Category: Mental mediumship
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In his 2009 book A New Science of the Paranormal, longtime parapsychologist Lawrence LeShan offers his thoughts on a variety of psi phenomena. I found the appendix particularly interesting. Titled "When is Uvani?", it addresses the thorny question of "spirit controls" in mediumship. As readers of this blog undoubtedly know, a spirit control is said…
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In the comments thread of my last post, the subject of speculative bubbles came up. Of course we are all too familiar with such bubbles nowadays–the dot-com bubble, the real-estate bubble, the derivatives bubble. But the phenomenon has been well known since at least 1841, when Charles Mackay published his famous book Extraordinary Popular Delusions…
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There’s a major discrepancy in the evidence for the afterlife that’s always puzzled me. I don’t claim to have the answer, but I thought I would throw out a highly speculative suggestion. The discrepancy pertains to the always thorny issue of reincarnation. In most near-death experiences and in a great deal of channeled communications, reincarnation…
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An interesting article appears in the January 2011 issue of The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (volume 199, number 1; article available for purchase here). Written by Emily Williams Kelly, one of the principal authors of Irreducible Mind, and Dianne Arcangel, author of Afterlife Encounters, the article is entitled "an investigation of mediums who…
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One of the most common objections to the idea of mediumistic communication is that no voice from beyond the grave has succeeded in revealing the contents of a sealed envelope containing a posthumous message. Yet I recently came across a case which contradicts this claim, at least in part. The first account I read of…
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The recent publication of Glimpses of Eternity by Raymond Moody and Paul Perry has raised awareness of what the authors call "shared death experiences." These are cases in which the visions of the dying person are shared by someone close by. As the authors point out, stories of this type have circulated for many years.…
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Greg Taylor of The Daily Grail has penned an excellent essay examining Martin Gardner’s attempted debunking of 19th century medium Leonora Piper. Looking at original sources, Greg finds that Gardner oversimplified and misrepresented the facts of the case. The essay, “How Martin Gardner Bamboozled the Skeptics,” can be read here, or downloaded as a PDF…
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A question that comes up fairly often in discussions of the history of spiritualism is the attitude of Abraham Lincoln toward the subject. It is known that Lincoln's wife, Mary, hosted séances at the White House, and that Lincoln attended some of them. But did he take the events seriously, or was he merely humoring…
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There has been a surprising amount of effort expended over more than a hundred years to scientifically establish the reality of life after death. Yet, while a great deal of evidence has been collected, it falls short of providing absolute proof. At best it suggests a very strong probability of life after death, but it…
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Recently I received a free copy of a new small-press book about the afterlife, which arrived charmingly gift-wrapped — sort of an early Christmas present. I don't know the principal author, but he has a blog on this subject which contains a lot of interesting posts. I guess he came across my blog and thought…