Induced Afterlife Communications, Out of Body experiments with Alex Tanous, the evolutionary fear of Psi, and some classics of psychical research come up for review in this edition of Psi in the News!
Dr. Tim Brigham, a good friend of Psi in the News, is currently attending the Society for Scientific Exploration conference in Detroit, Michigan to present a paper on The Anomalous Sciences – Definitions, Terminology & Future Approaches. Follow him on Twitter at @tdbrigham for news from the front lines!
- Volume 1, Issue 1 of the Journal of Exceptional Experiences and Psychology is now available for download! (JEEP)
- Journal of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine free digital archive is now available! (ISSSEEM)
- On June 28th sound artist Joe Banks will discuss his Rorschach Audio Electronic Voice Phenomena project as part of the British Library’s Summer Scholar program. (Rorschach Audio)
- A participant in the Rhine Research Center’s recent “Psychic Spy” seminar with Ed May and Joe McMoneagle has posted a brief overview of the two day event. Since I was there myself, I would add a couple of notes for clarity:He mentions Mormons in the government, which comes from a brief anecdote that May had regarding the Department of Energy. How the writer turned that statement into our government being overrun by Mormons is unclear. Also when McMoneagle said his hair stood on end after being accused of doing the Devil’s work by a government official, he was being sarcastic. A few bits to keep in mind while considering the objectivity of the event report. : ) (Gathering Spot)
- Loyd Auerbach has uploaded a video showing some of the American Society of Psychical Research’s experiments in Out of Body travel with the psychic Alex Tanous. (YouTube)
- Filmmaker Martin Taylor is documenting his journey through the Monroe Institute’s Gateway Voyage training and into further levels of exploration. (Monroe Institute)
- MindTunes, a software that translates brain activity in music, shows that there’s more fun in store as technologically aided ‘telepathy’ becomes more widely accessible. (QEF)
- The web magazine Spirit Today features an interesting personal account from George Barker of Helen Duncan’s physical mediumship demonstrations in the mid-20th century. (Spirit Today)
- Dr. David Gordon Wilson’s talk on Spiritualism as a contemporary shamanic practice has been archived at the Anthropology, Consciousness and Culture website. (Anthropology, Consciousness and Culture)
- Vedic teachings are compared to current insights from the field of neuroscience in this series of talks from leading cognitive researchers. (Hindu Human Rights)
- In a new blog post Craig Weiler discusses his personal experience working with the lingering presence of his deceased father-in-law. (Weiler Psi Blog)
- Historian of science, Imogen Clarke, traces the conflicts between Materialist and Vitalist theories, and brings the debate forward into current questions regarding the nature of the universe. (Imogen and History)
- When dealing with information, it’s good to remember that partial explanations are more valuable when they work towards explaining the whole. It’s a lesson that might serve those scientists seeking to dismiss the validity of philosophy, as discussed in this recent article from the Guardian. (Guardian UK)
- Martin J. Clemens dives into the thorny issue of agency and identity in ghostly phenomena in a recent piece for Paranormal People Online. (Paranormal People Online)
- Former health worker and psychic, Debra Chalmers weighs on on whether psychics should offer their services during police investigations. (HuffingtonPost)
- Therapeautic mediumship is the topic of Michael Prescott’s latest blog post, he reviews some of the literature on an interesting technique called Induced Afterlife Communications. (Michael Prescott Blog)
- New research is looking into the role of stress in patterns of belief, although the beliefs in question are a bit different than you might expect. Rather than looking at religious beliefs, this study examines how environmental factors affect our trust in science. (Science Daily)
- The Ghost Club, a Cambridge group that preceeded the Society for Psychical research by several years, is honored in this post from the Psiresearcher blog. (Psiresearcher)
- Carlos Alvarado, Visiting Scholar at the Rhine Research Center, talks about the changes and growth that has occurred since he held residency at the Insitute for Parapsychology, during the late 80’s and early 90’s, which was housed within the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man, a previous incarnation of the Rhine. (Parapsychology: News, History, Research)
- In another recent post Alvarado reviews Rosemarie Pilkington’s new book Men and Women of Parapsychology, Personal Reflections, Esprit, Volume 2. (Parapsychology: News, History, Research)
- Dream research Ryan Hurd reviews Jack Hunter’s Why People Believe in Spirits, Gods and Magic (The Paranormal) in the latest edition of Reality Sandwich Reviews. (Reality Sandwich)
- Tell me Homo Sapien, do you fear Homo Luminous? A new piece up on the Life in B Flat blog posits evolutionary angst as one of the reasons that some skeptics find it so hard to be rational about research into cognitive anomalies. I for one say Fiat Lux! (Life in B Flat)
- An Australian theologian speaks out about the New Spirituality he sees evolving out of interest in Twilight and Oprah Winfrey. (Baptist Standard)
- The newest episode Merseyside Skeptics podcast, Be Reasonable, has an interview with Julia Assante, a counselor who uses past life regression as part of her therapeautic practice. (Merseyside Skeptics)
- Universite de Liege presents a video series featuring accounts of Near Death Experiences. The video is subtitled in English. (Universite de Liege)
- Brian Ehlmann asks if NDE’s might not just be the beginnings of a never ending post-life dream. (HubPages)
- Mysterious Universe has a new post up introducing the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of Edinburgh. (Mysterious Universe)
- Gustav Jahoda reviews Peter Lamont’s book Extraordinary Belief, which details the history of belief in extraordinary phenomena, and the difficulty in proving or disproving the unexpected and unknown. (Metapsychology)
- Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog’s most recent post is a review of The Terror That Comes in the Night, folklorist David J. Hufford’s classic investigation of the “old hag” phenomena and it’s ties to sleep paralysis and culture. (Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog)
- Another classic work comes up for review with Robert Searle’s look at Erlendur Haraldsson’s The Departed Among the Living, a book which investigates apparitional phenomena in Iceland. (Paranormalia)
- Paid psychic services and psi research are often conflated, but the techniques used in “fortuneteller scams,” as outlined in this Miami NewTimes’ article, show that the two cover very different territory. I can’t remember the last time that a parapsychologist promised god like ascension and an end to all suffering. (Miami NewTimes)
- A New Jersey highschool student is the first participant in the International Academy of Consciousness’ Ask IAC series with the question “Isn’t the OBE caused by the brain?” (International Academy of Consciousness)
Note: Special thanks to Grahame Mackenzie, Spirit Today Magazine, Tom Ruffles, of the Society for Psychical Research, John Kruth, of the Rhine Research Center, and Jack Hunter, Editor at Paranthropology Journal, for a number of links included in this edition of Reality Sandwich’s Psi-in-the-News.
