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AGENERATE, Kardec'sterm for apparition.
AMANUENSES, one whotakes dictation. Many channels refer to themselves as an amanuensesfor their spirit source.
APPARITIONS,paranormal appearances suggesting the real presence of someonedistant or dead, or reminding of the latter's continuity ofexistence. The perception is visual, mostly spontaneous, butsometimes it may be experimentally induced. The state of thepercipient may be normal (waking or dream state) or abnormal. SeeAPPARITIONS.
AFTER DEATHCOMMUNICATIONS, messages from the departed whose intent isnormally to comfort the bereaved or bring closure to unfinishedbusiness.
APPORTS, arrival ofvarious objects through an apparent penetration of matter. This isone of the most baffling phenomena of spiritualism. The objectsdiffer in size, may be both inanimate and living and appear none theworse for their strange journey. See APPORTS
ASCENDED MASTERS. SeeMasters.
ASPORTS, the reverse ofapport phenomena: the disappearance of objects from the seance roomthrough the barriers of intervening matter and their appearance atanother spot. See ASPORTS.
ASTRAL BODY, SeeDouble.
AUTOMATISM, movements,or sensations, not controlled by the conscious self. which may mimicthe characteristic habits or acts of another consciousness. SeeAUTOMATISM.
AUTOMATIC WRITING,written or typed scripts produced without the control of theconscious self. It is the most common form of mediumship, the sourceof innumerable cases of self-delusion, and at the same time one ofthe highest and most valuable spiritual gifts. See AUTOMATICWRITING.
AUTOMATIC DRAWING ANDPAINTING, attempts at artistic expression without control of theconscious self. The phenomenon belongs to the same category asautomatic writing but neither necessarily involves the other. SeeAUTOMATICDRAWING AND PAINTING.
AUTOMATICSPEAKING--excitation of the vocal chords without the volition ofthe conscious self. The speech bursts forth impulsively whether themedium is in trance or in the waking state. In the latter case, andin partial trance, the medium may understand the contents of thecommunication even if it comes in a language unknown to him. SeeAUTOMATICSPEAKING.
BOOK TESTS, experimentsto exclude the working of telepathy in mediumistic communications. Inanswer to questions or for reasons of personal relevance thecommunicator indicates a certain book upon a certain shelf in thehome of the sitter and gives the text on a certain page. SeeBOOKTESTS.
CABINET, curtainenclosed space in which mediums claim to condense the psychic energywhich is necessary for physical manifestations. See CABINET.
CAMP MEETINGS orassemblies, as they have been later called, last throughout theSummer season. Many mediums take up their residence in the grounds.Lily Dale in New York is a leading camp visited by thousands ofpeople each year.
CAODAISM is the 1926invention of Ngo Minh Chieu, a Vietnamese civil servant with a strongbelief in mysticism. For years, Chieu conducted seances in which hereceived revelations from spirits of prominent figures who seemeddetermined to continue their teachings despite their deaths. Afterfour years of personal enlightenment through these spiritualencounters, Chieu presented the messages of his revelations to thepublic as tenets of a new religion. Ministers of this religion act asmediums. See Caodai.org
CHANNNELINGis the flow of intelligent energy from subtle dimensions to thisone.That energy can be used for healing, communication or otherpurposes. Some channelers receive it by a process such as automaticwriting. Others go into an altered state and are able to hearclairaudiently or speak from a trance state or by a process calleddirect voice mediumship. In some cases the person channeling, calledthe channel, is tapping into the highest level of their own psyche,in others beings or energy coalitions from other dimensions providethe information. Those channels whose source is extraterrestrial areusually called contactees. See COMMUNICATIONS.
CHANNELEROR MEDIUM, an intermediary for communication between the materialand spirit world. See CHANNELER.
CLAIRAUDIENCE, clearhearing of voices subconsciously generated and externalized inauditory perception, or of objective voices so much below thenormally audible vibratory scale as to be imperceivable by auditoryhyperaesthesia. See CLAIRAUDIENCE.
CLAIRVOYANCE, "aparanormal mode of perception, which results in a visual image beingpresented to the conscious mind. The perception may be of objects orscenes, or forms distant in space, or in time, past or future. SeeCLAIRVOYANCE.
CONTACTEE, someone whohas had contact with off-planet beings, especially continuing mentalcontact. The first published contactee was George Adamski. Hedescribed personal meetings he had with aliens that looked much likehumans. They took him aboard their ship and he wrote a detailedaccount of his experiences. Things have changed quite a bit sincethat beginning in the early fifties. Many people tell us that theyhave telepathic communcation with off planet beings or channel them.They have often seen unusual craft, but they have not necessarilybeen taken aboard or met face to face. Nowadays someone like Adamskiwould probably be called an experiencer or a participant if he wentwillingly and an abductee if he didn't. Many spiritual books havebeen published that are attributed to off-planet guides. The languageand concerns can be difficult to distinguish from earlier channeledmaterial.
CONTROL- the operator on the other side in charge of seance proceedings.This operator may also be called a "guide," and generally the termimplies enduring attendance by a distinct and continuous personalityto use the entranced medium's body, to deliver direct or relayedmessages to sitters. See CONTROL.
CROSS-CORRESPONDENCE,concordant automatism, a scheme allegedly originated by the spirit ofF. W. H. Myers to eliminate the hypothesis of telepathy from spiritcommunications. A set of related messages may be received throughvarious mediums about the same time in places as far apart as India,New York, and London. See CROSS-CORRESPONDENCE.
CROSS-REFERENCE,simultaneous delivery of spirit messages through different mediumswith a request to forward them to the right person. The idea,originated by the communicators, is to disprove the working of themedium's subconscious mind. See CROSS-REFERENCE.
DERMOGRAPHY,skin writing; a phenomenon of the stigmatic class, with one essentialdifference: the real stigmatic writings last for months, years orthroughout a lifetime, whereas skin writing disappears in a fewminutes or in a few hours at the most. See DERMOGRAPHY.
DIRECTDRAWING AND PAINTING, a development of automatic drawing andpainting in which the hand of the automatist is not made use of, andsometimes even drawing and painting materials are dispensed with, thesketch being precipitated in the darkness in a time which is usuallytoo short for normal execution. See DIRECTDRAWING AND PAINTING.
DIRECT VOICE, anisolated voice in space without visible source of agency. It issuesmostly from a trumpet which sails about the seance room in the darkand appears to serve as a condenser. With an increase of power thetrumpet may be dispensed with and the voice may be heard from thecenter of the floor or from any part of the room. SeeDIRECTVOICE.
DIRECT WRITING, adevelopment of automatic writing, produced without visible physicalcontact with the medium and sometimes without writing material. Thatcontact, in an invisible form, may exist is a justified inferencefrom the oft observed synchronized motions of the medium's hands. SeeDIRECTWRITING.
DISCARNATE or DISINCARNATEENTITY: an intelligence that is disembodied as contrasted with anincarnated one.
DOUBLE,etheric counterpart of the physical body which, when out ofcoincidence, may temporarily move about in space in comparativefreedom and appear in various degrees of density to others. Thebelief in the existence of the double, or astral body, is age old,its acceptance as a working hypothesis solves many a puzzling problemin psychical research.
ECTOPLASM (from theGreek ektos and plasma: exteriorized substance), a mysteriousprotoplasmic substance streaming out of the body of mediums by themanipulation of which, either by the subconscious self or bydiscarnate intelligences, phenomena of a super-physical order,including partial and complete materializations, are produced. SeeECTOPLASM.
ELONGATION of the humanbody, a comparatively rare but by no means modern psychicalphenomenon. The Neo-Platonists observed it in the case of certainobsessed men. Jamblichus, writing on Divination, said: "The person ofthe subject has been known to dilate and tower to supernormal height.See ELONGATION.
EMANATIONS,unknown to physical science, which sensitives may perceive or whichthe human body emits form a growing chapter of psychical research.Their importance is indicated by the phenomena of psychometry anddowsing. See EMANATIONS.
EVIL SPIRITS, there aremany intelligent entities in the higher and lower spheres which maynot be of human origin or may not be benevolent. But the evilspirits, commonly spoken of, are the spirits of bad men who inhabitthe lower spheres from which, either owing to the special locality towhich they are earth-bound, or the attraction of bad, immoralsitters, they may easily reach the medium. See EVILSPIRITS.
EXTERIORIZATIONOF MOTRICITY: action of the medium's motor force outside theperiphery of his body. It is offered as an explanation oftelekinesis. Evidence for the theory was furnished by the curioussynchronisation which was noticed between Eusapia Paladino'smovements and her physical phenomena. The extinguishing andrelighting of a lamp, for instance, corresponded with a slightmovement of the index finger. See EXTERIORIZATIONOF MOTRICITY.
EXTERIORIZATION OFSENSITIVITY: sensory power of the medium outside the periphery ofhis body. The phenomenon lies on the confines of hypnotic andpsychical phenomena. Approaching his hypnotic subject with a pointedinstrument he found him sensitive a short distance from the skin. Thedistance at which the sensation was perceived and the range of thesensitive surface varied with the nervous sensibility of the subjecton an average from one to ten centimeters. See EXTERIORIZATIONOF SENSITIVITY.
FLUIDIC BODY ORENVELOPE, Kardec's term for astral body or Double.Substituting the phrase astral fluid for universal fluid and wordectoplasm for animalized fluid when reading Kardec often helps bringthis older terminology into modern context.
FRAUD, the greatestelement of danger in psychical research, is now fairly wellunderstood and guarded against. From the time of the Hydesvillephenomena hardly any medium has been able to escape accusations ofcheating and more or less compromising exposures. SeeFRAUD.
GHOST, a deceasedperson or its image appearing to the living. It is a popular termwhich does not include apparitions of the living. SeeApparitions,Double.
GLOTTOLOGUES, mediumsspeaking in unknown tongues. See Xenoglossis.
GLOSSOLALIA, speakingin pseudo-tongues. See Xenoglossis.
GUIDE, a continual,benevolent, protective supermundane influence. The term is morecomprehensive than "control" as the latter may apply to any chancecommunicator who gets through. See Control.
GUIDING SPIRITS, orguardian angels, their alleged existence escapes experimentalverification. According to seance room communications everyone hasguiding spirits and they are nearly always relations of theircharges. They have risen to a high spiritual level in the Beyond. SeeGUIDINGSPIRITS.
HALLUCINATION,"Perceptions are lacking, but which can only by a distinct reflectionbe recognized as lacking, the objective basis which they suggest."If the sensory perception coincides with an objective occurrenceor counterpart the hallucination is called veridical, truth-telling.Such is, according to the materialistic conception, the phantasm ofthe dying. If the apparition is seen by several people at the sametime the case is collective veridical hallucination. SeeHALLUCINATION.
HOME, DANIEL DUNGLAS(1833-1886), the greatest physical medium in the history of modernspiritualism. There was a certain mystery about his parentage.According to his own footnote in Incidents of My Life hisfather was a natural son of Alexander, the tenth Earl of Home.Through his mother he was descended from a Highland family in whichthe traditional gift of second sight had been preserved. SeeHOME,DANIEL DUNGLAS.
HYPERAESTHESIA,superacuity of the normal senses. It is frequently noticed withhysterics. They may feel a piece of wire on their hands as heavy as abar of iron. In its phenomenal appearance hyperaesthesia is oftendifficult to distinguish from telepathy or clairvoyance.Theoretically the dividing line is that hyperaesthesia is aperipheral perception while telepathy or clairvoyance is a centralperception. See HYPERAESTHESIA.
HYPNOTISM, "anempirical development of sleep (Myers); a peculiar state ofconsciousness, artificially induced, which liberates subconsciouspowers in the subject, puts him en rapport with thehypnotiser, makes him accept and meticulously execute any of hissuggestions, whether hypnotic or post-hypnotic, which do not conflictwith deeper instincts of self-preservation and morality, and producesstrange physiological effects as anaesthesia and the remarkablecontrol over organic processes of the body." See HYPNOTISM.
IDENTITY of spiritcommunicators is a comparatively recent problem. In olden times everyspirit voice was considered the voice of God or of the devil. Theprophets communed with God. Mediums commune with spirits. God couldnot be asked to prove his identity, the spirits have to. But John theApostle said: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spiritswhether they be of God; because many false prophets are gone out intothe world." See IDENTITY.
IDEOPLASM, another termfor ectoplasm. It conveys the additional idea that the substance maybe moulded, by the operators, into any shape to express ideas of themedium or of the sitters.
IGNIS FATUUS; luminousappearance in marshy places or cemeteries. Science attributes it togaseous emanations; superstition to spirits. Stainton Moses oftenclaimed to have seen lights in cemeteries or in places where suddendeath occurred.
IMMORTALITY is noproblem of psychical research. It is only Concerned with survival asa matter of inference from intelligent psychic phenomena. It does notattempt to answer the question whether survival means continuedexistence through. eternity or for a limited period.
IMPERSONATION, SeePersonation.
INDEPENDENT writing,drawing, painting and voice. See, Direct.
INFLUENCE inmediumistic terminology is equivalent to spirits. Mrs. Piper appliedit to objects which, by virtues of association of ideas, or magnetismof the late owner, helped her to establish communication with thedeceased. The presence of such objects, she declared, helped her toclear the ideas of the communicators.
INNER VISION isindependent of space, objective existence and optical laws. Thesimplest type of inner vision is presented by memory images, wakingdreams, and imagination images. The latter type may attain such anintensity as to emerge spontaneously and reach the pitch ofhallucination. Hallucination is the widest extent of inner vision.Dreams represent the primary type. See INNERVISION.
INNER VOICE, anauditive sensation covered, whether subjective or objective, by theterm Clairaudience. However, clairaudience is conceived of as apurely mental phenomenon, whereas the inner voice has an outsidesource which is clearly distinguishable from thoughts originated inone's own mind.
INSPIRATION, a psychicstate in which one becomes susceptible to creative spiritualinfluence or, to a varying degree, unwittingly lends oneself as aninstrument for through-flowing ideas. See INSPIRATION.
INTUITION, that senseof faculty in the human mind by which man knows (or may know) factsof which he would otherwise not be cognizant-facts which might not beapparent to him through process of reason or so-called scientificproof. See INTUITION.
KARDEC, ALLAN(1804-1869), the Father of Spiritism in France. His real name wasHypolyte Leon Denizard Rivail. Le Livre des Esprits (The Spirits'Book), which expounded a new theory of human life and destiny, waspublished in 1856.In 1864 he published Le Livre des Mediums. In it the unpublishedportion of the earlier scripts are said to have been liberally used.His next books were: The Gospel as Explained by Spirits, 1864, Heavenand Hell, 1865, Genesis, 1867, Experimental Spiritism andSpiritualist Philosophy. See KARDEC,ALLAN.
LUCIDITY, a faculty bywhich supernormal knowledge may be obtained. It is a collective termfor the phenomena of clairvoyance, clairaudience, psychometry,premonitions, etc.
LUMINOUSPHENOMENA are of frequent occurrence in physical mediumship. Onrare occasions they are witnessed in apparent independence ofmediumistic conditions. The chronicles of religious revivals are fullof instances of transcendental light. See LUMINOUSPHENOMENA.
MASTERS,a term adopted in theosophical literature to designate those humanbeings further progressed on the evolutionary pathway than thegeneral run of humanity, from which are drawn the saviors of humanityand the founders of the world-religions. Also known by the Sanskritterm mahatma, "great self". Beings named as masters by variouschannels who write for them include: Buddha, Chohan, Djwhal Khul, ElMorya, Hilarion, Jesus/Sananda, Kuthumi, Lanto, Lao-tzu, The MahaChohan, Maitreya, Mary, Mohammed, Nada, St. Germain, St. Paul,Portia, Quan Yin, Sanat Kumara, Serapis Bey
MATERIALIZATION,appearance of temporary, more or less organized substances in variousdegrees of solidification and possessing human physicalcharacteristics: limbs, faces, eyes, heads, full figures, shaped fora temporary existence out of ectoplasm (See) by an unknown agency.See MATERIALIZATION.
MATTER passing throughmatter, as a seance-room phenomenon is well known and has beenfrequently recorded. It is involved in the marvel of apports andtransportation of the human body and its observation under testconditions would help towards the recognition of these greaterphenomena. See MATTER.
MEDIUMSHIP,see Channeling
METHETHERIAL, a termcoined by Myers, meaning: beyond the ether, the transcendental worldin which the spirits exist.
METAGNOMY, knowledgeacquired through cryptesthesia, i.e., without the use of our fivesenses.
MIND READING, seeTelepathy.
MOSES, WILLIAMSTAINTON, (1839-92) remarkable English medium, religious teacherand author. He was ordained as a Minister of the Church of England byBishop Wilberforce. See MOSES,WILLIAM STAINTON.
MOTRICITY exteriorised,See Exteriorization.
MOULDS, psychic, SeePlastics.
MOVEMENTwith contact, which is insufficient to explain it (parakinesis), ormovement without obvious, perceptible or normal contact (telekinesis)is the most frequent seance room phenomenon and is, in its apparentsimplicity, one of the widest import as behind the displacement ofobjects and various other mechanical effects an invisible intelligententity manifests, performs complicated operations and exercises adirective influence over mysteriously generated and frequentlytremendous forces. See MOVEMENT.
MULTIPLE PERSONALITY.See: Personality.
MUMMIFYING MEDIUMS. SeeEmanations.
MUSIC,as a supernormal phenomenon is most impressive when it is independentof seance room conditions and mediums. In religious revivals and insome experiences around the beds of the dying we find two distinctgroups of its occurrence. See MUSIC.
NATURE LANGUAGE. See:Xenoglossis.
NEURYPNOLOGY, Braid'sfirst term for hypnotism.
NEWSPAPER TESTS,ingenious experiments devised by seance-room communicators to excludetelepathy as an explanation. The method of the communicators was togive in the afternoon names and dates that were to be published incertain columns of next day's Times, or, if so requested, incoming issues of magazines. See NEWSPAPERTESTS.
OBJECTIVE PHENOMENA, asdistinguished from subjective ones, is another classification forphysical and mental phenomena. See: Spiritualism.
OBSESSION in psychicalresearch, obsession is an invasion of the living by a discarnatespirit, tending to a complete displacement of normal personality forpurposes of selfish gratification which is more or less permanent.The difference between mediumship and obsession is not in principlebut in purpose, in duration and in effect. Also see POSSESSIONand OBSESSION.
OCCULTISM, aphilosophical system of theories and practices on, and for theattainment of, the higher powers of mind and spirit. Its practicalside connects with psychical phenomena.
OUIJA BOARD - listedseparately herewith other devices.
OVERSHADOWING, avoluntary cooperative process in which another consciousnesstemporarily enters and works through a persons body. The implicationis that of a highly evolved being bringing forth valuedteachings.
PARAKINESIS, movementof objects with contact which, however, is insufficient to explainit. See: Movement.
PARAPSYCHIC PHENOMENA,a term coined by Boirac for "all phenomena produced in living beingsor as a result of their action, which do not seem capable of beingentirely explained by already known natural laws and forces."According to Boirac the term "psychical is not satisfactory becauseit is synonymous with mental." The prefix "para" denotes that itrelates to exceptional, abnormal paradoxical phenomena. The termfound general acceptance in Germany. See PARAPSYCHICPHENOMENA.
PERISPIRIT, AllanKardec's term for the spirit body, astral body, fluidicbody.
PERSONALITYmeans (1) the sum of the characteristics which make up physical andmental being, including appearance, manners, habits, tastes and moralcharacter; (2) the characteristics that distinguish one person fromanother (this is equivalent to individuality); (3) the capacity forhaving mental states, i.e., possessing a stream of consciousness(Hyslop). For psychical researchers this last definition is ofprimary importance. The question of survival cannot be decided untilthe continuance of personality as a stream of consciousness isproved. See PERSONALITY.
PERSONATION,portrayal of foreign personalities by a temporary assumption of theirbodily and mental characteristics. It is a frequent psychicalphenomenon and differs from trance possession in that it does notnecessarily involve a loss of consciousness and personal identity.See PERSONATION.
PHONE-VOYANCE, psychictelevision, discovered as a special form of clairvoyance, by VincentN. Turvey in 1905. It implies four things: Psychic vision, physicalcontact, the wires and instruments of a telephone company andsimultaneity of clairvoyance with physical contact. The phenomenon issuperior to physical television, as Turvey often described thingswhich the listener at the other end of the telephone wire did notknow. See PHONE-VOYANCE.
PLANETARY TRAVELS intrance form a romantic chapter in spiritualistic communications.Descriptions through inner vision or spirit enlightenment ofconditions and life on the planets were first given by Swedenborg.See PLANETARYTRAVELS.
PLASTICS,supernormally obtained, divide into two groups: imprints and moulds.The first may be produced in any soft, yielding substance or onsmoked or chemically treated surfaces; for the second, meltedparaffin is employed. See PLASTICS.
PNEUMATOGRAPHERS, SeeDirectwriting mediums.
POLYGLOT MEDIUMSHIP,See: Xenoglossis.
POSSESSION-adeveloped form of motor automatism in which the personality of theautomatist is substituted by another, as a rule by a discarnatespirit. The possessing personality aims to establish communicationthrough the organism of the entranced medium with this world bywriting or speech. Also see POSSESSIONand OBSESSION.
PSYCHE Greek forsoul.
PSYCHIC (1) denoting,as an adjective, the supernormal character of certain phenomena, (2)meaning, as a noun, medium. Flammarion was the first to use it as aFrench term in France, Serjeant Cox was the first to suggest it inEngland.
PSYCHIC FORCE. It wasdiscovered by inquirers into spiritualism at an early stage that thehuman organism is in some mysterious way bound up with the seanceroom phenomena. A force was observed beyond the periphery of thebody, with no physical contact. Observable effectsinclude:
See PSYCHICFORCE
PSYCHIC IMPRINTS, See:Plastics.
PSYCHIC LIGHTS, See:LuminousPhenomena.
PSYCHIC MOULDS, See:Plastics.
PSYCHIC MUSIC, SeeMusic.
PSYCHIC SOUNDS. See:Sounds.
PSYCHIC TOUCHES. See:Touches.
PSYCHODE, Prof. Thury'sterm for ectoplasm.
PSYCHOGRAPH, the scriptobtained by spirit photographers on the sensitive plate.
PSYCHOGRAPHY, the termused by Stainton Moses to denote all forms of directwriting.
PSYCHOPHONE, a termsuggested by James Coates for direct voice communications.
PSYCHOPLASM, anotherterm for ectoplasm.
PSYCHORRHAGICDIATHESIS, Myers' theory for phantasmal appearances, a psychicfaculty of detaching elements of personality and transforming by thema certain part of space into a phantasmogenetic centre. In thiscentre, in a manner not material or optical, the phantasm of thepsychorrhagist appears and may become collectively visible. (SeeApparitions).
PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHS,furnish impressive proof of a variety of supernormal manifestations.Numerous experiments have been conducted to register on the sensitiveplates emanations of the human body, a phenomenon on the borderlineof the normal and supernormal and to prove the existence of N. rays,digital effluvium, ectoplasmic flow, aura, astral body and thoughtwaves. See PSYCHICPHOTOGRAPHS.
PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, ascientific inquiry into the facts and causes of mediumisticphenomena. Its first concern is to establish the occurrence of theclaimed facts. If they are not due to fraud, observational error, thelaws of chancel i.e., if they are found to occur, the next stage ofthe inquiry is to establish the reason of their occurrence, whetherthe known natural laws are sufficient to explain them or whetherthere is reason to suppose the action of unknown forces. SeePSYCHICALRESEARCH.
RADIATIONS OF THE HUMANBODY. See: Emanations.
RAPS, percussive soundsof varying intensity without visible, known or normal agency, asimple phenomenon of tremendous import. Prof. Richet writes in ThirtyYears of Psychical Research: "The reality of these rapsis of primary importance, and this phenomenon carries the implicationof the whole of metapsychics. Also see encyclopedia entries forRAPSand SOUNDS.
REINCARNATION, thereturn to corporeal life of beings who have passed over and spent aperiod of existence in the Beyond. It is the fundamental doctrine ofFrench spiritism and of theosophy. See REINCARNATION.
RESCUE CIRCLES ofspiritualists, formed for the purpose of "waking up" the dead andfreeing them from their earthbound state, are based on the idea thatearthbound spirits are too gross to be reached by the influence ofhigher spirits from the other side. See RESCUECIRCLES.
REVIVALS, outbreaks ofreligious mass enthusiasm, inspired by fervor or persecution. Theyare usually accompanied by a variety of psychic manifestations,luminous phenomena (See), aerial music, gift of healing, gift oftongues and prophecy. See REVIVALS.
SEANCE, sitting for thepurpose of obtaining supernormal manifestations or establishingcommunication with the dead. For success the presence of a medium isrequired. The sitters need not have psychic powers. The phenomena arestronger if they have. See SEANCE.
SECOND SIGHT,supernormal perception at a distance in time and space; a traditionalpsychic faculty in certain families in certain countries, especiallyin Scotland. See SECONDSIGHT.
SENSITIVE, a personwith psychic powers, without the ability to establish communicationwith the departed. A sensitive is not a medium and a medium may notbe a sensitive but a mere instrument. Sensitives may excel inpsychometry, telepathy, clairvoyance, ordinary and medical, they mayforesee the future, find lost objects and give accurate characterdelineations. Yet they would not claim an external source.
SITTERS, the attendeesat a seance.
SIXTH SENSE, the theoryof its existence as a convenient explanation of transcendentalphenomena was first put forward in the era of animal magnetism byTardy de Montravel. He considered the sixth sense as the source andsum of all our partial senses. See SIXTHSENSE.
SKIN WRITING. See:Dermography.
SKOTOGRAPH(dark-writing, Greek) the term proposed by Miss Felicia Scatcherd forpsychographs, spirit writing on the photographic plate in an unopenedpacket, and similar effects. SeeSKOTOGRAPH.
SOMNAMBULE, asomnambulic subject.
SOMNAMBULISM, a stateof sleep, or half-waking trance, spontaneously or artificiallyinduced in which subconscious faculties take the place of normalconsciousness and direct the body in the performance of erratic(sleep walking) or highly intellectual actions (solving problems).The personality , itself, in some cases, seems very wise and exhibitssupernormal powers. See SOMNAMBULISM.
SOUL, the term is usedin two senses: it indicates the ego and the spirit-body. In ancientwritings man is described as a triune being: body, soul and spirit.According to this the soul is just as much an envelope, animated bythe spirit, as the physical body is an envelope for the soul. Atdeath the soul withdraws and continues to function in the spiritualworld. Astral body and soul are almost equivalent terms. Occultteachings, however, speak of five bodies of differing degrees ofrefinement which will be cast away in time just as the physical bodyis left behind. See SOUL.
SPECTRAL FLAMES,supernormal lights seen in cemeteries, around churches, etc. See:LuminousPhenomena.
SPIRIT, variouslydefined as the inmost principle, the divine particle, the vitalessence, the inherent actuating element in life. it manifests throughassociation with protoplasm and dwells in the astral body, alsocalled the soul, which in turn is the connecting link between thespirit and the physical body. At death the connection is severed andthe spirit will find no ordinary means of manifestation. SeeSPIRIT.
SPIRIT BODY, See:Double.
SPIRIT CHILDREN,children who passed over and, according to trance accounts, aregrowing to maturity on the other side. Child mediums often claimspirit children as their playmates. See SPIRITCHILDREN.
SPIRIT COMMUNICATION.See: Channeling.
SPIRIT DRAPERY. See:Materialization.
SPIRIT HANDS. See:Materialization.
SPIRIT HANDS OF FLAME.See: Touches.
SPIRIT HYPOTHESIS, thetheory that the intelligence which directs the phenomena of themedium is a disembodied spirit. It is the only simple theory thatcovers every phase of manifestations. It is also the one which isbeing consistently put forward by the invisible communicators. SeeSPIRITHYPOTHESIS.
SPIRIT INTERVENTION tofind lost wills, other papers, objects of importance or to track downmurderers has been often recorded.
SPIRIT LIGHTS. See:LuminousPhenomena.
SPIRIT OBSESSION. See:Obsession.
SPIRIT WRITINGS, theofficial Library of Congress subject classification used to catalogspirit communications in the United States. This influence, then,carries down to Books In Print which is then used by booksellers.
SPIRITISM, the Frenchequivalent of the English "spiritualism." It is associated with AllanKardec's doctrine of reincarnation which does not figure inspiritualism. The latter term, as used on the Continent, denotes areligio -philosophical belief, opposed to materialism and havingdifferent psychological characteristics so that one-as Prof. Flournoyconfesses himself to be - may be a spiritist without being aspiritualist and vice versa. Flournoy believes that a spiritual worldexists and that we live after the apparent destruction of the bodybut he would not admit the possibility of the experimentaldemonstration of the very same tenet.
SPIRITOID, Boirac'sterm for messages which originate in the subconscious mind and appearin a dramatic and personalised form. It was adopted by Lombroso andFlournoy.
SPIRITUAL HEALING,mediums may channel energy as well as words. Many trendy soundingphrases have come into use such as energy healing, aura cleansing,energy balancing, and more lately, DNA clearing orreprogramming.
SPIRITUALISM,according to the definition adopted by the National SpiritualistAssociation of America, "is the Science, Philosophy and Religion ofcontinuous life, based upon the demonstrated fact of communication,by means of mediumship, with those who live in the Spirit World.Spiritualism is a science because it investigates, analyses andclassifies facts and manifestations ' demonstrated from the spiritside of life. Spiritualism is a philosophy because it studies thelaws of nature both on the seen and unseen sides of life and basesits conclusions upon present observed facts. It accepts statements ofobserved facts of past ages and conclusions drawn therefrom, whensustained by reason and by results of observed facts of the presentday. Spiritualism is a religion because it strives to understand andto comply with the Physical, Mental and Spiritual Laws of Naturewhich are the laws of God." See SPIRITUALISM.
SPIRITUALIST, "one whohas proven for himself, or has accepted as proven on adequateevidence, the fact that death does not kill the spirit." (StaintonMoses).
STIGMATA---says Prof.Richet-----"may and do often appear on hysterical persons, bearingpredetermined forms and shapes, under the influence either of astrong moral emotion, or of religious delirium. These are facts whichhave been thoroughly and scientifically established, and they onlyprove the power of the action of the brain upon the circulatoryprocesses and upon the trophism of the skin." See STIGMATA.
SUBJECTIVE PHENOMENA,as distinguished from objective is another classification forphysical and mental phenomena. See: Spiritualism.
SUBLIMINAL, a termfirst used by A. H. Pierce of Harvard University for sensationsbeneath the threshold of consciousness, too feeble to be individuallyrecognized. Myers extended the meaning to cover all that takes placebeneath the threshold: sensations, thoughts, emotions which seldomemerge in conscious form. See SUBLIMINAL.
SUGGESTION, anothername for the power of ideas, so far as they prove efficacious overbelief and conduct." (William James.) According to Myers the power isexercised by the subliminal self. He defined suggestion as a"successful appeal to the subliminal self." Its workings are bestevidenced in hypnotic experiments. It may cause and cure diseases,and bad habits, remove inhibitions, improve deficiencies ofcharacter, stimulate the imagination, vivify the senses and heightenintellectual powers. See SUGGESTION.
SUMMERLAND, thespirits' land of bliss, so named by Andrew Jackson Davis, identicalwith the Plane of Illusion of "Myers" (The Road to Immortality, byMiss Cummins) and with the Maya (Creative Thought) of theUpanishads.
SUPERNATURAL, anoccurrence in violation of the laws of nature. Spiritualism contendsthat the phenomena of the seance room are ruled by as yet unknownlaws and rejects the term.
SUPERNORMAL, the termsubstituted in spiritualism for supernatural. It was coined by F. W.H. Myers and was applied to phenomena which are beyond what usuallyhappens-beyond, that is, in the sense of suggesting unknown physicallaws. While supernormal phenomena point to new powers, abnormalphenomena indicate the degeneration of powers alreadyacquired.
SURVIVAL, continuedpossession of personality after the change called death. It is thefundamental doctrine of spiritualism and main object ofinvestigation, though in an indirect manner, of psychical research.See SURVIVAL.
SYMBOLISM,metapsychical, "cases in which, by subconscious or mediumisticmethods, an idea is expressed by means of hallucinatory perceptions,or ideographic representations, or forms of language differing fromthe ideas to be transmitted, but capable of suggesting themindirectly or conventionally.
TABLE TURNING, thesimplest and crudest form of communication with the subconscious selfor with extraneous intelligences. As "mensa divinatoriae" tables wereused for purposes of divination in antiquity. See TABLETURNING.
TELEKINESIS, movementof objects without obvious, perceptible, or normal movement. See:Movement.
TELEPATHY,the word was coined by F. W. H. Myers in 1882 as the outcome of hisjoint investigation with Gurney, Sidgwick and Prof. Barrett into thepossibilities of thought transference. It was meant as a name for afact: "a coincidence between two person's thoughts which requires acausal explanation," and it was defined as "transmission of thoughtindependently of the recognized channels of sense." Also seeencyclopedia entries for TELEPATHYand THOUGHT-TRANSFERENCE.
TELEPLASM, another termfor ectoplasm.
TELERGY, Myers' termfor the force or its mode of action which is manifest in telepathyand perhaps in other supernormal operations.
TELESOMATIC, Aksakof'sterm for materialization..
TEMPERATURE CHANGES inthe seance room, See: Winds.
THOUGHTFORMS, theirexistence is definitely claimed by occult science and there isinteresting evidence to consider it an important experimental problemof psychical research. See THOUGHTFORMS.
THOUGHT-READING,thought transference from the reverse aspect. The agent attempts topicture the content of the subject's mind instead of impressing itwith his own idea. The higher forms of thought reading are covered bytelepathy. See THOUGHT-READING.
TOUCHES.Tactual sensations represent an allied phenomenon to the movement ofobjects. They are always intentional as the movement of objects ischaracterised by perfect localisation. Sitters are never hit byaccident however swift the motion may be, and the touch is alwaysmeant for the one who receives it. See TOUCHES.
TRANCE, a condition ofapparent sleep or unconsciousness, with marked physiologicalcharacteristics, in which the body of the subject is liable topossession. The true nature of trance is unknown. Much can be learnedfrom subjective experiences. See TRANCE.
TRANSFIGURATION,metamorphic power of the medium to assume bodily characteristics ofdeceased people for their representation. See TRANSFIGURATION.
TRANSPOSITION OF THESENSES was first noticed by Tardy de Montravel who described howhis somnambule could see with the pit of his stomach. Petetin foundthe senses of taste, smell and hearing also wandering from the pit ofthe stomach to the tip of the fingers and of the toes.
TRANSPORTATION of humanbodies through closed doors and over a distance is a comparativelyrare but fairly well authenticated occurrence. It is a compositephenomenon between levitation and apports, and according to thetestimony of the Bible by no means new in human experience. SeeTRANSPORTATION.
TRUMPET, of cardboardor aluminium, for the manifestation of direct voice. Weak orinexperienced spirits often have to make use of the trumpet tomagnify the voice.
TYPTER (from the Greektupto, I strike). - One who has the power of producing typtology; arapping or tipping medium.
TYPTOLOGY. - Languageof raps or tilts; a mode of spirit-communication. Alphabeticaltyptology is the designation of letters (or cyphers) by raps ortilts.
VANISHING OBJECTS. See:Movement.
VISITANTS, spirits.See: Apparitions.
VITAL FORCE. See:Emanationsand PsychicForce.
WATSEKA WONDER, The,one of the most remarkable cases of continued spirit control. Thestory as detailed in a pamphlet by Dr. E. W. Stevens titled TheWatseka Wonder. See WATSEKAWONDER.
WINDS,breezes, currents of air, cooling of temperature, is a well-observedseance room phenomenon. The means by which the effects are broughtabout is unknown and it is an open speculation whether they serve adirect purpose or are by-products only. See WINDS.