Volume 67.4 Number 873 October 2003
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Ghostly Molds How to Make a Plaster Cast of Your Hand, Even If You Are Not a Spirit
SI M-A 2009 pgs 1/27/09 11:40 AM Page 22 NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD MASSIMO POLIDORO Ghostly Molds How to make a plaster cast of your hand, even if you are not a spirit ince the early days of Spiritualism, public became aware of their existence porters of this method agree that it is when mediums began producing thanks also to articles in popular maga- possible to reproduce hands of different S physical phenomena, paraffin-wax zines such as Scientific American. sizes and shapes and that the glove molds supposedly modeled around mate- Some of the plaster casts of these might be easily hidden on the medium’s rialized “spirit hands” during séances were molds are still preserved at the Institut body. To obtain such a glove showing considered some of the best pieces of evi- Mètapsychique International in Paris the hand’s fingerprints and its distinc- dence of the paranormal. (www.metapsychique.org), a fact that in tive lines, one should first impress a real Some of these molds, in fact, seem- part explains why the interest in the hand on dental wax, which allows a ed to possess the characteristics of phenomena periodically resurfaces. much sharper outline of the skin’s tex- “permanent paranormal objects.” The ture than plaster. This imprinting will at Alternatives to the Paranormal empty paraffin molds found at the con- once be used as a mold for making a clusion of séances, it was thought, Many (e.g., Coleman 1994a; 1995a) rubber glove showing all the typical could still be intact only because the have pointed out various possible nat- marks of a real hand. -
Spiritist Boundary-Work and the Morality of Materiality in Afro-Cuban Religion
SPIRITIST BOUNDARY-WORK AND THE MORALITY OF MATERIALITY IN AFRO-CUBAN RELIGION ◆ DIANA ESPIRITO SANTO Institute of Social Sciences (ICS), University of Lisbon, Portugal Abstract This article explores the significance of notions of materiality in the practice of Cuban espiritismo and in the Afro-Cuban religious cults of santería and palo monte. In particular, it pursues an understanding of the kinds of relations that are seen to emerge between the practitioners of these cults and the spirits of the dead – relations produced through their varying interpretations and uses of ‘matter’, in which corresponding moral implications obtain. The author further examines the importance of ‘things’ and their absence through an ethnographic analysis of the radically diverging discourses on the nature of spirit mediumship among competing spiritist groups in Havana. At one end of the spectrum lies the highly syncretic practice of espiritismo cruzado (crossed spiritism), characterized by its cosmological and ritual inclusivity, while at the other end is the doctrine-based espiritismo cientifico, where a popular concept of science places stricter limits on what can be understood as legitimately ‘spiritual’. Key Words ◆ Afro-Cuban religion ◆ boundary-work ◆ materiality ◆ morality ◆ spiritism INTRODUCTION All groups, professional, religious, ethnic or cultural, tend to protect the boundaries of their activities and thus the autonomy and legitimacy of their knowledge or expertise. The sociologist Thomas F. Gieryn’s (1983: Journal of Material Culture http://mcu.sagepub.com Copyright © The Author(s), 2010. Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav Vol. 15(1): 64–82 [1359–1835 (201003) 10.1177/1359183510355226] Espirito Santo: AFRO-CUBAN RELIGION 781) analysis of the kind of ideological ‘boundary-work’ at stake among scientists is particularly revealing of the fact that very often these borders need to be actively sought and defended against other activities that do not belong inside them, in this case, non-scientific, intellectual, religious or technical ones. -
O Evangelho Segundo O Espiritismo
– Second Edition – THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SPIRITISM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SPIRITISM with THE EXPLANATION OF THE MORAL MAXIMS OF CHRIST IN CONCORDANCE WITH SPIRITISM AND THEIR APPLICATIONS TO THE DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE by Allan Kardec UNSHAKABLE FAITH IS ONLY THE KIND THAT CAN STAND FACE TO FACE WITH REASON IN ALL HUMAN EPOCHS. Translated by Darrel W. Kimble and Ily Reis Copyright © 2008 by INTERNATIONAL SPIRITIST COUNCIL SGAN Q. 909 – Conjunto F 70790-090 – Brasilia (DF) – Brazil All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use without prior written permission of the publisher ISBN 978-85-98161-70-9 Original French: L’ÉVANGILE SELON LE SPIRITISME (Paris, 1864) Translated by Darrel W. Kimble and Ily Reis Cover design by: Luciano Carneiro Holanda Layout: Rones José Silvano de Lima INTERNATIONAL SPIRITIST COUNCIL SGAN Q. 909 – Conjunto F 70790-090 – Brasilia (DF) – Brazil www.edicei.com [email protected] +55 61 3038-8400 Sales: + 55 61 3038-8425 Second Edition 10/2011 INTERNATIONAL DATA FOR CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION (ICP) K27g Kardec, Allan, 1804-1869. The Gospel according to Spiritism: with the explanation of the moral maxims of Christ in concordance with Spiritism and their applications to the different circumstances of life / by Allan Kardec; [translated by Darrel W. Kimble and Ily Reis]. – Brasilia, DF (Brazil): International Spiritist Council, 2011. 466 p. ; 21 cm Translated from: L’Évangile selon le Spiritisme ISBN 978-85-98161-70-9 1. -
Psypioneer V10 N9-10 Sep-Oct 2014
PSYPIONEER F JOURNAL Edited by Founded by Leslie Price Archived by Paul J. Gaunt Garth Willey EST 200 Volume 10, No.Amalgamation 09: September4 of Societies – October 2014 —~§~— —~§~— 266 – Physical Phenomena Remembered- CD Review- Steve Hume 270 – H. N. De Fremery and the ‘Harris Affair’ – Loes Modderman 291 – “Light” During the War – And After – David Gow David Gow – Poet and Journalist 293 – Editorial Notes – Stanley De Brath 295 – David Gow – John B. McIndoe 296 – Psypioneer re-equipped – Leslie Price 297 – Two visitors to Col. Olcott – a note – Leslie Price 299 – Some books we have reviewed 300 – How to obtain this Journal by email ============================= 265 PHYSICAL SÉANCE ROOM RECOLLECTIONS Compilation Album No. 1 (2014) Wonderful Memories of Physical Phenomena as told by Senior Spiritualists CD Review by Steve Hume: A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Mrs Jean Scott, former President of Cresswell Spiritualist Church in Northumberland. The reason for this was that I had been asked to review a reissue of A Path Prepared, a short biography of the physical medium Isa Northage, for The Journal of The Society for Psychical Research. Mrs Northage was alleged to have produced some quite remarkable and novel phenomena, during the inter-war and post- war years, by witnesses who had submitted their personal accounts for publication in the book. Yet she had slipped out of public memory. This was despite the fact that her séances had, apparently, been widely reported in the Spiritualist press at the time. After remarking to Leslie Price, who reviewed the book in Psypioneer,1 that it was a shame that, by then, witnesses of Mrs Northage’s activities would probably be quite difficult to find; I embarked on what I anticipated would be a long and frustrating search for some. -
Rhine Online Psi Research News-Magazine Volume 2 / Issue 2 – Summer 2010
Rhine Online Psi Research News-Magazine Volume 2 / Issue 2 – Summer 2010 Table of Contents Submission Guidelines ............................................................................................................................. Editorial Overview ................................................................................................................................... Shamanism and Healing: A Personal Perspective ..................................................................................... Anthropology and the Ontological Status of the Paranormal..................................................................... Interview with Christine Simmonds-Moore .............................................................................................. A Report of Spiritual Healing, Spontaneous Macro-PK, and Sympathetic Body Sensations Between Closely-Bonded Friends ........................................................................................................................... Taskings & Responses An Interview with Joe McMoneagle..................................................................... PSI Chronicles - The Case of the Wounded Kitten.................................................................................... The Healing Power of Dolphins................................................................................................................ Recent Rhine Events................................................................................................................................ -
Umi-Uta-1189.Pdf (299.6Kb)
PARTICIPATION, IDENTITY, AND SOCIAL SUPPORT IN A SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY by LA DORNA MCGEE Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2005 Copyright © by La Dorna McGee 2005 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my mom who always supported me in my endeavors. I would also like to thank Kathy Rowe, Jane Nicol, and Suzanne Baldon for their support. Lastly, I would like to thank my committee members for their extreme patience and guidance through this process. April 22, 2005 iii ABSTRACT PARTICIPATION, IDENTITY, AND SOCIAL SUPPORT IN A SPIRITUAL COMMUNITY Publication No. ______ La Dorna McGee, M.A. The University of Texas at Arlington, 2005 Supervising Professor: Frank Weed Paganism is a loosely organized community whose religious ideology incorporates the immanence of Deity. As a religious association with an ideology different from traditional Judeo-Christian faiths, members are often labeled as deviant and subjected to various negative sanctions. By relying on survey data collected on April 9-12, 1996 and in depth personal interviews collected on October 10-13, 1996, this study presents a model that best describes and explains acceptance and participation in Pagan spiritualism. This study identifies three characteristics associated with positive ratings of childhood religious affiliation (church disaffection, family closeness, and iv membership role), three characteristics associated with feelings of belonging to the Pagan community (church disaffection, social support, and participation), and finally examines a member’s disclosure of their Pagan identity as being a function of occupational prestige, weighing the costs of negative sanctions versus the Pagan value of openly expressing a Pagan identity, and self-efficacy. -
The Science of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival
Rollins College Rollins Scholarship Online Master of Liberal Studies Theses 2009 The cS ience of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival Benjamin R. Cox III [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls Recommended Citation Cox, Benjamin R. III, "The cS ience of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival" (2009). Master of Liberal Studies Theses. 31. http://scholarship.rollins.edu/mls/31 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by Rollins Scholarship Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master of Liberal Studies Theses by an authorized administrator of Rollins Scholarship Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Science of Mediumship and the Evidence of Survival A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Liberal Studies by Benjamin R. Cox, III April, 2009 Mentor: Dr. J. Thomas Cook Rollins College Hamilton Holt School Master of Liberal Studies Winter Park, Florida This project is dedicated to Nathan Jablonski and Richard S. Smith Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 The Science of Mediumship.................................................................... 11 The Case of Leonora E. Piper ................................................................ 33 The Case of Eusapia Palladino............................................................... 45 My Personal Experience as a Seance Medium Specializing -
Super-Psi and the Survivalist Interpretation of Mediumship
Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 167–193, 2009 0892-3310/09 ESSAY Super-Psi and the Survivalist Interpretation of Mediumship MICHAEL SUDDUTH Department of Philosophy San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA e-mail: [email protected] Abstract—According to the survivalist interpretation of mediumship, the existence of discarnate persons provides the best explanation for the data associ- ated with physical and mental mediumship. Others—advocates of what is often called the “super-psi hypothesis”—maintain that the data of mediumship may be at least equally explained in terms of living agent psi (ESP and psychokinesis). Many defenders of the survivalist interpretation of mediumship attempt to defl ate the alleged explanatory virtues of the super-psi hypothesis by arguing that the hypothesis is unfalsifi able and lacks independent evidential support. My central contention in this paper is that these frequently encountered survivalist criticisms of the super-psi hypothesis are ultimately self-defeating to the case for survival from mediumship. To show this I fi rst argue in some detail that the survivalist interpretation of mediumship is committed to a kind or degree of psi that is indistinguishable from what is required by the super-psi hypothesis. From this vantage point it can be shown that any attempt to impugn the explanatory virtues of the super-psi hypothesis on account of the kind or degree of psi it requires undercuts the argument for survival itself. Keywords: super-psi—survival—mediumship—telepathy—clairvoyance— postmortem Introduction Data collected from physical and mental mediumship constitute an important strand of ostensible evidence for postmortem survival. -
Henry Handel Richardson, a Secret Life – by Dr Barbara Finlayson
Henry Handel Richardson, a Secret Life – a talk given by Dr Barbara Finlayson at the Bendigo Philosopher’s Group on July 2, 2018 The background music are songs to which Henry Handel Richardson (HHR mainly from now on) wrote the music, some whilst she was at school, others as a music student at Leipzig. That she wrote music is not well known as was her deep involvement in Spiritualism, the subject of my talk. Firstly though, I shall give a very, very, potted summary about this author Henry Handel Richardson, the nom de plume of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson. She was born on the 3rd January 1870 in East Melbourne, the eldest daughter of Dr Walter Richardson and his wife Mary. The family lived in various Victorian towns, as well as Melbourne itself during HHR’s childhood and youth. These included Chiltern, Queenscliff, Koroit, and Maldon after her father’s death. Her mother took the family to Europe in 1888 to enable HHR and her sister Lill to continue her musical studies at the Leipzig Conservatorium. HHR married George Robertson who became chair at the University of London and they moved to that city 1903. She published her first novel, Maurice Guest in 1908 and that is when she adopted her pseudonym. (I have included a list of her writing in the hand out.) The best known are The Getting of Wisdom and The Fortunes of Richard Mahony. She died in 1946, aged 76. In Dorothy Green’s book about Henry Handel Richardson, Ulysses Bound, she said, ‘Richardson’s life-long adherence to Spiritualism is a fact which has largely been ignored.’ This book was first published in 1973, and HHR’s involvement in Spiritualism was largely ignored until 1996 when 2 events occurred. -
Historical Perspective
Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 717–754, 2020 0892-3310/20 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Early Psychical Research Reference Works: Remarks on Nandor Fodor’s Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science Carlos S. Alvarado [email protected] Submitted March 11, 2020; Accepted July 5, 2020; Published December 15, 2020 DOI: 10.31275/20201785 Creative Commons License CC-BY-NC Abstract—Some early reference works about psychic phenomena have included bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and general over- view books. A particularly useful one, and the focus of the present article, is Nandor Fodor’s Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (Fodor, n.d., circa 1933 or 1934). The encyclopedia has more than 900 alphabetically arranged entries. These cover such phenomena as apparitions, auras, automatic writing, clairvoyance, hauntings, materialization, poltergeists, premoni- tions, psychometry, and telepathy, but also mediums and psychics, re- searchers and writers, magazines and journals, organizations, theoretical ideas, and other topics. In addition to the content of this work, and some information about its author, it is argued that the Encyclopaedia is a good reference work for the study of developments from before 1933, even though it has some omissions and bibliographical problems. Keywords: Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science; Nandor Fodor; psychical re- search reference works; history of psychical research INTRODUCTION The work discussed in this article, Nandor Fodor’s Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (Fodor, n.d., circa 1933 or 1934), is a unique compilation of information about psychical research and related topics up to around 1933. Widely used by writers interested in overviews of the literature, Fodor’s work is part of a reference literature developed over the years to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge about the early publications of the field by students of psychic phenomena. -
THE MEDIUMSHIP of ARNOLD CLARE Leader of the Trinity of Spiritual Fellowship
THE MEDIUMSHIP OF ARNOLD CLARE Leader of the Trinity of Spiritual Fellowship by HARRY EDWARDS Captain, Indian Army Reserve of Officers. Lieutenant, Home Guard. Parliamentary Candidate North Camberwell 1929 and North-West Camberwell 1936. London County Council Candidate 1928, 1931, 1934, 1937. Leader of the Balham Psychic Research Society. Author of ‘The Mediumship of Jack Webber’ First Published by: THE PSYCHIC BOOK CLUB 144 High Holborn, London, W.C. 1 FOREWORD Apart from the report by Mr. W. Harrison of the early development of Mr. Arnold Clare's mediumship, the descriptions of the séances, the revelations of Peter and the writing of this book took place during the war years 1940-41. As enemy action on London intensified, the physical séances ceased and in the autumn of 1940 were replaced by discussion circles. The first few circles took place in the author's house before a company of about twenty people. It was soon appreciated that the intelligence (known as Peter), speaking through the entranced medium, was of a high order and worthy of reporting. So these large discussion groups gave way to a small circle held in the medium's house, attended by Mr. and Mrs. Clare, Mr. and Mrs. Hart, Mrs. Edwards and the author, an occasional visitor and with Mrs. W. B. Cleveland as stenographer. The procedure at these circles would be that, in normal white light, Mr. Clare would enter into a trance state. His Guide, Peter, taking control, would discourse upon the selected topic answering all questions fluently and without hesitation. Frequently, during these sittings, the air-raid sirens would be heard and the local anti- aircraft guns would be in action. -
Liquid Sight, Thing‐Like Words, and The
Liquid sight, thing-like words, and the precipitation of knowledge substances in Cuban espiritismo Diana Espırito´ Santo Pontificia Universidad Cat´olica de Chile This article argues that in Cuban Creole espiritismo practices, ritually generated ‘knowledge’ has ontological, rather than just epistemological, effects, independent of the role of cognition. I will show that knowledge is experienced as a fluid, moving ‘substance’ external to the body that can accumulate, weigh down, hang suspended, and dissipate; it is also responsive to mediums‘ descriptive speech, becoming an object of vision-knowledge at the same time that it is seen and spoken of collectively. I will also show that the circulation of knowledge ‘substances’ should be seen not as metaphorical but as tied to processes of making people, and ask whether knowledge can figure not just as something intersubjective or relational but as something substantive, even physiological. Introduction: displacing knowledge On the face of it, Cubans are obsessed with knowledge, or at least with the concept of it. This is helped, perhaps in no small measure, by decades of Socialist Revolutionary propaganda linking education to collective freedom and dignity, knowledge to citizenship, and philosophical and scientific thought to moral standing. This is ironic, given the correspondingly long period of restricted access to information (books, media, and Internet) experienced by most Cubans, despite the incontestable gains in literacy and education. The notion of knowledge is so central to the ‘New Man’ that the Revolution’s mythical hero and prophet, writer, and poet, JoseMart´ ´ı, links human moral value with knowledge quite explicitly in most of his work: for Mart´ı, education is not just constituted by the internalization of a set of information, but at its best is a means to reach the soul and mould the sentiments (cf.