DOCSLIB.ORG

Thoughtography

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Thoughtography Contemporary Arts and Cultures Thoughtography Leon Marvell Published on: Nov 06, 2017 Updated on: Apr 13, 2018 License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0) Contemporary Arts and Cultures Thoughtography Thoughtography: From Out the Great Darkness Leon Marvell Associate Professor of Film and Digital Media School of Communication and Creative Arts Deakin University Email: leonmarvell@gmail. com Reference this essay: Marvell, Leon. “Thoughtography: From Out the Great Darkness.” In Leonardo Electronic Almanac 22, no. 1, edited by Lanfranco Aceti, Paul Thomas, and Edward Colless. Cambridge, MA: LEA / MIT Press, 2017. Published Online: May 15, 2017 Published in Print: To Be Announced ISSN: 1071-4391 ISBN: 978-1-906897-62-8 https://contemporaryarts.mit.edu/pub/thoughtography Abstract In the mid-1960s, an alcoholic, chain-smoking bellhop from Chicago found himself at the center of a psychic cyclone. Ted Serios could produce images on Polaroid film just by projecting his thoughts into the lens of the camera. Serios was an overnight sensation, and his unique abilities were the subject of worldwide attention. Famous prestidigitators, such as James Randi aka the Amazing Randi, endeavored to prove that Serios was—of course—a fake, and that the scientists who were studying Serios were gullible saps. The Amazing Randi even claimed to have produced ‘thoughtographs’ through simple stage tricks and misdirection, thus demonstrating that Serios was a charlatan. In fact, he accomplished no such thing. However, the popular press, tired of the hard-drinking Serios and his strange abilities, accepted the Amazing Randi’s claims and Serios quickly disappeared from public consciousness. Yet Serios continued to produce his puzzling, fantastical images under strictly controlled scientific conditions, and the fact remains that we have no ‘natural’ explanation for them— at least, no natural explanation that relies on a strictly materialist mode of explanation. To assist in the exploration of the post-material psychodynamics of Serios’s unsettling oeuvre, this paper calls upon a series of images to remediate the fractious geometry of Serios, his ‘thoughtography,’ and the ‘real.’ These images are found in Robert Fludd’s magnum opus of 1617, Utriusque Cosmi Maioris scilicet et Minoris Metaphysica, Physica Atque Technica Historia (History of the Macrocosm), and offer a hermetically unsealed disquisition emerging from the very first image, The Great Darkness. Keywords 2 Contemporary Arts and Cultures Thoughtography Thoughtography, Ted Serios, Uri Geller, psychic, photography, Robert Fludd The invention of the daguerreotype in the mid-nineteenth century coincided with the beginning of the spiritualist movement that had begun in the United States and quickly spread to Europe. Early experiments in photography revealed an efflorescence of what might be called an ‘evanescent aesthetic,’ something perhaps enforced by the unstable chemical reactions appearing on the glass plates of pioneering photographers. This evanescent aesthetic quickly became affixed to interest in the ‘spirit world,’ with spiritualist photographers producing a steady stream of what we might call psychic or paranormal photographs. This body of work can be divided into two broad classes of images: the first is what has been called spirit photography. Many will be familiar with this type of image: photographs of ghostly apparitions at séances, ectoplasmic manifestations appearing like psychic goo draped over the bodies of spiritualist mediums, and the shadowy appearance of long-dead relatives haunting family portraits. Many people of the time believed that these images provided proof of the survival of the spirit after bodily death, and thus early photography played a very large part in the feverish spread of spiritualism across the United States and Europe. Many of these images were undoubtedly fraudulent, the result of darkroom tricks that were unknown to the uninitiated. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the most rational of heroes, Sherlock Holmes, became a supporter of the spiritualism movement, believing that the famous Cottingley Fairies photographs taken by cousins Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths in the early twentieth century were genuine. Today, we look at reproductions of these fairy photographs and wonder how it was possible for people to have been so ignorant of darkroom tricks. Yet this was an era in which the camera and the darkroom were not wholly seen as part of the technological imperative—that is, they were not immediately seen as scientific breakthroughs—but rather were appreciated as the most recent manifestation of a very long tradition, dating back to at least the Renaissance, wherein the camera obscura and the magic lantern were part of public entertainments that included prestidigitation, stage illusions, and magic-mirror tricks. In other words, at this time, photography was still a part of the world of ‘enchantment’ that Max Weber recognized was very quickly disintegrating. The second type of psychic or paranormal photography has no direct connection with psychic survival after death. This form has been dubbed “thoughtography.” The term was first introduced in 1910 by a Japanese professor of psychology, Tomokichi Fukurai. [1] Fukurai was working with a clairvoyant who could manifest Japanese ideograms on a photographic plate. This discovery came about by accident; Fukurai had asked the clairvoyant to identify an ideogram that had been impressed on an undeveloped photograph. After the clairvoyant accomplished this, Fukurai noticed that another plate lying nearby had also been impressed with the same ideogram. Fukurai suspected that this had occurred through some sort of inadvertent psychic transmission on the subject’s part, so he then proceeded to see 3 Contemporary Arts and Cultures Thoughtography whether the clairvoyant could be encouraged to do this deliberately. The results of these experiments were positive, and often the experimental setups were ingenious. For example, Fukurai created a sealed container in which three photographic plates were stacked, one upon the other. He then asked his clairvoyant subject to imprint an image on only the middle plate. [2] The important point here is that even though Fukurai was very careful in the design of his experiments, and despite his rigorous attempts to exclude any possibility of fraud on the subject’s part, Fukurai was severely criticized by his peers and the scientific community. Eventually, he had to abandon his research and resign from the university where he conducted his work. By this time, of course, the disenchantment of the world was already in full swing. Experiments in thoughtography continued in Europe and the US, however, but allegations of fraud always curtailed these experiments before they could really amass a substantial body of evidence. Then, in the 1950s, interest in thoughtography was galvanized by the appearance of one man, Ted Serios. This interest was due to the fact that Serios produced his images in a way that ruled out any possibility of fraud. The key to this was that Serios used a comparatively new technology to register his images: the Polaroid camera. Previous experiments and experimenters had to use the darkroom to develop their psychic images, and thus there was always suspicion of darkroom tricks. But the Polaroid camera, in which the registering and developing of the image were all self-contained, precluded the possibility of most darkroom sleight of hand. Ted Serios was in his mid-thirties when he became famous. He worked as a bellhop and elevator operator in a Chicago hotel, and had developed an interest in hypnotism. He discovered that he had the ability to manifest images onto film, first using an ordinary box camera and then a Polaroid land camera. Serios demonstrated these skills to various researchers in the Chicago area for several years, but it wasn’t until he drew the attention of Jule Eisenbud, a Denver psychiatrist and psychic researcher, that Serios’s star began to rise. From May, 1964 until 1967, Eisenbud conducted and supervised thousands of scientific trials exploring Serios’s remarkable abilities, and these experiments were witnessed by at least one hundred different observers, nearly all of whom were scientists or academics. Of the other witnesses, some were professional conjurors or prestidigitators who were called in to rule out any trickery on Serios’s part. The trials produced around one thousand Polaroid photographs, all of which have been preserved in the Special Collections section of the University of Maryland in Baltimore. More than four hundred of these Polaroids contain specific images; that is, images chosen by Eisenbud and his team to be the specific target of the experiment. Typically, Eisenbud would choose an image at random (from a copy of National Geographic, for example) and conceal it in a sealed envelope so that Serios could not see it. The target images were usually of buildings. Typically, Serios would manifest Polaroid images that 4 Contemporary Arts and Cultures Thoughtography were blurry and rather distorted, but that were all recognizable as variants of the target image. I use the term “variants” because one of the most peculiar aspects of these particular experiments was that the images Serios produced seemed to be from perspectives that were considerably different than the original image. For example, many of Serios’s images of the target buildings appear to be from a perspective that would be physically impossible in the real world, and were certainly different from the angle at which the target images were taken. It is as if Serios’s images were registered by someone floating in space or circumnavigating the structure in a hot air balloon. Even stranger, when Eisenbud concealed an image of one of the barns on his property in an envelope, Serios, who was certainly familiar with the barn as it existed, produced an image of the barn that resembled the appearance of the barn twenty years in the past, with various contemporary additions missing—an image that he could not possibly have been familiar with.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • University of Birmingham Oscar Wilde, Photography, and Cultures Of
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Birmingham Research Portal University of Birmingham Oscar Wilde, photography, and cultures of spiritualism Dobson, Eleanor License: None: All rights reserved Document Version Peer reviewed version Citation for published version (Harvard): Dobson, E 2020, 'Oscar Wilde, photography, and cultures of spiritualism: ''The most magical of mirrors''', English Literature in Transition 1880-1920, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 139-161. Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal Publisher Rights Statement: Checked for eligibility 12/02/2019 Published in English Literature in Transition 1880-1920 http://www.eltpress.org/index.html General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. The express permission of the copyright holder must be obtained for any use of this material other than for purposes permitted by law. •Users may freely distribute the URL that is used to identify this publication. •Users may download and/or print one copy of the publication from the University of Birmingham research portal for the purpose of private study or non-commercial research. •User may use extracts from the document in line with the concept of ‘fair dealing’ under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (?) •Users may not further distribute the material nor use it for the purposes of commercial gain. Where a licence is displayed above, please note the terms and conditions of the licence govern your use of this document.
    [Show full text]
  • Cinematic Ghosts: Haunting and Spectrality from Silent Cinema to the Digital Era
    Cinematic Ghosts: Haunting and Spectrality from Silent Cinema to the Digital Era. Edited by Murray Leeder. Bloomsbury Academic, 2015 (307 pages). Anton Karl Kozlovic Murray Leeder’s exciting new book sits comfortably alongside The Haunted Screen: Ghosts in Literature & Film (Kovacs), Ghost Images: Cinema of the Afterlife (Ruffles), Dark Places: The Haunted House in Film (Curtis), Popular Ghosts: The Haunted Spaces of Everyday Culture (Blanco and Peeren), The Spectralities Reader: Ghost and Haunting in Contemporary Cultural Theory (Blanco and Peeren), The Ghostly and the Ghosted in Literature and Film: Spectral Identities (Kröger and Anderson), and The Spectral Metaphor: Living Ghosts and the Agency of Invisibility (Peeren) amongst others. Within his Introduction Leeder claims that “[g]hosts have been with cinema since its first days” (4), that “cinematic double exposures, [were] the first conventional strategy for displaying ghosts on screen” (5), and that “[c]inema does not need to depict ghosts to be ghostly and haunted” (3). However, despite the above-listed texts and his own reference list (9–10), Leeder somewhat surprisingly goes on to claim that “this volume marks the first collection of essays specifically about cinematic ghosts” (9), and that the “principal focus here is on films featuring ‘non-figurative ghosts’—that is, ghosts supposed, at least diegetically, to be ‘real’— in contrast to ‘figurative ghosts’” (10). In what follows, his collection of fifteen essays is divided across three main parts chronologically examining the phenomenon. Part One of the book is devoted to the ghosts of precinema and silent cinema. In Chapter One, “Phantom Images and Modern Manifestations: Spirit Photography, Magic Theater, Trick Films, and Photography’s Uncanny”, Tom Gunning links “Freud’s uncanny, the hope to use modern technology to overcoming [sic] death or contact the afterlife, and the technologies and practices that led to cinema” (10).
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Human Vision: Towards an Archaeology of Infrared Images
    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MEDIA STUDIES www.necsus-ejms.org Beyond human vision: Towards an archaeology of infrared images Federico Pierotti & Alessandra Ronetti NECSUS (7) 1, Spring 2018: 185–215 URL: https://necsus-ejms.org/beyond-human-vision-towards-an-ar- chaeology-of-infrared-images/ Keywords: infrared, media archaeology, medical photography, mili- tary applications, phototherapy, resolution, surveillance Introduction: Digital infrared visual culture Infrared has an important place in contemporary society, especially since the 1990s, with the introduction of new military display and detection technol- ogy and increasingly sophisticated tracking and control systems. In the mili- tary field, these uses were quickly followed by the pursuit of various digital image practices in photography, cinema, video art, and computer art, serving to establish what could somewhat be defined as a real ‘infrared visual culture’. It is not an overstatement to say, therefore, that infrared images have become a rather common feature of contemporary visual culture, especially thanks to the use of night vision devices, which capture their typical images with a greenish tint. Since these images were broadcast worldwide by CNN during the Gulf War from 1990-1991, they have circulated widely in both artistic and mainstream circles. In his famous series Nacht (Night, 1992-1996), the Ger- man photographer Thomas Ruff deconstructs the rhetoric behind these very images, showing photographs of anonymous locations in Düsseldorf taken using night vision devices similar to those used by US soldiers during their campaigns in Iraq.[1] In The Silence of the Lambs (1991), one of the most well- known and awarded Hollywood films of its time, the serial killer finds and captures his victim using an infrared viewfinder (Fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    Early Cinema and the Supernatural by Murray Leeder B.A. (Honours) English, University of Calgary, M.A. Film Studies, Carleton University A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Mediations © Murray Leeder September 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-83208-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-83208-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Skeptical Inquirer
    the Skeptical Inquirer THE NEUROPATHOLOGY OF SPIRITUAL POSSESSION ^ Alien Abductions: Psychology & Folklore The MJ-12 Documents: Part II Homeopathy Clinic / Test of Sheldrake Abigail's Apparition / Ghost Lights VOL XII NO. 3 / SPRING 1988 $6.00 Published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal "Skeptical Inquirer THE SKEPTICAL INQUIRER is the official journal of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Editor Kendrick Frazier. Editorial Board James E. Alcock, Martin Gardner, Ray Hyman, Philip J. (Class, Paul Kurtz, James Randi. Consulting Editors Isaac Asimov, William Sims Bainbridge, John R. Cole, Kenneth L. Feder, C. E. M. Hansel, E. C. Krupp, David F. Marks, Andrew Neher, James E. Oberg, Robert Sheaffer, Steven N. Shore. Managing Editor Doris Hawley Doyle. Public Relations Director Barry Karr. Business Manager Mary Rose Hays. Systems Programmer Richard Seymour. Art Kathy Kostek Typesetting Paul E. Loynes. Audio Technician Vance Vigrass. Librarian, Ranjit Sandhu. Staff Michael Cione, Donald Crutchfield, Crystal Folts, Leland Harrington, Laura Muench, Erin O'Hare, Alfreda Pidgeon, Kathy Reeves. Cartoonist Rob Pudim. The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal Paul Kurtz, Chairman; philosopher, State University of New York at Buffalo. Lee Nisbet, Special Projects Director. Mark Plummer, Executive Director. Fellows of the Committee James E. Alcock, psychologist, York Univ., Toronto; Eduardo Amaldi, physicist. University of Rome, Italy. Isaac Asimov, biochemist, author; Irving Biederman, psychologist, University of Minnesota; Susan Blackmore, psycholo­ gist, Brain Perception Laboratory, University of Bristol, England; Brand Blanshard, philosopher, Yale; Mario Bunge, philosopher, McGill University; Bette Chambers, A.H.A.; John R.
    [Show full text]
  • Thoughtography and Intraocular Lights, by Kathrin Gucnter
    Photographing the invisible - Thought-o-graphic experiments The air itself is one vast library, on whose pages are for ever written all that man has ever said or woman whispered and the ‘earth, air and ocean are the eternal witnesses of the acts we have done’. Charles Babbage Image: exposure through the kamera for thoughtography and intraocular lights, by Kathrin Gucnter * Thought-o-graphy or thought-photography means to influence and expose light sensitive, photographical material through the power of an invisible, so called magnetic fluidum, emitted by human or animal beings, objects and interferences in smaller or larger environments. * Thoughtographic exposure may - but not necessarily has to - ignore any traditional camera or photographic recording device, and is often achieved without any source of visible light. Short historical excursion: Thought is a radiant, creative, almost material power, the fiat lux of the bible. During the process of thinking, the soul turns the atoms of the brain into waves and makes its phosphor glow. With concentrating ones thought onto any object with simple outlines, like a bottle for example, the fluidic thought image will be forced out through the eyes to expose itself through the power of its glow onto the photographic plate. The result is a photographic image." Louis Darget, 1911 A virtual fluidum, a magnetic power, a so called animal organic magnetism, discovered in the 18th century by Franz Anton Mesmer, acclaimed German medical and practitioner of hypnosis, is the starting point of a largely controversial field of research which, over centuries has occupied the work of many scientists, psychologists and mediums both skeptics and supporters.
    [Show full text]
  • (ESP) and Psychokinesis (PK) Through the Consciousness Model
    American Journ al of Physics and Applications 2013; 1(3): 80-90 Published online November 20, 2013 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ajpa) doi: 10.11648/j.ajpa.20130103.15 Interpretation of the paranormal power like Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) and Psychokinesis (PK) through the consciousness model Dhananjay Pal Pharmacy College, Bengal School of Technology, Sugandha-Delhi Road, Chuchura, Dist.-Hooghly, West Bengal, INDIA, PIN-712 102 Email address: [email protected], [email protected] To cite this article: Dhananjay Pal. Interpretation of the Paranormal Power Like Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) and Psychokinesis (PK) through the Consciousness Model. American Journal of Physics and Applications. Vol. 1, No. 3, 2013, pp. 80-90. doi: 10.11648/j.ajpa.20130103.15 Abstract: A single field emerged at the origin of the universe, already containing within itself the blueprint of the physical universe. The primordial single field triggered the onset of the universe. Most physicists believe that a single super-force dominated the first instants of creation. Scientists have arrived at a simple but decisive conclusion that consciousness is very much a part of the universe, like other objects. Our consciousness model involving thought-carrying particle (TCP), thought retaining particle (TRP) and thought force (TF) signifies the existence of universal consciousness that exists along with the universe. This universal consciousness is a functional state of the universal mind (UM). This UM is evolved at the Big Bang from void. The UM is constituted by these TCP and TRP in the inherent presence of thought force (TF). Thought force (TF) is an expression of universal consciousness.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SPIRITUALISTS Gnosis and Ideology Paul Gillen, BA (Sydney)
    THE SPIRITUALISTS Gnosis and ideology Paul Gillen, B.A. (Sydney) School of Behavioural Sciences Macquarie University Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Hoveaber 1981 CONTESTS Chapter 1. Mortfield Church 1 Chapter 2. Spiritualist history 10 Chapter 3. Spiritualist beliefs 24 Chapter 4. Circles 53 Chapter 5. Mortfield politics 66 Chapter 6. The backgrounds of Mortfield Spiritualists Chapter 7. The Spiritualist ■ove*ent 96 Chapter 8. Discourse, code and text 123 Chapter 9. The codes of Spiritualis* 133 Chapter 10. The delphic voice 183 Chapter 11. The bardic voice 192 Chapter 12. Gnosis, ideology and ritual 201 References 211 iii SYNOPSIS Spiritualism originated in the U.S.A. in the mid nineteenth century. Its Australian heyday in the late 1870’s has been followed by a lingering decline. Ostensibly centred on the idea that the personality survives physical death and can be contacted by mediums, in fact this aspect is less elaborated than beliefs in paranormal "phenomena" such as healing „by touch, astral travel and various kinds of clairvoyance and divination. The main Spiritualist ritual, while having the outward form of a Christian church service, centres on a demonstration of mediumship. Spiritualists also participate in seances. Their organisations are fragile, and in spite of prevailing norms of tolerance and egalitarianism, mediums are competitive and often quarrelsome. Spiritualists tend to be "seekers" from religious backgrounds, but there is little evidence that social or economic "deprivation1’is a very significant factor in attraction to the movement. Spiritualism is directed to the attainment of "ultimate knowledge" - gnosis. It is "occult", in that it searches for signs of gnosis in anomalous events, and pluralistic in allowing that there may be many paths to gnosis.
    [Show full text]
  • ESP & Eyeliner
    ESP & Eyeliner An 80s Action Adventure role-playing setting designed for use with The Black Hack Written by yunglevain ESP & EYELINER is a supplement made for use with The Black Hack, inspired by that ever-enduring combination of extra-sensory powers, otherworldly horror and the 1980s. Lurking at the edge of society are individuals with mental powers beyond the scope of the average mind. They are our only hope for fighting back the darkness that exists beyond the curtain. Rules from The Black Hack apply normally unless otherwise noted. CLASSES 1. Cop: All you want to do is make it home and crack a beer. Maybe you’re a small town sheriff, a big city beat cop or a federal agent. 2. Cultist: You believe in some kooky shit, but with what you’ve seen, why wouldn’t you? 3. Drifter: No family, no ties, nothing to hold you down or prop you up. 4. Geek: You’re familiar with the inside of lockers. You might be a hacker, scientist or arcade game mas- ter. 5. Greek: You’re a master of the keg stand. Your loyalty lies with your brothers/sisters. 6. Jock: No one stops you from scoring. You might be a star quarterback, jumpshot master or a hockey pro. 7. Kid: You’re at the cusp of puberty and nobody takes you seriously. 8. Mom: Family is important but you’ve got to have a life outside the home. 9. Punk: Up with black leather, hair spray and spikes. Down with fascists. 10. Vet: You did your duty and it haunts you.
    [Show full text]
  • Journal of Parapsychology
    J OURNAL OF P ARA P SYCHOLOGY R HINE R ESEA R CH C ENTE R Volume 78, Number 2 Fall 2014 ISSN 0022-3387 EDITORIAL STAFF John A. Palmer, Editor David Roberts, Managing Editor Donald S. Burdick, Statistical Editor Robert Gebelein, Business Manager The Journal of Parapsychology is published twice a year, in Spring and Fall, by Parapsychology Press, a subsidiary of The Rhine Center, 2741 Campus Walk Ave., Building 500, Durham, NC 27705. The Journal is devoted mainly to original reports of experimental research in parapsychology. It also publishes research reviews, methodological, theoretical, and historical papers of relevance to psi research, abstracts, and selected invited addresses from Parapsychological Association conventions, book reviews, and letters. An electronic version of the Journal is available to all subscribers on the Rhine Research Center’s website (www.rhine.org.) The current subscription rates are: Individuals ($65.00), institutions ($77.00), with no other categories available. Members of the Rhine Research Center in the Scientific Supporter category receive the electronic journal free with their membership. The current subscription rates for paper copies of the Journal are: Individuals ($100.00), institutions ($118.00). Foreign subscribers must pay in U.S. dollars. Selected single issues (current or archival) are available at $35.00 each; go to www.rhine.org for more information. Orders for subscrip- tions or back issues, correspondence, and changes of address should be sent to: Journal of Parapsychology, 2741 Campus Walk Ave., Building 500, Durham, NC 27705. Subscriptions may also be ordered online at www.rhine.org. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Journal of Parapsychology, 2741 Campus Walk Ave., Building 500, Durham, NC 27705.
    [Show full text]
  • Visual Traces of the Soul in Late Nineteenth-Century Fluidic Photography
    Med. Hist. (2016), vol. 60(3), pp. 325–341. c The Author 2016. Published by Cambridge University Press 2016 doi:10.1017/mdh.2016.26 Psychicones: Visual Traces of the Soul in Late Nineteenth-Century Fluidic Photography NICOLAS PETHES* University of Cologne, IdSL 1, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, D-50923 Cologne, Germany Abstract: The article discusses attempts to visualise the soul on photographic plates at the end of the nineteenth century, as conducted by the French physician Hippolyte Baraduc in Paris. Although Baraduc refers to earlier experiments on fluidic photography in his book on The Human Soul (1896) and is usually mentioned as a precursor to parapsychological thought photography of the twentieth century, his work is presented as a genuine attempt at photographic soul-catching. Rather than producing mimetic representations of thoughts and imaginations, Baraduc claims to present the vital radiation of the psyche itself and therefore calls the images he produces psychicones. The article first discusses the difference between this method of soul photography and other kinds of occult media technologies of the time, emphasising the significance of its non-mimetic, abstract character: since the soul itself was considered an abstract entity, abstract traces seemed all the more convincing to the contemporary audience. Secondly, the article shows how the technological agency of photography allowed Baraduc’s psychicones to be tied into related discourses in medicine and psychology. Insofar as the photographic plates displayed actual visual traces, Baraduc and his followers no longer considered hallucinations illusionary and pathological but emphasised the physical reality and normality of imagination. Yet, the greatest influence of soul photography was not on science but on art.
    [Show full text]
  • Divination/Occultism Checklist Courtesy of Reclaiming Victory Ministries © 2001
    Divination/Occultism Checklist Courtesy of Reclaiming Victory Ministries © 2001 Note: 1. We have found it fairly safe to say that if you don't know what something is on the list, then, most likely, you didn't participate in it. If you desire further information, review the Divination/'Occultism Glossary. 2. Checklists are not to be done without a corresponding study of scripture. Without the wisdom of God put in the forefront, the effectiveness of the checklist is severely diminished. The checklists are not a magic wand; they are an extension of our platform of repentance based upon scriptural principles. 3. Pray before beginning the checklist. 4. Check the items below that were either done to you or by you as a habit of life at any time during your life (Romans 7 principles, see Foundational Study). The definitions are just general guidelines. Let the Lord work in your heart to show you how you may have exhibited that characteristic even though it may not exactly match the definition. Glossary: ASC (altered state of consciousness) Psi (A term used to encompass all paranormal abilities. Includes both ESP and PK abilities) G Acupuncture G Contact Mind Reading G Incubus G Alien Abduction Experience G Coven participation G Invocation G Altered State of Consciousness G Crisis Apparition G Karma G Amulets G Crystal Gazing G Kinetic movement G Ancestor Worship G Curses G Kirlian Photography G Angelic healing G Demonic Possession G Kum Nye G Angel Worship G Deport G Kundalini G Animal Mutilation G Dice Test G Levitation (tables, games, people)
    [Show full text]