Put Your Psychic Powers to Work:
a practical guide to parapsychology
1973
evelyn monahan
with
terry bakken
SOURCE & Fragments are taken from: https://twitter.com/i/events/1496775977258860549
& - http://gln.trustmenows.com//0882291327
Nelson-Hall
Company,Chicago
1973 II Printing
To Betty C.Reaid,
who has been the greatest source
of inspiration and encouragement
to Evelyn Monahan.
To the four children of Terry Bakken-
Shari,Jim,Lori,and Karen-
who will grow up to inherit a world
made better through the science of parapsychology.
Contents
Foreword — IX
1. Clairvoyance
and Psychometry — 1
2. Telepathy — 21
3. Human Aura — 29
4. Psychokinesis — 37
5. Mediumship — 47
6. Reincarnation — 61
7. Dermaoptics — 77
8. Meditation — 95
9. Visualization — 109
10. Ethics — 125
Index — 133
* * *
"
Foreword
The purpose of this book is to make available to its readers factual knowledge concerning parapsychology and psychic phenomena. In addition to simple facts, presented here are proven methods which an individual may use to develop his own psychic abilities-for these abilities are not the gifts of a chosen few, but belong to each of us, as an integral part of our own human nature.
In the course of teaching parapsychology at Georgia State University, and during the years of study prior to my teaching experience, I became very aware that the great majority of books dealing with parapsychology, E.S.P., and psychic phenomena related only the personal experiences of an individual and did nothing to actually teach a reader to get in touch with his own abilities. This is not such a book. The exercises included here have been researched and have proven extremely effective under actual learning conditions for more than two years. They are not magic formulas but techniques founded in science and educational psychology which will enable a person to expand his own potential.
If a reader is seeking absolute truths and guaranteed panaceas, this is not the book for him. Information is presented here with an attitude of respect for an individual's right to reach his own conclusions. It is my opinion that each individual has an obligation to acquaint himself with facts that will enable him to reach those conclusions, based upon knowledge, not emotion. It is not my purpose to convince, but to stimulate intellectual curiosity and to provide the methods for developing individual abilities. It is through this intellectual curiosity that human potential can be recognized and expanded.
So let us embark upon this journey together, for as a very wise man said centuries ago, "The beginning of wisdom is wonder!"
x
* * *
Put Your Psychic Powers to Work:
A Practical Guide to Parapsychology
* * *
1 Clairvoyance and Psychometry.
Clairvoyance has fascinated mankind for centuries. The literal definition of clairvoyance is clear-seeing or clear-sight. The term clairvoyance encompasses not only future but also past events and those that occur at the same moment and time but at a different location.
In order to fully evaluate clairvoyance as a potential ability inherent in man it is necessary to look at past teachings about the subject and at scientific investigations still being carried on in the field. The ancients were aware that a select few had the ability to look into the future. Yoga has taught for centuries that man can set aside his conscious mind and put himself in tune with the so-called universal unconscious or cosmic mind. Yoga also postulated the existence of the Akashic records, which were considered to be a universal ether that held the recorded happenings of an entire world cycle
-not just the past but also present and future. Yogis teach that an advanced clairvoyant or others who possess occult powers of this kind can tune themselves in with the universal ether and “read" past, present, and future of an entire world cycle. They believe that the records terminate only with the ending of the particular world cycle to which they refer.
In Greek history much belief in the Oracle of Delphi was expressed. The Oracle, considered a high priestess, was consulted by many rulers in connection with personal events, wars, and strategies for battle. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, once wrote, “The affliction suffered by the body, the soul sees with shut eyes."
Today we are witnessing a new emphasis-new not only in time but also in that scientists are becoming interested in clairvoyance. The list of those who have investigated the subject is impressive and growing continuously. Dr. William Mc-Dougall, who taught at Harvard and Oxford, was responsible for bringing Dr. J. B. Rhine and his wife Dr. Louisa Rhine to Duke University in the 1920s to study and experiment with paranormal happenings. Books and magazines today report the work of Russian scientists related to clairvoyance and other areas of parapsychology. The Czechoslovakian journal Periscope, 1966, states that the Czech military in 1925 issued to its army a handbook, Clairvoyance, Hypnotism, and Magnetism, by Karl Hejbalik.
Usually it is easy to accept the possibility of somehow looking ahead in time to predict a future event. It is often somewhat more difficult to accept that one who has developed his inherent clairvoyant abilities can also reach into the past, perhaps into an event long forgotten, and give specific information about a specific event in a person's life. The idea that the past is a dead issue is challenged as someone sensitive to the past reaches back even into the early years of childhood and describes in detail the person's home at the time of the event, colors in the home, medical history, and conversations that may have occurred 20, 30, or more years ago.
That this sort of description has in fact happened and is continuing to happen confronts man's conception of time itself. Einstein has said that time is relative. Time zones divide the world, and United States residents each year through the institution of daylight saving time, intervene and order events by changing time itself for a particular duration. If time is indeed relative and merely a matter of a man-made intervention to record events in their order of occurrence,it is not difficult to accept that the mind is capable of transcending time itself.
To consider clairvoyance in general, the reader must acquaint himself with the idea that the universe is filled with objects and happenings that vibrate at different frequencies. Microwave ovens, which cook food in a matter of seconds by means of sound vibrations, are a concrete example of the existence of vibrations. The human brain itself operates and emits electrical magnetic impulses—impulses that are released into the surrounding atmosphere and held captive by the material objects they contact. The student is here reminded that every object, no matter how solid it may appear to the observer, is in essence composed of millions of atoms, electrons, neutrons, and neutrinos. Unoccupied space exists in even the most apparently solid object.
Clairvoyance thus seems to be more intimately tied with physics and electrical engineering than with psychology. To discover the natural laws responsible for the operations of phenomena now considered extrasensory we must look to these sciences as well as to the nature of the human mind. In attempting to explain clairvoyant ability we may compare the brain, emitting electrical magnetic impulses, to a radio. That is, one might tune in to various frequencies much as one turns a radio dial to select a specific station. The law of conservation of energy states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed, but merely changes from one form to another. If this law is accepted as fact, it again becomes easier to conceive of the mind's ability to tune itself through various techniques and to tap energies released into our atmosphere even centuries ago.
That a furnace in operation emits heat is easily determined by opening the furnace door. When the furnace is down, heat remains in the room, even though its initiating cause is no longer present. So we see once again that effects released into our surrounding atmosphere linger and can be perceived even when the initiating cause is no longer present.
One of the easiest methods of triggering clairvoyance in any individual is the technique of psychometry. Psychometry, sometimes known as object reading, is based on the idea that over long periods of time, even centuries, vibrations are absorbed and held by material objects. Bear in mind that an object will contain not only the vibrations of its owner but also the vibrations of those people who are significant in the owner's life. It is possible with psychometry, as with ordinary clairvoyance, to travel backward into a person's childhood to deal with the present life period or to travel forward into the person's future.
That the vibrations of significant others in the owner's life are also found on an object is sometimes puzzling to one who ventures for the first time into this field. One must consider here the possibility that in any meaningful relationship there is an exchange of vibrational energy. One becomes in part identified with the significant person. To some extent one's own essence in the vibrational field becomes colored by a meaningful exchange with another person.
Psychometry, however, not only is possible with objects of possession but also can be induced by the use of a person's full name and through such personal contact as hand holding. In each case it can be said that the person is presented with the loose end of the string that guides him into the past, present, and future. Occult teachers speak of the Aka thread, which can be visualized through the analogy of a spider that weaves a web as it moves from object to object. These threads are thought to be lines of communication, much like an index file in a library, which can direct a person to the information he seeks.
Several important facts must be kept in mind in regard to psychometry as a means of tapping clairvoyant ability. First, and most important, is the length of time the object has been associated with its owner and whether the owner has been the sole possessor of the object. Complications can arise if the object has belonged to several different people, any of whom is not well known to the present owner. A person who uses the object as a point of contact might very well pick up extremely accurate and specific events recorded on the object—say, a wristwatch or a ring—through the vibrations of the previous owner. If the present wearer of the jewelry is not well acquainted with details in the previous owner's life, accurate and specific information may be passed over as incorrect; so it is best to choose an object that has been associated only with the person for whom a clairvoyant demonstration is being attempted.
Second, a person who uses clairvoyant ability with or without the aid of an object is confronted with the problems of interpretation. Impressions come in many different ways. One person may see pictures; another may see symbols; others may hear voices; others report knowledge through feelings. Any combination of these various forms of receiving impressions can be expected. Often the information is received so quickly that while the sensitive is relating one incident in a person's life, another impression has already completely formed in the mind's eye.
The process is further complicated in that close emotional relationships are difficult to distinguish from actual blood ties. Then add that strong desires are often indistinguishable from a feat accomplished, and it becomes easier to see that proficient interpretation itself takes time and practice.
Psychometry is particularly advantageous in attempting a clairvoyance demonstration with a particular person in a crowded room. Remember that every person in the room is giving off vibrational energy; so the use of an object that belongs to the involved person acts as a focusing device, making it easier to ignore crosscurrents of vibrations from everyone else in the room.
If psychometry is to be done through the use of a name rather than an object, the complete name should be used-for example, John Joseph Smith, Jr. A married woman should include her maiden name—for example, Mary Anne Kelly Jones. Confusion can result when a junior or senior designation is not included in the name given to the person who is attempting the demonstration. Such omission results usually in specific information being picked up on both father and son. Keep in mind that the closer the emotional tie or the more significant the other, the stronger will be the significant other's vibrational effect in the subject's own energy field.
Photographs also afford a means of inducing clairvoyance through psychometry. It is interesting to note here that many primitive tribes would not permit photographs to be taken in the belief that the camera captured part of the individual's soul. When dealing with photographs it is not necessary that the sensitive see the picture. The picture may be handed to him face down and merely held between both hands in order to receive information. Keep in mind that information will be picked up on every person present in the photograph, on the significant people in their lives, and often on the person who took the picture. Actual description of the photograph's content is also possible in these cases.
Many times the subject cannot directly relate to information given, and he must ask people closely associated with him to aid in possible verification. In all cases, specific information and verification of facts is of utmost importance. To deal in generalities is to demonstrate nothing in the field of clairvoyant investigation. Whenever possible, demonstrations should be recorded on tape and/or written for a later verification. In no instance should facts be twisted or otherwise turned back in order to fit a situation or event in the subject's life.
No profession today can claim absolute perfection, and it is not possible in the area of clairvoyance. The person who performs a clairvoyant demonstration would do well to remember and remind those present during the demonstration that when dealing in such a specific manner with clairvoyant events in a person's life the odds are not 1 in 10, 1 in 100, or even 1 in 1,000. When dealing in specifics-for example, “Your left lower leg was broken at the age of seven years in a fall down the front steps of your aunt's home" — the odds are one in infinity.
The clairvoyant should instruct all subjects and observers present to make no remarks either in word or through body language—for example, facial gestures, looks of surprise—until the clairvoyant has completely finished with the information he intends to convey for verification. The clairvoyant should not look at the subject as he relates the clairvoyant impressions received. The less the subject and observers say before the demonstration, the better. Be on your guard against any supposed clairvoyant who plies you with questions and watches your every move for any sign of reaction during the demonstration. In the interest of scientific investigation every precaution must be taken to ensure that information received and labeled as clairvoyant knowledge could not have been conveyed by any ordinarily accepted means of communication.
It is quite difficult to demonstrate past-time clairvoyance with a subject the demonstrator has known well for an extended period of time. The clairvoyant then must endeavor to pick up on a time period and give minute details in order to dispel any doubt about possible discussion of these events prior to the demonstration. It is always much easier to demonstrate clairvoyance with someone who is not known at all or whose past life is not known.
When dealing with future time, clairvoyance, or precognition, this lack of knowledge about past events is not so important. In all precognitive demonstrations the time period should be pinpointed as closely as possible and the event described specifically and not in generalities. For verification of future-time clairvoyance the subject might be requested to advise the clairvoyant when the predicted time period has passed whether the event actually did occur. The clairvoyant, too, should retain a record of the events predicted, including the time in which they were to occur. Then the clairvoyant can check with the subject in order to maintain a more accurate record of hits and misses.
10.
Clairvoyance Exercises.
CLAIRVOYANCE USING ESP CARDS.
The ESP deck (available from the Foundation for Research into the Nature of Man, Durham, N.C.) consists of 25 cards with 5 symbols: circle, plus (+) sign, star, 3 wavy lines, square. Each symbol appears on five cards in the deck.
Down-through Method.
In this exercise the cards are shuffled and cut three times with a metal edge. The deck then is placed aside, and on a sheet of paper, prepared in advance, the subject notes with numbers from 1 to 25, the order in which he feels the symbols are arranged in the deck. For accuracy at least four runs should be completed. Statistically one may expect to have five hits by chance. The amount of deviation from five will be a measure of the amount of clairvoyant ability being evidenced. After four runs have been completed the subject should add the number of hits in each run. Chance expectations of hits for the 4 runs is 20; so approximately 28 hits would be quite in excess of the 20-to-1 odds. If the subject has scored 32 or more hits in the 4 runs he has attained chance occurrence odds of 250 to 1.
For his convenience the subject should divide a page into columns. The left-hand column is headed Call; the right-hand column is headed Card. The subject notes his impressions of the symbols in the deck, 1 through 25, in the Call column. Then he goes through the deck one card at a time, noting the symbols in their actual order of appearance, 1 through 25, in the Card column. This method allows for speedy verification. (Pre-printed forms may be obtained from the Foundation for Research into the Nature of Man, Durham, N.C.)
12.
Basic Technique.
The subject shuffles the deck, which then should be cut three times with a metal edge. The subject uses the prepared sheet as mentioned above. After the deck has been shuffled and set aside, the subject removes the top card from the deck and places it to the side of the stack without looking at its face. The subject then attempts to identify the symbol on the card and records it on his performance sheet in the Call column. The second card should be taken from the deck in the same manner but not placed on top of the preceding card until the subject has attempted his identification and reported his impression on his performance sheet. This method is used until the subject has gone through all 25 cards and recorded his impressions. After the second impression has been recorded, the second card may be placed on top of the first card drawn so that the subject amasses a second stack of cards. After all impressions have been recorded, the subject turns over the new stack of cards and records the actual appearance of the symbols in the Card column. Since the deck has been turned over, the cards will appear face up in their order of appearance 1 through 25. When four runs have been completed the odds given above also will apply here.
13.
General ESP.
This experiment involves two or more people. The deck is shuffled and cut as before. One person handles the deck while the other or others record his impressions. Since this technique can involve both clairvoyance and telepathy, the person designated to handle the deck is called the sender.
The sender takes one card at a time from the deck and holds it so that only he can physically see the symbol on the card. The sender holds a mental image of this symbol in his mind for 10 seconds. The subject records his impressions; then the sender picks up the next card from the deck and follows the same procedure as with the first card drawn. To indicate the progression to the subject the sender simply says, “number two", before he begins to hold his mental impression for 10 seconds. The second card drawn is then placed face down on top of the preceding card. The third card is drawn and its number (three) announced, and the visual image of the symbol is again held for 10 seconds. The third card is then placed face down on the two preceding cards. This procedure continues until the sender has announced number 25 and the subject has recorded his impression. Then the sender turns over the newly formed stack and states aloud the actual appearance of the symbols-for example, number one, square; number two, circle-while the subject records this order in his Card column. Again after four runs the number of hits in each run is added and performance gauged according to the statistical information given above.
In the first two exercises clairvoyance alone is being tested, since no one has seen the actual order of the symbols in the deck. In the third exercise telepathy or clairvoyance may be responsible for hits above chance, since the sender is holding a mental image of the symbol as it appears on the card.
14.
Techniques to Facilitate Clairvoyance
and Telepathy with ESP Cards.
1. Breath technique is extremely important. Subjects should inhale a deep breath, extending the diaphragm, and visualize the breath's traveling to the area of the pineal gland (on the forehead between and just above the eyebrows). This breath technique should be repeated three times before a subject attempts to record any impressions.
2. Some subjects may find it helpful to close their eyes and visualize a projection screen. Then the symbol would appear on the screen.
3. It can be beneficial to gaze at the deck and, in the first exercise, to mentally extend one's sight to actually pass through the cards and see or feel the images on their faces. In the first exercise the sight is extended one card at a time, after the impression of the previous card has been recorded. The same technique may be used in the second exercise, but here it is necessary to extend the sight through only one card at a time.
In the third exercise both sender and subject perform the preliminary breathing exercises. The sender takes an additional deep breath each time he draws a card from the deck and holds its mental image in his mind. The subject then may be aided by visualizing the image of the symbol as actually falling into his head. A helpful technique in distinguishing among the five symbols is the use of extended sensory perception to be aware of the feeling each symbol imparts. Squares tend to feel heavy;circles tend to feel light; stars tend to feel sharp or pointed; wavy lines convey the feeling of movement; plus signs convey a combination of sharpness with empty space. With practice the subject will become aware of how each symbol mentally feels to him; then his number of hits above chance will increase greatly. Extended sensory perception is the key here as in all clairvoyant, telepathic, and psychometric techniques.
16.
ESP WITH REGULAR PLAYING CARDS.
From a regular deck of playing cards the four aces are removed and placed side by side across the top of the table. The subject shuffles the remaining 48 cards and then cuts the deck 3 times with a metal edge. Then he selects the top card and places it to one side of the deck, face down. Using the techniques of extended sensory perception he attempts to place this card by suit on the proper ace; for example, if his impression is that the card is a diamond he places the card face down under the ace of diamonds, forming a column as he adds cards. This procedure is continued, a card at a time, until the subject has matched all 48 cards with their respective aces. Two complete trials or runs through the deck are necessary to attain statistical significance. When the subject has completed the run by placing the 48 cards in columns, he then turns the cards over, a column at a time; for example, all cards under the ace of diamonds column are turned over and hits recorded as the number of diamonds actually placed in the column. Each column is recorded in the same way.
When the numbers of hits in 2 runs have been recorded they are added together and evaluated according to the following statistics for 2 runs: chance score for 2 runs is 96 cards with 24 hits; 32 hits will yield odds of 20 to 1. Hits of 35 and above yield the odds of 100 to 1 of their occurrence by chance alone.
17.
Techniques to Aid the Subject.
The preliminary breathing techniques noted in the previous exercises also apply here. Through extended sensory perception the subject can learn to be aware of the distinct differences in the four suits. Red has a light, warm feeling. Black has a heavy, slightly depressing feeling; diamonds and spades have a sharp feeling when touched through extended sensory perception. To distinguish between a diamond and a spade one must be aware of the feeling of lightness or heaviness associated with the feeling of sharpness. Hearts and clubs have a rounded or smooth feeling. Again the subject must consider the lightness or heaviness associated with the extended feeling of roundness or smoothness. With practice the subject will find that he can become quite proficient at distinguishing a suit of cards face down.
17.
PSYCHOMETRIC CLAIRVOYANCE.
(Clairvoyance stimulated through psychometry
while holding an object
).
1. Hold the object between the hands. A watch or a ring is often the best object for use in psychometric demonstrations because its association with the subject usually has been of long duration and daily contact. Take three deep breaths, extending the diaphragm with each and visualizing the breath concentrated in the pineal gland area (between and just above the eyebrows). Remember to relax the stomach muscles after each breath.
2. Do not look at the subject or get any feedback until the demonstration is completely finished.
3. Speak your impressions without censorship. (Someone should already have been designated to record your spoken impressions in writing; then you can verify them at the conclusion of the demonstration.) It is extremely important that your first impressions, no matter how silly they may seem to you, be spoken without the intervention of logical reasoning. When logical reasoning enters, the state of altered consciousness associated with clairvoyance leaves. The first impressions you receive may deal with various senses and may present themselves to you in various ways.
When the free flow of impressions stops, it is time to mentally extend your senses for specific information. For example, if a description of the person's home has not come during the free flow period of impressions, mentally ask yourself to be aware of this person's home. Extend your sense of sight to be aware of architecture, furniture arrangement, color, pictures on the walls, and any unusual object in the room. Speak these impressions as quickly as they come to you. If the person seems to have a purple sofa with orange polka dots and yellow stripes, say it. Do not let yourself reason that no one in his right mind would own such a sofa. You may be surprised at how many seemingly ridiculous impressions are validated on completion of the demonstration.
4. Next extend other senses to receive specific information about other questions. The senses of hearing, taste, smell, and touch may be extended exactly as was the sense of sight. For example, if you want to know what the subject's favorite food is you should mentally ask yourself the question, extending your sense of smell and taste to obtain the desired information. You may experience a very salty or a very sweet or sour taste in your mouth. You may also find that associated with the salty taste in your mouth is the feeling of something brittle on your tongue. The impression formed from these sensations may be that the subject delights in potato chips. If you find it difficult to imagine anyone's delight in potato chips you again should not allow logical reasoning or personal preference to enter the situation.
5. You may want information about a specific period in the subject's life. For example, although you are an adult you may want information specific to the subject during his eighth year of life. In this situation extend your senses through time, remembering that whatever has been is never completely lost. Ask yourself mentally what specific events had particular impact for the subject at age eight. A free flow period of impressions may follow this mental question. Relate this information as it occurs. Now ask yourself mentally to be aware of the subject's home during his eight years. Extend all the senses as above. This technique of mental questioning for specific information can be carried on indefinitely.
6. Past medical history often is a valuable area in which to demonstrate the specificity of this technique. Mentally ask yourself for information about the subject's physical, emotional, and mental state as it was in the past and as it exists now. Free flow information will follow. Then you may want to ask the mental question: “Does this person have any scars or identifiable marks that are covered by garments?" If you want medical information from a particular period of life you need only ask the mental question: “What was this person's physical, emotional, and mental state during his 21st year.”
7. As should be evident by now, information may be as detailed and specific as you desire simply by asking delineated mental questions of yourself and extending your senses in order to be aware of the answers.
20.
2 Telepathy.
Almost every human being at some time has experienced spontaneous telepathy. The incident may have involved two people who spoke identical words at the same moment. Or a person may have thought about someone, received a telephone call, and found that the caller was the very party being thought about.
The idea that one mind can communicate with another mind or, indeed, with many minds simultaneously has enchanted and mystified man since the beginning of reported history. Creative writers, writers of science fiction, and poets often have used as a theme the ideal form of communication, mind-to-mind contact, without a word spoken.
Science has explored the idea of telepathy with the aid of modern scientific instruments such as the electroencephalograph. The Russians have succeeded in demonstrating telepathy between two people, one in Moscow and the other in Leningrad. Scientists in Russia also have been able to Show by means of the electroencephalograph the exact moment a telepathic communication leaves the sender and the exact moment it enters the mind of the receiver.
What telepathy has to offer mankind is the possibility that one day the deaf and the mute may be able to communicate telepathically. For those who are able to speak their thoughts and hear spoken communications telepathy offers the possibility of an open line of communication in times of emergency as well as in everyday life.
The effectiveness of involving the senses in telepathic communication has been proven over a two-year period in classes and experimentation conducted at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. Various techniques were used to evaluate learning conditions conducive to both sending and receiving telepathic communication. These techniques began with the sender's merely sending a word, a book title, or a playing card from an ordinary deck of 52 cards, and gradually involved the senses in sequential order.
For example, beginning experiments merely required that the sender concentrate on the word flower. Then the sender not only attempted to communicate the word flower, but also to include a specific image of a red rose. The addition of the red rose image to the thought of the word flower was found to be more readily received.
As each new sense was involved in the message to be communicated, accuracy of reception increased phenomenally. The end product, a message sent telepathically, using each of the ordinarily accepted senses, might be as follows. The sender, wanting to convey the mental image of a flower to one or more subjects, would envision a red rose so that it could be clearly seen in the mind’s eye. He would add to this the fragrance associated with roses in full bloom, then would mentally run his hand very lightly over the blossom so as to include in his mental image the softness and the thorns associated with roses. In order to involve the senses of hearing and taste the sender would mentally recall the sound of bees hovering above a garden of roses and would mentally touch a rose petal to his tongue.
Full use of all the senses energizes a telepathic message, and it finds its way to the receiver telepathically through five doors simultaneously. The greater the bombardment and involvement of the senses with which the receiver is well acquainted, the greater is the accuracy of the receiver in telepathic reception.
Telepathic experiments have not been confined to human subjects. Dr. Karlis Osis worked extensively with telepathy in cats, and one of Dr. I. B. Rhine's first research endeavors in parapsychology involved a horse who was alleged to have telepathic ability. Interestingly, Dr. Rhine and his associates could find no logical explanation for the way the animal followed mental commands, and they were left with telepathy as the sole means of interpreting the animal’s behavior.
Since the reader has already learned that the brain works on electrical impulses, the idea that thought is actually patterned energy should not be too difficult to accept. The human mind seems capable of sending thought over a great distance or to someone in the same room. Here it must be kept in mind that to validate telepathic communication one must be able to rule out the possibility of any ordinary sensory cues. Insistence on a strict scientific framework cannot be overemphasized. All telepathic experiments must be prefaced with practical means of excluding any possibility of communication other than that of mind to mind.
In telepathy as in clairvoyance and psychometry it is important that the reader realize he is doing no more than extending his normally accepted senses. In fact, when sending a telepathic message the more the sender is able to involve his senses in the thought he wants to communicate, the easier it will be for the receiver to pick up and interpret the message.
24.
Telepathy Exercises.
1. This exercise can involve two or any number of people. The person selected as sender takes the receivers on an imaginary trip. He states aloud, “I am going to take you on a shopping trip," or “I'm going to take you to a place that means a great deal to me."
The sender then speaks a line, leaving a blank statement for the receivers to fill in on receipt of a telepathic message. For example, “I am going into a certain type store. As I enter the store I am particularly aware of the fragrance that seems to permeate the surroundings. I am going to experience this fragrance and communicate it to you. Extend your senses with me and write down with no communication among you the fragrance you feel I am attempting to convey to you.” “I am now walking through the store. My eye is caught by a particular article; the color impresses me and I touch the article. I will now communicate to you through thought the color and texture I am experiencing." “Extend your sight and sense of touch and share in my experience. As before, with no communication among yourselves, write down your impressions.”
This exercise may be continued to include 10 separate experiences in the imaginary journey. In each experience the reader should attempt to involve as many of the senses as possible.
2. This exercise also can involve two or any number of persons. They can be in the same room or can be physically removed from the sender by any distance. The exercise involves telepathic communication of a drawing or sketch, which the receiver is to duplicate.
Simple geometric figures may be used at first. Easy items, such as a cup and saucer or a house, also may be used. The idea here is for the receiver to duplicate as closely as possible the sketch that the sender is drawing and communicating. As greater proficiency is developed more detailed drawings may be used. For example, instead of using a simplified picture of a house the sender may put in a certain number of windows, trees surrounding the house, or a specific kind of door on the house. The experiment‘s success again will be determined by how closely the receiver‘s sketch resembles the sender’s original sketch.
3. This exercise involves the use of a deck of ordinary playing cards. Once the deck has been shuffled and cut the sender takes the top card and attempts to convey to his receiver or receivers the number and suit of the selected card. Again the senses must be brought into play.
Through experimentation it has been found that people perceive the color red as weighing less than black. Thus the receiver could distinguish between the two colors by allowing himself to be aware of lightness or heaviness.
In determining the suit of the card it has been shown that hearts and clubs are experienced as rounded objects. A heart may be distinguished from a club by the degree of heaviness involved with the round shape. Diamonds and spades are experienced as pointed objects, a feeling of sharpness. Here again the degree of heaviness involved allows the receiver to distinguish the suit. Face cards are experienced as crowded patterns, a feeling of fullness.
Once the receiver has determined that a face card is involved he need only return to the before-mentioned exercise for distinguishing the suit. It is suggested that this exercise be done with all 52 cards. If the participants do not have time to run through the entire deck, the deck should be placed aside in two stacks—one stack for the cards already sent and placed in the order of their appearance, the other stack for unsent cards, which is placed aside without disturbing the order of the cards or looking at the cards to ascertain their order in the deck. Verification of the telepathic communication can not take place until the entire deck of 52 cards has been sent. Completion allows the statistics for any exact hit (king of hearts) to remain 1 in 52 and for 2 or more hits to be calculated easily from this base of chance expectation.
27.
3 Human Aura.
The human aura is a highly charged magnetic field that surrounds and permeates the human body. Although one can learn to see the aura within 5 or 10 minutes, most people are unaware of its existence, possibly because of functional blindness. People often see selectively in looking at an object; so they may be unaware of much of the detail in the object because they have attended only to certain features.
Much research related to the human aura has been done. Dr. Walter I. Kilner, physician at St. Thomas Hospital in London, did the first known scientific experiments in determining by laboratory means the nature of the aura. These experiments were begun in 1908, when Dr. Kilner first noticed a haze around the human body. He became interested in exploring the possibility that this haze or aura might reflect a person’s physiological state, and he did, in fact, find that particular colors and patterns in the aura accompanied certain diseases in the body. In 1920 Dr. Kilner published his book, Human Atmosphere, which was followed by Human Aura. It was Dr. Kilner‘s opinion that 95 out of 100 people with unaided vision could be trained to see and interpret the aura.
In Russia a form of photography, the Kirlian method, has made it possible for scientists to photograph and evaluate the magnetic field that surrounds all living human beings. Recently at Stanford University American scientists have duplicated the Russian feat by photographing the human aura in color. Another researcher at Cornell, Dr. Otto Rahn, discovered after extensive research that the strongest human radiations emanate from the fingertips of the right hand. This finding has long been known to persons involved in psychic healing.
Evidence that the aura has been seen for centuries, although its exact nature was not known, can be found in religious paintings that depict halos around the bodies of saints and prophets. Thanks to the efforts of many researchers we are now able to make specific, verifiable statements about the human aura. The magnetic field that immediately surrounds the body and extends about one-eighth inch around all portions of the body, including the hair, usually is referred to as the etheric or bioplasmic body. This narrow band is sensitive to touch, and one can learn with little difficulty to be aware of its existence. Several researchers have found that this inner aura will respond to a magnet; it can be attracted to a magnet, but is not itself a magnet. So the aura does have mass, probably because of the presence of iron particles.
The aura extends farther around such projections as the nipples and the fingers than it does from flatter surfaces. It is interesting to note here that this state is also true of an electrically charged conductor.
Scientists in Russia, the United States, and England have found that it is possible to impart a beneficial thought, perhaps a slight charge of electrical energy, by means of the aura. The brighter a person's aura, the stronger the electrical charge he is able to convey to another. Using breath techniques an individual may learn to increase the energy in the aura and to direct it at will through and to a given point.
When one first becomes aware of the aura one possibly may not at the same time become aware of its various colors and patterns. The ability to see colors and patterns in the aura seems with many people to be a function of time and practice; others see color immediately; still others report awareness of the rainbow of light since childhood. Although the field of color interpretation related to the aura still needs much investigation and refinement, several statements can be made in regard to the relationship between the presence of certain colors and a person's physiological, emotional, and mental state. Most of the evidence gathered to date has been empirical; the area itself is open to much deeper investigation in the interpretation of particular shades and hues.
Some general interpretations for particular colors in the aura are the following. Red usually represents vitality and energy. It has been found experimentally that when a person becomes angry, red dominates the auric field. Blue correlates most often with philosophic pursuits. Much study still remains to be done in regard to specific shades of blue. Yellow correlates with such mental activity as logical reasoning and critical analysis. Black has been found to correlate with moods of malice, hatred, and severe depression. The color white requires considerably more investigation. Yogis and other occultists consider it to be indicative of a highly evolved being, such as a master or guru. Splotches of brown have been found around and near diseased organs, and gray seems to correlate with negative emotions such as fear, mild depression, and a generally negative attitude. Limey yellowish-green has been found to correlate with deceit. A restful, deep green often is seen around people who have a great love for the out-of-doors. The student must remember that much remains to be discovered about color and pattern in the human aura and how it relates to the human being in everyday life.
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Human Aura Exercises.
VIEWING THE AURA OF OTHERS.
1. Select a room with an unpatterned wall.
2. Lighting should be enough to allow the people present in the room to distinguish the features of the person whose aura is to be viewed.
3. The viewers should look at the subject’s forehead (subject positioned in front of a neutral wall). The viewers should allow their gazes to wander around the head and the rest of the body.
4. To enhance the energy in the aura the subject should be instructed to take a deep breath, being sure to extend the diaphragm as the breath is taken. The subject then should imagine and will the inhaled breath to the very top of the head. During this process the subject should relax the stomach muscles.
5. When the subject has taken the breath and willed it to the top of his head, viewers should concentrate their sight on the area of the head and particularly the crown of the head. The aura usually is seen as a fluctuating light mist or haze (i.e., many people describe the aura’s appearance as similar to heat waves that rise from the ground on a very hot day).
6. To further confirm that the energy pull in the aura can be controlled, while the viewers are concentrating on the crown of the head the subject should take another deep breath and again direct this breath to the scalp area. The viewers then should be able to see the increase in the brightness of the aura and to be aware of its fluctuation under the control of the will.
7. The subject should now extend his hand, palm facing the viewers, fingers pointed toward the ceiling. A deep breath should be taken as before, but this time the subject should imagine the breath concentrated in the hand. Viewers are instructed to be aware of the aura and its fluctuation, particularly at the fingertips.
8. Staring is not necessary and not encouraged. If a viewer has any doubt about what he is observing he should avert his eyes for a moment and then look again at the subject.
9. The ability to see colors in the auric field may be immediately present in a viewer or may be developed with practice.
10. An easy experiment to give evidence that the aura has mass can be performed with the assistance of a large magnet.
11. A person should be selected to stand near the subject, holding the magnet in his hand. The magnet should be held approximately one and a half to two feet from the subject’s body.
12. The subject again takes a deep breath, and the viewers should pay particular attention to the area where the magnet is held. The aura will run to the magnet.
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VIEWING YOUR OWN AURA.
1. Select a room with a mirror opposite a neutral wall. The bathroom in most houses or apartments works very well for this purpose.
2. Turn off the light in the room being used for the experiment, making sure that a light outside the room emits enough light so that you can distinguish your own features in the mirror.
3. Take a deep breath and imagine the breath filling the head.
4. You should be quickly aware of the aura in the head area.
5. An additional breath may be taken and again directed to the head to increase the intensity of the auric field and make its fluctuations more pronounced.
6. As in viewing the aura of others, your own aura will appear as a light mist or haze.
7. Color discrimination of the aura may be possible immediately or will develop with practice.
EXPERIENCING THE AURA
THROUGH TOUCH.
The subject for the exercise should increase the energy in the aura through breath techniques described earlier. Those who take part in the exercise should stand directly in front of the subject, one person at a time, and place their hands approximately six inches from either side of the subject’s head. The participant should then close his eyes and allow himself to place all awareness in his hands. The subject then takes another deep breath from the diaphragm and mentally envisions the breath filling and leaving his head.
The participant probably will experience the sensation of heat and the feeling of movement around his hands. This technique has proven very successful in allowing the blind to experience the human aura.
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MAGNET EFFECT ON THE AURA.
When the subject has placed himself before a neutral wall and raised the level of energy in his aura through breathing, as previously described, the participants place a large horseshoe magnet approximately four inches on either side of the subject's head. Participants will find that placing a magnet in this position while viewing the aura creates an interesting effect. The inner aura will run to or extend to meet the magnet. The magnet can be placed the same distance from the body in any other area, and the same effect will be achieved. This experiment indicates that the aura does possess mass and can be used as a valuable example in answer to the question of afteri magery.
36.
4 Psychokinesis.
Of all the areas encompassed by parapsychology, psychokinesis is perhaps the most fascinating and promising area of human potential. Psychokinesis, usually referred to as PK, describes the concept that the mind actually can exert an effect on material objects external to itself. PK has been used experimentally to control the roll of dice and to inhibit growth in cultures of plant diseases. It also has been used to accelerate plant growth and to bring anesthetized mice back to consciousness long before the effects of the anesthetic normally would disappear.
The idea that the mind can traverse space and actually make its effects felt by material objects may at first seem astounding. However, scientists are no longer attempting to prove the possibility of such an occurrence but, instead, are looking for practical applications for a phenomenon already experimentally proven. Research conducted in the Soviet Union by Dr. Pavel Naumov and in the United States by Dr. I. B. Rhine and Dr. Louisa E. Rhine has shown beyond doubt that PK-the ability of the mind to affect material objects-is a reality. Most of the Rhines’s subjects did not consider that they could control external events with the sheer force of mind, but most of them showed marked ability in psychokinesis. All subjects evidenced PK ability in varying degrees.
The question of what force or energy is responsible for the PK effect naturally confronts the logical mind. Although no pat answers are available now, several theories have been set forth both in Russia and in the United States.
After studying Mikailova and others trained to develop this latent talent, Soviet scientists proposed the theory that psychokinesis involves the conversion of physical energy into psychic energy, which is then converted to kinetic energy, which leaves the subject and exerts its force on material objects. A major reason for this conclusion is that Mikailova and others lose three to four pounds during an experimental session.
J. B. Rhine has theorized that PK has its basis in the relationship between mind and body. He considers that energy must be used to direct energy; therefore PK begins with the use of direct nervous energy, and nervous energy converts itself to muscular energy. This muscular, or kinetic, energy then directs the movement of material objects. The key to understanding Rhine's approach is to realize that for him the mind is not imprisoned in the physical body but can traverse space and perhaps even time itself.
The important fact to keep in mind is that PK can be studied and measured scientifically. One must also keep in mind that PK is a form of energy that requires considerably more research.
The practical uses to which PK may be put are numerous and varied. A nation that develops in its citizens the ability to deflect the needle of a compass across vast distances in space may gain a strategic weapon. The compass of a ship at sea, the compass of a plane in the air, or the compass of a unit in the field could be deflected by the power of thought alone. Experimentation has shown that PK also can be used to disorient a gyroscope—the mechanism that guides intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Psychokinesis surely will have a marked effect on biology and physics. Biologists traditionally have considered physical effects to be the product of physical causes. PK experiments have shown that it is possible to use the mind to control the rate of the heartbeat—indeed, even to stop the heartbeat—to control the blood pressure, and to impede or accelerate plant growth depending on the will of the person who conveys psychokinetic energy. Biology as a science cannot long ignore experiments that so markedly affect it. Since physics as a science deals with energy, psychokinesis naturally falls in its realm. Physicists well may have to answer the parapsychologist's question: “What is the nature of psychokinetic energy?”
No matter from what discipline comes the answer to this question, the experiments that led to the question cannot and must not be ignored. Discovery of the nature of psychokinesis and laws that govern it may hold the answer to the much talked about energy depletion of the future.
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Psychokinesis Exercises.
CONTROLLING THE FALL OF DICE.
1. Begin by using a pair of dice. After several hours oi practice more dice may be added to reduce the number of tosses necessary to obtain statistically significant results.
2. Perform the breath exercises outlined in Chapter 1.
3. It is important to have in your mind a clear picture of the face of the die you want to be uppermost when the dice come to rest.
4. Begin by choosing a number from 1 to 6. For the purpose of illustration we will use the number 3 in discussing this exercise. The dice should be thrown from a cup rather than from the palm of the hand.
5. Keeping the chosen number in mind, take a deep breath, imagine the dice to have already fallen with the desired number on the upturned faces, and throw the dice from the cup. A backboard should be used and the dice thrown so that they hit and rebound from its surface.
6. With two dice a total of six runs is suggested to ascertain statistical significance above mean chance expectation. Each run should consist of six tosses of the two dice, since the mean chance expectation for any number of tosses is one-sixth of the total dice thrown by chance alone. In 6 runs of 6 tosses each, chance alone would produce 12 hits. Therefore, 17 hits would yield odds of 20 to 1; 18 hits would produce odds of 100 to 1. That is, chance would account for this number of hits only 1 time in 100 trials.
7. The following statistics are given for the use of two dice, six tosses in each trial. In 12 runs mean chance expectation is 24 hits; 30 hits give odds of 20 to 1, and 32 hits odds of 100 to 1.
8. You may reduce the number of runs necessary for statistical significance by tossing six dice simultaneously. In this instance 10 runs, each consisting of 24 tosses, are needed. Since the total number of tosses equals 240, mean chance expectation would be 40 hits or one-sixth of the total number of tosses thrown.
42.
DIVERTING THE NEEDLE ON A
COMPASS THROUGH PK.
1. The compass need not be expensive but should be one of accepted reliability.
2. Perform the breath exercises described in Chapter 1.
3. Place the compass on a flat surface before you, all other objects in the immediate area removed. Be sure that the compass is placed so that it faces true north and that the needle is not fluctuating.
4. Take another breath. Will the circulation of the breath as previously described. Direct the breath to the fingertips and eyes. Imagine the fingers becoming elongated through the projection of energy leaving through your fingertips. Place the hands above the compass, willing the energy of the breath through the hands as if to actually push the needle in the desired direction by means of the energy extending through the fingers.
5. Visualize this same energy leaving through the eyes. Imagine it as two beams of light that extend from your eyes, make contact with the needle on the compass, and push it in the desired direction.
6. Use your imagination and will to portray in your own mind the actual results you want to achieve. In your own mind see the needle move and accept the fact as already accomplished.
7. Concentrate on the beams of energy leaving your fingers and eyes, pushing the needle in a desired direction of change. You may find it helpful at first to move the hands back and forth above the compass, thereby allowing the energy to gain momentum as the energy field around the compass itself is disrupted by the PK energy being introduced into it. Most often the needle at first will sway east and west in a small arc, which will increase as you repeat the breathing exercises and the extension of energy to the needle.
8. Once this arc movement is in progress you are ready to begin control of the specific direction the needle will take. For example, if you want the needle to move due east 20 degrees bring both hands above the true north and move them quickly in an eastward direction, allowing the energy from your eyes to push the needle, adding extra momentum to its directional movement.
9. Increasing the degrees of deflection is a matter of practice, and those who seriously want to develop this ability will practice a half-hour each day. Breath exercises, the visualization of energy, and the strength of the will are the key factors in the purposeful use of psychokinetic energy.
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MOVEMENT OF SMALL OBIECTS
THROUGH PK ENERGY.
1. Follow the breathing exercises in Chapter 1.
2. Select a light object, such as a matchstick or paper clip, to begin your practice.
3. Hold the hands above the object as directed in the previous exercise. The object should be covered with a glass to prevent interference of air currents.
4. Follow the directions given in the previous exercises, choosing the direction in which you want the object to move and directing your energy to impel the object in that direction.
5. Again, serious practice must involve at least a half-hour each day.
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5 Mediumship.
Of all the areas related to parapsychology, mediumship is the one in which fraudulent practitioners are most frequently found. The validity of mediumship—that is, a discarnate entity, communicating with living beings through a living person called a medium—has been in question since recorded history.
Death itself is an unknown. The question of survival, after death, of the soul or personality can be found in every culture from the cave to the present. The Greek Oracle of Delphi is spoken of historically as a high priestess with the power to act as a bridge between this world and the next. Kings and nation-states consulted her on such matters as battle strategy, weather prediction, and the welfare of departed spirits.
One might consider that man has come a long way since the time of the Oracle of Delphi, but it is interesting to note that an archaic English law that pronounced all mediums and witches vagrants was not repealed until 1951. The passage of time has done very little to dissuade humans from seeking means of communicating with the dead. The reader may be surprised to discover on investigation that throughout history persons who have led in their fields and have been considered extremely intelligent not only have believed such communication possible but also have attempted to demonstrate its possibility.
Thomas A. Edison was one such pioneer. At 73 Edison was interviewed by the Scientific American on his work in the construction of a machine that would allow the living to communicate with the dead. In the October 30, 1920, edition of the Scientific American Edison gave his views on the possibilities of life after death and spoke of his work on communication with deceased persons. At about the same time American Magazine (October 20, 1920) contained the article, “Edison Working to Communicate with the Next World." Any reader who holds the opinion that to embrace a belief in mediumship shows a lack of intelligence need only ask himself whether the man who invented the phonograph and the alkaline battery could be considered unintelligent.
Emanuel Swedenborg, well-known scientist and philospher in the 17th and 18th centuries, was an enthusiastic supporter of the theory of life after death and of the possibility of communication with the dead. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries such people as Arthur Schopenhauer and Immanuel Kant addressed themselves to the question of soul survival and communication with the next world. Kant, best known for Critique Of Pure Reason, published in 1781, also wrote a book little referred to in philosophy classes today. The book, Dreams of a Ghost Seer, published in 1776, was concerned mainly with Swedenborg’s work in mediumship.
William McDougall wrote Body and Mind in 1911. The book was a plea bordering on a demand that science investigate the possible survival of the human personality after death. McDougall taught at Oxford and Harvard and later held a position at Duke University, where in 1927 he engaged Doctors J. B. Rhine and Louisa E. Rhine to set up the parapsychology laboratory to research the psychic field, including mediumship.
The well-known psychologist Carl G. Jung also expounded the belief that the human personality survives bodily death. Jung, whose works are studied today in colleges and universities, reported that he had conversed with discarnate spirits and felt that a particular discarnate acted as his guide in times of stress. Interestingly, Jung's work and beliefs in such areas are rarely, if ever, referred to in psychology classes. How is it possible for this discipline to place such great emphasis on his contributions to psychology and yet completely ignore the time and energy he devoted to parapsychology?
Add to this list of recognized geniuses the name of Socrates, who also conversed with disembodied spirits, and the logical conclusion is that extremely intelligent and creative men have considered communication with the dead possible and have pleaded and demanded that science take an active part in the investigation of soul survival and communication after death.
The average person usually is not aware that mediumship is manifested in many different forms. The most common conception of mediumship, and the form most often used in television and movies, is physical mediumship, which is characterized by the production of such physical phenomena as rushing winds, table levitation, sounds, lights, and general physical disturbances—all reported to be manifestations of disembodied spirits. Of all the forms of mediumship, this one is most open to fraud and trickery. Certainly it would not be difficult for an unscrupulous person to produce such physical phenomena by very ordinary though underhanded methods.
Television and movies also have portrayed direct voice mediumship. In this form the discarnate spirit is supposed to actually speak through the medium so that those present who knew the discarnate before his death are able to recognize the voice of their deceased friend or relative.
A slightly less dramatic form is called mental mediumship. In this form the medium supposedly sees and hears the deceased spirits and conveys the messages in her own voice but with the recognized speech patterns and idiosyncrasies of the discarnate spirit.
Trumpets announce yet another form, called trumpet mediumship. In this manifestation messages from departed friends and loved ones are announced through a trumpet, which materializes in a mysterious manner and floats about the room in midair while messages are announced to those present. Apparently, though, the flight of the trumpet medium’s instrument is aided by very material attached strings.
One of the most interesting forms of mediumship is that in which the medium produces from her body ectoplasm that materializes into a supposed discrete image of the departed individual. It is unfortunate that in such materialization mediumship the medium removes himself from the view of all present and takes up residence in a cabinet! The reason given is that as the ectoplasm leaves the body in such great quantities the physical body becomes withered and extremely grotesque. We know of no scientific experimentation to support such reasoning. Even when psychic experimenters expressed a willingness to risk the gruesome sight, the mediums felt compelled to protect them from foolhardiness by denying them visual access to the cabinet while the séance was in progress.
Whenever a medium finds it necessary to exclude herself from the sitters’ visual field, the sitters have reason to become more than a little suspicious. It cannot be stressed too often that any form of mediumship must be seen through open though extremely skeptical eyes. It is far too easy for a bereaved relative or friend to see and hear only what he wants to be the truth; so one must look very carefully, not only at the subject of mediumship but also at the individual medium. This is not to say that all mediums are deliberately fraudulent but only to warn those who would seek out mediums that ethical and nonethical persons exist in every field, including mediumship. Since we have turned our attention to the medium as an individual, let us consider several characteristics that mediums seem to share almost universally.
First, a medium rarely performs effectively in the presence of an antagonistic and closed-minded skeptic. Unfortunately, this characteristic inhibits scientific investigation. Certainly not all scientists are antagonistic or closed-minded, for to consider spending time in such investigation is a mark, hopefully, of some openness on the investigator’s part. Add that a very important ingredient in the makeup of any scientist worthy of the name is an open-minded and open-ended approach to any field in which he wants to do research. Nevertheless, investigators and ordinary sitters alike frequently can unwittingly bring prejudice and antagonism into a research situation.
A possible explanation for such disruption in the medium's efficient performance can be found in consideration of vibratory fields and energy patterns. Mediums throughout history have said that work in mediumship requires vast amounts of energy. Whenever extremely negative conditions are present the medium must deploy energy to overcome the negativity before getting down to the business of communication with the next world. Whether this is an adequate explanation is left to the reader; however, except in fraudulent situations, all endeavors require energy. If that energy must be divided, then surely it is possible that energy will be lessened in the performance of the major task at hand.
The second universal characteristic of mediums is that ability to perform fluctuates from month to month, day to day, and even hour to hour. As is true of most abilities, the faculty to perform as a mediumistic channel is not constant, which may explain why some people who possess valid capability to communicate with another world turn to fraudulent practices.
For instance, imagine if you will a medium who has an opportunity to conduct a séance in the presence of people who can be influential in aiding his career. Imagine that in the presence of these people the medium discovers that on this day her ability just happens to have fluctuated on the downside of his effective and impressive performance. What does the medium do? Too often, believing that he is facing a one-time chance, he stoops to fraud, hoping those present will not detect it, and rationalizing in his own mind, “I know I have a real ability, and this may be my only chance to convince these people. I’ll cheat now, but never again!"
The medium may be more right than he knows. He may never have the chance again! If an investigator discovers fraud he has no choice but to report the facts as they are, and the facts in such a case can have a long-term damaging effect. The investigator himself may decide that true research in the field is impossible, since it is evident that a person of reputed integrity has compromised himself. The medium, who up until this time may have been completely honest and enjoyed a reputation for openness and integrity, can easily find that all the good that preceded is now washed away like so many soapsuds down a drain.
No matter how the medium rationalizes the fraudulent performance, he will never find an adequate reason for compromising himself and selling out to his own ego. How much more simple would it be if in such circumstances he could just honestly say, “I'm sorry, but for various reasons I cannot operate as a mediumistic channel at this time. I welcome your presence and investigation on another day.”The damage that could be prevented by such a simple and open statement is unfathomable. Science needs this type of honesty in mediumship if research is ever to come to sound scientific conclusions.
The last characteristic we shall consider is the medium’s inability to use his talents to enhance his own economic status. We refer here not to an economic status that may prosper through client fees but to economic status enhanced by means of investments based on precognitive knowledge direct from the spirit world. Many mediums and psychics believe that the use of precognitive information to enhance one’s own financial situation would result in the loss of all ability to attain such information—a belief that has no basis in logic. The true explanation of such a loss of abilities may more likely be found in that an individual obsessed with amassing a fortune may have no time to devote to the continual enrichment of psychic abilities. Precognitive information most generally is obtained in what may be considered an altered state of consciousness, or a state of enriched awareness. One who is preoccupied with materialistic gains probably will spend most of his time out of such states.
The reader's attention is directed now to four theories that attempt to explain the phenomenon of mediumship. Once again the conclusion on which theory accurately explains the mediurnistic process must be left to the reader, for much research remains to be done in this area.
The first theory we will consider is that information conveyed through a medium is received telepathically from living beings. This telepathy would be no small feat in itself, but since we are examining the phenomenon of mediumship, telepathic experience would not lend evidence for survival after bodily death.
Perhaps the most interesting point in support of communication with discarnate spirits is that many messages conveyed through mediums are not immediately recognized as valid by those to whom they are conveyed. Research often has borne out the accuracy of a mediumistic message, even though living persons previously associated with the discarnate cannot validate the message.
The second theory is that the medium is able to tap universal mind. This theory has its roots in the ancient belief that there exists a universal ether, known in occult circles as the Akashic records. These records supposedly contain the complete history of a cycle of creation. If such records do, in fact, exist, then a medium or other sensitive possibly could attune himself by altering his state of consciousness to the vibrational level on which these records are kept, and it would be much more difficult to prove through mediumistic methods the existence of life after death.
Carl Jung spoke of the collective unconscious—a state or level of consciousness—in which mankind shares access to vast amounts of information and knowledge. Again it must be stated that much more research must be conducted in order to gain scientific evidence for the existence of universal mind or soul survival. It is important to keep in mind that the existence of a universal intelligence would not necessarily rule out the possibility of communication with discarnate spirits. It would become but one more variable to be seriously considered in mediumistic investigation.
Psychologically, the third theory that attempts to explain mediumship is one of the most interesting yet proposed. The theory states that the medium’s messages are a product of his own subconscious mind. This idea, together with the possibility of a splinter personality that the medium is not consciously aware of, creates an intriguing psychological problem. It is quite possible, most likely true, that in many cases this theory can explain mediumistic messages. Psychological journals are replete with studies of split personality. A less frequent occurrence, but one that must be considered, is the multiple personality. Most people are at least acquainted in some way with The Three Faces of Eve. Certainly the possibility of a splinter personality in mediumship must be considered.
Physiological tests in combination with psychological testing may prove the researcher’s most valuable tool in attempting to determine whether mediumistic conveyances are the product of the medium’s subconscious mind. It is enough to say at this time that physiological differences have been substantiated scientifically in the study of several mediums.
Eileen I. Garrett, a world-famous medium and researcher, has allowed open scientific investigation of her mediumistic abilities. Definite physiological changes occurred in Mrs. Garrett's bodily functions when supposed discarnates reportedly were communicating with her. These changes involved wide discrepancies in respiration, pulse rate, electrocardiograph readings, blood count, and blood sugar readings with each discarnate supposedly using Mrs. Garrett as a means of communicating with the living world. Physicians evaluated the findings and determined that no physiological laws now known could explain the wide variations indicated in the laboratory tests, a point that must be considered as fairly heavy evidence on the side of discarnate communication.
The final theory to be considered is that the medium actually becomes a channel through which discarnates communicate information from another world. In evaluating this theory the reader should think again about each of the other theories. If science can rule out all other ways of conveying mediumistic messages, what is left is a strong case in favor of survival after bodily death and a communicative link—the medium—be- tween these two worlds.
To conclude, the reader is asked to remember that truth is not an absolute commodity but is the sum product of intellectual curiosity, an open mind, and a willingness to consider alternative factors. Truth has many different faces, and our perspective of what is true changes as we move to view facts from other vantage points. This is not only the purpose of scientific investigation but is also an obligation of each individual to himself. “Seek and you shall find” can be well applied to formal education and self-education. A closed mind is a dead mind. If we do not move forward we surely disintegrate. because nothing known to science ever remains the same. We must ask questions if we are ever to have answers.
We must investigate mediumship if we are ever to know what is responsible for the phenomenon. The approach to such an investigation advocated here is an open mind and a caution, “Let the sitter beware!"
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not THE END
