APPARITIONS, paranormal appearances suggesting the real presence of someone distant or dead, or reminding of the latter's continuity of existence. The perception is visual, mostly spontaneous, but sometimes it may be experimentally induced. The state of the percipient may be normal (waking or dream state) or abnormal.

AFTER DEATH COMMUNICATIONS, messages from the departed whose intent is normally to comfort the bereaved or bring closure to unfinished business and to evidence of survival.

APPORTS, arrival of various objects through an apparent penetration of matter. This is one of the most baffling phenomena of spiritualism. The objects differ in size, may be both inanimate and living and appear none the worse for their strange journey.

ASCENDED MASTERS, a term adopted in theosophical literature to designate those human beings further progressed on the evolutionary pathway than the general run of humanity, from which are drawn the saviors of humanity and the founders of the world-religions. Also known by the Sanskrit term mahatma, "great self". Beings named as masters by various channels who write for them include: Buddha, Chohan, Djwhal Khul, El Morya, Hilarion, Jesus/Sananda, Kuthumi, Lanto, Lao-tzu, The Maha Chohan, Maitreya, Mary, Mohammed, Nada, St. Germain, St. Paul, Portia, Quan Yin, Sanat Kumara, Serapis Bey

Asports, the reverse of apport phenomena: the disappearance of objects from the seance room through the barriers of intervening matter and their appearance at another spot.

ASTRAL BODY, etheric counterpart of the physical body which, when out of coincidence, may temporarily move about in space in comparative freedom and appear in various degrees of density to others. The belief in the existence of the double, or astral body, is age old, its acceptance as a working hypothesis solves many a puzzling problem in psychical research.

AUTOMATIC WRITING, written or typed scripts produced without the control of the conscious self. It is the most common form of mediumship, the source of innumerable cases of self-delusion, and at the same time one of the highest and most valuable spiritual gifts.

AUTOMATIC DRAWING AND PAINTING, attempts at artistic expression without control of the conscious self. The phenomenon belongs to the same category as automatic writing but neither necessarily involves the other.

AUTOMATIC SPEAKING--excitation of the vocal chords without the volition of the conscious self. The speech bursts forth impulsively whether the medium is in trance or in the waking state. In the latter case, and in partial trance, the medium may understand the contents of the communication even if it comes in a language unknown to him.

CABINET, curtain enclosed space in which mediums claim to condense the psychic energy which is necessary for physical manifestations such as materialisations.

CHANNNELING is the flow of intelligent energy from subtle dimensions to the physical plane. This energy can be used for healing, communication or other purposes. Some channelers receive it by a process such as automatic writing. Others go into an altered state and are able to hear clairaudiently or speak from a trance state or by a process called direct voice mediumship.

CHANNELER OR MEDIUM, an intermediary for communication between the material and spirit world.

CLAIRAUDIENCE, clear hearing of voices either as a thought within the mind or as sound outside the mind.

CLAIRVOYANCE, clear vision of images both in the mind's eye (third eye) and objectively outside the body

CONTROL - the operator on the other side in charge of seance proceedings. This operator may also be called a "guide," and generally the term implies enduring attendance by a distinct and continuous personality to use the entranced medium's body, to deliver direct or relayed messages to sitters.

DIRECT DRAWING AND PAINTING, a development of automatic drawing and painting in which the hand of the automatist is not made use of, and sometimes even drawing and painting materials are dispensed with, the sketch being precipitated in the darkness in a time which is usually too short for normal execution.

DIRECT VOICE, an isolated voice in space without visible source of agency. It issues mostly from a trumpet which sails about the seance room in the dark and appears to serve as a condenser. With an increase of power the trumpet may be dispensed with and the voice may be heard from the center of the floor or from any part of the room.

DIRECT WRITING, a development of automatic writing, produced without visible physical contact with the medium and sometimes without writing material. That contact, in an invisible form, may exist is a justified inference from the oft observed synchronized motions of the medium's hands.

DISCARNATE or DISINCARNATE ENTITY: an intelligence that is disembodied as contrasted with an incarnated one.

DOUBLE, etheric counterpart of the physical body which, when out of coincidence, may temporarily move about in space in comparative freedom and appear in various degrees of density to others. The belief in the existence of the double, or astral body, is age old, its acceptance as a working hypothesis solves many a puzzling problem in psychical research.

EARTHBOUND SPIRITS - people who have passed over but do not realize their true condition or do and choose the vicarious thrills of imposing themselves on earth-dwellers. The result is hauntings and occasionally possessions which may bring their condition to the attention of rescue circles.

ECTOPLASM (from the Greek ektos and plasma: exteriorized substance), a mysterious protoplasmic substance streaming out of the body of mediums by the manipulation of which, either by the subconscious self or by discarnate intelligences, phenomena of a super-physical order, including partial and complete materializations, are produced.

ELONGATION of the human body, a comparatively rare but by no means modern psychical phenomenon. The Neo-Platonists observed it in the case of certain obsessed men. Jamblichus, writing on Divination, said: "The person of the subject has been known to dilate and tower to supernormal height.

GHOST, the record of a deceased person or its image within the fabric of the material plane. Ghosts are an imprint and thus are not the spirit, they are unable to communicate with mediums and tend to repeat actions (for instance walk a particular staircase) at specific timings.

GUIDE, a continual, benevolent, protective spirit. The term is more comprehensive than "control" as the latter may apply to any chance communicator who gets through.

GUIDING SPIRITS, or guardian angels, their alleged existence escapes experimental verification. According to seance room communications everyone has guiding spirits and they are nearly always relations of their charges. They have risen to a high spiritual level in the Beyond.

HOME, DANIEL DUNGLAS (1833-1886), the greatest physical medium in the history of modern spiritualism. There was a certain mystery about his parentage. According to his own footnote in Incidents of My Life his father was a natural son of Alexander, the tenth Earl of Home. Through his mother he was descended from a Highland family in which the traditional gift of second sight had been preserved.

IGNIS FATUUS; luminous appearance in marshy places or cemeteries. Science attributes it to gaseous emanations; superstition to spirits. Stainton Moses often claimed to have seen lights in cemeteries or in places where sudden death occurred.

INFLUENCE in mediumistic terminology is equivalent to spirits. Mrs. Piper applied it to objects which, by virtues of association of ideas, or magnetism of the late owner, helped her to establish communication with the deceased. The presence of such objects, she declared, helped her to clear the ideas of the communicators.

INNER VISION is independent of space, objective existence and optical laws. The simplest type of inner vision is presented by memory images, waking dreams, and imagination images. The latter type may attain such an intensity as to emerge spontaneously and reach the pitch of hallucination. Hallucination is the widest extent of inner vision. Dreams represent the primary type.

INNER VOICE, an auditive sensation covered, whether subjective or objective, by the term Clairaudience. However, clairaudience is conceived of as a purely mental phenomenon, whereas the inner voice has an outside source which is clearly distinguishable from thoughts originated in one's own mind.

INSPIRATION, a psychic state in which one becomes susceptible to creative spiritual influence or, to a varying degree, unwittingly lends oneself as an instrument for through-flowing ideas.

INTUITION, that sense of faculty in the human mind by which man knows (or may know) facts of which he would otherwise not be cognizant-facts which might not be apparent to him through process of reason or so-called scientific proof.

KARDEC, ALLAN (1804-1869), the Father of Spiritism in France. His real name was Hypolyte Leon Denizard Rivail. Le Livre des Esprits (The Spirits' Book), which expounded a new theory of human life and destiny, was published in 1856. In 1864 he published Le Livre des Mediums. In it the unpublished portion of the earlier scripts are said to have been liberally used. His next books were: The Gospel as Explained by Spirits, 1864, Heaven and Hell, 1865, Genesis, 1867, Experimental Spiritism and Spiritualist Philosophy.

LUMINOUS PHENOMENA are of frequent occurrence in physical mediumship. On rare occasions they are witnessed in apparent independence of mediumistic conditions. The chronicles of religious revivals are full of instances of transcendental light.

MASTERS, a term adopted in theosophical literature to designate those human beings further progressed on the evolutionary pathway than the general run of humanity, from which are drawn the saviors of humanity and the founders of the world-religions. Also known by the Sanskrit term mahatma, "great self". Beings named as masters by various channels who write for them include: Buddha, Chohan, Djwhal Khul, El Morya, Hilarion, Jesus/Sananda, Kuthumi, Lanto, Lao-tzu, The Maha Chohan, 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 various degrees of solidification and possessing human physical characteristics: limbs, faces, eyes, heads, full figures, shaped for a temporary existence out of ectoplasm by an unknown agency.

MATTER passing through matter, as a seance-room phenomenon is well known and has been frequently recorded. It is involved in the marvel of apports and transportation of the human body and its observation under test conditions would help towards the recognition of these greater phenomena.

MEDIUM, an intermediary for communication between the material and spirit world.

MEDIUMSHIP, is the flow of intelligent energy from subtle dimensions to this one. That energy can be used for healing, communication or other purposes. Some channelers receive it by a process such as automatic writing. Others go into an altered state and are able to hear clairaudiently or speak from a trance state or by a process called direct voice mediumship. In some cases the person channeling, called the channel, is tapping into the highest level of their own psyche, in others beings or energy coalitions from other dimensions provide the information. Those channels whose source is extraterrestrial are usually called contactees.

MOSES, WILLIAM STAINTON, (1839-1892) remarkable English medium, religious teacher and author. He was ordained as a Minister of the Church of England by Bishop Wilberforce.

OVERSHADOWING, a voluntary cooperative process in which another consciousness temporarily enters and works through a persons body. The implication is that of a highly evolved being bringing forth valued teachings.

PARAKINESIS, movement of objects with contact which, however, is insufficient to explain it.

PERSONALITY means (1) the sum of the characteristics which make up physical and mental being, including appearance, manners, habits, tastes and moral character; (2) the characteristics that distinguish one person from another (this is equivalent to individuality); (3) the capacity for having mental states, i.e., possessing a stream of consciousness (Hyslop). For psychical researchers this last definition is of primary importance. The question of survival cannot be decided until the continuance of personality as a stream of consciousness is proved.

PERSONATION, portrayal of foreign personalities by a temporary assumption of their bodily and mental characteristics. It is a frequent psychical phenomenon and differs from trance possession in that it does not necessarily involve a loss of consciousness and personal identity.

PHONE-VOYANCE, psychic television, discovered as a special form of clairvoyance, by Vincent N. Turvey in 1905. It implies four things: Psychic vision, physical contact, the wires and instruments of a telephone company and simultaneity of clairvoyance with physical contact. The phenomenon is superior to physical television, as Turvey often described things which the listener at the other end of the telephone wire did not know.

PLANETARY TRAVELS in trance form a romantic chapter in spiritualistic communications. Descriptions through inner vision or spirit enlightenment of conditions and life on the planets were first given by Swedenborg.

PSYCHE Greek for soul.

PSYCHIC the main difference between a medium and a psychic is that all mediums are psychic but not all psychics are mediums. Psychics are able to sense conditions etc around the living people(incarnate) whereas mediums are able to do this but also with those that have passes over (incarnate and discarnate).

PSYCHIC FORCE. It was discovered by inquirers into spiritualism at an early stage that the human organism is in some mysterious way bound up with the seance room phenomena. A force was observed beyond the periphery of the body, with no physical contact. Observable effects include:

• The sensation of cool breezes, generally over the hands.
• The sensation of a slight tingling in the palm of the hand, and at the tips of the fingers, near the mounts.
• The sensation of a sort of current through the body.
• The sensation of a spider's web in contact with the hands and face, and other parts of the body notably the back and the loins.

PSYCHIC PHOTOGRAPHS, furnish impressive proof of a variety of supernormal manifestations. Numerous experiments have been conducted to register on the sensitive plates emanations of the human body, a phenomenon on the borderline of the normal and supernormal and to prove the existence of N. rays, digital effluvium, ectoplasmic flow, aura, astral body and thought waves.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH, a scientific inquiry into the facts and causes of mediumistic phenomena. Its first concern is to establish the occurrence of the claimed facts. If they are not due to fraud, observational error, the laws of chancel i.e., if they are found to occur, the next stage of the inquiry is to establish the reason of their occurrence, whether the known natural laws are sufficient to explain them or whether there is reason to suppose the action of unknown forces.

RAPS, percussive sounds of varying intensity without visible, known or normal agency, a simple phenomenon of tremendous import. Prof. Richet writes in Thirty Years of Psychical Research: "The reality of these raps is of primary importance, and this phenomenon carries the implication of the whole of metapsychics.

REINCARNATION, the return to corporeal life of beings who have passed over and spent a period of existence in the Beyond. It is the fundamental doctrine of French spiritism and of theosophy.

RESCUE WORK of spiritualists, who form circles for the purpose of "waking up" the dead and freeing them from their earthbound state, are based on the idea that earthbound spirits are too gross to be reached by the influence of higher spirits from the other side.

SEANCE, sitting for the purpose of obtaining supernormal manifestations or establishing communication with the dead. For success the presence of a medium is required. The sitters need not have psychic powers. The phenomena are stronger if they have. .

SECOND SIGHT, supernormal perception at a distance in time and space; a traditional psychic faculty in certain families in certain countries, especially in Scotland.

SENSITIVE, a person with psychic powers, without the ability to establish communication with the departed. A sensitive is not a medium and a medium may not be a sensitive but a mere instrument. Sensitives may excel in psychometry, telepathy, clairvoyance, ordinary and medical, they may foresee the future, find lost objects and give accurate character delineations. Yet they would not claim an external source.

SITTERS, the attendees at a seance.

SIXTH SENSE, the theory of its existence as a convenient explanation of transcendental phenomena was first put forward in the era of animal magnetism by Tardy de Montravel. He considered the sixth sense as the source and sum of all our partial senses..

SOUL, the term is used in two senses: it indicates the ego and the spirit-body. In ancient writings man is described as a triune being: body, soul and spirit. According to this the soul is just as much an envelope, animated by the spirit, as the physical body is an envelope for the soul. At death the soul withdraws and continues to function in the spiritual world. Astral body and soul are almost equivalent terms. Occult teachings, however, speak of five bodies of differing degrees of refinement which will be cast away in time just as the physical body is left behind. .

SPECTRAL FLAMES, supernormal lights seen in cemeteries, around churches, etc.

SPIRIT, variously defined as the inmost principle, the divine particle, the vital essence, the inherent actuating element in life. it manifests through association with protoplasm and dwells in the astral body, also called the soul, which in turn is the connecting link between the spirit and the physical body. At death the connection is severed and the spirit will find no ordinary means of manifestation.

SPIRIT CHILDREN, children who passed over and, according to trance accounts, are growing to maturity on the other side. Child mediums often claim spirit children as their playmates.

SPIRITUAL HEALING, mediums may channel energy as well as words. Many trendy sounding phrases have come into use such as energy healing, aura cleansing, energy balancing, and more lately, DNA clearing or reprogramming.

SPIRITUALISM,Spiritualism is a religion that gives an understanding of God and encourages us to act with a high sense of duty towards others. Spiritualism stimulates spiritual growth and prepares us for eternal existence in the spirit-world.

Spiritualism is a science because it is based upon proven facts that can be demonstrated and scientifically classified. Spiritualism is the science of life as it encourages the search for truth in every department of existence, in nature and in human psychology.

Spiritualism is a philosophy that attempts to understand people, their physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual being. As Spirit is the moving force of the Universe, so Spiritualist philosophy embraces the whole realm of nature.

SPIRITUALIST, "one who has proven for himself, or has accepted as proven on adequate evidence, the fact that death does not kill the spirit." (Stainton Moses).

STIGMATA---says Prof. Richet-----"may and do often appear on hysterical persons, bearing predetermined forms and shapes, under the influence either of a strong moral emotion, or of religious delirium. These are facts which have been thoroughly and scientifically established, and they only prove the power of the action of the brain upon the circulatory processes and upon the trophism of the skin."

SUBLIMINAL, a term first used by A. H. Pierce of Harvard University for sensations beneath the threshold of consciousness, too feeble to be individually recognized. Myers extended the meaning to cover all that takes place beneath the threshold: sensations, thoughts, emotions which seldom emerge in conscious form.

SUGGESTION, another name for the power of ideas, so far as they prove efficacious over belief and conduct." (William James.) According to Myers the power is exercised by the subliminal self. He defined suggestion as a "successful appeal to the subliminal self." Its workings are best evidenced in hypnotic experiments. It may cause and cure diseases, and bad habits, remove inhibitions, improve deficiencies of character, stimulate the imagination, vivify the senses and heighten intellectual powers.

SUMMERLAND, the spirits' land of bliss, so named by Andrew Jackson Davis, identical with the Plane of Illusion of "Myers" (The Road to Immortality, by Miss Cummins) and with the Maya (Creative Thought) of the Upanishads.

SUPERNATURAL, an occurrence in violation of the laws of nature. Spiritualism contends that the phenomena of the seance room are ruled by as yet unknown laws and rejects the term.

SUPERNORMAL, the term substituted in spiritualism for supernatural. It was coined by F. W. H. Myers and was applied to phenomena which are beyond what usually happens-beyond, that is, in the sense of suggesting unknown physical laws. While supernormal phenomena point to new powers, abnormal phenomena indicate the degeneration of powers already acquired.

SURVIVAL, continued possession of personality after the change called death. It is the fundamental doctrine of spiritualism and main object of investigation, though in an indirect manner, of psychical research.

SYMBOLISM, metapsychical, "cases in which, by subconscious or mediumistic methods, an idea is expressed by means of hallucinatory perceptions, or ideographic representations, or forms of language differing from the ideas to be transmitted, but capable of suggesting them indirectly or conventionally.

TABLE TURNING, the simplest and crudest form of communication with the subconscious self or with extraneous intelligences. As "mensa divinatoriae" tables were used for purposes of divination in antiquity.

TELEKINESIS, movement of objects without obvious, perceptible, or normal movement.

TELEPATHY, the word was coined by F. W. H. Myers in 1882 as the outcome of his joint investigation with Gurney, Sidgwick and Prof. Barrett into the possibilities of thought transference. It was meant as a name for a fact: "a coincidence between two person's thoughts which requires a causal explanation," and it was defined as "transmission of thought independently of the recognized channels of sense."

THOUGHTFORMS, their existence is definitely claimed by occult science and there is interesting evidence to consider it an important experimental problem of psychical research.

THOUGHT-READING, thought transference from the reverse aspect. The agent attempts to picture the content of the subject's mind instead of impressing it with his own idea. The higher forms of thought reading are covered by telepathy.

TOUCHES. Tactual sensations represent an allied phenomenon to the movement of objects. They are always intentional as the movement of objects is characterised by perfect localisation. Sitters are never hit by accident however swift the motion may be, and the touch is always meant for the one who receives it.

TRANCE, a condition of apparent sleep or unconsciousness, with marked physiological characteristics, where spirit take control of the medium's voice box, so the voice heard, is that of the spirit. Varying levels of Trance Mediumship exist; light trance, where the medium is still aware of proceedings, often called overshadowing, right down to deep trance where the medium has no recollection of the events

TRANSFIGURATION, a mask of ectoplasm is created in front of the mediums face to resemble that of the comunicating spirit.

TRUMPET, of cardboard or aluminium, for the manifestation of direct voice. Weak or inexperienced spirits often have to make use of the trumpet to magnify the voice.

TYPTER (from the Greek tupto, I strike). - One who has the power of producing typtology; a rapping or tipping medium.

TYPTOLOGY. - Language of raps or tilts; a mode of spirit-communication. Alphabetical typtology is the designation of letters (or cyphers) by raps or tilts.

WINDS, breezes, currents of air, cooling of temperature, is a well-observed seance room phenomenon. The means by which the effects are brought about is unknown and it is an open speculation whether they serve a direct purpose or are by-products only.

HOME