the date of Elizabeth’s coronation by casting a horoscope to find the most auspicious day, but he is perhaps best known for his relationship with medium Edward Kelley Dee was greatly interested in communicating with spirits and employed Kelley for the sum of ?50 a year. The two men believed themselves to be in contact with a number of entities, including an impatient angel called Ave. It was Ave who dictated to Kelley, with Dee recording, the text of an entirely new system of magic in a language called Enochain. Dee and Kelley were also associated with the divinatory art of scrying (crystal gazing). Their experiments in crystal gazing, using a shewstone that is now in the British Museum, began in 1582 and continued to 1587. Kelley may have had some psychic ability but he was undoubtedly a scoundrel as well. On one occasion he managed to persuade Dee that the spirits had instructed them to ‘hold their wives in common’, an arrangement that broke down within a matter of weeks when the less gullible wives began to get suspicious. Kelley also persuaded Dee to leave his position at court and concentrate on producing gold alchemically When this failed the Queen took pity on Dee and reinstated him as a rector of a small college, but he was never to regain his earlier prestige. D?J? VU An expression of familiarity that is unexpected, d?j? vu is the sensation of having been to a place or experienced a situation before. The French term for ‘already seen’ can apply to feelings, thoughts, places, dreams, meetings and living in general -whenever something familiar seemingly happens for the first time. The idea was first introduced to science in 1896 by F L Arnaud. Studies conducted on d?j? vu suggest that it is a common experience, with more than half of those polled reporting instances of d?j? vu. It also seems more common in children and women than men. The phenomenon is thought to be a psychological process where the unconscious mind is stimulated to recall past events of a similar nature that somehow get mixed up with the present event. Some feel that it is evidence for reincarnation, memories of past lives being pushed to the surface of the mind by familiar surroundings or people in the present. Some say it happens when one draws on the collective memories of mankind - see collective unconscious -while others believe it to be the result of out-of-body experiences during sleep, or other extra-sensory phenomena. DEMON/DAEMON To the ancient Greeks daemons, from the Greek word daimon meaning ‘divine power’, ‘fate’ or ‘god’, were intermediary spirits between the gods and humankind, rather like guardian spirits. They could be either good or evil. Good daemons were supportive and encouraging but evil daemons could lead people astray with bad counsel. The Christian Church labelled all such pagan spirits as evil, which is why daemons, better known to us today as demons, are traditionally associated with evil. For centuries demons have been blamed for a host of ills and misfortunes including demonic sexual molestation, where a demon masquerades as a man or woman to molest its victim. Many possession cases in the Middle Ages involved sexual molestation by demons, although this may have been more to do with repressed humans than supernatural activity. In many cultures and religions demons have been exorcised. In Catholicism cases of demonic possession - in which demons battle for a person’s soul - are dealt with by formal exorcism rites that date back to 1614. DEMONANCY Also called necyomancy A form of divination that calls on demons to reveal the truth of a matter or of future events. This is done by summoning spirits via an oracle or occult magic. Demons, however, are reputedly perverse, so the accuracy of any predictions made is thought to be unreliable. Moreover, some demons are believed to be hard to control and, if they are able to free themselves from the constraints put on them, they can take over the body and soul of the summoner. DEMONOLOGY The study of demons or malevolent spirits and their powers, attributes and derivations. Demons were thought to be extremely evil and extremely clever, masters in the art of persuasion. Humans had to be constantly on their guard against them. In 1580 philosopher Jean Bodin claimed that: It is certain that the devils have a profound knowledge of all things. No theologian can interpret the Holy Scriptures better than they can; no lawyer has a more detailed knowledge of testaments, contracts and actions; no physician or philosopher can better understand the composition of the human body, and the virtues of the heavens, the stars, birds and fishes, trees and herbs, metals and stones. The hierarchy of demons was much discussed among theological experts in the last centuries. According to Alphonse de Spina (1467) there were ten types of demon: Fates that can change destiny. Poltergeiststhat cause mischief. Incubi and succubi - demons who stimulate lust and perversion. Hordes—demons that bring conflict. Familiars that assist witches. Nightmares that disturb sleep. Demons formed from human semen. Disguised demons. Demons that trouble the saintly. Demons that instigatewitchcraft. DEPOSSESSION Also known as spirit releasement. Depossession is practised all over the world and is the exorcism of human and non-human spirits, such as elemental spirits and demons thought to be attached to an individual and causing physical, mental and emotional distress. American psychologist Edith Fiore used depossession in her past-life therapy, believing that in regressing patients to past lives interference from attached spirits could be observed. According to Fiore, amongst about 70,000 cases 70 per cent were unaware that they were showing signs of spirit attachment, such as mood swings, chronic pains, illnesses and addictions. Most spirits are thought to be those of humans who have died but not left the earthly plane. They are believed to attach themselves to humans during moments of poor health and emotional weakness. Depossession is typically accomplished by persuading the spirits that they need to leave, and patients subsequently say they feel much better afterwards. Depossession was common practice at the height of the popularity of spiritualism, but the first medically trained person to approach mental illness as caused by spirit possession was the American physician and psychologist Carl Wickland. Wickland and his wife, Anna, a medium, attributed all sorts of mental illness to confused spirits trapped in the auras of living people. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the Wicklands depos-sessed a large number of their patients. They used a static electricity machine that transmitted low voltage electric shocks to the patient, causing the possessing spirit distress and forcing it into Anna’s body and then to leave. If the spirit resisted, Wickland called on spirit helpers to keep the spirit in a ‘dungeon’, out of the aura of Anna or the victim, until it stopped its selfish quest and departed. DERMOGRAPHY Skin writing. Although dermography is similar to stigmata it has one very essential difference: stigmata last for years or an entire lifetime, skin writing usually lasts only for a few minutes. Some cases appear to be genuine, such as that of Charles H Foster cited by Nandor Fodor in his Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (1934): Charles H Foster, the ‘Salem Seer’, gave abundant demonstrations of the phenomenon. Before the Dialectical Society Edward Laman Blanchard told the story of how the name of his father appeared in red letters on the arm of the medium and immediately afterwards, in answer to a question, the numbers 24 on the palm of his hand, indicating the number of years since his death. The phenomenon was very rapid, the letters and numbers disappearing in the sight of those present without the arm of the medium being withdrawn. Dr Ash-burner examined Foster’s skin-letters under a powerful magnifying glass. He observed clearly that they were in relief and that the colouring matter was under the skin. Foster’s biographer, George C Bartlett, describes an amusing incident. A certain Mr Adams came to consult Foster. He saw the room filled with spirits in his presence. About two o’clock the next morning he woke up, complained to Bartlett that he could not sleep as the room was still filled with the Adams family. They were writing their names all over him. To his astonishment Bartlett counted eleven distinct names, one written across Foster’s forehead, others on his arms, and several on his back. Fraud in skin writing is thought to be widespread. Given the sensitive skin of neuropsychopaths writing may appear in a few minutes after the letters are directly traced on to the skin by any blunt instrument or the nails. Many ‘mediums’ of skin writing burn up a pellet on which a question or name is written. They then rub their forehead or arm with the ash, which gives the opportunity for covertly tracing the message. DEVAS From the Sanskrit meaning ‘shining’, in Hinduism and Buddhism devas are believed to be exalted beings with great powers. In Theosophy and occult traditions they are a class of beings midway between angels and elemental spirits, having special authority over the world of nature. In modern times devas are popularly thought to be nature spirits, in charge of the elemental spirits of air, water, fire and earth. They are invisible and etheric in nature, inhabiting the astral plane. They communicate with people by psychic means, such as channelling and ESP. It is thought that the channelled wisdom of devas was responsible for the location of the Findhorn community in Scotland. DEVIL An evil spirit or demon and the supreme personification of evil. The word devil is derived from the Hebriac Satan via the Greek diabolos, but over the centuries the devil has collected a number of other names, including Beelzebub, Lucifer, Belial, Abaddon and Asmodius. In modern times the theologically conceived supreme embodiment of evil that the devil represents accommodates in one supernatural being all that is evil, ugly, perverse and unjust in the world. DEVIL’s MARK A name given by demonologists and medieval witch-hunters to a scar, blemish or mark on the skin said to be imprinted by the devil as a seal or sign of his possession of the person. The finding of such marks became an important business of the expert pricking that took place at many witch persecutions. Devil’s marks were said to be insensitive to pain and pricking pins into such areas was supposed to draw no blood. DICE TEST DIY psychokinetic test: dice Concentrate your mind upon the throwing of a six. You can speak or shout at the dice but you may not in any other way influence it. If you score a six write this down. Do this 30 times. How many sixes did you score? 8+: There is less than 1 per cent chance of attaining this score. Good evidence for psychokinetic ability. 7: Psychokinetic potential high - there is less than 8 per cent chance of attaining this score. 6: Psychokinetic potential still likely as this is above chance. 3-5: Within the area of chance. 2: Less than 3 per cent chance of attaining this score. 1: High psychokinetic potential but working backwards - less than 1 per cent chance of attaining this score. Experimental technique used in psi testing for investigating psychokinesis, the psychic power of the mind to influence objects, in which a subject attempts to influence the fall of dice, for example, by trying to throw more sixes than any other number (chance would give a success rate of 1 in 6 correct throws). DICKENS, CHARLES [1812–1870] The author of perhaps the most famous of all ghost stories, A Christmas Carol, Dickens also wrote a number of less-well-known ghost stories, including The Haunted Man and The Haunted House. As well as writing about the paranormal Dickens held a tremendous interest in the study of ghosts and spirits. He went to extraordinary lengths to gain access to some of Britain’s haunting hotspots to experience the unknown for himself. DICTIOMANCY A form of divination where a question is asked and a dictionary opened at random. The first word seen is interpreted as an answer or comment to the question asked. See also Bibliomancy. DIEPPE RAID CASE Reports by two Englishwomen on a seaside holiday at Puys, Dieppe in France of ghostly sounds from the World War II air and sea battle fought at Dieppe. The case was widely documented in the 1950s by paranormal investigators and is thought to be an example of collective auditory hallucinations. On the morning of 4 August 1951 both women were awakened by loud noises of gunfire, shellfire and men shouting and crying out. The women could find nothing to account for the noises and later, when they asked if other people had heard anything, they got negative replies. The accounts they gave of the sounds and noises showed strong consistencies with a fierce battle that took place in Dieppe on 19 August 1942. Although the women knew a battle had taken place there, they knew none of the details and the information in the guidebook was not enough to match their description to the real event. When interviewed by psychical researchers the women came across as well balanced and with no desire to court publicity. Sceptics proposed other explanations for the experience, such as noise from the surf or aeroplanes flying above, but none of these could explain the remarkable accuracy of the accounts the women gave. DIRECT VOICE MEDIUMSHIP The independent speaking of a spirit voice that does not seem to emanate from any living person in a given environment and without using the medium’s vocal cords. Commonly associated with the s?ances of the early Spiritualist movement, direct voices seem to come from out of thin air or through a medium’s trumpet, which was specifically used for this purpose. Most early spiritualists used direct voice communication, although some, like Ohio farmer Jonathan Koons, whose spirit room was famous in the 1850s for voices that sang ‘unearthly songs’, were more proficient at it than others. According to some spiritualists the voices were made possible by an artificial voice box, constructed by spirits and activated by ectoplasm. Nineteenth-century records of direct voices talking at the same time as the medium or from different locations attest to their authenticity, but direct voice mediumship was always at risk of being exposed as ventriloquist fraud. In the twentieth century the practice became very rare indeed, with most mediums receiving information from spirits and relaying in their own voices. However from the 1940s to the 1970s medium Leslie Flint of England became famous for giving what appeared to be genuine direct voice readings. Flint was investigated and tested by several psychical researchers but the possibility of fraud was ruled out. The most dramatic test took place in 1970 in New York, when Flint’s mouth was sealed with plaster and a microphone placed down his throat. No evidence of vocal activity could be found while direct voices seemed to speak from above and slightly to the left of his head. DISCARNATE ENTITY/DISEMBODIED SPIRIT Terms used to describe a spirit, ghost, or other non-physical or non-material entity contacted during a s?ance or other sitting by a medium. Discarnate entities once had an earthly body (incarnate existence) but now they are dead they have become discarnate - from the Latin dis ‘without’ and caro, ‘flesh’. This is in contrast to other entities, which have just existed in the spirit realm. They are called ‘disembodied spirits’. DISNEYLAND’s HAUNTED MANSION In the early 1960s Walt Disney began developing plans for a mansion using secrets of the magic trade to create illusions of ghosts and spirits. In 1966 when Disney died, building work halted, but the attraction finally opened in 1969. There have been several sightings of ghosts over the years and many believe that real ghosts haunt the place. One of these ghosts is thought to be that of a man who died when his plane crashed in a nearby lake. Referred to by employees as ‘the man with the cane’, he is often seen late at night, especially after closing. Another spirit is the so-called ‘Man in a tuxedo’, who is said to occasionally appear as a reflection in the mirror used by attendants to see visitors in the area where they disembark. One female employee resigned immediately after seeing the figure of a man wearing a tuxedo in the mirror when there was no one present to create a reflection. She also reported feeling a chill and a hand placed on her shoulder. Another ghost sometimes seen is said to be a crying boy near the exit. According to legend his mother scattered his ashes secretly inside the Mansion when Disney officials forbade it, and it seems this isn’t what the little boy wanted. Sceptics argue that the artificially created haunted atmosphere of the place triggers the imagination and creates illusions that seem real. It’s also possible that Disney and his design team threw in a few secrets and surprises to baffle tourists, but most people who visit the haunted mansion find the experience unusually chilling and eerie. DISPLACEMENT First documented in 1939 by Cambridge University psychical researcher Whitely Carrington, and now observed as a common occurrence, displacement is lack of synchronization in psi testing. For example, a person asked to give the order of a pack of playing cards or ESP cards may be one or two cards ahead or behind in sequence. Displacement also occurs in pre-cognitive dreams and psychic readings, when difficult or challenging information is placed out of context or buried in non-threatening information or symbols. Parapsychologists call displacement ‘psychic noise’ and believe it to be caused by the absence of earth time in the higher planes where psychic insight functions and the psychic association of a group of potential targets that are difficult to tell apart. DIVINATION The art or practice of foretelling the future to discover hidden knowledge, find the lost or identify the guilty by the interpretation of omens or by supernatural powers. All divination is an attempt to communcate with the divine, higher spirit realm or supernatual or to learn the will of the gods. If a distinction is to be made with fortune telling, divination has a formal or ritual or social character, while fortune telling is a more everyday practice for personal purposes. Sceptics often dismiss divination as mere superstition but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence for the efficacy of divination. Others believe that divination is the process by which messages from the unconscious mind are decoded and that these messages have a supernatural source. Divination is a universal phenomenon that has served a social function in most religions and cultures throughout history as a means of solving problems and resolving conflicts. The responsibility for divination typically falls to a prophet, priest, medicine man, shaman, witch or other person with psychic powers. In ancient civilizations divination was often a royal or holy function, used for guidance in matters of war or state and to forecast natural disasters. Many courts employed astrologers. In ancient Greece a special caste of priests, called augers, interpreted natural phenomena such as cloud and smoke paterns. The Greeks consulted horoscopes, dreams and oracles for divination purposes, the most famous oracle being the one at Delphi, near Mount Par-nasus. In tribal and shamanic cultures divination is a sacred function performed by shamans who go into a trance to consult spirit helpers. In the East divination is more an accepted part of daily life than it is in the West where it has been criticized strongly by the Church and by the scientific community. Despite condemnation, however, divination has not been eradicited in the West and the majority of people remain open minded and curious about the possibility of seeing into the future. There are hundreds of different types of divination, but they can be classified as belonging to one of two categories: direct communication with gods and spirits through visions, trance, dreams and possession, or the interpretation of natural or artificial signs, lots or omens via a system. The most common example of the latter involves the sorting or casting of bones, stones, beans or other objects, with conclusions drawn from the patterns of their fall. Two well-known divination methods - the I Ching and the Tarot - are of this type. When a card, coin or stick is selected the randomness of the action allows the spirits or gods to affect the outcome and give a message. Scientific research has shown that it is possible to predict future events, e.g. weather forecasts, but this is not divination. Unlike science, divination assumes the influence of some supernatural force. Divination methods range from the accepted and well known, such as astrology, palmistry and Tarot, to the forgotten, such as entomancy (divination interpreting the appearance and behaviour of insects), to the bizzarre, such as uromancy - divination by reading the appearance of urine in a pot. Most terms associated with divination end in ‘mancy’, from the Greek manteia (divination), or ‘scopy’ from the Greek skopein (to look into or behold). A diviner is someone who foretells future events based on the practice of divination. DIXON, JEANNE [1918–1997] A modern-day psychic who claimed to be able to predict the future. Information came to her in the form of dramatic visions. According to her supporters Dixon accurately foretold the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, John F Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy. She also predicted the launch of Sputnik and the sinking of the submarines USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, as well as the unexpected presidential defeat of Thomas Dewey by Harry Truman, the landslide election of Dwight Eisenhower, the demise of Nikita Khrushchev, and the plane crash that killed UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskj?ld. Jeanne Dixon, who was told by a gypsy when she was eight years old that she would become a great psychic, also made hundreds of trivial predictions about celebrities and insignificant events and earned the dubious nickname of ‘gossip prophet’. As she explained it, ‘When a psychic vision is not fulfilled as expected, it is not because what has been shown is not correct; it is because I have not interpreted it correctly’ Like Nostradamus (C. 1:60) and St John (in the Book of Revelation 8: 10-12), she prophesized that Earth will be struck by a comet. Her timing, however, was premature: I have seen a comet strike our Earth around the middle of the 1980s. Earthquakes and tidal waves will befall us as a result of the tremendous impact of this heavenly body in one of our great oceans. And like several other prophets, Dixon also has foreseen the advent of the Antichrist and the False Prophet: Satan is now coming into the open to seduce the world and we should be prepared for the inevitable events that are to follow. I have seen that the United States is to play a major role in this development. Ms Dixon believed her powers were a gift from God. She made little financial profit from them, making it a policy not to charge fees and to donate income to a children’s charity. Sceptics argue that her predictions were vague, wide open to interpretation and often completely inaccurate or wrong. They also believe that the media played a part in the cult surrounding her. The term ‘Jeanne Dixon effect’ is used to refer to a common ploy used by ‘psychics’ to make dozens of predictions knowing that the more that are made, the better the odds that one will prove accurate. When one comes true, the psychic counts on people conveniently forgetting the 99 per cent that were wrong. The term also refers to the tendency of the mass media to hype or exaggerate a few correct predictions by a psychic, guaranteeing that they will be remembered, while ignoring the much more numerous incorrect predictions. DOLPHINS In classical mythology dolphins are associated with the soul’s journey to the underworld, and in Christian myth the dolphin represents salvation through Christ. To many alternative therapists dolphins are a symbol of healing and emotional release. This may have something to do with the fact that dolphins live in water. Water in many traditions (including that of astrology) is related to feeling and emotion. Dolphins invite us to enjoy water in its physical form and also to swim freely and flow with our feelings. We can also learn from their breathing patterns. The dolphin breathes deeply, holds its breath while underwater, and then exhales explosively. This is an excellent breathing pattern for releasing tension. Dolphins and humans have had a special bond for centuries. Swimming with dolphins is thought to have remarkable healing benefits, especially for those suffering from learning difficulties. In the words of the Greek essayist Plutarch: ‘The dolphin is the only creature that loves man for his own sake.’ Indeed, dolphins are highly intelligent animals that appear to enjoy human company for its own sake, perhaps enjoying the observation of our antics and as much as we do theirs. DOMOVIK In Russian folklore the domovik is a spirit with a grey beard that typically lives behind the stove in every home. He is always referred to as the grandfather or he - never by his personal name. Traditionally it is the spirit of the ancestor that founded the family and it moves with the family from house to house. The domovik is believed to watch over the family, keep evil spirits away and occasionally help out around the house. If, however, family members do something that displeases the domovik it is said to resort to poltergeist activity, and that can include burning down the house! DOORS As a universal symbol of opening and new possibilities it’s not surprising that there are many superstitions concerning doors and spirits. Most of these superstitions are concerned with keeping ghosts from entering homes or letting ghosts escape to the afterlife. For example, it is widely thought unlucky to enter a house via the back door, as traditionally corpses are carried out the back door. Opening doors and windows when there has been a death in the house is thought to help the spirit leave the corpse. A circle chalked on a door is believed to prevent evil spirits from entering, and slamming a door several times during a row is believed to trap a ghost between the frame and the door and force it to leave. DOPPELG?NGER/DOUBLE The appearance of a double of a living person, thought to be a death omen, or bilocation - the astral body of someone having an out-of-body experience. ‘Dop-pelg?nger’ comes from the German, meaning ‘double walker’. The belief in the spirit or soul existing in a double is ancient and widespread. The ancient Egyptians said the soul had a double or Ka, and a special kind of tomb, called the house of Ka, was reserved for the double. Doubles are said to be exact copies of the living person and are usually seen at a location distant from them. As a death omen there are reports of seeing doubles just as the individual in question is about to die. The double usually appears real but has a ghostly, filmy look about them and can sometimes act mechanically. In some rare cases, such as that of the poet Shelley who saw his own double before drowning, the double appears to the dying individual him or herself. As well as being a death omen, many psychical researchers who have examined cases of doppelg?ngers believe they are projections of consciousness that somehow take on a form resembling reality. This can happen involuntarily or it can be accomplished at will. English medium Eileen Garrett suggested that the double is a clairvoyant projection that can be manipulated to develop supernatural powers. DOWDING, AIR CHIEF MARSHALL LORD HUGH [1882–1970] The hero of the Battle of Britain Air Chief Marshall Lord Hugh Dowding claimed on numerous occasions to be in contact with the spirits of the dead, especially airmen who had served with him or under him in both world wars. Dowding was a prominent member of the London Ghost Club and took an active part in many investigations of allegedly haunted locations with the organization. DOWSING Also known as divining, rhabdomancy and water witching dowsing is a form of divination performed using a forked stick, pendulum or rods to find hidden things, in particular underground water, minerals and oil. Today it is used to locate lost objects, buried treasure, mineral deposits and water wells, and to diagnose illness. Dowsing is an ancient practice with unknown origins, however it is thought to date back at least 8,000 years. Wall paintings, estimated to be about 8,000 years old, discovered in the Tassili Caves of North Africa show tribesmen surrounding a man with a forked stick, possibly dowsing for water. Ancient Chinese and Egyptian artwork depicts people using forked tools in possible dowsing activities. Dowsing may have been mentioned in the Bible, although not by name, when Moses and Aaron used a ‘rod’ to locate water. It was in the Middle Ages, however, that the first unambiguous written accounts of dowsing come, when it was used to find coal deposits. In seventeenth-century France, there are records of a man called Jacques Vernay a stonemason by trade, who used his dowsing talents to successfully track criminals. However, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, dowsers were often thought to be practitioners of evil. Martin Luther described dowsing as ‘the work of devil’ -hence the term ‘water witching’. How the dowsing technique was first discovered and how dowsing works is unknown, yet those who practise it are convinced that it does work. Dowsing is still very much in use today in archaeological digs, searching for minerals and missing persons and in alternative healing, when the dowser swings a pendulum over the patient’s body to determine the location and cause of illness. It is not widely known but petrochemical companies employ dowsers to confirm underground sources of oil and gas, and dowsers have also made a contribution towards the understanding of mysterious earth energies, such as those represented by ley lines. The American Society of Dowsers estimates there may be as many as 30,000 dowsers in the United States, but despite this, dowsing still struggles to be regarded as a legitimate field. How you can dowse Dowsers say that anyone can have a go at dowsing because, like psychic ability, it is a hidden power that all humans possess. And, like any other ability, such as learning a musical instrument, the more you practise and learn your strengths the more you will define your abilities. Here are some steps for a do-it-yourself dowsing test. 1 Decide which dowsing tool you want to use:Forked stick: This is a Y-shaped tree branch (most often from a willow). The dowser holds the branch parallel to the ground at the top of the Y shape, and then starts to walk. If he or she passes over the hidden object the end of the branch is pulled down, pointing to the correct spot.L-shaped metal rods: For this method two L-shaped metal rods (easily made from a pair of coat hangers) are held in each hand parallel to the floor, and if the dowser passes over the hidden object the rods swing apart or cross each other.Pendulum: Some dowsers believe it is sufficient to hold a pendulum overa map is sufficient.If the pendulum begins to move in a circle or back and forth they know they have located the hidden object. Pendulums are also used for diagnosing illness.Your bare hands: Some exceptionally skilled dowers seem to be able to dowse without a tool, claiming that they feel a resisting force when they locate the hidden object. 2 Ask someone to bury a metal object or bottle of water in the garden just a few inches below the surface. 3 Before starting, mentally ask your dowsing tool to indicate to you when you are passing over the hidden object. 4 Walk slowly in any direction you like, concentrating on the object and trying to remain open and sensitive to the movements of the dowsing tool. 5 If your dowsing tool reacts or you simply ‘get a feeling’ that helps you make a decision about the location of the object, stop and see if the spot indicated is correct. If not, keep trying at different times of the day to see if you have ability for dowsing. Dowsing has attracted some well-known names from history, including Leonardo de Vinci, Robert Boyle (considered the father of modern chemistry) and Charles Richet (a Nobel Prize winner). Albert Einstein was also convinced of the authenticity of dowsing: I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as they do astrology, as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time. Some believe there may be a psychic connection between the dowser and the hidden object. According to this theory all things - living and inanimate - have an energy force and the dowser, by concentrating on the hidden object, is somehow able to tune in to the energy force field or ‘vibration’ of the object, which, in turn, forces the dowsing rod or stick to move. In other words, the dowsing tool may act as a kind of amplifier or antenna for tuning into the energy and it is common for the dowser to find a tingling sensation, chills or shivering when the object is located. Recent experiments in Russia have shown that dowsing rods can be sensitive to electromagnetic fields and that almost anyone can learn to dowse - although women tend to be more successful at it than men. Scientists believe this may be because unknown force fields respond better to the polarity in women’s bodies. Sceptics argue that dowsing is a matter of luck and that those with a high rate of success just have good instincts for where objects or water may be found. For both believer and sceptic there is no definitive evidence either way. DOYLE, Sir ARTHUR CONAN [1859–1930] Renowned for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories, Sir Authur Conan Doyle is also regarded by many as one of the founders of spiritualism. During the years 1885 to 1888 when Conan Doyle was a physician in Southsea, he was invited to participate in table-turning sittings at the home of one of his patients. He wasn’t convinced of the amazing phenomena produced - or the medium’s integrity - but it aroused his interest in the subject, and shortly after he joined the Society for Psychical Research. Almost immediately Conan Doyle participated in a series of experiments that convinced him that telepathy was genuine. He continued to investigate paranormal phenomena for the next 30-odd years, until finally, at the peak of his literary career in his late fifties, he took the bold step of publishing two books that firmly associated him with spiritualism: The New Revelation and The Vital Message. His critics suggested he was merely grief-stricken over the loss of his son, Kingsley who had died of pneumonia, but Conan Doyle denied this. He said instead that a year after his son’s death, he attended a sitting held by a Welsh medium who he believed truly had made contact with his son. ‘It was his voice and he spoke of concerns unknown to the medium’, he said. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most impressive book on spiritualism is the two-volume set The History of Spiritualism, and it is essential reading for all serious students of the subject. Conan Doyle was involved in a number of public controversies over spiritualism. In the late 1920s, while he was president of the London Spiritualist Alliance, a medium sanctioned by the Alliance was charged with fortune-telling (it was illegal at the time), and the Alliance was fined, ?800. Conan Doyle wrote a public protest in The Times, suggesting that this was persecution of spiritualists. He also urged that the Fortune Telling Act be modified, and only six days before his death in July 1930, he led a petition to this effect. A week after his death, a large spiritualist reunion was held in London, where a chair was left empty in his honour. A respected medium of the day said she saw him in the chair and offered a personal message from the great writer to his family. Since then dozens of mediums have claimed to receive messages from the author. DRAGSHOLM CASTLE Dragsholm Castle is one of Denmark’s best-known haunted castles and many investigations there by psychical researchers have yielded positive results. Located in Zeeland, Dragsholm was built in the twelfth century and became the residence for kings and several noble families. It is thought that the castle has three ghosts: a grey lady, a white lady and the ghost of the Earl of Bothwell. The grey lady is seldom seen but is thought to be the ghost of a woman who served in the castle and who had terrible toothache. She was cured and is said to return now and again to see if everything is in order, and as a thank you for her cure. The other two ghosts are believed to be considerably less happy and thankful than the grey lady as both met their deaths in the castle in particularly unpleasant manners. The white lady is said to be the daughter of one of the many owners of the castle. She fell in love with a commoner and when her father found out he was so angry that he imprisoned her inside the thick wall of the castle. It is said that every night she returns to the castle and walks around the corridors, and there have been plenty of reported sightings of her. There is factual evidence to back this story up; in the 1930s, when the old walls of the castle were torn down, workers found a hole in the wall and a skeleton with a white dress in it. The castle also has old cellars for prisoners. In the 1500s the Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was incarcerated there for five years and died mad in the cellar in 1578. It is said that every night he comes riding into the courtyard of the castle with his horse and carriage. DREAMCATCHER Considered to be a talisman to ensure restful sleep and productive dreaming, the dreamcatcher is a North American device hung above the bed to dispel nightmares and retain the essence of good dreams. Use of the dreamcatcher by Native American cultures is based on an old Lakota folktale about a spiritual leader to whom the god Iktomi, the great teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. As he gave advice about the cycles of life, the importance of working with nature and of taking good advice when it was offered, rejecting bad advice, Iktomi began to spin a web. When the web was completed it had a hole in the centre. Iktomi gave it to the elder saying: ‘Use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals and make good use of people’s ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your great ideas, and the bad ones will go through the hole.’ DREAMS Everyone dreams. It is estimated that in an average lifetime a person will spend approximately 25 years asleep and experience at least 300,000 dreams, regardless of whether these dreams are recalled on awakening. Researchers believe that babies dream the most, children dream for four or five hours a night and adults for one or two hours. Animals also appear to dream. Research from the University of Chicago has shown that dreams occur during the rapid eye movement (REM) period of sleep, which occurs for between five and forty minutes every sixty to ninety minutes of sleep. Most people only remember the last dream prior to waking but if they are woken up during earlier dream periods they will recall other dreams. Unless written down immediately on waking most dreams fade within a few minutes. Dreams usually occur in colour but seldom have smells or taste, and this may be due to the fact that only visual brain neurons fire during REM. Almost all dreams use metaphors to deal with issues in the life of the dreamer, and every event in the dream is believed to have some kind of significance for the person dreaming it. A brief history of dreams People have always been fascinated by dreams and what they mean. All primitive religions viewed dreams as ways for the spirits or deities to speak to humans. The earliest known dream dictionary dates back around 4,000 years. Now called the Chester Beatty Papyrus it came from Thebes in Upper Egypt and is kept in the British Museum. In the Chester Beatty Papyrus dreams are interpreted and translated as omens or prophecies. For example, dreaming that your teeth fall out is interpreted as a loved one trying to kill you. In ancient Greece dreams were also thought to be unlucky or lucky predictions. Around AD 200, Artemidorus, a dream interpreter who lived in Asia Minor, wrote a book about dream interpretation that suggested that dreams were continuations of the dreamer’s day. The Old Testament makes countless references to dream interpretation. The importance of dreams and their meanings were prominent in the writings of the Early Church Fathers, including St Augustine, up until the time of St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) who regarded dreams as insignificant; for several hundred years afterwards, dreams were no longer considered important. Even Shakespeare called them ‘children of the idle brain’. Although dream interpretation did continue to be an important part of the service of magicians and astrologers, this dreams-should-be-ignored school of thought persisted until the nineteenth century. Then along came psychiatrists Sig-mund Freud and Carl Jung, the two men who have had the greatest impact on the way we look at dreams today. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) opened the door to the scientific study of dreams with his book The Interpretation of Dreams; he considered dreams to be the ‘royal road to the unconscious’ and believed them to be wish fulfilment of repressed sexual desires from childhood. To interpret dreams Freud used a method called free association in which the dreamer says whatever comes to mind in relation to events in the dream. Freud’s work paved the way for the work of Carl Jung (1875-1961). Jung considered dreams to be expressions of the contents of the collective unconscious, a source of shared knowledge that exists within us all. Jung believed the purpose of dreams was to offer guidance and information about the self. They were the language of the unconscious and they could tell us about the state of our inner lives; to ignore dreams was to court disaster. Even though dream symbols from the collective unconscious have universal or archetypal meanings, according to Jung, only the dreamer could interpret the dream’s true meaning, not an outsider. There have been other theories since Freud and Jung but for the most part dreams are regarded as tools for change, growth and wellbeing. No one knows how, but dreams seem to be able to link the conscious (waking) mind with the hidden part of the mind called the unconscious or intuition and by so doing they provide a rich and powerful inner resource that can enhance life considerably. Today dream interpretation is extremely popular, with people from all walks of life using dreams as unique and very personal sources of comfort, guidance and inspiration. Dreams, health and creativity Scientists tell us that dreaming is essential to our mental, emotional and physical health and wellbeing, because dreams can help us relax, release frustrations, sort out information, solve problems or alert us to them, play out fantasies, offer inspiration and restore balance. There are numerous famous examples of dreams offering inspiration. Solutions to problems, ideas for inventions and artistic endeavours have all found their way to the conscious mind via dreams. Mary Shelley dreamed of the creature that was to become Frankenstein. Other famous literary dreamers include Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charlotte Bront?, Robert Louis Stevenson and J R R Tolkien. Paul McCartney heard a haunting melody in one of his dreams and wrote it down. It became the song ‘Yesterday’. Inventions and ideas that have sprung from dreams include the model of the atom, the M9 analogue computer, the isolation of insulin in the treatment of diabetes and the sewing machine. Dreams and the paranormal Dreams of the dead are viewed in the West from a psychological perspective and not as actual encounters with ghosts, but many believe that the dead appear in dreams because they have a purpose: usually to offer advice and instruction, as happened in the Chaffin Will case. Some dreams involving the dead are also thought to be death omens. In the eighteenth century Lord Lyttelton dreamt of a fluttering bird and a woman in white who told him he would die in three days’ time. Despite his best efforts to prove her wrong, Lyttleton died as predicted. Although dreams that focus on communication between the living and the dead have been accepted in many cultures since ancient times as proof that the dead have the ability to interfere with the lives of the living, dreams have also always shared a strong link with supernatural powers, in particular with precognition and telepathy. Although rare, precognitive dreams are ones in which you see the future before it happens. The ancient Chaldeans, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Native Americans all believed dreams were a method of foretelling the future, and even today there are instances when people claim to have dreamt of things before they happen. Many people, for example, claim to have had dreams of the 9/11 World Trade Center disaster before it happened. There are also stories of people who cancel trips or flights because of a foreboding dream or people who dreamt the winning lottery numbers. There is strong evidence that some precognitive dreams warn about future health problems. Jung noticed that if his patients dreamt of injury to a horse - the archetypal symbol of animal life within the human body - they were often in the early stages of serious illness. A 1987 study at Michigan State University showed that cardiac patients who dreamt of destruction were far more likely to have worse heart disease than those who did not. Dreams also serve as a preparation for death, with terminally ill patients sometimes reporting transitional dreams of crossing bridges or walking through doors just before death. These dreams often bring peace of mind. Dream telepathy has interested psychical researchers since the late nineteenth century. The founders of the Society for Psychical Research in London collected numerous dream telepathy cases in their study of paranormal experiences published in Phantasms of the Living (1886). Interpreting your dreams Have you ever wondered why dreams are often hard to make sense of? It’s because the information they contain is presented in the language of images and the number of images your brain can present is endless. Dream experts believe that the images are your own thoughts, feelings and ideas turned into a series of pictures or scenes and it’s up to the individual to translate and interpret them. Your unconscious mind is working all the time using images, feelings and pictures from your past and present and linking them in with the issues currently concerning you. For example, if you feel stressed you may have a dream where you are swimming and can’t keep your head above water. If you feel confused you may have a dream where you are lost in a dark wood. Some of these images can be universally recognized - a boat, for example, is typically is a symbol of transition - but most of the images in your dreams can only really be interpreted by you. That’s \ why a dream dictionary isn’t always helpful as the interpretations in there will be universal and not unique to you. A good way to uncover the meanings of your dreams is by free association. You simply go with the first thing that pops into your mind when recalling an image you had in a dream. For example, if you dream of a dog what are the first thoughts that come into your mind when you think about dogs? Forget about universal associations; what are your personal associations with dogs? What a dog means to you and what a dog means to someone else may be entirely different. Perhaps you had an unpleasant encounter with a dog once and rather than being symbols of love, loyalty and devotion dogs represent fear and trauma for you? The more you work with your dreams the more familiar you will become with your personal images. Always bear in mind that your dream symbols and images will be unique to you. What do you think your dream is trying to tell you? A number of other telepathic dream studies have been conducted since, the most famous of which is perhaps the one conducted at the dream laboratory of the Mai-monides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York from 1963-1974. When subjects were in REM stages of sleep, a person in another room attempted to transmit images to the sleeping subject and the correlation of dream images was significantly above average. Some dreams are interpreted as having past-life content. Recurring dreams which involve the same action, people and scenery are thought to be memories from past lives that have lingered for some reason and the dreamer needs to work out why. Others are thought to be out-of-body experiences when the astral body travels - seven out of ten people experience the sensation of flying in their dreams at some point in their life. Another type of dream is the lucid dream, in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and is able to influence the content of the dream and, in some instances, its outcome. Many believe that dreams are a powerful way to connect with and harness psychic power. Studies of ESP experiences show that dreams are involved in between 33 and 69 per cent of all cases. In precognitive cases dreams are involved around 60 per cent of the time and in telepathic cases dreams are involved around 25 per cent of the time. Most of us forget our dreams immediately on waking. There is so much to do when the new day starts and the wonderful world of meaning dreams can reveal to us is neglected. According to a Jewish proverb, An unremembered dream is like an unopened letter from God.’ To work with your dreams you do need to remember them. Keeping a dream journal and recording your dreams as soon as you wake will help your dream recall. If dreams are not written down they will fade away. The technique of dream recording is simple. You leave a notepad and pencil within reach of your bed and immediately on waking you write down whatever you can remember about your dream - the people, the colours, the places, the events -every detail, however small, is significant. DREAMTIME Similar to Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious, dreamtime is an Australian Aboriginal belief of a psychic realm that is shared by everyone. Dreamtime is not separate from the real world; it inhabits the part of our consciousness that can be accessed in meditation, trance or in dreams. Aborigines typically believe that all life is spiritually interconnected and that the human race originated in dreamtime before taking human form. Dreamtime is the land’ to which the spirits of the Aboriginal dead must return, and it is the dimension from which shamans draw their psychic power. DROP IN COMMUNICATOR A mysterious entity, entirely unknown to medium, sitter or anyone present, who appears without warning and without an invitation at a s?ance. Sceptics argue that drop ins are constructs of the medium’s unconscious but many psychical researchers who have investigated drop in cases believe them to be genuine. They are seen as possible evidence to support the belief that mediums do actually contact the spirits of the dead and are not simply manifesting secondary personalities or demonstrating their powers of clairvoyance or telepathy. On rare occasions drops ins are accompanied by phenomena such as table tilting, mysterious lights, apports and strange sounds and smells, and occasionally they speak in a language the medium is not fluent in. Many cases are inconclusive but in the best cases the information a drop in communicator brings is personal and has never been made public, but can be verified by a small group of friends or family members. Some drop ins are said to be very talkative, revealing personal information that can be verified upon research. One of these was ‘Harry Stockbridge’, who dropped in on a Ouija board s?ance of a group meeting in Cambridge, England between 1950 and1952. Stockbridge claimed to be a second lieutenant in the Northumberland Fusiliers who had died on 14 July 1916. The information he gave was verified through old military records. Other drop ins have a motive or task they are intent on accomplishing. One of these was the case of Runolfur Runolfs-son who, according to reports, dropped in on medium Hafsteinn Bj?rnsson in 1937. Runolfsson was a rough, hard drinking Icelander who had drowned in 1879; his corpse was picked apart by birds. After several sittings Runolfsson revealed that he wanted to find his missing thighbone. Runolfsson’s identity was verified and his thighbone discovered and buried. DRUGS The use of drugs and the visions they induce in religious ceremonies is an age-old practice. Opinions vary greatly as to whether certain drugs can stimulate genuine psychic experiences or not. Some believe that drugs can duplicate mystical experiences and heighten the emotions, and are of value to psychotherapy. Others believe that drug-related experiences are simply illusions. There have been a number of tests on drugs and their effects on psi ability since the 1920s. Both caffeine and alcohol have been shown to both improve and depress test results. Marijuana and other strong psychedelic drugs, such as LSD and mescaline, which loosen the boundaries of ego generally, trigger too much instability to yield meaningful conclusions. In general results have been largely inconclusive as drugs affect each person differently. Most psychics would discourage the use of mind-altering drugs, believing that true insight and power can only be created or raised from within, not from without. DRUIDS, DRUIDRY A Celtic priestly class in Britain and Europe during the first centuries BC and AD, the Druids were widely known as visionaries and prophets. They were also thought to preach a doctrine of reincarnation believing in the immortality of the soul, which, after death, travelled to the underworld, entered a new body and lived again on earth. The Druids followed pagan traditions of nature and goddess worship and possessed knowledge of magic, healing, astronomy and sacred geometry. Druid means ‘knowing the oak tree’ in Gaelic and the robust oak tree was sacred to the Druids. Their reverence for tree wisdom is expressed in their alphabet, the Ogham, which consists of different tree symbols each embodying the elemental wisdom of the particular plant. The Romans feared the Celts and found their rituals - some of which may have included human sacrifice - ignorant and barbaric. In AD 43 Druidism was banned and the sacred oak demolished, plunging the European Celts into decline (although those at the margins of the Roman Empire, for example in Ireland and Scotland, survived). Interest in the Druids was not renewed until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when they were romanticized in literature. The Ancient Order of Druids was formed by British carpenter Henry Hurle in 1781 and other groups followed. There are modern Druids in the UK and US today. Becoming a Druid means a lifetime of study through three levels to reach spiritual awareness. The first level is that of the Bard. Bards learn to understand the creative and magical power of sound. The second level is that of Ovate, where the student learns to alter their consciousness using methods such as astral travel. The third level is that of the Druid, and when this level is achieved the student is considered a master of his or her craft with the power to divine the future and access the power of nature. DRUMMER OF CORTACHY Ghostly drumming said to portend the death of a member of the Ogilvy family, the earls of Airlie and owners of Cortachy Castle, Scotland. According to lore, which dates back to medieval times, it is said that a messenger who arrived one day at the castle with unpleasant news was stuffed into a drum and tossed over the castle walls. Just before he died he vowed to haunt the family forever, and for hundreds of years after it was said that whenever ghostly drumming was heard a member of the family died. One of the most famous drumming cases happened during Christmas in 1844, when a guest staying at the castle triggered a panic when she heard the drumming and asked the Earl and his wife where the sound was coming from. Lady Airlie died six months later, leaving a note saying that she knew the drumming was for her. Some believe that panic and fear about the curse brought about her death. The drumming stopped in 1900 when the then Earl died in the Boer War and nobody heard the drumming - or admitted that they had heard it. DRUMMER of TEDWORTH In 1661 in Ludgarshall, Wiltshire, an anonymous drummer annoyed residents with his constant drumming. Eventually the drummer was arrested and his drum confiscated. The drum eventually ended up in the house of John Mompesson who lived in the neighbouring village of Tedworth and was responsible for the arrest of the drummer. During Mompesson’s absence on a business trip in London violent poltergeist activity erupted in his house terrifying his family and servants. For days on end drumming was heard both inside and outside the house, objects were moved about, voices spoke and the younger children were levitated in their bed. The disturbances went on for two years and drew widespread interest from curious visitors. Aside from the constant beating drum other phenomena included the sound of footsteps, floating candles, disembodied voices, animal noises, chamber pots emptied on to beds, knives found in a bed and money turned mysteriously black. Meanwhile the drummer turned up in custody again and was put into Gloucester gaol charged with theft. During this time he claimed to be responsible for the activity at Mompesson’s house, as revenge for taking away his drum, and this lead to his trial for witchcraft. He was condemned to transportation and forced to leave the area. Many years later the drummer returned to Tedworth from time to time, and whenever he did the disturbances began again. The house was only quiet when he was gone. DRURY LANE theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, is the oldest theatre site in London (save the rebuilt Globe), the original theatre having been built in 1663. It has a long history packed with intrigue, romance and murder, and there have been numerous sightings of ghosts. King Charles II, who gave the theatre its Royal Charter, is said to visit now and again, but the theatre’s most famous ghost is the Man in Grey, so named for his eighteenth-century long grey coat, tricorn hat, powdered wig and sword. He is said to come and watch the play from the balcony, where he slowly walks from one end to the other only to disappear into the wall. He is often seen at rehearsals and his presence is considered very lucky - when he appears during rehearsal the play tends to be successful. Another ghost is thought to be that of twentieth-century comedian Dan Leno. Leno’s ghost has allegedly been spotted in the dressing room he used last before his death. DUDLEY town, CONNECTICUT Dudley town is an abandoned eighteenth-century village in the woods of Cornwall, Connecticut and one of the most curious haunted locations in America. Members of the Dudley family were among the first to settle into the area in the mid-1740s, earning their living by cutting lumber to fuel iron production in a nearby town. It wasn’t long before there were reports of strange beasts and apparitions and a host of strange, unusual and violent deaths, suicides and corpse mutilations. Over the years many people, believing that the Dudley family were cursed, left Dudley town, and by 1900 it was mostly deserted. During the 1920s a man called Dr William C Clark set up a summer home in the abandoned town. One evening he came back from a business trip to find his wife talking hysterically about the apparitions and demons that had visited. She killed herself soon after. Even today some visitors to Dudley still report disembodied voices whispering and laughing. A woman on a white horse has been spotted, among other apparitions. People also hear wagon wheels and other sounds of the past. Curiously few living sounds are heard, as birds and animals never seem to settle in the area. This may be due to lack of sunshine as, being in the shadow of three mountains, the town receives little natural light, but others believe that Dudley is an area of negative energy that attracts evil spirits and entities. DUPPY A ghost of West Indian tradition and unknown origin, regarded as the personification of evil, i.e. the Devil. The duppy allegedly operates only at night and is required to return to the grave before dawn; if it is prevented from doing so for any reason, the spirit forfeits its power to do harm to any living person. West Indians believe that the breath of a duppy will make a victim violently ill, while the mere touch of the spirit will induce epileptic fits and seizures. The duppy can allegedly be summoned by a secret ritual to do the conjurer’s bidding, and the traditional method to keep the duppy at bay is to place tobacco seeds around the doors and windows of the home it comes to plague. See Voodoo. DYBBUK The Hebrew word dybbuk comes from a word meaning ‘cleaving’ or ‘clinging’, and according to Jewish lore a dybbuk is a wandering, disembodied, evil spirit which enters a person’s body and holds fast. The kabbalah contains many instructions for exorcising a dybbuk, some of which are still performed today. When exorcised the dybbuk is thought to leave the body via the small toe and leave a bloody mark there on departure. In early folklore dybbuk were thought to only inhabit the bodies of sick people and possessive evil spirits and exorcisms to banish them appear in the Old Testament. However, by the early sixteenth century many Jews believed that a dybbuk could not enter an innocent body, because of its past sins, and could only inhabit the body of a sinner. It was also thought that dybbuk were the souls of people not buried properly and they therefore became demons. Transmigration of souls and reincarnation are not parts of mainstream Judaism but the dybbuk offers a revealing glimpse of the supernatural in the Jewish tradition. E (#ulink_4bff5631-a1cf-5252-84a2-238bc9019725) EAR of DIONYSIUS A famous example of mediumistic cross correspondences. In this case, a series of communications that needed to be brought together before they made sense. A medium by the name of Mrs Willet first communicated the phrase ‘Ear of Dionysius’ when she went into a trance in August 1910. At the time the phrase meant nothing to the sitter, a Mrs Verrall, but her husband, the classical scholar A W Verrall, explained that the name was given to a huge abandoned quarry at Syracuse, which was roughly shaped like a donkey’s ear. In this place unhappy Athenian captives were confined from 405 to 367 BC and the peculiar acoustic properties of the cave were said to have enabled Dionysius the Tyrant to overhear his victims speaking. There was no more talk of the Ear of Dionysius for several years until, in January 1914, Mrs Willet produced, during an automatic writing session, a script for Mrs Verrall that contained a passage referring to the Ear of Dionysius. The script was allegedly sent by Dr Verrall, who had died a year or so before. The Verralls were supporters of the Society for Psychical Research, which stressed the importance of private communications as evidence for life after death, so it seemed likely that Verrall would try to communicate his survival after death to his wife in this way. For the next year Verrall, along with another communicator, S H Butcher, another dead classical scholar and a close friend of Verrall when they were both alive, reportedly began a series of communications to Mrs Willet that made allusions to Ulysses and Polyphemus. It wasn’t until August 1915, however, when a communication referred to a man called Philoxenus, who had been imprisoned for seducing Dionysius’s wife, that all the references eventually began to make sense. It seemed that a satirical poem of the passionate and tragic life of Philoxenus was being communicated, in which Philoxenus was portrayed as Ulysses and Dionysius as Polyphemus. The Ear of Dionysius case is often held up as an example of cooperation between two dead communicators and proof of survival after death. Sceptics, however, argue that only one medium was involved, not several as is more usual in cross correspondence cases, and Mrs Willet could have discovered the knowledge for herself from university research libraries. It’s also possible she managed to learn the key points through ESP when Verrall was alive and unconsciously wove them into her trance communications. EARTH In magical symbolism one of the four (or five) elements, corresponding to matter that is solid and to cold and dry qualities. Earth typically symbolizes order, both in nature and in society. It also represents the female principle, the nurturing and mothering aspect of Mother Nature and the material realm of money and business. The magical tool associated with earth is the bell. Earth colours are green or brown and earth is associated with the zodiac signs of Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. In Chinese philosophy earth is associated with the season of late summer and represents stability and practicality, but it is also the element involved in personal transformation. Dampness, the colour yellow, worrying and the sound of singing are also related to the earth element. EARTH LIGHTS Also known as ghost lights, earth lights are mysterious patches of light reported to have been seen at more than a hundred or so sites in remote locations, such as isolated buildings and mountain peaks, in the United States, Britain, Japan and elsewhere. The lights appear at random or regularly at some sites. They often bounce up and down, almost in a playful fashion, and are said to be red, orange, blue, yellow or white in colour. Earth lights have been linked to locations where sacred shrines have been erected by ancient peoples, and according to some Native Americans they are doorways to the world beyond. Others believe that earth lights are extraterrestrial in origin and convincing evidence of UFOs or some as yet unidentified electromagnetic energy. Research in the phenomenon of earth lights suggests that that they might be produced by seismic stresses beneath the earth which generate ionized gas that is released into the air near a fault line. Several locations where earth lights have been reported, such as the Brown Mountains in North Carolina and eight of the lochs in Scotland, are near major fault lines. Some lights have been shown to have natural explanations, such as car headlights, radioactivity from ore in the ground or the shifting of geological plates, but some, such as the Marfa lights seen southwest of the Chinati Mountains, Marfa, Texas, along with those seen in Joplin, Missouri, appear to be true mysteries that defy attempts to explain them. EARTHQUAKE EFFECT A phenomenon involving the room shaking as if there was an earthquake. The phenomenon is usually associated with the medium D D Home. ECKANKAR A patented form of astral travel devised by American guru Paul Twitchell (1908-1971). In a series of out-of-body experiences Twitchell claimed to have made contact with superior beings in the astral plane called the Eck Masters, who showed him this special technique for astral travel and taught him a series of complex, universal and comprehensive spiritual truths. It was on the basis of these truths that Twitchell founded the Eck-ankar organization in 1965: an international organization where followers can learn the truths and practise astral projection or ‘soul travel’ according to the methods and techniques revealed to Twitchell by the Eck Masters. Twitchell lectured all over the world, establishing 284 Eckankar centres in 23 countries. He claimed to use soul travel to heal, exorcise ghosts from haunted places, find missing persons and help others in their spiritual self-discovery. Twitchell was adored by his followers who called him Mahanta, the living embodiment of the God consciousness on earth. He died in 1971 and in 1986 the Eckankar headquarters moved to their current location in Minneapolis, Minnesota: www.eckankar.org/. ECTOPLASM From the Greek words ektos and plasma and meaning ‘exteriorized substance’, ectoplasm a whitish substance that allegedly extrudes from the mouth, nose, ears or other orifices of the medium during a s?ance. The phrase was coined in the late nineteenth century by French psychologist Charles Richet, who recorded the phenomenon in his own research with the ectoplasm-producing medium Madame d’Esperance. It is said to smell like ozone (a sweet, clover-like smell), to be either warm or cold to the touch and to appear either light and airy or sticky and jelly-like, with a structure that varies from amorphous clouds to a net-like membrane that can transform into limbs, faces or bodies of ghosts or spirits. If exposed to light the ectoplasm is said to snap back into the medium’s body, sometimes causing discomfort, pain and injury Many believe this substance to be the matter that composes one’s astral body and is the basis of all psychic phenomena. In experiments in the early 1900s, medium Marthe B?raud was said to produce masses of white or grey material during a sitting. She was thoroughly examined beforehand by a German doctor, Baron Albert von Schrenck-Notzing, to confirm that she wasn’t hiding anything. The Baron described B?raud’s ectoplasm as sticky icicles that ran down her face and onto the front of her body where they assumed faces or shapes. Perhaps the most well-known ectoplasm-producing medium was Mina Cran-don. Famous photographs from the 1920s show Mina with long strings of ectoplasm streaming out of her mouth, ears, nose and even from between her legs. Research into ectoplasm was conducted well into the twentieth century and analyses of small pieces of ectoplasm did in some cases, although not all, reveal fraud, with the use of substances such as muslin, toothpaste, soap, gelatine and egg white. Magician Harry Houdini once said that he couldn’t believe superior beings would allow the production of such disgusting substances from the human body. Interest in ectoplasm has declined but some modern mediums are still said to produce the phenomenon. EDGAR ALLAN POE HOUSE This tiny home on 203 N. Amity Street in Baltimore was once occupied by Edgar Allan Poe from 1832-1835. It is believed to be haunted - but surprisingly not by the famous author who had a fascination for all things paranormal. Poe only lived in the house for three years and it had several other occupants, including his grandmother, his aunt and his cousin, Virginia Clemm, who later became his wife. The house was taken over by the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore in 1941 and is now open to the public. There is a picture of Poe’s wife painted from her corpse on permanent display. Since the 1960s psychic phenomena, mostly centring around Poe’s attic room and Virginia’s bedroom, have been reported there, including lights turning mysteriously on and off, strange voices and noises, and windows and doors closing by themselves. There have also been sightings of the ghost of an old lady with grey hair, dressed in period clothes. None of the phenomena seems to be hostile but many residents of Baltimore, including street gangs, to this day report an irrational fear and anxiety about the place and prefer to stay away from it. EDGEHILL, BATTLE OF A famous case of phantom battle re-enactment. The battle of Edgehill was the first major, intense and bloody conflict of the English Civil War between the royalist forces of Charles I and the parliamentary forces of the Earl of Essex. It took place on 23 October 1642 about two miles southwest of Kineton and is said by some to be still witnessed today. The first account of phantom armies fighting was reported on 24 December 1642 by shepherds herding their sheep on the former battleground. They reported hearing voices and the screams of horses and then experienced a huge apparition of the battle in the sky. The shepherds reported the apparition to the local priest who went the following night and witnessed the phenomenon for himself. In the days that followed Charles I sent a group of investigators and they all witnessed the re-enactment too, with some even recognizing fallen colleagues. Their incredible experience is reported in a leaflet: The Prodigious Noises of War and Battle at Edge Hill. Near Keinton in Northamptonshire and its truth is certified by William Wood, Esq and the Justice of the Peace for the same County and Samuel Marshell, Preacher of God’s word in Keinton and other persons of quality. Psychical investigators believe that the re-enactment, which is still said to appear periodically to this day - although not typically as the full re-enactment but as phantom battle sounds - is caused by the restless, traumatized spirits of those who died that day. Sceptics argue that certain individuals may be influenced by the history associated with the place and mistake imaginative conjecture for reality. EEG [E alograp ENCEPHALOGRAPHY] A test that measures and records the electrical activity of the brain by using sensors (electrodes) attached to the head and connected by wires to a computer. The computer records the brain’s electrical activity on the screen or on paper as wavy lines. Certain conditions, such as seizures, can be detected by observing changes in the normal pattern of this electrical activity. Measurements of electrical activity in the brain have been instrumental in measuring stress, determining sleep patterns and monitoring body metabolism. They have also been used to detect what happens in the brain during psychic experiences, such as meditation and episodes of clairvoyance. ELECTROKINESIS A form of psychokinesis, electrokinesis is the ability to create and control electricity using only the powers of the mind. So far there have been no conclusive studies on or cases of factual electrokinesis. Electrokinetic ability allegedly causes the psychic to act as a human conductor, able to receive, store and transmit large to small quantities of electricity. There is also the act of draining electricity from electronically based devices and in return recharging them. Those who practise electrokinesis claim to be able to actually explode, start up or switch off electronic devices either via intense meditation and visualization or through overwhelming emotional response. Electrokinesis is mostly used by stage magicians as a part of their narrative when performing tricks that involve some form of electricity, such as lighting a lightbulb simply held in the palm. ELECtronic VOICE PHENOMENA [EVP] Communication from a voice recorded on a tape recorder from which there is no known source. EVP researchers believe the voices captured on tape are those of spirits of the dead, but sceptics argue that they are simply voices from radio or TV transmissions being picked up by the recording device. Interest in EVP began in the late 1920s when the famous inventor Thomas Edison predicted that one day there would be a machine to allow communication with the spirits. In 1959 EVP was said to have been discovered by accident by the Swedish filmmaker Friedrich J?rgenson. J?rgenson was recording birdsong when he discovered an unknown voice on his tape. On replaying the recording later he believed that he had recorded a message from his mother, who had died four years previously. EVP was further reported in the 1970s by Latvian psychologist Konstantin Rau-dive, who picked up unexplained voices in the background while recording something else. He began to record in empty rooms and still picked up voices, which were later thought to be messages from spirits of the dead. Raudive published his research, in German, in The Inaudible Made Audible, which was translated into English in 1971 with a new title Breakthrough. EVP voices are also called Raudive Voices in recognition of the extensive work he did recording over 100,000 voices. In the 1980s and 1990s there were thousands of EVP researchers at work devising machines and recording the phenomenon. Several organizations, including the American Electronic Voice Phenomenon in the United States, sprang into existence. Perhaps the most well-known and best-funded device was the ‘spiricom’, invented by George Meek, a retired engineer, with the alleged help of a discarnate scientist who communicated to him during a s?ance. Unfortunately the success rate of the spiri-com was poor but this did not stop Meek pursuing increasingly sophisticated ways to reach astral planes. Allegedly EVP voices are never heard during recording, only on playback. They are said to be either faint or clear and can speak or sing in a variety of languages. They are identifiable as men, women and children and according to reports the voices suggest that they can communicate through central transmitting agencies in the spirit plane. EVP has many enthusiastic supporters who believe the phenomenon is evidence of paranormal activity, but there are also many critics who doubt the recordings are genuine. Between 1970 and 1972 the Society for Psychical Research commissioned psychical researcher D J Ellis to investigate EVP voices, and he concluded that the sounds were susceptible to imagination and most likely a natural phenomenon. Other sceptics believe that the voices are caused by psychokinesis, when sounds are imprinted on the tape by the experimenter. DIY EVP There are many ways to attempt to record EVP voices, and enthusiasts tend to use highly sophisticated recording equipment, but perhaps the quickest and simplest way is to turn a recorder on and leave it running. Night-time seems to be the best time to reduce the risk of interference. Often headphones must be used to hear the voices. It is said that the attitude in which the experiment is approached is important and that an open minded, relaxed and positive attitude is best. Doubt has a negative impact on results. Despite poor experimental records EVP researchers continue to devote time and energy to finding a way to capture something on tape that proves life after death. In the last decade or so EVP has moved into other media, including TV, video and film cameras and computers. Researchers all over the world have reported images and voices appearing or coming from their TVs for which there is no known cause, as well as spontaneous printouts from computers. ELEMENT A natural or spiritual substance thought to be one of the fundamental energies of the universe with inherent power. Many belief systems have rituals and techniques to harness these energies and powers for boosting health or creating magic. Each culture has slight variations in the type and number or elements consulted. In Western traditions there are four elements: air, water, fire and earth. In Hinduism there are five elements: air, water, earth, fire and ether. In Taoism there are also five elements: earth, metal, water, wood and fire. ELEMENTAL DIVINATION Divination by means of the four elements: air (aromancy), fire (see pyromancy), water (see hydromancy) and earth (see geomancy). ELEMENTALS Indo-European nature spirits or angels believed to be manifestations of the four elements - water (undines), air (sylphs), fire (salamanders) and earth (gnomes). In addition, there are two other groups of nature spirits inhabiting magical elements - dryads (vegetation) and fauns or satyrs (animal life). In modern magical philosophy elementals are seen as conscious elements inhabiting the physical world. They have extensive powers over the elements they indwell and their powers are at the disposal of the magician who has mastered the elemental force within. Elementals are thought to be able to help bring desires or wishes into being and they are important in the practice of many magical traditions, such as druidry, alchemy and Wicca. In the latter they are called down during rituals to charge spells with the power of nature. In an occult sense it is thought that they can be created by an emotional thought form, and if suffused with enough energy by their creator they can cause problems through possession or as poltergeists. This is because as creatures of a single element they can have an unbalancing effect on the human psyche and too much contact with them can be upsetting and even dangerous. ELONGATION Term used to describe the elongation of a medium’s body while under spirit control. Historically, elongations were attributed to possession by gods or demons but by the third century AD similar experiences are reported with mediums. Elongations often feature in the data collected for canonization proceedings and some of El Greco’s paintings appear to illustrate saints that are ‘stretched’. Elongations were a common occurrence in Victorian spiritualist s?ances, the most well-known and reported being those of the famous Scottish medium D D Home, who allowed witnesses to measure him. At one of the test s?ances which Home undertook with Lord Adare and the Master of Lindsay, a journalist who was present, H T Humphries, wrote that Home ‘was seen by all of us to increase in height to the extent of some eight or ten inches.’ Elongations are still occasionally reported in s?ances, but no other medium has even been tested in the detailed way Home allowed. Sceptics argue that elongations are illusions and made possible with simple tricks such as slipping feet out of shoes and standing on tiptoe. Although trickery might have been the case in many instances, throughout his career as a medium, Home was never exposed as a fraud. EMPATHY The ability to tune in intuitively or psychically to the moods and characteristics of a person, animal or place. Empathy is a vital skill for clairsentients and may involve telepathy, but it can also simply be derived from an unconscious or conscious reaction to the body language of another person. Empaths are people with highly developed feelings of empathy to others and the world around them. They are particularly sensitive to feelings of pain and distress and in some cases physical and emotional pain may manifest in the empath’s own body as a result of sensing the pain of others, sometimes resulting in depression and fatigue. In some cases, empaths can sense illness before a person is aware of it, and a person’s death before it occurs. Empaths can also pick up information from places as well. For example, an empath may visit a house and sense particular suffering that has happened there in the past. Empathy from a distance is most likely to occur when there are strong emotional links between people. For example, twins and long-term partners often have empa-thetic links with each other and mothers are empathetic for their children. There is also evidence to suggest that animals exhibit empathetic links for each other and for their owners. See animal psi. Are you empathetic? Empathy occurs when we feel for others, both their joy and their pain. It is possible to develop empathy so strongly that just by touching someone you can feel or experience what that person does. We are all empathetic to some degree but some are more empathetic than others. If you answer yes to two or more of the questions below you should consider yourself somewhat empathetic: Are you easily persuaded by others? Do your moods change according to the people you are with? Do you find large groups of people overwhelming? Do you feel drained after being around people? Do you seem to know what others are feeling? Are you a ‘touchy-feely’ kind of person? Are you overly emotional at times? Do you have a tendency to take on the problems and worries of others? Do you have a hard time telling how you truly feel at times? Do children and/or animals take to you? For psychic development and clairsentient awareness empathy can be a valuable asset but it does, however, have a downside. If we are strongly empathetic, someone else’s feelings, emotions and attitudes can register so strongly upon us that we assume these are our feelings. We may not realize that what we are feeling may actually be tied to someone else we have encountered or the location we are in. It is very easy to link with the problems and issues of others and carry them with us as if they are our own. If you are not aware you are doing this you can begin to think you are going crazy. If you find that you have a strong tendency to be empathetic and to experience what others are experiencing it is vital to find ways to deliberately disconnect yourself from others and to have time to be alone every day. Some suggest using visualization techniques to disconnect yourself, such as visualizing cutting threads or pulling out cords from the other person. Others suggest visualizing a protective bubble of light around yourself during the day. Gardenia and eucalyptus essential oils are also thought to help you remain objective while dealing with others. Just a tiny drop diluted in water and worn like perfume or a few drops in a bowl of water in your bedroom when you sleep at night is all that is necessary. ENCOUNTER PHENOMENON Encounters with alternate realities and non-physical beings. Encounter phenomenon covers a wide range of experiences including visions of angels, fairies or spirits, near-death experiences, UFO abductions, channelling and possession. Despite great variety in individual cases, historical records show similar characteristics, such as some or all of the following: psi in various forms; feelings of love, wonder or awe; being anointed as a teacher or leader to humanity; instruction or initiation; the presence of light; transportation to a non-physical realm; revelations and ESP. Encounters with alternate realities seem accidental but more often than not they have intention. For instance, many come to give guidance or help to humans at times of crisis, and some encounters are so powerful that a person’s life is permanently changed. Research shows that some people are more likely than others to have encounters with alternate realities. It seems that childhood tendencies towards fantasy, role-play and imagination are contributory factors. Childhood trauma is another significant factor. Such trauma can result in dissociation, in which part of the psyche splits off from itself as a means of self-defence. There are those who believe that encounters with alternate realities are genuine interactions with external non-physical reality, but others hold that encounters are exteriorizations of the unconscious. The encounter is said to happen when the unconscious creates an escape from reality to relieve stress. In extreme cases this can lead to mental illness, such as schizophrenia. Another theory is that encounters are interactions with a higher realm of consciousness or the divine power that permeates the universe and are intended to further spiritual development. Sceptics argue that encounters with alternate realities are simply the result of over-active and highly suggestible imaginations. ENERGY BALANCING/MEDICINE Any type of complementary or alternative medicine whose methods involve working with the body’s natural energy field - the universal life force - in the hope of stimulating the body’s own healing mechanism. For example, traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, acupuncture, reiki and spiritual healing. ENFIELD POLTERGEIST A poltergeist case that took place in the late 1970s in an ordinary suburban house in Enfield, North London. On the night of 30 August 1977, Janet Harper, aged 11, and her brother Pete, aged 10, went to their bedroom. According to reports later compiled their beds began to jolt up and down. When the children ran to get their mother, Peggy Harper, the movements stopped. The following night the children called their mother to their room again, claiming to hear shuffling sounds like a chair or table moving. Peggy took the chair downstairs and turned out the light. As soon as she did she herself heard the sound of shuffling. On turning on the light the children were both in bed with their hands under the covers. All three of them then heard loud knocks on the wall and witnessed a chest of drawers moving towards the centre of the room. Terrified, the entire Harper family went to their next-door neighbours. When the neighbours walked into the Harper house they too heard the knocking and could not explain what was causing it. The police were called and on arrival they witnessed the phenomena of unexplained knocking and moving chairs. The next day, when marbles and Lego began to fly across the room, the Harpers contacted the local press. A reporter from the Daily Mirror was sent out and he took a picture of a piece of Lego flying at him from out of nowhere. The paper called the Society for Psychical Research, who sent North London resident and psychical researcher Maurice Grosse to investigate. Grosse arrived at the house on 5 September, a week after the disturbances had begun. After a few days he heard a crash in Janet’s bedroom. Investigation showed that her bedside chair had been thrown across the room while she was asleep. It happened again a few hours later and this time a photographer was able to capture the event. Grosse was to spend the next two years investigating the house and there were many more strange occurrences. Children in puberty or about to reach puberty tend to be the focal point of many poltergeist cases and the Harper case is no exception: Peggy had two young children. The case also had another typical feature: internal family tension. Peggy was having problems getting over her divorce from the children’s father and the children were having problems adjusting to the new situation, and it is possible that the emotional trauma played a part in the disturbances. Two other investigators sent by the Society for Psychical Research, Anita Gregory and John Beldoff, were convinced that the phenomena were caused by trickery, and video cameras set up in the house did show Janet and Pete producing muffled voices - with their faces covered by sheets - and bouncing up and down on their beds. It seems that this remarkable case may have begun with genuine phenomena, but over time developed into fraud when the children began to enjoy the attention they were getting from the investigators and media. ENNEAGRAM See Gurdjieff, Georgei Ivanovitch. ENOCHIAN MAGIC A system of magic that uses the numeric symbols and letters of the Enochian alphabet, said to have been received from the angel Enoch by the Elizabethan court astrologer John Dee and his medium Edward Kelley. In many ways the magical tradition is similar to that used in the kabbalah to understand the Tree of Life. According to Dee’s detailed journals angels who appeared to Kelley communicated hundreds of pages of complex material known as Calls or Evocations to the watchtowers of the universe. These calls, which later formed the raw material for Enochian magic, were dictated letter by letter and backwards because, according to Dee and Kelley, the material was so powerful that even writing it down in the normal way might stir up unwanted magical powers. The Calls were not in English but in a language Dee referred to as angelic or Enochian. It was supposed to have been the language spoken by inhabitants of Atlantis. The Enochian language has its own alphabet, grammar, script and syntax, similar to Hebrew but not identical to it. The following passage from the Second Key will give a sense of the language’s flavour: Enochain spelling: torzu ghohe L zacar eca c noquod zamran micalzo od ozazum vrelp lap zir lo-lad. Pronunciation according to Golden Dawn: Torzodu gohe El; zodacare, eca, ca noqoda. Zodameranu micaelzodo oda ozadazodme vurelpe lape zodire Io-Iada. Translated: Arise, saith the first: move, therefore, unto my servants. Show yourselves in power and make me a strong seer of things, for I am of Him that liveth forever. Doubt has been cast over Kelley’s mediu-mistic abilities but on analysis the language does appear to be genuine, and linguistic scholars claim it is not possible to create an entire pseudo-language without the help of language experts and years of work. It is hard to imagine how Kelley could have faked Enochian and how he managed the amazing feat of memory to dictate it backwards. Dee’s diaries recording the language of the Enochian Calls are now in the British Museum but the Enochian language lives on. In Victorian times Golden Dawn initiates used the material to create their vast and complex system of Enochian magic, which, along with Dee’s original material, is still being studied today by occult enthusiasts. ENTITY See Discarnate entity. ENTOMANCY A form of divination, interpreting the appearance and behaviour of insects. To this may be referred the various omens and superstitions of popular folklore, such as crickets bringing good luck, deathwatch beetles bringing bad luck and ladybirds indicating visitors. The ancient Greeks had many beliefs about insects. For instance, the great wealth of Midas was allegedly foretold by ants coming to him as a boy while he slept; and bees were thought to indicate future eloquence, as illustrated by the story of Plato who, as a baby in the cradle, was supposedly visited by a swarm of bees which alighted on his lips. EPWORTH RECTORY Epworth Rectory in Lincolnshire was the scene of one of the earliest reputed poltergeist hauntings. For about two months from December 1716, although some accounts say 1719, the household of the Reverend Samuel Wesley experienced poltergeist activity, such as rappings and the movement of furniture. Epworth Rectory was a gift to Rev Wesley from Queen Mary. His wife bore him 19 children in 20 years, 14 of whom died in infancy. The only year she didn’t bear children was in 1701 when Wesley, a Hanoverian, left his wife because of her sympathy for the Jacobites. Rev Wesley did return but the conflict between the two was never resolved and some think that Mrs Wesley’s repressed anger over her husband’s desertion may have played a part in the disturbances. According to records the servants were the first to hear strange groaning and the sounds of stamping feet even though no one was present, on 1 December 1716. The children were the next to hear unusual knocking, footsteps, chains clanking and door latches being rattled. Finally the knocks sounded in the bedroom of Rev and Mrs Wesley. A routine began to develop, with the raps and knockings and strange noises starting at around 9.45 every night. Sometimes the house itself would shake or there would be the sounds of bottles smashing; on inspection nothing would be out of place. At first Mrs Wesley thought that rats were the cause and she requested a horn be sounded through the house to scare them. After that the noises, almost as an act of revenge for the horn, sounded during the day as well as the night. Other manifestations included a bed levitating with one of the children in it and the spectres of what looked like a rabbit and a badger. The children called the spirit by the nickname ‘old Jeffrey’ and it was suggested that either witchcraft or the spirit of someone who had died in the house was to blame. Attempts to establish contact with the spirit failed and it was particularly active during prayers - although curiously if the prayers omitted mention of the King it remained silent. Although Wesley was advised to leave the rectory by his friends, he refused to be intimidated by what he called ‘the devil’. Then mysteriously, at the end of January the disturbances stopped. The most likely explanation for this case is psychokinetic energy unleashed by a member of the Wesley family. Mrs Wesley harboured deep resentment against her husband because of his desertion of her and his family. It’s also possible that one of the children was the prime agent of the activity. One daughter, Hetty, was around the age of 15 at the time and according to reports she intensely disliked Epworth Rectory and the surrounding villages. She was also probably deeply hurt by the tension that existed between her parents. EQUINOX Term used to refer to the two days each year, one in spring (usually around 20 to 23 March) and one in autumn (usually around 20 to 23 September) in which day and night are of equal length. At the moment of the Equinox the Sun crosses the celestial equator - the projection of the earth’s equator into space. In the Golden Dawn magical system the equinoxes are two of the most important days of the year because it is thought that on these days the spiritual energies of the Sun come to Earth directly. Rituals are held to draw on these energies. Equinoxes are also significant in the pagan calendar of the year as festival days called Sabbats. The spring celebration is called Ostara and the autumn celebration Mabon. ESOTERIC From the Greek esoteros meaning ‘inner’, esoteric is a term usually applied to mysterious or occult teachings. It is used to describe ideas and concepts that are to be understood only by a select few with specialized training and/or knowledge. ESP [EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION] Term used to describe the ability of some people to perceive things beyond which their five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste can tell them. ESP is often described as a sixth sense, but it does not function like a sense and is not dependent on the other senses, age, location, time or intelligence. It seems to originate in an alternate reality and to bring people information about the past, present and future that they couldn’t be aware of under normal circumstances. Information that comes through ESP is not always significant or accurate, possibly because it is affected by the thoughts of the waking consciousness, but in some cases it is. For example, in one case recorded by the Society for Psychical Research, a woman driving on the M62 motorway near Irlam in Lancashire claimed to hear an inner voice crying ‘Get out!’ She swerved dangerously into the fast lane and at exactly the same moment avoided a collision with a lorry. Another case was that of Maureen Blyth, wife of yachtsman Chay Blyth, who was suddenly overcome with unexplained nausea in restaurant. Later she found out that at the exact moment of her nausea her husband’s yacht had overturned in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean; he was trapped underneath for hours before being rescued. Конец ознакомительного фрагмента. Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес». 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